when, where, and why He uttered it. See what lesson you can learn from it, and how far your conduct is at variance with the precept. Take a practical resolution to amend. Determine some definite act of virtue in question. A vague purpose of amendment is useless.
In this part of the meditation, avoid spending all the time in reflections, since they are a means, not an end. Their great object is to stir up your will to do some good action, and to serve as solid foundation for your resolutions. The most important part of meditation is the exercise of the affections, and all the preceding steps should lead up to this essential point.
As Father Chaignon, S.J., says in his " Sacerdotal Meditations;" " Prayer is a gift of the Spirit of God; it is a science of which this Holy Spirit is the first, or rather the only, veritable Master. Let us earnestly pray to Him to grant us this gift, which shall be for us the channel of the most precious graces. Let us learn of Him this science, which is so important a part of the science of the saints."
Domine, doce nos orare. (Luke i. 11.) He teaches it, says St. Bernard, in acting upon our memory, our intellect, and our will. Monet, et docet, et movet; monet memoriam, docet rationem, movet voluntatem: snggerendo, instrnendo, afficiendo. (St. Bernard, Serm. de Pent.). One could not have more clearly designated the exercises of the three faculties, in which the method of St. Ignatius precisely consists.
A. The Memory: Propose to yourself the whole subject of the meditation; place before yourself the whole of the truth or mystery under consideration, as if you were relating or describing it to another person very clearly and briefly. An act of faith will help you.
B. The Intellect or Understanding: It first considers the truth and then makes the application.
1. Consider what you have to believe, or do, with respect to the truth which you have proposed to yourself;
