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By our sins long ago committed, and often since, we have deserved hell. And do we understand what hell means? One moment in hell is more dreadful than a hundred years of most frightful torments. And yet we complain if God sends us sufferings. O Lord, Thou art just! Give us grace to suffer with patience.
I.
Are we to look upon God as a tyrant who takes pleasure in our suffering? He does take pleasure in punishing us, but exactly the same pleasure a father takes in correcting his son: He does not take pleasure in the pain which He inflicts, but in the amendment it will work. My son, reject not the correction of the Lord; and do not faint when thou art chastised by him, for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth, and as a father in the son, he pleaseth himself (Prov. iii. 11). He chastises you because He loves you; it is not that He wishes to see you afflicted, but converted; and if He takes pleasure in your suffering, He does so inasmuch as it is a means of conversion -- just as a father who chastises his son derives pleasure, not from the affliction of his son, but from the amendment which he hopes to see in him, and which will prevent him from working his own ruin. Chastisement makes us return to God, says St. John Chrysostom; and it is to this end God inflicts it, in order that we may not stay away from Him.
Why then do you complain of God when in tribulation? You ought to thank Him prostrate on the earth. If a man condemned to die were to have his sentence changed by the prince from death into one hour's imprisonment, and if he were to complain of that one hour, would his complaint be just? Would he not rather deserve that the prince should reverse the last sentence, and condemn him a second time to death? You have long and often deserved hell by your sins. And do you know all that the word hell means? Know that it is more dreadful to suffer for one moment in hell than to suffer for a hundred years the most frightful torments which the Martyrs suffered on earth; and in this hell you should have had to suffer not for a moment, but during all eternity. And yet you complain if God send you some tribulation, some infirmity, some loss! Thank God, and say: Lord, this chastisement is trifling compared with my sins. I should have been in hell burning, deserted by all, and in despair; I thank Thee for having called me to Thyself by this tribulation which Thou hast sent me. God, says Oleaster, often calls sinners to repentance by temporal chastisements. By earthly chastisements the Lord shows us the immense punishment our sins deserve; and therefore afflicts us on this earth, that we may be converted and escape eternal flames.
II.
Wretched, then, should we poor sinners be if left unpunished; but still more wretched is the sinner who, admonished by affliction, does not amend. It is not a grievous thing to be afflicted by God on this earth after one has sinned; but it is very grievous not to be converted by the affliction sent, and to be like those of whom David speaks, who, although visited by Divine chastisement, still sleep on in their sins. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered (Ps. lxxv. 7). As if the sound of the scourges and the thunders of God, instead of rousing them from their lethargy, served only to make them sleep more soundly. I struck you, yet you returned not to me (Amos iv. 9). I have scourged you, says God, in order that you might return to Me; but ye, ungrateful that you are, have been deaf to My calls. Unhappy the sinner who acts like him of whom the Lord says, He shall send lightnings against him; ... his heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil (Job xli. 14, 15). God visits him with chastisement, and he, instead of being softened and returning to the Lord by penance, shall be as firm as a smith's anvil; he shall grow more hardened under the blows of God, as the anvil grows harder under the hammer, like the impious Achaz, of whom the Scripture says: In the time of his distress he increased contempt against the Lord (2 Par. xxviii. 22). Unhappy man, instead of humbling himself, he all the more despised God. He deserves all chastisement who, being afflicted by the Lord for his conversion, continues to provoke the Lord to greater wrath. What can I do, O sinner, to bring about your conversion? The Lord will say: I have called you by sermons and inspirations, and you have despised them; I have called you by favours, and you have grown more insolent; I have called you by scourges, and you continue to offend Me. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression ... and the daughter of Sion shall be left ... as a city that is laid waste (Is. i. 5-8). Do you not wish to hearken even to My chastisements? Do you wish that I should abandon you?
Let us no longer abuse the mercy which God uses towards us. Let us not be like the nettle, which stings him who strikes it. God afflicts us, because He loves us, and wishes to see us reformed. When we feel the chastisement, we should remember our sins, and say with the brethren of Joseph: We deserve to suffer these things, because we have sinned against our brother (Gen. xlii. 21). Lord, Thou punishest us justly, because we have offended Thee, our Father and God. Thou art just, O God, and thy judgment is right (Ps. cxviii. 137). Everything thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment (Dan. iii. 31). Lord, Thou art just, and dost with justice punish us; we accept this tribulation which Thou sendest us; give us strength to suffer it with patience.
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
V. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
Since without the Divine aid you can do nothing, be careful never to confide in your own strength; but after the example of St. Philip Neri, endeavour to live in continual and utter distrust of yourself. Like St. Peter, who protested that not even death would induce him to deny his Master, the proud man trusts in his own courage, and therefore yields to temptation. Because he confided in himself, the Apostle had no sooner entered the house of the high-priest than he denied Jesus Christ. Be careful never to place confidence in your own resolutions or in your present good dispositions; but put your whole trust in God, saying with St. Paul: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me (Phil. iv. 13). If you cast away all self-confidence, and place all your hopes in the Lord, you may then expect to do great things for God. They that hope in the Lord, says the Prophet Isaias, shall renew their strength (Is. xl. 31). Yes, the humble, who trust in the Lord, shall renew their strength; distrusting themselves, they shall lay aside their own weakness and put on the strength of God. Hence, St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that "whoever desires to be the instrument of God in great undertakings, should seek to be the lowest of all." Strive to imitate the conduct of St. Catharine of Sienna, who, when tempted to vainglory, would make an act of humility, and when tempted to despair, would make an act of confidence in God. Enraged at her conduct, the devil began one day to curse her and the person who taught her this mode of resisting his temptations; and added, that he "knew not how to attack her." When, therefore, Satan tells you that you are in no danger of falling, tremble; and reflect that, should God abandon you for a moment, you are lost. When he tempts you to despair, exclaim in the loving words of David: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped: let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2). In Thee, O Lord, I have placed all my hopes; I trust that I shall not be confounded, deprived of Thy grace, and made the slave of hell.
Should you be so unfortunate as to commit a fault, take care not to give way to diffidence, but humble your soul; repent, and with a stronger sense of your own weakness, throw yourself into the arms of the Lord. To be angry with ourselves after having committed a fault, is not an act of humility, but of pride, which makes us wonder how we could have fallen into such a fault. Yes, it is pride and a delusion of the devil, who seeks to draw us away from the path of perfection, to cast us into despair of advancing in virtue, and thus precipitate us into more grievous sins. After a fault we should redouble our confidence in God, and thus take occasion from our infidelity to place still greater hopes in His mercy. To them that love God, says St. Paul, all things work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). "Yes," adds the Gloss, "even sins." The Lord once said to St. Gertrude: "When a person's hands are stained he washes them, and they become cleaner than before they were soiled." So the soul that commits a fault, being purified by repentance, is made more pleasing in the eyes of God than she was before her transgression. To teach them to distrust themselves, and to confide only in Him, God sometimes permits His servants, and particularly those who are not well grounded in humility, to fall into some sin. If, then, you commit a fault, endeavour to repair it immediately by an act of love and of sorrow; resolve to amend, and redouble your confidence in God; say with St. Catharine of Genoa: "Lord, this is the fruit of my garden. If Thou dost not protect me I shall be guilty of still more grievous offences; but I purpose to avoid this fault for the future, and with the aid of Thy grace, I hope to keep this resolution." Should you ever relapse, act always in the same manner, and never abandon the resolution of becoming a saint.
Should you ever see another commit some grievous sin, take care not to indulge in pride, nor to be surprised at his fall; but pity his misfortune, and trembling for yourself, say with holy David: Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps. xciii. 17). If the Almighty had not been my Protector, I should at this moment be buried in hell. Beware of even taking vain complacency in being exempt from faults you perceive in others, or else, in chastisement of your pride the Lord will permit you to fall into the sins they have committed. Cassian relates that a certain young monk, being for a long time molested by a violent temptation to impurity, sought advice and consolation from an aged Father. Instead of receiving encouragement and comfort, he was loaded with reproaches. "What!" said the old man, "is it possible that a monk should be subject to such abominable thoughts?" In punishment of his pride the Almighty permitted the Father to be assailed by the spirit of impurity to such a degree that he ran about like a madman. Hearing of his miserable condition, the Abbot Apollo told him that God had permitted this temptation to punish his conduct towards the young monk, and also to teach him compassion for others in similar circumstances. The Apostle tells us that in correcting sinners we should not treat them with contempt, lest God should permit us to be assailed by the temptation to which they yielded, and perhaps to fall into the very sin which we were surprised to see them commit. We should, before we reprove others, consider that we are as miserable and as liable to sin as our fallen brethren. Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault ... instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted (Gal. vi. 1). The same Cassian relates that a certain Abbot called Machete confessed that he himself had miserably fallen into three faults, of which he had rashly judged his brethren to be guilty.
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
We are to have this certain confidence that in obeying our Spiritual Father, we are sure of not sinning. "The sovereign remedy for the scrupulous," says St. Bernard, "is a blind obedience to their confessor." John Gerson relates, that the same Saint told one of his disciples, who was scrupulous, to go and celebrate, and take his word for it. He went, and was cured of his scruples. "But a person may answer," says Gerson, "Would to God I had a St. Bernard for my director! Mine is one of indifferent wisdom." And he answers, "Thou dost err, whoever thou art that so speakest; for thou hast not given thyself into the hands of the man because he is well read, etc., but because he is placed over thee; wherefore obey him not as man, but as God." Hence St. Teresa has well said: "Let the soul accept the confessor with a determination to think no more of personal excuses, but to trust in the words of the Lord: He that heareth you heareth me.
Hence St. Francis de Sales, speaking of direction from a Spiritual Father in order to walk securely in the way of God, says: "This is the very counsel of all counsels." "Search as much as you will," says the saintly Father John of Avila, "you will in no way discover the will of God so surely as by the path of that humble obedience which is so much recommended and practised by the devout of former times." Thus, too, Father Alvarez said: "Even if the Spiritual Father should err, the obedient soul is secure from error, because it rests on the judgment of him whom God has given it as a superior." And Father Nieremberg writes to the same effect: "Let the soul obey the confessor; and then, although the thing itself were faulty, he does not sin who does it with the intention of obeying him who holds the place of God in his regard, persuading himself, as is, indeed, the case, that he is bound to obey him," who is the interpreter of the Divine will.
II.
St. Francis of Sales gives three maxims which bring great consolation to scrupulous souls.
1. An obedient soul has never been lost; 2. We ought to rest satisfied with knowing from our Spiritual Father that we are going on well, without seeking a personal knowledge of it; 3. The best thing is to walk on blindly through all the darkness and perplexity of this life, under the Providence of God. And therefore all the Doctors of Morals conclude, in general, with St. Antoninus, Navarro, Silvester, etc., that obedience to the confessor is the safest rule for walking securely in the ways of God. F. Tirillo, and F. La Croix say that this is the common doctrine of the holy Fathers and masters of the spiritual life.
The scrupulous should know that not only are they safe in obeying, but that they are bound to obey their director, and to despise the scruple, acting with all freedom in the midst of their doubts. This is the teaching of Natalis Alexander: That scruples ought to be despised when one has the judgment of a prudent, pious, and learned director; and that one ought to act against them. "He who acts against scruples does not sin," says Father Wigandt, "nay, sometimes it is a precept to do so, especially when backed by the judgment of the confessor." So do these authors speak, although they belong to the rigid school; so, too, theologians in general; and the reason is, that if the scrupulous man goes on in his scruples, he is in danger of placing grievous impediments in the way of satisfying his obligations, or, at least, of making spiritual progress; and, moreover, of even losing his mind, losing his health, and destroying his soul by despair or by relaxation. Hence St. Antoninus agrees with Gerson in thus reproving the scrupulous soul who, through a vain fear, is not obedient in overcoming his scruples: "Beware lest, from overmuch desire to walk securely, thou fall and destroy thyself."
"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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God wishes that we should all be saved, as the Apostle assures us when he says God will have all men to be saved (1 Tim. ii. 4). And although He sees so many sinners who deserve hell, He does not wish any of them to be lost but that they be restored to grace by penance and saved. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance (2 Peter iii. 9).
I.
He who has a good heart cannot but feel compassion for the afflicted, and wish to see all men happy. But who has a heart as good as the Lord's? He by His nature is infinite goodness, and hence it is that God by His nature has an extreme desire to deliver us from every evil, and render us happy in all things, nay, even to be partakers of His own happiness.
God wishes that we should all be saved, as the Apostle assures us: God ... who will have all men to be saved (1 Tim. ii. 4). And although He sees so many sinners who deserve hell, He does not wish that any of them should be lost, but that they should be restored to grace by penance, and be saved. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance (2 Peter iii. 9). But before delivering us from the punishment we have deserved, and dispensing His graces, God wishes to be besought in prayer. "By prayer," says St. Laurence Justinian, "the wrath of God is suspended, His vengeance is delayed, and pardon finally procured." Oh how great are the promises which God makes to him who prays! Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee (Ps. xlix. 15). Cry to me, and I will hear thee (Jer. xxxiii. 3). You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you (Jo. xv. 7). Theodoret says that Prayer though being but one, can do all things. And let us bear in mind that when we pray and ask things conducive to salvation not even our sins can prevent our receiving the graces which we beg -- For every one that asketh receiveth (Matt. vii. 8). Jesus Christ here says that whoever asks, be he just or sinner, shall receive. Wherefore did David say: For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee (Ps. lxxxv. 5). Hence, in order to excite us to prayer, the Apostle St. James tells us: But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not (James i. 5).
II.
He giveth to all men abundantly. When a man asks a favour of another whom he may have formerly injured, the latter usually reproaches him with the injury that has been done him; but not so God -- He upbraideth not. When we beg of Him some grace for the good of our souls, He never reproaches us with the offences we have committed; but He hears us, and consoles us as though we had always served Him faithfully. Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name, said our Lord one day to His disciples, and today He says the same thing to us: Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full (Jo. xvi. 24). As if He were to say: Do you complain of Me? You have only yourselves to blame, for you have not asked graces of Me, and therefore you have not received them. Ask of Me, henceforward, what you please, and it shall be granted you, and if you have not merit sufficient to obtain it, ask it of My Father in My Name, that is, through My merits, and whatever it be, I promise that you shall obtain it. Amen, amen, I say to you; if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you (Jo. xvi. 23). The princes of the earth, says St. John Chrysostom, give audience only to a few, and that seldom; but access can always be had to God by every one, at all times, and with the assurance of a favourable hearing.
Rely, then, upon these great promises, so often repeated by Our Lord in the Scriptures; and let us ever remember to beg of Him those graces which are necessary for salvation -- namely, the pardon of our sins, perseverance in grace, His holy love, resignation to His Divine will, a happy death, and Paradise. By prayer we shall attain all; without prayer we shall have nothing. What the holy Fathers and Theologians commonly say -- namely, that prayer is necessary for adults, as a means of salvation, comes to this, that it is impossible for any one to be saved without prayer.
Let us pray, then, and pray with great confidence in that Divine promise by which, says St. Augustine, God has made Himself our Debtor. He has promised; He cannot be wanting in His promise. Let us seek and hope, and we must be saved. No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded (Ecclus. ii. 11). There never has been and never will be found any one to hope in the Lord and be lost. He is the Protector of all who trust in him (Ps. xvii. 31).
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
VI. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
Consider yourself the greatest sinner on this earth. They who are truly humble, because they are most perfectly enlightened by God, possess the most perfect knowledge, not only of the Divine perfections, but also, of their own miseries and sins. Hence, notwithstanding their extraordinary sanctity, the Saints, not in the language of exaggeration, but in the sincerity of their souls, called themselves the greatest sinners in the world. Thus St. Francis of Assisi called himself the worst of sinners; St. Thomas of Villanova was kept in a state of continual fear and trembling by the thought of the account he was one day to render to God, for his life, though full of virtue, appeared to him very wicked. St. Gertrude considered it a miracle that the earth did not open under her feet and swallow her up alive, in punishment of her sins. St. Paul, the first hermit, was in the habit of exclaiming: "Woe to me, a sinner, who am unworthy to bear the name of a monk." In the writings of Blessed John of Avila we read of a person of great sanctity who besought the Lord to make known to her the state of her soul. Her prayer was heard; and so deformed and abominable was the appearance of her soul, though stained only with the guilt of venial sins, that, struck with horror, she cried out: "For mercy's sake, O Lord, take away from before my eyes the representation of this monster!"
Beware, then, of ever preferring yourself to any one. To esteem yourself better than others, is abundantly sufficient to make you worse than all. "Others," says Tritemius, "you have despised; you have, therefore, become worse than others." Again, to entertain a high opinion of your own deserts, is enough to deprive you of all merit. Humility consists principally in a sincere conviction that we deserve only reproach and chastisement. If, by preferring yourself to others, you have abused the gifts and graces God has conferred upon you, they will only serve for your greater condemnation at the hour of Judgment. But it is not enough to abstain from preferring yourself to any one: it is, moreover, necessary to consider yourself the last and worst of all. First, because in yourself you see with certainty so many sins; but the sins of others you know not, and their secret virtues, which are hidden from your eyes, may render them very dear in the sight of God. You ought to consider also, that by the aid of the lights and graces you have received from God, you should at this moment be a saint. Ah! had they been given to an infidel, he would perhaps have become a seraph, and you are still so miserable and full of defects. The consideration of your ingratitude ought to be sufficient to make you always regard yourself as a fit object of the scorn of all: for, as St. Thomas teaches, the malice of sin increases in proportion to the ingratitude of the sinner. Hence, one of your sins may be more grievous in the sight of God than a hundred sins of another less favoured than you have been. But you know that you have already committed many sins; that your life has been one continued series of voluntary faults; and that whatever good you may have done is so full of imperfection and of self-love, that it is more deserving of punishment than of remuneration.
All these considerations ought to inspire you with the sentiments of humility which St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi inculcated on her spiritual children, with a continual sense of your unworthiness to kiss the ground on which others walk. You ought to consider that, had you received all imaginable insults, and were cast into hell, under the feet of all the damned, all this would be but little in comparison with what you deserve. And, therefore, from the deep abyss of your own miseries you should continually cry out, with holy David: Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help me (Ps. lxix. 1). Lord, hasten to my assistance, otherwise I am lost, and shall offend Thee more than ever, and more than all sinners. But this prayer must be repeated continually -- almost every moment. You must cry out: "Assist me, O Lord! Lord have mercy on me!" At the very moment you cease to invoke the Divine aid you may become the most wicked monster in creation. Shun, as death itself, even the most trifling act or thought of pride. I conclude with that great saying of St. Bernard: "In the soul no humiliation, however great, is to be feared; but the least elation is to be regarded with horror." Yes; for the smallest degree of arrogance may lead us into every evil.
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
I.
Father Wigandt says that the scrupulous soul should obey the Confessor in all cases where the command is not plainly a sin, and this is the general and undoubted decision among the Doctors of the spiritual life. St. Ignatius Loyola says: "There must be obedience in all things in which no sin is perceived -- that is, in which there is no manifest sin." Blessed Humbert, General of the Friar Preachers says: "Unless the command be plainly evil, it is to be received as though enjoined by God." Blessed Denis the Carthusian says: "In things doubtful as to whether or not they are against the Divine precept, one must stand by the precept of the superior; because, although it should be against the precept of God, yet, in virtue of obedience, the person under direction sins not." St. Bonaventure teaches the same.
"The scrupulous are to act against their scruples," says Gerson, "and plant their feet firmly in resisting. We cannot set scruples at rest better than by despising them; and, as a general rule, not without the advice of another, and especially our Superior. Otherwise, either ill-regulated fear or over-presumption will be our ruin." The remedy St. Philip Neri gave the scrupulous was, to make them despise their scruples. It is told in his Life that, besides the general remedy of committing one's self altogether and for everything to the judgment of the confessor, the Saint gave another: his penitents should despise their scruples. Hence he forbade such persons to confess often; and when, in Confession, they entered upon their scruples, he used to send them to Communion without hearing them.
II.
In conclusion, then, scrupulous persons should take obedience to heart and look upon their fears as vain, and so act with freedom. It is not required that in each particular act he should expressly determine that the thing is a scruple and that he ought to obey the confessor in despising it, for it is enough if he just act against it in virtue of a judgment made beforehand, since the same judgment resides in his conscience habitually or virtually though dim and confused. Hence if the scrupulous person be unable, in the midst of darkness, to lay aside the scruple at once, or even call to mind the obedience laid upon him, he should act, and though in acting there be even a positive fear of sinning, that will be no sin ... Gerson says that a person sins by acting in a state of practical doubt, when the doubt proceeds from a formed conscience. This formed conscience exists when, after examining the circumstances, he deliberately judges and decides what he is obliged to do, and what he is forbidden; and to act against such a conscience is a sin. But when the mind is doubtful and wavering, and yet would not do anything displeasing to God -- this, says Gerson, is not a true state of doubt, but a vain fear, which should as much as possible be cast away and despised. So that when the scrupulous person has the habitual will not to offend God, it is to be taken for granted that while he acts in uncertainty he does not sin, since there is no true doubt, though he may consider it such, for it is only a vain fear. For the commission of mortal sin there is certainly required a full perception on the part of the reason, and complete deliberate consent on the part of the will to will something which grievously offends God. This doctrine is not to be doubted, and is the common teaching of all theologians, even the most rigid.
Let scrupulous souls, then, carry their cross with resignation, and not worry themselves in the midst of the great distresses of conscience which God may send or permit. It is all for their profit, to the end that they may be humble, and more on their guard against such occasions as are undoubtedly serious dangers, and also, that they may commend themselves oftener to God and put more complete trust in the Divine Goodness. Meanwhile, let them have recourse to the most holy Virgin Mary, who is called, and is in truth, the Mother of Mercy, and comforter of the afflicted. Let them, indeed, fear to offend God, wherever they discern what will really offend Him; but if only they are steadfast in resolving rather to die a thousand times than lose the grace of God, then their only fear need be lest they fall in obedience to their directors. As long as they blindly obey, they may assure themselves of not being abandoned by that Lord Who will have all men to be saved, and Who, loving good-will as He does, never suffers a really obedient soul to perish.
No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded (Ecclus. ii. 11).
Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you (1 Peter v. 7).
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (Ps. xxvi. 1).
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. 9, 10).
In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2).
"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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Many there are who ask graces from God but do not obtain them. And why is this? St. James answers and says they receive not because they do not ask as they should. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss (iv. 3). How can God hear the sinner who prays to Him to be freed from affliction, when he will not abandon sin which is the cause of all his miseries? We cannot expect to be heard unless our prayer be accompanied by a firm purpose to amend.
I.
God desires to deliver us from every evil, and to share His blessings with us, but He wishes us to ask Him in prayer, and so to pray that we may deserve to be heard. How can God listen to the prayer of the sinner who prays to Him that he may be freed from his afflictions, whilst he is unwilling to abandon sin, which is the cause of his afflictions? When the impious Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the Prophet, who reproached him with his wretchedness, the Lord caused his hand to wither up, so that he could not draw it back. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered, and he was not able to draw it back again to him (3 Kings xiii. 4). Then the king turned to the man of God, and besought him to beg of the Lord to restore his hand. Theodoret says with regard to this circumstance: "Fool that he was to have asked the Prophet's prayers for the restoration of his hand, and not pardon of his sins." Thus do many act; they beg of God to deliver them from their afflictions; they beg of the servants of God to avert by their prayers the threatened chastisements, but they do not seek to obtain the grace of abandoning their sins and changing their lives. And how can such persons hope to be freed from chastisement when they will not remove its cause? It is accursed sin that arms the hand of the Lord with thunders to chastise and afflict us. "Punishment is the fine that is to be paid for sin," says Tertullian. The afflictions we suffer are a fine which must be paid by him whom sin has subjected to the penalty. St. Basil in like manner says that sin is a note of hand which we give against ourselves. Since we sin, we voluntarily go into debt to God's justice. It is not God, then, who makes us miserable; it is sin. Sin maketh nations miserable (Prov. xiv. 34). Sin it is which obliges God to create chastisements: Famine, and affliction, and scourges, all these things are created for the wicked (Ecclus. xl. 9).
Jeremias, addressing the sword of the Lord, says: O thou sword of the Lord, how long will thou not be quiet? Go into thy scabbard, rest and be still (Jer. xlvii. 6). But then, he goes on to say: How shall it be quiet when the Lord hath given it a charge against Ascalon? How can the sword of the Lord ever be at rest if sinners do not choose to abandon their sins, not-withstanding that the Lord has given a charge to his sword to execute vengeance as long as sinners shall continue to deserve it? But some will say, we make Novenas, we fast, we give alms, we pray to God: why are we not heard? To them the Lord replies, When they fast, I will not hear their prayers, and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them; for I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence (Jer. xiv. 12). The Lord exclaims: How can I hear the prayers of those who beg to be freed from their afflictions, and not from their sins, because they do not wish to reform? What care I for their fasts, and their sacrifices, and their alms, when they will not change their lives? I will consume them by the sword. With all their prayers and devotions, and penitential exercises, I shall be obliged by My justice to punish them.
II.
We must not then trust to prayers and other devotions if they are not accompanied by a resolution to amend. You pray, you smite your breast, and call for mercy; but that is not enough. The impious Antiochus prayed, but the Scriptures tell us his prayers failed to obtain mercy from God. Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of whom he was not to obtain mercy (2 Mach. ix. 13). The unhappy man, finding himself devoured by worms, and near his end, prayed for life, but without having sorrow for his sins.
What hope can we have in our Saints if we do not purpose to amend? Some say we have our Patron or some other Saint who will defend us; we have our Mother Mary to procure our deliverance. Who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance. And think not to say within yourselves: We have Abraham for our father (Matt. iii. 7, 8, 9). How can we think to escape punishment if we do not abandon sin? How can the Saints think of assisting us if we persist in exasperating the Lord? St. John Chrysostom asks of what use was Jeremias to the Jews? The Jews had Jeremias to pray for them, but, notwithstanding all the prayers of that holy Prophet, they were chastised, because they did not want to give up their sins. Beyond doubt, says the holy Doctor, the prayers of the Saints contribute much to obtain Divine mercy for us, but when? -- when we do penance. They are useful, but only when we do ourselves violence to abandon sin, to fly occasions, and return to God's favour.
The emperor Phocas, in order to defend himself from his enemies, raised walls and multiplied fortifications, but he heard a voice saying to him from Heaven: "You build walls, but when the enemy is within, the city is easily taken." We must then expel this enemy, which is sin, from our souls, otherwise God cannot exempt us from chastisement, because He is just, and cannot leave sin unpunished. Another time the citizens of Antioch prayed to Mary to avert from them a scourge which was on them; and whilst they were praying, St. Bertoldus heard the Divine Mother's voice from Heaven, saying: "Abandon your sins, and I will be propitious to you."
Let us, then, beg of the Lord to use mercy towards us, but let us pray as David prayed: Lord, incline unto my aid (Ps. lxix. 2). God wishes to aid us, but He wishes that we should aid ourselves, by doing all that depends upon us. "He who desires to be assisted," says Hilaretus, "must do all he can to assist himself." God wishes to save us, but we must not imagine that God will do all without our doing anything. St. Augustine says: "He who created you without your help, will not save you without your help."
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
VII. HUMILITY OF THE HEART OR WILL
Humility of the intellect consists, as we have seen, in esteeming oneself worthy of reproach and scorn; while humility of the will is a desire to be despised by others and taking pleasure in contempt. This is the more meritorious because an act of the will is more pleasing to God than an act of the intellect.
Speaking of humility of the will, St. Bernard says: "The first degree is, not to wish for power; the second, to wish to be in a state of subjection to authority; the third is, in subjection to bear injuries with equanimity." Such is the humility of the will or heart which Jesus Christ wished to teach us by His own example. Learn of me, said the Redeemer, because I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. xi. 29). Many have humility on their tongue, but not in their heart. "They, indeed," says St. Gregory, "confess with their lips that they are most wicked and most deserving of all sorts of chastisement; but they believe not what they say. For, when rebuked, they give way to disquietude, and deny that they are guilty of the fault for which they are corrected." To this class belonged a certain monk, who, as Cassian relates, used to say that he was a great sinner, and unworthy to breathe the breath of life. But when the Abbot Serapion corrected him for violating the Rule by idle visits to the cells of the other monks, he became greatly troubled. Seeing him disturbed, the abbot said: "Why, my son, are you so much disquieted? Hitherto you have called yourself a great sinner, and now you cannot bear from me a charitable admonition." Some there are who confess that their sins merit a thousand hells, and yet they cannot bear a word of admonition. Such people possess, indeed, humility in words, but know not the humility recommended by Jesus Christ, which is the humility of the heart.
There is, says the Holy Ghost, one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit (Ecclus. xix. 23). There are some who humble themselves, not from desire of being rebuked and despised, but through a motive of being esteemed humble and of being praised for their humility. But, according to St. Bernard, to seek praise for voluntary humiliations is not humility, but the destruction of humility, for it changes humility itself into an object of pride. Speculative humility, says St. Vincent de Paul, presents a very beautiful aspect; but practical humility, because it is nothing else than the love of abjection and contempt, is an object of horror to flesh and blood. Hence St. John Climacus observes that the proof of true humility consists, not in confessing our sinfulness, but in rejoicing in the contempt due to sinners. "Self-disparagement," says the Saint, "is good, but to confirm the dispraise which others cast upon us, and not to resent it, but to delight in it, is still better." "When," says St. Gregory, "the humble man calls himself a sinner, he will not contradict others who say the same of him." No; when reproved for his faults he reasserts his own sinfulness. In a word, as St. Bernard says, "the truly humble man wishes, indeed, to be held in little estimation, but desires not to be praised for his humility." Instead of seeking to be esteemed for his humility he wishes to be regarded as a man deserving of contempt and full of imperfections; and because he deems himself worthy only of abjection, he delights in the humiliations which are heaped upon him. Hence, as St. Bernard teaches, "he converts humiliation into humility "; so that all the humiliations he receives only serve to render him more humble. St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say that "he who loves God seeks not to be reputed a saint, but to attain sanctity."
If you wish, then, to acquire humility of heart, you must, in the first place, shun all self-praise. Let another praise thee, says the Wise Man, and not thy own mouth (Prov. xxvii. 2). Self-praise never fails to earn the contempt, but seldom wins the respect of others. Remember that if you indulge in empty boasting, others will say and think of you what you yourself would say and think of a boaster. In speaking of your own concerns, seek always to humble and never to exalt yourself. Self-dispraise can do you no injury; but the smallest portion of unmerited self-commendation may be productive of great evil. "To extol yourself slightly above your deserts is," says St. Bernard, "a great evil." He who in passing through a door bends his head, is free from all danger of injury; but he who carries it too high may get a severe blow. Be careful, then, to speak of yourself humbly rather than boastingly, and to disclose your faults rather than your virtues. The best rule is, never to speak well or ill of yourself, but to regard yourself as unworthy to be even named in conversation. It frequently happens that in saying what tends to our own confusion we indulge a secret and refined pride. For the confusion arising from the voluntary manifestation of our defects excites within us a desire of obtaining the praise or reputation of being humble. This rule is not to be observed in the tribunal of penance: on the contrary, it will be always useful to make known to the Confessor your defects, your evil inclinations; and, generally speaking, even the evil thoughts that pass through your mind. It is also very profitable to manifest, on some occasions, certain circumstances that redound to your shame. On such occasions be careful not to abstain from humbling your own pride.
Should it ever happen that you are compelled to listen to your own praise, endeavour to humble yourself, at least interiorly, by casting an eye at the reasons for self-contempt that have been already detailed. To the proud, says St. Gregory, praise, however undeserved, is delicious; but to the humble, even well-merited commendation is a source of grief and of affliction. And being exalted, says the Royal Prophet, I have been humbled and troubled (Ps. lxxxvii. 16). Like holy David, the humble man, says St. Gregory, is troubled at hearing his own praises. He sees that he has no claim to the virtues or to the good qualities ascribed to him; and he fears that by taking self-complacency in his good works he may lose whatever merit he has acquired before God, and that the Judge may say to him: Thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime (Luke xvi. 25). Whoever takes pleasure in listening to his own praise has already received his reward: he has no claim to any other remuneration. As gold says the Wise Man, is tried in the furnace, so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth (Prov. xxvii. 21). Yes, a man's spirit is tried by praise: when the commendation of his virtues excites sentiments, not of pleasure nor of pride, but of shame and confusion, then, indeed, his humility appears. St. Francis Borgia and St. Aloysius were greatly afflicted whenever they heard themselves extolled. When you are praised or treated with respect, humble your soul and tremble lest the honour you receive should be to you an occasion of sin and of perdition. Consider that the esteem of men may prove your greatest misfortune; by fomenting pride it may contaminate your heart, and thus be the cause of your damnation.
Keep always before your eyes the great saying of St. Francis of Assisi: What I am before God, that I am, and no more. Are you so foolish as to think that the esteem of men will render you more pleasing in the sight of God? When you are gratified and elated by the praises bestowed upon you, and are by them induced to think yourself better than others, you may be assured that, while men extol your virtues, God will cut you off. Be persuaded, then, that the praises of others will never make you more holy in the sight of God. St. Augustine says that as the reproach or slander of an enemy cannot deprive a man of the merit of his virtues, so the applause of a friend or admirer will not make him better than he really is. "A bad conscience," says the Saint, "is not healed by the praise of a flatterer, nor a good one wounded by the contumely of the reviler." Whenever, then, you hear your own praises, say in your heart, with St. Augustine: "I know myself better than they do; and God knows me better than I do myself." They, indeed, praise me, but I who see the state of my own soul better than they do, know that these praises are unmerited; God knows it still better than I do; He sees that I deserve neither honour nor respect, but all the contempt of earth and hell.
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
I.
God is all goodness to those who seek Him. The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh him (Lam. iii. 25). No one has ever put his trust in God, and had to remain abandoned by Him: None had hoped in the Lord, and been confounded (Ecclus. ii. 11). God lets Himself be found even by those who seek Him not. I was found by them that did not seek me (Rom. x. 20). With how much greater ease will He not allow Himself to be found by one who does seek Him! Let no one say that God has abandoned him; the Lord abandons none but the very obstinate who desire to live in sin; neither does He altogether abandon even these, but is ever going after them up to the time of their death, giving them graces for their succour, that so He may not see them lost.
When a soul is desirous to love Him, God cannot but love it, as He has Himself declared: I love them that love me (Prov. viii. 17). And whenever He hides Himself from these loving souls, He does so for their advantage only, that He may see them yet more desirous of finding His grace, and more closely united with Himself. When St. Catharine of Genoa was suffering aridity to such a degree that it seemed to her as if God had abandoned her, and that nothing remained to her as a ground for hope, it was then that she would say: "How happy I am in this state, deplorable even though it be! May my heart be broken to pieces, provided that my Love be glorified! O my dearest Love, if from this unhappy state of mine is produced but a single atom of glory for Thee, I pray that Thou wouldst leave me thus for all eternity!" And saying this, she would burst into a flood of tears in the midst of her desolation.
II.
You should know that souls that love the Crucified enter, in time of desolation, into a closer union with God in the interior of their heart. Nothing occasions so diligent a search for God as does desolation; neither is there anything that attracts God to the heart so much as desolation, since the acts of conformity to the Divine will which are made in desolation are more pure and perfect than others; and hence, the greater the desolation, the greater is the humility, the purer the resignation, the grander the confidence, the more fervent the prayers, and consequently the more abundant are the Divine graces and assistance.
Above all else attend to the exercise of Divine love. When God makes our heart His abode, His love itself despoils it of every irregular affection; nevertheless, let it be your endeavour to make frequent repetitions of acts of Divine love, saying: My God, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee; and I hope to die with these words on my lips: My God, I love Thee! The Saints tell us that souls ought to make acts of love as often as they breathe.
In time of prayer, make an unreserved offering of yourself to God many times over. Say to Him in all sincerity: My Jesus, I give myself to Thee without reserve. I wish to be all Thine own, all Thine own; and if I know not how to give myself as I ought, do Thou, my Jesus, take me, and make me all Thine own. St. Teresa made an entire offering of herself to God fifty times every day. This is a practice which even you can follow. Therefore, make a continual offering to Him of your will, in these words of St. Paul: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6). This one act was enough to transform St. Paul from a persecutor of the Church into a vessel of election. For this purpose, too, pray to God frequently in the words of David: Teach me to do thy will (Ps. cxlii. 10). To this end should be directed all the prayers that you offer to God and to the Mother of God, to your Guardian Angel, and to all your Patron Saints, that they may obtain for you the grace perfectly to do the will of God; in short, let this one expression: Fiat voluntas Tua! serve you as a remedy for all your evils, and as a means of attaining all that is good.
"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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He who is conformed in everything to the Divine will, enjoys perpetual peace even in this life. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad (Prov. xii. 21). At the mere word -- the Will of God -- St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to feel so much delight she would fall into an ecstasy of love.
I.
He who is conformed in everything to the Divine will, enjoys perpetual peace even in this world. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad (Prov. xii. 21). Yes, for a man cannot enjoy greater happiness than that which arises from the accomplishment of all his wishes. He who wills only what God wills, sees always his own will done; for whatever happens to him happens by the will of God. If such a soul, says Salvian, be humbled, it desires humiliations; if it be poor, it delights in poverty, wishing whatever happens, and thus it leads a happy life. Let cold, heat, wind, or rain come, and he that is united with the will of God, says: I wish for this cold, this heat, this wind, and this rain, because God wills them. If loss of property, persecution, or sickness befall, he says: I wish to be poor, to be persecuted, to be sick, because such is the will of God. He who reposes in the Divine will, and is resigned to whatever the Lord does, is like a man who stands above the clouds, and there, calm and secure, beholds the tempest raging below. This is the peace which, according to the Apostle, surpasseth all understanding (Phil. iv. 7), which exceeds all the delights of the world; a perpetual peace, subject to no vicissitudes. A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun, but a fool is changed as the moon (Ecclus. xxvii. 12). Fools -- that is, sinners -- are changed like the moon, which increases today, grows less tomorrow. Today they laugh, tomorrow they weep; today all joy and meekness, tomorrow, all sadness and disturbed; in a word, they change with every wind. But the just man is like the sun, always the same, and uniformly tranquil whatever happens; for his peace rests on conformity to the Divine will. And on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14). At the mere words the Will of God, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to feel such delight she would fall into an ecstasy of love. When the will is united with the will of God, crosses may produce some pain in the inferior part, but in the superior part peace will always reign. Your joy no man shall take from you (Job xvi. 22). But how great the folly of those who oppose the will of God! What God wishes will certainly happen; for who resisteth his will? (Rom. ix. 19). They, therefore, must bear the cross, but without fruit and without peace. Who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? (Job ix. 4).
And what else but our welfare does God will? This is the will of your God, your sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). He wishes to see us saints, that we may be at peace in this life, and happy in the next. Let us remember that the crosses which come to us from God work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). Even chastisements are inflicted on us in this life, not for our destruction, but that we may amend, and gain eternal beatitude. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord ... have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction (Judith viii. 27). God loves us so ardently, that He not only desires, but is solicitous for, the salvation of each of us. The Lord is careful for me (Ps. xxxix. 18). And what will He deny us after having given us His 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).
O Jesus, my Redeemer, Thou hast sacrificed Thy life on the Cross in order to become the cause of my salvation; have mercy on me, then, and save me; do not permit a soul Thou hast redeemed with so many pains, and so much love, to hate Thee for eternity in hell. Thou canst do nothing more to oblige me to love Thee. This Thou gavest me to understand, when, before expiring on Calvary, Thou didst utter these loving words: It is consummated. But how have I repaid Thy love? In the past, I can truly say I have done all I could to displease Thee, and to oblige Thee to hate me. I thank Thee for having borne with me so patiently, and for now giving me time to repair my ingratitude, and to love Thee before I die. Yes, I wish to love Thee, and I wish to love Thee ardently, my Saviour, my God, my Love, and my All!
II.
Let us, then, abandon ourselves for good into the hands of that God Who is solicitous for our welfare as long as we remain in this world. Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you (1 Peter v. 7). Think of Me, said our Lord to St. Catharine of Sienna, and I will always think of you. Let us often say with the spouse in the Canticles: My beloved to me, and I to him (Cant. ii. 16). My Beloved thinks of my welfare, and I will think only of pleasing Him, and of uniting myself to His holy will. We ought, says the holy Abbot Nilus, to pray, not that God would do what we wish, but that we may do what He wishes.
He who always acts in this manner will lead a happy life, and die a happy death. He who dies with entire resignation to the Divine will, has a moral certainty of his salvation. But he who is not united with the Divine will during life, will not be united with it at death, and will not be saved. We should endeavour to make ourselves familiar with some sayings of the Scripture, by which we may always keep ourselves united with the will of God. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6). Lord, tell me what Thou wishest me to do; I am ready and willing to do it. Behold the handmaid of the Lord (Luke i. 38). Behold! My soul is Thy servant; command, and Thou shalt be obeyed. I am thine; save me (Ps. cxviii. 94). Save me, O Lord, and then do what Thou pleasest with me; save Thine own, O Lord, I am no longer mine. When any serious cross or adversity happens to us, let us say: Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight (Matt. xi. 26). My God, this has pleased Thee; let it be done. Above all, let the third petition of the Lord's prayer be dear to us: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let us repeat it several times and with fervour. Happy we, if we live and die saying: Thy will be done! Thy will be done!
O my God, I give Thee my whole will, my entire liberty and all that I possess. From this hour I sacrifice my life to Thee, accepting the death Thou wilt send me, along with all the pains and circumstances that will accompany it. From this moment I unite this sacrifice of mine to the great sacrifice of Thy life, which Thou, my Jesus didst offer for me on the Cross. I wish to die in order to do Thy will. Ah! through the merits of Thy Passion, give me grace to be in life, resigned to the arrangements of Thy Providence. And when death comes, grant that I may embrace, with an entire conformity Thy holy will. I wish to die, O my Jesus, in order to please Thee. I wish to die saying: Thy will be done. Mary, my Mother, it was thus thou didst die; ah! obtain for me the grace that I too may die in this manner.
Live, Jesus, our Love, and Mary, our hope!
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
VIII. HUMILITY OF THE HEART OR WILL
As you ought carefully to abstain from all complacency in the praises that you receive from others, so you must abstain with still greater caution from seeking any office of rank or dignity. "You must," as St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi says, "avoid with all possible care every exercise that is apt to attract attention, for it is in such exercises that pride delights."
"All worldly honours," says St. Hilary, "are the affairs of the devil." Worldly honours are the means by which Satan gains many souls for hell. And, if the ambition for honours occasions great ruin in a worldling, it is productive of far greater havoc in one who is consecrated to God. Addressing her own Community, St. Teresa said: "Should a Judas be ever found among you, expel her at once, as a source of infection; and deprive for ever of all hope of success in her projects the nun who attempts to seek superiority over others. I would rather see this monastery burnt to the ground than ever see ambition enter into it." Similar were the sentiments of St. Jane Frances de Chantal. "I would," says the Saint, "sooner see my monastery buried in the sea, than ambition or the desire of office enter it."
Listen to the wise remarks of Peter de Blois on this subject. In one of his letters he describes the pestiferous effects of ambition, and its frightful ravages in the souls of Christians. Ambition, he says, though full of uncharitableness, puts on the garb of charity. Charity suffers all things for the attainment of eternal goods: ambition, too, endures every hardship, but only for the acquisition of the miserable honours of this world. Charity is kind, but particularly to the poor and the abject; ambition, too, abounds in benevolence, but only to the rich and powerful, who can gratify its cravings. Charity bears all things to please God; ambition submits to every wrong, but only through the vain motive of obtaining honours or office. O God! to what annoyance, inconvenience, fatigues, fears, expenses, and even reproaches and insults, must the ambitious submit, for the attainment of the dignity to which they aspire! Finally, charity believes and hopes for all that regards the glory of eternity; but ambition believes and hopes only for what regards the empty honours of this life.
But, in the end, what is the fruit of all the labours of the ambitious? They only attain dignity which contents not the heart, and which renders them, in the eyes of the others, objects of contempt rather than of respect. "By the sole desire of it," says St. Teresa, "your glory is lost: the greater the dignity obtained, the more disgraceful it is to the person who has procured it. For the more he has laboured for its attainment, the more he has shown himself unworthy of it." St. Jane Frances de Chantal said that "they who esteem themselves most deserving of office are the most unworthy of it: because they want humility, which is the best disposition for the fulfilment of an office." God grant that the dignity which the ambitious procure may not be the cause of their eternal ruin. Father Vincent Carafa, of the Society of Jesus, having once visited a dying friend, to whom an office of great emolument, but at the same time of great danger, had been given, was requested by the sick man to obtain from God the restoration of his health. No, my friend, replied the Father, I shall not abuse my affection for you: desirous of your salvation, God calls you to another life while you are in a state of grace. I know not whether, if restored to health, you would save your soul in the office which has been offered to you. The sick man peacefully accepted death, and expired with sentiments of joy and resignation. "It is scarcely possible," says St. Bonaventure, "that he who delights in honours should not be in great danger."
St. Francis Xavier used to say that to desire respect and honour or to take complacency in them, is unworthy of a Christian, who should have always before his eyes the ignominies of Jesus Christ. How much more unsuited must such foolish ambition be to those who are consecrated to Christ? St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say that "the honour of such persons consists in being the lowest of all, and in having a horror of being preferred to any." "Let your ambition be to be the most humble and the most dear to Jesus Christ," says St. Thomas of Villanova. And St. Bonaventure says that if you desire to be a saint, you must endeavour to lead a life of obscurity and contempt. "Love," says the Saint, "to be unknown and despised," so that no attention whatever may be shown to you.
Envy not those who surpass you in talent and learning, or who are more highly esteemed than you are. Envy those only who are your superiors in charity and humility. Humiliation is preferable to all the applause and honour the world can bestow. The most useful of all sciences is that which teaches you to humble and despise yourself, and to delight in being treated with contempt. God has not given you great abilities, because they might lead you to destruction. Be content, then, with the little talent that you have received: let the want of talent be to you an occasion of practising humility, which is the safest, and indeed the only way to save your soul and to become a saint. If others surpass you in ability, take care to outstrip all in the practice of humility. But in humility, says St. Paul, let each esteem others better than themselves (Phil. ii. 3). They who are invested with authority over others are exposed to great danger of being puffed up with pride, of losing the Divine light, and of thus becoming like senseless beasts that seek only the miserable goods of the earth, and never think of the glory of eternity. Man, says the Psalmist, when he was in honour did not understand: he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them (Ps. xlviii. 13).
Evening Meditation
INTERIOR TRIALS
I.
When you experience more aridity than usual, occupy yourself in the delight of the infinite joy that God enjoys. He is the object of our love, and the most perfect act of love even the Saints in Heaven can perform is to rejoice in the beatitude of God immeasurably more than in their own.
Meditate constantly on the Passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffering out of His love for us is the object which most forcibly attracts our hearts. If, while meditating on the Mysteries of the Passion, the Lord grants you any feeling of tenderness, receive it with thankfulness; but whenever you do not experience this, you must know that you will always derive from the practice great comfort for your soul. Frequently go more especially to the Garden of Gethsemani, after the example of St. Teresa, who used to say that she found Jesus there alone; and on considering Him when in affliction so great that He falls into an agony, sweats blood, and declares His sorrow to be such as to be enough to cause Him to die, you will readily find comfort in any afflictions of your own, seeing that He endures it all out of love for you. And at the sight of Jesus preparing Himself to die for you, do you likewise prepare yourself to die for Him. And when you experience in your distress more affliction than usual, then say what St. Thomas the Apostle said to the other disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him (Jo. xi. 16). Let us die with Jesus. Go likewise to Calvary, where you will find Him expiring on the Cross, consumed by suffering; and seeing Him in that condition, it will be impossible for you not to be ready willingly to suffer pain of every kind for a God Who is dying of sufferings undergone through His love for you. St. Paul protested that He neither knew nor wished to know anything in this life save Jesus crucified: For I judged not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. ii. 2). Let him who would preserve devotion within his soul, says St. Bonaventure, ever keep the eyes of his heart fixed upon Christ dying upon the Cross. And thus, in all your fears, look at Jesus crucified, and take courage, and brace yourself up to suffer through love for Him.
O Lord, take not Thyself from me, and then take from me all besides, as may seem good in Thy sight. My Love, draw me after Thee, and then it matters not though Thou take from me the consolation of being conscious of it; but let it be forcibly that Thou drawest me out of the mire of my sins. Help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood. I wish to be all Thine own, cost what it may; I wish to love Thee with all my strength; but what can I do myself? Thy Blood is my hope. O Mary, Mother of God, my refuge, neglect not to pray for me in all my tribulations. First of all in the Blood of Jesus Christ, and then in thy prayers, do I trust for my eternal salvation. In thee, O Lady, have I hoped, I shall not be confounded forever. Obtain for me the grace ever to love my God in this life and in eternity, and I ask for nothing more.
II.
And when in your state of desolation why are you disposed to entertain the suspicion that God is angry? You ought not to grieve, but rather to be consoled, seeing that God is dealing with you as He deals with the souls of those of His servants who are most dear to Him. And how has He not dealt with His own Son, of Whom it is written in Holy Scripture: The Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity (Is. liii. 10). It was His will to see Him consumed and crushed under sufferings and torments.
If you fear that God may abandon you on account of your ingratitude, do that which was done by the two disciples, who, as they were going to Emmaus, were accompanied by Jesus in the guise of a pilgrim. When they were near the place, and Jesus made as though he would go farther (Luke xxiv.), they constrained Him saying: Stay with us because it is towards evening (Ib.). And then He was pleased to enter into the house, and to remain with them. And thus, when it seems to you as if it were the Lord's will to leave you, constrain Him to remain with you, saying to him: My Jesus, stay with me, remain with me; I wish that Thou wouldst not leave me. If Thou dost leave me, to whom shall I have to go for consolation and salvation? Lord, to whom shall we go? (Jo. vi. 69). And so pray to Jesus lovingly and tenderly; and do not fear but that, to a certainty, He will not leave you. Then say with the Apostle: Neither death, nor life ... nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. viii. 38). Say to Him: My Saviour, show Thyself as much displeased with me as Thou wilt; but know that not the fear of death, nor a desire for life, nor any other of this world's creatures, shall ever have power to separate me from love of Thee. Or, again, say what was said by St. Francis de Sales, when a young man and in a state of aridity, in answer to the devil, who suggested to him that he was destined to go to hell: "And since I shall not be able to love my God in eternity, I wish to love Him at least in this life as far as it lies in my power." And so he recovered his cheerfulness. O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt (Matt. xiv. 31). God is infinite Goodness, and, therefore, he who serves God and is sad does not honour Him but rather dishonours Him. How can you doubt of Jesus pardoning you, says St. Bernard, when He has in fact affixed your sins to the Cross whereon He died for you with the very nails which pierced His own hands and feet.
Ah, my crucified Jesus, Thou dost already know that, out of love for Thee, I have left all; but after that Thou hast caused me to leave my all, I find that Thou Thyself hast left me too. But what am I saying, O my Love? Have pity upon me; it is not I who speak; it is my weakness that makes me speak thus. For myself, I deserve every kind of suffering for such great sins as mine have been. Thou hast left me, as I have deserved, and hast withdrawn from me that loving assistance of Thine wherewith Thou hast so often consoled me; notwithstanding however disconsolate and abandoned I may be, I protest that it is my will ever to love Thee and to bless Thee. Provided that Thou dost not deprive me of the grace of being able to love Thee, deal with me as Thou pleasest. I will say to Thee, in the words of a beloved servant of Thine:
"I love Thee, though I seem
An enemy in Thy sight:
Repel me as Thou wilt,
I will ever follow Thee."
"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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In this mortal life, meat is that which preserves our life. Our Divine Lord said it was His meat to do the will of His Father. Life in his will (Ps. xxix. 6). Our life depends upon our doing the Divine will; he that does it not, is dead.
I.
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me (Jo. iv. 34). In this mortal life, meat is that which preserves our life. Our Divine Lord said it was His meat to do the will of His Father. Life in his will (Ps. xxix. 6). Our life depends upon our doing the Divine will; he that does it not, is dead.
The Wise Man says: They that are faithful in love shall rest in him (Wis. iii. 9). They who have little love for God will desire that God should agree with them; that He should conform to their pleasure and do whatever they desire. But they who truly love God unite their wills to His will and are satisfied with everything that God does with them. With everything that comes, with every adversity, sickness, dishonour, weariness, loss of property and friends, they have ever on their lips and in their hearts these words: Thy will be done!
God desires only that which is best for us, that is our sanctification. Let us take care, therefore, to unite our will ever to the will of God and thus we shall be able to convince and calm our minds, recollecting that everything that God does is the best thing that can befall us. Whoever neglects this will never find true peace. All the perfection that can be attained in this world, which is a place of purification, and consequently a place of pains and troubles, consists in suffering patiently those things that are opposed to our self-love; and, in order to suffer with patience, there is no more efficacious means than a willingness to suffer, in order to do the will of God. Submit thyself, then, to him, and be at peace (Job. xxii. 21). He that agrees with the Divine will in everything is always at peace, and nothing that happens to him can make him unhappy. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad (Pro. xii. 21). But why is the just man never unhappy under any circumstances? Because he knows well that whatever happens in the world, happens through the will of God.
II.
The Divine will, so to say, draws out all the thorns and bitterness of the tribulations that come upon us in this world. The hymn which speaks of the Divine will thus sings: "Thou changest crosses into joys: Thou makest even death seem sweet; he that can unite himself to Thee knows neither cross nor fear. Oh, how worthy art Thou of love, O will of God!"
Hear the excellent counsel of St. Peter, in order to find a perfect peace in the midst of the toils of this present life: Casting all your care upon Him; for he hath care for you (1 Peter, v. 7). And if it is God Who thus gives thought for our good, why should we weary ourselves with so many anxieties, as if our happiness depended on our own cares, and not rather abandon ourselves into the hands of God, upon Whom all depends? Cast thy care upon the Lord, says David, and he shall sustain thee (Ps. liv. 23). Let us strive to obey God in everything He commands and advises, and then let us leave to Him the care of our salvation, and He will take care to give us all the means that are necessary, in order that we may be saved: Thy life shall be saved, because thou hast had confidence in me (Jer. xxxix. 18). Whosoever places his whole confidence in God is sure of eternal salvation.
In a word, whoever does the will of God enters into Paradise; and he that does it not, shall not be saved. Some people trust their eternal salvation to certain devotions, or to certain outward works of piety, and yet bow not to God's will. But Jesus Christ says: Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. vii. 21).
Thus, if we desire to be saved, and to acquire a perfect union with God, let us take care to be ever offering up the prayer of David: Teach me, O Lord, to do thy will (Ps. cxlii. 10). And for this purpose, let us strip ourselves of our own will, and give it wholly to God, without reserve. When we give to God our property in alms, our food in fastings, our blood in scourgings, we give him our possessions; but when we give Him our will, we give Him our whole selves; wherefore he that gives to God his entire will is able to say: Lord, having given Thee all my will, I have nothing more to give Thee. The sacrifice of our own will is the most acceptable sacrifice we can make to God; and God pours forth His graces abundantly upon him who makes it.
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
IX. PATIENCE UNDER CORRECTION
To preserve humility you must not allow yourself to be disquieted by reproof or correction. He who, when rebuked, yields to disquietude, shows that he has not yet acquired humility, and therefore should beg of God that holy virtue, which is so necessary for salvation. Father Rodriguez says that some resemble the hedgehog: when touched they become all thorns, and instantly break out into words of impatience, of reproach, and even of murmuring. "We have known many," says St. Gregory, "who, when no one accuses them, confess themselves sinners; but when they have been corrected for a fault, they endeavour with all their might to defend themselves, and to remove the imputation of guilt." Such ought to attend to the words of the Holy Ghost: He that hateth to be reproved, walketh in the trace of a sinner (Ecclus. xxi. 7). Whoever is disturbed by correction, walks not in the way of the just, but in the path of sinners -- the road to hell.
St. Bernard says: Some are displeased with the physician who cures them by reproof, and are not angry with the man who wounds them by flattery. Terrible is the threat of the wise man against all who spurn correction: Because they have hated instruction ... and despised all my reproof, the prosperity of fools shall destroy them (Prov. i. 29). The prosperity of fools consists in their privation, in their contempt of advice, and therefore they are miserably lost.
St. John Chrysostom says that the just man when discovered in a fault weeps for his fall. The sinner, too, says the Saint, if detected in a criminal act, weeps -- not for his transgression, but because his guilt is discovered; and instead of repenting, he seeks to defend his conduct, and pours out his indignation on the friend who corrects him. Have you indulged in anger against those from whose charity you have received correction? And if you have, are you disposed to repeat such conduct? Give thanks, says St. Bernard, to him who has rebuked you: be not sad when he shall have shown you the way of salvation. Is it not most unjust to be displeased with him who points out to you the way to eternal life? You know that you are full of miseries and defects. The only remedy for them is to humble your soul when you perceive them, or when others make them known to you. "Humility," says St. Augustine, "is our perfection." Since our manner of practising the virtues of the Gospel is so full of imperfections, let us at least be perfect in humbling ourselves, and in rejoicing under the confusion occasioned by the reproofs we receive for the faults we have committed. It may be here observed, that to our pride undeserved reproach is more tolerable than well-merited censure, because the latter is more painful to self-love. When justly reproved, be careful to offer to God, in atonement for your transgression, the shame and confusion you experience. Make use of that confusion as a means of repairing your fault; crush the scorpion on the wound it has inflicted, and be assured that the mercy of the Lord in granting you pardon will be proportioned to your humility in receiving correction.
When corrected for a fault, be careful never to defend or excuse yourself, and thus you will practise an act of humility highly pleasing to God. St. Teresa says that such an act is more profitable than to be present at ten sermons. Should you, then, ever receive an unmerited reprimand, abstain for the sake of holy humility, from the vindication of your conduct, unless, to prevent scandal, such vindication be necessary. To a Religious who requested her director -- Father Anthony Torres -- to vindicate her with a certain person who had charged her with a fault, the Father replied: "I am astonished at your request. I pity your weakness. I suppose that the occupations in which you were engaged for the last few days must have soon obliterated from your mind the remembrance of the doleful narrative which you so lately heard of the sorrows of your Spouse, Who had been called a seducer. It is impossible that you can have remembered the calumnies and the blasphemies that were uttered against Him, and at the same time request me to vindicate your character. Filled with sentiments of shame and confusion, and prostrate before the Crucifix, implore of your crucified Spouse the pardon of your infidelity. Resolve neither on this, nor on any other occasion, to justify or excuse your conduct, but always acknowledge, however galling such acknowledgment may be, that you have erred. For your sake the Saviour died on the Cross, saturated with opprobrium; and it is by humiliation that you are to obtain the possession of your Spouse."
Evening Meditation
THE MEANS TO ACQUIRE THE PERFECT LOVE OF GOD
I.
To acquire the perfect love of God we must adopt the means of becoming saints.
The first means is, to detach the heart from all creatures, and to banish from the soul every affection which is not for God. The first question which the Ancient Fathers of the Desert used to put to every one who sought admission into their society was: "Do you bring an empty heart, that the Holy Ghost may be able to fill it?" If the world be not expelled from the heart, God cannot enter it. St. Teresa said: "Detach the heart from creatures; seek God, and you shall find Him." St. Augustine writes, that the Romans worshipped thirty thousand gods; but among these gods the Roman Senate refused to admit Jesus Christ. Because, said they, He is a proud God, Who requires that He alone should be adored. This they had reason to say, for our God wishes to have entire possession of our souls. He is, as St. Jerome says, a jealous God. And therefore He will have no rival in the affections of our heart. Hence the spouse in the Canticles is called an enclosed garden. My sister, my spouse is a garden enclosed (Cant. iv. 12). The soul, then, that wishes to belong entirely to God must be closed to all love which is not for God.
Hence the Divine Spouse is said to be wounded by one of the eyes of His spouse. Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes (Cant. iv. 9). One of her eyes signifies, that in all her thoughts and actions the only end of the spouse is to please God, while, in their devout exercises, worldlings propose to themselves different objects -- sometimes their own interest, sometimes to please their friends, and sometimes to please themselves. But the Saints seek only to please God, to Whom they turn, and say: What have I in heaven? and besides thee, what do I desire upon earth? ... Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever (Ps. lxxii. 25). We should do the same if we wished to be saints. If, says St. John Chrysostom, we do a thing to please God, why should we seek any other reward? Or what greater reward can a creature wish for than to please its Creator? Hence, in all we desire or do, we should seek nothing but God. A certain solitary, named Zeno, walking through the desert, absorbed in meditation, met the Emperor Macedonius going to hunt. The Emperor asked him what he was doing. In answer, the solitary said: You go in quest of game; I seek God alone. St. Francis de Sales used to say, that the pure love of God consumes all that is not God.
II.
Moreover, to love God with our whole heart, it is necessary to love Him without reserve. Hence we must love Him with a love of preference. We must prefer Him before every other good, and must be resolved to lose a thousand lives, rather than forfeit His friendship. We must say with St. Paul: Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God (Rom. viii. 38). We must also love Him with a love of benevolence, desiring to see Him loved by all; and therefore, if we love God, we should seek as much as possible to kindle in others the fire of His love, or, at least, should pray for the conversion of all who do not love Him. We must love Him with a love sorrowful, that regrets every offence offered to Him more than any evil we could suffer. We must love Him with a love of conformity to the Divine will. The principal office of love is to unite the wills of the lovers, and to make the soul say: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6). Lord, tell me what Thou dost wish from me; I desire to do it. I have no wish of my own: I will only what Thou willest. Hence, we ought frequently to offer ourselves to God, without reserve, that He may do with us, and with all we have, whatever pleases Him. We must love God with a love of patience. This is that strong love by which true lovers are known. Love is strong as death (Cant. viii. 6). "There is nothing so difficult," says St. Augustine, "that the fire of love will not conquer it." For, adds the Saint, in doing what we do for the love of God, labour is not felt, or, if it be felt, the very labour is loved. St. Vincent de Paul used to say that love is measured by the desire of the soul to suffer and be humbled, in order to please God.
Let God be pleased, though it should cost us the loss of all things even our life. To gain all, it is necessary to leave all. All for All, said Thomas a Kempis. The reason we do not become saints, as St. Teresa says, is because, as we do not give God all our affections, so He does not give us His perfect love. We must, then, say with the spouse in the Canticles: My Beloved to me, and I to him (Cant. ii. 16). My Beloved has given Himself entirely to me: it is but just that I give myself without reserve to Him. St. John Chrysostom says, that when a soul gives herself entirely to God, she no longer frets about ignominies or sufferings; she loses the desire of all things; and not finding repose in any creature, she is always in search of her Beloved; her sole concern is to find her Beloved.
"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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We have seen him ... despised and the most abject of men (Is. liii. 2, 3). This great prodigy was once seen upon earth -- the Son of God, the Lord of all Creation, the King of Heaven, despised as the most abject of men! Ah, how few there are, even among Christians, who reflect on the sorrows and ignominies which this Saviour endured for our sakes!
I.
We have seen him, says the Prophet Isaias, despised and the most abject of men. This great prodigy was once seen upon the earth -- the Son of God, the King of Heaven, the Lord of all Creation, despised as the most abject of men! St. Anselm says that Jesus Christ wished to be humbled and despised in such a manner that it would be impossible for Him to endure greater humiliations or contempt. He was treated as a person of mean condition. Is not this said the Jews, the carpenter's son? (Matt. xiii. 55). He was despised on account of His country: Can anything of good come from Nazareth? (Jo. i. 46). He was called a madman: He is mad; why hear you him? (Jo. x. 20). He was considered a glutton and a friend of wine: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine (Luke vii. 34). He was called a sorcerer: By the prince of devils he casteth out devils (Matt. ix. 34). And also a heretic: Do we not say well that thou art a Samaritan? (Jo. viii. 48).
But during His Passion He suffered still greater insults. He was treated as a blasphemer: when He declared that He was the Son of God, Caiphas said to the other priests: Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy: what think you? But they answering, said: He is guilty of death (Matt. xxvi. 65, 66). As soon as Jesus was declared guilty of blasphemy, some began to spit in His face, and others to buffet Him. Then, indeed, was fulfilled the prediction of Isaias: I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them; I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me and spit upon me (Is. 1. 6). Jesus was treated too as a false prophet: Prophesy unto us, O Christ; who is he that struck Thee (Matt. xxvi. 68). The injury done Him by His own disciple Peter, who denied Him three times, and swore he had never known Him, added to the pain our Saviour suffered from the ignominies of that night.
Let us, O devout souls, go to our afflicted Lord, in that prison in which He is abandoned by all, and accompanied only by His enemies, who contend with each other in insulting and maltreating Him. Let us thank Him for all He suffers for us with so much patience: and let us console Him by acts of sorrow for the insults we have ourselves offered to Him; for we too have treated Him with contempt, and by our sins have denied Him, and declared that we knew Him not.
Ah, my amiable Redeemer, I would wish to die of grief at the thought of having given so much pain to Thy Heart, which has loved me so ardently. Ah, forget the great offences I have offered Thee, and look at me with that loving look which Thou didst cast on Peter after he denied Thee, and which made him bewail his sins unceasingly till death. O great Son of God, O infinite Love, Who dost suffer for the very men that hate and maltreat Thee! Thou art adored by the Angels, O infinite majesty! Thou wouldst confer too great an honour on men in permitting them to kiss Thy feet! And yet, O God, Thou didst allow Thyself on that night to be made an object of mockery to so vile a rabble! My despised Jesus, make me suffer contempt for Thy sake. How can I refuse insults, when I see that Thou, my God, hast borne so many for the love of me? Ah, my crucified Jesus, make me know Thee and love Thee.
II.
Alas, how shameful is the cold contempt with which men treat the Passion of Jesus Christ! How few are there, even among Christians, who reflect on the sorrows and ignominies which this Redeemer has endured for our sake. We barely remember in a passing way the Passion of Jesus Christ, during the last days of Holy Week, when the Church renews the remembrance of His death by its mournful chant, by the nakedness of its altars, the darkness of its temples, and by the silence of its bells. But, during the rest of the year, we think as little of the Passion of the Redeemer as if it were a fable, or as if He had died for others and not for us! O God, how great must be the torture of the damned in hell when they see all a God suffered for their salvation, and that they voluntarily brought themselves to perdition!
My Jesus, do not permit me to be among the number of the miserable damned. No; I will never cease to think of the love Thou hast shown me in bearing so many torments and ignominies for me. Help me to love Thee, and always to remember the love Thou hast borne me.
Spiritual Reading
HOLY HUMILITY
X. PATIENCE IN BEARING CONTEMPT
If you wish to acquire perfect humility, accept in peace all the contempt and bad treatment you may receive. These are easily borne by all who truly believe that in punishment of their sins they merit nothing but scoffs and insults. Humiliation is the touchstone of sanctity. St. John Chrysostom says that to receive an affront with meekness is the most certain proof of virtue. In his History of Japan, Father Crasset relates that during the last persecution, in consequence of having received an insult without resenting it, a certain Augustinian missionary, though disguised, was instantly taken for a Christian, and cast into prison, by the idolaters, who asserted that no one but a Christian could practise such virtue.
Some, says St. Francis of Assisi, imagine that sanctity consists in the recital of many prayers or in the performance of works of penance; but, not understanding the great merit of patience under insult, they cannot bear an injurious word. You will acquire more merit by meekly receiving an affront than by fasting ten days on bread and water. It will sometimes happen that a privilege that is refused to you will be conceded to others; that what you say will be treated with contempt, while the words of others are heard with respectful attention; that while the actions of others are the theme of general praise, and they are appointed to positions of honour, you are passed over unnoticed. If you accept in peace all these humiliations, and if you recommend to God those from whom you receive the least respect, then indeed, as St. Dorotheus says, it will be manifest that you are truly humble. To them you are particularly indebted, since by their reproaches they cure your pride -- the most malignant of all diseases that lead to spiritual death. Because they deem themselves worthy of all honours, the proud convert their humiliations into an occasion of pride. But because the humble consider themselves deserving only of opprobrium, their humiliations serve to increase their humility. "That man," says St. Bernard, "is truly humble, who converts humiliation into humility."
Voluntary humiliations, for example, to serve the sick, and such like, are very profitable; but to embrace with cheerfulness, for the love of Jesus Christ, the humiliations that come from others, such as reproofs, accusations, insults, and derision, is still more meritorious. Gold and silver, says the Holy Ghost, are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation (Ecclus. ii. 5). As gold is tried in the fire, so a man's perfection is proved by humiliations. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say that "untried virtue is not virtue." He who does not suffer contempt with a tranquil mind shall never attain the spirit of perfection. My spikenard sent forth the odour thereof (Cant. i. 11).
The spikenard is an odoriferous plant, whose scent is drawn forth only by friction or bruising. Oh! what an odour of sweetness does that humble soul exhale who embraces in peace all manner of contempt, and delights in seeing herself maltreated and despised. A monk by the name of Zachary, being asked the best means of attaining humility, took his cowl, put it under his feet, and trampling on it, said: "He who takes pleasure in being treated like this cowl is truly humble."
There are some who imagine that they are humble because they feel a strong conviction of their own miseries and a deep sorrow for their past sins. But they will not submit to humiliations, and cannot endure the slightest want of respect or esteem. They acknowledge that they are worthy of all sorts of ignominy, but cannot bear with the least mark of inattention. On the contrary, they seek continually to be treated with respect and honour. There is, says the Holy Ghost, one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit (Ecclus. xix. 23). There are some who practise external humility, by confessing that they are the worst of sinners, but in their hearts they seek after honours and the esteem of men. I hope you do not belong to that class of Christians.
Be persuaded of the truth of what Father Alvarez used to say, that the time of humiliation is the time for putting off our many miseries and for acquiring great merits. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say that crosses and ignominies are the greatest favours that God is accustomed to bestow upon His own. Hence she fervently exhorted Religious to place all their happiness in being treated with contempt. But, above all, it is necessary to keep before your eyes what the Redeemer has said, that happy is he who is hated and rejected by men. Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake (Luke vi. 22). The Apostle St. Peter adds: If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory, and power of God, and that which is his Spirit, resteth upon you (1 Pet. iv. 14). When you are insulted for the sake of Jesus Christ, then shall you be happy; for then shall true honour, true power, and the Spirit of God rest upon you.
Evening Meditation
THE DESOLATE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
The life of our loving Redeemer was full of desolation, and bereft of every comfort. It was a great ocean of bitterness, without one drop of sweetness or consolation: For great as the sea is thy destruction (Lam. ii. 13). This was revealed by our Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona, when He told her that in His whole life He never experienced sensible consolation.
The sadness which He felt in the Garden of Gethsemani was so great that it was sufficient to take away His life. My soul, He said, is sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38). This sadness afflicted Him not only in the Garden, but it always filled His soul with desolation, from the first moment of His Conception: for all the pains and ignominies He was to suffer until death were always present to Him.
But the extreme affliction He suffered during His whole life arose not so much from the knowledge of all the sufferings He was to endure during life, and especially at death, as from the sight of all the sins men would commit after His death. He came to abolish sin, and to save souls from hell by His death; but, after all His cruel sufferings, He saw all the sins men would commit; and the sight of each sin, being clearly before His mind while He lived here below, was to Him, as St. Bernardine of Sienna writes, a source of immense affliction. This was the sorrow which was always before His eyes, and kept Him always in desolation: My sorrow is continually before me (Ps. xxxvii. 18). St. Thomas teaches that the sight of the sins of men, and of the multitude of souls that would bring themselves to perdition, excited in Jesus Christ a sorrow which surpassed the sorrow of all penitents, even of those who died of pure grief. The holy Martyrs suffered great torments, they bore tortures from iron hooks, and nails, and red-hot plates: but God always sweetnened their pains by interior consolations. But no Martyrdom has been more painful than that of Jesus Christ, for His pain and sadness were pure, unmitigated pain and sorrow, without the smallest comfort. "The greatness of Christ's suffering," says the Angelic Doctor, "is estimated from the pureness of His pain and sadness."
II.
Such was the life of our Redeemer, and such was His death, all full of desolation. Dying on the Cross bereft of all comfort, He sought some one to console Him, but found none. I looked for one ... that would comfort me, and I found none (Ps. lxviii. 21). He found only scoffers and blasphemers, who said: If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, himself he cannot save (Matt. xxvii. 40, 42). Hence, our afflicted Lord, finding Himself abandoned by all, turned to His Eternal Father; but seeing that His Father too had abandoned Him, He cried out with a loud voice, and sweetly complained of His Father's abandonment, saying: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Ibid. 46).
Thus our Saviour terminated His life, dying, as David had foretold, immersed in a tempest of ignominies and sorrows: I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me (Ps. lxviii. 3).
When we are in desolation, let us console ourselves by meditation on the desolate death of Jesus Christ: let us offer Him our own desolation in union with that which He, the innocent God, suffered on Calvary for the love of us.
Ah, my Jesus, who will not love Thee when he sees Thee die in such desolation, consumed by sorrows, in order to pay our debts? Behold, I am one of the executioners, who have, by sin, so grievously afflicted Thee during Thy whole life. But since Thou dost invite me to repentance, grant that I may feel at least a part of that sorrow which Thou didst feel during Thy Passion, for my sins. How can I, who have, by my sins, so much afflicted Thee during Thy life, seek after pleasures? No, I will not ask for pleasures and delights; I ask of Thee tears and sorrow: make me, during the remainder of my life, to weep continually for my offences against Thee. I embrace Thy feet, O my crucified and desolate Jesus, and embracing them, I wish to die. O afflicted Mary, 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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I. MARY IS ALL EYES TO PITY AND SUCCOUR US IN OUR NECESSITIES.
St. Epiphanius calls the Divine Mother “many-eyed,” indicating thereby her watchfulness in assisting us poor creatures in this valley of tears. The eyes of the Lord are on the just (Ps. xxxiii. 16). “But the eyes of the Lady are on just and sinners,” says Richard of St. Laurence. “For,” he adds, “the eyes of Mary are the eyes of a mother on her child to save it from falling, and if perchance it falls, to raise it up.”
I.
Jesus Christ one day allowed St. Bridget to hear Him thus addressing His Mother: “My Mother, ask Me what thou wilt!” And so is her Divine Son addressing Mary in Heaven, taking pleasure in gratifying His beloved Mother in all that she asks. But what does Mary ask? St. Bridget heard her reply: “I ask mercy for sinners.” As if she had said: “My Son, Thou hast made me the Mother of mercy, the refuge of sinners, the advocate of the miserable; and now Thou tellest me to ask what I desire; what can I ask except mercy for sinners?”
“And so, O Mary, thou art so full of mercy,” says St. Bonaventure; “so attentive in relieving the wretched, that it seems that thou hast no other desire, no other anxiety.” And as amongst the miserable, sinners are the most miserable of all, Venerable Bede declares “that Mary is always praying to her Son for them.”
“Even whilst living in this world,” says St. Jerome, “the heart of Mary was so filled with tenderness and compassion for men, that no one ever suffered so much for his own pains as Mary suffered for the pains of others.” This compassion for others in affliction she well showed at the marriage-feast of Cana, when, the wine failing, without being asked, remarks St. Bernardine of Sienna, she charged herself with the office of a tender comfortress: and moved to compassion at the sight of the embarrassment of the bride and bridegroom, she interposed with her Son, and obtained the miraculous change of water into wine.
II.
St. Peter Damian, thus speaks to holy Mary: “Perhaps O holy Virgin, now that thou art raised on high to the dignity of Queen of Heaven, thou forgettest us poor creatures?” “Ah, far be such a thought from our minds,” he adds; “for it would little become the great compassion that reigns in the heart of Mary ever to forget such misery as ours.” The proverb, that “honours change our manners,” does not apply to Mary. With worldlings it is otherwise; for they, when once raised to high dignity, become proud, and forget their former poor friends, but it is not so with Mary, who rejoices in her own exaltation, because she is thus better able to help the miserable.
On this subject St. Bonaventure applies to the Blessed Virgin the words addressed to Ruth: Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter, and thy latter kindness has surpassed the former, meaning to say that, “if the compassion of Mary was great towards the miserable when living in this world, it is much greater now that she reigns in Heaven.” He then gives the reason for this, saying that “the Divine Mother shows, by the innumerable graces she obtains for us, her greater mercy; for now she is better acquainted with our miseries.” Hence he adds that “as the splendour of the sun surpasses that of the moon, so does the compassion of Mary, now that she is in Heaven, surpass the compassion she had for us when in the world.” In conclusion, he asks, “who is there living in this world who does not enjoy the light of the sun? And on whom does not the mercy of Mary shine?”
Spiritual Reading
“TURN, THEN, THINE EYES OF MERCY TOWARDS US.”
OUR LADY’S MERCY FILLS THE WHOLE EARTH.
In the Sacred Canticles Mary is called bright as the sun (Cant. vi. 9), “and no one is excluded from the warmth of this sun,” says St. Bonaventure, according to the words of the Psalmist. This was also revealed to St. Bridget, by St. Agnes, who told her that “our Queen, now that she is united to her Son in Heaven, cannot forget her innate goodness; and therefore she shows her compassion to all, even to the most impious sinners; so much so, that, as celestial and terrestial bodies are illumined by the sun, so there is no one in the world, who, if he asks, does not, through the tenderness of Mary, partake of the Divine mercy.”
A great sinner, in the kingdom of Valencia, who, having become desperate, and, in order not to fall into the hands of justice, had determined on becoming a Mahometan, was on the point of embarking for the purpose, when, by chance, he passed before a church, in which Father Jerome Lopez was preaching on the mercy of God. On hearing the sermon he was converted, and made his confession to the Father, who asked him whether he had ever practised any devotion, on account of which God had shown him so great mercy. He replied, that his only devotion was a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, in which he daily begged her not to abandon him. In a hospital the same Father found a sinner, who had not been to confession for fifty-five years; and the only devotion he practised was, that when he saw an Image of Mary he saluted her, and begged that she would not allow him to die in mortal sin. He then told him, that on an occasion, when fighting with an enemy, his sword was broken; and, turning to our Blessed Lady, he cried out: “O I shall be killed and lost for eternity; Mother of sinners, help me.” Scarcely had he said the words when he found himself transported to a place of safety. After making a general confession he died, full of confidence.
St. Bernard says that “Mary has made herself all to all, and opens her merciful heart to all, that all may receive of her fulness; the slave redemption, the sick health, those in affliction comfort, the sinner pardon, and God glory; that thus there may be no one who can hide himself from her warmth.” “Who can there be in the world,” exclaims St. Bonaventure, “who refuses to love this most amiable Queen? She is more beautiful than the sun, and sweeter than honey. She is a treasure of goodness, amiable and courteous to all.” “I salute thee, then,” continues the enraptured Saint, “O my Lady and Mother, nay, even my heart, my soul! Forgive me, O Mary, if I say that I love thee; for if I am not worthy to love thee, at least thou art all-worthy to be loved by me.”
It was revealed to St. Gertrude, that when these words are addressed with devotion to the most Blessed Virgin: “Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us!” Mary cannot do otherwise than yield to the demand of whomsoever thus invokes her. “Ah, truly, O great Lady,” says St. Bernard, “does the immensity of thy mercy fill the whole earth.” “And therefore,” says St. Bonaventure, “this loving Mother has so earnest a desire to do good to all, that not only is she offended by those who positively outrage her (as some are wicked enough to do), but she is offended by the conduct of those who do not ask her for favours or graces.” So that St. Idelbert addresses her, saying: “Thou, O Lady, teachest us to hope for far greater graces than we deserve, since thou never ceasest to dispense graces far, far beyond our merits.”
The Prophet Isaias foretold that, together with the great work of the Redemption of the human race a throne of Divine mercy was to be prepared for us poor creatures: And a throne shall be prepared in mercy (Is. xvi. 5). What is this throne? St. Bonaventure answers: “Mary is this throne, at which all — just and sinners — find the consolations of mercy.” He then adds: “For as we have a most merciful Lord, so also we have a most merciful Lady. Our Lord is plenteous in mercy to all who call upon Him, and our Lady is plenteous in mercy to all who call upon her.” As our Lord is full of mercy, so also is our Lady; and as the Son knows not how to refuse mercy to those who call upon Him, neither does the Mother. Wherefore the Abbot Guerric thus addresses the Mother, in the name of Jesus Christ: “My Mother, in thee will I establish the seat of My government; through thee will I pronounce judgments, hear prayers, and grant the graces asked of Me. Thou hast given Me My human nature, and I will give thee My Divine nature, that is omnipotence, by which thou mayest be able to help to save all whomsoever thou pleasest.”
One day, when St. Gertrude was addressing the words: “Turn thine eyes of mercy towards us,” to the Divine Mother, she saw the Blessed Virgin pointing to the eyes of her Son, Whom she held in her arms, and then said: “These are the most compassionate eyes that I can turn for their salvation towards all who call upon me.”
A sinner was once weeping before an Image of Mary, imploring her to obtain pardon for him from God, when he perceived that the Blessed Virgin turned towards the Child that she held in her arms, and said, “My Son, shall these tears be lost?” And he understood that Jesus Christ had already pardoned him.
How, then, is it possible that any one can perish who recommends himself to this good Mother, since her Son, as God, has promised her that for her love He will show as much mercy as she pleases to all who recommend themselves to her? This our Lord revealed to St. Gertrude, allowing her to hear Him make the promise to His Mother in the following words: “In My omnipotence, O revered Mother, I have granted thee the reconciliation of all sinners who devoutly invoke the aid of thy compassion, in whatever way it may please thee.”
On this assurance the Abbot Adam Persenius, considering the great power of Mary with God, and, at the same time, her great compassion for us, full of confidence, says: “O Mother of mercy, thy tender compassion is as great as thy power, and thou art as compassionate in forgiving as thou art powerful in obtaining.” “And when,” he asks, “did the case ever occur in which thou, who art the Mother of mercy, didst not show compassion? O, when was it that thou, who art the Mother of omnipotence, couldst not aid? Ah, yes, with the same facility with which thou seest our misfortunes thou obtainest for us whatever thou willest.”
“O satiate thyself, great Queen,” says the Abbot Guerric, “with the glory of thy Son, and out of compassion, though not for any merit of ours, be pleased to send us, thy servants and children here below, the crumbs that fall from thy table.” Should the sight of our sins ever discourage us, let us address the Mother of mercy in the words of William of Paris: “O Lady, do not set up my sins against me, for I oppose thy compassion to them. Let it never be said that my sins could contend in judgment against thy mercy, which is far more powerful to obtain me pardon than my sins are to bring about my condemnation.”
Evening Meditation
AFTER THIS OUR EXILE SHOW UNTO US THE BLESSED FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS!
MARY, OUR SALVATION
SHE DELIVERS HER CLIENTS FROM HELL.
I.
It is impossible for a client of Mary, who is faithful in honouring and recommending himself to her, to be lost. To some this proposition may appear, at first sight, exaggerated; but any one to whom this might seem to be the case I would beg to suspend his judgment, and, first of all, read what I have to say.
When we say that it is impossible for a client of Mary to be lost, we must not be understood as speaking of those who would take advantage of this devotion that they might sin more freely. And therefore, those who disapprove of the great praises bestowed on the clemency of this most Blessed Virgin, because it causes the wicked to take advantage of it to sin with greater freedom, do so without foundation, for such presumptuous people deserve chastisement, and not mercy, for their rash confidence. It is, therefore, to be understood of those clients who, with a sincere desire to amend, are faithful in honouring and recommending themselves to the Mother of God. It is, I say, morally impossible that such as these should be lost.
St. Anselm says, “it is impossible for one who is not devout to Mary, and consequently not protected by her, to be saved; so is it impossible for one who recommends himself to her, and consequently is beloved by her, to be lost.” St. Antoninus repeats the same thing and almost in the same words: “As it is impossible for those from whom Mary turns her eyes of mercy to be saved, so also are those towards whom she turns these eyes, and for whom she prays, necessarily saved and glorified.” Consequently the clients of Mary will necessarily be saved.
Let us note particularly what these Saints say, and let those tremble who make but little account of their devotion to this Divine Mother, or from carelessness give it up. They say that the salvation of those who are not protected by Mary is impossible. Many others declare the same thing; such as Blessed Albert, who says, that “all those who are not thy servants, O Mary, will perish.” And St. Bonaventure: “He who neglects the service of the blessed Virgin will die in his sins.” Again: “He who does not invoke thee, O Lady, will never get to Heaven.” And, on the 99th Psalm the Saint even says, “not only those from whom Mary turns her face will not save their souls, but there will be no hope of their salvation.” Before him, St. Ignatius the Martyr said, “it is impossible for any sinner to be saved without the help and favour of the most Blessed Virgin; because those who are not saved by the justice of God are with infinite mercy saved by the intercession of Mary.” Some doubt as to whether this passage is truly of St. Ignatius; but, at all events, as Father Crasset remarks, it was adopted by St. John Chrysostom. And in the same sense does the Church apply to Mary the words of Proverbs: All that hate me, love death (Prov. viii. 36), that is, all who do not love me, love eternal death. For, as Richard of St. Laurence says on the words of the same book: She is like the merchant’s ship (Prov. xxxi. 14), “all those who are out of this ship will be lost in the sea of the world.” Even the heretical Ecolampadius looked upon little devotion to the Mother of God as a certain mark of reprobation: and therefore he said: “Far be it from me ever to turn from Mary.”
II.
In the words applied to her by the Church, Mary says: He that hearkeneth to me shall not be confounded (Ecclus. xxiv. 30); that is to say, he that listeneth to what I say shall not be lost. On which St. Bonaventure says: “O Lady, he who honours thee will be far from damnation.” And this will still be the case, St. Hilary observes, even should the person during the past time have greatly offended God. “However great a sinner he may have been,” says the Saint, “if he shows himself devout to Mary, he will never perish.”
For this reason the devil does his utmost against sinners in order that, after they have lost the grace of God, they may also lose devotion to Mary. When Sara saw Isaac in company with Ismael, who was teaching him evil habits, she desired that Abraham would drive away both Ismael and his mother Agar: Cast out this bond-woman and her son (Gen. xxi. 10). She was not satisfied with the son being turned out of the house, but insisted on the mother going also, thinking that otherwise the son, coming to visit his mother, would continue to frequent the house. The devil, also, is not satisfied with a soul turning out Jesus Christ, unless it also turns out His Mother: Cast out this bond-woman and her son. Otherwise he fears that the Mother will again, by her intercession, bring back her Son. “And his fears are well grounded,” says the learned Paciucchelli; “for he who is faithful in serving the Mother of God will soon receive God Himself by means of Mary.”
Let us thank our Lord if we see that He has given us affection for the Queen of Heaven, and confidence in her, “for,” says St. John Damascene, “God grants this favour only to those whom He is determined to save.” The following are the beautiful words of the Saint, and with which he rekindles his own and our hope: “O Mother of God, if I place my confidence in thee, I shall be saved. If I am under thy protection, I have nothing to fear, for the fact of being thy client is the possession of a certainty of salvation, and which God grants only to those whom He intends to save.” Therefore, Erasmus salutes the Blessed Virgin in these words: “O terror of hell! O hope of Christians, confidence in thee is a pledge of salvation!
"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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