INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE

| Part-I | Part-II | Part-III | Part-IV | Part-V |

PART II: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

Five Daily Spiritual Exercises Besides Meditation

PART II, Chapter 10: First: The Morning Exercise In Preparation For The Day’s Work

Apart from the complete and developed mental prayer, and besides the vocal prayers, which you have to make once a day, there are five other kinds of shorter prayers. These are like complements and offshoots of the main prayer. The first to be made among them is in the morning, as a general preparation for all the activities of the day. You must make it as follows:

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  1. Thank God and adore him with all your heart for doing you the favour of keeping you alive during the past night. If you have fallen into any sin, in the course of it, ask his forgiveness.

  2. Realize that the present day is given to you in order that during it you may win the coming day of eternity. Make a deliberate decision to use the day well for this purpose. Look ahead to the various sorts of business, conversations, opportunities, you are likely to have during the day for the service of God. Foresee also the temptations to offend him which you may meet with: by anger or by vanity or some other improper act. Prepare yourself by a deliberate decision to use well the means, which will offer themselves to you, to serve God and make progress in your devotion. Be ready, on the other hand, carefully to avoid, to resist and to overcome whatever may present itself against your salvation and the glory of God. It is not enough to make this deliberate decision. You must prepare the means to put it into practice well. For example, I foresee that I shall have to deal, regarding some matter, with a person who is excitable and easily gets angry. I will be determined not to lose control and annoy him. Moreover, I shall prepare gentle words to put off his anger, or get the help of someone who can keep him in check. If I expect to be free to visit a sick person, I shall fix the time as well as the comforts and help that I can give him; and so on about other things.

  3. After doing this, humble yourself before God. Acknowledge that, by yourself, you are not able to do anything of what you have decided, either to avoid evil or to do good. As though you were holding your heart in your hands, offer it to God together with all your good intentions. Implore him to take you in his care and to give you strength to serve him with dedication. Do this by using, in silence, the following or similar words: “Lord, look at this poor and wretched heart which, through you goodness, has conceived many good desires. Alas, I am too weak and worthless to realize the good I long for, unless you grant you heavenly blessing. I humbly ask for it, for this purpose, loving Father, through the merits of the Passion of your Son. To his honour I consecrate this day and the rest of my life.” Pray to our Lady, your Guardian Angel and the Saints, that they may help you with regard to this.

Make all these spiritual acts briefly and earnestly, before leaving your room if it is possible. Thus, by means of this exercise, whatever you do all through the day will be watered by God’s blessing. Please, Philothea, never omit this morning exercise.