Second Exercise: Spiritual Conversion

As St. Gertrude had particularly in view, in these Exercises, the welfare of souls consecrated to God by the vows of religion, the three following Exercises are destined specially for them. We believe, nevertheless, as we have already said, that persons who are devoutly serving God in the world may derive real advantage from their use; and we exhort such persons to read and study them.

'The aim of this second Exercise is to commemorate the anniversary of the day on which the holy habit of religion was received. St. Gertrude employs the word conversion in the sense in which St. Benedict employs it in his Rule—to denote the act by which the soul determines to renounce the ordinary life of the world, in order to give itself entirely to God in the religious life. The graces which determine this first step are great; and the receiving the habit of religion, which is its reward, deserves a special commemoration throughout one's whole life.

In order to aid the soul to celebrate worthily So precious an anniversary, St. Gertrude prepares it by lively aspirations for the moment when she brings directly before it the blessed memory of that outward transformation it then underwent, when it laid aside the badge and livery of the world to be clothed with the noble habit of the spouses of Jesus Christ. While thus uniting itself to the acts which the servant of God suggests to it, the soul receives within itself all the fulness of the blessings which responded to that first act of its dedication to God, whose spouse it then became.

For The Anniversary Of The Receiving The Holy Habit Of Religion.

When you wish to celebrate, by the renewal of your firm resolve, the memory of your first conversion, whereby you renounced the world, and turned your heart to God with all its energy, you may use this Exercise, beseeching God to build up within you as it were a monastery of love, adorned with all virtues.

O JESUS, thou well-beloved of my heart, itis a thing well known that no spiritual fruit can either grow or ripen unless the dew of thy Spirit descend upon it, and the genial glow of thy love warm it. "Vouchsafe, then, to have compassion on ine; and in that compassion receive me into the arms of thy love, and warm me thoroughly with the healthful breath of thy Spirit. Behold before thee my bodyand my soul; I give them over once again into thy possession.

My well-beloved, O my well-beloved, give me now thy blessing. Open to me, and lead me into the midst of the treasures of thy goodness. With my whole heart do I yearn after thee, and do beseech thee, thee alone, to possess me wholly. May I be thine, and be thou mine; may I grow with ever-renewed fervour beneath the glow of thy love; there may I flourish like the lilies of the valley by the waterside.

Turn now to the Blessed Virgin Mother, that she may deign herself to pray for you.

O FAIREST Lily, thou sweetest Mary, who art, after God, my greatest, surest hope, speak thou in my behalf in presence of thy dear Son; speak for me one effectual word. Plead my cause with all thy loving devotedness; obtain for me, in thy goodness, the object and aim of my desires; for in thee do I trust, in thee, who art, after Jesus, my one and only hope.

Show thyself towards me a Mother full of tenderness; obtain for me that I be received by our Lord into the hiding-place of his love, into that school wherein the Holy Spirit teacheth. Far above all others canst thou obtain for me this favour from thy Divine Son. O Mother most faithful, surround thy daughter with thy thoughtful care, that I may become an ever-living fruit of love, that I may grow in all holiness, and that the dew from heaven may uphold me in perseverance. Amen.

Implore the grace of the Holy Spirit, and ask of him that you may make progress in religion.

(GOME, Holy Ghost! Come, O God, who art love! Fill my poor heart, void, alas! of all good. Enkindle me, that I may love thee; enlighten me, that I may know thee; draw me, that I may find all my joy and my delight in thee; make me capable of enjoying thee.

And now set yourself free from the world and from all that is not Jesus, your heart's love.

O JESUS, full of love ! who will give me wings like a dove¢ Then will I flee away in the ardour of my longing, and be at rest in thee.

Withdraw yourself, and hide yourself in Jesus.

O BELOVED Jesus, by that love which drew thee, my God, to be made man, that thou mightest seek and save that which was lost, come now into me, O my well-beloved, and enable me to penetrate even into thee. Hide me in the unshaken rock of thy fatherly protection. Draw me far apart from all that is not thee, into the wound of thy sweetest Heart, O thou dearest, fairest amongst all that are beloved. Give mea portion and an inheritance with thy people Israel, and admit me amongst those daughters of Jerusalem who form thy court. Amen.

Here prostrate yourself at the feet of Jesus.

Bless me, O most loving Jesus; bless me now. Have mercy on me in all the compassion of thy most tender Heart. Grant that my soul may never choose the object of its love out of thee. Under the rule of thy grace, taught by that unction of which thou art the source, in the school of thy love, I shall advance rapidly and greatly.

At the moment when in spirit you receive the holy habit, say :

O HOLY Father, in that love wherewith thou hast lifted the light of thy countenance upon me, grant that I may advance and grow in thee in all holiness and all virtue.

O Christ, O my Jesus, in that love which constrained thee to redeem me with thine own precious Blood, clothe me with the purity of thy most holy life.

O divine Paraclete, thou who art strong as thou art holy, by that love which constrained thee to bind me to thee when thou didst give me a new and spiritual name, grant me to love thee with my whole heart, to cleave to thee with all my soul, to put forth all my utmost strength in loving and in serving thee, to live according to thy intention and will; and at the hour of my death do thou admit me, thus disposed and prepared by thee, and arrayed in a garment without spot, to the divine espousals which thou art preparing, Amen.

Pray the Virgin Mother to be your guide in religion, or in the state of life in which you are placed.

O MARY, Mother of God, and my most tender Mother, cover me with the snowy fleece of the Lamb, Jesus, fashioned of thy | very substance. Through thee may he receive me, who is the supreme Love; may he nourish me, possess me, govern me, and perfect me. Amen.

Here offer anew your vow of chastity to the heavenly Bridegroom.

O SWEETEST Jesus, thee alone have I taken to be the faithful lover of my soul, the one chosen companion of my life; my soul longeth and languisheth for thee. I offer thee all the love of my heart, in choosing thee for my companion and guide. I offer thee my body and my soul to be employed in thy service alone and evermore; for I am Thine, and thou art mine.

O true Love, unite me anew to thee. To thee, O Spouse of delights, I offer again my chastity, in thine eyes so fair and of such price. I renew my vow of obedience to thee; for thy love hath ravished my heart, thy sweetness and thy goodness draw me towards thee. I pledge myself to do thy will alone; for to cleave to thee is highest blessedness, and to love thee is rapture unutterable.

Wherefore, O thou my heart’s one and only possession, I offer myself to thee, that henceforward I may live to thee alone; for nothing have I found so exquisitely sweet, nothing so full of profit to my soul, as to be most intimately united to thee, O my wellbeloved.

O fashion my heart like unto thy sacred Heart, and then my whole life shall flow on in conformity with thy good pleasure.

R. The kingdom of this world and all its pomps have I despised, for the love of Jesus Christ my Lord: * whom I have seen, whom

I have loved; in whom I have believed, to whom I have given my love.

Y. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King: * whom I have seen, whom I have loved; in whom I have believed, to whom I have given my love.

R. O thou who art the source and guardian of all purity, who, being born of a pure Virgin, hast kindled all around thee the holy love of chastity: * O Christ, who art thyself the Pattern, Hope, and Crown of virgins, by the intercession of Blessed Mary, Virgin and Mother, keep me pure and chaste in soul and in body.

Y. O Source of life eternal, Principle cf light unfailing, blessed Author of every good work: * O Christ, who art thyself the Pattern, Hope, &c.

O ALMIGHTY everlasting God, look favourably on these our prayers; and grant to us thy servants, who, for the love of thy Name, are bound together in one bond of charity, that we may have a true faith, an unbroken hope, a genuine humility, a holy devotion, a perfect charity, a constant and persevering application to good works. By the merits and intercession of all the saints, vouchsafe to implant in our hearts a simple affection, a pure and unspotted religion, an acceptable obedience, an abiding peace, a right and pure intention, a holy conscience. Grant us compunction of spirit and strength of soul, that our life may flow away without spot or stain, and may have an end without reproach or rebuke; that our progress towards thee may know neither delay nor remission, so that we may be counted meet to enter into thine everlasting kingdom. Amen,