Page 7 - SPIRITUAL EXERCISES 1828

struck them all down into hell, without giving them time for
repenting, with no consideration for their great dignity or the
great number of them. They sinned and that was enough to
bring on them irreparable punishment. However, the gravity of
sin is even more visibly seen in the punishment of Adam! Such
a perfect creation of God’s hands, endowed with so many
natural and supernatural gifts, sinned and as a consequence
of it he was instantly deformed; he lost everything all at once,
and what was left in him was sheer misery; so many years of
penance and sin is not yet wiped out. God himself had to
come down from Heaven to redeem man, and the pain of sin
is something we still bear. Countless other temporal
punishments and all due to sin! ... Oh, God. And I commit sin
so easily, and never think it is so serious: what shall become
of me? ...

Resolutions: To avail myself of every means not to
commit even the tiniest sin, and to do my best that others may
avoid it.
I did this Meditation on my knees, because I was in
church: It took me altogether an hour-and-a-half, in two
separate moments, not at a stretch. I think I had few

distractions; I was truly horrified by sin.
Regarding the two Spiritual Lessons: as the passages I
read were on prayer, I understood that I don’t do it well mostly
due to a lack of preparation for it, inattentiveness and because
I am not keen enough on acquiring a genuine spirit of prayer. I
have therefore resolved to improve on these points and never
get tired of the practice of prayer.

- 28 -