1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious of all means to unite us to
God. "He that eateth my flesh," said our divine Saviour, "abideth in Me
and I in him."[6]
2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist _the love of loves_. Hence you
should desire to receive it frequently in order to be filled with this
divine love.
3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two classes of persons who should
often receive holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves more
closely to the Source of all perfection, and the imperfect to labor to
attain perfection; the strong that they may not become weak, the weak
that they may become strong; the sick that they may be cured, and those
in health that they may be preserved from sickness. You tell me that your
imperfections, your weakness, your littleness make you unworthy to
receive communion frequently; and I assure you it is precisely because of
these that you ought to receive it frequently in order that He who
possesses all things may give you whatever is wanting to you.
*The following words on this subject will not perhaps be considered by
others as giving much additional value to the authority of the saintly
Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however, in ours, because they are from the
lips of a holy religious whose memory will always be dear to us----from a
man whose last moments were the occasion of the greatest edification it
has ever pleased God to accord us. The Rev. Father Margottet, a Jesuit,
died at Nice, April 1st, 1835, shortly after his return from Portugal
where he had suffered a most cruel captivity with the courage that faith
alone can inspire. During the last months of his life he took great
pleasure in conversing with a certain young man who visited him regularly
to be instructed and edified by his pious discourse. One day this young
man confided to him the confusion he felt in availing himself of his
director's permission to receive holy Communion several times a week.
This was due especially to the thought that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice
of the Society of Jesus, went to Communion on Sundays only. "Come, come,
my dear sir," laughingly replied the good Father, "continue your frequent
Communions--you need them much more than St. Aloysius did." It is indeed
an error to consider holy Communion a reward of virtue, and, in a
measure, a guage of perfection, whereas it is above all a means to attain
perfection, and the one pre-existing virtue required in order to employ
this means is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord did not say:
_Venite ad me qui perfecti estis_--_Come to Me all ye who are perfect_:
He said: _Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati estis_[7]--_Come to me
all ye who labor and are burdened_. (Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part
II., of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_; and Chapters X. and XVI.
Book IV. of _The Imitation_.)
The spirit of the Church has at all times been the same in regard to this
important subject. Fénelon says in his letter on frequent Communion that
St. Chrysostom admits of no medium between the state of those who are in
mortal sin and that of the faithful who are in a state of grace and
communicate every day. In vain certain Christians, believing themselves
purified and just, do no penance as sinners and nevertheless abstain from
Communion, because, they say, they are not perfect enough to receive it.
This intermediate state is not only most dangerous for one who wilfully
remains in it, but is also injurious to the Blessed Sacrament. Far from
doing honor to the Holy Eucharist by depriving ourselves of it, we offend
our divine Lord when we decline to partake of the Banquet to which He
invites us. In a word, according to this early Father of the Church, we
ought either to communicate with those who are in a state of grace, or to
do penance that we may be united to them as soon as possible.
We will quote the Saint's own words: "Many of the faithful are weak and
languishing, many among them sleep. And how, you say, does this happen
since we receive the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That is precisely
the cause of all the trouble! For you imagine that merit consists not so
much in purity of conscience as in the length of time intervening between
your Communions. You consider no higher mark of respect and honor can be
paid to this Sacrament than not to approach the Holy Table often....
Temerity does not consist in approaching the Altar frequently, but in
approaching it unworthily were this but once in an entire life time....
Why then regulate the number of Communions by the law of time, instead of
by purity of conscience, which should alone indicate how many times to
receive? This divine Mystery is nothing more at Easter than at all other
seasons during which it is celebrated continually. It is ever the same,
that is to say, ever the same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter continues
throughout the year. You who are initiated will understand perfectly what
I say. Be it Saturday, or Sunday, or the feasts of the martyrs, it is
always the same Victim, the same Sacrifice." "It was not the will of our
divine Lord that His Sacrifice should be restricted by the observance of
time."
Other Fathers of the Church speak in the same way of Holy Communion:
"If it is daily bread," says Saint Ambrose, "why do you partake of it but
once a year?... Receive it every day in order that every day you may
benefit by it. Live in such a manner that you may deserve to receive it
every day, for he who does not deserve to receive it every day will not
deserve to receive it at the end of the year.... Do you not know that
every time the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death, resurrection and
ascension of our Lord are renewed to the atonement of sin? And yet you
will not partake daily of this Bread of Life! When one has received a
wound does he not seek a remedy? Sin which holds us captive is our wound:
our remedy is in this ever adorable Sacrament."
In order that it may be plainly proved that the faithful of the present
day have no reason to act differently in this respect from those of the
primitive Church, let us see how this ancient discipline has been
confirmed in later times by the Council of Trent:
"Christians should believe in this Sacrament and reverence it with such a
firm faith, with so much fervor and piety, that they may often receive
this Super-substantial Bread; that it may be, in truth, the life of their
soul and the perpetual health of their spirit, and that the strength they
derive therefrom may enable them to pass from the temptations of this
earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly fatherland.... The
Council would have the faithful receive Communion each time they assist
at Mass, not only spiritually, but sacramentally, that they may derive
more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice."*
4. The evening before your Communion devote some little time to
recollection in order to ponder the inestimable gift that God is about to
bestow upon you, and endeavor also to excite in your soul the desire and
the hope of finding therein your delight.
5. Do not conclude that you derive no benefit from Holy Communion because
you find no perceptible increase in your virtues. Consider that it at
least serves to keep you in a state of grace. You give nourishment to
your body every day but you do not pretend to say that it daily gains in
strength. Does food appear useless to you on that account? Certainly not;
for, though it fail to augment strength, it preserves it by repairing the
constant waste. Now, this is precisely the case with the divine Food of
our souls.
*Observe, moreover, that there is no real increase in virtue without a
corresponding growth in humility. Consequently the more virtuous you are
the less so you will esteem yourself; the worthier you are to approach
your God, the more profoundly will you feel your unworthiness. For man,
no matter to what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be otherwise than
weak and sinful here below, and he realizes his baseness more and more
distinctly in proportion to his advancement in grace and in light.
Fénelon speaks as follows on the same subject: "Hitherto you lacked the
light to discover in your soul many movements of our malicious and
depraved nature, which now begin to reveal themselves to you. In
proportion as light increases we find ourselves more corrupt than we
supposed: but we should be neither surprised nor discouraged, for it is
not that we are in reality worse than we were,--on the contrary we are
better,--but because whilst our sinfulness decreases the light which
shows it to us increases."*
6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared for Holy Communion and abuse the
Sacrament because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent, and devoid
of feeling. This is a trial sent or permitted by God to test your faith
and to advance you in merit. All that has been said in regard to dryness
in prayer might be repeated here. Try to have an abiding desire to feel
for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent transports of love as were ever
experienced by the saints. A desire is equivalent before God to the thing
desired, as I have already quoted for you from Saint Gregory the Great;
therefore you should be satisfied with this when you can attain nothing
higher. Everything over and above this is grace, not merit.
7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion often because you are not
worthy, then you must never receive it, for you will never be worthy.
What creature could be worthy to receive a God? Nay more, to follow out
this principle We should have to abandon the practice of visiting
churches and of speaking to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
human being is unfit to enter the House of the Lord or to converse with
Him.
*"How many scrupulous Christians do we not see languishing for want of
this divine Food! They consume themselves with subtle speculations and
sterile efforts, they fear, they tremble, they doubt, and they vainly
seek for a certainty that cannot be found in this life. Sweetness,
unction, are not for them. They wish to live for God without living by
him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they are close to the Fountain of
Living Water and yet allow themselves to die of thirst. They desire to
fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not dare to nourish themselves interiorly:
they wish to carry the burden of the law without imbibing its spirit and
its consolation from prayer and frequent Communion!"--Fénelon.*
8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore, do not confine yourself to a
consideration of your own unworthiness, but temper this with the thought
of God's mercy. The guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,--a figure of
the Holy Eucharist,--were not the great and the rich, but the poor, the
blind, the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial garment, that is to
say, whosoever is in a state of grace, is welcome to this banquet.
9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we cannot go to Holy Communion
without giving annoyance to others, or without failing against duties of
charity, justice or order, we should be satisfied with spiritual
Communion. "Believe me," he adds, "this mortification, this deprivation,
will be extremely pleasing to God and will advance you greatly in His
love. One must sometimes take a step backward in order to leap the
better." It was not by frequent Communion that the holy anchorites
sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance of the duties of their
calling. Saint Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion but twice during
his long, penitential life, nevertheless he was precious in the sight of
God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis de Sales gives us this
admirable advice: "In proportion as you are hindered from doing the good
you desire, do all the more ardently the good that you do not desire. You
do not like to make such or such an act of resignation, you would prefer
to make some other; but offer the one you do not like, for it will be of
far greater value." Saint John the Baptist was more intimately united in
spirit with our Lord than even the Apostles themselves: yet he never
became one of His followers owing to the fact that his vocation required
this sacrifice on his part and called him elsewhere. This is the greatest
act of spiritual mortification recorded in the lives of the saints.
*"I have often admired the extreme resignation of Saint John the Baptist,
who remained so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord, without going
to see, hear and follow Him. And after baptizing Jesus, how could he have
allowed Him to depart without uniting himself to Him with his bodily
presence, as he was already so united to Him by the ties of affection!
Ah! the divine Precursor knew that in his case the Master was best served
by deprivation of His actual presence. Well, my dear daughter, it will be
the same with you in regard to Holy Communion. I mean that for the
present God will be pleased if in accordance to the wish of the superiors
whom He has placed over you, you endure the privation of His actual
presence. It will be a great consolation to me to know that this advice
does not disquiet your heart. Rest assured that this resignation, this
renunciation will be exceedingly beneficial to you."--St. Francis de
Sales.*
11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy Eucharist because you happen to
be beset by temptations; this would be to capitulate to your enemy
without offering any resistance. The more combats you have to sustain,
the greater the necessity of providing yourself with the means of
defence, and these are to be found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go
courageously then and renew your strength with the Food of the strong and
victory shall be yours.
12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy Table because such and such a
person does so: an imitation common for the most part to women's vanity
and jealousy, says Saint Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: love alone
should lead us to receive it.
13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by
all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that is
union with God, but the same means to attain that object are not proper
for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a spiritual
director that each person can know what is suitable for him, as that
which would be too little for one might be too much for another.
VII.
SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.
The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark,
c. II., v: 27.)
1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but there
are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us
a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays.
2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The ordinary
means of fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of charity, the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, sermons, religious
instructions, and spiritual reading.
3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying the
body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things is
wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this
subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.
4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful
diversion, all of which can be referred to God, serve also for the
sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to
please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are
required of man by his bodily needs.
*"How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again
it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their
interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to the
will of God. By no means regard the nature of the things you do, but
rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in
themselves, from the fact that God wishes them, that they are in the
order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word,
if they are pleasing to God, and recognized as being so, to whom should
they be displeasing?"--Saint Francis de Sales.*
5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and
anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon
devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act
of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance of
the sabbath, following the superstitious custom of the Pharisees, instead
of peacefully sanctifying the Lord's day with that sweet and holy liberty
of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel. Too much
dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of which it is
equally necessary to avoid.
6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to attend
to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the impossibility
of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace these with pious
ejaculations, which, as I have already said, can in case of necessity
supply for the omission of all other prayers.
7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at a low Mass suffices strictly
speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even this may
be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind
the house, or to take care of young children; for these being works of
justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when performed with a
pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers, equal and even
surpass in value all exterior practices of devotion.
I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can
sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.
*"Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing
them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so
honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a
gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of God, where
those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for
although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of God and in
fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is fixed
by this divine will and not by their exterior character. Therefore he who
truly loves God's will in the accomplishment of his duties, does not
allow his affections to become engaged in any of his spiritual exercises;
and so, if sickness or accident interfere with them he experiences no
regret. I do not say indeed that he does not love his devotions, but that
he is not attached to them."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
*"If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and
submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would
forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and that
this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another occasion:
the less we live according to our own liking, and the less option we have
in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will there be in our
devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order to
oblige others for love of Him."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
VIII.
SPIRITUAL READING.
Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach
him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)
All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)
1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful,
therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with the best
nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar especially with the
works of Saint Francis de Sales.
2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a spiritual
director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as coming from
the mouth of God.
3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural and
marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by such
reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some to
aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint
Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the
Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces, they
neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real obligations.
Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be absorbed in those
wonderful characteristics of the saints which we should be content to
admire; give preference rather to their simple and interior virtues, for
these alone are imitable for us.
*"We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that
God would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of
Sienna's, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor
hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine, for
we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness
consists in love of God, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings
that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility. The
desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather
to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of self-renunciation
and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of others. Thus we
shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more admirable for us
than ecstacies."--St. Francis de Sales.*
4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of
these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly
define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become
extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely exterior
practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to reform the
heart.
5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the
ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books have
furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy
religion and to turn it into ridicule.
6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: "In
order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great
piety,--great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best
motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his
imagination with devout extravagances." An author should be equally well
versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will err
either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a well
known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: "If a man be good and
holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us."
It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give none but true
and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than good. Doctrines
that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and invite the
criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the railleries
of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.
7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain many
inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care, therefore, in
the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure your soul instead
of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult your director on the
subject.
PART SECOND.
INTERIOR LIFE.
IX.
HOPE.
Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)
Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in
Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)
1. "Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord," says the Holy Spirit. The
weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in regard to
the Christian virtue of hope.
2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain
nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for all
things will obtain all things.
3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world.
We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our own
wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of this
divine attribute of mercy.
4. "What do you fear?" says Saint Thomas of Villanova: "this Judge whose
condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the Cross
in order not to condemn you."
5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us. When
Saint Peter said to his divine Master: "_Depart from me, O Lord, for I am
a sinful man,_" what did our Saviour reply? "_Noli timere,_--fear
not."[8] Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always
find hope and love preferred to fear.
6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by Saint
Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to pardon,
nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, God would not
have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine essence. This
was our Lord's reason for saying that He came into the world not for the
just but for sinners.[9]
7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to God, but He does not on their
account cease to cherish our souls.
*It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as
are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an
upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A
perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us
from God and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject to
it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with love the
poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial
garment,--that is to say, all those whom a desire to please God maintains
in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and frailty:
but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares to appear
there without this garment. This distinction, found everywhere throughout
the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us with a tender confidence
when we fall, without diminishing our horror for deliberate sins.*
A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of her
child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her
compassion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and suffering
and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and solicitude for
him.
8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows
how to compassionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to
become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]
9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you
in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it is much safer
there than if in your own keeping.
10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the opinion of Saint Francis de
Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.
11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin
of despair, retorted: "I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as
you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited
it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,--but
for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall
save my soul."
12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise
your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.
God loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa assures us, provided they
mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The
devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations
and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him
to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed
in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.
To aspire to the noblest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance
to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. XXX.)
X.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD.