July 27, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate to-morrow upon the spirit of religion, of humility, and of mortification which ought to be associated with the action of taking our repasts. We will then make the resolution : 1st, to repeat, with exactitude and piously, the prayers to be said before and after our meals; 2d, to partake of all our repasts in a spirit of religion, humility, and mortification. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God" (I. Cor. x. 31).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord Jesus Christ taking His repasts during His mortal life. He submitted Himself to eat and to drink like the rest of mankind; but in what a holy manner He did it! How He raised the meanness of the action by the beautiful virtues which He practised in regard to it! It was the daily object of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Joseph; let us admire it with them, and let us render our homage to our adorable Saviour taking His repasts in so holy a manner.
FIRST POINT
The Spirit of Religion which ought to be Associated with our Repasts
This spirit consists in taking our repasts: 1st, with a perfect purity of intention, with the sole aim of pleasing God, who wills that we should sustain our bodies in order that we may fulfil the duties of our position; 2d, with a heart full of love and of gratitude towards the God who gives us our food, who bestows it upon us by the hand of His servants, and treats us better than numerous others who have a table that is inferior to ours, or who are sometimes in need of even what is necessary; 3d, in a spirit of sacrifice, looking upon the table as an altar on which we ought to offer to God two victims; that is to say, our appetite and the food we take. Is it in these dispositions we take our repasts?
SECOND POINT
The Spirit of Humility in which we ought to Take our Repasts
One of the greatest humiliations of mankind here below is the being obliged to eat. He who is called to sit down in heaven at the table of a God, to feed there upon truth and charity, to be inebriated with celestial graces, has to abase himself here below to an entirely animal action which is common to him with the beast. He who feeds at the altar on the bread of angels, and even on God Himself, eats and assimilates the flesh of animals. Is it not a strange humiliation? If we consider it only in the natural order, is it not humiliating that man, a being so great, the king of creation, should have to imitate an animal, which browses and ruminates, and, like it, collect together in his body gross food which becomes corrupt and, as it were, a poisonous dunghill? And how humiliating it is for him to take pleasure in this ignominy, and to turn it into an enjoyment; to abuse it, and not to keep himself to what is indispensable; to employ, lastly, in so low an action time which might be so much better employed in many great and noble things for the glory of God, for the good of his neighbor, for the perfecting of his intelligence and of his heart! How much more humiliating still it is for him to be reduced to acknowledge that he is unworthy of this nourishment, base as it is, since, after having sinned, he became unworthy to live, consequently unworthy to taste any food? He receives it from God only by way of a favor, and in addition he is obliged to gain it by work (II. Thess. iii. 10). It was this which made St. Vincent de Paul exclaim: "Miserable man that I am, I have not earned the bread I eat." Do we bring to our repasts this spirit of humility?
THIRD POINT
The Spirit of Mortification in which we ought to Take our Repasts
1st. This spirit consists in not caring about food and a good table. The saints took their food with sighs, often even steeping their bread in their tears, and only with regret lending themselves to the action of eating, as being a torment and a danger (St. Bernard), because, they said, it was eating which introduced sin into the world; it weakens the spirit, it strengthens the flesh, it engenders the most terrible temptations. Very different from the base souls which attach importance to the quality of their food, they are contented with what is ordinary, without wishing for what is more refined and better prepared, never choosing what is best and leaving the worst to others. If the food is to their taste, they partake of it without any sensual complaisance, blessing God, who feeds them better than they deserve, retrenching something from what is more to their liking, sometimes even taking pleasure in rendering their food insipid and unpleasant to the taste. If the food is not what suits them, they take it nevertheless without complaint, blessing God, who gives them an opportunity of exercising mortification. 2d. The spirit of mortification does not limit itself to the interdiction of all refinement in regard to the quality of the food; it also interdicts voracity, which seizes upon what is set before us, the indecent greediness which, dominated by the intemperance of the flesh and the impetuosity of its desires, never thinks that it has eaten enough, and sometimes goes to such excesses that it is not possible afterwards to apply the soul to prayer, to the affairs or other duties of our state. The Christian who has a true spirit of mortification does not listen to the intemperance which the flesh suggests to him; he eats only what is necessary, never satiates his appetite, and eats with the moderation and modesty which characterize a servant of God (St. Bas. Reg.). Have we not many reproaches to address to ourselves on this head?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.