Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon three practices of the presence of God, which are: 1st, to take pleasure in the divine presence; 2nd, to do everything with the object of pleasing God; 3rd, to converse with God by means of frequent ejaculatory prayers. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to be faithful to these three practices; 2nd, often to withdraw our thoughts from creatures in order to fix them upon God. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay the words of the Blessed Virgin: "My soul hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke i. 47).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Holy Spirit inspiring the holy king David with continual attention to the presence of God (Ps. xxiv. 15), and enabling him to find a delicious joy in this exerciseâa joy, as it were, of paradise (Ps. ciii. 34). Let us ask of Him a share in this grace, according to the advice of the Wise Man: "Let nothing hinder you from being always attentive to God" (Ecclus. xviii. 22).
FIRST POINT
To take Pleasure in the Presence of God, the First Condition of the Holy Exercise on which we are Meditating.
This complaisance in the presence of God is the sweet joy of a son living in the society of a beloved father. It is a happiness to think of him; he looks at him lovingly, whilst continuing his work and performing his duties. It is a simple and affectionate remembrance; there is no eagerness and no intensity in itâan interior look of the heart towards God, full of peace and sweetness accompanied by an ardent desire to please Him. "To Thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of the servants are upon the hands of their masters, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God" (Ps. cxxii. 1, 2). It is an enjoyment experienced by the soul in the ineffable beauty and the infinite perfection of the Supreme Being, present with us and in us; it is a calm attention to the interior words which He may will to address to usâwe receive them with gratitude, we retain them with love, we feed on them, we are penetrated with them. It is an abandonment of the whole of one's self to the good pleasure of God. All for Thee, all for Thee, O my Treasure and my All, I desire nothing but Thee (Ps. xxx. 16). It is to be perpetually contented with God, whatever He may do, in abandonments as well as in consolations, in reverses as well as in prosperity. We are alone with Him in the little heaven of our soul, St. Teresa says: we there enjoy Him at our ease, we contemplate Him lovingly, remaining at His feet like Mary, sister of Martha, and offering ourselves to Him as a victim of love to be sacrificed to all that He wills. Let us make this sweet experience.
SECOND POINT
To do Everything with a View to Pleasing God, the Second Practice of this Holy Exercise.
An excellent way of walking in the presence of God is to do everything with the object of pleasing Him; it is that which the Apostle recommends in the words: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God" (I. Cor. x. 31). We begin this exercise the first thing in the morning when we awake: I rise, Lord, in order to please Thee; Thy good pleasure is mine, I desire no other. We dress ourselves in these dispositions, we continue in them the whole day, repeating at each action, Lord, all to please Thee. The whole of my happiness consists in accomplishing Thy will. Provided that I please Thee, I am content (Acts ix. 6; Ps. lxxii. 25). At night, before going to sleep, we repeat once more: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit... In peace in the self-same I will sleep, and I will rest" (Ps. iv. 9; xxx. 6). Thus during the night as well as during the day our whole life is spent in the continual accomplishment of the good pleasure of God. We can say, with Jesus Christ: "I do always the things that please Him" (John viii. 29), or like the spouse in the Canticle: "My beloved to me and I to him" (Cant. ii. 16); and if we fall into any fault, we are not disgusted, but unite ourselves more intimately with God, like the little child, who, led by the hand of its mother, holds it faster after he has had a fall. Are we faithful to this practice?
THIRD POINT
Speaking to God by Means of Frequent Ejaculatory Prayers, a Third Practice of the Presence of God.
Ejaculatory prayers are like spiritual wings wherewith the soul flies to God, unites itself to Him, and lives a paradisiacal life in Him. By means of it it speaks to its God, as though it saw Him with the eyes of its body, saying to Him, for example: I adore Thee, great God; I love Thee, infinite Goodness; I admire Thee, adorable Union of all perfections. Thanks for Thy blessings. Pardon my faults and innumerable negligences. Help me by Thy grace to love Thee better. When shall I go to Thy paradise in order that I may love Thee more there? Oh, how I long to enter into it! I am drawn downward by my evil nature, and drawn upward by the desire to love Thee. "Lord, I suffer violence" (Is. xxxviii. 14), have pity on me. "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged" (Ps. cxix. 5). In order to console itself for not loving God as much as it desires to do, the soul offers to Him in a spirit of love each one of its actions, of its words, and of its thoughts: All for Thy love, O my God! nothing except for Thy love! To these different considerations, upon which it dwells more or less according to the attraction it feels in them, may be added a thousand other subjects of pious colloquies with which the Spirit of God inspires it. "I have a great deal to do to-day," a holy soul said; "my God is in me, waiting for meâwe have innumerable things to say to each other. I will unite myself to Him, I will listen to Him (Ps. lxxxiv. 9), and if He is silent, or if I remain before Him without being able to say a word, I will ask Him to teach me how to speak to Him (Luke xi. 1). I will tell Him that I love Him, that I desire to love Him always more and more; I will repeat it without ceasing, and my repetitions, far from being displeasing to Him, will be agreeable, He is so good and so paternal!"
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.