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MENTAL PRAYER Before Meditation
YOU rise at the time set by the Superior, and
at the first sound of the bell make the sign
of the Cross and give your first thought to God,
repeating the aspirations, To thee O God! do I
devote and offer up my day and my night, my
life and my death! Mary, Joseph and St. Vincent, pray for me; Jesus, Mary, Joseph, protect
me and our Institute.
This being the first grand act of the day, it
should be made generously and promptly, and in
a spirit of mortification, showing the alacrity with
which your soul longs to give itself to God.
Every moment of our lives belongs to God; but
especially is He covetous of the first moments of
the day, the offering of which is as pleasing to
Him as was that of the first born of the old law. An act of sloth, or a dissipation of the mind would
be a sad commencement of the day, and an obstacle to the success of your Meditation.
Following the daily practice of our loved Patron, St. Vincent, after rising from bed, take
Holy Water and make the Sign of the Cross,
prostrate yourself and kiss the floor. Kneel for
a moment to adore God, acknowledging Him as
the Creator and Redeemer of all mankind and the Sovereign Lord of
all things, on whom you depend for all that concerns body and soul.
While dressing, keep your mind united to God,
as a preparation for the Meditation. In putting on the Holy Habit, kiss it reverently
in thanksgiving for the grace of your Vocation.
Dress with modesty, being in the presence of
God and surrounded by His blessed Angels; and
with alacrity, endeavoring to pay court to our
King, Who has been watching the long hours of
the night without an adorer and longs for worshippers.
It was the custom of St. Vincent, notwithstanding his age, and the swelling of his limbs,
to arrive in the Church before the youngest and
most healthy.
On a faithful observance of all that is prescribed in the Manual depends, more than you
imagine, the success of the Meditation. You
should endeavor to carry out the Additions, as
taught in Retreats, and if you do your part well,
God will bless your endeavor, seeing your good
will and your exterior reverence. To make a
good Meditation it is not necessary that the truth
be new, and, as it were, dainty, filled with matter
on which you can feast yourself. It suffices that
you nourish yourself on what God gives you; that
you insist on such a point, on such a thought;
that you make the application of it to yourself,
that you return to taste if again and again. As to
the manner of conducting yourself in time of
aridity and desolation, when you feel drowsy, and also in time of
consolation, you should study carefully Rodriguez on these points.
As God has given you, through St. Ignatius,
various methods of prayer, to form and maintain
you in the spirit of your Institute, one of your
great aims should be to make them your own, and
to acquire a habit of using them.
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