Meditation: The Choice of a State of Life: Conformity to the Holy Will of God in the Choice (5): Seventeenth Meditation

Seventeenth Meditation

on the Words: Primi Peccatorum-"The First of Sinners."

OUR LORD WILLED To BE TREATED AS THE CHIEF

Of Sinners

LET US consider that the Son of God treated Himself and willed to be treated not only as the last of men, but also as the first of sinners: "(He) was reputed with the wicked" (Isa. 53,12). He willed to die between two criminals as if He had been their leader. He was treated with as much opprobrium as if He had been sin itself: "Being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3, 13), says St. Paul. Our Divine Redeemer regarded Himself as laden with all the crimes of all sinners and He considered all the sins of men as His own. "He willed that our sins should be His own," says St. Augustine.

Let us adore and exalt Him in His profound annihilation. Let us beseech Him to destroy our pride and share His humility, showing us how we should treat ourselves and be glad to be treated, since the Son of God so humbled Himself.

Many Great Saints Treated Themselves as the

Foremost of Sinners

Let us consider that only the greatest saints shared the dispositions of our Lord and treated themselves as the foremost sinners. Such was St. Paul's opinion of himself: "A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief" (I Tim. 1, 15). St. Francis, St. Bernard, St. Dominic and many other great saints practised the same self-abasement. The

Holy Ghost inspired them with these thoughts and sentiments; consequently they were founded upon truth. For He is the Spirit of truth and not of lies. We must not ask how we can reconcile the idea that St. Paul is the first of sinners, if St. Francis is the greatest sinner. And how St. Francis is, if St. Bernard is? Although the spirit of human reason does not understand, it nevertheless holds true before God and according to the Spirit of God.

We must not follow our own light, which is nothing but darkness, but we must draw this conclusion and fruit from the verdict of the saints. If I had the light of those saints, I would see clearly that they were right in believing themselves the first of sinners. And, if those great saints lived in such dispositions and esteemed themselves so vile, what should be my opinion of myself, and how much more reason have I to believe that I am "the first of sinners," and to treat myself as such and rejoice to be so inspired by others?

Let us honor those sentiments in the saints. Let us bless God for their presence and thank Him for their meritorious application. Let us ask our Lord through the intercession of the saints to let us share their abnegation. Let us ask St. Paul, St. Francis and the other saints to engrave similar sentiments of profound humility in our own hearts.

Reasons Why We Should Consider Ourselves

The Greatest of Sinners

Although human reason cannot penetrate the things of God, and the truths and maxims of the Gospel, the following reasons may serve to prove that we arc: "The first of sinners." In the first place, we may easily compare ourselves with Lucifer, Judas and Antichrist for, as children of Adam, we have within us the source of every sin of earth and hell. But, in order to put ourselves below Judas, Lucifer and Antichrist, we should believe with St. Francis, that if God gave to the greatest of all sinners the graces He has bestowed upon us, that sinner would become better than we, and if God were to withdraw His graces and leave us to ourselves, as He will withdraw them from Antichrist, we would be worse than His arch- enemy.

We should, moreover, compare our sins not with the sins of other men but with the graces we have received from God. Now, we have received more graces from His divine bounty than all pagans, Jews and heretics together. If we are priests, we have received more graces than all other Christians for the grace of the priesthood surpasses every other. Consequently, the sins of a priest are greater than the sins of all other men; therefore, a single sin of ours makes us as guilty and more so than the sins of all other men put together.

As priests, we are obliged in imitation of our Sovereign Priest, to take the sins of others upon ourselves and to expiate them by humiliation and penance as if they were our own sins. Wherefore, every priest should humbly treat and consider himself as laden with the sins of the whole world and rejoice in being treated as such even as if he were the chief and greatest of sinners.

Let us beg our Lord to imprint these truths upon our minds and engrave these dispositions i n our hearts. Let us desire them ardently. Let us give ourselves to the Spirit of God to treat ourselves henceforth, and to wish to be treated by others with lowest esteem.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"0 God, be merciful to me a sinner." Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori (Luke 18, 13) 145-

Our Birth and Baptism

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On Our Birth and Baptism ( 1 )

( 1 ) . "Meditations on Our Birth and Baptism" are taken from 'Part Seven" of The Kingdom of Jesus, Pp. 295-312. They may be used very profitably during the Christmas Season as an exercise in honor of the Child Jesus.

Saint John Eudes prefaces the first meditation with the following remarks: "I can never tell you enough, nor should you grow med of hearing and considering (so important is it) that Jesus Christ, Who is yew Head and Whose members you are, passed through all the stages of human life , through which you are passing. He did almost all the things that you do, and performed not only His outward acts but also all His interior actions for Himself and for you. Therefore, Christian sanctity and perfection consist in ceaselessly uniting yourself to Him as His members, and in continuing to do what He did, as He did it, to the best of yew ability, uniting yourself with His dispositions and intentions. It likewise consists in consenting and adhering to what lie did for you in the presence of His Father and in ratifying it. So, too, it consist; in performing all your inward actions not only for yourself, but also for die whole world, in imitation of the Son of God, and especially for those with whom you have some special connection with respect of God. This Christian devotion inspires similar acts of union and imitation proportionately, towards the Blessed Virgin, never separating the Mother from the Son." 148-

Duties to Be Rendered to God on the Anniversary

of Our Birth

Let Us Adore. Jesus in his Eternal and

Temporal Birth

0 JESUS, I adore Thee in Thy eternal birth and Thy divine dwelling for all eternity in the bosom of Thy Father. I also adore Thee in Thy temporal conception, and in Thy presence in the sacred womb of Thy most pure Mother, for the space of nine months, and in Thy birth into this world at the end of that time. I adore and revere the great and admirable occurrence of all these mysteries. I adore and honor the holy dispositions of Thy Divine Person and Thy holy soul in these mysteries. With m y whole heart I adore, love and bless all the acts of adoration, love, oblation Thou didst render to the Eternal Father, and all the other divine acts and practices offered Him in these mysteries.

LET Us UNITE OURSELVES TO THE HOMAGE THAT JESUS

RENDERED TO His HEAVENLY FATHER FOR US

Again I adore and glorify Thee, 0 Good Jesus, as performing all these things for Thyself, for me and for everyone in the world. On this anniversary of my birth I give myself to Thee, 0 my Dear Jesus, that I may now repeat the acts Thou didst perfect while dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and for nine months in the bosom of Thy Mother. I unite myself to Thee to perform this duty as Thou didst perform it, in union with love, humility, purity and other

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holy dispositions of Thy adorable soul. Since Thou didst perform this act for Thyself and for me and for all men in the world, I also desire to exercise this present devotion, not only for myself, but for all the men in the world.

I now desire, 0 my Saviour, to render unto Thee as far as I can, with the help of Thy grace, all the rightful homage I should have paid Thee if I had been gifted with the use of reason, from the first moment of my life. So, too, I desire to pay Thee all the due meed of adoration, praise and love, which should have been given to Thee at that same time by all my friends, and by all people who ever were, are, or shall be in the world; and even that which should have been rendered to Thee by the evil angels at the moment of their creation. I give myself again to Thee, my Lord Jesus. Enter into me, and unite me to Thyself in order that in and by Thee I may fulfil these desires for Thy pure glory and satisfaction.

Let Us Adore, Love and Thank Jesus for Our

Birth and Baptism

In union, therefore, with the devotion, love, humility, purity and sanctity, and all the other sublime dispositions with which Thou didst honor, bless, love and glorify the Eternal Father in Thy eternal and temporal birth, and in Thy dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of Thy Father, and during nine months in the bosom of Thy Mother: I acclaim Thee; I adore, love, bless and glorify Thee together with the Father and the Holy Spirit as my God, my Creator and Sovereign Lord. I adore, love and glorify Thee also on behalf of all creatures-angels, men, animals, plants and inanimate things. I wish I could possess in myself the totality of their being, all their strength and all their actual o r potential capacity to glorify and love Thee, that I might now use it all in paying Thee this homage for myself and for them, especially those for whom, before Thee, I have both the obligation and desire to pray with special zeal.

I give Thee infinite thanks, 0 my God, on behalf of myself, all creatures, and especially m y particular friends, for the gift of life, and

the capacity to know and love Thee. I thank Thee for having preserved our existence and allowed us to be born alive to receive Holy Baptism. If we had died before being delivered from original sin by the grace of Holy Baptism, which has been the misfortune of many souls, we should never have seen Thy divine face, and we should have been deprived forever of Thy holy love. May all the angels and saints bless Thee forever for this most special favor Thou hast accorded us. Ejaculatory prayer: "He made us, and not we ourselves." Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos (Ps. 99, 3) 151-

Our Obligation of Loving and Serving God

Let Us Consecrate Our Being and Our Life to Jesus

OMNIPOTENT Creator, Thou didst give me being and life solely that I might employ them in Thy love and service. Therefore, I offer my life to Thee. I consecrate and sacrifice it altogether to Thee, together with the being and life of all the angels, all men and all creatures, in testimony that I desire no longer to live save to serve Thee with all the perfection Thou dost ask of me.

0 my God, what a source of humiliation and pain it is for me to think that, during the first months of my life, I was Thine enemy and under the power of Satan, in a continual state of sin that infinitely displeased and dishonored Thee! For this I most humbly beg Thy forgiveness, 0 my Lord, and in satisfaction for the dishonor I gave Thee while I remained in the state of original sin, I offer Thee, 0 Father of Jesus, all the glory given Thee by the immaculate Mother during the time she dwelt in the blessed womb of St. Anne, her mother.

0 my Jesus, in honor of and in union with the love with which Thou didst accept and bear all the crosses and sufferings that were permitted by the Heavenly Father to attend Thy temporal birth, I offer Thee all the trials and afflictions I have suffered since my birth, and those remaining for me to suffer until the end of my life, accepting and loving them for love of Thee, and begging Thee to consecrate them to the homage of Thine own sufferings.

0 Most Kind Jesus, I offer Thee all the circumstances of my birth, and I implore Thee by Thy very great mercy to wipe out all that displeases Thee in the first part of my life. Deign to make up for my faults, giving to Thy Father and to Thyself all the honor I ought to

have given Thee at that time, if I had been capable of honoring Thee; and mayest Thou grant that the earliest phase of my life may render an undying homage and glory to the divine state of Thy dwelling in the bosom of Thy Father and in the womb of Thy Mother, and to Thy eternal and temporal birth.

Let Us Ratify the Acts Done in Our Behalf by Jesus

On the Day of his Birth

Such, 0 my Lord, is the rightful homage I ought to have rendered to Thee, had I been able, at the moment of my birth, and indeed from the first moment of my life, that I now endeavor to render to Thee, although very tardily and imperfectly. But what gives me infinite consolation, 0 my Dear Jesus, is that I know Thou didst atone for my deficiencies by Thy temporal birth. Then Thou didst render all this just homage to God the Father, performing in a most holy and divine manner all these acts and devotions for Thyself and for me. Thou didst refer and consecrate to His glory all Thy being and Thy entire life, present and to come, and together with it all my being and every state of my life , and of all creatures that ever were, are, or shall be, all the past, present and future state of created things being just as vividly present to Thee then as now. Thou didst look upon every life as Thine own, as something given to Thee by the Father, according to Thy blessed words: "All things are delivered to me by my Father" (Matt. 11, 27). Thou wast consequently obliged, by Thy profound love for Him and Thy zeal for His honor, to refer and give and sacrifice everything to Him. And this Thou didst do most excellently.

Thou didst also offer to Thy Father the holy and divine state of Thy dwelling in the sacred womb of the Virgin, all filled with glory and love for Him, in satisfaction for the dishonor that was to be rendered to Him by myself in the state of original sin. And at the same moment when Thou didst accept and offer to Thy Father all the crosses and sufferings of Thy whole life, Thou didst offer Him also all the past, present and future trials and afflictions of all Thy members: for it is the function of the head to act for himself and on behalf of all his

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members, because the head and the members are but one, and also because all that pertains to the members belongs to the head, and conversely all the attributes of the head belong to the members.

And so, 0 divine Head, Thou hast turned my whole being and the whole condition of my life to meritorious purpose. In Thy temporal birth, Thou didst render for me to Thy Father all the rightful homage I should have rendered Him at my own birth, and Thou didst then p practise all the acts and exercises of devotion that I should have practised. Be Thou blessed for ever! How willingly I consent and adhere to all that Thou didst do at that time for me! Indeed I ratify it with my whole will, and would gladly sign that ratification with the last drop of my blood. I also endorse all Thou didst do for me in all the other phases or actions of Thy life, to compensate for the faults Thou didst know I was going to commit.

In imitation of Thee, 0 my Jesus, in honor of and in union with the same love which led Thee thus to accomplish all things for Thyself and for all Thy brothers, members and children, and for all creatures, I henceforth desire in all my functions and activities to render to Thee all the honor and glory I can, for myself and for all Christians, who are my brothers, and members of the same Head and Body. I desire to honor Thee on behalf of all men and all other creatures that are unworthy o r incapable of loving Thee, as if all of them put together had entrusted me with their duties and obligations towards Thee, and had charged me to love and honor Thee on their behalf.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

0 Mother of Jesus, I honor thee, as far as I am able, in the moment of thy holy conception, and in the instant of thy birth into the world. I honor all the love, all the adoration, praise, oblations and blessings thou didst offer to God at that time. In union with thy love, purity and humility as thou didst adore, love and glorify Him, and didst refer thy being and thy life to Him, I adore, bless and love m y God with thee, my Mother, with my whole heart. I consecrate and sacrifice to Him forever my life , my being and my whole self.

So also, acclaiming thee, 0 Blessed Virgin, as Mother of God and consequently as my Sovereign Lady, I refer to thee, after God, the whole state of my being and my life. I implore thee most humbly to offer to God, for me, all the love, the glory and rightful homage thou didst render to Him at thy birth, by way of satisfaction for my faults, and to cause, by thy prayers and merits, all the phases, actions, and sufferings of my life to pay undying homage to all the phases, actions and sufferings of thy Son's life and thine own. Ejaculatory prayer:

"I am thine." Tuus sum ego (Iss. 118, 94).

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