July 10, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate to-morrow upon the third condition which the perfection of our ordinary actions requires, that is to say, the purity of intention by which we propose to ourselves, in all that we do, solely to please God; and we shall see: 1st, the necessity of this purity of intention; 2d, its advantages. We will then make the resolution: 1st, always to keep the eye of our intention steadfastly fixed upon the good pleasure of God, and to embrace this good pleasure with a love full of gladness; 2d, constantly to reject all other intentions which we might be tempted to mingle with our acts. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. Paul: “Whatever you do in word or in work, all things do ye in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father by Him” (Coloss. iii. 17).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ performing all actions for the glory and the good pleasure of His Father. He never did anything except with this object (John viii. 29), and it was to that all His thoughts, all His words, and all His actions tended (Ibid. 50). How greatly does this purity of intention merit our praises, our admiration, and our reverence!
FIRST POINT
The Necessity of Purity of Intention
It is the essential and principal condition for the goodness of our works. This purity of intention is what the foundation is to the building, the root to the tree, the soul to the body; take away the foundation and the building crumbles; cut the root and the tree dies; without the soul, the body is nothing more than a corpse. It is the same with our actions. Without purity of intention, we may do what we will, we only amass ruins; the basis which supports the edifice is wanting; our works are but as dry branches, where the sap which makes them live circulates no longer; they are dead works; the intention, which is their soul and their life, is wanting to them. What God considers in our actions is not so much the exterior and the substance of the acts as the intention with which we act (I. Kings xvi. 7). As He is our first principle, He also is essentially the last end to which we ought to refer everything; as everything comes from Him through His love, so all ought to be referred back to Him by ours. Otherwise He takes no account of even our best works, even if they were to be heroic actions; and if we were to ask Him to recompense us for them, He would justly reply: I recompense only what is done for Me; go and ask your reward from those for whom you have labored. This is a truth worthy of our most serious meditation. We apparently fulfil all our duties, we even perform many good works, but if, in all these things, carried away by frivolity and dissipation, we act without having a view to God, from habit and routine, from our natural temperament and our inclinations, from interest, from human respect, from ostentation, from purely natural reasons, such as necessity and propriety, it will all count as nothing in the sight of God. Yet, and it is painful to think it is so, is it not of acts thus performed that nearly my whole life is composed? I seek and I find myself in everything. I seldom so forget myself as to have only God in view. Alas! the purity of my intentions is often a secret which is hidden from myself, and if I could see all the impurity that is mingled with it, I should be confounded, and, as it were, annihilated. O God! what then is my life? It is a life of sterility and of time wasted: I am the useless servant of the gospel, if I am not the guilty and prevaricating servant.
SECOND POINT
The Advantages of Purity of Intention
1st. Purity of intention enables us to perform all things well. When we say to ourselves, inspired by a lively sentiment of faith, It is for God I am doing this, we come to the conclusion that we must do it most perfectly, otherwise it would be unworthy of God. We are as careful as it is possible for us to be when we take in hand any piece of work destined for kings and the great ones of the earth; with how much stronger reason ought we not then perfectly to perform what is done for God?
2d. Purity of intention enables us to gain heaven cheaply. Through it, the most common actions, even eating and drinking, are worthy of heaven; and in order to be saved I have only to perform my actions with a view to God and from a desire to please Him; there is no action, however little it may be, which, when it is referred to God, is not attended with a certain degree of merit. If I have not the talents which others possess, if I cannot perform the splendid actions which distinguish such men, I can be as great in the sight of God as are the greatest saints and acquire the same merits; I can, by the uprightness and purity of my intentions, raise to so high a degree even the most humble of my actions that, whilst leading a common life, I shall surpass in merit even the apostles, if God sees in my heart a more ardent desire to please Him; so true it is that all the beauty, all the merits, and all the greatness of a soul come from within (Ps. xliv. 14). O wisdom and sweetness of Providence! How worthy of condemnation I should be if, having such easy means at my command to enrich myself for heaven, I should remain poor, devoid of all spiritual graces, and reduced to presenting myself with empty hands before Thee, O my God. Let us here examine ourselves. Do we not act from pride, to attract to ourselves the applause and esteem of the world, from love of ourselves, to satisfy our senses, to follow our inclinations? Do we not act from purely natural ends, eating only to live, amusing ourselves solely for the sake of amusement; do we not often act without having any intention, mechanically and from habit?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.