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diff --git a/33701.txt b/33701.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6839f37 --- /dev/null +++ b/33701.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1962 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fraternal Charity, by Rev. Father Valuy + +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: Fraternal Charity + +Author: Rev. Father Valuy + +Release Date: September 10, 2010 [EBook #33701] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRATERNAL CHARITY *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Gray, Diocese of San Jose + + + + + FRATERNAL CHARITY + + + + FRATERNAL CHARITY + + BY + + REV. FATHER VALUY, S.J. + + + + AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION + + + + NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO + BENZIGER BROTHERS + PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE + 1908 + + + + Nihil Obstat. + F. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B., + _Censor Deputatus._ + + + Imprimatur. + GULIELMUS, + _Episcopus Arindelensis,_ + _Vicarius Generalis._ + + + WESTMONASTERII, + _Die 7 Feb., 1908._ + + + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE + +THE name of Father Valuy, S.J., is already favourably known to +English readers by several translations of his works, which have a +large circulation. + +The following little treatise is taken from one of his works on +the Religious Life, and is translated with the kind permission of +the publisher, M. Emmanuel Vitte, of Lyons. The subject is so +important a factor in community life that I feel confident it will +supply a want hitherto felt by many. + +Though specially written for religious, it cannot fail to prove +beneficial to seculars in every sphere of life, as love, the +sunshine of existence, is wanted everywhere. + + + + + CONTENTS + + I. CHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST + II. FIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH + III. SECOND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH + IV. THE FAMILY SPIRIT + V. EGOTISM, OR SELF-SEEKING + VI. FIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF FRATERNAL CHARITY + VII. SECOND CHARACTERISTIC + VIII. THIRD CHARACTERISTIC + IX. FOURTH CHARACTERISTIC + X. FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC + XI. SIXTH CHARACTERISTIC + XII. SEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC + XIII. EIGHTH CHARACTERISTIC + XIV. NINTH CHARACTERISTIC + XV. TENTH CHARACTERISTIC + XVI. ELEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC + XVII. TWELFTH CHARACTERISTIC + XVIII. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF GOD'S CHARITY FOR MEN + XIX. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING + HIS MORTAL LIFE + XX. FIRST PRESERVATIVE + XXI. SECOND PRESERVATIVE + XXII. THIRD PRESERVATIVE + XXIII. FOURTH PRESERVATIVE + XXIV. FIFTH PRESERVATIVE + XXV. SIXTH PRESERVATIVE + XXVI. SEVENTH PRESERVATIVE + XXVII. EIGHTH PRESERVATIVE + XXVIII. NINTH PRESERVATIVE + XXIX. TENTH PRESERVATIVE + XXX. ELEVENTH PRESERVATIVE + XXXI. MEANS TO SUPPORT THE EVIL THOUGHTS AND TONGUES OF OTHERS + XXXII. SECOND MEANS TO BEAR WITH OTHERS + XXXIII. CONCLUSION + APPENDIX: THE PRACTICE OF FRATERNAL CHARITY + + + +FRATERNAL CHARITY + +I + +CHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST + +OUR Divine Saviour shows both by precept and example that His +favourite virtue, His own and, in a certain sense, characteristic +virtue, was charity. Whether He treated with His ignorant and rude +Apostles, with the sick and poor, or with His enemies and sinners, +He is always benign, condescending, merciful, affable, patient; in +a word, His charity appeared in all its most amiable forms. Oh, +how well these titles suit Him!--a King full of clemency, a Lamb +full of mildness. How justly could He say, "Learn of Me, that I am +meek and humble of heart"! His yoke was sweet, His burden light, +His conversation without sadness or bitterness. He lightened the +burdens of those heavily laden; He consoled those in sorrow; He +quenched not the dying spark nor broke the bruised reed. + +He calls us His friends, His brothers, His little flock; and as +the greatest sign of friendship is to die for those we love, He +gave to each of us the right to say with St. Paul: "He loved me, +and delivered Himself up for me." Let us, then, say: "My good +Master, I love Thee, and deliver myself up for Thee." + +Religious, called to reproduce the three great virtues of Jesus +Christ--poverty, chastity, and obedience--have still another to +practise not less noble or distinctive--viz., fraternal charity. +By this virtue they are not called to rise above earthly or +sensual pleasures, nor above their judgment and self-will, but +above egotism and self-love, which shoot their roots deepest in +the soul. They must consider attentively the fundamental truths on +which charity is based and its effects, as also the principal +obstacles to its attainment, and the means to overcome them. + + + +II + +FIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH + +_We are all members of the great Christian family_ + +CHARITY towards our neighbour is charity towards God in our +neighbour, because, faith assuring us that God is our Father, +Jesus Christ our Head, the Holy Ghost our sanctifier, it follows +that to love our neighbour--inasmuch as he is the well-beloved +child of God, the member of Jesus Christ, and the sanctuary of the +Holy Ghost--is to love in a special manner our heavenly Father, +His only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit. And because +it is scarcely possible for religious to behold their brethren in +this light without wishing them what the Most Holy Trinity so +lovingly desires to bestow on them, acts of fraternal charity +include--almost necessarily at least--implicit acts of faith and +hope; and the exercise of the noblest of the theological virtues +thus often becomes an exercise of the other two. + +Thus it is that charity poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, +uniting Christians among themselves and with the adorable Trinity +whose images they are, is the vivid and perfect imitation of the +love of the Father for the Son, and of the Son for the Father--a +substantial love which is no other than the Holy Ghost, and makes +us all one in God by grace, as the Father and Son are only one God +with the Holy Ghost by nature, according to the words of our Lord: +"That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee: +that they also may be one in Us." + +Such is the chain that unites and binds us--a chain of gold a +thousand times stronger than those of flesh and blood, interest or +friendship, because these permit the defects of body and the vices +of the soul to be seen, whilst charity covers all, hides all, to +offer exclusively to admiration and love the work of the hands of +God, the price of the blood of Jesus Christ and the masterpiece of +the Holy Spirit. + + + +III + +SECOND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH + +_We are members of the same religious family_ + +TO love our brethren as ourselves in relation to God, it suffices +without doubt to have with them the same faith, the same +Sacraments, the same head, the same life, the same immortal hopes, +etc. But, besides these, there exist other considerations which +lead friendship and fraternity to a higher degree among the +members of the same religious Order. All in the novitiate have +been cast in the same mould, or, rather, have imbibed the milk of +knowledge and piety from the breasts of the same mother. All +follow the same rules; all tend to the same end by the same means; +all from morning to night, and during their whole lives, perform +the same exercises, live under the same roof, work, sanctify +themselves, suffer and rejoice together. Like fellow-citizens, +they have the same interests; like soldiers, the same combats; +like children of a family, the same ancestors and heirlooms; and, +like friends, a communication of ideas and interchange of +sentiments. + +If our Lord said to Christians in general, "This is My +commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. By +this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have +love for one another" (John xiii.), can He not say to the members +of the same religious Order: "This is My own and special +recommendation: Before all and above all preserve amongst you a +mutual charity. Have but one soul in several different bodies. You +will be recognized as religious and brethren, not by the same +habit, vows, and virtues, nor by the particular work entrusted to +you by the Church, but by the love you have one for the other. Ah! +who will love you if you do not love one another? Love one another +fraternally, because as human beings you have only one heavenly +Father. Love one another holily, because as Christians you have +only one Head. Love one another tenderly, because as religious you +have only one mother--your Order"? + +It is impossible for religious to love their brethren with a true, +sincere, pure, and constant love if they do not look at them in +this light. + + + +IV + +THE FAMILY SPIRIT + +BASED on the foregoing principles, fraternal charity begets the +family spirit--that spirit which forgets itself in thinking only +of the common good; which makes particular give way to general +interests; which forces oneself to live with all without +exception, to live as all without singularity, and to live for all +without self-seeking; that spirit which, binding like a Divine +cement all parts of the mysterious edifice of religion, uniting +all hearts in one and all wills in one, permits the community to +proceed firmly and securely, and its members to work out +efficaciously and peacefully their personal sanctification and +perfection; in fine, that spirit which gives to all religious not +only an inexpressible family happiness, but a delicious foretaste +of heaven, which renders them invincible to their enemies, and +causes to be said of them with admiration: "See how they love one +another!" + +Writing on these words of the Psalmist, "Behold how good and +pleasant it is for brethren to live together in union," St. +Augustine cries out: "Behold the words which make monasteries +spring up! Sweet, delightful, and delicious words which fill the +soul and ear with jubilation." + +Yes, certainly the happiness of community life is great and its +advantages inappreciable; but without the family spirit there is +no community, as there would be no beauty in the human body +without harmony in its members. Oh, never forget this comparison, +you who wish to live happy in religion, and who wish to make +others happy. + +A community is a body. Now, as the members of a body, each in its +proper place and functions, live in perfect harmony, mutually +comfort, defend, and love each other, without being jealous or +vengeful, and have only in view the well-being of that body of +which they are parts, so in the community of which you are members +and in the employment assigned to you. Remember you are parts of a +whole, and that it is necessary to refer to this whole your time, +labour, and strength; to have the same thoughts, sentiments, +designs, and language, without which there would no longer exist +either body, members, parts, or whole. If you wish, then, to +obtain and practise the family spirit, study what passes within +you. Your actions bespeak your sentiments. + + + +V + +EGOTISM, OR SELF-SEEKING + +EGOTISM, taking for its motto "Every one for himself," is very +much opposed to fraternal charity and the family spirit. It never +hesitates, when occasion offers, to sacrifice the common good to +its own. It isolates the individuals, makes them concentrated in +self, places them in the community, but not of it, makes them +strangers amongst their brethren, and tends to justify the words +of an impious writer, who calls monasteries "reunions of persons +who know not each other, who live without love, and die without +being regretted." + +Egotism breeds distrust, jealousy, parties, aversions. It destroys +abnegation, humility, patience, and all other virtues. It +introduces a universal disgust and discontent, makes religious +lose their first fervour, presents an image of hell where one +expected to find a heaven on earth, saps the very foundation of +community life, and leads sooner or later to inevitable ruin. + +As the family spirit causes the growth and prosperity of an order, +however feeble its beginning, so, on the other hand, egotism dries +the sap and renders it powerless, no matter what other advantages +it may enjoy. If the one, by uniting hearts, is a principle of +strength and duration, the other, by dividing, is a principle of +dissolution and decay. Sallust says that "the weakest things +become powerful by concord, and the greatest perish through +discord." Whilst the descendants of Noah spoke the same language +the building of the tower of Babel proceeded with rapidity. From +the moment they ceased to understand one another its destruction +commenced, and the monument which was to have immortalized their +name was left in ruin to tell their shame and pride. + +On each of the four corners of the monastery religion or charity +personified ought to be placed, bearing on shields in large +characters the following words: (1) "Love one another"; (2) "He +who is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathers not with Me +scatters"; (3) "Every kingdom divided will become desolate"; (4) +"They had all but one heart and one soul." + + + +VI + +FIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF FRATERNAL CHARITY + +_To esteem our brethren interiorly_ + +"CHARITY, the sister of humility," says St. Paul, "is not puffed +up." She cannot live with pride, the disease of a soul full of +itself. It willingly prefers others by considering their good +qualities and one's own defects, and shows this exteriorly when +occasion offers by many sincere proofs. It always looks on others +from the most favourable point. Instead of closing the eyes on +fifty virtues to find out one fault, without any other profit than +to satisfy a natural perverseness and to excuse one's own +failings, it closes the eyes on fifty faults to open them on one +virtue, with the double advantage of being edified and of blessing +God, the Author of all good. Since an unfavourable thought, or the +sight of an action apparently reprehensible, tends to cloud the +reputation of a religious, charity hastens before the cloud +thickens to drive it away, saying, "What am I doing? Should I +blacken in my mind the image of God, and seek deformities in the +member of Jesus Christ? Besides, cannot my brethren be eminently +holy and be subject to many faults, which God permits them to fall +into in order to keep them humble, to teach them to help others, +and to exercise their patience?" + + + +VII + +SECOND CHARACTERISTIC + +_To treat brethren with respect, openness, and cordiality_ + +EXTERIOR honour being the effect and sign of interior esteem, +charity honours all those whom it esteems superiors, equals, the +young and the old. It carefully observes all propriety, and takes +into consideration the different circumstances of age, employment, +merit, character, birth, and education to make itself all to all. +Convinced that God is not unworthy to have well-bred persons in +His service, and that religious ought not to respect themselves +less than people in the world, it conforms to all the requirements +of politeness as far as religious simplicity will permit; not that +politeness which is feigned and hypocritical, and which is merely +a sham expression of deceitful respect, but that politeness, the +flower of charity, which, manifesting exteriorly the sentiments of +a sincere affection and a true devotion, is accompanied with a +graceful countenance, benign and affable regards, sweetness in +words, foresight, urbanity, and delicacy in business. In fine, +that politeness which is the fruit of self-denial and humility no +less than of charity and friendship; which is the art of +self-restraint and self-conquest, without restraining others; +which is the care of avoiding everything that might displease, and +doing all that can please, in order to make others content with +us and with themselves. In a word, a mixture of discretion and +complaisance, cordiality and respect, together with words and +manners full of mildness and benignity. + + + +VIII + +THIRD CHARACTERISTIC + +_To work harmoniously with those in the same employment, and not +to cause any inconvenience to them_ + +WHY should we cling so obstinately to our own way of seeing and +doing? Do not many ways and means serve the same ends provided +they be employed wisely and perseveringly? Some have succeeded by +their methods, and I by mine--a proof that success is reached +through many ways, and that it is not by disputing it is obtained, +nor by giving scandal to those we should edify, nor, perhaps, by +compromising the good work in which we are employed. The four +animals mentioned by Ezekiel joined their wings, were moved by the +same spirit and animated by the same ardour, and so drew the +heavenly chariot with majesty and rapidity, giving us religious an +example of perfect union of efforts and thoughts. + +Charity avoids haughty and contemptuous looks, forewarns itself +against fads and manias, and in the midst of most pressing +occupations carefully guards against rudeness and impatience. +Careful of wounding the susceptibility of others, it neither +blames nor despises those who act in an opposite way. Religious +animated by fraternal charity are not ticklish spirits who are +disturbed for nothing at all, and who do not know how to pass +unnoticed a little want of respect, etc.; nor punctilious spirits, +who find pleasure in contradicting and making irritating remarks; +nor self-opinionated spirits, who pose themselves as supreme +judges of talent and virtue as well as infallible dispensers of +praise and blame. Neither are they suspicious characters who are +constantly ruminating in their hearts, and who consider every +little insult as levelled at themselves; nor discontented beings, +who find fault with the places whither obedience sends them and +the persons with whom they live, and who could travel the entire +world without finding a single place or a single person to suit +them. + +Charitable religious are not those imperious minds who endeavour +to impose their opinions on all and refuse to accept those of +others, however just they may be, simply because they did not +emanate from themselves, nor are they those ridiculing, +hard-to-be-pleased sort of people who do not spare even grey hairs. +Finally, they are not those great spouters who, instead of +accommodating themselves to circumstances as charity and +politeness require, monopolize the conversation, and thereby shut +up the mouths of others and make them feel weary when they should +be joyful and free. + + + +IX + +FOURTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_To accommodate oneself to persons of different humour_ + +THEY who are animated by charity support patiently and in silence, +in sentiments of humility and sweetness, as if they had neither +eyes nor ears, the difficult, odd, and most inconstant humours of +others, although they may find it very difficult at times to do +so. + +No matter how regular and perfect we may be, we have always need +of compassion and indulgence for others. To be borne with, we must +bear with others; to be loved, we must love; to be helped, we must +help; to be joyful ourselves, we must make others so. Surrounded +as we are by so many different minds, characters, and interests, +how can we live in peace for a single day if we are not +condescending, accommodating, yielding, self-denying, ready to +renounce even a good project, and to take no notice of those +faults and shortcomings which are beyond our power or duty to +correct? + +Charity patiently listens to a bore, answers a useless question, +renders service even when the need is only imaginary, without ever +betraying the least signs of annoyance. It never asks for +exceptions or privileges for fear of exciting jealousy. It does +not multiply nor prolong conversations which in any way annoy +others. It fights antipathy and natural aversions so that they may +never appear, and seeks even the company of those who might be the +object of them. It does not assume the office of reprehending or +warning through a motive of bitter zeal. It seeks to find in +oneself the faults it notices in others, and perhaps greater ones, +and tries to correct them. "If thou canst not make thyself such a +one as thou wouldst, how canst thou expect to have another +according to thy liking? We would willingly have others perfect, +and yet we mend not our own defects. We would have others strictly +corrected, but are not fond of being corrected ourselves. The +large liberty of others displeases us, and yet we do not wish to +be denied anything we ask for. We are willing that others be bound +up by laws, and we suffer not ourselves to be restrained by any +means. Thus it is evident how seldom we weigh our neighbour in the +same balance with ourselves" ("Imitation," i. 16). + + + +X + +FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_To refuse no reasonable service, and to accept or refuse in an +affable manner_ + +CHARITY is generous; it does everything it can. When even it can +do little, it wishes to be able to do more. It never lets slip an +opportunity of comforting, helping, and taking the most painful +part, after the example of its Divine Model, Who came to serve, +not to be served. One religious, seemingly in pain, seeks comfort; +another desires some book, instrument, etc.; a third bends under a +burden; while a fourth is afflicted. In all these cases charity +comes to the aid by consoling the one, procuring little +gratifications for the other, and helping another. Without +complaining of the increased labour or the carelessness of others, +it finishes the work left undone by them, too happy to diminish +their trouble, while augmenting its own reward. "Does the hunter," +says St. John Chrysostom, "who finds splendid game blame those who +beat the brushwood before him? Or does the traveller who finds a +purse of gold on the road neglect to pick it up because others who +preceded him took no notice of it?" It would be a strange thing to +find religious uselessly giving themselves to ardent desires of +works of charity abroad, such as nursing in a hospital or carrying +the Gospel into uncivilized lands, and at the same time in their +own house and among their own brethren showing coldness, +indifference, and want of condescension. + +There is an art of giving as well as of refusing. Several offend +in giving because they do so with a bad grace; others in refusing +do not offend because they know how to temper their refusal by +sweetness of manner. Charity possesses this art in a high degree, +and, besides, raises a mere worldly art into a virtue and fruit of +the Holy Ghost. + + + +XI + +SIXTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_To share the joys and griefs of our brethren_ + +AS the soul in the human body establishes all its members as +sharers equally in joys and griefs, so charity in the religious +community places everything in common content, affliction, +material goods driving out of existence the words mine and thine. +It lavishes kind words and consolations on all who suffer in any +way through ill-humour, sickness, want of success, etc.; it +rejoices when they are successful, honoured, and trusted, or +endowed with gifts of nature or grace, felicitates them on their +good fortune, and thanks God for them. If, on the one hand, +compassion sweetens pains to the sufferer by sharing them, on the +other hand participation in a friend's joys doubles them by making +them personal to ourselves. Would to God that this touching and +edifying charity replaced the low and rampant vice of jealousy! + +When David returned after he slew the Philistines, the women came +out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King +Saul. And the women sang as they played, "Saul slew his thousands +and David his ten thousands." Saul was exceedingly angry, and this +word was displeasing in his eyes, and he said: "They have given +David ten thousand, and to me they have given but a thousand. . . +. And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day +forward. . . . And Saul held a spear in his hand and threw it, +thinking to nail David to the wall" (1 Kings). Thus it is that the +jealous complain of their brethren who are more successful, +learned, or praised; thus it is that they lance darts of calumny, +denunciation, and revenge. + + + +XII + +SEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_Not to be irritated when others wrong us_ + +WE must pardon and do good for evil, as God has pardoned us and +rendered good for evil in Jesus Christ. It is vain to trample the +violet, as it never resists, and he who crushes it only becomes +aware of the fact by the sweetness of its perfume. This is the +image of charity. It always strives to throw its mantle over the +evil doings of others, persuading itself that they were the +effects of surprise, inadvertence, or at most very slight malice. +If an explanation is necessary, it is the first to accuse itself. +Never does it permit the keeping of a painful thought against any +of the brethren, and does all in its power to hinder them from the +same; and, moreover, excuses all signs of contempt, ingratitude, +rudeness, peculiarities, etc. + +Cassian makes mention of a religious who, having received a box on +the ear from his abbot in presence of more than two hundred +brethren, made no complaint, nor even changed colour. St. Gregory +praises another religious, who, having been struck several times +with a stool by his abbot, attributed it not to the passion of the +abbot, but to his own fault. He adds that the humility and +patience of the disciple was a lesson for the master. This charity +will have no small weight in the balance of Him Who weighs merit +so exactly. + +Charity gives no occasion to others to suffer, but suffers all +patiently, not once, but all through life, every day and almost +every hour. It is most necessary for religious, as, not being able +to seek comfort abroad, they are obliged to live in the same +house, often in the same employment with characters less +sympathetic than their own. These little acts of charity count for +little here below, and they are rather exacted than admired. Hence +there is less danger of vainglory, and all their merit is +preserved in the sight of God. + + + +XIII + +EIGHTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_To practise moderation and consideration_ + +TELL-TALES, nasty names, cold answers, lies, mockery, harsh words, +etc., are all contrary to charity. St. John Chrysostom says: "When +anyone loads you with injuries, close your mouth, because if you +open it you will only cause a tempest. When in a room between two +open doors through which a violent wind rushes and throws things +in disorder, if you close one door the violence of the wind is +checked and order is restored. So it is when you are attacked by +anyone with a bad tongue. Your mouth and his are open doors. Close +yours, and the storm ceases. If, unfortunately, you open yours, +the storm will become furious, and no one can tell what the damage +may be." If we have been guilty in this respect, let us humble +ourselves before God. + +"The tongue," says St. Gertrude, "is privileged above the other +members of the body, as on it reposes the sacred body and precious +blood of Jesus Christ. Those, then, who receive the Holy of Holies +without doing penance for the sins of the tongue are like those +who would keep a heap of stones at their doors to stone a friend +on arrival." + +In order to keep ourselves and others in a state of moderation, we +must remember that all persons have some fad, mania, or fixed +ideas which they permit no one to gainsay. If we touch them on +these points, it will be like playing an accompaniment to an +instrument with one string out of tune. + + + +XIV + +NINTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_Care of the sick and infirm_ + +CHARITY lavishes care on the sick and infirm, on the old, on +guests and new-comers. It requires that we visit those who are +ill, to cheer and console them, to foresee their wants, and +thereby to spare them the pain or humiliation of asking for +anything. + +Bossuet says: "Esteem the sick, love them, respect and honour +them, as being consecrated by the unction of the Cross and marked +with the character of a suffering Jesus." + +Charity pays honour to the aged in every respect, coincides with +their sentiments, consults them, forestalls their desires, and +attempts not to reform in them what cannot be reformed. Charity +receives fraternally all guests and new-comers, and makes us treat +them as we would wish to be treated under similar circumstances. +It also causes us to lavish testimonies of affection on those who +are setting out, and warns us to be very careful of saying or +doing anything that may in the least degree offend even the most +susceptible. + +Religious must ever feel that they can bless, love, and thank +religion as a good mother. But religion is not an abstract matter; +it is made up of individuals reciprocally bound together in and +for each other. + +Alas! how many times are the sick and the old made to consider +themselves as an inconvenient burden, or like a useless piece of +furniture! In reality what are they doing? They pray and do +penance for the community, turn away the scourge of God, draw down +His graces and blessings, merit, perhaps, the grace of +perseverance for several whose vocation is shaking, hand down to +the younger members the traditions and spirit of the institute, +and finally practise, and cause to be practised, a thousand acts +of virtue. + +Did our Divine Lord work less efficaciously for the Church when He +hung on the Cross than when He preached? We must, then, do for the +sick and the old who are now bearing their cross what we would +have wished to do for Jesus in His suffering. + + + +XV + +TENTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_Prayer for living and deceased brethren_ + +"WE do not remember often enough our dear dead, our departed +brethren," says St. Francis de Sales, "and the proof of it is that +we speak so little of them. We try to change the discourse as if +it were hurtful. We let the dead bury their dead. Their memory +perishes with us like the sound of the funeral knell, without +thinking that a friendship which perishes with death is not true. +It is a sign of piety to speak of their virtues as it urges us to +imitate them." + +In communities distinguished for fraternal charity and the family +spirit the conversation frequently turns on the dead. One talks of +their virtues, another of their services, a third quotes some of +their sayings, while a fourth adds some other edifying fact; and +who is the religious that will not on such occasions breathe a +silent prayer to God and apply some indulgence or other +satisfactory work for the happy repose of their souls? + +Charity also prays for those who want help most, and who are often +known to God alone--those whose constancy is wavering, those who +are led by violent temptations to the edge of the precipice. It +expands pent-up souls by consolations or advice; it dissipates +prejudices which tend to weaken the spirit of obedience; it is, in +fine, a sort of instinct which embraces all those things suggested +by zeal and devotion. Can there be anything more agreeable to God, +more useful to the Church, or more meritorious, than to foster +thus amongst the well-beloved children of God peace, joy, love of +vocation, together with union amongst themselves and with their +superiors? It is one of the most substantial advantages we have in +religion to know that we are never forsaken in life or death; to +find always a heart that can compassionate our pains, a hand which +sustains us in danger and lifts us when we fall. + + + +XVI + +ELEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_To have a lively interest in the whole Order, in its works, its +success, and its failures_ + +RELIGIOUS who have the family spirit wish to know everything which +concerns the well-being of the different houses. They willingly +take their pens to contribute to the edification and satisfy the +lawful curiosity of their brethren. They bless God when they hear +good news, and grieve at bad news, losses by death, and, above +all, scandalous losses of vocation. + +Those who would concentrate all their thoughts on their own work, +as if all other work counted for nothing or merited no attention, +who would speak feebly or perhaps jealously of it, as if they +alone wished to do good, or that others wished to deprive them of +some glory, would show that they only sought themselves, and that +to little love of the Church they joined much indifference for +their Order. + +Charity, by uniting its good wishes and interest to the deeds of +others, becomes associated at the same time in the merit. It +shares in a certain manner in the gifts and labours of others. It +is, at the same time, the eye, the hand, the tongue, and the foot, +since it rejoices at what is done by the eye, the hand, the +tongue, etc., or, rather, it is as the soul which presides over +all, and to whom nothing is a stranger in the body over which it +presides. + + + +XVII + +TWELFTH CHARACTERISTIC + +_Mutual Edification_ + +BE edified at the sight of your brethren's virtues, and edify them +by your own. In other words, be alternately disciple and master. + +Profit by the labours of others, and make them profit by your own. +Receive from all, in order to be able to give to all. Borrow +humility from one, obedience from another, union with God, and the +practice of mortification from others. + +By charity we store up in ourselves the gifts of grace enjoyed by +every member of the community, in order to dispense them to all by +a happy commerce and admirable exchange. + +As the bee draws honey from the sweetest juices contained in each +flower; as the artist studies the masterpieces to reproduce their +marvellous tints in pictures which, in their turn, become models; +as a mirror placed in a focus receives the rays of brilliancy from +a thousand others placed around it to re-invest them with a +dazzling brilliancy, so happy is the community whose members +multiply themselves, so to say, by mutually esteeming, loving, +admiring, and imitating each other in what is good. + +This spontaneity of virtues exercises on all the members a +constant and sublime ministry of mutual edification and reciprocal +sanctification. + + + +XVIII + +EXTENT AND DELICACY OF GOD'S CHARITY FOR MEN + +IN order to excite ourselves to fraternal charity, let us try and +picture that of God for us. After having had us present in His +thoughts from all eternity, He has called us from nothingness to +life. + +He Himself formed man's body, and, animating it with a breath, +enclosed in it an immortal soul, created to His own image. +Scarcely arrived on the threshold of life, we found an officer +from His court an angel deputed to protect, accompany, and conduct +us in triumph to our heavenly inheritance. + +What a superb palace He has prepared for us in this world, +supplied with a prodigious variety of flowers, fruits, and animals +which He has placed at our disposal! + +We were a fallen race, and He sent His Son to raise us and save us +from hell, which we merited. The Word was made flesh. He took a +body and soul like ours, thus ennobling and deifying, so to speak, +our human nature. Before ascending to His heavenly Father, after +having been immolated for us on the Cross, for fear of leaving us +orphans, He wished to remain amongst us in the Holy Eucharist, to +nourish us with His flesh, and to infuse into our hearts His +Divine Spirit as the living promise and the delicious foretaste of +the felicity and glory which He went to prepare for us in His +kingdom. + +Truly, O God, You treat us not only with a paternal love, but with +an infinite respect and honour; and cannot I love and honour those +whom You have thus honoured and loved Yourself? Why do not these +thoughts inflame my charity in the fire of your Divine love? My +brethren and myself are children of God and members of Jesus +Christ. My brethren have their angels, who are companions of my +angel. One day my brethren will be my companions in glory, +chanting eternally the Divine praises. It is but a short time +since, with them, I partook of the heavenly banquet of the Most +Holy Sacrament, and to-morrow shall do so again. + + + +XIX + +EXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING HIS +MORTAL LIFE + +LET us now admire the charity of our Divine Saviour while on +earth. + +If wine was wanting at a feast; if fishermen laboured in vain +during the night; if a vast crowd knew not where to procure food +in the desert; if unfortunate persons were possessed by devils or +deprived of the use of their limbs; if death deprived a father of +his daughter, or a widow of an only son, Jesus was there to supply +what was wanting, to give back what was lost, or to sweeten all +their griefs. Sometimes He forestalled the petition by curing +before being asked, or by exciting the wavering faith. He +generally went beyond the demands of the petitioners. He was +always ready to interrupt His meal, to go to a distance, or to +quit His solitude. Nicodemus, as yet trembling and timid, came to +find Jesus during the night, and He did not hesitate to sacrifice +His sleep by prolonging the conversation. The Samaritan woman was +not beneath His notice, although He was fatigued after a long +journey. He lavished with prodigality His caresses on the children +who pressed around Him. When the crowd was so great that the poor +woman with the flow of blood could not come within reach of His +hand, He caused an all-powerful virtue to set out from Him, and a +simple touch of the hem of His garment supplied instead. + +With what charming grace His benefits were accompanied! "Zacheus, +come down quickly, for I will abide this day in thy house." Who +more than He excelled in the art of making agreeable surprises? In +His apparitions to Magdalen, to the holy women, to the disciples +at Emmaus, did He not pay well for the ointment, the tears, and +the perfumes, and the hospitality He received from them? Who is +not moved with emotion when he sees his Lord preparing a meal for +the Apostles on the lake-shore, or asking Peter thrice to give him +an opportunity of publicly repairing his triple denial, "Lovest +thou Me?" + +Who would not be moved when he hears what St. Clement relates +having heard it from St. Peter that our Lord was accustomed to +watch like a mother with her children near His disciples during +their sleep to render them any little service? + +O Jesus! the sweetest, the most amiable, the most charitable of +the children of men, make me a sharer in Your mildness, Your love, +and Your charity. + + + +XX + +FIRST PRESERVATIVE + +_How to fortify ourselves against uncharitable conversations, the +principal danger to fraternal charity_ + +TO meditate on what the Holy Scripture says of it: "Place, O Lord, +a guard before my mouth" (Ps. cxl.)--a vigilant sentinel, well +armed, to watch, and, if necessary, to arrest in the passing out +any unbecoming word--"and a door before my lips," which, being +tightly closed, will never let an un charitable dart escape. + +"Shut in your ears with a hedge of thorns," to counteract the +tongue, which would pour into them the poison of uncharitableness, +"and refuse to listen to the wicked tongue." + +"Put before your mouth several doors and on your ears several +locks"--_i.e._, put doors upon doors and locks upon locks, because +the tongue is capable, in its fury, to force open the first door +and break the first lock. "Melt your gold and silver, and make for +your words a balance"--weighing them all before uttering +them--"and have for your mouth solid bridles which are tightly +held," for fear that the tongue, getting the better of your +vigilance, will break loose and do mischief in all directions. + +Considering these many barriers and formidable checks, must we not +see the necessity of burying in a well-fortified prison that most +dangerous monster, the tongue? "Ah! truly death and life are in +the power of the tongue" (Prov. xviii.). "And although the sword +has been the instrument of innumerable murders, the tongue has at +all times beaten it in producing death" (Ecclus. xxviii.). "It +forms but a small part of the body, and has done mighty evil: as +the helm badly directed causes the wreck of a fine ship, and as a +spark may enkindle a forest. . . . Unquiet evil, inflamed +firebrand, source of deadly poison, world of iniquity" (St. James +iii.). + + + +XXI + +SECOND PRESERVATIVE + +_To meditate on what the Saints say_ + +ST. BONAVENTURE relates that St. Francis of Assisi said to his +religious one day: "Uncharitable conversation is worse than the +assassin, because it kills souls and becomes intoxicated with +their blood. It is worse than the mad dog, because it tears out +and drags on all sides the living entrails of the neighbour. It is +worse than the unclean animal, because it wallows in the filth of +vices and makes its favourite pasture there. It is worse than +Cham, because it exposes everywhere the nasty spots which soil the +face of religion--its mother." + +St. Bernard goes further: "Do not hesitate to regard the tongue of +the backbiter as more cruel than the iron of the lance which +pierced our Saviour's side, because it not only pierces His sacred +side, but one of His living members also, to whom by its wound it +gives death. It is more cruel than the thorns with which His +venerable head was crowned and torn, and even than the nails with +which the wicked Jews fastened His sacred hands and feet to the +Cross, because if our Divine Saviour did not esteem more highly +the member of His mystic body (which is pierced by the foul tongue +of the slanderer) than His own natural body formed by the +operation of the Holy Ghost in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary, +He would never have consented to deliver the latter to ignominies +and outrages to spare the former." + +Now St. Francis and St. Bernard are here speaking to religious. Is +it possible, then, for backbiting to glide into religious +communities? Yes, certainly. And it is by this snare that Satan +catches souls which have escaped all others. + +St. Jerome says: "There are few who avoid this fault. Amongst +those even who pride themselves on leading an irreproachable life, +you will scarcely find any who do not criticize their brethren." + +Rarely, without doubt, but too often, nevertheless, we calumniate +at first secretly or with one or two friends, afterwards openly +and in public. We speak of the mistakes, shortcomings, and +defects, great and small, and sometimes transmit them as a legacy. +Sometimes we use a moderate hypocrisy by purposely letting +ourselves be questioned, and sometimes brutally attack our victim +without shame. + +"Have I, then," may the religious thus attacked say, "in making my +vows renounced my honour and delivered my character to pillage? +Has my position as religious, has the majesty of the King of +Kings, of whom I have become the intimate friend, in place of +ennobling me, degraded me? You call yourselves my brethren, and +yet there are none who esteem me less! You would not steal my +money, and yet you make no scruple of stealing my character, a +thousand times more precious. You pay court to your Saviour and +persecute His child! The same tongue on which reposes the Holy of +Holies spreads poison and death! Is this to be the result of your +study and practice of virtue? Has not Jesus Christ, by so many +Communions, placed a little sweetness on your tongue and a little +charity in your heart? By eating the Lamb have you become wolves? +as St. John Chrysostom reproached the clergy of Antioch. And you, +who fly so carefully the gross vices of the world, have you no +care or anxiety about damning yourself by slander?" + + + +XXII + +THIRD PRESERVATIVE + +_To guard the tongue_ + +THIS must be done especially in five circumstances: (1) At the +change of Superiors. Do not criticize the outgoing Superior nor +flatter the new one. (2) When you replace another religious. Never +by word or act cast any blame on him. Inexperience, or a desire to +introduce new customs, sometimes causes this to be done. (3) When +you are getting old. Because then we are apt to think-- +erroneously, of course--that the young members growing up are +incapable of fulfilling duties once accomplished by ourselves. (4) +When religious come from another house do not ask questions which +they ought not to answer, and do not tell them anything which +might prejudice or disgust them with the house or anyone in it. +Lastly, in our interviews with our particular friends we must be +very cautious. There are some who, when anything goes amiss with +them, always seek the company of their confidants. These should +seriously examine before God whether it is a necessary comfort in +affliction or a support in weakness, or the too human satisfaction +of justifying themselves, giving vent to their feelings, or +getting blame and criticism for the Superior or some one else. +They should also examine whether on such occasions they speak the +exact truth, and whether they seek a friend, who knows how to take +the arrow sweetly from the wound rather than to bury it deeper. + +The way to find out the gravity of the sin of detraction is--(1) +To consider the position of him who speaks and the weight which is +attached to his words; (2) the position of him who is spoken +about, and the need he has of his reputation; (3) the evil thing +said; (4) the number of the hearers; (5) the result of the +detraction; and, lastly, the intention of the speaker, and the +passion which was the cause of it. + + + +XXIII + +FOURTH PRESERVATIVE + +_To be on our guard with certain persons_ + +THERE are six sorts of religious who wound fraternal charity more +or less fatally, (1) Those who say to you, "Such a one said +so-and-so about you." These are the sowers of discord, whom God +Almighty declares He has in abomination. Their tongues have three +fangs more terrible than a viper. "With one blow," says St. +Bernard, "they kill three persons--themselves, the listeners, and +the absent." (2) Those who, obscuring and perverting this amiable +virtue, possess the infernal secret of transforming it into vice. +Is not this to sin against the Holy Ghost? (3) Those who skilfully +turn the conversation on those brethren of whom they are jealous, +in order to have all put in a bad word. They thus double the fault +they apparently wish to avoid. (4) Those who constantly have their +ears cocked to hear domestic news, who are skilful in finding out +secrets and picking up stories, whose trade seems to be to take +note of all little bits of scandalous news going, and to take them +from ear to ear, or, worse, from house to house. Oh, what an +occupation! What a recreation for a spouse of Christ! (5) Those +who, under pretext of enlivening the conversation, sacrifice their +brethren to the vain and cruel wantonness of witticism by relating +something funny in order to give a lash of their tongue or to +expose some weakness. Alas! they forget that they ruin themselves +in the esteem and opinion of the hearers. (6) Critics of +intellectual work. On this point jealousy betrays itself very +easily on one side, and susceptibility is stirred on the other. +The heart is never insensible nor the mouth silent when we are +wounded in so delicate a part. It is evident, besides, that in +this case the blame supposes a desire of praise, and that in +proportion as we endeavour to lower our brethren we try to raise +ourselves. All these religious ought to be regarded as pests in +the community. + +If we call those who maintain fraternal charity the children of +God, should not those who disturb it be called the children of +Satan? Do they not endeavour to turn the abode of peace into a den +of discord, and the sanctuary of prayer into a porch of hell? + + + +XXIV + +FIFTH PRESERVATIVE + +_To be cautious in letter-writing and visiting_ + +GREAT care must be taken never to repeat anything at visits or in +letters which might compromise the honour of the community or any +of its members. + +Never utter a word or write a syllable which might in the least +degree diminish the esteem or lower the merit of anyone. Every +well-reared person knows that little family secrets must be kept +under lock and key. + +St. Jane Frances de Chantal writes: "To mention rashly outside the +community without great necessity the faults of religious would be +great impudence. Never relate outside, even to ecclesiastics, +frivolous complaints and lamentations without foundation, which +serve only to bring religion, and those who govern therein, into +disrepute. Certainly, we ought to be jealous of the honour and +good odour of religious houses, which are the family of God. Guard +this as an essential point which requires restitution." + + + +XXV + +SIXTH PRESERVATIVE + +_Caution in communication with superiors_ + +IN communications made to Superiors say the exact truth, and for a +good purpose. Do not speak into other ears that which, strictly +speaking, should only be told to the local Superior or +Superior-General. With the exception of extraordinary cases, or +when it refers to a bad habit or something otherwise irremediable, +there is generally little charity and less prudence in telling the +Superior-General of something blameable which has occurred. Do not +reveal, even before a Superior, confidences which conscience, +probity, or friendship requires to be guarded with an inviolable +seal of friendship. If we write a complaint about a personal +offence, lessen it rather than exaggerate, and endeavour to praise +the person for good qualities, because nothing is easier than to +blacken entirely another's reputation. + +Pray and wait till your emotion be calmed. When passion holds the +pen, it is no longer the ink that flows, but spleen, and the pen +is transformed into a sword. + +Before speaking or writing to the Superior it would be well to put +this question to ourselves: "Am I one of those proud spirits who +expose the faults of others in order to show off their own +pretended virtues? or jealous spirits who are offended at the +elevation of others? or vindictive spirits who like to give tit +for tat? or polite spirits who wish to appear important? or +ill-humoured, narrow-minded spirits, scandalized at trifles? or +credulous, inconsiderate spirits who believe and repeat +everything--the bad rather than the good? In fine, am I a +hypocrite who, clothing malice with the mantle of charity, and +hiding a cruel pleasure under the veil of compassion, weep with +the victim they intend to immolate, as though profoundly touched +by his misfortune, and seem to yield only to the imperative +demands of duty and zeal?" + + + +XXVI + +SEVENTH PRESERVATIVE + +_Caution in doubtful cases_ + +ACT with the greatest reserve in doubtful cases where grave +suspicions, difficult to be cleared up, rest on a religious +superior or inferior, as the case may be. + +The ears of the Superior are sacred, and it is unworthy +profanation to pour into them false or exaggerated reports. To +infect the Superior's ears is a greater crime than to poison the +drinking fountain or to steal a treasure, because the only +treasure of religious is the esteem of their Superior, and the +pure water which refreshes their souls is the encouraging and +benevolent words of the same Superior. + +Some, by imprudence or under the influence of a highly coloured or +impressionable imagination which carries everything to extremes +(we would not say through malice), render themselves often guilty +of crying acts of injustice and ruin a religious. What is +uncertain they relate as certain, and what is mere conjecture they +take as the base of grave suspicions. Several facts which, taken +individually, constitute scarcely a fault, they group together, +and so make a mountain out of a few grains of sand. An act which, +seen in its entirety, would be worthy of praise, they mutilate in +such a fashion as to show it in an unfavourable light. Enemies of +the positive degree, they lavish with prodigality the words +_often, very much, exceedingly,_ etc. When they have only one or +two witnesses, they make use of the word _everybody_, thereby +leaving you under the impression that the rumour is scattered +broadcast. On such statements, how can a Superior pronounce +judgment? + + + +XXVII + +EIGHTH PRESERVATIVE + +_To check uncharitable conversation in others_ + +WHEN you see charity wounded by an equal call him to order. + +If to say or do anything scandalous is the first sin forbidden by +charity, not to stop, when you can, him who speaks or acts badly +ought to be considered the second. + +When the discourse degenerates, represent Jesus Christ entering +suddenly into the midst of the company, and saying, as He did +formerly to the disciples of Emmaus: "What discourse hold you among +yourselves, and why are you sad?" Recall also these words of the +Psalmist: "You have preferred to say evil rather than good, and to +relate vices rather than virtues. O deceitful, inconsiderate, and +rash tongue! Dost thou think thou wilt remain unpunished? No; God +will punish thee in everlasting flames." After having thus +fortified ourselves against uncharitable conversation, we ought to +try and put a stop to it. + +St. John Climacus tells us to address the following words to those +who calumniate in our presence: "For mercy's sake cease such +conversation! How would you wish me to stone my brethren--me, +whose faults are greater and more numerous?" + +A holy religious replied to an uncharitable person: "We have to +render infinite thanks to God if we are not such as those of whom +you speak. Alas! what would become of us without Him?" + +The philosopher Zeno, hearing a man relate a number of misdeeds +about Antisthenes, said to him: "Ah! Has he never done anything +good? Has he never done anything for which he merits praise?" "I +don't know," he replied. Then said Zeno, "How is that? You have +sufficient perception to remark, and sufficient memory to +remember, this long list of faults, and you have had no eyes to +see his many good qualities and virtuous actions." + +St. John Chrysostom says: "To the calumniator I wish you to say +the following: If you can praise your neighbours, my ears are open +to receive your perfume. If you can only blacken them, my ears are +closed, as I do not wish them to be the receptacle of your filthy +words. What matters it to me to hear that such a one is wicked, +and has done some detestable act? Friend, think of the account +that must be rendered to the Sovereign Judge. What excuse can we +give, and what mercy will we deserve--we who have been so +keen-sighted to the faults of others, and so blind to our own? You +would consider it very rude for a person to look into your private +room; but I say it is far worse to pry into another's private life +and to expose it. + +The calumniator should remember that, besides the fault he commits +and the wrong he does to his neighbours, he exposes himself, by a +just punishment of God, to be the victim of calumny himself. + + + +XXVIII + +NINTH PRESERVATIVE + +_How to check uncharitable conversation in superiors, etc._ + +WHEN we see charity wounded by persons worthy of respect, keep +silent, in order to show your regret, or relate something to the +advantage of the absent. If necessary, withdraw. + +It is related in the life of Sister Margaret, of the Blessed +Sacrament of the Carmelite Order, that when a discourse against +charity took place in the house she saw a smoke arise of such +suffocating odour that she nearly fainted, and fled immediately to +her Divine Master for pardon. + +St. Jerome, writing to Nepotian on this subject, says: "Some +object that they cannot warn the speaker of his fault without +failing in the respect due to him. This excuse is vain, because +their eagerness to listen increases his itch for speaking. No one +wishes to relate calumnies and murmurs to ears closed with +disgust. Is there anyone so foolish as to shoot arrows against a +stone wall?" Let your strict silence be a significant and salutary +lesson for the detractor. "Have no commerce with those who bite," +said Solomon, because perdition is on the eve of overtaking them; +and who can tell the disaster and ruin with which the rash +detractor and equally blamable listener are threatened? + +If it be true, according to the testimony of a religious who was +visitor of the houses of his Order, that the virtue against which +one can most easily commit a grievous sin in religion is charity; +and, according to St. Francis de Sales, sins of the tongue number +three-fourths of all sins committed; cannot it be said with equal +truth that to refuse to listen to detractors is with one blow to +prevent the sin and safeguard charity? + +In many cases one can adroitly make known the good qualities and +virtues which more than counterbalance the defects related by the +defamer. To act thus is to spread about the good odour of Christ. + + + +XXIX + +TENTH PRESERVATIVE + +_Be cautious after hearing uncharitable conversation_ + +AFTER having heard uncharitable words, observe the following +precautions given by the Saints: + +1. Repeat nothing. + +2. Believe all the good you hear, but believe only the bad you +see. Malice does the contrary. It demands proofs for good reports, +but believes bad reports on the slightest grounds. Out of every +thousand reports one can scarcely be found accurate in all its +details. When, as a rule of prudence, Superiors are told to +believe only half of what they hear, to consider the other half, +and still suspect the remaining part, what rule should be +prescribed for inferiors? + +When the act is evidently blameworthy, suppose a good intention, +or at least one not so bad as apparent, leaving to God what He +reserves to Himself the judgment of the heart; or consider it as +the result of surprise, inadvertence, human frailty, or the +violence of the temptation. Never come to hasty conclusions-- +_e.g._, "He is incorrigible; as he is, so will he always be." +Expect everything from grace, efforts, and time. + +3. Efface as much as possible the bad impression produced on the +mind, because calumny always produces such. + +The recital of something bad about a fellow-religious based on +probabilities has sufficed to tarnish a reputation which ample +apologies cannot fully repair. The detractor's evil reports are +believed on account of the audacity with which he relates them, +but when he wants to relate something good he will not be believed +on oath. We know by experience that evil reports spread with +compound interest, while good ones are retailed at discount. + + + +XXX + +ELEVENTH PRESERVATIVE + +_Not to judge or suspect rashly_ + +EXPEL every doubt, every thought, likely to diminish esteem. They +amuse themselves with a most dangerous game who always gather up +vague thoughts of the past, rumours without foundation, +conjectures in which passion has the greatest share, and thus form +in their minds characters of their brethren--adding always, never +subtracting--and by dint of the high idea they have of their own +ability conclude that all their judgments are true, and thus +become fixed in their bad habit. St. Bernard, comparing them to +painters, warns them that it is the devil who furnishes the +materials, and even the evil conceptions, necessary to depict such +bad impressions of their brethren. We read in the "Life of St. +Francis" that our Lord Himself called in a distinct voice a +certain young man to his Order. "O Lord," replied the young man, +"when I am once entered, what must I do to please You?" Pay +particular attention to our Lord's answer: "Lead thou a life in +common with the rest. Avoid particular friendships. Take no notice +of the defects of others, and form no unfavourable judgments about +them." What matter for consideration in these admirable words! + +Thomas a Kempis says: "Turn thy eyes back upon thyself, and see +thou judge not the doing of others. In judging others a man +labours in vain, often errs, and easily sins; but in judging and +looking into himself he always labours with fruit. We frequently +judge of a thing according to the inclination of our hearts, +because self-love easily alters in us a true judgment." + +Rodriguez tells us to turn on ourselves the sinister questions, +etc., we are tempted to refer to others _e.g._: "It is I who am +deceived. It is through jealousy that I condemn my brethren. It is +through malice that I find so much to blame in them. Finally, the +fault is mine, not theirs." + +Even when reports more or less true might depreciate in your eyes +some of the community, may they not have, besides their faults, +some great but hidden virtues, and by these be entitled to a more +merciful judgment? St. Augustine says beautifully: "If you cast +your eye over a field where the corn has been trampled, you only +perceive the straw, not the grain. Lift up the straw, and you will +see plenty of golden sheaves full of grain." The simile is very +applicable to a poor religious beaten down by foul tongues. We +blame the defects of our brethren, and perhaps we have the same, +or others more shameful still. We usurp the right of judgment, +which God reserves to Himself, and forget that He will punish us +by leaving us to our own irregular passions. Ah! is it not already +a very great misfortune to have these contemptuous, slanderous, +distrustful thoughts, and many other sins, the result of malicious +suspicions and rash judgments, rooted in the soul? + + + +XXXI + +MEANS TO SUPPORT THE EVIL THOUGHTS AND TONGUES OF OTHERS + +WHAT must be done in those painful moments when, being the victim +of a painful calumny, the object of suspicion, the butt of +domestic persecution, we are tempted to believe that charity is +banished from the community, and so to banish it from our own +heart? Recall the words of St. John of the Cross. "Imagine," says +he, "that your brethren are so many sculptors armed with mallets +and chisels, and that you have been placed before them as a block +of marble destined in the mind of God to become a statue +representing the Man of Sorrows, Jesus crucified." Consider a +hasty word said to you as a thorn in the head; a mockery as a spit +in the face; an unkind act as a nail in the hand; a hatred which +takes the place of friendship as a lance in the side; all that +which hurts, contradicts, or humiliates us as the blows, stripes, +the gall and vinegar, the crown of thorns and the cross. The work +proceeds always, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Let us not +complain. We will one day thank these workmen, who, without +intending it, give to our soul the most beautiful, the most +glorious, and the noblest traits. We ourselves are sculptors as +well as statues, and we will find that, on our part, we have +materially helped to form in them the same traits. + +"If all were perfect," says the "Imitation," "what, then, should +we have to suffer from others for God's sake?" + +It is not forbidden us to seek consolation. But from whom? Is it +from those discontented spirits whose ears are like public sewers, +the receptacle of every filth and dirt? They increase our pain by +pouring the poison of their own discontent instead of the oil of +the Good Samaritan. They will take our disease and give us theirs, +and, like Samson's foxes, spread destruction around by repeating +what we said to them. May God preserve us from this misfortune! If +we cannot carry our burden alone, and if we find it no relief to +lay our griefs in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us go to him whom +the rule appoints to be our friend and consoler, our confidant and +director, and who, as St. Augustine relates of St. Monica, after +having listened to us with patience, charity, and compassion, +after having at first appeared to share our sentiments, will +sweeten and explain all with prudence, will lift up and encourage +our oppressed heart, and by his counsel and prayers will restore +us to peace and charity. + + + +XXXII + +SECOND MEANS TO BEAR WITH OTHERS + +RECALL the words of our Lord to Blessed Margaret Mary: "With the +intention of perfecting thee by patience I will increase thy +sensibility and repugnance, so that thou wilt find occasions of +humiliation and suffering even in the smallest and most +indifferent things." + +What would be considered, when we were in the world, as the prick +of a needle, we look upon in religion as the blow of a sword. What +we looked upon in our own house as light as a feather, becomes in +community life as heavy as a rock. An insignificant word becomes +an outrage, and a little matter which formerly would escape our +notice now upsets us, and even deprives us of sleep and appetite. +Is not this increase of sensibility and repugnance found in the +religious state only to form in us the image of our crucified +Lord? If Christ alone has suffered interiorly more than all the +Saints and Martyrs together, was it not because of this extreme +repugnance of His soul, which multiplied to infinity for Him the +bitterness of the affronts and the rigour of His torments? +Religious may expect for a certainty that, like their Divine +Master, there are reserved for them moments of complete +abandonment, those agonies intended for the souls of the elect, in +which Nature seems on the point of succumbing. No consolation from +their families, which they have quitted; nor from their +companions, who are busy in their various employments; nor from +their Superiors, who do not understand the excess of their grief, +and whose words by Divine permission produce no effect. + +The solemn moment of agony with our Divine Saviour was that in +which, abandoned, betrayed, and denied by His Apostles, and +perceiving in His Father only an irritated face, He exclaimed, "My +God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Such will be for +religious the last touch which will complete in them the +resemblance of Jesus crucified, provided they will render +themselves worthy of it. + +When will be the time of this complete abandonment? How long will +this agony be prolonged? This is a secret known only to God. + + + +XXXIII + +CONCLUSION + +POVERTY, chastity, obedience, and charity--such are the virtues +suitable and characteristic of the religious. In this little +treatise we have endeavoured to trace the features of the last. + +In every community we can distinguish two sorts of religious-- +those who mount and those who descend--those whose face is towards +the path of perfection, and those who have turned their back to +it. Perhaps amongst these latter some have only one more step to +abandon it altogether. Now we mount or descend, proceed or retrace +our steps, in proportion as we practise these four virtues or +neglect them. + +A religious Order is like a fire balloon, which requires four +conditions in order to rise into the clouds amidst the applause of +the spectators. First, the rarefaction of the air by fire. This +represents the vow of poverty, which empties the heart through the +hands, and substitutes the desire of heavenly goods for those of +earth. Second, release from the cords which bind it down. This +represents the effects of the vow of chastity, which, by breaking +human attachments, permits us to soar towards God with freedom and +rapidity. Third, a man who will feed the fire and moderate the +flight of the balloon upwards. This represents the right which the +vow of obedience places in the hands of the Superior, to nourish +the sacred fire, and direct the sublime movement of the soul and +foresee dangers. Fourth, the union of its component parts. This +represents the operations of charity, in causing all the members +of a community to have but one heart and one soul. + +Possessing these four virtues, a religious Order soars in the +heights of perfection; but if one of these be wanting it falls +helplessly, and is no longer an object of edification, but of +scandal and ridicule. + +When it happens that some members, losing the spirit of their +state, abandon their holy vocation, we may say with St. John: +"They went out from us; but they were not of us. For if they had +been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but that +they might be made manifest that they are not all of us" (1 John +ii.). They appeared to have the religious virtues, but in reality +one or all were wanting to them. + +O God, do not permit that lukewarmness or an uncontrolled passion +will ever make me waver in my vocation. During life and at death I +wish to remain a faithful religious, so that I may find the +salvation which Thou hast promised by procuring Thy glory. As good +grain improves by pulling up the weeds, and the body becomes +healthy when purged of bad humours, pour into my soul the grace +and unction which others refuse, in order that, practising more +perfectly from day to day poverty, chastity, obedience, and +charity, and redoubling my ardour and zeal to my last hour, I may +obtain the priceless treasure promised to those who have quitted +all to follow Thee. Amen. + + + +APPENDIX + +THE PRACTICE OF FRATERNAL CHARITY (FATHER FABER) + +1. OFTEN reflect on some good point in each of your brethren. + +2. Reflect on the opposite faults in yourself. + +3. Do this most in the case of those whom we are most inclined to +criticize. + +4. Never claim rights or even let ourselves feel that we have +them, as this spirit is most fatal both to obedience and charity. + +5. Charitable thoughts are the only security of charitable deeds +and words. They save us from surprises, especially from surprises +of temper. + +6. Never have an aversion for another, much less manifest it. + +7. Avoid particular friendships. + +8. Never judge another. Always, if possible, excuse the faults we +see, and if we cannot excuse the action, excuse the intention. We +cannot all think alike, and we should, therefore, avoid +attributing bad motives to others. + +CHARITABLE RELIGIOUS + +They have a disregard of self and a desire to accommodate others. +They rejoice with their companions in their joys and recreations, +and grieve with them in their afflictions. + +They try to bring all the good they can to the community and to +avert all the evil. They begin with themselves, by being as little +trouble as possible to others. + +With great charity and affability they bear with the faults and +shortcomings of others, careful to fulfil the law of Christ, which +tells us to bear one another's burdens. + +They dispense to others what they have for their own advantage; +more particularly do they give spiritual assistance by prayer and +the other spiritual works of mercy. + +They never contradict anyone. They never speak against anyone. +They are convinced that charity, holy friendships, and concord +form the great solace of this life, and that no good ever came +from dissensions and disputes. + +They consider that God is ever in the midst of those who live +united together by the bonds of holy love. + +We will do likewise if we consider the image of God in the souls +of our brethren. As we form one body here and one spirit in the +same faith and charity, let us hope not to be separated hereafter, +but to belong for ever to that one body in heaven when faith and +hope shall disappear, but where charity alone shall remain, and +remain for ever. + +--- + +_R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., 1, 2 & 4 Paternoster Row_ + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fraternal Charity, by Rev. 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