| Chapter 9. Meditation 1: Of Creation. | ||||
Preparation. | ||||
1. PLACE yourself in the Presence of God. 2. Ask Him to inspire your heart. | ||||
Considerations. | ||||
1. Consider that but a few years since you were not born into the world, and your soul was as yet non-existent. Where were you then, O my soul? the world was already old, and yet of you there was no sign. | ||||
2. God brought you out of this nothingness, in order to make you what you are, not because He had any need of you, but solely out of His Goodness. | ||||
3. Consider the being which God has given you; for it is the foremost being of this visible world, adapted to live eternally, and to be perfectly united to God's Divine Majesty. | ||||
Affections and Resolutions. | ||||
1. Humble yourself utterly before God, saying with the Psalmist, O Lord, I am nothing in respect of You�what am I, that You should remember me? O my soul, you were yet lost in that abyss of nothingness, if God had not called you forth, and what of you in such a case? | ||||
2. Give God thanks. O Great and Good Creator, what do I not owe You, Who didst take me from out that nothingness, by Your Mercy to make me what I am? How can I ever do enough worthily to praise Your Holy Name, and render due thanks to Your Goodness? | ||||
3. Confess your own shame. But alas, O my Creator, so far from uniting myself to You by a loving service, I have rebelled against You through my unruly affections, departing from You, and giving myself up to sin, and ignoring Your Goodness, as though You hadst not created me . | ||||
4. Prostrate yourself before God. O my soul, know that the Lord He is your God, it is He that hasmade you, and not you yourself. O God, I am the work of Your Hands; henceforth I will not seek to rest in myself, who am nought. Wherein have you to glory, who are but dust and ashes? how can you, a very nothing, exalt yourself? In order to my own humiliation, I will do such and such a thing,�I will endure such contempt:�I will alter my ways and henceforth follow my Creator, and realise that I am honoured by His calling me to the being He has given; I will employ it solely to obey His Will, by means of the teaching He has given me, of which I will inquire more through my spiritual Father. | ||||
Conclusion. | ||||
1. Thank God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and praise His Holy Name with all your being, because His Goodness called me forth from nothingness, and His Mercy created me. | ||||
2. Offer. O my God, I offer You with all my heart the being You have given me, I dedicate and consecrate it to You. | ||||
3. Pray. O God, strengthen me in these affections and resolutions. Dear Lord, I commend me, and all those I love, to Your neverfailing Mercy. OUR FATHER, etc. | ||||
At the end of your meditation linger a while, and gather, so to say, a little spiritual bouquet from the thoughts you have dwelt upon, the sweet perfume whereof may refresh you through the day. | ||||