October 31, 2022

"You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains" (Isa. xii. 3). We require grace and energy of various kinds from God; first the grace of knowledge and faith through revelation, then force in action. After the intellect has been illumined, the executive powers must be regulated and sustained. The supernatural life must be inspired into us, developed, and, if lost, again restored to us. All this ought to have been conveyed to us by generation and heredity from Adam. He chose deliberately to convey to us only the fallen natural life; it was for the second Adam to become the source of the supernatural life. The communication of the supernatural life has been dissociated from natural agencies; it has now to be imparted to us through supernatural institutions. Adam gave us the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil and of death: Our Lord gives us the fruit of the tree of life which had been forfeited. Through the fall, human nature tends towards excess and deterioration in all its faculties and appetites; its dangers and its needs are many; it requires aid in different conjunctures, or as we say, different kinds of grace. The Sacraments meet all these needs: they bestow on us that which Christ merited for us, forgiveness of sins, in corporation with Him, admission to eternal glory. Consider the great dignity of the Sacraments, their importance, and the value you should set on such a treasure.

 

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October 30, 2022

Consider the conduct of the perfect in their different relations towards God, their neighbors and themselves. As regards God, He should fill the whole field of their vision; He should be remembered as always present, as the source of all life and goodness, as the goal to be striven for, as the object of all their veneration and love. The next thing is to keep His commandments, whether given in the Old Testament or the New, through the voice of nature, or conscience, or His authorized Church. These should be observed fully and cheerfully, not as disagreeable restraints from which dispensation is to be sought on the smallest show of reason, but as the rule of our life and development, and as the condition of our progress and happiness. The merit of obedience should not be destroyed by an unwilling or sluggish observance or by the admission of any inferior motives. Those aspiring to perfection are not contented with obedience to the strict law of God, they do not limit themselves to the minimum required for salvation, as if they were driving a bargain and feared to give too much; but they desire to be generous with God as far as possible, and they know that the most they can do is infinitely small as compared with what God bestows on them, and with what He deserves in return. Such persons value the Holy Sacraments as the great treasures of God, they make frequent use of them, especially of Holy Communion and the Sacrafice of the Mass.

 

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October 29, 2022

Consider the actions which are characteristic of those who, whether in the world or in the cloister, have cultivated the higher perfection, and have advanced some way in its attainment. They begin by taking true views of themselves, not distorted by the blindness of conceit, and these views are lowly ones. They take a true view of life, remembering that this world passes away, that the next one is eternal, and that man's great duty here is to glorify God and save his own soul. They have a horror of sin above all other evils, they avoid every occasion that may lead them into it; and if unfortunately they fall at times through surprise or human weakness, they hasten to do penance and reconcile themselves to God. They shun the world and the spirit of worldliness, they despise its highest interests, disregard its opinions, and will not conform to its ways of laxity and vice. In all things they trace the hand of God's Providence and adore His wonderful ways, they conform themselves to His disposal of things, and trust themselves with confidence to His guidance. They esteem and love God, and delight in Him beyond all else; they taste His sweetness and repose in Him. They listen to God's inspirations, they endeavour to advance His glory, promote the knowledge and service of God by others, and work always with Him and for Him. They have a personal love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, they live in constant union with Him, and they love and serve all mankind as His brethren and as the purchase of His blood. Consider each point separately and endeavour to regulate your actions accordingly.

 

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October 28, 2022

The vitality of the earth is shown by the universality and abundance of the vegetation that adorns its surface, and by the rapidity with which, after any great cataclysm, it covers the ruins with new verdure. The spiritual life of the Church of Christ appears in the immense multitude of its religious orders. The Christian body teems with vocations of every kind. Millions in every generation feel an irresistible impulse to strive for the highest perfection, and they exhibit that impulse under the most varied forms corresponding to the varied needs of humanity. This phenomenon persists through all changes of time, and place, and fashion. Persecution has often made a clean sweep of the religious orders in a country; they yield uncomplainingly, and disappear before the storm; but as soon as its fury relaxes, they begin to spring forth silently here and there till again they cover the face of the land. All the efforts of Satan and his agents, violence, irreligion, corruption of manners, have never been able to destroy the roots of the life of perfection which Jesus Christ planted in the Christian society. So the cities of men have encroached upon nature and at times have been abandoned; and within a few years they have been obliterated by a spontaneous growth of grasses, thickets and forest trees. So a prairie fire leaves behind it a desert of ashes, but the first shower of rain produces a young and more beautiful verdure than before. What a wonderful spiritual vitality is thus manifested! Truly the finger of God is here.

 

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October 27, 2022

Voluntary Poverty. The first evangelical counsel of perfection is the renunciation of earthly possessions, and this is the first vow of religion, opposed to the concupiscence of the eyes. Our Lord gave the example of this virtue; He was born, He lived, He died in the extremest poverty, though He was the Lord of all things, and had all the treasures of the earth at His disposal. Those who wished to become His disciples were required to renounce all that they possessed, or to sell their property and give it to the poor. The Apostles and the early Christian communities observed all this literally. The counsel is not indeed necessary for all; but it is still required by God to be observed by some for the completer reproduction of the image of Jesus in His members, and for an example to the world of perfect living. Some need that lesson to teach them to be disinterested, and to check the inordinate greed of gain; others need it so that they may learn the dignity of poverty, and be helped to bear their hard lot. Poverty is a great aid towards holiness of life, for riches bring cares, and create new wants, and incite to self-indulgence, and enervate the spirit, and distract the mind from God. Learn to regard wealth and poverty according to the light shed on them by the example of Christ and His faithful followers.

 

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October 26, 2022

"Religion," in a special sense, or the "Religious Life" means the condition of those who live in community, and dedicate themselves to God by the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. The organized effort after perfection by such superhuman virtues, carried on by so many hundreds of thousands in every age is one of the greatest glories of the Catholic Church, it is a most complete reproduction of the life of Christ in actual practice, and manifests the wonderful operations of God upon human nature. Millions have renounced the world with its pomps, pleasures, and sins, on the faith of a future life, and out of pure love for God. They have resigned all material things by the vow of Poverty, the external exercise of their will by Obedience, and have dedicated their bodies to God's service by Chastity. Thus they are enabled to carry out every possible kind of work that the needs of religion and their brethren demand, and to render to God the untrammelled service of mind and heart. By combination and organization they multiply their individual efficiency; by their prayers they call down the blessings of God on mankind. Rejoice in this wonderful work of God in His Church; and in the existence of all this heroism of virtue, which outweighs the outrages of men against their Maker, the self-indulgence, greed, and revolt against law which are filling the world with misery.

 

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October 25, 2022

 

The possession of some degree of perfection may well be called the State of perfection. But this expression has a further and more technical signification. In the Christian commonwealth there are a number of persons who are aspiring to the ordinary perfection of a holy life, without being bound to any fixed rule of living. Their State is constituted by their inward dispositions and is known to themselves and God. But besides this there is a certain condition of life, a legally defined Status in the Church to which the name of perfection is assigned. It is constituted by certain external conditions and obligations. This Status of Perfection does not imply that its members actually possess the internal state of perfection, but that they ought to possess it, that they are at least bound to aspire to it, and that they have special opportunities and graces for that object. Further, it does not imply that others who are outside the Status of Perfection are not bound to high perfection, nor that they are necessarily on a lower grade of perfection than those who belong to the Status. Do not make the mistake of some who suppose that, because they do not belong to the external status of perfection, therefore they are not bound to aspire to Christian perfection. There is the perfection of the life of the precepts and the perfection of the life of the counsels; the perfection of those in the world, and the perfection of those consecrated to God. We are all without exception called to be perfect like our heavenly Father, and every one can acquire that perfection in a high degree.

 

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October 24, 2022

The first thing required for the attainment of perfection is a knowledge of its excellence and a high esteem for it. The spiritual perfection of our souls is the gate by which we enter into the possession of God in this world and in the next. It is the kingdom of God within us, the object which the external kingdom of God is intended to promote. It is the accomplishment in our souls of their resemblance to God, to His charity, purity, holiness, beauty. It is the final stage on earth of union with God. He takes the soul under the special care of His Providence, manifests Himself to it, and lavishes on it an abundance of favours such as are in comprehensible to those who have not received them. The mind is elevated by being fixed on the grandest of objects, the passions are subdued, the principal sources of disturbance are closed, and peace takes possession of the soul. Finally the work of life is crowned by a happy death. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps. cxv. 15). Perfection is indeed that pearl of great price which a man ought to give all his possessions to obtain. It is more than wealth, pleasure, honour, strength, genius. One of God's saints is worth more in the scales of eternal justice, and is more useful, than tens of thousands of the unholy with all the resources of this world. Esteem the state of perfection beyond everything else, and beseech God to help you in attaining it.

 

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October 23, 2022

The higher state of perfection of a Christian soul does not consist in sentiments or feelings of religious satisfaction, or even in desires and good intentions. These may all exist without any virtuous action. In such cases they are evidence of sinfulness rather than of grace, for they testify not only to the existence of good impulses but to the rejection of them. There are not a few who are in this state, who never improve, and who take credit to themselves for that which will perhaps be their condemnation. Neither does an occasional good deed, or even an act of high virtue, especially if it be of the natural order, testify to a man's perfection. All men have some good points in them, every one receives continual impulsions of grace from God, and even the worst of men are able on occasion to do acts of extraordinary brilliancy that are out of harmony with the general tenor of their lives. Real perfection requires two things, that there be a permanent disposition towards good in the soul, and that this be maintained in a state of constant activity. Take care not to be misled and not to mislead others. Do not rely on a few good actions of the past, or on good intentions and desires for the future. "Desires kill the slothful; for his hands have refused to work at all" (Prov. xxi. 25). The desire to do good must be trained into a facility of doing good born of repeated acts, and this must be kept in constant exercise.

 

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October 22, 2022

Creation is arranged on a gradually ascending scale of perfection. Each class of beings accomplishes its own purpose in its own sphere, and leads on to something higher. Man, as he is in this present life, is no exception to the rule. Compared with the lower creation, he is the last and perfected product of this earth, the final term of its physical evolution; but he has not attained his own perfection; something more is to follow. The further development of man does not consist in the accumulation of the means of existence, and the multiplication of the works of his hands on a globe that must some day perish; these are but subsidiary to something better. Nor is it the wildly fancied improvement of the species till a higher form of rational animal shall emerge and the present type disappear. Revelation shows that the course of evolution comes to an end in the actual men who have lived and who are now living; for they are immortal, and each one is called to the higher life, and supernatural perfection, and the heavenly life. In human life on earth there is an intellectual advance through the ages. But this is not all. There is a social development, i.e., in organization, and in man's relations to his fellow-men. But beyond this, there is the development of the relations of the human race with the Infinite Spirit and with supreme absolute Life. This is the true line of human perfectibility. Take care that you do not come to a stand half-way, or that you do not mistake one of the means of progress for the object of all effort. Seek God alone.

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Virtues Allied to Temperance - 2

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

 

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.

 

Besides the greater virtues into which Temperance enters as a component, we may consider some smaller ones, which conduce to the perfection of a man s character, and which restrain him from irregularities which do not amount to serious sin. Modesty is one of these. It is a virtue which controls the external demeanour. This is a small matter in comparison with the graver precepts of the law. It is quite possible for considerable defects of this kind to co-exist with great and solid virtues. Yet the interior dispositions and the outward comportment are closely allied. As Holy Writ says: "A man is known by his look, and a wise man when thou meetest him is known by his countenance. The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of a man show what he is" (Eccli. xix. 26, 27). Modesty is not "a mystery of the body devised to conceal the defects of the character." When it is superficial and not the product of an inward principle, and when it is limited to keeping up appearances, it is not the virtue of modesty, but fraud and hypocrisy. Modesty is genuine and sincere, the product of habits of self-restraint and humility; it does not aim at effect, but yet produces it unmistakably. Do not cultivate merely the externals of modesty, but discipline your mind to humility and tranquillity, and this will correct all external traits that are offensive, ridiculous, or of bad taste.

 

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Virtues Allied to Temperance - 1

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

 

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.

 

Humility is classed as a virtue allied to Temperance, for it is a controlling and moderating force applied to that concupiscence which is called the pride of life. From the day when our first parents entertained the foolish thought that they would be as gods, men have always endeavoured to exalt themselves beyond their due. All are inclined to hold too good an opinion of themselves, to take glory in gifts which are not of themselves but of God, to magnify themselves beyond others, their equals or betters, and to gain a position and an esteem which they do not merit. Ambition, vain-glory, self-will, independence, conceit, vanity, arrogance, insolence, are capable of going to the most extravagant excesses if not controlled by humility. Humility is a most important form of moderation. It restrains in us all those ebullitions which are most rebellious against God, most offensive to our neighbour, most discreditable to ourselves. Humility is homage to God, is real self-respect, truth and honesty; it conciliates the esteem of all, and brings peace to the soul. Its formula has been well expressed: "Despise yourself, despise the world, despise no man, despise being despised."

 

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Temperance as to Wealth

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

 

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.

 

There is a great impulse dictated by the vital energies of man, and implanted as an irresistible instinct in certain animals that require it, viz., to provide in advance materials for the support of life. The beaver and the ant lay up supplies of food for their future needs and those of their unborn progeny. Man, having to provide the necessaries of life by his own labour, and being endowed with intelligent foresight, possesses by nature the faculty of acquisitiveness and the sense of ownership. The rights of property are one of the chief bases of social organization. Progress is impossible when men live from hand to mouth, providing each day's food by each day's labour. The accumulation of wealth is necessary for the avoidance of famine, for the accomplishment of great enterprises which are not at once productive, and for the securing of leisure for mental cultivation, for exploration, for the numerous functions of government, and, unfortunately, also for war. The virtue of Economy regulates this impulse. It refers man to God as the remote giver of daily bread, and reminds him that man's labour is the means by which God provides for him; it helps him to maintain the golden mean between excessive accumulation and excessive profusion; it shows him, as a member of society, that the accumulation of wealth is fostered by social organization as well as by his own labour, and that the community should draw profit from it as well as the individual. Take these lessons to heart.

 

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Celibacy

SAN ANTONIO, 1945

 

ETERNAL REST GIVE UNTO THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM. AMEN.

 

Religious Celibacy and Virginity may be called the apotheosis of Chastity, which thus is raised to its highest term, and becomes absolute and permanent. Chastity, from being the guide and moderator of natural activity, rises to the highest self-abnegation, and establishes the dominance of the spiritual over the material element in human nature. The maintenance of the specific life is indeed a primary law of nature; yet nature itself always provides checks on a too abundant multiplication. God has provided one in the case of man that is proportioned to his dignity and future prospects, viz., the voluntary and supernatural check of religious celibacy. In this condition men approximate to the state of the angels in heaven, who neither marry nor are given in marriage; and thus they represent new perfections of God in humanity. By calling some to an exceptional state, God does not contradict His own general creative law; the exemption of some individuals from the command to increase and multiply is always necessary in the interest of the species. God gives only a counsel of greater perfection to a few chosen ones. When the Apostles suggested that "it is not good to marry," Jesus affirmed both the law and its exceptions. "All men receive not this word but they to whom it is given. . . .  He that can take, let him take it" (Matt. xix. 11, 12). How harmonious are the ways of Divine Providence! How beautifully is natural law carried out in the spiritual sphere!

 

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