If I want to live an interior life, I must model it on the life of JESUS
hidden in the womb of His Mother. He wants me to lead it for He is ever
saying: Learn of Me Who led this life for you. An interior life must be
essentially a life of oblation. This is its foundation: the offering of
the soul as a holocaust to God and then regarding itself as a victim,
all it has and does and is and thinks and plans, belonging not to itself
but to God. It lies on the altar waiting to be consumed; it is not
surprised when it is treated as a victim and feels the flames, not
surprised, that is, when it is forgotten and thought nothing of; its
life is _hidden_, how should people remember it! If it has to suffer, it
considers it the most natural thing in the world for a victim. If its
plans are all frustrated, it knows that it is lying there on the altar
to do God's Will, not its own, and that this is only the fire consuming
the victim; if it did _not_ happen thus the victim might indeed be
surprised and anxious, wondering whether God had accepted its sacrifice.
"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your
reasonable service" (Rom. XII. 1). The sacrifice is ever _living_, and
ever being consumed. The victim feels keenly all the many processes by
which God shows that He has accepted the offering, but if it copies its
Model, there will be no complaint, no drawing back of the offering, no
wishing that it had chosen an easier course, no wondering whether it had
made a mistake in its vocation; rather will there be joy in its heart
because in its humble way it is like its Master, and each fresh touch of
the fire will be to it a fresh proof that God has not forgotten it, but
has taken it at its word and counts on it to be all that it promised to
be. What is necessary for all this? Only one thing: _Love_. If I love, I
can do it. "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given Himself
an oblation for us."
O my little JESUS, hidden there for me and offering Thyself for me,
teach me to be generous, teach me to love Thee as Thou deservest; help
me to lie quietly and unresistingly on the altar. I am not alone. Thou
art there, bearing all with me and giving me the necessary strength to
bear all for Thee. Help me to sacrifice willingly all my cherished
desires and tastes, all my will. Thou didst withhold nothing from me,
help me to withhold nothing from Thee. So shall I make Thee some
reparation for all the time wasted in the past, for all the sins
committed against Thy love; so only can I obey Thy command: "Learn of
Me," and make some little return for Thy infinite love.
_Colloquy_ with JESUS and His blessed Mother.
_Resolution._ To offer myself as a victim to-day.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and
hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God."
(Eph. V. 2).