Volume I, Treatise I, Chapter XVI

Of Some Other Things Which May Contribute Much to Our Advancement in Virtue and Perfectiun

“Br ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mat. v. 48), says our blessed Saviour, in that admirable sermon he preached to his disciplesonthe Mount. In his discourse on these words, St. Cyprian says, “If men feel great pleasure in seeing their children resemble them, and if a father is never better pleased than when all his son’s features are like his own; how much greater joy will our eternal Father feel, when we are so happily regenerated in spirit, that, by all our actions, and by our good behaviour, we are known to be truly his children; what palm of justice, and what crown of glory will it be to you, that God shall have no cause to say, I have nourished and brought up children and they have scorned me (Isa. i. 2): but, on the contrary, that all your actions tend to the glory of your heavenly Father? For it is truly his glory, to have children who resemble him in such a manner as that by them he may come to be honoured, known and glorified.”

But how will it be possible for us to render ourselves like to our heavenly Father? St. Austin teaches us in these words: “Let us remember,” says he, “that the more just we become, and the more united with God’s will, the better we shall resemble him; and that the more holy, and the more perfect we are, the greater resemblance we shall have to our heavenly Father.” (Ep. 85. ad Consent.) And it is for this reason, that our Saviour so earnestly wishes and desires our holiness and perfection, and so often recommends it to us; sometimes by himselfin St. Matthew, in the passage we have already quoted; telling us also the same thing by the mouth of St. Paul in these words, “That which God désires of you is, that you be sanctified” (1 Thessalonians 4:3): and also by the Prince of the Apostles, saying, ‘ You shall be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) It is a very great comfort to parents to have wise and discreet children; this truth the Holy Ghost tells us by Solomon, who says, “That a wise son brings great joy to his father: but a foolish son causes grief to his mother.” (Proverbs 10:1) If then, by doing so, we attained no other end than to please Almighty God, whose pleasure, honour, and glory should be the chief motive of all our actions; we ought continually to aspire to perfection. But that we may be still more forcibly urged to embrace it, I shall propose several other means, which may serve to the attaining it.

The reason why in holy Scripture we are so often called the children of God, by the mouths of the prophets, who very often repeat this saying, “I will be your father, and ye shall be my children;” and by St. Paul, who exhorts us to be “followers of God, as his most dear children” (Ephesians 5:1); and by St. John, when he tells us, “See what love the heavenly Father has had for us, insomuch that he would have us called, and be effectually the sons of God” (1 John 3:1); and also in many other places to the same purpose. The reason, I say, why the same thing is repeated to us so often in holy Scripture is, as St. Austin says, “To the end that seeing, and considering the dignity and excellency of our origin, we may conceive and entertain a greater esteem and higher value of what we are; and, consequently, take greater care not to do anything unworthy our noble extraction. We use great care,” says the same father, “to preserve a rich suit of clothes, and to see that it be not stained, and we look carefully to our jewels and other things of great value: so also, when holy Scripture tells us of our dignity; when it-reminds us that we are the sons of God, and that God himself is our Father; it is to the end we should take great care to preserve our hearts pure and clean; and that we behave ourselves in all our actions, so as becomes those who have the honour to bear the character of the sons of God, and that we never degenerate from the noble and high sentiments with which that great dignity ought to inspire us.” (Ep. 243, ca. 19.) The saying also of St. Leo Pope is well adapted to our purpose. ‘ Consider,” says he, “O Christian! what thy dignity is; and seeing thou art made partaker of the divine nature, suffer not thyself to fall back into thy ancient baseness, by attaching thyself too much to the things of this life; reflect on that head and body, whereof thou hast the honour to be a member”. (Serm. 1. de Nat. Dom.) St. Paul represented the same thing heretofore to the Athenians, telling them, “That we descended from God; and it is from him we derive our origin” (Acts 17:28,29), and thereby he wishes to inspire them with sentiments worthy their noble extraction. But to make a still fuller and a more particular application of what is here said, and of the comparison of the rich robes mentioned by St. Austin, let us consider, that as the smallest stain is more indecent in a fine robe; and the richer the cloth is, the more the stain appears, inasmuch that what appears very considerable upon cloth of gold or silver, can hardly be perceived upon that of a coarser kind; in like manner the stain of a venial sin, nay many times even that of a mortal sin, is scarce taken notice of amongst seculars, or it is looked upon only as a trifle, there being so great and general a corruption in the world. But in religious, who are the dearly beloved of God, the least imperfection is very considerable—the least immodesty, the least murmuring, the least impatient or hasty word is a very great offence, and gives great occasion of scandal amongst us. But amongst seculars, there is so little account made of such things, that oftentimes they never reflect on, nor take any notice of them. To have dust on our feet troubles us not, but the least particle that gets into the apple of the eye puts us to very great pain. Men in the world are like the feet of the mystical body of the Church, and religious resemble the eyes of the same body; so that the least fault in a religious is of very great and very bad consequence, because it works a far worse effect in him than it can do ina secular; and for this reason a religious lies under a greater obligation of watching, and taking care of all his actions than others do.

Another means already stated in one of the preceding chapters, which will serve to encourage us still more, is, that we should always imagine we have a great way to go, and that as yet we have advanced but very little. Our blessed Saviour also insinuates the adoption of this means by these words, “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” For what, think you, does our Saviour mean by saying so? Can it be, that we should ever be able to come near the perfection of our heavenly Father? ‘Can any man be just in comparison of God?” (Job 4:17) No, certainly. Whatever degree of perfection we can possibly arrive at, there will still remain an infinite distance between his perfection and ours. And yet our Saviour says to us, “Be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.” To let us understand that in the career of virtue there are no bounds, and therefore we should never be satisfied with what we have already done, but should labour continually to acquire what we still want. It is a usual saying with holy men, and with great deal of reason, that a most certain sign of a person’s being far from perfection is that he thinks himself arrived at it. For on the road of a spiritual life, the more a man travels, the more plainly he sees that he has advanced but little: St. Bonaventure says, “That the more a man ascends a hill, the more extensive will be his prospect; in like manner, the nearer we come to the top

of the mountain of perfection the greater we perceive the extent of virtue to be.” (De Prof. Rel. ca. 21.) When we contemplate a high mountain at a distance, we imagine that it reaches so near the heavens, that were we upon the top thereof, we fancy we might be able to touch the clouds with our hand; but having travelled on, and got up to the very top, we find that we are still far from the heavens; just so it happens with those who travel in the way of perfection, and advance perpetually in theé knowledge and love of God. St. Cyprian explaining the words of the Psalmist, ‘¢ Man shall arrive at the greatest height that his heart is capable of, and God will still be more and more exalted,” says, “That the higher our souls are by degrees raised to the knowledge of God, the higher he appears still exalted above us. Whatever knowledge of God you have attained, and how great soever your love is of him, there remain still infinite degrees of knowledge and love of him, beyond what you have already acquired.” (Ad Corn. Pap. (Psalms 63:8)) In fine, there will still remain a great way to ascend, in the path that leads up to perfection, and whosoever imagines that he has got to the top, is yet very far from it, which makes him so easily imagine he can reach the heavens with his hand.

This may be understood by what is experienced in human sciences, viz., that the more a man knows, the more he finds he has still to learn. This made the wisest of all the philosophers say, “All that I know, is, that I know nothing.” (Socrates.) And an excellent musician was wont to say, that it grieved him to find he understood nothing of music; because he discovered in that science things of such vast extent, that he perceived he could never arrive at any perfection in it. On the contrary, the ignorant, who are not sensible of their own wants, and who see not how many things they have still to learn, readily imagine that they know a great deal. Just so it is in spiritual science. ‘Those who are best versed.in perfection, know they have a great way still to go, before they can arrive at their end; and therefore the more they improve in this knowledge, the more humble they become; because according to that proportion or progress they make in other virtues, they make the same also in the virtue of humility, and in the knowledge and contempt of themselves, which are things inseparable one from the other. For the more knowledge they acquire of the goodness and majesty of God, the more clearly they perceive their own misery and nothingness. “One abyss invokes another” (Psalms 41:8), says the Royal Prophet. The great abyss of the knowledge of God, and of his goodness and infinite majesty, discovers to us the depth of our own misery; and it is by the beams of this divine light, that we best perceive the many atoms of our imperfections, and how much we still want of being perfect. But he who is yet but a beginner in the practice of virtue, by not knowing how many things are still requisite for its attainment, is apt to fancy that he is already, in a very high degree, become master of it. It many times happens with a man, who has little or no skill in painting, that when he sees a picture, he presently admires it, and discovers no fault; but if an excellent painter happens to view’ it, and to consider it attentively, he will observe many defects. The same occurs in spiritual matters. He who has not attained to the art of self-knowledge, cannot perceive the faults which lie concealed in the tablet of his own soul; whereas another man, who is better skilled in that art, would quickly discover them.

Let this, therefore, serve to augment in us daily a desire of acquiring the virtue still wanting to us; for, ‘‘ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice” (Matthew 5:6); that is to say, as St. Jerom explains it, such as never think themselves perfect enough, but always labour to improve in virtue. Thus did the Royal Prophet, when he said to Almighty God: “Wash me still more and more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my in” (Psalms 1:4), as if he would have said: It is not enough, Lord! that I should be washed, an ordinary washing and cleansing is not sufficient for me, “But I beseech thee to wash me, so as I may become whiter than snow.” (Ibid. 1:9) Let us cry to Almighty God in the same manner: “Wash me, O Lord! still more and more.” Give me more humility, patience, and charity; more mortification, and a more perfect and absolute resignation to your holy will in all things.

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