8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows how to compa.s.sionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]
9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of G.o.d, and it is much safer there than if in your own keeping.
10. The immoderate fear of h.e.l.l, in the opinion of Saint Francis de Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.
11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin of despair, retorted: "I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,-but for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall save my soul."
12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.
G.o.d loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa a.s.sures us, provided they mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.
To aspire to the n.o.blest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. x.x.x.)
X.
THE PRESENCE OF G.o.d.
Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)
I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)
1. The constant remembrance of G.o.d"s presence is a means of perfection that Almighty G.o.d Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of mind. The G.o.d of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be done lovingly and peacefully.
2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and uninterruptedly of G.o.d. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at every moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities, our imagination.
We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to lead before the proper time an existence similar to that of the angels and saints.
3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep yourself in the presence of G.o.d, because you have not thought of Him. This is a mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought, perform all your actions for love of G.o.d and in His presence, by virtue of the intention you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than to think. Though the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he is preparing the medicine that is to restore him to health, nevertheless it is for him he is working, and he is more useful to his patient in this way than if he contented himself with merely thinking of him. In like manner when you fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you eat or walk, devote yourself to study or to manual labor, though it be without definitely thinking of G.o.d, you are acting for Him, and this ought to suffice to set your mind at rest in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does not say that we must eat, drink and labor with an actual remembrance of G.o.d"s presence, but with the habitual intention of glorifying Him and doing His holy will. We fulfil this condition by making an offering each morning to G.o.d of all the actions of the day and renewing the act interiorly whenever we can remember to do so.
4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious aspirations naturally and without effort, and let them for the most part be expressive of confidence and love.
5. Should it happen that a considerable s.p.a.ce of time elapses without your having thought distinctly of G.o.d or raised your heart to Him by any loving e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, do not allow this omission to worry you. The servant has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he has done his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the while.
Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for G.o.d than to think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it results in action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the good intention which preceded it.
XI.
HUMILITY.
If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)
For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)
1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently confused with servility or littleness.
2. To attribute to G.o.d what is G.o.d"s, that is to say everything that is good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.
*Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by pride, that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The first man, a creature owing his existence directly to G.o.d, was bound to dedicate it entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as for all the other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple justice. The day whereon he a.s.serted a desire to be independent, he caused an utter derangement in the relations of the creature with his Creator. Pride, that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the faculties received from G.o.d-pride, introduced into the soul of the first man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma to the souls of all his descendants, and has become forevermore a part of their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever springing up afresh, to be independent, to be something of ourselves, to desire for ourselves esteem, affection and honor, despite the precepts of the divine law, the claims of justice and the warnings of reason; and thus it is that the whole spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict against this vicious propensity. Divine grace though sustaining us in the combat never gives us a complete victory, for the struggle must endure until death,-the closing chastis.e.m.e.nt of our original degradation and the only one that can obliterate the last traces thereof. (See _Imitation_, B.
III., Ch. XIII.-XXII.)*
3. As G.o.d drew from nothingness everything that exists, in like manner does He wish to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection upon the knowledge of our nothingness. Saint Bonaventure used to say: _Provided G.o.d be all, what matters it that I am nothing!_
4. When a Christian who is truly humble commits a fault he repents but is not disquieted, because he is not surprised that what is naught but misery, weakness and corruption, should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
He thanks G.o.d on the contrary that his fall has not been more serious.
Thus Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found she had been guilty of some imperfection, would calmly exclaim: _Another weed from my garden!_ This peaceful contemplation of our sinfulness was considered very important by Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: "Let us learn to bear with our imperfections if we wish to attain perfection, for this practice nourishes the virtue of humility."
5. Some persons have the erroneous idea that in order to be humble they must not recognize in themselves any virtue or talent whatsoever. The reverse is the case according to Saint Thomas, for he says it is necessary to realize the gifts we have received that we may return thanks for them to Him from whom we hold them. To ignore them is to fail in grat.i.tude towards G.o.d, and to neglect the object for which He gave them to us. All that we have to do is to avoid the folly of taking glory to ourselves because of them. Mules, a.s.ses and donkeys may be laden with gold and perfumes and yet be none the less dull and stupid animals. The graces we have received, far from giving us any personal claims, only serve to increase our debt to Him who is their source and their donor.
6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us than censure. There is nothing sinful in this preference, for it springs from an instinct of our human nature of which we cannot entirely divest ourselves. Only the praise must be always referred to Him to whom it is due, that is to say, to G.o.d; for they are His gifts that are praised in us as we are but their bearers and custodians and shall one day have to render Him an account for them in accordance with their value.
7. The soul that is most humble will also have the greatest courage and the most generous confidence in G.o.d; the more it distrusts itself, the more it will trust in Him on whom it relies for all its strength, saying with Saint Paul: _I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me_.[11]
Saint Thomas clearly proves that true Christian humility, far from debasing the soul, is the principle of everything that is really n.o.ble and generous. He who refuses the work to which G.o.d calls him because of the honor and eclat that accompany it, is not humble but mistrustful and pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience light to show us with certainty that to which we are called and to preserve us from the illusions of self-love and of our natural inclinations.
*"We should be actuated by a generous and n.o.ble humility, a humility that does nothing in order to be praised and omits nothing that ought to be done through fear of being praised."-Saint Francis de Sales.*
8. It is even good and sometimes necessary to make known the gifts we have received from G.o.d and the good works of which divine grace has made us the instruments, when this manifestation can conduce to the glory of His name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification of the faithful.
It was for this threefold object that Saint Paul spoke of his apostolic labors and supernatural revelations.
XII.
RESIGNATION.
Yea, Father: because so it has pleased Thee. (St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.)
O my Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pa.s.s from me.
Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (St. Matthew, c. XXVI., v. 39.)
1. We should recognize and adore the will of G.o.d in everything that happens to us. The malice of men, nay of the devil himself, can cause nothing to befall us except what is permitted by G.o.d. Our divine Lord has declared that not a hair of our heads can fall unless by the will of our Heavenly Father.[12]
2. Therefore in every condition painful to nature, whether you are afflicted by sickness, a.s.sailed by temptations, or tortured by the injustice of men, consider the divine will and say to G.o.d with a loving and submissive heart: _Fiat voluntas tua_-Thy will be done: O my Saviour, do with me what Thou willest, as Thou willest, and when Thou willest.
3. By this means we render supportable the severest pain and the most trying circ.u.mstances. "Do you not feel the infinite sweetness contained in that one sentence, _the will of G.o.d?_" asks Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses, that drew from the water all its bitterness, it sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.
4. Without this practice, so comformable to faith, and without the light and strength that result from it, the pains and afflictions of life would become unbearable. This is what Saint Philip de Neri meant when he said: It rests with man to place himself even in this life either in heaven or in h.e.l.l: he who suffers tribulations with patience enjoys celestial peace in advance; he who does not do so has a foretaste of the torments of h.e.l.l.
5. Not only is it G.o.d who sends or permits our troubles, but He does so for the good of our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do not, then, make a matter of complaint that which should be a motive for grat.i.tude.
6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the cross is the royal door to the temple of sanct.i.ty, and the only one by which we can enter it. One moment spent upon the cross is therefore more conducive to our spiritual advancement than the antic.i.p.ated enjoyment of all the delights of heaven.
The happiness of those who have reached their destination consists in the possession of G.o.d: to suffer for the love of Him is the only true happiness which those still on the way can expect to attain. Our Lord declared that those who mourn during this exile are _blessed_, for they shall be consoled eternally in their celestial fatherland.[13]
7. Notice that I say, _to suffer for the love of G.o.d_, for, as Saint Augustine remarks, no person can love suffering in itself. That is contrary to nature, and moreover, there would no longer be any suffering if we could accept it with natural relish. But a resigned soul loves to suffer, that is she loves the virtue of patience and ardently desires the merits that result from the practice of it. A calm and submissive longing to be delivered from our cross if such be the will of G.o.d, is not inconsistent with the most perfect resignation. This desire is a natural instinct which supernatural grace regulates, moderates, and teaches us to control, but which it never entirely destroys. Our divine Saviour Himself, to show that He was truly man, was pleased to feel it as we do, and prayed that the chalice of His Pa.s.sion might be spared Him. Hence you are not required to be stolidly indifferent or to arm yourself with the stern insensibility of the Stoics; that would not be either resignation, or humility, or any virtue whatsoever. The essential thing is to suffer with Christian patience and generous resignation everything that is naturally displeasing to us. This is what both reason and faith prescribe.
*The Redeemer of the World seems to wish to show us in His Agony the degree of perfection which the weakness of human nature can attain amidst the anguish of sorrow. In the inferior portion of the soul where the faculty of feeling resides, instinctive repugnance to suffering, humble prayer for relief if it please G.o.d to accord it; and in the superior portion of the soul where the will resides, entire resignation if this consolation be denied. A desire for more than this, unless called to it by a special grace, would be foolish pride, as we should thus attempt to change the conditions of our nature, whereas our duty is to accept them in order to combat them and to suffer in so doing. (See _Imitation_, B.