The best actions are despoiled of their merit by certain
motives of vanity, often concealed from our own notice.
The motives by which we are actuated are, relative to our actions,
what the eye is relative to our body,--it is the motive that gives
light and brilliancy to our actions. This is the sense in which we
should understand our Lord when He says if our eye be simple our
whole body will be luminous. Now the great light by which we can
clearly see the motives for which we act is meditation.
In the peaceful calm of solitude, and in the silent slumber of the
passions, meditation puts us in presence of ourselves, before our own
eyes, by which we see ourselves as in a true mirror. Meditation
teaches us to judge without prejudice what we have done and to
determine with propriety what we should do, by making the experience
of the past our lamp for the future, and by converting past mistakes
into practical lessons for the present.
The meditative and recollected soul will turn even her shortcomings
to good account; seeing her delinquencies, she clothes herself with
the mantle of humility, she rises with renewed confidence, and shuns
with greater care the occasion of those evils from which she has
suffered; she is rarely taken by surprise, a few moments' reflection
will suffice for her to determine what is to be done under the
circumstances; she is rarely taken in the snare of deception, for she
knows that human nature is weak, vacillating and unreliable, and,
consequently, she keeps herself on her guard.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182