| Glorify the Existence God Has Given You |
This article is taken from a chapter in An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales which is available from TAN Books. To prepare for our chat on Sunday, please read the article, which is reproduced below, and review the questions at the end.Click for Living Jesus Chatroom  Detail of The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel (Public Domain)First MeditationPreparation1. Place yourself in the presence of God.2. Entreat Him to inspire you. Reflections1. Reflect for how many years you were not in the world, and you had no being. Where wert thou, O my soul, at that time? The world had existed so long, but thou wert unheard of.2. God brought you out of nothing, and made you what you are out of His sole goodness, without requiring any assistance on your part.3. Consider the being which God has given you, for it is the principal being of this visible world, capable of eternal life, and of perfect union with His Divine Majesty. Affections and Resolutions1. Humble yourself profoundly before God, saying from your heart with the Psalmist, “My substance is as nothing before Thee” (Ps. 38:6), “and how hast Thou been mindful of me to create me?” Alas, my soul, thou wert once a thing of naught, and even such wouldst thou be still, unless God had called thee into being. What then would thus have become of thee?2. Render thanks to God. O great and good Creator, how much do I owe to Thee, since out of my nothingness Thou hast made me what I am? How can I ever worthily bless Thy holy name, and thank Thine infinite goodness?3. Humble yourself. But alas, O my Creator, instead of uniting myself to Thee by my love and service, my ill-regulated affections have made me rebel against Thee, separating and estranging me from Thee, leading me into sin, and causing me to forget Thy goodness and that Thou art my Creator.4. Prostrate thyself before God. O my soul, know that the Lord He is Thy God, it is He that hath made thee, and not thou thyself. O God, I am the work of Thy hands. Therefore I would no more rest in myself, who am naught. Wherein shouldst thou glory, O dust and ashes? Wherefore exalt thyself, O thing of naught? In humiliation I will do such and such things, endure such and such contempt, I will live a new life following from henceforth in God’s holy ways, and glorifying in the existence He has given me, I will employ it wholly in obeying His Will as I shall learn it, and as my spiritual father shall enjoin .Conclusion1. Thank God. Bless God, O my soul, and let all that is in me praise His holy Name, for His goodness has raised me out of nothing, and His loving kindness has created me.2. Make an offering. O my God, I offer Thee with my whole heart that being which Thou hast given me: to Thee I dedicate and consecrate it.3. Pray. O God, strengthen me in these affections and resolutions. Holy Virgin, commend them together with all for whom I ought to pray to the mercy of thy Blessed Son. Our Father. Hail Mary. Reflections:What does it mean for us to at one point to have never existed, and now you will never cease to exist, even after death?Does being mere dirt/dust/ashes mean that we are seen as just unimportant thereby?God creates us out of nothing. Discuss the humbling reminder that we are not just created out of the earth, but that we are created out of nothing, and so without God, we are essentially nothing.Discuss God’s humility in that He creates souls at the behest of the will of humans each time they conceive a child. But also talk about how this reveals why we need God even more than we realize.Why is gratitude so important and so powerful?Having this understanding that God created us out of nothing to live forever, how can we parlay that knowledge to a world that so desperately needs to respect human life from conception to natural death? What would your conversation with a person who wanted to end life look like? Sign up for our Living Jesus Chat Room:Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. |