Ninth Meditation.—On the Choice of Paradise.
PREPARATION.
_1. Place yourself in the presence of God._
_2. Humble yourself before Him, praying Him to inspire you._
CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Imagine yourself in the open country, all alone with your good angel, as was young Tobias when going to Ragès. There your guide shows you above the open paradise, with all the joys and delights that were the subject of your preceding meditation. Then he shows you at your feet the open hell, with all the torments upon which you have meditated.
Having thoroughly impressed this imagination upon your mind, and placing yourself in thought upon your knees before your good angel:
1. Consider that it is most certainly true that you are placed between paradise and hell, and that both are open to receive you, according to the choice you shall make.
2. Consider that the choice one makes of either in this world shall endure eternally in the next.
3. Consider that, although both are open to you according as you choose, God, Who is ready to give you either the one, through His justice, or the other, through His mercy, nevertheless desires, with a desire beyond compare, that you give preference to paradise; and your good angel is there, urging you with all his might, offering you on God’s behalf a thousand graces and a thousand helps to aid you on the ascent.
PREPARATION.
_1. Place yourself in the presence of God._
_2. Humble yourself before Him, praying Him to inspire you._
CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Imagine yourself in the open country, all alone with your good angel, as was young Tobias when going to Ragès. There your guide shows you above the open paradise, with all the joys and delights that were the subject of your preceding meditation. Then he shows you at your feet the open hell, with all the torments upon which you have meditated.
Having thoroughly impressed this imagination upon your mind, and placing yourself in thought upon your knees before your good angel:
1. Consider that it is most certainly true that you are placed between paradise and hell, and that both are open to receive you, according to the choice you shall make.
2. Consider that the choice one makes of either in this world shall endure eternally in the next.
3. Consider that, although both are open to you according as you choose, God, Who is ready to give you either the one, through His justice, or the other, through His mercy, nevertheless desires, with a desire beyond compare, that you give preference to paradise; and your good angel is there, urging you with all his might, offering you on God’s behalf a thousand graces and a thousand helps to aid you on the ascent.
4. Consider also Jesus Christ in Heaven above, looking upon you with kindness, and inviting you with these sweet words: Come, O my dear soul! come to eternal rest: come into the arms of thy Father, who hath prepared for thee immortal delights in the abundance of His love. Behold with your inward eyes the Blessed Virgin, inviting you with all a mother’s tenderness: Courage! she saith unto you; take heed, O my daughter! that thou despise not the desires of my Son, nor the sighs of His Mother, who with Him breathes forth thy eternal salvation. Behold the Saints who call you, and a million holy souls who beseech you to come and join them, that you may have with them but one voice to praise God and but one heart to love Him for ever: Come, they say unto you, O our sister and our friend! take courage: the way to Heaven is not so difficult as the world makes it. Only enter therein, and you shall see that devotion, which hath led us to eternal delights, hath itself delights incomparably greater than all the joys of the world.
CHOICE.
1. O Hell! I now and for ever abhor thee. I abhor thy torments and thy pains: I abhor thy wretched eternity, and above all those eternal blasphemies and those endless curses which thou perpetually vomitest against my God. But, on the contrary, glory and eternal felicity be unto thee, fair Paradise, toward which my heart and my soul soar! Yea, I choose for ever my dwelling in thy sacred palaces, and in thy lovely tabernacles. I bless, O my God! Thy mercy; I accept the offer which Thou art pleased to make me. O Jesus! my Saviour, I accept Thy eternal love. I acknowledge and confirm the acquisition Thou hast made for me of a place and a dwelling in that blessed Jerusalem, where I will do nothing but love and bless Thee for ever.
CHOICE.
1. O Hell! I now and for ever abhor thee. I abhor thy torments and thy pains: I abhor thy wretched eternity, and above all those eternal blasphemies and those endless curses which thou perpetually vomitest against my God. But, on the contrary, glory and eternal felicity be unto thee, fair Paradise, toward which my heart and my soul soar! Yea, I choose for ever my dwelling in thy sacred palaces, and in thy lovely tabernacles. I bless, O my God! Thy mercy; I accept the offer which Thou art pleased to make me. O Jesus! my Saviour, I accept Thy eternal love. I acknowledge and confirm the acquisition Thou hast made for me of a place and a dwelling in that blessed Jerusalem, where I will do nothing but love and bless Thee for ever.
2. Accept the favours which the Blessed Virgin and the Saints offer you; promise them that you will profit by them to go and join them; take your good Angel by the hand, that he may lead you, and encourage your soul to persevere steadfastly in this choice.