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As I have counselled you before your material dinner to make a
spiritual repast in meditation, so before your evening meal you
should make at least a devout spiritual collation. Make sure of
some brief leisure before suppertime, and then prostrating
yourself before God, and recollecting yourself in the Presence of
Christ Crucified, setting Him before your mind with a stedfast
inward glance, renew the warmth of your morning's meditation by
some hearty aspirations and humble upliftings of your soul to your
Blessed Saviour, either repeating those points of your meditation
which helped you most, or kindling your heart with anything else
you will.
As to the examination of conscience, which we all should make
before going to bed, you know the rules:
- Thank God for having preserved you through the day past.
- Examine how you have conducted yourself through the day, in
order to which recall where and with whom you have been, and
what you have done.
- If you have done anything good, offer thanks to God; if you
have done amiss in thought, word, or deed, ask forgiveness of
His Divine Majesty, resolving to confess the fault when
opportunity offers, and to be diligent in doing better.
- Then commend your body and soul, the Church, your relations
and friends, to God. Ask that the Saints and Angels may keep
watch over you, and with God's Blessing go to the rest He has
appointed for you.
Neither this practice nor that of the morning should ever be
omitted; by your morning prayer you open your soul's windows to
the sunshine of Righteousness, and by your evening devotions you
close them against the shades of hell.
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