Part I, Chapter X
Second Meditation: On the End for Which We Were Created
1. Place yourself in the presence of God. 2. Beseech him to inspire you.
Considerations
1. God has not placed you in this world because he had need of you, for you are altogether unprofitable to him, but only to exercise his goodness in you, by giving you his grace and glory. To this end he has given you an understanding, to know him; a memory, to be mindful of him; a will, to love him; an imagination to represent his benefits to yourself; eyes to behold his wonderful works; a tongue, to praise him; and so of the other faculties.
2. Being created, and placed in the world for this end, all actions contrary to it are to be rejected, and whatever conduces not to it, ought to be condemned as vain and superfluous.
3. Consider the wretchedness of worldlings, who never think of their end, but live as if they believed themselves created for no other purpose than to build houses, plant trees, heap up riches, and amuse themselves with such like fooleries.
Affections and Resolutions
1. Confound yourself, and reproach your soul with her misery, which has been hitherto so great that she has seldom or never reflected on these truths.
Alas! Of what was I thinking, O my God! when I thought not of thee? What did I remember when I forgot thee? What did I love when I loved not thee? I ought, alas! to have fed upon truth, and yet I glutted myself with vanity; I served the world, which was created only to serve me.
2. Detest your past life. O vain thoughts and unprofitable amusements, I renounce you! O hateful and frivolous remembrances, I abjure you! O false and detestable friendships, lewd and wretched slaveries, miserable gratifications and irksome pleasures, I abhor you!
3. Return to God. O my God and my Saviour! thou shalt henceforth be the sole object of my thoughts. I will no longer apply my mind to amusements which may be displeasing to thee. My memory shall be occupied all the days of my life with the recollection of the greatness of thy clemency, so sweetly exercised towards me; thou shalt be the sole delight of my heart and the sweetness of my affections.
Ah! then the trifles and follies to which I have hitherto applied myself; those vain employments in which I have spent my days; and those reflections in which I have engaged my heart, shall henceforth be the object of my horror; and with this intention I will use such and such effectual remedies.
Conclusion
1. Thank God, who has created you for so excellent an end. Thou hast made me, O Lord! for thyself, and for the eternal enjoyment of thy incomprehensible glory! O when shall I be worthy of it! When shall I bless thee as I ought? 2. Offer. I offer to thee, O dear Creator! all these affections and resolutions, with my whole heart and soul. 3. Pray. I beseech thee, O God! to accept these my desires and purposes, and to give thy blessing to my soul, that it may be able to accomplish them, through the merits of the blood of thy blessed Son shed for me upon the cross.
Our Father. Hail Mary.
Make a little nosegay of devotion.
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