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diff --git a/31688.txt b/31688.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0514b7c --- /dev/null +++ b/31688.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of What Shall I Be?, by Rev. Francis Cassily + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: What Shall I Be? + A Chat With Young People + +Author: Rev. Francis Cassily + +Other: A. J. Burrows + Remegius Lafort + Cardinal John Murphy Farley + +Release Date: March 18, 2010 [EBook #31688] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT SHALL I BE? *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Gray + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Christ and the rich young man] + +If thou wilt be perfect go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, +and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come follow Me. + --Matt. xix: 21. + + + + WHAT SHALL I BE? + A CHAT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE + + BY THE + REVEREND FRANCIS CASSILLY, S.J. + + + "And every one that hath left house, or brothers, or sisters, or + father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name, shall + receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." (Matt. + xix: 29) + + + + NEW YORK + THE AMERICA PRESS + 1914 + + + + IMPRIMI POTEST + A. J. BURROWES, S.J. + _Provincial Missouri Province_ + + NIHIL OBSTAT + REMEGIUS LAFORT + _Censor_ + + IMPRIMATUR + JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY + _Archbishop of New York_ + + + + COPYRIGHT 1914 + BY + THE AMERICA PRESS + + + +LETTER TO THE AUTHOR +FROM REVEREND A. VERMEERSCH, S.J. + + Louvain, le 23 fevrier, 1914. + +Mon Reverend Pere: P. C. + +Votre petit livre me plait extremement. Il expose une doctrine tres +solide avec une merveilleuse clarte. D' une lecture agreable, il +interessera la jeunesse des ecoles, et l'encouragera a faire un choix +genereux d' etat de vie. J' estime que, traduit en flamand et en +francais, il ferait egalement du bien a nos collegiens de Belgique. + + Votre devoue en N. S. et M. I. + A. Vermeersch. + +TRANSLATION + +My Reverend Father: + +Your little book pleases me exceedingly. Its doctrine is very sound +and set forth with wonderful clearness. It makes pleasant reading, and +will interest the young of school age, and encourage them to make a +generous choice of a state of life. In my opinion, a Flemish and +French translation would also be profitable to our college students in +Belgium. + +Devotedly yours in Our Lord and Mary Immaculate, + A. Vermeersch. + + + + TO THE THOUSANDS + OF TRUE-HEARTED BOYS AND GIRLS + HE HAS BEEN BLESSED TO KNOW + OF WHOM + SOME ARE GONE TO HEAVEN + AND MANY ARE BATTLING FOR THE RIGHT + IN THE SANCTUARY + THE CLOISTER OR THE WORLD + AND WITH ALL OF WHOM + HE HOPES ONE DAY TO BE REUNITED + FOREVERMORE + IN GOD'S OWN COURTS + THIS LITTLE BOOK + IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED + BY THE AUTHOR + + + +PREFACE + +In this little book the writer has aimed to present, in brief and +simple form, sound principles which may assist the young in deciding +their future course of life. The subject of vocation, as it is called, +has suffered much, during the last two or three centuries, at the +hands of rigorist authors, who so hedged the approach to religious +life with difficulties and restrictions, as to frighten or repel many +aspiring hearts from it. + +Great stress was laid by these writers on the special interior +attraction, by which God was supposed always to manifest His call, so +that no one might legitimately enter the state of perfection, unless +he felt this unmistakable impulse from within. And on the other hand, +given this evidence of the Divine predilection, to disregard it was a +sinful preferring of one's own will to God's, which, in all +likelihood, would be attended with grave consequences for this world +and the next. + +Spiritual writers of the last decade have been rereading the Fathers +and great Theologians upon this subject, and as a result the cobwebs +of misconception are being swept away. The Reverend A. Vermeersch, +S.J., of Louvain, deserves the gratitude of all for his lucid and +convincing treatment of religious vocation, in his "De Religiosis +Institutis et Personis" (Vol. II, Supplement III; also Vol. I, P. 4, +C. I), where he clearly shows from Scripture, the writings of the +Fathers and leading theologians, the true nature of the invitation to +the evangelical life. The reader is also referred to the article on +"Vocation," by the same author, in the Catholic Encyclopedia. + +Another document throwing light on the subject, is the Decree of July +15, 1912, framed by a special commission of Cardinals appointed to +examine the work of Canon Joseph Lahitton on "La Vocation +Sacerdotale." This Decree, approved by the Holy Father, contains the +following passage: Vocation to the priesthood "by no means consists, +at least necessarily and according to the ordinary law, in a certain +interior inclination of the person, or promptings of the Holy Spirit, +to enter the priesthood. But on the contrary, nothing more is required +of the person to be ordained, in order that he may be called by the +bishop, than that he have a right intention, and such fitness of +nature and grace, as evidenced in integrity of life and sufficiency of +learning, which will give a well-founded hope of his rightly +discharging the office and obligations of the priesthood." This Decree +does away, at once, with the special spiritual attraction, always and +essentially required by so many for vocation to the priesthood. + +It may not be rash to conclude, in a similar way, of a religious +vocation "that nothing more is required of the person who is a +candidate for religious life, in order that he may be admitted to the +novitiate by the lawful superior of an order, than that he have a +right intention, and such fitness of nature and grace required by the +order, as will give a well-founded hope of his rightly discharging the +obligations of the religious life in that order." + +The present treatise aims at no more than putting in form suitable to +the young the sound conclusions of such reliable authors as Father +Vermeersch, Canon Lahitton and Rev. P. Bouvier, S.J. + +As to the advisability of priests, parents and teachers fostering and +developing in the young the desire of a religious life, the words of +St. Thomas are positive: "They who induce others to enter religion, +not only commit no sin, but even merit a great reward." (Summa, 2a, +2ae, Quaest. 189, art. 9.) + +And the Third Council of Baltimore, urging priests to develop +vocations to the priesthood, says: "We exhort in the Lord and +earnestly entreat pastors and other priests diligently to search after +and find out, among the boys committed to their care, those who seem +suited and called to the clerical state. If they find any boys of good +disposition, of pious inclination, of devout and generous minds, and +able to learn; who give promise of persevering in the sacred ministry, +let them nourish the zeal of such, and sedulously foster these +precious germs of vocation." (Paragraph 136.) + +Priests, teachers, confessors and others who have dealings with the +young, will find it very practical to have at hand several copies of +some reliable booklet on the priesthood and religious life, which they +may give or lend, as occasion offers, to promising boys and girls. +Such books will, at least, make their readers think, and God's grace +frequently acts through the medium of the written or spoken word. + +_Creighton University, Omaha, + Easter Sunday, 1914._ + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I Getting a Start + II Aiming High + III The State of Perfection + IV Who Are Invited? + V Does Christ Want Me? + VI I Feel No Attraction + VII Suppose I Make a Mistake? + VIII The World Needs Me + IX Must I Accept the Invitation? + X I Am Too Young + XI The Priesthood + XII The Teacher's Aureole + XIII Showing the Way + XIV The Parents' Part + XV A Parting Word + + + +CHAPTER I + +GETTING A START + +Youth is the dream time of life. It views the world through the prism +of fancy, tinting all with rainbow colors. It lives in a creation of +its own, where it rules with magic wand, conjuring into its realm the +beautiful, the heroic and the magnificent, and banishing only the +prosaic and commonplace. To the youthful dreamer, every ruler is +all-powerful, every soldier brave, every fire-fighter a hero, and every +editor a wizard, at whose nod the news of the world flies to the huge +cylinder presses, and then flutters away in white-winged sheets +through town and country. + +But gradually, the stern realities of life forcing themselves on the +maturing mind, it realizes that it must choose from the various +activities that make up the sum of human existence. The thoughtful boy +and girl then begin to ask the question, "What shall I be?" or "What +shall I do?" The various walks of life spread out before them like a +maze of tracks in a railway station, all leading away in dwindling +perspective to the witching land of the unknown. + +An ambitious boy views with delight the various professions, and +pictures to himself in turn the great deeds and triumphs of the +soldier, the statesman, the lawyer, the physician, the architect, and +finally perhaps the electrician, who plays with the lightning and +harnesses it to the ever-extending service of mankind. All these are +votaries of noble avocations, and he who excels in any one of them is +a hero, and a benefactor of his kind. Every occupation which is useful +to the human race, which contributes to the sum of man's comfort and +happiness, is laudable and worthy an intelligent being. St. Paul was a +tent-maker by trade, and he gloried in the fact that, even during the +days of his apostleship, he was not a burden to others, but supported +himself by the labor of his hands. + +Life pursuits rank in dignity and worth, according to the perfection +or benefit they bestow upon the worker himself, and his fellow-man. +Far above the artisan or husbandman, who occupies himself with the +material needs of his neighbor, with providing him food, raiment and +shelter, rise the teacher, writer and professional man, who minister +to the needs of the mind. And highest, perhaps, of natural callings is +the conduct of the government, which gives peace, order and happiness +to entire nations. + +But not every pursuit is suited to all dispositions, nor can any one +hope to excel in all trades and professions. The strength of body and +skill of hand required of a mechanic may be lacking to a professional +man, and the long years of study and experience demanded of a +physician are possible to but few. Nature destines some for a life of +action and adventure, for the command of armies or the conquering of +the wilderness; others it dowers with literary tastes, or the power to +thrill an audience or guide a State. + +No one is necessarily tied down to any special occupation of life. +According to your disposition and character, your ability and +inclination, education and training, you are free to select any sphere +of action within your reach and opportunity. But this very freedom of +choice sometimes leads to mistakes. One without the proper temperament +or ability, lacking in patience and sympathy, and unable to make a +diagnosis, aims to be a physician, and he becomes only a quack. Many a +one, who aspires to direct the destinies of the State, achieves only +the station of a political subordinate or spoilsman. And one whom +nature destines for the free and independent life of a farmer, often +sentences himself to life imprisonment behind the "cribbed and +cabined" desk of a counting house. + +Perhaps the most frequent mistake of young people is to tear +themselves away from school, where they have the opportunity to +prepare themselves for the higher positions of life, and by so doing +deliberately limit themselves to a life of mediocrity. They have an +ambition, but a false one. Eager to enter, though unprepared, the +arena of life and accomplish great deeds, they lack the student's +patience and industry, which would crown them in after years with the +laurel of success. + +Be ambitious then, my young friend, aim high in life; endeavor to +achieve something great for yourself and for mankind. You will have +only one life in this world, then make the most of it. Take advantage +of your opportunities. Attend school as long as you can, because +generally the greater your knowledge and learning, your training and +preparation, the higher and wider the career that will open before +you. + +All legitimate pursuits of life have been illustrated and adorned by +numberless Christian heroes and heroines, who served God, sanctified +themselves, and brought glory to the Christian name by their fidelity +to duty. Would you be a soldier? Could there be more glorious names +than those of St. Sebastian and St. Martin; the Crusader, Godfrey de +Bouillon, and the Grand Knight of Malta, de la Valette? + +Do you long to ride the ocean waves, and brave the tempest? What more +heroic predecessor would you have than the great "Admiral," the +navigator and discoverer, Columbus? If your ambition be to sit in the +councils of State, to steer your country safely through breakers and +shoals, fix your gaze on Sir Thomas More, Daniel O'Connell, Windthorst +or Garcia Moreno--Christian heroes all. + + + +CHAPTER II + +AIMING HIGH + +In a garden are flowers varying in hue and form and size. The roses +blow red and white and pink, scenting the air with their myriad +petals, the lilies lift up their delicate calyxes to the wandering +bee, the perfumed violets hide their modest heads in beds of green, +and the fuchsias sway from their stems in languid beauty. But varied +as are the flowers in charm, each is perfect of its kind. No artist +could improve their tints nor trace truer curves; no carver chisel +more delicate or finished forms. + +And God's Church is a spiritual garden, where bloom souls varying in +every virtue, charm and grace, and all breathing forth the good odor +of Christ. In it are school-boys, gentle maidens, devoted mothers and +fathers of families, rich and poor of every nation and clime, of every +station and calling. God made them all; He loves them all, and on each +He has grafted the bud of faith, which will blossom forth into all +supernatural virtues. + +God also wishes each one in His garden to be perfect of his kind. +Jesus, sitting on the Mount of the Beatitudes, and teaching the +multitudes that were ranged on the grass about Him, bade them "be +perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. v: 48.) [1] +This, then, is the perfection Christ expects us to aim at, the +perfection of God Himself, in Whom there is nor spot nor wrinkle. He +will not be satisfied with us, so long as low aims, imperfect motives, +disfigure our souls and stain our conduct. + +As St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, God chose us before +the foundation of the world to be "holy and unspotted in His sight." +(Eph. i: 4.) In fact, St. Paul, whenever he addresses the Christians, +calls them "saints" because every Christian man, woman and child, is +expected to be holy, holy in the grace of God, in conduct, in thought +and act, at every time and place. Every Christian must be sacred, a +shrine wherein dwells the Divinity, and whose doors must be closed to +everything profane. "Know you not, that your members are the temple of +the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not +your own?" (I Cor. vi: 19.) Your soul, then, my child, is holy, +consecrate to God, and into it must enter nothing defiled, nothing +savoring of the world, its maxims and principles. Keep your soul pure +as the roseate dawn, clear as starlight and bright as the sun. + +"Every one of you," said Christ Himself, "who doth not renounce all +that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple." (Luke xiv: 33.) This seems +a hard doctrine, for who would be able to give up all he has, parents, +home and possessions? There are occasions when the love of God and the +love of creatures come into conflict; and when this occurs the true +disciple of Christ will not hesitate. He will fearlessly sacrifice +everything, even life itself, rather than forsake his Creator. The +martyrs did this. St. Agnes gave up suitor, home and wealth, and laid +down her innocent young life, to become the spouse of Christ. The boy +Pancratius faced the panther in the arena, and the yells of a +bloodthirsty mob, rather than abjure his faith; and so won a martyr's +crown. + +Perfection then is our destiny. In heaven we shall attain to it, and +in this life we should begin to practice it. If we would have God's +love in its fulness, if we would always be worthy to nestle in His +bosom, to feel the arms of His affection drawn close about us, we must +never sully our conscience with the least taint of sin. For all the +world we would not offend our parents, and God is to us in place of +father and mother and all. He is the infinitely perfect; He is love +and beauty and tenderness itself, and His absorbing desire is to +reproduce similar qualities in us. + +But how are we to be perfect? By always doing His holy Will, as we see +it and know it, to the best of our ability. Christ issues the clarion +call to all Christians, to take up their cross daily and follow Him. +He who always does his best, and, obeying the dictates of conscience, +walks by faith and charity in all his actions before God, and conducts +himself in all circumstances of life according to the principles of +faith and reason, is living up to the Divine call, and striving after +perfection. + +"But are there any such persons in the world?" some one may ask. "They +say that there is nothing perfect under the sun, and this time-honored +adage, no doubt, applies to persons as well as to things." It is true +that very few are perfect in the sense that they sojourn in the world, +unmoved, like the angels, by the least ruffling of passion. But there +are many, very many, pure, holy souls, who aim constantly at +perfection, and who attain to it substantially; for day by day, year +in and year out, they keep themselves from the guilt of serious sin, +and delighting to carry out God's will in all their actions, +frequently draw nigh the Tabernacle to commune in heavenly raptures +with their Love "behind the trellis." + +Nor is the number of these elect souls limited to any one calling or +profession, for they are found in the seclusion of home, in the +crowded mart, in the stress of business and professional life. When +the week-day Mass is over in the parish church, and the little band of +devout worshippers descend from the church steps, would one not say +that there is a look of heavenly peace upon their countenances, a +peace that overflows to their features from the deep well-springs of +charity within? No legitimate walk of life, then, is alien to +perfection. All Christians are urged to it; and many attain to it. +They use the things of this world "as though they used them not," +their hearts are free from undue attachment to the possessions of +earth, and they go through life as pilgrims to their final home; and +should God be pleased to reward their constancy by sending them trials +and sufferings, they will come forth from the ordeal like pure, +refined gold. + + +[1] While this text refers primarily to the perfection of forgiving +enemies, it is applied also by commentators to perfection in general, +for the reason that it is closely connected with the preceding and +following exhortation of Our Lord to many and various virtues. And +even if the text were limited expressly to one virtue, the fact that +God's children are urged to the perfection of this virtue because it +is found perfectly in their Heavenly Father, would seem to imply that +He, so far as imitable by creatures, is the measure and standard of +their perfection, and hence, as He is the All-Perfect, that they too +should strive to be perfect in all virtue. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE STATE OF PERFECTION + +Speaking one day to the multitude, Our Lord likened the Kingdom of +Heaven "to a merchant seeking good pearls, who, finding one pearl of +great price, went away and sold everything he had and bought it." +(Matt. xiii: 45-46.) What is this precious pearl that so charmed the +merchant as to make him sacrifice all he had to gain possession of it? +It is doubtless the true Church, or faith in Christ, but theologians +apply the parable also to the highest union with God by charity, or +Christian perfection. Perfection, then, may be called this lustrous +pearl, more precious and radiant than any which gleams in royal +diadem. You may buy it, but the price is the same to all. You must +offer in exchange all that you have, keeping nothing back. Are you +willing to make the bargain? + +There have been many Christians throughout the centuries who were +enamored of this perfection. They sighed and longed for it, but, alas! +the conditions in which they lived, the temptations that lay about +them, the cares of raising a family and struggling for a livelihood, +so engrossed their attention and seduced their affections, that they +almost despaired of living entirely for God, and thus attaining +perfection. A young man of high aspirations one day came to Jesus, and +asked Him what he must do to gain eternal life. The Master replied, +"Keep the commandments." But the young man was not satisfied with +this; he wished to do something more for heaven, as we learn from his +reply, "All these have I kept from my youth; what is still wanting to +me?" Then Jesus spoke the memorable words that have echoed down the +ages, "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to +the poor . . . and come, follow me." (Matt. xix: 21.) + +The questioner, so the Scripture records, went away sorrowful, for he +had great wealth. He was willing, no doubt, to give alms and +bountifully, but to sacrifice all his possessions and live in +poverty--this was beyond his generosity. Christ's advice, however, has +not fallen by the wayside. Theologians tell us that in His brief words +Our Lord indicated the evangelical life, which He elsewhere explained +more fully, bidding the youth become poor and then come and follow +Him in perfect chastity and obedience (Suarez, "De Religione," lib. +iii, c. 2). + +The teaching thus presented by Christ has never been fruitless in the +Church. Myriads of chosen souls, more magnanimous than the young man, +have heeded the Saviour's admonition and hastened to sacrifice all for +His sake. The nature of the evangelical life--so called because taught +in the "Evangelium," the Latin word for Gospel--consists in the +practice of the three counsels, voluntary poverty, perfect chastity +and obedience. And why is the exercise of these three counsels so +excellent? Because by them a Christian parts with everything that is +most pleasing to mere nature. By poverty he renounces his possessions +and the right of ownership; by perfect chastity, the pleasures of the +body; and by obedience, his free will. Could one do more than to give +up everything he owns, and then complete the renunciation by +dedicating his body, aye, his very soul, to Christ? Nothing is left +that he may call his own. He is a stranger in the world, without home, +parents or family, money or earthly ties; he is all to God, and God is +all to him. + +While a person may be in the _way_ of perfection, by observing the +counsels privately, with or without a vow, if he takes perpetual vows +in a religious order or congregation approved by the Church, he is in +what is called "the _state_ of perfection," or "the religious state." +The vows give a final touch to the holocaust in either case, since by +them he offers all he has and is and forever, so that it becomes +unlawful for him to retract his offering. He who exemplifies all +Christian virtues to a high degree of excellence, according to his +condition of life, may be called perfect, and to this perfection all +Christians are called. But, religious, that is, they who live in the +religious state, bind themselves by _profession_ to aim at living a +perfect life. They have heeded Christ's invitation, "If thou wilt be +perfect," and engaged themselves, under the sanction of the Church, to +the obligation of striving for perfection. + +No one could claim that all religious men and women are actually +perfect; but they are in the state of perfection--that is, by virtue +of their state and profession they are bound to the observance of +their vows and rules, which observance, in the course of time, will be +able to lead them to the attainment of such perfection as weak +mortals, with God's grace, can hope to acquire in this life. In +response to Christ's exhortations, we find throughout the world to-day +a great army of religious men and women, white-robed Dominicans, +brown-garbed Franciscans, followers of St. Benedict, St. Augustine, +St. Alphonsus, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. De la Salle, the Blessed +Madeleine Sophie Barat, Julie Billiart, Jean Eudes, and of numerous +other saints, who, under the standards of their varied institutes, +march steadily in the footprints of the lowly Nazarene, Who had not +whereon to lay His head. + +The ambitious Christian boy and girl, then, will aim at doing their +best, and must, if they desire close companionship with Christ, strive +after perfection, for such is the Master's desire. But should a youth +have further ambitions, and say to himself, "I desire to distinguish +myself in God's service, to lead for Him a life of action and +achievement, wherein my exertions will bring amplest returns for +eternity," will he refuse to consider the life of the counsels? Will +he not rather ask himself whether this manner of life is practicable, +and possibly even meant and intended for him? Choose then, my young +friend, your sphere of life but deliberately and carefully, +remembering that on your decision will largely depend your greater +happiness in this world and the next. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHO ARE INVITED? + +The boy or girl who is deliberating on a future career will naturally +ask, "Who are invited to the higher life? Is the invitation extended +to all, or limited to the chosen few?" + +Let us try to find out the answer to these questions. One day the +disciples of Our Lord having asked Him (Matt. xix: 11-12) whether it +were not better to abstain from marriage, He replied, "All men take +not this word, but they to whom it is given. . . . He that can take +it, let him take it." St. Paul also writes to the Corinthians (I Cor. +vii: 7-8), "I wish you all to be as myself, . . . but I say to the +unmarried . . . it is good for them, if they so continue, even as I." + +Now, let us examine these passages, according to the interpretations +of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, so that there will be no +danger of reading a wrong meaning into them. There is question in both +texts of abstaining from marriage, of advising the unmarried not to +marry, which, of course, is equivalent to advising them to practice +perpetual chastity. St. Paul says clearly and forcibly that he would +desire all to remain unmarried like himself. However, in the next +verse he exempts from his advice those who do not control themselves. +What does he mean by this? There are some who have strong passions, or +who by self-indulgence have so strengthened their lower nature and +weakened their will-power, that lifelong continence seems beyond them. +Such persons, therefore, who know from experience that they will not +overcome temptation and sin, or who find the struggle too hard to +continue, he advises to marry. + +We may now inquire whom Our Lord meant by those "to whom it is given." +Does He mean that the power of practicing virginal chastity is given +only to the selected few or to the many? St. Chrysostom, interpreting +His words, says that this gift of chastity "is given to those who +choose it of their own accord," adding that the "necessary help from +on high is prepared for all who wish to be victors in the struggle +with nature" (M. P. G., t. 58, c. 600). [1] St. Jerome tells us that +this gift "is given to those who ask it, who wish it and labor to +obtain it" (M. P. L., t. 26, c. 135). St. Basil explains that "to +embrace the evangelical mode of life is the privilege of every one." +(M. P. G., t. 32, c. 647.) To the sophistical objection that if all +persons practiced virginity marriage would cease, and so the human +race would perish, St. Thomas (Summa, 2a 2ae, Quaest. 189, art. 7) +gives the reply of St. Jerome, "This virtue is uncommon and desired by +comparatively few"; and then adds, "This fear is just as foolish as +that of one who hesitates to take a drink of water, for fear of drying +up the river." + +Can it be said, then, that every boy and girl, with the exception +noted by St. Paul, is advised and exhorted to preserve virginal +chastity throughout life? To understand aright the answer to this +question, we must remember that there are two general courses of life, +the married and the unmarried, open to all; every person necessarily +being found in the one or the other. And each individual of the race +is privileged to make a free and voluntary choice of either condition; +no one having the right to interfere with this personal liberty, by +forbidding or prescribing wedlock to any properly qualified person. + +Both these states have been created by God, and both are His gifts to +man. The nuptial tie, elevated to the dignity of a sacrament, is +likened by St. Paul to the union existing between Christ and the +Church. "A prudent wife," says the Book of Proverbs (xix: 14), "is +properly from the Lord." Whoever marries "in the Lord" performs a +virtuous act, and the Church, to show her appreciation and approbation +of it, invests the wedding contract with a rich and hallowed +ceremonial. They, then, who wed do something pleasing to God; but they +who, for virtue's sake, forego their natural right of marrying, make +an offering still more grateful to Him. + +This is the doctrine in the abstract. But in its application to +individual cases we find some so situated, so hampered by their own +temperament and disposition, or by actual conditions about them, that +a life of perfect continence seems impracticable for them. One, for +instance, who yearns for the safety and seclusion of the cloister, and +yet sees its doors closed against him for some reason, feels himself +constrained to take refuge from the storm and stress of the world in +the sanctuary of marriage. On such persons the Creator does not impose +a burden above their strength. Wishing us to be happy and content even +in this life, as well as the next, He asks of us here only a +"reasonable service." + +Guided by these principles, the great majority of the faithful in all +ages have deemed it prudent and expedient for them to marry. And the +wisdom and prudence of their choice God approves and commends. For His +Providence manifests itself to us in all the events and circumstances +of life, dwelling alike in the fall of the leaf and the roll of the +wave, and speaking to our hearts by the voice of all creatures. While, +then, external or internal impediments may prevent some from +hearkening to Christ's call, and their own will may deter others, His +invitation of _itself_ does not exclude any; it is general, ever +waiting for those able and willing to accept it. + +But does not a person have to feel a special call before binding +himself to perpetual chastity? To answer this let us suppose that one +is considering the advisability of daily attendance at Mass or of +total abstinence from intoxicating liquor. In themselves these are +good works and under proper advice a person might engage himself to +their performance. Grace would be required for them, as for every +other act of supernatural virtue, but no one would say that to assume +such obligations a special call from heaven is prerequisite. Now, +chastity is governed by the same laws as other virtues, by the same +laws as mortification, alms-deeds and works of charity. Every virtuous +act requires two things, the grace and the will to cooperate with the +grace; and these two are also the only requisites for the exercise of +continence; a special inspiration being no more necessary for it than +for perpetual abstinence from meat or spirituous liquors. + +Lifelong virginity is, of course, a higher, nobler and more +far-reaching virtue than the others mentioned, but it involves no +special personal call. If this were required, in addition to the +general invitation of Scripture, the doctrine of the Fathers that all +are invited could scarcely be true. If all are invited, then he who +wishes must have the power to accept the invitation. If two calls +are necessary, one general and the other particular, he who has only +the first may be said to have only half an invitation, which seems +very absurd, and certainly is contrary to the practically unanimous +teaching of the Fathers. + +St. Thomas tells us: "We should accept the words of Christ which are +given in Scripture as if we heard them from the mouth of Christ. . . . +The counsel (to perfection) is to be followed by each one not less +than if it came from the Lord's mouth to each one personally. (Opusc. +17, c. 9.) And even granted that the devil urges one to enter +religious life, it is a good work, and there is no danger in yielding +to his impulse." (Opusc. 17, c. 10.) + +Taking these words of the Angelic Doctor for our guidance, we realize +that the invitation and exhortation of St. Paul is general, that it +embraces all unmarried persons who feel the well-grounded hope within +them that with God's grace they can live up to it. + +We may go further and say that, as St. Paul was speaking not his own +doctrine, but the doctrine of Christ, which is unchangeable, it +applies equally to-day. So one who is convinced that no obstacle, +except his own will, prevents his acceptance of the Apostle's advice, +can readily imagine Christ standing before him and saying, "My child, +you should be more pleasing to Me were you to remain unmarried for My +sake." If Jesus Christ really stood before you, dear reader, and thus +addressed you, what would be your reply? There can be no doubt that it +would be prompt and in accordance with His wish. You would say, "If +God so loves me as to make a suggestion to me, as to sue for my +undivided heart, I shall be only too glad to give Him all I have, to +make any sacrifice for His sake." But God does speak thus, through the +mouth of the Apostle, to all who are "zealous for the better gifts." + +Now, what says your heart? Will it reject the special love Christ +offers? He says, "I give you the choice of two gifts, matrimony or +virginity; virginity is by far the more precious--but take which you +wish." Will you be so irresponsive as to reply, "Give me the lesser +gift; Thy best treasures and best love bestow on my companions"? + +Speak thus if you are so minded. God will love you still; but can you +be surprised if He cherish other generous souls more? Take or reject +virginity as you like. It is yours for the taking, but if you reject +it do not say, "I have no call, no invitation to the higher life." You +have the invitation now, in common with other Christians; and the +great-souled ones are they who accept it, for "many are called, but +few are chosen." + +It may now be asked whether what has been said about the observance of +chastity applies also to poverty and obedience. Spiritual writers tell +us that the full and entire evangelical life includes all these three +counsels, and that the principles on which one rests are common to +all. Christ in His call invites those who are not hindered by +insuperable obstacles, to follow Him in the practice of all the +counsels, the reason for all being the same, namely, to sacrifice +everything for His sake. It is evident, however, that there may be +more hindrances to the observance of all three counsels than to the +keeping of only one. Some religious orders, for example, on account of +their special work, may demand from applicants health, or youth, or +talent, or learning, or other qualifications, which every person does +not possess. For community life, too, a peaceable temper and agreeable +manners are usually necessary. Moreover, one may be so bound by +obligations of justice and charity to his parents or others, that he +cannot leave them. [2] The general principle, however, is fixed and +sure, that the clarion call to the practice of the counsels is in +itself general, and applicable to all who are not hindered by +circumstances or impediments from accepting it. No further special +invitation is necessary. You who are free have the invitation--take it +if you wish. + + +[1] This and similar references are to the Migne edition of the Greek +and Latin Fathers. + +[2] It may still be possible, however, for a person who is prevented +from entering community life, to practice the counsels while living in +the world. + + + +CHAPTER V + +DOES CHRIST WANT ME? + +Said a boy one day, "How in the world does a person ever know he is to +be a priest?" This little lad was a budding philosopher: he wanted to +know the reason of things. But many an older person has been puzzled +by the same question. Some boys and girls, having a distorted notion +of the nature of a vocation, imagine that Almighty God picks out +certain persons, without consulting them, and destines them for the +priesthood or religious life, whereas all other persons he excludes +from this privilege. In other words, they think God does it all. + +Of course, we know there is an overruling Providence, Who watches over +all His creatures, and particularly over His elect, distributing His +graces and favors as He wills, and bringing all things to their +appointed ends. If, for instance, a boy is blind, and for this reason +no religious congregation will accept him, it is apparent that God +does not design him for the religious life, though even for him the +private practice of the counsels might still be open. + +But we must not imagine that God settles everything in this world +independently of our free will. He wishes us not to steal, but we may, +if we choose, become thieves. Two boys of the same qualifications, let +us say, have the general invitation of the Scripture to a life of +perfection; they both have the same grace, which one accepts and the +other rejects. What makes the vocation in the one case? The action of +the boy himself in choosing to follow the invitation. And why has not +the other boy a vocation? Because he declines to correspond with the +grace. God does His part; He issues the call to all who are free from +impediment and hindrance. Any one who wishes can accept the call and +thus, in a sense, make his own vocation, for God's necessary help is +ever ready to hand for those who will use it. + +We may here remark that, while the practice of all virtue comes from +man's free will, it also springs in a higher and greater degree from +God, the author of grace. Without Him we can do nothing. "Who +distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received?" +asks St. Paul (I Cor. iv: 7). God's grace must necessarily precede and +accompany every supernatural action. In a very true sense, while a +religious may say: "I am such voluntarily of my own free choice," he +must also admit, "I am a religious by the grace of God, Who prepared +me, aided me by external and internal helps, enlightened my mind and +strengthened my will to embrace the life He designs for me." + +In much the same way, a daily communicant may say: "It is of my own +accord and wish that I receive daily, but it is God's predilection +that has prompted me to this design, given me the opportunity and +strength of purpose to carry it out, and keeps me faithful to it, so +that it is by His grace and Providence that I am a daily communicant." +Countless others could adopt the same practice, were they not too +sluggish or indifferent to ask for or correspond with the grace of +doing so. + +Most ordinary vocations have several stages of development. Very many +persons, with all the qualities required for the evangelical life, and +unimpeded by any obstacle, begin to consider, under the influence of +grace, the advisability of embracing that kind of life. This may be +called the remote stage of a vocation. One who finds himself in this +condition of mind, if he prays for light and guidance, is faithful to +duty and generous in the service of God, may be enabled by a further +enlightenment of grace to perceive that this life is best for him, and +consequently that it will be more pleasing to God for him to adopt it, +and finally he may decide to do so. Such a one has a proximate +vocation, the only further step required being to carry out his +purpose. This decision, be it observed, is the result of the action of +his free will, aided by efficacious grace, which is a mark of God's +special love. + +A little illustration may assist us to get a clearer idea of the +matter. Suppose Christ were to walk into your class-room, how would He +act? Would He pick out four or five pupils and say, "I wish you to be +religious, the others I do not want, and I forbid them such +aspirations?" Do you think our loving, gentle Redeemer would speak in +this harsh way? And yet some good, but ill-informed Christians think +this a faithful representation of God's method of action in this +important matter. + +How, then, would Christ really address the class? He would say, "My +dear children, I want as many of you as possible to follow closely in +My footsteps, to become perfect. I should be glad to have all of you, +who are not prevented by some insuperable obstacle, such as +ill-health, lack of talent, home difficulties, or extreme giddiness +of character. I hope to have a large number of volunteers." How many +children in that class-room, do you think, would joyfully hold up +their hands, and beg Him to take them? + +Now, this is truly the way God acts with the individual soul. He comes +to it perhaps not once only but repeatedly, and makes the general +offer, using for this purpose the living voice of His minister, or the +written page, or a prompting impulse from within. And when God's +desire is so manifested, all that the soul needs is to cooperate with +grace, if it will. + +That this interpretation of the general call of Scripture to a higher +life is in accord with sound doctrine, we can perceive from St. +Thomas, who says that the resolution of entering the religious state, +whether it comes from the general invitation of Scripture or an +internal impulse, is to be approved. And in his "Catena Aurea," +commenting on St. Matt. xix, he quotes St. Chrysostom, who holds that +"the reason all do not take Christ's advice is because they do not +wish to do so." The words "to whom it is given," according to this +Greek father, show that "unless we received the help of grace, the +exhortation would profit us nothing. But this help of grace is not +denied to those who wish it." + +This is also the teaching of St. Ignatius in his "Spiritual +Exercises," where he designates three occasions in which to elect a +state of life: the first, when God appeals to the soul in some +extraordinary way; the second, when grace moves the heart by +consolation and desolation, and the third, when the soul without any +special motion of grace, "that is, when not agitated by diverse +spirits, makes use of its natural powers" to elect the state of life +which seems best suited to the praise of God and the salvation of +one's soul. Evidently a vocation decided in the last-mentioned time, +implies no special call beyond the general scriptural invitation and +the determination to accept it. + +Some one may ask how it is then that so many virtuous boys and girls, +endowed with all needful qualifications, prompt and ready to respond +to the suggestions of grace, yet have no efficacious desire of the +higher life. It is not for us to search into the secrets of hearts, +nor to penetrate into the mystery of grace and free-will. The Spirit +breatheth where He wills, and God distributes to each man his own +proper gift. But, at least, one thing seems certain, that many fail to +recognize God's will, because they expect it to be manifested in some +extraordinary or palpable manner. Perhaps, too, they have +prepossessions against it, they have already marked out their own +career, they never think about the counsels, or pray for guidance. If +all our young people only realized that Christ's invitation is general +and meant for them, provided no impediment exist, and they wish to +embrace it; if at the same time they kept their hearts free from +worldly amusements, and applied themselves to prayer and self-control, +volunteers in greater number would rally to Christ's standard. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"I FEEL NO ATTRACTION" + +Some boys and girls, with hearts of gold, have often said: "I feel no +attraction for the higher life. I appreciate it, admire it, and yet I +fear it is not for me, as I have no inclination to it. If God wanted +me, He would so perceptibly draw me to Him that there could be no +mistaking His designs." + +Almighty God is wonderful in His ways, and He "draws all things to +Himself," but by methods varying as the temperaments and +characteristics of the human soul. Sometimes He speaks to His chosen +ones in thunder tones, as when He struck down St. Paul from his horse, +on the road to Damascus, saying from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why +persecutest thou me? . . . It is hard for thee to kick against the +goad." (Acts ix: 4.) Again He speaks in gentle accents, as to St. +Matthew, the publican, when he sat at his door taking customs, saying +to him, "Follow me!" At other times He seems silent and indifferent, +standing quietly by, letting reason and conscience argue within us, +and point out our line of action. + +There is what is called vocation by attraction, and also such a thing +as vocation by conviction. Some of the great saints from earliest +childhood felt a strong, irresistible charm in the higher life; they +were drawn by the golden chain of love to the cloister. "I have never +in my life," said a boy, "thought of being anything but a religious." +Some young people have no difficulty in making up their minds to +follow Christ, their whole bent of thought and character being for the +nobler life. Like Stanislaus, they ever say, "I was born for higher +things." It was such a precocious disposition of heart that led St. +Teresa to foreshadow her saintly career when, as a little girl, she +ran away from home to become a hermit. + +But feeling is not always a trustworthy guide, either in temporal or +spiritual matters; reason, slow but sure, is generally much safer. You +feel the fascination of worldly things, of company and society, fine +clothes, luxuries and comforts, the dazzling stage of life with its +applause of men. Is that a sign God destines you for worldly vanities? +Quite the contrary, for all Christians are warned against the +seductions of the world and the flesh; and the life of the counsels is +essentially a constant struggle with nature and its allurements. "The +kingdom of heaven," we are told, "suffers violence, and the violent +bear it away." + +If the following of Christ were easy and agreeable to the senses, +where would be the merit and reward of it? Just in proportion as it +involves effort and the overcoming of natural repugnance, does it +become high and sublime. "Do not think," says Our Lord (Matt. x: 34), +"that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but +the sword. For I came to set a man at variance with his father, and +the daughter with her mother. . . . He that loveth father or mother +more than me, is not worthy of me." + +Natural antipathy then to the higher life, far from indicating that +God does not want us, merely shows that the inferior powers of the +soul are striving against the superior. In fact, when this aversion +becomes pronounced, it is sometimes evidence of a keen strife going on +within us between nature and grace, which could scarcely happen unless +grace were endeavoring to gain the mastery by winning us to Christ. + +"But," it may be objected, "if nature rebels, does not God always give +a counter supernatural attraction to those whom He calls, so as to +smooth the way before them?" Certainly God gives the necessary grace +to perform good actions, but grace is not always accompanied by +sensible consolation. Suppose a boy is chided by his parents for a +fault and he is tempted to deny it; but overcoming the suggestion he +admits his wrong-doing and expresses sorrow for it. In this he acts +bravely and with no sense of accompanying satisfaction, since the pain +of his parents' displeasure is so keen as to overcome for the moment +any other feeling. His action is prompted simply by the conviction of +duty. + +Accordingly, if a young man knows and clearly sees that he has every +qualification for the religious life, and has even been told so by a +competent adviser; if he has sufficient talent and learning, a steady +disposition and virtuous habits, and the persuasion that the duties of +this state are not above his strength; in short, if he is convinced +that there is no obstacle, save his own will, between him and the +higher life, can he truly say, "I feel no inclination to such a +career, and therefore, I have no vocation"? Such a person, of course, +is free to say, "I will not enter religion," because there is no +obligation incumbent upon him to this state, but he cannot justly say +that God withholds from him the opportunity or invitation to do so. He +has already what is called a remote vocation, as was explained in the +fifth chapter, and what he needs is a clearer vision and alacrity of +will, which he may have good hope of obtaining by earnest prayer and a +generous and insistent offering of self to the disposal of the Divine +good pleasure. For Our Lord Himself tells us: "All things whatsoever +you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall +come unto you." (Mark xi: 24.) + +Remove then, my dear young friend, from your mind that false and +pernicious notion, which has been destructive of so many incipient +vocations, that because you feel no supernatural inclination or +sensible attraction, you are not called of God. + +In general, it is sufficient that the aspirant to religious life be +free from impediments, and be desirous of entering it. For eligibility +to a particular religious congregation the applicant must be fit, that +is, he must have the gifts or endowments of mind, heart and body which +that institute demands; his desire to enter must be based on good and +solid motives drawn from reason and faith, and he must have the firm +resolve to persevere in the observance of the rule. When to this +subjective capacity is added the acceptance of the candidate by a +lawful superior, his vocation becomes complete. + +The requisites, then, are three, two on the part of the applicant, +namely, fitness and an upright intention, and one on the part of the +superior, the acceptance or call. Nothing more, nothing less is +required. If any one of these three essentials is wanting, there is no +vocation to that particular institute. + +It is worthy of observation, however, that these qualifications of the +applicant need be fully evident only towards the end of the novitiate, +when the time comes for taking the vows and assuming the obligations. +To enter the noviceship, as a rule, much less is required, though even +for this preparatory step a person must have the serious intention of +trying the life and discovering whether it is suitable to him, and +there should be a reasonable prospect of his developing the needful +qualifications. + +For spiritual directors, then, to regard a vocation as something +exceeding rare and intricate, to subject the candidate and his +conscience to searching and critical analysis, to harassing +cross-examination and prolonged tests, as though he were a criminal +entertaining a fell project, to endeavor to probe into the secret +workings of grace within him, is only to cloud in fatal obscurity an +otherwise very simple subject. + +A high-souled youth or maiden may still be deterred by the thought, "I +now see that I have all the necessary qualifications for the higher +life, and hence may embrace it if I choose, but I fear it will be too +difficult for me to carry the yoke without sensible devotion or +consolation." In answer to this, we must remember that a hundredfold +in this world and life everlasting in the next are promised to those +who leave all to follow Christ. In this hundredfold are included many +privileges and favors bestowed by God upon His chosen spouses. Make +the effort, overcome nature, decide to embrace God's offer, and you +will find yourself overwhelmed by a deluge of spiritual consolations, +which God has been withholding from you to try your generosity and +courage; you will experience the truth of Christ's words, "My yoke is +sweet, and my burden light." Sensible consolations, in fact, nearly +always follow the performance of a virtuous act, but seldom do they +precede it. A hungry person, before sitting down to table, may feel +cross and out of humor, but as soon as he begins to partake of the +generous viands a feeling of genial content and satisfaction with all +the world steals over him. + +It would, of course, be an error for any one to think that of his own +natural powers he could observe the counsels; since this, being a +supernatural work, demands strength above nature. But he who feels +helpless of himself, should place his entire trust and confidence in +God's grace and assistance, saying, with the Apostle, "I can do all +things in him who strengthened me" (Ph. iv: 13). + +Come, then, to the banquet prepared for you by the great King. Regale +yourself with the spiritual viands set before you, and not only will +you be strengthened to do God's will, but transported beyond measure +with spiritual delights. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"SUPPOSE I MAKE A MISTAKE?" + +A young man once exclaimed to a friend, "Suppose I make a mistake! I +could not bear the disgrace of leaving a religious order after +entering it." Having wrestled with this thought for some time, he +finally determined to try the religious life, with the result that +after taking the habit, he was too happy to dream of ever laying it +aside. + +However, it is not wrong, but highly prudent, for any one to consider +whether he has the courage and constancy to persevere. Religious life +is not a pathway of roses. It is meant only for true men and valiant +women, not for soft, languid characters, nor for fickle minds, which +change as a weather vane. Marriage also is a serious step, for it +brings much "tribulation of the flesh," and so he who would enter on +it must earnestly consider whether he can live up to the obligations +it entails. But because marriage has many cares and responsibilities, +is that a prohibitive reason against embracing it? A soldier's life, +too, is hard, and a farmer's; in fact, all pursuits and vocations in +this world have their sombre side. But he who would win success in any +career must be ready "with a heart for any fate" to meet and overcome +all the trials and hardships that await him. + +On one occasion Our Lord made use of the following parable (Luke xiv: +28): "Which of you having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit +down and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have +wherewithal to finish it: lest after he hath laid the foundation, and +is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, saying, +'This man began to build and was not able to finish'?" This parable +Our Lord seems to apply to those who have the call to the Faith, and +He concludes with the words, "So likewise every one of you that doth +not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple." + +But His advice is also applicable to one who contemplates a closer +following of Christ by the pathway of the counsels. Certainly, by all +means, deliberate before taking any step of importance in this world. +Never act on inconsiderate impulse in any matter of moment, but weigh +carefully the obligations you are to assume, and consider whether you +have sufficient strength of character to persevere in any good work +you are undertaking. + +Still, when all is said and done, it remains true that timidity is not +prudence, nor cowardice caution. Nothing great was ever accomplished +in this world without courage. Prudence and caution may be overdone, +and easily degenerate into sloth and inactivity. In a battle he who +hesitates is lost, and life is the sharpest of conflicts. Had Columbus +wavered, he would not have discovered America. Close followers of +Christ must be brave and noble souls, willing to risk all, to +sacrifice all in the service of their leader. If you are excessively +timid and fearful of making a misstep in your every action, it is a +fault of character, and unless you overcome it you will never do great +things for yourself or others. + +When reason and conscience point the way, plunge boldly forward, +trusting to the Lord for all the necessary helps you may need to carry +out your designs. He will never desert you when once you enlist under +His flag. When it comes to "supposing," there is no end to the +dreadful things that _might_ happen, but never _will_. Little children +have a game called "supposing," each one making his supposition in +turn, but even they do not anticipate that their creations of fancy +will ever prove true. A man once said: "I have lived forty years, and +have had many troubles, but most of them never happened," meaning that +he had often anticipated and dreaded evils which never came to pass. + +Let us, however, grant that occasionally a novice leaves his order: is +that such a disgrace? By no means; he, at least, deserves credit for +attempting the higher life. He is far more courageous than many +Christians who are too timorous even to try. After all, what is a +novitiate for, if not to discover whether the candidate has the +requisite qualities? And judicious superiors will be the first to +advise a young man or woman to leave, if he or she has wandered into +the wrong place. + +There is, moreover, a danger on the opposite side that wavering souls +often fail to take into account. What if they make a mistake by not +entering religious life? Is it better to err on the side of generosity +to God, or on the side of pusillanimity? If one make a mistake by +entering religion he can easily retrace his steps before it is too +late, but once he commits himself to worldly obligations, he can +seldom break their fetters; and many a man, when overwhelmed with the +cares and anxieties of life, has regretted, when all too late, that he +had not hearkened to the voice of grace that invited him to the calm +and peace of the cloister. + +St. Ignatius thus forcibly expresses the same thought: "More certain +signs are required to decide that God wills one to remain in the +secular state, than that He wishes him to enter on the way of the +counsels, for the Lord so openly urged the counsels, while He insisted +on the great dangers of the other state." (Directory, c. 23.) + +The devil, who employs every ruse to wreck a vocation, has one +favorite stratagem, which unfortunately succeeds only too often. When +he cannot induce a person to give up entirely the idea of following +Christ closely, he frequently induces him, under a variety of +pretexts, to postpone its execution. If he can get the person to wait, +to delay, he feels he has scored a victory, for thus he will have +ample opportunity to lure his victim to a love of the world, to +present the vanities of life in such enticing colors, as finally to +withdraw him altogether from his first purpose. This disaster, +unfortunately, is only too common, and many a one finds out, to his +cost, that unseasonable delay has destroyed in him the spiritual +savor, and made shipwreck of his vocation. + +If, then, you see clearly it is best for you to tread the pathway of +the counsels, go boldly on without delay or hesitation, and if +difficulties loom big before you, they will fade away at your +approach, like the fog before the sun; or, if they remain, you will be +surprised at the ease with which you will vanquish them, for when the +Lord is with you, who will be against you? You will be guarded against +possible rashness in choosing the higher life by consulting a prudent +director or confessor, at least, so far as to get his approval of the +step you propose to take. For the knowledge such a one has of the +secrets of your conscience gives him a specially favorable opportunity +to judge whether you have the virtue and determination of character to +persevere in the pathway of the counsels. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"THE WORLD NEEDS ME" + +Some young people endeavor to persuade themselves that as the world +needs good men, they can better serve Church and State by remaining in +the secular life. The world, of course, does need good men and women, +and it has them, too; but even if there were a dearth of good +Christian laymen, is that any reason for you to refuse God's +invitation and sacrifice your own spiritual advancement and happiness +in order to help others? Our first duty is to ourselves. Are we to be +so enamored of benefiting others as to forego God's special love, and +to rest satisfied with a lower place in heaven? God invites you to +Him, and you turn away to devote yourselves to others, who perhaps +care little for you, and will profit less by your example. + +And, moreover, once absorbed in the business and cares of life, you +may find yourself, like most others, so preoccupied in your own +personal advancement, in providing for yourself and those dependent on +you, that scarce a thought remains for the interests of your neighbor. +And thus your initial high resolve may soon sink to the low level of +beneficent effort you see in others. Selfishness, to a large extent, +rules in the world, and how can you promise yourself that you will +escape its grasp? He certainly is rash who thinks he can, +single-handed, contend against the world and its spirit. + +No doubt many men and women of the world are devout Christians, and in +a thousand ways spread about them the good odor of Christ. Countless +brave Christian soldiers, upright statesmen, kings and peasants, +matrons and maids, are the pride of Christianity for what they have +done and dared in behalf of their neighbor. All honor to the virtuous +laity throughout the world to-day, who by their edifying lives, their +sacrifices for the faith, their unwearying industry, and fidelity to +Mother Church, are sanctifying their own souls, and assisting others +by example, counsel and charitable deed. + +But for every layman that has distinguished himself by heroic devotion +to the welfare of his neighbor, many religious could be mentioned who +have done the same. We have all heard of Father Damien, who banished +himself to the isle of Molokai, where the outcast lepers of the +Sandwich Islands had been herded to rot and die; and there taking up +his abode, soon changed the lepers, who were living like wild beasts, +without law or morality, into gentle and fervent Christians. Having no +priest as a companion, he on one occasion rowed out to a passing +steamer, which was not allowed to land, to make his confession to a +bishop aboard. And while he sat in his row boat, because forbidden to +climb into the vessel, and shouted his sins to the bishop on the deck +above, the passengers looking curiously on, he certainly must have +been a spectacle to men and angels. And his sacrifice became complete +when he contracted the leprosy from his people, and thus gave up his +life for his flock. + +Nor is this a solitary instance of such magnanimity. A short time ago, +when a Canadian bishop entered a convent and called for volunteers to +start a leper hospital, every nun stood up to offer her services. You +have heard of the great Apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier, who +is said to have baptized more than a million pagans. St. Teresa, the +mystic, was not prevented by her cloister and her ecstacies from +helping her neighbor, for she founded a large number of convents, both +for men and women. Blessed Margaret Mary was only a simple nun in the +Visitation Convent of Paray-le-Monial, yet God chose her to make known +and spread the great devotion of the Sacred Heart, a devotion which +has brought more comfort and consolation to sorrowing humanity than +the combined philanthropic efforts of a century. God took a gay +cavalier, whose only ambition was to wear foppish clothes and thrum a +guitar, made him into a friar, and bade him found the great Franciscan +Order, whose glorious works for mankind cannot be enumerated. + +And if we ponder the nature of religious life, the marvels +accomplished by simple religious cease to astonish us. One who devotes +the major portion of his time and attention to a definite object will +certainly attain great results. Now, most religious seek their own +sanctification in concentrating their energies on the welfare of their +neighbor, in ever studying, working, planning for his betterment. The +love of God, as shown in charity to others, is the absorbing purpose +of their life. On the other hand, the man of the world must generally +care first and foremost for himself and family, and only the time he +has left, incidentally as it were, can he bestow upon others. + +This point is thus forcibly expressed by St. Paul (I Cor. vii: 32-34): +"He who is unmarried is solicitous for the things of the Lord, how he +may please God. But he who is married is solicitous for the things of +the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided. And the +woman, unmarried and a virgin, thinketh on the things of the Lord, +that she may be holy in body and soul. But she who is married, +thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband." + +The works of the religious orders are varied and numerous. Some care +for the outcasts of society, some for the sick or the old, the orphan +and the homeless; others, leaving the comforts and conveniences of +modern life, cheerfully face the danger and hardships of remotest +lands to bring the light of the Gospel to pagan nations. More than a +million Chinese to-day are fervent Christians, and to whom do they owe +their faith under God? To religious missionaries. The Benedictines of +old spent their lives in the pursuit of learning, and in teaching +barbarous tribes the art of husbandry. The glorious Knights Templar +were a militant order; and the members of the Order of the Blessed +Trinity for the redemption of captives, the first to wear our national +colors of freedom, the red, white and blue, sold themselves into +slavery for the release of others. Scarcely a want or need of the +human race has not been provided for by some religious body. + +But probably the most common pursuit of religious bodies in our day is +teaching. Hundreds of thousands of religious men and women, in all +lands whence they are not banished, spend their lives in the +class-room. And the reason for this preference is the extraordinary +demand for schools in every direction. The young must be taught, and +Holy Mother Church knows only too well that religious training must +be woven into the fibre of secular learning if we would not have a +conscienceless and irreligious generation. So she issues her stirring +appeal for volunteer teachers, and a vast multitude of religious have +responded in solid phalanx. Some one has said that if all the +sisterhoods were taken out of our schools in the United States, we +should soon have to close half our churches. + +Religious, then, are carrying on vast and important works for the +benefit of the Church and society. Many other services which they +render might be mentioned, such as preaching and hearing confessions, +the publication of books and periodicals, the cultivation of the arts, +science, literature and theology. But enough has been said to show +that they are leading a strenuous life, and that boy or maid, who is +emulous of heart-stirring deeds, could scarcely find a more propitious +field of action than in the religious state. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MUST I ACCEPT THE INVITATION? + +It is not the purpose of the writer to exaggerate, to frighten or +coerce persons into religious life, by holding out threats of God's +displeasure to those who refuse, or by citing examples of those whose +careers were blighted through failure to heed the Divine call. It is +His desire rather to imitate Christ's manner of action, portraying the +beauty and excellence of virtue, and then leaving it to the promptings +of aspiring hearts to follow the leadings of grace. + +Christ, all mildness and meekness as He was, uttered terrible +denunciations against sin and the false leaders of the people; but +nowhere do we read that He denounced or threatened those who failed to +accept His tender and loving call to the life of perfection. To draw +men's hearts He used not compulsion, but the lure of kindness and +affection. + +Our Lord sometimes commanded and sometimes counselled and between +these there is a difference. When a command is given by lawful +superiors it must be obeyed, and that under penalty. God gave the +commandments amidst thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai, and those +commandments, as precepts of the natural law, or because corroborated +in the New Testament, persist in the main to-day, and any one who +violates them, refuses to keep them, is guilty of disobedience to God, +commits a sin. But when Christ proclaimed the counsels, He was merely +giving advice or exhortation, and hence no one was obliged to follow +them under pain of His displeasure. Suppose a mother has two sons, who +both obey exactly her every command, and one also takes her advice in +a certain matter, while the other does not; she will love the second +not less, but the first more. So of two boys, who are both favorites +of God, if one accept and the other decline a proffered vocation, He +will love the latter as before, but the former how much more tenderly! + +Moreover, God loves the cheerful giver. By doing, out of an abundance +of charity and fervor, what you are not obliged to do, you gain ampler +merit for yourself, since you perform more than your duty, and at the +same time you give greater glory to God, showing that He has willing +children, who bound their service to Him by no bargaining +considerations of weight and measure. But if, through fear of threat +or punishment, you make an offering to God, your gift loses, to an +extent, the worth and spontaneity of a heart-token. + +Some think that not to accept the invitation to the counsels, is to +show disregard and contempt for God's grace and favor, and hence +sinful. But how does a young person act when he declines this +proffered gift? He equivalently says, with tears in his eyes, "My +Saviour, I appreciate deeply Thy invitation to the higher life; I envy +my companions who are so courageous as to follow Thy counsel; but, +please be not offended with me if I have not the courage to imitate +their example. I beg Thee to let me serve Thee in some other way." Is +there anything of contempt in such a reply? No more than if a child +would tearfully pray its mother not to send it into a dark room to +fetch something; and as such a mother, instead of insisting on her +request, would only kiss away her child's tears, so will God treat one +who weeps because he cannot muster courage to tread closely in His +blood-stained footsteps. + +The young have little relish for argumentative quotations and texts, +but it may interest them to know that Saints Basil, Chrysostom, +Gregory Nazianzen, Cyprian, Augustine and other Fathers all speak in a +similar strain, holding that, as a vocation is a free gift or counsel, +it may be declined without sin. [1] The great Theologians, St. Thomas, +Suarez, Bellarmine and Cornelius a Lapide also agree on this point. + +But putting aside the question of sin, we must admit that one who +clearly realizes that the religious life is best for him and +consequently more pleasing to God, would, by neglecting to avail +himself of this grace, betray a certain ungenerosity of soul and a +lack of appreciation of spiritual things, in depriving himself of a +gift which would be the source of so many graces and spiritual +advantages. + +Do not, then, dear reader, embrace the higher life merely from motives +of fear--which were unworthy an ingenuous child of God--but rather to +please the Divine Majesty. You are dear to Him, dearer than the +treasures of all the world. He loves you so much that He died for you, +and now He asks you in return to nestle close to His heart, where He +may ever enfold His arms about you, and lavish his blandishments upon +your soul. Will you come to Him, your fresh young heart still sweet +with the dew of innocence, and become His own forevermore? Will you +say farewell to creatures, and rest upon that Bosom whose love and +tenderness for you is high as the stars, wide as the universe, and +deep as the sea? Come to the tender embraces of your heavenly spouse, +and heaven will have begun for you on earth. + + +[1] The hypothetical case, sometimes mentioned by casuists, of one who +is convinced that for him salvation outside of religion is impossible, +can here safely be passed over as unpractical for young readers. + + + +CHAPTER X + +I AM TOO YOUNG + +Many a young person, when confronted with the thought of his vocation, +puts it out of mind, with the off-hand remark, "Oh, there is plenty of +time to consider that; I am too young, and have had no experience of +the world." This method of procedure is summary, if not judicious, and +it meets with the favor of some parents, who fear, as they think, to +lose their children. It was also evidently highly acceptable to +Luther, who is quoted by Bellarmine as teaching that no one should +enter religious life until he is seventy or eighty years of age. + +In deciding a question of this nature, however, we should not allow +our prepossessions to bias our judgment, nor take without allowance +the opinion of those steeped in worldly wisdom, but lacking in +spiritual insight. Father William Humphrey, S.J., in his edition of +Suarez's "Religious Life" (page 49), says: "Looking merely to _natural +law_, it is lawful at any age freely to offer oneself to the perpetual +service of God. There is no natural principle by which should be fixed +any certain age for such an act." + +Christ did not prescribe any age for those who wished to enter His +special service, and He rebuked the apostles for keeping children from +Him, saying, "Let the little ones come unto Me." And St. Thomas +(Summa, 2a 2ae, Quaest. 189, art. 5), quotes approvingly the comment +of Origen on this text, viz.: "We should be careful lest in our +superior wisdom we despise the little ones of the Church and prevent +them from coming to Jesus." And speaking in the same article of St. +Gregory's statement that the Roman nobility offered their sons to St. +Benedict to be brought up in the service of God, the Angelic Doctor +approves this practice on the principle that "it is good for a man to +bear the yoke from his youth," and adds that it is in accord with the +usual "custom of setting boys to the duties and occupations in which +they are to spend their life." + +The remark concerning St. Benedict recalls to mind the interesting +fact that in olden times, not only boys of twelve and fourteen became +little monks, but that children of three, four or five years of age +were brought in their parents' arms and dedicated to the monasteries. +According to the "Benedictine Centuries," "the reception of a child in +those days was almost as solemn as a profession in our own. His +parents carried him to the church. Whilst they wrapped his hand, which +held the petition, in the sacred linen of the altar, they promised, in +the presence of God and His saints, stability in his name." These +children remained during infancy and childhood within the monastery +enclosure, and on reaching the age of fourteen, they were given the +choice of returning home, if they preferred, or of remaining for life. +[1] + +The discipline of the Church, which as a wise Mother, she modifies to +suit the exigencies of time and place, is somewhat different in our +day. The ordinary law now prohibits religious profession before the +age of sixteen; and the earliest age at which subjects are commonly +admitted is fifteen. Orders which accept younger candidates, in order +to train and prepare them for reception, cannot, as a rule, clothe +them with the habit. A very recent decree also requires clerical +students to have completed four years' study of Latin before admission +as novices into any order. + +Persons who object to early entrance into religion seem to forget that +the young have equal rights with their elders to personal +sanctification, and to the use of the means afforded for this purpose +by the Church. It is now passed into history, how some misguided +individuals forbade frequent Communion to the faithful at large, and +altogether excluded from the Holy Table children under twelve or +fourteen, and this notwithstanding the plain teaching of the Council +of Trent to the contrary. To correct the error, the Holy See was +obliged to issue decrees on the subject, which may be styled the +charter of Eucharistic freedom for all the faithful, and especially +for children. As the Eucharist is not intended solely for the mature +or aged, so neither is religious life meant only for the decrepit, or +those who have squandered youth and innocence. Its portals are open to +all the qualified, and particularly to the young, who wish to bring +not a part of their life only, but the _whole_ of it, along with +youthful enthusiasm and generosity, to God's service. + +How many young religious have attained heroic sanctity which would +never have been theirs had religion been closed against them by an +arbitrary or unreasonable age restriction! A too rigid attitude on +this point would have barred those patrons of youth, Aloysius, +Stanislaus Kostka and Berchmans, from religion and perhaps even from +the honors of the altar. St. Thomas, the great theological luminary of +the Church, was offered to the Benedictines when five years old, and +he joined the Dominicans at fifteen or sixteen; and St. Rose of Lima +made a vow of chastity at five. The Lily of Quito, Blessed Mary Ann, +made the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience before her +tenth birthday, and the Little Flower was a Carmelite at fifteen. And +uncounted others, who lived and died in the odor of sanctity, +dedicated themselves by vow to the perpetual service of God, while +still in the fragrance and bloom of childhood or youth. + +"What a pity!" some exclaim, when a youth or maid enters religion. +"How much better for young people to wait a few years and see +something of the world, so they will know what they are giving up." +This is ever the comment of the worldly spirit, which aims to crush +out entirely spiritual aspirations, and failing in that, to delay +their fulfilment indefinitely. And yet the wise do not reason +similarly in other matters. One who proposes to cultivate a marked +musical talent is never advised to try his hand first at carpentering +or tailoring, that he may make an intelligent choice between them. Nor +is a promising law student counselled to spend several years in the +study of engineering and dentistry, to avoid making a possible +mistake. Why then wish a youth, of evident religious inclination, to +mingle in the frivolity and gayeties of the world, with the certain +risk of imbibing its spirit and losing his spiritual relish? "He who +loves the danger," says the Scripture, "will perish in it." + +"Yet a vocation should first be tried, and if it cannot resist +temptation, it will never prove constant," is the worn but +oft-repeated reply. As if a parent would expose his boy to contagion to +discover whether his constitution be strong enough to resist it; or +place him in the companionship of the depraved to try his virtue and +see if it be proof against temptation. No, the tender sprout must be +carefully tended, and shielded from wind and storm, until it grows +into maturity. In like manner, a young person who desires to serve +God, should be placed in an atmosphere favorable to the development of +his design, and guarded from sinister influence, until he has acquired +stability of purpose and strength of virtue. + +There was once in Rome an attractive Cardinal's page of fourteen who +possessed a sunny and lively disposition. On a solemn occasion his +hasty temper led him to resent the action of another page, and +straightway there was a fight. Immediately, the decorous retinue was +thrown into confusion, and the Cardinal felt himself disgraced. Peter +Ribadeneira, for this was the page's name, did not wait for +developments, he foresaw what was coming and fled. Not knowing where +to go, he bethought himself of one who was everybody's friend, +Ignatius of Loyola, and with soiled face, torn lace and drooping +plume, he presented himself before him. Ignatius received him with +open arms, and placed him among the novices. Poor Peter had a hard +time in the novitiate, as his caprices and boisterousness were always +bringing him into trouble. But when grave Fathers frowned, and the +novices were scandalized, Peter was ever sure of sympathy and +forgiveness from Ignatius, who, in the end, was gratified to see the +boy develop into an able, learned and holy religious. Peter's vocation +was occasioned by his fight, certainly an unpropitious beginning, but +he must have ever been grateful that, when he applied to Ignatius, he +was not turned away until he had become older and more sedate. + +Parents or spiritual directors, who, under the pretext of trying a +vocation, put off for two or three years an aspirant who seems dowered +with all necessary qualities, can scarcely justify themselves in the +eyes of God, such a method being calculated to destroy, not prove, a +vocation. To detain for a few months, however, one who conceives a +sudden notion to enter religion, for the purpose of discovering +whether his intention is serious, and not merely a passing whim, is +only in accordance with the ordinary rules of prudence. In connection +with this point, the words of bluff and hearty St. Jerome, who never +seemed to grow old or lose the buoyancy of youth, are often quoted. +Giving advice to one whom he wished to quit the world, he wrote, "Wait +not even to untie the rope that holds your boat at anchor--cut it." +(M. P. L., t. 26, c. 549.) And Christ's reply to the young man, whom +He had invited to follow Him, and who asked leave to go first and bury +his father, was equally terse: "Let the dead bury their own dead." +(Luke ix: 60.) + +In a booklet entitled "Questions on Vocations," published in 1913, by +a Priest of the Congregation of the Mission, the question is asked, +"Do not a larger percentage persevere when subjects enter the +religious state late in life?" And the answer is given: "No; the +records of five of the largest communities of Sisters in the United +States show that a much larger percentage of subjects persevere among +those who enter between the ages of sixteen and twenty, than among +those who enter when they are older. When persons are twenty years of +age, or older, their characters are more set; their minds are less +pliable; it is harder to unbend and remould them. The young are more +readily formed to religious discipline." + +In concluding this chapter on the appropriate age for entrance into +religious life, it may be said that, after reaching the prescribed age +of fifteen, the sooner an otherwise properly qualified person enters +the nearer he seems to approach the ideals and traditionary practice +of the Church, and the better he will provide for his own spiritual +welfare. + + +[1] It would seem that for the space of two centuries, this freedom of +choice was not offered them. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PRIESTHOOD + +The High Priest of the New Law, St. Paul tells the Hebrews, is Christ. +And the Christian priesthood, which He instituted, is a participation +and extension of His office and ministry. The commemoration of the +same sacrifice which was once offered upon the cross for the sins of +the world is daily renewed on our altars from the rising to the +setting of the sun. The Christian priest, in the language of spiritual +writers, is "another Christ," taking His place amongst men, +perpetually renewing, as it were, the Incarnation in the Sacrifice of +the Mass, preaching the word, and applying the fruits of Redemption +through the channels of the sacraments. + +In common estimation, the dignity of a man is reckoned by the +character of the office he fills or the duties entrusted to him. +Judged by this standard, no worldly dignity can compare with that of +the priesthood, whose authority comes from God, and whose powers, +transcending earth, reach back to heaven. "Speak not of the royal +purple," says St. Chrysostom, "of diadems, of golden vestures--these +are but shadows, frailer than the flowers of spring, compared to the +power and privileges of the priesthood." + +And whence arises, we may ask, this incomparable dignity of the +priest? First of all, from his power to roll back the heavens, and +bring down upon the altar the Majesty of the Deity, attended by an +angelic train. "The Blessed Virgin," St. Vincent Ferrer informs us, +"opened heaven only once, the priest does so at every Mass." Exalted +is the sovereignty of kings who rule a nation, but more sublime the +power which commands the King of kings, and is obeyed. Who could +conceive, did not Faith teach it, that mortal man were capable of +elevation to such a pitch of glory? No wonder St. Chrysostom was +betrayed by this thought into the rhapsody: "When you behold the Lord +immolated and lying on the altar, and the priest standing over the +sacrifice and praying and all the people empurpled by that precious +blood, do you imagine that you are still on earth amongst men and not +rather rapt up to heaven?" + +The second great prerogative of the priest is to forgive sins. Christ +having one day said to a paralytic, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee" +(Luke v: 20), some of the bystanders marvelled, thinking within +themselves, "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Yea, truly is this +a Divine power, but these critics failed to comprehend the Divinity of +Christ, and that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth. +And His power to remit sins has descended to the priest, in the +imposition of hands. At Christ's will lepers were cleansed, and once +more felt the pulsation of health tingling through their veins; but +more wondrous still the word of the priest which causes the scales of +the leprosy of sin to fall from the stricken soul, and restores to it +the pristine vigor and beauty of sanctifying grace. As keeper of the +keys, the priest stands warder of heaven, locking or unlocking its +doors to the dust-begrimed pilgrims of earth. + +Sublime, then, is the priestly dignity, even beyond human +comprehension. But one thing we realize, and the saints with clearer +vision perceive, that high virtue is demanded of him whose life is +spent in the antechamber of heaven. St. Catharine of Sienna, in a +letter to one newly ordained, tells him, "The ministers whom the +Sovereign Goodness has chosen to be His Christs ought to be angels, +not men . . . they in truth discharge the office of angels." "What +purity," says a Father of the Church, "what piety shall we require of +a priest? Think what those hands ought to be which perform such a +ministry; what that tongue which pronounces those words." No sanctity +or purity of soul, then, is beyond the aspirations of one whose +heaven-born privilege it is to enter the Holy of Holies, to dispense +the mysteries of faith, and exercise the "ministry of reconciliation." + +A most important function of the ministry is the care of souls. +Christ's mission was to save; He was the Good Shepherd, who traveled +about preaching to the people, who were like "sheep without a +shepherd." And to His Apostles and their successors He gave the solemn +charge "to feed His lambs." And this injunction of the Divine Master +has been held sacred by the Church throughout its existence. Wherever +in the world to-day dwell true believers, there are to be found +priests to care for them. + +The priest is truly the father of the people committed to him. He must +become all things to all men, rejoicing with the joyful, and weeping +with the sorrowful. The infants he must receive into the Church, +generating in them the life of grace, guarding them as they grow up, +and instructing them in doctrine and discipline. To him the bridal +couple come for the nuptial benediction; and when sickness and trouble +and want invade the household it is to their father in Christ the +faithful look for support and encouragement. He is the consoler of +all, and he bears the burdens of all. And when the angel of death +hovers over his charge, the priest repairs to the bedside of the +departing one, to strengthen him for the last journey; and, finally, +when the soul has departed, he commits the body to hallowed ground, +there to await the resurrection. + +The priest, then, must be of heroic mould to satisfy the demands made +upon him; he must be ready to endure hunger and cold and weariness, +contradictions from within and without, labors by night and day. But +the Lord is his inheritance, and for His sake he is willing to endure +all the crosses and trials that bear upon him. How splendidly the +clergy of our country have responded to their responsibilities is +attested by the flourishing state of religion, by the magnificent +churches, the well-developed Catholic school system, and the numerous +other Church activities about us. Every thoroughly organized parish or +mission means the life of at least one priest sacrificed in its +formation--the commingling of his sweat and labors with the cement +that binds together its material and spiritual stones. But could a +life be better spent? What more fitting monument could be left to +posterity than a spiritual structure built on Christ and enduring as +the foundation on which it rests? + +Who, then, may aspire to the glorious career of the priesthood? Is it +open to all, or must one await the striking manifestation of the +Divine Will inviting him to it? Should he not say, "The priesthood is +too exalted for my weakness and unworthiness"? While humility is +laudable, it should not bar any one who has the requisite virtue and +talent, together with an upright intention, from entering this high +estate. Everything depends on one's qualifications and motives. Others +will pass judgment on the qualifications, but each one must scrutinize +his own motives. If a youth desires the priesthood for natural +reasons, to lead an easy life or one honorable in the eyes of men, to +attain fame or station, his motives are wrong, or at least, too +imperfect to carry him far on the rugged road before him. But if he be +swayed by supernatural desires, such as the service of God, his own +sanctification or the help of his neighbor, his ambition is +praiseworthy. One who is conscious, then, of rectitude of purpose and +hopeful with the divine assistance of living up to its obligations, +may aspire, without scruple, to the priesthood, the highest of +dignities and the greatest of careers open to man. + +One day our Lord, instructing His disciples before sending them to +preach His coming, said: "The harvest, indeed, is great, but the +laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he +send laborers into his harvest" (Luke x: 2). And this has been the cry +through all the ages--"Send laborers into the harvest!" The Church has +always needed good spiritual laborers, men and women, who would be +willing to work for God and their neighbor, to extend the Kingdom of +God, and this is true to-day of our own beloved country. A host of +spiritual laborers is scattered over our land, but the cry is ever +repeated, "We need more, the work is too great for our efforts, and +all the harvest is not being garnered." + +Will you, dear reader, make one more worker in God's field, one more +reaper of His harvest that is ripe and falling to the ground because +there are none to gather it? + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TEACHER'S AUREOLE + +As the acquaintance of young people with religious is frequently +limited to their teachers, they are sometimes inclined to identify in +their minds the profession of teaching with religious life. And since +some feel a diffidence or repugnance in committing themselves to a +teaching career, they extend this aversion to the religious state +itself. We have shown, however, in a previous chapter that there is +great variety and diversity of occupation in religious orders, so that +all tastes and inclinations can find congenial exercise in them. + +Still, it is probably true, that the great majority of religious men +and women are found in the class-room, and this for the good and +sufficient reason that Christian education is the paramount need of +the day, and the work on which the future of the Church chiefly +depends. The young who, perhaps, are tempted to look upon teaching as +an obscure employment and a monotonous grind, will do well to reflect +that in our time it is considered so honorable a profession that +hundreds of thousands, even of those outside the Church, deliberately +choose it as the best and most favorable career for the play of their +talents. + +The professors of our noted universities command the respect and +deference of the community, and to them the public look for the +solution of the constantly arising civic and social problems. They are +regarded as the natural leaders of thought, and are expected to guide +and direct popular movements affecting the well-being of society. And +this public esteem, is extended in due proportion to all who are +engaged in education, for it is universally realized that the standard +of morality and intelligence, which is to obtain in the commonwealth, +will depend largely on the training given to the young. The teacher is +directly employed in the making of good citizens, which is a more +important business than the extension of manufactures or commerce. He +is setting the ideals according to which the Republic must stand or +fall. + +And, for persons of refined or intellectual tastes, the instruction of +youth must be a pleasurable employment. It is inviting to deal with +the young and innocent, who are eager to learn, ambitious to excel, +and who in return for their instructor's solicitude, give him +unstinted affection and gratitude, and render him loyal obedience and +respect. In the teacher's hands is the moulding and shaping of +character, the direction of talents which may illumine society. And +can any sphere of action be more elevated, more grateful than this? + +And then, too, the educator is constantly engaged in the things of the +mind, in study, and the discovery of new truths or new applications of +old ones, and in imparting his knowledge to fresh, bright +intelligences. Nothing is so fascinating to a person of intellectual +bent as the pursuit and attainment of truth, and this is the steady +occupation of the teacher. Is not the outlook of such a life +infinitely wider and more refreshing than the dull routine of +business, the noisy rumble of a factory or the sordid dealings of +commerce? + +But it is principally from the spiritual point of view that education +is considered by the Church and religious congregations. The mandate +of Christ, "Go ye forth and teach all nations," laid the charge of +teaching upon His Church; and on the pastors it devolves to see that +the faithful are instructed in Christian doctrines and obligations. To +rightfully carry out its mission, the Church has always felt obliged +to insist that the education of its children be permeated with +religion, and in fulfilment of this duty it has established parochial +schools throughout our country, where the young, while acquiring +secular science, can at the same time be grounded in the faith and +trained to virtuous lives. + +It can be said, then, that the religious who conduct these schools +share in the apostolic mission of the Church. Every catechetical +instruction, every word of exhortation or encouragement to right +living and doing which is given in the class-room, is a participation +by the teacher in the pastorate of souls, in the announcing and +preaching of the Gospel, in the spreading of the Kingdom of God. +Without the aid of the school, the pastor ordinarily could not +properly teach the young their prayers and catechism, prepare them for +the sacraments, and equip them for the manifold exigencies of life. + +"Religious education is our most distinctive work," says Archbishop +Spalding, of Peoria. "It gives us a place apart in the life of the +country. It is indispensable to the welfare and progress of the Church +in the United States, and will be recognized in the end as the most +vital contribution to American civilization. Fortunate are they, who +by words or deeds confirm our faith in the need of Catholic schools; +and yet more fortunate are they who, while they inspire our teachers +with new courage and zeal, awaken in the young, to whom God has given +a heart and a mind, an efficacious desire to devote themselves to the +little ones whom Christ loves. What better work, in the present time, +can any of us do than foster vocations to our Brotherhoods and +Sisterhoods, whose special mission is teaching?" + +And Brother Azarias assures us that "There is not in this world among +human callings a more sacred one than that of moulding souls to higher +and better things." + +Bishop Byrne, of Nashville, has well said: "The office of teaching has +an advantage in some respects over the priesthood. The teachers are +constantly with their pupils, shaping their souls, coloring them, +informing them, making them instinct with life and motives, and giving +them high ideals and worthy aspirations. In all this their work is +akin to that of the confessor." + +The need of more teaching Brothers and Sisters is particularly urgent +and pressing, as the number of pupils is increasing proportionately +faster than the number of religious subjects, and the dearth of +teachers prevents the opening of new schools in many places where they +are demanded, and also hinders the development of the existing +schools. This is the opinion of Bishop Alerding, who wrote: "The +Church is being hampered in her work of educating her youth because +the number of teachers, Brothers and Sisters, is inadequate." And +Bishop McQuaid did not hesitate to say that, "the most pressing want +of the Church in America at the present time is that of Brothers to +assist in teaching our boys." + +In this connection we may observe that some virtuous and self-effacing +souls, after the example of St. Francis of Assisi, have a dread of +assuming the responsibilities of the priesthood, and there are many +others who are debarred from aspiring to that dignity by insufficiency +of education. Young men of either of these classes have a splendid +opportunity before them to serve God by joining a teaching +congregation of Brothers. + +Finally, as an encouragement to Christian teachers in their glorious +apostolate, let them remember the great reward awaiting their +unselfish labors. The Book of Daniel (xii: 3), tells us that "They who +instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity." The +inspired writer compares teachers to the stars of heaven, for as the +latter illumine the darkness of night, so they who instruct others +dispel the darkness of ignorance by shedding the rays of wisdom and +knowledge into the minds of their disciples. But there is a deeper +meaning in this text, for according to the interpretation of +theologians, it contains the assurance to those who teach others their +duty, of a special reward or golden crown in heaven, called the +Doctor's or Teacher's Aureole. The exact nature of this privilege, +whether it is a special gift of loving God or a distinctive garb of +glory, we do not know, but as the martyrs and virgins have their +special aureole, so will teachers have theirs. + +Father Croiset exclaims: "Oh! the beautiful and rich crowns which God +prepares for a religious who inspires little children with a horror of +vice and a love of virtue! . . . What sweet consolation will be +experienced at the moment of death by the religious when he beholds +coming to his aid those souls whom he has helped to save." And we may +faintly conceive the transport of one who enters heaven accompanied by +the resplendent retinue of those whom he has brought with him from +earth. + +This chapter would not be complete without a word of encouragement to +those young men and women whose education is so deficient that they +feel incompetent to teach, and so turn away in sadness from the +portals of religion, thinking there is no room for them within. Such +persons should know that any one who is skilled in a trade, such as +that of carpentering, painting, tailoring, or sewing, can be of the +greatest utility and acceptability to a community. And there are many +offices of a domestic nature, such as that of porter, sacristan, +refectorian and steward, which require little preparatory training and +can be filled by any one of intelligence and good will. + +Nor should persons engaged in such duties entertain the notion that +they will not share in the full spiritual privileges of the Order; for +by the assistance they give to the other members they are contributing +to the end and aim of the Institute and communicate in all the good +works performed by it. An edifying incident, illustrative of this +point, is told of a famous preacher who moved hearts in a wondrous +fashion, and when he was tempted to self-complacency in his success, +it was revealed to him that the results of his preaching were due, not +to his own eloquence or zeal, but to the prayers of the unobserved +lay-brother, who always sat at the foot of the pulpit, telling his +beads for the efficacy of the sermon. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SHOWING THE WAY + +When young people read or hear of persons entering religious life, +they are apt to say, "Oh, it is easy for them, because they are holy; +but it is impossible for me who have so little virtue!" But, as a +matter of fact, these religious have the same passions and temptations +to overcome, the same flesh and blood, as ourselves, and it was only +by conquering themselves, and struggling with their lower +inclinations, that they obtained the victory. + +A boy was standing one day at a country railway station in the United +States, when he met an older boy with whom he engaged in conversation. +His casual acquaintance confided to him that he was going off to +college to prepare for entrance into a certain religious Order; and he +urged the younger lad to accompany him for the same purpose. But the +latter replied, "Oh! they wouldn't have me, for I am poor, uneducated +and every way unfit." The other insisted, however, and finally +prevailed on him to board with him the incoming train. They repaired +to the superior of the religious Order, who received them kindly, and +sent them both to a boarding school. After a short time the senior +student was caught stealing, and dismissed from the college. His +whilom companion, however, persevered in his good design, achieved +honors in his studies, and finally becoming a religious and a priest, +he is today doing effective work in the vineyard of the Lord. + +A story is told of a religious who gave a letter to a young man, in +which he recommended him as a suitable candidate for his Order, +bidding him present the letter to the superior, who lived at a +distance. The young man, desirous of joining the Order, started on his +journey with a companion named Mathias, who had no notion of becoming +a religious. On the way, the would-be religious changed his mind, and +abandoning his project, gave the letter to Mathias, who was ignorant +of its contents, requesting him to bring it to the superior. The +superior read the letter, and thinking the recommendation referred to +Mathias, said to him, "Very well, you may go to the novitiate, and put +on the habit." Mathias wondered, but obeyed, entered the novitiate, +and became a holy religious. + +St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, and the foremost man of his age, was +so handsome and attractive in youth, that the evil-minded laid snares +against his chastity. To escape their wiles he determined to enter the +Cistercian monastery of Citeaux. His father and brothers endeavored to +dissuade him from his purpose, but instead, by his fervid +exhortations, he induced four of his brothers and others, to the +number of thirty, to enter with him. As the party was leaving home, +little Nivard, the sole remaining boy of the family, was at play with +some companions. Guido, the eldest of the brothers, embraced him and +said, "My dear Nivard, we are going, and this castle and lands will +all be yours." The child, "with wisdom beyond his years," the +chronicler tells us, "replied, 'what, are you taking heaven for +yourselves, and leaving earth to me? The division is not fair.'" And +from that day nothing could pacify the boy, until he was permitted to +join his brothers. + +St. Alphonsus Liguori, who is said to have always preserved his +baptismal innocence, was so brilliant a student that at the age of +sixteen he had obtained two degrees in the University of Naples. +Entering on the practice of the law, he one day in a trial before the +court, by an oversight, misstated the evidence. His attention being +called to his error, he was so overwhelmed with shame and confusion at +his apparent lack of truthfulness, that on returning home he +exclaimed, "World, I know you now, Courts, you shall never see me +more." And for three days he refused food. He then determined to +become a priest, and in the ministry he attained great sanctity. He +founded the well-known Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, +commonly called the Redemptorists; and for his voluminous doctrinal +writings, Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the universal Church. + +The story of the entrance of St. Stanislaus Kostka into religion reads +like a romance. His father, a Polish nobleman, had placed him and his +older brother, Paul, at the Jesuit College in Vienna. When Stanislaus +was fifteen years of age he applied for admission into the Jesuit +Order, but as he had not the consent of his father, the superior +feared to take him. An illness supervened, and the Blessed Virgin came +to cure him, and giving the child Jesus into his arms, said to him, +"You must end your days in the Society that bears my Son's name; you +must become a Jesuit." + +Notwithstanding the vision, poor Stanislaus was again refused by the +Jesuit superior. Not knowing what other step to take, he thought that +by traveling four hundred miles to Augsburg, in Germany, the Jesuit +Provincial of that province, who at the time was Blessed Peter +Canisius, might receive him, for his jurisdiction seemed beyond the +influence of Senator Kostka. If again rejected in Augsburg, he was +determined to walk eight hundred miles farther to Rome, where he felt +sure of securing his heart's desire. Accordingly, one August morning +he rose early and telling his servant that he was going out, bade him +at the same time inform his brother Paul not to expect him for dinner. +With light and joyous heart he started on his journey, and at the +first opportunity exchanged his fine clothes for the disguise of a +pilgrim's staff and tunic. + +When Paul awoke and learned that Stanislaus was gone for the day, he +was surprised, but attributed it to some new pious freak. But as the +day wore on, and the shades of evening gathered, with no tidings of +his brother, consternation seized Paul, for he realized that his +irascible and powerful father would hold him responsible for the +safety of the younger boy, whom he loved with a passionate and +unbounded affection. Accordingly servants were dispatched in every +direction to seek for the truant, but no tidings could be obtained. +The conclusion gradually forced itself upon all that Stanislaus had +fled, and Paul determined to pursue him and bring him back. For some +reason, suspicion was aroused that the runaway had taken the road to +Augsburg, and a carriage with two stout horses was ordered for early +dawn on the morrow. + +Along the highway to Augsburg flew the equipage containing Paul and +three companions. Meanwhile, little Stanislaus was trudging bravely +along, putting all his confidence in God, when he suddenly heard the +rapid beat of horses' hoofs behind him. Suspecting what it meant, he +quickly entered a by-lane, and the occupants of the carriage rushed by +without seeing, or at least, recognizing, him in his disguise. + +Stanislaus continued his pilgrimage in peace, begging his way, for he +had no money, and after two weeks, he saw, with inexpressible joy, the +roofs and spires of Augsburg gleaming in the setting sun. At last he +had reached the haven of rest, and with a bounding heart, the weary +boy knocked at the door of the Jesuit college. But alas, for all his +hopes! the provincial had gone to Dillingen. The Fathers urged him to +stay and rest with them until the provincial's return, but Stanislaus +would brook no delay. At once he wended his way toward Dillingen, +which he soon reached, and when he knelt at the feet of Blessed +Canisius, two saints were face to face. The superior pressed the boy +to his heart, and kept him in the college for a few weeks. But as both +the elder and younger saint thought Germany still too near the +influence of his father for safety, Stanislaus, in company with two +religious, set out on a further exhausting walk of eight hundred miles +to Rome, where he was received as a Jesuit novice by the General of +the Order, St. Francis Borgia. + +The angelic boy had at last finished his long pilgrimages, he had +entered the earthly paradise for which he had yearned, and for which +he had forsaken home, rank and country. But the happiness of religion +he soon exchanged for the joys of heaven, for before completing his +eighteenth year, and while still a novice, he closed his eyes on this +world to open them in company with Mary and the angels on the Beatific +Vision. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PARENTS' PART + +The home is the nursery of vocations. Most religious can trace the +beginnings of their resolve to leave all to the influence of saintly +parents and a Christian home. If the parents cultivate faith, charity +and industry the fragrance of these virtues will cling round the walls +of their dwelling, and perfume the lives of their children. + +Every Christian home should be a convent in miniature, filled with the +same spirit, productive of the same virtues. It should be a cloister, +forbidding entrance to the world and its vanities, and harboring +within gentle peace and happiness. Poverty should dwell there, not in +the narrower meaning of distress and want, but in the wider +acceptation of simplicity, frugality and temperance as opposed to +extravagance, display and ostentation. Purity, too, should reign as +queen of the hearth, regulating the glance of the eye, the +conversation, and even the thoughts of the occupants. And union and +harmony of wills, without which the idea of home is inconceivable, can +come only through obedience which binds the children to parents, wife +to husband, and all to God. + +But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. From many domiciles +peace and tranquillity have fled, giving place to frivolity, vanity +and worldliness and all their attendant train of vices. How many +parents, deceived by the wisdom of the flesh, seek their own +gratification in all things, and denying their children nothing that +luxury or extravagance craves, pamper and spoil them by indulging +their every whim. To train up the young to the steady and +uncompromising fulfilment of duty is the only means to produce a hardy +and sturdy generation of men and women, whose fidelity can be relied +on in the trials and emergencies of after-life. + +But some fathers and mothers, when their children call for bread, +reverse the parable by giving them a stone, and when they ask for an +egg, give them a scorpion. We can imagine with what righteous +indignation Our Lord would have denounced such a mode of action. +Foolish parents even of limited means dress their girls in expensive +and gaudy apparel, which not only offends against taste and economy, +but sometimes transgresses the laws of modesty and decency. +Familiarity between the sexes is permitted and encouraged by doting +and foolish mothers, who introduce their sons and daughters to +juvenile society functions, receptions, parties and unbecoming dances; +so that children who should be at their lessons or playing healthful +games with suitable companions, are taught to affect society manners +after the most approved fashion of their silly elders. Persons of this +stamp may prepare for a rude awakening, for the day of reckoning for +themselves and children will be sure and terrible. + +Many parents, while indeed quite solicitous according to their lights, +for the temporal good of their offspring, training them to a trade or +profession, or settling them in marriage, devote but little thought to +their spiritual welfare. They dread a vocation in their family as a +catastrophe. It would be well, indeed, for persons of this character +to ponder the words of the Pastoral Letter of the Second Council of +Baltimore: "We fear that the fault lies in great part with many +parents, who instead of fostering the desire so natural to the +youthful heart, of dedicating itself to the service of God's +sanctuary, but too often impart to their children their own +worldly-mindedness, and seek to influence their choice of a state of +life by unduly exaggerating the difficulties and dangers of the +priestly calling, and painting in too glowing colors the advantages +of a secular life." + +How much better it were for parents to propose to the young the +promise of Our Lord, "And every one that hath left house, or brothers +or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my +name, shall receive a hundredfold, and possess life everlasting." +(Matt. xix: 29.) Many a one, whose wayward child has brought dishonor +and shame to the family, realizes when all too late the happiness that +might have been his had such a child only elected the religious state. + +Instead of throwing obstacles in the way of a vocation, those who are +appreciative of spiritual things feel honored that God has chosen one +of their family circle for His special service. Persons whose sons +obtain high position in the army, court or government employ, take a +just pride in the distinction thus attained, but such temporal honors +cannot be compared with the singular privilege of serving in God's own +courts, and dwelling within His sanctuary. Bishop Schrembs, of Toledo, +aptly advises pastors "to teach young parents that the service of God +is even more glorious than that of country, for as St. Jerome says, +'Such a service establishes ties of relationship between the family +and Jesus Christ Himself.'" + +Nor do parents, as they sometimes fear, lose a son or daughter who +enters religion. One who marries is in a certain sense lost to the +parent, for the responsibilities of his new state of life so absorb +his energies as to leave him but little opportunity to concern himself +about his old home. And frequently distance entirely severs his +connection with it. But one who enters God's house does not contract +new family alliances, his heart remains free, and though separated +from parents, his affection is always true to them, he thinks of them +as in his childhood days, and he never ceases to importune the +blessings of heaven upon them. + +In fact, we may say that a vocation is not strictly an individual, but +rather a family possession. A call to God implies sacrifice on the +part of the family, as well as of the individual, for while he gives +up parents, brothers and sisters, they, too, must part with him. And +as they share in the renunciation, they participate also in its merit +and reward. In God's household the religious represents his family, he +works and prays by proxy for them, and they share in his graces and +good deeds. Is it not a matter of daily experience that the family of +a religious, particularly the parents, receive abundant graces, that +God leads them in various ways to greater fidelity in His service, to +a love of prayer and higher perfection? Parents of religious +frequently become religious themselves at heart, and though not +clothed with the habit, they share in the "hundredfold" promised to +the child. + +"It is the glory of a large and happy Catholic family to produce a +vocation," says Rev. Joseph Rickaby, S.J. "A sound Catholic is glad to +have brother or sister, uncle or aunt, or cousin or child, 'who has +pleased God and is found no more' in the ordinary walks of life, +because God hath taken and translated him to something higher and +better." + +Parents and teachers, then, who do not hesitate to incline the minds +of children to a professional career, should have no fear also to +direct their thoughts to higher things. To praise in the family circle +the priestly or religious life, to express the hope and desire that +one or more of the children may have the great happiness of such a +profession, to offer them daily in prayer to God, to train them to +piety and devotion, these are all praiseworthy in a father or mother, +and if faithfully practiced in all families would doubtless greatly +increase the number of God's chosen servants. + +Anything approaching coercion or excessive urging should, of course, +be avoided, because moral violence should not be done to the child's +will. But the remark sometimes made by well-meaning mothers, "O, I +would not say a word to influence my child towards religion, for fear +of interfering with God's work," shows a lamentable ignorance of the +nature of a vocation. One might almost as well say, "O, I am careful +not to contribute to the building of a church, because if God wants it +built, He will not need any help." If all persons thought thus, such a +church would be long in building. + +Most of God's works require our cooperation. He designs them and we +must carry them out. Many a great project has depended on a timely +word, or on the exertions of some man who rose to the occasion. Andrew +and John were sent to Our Lord by St. John the Baptist, and they +became apostles; and if Andrew had not "found his brother Simon and +brought him to Jesus," who knows whether Christ would not have found +it necessary to appoint another head of the Church in place of Simon +Peter? + +To parents, then, belongs the singular privilege of training their +children to tender piety, of directing their thoughts to spiritual +things; and fidelity to this trust will give us a glorious generation +of men and women ready to risk all, to sacrifice all in the service of +their Creator. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A PARTING WORD + +Now, dear reader, that you and the writer have kept company thus far, +he is reluctant to part from you. But if you perceive within you the +germ of a vocation, he begs you not to crush it. If in your heart +there is a spark of that celestial fire, which may be fanned to a +consuming flame of divine love, keep it burning. + +Preserve your soul, oh! so perfectly from the slightest touch of evil, +remembering that the least deliberate venial sin stains it more than +we can comprehend. Above all, cherish holy purity, that exquisite +ornament of youth, which, like a polished gem, may so easily lose its +lustre. Guard the avenues of your soul, your sight and hearing and the +other senses, through which contamination from without is always +seeking to enter and defile the beauty of God's handiwork. About us is +an atmosphere of worldliness, which we imperceptibly breathe in from +the words of companions, from the printed page, and the example of the +careless. Shun companionship with the frivolous, vanity of dress, and +that indiscriminate reading which only feeds an idle curiosity. The +theatres of our day are especially dangerous to virtue, and he who +stays away from them entirely, will consult his own advantage, as well +as please God. + +In this soft and luxurious age the popular trend is to +self-gratification in all its forms. But the true Christian must ever +strive against corrupt nature, if he would not be carried away by the +stream of voluptuousness. Self-denial is the watchword of +Christianity. All are called to the practice of penance in some shape +or form, the best usually being the exact performance of duty. The +young of school age will find a strong shelter from temptation in the +scrupulous and enthusiastic performance of their daily tasks and +lessons. That small boy had caught the true spirit, who used to rise +early, to prepare himself, as he said, for the "missionary" life, to +which he aspired. + +A material help for boys to prepare for future life, is to serve at +the altar. He who sacrifices his morning sleep, overcoming sloth, to +minister to the priest at Mass, is already, by a privilege, fulfilling +the functions of one of the minor orders, that of the acolyte. The +devout server at Mass shares in its graces next to the celebrant, and +more than the ordinary faithful who assist at it; and many an +altar-boy, as he glided about the sanctuary, mingling with the +invisible angels who hovered around the Victim of sacrifice, has felt +the seeds of vocation sprouting in his soul. + +Devotion to the Mother of God should also be a characteristic of +youth. She sympathizes with us, as only a mother can, in all our +difficulties and trials. She fully appreciates what we have to contend +with, she sees our weakness, the strength of our passions, the +temptations we encounter, and she is eager to throw about us the +mantle of her protection, if we will only ask her. Never a day should +pass without our commending ourselves earnestly to her motherly heart, +for she is even more interested in our welfare than we ourselves. She +is powerful to aid us, since all good things come to us through her; +and she will choose for her devout clients the career in which they +may best serve God. + +By a strange perversion of mind, we often seek to unravel the +perplexities of life, without recourse to prayer. When involved in +business anxieties, men spend days of worry in wrestling with them, +without perhaps asking the Father of Lights for guidance. And the +young also, who must settle for themselves their future career, +frequently strive to do so, without the help of heaven. They perhaps +consult human advisers, but fail to consult God, the best of +counsellors, Who alone can see behind the veil of the future, and +infallibly tell what is best for us. + +In coming to any important decision, light and strength are needed, +light to know the pathway of duty, and strength to follow it. On +account of the obscurities and half-lights of our intellect, we +perceive but dimly, and often fail to discern the true from the false. +The illumination of the white light of Truth is needed to flood the +dark recesses of the mind. And even when the truth stands clearly +revealed, we are often too indolent or enervated to embrace it; we +need the tonic of resolution and courage, which can be infused into us +only from on high. + +The trustful child of God should, day by day, commend his future into +the hands of his heavenly Father, praying Him to shape his life and +career. Each one has his own talents, one or many, but he cannot hope +to trade or barter with them in a fruitful way unless the Giver of +them bless his efforts. Our constant prayer, then, should be for the +fulfilment of God's will in our regard, with the lively faith that +whatever we ask will be granted. + +And of all prayers and devotions, can any be more efficacious or +salutary than the frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist? Our Holy +Father, Pius X, desires the boys and girls of the whole world to be +nourished daily, from the tenderest years, with the Bread of Life, +that they may wax strong in the spiritual life, and grow up virile +Christians. One Holy Communion, received fervently, should be +sufficient to sanctify a soul and awake in it the desire of closest +union with Christ, of self-immolation on the altar of Divine Love. + +Then what of the soul which is daily nourished with the "Wheat of the +Elect and the Wine that springeth forth Virgins?" (Zach. ix: 17.) Holy +Communion has been styled the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb," wherein +Christ caresses the soul, communicates to it sweetest secrets, and +touching it with the ardent flames of His own Heart, purifies it from +attachment to creatures, and sets it aglow with the white heat of +charity. The frequent communicant, then, is surest of knowing and +doing God's will. + +In conclusion, the writer may be allowed to indulge the hope that more +than one reader may be impelled to aspire to the virgin's aureole, the +special privilege of joining the one hundred and forty-four thousand, +whom St. John, in the vision of the Apocalypse, saw following the +Lamb, whithersoever He went, and singing a canticle that none else +could sing, "because they were virgins." + +--- + +Go now, little book, fly away to some perplexed soul who is anxious to +discover the secrets of the Divine Will; and whisper it a message of +peace and consolation, telling it that, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear +heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath +prepared for them that love Him." (I Cor. ii: 9.) + + + +PRAYER FOR THE RIGHT CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. + +O Thou, the God of wisdom and counsel, Who dost perceive in my heart a +sincere desire of pleasing Thee alone, and of conforming myself +entirely to Thy most holy will in the choice of my state of life, +grant me, I beseech Thee, through the intercession of the Blessed +Virgin, my mother, and of my patron saints, especially St. Joseph and +St. Aloysius, the grace to know what state of life I should choose, +and when known to embrace it, so that I may seek and spread therein +Thy glory, work out my salvation, and merit that reward in heaven +which Thou hast promised to those who fulfill Thy divine will. Amen. + +---- + +An indulgence of three hundred days, once a day, for the above prayer, +granted by Pope Pius X, May 2, 1905. + + + +THE FRANK MEANY CO., PRINTERS, INC., NEW YORK + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's What Shall I Be?, by Rev. 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