Friday before Pentecost

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will meditate to-morrow on the gift of fear, and we shall see: 1st, what is the excellence of this gift, which is so little understood; 2d, the unhappiness of those who are deprived of it. We will then make the resolution: 1st, frequently to ask, during to-day, the Holy Spirit to grant us the gift of fear, which will make us practise all the other virtues; 2d, to maintain a reverential attitude towards God in prayer, at church, and everywhere. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay the words of David: “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord” (Ps. cxi. 1).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us recollect ourselves profoundly in the presence of God; let us thank Him for having enriched the Church with the gift of fear; let us beg of Him to grant us the understanding of it and esteem for it.

FIRST POINT

Excellence of the Gift of Fear

Fear, in so far as it is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, has nothing in common either with the fear which seizes us in the presence of danger, or with the apprehension of sin which torments the scrupulous soul, or even with the Christian fear of the torments of hell. The fear of which we speak is a gentle fear, inspired by love and reverence for the eyes of God which are fixed upon us. For the sole reason that we love God, we are afraid, but without being troubled by it, that something may displease Him, either in our acts or our words, the thoughts of our mind or the slightest movements of our heart, upon which we know that His eyes are constantly intent; and this fear renders us circumspect in the whole of our conduct, careful in doing all things well, attentive to give to every one of our actions all the perfection of which it is capable. “A wise man,” says Solomon, “feareth and declineth from evil; the fool leapeth over and is confident” (Prov. xiv. 16). For the sole reason that we feel ourselves to be in the presence of God, we are filled with supreme reverence in the presence of so lofty a majesty, we revere Him with sentiments so humble and so profound, that we are, as it were, annihilated by the mere remembrance that He is beholding us, and we dare not permit anything but what is holy and perfect to present itself in presence of a God so just. Such is the fear which is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and it would be impossible to express how many are the blessings it confers on the soul. It preserves it in a state of eminent purity, by giving it a supreme horror of committing the least offence against God, an inexpressible apprehension of the least sin, to such an extent that it would love a thousand times better to throw itself into the midst of flames and into torments such as those of hell rather than commit the slightest sin. This fear fills it in prayer with a deep piety which banishes from it all languor and all pusillanimity, and which fixes the frivolity of mind in a state of recollection. It inspires it at church with a reverential attitude, restraint with regard to the eyes, a silence of adoration; everywhere, in private as in public, with exemplary modesty and perfect restraint, because everywhere it keeps it in a reverential attitude as being in the presence of God. Finally, the soul favored by the gift of fear has towards God a confidence of strength, says the Holy Spirit (Prov. xiv. 26), and at the same time a love always increasing in proportion as it is inspired with a more lofty sentiment of the incomparable grandeur of the divine perfections. Let us hence judge how excellent this gift is, and with what fervent prayers we ought to ask that it may be bestowed upon us during these holy days.

SECOND POINT

Unhappiness of the Soul which does not Possess the Gift of Fear

Such a soul is most unhappy and in great peril of being lost. As it is not kept in restraint by fear, it allows itself to be given up to the love of its own ease, its caprices, and its liberty, which become the sole rule of its conduct. There is no order in the regulation of its life or of its time, no exactitude in its exercises of piety, and, even when it does perform them, it is with a thousand distractions, and even without the exterior religious demeanor which ought always to accompany them. There is no modesty, no decency, or seriousness in the whole of its behavior; it is frivolous, inconsiderate, carried away by its impetuosities and its impulses, or by the ill-regulated movements of its exterior, which are the sign of a person who is without reflection. If it acts, it is without thinking of making all it does supernatural by performing it for the sake of God and of His love, and in this way it loses all merit. If it speaks, it follows its natural inclinations in speaking and replying, and how many words deserving of regret escape it! If it prays, it is without love, without respect, without attention to what it says: and thus its prayer, which ought to save it, ruins it, since it is converted into sin. Lastly, in the whole of its life it makes small account of little faults, of negligences which it does not believe to be a mortal sin: a sad symptom, which characterizes tepidity, that dreadful evil which angers the heart of God, and which leads to mortal sin without our being aware of it. Can there be anything more wretched than a soul which is in this state? How greatly ought this consideration to excite us to spend in a holy manner the next two days, in order to dispose our hearts for the coming of the Holy Ghost!

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.