upon the pain of loss, which is indeed the chief element in eternal punishment. See S. Chrysostom, Hom. in S. Matt. xxiii. 9, and S. Augustine, Enchir. 112.

The pain of sense is generally thought to be referred to in our Lord's words about the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched (S. Mark ix. 48). Different interpretations of these words have been held within the Church. Some have taken them literally, others as metaphorical.

Both the worm and the fire have commonly been regarded as metaphorical in the East. Of the fire S. John of Damascus says that it is not material as our fire, but such as God knows of (De Fid. Orth. iv. 27). S. Augustine, on the other hand, inclined towards the fire being literal and the worm metaphorical, but was careful to leave the question open (Enchir. 113; cf. De Civ. Dei xx. 22). S. Thomas Aquinas says the same (Summa Theol., supp. xcvii. 2, 5, 6), and this has been the most usual teaching in the West since his day.1 In any case it would seem from our Lord's words in S. Matt. x. 28 that there will be suffering of the body as well as of the soul.2

From all that has been said in the notes upon these Exercises of the First Week it will be seen how carefully S. Ignatius seeks, even when dealing with the most awful subjects, to inspire us with hope, and gratitude towards God our Lord, never representing Him as an exacting and severe Judge, but always as merciful and longsuffering. This is especially noticeable in the colloquies at the end of every meditation. In every case it is the love, the longsuffering, the pity and mercy of God and our Lord which we are especially directed to contemplate, and to which we are encouraged to address ourselves. Nowhere do we find a single harsh word which might lessen our confidence in the love of God. Nowhere is the thought of sin and its eternal punishment presented in such a way as to cast us down in despair, but always so as to awaken a grateful acknowledgment of God's mercy in having spared us hitherto, and at the same time to inspire us with hope and resolution of amendment. It is much to be wished that all directors in giving the Exercises, as well as in preaching and in the Confessional, would bear this in

1 Cf. Stone, Outlines of Christian Dogma, p. 268; and Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, pp. 18–24.

2 For an interesting speculation as to the nature of the sufferings of hell, see Rickaby, Everlasting Punishment, Catholic Truth Society.

mind, and endeavour, after the example of S. Ignatius, to lead sinners to penitence by way of love, to encourage them and give them hope, and to win them little by little to a desire of following our Lord in closer and more perfect ways.

NOTE H

ON THE MATTER OF THE MEDITATIONS OF THE FIRST WEEK In the fourth of the twenty Annotations S. Ignatius speaks of each Week of the Exercises as comprising an indefinite number of days, to be curtailed or prolonged according as the retreatant gains more quickly or more slowly the fruit which he is seeking. (See also Directory xvii. 1.) Yet when we come to the Exercises themselves it would appear at first sight as if he had appointed only five meditations for the whole Week, viz. two on sin with their repetitions, and one on hell, and that all these were to be made on one and the same day. Now it is certain that the proper fruit of this Week will hardly ever be attained in a single day. How then, if the time is to be prolonged, are the other days to be provided for?

Two courses are open to us. Either the meditations given by S. Ignatius must be subdivided so as to furnish matter for more days, or meditations on other suitable subjects must be added. Both these courses are legitimate, and indeed both of them may be followed at the same time.

Of the first S. Ignatius speaks in Annotation xix, where, in explaining how the Exercises may be given to one who is much occupied with necessary business and can only find time for one meditation each day, he directs that the meditations on sin and its punishments should each of them be divided into three : let him, he says, during three days, each morning for an hour, make the meditation on the first, second, and third sins; then at the same hour on three other days the meditation on the review of sins, and afterwards for three other days at the same hour on the punishments corresponding to sins.

It is no doubt partly for this reason, as has been already pointed out (see Note 4, p. 52), that S. Ignatius calls the points of the first meditation on sin principal points, because each of them may be divided into several subordinate points and formed into a separate meditation, e.g. :

MEDITATION I. THE SIN OF THE ANGELS.

i. Their state and condition before their sin.

ii. Their sin itself, its character and circumstances. iii. The results and punishment of their sin. And in like manner with the other two principal points: MEDITATION II. THE SIN OF OUR FIRST PARENTS.

i. Adam and Eve before their sin.

ii. Their temptation and their sin.

iii. The consequence of their sin to themselves and their
posterity.

MEDITATION III. THE SIN OF SOME ONE LOST SOUL.
i. That soul before its sin.

ii. Its temptation and sin.

iii. The consequence of its sin: it is now in hell.

Again from each of these three meditations may be formed three more. Take, for example, the second, on the sin of our first parents, each of the three points of which may be formed into a separate meditation as follows:

MEDITATION I. ADAM AND EVE BEFORE THEIR SIN.
i. Sinless all their powers and faculties in perfect
harmony and due subordination to their reason and
conscience.

ii. Created in the image of God, and moreover constituted
in grace so as to hold intimate communion with God.
iii. Placed in Paradise to dress it and keep it for God,
and that their obedience might be tested.

MEDITATION II. THEIR TEMPTATION AND THEIR SIN.
i. They listen to the serpent.

ii. They distrust God's love, and doubt His word.

iii. The threefold nature of their temptation, appealing
to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life.

MEDITATION III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR SIN TO
THEMSELVES AND TO THEIR POSTERITY.

i. Death spiritual and natural.

ii. A long life of toil and penance; yet with the promise of a Redeemer.

iii. The corruption of the human race through so many generations, and the loss of so many souls in hell. These are just a few examples of how points may be multiplied by division, and how fruitful the matter of a meditation may become when so divided. Indeed one reason why a meditation is uninteresting and unfruitful is often because the subject is too large. It wants division. This reduction of a large subject

to a more manageable compass does in fact for our mental and spiritual food what the knife does for bodily food it makes it more digestible and therefore more nourishing (cf. Fr. Morris, S.J., Instructions for Novices, p. 12), for, as S. Ignatius reminds us, it is not the abundance of knowledge which fills and satisfies the soul, but to feel and taste the matters interiorly (Annotation ii).

In the examples given above there are always three points to each meditation; but there is no reason why they should not be more or fewer in number. We should divide a subject into whatever number of points is most convenient.

A similar method of subdivision may be followed with the other meditations of this Week.

The second course, viz. the addition of other subjects, such as Death, the particular and the general Judgment, Purgatory, etc., is sanctioned by the Directory xiv. 1, xv. 4, where it is said that these subjects should hardly ever be omitted because of the great power they have to wean the soul from the love of the visible things of this world, and to inspire it with a holy fear of God; and also by the Vulgate version in some additional words at the end of the meditation on hell,1 which, though not in the Spanish Autograph, are without doubt an interpretation of the received tradition, and are in accord with what we know to have been the practice of S. Ignatius and the earliest Fathers of the Society.

Fr. Roothaan and others think that the Directory means that these additional meditations should follow and not precede the meditation on hell. In favour of this opinion may be urged the language of the Directory itself, if strictly pressed, possunt addi alia (xv. 4); and also the fact that though logically these meditations would come before that on hell, yet they will often gain much in force and solemnity if made after it. On the other hand Fr. Antoine Denis 2 contends that the germs of these additional subjects are really contained in the meditations provided by S. Ignatius, and may be introduced and developed by the director in whatever order he thinks best.

Certainly a careful reader will not fall to notice how many of these additional subjects are indicated in the text of S. Ignatius, or at least suggested by it. The thought of death, for instance, is naturally suggested by the first prelude of the first

1 See the end of note 35, p. 68.

2 Commentarii in Exercitia Spiritualia S.P.N. Ignatii, tom. i. p. 241 sq.

meditation on sin, where the exercitant is directed to contemplate his soul as imprisoned in a corruptible body; and again in the second point, where we can hardly help thinking of death as a part of the punishment of our first parents. So also in the third point the thought of the particular judgment is suggested by the words: how such an one has been justly condemned. Or again, in the second prelude of the meditation on hell we meet with words which suggest the subjects of venial sin and lukewarmness: if through my faults, i.e. venial sins and tepidity (see Note 33, p. 66) I should forget the love of the eternal Lord. Or, to give one more instance, the colloquy of the second meditation in which we give thanks to God for having given me life until now, at once suggests the thought of the mercy and forbearance of God, which we may follow out in meditations on the parable of the Prodigal Son, or on any notable instances of penitence and forgiveness, such as S. Mary Magdalene and S. Peter. For these subjects also belong to the First Week, and will be a great help in disposing the exercitant to make a good confession and communion. See Directory xvii. 2.

These are but a few instances which may serve to show how a skilful director may find much more material in the text of S. Ignatius than appears on the surface. Fr. Rickaby suggests a third alternative, viz. that S. Ignatius intended the same five Exercises to be repeated day by day, as long as might be needful, though with the introduction of some new points in order to avoid tedium. And this seems to be supported by the Directory xiv. 1.

The truth would seem to be that partly for the sake of brevity, and partly in order to show the order to be observed each day, viz. that there should be five Exercises, consisting of two meditations with two repetitions and an application of the senses, S. Ignatius has compressed the whole of the material to be dealt with in the First Week into these five Exercises, leaving it to the director to distribute this material into as many meditations as he may think fit.

Thus Fr. Denis draws out a scheme of meditations for six days, as follows:

FIRST DAY

1st Exercise. The creation and end of the angels-their probation and the fall of some of them-their transformation into demons.