Volume I, Treatise VIII, Chapter VI

Ancther Proof that Conformity to the Will of God Ts a Means of Content

St. AUsTIN, writing upon these words of our Saviour, in St. John: “All you shall ask my father in my name, I will grant”

(John 14:13); says, we are not to think that all the peace and tranquillity of our souls consist in doing our own will, and in _ obtaining whatsoever we desire. Because we frequently will and covet that which is not convenient for us; and the very accomplising of our own desires turns often to our no small prejudice. But we must endeavour to find our satisfaction in whatsoever God shall ordain, and it is that alone we are to petition at his hands. “For whensoever our own will and desire carry us to things that are hurtful, and hinder us from good, we are,” says he, “to petition God, not that he would grant what is hurtful, but that he would make us take a delight in-what is good.” (Aug. sup. Joan.) In a word, if we take less pleasure in performing his divine will, than in performing our own, we ought to ask of God, not to grant us our own, for that may turn to our prejudice and misfortune; but that he would order it so, that we accommodate ourselves in his, which can never be but for our greater good and advantage. He quotes on this subject, what the holy Scripture relates of the Israelites, who, disgusted with the manna sent them from heaven, desired and asked for flesh. They obtained indeed their desire, but to their misfortune. ‘They had even the very meat in their mouths, when the anger of God seized upon them, destroyed the chief amongst them, and overthrew the elect people of Israel.” (Ps. Ixxvii. 30.) It is certain the manna God sent them from heaven excelled all the meats they desired; and surpassed the onions of Egypt, after which they so much sighed; and consequently, that was not the thing, adds St. Austin, that they should have demanded. They should have begged of God to rectify their taste that they may relish the manna of heaven, and so there had been no need of petitioning other food; since in the manna alone they had the taste of all the meats they could desire or imagine. | Whensoever, then, it happens that either by the devil’s temptations, or your own irregular appetite, you have lost the taste and savour of virtue, and like a sick person, you seek and demand what is dangerous for you; you must by no means yield to your inordinate appetite, nor endeavour to attain what you desire. For instead of purchasing solid content, you will only find dissatisfaction and trouble. What you should desire, and what you should ask of God, is, that he would cure your palate, and take away that disgust and bitterness, which hinder you from tasting delicious sweetness in accomplishing his will. And by this means you will come to possess true content, and real tranquillity and peace of soul.

St. Dorotheus points out to us another road for arriving at this point; or rather he explains this same thing in another manner. Whosoever, says he, submits his will to that of God, in such manner, as not to know what to will or not to will, but what God wills or not wills, comes to do always his own will, and to possess a constant repose and peace of mind. Let us put the case in what appertains to religious obedience; and so shall more evidently demonstrate what we intend here to establish; and as it is said, we shall attain two objects at once. We say very frequently to such as wish to enter religion, and to walk in the paths of obedience; “Take care, I pray, of what you undertake; for after you are engaged in religion, you must never think of doing your own will in the least thing.” But St. Dorotheus affirms the contrary; Go, says he, don’t trouble yourselves;

you may if you please always do your own will; and I will show you how this may be done, not only without any fault, but even after a most holy and perfect manner. Do you know how? It is thus: “He who has not a will of his own, always performs his own will. A religious who has a mind pliant and subjected in all things to obedience, who is not at all tied to his own will, never does anything contrary to his own will; because he does his own, in that of his superior.” It is after this manner, that, by renouncing our own will, we do it daily. Endeavour to have no other will than that of your superior; and thus, you may have your own will all the day long, and gain merit thereby at the same time. By this means you shall sleep as long as you please, because you desire not to sleep longer than obedience permits. You shall eat what you please; because you would not eat but what is put before you. In fine, you shall pray no more, read no more, but what you will; you shall perform no penance, but what you will; have no other employment but what you will; and hence, generally speaking, you shall do nothing but what is enjoined you by your rules and obedience. Thus a true religious, by never desiring to perform his own will, performs it always; and receives thereby this satisfaction and content of mind, which cannot be purchased in religion, but by making his own will consist in that of the superior, and in the rules. Moreover, it is in this alone that all the facility or difficulty of a religious life consists; and it is on this all the content or uneasiness of those who have embraced this state depends. If you are resolved to give up your own will, and to take upon you that of your superior, you will find all things easy and pleasant in religion; and you willlive in peace and content of mind. But if you retain any will contrary to that of your superior, you will never go on in that state, without difficulty and vexation; for two opposite wills in the same person are incompatible. And we ourselves, although we have only one will, nevertheless, because we have a sensual appetite, which always opposes this our will and our reason; what pain and difficulty does it not cost us to subdue it, although it be so much inferior and subordinate to the will? How then is it possible to reconcile in religion two contrary wills, whereof each lays claims to superiority? ‘No one can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24) The difficulty we feel in a religious life proceeds not so much from exterior mortifications, as from the perversity and repugnance of our will; and from the fault of our imagination, which renders things painful and difficult, from the manner wherein it conceives them. We see this clearly in the difference we find in ourselves, either when we are molested with temptations, or when we are free from them. When we are free, we experience all things easy and delightful. But if there rises a temptation, we perceive ourselves presently seized with trouble and melancholy—what before seemed so pleasing and grateful now becomes insupportable, and appears to us impossible to be practised. The difficulty consists not in the thing itself, since it js ever the same it was heretofore; but it consists in the evil dispdbition of our mind: so, when a sick person has an aversion for wholesome and proper meats; it is not his fault, but the fault of that peccant and vicious humour, which makes all food seem bitter and ill-tasted.

The most signal and eminent favour God confers on those he calls to a religious state, is that he makes it a pleasure to them to follow the will of another. This is properly the grace of vocation, whereby we excel our brethren that are in the world. For what is it that has given you this facility in divesting yourself of your own will to embrace that of another? What has created in you a new heart, to abjure the things of this world, that you might love retirement, prayer, and mortification? It is not any natural inclination you have brought with you into this life; nature itself has given quite contrary sentiments: “For the sense and inclination of man are propense to evil from his very youth” (Genesis 8:21)}, says Holy Writ. It is a gift which comes from God, and it is he, who, that you might be disgusted with the things of this world, wherein you would otherwise perceive such a sweetness, has rendered them bitter; and that he might give us a liking to the things of heaven, which before seemed so ungrateful to our palate, has seasoned them with all sweetness and delight. “I give you infinite thanks, my Lord God,” says St. Agatha, “that you have protected me from my infancy, and have rooted out of my heart all worldly affections.” For it is not we that confer any great obligation on God, by our entrance into religion; but it is he has conferred upon us singular grace and favour in calling us to this state, there to be nourished with the bread of heaven; whilst persons of the world feed upon the garlick and onions of Egypt.

I have several times considered with myself, how those who live in the world, from the highest to the lowest, renounce their own will, and subject themselves to that of another: and this for a small interest of honour or profit. They accommodate their. eating and their sleeping to the appetite and sleep of others, and they are so brought to this, they are so conformed to another’s will, that they feel pleasure in this sort of life, contract an agreeable habit, ‘and, nevertheless, they do this only to obtain a temporal reward; when, on the contrary, we hope for an eternal and permanent one.” (1 Corinthians 9:25) What wonder then is it, that we take pleasure and delight in a life so regulated as this of religion, and that we make our will that of the superior, which is better than ours can possibly be, when persons of the world conform themselves so entirely to the irregular practice of others, and make it their happiness to comply with them, by changing day into night, and night into day? What wonder is it, that we act purely for the love of God, and to purchase eternal life, when they do the same for a poor consideration of glory and profit? Wherefore, let us for the future make a firm resolution with ourselves to change our will into that of our superiors, and so we shall always perform our own. We shall live in religion to-our perfect satisfaction, and all our joy and content shall turn to our spiritual profit, and be in itself pure and perfect.

But let us return to what we said before, and apply it to what we have in hand. Let us always make the will of God ours, and conform ourselves in all things to him by neither accepting or refusing, but what we know he would accept or refuse: and by this means we shall come always to follow our own will, and live in perfect peace and tranquillity of mind. It is certain, if you never desire anything but what God desires, you will always attain the object of your desires, because God’s holy will can never fail of being entirely performed. Seneca, himself, was sufficiently convinced of this truth, by the light of natural reason: ‘“What is our main point,” says he, “is to be able to support adversities and crosses with joy and cheerfulness;” and to receive whatever occurs, as though we desired it should happen. For we would have felt it our duty to desire it, if we were persuaded that nothing happens but by order of Divine Providence. How happy should we be, could we but so make our will the will of God, and never covet anything but what he pleases? And how happy ought we deem ourselves, not only because our own will would be accomplished, but because we would see the will of God, whom we love, accomplished in us and in all things? For though we make use of the first consideration, nevertheless, it is the second upon which we ought chiefly to dwell; and it is only in the contentment of God, and in the execution of his holy will, wherein we ought to ground and establish all our joy and satisfaction. ‘ Whatever it has pleased our Lord, he has done in heaven and on earth; in the sea, and the abyss of the deep” (Psalms 134:6): and will do, whatever it shall please him. «“For, O Lord! you can perform what you please.” (Wisdom 12:18) ‘All things are subjected to your power; and there is no one can resist your holy will.” (Esther 13:9)

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