2nd Exercise. Punishment of the angels' sin. Loss of heaven -cast down into hell. 3rd Exercise. Repetition of the above two. 4th Exercise. Resumption of the third. 5th Exercise. Application of the senses to the angels' sin. The war in heaven-they are cast out into hell-the eternity of their punishment. SECOND DAY 1st Exercise. Creation and end of man-his probation and fall —the change it wrought in his condition. 2nd Exercise. Punishment of his sin. The threefold sentence (Gen. iii. 14-19)-penalties in this life-corruption of the race. 3rd and 4th Exercises. Repetition and resumption. 5th Exercise. Application of the senses. The sentence of death -the entrance of death into the world-the accessories of death. THIRD DAY 1st Exercise. The loss of a soul for one mortal sin. The soul in the state of grace-its temptation-its fall. 2nd Exercise. Effects of that one sin. Death of the souldeath of the body-eternal death in hell. 3rd and 4th Exercises. Repetition and resumption. 5th Exercise. Application of the senses to the particular judgment. The soul appears before its Judge the account rendered-the sentence. FOURTH DAY 1st Exercise. Review of the sins of one's whole life. Mortal sins-venial sins-lukewarmness and sloth. (2nd Exercise, point 1.) 2nd Exercise. The foulness and malice of sin-its foulness, in general-in its several species-its malice. (2nd Exercise, point 2.) 3rd and 4th Exercises. Repetition and resumption. 5th Exercise. Application of the senses to the first prelude. The soul imprisoned in the body-the whole self, body and soul, an exile among the brute beasts-in this vale of misery. FIFTH DAY 1st Exercise. What am I in comparison with all men; what are men in comparison with the angels and saints?-What are all creatures in comparison with God?-My own nothingness, and vileness both in body and soul. (2nd Exercise, point 3.) 2nd Exercise. Consideration of the attributes of God against Whom I have sinned, contrasted with their opposite qualities in myself. (2nd Exercise, point 4.) 3rd and 4th Exercises. Repetition of the two preceding Exercises, with exclamation of wonder that God and His creatures should have spared me hitherto. (2nd Exercise, point 5.) 5th Exercise. Application of the senses to the last Judgment. Predictions and warning signs of it the resurrection of the dead and their judgment—the final sentence of woe. (This subject is mentioned in the sixth of the ten Additions.) SIXTH DAY 1st Exercise. Hell, the pains of sense. Considered in general and in their totality-as adapted in intensity and kind to the deserts of each sinner-continuous and eternal. 2nd Exercise. The pain of loss. In the memory and intellect -in the will-despair. 3rd Exercise. Repetition of the two preceding exercises. 4th Exercise. The danger of falling away from our good resolutions through venial sins which lessen love—and prepare the way for mortal sin-the foulness and ingratitude of even venial sins. 5th Exercise. Application of the senses to hell, as outlined by S. Ignatius. NOTE I ON THE FORM OF THE MEDITATIONS OF THE FIRST WEEK Three different forms of meditation are found in the First Week, viz. (1) meditation by means of the three powers of the soul; (2) repetition; (3) application of the senses. Any additional meditations, beyond the five outlined by S. Ignatius, should be reduced to one or other of these three forms. It will be useful to say something about each of them. Meditation by means of the Three Powers of the Soul Two things are to be distinguished here, the points of the meditation and the exercise of the powers. The points may be formed in one of two ways: (1) by dividing the subject-matter of the meditation into a certain number of parts, as in the first Exercise on the triple sin, in which case the three powers are exercised in each point; or (2) by applying the several powers as separate points to one and the same subject-matter. Thus in the second Exercise, on our personal sins, the first point is mainly an exercise of the memory; the second, third, and fourth, of the understanding; and the fifth, of the will. The fifth Exercise also, which consists in the application of the interior senses, follows this form, the application of each sense constituting a separate point. In the first case, where the points are derived from a division. of the subject-matter, and the three powers are exercised in each, it is plain that each point may be made into a separate meditation. See Additional Note H. Sometimes this division of a meditation will come about of itself by our being led to spend the whole time of our prayer on one point. It is such a case as this that S. Ignatius has in view when he says in the fourth Addition (p. 71): In the point in which I find that which I desire, there I will rest, without being anxious to proceed further, until I have satisfied myself. The other case, in which the points are formed not by a division of the matter, but according to the order in which the powers are exercised, may sometimes be convenient when the subjectmatter of the meditation is a single proposition or idea which does not readily admit of division, and yet includes or suggests a large number of considerations and reflections. In such cases it may often be best first to apply the memory to the whole subject, and then the understanding in a succession of points, taking up in order each of the considerations and reflections suggested, and lastly to exercise the affections and the will. S. Ignatius, as has already been said, gives us an example of this method in the second Exercise on our personal sins. The subject of this meditation might be briefly stated in the proposition, I am a sinner.' In the first point I exercise my memory, reviewing the chief sins of my past life. Then various considerations arising out of the fact that I have thus sinned are dealt with by the understanding in the second and two following points; and lastly the affections and will are brought into play in the last point and the colloquy. It should be added, however, that this separate exercise of the powers in different points is never absolute. They cannot in practice be entirely isolated from one another. All that is meant is that in some points it is chiefly the memory that comes into play, in others the understanding, and in others again the will. But the first method of arranging the points, according to a division of the subject-matter, is far the more usual. What has been here said is not to be understood as if the exercise of the three powers belonged only to meditation, and had no place in repetitions or in the application of the senses. The three powers must indeed be operative more or less in every form and degree of prayer, even in the highest mystic states; only then their operation, especially that of the understanding, is so subtle and quiet as to be often imperceptible. All that is meant is that in ordinary meditation the operation of the three powers can be most clearly distinguished, and forms indeed the very substance of the exercise. $2 Repetition A repetition differs from a meditation in two respects. First, in making a repetition we are not to dwell at length on all the points of the former meditation, but to make a selection, marking and dwelling on the points in which we have felt greater consolation, or desolation, or greater spiritual relish.1 For consolation is a sign that the Holy Spirit desires us to dwell on those points in which we have experienced it, and to lead us along that way; while desolation is often due to some fault or negligence on our part, or may be caused by the devil in order to hinder the fruit of our meditation. In both these cases it must be met by returning to the points in question, and persevering in our meditation with humility and confidence in God. For it may often be that these are the very points on which it is most important for us to dwell, and from which we shall eventually reap most fruit, and even consolation, if we have courage to persevere. See Directory xv. 3. 1 The Third Exercise, p. 64. Secondly, in a repetition the work of the understanding is to be restrained, in order that we may give more scope to the exercise of the affections and the will. The work of the understanding has to a great extent been accomplished in our first meditation; now we have only to gather in the fruit and feed upon it. It is no doubt for this reason that S. Ignatius multiplies the colloquies in this form of Exercise. Repetitions should in fact be made more after the manner of affective prayer than of meditation strictly so called. How much importance S. Ignatius attaches to these repetitions is apparent from the frequency with which they are prescribed. Not only in this First Week do we find the first and second meditations followed by two repetitions, i.e. by a repetition twice made, or in other words, a repetition of a repetition; but in all the other Weeks we find a similar, or even more frequent use of the same expedient. Indeed in the Second Week, from the fifth day to the twelfth, inclusive, only one Mystery is appointed for each day, upon which we are to make two contemplations,1 followed by two repetitions, and then an application of the senses, which is itself a kind of repetition. These frequent repetitions help us to enter more deeply into the truths upon which we meditate, or the mysteries which we contemplate, and to gain more abundant fruit from them. Without them our meditations would often be in danger of becoming shallow, scarcely going beyond the intellectual exercise, and missing that interior savour of the truth which S. Ignatius is so anxious that we should enjoy. (See Annotation ii, and Directory xv. 2.) § 3 Application of the Senses The third form of meditation is that which S. Ignatius calls the application of the senses. It is, of course, not the bodily senses, but the interior senses of the soul, either imaginative or intellectual, which are here meant.2 How the application of the senses differs from ordinary meditation is explained in the Directory xx. 3, where meditation 1 For the difference between a second contemplation of a subject and a repetition see note 63, p. 108. 2 See De Ponte, Meditations, vol. i, Introduction § xi; and vol. ii, med. xxvi; Gagliardi, Commentarii, Cap. II. §§ ii, iii; and Ferrusola, Commentaria, pp. 293–300. |