THERE are two kinds of examination (or examen): general and particular. The object of the first is to discover all the faults we have committed. The second or particular examination has for its object one single fault or bad habit that we have resolved to correct. It is made every day in the following manner:

1. In the morning, on rising, resolve to avoid this sin or defect.

2. Toward noon, ask of God the grace to remember how often you have fallen into it and to avoid it for the future. Then examine, thinking over the time passed since your rising to this time, the number of faults committed, marking them by so many points in the first line of a figure like the following:

Days of the week

1st day ____________________________________

2nd day ________________________________

3rd day ____________________________

4th day ______________________

5th day _________________

6th day ___________

7th day ______

This done, renew your resolutions for the rest of the day.

1. In the evening, after supper, a new examination like the first, marking the faults on the second line.

OBSERVATIONS

1. At each fault against the resolutions you have taken, put your hand on your heart and repent of your fall. This may be done without being perceived.

2. At night, count the points of the two examinations, and see if from the first to the second you have made any amendment.

3. Compare in the same way the day or the week that is ending with the preceding day or week. The lines diminish in length because it is reasonable to expect that the number of the faults should likewise diminish.

4. The subject of the particular examination should be ordinarily the predominant passion—that is, the one that is the source of the greater number of faults that you commit and that consequently is the great obstacle to your sanctification.

5. This examination on the predominant passion should be continued until it is entirely overcome, or at least notably weakened.

SINS OF THOUGHT

IT may be admitted as a principle that there arise in man three sorts of thoughts, of which one comes of itself, and the other two from the good and the evil spirit.

A bad thought, which if consented to would become a mortal sin, may be an occasion of merit—(1) when the thought, as soon as it presents itself, is resisted or banished; (2) when the thought repelled, once or several times, returns soon afterward but is constantly resisted until vanquished: and this second victory is much more meritorious than the first. That person sins venially who dwells a little on the thought, as if he listened to it, or who takes a slight pleasure in what flatters the senses or is negligent in repelling it.

Mortal sin is committed by thought, first, when the thought is consented to; and second, when the thought is acted upon, which is a more grievous sin: (1) because it is entertained longer; (2) because we give ourselves up to it more ardently; (3) because we generally injure others by scandalizing them.

SINS OF WORD

There are many ways of offending God by words; for example, by swearing and blaspheming. We must not swear by the Creator, nor by any creature, except with these three conditions—truth, necessity, respect. By necessity is understood the obligation of confirming with an oath, not all sorts of truths, but only those that tend to procure a considerable good, spiritual or temporal. That person swears with respect, who, in pronouncing the name of God, renders Him the honor that is due to Him.

To swear by the Creator rashly and in vain is a greater sin than to swear by the creature. Yet it is easier to observe the required conditions in swearing by the Creator than swearing by created things: (1) because in swearing by the latter we take less care as to the truth and the necessity; (2) because we think less of the respect due to God in calling His works to witness than in uttering His holy name. All idle words must be avoided, that is, such as are useful neither to the speaker nor to others and that are not said with any intention of being useful. But we must not consider those words idle that of themselves tend to the spiritual good of our souls or those of our neighbors or to a temporal good or interest or that refer to it in the intention of the speaker, although he may be speaking of things foreign to his state—as if, for instance, a monk should speak of trade or war, and so on. To speak with a good intention is a merit; to speak uselessly or to a bad end is a sin.

The most common sins of the tongue are lying, false testimony and detraction. As to this last, it is a mortal sin to make known a serious fault that is not public, if done with a bad intention or with notable prejudice to our neighbor’s reputation. If the fault revealed be less serious, the sin is only venial.

If the intention be good, we may speak of our neighbor’s faults, (1) when they are public; (2) when we speak to persons who may probably withdraw them from sin.

Insult, derision and words with suchlike tendency belong also to sins of the tongue.

SINS OF ACTION

All actions by which we transgress the commandments of God or the Church are mortal or venial sins, according to the gravity of the matter and the degree of thought and consent with which they were done.

THE first point is an act of thanksgiving to the Lord for the benefits we have received.

The second is a prayer to know our faults and to correct them.

The third is an exact discussion and examination of the sins we have committed during the day. We must demand a rigorous account from our souls of what we have thought, said and done hour by hour. The same order and method must be followed as has been already given for the particular examen.

The fourth consists in asking pardon of God for the sins into which we have fallen.

THE following are some of the principal advantages of general confession, which is recommended during the Exercises, even though not of absolute obligation.

1. The remembrance and detailed view of the sins of our past life excite in the soul a more lively contrition.

2. As the exercises give a clearer and more distinct knowledge of the malice of sin, the confession will be made with more care and more fruit.

3. Experience shows that a great number of Christians often approach the sacrament of penance without sufficient examination, without the necessary sorrow, without any, or at least a very feeble, resolution of amendment of life. Thence arise troubles and disquiet, if not during life, at least at the moment of death. The purpose of the general confession made during the exercises is to purify the soul from all past faults and to give it peace and tranquility for the future. So, although we must avoid in this confession anxiety, scruples, and continual returns to the past, yet we must endeavor to give it all the attention and all the care we are capable of, so that we may always be able to assure ourselves that not anything has been neglected; without which we can never enjoy peace of heart or repose of conscience. It will be desirable, in preparing for this confession, to make use of some method or directory for examination. There are several very good ones that can easily be procured.

4. The last advantage of general confession is that it is generally followed by a more fervent communion. And nothing is more efficacious than a good communion, whether in avoiding sin, or in preserving and augmenting the grace that we have had the happiness to receive.

1. I will add to the practices already recommended some satisfaction or penance.

Penance is interior and exterior.

Interior penance is sorrow for our personal sins, accompanied by the firm resolution to sin no more.

Exterior is as the fruit of the interior sentiments. It is a punishment that a sincere repentance causes us to inflict and is practiced chiefly in three ways.

First, in nourishment; if we retrench something, not of superfluous food (that is the office of temperance, not penance), but of something proper for us; and the more we retrench, the better we do, as long as nature does not become too weak or ill.

In the second place, in sleep and rest; if we give up, not only luxury—that which would give delight—but also what might be only convenient; always avoiding, however, what would seriously endanger the health or life. For this reason, we must not retrench necessary sleep, or at least very little, and only in case of being obliged to cure ourselves of a bad habit of sleeping too long.

Finally, in the treatment of the body; if we inflict painful sensations on our body, by the use of hair shirts, cords, or iron girdles, or by wounding or bruising ourselves. In all this, however, it appears more expedient that the pain should affect the flesh only, without penetrating to the interior organs, where dangerous lesions might take place; therefore we ought rather to choose disciplines made with small cords, because they only give pain to the exterior parts without injuring the health.

Exterior penance serves for three purposes or produces three principal effects: it serves as an excellent satisfaction for past sins; it exercises man in conquering himself and in submitting the inferior part of himself, his senses, to the superior part, or the reason; finally, it solicits and obtains those gifts of Divine grace that we desire—for example, lively contrition for our sins, abundant tears for them, or over the cross of Jesus Christ, the solution of a doubt that has troubled us, and so forth.

When the desired feelings of consolation or sorrow are not derived from the Exercises, it is useful to modify the regimen a little by mortifying ourselves differently from what we have done before, in our eating, sleeping, or the treatment of our body. So that when a penance has been practiced three days, for example, it may be interrupted two days or longer, according as the state of the soul requires more or less penance.

Care in varying and interrupting these exterior mortifications during the exercises procures the following great advantages. It frequently happens that certain persons neglect all practice of penance, either from excess of sensuality or because they persuade themselves that their constitution cannot bear it without danger: others, on the contrary, relying too much on their strength, pass the bounds of all discretion. But by changing the kind of penance, and trying first one and then another, it happens that we obtain, through this experience, and by the grace of God, who sees the depths of our nature, the knowledge of what will be most useful to us.

THE soul is moved by diverse spirits, which it is important to discern, in order to follow the good and repel the bad. The following are some rules, of which the first are suited to souls less perfect and the others to those who are more so.

FIRST RULES

(More particularly suitable to the first week.)

1. Let us suppose a soul that easily falls into mortal sin and goes from fall to fall: to plunge it deeper into crime and fill up the measure of iniquity, the infernal enemy ordinarily employs the charms of voluptuousness and all the baits of the senses, which he incessantly places before the eyes. On the contrary, to turn him from sin, the good spirit never ceases to prick his conscience with the sting of remorse and the counsels of reason.

2. But if this soul should set itself to use every effort in order to purify itself from its sins and to advance every day more and more in the service of God, the evil spirit, to stop and embarrass it, throws in its way every kind of scruple, disquiet, specious pretext, and subject of trouble and agitation. The good spirit, on the other hand, as soon as we begin to amend, encourages, fortifies, consoles, softens even to tears, enlightens the understanding, spreads peace in the heart, smoothes all difficulties and obstacles, so that every day more freely, more joyously and more rapidly, we advance in virtue by the practice of good works.

3. True spiritual consolation may be known by the following signs. A certain interior impulse raises the soul toward the Creator, makes it love Him with an ardent love and no longer permits it to love any creature but for Him; sometimes gentle tears cause this love, tears that flow from repentance of past faults or the sight of the sorrows of Jesus Christ or any other motive that enlightened religion inspires; finally, all that increases faith, hope, charity; all that fills the soul with holy joy, makes it more attached to meditation on heavenly things and more careful of salvation; all that leads it to find repose and peace in the Lord—all this is true and spiritual consolation.

4. On the contrary, all that darkens the soul, that troubles it, that inclines it to inferior and terrestrial objects, that disquiets and agitates it, that would lead it to despair of salvation, that weakens hope and banishes charity, that renders the soul sad, tepid, languid, distrustful even of the clemency of its Creator and its Redeemer—this is what may be called spiritual desolation. Desolation and consolation are two opposite terms; so the thoughts and affections arising from each are diametrically opposite.

5. During times of desolation, the bad spirit makes us feel his influence. By following his inspirations, we cannot arrive at any good or useful decision; we must, therefore, beware at such times of reconsidering or making any innovation whatsoever in what relates to our resolutions or choice of a state of life; but we must persevere in what we have decided on in the day or hour of consolation, and consequently under the influence of the good spirit.

6. And yet, without changing anything that was before laid down and defined, man, when a prey to desolation, would do well to employ means, or to multiply them, in order to dissipate it—such as prayer offered with more importunity, examination, awakening and arousing the conscience, some penance as a punishment for faults known or unknown.

7. Under the pressure of desolation the following are the thoughts that should sustain us: divine grace remains to us although it may have ceased to be sensible; although the first ardor of our charity is no longer felt, we still have all that is requisite for doing good and working out our salvation. What, then, does Our Lord expect of us? He would see whether, if furnished with the ordinary assistance of nature and grace, we can resist our enemy. Oh, without doubt we can!

8. The unquiet spirit, which agitates and torments us, has a direct antagonist and adversary in the spirit of patience. To preserve patience and calm will, then, be of wonderful assistance to us against it. Finally, we must call hope to our aid; and if we know how to employ the above means against desolation, we may say to ourselves, “Consolation will not be long in coming.”

9. Desolation most frequently arises from one of these three causes: (1) Perhaps we have deserved from want of diligence and fervor in our spiritual exercises to be deprived of Divine consolations. (2) Perhaps God is trying us, and He wishes to see what we are and how we employ ourselves for His service and glory, even though He does not bestow on us every day the rewards of His Spirit in gifts and sensible graces. (3) Or it is perhaps a lesson He is giving us: He wishes to prove to us by experience that to procure fervor of devotion, ardent love, abundant tears, or to preserve ourselves in these spiritual joys, is beyond our natural strength, and is a gratuitous gift of His Divine bounty. All this cannot be claimed by us as our right, unless we are possessed by a pride and self-love very dangerous to our salvation.

10. When consolation abounds in the heart, we must consider the conduct to be observed in time of trial; and to sustain the shock, we must provide in good time a supply of courage and vigorous resolution.

11. We must also humble ourselves, depreciate ourselves, foresee as much as possible how weak, how cowardly we shall be under the stroke of desolation if Divine grace does not quickly come to our aid; while the tempted man must, on the contrary, persuade himself that with the aid of God he is all powerful and that he will easily overcome all his enemies, provided he establishes his confidence on the Divine strength and is courageous.

12. Satan, with his weak but obstinate character, may be compared, when he attacks us, to a woman daring to contend with her husband. Let her husband oppose her firmly, she soon lays aside her warlike mood and quickly leaves the field to him; on the contrary, let her see in him any timidity or inclination to fly or give way, she becomes audacious, insolent, cruel as a fury. So when Satan sees the soldier of Jesus Christ, his heart imperturbable, his head erect, repulsing every attack without flinching, he immediately loses courage; but if he perceives him trembling at the first shock and ready to ask quarter, he immediately attacks him with a rage, a fury, a ferocity that is unexampled among wild beasts enraged against their prey: obstinate in his infernal malice, he only seeks and breathes our ruin.

13. We may also compare him in some of his artifices to a libertine seeking to lead astray a young girl, the child of good parents or the wife of an honest man. What he recommends to the object of his passion is, above all things, secrecy—secrecy as to his propositions, secrecy as to his interviews; if he does not obtain this secrecy, if the daughter does not observe it toward her parents, the wife toward the husband, all is lost for him; his projects are ruined. So the grand artifice of the great calumniator is to induce the soul he wishes to gain to keep secret his suggestions; and when they are discovered to a confessor or an enlightened director, his rage and torment are at their height, because his snare is discovered and his efforts rendered useless.

14. Finally, in his tactics our enemy imitates a general of an army besieging a citadel, who first studies the ground and the state of the fortifications, so as to concentrate his attack upon the weakest part. To make a like study, our enemy makes, as it were, the round of our soul: he examines that are the theological or moral virtues that serve as its ramparts or in which it is wanting, and against the point we have left without guard and defense he turns all his batteries and says, “It is here I will try the assault.”

OTHER RULES FOR THE BETTER DISCERNING OF SPIRITS

(Applicable more particularly to the second week.)

1. The operation proper to God and His good angels is to shed on the soul on which they act true spiritual joy in banishing the sorrow and trouble that the devil has introduced into it. On the contrary, the latter, finding this joy in the soul, labors to destroy it by certain sophistries covered by a false appearance of truth.

2. The Creator alone can penetrate His creature, raise him, change him, enkindle in him the fire of His love. Hence, when nothing has been presented to the senses, the intellect, the will of a nature to cause joy, and yet the soul is consoled all at once without antecedent cause, then it is God that acts upon it.

3. When a natural cause of consolation has preceded, who has sent it? Perhaps our good angel, perhaps the bad. The purpose of the good would be to assist us to know and to do right; the bad to lead us to evil and to destroy us.

4. The bad spirit knows well how to transform himself into an angel of light. Aware of the pious desires of the soul, he will begin by seconding them, but soon he will begin to lead it to his own ends. Thus, at first he will feign to consent to your good and holy thoughts and even applaud them, but by degrees he will draw you into his hidden snares and entangle you in his dark meshes.

5. We must, therefore, submit our inspirations and thoughts to a strict and attentive examination. Their beginning, progress and end must all be carefully considered. Are all these good? It is, then, our good angel that inspired them. On the other hand, is there anything intrinsically bad, anything that leads us away from good, or that urges us to something below what we had chosen; anything that fatigues the soul, casts it into anguish and trouble, makes it lose the peace, the repose, the serenity that it enjoyed? If we discover on reflection that such is the case, it is an evident sign that the inspiration comes from the spirit of darkness and that it conceals some snare he is laying for us.

6. When we have discovered the infernal serpent; when, by the evil result to which his insinuations always tend, we have discovered his diabolical purpose, it is very useful to go over again in spirit the way by which the tempter led us, to take to pieces the plot he had so cleverly laid, to note by what specious pretexts he began to make us listen to him; how he succeeded by degrees in changing that pure taste, that spiritual sweetness, that perfect serenity that we enjoyed before; how he endeavored to instill his venom into the soul. This study of his odious maneuvers will render us more capable of escaping them for the future.

7. Both spirits seek to insinuate themselves into the souls of those who advance in the way of salvation; but they make use of very different means: the good angel comes with sweetness, peace, suavity, like a drop of water falling on a sponge; the bad angel rushes in rudely, violently, noisily, like rain in a storm beating on a rock. With those who, day by day, go farther from God, and plunge deeper into evil, the contrary happens. Moreover, a spirit enters the soul gently or harshly, according as the disposition of the soul is suitable to it or opposed to it. If it finds opposition and antipathy, it announces itself by a sudden shock that it is easy to remark; if it finds the soul tending the same way as itself, it enters quietly, as if into a dwelling belonging to it and open to it.

8. We have before stated that it is God who visits the soul when not any natural cause has led to the consolation with which it is suddenly filled. This sentiment, therefore, cannot be subject to illusion; yet we must distinguish with great care this first moment of happiness from those that immediately follow, although the soul still feels its ardor and the heavenly favors it has received; for in this second period it frequently happens, whether from habit, personal manner of judging and seeing, or inspiration of the good or evil spirit, that we conceive certain thoughts or form certain projects that, not coming immediately from God, require to be carefully examined before giving our consent to them or putting them into execution.

OF ELECTION OR CHOICE

FIRST ARTICLE Of the dispositions necessary

To make a good choice on any matter whatever, we must first meditate with a pure and upright intention on the end of our creation, which is the glory of God and our salvation. Therefore, our choice ought never to fall on anything that does not lead us to this end; for it is evident that the means ought always to be subordinate to the end, and not the end to the means. Those persons deceive themselves who begin by determining on such or such a state—for example, on marriage—and afterward form the resolution to serve God as well as they can in that state. That is to reverse the order, to take the means for the end, and the end for the means; it is to tend to God obliquely, so to say, and expect to draw the will of God to ours, instead of making ours bow to that of God.

We must do just the contrary: first we must propose for our end what is the true end of man—the service of God; then, with a view to this end, choose such or such a state, as marriage, or holy orders, and so forth, and determine our choice by the sole motive of arriving more certainly at our end. In a word, we ought not to decide upon one state in preference to another but according as one or the other can conduce to the glory of God and our salvation.

SECOND ARTICLE Of the matter of choice

1. All that forms the matter of election ought of necessity to be good, at least neither bad in itself nor contrary to the principles and maxims of the Church.

2. Two kinds of things may be the matter and object of election; one kind is such that the choice once made is unchangeable; for example, the priesthood and marriage. There are other things of which the choice is revocable; for example, such or such employment, ecclesiastical or secular, that may be accepted at first and afterward abandoned for just reasons.

3. When the choice has already taken place on an unchangeable matter, there is no longer any election to make. But if imprudence or some unruly affection has dictated a choice that it is not permitted to retract, there is only one decision to take; it is to repair the fault committed by the regularity of our life and our fidelity to all our duties. There is no question here of change, for that is no longer allowed. Election must have its effect in its full extent, although made imprudently or from suspicious motives it can never pass for a divine vocation; for there is no divine vocation unless dictated by pure motives and solid reason unmixed with carnal affection or irregular inclinations.

4. With regard to the states that may be changed, if the choice was made with discretion and wisdom, it must not be changed; but we must endeavor to perfect ourselves more and more in this state. If, on the contrary, the election does not appear to have been sufficiently wise and Christian, we must change it, whatever it may cost, in order to render ourselves more agreeable to God and the better to assure our salvation.

THIRD ARTICLE Of the three times most favorable for making a good choice

1. When the Divine power gives to the will such an impulse that the soul does not and cannot doubt that it ought to follow it. It happened thus to St. Paul, to St. Matthew, who were called by Jesus Christ, and to many others.

2. When the Spirit of God makes us discern His good pleasure in a manner sufficiently clear and evident by the application of His grace to our hearts. It is by submitting the consolations and different movements we feel to the rules for the discernment of spirits that we distinguish this Divine action, which always bears with it the characteristics of God Himself.

3. When, our spirit enjoying a great calm; our soul free from agitation and exercising freely its natural powers; our understanding enlightened, as it always is in its operations when conducted with rectitude, by the light of the Divine Word—we make choice of the most proper means to lead us surely and easily to our end. This end is the glory of God and our salvation. We set this truth before us as an established principle; and, as a consequence or a way to arrive at this term, we choose, among all the states that the Church authorizes, the one that will best of all lead us to it.

If neither the testimony of our senses struck by the Divine power nor that of our heart moved by the Spirit of God succeed in fixing our choice, we must appeal to the testimony of our spirit enlightened by eternal truth; and we must have recourse to the two following methods:

FIRST METHOD

1. Propose to yourself the object of your determination—for example, such a state, or such an employment. Should it be embraced? Ought it to be renounced? And thus of all that can become matter of election.

2. Keep in view this truth: my end is, in glorifying God, to save myself. Prevent your will from pronouncing prematurely either for or against the object in question; establish yourself rather in a perfect equilibrium, so as to turn entirely and immediately to that side in which you recognize the greatest interest of the glory of God and your own salvation.

3. Beg of the Divine goodness to enlighten your spirit and incline your will toward the calling you should choose; without, however, neglecting to assist yourself by reasonings based on faith, in order to seek and discover the will of God, which is to decide your choice.

4. Weigh exactly the for and against: what advantages, what assistance, such or such an employment or state presents to enable you to arrive at your end; on the contrary, what dangers, what obstacles, await you in it. Examine in the same way the opposite state—what means it offers you, or what perils; what resources, or what difficulties.

5. After this examination, compare both sides, and without listening to the suggestions of the flesh, decide for that which appears the most according to sound reason.

6. The choice being made, have recourse to prayer; offer your resolution to God, and beg of Him, if it is agreeable to Him, to receive it and confirm you in it.

SECOND METHOD

1. As the election to be perfect ought to be determined by a celestial movement of Divine love, assure yourself well that whatever inclination you have (whether much or little is of no consequence) for the object you have chosen really comes from the love to God and regard to His interests alone.

2. If some other person, whose salvation or perfection was of great interest to you, found himself in the same situation you are in, and consulted you in his uncertainty, what would you counsel him for the greater glory of God and the greater perfection of his own soul? The counsel that you would give him is precisely that which you ought to follow yourself.

3. At the moment of death, how would you wish you had conducted yourself in this deliberation? In the same way conduct yourself now.

4. When called before the tribunal of God, what choice would you wish you had made? The same is the choice you must make now; for it is the one that will give you the most confidence at that terrible hour.

5. Your resolution once fixed, offer it to God in prayer, and beg of Him to accept and bless it, as in the preceding method.

OF AMENDMENT

Or Reform in a State of Life Already Embraced

To persons engaged in the bonds of marriage, or raised to an ecclesiastical dignity impossible or difficult to abandon, we do not propose the rules regarding the choice of a state. Instead of these, we subjoin a method of reform or rules of conduct that will serve for amendment of life in the state already fixed.

The following are the elements of this method:

Do you wish to adopt and follow a plan of life conformable to the end for which God created you?

Perform the Exercises of the second week to be pointed out presently.

Employ the methods of election named above, applying them with much reflection and exactness to the following objects, or others that may serve as matters for your deliberation:

What style of house, what number of servants, is it proper for you to keep?

How does it become you to administer and regulate your affairs?

What instructions and examples ought you to give for the edification of your children and servants?

What part of your revenues ought you to employ for your personal use and that of your house?

What other part ought you to destine to the poor or consecrate to pious works?

In all this you ought to have nothing in view but the glory of God and your own salvation.

And you ought to be persuaded that the more you withdraw from yourself, from self-love, and seeking your own ease, the more you will advance in the way of salvation and perfection.

The exercises to be performed before beginning this work of reform are (besides the meditation on the ordinary mysteries of Jesus Christ), the Contemplation of the Two Standards, the Exercises of the Three Classes, the Prelude of the Elections. These will greatly assist in making the person in retreat conceive the idea and the desire of the perfection of which he is capable and of which his state is susceptible.

The second article on Election is scarcely applicable here, but rather the third, with its double method. We must proceed in this way: Each of the points to be examined before God—for example, the personnel of the house, expenses, pious works—will be considered separately. Whenever deliberation has been made and a resolution taken on a point, pass on to another. The more grave and difficult the question, the more time it requires: sometimes an hour or more must be given to one; sometimes several points successively will have been decided in this space of time.

SOME RULES ON TEMPERANCE

1. Less care is required about bread than about other food, because it is less pleasing to the palate and exposes us less to temptation.

2. The use of wine requires more attention. On this point we must examine what is necessary, in order to keep to it exactly, as well as what is hurtful in order to retrench it.

3. Abstinence should be observed more particularly with regard to exquisite and rare meats, because they stimulate to concupiscence and provoke temptation. We may succeed in this in two ways—by accustoming ourselves to be contented with the most simple aliments and by restraining ourselves in the use of what is more delicate.

4. The more we retrench in nourishment (always avoiding privations injurious to health), the more easily we find the quantity suitable for us, and for this reason—on the one side, abstinence, by meriting for us the lights and consolations of grace, gives us more facility in knowing what sustenance our corporal powers require; and on the other, the weakening of the body, betrayed by the difficulty of fulfilling our spiritual exercises, teaches us by experience what is necessary to nature.

5. It is well, during our repasts, to represent to ourselves Our Lord living with His disciples and eating at the same table with them, and take Him for our model in the use of all our senses. The mind being occupied with these pious objects, it will be easier to be moderate.

6. We may also occupy ourselves with other thoughts: for example, the lives of saints, some object of piety, or some spiritual affair, so that this diversion of mind may weaken the too lively feelings of nature.

7. We must, above all, in our repasts, be on our guard against avidity, precipitation, or that effusion of the soul that is bestowed in a manner on the food. It is requisite that we should always rule our appetite and practice temperance both in the quantity of nourishment and the manner of taking it.

8. To extirpate any bad habit of excess in eating or drinking, it would be well to determine before the repast and before the want of it is yet felt, the quantity that on reflection we judge it well to take. The portion thus determined we ought to content ourselves with, even when nature asks for more, and Satan backs the demand. To conquer both, we might even retrench something more.

SOME RULES FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR GOODS IN ALMS

Do you feel inclined to give a part of your goods to your relations or friends from the lively affection you bear them? Submit this disposition to the four rules already given for election, which are a little more developed as follows:

1. All the love I bear my neighbor, to be perfect, ought to be derived from the love of God; I ought to feel that this pure charity is the beginning and the motive of all my affections and attachments. In this circumstance, as in all others, it must appear as the principal motive of my determination.

2. If an unknown person, but one whom I wished to see fulfilling the duties of his state and acting on a similar occasion with all the perfection possible, came to ask my advice, what should I advise him to do in the interest of the Divine glory and for his own perfection? I ought to adopt the same course myself.

3. If I were on the point of death, what should I wish that I had done on this occasion? The same I ought to do now.

4. When called before the tribunal of God, what distribution of my goods should I be glad to have made? This certainly is the one I ought to make now.

5. If I feel my heart too much attached to the persons united to me by the bonds of nature, I must first submit this attachment itself to the four preceding rules, without as yet occupying myself with the question of the distribution of goods or alms. Before coming to any arrangement whatever, this inclination must be rectified.

6. What is the portion of the revenues of his church that a perfect ecclesiastic ought to employ in his own expenses? This question gives rise to many scruples, and many are always in fear of going too far. To resolve it, and to determine the just proportion, the rules mentioned above should be observed.

7. On the subject of the expenses to be determined on for our person, our house, our furniture or servants, the most perfect and the most sure way is to retrench as much as possible of our convenience and comforts and to conform ourselves faithfully to the example of Jesus Christ, our great High priest. It is after this general rule, which is applicable to all states (although we must make due allowance for different persons and even different conditions), that the third Council of Carthage, at which St. Augustine assisted, decided that all the furniture of a Bishop should be of low price, and should speak of poverty. In the married state, the best example we can cite is that of St. Joachim and St. Anne, who every year divided their revenues into three parts: one for the poor, the second for the temple and the divine service, and the third for themselves.

REMARKS ON THE SCRUPLES THAT THE DEVIL RAISES IN THE SOUL

1. What is generally called scruple is the judgment by which, with all the liberty of our mind, we call an action sinful, though it is not. Such would be the judgment of one who, having walked on two straws forming a cross, should reproach himself with the occurrence as a fault; this, however, is not properly a scruple, it is rather an erroneous judgment that instruction and good sense must rectify.

2. But you have trampled on this cross, or you have thought, or said, or done, something equally unimportant; all your intellectual and moral faculties tell you that you have not sinned, and yet in your conscience the idea arises that you have done wrong. From this comes perplexity and trouble, which the evil spirit keeps up; this is a scruple properly speaking.

3. Scruples of the first kind, being moral errors, ought to be the object of just abhorrence. As to the second, they serve as purgatives—very active ones sometimes—to a soul that has just arisen from sin. They are useful to him for some time and inspire him with fear and aversion as regards even the shadow of sin. “It is a good soul,” says St. Gregory, “that thinks itself guilty even when it is not.”

4. Our infernal enemy observes with malignant attention what the stamp of our conscience is; whether it is delicate or relaxed. If delicate, he tries to render it more susceptible still; he endeavors to reduce it to the last degree of trouble and anguish, so as to stop its progress in the spiritual life. To this timid Christian, who never consents to any sin either mortal or venial and who dreads even the appearance of a voluntary fault, as he cannot present the bait of a real sin, he shows an imaginary fault as a frightful phantom. Sin will appear to him in a trifling word, a thought that only crossed the mind, and so on. On the contrary, if he finds anywhere a relaxed conscience, he studies to make it still more so. This soul not being afraid of venial sin, he familiarizes it by degrees with mortal sin, and day by day weakens the horror of it in his eyes.

5. That the soul may advance with sure step in spiritual ways, it must walk with constancy in the opposite direction from that in which the enemy of salvation wishes to lead it. If he seek to relax the conscience, let it contract; if he seek to contract it, let it relax. Avoiding the two extremes, it will establish itself in a middle path that will be for it a state of assurance and peace.

6. When, with regard to a word or an action that presents itself, having nothing contrary to the sentiment of the Church and to Catholic traditions, and that tends to glorify God, a thought strikes you sent by a spirit foreign to your own—a thought that dissuades you from speaking or acting, under the pretext that it will cause you to be vainglorious, or excites in you any other chimerical fear, then raise your mind to God; and if it still appears to you that this word or this action tends to the glory of your Divine Master, or at least that it has nothing contrary to Him, then proceed direct against this thought; and while the enemy murmurs in your ear, reply to him like St. Bernard: “It was not for thee I began; it shall not be for thee I will desist.”

RULES OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH

1. Always to be ready to obey with mind and heart, setting aside all particular views, the true spouse of Jesus Christ, our holy mother, our infallible and orthodox mistress, the Catholic Church, whose authority is exercised over us by the hierarchy of its pastors.

2. To approve of the confession of sins as it is practiced in the Church; the reception of the Holy Eucharist once a year, and better still every week, or at least every month, with the necessary preparation.

3. To recommend to the faithful frequent and pious assistance at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the ecclesiastical chant, the divine office, and in general the prayers and devotions practiced at stated times, whether in public in the churches or in private.

4. To have a great esteem for the religious state and to give the preference to celibacy or virginity over the married state.

5. To approve of the religious vows of chastity, poverty, perpetual obedience, as well as the other works of perfection and supererogation. Let us remark in passing, that we must never engage by vow to take a state (e.g., marriage) that would be an impediment to one more perfect; for a vow is essentially an engagement to perfection—the promise of a higher good, as theology says.

6. To approve of the veneration and invocation of saints, respect to images, processions, pilgrimages of devotion, indulgences, jubilees, the custom of lighting candles and burning lamps before altars and other practices of this kind useful to piety.

7. To observe the abstinences and fasts, not only of precept, as Lent, the Emberdays, vigils, but also such as are of pure devotion, as also of voluntary mortifications and penance, not only interior but exterior.

8. To approve the magnificence of the construction and ornaments of churches and the holy images that we justly honor because of the things they represent.

9. Far from censuring in any matter the precepts of the Church, to defend them boldly by all the reasons that study can furnish us with against those who attack them.

10. To study to approve the decrees, the statutes, the traditions, the ordinances, the rites and customs of our fathers in the faith or of our superiors. As to their conduct, although there may not be everywhere the integrity of morals that there ought, yet there is more scandal and disorder than utility in speaking against them in private conversations or public discourses. These sort of invectives only embitter the people and raise them against their princes and pastors; we must, then, avoid these reproaches, never incriminating absent masters before their subjects. It would be better to address ourselves in private to those who have in their hands the necessary authority to remedy the evil.

11. To have a great esteem for the teachings of the Fathers and theologians. The former, like St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Gregory, have labored above all to form the hearts of Christians; the latter, following the course opened by St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure and others, have had for their aim to cure the errors of the times and to enlighten the faithful with exact notions and well defined dogmas. Coming in an age succeeding the Fathers, they have had, like them, the Holy Scriptures and the writings of antiquity to instruct them. They have had besides the ordinances and definitions of councils, the rules and constitutions of the holy Church; and the spirit of God has powerfully assisted them in profiting by all these resources in order to direct the faithful in the ways of salvation.

12. Avoid all comparison of living men, however great their merit, with the saints; for example, avoid saying, “Such a one is more learned than St. Augustine; this is another St. Francis; this one is as zealous, as eloquent as St. Paul,” and so forth.

13. To be with the Church of Jesus Christ but one mind and one spirit, we must carry our confidence in her, and our distrust of ourselves, so far as to pronounce that true that appeared to us false, if she decides that it is so; for we must believe without hesitation that the Spirit of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the spirit of His spouse, and that the God who formerly gave the decalogue is the same God who now inspires and directs His Church.

14. Although it is very true that not any one arrives at salvation if not predestined, we must speak with great circumspection on this matter, for fear that, giving too much to grace, we should appear to destroy man’s free will and the merit of good works; or that, giving too much to free will, we should weaken the power and efficacy of grace.

15. For the same reason, we must seldom speak of predestination; and if it should happen that we do so, it must not be in such a way that people can say, “If my eternal fate is fixed, whether I do ill or well, it will only be what God has decided”; this too frequently leads to the neglect of good works and of all the means of salvation.

16. We must take care lest, by exalting the merit of faith, without adding any distinction or explanation, we furnish people with a pretext for relaxing in the practice of good works.

17. We must also be on our guard against exalting Divine grace so much as to make our hearers no longer believe themselves free: we must speak of it as the glory of God requires, that we may not raise doubts as to liberty and the efficacy of good works.

18. Although it is very praiseworthy and useful to serve God through the motive of pure charity, yet we must also recommend the fear of God; and not only filial fear but also servile fear, which is very useful and often even necessary to raise man from sin. Once risen from the state and free from the affection of mortal sin, we may then speak of that filial fear that is truly worthy of God and that gives and preserves the union of pure love.

N.B. These rules are more particularly useful to evangelical laborers and those who preach the word of God. Although written for other times and specially directed against the innovators of the sixteenth century, yet they are mostly applicable to our own day and refer indeed more or less directly to the present wants of society, which is constantly undermined by the same lawless spirit.

OF DIVERSE MANNERS OF PRAYING

FIRST MANNER

This is less a prayer than a spiritual exercise, which assists the soul and renders its prayer more agreeable to God. It consists in reflecting on the commandments of God, the capital sins, the three powers of the soul, the five senses of the body, as follows:

1. Before beginning, think a few minutes of what you are about to do.

2. Ask of God the grace to know the sins you have committed against His commandments and to accomplish the obligations of His law with more fidelity henceforth.

3. Thinking over, one after another, the commandments of God, see how you have fulfilled or violated them. Ask pardon for the sins you can recall, and say the Pater. It is sufficient to dwell the length of three Paters on each precept; but this space of time must be abridged or prolonged according as the faults are few or numerous on each precept.

4. After having thus run through all the commandments, humble yourself, accuse yourself; ask for grace to observe them better for the future; and end by a colloquy addressed to God, suitable to the state and the dispositions in which you find yourself.

If you wish to take for your subject the capital sins, the three powers of the soul, the five senses, and so on, you have only to change the matter of the examination; the rest will be the same as for the commandments.

Let us observe that the Christian who wishes to imitate Our Lord Jesus Christ in the use of his senses must ask the grace of God the Father to enable him to do so, and, glancing at each of his senses, examine how far they approach or depart from his Divine Model. Before passing from one sense to another, recite a Pater.

If it is proposed to imitate the Blessed Virgin, we must ask her to obtain this grace from her divine Son and after the examination of each sense recite an Ave.

SECOND MANNER

This consists in reciting some vocal prayer and resting successively on the words composing it as long as we feel taste and devotion.

1. Before beginning, recollect yourself.

2. Address yourself to the person to whom you are going to pray.

3. Begin the prayer—the Pater, for example; dwell on these words, “Our Father”; meditate on them as long as they furnish you with thoughts, affections, and so on, and then pass to the following words, which you will consider in the same manner.

4. When the time comes to conclude, recite the rest of the prayer without stopping, and address yourself in a short prayer to the person to whom you have been praying, to ask the grace or the virtue that you require.

Remark. (1) All vocal prayers, the Credo, the Salve Regina, the Anima Christi, and so on, may be recited in this manner. (2) If one single word of the prayer we are reciting in this way suffices to occupy the mind and the heart all the time destined to prayer, we must put off to another day the meditation of the rest. The following day we must commence by reciting, without stopping, what was meditated on the day before, and then continue the consideration of the rest of the words of the prayer.

Third Manner This consists in pronouncing a vocal prayer, and, if we choose, several prayers successively, only stopping the interval of a breathing between each, thinking either of the sense of the word, or of the dignity of the person to whom we pray, or of our own unworthiness, or of the distance between the two. Let us take the Ave Maria for an example.

1. Think of the action you are going to perform.

2. Beginning with “Hail, Mary,” think for a moment what these words signify, or of the dignity of the Blessed Virgin whom you salute, or of your miseries, which place so great a distance between you and the Mother of God.

3. Then you pronounce the other words, dwelling on each one, as we have said, only the time of a breathing.