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Death is an object of the greatest terror to souls attached to this world. Those who love God especially desire it. St. Teresa in thinking of the danger she ran as long as life lasted, of offending God and losing Him, used to say that a single day, even a single hour was too long to have to live. "Alas! Lord, as long as we remain in this miserable life, life eternal is in jeopardy."
I.
If the worldly-minded have a fear of losing their goods, fleeting and miserable as they are, much greater is the fear the Saints have of losing God, Who is a Good infinite and eternal, and Who promises to bestow Himself in Heaven as a recompense upon him who has loved Him on earth, admitting him to the enjoyment of His beauty and of His own happiness. Hence as their whole fear during life has been simply the fear of sinning, and thus losing the friendship of that Lord Whom they have loved so well, so their whole desire has been to die in the grace of God, and by death to gain the assurance of loving and possessing Him forever.
Death, then -- that object of the greatest terror to souls attached to this world -- is what those that love God especially desire: for, says St. Bernard, it is for these happy souls both the termination of their labours and the gate of life. Hence we see that among the Saints, one would call this life a prison and pray the Lord to deliver him out of it: Deliver my soul from this prison (Ps. cxli. 8). Another, like St. Paul, would call it a real death: Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. vii. 24).
But how are we to express the grief and the extreme anguish that our Saint experienced through her desire for death, more especially after the time when the Lord called her to His perfect love? She protests, in her Life, written in obedience to her confessor, that the desire that she had of dying, in order to see God, was so great, that it did not even afford her the leisure to think of her sins. This humble spouse of Jesus crucified spoke in this manner because she was continually bewailing those imperfections in her love of her Spouse into which she had formerly fallen -- imperfections she pronounced to be monstrous and deserving of hell, but in reality, as her biographers declare, her failings never amounted to a mortal sin.
The Saint, in thinking, moreover, of the danger she was in, as long as life should last, of offending God and losing Him, used to say that a single day, and even a single hour, seemed to her too long to have to live. Hence she would exclaim: "Alas! Lord, as long as we remain in this miserable life, life eternal is ever in jeopardy. O life! enemy of my welfare, who will be able to bring thee to an end? I endure thee, because God endures thee. I preserve thee, because thou dost appertain to Him; may I never prove treacherous or ungrateful. Oh! when will that day of benediction arrive on which I shall behold thee, O life, swallowed up in the boundless ocean of the sovereign truth, when thou wilt no longer possess the liberty to sin?"
O beautiful fatherland! O blessed fatherland of God-loving souls! where they love Him without fear of losing Him; without tepidity, and for ever! I greet thee from afar, from this valley of tears, and I sigh for thee, because I hope that in thee I shall love my God with all my powers for evermore.
II.
To our Saint's fear of the possibility of offending God in this life was joined the great desire that this loving soul entertained of seeing face to face the only object of her love, that she might thus gain the power of loving Him more perfectly, and of altogether uniting herself to Him. For this reason she could not endure to see herself at such a distance from the country of the Blessed; with abundance of tears, she would thus utter her complaint before her Spouse: "Alas! alas! Lord, this banishment is long indeed! What shall a soul confined in this prison do? Oh! Jesus, the life of man is long indeed! It is short, when considered as a means of gaining the life that is the true one; but it is long for that soul that desires to behold herself in the presence of her God." At other times, blending with her loving pains her distrust in her own merits and her hope in God, she would occupy herself in the composition of the following beautiful harmony of ejaculations so pleasing to her Beloved: "O life!" she would say, "O life! how canst thou keep thyself apart from thy Life? O death! O death! I know not who can fear thee, because in thee is life! Yet who shall not fear thee after having spent a part of this life without the love of his God? O my soul! serve thy God, and hope that in His mercy He will heal thy miseries."
But in order to understand the extent of the burning desire our Saint had for death, it is necessary that we should have a knowledge of the pain she experienced in continuing in life. She related to her confessor that this was such that it seemed already to destroy and bring her life to an end. Under its influence, too, she would even fall into an ecstasy. To give vent to her affections, she drew up on this subject those burning words of which that celebrated hymn of hers is composed, which thus begins:
"I live, from myself am far away:
And hope to reach a life so high,
That I'm for ever dying because I do not die!"
Elsewhere she says: "When will it be, O my God, that I shall at last see my whole soul perfectly united to Thee, so that all its faculties may have complete fruition of Thee?"
In a word, the only relief and consolation she found in this life was in thinking of her death. So she used to comfort herself, while on earth, with words like these: "Then, then, O my soul, you will have entered into your rest, when you shall be holding converse with that sovereign Good and shall know what He knows; when you shall love what He loves, and enjoy all that constitutes His blessedness; for then you will be rid of your own wretched will." Thus, it may be said, that the life of our Saint was sustained by the hope of that life eternal, for which she had sacrificed all the goods of this world; "I had rather live and die," she tells us, "hoping for the life eternal, than have all the goods of the earth in my possession. Do not Thou abandon me, O Lord, for I hope in Thee. If only I may serve Thee without intermission, do with me whatsoever Thou pleasest."
O my holy advocate, Teresa, I rejoice with thee that thou hast reached the haven, the termination of thy sighs! Now Thou dost no longer believe, thou beholdest the beauty of God! Thou no longer hopest, thou art possessed of the Sovereign Good! Thou art now rejoicing in the clear vision of that God Whom thou hast so long desired and loved! Thy love is now satiated! There is nothing for thy loving heart to long for more! O my Saint, have compassion on me who am still in the midst of the storm. Pray for me that I may obtain salvation and go to join thee in loving that God Whom thou so greatly desirest to see loved.
Spiritual Reading
"PARADISE! PARADISE!"
When the dignity of Cardinal was offered to St. Philip Neri, he cast his biretta into the air, and, looking up to Heaven, replied: "Paradise! Paradise!" The Blessed Giles would fall into an ecstasy, when the children, out of frolic, said to him: "Brother Giles, Paradise! Paradise!"
It is an opinion among theologians, that in Purgatory there is a peculiar pain called the pain of languor, which is inflicted upon those who had but little desire for Paradise during life on earth, and reasonably so, for we have but little love for God if we desire but little to enjoy His infinite beauty unveiled before our eyes, and the more so as it is impossible for us here in life not to be continually offending Him, at least in venial matters. Even if we do love Him here below, our love is, nevertheless, so imperfect, that we scarcely know that we love Him at all.
Let us, then, yearn for Paradise, where we shall offend God no more, and where we shall ever love Him with all our powers. When the troubles of this life press heavily upon us, let us animate ourselves by the hope of Paradise in order to bear them with tranquillity. When the world or the devil presents for our acceptance fruits that are forbidden, let us with good courage turn our back upon them, and lift up our eyes to Paradise. If the dread of God's judgments alarms us, let us nerve ourselves by hoping in the goodness of our God, Who to make us understand how ardently He desires to give Paradise to us, has commanded us, under pain of damnation, to hope for it through His mercy. He even willed to purchase it at the cost of His Blood, and His Death, that so He might obtain that great blessedness for us; and to assure us of it the more, He has been pleased to give us a pledge of it in the gift of Himself to us in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.
If our weakness terrifies us, let us fortify our hope by the same goodness of our Lord, Who, after having given us His merits to entitle us to Paradise, will likewise give us the strength to persevere in His grace even to our life's end, if we have recourse to His mercy, and pray to Him for that strength and perseverance.
The holy Mother Teresa used to say:
"Let your desire be to see God; your fear, to lose Him; your joy, whatever can bring you to Him."
Burning with the desire of seeing God, the Saint composed her famous "Canticle," "I die because I cannot die!" and on this text she wrote many beautiful stanzas, of which the following are two:
Ah, Lord, my Light, and living Breath!
Take me, Oh, take me from this death,
And burst the bars that sever me
From my true Life above:
Think how I die, Thy face to see,
And cannot live away from Thee,
O my eternal Love!
And ever, ever weep and sigh,
Dying because I cannot die.I weary of this endless strife;
I weary of this dying life--
This living death -- this heavy chain;
This torment of delay,
In which her sins my soul detain;
Ah, when shall it be mine? Ah, when,
With my last breath to say--
"No more I weep -- no more I sigh!
I'm dying of desire to die."
HYMN IN HONOUR OF ST. TERESA
Ye angels most inflamed
With fires of heavenly love,
Bright Seraphim, descend
From your high thrones above;
To this most chosen soul
Your loving succor bring --
To her, the spouse belov'd
Of Christ your God and King.Jesus, your Love, your Life,
Who loves the pure of heart,
Has pierced Teresa's soul
With love's own flaming dart;
And lo! she pines away,
She languishes, she sighs;
For Him Who gave the wound,
Of very love she dies.
To see her loving Spouse
So fierce is her desire
That evermore she burns,
Consuming in its fire,
That sweet and longing wish
Into His arms to fly,
Is but a living death,
Because she cannot die.No angels come to aid;
Come Thou, Who in this breast
Hast kindled flames so dear,
Come Thou, and give her rest;
Sick is her soul with love,
And wounded is her heart;
Thou didst inflict the wound,
Then, Jesus, cure its smart.Thy spouse was ever true,
To please Thy Heart Divine,
All earth could give she left,
All she could give is Thine;
And now, she loves Thee well,
And sighs to come to Thee;
She longs to take her flight,
Ah! set her spirit free.
- ST. ALPHONSUS
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
VI. GOD WISHES ONLY OUR GOOD.
I.
Oh, how great indeed is the folly of those who resist the Divine Will! They will have to endure sufferings, for no one can ever prevent the accomplishment of the Divine decrees. Who resisteth his will? (Rom. ix. 19). And, besides, they will have to bear the burden of their sorrows without deriving benefit from them; nay, they will draw down upon themselves even greater chastisements in the next life, as well as greater disquietude in this: Who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? (Job ix. 4). Let the sick man make as great an outcry as he will about his pains; let him who is in poverty murmur and rage and blaspheme against God as much as he pleases -- what will he gain by it all, but the doubling of his afflictions? "What are you in search of, O foolish man," says St. Augustine, "when seeking good things? Seek that one Good in Whom are all things that are good." What are you going in search of, poor foolish man, outside your God? Find God, unite yourself to His holy will, bind yourself up with it; and you will be ever happy, both in this life and in the next.
In short, what does God will but our good? Whom can we ever find to love us more than He? It is His will, not merely that no one should perish, but that all should save and sanctify their souls: Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance (2 Peter iii. 9). This is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). It is in our good that God has placed His own glory, being, as St. Leo says, of His own nature, goodness infinite. And as it is of the nature of goodness to desire to spread itself abroad, God has a supreme desire to make the souls of men partakers of His own bliss and glory. And if, in this life, He sends us tribulations, they are all for our own good: All things work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). Even chastisements, as was observed by the holy Judith, do not come to us from God for our destruction, but in order to secure our amendment and salvation: Let us believe that they have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction (Judith, viii. 27).
II.
In order to save us from evils that are eternal, the Lord throws the shield of His good will around us: O Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy good will (Ps. v. 13). He not only desires, but is eager for our salvation: The Lord is careful for me (Ps. xxxix. 18). -- For what is there that God will ever refuse us, says St. Paul, after having given us His own Son? He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also with him given us all things? (Rom. viii. 32). This, then, is the confidence in which we ought to abandon ourselves to the Divine dispensations, all of which have our good for their object. Let us therefore repeat, whatever circumstances may happen to befall us: In peace, in the self-same, I will sleep and I will rest; for thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope (Ps. iv. 10). Let us also place ourselves entirely in God's hands, for He will certainly take care of us: Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you (1 Peter v. 7). Then, let our thoughts be fixed on God, and on the fulfilment of His will, that He may think of us and of our good. "Daughter," said the Lord to St. Catharine of Sienna, "do thou think of Me, and I will ever think of thee." Let us frequently repeat with the sacred spouse, My Beloved to me, and I to him (Cant. ii. 16). The thoughts of my Beloved are for my welfare; I will think of nothing but of pleasing Him, and bringing myself into perfect conformity with His holy will. The holy Abbot Nilus used to say that we ought never to pray to God to make our will succeed, but to accomplish His will in us. And whenever things befall us that are not according to our wishes, let us accept them all, as from God's hands, not merely with patience, but with joy, as did the Apostles when they went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus (Acts, v. 41).
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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FEAST OF ST. TERESA
(OCTOBER 15)
Morning Meditation
What makes the holy Mother, Teresa, an object of our admiration is the steadfastness of soul with which she strove to accomplish whatever she knew was acceptable to God. She taught her children that “Divine love is to be acquired by a determination to work and suffer for God.”
I.
Let us consider the burning love which this seraphic Saint entertained for God.
To her it seemed impossible that there could be in the world a single person who did not love God; and she would say; “My God, art not Thou exceedingly lovable on account of Thine infinite perfections, and of the infinite love Thou bearest towards us? How, then, can there be any one that does not love Thee?” Most humble though she was, yet in speaking of love she did not shrink from saying: “I am all imperfection, excepting in desires and in love.” The Saint has left us on record the following excellent instruction: “Detach your heart from everything: seek God and you will find Him.” On the other hand, she used to say, that it is easy for those who love God to detach themselves from the earth: “Ah! my God, we only need to love Thee truly, for Thee to make everything easy to us.” Again, she writes: “Since live we must, let us live for Thee, so that our selfish interests may at last disappear. What greater advantage can any one gain than that which is to be found in pleasing Thee! O my delight and my God, what shall I do in order to please Thee?” She even went so far as to say that she would not be made sorry at seeing others in Heaven more happy than herself; but that she could not make up her mind to see any one love God more than she should love Him.
What makes this Saint an object of our admiration, is the steadfastness of soul with which she strove to accomplish everything she knew to be acceptable to God. She used to say: “There is nothing, however painful, that I am not prepared courageously to undertake, if it were set before me to do.” Hence she gave it as her instruction, that “Divine love is to be acquired by a determination to act and to suffer for God.” “For,” said she in another place, “the devil has no fear of irresolute souls.” To please God, she even went so far, as is well known, as to make a vow of performing whatever was the most perfect. And since sufferings endured for God are the strongest proofs of love, she desired to live for nothing but to suffer. Therefore she wrote: “It seems to me that there is no reason to live, except it be to suffer; and this it is for which I most fervently pray to God. To Him I say with my whole heart: Lord, either to suffer or to die! I ask of Thee for this, and nothing more.” Her love became so ardent, that Jesus Christ one day appeared to her and said: “Teresa, you are all Mine, and I am all yours.”
II.
So dear did Teresa become to her Spouse Jesus, that He sent one of the Seraphim to wound her heart with a dart of fire. At length she died as she had lived, all inflamed with love. When the end of her life was drawing near, all her sighs were for death, that she might go to unite herself to her God: “O death!” she said, “I know not who can dread thee, for in thee is life. Serve thy God, O my soul, and hope that He will bring thee a remedy for thy pains.” For this reason she composed the affectionate Canticle of love that opens with the following words:
“I live, but from myself am far away:
And hope to reach a life so high,
That I’m forever dying because I cannot die.”
When the Holy Viaticum was brought to her, she exclaimed: “O my Saviour, the longed-for moment is at last come! Now begins the time when we shall see each other face to face.” Then she died of love, as she herself revealed after her death.
O my seraphic Saint, thou art now rejoicing in thy God, Whom thou didst love so much during thy lifetime, when in constant danger of losing Him. Obtain for us, by thy prayers, the grace that we may go to love our God in Paradise with thee for evermore. Amen.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO ST. TERESA
O seraphic virgin, well-beloved spouse of the Divine Word, St. Teresa of Jesus I, (N.N.) though very unworthy to be thy servant, yet encouraged by thy great goodness and by the desire I have to serve thee, in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity, of my Guardian Angel, and of the whole heavenly court, choose thee today, after Mary, for my mother, my mistress, and my special patroness, and I take the firm resolution always to serve thee, and to do all I possibly can that others may serve thee. Therefore, O my seraphic Saint, I supplicate thee, by the Blood thy Divine Spouse shed for me, to receive me among the number of thy devoted servants. Assist me in my necessities, and obtain for me the grace to imitate thy virtues by walking in the true road of Christian perfection. Aid me particularly in prayer, and ask God to give me this glorious gift that thou didst receive in so eminent a degree, in order that, contemplating and loving the sovereign Good, I may avoid, in my thoughts, words, and deeds, all that might offend, or be even in the least displeasing to thee and to my God. Accept this little offering as a mark of my engagement to thy service, and assist me during my life, and above all at the hour of my death. Amen.
Spiritual Reading
THE TEACHING OF ST. TERESA ON THE LOVE OF GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR
I. We must love God perfectly; that is,
We must love Him above all things, so as to be willing to die rather than commit the least wilful sin. St. Teresa says: “May God deliver you from deliberately committing even the most trivial sin!” “For,” she adds, “the devil, by means of the smallest things, opens a way through which greater things may enter.” Again, she has this admonition: “True devotion consists in not offending God and in being resolved to do nothing but what is good and holy.”
We must love God with our whole heart, ever desiring to arrive at a higher degree of perfection in order to please Him. St. Teresa observes: “God will not suffer any good desire to go unrewarded even in this life.” And she also says that our Lord, ordinarily, does not confer many signal favours, “except upon those who have greatly desired to love Him.” But to desires we must add actions, by overcoming with fortitude human respect, our own repugnances, and all worldly interests.
We must love God continually, and on all occasions; and for this end we must direct and offer all to Him, even our indifferent actions, such as our eating, diversions, walking, working, every breath we breathe, uniting all with the actions of Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Virgin when on earth. Moreover we must cheerfully suffer all adverse and painful things, conforming ourselves and uniting ourselves to the will of God in whatever He is pleased to do in us and for us. Upon this St. Teresa has left the following excellent sentiments: “And what more can we wish to gain than the testimony of doing what is pleasing to God?” And she explains what this testimony is: “Whilst we live, our gain does not consist in endeavouring to enjoy God, but in doing His will. Great is the fruit of this giving of our will to God, for it induces God to unite Himself to our lowliness. True union is the union of our will with the will of God.”
To promote this and keep alive the flame of Divine love, we must make frequent acts of love during the course of the day, but particularly when we approach holy Communion and during the time of Meditation, saying to God: My most beloved and only Treasure, my God, my All, I love Thee with my whole heart. I give my whole self to Thee without reserve, and I consecrate to Thee all my thoughts, desires, and affections. I desire, I sigh, I seek for nothing but Thee alone, my only life. To please Thee is my only delight. Do in me and with me whatever Thou pleasest. My God and only good, grant me but to love Thee, and I ask for nothing more.
II. In order to maintain the union of the soul with God, we must exercise charity towards our neighbour.
As regards the interior, it consists in wishing the neighbour the same good that we wish ourselves; in not wishing him the evil we do not wish ourselves; in rejoicing in his good, and regretting the evil which befalls him, although we may naturally experience some repugnance in so doing.
As regards the exterior:
1. We must not murmur against the neighbour, deride or laugh at him, but speak always well of him, and defend, or at least excuse his intention.
2. We must console him under afflictions.
3. We must succour him in his necessities of soul and body, particularly in sickness.
4. We must condescend to the neighbour, as Saint Teresa expresses it, in all that is not sin.
5. We must not give our neighbour bad counsel or bad example.
6. We must occasionally reprove him, but mildly and seasonably, but not when we are agitated with passion.
We must above all endeavour to render good for evil, at least to speak well of those who injure us, treat them with meekness, and recommend them to God, turning away our thoughts from the annoyances, harshness, and provocations which we consider we have received from them.
As a conclusion to this short practice we must note, amongst others, the following maxims on perfection which St. Teresa has left us in various parts of her works:
“All our efforts produce little result, if we we do not get rid of self-confidence, so as to place our confidence wholly in God.
“Because we do not interiorly give all our affection to God, so neither does God give us all the treasures of His love.
“May God deliver us from ostentatious devotion.
“I have often found that there is nothing more efficacious than holy water for driving away the devils.
“All that we can do is but nothing compared with a single drop of the Blood which the Saviour shed for us.
“If we do not put an obstacle, God will not hesitate to grant us the assistance necessary in order to become saints.
“God does not leave without reward a single glance towards Heaven accompanied by the remembrance of Him.
“The Lord wishes for nothing from us but a resolute will, in order to go on to accomplish all that remains to be done on His part.
“God never sends a pain which He does not afterwards repay by some favour.
“If the soul does not keep itself apart from the pleasures of the world, it will soon become careless in the way of the Lord.
“Do not mention your temptations to imperfect souls, for you will do an injury both to them and to yourself. Communicate them only to the perfect.
“Let your desire be to see God; your fear be to lose God; your joy be whatever can conduct you to God.”
Live Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Teresa, now and forever. Amen.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
VIII. SPECIAL PRACTICES OF THIS VIRTUE
I.
Let us come to the practice of this virtue of conformity to God’s will, and consider in what we have to bring ourselves into conformity with the will of God.
In the first place, we must have this conformity as regards those things that come to us from without, such as great heat, great cold, rain, scarcity, pestilence, and the like. We must take care not to say: What intolerable heat! What terrible cold! What a misfortune! How unlucky! What wretched weather! or other words expressive of disagreement with the will of God. We ought to will everything to be as it is, since God it is Who wills it so. St. Francis Borgia, on going one night to a house of the Society when the snow was falling, knocked at the door several times; but, the Fathers being asleep, the door was not opened. They made great lamentations in the morning for having kept him so long waiting in the open air, but the Saint said that during the time he had been greatly consoled by the thought that it was God Who was casting the snowflakes down upon him.
In the second place, we must have this conformity as regards things that happen to us from within, as in the sufferings consequent on hunger, thirst, poverty, desolation, or disgrace. In all things, let us ever say: “Lord, Thine it is to make and to unmake; I am content, I will only what Thou dost will.” And thus, too, we ought, as F. Rodriguez says, to reply to those imaginary cases which the devil occasionally suggests to the mind, in order at least to dishearten us. If such a person were to say so-and-so to you, or if he were to do so-and-so to you, what would you say? What would you do? Let your answer always be: “I would say and do that which God wills.” And by this means we shall keep ourselves free from all fault and be at peace.
In the third place, if we have any natural defect either of mind or body — a bad memory, slowness of apprehension, mean abilities, a crippled limb, or weak health — let us not, therefore, make lamentation. What were our deserts, and what obligation was God under to bestow upon us a mind more richly endowed, or a body more perfectly framed? Could He not have created us mere brute animals? or have left us in our own nothingness? Who is there that ever receives a gift and tries to make bargains about it? Let us, then, return God thanks for what, through a pure act of His goodness, He has bestowed upon us; and let us rest content with the manner in which He has treated us. Who can tell whether, if we had had better abilities, more robust health, or greater personal attractions, we should not have possessed them to our destruction? How many there are whose ruin has been occasioned by their talents and learning, of which they have grown proud, and in consequence of which they have looked upon others with contempt — a danger which is easily incurred by those who excel others in learning and ability! How many others there are whose personal beauty or bodily strength have furnished the occasions of plunging them into innumerable acts of wickedness! And, on the contrary, how many there are who, in consequence of their poverty, infirmity, or ugliness, have sanctified themselves and been saved, who, had they been rich, strong, or handsome, might have been damned! And thus let us rest content ourselves with that which God has given us: But one thing is necessary (Luke x. 42). Beauty is not necessary, nor health, nor keenness of intellect; that which alone is necessary is the salvation of our soul.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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When the tower of Siloe fell and killed eighteen persons, the Lord said to those who were present: Think you that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? No, I say to you: but except you do penance you shall all likewise perish.
I.
Oh, how just God is when the time of vengeance arrives! He causes the sinner to be ensnared and strangled in the net his own hands have woven. The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments; the sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands (Ps. ix. 17). Baronius relates how Herodias died, who caused St. John the Baptist to be beheaded. As she was crossing frozen water one day the ice broke under her, and she remained with her head above the ice. In her violent struggling for life, the head was severed from the body, and thus she died.
Let us tremble when we see others punished, knowing as we do, that we ourselves have deserved the same punishments. When the Tower of Siloe fell and killed eighteen persons, the Lord said to those who were present: Think you that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Do you think that these poor creatures alone were in debt to God's justice on account of their sins? No, I say to you: but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish (Luke, xiii. 4-5). O, how many unfortunate men damn themselves by false hope in the Divine mercy? Yes, God is merciful, and therefore assists and protects those who hope in His mercy: He is the protector of all that trust in him (Ps. xvii. 31). But He assists and protects those only who hope in Him, with the intention of changing their lives, not those whose hope is accompanied by a perverse intention of continuing in sin. The hope of the latter is not acceptable to God; He abominates and punishes it: Their hope, the abomination of the soul (Job. xi. 20). Poor sinners, their greatest misery is, that they are on their way to hell, and do not know their state. They jest, and they laugh, and they despise the threats of God, as if God had assured them that He would not punish them. "Whence," exclaims St. Bernard, "this accursed security?" Unde haec securitas maledicta? Accursed security which brings you to hell! I will come to them that are at rest, and dwell securely (Ezech. xxxviii. 11). The Lord is patient, but when the hour of chastisement arrives, then will He justly condemn to hell those wretches who continue in sin, and live in peace, as if there were no hell at all for them.
Let there be no more sin. Let us be converted if we wish to escape the scourge which hangs over us! If we do not cease from sin, God will be obliged to punish us: For evil-doers shall be cut off (Ps. xxxvi. 9). The obstinate are not only finally shut out from Paradise, but hurried off the earth, lest their example should draw others into destruction. Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees (Luke, iii. 9). It is said that the axe is laid, not to the branches, but to the root, so that it will be irreparably exterminated. When the branches are lopped, the tree continues still to live; but when the tree is torn up from the root, it then dies, and is cast into the fire. The axe is laid to the root. We should tremble lest God make us die in our sins, for if we so die we shall be cast into the fire of hell, where our ruin shall be eternal.
II.
But, you will say: I have committed many sins during the past, and the Lord has borne with me. I may, therefore, hope that He will deal mercifully with me in the future. Do not speak so. Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me for the Most High is a patient rewarder (Ecclus. v. 4). God bears with you now, but He will not always bear with you. Now, therefore, stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you ... concerning all the kindness of the Lord (1 Kings, xii. 7), said Samuel to the Hebrews. Oh how terribly does not the abuse of the Divine mercies assist in procuring the damnation of the ungrateful! Gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter (Jer. xii. 3). In the end those who will not be converted shall be victims of Divine justice, and the Lord will condemn them to eternal death, when the day of slaughter, the day of His vengeance shall have arrived. We have reason always to be in dread, as long as we are not resolved to abandon sin, lest that day should be already at hand. God is not mocked; for what things a man shall sow, these also shall he reap (Gal. vi. 7-8). Sinners mock God by confessing at Easter, or two or three times a year, and then returning to the vomit, and yet hoping after all that to obtain salvation. "He is a mocker, not a penitent," says St. Isidore, "who continues to do that for which he says he is penitent"; but, God is not mocked! They hope for salvation!
What do they dare to expect? What things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. What things do men sow? Blasphemy, revenge, theft, impurity: what then do they hope for? He who sows in sin can hope to reap nothing but chastisements and hell. For he that soweth in his flesh, continues the same Apostle, of the flesh also shall reap corruption (Ib.)
Spiritual Reading
"ONLY PRETENDING NOT TO SEE"
St. John Chrysostom says there are some who are only pretending not to see. They see the chastisements for sin, but pretend not to see them. There are others, says St. Ambrose, who fear not, because chastisements have not overtaken themselves. To all these it will happen, as it did to mankind, at the time of the Deluge. The Patriarch Noe foretold and announced to them the punishments God had prepared for their sins; but the sinners would not believe him, and notwithstanding that the Ark was being built before their eyes, they did not change their lives, but went on sinning until the punishment was upon them, until they were drowned in the Deluge. And they knew not until the flood came and took them all away (Matt. xxiv. 39). The same happened to the great Babylon, in the Apocalypse, who said: I sit a queen, ... and sorrow I shall not see (Apoc. xviii. 7). She persevered in her impurity in the hope of not being punished, but the chastisement at length came as had been predicted. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire (Ib. 8).
Who knows whether this is not the last call which God may give you? Our Lord says that a certain owner of a vineyard, finding a fig-tree for the third year without fruit, said: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none. Cut it down, therefore, why cumbereth it the ground? (Luke xiii. 7). Then the dresser of the vine replied: Lord, let it alone this year also ... and if happily it bear fruit -- but if not, then, after that, thou shalt cut it down (Luke, xiii. 7-9). Let us enter into ourselves. For years has God been visiting our souls, and has found no other fruit than thorns and thistles, that is to say, sins. Hear how the Divine justice exclaims: Cut it down, therefore, why cumbereth it the ground? but Mercy pleads, Let it alone this year also. Let us give it one trial more; let us see whether it will not be converted at this other call. But tremble lest mercy may not have granted to justice that if you do not now amend, your life should be cut off, and your soul condemned to hell. Tremble and take measures that the mouth of the pit close not over you. Such was the prayer of David: Let not the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me (Ps. lxviii. 16). This is what sin does. It causes the mouth of the pit, that is, the state of damnation into which the sinner has fallen, to close over him by degrees. As long as that pit is not entirely closed, there is some hope of escape; but if it be once shut, what further hope remains? By the closing of the pit, I mean the sinner's being shut out from every glimmer of grace, and he stops at nothing. Thus is accomplished what the wise man has said: The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth (Prov. xviii. 3). He despises the laws of God, admonitions, sermons, excommunications, threats -- he despises hell itself! Such a man can be saved, but his salvation is morally impossible. Perhaps you have yourself come to despise the chastisements of God? If it be so, what should you do? Should you despair? No; you know what you have to do. Have recourse to the Mother of God. Although you should be in despair, and abandoned by God, remember that Mary is the hope of the despairing, and the succour of the most abandoned. St. Bernard says the same thing: "Let him who despairs hope in thee!" But if God wishes that I should be lost, what hope can there be for me? But God says: No, my son, I do not wish to see you lost: I desire not the death of the wicked (Ezech. xxxiii. 11). And what then do you desire, O Lord? I wish the sinner to be converted, and recover the life of My grace -- that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ibid.). Fling yourself then at once at the feet of Jesus Christ; behold Him with His arms open to embrace you!
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
IX. SPECIAL PRACTICES OF THIS VIRTUE
I.
We must be particularly conformed to God's will, and resigned under pressure of corporal infirmities; and we must embrace them willingly, both in the manner, and at the time, God wills. Nevertheless, we must employ the usual remedies, for this also is what the Lord wills; but if they do us no good, let us unite ourselves to the will of God, and this will do us much more good than health. O Lord, let us then say, I have no wish either to recover or to remain sick: I will only what Thou dost will. Certainly virtue is greater, if, in times of sickness, we do not complain of our sufferings; but when these press hard upon us, it is not a fault to make them known to our friends, or even to pray to God to liberate us from them. I am speaking now of sufferings that are really severe; for there are many who, with very great fault in every trifling pain or weariness, would have the whole world come to compassionate them, and shed tears of pity for them. Even Jesus Christ, on seeing the near approach of His most bitter Passion, manifested to His disciples what He suffered: My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38), and He prayed the Eternal Father to liberate Him from it: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me (Ibid. 39). But Jesus Himself has taught us what we ought to do after praying in like manner -- namely straightway to resign ourselves to the Divine will, adding, as He did: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou willest.
II.
How foolish those are who say that they wish for health in order to render greater service to God, by the observance of the rules, by serving the community, by going to church, by receiving Holy Communion, by doing penance, by study, by employing themselves in the saving of souls, or by hearing Confessions, and by preaching! But, I wish you would tell me why it is that you desire to do these things. You will say it is to please God. And why go out of your way in order to do this; certain, as you are, that what pleases God is not that you keep the rules, receive Communion, do acts of penance, study, or preach sermons, but that you suffer with patience the infirmity or the pains which He sees fit to send you? Unite your own sufferings, then, to those of Jesus Christ. But, you may answer: I am troubled that, in consequence of being such an invalid, I am useless and burdensome to everybody. But as you resign yourself to the will of God, so you ought to believe that your Superiors, too, resign themselves, seeing, as they do, that it is not through any laziness of yours, but through the will of God, that this burden is upon the house. Ah, these desires and regrets do not spring from our love of God, but from our love of self, which is hunting after excuses for departing from the will of God! Is it our wish to give pleasure to God? Let us say, then, whenever we are ill: Fiat voluntas Tua. Thy will be done. And let us be ever repeating it, even for the hundredth or thousandth time; and by this alone we shall give more pleasure to God than by all the mortifications and devotions we might perform. There is no better way of serving God than by cheerfully embracing His will. The Blessed Father Avila wrote thus to a priest who was an invalid: "My friend, do not stop to think of all you might do if you were well, but be content to remain unwell as long as God shall please. If your object be to do the will of God, how can it be of more consequence for you to be well than ill?" And certainly this was wisely said; for God is not glorified so much by our works as by our resignation and conformity to His holy will. And therefore St. Francis de Sales used to say that we serve God more by suffering than by working.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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Thursday--Twentieth Week after Pentecost
Morning Meditation
GOD IS MERCIFUL TILL FORCED TO CHASTISE.
Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation; art thou glorified? (Is. xxvi. 15).
Yes, O Lord, Thou hast dealt mercifully with Thy people, and what hast Thou received in return? Have thy people abandoned sin and changed their lives? No; they have gone from bad to worse! But let us remember, God must hate sin because He is holy: He must chastise it because He is just.
I.
We must persuade ourselves that God cannot do otherwise than hate sin; He is holiness itself, and therefore cannot but hate that monster, his enemy, whose malice is altogether opposed to the perfection of God. And if God hate sin, He must necessarily hate the sinner who makes league with sin. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike (Wis. xiv. 9). O God, with what grief and with what reason dost Thou not complain of those who despise Thee, to take part with Thy enemy! Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have brought up children, and exalted them; but they have despised me (Is. i. 2). Hear, O ye heavens, He says, and give ear, O earth, and witness the ingratitude with which I am treated by men! I have brought them up, and exalted them as My children, and they have repaid Me with contempt and outrage. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me. (Ibid. 3). But how is this? "Services are remembered even by beasts," says Seneca. The very brutes are grateful to their benefactors. See how that dog serves and obeys, and is faithful to his master, who feeds him; even the wild beasts, the tiger and the lion are grateful to those who feed them. And God, Who till now has provided us with everything; Who has given us food and raiment; Who kept us in existence up to the moment we were offending Him -- how have we treated Him?
II.
Do we think we can live on as we have been living? Do we perhaps think that there is no punishment, no hell for us? But hearken and know that as the Lord cannot but hate sin, because He is holy, so He cannot but chastise it when the sinner is obstinate, because He is just.
When God does chastise, it is not to please Himself, but because we force Him to it. The Wise Man says that God did not create hell, through a desire of condemning man thereto, and that He does not rejoice in their damnation, because He does not wish to see His creatures perish: For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living; for he created all things that they might be (Wis. i. 13). No gardener plants a tree in order to cut it down and burn it. It is not God's desire to see us miserable and in torments, and therefore, says St. John Chrysostom, He waits so long before He takes vengeance on the sinner. He waits for our conversion, that He may then be able to use His mercy in our regard. Therefore the Lord waiteth, that he may have mercy on you (Is. xxx. 18). Our God, says the same St. John Chrysostom, is in haste to save, and slow to condemn. When there is question of pardon, no sooner has the sinner repented than he is forgiven by God. Scarcely had David said: Peccavi, Domino! when he was informed by the Prophet that his pardon was already granted: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin (2 Kings, xii. 13). Yes, because "we do not desire pardon as eagerly as God desires to pardon us," says the same holy Doctor. On the other hand, when there is question of punishment, He waits, He admonishes, He sends us warning of it beforehand: For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the Prophets (Amos, iii. 7).
Spiritual Reading
THE DESIRE OF PERFECTION
An ardent desire of perfection is the first means we should adopt if we wish to acquire sanctity and to belong wholly to God. To hit a bird in flight, the sportsman must take aim in advance of his prey, so, too, a Christian, to make progress in virtue, should aspire to the highest degree of holiness which it is in his power to attain. Who will give me wings like a dove, says David, and I will fly and be at rest? (Ps. liv. 7). Who will give me the wings of the dove to fly to my God, and, divested of all earthly affections, to repose in the bosom of the Divinity? Holy desires are the blessed wings with which the Saints, bursting every worldly tie, flew to the mountain of perfection, where they found that peace which the world cannot give.
But how do fervent desires make the soul fly to God? "They," says St. Laurence Justinian, "supply strength, and render pains light." On the one hand, good desires give strength and courage, and on the other they diminish the labour and fatigue there is in ascending the mountain of God. Whosoever, through diffidence of attaining sanctity, does not ardently desire to become a saint, will never arrive at perfection. A man who is desirous of obtaining a valuable treasure which he knows is to be found at the top of a lofty mountain, but who, through fear of fatigue and difficulty, has no desire of ascending, will never, of course, advance a single step towards the wished-for object, but will remain below in careless indifference and inactivity.
He that does not desire, and does not strenuously endeavour, always to advance in holiness, will go backward in the path of virtue, and be exposed to great danger of eternal misery. The path of the just, says Solomon, as the shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day. The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall (Prov. iv. 18). As light increases constantly from sunrise to full day, so the path of the Saints always advances; but the way of sinners becomes continually more dark and gloomy, till they know not where they go, and at length walk over a precipice. "Not to advance," says St. Augustine, "is to go back." St. Gregory beautifully explains this maxim of the spiritual life by comparing a Christian who seeks to remain stationary in the path of virtue to a man who is in a boat on a rapid river, and striving to keep the boat always in the same position. If the boat be not continually propelled against the current, it will be carried away in an opposite direction, and consequently, without continual exertion, its position cannot be maintained. Since the fall of Adam man is naturally inclined to evil from his birth. For the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth (Gen. viii. 21). If he do not push forward, if he do not endeavour, by incessant efforts, to increase in sanctity, the very current of his passions will carry him back. "Since you do not wish to proceed," says St. Bernard, addressing a tepid soul, "you must recede." "By no means," she replied; "I wish to live, and to remain in my present state. I will not consent to be worse; and I do not wish to be better." "Then," rejoins the Saint, "you wish to do the impossible." Because, in the way of God, a Christian must either go forward and advance in virtue, or go backward into vice.
In seeking eternal salvation, we must, according to St. Paul, never rest, but run continually in the way of perfection, that we may win the prize, and secure an incorruptible crown. So run that you may obtain (1 Cor. ix. 24). If we fail, the fault will be ours; for God wills that all should be holy and perfect. This is the will of God -- your sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). He even commands us to be perfect and holy. Be you therefore perfect, as also your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. v. 48). Be holy because I am holy (Lev. xi. 44). He promises and gives abundant strength, as the holy Council of Trent teaches, for the observance of all His commands, to those who ask it from Him. "God does not command impossibilities; but by His precepts he admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask what you cannot do; and He assists you, that you may be able to do it." God does not command impossibilities; but by His precepts He admonishes us to do what we can by the aid of His ordinary grace; and when greater helps are necessary, He exhorts us to ask for them by humble prayer. He will infallibly answer our petitions, and enable us to observe all, even the most difficult, of His commandments. Take courage, then, and adopt the advice of the Venerable Father Torres to one of his penitents: "Let us, my child, put on the wings of strong desires, that quitting the earth, we may fly to our Spouse and our Beloved, Who expects us in the blessed kingdom of eternity."
St. Augustine teaches that the life of a Christian is made up of holy desires. He, then, that cherishes not in his heart the desire of sanctity, may be a Christian, but he will not be a good one.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
X. SPECIAL PRACTICES OF THIS VIRTUE
I.
It will often happen we shall find ourselves without doctor or medicine; or, again, our medical attendant may not clearly understand our complaint; and here, too, we must be in a state of conformity to the Divine will, which ordains it to be so for our good. It is related of one who had a devotion to St. Thomas of Canterbury, that, being unwell, he went to the tomb of the Saint to obtain his recovery. He returned home in good health; but then he said within himself: But if the sickness would have been a greater help towards my salvation, what benefit shall I gain from the health I now have? With this thought in his mind, he went back to the tomb, and prayed the Saint to ask for him of God that which was the more expedient for his eternal salvation; and after doing this, he relapsed into the sickness, and bore it with perfect contentment, holding it for certain that God ordained it to be so for his good. There is a similar anecdote related by Surius, of a certain blind man who received his sight through the intercession of the Bishop St. Vedast; but afterwards prayed that, if his sight was not expedient for his soul, he might return to his former state of blindness; and after this prayer he continued blind as before. In times of sickness, then, it is best to abandon ourselves to the will of God, that He may dispose of us as pleases Him. But if we wish for good health let us ask for it with resignation at least, and on the condition that health of the body be for the health of the soul; otherwise a prayer to this effect will be faulty, and rejected, because the Lord does not listen to such prayers when not accompanied by resignation.
II.
I call the time of sickness the touchstone by which souls are tried, for then is ascertained a man's real virtue. If he does not lose his tranquillity, makes no complaints, and is not over-anxious, but obeys his medical adviser and his superiors, preserving throughout the same peacefulness of mind, in perfect resignation to the Divine will, it is a sign that he possesses great virtue. But what, then must one say of the sick person who laments and says that he receives but little assistance from others; that his sufferings are intolerable; he can find no remedy to do him good; that his medical man is ignorant; at times complaining even to God that His hand presses too heavily upon him? St. Bonaventure relates of St. Francis, that when the Saint was suffering pains of an extraordinary severity, one of his Religious, who was somewhat artless, said to him: "My Father, pray to God to treat you with a little more gentleness; for it seems that He lays His hand upon you too heavily." St. Francis, on hearing this, cried aloud, and said to him in reply: "Listen; if I did not know that you spoke from your simplicity, I would never see your face again -- daring, as you have done, to find fault with the judgments of God." And after saying this, extremely enfeebled and emaciated through his sickness though he was, he threw himself from his bed upon the floor and kissing it, said: "Lord, I thank Thee for all the sufferings Thou sendest me. I pray Thee to send me more, if it so please Thee. It is my delight for Thee to afflict me, and not to spare me in the least, because the fulfilment of Thy will is the greatest consolation I can receive in this life."
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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There is no means that can more surely kindle Divine love in us than to consider the Passion of Jesus Christ. St. Bonaventure says that the Wounds of Jesus, because they are the Wounds of love, are darts which pierce the hardest hearts, and flames which set on fire the coldest souls. "O wounds, wounding stony hearts and inflaming frozen minds!"
I.
Our loving Redeemer, as the hour of His death was approaching, retired into the Garden of Gethsemani, where of His own will He made a beginning of His most bitter Passion, by giving free way to fear and weariness and sorrow: He began to fear, and to be heavy -- to grow sorrowful, and to be sad (Mark xiv. 33; Matt. xxvi. 37). He began, then, to feel a great fear and weariness of death, and of the pains which must accompany it. At that moment there were represented to His mind most vividly the scourges, the thorns, the nails, the cross, which, not one after the other, but every one together, came to afflict Him; and specially there stood before Him the desolate death He must endure, abandoned by every comfort, human and Divine; so that, terrified by the sight of the horrid vision of such torments and ignominies, He besought His Eternal Father to be freed from them: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me (Matt. xxvi. 39). But how is this? Was it not this same Jesus Who had so much desired to suffer and die for men, saying: I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished! (Luke xii. 50). How then, does He fear these pains and this death? It was with good-will indeed He was going to die for us: but to the end that we might not suppose that through any virtue of His Divinity He could die without pain, He made this prayer to His Father that we might fully know that He not only died for love of us, but that the death He was to die did terrify Him greatly.
II.
To torment our afflicted Saviour there was added a great sorrowfulness -- so great that, as He said, it was enough to cause death: My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38). But, Lord, to deliver Thyself from the death men are preparing for Thee is in Thy own hands, if it so please Thee; why, then, afflict Thyself? Ah, it was not so much the torments of His Passion as our sins which afflicted the Heart of our loving Saviour. He had come on earth to take away our sins; but seeing that, in spite of His Passion, there would be committed such iniquities in the world -- this was the pang which before dying reduced Him to death, and made Him sweat living blood in such abundance that the ground all round about was bathed therewith: And His sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground (Luke xxii. 44). Yes, Jesus then saw before Him all the sins men were going to commit after His death, all the hatred, the impurities, thefts, blasphemies, sacrileges, and each sin, with its own malice, came like a cruel wild beast to rend His Heart. So that He seemed to say: Is this, then, O men, the recompense you make to my love? Ah, if I could see you grateful to Me, with what gladness should I now go to die; but to see, after so many sufferings of mine, so many sins; after so great love, so much ingratitude -- this it is which causes Me to sweat blood.
Were they, then, my sins, my beloved Jesus, which in that hour so greatly afflicted Thee? If, therefore, I had sinned less, Thou wouldst have suffered less. The more pleasure I have taken in sinning, so much the more sorrow did I cause Thee. How is it that I do not die of grief in thinking that I have repaid Thy love by increasing Thy pain and sorrow? Have I, then, afflicted that Heart which has so much loved me? With creatures I have been grateful enough; with Thee only have I been ungrateful. My Jesus, pardon me; I repent with all my heart.
Seeing Himself burdened with our sins, Jesus fell upon his face (Matt. xxvi. 39), as if ashamed to lift up His eyes to Heaven, and lying in the agony of death He prayed a long time: Being in an agony he prayed the longer (Luke, xxii. 43).
Ah, my Lord, Thou didst pray then to the Eternal Father to pardon me, offering Thyself to die in satisfaction for my sins. O my soul, how is it that thou dost not surrender thyself to such great love? Believing this, how canst thou love aught else than Jesus? Come! cast thyself at the feet of thy Savour in His agony, and say to Him: My dear Redeemer, how is it that Thou couldst love one who had so offended Thee? How couldst Thou suffer death for me, seeing my ingratitude? Make me, I pray Thee, partaker of this sorrow which Thou didst feel in the Garden. Now I abhor all my sins, and unite this abhorrence to that which Thou hadst for them. O love of my Jesus, Thou art my love! Lord, I love Thee, and for love of Thee I offer myself to suffer any pain, any kind of death. Ah, by the merits of the agony which Thou didst suffer in the Garden, give me holy perseverance! Mary, my hope, pray to Jesus for me.
Spiritual Reading
THE MEANS OF ACQUIRING PERFECTION
The first means is Mental Prayer, and particularly Meditation on the claims God has on our love, and on His love for us, especially in the great work of our Redemption. To redeem us, God even sacrificed His life in a sea of sorrows and contempt; and to obtain our love, He has gone so far as to make Himself our food. To inflame the soul with the fire of Divine love, these truths must be frequently meditated upon. In my meditation, says David, a fire shall flame out (Ps. xxxviii. 4). When I contemplate the goodness of my God, the flames of charity fill my whole heart. St. Aloysius used to say, that to attain eminent sanctity a high degree of mental prayer is necessary.
We should frequently renew our resolution of advancing in Divine love. In this renewal we shall be greatly assisted by considering each day, that it is only now you begin to walk in the path of virtue. This was the practice of holy David: And I said: Now have I begun (Ps. lxxvi. 11). And this was the dying advice of St. Anthony to his monks: "My dear children, consider that each day is the day you begin to serve God."
We should search out continually and scrupulously the defects of the soul. "Brethren," says St. Augustine, examine yourselves with rigour; be always dissatisfied with what you are, if you desire to become what you are not yet. To arrive at that perfection which you have not attained, you must never be satisfied with the virtue you possess; "for," continues the Saint, "where you say you are pleased with yourself, there you remain." Wherever you are content with the degree of sanctity to which you have arrived, there you will stop, and, taking complacency in yourself, you will lose the desire of further perfection. Hence the holy Doctor adds, what should terrify every tepid soul, who, content with her present state, has but little desire of spiritual advancement: "But if you say: It is enough, you are lost!" If you say you have already attained sufficient perfection, you are lost; for not to advance in the way of God is to go back. And, as Saint Bernard says, "not to wish to go forward, is certainly to fail." Hence St. John Chrysostom exhorts us to think continually on the virtues we do not possess, and never to reflect on the little good we have done; for the thought of our good works "generates indolence and inspires arrogance," and serves only to engender sloth in the way of the Lord, and to swell the heart with vain-glory, which exposes the soul to the danger of losing the virtues she has acquired. "He who runs," continues the Saint, "does not count the distance he has gone, but the distance he has still to go." He that aspires after perfection does not stop to calculate the proficiency he has made, but directs all his attention to the virtue he has still to acquire. Fervent Christians, as they that dig for a treasure (Job, iii. 21), advance in virtue as they approach the end of life. Saint Gregory says in his commentary on this passage of Job, that the man who digs for a treasure, the deeper he has dug the more he exerts himself in the hope of finding it; so the soul that seeks after holiness multiplies its efforts to attain it in proportion to the advance it has made.
The fourth means is that which St. Bernard employed to excite his fervour. "He had," says Surius, "this always in his heart, and frequently in his mouth: Bernarde, ad quid venisti?" -- Bernard, to what purpose hast thou come hither? Those especially who have consecrated themselves to God should continually ask themselves the same question: Have I not left the world and all its riches and pleasures, to live in the cloister, and to become a saint, and what progress do I make? Do I advance in sanctity? Am I not, by my tepidity, exposing myself to the danger of eternal perdition? It will be useful to introduce, in this place, the example of the Venerable Sister Hyacinth Mariscotti, who at first led a very tepid life, in the convent of St. Bernardine in Viterbo. She confessed to Father Bianchetti, a Franciscan, who came to the convent as extraordinary confessor. That holy man thus addressed her: "Are you a nun? Are you not aware that Paradise is not for vain and proud Religious?" "Then," she replied, "have I left the world to cast myself into hell?" "Yes," rejoined the Father, "that is the place which is destined for Religious who live like seculars." Reflecting on these words of the holy man, Sister Hyacinth was struck with remorse; and, bewailing her past life, she made her Confession with tearful eyes, and began from that moment to walk resolutely in the way of perfection. Oh how salutary is the thought of having abandoned the world to become a saint! It awakens the tepid soul, and encourages us all to advance continually in holiness, and to surmount every obstacle to our ascent up to the mountain of God.
Evening Meditation
THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST IS OUR CONSOLATION.
I.
Who can ever give us as much consolation in this valley of tears as Jesus crucified? What can sweeten the prickings of remorse, arising from the remembrance of our past sins, better than the consideration that Jesus Christ has voluntarily suffered death in order to atone for our sins? He, says the Apostle, gave himself for our sins (Gal. i. 4).
In all the persecutions, calumnies, insults, loss of property and honour, which may come to us in this life, who is better able to give us strength to bear them with patience and resignation than Jesus Christ, Who was despised, calumniated, and poor; Who died on a Cross, naked, and abandoned by all?
What more consoling in infirmities than the sight of Jesus crucified? In our sickness we find ourselves on a comfortable bed; but when Jesus was sick on the Cross on which He died, He had no other bed than a hard tree, to which He was fastened by three nails; no other pillow on which to rest His head than the Crown of Thorns, which continued to torment Him till He expired.
In our sickness we have around our bed, friends and relatives to sympathize with us and to entertain us. Jesus died in the midst of enemies, who insulted and mocked Him as a malefactor and seducer, even when He was in the very agony of death. Certainly, there is nothing so well calculated as the life of Jesus crucified to console a sick man in his sufferings, particularly if he finds himself abandoned by others. To unite, in his infirmity, his own pains to the pains of Jesus Christ is the greatest comfort that a poor sick man can enjoy.
II.
In the anguish caused at death by the assaults of hell, the sight of past sins, and the account to be rendered in a short time at the Divine tribunal, the only consolation a dying Christian, combating with death, can have consists in embracing the Crucifix, saying: "My Jesus and my Redeemer, Thou art my love and my hope."
In a word, all the graces, lights, inspirations, holy desires, devout affections, sorrow for sin, good resolutions, Divine love, hope of Paradise, that God bestows upon us, are fruits and gifts which come to us through the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Ah, my Jesus, if Thou, my Saviour, hadst not died for me, what hope could I, who have so often turned my back upon Thee and so often deserved hell, entertain of going to behold Thy beautiful countenance in the land of bliss, among so many innocent Virgins, among so many holy Martyrs, among the Apostles and Seraphs? It is Thy Passion, then, that gives me hope, in spite of my sins, that I too shall one day reach the society of the Saints and of Thy holy Mother, to sing Thy mercies, and to thank and love Thee forever in Paradise. Such, O Jesus, is my hope. The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever (Ps. lxxxviii. 2). Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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So far is the Blessed Virgin Mary from disdaining to assist sinners, she ever takes pride in her office as Advocate of Sinners. "Next to the dignity of Mother of God," she herself once said, "there is nothing I value so much as my office of Advocate of sinners."
I.
So far is the Blessed Virgin Mary from disdaining to assist sinners, she ever takes pride in her office as Advocate of Sinners. "Next to the dignity of Mother of God," she herself once said, "there is nothing I value so much as my office of Advocate of sinners."
It was for this end that Mary was chosen from eternity to be God's Mother that those whose sins should exclude them from participation in the merits of her Son might be made partakers of them by her intercession. This was the principal office for the fulfilment of which God created Mary, and placed her in this world: Feed thy kids (Cant. i. 7). By kids He means sinners, and those kids are given to Mary's care, in order that they who on the Day of Judgment should by their sins have deserved to stand upon the left, may by her intercession stand upon the right. "Feed thy kids," says William of Paris, "whom thou shalt convert into sheep, that they who should have been placed to the left may through thy intercession take their stand upon the right."
St. Bridget one day heard Jesus Christ saying to His Mother: "Thou givest assistance to every one endeavouring to ascend to God." Mary assists every one who does himself violence to abandon his evil life and turn to God, or who at least prays to her that he may receive strength to do so; if he have not that desire, the Divine Mother herself cannot assist him. Mary then assists only those sinners who honour her by some special devotion, and who, if they yet remain in disgrace with God, have recourse to her that she may obtain pardon for them, and work their deliverance from their present unfortunate condition. The sinner who acts thus from his heart is secure, because Mary, as we have said before, has been created that she might have charge of sinners, and lead them to God. The Lord revealed this to St. Catherine of Sienna: "She is chosen by me as a most delicious food, so as to attract and capture men, especially sinners." And the Blessed Mother herself said to St. Bridget, that as the magnet attracts iron, so she draws the hard hearts of men to herself and to God. But we must always bear in mind that these hearts, notwithstanding their hardness, must desire liberation from their unhappy state.
II.
"How can he fear he shall be cast away," asks the Abbot Adam, "to whom Mary offers herself for a Mother and an Advocate?" He inquires again, "Could it be possible that you, the Mother of Mercy, should not intercede with the Redeemer for the soul He has redeemed?" He answers: "Ah, thou must intercede, because God, Who has placed His Son as Mediator between man and Heaven, has placed thee Mediatrix between His Son and guilty man."
Then, O sinner, says St. Bernard, give thanks to God Who has provided you with such a Mediatrix. Thank your God, Who, in order to manifest His mercy towards you, has given you not only His Son for a Mediator in His own right, but that you may have more confidence, has given you Mary as a Mediatrix with that Son. Therefore, it is that St. Augustine calls her the only hope of sinners. And St. Bonaventure: "If by reason of your iniquities you see the Lord in anger, and fear to approach Him, have recourse to the hope of sinners, who is Mary." She will not reject you because you are too wretched, for "it is her office to assist the wretched." Hence, when we have recourse to Mary, let us say to her with St. Thomas of Villanova: "Come, therefore, thou our advocate, and fulfil thy office." Since thou art Mother of God, and advocate of the wretched, assist me who am so wretched; if thou dost not assist me I shall be lost! Let us address her in the words of St. Bernard: "Remember, O most pious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions; but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen."
Spiritual Reading
I. MORTIFICATION OF THE EYES
Almost all our rebellious passions spring from unguarded looks; for, generally speaking, it is by the sight that all inordinate affections and desires are excited. Hence, holy Job said: I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin (Job, xxxi, 1). -- Why did he say that he would not so much as think upon a virgin? Should he not have said that he made a covenant with his eyes not to look upon a virgin? No; he very properly said that he would not think upon a virgin; because thoughts are so connected with looks, that the former cannot be separated from the latter, and therefore, to escape the molestation of evil imaginations, he resolved never to fix his eyes on a woman.
St. Augustine says: "The thought follows the look: delight comes after the thought; and consent after delight." From the look proceeds the thought; from the thought the desire. If Eve had not looked at the forbidden apple, she should not have fallen; but because she saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat (Gen. iii. 6). The devil tempts us to look first, then to desire, and afterwards to consent.
St. Jerome says that Satan requires "only a beginning on our part." If we begin, he will complete our destruction. A deliberate glance at a person of a different sex often enkindles an infernal spark, which consumes the soul. "Through the eyes," says St. Bernard, "the deadly arrows of love enter." The first dart that wounds and frequently robs chaste souls of life finds admission through the eyes. By them David, the beloved of God, fell. By them was Solomon, once the inspired of the Holy Ghost, drawn into the greatest abominations. Oh! how many are lost by indulging their sight!
The eyes must be carefully guarded by all who expect not to be obliged to join in the lamentation of Jeremias: My eye hath wasted my soul (Lam. iii. 51). By the introduction of sinful affections, my eyes have destroyed my soul. Hence St. Gregory says, that "the eyes, because they draw us to sin, must be cast down." If not restrained, they will become instruments of hell, to force the soul to sin almost against its will. "He that looks at a dangerous object," continues the Saint, "begins to will what he wills not." It was this the inspired writer intended to express when he said of Holofernes, that the beauty of Judith made his soul her captive (Judith xvi. 11).
Seneca says that "blindness is a part of innocence." And Tertullian relates that a certain pagan philosopher, to free himself from impurity, plucked out his eyes. Such an act would be unlawful in us: but he that desires to preserve chastity must avoid the sight of objects that are apt to excite unchaste thoughts. Gaze not about, says the Holy Ghost, upon another's beauty; ... hereby lust is enkindled as a fire (Ecclus. ix. 8, 9) Gaze not upon another's beauty; for from looks arise evil imaginations, by which an impure fire is kindled. Hence St. Francis de Sales used to say, that "they who wish to exclude an enemy from the city must keep the gates locked."
Hence, to avoid the sight of dangerous objects, the Saints were accustomed to keep their eyes almost continually fixed on the earth, and to abstain even from looking at innocent objects. After being a novice for a year, St. Bernard could not tell whether his cell was vaulted. In consequence of never raising his eyes from the ground, he never knew that there were but three windows to the church of the monastery, in which he spent his novitiate. He once, without perceiving a lake, walked along its banks for nearly an entire day; and hearing his companions speak about it, he asked when they had seen it. St. Peter of Alcantara kept his eyes constantly cast down, so that he did not know the brothers with whom he conversed. It was by the voice, and not by the countenance, that he recognised them.
Evening Meditation
"O GRACIOUS ADVOCATE."
I.
Since the Mother should have the same power as the Son, rightly has Jesus, Who is Omnipotent, made Mary also Omnipotent; though, of course, it is always true that where the Son is Omnipotent by nature, the Mother is only so by grace. But that she is so, is evident from the fact, that whatever the Mother asks for, the Son never denies her; and this was revealed to St. Bridget, who one day heard Jesus speaking to Mary, and thus address her: "Ask of Me what thou wilt, for no petition of thine can be void." As if He had said, "My Mother, thou knowest how much I love thee; therefore, ask all thou wilt of Me; for it is not possible that I should refuse thee anything." And the reason our Lord gave for this was beautiful: "Because thou never didst deny Me anything on earth, I will deny thee nothing in Heaven." My Mother, when thou wast in the world, thou never didst refuse to do anything for the love of Me; and now that I am in Heaven, it is right that I should deny thee nothing thou askest. Holy Mary, then, is called omnipotent in the sense in which it can be understood of a creature who is incapable of a Divine attribute. She is omnipotent, because by her prayers she obtains whatever she wills.
With good reason, then, O great advocate, does St. Bernard say: "Thou willest, and all things are done." And St. Anselm "Whatever thou, O Virgin, willest can never be otherwise than accomplished." Thou willest, and all is done. If thou art pleased to raise a sinner from the lowest abyss of misery to the highest degree of sanctity, thou canst do it. Blessed Albert the Great, on this subject, makes Mary say: "I have to be asked that I may will; for if I will a thing, it is necessarily done."
II.
St. Peter Damian, reflecting on the great power of Mary, and begging her to take compassion on us, addresses her, saying: "O let thy nature move thee, let thy power move thee; for the more thou art powerful, the greater should thy mercy be." O Mary, our own beloved advocate, since thou hast so compassionate a heart that thou canst not even see the wretched without being moved to pity, and since, at the same time, thou hast so great power with God, that thou canst save all whom thou dost protect -- disdain not to undertake the cause of us poor miserable creatures who place all our hope in thee. If our prayers cannot move thee, at least let thine own benign heart do so; or, at least, let thy power do so, since God has enriched thee with so great power, in order that the richer thou art in power to help us, the more merciful thou mayest be in the will to assist us. St. Bernard reassures us on this point; for he says that Mary is as immensely rich in mercy as she is in power; and that, as her charity is most powerful, so also it is most clement and compassionate, and its effects continually prove it to be so. He thus expresses himself: "The most powerful and merciful charity of the Mother of God abounds in tender compassion and in effectual succour; it is equally rich in both."
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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