Volume III, Treatise V, Chapter VIII

What Has Been Said in This Treatise Confirmed by Several Examples

Ir is related that abbot Nisteron, the day he became religious, spoke thus to himself: “Now I consider that myself and the ass of the monastery are but one. He carries the burden they lay upon him, be it light or heavy, without murmuring or making resistance. He suffers without resentment the blows they give him, as well as the contempt the world holds him in. He works continually, and yet is content to feed upon a little straw. Such ought to be the disposition of my mind: moreover, as a carrier’s horse goes not out of the road when he pleases, nor lies down when he pleases, but obeys his master in everything, so a religious ought to submit to all the orders of his superior. And as the horse does not work, sleep, or eat, for his own convenience, but does all for his master’s service, in like manner the labour, rest, sleep, yea every action, and even the life itself, of a religious, ought not to have for its end his own particular advantage, but the advantage of his order and the glory of God”— Vit. Pat. Lib. de Humil., p. 651. “1 am”, said the Royal Prophet to God, “as a beast of burden before thee, but yet I am always with thee”’ (Psalms 72:23) If you desire to be always with God, and labour profitably for your spiritual advancement in religion, strive to make yourself like a pack-horse, or a beast of burden, by ‘submitting to all things which shall be required of you.

Surius, in the life of St. Melania, has the following example, and he says that he himself used frequently to tell it to his own Carthusians. A young man went into the desert, and finding there one of the ancient fathers, he begged of him to admit him as his disciple. The good old man being willing to show him what disposition of mind was required in order to have his petition granted, bade him go and beat a statue which stood hard by his cell. He did so. Upon which the old father asked him if the statue complained or resisted; to which he answered, no. The father then bade him go beat it again, and lay a heavy load upon it. After he had commanded him to do this three several times, he asked him again whether the statue had shown any sign of resentment or impatience. The young man told him that it did not, because it was a statue, and destitute of feeling. Hereupon the man of God says to him: If you can suffer to be treated by me as you have treated the statue, without murmur, complaint, or resistance, stay in God’s name and be my disciple; but if you find yourself incapable of suffering all this, go back from whence you came, for you are not fit to be a religious.

We read that St. Gertrude lived under an abbess whose life was truly exemplary, but whose temper was disagreeable; and that one day as the saint was praying for the improvement of the abbess’s temper, our Saviour spoke thus to her: Why do you ask that she should be freed from an imperfection which gives her such frequent occasions of humiliation in my sight, upon account of those failings which her warmth of temper and impatience cause in her? Besides, what merit would you have in obeying her, if she were of a sweeter temper? I permit this imperfection in your superior for the exercise and improvement of your obedience, and for her own merit.

Blosius (Mon. Spir., c. 4) also relates of the same St. Gertrude something very like unto this. One day, says he, she offered up her prayers for a certain superior of a congregation, and begged earnestly of God that he would be pleased to free him from a fault he was very subject to. Whilst she was at her prayers our Saviour appeared unto her, and said: The same excess of goodness and mercy that moved me to institute that congregation, causes me to permit imperfections in those that govern it, thereby to increase the merit of those they have command over; for there is more virtue in submitting to the orders of a person whose faults we know, than to one whose faults we know not. When I permit superiors to have their failings, and to forget themselves sometimes by reason of temporal affairs, which they must be employed in, it is to the end they should from thence take occasion to humble themselves the more: and as subjects may increase in virtue by the defects of their superiors; even so the faults, as well as the virtues of inferiors, may serve sometimes to augment the merits of superiors. These words filled her with admiration, to see how God’s infinite goodness and wisdom dispose all things for the advantage and good of his servants, and that even those defects he permits in them, should serve and help to render them more perfect.

St. Athanasius, in the life of St. Anthony, says, that the ancient hermits who consecrated themselves particularly to obedience, ordinarily sought for harsh superiors, who would treat them rudely, and never show approbation of anything they did for them; and the more disagreeable the superior’s temper was, the more readily they obeyed him. The ordinary custom observed in those days amongst them was, that two solitaries should put themselves under the conduct and government of an ancient father as his scholars, and serve him in everything as a servant does his master; so that the authority a master has to correct and chastise his servant when he fails to do what is commanded him, the same the ancients had over their disciples when they failed in the most trifling affair. Nay, they more frequently treated their disciples very r harshly, either out of natural severity or else toexercise their patience, as St. Pachomius did to his scholar Theodosius, to cure him of vain glory. And St. John Climacus says, that to suffer these hardships and injuries, was a trial which lasted till they were thirty years of age.

Cassian tells us (Collat., xviii. c. 14) of a lady of Alexandria, who was so very desirous of sufferings, that not content with what God was pleased to inflict on her, she most earnestly sought after more occasions of suffering and of exercising her patience. As the Church of Alexandria maintained a great many poor widows in those days, this person of quality went to St. Athanasius, to request that one of them might live with her, for whom she would provide, and thereby impart so much ease to the Church. The holy bishop, highly approving of her intention, sent her a widow that was pious and sweetly tempered, whom she kept with her, and sometime took great care of her, even waiting upon her herself. But this poor woman being always praising the good lady, and thanking her every moment for her care and goodness, the lady addressed herself once more to St. Athanasius, and complained that she had asked a woman of him that might her patience and give her an occasion of merit by serving hoe and that he had not granted her request. The bishop not well understanding at first what she meant, thought that they had not executed his orders; but informing himself how the case stood, and finding they had given her a holy, sweet-tempered woman, he presently knew the reason of her complaint, and told her that he would take care to rectify the mistake. Whereupon he gave new orders that they choose out another, of a very sour and uneven temper; and one of that description, says Cassian, was easily found. In effect, they selected a testy, melancholy, stubborn, peevish, and prating old woman, and presented her to the lady, who carried her home with her, making it her business to show more humility and care to her than she had done to the other. Asa recompense, she now meets with ingratitude, affronts, curses, and such like ill returns; for this cross woman always contradicted her, and reproached her every moment that she had brought her to her house, not to treat her kindly as she pretended, but to drive her to despair; nay, sometimes she was so very passionate that she was ready even to beat her. The good lady suffered all this without saying anything to her; nay, the worse she was treated, the more careful and ready she was to serve her, and finding great benefit to her soul from this continual exercise of patience and humility, she went to return her most humble thanks to St. Athanasius for having given her one that had so well tried her patience, and furnished her every day with new matter of merit. And this lady having lived some time in this charitable practice of mortification, died most happily in our Lord. Abbot Peemen, novice to Abbot Joseph, says, that this holy man used to send him every morning to a fig tree that belonged to the monastery, to take his breakfast of green figs, which was a very unusual thing, considering the rigorous abstinence these hermits professed. One day Abbot Joseph, according to his usual custom, bade him go to the fig tree, but it being Friday, he durst not eat, being afraid to break a fast so religiously observed by all the other hermits. However, this disobedience left a scruple of conscience behind, which made him go to his abbot, and say: Pardon me, dear father, and give me the liberty of asking a question. Whence comes it that, notwithstanding the strict abstinence we profess, you bid me every morning take my breakfast of green figs, and particularly upon a Friday too? I assure you that the shame of not fasting upon Friday, according to the general custom, would not permit me to eat any figs to-day; yet nevertheless I feel some remorse for not having obeyed your commands, since I am persuaded they are always just and reasonable. Son, says the good old man to him, the fathers of the desert do not at first command their religious things which seem feasible and reasonable, but, on the contrary, such as are odd and extravagant, for a trial of their submission and resignation; and when they once perceive that they comply without difficulty or reply, they never more put them upon such experiments, but employ them in what is really necessary, according to the custom of their order.

In the lives ofthe holy fathers we read of a certain vision which an old hermit had, in which he saw four distinct orders or ranks of the blessed in Heaven. The first order was of those who had been visited with long sickness, but bore it patiently, and blessed God for it. The second consisted of those who had served the sick in hospital, or received poor people and pilgrims, and had been employed in such like charitable offices. The third were those that had left all, and retired into the desert to pray, and to live in poverty, abstinence, and a mortification of their senses. But the fourth were those who, for the love of Jesus Christ, had dedicated themselves to obedience and totally subjected to the will of another. ‘These last wore chains and collars of gold about their necks, and were far more bright and glorious than the others. The holy man, surprised to see this wonderful sight, asked why these that were last had a greater share of glory than either the hermits or the others had. It was answered, that the hermits and those others who had exercised acts of charity, followed their own will in what they did: whereas those who had devoted themselves to obedience had sacrificed their will to God, who esteems no sacrifice like that of the liberty of our will, man having nothing more noble or precious to offer him; and that those collars of gold were the reward due for their having yielded their necks to the yoke of obedience.

This story is much like that which is told of Abbot Pambo. There were four hermits of extraordinary virtue, who went one day to pay him a visit. The one afflicted his body with continual austerities; the other made profession of most rigid poverty; the third was daily employed in charitable offices towards his neighbour; the fourth was one who had lived in a most submissive obedience for two-and-twenty years. The holy abbot preferred the last before the other three, by reason, that in renouncing his own will he had made himself a slave to another man’s; but the others had still followed their own will in the practice of their virtues. After this he added, that whosoever should follow this obedient man’s example, and be constant in it to the last, might justly be styled a martyr.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project