November 3rd

(SECOND MEDITATION.)

Summary of the Morrow's Meditation.

We will consider to-morrow that the feast of All Saints is eminently calculated to perfect in us: 1st, faith; 2d, hope; 3d, charity. Our resolution shall be: 1st, to pass the whole day to-morrow in spirit in heaven, that we may there share in the feast of the holy city; 2d, to reanimate, by means of this spectacle, our faith, hope, and charity. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay the words of the Psalmist: "Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged: my soul hath been long a sojourner" (Ps. cxix. 5).

Meditation for the Morning.

Let us adore God, who is admirable in His saints (Ps. lxvii. 36). He is admirable in the virtues His grace causes to be practised, admirable in the glory with which He crowns them in paradise, admirable in the power He gives them to protect us and help us. Let us render to Him all our homage of admiration, of praise, and of thanks.

FIRST POINT.

The Feast of All Saints is Calculated to Perfect us in Faith.

As long as our mind is circumscribed within the narrow circle of earthly things, it is difficult to believe certain hard truths of the gospel; for example, that we must renounce everything and ourselves also, do violence to ourselves, bear our cross, bring our vanity and self-love under subjection, prefer a hidden life to the splendor of glory and of reputation, obedience to our own will. When these doctrines are only enunciated, nature shudders. But if we raise ourselves in thought into the midst of all the saints, whose octave we are celebrating; if we but contemplate them resting from their trials, in the midst of immortal glory; if we consider that those who have suffered the most here below are now the happiest in heaven, that those who have been the most forgotten are now the highest in glory; and if we recall to mind that what lasted so short a time has given place to eternal happiness, then faith accepts with transports the evangelical maxims which it costs the most to believe, and utters the cry of faith: "What a nothing the earth and its false goods are to him who looks up to heaven! Happy the poor, happy the afflicted, happy those who suffer or those who are a prey to calumny! There is no proportion between the crosses of the present life and the glory of the future life; for a moment of light tribulation an immense weight of glory (Matt. v. 12). What an excellent bargain!" It is then we enjoy and enter with delight into the words of the Imitation: "Oh, if you had seen the eternal crowns of the saints in heaven, the transports of joy of those who formerly on earth were counted as nothing, and who were even deemed unworthy to live, you would humble yourselves in the dust, and prefer to be subject to all rather than to command even one single person. Far from desiring pleasure in this life, you would rejoice to suffer for God, and you would esteem it a great grace to be looked upon as nothing amongst men" (III. Imit. xlvii. 3). It is thus that, by raising our eyes to heaven, the soul is elevated and its faith perfected.

SECOND POINT.

The Feast of All Saints Perfects Hope in us.

Let us look up to heaven where the saints await us (Ps. cxl. 8). They call to us and invite us to rejoin them; they encourage us, and show us the throne which awaits us, the crown which will encircle our brow, the recompense which God reserves for every good work, for each prayer, for each sacrifice, for each sigh that is uttered for Him. Oh, how well suited is such a spectacle to inflame hope, how it urges us to depart for the eternal country! Not only do the saints await us, but they pray for us, they give us the benefit of their merits: the martyrs of their broken limbs, the confessors of their tortured bodies, the anchorites of their penances; and at the thought of such fervent prayers our courage rises, our confidence is reanimated. And why then should I not do what the saints have done? They are so happy, why should I not share their happiness? They see God no longer far off, in enigmas and imperfect images, but close by, revealed, face to face, such as He is in Himself. And I am called to enjoy the same felicity; the thing depends only on me; it suffices for me to will it. Yes, Lord, I will it; I desire to go and lose myself in Thy infinite essence; I am impatient for this happiness. When will it be, Lord? O life too long! O death too much delayed! I desire with a great desire to associate myself with the angels, with the patriarchs, with the prophets, with the company of the apostles, with the army of martyrs, to see them, to speak to them, to embrace them (Ps. cxix. 5; Philipp. i. 23; Ps. lxxxiii. 3). O Christian hope, thou dost ravish my heart, thou dost detach it from earth, and thou dost raise it to heaven!

THIRD POINT.

The Feast of All Saints Perfects us in Charity.

Religion, in fact, teaches us that the means for attaining the felicity of the saints is greatly to love them (Rom. xiii. 10). To love God upon earth is the means for loving Him in heaven: to love is the only way to happiness. If, then, we desire to go to heaven, we must live by love alone; we must increase every day in love, and in doing so we are sure of paradise (Ibid. 8). And who would not love a God who is so magnificent towards those who serve Him? Who would not love a God whom the angels always think so amiable that they are never weary of loving Him; the God whom the seraphim celebrate by means of the eternal canticle: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts" (Is. vi. 3); the God to whom the virgins sing the song which they alone can sing; and at whose feet the elders lay their crowns, exclaiming that to Him alone belong honor, praise, and benediction? Oh, how well calculated are all these lofty thoughts, which recall to memory the festival of to-day, to make our hearts kindle with love!

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.