Volume I, Treatise VIII, Chapter XXX

Of the Conformity We Ought to Have to the Will of God in the Participation of All Other Virtues and Supernatural Gifts

THE same submission we ought to have to the will of God, in what manner soever he treats us in prayer, we must also have in regard of all the other advantages of grace. It is good to desire yirtue, to be carried towards it with fervour, and to offer violence to ourselves to obtain it; but we must govern ourselves in this, in such a manner, that if we attain not that height of perfection we aim at, yet we must not fail to keep our minds in peace, and content ourselves with what God pleases; conforming ourselves entirely to his divine will. If God will not bestow upon you the purity of an angel—if he will humble and try you by continual temptations against chastity, it is better you should humbly submit to his divine will, than disquiet yourself, or complain that you are not so pure as an angel. If God will not confer upon you so profound an humility as he gave to St Francis, such a spirit of meekness as he gave to Moses and David, nor so great and constant a patience as he gave to Job, and if it is his pleasure you should be continually disquieted with temptations, contrary to these virtues, it is good to take occasion hereby to acknowledge your baseness; but you onght not upon this account to lose the peace of your mind, and give yourself over to grief or complaints, because he is not pleased to do you the same favours he has done to great saints. I do not believe, says father Avila, that there were ever any saints so perfect as not to desire still greater perfection; yet this did not at all disturb their peace of mind, because it was not a desire that proceeded from insatiable avarice, but from a thought with which the love of God only inspired them. So that they were contented with the part given them, and would have been contented with less, had God not been so liberal to them; knowing very well, that it is a mere illusion of self-love to desire great gifts in order to be thereby the better able to render services to God; and that true love consists in being satisfied with what is given us.

This discourse, it will be objected, seems to tend the establishing in us so great an error as to think we ought not fervently desire to be more perfect than we are, but that we ought to leave to God as well the care of our souls as of our bodies; which would be to open a gap to all kind of liberty and disorder, to give rise to tepidity, and to hinder us from endeavouring to become perfect. This objection deserves to be taken notice of, and marks out the sole inconvenience that is to be feared in the matter we treat of. There is no doctrine so holy that may not be abused, when we know not how duly to put it in practice; and lest that happen here, as well in regard to prayer in particular as to what concerns all virtues in general, it is fit I here should more clearly explain this point. Wherefore take notice, that I do not say we ought not daily to render ourselves more perfect in virtue, and to imitate the most perfect; for, it is for this reason we entered into religion, and without it we can never be good religious; but what I here say is, that as in corporal and exterior things, we must take such care as is free from disquiet and solicitude, so also our care in interior and spiritual things ought not to disturb our peace, or hinder our entire conformity to the will of God. When Jesus Christ said to his apostles, “Be not solicitous what you shall eat or drink, nor for your body with what you shall be clothed” (Mat. vi. 25); what he intended hereby to forbid, say the holy fathers, was only the too great avidity and solicitude for temporal conveniences. For as to what concerns a reasonable care and labour, we are so far from being forbidden it, that we are even commanded it; nay, it is a punishment God has imposed upon us, as his words to Adam express:— “You shall eat your bread in the sweat of your brow” (Genesis 3:19); and it would be to tempt God to neglect it. It is the same in spiritual things. We must seek them with care, and do all we can to obtain them; but if in doing all that lies in your power, you are not able to arrive to the point of perfection you aim at, yet you ought not upon this account, even though you should find yourself defective, to give way to any thoughts of impatience, which would be a greater imperfection than the fault itself, which was the cause thereof. Take care, therefore, you neglect nothing that is in your power to perform; and if, after all your careful endeavours, it happens you full into some defects, wonder not hereat, nor let-this make you lose courage, because we are all prone and subject to fall. We are neither angels, nor saints confirmed in grace—we are poor weak men, and God, who knows our weakness and misery, “who knows the frail matter of which we are made” (Psalms 102:13), would not have us be discouraged hereat. But what he requires of us is, that after we have fallen, we be sorry and confounded, and endeavour presently to rise again; that we beg of him new force and courage, aud that we study to preserve both our interior and exterior peace. For it is far better you should rise presently with a holy confidence in his goodness, and that you redouble your courage for his service, than to permit your mind to be cast down and discouraged, believing you weep for your sins out of love for him; and te displease him by your disquiet and chagrin, by the languishing manner you serve him, and by a thousand other things that issue from the same source.

The only thing we are here to dread is, as I have taken notice of before, lest negligence and tepidity steal hereby into our minds, and we fail to do what we are able, under a pretence that God ought first to bestow his grace upon us, that all] things ought to come from his hands, and that it is not in our power to do more than we do. We must make it our care to defend ourselves from the same thing I mentioned while treating of prayer, and take heed, that under the same pretence, idleness and negligence do not get the better of us. But when this passage shall once be well shut, and when on your side you do all you can, it is certain the patience and humility you shall exercise in your feelings and-weakness, will be far more pleasing to God than the troubles, disquiets, and complaints to which we are too apt to give ourselves, when we imagine we make not such progress in prayer and virtue as we desire. For the gift of prayer and perfection is not a grace to be obtained by force or by chagrin. It is a favour which God bestows, on whom, how, and when he pleases. After all, it is certain, that those who shall be saved shall not be all equal in virtue; and therefore we ought not to lose courage if we be not in the rank of the most perfect, nor even among the middle sort; but we must in all things ‘conform ourselves to the will of God, and render him thanks that he has given us hopes through his infinite mercy we may save our souls. If we cannot become s0 perfect as to commit no voluntary faults, let us give God thanks at least that he gives us his grace to know and be sorry for those we commit; and since in the way to heaven the most high and sublime paths of virtue are trodden by very few, and are too high for us, let us content ourselves to tread the path of the knowledge and sorrow of our sins, which is beaten by a great number of

ns. Each one, says St. Jerom, offers what he is able in the temple of God. The one offers gold, silver, and precious stones; the other makes a present of linen, of purple or scarlet cloth; for my part I must content myself with giving some goat-skins, they being the only thing I have to give. Let them, therefore, who are arrived to perfection, offer their eminent Virtues and sublime contemplations to Almighty God; as for me, it is enough I offer him my baseness, acknowledge myself to be a sinner, owning myself to be full of faults and imperfections, and presenting myself to his divine majesty as one in want of all things. We must take an interior joy in these thoughts, and give God thanks who bestows them upon us, lest if we be not grateful for them, he should perhaps take them from us.

St. Bonaventure, Gerson, and many others, add one thing more, which confirms what I have spoken of. They say, that there are many whom the privation of the virtue they wish for renders more fervent in God’s service than they would have been had they enjoyed it; because, by wanting it they become more humble, fervent, and careful, forcing and pushing on themselves to great perfection, and having continual recourse to God. But, perhaps, had they acquired the virtue they aimed at, they would have become proud thereof, or have grown more careless and tepid in his service; and imagining they wanted nothing, would not have exerted themselves to make new progress in perfection. All this gives us sufficiently to understand that on our part we must do what we can to become perfect; but when we have done what we are able, We must be contented with what God bestows upon us, neither afflicting ourselves nor complaining that there are several things beyond our reach. For this, says father Avila, were as if we should be troubled because we had not wings to fly.

- a oe THE. WILL OR GOD-.7.; fe. $11 a oe Aw ~ ‘ EOL otra:

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project