15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a subst.i.tute for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work for the love of G.o.d, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul to Him by actual prayer.
*"Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves d.a.m.nation if he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life."-St.
Francis de Sales.*
16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns_,-which are short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
According to St. Francis de Sales, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns can in case of necessity replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for the omission of e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns.
*"Acquire the habit of making frequent e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. They are sighs of love that dart upwards to G.o.d to sue for His aid and succor. It will greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your morning"s meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the day. In sickness let pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns take the place of all other prayers."-St. Francis de Sales.*
17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns have a like effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.
18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them, and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed continually.
19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the profitable and easy practice of making frequent e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. It is far preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and enlighten the soul.
20. St. Theresa"s opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of G.o.d. Do not then fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the important thing is that the soul should humble itself before G.o.d in sentiments of respect, confidence and love.
Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.
IV.
PENANCE.
A sacrifice to G.o.d is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, O G.o.d, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)
I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds-either corporal or spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving, can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in accordance with the spirit of the laws of G.o.d and of his Church, which prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.
2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works, such, too, as are the more agreeable to G.o.d from their being so distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great cla.s.ses, active and pa.s.sive. The characteristic of the active virtues is to do good, of the pa.s.sive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second cla.s.s are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is less to be feared in the practice of the pa.s.sive virtues, especially when the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the hand of G.o.d.
3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this snare.
4. "I charge you," says St. Francis de Sales, "to preserve your health carefully, for G.o.d exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to regain it." Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain its strength and health.
5. We learn from Ca.s.sian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful, as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection, judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound with fetters.
6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look upon as a good rule in this matter: "The body is a poor invalid confided to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such a.s.sistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and prudence." He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his Creator.
7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. "To kill one"s self with a single blow," says St. Jerome, "or to kill one"s self little by little-I make but slight distinction between these two crimes." Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged to us absolutely.
8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. "If we had to copy the saints in everything they did," says St. Frances de Chantal, "it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as St. Aloysius did." Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.
*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.
Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius, Father Rozaven said: "Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and permissible for him to do them." In truth every act that exceeds human strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such contradictory words.-Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.*
V.
CONFESSION.
I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. x.x.xI, 5.)
But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)
Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)
1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales a.s.sures us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those who confess more frequently.
2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: "You must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for confession, for it is incredible that any one who often examines her conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you remark them." And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind.
*"You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally p.r.o.ne and will be subject to as long as we live.... It is needless to accuse yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they are only inconveniences, annoyances."-St. Francis de Sales.*
3. Rest a.s.sured that the more closely you examine your conscience the less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover, you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the fervor of the heart.
4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have given consent to it, I a.s.sure you it is unnecessary to mention it except it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circ.u.mstances. For if you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it, as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to which you can apply no remedy."
5. "Omit from your confessions"-we again quote the same Saint-"those superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit: I have not loved G.o.d sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor; I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they making a confession."
6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to confess our venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them."
7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard-this is a point of cardinal importance-against giving access to any fear about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into a sacrament of consolation and love.
*"After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after that we need think no more about it."-St. Francis de Sales.*
8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins-it is not essential to be troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of G.o.d, anxiety is an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere repentance we can still thank G.o.d that He has not permitted us to become yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for success solely upon the a.s.sistance of divine grace; and should we fall again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and the hope. G.o.d can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of sanct.i.ty. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation.
*G.o.d has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of the beloved disciples this same G.o.d allowed many marks of their evil inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call, was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.
"Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has suddenly become mistress.[4] A soul that after a long slavery to its pa.s.sions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every one, but first of all with yourself."-St. Francis de Sales.*
*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains united to G.o.d by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend him-and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects if it is G.o.d"s will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of G.o.d than if the practice of virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be accompanied by vexation and impatience.
"Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales, "nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled; whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect."
"We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. G.o.d requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!-there is a rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy and sloth."*
9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears, sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.
10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to G.o.d that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the a.s.sistance of His grace you will never offend Him more-that is contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a calm.
11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of a moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and another towards G.o.d to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of obtaining His a.s.sistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a single word: _Peccavi_-I have sinned, and by that one word he was justified.
*"You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is needed than to prostrate oneself before G.o.d in a spirit of humility and of sorrow for having offended Him."-St. Francis de Sales.*