THE FIRST MEDITATION On the End of Man
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Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
The first part of the Foundation is: “Man was created to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.”
To begin any of our meditations well, St. Ignatius bids us stand, for the space of a Pater Noster, one or two paces from the place at which we are to meditate, and with our mind raised on high, consider how God looks down upon us, and then adore Him with an act of reverence and self-humiliation.
Then follows the Preparatory Prayer, which is also the same for all the meditations. It is to ask our Lord for grace that all the acts of our memory, our understanding and our will may throughout the meditation tend directly to the service and praise of the Divine Majesty.
1st Prelude. Imagine your Blessed Saviour appears before you, looking lovingly on you and saying: “My son, I am now going to teach you the first truth in the spiritual life.”
2nd Prelude. Beg that you may understand this truth as the Saints have understood it.
POINT I. Consider the words, “Man was created.”
1. “Man.” What is man? Compared to God, man is a mere nothing, like a little gnat flitting in the sunshine; yet among material things man is a masterpiece, endowed with the most wonderful powers and potentialities. Man is like a musical instrument, from which the Divine Spirit can draw the most exquisite harmony, as He has done from millions of saintly souls. But if not responsive to His touch, it gives out harsh and false sounds, marring the harmony of God’s world. A man may live like an Angel, or like a demon or like a brute animal.
2. Man was “created,” that is, made out of nothing, for so was the world; now even a savage understands that the thing made belongs to the maker. Therefore I belong to God; He can do with me and require of me what He pleases.
POINT II. Consider what God requires of man. If God has made man for a purpose, He certainly requires of him to work for that purpose. But God can do nothing without a purpose, a purpose worthy of Himself; His wisdom requires that. Now He alone is worthy of Himself; therefore He directed all things to Himself, as the Book of Proverbs says: “The Lord hath made all things for Himself” (xvi, 4).
It is not that God needs any creature; for being all perfect He is self-sufficient; but right order requires that He make all His creatures tend to Him.
How then must all creatures tend to God? By glorifying Him; that is by praising, reverencing and serving God.
1. Praising God. To praise God is to show forth and proclaim His excellence. The Psalms are full of such praises; for instance Psalm 116: “Praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise Him all ye people.” We must not live then to exalt ourselves, or to get others to praise us, but render all honor to God, to whom it all belongs.
2. Reverencing God, worshipping Him, as we do when we pray. Thus the Angels in Heaven ever do, crying out; “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty” (Ap. iv, 8). Thus we put statues of Angels on the altar to express our reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. Thus we should express our reverence for God whenever we speak to Him in prayer. How do I pray habitually? With what reverence of bodily posture and of mental attitude? We should thus make our meditations practical.
3. Serving God. To serve another is to do his bidding; we are then created to be ever at the disposal of God, to obey Him whenever He makes known His will: “If you love me, keep my commandments,” He says.
POINT III. Consider the further consequences of our praise, reverence and service of God; “And by these means to save his soul,” that is to attain eternal happiness.
The good God has so wisely and bountifully ordained all things that by glorifying Him we glorify ourselves and reach the fulfilment of all our desires. But by refusing to glorify Him we degrade and utterly ruin ourselves.
Now we are made free to do the one or the other. This freedom is a wonderful gift, a glorious gift in one way, making us like to God and capable of securing our own bliss forever, with God’s grace, of course: but on the other hand putting on us a terrible responsibility. No other power on earth can control a man’s liberty. When St. Agnes, a mere child of 13 years, refused to do wrong, the whole power of the Roman Empire could not bend her will; on the other hand, the influence of the holiest education cannot make a child virtuous without its free co-operation.
Can a man then, by refusing to serve God, deprive the Creator of the glory that he was intended to render Him? Certainly not; but he can freely choose to glorify the goodness of God by faithful service, thus securing at the same time perfect happiness for himself, or choose to glorify God’s justice by his eternal punishment.
Colloquy with God Almighty, my Creator, and with Christ, my Redeemer; that I may do my full duty and secure eternal bliss.