The day being thus begun, as Saint Francis of Sales advises, in union with God, and in the meditation of His word, that eminent servant of Christ, whose testimony to the value of Holy Scripture has been on a former morning brought to your notice, found no difficulty in preserving the perfume of his first thoughts by the exercise of recollection, and the remaining hours flowed on peacefully and devoutly. Thus he walked with God. His pure and upright soul sought Him alone, and found Him without difficulty. His divine providence, amid the thousand accidents of his life, seemed to lead him on as by the hand. It was his favourite habit often to raise his heart to God, in order to offer to Him his actions, his sufferings, and his work. "I abandon myself to God (he said), and His goodness fills me more and more with gratitude and adoration. I frequently feel my heart spring up towards Him; though it is hardly possible for me to follow any regular course of meditation; the love of the Holy Scriptures increases in me, and I seem to comprehend their sense better than I ever did before." Is there not here something worthy of our endeavour of resemblance? Then let us set about it, and let us taste and see how good the Lord is. Let us (as he did) see and recognize God our Father in Heaven, in all events of life, whether sad or joyous. We shall find, as the Holy Psalmist says again and again, that God is our strong refuge, and that in Him His children have a place of refuge. None who truly seek God are disappointed. Their mind is
My God and Father while I stray,
Far from my home, on life's rough way;
Oh teach me from my heart to say,
Thy will be done.
Let but my fainting heart be blest,
With Thy sweet spirit for its guest,
My God to Thee, I leave the rest,
Thy will be done.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp