Part II, Chapter XI

Of the Evening Exercise and the Examination of Conscience

As before dinner you have made a spiritual repast by means of meditation, so before supper, you must make a devout spiritual collation. Take then some little opportunity, before supper, to prostrate yourself before God, and recollect yourself in the presence of Jesus Christ crucified, whom you may represent to yourself by a single consideration, and an interior glance of the eye, and rekindle in your heart the fire of your morning meditation by some lively aspirations, some acts of humility and love which you will make towards this divine Saviour of your soul; or else, by repeating the points of your morning meditation which affected you most, or by exciting yourself up to devotion by some new spiritual subject, as you may prefer.

As to the examination of conscience, which must be always made before you retire to rest, every one knows how it is to be performed. 1. We give thanks to God for having preserved us during the day past. 2. We examine how we have behaved ourselves throughout the whole course of it; and to do this more easily, we may consider where we have been, with whom, and in what business we have been employed. 3. If we find that we have done any good, we must thank God for it; or if, on the other hand, we have done any evil, whether in thought, word, or deed, we must ask pardon of his divine Majesty, firmly resolving to confess it at the first opportunity, and to avoid it for the future. 4. We afterwards recommend to the protection of divine Providence our soul and body, the Holy Church, together with our parents and friends; and, finally, we beg the Blessed Virgin, our angel guardian, and all the saints, to watch over us and pray for us; and thus, with the blessing of God, we go to take that rest which his will has appointed for us.

This exercise, as well as that of the morning, must never be forgotten; since by that you open the windows of your soul to the Sun of Justice;

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