Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow on the kingship of Jesus Christ, the third title which constrains us to serve Him, and we shall see: 1st, that He is our King; 2nd, what we owe Him under this title. We will then make the resolution: 1st, often during the day to salute Jesus Christ as our King, and to consecrate to Him, by this title, every moment of our life; 2nd, to obey all His orders, even His desires — that is to say, the evangelical counsels and the inspirations of His grace. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the cry of love: “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory” (I. Tim. i. 17).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ as our well-beloved King, who came here below to conquer heaven for us; who places Himself at our head in order to lead us thither, and shows Himself first to all. Let us attach ourselves to Him as subjects to the best of kings; let us pity the blind Jews, who said: “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke xix. 14). We, on the contrary, will repeat our baptismal act: “I attach myself to Thee, O my Christ and my King!”
FIRST POINT
Jesus Christ is our King.
He is so by right of nature, since, as Creator, He has made us what we are (Ps. xcix. 3). He is so by right of conquest, since He has bought us at the price of His own blood (Acts xx. 28), and knew if He were not our King by this double title He ought still to be through the free desire of our hearts. For He is infinitely worthy of it; He is an almighty and beneficent King, who lives only for the happiness of His subjects; who makes it His glory to render them eternally happy; who commands nothing but what is just, nothing but what is good and useful; who Himself is the first to do all that He orders or counsels, without willing to be better treated than His subjects; who is the first in labors, fatigue, and privation; the first in humiliation and suffering; the first in all things; bearing His cross at our head and saying: Follow Me. He is a King who promises to those who serve Him the most magnificent recompenses, and performs all that He promises; He is a King who is perfectly acquainted with the merits of each person, and recompenses each according to his deserts; He is an immortal King who can never fail us; we may lose our lives in His service, but far from losing with our lives the fruits of our services, it is, on the contrary, then that our enjoyment begins. Lastly, He is a King in whose service victory is never doubtful, because at the same time that He gives the grace of conquering He gives up to His own all the fruits of victory, and reserves for Himself only the pleasure of enriching us. O Jesus, O my King! how good it is to be Thy subject. Reign over me, over my body and my soul, over my will and all my desires, over all my thoughts and the employment of all my moments (Ps. xliv. 5).
SECOND POINT
What we owe to Jesus Christ in His Quality of King.
We owe Him, 1st, to attach ourselves to Him with our whole soul. We promised Him to do so at our baptism; we ratified this engagement at our confirmation, wherein we enrolled ourselves under His banner as His soldiers; we have sworn it every time we have received the sacraments, and if we had not made this oath we ought still to make it. For besides that Jesus Christ has every possible title to be the King of our hearts, is it not an honor for us to belong to so great a King? is it not our interest to be the subjects of a monarch so lavish of His graces and His love? is it not a happiness for us to be already engaged in this present life in His service, and enrolled under His banner, since without that there is only discomfort, bitterness, sadness, and deception? We owe it to Him, 2nd, to follow Him wherever it seems good to Him to lead us, and never to desire to be treated better than the brave Urias, who said: “The ark of God and Israel and Juda dwell in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my Lord abide upon the face of the earth; and shall I go into my house to eat, and to drink and to sleep with my wife? By thy welfare and by the welfare of thy soul I will not do this thing” (II. Kings xi. 11). It is our duty in every circumstance to walk in the footsteps of Jesus our King, to be humble, mortified, obedient, patient, and poor, as He was in the crib and on the cross; to pray like Him and in union with Him; to speak like Him; to act like Him; and always to be animated with the sentiments of the generous captain of David, Ethai, who said, “As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, in whatsoever place thou shall be, my lord king, either in death or in life, there will thy servant be” (II. Kings xv. 21). We owe it to Him, 3rd, to obey Him in everything. “If He shall say to me, Thou pleasest me not, I am ready; let Him do that which is good before Him” (II. Kings xv. 26). “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts ix. 6.) “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth” (I. Kings iii. 9). My heart is ready. I offer myself to Thee to do all that Thou wouldst have me do. Heaven preserve me from resisting even the very least of Thy desires. I know that disobedience to a word of counsel often leads to the violation of a precept. I desire to be all Thine; all for Thee, all like Thee. It would ill become me to desire to be better treated than Thou.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.