The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius : $b adapted to...

Here St. Ignatius begins what he calls the Second Week of his Exercises, in which he bids us study how the great King leads us in the grand enterprise of establishing the Kingdom of His Father, by considering His coming on earth, His nativity, His childhood and His private life. The main purpose all along is to make us know Him more intimately, love Him more ardently and follow Him more faithfully. This following consists in making ourselves more and more like to Him: “Whom he (God) foreknew he also predestinated to be made comformable to the image of his Son” (Rom. viii, 29). By this conformity to Christ we make God reign in our hearts and prepare ourselves to enter into His Heavenly Kingdom.

In this and the following exercises a change is made in the process so far followed; namely, instead of recalling the facts to memory in the body of the meditation, we now recall them in a special prelude, put before the two usual ones. Then in the points we do less reasoning; we rather look on and behold the event as it were passing before our eyes, noticing in particular the persons, their words and their actions, and dwelling on the thoughts and the sentiments which they suggest to our minds. From the fact that we behold rather than reason, these exercises are usually called contemplations, rather than meditations, though the name is of little importance, provided the process be well understood.

2nd Prelude. Imagine you see the face of the earth, as it was at that time, inhabited by diverse races of men, civilized and barbarian, all steeped in vice and rushing on, a vast torrent, into the abyss of Hell. In the little town of Nazareth the Virgin Mary at prayer, and God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost looking down from Heaven upon the varied scene.

1. The human race, in a great variety of conditions: some rich, others poor; some learned, others ignorant; some refined, others rude; some suffering, others rejoicing; talking of wars and of pleasure, adoring idols; but nearly all rushing on, like a vast torrent, into Hell.

2. Then consider the chaste Virgin Mary, praying for the coming of the Messias, lowering herself in her own mind, thinking of her littleness before God. Thus the poet tells of a drop of water saying to itself: “how little I am in the vast ocean around me;” and at that moment a shellfish swallowed the drop, and it lay hardening in the shell, and it became the choicest pearl that ever shone on a queenly diadem. So was Mary chosen in her humility.

3. Consider the three Divine Persons looking down from Heaven upon the scene below, seeing the mass of moral corruption, yet, instead of sending down avenging fire or a new deluge of water to punish the guilty race, pitying its sad condition. The Son of God steps down from His throne, and casts Himself at the feet of His Heavenly Father, offering Himself to assume our mortal nature and to atone for our sins.

Here is the first step of our King, lowering Himself: Exinanivit semetipsum: “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man” (Phil. ii, 7). We are to imitate Him, to be made like to Him. This is our first lesson; let us learn it well: we must be humble.

POINT II. The Angel Gabriel is sent to Mary to announce her selection as the Mother of God. He comes, not to the mighty city of Rome, to its gilt palaces and learned scholars; the things of earth are very small in the sight of God. He comes to an unknown little town in a despised country, to a poor maiden, unknown to the world.

Listen to the words spoken: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.” Mary is too humble to realize that such words could be suitable to her: “She was troubled at his saying.” But the Angel explains and dispels her fear. He adds: “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the most High.” Now her Virgin heart is alarmed; so precious is the jewel of virginity in her sight. “How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the Angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Thus reassured, she understands that such is the will of God; her answer beautifully expresses her humility: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” She does not say: behold then the future queen of Heaven and earth, but the handmaid of the Lord. Jesus has associated her with Himself making her, here and all through life, the model of every virtue.

POINT III. After her consent had thus been expressed, God, who always respects the free will of men, formed in her womb, from her virgin blood, the body of her Divine Son: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (St. John i, 14). As when he formed the body of Adam out of the slime of the earth, He breathed into his face the breath of life; so now He created the soul of Christ, and united it at once with the embryonic body to build it up to the perfection of manhood, and at the same moment God the Son assumed this humanity into substantial union with His Divine Person.

This is the second step in the career of our King, again a species of self-annihilation: Exinanivit semetipsum. It is also an example of His love for men, of His boundless zeal for their salvation and glorification. He stooped down to earth in order to raise man to Heaven.