Volume III, Treatise VII, Chapter VII

An Answer to the Principal Difficulty Which Usually Hinders Us from Sreely Discovering Ourselves to Our Superior

One of the chief difficulties that hinders religious persons from discovering themselves to their superior, if I may not say better, the greatest of all, is that they imagine they shall be dishonoured by it, and lose the good repute and esteem they had before gained; for after that the superior will always have his eye upon them, trust them no more, and have no farther kindness for them. Behold here the pretext the Devil makes use of to abuse them, and to hinder them from discovering their interior, or at least from making a full discovery thereof. But if, on the contrary, I can evidently prove that this is a false imagination, and that his esteem and amity for them will be augmented when they lay open entirely their hearts, and that it will be’ lost when they do the contrary, I hope the obstacle will be quite removed and the difficulty entirely taken away. Now, it is this which, by the assistance of God’s grace, I undertake at present to prove, and shall make it appear that things are not so as the Devil represents them in order to seduce us: and in this he does but what he does in all other temptations, and what we may expect from the father of lies. I say then, that there is nothing which disgraces a religious so much with his superior, as his taking care to hide himself from him, that this is the means to make him be looked upon as a dissembler, and that no other fault does him more prejudice than this in his superior’s esteem. For after all, one fault is but one fault; but they easily suspect that he whom they think a dissembler and insincere, is guilty of many. He is a dark man, say they, and how do I know, since he has not discovered to me such a thing that I have found out, whether he has not still other things which he does not discover to me? This thing alone lessens his reputation more with his superior than any other fault he can be guilty of. On the contrary, when we have no reserve towards our superior, and we discover to him all our temptations, inclinations, and defects, su far from lessening ourselves with him, we hereby gain greater esteem from him, because we pass for humble, mortified, and sincere persons, and to be truly in the interior what we appear to be outwardly..

But let us go farther, and ascend even to the fountain-head, since we treat here of a most essential and important point. I say, first, that a religious cannot make use of a better means to cause himself to be beloved by his superior, than to lay open his heart entirely unto him, without ever having anything hid from him; and the reason of this is, that nothing moves more to love than to be loved. Hence it is that St. John, to excite us to love God, represents to us, “that God loved us first”—I. (John 4:10) But one of the things in which a religious can most show his love to his superior, is by laying open to him the bottom of his heart, and having no reserve at all towards him. For his friendship is very great who keeps nothing secret or hid from his friend; wherefore our Saviour, explaining to his disciples the parable of the seed, “To you”, says he, “is given a special privilege, thoroughly to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others they are hid under parables” (Luke 8:10) And in the sermon at the last supper: ‘As for you”, says he to his apostles, “I have called you friends, because I have discovered to you all that I learned from my Father” (John 15:15) When therefore the superior perceives that a religious entirely opens his heart unto him, he knows hereby that the religious loves him in effect, and looks upon him as his father, and as one who is in the place of God, because he confides all things to him, and wholly gives himself up into his hands, and this obliges him to love him so much the more, and to take greater care of him. But if, on the contrary, he perceives that you are reserved towards him, and instead of openly declaring all things to him, you speak to him in an obscure manner, so that, hearing you, he may not understand you, this is to give him a bad impression in your regard, and to oblige him to love you so much the less; because your diffidence and reservedness are sufficient marks that you have not the sentiments of esteem and affection which you ought to have for your father, and that you do not treat him as such, which is apt to give him less kindness, at least, if not an aversion for you. For how would you have him love you as his son, if you do not love him as your father? Love him, therefore, as you ought to love a father, by confiding in him, and entirely opening your heart unto him, and he will love you also as a son ought to be loved. I shall also make appear in the following treatise, that superiors ought to behave towards their inferiors in the like manner. For when a superior speaks to one of his religious with a free and open heart, and ‘says to him, take care of yourself; you have such and such a fault—such a complaint is made of you—you neglect such a duty; endeavour to correct yourself. The religious loves him then so much the more because he perceives that this springs from the true affection he has for him. But when the superior treats him in a different manner, and instead of speaking to him with charity and confidence about what was faulty in him, he shows a sort of duplicity, and says one thing whilst he thinks another—this is not a cordial way of proceeding, it is full, of dissimulation. When, therefore, there shall be great sincerity and openness of heart on both sides, then there will be true friendship between superiors and subjects, and a true union of hearts, and all things will go well; but when there will be no openness of heart, there will be no true friendship, but only such exterior expressions thereof as civility requires.

Hence it also follows, that there is no reason at all to fear the loss of the esteem of our superior, which ordinarily gives us the greatest pain herein, since friendship is always accompanied with esteem. For the will does not move us to love till the understanding proposes how much the object deserves to be loved. But besides this reason in general, let us descend to particulars; it is very certain that, how great soever the temptations of a religious are, his superior, for this reason, cannot have the less esteem of him; because those that serve God and give themselves entirely to spiritual things are the most subject to temptations. Others very often even know not what it is to be tempted, or do not perceive it when they are so, and of themselves they are but too much carried to sin, so that the Devil has no need to take the pains to tempt them. No; but it is those that apply themselves to God’s service and aspire to perfection he turns his arms against; and this made the wise man say, “My son, applying thyself to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation”. (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Moreover, there are some persons who form such a strange and shameful idea of their temptation, that, unable to believe that any one ever had the like, they do not declare it to their superior for fear of astonishing him. And this happens chiefly to novices or young religious, who, having very little experience in matters of temptation, look upon that which is ordinary and very common as a thing very strange and new. But be assured you can tell nothing to your confessor that will seem extraordinary

VOL. 01, 24 to him; many others besides you have told him ‘the same thing, and perhaps he himself will have experienced the like temptation. The wise man says, “there is nothing new under Heaven” —FEccl., i. 10. Do not believe, then, that it is anything new because it never happened to you before.

Another reason which ought to hinder us from believing that by declaring our faults and imperfections to our superior we shall be the less esteemed by him, is, that all men are subject to fall. We are formed of the same frail matter, and have been all taken out of the same mass; and therefore the superior, who knows by his own the frailty of his subjects, is not easily astonished when they discover their thoughts and imperfections to him. Gerson, desirous to withdraw his young religious from a fault they often fell into, which was through a criminal shame to hide their faults from their ghostly father, said thus to them: Do you believe that by knowing your sins and weaknesses I esteem you the less? No such thing. I even love you so much the more because of the confidence you have placed in me in discovering to me things you would not discover to your own father. God is my witness, adds he, with how much tenderness my heart is touched, when any one discovers to me his weaknesses, and the greater and more shameful I find them to be, the greater is the tenderness and compassion I feel for him. The humility that a religious testifies, when of himself he freely owns his fault, and the desire he hereby shows of the health of his soul and of his spiritual advancement, touch superiors in so particular a manner that they even carry them in their bowels. When a mere stranger addresses himself to us, and relates to us his pains and afflictions, we presently conceive an affection for him, we feel ourselves moved to assist him, and: we endeavour to comfort him in the best manner we are able. What sentiments then ought we not to have for the children of Jesus Christ! It is, without doubt, a thing of very great importance that all religious should be thoroughly persuaded that by discovering their faults to their spiritual father, they do not in the least cool his affection for them, but that, on the contrary, they very much increase it. And hence, when they shall be fully convinced of this truth, they will not easily give ear to what the Devil shall suggest to the contrary, thereby to withdraw them from so essential an obligation.

To confirm the more what I have already said, we must take notice, that it is a great shame before God and man to do ill, and to persist therein with a determined will; but to detest sin, to repent of it, to have confusion and sorrow for it, and to accuse ourselves of it, is what is very pleasing in his sight, and therefore ought to be thought so by those who are in his place. Divines treat this question—whether at the day of judgment the sins of the saints and blessed souls shall be made public as well as those of the damned. And they differ in their opinions therein; but what may be held for certain in this point, and what makes for our subject, is this, that should it happen that they will be exposed to the knowledge of the whole world, it shall not be to the shame and confusion of the saints who have committed them, but for their honour and glory, because the penance they shall have done for them will at the same time also appear before the eyes of the whole world. It is this which God at present does in regard of very many saints. For when they speak in the pulpit of the irregular life of St. Mary Magdalen, and when even upon her festival we read in the Church the gospel in which she is called a sinner; and when mention is made of the adultery of David, of the infidelity of St. Peter, and of the persecution of St. Paul against the Church of God, all that is said of the sins of those great saints turns to their praise; because the rigorous penances they did for them has increased the glory of our Lord, “who draws honey out of a rock, and oil out of the hardest stone” (Deuteronomy 32:13) Masters of a spiritual life usually elucidate this point by a very just comparison, A man, say they, got made for himself a fine suit of clothes which fitted him very well. They are torn, however, by some accident or other, and behold them to all appearance spoiled; but he causes the rent to be drawn up, and covers it with gold lace or very fine embroidery, and by this means his suit becomes far more rich and magnificent than it was at first. If the sins of the blessed must appear at the day of judgment, it will be in this manner; they will be seen so well expiated that they will rather be to them a subject of glory than of confusion. The rent their sins had made in the robe of the Lamb shall be well drawn up and so richly covered over that it will serve for a greater ornament unto them. The same thing may be said of a religious who ingenuously discovers his wounds to his superior to be healed by

him, and expresses a true sorrow for his faults. The discovery 24 8 he makes of his infirmities and weaknesses does not diminish the esteem and affection which the superior had before for him, but on the contrary increases it. ‘For there is a confusion”, says the wise man, “that carries sin along with it, and there is a confusion which causes glory and esteem” —Ecci., iv. 25. The confusion and shame which urge us not to discover our faults, cast us into sin and disorder; but the confusion which we have for our faults when we declare them, attracts the esteem of men and the blessing of God to us.

’ It is related in the life of St. Ignatius, that having to no purpose tried all ways imaginable to gain unto God a religious of a very irregular life, he at last went and made his confession to him. After he had confessed the faults he had committed since his last confession, he told him that with his leave he had a great mind to confess the chief sins of his life past, and then he began to confess and to accuse himself of the weakness and irregularities of his youth, with so deep sorrow and such abundance of tears, that on a sudden the heart of his confessor was touched and entirely changed; for hereupon he felt so great a horror for his past disorders, and such sentiments of love and respect for St. Ignatius, whom he before hated, that he chose him for his director, made the spiritual exercises under him, and by an entire change of his life, edified all those that had before known him. This clearly shows how much they are deceived who are afraid of being lessened in the esteem of their superior by an humble confession of their faults. For what renders us more pleasing and considerable in God’s sight, cannot do us any prejudice with _ those who are his ministers and who regulate themselves by his example..

From whence I may draw the following consequence, which deserves to be taken notice of, and which is but too true, namely, that when we show ourselves dark and reserved, and give not any account of conscience to our superior, it is a sign we have no mind to correct ourselves nor to cast off our bad habits. For do you not perceive very well, that if you had a sincere sorrow for your faults, and had made a firm resolution to be more faithful to your duties hereafter, you would do yourself no prejudice in the opinion of your superior by opening yourself unto him, _ because the declaration you shall make of your faults will be accompanied with such true repentance as will give him a very good opinion of you? It is not, therefore, the rendering ap account of conscience to our superiors, but rather the withholding from them the knowledge they would thereby have had of us, that lessens us in their esteem; because, by the last they perceive that we think not at all of correcting or amending our faults.

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