Part 2 (1/2)

15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a subst.i.tute for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work for the love of G.o.d, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul to Him by actual prayer.

*”Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves d.a.m.nation if he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life.”-St.

Francis de Sales.*

16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns_,-which are short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.

According to St. Francis de Sales, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns can in case of necessity replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for the omission of e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns.

*”Acquire the habit of making frequent e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. They are sighs of love that dart upwards to G.o.d to sue for His aid and succor. It will greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your morning's meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the day. In sickness let pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns take the place of all other prayers.”-St. Francis de Sales.*

17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns have a like effect on the soul by refres.h.i.+ng and fortifying it.

18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.

Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them, and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed continually.

19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the profitable and easy practice of making frequent e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. It is far preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and enlighten the soul.

20. St. Theresa's opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of G.o.d. Do not then fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the important thing is that the soul should humble itself before G.o.d in sentiments of respect, confidence and love.

Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.

IV.

PENANCE.

A sacrifice to G.o.d is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, O G.o.d, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)

I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds-either corporal or spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving, can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in accordance with the spirit of the laws of G.o.d and of his Church, which prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.

2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works, such, too, as are the more agreeable to G.o.d from their being so distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great cla.s.ses, active and pa.s.sive. The characteristic of the active virtues is to do good, of the pa.s.sive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second cla.s.s are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is less to be feared in the practice of the pa.s.sive virtues, especially when the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the hand of G.o.d.

3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this snare.

4. ”I charge you,” says St. Francis de Sales, ”to preserve your health carefully, for G.o.d exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to regain it.” Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain its strength and health.

5. We learn from Ca.s.sian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful, as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection, judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound with fetters.

6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look upon as a good rule in this matter: ”The body is a poor invalid confided to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such a.s.sistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and prudence.” He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his Creator.

7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. ”To kill one's self with a single blow,” says St. Jerome, ”or to kill one's self little by little-I make but slight distinction between these two crimes.” Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged to us absolutely.

8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. ”If we had to copy the saints in everything they did,” says St. Frances de Chantal, ”it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as St. Aloysius did.” Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.

*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.

Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius, Father Rozaven said: ”Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and permissible for him to do them.” In truth every act that exceeds human strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such contradictory words.-Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.*