Consideration upon the grace God has done us in calling us to His service, in accordance with the protestation set forth in the first part.
1. Consider the points of your protestation. The first is that you have left, rejected, hated, and forever renounced all mortal sin. The second is that you have dedicated and consecrated your soul, your heart, your body, and all that depends upon them to the love and service of God. The third is that, should it happen that you make some fall, you will rise up again at once by the grace of God; but are not these, I ask you, fair, just, worthy, and generous resolutions? Consider well in your soul how reasonable, holy, and lovely this protestation is!
2. Consider to Whom you made this protestation; it was to God: now, if reasonable words given to men bind us so closely, how much more those which we have given to God! _Ah! Lord_, said David, _it is to You that my heart has spoken: my heart has formed this good resolution; I will never forget it._
3. Consider in whose presence you pledged yourself, for it was in the sight of all the heavenly court. Alas! the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph, your good angel, Saint Louis, all that blessed company of saints, attentive to your words, saw you, with unspeakable joy, prostrate at the feet of the Saviour, to Whom you consecrated your heart. A feast of gladness was then held for you in the heavenly Jerusalem, and now its memory will be celebrated, if with a willing heart you renew your resolutions.
1. Consider the points of your protestation. The first is that you have left, rejected, hated, and forever renounced all mortal sin. The second is that you have dedicated and consecrated your soul, your heart, your body, and all that depends upon them to the love and service of God. The third is that, should it happen that you make some fall, you will rise up again at once by the grace of God; but are not these, I ask you, fair, just, worthy, and generous resolutions? Consider well in your soul how reasonable, holy, and lovely this protestation is!
2. Consider to Whom you made this protestation; it was to God: now, if reasonable words given to men bind us so closely, how much more those which we have given to God! _Ah! Lord_, said David, _it is to You that my heart has spoken: my heart has formed this good resolution; I will never forget it._
3. Consider in whose presence you pledged yourself, for it was in the sight of all the heavenly court. Alas! the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph, your good angel, Saint Louis, all that blessed company of saints, attentive to your words, saw you, with unspeakable joy, prostrate at the feet of the Saviour, to Whom you consecrated your heart. A feast of gladness was then held for you in the heavenly Jerusalem, and now its memory will be celebrated, if with a willing heart you renew your resolutions.
4. Consider by what means you made your protestation: alas! how gentle and merciful was God’s dealing with you then! tell me sincerely, did not the Holy Spirit make all His allurements felt in your heart? Did not God draw you to Him with the bonds of His love, to lead you through the storms of this world to that haven of salvation? O how many delightful sweetnesses of His grace did He make you taste, in the sacraments, in prayer, in reading! Alas! dear Philothea, you slept, and God watched over you, and He conceived in your heart thoughts of peace, and meditated for you meditations of love.
5. Consider at what time God inspired you with these great resolutions; for it was in the flower of your age. Ah! what happiness to learn early that which one can know only too late. Saint Augustine, drawn from his darkness at the age of thirty, cried out: _O ancient Beauty! how late have I known Thee? Alas! Thou wast before mine eyes, and I regarded Thee not._ And you too may say: O ancient Sweetness! why did I not taste Thee sooner? Alas! Philothea, it is because you were not yet worthy of it. Recognizing, then, what grace God has shown you in calling you to Him in your youth, say with David: _My God! Thou hast enlightened and touched me from my youth: therefore will I never cease to bless Thy mercy._ But if it was only in your old age, ah! what a grace, Philothea, that after so many years ill spent, God called you before death, and arrested the course of your misery at a time when, had it continued, you would have remained miserable forever!
5. Consider at what time God inspired you with these great resolutions; for it was in the flower of your age. Ah! what happiness to learn early that which one can know only too late. Saint Augustine, drawn from his darkness at the age of thirty, cried out: _O ancient Beauty! how late have I known Thee? Alas! Thou wast before mine eyes, and I regarded Thee not._ And you too may say: O ancient Sweetness! why did I not taste Thee sooner? Alas! Philothea, it is because you were not yet worthy of it. Recognizing, then, what grace God has shown you in calling you to Him in your youth, say with David: _My God! Thou hast enlightened and touched me from my youth: therefore will I never cease to bless Thy mercy._ But if it was only in your old age, ah! what a grace, Philothea, that after so many years ill spent, God called you before death, and arrested the course of your misery at a time when, had it continued, you would have remained miserable forever!
6. Consider the effects of this vocation: you will find, I think, happy changes within you, by comparing what you are with what you were. Do you not regard it as a great happiness to know how to speak with God in prayer, sincerely to desire to love Him, to have calmed and pacified many passions that troubled you, to have avoided several sins and perplexities of conscience, and finally to have received Holy Communion so often, more than you would have done, thus uniting your heart to that sovereign source of eternal graces? Ah! how great are these graces! Dear Philothea, they must be weighed in the sanctuary’s scales; the right hand of God has done all this. _The hand of the Lord_, David says, _hath wrought this wonder, His right hand hath raised me up. Ah! I shall not die, but live, and recount with heart, mouth, and deeds, the marvels of His goodness._
After all these considerations, which, as you see, furnish many good affections, simply conclude by thanking God for the graces you have received from Him, and by praying Him to make you profit well by them. Then withdraw with humility and great confidence, putting off the making of strong resolutions until after the second point of this exercise.
After all these considerations, which, as you see, furnish many good affections, simply conclude by thanking God for the graces you have received from Him, and by praying Him to make you profit well by them. Then withdraw with humility and great confidence, putting off the making of strong resolutions until after the second point of this exercise.