Prayer.
“We ought always to pray.” — St. Luke 18.1.
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.
A practice very beneficial to the soul is to elevate the mind to God by the consideration of all His works which we see around us, admiring in them His adorable perfections, the love He bears us, and the obligation under which we are to serve Him faithfully. — Author of the “Spiritual Combat”.
This was the continual practice of St. Francis of Sales, which he had learned in that excellent book called the Spiritual Combat, which he esteemed so highly that he always carried it with him. On beholding the beauties of the fields, he would say: “We are the fields which God has cultivated.” At the sight of a magnificent church beautifully adorned, he said: “We are the temples of the living God; why are not our soul adorned with virtue?” The flowers would suggest the thought: “When will our flowers be accompanied with fruit?” If he saw rare and beautiful paintings, he made this reflection: “There is nothing more beautiful than the soul which is made to the image of God.” If he saw gardens: “When will the garden of our soul produce beautiful flowers, abundant fruit, be well cultivated, well decorated?” At the sight of a fountain, he sighed after the happy days when we shall drink without interruption at the source of the fountain of life, Our Saviour. On viewing a river, he said: “When shall we go to God, as these waters flow to the sea?” In a word, he saw noting which did not manifest to him the God that he loved, nothing which did not elevate his heart to Him which did not attach him still more closely to Him.
Prayer.
My God, grant that I may see Thee everywhere and in everything; grant that I may be elevated towards Thee and grow in Thy love.