September 23, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate to-morrow upon a fourth remedy applicable to the wanderings of the imagination, which consists in a diversion, 1st, prompt; 2d, humble; 3d, peaceable. We will then make the resolution: 1st, never to be disquieted, whatever may be the wanderings of our imagination, and always to maintain patience and courage; 2d, constantly to combat them by means of a prompt, humble, and peaceful diversion. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of Job: The dissipation of my thoughts has been the torment of my heart (Job xvii. 11).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Lord, tempted in the desert, turning away the temptation by passages from the Holy Scriptures, by prayer, and by union with God, His Father. Let us thank Him for His example, and ask of Him grace to imitate it.
FIRST POINT
We must Combat the Imagination by Means of a Prompt Diversion.
To attempt to arrest the imagination by pure violence would be to attempt the impossible. A diversion is the only resource; we turn our backs to the enemy by occupying ourselves with more ardor with what we are doing, and lovingly cast ourselves into the arms of God by effusions of the heart, like the child who, when an attempt is made to take it from the breast of its mother, clings all the more to it in proportion to the efforts made to take it away. The essential point is not to delay; for, being already so evil in itself, what is there the imagination would not do if we allowed it to be mistress for even a few moments only? It would carry us away, seduced as we should be by its pleasing pictures; it would make us lose time, often even something more precious still, by mixing ideas which are permissible with ideas which are dangerous, and then with bad ones. This is what we gain by trafficking with the frivolities of the imagination instead of putting them away from us at the very first moment. Let us here examine ourselves. Do we habitually watch over the gate of our interior, so that we may not allow any vain fancies to enter therein? Do we not, on the contrary, knowingly entertain ourselves with certain imaginations? Do we not recall them, even when they escape us, and do we not form new and more vivid ones? Do we not allow ourselves to indulge in the illusion that, at certain idle moments, we may give license to our imagination?
SECOND POINT
We must Combat the Imagination by a Humble Diversion.
The imagination being of all the faculties the most degraded, and one of our greatest miseries, we ought to humble ourselves profoundly before God and, prostrate at His feet, say to Him, inspired by a lively sentiment of our misery: "Alas, Lord, I am but as a leaf carried away by a breath of wind, a 'wind that goeth and returneth not' (Ps. lxxvii. 39); I have lost the respect due to Thy presence and I deserve nothing but to be rejected by Thee. My place is beneath the feet of all creatures. Let millions of angels glorify Thee by their recollection, let holy souls enjoy the delights of piety. As for me, unworthy to satisfy Thy love, it is too much honor for me to be here beneath Thy feet, to satisfy Thy justice by combats, privations, and aridities. Nakedness, misery, powerlessness, these things are my portion; abased in my nothingness I accept it, and submit to it." Such is the humble diversion to be opposed to the importunities of the imagination. The soul which is faithful to it attracts the eyes and the complaisance of God. He consoles it, He enlightens it, He unites it to Himself, in such a degree that a pious author has said that distractions, when we know how to humble ourselves before them, are a path which leads us to contemplation.
THIRD POINT
We must Combat the Imagination by a Peaceful Diversion.
Peace of heart is the most precious of all possessions, and to take it from us would be a triumph for the devil, even supposing that in making us give way to a rambling imagination he were to leave our heart innocent. And wherefore give this enjoyment to the enemy of our salvation? To be distracted is not to be culpable, as long as we do not seek opportunities or give our consent. Job was not the less holy when the dissipation of his thoughts was the torment of his heart (Job xvii. 11), or David, when the illusions of his imagination importuned him (Ps. xci. 8), or all the saints, when their imagination carried them where they did not desire to be. We must not therefore lose peace, or be annoyed, or be cast down even if the imagination were to make us suffer until death. St. Teresa suffered from it even after forty years of prayer.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.