A Prayer To Our Suffering Jesus.
Lamb without spot or blemish!—innocent Victim! whose blood has cancelled the sins of the world, efface mine, and do not permit thy sufferings to become useless to me. Jesus, deserted and forsaken by every body! Jesus, sorrowful and aggrieved! Jesus, agonized, patient, and resigned! help me to bear, with the like resignation, all the afflictions thou mayest be pleased to send me in this life. Jesus, calumniated, despised, and outrageously insulted! teach me to despise the judgments of men, and patiently to suffer the blackest calumnies. Jesus, whose virginal flesh was swollen with blows, mangled with wounds, pierced with thorns, and covered with blood for love of me! teach me to endure, for thy love, the pains and inconveniencies of sickness. Jesus, condemned to suffer the ignominious death of the cross! enable me to shun the praises of men, and to love the most humble situations. Jesus, bending beneath the heavy load of the cross! unite my cross to thine, and enable me to bear it with the like resignation, strength, and meekness. Jesus, elevated on the cross for my sake, and who expiredst thereon for my salvation! raise up my affections to heavenly desires, that living only for thee, and at length expiring in thy divine embraces, I may be for ever occupied in singing, forth thy praises. Amen.
Saturday.
The eminent holiness of Mary, her dignity as Mother of God, the
glory she enjoys, and the power she has received on earth and in
heaven, her tenderness for mankind, and more especially for
such as seek her intercession, or imitate her virtues, are the
motives which have inspired all the saints with the most lively
and affectionate devotion towards her.
Let us also devote ourselves to her, after their example.
"Devotion to the Blessed Virgin," (says St. Bernard,) "is a
mark of predestination." The best devotion we can practise with
regard to her, and that which is most strenuously recommended
by the saints, is a faithful imitation of her excellent
virtues; particularly her love of purity and humility, and that
heroic patience and fortitude under the severest crosses and
afflictions which she suffered, and wherewith almost her whole
life was embittered.
Let us therefore celebrate her festival, by preparing ourselves
on the eve, and communicating on the day, in her honour. Let us
pay to her images and pictures that respect and veneration
which the Catholic church, ever guided by the Spirit of Truth,
recommends. Let us sometimes recite her office, at other times
her litanies or rosary, according as the duties of our state of
life may afford us leisure, or our devotion direct. Let us often
address her with the utmost respect, attention, and confidence,
in the words of that beautiful prayer, composed partly by the
Angel Gabriel, partly by St. Elizabeth, and partly by the
church, and with the same spirit and sentiments. In fine let us
have recourse to her in all our wants and necessities, and omit
nothing to procure her assistance at that most critical period,
when we stand in most need thereof—the hour of death.
A Prayer To The Blessed Virgin.
Most Holy Virgin! Mother of God; and, by that august quality, worthy of the most profound respect from angels and men, I come to render thee my most humble homage, and to implore thy help and protection. Seated above the heavenly hosts of saints and angels, next to the throne of the Almighty, thou art most powerful, and thy goodness towards mankind equals the power thou hast in heaven.
Thou knowest, O most sacred Virgin, that I have been taught from my infancy to look up to thee as my mother, my patroness, and most powerful advocate; and thou hast vouchsafed from on high, to look down on me as one of thy children. I acknowledge, with the most humble sentiments of gratitude, that it is by the means of thy most powerful intercession I have received such innumerable graces and favours from the Almighty. Why then has not the fervour of my devotion towards thee been equal to thy zeal in succouring me in my necessities? Alas! the sense of my ingratitude overwhelms me with shame and confusion; but accept, O amiable Queen, of my determined resolution to love, honor and serve thee with more fidelity for the future.
Receive, then, O sacred Virgin, the protestation I now make of being hereafter entirely thine. Accept the unshaken confidence which I place in thy clemency and goodness. Obtain for me, most powerful advocate with thy dear Son, my Saviour, (who can refuse thee nothing that is conducive to my salvation,) a lively faith, a firm hope, and a generous, tender, and constant love. Procure for me such a purity of soul and body as nothing can defile or contaminate; such a profound humility as nothing can alter or change; and such patience and submission to the will of heaven, as nothing can perplex or disturb. Lastly, most blessed Virgin, obtain for me such a faithful imitation of thyself, in the practice of every virtue, during life, as may procure for me thy powerful aid and protection at the hour of death. Amen.
The following short ejaculatory Prayer to the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, has been recommended and experienced by many as an excellent preventative against impure temptations.
Through thy sacred virginity and immaculate conception, O most chaste Virgin, obtain for me purity of soul and body; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Pious Reflections
For Every Day In The Month.
Translated from the French of the Rev. F. Bouhours.
The following reflections, on account of their conciseness and
simplicity, require neither much time nor application to be
read and understood. They do not merely regard the social
duties of mankind, like those of Epictetus or Seneca; they are
Christian thoughts on the important truths of religion, and the
most elevated maxims of the gospel. They are not only adapted
for such as, by retirement, are familiarized to the practice of
mental prayer; but likewise for those who, from their secular
occupations, are as yet but little versed in the use of
meditation.
Even worldlings are still capable of sometimes elevating their
thoughts to heaven; for, in whatever occupations persons may be
engaged, they may always find sufficient leisure for a short
lecture. If the multiplicity or urgency of the concerns of this
life will not afford you sufficient time for regular meditation,
you may at least suffer a good thought to take possession of
your mind, before the business of the day is entered upon. Such
is the design of these short reflections; and the method of
using them is as follows:—Every day in each month, after
having acquitted yourself of the indispensable duty of morning
prayer, place yourself again in the presence of God, and read
the Thoughts of the Day; but in order that you may the better
comprehend their meaning, read them with deliberation, and the
most profound attention. After reading the first article, allow
yourself a short interval for reflection before you pass on to
the second. Do not rest satisfied with barely conceiving the
truth of the maxim you read; but after ruminating seriously
upon it, apply it to yourself; and observe the same rule with
the second and third articles. But should the urgency of
business allow you but sufficient leisure merely to read them,
be satisfied, under the assurance that pious thoughts have the
same effect on the soul, as a seal has upon melted wax; for,
should they enter but ever so slightly into the mind, they will
always leave some impression behind. If you cannot find leisure
to read these Thoughts in the morning, read them at least in
the course of the day, or at night before you go to bed. The
Practical Resolutions immediately following the Thoughts, must
not be omitted. An act of virtue, or a short reflection, is
soon made.
The passages from the holy Scriptures and Fathers, at the close
of the Reflections, are, as it were, an abridgment or abstract of
the Thoughts of the Day; they collect, as in a focus, their whole
strength and sense in a few words. Being short and concise, they
are easily remembered; being pithy and affecting, they are
happily calculated to rouse, support, and nourish the soul
throughout the course of the day. They are as grains of
essence, which contain a strong and fragrant odour within a
small compass; or as an ingenious piece of mechanism, which can
execute a great deal of work in a very little time. Be not
content with reading these reflections once over; but read them
over and over again, month after month, till by making a
lasting impression on the mind, you may reap all the spiritual
advantages they are capable of producing; for there is always
something new to be found in the truths of religion; they are
mines which cannot be too deeply dug into; they are fountains
whose sources are inexhaustible; but they are also seeds which
produce little or no fruit, unless they take root by being
deeply planted in the heart.
First Day.—On Faith.
1. All that Faith teaches is grounded on the authority of the word of God. It is from Christ himself that the church has learned whatever she proposes to the faithful as the object of their belief. When truth itself is the guide, one cannot go astray; and there is nothing more reasonable than to submit reason to faith.
2. Of what use is faith to a Christian, if it be not the rule of his conduct? If it be the most consummate folly to doubt of a doctrine which God has revealed, which so many martyrs have sealed with their blood, and which the devils themselves have so often confessed, is it not downright madness to believe this doctrine, and yet to live as if it were supposed to be false? Not to live conformable to our belief, is to believe just as the damned do.
3. Faith, then, shall henceforth be the sole principle of my actions, and the only rule of my life. Whatever it condemns, I also absolutely condemn. In spite of every natural repugnance, I will oppose the maxims of the gospel to those of the world, as often as the occasion presents itself. What does the world say?—Follow the natural bent of your inclinations, suffer nothing, &c. But what doth Jesus Christ say?—quite the contrary. But who is right—Jesus Christ or the world?
Thank God for being incorporated with his church, and recite the Creed slowly, as a solemn profession of your faith.
"Lord increase my faith." Luke, xvii.
"What doth it avail to believe like a Catholic, and yet to live like a heathen?" Peter Dam.
Second Day.-— On the End of Man.
1. God alone is our last end; he did not create us but for himself. Our hearts tell us that we were made for him; we cannot disown it without belying ourselves.
2. Every one should have what justly belongs to him; let us then give ourselves to God, since it is he that has a right to us. If we be not his children of our own accord, we must be his slaves in spite of us. We must of necessity live under the dominion of his justice or his bounty. Which choice shall we make?
3. Every thing should tend to its proper object, and act according to its nature. If the sun, which is made to shine, refused its light to the world, it would be a monster in the universe; nor is that heart less monstrous, which, being made for God, doth still refuse to belong to him. Do I behave myself as a creature which belongs to God? Are my thoughts and all my actions directed to him? Ah, how little do I do, that may be called truly done for God? What doth all the business in this world avail me, if I forget the only affair for which I am come into it.
Make here a resolution of seeking God alone, and of depriving him of nothing which he has a right to.
"Thou art my Lord and my God." John, xx.
"He requires you entirely, who hath made you entirely." St. Augustine.
Third Day.—Contempt of the World.
1. From the moment we are attached to the world, we cease, in some measure, to be Christians. This profane world, so passionately fond of grandeur, of pleasure, of every thing that can flatter self-love, is the capital enemy of Jesus Christ; their maxims, their commandments, their interests, are quite opposite; they cannot be obeyed at once, we must break off either with one or with the other.
2. We cannot take part with the world, without a breach of the promises we made at our baptism. When we renounced Satan and his pomps, we bound ourselves down, by solemn oath, to trample under foot whatever is greatest in the esteem of worldlings. What perfidy! what sacrilege! to prefer the goods of the earth to those of heaven, and to become idolaters of vanity.
3. The world has nothing worthy of an immortal soul; it has not even wherewith to requite its most devoted servants. Its treasures, its amusements, its honors, may indeed occupy and disturb the heart of man, but they can never satisfy it. They are, in reality, but false goods, vain shadows, and illusions; or, to speak more properly, they are real evils. They make a man wicked; they can never make him happy. The most brilliant fortune is not only frail and dangerous, but is often a source of the most painful uneasiness. There are sighs and sufferings upon the throne, as well as in chains and dungeons.
Beg of God to destroy in you the spirit of the world, and give you strength to despise its allurements.
"The figure of the world passeth away."—1 Corinthians vii.
"Wo to those who adhere to what is transitory; because with those things they themselves must pass away." St. Augustine.
Fourth Day.—Upon Death.
1. A Christian who does not lead the life of a Christian, has great reason to be afraid of death. What a dreadful account must he give after a worldly and sensual life! what bitter regret to have lost the opportunities of saving himself! to die an enemy of God! O dismal death! O dreadful moment, which concludes the pleasures of time, to begin the pains of eternity.
2. What would we, at the hour of death, wish that we had done? Let us do at present what we would then be glad we had done. There is no time to lose: every moment may be the last of our life. The longer we have lived, the nearer we approach to the grave. Our death is not less distant, the more it has been put off.
3. What will our notion of this earth he, when we are forced to quit it? Let us now take advice from death; it is a faithful counsellor; it will not deceive us. What will become of this beauty, this money, this pleasure, this honour? What will be our thoughts of them at the hour of death? In our life-time appearances often deceive us; but at our death we shall see things as they really are. Man, whilst alive, esteems the world; man when dying despises it. But which should we reasonably believe—man living, or man at the point of death? Ah! how trifling will the world appear at the light of that torch which faintly glimmers near the bed of death! But alas! it will then be no longer time to undeceive ourselves.
Think seriously on what you chiefly apprehend were you this moment to die, and regulate it immediately. Accustom yourself from this moment, to perform every action, as if you were to die instantly after it. Above all things, observe this practice in the use of the sacraments.
"Death and I are divided but a single step."
1 Kings, xx.
"There is no to-morrow for a Christian."
Tertullian.
Fifth Day.—On the Last Judgment.
1. I must one day appear before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, to be there judged upon the good or evil I shall have done. There is nothing more formal nor express in the gospel than this truth; I believe it as firmly as if the last trumpet had already sounded to call up all the dead to judgment.
2. What shall we say at the sight of so many bad thoughts, of so many criminal actions, of so many graces despised? O what a terrible day is the day of God's wrath! where the inmost recesses of the heart shall be openly exposed; where every fault shall be strictly examined! If the just themselves shall be hardly found just, what must become of unhappy sinners.
3. What sentence must an impenitent sinner expect from an offended and inexorable God? O tremendous condemnation! Depart ye accursed, &c, Alas! where shall these miserable wretches go, to whom you thus give your malediction? To what part of the world shall they retire when they withdraw from you? Where can there be so miserable a dwelling? To be banished from the presence of God! to be accursed of God! O what a shocking destiny!
Imagine yourself now before the tribunal of Christ. What are you most ashamed of at this very moment? Reflect seriously on it, and remember that all your secret sins shall be exposed at the day of Judgment, if you do not here efface them by a sincere repentance.
"Who shall be able to stand before the face of his wrath?"
Nahum, i.
"Wo even to the praiseworthy life, if without mercy, O God, thou
shalt examine it."
St. Augustine.
Sixth Day.—Upon Hell.
1. How great would be our horror, if the shrieks of the damned—if their groans and blasphemies could reach us! They roar like wild beasts; they accuse themselves of their sins; they bewail—they detest them. But it is too late; their tears but add new strength to the fire that torments them. O repentance of the damned! how rigorous art thou! but ah! how fruitless!
2. Never to see God! to be burning in flames for ever! the blood boiling in our veins, the marrow in our bones! to be trampled on by the devils! to have all that is hideous for ever before our eyes! to have rage, anguish, and despair eternally rooted in our heart, without comfort or mitigation! O what a life!
3. These wretches are outrageous at having had so many opportunities of saving themselves, and for having neglected them. The recollection of their past pleasure is one of their most sensible torments. But nothing more keenly gnaws them, than the impossibility of forgetting that God whom by their fault, they have miserably forfeited.
Go down in spirit into hell, and inquire of the damned what is it that has made them fall into it. Question them upon their present state, and learn of them to fear God and your own danger.
"Which of you can dwell with devouring flames."
Isaiah, xxxiii.
"The impious pass from one punishment to another—from the
burnings of concupiscence to the flames of hell."
St. Augustine.
Seventh Day.—On the Eternal Torments of the Damned.
1. Can the wrath of God go farther than punishing pleasures which are so soon over, by tortures which will never have an end? To be miserable while ever God is God!—can any misery be like it? Is it not enough that the evils of the damned are extreme? Must they still, besides this, be eternal? To be hurt by the point of a pin, is trifling in itself; yet were this pain to last always, it would become insupportable: What shall it be then, &c.
2. O eternity! when a damned soul shall have shed tears enough to make up all the rivers and seas in the world, did he shed but one tear in every hundred years, he shall not be more advanced, after so many millions of ages, than if he had only just began to suffer. He must begin again, as if he had yet suffered nothing; and when he shall have begun as often as there are grains of sand on the seashore, or atoms in the air, or leaves on the trees, he shall still be as far off from the end of his sufferings as ever.
3. The damned must not only suffer during eternity, but suffer every moment an eternity entire. Eternity is always present to them; it enters into their punishment; their mind is incessantly struck with the endless duration of their torments. O cruel thought! O deplorable condition!—to rage for an eternity!—to burn for an eternity! Ah, that we could conceive this, as those damned souls conceive it.
Make an act of faith upon the duration of the punishments which the justice of God inflicts for mortal sin. We must at least believe, what we are not able to conceive. It is a great misfortune for a Christian not to be persuaded of this eternity, but by his own sad experience.
"Those who do not obey the gospel,
shall suffer eternal punishment."
2 Thessalonians i.
"Momentary is that which delights,
eternal is that which tortures."
St. Chrysostom.
Eighth Day.—On Heaven.
1. Heaven! thou glorious state! no heart can conceive, no tongue can describe what thou art! Exemption from all that is evil; assemblage of all that is good; masterpiece of God's omnipotence; the price of the blood of Jesus; and more than man can desire.
2. To see God clearly, and as he is in his glory; to love God without measure; to possess God without ever fearing to lose him; to be happy in the felicity of God himself; such is the object of my hope. But a day or two of pilgrimage or exile, and then I shall be with him for ever.
3. What matters it how we fare here below, provided we be with Jesus for all eternity? Can I justly complain that a never-ending happiness should cost me so little? The martyrs purchased heaven at the price of their blood, and thought it was given them for nothing. Shall not I then sacrifice my corrupt will for it? O happy eternity! if men only knew what thou art worth.
Excite within yourself a great desire of heaven, and behold the earth with a proportionable contempt. Were you filled with a proper sense of it, nothing here below could allure or disturb you.
"I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear."
Psalm xvi.
"If the labour terrifies, the reward invites."
St. Bernard.
Ninth Day.—On the Presence of God.
1. God at this moment beholds me, as if I were alone in the world; or rather, he is within me as an eye infinitely enlightened, which observes me attentively, and which nothing can escape. He sees me as clearly as he comprehends himself, and with as intense an application, as if he ceased to contemplate himself, in order to study me.
2. Ought I not to be infinitely more ashamed that my sins should appear in his sight, than that they should be exposed to the eyes of the whole world? Would I commit in the presence of a servant, what I dare commit before the King of kings? O what blindness to fear so much the eyes of men, and so little the eyes of God!
3. The most obscure darkness can never conceal me from light itself; the most distant and solitary retreats are always filled with the divine Majesty. Let me shun, as much as I please, the sight and the company of men, I will find God every where.
Put yourself in the presence of God, and see whether there may be any thing in you that may offend his eyes. The most powerful remedy against sin, is to say frequently within yourself, "God is looking at me:" there needs no more to restrain you in the greatest violence of temptation.
"All things are clear and open to his eyes."
Hebrews, iv.
"If you be determined to commit sin, seek first a place where God
will not see you, and then do what you please."
St. Augustine.
Tenth Day.—Care of our Salvation.
1. The affair of Salvation is, properly speaking, the only business of man; every other concern, when compared with it, should be accounted as nothing. The enterprises of kings, their negotiations, &c, are as the amusements and the triflings of children. The important and the only affair, therefore, is to serve God, and thereby save our souls: the whole good—the whole perfection of man consists in this. It would be irrational, and therefore degrading to man, to neglect an affair whose consequences are so great, whose success is so uncertain, and whose loss is irreparable. What blindness! what folly! to think only of living, and not to think of living well! to apply so much time to making our fortune, and so little to the saving of our soul! "What doth it avail a man to gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul?"
2. All creatures are made but for our salvation; they become useless when not employed for that great end: so that from the moment a man ceases to labour for his salvation, the sun also should cease to shine, the planets should stop in their course, the earth should no longer support him, the angels should abandon him; he should fall back into his original nothing. He is unworthy of life, when he liveth not for God.
3. However, the greater part of mankind think less of saving themselves than of any thing else. Every other business is carefully attended to, except the affair of salvation. All other concerns are turned to account. This sum of money must be put out to interest; this field must be tilled; these lands must be let at a more considerable rent. All other losses are bewailed, except the one without resource. Great expenses are incurred for the body, and nothing at all is done for the soul: from the manner in which we live, it should seem that our soul does not really belong to us, but that it is the soul of our most mortal enemy, or the soul of some brute; or rather, that we have a soul just merely to destroy it.
Make now a firm resolution to save your soul, let it cost you what pains it will: be of the same sentiment with a certain pontiff, who, when a king had asked something of him, which could not be granted without sin, replied: "If I had two souls, I would give one of them to thee. O Prince, but as I have only one, I do not choose to forfeit it."
"Moreover, one thing is necessary."
Luke, x.
"Where there is the loss of salvation,
there surely there can be no gain."
St. Euch.
Eleventh Day.—On Horror for Sin.
1. How great a loss is the loss of God! Men think themselves unfortunate when they lose all their possession at law, or by bankruptcy, or by some other accident. What is it, then, to lose an infinite God! Unhappy the soul which loses its God by sin; but far more unhappy the soul who considers this loss as nothing.
2. O sin! how common art thou among men! but how little at the same time art thou known to them! Playing and amusing themselves, they become the execration of God. And what play—what amusement is this? God, who is all love, detests sin with infinite hatred: should any thing, therefore, be so shocking in our eyes as this hellish monster.
3. A soul in the state of grace, is beautiful beyond expression! it is a brilliant image of God himself; the Holy Ghost animates it. But when mortal sin is allowed to infect it, its beauty is lost, its light is extinguished, the Divine Spirit departs, the devil takes possession; all then is darkness, filth, and deformity. If a God-man dying was a dreadful spectacle, mortal sin is yet more dreadful; for Christ died but to atone for sin, and sin can daily frustrate all his merits; he is crucified over and over; his blood is trampled upon by ungrateful sinners.
O detest at this moment all your sins. Lament from your heart the loss of God's grace; there is no loss so much to be lamented; it is the only loss which sorrow can repair.
"What advantage had you in those things at which you are now
blushing?"
Romans vi.
"Wo to that daring soul, which hoped that having retired from
you, she might still find something better."
St. Augustine.
Twelfth Day.—On Repentance.
1. "Repent, and believe the Gospel." Our Lord here joins faith and repentance together, in order to teach us, that the rigours of penance, and the profession of Christianity, are inseparable. During his mortal life he was a penitent God, ever occupied in expiating our sins, to appease the justice of his eternal Father. Surely, we should follow his example. If the Holy of Holies fasted, prayed, and wept, what should not be done by such vile wretches as we are?
2. Sin must necessarily be punished, either by him who commits, or by God, against whom it is committed. If sinners do not punish themselves in time, the Divine Justice will punish them in eternity. The flames of hell must punish what the waters of penance have not effaced. Is it not, therefore, better to weep for a few days, than to burn for eternity.
3. To be reconciled with God, it is not enough to prostrate ourselves before a priest, cover our heads with ashes, and our whole bodies with hair-cloth. If we have not a sincere sorrow for our sins, if we do not entirely renounce our criminal attachments, we are impostors, and not penitents. Prayers, alms, fastings, and macerations of the flesh, are but the outside of repentance; the hatred of sin is its very spirit and essence.
Implore God's mercy for having hitherto led a life so opposite to the Gospel: and beg of him the grace to live for the future as the first Christians did, in the constant practice of penance.
"Unless you do penance, you shall all perish alike."
Luke, xiii.
"To penitents, I say, To what purpose is it that you be humbled,
if with this you be not changed?"
St. Augustine.
Thirteenth Day.—On Delay of Conversion.
1. By deferring so long to give myself up to God, it should seem as if I intended to escape out of his hand. Is it then a misfortune to belong to him? To-morrow! to-morrow!—Why not to-day? why not at this very moment? Will my chains be more easily broken to-morrow? will my heart be less hard?—No, certainly. Time, that weakens every thing else, adds new strength to bad habits. By putting off the remedy, the complaint becomes incurable.
2. What is it that prevents our obeying the voice that calls us to repentance? What is it that terrifies us? That there is great difficulty in changing our lives, must certainly be granted; but what should not a Christian do, who adores a crucified God, and who looks up to heaven? If we have any thing to fear, it should be the abuse of God's graces.
3. There is time to come; but can I call it mine? Is it a possession I am master of? God waits for me, it is true—the scriptures tell me so—but still they do not tell me how long I am to live. He that promised pardon to those who repent, has not promised another day to those who continue in their vices. Perhaps I shall have time, and perhaps I shall not. Must not I have lost my senses, to trust my salvation to a mere perhaps?
Reflect now upon the time you have been deferring your conversion to God, and tremble at the sight of your danger.
"I said: now I have begun."
Psalm lxxix.
"We cannot be too cautious, where eternity is at stake."
St. Gregory.
Fourteenth Day,—On Human Respect.
1. What will the world say? Let it say what it will: should the talk of fools hinder you from being wise? But what will my acquaintance say? They will say, that you fear God more than you fear man; the greatest libertines will secretly admire you, and acknowledge within themselves that you are doing right. But what matters it, after all, what people may say of you, provided you do your duty, and that God be satisfied?
2. O what cowardice, to blush at the gospel? To wear the livery of a prince is held honourable: is it then shameful to wear that of Jesus Christ? The lowest mechanics make open profession of the trades they follow; and yet Christians, in the church, blush at being thought Christians! The Son of God will deny before his Father in heaven, the Christian that shall have denied him before men.
3. What then? Is there any thing in Jesus that you should be ashamed of? Is his name infamous? Is it a disgrace to follow his maxims and example? You are not ashamed, perhaps, of being a libertine, a drunkard, a blasphemer; you may probably even glory in it; and yet you blush at being a good man. But let people say what they will, the man that is most esteemed is he who serves God with most fidelity, and who openly professes himself to be a follower of Christ.
Ask yourself seriously whether this phantom of the world doth not frighten you, and prevent your fulfilling the obligations which the Christian religion imposes.
"I do not blush at the gospel."
Romans i.
"Why should you fear or be ashamed,
when armed with the sign of the cross?"
St. Aug.
Fifteenth Day.—Diffidence in Ourselves.
1. We have nothing to fear so much as ourselves. Our own weakness is more alarming than the united powers of hell. A thought, a word, a single look is enough to overcome us. Angels have rebelled, Adam hath fallen, Solomon hath bowed to idols, Peter hath denied his Master. When cedars have yielded, how shall osiers stand?
2. Our own heart is our most dangerous enemy; our senses and our passions are always conspiring against us; we are vanquished almost without a struggle. Let us then never be so weak or foolish as to trust to ourselves. Many whom torments could not shake, have wretchedly perished in a slight temptation: they were victorious over tyrants, but vanquished by concupiscence.
3. There is no man, of how exemplary soever a conduct, that should not tremble at the justice of God, because he cannot be certain whether he be worthy of love or hatred. To the all-seeing eye of Infinite Perfection, the very angels themselves shall not appear without blemish. Sanctity may be lost in a single moment, and the saint may be transformed into an odious reprobate. We should all, therefore, cry out with St. Philip of Neri: "Watch me, O Lord, this day, for abandoned to myself I shall surely betray thee."
Beware of the occasions of sin; the most dangerous are often what you are least afraid of.
"Let him who thinks he stands,
take heed lest he fall."
1 Corinthians iv.
"Though you be in a place of safety,
do not on that account think yourself secure."
St. Bernard.
Sixteenth Day.—Use of Divine Grace.
1. Whatever grace we have, was dearly purchased: our Saviour gave his blood for it. Wherefore to reject a pious thought, to resist an holy inspiration, is, in fact, to trample on the merits of Christ, and to frustrate, as much as we can, the ends he proposed to himself in dying for us.
2. We are accountable to God, not only for the graces we have received, but also for those which he intended to confer on us, provided we ourselves had not put an obstacle to them. His sun shines, but we shut our windows against it. Are we the less indebted to him for its light?—No; for we may, if we please, make use of it.
3. Many years, perhaps, has God been inviting us in vain; soliciting, reprehending, and threatening us, to no manner of purpose. But let us remember, that he is a creditor who will not thus be put off, and that the longer our debt is unpaid, the more strictly will he require the interest. There is possibly a measure of sins which may force him at last to abandon us.
Thank the Almighty now for all his gifts and graces. Beg pardon for having been unfaithful to him, and resolve to correspond with docility, to all the suggestions of his grace for the future.
"From him to whom much hath been given,
much will be required."
Luke, xii.
"Grace is followed by judgment."
St. Basil.
Seventeenth Day.—Good Use of Time.
1. The loss of time is one of the greatest misfortunes in the world. This life is so short! all its moments so precious! yet we live as if it were never to end, or as if we had nothing to fear hereafter.
2. Alas! if a damned soul had but one single moment of the time we now squander away, what good use would he make of it! Every instant of our life we may purchase a happy eternity. The opportunity of enriching or amusing ourselves we never miss; but the means of salvation appear to us indifferent.
3. The day that is best employed, is not always the one that has most forwarded our temporal affairs, but that which has added most to our merits, and which God has been best pleased with. Let us always so regulate our time, that God and our salvation may be our constant objects.
Renew the resolution you have taken to serve God faithfully; and be firmly persuaded, that the time which is not employed for God, is no more than so much time lost for ever.
"God hath given to no person time for sinning."
Ecclesiastes xv.
"You have leisure to become a philosopher;
you have none to become a Christian."
St. Paul.
Eighteenth Day.—Use of the Sacraments.
1. The sacraments are the channels of divine grace; through them the merits of Christ abundantly flow into our souls. We must therefore take care to approach them worthily; for otherwise his merits will not avail us, nor will our salvation of course be possible.
2. The abuse of the sacraments is an evil of the first magnitude. They were instituted as the means of life; but, when perverted, lead to eternal death. There is no medium; they must be either our food or our poison. How dreadful then must it be to reflect, that after so many confessions we should be so little improved, that after repeated communions we should still follow the same sinful course!
3. The unworthy communicant receives his own condemnation, and becomes, as it were, incorporated with his own ruin. What answer can he give when called to account for his baseness? How shall he hope to escape, when arraigned for such daring profanations?
Examine yourself carefully upon the use you have made of the sacraments, and receive them for the future, as if death were immediately approaching.
"Let a man prove himself."
1 Corinthians.
"There are bad Christians, who are called by the name of
faithful, and who are not such; by whom the sacraments of Christ
are dishonoured and profaned."
St. Augustine.
Nineteenth Day.—On the Mass.
1. A sacrifice is an exterior or visible offering made by a lawful minister to God alone, in testimony of his supreme dominion. Our absolute dependance on God, and the homage we owe him, render sacrifice essential to religion. Hence, from the beginning of the world it has been always offered: Abel, Noah, Melchisedech, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sacrificed to the Almighty; and a variety of sacrifices were prescribed in the written law of Moses.
2. All these however, were only weak figures of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross; for sin was too great an evil, its guilt was of too black a die to be ever removed by the blood of sheep and oxen. No other atonement could possibly compensate for its enormity, than the excruciating sufferings of a God; therefore did he come. "In the head of the book it was written of him, that he should do the will of his Father." By the one oblation of himself he paid off all our debts, closed up the abyss of separation, cancelled the hand-writing of sin that lay against us, and the sanctified he perfected for ever.
3. Was not this enough? Most undoubtedly it was; nay, one drop of his blood was fully adequate to all these purposes. Why then is the same sacrifice daily renewed in the Mass? Why is he still immolated upon our altars? Why is his body mystically drained of his blood, by the separate consecrations of the two species? Because his love for us would have it so; he would leave us a standing memorial of his death; he would daily apply to our souls the infinite merits thereof, just as he prays for us still, though his prayer on the cross was already heard for us; he would, as a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech, continue to the end of time the same unbloody sacrifice; he was willing that his faithful on earth, united not only in spirit, but in outward ties of religion, should ever have this sacrifice before them, as the strongest bond of love, and the most perfect act of adoration.
Make a resolution to hear Mass every day, and to hear it with the devotion which so august a sacrifice requires. For this purpose go to the church as you would to Mount Calvary; adore Jesus Christ in his state of humiliation: pay him your homage with fervour at the foot of the altar. It is shameful in us and most displeasing to him, that he should be so much deserted in the midst of our churches, and that his court should be so empty, whilst earthly kings have their levees crowded.
"In every place there is a sacrifice,
and a pure victim is offered to my name."
Malic. i.
"He will then be our victim indeed,
when we sacrifice ourselves to him."
St. Gregory.
Twentieth Day.—On Alms Deeds.
1. We minister to Christ when we relieve the poor. He abides in the Eucharist to receive our adoration, and to become our nourishment; he abides in the poor to excite our compassion, and to be fed by us in our turn. Happy the man who gives alms to Jesus! but wretched is he who refuses to assist him. Shall we feed our dog, and let Christ famish with hunger!