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PART V. CONTAINING COUNSELS AND PRACTICES FOR RENEWING AND CONFIRMING THE SOUL
IN DEVOTION.
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CHAPTER I. It is well yearly to renew Good Resolutions by means of the following
Exercises.

THE first point in these exercises is to appreciate their importance.
Our earthly nature easily falls away from its higher tone by reason of
the frailty and evil tendency of the flesh, oppressing and dragging
down the soul, unless it is constantly rising up by means of a vigorous
resolution, just as a bird would speedily fall to the ground if it did
not maintain its flight by repeated strokes of its wings. In order to
this, my daughter, you need frequently to reiterate the good
resolutions you have made to serve God, for fear that, failing to do
so, you fall away, not only to your former condition, but lower still;
since it is a characteristic of all spiritual falls that they
invariably throw us lower than we were at the beginning. There is no
clock, however good, but must be continually wound up; and moreover,
during the course of each year it will need taking to pieces, to
cleanse away the rust which clogs it, to straighten bent works, and
renew such as are worn. Even so, any one who really cares for his
heart’s devotion will wind it up to God night and morning, and examine
into its condition, correcting and improving it; and at least once a
year he will take the works to pieces and examine them carefully;–I
mean his affections and passions,–so as to repair whatever may be
amiss. And just as the clockmaker applies a delicate oil to all the
wheels and springs of a clock, so that it may work properly and be less
liable to rust, so the devout soul, after thus taking the works of his
heart to pieces, will lubricate them with the Sacraments of Confession
and the Eucharist. These exercises will repair the waste caused by
time, will kindle your heart, revive your good resolutions, and cause
the graces of your mind to flourish anew.

The early Christians observed some such practice on the Anniversary of
our Lord’s Baptism, when, as S. Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzen, tells us,
they renewed the profession and promises made in that Sacrament. It
were well to do the like, my child, making due and earnest preparation,
and setting very seriously to work.

Having then chosen a suitable time, according to the advice of your
spiritual father, and having retired somewhat more than usual into a
literal and spiritual solitude, make one, two, or three meditations on
the following points, according to the method I set before you in Part
II.
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