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Preparation.
- Place yourself in the Presence of God.
- Invoke His Aid.
Considerations.
- Imagine yourself alone with your good angel in an open
plain, as was Tobit on his way to Rages. Suppose the Angel to
set before you Paradise, full of delights and joys; and on the
other hand Hell, with all its torments. Contemplate both,
kneeling in imagination before your guardian Angel. Consider
that you are most truly standing between Hell and Paradise, and
that both the one and the other are open to receive you,
according to your own choice.
- Consider that the choice you make in this life will last for
ever in the next.
- Consider too, that while both are open to receive you
according to your choice, yet God, Who is prepared to give the
one by reason of His Justice, the other by reason of His Mercy,
all the while desires unspeakably that you should select
Paradise; and your good Angel is urging you with all his might
to do so, offering you countless graces on God's part, countless
helps to attain to it.
- Consider that Jesus Christ, enthroned in Heaven, looks down
upon you in loving invitation: "O beloved one, come unto Me, and
joy for ever in the eternal blessedness of My Love!" Behold His
mother yearning over you with maternal tenderness--" Courage, my
child, do not despise the Goodness of my Son, or my earnest
prayers for thy salvation." Behold the Saints, who have left you
their example, the millions of holy souls who long after you,
desiring earnestly that you may one day be for ever joined to
them in their song of praise, urging upon you that the road to
Heaven is not so hard to find as the world would have you think.
"Press on boldly, dear friend,"--they cry. "Whoso will ponder
well the path by which we came hither, will discover that we
attained to these present delights by sweeter joys than any this
world can give."
The Choice.
- O Hell, I abhor thee now and for ever; I abhor thy griefs
and torments, thine endless misery, the unceasing blasphemies
and maledictions which thou pourest out upon my God;--and
turning to thee, O blessed Paradise, eternal glory, unfading
happiness, I choose thee for ever as my abode, thy glorious
mansions, thy precious and abiding tabernacles. O my God, I
bless Thy Mercy which gives me the power to choose--O Jesus,
Saviour, I accept Thine Eternal Love, and praise Thee for the
promise Thou hast given me of a place prepared for me in that
blessed New Jerusalem, where I shall love and bless Thee for
ever.
- Dwell lovingly upon the example set before you by the
Blessed Virgin and the Saints, and strive to follow where they
point you. Give yourself up to your guardian Angel, that he may
be your guide, and gird up your courage anew to make this
choice.
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