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

1st Prelude. Recall the facts: Christ began His public labors for the salvation of souls by leaving His Blessed Mother, by being baptized among sinners, then fasting forty days. Next He travelled on foot from town to town during three years, in great poverty, through Galilee and Judea; selected ignorant men as His Apostles, instructed them most patiently, and predicted His sacred passion.

POINT I. Consider the grandeur of the work of saving souls. It is the noblest occupation possible, as is expressed in the maxim attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite: “The most Divine of all Divine works is the salvation of souls.” In fact the saving of one soul is a higher achievement than the creation of the material universe; for the value of an action is properly measured by the result achieved, and a glorified soul is as far above all bodily substances as the knowledge, love and fruition of God is above mere matter. We admire the poet who composes a grand epic, the painter or sculptor who produces a masterpiece of his noble art, the architect who erects an imposing structure, etc.; but what is all this compared to the salvation of a soul, that will be for eternity an ornament of Heaven. To Christ belongs the glory of all salvation of souls, but He deigns to share this glory with His followers, to whom He says: “I have chosen you and have appointed you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain” (St. John xv, 16).

2. He so humbled Himself as to be baptized among sinners; and, to call down the blessings of Heaven upon His sacred ministry, He spent forty days in fasting and prayer. By all this He taught us that the supernatural work of saving souls is to be accomplished by the supernatural means of humiliations and penance and prayer; mere eloquence and logic are not sufficient.

3. He endured many privations. For during those three years He and His Apostles had not the comforts of a home: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head” (St. Matth. viii, 20). They often spent the night in the open air, for instance in the Garden of Olives. They had no regular supply of food, and must often have endured bitter hunger. St. Matthew narrates an instance: “At that time Jesus went through the corn on the Sabbath; and His disciples being hungry began to pluck the ears and to eat them” (xii, 1). He travelled and taught the people all day and received visitors during the night, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arithmathea, who were His disciples secretly for fear of the Jews.

The history of the Saints is full of similar hardships; for they had learned to follow His example. Am I a worthy follower of my King? Do I make generous sacrifices in His service? Frequently the salvation or the loss of a soul depends on the zeal of a priest or religious. Neglect in this matter is often irreparable.

POINT III. During His public life Jesus also gave us the example of earnest prayer, in which He would at times spend the entire night. St. Luke writes: “He (Jesus) went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God” (vi, 12). He did not need to pray for His own sake, but He wished to show us by His example the necessity of fervent prayer for those employed in the active duty of saving souls. They need it for themselves and for the good of others. For themselves, because the sacred ministry is full of dangers; it is like striving to save drowning men, in which task those who lend assistance often perish themselves. Sad experience teaches that many priests, employed in constant labors, neglect their own souls, and come to a miserable fall. And as far as the neighbor is concerned, it is the man of prayer, the man of God, that does the work of God, and not the priest of a worldly mind who neglects his prayer.