Which 3 Virtues Should Be Practised FIRST in the Morning?

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore Our Lord Jesus Christ subjecting Himself to all the weaknesses of mankind; He slept, He awoke, He arose, He dressed Himself as we do; but He performed all these actions in an admirable manner, issuing from His sleep with the same love which, on the day of His incarnation, made Him quit the repose He was enjoying in the bosom of His Father that He might come upon earth and labor for our salvation. Let us bless Him for having taught us by His example how to begin the day in a holy manner.

FIRST POINT

The Importance of Performing the Action of Rising in a Christian Manner

Consecrate to God the first-fruits of the day, says St. John Climachus, for it will be given entirely to him who will have first taken possession of it. If, from the moment when we awake, we give ourselves to God with our whole heart, it will be easy for us to keep ourselves all day long in this disposition. Let our first thought, our first word, our first action, be given to God. Our first thought, by representing Him to ourselves as being close beside us, He who has watched over us during the night, and who offers us His assistance during the day; our first words, by pronouncing the names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph; our first action, by making the sign of the cross; our first sentiments, by rendering Him our homage of adoration, of love, and of gratitude, and by offering to Him the whole of our day with the intention of never living any more for a single instant except for Him in Jesus Christ. (Rom. 6:2) The soul which is thus firmly established in these holy dispositions will find it easy to maintain itself in them. If, on the contrary, we begin the day with wandering thoughts, with forgetfulness of God, with ministering to our own comforts, love for our caprices and for our fancies, idleness, cowardice, it will be all the more difficult for us to change these bad dispositions, because, even during the whole day, we shall not think either of our deplorable state or of the duty of reforming ourselves. And wherefore, then, should we refuse to God the first-fruits of the day, when we know that they are especially dear to Him? It would be an injustice, seeing that these first moments belong to Him (Num. 21:29); it would be ingratitude after the blessing of our preservation during the night; it would be blindness, since on this first action depend all the others, and because, therefore, our greatest interests are concerned in performing it well. Have we before now reflected seriously upon the importance of performing this action well?

SECOND POINT

On the Way of Performing the Act of Rising in a Holy Manner

Three virtues ought to sanctify this first action of the day: obedience, modesty, and piety. Obedience wills that we should rise at the precise hour fixed by our rule, without conceding anything to idleness or reveries, and that we should spend the smallest time possible in dressing ourselves; for it is a waste of time to employ more of it than is strictly necessary in this action. Modesty wills, on its side, that we should avoid as much as possible too much thought about our clothing, too much delicacy as regards the care of our body, all affectation of excessive cleanliness, as well as too little attention in regard to it, proposing to ourselves, as a model, the perfect decency which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph observed in this act. Lastly, religion ought to occupy our interior with pious and holy thoughts. You shall keep My words in your heart, God said to His people, and you shall meditate upon them at your rising. (Deut. 6:7) It is the moment for saying to the Lord: “Thanks, my God, for having preserved me during the night; thanks for having granted me another day in which to labor for my salvation; thanks for having given me these garments to clothe me, when so many others have hardly anything but rags. This clothing, O my God, at the same time that it excites my gratitude, fills me with confusion; it recalls to mind the sin which placed me lower than even the animals, who have no need to clothe themselves; this clothing is the sorrowful memorial of my lost innocence; it is the remains and the spoils of animals. What humiliation for mankind to be obliged to have recourse to them! O Jesus, be Thou my garment, as Thy apostle says (Rom. 13:14); that is to say, give me in all things Thy sentiments, Thy manner of thinking, of speaking, and of acting, and may I imitate Thee so closely that Thy sacred person may seem to cover mine. With this object in view, O Lord, I am going to dispose myself to make a good meditation.” Then we recall to ourselves the subject on which we are about to meditate, and we occupy ourselves with it until we begin it. Is it thus that we habitually perform the act of rising?

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above