and THIRD ARTICLE
Meditations of Mother Jeanne de Chantal Jouzel
(THIRD ARTICLE)-The Sisters who wish to prosper and make progress in the way of our Lord must at the beginning of all their actions, both interior and exterior, ask for His grace and offer to His divine goodness whatever good they may do, thus preparing themselves to endure with peace and gentleness of mind, all the trouble and mortification they may meet with, as coming from the fatherly hand of our good God and Savior, whose most holy intention as by such means to make them merit, that he may afterwards recompense them with the abundance of his love. This they must not omit, even in little matters, and such as seem to them of small importance, even though employed in things wholly agreeable and conformable to their will and necessity, such as eating, drinking, resting, recreating, and such like. So that according to the counsel of out of the apostle, whatever they do may be done in the name of God and for His sole pleasure.
Second Week here: Second Week of Lent with Spiritual Directory | Visitation Spirit
Sunday
whatever good they may do
I must become entirely captive and verily can it be otherwise when one is confronted with this view of the Divine goodness of infinite charity urging me to give to him?
In what measure am I to give? Has this Divine charity ever made any reserves? There was still a few drops of blood in the adorable heart and love invented the Lance of Longinus to make all, even to the last drop, flow and shall I not offer everything before this renunciation and His sufferings?
Shall I complain? In this pain can there be in me a return of self love? Before His prayer can I be occupied with myself? No it is no longer possible. I have not understood well enough that it is to love that my offering is made; love who asked me to love Him and to make Him loved.
Therefore it is necessary to respond with the word all. Only that word is suitable. And there is yet another strategy of love. Blessed Father did not say all that they have done but all that they will do. The offering is made at the beginning of an action so that there is no way of recalling it without my failing to keep to my word and that would be an indelicacy that cannot be classified.
Behold now how I am made always more captive in this blessed net whose meshes close me in on all sides
Monday
Let us offer God who is infinite perfection that which is good, well done and worthy of him all that is offered . A prince should manifest respectful care yet for my Lord I permit myself to be negligent and to offer things that are carelessly done.. No both in whole and in part each of my exercises must be done well and since I feel my powerlessness to practice Perfection I shall employ the great method of letting Jesus act in me and for me and God the Father, seeing no longer anything but the actions of his Divine Son ,will be glorified as he deserves to be glorified .
Therefore I must ask for the movement of the Holy Spirit, the principle of all our Savior’s actions ,at the beginning of each task and offer each thing I do to our Heavenly Father for his glory and for Souls .
Then during the action I must remain in peace and sweetness of spirit ,a condition that Jesus requires in order to do his work Necessarily since sin has destroyed in me the tendency toward good it will be necessary to re-establish this inclination to good by suffering and mortification.
These I shall endure as means that will aid me to adorn my soul to do good and to merit the fullness of the life of Jesus.
Tuesday
thus preparing themselves
All that has proceeded has been just a preparation, for I am only at the beginning of the action . What follows must indeed be serious and profound since it is preceded by such a beginning !
Yet how much do I feel that this preparation must be made well, without routine, almost without thinking of it ? It is necessary that I ask and receive all the grace that I shall need that I offer my action in order to be forced ,as it were, to do it well and that I place myself in the divine presence, an inspiration that I cannot resist.
Then I shall be ready to fulfill the essential point of my third article which is no other ,we must admit, than the death of self.
In addition if each of my actions is prepared thus by the request for grace and the offering I need make no other preparation for death . When that Supreme act presents itself I shall accompany it by my third article and at the moment that the soul is recommended to God ,hearing the great words ,she has denied neither the father nor the son or the Holy Spirit I shall be able to die in peace for I shall have lived in Union with the Holy Trinity.
Wednesday
to endure
Recollect yourself oh my soul for you are approaching today the decisive word .Are you ready ? It is not enough to meditate on this word , it is necessary to live it !
Until now you have had in mind a Sublime ideal but do not deceive yourself -you are far from having attained it .This ideal shall be attained in the measure that you will practice this important word which will conduct you to death to self in order to merit the life of Jesus .
Behold !at the moment of climbing Calvary a sweet light appears. The question is not to carry my cross but to support or endure it, to hold it from below .
Who then will carry the heaviest part? It will be Jesus and more clearly than ever does my life of union with him appear to me now at this moment when all must be consummated.
Then if at certain times I have failed in courage it is because I have wanted to carry my cross alone and I have not had the strength .my role as a Visitandine is to support the cross .This role may appear easier but in truth it is more crucifying for the sight of Jesus stirs one up to follow in his footsteps to the very end .
What lessons are contained in this word! I am far from having seen all that is contained therein.
Thursday
I must penetrate this profound mystery of suffering but with Jesus under his Divine Light since the fall it is suffering that repairs ,purifies, regenerates and makes us arrive at disengagement from self. I must therefore try to love this fruitful suffering not particularly for itself but Above All Because of Jesus, my spouse, who has endured it for me who bears it with me so that I shall have only to endure it; who wishes a new to live in me His life of Redeemer of Souls.
This is the great secret of the third article ,to arrive at no longer removing suffering from my life ,no longer letting it abate when this would involve only a slight insubordination to the rule. If I do not observe this practice I am not supporting all the mortification that is encountered .
Alas what have I done until now! Are not all my faults against myself due to failure to endure suffering?
The Saints did not act as I do for they did not meet the cross they made themselves suffer voluntarily.
What a change there will be in my life if I understand the kind of endurance that will suffice for me.