Meditation for June 25, The Religious Spirit

The water of the Jordan at the outlet of Lake Tiberias becomes very poisonous the nearer it approaches the Dead Sea; the waters washing the shore absorb the slime charged with the salt and bro­mide that covers it, consequently the fish that are carried along by the current are soon in danger of death in conditions so injurious to them. At the place where the clear fresh water begins to mingle with the brackish water, they swim to the surface, soon flop over and perish quickly. They are then cast up on the shore, on small islands, where they attract a great number of birds of prey.

So long as I live in the milieu for which I am created, so long as I immerse myself in the depths of the religious spirit, I have noth­ing to fear. I have all the means to help me move at ease.

Should the pure water of my religious life, by flowing too closely along the shores of the world, mingle with its alluvial soil and absorb some of its corrupt elements, there can be grave danger.

At first, remaining too much at the surface, I will not be able to perceive immediately these poisoned deposits in the cross currents containing brackish residues. I will be on my guard for the first signs of adulteration or impurities.

How else can the great number of desertions be explained? The soul descends from the eternal heights as does the Jordan, spread­ing itself out into a poisonous sea, and like it, is carried away by the rapids. The religious did not sufficiently watch over the purity of her beginnings.

I will be attentive never to mingle Christ's principles with those of Lucifer; the pure with slime.

"St. John the Baptist, you, who died to keep intact your moral holi­ness, grant that through your example I may have a horror of all ad­mixture; of every compromise."

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