Volume III, Treatise III, Chapter III

That God Rewards the Poor in Spirit, not Only in the Other Life, but in * This Also

THAT you may not think all your reward reserved for the other

life, or imagine you trust Almighty God too long by giving him

so much time to repay you, since you have paid him in ready money, I must assure you that the poor in spirit are not only recompensed in the other world, but in this also, and that with considerable interest. All men are so self-interested, and so sen~ sibly touched with what is present, that they seem to lose courage if they have not a prospect of some present advantage. It is for this reason the Son of God, who knows our weakness, was unwil= ling that those who renounced all for his sake, should be without reward in this world; and hence, immediately after the promise we spoke of in the foregoing chapter, he adds, that “he who shall leave his house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or estate, for my sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and enjoy everlasting life’—Mat., xix. 29. This hundred fold is to be understood of this present life, according to our Saviour’s own explanation of it in St. Mark: “He shall at present receive a hundred fold here in this life, and eternal life hereafter in the world to come” (Mark 10:30)

St. Jerom, speaking of this hundred fold, interprets it of spiritual goods, and says, “that he who shall forsake temporal goods for the love of our Saviour, shall receive spiritual for them, which being compared with the others, are as a hundred in respect of a small inconsiderable number’-—Zid. iii. in Matt. But Cassian interprets it of exterior and visible goods, and says, in conformity to the words of St. Mark, that religious receive this hundred fold even in this life, as you shall see made clear by what follows. You have left one house for the love of Christ, and in place of that God has given you a great many; you have forsaken one father and mother, and God has given you a great many other fathers, who love you much more tenderly than the former, take more care of you, and are much more solicitous for your good. You have - quitted your brothers, and God has given others, whose love of you is more sincere, because, having but God in view, it is free from self-interest; whereas your brothers in the world scarce loved you any longer than they had occasion to make use of you in order to serve their own ends. You have left those who waited ‘upon you in the world (if indeed you had any such to leave), and now you find a great number always employed in your service; one serves you as your steward, another as your porter, a third as your cook, and a fourth attends you when sick. And what is more, should you travel into Spain, France, Italy, Germany, nay even to the Indies, or any other place in the world, you would always find a house ready to receive you, and the same atten-

+ iin 1 dance to wait upon you, which is an honour and advantage that no prince in the world can boast of. Is not this to receive a hundred fold, and more than a hundred fold, even in this life?

What shall I say now of what you have left,—I mean your riches? Have you not much more in religion than in the world? Has not God, therefore, rendered you the hundred fold? For you are more a master of all the riches of the world than those are who possess them, since they are rather slaves than masters; which makes the Royal Prophet call them “men of riches”—Ps., Ixxv. 4,—as if he would say, their riches do not belong to them, but they to their riches, since their riches command and domineer over them. They continually take pains to get, to increase, and keep their riches; and the more they have, the more uneasy and the greater slaves they are: “their wealth”, says Solomon, “even robs them of their sleep” —Hccl., v.11. On the contrary, religious have everything they want, without the trouble of knowing whether it be dear or cheap, or whether the year be scarce or plentiful; and they live, to make use of St. Paul’s own terms, “as having nothing, yet possessing all things”—II. Cor., vi. 10, As for ease of mind, you have a hundred times more in religion than you would have had in the world. Ask worldly persons, and those whom you think most satisfied with their condition, and you will find them hourly exposed to a thousand misfortunes and disquiets, from which religious are exempt. As to honour, you have it much more in your religious habit than if you were living in the world, Princes, lords, bishops, and magistrates, who perhaps would not have taken notice of you before, now pay you deference and respect on account of the habit you wear. And God gives you much more peace and quiet in religion than the world can give; in fine, he returns with usury whatever you renounced in the world for his sake.

But upon what account does God treat religious thus? It is because they are disengaged from all things of this world, and think of nothing but Heaven. The time they would have spent in providing necessaries for their bodies in the world, is now employed in rendering themselves more pleasing to God, and in hourly increasing in virtue and perfection. This is what the Psalmist testifies when he says, “God gave the nations of the Gentiles to the children of Israel; they possessed the labours of other people, that they might keep his commandments and

observe his law” (Psalms 104:43), etc. It is for this reason that 10 B God himself speaks thus by the mouth of the prophet Ezechiel concerning priests, ‘‘ There shall be no inheritance assigned them —I myself am their portion; you shall not give them any pos~ session in Israel; I am their possession and inheritance”— (Ezechiel 44:28) Thrice happy portion of religious, to whom God himself is portion and inheritance! So that we can truly say with the Royal Prophet, “My part is fallen very well to me, and the. inheritance which has happened to me is admirable” (Psalms 15:6) Our condition is much to be preferred before that of our brethren in the world; for they have Earth, and we Heaven for our portion; God himself is our lot and possession. ‘ Thou art the part of my inheritance, O my God” (Psalms 15:5) “Thou art the God of my heart, and my portion for eternity” (Psalms 22:26) St. Francis called poverty a divine and Heavenly virtue, because it makes us despise all Earthly things, and disengaging the soul from embarrassments, it enables her to direct all her thoughts to Heaven—to soar more easily to God, and to unite herself more closely to him.

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