September 16, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon mortification of the temper or of the disposition, and we shall see: 1st, the unhappy consequences of an unmortified temper or of a bad disposition; 2d, the advantages of a mortified temper or of a good disposition; 3d, the means of correcting our disposition. We will then make the resolution: 1st, often to ask God to reform our disposition; 2d, never to speak, act, or make a decision in a moment of bad temper, but to take time to reflect before acting or speaking. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Holy Ghost: Do not follow all your caprices (Gal. v. 17).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ inviting us by His apostle to allow ourselves to be led in everything by the Spirit of God (Gal. v. 16), and not by our caprices. Let us thank Him for so important a counsel.
FIRST POINT
The Unhappy Consequences of an Unmortified Temper or of a Bad Disposition
A bad disposition is the ruin of charity, the dishonor of virtue, a door open to every kind of evil. 1st. It is the ruin of charity; dispositions, in fact, differ as much from each other as do faces, and from this want of harmony it results that if we do not mortify them, so as to make them agree together, it is impossible for two persons to live harmoniously together. There will be coldness, bitterness, and discords. Charity is impossible excepting under the condition of bearing what is not sympathetic to us in others, and of diminishing, by doing ourselves violence, what there is in us towards which others have an antipathy. There is no room here for saying, It is my disposition, or, The disposition of such or such a person is antipathetic to me. Neither the one nor the other of these excuses will have any value in the sight of God, and thereby dispense us from the law of charity or render our antipathies or our impatiences justifiable. 2d. A bad disposition is the dishonor of virtue. We sometimes see souls which are good at bottom, but which are at the same time brusque, hard to please, cross-grained, inflicting suffering upon others, or which are effeminate and frivolous, having no energy, nothing regular or consequent in their course of life, inconstant and eccentric; which desire that what is good should be done after their own fashion, according to their own ideas and likings; which are fire and flame in regard to all that pleases them, and ice with respect to all which is not according to their taste; which make their decisions not through reason and faith, but through their inclination and temperament; and which leave off the best kind of works as soon as they cease to be in accordance with their tastes. Now, such ways of acting are evidently a dishonor to virtue and a means of putting devotion to discredit. If this be religion, says the world, we might just as well not have any. 3d. A bad disposition is a door open to all kinds of sin. A jealous disposition caused the death of Abel, exiled Joseph, persecuted David. An austere disposition made Novatian, Tertullian, Lucifer de Cagliari go astray. A proud and susceptible disposition threw Arius into heresy and Photius into schism. Even when an unmortified disposition is not carried to these excesses, it spoils everything with which it meddles, it introduces discord into families; instead of correcting it embitters, instead of bringing back it repels, and even sometimes propels children into what is evil by the severity with which they are treated. It acts without order, it speaks without reflection, and a man who is reasonable in regard to everything else is intractable in all that touches his disposition. Let us here examine our conscience; have we no reproaches to address to ourselves on this subject?
SECOND POINT
The Advantages of a Mortified Disposition or of a Good Character
1st. A good disposition makes a person to be loved. It is impossible not to love a disposition which is always agreeable, always the same, and always sociable, which is always kind, converses amiably, which is humble without cringing, dignified without being haughty, active without being either brusque or petulant, always ready to render a service, to forget wrongs, to suffer from others without making any one suffer. 2d. Loved by every one, such a person is still more loved by God, because a good disposition is, as it were, the sum-total of all the virtues in practice; it is humility, gentleness, and charity in action; it is patience, abnegation, obedience, presiding over words and actions; finally, it is perfection. Under the inspiration of a good disposition we do everything well, because we always act with calmness and reflection, never being carried away by temper. We do not come imprudently in contact with obstacles, we study the means of obtaining our ends, and with time everything is well arranged, everything well done. 3d. A good disposition does honor to religion. The world cannot see a Christian always master of himself, always possessing his soul in peace and patience, without rendering homage to the religion which is the cause of such perfect virtue. It is edified by the spectacle in the same proportion as it is not so by the opposite spectacle.
THIRD POINT
Means whereby to Correct our Disposition
1st. We must study well whatever may be reprehensible in our disposition. In all dispositions there is something to reform, and we only know the defective side by dint of studying ourselves or of consulting a wise friend. 2d. The defect once perceived, we must labor every day to reform it, by acting in a contrary sense, and never ceasing from the strife until we have mastered it. The disposition which is too quick must be moderated; the disposition which is too inert must be aroused and stirred up; the brusque and susceptible tendency must be silenced, and not allowed to speak until the soul is calm and in full possession of itself. St. Francis de Sales had received a hot and passionate temper from nature, St. Ignatius a quick and impatient disposition, St. Vincent de Paul an austere and disagreeable character; but these great saints, by dint of combating their defects, succeeded at last in attaining the good and amiable dispositions which will forever render their memory delicious in the sight of God and of men. 3d. We must every day examine ourselves on this subject, and for each failure of which we are guilty impose on ourselves a penance, if it be nothing more than the putting aside a small coin to give to the poor. That will have the advantage of awaking our attention and of enabling us to know, in order to confess them, the exact number of our failures.
Resolutions and Spiritual Nosegay as above