Volume III, Treatise I, Chapter X

The Third Means of Producing Fruit in Our Neighbour Ts a Great Zeal for Their Salvation

“THE zeal for thy house has eaten me up”, says the Royal Prophet, ‘“‘and the reproaches of those that upbraided thee have fallen upon me”—Ps., Ixvii. 10. Behold here another means very efficacious for producing fruit in our neighbour, and our holy founder places it amongst those which are most conducive to the preservation and progress of our society, and to the attainment of the end for which it was instituted, which is the help of souls. “One of these means”, says he, “is a sincere zeal for the salvation of souls, having in view the glory of him who has created and redeemed them, with an entire disengagement from all other things”’—x. P. Const., §. 2. ‘My dear brother”, says St. Austin, writing to Count Boniface, “are our hearts made of steel, that they do not tremble? Or have we lost all sense, that we are not awakened at these terrible words: Go, you cursed, into everlasting fire”—Mat., xxv.41. “Why do we not say with the Prophet Jeremias: who will give a fountain of water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, that I may weep day and night for the children of the daughter of my people who are destroyed” —Jerem., ix. 1. There is sufficient subject to weep continually, when we think of the number of those that die every day, not only the temporal death of the ‘body, but the eternal death of the soul. For in what can we better employ our tears, than in weeping with St. Paul for so great a loss? ‘‘ Who is there”, says he, “that is weak, whose weakness I do not feel?”—II. Cor., xi. 29. Let us learn then of the apostle, says St. Austin upon these words, to have an ardent zeal for the salvation of souls; or rather let us learn of God himself, who has so tenderly loved them, that “he has not spared his own Son, but hds delivered him up for us all” (Romans 8:32) These words, “for us all”, show that we ought to extend our charity to the whole world, and not neglect the salvation of any one, because there is no one but has cost the-Son of God even the last drop of his blood.

Zeal for the salvation of souls, or, to style it better, zeal for the glory and honour of God, is a desire to see God so loved, honoured, and served by all the world, that those who are inflamed with this beautiful fire wish to communicate it to the whole world, and they employ themselves therein as much as they are able, without ever ceasing. But if they perceive that God is offended without their being able to hinder it, then they weep and lament, and the fervour of their zeal even devours and consumes them within. It was such a zeal as this with which the saints of the old law found themselves inflamed. “I found my heart and my bones”, says Jeremiah, “secretly inflamed, as with a fire that even devoured me; and I fainted away, not being able to resist it; because I heard the blasphemies of many people”—Jerem., xx. 9, 10. I was inflamed with zeal for the God of armies”, says Elias, “because the children of Israel have broken their covenant” —III. Kings, xix. 10. “A fainting hath taken Hold of me”, says the Royal Prophet, “because sinners hath forsaken the law; and my zeal hath made me pine away, because my enemies forgot thy commandments”—Ps., exviii. 53. _ These great saints were thus afflicted on seeing with what licentiousness the wicked violated the law of God; and the sorrow of their mind passing into the humours of their body and into their blood, made the whole exterior man feel] it. “I beheld the wicked”, says David, “I pined away, because they kept not thy commandments” (Psalms 118:158) “Mine eyes became fountains of water, because they observed not thy law”—uib., v. 186. As whatsoever is put into an alembic is dissolved into water by the operation of fire, so was David dissolved into tears by the violence of his zeal, when he perceived they offended the infinite majesty of God. We ought to have similar zeal, so that on the one hand we should make it our chief business and our greatest joy to see the glory of God continually increase, to see his holy will as perfectly fulfilled on Earth as it is in Heaven; and on the other hand, that nothing ought to give us more pain than to be witness to the contrary. ‘This is true zeal”, says St. Austin, “he-is truly eaten up with the zeal of God’s house, who would wish to be able to prevent all the evils he sees committed, and who is troubled extremely, and grieves very much when he is not able to do so”. It was for this motive that Samuel wept over Saul, after God had forsaken him. “Samuel”, says the Scripture, “wept over Saul because the Lord hath repented that he had established him King of Israel” —I. Kings, xv. 35.

Moreover, there is nothing.more pleasing to God, or even so0 pleasing to him, as zeal for his glory and for the salvation of souls; and it is thus the saints and doctors of the Church speak of it: ‘“We cannot offer any sacrifice to God”, says St. Gregory, ‘‘ which is equal to that of the zeal of souls”. ‘“‘ There is no service”, says St. Chrysostom, “more agreeable to him than this”, ‘ And there is nothing”, says Richardus, “that pleases God so much as the zeal and gaining of souls”. The reason of this is, because there is nothing so pleasing to God as charity; for, as St. Paul says “charity is the greatest of virtues, and the bond of perfec-. tion” —I. Cor., xii. 13. Now the zeal of which I speak is nothing else than an ardent charity, which makes us not only love God with all our heart and to serve him with all our power, but to wish that all the world love and serve him in the same manner, and that his name be glorified throughout the whole world, and that his kingdom be everywhere extended. It is an exceeding great love of God that makes us feel inconceivable joy at whatsoever contributes to his glory, and be penetrated with sorrow at all the sins that are committed. Yes! a child of good education takes nothing more to heart than the glory and advancement of his father: as his only joy and comfort is to see his father advanced, and as all the offences committed against his father are felt by him as sensibly, nay sometimes more sensibly, than if, they were committed against himaelf; even so, all those who have a true zeal for the glory of God, wish so ardently to see him praised and honoured by all the world, that they place all their joy therein, and nothing gives them greater pain than to witness the contempt which is daily offered to God. And hence it is not to be doubted, but that the zeal I speak of, is a most perfect act of the love of God.

It is likewise.a most excellent act of the love of our neighbour;. for as the love of God consists in being rejoiced at whatever conduces to his glory, and in being afflicted at whatever offends him, in like manner the love of our neighbour consists in rejoicing at his good, and in being afflicted at his real misfortunes, which are sins, and in preventing them as much as is in our power. The saints say, therefore, that to know whether we love our neighbour, we must examine ourselves whether we are afflicted for his faults, and rejoiced at his good works and spiritual advancement. Because in effect the true mark that you love your brother is, that you rejoice as much at his good as you do at your own, and that you lament his misfortunes as you do those which happen to yourself. This is truly to love our neighbour as ourselves, and it was this the apostle practised when he said: ‘Who is weak amongst you, and I am not weak with him? Who suffers amongst you without my suffering also?” ‘Who is he”, says the gloss on this passage, “that becomes feeble in faith or in any other virtue, without my becoming feeble with him; that is to say, without my being afflicted for him as I would be for myself? And who is in adversity—who is scandalized or in trouble, and I _ feel not myself burnt up with tenderness and compassion?”— II. Cor., xi. 29. St. Chrysostom says, that zeal for the salvation of souls is of so great a value, that if we should give all our goods to the poor, if we should pass our whole life in the exercise’of all sorts of austerities, this were nothing in comparison of it. For inasmuch as the soul exceeds the body, by so much those who supply the necessities of the soul by confession, by preaching, and by practising other spiritual works of mercy, exceed those who supply the necessities of the body by their alms. Would you not be happy, says this father, to expend large sums of money in corporal works of mercy? He who labours for the salvation of souls does a great deal more; and the zeal of souls is of far greater merit in God’s sight than to work miracles. For what miracles and prodigies did not Moses do when the children of Israel went out of Egypt? yet all that was nothing in respect of that ardent zeal he testified when, interceding for them to God, he said: “Either pardon them this their fault, or if thou wilt not do’so, blot me out of thy book of life, which thou hast written” (Exodus 32:32) Behold here, continues this doctor, the greatest wonder that Moses ever wrought.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project