Volume III, Treatise I, Chapter V

That the Care of the Advancement of Our Neighbour, Ought not to Render Us Negligent in What Regards Our Own, but on the Contrary It Ought to Oblige Us More Seriously to Apply Ourselves to It

‘‘RECOVER thy neighbour according to thy power, and take heed to thyself, that thou fall not” (Ecclesiasticus 29:27) This is properly the end of the institute of the society; this is the high road whereon all of us ought to walk. Now we can go off this road two ways, viz., leaving it to the right, by entirely withdrawing ourselves from conversing with our neighbour, to think only upon our own advancement; or to the left, by so entirely giving ourselves to the help of our neighbour as to become forgetful of ourselves. Both these extremes are vicious; and in order that between one and the other we may keep the middle, in which perfection consists, and that we may not turn either to the right or the left, I shall speak of each separately. First, then, to speak of the more dangerous one, which is the giving of ourselves so entirely to the help of our neighbour, as to become forgetful of ourselves. This is an inconvenience which our Saviour himself sufficiently admonishes us of, when he says, ‘What does it profit a man to gain the world, if he loseth his own soul? And what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”— Meat., xvi. 26. For this loss no compensation can be made; and therefore reason and well ordered charity require, that we should not neglect our own salvation for anything whatsoever in this world, and that we never ought to relent in the care of our own advancement. The Psalmist observes this order very well, when he begs of God, saying, “Teach me goodness, discipline, and knowledge” —Ps., cxvili. 66. For he puts goodness in the first place, as what is more particularly necessary for him, and more for his advantage than the others. We ought not therefore forget ourselves, or neglect our own salvation, upon pretence of labouring for the salvation of our neighbour. This would be a very great abuse; and Seneca himself, speaking of those who have greater care of the amendment of others than of their own, compares them to wells which impart clear water to others, and keep the mud to themselves. Pope Nicholas also in one of his decrees, makes use of a comparison very apposite to our subject;

he asks whether priests of an ill life can validly administer the sacraments. And after having decided that they can, because they do prejudice to none but themselves, he says that they are like lighted torches, which give light to others, but at the same time consume themselves.

St. Bernard, writing upon these words of the Canticles, “your name is like oil spread abroad”—(Canticle of Canticles 1:2),—treats this matter perfectly well. He says that the Holy Ghost works two things in us: the one, by which he first establishes us in virtue for our own advancement, he calls “infusion”; the other, by which he communicates to us his gifts and graces, for the profit and advantage of our neighbour, he calls “effusion”, or pouring forth, because it is a grace that is given us to bestow upon others. Now this “infusion”, he says, ought to precede the “effusion”. We ought first be well filled with virtue, before we can fill others therewith, And hereupon he makes a comparison, which ex-p’ains his thoughts very well. He says, there is this difference between a channel, or pipe that serves to conduct the water from a fountain, and the basin that receives it, that the channel re- © ceives and renders the water at the same time, without retaining anything of it; whereas the basin first fills itself, and afterwards the superfluous water runs over, which it cannot do without still keeping itself full. ‘You will do very wisely then”, says he, “to become like the basin, and not like the channel”—Bern. Serm. Ixxviii. sup.’ Cant.; and that you may contemn this counsel, continues the saint, as coming from myself, know that it ie not I, but the Holy Ghost that gives it: “A fool uttereth all his mind; a wise man deferreth, and keeps it till afterwards” (Proverbs 29:11) The one retains nothing, no more than a channel does; the the, on the contrary, is like a basin, that lets nothing run over till it be first full itself. ‘“But alas!” says this father, ‘the misery is, that we have now-a-days a great many channels and pipes in the Church, but very few basins”—Serm. xviii. ‘sup. Cant., num. 5. There are many people who are channels out of which the water of the divine word passes to water the hearts of the faithful, and to cause them to bring forth the fruits of grace and benediction, but they remain dry themselves. They have so much charity, continues this saint, that they wish to give away before they have gathered together. They wish to lead and help others, and know not at all how to help themselves. There is a great deal of folly and no charity at -all in this, because there ‘is no degree of charity above that which the wise man advises us to have for ourselves, when he says, “Take pity on your own soul by rendering it pleasing to God” (Ecclesiasticus 30:24) Behold here the first thing we ought to do, behold what we ought to begin with: as to what regards the help and advancement of our neighbour, it ought only to follow this. “For if I have but a little oil left for my own use, as the widow of Serapta had, do you think I will deprive myself of it for you? I will keep it, and will not give it, but at the prophet’s command. But if one of those who perhaps think better of me than they see me deserve, or hear me spoken of, do with instance press me for it” —In Cant. serm. xviii., num. 5,—I will answer them with the wise virgins: ‘ Lest there should not be enough for me and thee, go rather to those that sell it, and buy some for thyself’—Mat., xxv. 9. “For it is not just”, says the apostle, “that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality”—II. Cor., viii. 18. This is all that true charity requires of you, which commands you to “love your neighbour as yourself”——Mat., xxii. 89. Behold here the equality of which St. Paul speaks. But he does not require of you that you love your neighbour better

than yourself, that you prefer him to yourself, and that you © neglect the care of your own advancement to labour for that of others. ‘ Let my soul”, says the prophet, “be filled with exquisite and delicious meat; and then, O Lord, my mouth shall sing hymns of joy and thanksgiving” (Psalms 62:6) Our heart therefore ought first be filled, that it may be “from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks”; and it is for this reason that the apostle says, “that we ought very carefully observe what we. hear, lest at any time we should let it slip”» (Hebrews 2:1) We ought carefully preserve in us what the grace of God has poured into us; we ought to let it flow from us as from a vessel that is full, and not let it leak, as out of a cracked vessel that can retain nothing. So that the care of the advancement of our neighbour’s salvation ought to be so far from rendering us negligent in what concerns our own, that it is this which ought to oblige us to apply ourselves more earnestly thereunto. For a great fund of humility, mortification, and all other virtues is required, as I have already said, to be in the world, and -not to partake of the sentiments of the world, and to hinder the world, instead of conforming itself to our spirit, from perhaps making us conform ourselves unto its spirit. ‘He that handles pitch”, says the Scripture, “will have his hands defiled therewith” —Zccl., xiii. 1. And they ought to be well rubbed over first with oil, if he wishes the pitch not to stick to them. It is the same with us in regard of those of the world. We ought to be well filled and penetrated with the unction of grace and prayer, that worldly conversation may not stick to us and defile us. But if we take not this precaution, we shall have reason to fear that it may communicate its vices and maxims to us, and that these may draw us along with them into its irregularities and disorders, to verify the saying of Osee, Such as the people are, such is the priest” (Osee 4:9)

One of the chief instructions that St. Ignatius gave to those. whom charity engaged to converse with their neighbour, was to persuade them that those they had to treat with were not perfect, but that they went, as says St. Paul, “into the middle of a wicked and perverse generation”’ (Philippians 2:15) And this warning teaches us to be extremely upon our guard, lest the scandals and disorders we see amongst them should corrupt our minds and hearts. The physicians and such as assist the sick are accustomed, when the diseases are very contagious, to take-preservatives, and to carry perfumes about them, to prevent the effects of the contagion and of the bad air which is breathed by sick persons. Now the sick we treat, and have greatest conversation with in the world, are attacked with contagious diseases, which are easily caught, if we bring not with us the preservatives of prayer, mortification, and all the virtues. It is requisite that a confessor, who is continually obliged to apply his hands to wounds full of filth and rottenness, should have a good stomach to prevent the bad odour of the many sins that confessions are filled with, from turning his stomach and exciting bad thoughts and motions that may corrupt his purity.

Some say very justly that we ought to be like certain rivers, which enter into the sea without losing any of the sweetness of their water and without mixing with that of the sea. St. Chrysostom, in order to show us what priests ought to be, whose ministry and zeal for souls oblige them to converse with all sorts of people in the world, says, they should be in the midst of the world, as the three children were in the midst of the fiery furnace of Babylon. For in effect we are in the world in the midst of flames, and these flames are far more ardent than those of that furnace were. The flames of ambition, of impurity, of envy, of detraction, raise themselves furiously round about us and encompass us on all sides; and because the fire penetrates wheresoever it finds entrance, and spoils and blackens all it meets with, the priest of God, adds the father, ought to take care lest this smoke approach so far as to touch him. Now to prevent the flames not only from burning us, but even to hinder the smoke they send forth from blackening us, what precautions ought we not take, and with what circumspection ought we not carry ourselves? St. Austin, explaining these words of our Saviour in the Gospel, “You are the world”—Mat., v. 14,—-says, “That light contracts no uncleanness by passing through foul places”——Aug. Tract. iv., sup. Joan.; but, on the contrary, that it purifies them and chases away their bad-smell, without receiving any impression thereof in itself. It is in this manner that our light ought to make manifest the sins of the world, and penetrate their filth without contracting any corruption from them. It is thus that it ought to purify the heart of sinners and drive away the bad exhalations of vice. But to do this, we ought to have a great application to our spiritual exer-- cises, to prayer, examens, spiritual reading, penance, and mortification. Above all, we must never neglect our prayer, which each of us is obliged daily to make for our spiritual progress. This is a thing of which we cannot take too much care, because the Devil, who perceives that he cannot hinder us from labouring for the advancement of our neighbour, as we are particularly obliged thereunto by our institution, endeavours to make us apply ourselves so to it that we come at length to forget the care of our own and to neglect the means necessary for it. The rivers that overflow their channels ordinarily enrich the grounds they overflow, but they carry also a great deal of mud along with them. Behold here what the Devil aims at when he moves us to employ ourselves too much in the commerce with worldly people, and not to keep such measures therein as we ought to do; and since this kind of temptation is very frequent, we ought to be extremely upon our guard. And what ought chiefly oblige us to do so is, that the care of our own advancement is, as I shall show hereafter, the best means we have of helping our neighbour and producing much fruit in souls. So that the greater affairs we have in that way, the more we ought to give ourselves to prayer, to obtain of God a blessing upon our ministry, and to make it succeed. It was thus the saints arranged matters. We read of St. Dominick, that he divided his time in the following manner: he gave the day to the service of his neighbour, and the night to prayer. Behold here what made him bring forth such great fruit; it was because he consulted at night with God what he ought to do the day following; and before he put his hand to the work, he had already obtained success by his prayers. Jesus Christ himself has also given us an example of this practice, by withdrawing himself to mountains and retired places, and there passing whole nights in prayer. He employed the day in preaching to the people, in healing the sick, and in casting out devils; and as the gospel says, “he passed the whole night in prayer to God”. He did this, as St. Ambrose very well takes notice, not because he stood in need of the help of prayer, but that he might hereby give us an example of what we ought to do.

But if prayer be so necessary for those who are exteriorly employed in the ordinary functions of charity, it is also more particularly necessary for those who are employed in missions. The rules we have concerning missions state this expressly. Here is one of them: “Let them take care not to fail in their exercises of prayer and examen of conscience, which they are wont to have in colleges and in other houses of the society”. And it is without doubt with a great deal of reason that the rule expressly has these terms, “let them take care”; for in effect it is needful that they take very great care of themselves, and that they do not neglect these exercises when they are thus employed abroad. It is indeed very easy to perform them in our houses, where our employments are more regular, where we are advertised and called by the sound of bell to these exercises, and where the example of others excites us to do as they do. But when we are employed abroad in laborious funetions, with which we are sometimes as it were overcharged,—when we are neither advertised by the sound of bell nor excited by the example of our brethren, but, on the contrary, meet with many things that distract and hinder us,—we ought to pay a continual attention to ourselves, that we may not frequently neglect these spiritual duties. It is also very certain that missions require persons of tried virtue, and therefore St. Francis Borgia was wont to say that he was never content with the missions he furnished but when they cost him a great deal of trouble. It was in effect, because he could not without a great deal of difficulty send such persons as were required, and such as he wished to select for these employments. In fine, with a great deal of reason, many more things are required for employments abroad than for those at home; and hence it happens that amongst us those only who have made four vows are destined for missions; for it is supposed that these are already sufficiently tried and advanced in virtue, Moreover, besides all this, it is necessary that they should not stay too long abroad without returning to their houses to recruit themselves, for fear that the interior spirit of piety should be extinguished in them by their continual exterior labours abroad.

But if the duties which relate to the salvation of souls ought never to make us neglect our ordinary exercises, that regard our own spiritual advancement, because it is not just that the interest of our neighbour should make us forget what we owe to ourselves, what consequence, therefore, ought we not draw from hence for all the employments and occupations that regard only temporal affairs? This remark applies no less to people in the world than to those in religion, and each one may make an application thereof to himself, conformably to the state it has pleased God to put him in. But let the state be what it will, and how good soever his functions may be of themselves, very great care ought to be taken to prevent exterior things from making a Christian neglect his own salvation, or causing a religious to dispense with those practices of piety which regard his advancement and perfection. It is not reasonable to prefer the less to the greater, and what regards our spiritual advancement ought always have the preference. This is the order that God would have us keep; it is this the superiors require of us. We ought to take care, for example, not to quit our spiritual exercises, or to make them in haste or by halves, in order to apply ourselves entirely to our studies. For what will it profit a religious to become learned, if he does not in the first place satisfy the duties of his profession? But what ought still oblige us faithfully to acquit ourselves herein is, that these spiritual exercises are so far from hindering us from making any progress in learning, that, on the contrary, they serve to obtain from God all the light and knowledge we shall stand in need of to succeed in them.

Albertus the Great was wont to say, that in divine sciences greater advancement was made by piety and prayer than by study; and he alleged in proof of this the words of the wise man; “T desired to have a right knowledge of things, and God gave it me; I invoked the Lord, and he filled me with the spirit of his wisdom” (Wisdom 7:7) It is also by this means that St. Thomas, who studied under him, became so learned and enlightened; and it was this that made him say that, for all he knew, he was more indebted to prayer than to his own labour or studies. We read also of St. Bonaventure, that when he taught divinity at Paris, with a great deal of reputation, and when by his works he attracted to himself the esteem and admiration of all the world, St. Thomas of Aquin, going one day to see him, begged of him to show him those books he made use of for his studies; whereupon St. Bonaventure led him to his cell, and showed him some very common books that lay upon his table; and when St. Thomas told him he had a particular desire to see those other books from which he acquired so many wonderful things, the saint then showing him his oratory, upon which he had a crucifix, Behold, father, says he, all my books, and behold the chief book from which I derive all I teach and all I write; and it is by casting myself at the feet of this crucifix —it is by supplicating light in my doubts—it is by assisting at mass, that I have made greater progress in sciences, and that I have gained more true knowledge than by the reading of any books whatsover...

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