4th Week after Epiphany: Tuesday

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will to-morrow terminate our visits to the cradle of the Word Incarnate, and we shall bring back with us from it, as our last lesson, Christian simplicity. We shall see: 1st, what Christian simplicity is; 2d, what is the excellence of this virtue. We shall then make the resolution: 1st, to hold in horror all concealment, all duplicity, and all falsehood; 2d, to tend towards God wholly in all things, without any other object than the desire of pleasing Him. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the maxim of the Holy Ghost: “He that walketh sincerely, walketh confidently” (Prov. x. 9).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore Jesus as a child in His cradle, and let us learn from Him a last lesson, which is Christian simplicity. “Be simple as doves” (Matt. x. 16), He will say later on, and He says so already by His example. He allows Himself to be laid down, to be taken up, to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes, to be borne into Egypt, to be taken to Nazareth, just as those around Him will. It is a peaceful and simple abandonment to the will of others, without His desiring anything but to obey, and to make no remonstrance. Oh, how worthy such simplicity of conduct is of our homage! Let us pray the Incarnate Word to give us the understanding and practice of this virtue.

First Point

What is Christian Simplicity?

Let us learn it from the ordinary child during the first months of his reason. Simple in his beliefs and his judgments, he willingly defers to the opinions of others, and never hotly maintains his own. It is thus that the true Christian prefers the judgment of others to his own, and ingenuously confesses his error as soon as he recognizes it. With still greater reason, he adheres simply to the truths of faith: the feeling of his own ignorance disposes him to believe. Simple in his conduct, a child ignores disguise and falsehood; he does not know what it is to be annoyed at a want of consideration, or to be proud of a proof of attention; he does not occupy himself with what is thought or what is said of him; he does not trouble himself about where his mother places him or carries him, nor about anything she does to him; he only knows how to abandon himself simply to her and to allow her to do with him what she pleases. It is thus that the true Christian acts in all things, without dissimulation or concealment, without duplicity or artifice, without falsehood or equivocation. He does not try to hide either his ignorance or his faults, or to excuse himself when he has failed in his duty, nor to show himself to be anything but what he is; and, caring little as to what others may say or think of him, he goes straight on his way, doing what he believes to be his duty. In his exterior he is modest without being singular; discreet without affectation; he knows nothing either of luxury in dress, or of the table, or of furniture, or of the pleasures of effeminacy or the daintiness of sensuality. In the intercourse of life, politeness is, in his case, the true expression of charity. In studying his way of action, we perceive, not that he aspires to please, but that we are dear to him; not that he aims at others being pleased with him, but that he is pleased with those with whom he holds intercourse. Lastly, in the details of his actions, he does not seek to show or hide himself, nor to appear virtuous, but to be the same in private as in public, always himself. He fears nothing with excess, he desires nothing with violence, he is poor without being humiliated, rich or honored without esteeming himself any the more for it; he knows of nothing low in what is good, nothing little in what is useful, nothing honorable in what is un-Christian. What a beautiful character, and how shall we attain to it? It will be in willing the will of God and nothing else, in blessing God always for everything and in reposing upon Him with a perfect simplicity of love.

Second Point

The Excellence of Christian Simplicity.

It is a virtue which gains the heart of God and is the happiness of him who possesses it. 1st. It gains the heart of God. “His will,” says the Holy Spirit, “is in them that walk sincerely” (Prov. xi. 20). “He will keep the salvation of the righteous and protect them that walk in simplicity” (Prov. ii. 7). He loves them (I. Par. xix. 17), and beneath His guidance, which is full of sweetness, they walk in assurance (Prov. x. 9). Therefore St. Paul recommends simplicity in all things: simplicity in alms (Rom. xii. 8; II. Cor. viii. 2); simplicity in obedience (Eph. v. 5); simplicity in the duties of our state (Coloss. iii. 22); simplicity in perseverance (II. Cor. xi. 3); simplicity in our relations with one another (II. Cor. xi. 12). 2d. Simplicity gains our neighbor’s heart; everyone likes to have relations with uprightness and simplicity, no one likes to have to treat with duplicity and artifice. 3d. It is a virtue which makes the happiness of the simple soul; by its means it serves God with ease and without trouble, with the abandonment and confidence of a child who serves a very amiable father; through it we are never obliged to measure our words, or our thoughts, or our actions, nor to go back to the past, and we are content to infuse into whatever we are doing a sweet, free and cheerful attention. We have no need to be like beggars seeking our joy in outward things; we find it within us, and we have more pleasure in what passes within us than we could derive from any society whatever. When beholding the thousand frivolities of which the world makes a necessity, we are glad to be able to say, “How many things of which I have no need!” If on our path we meet with innocent pleasures, we receive them without eagerness and enjoy them without remorse. If falls or weaknesses remind us of our misery, we humble ourselves meekly, without being troubled; we rise again with confidence, and we cast ourselves with simplicity and love within the arms of God. Lastly, subjected to dryness and to trials, we accept all that God wills and are always content with God whatever He may do. At what point have we arrived in regard to this Christian simplicity which is so pleasing to God and man, and makes the happiness of all who possess it? Do we esteem it as it deserves, this beautiful virtue, and do we labor to acquire it at the expense of our self-love, if necessary?

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.