1. It is absolutely true that in matters of conscience obedience to a
spiritual director is obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
ministers on earth: "He that heareth you, heareth Me." (St. Luke, x, 16.)
2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience can not be lost: a soul
devoid of this spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)
3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for the devil to tempt those who
ignore obedience and permit themselves to be guided by their own light
and deterred by their fears, for they act the devil's part towards
themselves.
4. Do not fear that your director may be mistaken in what he prescribes
for your guidance, or that he does not fully understand the state of your
conscience because you did not explain it clearly enough to him. Such
doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed and thus frustrate the
designs of God in placing you under the direction of a prudent guide. It
was the priest's duty to have questioned you further had he not fully
understood you, and that he did not do so is a positive proof that he
knew enough to enable him to pronounce a safe judgment. God has promised
his special help to those who represent Him in the direction of souls. Is
not this assurance enough to induce you to obey with promptness and
simplicity as the Holy Scripture commands?
5. God does not show the state of our souls as clearly to us as he does
to him who is to guide us in his place. You should be quite satisfied,
then, if your director tells you the course you follow is the right one
and that the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father are guiding you in
it. You should believe and obey him in this as in all else, for as St.
John of the Cross tells us, "it betrays pride and lack of faith not to
put entire confidence in what our confessor says."
6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore,
therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk
confidently in this path exempt from danger. "You sometimes fear," says
St. Bonaventure, "that in obeying you act against the dictates of your
conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
really increase your merit before God."
7. We should allow obedience to regulate not only our exterior actions
but likewise our mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied with
performing the works it prescribes, but let your thoughts and desires be
also moulded according to its direction. In fact, it is in this interior
submission that the merit of spiritual obedience essentially consists.
8. Obedience should be simple and prompt, without reservation or
disquietude. Simple, because you ought not to argue about it, but decide
by the one thought: _I must obey_; prompt, for it is God whom you obey;
without reservation, because obedience extends to everything that does
not violate God's law; without disquietude, because in obeying God you
cannot go astray: this thought should be sufficient to drive away all
fear of doing or of having done wrong.
9. When choosing a director, be careful to select one who has the
necessary qualifications. He should be not only virtuous, but prudent,
charitable and learned. St. Francis de Sales gives the following opinion
on the subject:
"Go," said Tobias to his son, when about to send him into a strange
country, 'go seek some wise man to conduct you.' I say the same to you,
Philothea. If you sincerely desire to enter upon the way of devotion,
seek a good guide to direct you therein. This advice is of the utmost
importance and necessity. Whatever one may do, says the devout Avila, he
can never be certain of fulfilling God's will, unless he practice that
humble obedience which the saints so strongly recommend and to which they
so faithfully adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: 'A faithful friend is a
strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure: ... a
faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that
fear the Lord shall find one.' (Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.)
But who can find such a friend? They that fear God, the Wise Man
answers--that is to say, those humble souls who ardently desire their
spiritual progress. Since it is so essential, then, Philothea, to have a
skilful guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to give you one
according to His Heart, and rest assured that when an angel is necessary
to you as to the young Tobias, He will give you a wise and faithful
director.
In fact, the selection once made, you should look upon your spiritual
guide more as a guardian angel than as a mere man. You place your
confidence not in him but in God, for it is God who will lead and
instruct you through his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
sentiments and words necessary for your guidance. Thus you may safely
listen to him as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you there. To this
confidence, add perfect candor. Speak quite frankly and tell him
unreservedly all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the good will
thus be strengthened, the evil weakened, and your soul shall thereby
become firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in its consolations.
Great respect should also be united with confidence and in such nice
proportion that the one shall not lessen the other: let your confidence
in him be such as a respectful daughter reposes in her father, your
respect for him such as that with which a son confides in his mother. In
a word, this friendship, though strong and tender, should be altogether
sacred and spiritual in its nature.
'Choose one among a thousand,' says Avila: "among ten thousand, rather, I
should say, for there are fewer than one would suppose fitted for this
office of spiritual director. Charity, learning and prudence are
indispensable to it, and if any one of these qualities be absent, your
choice will not be unattended with danger. I repeat, ask God to inspire
your selection and when you have made it thank Him sincerely, and then
remain constant to your decision. If you go to God in all simplicity and
with humility and confidence, you will undoubtedly obtain a favorable
answer to your petition."
In conclusion, it may be well to remind you that the director and the
confessor have not necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis de
Sales was the spiritual director of many persons to whom he was not the
ordinary confessor. "To a director," he says, "we should reveal our
entire soul, whereas to a confessor we simply accuse ourselves of our
sins in order to receive absolution for them."
II.
TEMPTATIONS.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye shall fall into divers
temptations. (Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.)
Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin,
which dwelleth in me. (St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.)
1. "If we are tempted," says the Holy Spirit, "it is a sign that God
loves us." Those whom God best loves have been most exposed to
temptations. "Because thou wast acceptable to God," said the angel to
Tobias, "it was necessary that temptation should prove thee." (Tobias, c.
xii, v. 13.)
2. Do not ask God to deliver you from temptations, but to grant you the
grace not to succumb to them and to do nothing contrary to His divine
will. He who refuses the combat, renounces the crown. Place all your
trust in God and God will Himself do battle for you against the enemy.[1]
3. "These persistent temptations come from the malice of the devil," says
St. Francis de Sales, "but the trouble and suffering they cause us come
from the mercy of God. Thus, despite the will of the tempter, God
converts his evil machinations into a distress which we may make
meritorious. Therefore I say your temptations are from the devil and
hell, but your anxiety and affliction are from God and heaven." Despise
temptation, then, and open wide your soul to this suffering which God
sends in order to purify you here that He may reward you hereafter.
4. "Let the wind blow," remarks the same Saint, "and do not mistake the
rustling of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly convinced that
all the temptations of hell are powerless to defile a soul that does not
love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations, yet God, through love,
did not deliver him from them." Look upon God as an infinitely good and
tender father and believe that He only allows the devil to try His
children that their merits may increase and their recompense be
correspondingly greater.
5. The more persistent the temptation, the clearer it is that you have
not given consent to it. "It is a good sign," says St. Francis de Sales,
"when the tempter makes so much noise and commotion outside of the will,
for it shows that he is not within." An enemy does not besiege a fortress
that is already in his power, and the more obstinate the attack, the more
certain We may be that our resistance continues.
6. Your fears lead you to believe you are defeated at the very moment you
are gaining the victory. This comes from the fact that you confound
feeling with consent, and, mistaking a passive condition of the
imagination for an act of the will, you consider that you have yielded to
the temptation because you felt it keenly.
*St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity, thus describes this
warring of the flesh against the spirit:
"You are right, my dear daughter. There are two women within you ... and
the two children of these different mothers quarrel, and the
good-for-nothing one is so bad that sometimes the good one can scarcely
defend herself, and then she takes it into her head that she has been
worsted and that the wicked one is braver than she. Now, surely, this is
not true. The bad one is not the stronger by any means, but only slyer,
more persistent and more obstinate. When she succeeds in making you weep
she is delighted, because that is always just so much time lost, and she
is content to make you lose time when she cannot make you lose
eternity."*[2]
It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. St. Jerome had
retired into the desert and still his fancy represented to him the dances
of the Roman ladies. His body was benumbed, as it were, and his blood
chilled by the severity of his mortifications, and yet the flames of
concupiscence encompassed and tortured his heart. During these frightful
conflicts the holy anchorite suffered, but he did not sin; he was
tormented but was not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were augmented
in the sight of God in proportion to the intensity of the temptations.
7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont to say to the phantoms of his
mind: I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does not
depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I would
wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I repulse and
reject you. "It is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary," says St.
Augustine, "that if not voluntary, it is not sin."
8. The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the
imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been
carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is not
the case. The will suffered, but did not consent; it was attacked and
wounded, but not conquered. This state of things coincides with what St.
Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the spirit and of their
unceasing warfare. The soul, indeed, experiences strange sensations, but
as she does not consent to them, she passes through the ordeal unsullied,
just as substances coated with oil may be immersed in water without
absorbing a single drop of it.
*St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction so plainly and yet so
simply in one of his letters, that it may be useful to repeat the passage
here: "Courage, my dear soul, I say it with great love in Jesus Christ,
dear soul, courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely, even though
without feeling, My Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not tell me it
appears to you that you say it in a cowardly way, and only by doing great
violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy violence that bears away
the kingdom of heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is a sign that the
enemy has taken everything within our fortress except the impenetrable,
unconquerable tower--and that can never be lost save by wilful surrender.
This tower is the free-will which, perfectly visible to the eye of God,
occupies the highest and most spiritual region of the soul, dependent on
none but God and oneself; and when all the other faculties are lost and
in subjection to the enemy, it alone remains free to give or to refuse
consent. Now, you often see souls afflicted because the enemy, occupying
all the other faculties, makes therein so great a noise and confusion
that they scarce can hear what this superior will says; for though it has
a clearer and more penetrating voice than the inferior will, the loud,
boisterous cries of the latter almost drown it: but note this well: as
long as the temptation is displeasing to you, there is nothing to fear;
for why should it displease you, except because you do not will it?"*
9. Should it frequently happen that you have not a distinct consciousness
of your success against temptation, it may be that God refuses you this
satisfaction in order that, lacking this clear assurance, your knowledge
may come through obedience. Therefore, when your spiritual director,
after hearing your explanation, says that you have not given consent, you
should be satisfied with his decision and abide by it with perfect
tranquillity, discarding all fear that he did not understand you aright
or that you did not explain the matter sufficiently. These doubts are but
fresh artifices of the devil to rob you of the merit of obedience. As has
been said above, to give way to such inquietude is to offend seriously
against this virtue, for all direction would thus be rendered impossible,
by the failure of the penitent to recognize God Himself in the person of
his director.
10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions must co-exist. First, the
matter must be weighty; secondly, the mind must have full knowledge of
the guilt of the action, omission or dangerous occasion in question; and,
thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference for the forbidden
action, culpable omission, or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
consent. These reflections should serve to reassure your mind if the fear
of having committed a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very difficult for
this threefold union of conditions to be effected in a God-fearing soul.
However, perfect security can come, and ought to come, only from
spiritual obedience.
11. In temptations against faith and purity, do not make great efforts to
form acts of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading glance towards
God, without speaking even to this compassionate Friend concerning the
thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root the evil suggestion more
firmly. Then, without disquieting yourself, engage at once in some
exterior occupation or continue what you were doing. Make no answer to
the tempter, but ignore him, just as though his assault had never
occurred. In this way, whilst preserving your own peace of soul, you will
cover your enemy with confusion.
*The same counsel is given by St. Francis de Sales in his characteristic
style:
"Do you know how God acts on these occasions? He permits the wicked maker
of such wares to come and offer them to us for sale, in order that by the
contempt we show for them we may testify our love for holy things. And
for this is it necessary, my dear child, to feel anxious, and to change
our position? No, no. It is only the devil who is prowling around your
soul, raging and storming, to see if he can find an open door.... What!
and you would be annoyed at that? Let the enemy storm away; only be
careful on your part to keep all the entrances well fastened, and finally
he will grow weary; or if he do not, God will force him to raise the
siege."*
12. Though you should be assailed by temptations during your entire life
time, do not be disquieted, for your merits will increase in proportion
to your trials and your crown be accordingly all the brighter in heaven.
The only thing necessary is to remain firm in your resolution to despise
the efforts of the tempter.
*"This serious trial, and so many others that have assailed you and left
you troubled in mind, do not at all surprise me, since there is nothing
worse. Do not worry, then, my beloved daughter. Should we allow ourselves
to be swept away by the current and the storm? Let Satan rage at the
door; he may knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and do his worst, but
rest assured that he can never enter our souls but through the door of
our consent. Let us only keep that closed tight and often look to see
that it is well secured and we need have no concern about all the
rest--there is no danger."*--St. Francis de Sales.
13. The most learned theologians and masters of the spiritual life agree
in saying that simply to ignore a temptation is a much more effectual
means to repulse it than words and acts of the contrary virtues. On this
subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV. of the _Introduction to a
Devout Life_. You will find much light and consolation in them. See also
Chapter XII. of the _Spiritual Combat_, and Chapters VI., VII., XII.,
XX., XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book of the _Imitation_.
III.
PRAYER.
Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God? I will suggest a
help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast praised God. (S.
Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)
Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider heavenly
things; and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt me as I
pray. (Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)
1. We ought to love meditation and should make it often on the Passion of
our divine Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom fruits of
humility, patience and charity.
2. If you experience great dryness in your meditations or other prayers,
do not feel distressed and conclude that God has turned His Face away
from you. Far from it. Prayer said with aridity is usually the most
meritorious. *It is quite a common error to confound the value of prayer
with its sensible results, and the merit acquired with the satisfaction
experienced. The facility and sweetness you may have in prayer are favors
from God and for which you will have to account to him: hence the result
is not merit but debt. (Read the _Imitation_, B. II, c. IX.)* The very
fact that we derive less gratification from such prayer, makes it all the
more pleasing to God, because we are thus suffering for love of him. Let
us call to mind at such times that our Lord prayed without consolation
throughout his bitter agony.
*"All this trouble comes from self-love and from the good opinion we have
of ourselves. If our hearts do not melt with tenderness, if we have no
relish or sensible feeling in prayer, if we do not enjoy great interior
sweetness during meditation, we are at once overwhelmed with sadness: if
we find difficulty in doing good, if some obstacle is opposed to our
pious designs, we give way to disquietude and are eager to conquer all
this and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly because we love
consolations, our own comfort, our own convenience. We wish to pray
immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous that we may eat sugar; and we
do not contemplate _our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, prone upon the ground,
is covered with a sweat of blood_ caused by the intense conflict He feels
interiorly between the repugnances of the inferior portion of his soul
and the resolutions of the superior."*--St. Francis de Sales.
*The same teaching is given by another great master of the spiritual
life:
"We frequently seek the gratification and consolation of self-love in the
testimony we desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are disturbed about
our lack of sensible fervor, whereas in reality we never pray so well as
when we are tempted to think we are not praying at all. We fear to pray
badly then, but we should fear rather to give way to the vexation of our
cowardly nature, to a philosophical infidelity, which ever wishes to
demonstrate to itself its own operations--in fine, to an impatient desire
to see and to feel in order to console ourselves.
There is no penance more bitter than this state of pure faith without
sensible support. Hence I conclude that it is freer than any other from
illusion. Strange temptation! to seek impatiently for sensible
consolation through fear of not being sufficiently penitent! Ah! Why not
rather accept as a penance the deprivation of that consolation we are so
tempted to seek?"*--Fénelon.
3. You will sometimes imagine that at prayer your soul is not in the
presence of God and that only your body is in the church, like the
statues and candelabras that adorn the altars. Think, then, that you
share with those inanimate objects the honor of serving as ornaments for
the house of God, and that in the presence of your Creator even this
humble rôle should seem glorious to you.
*"You tell me that you cannot pray well. But what better prayer could
there be than to represent to God again and again, as you are doing, your
nothingness and misery? The most touching appeal beggars can make is
merely to expose to us their deformities and necessities. But there are
times when you cannot even do this much, you say, and that you remain
there like a statue. Well, even that is better than nothing. Kings and
princes have statues in their palaces for no other purpose than that they
may take pleasure in looking at them: be satisfied then to fulfil the
same office in the presence of God, and when it so pleases Him He will
animate the statue."*--St. Francis de Sales.
4. When you have not consciously or voluntarily yielded to distractions,
do not stop to find what may have been their cause, or to discover if you
have in any way given occasion to them. This would be simply to weary and
disquiet yourself unprofitably. From whatever direction they come, you
can convert them into a source of merit by casting yourself into the arms
of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis de Sales when asked how he prayed,
replied: "I cannot say it too often--I receive peacefully whatever the
Lord sends me. If he consoles me, I kiss the right hand of his mercy; if
I am dry and distracted, I kiss the left hand of his justice." This
method is the only good one, for as the same Saint says: "He who truly
loves prayer, loves it for the love of God: and he who loves it for the
love of God, wishes to experience in it naught but what God is pleased to
send him." Now, whatever you may experience in prayer, is precisely what
God wills.
5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that merely to keep ourselves
peacefully and tranquilly in the presence of God, without other desire or
pretension than to be near him and to please him, is of itself an
excellent prayer. "Do not exhaust yourself," he says, "in making efforts
to speak to your dear Master, for you are speaking to Him by the sole
fact that you remain there and contemplate Him."
*"Remember that the graces and favors of prayer do not come from earth
but from heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can acquire them,
although, it is true, we must dispose ourselves for their reception
diligently, yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to keep our hearts
wide open and await the blessed dew from heaven. The following
consideration should never be forgotten when we go to prayer, namely,
that we draw near to God and place ourselves in His presence principally
for two reasons. The first is to render to God the honor and the homage
we owe Him, and this can be done without God speaking to us or we to Him,
for the duty is fulfilled by acknowledging that He is our Creator and we
are His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him, prostrate in spirit,
awaiting His commands. The second reason is to speak to God and to listen
to Him when He speaks to us by His inspirations and the interior
movements of grace.... Now, one or other of these two advantages can
never fail to be derived from prayer. If, then, we can speak to our Lord,
let us do so in praise and supplication: if we are unable to speak, let
us remain in his presence notwithstanding, offering him our silent
homage; he will see us there, our patience will touch him and our silence
will plead with him and win his favor. Another time, to our utter
astonishment, he will take us by the hand, and converse with us, and make
a hundred turns with us in his garden of prayer. And even should he never
do this, still let us be content to know it is our duty to be in his
retinue, and that it is a great favor and a greater honor for us that he
suffers us in his presence.
In this way we do not force ourselves to speak to God, for we know that
merely to remain close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps more useful to
us, though it may be less to our liking. Therefore when you draw near to
our Lord speak to him if you can; if you cannot, stay there, let him see
you, and do not be anxious about anything else.... Take courage, then,
tell your Saviour you will not leave him even should he never grant you
any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will remain before him until he
has given you his blessing."*--St. Francis de Sales.
6. The same Saint gives further valuable advice as follows: "Many persons
fail to make a distinction between the presence of God in their souls and
the consciousness of this adorable presence, between faith and the
sensible feeling of faith. This shows a great want of discernment. When
they do not realize God's presence dwelling within them, they suppose He
has withdrawn himself through some fault of theirs. This is an ignorant
and hurtful error. A man who endures martyrdom for love of God does not
think actually and exclusively of God but much of his own sufferings; and
yet the absence of this feeling of faith does not deprive him of the
great merit due to his faith and the resolutions it caused him to make
and to keep."
7. Your vocal prayers should be few in number but said with great fervor.
The strength derived from food does not depend upon the quantity taken
but upon its being well digested. Far better one Our Father or one Psalm
said with devout attention than entire rosaries and long offices recited
hurriedly and with restless eagerness.
8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers--those not of obligation--that
God invites you to meditate, gently and promptly follow this divine
impulse. You may be sure that in doing so you make an exchange most
profitable to yourself and agreeable to God from whom the inspiration
comes.
9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful recollection and begin it
without agitation or uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on
the subject: "Some little time before you are going to pray, calm and
compose your heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you begin
without hope and already devoid of relish, you will find it difficult to
regain an appetite.... The disquiet you experience in prayer, accompanied
by great eagerness to discover some object that can fix and satisfy your
thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent you finding what you seek.
When a thing is searched for with too great eagerness, one may have his
hands or his eyes almost upon it a hundred times and yet fail to perceive
it. This vain and useless anxiety in regard to prayer can result in
nothing but weariness of mind, and this in turn produces coldness and
apathy in your soul."
10. Be careful not to overburden yourself with too many prayers, either
mental or vocal. As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness or
distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible, and seek relief in some
pleasant pastime, or conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
This advice is given by St. Thomas and other learned Fathers of the
Church and is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously, for
lassitude of mind begets coldness and a kind of spiritual stupor.
11. Never repeat a prayer, even should you have said it with many
distractions. You cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties in which
you may become entangled by the habit of repeating your prayers.
Therefore I beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius' time there was a
certain religious of the Society of Jesus who was a victim of this kind
of scruple. The recital of the daily Office always kept him much longer
than was necessary because he would repeat again and again and for hours
at a time any passage that he suspected had not been said with sufficient
attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct him by various means, but in
vain. At length the thought occurred that one scruple might be cured by
another. He therefore commanded the poor Jesuit, under pain of sin and in
virtue of religious obedience, to close his breviary every day at the end
of a specified time, this being just enough to allow him to read the
Office through once and rather quickly. The first day the religious was
obliged to stop before he had half finished. This caused him such intense
regret that ere long the fear of not being able to say the entire Office
made him contract the habit of finishing it within the allotted time.*
Begin your prayer with the desire of being very recollected. This is all
that is necessary. "A desire has the same value in the sight of God as a
good work", says St. Gregory the Great, "when the accomplishment of it
does not depend upon our will." During these involuntary distractions God
withdraws the sensible feeling of His presence, but His love remains in
the depths of our hearts. St. Theresa, in the midst of dryness and
distractions, was wont to say: "If I am not praying I am at least doing
penance." I should say: you are doing both the one and the other: you do
penance by all that you are suffering, you pray by the desire and
intention you have to do so.
12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a point in your meditation even
if you have had in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and feelings
at variance with the words pronounced by your lips or with the sentiments
you wished to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced to do it, even
were these ideas and feelings injurious to God. Under such conditions, be
careful not to give way to anxiety and agitation and do not try to make
reparation for an imaginary offence. Continue your prayer in peace as if
nothing had disturbed it, not taking the trouble to notice these dogs
that come from the devil and that can bark around you while you pray in
order to distract you, if may be, but that cannot bite you unless you let
them. *"This temptation should be treated exactly the same as temptations
of the flesh: do not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the children
of Israel who made no attempt to break the bones of the paschal lamb but
cast them into the fire. You need not answer the enemy, nor even pretend
to hear what he says. Let the wretch clamor at the door as much as he
wants to, it is not even necessary to call: Who is there? What you tell
me is no doubt true, you say, but he annoys me and the uproar he makes
prevents those within from hearing one another speak. That makes no
difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself before God and remain at
his feet. He will understand from your very attitude, although you utter
no words, that you are his and that you crave his help. Above all,
however, keep yourself well within and do not on any account open the
door, either to see who it is, or to drive the importunate fellow away.
Eventually he will tire of shouting and will leave you in peace."*[3] St.
Augustine says that the devil is a formidable giant to those who fear
him, but only a miserable dwarf to those who despise him.
13. Should it happen that the whole time given to prayer be passed in
rejecting temptations or in recalling your mind from its wanderings, and
you do not succeed in giving birth to a single devout thought or
sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority for saying that your prayer
is nevertheless all the more meritorious from the fact of its being so
unsatisfactory to you. It makes you more like to our divine Lord when he
prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount Calvary. "Better to eat
bread without sugar, than sugar without bread. We should seek the God of
consolations, not the consolations of God: and in order to possess God in
heaven, we must now suffer with him and for him."
*"When your mind wanders or gives way to distractions, gently recall it
and place it once more close to its Divine Master. If you should do
nothing else but repeat this during the whole time of prayer, your hour
would be very well spent and you would perform a spiritual exercise most
acceptable to God."*--St. Francis de Sales.
14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding us to pray always our
Saviour did not mean actual prayer, as that would be an impossibility.
The desire to glorify God by all our actions suffices for the rigorous
fulfilment of this precept, if this desire be habitual and permanent.
"You pray often," says St. Augustine, "if you often have a desire to pay
homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have this
desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed."
*"Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the whole
Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts towards
that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only happiness
consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in itself a prayer;
consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray always. Do not
think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and to struggle much
with one's self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God that his will may
be done, to form some good desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for
the riches he promises us, to sigh over our miseries and the danger we
are in of displeasing him by violating His holy law. Now this requires
neither science nor method nor reasoning; one can pray without any
distinct thought; no head-work is necessary; only a moment of time and a
loving effusion of the heart are needed; and even this moment may be
simultaneously occupied with something else, for so great is God's
condescension to our weakness that he permits us to divide it when
necessary between him and creatures. Yes, during this moment you can
continue what you were doing: it is sufficient to offer to God your most
ordinary occupations, or to perform them with the general intention of
glorifying him. This is the continual prayer required by St. Paul ...
thought by many devout persons to be impracticable, but in reality very
easy for those who know that the best of all prayers is to do everything
with a pure intention, and frequently to renew the desire to perform all
our actions for God and in accordance with his divine will."--Fénelon.*
15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in
order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a substitute
for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for
obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those
who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work
for the love of God, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul
to Him by actual prayer.
*"Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular
calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to
life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves damnation if
he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of
their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify
whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost
even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life."--St.
Francis de Sales.*
16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _ejaculations_,--which are
short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations can in case of necessity
replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for
the omission of ejaculations.
*"Acquire the habit of making frequent ejaculations. They are sighs of
love that dart upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor. It will
greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your
morning's meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the
day. In sickness let pious ejaculations take the place of all other
prayers."--St. Francis de Sales.*
17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or
whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic
pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time
to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. Ejaculations have a like
effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.
18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long
prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them,
and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed
continually.
19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the
profitable and easy practice of making frequent ejaculations. It is far
preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too
numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and
enlighten the soul.
20. St. Theresa's opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable
position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay
the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of God. Do not then
fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the
important thing is that the soul should humble itself before God in
sentiments of respect, confidence and love.
Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.
IV.
PENANCE.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)
I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing
penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds--either corporal or
spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing
penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful
mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving,
can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment
of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in
accordance with the spirit of the laws of God and of his Church, which
prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the
accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.
2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in
prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works,
such, too, as are the more agreeable to God from their being so
distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great
classes, active and passive. The characteristic of the active virtues is
to do good, of the passive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second
class are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues
nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or
satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is
less to be feared in the practice of the passive virtues, especially when
the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the
hand of God.
3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from
the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in
order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable
to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this
snare.
4. "I charge you," says St. Francis de Sales, "to preserve your health
carefully, for God exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as
to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the
requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can
always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
regain it." Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain
its strength and health.
5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference
held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of
Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful,
as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of
this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and
mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill
health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection,
judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound
with fetters.
6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look
upon as a good rule in this matter: "The body is a poor invalid confided
to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such
assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual
ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful
remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and
prudence." He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his
Creator.
7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain
maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small
consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in
order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to
secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is
not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily
any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. "To
kill one's self with a single blow," says St. Jerome, "or to kill one's
self little by little--I make but slight distinction between these two
crimes." Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us
in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged
to us absolutely.
8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances
deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts
that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as
holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. "If
we had to copy the saints in everything they did," says St. Frances de
Chantal, "it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like
St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to
live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like
St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as
St. Aloysius did." Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is
extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.
*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome
with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.
Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius,
Father Rozaven said: "Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not
because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the
contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and
permissible for him to do them." In truth every act that exceeds human
strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special
inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this
divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general
rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who
suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and
Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which
forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in
sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who
might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such
contradictory words.--Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to
a Devout Life_.*
V.
CONFESSION.
I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and
thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.)
But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)
Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall
retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)
1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore
approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures
us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour
is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for
exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those
who confess more frequently.
2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or
because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by
the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: "You
must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for
confession, for it is incredible that any one who often examines her
conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are
important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every
minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these
to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you
remark them." And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of
secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an
artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind.
*"You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your
superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you
and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must
learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for
ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That
your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one
time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and
presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar
insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone and
will be subject to as long as we live.... It is needless to accuse
yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm
around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of
your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they
are only inconveniences, annoyances."--St. Francis de Sales.*
3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the
less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover,
you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the
fervor of the heart.
4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse
involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a
strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always
uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have
given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it except
it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but
to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circumstances. For if
you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two
days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not
your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed
some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this
doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in
confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it,
as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this
silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to
which you can apply no remedy."
5. "Omit from your confessions"--we again quote the same Saint--"those
superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit:
I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor;
I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the
Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like
nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking
thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor
the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as
well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they
making a confession."
6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what
the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to confess our
venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct
them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them."
7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard--this
is a point of cardinal importance--against giving access to any fear
about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of
conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are
suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into a
sacrament of consolation and love.
*"After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we
have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace
near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for
His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we
may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after
that we need think no more about it."--St. Francis de Sales.*
8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins--it is not essential to be
troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is
an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere
repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become
yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for
success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we fall
again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and
the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to
Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of
sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long
continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our
trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation.
*God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and
without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for
instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was
changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never
again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of
the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of their evil
inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for
their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call,
was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably
by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.
"Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has
suddenly become mistress.[4] A soul that after a long slavery to its
passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great
danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be
gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of
labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every
one, but first of all with yourself."--St. Francis de Sales.*
*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the
persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains
united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend
him--and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is
to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects
if it is God's will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them
relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God than if the practice of
virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual
gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on
with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for
when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be
accompanied by vexation and impatience.
"Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales,
"nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love
nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes
forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it
that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised
at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is
because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute
and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have
tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled;
whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at
seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect."
"We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God
requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with
perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be
worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!--there is a
rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we
will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by
calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and
by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy
and sloth."*
9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our
past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears,
sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition
can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices
for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness
and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be
disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.
10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for
these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression
of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to God
that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the
assistance of His grace you will never offend Him more--that is
contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a
calm.
11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of a
moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and
another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of
obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most
contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a
single word: _Peccavi_--I have sinned, and by that one word he was
justified.
*"You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer
that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is
needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and
of sorrow for having offended Him."--St. Francis de Sales.*
12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in
feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: "The ability to wish is a
great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact
that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but
neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the
fire exists." The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from
self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in our
sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of good.
13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is in
order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice to
reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore with
humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward. The
greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition nor
love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their will
followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.
14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions are
defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very
essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are the
offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for certain
venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,--these
should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at the very root
and not allow ourselves any respite until they are utterly exterminated.
But those relapses that proceed from inadvertence, from surprise
notwithstanding constant vigilance, from the infirmity and frailty of our
nature, to these we shall remain partially subject until our last breath.
"It will be doing very well," says Saint Francis de Sales, "if we get
free of certain faults a quarter of an hour before our death." And
elsewhere: "We are obliged not only to bear with the failings of our
neighbor, but likewise with our own and to be patient at the sight of our
imperfections." We must try to correct ourselves, but we should do it
tranquilly and without anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper
time.
*"You complain that you still have many faults and failings
notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I
assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst
we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we carry
something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to have
patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the numerous
bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to our
spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere: look only
at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of goodness, nor
yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the object of God's
goodness and mercy."--St. Francis de Sales. (After the examination of
conscience read the _Following of Christ_, B. III., Chap. XX.)*
*Fénelon speaks in the same tone: "You should never be surprised or
discouraged at your faults. You must bear with them patiently yet without
flattering yourself or sparing correction. Treat yourself as you would
another. As soon as you find you have committed a fault make an interior
act of self-condemnation, turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell
your fault with simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well
as though it were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to
make a fresh start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus than this humble and patient courage. We should not be
cast down if we have many temptations and even commit numerous faults.
'Virtue,' says the Apostle, 'is made perfect in infirmity.'[5] Spiritual
progress is effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual
consolations, than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse
to God."*
15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all the
sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most remorse.
Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or charity, or
temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there being lack of
sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.
16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in either
your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained their
circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets forth the
following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter of the will
of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in confession, and not
material integrity. The former consists in the confession of all the sins
we can remember after a sufficient examination, the duration of which
should be regulated by the actual state of the conscience. Material
integrity would require a rigorously complete accusation of all the sins
we have committed with their number and circumstances, without the
slightest omission. Now sacramental integrity may be reasonably exacted
since it exceeds no one's ability; whilst material integrity, on the
contrary, could not be exacted without the sacrament becoming an
impossibility; for, no matter how carefully we make our examination of
conscience, some sin, or some detail in regard to number or circumstance,
will always escape us. In a word, all that the Church demands of the
faithful is a sincere and humble avowal of every sin that can be brought
to mind after a suitable examen: for the rest, she intends good will to
supply for any defect of memory.
*Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in order
to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you often
fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again without
perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said that the
just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but simply that he
falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again without noticing
particularly that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety about this, but
frankly and humbly confess whatever you remember, and commit the rest to
the tender mercies of him who puts his hand under those who fall without
malice that they may not be bruised, and raises them up again so gently
and swiftly that they scarcely realize they had fallen.--St. Francis de
Sales.*
17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly satisfied
all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore banish whatever
doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are nothing but
temptations.
18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements owing
to not having been particular enough about your examination of
conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent
interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your part.
And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact that he
understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state of your
soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.
19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish continually
to make their general confessions over again, either through fear of
incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and how blameworthy the
weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no opposition to their
doing so! If such fears were to be listened to, every one would be
obliged to pass his entire life in making and repeating general
confessions, for they would incessantly spring up afresh and even the
greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A sacrament of consolation
and love would thus be transformed into a perfect torture for the
soul--an heretical perversion anathematized by the Council of Trent.
*"I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere,
good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more thoroughly
satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I speak very
plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought to have been
told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in which case,
if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the time, you would
undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But if it were only a
venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness or some
defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my soul's peril, I assure you
there is no obligation to repeat your confession. It will be quite
sufficient to mention the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will
answer for this."--St. Francis de Sales.*
20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that when
a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright intention
and with a desire to change one's life, the penitent should remain in
peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any pretext
whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory things that
should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of their soul by a
too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so well
expresses it: _the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise_.
21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of the
saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes excessive.
VI.
HOLY COMMUNION.
Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
shall not have life in you. (St. John, c. vi., v. 54.)
And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make
excuse. (St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.)
And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way. (St.
Mark, c. viii., v. 3.)