Our Blessed Father used to say that, generally speaking, grace worked as
nature, and not as art, does. Art only reproduces what appears outwardly as
in painting and sculpture, but nature begins her work from within, so that
in a living creature the internal organs are formed before the skin, whence
the saying that the heart is the first living part of man.
When, therefore, he wished to lead souls on from a worldly to a devout
life, he did not at first suggest changes in the exterior, in the dressing
of the hair, in the fashion of garments, and so on. No, he spoke only to
the heart, and of the heart, knowing that when once that stronghold is
gained, nothing else can resist.
"When a house is on fire, said he, see how all the furniture is thrown out
of the window! So is it when the heart is possessed by true love of God,
all that is not of God seems then to it of no moment at all. _If a man_,
says the Canticle of Canticles _give all his riches for love he will think
that he has done nothing_."[1]
I will give you a trifling illustration of this teaching which may be
useful to you. A lady of high rank, having placed herself under the
direction of the holy Prelate, became more and more assiduous in attending
the services of the Church, spending much time in prayer and meditation,
and, in what leisure was left her from her household cares, visiting the
sick and poor. Her friends and acquaintances, however, observed with
surprise that she made no change at all in external matters, that her
dress was as rich as ever, and that she laid aside none of her magnificent
ornaments.
This so scandalized them that they began to murmur openly, not only against
her, but also against her director. They even went so far as to accuse her
of hypocrisy, forgetting that a hypocrite always tries to appear better in
the eyes of others than he really is, whereas she, in spite of interior
amendment, remained quite unchanged in her exterior.
The truth was that she did not in the least care for her ornaments, but as
it was her husband's will that she should dress as before, she followed
the example of Esther, who, though she detested all vain pomp and show, to
please Assuerus, decked herself out with magnificence.
On one occasion some busybody told our Blessed Father that this lady,
devout though she was, had not even given up wearing ear-rings, and
expressed great surprise that he who was so good a confessor had not
advised her to have done with the like vanities. To all this Francis
replied with his accustomed gentleness, and with a touch of humour: "I
assure you, I do not know that she has got ears, much less ear-rings in
them. She always comes to confession with her head so completely enveloped
in a great hood or scarf that I cannot see so much as its shape. Then, too,
let us remember that the saintly Rebecca of old, who was quite as virtuous
as this lady, lost nothing of her sanctity by wearing the ear-rings which
Eleazer presented to her as the gift of his master Isaac!"
Thus did our Blessed Father deal with matters which are a stumbling-block
to the weak and foolish, showing how true it is that all things work
together for good to those who are good, and that to the pure all things
are pure.
[Footnote 1: Cant. viii. 7.]