4th Week after Easter: Friday

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will consider to-morrow aridities from a new point of view: 1st, as a corrective of false love; 2d, as a lesson of humility. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to humble ourselves before God on account of these aridities in our spiritual exercises; 2d, to humiliate ourselves before men by esteeming others better than ourselves, by not taking any praise to ourselves, and by accepting any kind of contempt and want of consideration. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of Our Lord in Isaias: “To whom shall I have respect but to him that is poor and little and of contrite spirit” (Is. lxvi. 2).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore the immense love which Jesus Christ has for us. By the very subtraction of His graces, He teaches us to derive from it the precious grace of humility, as formerly He made water issue from the rock that He might slake the thirst of His people, excellent honey from holes in the stone, and delicious oils from out the hardest rocks (Deut. xxxii. 13). Let us bless Him for showing us so much love.

FIRST POINT

Aridities are a Corrective of Self-love

Man has a natural tendency towards pride, into which everything that raises him exposes him to fall; all that sanctifies him, as soon as he perceives it, exposes him to sin, and even the graces of God themselves become in his case the most subtle of temptations. Let him be but inundated with sensible fervor; let grace, flowing in upon him on all sides, make his soul to be overwhelmed with joy and delight, and immediately his soul whispers to him that this fervor is of his own accomplishing; that God ought to be pleased with him; that he is making progress in virtue; that he is worth more than so many others whose exterior seems to indicate a cold and dissipated interior. This is what explains the sensitive self-love of certain souls, otherwise pious, and the fall of more than one solitary of the desert after eighty years of fervor. Self-love, then, feeds on all which we believe to be love of God. We are so contented with ourselves that we never for a moment think of despising ourselves and taking the lowest place. But let consolations be withdrawn, let aridities take their place; there is then no longer any self-love, no longer any temptation to believe ourselves to be better than others; then humility is easy, and the small degree of virtue which there is in us is more secure. Never is a treasure more safe than when it is in obscurity; never does beauty better keep its lustre than when it is beneath a veil. This is why the author of the Imitation addresses to us these beautiful words: “When you receive consolations from God understand that they are not due to any merit on your side, but that they are a gift of God. Do not be lifted up by them, do not rejoice too much, and do not allow yourselves to be tempted to indulge in vain presumption, but be all the more humble and keep yourselves on your guard” (II. Imit. ix. 4). To God alone be honor and glory; to us, shame and confusion. Is this the fruit we derive from our aridities, our distractions, our powerlessness in prayer? Do we come forth from it less susceptible, less full of ourselves, more disposed to despise ourselves and to esteem ourselves to be less than others? This is the design God has in permitting these aridities. Let us respond to it.

SECOND POINT

Aridities are a Powerful Means of Teaching us Humility

We often behold around us holy souls which pray with all their hearts, and which seem to breathe nothing but holy love; whilst we, on our side, are as cold as ice, and can draw nothing out of our poor heart. God permits this contrast, to show us plainly that we are nothing and worth nothing; that, far from possessing any title to esteem, there is no one more miserable than we are; that all self-esteem is nothing but a lie, and that we deserve to be trodden under foot by every one. Oh, how excellent are these darknesses wherein self-love is lost! How precious this insensibility in which self-esteem finds its death! It is then that the soul, confounded by its powerlessness, casts itself humbly before the throne of God, adores Him by the confession of its own nothingness, is astonished to be allowed to appear in His presence, and abases itself utterly in presence of His eternal majesty. In the confusion into which it is thrown by its insensibility, it does not expect a return of consolations, for the delights of piety, it says, are suitable only to saints; as for me, sinner that I am, unworthy of His love, unworthy of His eyes being cast upon me, and of His thoughts, it is only too much honor for me to be here at His feet in order to satisfy His justice by privations, by aridities, and by struggles, and to say to Him, whilst exhibiting myself to Him in all my poverty: “O God, I am indeed nothing! Yes, verily, I am altogether evil, and Thou art altogether good; I am nothing but darkness and Thou art altogether light; insensibility, and Thou art all consolation; poverty, and Thou art all riches. The portion which is my share is humiliating to me, but to Thee it is glorious, and I rejoice at it. It is a consolation that my miseries make Thy greatness show forth and serve Thy glory. I take pleasure in my nothingness and my ignorance, content that Thou alone shouldst be praised and glorified.” Oh, if we but knew how to make this use of our aridities, how they would make us increase in humility, and would attract the complaisant notice of Him who has said: “To whom shall I have respect but to him that is poor and little and of contrite spirit?” (Is. lxvi. 2.) Then will the truth of these words be realized, that the best prayer is that which makes us most humble.

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.