Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
From meditations upon modesty we will pass to meditations upon the holy virtue of purity, which is as the sister of it, and we shall see: 1st, the esteem and love we ought to have for this virtue; 2nd, the care with which we ought to preserve it. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to watch constantly over our heart and over our senses, in order preciously to guard the treasure of purity within us; 2nd, carefully to avoid all that may expose us to lose it. We will retain as our spiritual nosegay the words of the Saviour: "How beautiful and honorable is the chaste generation with glory!" (Wis. iv. 1).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the singular esteem and the great love of Our Saviour for purity. He loved this virtue so greatly that He willed to be born of a virgin mother, to have as His adopted father St. Joseph, who was a virgin, and as His beloved disciple the virgin disciple. Let us admire, let us praise, let us bless such sentiments, and ask of Him a share in them.
FIRST POINT
The Esteem and Love we ought to have for Purity.
Purity is a wholly divine virtue, which "makes him who preserves it an angel, and him who loses it, a demon," says one of the Fathers. It so enchants the heart of God, that He loves pure souls as His spouses (Prov. xxii. 11). He overwhelms them with His graces and His favors, reserves for them His tenderest caresses, His most intimate communications (Matt. v. 8). In heaven they will have a special place, side by side with the angels (Apoc. xiv. 4), and they will sing an ever new song which they alone will be able to sing (Ibid. 3). Could the Holy Spirit tell us more plainly that nothing in the world equals the excellence and the value of purity? (Ecclus. xxvi. 20.) Do we hold it in this high esteem?
SECOND POINT
The Care we ought to Take in Order to Preserve Purity.
If there be nothing in the world more precious than this virtue, there is also nothing more easy to lose and more difficult to recover once it is lost. It is like a well-polished mirror which the slightest breath tarnishes; like a lovely flower, but so delicate that a nothing fades it; like a precious crystal of infinite price, but which is very fragile; like a treasure carried in a vessel of clay which it is easy to break (II. Cor. iv. 7). Whence it follows that we ought to neglect nothing in order to preserve or prevent the loss of it. We ought not to care what it may cost us to obtain so great a possession, neither frequent and fervent prayers, attention to ourselves to put away from our imagination dangerous ideas and reveries, from our mind immodest thoughts, from our heart carnal affections; nor the abstaining from tender and sentient affections with persons of an opposite sex, however holy and spiritual they may be; nor the keeping a restraint over the senses, especially the eyes. We must flee as far as possible from everything in which there is any danger, keep ourselves away from the slightest temptations, because, on the one hand, the poison which corrupts purity is so subtle that it insinuates itself into the heart with extreme facility, and, on the other hand, the weakness and malignity of the flesh are very much inclined towards it; we must, lastly, avoid the least faults which have regard to this matter, because all of them are of extreme consequence; we must do and suffer nothing which has even the shadow or the appearance only of impurity, and keep ourselves in a continual state of self-distrust, without ever reassuring ourselves by our experience in the past, because he who has not fallen for a long time is always exposed to the danger of falling again (St. Jerome, Ep. ad Nepot.). Do we bring all these precautions to bear in relation to the preservation of this precious virtue?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.