into consciousness when we come to make our meditation. Like the leaven hid in three measures of meal, so the points of our meditation, hid as it were in the three powers of the soul, will secretly work in them through the night, leavening and preparing them for the morning Exercise. Or to vary the metaphor, we may think of them as a fire banked up, but still burning slowly through the night, and ready to blaze up when it is stirred in the morning.

II. The second, when I awake (39), not admitting other thoughts, at once to turn my mind to that which I am going to contemplate in the first Exercise at midnight, exciting myself to confusion for my many sins, setting before myself examples, e.g. as if a knight (40) were to find himself in the presence of his king and all his court, covered with shame and confusion because he has grievously offended him from whom he has first received many gifts and favours. Likewise in the second Exercise, considering myself a great sinner (41), bound with chains, and about to appear before the supreme eternal Judge, taking as an example how prisoners in chains, and worthy of death, appear before their temporal judge ; and with these thoughts, or with others, according to the subjectmatter, to dress myself.

(39) When I awake, i.e. as often as I awake during the night. This Addition applies only to the midnight and early morning meditations: something equivalent to it should precede the other meditations. See Observation V, p. 96.

(40) A knight . . . in the presence of his king prisoners in chains, etc. These are instances of what is sometimes called 'the congruous thought.' By this is meant some thought, or comparison, which is in harmony with the meditation we are about to make, and will help to bring our mind into tune with it. S. Ignatius considers it to be an important part of our preparation for meditation, and is careful to tell us from time to time how it should be varied in accordance with the subject-matter of our meditations in the different Weeks.

(41) In order to excite this affection, which is the proper fruit of the Exercises of the First Week, we ought to think of the sins of our past life as if we had as yet done nothing to expiate them. For, although they may in fact have been blotted out by penitence and absolution, yet here we ought to think of our

selves as still bearing their burden and guilt, not as we are when forgiven and restored by the grace of God; the former state is what belongs to ourselves, the latter is only of the mercy and goodness of God. This consideration will not lose its force even if we have been guilty only of venial sins, for even one venial sin, if deliberately committed, deserves that God should withdraw His grace and leave the soul to its own weakness and misery. What, then, ought we to feel if we have been guilty of mortal sins! Where should we be now, or at least where should we deserve to be, if God in His mercy had not given us time and grace for repentance? It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not ' (Lam. iii. 22). 'I will thank Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart and will praise Thy Name for evermore. For great is Thy mercy toward me: and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell' (Ps. lxxxvi. 12, 13).

III. The third, one or two paces from the place in which I am about to contemplate or meditate I will stand for the space of an Our Father, with my mind raised on high, considering how God our Lord sees me, etc. (42); and make an act of reverence or humiliation.

(42) This act of the presence of God ought to precede every prayer, whether vocal or mental. We should not, however, strain the imagination; a simple act of faith in which we think of God as present and beholding us is all that is necessary.

IV. The fourth, to enter upon the contemplation, at one time kneeling, at another prostrate on the ground, or lying face upwards, or seated, or standing, always intent on seeking that which I desire. Here we will make two observations: first, if kneeling I find that which I desire, I will not change to another position; and if prostrate, in like manner, etc.; secondly, in the point in which I find that which I desire, there I will rest without being anxious to proceed farther, until I have satisfied myself (43).

(43) The instruction here given is of the utmost importance if we are to be calm and recollected in prayer. It is indeed lawful and sometimes useful to change our posture in prayer, but we must resist mere restlessness, and remain as quiet as we can in that position in which we have found communion with God. For a like reason we must not be anxious to run through all the points of our meditation. If one point furnishes us with

sufficient matter for the whole time, we must stop there till both the understanding and the affections are fully satisfied. For it is not the abundance of knowledge which fills and satisfies the soul, but to feel and taste the matters interiorly (Annotation ii). And see what is said on this subject in Additional Note P, especially p. 258. Any remaining points may be taken up at some other time in a future meditation.

V. The fifth, after the Exercise is finished, for the space of a quarter of an hour, either sitting or walking, I will examine how it has gone with me in the contemplation or meditation; if badly (44), I will look for the cause whence it proceeds, and when I have discovered it I will be sorry for it, so as to amend in future; if well, I will thank God our Lord, and proceed in the same manner another time.

(44) We are not to think that our meditation has been badly made because we have had few or no lights or consolations, or because we have been much tried with wandering thoughts, aridity, or even diabolical temptations. If, in spite of these obstacles, we have really tried our best to persevere the full time in prayer, and to reject wandering thoughts and temptations, however violent and insistent, to be patient in dryness, and to keep ourselves as best we can in the presence of God, then we may be sure our meditation has not been unfruitful. We may not feel it at the time, but God, we may be sure, has been secretly pouring His grace into our hearts, and we shall find afterwards that we have received blessing and strength. We may not indeed have obtained the precise fruit we had proposed to ourselves in our prayer, but God will have given us something else of which, perhaps, He sees that we have greater need. To rise from our prayer with nothing but a deepened sense of our own poverty and helplessness, our manifold evils, and our great need of grace, may often be of more real profit to our souls than many lights and consolations.

This quarter of an hour of reflection and examination upon the meditation just made, may be used not only for the purposes mentioned in the Additions, but also for noting in writing the lights God has given us, and the resolutions He has inspired us to make (Directory iii. 5; vii. 1, 2).

VI. The sixth, to refuse to think of pleasant and joyful things, as of glory, the Resurrection, etc.; because any consideration of

joy and delight hinders the feeling of pain, sorrow and tears for our sins; but rather to keep before my mind that I desire to be sorry and to feel pain, remembering rather death and judgment.

VII. The seventh, for the same purpose to deprive myself of all light, closing the shutters and doors while I am in my room, except to say prayers, to read, or to take food (45).

(45) If the directions given in this and the preceding Addition, and the variations of them enjoined for the following Weeks, should seem to any one trivial or useless, let him make trial of them in a simple and devout spirit, and he will come to a very different conclusion. After all they are only an application of the same principles which the Church makes use of when by means of her fasts and festivals, her liturgy and her ceremonies, she seeks to excite in her faithful children thoughts and feelings in harmony with the mysteries she celebrates in yearly course. VIII. The eighth, not to laugh, nor to say anything that may provoke laughter.

IX. The ninth, to restrain my eyes, except in receiving or taking leave of the person with whom I shall speak.

X. The tenth Addition is penance, which is divided into interior and exterior. Interior penance consists in grieving for one's sins, with a firm resolution not to commit the same or any others. Exterior penance, which is the fruit of the former, consists in chastisement for sins committed, and this is inflicted chiefly in three ways;

The first is in regard to food. Here it is necessary to remark that when we cut off what is superfluous this is not penance but temperance. It becomes penance when we retrench from what is suitable, and the more we retrench, the greater and the better is the penance, provided only health is not injured, and no notable in firmity ensues.

The second concerns the measure of sleep we take. Here again it is not penance to cut off superfluity of delicate and soft things. It is penance only when we subtract from what is suitable; and the more this is done the better is the penance, provided health is not injured, and no serious infirmity follows. Let nothing, however, be retrenched from a due allowance of sleep, unless perhaps in the case of one who has a bad habit of sleeping too much, so as to arrive at the proper mean.

The third is to chastise the flesh; that is to say, to cause it sensible pain by means of wearing haircloth, or cords, or chains of

iron upon the body, by scourging or wounding oneself, or by other kinds of austerities. What seems to be most suitable and safe in the matter of penance is that the pain should be felt by the flesh and not penetrate to the bones, so that it may give pain, and not cause infirmity. For this purpose it seems better to scourge oneself with small cords, which cause pain outwardly, than to do so in other ways which might cause serious inward infirmity.

Four Observations

I. It is to be observed that exterior penances are used chiefly for three purposes: first, in satisfaction for past sins; second, to overcome oneself, that is to say, in order that sensuality may be obedient to reason, and all the inferior parts of our nature may be more subject to the superior; third, in order to seek and find some grace or gift which a person desires to obtain, as, for example, if he desires to have interior sorrow and tears for his sins, and to weep much over them, or over the pains and sufferings which Christ our Lord endured in His Passion; or in order to obtain the solution of some doubt in which he finds himself (46).

(46) All the reasons which S. Ignatius here gives, and especially those under the third head, show us how useful and even necessary the practice of penance may be during the time of retreat, e.g. for gaining an interior sorrow for our sins, which is the fruit to be sought in the First Week; or sorrow for the pains and sufferings of our Lord in His Passion, which is one of the principal fruits of the Third Week; or to obtain the solution of some doubt, which may indeed arise in any of the Weeks, but especially in the Second, when we have to make our Election.

II. It is to be observed that the first and second Additions are to be made for the Exercises at midnight and at daybreak, and not for those which will be made at other times; the fourth Addition should never be observed in church in the presence of others, but only in private, as at home, etc.

III. When the exercitant does not yet find what he desires, as, for example, tears, consolations, etc., it is often good to make some change in the matter of food, sleep, and other ways of doing penance, alternately practising penance for two or three days, and for the next two or three omitting it; because it suits some to do more penance, and others less; and also because we often omit to practise penance out of a sensual love, and through a false opinion that