The nun sanctified by the virtues of her state
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| while the smallest hole remains in the bottom." 1 And St. Augustine says: " Trample under foot passions already subdued, and combat those that still offer resistance."2 If you wish to be a saint, I advise you to entreat the Superior and director to point out the way in which you ought to walk. Tell them not to spare you, but to contradict your inclinations as often as they shall judge it useful to you. " Be of an upright and perfect will," says that great servant of God, Cardinal Petrucci. St. Teresa 3 relates that she derived more advantage from one of her confessors, who sought on all occasions to oppose her desires, than from all the others. 1 "Navis, quantumcumque Integra, nihil prodest, si parvum fundo foramen relinquat. "int. Op. S. Aug. ep. 19, App. E. B. 2 "Calca jacentem, conflige cum resistente." Serm 156 E B 3 Life, ch. 26.
She adds, that she was frequently tempted to leave him; and that, as often as she yielded to the suggestion of the devil, God rebuked her severely. " Every time," says the saint, " I resolved to leave him, I felt within me a rebuke more painful than the conduct of my confessor towards me.** II. The second means to obtain the spirit of interior mortification is, to resist the passions, and to beat them down before they acquire strength. If one of them become strong by habitual indulgence, the subjugation of it will be exceedingly difficult. " Lest cupidity," says St. Augustine, "should gain strength, strike it to the ground whilst it is weak." 1 Sometimes it will happen that a religious will feel inclined to make use of an angry expression, or to entertain an affection for a certain person. If she do not resist these desires in the beginning, the slight wound, inflicted by her consent to them, shall soon become incurable. " Unless," says St. Ephrem, " you quickly take away the passions, they produce an ulcer." 2 One of the ancient monks, as we learn from St. Dorotheus, 3 has beautifully illustrated this doctrine. He commanded one of his disciples to pluck up a young cypress. The disciple executed the command without difficulty. The Superior then told him to pull up another tree of greater growth: to perform this task all the strength of the young monk was necessary. Lastly, the venerable Father commanded the disciple to tear up a tree which had taken deep root. In obedience to this precept the young religious exerted all his strength; but his efforts were fruitless the tree was immovable. Behold, said the old man, how easily our passions are eradicated in the beginning, and how difficult it is to conquer them after they have acquired strength and vigour by evil habits. 1 " Cum parvula est cupiditas, nequaquam parvæ consuetudinis robur accipiat; elide illam." In Ps. cxxxvi. 2 " Nisi citius passiones sustuleris, ulcus efficiunt." De Perf. man, 3 Doctr. ii. This truth is confirmed by daily experience. A religious when she receives an insult feels within a motion of resentment; if in the beginning she stifles the spark, and silently offers to God the sacrifice of her feelings, the fire is extinguished, she escapes unhurt, and even acquires merit before the Lord. But if she yield to the impulse of passion, if she pause to reflect on the insult she has received, and manifest externally the feelings of her soul that spark of resentment will soon be kindled into a flame of hatred. Another religious entertains a certain little attachment towards a certain person; if in the beginning she avoid the company of that person, the affection will vanish; but if she encourage the attachment, it will in a short time become sinful and mortal. We must therefore abstain with the greatest care from nourishing our passions the monsters that would devour us. III. The third means is, as Cassian says, 1 to endeavor to change the object of our passions, that thus the pernicious and vicious desires of the heart may become salutary and holy. Some are inclined to an inordinate love of all from whom they receive a favour. They should seek to change the object of this propensity, and to turn their affections to God, who is infinitely amiable, and who has bestowed the most inestimable blessings upon them. Others are prone to anger against those who are opposed to them: they ought to direct their resentment against their own sins, which have done them more injury than all the devils in hell could inflict upon them. Others pant after honors and temporal goods: they should aspire to the goods and honors of God’s eternal kingdom. 1 Collat. 12, c. 5. But to practise successfully this means of conquering our passions, frequent meditation on the truths of faith, frequent spiritual readings, and frequent reflections on the eternal maxims are indispensably necessary. And, above all, it is necessary to impress deeply on the mind certain fundamental spiritual maxims, such as: " God alone deserves to be loved. Sin is the only evil which we ought to hate. Whatever God wills is good. All worldly goods shall have an end. The most insignificant action, performed for God’s sake, is more profitable than the conversion of the whole world effected from any other motive than the love of God. It is necessary to do what at the hour of death we would wish to have done. We ought to live on this earth as if there were nothing in existence but ourselves and God." He whose mind is continually filled with holy maxims suffers little molestation from earthly objects, and is always strong enough to resist his corrupt inclinations. The saints have kept their souls always occupied with the truths of eternity, and thus in the time of temptation have been almost insensible to the goods or 47 the evils of this life. To conquer self-love, and to shake off the tyranny of passion, we must above all things pray without ceasing, and continually ask of God the assistance of his grace. He that prays, obtains all God’s gifts: For every one that asketh receiveth. 1 We ought especially to beg the gift of divine love; for to him who loves God, nothing is difficult. Consideration and reflection assist us greatly in the practice of virtue; but in the observance of the divine commands a single spark of the love of God affords more help than a thousand reflections and considerations. Acts of virtue which proceed from reflection are accompanied with labor and violence; but he that loves is not fatigued by doing what pleases his beloved. " He that loves, labors not," 2 says St. Augustine. Prayer. O my God, after so many graces, so many Communions, and so many good examples of companions ; after so many interior lights and loving invitations my whole soul should at this moment be one flame of divine love. But notwithstanding all Thy favors I am still as imperfect and miserable as ever. Nothing has been wanting on Thy part; the fault is entirely mine, and is to be ascribed to the obstacles which I have opposed to Thy grace by obeying my passions. I see, O my Jesus, that my life has not given glory to Thee, but has rather brought dishonour on Thy name, by exhibiting to others one of Thy spouses so attached to the world and to herself. Thou hast taken me from the world, and I have loved it more than even seculars. O Lord, have mercy upon me; do not abandon me, for I desire to amend. I repent with my whole heart of all the insults which for the indulgence of my pleasures, I have offered to Thee. I desire to begin to love Thee from this moment. I have abused Thy patience too long, but now I love Thee with my whole soul. From this day forward Thou shalt be the only object of my affections. I desire to leave all, and to do everything in my power to please Thee. Show me Thy will and assist me to execute it, I am ready to please Thee in all things. Do not permit me to be any longer insensible to the excessive love by which Thou hast obliged me to love Thee. I am willing to be deprived of every earthly consolation, and to suffer every cross which Thou wilt please to send me. Dispose of me as Thou pleasest. I desire and hope to belong to Thee entirely and forever. I desire Thee alone, and nothing more. Mary, my mother, beg of thy Son to hear me ; for he denies thee nothing. 1 " Omnis enim qui petit accipit." Luke, xi. 10. 2 " Qui amat, non laborat." In Jo. tr. 48. II. Detachment from Self-will. Nothing is more injurious to religious who have consecrated their will to Jesus Christ than to be guided by the dictates of their own will and inclinations. Hence, to guard against this enemy of the spiritself-will the vow of obedience has been prescribed in every religious Order. Nothing but self-will can separate us from God. Neither all the men upon earth nor all the devils in hell can deprive us of his grace. " Let self-will cease," says St. Bernard, "and there will be no hell." 1 Let men give up their own will, and for them there shall be no hell. It is self-will that destroys all virtues. St. Peter Damian calls it " the great destroyer of all virtues; " 2 and St. Anselm says that "the will of God is the fountain of all good, and the will of man the source of all evil." 3 And what fruit can be expected from the disciple who chooses a master destitute of reason, that is, his own will? "Whoever," says St. Bernard, " constitutes himself his own master, becomes the disciple of a fool." 4 St. Anthony used to say that self-love is that wine which inebriates man so as to render him incapable of comprehending the value of virtue or the evil of sin. St. Augustine asserts that " the devil has been made a devil by self-will." 5 It is principally by self-will that Satan seeks to effect the perdition of religious. Cassian relates that the Abbot Achilles, being asked by his disciples with what arms the devil fights against religious, answered, that he employs pride against the great, avarice against merchants, intemperance against youth, but that his principal weapon against religious are their own will: that with this he attacks and frequently defeats them. 1 " Cesset voluntas propria, et infernus non erit." In Temp. Pasfh. s. 3. 2 " Destructio magna virtutum." Hom, de S. Bencd. 3 " Voluntas Dei fons est totius boni; voluntas hominis totius est exordium mali." De Similit. c. 8. 4 " Qui se sibi magistrum constituit, stulto se discipulum subdit." Epist. 87. 5 " Diabolus, perversa voluntate, ex bono angelo diabolus factus est." Conf. 1. 7, c. 3. The Abbot Pastor says that " the demons do not contend with us when we do our own will, for then our wills become devils." When we do our own will, the enemy ceases to combat us; because then our wills are devils, and more injurious to us than all the devils in hell. St. John Climacus (quoted by Gerson) says that he who, despising the authority of his Superior, wishes to direct himself, does not require a devil to tempt him, because he is become a devil to himself. 2 Go not, says the Holy Ghost, after thy lusts, but turn from thy own will. "3 Do not follow your own desires, but fly from the indulgence of self-will. This admonition is directed in a particular manner to religious who have sacrificed 48 their will to God by promising obedience to their Rule and to their Superior. As God should be the only object of their love, so obedience is the only means by which they can obtain his love. To be the fruit of obedience is the highest perfection which the actions of religious can attain. The Venerable Catharine of Cardona, having left the Spanish court, retired into a desert, where she lived for many years in the practice of penitential austerities, the very recital of which would fill the mind with horror. In her life it is related that seeing one day a discalced Carmelite carrying through obedience a bundle of wood, and knowing by inspiration that he murmured interiorly against the command of his Superior, she thus addressed him: " Brother, carry, carry with alacrity these fagots; and be assured that by this act of obedience you will merit a greater reward than I have deserved by all my penances." 1 Non pugnant nobiscum daemones, quando voluntates nostras facimus; quia voluntates nostrae dremones facts sunt." Vit. Pair. 1. 5, lib. 10, n. 62. 2 " Qui sibi dux esse vult, spreto duce proprio, non jam indiget dæmone tentante, quia ipse factus est dæmon sibi." De Lib. leg. a mon. cons. 6. 3" Post concupiscentias tuas non eas, et a voluntate tua avertere." Ecclus. xviii. 30. But as the works of religious derive from obedience the highest degree of perfection, so by self-will they are rendered most imperfect and defective. Hence, Tritemius says that nothing is more hateful to the devil than the practice of obedience. " The devil detests nothing more than obedience." 1 Speaking of obedience, St. Teresa says that " Satan knows that it is the remedy of the soul, and therefore he labors hard to prevent its attainment." 2 When St. Francis de Sales was devising the Rule for the nuns of the Visitation a certain person said that they ought to be barefooted. "You," replied the saint, "wish to begin with the feet, but I wish to begin with the head." St. Philip Neri continually impressed on his penitent that sanctity consists in the mortification of self-will. "You will," says St. Jerome, " advance in proportion as you deny your own will." 3 Your progress in virtue will be proportional to your denial of self-will. It was because they knew that they could not offer to God a more agreeable sacrifice than that of their own will, by the vow of obedience, that so many parish priests and bishops, who led exemplary lives in the world, retired into the cloister to live under obedience. Oh ! how happy the religious who, at the hour of death, can say, with the Abbot John, I have never done my own will. 4 St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say, that the only means of dying a happy death is to submit with simplicity to the direction of a Superior. " To crucify all her desires is," says Cassian, " the end of a religious." : 1 " Nihil est quod diabolus plus oderit, quam obedieniiam." 2 Found, ch. 5. 3 " Tantum adjicies virtuti, quantum subtraxeris propriæ voluntati." 4 Cassian, De Cænob. inst. 1. 4, c. 28. 5 " Finis cœnobitae est omnes suascrucifigere voluntates." Collat. 19, c. 8 The religious, then, who does not attend to the mortification of self-will cannot be called a religious, but a sacrilegious violator of her profession. What greater sacrilege than to take back the will that has been once consecrated to God? " There is not," says St. Bernard, "a more heinous sacrilege than to resume power over a will once offered to God." The Holy Ghost has declared by the mouth of Samuel, that to violate obedience and to follow self-will in contempt of authority is a species of idolatry. It is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel; and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. 1 St. Gregory applies this passage in a particular manner to the disobedience of religious. "It is," says the saint, " like the sin of witchcraft to rebel, because they believe the proud inventions of their own hearts, and resist the counsels of their prelates." 2 The sin of religious who despise the commands of Superiors, and follow the dictates of self-love, is like the crime of idolatry; because they in a manner adore self-will as their God. Hence, St. Basil 3 ordained that monks who were attached to their own will should, like lepers, be separated from the rest of the Community, lest others might be infected by their bad example. Blessed Charlotte used to say that mortification of self-will is more meritorious than the renunciation of all the riches of the world. And here it is right to observe, that sanctity depends on the abnegation of self-will, not only in what is imperfect or indifferent, but also in the exercises which have the appearance of virtue; as, for example, prayer, alms-deeds, acts of penance, and other works of piety. 1 "Quasi peccatum ariolandi est, repugnare; et quasi scelus idololatriæ, nolle acquiescere." I Kings, xv. 23. 2 "Quasi ergo peccatum ariolandi est, repugnare; quia cordis sui superbis adinvcntionibus credunt, et prælatorum consiliis refragantur." 3 Reg. fus. Disp. int. 28. Cassian remarks that acts of virtue performed through self-will and disobedience are productive of the worst consequences; because sinful actions which wear the appearance of holiness are corrected only with the greatest difficulty. " Vices," he says, "which appear to be virtues are the most irremediable."1 Religious who desire to attain sanctity by following self-will are precisely the souls who, according to Isaias, will say to Jesus Christ on the day of judgment: Why have we fasted and thou hast not regarded? 2 To them the Judge will answer, that their works were 49 performed to please themselves rather than to do the will of God, and that therefore they deserve no reward. Behold, he will say, in the day of your fast your own will is found 3 Oh ! how great, then, is the evil of self-will, which vitiates and destroys the most perfect actions ! "Great, "says St. Bernard, " is the evil of self-will, which renders your good works unprofitable to you." 4 But, on the other hand, to be the result of obedience, is an infallible sign that an action is pleasing to God. Nicephorus relates that when the Superiors of St. Simon Stylites wished to ascertain whether the extraordinary and singular life which he led, remaining on a pillar in the open air, night and day, were pleasing to God, they commanded him to come down from his pillar and to live with the other monks. On hearing the command, the saint instantly stretched out his foot to descend, but was told by his Superiors to persevere in his austerities, which he proved by his obedience to be acceptable before God. It is necessary, then, to seek even holy things without attachment to self-will. St. Francis de Sales used to say: "I desire but few things, and for these I am not solicitous." 5 He wished for them, not through self-love, but to please God ; and was therefore prepared to give them up as soon as he knew they were not conformable to the holy will of God. 1 "A remediis longinquiora sunt vitia quæ, sub specie virtutum, videntur emergere." Collat. 4, c. 20. 2" Quare jejunavimus et non aspexisti?" Is. Iviii. 3. 3 "Ecce, in die jejunii vestri, invenitur voluntas vestra." Ibid. 4 "Grande malum propria voluntas, qua fit ut bona tua tibi bona non sint !" in Cant. s. 71. 5 Entret. 21. Oh ! how great is the peace of a religious whose desires are the dictates of obedience ! St. Dositheus, having consecrated his whole will to obedience, enjoyed continual peace. Fearing that in this peace there was some delusion of the enemy, he one day said to his Superior, St. Dorotheus: "Father, tell me why it is that I experience such tranquillity as to be free from every other desire?" "My son," replied the Father, "this peace is altogether the fruit of obedience." And what can give more content to religious that love God, than to know with certainty that in all their actions they do the will of God ? They can say with the prophet: We are happy, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us. 1 We enjoy constant happiness; because being obedient in all things we are certain of doing in all the will of our Spouse. " Oh ! what sweetness," says Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, " is contained in this expression the will of God ?" St. Laurence Justinian says that "he who has rejected his own will has thrown off a most grievous burden." 2 "What tyrant," says St. Peter Damian, "more cruel than self-will?" 3 A religious cannot be subject to a more galling tyranny than the domination of her own will; for her inclinations will lead her to seek after things that cannot be had in the cloister. 1 " Bead sumus, Israel; quia, quæ Deo placent, manifesta sunt nobis." Bar. iv. 4. 2 " Gravissimum a se onus rejecit, qui suam repulit voluntatem."- De Disc. mon. c . 7. 3 "Quis tyrannus crudelior quam hominis voluntas?" Hom, de S. Ben. Fruitless desires will keep her in perpetual misery and agitation of mind, and she shall frequently suffer within herself a little hell. "Of what use," says St. Eucherius, "are the silence and repose of a habitation, if the inhabitants be disturbed by the struggling of passions? Of what use is external serenity, if the tempest rage within ?" 1 What will it profit a religious to live in the retirement of the cloister, if her heart be agitated by the conflicts of her passions? Without, indeed, there will be a calm, but within a storm. And from what source arise all our troubles ? Do they not spring from attachment to our own inclinations ? " Whence," says St. Bernard, " is disturbance of mind, if not from following self-will ?" 2 Cassian relates 3 that the ancient Fathers were accustomed to say that the religious who does not conquer self-will cannot persevere in religion: certainly she cannot persevere with profit and with peace. Attachment to self-will is the only reason why many religious lead an unhappy life. One is unhappy because she cannot have the confessor or Superior of her choice: another, because she desires an office, and it is not given to her. She is so discontented, that the Superiors, to put an end to her complaints, accede to her wishes; and still she is not content. How can she expect to enjoy peace, when, instead of practising obedience, she obliges her Superiors to submit to her desires ? Others are disturbed because an occupation opposed to their inclinations is assigned to them; others, because they are forbidden to keep up a certain communication or correspondence with their friends. Others, because some disagreeable precept is imposed upon them; they are displeased, and endeavor to excite against the Superior the aversion of their relatives, and even of the Community, and thus produce endless scandal and disorder. 1 "Quid prodest, si in loco quies et silentium sit, et in habitatoribus colluctatio passionum; si exteriora serenitas teneat, et interiora tempestas?" Ad Mon. hom. 9. 2 "Unde turbatio, nisi quod propriam sequimur voluntatem ?" De Div. s. 26. 3 De Cœn. Inst. 1.4. c. 8 Their crime, as is related by Surius, 1 would merit the chastisement of two monks, who refused to receive as their abbot a holy man named Philibert: one of them was struck with lightning, the other suddenly attacked with a mortal disease. " Have peace with your prelates," says St. Bernard: " do not detract, nor wilfully listen to others detracting 50 them: for God punishes inferiors in a special manner for this vice, and even in the present life." 2 And St. Gregory says 3 that " the works of Superiors, though they may appear reprehensible, are not to be struck with the sword of the tongue." Thou shall not, says the Lord, speak ill of the gods 4 You shall not censure the conduct of your Superiors, who hold the place of God in your regard. Attend to what Mary M. de Pazzi, while in an ecstasy, said of the evil done to religious by self-love: " I see," says that great saint, " a multitude of souls, among whom there is one who, at the time of uniting herself to you, O divine Word, is wholly recollected; but before the lapse of an hour something occurs that is opposed to her inclinations, and she is thrown into confusion and agitation. I see another who, during the holy Mass, burns with divine love; but when reminded of a fault she will not acknowledge it; in her, pride and self-love reign. 1 Vit. S. Phil. 20 Aug. 2 " Habeto pacem cum prælatis tuis: non detrahas eis, nee libenter audias alios detrahentes eis; quia specialiter Deus hoc vitium punit in subditis, etiam in præsenti." Op. Ad quid ven. c. 3. 3 " Fucta præpositorum oris gladio non sunt ferienda, etiam cum recte reprehendenda videntur. " Epist. 1. 12, ep. 13. 4 " Diis non detrahes." Exod. xxii. 28. Another appears to rival St. Anthony by the rigor of her austerities; but if her penances be prohibited, she is pertinacious, and will not obey. Another is reserved and mortified in the refectory; but she takes complacency in her mortifications, and desires to be esteemed more holy than her companions. To her, discretion appears excess; but she imputes to immoderate zeal the want of anything that she desires. Another will appear in the parlour to surpass St. Augustine by her wisdom; and to manifest her own perfection, will exhibit in her conversation an extraordinary degree of prudence. Others are ready to forego in the exercises of charity every personal advantage, but wish to be thanked for their services, and to be praised by all their companions." Of such religious the Lord once said to the same saint: " They desire my spirit, but they desire it in a manner and at a time pleasing to themselves, and thus they render themselves unfit to receive it." 1 But let us return to ourselves. If you, dear Sister, wish to become a saint, and to enjoy continual peace, seek to overcome as much as possible your own will; adopt the rule of religious who love perfection; never do anything for your own satisfaction, but do all to please God: by this means you cut off all vain desires and all evil inclinations. Worldlings continually seek the gratification of their own wishes; but the saints constantly endeavor to mortify selfwill, and to find occasions of self-denial. St. Andrew Avellini, as we read in his Office, bound himself by an express vow to resist continually his own will. You should at least prescribe to yourself to deny your own will a certain number of times in the day. Repeat often the words by which St. Bernard was accustomed to excite his fervor in God’s service: " Bernard, for what purpose have you come here?" 2 1 Puccini, p. 4, c. 29; p. 3, n. I. 2 "Bernarde, ad quid venisti?" |