October 8, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will consider to-morrow: 1st, the exercise of the presence of God as a duty owing to gratitude; 2d, the forgetfulness of God as being horrible ingratitude. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to make use of the sight of all created things to raise ourselves to God and to converse with Him; 2d, to associate with all our actions the spirit of gratitude which they are calculated to inspire. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay these words of St. John Climachus: "Every creature is a ladder to raise us to God."
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ always engaged in thanksgivings in presence of His Father, whether in the Eucharist or in heaven. Let us unite ourselves to the perpetual hymn of His gratitude, and let us endeavor to enter into the same sentiments: "Let us render thanks to the Lord our God."
FIRST POINT
The Exercise of the Presence of God is a Duty owing to Gratitude.
There is not a moment in life in which we do not receive some particular benefit from God; consequently there is not a moment in which we ought not to thank Him and bless Him. We rise in the morning: Thanks, my God, we ought to say to Him, thanks for having kept me during last night, in which so many others have died, and for granting me another day in which to serve Thee and save myself! We put on our clothes: Thanks, my God, many poor have hardly any clothing or only a few rags! We say our morning prayer and make our meditation: Thanks, my God, many others have neither the leisure, nor the thought, nor the good-will! We move our feet to walk, our hands to act, our tongue to speak; we open our eyes to see, our ears to hear: Thanks, my God, so many others are deprived of the senses which I enjoy! We eat and drink: Thanks, my God, it is a present given me by Thy love; so many others have nothing to eat and drink to-day! We draw in our breath and then exhale it: Thanks, my God, this inhalation is a blessing of Thy providence; if Thou wert for a single moment to cease dispensing air to me in suitable measure and conditions, I should die at that very moment; it was a thought which made St. Gregory Nazianzen say that the remembrance of God ought to be as habitual to us as is breathing. In the evening we take our rest: Thanks, my God, for having preserved me during this day, in which Thou hast taken away life from so many others, and for giving me this night to take the rest so necessary to me. A good thought enters into our mind, a good feeling into our heart, good examples offer themselves to us, we listen to good sermons, we read good books: Thanks, my God, I owe to Thee this good thought, this good feeling, this good example, this sermon, this book; all this is a grace I did not deserve, it is a present made me by Thy love. If, turning away our eyes from our own person, we cast them upon all that surrounds us, everything cries out to us to think of Thee, O my God, and to love Thee. All creatures are images of Thee, and as it were mirrors which reflect Thy perfections; heaven is the palace of Thy glory; earth the footstool under Thy feet; men the ministers of Thy providence; all events are the effects, now of Thy justice, now of Thy goodness, always of Thy wisdom. Everything here below is full of Thy love, and calls for our gratitude. Above our heads, Thy sun lights us during the day, the moon and the stars by night; around us, harvests, fruits, flowers, the grass of the field, procure for us what is necessary, useful, agreeable; the animals which walk upon the earth, which fly in the air or swim in the waters, all tell us that Thou hast made them, some to feed and clothe us, others to serve us or amuse us; even the good offices our fellows render to us are a blessing of Thy love; it is Thou who dost inspire them and who dost infuse into their hearts the benevolence they show us; lastly, the whole creation contains nothing but what serves for our good. How then live, surrounded by the munificence of the divine love, and yet forget Him who is the author of it? Shall we be obliged to say with much more reason than St. Bonaventure, "I am surrounded by love on all sides, and I do not know what it is to love"?
SECOND POINT
To Live in Forgetfulness of God is Horrible Ingratitude.
Is it not, indeed, horrible ingratitude continually to be receiving blessings and never to give thanks to our benefactor, and to think of him no more than if he did not exist? It is the sad story of the man who lives in forgetfulness of God. Through love for him, God, who is everywhere present, gives or preserves life in all that lives, movement in all that moves, being in all that is; and yet man cannot raise his eyes in gratitude towards his benefactor! Absorbed in things belonging to this world, he thinks but rarely of Him who never forgets him. O forgetfulness of God, what strange ingratitude thou dost display, well deserving to be wept over with repentant tears! Alas! what reproaches have I not to address to myself on this subject! what habitual dissipation! how rarely I think of God to love Him and thank Him for His continual goodness, His mercy, shown at every moment! I must, at all costs, correct myself.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.