Part 5 (1/2)

8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows how to compa.s.sionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]

9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of G.o.d, and it is much safer there than if in your own keeping.

10. The immoderate fear of h.e.l.l, in the opinion of Saint Francis de Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.

11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin of despair, retorted: ”I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,-but for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall save my soul.”

12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.

G.o.d loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa a.s.sures us, provided they mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.

To aspire to the n.o.blest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. x.x.x.)

X.

THE PRESENCE OF G.o.d.

Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)

I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)

1. The constant remembrance of G.o.d's presence is a means of perfection that Almighty G.o.d Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of mind. The G.o.d of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be done lovingly and peacefully.

2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and uninterruptedly of G.o.d. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at every moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities, our imagination.

We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to lead before the proper time an existence similar to that of the angels and saints.

3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep yourself in the presence of G.o.d, because you have not thought of Him. This is a mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought, perform all your actions for love of G.o.d and in His presence, by virtue of the intention you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than to think. Though the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he is preparing the medicine that is to restore him to health, nevertheless it is for him he is working, and he is more useful to his patient in this way than if he contented himself with merely thinking of him. In like manner when you fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you eat or walk, devote yourself to study or to manual labor, though it be without definitely thinking of G.o.d, you are acting for Him, and this ought to suffice to set your mind at rest in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does not say that we must eat, drink and labor with an actual remembrance of G.o.d's presence, but with the habitual intention of glorifying Him and doing His holy will. We fulfil this condition by making an offering each morning to G.o.d of all the actions of the day and renewing the act interiorly whenever we can remember to do so.

4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious aspirations naturally and without effort, and let them for the most part be expressive of confidence and love.

5. Should it happen that a considerable s.p.a.ce of time elapses without your having thought distinctly of G.o.d or raised your heart to Him by any loving e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, do not allow this omission to worry you. The servant has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he has done his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the while.

Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for G.o.d than to think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it results in action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the good intention which preceded it.

XI.

HUMILITY.

If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)

For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)

1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently confused with servility or littleness.

2. To attribute to G.o.d what is G.o.d's, that is to say everything that is good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.

*Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by pride, that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The first man, a creature owing his existence directly to G.o.d, was bound to dedicate it entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as for all the other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple justice. The day whereon he a.s.serted a desire to be independent, he caused an utter derangement in the relations of the creature with his Creator. Pride, that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the faculties received from G.o.d-pride, introduced into the soul of the first man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma to the souls of all his descendants, and has become forevermore a part of their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever springing up afresh, to be independent, to be something of ourselves, to desire for ourselves esteem, affection and honor, despite the precepts of the divine law, the claims of justice and the warnings of reason; and thus it is that the whole spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict against this vicious propensity. Divine grace though sustaining us in the combat never gives us a complete victory, for the struggle must endure until death,-the closing chastis.e.m.e.nt of our original degradation and the only one that can obliterate the last traces thereof. (See _Imitation_, B.

III., Ch. XIII.-XXII.)*