St. Anthony Mary Claret: The Golden Key to Heaven

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The Golden Key to Heaven: An Explanation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

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The Golden Key to Heaven: An Explanation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

by St. Anthony Mary Claret

This work, in its original Spanish and in the edition from which it was translated, bears the following:

Ecclesiastical Approbation:

Nihil obstat: Juan María Gorricho, C.M.F., Censor.

Puede reimprimirse: Pedro Schweiger, C.M.F., Superior General.

Nihil obstat: Dr. Andrés de Lucas, Censor.
Imprimatur: †José María Lahiguera
Madrid, 15 March 1955

In addition, since the author is a canonized saint of the Catholic Church, all his writings, including this one, have undergone a most rigorous examination and have been deemed, by the authorities of the First See of the Church of Rome, "the Mistress and Mother of all the other Churches", to be in conformity with Catholic Truth.




St. Anthony Mary Claret's Introduction to the Reader

Having already given the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius both publicly and privately, we have been asked many times for a book explaining these exercises with the purpose of profiting further, so that individuals can meditate thoroughly and carefully on them, book in hand, and even repeat aloud what they have heard. Not only for this reason, but also when no spiritual director is available, the exercises can be performed without him. Acceding therefore to such wishes, we have determined to make available to the public meditations distributed over ten days; we should recognize that there are eight complete days and two incomplete days, those being the eve of the Communion day* and the concluding day.

The first day has merely one meditation, and the last day two; the other days have four: two in the morning and two for the afternoon and evening.**

But it must be understood that the spiritual masters divide the material of the meditations into three orders, according to the three states of those meditating.

(1) Some are sinners who want to get away from their sins, and they walk on the road called the "Purgative Way." The aim of this road is to purify from the soul all its vices, sins, and faults.

(2) Others go further and increase in virtue and walk on the road called the "Illuminative Way," whose aim is to enlighten the soul with the splendor of the many virtues and increase significantly in them.

(3) Others are already perfect, and they walk in the "Unitive Way," so called because the purpose of this state is to unite our soul with God in a union of perfect love.

St. Ignatius distributes this same matter of the three ways into four weeks: he places the material dealing with the "Purgative Way" in the first week; the "Illuminative Way" is dealt with during the second and third weeks, and the fourth week handles that of the "Unitive Way".

Following therefore, in the explanation of these holy exercises, the thought of spiritual masters and the words of St. Ignatius, we have decided for greater clarity to divide the total plan and material into five sections as follows:

Section 1, The Purgative Way — This section and the next are taken from the first week of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. These two sections dwell on the Purgative Way. The first section comprises more suitable meditations designed to inspire sorrow for and confession of sins, and help us keep clear of them.

Section 2 — Consists of meditations fostering the resolution not to fall into sin again and always to preserve that cleanness acquired through the meditations of the first section.

Section 3, The Illuminative Way — This section embraces meditations on the virtues which we should learn and possess from Jesus Christ, spoken of by St. Ignatius in the second week of his spiritual exercises.

Section 4 — Consists of the meditations on Our Lord, but considered in a more elevating and perfect manner, according to the spirit in which St. Ignatius drew up his holy works. In this section we consider Jesus as He suffered so much pain and practised all the virtues. These are the meditations which St. Ignatius places in the third week.

Section 5, The Unitive Way — contains meditations which St. Ignatius calls the fourth week.

This then is the plan we have proposed in explaining these holy exercises; and as we hold the words of the saint in such high esteem, we put them as headings in each meditation, as he wrote them, preserving even the style of his period, and then we follow the explanation of the text.

As for the number of meditations, we should like them to be used as designed for each day; and if this is not possible when they are performed publicly in a church, do them privately at home, for which this book will serve most effectively.

May everything be done for the greater glory of God, in praise of Most Holy Mary and for the salvation of souls.

Amen.

Madrid, January, 1859.
Antonio María, Archbishop of Cuba.
(Saint Anthony Mary Claret)

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* Note — It must be noted that Saint Anthony wrote this previous to the decrees of Pope St. Pius X, who encouraged frequent, even daily, reception of Holy Communion.

* Note — Also see the outline of the schedule of these 35 Meditations for 10 days as proposed by St. Anthony Mary Claret on page iv of this book. Also see the hourly schedule suggested on pages 354 and 355 to complete all these meditations.

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Plan of the Meditations of the Exercises


| Day | Meditations |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1. Preparatory Meditation – Explanation |
| 2 | 2. On the End of Man · 3. Concerning Indifference to Created Things · 4. The Sin of the Angels and of Our First Parents · 5. The Malice of Mortal Sin |
| 3 | 6. The Pains of Hell – in Particular, the Pain of Loss · 7. The Pains of Hell – in Particular, the Pain of Sense · 8. The Parable of the Prodigal Son · 9. Fruits One Should Gain from the Preceding Meditations |
| 4 | 10. Our Duty to Separate from Occasions and Dangers of Sin · 11. Venial Sin · 12. Death · 13. The Death of the Sinner |
| 5 | 14. The Last Judgement · 15. The Glory of Heaven · 16. The Reign of Jesus Christ · 17. The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus Christ |
| 6 | 18. Jesus Christ's Hidden Life · 19. The Public Life of Jesus Christ · 20. Conclusion of the Third Section · 21. The Two Standards |
| 7 | 22. Three Classes of Men · 23. Third Degree of Humility · 24. Interior Suffering of Jesus Christ · 25. The External Sufferings of Christ |
| 8 | 26. The Insults and Pains which Jesus Suffered · 27. Jesus Proves on the Cross His Love for His Enemies · 28. Conclusion of the Fourth Section · 29. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ |
| 9 | 30. On the Love of God · 31. On the Lovableness of God in Himself · 32. Proper Devotion to the Blessed Virgin · 33. Love for Neighbor |
| 10 | 34. The Blessed Sacrament · 35. On Perseverance |



Table of Contents

How to Use This Book — Inside Front Cover
Introduction by St. Anthony Mary Claret — i
Plan of Meditations for 10 Days — iv
Time and Method of Making the Meditations — vii
Morning Prayers — ix
Preparatory Prayers before Each Meditation — x
Concluding Prayers at the End of Each Meditation — xi

**Section I — The Purgative Way**
(1) Preparatory Meditation – Explanation — 1
(2) On the End of Man — 19
(3) Concerning Indifference to Created Things — 32
(4) The Sin of the Angels and of Our First Parents, Adam and Eve — 44
(5) The Malice of Mortal Sin — 56
(6) The Pains of Hell – in Particular, Its Pain of Loss — 68
(7) The Pains of Hell, in Particular the Pain of Sense and Its Duration — 79
(8) The Parable of the Prodigal Son — 91

**Section II — The Purgative Way (continued)**
(9) Fruits One Should Gain from the Preceding Meditations — 101
(10) Our Duty to Separate from Occasions and Dangers of Sinning — 107
(11) Venial Sin — 114
(12) Death — 124
(13) The Death of the Sinner — 133
(14) The Last Judgement — 142
(15) The Glory of Heaven — 152

**Section III — The Illuminative Way**
(16) The Reign of Jesus Christ — 162
(17) The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus Christ — 173
(18) Jesus Christ's Hidden Life and His Admirable Obedience — 184
(19) The Public Life of Jesus Christ — 194
(20) Conclusion of Meditations in the Third Section and the Practice of the Virtues Contained Therein — 202

**Section IV — The Illuminative Way (continued)**
(21) The Two Standards – One of Christ Our Lord, the Sovereign Commander; the Other of Lucifer, Mortal Enemy of Our Human Nature — 207
(22) Three Classes of Men — 219
(23) Third Degree of Humility — 229
(24) Interior Suffering of Jesus Christ — 241
(25) The External Sufferings of Christ — 249
(26) The Insults and Pains which Jesus Suffered — 257
(27) Jesus Proves on the Cross His Love for His Enemies — 267
(28) Conclusion of the Fourth Section on the Illuminative Way, and the Step Preparing for the Unitive Way — 277

**Section V — The Unitive Way**
(29) The Resurrection of Jesus Christ — 283
(30) On the Love of God — 291
(31) On the Lovableness of God in Himself — 301
(32) Proper Devotion to the Blessed Virgin — 311
(33) Love for Neighbor — 322
(34) The Blessed Sacrament — 332
(35) On Perseverance — 338

**Appendices**
(1) Conclusion of the Holy Exercises — 352
(2) Prepared Daily Schedules — 354
(3) Particular Examen — 357
(4) Examination of Conscience — 358
(5) Resolutions — 359
(6) Day of Recollection — 361
(7) On General Confessions — 364
(8) Recommended Books by St. Anthony Mary Claret — 370

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Morning Prayers

We begin each day in this way:

Kneeling we say — Through the sign of the Cross deliver us from our enemies, O Lord, our God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

**Veni, Creator**

Come, O Creator Spirit blest!
And in our souls take up Thy rest;
Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

Great Paraclete! To Thee we cry,
O highest gift of God most high!
O font of life! O fire of love!
And sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts art known,
The finger of God's hand we own;
The promise of the Father, Thou!
Who dost the tongue with power endow.

Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o'erflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high,
The weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us Thy true peace instead;
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow,
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee through endless times confessed,
Of both the eternal Spirit blest.

All glory while the ages run,
Be to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death; the same to Thee,
O Holy Ghost, eternally. Amen.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. Lord, Thou hast instructed the hearts of Thy faithful by the brilliant light of the Holy Spirit. Give us the grace, under His divine inspiration, to have a sense of the true and a taste for the good, and always to find our consolation and our joy in Him. This we ask of Thee through our Lord... in the unity of the same Holy Spirit. Amen.


Following, three Hail Marys are said to the Most Holy Virgin.


We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities: but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.

Then an Our Father and a Hail Mary in honor of the Holy Angels, one each in honor of Saint Ignatius and again in honor of some other saint to whom you are devoted, as patrons of the holy exercises.

Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. Lord, Thou hast instructed the hearts, etc.

Say three Hail Marys in honor of the purity of Our Lady.



**Preparatory Prayers Before Each Meditation**

First Prelude, preparatory prayer —

My Lord and My God, I believe most firmly that Thou art here present.

I adore Thee, my God, with complete surrender and affection of my heart, and I humbly beseech Thee to pardon all my sins.

I offer Thee, my Lord and Father, this meditation, and I hope that Thou will grant me the graces necessary for making a good meditation. For this same purpose, I turn to Thee, Most Holy Virgin, to the angels and saints, so that Thou wilt intercede for me and obtain for me what I need in order to make this meditation fruitfully. Amen.

Second Prelude or petition prayer — consists in asking for the grace, not in general, as in the preparatory prayer, but for the special grace, according to the matter of the meditation. This prayer is found at the beginning of each meditation.

Afterwards — the reading of the designated meditation, with frequent pauses, of the meditation, looking at it as coming from God, and applying its contents to the present state of the soul, from which will be seen those points that should be amended, reformed or improved. Thus seeing oneself one makes practical resolutions, and following these, the supplication and colloquies, now to Our Lord, the Son of God, now to the Eternal Father, now to Our Lady, in order to obtain the suitable grace for doing what is intended and for everything desired.


**Concluding Prayers at End of Each Meditation**

Thanksgiving — I give Thee thanks, my God, for the good thoughts, affections and inspirations which Thou hast communicated to me in this meditation.

Offering — I offer Thee the resolutions which I have formed in the meditation, and I beseech Thee, grant me the most efficacious grace to put them into practice, and to this purpose I beg Thee, Mary, my Mother, the angels and saints, especially those to whom I am particularly devoted, that they intercede for me and obtain for me this grace. Amen.


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**Examination After Each Meditation**

1. Before beginning the meditation, have I reflected on where it was going and for what purpose?
2. Have I begun it with the efficacious desire to perform it well, and profit from it?
3. Have I anticipated beforehand the resolutions I should have been making and the special graces for which I should have been asking?
4. Have I strengthened my faith in the presence of God, believing that I was going to speak with the same God?
5. Have I offered the meditation to Him and have I asked for the grace to perform it fruitfully?
6. Have I neglected the composition of place? (pg. 2)
7. Have I read with care the points, thinking that God was speaking to me, and have I applied what I was reading to the present state of my soul?
8. Have I drawn up practical resolutions?
9. Have I kept suitable composure of body?
10. Have I allowed myself to be overcome by drowsiness or laziness?
11. Have I given place to useless thoughts?
12. Have I become over-proud from feeling holy?
13. Have I become anxious through dryness or desolation?
14. Have I omitted colloquies or supplications?
15. Have I dwelled upon discursive thoughts or other operations of the intellect for too long a time?
16. Have I paused too little in motions of the affections?
17. Have I shortened the meditation for reasons of dryness, temptations, or other pretexts?
18. What resolutions have I drawn up?
19. Have I asked for the grace and other necessities for this purpose?
20. Have I omitted to pray for those to whom I am obligated and for the whole Church?

If we find that we have failed, we should seek forgiveness and make a firm purpose of amendment; and if we do not discover any faults, we will give thanks to God for that. Finally, let us recall whatever in the meditation moved us most, and place it in our heart to be recalled throughout the day.

Examining oneself after the meditation is most useful, in order to gain fruit from our prayer and to learn the practical way of doing it; consequently it is always wise to make this examination, not only at the time of the Exercises, but also every day of the year.

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Section I


Meditation 1

Preparatory Meditation

Explanation — Christian soul, you should be convinced that you are fortunate in being called to these holy exercises, and that nothing is so important as that you make them well. Reflect that this might be your last chance of making them well, either because no other opportunity will be offered to you, or because death will overtake you before you can make fruitful use of them. Who knows whether your salvation or damnation depends on them?

So you ought to make them with full attention, care and devotedness as though this were the last retreat of your life, as though they were for your quickly forthcoming death when you must make an accounting of yourself to God.

This preparatory meditation has three points: 1) the need of these spiritual exercises; 2) their advantages and excellence; 3) the disposition you should have in order to make them well.

Preparatory Prayer — My God and Lord, I firmly believe that Thou art present. I adore Thee, my God, with all the reverence and affection of my heart and humbly beg pardon for all my sins. I offer this meditation to Thee, my Lord and Father, and hope and anticipate that Thou will give me the graces I need to make it well. With that aim before me I appeal to Thee, Holy Virgin, my Mother, and you angels and saints, to intercede for me and gain for me what I need in order to make this meditation fruitfully. Amen.



First Prelude

Composition of Place — Imagine that you see glorious Saint Ignatius with the book of these Exercises in his hand and that he has around him countless upright souls who are now forever to remain in God's friendship, including converted sinners, souls who changed from lukewarm to whole-hearted in a warm eagerness to please God. Imagine that, addressing his words to you, he says, "Take this book, my son, and think seriously on the truths contained in it."

Then imagine that you see that great throng which no one can count, belonging to all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, and dressed in white robes with palms in their hands, with which they give evidence of the victory they have gained — victory over tyrants, victory over their own passions — and that they are shouting in loud voices, "We owe . . . salvation to our God, Who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb," and to the Exercises of Saint Ignatius! (Apoc. 7:10).



Second Prelude

I beg Thee, my God and Lord, for the grace to know the need I have for these Exercises, and how much I ought to make good use of them.

**First Point**

Need of the Holy Exercises — One of the great and extraordinary favors which God gives a soul is to allow it to make the holy Spiritual Exercises. In order to have more fitting gratitude for this favor and appreciate your need of it, you ought to know first of all what the Spiritual Exercises are. According to Saint Ignatius, the Spiritual Exercises are nothing else than a method of examining your conscience, of meditating and putting the mind on Divine things, of praying mentally and vocally, and of other spiritual operations.

Just as to walk, to pace, and to run are bodily exercises, likewise we call spiritual exercises every method of conditioning, rousing, preparing, enabling the soul to rid itself of feelings and attractions that are out of place, and once rid of them, to seek and find the Divine Will in all circumstances of life, for the sake of the soul's salvation.

Once the essential point in the exercises is known, you will easily know the need you have for them.

If you are just — you need the Spiritual Exercises to keep upright, to grow more, and to purify yourself more, as you ought to, and as God commands. ("...He that is just, let him be justified still: he that is holy, let him be sanctified still." Apoc. 22:11).

No matter how good you may be, without such recollection and reflection made according to your need, you will not continue good to the end. Just as plants die when left without water, likewise souls going without suitable reflection undergo the death of sin.

Just as good soil is more productive when it is cultivated, fertilized, and watered, likewise an upright soul is better and richer in good works, when it gives good attention and care to examining itself, to repenting, praying, and meditating and doing the other things that are done in the Holy Exercises.

Therefore we see that spiritual people and those wanting to make headway in perfection are not satisfied with doing each day their spiritual reading, mental and vocal prayer, particular and general examen; but in addition, every year they spend a number of days doing this with added hours devoted to it, engaging exclusively in this holy undertaking.

If you are living in sin — you also need the holy Spiritual Exercises; for the sinner, in order to become converted, needs them no less than the upright person needs them in order to continue in God's friendship. In the solitude of the holy Exercises, God speaks to the heart.

When the Christian has drawn himself aside from the noise and the business of the world, he hears the voice of the Lord, Who says to him: O Christian soul, where do you come from? Where are you going? — You come from Me, Who have created you and have redeemed you and have planned and intended you for Heaven. So that you may gain salvation I have given you laws and Sacraments, helps and special graces.

And you — what is your present state? Alas! You are in the state of sin, stripped of grace, unworthy of Heaven, and you have been found guilty and sentenced to death. Where are you heading? Alas! You are proceeding to hell! At every step you keep taking, you are approaching those eternal torments.

Surely on hearing the Lord's voice, you will not harden your heart. You will confess your sin, and God, Who wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live in grace and hereafter in glory, will forgive you as He forgave the prodigal son, and will admit you to His friendship and favor as He did Mary Magdalene, and in this way you will find happiness.

If you are lukewarm — you have even more need of the holy Spiritual Exercises than the upright person does, for his continuance in grace; more need also, than the sinner does for conversion. God Himself says to you, "Would that you were either hot" — in grace and charity — "or cold" — in sin. "But because thou art lukewarm, . . . I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth." (Apoc. 3:16).

O lukewarm soul, you are the one who has most need of the holy Spiritual Exercises; they alone can awaken you from the sluggishness you are now in! You, O lukewarm soul, are that unfruitful tree that only produces leaves, as the Gospel says. (cf. St. Luke 13:6ff). The landowner Who is God, commands that it be cut down with the axe or cutting instrument of death, and be cast into the fire of hell, as you have been so uselessly taking up soil space.

But the Gardener, Who is Jesus Christ, has made the request and obtained the favor of another year's delay in the hope that you will soon bear fruit; for now a new and special gardening treatment is applied to you by means of the holy Spiritual Exercises.

The soil will be turned; the soil of which you (that is, your body) are made, will be an object of your reflection. The rubbish and trash of your sins and faults will be under your mental gaze and consideration. With the knowledge of yourself, of your miseries and sins, you — like a tree given good gardening treatment — will bear much fruit, fruit consisting of humility and repentance.

In this holy solitude you will know where you have gone astray, how you have separated from God, and the steps you have gone through to develop the lukewarmness which is your present condition.

You will know that you are this way because you have neglected mental and vocal prayer, the frequent reception of the Sacraments, or you have received them carelessly, or you have neglected other practices of piety; and if you do anything at all, it proceeds in a neglectful, half-hearted way, with little care and much sluggishness and laziness.

You have gotten bored and displeased with the heavenly manna. You have grumbled at everything; with all that is worthwhile you are bored and displeased. You have regarded God's law not as a sweet yoke and a light burden (which it truly is), but as something unbearable.

You have regarded perfection as something impossible, even though Jesus Christ tells you to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Therefore instead of achieving perfection, you have drunk down iniquity like water. Oh, what grumbling! What lying!

What wild uncontrol of your feelings and desires! What faults of every kind! Like one afflicted with leprosy, you are diseased from head to foot with sins. Only the holy Exercises can deliver you from so many evils.

Affective Acts

(1) Gratitude — I am now beginning to experience the great benefit that God has bestowed on me in attracting me to these Holy Exercises. May You be blessed my God, for having given me this probatic pool (cf. St. John 5:2) where a cure is given for every sickness, not just to the first one to enter, but for all who present themselves with a genuine desire for a cure.

(2) Humble Appeal — Oh Lord, till now there has not been any man who would show compassion for me; but now I have found such a Man. Yes, now I have found Thee, my Jesus, Who, without ceasing to be God, are true Man. Thou art my Savior, and I trust that in these holy Exercises Thou wilt heal my soul, for that is something it greatly needs. "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels." (Psalm 50:12).


**Second Point**

Excellence and Usefulness of the Holy Exercises — Oh, how excellent and precious are the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius! . . . Their teaching is Heavenly and Divine. They are inspired by God, and are something taught by the Blessed Virgin Mary. They have been approved by the Popes. They have received honors and recommendations from prelates. Instructors in the spiritual life have urged their use and their value is upheld by experience.

Just as a tree is known by its fruit, likewise the great value, the excellence and profitableness of the holy Exercises of Saint Ignatius can be clearly known by the plentiful and precious fruits which they have always produced and are producing. In order to convince our mind better and move our will more and more, and give the Exercises the rating they deserve, it will be well here to bring forward some evidence.

Therefore we report that Pope Paul III, in his Bull of approval issued on the last day of July 1548, says: "Ignatius of Loyola . . . has written certain papers or Spiritual Exercises taken from Holy Scripture and from experience in the devout life, and worked out according to a very good method suited to move the souls of the Faithful in a holy way: and these Exercises are of great profit, well suited for spiritual encouragement and advancement."

He says in closing, "Acting on our certain knowledge, and with Apostolic authority, We approve, We praise, and with the support of the present letter We lend Our backing to the above-mentioned writings or exercises and to each and every thing contained therein, while We earnestly urge in the Lord that all the Faithful of both sexes, regardless of their station in the world, make use of these very edifying and uplifting Exercises."

Pope Alexander VII states: "We, who know well how profitable these Exercises are for guiding the souls of the Faithful and for placing and keeping them on the path of serving God, etc." Besides praising and recommending the Exercises, he enriched them with a plenary indulgence which he granted to all the Faithful who make these Exercises for eight days.

Clement XI recommended them and exhorted their practice, and Clement XII, besides recommending the Exercises of Saint Ignatius and granting them a plenary indulgence for those who make them for ten days, excuses parish priests from the law of residence during the Exercises, and grants a privilege to Canons, Beneficiaries, and others obliged to assist at choir during the Exercises, as is stated in the Bull addressed to Prelates dated at Rome, August 30, 1732.

In the Process documents of the canonization of Saint Ignatius, the Judges of the Rota declare, "Considering the fact that these Exercises were written at a time when the favored Father (Ignatius) was uneducated and unlettered, we find ourselves forced to admit that the light whereby he wrote was not something he gained in a natural way, but in a supernatural way it was shed into his mind."

These same judges told Pope Gregory XV that the saint had written the Exercises from what he had learned from Divine instruction. For this reason Father Diego Lainez and Father Juan Polanco, noted for their holiness and great knowledge, and wise in the secrets of the saint, declared that when he was writing the Exercises, Saint Ignatius was able to say what Jesus Christ said in St. John's Gospel (7:16), ". . . My doctrine is not Mine but His that sent me;" for it was not so much the teaching of Ignatius as it was that of the Divine Wisdom, Who was his only instructor.

Also something quite comforting and proven by reliable documents, is that the Holy Virgin, as a fond Mother of Saint Ignatius and a central object of his affections, revealed that She had been Patroness and Foundress of these holy Exercises, that She helped him and was like a teacher to Saint Ignatius so that he might write as he did.

So excellent, useful, and profitable are the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, that one can say that for three centuries all the saints and men of outstanding goodness have been formed in the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, to fill the parts they have played.

In proof of this, one need do no more than read history, and there he will find a Saint Charles Borromeo, Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, who from the retreat he made in Rome in the house of the Society of Jesus, gained that apostolic perfection that made him an example and model among higher churchmen. In the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva, learned the gift of governing and guiding souls in a gentle and sweet way to the highest perfection.

Where did Saint Philip Neri learn the way of prayer except in the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, as he himself asserted? Fashioned and perfected in the workshop of the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, were Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Francis Borgia, and the Venerable Louis of Granada, eminent member of the order of Saint Dominic on account of his good character, his learning and fine preaching; and once called the Spanish Cicero.

This can likewise be said of the Venerable Louis Blosius, that great master of mystical theology of the order of Saint Benedict; and of the venerable master, Saint John of Avila, Apostle and glory of Andalusia; of the most pious Father Louis Estrada of the Holy Cistercian order; and of the glorious and noted John Camus, Bishop of Belley, who, overjoyed at the good fruits which he felt within himself from the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, burst forth with these words:

"O book all golden, more precious than all the riches which the world holds dear! O Divine book, written with a special light from God! O book which hides within itself the manna and the best portion of Libanus, and the grain of mustard seed of the Gospel! O book which can never be valued as much as it deserves, because it can never come about that it be sufficiently praised!"

To the testimony of so many wise and holy men and of others who are omitted, one can add that of Saint Vincent de Paul, Founder of many pious and charitable institutions and organizations, in particular of the missionary clerics.

With great effectiveness he persuaded these men to often make use of these Exercises as the one means of reforming people's morals and restoring the spiritual life. In view of this, in order to carefully form his spiritual sons to be true and zealous fathers of souls, he made it a rule that they make the Exercises of Saint Ignatius.

It will not be in vain to mention here some wise and holy ladies who greatly valued the Exercises of Saint Ignatius. These ladies include Saint Teresa of Jesus, Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Lady Marina de Escobar, and others. Concerning Lady Marina, we read in her life that her mind became so enlightened from the Exercises of Saint Ignatius which she made, that very learned men believed she possessed the richest treasures of wisdom.

After the Exercises her heart was so enkindled with love for God that words cannot explain it, and so brave and willing in suffering and in pain, that for a period of thirty years she was afflicted on a bed of pain without ever being heard to complain, as she underwent very great sufferings not only with unconquerable patience, but also with a very sweet peace.

In view of the excellence of the Holy Exercises, of the advantage and profit which have always been gained from them when they were made in the right way, you will not wonder, Christian soul, at our final comment, that the little book of the Exercises of Saint Ignatius is like the grain of mustard seed which the Gospel tells us about; that it is small in appearance but great in power.

Chew well, that is, ponder well this little book as one might chew well a grain of mustard seed, and you will then experience how its sharp taste will make your eyes open, its fragrance will strengthen you, its blaze will set you on fire, and you will be astonished that in so small a volume there can be so much light and fire.

Affective Acts

(1) Admiration — Blessed be God, Who has deigned to teach men the Exercises of Saint Ignatius in this period of history, in order to make souls holy by a special method! Oh, what heroes the Exercises have produced in the Holy Catholic Church!

(2) Resolution — I resolve to make the exercises in the best way I can, and I hope to gain from them, by the Lord's help, the grace that others have gained, for I well understand that the time of the Exercises are the days of salvation. ". . . Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (cf. 2 Cor. 6:2).


**Third Point**

Disposition and Method Needed for Making the Holy Exercises Well — It is desirable that before everything else you form the high appreciation that the task you have undertaken deserves from you. It is truly a task that not only serves the good of the soul, but serves the soul's entire and only interest. It is an undertaking that strives to put your conduct in good order, to cure the sickness of your soul, to make the good habits perfect which until now you have been practising, to influence you so that you will be growing daily in perfection, increasing each day your treasure of merit and adorned with good qualities, you can enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Now you see how this is something that cannot be of greater importance . . . What obedience, what pains, will a sick man not agree to, in order to gain lost health or correct a defect or unsightliness on his body? He keeps his mind on his business and away from foolishness, he keeps quiet, and goes on a diet, he takes his medicines, no matter how bad they taste, he undergoes operations and treatments at the hands of doctors, even when they are painful. And will you not do something just as great for the health of your soul? Imagine on these days of the Exercises that you are ill, and therefore you send for the Lord your God Who is your Doctor, Who has the care of your spiritual health, or salvation. "Salvation is of the Lord . . ." (Psalm 3:9).

Imagine that you tell Him with great earnestness, "Cure my soul, Lord, for I have sinned and have offended Thee." ("Here burn, here cut, here in this life do not spare, so that you may spare me in eternity." — Saint Augustine). Tell Him that you are ready to take all the medicines which He prescribes for you, that you are willing to suffer any operations, any cutting of bodily limbs, in order that your soul may be saved and not perish. (". . . O Lord, be Thou merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned . . ." Ps. 40:5).

Again, imagine that you are a great merchant who has a large amount of business at hand that keeps you occupied. While you are making clever and shrewd transactions, you receive a telegram. In the telegram one of your agents informs you that it is necessary and urgent that you go where he is without further loss of time, for your enterprises threaten to suffer a heavy bankruptcy, and if you go promptly and work on certain transactions with which he is familiar, your enterprises will not only be saved, but you can make a large profit. What do you do about such a message? What indeed?

It is clear that you would undertake the journey at once, setting aside other affairs. You leave your parents and your wife and children, your friends and associates. You give up the conveniences and comforts of your home, your amusements, the local sights and social pastimes about your town. You give it all up, and without stopping to worry whether this is a desirable time to be away, without thinking about the risks and inconveniences of travel, you go tend to your business.

Apply the illustration. I am your agent. The telegram is the advice about the holy Exercises, and I tell you that your greatest possession and your only business is in danger of being lost, and if you arrange to come and make these Exercises with seriousness and care, not only will you deliver your soul from being lost — for eternal damnation hangs over it, menacing it — but you will also make a great profit, the greatest that can be made, which is the gaining of grace and afterwards of glory in Heaven.

What will you do about this message? What indeed? You will, we hope, set aside ten whole days and make these holy Exercises well, as you should, and in this way you will deliver your soul from eternal damnation and you will provide it with grace and the glory of Heaven.

In order to make the holy Exercises well, you should carry out the following recommendations fully and conscientiously:

(1) Keep your attention away from other things and stay in your room, the more the better. Have the shade down, and only let that light enter which you need in order to read or write when you have to; otherwise, stay in the dark. Meditate, examine and go back over things in your mind a great deal.

When you are sick in bed, for the health of your body you do as much as this. Why not do it now for the health and salvation of your soul? The hen does it to hatch and bring life to her eggs. And will you not do it to bring life to your soul — your soul which is now lifeless and cold because of sin?

(2) Keep your eyes mortified; that is, do not peer from one side to another, nor gaze, nor read things that can turn your mind away from what it should be thinking about; and even avoid reading things, no matter how good they are, if they are not suited to your present plan.

I likewise urge that you entertain no wish to know or read the meditation that follows the one you are making. Avoid satisfying your curiosity, and mortify it. You should let your whole care be on the meditation that you are making, and on the ones that you have made up to this time — for the more you think back over them, the better; and the more you repeat them, the more fruit you will gain.

(3) Mortify your tongue; that is, do without talking. If you were seriously and gravely ill, and the doctor ordered you to keep absolutely quiet, you would do it for the health of your body. Do it, then, for the health and salvation of your soul.

Silence, silence — I urge it and order it for you; the more, the better. Let yourself talk only with God, with Jesus Christ, with the Blessed Virgin, the angels and saints, and with your spiritual director. Your conversation must be heavenly.

But if, due to some necessity, you must say something, if you can say it in two words, do not speak three, and let your voice be low. This recommendation about silence is the hardest to fulfill, and because it is not fulfilled as it should be, many people consequently do not complete the Exercises as profitably as they should have.

Therefore I repeat to you again: silence, silence; for during this time every word you may utter, will not only be idle, for which you will one day have to render an account, but also highly dangerous, and would deprive you of many graces already prepared for you, and which you would even lose until you have received them here.

(4) Mortify your hearing, listening to no one except God alone, Who will cause you to feel His voice through inspirations, meditations, and through your spiritual director, who will advise you in everything, and will tell you how to mortify yourself in eating and drinking and other things.

(5) You will make a general confession of your whole life, or since your last general confession, or from whatever time your spiritual director tells you.

(6) If you wish to profit a great deal from these Exercises, put yourself entirely in the Hands of God, and surrender completely to Him, so that He might do whatever He wishes with you, like the mud in the hands of the bricklayer, or wood in the hands of the sculptor. In all these moments you will repeat often and with all your heart some of these ejaculations:

1) May Thy Will and not mine be done. 2) Lord, what dost Thou want me to do? 3) Lord, grant that I may know Thy Will and help me with Thy Grace to fulfill it. 4) Speak, Lord, for Thy servant is listening. 5) Lord, grant that I may know the road through which You want me to travel. 6) My God, my heart is prepared and disposed to complete fully Thy most holy Will.

(7) You will have to carefully note every illustration, inspiration, and other knowledge which God will give you, and communicate everything to your spiritual director, and then you will put into effect what he has approved. In addition, during the holy Exercises, you should write out a plan of your life to be always observed from that time onwards.

(8) Each day of the holy Exercises you will examine these points to see if you are indeed fulfilling them, since the fruits of these Exercises depend greatly on their faithful observance.


**Intimate Conversation with Our Lady**

My Mother Mary, Thou Who had the consolation of seeing the Apostles and disciples united in the Upper Room for the space of ten days, and finally Thou didst have the enjoyment of seeing them all filled with the Holy Ghost; I, dear Mother, have the great honor and good fortune to find myself at these holy Exercises under Thy direction, and thus I hope with complete confidence that Thou wilt obtain for me all the graces needed in order to make them well. I, on my part, am resolved to do everything possible for the greater Glory of God and for the welfare of my soul, and so, my Mother, help and protect me now and always. Amen.

Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.

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Meditation 2 - On the End of Man



Principle and Foundation of All the Meditations

Notice to the reader — Before everything else, Saint Ignatius proposes for our consideration a most important truth which he calls principle and foundation. He calls it principle because just as sciences have their basic principles which are undeniable truths whence other truths are inferred, so too in the science of salvation the first truth proposed by Saint Ignatius is a principle from which one reaches conclusions and resolutions that plan a life that is good.

He also calls this truth a foundation, because just as in the construction of a building, the first thing to do is pour the cement which supports the building; similarly on this underlying basic truth is built not only the structure of the Exercises, but also the whole moral and spiritual life of the Christian who strives to save his soul.

Hence one easily discovers how important is the attentive, careful consideration of this great truth; for if a science is not understood without well-established principles, and as a building is not constructed without a firm cement foundation, neither will the Spiritual Exercises be made with lasting fruit if we do not provide and firmly lay this very solid foundation which we are going to talk about.

Let us, then, probe and penetrate it; for the more deeply we think on it and instill it into our souls, the more abundant and lasting will be the fruit we will obtain.


**First Point**

Preparatory Prayer as on page x

Composition of Place or first prelude — Imagine that you see God full of majesty and grandeur seated on His throne, and that you hear a voice that says: "I am the Beginning and the End." (Apoc. 22:13) You can also imagine that you see a vast ocean from which many rivers come forth and return, and that this ocean represents the goodness of God, from Whom come forth all creatures and to Whom they return, and that you are one of them, who has come from Him, and to Him you must return.

Second prelude — My God and Lord I ask Thee that Thou let me know my end, that I may seek it and attain it, and I beg that Thou give me the grace to make myself better than I am and overcome all the obstacles that can hinder me.

Foundational Principle — In the words of Saint Ignatius, "Man was created to praise, honor, and serve God our Lord, and thereby save his soul."

Explanation — What is my origin? Who is author of my being? This knowledge is so important that I cannot excuse myself from it without forsaking common sense and the religion which I profess. This knowledge guides me by the hand, as it were, to the accomplishment of my essential duties. All nature shouts to me that I owe submission, respect, obedience, acknowledgment, and love to the Author of my being.¹

Now Who is the Author of my being? I exist. There was a time when I did not exist. Twenty, thirty, sixty, eighty years ago, I did not exist. Where was I then? I was nothing. How have I come into the world? Who has created me? Did I give being to myself? No; for since I was nothing, I could do nothing. Was it a force called chance that formed me? No; for such a chance is a deceptive dream. Did my parents produce me out of nothing? No; they have been instruments which God has used.

But God is my Creator, not they, although I should always honor them. Ask yourself if the following is not so: The non-material, spiritual, eternal and immortal soul which you have, which makes you above all animals and almost equal to the angels, and this soul is an image of God — could anyone have made this, but God Himself? Right reason declares the answer, and faith teaches it when God states, "Let Us make man to Our image and likeness . . ." (Gen. 1:26).

The same thing is to be said of your body, which is material. Something material is changeable, and does not independently exist of its own power nor does it possess existence of itself. It possesses it from the Supreme Being, Who is God. Thus you see that you ought to raise yourself — even the less important part of you — to God as your first Principle Who created you, drew you from your parents, and keeps you in existence.

Furthermore, the complex structure of your body, the coordination and movements of the numerous parts which form its wonderful machinery, are not familiar knowledge to our parents.²

God alone, Who is the First Intelligent Cause, Mover and Ruler, formed your body and preserves it whole. Indeed, preserving is continuous creating. He lets secondary causes operate, but even they would not function without the cooperation, the order, and the movement of the First Cause.

You ought, then, to be well convinced that God has given you all you have — the soul with its powers, and the body with its senses. It is He and no one else who preserves you. Indeed if He withdrew His Almighty Hand you would at once return to the nothingness from which you came.³

God has given you existence and preserves by His Goodness and Mercy the existence you have.⁴

He has preferred you to others whom He could have created and will never create. He has given you the noble existence of a man, and not that of a beast, nor of a plant, nor of a stone; although you had no right to such a noble and privileged existence.

And what did He do this for? Ah, an Infinite Wisdom cannot make anything without assigning it an end that matches its greater or lesser excellence. And this holds true here. The final end for which this Immense Being drew you out of nothing is simply this: that you know Him here on earth, and that hereafter you enjoy Him eternally in Heaven.⁵

Are you persuaded about this, my soul? . . . Do you believe it? In all the moments of your past life you should have glorified and loved God, and in every moment remaining to you, you will have to serve Him, glorify and love Him . . . and why?

(1) Because the Goodness of God requires it. Imagine that you had come to the world in the same state in which you now find yourself, except that you were completely speechless, without the power to utter one word; and that today God should come down from Heaven, loose your tongue and give you speech, adding at the same time, this command: "In recognition of the kindness I have shown you, you shall not utter a word except what is in My Honor."

Could anything ever be more proper than that a tongue, to which God has given the power of speech, should praise Him? . . . Now look at yourself, and tell me, do you find any part of your body, no matter how small, which you have not received from God? Is there in you some power which He Himself has not given you?⁶

Is it not, then, very just that God be loved by that heart which you have received from Him, and that those hands which He has fashioned be engaged in working for God?

(2) Because God's supreme Ownership calls for it. It is He Who created you and brought you out of nothingness. One who plants a garden gains an ownership of the garden and is owner of all its fruits. A person who chooses to take a single apple against that owner's will, would commit a theft and an injustice.

God has created you and is your owner, and of all there is in you, so that every affection which is not directed to Him, every word that is not to His praise, every deed that is not done for love of Him, is a theft and an injustice.

Do you understand now, oh! my soul, how right it is that you serve God and that you honor and love Him with all your heart? How have you complied with this obligation? A master receives a bad service in two ways: First, by our loafing and utterly neglecting the duties we owe to him as master, or by our doing them carelessly. Second, by your doing things with evil intent so that the master is offended. Up to now how have you served your God and Lord? What does your heart say?


Affective Acts

(1) Confession — Oh my God! I am well aware of the disorders of my life so far. My only goal and pursuit should have been to love Thee, to serve Thee, and to glorify Thee with all my heart. I should never have used one moment, nor uttered one word, nor performed any work, except for Thy Honor and Glory . . . But, how have I behaved?

How many thousands of hours there have been in my life, how many thousands of words my lips have uttered, thousands of deeds my hands have performed, and to what purpose have they been directed? Oh, how many times it has been to creatures, and how few times to Thee, oh my God! . . . But that is not so important as this: How many days have passed in which I have not committed new outrages and new offenses against Thee? What a wretch I am! How neglectful, how ungrateful and how perverse I have been, Lord! . . .

(2) Act of sorrow — I cannot do more, oh! my God, except implore Thy Infinite Mercy, humbly asking for forgiveness. I detest and abhor with all my heart and all the powers of my soul, as much as I can, all the moments that I have not used for Thy Honor and Glory . . . Oh, if I could recover as many precious hours as I have wasted and used badly! Pardon, Lord, pardon; already I am weighed down by my sins. Have mercy, my God and my Father.


**Second Point**

Nothing is more profitable than living for the Last End by serving, glorifying and loving God with one's whole heart.

The Final End for which God has created you has not been merely that you serve Him and love Him solely for His glory, but also that you gain eternal blessedness and come to enjoy it in the next life. By serving God you will, after a while, go to enjoy Him in Heaven. This is as sure as it is that you are now alive on earth. Pause here a bit, my soul, to reflect on the benefits that await you.

(1) In Heaven there is an immense blessing for the soul. To comprehend fully the blessing that the soul will enjoy in Heaven is as impossible as it is to swallow the ocean. The only idea that in any way lets us understand its greatness is this: As God is an Infinite Being, His Blessedness must be, as a consequence, infinite; for an inferior blessedness cannot match an Infinite Being.

Oh, what a marvellous fact! God's Blessedness, His happiness, is infinite, and this very same happiness is your last End. God wants you to enjoy the same object of happiness by which He is happy and the same delights that He enjoys.

(2) In Heaven there is a blessing beyond measure for the body. — The soul cannot serve God in the things He commands it, in His holy law, unless it has cooperation from the body. Just then, as the soul will gain blessedness, the body will likewise gain the same favor. Now what will this happy state be for the body and how great will it be?

Faith tells us this much: It will be of such a nature and such greatness that eye has not seen nor ear ever heard the like, nor can any imagination ever picture it nor any mind comprehend it. To put it in a few words, God engages all His Almighty power in order to make the body happy in all its senses.

(3) In Heaven the blessedness of both body and soul are eternal. Oh how empty is all the glamor and pleasure of earth! A hundred years ago there were kings and queens; and millions of their citizens humbly bent their knee to acknowledge the royal authority. Everyone was awed at the splendor of these rulers, and their power made kingdoms tremble.

Where are these rulers now? They have rotted under the ground. Their bones have changed into dust, and this dust is now trampled underfoot. Likewise today on earth are kings and queens who are honored like gods. But let a century pass, and what will be left of them?

Nothing more than a heap of dust that wind will scatter . . . The kingdom that awaits you is of a very different kind. Everything in it is everlasting. That infinitely delightful enjoyment of the Holy Trinity is eternal. Those sweet exchanges with Jesus Christ are eternal. That tender love and close friendship with the Mother of God and with the other saints and angels is eternal. The beauty of paradise is eternal.

That overflowing measure of joy that engages all the powers of the soul is eternal. That river of delight that floods all the senses of the body, is eternal. Everything there is without any lessening, without change, without interruption, without end — eternal, eternal . . .


Affective Acts

(1) O God! O Infinite Goodness! How consoling this truth is to me! Heaven is my homeland! Heaven is my inheritance! Heaven is my reward! It is my last end. Yes, it is really true. God has made it for me. If I serve Him and love Him, a day will come when I will shine with a loveliness greater than that of the sun and moon, when I will behold paradise with my own eyes, when I can embrace my beloved Jesus, and when my body and soul will be plunged into a sea of delight.

Oh happy day! Can I expect this? Indeed I do expect this, and I expect it with assurance. Jesus Himself has promised it to me. For all this, it is enough that I keep His law, that I act according to the end of my creation.⁷

(2) Detachment from temporal things — If Heaven is mine, then how is it that I do not make light of this world and all that this world can give? . . . Why do I get upset and make myself sad because of the aches and pains of my body, if a day will come when my body will have nothing but pure delights for all eternity? Why do I feel so badly when men treat me as of no account, if for all eternity I am to be loved and honored by God and all the saints? . . . Oh how blind I have been up to now. O my God, in valuing so highly the vile goods of this world! . . . From now on I choose and resolve to treat the things of this world as of no account, and to love what belongs to eternity and Heaven.


**Third Point**

Nothing can be more necessary than to hope and strive for the last end by loving, serving and glorifying God with all our heart. Here is a fact, O my soul: In creating you, God's goal was His honor and glory, and He ought to obtain it and unfailingly will obtain this goal of His. This is as certain as it is that God is God. Therefore consider and reflect.

(1) God is infinite Goodness and infinite Justice — O my soul, let these truths sink deeply into your heart. As God is infinite Goodness, it is absolutely certain that He must love and reward eternally all those who have glorified Him, served Him, and loved Him. And as He is infinite Justice, it is impossible that He not hate and punish eternally all those who treat Him disrespectfully. Have you understood these truths well? Let us proceed further.

(2) As God is infinite Goodness, He has created paradise; and as He is infinite Justice, He has created hell. In paradise God will love and reward forever the souls that have been faithful, and they, in return, will praise and bless Him forever. In hell, He will oppose and punish forever the unfaithful souls, and they will curse and blaspheme Him forever. In paradise, His Infinite Goodness and Mercy will be praised for all eternity; in hell, His Majesty will be upheld and His Justice fulfilled . . . What is the consequence of this? The consequence is . . .

(3) God always and unfailingly will achieve His goal. Very well, then, regardless of what you do, it will always turn out that you will serve God's glory. If you serve Him and love God on earth, you will love and praise His Mercy forever in Heaven. If you do not serve Him on earth, you will forever glorify His Justice in hell.

It equally honors a Lord of infinite Majesty, namely God, to reward for all eternity His faithful servants, as well as to punish forever those who rebel. Now picture to yourself, O my soul, on one side Heaven opened and those immense joys that the saved experience there, and on the other side, picture hell with the immense torments which the damned suffer there; and say within yourself: I must of necessity glorify God for all eternity; this is His decree, and it is as impossible for it to be cancelled or changed as it is for God to cease to be God.

Oh frightening truth! One of these two things will come upon me: either I will live forever in Heaven, or I will live forever in hell — for we understand that in the other world all is eternal (after Purgatory). This soul of mine will praise or blaspheme, will love God or hate God forever, for it is eternal. My body will be forever plunged in heavenly delights or it will wail in the torments of hell; for it will also be eternal. These hands of mine will embrace Jesus as I please forever, or they will be bound with the chains of hell; for they are eternal.

My eyes will contemplate forever the resplendent bodies of Heaven's citizens, or will forever see the horrifying phantoms of hell; for they will be eternal. My flesh and all senses of my body will forever have a matchless happiness, or will forever burn in fire, and in the midst of flames; for all these things are eternal. What an awesome and frightening affair, but certainly real! What is my choice to be? It is for me to choose to follow the one or the other. One of the two is to be my lot for eternity, and it will be what I myself pick.


Affective Acts

(1) Fear — What a serious affair, O my God! Shall I go to Heaven or to hell? What a frightening question, which makes my heart pound! Will I go to paradise? I cannot know if that will be my fortune, but I know Thou hast said, "He that loveth his life (in this world) shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal." (John 12:25).

These are Thy words. To love one's life in this world means to surrender oneself to bodily pleasure and sin, to obey one's self-will, to run away (from duty) in order to escape contempt, to hold bitter resentment against people who offend us. To hate one's life means to practise (dutiful) mortification generously, to deny one's self-will, to hunt contempt (when to do so is in accord with duty,)⁸ to return good for evil. Have I done this? Alas for me!

Alas! Jesus' lips condemn me! Have I failed to be counted among those who hate their own life?

(2) Resolution — And how much, my God, I have failed! If an endless and happy eternity depends on gaining my End, and an unhappy eternity comes from losing it, how is it possible for me to be so negative about pursuing it? If it were necessary, should I not gladly sacrifice my life this minute to gain Heaven? Should I not shed all my blood in a moment to escape hell? Yes, gaining an infinite Good, avoiding an infinite evil — these are two objectives for which one can never do too much or put up with too much.

In the presence of Thy Divine Majesty, I now resolve to go about pursuing my Last End at all costs, O my God! And in order to safely gain it I also resolve to faithfully follow everything in these holy Spiritual Exercises which I recognize to be needful and profitable for success.

(3) Prayer of Petition — How many times have I made these resolutions, and later been unfaithful and failed to fulfill them? I realize well that if Thou dost not help me by giving me greater strength, I am lost. I turn to Thee, O my God, and with a heart contrite and humbled I cry: Forgive me, O Supreme Good! Forgive my sins and neglects! Look not on my lack of merit, but on Thy Mercy, and deal not according to the rigor of Thy Infinite Justice, but according to the kindness of Thy Infinite Mercy.

Grant me new lights that enable me to clearly understand the importance of my End, new promptings that deeply move my heart. Grant me new graces that make me constant in my (right) resolves. How would the creation of me profit me, O my God, if I perish forever? How would Thy shedding Thy Blood for me help me, O Son of God, if I am lost? How would my having become an heir by grace benefit me, O Divine Spirit, if I am damned?


Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.


Footnotes

¹ "Heaven, earth, and all things tell me to love Thee." (St. Augustine, Confessions, L. xi. c.4.)

² The mother of the seven Machabee children who were martyred, said to them in order to encourage them: "I know not how you were formed in my womb, for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you. But the Creator of the world . . ." (2 Mach. 7:22, 23)

³ "Thy hands have made me and formed me . . . Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me." (Ps. 118,73; 118, 5)

⁴ ". . . I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee." (Jer. 31:3.)

⁵ "I have created him for My glory . . ." (Is. 43:7.) "You have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting." (Rom. 6:22).

⁶ "What hast thou that thou hast not received? . . ." (1 Cor. 4:7.)

⁷ ". . . If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matt. 19:17.) ". . . Fear God, and keep His commandments: because for man everything depends on this." (Eccles. 12:13.)

⁸ This is to be taken in the sense explained by St. John of the Cross in Ascent, Bk. 1, 13.

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Meditation 3 - Concerning Indifference to Created Things



Preparatory Prayer as on page x


First Prelude

Composition of Place — "Imagine you see God in His majesty and greatness seated on a throne, and that you hear a voice which says: I am the Beginning and the End (Apoc. 22:13). Likewise you can picture an immense sea from which many rivers flow and into which all the rivers return. This sea represents God's goodness, from which all creatures come, and they return to Him. You are one of these creatures which has come from God and you must return to Him."


Second Prelude

My God and Lord, I beg Thee to give me grace to behave always with a holy indifference regarding objects of our senses, and to select and prefer only what better serves Thy honor and glory and the salvation of my soul. Amen.

Words of Saint Ignatius: "Other things on earth were made for man's sake and to help him in pursuing the end for which he was created."

"Thou hast subjected all things under his feet . . ." (Psalm 8:8) They are like a step-ladder, like rungs for climbing. God put them under our feet, and man has placed them higher than his heart and above shoulders and head, and they cause his downfall.

(Continuing with Saint Ignatius): "Consequently one should use them to the extent that they help him reach his end, and he should withdraw from them to the extent that they hinder him in that pursuit. One must become indifferent to everything created wherever a scope of free will is allowed and is not prohibited; so that for our part we no more want health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than the experience of being dishonorable, a long life rather than a short one — and so in all other things, desiring only and choosing only what better leads to the end for which we were created."

Explanation — One who fails to attain his last End, loses it either because he is very attached to certain things of the world, or because he hates other things too much. I say attached — referring to comforts, satisfactions of the body, good things of life, riches, the honor and esteem of men. Such things attract us to pursue them, even by offending God, so that one loses his last End.

The loathing refers to discomforts, troubles, pains, poverty, suffering of contempt, abuse, sickness, death. These cause a man sadness and dread, and also get him to turn from God and thus fail to attain his last End.

My soul, as you want to play safe about your last End, you must put your heart in a condition of proper balance and indifference, so that you are always prompt and ready to get rid of even the best liked things, whenever they serve to obstruct your reaching your last End, and when things help you gain it, you must always be prompt and ready to embrace them, even things most arduous and distasteful.


**First Point**

The supreme ownership God has over me calls for this total indifference of heart toward all things that are not of God — Your end, O my soul, on this earth is nothing else than that you love and serve God with perfection. But to so love and serve Him, is nothing else than to fulfill the Divine Will with perfection. Indeed this is true, my soul; to love and serve God perfectly is no more than to perfectly fulfill His Will. Now this cannot be accomplished unless you are ready and willing with complete indifference and proper balance to have health or sickness, honor or contempt, riches or poverty. Weigh this truth well.

(1) It is not your business to determine the way of serving God. It belongs to His Divine Majesty to determine that. It is your business to serve Him according to His wishes, not according to your own. He is Master and you are servant. It belongs to the Master to command, to the servant to obey. Even in Heaven this order is observed.

Among the angels some are always before God's throne praising Him, adoring Him, and blessing Him. Others hover about the earth as guardians of men. This angel is assigned to a powerful king, that one to a poor laborer. Each one serves God the way he is commanded. Will God perhaps have less authority on earth than He has in Heaven? When you have grasped this truth well, let us take a step further.

(2) God's ownership is without limits. He has authority to order this or that way of serving Him, as suits Him best. He is your God and you are His creature. Who will have the boldness or even the ability to limit His Power? A potter follows his own wishes in disposing of the vessel he has made. Is it not right for God to be able to dispose of the man that is His creature, just as a potter disposes of his vessel?

God has an owner's right to put one in the state that suits His Divine Majesty best; and wherever He may put you, you are bound to honor, serve and love Him.

(3) Serving God as His Majesty wishes is simply to love Him and serve Him with perfection, and as a result attain our last End. Everything else is wasted business. If some duty or office has been assigned to you, you ought to fulfill your obligation with care and love for God, and not turn aside to other cares. This is serving God according to His Will.

If your inner self is all wrapped up in darkness, in temptation, in affliction, in desolation, it is necessary for you to adjust yourself to this arrangement of Providence and do so out of love for God. This is serving Him according to His pleasure. If the world hates you, criticizes you, insults you with abuses, suffer it in silence out of love for God. That is serving Him as He wishes. The more you part from this way of life, the more you part from your last End.


Affective Acts

(1) Acknowledge God's supreme dominion — It is true, O Sovereign Good! Thou art my God and my supreme Lord. Thy role is to command, and mine is to obey. I am obliged to serve Thee, but in the way that pleases Thee. I acknowledge Thy supreme ownership and I adore it profoundly. Alas for the self-willed servant! To choose to serve God according to our impulses and not as He wants to be served, is treating God as the servant and wanting to be His master. What reward might one expect for a disorder of this kind? Or rather, what punishment should one not expect and fear?

(2) Repentance — How is it possible, O Infinite One, that there should be a single person who strives to serve Thee and love Thee according to his own wishes and not according to Yours? Sad to say, there are many, many such fools, and I see that I am obliged to admit with shame that up to now I have been one of them. I want to love Thee and serve Thee with health, by no means with sickness.

I wish to serve Thee and love Thee, but just when I am loved and honored, not ever in the midst of experiencing contempt, insults and persecutions. I want to serve Thee and love Thee, but as long as things go my way and tender feelings of devotion delight my heart; but not in any state of darkness, desolation, or trial. Is this serving and loving God as His Majesty wishes? Ah! What sad shape I am in! What have I been doing?


**Second Point**

God's Providence demands that I have a heart of holy indifference — As it is arduous and difficult to gain one's last End without complete and holy indifference, it is likewise so much the easier to gain this End with it. To thoroughly convince yourself of this, weigh this truth:

(1) God is Infinite Wisdom and Knowledge. He knows and understands the means that lead with all security to the attainment of your last End. There are all kinds of means serviceable for the gaining of your last End — health and sickness, honor and dishonor, an honored calling and a lowly occupation — provided they are put to good use.

Now if you know the answer, tell me: What will lead you most securely to your last End? Is it the enjoyment of robust health, or is it a sickly condition? Is it a state of being honored and loved, or one of being insulted and hated? Is it holding a high post, or having a humble employment? This is something you do not know, nor do I, nor does anybody else in the world. All those things are mysteries that no perception can penetrate except only the perception of Him Who is Almighty.

(2) God is Infinite Love, Who always arranges for souls the surest means for reaching their last End — surest, provided they always keep themselves in this holy indifference and proper balance. God deals with souls as a mother who fondly loves her tender child.

As a true mother is incapable of giving poison to her beloved child, even more so is God incapable of providing anything harmful for a soul that surrenders itself to Him with indifference. O my soul, become for once fully convinced that if God visits you with illness, that is the surest way then for leading you to reach your last End; when He allows you to be despised and belittled, when He places you in darkness, in desolation, in trials, that is the surest way for you to advance to your last End.

(3) God is Infinite Power, and He leads infallibly to its last End the soul constant in holy indifference and proper balance. And who will be so bold and so daring that he can put an obstacle before God? Neither an angel, nor a man, nor Heaven, nor earth, nor all hell can fight against Infinite Power.

You alone, O my soul, you alone can obstruct and can defeat His loving designs by withdrawing from the order He has arranged concerning you by your turning away from holy indifference. But if you stay firm in it, it is as certain that you will reach your last End as it is certain that God is a God of Infinite Love, of Infinite Wisdom and of Infinite Power.

God is your Father Who loves you from eternity. A father naturally loves his son; but though he loves him and desires every benefit for him, he does not know what is most suitable; and if he does know this, he cannot always do what he wants and what he knows would benefit his son. But God, Who is such a loving Father, has the wish, the knowledge and the power to do what is best suited for you. And will you fail to conform yourself? Will you resist? Will you murmur? Will you complain to His Fatherly Providence?


Affective Acts

(1) Confidence — Oh, how consoling is this truth! He Who rules over me is Infinite Wisdom, Who knows and understands the means that are most suitable for me. He Who guides me is Infinite Power, and there is no one who can push me down if He holds me up and strengthens me. He Who loves me is Infinite Love, Who from hour to hour provides the means best for me. With this knowledge, can I admit any mistrust into my heart?

Let that never happen, O my God. I surrender myself completely to Thy Fatherly Providence; and fully confident, I make this assertion: Thou seekest me for Thy company in Paradise, and wish me to be in a high rank of glory. Thy goodness is so great as to wish all this for me and so I also hope for the same thing. Thou art my Father and Thy Love will lead me to that wonderful happiness.

(2) Self-doubt — But how can I hope for something so wonderful? No one can get an assurance that he will gain something so wonderful, so great, except the souls which serve and love God as He wishes and who walk in His presence with perfect and holy indifference. Am I one such soul?

Oh how far removed from me is such a good disposition! What joy do I not show amid praises and honor, amid prosperity and riches! What sadness do I not feel when I suffer contempt, poverty, and misery! How much satisfaction my heart gets in time of tender devotion and consolations! With what pleasure does it carry out what is commanded, if it is according to my wish and inclination; and with what displeasure, if it is what I do not like!

Is this perhaps that holy indifference which is required for perfect love? O Jesus, have pity on me! A heart so poorly disposed is not capable of loving Thee, and one can say that the first stone of the building of holiness and salvation has not yet been laid . . .


**Third Point**

Divine Justice calls for holy indifference and a proper balance in my heart — If you, O my soul, do not submit to the provision of Divine Providence, and if you do not embrace in humble submission the means that Providence keeps providing for your last End, you will fall into the hands of Divine Justice. And what will be the result? A heap of misfortunes for which you cannot weep enough. Reflect well on this and what follows.

(1) It is quite certain that such a soul must of necessity suffer in this world much more than another soul. You greatly deceive yourself, my soul, if you imagine you can escape the troubles which God's Love holds in store for you as means to your last End. You will never be able to. You will suffer, and you will necessarily have to suffer the pains and ailments, the contempt and other mistreatment which from eternity God has assigned for you to suffer.

"You will either fulfill what God wants, or you will suffer what you do not want." — Saint Augustine.

If you maintain an indifferent heart and bear everything with patience, you will give God pleasure and He will fortify you with an inflow of His graces. He will give you a continual peace and calm and will make the way of the cross something easy and sweet for you. If you neglect this holy indifference and bear troubles impatiently, you will displease God and He will deny you all His strengthening, supporting help and every kind of peace and consolation, letting you fall under the weight of your cross.

(2) It is very certain that for all eternity you will lose that high degree of glory unless you adopt the means God has appointed. If your heart is not indifferent and you do not use such means, adopting them willingly, you will weary yourself in vain and will lose your last End. It is certain that you are in danger of not gaining your eternal salvation, not even a lower grade of glory.

A soul that has not this holy indifference, falls out of (moral) necessity into many grave temptations. In such circumstances, who is not drawn downward by anger, by resentment, by faintheartedness and melancholy, by pride and fear of contempt? And who is not moved by impulsiveness and self-will, by interior upsets and disorder, and by the rebellion of uncontrolled passions?

Ah, to overcome these problems requires a particular help of God. Now will He give it to a soul unwilling to submit to His plans, to a soul who, full of anger, rejects the means which God had provided, a soul unwilling to serve except in its own way, unwilling to acknowledge Him as Master and Lord, and who insolently resists God's designs? Let a man place his hopes in the One Whom he can trust, for the struggle is quite dangerous.


Affective Acts

(1) Humiliation — O Sovereign Good, my God and my Lord! How many faults I find in my soul at this hour! What blindness there is in my thinking! What disorder in my will! I regard pains and ailments as the greatest of evils, and Thou valuest them as most effective means for my sanctification. When I'm treated with contempt I count it to be the worst thing in the world, and Thou dost rate it as the best means for my exaltation in Heaven.

I call desolation and trial my ruin; and Thou sayest that they are to fashion the greatest part of my glory in paradise. So it is: My judgment has deceived me and the blindness of my intellect has reached this extreme. ("I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost. Seek thy servant . . ." Psalm 118:176). But alas! My misery does not end here; for the blindness of my intellect matches the corruption of my will.

Concupiscence, comfort, honor, esteem from creatures, sweet peace and tranquility of heart, obedience agreeing with my wishes — these are the only things to which I am inclined. Everything else repels and frightens me. I'm always stretching out both hands to poison, and withdrawing from the medicine that could cure me.

(2) Resolution — What is the remedy for this? I have learned two things today, O my God. The first is that it is necessary to serve Thee and love Thee in the way Thou dost desire, not in the way I wish. The second is that I cannot serve Thee nor love Thee that way if I have an indifferent heart and if I do not make use of the means that Thou assigns to me. Without those means, I cannot serve Thee nor love Thee, nor become holy, nor be saved.

Considering how true this is, I surrender at this moment before Thy Divine Majesty, my fondness for the creatures I like, as well as my distaste for what I do not like. Honor and contempt, health and sickness, consolation and grief, this or that occupation — these will be indifferent matters for me.

Let nature groan and complain as much as it wishes, grace is to win from now on. This, then, is my resolve, O my God and Lord. I choose to serve Thee and love Thee in the way Thou dost will, not in the way I like. This is the way I will employ the days, the hours, and all the minutes that remain in my life.

(3) Prayer for grace — Oh how fortunate is the soul with these dispositions! It has the basis of holiness; it has in fact the true essence of it, which is perfect charity. It is travelling the right way that leads to union with God. Oh, who will preserve me in this state? Not I, O my Jesus! I cannot do so much! My weakness is too great. My fickleness is too deep-rooted. Only Thy Almighty Power can remedy my misery and keep me upright.

I turn the most ardent sighs of my heart to Thee, O my Jesus! Take from me all desire and love for those creatures that just appeal to my selfishness. Rid me of all fear and opposition to what displeases my selfish temper. Put me in a state of total holy indifference, and grant that I will desire nothing but to please Thee, and fear nothing but Thy displeasure, O Jesus. O Father of mercies! Assist me with Thy powerful grace.


Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers[i][/i] as on page xi.

[Stone]

Meditation 4 - The Sin of the Angels and of Our First Parents, Adam and Eve


Preparatory Prayer as on page x

Commentary — After a consideration of our End, Saint Ignatius puts before our minds the malice of mortal sin, so that we will flee from it as from the sight of a serpent, since sin is the only thing that can prevent us from reaching our last end.¹


First Prelude

Composition of Place — Imagine you see the Eternal Father seated on His throne of majesty and grandeur, Who, as Judge, passes sentence against the rebellious angels, against Adam and Eve, and against Jesus Christ, His Son, Who has assumed the figure of the sinner. Imagine that one of the angels who stand before the Lord's throne approaches you and says, "Know and understand how evil and bitter it is to have offended your God." (". . . Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God" Jer. 2:19.)


Second Prelude

Petition — My God and Lord, I beg light and grace to know the malice of sin, to grieve at the faults I have committed, and to firmly resolve to die rather than sin again.


**First Point**

Words of Saint Ignatius — "The first point will be to recall to memory the first sin, which was that of the angels, then to apply the understanding by considering this sin in detail, then the will by seeking to remember and understand all, so that I may be the more ashamed and confounded when I compare the one sin of the angels with the many that I have committed. Since they went to hell for one sin, how many times have I deserved it for my many sins. I will recall to mind the sin of the angels, remembering that they were created in the state of grace, that they refused to make use of their freedom to offer reverence and obedience to their Creator and Lord, and so sinning through pride, they fell from grace into sin and were cast from Heaven into hell. In like manner my understanding is to be used to reason more in detail on the subject matter, and thereby move more deeply my affections through the use of the will."²

Explanation — From the punishment given the angels, one can gather the infinite malice of sin. Turn back a little in your thoughts, O my soul, to those marvelous times when God created Heaven and peopled it with angels. Who could ever imagine a happiness greater than what was given those spirits? So remarkable was their beauty that no man could have gazed at it without being overcome with joy. So astonishing was their wisdom that compared to it, Solomon's could be called pure and genuine ignorance. Their essential blessedness was such that they were not capable of suffering any pain. Their dwelling was as lovely as a paradise could be. In spite of the greatness of their gifts of nature, their gifts of grace were too great to compare. They had a very perfect knowledge of God; a most ardent charity was infused into them; and their friendship and union with God was very intimate. Also they had a certain promise that after a few moments they were to enter into His glory to enjoy it forever.

Then all at once some angels abused this great kindness. They were unwilling to serve God in the way His Majesty wanted. They sinned, and received punishment. (". . . I will be like the most High." Isaias 14:14.)

Reflect, now, with all the powers of your mind, on the circumstances of this punishment.

(1) This punishment deprived them of all good. — These very unfortunate angels were transformed in a moment from the extremely beautiful spirits which they were, into horrible demons. From preferred sons of God they became objects of everlasting hatred and were cast like a lightening bolt from the height of Heaven to the depths of hell-fire. (". . . I saw satan like lightning falling from Heaven." Luke 10:18.)

(2) This punishment was the sum-total of all possible misfortunes — In their memory there remained the very distressing recollection of the past. In their minds was extreme storminess. In their wills was supreme despair; and very painful flames afflicted all their powers of perception.

(3) This punishment was without a remedy. — More than four thousand years had passed in which these miserable spirits burned in these flames, when Jesus Christ came into the world to destroy sin. But of what help was His coming to them? That merciful Jesus, Who shed so many tears over wicked Jerusalem, shed not one tear for them. That loving Jesus, Who gave all His Blood for His treacherous enemies, offered not a drop to His Eternal Father for them. It took but a single moment to commit the sin, but the punishment will last for all eternity.

Pause here a little while, my soul, and go in thought down into that prison of fire. Picture to yourself the misery of those condemned spirits. Observe what a horrible, terrifying appearance it has, which no mortal man could gaze upon without dying of fright. Their dwelling place is a dreadful prison, confined and blazing all around with fire. The torments which they suffer are so very painful that no mind can grasp it. After you have observed these things, ponder with me as follows:

These monsters were once very beautiful spirits, very dear sons of the Most High God, masterpieces of the Divine, Almighty Power, first occupants and very beautifying sights in the heavenly mansion. What evil have they done, to have fallen into such great misfortune? All their guilt comes down to a single thought, consented to in an instant, a single act of disobedience, one single sin. For this single sin they have been burning for at least six thousand years, and will burn for all eternity. And who is it Who has pronounced this horrifying sentence against them? God. O awesome truth! It is God! We must say, then, either that God is not Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Justice, Infinite Mercy, or that sin is truly an infinite evil. The first is unthinkable. Therefore we must admit the second and declare that sin is an infinite evil.


Affective Acts

(1) Admiration — O my God, I know not which I should marvel at more, the strict justice with which Thou treated the rebellious angels, or the greatness of the mercy Thou hast shown me. Those very noble spirits, those beautiful likenesses of Thy Divinity, committed a single sin, and for this sin alone they were damned for all eternity. I, who am a heap of dirt and dust, have committed many sins. And Thou hast borne up with me! . . . I have abused Thy Mercy, and after I had been pardoned for earlier sins, I committed others. And Thou forgavest me again. Even now at this very moment Thou dost look on me with fatherly eyes and stretch out to me the arms of Thy mercy. O sovereign spirits, O blessed souls who are in Heaven, cast a glance down on me and in me you will see as many evidences of God's mercy and long suffering as there are sins which I have committed. Ah! Supply for me what I ought to do, but cannot. Praise and bless God, for He is good, and great is the mercy He has had for me.

(2) Repentance — This mercy is what fills my heart with grief. I have offended a God Who has loved me more than so many thousands of millions of very noble spirits, a God Who, at the very time I committed the greatest offenses, clasped me to the bosom of His Mercy; a God Who, in spite of my sins, wants to love me for all eternity. And I, an ungrateful person, how could I make light of such great love and offend such great kindness? How can I now remember such malice without breaking down into sad, bitter tears? O my Jesus, I recognize and admit my sins. I am repentant and hate them all.


**Second Point**

Words of Saint Ignatius — "The second point is to use the three powers of the soul to consider the sin of Adam and Eve. Call to mind how they did such long penance for their sin and what corruption fell on the human race, causing so many to go to hell. Call to mind the second sin, that of our first parents. Recall that after Adam had been created in the Plain of Damascus and placed in the earthly paradise, and Eve had been formed from his rib, they were forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and eating it, they committed sin. After their sin, clothed in garments of skin and cast out of paradise, without the original justice which they had lost, they lived all their lives in much travail and much penance.

"The understanding is likewise to be used in considering the subject matter in greater detail and the will is to be employed as already explained." (Tr. Anthony Mottola, pp. 55-56, op. cit.)

Explanation — Perceive the infinite malice of sin from the punishment imposed on our first parents. Never in the world has a happiness been seen like that in which God created our first parents.

(1) How pleasant their dwelling place was, this earthly paradise! It was not subject to cold, nor to hot, nor rainy nor windy weather, but there was the continuous, peaceful enjoyment of the sight of the sun. Needing no one's toil, some trees of themselves bore excellent fruit, vines bore tasty grapes, and the soil yielded wonderful sprouts of plants and flowers.

(2) How perfect their dominion was over the animals! At first call, birds would descend from the sky and show them their dependence. At a word, animals would run up and halting at their feet, would give them proof of their obedience. At a signal, fish would come swimming through the water to the bank and show their joy.³

(3) How marvelous was the condition of their body! It was not subject to exhaustion, nor weariness, nor pain, nor sickness, nor old age, nor even death. In order to always keep the flower of youth, it was enough that they eat fruits from the Tree of Life.

(4) How wonderful was the good condition of their soul! It had perfect control over all the passions. No melancholy, nor envy, nor hatred, nor any other disorderly movement dared rise up against reason. Their soul was endowed with a plentiful knowledge of God, a very ardent love for Him, a tender fondness for His Divine Majesty.

Finally, a promise had been made to our first parents that after a long and happy life, without first undergoing sickness or death, they would be transported body and soul into Heaven, to reign there forever with God. But if God's generosity to our first parents was enormous, no less was their monstrous ingratitude towards Him. They were unwilling to serve Him in the way He wanted to be served. They sinned and received the punishment. Reflect now on the circumstances of this punishment, and the seriousness of the sin in their case.

(1) For this single sin, Adam was left deprived of all happiness. The ground is under a curse. Henceforth it would produce nothing else but thorns and thistles. The human body is under a curse and condemned to pain, sickness and death, and as God's enemy, is in this valley of tears as a place of exile from paradise.

(2) For this single sin, all of Adam's descendants are condemned alike to these misfortunes. Imagine a piece of land, for instance (let us say) one league square and completely piled about half a league high with corpses, and say to yourself: All these thousands of millions of men had to undergo death for this single sin.

(3) For this single sin all infants who die without baptism are deprived of paradise for all eternity. Let us suppose that every year in all the world ten million infants die. This would be saying that from the time of Jesus Christ's birth, probably over eighteen thousand million have died. All these are kept out of Heaven for this single sin.

(4) For this single sin, a majority of adults are damned for all eternity. Everyone who is damned is damned on account of the uncontrolled passions of his heart which draw him to sin. This vehemence of his bad inclinations is a punishment of that disobedience which our first parents committed. . . Here is something more frightful: If, by an impossibility, the world were to last forever in the present state, every year for all eternity millions of men would fall into the fire of hell on account of this single sin.

(5) For this sin Jesus died on the Cross. Oh, amazing miracle! The Supreme Lord of Heaven and earth, Who by essence is Holiness, and is the Only-Begotten Son of God, was condemned by His own Father to the disgraceful death of the Cross! And this was on account of that sin.

(6) In spite of this death, the Heavenly Father continues to punish us poor men for that sin.⁴

Thus, having lost paradise, we are pilgrims in a valley of tears with life plentiful in bitter things, with death full of anguish and terror and eternal salvation in doubt, and no other way to enter Heaven except a way of penance and tears.⁵


Affective Acts

(1) Fear — O Holy Faith, how amazing are the truths you bring to my view! The most beautiful angels are cast down to hell! The whole human race is exiled from Heaven! Millions of souls are condemned to hell! Jesus, Son of God, has died on a Cross, and so died by the Will of His Eternal Father! And all this on account of one thing, namely, sin! O sin, how great is the evil hidden within you! If the Eternal Father dealt in such a severe way with His beloved, only-begotten Son on account of sin, with how much rigor will He deal with me, who has committed so many sins? — with me, who, after receiving pardon, has fallen back into sin so many times?

(2) Repentance — I see very well, O my God, that there can be no other way open for me except Thy Infinite Mercy on Thy part, and on my part true and persevering repentance. So I kneel down before Thee, hating with all the powers of my spirit, all the sins I have committed. I have done evil. I know it and confess it. I should never have offended Infinite Goodness. I ought rather to have died, and even given up a thousand lives, than have done so much evil. Ah! Who will give a spring of bitter tears to my eyes and an intense grief to my heart, such as I need . . . ?


**Third Point**

Reflections on the foregoing truths — Gather your thoughts again, my soul, to comprehend well the following reflections:

(1) If a single sin is so hateful in God's sight, how hateful should my soul be in His presence? If I have committed one single (mortal) sin, I have sinned as much as one rebel spirit. If I have done a hundred, I have sinned so much that alone I am like a hundred rebel spirits. Again, if I have committed a single (mortal) sin, I have made myself as displeasing to God as each one of the rebel spirits. If I have committed a hundred, I have made myself, taken alone, as displeasing as a hundred of those spirits taken together.

(2) If one who (mortally) sins once, deserves hell, how obliged am I to bless God's Infinite Mercy! If I have committed a single sin, I have deserved hell, just like all the reprobate spirits. If I have committed more than one, I have deserved it more than any of them. And why do I not find myself where those unhappy creatures are? Ah! That very God Who used all the strictness of His Justice with them, has used with me all the riches of His Infinite Mercy. Oh, what goodness! What love! What long suffering!

(3) If for a single sin God gave such a terrible punishment to angels and men, with what good reason should I not fear His Justice? For just one sin God damned so many thousands of millions of angelic spirits to burn forever in the fire of hell, leaving no remedy, no grace, no period to do penance. If I were to boldly sin again, could He not do, and perhaps will He not do, the same with me? O my God, I see my duty to confess that now I could not sin again without extreme boldness, and that Thou couldst not forgive me now if Thy Mercy were not Infinite.


Affective Acts

(1) Repentance — Heaven and earth bear me witness that Thou hast an infinite hatred for sin. Ah! Would that a single drop of that holy hatred would descend into my heart! Unfortunate as I am, what have I done? There is nothing so deserving of my love as Jesus. Nothing ought to be hated by me so much as sin. And I, a fool, have abhorred Jesus and loved sin. By my works I have said: long live sin! Give life to Barrabas and death to Jesus! . . . Crucify Him! Or rather, I have crucified Him by the sin I have committed! Oh, impiety that deserves to be punished forever in hell! I know it, O my God, and I weep for it! How much better it would have been for me to have rotted under the ground before sinning! But these sighs of regret come very late. I have sinned! I have sinned, oh, so many times! I have sinned enormously! Forgive me, my Jesus. I do repent.

(2) Thanksgiving — But my great malice calls to my mind Thy Mercy. Without fear and trembling I cannot reflect on that unhappy hour in which I sinned for the first time. O wretched hour! Ah! Would that it had never come! O God, if Thou hadst treated me then as Thou treated the angels, oh, for how long a time I would have been in hell! Ah! Just the recalling of it makes me tremble — of that great peril in which my precious one and only immortal soul stood at that time. Thou hast had mercy on me and have given me time to do penance. Oh, what praise, what blessing, what thanks I owe Thee!

(3) Prayer of Petition — Have mercy on me, O my God, have mercy! I know now the infinite evil that sin contains. I know it by the hell fire of the rebel spirits. I know it by the fate of man exiled from paradise. I know it by the sufferings and torments Jesus underwent dying on a Cross. O awesome mystery! The Son of God had to die, and die in this way, for my sins! Could I have committed a greater wrong than this, of leading Jesus to the Cross? I am Jesus' executioner! O sin, O accursed sin! How is it you have seemed sweet and agreeable to me? O Jesus, by the Blood Thou shed for my sins, I beg Thee to grant me the special graces I need in order to bitterly weep over my past sins and avoid them in the future and hate them more than death.


Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.


Footnotes

¹ The meditation on the malice of sin is the first reflection that is structured upon the foundation described in Meditation 2. During the days of the meditations of Sections I — i.e., Meditations 1 through 9 — one will read in his free time on the need and advantage of general confession and will make an examination of conscience.

² Tr. Anthony Mottola, p. 55 of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; Garden City, N.Y.: 1964.

³ We have seen these teachings in the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent and in writings of the Holy Fathers. Original sources cited for them were certain profound passages of Scripture and continuous and persistent tradition. — Translator.

⁴ Translator's Note — Four points in the Traditional Patristic teaching will answer in advance certain difficulties:

1. Sin is truly so terrible as to deserve all these unhappy consequences, and one doubting this while appreciating the good authority for it, would not have this doubt if he appreciated how terrible sin is.

2. In casting aside God's friendship, Adam lost all title to further protection from Providence and God would have been justified in damning him at once. If God had, we would not be here. But God gave him another chance, and us a chance to exist, on condition that we be earmarked to share with Christ in a reparation wherein, if we would cooperate, we would be rewarded a hundredfold in this life and the next.

3. God does none of this haphazardly but in all things follows principles of wisdom and fitness, which our glimpses often recognize to be beautiful, though their depths stay beyond our grasp.

4. This fitness demands that children inconvenience themselves to practise gratitude to their parents as instruments of their existence which they would not otherwise have. In so inconveniencing ourselves by suffering for Original Sin, we will be rewarded by God many times over and see ourselves obliged to praise God for His goodness . . .

⁵ In Meditation 16, Saint Anthony will develop the sweetness of patiently, willingly bearing one's appointed share of reparation in company with Christ.

[Stone]

Meditation 5. The Malice of Mortal Sin


Preparatory Prayer as on page x


First Prelude

Composition of Place — Imagine you see God seated on a throne of majesty and grandeur as Judge, and yourself, guilty sinner that you are, with hands bound standing before the Judge, and an account concerning yourself is read of all the sins that you have committed in the whole course of your life, with all the circumstances of places and persons, with mention of your state in life and your age at the time. You cannot excuse yourself nor deny anything.

Prayer of Petition — My God and Lord, I beg that I may know the number and gravity of my sins, and may be sorry and repentant for having committed them.


**First Point**

The text of Saint Ignatius: ". . . Recall to mind . . . the particular sin of any person who went to hell because of one mortal sin. Consider also the countless others who have gone to hell for fewer sins than I have committed . . . We speak of this as the third particular sin (the first being of Lucifer, the second of Adam and Eve).

"Call to mind the grievousness and malice of sin against our Creator and Lord. Let the understanding consider how in sinning and acting against Infinite Goodness, one has justly been condemned forever. End this reflection with acts of the will, as we said above . . .

"I shall call to mind all the sins of my lifetime, considering them year by year, period by period. Three things will help me to do this: first, I will recall the place and home where I live; secondly, the associations I have had with others; thirdly, the positions I filled.

"The second point is to weigh my sins, considering the loathsomeness and malice which each mortal sin committed has within itself, even if it were not forbidden.

"Next, consider who I am . . . Let me see myself as a sore and an abscess from which there have come forth so many sins, so many evils and very vile poison.

". . . Next consider who is God, against Whom I have sinned, recalling His attributes and comparing them to their contraries in me."

Explanation — (1) In the very moment in which sin is committed, the soul, from being a likeness of God, becomes transformed into a very horrible monster. It is not possible for a man to comprehend the wonderful beauty with which a soul which enjoys God's grace, is adorned. When in that state it is a portrait and a copy of the Divine Beauty. For its formation, nothing less is required than Infinite Wisdom and Power.

One day, when God had enabled her to see this beauty, a great saint, Teresa of Avila, declared that she would gladly give a thousand lives and suffer a thousand deaths, to preserve the beauty of a single such soul. But just as grace makes a soul lovely, sin makes it ugly. A soul in sin and a condemned spirit are quite equal in ugliness. Just as a man could not see a demon in any vision that would fairly represent it, without dying of fright, neither could he see a soul that is in sin without dying of terror.

(2) In the moment in which sin is committed, a soul becomes extremely repulsive to God. It is not possible for any intelligence in Heaven or on earth to come to a comprehension of how great the abhorrence is, how profound the hatred is, with which God regards sin. Yes, indeed! God hates sin and necessarily abhors it. Just as it is not possible for Him to cease loving Himself as the Supreme Good, likewise it is not possible that He cease hating sin as the supreme evil.

(3) The moment one sins, his soul, from being a child of God, becomes a slave of the devil. The condition of a possessed person moves us to compassion; for he is compelled to make room day and night within his body, for a demon from hell. But much more pitiful is the condition of someone's soul who, by sin, becomes a slave of the devil and is constrained to live under his tyrannical power.

Someone possessed may happen to be a child of God and enjoy His grace, having full confidence that he will succeed in enjoying Him forever in Heaven. But one in sin is God's enemy, is without His grace, and is liable to fall into hell at any time, with the same slave-master accompanying him to torment him there forever.

(4) The moment one sins, his soul falls into the vilest, most deplorable condition. There is nothing more shameful than sin, nothing more blameworthy than the sinner. Imagine, O my soul, that God opened everyone's eyes so that they could look into your heart clearly and see all your vices, all the sins you have committed during your lifetime by thought, word and deed. Oh God! What embarrassment! What shame you would have!

Would you not first seek a hiding place in the grottos and caves of deserts rather than appear before men? Even in the judgment of the same natural right reason, there is nothing more shameful than sin, nor anything more vile than the sinner. Ah! How much you ought to blush before God, in Whose presence you have committed so many sins and before Whose eyes all the hideous things of your life continually lie bare!


Affective Acts

(1) Shame — Oh my God, how many sins I have committed! There is not a faculty of my soul nor a sense in my body that has not offended Thee. O unfortunate memory! How many unworthy recollections you have fed to yourself! O unhappy mind! How many bad thoughts have you not produced! O wretched will! How many bad desires you have entertained!

O unhappy tongue! How many loose words have you not uttered! O unworthy hands! How many forbidden acts have you not performed! O disorderly heart! How many objects have you not wrongfully loved or wrongfully hated!

O my God, if a single sin arouses in Thee a nausea, a horror and an infinite displeasure, how in Thy sight does my soul appear in which nothing else is seen but sin? Where shall I flee to hide myself and conceal my shameful guilt? O sin! How lovable you seem to one who commits you! How bitter and hateful you are after you have been committed! Truly, if everybody knew me as God does, there would not be a saint in Heaven nor a man on earth who would not look away in greatest horror . . .

(2) Prayer of Petition — O my God, as I consider my madness I am ashamed and completely horrified. Ah, my God! To whom shall I turn but to Thee, O God of Eternal Goodness and Infinite Mercy! In Thy Pity deign to grant me a sorrow that will penetrate my whole heart and will have power to successfully purify my soul of all uncleanness. I cannot have this sorrow without a special help of Thy grace. Grant it to me, O Lord! And Heaven and earth will have another reason to praise and bless Thy Mercy.


**Second Point**

The evil of sin is something supreme by reason of the supreme meanness and lowliness of the man who offends God . . . O my soul, reflect attentively on what you are, and then make your judgment about sin.

(1) You are a creature who possesses, of yourself, nothing good. For, what goodness can a creature possess — a creature which can be called nothingness? A few years ago such a creature was nothing. Now, as to the body, it is a handful of clay. In a little while it will be put in a grave, to change into powdery substance, to serve as food for very disgusting worms, and change back into dust.

Who can have an existence so contemptuous, the low status of which no mind can comprehend, and whose nothingness not even sovereign (angelic) intelligence, not even the Blessed Virgin's intelligence, can fathom and measure? For that is something for God's intelligence alone to do . . . And yet this handful of dust, this worm of the earth, this wretched creature, has dared to be bold against God and oppose His Will, and its rashness has gone so far as to treat God lightly and say in deeds, if not in words, "Who is the Lord, that He should want me obedient to His voice? I know no master who is superior to myself . . ."

(2) You are a creature with whom God has shown Himself to be infinitely generous. O my soul, God has loaded you with countless benefits and in all the course of your life there has not been a single moment in which you have not experienced some new effect of His loving kindness; and (if there is no failure on your part) in the future for all eternity there will not be an instant in which He will not do you some new favor.

He has shown this generosity toward you with an eternal love; for the Lord has not loved Himself at a time before He loved you. He has loved you with a love you did not deserve; for He had no need of you nor your works. He has loved you with a magnanimous love. He could have given the same graces to others who would have used them better than you have.

And in spite of this you have been so rash and ungrateful, O my soul, and have had the boldness to offend a God so kind to you, and offend Him so many times with so much shamelessness! How monstrous it would be for a son, in the sight of his father, to commit every kind of depravity and then spit in his father's face! Ah! Have you not done something just as bad, O vile creature, against your God Who has ever shown Himself to be your loving Father?

(3) You are a creature who owes all of himself to God. Indeed, my soul, for all there is in you, you are indebted to your Creator. He it is Who gave it to you and Who preserves it for you. Oh, what impiety, to abuse the benefits and graces received from God and to use them in a way that is bold and outrageous toward His Infinite Majesty!

Would it not be a monstrous thing if someone whose paralyzed hand Jesus Christ had miraculously cured, were to use that very hand later to give Christ a beating? Would it not be a great example of unworthiness, if somebody who had been miraculously cured of muteness by Jesus Christ were to break out later into blasphemies against Him on the Cross? Ah, turn your eyes to yourself, my soul. Who gave you that tongue? those eyes? those ears? those hands and all other members of your body and powers of your soul, which you so often have used to offend your God? Is this how you have paid Him back for such great favors?

(4) You are a creature whom God has drawn from hell by the operation of His Power and Mercy. ("Thy mercy is great towards me: and Thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell." Ps. 85:13) My soul, if you forsake God's friendship just once, you have deserved hell and are indebted to God's pure Mercy for not being plunged into hell. Faith teaches you this.

Now does this circumstance not make your sins appear the more grievous? If today God delivered a damned soul from hell and gave it time to do penance, and in spite of this great favor it blasphemed Him again tomorrow, what would you think? God has delivered you from hell, ten, twenty, perhaps more times, and after having such extraordinary Mercy toward you, what have you done? Alas! to the dismay of Heaven, you have sinned!


Affective Acts

(1) Humility and sincere confession of guilt before God — My most lovable God, I tremble before Thy Divine Majesty, ranking myself as one belonging to the depths of hell. Indeed a more proper place for me could not be found. Am I any more than dust and ashes? Yet I have dared to treacherously rebel against the Most High God, from Whose Hand I have received all. All that I am, all that I have, all that I can do, is a gift of God, Who, like an immense river, floods me at all hours with ever new benefits. Yes, against God, Who has forgiven me by His overflowing Mercy after a vast number of sins.

O my God! I confess that my conduct has been more than diabolical; for I have deserved not one hell, but a thousand. You, O wretched damned spirits, you are not more wretched than I; for I have been more sinful. Indeed you are so unhappy because God was less merciful with you than He has been with me.

Your chances lasted but a moment; mine has lasted many years. You committed a single sin; I have committed countless sins. To you He gave just one grace. He has given me thousands. God condemned you for one sin, and has been willing to pardon me after many, many sins. In spite of all this, I have continued to offend Him. Ought my eyes not turn into a sea of tears and weep all the remaining hours of my life?

(2) Repentance — O my God, Thou dost penetrate all the corners of my heart. My will is to detest, hate, curse sincerely and with all the power of my soul, all the sins I have committed up to this moment. Ah, would that I could put together within my heart all the acts of sorrow and repentance of all the most contrite penitents, in order to deplore and detest my sins, if not as much as they deserve, then at least as much as is possible for me! In compensation I offer Thee the sorrow, the grief, the agony, which Jesus suffered for my sins, which made Him sweat blood in the garden.


**Third Point**

The infinite evil of sin is evident on account of the supreme Majesty of God, Whom we offend by sinning. The greater dignity of the person offended, so much the greater and graver is the offense which He receives.

To give a slap to the face of some high public authority for whom the common good requires great respect — would this not be a graver offense against good order than if this were done a hundred times to a criminal? Natural reason teaches this. According to this principle, my soul, evaluate the gravity of sin.

Who is God?

(1) God is One Who is infinitely good — He is a Being Who contains within Himself all possible perfections. He is Infinite Goodness, Infinite Power, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Generosity, Infinite Mercy. To sum things up, He possesses Infinite Perfections. Now, as He is Supreme Good in Himself, so is He also the origin and source of all good things that there are in creatures.

There is no power, goodness, holiness, beauty, mercy nor generosity in Heaven or on earth, in angels or in men, nor in any other creature, which does not spring from God as the singular, inexhaustible Source that He is. To offend, to disregard, to dishonor, knowingly and deliberately, a God so great — oh, what malice!

(2) God is Infinite Majesty and Greatness — Raise your gaze to Heaven, my soul, and picture the Lord seated there on a throne with thousands of angels about Him, awestricken before the splendor of His Divinity, and who devote themselves to praising and blessing Him to the fullest extent of their powers. Knowing that they cannot honor Him as much as His Greatness deserves, they prostrate themselves humbly before His Face and confess that He ought to receive infinite love and glory — much more than they are capable of giving.

But, now all the while that this is done in Heaven where all blessed spirits vie in holy competition in praising and glorifying the Great Majesty of God, a vile man rises from the ground to do insult to that same Supreme Majesty, heaping that Majesty with reproach and abuse. Oh, what enormous and incomprehensible malice! Oh my soul, it is beyond explanation! Two reflections will be of use to give you some small idea about its enormity.

(1) Imagine that all angels came down from Heaven and took human bodies, and that all men who have lived from the beginning of the world emerged from their graves, and for a thousand year period all did the most rigorous, frightening penance, and that finally all shed their blood for love of God in the most painful martyrdom. With all this could they satisfy for the offense done to God by a single mortal sin? No. It is not possible; for mortal sin is an infinite evil, and this satisfaction would be limited.

(2) If all the angels of Heaven with all the power of their intelligence were to investigate sin for all eternity, they nevertheless could never fully comprehend the depths of its malice.


Affective Acts

(1) Sincere self-accusation — The light Thou givest me enables me to know, O my God, that my malice has reached a high point. I have offended Thee . . . Who am I? Not a cherub, nor an angel, nor another noble spirit, but a wretched little man, a handful of dust, a worm of the earth. I have offended Thee! Who art Thou? Not a monarch, nor an angel, nor a seraph, but God, Supreme Goodness, Source and Origin of all Good, Supreme Lord of Heaven and earth.

I have offended Thee! And where? Not in secret, nor in Thy absence, but in Thy presence and in the midst of the splendor of Thy Majesty . . . I have offended Thee! With what? With the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the hands, the heart, which Thou gavest me by Pure Mercy. I have offended Thee! But why? Not out of hope to gain a kingdom, nor from fear of being threatened with death, but for a vile satisfaction of the senses, for fear of some slight embarrassment. I have offended Thee!

When? During the very hour in which Thou were engaged in preserving my bodily health, in giving my soul new benefits, in checking the rage of the demon so that he would not drag me with him to hell. O my God! How enormous is my ingratitude, my folly, my madness, my malice! Still in Thy sight my (mortal) sin is something infinitely greater than what I can know. ("May I know myself, may I know Thee, that I may despise myself and love Thee." — Saint Augustine.)

(2) Repentance — This is how I have lived, O my God! And what has been the way I have offended Thee? And what kind of sorrow and repentance have I had after the offenses? From time to time I have made an act of contrition, I have struck my breast, and then continued living, unworried, as though I were now assured of pardon. How so?

After so many offenses against God, will I be content with a repentance so feeble and so hastily formed? Ought my heart not to be in deep continual grief, and should not my eyes shed continuous tears? I have offended the Supreme, Infinite Good. That fact is enough to let me never cease grieving. Ah! Would that I had never offended Thee! O Being Who art infinitely lovable, why did I not rather sacrifice my body and my life a thousand times?

(3) Resolution — The evil has now been done. I have let myself be deceived by my senses and be overcome and led astray by my evil inclinations. Forgive me, O my God, I beg Thee, by Thy Infinite Mercy and by the merits of the Precious Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ. I turn to Thee with all my heart and in Thy presence resolve to prefer death rather than ever sin again. O holy resolve! O blessed resolution! But is it sincere? Yes, my Jesus; I sincerely resolve it. Lord, Thou hast mastery over life and death. If Thou foresee that I am to commit another sin, I beg Thee to take me with Thee to Heaven before that sad day arrives . . .


Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.