Volume I, Treatise II, Chapter I

That Our Advancement and Perfection Consist in Performing Well Our Ordinary Actions

‘¢ PerrorM well, what is just” (Deuteronomy 16:20), says our Lord in Deuteronomy, to his elect people. It is not sufficient for our advancement and perfection, that we perform our actions, but we must perform them well; in like manner, it is not enough to be a religions, but we must endeavour to be a good one. St. Jerom understanding that St. Paulinus praised him very much, for living in the place where our Saviour Jesus Christ wrought the mysteries of our redemption, wrote thus to him: “Not the living in Jerusalem, but the living well in Jerusalem, is a subject worthy of praise.” (Ep. ad Paul.) This saying became afterwards, “a proverb amongst the religious, and shewed them that it was not sufficient ’ for their salvation to live in a monastery; and that neither the place, nor the habit, but purity and sanctity of life, makes a true religious, The chief point therefore consists not in being a religious, but in being a good one; not in performing the exercises of religion, but in performing them well: “He did all things well” (Mark 7:37), said the people, speaking of Jesus Christ, and it is truly in this well that our well-being consists,

It is certain, that the good or bad state of our souls depends upon our good and bad works; because, such as our works are, such shall we also be; since they alone shew what we are. The tree is known by its fruit, and according to St. Austin, “Man is a tree, and his works the fruit, and therefore by the fruit of his works, we may soon perceive what every man is.” Our Saviour also, speaking of hypocrites and false prophets, says, “You may know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16); and on the contrary, speaking of himself, “The works,” says he, “which I do in the name of my Father, give testimony of me; and if you will not believe me, believe at least my works; they tell you who I am.” (John 10:25) But our actions discover not only what we are in this life, but also foretel what we must be in the next; for as we are in this life, such we shall for ever be in the life to come: because, God will recompense every one according to his works, as the holy Scripture teaches us, in divers places of the Old and New Testament. ‘You, O Lord,” says the Psalmist, “will render to every one according to his works” ( Ps. Ixi. 13): and St. Paul writing to the Romans: ‘Whatever any man,” says he, “shall have sown in this life, that shall he reap after his death in the next.” (Gal. vi: 8.)

But let us descend to particulars, and see what those actions are, upon which all our good, and all our advancement and perfection depend. I say, they are no others than the common and ordinary actions we perform every day. It is in making well our prayer and ordinary examen; it is in hearing or saying mass with due respect: in reciting the divine office, and vocal prayers with attention and fervour; it is in exercising ourselves continually in penance and mortification; in acquitting ourselves well of our charge, and of what obedience imposes on us: in fine, it is in performing well the most common and familiar actions of our life, that our advancement and perfection consist. We shall soon become perfect, if we perform these perfectly well; we shall still remain Imperfect, if we perform them imperfectly. This then is all, that properly makes the difference between a perfect and an imperfect religious. For our perfection arises not from our doing more things than another does, but from our doing them better; and| Proportionably to the manner wherein every one works, every one will infallibly become more or less perfect.

The Son of God tells us in the parable of the sower, “That the grain which was sown in good ground, in one place rendered thirty, in another sixty, and in another a hundred-fold. (Mat. xiii. 8, 23.) By this, as the saints expound it, our

Saviour would manifest to us the three different degrees of those that serve God; that is to say, those that begin, those that have made some progress, and those that are arrived at the height of Perfection. We all sow the same grain; because we all perform the same actions, and observe the same rule; all of us have the same hours for prayer, and examen; and, from morning till night, we are all employed according to the prescription of Obedience. Yet for all this, “What difference is there between Man and man,” between one religious and another? - In some, the works they sow produce a hundred-fold, because they

_ perform them with an extreme fervour of spirit, and a very great purity of intention; and these are such as are perfect. In others they render sixty, and these are they who still advance in the way, but are not yet arrived at perfection. And others reap but thirty for one, and these are beginners only in God’s service. Let every one therefore see, to which of these degrees he is arrived—see if you be not amongst those who render only thirty-fold; and God grant, that none of us find ourselves of the number of them, of whom the apostle, St. Paul, makes mention: “They have gathered together,” says he, “and built upon the foundation of faith, with wood and straw; to burn in the day of our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 3:12) Take care, therefore, you do nothing out of ostentation, or human respects, to please men, or to gain their esteem; for this were to make a building of wood or straw, to burn, at least, in purgatory. But endeavour to perform all your actions with the greatest perfection you are able; whereby “you will,” as St. Paul says, “erect a structure, all of gold, silver, and precious stones.”.

The truth of what I have already said will more clearly be comprehended, by establishing this maxim, that our advancement and perfection consist in two things: “In doing what God wishes us to do; and in the manner he wishes us to do it;” for it is certain, that these two points comprehend all perfection. As to the first, all religious by God’s great mercy are thereunto arrived; and it is, without doubt, one of the greatest advantages and comforts religious have, that they are certain whatever they do through obedience is, without doubt, what God would have them to do. This proposition is a kind of religious maxim, entirely conformable to the doctrine of saints, and to the gospel itself, as I shall prove more amply, when I speak of obedience. ‘He who hears you, hears me” (Luke 10:16), says our Saviour. So that by obeying our superior we obey God, and perform his divine will; because it is what he precisely demands of us. And as to the second point, which is, that perfection consists in doing the things that God commands, in the manner he would have us perform them, as it cannot be doubted, but that he would have us to do them with all possible perfection; so it is not at all necessary to enlarge upon it, in order to prove a truth so evident in itself. It is related in the Chronicles of the Cistercian Order, that St. Bernard being with his religious at mattins, saw a great many angels, who noted, and wrote down the actions of each one of his religious, and the manner wherein they performed them; and according to the greater or less attention and fervour in their singing and praying, they noted the actions either in letters of gold or silver, or else with ink or water. But they wrote nothing at all of some, who being present only in body, but absent in spirit, let themselves be carried away with vain and unprofitable thoughts, He perceived also that the angels chiefly at the. Ze Dewm were very desirous that the religious should sing it devoutly, and he saw as it were flames issuing from the mouths of those who performed it with fervour. Let each one reflect upon himself, and take notice after what manner he makes his prayer; to see whether it deserves to be written in gold or silver letters, or with ink or water; or in fine, to see whether it deserves to be noted at all. Let him observe whether the flames of his heart issue through his mouth by fervorous aspirations, or whether he yawns through laziness and disgust; and in fine, let him reflect, whether he be there present in body only, but elsewhere in mind, having it dissipated with the thoughts of his studies, with the care of his affairs, or with other things still more to be condemned.

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