Part I, Chapter XVII
Ninth Meditation: By Way of Election and Choice of Heaven
Preparation
1. Place yourself in the presence of God. 2. Humble yourself before him, and beseech him to inspire you with his grace. 3. Imagine yourself to be in an open field, alone with your good angel, like young Tobias going to Rages. Imagine that he shows you heaven open above, with all the pleasures represented in the last meditation; and that then he shows you beneath hell open, with all the torments described in the meditation on hell. Being thus situated in imagination, and kneeling before your good angel, make the following
Considerations
1. Consider that you are certainly placed between heaven and hell; and that both the one and the other lie open to receive you, according to the choice which you shall make.
2. Consider that the choice which we make in this world shall last for all eternity in the world to come.
3. And though both the one and the other be open to receive you according to your choice, yet God, who is ready to give you either the one by his justice, or the other by his mercy, wishes, nevertheless, with an incomparable desire, that you would choose heaven; and your good angel also importunes you to it with all his power, offering you, in God’s name, a thousand graces, and a thousand assistances to help you to obtain it.
4. Consider that Jesus Christ in his clemency looks down upon you from above, and graciously invites you, saying, “Come, my dear soul, to enjoy an everlasting rest, within the arms of my goodness, where I have prepared immortal delights for thee in the abundance of my love.” Behold likewise, with your interior eyes, the blessed Virgin, who with maternal tenderness exhorts you, saying, “Take courage, my child; despise not the desires of my Son, nor the many sighs which I have cast forth for thee, thirsting with him for thy eternal salvation.” Behold the saints also exhort you, and millions of blessed souls sweetly invite you; they wish for nothing more than to see your heart one day united with theirs in praising and loving God forever; and assure you that the way to heaven is not so difficult as the world would persuade you. “Be of good heart, dear brother,” say they; “he that diligently considers the way of devotion by which we ascended hither, shall see that we acquired these immortal delights by pleasures incomparably more sweet than those of the world.”
Election
1. O hell! I detest thee now and forevermore; I detest thy torments and pains; I detest thy accursed and miserable eternity; and above all, I detest those eternal blasphemies and maledictions which thou vomitest out against my God. And, turning my heart and my soul towards thee, O heavenly paradise, everlasting glory, and endless felicity! I choose my habitation forever within thy holy and most lovely tabernacles. I bless thy mercy, O my God! and I accept of the offer which thou art pleased to make me. O Jesus, my sweet Saviour! I accept thy everlasting love, and the place which thou hast purchased for me in this blessed Jerusalem; not so much for any other motive, as to love and bless thee forever and ever.
2. Accept the favors which the blessed Virgin and the saints offer you. Promise to make the best of your way to join their company; and give your hand to your good angel, that he may conduct you; encourage your soul to make this choice.
Our Father. Hail Mary.
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