Part II, Chapter XIII

Of Aspirations, Ejaculatory Prayers, and Good Thoughts

We retire into God because we aspire to him;

and we aspire to him that we may retire into him, so that aspirations to God, and spiritual retirement are the mutual support of each other, and both proceed from the same source, viz., devout and pious thoughts.

Make, then, Philothea, frequent aspirations to God by short but ardent motions of your heart; admire his beauty; implore his assistance; cast yourself in spirit at the foot of the cross; adore his goodness; converse with him frequently on the affairs of your salvation; present your soul to him a thousand times a day; contemplate his clemency and his sweetness; stretch out your hand to him, as a little child to his father, that he may conduct you; place him in your bosom, like a fragrant nosegay; plant him in your soul, like a standard, and make a thousand different motions of your heart, to enkindle and excite within yourself a passionate and tender affection for your divine Spouse. Ejaculatory prayer was strenuously recommended by the great St. Austin to the devout Lady Proba. Philothea, our mind, by habituating itself thus privately to the company and familiarity of our God, will be altogether perfumed with his perfections. Now there is no difficulty in this exercise, as it may be intermixed with our other occupations, without any inconvenience whatever, since in these spiritual and interior aspirations we only make short deviations, which, instead of preventing, rather assist us in the pursuit of the object which we have in view. The pilgrim, though he stops to take a little wine to refresh himself, interrupts not his journey by doing so, but, on the contrary, acquires new strength to finish it with more ease and expedition, resting only that he may afterwards proceed the faster.

Many have collected a store of vocal aspirations, which may be very profitable; but I would advise you not to confine yourself to any set form of words, but to pronounce, either with your heart or mouth, such as love, without any study, shall suggest to you; for it will furnish you with as many as you can desire. It is true there are certain words which have a peculiar force to satisfy the heart in this respect. Such as the aspirations interspersed so copiously throughout the Psalms of David; the frequent invocations of the name of Jesus; the ejaculations of love expressed in the Canticles, etc. Spiritual songs will also answer the same purpose when sung with attention.

They who love with a human and natural affection have their thoughts and hearts incessantly engaged by the object of their passion, and their mouth ever employed in its praise. When absent, they lose no opportunity of testifying their affection by letters, and meet not a tree, on the bark of which they do not inscribe the name of their beloved. Thus, such as truly love God can never cease to think on him, breathe for him, aspire to him, and speak of him; and, were it possible, they would engrave the sacred name of Jesus on the breasts of all mankind.

To this all things invite them, as there is no creature that does not declare to them the praises of their beloved; and as St. Austin says, after St. Anthony, everything in the world addresses them in a silent, yet very intelligible language, in favor of their love. All things excite them to good thoughts, which give birth to many animated motions and aspirations of the soul to God. Behold some examples.

St. Gregory Nazianzen, walking on the seashore, observed how the waves, advancing upon the beach, left behind them shells and little periwinkles, stalks of weeds, small oysters, and the like, which the sea had cast upon the shore, and then returning with other waves, took part of them back, and swallowed them up again, whilst the.adjoining rocks continued firm and immovable, though the billows beat against them with so much violence. Upon which he made this salutary reflection: that feeble souls, like shells and stalks of weeds, suffer themselves to be borne away, sometimes by affliction, and at other times by consolation, at the mercy of the inconstant billows of fortune; but that courageous souls continue firm and unmoved under all kinds of storms; and from this thought he proceeded to those aspirations of David (Psalms 68): “Save me, O God! for the waters are come in even unto my soul. O Lord! deliver me out of these deep waters; I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me:” for at that time he was in affliction for the unhappy usurpation of his bishopric attempted by Maxmius.

St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspa, being present at a general assembly of the Roman nobility, when Theodoric, King of the Goths, made an oration to them, and beholding the splendor of so many great lords, ranked each according to his quality, exclaimed: “O God! how glorious and beautiful must the heavenly Jerusalem be, since earthly Rome appears in so much pomp! for, if in this world the lovers of vanity be permitted to shine so bright, what must that glory be which is reserved in the next world for the lovers and contemplators of verity!”

St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, by whose birth our mountains have been highly honored, was admirable in the application of good thoughts. As this holy prelate was proceeding on a journey, a hare pursued by hounds ran under his horse, as to a place of refuge, suggested by the imminent danger of death; whilst the hounds, barking around, durst not attempt to violate the sanctuary to which their prey had taken recourse. A sight so very extraordinary made the whole company burst into a fit of laughter; but the saint, weeping and sighing, cried out: “Alas! you laugh, but the poor beast does not laugh; the enemies of the soul, after hunting and driving her on, through various turnings and windings, into every kind of sin, lie in wait for her at the narrow passage of death, to catch and devour her; but she, being terrified, looks for succor and refuge on every side; and if she find none, her enemies mock and deride her.” When the saint had thus spoken, he rode on sighing.

Constantine the Great wrote with respect to St. Anthony; at which the religious about him being greatly surprised, “Why,” said he, “are you astonished that a king should write to a man? Be astonished rather that the eternal God has written his law to mortal men; nay, more, has spoken to them by word of mouth, in the person of his Son.”

St. Francis seeing a sheep alone amidst a flock of goats, “Observe,” said he to his companion, “the poor sheep, how mild it is amidst the goats; our blessed Lord walked thus meekly and humbly among the Pharisees.” At another time, seeing a lamb devoured by a hog, “Ah! little lamb,” said he, weeping, “in how lively a manner dost thou represent the death of my Saviour!”

The illustrious St. Francis Borgia, while yet duke of Gandia, frequently recreated himself in hawking; during this amusement he was accustomed to make a thousand devout reflections. “I admired,” said he, afterwards, “how the falcons come to hand, suffer themselves to be hooded and to be tied to the perch; and that men are so rebellious to the voice of God.”

The great St. Basil said, that the rose in the midst of thorns makes this remonstrance to men: “That which is most agreeable in this world, O ye mortals! is mingled with sorrow: nothing here is pure; regret always follows mirth; widowhood, marriage; care, fruitfulness; and ignominy, glory. Expense follows honor; loathing comes after delight; and sickness after health. The rose is a fair flower,” said this holy man, “yet it makes me sorrowful, reminding me of my sin, for which the earth has been condemned to bring forth thorns.”

A devout soul, standing over a brook on a very clear night, and seeing the heavens and stars therein represented exclaimed, “O my God! these very stars which I now behold shall be one day beneath my feet, when thou shalt have lodged me in thy celestial tabernacles; and as the stars of heaven are here represented, even so are the men of this earth represented in the living fountain of divine charity.” Another, seeing a river flowing swiftly along, cried out, “My soul shall never be at rest, till she be swallowed up in the sea of the divinity, her original source.” St. Francisca, contemplating a pleasant brook, upon the bank of which she was kneeling at her prayers, being rapt into an ecstasy, often repeated these words, “The grace of my God flows thus gently and sweetly, like this little stream.” Another, looking on the trees in bloom, sighed and said, “Ah! why am I alone without blossom in the garden of the Church!” Another, seeing little chickens gathered together under the hen said, “Preserve us, O Lord! continually under the shadow of thy wings.” Another, looking upon the flower called Heliotropium, which turns to the sun, “When shall the time come,” said he, “O my God! that my soul shall faithfully follow the attractions of thy goodness?” And seeing the flowers called pansies, which are beautiful, but without fragrance, “Ah!” said he, “such are my conceptions, fair in appearance, but of no effect, producing nothing.”

Behold, Philothea, how one may extract good thoughts and holy aspirations from everything that presents itself amidst the variety of this mortal life! Unhappy they who withdraw the creatures from their Creator, to make them the instrument of sin; and thrice happy they that turn the creatures to the glory of their Creator, and employ them to the honor of his sovereign Majesty. As St. Gregory Nazianzen says, “I am wont to refer all things to my spiritual profit.” Read the devout epitaph of St. Paula, composed by St. Jerome. How agreeable to behold it interspersed with those aspirations and holy thoughts, which she was accustomed to draw from occurrences of every nature!

Now, as the great work of devotion consists in the exercise of spiritual recollection and ejaculatory prayers, the want of all other prayers may be supplied by them; but the loss of these can scarcely be repaired by any other means. Without them we cannot lead a good, active life, much less a contemplative one. Without them repose would be but idleness and labor vexation. Wherefore, I conjure you to embrace this exercise with your whole heart, without ever desisting from its practice.

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