13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that is union with G.o.d, but the same means to attain that object are not proper for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a spiritual director that each person can know what is suitable for him, as that which would be too little for one might be too much for another.
VII.
SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.
The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark, c. II., v: 27.)
1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying G.o.d, but there are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays.
2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The ordinary means of fulfilling this duty are, princ.i.p.ally, works of charity, the Holy Sacrifice of the Ma.s.s, the Sacraments, sermons, religious instructions, and spiritual reading.
3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying the body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things is wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.
4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful diversion, all of which can be referred to G.o.d, serve also for the sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are required of man by his bodily needs.
*"How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to the will of G.o.d. By no means regard the nature of the things you do, but rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in themselves, from the fact that G.o.d wishes them, that they are in the order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word, if they are pleasing to G.o.d, and recognized as being so, to whom should they be displeasing?"-Saint Francis de Sales.*
5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance of the sabbath, following the superst.i.tious custom of the Pharisees, instead of peacefully sanctifying the Lord"s day with that sweet and holy liberty of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel. Too much dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of which it is equally necessary to avoid.
6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to attend to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the impossibility of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace these with pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, which, as I have already said, can in case of necessity supply for the omission of all other prayers.
7. Remark, in conclusion, that to a.s.sist at a low Ma.s.s suffices strictly speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even this may be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind the house, or to take care of young children; for these being works of justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when performed with a pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers, equal and even surpa.s.s in value all exterior practices of devotion.
I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.
*"Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of G.o.d, where those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of G.o.d and in fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is fixed by this divine will and not by their exterior character. Therefore he who truly loves G.o.d"s will in the accomplishment of his duties, does not allow his affections to become engaged in any of his spiritual exercises; and so, if sickness or accident interfere with them he experiences no regret. I do not say indeed that he does not love his devotions, but that he is not attached to them."-Saint Francis de Sales.*
*"If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and that this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another occasion: the less we live according to our own liking, and the less option we have in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will there be in our devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order to oblige others for love of Him."-Saint Francis de Sales.*
VIII.
SPIRITUAL READING.
Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)
All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)
1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful, therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with the best nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar especially with the works of Saint Francis de Sales.
2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a spiritual director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as coming from the mouth of G.o.d.
3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural and marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by such reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some to aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces, they neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real obligations.
Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be absorbed in those wonderful characteristics of the saints which we should be content to admire; give preference rather to their simple and interior virtues, for these alone are imitable for us.
*"We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that G.o.d would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of Sienna"s, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine, for we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness consists in love of G.o.d, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility. The desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of self-renunciation and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of others. Thus we shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more admirable for us than ecstacies."-St. Francis de Sales.*
4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely exterior practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to reform the heart.
5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books have furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy religion and to turn it into ridicule.
6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: "In order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great piety,-great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his imagination with devout extravagances." An author should be equally well versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will err either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a well known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: "If a man be good and holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us."
It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give none but true and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than good. Doctrines that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and invite the criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the railleries of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.
7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain many inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care, therefore, in the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure your soul instead of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult your director on the subject.
PART SECOND.
INTERIOR LIFE.
IX.
HOPE.
Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)
Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)
1. "Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord," says the Holy Spirit. The weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in regard to the Christian virtue of hope.
2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for all things will obtain all things.
3. The mercy of G.o.d is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world.
We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our own wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of this divine attribute of mercy.
4. "What do you fear?" says Saint Thomas of Villanova: "this Judge whose condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the Cross in order not to condemn you."
5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us. When Saint Peter said to his divine Master: "_Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man,_" what did our Saviour reply? "_Noli timere,_-fear not."[8]
Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always find hope and love preferred to fear.
6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by Saint Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to pardon, nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, G.o.d would not have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine essence. This was our Lord"s reason for saying that He came into the world not for the just but for sinners.[9]
7. a.s.suredly our faults are displeasing to G.o.d, but He does not on their account cease to cherish our souls.
*It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us from G.o.d and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject to it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with love the poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial garment,-that is to say, all those whom a desire to please G.o.d maintains in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and frailty: but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares to appear there without this garment. This distinction, found everywhere throughout the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us with a tender confidence when we fall, without diminishing our horror for deliberate sins.*
A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of her child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her compa.s.sion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and suffering and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and solicitude for him.