Part I, Chapter XII

Fourth Meditation: On Sin

Preparation

1. Place yourself in the presence of God. 2. Beseech him to inspire you.

Considerations

1. Call to mind how long it is since you began to sin, and reflect how much, since that time, sin has multiplied in your heart; how every day you have increased the number of your sins against God, your neighbor, and yourself, by work, by word, or by desire.

2. Consider your evil inclinations, and how far you have followed them; and by these two points you shall discover that your sins are more numerous than the hairs of your head, yea, than the sands of the sea.

3. Consider in particular the sin of ingratitude against God, which is a general sin, that extends itself over all the rest, and makes them infinitely more enormous. Consider then how many benefits God has bestowed on you, and how you have abused them all, by turning them against the giver. Reflect in particular how many inspirations you have despised, how many good motions you have rendered unprofitable, and, above all, how many times you have received the sacraments and where are the fruits of them? What are become of those precious jewels wherewith your dear spouse has adorned you? All these have been buried under your iniquities. With what preparation have you received them? Think on this ingratitude: that God having run so often after you, to save you, you have always run from him to lose yourself.

Affections and Resolutions

1. Be confounded at your misery. O my God! how dare I appear in thy presence? I am, alas! out of the corruption of the world; a sink of ingratitude and iniquity. Is it possible that I should have been so ungrateful as not to have left any one of the senses of my body, or of the powers of my soul, which I have not corrupted, violated, and defiled, and that not so much as one day of my life has passed which has not produced its wicked effects? Is this the return I should have made for the benefits of my Creator and the blood of my Redeemer?

2. Crave pardon, and cast yourself at the feet of our Lord, like the prodigal son, like Magdalen, or like a woman who has defiled her marriage bed with all kind of adultery. Have mercy, O Lord, upon this poor sinner! Alas! O living fountain of compassion! have pity on this miserable wretch.

3. Resolve to live better. No, O Lord! nevermore, with the help of thy grace, never more will I abandon myself to sin. Alas! I have already loved it too much; I detest it now, and I embrace thee. O Father of mercies! I resolve to live and die in thee.

4. To expiate my past sins, I will accuse myself of them courageously, and will banish everyone of them from my heart.

5. I will use all possible endeavors to eradicate the sources of them from my heart; and in particular such and such vices to which I am most inclined.

6. To accomplish this, I will fervently embrace the means which I shall be advised to adopt, and will think that I have never done enough to repair such grievous offences.

Conclusion

1. Return thanks to God for waiting for you till this hour, and bless him for having given you these good affections. 2. Offer him your heart, that you may put them in execution. 3. Implore him to strengthen you.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Make a spiritual nosegay.

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