The child must copy the Mother. How is it with me? Surely if anyone
ought to realize the Divine Presence within, it is a child of Mary! How
far do I copy Our Lady in her interior life? What do I know of that deep
calm within, into which I can always retire and seek rest, and where I
can, if I will, rest so entirely that outward circumstances make little
difference? If I have made the same resolution as Our Lady; namely, to
"abide in the inheritance of the Lord;" pain and anxiety and difficulty
will be an actual source of joy, because they afford an excuse for an
extra visit to the Home within, and for longer conversations than usual
with my loved Guest. If a difficulty or a humiliation or something that
I do not like comes in my way, I shall not be troubled, my first thought
will be with my Divine Guest. _He_ has permitted this, even planned it.
I will go and talk to Him about it, find out what He means, what He
wants me to do and how I can best act in the circumstances to gain glory
for Him. This is what is meant by the interior life, and it _can_ be, it
_ought_ to be, far stronger than the exterior. It means a holy
indifference to everything except God's Will; it means rest and peace
about everything that happens, without any desire to have things
altered; it takes all anxiety and disquiet and perplexity out of life
and leaves a great calm which nothing has the power to disturb _except_
a will in opposition to God's Will.
_In omnibus requiem quaesivi._--Is it so very hard? Perhaps, for it
means the spiritual life, and that means a continual battle against
self; but it is a battle worth fighting. To fight is not only the way to
"_seek_ rest," but it is also the surest way to obtain it; for they
alone who are continually fighting to keep the enemy out can hope to
detain their Divine Guest within.
_Colloquy_ with Mary. Help me, my Mother, to dwell, this Advent, in "the
inheritance of the Lord," and when outward things are too much for me
and I am apt to behave in a manner unworthy of a child of thine, do thou
lead me by the hand into the place of rest and calm, where God Himself
dwells, and where I shall see things from His point of view.
"O God, who didst please that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message
of an angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant to Thy
suppliants, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God may be
helped by her intercession."
(Collect to be said every day at Mass from Advent to Christmas Eve.)
_Resolution._ To "abide in the inheritance of the Lord" to-day.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "In all things I sought rest."