Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
After having seen the falsity of the wisdom of the world, we will meditate tomorrow upon Christian wisdom, and we shall see: 1st, in what it consists; 2nd, what its excellence is. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to see in all things our salvation as the great end to which we ought to make all tend; 2nd, carefully to avoid all that might expose or compromise it. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the prayer of Samuel: "Give me wisdom, that sitteth by Thy throne" that it may assist me and do everything with me (Wis. ix. 4 et seq.).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Holy Spirit teaching us Himself and through the saints the excellence of Christian wisdom, in order to inspire us with the love and the practice of it. He calls it the science of the saints, the life and the peace of the soul, the mistress, the guardian, and the directress of the virtues, without which they are only vices which are useless in regard to salvation. Let us thank this God of goodness and of light for having given us such lofty and precious ideas of Christian wisdom.
FIRST POINT
In what Christian Wisdom Consists.
It consists: 1st, in proposing to ourselves, in everything and before everything, the glory of God as the first and principal end of all our actions, and to look upon all creatures and all events as but so many means of attaining this noble end. Jesus Christ Himself gave us this idea of wisdom when He said: "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. xvi. 26.) It was to show us that beyond salvation and the glory of God, which is inseparable from it, all the rest is nothing and ought to be counted as nothing. 2nd. Our end being thus laid down, Christian wisdom consists in taking, in order to attain it, the best means, not those which reason or the senses teach us, but those which are revealed to us by the maxims of the gospel and the example of Jesus Christ; consequently, in all things to seek the will of God, which is the rule of all perfection; and as we are never more certain of doing it than when we obey, to love a life of obedience. In things in which the will of God seems to be indifferent, Christian wisdom consists in preferring contempt to honors, poverty to riches, suffering to pleasure, because it was thus that our divine Master acted (Heb. xii. 2). 3rd. The end and the means being thus set down, wisdom says to us: Watch, in order not to let opportunities for putting these maxims in practice slip by; watch for little opportunities as well as great ones, so as to be equally faithful in all; watch over your words, so that you may say nothing but what is discreet; over your actions, that they may all be well performed; over your intentions, that they may go straight to God alone; lastly, watch over yourself, that you may never allow yourself to be surprised by the enemy. Let us examine ourselves and see if such be the end and if such be the means which direct the whole of our conduct.
SECOND POINT
The Excellence of Christian Wisdom.
"I called upon God," says Solomon, "and the spirit of wisdom came upon me. And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her, neither did I compare unto her any precious stone, for all gold in comparison of her is as a little sand, and silver in respect to her shall be counted as clay" (Wis. vii. 7–9). And, in fact, Christian wisdom is beautiful in the eyes of God by its innocence of life and the uprightness and candor of its intentions; beautiful in the eyes of men, who cannot refuse it their esteem, and whom it makes to love religion; beautiful in itself, because of its noble simplicity, the elevation of its sentiments, the great virtues which it inspires, and the eternal glory to which it leads. With Christian wisdom we are saved, without it we are damned. With it we are happy, even in the present life; our heart is at peace, our conscience in repose; we enjoy the delicious delights of innocence and of the friendship of God. Without it, on the contrary, there is nothing but affliction and vanity of spirit here below; we are eaten up by remorse, discontented with ourselves; we feel that we are degrading and abasing ourselves, we lose even self-respect at last; it is the greatest misfortune which can befall a man. Oh, how precious, then, is Christian wisdom! Let us ask it of God, that it may preside over all our counsels, all our judgments, all the acts of our life.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.