MEDITATION III The Interior Spirit Is Fostered by Faith
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
1st Prelude. Recall the words of Christ: “Amen, amen, I say unto you, He that believeth in me hath everlasting life” (St. John vi, 47).
2nd Prelude. Ask earnestly for an intense spirit of faith.
POINT I. Consider the value of faith in the sight of God.
1. It is one of the theological virtues, which are infused into our hearts by the Holy Ghost: and thus, coming from God they have a Divine efficacy. Therefore whatever action is prompted by faith has supernatural merit, that is deserves an eternal reward. Hence the teaching of Christ: “He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.”
2. This value of faith is praised most highly by St. Paul, who devotes to its praise the whole eleventh chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, showing how all the Saints of the Old Law were sanctified by their belief in the promised Redeemer.
3. On the part of man, faith is the sacrifice of his highest faculty, his understanding, to his sovereign Lord. By it we resign our own judgment to accept in its place the word of God.
4. It is also the exercise of the virtue of humility, by which we acknowledge the weakness of our intellect. Now we know that “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble” (St. James iv, 6).
POINT II. See how faith sanctifies our daily life:
1. It keeps before us the Divine presence wherever we be; as a sponge plunged into the sea has water all around it and within the pores of its substance, so we are in God; “For in him we live and move and be” (Acts xvii, 28). Aie, God is still more intimately present to us than the water is to the sponge, for He penetrates every particle of our substance.
2. Faith reveals to us the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, with body and soul, humanity and Divinity, teaching us to adore Him, to offer Him as our sacrifice and receive Him as our food.
3. Faith makes us recognize the voice of God in the words of our rules and the directions of our superiors, and thus it makes the details of our religious life full of merit.
4. Faith pierces the guise of misery and frailty, and makes us recognize in every human being the hidden presence of Him who will say at the judgment: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me” (St. Matth. xxv, 40).
Thus faith makes the religious life most meritorious.
POINT III. Examine yourselves on the practical working of the spirit of faith in your daily life. Consider:
1. Whether you strive earnestly to practise the presence of God, by frequently remembering Him and honoring Him by some ejaculatory prayer; for instance, at the striking of the clock, or at the signal to begin or end an exercise. If in your own room, offer each new task kneeling to your loving Lord and His Holy Mother.
2. Do you visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently and lovingly, attend Mass devoutly, and receive Holy Communion daily, with proper preparation and thanksgiving?
3. Are you diligent in keeping your rules and docile to the directions of your superiors? Or do you criticise their orders, thereby showing that you fail to recognize in them the voice of God?
4. Do you treat all your brethren with generous charity, seeing in them so many images of Christ? Or do you take a merely human view of them, being very fond of some and cold towards others, as worldlings treat one another? Do you endeavor to benefit and console all those in need or in sorrow?
The days of the renovation of spirit offer a golden opportunity to examine the motives of all our actions, valuing them all according to the teachings of faith.
Colloquy with our dear Lord, begging for much light and grace to lead a life of lively faith, and thus to be thoroughly renewed in spirit.