Salesian Literature

Chapter 7:  Concluding the meditation and spiritual nosegay

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Bring the meditation to a close with three acts which must be made with as much humility as possible:

1. The first is an act of thanksgiving.  We thank God for the good movements of the will and the deliberate decisions he has given us and for his goodness and mercy which we have discovered in the mystery on which we have been meditating.

2. The second is an act of oblation.  We offer to God his goodness and mercy, and the death, the suffering, and the virtues of his Son, and along with these, our own good movements of the will and our deliberate decisions.

3. The third is an act of petition.  We ask God and implore him to give us the graces and virtues of his Son, and to bless our good movements of the will and our deliberate decisions so that we can practice them faithfully.  We pray also for the Church, for our pastors, for our relatives and friends and others.  We ask our Lady, the Angels and the saints to intercede for us.  Lastly, as I have already mentioned, we should pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary, the general and necessary prayers for all the faithful.

 

I have also suggested that, after all this, we should gather a little nosegay of devotion[1].  I shall now explain what I mean.  After taking a walk in a beautiful garden, people hesitate to lave without taking four or five flowers in order to enjoy their fragrance the rest of the day.  Similarly, having considered some mystery in meditation, we should pick one or two or three ideas in which we took special delight and which are more helpful to our improvement.  We should remind ourselves of them during the day, breathing in their spiritual fragrance.  This nosegay of spiritual thoughts is to be gathered while we are still in the place where we made our meditation, or as we walk about alone for some time soon after.

 

 

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[1]  See end of Chapter 9 of First Part.

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