Volume III, Treatise VI, Chapter I

Of the Favours God Has Bestowed on Religious, by Guarding and For-. Tifying Them with Rules. |

One of the greatest favours which God has done to religious is the having fortified them with many rules and counsels, in order that they might be in greater security against the enemies of their salvation. Hence the saints compare, very justly, the evangelical counsels to the outworks of a city; for as a city is in a much better state of defence when it is encompassed by outworks and ramparts—because, should the enemy become masters of the outworks they are still checked by the ramparts—even so, those who are fortified with evangelical counsels are in a far better condition to resist the attacks of the Devil than seculars are. Now this is the advantage enjoyed by all religious in general, and, through the mercy of God, enjoyed by us in so particular a manner, that we may very justly apply to ourselves the words of Isaias, “‘The city of Sion is our fortress. The Lord has encompassed it with a wall and with a bulwark to defend it”—Isa., xxvi. 1. He has first encompassed us with the rampart of his law and commandments, and he has added to this rampart the outworks of our rules and constitutions, that all the endeavours of our enemies, with whom we are always at war, may be able only to make some breach in the first fortification, and so the law of God remaining always entire, we may be secure from all their insults. It is a great favour that God has bestowed upon us, to have put us in such a state that the Devil can hope, even by his most violent attacks, to prevail no farther than to make us fail in our rules, the transgression of which amounts not to a venial sin, and that at present we have a greater scruple to violate any one of these rules, than perhaps, had we remained in the world, we would have had to commit great sins.

This shows the error of some weak religious, who, as soon aa they happen to commit some faults against their rules and fall into some imperfections, imagine that it had been better for them to have remained in the world than to live in such a manner in religion. This is one of the most dangerous temptations that the Devil can make use of against us, because it regards a thing of so great importance, and so essential, as is our vocation, He desires nothing more than to keep us exposed in the world, beyond the precincts of our rules and evangelical counsels; because then undisturbed he would play his machines against the rampart of the law of God, and perhaps make us fall into some mortal sin. But here it is not so easy for him to compass what he aims at, on account of the outworks against which though he employs all his force, he cannot put us in danger of receiving any mortal wound in our soul, whatsoever disgusts he may give us in the observance of our rules, and whatsoever imperfections he may cause us to fall into. A single sin you would have committed in the world would have been far greater than all the faults you commit in religion; and therefore, how dissatisfied soever you may be with the little progress you think you make in virtue, yet assure yourself that you are in a better state in order to your salvation than you would have been in the world. This advantage is without doubt one of those which ought to enhance our _esteem of a religious life; and this alone is so great a good that if we should derive no other from it but this, it would be highly estimable, and we should always have an infinity of thanks to render to God for having called us toit. Do you think it a small matter that, whilst others are in the field exposed to a thousand dangers, you are in a place of security only looking on; that, whilst others are in the midst of the sea, weather-beaten by winds and tempests, you are at repose in the haven; and that, whilst they are tossed and turmoiling themselves in the midst of the waves of Babylon, the torrent of which carries them away, you repose in peace and tranquillity upon the bank?

The rules of a religious life and the evangelical counsels have also this advantage, that they help us to observe the commandments; because the observance of them becomes very easy to him who aspires to the perfection of evangelical counsels; whereas, on the contrary, he who does not wish to aim at the perfection of the counsels, is scarcely faithful to the commandments. This is the sense which St. Thomas gives to these words of our Saviour in the gospel—“Verily I say unto you, that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23) Do you know why it is so hard? says the holy doctor. It is because it is hard to observe the precepts that lead to this kingdom, unless we follow the counsels and renounce riches. The observance of the counsels, on. the other hand, renders the observance of the commandments far more easy; because it is certain that to renounce, for example, all the goods of this Earth, and to be able of possessing anything as our own, prevents us very much from coveting to have the goods of our neighbour. It is certain that to pray to God for those that persecute us, to do good even to those from whom we have received evil, is to be very far from hating our enemies; and that never to swear, even when we affirm the truth, keeps us at the greatest distance from swearing falsely. And hence the saints remark, that the evangelical counsels and the rules of a religious life are so far from being a heavy burden, that they even console us, and assist us admirably to bear more easily the Joke of God’s commandments.

St. Austin, speaking of the sweetness of the law of grace, explains it by two excellent comparisons. He compares it to the wings of a bird and to the wheels of a chariot. The wings, says he, are no ‘burden to birds, on the contrary, they help to render them less heavy and even to make them fly; the wheels add no embarrassing weight to the chariot, but on the contrary, they afford great ease and help to the beasts that draw it, and without them they would not be able to draw half the weight they do. We can say the very same of evangelical counsels, upon which our rules are framed. So far from being a burden, they are wings that make us fly towards Heaven, they are wheels that help us to bear more easily the yoke of the law of God, whilst the people of the world, who have not the same advantages, bear it with a great deal of pain, groaning under the burden, and oftentimes even falling under it. All this ought to inspire us with deep sentiments of gratitude towards God, make us set an high value on our rules, and render us very fervent in the observance of them.

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