Volume III, Treatise I, Chapter IV

That to Labour Profitably for the Salvation of Souls, It Ts Necessary a Jirst to be Well Grounded in Virtue

THE two things I just now spoke of, viz., to labour for our own salvation, and to labour for the salvation of our neighbour, are equally the end of the society, and they are so linked together by our constitutions, that they reciprocally help and lend the hand to each other. Hence the means which the society makes use of for the spiritual advancement of its children are very different from those made use of by other orders, who by their institute are not so much engaged in assisting their neighbour. St. Ignatius used to say, that if he had consulted the individual good of the society, he would have made many regulations in it which he did not, that it may be more at liberty to apply itself to the service of the neighbour. He likewise said, that if he consulted but his own interest, he would have run about the streets as a fool, in order to show more clearly the contempt he had of the world, and also to give the world a greater occasion of contemning him. But the zeal he had for his neighbour repressed these motions in him, and the fear he had of scandalizing and wounding the neighbour, by wounding gravity and civility, caused him to abstain from all the humiliations which might be contrary thereunto. He says, moreover, that if he had followed his own inclination, and regarded the profit he derived from the singing used in the church, he would have established the use of it in the society; but he did not do it, because God had made him understand that he would have the society serve him in other exercises of piety. Since, therefore, the society does not propose to itself its own spiritual advancement alone, but also the advancement of the neighbour, its object is that the means which it has given us for our spiritual advancement may render us more fit to labour for that of our neighbour, and that the functions of charity in which we shall be employed for our neighbour, may promote our own particular advancement. We ought, then, make account that our progress in virtue and perfection consists in acquitting ourselves well of our functions, and, on the one hand, view the help given our neighbour as a proper means for our particular advancement, and, on the other, regard the graces and helps which God bestows upon us for that end as a means to become more profitable to.our neighbour. But if we do not apply ourselves to this, we deserve that God should stop the course of his graces; because it is with a view ta this he bestows them so abundantly upon us, and it is to this the grace of our vocation is attached. For it was not for the particular advantage of Joseph that God raised him to so high a state of glory and power in Egypt, but for the advantage of all his brethren, and to save them and_all their families in the time of famine, as he himself acknowledged, when he said to them: “It is to save you that God sent me hither before you” (Genesis 45:5); so it is not for our particular profit that God calls us to the society, and pours down his graces upon us in so great abundance. No; it is for the profit of our neighbour; it is that our light may shine before men, and not that we should hide it under a bushel. But let us speak of these two things separately, though they always are connected one with the other. _

As to the first, which regards the advancement of each one in particular, it is certain that, to be in a state to labour profitably for the advancement of our neighbour, we ought first of all have laboured for our own; and it is this the apostle recommends to us, in the first place, as the foundation of all the rest, when he says: “‘ Attend to thyself”. Each one ought first of all to attend to himself, and seriously apply himself to his particular advancement. For God, who is the author of grace as well as of nature, who “reacheth from end to end mightily, and disposeth all things sweetly” —- (Wisdom 8:1),—keeps the same order in the works of grace that he does in those of nature, wherein (to speak philosophically) ‘‘every like produces its like”. Since then in natural things, we see that, besides the general causes of their production, there ought to be also a near and immediate cause, and of the same species, to give to each being that particular form which it ought to have—that there ought to be fire, for example, to produce another fire, and light, to produce another light; so, in spiritual things, it is God’s pleasure that, to produce patience, charity, and humility in a heart, the preacher or confessor, who is the immediate cause he makes use of, should be humble, patient, and charitable. Moreover, as in natural things we see, for example, that a plant produces no seed for the multiplication. of its own species till it be grown great, so‘in things of grace God will have us be great in virtue and spirituality, to bring forth spiritual children, and to be able to say with the apostle: “By means of the gospel I have begotten you in Jesus Christ” — I, Cor., iv. 15.

It is for this reason that the first thing in which the society employs those it receives, is to labour for their own advancement, that in the beginning they may lay a solid foundation. This is also the reason why it appoints such different times of probation; first, it causes them to make two years of noviceship before their studies; afterwards at the end of their studies, they are put again into the fire to give them a new heat and temper by causing them to make another year of probation, in order that if, by application to study, they should perhaps have relented anything from their first fervour, they may regain new strength

before they begin to treat with their neighbour; and that they should not treat of spiritual things with others till they were previously well grounded in spirituality themselves. Moreover, even after all this, it seems that we are never to cease almost to be novices; our profession is deferred so long, that almost our whole life, as it were, passes in a noviceship and probation before the society admits and acknowledges us to be true and fit workmen in the vineyard of our Lord. It does this, because the matter in question is the conferring upon us what is of the greatest importance in the world; and therefore it is necessary to have a good trial of us beforehand, to see what we are and what we are capable of. The thing in question is, to charge us, not only with the conversion, but with the perfection also, of our neighbour; and therefore it is necessary we should first have laboured very well for our own. Hence it is easily seen how much those are deceived who seem to think these probations too long or even useless, and who, from the first ray of light they receive in prayer—from the least spark of piety they feel in their heart—would on a sudden thrust themselves into the offices of preaching and hearing confessions. St. Ephraim deplores this abuse, and says it is a sentiment that springs, not from the spirit of God, but from the spirit of presumption and pride.., ‘‘ They would begin”, says he, ‘to teach before they know anything themselves. They would intrude themselves to give laws and rules to others, before they have learned the law or rules themselves; they would take upon them to give their opinion in everything, before they have begun to spell; and before they are capable of receiving correction, they take upon them to correct others”——Serm. de Vit. Monach.

St. Gregory, speaking of those who are guilty of this fault, treats this subject perfectly well, and to render things more sensible, he makes use of some familiar comparisons. “Such persons as these”, says he, “ought to be admonished to consider, that little birds, who fly before their wings are fully feathered, fall upon the ground instead of flying in the air. Likewise when a wall is fresh and new made, if the roof is put upon it, it rather destroys than makes a building: moreover, women who are brought to bed before their time, rather increase the number of graves than augment families”—8 ‘p. Pastor. Adm. 26. The employments that regard the health of our neighbour require a-great fund of virtue and mortification. If without this you engage herein, you will have more reason to fear than to hope, and you will rather imbibe the spirit and sentiments of the world, than the world will imbibe yours. The same St. Gregory therefore observes, that though Jesus Christ, the eternal wisdom of the Father, was infinitely wise from the first moment of his conception, yet he began not to teach others till he was thirty years of age, and till he had prepared himself for it by his retreat in the desert, by forty days’ fast, and many other austerities. “It is not that he stood in need”, says this great saint, “of any preparation; but he would teach us by his own example how great preparation and perfection is required for so great.a

ministry Also when he was twelve years of age, when he stayed in Jerusalem, and his parents went there to seek him, they found him in the temple in the midst of the doctors, disputing with them. And hence”, continues this father, “those that are still weak and infants in virtue ought to learn not to meddle with the teaching of others, nor intrude themselves before their time into so sublime a ministry, since Jesus Christ himself would, at the age of twelve years, be instructed by those whose master he himself was, and was contented to hear and to ask them questions, though it was he who inspired them with all the light and knowledge they had to answer him. It was also for this reason”, says the same saint, “that Jesus Christ having commanded his apostles to go and preach the gospel throughout the whole world, and having then the power to give them grace necessary for this end, yet he would not do it, nor permit them, in the weak and imperfect state they were, to go and preach his word, but commanded them, saying: Go into the town, and remain there till ye shall be replenished with the virtue of the Holy Ghost”. And this he did to let us see that we ought to be very well grounded in humility, mortification, and all other virtues, in order that the employments which engage us to treat with our neighbour may be profitable for their salvation, without being prejudicial to our own.

St. Bernard upon this subject makes use of these words of the Canticles: “Our sister is little, and as yet has not any breasts”— (Canticle of Canticles 8:8); and applying them to the state of the Church before the descent of the Holy Ghost, he says: The Church was then very little, and at that time had neither breasts nor milk to nourish its spiritual children; but when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, he replenished them with milk and

with his gifts and graces. ‘All were filled with the Holy Ghost”, says the Scripture, “and they began to announce in different languages the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:4),— and to work conversions without number. If you would therefore produce fruit in souls, and raise spiritual children to God, you ought to have your breasts full of milk—one of them ought to be filled with the milk of all the virtues, and the other with the milk of pure and wholesome doctrine.

St. Jerom, explaining these words, “when the clouds shall be filled, they shall pour down rain upon the earth in abundance” —FEccl., xi. 3,—says that the preachers of the word of God are clouds, and that as the clouds water the earth when they are full of rain, so when preachers are full of the wholesome water of evangelical doctrine, they water the hearts of men. It is for this reason that, when God threatened his vineyard by the prophet Isaias, he said that “‘he would command the clouds to give no more rain upon it”—Isa., v. 6. By this, says this holy father, he would give us to understand that one of the greatest chastisements with which he is wont to punish the sins of men, is to hinder the rain of his divine word from falling upon them, and not to send them preachers, or not to permit that they produce any fruit. When, therefore, these clouds shall be full of the celestial rain of grace, they may then, says the saint, shower down their waters upon the earth, and these words of Moses may be applied to them: “Let the earth hear the words of my mouth, let my doctrine be poured down like rain, let my discourse fall like dew; let it be like rain upon the grass, and as drops of water upon the meadows” (Deuteronomy 32:1) It is then they will be able to render the earth fruitful—then they will be able to soften and temper the dryness of men’s hearts, and render them capable of producing the fruits of justice and salvation. But if these clouds have no water, what will happen? Would you know? Behold what St. Jude, in his canonical epistle, says: ‘“‘They are clouds without water, which the winds drive every way”—Jude, xii. So that, as the clouds which are not full of water are easily carried by the wind from one side to the other, because of their great lightness; even so, if a preacher be not full of the spirit of humility and mortification, if he be not filled with all sorts of virtue,‘ he will infallibly be carried from one side to the other with the wind of vain-glory and self-love; and this quality of an evangelical preacher, this quality of the cloud, which is raised above the earth, will serve him for nothing else than to make him be the more easily turned and tossed up and down by all sorts of winds.

St. Austin, speaking of riches, says: “It is hard to be rich without being proud, because it is the ordinary effect of riches to engender pride”. ‘ Everything”, ‘says this father, “has a particular worm that eats it. All sorts of fruit, all sorts of grain, all sorts of wood, have a particular worm; and the worm of an apple, that of a pear, that of a bean, that of a grain of corn, are each of them different one from the other: the worm of riches is pride”. If, therefore, the rich be so exposed to pride, because their riches attract to them the esteem of men, how much more are they exposed who are elevated above the earth, like clouds, to water and render it fruitful by the rain of their word, who are looked upon as saints of our Lord, and whose functions and ministry render them venerable to all the world! We owe more respect to priests and spiritual fathers, says St. Chrysostom, than to kings and princes. Nay, we owe more, and have a greater obligation to them, than to our own fathers. For these begot us for the world and to live in the world, but those begot us for heaven, and to live eternally with God. There is nothing so great amongst men, nor attracts a greater respect from them, than to have the reputation of sanctity. All the honours they: give upon other motives are usually only exterior, and are very often accompanied with the contempt of him that renders them; but the honours given a man upon account of his being esteemed a saint, are always filled with sincere and profound veneration. Now, as vain-glory is the worm that sticks ordinarily to good actions, and the greater and more holy they are, the greater fear there is of its corrupting them, there ought, without doubt, be a greater foundation of humility, to sustain the weight of the reputation and honours which they attract. Hence St. Chrysostom, speaking of the dignity of priesthood, and the dangers that accompany it, puts vain-glory at the head of them, and says it is a far more dangerous rock than all those whereof the poets have given such frightful descriptions.

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