CHAPTER XVIII.
MEDITATION AND REFLECTION.
Meditation and reflection are two words that express two shades of
difference of the same idea. In meditation we consider supernatural
things pertaining to our eternal salvation. The soul maintains
herself with difficulty in the love and practice of virtue without
the help derived from meditation; for when she gives it up, her
fervor in piety grows lax, temptations became more frequent and
obstinate, often followed by humiliating falls.
You are well aware that the real object of the Christian's life upon
earth is to establish God's kingdom in our heart; and this is what
forms the object of the second petition that we address to God every
day in the Lord's prayer; and since the kingdom of God is entirely
interior, as Jesus Christ himself tells us, when He says: _the
kingdom of God is within us,_ we should acquire the habit of
looking for God in our own heart; but in order to find Him there we
must give Him a place in it by meditation and prayer.
The advantages derived from meditation are so numerous and so great,
that it is a matter of surprise why it is not more universally
practised; for the effects that it produces in the souls of those who
are faithful to its practice are so striking that it is easy to
discern a man given to this habit from those who are entire strangers
to its holy influence.
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