Chapter 1 – Section 3d – Of intellectual consideration – 3rd of ourselves

 

Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ

Chapter 1 – Section 3d – Of intellectual consideration – 3^rd of ourselves

We should take for the principal subjects of our mediation 3 classes of considerations which especially incite us to speak with God.

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3^rd. With such considerations as these are to be joined others which concern thyself; that thou may gain a knowledge, I say, of thyself and who thou art that thus comest to converse with God.

Weigh well the number and guilt of thy sins, the vehemence of thy passions; the danger thou art in of falling into punishments, temporal and eternal; how powerless thou art to help thyself, for thou art nothing of thyself but must in all things depend entirely upon God.

Consider thy great need of those things thou art to ask from Him, which He alone can give, and without which thou must perish irremediably.

To this end it will be well to ponder:

The shortness of life,

The certainty of death,

The severity of the Divine Judgement

And the eternal pains of Hell.

Page 15 - On the other hand, consider the beauty of virtue, the value of good works, the sweet fruit they produce and the eternal rewards attached to them.

For if thou esteem rightly thine own great poverty and at the same time thy inability to provide for thy needs, without any doubt thou wilt throw thyself upon the generosity of God with all the fervour and earnestness so momentous a business requires.