Meditation: The Choice of a State of Life: Conformity to the Holy Will of God in the Choice (4): We Have Merited the Wrath of All Creatures

We Have Merited the Wrath of All Creatures

Not only are the damned the object of God's wrath, but also of the wrath of all creatures rational and irrational, animate and inanimate, in heaven, on earth and in hell. For the justice of God arms all His creatures against them: "He will arm the creature for the revenge of His enemies. He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead of a helmet. He will take equity for an invincible shield. And He will sharpen His severe wrath for a spear: and the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise" (Wisd, 5,18-21).

1. The Blessed Virgin, all the angels and saints in heaven are all animated by God's wrath against the damned. God communicates all His sentiments to His loved ones and the more closely they are united to God, the more they share in His dispositions. They love what God loves and hate what He hates. Whence it follows that the Blessed Virgin is more wrathful against the sins of the damned than all the angels and saints together; and so it is with all the other saints in proportion.

2. All creatures upon earth, even the inanimate things of nature, are enkindled with wrath against the damned. Even every single atom is full of wrath against the damned and aids God's justice in avenging the injuries these sinners perpetrated against their Creator.

3. Even the damned and the demons cooperate with God's justice and are wrathful against one another, so that they are mutual executioners, tearing, cursing and tormenting one another perpetually.

4. Every reprobate is his own executioner raging against himself, hating himself and finding himself more intolerable than all the other demons and damned, because of the just judgment of God and the operation of the wrath of God which animates the lost soul against himself.

We have merited that this punishment should be ours, and we should look upon ourselves as wretches who have merited the eternal wrath of God and of all His creatures forever. We should infallibly have been reduced to such a state if our Lord had not delivered us, by taking our place and willing to be hated and persecuted by the world

and all creatures. Let us love and bless our Saviour and make Him the only object of our love. Let us be humbled, venting our hatred, anger and contempt upon ourselves. Let us reflect that, having merited the wrath of God and all His creatures, we do not deserve to be well treated by anyone and, i f all creatures were to do their utmost to humiliate and persecute us, it would be justly deserved.

We Have Deserved Eternal Torments

In addition to the wrath of God and creatures, the damned will also suffer many other.eternal torments: the gnawing worm: "their worm dieth not" (Mark 9, 45), the unbearable stench, the shouts, the blasphemies, hunger, thirst, fire, suffering in every part of body and soul, rage, despair, confusion, infamy and the endless eternity of all these torments.

We have merited all these punishments and much more have we merited all the confusion and ignominy of this world. Let us die of shame if we are still proud and vain, and cling to a high esteem of ourselves, after studying these realities, or if we still think anyone owes us anything. Let us beg God to engrave deeply on our mind the knowledge of our three portions, namely, nothingness, sin and the wrath of God, of creatures and eternal torments. This is expressed in our protestation of humility: "We arc nothing; we are worth nothing; we are worthless servants; we have nothing but sin; we are born children of wrath." Let us not let a day pass without remembering and reflecting on our just deserts, so that when we have occasion to humble ourselves as we do hourly, we may ever have them in mind and they may serve to keep us constantly humble as the Holy Spirit teaches: "Humble thyself in all things" (Ecclus. 3, 20)

Ejaculatory prayer:

"To us sinners be confusion and shame, and to Thee be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." Nobis peccatoribus confusio et ignominia, tibi autem honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

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Fourteenth Meditation

On the Words: Novissimi Virorum-"The Last of Men."

Our Lord Advises Us to Take the Lowest Place

BY THESE words we profess our desire to regard ourselves as the least of men and to rejoice that others should treat us similarly. To enter into this disposition and to realize the truth of these words, let us first consider and adore our Lord pronouncing the words: "Sit down in the lowest place" (Luke 14, 10). Let us adore His admirable designs for each one of us in giving this counsel of humility. Let us humble ourselves and ask His forgiveness for having opposed His holy win and beg the grace not to do so again. Let us give ourselves to the spirit in which He pronounced those words so that they may be faithful in us. And on our part, let us cultivate the desire to practise His counsel in constant lowliness.

Our Lord Chose the Last Place in All his Words

Let us consider that our Lord taught nothing that He did not first practise, and He always chose the last place in His words, thoughts, interior dispositions and actions.

By His words, He said of Himself, "I am a worm and no man" (Ps. 21, 7). Let us adore Him uttering these words and consider that the worm is the most abject of creatures. It lives in the ground and everyone tramples it underfoot. In the same way the Son of God abased Himself beneath the feet of every man.

Very frequently, too, He called Himself "the Son of man" (Luke 12, 8), to confound our pride, lot we prefer to be called by what is

most excellent in us, whereas Jesus Christ, God and man, Son of God and Son of man, takes His name from what is lowest in Him, calling Himself the Son of man, that is, the Son of the sinner who, of himself, is only nothingness, sin and damnation. Thus our Lord calls Himself a sinner, which is the greatest of all humiliations.

Moreover, after saying of St. John the Baptist: "Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist," our Saviour says of Himself: "Yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven (that is, in the Church) is greater than he" (Matt. 1 1 , 11). But how can we reconcile those ideas: "He that is lesser is greater?" If He is greater than St. John the Baptist, how is He lesser in the Church? And if He is the least in the kingdom of heaven, how is He greater than St. John? He is truly and indeed greater, but He calls Himself lesser because He treated Himself and willed to be treated as the last of men.

Lastly, He wished to be called "the most abject of men" in Sacred Scripture (Isa. 53, 3). This was one of His titles of honor. He gloried in it and wished it to be mentioned among His titles i n Scripture. Let us adore Him humbling His greatness in this manner and taking the last place by His words.

Let us humble ourselves for having so often in our words exalted ourselves, resolving to refrain carefully from everything contrary to humility, asking God's grace to enable us to do so.

Our Lord Took the Last Place in his Thoughts

And Interior Dispositions

The Son of God took the last place in His thoughts and interior dispositions. These thoughts certainly correspond with His words and His Heart was not in opposition to His lips. Therefore, He considered Himself the last of men and always remained in this attitude before God. Interiorly, He always took the lowest place for He regarded Himself as the bearer of the sins of all men, taking the place of all criminals, and obliged to endure the humiliation of their crimes, and

consequently, to humble Himself below all creatures. Let us adore Him in these dispositions; let us give ourselves to Him, asking Him to let us share the depths of His sublime Humility.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I will sit down in the lowest place." Domine Jesu, recumbam in novissimo loco. 134-

Fifteenth Meditation

On the Same Words: "The Last of Men."

OUR LORD TOOK THE LOWEST PLACE IN His

Incarnation and Childhood

OUR Lord took the last place in His actions throughout the whole course of His life, as well as in His words, thoughts and interior dispositions.

In becoming man, He might have assumed the most perfect state of human life at the very moment of His Incarnation, by forming Himself as perfect a body as that of Adam at his creation. Instead He chose the lowest state of human life, that of infancy.

In choosing a mother, He might have chosen one of high rank, a queen, a princess or a titled lady. Instead He chose a woman from the lowest rank, from among the poor who earn their livelihood by manual labor. He chose a virgin who esteemed herself as the least of all His creatures.

He also chose a foster-father of lowly condition, who likewise esteemed himself the least of all men. For, after the Blessed Virgin, no one was so humble as St. Joseph.

Since it was ordained for Him to become incarnate in Judea, Jesus might have chosen Jerusalem or some other famous city; but he chose Nazareth, a despicable place, as these words of Nathaniel show: "Can any thing of good come from Nazareth?" (John 1, 46).

For His birth, He might have chosen a palace or honorable edifice; but He willed to be born ina most abject place, in a stable, in a cave which was a shelter for beasts. And He wished to be laid on the straw in the manger, between an ox and an ass.

Eight days after His birth, He willed to be marked with the seal of

sin by circumcision, which was to rank himself amongst the lowest, for there is nothing lower than sin and the quality of sinner whose likeness He assumed.

Then, too, He chose the most trying season and month of the year for His birth; and He willed to be born not as Lord and Master, but enrolled as a subject and vassal of Emperor Augustus.

When He was presented in the Temple, He would not have His parents offer a lamb, the offering of the rich and the first of the nation, but two pigeons or turtle-doves which was the offering of the poor and the last of the people.

When Herod sought His life, He chose flight, the last and most ignominious of all means of escape; He chose the country most unworthy of His presence, Egypt, where idolatry was rife and where Satan held sway.

In the Temple with the doctors, He was not the doctor but the disciple, not learned but ignorant, questioning the doctors as if to learn of them.

Let us adore our Lord in all these mysteries and in all these humiliations. Let us strive to exalt Him the more, the more He has humbled Himself. Let us bless Him for the glory He rendered the Eternal Father by His abasement. Let us ask our Blessed Saviour to give us a share in His spirit of humility.

Our Lord Took the Last Place During his

Entire Life

In the house of His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, the first place was rightfully His but He took the last. Although He is infinitely higher than either of His parents, He coveted no other rank with them than that of subject: "And (He) was subject to them" (Luke 2, 51).

Among all the conditions of human life, He takes not that of a prince nor of the wealthy, but the last of all, that of a poor man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow: "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matt. 13, 55)

In His baptism in the Jordan He again takes the lowest place, willing

to be baptized as if He were a sinner. "For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice" (Matt. 3, 15), that is, all humility.

When He retired into the desert, He spent forty days among wild beasts. He permitted the vilest of creatures, the demon, to approach Him, to tempt Him and consequently to treat Him as if He were a sinner and capable of sin, and even to touch Him and carry Him from one place to another; hence He took the last place, in Satan's hands.

With the apostles and disciples He takes the last place, for He says: "I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth" (Luke 22, 27)

At the Last Supper, He knelt and performed the humblest action possible, which was to wash their feet, even those of Judas, thus placing Himself at the traitor's feet, at the feet of a devil, as He Himself said: "One of you is a devil" (John 6, 71). This was the lowest place in the world, for Judas was the most wicked creature the world has ever known.

In His Passion our Lord subjected Himself to the power of darkness: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22, 53). He was treated as a fool and a madman by Herod and his army and in the streets of Jerusalem, and He died on a Cross. If there is question of poverty, our Lord was born, lived and died in the greatest poverty ever experienced. If there is question of suffering, He suffered extreme torments in body and soul. If there is question of privation, no one has ever endured or will ever endure any lot comparable to His. If there is question of humiliation, there never was and never will be abasement and lowliness like His. He died "with the wicked" (Isa. 53, 12). "He shall be filled with reproaches," says the Prophet Jeremias (Lam. 3, 30)

He also takes the last place in Holy Church where in the Blessed Sacrament, He is the Victim bearing the sins of the world, where He dwells in the greatest humiliation and annihilation imaginable., according to both the manner and duration of this humiliation.

Lastly, even in the midst of His glory in heaven, He wills to bear for all eternity the marks of the greatest ignominy ever known, His Sacred Wounds-the marks of His Crucifixion and His dreadful death of shame.

Let us adore, bless and exalt the Son who thus first practises what He

teaches in the words: "Sit down in the lowest place." Let us give ourselves to Him to enter wholly into His dispositions.

Reasons for the Divine Choice of the

Last Place

Let us consider the reasons which inspired the Son of God to take the last place. The four chief motives are: (I) To render adequate homage by this extreme abasement to the supreme majesty of His Eternal Father; (2) to repair the dishonor given to His Heavenly Father by the pride of men who always desire the first place everywhere; (3) to confound our pride and to oblige us by His example to humble ourselves; (4) to merit and acquire the grace for us to overcome our pride and imitate Him in His humility.

Let us thank Him for all these lessons. Let us die of shame at finding ourselves so proud. Let us cultivate a great desire to imitate Him and obey His blessed words. In order to do this let us surrender ourselves to His spirit of humility.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Lord Jesus Christ, I will sit down in the lowest place." Domine Jesu Christe, recumbam in novissimo loco.

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Sixteenth Meditation

On the Same Words: "The Last of Men."

Our Lord Willed to be Treated as the Last of Men

By His CREATURES

NOT only did the Son of God treat Himself as the last of men, but He also willed to receive similar treatment from others.

1. He was so treated by men and by sinners, members of Satan, for never was man treated by men with such ignominy and cruelty as was inflicted on the Son of God.

2. Not only was He reviled by men, but also by the demon in the desert when the evil spirit tempted Him as if He were capable of all types of sin. The devil even carried Him from one place to another, which so far as we know, Satan was never permitted to do to anyone else. Our Lord was also assailed by the demons during His Passion, according to His own words: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22, 53), which show that He subjected Himself to the powers of darkness.

Our Lord Willed to be Treated as the Last of Men

By the Holy Ghost

Our Lord was also treated as the last of men by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel says that after our Lord was baptized in the River Jordan, that is, after He had taken our sins upon Him, "The S pirit drove him out into the desert" (Mark 1, 12). These words signify ignominy, and that the Holy S pirit treated our Lord as one burdened with all the sins of the world and obliged Him to endure confusion and penance for them.

This was prefigured by the emissary goat led yearly to the Temple, over which the high priest confessed all the sins of the people, then committed it to a herdsman who drove it out into the desert (Lev. 16, 5-10)Thus the Eternal Father charged His divine Son with all our sins: "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53, 6). And the Holy Ghost drove Him into the desert like a man burdened with all the crimes of men and obliged to endure their humiliation.

OUR LORD WILLED To BE TREATED AS THE LAST OF MEN

By His FATHER

Our Lord was also treated as the last of men by His Eternal Father. God looked upon His Son as taking the place of sinners and treated Him as such; nay, He treated Him almost as if He were sin itself: "He hath made sin for us" (2 Cor 5, 21). Wherefore He says: "For the wickedness of my people have I struck him" (Isa. 53, 8). "He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (Rom. 8, 32), to the Cross, to death, to the powers of darkness and to the greatest opprobrium that ever was and ever will be. Nay, it would seem that divine justice treated Him with more severity than the reprobate in hell, the vilest of creatures. For it is not unwarranted that those wretches, who are rebels, should be treated as they are, for they assuredly deserve it; but it is a very strange thing to witness the only Son of God treated by His Eternal Father for the crimes of others.

Thus did our Lord take the lowest place and treat Himself as the last of men in His words, thoughts, actions and interior dispositions throughout His whole life. Thus did He will to be treated as the last of men by sinners, members of Satan, by the demons, by the Holy Ghost and by His Eternal Father. He did so in order to glorify His Father absolutely by humbling Himself to the very utmost to repair the dishonor given to His Father by our pride. He stooped to confound our arrogance, to make us hate vanity and love humility.

How pride dishonors God and how horribly displeasing it must be to Him since it was necessary that God- made-man should thus humble Himself in order to repair such dishonor! What a dreadful vice is

vanity when the Son of God had to lower Himself to such depths of abasement in order to destroy i t ! How precious is humility in the sight of God, and how pleasing to His divine majesty since the Son of God wished to be treated in this way in order to make us love humility, to attract us to it by His example and obtain for us the grace to practise it! How guilty we are if we still yield to pride, if we will not humble ourselves! How great will be the shame of the ambitious on the day of judgment!

Let us adore our Lord in all these humiliations. Let us desire Him to be exalted in proportion to His abasement. Let us enter into His dispositions. Let us take the lowest place everywhere in mind and heart, and be glad to be treated both by God and creatures as the last of men. Let us beg the Son of God to destroy our pride and imprint in our hearts His dispositions of humility.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I will sit down in the lowest place." Domine Jesu, recumbam in novissimo loco.

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