Search -
The Voice of God to the Heart of His Servants who Aspire to Perfection
The Voice of God to the Heart of His Servants who Aspire to Perfection Author:John Perry Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: MEDITATION IIL On the Means for arriving at our End. Ejaculation: "Lord, make me know my end, and teach me the means of obtaining it." St. Ignatius says: ... more »" But all other things on earth were created for the use of man, that he might use them as means ior arriving at his last end." The Preparatory Prayer, and the Preludes; as page iv. Point I.—Reflect practically on these words of St. Paul: " We know that every creature groaneth, and travaileth in pain, even till now."22 And consider how all creatures are given to us by God, as means or helps to salvation ; and how they seem to groan and be in pain, unless we use them for this end; for the abuse or misuse of creatures brings nothing but m1sery—they seem to cry out to us continually, that we should tend towards God, who is our last end. " Bom. viii. 22- God has made for us so many different degrees of creatures, in order that, ascending by them, as by so many steps, we might be enabled to arrive at Him: He has spread out over our hsads the spacious heavens, with all their ponderous and countless orbs, that we might be brought to learn, an 1 praise, and love his Immeitsi.fi/; and might be forced to see and acknowledge our own insignificancy and nothingness ;—He lias lighted up the sun, and moon, and other planets, that we might be led by them to admire, and might long to behold, ths enrapturing splendours of his inaccessible light; and that we might be brought also to consider and lament our own darkness, and spiritual ignorance;—He has commanded the earth to bring forth its variety and abundance of fruits, that we might learn therefrom, how ire ought to produce the frails of sanctity which God requires from us ; and might he impelled to praise, and thank, and love Id infinite goodness and bounty,—and to detest our...« less