Meditation for Sunday

This day thou shalt think upon the Divine blessings, that thou mayest-give the Lord thanks for them, and enkindle in thee more love of Him Who hath so blessed thee. And although these blessings are innumerable, thou mayest at least, give more reflection upon these five principal ones : viz., Creation, Preservation, Redemption, Vocation, and those secret blessings specially bestowed upon thee.

And first, with respect to the blessing of Creation, think attentively on what thou wert before Creation, what God hath made thee, and bestowed upon thee, all un- PSARNE Z deservedly. Think of thy body with all its members and senses, and of thy fair soul with those so noble powers, intellect, memory, and will. Observe, too, that in giving thee thy soul, He gave thee all things. For there is no perfection in any creature which man has not in its best form. Hence it is manifest that giving thee thy soul was to give thee all things together with it. With respect to the blessing of Preservation, think how closely united is thy being with Divine providence ; how thou couldest not live one moment, nor move one step, but for Him; how He created all things in the world for thy service, the sea and land, the birds and fishes, animals, plants, even the very angels of heaven were created for thy sake. Besides this, think of the health thou hast, thy strength, thy life and maintenance, and all thy temporal succours. Above all, think much of the miseries and disasters which befall others every day, and which might have befallen thee, if God in His pity had not preserved thee.

As to the blessing of Redemption, thou mayest take two things into consideration. First, how many and how great benefits He hath conferred upon thee through this Redemption. And secondly, how many and how great sufferings He endured in His most Holy Body and Soul, to obtain these benefits for thee. And to feel more how much thou owest to this Lord for what He suffered for thy sake, think of those four chief points in the mystery of the Sacred Passion, viz., Who was the Sufferer ; and what, and for whom, and why He suffered.

As to the blessing of Vocation, think first how great was the Boon of God in making thee to be a Christian, in calling thee to the Faith through the means of Baptism, and in making thee able to partake of the other Sacraments. And if, after this. call, and after thy loss of innocence, He delivered thee from sin, and turned thee to His grace, and placed thee in a state of salvation, how canst thou praise Him enough for these benefits? How great was His mercy to wait for thee so long, to bear from thee so many sins, to send thee so many inspirations, to cut not short thy thread of life, as with others in the same condition, and finally to call thee, with so Almighty grace, that thou mightest rise from death unto life, and open thine eyes to the Light !

What great mercy was it that, after having converted thee, He should give thee grace that thou mightest not turn again to sin, but mightest overcome the enemy, and persevere in good things. These are the open, known, benefits. Others there are in secret, which he knows only who has received them. And yet other blessings there are, which even he knows not who has received them, but He only Who bestoweth them. How often hast thou, in this world, for thy pride deserved to be forsaken, or disgraced? How often that God should have abandoned thee, as He abandoned others for similar causes, and yet has not done so? ~- - How many evils, and occasions of evil, _has God protected thee from by His providence, breaking the nets of the enemy, cutting short his movements towards thee, giving no place for his endeavours and counsels. How many times has it been with each one of us, as our Lord declared it to have been with S. Peter, when He said, “ Behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. D secrets but God alone ? The positive and open benefits man may well know at times, but the secret blessings, which consist not in good things bestowed upon us, but in our deliverances from evil things—-who can know ? Then for these, as for the other blessings, we must ever be giving thanks to God, seeing how great is the sum of His mercies, and how our debt to Him is greater than we can pay, or even understand.