review the Exercises of the first week, the meditations regarding mortal
sins and the fear of the Lord, not so much to obtain pardon of sins
committed, as to strengthen their resolutions and to take precaution
against committing sins in the future. In fact, as a rule, religious do
not commit mortal sins; and, although they must be constantly on their
guard against temptations,—because, while the spirit is willing, the
flesh is weak,—yet it is a consoling truth that they rarely fall so low.
A religious that frequently commits mortal sins lives far below the
normal standard of his state of life. He is indeed greatly to be pitied,
and is in serious danger of becoming a reprobate. Of course no one
should ever be discouraged, but such a person should arouse himself to
fervent prayer and vigorous exertions; he is walking on the brink of the
precipice.
Whoever has come to the present part of the Spiritual Exercises is
supposed to have conceived an intense horror of mortal sin. But we ought
not to be satisfied with attaining this first degree of purity of
conscience; we ought to strive seriously to attain the second degree, or
to confirm ourselves in the same; that is, we ought also carefully to
avoid the commission of all deliberate venial sins. We must distinguish
between two kinds of venial sins, the deliberate and the indeliberate.
Both kinds suppose that, while committing them, we are aware that we are
doing something which God forbids, or omitting what He commands; else we
do not really displease Him. But the sin is deliberate when we fully
notice the evil, and do it nevertheless with full consent of our free
will; else it may be called indeliberate. Indeliberate sins will escape
from time to time even very virtuous persons, owing to our unruly
passions and the weakness of the human will in consequence of Adam’s sin
and of evil habits.
Each of such faults, singly considered, could be avoided; for whatever
cannot be avoided at all cannot be laid to our blame; but all cannot be
avoided together. Thus a beginner may be able to pronounce correctly
every word on a page of his reader, but will not proceed far without
making some mistakes.
So we cannot avoid all indeliberate venial sins a long time together,
unless God give us an extraordinary grace to do so.
But with the ordinary grace of God a virtuous person may avoid all
deliberate venial sins. For this purpose we must first of all convince
ourselves of the great evil contained in every wilful offense of God;
for by such offense a poor mortal puts his will above the will of his
Creator and Lord. This evil is so great that no creature, nor even all
creatures united, could by their own power fully atone for it.
This becomes more evident when we consider some examples of the severe
punishments inflicted by the Lord on those guilty of such offences. Thus
when King David had committed an act of vanity by ordering an
enumeration of all his subjects to see how great a monarch he had
become, which seems to have been only a venial sin, the Lord sent to him
the prophet Gad, to give him the choice between three punishments,
namely three years of famine, three months of flight before his enemies
or three days of pestilence on his people. He chose the pestilence, and
it carried off seventy thousand men (I Paral. xxi).
Moses for a venial fault was refused the honor of leading the Chosen
People into the promised land, which would have been a fitting crown of
all his labors. His sister Mary, for some murmuring against her brother,
was stricken with a leprosy and humiliated before all the people. In
fact, leprosy is a striking figure of the effect of venial sin on the
soul; for it disfigures the soul without depriving it of life. If a
visible leprosy were usually the effect of wilful venial sin, men would
be as anxious to avoid such an evil as they are now to escape that
bodily plague.
Then there are the pains of Purgatory to be considered, which are
deserved by venial sins; they are worse than any pain known to us in
this life. For, as St. Thomas remarks, they are different in kind: the
fire of Purgatory is not created for the service and comfort of man, but
for his punishment and torture. The examples of its duration which have
been made known by revelations to saintly souls are proofs of the
terrible evil such offences are in the sight of the just, all-holy God.
Father Faber, in his “All for Jesus” says: “In the revelations of Sister
Frances of Pampeluna, we find that, among some hundreds of cases, by far
the greater majority suffered 30, 40 or 60 years” (pp. 394, 395).
There results besides from venial sins a still worse consequence than
any transitory suffering, namely that they expose us to the danger of
committing mortal sins and losing our soul for eternity. This happens in
two ways, naturally and supernaturally.
1. It is _natural_ for man, when he does a good or a bad act, to become
thereby more inclined to do the same again under similar influences and
circumstances; thus habits are contracted of virtue and vice. The
commission of venial sins therefore inclines the soul to sin more
readily thereafter, and to sin, not only oftener, but also more
grievously; and thus venial often lead to mortal sins. This is not
theory only, but the teaching of constant experience. For instance, a
religious has acquired great purity of conscience, he is a model of
modesty; but he begins to neglect his rules, he gets accustomed to
glance rather freely at indelicate objects, he becomes habituated to
indulge his curiosity. Still he would shrink from anything impure. But
his imagination becomes more indelicate, his passions less restrained,
wilful venial sins multiply and grievous falls may follow sooner than he
expected. Mortal sins themselves may become habitual, and who can tell
where the evil will end? Even if only one mortal sin were thus brought
about, the evil is the greatest of misfortunes. But this growing habit
is likely to get still worse.
2. _Supernaturally_ a similar process is going on. By every act of
virtue we obtain, along with the merit, additional actual grace to merit
more; but when we sin, we fail to obtain this new accession of grace;
and thus it becomes less likely that we shall do better next time. We
may thus lose more and more grace by repeated venial faults; and in face
of an unusually strong temptation, we may be so weak as to yield assent.
No one becomes very bad on a sudden; but many gradually lose their
virtue and become reprobates. History is full of such examples, and
daily experience ought to be a constant warning against such danger.
But even if there were no danger of mortal sin (which is, of course, a
false supposition) a religious has a special reason to avoid all
deliberate sin in the fact that he has been made a favorite disciple of
the Blessed Saviour. When he wantonly offends the Lord, he deserves to
some extent the reproach originally addressed to the Chosen People, and
afterwards applied to Judas: “If my enemy had reviled me, I would verily
have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things
against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him. But thou a man
of one mind, my guide and my familiar, who didst take sweetmeats
together with me; in the house of the Lord we walked with consent” (Ps.
54). We would not willingly grieve or insult a friend; and is not Jesus
our dearest and most devoted friend? Certainly it ought to be one of the
principal resolutions of the retreat to strive earnestly and unceasingly
to avoid all deliberate sins.
THE THIRD MEDITATION
To Excite Perfect Contrition
It is highly proper that we should not conclude this first part of the
retreat without striving earnestly to arouse within our hearts a deep
sorrow for all our sins, and that for the most perfect of motives,
namely because by them we have offended God, who is infinitely good in
Himself and infinitely bountiful to us. For this purpose we are going to
spend this hour of meditation in considering various manifestations of
the Divine goodness.
_1st Prelude._ Imagine you behold the return of the Prodigal Son, whom
his aged father clasps most affectionately to his heart.
_2nd Prelude._ Ask earnestly for an intense love of God and a perfect
contrition for all your sins.
_POINT I._ Consider the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the Lord
Jesus Himself has given us a most striking picture of the goodness of
our Heavenly Father. We may read to advantage the whole parable (St.
Luke xv, 11, etc.), but chiefly xv, 20-24: “And rising up he came to his
father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was
moved with compassion; and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed
him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son. And the father
said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring hither
the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; because
this my son was dead and is come to life again, was lost and is found;
and they began to make merry.”
Not a word of reproach, no limit to the pardon, only expressions of
happiness, and solicitude to restore the boy’s honor. Thus does God act
with sincere penitents.
_POINT II._ As the feast prepared is to-morrow’s Holy Communion, we will
consider in the next place how Christ _prepared_ His Apostles for their
Communion. “Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that his
hour was come, and that he should pass out of this world to the Father,
having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
“And when supper was done—he rises from supper, and layeth aside his
garments and having taken a towel, girdeth himself, etc.” (St. John
xiii, 1-5).
The washing of the feet is the image of the Sacrament of Penance, in
which Christ washes away our sins in His sacred blood. What a wonderful
invention of His infinite love: And how we ought to love Him, in return,
instead of offending Him by sin. Elicit an act of contrition.
_POINT III._ Consider that other manifestation of Divine love, the
institution of the Blessed Sacrament: “Whilst they were at supper Jesus
took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to his disciples, and said:
Take ye and eat, this is my body. And taking the chalice, he gave
thanks, and gave to them saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my
blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto the
remission of sins” (St. Matth. xxvi, 26-28).
Could we conceive any greater love than that Christ should feed us with
His own sacred body and blood? And yet, when we sin, we turn against
Him, as when a serpent bites its benefactor who warms it in his bosom.
My God, pardon me! My God, I love Thee above all things! I am most sorry
for having offended Thee!
A consoling fact like the following may give us a more sensible
appreciation of the favor granted us in the reception of Holy Communion.
On All Saints Day, 1612, St. Alphonsus Rodriguez had received the
Blessed Sacrament with his brethren, when the good Lord showed him in a
sensible manner His presence in the hearts of all those who had just
communicated, so that he beheld the Saviour resplendent with glory,
whole and entire in each of the religious (Life of Bl. Alph. Rodr. by a
Lay-brother, p. 82).
_POINT IV._ Imagine you visit a church or chapel at midnight. Jesus
Christ is there then, as at every hour of night and day. He is praying
for you to His Heavenly Father, because he loves you, and He knows you
need abundant graces to lead a worthy life. It was when Blessed Margaret
Mary was adoring Him in her convent chapel that Jesus appeared to her on
the altar pointing to His Sacred Heart, and saying: “Behold the Heart
that has loved man so much, and I receive nothing but coldness in
return.” He longs for love; and certainly we did not love Him when we
sinned. O my Jesus! I wish to love Thee. I detest my sins.
_Colloquy_ with our dear Lord, protesting to Him that I love Him
sincerely with my whole heart and soul, that I am most heartily sorry
for having offended Him, because He is infinitely amiable, begging that
I may love Him more and more.
THE FOURTH DAY
Now that we have freed our souls from every sinful affection, Christ
comes to offer Himself to lead us on, that by following Him we may
establish the Kingdom of God in our own souls and in the souls of
others. The study of the end of man was the foundation of a good life,
the study of the following of Christ is the foundation of a perfect
life.
FIRST MEDITATION
The Kingdom of Christ
_1st Prelude._ Imagine you see Christ going from town to town,
announcing the Kingdom of His Father.
_2nd Prelude._ Ask for grace to understand the call and to follow Him
with a generous heart.
_POINT I._ Consider this parable: God has chosen a most noble Catholic
prince, endowed with all the virtues that conciliate the esteem and love
of every good and brave man; and He has appointed him to put down all
the enemies of Christ, to establish the Kingdom of God in all countries,
and make the Lord reign supreme over all mankind. He is the greatest of
heroes, accomplished in person, magnetic in influence, beyond any mortal
that has ever appeared on earth.
This King issues a call to all Catholic warriors (for in this parable
only warriors are spoken of) inviting them to rally under his standard.
They are going to fight for the grandest, holiest and dearest of all
causes. He promises them certain victory, no one of his followers shall
perish unless it be through his own fault. Yet it will be a strenuous
campaign, full of hardships and fatigue for all concerned. But the King
himself will ever be in the midst of his soldiers, in the thickest of
the fight, sharing in their hardships and privations, so that no one
will be expected to toil and endure more than the leader; and each one
shall share in the victory in proportion to the sacrifices he shall have
made in the holy cause.
What should a brave warrior answer to such an appeal? The promises may
appear to be excessive, impossible; but they are so in the parable only,
not in the real facts figured by it.
_POINT II._ Now consider the application to the reality signified. The
Son of God Himself is that King, nobler and grander than any mere human
genius or hero, who has truly come into this world to establish the
Kingdom of God, and who is accomplishing this appointed task.
He calls upon all men, women and children to follow Him in His contest
against God’s enemies; not that He needs their aid, but that they may
share in the glory of the victory.
For this purpose all must, in some measure, share His labors and His
sacrifices; but He will ever be by their side, and endure more than any
of them. Every one will share in the magnificent rewards in proportion
to his generous exertions.
What answer should every generous heart make to such an appeal from his
great, good God, his sovereign Lord and Saviour? “To-day, if you shall
hear his voice, harden not your hearts” exclaims the Psalmist (Ps. 94).
_POINT III._ Those who wish to show greater affection, and to signalize
themselves in the King’s service, not only will offer their whole
persons to labor, but will also act against their own sensuality, and
say: “Eternal Lord of all things, I make my oblation with Thy favor and
help, in the presence of Thine infinite goodness, and in the sight of
Thy glorious Mother, and of all the Angels of Thine Heavenly court,
protesting that I wish and desire, and that it is my deliberate
determination (provided only it be for Thy greater service and praise)
to imitate Thee in bearing all insults and reproaches, and all poverty,
as well actual poverty as poverty of spirit, if only Thy Divine Majesty
be pleased to choose and receive me to this life and state.” As Jesuits,
we are certainly called to this close imitation of Christ. We must, not
only faithfully resist all temptations to sin, but also generously
follow our King in sacrificing lawful pleasures, trampling upon worldly
honors, upon self-esteem and bodily comforts, leading mortified lives,
as worthy companions of Jesus.
_POINT IV._ That war against Satan and against human depravity has been
going on for nineteen centuries. Millions have been following Christ to
victory, and are now reigning with Him in Heaven. Our time is come; we
too must make our choice. Our King has said: “He who is not with me is
against me,” “No man can serve two masters” (St. Matth. vi, 24). Let us
offer ourselves to be the generous and faithful followers of our Blessed
Saviour, imitating Him on earth that we may follow Him into the glory of
Heaven.
What sacrifices in particular can I offer Him?
_Colloquy._ Beg earnestly for light and grace to understand and follow
the example of Christ.
SECOND MEDITATION
On the Incarnation
Here St. Ignatius begins what he calls the Second Week of his Exercises,
in which he bids us study how the great King leads us in the grand
enterprise of establishing the Kingdom of His Father, by considering His
coming on earth, His nativity, His childhood and His private life. The
main purpose all along is to make us know Him more intimately, love Him
more ardently and follow Him more faithfully. This following consists in
making ourselves more and more like to Him: “Whom he (God) foreknew he
also predestinated to be made comformable to the image of his Son” (Rom.
viii, 29). By this conformity to Christ we make God reign in our hearts
and prepare ourselves to enter into His Heavenly Kingdom.
In this and the following exercises a change is made in the process so
far followed; namely, instead of recalling the facts to memory in the
body of the meditation, we now recall them in a special prelude, put
before the two usual ones. Then in the points we do less reasoning; we
rather look on and behold the event as it were passing before our eyes,
noticing in particular the persons, their words and their actions, and
dwelling on the thoughts and the sentiments which they suggest to our
minds. From the fact that we behold rather than reason, these exercises
are usually called _contemplations_, rather than _meditations_, though
the name is of little importance, provided the process be well
understood.
_1st Prelude._ Recall the facts to mind, as they are related by St. Luke
(i, 26-38).
_2nd Prelude._ Imagine you see the face of the earth, as it was at that
time, inhabited by diverse races of men, civilized and barbarian, all
steeped in vice and rushing on, a vast torrent, into the abyss of Hell.
In the little town of Nazareth the Virgin Mary at prayer, and God the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost looking down from Heaven upon the
varied scene.
_3rd Prelude._ Beg fervently that you may understand this mystery, and
may learn from it to know your King, Christ, more clearly, love Him more
ardently and follow Him more faithfully.
_POINT I._ _Study the scene_ as it was before the descent of the Angel,
noticing the persons, with their words and actions.
1. _The human race_, in a great variety of conditions: some rich, others
poor; some learned, others ignorant; some refined, others rude; some
suffering, others rejoicing; talking of wars and of pleasure, adoring
idols; but nearly all rushing on, like a vast torrent, into Hell.
2. Then consider the _chaste Virgin Mary_, praying for the coming of the
Messias, lowering herself in her own mind, thinking of her littleness
before God. Thus the poet tells of a drop of water saying to itself:
“how little I am in the vast ocean around me;” and at that moment a
shellfish swallowed the drop, and it lay hardening in the shell, and it
became the choicest pearl that ever shone on a queenly diadem. So was
Mary chosen in her humility.
3. Consider the _three Divine Persons_ looking down from Heaven upon the
scene below, seeing the mass of moral corruption, yet, instead of
sending down avenging fire or a new deluge of water to punish the guilty
race, pitying its sad condition. The Son of God steps down from His
throne, and casts Himself at the feet of His Heavenly Father, offering
Himself to assume our mortal nature and to atone for our sins.
Here is the first step of our King, lowering Himself: _Exinanivit
semetipsum_: “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man” (Phil. ii, 7).
We are to imitate Him, to be made like to Him. This is our first lesson;
let us learn it well: we must be humble.
_POINT II._ The Angel Gabriel is sent to Mary to announce her selection
as the Mother of God. He comes, not to the mighty city of Rome, to its
gilt palaces and learned scholars; the things of earth are very small in
the sight of God. He comes to an unknown little town in a despised
country, to a poor maiden, unknown to the world.
_Listen to the words spoken_: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee, blessed art thou among women.” Mary is too humble to realize that
such words could be suitable to her: “She was troubled at his saying.”
But the Angel explains and dispels her fear. He adds: “Thou shalt
conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the
most High.” Now her Virgin heart is alarmed; so precious is the jewel of
virginity in her sight. “How shall this be done, because I know not man?
And the Angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And
therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God.” Thus reassured, she understands that such is the will of
God; her answer beautifully expresses her humility: “Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” She does not say:
behold then the future queen of Heaven and earth, but the handmaid of
the Lord. Jesus has associated her with Himself making her, here and all
through life, the model of every virtue.
Her example is like that of the Redeemer: humility, humility.
_POINT III._ After her consent had thus been expressed, God, who always
respects the free will of men, formed in her womb, from her virgin
blood, the body of her Divine Son: “And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us” (St. John i, 14). As when he formed the body of Adam out
of the slime of the earth, He breathed into his face the breath of life;
so now He created the soul of Christ, and united it at once with the
embryonic body to build it up to the perfection of manhood, and at the
same moment God the Son assumed this humanity into substantial union
with His Divine Person.
This is the second step in the career of our King, again a species of
self-annihilation: _Exinanivit semetipsum_. It is also an example of His
love for men, of His boundless zeal for their salvation and
glorification. He stooped down to earth in order to raise man to Heaven.
_Colloquy_ with the Lord incarnate:—gratitude, love; promise to follow
Him, to humble self, to labor for the good of souls. Ask for the help of
Mary. Our Father—Hail Mary.
CONSIDERATION
On the Imitation of Christ
The main truth that St. Ignatius inculcates, both in the meditation on
the Kingdom of Christ and in all the subsequent portions of his
Exercises, is that man must be perfected by imitating Christ, by making
himself like to the Son of God made man, according to the words of St.
Paul: “Whom God foreknew he also predestinated to be made conformable to
the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many
brethren” (Rom. viii, 29).
The intense love of God, which the Saint conceived during his retreat at
Manresa, prompted him to make himself as like to Christ as, with God’s
grace, was possible; and the zeal for the salvation of souls, which he
learned from the example of Christ, urged him to form a band of men like
to himself, or rather like to the God-man, a select band to be, as it
were, a bodyguard of the Divine King in the holy warfare, undertaken to
establish the Kingdom of God. This is the spirit of the Society of
Jesus, and of all religious Orders, and to some extent of all who wish
to attain perfection. For this purpose the principal means to be used is
the study of the life of Christ, which is to be the chief occupation of
the exercitant during this and the following days. It is not a work of
human skill, but one of the direct influence of the Holy Spirit; He
alone can produce in the heart of man the supernatural likeness to the
Son of God. As He sanctified St. Ignatius, so He sanctifies all those
who faithfully and generously perform these exercises.