THE SECOND DAY
We have now fully understood the end, or purpose, of our creation, which is to praise, reverence and serve God and thereby save our souls. We must next consider what will be the result if we freely refuse to live for that end, and prefer to do our own will in opposition to the will of God. The Lord is not going to prevent us from doing so; He will not interfere with the exercise of our free will. Were a child, in the fervor of its first Communion, most earnestly to beseech God to let it die young rather than live to commit a mortal sin, He would no doubt give it additional graces to avoid sin, but He will not control the child’s freedom. Every one of us must carve out his own future by his own free choice. We know what we have to do to make that future sovereignly happy; and we are now to consider prayerfully what evils threaten us if we refuse to do it. For this purpose we will now study certain historical facts, and see how other persons have fared.
This exercise affords a favorable opportunity to explain the ordinary process of meditation, whichconsists in applying to a chosen subject our three intellectual faculties, the memory, the understanding and the will, as shall now be shown in detail.
Preparatory prayer, as usual.
1stPrelude.Let me imagine I behold the scene which Christ described saying: “I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven” (St.Lukex, 18).
2ndPrelude.I ask the grace to understand how severely God has punished the sins of others, so that I may conceive an intense dread and horror of sin, especially of my own sins.
POINTI.Consider the first sin we know of, that by which the angels fell. Apply to it: 1. Thememory, recalling the facts. They were created by the same Lord that made me, and for the same end, to praise, reverence and serve Him, and by this means to attain eternal bliss. They, like me, were put to a trial of their obedience; they were free to serve or no, as they chose.
A multitude of the angels refused to obey: they sinned. These were cast out of Heaven into Hell, and punished with the direst woe forever.
2.The understandingtakes in the striking points of analogy between their history and that of man: If they were so severely punished, what must man expect when he imitates their rebellion? What a dreadful evil sin must be, since a good and just God hates it so. Their great number did not save the angels, nor will the number of bad men be a protection; all men are like a little dust before the infinite God. Man’s excellence is below that of the angels, in power,in knowledge and in all natural gifts. They sinned but once; perhaps I have sinned repeatedly. What must I think of myself? of my past? of my future?
3.My willis gradually moved by these and similar considerations to detest sin, to dread sin, to detest myself if I have sinned, to beg God to spare me. I must stir up my will to hate sin more and more, to protest to God my hatred of it, my self-reproach: “Spare me, Oh Lord, according to the multitude of thy mercies.”
POINTII.Consider the sin of our first parents. 1.My memoryrecalls the facts. They were created by the same God and for the same end as I; they were loved by Him and placed in a garden of delights, in Paradise, destined to enjoy the vision of God forever. They were free. God allowed Satan to tempt them, as He allows him to tempt me: “The serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat” (Gen.iii, 4-6). They were in consequence cast out of Paradise, condemned to more than nine hundred years of toil and suffering, and to death, and all the evils that have befallen them and their posterity have been the punishment of sin.
2.My understandingmust weigh these facts and reason on them, so as to realize the boundless evil ofrebelling against our sovereign Lord and Master. It is not only the words of God but even more His deeds that show us what He is and how He acts. His severity in punishing sin in creatures for which He had shown such generous love exhibits the utter abomination He has for moral evil.
3. I must stir upmy willto detest that same evil, to dread my own weakness which exposes me to sin again, to regret my past offenses, and to form strong resolutions for the future, praying earnestly for God’s help.
POINTIII.St.Ignatius bids us consider a third sin, namely that of some person who has gone to Hell for one mortal offense.St.Liguori, in his little book “On the Commandments and Sacraments,” narrates a number of what he calls “Melancholic Examples,” of persons who appeared after death, and said they were damned for some one or more mortal sins which they had not properly confessed. One is the case of a woman, who had been reputed to be very devout, so much so that after her death her body had been treated with the greatest veneration. But the day after her burial she appeared to the Bishop of the place as if laid on a blazing fire, and she told him that she was damned on account of a mortal sin of thought she had concealed in confession.
1.The memorymust recall the facts; it matters not whether they are well authenticated or not, since the doctrine is certain that one mortal sin unpardoned is enough to damn the soul.
2.The understandingreasons on the case, so as to realize vividly the sad results of dying in sin.
3.The willis thus stirred up to hate sin as the greatest of all evils, and to avoid it at any sacrifice, according to the warning of Christ: “If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole body be cast into hell” (St.Matth.v, 29).
Colloquywith Jesus dying for my sins upon the Cross, begging for grace to repent of all past sins, and to make strong resolutions against future offenses.
It is well to remark here that, 1. The fact thatSt.Peter was forgiven did not prevent him from mourning for his sin all the rest of his life; 2. Many persons repine excessively under afflictions because they forget that they have deserved much worse by their sins; 3. The Saints mortified themselves severely for small faults; 4. This meditation is congenial to humble souls, like the Publican, but painful to the Pharisee; 5. The least we can do is to detest our sins heartily and to atone for them.
1stPrelude.Imagine you stand before God like the humble Publican, saying: “O God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
2ndPrelude.Beg for an intense grief and confusion for your sins.
POINTI.Briefly recall to memory the series of your sins, from your early years, through childhood, boyhood, youth, through subsequent periods of your life, noticing successive places of abode, various occupations, companions, etc.
POINTII.Study to understand the evil of your sins, considering:
1.Every species of sin has its own peculiar vileness; for instance, lying is so odious that its very name is offensive, stealing is still worse, so that one caught in a theft is disgraced for life, gluttony is disgraceful, pride is odious to God and man, envy is mean, profanity is provoking to the great and holy God, deceit is despicable, vanity is ridiculous, impurity lowers a man beneath the brute, etc.
2.Every sin is an insult to God.When a person insults his equal, he incurs his displeasure and deserves punishment; more so when he insults his superior; and the offense is the greater in proportion as the party insulted is more distinguished and the offender lower in comparison. Now consider how great is God, who is insulted, compared to man, who insults Him:
a. The meanness of man. What is one man compared to a thousand men, to a thousand thousand, or million men? Like a little gnat flitting in the sunshine. And what are a million men compared to the one thousand five hundred millions of men now inhabiting the earth? And what are all these together compared to all the former and the future generations? And what are all men compared to the Angels of God?
And what are all creatures compared to the CreatorHimself? Less than a drop of water compared to the vast ocean. What then am I compared to God? And yet, if I have ever sinned, I have put myself above God, my will above His will. If then I have often sinned, what punishment have I not deserved?
b.See the meanness of the body of man, which corrupts all it uses, and needs constant care to keep it from becoming insupportable, even to itself. See how death degrades it, how even sickness degrades it. And the soul of man: see how it is ever inclined to conceive and foster evil thoughts and desires, how it prompts to evil words and actions; so thatSt.Ignatius, who had been a proud soldier, when he came to know himself better, looked on himself as a running ulcer flowing with corruption. And yet in sinning, this vile being, man, rises up to insult God.
c.On the other hand consider the greatness of God, by comparison with the littleness of man: compare His power with man’s weakness, His knowledge with man’s ignorance, His eternity with man’s short span of life, His bounty with man’s selfishness, etc.
POINTIII.I will arouse my will to detest my sinfulness, indignant against myself, and wondering that God continues to bear with me, to favor me, to have His Angels protect me, the earth support me; and He forbids all men to injure me, commands them to love me.
Colloquywith my crucified Lord, begging His mercy and His pardon.
CONSIDERATIONOn the Confession of the Retreat
The direct purpose of the first days of the retreat is to purify the soul of all guilt of sin and all attachment to sin. For this purpose the Sacrament of Penance is the most efficient means, and the confession of sins is an integral part of the Spiritual Exercises ofSt.Ignatius.
Confession may be of three kinds: a general confession of one’s whole life, or a considerable portion of one’s life; the ordinary, or weekly confession; and thirdly the annual or semi-annual review, which is of rule in many religious institutions.
1.A general confessionis obligatory if the preceding confessions have been badly made; it is useful at the age when a child has been fully instructed in its religious duties; when a person enters on a permanent state of life, and perhaps once more, when one approaches the portals of eternity. The anxiety entertained by some souls to repeat their general confessions over and over again is most unreasonable; it fosters scrupulosity and is injurious to spiritual progress.
2.In the ordinary, or weekly, confessions, which, in the case of religious, rarely include a mortal sin, earnest care must be taken that one or more real sins, recently or formerly committed, be confessed, so that matter be presented for absolution; and also that therebe elicited an act of supernatural contrition for those sins, or at least for some one of them. Else the Sacrament would be invalid, for real supernatural contrition is one of its essential parts.
3.An annual or semi-annual reviewof the weekly confessions affords marked advantages, especially when it is made during the retreat: a. Faults are thus likely to be noticed which attracted little attention at other times. As when a ray of sunshine enters into a rather dark room, and reveals more dust on the furniture than was noticed before, so the Divine light of grace, entering the soul during the Exercises, discovers various defects of which there had been no clear perception. That is a good occasion to obtain pardon for them.
b.When our faults are thus seen together, they are apt to arouse more contrition, and thus secure more entire pardon.
c.Such a review gives us a clearer knowledge of ourselves and shows us what defects we should chiefly labor to correct.
To prepare for such a review, we should consider those sins especially which are more likely to be committed by religious. In mentioning them we shall follow the order of the Decalogue.
The First Commandmentregards the worship of God. Under this head come wilful distractions or negligences in prayer, which may spoil considerable parts of our spiritual exercises; disrespectful handlingof holy things, and the unworthy reception of the Sacraments. This last sin is of course rare among religious, but very grievous if it should occur; for it bears the guilt of sacrilege.
The Second Commandmentrequires the observance of our vows. The vow of poverty is violated when a religious disposes of any temporal goods without permission of his superior, acting as if it were his own property. That of chastity attaches to the violation of the sixth and ninth commandments the additional guilt of sacrilege. The vow of obedience is violated when a religious refuses or neglects to do what he is commanded to do under obedience, or does what he is thus forbidden.
The Third Commandmentis not likely to be violated by religious.
The Fourth Commandmentobliges subjects to reverence and obey their superiors when they mean to impose an obligation of conscience; and they must be supposed to mean it when the good of souls or the glory of God requires them thus to use their authority. A precept of obedience in virtue of the vow is rarely imposed; but commands in matters of some importance derive from the natural law power to oblige any subjects to obey their lawful superiors, independently of any vow. If serious consequences are likely to follow from the violation of the command, the sin may be grievous.
The Fifth Commandmentsays: “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids all wilful injury to another’s or to one’s own body. Of course religious are not likely toinjure others violently; but this commandment may be violated in many other ways. One may neglect his own health or injure it by indiscretion in the use of food and drink, thus bringing on diseases by which many a life is shortened. A superior or an infirmarian may neglect the proper care of sick or delicate persons, a pastor or teacher that of school children, etc. Injury done to the souls of others by scandal, or bad example, may also be considered under this commandment; and there are very many ways of giving scandal.
The Fifth Commandment also forbids quarrelling, unreasonable anger, hatred and revenge. A religious teacher, for instance, must be careful that, when obliged to punish children, he does not allow himself to be prompted by passion; and revenge is totally opposed to the spirit of Christ.
The Sixth Commandmentforbids any act of impurity wilfully committed; and it has this peculiarity that it admits of no slight matter, but the sin is always grievous when the impure pleasure is sought or admitted with full knowledge and full consent.
The Seventh Commandmentforbids stealing and all injustice done to others in their material possessions. The religious state is a strong protection against these sins; still it does not make them impossible. It may happen that a religious does not fulfill all the conditions of a contract; as for instance, when a teacher neglects his class or some of his pupils, so that these do not really get the value of the tuition charges.
The Eighth Commandmentenjoins both truthfulness and regard for another’s good name. A lie isnever allowed, and mental reservations must not be used but for good reasons, lest human intercourse lose the charm and security of mutual confidence.
Any lessening of another’s good name without sufficient reason is sinful, and it is doubly so when the accusation is false; even a rash judgment or suspicion is wrong, yet it may be mistaken without being rash. The great rule is: “See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another” (Tob.iv, 16).
The Ninth and Tenth Commandmentsforbid sinful thoughts and desires in matters forbidden by the Sixth and Seventh Commandments. On this pointSt.Ignatius remarks that when an evil thought is promptly dismissed, there is merit, not sin; and if it returns again and again and is always resisted, there is more and more merit. But a venial sin is committed when one listens to the evil suggestion so as to dwell a little on it, or to admit some carnal delight, or to be somewhat negligent in rejecting it. A grievous sin supposes that the thought or desire is fully consented to.
Remarks: The purpose of the first days of the Exercises being to inspire an intense and lasting hatred of sin, it is highly proper that we should meditate on the principal punishment of sin, the eternal loss of the soul, the pains of Hell. Many Saints have been ledto Heaven by the road of fear, some religious Orders acknowledge this as their chief spirit. No one can afford to do without the fear of God; we should all nourish it; so that, if ever our love of God should be too weak to keep us from sin, the fear of Hell may restrain us. We descend into that abyss in thought at present, that we may not hereafter be cast into it in reality.
1stPrelude.Imagine you see in the center of the earth a vast ocean of fire, in which are plunged countless souls condemned to eternal punishment.
2ndPrelude.Beg earnestly from your Sovereign Lord for an intense and abiding fear of those awful sufferings and for a firm purpose of never sinning again.
POINTI.Recall to memory what we know of Hell; in particular:
1. That its existence and its dreadful nature are as clearly revealed in Holy Writ as any truth whatever. For instance, Christ said: “If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. For every one shall be salted with fire” (St.Markix, 46, 48). Then there is the parable of Dives and Lazarus (St.Luke,xvi, 19-31).
2. That Hell awaits all those who die in mortal sin, whatever they may have been in life, religious or seculars, bishops or priests.
3. That vast multitudes go there: “Broad is theway that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (St.Matth.vii, 13).
Many who were supposed to be holy. SeeSt.Liguori, “Melancholy Examples.”
Many who had begun well, as Judas had.
4. That I am in danger, as long as I live, of sinning mortally, of dying in sin and losing my soul. Perhaps some are in Hell through my fault.
POINTII.What are the sufferings of the body in Hell?
All the senses will be tormented, as for their gratification God has been offended. Chiefly the sense of touch, and that by the horrible torture of fire: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (St.Matth.xxv, 41), “Which of you can dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Is.xxiii, 14).
God showedSt.Teresa in a vision the place the Devil had prepared for her in Hell. She narrates it thus: “I was one day in prayer, when I found myself in a moment, without knowing how, plunged apparently into Hell. I understood that it was our Lord’s will that I should see the place which the devils kept in readiness for me, and which I had deserved by my sins. It was but a moment, but it seems to me impossible that I should ever forget it, if I were to live many years. The entrance seemed to be by a long and narrow pass, like a furnace, very low, dark and close. The ground seemed to be saturated with water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending forth pestilential odors and covered with loathsome vermin. At the end was a hollow place in the wall, like a closet, and in that Isaw myself confined. All this was even pleasant to behold in comparison with what I felt there” (Coleridge, “Life ofSt.Teresa,”Vol.I,p.133). “She says,” Father Coleridge adds, “she cannot describe what she felt. There was a fire in her soul. She suffered unendurably in her body. All that she had suffered in diseases, or in what Satan had been allowed to inflict upon her, was as nothing in comparison; and she saw there was to be no intermission, no end to the pain. But the pains of the body were as nothing to the pains of the soul. She describes the anguish as a sense of oppression and stifling in the soul, all the while tearing itself to pieces with remorse and despair.”
POINTIII.What are the sufferings of the soul?
1.The memorywill recall the abundance of graces, by which salvation could so easily have been secured; the example of companions who were innocent or sincerely penitent, who are now in Heaven; the soul’s own goodness and happiness at the time of its first Communion and at other periods of its life.
2.The understandingwill then fully realize that one thing alone was necessary while on earth, that life was given to work out salvation, that all the rest was vanity, that all illusions are now dispelled, and there is no happiness to be found by the creature except in God; there is only total disappointment, absolute loss of all satisfaction; and this pain of disappointed love will then be greater than all the other sufferings.
3.The willthen will desire only God, for the love and possession of whom all its nature longs, because it was made for Him alone. Therefore the soul willhate its own perverseness with a sovereign hatred, and curse itself in its absolute despair.
4. The soul will always have present to its mindthe awful sentencepronounced by the Supreme Judge: “Depart from me into eternal fire.” “Eternal”: What, in comparison, are days, or nights, or months, or years of suffering? Ever in pain, ever in despair; no end, no hope of an end or of any mitigation.
Colloquywith Jesus crucified, dying for our sins; with Mary, the refuge of sinners.