pp. 166-83. For the way in which the points there given are to be used, see Note 16, p. 86.

For the purpose and order of the Exercises of this Week see Additional Note K, p. 234.

And for the meaning of Contemplation' as used by S. Ignatius in the Exercises, see Additional Note P, p. 257.

The second is the composition, seeing the place (12). Here it will be to see the great extent and circuit of the world, where so many and such diverse nations dwell: in like manner afterwards to behold in particular the house and chamber of our Lady, in the city of Nazareth, in the province of Galilee.

(12) The composition, seeing the place, not merely as in a picture, but as if we were actually present. The purpose of this prelude is not only to check the wanderings of the imagination, but to help the faculties in their work. For by this means the Mysteries of our Lord's Life will be contemplated not as long past events, but as present realities of which we are ourselves actual spectators. Those who can make a composition of place in this vivid manner may find much help from it; but many, perhaps the greater number, find themselves unable to work thus with the imagination. If so, let them not weary themselves with fruitless attempts, but pass at once to the next prelude, which is of far greater importance.

The third is to ask for what I desire: here it will be to ask for an interior knowledge of our Lord, Who for me was made Man, in order that I may love Him better and follow Him more closely (13).

(13) In this prelude a threefold grace is asked for: knowledge, love, imitation. The first of these leads to the second, and the second to the third. The knowledge which we pray for is an interior knowledge, that is to say not a mere historical or theological knowledge, but that supernatural knowledge which is taught by the Holy Spirit alone, and of which our Lord spoke when He said: This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent' (S. John xvii. 3). If we know Christ with this true divine knowledge, then we shall assuredly love Him, and desire to imitate Him. This prelude, therefore, expresses the general scope of all the contemplations of this and the following Weeks, and the fruit to be derived from them. It should, however, be accommodated to the various Mysteries of our Lord's Life,

asking in each case that we may have an interior knowledge of Him in the particular Mystery we are about to contemplate, in order that we may love Him more, and have a greater desire to follow the example which He sets us in that Mystery. Thus this prelude will be constantly varied according to the different virtues our Lord exhibits in each Mystery, and the special fruit we wish to draw from our contemplation. For example, in contemplating our Lord's Baptism, our prelude might be to ask for an interior knowledge of His self-humiliation in that Mystery, in order that we may love Him the more for it, and earnestly desire to imitate Him in a like humbling of ourselves. Or, to take another example from the Third Week, when contemplating Him before Pilate, we might pray for a knowledge of His patience in order that we may learn to bear insults and injuries with a like patience for love of Him, and in order to be conformed the more to His likeness. Or again, in the Fourth Week, when contemplating His appearance by the lake of Galilee, we might ask that we may know Him in His office of Comforter and Consoler, so that in our penitence we may like S. Peter be filled with contrite love, and experience something of the joy and consoation which our Lord poured into his heart.

Here it is fitting to note that the same preparatory prayer, without change, as has been said in the beginning (14), and the same three preludes are to be made during this and the following Weeks, changing the form according to the subject matter (15).

(14) I.e. in the first Exercise of the First Week.

(15) Changing the form according to the subject matter. The first two preludes are of course changed automatically in accordance with the subject-matter of the different Mysteries. The third is to be varied in the manner described above (Note 13).

The first point is to see the persons (16) on either side: first, those on the face of the earth, so varied (17) in dress and bearing, some white and others black; some in peace, and others at war; some weeping, and others laughing; some in health, others sick; some being born, others dying, etc.

(16) To see the persons. In this and the following contemplation on the Nativity S. Ignatius gives three points for our consideration, the persons, their words, and their actions; but when we turn to the Mysteries of our Lord's Life towards the

end of the book (p. 166), to which he refers us for the subjectmatter of all these contemplations on the Life, Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, we find that the points there given are quite different. Thus we seem to have two kinds of points, (i) the points given in the Mysteries, which are formed by a division of the subject-matter into parts, generally three in number; and (ii) the consideration of the persons, words, and actions, which are also called points. What is the relation between these two kinds of points? The answer is supplied by the Directory, Chapter xix. 5 and 6. What is said in the meditations on the Incarnation and the Nativity about contemplating the persons, and their words, and actions, is to be understood with reference to the above-mentioned distribution [of points] which is placed at the end of the book; to wit, that we should contemplate these particulars [the persons, words, and actions] in each of the points in order. It is not however necessary first to contemplate all the persons in a whole Mystery, and then all the words, and lastly all the actions; for this, especially in some meditations, would cause confusion. All that S. Ignatius intended was to give a rule for the guidance of the exercitant in meditating upon each point, viz. that he should turn his attention first to the persons who are found in that point, and then to their words or to their actions, whichever come first; and so, having exhausted one point, should pass on to another, observing in it the same order.'

Although S. Ignatius mentions only the persons, words and actions, we are at liberty to add other topics or points as well, e.g. the thoughts and interior affections of the several persons, and also their virtues; and besides these the manner and purpose of the several Mysteries, their causes also and effects, the time and other circumstances, in order that the meditation may be richer, and its fruit more abundant' (Directory xix. 7).

In other words, what S. Ignatius says about the persons, words, and actions is to be regarded not as determining in all cases the points and order of the contemplation, but rather as indicating certain leading topics which are to be dwelt upon in each Mystery, or in each part of a Mystery. From this point of view Fr. Diertins speaks of the points into which the Mysteries are divided as the matter of the contemplation, and the persons, words, and actions as the form to be applied to the matter in order to make it fruitful.

This being the case, there are three ways in which a contemplation may be arranged. First, the points of the several Mysteries may be summarized in the first prelude, and then the persons, words, and actions will be contemplated and considered successively as the three points of our contemplation. This is the method S. Ignatius appears to have followed in the contemplations on the Incarnation and the Nativity at the beginning of the Second Week, and also in the first contemplation of each of the succeeding Weeks.

Secondly, we may take the points into which a Mystery is divided as the main points or divisions of the contemplation, dwelling in each of them in turn upon the persons, words, and actions.

Thirdly, we may divide each Mystery, making a separate contemplation on each of its points. In this way Fr. Diertins has drawn up a complete series of contemplations on all the Mysteries given by S. Ignatius, with the persons, words, actions, etc., forming the points of each.

Thus a considerable freedom is allowed us; and each should arrange his meditation as seems to him best.

For some further remarks on this method of contemplating the Mysteries of our Lord's Life, see Additional Note O, § 1, p. 249.

(17) So varied, etc. This enumeration of the various races and conditions of men 'is not set down as a mere help to our imagination. S. Ignatius wishes us to consider that though so diverse, yet all have the same human nature, all were created for the same end, and for all the Son of God was made Man, in order that as we thus contemplate them we may burn with a holy zeal, and great desire to come to the help of all, and to bring all from their lost condition into the Kingdom of Christ. And this desire will be still further stimulated by the thought of the miseries which vast numbers of them endure as the result of their own and others' sins, and of the many who in their blindness and guilt are daily dying and going down into hell. This again will help us to appreciate how all men need redemption, and how great was the love and mercy of God in sending His Only-begotten Son to be our Saviour.

If S. Ignatius had not pointed out these particulars, few, perhaps, would have thought of drawing them out from the brief points to which he refers us at the end of the book among

the Mysteries of the Life of our Lord. Yet all that he has set down in this meditation may be derived quite naturally from the first point of the first of those Mysteries, where he bids us contemplate the angel Gabriel, saluting our Lady, and announcing to her the conception of Christ our Lord. It is easy to pass from this to the thought of the reason for which the Son of God came into the world, viz. for its redemption. And that again takes us back to the thought of all the ignorance and misery and slavery to sin and to Satan from which mankind needed to be redeemed. And from that we may mount up to the thought of the love and pity of the three Persons of the eternal Trinity, beholding the world in its lost condition and determining to come to its aid in the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation. This may serve to show how by a little thought we may find an abundance of matter for our contemplation in those points of the various Mysteries which S. Ignatius gives so briefly. If we consider in them the persons, the words, the actions, the causes, the manner, and other particulars, we shall find that they begin to blossom with salutary reflections each of which will supply matter for meditation.

Secondly, to see and consider the three divine Persons as on the royal seat or throne of the divine Majesty, how they behold the whole face and circuit of the earth, and all nations (18) in such blindness, and how they are dying and going down into hell.

(18) All nations. God beholds all races and nations of men, and each individual among them, in all the sin and misery of their lost condition (cf. the First Exercise on Sin, 2nd point, p. 56, and Rom. i. 21-32; Eph. ii. 11, 12; Col. i. 21). In this point we are considering all men as they were, and as they would have been in life and death and in eternity, if God had not sent them a Saviour and Redeemer; and as alas! multitudes still are, living in sin and apart from Christ. This whole contemplation is on the one hand a study of the fallen world apart from Christ, and its powerlessness to help itself; and on the other of the love of God for man, and the means He has devised for his restoration through Christ.

Thirdly, to see our Lady (19), and the angel (20) who salutes her, and to reflect (21) in order to derive profit from such a spectacle. (19) Our Lady, poor and unknown upon earth, betrothed to a working man, and living in despised Nazareth of Galilee, yet