Meditation for October 23, Look Up

On the 16th of July, 1848, there lay dying in an island of New Guinea, in Oceania, a Vicar Apostolic belonging to the Society of Mary, Monsignor Colomb, a Savoyard of extreme valor; he had risked his life several times among people who were very difficult to convert and had offered himself as a victim for their salvation.

He directed his missionaries above all by confidence. "A look towards heaven will do you more good than twenty contemplations on hell," he said to them. To missionaries who had left all to evangelize the extreme outposts of Christianity the bishop could speak in that way.

Cannot I, a religious, profit by his counsel, particularly if I have difficulty in ridding myself of certain fears, and if I lack con­fidence? Can I not make use of his advice?

There is no need to ignore the dogma of the punishment of sin, nor to neglect the opportunity of recalling it to sinners, and even, now and then, to faithful souls, but all moments are not equally opportune for the consideration of every dogma.

I would fail in the virtue of hope if I doubted my eternal salva­tion. If I look forward to it in all confidence, I am not in the least presumptuous - confiding in my merits or in a certain imag­inary assurance - I simply trust to the Divine mercy, force myself to live well and maintain my soul in peace.

The problem is not only that of my own salvation. If I don't reach it after all I have received, who will? The true problem is whether, after all my graces, I will be the saint God desires me to be; if I will draw after me all the souls that God has made de­pendent on my personal sanctity.

I must think rather of the heights than of the abysses. I must encourage myself with the thought that multitudes are attached to my life and that I ought to conduct them up to the heights fore­seen and desired by God.
_________________
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)