Meditation for June 23, The Dead Sea

The river of the Jordan, which flows from the eternal snows of Mt. Hermon in the Anti-Lebanon, moves with great rapidity and at certain seasons of the year with a considerable onrush. It empties into the Dead Sea, called the tomb of the Jordan. In fact the Dead Sea has scarcely any outlet, in any case, no outlet comparable to the onrush of waters that the river brings to it.

What happens to the six million liters of water that the Jordan pours out daily?

They are either lost in the fissures of ancient craters or of old petroleum wells, or else they are evaporated by the heat.

What about the daily influx of graces incessantly entering my soul? Ought they not make my low-water mark of virtue rise?

Alas! Does not my spiritual condition often resemble the Dead Sea? My level remains constant; the most copious graces are lost in the crevices of old depths of sin badly filled in, or else are evaporated by my passions, since by my lack of recollection I leave too much of an exposed surface at the mercy of their fiery heat.

I will try not to be a tomb for the graces of God as the Dead Sea is a tomb for the waters of the Jordan. I must block up all the hollows and lessen the excess of superficiality in my life.

"Give me the grace, O Jesus, to be faithful to my early aspirations; to the great desire of loving You that permeated the beginnings of my religious life; it was so pure, so rich, so buoyant. How is it that with all this fervor at the start, I should evince only mediocrity in the long run? You alone can save me from this lack of fruitfulness. But You ask of me my whole hearted cooperation; You have won it. Increase in me daily the power to manifest each day a greater love for You."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)