The paradise of the Christian soul/Chap. IV. Exercises of Piety, or the Practice and Acts of the different Virtues.
CHAPTER IV.
EXERCISES OF PIETY ; OR, THE PRACTICE AND ACTS OF THE DIFFERENT VIRTUES.
From Blasius Palma, Canon Regular.[1]
I.
Act of Compunction and Hatred for Sin.
Turn away from evil, and do good: seek after peace, and pursue it.[2]
1. Contrition is the virtue by which sins committed are detested from the heart above all things, because God is offended by them ; with firm purpose to confess them, and sin no more; and also with hope of pardon.
O my God, and my mercy! with true contrition I bend the knees of my heart, and with extreme anguish of soul I humbly accuse myself, and in presence of thy divine Majesty acknowledge my fault, by confessing all my sins, and all the abominations I have committed in my whole life, by pride, avarice, sensuality, gluttony, anger, sloth, and by all the vices that proceed from them, because, alas! I have been too laxly inclined to them all. For this I am extremely sorry, and grieve that I have sinned, not from love of the rewards promised to the just, which I do not deserve ; nor from fear of the punishments to be inflicted on sinners, which I deserve most fully on every account; but only for the reason that I have offended thee, O my God! who art supremely good in thyself, and art to be adored above all things, nay, art charity itself, goodness itself, majesty itself,
2. And for the great love that I owe thee and bear thee, O Lord, I hate, detest, and abominate sin, self-love, inordinate love of creatures, and whatever can hinder me from being joined and united to thee by a holy love.
Whatever I have sinned in, by thought, word, and deed, whether from frailty, ignorance, or malice against thee, my God, against my neighbour, and myself, in whatever way, with all possible affection of my heart, I say that it is my fault, my most grievous fault: I am sorry that I have sinned, and I grieve that I do not at this moment feel so much hatred of sin, and that I have not as real a sorrow, or as much desire to weep for past, or as firm a purpose to avoid future sins, as I wish and ought to have in proportion to the greatness of my abominations.
3. Therefore, I beseech thee, O my God, accept, for the supply of that which I ought to have, the infinite hatred with which thou detestest sin; and in place of the sorrow which I fail in, I offer to thee, most merciful Father, the sorrows of Jesus Christ, thy Son, my Redeemer, together with the sacrifice of his spotless life, and the holy fervour and zeal that drew him to the most ignominious and bitter death, that he might destroy sin.
4. Ah, my most tender Jesus, I prostrate myself at the feet of thy mercies, beseeching thee, by the love which drew thee down from heaven into the Virgin’s womb, to apply to me the merits of thy most bitter passion and most precious blood, which thou hast shed for sinners, of whom I am the chief; and thus to supply all my failings, and pardon ail my faults, sins, negligences, and ingratitude.
Grant, I beseech thee, that all those things may be far from me in future; and although by nature I cannot be totally free from sin, grant me, O infinite goodness, the grace at least never to sin mortally. This is no other than thy own will, desire, wish, and command. Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt.
Lastly, O Lord, cause all kinds of holy virtues to be ingrafted in me in place of those vices, and all to yield thee a return of glory and thanksgiving, now and for ever and ever. Amen.
II.
Act of Good Resolution.
I have sworn, and am determined to keep the judgments of thy justice.[3]
1. O most mighty God! by the light of thy grace I know how greatly I am bound to do good works and to follow virtue, to turn from evil and to flee from sin. Therefore, now, wholly distrusting myself, and leaning confidently on thy holy grace, I propose and determine, with all the power of my free will, and with my fullest and most deliberate consent, never to sin again ; and a thousand times rather to throw away my life every hour, than, my God, ever seriously to offend thee, or attempt to do, say, or think any thing contrary to thy will; but to shun, as a basilisk, every occasion of sinning, and whatever is displeasing to thee; for what thou wiliest I will, and what thou detestest I detest.
Yet if that should, which I wish never may, happen to me, to do, or leave undone, any thing in, opposition to thy will, I now solemnly declare it all to be, not from any will or intention of my own, but from evil suggestion and sudden impulse, contrary to this my resolve. Enable me, then, O Lord, to continue firm in it, and to be so fully master of all my desires and impulses, as to permit none of them ever to creep in upon me.
I now freely renounce, therefore, all consent which is contrary to thy will; and I entirely abandon all freedom of will as often as I shall be allured to evil, and be placed in danger of offending thee, and in all that has a tendency to evil.
2. And I purpose, besides, to keep most perfectly in future all thy divine precepts, and the promises I made thee in baptism, or other vows. And I will also endeavour, as far as by thy grace I am able, to imitate thy most holy life, and acquire the habit of all those virtues which please thee the most; and in all things to do thy most just will, and to restrain my own, which is inclined to evil, by subjecting it, for love of thee, to all my superiors, equals, and inferiors, and finally to enter on the way of perfection by those means which thou, my Master, hast shown me, by word and example, in thy holy Gospel.
3. Help me, then, O Lord, for without thy special aid I cannot follow out and fulfil these my good resolutions. Give me a lively faith, and a strong and constant spirit; that, as thou art unable to sin by nature, so I may be unable to sin by grace.
4. Lastly, vouchsafe, I implore thee, by thy judgment, to accept and approve this declaration of my will, that all things may be and be done to thy glory and honour, and the salvation of my own soul, and my neighbour’s, and according to thy most holy will; to which I dedicate and consecrate myself, together with the whole being which thou hast bestowed upon me.
III.
Act of Humility and Self-knowledge.
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.[4]
HUMILITY is the virtue which represses the desire of excessive exaltation of self above others.
1. How shall I, my God, when I see thee humbling thyself for love of me, to endure a most shameful death, —how, I say, shall a most vile worm of earth, like me, dare exalt myself, and not rather hide myself beneath the ground! when I know myself, too, to be so proud and ungrateful, that I believe no creature could be found that, if it had received from thee as great grace and as many blessings as I have, would not have served thee with far greater zeal and fervour than I. Nay, because I do not enough acknowledge this truth, as it really is, from my heart, I confess that 1 am most proud ; and, in reality, viler than all others: and so, for my vanity and foolish pride, am justly hateful and execrable to thee, my God.
2, Ah me! so blinded am I by my pride, that I know not myself, and see not, O Lord, that the more the gifts I receive from thee, the heavier is my ingratitude, and the greater my sins, and the stricter the account I must render to thee. I am really, therefore, a viler sinner than all others; and I believe that none ever seceded so far from thee as I have done by my offences. Nay, I believe that there are none, not even. the greatest of sinners, but would, if they had the assistance that I have, return to thee more quickly, and perhaps love and honour thee ever after with more heartfelt sincerity and affection; but any how would grieve more for their sins, and serve thee more faithfully than I do.
3. I am amazed, O Lord, how thou canst endure the sight of a creature so ungrateful to thee as I am. And therefore I think myself wholly unworthy to serve thee, and my prayers to be heard by thee; most unworthy, because so heedless of thy light, of all grace and heavenly inspirations; and therefore have I long since deserved to be cast out by thee, and left in my darkness and error. I am unworthy, too, because I am so disobedient and refractory, to live among thy faithful ones, and in the house of thy servants; from whom, did they but treat me as I deserve, I should hear nothing but reproaches and rebukes. Nay, it would be but right to remove me far away from intercourse with all men, that I might be sure of infecting none of them with the ulcerous corruptions of my abominable vices.
4. I could wish, too, my utter vileness and wretchedness to be known to every one, that all, with just loathing, might detest me, and, in their zeal for thy glory, treat me as I deserve.
5. I admire thine inestimable goodness to me, O Lord, that thou hast borne with me till now, and hast not thrown me into the lowest pit of hell, as by my utter ingratitude to thee I have deserved. Yes, I acknowledge that, because of my ingratitude, I alone, of all thy creatures, am unworthy of the divine care, providence, and love, with which thou favourest all the rest: and I shudder to see myself a thing unspeakably foul, hateful,and abominable ; and I beg of thee, O eternal Light! that I may ever make such progress in self-knowledge, as never again perversely to exalt myself above others.
Ah, Lord! out of the bottomless deep of my wretchedness I cry and invoke the deep of thy mercy and goodness. Oh, grant me this grace. Amen.
IV.
Act of Prayer to God.
Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.[5]
1. O my most gracious God and Lord, although by my creation, preservation, redemption, justification, special vocation, and natural condition, I am thine, yet thine I wish to be, and am still more by the most express election of my own free will : and, therefore, for no favour will I knock at the gate of any other than thee, who art the fountain and source of all good.
2, Neither ought I to desire, ask, or wish of thee any other thing than what pleases thee best, and most conduces to thy greater glory. But should my will ever happen to be influenced by the desire of any thing else, I now hate and detest it, and wish it not to be. And I beg of thy divine Majesty, in such cases, never to hear me. And, therefore, my first and principal prayer to thee, and one that I make to thee with all the earnestness I am able, is, that thy most perfect will may be done in me ever, but my own be powerless, so that nothing whatever that is not thine may be found in me.
But since my will cannot be wholly inactive, I desire that whatever way it moves, it may move not alone, but, O Lord, ever in union with thine, which only is holy and right. Thus, with thy grace, I desire, thus I resolve, and thus I protest before thy heavenly court.
3. As often, then, as I ask any thing of thee, O Lord, I intend to ask nothing except through Jesus Christ, thy Son, having my own in perfect conformity with his most holy desires. Therefore, O merciful Father, though mine do not, yet thy Son’s gracious desires, at any rate, merit acceptance. Thus thou displayest thy justice to him, and thy mercy to me, and effectest thy own honour and glory. The will of thy most dear Son, O my God, wills, desires, and commands that I should be meek and humble of heart, patient, bountiful, and full of love; it desires me to live to thee, and die to myself. Grant, gracious Father, the fulfilment of this desire of his, which is so good and holy ; for so will thy own also be satisfied, to the in- crease of his honour, praise and glory, as well as of the most Holy Trinity.
4. Because, O Lord, I can do no good of myself, grant me the grace to suffer thee to do whatever thou wilt, and for my doing to acquiesce in thine, that thou mayest do in me only that which pleases thee most. And that there may be in me nothing displeasing to thee, adorn me with holy virtues, by giving me increase of faith, hope, and charity, humility of spirit, purity of heart, and all those virtues, gifts, and graces, which thou knowest to be necessary for me, and whatever effect of thy grace thou findest deficient in either my body or soul; that I may be able to please thee better, to serve thee more worthily and faithfully, and to love thee more perfectly.
I beseech thee also to grant me the grace to arrive at the degree of perfection to which thou desirest me from eternity to attain ; and to give me also the aids, means, and dispositions necessary for its attainment.
5. Yet more, with all the strength of my soul I beg of thee true contrition for all my sins, and the full remission of them, with the gift henceforth to choose rather to die in my body a thousand times, than once to die in my soul.
6. So good art thou, dearest Lord, and by thy mercy thou thyself so incitest me to pray, that I, who am dust and ashes, venture to ask, not only for that which thou hast, but for that even which thou art thyself, — though the lowest of thy suppliants, I ask, I say, with all the humility I am able, to enjoy thee singly and alone, to breathe and repose in thee only, and not on any of thy gifts, however excellent, noble, precious, or divine.
7. I ask for the clearest enlightenment of my understanding to know chiefly three things. First, to know most perfectly thy most holy will, and to fulfil it entirely. Secondly, to know my own vileness, ingratitude, and unworthiness of all good. Lastly, to have a perfect knowledge of all the moral virtues and their acquirement, that the simple, pure, and sincere love of thee may grow in me more and more.
8. Finally, I beseech thee to be pleased to accept my prayers, not as proceeding from myself, but, as it were, inspired by thee, and to unite them with the prayers of thy Son Jesus Christ, of his most holy Mother, of the holy An-, gels, Apostles, Martyrs, Doctors, Virgins, Confessors, &c., of the Church, both triumphant and militant, for obtaining, as well for my neighbour as myself, the above-named graces and gifts, both spiritual and corporal: regarding not my person, O Lord, but theirs, whose merits and prayers I offer to thee, through Jesus Christ thy Son, from whom proceeds and is derived every meritorious work and every good desire. And may this all turn to the eternal honour and glory of the most glorious Trinity, worthy of the utmost adoration and love. Amen.
V.
Act of denunciation of Pleasures
FOR
THE PRESERVATION OF CHASTITY.
They shall neither marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in heaven.[6]
1. O Lord, most pure and most worthy possessor of the hearts of men, I give thee most cheerfully the entire possession and direct control of all that I have, by renouncing every earthly affection and sensual delight; so that if I could enjoy all the pleasures of sense, and gratifications of the flesh, which are commonly tasted, and possessed, and desired by all men ; and even if I could enjoy these without sin, I would still, neverthePage:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/303 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/304 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/305 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/306 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/307 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/308 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/309 Page:TheParadiseOfTheChristianSoul.djvu/310