Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
After having meditated for so long a time on our duties towards God and our neighbor, we will now meditate upon our duties towards ourselves. We will commence by Christian modesty, and we shall see that it is a duty imposed upon us: 1st, by respect for the presence of God; 2nd, the edification of our neighbor; 3rd, the interests of our salvation. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to hold modesty in great esteem, as being a virtue of great importance; 2nd, to observe this virtue not only in public and under the eyes of men, but also in private and when we have no other witnesses but God. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: "Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh" (Philipp. iv. 5).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the modesty of Our Lord conversing upon earth. This virtue had in Him charms which ravished men and angels, and which made Him to be recognized, even in the midst of His abasement, as the God of sovereign majesty (St. Bernard). Let us offer to Him in this state our homage of adoration, of praise, and of love.
FIRST POINT
Respect for the Presence of God Imposes upon us the Duty of Christian Modesty.
Modesty does not consist only in the outward expression of the face, or in what is visible exteriorly in the manners and toneāthat would be only a pharisaical virtue, which under a beautiful outside might hide a very different interior. All real virtue has its essential principles in the heart, and the exterior ought only to be the reflection, as it were, of the piety existing within. In conformity with this principle, modesty, rightly so-called, is the respect due to the presence of God, inspiring man with a serious demeanor, such as he ought to maintain under the eyes of so lofty a majesty. God sees me, the man of faith says; He looks at me night and day, in solitude as well as in society, outside as well as inside the house (III. Kings xvii. 1). At all times His eye follows the whole of my person and my behavior (Prov. xvi. 2); in all places He sees me, whether I do evil or whether I do good (Ibid. xv. 3). I must therefore always and everywhere observe the perfect modesty, the irreproachable decency, which is proper to such august society (Philipp. iv. 5). If a glance of the eyes of God makes the earth tremble, shakes the pillars of hell, seizes the angels with holy fear, how could I, when He is beholding me, allow myself to indulge in frivolity, in buffoonery, in loud laughter, which is wanting in dignity? God beholds me! The witness of my actions, He will be the severe judge of them, and will make me render an account of my unmeasured language, of the license I have permitted to my eyes and the want of modesty in my manners. God beholds me! This thought made the holy bishop of Geneva observe so much modesty that an indiscreet eye examining him at a moment when a man, imagining himself to be alone, sometimes allows himself to indulge in a more free and easy behavior, found that he was always an exact observer of the rules of the most austere decency, as well in secret as in public. The Lord beheld him, and he looked upon such an august presence as more worthy of respect than all mankind put together.
SECOND POINT
The Edification of our Neighbor Requires of us Perfect Modesty on our Part.
Every man, says the Scripture, has received from God the mission to labor for the salvation of his neighbor (Ecclus. xvii. 12). Now, it is only in edifying him by our modesty that we can each of us fulfil this divine mission. All cannot preach, but we can all edify. A modest and recollected countenance makes the dissipated soul return to duty, stops it in its ramblings, reproaches it for its frivolities, recalls it to the care of its salvation, to compunction for its faults, and to holy desires for heaven. Witness St. Lucian, the mere sight of whom converted the pagans; a St. Bernardine, whose mere presence inspired all his companions with recollection; a St. Francis of Assisi, who had only to walk along the streets in order to make every one turn to God, and to withdraw sinners from their wanderings. "To be modest is to preach virtue," he said. St. Ambrose had said before him: "The sight of a just man is a remedy for the ills of the soul, and what is there more beautiful than to have only to show oneself in order to do good?" Is it thus that we labor for the salvation of our brethren? Do we take care to regulate our exterior so well that all who see us are edified?
THIRD POINT
The Interest of our own Salvation makes Modesty incumbent on us.
There exist between the exterior and the interior intimate relations, which, according to the testimony of Solomon, make the one to be known by the other (Ecclus. xix. 26). The deportment, the laugh, the manners, enable us to know what the man is (Ibid. 27). Behold the child of Belial, the Holy Spirit says; you will have it in your power to see into the bottom of his heart by means of his exterior alone, like those who look into the water and see their face distinctly reflected in it; he is vain and uneasy, he walks with a ferocious kind of air, he turns his eyes in every direction, he is constantly moving his feet, gesticulating with his hands (Prov. vi. 12, 13). Exterior immodesty puts the soul in great peril, for this poor soul is like a besieged city, open to all the assaults of the enemy, without walls, without gates, without defence (Prov. xxv. 28). The senses, says the Holy Spirit, are the gates whereby evil enters into the heart. If modesty keeps these gates closed, the heart feels itself to be safe; if they are left open, defeat is certain, according to the words of the prophet: My eye has delivered up my soul a prey to my enemies (Lam. iii. 51). And that is more true today than ever, when so many dangerous objects are presented to the sight, when the dress and the manners of so many persons seem to conspire to seduce and ruin souls.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.