Part V, Chapter I

That We Ought Every Year to Renew Our Good Resolutions by the Following Exercises

Containing exercises and instructions calculated to renovate the soul and confirm her in devotion.

The first point of these exercises consists in our being thoroughly sensible of their importance. Human nature easily falls off from its good affections, on account of the frailty and evil inclinations of the flesh, which depress the soul, and draw her always downwards, unless she often raise herself up by fervent resolutions; just as birds which fall suddenly to the ground if they do not multiply the strokes of their wings to support themselves in the air. For this reason, dear Philothea, you must repeat very often the good resolutions you have made to serve God, lest, by neglecting to do so, you should relapse into your former state, or rather into a worse one; for spiritual falls always cast us down to a lower state than that from which we ascended up to devotion.

As every watch, no matter how good it may be, must be daily wound up, and now and then taken asunder, to remove the rust and dust, and to mend and repair what may be broken or out of order; so he that is careful of his soul ought to wind it up daily to God by the foregoing exercises, and at least once a year take it asunder to redress, rectify, and examine diligently all its affections and passions, that all its defects may be repaired. And as the watchmaker anoints the wheels, the springs, and all the works, with some delicate oils, that the motions of the wheels may be more easy, and the whole of the watch less subject to rust; so a devout person, after taking this review of his heart in order to renovate it, must anoint it with the Sacraments of Confession and the Holy Eucharist. This exercise will fortify your spirit, impaired by time, warm your heart, reanimate your good resolutions, and make your virtues flourish with fresh vigor. The primitive Christians were careful to practise this devotion on the anniversary day of the baptism of our Lord, when, as St. Gregory Nazianzen relates, they renewed those professions and protestations which are usually made in baptism. Let us, also, my dear Philothea, seriously dispose ourselves to follow their example. Having, then, for this purpose, chosen the most convenient time, according to the advice of your spiritual father, and withdrawn yourself into a little more solitude than ordinary, make one, two, or three meditations on the following points, according to the method I have prescribed in the second part.

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