MEDITATION II The Interior Spirit
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
1st Prelude. Imagine Christ speaks to you from the tabernacle, offering to be your teacher in the spiritual life.
2nd Prelude. Beg of our dear Lord to teach you in what consists the interior spirit which is to be renewed during the triduum.
POINT I. In what consists that interior spirit? It is described in Holy Writ under the name of “Wisdom,” and the entire book called “Wisdom” is occupied in praising and explaining it. For instance, its seventh chapter says: “I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me, and I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.... Now all good things came to me together with her.... She is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God, being commended for the gift of discipline” (vii, 7-14).
Wisdom is the virtue by which we direct our acts by the best means to the best end, which is the end for which we were created, the glory of God. This is the spirit of our Society, “All for the Greater Glory of God.” And this is the spirit which we must renew within us by the exercises of the triduum. It regards the purpose or intention for which we act, and therefore it is called “the interior spirit.”
POINT II. What is opposed to the interior spirit? Two classes of faults are opposed to this interior spirit,
1. Those by which we seek sinful gratifications,
2. Those which simply fail to direct our actions to our supernatural end. Supposing that we are careful to avoid all wilful sin, let us consider how we can be wanting in the interior spirit. There are various ways: (a) We may be actuated in many of our actions by the love of praise, not seeking to please God but to please ourselves. Of course all that is done for a merely natural purpose is so much labor lost for eternity: “Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven (St. Matth. vi, 1). Thus a religious, whether a Father, a Scholastic or a Brother, may give great satisfaction to his superiors, to his brethren and to outsiders, and yet have little merit before God.”
The country is full of able and energetic teachers, for instance, who work only for earthly rewards.
(b) We may lead a life of mere impulsive energy, getting interested in our work, perhaps to the neglect of higher duties, or we may be drawn by mere natural affections: “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this?” (ib. v, 46).
(c) In many of our actions we may be doing mere routine work. If we began the task with a good intention, though we continue it without further thought of the same, this is not mere routine, but may be very meritorious. The danger is that we may waste much time and energy by merely mechanical action without any supernatural intention. Do I strive earnestly to live for God, A.M.D.G.?
POINT III. What means can I use for this purpose?
1. Good daily meditations, by which I keep supernatural motives before my mind.
2. Careful examinations of conscience, watching in particular the motives of my actions.
3. Earnest prayer for light and grace steadily to advance in sanctity.
Such prayer is suggested in various parts of the “Book of Wisdom,” to which we referred before; for instance, “Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, and cast me not off from among thy children. For I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man and of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and laws. For if one be perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded” (ix, 4-6).
Colloquy. An earnest petition for grace to renew and increase our interior spirit.