work of a painter who produces an exquisite likeness of a distinguished
personage on his canvas. The first outlines of the supernatural likeness
of a child of men to the Son of God are traced by the Divine Artist in
the Sacrament of Baptism. The infant’s soul receives the precious
impress as the unconscious canvas receives the colors, without its own
co-operation. Yet already then the difference is immense between a mere
child of earth and an adopted child of God. But very much remains to be
accomplished by the Holy Ghost before the likeness is perfected. And
this increase of sanctification is the most important work that is being
done on earth from generation to generation: “For the perfecting of the
Saints—for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. iv, 12).
Most of this further sanctification is to be produced by the Holy Ghost
in our hearts with our co-operation: He teaches us how to _make
ourselves_ like to Christ, while He aids us to do it. For His teaching
does not consist in simply suggesting to us what we must do, as we teach
a child its Catechism; but He acts as does a music teacher with his
pupils, who makes them constantly practise what they are learning. It is
by their own efforts that they are to acquire the art. So the Spirit of
God makes us like unto Christ by helping us to act as Christ did, to
practise the virtues of which He has given us the example. In this
consists the sanctification of the soul, in the imitation of Christ.
How Christ acted during His whole career, from His incarnation to His
ascension, this is the study of the second, third and fourth weeks of
the Exercises. We will here call attention to some of the characteristic
traits of His life on earth.
1. His conduct was diametrically opposed to that by which Adam and Eve
had forfeited their original happiness. They had aspired to rise above
their own condition and become like unto God. For the Devil had said:
“God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes
shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen.
iii, 5). Christ, on the contrary, while being God, stooped down and made
Himself man; and He continued lowering Himself more and more, becoming
the poorest child on earth, born in a stable, laid upon straw, “a worm
and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people” (Ps. 21),
condemned to a shameful death, and, as a criminal, crucified with
thieves. If then we wish to be like Christ, we must practise humility.
2. Another characteristic trait of Christ’s conduct is seen in the means
He used to establish the Kingdom of His Father. He could have made the
colossal power of Rome His tool to effect that purpose, or have employed
the wisdom of the philosophers or the elegance of the writers of that
classic age. But instead He used ignorant and timid men, and first
gathered into His fold the poor and despised of the earth, as St. Paul
expressed it: “For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many
wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but the
foolish things of the world hath God chosen that he may confound the
wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that he may
confound the strong, and the base things of the world, and the things
that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He
might bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His
sight” (I Cor. i, 26-29).
Must we then, to imitate Christ, cast all human learning to the winds?
By no means; but we must understand that merely natural means cannot
produce supernatural effects, that all the learning and all the power of
the world cannot save or sanctify a soul. And therefore we must trust in
supernatural means. As to the natural means, Christ did not need them to
accomplish His purpose; but we must use all the means, natural and
supernatural, that God puts at our disposal; yet remembering all along
that we must put our main confidence in the supernatural, in the help of
grace, which is secured by the imitation of our King.
We must then ever keep our eyes upon Him, study His example, and
reproduce His virtues in ourselves. It will often happen that to act
thus we must do things which seem foolish in the eyes of a worldly
wisdom, as when St. Francis Borgia resigned his office of viceroy, in
which he was doing so much good, to hide himself in the religious state;
or when the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites of Mary gave up all
their riches to become poor like Christ.
A beautiful illustration of the way in which we are to imitate the
Saviour is given us in the Book of Judges, where Gedeon and his three
hundred followers rescued their people from oppression by means
apparently most unwise, yet fully successful because they obeyed God
with heroic fidelity. Gedeon was designed by Divine Providence to be a
type of Christ. Jesus is our Gedeon, and we can learn how we must follow
Him by studying the story of Gedeon in Holy Writ.
The Israelites in his day had been conquered by the Madianites and
Amalekites, who were overrunning their land with a countless army, and
destroying all they could not carry off. The Chosen People were reduced
to a state of slavery and starvation. So they repented of their
idolatry, and called upon the Lord for pardon and mercy. God sent them a
savior in the person of the faithful Gedeon. This hero, encouraged by
miracles, which he had seen, destroyed the altar and the grove of Baal,
and then gathered together 32,000 men, trusting in God that with this
small force he could defeat the vast number of the foes. But God told
him his followers were too many; if they conquered, they would attribute
the victory to their own prowess. He bade him choose only 300 of them,
and promised Gedeon that with these alone he would gain a complete
victory.
Now notice how this was accomplished; it was by means apparently most
rash and foolish. The Scripture narrates it thus: “Gedeon divided the
300 men into three parts, and gave them trumpets in their hands, and
empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said to them: I
will go into one part of the camp, and _do you as I shall do_. When the
trumpet shall sound, in my hand, blow you also the trumpets on every
side of the camp.—They began to sound their trumpets, and clap the
pitchers one against another—And they cried out, The sword of the Lord
and of Gedeon—And the Lord sent the sword into all the camp and they
killed one another” (Judges vii, 16-22).
The immense army of the foe was destroyed, and the country delivered by
the 300 unarmed men. These had simply done what they saw their leader
do, and God had done the rest. Christ is our Gedeon; we must simply do
what He did, and God will do the rest: He will establish His Kingdom in
our hearts, and by us, no matter how weak the instruments, effect the
salvation of souls.
THIRD MEDITATION
On the Birth of Christ
_1st Prelude._ Recall the facts to mind, by reading St. Luke i, 1-20.
_2nd Prelude._ See the stable, with the Divine Infant lying on the straw
in the manger, with Mary and Joseph kneeling in adoration.
_3rd Prelude._ Ask to understand how Christ has loved you, that you may
love Him ardently and follow Him faithfully.
_POINT I._ Consider how Mary and Joseph received the order to go from
Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled there. Notice the persons, their
words and their actions.
1. _The pagan emperor_ who ordered the census, no matter what was his
motive, was an agent of Divine Providence to bring the Holy Family to
Bethlehem. His order had been issued three years before; it arrived at
Nazareth just at the right time for God’s purposes.
2. _St. Joseph_ brings it home, knowing what inconvenience it would
cause, but resigned to God’s will.
3. _Mary_, though she sees it comes at a most inopportune time, as far
as man can judge, has only words and thoughts of cheerful submission to
the voice of authority. Both prepare at once for the journey, and start
as soon as possible.
_POINT II._ _See the Holy Family arriving in Bethlehem._ They have
traveled five days, over 110 miles, Mary perhaps riding on an ass or in
a rude cart, and Joseph leading the animal. Both now are dust begrimed
and tired out, glad to get at last to the one inn of the town; but they
are disappointed and find no room there to receive them. Follow them in
imagination as they wander through the poorer streets, asking here and
there for a night’s lodging, but refused at every door. Here now are the
holiest persons that ever trod the earth, and see how the Lord allows
them to suffer for our example of patience. And the Divine Child, how
helpless: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (St. John
i, 11). Happy they, if any such there were, who spoke a kind word to
them, even a word of excuse for a refusal; it must have brought a
blessing. Do I always speak kindly to the poor? Do I render every
service I can? God willed it all, that Jesus might be born in a stable,
rather than in a comfortable cottage; laid on straw, rather than on a
cushion. Our edification is all the greater on Christmas day. But their
lot was hard. So too our sufferings shall be turned into joy.
_POINT III._ _Behold the stable_, in which they have found a refuge.
Cattle were there before them, and the floor is littered with their
leavings. Mary and Joseph patiently tidy up a spot where they may rest,
and collect the cleanest blades of straw to lay them in the manger,
provident for the expected birth of the Divine Child.
There, during the night, Mary is miraculously delivered, and in an
ecstasy of love and joy, presses the Son of God to her maternal breast.
She tenderly wraps Him in the swaddling clothes she has brought along
for the purpose, and reposes Him upon the straw of the manger, that she
and Joseph may kneel before Him in humble adoration. Angels are there of
course to honor the King of glory; but they appear not to the sight nor
charm the ear with their Heavenly song, that all may be as desolate as
possible. He came to share our poverty and our loneliness.
Meanwhile His glory is beginning to be manifested elsewhere. For a
bright angel announces to the shepherds the birth of a “Saviour, who is
Christ the Lord in the city of David,” and he adds: “This shall be a
sign unto you; you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace to men of good will” (St. Luke ii, 11-14).
He who came to assume our poverty made the poor His favorites; to them
He was first revealed. If we wish to enjoy His favors, let us be
satisfied with little, study rather with how little we can get along
than how much we can acquire. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (St. Matth. v, 3).
The closest followers of Christ are known by their resemblance to Him.
And how is He known? The Angel has proclaimed it: by His poverty: “And
this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the infant wrapped in
swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.”
_Colloquy_ with the Divine Infant, loving Him, thanking Him, begging for
the spirit of poverty, humility; and with Mary and Joseph, begging of
them to obtain for me these precious dispositions.
THE FIFTH DAY
THE FIRST MEDITATION
On the Flight into Egypt
_1st Prelude._ Recall the facts, as narrated by St. Matthew ii, 13-19.
_2nd Prelude._ See St. Joseph quietly asleep in the night, and the Angel
standing before him to deliver his message.
_3rd Prelude._ Ask the grace to understand the lessons taught in this
mystery by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, so as to know your King more
intimately, love Him more ardently and follow Him more faithfully.
_Point I._ _Consider the message of the Angel_, noticing particularly
the persons, their words and their actions.
1. _The persons._ The Angel is a faithful messenger, a model of
exactitude when a task is entrusted to us. He addresses Joseph because
he is the head of the family. So God usually directs us through our
superiors, even if these should be less able, even as Joseph was less
gifted than the others. Jesus and Mary are not visited: “Take the child
and his mother.”
2. Consider the _words_ spoken: “Arise and take the child and his
mother, and fly into Egypt, and be there until I shall tell thee; for it
will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.” The
action required implies many great difficulties; first a very long
journey of hundreds of miles, and that through a wild country, where
savage animals and robbers roamed. The parable of the Good Samaritan
shows that robbers infested those regions, and the watch kept by the
shepherds points to the presence of wolves, bears, etc. Then they are to
leave at once, with no provisions for so long a journey: “Arise, and
take, etc.” They are not even to say a kind farewell to the neighbors
who had befriended them, but must leave in secret like criminals. And
the motive assigned by the Angel is unsatisfactory to human reason:
“Herod will seek the child to destroy him.” Were there not a thousand
easier ways to prevent this? Was not God wise and powerful enough to
save His Divine Son in Bethlehem? Or could they not have gone to Mary’s
cousin Elizabeth, where young John the Baptist was living in security?
Perhaps we might have been self-opiniated enough to find such
objections; but Jesus, Mary and Joseph did not criticize.
3. _The Actions_ of these exhibit a prompt, cheerful and perfect
obedience. These are our models. Have we always acted thus? Is it our
habit now to do so?
_POINT II._ _Consider the exile itself._ How the Holy Family was
supported during the many weeks their travel must have lasted, we cannot
imagine. They may have suffered many severe hardships; most probably
they did, since Christ had come to give the example of patience under
sufferings. But God’s Providence watched over every step of theirs, and
supplied all their wants as far as was conformable to His designs.
He did not do so only on account of their privileged personalities, but
He ever does the same for all who trust in Him. “I say to you, be not
solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what
you shall put on—for after all these things do the heathens seek. For
your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek you
therefore first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things
shall be added unto you” (St. Matth. vi, 25-33).
We can especially trust in God’s assistance when we are obeying His
commands, as was the Holy Family at that time. Therefore we should love
to be directed by our superiors, who make known God’s will to us. And
again, works done under obedience with a willing mind have a special
blessing on them. “An obedient man shall speak of victory” (Prov. xxi,
28). The heroic virtues practised in later ages by the solitaries in
those deserts may well have been the fruit of the obedience then
practised by the Holy Family.
Their stay in Egypt for several years among strangers is best
appreciated by those persons who have themselves experienced the
bitterness of exile. Christ knew that many of His followers would endure
those ills, and He wished to leave them a most consoling example.
_POINT III. Consider the massacre of the Innocents._ All its cruelty was
meant for Christ, and cruel persecution has been continued against His
followers throughout the ages, and is so to the present day. He had
foretold it: “The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant
above his lord. If they have called the good-man of the house Beelzebub,
how much more them of his household” (St. Matth. x, 24-25). We must then
be patient under any kind of molestation, though of course we may use
all honest means to prevent it.
The persecution works the good of them who properly endure it. See this
exemplified in the massacre of the innocents. It was very wickedly done,
a cruel injustice and bitter suffering to the little ones, and a still
more dreadful affliction to their mothers; but it resulted in eternal
glory for the children. When a priest blesses an article of devotion, he
makes a cross over it; so the Lord bestows His blessings with a cross.
Every sorrow comes from the hand of our loving Lord, and is meant for
the good of those who love Him: “To them that love God all things work
together unto good” (Rom. viii, 28).
_Colloquy._ With Jesus and Mary, begging for constant fidelity in the
imitation of my Divine Model amid all trials, with a firm confidence in
His loving providence: “Know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord and
hath been confounded” (Ecclus. ii, 11).
THE SECOND MEDITATION
On the Private Life of Christ
_1st Prelude._ Recall the few verses in which Holy Writ records the
history of the eighteen years of Christ’s private life, from His loss in
the temple to His entrance on His public life: “And he went down with
them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them. And his mother kept
all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age, and
grace with God and men” (St. Luke ii, 51-52), “Is not this the
carpenter’s son?” (St. Matth. xiii, 55).
_2nd Prelude._ Imagine you see the modest cottage of the Holy Family at
Nazareth, where Mary is preparing a meal, while Joseph and the youthful
Saviour are working in the adjacent carpenter shop.
_3rd Prelude._ Ask grace to understand the wonderful lessons of sanctity
here taught, and to grow in the love and imitation of your Redeemer.
_POINT I._ Consider the words: “_He went down with them and came to
Nazareth._” He might have moved in the midst of the world, as He had
done for three days when lost in Jerusalem, but He wished to give an
example which people generally could imitate. Nearly all persons must
lead a private life during the greater portion, if not the whole of
their career. Restlessness to be abroad is very injurious to virtue. But
the inner life, needed to attain perfection, is favored by retirement
from the world. Hence all founders of religious orders require a retired
novitiate, and the Church strictly prescribes enclosure, which law has
not been relaxed except where charity to the neighbor demands it. It is
not the spirit of God that makes some priests aspire to conspicuous
offices and functions. Nazareth was good enough for Christ, though it
was so obscure a town that Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from
Nazareth?” (St. John i, 46). It is a bad sign when a religious is
displeased because applied to obscure duties.
_POINT II._ Consider the words, “_And He was subject to them_”; that is,
Jesus was subject to Mary and Joseph. This is the chief lesson Christ
chose to teach the world during the first thirty years of His life. It
must then be of the utmost importance. St. Gregory says of it:
“Obedience is a virtue which, by itself alone, plants all other virtues
in the mind and preserves them after they are once planted” (L. 35 Mor.
c. 10). St. Ignatius, in his “Epistle on Obedience,” quoted these words
with emphatic approbation; and he has made this the characteristic
virtue of his Society. In fact the vow of obedience belongs to the
essence of the religious life, and some orders comprise all the
obligation of their members under the one vow of “obedience according to
their rule.” My perfection as a religious depends chiefly on the
perfection of my obedience.
Consider besides, in meditating on Christ’s private life, who was the
Person that obeyed; namely God Himself in His human nature. Whom did He
obey? His own creatures infinitely beneath Him in every respect. In what
did He obey?
In all the details of His life; in working for instance, under the
direction of Joseph, after the unskilful manner of that time. How
perfectly do I obey my superiors? I must make myself like unto Christ,
not in working miracles, but in submitting to my superiors.
_POINT III. Christ spent His private life in humble labor._ Such a
career is intended by the Lord for the vast majority of mankind. It is
the sentence pronounced upon our race: “In the sweat of thy face thou
shalt eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast
taken” (Gen. iii, 19). Such labor fosters devotion. It has always been
fondly cherished in learned religious bodies. During his voyage to India
which lasted thirteen months, St. Francis Xavier used to wash his soiled
linen in the sight of his fellow-passengers, while bearing the dignity
of Apostolic Nuncio, and he would never consent to be waited on by
others (Life, Bartholi and Maffei, p. 74).
_POINT IV._ “_And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age, and grace with God
and men._” It is by the faithful and steady exercise of the virtues
taught by our Divine model that Christians ever grow in sanctity; for
sanctity consists in this. And thus there are thousands to-day, as in
every period of the Church, of whom it can be said with truth, as is
here said of the Blessed Saviour, that they are growing in wisdom as
they are advancing in age; and as a consequence they grow in grace with
God; and meanwhile they also become daily more perfect subjects of
edification to their fellow-men.
That young religious are expected to resemble Christ in steady progress
in virtue is of course understood by all. But this should not be
confined to young religious. Older religious must persevere in this
imitation of Christ; their own welfare requires it, and the welfare of
the younger generation, who are naturally much influenced by the example
of their elders. All who profess to follow Christ should therefore grow
constantly in wisdom and obedience, in humility and generosity, in
charity and devotion, and in all the virtues, of which He has given such
bright examples.
_Colloquy_ with our Divine Lord, asking earnestly that we may know Him
more intimately, love Him more ardently and follow Him more faithfully;
and that we may correct the faults we have discovered in us during this
meditation.
CONSIDERATION
On the Imitation of Christ’s Private Life
Since most of our progress in virtue is to be effected by our imitation
of Christ’s private life, it is worth while adding to the meditation we
have made on that subject some further appropriate considerations. Let
us examine in what exactly lay the excellence of that great model.
I
It did not consist in the use of extraordinary austerities, such as were
practised by St. John the Baptist, whose holiness was so highly extolled
by the Saviour Himself. That would not have been a suitable model of
imitation for mankind generally. Christ’s sanctity was of course
infinitely superior; and it is the pattern on which our virtue must be
modeled.
In fact Christ’s private life was not distinguished from the common
lives of men by unusual bodily hardships. Millions of men and women in
our day, and in civilized lands, toil harder and enjoy fewer material
comforts than did the Holy Family. See how hard is the lot of vast
numbers of our laboring classes. See them going to their work at early
morning, carrying their cold lunches in their baskets, their only
support for the toils of the day. Their labor is fatiguing and
protracted, often quite exhausting, as is manifested by the bent forms
and wasted frames of so many of them. All day they hear rebukes, harsh
and gross language; and with their best efforts very many can scarcely
earn enough to keep up their strength. And when they return at night,
exhausted and begrimed with dirt, they have no comfortable cottage to
rest their wearied limbs; only some room in a tenement house, or in a
garret or cellar, crowded together with their wives and children, amidst
a rude and often vicious crowd of associates. Compared to their life
that of the Holy Family was one of decent comfort.
II
_What then made the life of Christ so very holy and so very meritorious?
Especially two qualities._
1. Of course His Divine Person gave infinite merit to every act
performed by Him in His human nature. Now it is a great consolation for
us to remember that, by the gracious dispensation of the Lord, we too
are children of God, adopted brothers of Christ, as long as we live in
the state of grace; and, by the aid of the Holy spirit, who is diffused
in our hearts, we can make our acts worthy of supernatural reward. And
all this merit keeps on accumulating throughout our conscious life,
unless it be lost by mortal sin. Our principal fear ought ever to be
lest we thus foolishly lose it, and our bitterest regret if we have done
so.