The nun sanctified by the virtues of her state
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| The man who meekly bears affronts is useful to himself and to all who behold him. For nothing is more edifying to a neighbour than the meekness of a man who receives injuries with a tranquil countenance. "Nothing," adds the saint, "conciliates friends to the Lord so much as to see a man agreeable by his meekness." 1 Father Maffei relates that a Jesuit, while preaching in Japan, having been spit upon by an insolent bystander, removed the spittle with his handkerchief, and continued his sermon as if nothing had happened. One of his auditors exclaimed, that a doctrine that teaches such humility must be true and divine, and was instantly converted to the faith. Thus, also, St. Francis de Sales converted innumerable heretics by his meekness in bearing the insults that he received from them. A religious who lives in a monastery of relaxed observance, and who wishes to walk in the way of perfection, may be assured that during her whole life she shall be an object of continual derision and persecution. There is no remedy: The wicked, says the Holy Ghost, loathe them that are in the right way. 2 They who walk in the broad road cannot but feel an abhorrence of them that tread in the narrow way. 1 " Nihil ita conciliat domino familiares, ut quod ilium vident mansuetudine jucundum." S. de Mansuet. 2 " Abominantur impii cos qui in recta sunt via." Prov. xxix. 27.
For the lives of the saints are a continual reproach to sinners who wish to see all like themselves. Shunning the grates, assisting in choir, observance of silence, detachment from particular friendships, and almost every good work of a fervent religious will be regarded by the tepid as singularities, or perhaps, as hypocritical acts, performed from a motive of acquiring the reputation of a saint. Should a fervent nun in a convent of relaxed discipline commit a fault (for she has not ceased to be frail, and subject to defects), should she, for example, yield to a word of slight impatience, or sometimes defend herself against an unjust accusation, oh, what an outcry is raised against her ! Behold the saint ! the tepid exclaim. To impose upon others she communicates every morning, she always observes silence, she wears hair-cloth, and remains all day in the choir. They sometimes add falsehood to truth. If she wishes to be a saint, she must be careful to suffer, and to offer to God all these reproaches. Unless she submit to them she will not continue long in the way of perfection; she will soon lose all that she has acquired, and will become as imperfect as the others. In speaking once of a certain religious who was esteemed a saint, St. Bernard said: He indeed is a saint, but he wants the greatest of all blessings the reputation of a sinner. Let us then be persuaded that to be persecuted in this life confers the highest excellence on the saints. And, says the Apostle, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 1 The Redeemer says, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.2 Some will say: I attend only to my own concerns, I give offence to no one: why should I be persecuted ? But all the saints have been persecuted; Jesus Christ, the head of the saints, has been persecuted: and will you not submit to persecution ? But what greater favour, says St. Teresa, 3 can God bestow upon us than to send us the treatment that he wished his beloved Son to suffer on earth ? " Believe me," says Father Torres, in a letter to one of his penitents, " that one of the greatest graces that God can confer upon you is to make you worthy to be calumniated by all, without being esteemed by any." 1"Omnes qui pie volunt vivere in Christo Jesu, persecutionem patientur." 2 Tim. iii. 12. 2"Si me persecuti sunt, et vos persequentur." John, xv. 20. 3 Interior Castle, d. 7, ch. 4. When, then, dear sister, you see yourself disregarded and despised by all men, rejoice, and thank your Spouse, who wishes you to be treated in the same manner in which he himself wished to be treated in this life. And to prepare your soul to accept humiliations when they occur, represent to yourself in the time of meditation all the contempt, contradictions, and persecutions which may happen to you, and offer yourself, with a strong desire and resolution to suffer them all for the sake of Jesus Christ, and thus you shall be better prepared to accept them. 118 V. In the fifth place, you must not only accept humiliations in peace, but must also be glad and exult under them. " A good religious," says St. Joseph Calasanctius, " despises the world and rejoices in its scoffs." The Venerable Louis de Ponte could not at first conceive how a soul could delight in contempt; but when he became more perfect he experienced the consolations of abjection. By our own strength we certainly cannot rejoice in humiliations, but by the aid of Jesus Christ we can imitate the apostles, who went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. 1 There are some, as St. Joseph Calasanctius says, who suffer reproach, but not with joy. To teach the perfect spirit of humility to St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, St. Ignatius came down from heaven and assured her that true humility consists in taking pleasure in whatever inspires self-contempt. Worldlings do not delight as much in honors as the saints do in contempt. Brother Juniper, of the Order of St. Francis, received insults as he would the most costly gems. When derided by his companions, St. John Francis Regis was not only pleased by their ridicule, but even encouraged it. Thus from the lives of the saints it would appear that sufferings and humiliations were the sole objects of their wishes. 1 Ibant gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati." Acts, v. 41. With a cross on his shoulder and a crown of thorns on his head the Redeemer once appeared to St. John of the Cross and said: " John, ask of me what thou wilt." " Lord, replied the saint, " I desire to suffer and to be despised for Thy sake." As if he said: Lord, seeing you oppressed with sorrow and saturated with opprobrium for the love of me, what can I ask from you but pains and ignominies? The Lord once assured Blessed Angela of Foligno that the surest means by which a soul can ascertain whether its lights are from God is to examine if they have inspired and left behind a strong desire of being despised for his sake. Jesus wishes that under injuries and persecutions we not only be not disquieted, but that we even rejoice and exult in expectation of the great glory that he has prepared for us in heaven as the reward of our sufferings. Blessed are ye when they shall revile and persecute you; . . . be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven? To those who are about to enter religion it is my custom to recommend, above all things, the practice of obedience, and of patience under contempt. I have been anxious to treat the latter at full length. Because I am convinced that without bearing contempt it is impossible for a nun to advance in perfection; and because I hold as certain that the religious who cheerfully embraces humiliations shall become a saint. " A soul humble of heart," says St. Paulinus, " is the heart of Christ." 2 The nun who is humble of heart or who delights in contempt is transformed into the heart of Jesus Christ. Be assured, then, dear sister, that if you are to be a saint you must suffer humiliations and contempt. 1 " Beati estis, cum maledixerint vobis et persecuti vos fuerint; . gaudete et exsultate, quoniam merces vestra copiosa est in cœlis." Matt. v. 11, 12. 2 " Humilis corde cor Christi est." Ep. ad Sever. Though all your companions were saints, you would notwithstanding, by God’s ordinance, meet with frequent contradictions; you will be put below others, held in little esteem, and will frequently have to submit to accusations and reproofs. To render you like himself, Jesus Christ will easily find the means of making you an object of contempt. Hence I entreat you to practise every day the beautiful advice of Father Torres given to his penitents: " Say every day an Our Father and a Hail Mary, in honor of the life of ignominy of Jesus; and offer yourself to suffer not only in peace but even with joy for the love of him all the contradictions and reproaches that he will send you; begging always his assistance to be faithful to him in bearing patiently all injuries and humiliations." Prayer. My Jesus, my love, how is it possible that, seeing Thee, my God, humbled unto death, and even the ignominious death of the cross, I should be so proud? Ah ! through the merits of Thy ignominies make me know my miseries and deformities that I may abhor myself ; and suffer in peace for the love of Thee all the injuries that I shall receive. Ah ! my Redeemer, Thou hast rendered ignominies amiable to all who love Thee. Grant that I may understand Thy goodness and Thy love, that thus to please Thee 1 may love and embrace all manner of contempt. Grant that I may banish from my heart all human respect, and that in all my actions I may seek only Thy will and pleasure. I love Thee, O my humbled Jesus ; and I purpose with Thy grace not to resent any injuries, nor to complain of any affront that may be offered to me. From Thee I hope for strength to fulfil this resolution. Mary, my mother, assist me by thy intercession; pray to Jesus for me. CHAPTER XII FRATERNAL CHARITY. The Necessity of this Virtue, and its Practice in our Thoughts and Sentiments. 119 To love God without at the same time loving our neighbour is impossible. The same precept that prescribes love towards God imposes a strict obligation of fraternal charity. And this commandment we have from God that he who loveth God love also his brother. 1 Hence St. Thomas 2 teaches that the love of God and the love of our neighbour proceed alike from charity. For charity makes us love God and our neighbour, because such is the will of God. Such too was the doctrine of St. John the Evangelist. St. Jerome relates that being asked by his disciples why he frequently recommended fraternal love, that holy apostle replied: "Because it is the precept of the Lord, and the fulfilment of it alone is sufficient." 3 St. Catharine of Genoa once said to the Lord: "My God, Thou dost command me to love my neighbour; and I can love nothing but Thee." " My child," answered Jesus, "he that loves me, loves whatsoever I love." Indeed, when we love any person we also love his relatives, his servants, his likeness, and even his clothes, because we know that he loves them. 1" Et hoc mandatum habemus a Deo, ut, qui diligit Denni, diligatet fratrem suum."1 John, iv. 21. 3 Quia præceptum Domini est; et si solum fiat, sufficit." in Ep. ad Gal. c. 6. 2 2. 2, q. 25, a. I. And why do we love our neighbors? It is because God loves them. Hence St. John says that if any man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. 1 But as hatred towards our brethren is incompatible with the love of God, so an act of charity performed in their regard will be accepted by Jesus Christ as if done for himself. I say to you, says the Redeemer, as long as you did it to one of these my brethren you did it to me. 2 St. Catharine of Genoa used to say that our love of God is to be measured by our love for our neighbor. But holy charity the beautiful daughter of God, being banished from the world by the greater part of mankind, seeks an asylum in the monasteries of religious. Oh, what then will become of the convent from which charity is exiled ! As hell is a land of hatred, so paradise is the kingdom of love, where all the blessed love one another, and each one rejoices at the happiness of the rest as at his own. Oh, what a paradise is the convent in which charity reigns ! it is the delight of God himself. Behold, says the Psalmist, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. 3 The Lord looks with complacency on the charity of brethren and sisters who dwell together in unity, who are united by one will of serving God, and who seek only to sanctify one another that they may be all united one day in the land of bliss. The highest praise be stowed by St. Luke on the first Christians was that they had but one heart and soul. And the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul."4 This unity was the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ, who before his Passion besought his eternal Father to make his disciples one by holy charity as he and the Father are one. 1 "Si quis dixerit quoniam diligo Deum, et fratrem suum oderit, mendaxest." i John, iv. 20. 2 " Quamdiu fecistis uni ex his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis." Matt. xxv. 40. 3 " Ecce quam bonum, et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum." Ps. cxxxii. i. 4 " Multitudinis autem credentium erat cor unum et anima una. Acts, iv. 32. Holy Father, keep them in thy name that they may be one as we also are. 1 This unity is one of the principal fruits of redemption, as may be inferred from the prediction of Isaias: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb ; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid they shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain. 2 Yes, the followers of Jesus, though of different countries and of different dispositions, shall live in peace with one another, each seeking by holy charity to accommodate himself to the wishes and inclinations of the other. And as a certain author has well remarked, what does a Community of religious mean, but a union of many by will and desire so as to form but one person. It is charity that maintains union; for it is not possible that all the members of a convent should have congenial dispositions. It is charity that unites their hearts and makes them bear one anothers burdens, and it is charity that makes each conform to the will of the other. St. John Climacus 3 relates that in the vicinity of Alexandria there was a celebrated monastery, where, because they loved one another so cordially in holy charity, all the religious enjoyed the peace of paradise. In general the first that perceived a disagreement between two of the religious was able to restore peace by a mere sign. But if they could not be reconciled, both were sent as exiles to a neighboring house, and were told at their departure that the abode of two demons in the monastery could be no longer profitable to the Community. 1" Pater sancte, serva eos, . . . ut sint unum, sicut et nos." John, xvii. ii. 2" Habitabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum hœdo; . . . non nocebunt, et non Occident." Is. xi. 6. 3 Scal. par. gr. 4, Oh ! how delightful is it to see in a convent of nuns each praise, assist, and serve the others, and all love the others with a true sisterly affection. Nuns are called sisters, because they are such not by blood, but by charity, which should unite them in love more closely than all the ties of flesh and blood. " The nun who has not charity," says St. Jane Frances de Chantal, "is a religious in name, but not in reality. She is a sister in dress, not in affection." Hence 120 because they knew that where there is no union there is no God, almost all the founders and foundresses of religious Orders have with their last breath recommended the practice of holy charity to their spiritual children. "When," says St. Augustine, "you see the stones of any fabric well bound to the timber, you enter with security, and apprehend no danger." 1 But were the stones detached from the wood, you should shudder at the very thought of approaching the building. Happy the religious house in which all are united by holy charity; but miserable is the monastery in which disunion and party-spirit prevail. " Yes," says St. Jerome, " such a monastery is not the tabernacle of the Lord, but the abode of Lucifer; it is a house not of salvation, but of perdition." 2 Of what use are riches and magnificence, a splendid church and a beautiful garden, to a monastery from which union and charity are banished ? Such a monastery is a hell, where, to prevent the advancement of the rivals, each party decries the other. Suspicions and aversions are always on the increase: they fill the minds, are poured out in conversation, and occupy the thoughts of the religious at mental prayer, at Mass, and at Communion. Hence we may exclaim, O miserable prayers, miserable Masses, miserable Communions ! In a word, where there is not charity there is no recollection, no peace, no God. 1 " Quando vides in aliqua fabrica lapides et ligna bene sibi cohserere, securus intras, ruinam non times." Serm. 336, E. B. 2 " Sine charitate, monasteria sunt tartara," Reg. Monach. c. I. If, dear sister, factions exist in your convent, prostrate yourself before the Lord, and in his presence pour forth tears of blood and fervent supplications that by his Almighty hand he may remedy the evil. For when the spirit of faction has crept into the cloister, it can be extinguished only by the arm of omnipotence. If it be in your power to restore peace, endeavor with all your might and at all hazards to accomplish so great a good; but if the extinction of discord be beyond your reach, it is your duty at least to remain neutral, and to shun, as you would death itself, every act that may encourage the fell spirit of faction. Remember, however, that I do not mean to censure those zealous nuns who defend the observance of Rule, and who strenuously oppose all abuses. Whoever seeks the good of the Community belongs to the party of Jesus Christ. Would to God that all were of this party ! If, dear sister, you ever see an abuse introduced into the convent, I exhort you to unite with the fervent, and never to abstain from vindicating the cause of God even though you should be left alone. The Lord will reward your efforts for the maintenance of regular observance. To feel careless and to manifest indifference about the relaxation and neglect of discipline is neither virtue nor humility, but is the fruit of pusillanimity, tepidity, and of a want of divine love. The religious, then, whom I condemn are those who maintain parties for promoting their own interests or particular friendships, or for depressing a rival or resenting an insult. From such parties I exhort you to keep aloof, though, in punishment of your neutrality, you should be reproached with ingratitude, wrongheadedness, or baseness of spirit, and even though you should be deprived of office and doomed to perpetual disgrace. To preserve charity and the common peace you must sacrifice all self-interest. When some of the bishops wished to have St. Gregory Nazianzen for patriarch while others refused to submit to his authority, the saint, to heal their dissensions, exclaimed: " My brothers, I wish to see you in peace, and if the renunciation of my patriarchal dignity be necessary to preserve harmony among you, I am ready to renounce my see." He then gave up the bishopric of Constantinople, and retired into solitude. But, let us speak in particular of the means that a nun should adopt for the maintenance of charity among her sisters in religion. She must follow the advice of the Apostle to his disciples: Put ye on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy. 1 As a religious always wears her habit, and as her whole body is covered by it, so in all her actions she must be clothed and encompassed around with charity. Put on the bowels of mercy. A religious should be clothed not only with charity, but with the bowels of charity; that is, she should love each of her sisters as if for each she had the tenderest affections. When a person entertains for others a strong attachment he rejoices at their prosperity and grieves at their misfortunes as at his own. He continually seeks to promote their happiness, to vindicate their character from any imputation that may be cast upon it, to excuse any fault that they may commit, and to extol every good act that they may perform. Now what is the effect of passion in worldlings should be the fruit of holy charity in religious. PRACTICE OF CHARITY IN OUR THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS. I. To practise charity in thought you must, in the first place, endeavor to banish all rash judgments, suspicions, and doubts. To entertain a rash doubt regarding another is a defect; to indulge a positive suspicion is a greater fault, and to judge with certainty without certain grounds that another has sinned, is still more criminal before God. 1 " Induite vos ergo, sicut electi Dei, . . . viscera misericordiæ." Col. iii. 12. 121 Whoever judges rashly of his neighbor shall be judged with severity. Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge you shall be judged. 1 But although it is sinful to judge evil of others without certain grounds, still it is not a violation of the divine law to suspect or even to judge evil of them when we have certain motives for such suspicions or judgments. However, the safest and most charitable rule is to think well of all, and to banish all such judgments and suspicions. Charity, says the Apostle, thinketh no evil 2 But this rule is not to be observed by the religious who hold the office of Superior, or of Mistress of novices. Because, to prevent evil, it is their duty to suspect whenever there are grounds of suspicion. But if by your office you are not charged with the correction of others, endeavor always to judge favorably of all your sisters. St. Jane Frances de Chantal used to say that " in our neighbor we should observe only what is good." Should you sometimes through mistake praise in others what is censurable, you will never have reason to repent of your error. " Charity," says St. Augustine, "grieves not when she erroneously thinks well of what is evil." 3 1" Nolite judicare, ut non judicemini, in quo enim judicio judica- veritis, judicabimini." Matt. vii. i. 2"Charitas . . . non cogitat malum." i Cor. xiii. 4. 3" Charitas non se multum dolet errare, cum bene credit etiam de malo." In Ps. cxlvii. St. Catharine of Bologna once said: " I have lived for many years in religion, and have never thought ill of any of my sisters; because I know that a person who appears to be imperfect may be more dear to God than another whose conduct is much more exemplary." Be careful, then, not to indulge in observing the defects and concerns of others, nor to imitate the example of those who go about asking what others say of them, and thus fill their minds with suspicions and their hearts with bitterness and aversions. Listen not to them who tell you that others have spoken of your defects, and ask not from them the names of those who dispraised you. In such tales there is, in general, a great deal of exaggeration. Let your conduct be such as deserves praise from all, but regard not what is said of you. When told that any one has charged you with a certain fault, let your answer be that others know you but little; and that, were they aware of all your defects, they would say a great deal more of you; or you may say that only God is to be your judge. II. When our neighbor is visited with any infirmity, loss, or other calamity, charity obliges us to regret his misfortune at least with the superior will. I say with the superior will ; for concupiscence always appears to take a certain delight in hearing that a calamity has befallen an enemy. But that delight is not culpable as long as it is resisted by the will. Whenever the inferior appetite solicits the will to rejoice at the misfortune of others, pay no more attention to its criminal solicitations than you would to a dog that barks without reason; but endeavor to excite in the superior will sentiments of regret at their distress. It is indeed sometimes lawful to rejoice at the good effects that are likely to result from the temporal afflictions of others. For example, it is not forbidden to be glad from a motive of his conversion, or of the cessation of scandal, that a notorious and obstinate sinner has been visited with sickness. However, should he have offended us, the joy occasioned by his infirmity may be the fruit of passion as well as of zeal. III. Charity obliges us to rejoice at a neighbor s good, and to banish envy, which consists in a feeling of regret at the good of others, inasmuch as it is an obstacle to our own. According to St. Thomas, 1 a person may grieve at the good of others in four ways: First, when he apprehends that their advancement will be detrimental to himself or to others; and if the loss sustained be unjust, his regret is not envy, and may be blameless." "It may often happen," says St. Gregory, " that without losing charity, we rejoice at the ruin of an enemy; and that without incurring the guilt of envy, we feel sorrow at his exaltation, when by his downfall we think that others will be justly exalted, and when we fear that by his prosperity many will be unjustly oppressed." 2 Secondly, when a person grieves not because others have been prosperous, but because he himself has not been equally successful. This grief is not envy, but is, on the contrary, an act of virtue when it regards spiritual goods. Thirdly, when he regrets the success of others, because he deems them unworthy of it; and this sorrow is not sinful, when he believes that the advantages, dignity, or riches that they have acquired will be injurious to their salvation. Fourthly, when a person regrets the prosperity of others, because it is an obstacle to his own advancement: this is envy, and should not be entertained. The Wise Man says that the envious imitate the devil, who instigated our first parents to sin, because he was grieved to see them destined for that celestial kingdom from which he himself had been expelled. 1 1. 2, q. 36, a. 2. 122 |