Part 2, Chapter 10
I am not a morning person in the sense that I struggle to get up in the morning. “Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness. If, with the help of God, you conquer yourself in that moment, you’ll have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish” St. Josemaria Escriva! Getting up in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. If we keep hitting the snooze and just lying there, instead of getting up, we are losing the battle. God should be given the first fruits of our new day. We get up, and get out of bed and make our morning prayer, don’t lie in bed and try to do this; normally we will fall asleep or just not get up. This is why we need to get out of bed and start our morning prayer.
St. Francis De Sales says, “Thank God, and adore him for his grace that has kept you safely through the night, and if in anything you have offended against him, ask forgiveness” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 48). Thanking, loving and saying we are sorry to God are most excellent ways to start our morning. Each day is a new day to help us get ready for heaven and so we should “make a steadfast resolution to use this day for that end” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 48). As St. John Bosco says, “Do not put off until tomorrow, what you can do today.” Today, this moment, is given to us to prepare for Heaven, not tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come. In our morning prayer we may next prepare for all that is ahead in the day, calling these things to mind and asking that God will be with us. The final step that St. Francis De Sales puts in our morning prayer is an act of humility in that we are to recall that without God we can do nothing. He is our all in all and God gives us the strength to do all that we do. As I have heard it said, “The only thing that we can take credit for is our sins.” God helps us to do all our good acts and to live out virtues. Only with God are we going to live the Devout Life!!!!
