Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
After having seen Jesus adolescent, growing at Nazareth in wisdom and in grace, we will consider Him to-morrow as arrived at manhood, and we shall see that: 1st, He led a very laborious life in His poor dwelling; 2d, how He sanctified His work. We will then make the resolution: 1st, not to lose our time, but to employ it assiduously in work; 2d, to offer our work to God, praying Him to bless it and enable us to perform it well; 3d, to unite our work and our intentions to the work and the intentions of Jesus Christ. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words which Jesus Christ said of Himself by the mouth of the Psalmist: “I am poor and in labors since My youth” (Ps. lxxxvii. 16).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us transport ourselves in spirit to the poor dwelling of Nazareth. Let us there contemplate with admiration and love a God subjecting Himself to labor. He who created the world, raised the vault of heaven, sowed in the firmament planets and stars, does not disdain to handle the tools of a hard trade; to make Himself the aid, the companion, and the servant of a poor carpenter. Let us unite ourselves to the homage of the angels ravished by this marvellous spectacle.
First Point
The Life of Jesus at Nazareth was a very Laborious Life.
Jesus in His poor dwelling was never idle. “I am in labors since My youth” He said by the mouth of the prophet David. With the exception of the Sabbath, all His days were employed in labor, and in hard labor. He made use of the saw and the plane like a poor workman; He gained His bread by the sweat of His brow. It was not enough for Him not to lose time doing nothing; every moment of His life, excepting the interruptions which nature requires, were employed in hard labor for the body, which the mind could not enjoy, and for which the heart had no attraction; for the law of labor imposed upon the first man, and which He accomplished in His person, is not limited to a pastime which amuses us; it prescribes a penance which annoys, which fatigues, which makes the sweat burst forth: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen. iii. 19) the law had said. Have I thoroughly understood this law until now, and how have I observed it? Have I not sought only to kill time, as we say, by doing nothing, or doing nothing but frivolities, by amusing myself, by occupying myself with reveries having no object, by useless conversations, by frivolous reading, by needless walks, by work which leads to nothing? Have I not allowed myself to be disheartened by all serious and useful work, because it troubles or wearies me? that is to say, because it is the condition which is the most appropriate to the object of the law, which is expiation of sin by penance.
Second Point
How Jesus at Nazareth Sanctified His Labor.
Let us consider this divine Artisan at His trade: how holily He performs everything! 1st. He does not Himself choose His kind of labor. He does with simplicity all that St. Joseph prescribes, and He does it at the time and in the manner St. Joseph directs (Luke ii. 51). He does not examine whether it is work which will be pleasing to Him. He says to Himself: The work pointed out to Me by Joseph is that which is in the order of God My Father, since it is in the order of obedience; therefore it is pleasing to Me, and I devote Myself wholly to it. He does not examine whether the work is suitable for His condition, His rank, His age, His strength: God My Father wills it. What can I do better than that which God wills? 2d. The work is not of His own choice, but the choice of Providence. He performs it in the best possible manner, without the slowness which is the sign of idleness, and also without the haste which springs from want of reflection; without the negligence which is not careful about what it does, without the effeminacy which is afraid of fatigue; and already it may be said of Him what the people said later on, “He hath done all things well” (Mark vii. 37). 3d. He accompanies His work with interior sentiments which ravish the heart of God. Very different from those Christians who in their work occupy themselves solely with what is exterior, and do not keep God in view, Jesus, on the contrary, without taking away from the exterior action the attention which it requires, occupies Himself principally with His interior, which He always keeps present before the eyes of the Divine Majesty. There exists within Him an intention of pleasing God even in the most trifling details, an offering so perfect of His whole being and of all His moments to the sovereign dominion of His Father, a union so intimate, so constant, so devoted with His whole soul to His Creator, that God considers Himself to be infinitely honored thereby, and takes His pleasure therein, as He declared upon the banks of the Jordan (Matt. iii. 17). Let us examine if our work bears the three characteristics of holiness which we have been admiring in Jesus Christ. Do we always perform the work which is most in the order of Providence, and do we not prefer that which amuses us? Do we perform everything in the best manner possible, and do we perform it solely with the desire of pleasing God thereby?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.