The most important aspect of these exercises is to recognize their great value. Our human nature falls away easily from our good dispositions. This is due to the frailty and evil inclination of our nature. It burdens our spirit and always drags it down unless we lift ourselves upwards by repeated, lively, deliberate decisions. We are like birds which fall at once to the ground unless they increase the movements and strokes of their wings to keep themselves in flight. That is why, dear Philothea, it is necessary that you renew and repeat very often the deliberate decisions you have made to serve God. if you do not do this, there is danger that you may fall back to your former state, or rather into a much worse state (Lk. 11:26). In fact, spiritual falls are such that they always cast us down lower than the state from which we had gone up to devotion.
Even a good clock needs to be wound twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Besides this, it has to be dismantled every year, to clean the rusty parts, to straighten those that are bent and to replace the worn out. Thus, whoever has a deep concern for his dear heart must wind it up daily to God, in the evening and in the morning, by means of the exercise mentioned above[1]. Besides, he must examine its conditions several times, rectifying and readjusting it.
Finally, at least once a year, it should be dismantled and all its parts examined in detail. In other words, all its desires and passions are to be examined to remedy all the defects that may be there.
The Clock-maker oils the wheels, the springs and all the moving parts of the clock with fine oil so that it may run more smoothly, and be less liable to rust. Similarly, the devout person after this exercise of dismantling his heart, to review it well, must anoint it with the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist. This practice will renew your strength diminished by time, give fervour to your heart, bring fresh greenness to your deliberate decisions and make the virtues of your spirit flower again. According to St. Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus the early Christians used to practise this carefully on the feast of our Lord’s Baptism and renew the declarations and promises made in this Sacrament. Let us do the same, my dear Philothea, taking up this practice willingly and carrying it out earnestly.
So, choose a suitable time, following the advice of your spiritual director. Withdraw yourself, a little more than usual, into solitude both spiritual and real. Make one or two or three meditations on the following points, according to the method I described in the Second Part (Chapters 2 to 8).
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[1] See Part II, Chapter 10, and Chapter 11.