2nd Prelude. Ask for abundant grace to follow in their footsteps.
POINT I. What manner of men were they on earth?
They were very much like ourselves. They had the same human passions to control, the same rules to observe, the same labors to perform, the same sacrifices to make, etc. And to help them along they had the same aids that we have: the same loving Lord, who had called them from amid the dangers of the world, as He has called us; the same training by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, the same holy Sacraments, the same everything; not of course in the same proportion for every individual soul; but enough of grace for all to live up to our grand vocation, and in due time to be with our blessed brethren in Heaven, as we are now their associates in the Society of Jesus on earth.
POINT II. To what do those happy souls owe their success?
The same grace of God in their case and in ours being presupposed, they owed their success to their faithful co-operation. The grace of God is in the matter of sanctification, what the spring is in a watch. All the movements of the wheels and the hands come from the spring; when that breaks all the other parts come to a perfect standstill. The powers of our body and soul are like the wheels of the watch which must work along with the spring to indicate the correct time. And of them one is free, namely our will. When our free will co-operates with grace, we lead holy lives. The spring of God’s grace never fails; the only fear of failure regards our own free will. Now the purpose of this triduum is to examine how faithfully our will is seconding the promptings of grace. In this meditation we must ask God’s light to understand the real condition of our soul, and next examine our conduct with care, to see whether our lives are up to the standard of faithful and fervent religious. How is God pleased with us? How are our superiors and our brethren in religion satisfied? Has any one a right to complain of us? What improvement can we make?
POINT III. How can we obtain an increase of grace? By prayer and faithful co-operation.
1. Prayer is the universal means by which all blessings can be obtained: “Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full” (St. John xvi, 24). But of course we must pray fervently and perseveringly; careless prayer leads to tepidity and loss of grace, rather than its increase. How fervently have I been praying of late?
2. Co-operation with graces given me is the most efficient means of obtaining a further supply of grace. And in proportion as graces abound the service of God is facilitated, and thus again further graces are secured: Facile equitat quem gratia Dei portat, “he rides along with ease who is carried up by the grace of God,” is a familiar axiom. On the other hand, the want of co-operation with the grace given us makes us unworthy of a future liberal supply of God’s help, and gradually leads a soul into tepidity, with all its serious consequences. We may be much encouraged to improve ourselves in these two means of sanctification, namely prayer and co-operation with grace, by frequently recalling to mind the examples set us by the Saints of our Society. These two means made them Saints and the same means will make us Saints, if we employ them with the same earnestness and perseverance as they did. Pray like the Saints, co-operate with the grace of God as the Saints habitually did, and you will soon be holy yourselves.
Colloquy with Jesus and Mary, to obtain great progress in the imitation of the Saints.