Volume I, Treatise I, Chapter II

What a Love and Ardent Desire of Perfection We Ought to Have

‘“‘ BLESSED are they,” says the gospel, “who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Though the word “justice” is particularly applied to one of the four-cardinal virtues as distinct from the rest; nevertheless, it is very applicable to all the virtues, and to sanctity in general. We give the name of justice to righteousness and to holiness of life, and we call those just, who are holy and virtuous. The Wise Man says, “That the justice of the righteous shall deliver them” (Proverbs 11:6), that is, they shall be saved by their holiness of life. This word is taken in the same sense in several passages of Scripture. ‘ Unless your justice,” says our Saviour, “exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20); ¢. ¢, you will not be saved unless you have more virtue, more religion, and more sanctity, than they have. In the same manner, must be understood what our Saviour said to St. John, when he refused to baptize him:—“For so it becometh us to fell all justice (Matthew 3:15); as if he bad said, I must do this to set an example of obedience, of humility, and of all manner of perfection. We must then take in the same sense, those words I have cited in the beginning of this chapter, and believe that Jesus Christ called those blessed, who have so great a love, and so ardent a desire of virtue, as to feel the same pain from it as is felt from hunger and violent thirst. St. Jerom writing on this passage, says, it is not enough for us to have a weak desire of virtue and perfection, but we must hunger and thirst after it; so as to cry out with the Royal Prophet:—“As the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so my soul panteth after thee, O God!” (Psalms 41:2) |

This ardent desire is so necessary to us, that, as I have said in the foregoing chapter, all our spiritual advancement depends upon it. It is the first principle which disposes us to it, and our only means of acquiring perfection. “The beginning of ’ wisdom,” which is nothing else than the knowledge and love of God, wherein this perfection consists, “is to have a real and strong desire to obtain it.” (Wisdom 6:18) It is with great justice said by philosophers, that the end is the first cause which impels us to act; so that the more strongly we desire this end the more solicitude and ardour we feel to attain it. I repeat, then, this earnest desire of our spiritual advancement is so0 necessary—it should spring so immediately from the heart—it should, without the aid of anything else, impel us so forcibly that there are but little hopes of such as feel not its impulse. Let us give an example in the person of a religious, and every man can apply to it himself, according to his peculiar situation. It is very necessary in religion, that the superiors should have a watchful eye over their subjects, and that they reprehend and punish those who do amiss. Now there can be no greater hope of the religious who does his duty through this motive only. For his regularity of life will last. no longer, than while the eye of the superior is on him: and hence, unless what he does springs from the heart, and from a real desire of amendment, there is no reason for relying much on it; and infallibly this man will not persevere,

There is this difference between things put in motion by an extrinsic principle, and things which move of themselves, that, in the former, the motion weakens, the nearer they approach their term, as happens when a stone is thrown upwards; whereas in the latter, as when the same stone falls to its centre, the nearer they approach their term, the more rapid the motion becomes. The difference will prove the very same between those who act through dread of punishment, desire of esteem, or through human respect of any sort, and those who act through love of virtue and @ sincere desire of pleasing God. These remain always firm and constant in the exercises of piety, but those persevering only while they are reprehended or watched, quickly relapse into their former disorders.

St. Gregory (Hom. 38) tells us of his aunt Gordiana, that when her two sisters, Tharsilla and Emiliana, reprehended her for the levity of her manner, and for her not observing that modesty and reserve so requisite in a person of her profession, she, while the reprehension lasted, put on so serious and composed & countenance, that she seemed to take the admonition in good Part, and with an intention to profit of it; but in a little time,:

this feigned reserve entirely vanishing, she resumed her former manners, spent her time in idle conversations, and thought of nothing but of amusing herself with some seculars who were pensionersin thesame monastery. Just as the bow, though bent, when the string is loosened quickly restores itself to its natural form, in like manner the impressions made on this young lady’s mind were quickly effaced, as they had been made by an external cause, whose source lay not in her heart.

The affair of Christian perfection is not a business to be done by constraint; it is the heart which must undertake it. Speaking to the young man in the gospel, our Saviour tells him, “Tf thou wilt be perfect” (Matthew 19:21); in order to show us that the root of perfection is in our will. For if we have not @ sincere desire of becoming perfect, all the care and attention of our superiors will avail nothing. Here we can find the answer to the question put by St. Bonaventure, when he asks: Why was one superior sufficient formerly for one thousand religious, nay for four or five thousand, who, according to St. Jerom and St. Austin, lived under one abbot; and now-a-days one superior is scarce sufficient for ten. religious, nay even for a smaller number. (Bon. Rel. Per. T. I. c. 39.) The reason is, because formerly the religious cherished an ardent desire of perfection, and this fire kindling in their hearts, they applied themselves, with all possible zeal, to their spiritual advancement. “« The just,” says the Wise Man, “shall shine, and shall spread like sparks of fire among reeds.” (Wisdom 3:7) By this metaphor, the Holy Ghost explains very clearly, with what ease and speed just men advance in the paths, of virtue, when their hearts are once inflamed with this divine fire. ‘They shall spread like sparks of ’ _fire among reeds.” Imagine to yourselves how quick the flame rushes among reeds, when they are set on fire, and you willconceive how the just advance in virtue, when their hearts are ence inflamed. This was the case with the ancient hermits, who, for this reason, were so far from having need of a superior to spur them on in their duties, that they needed one to moderate their zeal. But if we feel not these desires in our hearts, so far from one superior being sufficient for ten religious, ten superiors, notwithstanding their united efforts, would not make one religious man perfect against his will. For what will it avail to visit his chamber; to see that he makes his meditation and prayer at the time appointed? The visit being past, cannot he amuse himself as he pleases? And even whilst he is on his knees, cannot he direct his thoughts to his studies, to business, to trifles? When he is afterwards to give an account of the state of his conscience, cannot he say what he pleases, and conceal what is most essential to be revealed? Cannot he make us believe, that his conscience _ Is in a good state, while, perhaps, it is in a state of all others the most deplorable? It is in vain, then, we take all possible care and precaution to make a man virtuous, unless he sincerely desires, and strenuously endeavours, to become so himself.

The answer of St. Thomas of Aquin to one of his sisters is very well adapted to the present subject. She asks him, “How she could save her soul?” (Hist. Pr. v.37.) He answered, ‘‘ By willing it;” if you desire it, you will be saved, if you desire it, you will make progress in virtue, you will render yourself perfect. All then depends on our willing it, ¢.¢., on our willing it seriously and effectually, and on exerting ourselves with all possible diligence to secure our salvation. For Almighty God is always ready to assist us; but if our own will is wanting, all the exertions of our superiors are unavailing. It is you yourself, therefore, that must take your salvation to heart—it is your own affair—it is you alone that are concerned, and it is for this alone you entered religion. Let every one, then, be persuaded, that as. soon as he begins to grow tepid and negligent in what relates to his spiritual advancement—as soon as he abstains from the exact performance of his exercises of devotion, and feels not interiorly a great desire of making progress in virtue and of mortifying himself—from that very moment, he conducts badly the business of his eternal salvation. This doctrine is conformable to a rule laid down by St. Ignatius in the beginning of his Constitutions. “It is the interior law,” says he, “of charity and of the divine love imprinted and engraven on our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which ought to support, guide, and make us advance in the way of God’s service.” (Proem. Const. § 1.) It is this fire of his love, this insatiable desire of his greater glory, which ought continually urge us to elevate ourselves towards him, and make us advance in virtue.

This desire once truly imprinted in the soul makes us exert ourselves with fervour and diligence to attain what we wish for. For we are naturally active in seeking and finding out the things we have an inclination for; and it is for this reason the Wise Man says, “The beginning of wisdom is to excite in our hearts an earnest desireé thereof? (Wisdom 6:18) But in this we find another advantage also which renders this means

woo very efficacious; for let the duties be ever so difficult in themselves, a strong attachment to them makes them easy and sweet. For example, how comes it to pass, that a religious should feel so little pain on quitting the world, and entering religion, but because he desired with his whole heart to become religious? God had inspired him with an exceeding great desire thereof, which is the grace of vocation, and plucked out of his heart all attachment to the world, planted therein a love of retirement and religion, and everything became easy. On the contrary, the very same thing appears extremely painful to persons in the world, because they have not been favoured by God with the desires, and the grace of vocation, you have been favoured with. As, then, what rendered our entrance into religion so easy and pleasant, was the fervour we had at the time, and that determined will, which nor parents, nor friends, nor the whole earth together, could change, or pervert; in like manner, it is by persevering in this original fervour-we shall advance in virtue, and render the practices of devotion easy and delightful. So long as this fervour shall last, the performance of all religious duties will become easy; but this once cooling, they will seem painful and insupportable. What, think you, is the reason, why the same man is, at one time, dejected and disgusted, and at another time is content and at ease in the performance of his religious duties? Let him not attach the blame thereof to the duties themselves, nor to the superiors, but let him impute this inconstancy to himself, and to the little relish he has for virtue and mortification. A strong, healthy man, says Father Avila, will, with ease, carry that burden, which a child or sick person cannot raise from the ground. It is only then from the different dispositions of our souls, that the difficulty springs. The duties are always the same. They seem to us, for a time, so easy, that they cost us no trouble; and if they appear different now from what they had been before, we are to blame ourselves, who, instead of being perfect men, as long since we ought to have been, are still children in virtue— are fallen sick, and have suffered that fervour to cool, which we had on entering religion.

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