Part V, Chapter XV

General Affections on the Preceding Considerations, and a Conclusion of This Exercise

O dear resolutions! fair tree of life, which God, with his own hand has planted in the midst of my heart, and which my Saviour desires to water with his blood to make thee fruitful: I will rather endure a thousand deaths than suffer any wind of prosperity or adversity to pluck thee up. No; neither vanity, delights, riches, nor tribulations, shall ever withdraw me from my design. Alas! O Lord, it is thou thyself that hast planted and eternally preserved in thy fatherly bosom this fair tree for the garden of my heart. Alas! how many souls are there who have not been favored in this manner; and how, then, can I ever sufficiently humble myself beneath thy mercy?

O fair and holy resolutions! if I preserve you you will preserve me; if you live in my soul, my soul will live in you. Live, then, forever, O resolutions, which are eternal in the mercy of God; live eternally in me, and let me never forsake you!

After these affections you must consider the particular means necessary to maintain these cherished resolutions, and determine to be faithful in making good use of them; such as frequent prayer, the sacraments, good works, the amendment of your faults discovered in the examination, retrenching the occasions of evil, and following the counsels which shall be given you for this purpose.

Afterwards, by way of recruiting your strength, make a thousand protestations that you will persevere in your resolutions; and as if you held your heart, soul, and will in your hands, dedicate, consecrate, sacrifice, and immolate them to God, protesting never to take them back again, but leave them in the hand of his divine Majesty, to follow on all occasions his holy ordinances.

Pray to God to renovate you entirely, and to bless and strengthen this your protestation. Invoke the blessed Virgin, your guardian angel, and your holy patron.

In this disposition of heart go to your spiritual father, and accuse yourself of the principal faults which you may have remarked since your general confession, and, receiving absolution in the same manner as the first time, pronounce and sign your protestation before him; and, in conclusion, unite your renovated heart to its first principle, your Saviour, in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist.

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