Volume III, Treatise II, Chapter IV

Why the Oblation We Make of Ourselves to God in Religion by Means of Vows, Is Styled by the Saints a Second Baptism and a Martyrdom

Tue oblation of ourselves entirely to God by means of religious vows, is of so great value and merit in his sight, that. St. Jerom, St. Cyprian, and St. Bernard, call it a second baptism; and divines hold that an entire remission of all sins is obtained by it; 60 that if we should happen presently to die, we should not pass through the fire of Purgatory, but go direct to Heaven, as they do who die as soon as they have received baptism. This, however, is not to be understood as if it were said on account of the indulgences that may be annexed to a profession of vows, because. there is a plenary indulgence also given to novices upon the day they take their habit; but it is to be understood as simply expressing the merit itself of the vows, which is so great and excellent, that without the help of any indulgence it is capable of satisfying the justice of God for the punishment due to our sins. This truth, which rests on a strong foundation of its own, is confirmed by what St. Athanasius says in the life of St. Anthony. This great saint had once a vision, wherein it seemed as if the angels carried him up to Heaven, and the devils meeting them, endeavoured to hinder them, accusing him of several sins he had committed in the world; but the angels said in reply, if you have anything to accuse him of since he became a religious, you may do it; but as to the sins he committed in the world, they are already pardoned, and it is a debt he has entirely satisfied by consecrating himself to God in religion.

“Redeem your sins by alms’ (Daniel 4:24),—said Daniel to_ Nebuchodonosor. Now, if by alms, which are only a distribution of some part of the goods we possess, we can satisfy for our sins, in what manner ought we not believe we satisfy for them by an unlimited donation of all we have? ‘It is good to give alms to the poor, giving charitably these goods to them, as if we were only the distributers of them. But it is also much better to give away all things at once, to follow Jesus Christ, and to free ourselves from the cares and turmoils of riches, to become poor with him”. St. Jerom proves this proposition against Vigilantius the heretic, by the testimony of our Saviour himself, who says in the gospel: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have a treasure in Heaven, and come and follow me”—Mat., xix. 21. St. Gregory, upon Ezechiel, says, that worldlings, in distributing part of their goods to the poor, offer a sacrifice to God of their goods; but religious, by entirely spoiling themselves of their goods for the love of God, offer to him a holocaust which is far more excellent than a sacrifice. But if to renounce riches is so meritorious, how meritorious must it not be to renounce ourselves entirely; to renounce our body by the vow of chastity, and our will and liberty by the vow of obedience! What will it be continually to renounce ourselves, and to mortify ourselves for the love of God without ceasing! For the life of a religious is “continually to carry in his body the marks of the sufferings of Jesus Christ”—II. C@r., iv. 10.

What shows still more clearly the excellency of this entire oblation of ourselves to God, by means of the three vows made in religion, is what all canonists hold for certain, viz., that a man who should have made a vow, for example, to go to Rome or Jerusalem, to give to the poor all the property he could possibly acquire, to serve all his time in an hospital, to discipline himself daily, to fast every day on bread and water, to wear @ continual hair-shirt, and in fine what kind of vow soever he should make, he would entirely be freed from it by making himself a religious; all the obligations he should have contracted by any precedent vow being included therein, and changed into that of a religious life, as into a thing more perfect and more pleasing to God.

But there is yet more: this abandoning ourselves entirely into the hands of God by the three vows, as we have said, is a thing so heroical and excellent, that the saints compare the state of a ‘religious life to that of martyrdom; and in effect it is a continual martyrdom, which, as St. Bernard says, has something indeed less terrible than that whereby the body is mangled, but it is also more painful, by reason it lasts longer. “What tyrants inflicted upon the faithful, terminated by a blow of a sword, but the martyrdom of a religious is not ended by one blow, it is a long suffering which is daily revived: in us”’—Bern., Serm. 3, sup. Cant.,—sometimes by debasing our pride, sometimes by annihilating our own will and judgment in such a manner, that we may say with the Psalmist: “For thy sake, O Lord, we are daily mortified or put to death, and are looked upon as sheep led to the slaughter” (Psalms 43:22), However, our submission ought to be such in this state, that as the martyrs chose not the kind of their sufferings or death, but were always ready to receive that which should be inflicted upon them; so a religious ought always be disposed to undergo all those mortifications that shall be given To conclude, martyrdom is so heroical an act of love, that a more excellent one is not to be imagined. ‘No one can have a greater love”, as our Saviour says, “than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) And as, for this reason, the saints hold that martyrdom absolutely cancels sin, so that he who dies for the faith goes direct to Heaven without passing through Purgatory, ‘and that it would be an injury to him to pray for him”; in like manner théy hold that as nothing can excel the entire oblation of ourselves, because we have nothing else to give after we have entirely given ourselves, this oblation which a religious makes to God by means of his. vows, obtains for him also both an entire remission of his sins and of the pains due to them; and this is the reason why they compare yi to baptism

and martyrdom.

Sat 4 sae f°: — Gog on +r mn f J, ae omy Saha wi

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