May 29, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
After having meditated on the marvellous action of the Holy Spirit within us, we will now consider the unhappiness of the soul which does not permit itself to be led by this divine Guide; and, in order to understand it, we shall see: 1st, what the soul suffers which is indifferent to grace; 2d, what it loses. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to obey with love and promptitude all holy inspirations, without resisting a single one of them; 2d, often to ask the Holy Spirit for His assistance by addressing to Him the invocation of Holy Church, which will serve as our spiritual nosegay: “Come to my help, Father of the poor; come, Giver of heavenly gifts; come, Light of the heart.”
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Divine Spirit offering Himself to the soul to sanctify it; let us admire His more than paternal goodness; let us ask of Him pardon for our infidelities, pardon for having so often closed our ears to His word and resisted His inspirations; let us beg of Him to enable us to understand the unhappiness of the soul which is unfaithful to Him.
FIRST POINT
What the Soul Suffers which is Unfaithful to Grace
A soul such as this has neither peace nor happiness; for, says Job, “who hath resisted God and hath had peace?” (Job ix. 4.) It has no happiness; for Jesus, after His resurrection, said to faithless Saul: “It is hard for thee to kick against the goad” (Acts ix. 5). It suffers, 1st, at being deprived of the consolations of piety; whilst it was faithful it enjoyed ineffable consolations in prayer, in communion, in visiting the Blessed Sacrament, and other exercises; but after it became faithless it felt itself to be cold, languishing, disgusted. How, indeed, could the Holy Spirit lavish His sweetness and His consolations on the soul which resists Him, which will not listen to or obey Him, which does not know how to sacrifice to Him an attachment, a will, or an inclination? It suffers, 2d, at seeing its hopes frustrated; it trusted that it would find happiness in the satisfaction of its tastes and its caprices, and God, in order to revenge Himself, sheds bitterness on these false pleasures. It finds greater troubles in them than in those from which it took flight; a sombre sadness reigns within it; exteriorly it suffers from contradictions, weariness, and disgust; it turns itself from one side to another seeking repose; and its movements only make the thorn pierce more deeply into the heart (Ps. xxxi. 4). It suffers, 3d, from the reproaches of its conscience, which, discontented with itself, cries out to it ceaselessly that it is ungrateful, wanting in docility, insane, that it is like the sick man, who, stretched on a bed of suffering, sees the remedy that is capable of curing him, and yet refuses to take it. “You see clearly what you ought to do,” his conscience says to him, “and you will not do it. You are quite aware that you are unreasonable, and you continue to be so; grace is standing at the door of your heart, exhorting you, offering to you its charitable hand to lead you, and you take no notice of it, you make it no answer. Where, then, is your religion? Where is your reason?” It suffers, 4th, from God, who persecutes it through love, who renders it unhappy for its own good, lest, feeling tranquil and at ease, spite of its dreadful state, it should persevere in it. This is why it happens that so often when we have refused God the sacrifice of an idle word, of a feeling of curiosity, of an uncharitable remark, we feel ourselves to be sad and discontented, without knowing why, and without taking much account of it.
SECOND POINT
What the Soul which is Unfaithful to Grace Loses thereby
To lose a grace, an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is to lose a thousand times more than if we were to lose all the kingdoms of the world. All good things here below are temporary and of little value, whilst the least grace has eternal consequences, since it is worth the blood of Jesus Christ, at the price of which it was bought for us. To lose a grace is to lose the essential element of our supernatural life; it is to imitate a madman throwing away the bread necessary for his existence. To lose a grace is to lose at once all the graces which would have been the consequence of the first grace put to profit, since fidelity to a first grace attracts a second, and that a third, and the same with the following ones; it is to lose, consequently, the treasures of which God alone knows the worth; and what unhappiness that is for us who are so poor and so indigent! Oh, what do we not lose in this way? Let us regret these losses, and repair them by never again losing a single grace.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.