THINK WELL ON IT
REFLECTIONS ON THE
GREAT TRUTHS
OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION
FOR EVERY DAY IN THE MONTH
By His Excellency Bishop
Richard Challoner
(1691 –1781)
Directions for the Use of the following
Considerations.
1. Make choice of a proper time and
place for recollection; and shut the door of thy heart as much as possible
against the world, and its distracting cares and affections.
2. Place thyself in the presence of
God, representing him to thyself by a lively faith, as filling heaven and earth
with his incomprehensible Majesty; or as residing, with all his attributes, in
the very centre of thy own soul. Prostrate thyself in spirit before him, to
adore this sovereign Lord; make an offering of thy whole self unto him, and
humbly beg pardon for all thy past treasons against him.
3. Implore, with fervour and
humility, his light and grace, that the great truths of the Gospel may make a
due impression upon thy soul, that thou mayest effectually learn to fear him,
and to love him.
4. Read leisurely, and with serious
attention, the chapter for the day. Give the soul time to digest what thou art
reading; and pause more particularly on those points which affect thee most.
5. That thy reading may partake the
more of the nature of mental prayer, strive to draw from thy considerations
such affections as are suitable to the subject; by stirring up, for example,
in, the soul, the fear and love of God, a confidence in his goodness, a sense
of gratitude for his benefits, the horror of sin, and such like: Open thy heart
as much as thou canst to these affections, that so these great and necessary
virtues may take the deeper root there.
6. Conclude thy considerations with
holy resolutions of amendment of life, insisting in particular, on the failings
to which thou art most subject, and firmly determining with thyself, to begin
to put these resolution into execution, on such occasions as may occur that
very day,
7. Often reflect in the day time on
the chief points of thy consideration; lest the enemy rob thy soul of this
divine seed, by making thee quickly forget what thou hast been reading and
considering.
********************
THE FIRST DAY
On the Necessity of Consideration
Consider, first, those words of the
prophet Jeremias: "With desolation is the whole earth laid desolate,
because there is no one who thinks in his heart." And reflect how true it
is, that the want of Consideration on the great truths of Christianity, is the
chief source of all our evils. Alas! the greater part of men, seldom or never
think either of their first beginning, or last end: they neither consider who
brought them into the world, nor for what; nor reflect on the eternity into
which they are just about to step. Hence all their pursuits are earthly and
temporal, as if they were only made for this life, or were to be always here,
Death, judgment, heaven, and hell, make but little impression upon them,
because they don't give them time to sink deep into their souls by the means of
serious Consideration. They run on, with their eyes shut, to the precipice of a
miserable eternity, and only, then begin to think, when they find themselves
lodged in that place of woe, where "their worm shall never die, and their
fire shall never be quenched." Ah! my poor soul, take care that this be
not thy case.
Consider, that we cannot be saved without
knowing God, and loving him above all things. Now, we can neither know him, nor
love him as we ought, without the help of Consideration. It is this which
discovers to us the infinite perfections of this sovereign Being, his heavenly
beauty, his eternal love for us, and all the benefits which he has bestowed
upon us, his most undeserving and ungrateful creatures: all which, alas! make
no impression on us without serious Consideration. All things that are about
us, the heavens, the earth, and every creature therein, cease not to preach God
unto us, and invite us to love him. But without Consideration, we are deaf to
this voice of the whole creation; we are like those that have eyes and see not,
that have ears and hear not. Ah! the great and dreadful mischiefs that follow
from the want of the true knowledge of God, which is the fruit of frequent
Consideration! Is it not upon this account that the whole world is overrun with
wickedness; and that hell opens wide its jaws, devouring without end or number,
the unhappy children of Adam, because God
is forgotten, because there is no
knowledge of God upon
earth?"
Consider, to save our souls, we must
also know ourselves; we must know our misery and corruption, that we may be humble
and diffident in ourselves; we must know our irregular inclinations and
passions, that we may fight against them, and overcome them; we must study and
watch the motions of our own hearts, that we may not be surprised by sin, and
sleep in death. And how can this all necessary knowledge of ourselves, this
science of the saints, be acquired without the help of daily Consideration? Ah!
how unhappy are they who know all things else, and are strangers to themselves!
Consider, that in order to nourish in
our souls the wholesome fear of God, which is the beginning of true wisdom, and
spur ourselves on in the way of virtue, we must also seriously reflect on the
enormity of sin, and the hatred God bears unto it; on the dreadful effect of
sin in the soul, and on the multitude of our own sins in particular; on the
vanity, misery and deceitfulness of the world; on the comfort and happiness
that attend a virtuous life; on the shortness of time, and the dreadful length
of a miserable eternity; on the certainty and uncertainty of death, and the
sentiments we shall have when we come to die; on the small number of the elect.
Ah! Christians, let us not neglect this great means of salvation! It was the
consideration of these truths that made so many saints; that has so often
reclaimed even the most abandoned sinners. Oh! what a profound lethargy must
that soul be in, which is not roused at the thunder of those dreadful truths,
death, judgment, hell, eternity!
Consider the bitter but fruitless repentance of
the damned, condemning their past folly, in having thought so little on those
things on which they shall now think for all eternity. Senseless wretches as we
were! we had once our time, when, by thinking upon this miserable eternity, we
might have escaped it. Those endless joys of heaven were offered us at a cheap
rate, when a little reflection on them might have put us in the way of securing
to ourselves the everlasting possession of them. But alas! we would not think
then; and now it is too late. O my soul, learn thou to be wise by their
misfortune; reflect in this thy day on the things that appertain to thy eternal
peace; think well on thy last end; meditate on the great truths of the gospel.
Thou must either think of them now, or hereafter, when the thought of them will
only serve to aggravate thy misery for all eternity.
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