Tuesday of the second week of Advent.
Of the value of this decree, and the reasons that God had to do it.
DAILY MEDITATIONS
OF THE MYSTERIES
OF OUR HOLY FAITH,
By the P. Alonso de Andrade
FROM THE COMPANY OF JESUS.
PRAYER TO BEGIN
By the sign of the Holy Cross, from our enemies delier us, Lord, our God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My Lord and my God: I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with deep reverence. I ask you for forgiveness of my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruit. My Mother Immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian Angel: intercede for me.
Meditation
Tuesday of the second week of Advent.
Of the value of this decree, and the reasons that God had to do it.
POINT ONE. Consider the highness and sovereignty of the person who gives, and of the gift he offers, and the baseness and humility of the person to whom he gives; because as St. John says, who gives is God, the Eternal Father, who loved the world in such a way, that he decreed to give them to his own Son; and so on behalf of the one who gives, and part of the gift he offers, he is the greatest and greatest that he can be, and increases his value and the estimation of his liberality the baseness and smallness of the person to whom he gives, who is Man, a vile worm by its nature, dust and ashes and a spring of miseries, and that from his harvest has no virtue for good work but faults and sins, ignorance and offenses against his God. Weigh slowly who God is, and who the man is and especially who you are, and see and contemplate that God had you present when he made that decree to remedy you and deliver you from hell, and light yourself in lively flames of love and gratitude to such a good God, who gave you his own Son when you least deserved him, so that he would redeem you and take you out of the prison of sin, and the captivity of Satan, and think what services you must do to him in return for such a great mercy, and hurt yourself with all your heart, for having offended who so much You had to serve.
POINT II. Consider the sin of the Angels, how God raised them so graceful of all the gifts and virtues, both natural and supernatural, and for only a bad thought they had of pride and disobedience to his most holy will, God threw them instantly from heaven to hell without giving them place for penance, completely closing the door of his mercy without leaving them hope of his remedy forever ever; and ponder, that if in the Angels, as Saint Job says (1), God found evil, and did not forgive them; how much more will he find it and punish it in you, who are mud Brittle? And if for just one evil thought he did such justice in them; what will it be that he will do in you for so many bad thoughts, and for such bad words, and such perverse works as you have done in the discourse of your life? And then stop and contemplate the mercy that God has made for you in coming to redeem you and giving you his only begotten Son for your Redeemer, and in waiting for penance for you, and thanking him for it, consider how you should correct your life from now on.
POINT III. Consider the reasons that God had to make this decree, which were, first his infinite piety, as has been said; the secondly the weakness of man conceived in sin, without strength or virtue to get out of it; the third for having fallen into the guilt induced by the devil, which did not happen in the Angel, whose sin was born of his own malice, having received so many gifts from the hand of God, and was so ungrateful and unknown to him and in pain of his ingratitude he left him in his sin: he scolds in his head, and considers that whoever else They have to ask for more gratitude, and take into account yourself, look at the mercies you have received from the hand of God, and how little you have served him, and encourage yourself to serve him again, so that he does not leave you in your sin.
POINT IV. Consider that, as St. Bernard says, another of the reasons that God had to make this decree of coming to redeem man, was to be an image of him made with his own hands, which Satan tried to erase out of envy of his good, and for giving God in the face and offending him, and the Lord himself took on his own to go out to the defense, and renew the image that he had stamped on man; of which we must get a great confidence in his goodness, that he will defend you from the ambushs and contradictions of the devil, and that if You do not lack him, you will not fail in all your battles; and that he will carry out the work of his hands: post yourself at his feet with deep humility, and represent to him on the one hand your weakness, on the other hand the cunning and perphyry of his enemy, ask God to defend you with his powerful hand, for you are his making in his image and likeness, and trust to achieve victory with his divine favor.
(1) Job. 4.
PRAYER TO END EVERY DAY
I thank you, my God, for the good purposes, affections and inspirations that you have communicated to me in this meditation. I ask you for help to put them to work. My Mother Immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian Angel: intercede for me.
Daily offer of works
Come Holy Spirit
Inflames our hearts
In the redeeming longings of the Heart of Christ
So that we really offer
Our people and works
In union with Him
For the redemption of the world
My Lord and my God Jesus Christ
For the Immaculate Heart of Mary
I consecrate myself to your Heart
And I offer myself with you to the Father
In your Holy Sacrifice of the altar
With my prayer and my work
Today's sufferings and joys
In reparation for our sins
And that your Kingdom may come to us.
I ask you in particular
For the Pope and his intentions,
For our Bishop and his intentions,
For our parish priest and his intentions.
Church of the Savior of Toledo at 21:00:00
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