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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+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: Light and Peace
+       Instructions for devout souls to dispel their doubts and
+       allay their fears
+
+Author: Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38355]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT AND PEACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Veronica Brandt and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            LIGHT AND PEACE.
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+                       TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND
+                           ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                                   BY
+                      R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+                     _Translated from the French._
+
+
+                        With an Introduction by
+                    THE MOST REV. P. J. RYAN, D.D.,
+                    Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+
+                          ST. LOUIS, MO. 1898.
+                        Published by B. HERDER,
+                           17 South Broadway.
+
+
+                             NIHIL OBSTAT.
+
+                                                      F. G. Holweck,
+                                                  _Censor Librorum_.
+
+
+                              IMPRIMATUR.
+
+St. Louis, Mo., 1. Oct. 1897.
+                                            H. Muehlsiepen, _V. G.,_
+                                                              _Adm._
+
+
+_The French translation, from which the present English version has been
+made, is approved by the Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Versailles
+and the Bishop of Meaux._
+
+
+                 Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach.
+
+
+                               —BECKTOLD—
+                       PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
+                             ST. LOUIS, MO.
+
+
+
+
+                         TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
+
+
+These _Instructions for Pious Souls_, now published in English under the
+title _Light and Peace_, were written in 1795 by the illustrious and
+saintly Barnabite, Padre Quadrupani. They contain a summary of spiritual
+guidance for earnest Christians in the ordinary duties of life in the
+world. The author had formed his own spirituality on the model presented
+by the life and teaching of St. Francis de Sales, and in this little book
+he reflects the wisdom, prudence and sweetness of that “gentleman Saint.”
+
+The work has passed through uncounted editions in its original Italian,
+and through a large number of editions in both the French and the German
+translations. An English translation was published many years ago, but
+besides its present rarity, its many imperfections warrant the belief
+that a new rendition will not be unwelcome. The translator has, moreover,
+been encouraged by the persuasion that the maxims of Father Quadrupani
+are specially adapted to the American character. Unlike many foreign
+religious works, whose spirituality often fails to touch the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament, this author’s teaching is decidedly practical and
+practicable, and appeals in every way to the common sense and fits in
+with the busy, matter-of-fact life of the average American Catholic.
+
+The present translation has been made from the twentieth French edition
+and has been collated with the thirty-second edition of the original
+Italian published at Naples in 1818. The many recommendations from the
+Episcopacy of France prefixed to the French translation are here omitted,
+as the Introduction by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Philadelphia is
+abundant testimony to the doctrinal solidity of the work.
+
+                                                          I. M. O’R.
+Overbrook, PA.
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+God’s attributes being infinite and our intellects limited and also
+darkened by the fall, we see these attributes only in part and “as afar
+off and through a glass.” In contemplating His awful sanctity, we are
+overwhelmed with fear and forget His ineffable mercy. Our views are also
+greatly influenced by our natural temperaments, whether joyous or sad,
+and change with our environments and moods.
+
+As the blue firmament is ever the same, so is the great God Himself—“the
+King of Ages immortal and invisible, without change or shadow of
+vicissitude.” But as the clouds that hang as veils of the sanctuary are
+movable and variegated, now dark and gloomy and again brilliant in silver
+or gold, now opening into vistas of the firmament above and again closing
+in darkness, except when arrows of light pierce them and show their
+outlines, so are we variable and inconstant and need spiritual direction
+adapted to our peculiar wants. The naturally joyous, hopeful and
+sometimes presumptuous, need that wholesome fear of the Lord which is
+“the beginning of wisdom.” The constitutionally severe, scrupulous and
+almost despairing, need to remember God’s tender paternal character and
+to learn that “His mercies are above all His works.” To such souls this
+little book must prove invaluable. Its theology is sound, as the various
+episcopal approbations testify. Hence its statements can be entirely
+trusted. The fact that it has passed through twenty editions in French is
+sufficient evidence of its appreciation in that country. May it continue
+its holy mission of light and consolation and joy in this country and act
+like the angelic messenger to Peter in prison, liberating the soul from
+the chains of doubt and despondency, illuminating her by the light of
+God’s holy truth and bringing her out of the darksome prison into the
+company of the confiding, prayerful, joyous saints of God.
+
+                                                        ✠P. J. RYAN.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                         _Exterior Practices._
+
+                                                                     Page.
+  I. Spiritual Direction                                                 1
+  II. Temptations                                                        8
+  III. Prayer                                                           19
+  IV. Penance                                                           37
+  V. Confession                                                         43
+  VI. Holy Communion                                                    62
+  VII. Sundays and Holydays                                             76
+  VIII. Spiritual Reading                                               81
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                            _Interior Life._
+
+  IX. Hope                                                              85
+  X. The Presence of God                                                90
+  XI. Humility                                                          93
+  XII. Resignation                                                      99
+  XIII. Scruples                                                       108
+  XIV. Interior Peace                                                  112
+  XV. Sadness                                                          116
+  XVI. Liberty of Spirit                                               119
+  XVII. Christian Perfection                                           130
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                             _Social Life._
+
+  XVIII. Charity                                                       146
+  XIX. Zeal                                                            153
+  XX. Meekness                                                         162
+  XXI. Conversation                                                    165
+  XXII. Dress                                                          173
+  XXIII. Human Respect                                                 176
+  XXIV. Resolutions                                                    178
+  XXV. Conclusion                                                      182
+  Additions                                                            186
+
+
+
+
+                            Light and Peace
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+             TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                    By R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                          EXTERIOR PRACTICES.
+
+
+
+
+                                   I.
+                          SPIRITUAL DIRECTION.
+
+
+  For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Ghost. (S. Mark, xiii, 11.)
+
+1. It is absolutely true that in matters of conscience obedience to a
+spiritual director is obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
+ministers on earth: “He that heareth you, heareth Me.” (St. Luke, x, 16.)
+
+2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience can not be lost: a soul
+devoid of this spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)
+
+3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for the devil to tempt those who
+ignore obedience and permit themselves to be guided by their own light
+and deterred by their fears, for they act the devil’s part towards
+themselves.
+
+4. Do not fear that your director may be mistaken in what he prescribes
+for your guidance, or that he does not fully understand the state of your
+conscience because you did not explain it clearly enough to him. Such
+doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed and thus frustrate the
+designs of God in placing you under the direction of a prudent guide. It
+was the priest’s duty to have questioned you further had he not fully
+understood you, and that he did not do so is a positive proof that he
+knew enough to enable him to pronounce a safe judgment. God has promised
+his special help to those who represent Him in the direction of souls. Is
+not this assurance enough to induce you to obey with promptness and
+simplicity as the Holy Scripture commands?
+
+5. God does not show the state of our souls as clearly to us as he does
+to him who is to guide us in his place. You should be quite satisfied,
+then, if your director tells you the course you follow is the right one
+and that the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father are guiding you in
+it. You should believe and obey him in this as in all else, for as St.
+John of the Cross tells us, “it betrays pride and lack of faith not to
+put entire confidence in what our confessor says.”
+
+6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore,
+therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk
+confidently in this path exempt from danger. “You sometimes fear,” says
+St. Bonaventure, “that in obeying you act against the dictates of your
+conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
+really increase your merit before God.”
+
+7. We should allow obedience to regulate not only our exterior actions
+but likewise our mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied with
+performing the works it prescribes, but let your thoughts and desires be
+also moulded according to its direction. In fact, it is in this interior
+submission that the merit of spiritual obedience essentially consists.
+
+8. Obedience should be simple and prompt, without reservation or
+disquietude. Simple, because you ought not to argue about it, but decide
+by the one thought: _I must obey_; prompt, for it is God whom you obey;
+without reservation, because obedience extends to everything that does
+not violate God’s law; without disquietude, because in obeying God you
+cannot go astray: this thought should be sufficient to drive away all
+fear of doing or of having done wrong.
+
+9. When choosing a director, be careful to select one who has the
+necessary qualifications. He should be not only virtuous, but prudent,
+charitable and learned. St. Francis de Sales gives the following opinion
+on the subject:
+
+“Go,” said Tobias to his son, when about to send him into a strange
+country, ‘go seek some wise man to conduct you.’ I say the same to you,
+Philothea. If you sincerely desire to enter upon the way of devotion,
+seek a good guide to direct you therein. This advice is of the utmost
+importance and necessity. Whatever one may do, says the devout Avila, he
+can never be certain of fulfilling God’s will, unless he practice that
+humble obedience which the saints so strongly recommend and to which they
+so faithfully adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: ‘A faithful friend is a
+strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure: ... a
+faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that
+fear the Lord shall find one.’ (Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.)
+
+But who can find such a friend? They that fear God, the Wise Man
+answers—that is to say, those humble souls who ardently desire their
+spiritual progress. Since it is so essential, then, Philothea, to have a
+skilful guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to give you one
+according to His Heart, and rest assured that when an angel is necessary
+to you as to the young Tobias, He will give you a wise and faithful
+director.
+
+In fact, the selection once made, you should look upon your spiritual
+guide more as a guardian angel than as a mere man. You place your
+confidence not in him but in God, for it is God who will lead and
+instruct you through his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
+sentiments and words necessary for your guidance. Thus you may safely
+listen to him as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you there. To this
+confidence, add perfect candor. Speak quite frankly and tell him
+unreservedly all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the good will
+thus be strengthened, the evil weakened, and your soul shall thereby
+become firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in its consolations.
+Great respect should also be united with confidence and in such nice
+proportion that the one shall not lessen the other: let your confidence
+in him be such as a respectful daughter reposes in her father, your
+respect for him such as that with which a son confides in his mother. In
+a word, this friendship, though strong and tender, should be altogether
+sacred and spiritual in its nature.
+
+‘Choose one among a thousand,’ says Avila: “among ten thousand, rather, I
+should say, for there are fewer than one would suppose fitted for this
+office of spiritual director. Charity, learning and prudence are
+indispensable to it, and if any one of these qualities be absent, your
+choice will not be unattended with danger. I repeat, ask God to inspire
+your selection and when you have made it thank Him sincerely, and then
+remain constant to your decision. If you go to God in all simplicity and
+with humility and confidence, you will undoubtedly obtain a favorable
+answer to your petition.”
+
+In conclusion, it may be well to remind you that the director and the
+confessor have not necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis de
+Sales was the spiritual director of many persons to whom he was not the
+ordinary confessor. “To a director,” he says, “we should reveal our
+entire soul, whereas to a confessor we simply accuse ourselves of our
+sins in order to receive absolution for them.”
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+                              TEMPTATIONS.
+
+
+  My brethren, count it all joy when ye shall fall into divers
+  temptations. (Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.)
+
+  Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin,
+  which dwelleth in me. (St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.)
+
+1. “If we are tempted,” says the Holy Spirit, “it is a sign that God
+loves us.” Those whom God best loves have been most exposed to
+temptations. “Because thou wast acceptable to God,” said the angel to
+Tobias, “it was necessary that temptation should prove thee.” (Tobias, c.
+xii, v. 13.)
+
+2. Do not ask God to deliver you from temptations, but to grant you the
+grace not to succumb to them and to do nothing contrary to His divine
+will. He who refuses the combat, renounces the crown. Place all your
+trust in God and God will Himself do battle for you against the enemy.[1]
+
+3. “These persistent temptations come from the malice of the devil,” says
+St. Francis de Sales, “but the trouble and suffering they cause us come
+from the mercy of God. Thus, despite the will of the tempter, God
+converts his evil machinations into a distress which we may make
+meritorious. Therefore I say your temptations are from the devil and
+hell, but your anxiety and affliction are from God and heaven.” Despise
+temptation, then, and open wide your soul to this suffering which God
+sends in order to purify you here that He may reward you hereafter.
+
+4. “Let the wind blow,” remarks the same Saint, “and do not mistake the
+rustling of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly convinced that
+all the temptations of hell are powerless to defile a soul that does not
+love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations, yet God, through love,
+did not deliver him from them.” Look upon God as an infinitely good and
+tender father and believe that He only allows the devil to try His
+children that their merits may increase and their recompense be
+correspondingly greater.
+
+5. The more persistent the temptation, the clearer it is that you have
+not given consent to it. “It is a good sign,” says St. Francis de Sales,
+“when the tempter makes so much noise and commotion outside of the will,
+for it shows that he is not within.” An enemy does not besiege a fortress
+that is already in his power, and the more obstinate the attack, the more
+certain We may be that our resistance continues.
+
+6. Your fears lead you to believe you are defeated at the very moment you
+are gaining the victory. This comes from the fact that you confound
+feeling with consent, and, mistaking a passive condition of the
+imagination for an act of the will, you consider that you have yielded to
+the temptation because you felt it keenly.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity, thus describes this
+warring of the flesh against the spirit:
+
+“You are right, my dear daughter. There are two women within you ... and
+the two children of these different mothers quarrel, and the
+good-for-nothing one is so bad that sometimes the good one can scarcely
+defend herself, and then she takes it into her head that she has been
+worsted and that the wicked one is braver than she. Now, surely, this is
+not true. The bad one is not the stronger by any means, but only slyer,
+more persistent and more obstinate. When she succeeds in making you weep
+she is delighted, because that is always just so much time lost, and she
+is content to make you lose time when she cannot make you lose
+eternity.”*[2]
+
+It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. St. Jerome had
+retired into the desert and still his fancy represented to him the dances
+of the Roman ladies. His body was benumbed, as it were, and his blood
+chilled by the severity of his mortifications, and yet the flames of
+concupiscence encompassed and tortured his heart. During these frightful
+conflicts the holy anchorite suffered, but he did not sin; he was
+tormented but was not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were augmented
+in the sight of God in proportion to the intensity of the temptations.
+
+7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont to say to the phantoms of his
+mind: I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does not
+depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I would
+wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I repulse and
+reject you. “It is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary,” says St.
+Augustine, “that if not voluntary, it is not sin.”
+
+8. The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the
+imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been
+carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is not
+the case. The will suffered, but did not consent; it was attacked and
+wounded, but not conquered. This state of things coincides with what St.
+Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the spirit and of their
+unceasing warfare. The soul, indeed, experiences strange sensations, but
+as she does not consent to them, she passes through the ordeal unsullied,
+just as substances coated with oil may be immersed in water without
+absorbing a single drop of it.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction so plainly and yet so
+simply in one of his letters, that it may be useful to repeat the passage
+here: “Courage, my dear soul, I say it with great love in Jesus Christ,
+dear soul, courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely, even though
+without feeling, My Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not tell me it
+appears to you that you say it in a cowardly way, and only by doing great
+violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy violence that bears away
+the kingdom of heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is a sign that the
+enemy has taken everything within our fortress except the impenetrable,
+unconquerable tower—and that can never be lost save by wilful surrender.
+This tower is the free-will which, perfectly visible to the eye of God,
+occupies the highest and most spiritual region of the soul, dependent on
+none but God and oneself; and when all the other faculties are lost and
+in subjection to the enemy, it alone remains free to give or to refuse
+consent. Now, you often see souls afflicted because the enemy, occupying
+all the other faculties, makes therein so great a noise and confusion
+that they scarce can hear what this superior will says; for though it has
+a clearer and more penetrating voice than the inferior will, the loud,
+boisterous cries of the latter almost drown it: but note this well: as
+long as the temptation is displeasing to you, there is nothing to fear;
+for why should it displease you, except because you do not will it?”*
+
+9. Should it frequently happen that you have not a distinct consciousness
+of your success against temptation, it may be that God refuses you this
+satisfaction in order that, lacking this clear assurance, your knowledge
+may come through obedience. Therefore, when your spiritual director,
+after hearing your explanation, says that you have not given consent, you
+should be satisfied with his decision and abide by it with perfect
+tranquillity, discarding all fear that he did not understand you aright
+or that you did not explain the matter sufficiently. These doubts are but
+fresh artifices of the devil to rob you of the merit of obedience. As has
+been said above, to give way to such inquietude is to offend seriously
+against this virtue, for all direction would thus be rendered impossible,
+by the failure of the penitent to recognize God Himself in the person of
+his director.
+
+10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions must co-exist. First, the
+matter must be weighty; secondly, the mind must have full knowledge of
+the guilt of the action, omission or dangerous occasion in question; and,
+thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference for the forbidden
+action, culpable omission, or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
+consent. These reflections should serve to reassure your mind if the fear
+of having committed a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very difficult for
+this threefold union of conditions to be effected in a God-fearing soul.
+However, perfect security can come, and ought to come, only from
+spiritual obedience.
+
+11. In temptations against faith and purity, do not make great efforts to
+form acts of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading glance towards
+God, without speaking even to this compassionate Friend concerning the
+thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root the evil suggestion more
+firmly. Then, without disquieting yourself, engage at once in some
+exterior occupation or continue what you were doing. Make no answer to
+the tempter, but ignore him, just as though his assault had never
+occurred. In this way, whilst preserving your own peace of soul, you will
+cover your enemy with confusion.
+
+*The same counsel is given by St. Francis de Sales in his characteristic
+style:
+
+“Do you know how God acts on these occasions? He permits the wicked maker
+of such wares to come and offer them to us for sale, in order that by the
+contempt we show for them we may testify our love for holy things. And
+for this is it necessary, my dear child, to feel anxious, and to change
+our position? No, no. It is only the devil who is prowling around your
+soul, raging and storming, to see if he can find an open door.... What!
+and you would be annoyed at that? Let the enemy storm away; only be
+careful on your part to keep all the entrances well fastened, and finally
+he will grow weary; or if he do not, God will force him to raise the
+siege.”*
+
+12. Though you should be assailed by temptations during your entire life
+time, do not be disquieted, for your merits will increase in proportion
+to your trials and your crown be accordingly all the brighter in heaven.
+The only thing necessary is to remain firm in your resolution to despise
+the efforts of the tempter.
+
+*“This serious trial, and so many others that have assailed you and left
+you troubled in mind, do not at all surprise me, since there is nothing
+worse. Do not worry, then, my beloved daughter. Should we allow ourselves
+to be swept away by the current and the storm? Let Satan rage at the
+door; he may knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and do his worst, but
+rest assured that he can never enter our souls but through the door of
+our consent. Let us only keep that closed tight and often look to see
+that it is well secured and we need have no concern about all the
+rest—there is no danger.”*—St. Francis de Sales.
+
+13. The most learned theologians and masters of the spiritual life agree
+in saying that simply to ignore a temptation is a much more effectual
+means to repulse it than words and acts of the contrary virtues. On this
+subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV. of the _Introduction to a
+Devout Life_. You will find much light and consolation in them. See also
+Chapter XII. of the _Spiritual Combat_, and Chapters VI., VII., XII.,
+XX., XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book of the _Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  III.
+                                PRAYER.
+
+
+  Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God? I will suggest a
+  help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast praised God. (S.
+  Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)
+
+  Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider heavenly
+  things; and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt me as I
+  pray. (Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)
+
+1. We ought to love meditation and should make it often on the Passion of
+our divine Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom fruits of
+humility, patience and charity.
+
+2. If you experience great dryness in your meditations or other prayers,
+do not feel distressed and conclude that God has turned His Face away
+from you. Far from it. Prayer said with aridity is usually the most
+meritorious. *It is quite a common error to confound the value of prayer
+with its sensible results, and the merit acquired with the satisfaction
+experienced. The facility and sweetness you may have in prayer are favors
+from God and for which you will have to account to him: hence the result
+is not merit but debt. (Read the _Imitation_, B. II, c. IX.)* The very
+fact that we derive less gratification from such prayer, makes it all the
+more pleasing to God, because we are thus suffering for love of him. Let
+us call to mind at such times that our Lord prayed without consolation
+throughout his bitter agony.
+
+*“All this trouble comes from self-love and from the good opinion we have
+of ourselves. If our hearts do not melt with tenderness, if we have no
+relish or sensible feeling in prayer, if we do not enjoy great interior
+sweetness during meditation, we are at once overwhelmed with sadness: if
+we find difficulty in doing good, if some obstacle is opposed to our
+pious designs, we give way to disquietude and are eager to conquer all
+this and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly because we love
+consolations, our own comfort, our own convenience. We wish to pray
+immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous that we may eat sugar; and we
+do not contemplate _our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, prone upon the ground,
+is covered with a sweat of blood_ caused by the intense conflict He feels
+interiorly between the repugnances of the inferior portion of his soul
+and the resolutions of the superior.”*—St. Francis de Sales.
+
+*The same teaching is given by another great master of the spiritual
+life:
+
+“We frequently seek the gratification and consolation of self-love in the
+testimony we desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are disturbed about
+our lack of sensible fervor, whereas in reality we never pray so well as
+when we are tempted to think we are not praying at all. We fear to pray
+badly then, but we should fear rather to give way to the vexation of our
+cowardly nature, to a philosophical infidelity, which ever wishes to
+demonstrate to itself its own operations—in fine, to an impatient desire
+to see and to feel in order to console ourselves.
+
+There is no penance more bitter than this state of pure faith without
+sensible support. Hence I conclude that it is freer than any other from
+illusion. Strange temptation! to seek impatiently for sensible
+consolation through fear of not being sufficiently penitent! Ah! Why not
+rather accept as a penance the deprivation of that consolation we are so
+tempted to seek?”*—Fénelon.
+
+3. You will sometimes imagine that at prayer your soul is not in the
+presence of God and that only your body is in the church, like the
+statues and candelabras that adorn the altars. Think, then, that you
+share with those inanimate objects the honor of serving as ornaments for
+the house of God, and that in the presence of your Creator even this
+humble rôle should seem glorious to you.
+
+*“You tell me that you cannot pray well. But what better prayer could
+there be than to represent to God again and again, as you are doing, your
+nothingness and misery? The most touching appeal beggars can make is
+merely to expose to us their deformities and necessities. But there are
+times when you cannot even do this much, you say, and that you remain
+there like a statue. Well, even that is better than nothing. Kings and
+princes have statues in their palaces for no other purpose than that they
+may take pleasure in looking at them: be satisfied then to fulfil the
+same office in the presence of God, and when it so pleases Him He will
+animate the statue.”*—St. Francis de Sales.
+
+4. When you have not consciously or voluntarily yielded to distractions,
+do not stop to find what may have been their cause, or to discover if you
+have in any way given occasion to them. This would be simply to weary and
+disquiet yourself unprofitably. From whatever direction they come, you
+can convert them into a source of merit by casting yourself into the arms
+of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis de Sales when asked how he prayed,
+replied: “I cannot say it too often—I receive peacefully whatever the
+Lord sends me. If he consoles me, I kiss the right hand of his mercy; if
+I am dry and distracted, I kiss the left hand of his justice.” This
+method is the only good one, for as the same Saint says: “He who truly
+loves prayer, loves it for the love of God: and he who loves it for the
+love of God, wishes to experience in it naught but what God is pleased to
+send him.” Now, whatever you may experience in prayer, is precisely what
+God wills.
+
+5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that merely to keep ourselves
+peacefully and tranquilly in the presence of God, without other desire or
+pretension than to be near him and to please him, is of itself an
+excellent prayer. “Do not exhaust yourself,” he says, “in making efforts
+to speak to your dear Master, for you are speaking to Him by the sole
+fact that you remain there and contemplate Him.”
+
+*“Remember that the graces and favors of prayer do not come from earth
+but from heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can acquire them,
+although, it is true, we must dispose ourselves for their reception
+diligently, yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to keep our hearts
+wide open and await the blessed dew from heaven. The following
+consideration should never be forgotten when we go to prayer, namely,
+that we draw near to God and place ourselves in His presence principally
+for two reasons. The first is to render to God the honor and the homage
+we owe Him, and this can be done without God speaking to us or we to Him,
+for the duty is fulfilled by acknowledging that He is our Creator and we
+are His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him, prostrate in spirit,
+awaiting His commands. The second reason is to speak to God and to listen
+to Him when He speaks to us by His inspirations and the interior
+movements of grace.... Now, one or other of these two advantages can
+never fail to be derived from prayer. If, then, we can speak to our Lord,
+let us do so in praise and supplication: if we are unable to speak, let
+us remain in his presence notwithstanding, offering him our silent
+homage; he will see us there, our patience will touch him and our silence
+will plead with him and win his favor. Another time, to our utter
+astonishment, he will take us by the hand, and converse with us, and make
+a hundred turns with us in his garden of prayer. And even should he never
+do this, still let us be content to know it is our duty to be in his
+retinue, and that it is a great favor and a greater honor for us that he
+suffers us in his presence.
+
+In this way we do not force ourselves to speak to God, for we know that
+merely to remain close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps more useful to
+us, though it may be less to our liking. Therefore when you draw near to
+our Lord speak to him if you can; if you cannot, stay there, let him see
+you, and do not be anxious about anything else.... Take courage, then,
+tell your Saviour you will not leave him even should he never grant you
+any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will remain before him until he
+has given you his blessing.”*—St. Francis de Sales.
+
+6. The same Saint gives further valuable advice as follows: “Many persons
+fail to make a distinction between the presence of God in their souls and
+the consciousness of this adorable presence, between faith and the
+sensible feeling of faith. This shows a great want of discernment. When
+they do not realize God’s presence dwelling within them, they suppose He
+has withdrawn himself through some fault of theirs. This is an ignorant
+and hurtful error. A man who endures martyrdom for love of God does not
+think actually and exclusively of God but much of his own sufferings; and
+yet the absence of this feeling of faith does not deprive him of the
+great merit due to his faith and the resolutions it caused him to make
+and to keep.”
+
+7. Your vocal prayers should be few in number but said with great fervor.
+The strength derived from food does not depend upon the quantity taken
+but upon its being well digested. Far better one Our Father or one Psalm
+said with devout attention than entire rosaries and long offices recited
+hurriedly and with restless eagerness.
+
+8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers—those not of obligation—that
+God invites you to meditate, gently and promptly follow this divine
+impulse. You may be sure that in doing so you make an exchange most
+profitable to yourself and agreeable to God from whom the inspiration
+comes.
+
+9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful recollection and begin it
+without agitation or uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on
+the subject: “Some little time before you are going to pray, calm and
+compose your heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you begin
+without hope and already devoid of relish, you will find it difficult to
+regain an appetite.... The disquiet you experience in prayer, accompanied
+by great eagerness to discover some object that can fix and satisfy your
+thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent you finding what you seek.
+When a thing is searched for with too great eagerness, one may have his
+hands or his eyes almost upon it a hundred times and yet fail to perceive
+it. This vain and useless anxiety in regard to prayer can result in
+nothing but weariness of mind, and this in turn produces coldness and
+apathy in your soul.”
+
+10. Be careful not to overburden yourself with too many prayers, either
+mental or vocal. As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness or
+distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible, and seek relief in some
+pleasant pastime, or conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
+This advice is given by St. Thomas and other learned Fathers of the
+Church and is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously, for
+lassitude of mind begets coldness and a kind of spiritual stupor.
+
+11. Never repeat a prayer, even should you have said it with many
+distractions. You cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties in which
+you may become entangled by the habit of repeating your prayers.
+Therefore I beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius’ time there was a
+certain religious of the Society of Jesus who was a victim of this kind
+of scruple. The recital of the daily Office always kept him much longer
+than was necessary because he would repeat again and again and for hours
+at a time any passage that he suspected had not been said with sufficient
+attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct him by various means, but in
+vain. At length the thought occurred that one scruple might be cured by
+another. He therefore commanded the poor Jesuit, under pain of sin and in
+virtue of religious obedience, to close his breviary every day at the end
+of a specified time, this being just enough to allow him to read the
+Office through once and rather quickly. The first day the religious was
+obliged to stop before he had half finished. This caused him such intense
+regret that ere long the fear of not being able to say the entire Office
+made him contract the habit of finishing it within the allotted time.*
+Begin your prayer with the desire of being very recollected. This is all
+that is necessary. “A desire has the same value in the sight of God as a
+good work”, says St. Gregory the Great, “when the accomplishment of it
+does not depend upon our will.” During these involuntary distractions God
+withdraws the sensible feeling of His presence, but His love remains in
+the depths of our hearts. St. Theresa, in the midst of dryness and
+distractions, was wont to say: “If I am not praying I am at least doing
+penance.” I should say: you are doing both the one and the other: you do
+penance by all that you are suffering, you pray by the desire and
+intention you have to do so.
+
+12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a point in your meditation even
+if you have had in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and feelings
+at variance with the words pronounced by your lips or with the sentiments
+you wished to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced to do it, even
+were these ideas and feelings injurious to God. Under such conditions, be
+careful not to give way to anxiety and agitation and do not try to make
+reparation for an imaginary offence. Continue your prayer in peace as if
+nothing had disturbed it, not taking the trouble to notice these dogs
+that come from the devil and that can bark around you while you pray in
+order to distract you, if may be, but that cannot bite you unless you let
+them. *“This temptation should be treated exactly the same as temptations
+of the flesh: do not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the children
+of Israel who made no attempt to break the bones of the paschal lamb but
+cast them into the fire. You need not answer the enemy, nor even pretend
+to hear what he says. Let the wretch clamor at the door as much as he
+wants to, it is not even necessary to call: Who is there? What you tell
+me is no doubt true, you say, but he annoys me and the uproar he makes
+prevents those within from hearing one another speak. That makes no
+difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself before God and remain at
+his feet. He will understand from your very attitude, although you utter
+no words, that you are his and that you crave his help. Above all,
+however, keep yourself well within and do not on any account open the
+door, either to see who it is, or to drive the importunate fellow away.
+Eventually he will tire of shouting and will leave you in peace.”*[3] St.
+Augustine says that the devil is a formidable giant to those who fear
+him, but only a miserable dwarf to those who despise him.
+
+13. Should it happen that the whole time given to prayer be passed in
+rejecting temptations or in recalling your mind from its wanderings, and
+you do not succeed in giving birth to a single devout thought or
+sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority for saying that your prayer
+is nevertheless all the more meritorious from the fact of its being so
+unsatisfactory to you. It makes you more like to our divine Lord when he
+prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount Calvary. “Better to eat
+bread without sugar, than sugar without bread. We should seek the God of
+consolations, not the consolations of God: and in order to possess God in
+heaven, we must now suffer with him and for him.”
+
+*“When your mind wanders or gives way to distractions, gently recall it
+and place it once more close to its Divine Master. If you should do
+nothing else but repeat this during the whole time of prayer, your hour
+would be very well spent and you would perform a spiritual exercise most
+acceptable to God.”*—St. Francis de Sales.
+
+14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding us to pray always our
+Saviour did not mean actual prayer, as that would be an impossibility.
+The desire to glorify God by all our actions suffices for the rigorous
+fulfilment of this precept, if this desire be habitual and permanent.
+“You pray often,” says St. Augustine, “if you often have a desire to pay
+homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have this
+desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed.”
+
+*“Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the whole
+Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts towards
+that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only happiness
+consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in itself a prayer;
+consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray always. Do not
+think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and to struggle much
+with one’s self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God that his will may
+be done, to form some good desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for
+the riches he promises us, to sigh over our miseries and the danger we
+are in of displeasing him by violating His holy law. Now this requires
+neither science nor method nor reasoning; one can pray without any
+distinct thought; no head-work is necessary; only a moment of time and a
+loving effusion of the heart are needed; and even this moment may be
+simultaneously occupied with something else, for so great is God’s
+condescension to our weakness that he permits us to divide it when
+necessary between him and creatures. Yes, during this moment you can
+continue what you were doing: it is sufficient to offer to God your most
+ordinary occupations, or to perform them with the general intention of
+glorifying him. This is the continual prayer required by St. Paul ...
+thought by many devout persons to be impracticable, but in reality very
+easy for those who know that the best of all prayers is to do everything
+with a pure intention, and frequently to renew the desire to perform all
+our actions for God and in accordance with his divine will.”—Fénelon.*
+
+15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in
+order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a substitute
+for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for
+obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those
+who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work
+for the love of God, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul
+to Him by actual prayer.
+
+*“Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular
+calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to
+life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves damnation if
+he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of
+their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify
+whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost
+even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life.”—St.
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _ejaculations_,—which are
+short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
+According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations can in case of necessity
+replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for
+the omission of ejaculations.
+
+*“Acquire the habit of making frequent ejaculations. They are sighs of
+love that dart upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor. It will
+greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your
+morning’s meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the
+day. In sickness let pious ejaculations take the place of all other
+prayers.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or
+whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic
+pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time
+to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. Ejaculations have a like
+effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.
+
+18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long
+prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
+Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them,
+and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed
+continually.
+
+19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the
+profitable and easy practice of making frequent ejaculations. It is far
+preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too
+numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and
+enlighten the soul.
+
+20. St. Theresa’s opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable
+position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay
+the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of God. Do not then
+fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the
+important thing is that the soul should humble itself before God in
+sentiments of respect, confidence and love.
+
+Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+                                PENANCE.
+
+
+  A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
+  O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)
+
+I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing
+penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds—either corporal or
+spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing
+penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful
+mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving,
+can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment
+of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in
+accordance with the spirit of the laws of God and of his Church, which
+prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the
+accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.
+
+2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in
+prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works,
+such, too, as are the more agreeable to God from their being so
+distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great
+classes, active and passive. The characteristic of the active virtues is
+to do good, of the passive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second
+class are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues
+nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or
+satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is
+less to be feared in the practice of the passive virtues, especially when
+the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the
+hand of God.
+
+3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from
+the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in
+order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable
+to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this
+snare.
+
+4. “I charge you,” says St. Francis de Sales, “to preserve your health
+carefully, for God exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as
+to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the
+requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can
+always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
+regain it.” Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain
+its strength and health.
+
+5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference
+held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of
+Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful,
+as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of
+this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and
+mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill
+health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection,
+judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound
+with fetters.
+
+6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look
+upon as a good rule in this matter: “The body is a poor invalid confided
+to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such
+assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual
+ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful
+remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and
+prudence.” He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his
+Creator.
+
+7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain
+maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small
+consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in
+order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to
+secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is
+not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily
+any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. “To
+kill one’s self with a single blow,” says St. Jerome, “or to kill one’s
+self little by little—I make but slight distinction between these two
+crimes.” Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us
+in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged
+to us absolutely.
+
+8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances
+deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts
+that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as
+holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. “If
+we had to copy the saints in everything they did,” says St. Frances de
+Chantal, “it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like
+St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to
+live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like
+St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as
+St. Aloysius did.” Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is
+extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.
+
+*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome
+with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.
+Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius,
+Father Rozaven said: “Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not
+because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the
+contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and
+permissible for him to do them.” In truth every act that exceeds human
+strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special
+inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this
+divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general
+rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who
+suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and
+Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which
+forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in
+sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who
+might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such
+contradictory words.—Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to
+a Devout Life_.*
+
+
+
+
+                                   V.
+                              CONFESSION.
+
+
+  I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and
+  thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.)
+
+  But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
+  the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)
+
+  Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall
+  retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)
+
+1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore
+approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures
+us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour
+is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for
+exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those
+who confess more frequently.
+
+2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or
+because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by
+the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: “You
+must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for
+confession, for it is incredible that any one who often examines her
+conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are
+important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every
+minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these
+to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you
+remark them.” And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of
+secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an
+artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind.
+
+*“You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your
+superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you
+and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must
+learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for
+ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That
+your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one
+time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and
+presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar
+insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone and
+will be subject to as long as we live.... It is needless to accuse
+yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm
+around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of
+your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they
+are only inconveniences, annoyances.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the
+less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover,
+you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the
+fervor of the heart.
+
+4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse
+involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
+following useful advice: “You tell me that when you have experienced a
+strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always
+uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have
+given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it except
+it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but
+to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circumstances. For if
+you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two
+days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not
+your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed
+some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this
+doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in
+confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it,
+as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this
+silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to
+which you can apply no remedy.”
+
+5. “Omit from your confessions”—we again quote the same Saint—“those
+superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit:
+I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor;
+I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the
+Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like
+nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking
+thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor
+the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as
+well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they
+making a confession.”
+
+6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what
+the saintly director says in addition: “We are not obliged to confess our
+venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct
+them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them.”
+
+7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard—this is
+a point of cardinal importance—against giving access to any fear about
+the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of
+conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are
+suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into a
+sacrament of consolation and love.
+
+*“After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we
+have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace
+near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for
+His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we
+may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after
+that we need think no more about it.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins—it is not essential to be
+troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is
+an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere
+repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become
+yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for
+success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we fall
+again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and
+the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to
+Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of
+sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long
+continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our
+trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation.
+
+*God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and
+without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for
+instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was
+changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never
+again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of
+the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of their evil
+inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for
+their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call,
+was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably
+by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.
+
+“Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has
+suddenly become mistress.[4] A soul that after a long slavery to its
+passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great
+danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be
+gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of
+labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every
+one, but first of all with yourself.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the
+persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains
+united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend
+him—and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is to
+all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects if
+it is God’s will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them
+relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God than if the practice of
+virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual
+gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on
+with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for
+when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be
+accompanied by vexation and impatience.
+
+“Evil things must not be desired at all,” says Saint Francis de Sales,
+“nor good things immoderately.” And elsewhere: “I entreat of you, love
+nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes
+forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation.” And again: “Why is it
+that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised
+at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is
+because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute
+and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have
+tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled;
+whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at
+seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect.”
+
+“We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God
+requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with
+perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be
+worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!—there is a
+rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we
+will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by
+calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and
+by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy
+and sloth.”*
+
+9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our
+past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears,
+sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition
+can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices
+for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness
+and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be
+disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.
+
+10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for
+these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression
+of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to God
+that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the
+assistance of His grace you will never offend Him more—that is
+contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a
+calm.
+
+11. “An act of contrition,” says St. Francis de Sales, “is the work of a
+moment.” Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and
+another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of
+obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most
+contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a
+single word: _Peccavi_—I have sinned, and by that one word he was
+justified.
+
+*“You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer
+that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is
+needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and
+of sorrow for having offended Him.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in
+feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: “The ability to wish is a
+great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact
+that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but
+neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the
+fire exists.” The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from
+self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
+sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in our
+sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of good.
+
+13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is in
+order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice to
+reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore with
+humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward. The
+greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition nor
+love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their will
+followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.
+
+14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions are
+defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very
+essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are the
+offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for certain
+venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,—these
+should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at the very root
+and not allow ourselves any respite until they are utterly exterminated.
+But those relapses that proceed from inadvertence, from surprise
+notwithstanding constant vigilance, from the infirmity and frailty of our
+nature, to these we shall remain partially subject until our last breath.
+“It will be doing very well,” says Saint Francis de Sales, “if we get
+free of certain faults a quarter of an hour before our death.” And
+elsewhere: “We are obliged not only to bear with the failings of our
+neighbor, but likewise with our own and to be patient at the sight of our
+imperfections.” We must try to correct ourselves, but we should do it
+tranquilly and without anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper
+time.
+
+*“You complain that you still have many faults and failings
+notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I
+assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst
+we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
+with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we carry
+something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to have
+patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the numerous
+bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to our
+spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere: look only
+at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of goodness, nor
+yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the object of God’s
+goodness and mercy.”—St. Francis de Sales. (After the examination of
+conscience read the _Following of Christ_, B. III., Chap. XX.)*
+
+*Fénelon speaks in the same tone: “You should never be surprised or
+discouraged at your faults. You must bear with them patiently yet without
+flattering yourself or sparing correction. Treat yourself as you would
+another. As soon as you find you have committed a fault make an interior
+act of self-condemnation, turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell
+your fault with simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well
+as though it were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to
+make a fresh start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred
+Heart of Jesus than this humble and patient courage. We should not be
+cast down if we have many temptations and even commit numerous faults.
+‘Virtue,’ says the Apostle, ‘is made perfect in infirmity.’[5] Spiritual
+progress is effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual
+consolations, than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse
+to God.”*
+
+15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all the
+sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most remorse.
+Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or charity, or
+temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there being lack of
+sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.
+
+16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in either
+your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained their
+circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets forth the
+following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter of the will
+of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in confession, and not
+material integrity. The former consists in the confession of all the sins
+we can remember after a sufficient examination, the duration of which
+should be regulated by the actual state of the conscience. Material
+integrity would require a rigorously complete accusation of all the sins
+we have committed with their number and circumstances, without the
+slightest omission. Now sacramental integrity may be reasonably exacted
+since it exceeds no one’s ability; whilst material integrity, on the
+contrary, could not be exacted without the sacrament becoming an
+impossibility; for, no matter how carefully we make our examination of
+conscience, some sin, or some detail in regard to number or circumstance,
+will always escape us. In a word, all that the Church demands of the
+faithful is a sincere and humble avowal of every sin that can be brought
+to mind after a suitable examen: for the rest, she intends good will to
+supply for any defect of memory.
+
+*Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in order
+to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you often
+fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again without
+perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said that the
+just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but simply that he
+falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again without noticing
+particularly that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety about this, but
+frankly and humbly confess whatever you remember, and commit the rest to
+the tender mercies of him who puts his hand under those who fall without
+malice that they may not be bruised, and raises them up again so gently
+and swiftly that they scarcely realize they had fallen.—St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly satisfied
+all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore banish whatever
+doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are nothing but
+temptations.
+
+18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements owing
+to not having been particular enough about your examination of
+conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent
+interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your part.
+And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact that he
+understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state of your
+soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.
+
+19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish continually
+to make their general confessions over again, either through fear of
+incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and how blameworthy the
+weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no opposition to their
+doing so! If such fears were to be listened to, every one would be
+obliged to pass his entire life in making and repeating general
+confessions, for they would incessantly spring up afresh and even the
+greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A sacrament of consolation
+and love would thus be transformed into a perfect torture for the soul—an
+heretical perversion anathematized by the Council of Trent.
+
+*“I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere,
+good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more thoroughly
+satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I speak very
+plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought to have been
+told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in which case,
+if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the time, you would
+undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But if it were only a
+venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness or some
+defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my soul’s peril, I assure you
+there is no obligation to repeat your confession. It will be quite
+sufficient to mention the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will
+answer for this.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that when
+a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright intention
+and with a desire to change one’s life, the penitent should remain in
+peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any pretext
+whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory things that
+should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of their soul by a
+too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so well
+expresses it: _the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise_.
+
+21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of the
+saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes excessive.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+                            HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+  Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
+  shall not have life in you. (St. John, c. vi., v. 54.)
+
+  And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
+  come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make
+  excuse. (St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.)
+
+  And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way. (St.
+  Mark, c. viii., v. 3.)
+
+  My heart is withered; because I forgot to eat my bread. (Ps. ci.)
+
+1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious of all means to unite us to
+God. “He that eateth my flesh,” said our divine Saviour, “abideth in Me
+and I in him.”[6]
+
+2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist _the love of loves_. Hence you
+should desire to receive it frequently in order to be filled with this
+divine love.
+
+3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two classes of persons who should
+often receive holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves more
+closely to the Source of all perfection, and the imperfect to labor to
+attain perfection; the strong that they may not become weak, the weak
+that they may become strong; the sick that they may be cured, and those
+in health that they may be preserved from sickness. You tell me that your
+imperfections, your weakness, your littleness make you unworthy to
+receive communion frequently; and I assure you it is precisely because of
+these that you ought to receive it frequently in order that He who
+possesses all things may give you whatever is wanting to you.
+
+*The following words on this subject will not perhaps be considered by
+others as giving much additional value to the authority of the saintly
+Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however, in ours, because they are from the
+lips of a holy religious whose memory will always be dear to us——from a
+man whose last moments were the occasion of the greatest edification it
+has ever pleased God to accord us. The Rev. Father Margottet, a Jesuit,
+died at Nice, April 1st, 1835, shortly after his return from Portugal
+where he had suffered a most cruel captivity with the courage that faith
+alone can inspire. During the last months of his life he took great
+pleasure in conversing with a certain young man who visited him regularly
+to be instructed and edified by his pious discourse. One day this young
+man confided to him the confusion he felt in availing himself of his
+director’s permission to receive holy Communion several times a week.
+This was due especially to the thought that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice
+of the Society of Jesus, went to Communion on Sundays only. “Come, come,
+my dear sir,” laughingly replied the good Father, “continue your frequent
+Communions—you need them much more than St. Aloysius did.” It is indeed
+an error to consider holy Communion a reward of virtue, and, in a
+measure, a guage of perfection, whereas it is above all a means to attain
+perfection, and the one pre-existing virtue required in order to employ
+this means is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord did not say:
+_Venite ad me qui perfecti estis_—_Come to Me all ye who are perfect_: He
+said: _Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati estis_[7]—_Come to me all ye
+who labor and are burdened_. (Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part II., of
+the _Introduction to a Devout Life_; and Chapters X. and XVI. Book IV. of
+_The Imitation_.)
+
+The spirit of the Church has at all times been the same in regard to this
+important subject. Fénelon says in his letter on frequent Communion that
+St. Chrysostom admits of no medium between the state of those who are in
+mortal sin and that of the faithful who are in a state of grace and
+communicate every day. In vain certain Christians, believing themselves
+purified and just, do no penance as sinners and nevertheless abstain from
+Communion, because, they say, they are not perfect enough to receive it.
+This intermediate state is not only most dangerous for one who wilfully
+remains in it, but is also injurious to the Blessed Sacrament. Far from
+doing honor to the Holy Eucharist by depriving ourselves of it, we offend
+our divine Lord when we decline to partake of the Banquet to which He
+invites us. In a word, according to this early Father of the Church, we
+ought either to communicate with those who are in a state of grace, or to
+do penance that we may be united to them as soon as possible.
+
+We will quote the Saint’s own words: “Many of the faithful are weak and
+languishing, many among them sleep. And how, you say, does this happen
+since we receive the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That is precisely
+the cause of all the trouble! For you imagine that merit consists not so
+much in purity of conscience as in the length of time intervening between
+your Communions. You consider no higher mark of respect and honor can be
+paid to this Sacrament than not to approach the Holy Table often....
+Temerity does not consist in approaching the Altar frequently, but in
+approaching it unworthily were this but once in an entire life time....
+Why then regulate the number of Communions by the law of time, instead of
+by purity of conscience, which should alone indicate how many times to
+receive? This divine Mystery is nothing more at Easter than at all other
+seasons during which it is celebrated continually. It is ever the same,
+that is to say, ever the same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter continues
+throughout the year. You who are initiated will understand perfectly what
+I say. Be it Saturday, or Sunday, or the feasts of the martyrs, it is
+always the same Victim, the same Sacrifice.” “It was not the will of our
+divine Lord that His Sacrifice should be restricted by the observance of
+time.”
+
+Other Fathers of the Church speak in the same way of Holy Communion:
+
+“If it is daily bread,” says Saint Ambrose, “why do you partake of it but
+once a year?... Receive it every day in order that every day you may
+benefit by it. Live in such a manner that you may deserve to receive it
+every day, for he who does not deserve to receive it every day will not
+deserve to receive it at the end of the year.... Do you not know that
+every time the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death, resurrection and
+ascension of our Lord are renewed to the atonement of sin? And yet you
+will not partake daily of this Bread of Life! When one has received a
+wound does he not seek a remedy? Sin which holds us captive is our wound:
+our remedy is in this ever adorable Sacrament.”
+
+In order that it may be plainly proved that the faithful of the present
+day have no reason to act differently in this respect from those of the
+primitive Church, let us see how this ancient discipline has been
+confirmed in later times by the Council of Trent:
+
+“Christians should believe in this Sacrament and reverence it with such a
+firm faith, with so much fervor and piety, that they may often receive
+this Super-substantial Bread; that it may be, in truth, the life of their
+soul and the perpetual health of their spirit, and that the strength they
+derive therefrom may enable them to pass from the temptations of this
+earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly fatherland.... The
+Council would have the faithful receive Communion each time they assist
+at Mass, not only spiritually, but sacramentally, that they may derive
+more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice.”*
+
+4. The evening before your Communion devote some little time to
+recollection in order to ponder the inestimable gift that God is about to
+bestow upon you, and endeavor also to excite in your soul the desire and
+the hope of finding therein your delight.
+
+5. Do not conclude that you derive no benefit from Holy Communion because
+you find no perceptible increase in your virtues. Consider that it at
+least serves to keep you in a state of grace. You give nourishment to
+your body every day but you do not pretend to say that it daily gains in
+strength. Does food appear useless to you on that account? Certainly not;
+for, though it fail to augment strength, it preserves it by repairing the
+constant waste. Now, this is precisely the case with the divine Food of
+our souls.
+
+*Observe, moreover, that there is no real increase in virtue without a
+corresponding growth in humility. Consequently the more virtuous you are
+the less so you will esteem yourself; the worthier you are to approach
+your God, the more profoundly will you feel your unworthiness. For man,
+no matter to what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be otherwise than
+weak and sinful here below, and he realizes his baseness more and more
+distinctly in proportion to his advancement in grace and in light.
+
+Fénelon speaks as follows on the same subject: “Hitherto you lacked the
+light to discover in your soul many movements of our malicious and
+depraved nature, which now begin to reveal themselves to you. In
+proportion as light increases we find ourselves more corrupt than we
+supposed: but we should be neither surprised nor discouraged, for it is
+not that we are in reality worse than we were,—on the contrary we are
+better,—but because whilst our sinfulness decreases the light which shows
+it to us increases.”*
+
+6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared for Holy Communion and abuse the
+Sacrament because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent, and devoid
+of feeling. This is a trial sent or permitted by God to test your faith
+and to advance you in merit. All that has been said in regard to dryness
+in prayer might be repeated here. Try to have an abiding desire to feel
+for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent transports of love as were ever
+experienced by the saints. A desire is equivalent before God to the thing
+desired, as I have already quoted for you from Saint Gregory the Great;
+therefore you should be satisfied with this when you can attain nothing
+higher. Everything over and above this is grace, not merit.
+
+7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion often because you are not
+worthy, then you must never receive it, for you will never be worthy.
+What creature could be worthy to receive a God? Nay more, to follow out
+this principle We should have to abandon the practice of visiting
+churches and of speaking to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
+human being is unfit to enter the House of the Lord or to converse with
+Him.
+
+*“How many scrupulous Christians do we not see languishing for want of
+this divine Food! They consume themselves with subtle speculations and
+sterile efforts, they fear, they tremble, they doubt, and they vainly
+seek for a certainty that cannot be found in this life. Sweetness,
+unction, are not for them. They wish to live for God without living by
+him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they are close to the Fountain of
+Living Water and yet allow themselves to die of thirst. They desire to
+fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not dare to nourish themselves interiorly:
+they wish to carry the burden of the law without imbibing its spirit and
+its consolation from prayer and frequent Communion!”—Fénelon.*
+
+8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore, do not confine yourself to a
+consideration of your own unworthiness, but temper this with the thought
+of God’s mercy. The guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,—a figure of
+the Holy Eucharist,—were not the great and the rich, but the poor, the
+blind, the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial garment, that is to
+say, whosoever is in a state of grace, is welcome to this banquet.
+
+9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we cannot go to Holy Communion
+without giving annoyance to others, or without failing against duties of
+charity, justice or order, we should be satisfied with spiritual
+Communion. “Believe me,” he adds, “this mortification, this deprivation,
+will be extremely pleasing to God and will advance you greatly in His
+love. One must sometimes take a step backward in order to leap the
+better.” It was not by frequent Communion that the holy anchorites
+sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance of the duties of their
+calling. Saint Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion but twice during
+his long, penitential life, nevertheless he was precious in the sight of
+God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis de Sales gives us this
+admirable advice: “In proportion as you are hindered from doing the good
+you desire, do all the more ardently the good that you do not desire. You
+do not like to make such or such an act of resignation, you would prefer
+to make some other; but offer the one you do not like, for it will be of
+far greater value.” Saint John the Baptist was more intimately united in
+spirit with our Lord than even the Apostles themselves: yet he never
+became one of His followers owing to the fact that his vocation required
+this sacrifice on his part and called him elsewhere. This is the greatest
+act of spiritual mortification recorded in the lives of the saints.
+
+*“I have often admired the extreme resignation of Saint John the Baptist,
+who remained so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord, without going
+to see, hear and follow Him. And after baptizing Jesus, how could he have
+allowed Him to depart without uniting himself to Him with his bodily
+presence, as he was already so united to Him by the ties of affection!
+Ah! the divine Precursor knew that in his case the Master was best served
+by deprivation of His actual presence. Well, my dear daughter, it will be
+the same with you in regard to Holy Communion. I mean that for the
+present God will be pleased if in accordance to the wish of the superiors
+whom He has placed over you, you endure the privation of His actual
+presence. It will be a great consolation to me to know that this advice
+does not disquiet your heart. Rest assured that this resignation, this
+renunciation will be exceedingly beneficial to you.”—St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy Eucharist because you happen to
+be beset by temptations; this would be to capitulate to your enemy
+without offering any resistance. The more combats you have to sustain,
+the greater the necessity of providing yourself with the means of
+defence, and these are to be found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go
+courageously then and renew your strength with the Food of the strong and
+victory shall be yours.
+
+12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy Table because such and such a
+person does so: an imitation common for the most part to women’s vanity
+and jealousy, says Saint Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
+divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: love alone
+should lead us to receive it.
+
+13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by
+all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that is
+union with God, but the same means to attain that object are not proper
+for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a spiritual
+director that each person can know what is suitable for him, as that
+which would be too little for one might be too much for another.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VII.
+                         SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.
+
+
+  The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark,
+  c. II., v: 27.)
+
+1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but there
+are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us
+a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays.
+
+2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The ordinary
+means of fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of charity, the
+Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, sermons, religious
+instructions, and spiritual reading.
+
+3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying the
+body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things is
+wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this
+subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.
+
+4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful
+diversion, all of which can be referred to God, serve also for the
+sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to
+please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are
+required of man by his bodily needs.
+
+*“How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again
+it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their
+interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to the
+will of God. By no means regard the nature of the things you do, but
+rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in
+themselves, from the fact that God wishes them, that they are in the
+order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word,
+if they are pleasing to God, and recognized as being so, to whom should
+they be displeasing?”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and
+anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon
+devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act
+of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance of
+the sabbath, following the superstitious custom of the Pharisees, instead
+of peacefully sanctifying the Lord’s day with that sweet and holy liberty
+of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel. Too much
+dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of which it is
+equally necessary to avoid.
+
+6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to attend
+to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the impossibility
+of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace these with pious
+ejaculations, which, as I have already said, can in case of necessity
+supply for the omission of all other prayers.
+
+7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at a low Mass suffices strictly
+speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even this may
+be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind
+the house, or to take care of young children; for these being works of
+justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when performed with a
+pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers, equal and even
+surpass in value all exterior practices of devotion.
+
+I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can
+sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.
+
+*“Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing
+them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so
+honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a
+gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of God, where
+those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for
+although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of God and in
+fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is fixed
+by this divine will and not by their exterior character. Therefore he who
+truly loves God’s will in the accomplishment of his duties, does not
+allow his affections to become engaged in any of his spiritual exercises;
+and so, if sickness or accident interfere with them he experiences no
+regret. I do not say indeed that he does not love his devotions, but that
+he is not attached to them.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+*“If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and
+submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would
+forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and that
+this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another occasion:
+the less we live according to our own liking, and the less option we have
+in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will there be in our
+devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order to
+oblige others for love of Him.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+
+
+
+                                 VIII.
+                           SPIRITUAL READING.
+
+
+  Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach
+  him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)
+
+  All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
+  correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)
+
+1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful,
+therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with the best
+nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar especially with the
+works of Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a spiritual
+director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as coming from
+the mouth of God.
+
+3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural and
+marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by such
+reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some to
+aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint
+Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the
+Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces, they
+neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real obligations.
+Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be absorbed in those
+wonderful characteristics of the saints which we should be content to
+admire; give preference rather to their simple and interior virtues, for
+these alone are imitable for us.
+
+*“We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that
+God would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of
+Sienna’s, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor
+hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
+Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine, for
+we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness
+consists in love of God, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings
+that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility. The
+desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather
+to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of self-renunciation
+and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of others. Thus we
+shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more admirable for us
+than ecstacies.”—St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of
+these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly
+define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become
+extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely exterior
+practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to reform the
+heart.
+
+5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the
+ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books have
+furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy
+religion and to turn it into ridicule.
+
+6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: “In
+order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great
+piety,—great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best
+motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his
+imagination with devout extravagances.” An author should be equally well
+versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will err
+either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a well
+known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: “If a man be good and
+holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us.”
+It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give none but true
+and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than good. Doctrines
+that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and invite the
+criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the railleries
+of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.
+
+7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain many
+inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care, therefore, in
+the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure your soul instead
+of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult your director on the
+subject.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                             INTERIOR LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IX.
+                                 HOPE.
+
+
+  Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
+  Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)
+
+  Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in
+  Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)
+
+1. “Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord,” says the Holy Spirit. The
+weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in regard to
+the Christian virtue of hope.
+
+2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain
+nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for all
+things will obtain all things.
+
+3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world.
+We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our own
+wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of this
+divine attribute of mercy.
+
+4. “What do you fear?” says Saint Thomas of Villanova: “this Judge whose
+condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the Cross
+in order not to condemn you.”
+
+5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us. When
+Saint Peter said to his divine Master: “_Depart from me, O Lord, for I am
+a sinful man,_” what did our Saviour reply? “_Noli timere,_—fear not.”[8]
+Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always find hope
+and love preferred to fear.
+
+6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by Saint
+Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to pardon,
+nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, God would not
+have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine essence. This
+was our Lord’s reason for saying that He came into the world not for the
+just but for sinners.[9]
+
+7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to God, but He does not on their
+account cease to cherish our souls.
+
+*It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as
+are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an
+upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A
+perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us
+from God and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject to
+it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with love the
+poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial
+garment,—that is to say, all those whom a desire to please God maintains
+in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and frailty:
+but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares to appear
+there without this garment. This distinction, found everywhere throughout
+the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us with a tender confidence
+when we fall, without diminishing our horror for deliberate sins.*
+
+A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of her
+child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her
+compassion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and suffering
+and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and solicitude for
+him.
+
+8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows
+how to compassionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to
+become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]
+
+9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you
+in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it is much safer
+there than if in your own keeping.
+
+10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the opinion of Saint Francis de
+Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.
+
+11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin
+of despair, retorted: “I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as
+you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited
+it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,—but
+for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall
+save my soul.”
+
+12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise
+your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.
+God loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa assures us, provided they
+mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The
+devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations
+and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him
+to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed
+in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.
+
+To aspire to the noblest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance
+to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. XXX.)
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+                          THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
+
+
+  Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)
+
+  I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come
+  to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)
+
+1. The constant remembrance of God’s presence is a means of perfection
+that Almighty God Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this
+practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of
+mind. The God of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be
+done lovingly and peacefully.
+
+2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and uninterruptedly
+of God. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at every
+moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities, our imagination.
+We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to lead before the
+proper time an existence similar to that of the angels and saints.
+
+3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep yourself
+in the presence of God, because you have not thought of Him. This is a
+mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought, perform all your
+actions for love of God and in His presence, by virtue of the intention
+you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than to think. Though
+the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he is preparing the
+medicine that is to restore him to health, nevertheless it is for him he
+is working, and he is more useful to his patient in this way than if he
+contented himself with merely thinking of him. In like manner when you
+fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you eat or walk, devote
+yourself to study or to manual labor, though it be without definitely
+thinking of God, you are acting for Him, and this ought to suffice to set
+your mind at rest in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does
+not say that we must eat, drink and labor with an actual remembrance of
+God’s presence, but with the habitual intention of glorifying Him and
+doing His holy will. We fulfil this condition by making an offering each
+morning to God of all the actions of the day and renewing the act
+interiorly whenever we can remember to do so.
+
+4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have
+already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious aspirations
+naturally and without effort, and let them for the most part be
+expressive of confidence and love.
+
+5. Should it happen that a considerable space of time elapses without
+your having thought distinctly of God or raised your heart to Him by any
+loving ejaculation, do not allow this omission to worry you. The servant
+has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he has done
+his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the while.
+Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for God than to
+think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it results in
+action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the good intention
+which preceded it.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XI.
+                               HUMILITY.
+
+
+  If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)
+
+  For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive
+  me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)
+
+1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently
+confused with servility or littleness.
+
+2. To attribute to God what is God’s, that is to say everything that is
+good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is
+evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.
+
+*Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to
+suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our
+faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by pride,
+that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The first man,
+a creature owing his existence directly to God, was bound to dedicate it
+entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as for all the
+other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple justice. The day
+whereon he asserted a desire to be independent, he caused an utter
+derangement in the relations of the creature with his Creator. Pride,
+that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the
+faculties received from God—pride, introduced into the soul of the first
+man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma
+to the souls of all his descendants, and has become forevermore a part of
+their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever springing up afresh, to
+be independent, to be something of ourselves, to desire for ourselves
+esteem, affection and honor, despite the precepts of the divine law, the
+claims of justice and the warnings of reason; and thus it is that the
+whole spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict against this
+vicious propensity. Divine grace though sustaining us in the combat never
+gives us a complete victory, for the struggle must endure until
+death,—the closing chastisement of our original degradation and the only
+one that can obliterate the last traces thereof. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XIII.—XXII.)*
+
+3. As God drew from nothingness everything that exists, in like manner
+does He wish to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection upon the
+knowledge of our nothingness. Saint Bonaventure used to say: _Provided
+God be all, what matters it that I am nothing!_
+
+4. When a Christian who is truly humble commits a fault he repents but is
+not disquieted, because he is not surprised that what is naught but
+misery, weakness and corruption, should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
+He thanks God on the contrary that his fall has not been more serious.
+Thus Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found she had been guilty of
+some imperfection, would calmly exclaim: _Another weed from my garden!_
+This peaceful contemplation of our sinfulness was considered very
+important by Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: “Let us learn to
+bear with our imperfections if we wish to attain perfection, for this
+practice nourishes the virtue of humility.”
+
+5. Some persons have the erroneous idea that in order to be humble they
+must not recognize in themselves any virtue or talent whatsoever. The
+reverse is the case according to Saint Thomas, for he says it is
+necessary to realize the gifts we have received that we may return thanks
+for them to Him from whom we hold them. To ignore them is to fail in
+gratitude towards God, and to neglect the object for which He gave them
+to us. All that we have to do is to avoid the folly of taking glory to
+ourselves because of them. Mules, asses and donkeys may be laden with
+gold and perfumes and yet be none the less dull and stupid animals. The
+graces we have received, far from giving us any personal claims, only
+serve to increase our debt to Him who is their source and their donor.
+
+6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us than censure. There is nothing
+sinful in this preference, for it springs from an instinct of our human
+nature of which we cannot entirely divest ourselves. Only the praise must
+be always referred to Him to whom it is due, that is to say, to God; for
+they are His gifts that are praised in us as we are but their bearers and
+custodians and shall one day have to render Him an account for them in
+accordance with their value.
+
+7. The soul that is most humble will also have the greatest courage and
+the most generous confidence in God; the more it distrusts itself, the
+more it will trust in Him on whom it relies for all its strength, saying
+with Saint Paul: _I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me_.[11]
+Saint Thomas clearly proves that true Christian humility, far from
+debasing the soul, is the principle of everything that is really noble
+and generous. He who refuses the work to which God calls him because of
+the honor and éclat that accompany it, is not humble but mistrustful and
+pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience light to show us with certainty
+that to which we are called and to preserve us from the illusions of
+self-love and of our natural inclinations.
+
+*“We should be actuated by a generous and noble humility, a humility that
+does nothing in order to be praised and omits nothing that ought to be
+done through fear of being praised.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is even good and sometimes necessary to make known the gifts we
+have received from God and the good works of which divine grace has made
+us the instruments, when this manifestation can conduce to the glory of
+His name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification of the faithful.
+It was for this threefold object that Saint Paul spoke of his apostolic
+labors and supernatural revelations.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+                              RESIGNATION.
+
+
+  Yea, Father: because so it has pleased Thee. (St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.)
+
+  O my Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.
+  Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (St. Matthew, c. XXVI.,
+  v. 39.)
+
+1. We should recognize and adore the will of God in everything that
+happens to us. The malice of men, nay of the devil himself, can cause
+nothing to befall us except what is permitted by God. Our divine Lord has
+declared that not a hair of our heads can fall unless by the will of our
+Heavenly Father.[12]
+
+2. Therefore in every condition painful to nature, whether you are
+afflicted by sickness, assailed by temptations, or tortured by the
+injustice of men, consider the divine will and say to God with a loving
+and submissive heart: _Fiat voluntas tua_—Thy will be done: O my Saviour,
+do with me what Thou willest, as Thou willest, and when Thou willest.
+
+3. By this means we render supportable the severest pain and the most
+trying circumstances. “Do you not feel the infinite sweetness contained
+in that one sentence, _the will of God?_” asks Saint Mary Magdalen de
+Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses, that drew from the water all
+its bitterness, it sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.
+
+4. Without this practice, so comformable to faith, and without the light
+and strength that result from it, the pains and afflictions of life would
+become unbearable. This is what Saint Philip de Neri meant when he said:
+It rests with man to place himself even in this life either in heaven or
+in hell: he who suffers tribulations with patience enjoys celestial peace
+in advance; he who does not do so has a foretaste of the torments of
+hell.
+
+5. Not only is it God who sends or permits our troubles, but He does so
+for the good of our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do not, then,
+make a matter of complaint that which should be a motive for gratitude.
+
+6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the cross is the royal door to the
+temple of sanctity, and the only one by which we can enter it. One moment
+spent upon the cross is therefore more conducive to our spiritual
+advancement than the anticipated enjoyment of all the delights of heaven.
+The happiness of those who have reached their destination consists in the
+possession of God: to suffer for the love of Him is the only true
+happiness which those still on the way can expect to attain. Our Lord
+declared that those who mourn during this exile are _blessed_, for they
+shall be consoled eternally in their celestial fatherland.[13]
+
+7. Notice that I say, _to suffer for the love of God_, for, as Saint
+Augustine remarks, no person can love suffering in itself. That is
+contrary to nature, and moreover, there would no longer be any suffering
+if we could accept it with natural relish. But a resigned soul loves to
+suffer, that is she loves the virtue of patience and ardently desires the
+merits that result from the practice of it. A calm and submissive longing
+to be delivered from our cross if such be the will of God, is not
+inconsistent with the most perfect resignation. This desire is a natural
+instinct which supernatural grace regulates, moderates, and teaches us to
+control, but which it never entirely destroys. Our divine Saviour
+Himself, to show that He was truly man, was pleased to feel it as we do,
+and prayed that the chalice of His Passion might be spared Him. Hence you
+are not required to be stolidly indifferent or to arm yourself with the
+stern insensibility of the Stoics; that would not be either resignation,
+or humility, or any virtue whatsoever. The essential thing is to suffer
+with Christian patience and generous resignation everything that is
+naturally displeasing to us. This is what both reason and faith
+prescribe.
+
+*The Redeemer of the World seems to wish to show us in His Agony the
+degree of perfection which the weakness of human nature can attain amidst
+the anguish of sorrow. In the inferior portion of the soul where the
+faculty of feeling resides, instinctive repugnance to suffering, humble
+prayer for relief if it please God to accord it; and in the superior
+portion of the soul where the will resides, entire resignation if this
+consolation be denied. A desire for more than this, unless called to it
+by a special grace, would be foolish pride, as we should thus attempt to
+change the conditions of our nature, whereas our duty is to accept them
+in order to combat them and to suffer in so doing. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XVIII-XIX.)
+
+In the following terms Saint Francis de Sales proposes to us this same
+example of our Saviour’s resignation during His agony: “Consider the
+great dereliction our Divine Master suffered in the Garden of Olives. See
+how this beloved Son, having asked for consolation from His loving Father
+and knowing that it was not His will to grant it, thinks no more about
+it, no longer craves or looks for it, but, as though He had never sought
+it, valiantly and courageously completes the work of our redemption. Let
+it be the same with you. If your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny you the
+consolation you have prayed for, dismiss it from your mind and animate
+your courage to fulfil your work upon the cross as if you were never to
+descend from it nor should ever again see the atmosphere of your life
+pure and serene.” (Read _The Imitation_. B. III., Chapters XI and XV.)
+
+The same Saint also gives us some sublime lessons in resignation applied
+to the trials and temptations that beset the spiritual life. He draws
+them from this great and simple thought that serves as foundation for the
+Exercises of Saint Ignatius, namely, that salvation being the sole object
+of our existence, and all the attendant circumstances of life but means
+for attaining it, nothing has any absolute value; and that the only way
+of forming a true estimate of things is to consider in how far they are
+calculated to advance or retard the end in view. Accordingly, what
+difference does it make if we attain this end by riches or poverty,
+health or sickness, spiritual consolation or aridity, by the esteem or
+contempt of our fellow-men? So say faith and reason; but human nature
+revolts against this indifference, as it is well it should, else how
+could we acquire merit? Hence there is a conflict on this point between
+the flesh and the spirit, and it is this conflict that for a Christian is
+called life. (On this subject read _The Imitation_, B. II., Ch. XI.; and
+B. III., Ch. XVIII., XIX., XXXVII., XLIX., L. and the prayer at the end
+of Ch. XXVII.)
+
+“Would to God,” he says elsewhere, speaking on the same subject, “that we
+did not concern ourselves so much about the road whereon we journey, but
+rather would keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon that blessed
+country whither He is conducting us. What should it matter to us if it be
+through deserts or pleasant fields that we walk, provided God be with us
+and we be advancing towards heaven?... In short, for the honor of God,
+acquiesce perfectly in his divine will, and do not suppose that you can
+serve him better in any other way; for no one ever serves him well who
+does not serve him as he wishes. Now he wishes that you serve him without
+relish, without feeling, nay, with repugnance and perturbation of spirit.
+This service does not afford you any satisfaction, it is true, but it
+pleases him; it is not to your taste, but it is to his.... Mortify
+yourself then cheerfully, and in proportion as you are prevented from
+doing the good you desire, do all the more ardently that which you do not
+desire. You do not wish to be resigned in this case, but you will be so
+in some other: resignation in the first instance will be of much greater
+value to you.... In fine, let us be what God wishes, since we are
+entirely devoted to him, and would not wish to be anything contrary to
+his will; for were we the most exalted creatures under heaven, of what
+use would it be to us, if we were not in accord with the will of God?...”
+
+And again: “You should resign yourself perfectly into the hands of God.
+When you have done your best towards carrying out your design (of
+becoming a religious) he will be pleased to accept everything you do,
+even though it be something less good. You cannot please God better than
+by sacrificing to him your will, and remaining in tranquillity, humility
+and devotion, entirely reconciled and submissive to his divine will and
+good pleasure. You will be able to recognize these plainly enough when
+you find that notwithstanding all your efforts it is impossible for you
+to gratify your wishes.
+
+For God in his infinite goodness sometimes sees fit to test our courage
+and love by depriving us of the things which it seems to us would be
+advantageous to our souls; and if he finds us very earnest in their
+pursuit, yet humble, tranquil and resigned to do without them if he
+wishes us to, he will give us more blessings than we should have had in
+the possession of what we craved. God loves those who at all times and in
+all circumstances can say to him simply and heartily: _Thy will be
+done_.”*
+
+
+
+
+                                 XIII.
+                               SCRUPLES.
+
+
+  Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence. (St. Paul, II.
+  Cor., c. III., v. 12.)
+
+  Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because
+  fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfect in charity. (St.
+  John, I. Epist., c. IV., v. 18.)
+
+1. There are persons who look upon scrupulosity as a virtue, confounding
+it with delicacy of conscience, whereas it is, on the contrary, not only
+a defect but one of a most dangerous character. The devout and learned
+Gerson says that a scrupulous conscience often does more injury to the
+soul than one that is too lax and remiss.
+
+2. Scruples warp the judgment, disturb the peace of the soul, beget
+mistrust of the Sacraments and estrangement from them, and impair the
+health of body and mind. How many unfortunates have begun by scrupulosity
+and ended in insanity! How many, more unfortunate still, have begun by
+scruples and ended in laxity and impiety! Shun then this insiduous
+poison, so deadly in its effects on true piety, and say with Saint Joseph
+of Cupertino: _Away with sadness and scruples; I will not have them in my
+house._
+
+3. Scrupulosity is an unreasonable fear of sin in matters where there is
+not even material for sin. But the victim does not call his doubts and
+fears scruples, for he would not be tormented by them if he believed he
+could give them that name. He should, however, place implicit reliance in
+the opinion of his spiritual guide when he tells him they are such and
+that he must not allow himself to be influenced by them.
+
+4. In all his actions a scrupulous person sees only an uninterrupted
+series of sins, and in God nothing but vengeance and anger. He ought,
+therefore, to consider almost exclusively the attribute of the divine
+Master by which He most delights to manifest Himself, _mercy_, and to
+make it the constant subject of his thoughts, meditations and affections.
+
+*“We should do everything from love and nothing from constraint. It is
+more essential to love obedience than to fear disobedience.”—Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. There is but one remedy for scruples and that is entire and courageous
+obedience. “It is a secret pride,” says Saint Francis de Sales, “that
+entertains and nourishes scruples, for the scrupulous person adheres to
+his opinion and inquietude in spite of his director’s advice to the
+contrary. He always persuades himself in justification of his
+disobedience that some new and unforseen circumstance has occurred to
+which this advice cannot be applicable.” “But submit”, adds the Saint,
+“without other reasoning than this: _I should obey_, and you will be
+delivered from this lamentable malady.”
+
+6. By sadness and anxiety the children of God do a great injury to their
+Heavenly Father. They thereby seem to bear witness that there is little
+happiness to be found in the service of a Master so full of love and
+mercy, and to give the lie to the words of Him who said: “Come unto Me
+all you that labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you.”
+
+*“Woe to that narrow and self-absorbed soul that is always fearful, and
+because of fear has no time to love and to go generously forward. O my
+God! I know it is your wish that the heart that loves you should be broad
+and free! Hence I shall act with confidence like to the child that plays
+in the arms of its mother; I shall rejoice in the Lord and try to make
+others rejoice; I shall pour forth my heart without fear in the assembly
+of the children of God. I wish for nothing but candor, innocence and joy
+of the Holy Ghost. Far, far from me, O my God, be that sad and cowardly
+wisdom which is ever consumed in self, ever holding the balance in hand
+in order to weigh atoms!... Such lack of simplicity in the soul’s
+dealings with Thee is truly an outrage against Thee: such rigor imputed
+to Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal heart.”—Fénelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+                            INTERIOR PEACE.
+
+
+  Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things.
+  (St. Luke, c. X., v. 41.)
+
+  Always active, always at rest. (St. Augustine.)
+
+1. Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate into anxiety and eagerness.
+Saint Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy of these two defects.
+They cause us to lose sight of God in our actions and make us very prone
+to impatience if the slightest obstacle should interfere with our
+designs. It is only by acting peacefully that we can serve the God of
+peace in an acceptable manner.
+
+*“Do not let us suffer our peace to be disturbed by precipitation in our
+exterior actions. When our bodies or minds are engaged in any work, we
+should perform it peacefully and with composure, not prescribing for
+ourselves a definite time to finish it, nor being too anxious to see it
+completed.”—Scupoli.*
+
+2. Martha was engaged in a good work when she prepared a repast for our
+divine Lord, nevertheless He reproved her because she performed it with
+anxiety and agitation. This goes to show, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+that it is not enough to do good, the good must moreover be done well,
+that is to say, with love and tranquillity. If one turn the
+spinning-wheel too rapidly it falls and the thread breaks.
+
+3. Whenever we are doing well we are always doing enough and doing it
+sufficiently fast. Those persons who are restless and impetuous do not
+accomplish any more and what they do is done badly.
+
+4. Saint Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry no matter how varied
+or numerous might be the demands made upon his time. When on a certain
+occasion some surprise was expressed at this he said: “You ask me how it
+is that although others are agitated and flurried I am not likewise
+uneasy and in haste. What would you? I was not put in this world to cause
+fresh disturbance: is there not enough of it already without my adding to
+it by my excitability?”
+
+5. However, do not on the other hand succumb to sloth and indifference.
+All extremes are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity and an
+active tranquillity.
+
+6. In order to acquire tranquillity in action it is necessary to consider
+carefully what we are capable of accomplishing and never to undertake
+more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much than to do
+well, which urges us on to burden ourselves with great undertakings and
+to impose upon ourselves numerous obligations. It maintains and nourishes
+itself on this tension of mind, this restless anxiety which it takes for
+infallible signs of a superior capacity. Thus Saint Francis de Sales was
+wont to say: “Our self-love is a great braggart, that wishes to undertake
+everything and accomplishes nothing.”
+
+*“It appears to me that you are over eager and anxious in the pursuit of
+perfection.... Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of
+Kings,[14] that God is not in the great and strong wind, nor in the
+earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an almost
+imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and agitation contribute nothing towards
+success. The desire of success is good, but only if it be not accompanied
+by solicitude. I expressly forbid you to give way to inquietude, for it
+is the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is necessary in all things
+and everywhere. If any trouble come to us, either of an interior or
+exterior nature, we should receive it peacefully: if joy be ours, it
+should be received peacefully: have we to flee from evil, we should do it
+peacefully, otherwise we may fall in our flight and thus give our enemy a
+chance to kill us. Is there a good work to be done? we must do it
+peacefully, or else we shall commit many faults by our hastiness: and
+even as regards penance,—that too must be done peacefully: _Behold_, said
+the prophet, _in peace is my bitterness most bitter_.”[15]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XV.
+                                SADNESS.
+
+
+  I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the
+  house of the Lord.... Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the
+  Lord with gladness.... Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou
+  trouble me? (Psalms CXXI., XCIX., XLII.)
+
+  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Apoc. C. XXI., v.
+  4.)
+
+1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is the worst thing in the World,
+sin alone excepted.
+
+2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection in sadness: it is the
+spirit of God that produces recollection; sadness is the work of the
+spirit of darkness.
+
+3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint Francis de Sales for the
+discernment of spirits: any thought that troubles and disquiets us cannot
+come from the God of peace, who makes his dwelling-place only in peaceful
+souls.
+
+*“Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in writing what I before said to you
+in person, always be as happy as you can in well-doing, for it gives a
+double value to good works to be well done and to be done cheerfully. And
+when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not mean that if you happen to
+commit some fault you should on that account abandon yourself to sadness.
+For God’s sake, no; for that would be to add defect to defect. But I mean
+that you should persevere in the wish to do well, that you return to it
+the moment you realize you have deviated from it, and that by means of
+this fidelity you live happily in the Lord.... May God be ever in our
+heart, my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous, for this is the
+will of God, whom we love and to whose service we are consecrated.”—Saint
+Francis de Sales.* (_Imitation_, B. III., Chap. XLVII.)
+
+4. It is wrong to deny one’s self all diversion. The mind becomes
+fatigued and depressed by remaining always concentrated in itself and
+thus more easily falls a prey to sadness. Saint Thomas says explicitly
+that one may incur sin by refusing all innocent amusement. Every excess,
+no matter what its nature, is contrary to order and consequently to
+virtue.
+
+5. Recreations and amusements are to the life of the soul what seasoning
+is to our corporal food. Food that is too highly seasoned quickly becomes
+injurious and sometimes fatal in its effects; that which is not seasoned
+at all soon becomes unendurable because of its insipidity and
+unpalatableness.
+
+6. As to the amount of diversion it is right to take, no absolute measure
+can be given: the rule is that each person should have as much as is
+necessary for him. This quantity varies according to the bent of the
+mind, the nature of the habitual occupations, and the greater or less
+predisposition to sadness one observes in his disposition.
+
+7. When you find your heart growing sad, divert yourself without a
+moment’s delay; make a visit, enter into conversation with those around
+you, read some amusing book, take a walk, sing, do something, it matters
+not what, provided you close the door of your heart against this terrible
+enemy. As the sound of a trumpet gives the signal for a combat, so sad
+thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable moment has come for him to
+attack us.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVI.
+                           LIBERTY OF SPIRIT.
+
+
+  Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is
+  liberty. (St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.)
+
+  For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but ye
+  have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba,
+  Father. (St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.)
+
+  Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.)
+
+1. Christian liberty of spirit, so earnestly recommended by the saints,
+consists in not becoming the slave of anything, even though good, unless
+it be of God’s will. Thus our purest inclinations, our holiest habits,
+our wisest rules of conduct, should yield without murmur or complaint to
+every manifestation of this divine will, in order that they may never
+become for us obstacles or impediments to good or the occasion of trouble
+and disquietude. By this means only can we perform all our actions with
+cheerful confidence and devout courage.
+
+*“I leave you the spirit of liberty; not that liberty which hinders
+obedience, for such is the liberty of the flesh, but that which excludes
+scruples and constraint.... We ask of God above all things that his name
+be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done on earth as it
+is in heaven. All this implies the spirit of liberty; for provided God’s
+name be sanctified, that His divine Majesty reign in you, that His will
+be done, the spirit desires nothing more.”[16] (_Imitation_, B. III.,
+Chap. XXVI.)*
+
+2. St. Francis de Sales, speaking on this important subject, says: “He
+who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his
+affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this
+way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by sickness
+or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions but that he
+is not attached to them.”
+
+3. A soul that is attached to meditation, if interrupted, will show
+chagrin and impatience: a soul that has true liberty will take the
+interruption in good part and show a gracious countenance to the person
+who was the cause of it. For it is all one to it whether it serve God by
+meditating or by bearing with its neighbor. Both duties are God’s will,
+but just at this time patience with others is the more essential.
+
+4. The fruits of this holy liberty of spirit are prompt and tranquil
+submission and generous confidence. Saint Francis de Sales relates that
+Saint Ignatius ate flesh meat one day in Holy Week simply because his
+physician thought it expedient for him to do so on account of a slight
+illness. A spirit of constraint would have made him allow the doctor to
+spend three days in persuading him, he adds, and would then very probably
+have refused to yield. I cite this example for the benefit of timid souls
+and not for those who seek to elude an obligation by unwarranted
+dispensations.
+
+*This matter is of such importance and a just medium so difficult to
+follow in practice, that it seems useful to transcribe the following
+passage from Saint Francis de Sales in its entirety, with the rules and
+examples it contains, in order that the proper occasions for the exercise
+of this virtue and its limitations may be well understood.
+
+“A heart possessed of this spirit of liberty is not attached to
+consolations, but receives afflictions with all the sweetness that is
+possible to human nature. I do not say that it does not love and desire
+consolations, but that its affections are not wedded to them.... It
+seldom loses its joy, for no privation saddens a heart that is not set
+upon any one thing. I do not say it never loses it, but if it does so it
+quickly regains it.
+
+The effects of this virtue are sweetness of temper, gentleness, and
+forbearance towards everything that is not sin or occasion of sin,
+forming a disposition gently susceptible to the influences of charity and
+of every other virtue.
+
+The occasions for exercising this holy freedom are found in all those
+things that happen contrary to our natural inclinations; for one whose
+affections are not engaged in his own will does not lose patience when
+his desires are thwarted.
+
+There are two vices opposed to this liberty of spirit,—instability and
+constraint, or dissipation and servility. The former is a certain excess
+of freedom which causes us to change our devout exercises or state of
+life without reason and without knowing if it be God’s will. On the
+slightest pretext practices, plans and rules are altered and for every
+trivial obstacle our laudable customs are abandoned. In this way the
+heart is dissipated and spent and becomes like an orchard open on all
+sides, the fruit whereof is not for the owner but for the passers-by.
+Constraint or servility is a certain lack of liberty owing to which the
+mind is overwhelmed with vexation or anger when we cannot carry out our
+designs, even though we might be doing something better. For example: I
+resolve to make a meditation every morning. Now if I have the spirit of
+instability or dissipation I am apt to defer it until evening for the
+most insignificant reason,—because I was kept awake by the barking of a
+dog, or because I have a letter to write, although it be not at all
+pressing. If on the contrary I have the spirit of constraint or servility
+I will not give up my meditation even though a sick person has great need
+of my aid just then, or if I have an important and urgent dispatch to
+send which should not be deferred; and so on.
+
+It remains for me to give you some examples of true liberty of spirit
+which will make you understand it better than I can explain it. But,
+before doing so, it is well that I should say there are two rules which
+it is necessary to observe in order not to make any mistake on the
+subject.
+
+The first is that a person must never abandon his pious practices and the
+common rules of virtue unless it is plainly evident that God wills that
+he do so. Now this will is manifested in two ways,—through necessity and
+through charity. I desire to preach this Lent in some little corner of my
+diocese; however, if I get sick or break my leg I need not give way to
+regret or inquietude because I cannot do as I intended, for it is evident
+that it is the will of God that I serve Him by suffering and not by
+preaching. Or, even if I am not ill or crippled, but an occasion presents
+itself of going to some other place which if I do not avail myself of the
+people there may become Huguenots, the will of God is sufficiently
+manifest to make me amiably change my plans. The second rule is that when
+it is necessary to make use of this liberty of spirit from motives of
+charity, care should be taken that it is done without scandal or
+injustice. For instance: I may know that I should be more useful in some
+distant place not within my own diocese: I should have no freedom of
+choice in this matter for my obligations are here and I should give
+scandal and do an injustice by abandoning my charge.
+
+Thus it is a false idea of the spirit of liberty that would induce
+married women to keep aloof from their husbands without legitimate reason
+under pretext of devotion and charity.... This spirit rightly understood
+never interferes with the duties of one’s vocation nor prejudices them in
+any way. On the contrary, it makes every one contented in his state of
+life, as each should know it is God’s will that he remain in it.
+
+Saint Charles Borromeo was one of the most austere, exact and determined
+of men; bread was his only food, water his only drink; he was so strict,
+that during the twenty-four years he was an Archbishop he went into his
+garden but twice, and visited his brothers only on two occasions and then
+because they were ill. Yet this austere priest when dining with his Swiss
+neighbors, which he often did in order to move them to amend their lives,
+did not hesitate to join them in drinking toasts and healths on every
+occasion and in doing so to take more than was necessary to quench his
+thirst. Here is true liberty of spirit exemplified in the most mortified
+man of his time. An unstable spirit would have gone too far, a spirit of
+constraint would have thought it was committing a mortal sin, a spirit of
+liberty would act in this way from a motive of charity.
+
+Saint Spiridion, a bishop of olden times, once gave shelter to a pilgrim
+who was almost dying of hunger. It was the season of Lent and in a place
+where nothing was to be had but salt meat. This Spiridion ordered to be
+cooked and then gave it to the pilgrim. Seeing that the latter,
+notwithstanding his great need, hesitated to eat it, the Saint, although
+he did not require it, ate some first in order to remove the poor man’s
+scruples. That was a true spirit of liberty born of charity.”—Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom that excludes fear and
+uneasiness in regard to all those things which God has not permitted us
+to know. It gives us a sweet and tender confidence as to the pardon of
+our past sins, the present condition of our souls and our eternal
+destiny. It reminds us continually that although we have deserved hell,
+our divine Lord has merited heaven for us, and that it would be doing a
+great injury to His goodness not to hope for pardon for the past,
+assistance of divine grace for the present, and salvation after death.
+Finally, it teaches us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean of the
+divine mercy.
+
+6. I earnestly exhort you never to make indiscreet vows in the hope of
+thus increasing the merit of your ordinary works. One can attain the same
+end by many ways that are easier and less dangerous. Those who are guilty
+of this imprudence often run the risk of breaking their vows and of thus
+sinning gravely. And if they avoid this misfortune it is only at the
+expense of their peace of soul, sacrificed to a craven and unquiet
+servitude which is totally incompatible with the tranquillity and
+confidence required in the great work of our spiritual perfection.
+
+7. Many pious persons are too prone to advise obligations of this kind.
+If they do so to you, humbly excuse yourself by saying that you do not
+possess the extraordinary virtue requisite in order to fulfil them
+without disquietude. Saint Francis de Sales disapproved of all the
+particular vows made by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and declared them
+null. I have almost invariably found persons bound by such solemn
+obligations restless and agitated, and have frequently seen them exposed
+to the gravest falls.
+
+8. Do not allow yourself to be misled by the example of some of the
+saints who made vows. Rarely is the desire to imitate certain
+extraordinary practices of theirs an inspiration of divine grace: rather
+is it a temptation from the devil inciting us to pride and temerity.
+Saint Francis de Sales exclaimed: “Give me the spirit that animated Saint
+Bernard and I shall do what Saint Bernard did.” Let us apply ourselves, I
+repeat, to the imitation of those simple and solid virtues by which the
+saints attained sanctity, and be content to admire those supernatural
+acts that suppose it already acquired.
+
+9. To bind one’s self by arbitrary vows without compromising salvation,
+three things are necessary: 1st. supernatural inspiration urging one to
+make them; 2d. extraordinary virtue so as never to violate them; 3d.
+unalterable tranquillity in order to preserve peace of soul in keeping
+them.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+                         CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.
+
+
+  Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth. (Psalm
+  LXXXV.)
+
+  Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.
+  (Psalm CXXVI.)
+
+1. A Christian is not obliged to be perfect, but to tend continually
+towards perfection; that is to say, he must labor unceasingly and with
+all his strength to increase in virtue. To make no attempt to advance is
+to go back.
+
+*You see it is a question not of succeeding but of laboring earnestly and
+sincerely. Success does not depend upon us. God grants that or refuses it
+or defers it according to what He knows is best for us.
+
+“Let us do three things, my dear daughter, says Saint Francis de Sales:
+first, have a pure intention to look in all things to the honor and glory
+of God; second, do the little we can towards this end, according to the
+advice of our spiritual father; third, leave the care of all the rest to
+God. Why should he torment himself who has God for the object of his
+intentions and does all that he can? why should he be anxious? what has
+he to fear? God is not terrible for those whom He loves; He is satisfied
+with little for He knows well that we have not much to give.”
+
+... “Allow yourself to be governed by God; do not think so much of
+yourself; make a general and universal resolution to serve God in the
+best manner you are able and do not waste time in examining and sifting
+so minutely to find out what that may be. This is simply an impertinence
+due to the condition of your acute and precise mind which wishes to
+tyrannize over your will and to control it by fraud and subtlety.... You
+know that in general God wishes us to serve Him by loving Him above all
+things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of Him; and in particular,
+to fulfil the duties of our state of life; that is all. But it must be
+done in good faith, without deceit or subterfuge, and in the ordinary way
+of this world, which is not the home of perfection; humanly, too, and
+according to the limitations of time; to do it in a divine and angelic
+manner and according to eternity being reserved for a future life. Do not
+therefore be so anxious to know whether or not you have attained
+perfection. This should never be; for were we the most perfect creatures
+on earth we ought not to dwell upon or glory in it but always consider
+ourselves imperfect. Our self-examination must never be for the purpose
+of discovering if we are imperfect, for this we should never doubt. Hence
+it follows that we must not be surprised at seeing ourselves imperfect,
+since we can never be otherwise in this life; nor on that account give
+way to despondency, for there is no remedy for it. But, yes; we can
+correct our faults gently and gradually, for that is the reason they are
+left in us. We shall be inexcusable if we do not try to amend them, but
+quite excusable if we are not entirely successful in doing so, for it is
+not the same with imperfections as with sins.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+2. Now the means to be employed in laboring for perfection and in making
+progress in virtue do not consist in multiplying prayers, fasts and other
+religious practices. Some good religious who had fasted three times a
+week during an entire year, thought that in order to satisfy the
+obligation of advancing more and more in virtue they ought to fast four
+times a week the following year. They consulted Saint Francis de Sales on
+the subject. He laughingly answered them: “If you fast four times a week
+this year so as to advance in perfection, you will be obliged for the
+same reason to fast five times the next year, then six, then seven times;
+and the number of your fasts being always the guage of the degree of
+perfection you shall have attained, it will be necessary for you, under
+pain of advancing no more, thereafter to fast twice a day, then thrice,
+then four times, and so on.” What Saint Francis de Sales said of fasting
+is just as applicable to all other devout practices.
+
+3. Instead, then, of continually adding to your religious exercises,
+study to perfect yourself in the practice of those you already perform,
+doing them with more love and peace of soul, and with greater purity of
+intention. Should it happen that you are unable to perform all your usual
+devotions conveniently, omit a portion of them so that the remainder may
+be done with greater tranquillity. The spirit of perfection, says Saint
+Bernard, does not consist in doing great things, but in doing common and
+ordinary things perfectly. _Communia facere, sed non communiter_.[17]
+
+*“Most people when they wish to reform, pay much more attention to
+filling their life with certain difficult and extraordinary actions, than
+to purifying their intention and opposing their natural inclinations in
+the ordinary duties of their state. In this they often deceive
+themselves, for it would be much better to make less change in the
+actions and more in the dispositions of the soul which prompt them. When
+one is already leading a virtuous and well regulated life it is of far
+greater consequence, in order to become truly spiritual, to change the
+interior than the exterior. God is not satisfied with the motions of the
+lips, the posture of the body, nor with external ceremonies: What he
+demands is a will no longer divided between Him and any creature; a will
+perfectly docile ... that wishes unreservedly whatever He wishes and
+never under any pretext wishes aught that He does not wish.
+
+This will, perfectly simple and entirely devoted to God, you should bear
+with you into all the circumstances of your life, and everywhere that
+divine Providence leads you.... Even mere amusements may be transformed
+into good works, if you enter into them only through a kindly motive and
+to conform to the order of God. Happy indeed the heart of her for whom
+God opens this way of holy simplicity! She walks therein like a little
+child holding its mother’s hand and allowing her to lead it without any
+concern as to whither it is going. Content to be free, she is ready to
+speak or to be silent; when she cannot say edifying things she says
+common-place things with an equally good grace; she amuses herself by
+making what Saint Francis de Sales calls _joyeusetés_, playful little
+jests, with which she diverts others as well as herself. You will tell me
+perhaps that you would prefer to be occupied with something more serious
+and solid. But God would not prefer it for you, seeing that He chooses
+what you would not choose, and you know His taste is better than yours:
+you would find more consolation in solid things for which He has given
+you a relish, and it is this consolation of which He wishes to deprive
+you, it is this relish which He wishes to mortify in you, although it may
+be good and salutary. The very virtues, as they are practised by us, need
+to be purified by the contradictions that God makes them suffer in order
+to detach them the better from all self will. When piety is founded on
+the fundamental principle of God’s holy will, without consulting our own
+taste, or temperament or the sallies of an excessive zeal, oh! how
+simple, sweet, amiable, discreet and reliable it is in all its movements!
+A pious person lives much as others do, quite unaffectedly and without
+apparent austerity, in a sociable and genial way; but with a constant
+subjection to every duty, an unrelenting renunciation of everything that
+does not enter into God’s designs in her regard, and, finally, with a
+clear view of God to whom she sacrifices all the irregular inclinations
+of nature. This indeed is the adoration in spirit and in truth desired by
+Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His eternal Father. Without it all the rest
+is but a religion of ceremonial, and rather the shadow than the reality
+of Christianity.”—Fénelon.*
+
+4. Apply yourself in a particular manner to become perfect in the
+fulfilment of the duties of your state of life; for on this all
+perfection and sanctity are grounded. When God created the world He
+commanded the plants to produce fruit, but each one according to its
+kind: _juxta genus suum_.[18] In like manner our souls are all obliged to
+produce fruits of holiness, but each according to its kind; that is to
+say, according to the position in which God has placed us. Elias in the
+desert and David on the throne had not to become holy by a like process;
+and Joshua amidst the tumult of arms would have sought in vain to
+sanctify himself by the same means as Samuel in the peaceful retreat of
+the Temple. This instruction is addressed to those who being placed in
+the world would wish to practise there the virtues of the cloister, or
+whilst residing in palaces would attempt to lead the life of the
+solitaries of the desert. They bear fruits which are excellent in
+themselves, no doubt, but not according to their kind, _juxta genus
+suum_, and hence they do not fulfil the will of God.
+
+5. Perfection has but one aim and it is the same for all,—to wit, the
+love of God; but there are divers ways of attaining it. Among the saints
+themselves we find most striking differences. Saint Benedict was never
+seen to laugh, whereas Saint Francis de Sales laughed frequently and was
+always animated, bright and cheerful. Saint Hilarion considered it an act
+of sensuality to change his habit, whilst, on the other hand, Saint
+Catherine of Sienna was extremely particular about bodily cleanliness
+which she looked upon as a symbol of purity of soul. If you consult Saint
+Jerome you hear only of fear of the terrible judgments of God: read Saint
+Augustine and you will find only the language of confidence and love. The
+minds, dispositions and characters of men are as varied as their
+physiognomies; grace perfects them little by little but does not change
+their nature. Hence in our endeavors to imitate the ways of such or such
+a saint for whom we feel a particular attraction, we should not condemn
+those of the others, but say with the Psalmist: _Omnis spiritus laudet
+Dominum_.[19] Consult your director as to whom and what may be most
+suitable for your imitation.
+
+6. Never be afraid that you are not following the way of perfection
+because you still have defects and commit many faults. This was true of
+the greatest saints, for Saint Augustine declares that all of them could
+exclaim with the Apostle Saint John: “If we claim to be without sin, we
+deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” “He who came into the
+world with sin,” says Saint Gregory the Great, “cannot live there without
+sin.”
+
+* “Act like the little child who, when it feels that its mother is
+holding it by the sleeve, runs about quite boldly and without being
+surprised at all the little falls it gets. Thus, as long as you find that
+God is holding you by the good will and the resolution He has given you
+to serve Him, go on bravely and do not be astonished that you stumble and
+fall occasionally. There is no need to be troubled about it, provided
+that at certain intervals you cast yourself into your Father’s arms and
+embrace Him with the kiss of charity. Go on your way, then, cheerfully
+and heartily, doing the best you can; and if it cannot always be
+cheerfully, let it at least be always courageously and faithfully.”
+—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+7. But we must bear in mind the vast difference that exists between the
+love of sin and sin committed inadvertently or from weakness. (See
+_Confession_, § 14.) Affection for sin is the sole obstacle to
+perfection. Thus the most learned Fathers of the Church make a
+distinction between two kinds of tepidity: that which can be avoided and
+that which cannot be avoided. The former condition is that of a soul that
+retains an attachment for certain sins; the other, that of one falling
+into sin through frailty and from being taken unawares, which has been
+the case even with the greatest saints.
+
+8. Therefore in place of troubling yourself about these accidental falls,
+inseparable from human nature, make them turn to your spiritual advantage
+by causing them to increase your humility. It often happens, says Saint
+Gregory the Great, that God allows great defects to remain in some souls
+at the beginning of their spiritual life that by means of them they may
+grow in self-knowledge and learn to place their entire confidence in Him.
+Saint Augustine tells us that God in his infinite wisdom has been better
+pleased to bring forth good out of evil than to hinder the evil itself.
+Thus when you learn to draw fruits of humility from your faults, you
+correspond to the sublime designs of God’s unspeakable providence.
+
+9. Should you happen to fear that you are not walking in the true way of
+perfection, consult your director and place implicit reliance upon the
+answer he gives you. Who is the saint that has not had to suffer because
+of a like doubt? But they were all reassured by the consideration of
+God’s infinite goodness and by obedience to their spiritual father.
+
+*Some persons, although conscious of a sincere desire to serve God,
+nevertheless are disposed to feel alarmed about their spiritual
+condition, at the remembrance of all they have heard and read in regard
+to false consciences, self-illusion and the deceptive security of those
+who are following a wrong path. There are two ways of forming a false
+conscience: first, by choosing among our duties those for which we feel
+most attraction and natural tendency, and then, in order to give
+ourselves up to them more than is necessary, to persuade ourselves we can
+neglect the others. Thus a person with a preference for exterior acts of
+religion will spend all day praying or attending sermons and offices of
+the Church and considers herself very devout, although she may have been
+neglecting her temporal duties. Another, being differently disposed, will
+apply herself exclusively to the duties of her state of life, sacrificing
+to them without regret those of religion, quite convinced that one who is
+faithful in all the domestic relations, and gives to every one his due,
+cannot possibly be otherwise than pleasing to God. The second way of
+making a false conscience consists in giving the preference in our esteem
+and practice to those among the Christian virtues which find their
+analogies in our natural dispositions, for there is not one of the
+virtues that has not its correlative amongst the various qualities of the
+human character. Persons of a gentle and placid disposition will affect
+meekness, the practice of which will be very easy for them and require no
+effort; and imagining they exercise a christian virtue when in reality
+they only follow a natural bent, they are liable to fall into a culpable
+weakness. Those who, on the contrary, have an exact and rigid mind will
+esteem justice and order above all else, making small account of meekness
+and charity; and thus justifying themselves falsely by their natural
+temperament, they follow the tendency of the flesh whilst believing they
+obey the spirit, and may easily become addicted to excessive severity.
+
+It is evident, therefore, that the first rule to be observed in order to
+avoid these dangerous illusions and to walk securely in the way of
+perfection, is to apply ourselves in a special manner to the practice of
+those duties for which we feel least innate attraction, and always to
+mistrust our natural virtues however good they may appear. Then there is
+one consideration that should serve to reassure all Christians who are in
+earnest about their salvation; whilst they act in good faith and deal
+frankly and sincerely with their confessor, it is impossible for them to
+become the victim of a false conscience.
+
+In the following passage Saint Francis de Sales recommends us to watch
+carefully over our natural tendencies and to substitute for them as much
+as possible the inspirations of grace, which he calls living according to
+the spirit:
+
+“To live according to the spirit, my beloved daughter, is to think, speak
+and act according to the virtues that are of the spirit, and not
+according to the senses and feelings which are of the flesh. These latter
+we should make serve us, but we must hold them in subjection and not
+allow them to control us; whereas with the spiritual virtues it is just
+the reverse; we should serve them and bring everything else under
+subjection to them.... See, my daughter, human nature wishes to have a
+share in everything that goes on, and loves itself so dearly that it
+considers nothing of any account unless it be mixed up in it. The spirit,
+on the contrary, attaches itself to God and often says that whatever is
+not God’s is nothing to it; and as through a motive of charity it takes
+part in things committed to it, so through humility and self-denial it
+willingly gives up all share in those which are denied it.... I am
+diffident and have no self-confidence, and therefore I wish to be allowed
+to live in a way congenial to this disposition; any one can see that this
+is not according to the spirit.... But, although I am naturally timorous
+and retiring, I desire to try and overcome these traits of character and
+to fulfil all the requirements of the charge imposed upon me by
+obedience; who does not see that this is to live according to the spirit?
+
+Hence, as I have said before, my dear daughter, to live according to the
+spirit is to have our actions, our words and our thoughts such as the
+spirit of God would require of us. When I say thoughts, I of course mean
+voluntary thoughts. I am sad, says some one, consequently I shall not
+speak; magpies and parrots do the same: I am sad, but as charity requires
+me to speak, I shall do so; spiritual persons act thus: I am slighted and
+I get angry: so do peacocks and monkeys. I am slighted and I rejoice
+thereat: that is what the Apostles did.”
+
+In fine, to live according to the spirit is to do in all circumstances
+and on all occasions whatever faith, hope and charity demand of us,
+without even waiting to consider if we are or are not influenced by our
+natural disposition. (_The Imitation of Christ_, B. III., Ch. LIV.)*
+
+10. Generally speaking it is only after a long and painful struggle that
+one succeeds in climbing the mount of perfection. There are some statues,
+says Saint Francis de Sales, that it has cost the artist thirty years’
+labor to perfect. Now the perfecting of a soul is a much more difficult
+work. We must therefore set about it with tranquillity, patience and
+confidence in God. We shall always obtain what we wish soon enough if we
+obtain it at the time God pleases to grant it.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                              SOCIAL LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVIII.
+                                CHARITY.
+
+
+  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
+  one for another. (St. John, c. XIII., v. 35.)
+
+  He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in
+  darkness even until now. (St. John, Ep. I., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Our divine Lord has said that His disciples should be known by their
+love one for another. This christian virtue of charity makes us love our
+neighbor in God, the creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of God,
+love of our neighbor,—these virtues are two branches springing from the
+same trunk and having but one and the same root.
+
+2. Assist your brethren in their needs whenever you can. However, you
+should always be careful to consult the laws of prudence in this matter
+and to be guided by your means and position. Supply by a desire to do
+good for the material aid you are unable to give.
+
+3. When your neighbor offends you he does not cease on that account to be
+the creature and the image of God; therefore the christian motive you
+have for loving him still exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of pardon,
+but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so often has forgiven you much
+more grievous offences, merited it for him?
+
+4. Observe, however, that we can scarcely avoid feeling some repugnance
+for those who have offended us, but to feel and to consent are two
+distinct and widely different things, as we have already said. When
+religion commands us to love our enemies, the commandment is addressed to
+the superior portion of the soul, the will, not to the inferior portion
+in which reside the carnal affections that follow the natural
+inclinations. In a word, when we speak of charity the question is not of
+that human friendship which we feel for those who are naturally pleasing
+to us, a sentiment wherein we seek merely our own satisfaction and which
+therefore has nothing in common with charity.
+
+*“Charity makes us love God above all things; and our neighbor as
+ourselves with a love not sensual, not natural, not interested, but pure,
+strong and unwavering, and having its foundation in God.... A person is
+extremely sweet and agreeable and I love her tenderly: or, she loves me
+well and does much to oblige me, and on that account I love her in
+return. Who does not see that this affection is according to the senses
+and the flesh? For animals that have no soul but only a body and senses,
+love those who are good and gentle and kind to them. Then there is
+another person who is brusque and uncivil, but apart from this is really
+devout and even desirous of becoming gentler and more courteous:
+consequently, not for any gratification she affords me, or for any
+self-interested motive whatever, but solely for the good pleasure of God,
+I talk to her, aid her, love her. This is the virtue of charity indeed,
+for nature has no share in it.”—Saint Francis de Sales. (Read St. Luke,
+C. VI., vv. 32-33-34.)
+
+The literal and exact fulfilment of the evangelical precept is often
+found impracticable. How, we say, is it possible to have for all men
+indiscriminately that extreme sensibility we feel for everything that
+touches us individually, that constant solicitude for our spiritual or
+temporal interests, that delicacy of feeling that we reserve for
+ourselves and for certain objects specially dear to us?—And yet it is
+literally _au pied de la lettre_, that our Lord’s precept should be
+observed. What then is to be done? An answer will be found in the
+following passage from Fénelon, and we shall see that it is not a
+question of exaggerating the love of one’s neighbor, but of moderating
+self-love, and thus making both the one and the other alike subordinate
+to the love of God:
+
+“To love our neighbor as ourselves does not mean that we should have for
+him that intense feeling of affection that we have for ourselves, but
+simply that we wish for him, and from the motive of charity, what we wish
+for ourselves. Pure and genuine love, love having for its sole end the
+object beloved, should be reserved for God alone, and to bestow it
+elsewhere is a violation of a divine right.”*
+
+5. But although it is forbidden us to show hatred or to entertain it
+voluntarily against the wicked and those who have offended us, this is
+not meant to prevent us from defending ourselves or taking such
+precautions against them as prudence suggests. Christian charity obliges
+and disposes us to love our enemies and to be good to them when there is
+occasion to do so; but it should not carry us so far as to protect the
+wicked, nor leave us without defence against their aggressiveness. It
+allows us to be vigilant in guarding against their encroachments, and to
+take precautions against their machinations.
+
+6. Always be ready and willing to excuse the faults of your neighbor, and
+never put an unfavorable interpretation upon his actions. The same
+action, says Saint Francis de Sales, may be looked upon under many
+different aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose the best, an
+uncharitable one will just as certainly choose the worst.
+
+*“Do not weigh so carefully the sayings and doings of others, but let
+your thought of them be simple and good, kindly and affectionate. You
+should not exact of your neighbor greater perfection than of yourself,
+nor be surprised at the diversity of imperfections; for an imperfection
+is not more an imperfection from the fact that it is extravagant and
+peculiar.”*
+
+7. It is very difficult for a good christian to become really guilty of
+rash judgment, in the true sense of the word,—which is that, without just
+reasons or sufficient grounds he forms and pronounces in his own mind in
+a positive manner a condemnation of his neighbor. The grave sin of rash
+judgment is frequently confounded with suspicion or even simple distrust,
+which may be justifiable on much slighter grounds.
+
+8. Suspicion is permissible when it has for its aim measures of just
+prudence; charity forbids gratuitously malevolent thoughts, but not
+vigilance and precaution.
+
+9. Suspicion is not only permissible, but it is at times an important
+duty for those who are charged with the direction and guardianship of
+others. Thus it is a positive obligation for a father in regard to his
+children, and for a master in regard to his servants, whenever there is
+occasion to correct some vice they know exists, or to prevent some fault
+they have reasonable cause to fear.
+
+10. As to simple mistrust, which should not be confused with suspicion,
+it is only an involuntary and purely passive condition, to which we may
+be more or less inclined by our natural disposition without our free-will
+being at all involved. Mistrust, suspicion, rash judgment are then three
+distinct and very different things, and we should be careful not to
+confound them.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIX.
+                                 ZEAL.
+
+
+  But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your heart,
+  glory not, and be not liars against the truth: for this is not wisdom
+  descending from above, but earthly, sensual, diabolical. (St. James,
+  Cath. Ep., c. III, vv. 14 and 15.)
+
+  For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God. (St. James, Cath.
+  Ep., c. I., v. 20.)
+
+1. Zeal for the salvation of souls is a sublime virtue, and yet how many
+errors and sins are every day committed in its name! Evil is never done
+more effectually and with greater security, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+than when one does it believing he is working for the glory of God.
+
+2. The saints themselves can be mistaken in this delicate matter. We see
+a proof of this in the incident related of the Apostles Saint James and
+Saint John; for our Lord reprimanded them for asking Him to cause fire
+from heaven to fall upon the Samaritans.[20]
+
+3. Acts of zeal are like coins the stamp upon which it is necessary to
+examine attentively, as there are more counterfeits than good ones. Zeal
+to be pure should be accompanied with very great humility, for it is of
+all virtues the one into which self-love most easily glides. When it does
+so, zeal is apt to become imprudent, presumptuous, unjust, bitter. Let us
+consider these characteristics in detail, viewing them, for the sake of
+greater clearness, in their practical bearings.
+
+4. In every home there grows some thorn, something, in other words, that
+needs correction; for the best soil is seldom without its noxious weed.
+Imprudent zeal, by seeking awkwardly to pluck out the thorn, often
+succeeds only in plunging it farther in, thus rendering the wound deeper
+and more painful. In such a case it is essential to act with reflection
+and great prudence. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent,
+says the Holy Spirit.[21] Prudent zeal is silent when it realizes that to
+be so is less hurtful than to speak.
+
+5. Some persons are even presumptuous enough in their mistaken zeal to
+meddle in the domestic affairs of strange families, blaming, counselling,
+attempting to reform without measure or discretion, thus causing an evil
+much greater than the one they wish to correct. Let us employ the
+activity of our zeal in our own reformation, says Saint Bernard, and pray
+humbly for that of others. It is great presumption on our part thus to
+assume the rôle of apostles when we are not as yet even good and faithful
+disciples. Not that you should be by any means indifferent to the
+salvation of souls: on the contrary you must wish it most ardently, but
+do not undertake to effect it except with great prudence, humility and
+diffidence in self.
+
+6. Again, there are pious persons whose zeal consists in wishing to make
+everybody adopt their particular practices of devotion. Such a one, if
+she have a special attraction for meditating on the Passion of our divine
+Lord or for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, would like to oblige every
+one, under pain of reprobation, to pass long hours prostrate before the
+crucifix or the tabernacle. Another who is especially devoted to visiting
+the poor and the sick and to the other works of corporal mercy,
+acknowledges no piety apart from these excellent practices. Now, this is
+not an enlightened zeal. Martha and Mary were sisters, says Saint
+Augustine, but they have not a like office: one acts, the other
+contemplates. If both had passed the day in contemplation, no one would
+have prepared a repast for their divine Master; if both had been employed
+in this material work, there would have been no one to listen to His
+words and garner up His divine lessons. The same thing may be said of
+other good works. In choosing among them each person should follow the
+inspirations of God’s grace, and these are very varied. The eye that sees
+but hears not, must neither envy nor blame the ear that hears but sees
+not. _Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:_ let every spirit praise the Lord,
+says the royal prophet.[22]
+
+7. Bear well in mind that the zeal which would lead you to undertake
+works not in conformity with your position, however good and useful they
+may be in themselves, is always a false one. This is especially true if
+such cause us interior trouble or annoyance; for the holiest things are
+infallibly displeasing to God when they do not accord with the duties of
+our state of life.
+
+8. Saint Paul condemned in strong terms those Christians who showed a too
+exclusive preference for their spiritual masters; some admitting as truth
+only what came from the mouth of Peter, others acknowledging none save
+Paul, and others again none but Apollo. What! said he to them, is not
+Jesus Christ the same for all of you! Is it then Paul who was crucified
+for you? Is it in his name you were baptized?[23] This culpable weakness
+is often reproduced in our day. Persons otherwise pious carry to excess
+the esteem and affection they have for their spiritual directors, exalt
+without measure their wisdom and holiness, and do not scruple to
+depreciate all others. God alone knows the true value of each human
+being, and we have not the scales of the sanctuary to weigh and compare
+the respective wisdom and sanctity of this and that person. If you have a
+good confessor, thank God and try to render his wisdom useful to you by
+your docility in allowing yourself to be guided; but do not assume that
+nobody else has as good a one. To depreciate the merits of some in order
+to exalt those of others at their expense is a sort of slander, that
+ought to be all the more feared because it is generally so little
+recognized.
+
+9. “If your zeal is bitter,” says Saint James, “it is not wisdom
+descending from on high, but earthly, sensual, diabolical.”[24] These
+words of an Apostle should furnish matter of reflection for those persons
+who, whilst making profession of piety, are so prone to irritability, so
+harsh and rude in their manners and language, that they might be taken
+for angels in church and for demons elsewhere.
+
+10. The value and utility of zeal are in proportion to its tolerance and
+amiability. True zeal is the offspring of charity: it should, then,
+resemble its mother and show itself like to her in all things. “Charity,”
+says Saint Paul, “is patient, is kind, is not ambitious and seeketh not
+her own.”[25]
+
+*“You should not only be devout and love devotion, but you ought to make
+your piety useful, agreeable and charming to everybody. The sick will
+like your spirituality if they are lovingly consoled by it; your family,
+if they find that it makes you more thoughtful of their welfare, gentler
+in every day affairs, more amiable in reproving, and so on; your husband,
+if he sees that in proportion as your devotion increases you become more
+cordial and tender in your affection for him; your relations and friends,
+if they find you more forbearing, and more ready to comply with their
+wishes, should these not be contrary to God’s will. Briefly, you must try
+as far as possible to make your devotion attractive to others; that is
+true zeal.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+11. Never allow your zeal to make you over eager to correct others, says
+the same Saint; and when you must do it remember that the most important
+thing to consider is the choice of the moment. A caution deferred can be
+given another time: one given inopportunely is not only fruitless, but
+moreover paralyses beforehand all the good that might have subsequently
+been done.
+
+12. Be zealous, therefore, ardently zealous for the salvation of your
+neighbor, and to further it make use of whatever means God has placed in
+your power; but do not exceed these limits nor disquiet yourself about
+the good you are unable to do, for God can accomplish it through others.
+In conclusion, zeal, according to the teachings of the Fathers of the
+Church, should always have truth for its foundation, indulgence for its
+companion, mildness for its guide, prudence for its counsellor and
+director.
+
+*“I must look upon whatever presents itself each day to be done, in the
+order of Divine Providence, as the work God wishes me to do, and apply
+myself to it in a manner worthy of Him, that is with exactness and
+tranquillity. I shall neglect nothing, be anxious about nothing; as it is
+dangerous either to do God’s work negligently or to appropriate it to
+one’s self through self-love and false zeal. When our actions are
+prompted by our own inclinations, we do them badly, and are pretentious,
+restless, and anxious to succeed. The glory of God is the pretext that
+hides the illusion. Self-love disguised as zeal grieves and frets if it
+cannot succeed. O my God! give me the grace to be faithful in action,
+indifferent to success. My part is to will what Thou willest and to keep
+myself recollected in Thee amidst all my occupations: Thine it is to give
+to my feeble efforts such fruit as shall please Thee,—none if Thou so
+wishest.”—Fénelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XX.
+                               MEEKNESS.
+
+
+  Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land. (S. Matth., c.
+  V., v. 4.)
+
+  Learn of me because I am meek. (St. Matthew, c. XI., v. 29.)
+
+1. Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person a model of all the virtues.
+Meekness, however, is the one that He seems to have wished more
+particularly to propose for our imitation since He said: “Learn of Me for
+I am meek and humble of heart.”
+
+2. Try, therefore, to acquire and always preserve in your soul this
+christian virtue and to make all your exterior actions correspond with
+it. I do not say that you should never have the slightest feeling of
+irritation, as that would be to expect an impossibility; but you should
+be attentive to repress these movements and never yield to them
+voluntarily. It is natural for man to be often assailed by anger, says
+Saint Jerome, but it is peculiar to the Christian not to allow himself to
+be overcome by it.
+
+3. A Christian, says Saint Bernard, who has no one at hand who gives him
+occasion to suffer, should seek such a person eagerly and buy him at any
+price, that he may have opportunity to practice meekness and patience. If
+you are not disposed to go to this expense, at least profit of whatever
+opportunities divine Providence has given you gratuitously, that you may
+accustom yourself to the exercise of these two inestimable virtues.
+
+4. An excellent rule to follow is to make a compact with your tongue such
+as Saint Francis de Sales did with his, namely, that the tongue remain
+silent whenever the feelings are irritated. Otherwise you will begin to
+speak with the sincere resolution to keep within the bounds of moderation
+and prudence, but you will never succeed in so doing, because the bridle
+once loosened you will invariably be carried farther than you wished.
+Reprimand from an angry man can do no good. Reproof is a moral remedy:
+how would it be possible for you to select and administer this remedy
+with discernment and prudence, when you yourself are ill and stand in
+need of both medicine and physician? Wait therefore until your soul is at
+peace, and when you have been restored to calmness you can speak
+advantageously. Even when it is your positive duty to administer a
+rebuke, defer it if possible until free from excitement, remembering that
+to have a salutary effect both he who gives it and he who receives it
+must be calm. Without this precaution the remedy will only aggravate the
+disease.
+
+5. When obliged to reprove the fault of another, never fail to pray that
+God will speak to the person’s heart whilst your words are sounding in
+his ears.
+
+6. Observe, however, with Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Thomas, that
+if those it is your duty to correct abuse your mildness and
+considerateness, you are then justified in repressing their boldness with
+vigor and firmness. “Speak to the fool,” says the Holy Spirit, “the
+language that his folly renders necessary, that he may not continue wise
+in his own eyes.”[26] I repeat it: reproof is a remedy, and a remedy must
+be chosen and proportioned according to the nature and gravity of the
+evil.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXI.
+                             CONVERSATION.
+
+
+  Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a
+  candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in a house.
+
+  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works,
+  and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. V., vv.
+  15-16.)
+
+  Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subversion of
+  the hearers. (St. Paul, II Tim., c. II., v. 14.)
+
+1. Conversation should be marked by a gentle and devout pleasantness, and
+your manner when engaged in it, ought to be equable, composed and
+gracious. Mildness and cheerfulness make devotion and those who practice
+it attractive to others. The holy abbot Saint Anthony, notwithstanding
+the extraordinary austerities of his penitential life, always showed such
+a smiling countenance that no one could look at him without pleasure.
+
+2. We should be neither too talkative nor too silent,—it is as necessary
+to avoid one extreme as the other. By speaking too much we expose
+ourselves to a thousand dangers, so well known that they need not be
+mentioned in detail: by not speaking enough we are apt to be a restraint
+upon others, as it makes it seem as though we did not relish their
+conversation, or wished to impress them with our superiority.
+
+*“Take great care not to be too critical of conversations in which the
+rules of devotion are not very exactly observed. In all such matters it
+is necessary that charity should govern and enlighten us in order to make
+us accede to the wishes of our neighbor in whatever is not in any way
+contrary to the commandments of God.”—Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Do not conclude from this that it is necessary to count your words, as
+it were, so as to keep your conversation within the proper limits. This
+would be as puerile a scruple as counting one’s steps when walking. A
+holy spirit of liberty should dominate our conversations and serve to
+instil into them a gentle and moderate gaiety.
+
+4. If you hear some evil spoken of your neighbor do not immediately
+become alarmed, as the matter may be true and quite public without your
+having been aware of it. Should you be quite certain that there is
+calumny or slander in the report, either because the evil told was false
+or exaggerated or because it was not publicly known, then, according to
+the place, the circumstances and your relations towards those present,
+say with moderation what appears most fitting to justify or excuse your
+neighbor. Or you may try to turn the conversation into other channels, or
+simply be content to show your disapprobation by an expressive silence.
+Remember, for the peace of your conscience, that one does not share in
+the sin of slander unless he give some mark of approbation or
+encouragement to the person who is guilty of it.
+
+5. Do not imitate those who are scrupulous enough to imagine that charity
+obliges them to undertake the defence of every evil mentioned in their
+presence and to become the self-appointed advocates of whoever it may be
+that has deserved censure. That which is really wrong cannot be
+justified, and no one should attempt the fruitless task: and as to the
+guilty, those who may do harm either through the scandal of their example
+or the wickedness of their doctrines, it is right that they should be
+shunned and openly denounced. “To cry out wolf, wolf,” says Saint Francis
+de Sales, “is kindness to the sheep.”
+
+6. The regard we owe our neighbor does not bind us to a politeness that
+might be construed as an approval or encouragement of his vicious habits.
+Hence if it happen that you hear an equivocal jest, a witticism slurring
+at religion or morals, or anything else that really offends against
+propriety, be careful not to give, through cowardice and in spite of your
+conscience, any mark of approbation, were it only by one of those half
+smiles that are often accorded unwillingly and afterwards regretted.
+Flattery, even in the eyes of the world, is one of the most debasing of
+falsehoods. Not even in the presence of the greatest earthly dignitaries,
+will an honest, upright man sanction with his mouth that which he
+condemns in his heart. He who sacrifices to vice the rights of truth not
+only acts unlike a christian, but renders himself unworthy the name of
+man.
+
+7. In small social gatherings try to make yourself agreeable to everybody
+present and to show to each some little mark of attention, if you can do
+so without affectation. This may be done either by directly addressing
+the person or by making a remark that you know will give him occasion to
+speak of his own accord,—draw him out, as the saying is. It was by the
+charm and urbanity of his conversation that Saint Francis de Sales
+prepared the way for the conversion of numbers of heretics and sinners,
+and by imitating him you will contribute towards making piety in the
+world more attractive. In regard to priests you should always testify
+your respect for the sacerdotal dignity quite independently of the
+individual.
+
+8. Disputes, sarcasm, bitter language, and intolerance for dissenting
+opinions, are the scourges of conversation.
+
+9. Although this adage comes to us from a pagan philosopher, we might
+profitably bear it always in mind: “In conversation we should show
+deference to our superiors, affability to our equals, and benevolence to
+our inferiors.”
+
+10. Generally speaking, it is wrong for those whom God does not call to
+abandon the world, to seclude themselves entirely and to shun all society
+suited to their position in life. God, who is the source of all virtue,
+is likewise the author of human society. Let the wicked hide themselves
+if they will, their absence is no loss to the world; but good people make
+themselves useful merely by being seen. It is well, moreover, the world
+should know that in order to practice the teachings of the Gospel it is
+not necessary to bury one’s self in the desert; and that those who live
+for the Creator can likewise live with the creatures whom He has made
+according to His own image and likeness. Well, again, to show that a
+devout life is neither sad nor austere, but simple, sweet and easy; that
+far from being for those in the world an impediment to social relations,
+it facilitates, perfects and sanctifies such; that the disciples of Jesus
+Christ can, without becoming worldlings, live in the world; and that, in
+fine, the Gospel is the sovereign code of perfection for persons in
+society as well as for those who have renounced the world.
+
+*Fénelon, who perhaps had even greater occasion than Saint Francis de
+Sales to teach men of the world how to lead a Christian life in society,
+wrote as follows to a person at court:
+
+“You ought not to feel worried, it seems to me, in regard to those
+diversions in which you cannot avoid taking part. I know there are those
+who think it necessary that one should lament about everything, and
+restrain himself continually by trying to excite disgust for the
+amusements in which he must participate. As for me, I acknowledge that I
+cannot reconcile myself to this severity. I prefer something more simple
+and I believe that God, too, likes it better. When amusements are
+innocent in themselves and we enter into them to conform to the customs
+of the state of life in which Providence has placed us, then I believe
+they are perfectly lawful. It is enough to keep within the bounds of
+moderation and to remember God’s presence. A dry, reserved manner,
+conduct not thoroughly ingenuous and obliging, only serve to give a false
+idea of piety to men of the world who are already too much prejudiced
+against it, believing that a spiritual life cannot be otherwise than
+gloomy and morose.”*
+
+11. If all confessors agreed in instilling these maxims, which are as
+important as they are true, many persons who now keep themselves in
+absolute seclusion and live in a sad and dreary solitude would remain in
+society to the edification of their neighbor and the great advantage of
+religion. The world would thus be disabused of its unjust prejudices
+against a devout life and those who have embraced it.
+
+12. Never remain idle except during the time you have allotted to rest or
+recreation. Idleness begets lassitude, disposes to evil speaking and
+gives occasion to the most dangerous temptations.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXII.
+                                 DRESS.
+
+
+  Women also in decent apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and
+  sobriety. (St. Paul, I. Tim., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Clothing is worn for a threefold object: to observe the laws of
+propriety, to protect our bodies from the inclemency of the weather, and,
+finally, to adorn them, as Saint Paul says, with _modesty and sobriety_.
+This third end is, as you see, not less legitimate than the other two,
+provided you are careful to make it accord with them by confining it
+within proper limits and not permitting it to be the only one to which
+you attach any importance, so that neither health nor propriety be
+sacrificed to personal appearance.
+
+2. External ornamentation should correspond with each one’s condition in
+life. A just proportion in this matter, says Saint Thomas, is an offshoot
+of the virtues of uprightness and sincerity, for there is a sort of
+untruthfulness in appearing in garments that are calculated to give a
+wrong impression as to the position in which God has placed us in this
+world.
+
+3. Be equally careful, then, to avoid over-nicety and carelessness in
+respect to matters of toilet. Excessive nicety sins against moderation
+and christian simplicity; negligence, against the order that should
+govern certain externals in human society. This order requires that each
+one’s material life, and accordingly his attire which is a part of it, be
+suitable to his rank and condition; that Esther be clad as a queen,
+Judith as a woman of wealth and position, Agar as a bond-woman.
+
+5. I shall not speak of immodest dress, for these instructions being
+intended for pious persons or for those who are endeavoring to become
+such, it would seem unnecessary. Nevertheless, as some false and
+pernicious ideas on this subject prevail in the world and lead into error
+souls desirous to do right, here are some fundamental principles that can
+serve you as a rule and save you from similar mistakes.
+
+5. A generally admitted custom can and even should be followed in all
+indifferent matters; but no custom, however universal it may be, can ever
+have the power to change the nature and essence of things or render
+allowable that which is in itself indecent and immodest. Were it
+otherwise, many sins could be justified by the sanction they receive in
+fashionable society. Remember, therefore, that the sin of others can
+never in the sight of God authorize yours, and that where it is the
+fashion to sin it is likewise the fashion to go to hell. Hence it rests
+with yourself whether you prefer to be saved with the few or to be damned
+with the many.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIII.
+                             HUMAN RESPECT.
+
+
+  I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people.... Lo, I will not
+  restrain my lips.... I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from
+  a great council. (Psalms CXV. and XXXIX.)
+
+  That which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops....
+  Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before
+  my Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. X., vv. 27-32.)
+
+1. Charity towards your neighbor, tolerance for his opinions, indulgence
+for his defects, compassion for his errors, yes; but no cowardly and
+guilty concessions to human respect. Never allow fear of the ridicule or
+contempt of men to make you blush for your faith.
+
+2. We are not even forbidden to call one human weakness to the assistance
+of another that is contrary to it: men do not like to contradict
+themselves, and they dread to be considered fickle. Well, then, in order
+that no person may be ignorant of the fact that you are a christian, once
+for all boldly confess your faith and your firm resolve to practise it,
+and let it be known that in all your actions your sole desire is to seek
+the glory of God and the good of your neighbor. Let this profession be
+made upon occasion in a gentle and modest manner, but firmly and
+positively; and you will find that subsequently it will be much easier
+for you to continue what you have thus courageously begun. (Read Chapters
+I. and II., IVth Part of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.)
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIV.
+                              RESOLUTIONS.
+
+
+  Long-standing custom will make resistance, but by a better habit shall
+  it be subdued. (_Imitation_, B. III., c. XII.)
+
+  To him who shall overcome, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, as
+  I also have overcome. (Apocalypse, c. III., v. 21.)
+
+1. We should not undertake to perfect ourselves upon all points at once;
+resolutions as to details ought to be made and carried out one by one,
+directing them first against our predominant passion.
+
+2. By a predominant passion we mean the source of that sin to which we
+oftenest yield and from which spring the greater number of our faults.
+
+3. In order to attack it successfully it is essential to make use of
+strategy. It must be approached little by little, besieged with great
+caution as if it were the stronghold of an enemy, and the outposts taken
+one after another.
+
+4. For example, if your ruling passion be anger, simply propose to
+yourself in the beginning never to speak when you feel irritated. Renew
+this resolution two or three times during the day and ask God’s pardon
+for every time you have failed against it.
+
+5. When the results of this first resolution shall have become a habit,
+so that you no longer have any difficulty in keeping it, you can take a
+step forward. Propose, for instance, to repress promptly every thought
+capable of agitating you, or of arousing interior anger; afterwards you
+can adopt the practice of meeting without annoyance persons who are
+naturally repugnant to you; then of being able to treat with especial
+kindness those of whom you have reason to complain. Finally, you will
+learn to see in all things, even in those most painful to nature, the
+will of God offering you opportunities to acquire merit; and in those who
+cause you suffering, only the instruments of this same merciful
+providence. You will then no longer think of repulsing or bewailing them,
+but will bless and thank your divine Saviour for having chosen you to
+bear with Him the burden of His cross, and for deigning to hold to your
+lips the precious chalice of His passion.
+
+6. Some saints recommend us to make an act of hope or love or to perform
+some act of mortification when we discover that we have failed to keep
+our resolutions. This practice is good, but if you adopt it do not
+consider it of obligation nor bind yourself so strictly to it as to
+suppose you have committed a sin when you neglect it.
+
+7. It is by this progressive method that you can at length succeed in
+entirely overcoming your passions, and will be able to acquire the
+virtues you lack. Always begin with what is easiest. Choose at first
+external acts over which the will has greater control, and in time you
+can advance from these, little by little, to the most interior and
+difficult details of the spiritual life.
+
+8. Resolutions of too general a character, such as, for example, to be
+always moderate in speech, always patient, chaste, peaceable and the
+like, ordinarily do not amount to much and sometimes to nothing at all.
+
+9. To undertake little at a time, and to pursue this little with
+perseverance until one has by degrees brought it to perfection, is a
+common rule of human prudence. The saints particularly recommend us to
+apply it to the subject of our resolutions.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXV.
+                              CONCLUSION.
+
+
+  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and which have
+  been committed to thee; knowing of whom thou hast learned them. (St.
+  Paul, II Tim., c. III., v. 14.)
+
+1. The writer of these instructions makes no pretension to have derived
+them from his own wisdom. The material was furnished him by the greatest
+saints and the most eminent doctors of the Church. You can therefore
+believe in them with great confidence, follow them without fear and adopt
+them as a safe and reliable guide in your spiritual life.
+
+2. If you try to regulate your practice by making personal and
+indiscriminate application of everything you find in sermons and books
+you will never be at rest. _One draws you to the right, the other to the
+left_, says Saint Francis de Sales: doctrine is one, but its applications
+are many, and they vary according to time, place and person. Besides,
+those who speak to a hardened multitude, from whom they cannot get even a
+little without exacting a great deal, insist vehemently upon the subject
+with which they wish to impress their hearers and for the time being
+appear to forget everything else. If they preach on mortification of the
+senses, fasting, or any other penitential work, they fail to explain the
+proper manner of practising it, the limits that should not usually be
+exceeded and the circumstances under which we can and should refrain from
+it. This is due to the fact that the cowardly and the lukewarm, whom it
+is more necessary to excite than to restrain, will take from these
+instructions only just what is suitable for them. Now as these form the
+majority, it is for them above all that it is necessary to speak.
+
+3. It would then be better for you individually, without lessening your
+respect and esteem for books of devotion and for preachers animated by
+the spirit of God, to confine yourself as far as practice is concerned to
+the advice of your director and to the teachings of the saints as
+presented in this little volume.
+
+4. Recall what has been already said, that Saint Francis de Sales
+counsels you to select your spiritual guide from among ten thousand, and
+to allow yourself subsequently to be entirely directed by him as though
+he were an angel come down from heaven to conduct you there.
+
+5. Without this rule of firm and confident obedience, books and sermons
+and all that is said and written for the multitude, will become for you a
+source of fatiguing inquietude, and of doubts and fears, owing to the
+fact that you will try to assimilate things which were not intended for
+you.
+
+6. Remember, moreover, the pleasant saying of Saint Philip de
+Neri,—namely, that he had a special predilection for those books the
+authors of which had a name beginning with the letter S.; that is to say,
+the works of the saints, because he supposed them to be more illumined by
+heavenly wisdom.
+
+Now, in observing these instructions you will have for guide and director
+not the poor sinner who has compiled them for the glory of God and the
+good of souls, but Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Philip de Neri
+and especially Saint Francis de Sales, in whom the Church recognizes and
+admires such exalted sanctity, profound wisdom, and rare experience in
+the direction of souls. These are the three eminent qualities requisite
+to constitute a great doctor in the Catholic Church, and to form the
+safest and the most enlightened guide for those who wish to be his
+disciples.
+
+
+
+
+                               ADDITIONS.
+               FINAL ADVICE IN REGARD TO HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+A cause of frequent error and trouble, particularly in regard to Holy
+Communion, is that feelings are confused with acts of the will. The
+faculty of willing is the only one we possess as our own, the only one we
+can use freely and at all times. Hence it follows that it is by the will
+alone that we can in reality acquire merit or commit sin. The natural
+virtues are gratuitous gifts of God. The world is right in esteeming them
+for they come from Him, but it errs when it esteems them exclusively for
+they do not of themselves give us any title to heaven. God has placed
+them at the disposal of our will as means to an end, and we can make a
+good or bad use of them just as we can of all God’s other gifts. We may
+be deprived of these natural virtues and live by the will alone,
+spiritually dry and devoid of sentiment, and yet in a state of intimate
+union with God.
+
+This explanation is intended to reassure such persons as are disposed to
+feel anxious when they find nothing in their hearts to correspond with
+the effusions of sensible love with which books of devotion abound in the
+preparation for Holy Communion. These usually make the mistake of taking
+for granted the invariable existence of sentiment, and of addressing it
+exclusively. How many souls do we not see who in consequence grow alarmed
+about their condition, believing they are devoid of grace notwithstanding
+their firm will to shun sin and to please God! They should, however, not
+give way to anxiety, nor exhaust themselves by vain efforts to excite in
+their hearts a sensibility that God has not given them. When He has
+granted us this gift we owe Him homage for it as for all others; but God
+only requires that each of His creatures should render an account of what
+he has received, and free-will is the one thing that has been accorded
+indiscriminately to all men. Thus we find Saint Francis de Sales, who
+possessed in such a high degree sensible love of God and all the natural
+virtues, making this positive declaration: “The greatest proof we can
+have in this life that we are in the grace of God, is not sensible love
+of Him, but the firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or
+small.”
+
+Pious persons can make use of the following prayers with profit when they
+are habitually or accidentally in the condition described above. They
+will then see how the will alone, without the aid of feeling, can produce
+acts of all the christian virtues.
+
+
+                           Act of Confidence.
+
+  I will go unto the altar of God. (Ps. XLII.)
+
+It is obedience, O my God! that leads me to Thy Holy Table: the tender
+words by which Thou hast invited us would not have sufficed to draw me,
+for in the troubled state of my soul I cannot be sure they are addressed
+to me. Misery and infirmity are claims for admission to Thy Feast, but
+nothing can dispense from the nuptial garment. Therefore when I turn my
+eyes on myself, after having raised them to Thee, I doubt, I hesitate, I
+tremble; for if I go from Thee I flee from life, and if I approach
+unworthily, to my other sins I add the crime of sacrilege.[27] But Thy
+merciful wisdom, O my God, whilst foreseeing our every need, has foreseen
+all our weaknesses and has prepared helps for us against both presumption
+and distrust. For if Thou hast not willed that, certain of Thy grace, we
+should ever advance with the assurance of the Pharisee and say like him:
+I come to the altar of the Lord because I know I am just in His eyes:
+neither hast Thou permitted that a sacrament of love should become for us
+a torture and an unavoidable snare. I therefore obey, O my God, and in
+the darkness that envelops me I wish to follow implicitly the guidance of
+him whom Thou hast appointed to lead me to Thee. I shall approach the
+Holy Table without wishing for any other warrant than the words spoken by
+my confessor, or rather by Thee: _You may receive Holy Communion_. I
+accept, O my God!—be it a well merited punishment or a salutary
+trial,—this privation of light and sensible devotion, this coldness and
+distraction, which accompany me even into Thy presence when all the
+faculties of my soul should be absorbed and confounded in sentiments of
+adoration and of love. Faith, hope and charity seem to be extinct in my
+heart, but I know that Thou never withdrawest these virtues when we do
+not voluntarily renounce them.
+
+
+                             Act of Faith.
+
+Notwithstanding, then, the doubts that cross my mind, _I wish to
+believe_, O my God! and _I do believe_ all that Thy holy Church has
+taught me. I have not forgotten that brilliant light of Faith which Thou
+didst cause to illumine my soul in the days of mercy in order that the
+precious remembrance of it should serve me as support in the days of
+trial and temptation.
+
+
+                              Act of Hope.
+
+In spite of these vague fears that seem to extinguish hope within my
+soul, I know that although Thou art the mighty and strong God before whom
+the cherubim veil themselves with their wings, the just and all-seeing
+God who discovers blemishes in the purest souls, still Thou wishest to be
+in the most Holy Sacrament only the Victim whose Blood effaces the sins
+of the world; the Good Shepherd who hastens after the strayed sheep and
+carries it tenderly and unreproachfully back to the fold; the divine
+Mediator who comes _not to judge but to save_.[28] All this I know, O my
+God! and therefore _I hope_.
+
+
+                              Act of Love.
+
+Notwithstanding the coldness and insensibility that benumb my soul, I
+know that _I love Thee_, O my God! since my will prefers Thy service to
+all the joys of this world, since Thy grace is the sole good to which I
+aspire, and because I suffer so much by reason of my lack of sensible
+love for Thee.
+
+
+                             Act of Desire.
+
+No, I am not indifferent, Thou knowest, O my God! that I am not
+indifferent to this Most Holy Sacrament which I approach unmoved by any
+sensible feeling: for Thou seest that although I find in Holy Communion
+neither relish nor consolation, I would yet make any sacrifice in order
+to receive it.
+
+
+                           Act of Contrition.
+
+I feel neither hatred nor horror of sins to which the world does not
+attach shame and contempt; I experience no sensible sorrow for the sins I
+have committed, but I know, O my God! that, with the assistance of Thy
+grace, my will denounces them, for I am resolved to commit them no more.
+I have taken this resolution because sin displeases Thee and because all
+that swerves from eternal order is abhorrent to Thy infinite sanctity. _I
+believe, then, that I am contrite_, O my God! because I believe in Thy
+promises, and if Thou dost not always grant us the consolation of
+realizing our contrition, Thou wilt never refuse its justifying virtue to
+those who humbly implore it; and this I do.
+
+No, my God, I shall not pray Thee to grant me sensible enjoyment, not
+even that of Thy spiritual gifts: what I implore of Thy grace is to keep
+my will ever turned towards Thee and never to permit it to fall or wander
+anew on the earth.
+
+_Lord! into Thy hands I commend my spirit._
+
+(Read _The Imitation_, Chapters IV., XIV., XV. of B. IV.; and Chapters
+XXV., XLVIII and LII of B. III.)
+
+
+If you have an ardent desire for the sensible love of God, a desire that
+cannot but be pleasing to Him provided you are at the same time resigned
+to be deprived of it, remember that according to Saint John Chrysostom it
+can be obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God wishes, says the Saint,
+to make us realize by experience that we cannot have His love but from
+Himself, and that this love, which is the true happiness of our souls, is
+not to be acquired by the reflections of our minds or the natural efforts
+of our hearts, but by the gratuitous infusion of the Holy Ghost. Yes,
+this love is so great a good that God wishes to be the sole dispenser of
+it: He bestows it only in proportion as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily
+makes us wait for some time before He grants it.
+
+There are few prayers better calculated to dispose the soul to receive
+this great grace than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the IVth. Book, and
+XXI. and XXXIV. of the IIId. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+For thanksgiving after Communion, read Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II. and
+X. of the III. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                               Footnotes
+
+
+[1]Saint Paul, I. Cor. x., 13, says: ... God is faithful, Who will not
+   suffer you to be tempted above what you are able: but will even make
+   with temptation an issue, that you may be able to bear it.
+
+[2]The Chevalier du Chambon de Mésilliac, who translated this little work
+   of P. Quadrupani’s into French, inserted much additional matter,
+   quotations for the most part from the same authorities frequently
+   cited by the Italian author. These selections he placed at the end of
+   each _Instruction_ under the title of “Additions.” The English
+   translator has changed this arrangement into one which seems more
+   convenient and better calculated to maintain the connection of ideas.
+   Therefore the extracts chosen by the French translator are here
+   inserted in the body of the text, immediately following the paragraphs
+   which suggested them, and are marked by asterisks to distinguish them
+   from the original matter.
+
+[3]St. Francis de Sales.
+
+[4]Proverbs, XXX, 21-23: “By three things is the earth disturbed ... by a
+   bondwoman, when she is heir to her mistress....”
+
+[5]II. Cor., xii., 9.
+
+[6]John, vi, 57.
+
+[7]Matt. xi., 28.
+
+[8]Saint Luke, c. V. vv. 8-10.
+
+[9]Luke V., 32. Mark II., 17. Matthew IX., 13.
+
+[10]Epist. St. Paul to the Hebrews.
+
+[11]St. Paul to the Philippians, IV., 13.
+
+[12]Matt. X., 30.
+
+[13]Matt. X., 30:—Luke XII., 7.—“_Blessed are they that mourn, for they
+   shall be comforted._”
+
+[14]III Kings, C. XIX.
+
+[15]Ecce in pace est amaritudo mea amarissima. (Isaias.)
+
+[16]Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+[17]See P. Rodriguez, S. J., Christian Perfection, C. I.
+
+[18]Gen. I., 11.
+
+[19]Psalm CL., 5. _Let every spirit praise the Lord_.
+
+[20]Luke, IX., 54.
+
+[21]Ecclesiastes III., 7.
+
+[22]Ps. CL., 5.
+
+[23]St. Paul, I Cor. I., 13.
+
+[24]S. James, Cath. Ep. III., 14-15.
+
+[25]S. Paul, I Cor. XIII., 4-5.
+
+[26]Proverbs, XXVI., 5.
+
+[27]_Imitation_, B. IV., c. VI.: “For if I do not appeal to Thee, I fly
+   from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily I incur Thy
+   displeasure.”
+
+[28]S. John, c. XII., v. 47: “For I came not to judge the world, but to
+   save the world.”
+
+
+
+
+                           Translator’s Notes
+
+
+--Corrected a few palpable typos.
+
+--Added several missing quotation marks and asterisks where unpaired ones
+  occurred.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+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: Light and Peace
+       Instructions for devout souls to dispel their doubts and
+       allay their fears
+
+Author: Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38355]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT AND PEACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Veronica Brandt and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            LIGHT AND PEACE.
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+                       TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND
+                           ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                                   BY
+                      R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+                     _Translated from the French._
+
+
+                        With an Introduction by
+                    THE MOST REV. P. J. RYAN, D.D.,
+                    Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+
+                          ST. LOUIS, MO. 1898.
+                        Published by B. HERDER,
+                           17 South Broadway.
+
+
+                             NIHIL OBSTAT.
+
+                                                      F. G. Holweck,
+                                                  _Censor Librorum_.
+
+
+                              IMPRIMATUR.
+
+St. Louis, Mo., 1. Oct. 1897.
+                                            H. Muehlsiepen, _V. G.,_
+                                                              _Adm._
+
+
+_The French translation, from which the present English version has been
+made, is approved by the Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Versailles
+and the Bishop of Meaux._
+
+
+                 Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach.
+
+
+                              --BECKTOLD--
+                       PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
+                             ST. LOUIS, MO.
+
+
+
+
+                         TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+These _Instructions for Pious Souls_, now published in English under the
+title _Light and Peace_, were written in 1795 by the illustrious and
+saintly Barnabite, Padre Quadrupani. They contain a summary of spiritual
+guidance for earnest Christians in the ordinary duties of life in the
+world. The author had formed his own spirituality on the model presented
+by the life and teaching of St. Francis de Sales, and in this little book
+he reflects the wisdom, prudence and sweetness of that "gentleman Saint."
+
+The work has passed through uncounted editions in its original Italian,
+and through a large number of editions in both the French and the German
+translations. An English translation was published many years ago, but
+besides its present rarity, its many imperfections warrant the belief
+that a new rendition will not be unwelcome. The translator has, moreover,
+been encouraged by the persuasion that the maxims of Father Quadrupani
+are specially adapted to the American character. Unlike many foreign
+religious works, whose spirituality often fails to touch the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament, this author's teaching is decidedly practical and
+practicable, and appeals in every way to the common sense and fits in
+with the busy, matter-of-fact life of the average American Catholic.
+
+The present translation has been made from the twentieth French edition
+and has been collated with the thirty-second edition of the original
+Italian published at Naples in 1818. The many recommendations from the
+Episcopacy of France prefixed to the French translation are here omitted,
+as the Introduction by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Philadelphia is
+abundant testimony to the doctrinal solidity of the work.
+
+                                                          I. M. O'R.
+Overbrook, PA.
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+God's attributes being infinite and our intellects limited and also
+darkened by the fall, we see these attributes only in part and "as afar
+off and through a glass." In contemplating His awful sanctity, we are
+overwhelmed with fear and forget His ineffable mercy. Our views are also
+greatly influenced by our natural temperaments, whether joyous or sad,
+and change with our environments and moods.
+
+As the blue firmament is ever the same, so is the great God Himself--"the
+King of Ages immortal and invisible, without change or shadow of
+vicissitude." But as the clouds that hang as veils of the sanctuary are
+movable and variegated, now dark and gloomy and again brilliant in silver
+or gold, now opening into vistas of the firmament above and again closing
+in darkness, except when arrows of light pierce them and show their
+outlines, so are we variable and inconstant and need spiritual direction
+adapted to our peculiar wants. The naturally joyous, hopeful and
+sometimes presumptuous, need that wholesome fear of the Lord which is
+"the beginning of wisdom." The constitutionally severe, scrupulous and
+almost despairing, need to remember God's tender paternal character and
+to learn that "His mercies are above all His works." To such souls this
+little book must prove invaluable. Its theology is sound, as the various
+episcopal approbations testify. Hence its statements can be entirely
+trusted. The fact that it has passed through twenty editions in French is
+sufficient evidence of its appreciation in that country. May it continue
+its holy mission of light and consolation and joy in this country and act
+like the angelic messenger to Peter in prison, liberating the soul from
+the chains of doubt and despondency, illuminating her by the light of
+God's holy truth and bringing her out of the darksome prison into the
+company of the confiding, prayerful, joyous saints of God.
+
+                                                        +P. J. RYAN.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                         _Exterior Practices._
+
+                                                                     Page.
+  I. Spiritual Direction                                                 1
+  II. Temptations                                                        8
+  III. Prayer                                                           19
+  IV. Penance                                                           37
+  V. Confession                                                         43
+  VI. Holy Communion                                                    62
+  VII. Sundays and Holydays                                             76
+  VIII. Spiritual Reading                                               81
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                            _Interior Life._
+
+  IX. Hope                                                              85
+  X. The Presence of God                                                90
+  XI. Humility                                                          93
+  XII. Resignation                                                      99
+  XIII. Scruples                                                       108
+  XIV. Interior Peace                                                  112
+  XV. Sadness                                                          116
+  XVI. Liberty of Spirit                                               119
+  XVII. Christian Perfection                                           130
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                             _Social Life._
+
+  XVIII. Charity                                                       146
+  XIX. Zeal                                                            153
+  XX. Meekness                                                         162
+  XXI. Conversation                                                    165
+  XXII. Dress                                                          173
+  XXIII. Human Respect                                                 176
+  XXIV. Resolutions                                                    178
+  XXV. Conclusion                                                      182
+  Additions                                                            186
+
+
+
+
+                            Light and Peace
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+             TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                    By R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                          EXTERIOR PRACTICES.
+
+
+
+
+                                   I.
+                          SPIRITUAL DIRECTION.
+
+
+  For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Ghost. (S. Mark, xiii, 11.)
+
+1. It is absolutely true that in matters of conscience obedience to a
+spiritual director is obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
+ministers on earth: "He that heareth you, heareth Me." (St. Luke, x, 16.)
+
+2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience can not be lost: a soul
+devoid of this spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)
+
+3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for the devil to tempt those who
+ignore obedience and permit themselves to be guided by their own light
+and deterred by their fears, for they act the devil's part towards
+themselves.
+
+4. Do not fear that your director may be mistaken in what he prescribes
+for your guidance, or that he does not fully understand the state of your
+conscience because you did not explain it clearly enough to him. Such
+doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed and thus frustrate the
+designs of God in placing you under the direction of a prudent guide. It
+was the priest's duty to have questioned you further had he not fully
+understood you, and that he did not do so is a positive proof that he
+knew enough to enable him to pronounce a safe judgment. God has promised
+his special help to those who represent Him in the direction of souls. Is
+not this assurance enough to induce you to obey with promptness and
+simplicity as the Holy Scripture commands?
+
+5. God does not show the state of our souls as clearly to us as he does
+to him who is to guide us in his place. You should be quite satisfied,
+then, if your director tells you the course you follow is the right one
+and that the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father are guiding you in
+it. You should believe and obey him in this as in all else, for as St.
+John of the Cross tells us, "it betrays pride and lack of faith not to
+put entire confidence in what our confessor says."
+
+6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore,
+therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk
+confidently in this path exempt from danger. "You sometimes fear," says
+St. Bonaventure, "that in obeying you act against the dictates of your
+conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
+really increase your merit before God."
+
+7. We should allow obedience to regulate not only our exterior actions
+but likewise our mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied with
+performing the works it prescribes, but let your thoughts and desires be
+also moulded according to its direction. In fact, it is in this interior
+submission that the merit of spiritual obedience essentially consists.
+
+8. Obedience should be simple and prompt, without reservation or
+disquietude. Simple, because you ought not to argue about it, but decide
+by the one thought: _I must obey_; prompt, for it is God whom you obey;
+without reservation, because obedience extends to everything that does
+not violate God's law; without disquietude, because in obeying God you
+cannot go astray: this thought should be sufficient to drive away all
+fear of doing or of having done wrong.
+
+9. When choosing a director, be careful to select one who has the
+necessary qualifications. He should be not only virtuous, but prudent,
+charitable and learned. St. Francis de Sales gives the following opinion
+on the subject:
+
+"Go," said Tobias to his son, when about to send him into a strange
+country, 'go seek some wise man to conduct you.' I say the same to you,
+Philothea. If you sincerely desire to enter upon the way of devotion,
+seek a good guide to direct you therein. This advice is of the utmost
+importance and necessity. Whatever one may do, says the devout Avila, he
+can never be certain of fulfilling God's will, unless he practice that
+humble obedience which the saints so strongly recommend and to which they
+so faithfully adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: 'A faithful friend is a
+strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure: ... a
+faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that
+fear the Lord shall find one.' (Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.)
+
+But who can find such a friend? They that fear God, the Wise Man
+answers--that is to say, those humble souls who ardently desire their
+spiritual progress. Since it is so essential, then, Philothea, to have a
+skilful guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to give you one
+according to His Heart, and rest assured that when an angel is necessary
+to you as to the young Tobias, He will give you a wise and faithful
+director.
+
+In fact, the selection once made, you should look upon your spiritual
+guide more as a guardian angel than as a mere man. You place your
+confidence not in him but in God, for it is God who will lead and
+instruct you through his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
+sentiments and words necessary for your guidance. Thus you may safely
+listen to him as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you there. To this
+confidence, add perfect candor. Speak quite frankly and tell him
+unreservedly all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the good will
+thus be strengthened, the evil weakened, and your soul shall thereby
+become firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in its consolations.
+Great respect should also be united with confidence and in such nice
+proportion that the one shall not lessen the other: let your confidence
+in him be such as a respectful daughter reposes in her father, your
+respect for him such as that with which a son confides in his mother. In
+a word, this friendship, though strong and tender, should be altogether
+sacred and spiritual in its nature.
+
+'Choose one among a thousand,' says Avila: "among ten thousand, rather, I
+should say, for there are fewer than one would suppose fitted for this
+office of spiritual director. Charity, learning and prudence are
+indispensable to it, and if any one of these qualities be absent, your
+choice will not be unattended with danger. I repeat, ask God to inspire
+your selection and when you have made it thank Him sincerely, and then
+remain constant to your decision. If you go to God in all simplicity and
+with humility and confidence, you will undoubtedly obtain a favorable
+answer to your petition."
+
+In conclusion, it may be well to remind you that the director and the
+confessor have not necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis de
+Sales was the spiritual director of many persons to whom he was not the
+ordinary confessor. "To a director," he says, "we should reveal our
+entire soul, whereas to a confessor we simply accuse ourselves of our
+sins in order to receive absolution for them."
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+                              TEMPTATIONS.
+
+
+  My brethren, count it all joy when ye shall fall into divers
+  temptations. (Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.)
+
+  Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin,
+  which dwelleth in me. (St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.)
+
+1. "If we are tempted," says the Holy Spirit, "it is a sign that God
+loves us." Those whom God best loves have been most exposed to
+temptations. "Because thou wast acceptable to God," said the angel to
+Tobias, "it was necessary that temptation should prove thee." (Tobias, c.
+xii, v. 13.)
+
+2. Do not ask God to deliver you from temptations, but to grant you the
+grace not to succumb to them and to do nothing contrary to His divine
+will. He who refuses the combat, renounces the crown. Place all your
+trust in God and God will Himself do battle for you against the enemy.[1]
+
+3. "These persistent temptations come from the malice of the devil," says
+St. Francis de Sales, "but the trouble and suffering they cause us come
+from the mercy of God. Thus, despite the will of the tempter, God
+converts his evil machinations into a distress which we may make
+meritorious. Therefore I say your temptations are from the devil and
+hell, but your anxiety and affliction are from God and heaven." Despise
+temptation, then, and open wide your soul to this suffering which God
+sends in order to purify you here that He may reward you hereafter.
+
+4. "Let the wind blow," remarks the same Saint, "and do not mistake the
+rustling of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly convinced that
+all the temptations of hell are powerless to defile a soul that does not
+love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations, yet God, through love,
+did not deliver him from them." Look upon God as an infinitely good and
+tender father and believe that He only allows the devil to try His
+children that their merits may increase and their recompense be
+correspondingly greater.
+
+5. The more persistent the temptation, the clearer it is that you have
+not given consent to it. "It is a good sign," says St. Francis de Sales,
+"when the tempter makes so much noise and commotion outside of the will,
+for it shows that he is not within." An enemy does not besiege a fortress
+that is already in his power, and the more obstinate the attack, the more
+certain We may be that our resistance continues.
+
+6. Your fears lead you to believe you are defeated at the very moment you
+are gaining the victory. This comes from the fact that you confound
+feeling with consent, and, mistaking a passive condition of the
+imagination for an act of the will, you consider that you have yielded to
+the temptation because you felt it keenly.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity, thus describes this
+warring of the flesh against the spirit:
+
+"You are right, my dear daughter. There are two women within you ... and
+the two children of these different mothers quarrel, and the
+good-for-nothing one is so bad that sometimes the good one can scarcely
+defend herself, and then she takes it into her head that she has been
+worsted and that the wicked one is braver than she. Now, surely, this is
+not true. The bad one is not the stronger by any means, but only slyer,
+more persistent and more obstinate. When she succeeds in making you weep
+she is delighted, because that is always just so much time lost, and she
+is content to make you lose time when she cannot make you lose
+eternity."*[2]
+
+It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. St. Jerome had
+retired into the desert and still his fancy represented to him the dances
+of the Roman ladies. His body was benumbed, as it were, and his blood
+chilled by the severity of his mortifications, and yet the flames of
+concupiscence encompassed and tortured his heart. During these frightful
+conflicts the holy anchorite suffered, but he did not sin; he was
+tormented but was not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were augmented
+in the sight of God in proportion to the intensity of the temptations.
+
+7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont to say to the phantoms of his
+mind: I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does not
+depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I would
+wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I repulse and
+reject you. "It is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary," says St.
+Augustine, "that if not voluntary, it is not sin."
+
+8. The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the
+imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been
+carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is not
+the case. The will suffered, but did not consent; it was attacked and
+wounded, but not conquered. This state of things coincides with what St.
+Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the spirit and of their
+unceasing warfare. The soul, indeed, experiences strange sensations, but
+as she does not consent to them, she passes through the ordeal unsullied,
+just as substances coated with oil may be immersed in water without
+absorbing a single drop of it.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction so plainly and yet so
+simply in one of his letters, that it may be useful to repeat the passage
+here: "Courage, my dear soul, I say it with great love in Jesus Christ,
+dear soul, courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely, even though
+without feeling, My Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not tell me it
+appears to you that you say it in a cowardly way, and only by doing great
+violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy violence that bears away
+the kingdom of heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is a sign that the
+enemy has taken everything within our fortress except the impenetrable,
+unconquerable tower--and that can never be lost save by wilful surrender.
+This tower is the free-will which, perfectly visible to the eye of God,
+occupies the highest and most spiritual region of the soul, dependent on
+none but God and oneself; and when all the other faculties are lost and
+in subjection to the enemy, it alone remains free to give or to refuse
+consent. Now, you often see souls afflicted because the enemy, occupying
+all the other faculties, makes therein so great a noise and confusion
+that they scarce can hear what this superior will says; for though it has
+a clearer and more penetrating voice than the inferior will, the loud,
+boisterous cries of the latter almost drown it: but note this well: as
+long as the temptation is displeasing to you, there is nothing to fear;
+for why should it displease you, except because you do not will it?"*
+
+9. Should it frequently happen that you have not a distinct consciousness
+of your success against temptation, it may be that God refuses you this
+satisfaction in order that, lacking this clear assurance, your knowledge
+may come through obedience. Therefore, when your spiritual director,
+after hearing your explanation, says that you have not given consent, you
+should be satisfied with his decision and abide by it with perfect
+tranquillity, discarding all fear that he did not understand you aright
+or that you did not explain the matter sufficiently. These doubts are but
+fresh artifices of the devil to rob you of the merit of obedience. As has
+been said above, to give way to such inquietude is to offend seriously
+against this virtue, for all direction would thus be rendered impossible,
+by the failure of the penitent to recognize God Himself in the person of
+his director.
+
+10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions must co-exist. First, the
+matter must be weighty; secondly, the mind must have full knowledge of
+the guilt of the action, omission or dangerous occasion in question; and,
+thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference for the forbidden
+action, culpable omission, or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
+consent. These reflections should serve to reassure your mind if the fear
+of having committed a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very difficult for
+this threefold union of conditions to be effected in a God-fearing soul.
+However, perfect security can come, and ought to come, only from
+spiritual obedience.
+
+11. In temptations against faith and purity, do not make great efforts to
+form acts of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading glance towards
+God, without speaking even to this compassionate Friend concerning the
+thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root the evil suggestion more
+firmly. Then, without disquieting yourself, engage at once in some
+exterior occupation or continue what you were doing. Make no answer to
+the tempter, but ignore him, just as though his assault had never
+occurred. In this way, whilst preserving your own peace of soul, you will
+cover your enemy with confusion.
+
+*The same counsel is given by St. Francis de Sales in his characteristic
+style:
+
+"Do you know how God acts on these occasions? He permits the wicked maker
+of such wares to come and offer them to us for sale, in order that by the
+contempt we show for them we may testify our love for holy things. And
+for this is it necessary, my dear child, to feel anxious, and to change
+our position? No, no. It is only the devil who is prowling around your
+soul, raging and storming, to see if he can find an open door.... What!
+and you would be annoyed at that? Let the enemy storm away; only be
+careful on your part to keep all the entrances well fastened, and finally
+he will grow weary; or if he do not, God will force him to raise the
+siege."*
+
+12. Though you should be assailed by temptations during your entire life
+time, do not be disquieted, for your merits will increase in proportion
+to your trials and your crown be accordingly all the brighter in heaven.
+The only thing necessary is to remain firm in your resolution to despise
+the efforts of the tempter.
+
+*"This serious trial, and so many others that have assailed you and left
+you troubled in mind, do not at all surprise me, since there is nothing
+worse. Do not worry, then, my beloved daughter. Should we allow ourselves
+to be swept away by the current and the storm? Let Satan rage at the
+door; he may knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and do his worst, but
+rest assured that he can never enter our souls but through the door of
+our consent. Let us only keep that closed tight and often look to see
+that it is well secured and we need have no concern about all the
+rest--there is no danger."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+13. The most learned theologians and masters of the spiritual life agree
+in saying that simply to ignore a temptation is a much more effectual
+means to repulse it than words and acts of the contrary virtues. On this
+subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV. of the _Introduction to a
+Devout Life_. You will find much light and consolation in them. See also
+Chapter XII. of the _Spiritual Combat_, and Chapters VI., VII., XII.,
+XX., XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book of the _Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  III.
+                                PRAYER.
+
+
+  Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God? I will suggest a
+  help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast praised God. (S.
+  Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)
+
+  Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider heavenly
+  things; and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt me as I
+  pray. (Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)
+
+1. We ought to love meditation and should make it often on the Passion of
+our divine Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom fruits of
+humility, patience and charity.
+
+2. If you experience great dryness in your meditations or other prayers,
+do not feel distressed and conclude that God has turned His Face away
+from you. Far from it. Prayer said with aridity is usually the most
+meritorious. *It is quite a common error to confound the value of prayer
+with its sensible results, and the merit acquired with the satisfaction
+experienced. The facility and sweetness you may have in prayer are favors
+from God and for which you will have to account to him: hence the result
+is not merit but debt. (Read the _Imitation_, B. II, c. IX.)* The very
+fact that we derive less gratification from such prayer, makes it all the
+more pleasing to God, because we are thus suffering for love of him. Let
+us call to mind at such times that our Lord prayed without consolation
+throughout his bitter agony.
+
+*"All this trouble comes from self-love and from the good opinion we have
+of ourselves. If our hearts do not melt with tenderness, if we have no
+relish or sensible feeling in prayer, if we do not enjoy great interior
+sweetness during meditation, we are at once overwhelmed with sadness: if
+we find difficulty in doing good, if some obstacle is opposed to our
+pious designs, we give way to disquietude and are eager to conquer all
+this and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly because we love
+consolations, our own comfort, our own convenience. We wish to pray
+immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous that we may eat sugar; and we
+do not contemplate _our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, prone upon the ground,
+is covered with a sweat of blood_ caused by the intense conflict He feels
+interiorly between the repugnances of the inferior portion of his soul
+and the resolutions of the superior."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+*The same teaching is given by another great master of the spiritual
+life:
+
+"We frequently seek the gratification and consolation of self-love in the
+testimony we desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are disturbed about
+our lack of sensible fervor, whereas in reality we never pray so well as
+when we are tempted to think we are not praying at all. We fear to pray
+badly then, but we should fear rather to give way to the vexation of our
+cowardly nature, to a philosophical infidelity, which ever wishes to
+demonstrate to itself its own operations--in fine, to an impatient desire
+to see and to feel in order to console ourselves.
+
+There is no penance more bitter than this state of pure faith without
+sensible support. Hence I conclude that it is freer than any other from
+illusion. Strange temptation! to seek impatiently for sensible
+consolation through fear of not being sufficiently penitent! Ah! Why not
+rather accept as a penance the deprivation of that consolation we are so
+tempted to seek?"*--F�nelon.
+
+3. You will sometimes imagine that at prayer your soul is not in the
+presence of God and that only your body is in the church, like the
+statues and candelabras that adorn the altars. Think, then, that you
+share with those inanimate objects the honor of serving as ornaments for
+the house of God, and that in the presence of your Creator even this
+humble r�le should seem glorious to you.
+
+*"You tell me that you cannot pray well. But what better prayer could
+there be than to represent to God again and again, as you are doing, your
+nothingness and misery? The most touching appeal beggars can make is
+merely to expose to us their deformities and necessities. But there are
+times when you cannot even do this much, you say, and that you remain
+there like a statue. Well, even that is better than nothing. Kings and
+princes have statues in their palaces for no other purpose than that they
+may take pleasure in looking at them: be satisfied then to fulfil the
+same office in the presence of God, and when it so pleases Him He will
+animate the statue."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+4. When you have not consciously or voluntarily yielded to distractions,
+do not stop to find what may have been their cause, or to discover if you
+have in any way given occasion to them. This would be simply to weary and
+disquiet yourself unprofitably. From whatever direction they come, you
+can convert them into a source of merit by casting yourself into the arms
+of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis de Sales when asked how he prayed,
+replied: "I cannot say it too often--I receive peacefully whatever the
+Lord sends me. If he consoles me, I kiss the right hand of his mercy; if
+I am dry and distracted, I kiss the left hand of his justice." This
+method is the only good one, for as the same Saint says: "He who truly
+loves prayer, loves it for the love of God: and he who loves it for the
+love of God, wishes to experience in it naught but what God is pleased to
+send him." Now, whatever you may experience in prayer, is precisely what
+God wills.
+
+5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that merely to keep ourselves
+peacefully and tranquilly in the presence of God, without other desire or
+pretension than to be near him and to please him, is of itself an
+excellent prayer. "Do not exhaust yourself," he says, "in making efforts
+to speak to your dear Master, for you are speaking to Him by the sole
+fact that you remain there and contemplate Him."
+
+*"Remember that the graces and favors of prayer do not come from earth
+but from heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can acquire them,
+although, it is true, we must dispose ourselves for their reception
+diligently, yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to keep our hearts
+wide open and await the blessed dew from heaven. The following
+consideration should never be forgotten when we go to prayer, namely,
+that we draw near to God and place ourselves in His presence principally
+for two reasons. The first is to render to God the honor and the homage
+we owe Him, and this can be done without God speaking to us or we to Him,
+for the duty is fulfilled by acknowledging that He is our Creator and we
+are His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him, prostrate in spirit,
+awaiting His commands. The second reason is to speak to God and to listen
+to Him when He speaks to us by His inspirations and the interior
+movements of grace.... Now, one or other of these two advantages can
+never fail to be derived from prayer. If, then, we can speak to our Lord,
+let us do so in praise and supplication: if we are unable to speak, let
+us remain in his presence notwithstanding, offering him our silent
+homage; he will see us there, our patience will touch him and our silence
+will plead with him and win his favor. Another time, to our utter
+astonishment, he will take us by the hand, and converse with us, and make
+a hundred turns with us in his garden of prayer. And even should he never
+do this, still let us be content to know it is our duty to be in his
+retinue, and that it is a great favor and a greater honor for us that he
+suffers us in his presence.
+
+In this way we do not force ourselves to speak to God, for we know that
+merely to remain close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps more useful to
+us, though it may be less to our liking. Therefore when you draw near to
+our Lord speak to him if you can; if you cannot, stay there, let him see
+you, and do not be anxious about anything else.... Take courage, then,
+tell your Saviour you will not leave him even should he never grant you
+any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will remain before him until he
+has given you his blessing."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+6. The same Saint gives further valuable advice as follows: "Many persons
+fail to make a distinction between the presence of God in their souls and
+the consciousness of this adorable presence, between faith and the
+sensible feeling of faith. This shows a great want of discernment. When
+they do not realize God's presence dwelling within them, they suppose He
+has withdrawn himself through some fault of theirs. This is an ignorant
+and hurtful error. A man who endures martyrdom for love of God does not
+think actually and exclusively of God but much of his own sufferings; and
+yet the absence of this feeling of faith does not deprive him of the
+great merit due to his faith and the resolutions it caused him to make
+and to keep."
+
+7. Your vocal prayers should be few in number but said with great fervor.
+The strength derived from food does not depend upon the quantity taken
+but upon its being well digested. Far better one Our Father or one Psalm
+said with devout attention than entire rosaries and long offices recited
+hurriedly and with restless eagerness.
+
+8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers--those not of obligation--that
+God invites you to meditate, gently and promptly follow this divine
+impulse. You may be sure that in doing so you make an exchange most
+profitable to yourself and agreeable to God from whom the inspiration
+comes.
+
+9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful recollection and begin it
+without agitation or uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on
+the subject: "Some little time before you are going to pray, calm and
+compose your heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you begin
+without hope and already devoid of relish, you will find it difficult to
+regain an appetite.... The disquiet you experience in prayer, accompanied
+by great eagerness to discover some object that can fix and satisfy your
+thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent you finding what you seek.
+When a thing is searched for with too great eagerness, one may have his
+hands or his eyes almost upon it a hundred times and yet fail to perceive
+it. This vain and useless anxiety in regard to prayer can result in
+nothing but weariness of mind, and this in turn produces coldness and
+apathy in your soul."
+
+10. Be careful not to overburden yourself with too many prayers, either
+mental or vocal. As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness or
+distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible, and seek relief in some
+pleasant pastime, or conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
+This advice is given by St. Thomas and other learned Fathers of the
+Church and is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously, for
+lassitude of mind begets coldness and a kind of spiritual stupor.
+
+11. Never repeat a prayer, even should you have said it with many
+distractions. You cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties in which
+you may become entangled by the habit of repeating your prayers.
+Therefore I beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius' time there was a
+certain religious of the Society of Jesus who was a victim of this kind
+of scruple. The recital of the daily Office always kept him much longer
+than was necessary because he would repeat again and again and for hours
+at a time any passage that he suspected had not been said with sufficient
+attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct him by various means, but in
+vain. At length the thought occurred that one scruple might be cured by
+another. He therefore commanded the poor Jesuit, under pain of sin and in
+virtue of religious obedience, to close his breviary every day at the end
+of a specified time, this being just enough to allow him to read the
+Office through once and rather quickly. The first day the religious was
+obliged to stop before he had half finished. This caused him such intense
+regret that ere long the fear of not being able to say the entire Office
+made him contract the habit of finishing it within the allotted time.*
+Begin your prayer with the desire of being very recollected. This is all
+that is necessary. "A desire has the same value in the sight of God as a
+good work", says St. Gregory the Great, "when the accomplishment of it
+does not depend upon our will." During these involuntary distractions God
+withdraws the sensible feeling of His presence, but His love remains in
+the depths of our hearts. St. Theresa, in the midst of dryness and
+distractions, was wont to say: "If I am not praying I am at least doing
+penance." I should say: you are doing both the one and the other: you do
+penance by all that you are suffering, you pray by the desire and
+intention you have to do so.
+
+12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a point in your meditation even
+if you have had in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and feelings
+at variance with the words pronounced by your lips or with the sentiments
+you wished to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced to do it, even
+were these ideas and feelings injurious to God. Under such conditions, be
+careful not to give way to anxiety and agitation and do not try to make
+reparation for an imaginary offence. Continue your prayer in peace as if
+nothing had disturbed it, not taking the trouble to notice these dogs
+that come from the devil and that can bark around you while you pray in
+order to distract you, if may be, but that cannot bite you unless you let
+them. *"This temptation should be treated exactly the same as temptations
+of the flesh: do not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the children
+of Israel who made no attempt to break the bones of the paschal lamb but
+cast them into the fire. You need not answer the enemy, nor even pretend
+to hear what he says. Let the wretch clamor at the door as much as he
+wants to, it is not even necessary to call: Who is there? What you tell
+me is no doubt true, you say, but he annoys me and the uproar he makes
+prevents those within from hearing one another speak. That makes no
+difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself before God and remain at
+his feet. He will understand from your very attitude, although you utter
+no words, that you are his and that you crave his help. Above all,
+however, keep yourself well within and do not on any account open the
+door, either to see who it is, or to drive the importunate fellow away.
+Eventually he will tire of shouting and will leave you in peace."*[3] St.
+Augustine says that the devil is a formidable giant to those who fear
+him, but only a miserable dwarf to those who despise him.
+
+13. Should it happen that the whole time given to prayer be passed in
+rejecting temptations or in recalling your mind from its wanderings, and
+you do not succeed in giving birth to a single devout thought or
+sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority for saying that your prayer
+is nevertheless all the more meritorious from the fact of its being so
+unsatisfactory to you. It makes you more like to our divine Lord when he
+prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount Calvary. "Better to eat
+bread without sugar, than sugar without bread. We should seek the God of
+consolations, not the consolations of God: and in order to possess God in
+heaven, we must now suffer with him and for him."
+
+*"When your mind wanders or gives way to distractions, gently recall it
+and place it once more close to its Divine Master. If you should do
+nothing else but repeat this during the whole time of prayer, your hour
+would be very well spent and you would perform a spiritual exercise most
+acceptable to God."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding us to pray always our
+Saviour did not mean actual prayer, as that would be an impossibility.
+The desire to glorify God by all our actions suffices for the rigorous
+fulfilment of this precept, if this desire be habitual and permanent.
+"You pray often," says St. Augustine, "if you often have a desire to pay
+homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have this
+desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed."
+
+*"Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the whole
+Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts towards
+that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only happiness
+consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in itself a prayer;
+consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray always. Do not
+think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and to struggle much
+with one's self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God that his will may
+be done, to form some good desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for
+the riches he promises us, to sigh over our miseries and the danger we
+are in of displeasing him by violating His holy law. Now this requires
+neither science nor method nor reasoning; one can pray without any
+distinct thought; no head-work is necessary; only a moment of time and a
+loving effusion of the heart are needed; and even this moment may be
+simultaneously occupied with something else, for so great is God's
+condescension to our weakness that he permits us to divide it when
+necessary between him and creatures. Yes, during this moment you can
+continue what you were doing: it is sufficient to offer to God your most
+ordinary occupations, or to perform them with the general intention of
+glorifying him. This is the continual prayer required by St. Paul ...
+thought by many devout persons to be impracticable, but in reality very
+easy for those who know that the best of all prayers is to do everything
+with a pure intention, and frequently to renew the desire to perform all
+our actions for God and in accordance with his divine will."--F�nelon.*
+
+15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in
+order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a substitute
+for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for
+obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those
+who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work
+for the love of God, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul
+to Him by actual prayer.
+
+*"Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular
+calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to
+life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves damnation if
+he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of
+their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify
+whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost
+even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life."--St.
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _ejaculations_,--which are
+short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
+According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations can in case of necessity
+replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for
+the omission of ejaculations.
+
+*"Acquire the habit of making frequent ejaculations. They are sighs of
+love that dart upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor. It will
+greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your
+morning's meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the
+day. In sickness let pious ejaculations take the place of all other
+prayers."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or
+whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic
+pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time
+to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. Ejaculations have a like
+effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.
+
+18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long
+prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
+Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them,
+and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed
+continually.
+
+19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the
+profitable and easy practice of making frequent ejaculations. It is far
+preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too
+numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and
+enlighten the soul.
+
+20. St. Theresa's opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable
+position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay
+the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of God. Do not then
+fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the
+important thing is that the soul should humble itself before God in
+sentiments of respect, confidence and love.
+
+Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+                                PENANCE.
+
+
+  A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
+  O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)
+
+I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing
+penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds--either corporal or
+spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing
+penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful
+mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving,
+can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment
+of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in
+accordance with the spirit of the laws of God and of his Church, which
+prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the
+accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.
+
+2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in
+prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works,
+such, too, as are the more agreeable to God from their being so
+distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great
+classes, active and passive. The characteristic of the active virtues is
+to do good, of the passive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second
+class are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues
+nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or
+satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is
+less to be feared in the practice of the passive virtues, especially when
+the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the
+hand of God.
+
+3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from
+the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in
+order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable
+to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this
+snare.
+
+4. "I charge you," says St. Francis de Sales, "to preserve your health
+carefully, for God exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as
+to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the
+requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can
+always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
+regain it." Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain
+its strength and health.
+
+5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference
+held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of
+Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful,
+as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of
+this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and
+mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill
+health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection,
+judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound
+with fetters.
+
+6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look
+upon as a good rule in this matter: "The body is a poor invalid confided
+to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such
+assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual
+ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful
+remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and
+prudence." He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his
+Creator.
+
+7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain
+maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small
+consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in
+order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to
+secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is
+not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily
+any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. "To
+kill one's self with a single blow," says St. Jerome, "or to kill one's
+self little by little--I make but slight distinction between these two
+crimes." Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us
+in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged
+to us absolutely.
+
+8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances
+deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts
+that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as
+holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. "If
+we had to copy the saints in everything they did," says St. Frances de
+Chantal, "it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like
+St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to
+live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like
+St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as
+St. Aloysius did." Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is
+extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.
+
+*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome
+with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.
+Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius,
+Father Rozaven said: "Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not
+because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the
+contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and
+permissible for him to do them." In truth every act that exceeds human
+strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special
+inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this
+divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general
+rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who
+suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and
+Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which
+forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in
+sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who
+might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such
+contradictory words.--Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to
+a Devout Life_.*
+
+
+
+
+                                   V.
+                              CONFESSION.
+
+
+  I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and
+  thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.)
+
+  But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
+  the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)
+
+  Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall
+  retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)
+
+1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore
+approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures
+us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour
+is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for
+exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those
+who confess more frequently.
+
+2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or
+because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by
+the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: "You
+must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for
+confession, for it is incredible that any one who often examines her
+conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are
+important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every
+minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these
+to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you
+remark them." And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of
+secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an
+artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind.
+
+*"You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your
+superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you
+and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must
+learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for
+ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That
+your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one
+time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and
+presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar
+insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone and
+will be subject to as long as we live.... It is needless to accuse
+yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm
+around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of
+your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they
+are only inconveniences, annoyances."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the
+less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover,
+you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the
+fervor of the heart.
+
+4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse
+involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
+following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a
+strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always
+uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have
+given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it except
+it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but
+to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circumstances. For if
+you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two
+days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not
+your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed
+some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this
+doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in
+confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it,
+as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this
+silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to
+which you can apply no remedy."
+
+5. "Omit from your confessions"--we again quote the same Saint--"those
+superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit:
+I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor;
+I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the
+Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like
+nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking
+thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor
+the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as
+well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they
+making a confession."
+
+6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what
+the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to confess our
+venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct
+them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them."
+
+7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard--this
+is a point of cardinal importance--against giving access to any fear
+about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of
+conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are
+suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into a
+sacrament of consolation and love.
+
+*"After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we
+have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace
+near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for
+His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we
+may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after
+that we need think no more about it."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins--it is not essential to be
+troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is
+an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere
+repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become
+yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for
+success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we fall
+again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and
+the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to
+Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of
+sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long
+continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our
+trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation.
+
+*God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and
+without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for
+instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was
+changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never
+again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of
+the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of their evil
+inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for
+their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call,
+was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably
+by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.
+
+"Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has
+suddenly become mistress.[4] A soul that after a long slavery to its
+passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great
+danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be
+gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of
+labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every
+one, but first of all with yourself."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the
+persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains
+united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend
+him--and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is
+to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects
+if it is God's will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them
+relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God than if the practice of
+virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual
+gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on
+with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for
+when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be
+accompanied by vexation and impatience.
+
+"Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales,
+"nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love
+nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes
+forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it
+that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised
+at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is
+because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute
+and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have
+tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled;
+whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at
+seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect."
+
+"We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God
+requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with
+perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be
+worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!--there is a
+rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we
+will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by
+calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and
+by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy
+and sloth."*
+
+9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our
+past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears,
+sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition
+can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices
+for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness
+and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be
+disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.
+
+10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for
+these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression
+of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to God
+that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the
+assistance of His grace you will never offend Him more--that is
+contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a
+calm.
+
+11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of a
+moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and
+another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of
+obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most
+contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a
+single word: _Peccavi_--I have sinned, and by that one word he was
+justified.
+
+*"You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer
+that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is
+needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and
+of sorrow for having offended Him."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in
+feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: "The ability to wish is a
+great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact
+that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but
+neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the
+fire exists." The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from
+self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
+sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in our
+sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of good.
+
+13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is in
+order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice to
+reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore with
+humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward. The
+greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition nor
+love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their will
+followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.
+
+14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions are
+defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very
+essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are the
+offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for certain
+venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,--these
+should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at the very root
+and not allow ourselves any respite until they are utterly exterminated.
+But those relapses that proceed from inadvertence, from surprise
+notwithstanding constant vigilance, from the infirmity and frailty of our
+nature, to these we shall remain partially subject until our last breath.
+"It will be doing very well," says Saint Francis de Sales, "if we get
+free of certain faults a quarter of an hour before our death." And
+elsewhere: "We are obliged not only to bear with the failings of our
+neighbor, but likewise with our own and to be patient at the sight of our
+imperfections." We must try to correct ourselves, but we should do it
+tranquilly and without anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper
+time.
+
+*"You complain that you still have many faults and failings
+notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I
+assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst
+we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
+with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we carry
+something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to have
+patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the numerous
+bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to our
+spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere: look only
+at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of goodness, nor
+yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the object of God's
+goodness and mercy."--St. Francis de Sales. (After the examination of
+conscience read the _Following of Christ_, B. III., Chap. XX.)*
+
+*F�nelon speaks in the same tone: "You should never be surprised or
+discouraged at your faults. You must bear with them patiently yet without
+flattering yourself or sparing correction. Treat yourself as you would
+another. As soon as you find you have committed a fault make an interior
+act of self-condemnation, turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell
+your fault with simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well
+as though it were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to
+make a fresh start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred
+Heart of Jesus than this humble and patient courage. We should not be
+cast down if we have many temptations and even commit numerous faults.
+'Virtue,' says the Apostle, 'is made perfect in infirmity.'[5] Spiritual
+progress is effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual
+consolations, than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse
+to God."*
+
+15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all the
+sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most remorse.
+Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or charity, or
+temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there being lack of
+sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.
+
+16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in either
+your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained their
+circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets forth the
+following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter of the will
+of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in confession, and not
+material integrity. The former consists in the confession of all the sins
+we can remember after a sufficient examination, the duration of which
+should be regulated by the actual state of the conscience. Material
+integrity would require a rigorously complete accusation of all the sins
+we have committed with their number and circumstances, without the
+slightest omission. Now sacramental integrity may be reasonably exacted
+since it exceeds no one's ability; whilst material integrity, on the
+contrary, could not be exacted without the sacrament becoming an
+impossibility; for, no matter how carefully we make our examination of
+conscience, some sin, or some detail in regard to number or circumstance,
+will always escape us. In a word, all that the Church demands of the
+faithful is a sincere and humble avowal of every sin that can be brought
+to mind after a suitable examen: for the rest, she intends good will to
+supply for any defect of memory.
+
+*Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in order
+to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you often
+fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again without
+perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said that the
+just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but simply that he
+falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again without noticing
+particularly that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety about this, but
+frankly and humbly confess whatever you remember, and commit the rest to
+the tender mercies of him who puts his hand under those who fall without
+malice that they may not be bruised, and raises them up again so gently
+and swiftly that they scarcely realize they had fallen.--St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly satisfied
+all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore banish whatever
+doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are nothing but
+temptations.
+
+18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements owing
+to not having been particular enough about your examination of
+conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent
+interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your part.
+And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact that he
+understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state of your
+soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.
+
+19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish continually
+to make their general confessions over again, either through fear of
+incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and how blameworthy the
+weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no opposition to their
+doing so! If such fears were to be listened to, every one would be
+obliged to pass his entire life in making and repeating general
+confessions, for they would incessantly spring up afresh and even the
+greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A sacrament of consolation
+and love would thus be transformed into a perfect torture for the
+soul--an heretical perversion anathematized by the Council of Trent.
+
+*"I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere,
+good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more thoroughly
+satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I speak very
+plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought to have been
+told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in which case,
+if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the time, you would
+undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But if it were only a
+venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness or some
+defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my soul's peril, I assure you
+there is no obligation to repeat your confession. It will be quite
+sufficient to mention the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will
+answer for this."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that when
+a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright intention
+and with a desire to change one's life, the penitent should remain in
+peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any pretext
+whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory things that
+should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of their soul by a
+too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so well
+expresses it: _the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise_.
+
+21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of the
+saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes excessive.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+                            HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+  Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
+  shall not have life in you. (St. John, c. vi., v. 54.)
+
+  And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
+  come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make
+  excuse. (St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.)
+
+  And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way. (St.
+  Mark, c. viii., v. 3.)
+
+  My heart is withered; because I forgot to eat my bread. (Ps. ci.)
+
+1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious of all means to unite us to
+God. "He that eateth my flesh," said our divine Saviour, "abideth in Me
+and I in him."[6]
+
+2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist _the love of loves_. Hence you
+should desire to receive it frequently in order to be filled with this
+divine love.
+
+3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two classes of persons who should
+often receive holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves more
+closely to the Source of all perfection, and the imperfect to labor to
+attain perfection; the strong that they may not become weak, the weak
+that they may become strong; the sick that they may be cured, and those
+in health that they may be preserved from sickness. You tell me that your
+imperfections, your weakness, your littleness make you unworthy to
+receive communion frequently; and I assure you it is precisely because of
+these that you ought to receive it frequently in order that He who
+possesses all things may give you whatever is wanting to you.
+
+*The following words on this subject will not perhaps be considered by
+others as giving much additional value to the authority of the saintly
+Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however, in ours, because they are from the
+lips of a holy religious whose memory will always be dear to us----from a
+man whose last moments were the occasion of the greatest edification it
+has ever pleased God to accord us. The Rev. Father Margottet, a Jesuit,
+died at Nice, April 1st, 1835, shortly after his return from Portugal
+where he had suffered a most cruel captivity with the courage that faith
+alone can inspire. During the last months of his life he took great
+pleasure in conversing with a certain young man who visited him regularly
+to be instructed and edified by his pious discourse. One day this young
+man confided to him the confusion he felt in availing himself of his
+director's permission to receive holy Communion several times a week.
+This was due especially to the thought that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice
+of the Society of Jesus, went to Communion on Sundays only. "Come, come,
+my dear sir," laughingly replied the good Father, "continue your frequent
+Communions--you need them much more than St. Aloysius did." It is indeed
+an error to consider holy Communion a reward of virtue, and, in a
+measure, a guage of perfection, whereas it is above all a means to attain
+perfection, and the one pre-existing virtue required in order to employ
+this means is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord did not say:
+_Venite ad me qui perfecti estis_--_Come to Me all ye who are perfect_:
+He said: _Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati estis_[7]--_Come to me
+all ye who labor and are burdened_. (Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part
+II., of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_; and Chapters X. and XVI.
+Book IV. of _The Imitation_.)
+
+The spirit of the Church has at all times been the same in regard to this
+important subject. F�nelon says in his letter on frequent Communion that
+St. Chrysostom admits of no medium between the state of those who are in
+mortal sin and that of the faithful who are in a state of grace and
+communicate every day. In vain certain Christians, believing themselves
+purified and just, do no penance as sinners and nevertheless abstain from
+Communion, because, they say, they are not perfect enough to receive it.
+This intermediate state is not only most dangerous for one who wilfully
+remains in it, but is also injurious to the Blessed Sacrament. Far from
+doing honor to the Holy Eucharist by depriving ourselves of it, we offend
+our divine Lord when we decline to partake of the Banquet to which He
+invites us. In a word, according to this early Father of the Church, we
+ought either to communicate with those who are in a state of grace, or to
+do penance that we may be united to them as soon as possible.
+
+We will quote the Saint's own words: "Many of the faithful are weak and
+languishing, many among them sleep. And how, you say, does this happen
+since we receive the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That is precisely
+the cause of all the trouble! For you imagine that merit consists not so
+much in purity of conscience as in the length of time intervening between
+your Communions. You consider no higher mark of respect and honor can be
+paid to this Sacrament than not to approach the Holy Table often....
+Temerity does not consist in approaching the Altar frequently, but in
+approaching it unworthily were this but once in an entire life time....
+Why then regulate the number of Communions by the law of time, instead of
+by purity of conscience, which should alone indicate how many times to
+receive? This divine Mystery is nothing more at Easter than at all other
+seasons during which it is celebrated continually. It is ever the same,
+that is to say, ever the same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter continues
+throughout the year. You who are initiated will understand perfectly what
+I say. Be it Saturday, or Sunday, or the feasts of the martyrs, it is
+always the same Victim, the same Sacrifice." "It was not the will of our
+divine Lord that His Sacrifice should be restricted by the observance of
+time."
+
+Other Fathers of the Church speak in the same way of Holy Communion:
+
+"If it is daily bread," says Saint Ambrose, "why do you partake of it but
+once a year?... Receive it every day in order that every day you may
+benefit by it. Live in such a manner that you may deserve to receive it
+every day, for he who does not deserve to receive it every day will not
+deserve to receive it at the end of the year.... Do you not know that
+every time the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death, resurrection and
+ascension of our Lord are renewed to the atonement of sin? And yet you
+will not partake daily of this Bread of Life! When one has received a
+wound does he not seek a remedy? Sin which holds us captive is our wound:
+our remedy is in this ever adorable Sacrament."
+
+In order that it may be plainly proved that the faithful of the present
+day have no reason to act differently in this respect from those of the
+primitive Church, let us see how this ancient discipline has been
+confirmed in later times by the Council of Trent:
+
+"Christians should believe in this Sacrament and reverence it with such a
+firm faith, with so much fervor and piety, that they may often receive
+this Super-substantial Bread; that it may be, in truth, the life of their
+soul and the perpetual health of their spirit, and that the strength they
+derive therefrom may enable them to pass from the temptations of this
+earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly fatherland.... The
+Council would have the faithful receive Communion each time they assist
+at Mass, not only spiritually, but sacramentally, that they may derive
+more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice."*
+
+4. The evening before your Communion devote some little time to
+recollection in order to ponder the inestimable gift that God is about to
+bestow upon you, and endeavor also to excite in your soul the desire and
+the hope of finding therein your delight.
+
+5. Do not conclude that you derive no benefit from Holy Communion because
+you find no perceptible increase in your virtues. Consider that it at
+least serves to keep you in a state of grace. You give nourishment to
+your body every day but you do not pretend to say that it daily gains in
+strength. Does food appear useless to you on that account? Certainly not;
+for, though it fail to augment strength, it preserves it by repairing the
+constant waste. Now, this is precisely the case with the divine Food of
+our souls.
+
+*Observe, moreover, that there is no real increase in virtue without a
+corresponding growth in humility. Consequently the more virtuous you are
+the less so you will esteem yourself; the worthier you are to approach
+your God, the more profoundly will you feel your unworthiness. For man,
+no matter to what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be otherwise than
+weak and sinful here below, and he realizes his baseness more and more
+distinctly in proportion to his advancement in grace and in light.
+
+F�nelon speaks as follows on the same subject: "Hitherto you lacked the
+light to discover in your soul many movements of our malicious and
+depraved nature, which now begin to reveal themselves to you. In
+proportion as light increases we find ourselves more corrupt than we
+supposed: but we should be neither surprised nor discouraged, for it is
+not that we are in reality worse than we were,--on the contrary we are
+better,--but because whilst our sinfulness decreases the light which
+shows it to us increases."*
+
+6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared for Holy Communion and abuse the
+Sacrament because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent, and devoid
+of feeling. This is a trial sent or permitted by God to test your faith
+and to advance you in merit. All that has been said in regard to dryness
+in prayer might be repeated here. Try to have an abiding desire to feel
+for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent transports of love as were ever
+experienced by the saints. A desire is equivalent before God to the thing
+desired, as I have already quoted for you from Saint Gregory the Great;
+therefore you should be satisfied with this when you can attain nothing
+higher. Everything over and above this is grace, not merit.
+
+7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion often because you are not
+worthy, then you must never receive it, for you will never be worthy.
+What creature could be worthy to receive a God? Nay more, to follow out
+this principle We should have to abandon the practice of visiting
+churches and of speaking to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
+human being is unfit to enter the House of the Lord or to converse with
+Him.
+
+*"How many scrupulous Christians do we not see languishing for want of
+this divine Food! They consume themselves with subtle speculations and
+sterile efforts, they fear, they tremble, they doubt, and they vainly
+seek for a certainty that cannot be found in this life. Sweetness,
+unction, are not for them. They wish to live for God without living by
+him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they are close to the Fountain of
+Living Water and yet allow themselves to die of thirst. They desire to
+fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not dare to nourish themselves interiorly:
+they wish to carry the burden of the law without imbibing its spirit and
+its consolation from prayer and frequent Communion!"--F�nelon.*
+
+8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore, do not confine yourself to a
+consideration of your own unworthiness, but temper this with the thought
+of God's mercy. The guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,--a figure of
+the Holy Eucharist,--were not the great and the rich, but the poor, the
+blind, the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial garment, that is to
+say, whosoever is in a state of grace, is welcome to this banquet.
+
+9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we cannot go to Holy Communion
+without giving annoyance to others, or without failing against duties of
+charity, justice or order, we should be satisfied with spiritual
+Communion. "Believe me," he adds, "this mortification, this deprivation,
+will be extremely pleasing to God and will advance you greatly in His
+love. One must sometimes take a step backward in order to leap the
+better." It was not by frequent Communion that the holy anchorites
+sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance of the duties of their
+calling. Saint Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion but twice during
+his long, penitential life, nevertheless he was precious in the sight of
+God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis de Sales gives us this
+admirable advice: "In proportion as you are hindered from doing the good
+you desire, do all the more ardently the good that you do not desire. You
+do not like to make such or such an act of resignation, you would prefer
+to make some other; but offer the one you do not like, for it will be of
+far greater value." Saint John the Baptist was more intimately united in
+spirit with our Lord than even the Apostles themselves: yet he never
+became one of His followers owing to the fact that his vocation required
+this sacrifice on his part and called him elsewhere. This is the greatest
+act of spiritual mortification recorded in the lives of the saints.
+
+*"I have often admired the extreme resignation of Saint John the Baptist,
+who remained so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord, without going
+to see, hear and follow Him. And after baptizing Jesus, how could he have
+allowed Him to depart without uniting himself to Him with his bodily
+presence, as he was already so united to Him by the ties of affection!
+Ah! the divine Precursor knew that in his case the Master was best served
+by deprivation of His actual presence. Well, my dear daughter, it will be
+the same with you in regard to Holy Communion. I mean that for the
+present God will be pleased if in accordance to the wish of the superiors
+whom He has placed over you, you endure the privation of His actual
+presence. It will be a great consolation to me to know that this advice
+does not disquiet your heart. Rest assured that this resignation, this
+renunciation will be exceedingly beneficial to you."--St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy Eucharist because you happen to
+be beset by temptations; this would be to capitulate to your enemy
+without offering any resistance. The more combats you have to sustain,
+the greater the necessity of providing yourself with the means of
+defence, and these are to be found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go
+courageously then and renew your strength with the Food of the strong and
+victory shall be yours.
+
+12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy Table because such and such a
+person does so: an imitation common for the most part to women's vanity
+and jealousy, says Saint Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
+divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: love alone
+should lead us to receive it.
+
+13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by
+all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that is
+union with God, but the same means to attain that object are not proper
+for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a spiritual
+director that each person can know what is suitable for him, as that
+which would be too little for one might be too much for another.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VII.
+                         SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.
+
+
+  The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark,
+  c. II., v: 27.)
+
+1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but there
+are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us
+a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays.
+
+2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The ordinary
+means of fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of charity, the
+Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, sermons, religious
+instructions, and spiritual reading.
+
+3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying the
+body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things is
+wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this
+subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.
+
+4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful
+diversion, all of which can be referred to God, serve also for the
+sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to
+please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are
+required of man by his bodily needs.
+
+*"How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again
+it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their
+interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to the
+will of God. By no means regard the nature of the things you do, but
+rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in
+themselves, from the fact that God wishes them, that they are in the
+order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word,
+if they are pleasing to God, and recognized as being so, to whom should
+they be displeasing?"--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and
+anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon
+devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act
+of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance of
+the sabbath, following the superstitious custom of the Pharisees, instead
+of peacefully sanctifying the Lord's day with that sweet and holy liberty
+of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel. Too much
+dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of which it is
+equally necessary to avoid.
+
+6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to attend
+to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the impossibility
+of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace these with pious
+ejaculations, which, as I have already said, can in case of necessity
+supply for the omission of all other prayers.
+
+7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at a low Mass suffices strictly
+speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even this may
+be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind
+the house, or to take care of young children; for these being works of
+justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when performed with a
+pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers, equal and even
+surpass in value all exterior practices of devotion.
+
+I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can
+sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.
+
+*"Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing
+them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so
+honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a
+gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of God, where
+those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for
+although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of God and in
+fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is fixed
+by this divine will and not by their exterior character. Therefore he who
+truly loves God's will in the accomplishment of his duties, does not
+allow his affections to become engaged in any of his spiritual exercises;
+and so, if sickness or accident interfere with them he experiences no
+regret. I do not say indeed that he does not love his devotions, but that
+he is not attached to them."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+*"If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and
+submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would
+forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and that
+this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another occasion:
+the less we live according to our own liking, and the less option we have
+in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will there be in our
+devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order to
+oblige others for love of Him."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+
+
+
+                                 VIII.
+                           SPIRITUAL READING.
+
+
+  Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach
+  him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)
+
+  All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
+  correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)
+
+1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful,
+therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with the best
+nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar especially with the
+works of Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a spiritual
+director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as coming from
+the mouth of God.
+
+3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural and
+marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by such
+reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some to
+aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint
+Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the
+Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces, they
+neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real obligations.
+Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be absorbed in those
+wonderful characteristics of the saints which we should be content to
+admire; give preference rather to their simple and interior virtues, for
+these alone are imitable for us.
+
+*"We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that
+God would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of
+Sienna's, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor
+hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
+Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine, for
+we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness
+consists in love of God, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings
+that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility. The
+desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather
+to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of self-renunciation
+and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of others. Thus we
+shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more admirable for us
+than ecstacies."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of
+these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly
+define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become
+extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely exterior
+practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to reform the
+heart.
+
+5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the
+ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books have
+furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy
+religion and to turn it into ridicule.
+
+6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: "In
+order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great
+piety,--great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best
+motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his
+imagination with devout extravagances." An author should be equally well
+versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will err
+either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a well
+known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: "If a man be good and
+holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us."
+It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give none but true
+and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than good. Doctrines
+that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and invite the
+criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the railleries
+of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.
+
+7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain many
+inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care, therefore, in
+the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure your soul instead
+of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult your director on the
+subject.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                             INTERIOR LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IX.
+                                 HOPE.
+
+
+  Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
+  Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)
+
+  Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in
+  Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)
+
+1. "Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord," says the Holy Spirit. The
+weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in regard to
+the Christian virtue of hope.
+
+2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain
+nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for all
+things will obtain all things.
+
+3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world.
+We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our own
+wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of this
+divine attribute of mercy.
+
+4. "What do you fear?" says Saint Thomas of Villanova: "this Judge whose
+condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the Cross
+in order not to condemn you."
+
+5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us. When
+Saint Peter said to his divine Master: "_Depart from me, O Lord, for I am
+a sinful man,_" what did our Saviour reply? "_Noli timere,_--fear
+not."[8] Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always
+find hope and love preferred to fear.
+
+6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by Saint
+Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to pardon,
+nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, God would not
+have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine essence. This
+was our Lord's reason for saying that He came into the world not for the
+just but for sinners.[9]
+
+7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to God, but He does not on their
+account cease to cherish our souls.
+
+*It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as
+are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an
+upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A
+perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us
+from God and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject to
+it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with love the
+poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial
+garment,--that is to say, all those whom a desire to please God maintains
+in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and frailty:
+but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares to appear
+there without this garment. This distinction, found everywhere throughout
+the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us with a tender confidence
+when we fall, without diminishing our horror for deliberate sins.*
+
+A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of her
+child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her
+compassion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and suffering
+and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and solicitude for
+him.
+
+8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows
+how to compassionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to
+become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]
+
+9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you
+in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it is much safer
+there than if in your own keeping.
+
+10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the opinion of Saint Francis de
+Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.
+
+11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin
+of despair, retorted: "I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as
+you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited
+it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,--but
+for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall
+save my soul."
+
+12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise
+your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.
+God loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa assures us, provided they
+mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The
+devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations
+and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him
+to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed
+in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.
+
+To aspire to the noblest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance
+to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. XXX.)
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+                          THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
+
+
+  Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)
+
+  I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come
+  to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)
+
+1. The constant remembrance of God's presence is a means of perfection
+that Almighty God Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this
+practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of
+mind. The God of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be
+done lovingly and peacefully.
+
+2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and uninterruptedly
+of God. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at every
+moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities, our imagination.
+We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to lead before the
+proper time an existence similar to that of the angels and saints.
+
+3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep yourself
+in the presence of God, because you have not thought of Him. This is a
+mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought, perform all your
+actions for love of God and in His presence, by virtue of the intention
+you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than to think. Though
+the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he is preparing the
+medicine that is to restore him to health, nevertheless it is for him he
+is working, and he is more useful to his patient in this way than if he
+contented himself with merely thinking of him. In like manner when you
+fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you eat or walk, devote
+yourself to study or to manual labor, though it be without definitely
+thinking of God, you are acting for Him, and this ought to suffice to set
+your mind at rest in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does
+not say that we must eat, drink and labor with an actual remembrance of
+God's presence, but with the habitual intention of glorifying Him and
+doing His holy will. We fulfil this condition by making an offering each
+morning to God of all the actions of the day and renewing the act
+interiorly whenever we can remember to do so.
+
+4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have
+already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious aspirations
+naturally and without effort, and let them for the most part be
+expressive of confidence and love.
+
+5. Should it happen that a considerable space of time elapses without
+your having thought distinctly of God or raised your heart to Him by any
+loving ejaculation, do not allow this omission to worry you. The servant
+has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he has done
+his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the while.
+Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for God than to
+think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it results in
+action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the good intention
+which preceded it.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XI.
+                               HUMILITY.
+
+
+  If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)
+
+  For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive
+  me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)
+
+1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently
+confused with servility or littleness.
+
+2. To attribute to God what is God's, that is to say everything that is
+good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is
+evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.
+
+*Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to
+suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our
+faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by pride,
+that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The first man,
+a creature owing his existence directly to God, was bound to dedicate it
+entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as for all the
+other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple justice. The day
+whereon he asserted a desire to be independent, he caused an utter
+derangement in the relations of the creature with his Creator. Pride,
+that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the
+faculties received from God--pride, introduced into the soul of the first
+man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma
+to the souls of all his descendants, and has become forevermore a part of
+their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever springing up afresh, to
+be independent, to be something of ourselves, to desire for ourselves
+esteem, affection and honor, despite the precepts of the divine law, the
+claims of justice and the warnings of reason; and thus it is that the
+whole spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict against this
+vicious propensity. Divine grace though sustaining us in the combat never
+gives us a complete victory, for the struggle must endure until
+death,--the closing chastisement of our original degradation and the only
+one that can obliterate the last traces thereof. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XIII.--XXII.)*
+
+3. As God drew from nothingness everything that exists, in like manner
+does He wish to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection upon the
+knowledge of our nothingness. Saint Bonaventure used to say: _Provided
+God be all, what matters it that I am nothing!_
+
+4. When a Christian who is truly humble commits a fault he repents but is
+not disquieted, because he is not surprised that what is naught but
+misery, weakness and corruption, should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
+He thanks God on the contrary that his fall has not been more serious.
+Thus Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found she had been guilty of
+some imperfection, would calmly exclaim: _Another weed from my garden!_
+This peaceful contemplation of our sinfulness was considered very
+important by Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: "Let us learn to
+bear with our imperfections if we wish to attain perfection, for this
+practice nourishes the virtue of humility."
+
+5. Some persons have the erroneous idea that in order to be humble they
+must not recognize in themselves any virtue or talent whatsoever. The
+reverse is the case according to Saint Thomas, for he says it is
+necessary to realize the gifts we have received that we may return thanks
+for them to Him from whom we hold them. To ignore them is to fail in
+gratitude towards God, and to neglect the object for which He gave them
+to us. All that we have to do is to avoid the folly of taking glory to
+ourselves because of them. Mules, asses and donkeys may be laden with
+gold and perfumes and yet be none the less dull and stupid animals. The
+graces we have received, far from giving us any personal claims, only
+serve to increase our debt to Him who is their source and their donor.
+
+6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us than censure. There is nothing
+sinful in this preference, for it springs from an instinct of our human
+nature of which we cannot entirely divest ourselves. Only the praise must
+be always referred to Him to whom it is due, that is to say, to God; for
+they are His gifts that are praised in us as we are but their bearers and
+custodians and shall one day have to render Him an account for them in
+accordance with their value.
+
+7. The soul that is most humble will also have the greatest courage and
+the most generous confidence in God; the more it distrusts itself, the
+more it will trust in Him on whom it relies for all its strength, saying
+with Saint Paul: _I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me_.[11]
+Saint Thomas clearly proves that true Christian humility, far from
+debasing the soul, is the principle of everything that is really noble
+and generous. He who refuses the work to which God calls him because of
+the honor and �clat that accompany it, is not humble but mistrustful and
+pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience light to show us with certainty
+that to which we are called and to preserve us from the illusions of
+self-love and of our natural inclinations.
+
+*"We should be actuated by a generous and noble humility, a humility that
+does nothing in order to be praised and omits nothing that ought to be
+done through fear of being praised."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is even good and sometimes necessary to make known the gifts we
+have received from God and the good works of which divine grace has made
+us the instruments, when this manifestation can conduce to the glory of
+His name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification of the faithful.
+It was for this threefold object that Saint Paul spoke of his apostolic
+labors and supernatural revelations.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+                              RESIGNATION.
+
+
+  Yea, Father: because so it has pleased Thee. (St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.)
+
+  O my Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.
+  Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (St. Matthew, c. XXVI.,
+  v. 39.)
+
+1. We should recognize and adore the will of God in everything that
+happens to us. The malice of men, nay of the devil himself, can cause
+nothing to befall us except what is permitted by God. Our divine Lord has
+declared that not a hair of our heads can fall unless by the will of our
+Heavenly Father.[12]
+
+2. Therefore in every condition painful to nature, whether you are
+afflicted by sickness, assailed by temptations, or tortured by the
+injustice of men, consider the divine will and say to God with a loving
+and submissive heart: _Fiat voluntas tua_--Thy will be done: O my
+Saviour, do with me what Thou willest, as Thou willest, and when Thou
+willest.
+
+3. By this means we render supportable the severest pain and the most
+trying circumstances. "Do you not feel the infinite sweetness contained
+in that one sentence, _the will of God?_" asks Saint Mary Magdalen de
+Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses, that drew from the water all
+its bitterness, it sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.
+
+4. Without this practice, so comformable to faith, and without the light
+and strength that result from it, the pains and afflictions of life would
+become unbearable. This is what Saint Philip de Neri meant when he said:
+It rests with man to place himself even in this life either in heaven or
+in hell: he who suffers tribulations with patience enjoys celestial peace
+in advance; he who does not do so has a foretaste of the torments of
+hell.
+
+5. Not only is it God who sends or permits our troubles, but He does so
+for the good of our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do not, then,
+make a matter of complaint that which should be a motive for gratitude.
+
+6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the cross is the royal door to the
+temple of sanctity, and the only one by which we can enter it. One moment
+spent upon the cross is therefore more conducive to our spiritual
+advancement than the anticipated enjoyment of all the delights of heaven.
+The happiness of those who have reached their destination consists in the
+possession of God: to suffer for the love of Him is the only true
+happiness which those still on the way can expect to attain. Our Lord
+declared that those who mourn during this exile are _blessed_, for they
+shall be consoled eternally in their celestial fatherland.[13]
+
+7. Notice that I say, _to suffer for the love of God_, for, as Saint
+Augustine remarks, no person can love suffering in itself. That is
+contrary to nature, and moreover, there would no longer be any suffering
+if we could accept it with natural relish. But a resigned soul loves to
+suffer, that is she loves the virtue of patience and ardently desires the
+merits that result from the practice of it. A calm and submissive longing
+to be delivered from our cross if such be the will of God, is not
+inconsistent with the most perfect resignation. This desire is a natural
+instinct which supernatural grace regulates, moderates, and teaches us to
+control, but which it never entirely destroys. Our divine Saviour
+Himself, to show that He was truly man, was pleased to feel it as we do,
+and prayed that the chalice of His Passion might be spared Him. Hence you
+are not required to be stolidly indifferent or to arm yourself with the
+stern insensibility of the Stoics; that would not be either resignation,
+or humility, or any virtue whatsoever. The essential thing is to suffer
+with Christian patience and generous resignation everything that is
+naturally displeasing to us. This is what both reason and faith
+prescribe.
+
+*The Redeemer of the World seems to wish to show us in His Agony the
+degree of perfection which the weakness of human nature can attain amidst
+the anguish of sorrow. In the inferior portion of the soul where the
+faculty of feeling resides, instinctive repugnance to suffering, humble
+prayer for relief if it please God to accord it; and in the superior
+portion of the soul where the will resides, entire resignation if this
+consolation be denied. A desire for more than this, unless called to it
+by a special grace, would be foolish pride, as we should thus attempt to
+change the conditions of our nature, whereas our duty is to accept them
+in order to combat them and to suffer in so doing. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XVIII-XIX.)
+
+In the following terms Saint Francis de Sales proposes to us this same
+example of our Saviour's resignation during His agony: "Consider the
+great dereliction our Divine Master suffered in the Garden of Olives. See
+how this beloved Son, having asked for consolation from His loving Father
+and knowing that it was not His will to grant it, thinks no more about
+it, no longer craves or looks for it, but, as though He had never sought
+it, valiantly and courageously completes the work of our redemption. Let
+it be the same with you. If your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny you the
+consolation you have prayed for, dismiss it from your mind and animate
+your courage to fulfil your work upon the cross as if you were never to
+descend from it nor should ever again see the atmosphere of your life
+pure and serene." (Read _The Imitation_. B. III., Chapters XI and XV.)
+
+The same Saint also gives us some sublime lessons in resignation applied
+to the trials and temptations that beset the spiritual life. He draws
+them from this great and simple thought that serves as foundation for the
+Exercises of Saint Ignatius, namely, that salvation being the sole object
+of our existence, and all the attendant circumstances of life but means
+for attaining it, nothing has any absolute value; and that the only way
+of forming a true estimate of things is to consider in how far they are
+calculated to advance or retard the end in view. Accordingly, what
+difference does it make if we attain this end by riches or poverty,
+health or sickness, spiritual consolation or aridity, by the esteem or
+contempt of our fellow-men? So say faith and reason; but human nature
+revolts against this indifference, as it is well it should, else how
+could we acquire merit? Hence there is a conflict on this point between
+the flesh and the spirit, and it is this conflict that for a Christian is
+called life. (On this subject read _The Imitation_, B. II., Ch. XI.; and
+B. III., Ch. XVIII., XIX., XXXVII., XLIX., L. and the prayer at the end
+of Ch. XXVII.)
+
+"Would to God," he says elsewhere, speaking on the same subject, "that we
+did not concern ourselves so much about the road whereon we journey, but
+rather would keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon that blessed
+country whither He is conducting us. What should it matter to us if it be
+through deserts or pleasant fields that we walk, provided God be with us
+and we be advancing towards heaven?... In short, for the honor of God,
+acquiesce perfectly in his divine will, and do not suppose that you can
+serve him better in any other way; for no one ever serves him well who
+does not serve him as he wishes. Now he wishes that you serve him without
+relish, without feeling, nay, with repugnance and perturbation of spirit.
+This service does not afford you any satisfaction, it is true, but it
+pleases him; it is not to your taste, but it is to his.... Mortify
+yourself then cheerfully, and in proportion as you are prevented from
+doing the good you desire, do all the more ardently that which you do not
+desire. You do not wish to be resigned in this case, but you will be so
+in some other: resignation in the first instance will be of much greater
+value to you.... In fine, let us be what God wishes, since we are
+entirely devoted to him, and would not wish to be anything contrary to
+his will; for were we the most exalted creatures under heaven, of what
+use would it be to us, if we were not in accord with the will of God?..."
+
+And again: "You should resign yourself perfectly into the hands of God.
+When you have done your best towards carrying out your design (of
+becoming a religious) he will be pleased to accept everything you do,
+even though it be something less good. You cannot please God better than
+by sacrificing to him your will, and remaining in tranquillity, humility
+and devotion, entirely reconciled and submissive to his divine will and
+good pleasure. You will be able to recognize these plainly enough when
+you find that notwithstanding all your efforts it is impossible for you
+to gratify your wishes.
+
+For God in his infinite goodness sometimes sees fit to test our courage
+and love by depriving us of the things which it seems to us would be
+advantageous to our souls; and if he finds us very earnest in their
+pursuit, yet humble, tranquil and resigned to do without them if he
+wishes us to, he will give us more blessings than we should have had in
+the possession of what we craved. God loves those who at all times and in
+all circumstances can say to him simply and heartily: _Thy will be
+done_."*
+
+
+
+
+                                 XIII.
+                               SCRUPLES.
+
+
+  Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence. (St. Paul, II.
+  Cor., c. III., v. 12.)
+
+  Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because
+  fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfect in charity. (St.
+  John, I. Epist., c. IV., v. 18.)
+
+1. There are persons who look upon scrupulosity as a virtue, confounding
+it with delicacy of conscience, whereas it is, on the contrary, not only
+a defect but one of a most dangerous character. The devout and learned
+Gerson says that a scrupulous conscience often does more injury to the
+soul than one that is too lax and remiss.
+
+2. Scruples warp the judgment, disturb the peace of the soul, beget
+mistrust of the Sacraments and estrangement from them, and impair the
+health of body and mind. How many unfortunates have begun by scrupulosity
+and ended in insanity! How many, more unfortunate still, have begun by
+scruples and ended in laxity and impiety! Shun then this insiduous
+poison, so deadly in its effects on true piety, and say with Saint Joseph
+of Cupertino: _Away with sadness and scruples; I will not have them in my
+house._
+
+3. Scrupulosity is an unreasonable fear of sin in matters where there is
+not even material for sin. But the victim does not call his doubts and
+fears scruples, for he would not be tormented by them if he believed he
+could give them that name. He should, however, place implicit reliance in
+the opinion of his spiritual guide when he tells him they are such and
+that he must not allow himself to be influenced by them.
+
+4. In all his actions a scrupulous person sees only an uninterrupted
+series of sins, and in God nothing but vengeance and anger. He ought,
+therefore, to consider almost exclusively the attribute of the divine
+Master by which He most delights to manifest Himself, _mercy_, and to
+make it the constant subject of his thoughts, meditations and affections.
+
+*"We should do everything from love and nothing from constraint. It is
+more essential to love obedience than to fear disobedience."--Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. There is but one remedy for scruples and that is entire and courageous
+obedience. "It is a secret pride," says Saint Francis de Sales, "that
+entertains and nourishes scruples, for the scrupulous person adheres to
+his opinion and inquietude in spite of his director's advice to the
+contrary. He always persuades himself in justification of his
+disobedience that some new and unforseen circumstance has occurred to
+which this advice cannot be applicable." "But submit", adds the Saint,
+"without other reasoning than this: _I should obey_, and you will be
+delivered from this lamentable malady."
+
+6. By sadness and anxiety the children of God do a great injury to their
+Heavenly Father. They thereby seem to bear witness that there is little
+happiness to be found in the service of a Master so full of love and
+mercy, and to give the lie to the words of Him who said: "Come unto Me
+all you that labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you."
+
+*"Woe to that narrow and self-absorbed soul that is always fearful, and
+because of fear has no time to love and to go generously forward. O my
+God! I know it is your wish that the heart that loves you should be broad
+and free! Hence I shall act with confidence like to the child that plays
+in the arms of its mother; I shall rejoice in the Lord and try to make
+others rejoice; I shall pour forth my heart without fear in the assembly
+of the children of God. I wish for nothing but candor, innocence and joy
+of the Holy Ghost. Far, far from me, O my God, be that sad and cowardly
+wisdom which is ever consumed in self, ever holding the balance in hand
+in order to weigh atoms!... Such lack of simplicity in the soul's
+dealings with Thee is truly an outrage against Thee: such rigor imputed
+to Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal heart."--F�nelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+                            INTERIOR PEACE.
+
+
+  Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things.
+  (St. Luke, c. X., v. 41.)
+
+  Always active, always at rest. (St. Augustine.)
+
+1. Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate into anxiety and eagerness.
+Saint Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy of these two defects.
+They cause us to lose sight of God in our actions and make us very prone
+to impatience if the slightest obstacle should interfere with our
+designs. It is only by acting peacefully that we can serve the God of
+peace in an acceptable manner.
+
+*"Do not let us suffer our peace to be disturbed by precipitation in our
+exterior actions. When our bodies or minds are engaged in any work, we
+should perform it peacefully and with composure, not prescribing for
+ourselves a definite time to finish it, nor being too anxious to see it
+completed."--Scupoli.*
+
+2. Martha was engaged in a good work when she prepared a repast for our
+divine Lord, nevertheless He reproved her because she performed it with
+anxiety and agitation. This goes to show, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+that it is not enough to do good, the good must moreover be done well,
+that is to say, with love and tranquillity. If one turn the
+spinning-wheel too rapidly it falls and the thread breaks.
+
+3. Whenever we are doing well we are always doing enough and doing it
+sufficiently fast. Those persons who are restless and impetuous do not
+accomplish any more and what they do is done badly.
+
+4. Saint Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry no matter how varied
+or numerous might be the demands made upon his time. When on a certain
+occasion some surprise was expressed at this he said: "You ask me how it
+is that although others are agitated and flurried I am not likewise
+uneasy and in haste. What would you? I was not put in this world to cause
+fresh disturbance: is there not enough of it already without my adding to
+it by my excitability?"
+
+5. However, do not on the other hand succumb to sloth and indifference.
+All extremes are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity and an
+active tranquillity.
+
+6. In order to acquire tranquillity in action it is necessary to consider
+carefully what we are capable of accomplishing and never to undertake
+more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much than to do
+well, which urges us on to burden ourselves with great undertakings and
+to impose upon ourselves numerous obligations. It maintains and nourishes
+itself on this tension of mind, this restless anxiety which it takes for
+infallible signs of a superior capacity. Thus Saint Francis de Sales was
+wont to say: "Our self-love is a great braggart, that wishes to undertake
+everything and accomplishes nothing."
+
+*"It appears to me that you are over eager and anxious in the pursuit of
+perfection.... Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of
+Kings,[14] that God is not in the great and strong wind, nor in the
+earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an almost
+imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and agitation contribute nothing towards
+success. The desire of success is good, but only if it be not accompanied
+by solicitude. I expressly forbid you to give way to inquietude, for it
+is the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is necessary in all things
+and everywhere. If any trouble come to us, either of an interior or
+exterior nature, we should receive it peacefully: if joy be ours, it
+should be received peacefully: have we to flee from evil, we should do it
+peacefully, otherwise we may fall in our flight and thus give our enemy a
+chance to kill us. Is there a good work to be done? we must do it
+peacefully, or else we shall commit many faults by our hastiness: and
+even as regards penance,--that too must be done peacefully: _Behold_,
+said the prophet, _in peace is my bitterness most bitter_."[15]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XV.
+                                SADNESS.
+
+
+  I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the
+  house of the Lord.... Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the
+  Lord with gladness.... Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou
+  trouble me? (Psalms CXXI., XCIX., XLII.)
+
+  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Apoc. C. XXI., v.
+  4.)
+
+1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is the worst thing in the World,
+sin alone excepted.
+
+2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection in sadness: it is the
+spirit of God that produces recollection; sadness is the work of the
+spirit of darkness.
+
+3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint Francis de Sales for the
+discernment of spirits: any thought that troubles and disquiets us cannot
+come from the God of peace, who makes his dwelling-place only in peaceful
+souls.
+
+*"Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in writing what I before said to you
+in person, always be as happy as you can in well-doing, for it gives a
+double value to good works to be well done and to be done cheerfully. And
+when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not mean that if you happen to
+commit some fault you should on that account abandon yourself to sadness.
+For God's sake, no; for that would be to add defect to defect. But I mean
+that you should persevere in the wish to do well, that you return to it
+the moment you realize you have deviated from it, and that by means of
+this fidelity you live happily in the Lord.... May God be ever in our
+heart, my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous, for this is the
+will of God, whom we love and to whose service we are
+consecrated."--Saint Francis de Sales.* (_Imitation_, B. III., Chap.
+XLVII.)
+
+4. It is wrong to deny one's self all diversion. The mind becomes
+fatigued and depressed by remaining always concentrated in itself and
+thus more easily falls a prey to sadness. Saint Thomas says explicitly
+that one may incur sin by refusing all innocent amusement. Every excess,
+no matter what its nature, is contrary to order and consequently to
+virtue.
+
+5. Recreations and amusements are to the life of the soul what seasoning
+is to our corporal food. Food that is too highly seasoned quickly becomes
+injurious and sometimes fatal in its effects; that which is not seasoned
+at all soon becomes unendurable because of its insipidity and
+unpalatableness.
+
+6. As to the amount of diversion it is right to take, no absolute measure
+can be given: the rule is that each person should have as much as is
+necessary for him. This quantity varies according to the bent of the
+mind, the nature of the habitual occupations, and the greater or less
+predisposition to sadness one observes in his disposition.
+
+7. When you find your heart growing sad, divert yourself without a
+moment's delay; make a visit, enter into conversation with those around
+you, read some amusing book, take a walk, sing, do something, it matters
+not what, provided you close the door of your heart against this terrible
+enemy. As the sound of a trumpet gives the signal for a combat, so sad
+thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable moment has come for him to
+attack us.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVI.
+                           LIBERTY OF SPIRIT.
+
+
+  Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is
+  liberty. (St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.)
+
+  For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but ye
+  have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba,
+  Father. (St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.)
+
+  Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.)
+
+1. Christian liberty of spirit, so earnestly recommended by the saints,
+consists in not becoming the slave of anything, even though good, unless
+it be of God's will. Thus our purest inclinations, our holiest habits,
+our wisest rules of conduct, should yield without murmur or complaint to
+every manifestation of this divine will, in order that they may never
+become for us obstacles or impediments to good or the occasion of trouble
+and disquietude. By this means only can we perform all our actions with
+cheerful confidence and devout courage.
+
+*"I leave you the spirit of liberty; not that liberty which hinders
+obedience, for such is the liberty of the flesh, but that which excludes
+scruples and constraint.... We ask of God above all things that his name
+be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done on earth as it
+is in heaven. All this implies the spirit of liberty; for provided God's
+name be sanctified, that His divine Majesty reign in you, that His will
+be done, the spirit desires nothing more."[16] (_Imitation_, B. III.,
+Chap. XXVI.)*
+
+2. St. Francis de Sales, speaking on this important subject, says: "He
+who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his
+affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this
+way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by sickness
+or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions but that he
+is not attached to them."
+
+3. A soul that is attached to meditation, if interrupted, will show
+chagrin and impatience: a soul that has true liberty will take the
+interruption in good part and show a gracious countenance to the person
+who was the cause of it. For it is all one to it whether it serve God by
+meditating or by bearing with its neighbor. Both duties are God's will,
+but just at this time patience with others is the more essential.
+
+4. The fruits of this holy liberty of spirit are prompt and tranquil
+submission and generous confidence. Saint Francis de Sales relates that
+Saint Ignatius ate flesh meat one day in Holy Week simply because his
+physician thought it expedient for him to do so on account of a slight
+illness. A spirit of constraint would have made him allow the doctor to
+spend three days in persuading him, he adds, and would then very probably
+have refused to yield. I cite this example for the benefit of timid souls
+and not for those who seek to elude an obligation by unwarranted
+dispensations.
+
+*This matter is of such importance and a just medium so difficult to
+follow in practice, that it seems useful to transcribe the following
+passage from Saint Francis de Sales in its entirety, with the rules and
+examples it contains, in order that the proper occasions for the exercise
+of this virtue and its limitations may be well understood.
+
+"A heart possessed of this spirit of liberty is not attached to
+consolations, but receives afflictions with all the sweetness that is
+possible to human nature. I do not say that it does not love and desire
+consolations, but that its affections are not wedded to them.... It
+seldom loses its joy, for no privation saddens a heart that is not set
+upon any one thing. I do not say it never loses it, but if it does so it
+quickly regains it.
+
+The effects of this virtue are sweetness of temper, gentleness, and
+forbearance towards everything that is not sin or occasion of sin,
+forming a disposition gently susceptible to the influences of charity and
+of every other virtue.
+
+The occasions for exercising this holy freedom are found in all those
+things that happen contrary to our natural inclinations; for one whose
+affections are not engaged in his own will does not lose patience when
+his desires are thwarted.
+
+There are two vices opposed to this liberty of spirit,--instability and
+constraint, or dissipation and servility. The former is a certain excess
+of freedom which causes us to change our devout exercises or state of
+life without reason and without knowing if it be God's will. On the
+slightest pretext practices, plans and rules are altered and for every
+trivial obstacle our laudable customs are abandoned. In this way the
+heart is dissipated and spent and becomes like an orchard open on all
+sides, the fruit whereof is not for the owner but for the passers-by.
+Constraint or servility is a certain lack of liberty owing to which the
+mind is overwhelmed with vexation or anger when we cannot carry out our
+designs, even though we might be doing something better. For example: I
+resolve to make a meditation every morning. Now if I have the spirit of
+instability or dissipation I am apt to defer it until evening for the
+most insignificant reason,--because I was kept awake by the barking of a
+dog, or because I have a letter to write, although it be not at all
+pressing. If on the contrary I have the spirit of constraint or servility
+I will not give up my meditation even though a sick person has great need
+of my aid just then, or if I have an important and urgent dispatch to
+send which should not be deferred; and so on.
+
+It remains for me to give you some examples of true liberty of spirit
+which will make you understand it better than I can explain it. But,
+before doing so, it is well that I should say there are two rules which
+it is necessary to observe in order not to make any mistake on the
+subject.
+
+The first is that a person must never abandon his pious practices and the
+common rules of virtue unless it is plainly evident that God wills that
+he do so. Now this will is manifested in two ways,--through necessity and
+through charity. I desire to preach this Lent in some little corner of my
+diocese; however, if I get sick or break my leg I need not give way to
+regret or inquietude because I cannot do as I intended, for it is evident
+that it is the will of God that I serve Him by suffering and not by
+preaching. Or, even if I am not ill or crippled, but an occasion presents
+itself of going to some other place which if I do not avail myself of the
+people there may become Huguenots, the will of God is sufficiently
+manifest to make me amiably change my plans. The second rule is that when
+it is necessary to make use of this liberty of spirit from motives of
+charity, care should be taken that it is done without scandal or
+injustice. For instance: I may know that I should be more useful in some
+distant place not within my own diocese: I should have no freedom of
+choice in this matter for my obligations are here and I should give
+scandal and do an injustice by abandoning my charge.
+
+Thus it is a false idea of the spirit of liberty that would induce
+married women to keep aloof from their husbands without legitimate reason
+under pretext of devotion and charity.... This spirit rightly understood
+never interferes with the duties of one's vocation nor prejudices them in
+any way. On the contrary, it makes every one contented in his state of
+life, as each should know it is God's will that he remain in it.
+
+Saint Charles Borromeo was one of the most austere, exact and determined
+of men; bread was his only food, water his only drink; he was so strict,
+that during the twenty-four years he was an Archbishop he went into his
+garden but twice, and visited his brothers only on two occasions and then
+because they were ill. Yet this austere priest when dining with his Swiss
+neighbors, which he often did in order to move them to amend their lives,
+did not hesitate to join them in drinking toasts and healths on every
+occasion and in doing so to take more than was necessary to quench his
+thirst. Here is true liberty of spirit exemplified in the most mortified
+man of his time. An unstable spirit would have gone too far, a spirit of
+constraint would have thought it was committing a mortal sin, a spirit of
+liberty would act in this way from a motive of charity.
+
+Saint Spiridion, a bishop of olden times, once gave shelter to a pilgrim
+who was almost dying of hunger. It was the season of Lent and in a place
+where nothing was to be had but salt meat. This Spiridion ordered to be
+cooked and then gave it to the pilgrim. Seeing that the latter,
+notwithstanding his great need, hesitated to eat it, the Saint, although
+he did not require it, ate some first in order to remove the poor man's
+scruples. That was a true spirit of liberty born of charity."--Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom that excludes fear and
+uneasiness in regard to all those things which God has not permitted us
+to know. It gives us a sweet and tender confidence as to the pardon of
+our past sins, the present condition of our souls and our eternal
+destiny. It reminds us continually that although we have deserved hell,
+our divine Lord has merited heaven for us, and that it would be doing a
+great injury to His goodness not to hope for pardon for the past,
+assistance of divine grace for the present, and salvation after death.
+Finally, it teaches us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean of the
+divine mercy.
+
+6. I earnestly exhort you never to make indiscreet vows in the hope of
+thus increasing the merit of your ordinary works. One can attain the same
+end by many ways that are easier and less dangerous. Those who are guilty
+of this imprudence often run the risk of breaking their vows and of thus
+sinning gravely. And if they avoid this misfortune it is only at the
+expense of their peace of soul, sacrificed to a craven and unquiet
+servitude which is totally incompatible with the tranquillity and
+confidence required in the great work of our spiritual perfection.
+
+7. Many pious persons are too prone to advise obligations of this kind.
+If they do so to you, humbly excuse yourself by saying that you do not
+possess the extraordinary virtue requisite in order to fulfil them
+without disquietude. Saint Francis de Sales disapproved of all the
+particular vows made by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and declared them
+null. I have almost invariably found persons bound by such solemn
+obligations restless and agitated, and have frequently seen them exposed
+to the gravest falls.
+
+8. Do not allow yourself to be misled by the example of some of the
+saints who made vows. Rarely is the desire to imitate certain
+extraordinary practices of theirs an inspiration of divine grace: rather
+is it a temptation from the devil inciting us to pride and temerity.
+Saint Francis de Sales exclaimed: "Give me the spirit that animated Saint
+Bernard and I shall do what Saint Bernard did." Let us apply ourselves, I
+repeat, to the imitation of those simple and solid virtues by which the
+saints attained sanctity, and be content to admire those supernatural
+acts that suppose it already acquired.
+
+9. To bind one's self by arbitrary vows without compromising salvation,
+three things are necessary: 1st. supernatural inspiration urging one to
+make them; 2d. extraordinary virtue so as never to violate them; 3d.
+unalterable tranquillity in order to preserve peace of soul in keeping
+them.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+                         CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.
+
+
+  Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth. (Psalm
+  LXXXV.)
+
+  Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.
+  (Psalm CXXVI.)
+
+1. A Christian is not obliged to be perfect, but to tend continually
+towards perfection; that is to say, he must labor unceasingly and with
+all his strength to increase in virtue. To make no attempt to advance is
+to go back.
+
+*You see it is a question not of succeeding but of laboring earnestly and
+sincerely. Success does not depend upon us. God grants that or refuses it
+or defers it according to what He knows is best for us.
+
+"Let us do three things, my dear daughter, says Saint Francis de Sales:
+first, have a pure intention to look in all things to the honor and glory
+of God; second, do the little we can towards this end, according to the
+advice of our spiritual father; third, leave the care of all the rest to
+God. Why should he torment himself who has God for the object of his
+intentions and does all that he can? why should he be anxious? what has
+he to fear? God is not terrible for those whom He loves; He is satisfied
+with little for He knows well that we have not much to give."
+
+... "Allow yourself to be governed by God; do not think so much of
+yourself; make a general and universal resolution to serve God in the
+best manner you are able and do not waste time in examining and sifting
+so minutely to find out what that may be. This is simply an impertinence
+due to the condition of your acute and precise mind which wishes to
+tyrannize over your will and to control it by fraud and subtlety.... You
+know that in general God wishes us to serve Him by loving Him above all
+things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of Him; and in particular,
+to fulfil the duties of our state of life; that is all. But it must be
+done in good faith, without deceit or subterfuge, and in the ordinary way
+of this world, which is not the home of perfection; humanly, too, and
+according to the limitations of time; to do it in a divine and angelic
+manner and according to eternity being reserved for a future life. Do not
+therefore be so anxious to know whether or not you have attained
+perfection. This should never be; for were we the most perfect creatures
+on earth we ought not to dwell upon or glory in it but always consider
+ourselves imperfect. Our self-examination must never be for the purpose
+of discovering if we are imperfect, for this we should never doubt. Hence
+it follows that we must not be surprised at seeing ourselves imperfect,
+since we can never be otherwise in this life; nor on that account give
+way to despondency, for there is no remedy for it. But, yes; we can
+correct our faults gently and gradually, for that is the reason they are
+left in us. We shall be inexcusable if we do not try to amend them, but
+quite excusable if we are not entirely successful in doing so, for it is
+not the same with imperfections as with sins."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+2. Now the means to be employed in laboring for perfection and in making
+progress in virtue do not consist in multiplying prayers, fasts and other
+religious practices. Some good religious who had fasted three times a
+week during an entire year, thought that in order to satisfy the
+obligation of advancing more and more in virtue they ought to fast four
+times a week the following year. They consulted Saint Francis de Sales on
+the subject. He laughingly answered them: "If you fast four times a week
+this year so as to advance in perfection, you will be obliged for the
+same reason to fast five times the next year, then six, then seven times;
+and the number of your fasts being always the guage of the degree of
+perfection you shall have attained, it will be necessary for you, under
+pain of advancing no more, thereafter to fast twice a day, then thrice,
+then four times, and so on." What Saint Francis de Sales said of fasting
+is just as applicable to all other devout practices.
+
+3. Instead, then, of continually adding to your religious exercises,
+study to perfect yourself in the practice of those you already perform,
+doing them with more love and peace of soul, and with greater purity of
+intention. Should it happen that you are unable to perform all your usual
+devotions conveniently, omit a portion of them so that the remainder may
+be done with greater tranquillity. The spirit of perfection, says Saint
+Bernard, does not consist in doing great things, but in doing common and
+ordinary things perfectly. _Communia facere, sed non communiter_.[17]
+
+*"Most people when they wish to reform, pay much more attention to
+filling their life with certain difficult and extraordinary actions, than
+to purifying their intention and opposing their natural inclinations in
+the ordinary duties of their state. In this they often deceive
+themselves, for it would be much better to make less change in the
+actions and more in the dispositions of the soul which prompt them. When
+one is already leading a virtuous and well regulated life it is of far
+greater consequence, in order to become truly spiritual, to change the
+interior than the exterior. God is not satisfied with the motions of the
+lips, the posture of the body, nor with external ceremonies: What he
+demands is a will no longer divided between Him and any creature; a will
+perfectly docile ... that wishes unreservedly whatever He wishes and
+never under any pretext wishes aught that He does not wish.
+
+This will, perfectly simple and entirely devoted to God, you should bear
+with you into all the circumstances of your life, and everywhere that
+divine Providence leads you.... Even mere amusements may be transformed
+into good works, if you enter into them only through a kindly motive and
+to conform to the order of God. Happy indeed the heart of her for whom
+God opens this way of holy simplicity! She walks therein like a little
+child holding its mother's hand and allowing her to lead it without any
+concern as to whither it is going. Content to be free, she is ready to
+speak or to be silent; when she cannot say edifying things she says
+common-place things with an equally good grace; she amuses herself by
+making what Saint Francis de Sales calls _joyeuset�s_, playful little
+jests, with which she diverts others as well as herself. You will tell me
+perhaps that you would prefer to be occupied with something more serious
+and solid. But God would not prefer it for you, seeing that He chooses
+what you would not choose, and you know His taste is better than yours:
+you would find more consolation in solid things for which He has given
+you a relish, and it is this consolation of which He wishes to deprive
+you, it is this relish which He wishes to mortify in you, although it may
+be good and salutary. The very virtues, as they are practised by us, need
+to be purified by the contradictions that God makes them suffer in order
+to detach them the better from all self will. When piety is founded on
+the fundamental principle of God's holy will, without consulting our own
+taste, or temperament or the sallies of an excessive zeal, oh! how
+simple, sweet, amiable, discreet and reliable it is in all its movements!
+A pious person lives much as others do, quite unaffectedly and without
+apparent austerity, in a sociable and genial way; but with a constant
+subjection to every duty, an unrelenting renunciation of everything that
+does not enter into God's designs in her regard, and, finally, with a
+clear view of God to whom she sacrifices all the irregular inclinations
+of nature. This indeed is the adoration in spirit and in truth desired by
+Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His eternal Father. Without it all the rest
+is but a religion of ceremonial, and rather the shadow than the reality
+of Christianity."--F�nelon.*
+
+4. Apply yourself in a particular manner to become perfect in the
+fulfilment of the duties of your state of life; for on this all
+perfection and sanctity are grounded. When God created the world He
+commanded the plants to produce fruit, but each one according to its
+kind: _juxta genus suum_.[18] In like manner our souls are all obliged to
+produce fruits of holiness, but each according to its kind; that is to
+say, according to the position in which God has placed us. Elias in the
+desert and David on the throne had not to become holy by a like process;
+and Joshua amidst the tumult of arms would have sought in vain to
+sanctify himself by the same means as Samuel in the peaceful retreat of
+the Temple. This instruction is addressed to those who being placed in
+the world would wish to practise there the virtues of the cloister, or
+whilst residing in palaces would attempt to lead the life of the
+solitaries of the desert. They bear fruits which are excellent in
+themselves, no doubt, but not according to their kind, _juxta genus
+suum_, and hence they do not fulfil the will of God.
+
+5. Perfection has but one aim and it is the same for all,--to wit, the
+love of God; but there are divers ways of attaining it. Among the saints
+themselves we find most striking differences. Saint Benedict was never
+seen to laugh, whereas Saint Francis de Sales laughed frequently and was
+always animated, bright and cheerful. Saint Hilarion considered it an act
+of sensuality to change his habit, whilst, on the other hand, Saint
+Catherine of Sienna was extremely particular about bodily cleanliness
+which she looked upon as a symbol of purity of soul. If you consult Saint
+Jerome you hear only of fear of the terrible judgments of God: read Saint
+Augustine and you will find only the language of confidence and love. The
+minds, dispositions and characters of men are as varied as their
+physiognomies; grace perfects them little by little but does not change
+their nature. Hence in our endeavors to imitate the ways of such or such
+a saint for whom we feel a particular attraction, we should not condemn
+those of the others, but say with the Psalmist: _Omnis spiritus laudet
+Dominum_.[19] Consult your director as to whom and what may be most
+suitable for your imitation.
+
+6. Never be afraid that you are not following the way of perfection
+because you still have defects and commit many faults. This was true of
+the greatest saints, for Saint Augustine declares that all of them could
+exclaim with the Apostle Saint John: "If we claim to be without sin, we
+deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." "He who came into the
+world with sin," says Saint Gregory the Great, "cannot live there without
+sin."
+
+* "Act like the little child who, when it feels that its mother is
+holding it by the sleeve, runs about quite boldly and without being
+surprised at all the little falls it gets. Thus, as long as you find that
+God is holding you by the good will and the resolution He has given you
+to serve Him, go on bravely and do not be astonished that you stumble and
+fall occasionally. There is no need to be troubled about it, provided
+that at certain intervals you cast yourself into your Father's arms and
+embrace Him with the kiss of charity. Go on your way, then, cheerfully
+and heartily, doing the best you can; and if it cannot always be
+cheerfully, let it at least be always courageously and faithfully."
+--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+7. But we must bear in mind the vast difference that exists between the
+love of sin and sin committed inadvertently or from weakness. (See
+_Confession_, [S] 14.) Affection for sin is the sole obstacle to
+perfection. Thus the most learned Fathers of the Church make a
+distinction between two kinds of tepidity: that which can be avoided and
+that which cannot be avoided. The former condition is that of a soul that
+retains an attachment for certain sins; the other, that of one falling
+into sin through frailty and from being taken unawares, which has been
+the case even with the greatest saints.
+
+8. Therefore in place of troubling yourself about these accidental falls,
+inseparable from human nature, make them turn to your spiritual advantage
+by causing them to increase your humility. It often happens, says Saint
+Gregory the Great, that God allows great defects to remain in some souls
+at the beginning of their spiritual life that by means of them they may
+grow in self-knowledge and learn to place their entire confidence in Him.
+Saint Augustine tells us that God in his infinite wisdom has been better
+pleased to bring forth good out of evil than to hinder the evil itself.
+Thus when you learn to draw fruits of humility from your faults, you
+correspond to the sublime designs of God's unspeakable providence.
+
+9. Should you happen to fear that you are not walking in the true way of
+perfection, consult your director and place implicit reliance upon the
+answer he gives you. Who is the saint that has not had to suffer because
+of a like doubt? But they were all reassured by the consideration of
+God's infinite goodness and by obedience to their spiritual father.
+
+*Some persons, although conscious of a sincere desire to serve God,
+nevertheless are disposed to feel alarmed about their spiritual
+condition, at the remembrance of all they have heard and read in regard
+to false consciences, self-illusion and the deceptive security of those
+who are following a wrong path. There are two ways of forming a false
+conscience: first, by choosing among our duties those for which we feel
+most attraction and natural tendency, and then, in order to give
+ourselves up to them more than is necessary, to persuade ourselves we can
+neglect the others. Thus a person with a preference for exterior acts of
+religion will spend all day praying or attending sermons and offices of
+the Church and considers herself very devout, although she may have been
+neglecting her temporal duties. Another, being differently disposed, will
+apply herself exclusively to the duties of her state of life, sacrificing
+to them without regret those of religion, quite convinced that one who is
+faithful in all the domestic relations, and gives to every one his due,
+cannot possibly be otherwise than pleasing to God. The second way of
+making a false conscience consists in giving the preference in our esteem
+and practice to those among the Christian virtues which find their
+analogies in our natural dispositions, for there is not one of the
+virtues that has not its correlative amongst the various qualities of the
+human character. Persons of a gentle and placid disposition will affect
+meekness, the practice of which will be very easy for them and require no
+effort; and imagining they exercise a christian virtue when in reality
+they only follow a natural bent, they are liable to fall into a culpable
+weakness. Those who, on the contrary, have an exact and rigid mind will
+esteem justice and order above all else, making small account of meekness
+and charity; and thus justifying themselves falsely by their natural
+temperament, they follow the tendency of the flesh whilst believing they
+obey the spirit, and may easily become addicted to excessive severity.
+
+It is evident, therefore, that the first rule to be observed in order to
+avoid these dangerous illusions and to walk securely in the way of
+perfection, is to apply ourselves in a special manner to the practice of
+those duties for which we feel least innate attraction, and always to
+mistrust our natural virtues however good they may appear. Then there is
+one consideration that should serve to reassure all Christians who are in
+earnest about their salvation; whilst they act in good faith and deal
+frankly and sincerely with their confessor, it is impossible for them to
+become the victim of a false conscience.
+
+In the following passage Saint Francis de Sales recommends us to watch
+carefully over our natural tendencies and to substitute for them as much
+as possible the inspirations of grace, which he calls living according to
+the spirit:
+
+"To live according to the spirit, my beloved daughter, is to think, speak
+and act according to the virtues that are of the spirit, and not
+according to the senses and feelings which are of the flesh. These latter
+we should make serve us, but we must hold them in subjection and not
+allow them to control us; whereas with the spiritual virtues it is just
+the reverse; we should serve them and bring everything else under
+subjection to them.... See, my daughter, human nature wishes to have a
+share in everything that goes on, and loves itself so dearly that it
+considers nothing of any account unless it be mixed up in it. The spirit,
+on the contrary, attaches itself to God and often says that whatever is
+not God's is nothing to it; and as through a motive of charity it takes
+part in things committed to it, so through humility and self-denial it
+willingly gives up all share in those which are denied it.... I am
+diffident and have no self-confidence, and therefore I wish to be allowed
+to live in a way congenial to this disposition; any one can see that this
+is not according to the spirit.... But, although I am naturally timorous
+and retiring, I desire to try and overcome these traits of character and
+to fulfil all the requirements of the charge imposed upon me by
+obedience; who does not see that this is to live according to the spirit?
+
+Hence, as I have said before, my dear daughter, to live according to the
+spirit is to have our actions, our words and our thoughts such as the
+spirit of God would require of us. When I say thoughts, I of course mean
+voluntary thoughts. I am sad, says some one, consequently I shall not
+speak; magpies and parrots do the same: I am sad, but as charity requires
+me to speak, I shall do so; spiritual persons act thus: I am slighted and
+I get angry: so do peacocks and monkeys. I am slighted and I rejoice
+thereat: that is what the Apostles did."
+
+In fine, to live according to the spirit is to do in all circumstances
+and on all occasions whatever faith, hope and charity demand of us,
+without even waiting to consider if we are or are not influenced by our
+natural disposition. (_The Imitation of Christ_, B. III., Ch. LIV.)*
+
+10. Generally speaking it is only after a long and painful struggle that
+one succeeds in climbing the mount of perfection. There are some statues,
+says Saint Francis de Sales, that it has cost the artist thirty years'
+labor to perfect. Now the perfecting of a soul is a much more difficult
+work. We must therefore set about it with tranquillity, patience and
+confidence in God. We shall always obtain what we wish soon enough if we
+obtain it at the time God pleases to grant it.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                              SOCIAL LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVIII.
+                                CHARITY.
+
+
+  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
+  one for another. (St. John, c. XIII., v. 35.)
+
+  He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in
+  darkness even until now. (St. John, Ep. I., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Our divine Lord has said that His disciples should be known by their
+love one for another. This christian virtue of charity makes us love our
+neighbor in God, the creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of God,
+love of our neighbor,--these virtues are two branches springing from the
+same trunk and having but one and the same root.
+
+2. Assist your brethren in their needs whenever you can. However, you
+should always be careful to consult the laws of prudence in this matter
+and to be guided by your means and position. Supply by a desire to do
+good for the material aid you are unable to give.
+
+3. When your neighbor offends you he does not cease on that account to be
+the creature and the image of God; therefore the christian motive you
+have for loving him still exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of pardon,
+but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so often has forgiven you much
+more grievous offences, merited it for him?
+
+4. Observe, however, that we can scarcely avoid feeling some repugnance
+for those who have offended us, but to feel and to consent are two
+distinct and widely different things, as we have already said. When
+religion commands us to love our enemies, the commandment is addressed to
+the superior portion of the soul, the will, not to the inferior portion
+in which reside the carnal affections that follow the natural
+inclinations. In a word, when we speak of charity the question is not of
+that human friendship which we feel for those who are naturally pleasing
+to us, a sentiment wherein we seek merely our own satisfaction and which
+therefore has nothing in common with charity.
+
+*"Charity makes us love God above all things; and our neighbor as
+ourselves with a love not sensual, not natural, not interested, but pure,
+strong and unwavering, and having its foundation in God.... A person is
+extremely sweet and agreeable and I love her tenderly: or, she loves me
+well and does much to oblige me, and on that account I love her in
+return. Who does not see that this affection is according to the senses
+and the flesh? For animals that have no soul but only a body and senses,
+love those who are good and gentle and kind to them. Then there is
+another person who is brusque and uncivil, but apart from this is really
+devout and even desirous of becoming gentler and more courteous:
+consequently, not for any gratification she affords me, or for any
+self-interested motive whatever, but solely for the good pleasure of God,
+I talk to her, aid her, love her. This is the virtue of charity indeed,
+for nature has no share in it."--Saint Francis de Sales. (Read St. Luke,
+C. VI., vv. 32-33-34.)
+
+The literal and exact fulfilment of the evangelical precept is often
+found impracticable. How, we say, is it possible to have for all men
+indiscriminately that extreme sensibility we feel for everything that
+touches us individually, that constant solicitude for our spiritual or
+temporal interests, that delicacy of feeling that we reserve for
+ourselves and for certain objects specially dear to us?--And yet it is
+literally _au pied de la lettre_, that our Lord's precept should be
+observed. What then is to be done? An answer will be found in the
+following passage from F�nelon, and we shall see that it is not a
+question of exaggerating the love of one's neighbor, but of moderating
+self-love, and thus making both the one and the other alike subordinate
+to the love of God:
+
+"To love our neighbor as ourselves does not mean that we should have for
+him that intense feeling of affection that we have for ourselves, but
+simply that we wish for him, and from the motive of charity, what we wish
+for ourselves. Pure and genuine love, love having for its sole end the
+object beloved, should be reserved for God alone, and to bestow it
+elsewhere is a violation of a divine right."*
+
+5. But although it is forbidden us to show hatred or to entertain it
+voluntarily against the wicked and those who have offended us, this is
+not meant to prevent us from defending ourselves or taking such
+precautions against them as prudence suggests. Christian charity obliges
+and disposes us to love our enemies and to be good to them when there is
+occasion to do so; but it should not carry us so far as to protect the
+wicked, nor leave us without defence against their aggressiveness. It
+allows us to be vigilant in guarding against their encroachments, and to
+take precautions against their machinations.
+
+6. Always be ready and willing to excuse the faults of your neighbor, and
+never put an unfavorable interpretation upon his actions. The same
+action, says Saint Francis de Sales, may be looked upon under many
+different aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose the best, an
+uncharitable one will just as certainly choose the worst.
+
+*"Do not weigh so carefully the sayings and doings of others, but let
+your thought of them be simple and good, kindly and affectionate. You
+should not exact of your neighbor greater perfection than of yourself,
+nor be surprised at the diversity of imperfections; for an imperfection
+is not more an imperfection from the fact that it is extravagant and
+peculiar."*
+
+7. It is very difficult for a good christian to become really guilty of
+rash judgment, in the true sense of the word,--which is that, without
+just reasons or sufficient grounds he forms and pronounces in his own
+mind in a positive manner a condemnation of his neighbor. The grave sin
+of rash judgment is frequently confounded with suspicion or even simple
+distrust, which may be justifiable on much slighter grounds.
+
+8. Suspicion is permissible when it has for its aim measures of just
+prudence; charity forbids gratuitously malevolent thoughts, but not
+vigilance and precaution.
+
+9. Suspicion is not only permissible, but it is at times an important
+duty for those who are charged with the direction and guardianship of
+others. Thus it is a positive obligation for a father in regard to his
+children, and for a master in regard to his servants, whenever there is
+occasion to correct some vice they know exists, or to prevent some fault
+they have reasonable cause to fear.
+
+10. As to simple mistrust, which should not be confused with suspicion,
+it is only an involuntary and purely passive condition, to which we may
+be more or less inclined by our natural disposition without our free-will
+being at all involved. Mistrust, suspicion, rash judgment are then three
+distinct and very different things, and we should be careful not to
+confound them.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIX.
+                                 ZEAL.
+
+
+  But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your heart,
+  glory not, and be not liars against the truth: for this is not wisdom
+  descending from above, but earthly, sensual, diabolical. (St. James,
+  Cath. Ep., c. III, vv. 14 and 15.)
+
+  For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God. (St. James, Cath.
+  Ep., c. I., v. 20.)
+
+1. Zeal for the salvation of souls is a sublime virtue, and yet how many
+errors and sins are every day committed in its name! Evil is never done
+more effectually and with greater security, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+than when one does it believing he is working for the glory of God.
+
+2. The saints themselves can be mistaken in this delicate matter. We see
+a proof of this in the incident related of the Apostles Saint James and
+Saint John; for our Lord reprimanded them for asking Him to cause fire
+from heaven to fall upon the Samaritans.[20]
+
+3. Acts of zeal are like coins the stamp upon which it is necessary to
+examine attentively, as there are more counterfeits than good ones. Zeal
+to be pure should be accompanied with very great humility, for it is of
+all virtues the one into which self-love most easily glides. When it does
+so, zeal is apt to become imprudent, presumptuous, unjust, bitter. Let us
+consider these characteristics in detail, viewing them, for the sake of
+greater clearness, in their practical bearings.
+
+4. In every home there grows some thorn, something, in other words, that
+needs correction; for the best soil is seldom without its noxious weed.
+Imprudent zeal, by seeking awkwardly to pluck out the thorn, often
+succeeds only in plunging it farther in, thus rendering the wound deeper
+and more painful. In such a case it is essential to act with reflection
+and great prudence. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent,
+says the Holy Spirit.[21] Prudent zeal is silent when it realizes that to
+be so is less hurtful than to speak.
+
+5. Some persons are even presumptuous enough in their mistaken zeal to
+meddle in the domestic affairs of strange families, blaming, counselling,
+attempting to reform without measure or discretion, thus causing an evil
+much greater than the one they wish to correct. Let us employ the
+activity of our zeal in our own reformation, says Saint Bernard, and pray
+humbly for that of others. It is great presumption on our part thus to
+assume the r�le of apostles when we are not as yet even good and faithful
+disciples. Not that you should be by any means indifferent to the
+salvation of souls: on the contrary you must wish it most ardently, but
+do not undertake to effect it except with great prudence, humility and
+diffidence in self.
+
+6. Again, there are pious persons whose zeal consists in wishing to make
+everybody adopt their particular practices of devotion. Such a one, if
+she have a special attraction for meditating on the Passion of our divine
+Lord or for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, would like to oblige every
+one, under pain of reprobation, to pass long hours prostrate before the
+crucifix or the tabernacle. Another who is especially devoted to visiting
+the poor and the sick and to the other works of corporal mercy,
+acknowledges no piety apart from these excellent practices. Now, this is
+not an enlightened zeal. Martha and Mary were sisters, says Saint
+Augustine, but they have not a like office: one acts, the other
+contemplates. If both had passed the day in contemplation, no one would
+have prepared a repast for their divine Master; if both had been employed
+in this material work, there would have been no one to listen to His
+words and garner up His divine lessons. The same thing may be said of
+other good works. In choosing among them each person should follow the
+inspirations of God's grace, and these are very varied. The eye that sees
+but hears not, must neither envy nor blame the ear that hears but sees
+not. _Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:_ let every spirit praise the Lord,
+says the royal prophet.[22]
+
+7. Bear well in mind that the zeal which would lead you to undertake
+works not in conformity with your position, however good and useful they
+may be in themselves, is always a false one. This is especially true if
+such cause us interior trouble or annoyance; for the holiest things are
+infallibly displeasing to God when they do not accord with the duties of
+our state of life.
+
+8. Saint Paul condemned in strong terms those Christians who showed a too
+exclusive preference for their spiritual masters; some admitting as truth
+only what came from the mouth of Peter, others acknowledging none save
+Paul, and others again none but Apollo. What! said he to them, is not
+Jesus Christ the same for all of you! Is it then Paul who was crucified
+for you? Is it in his name you were baptized?[23] This culpable weakness
+is often reproduced in our day. Persons otherwise pious carry to excess
+the esteem and affection they have for their spiritual directors, exalt
+without measure their wisdom and holiness, and do not scruple to
+depreciate all others. God alone knows the true value of each human
+being, and we have not the scales of the sanctuary to weigh and compare
+the respective wisdom and sanctity of this and that person. If you have a
+good confessor, thank God and try to render his wisdom useful to you by
+your docility in allowing yourself to be guided; but do not assume that
+nobody else has as good a one. To depreciate the merits of some in order
+to exalt those of others at their expense is a sort of slander, that
+ought to be all the more feared because it is generally so little
+recognized.
+
+9. "If your zeal is bitter," says Saint James, "it is not wisdom
+descending from on high, but earthly, sensual, diabolical."[24] These
+words of an Apostle should furnish matter of reflection for those persons
+who, whilst making profession of piety, are so prone to irritability, so
+harsh and rude in their manners and language, that they might be taken
+for angels in church and for demons elsewhere.
+
+10. The value and utility of zeal are in proportion to its tolerance and
+amiability. True zeal is the offspring of charity: it should, then,
+resemble its mother and show itself like to her in all things. "Charity,"
+says Saint Paul, "is patient, is kind, is not ambitious and seeketh not
+her own."[25]
+
+*"You should not only be devout and love devotion, but you ought to make
+your piety useful, agreeable and charming to everybody. The sick will
+like your spirituality if they are lovingly consoled by it; your family,
+if they find that it makes you more thoughtful of their welfare, gentler
+in every day affairs, more amiable in reproving, and so on; your husband,
+if he sees that in proportion as your devotion increases you become more
+cordial and tender in your affection for him; your relations and friends,
+if they find you more forbearing, and more ready to comply with their
+wishes, should these not be contrary to God's will. Briefly, you must try
+as far as possible to make your devotion attractive to others; that is
+true zeal."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+11. Never allow your zeal to make you over eager to correct others, says
+the same Saint; and when you must do it remember that the most important
+thing to consider is the choice of the moment. A caution deferred can be
+given another time: one given inopportunely is not only fruitless, but
+moreover paralyses beforehand all the good that might have subsequently
+been done.
+
+12. Be zealous, therefore, ardently zealous for the salvation of your
+neighbor, and to further it make use of whatever means God has placed in
+your power; but do not exceed these limits nor disquiet yourself about
+the good you are unable to do, for God can accomplish it through others.
+In conclusion, zeal, according to the teachings of the Fathers of the
+Church, should always have truth for its foundation, indulgence for its
+companion, mildness for its guide, prudence for its counsellor and
+director.
+
+*"I must look upon whatever presents itself each day to be done, in the
+order of Divine Providence, as the work God wishes me to do, and apply
+myself to it in a manner worthy of Him, that is with exactness and
+tranquillity. I shall neglect nothing, be anxious about nothing; as it is
+dangerous either to do God's work negligently or to appropriate it to
+one's self through self-love and false zeal. When our actions are
+prompted by our own inclinations, we do them badly, and are pretentious,
+restless, and anxious to succeed. The glory of God is the pretext that
+hides the illusion. Self-love disguised as zeal grieves and frets if it
+cannot succeed. O my God! give me the grace to be faithful in action,
+indifferent to success. My part is to will what Thou willest and to keep
+myself recollected in Thee amidst all my occupations: Thine it is to give
+to my feeble efforts such fruit as shall please Thee,--none if Thou so
+wishest."--F�nelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XX.
+                               MEEKNESS.
+
+
+  Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land. (S. Matth., c.
+  V., v. 4.)
+
+  Learn of me because I am meek. (St. Matthew, c. XI., v. 29.)
+
+1. Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person a model of all the virtues.
+Meekness, however, is the one that He seems to have wished more
+particularly to propose for our imitation since He said: "Learn of Me for
+I am meek and humble of heart."
+
+2. Try, therefore, to acquire and always preserve in your soul this
+christian virtue and to make all your exterior actions correspond with
+it. I do not say that you should never have the slightest feeling of
+irritation, as that would be to expect an impossibility; but you should
+be attentive to repress these movements and never yield to them
+voluntarily. It is natural for man to be often assailed by anger, says
+Saint Jerome, but it is peculiar to the Christian not to allow himself to
+be overcome by it.
+
+3. A Christian, says Saint Bernard, who has no one at hand who gives him
+occasion to suffer, should seek such a person eagerly and buy him at any
+price, that he may have opportunity to practice meekness and patience. If
+you are not disposed to go to this expense, at least profit of whatever
+opportunities divine Providence has given you gratuitously, that you may
+accustom yourself to the exercise of these two inestimable virtues.
+
+4. An excellent rule to follow is to make a compact with your tongue such
+as Saint Francis de Sales did with his, namely, that the tongue remain
+silent whenever the feelings are irritated. Otherwise you will begin to
+speak with the sincere resolution to keep within the bounds of moderation
+and prudence, but you will never succeed in so doing, because the bridle
+once loosened you will invariably be carried farther than you wished.
+Reprimand from an angry man can do no good. Reproof is a moral remedy:
+how would it be possible for you to select and administer this remedy
+with discernment and prudence, when you yourself are ill and stand in
+need of both medicine and physician? Wait therefore until your soul is at
+peace, and when you have been restored to calmness you can speak
+advantageously. Even when it is your positive duty to administer a
+rebuke, defer it if possible until free from excitement, remembering that
+to have a salutary effect both he who gives it and he who receives it
+must be calm. Without this precaution the remedy will only aggravate the
+disease.
+
+5. When obliged to reprove the fault of another, never fail to pray that
+God will speak to the person's heart whilst your words are sounding in
+his ears.
+
+6. Observe, however, with Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Thomas, that
+if those it is your duty to correct abuse your mildness and
+considerateness, you are then justified in repressing their boldness with
+vigor and firmness. "Speak to the fool," says the Holy Spirit, "the
+language that his folly renders necessary, that he may not continue wise
+in his own eyes."[26] I repeat it: reproof is a remedy, and a remedy must
+be chosen and proportioned according to the nature and gravity of the
+evil.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXI.
+                             CONVERSATION.
+
+
+  Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a
+  candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in a house.
+
+  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works,
+  and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. V., vv.
+  15-16.)
+
+  Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subversion of
+  the hearers. (St. Paul, II Tim., c. II., v. 14.)
+
+1. Conversation should be marked by a gentle and devout pleasantness, and
+your manner when engaged in it, ought to be equable, composed and
+gracious. Mildness and cheerfulness make devotion and those who practice
+it attractive to others. The holy abbot Saint Anthony, notwithstanding
+the extraordinary austerities of his penitential life, always showed such
+a smiling countenance that no one could look at him without pleasure.
+
+2. We should be neither too talkative nor too silent,--it is as necessary
+to avoid one extreme as the other. By speaking too much we expose
+ourselves to a thousand dangers, so well known that they need not be
+mentioned in detail: by not speaking enough we are apt to be a restraint
+upon others, as it makes it seem as though we did not relish their
+conversation, or wished to impress them with our superiority.
+
+*"Take great care not to be too critical of conversations in which the
+rules of devotion are not very exactly observed. In all such matters it
+is necessary that charity should govern and enlighten us in order to make
+us accede to the wishes of our neighbor in whatever is not in any way
+contrary to the commandments of God."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Do not conclude from this that it is necessary to count your words, as
+it were, so as to keep your conversation within the proper limits. This
+would be as puerile a scruple as counting one's steps when walking. A
+holy spirit of liberty should dominate our conversations and serve to
+instil into them a gentle and moderate gaiety.
+
+4. If you hear some evil spoken of your neighbor do not immediately
+become alarmed, as the matter may be true and quite public without your
+having been aware of it. Should you be quite certain that there is
+calumny or slander in the report, either because the evil told was false
+or exaggerated or because it was not publicly known, then, according to
+the place, the circumstances and your relations towards those present,
+say with moderation what appears most fitting to justify or excuse your
+neighbor. Or you may try to turn the conversation into other channels, or
+simply be content to show your disapprobation by an expressive silence.
+Remember, for the peace of your conscience, that one does not share in
+the sin of slander unless he give some mark of approbation or
+encouragement to the person who is guilty of it.
+
+5. Do not imitate those who are scrupulous enough to imagine that charity
+obliges them to undertake the defence of every evil mentioned in their
+presence and to become the self-appointed advocates of whoever it may be
+that has deserved censure. That which is really wrong cannot be
+justified, and no one should attempt the fruitless task: and as to the
+guilty, those who may do harm either through the scandal of their example
+or the wickedness of their doctrines, it is right that they should be
+shunned and openly denounced. "To cry out wolf, wolf," says Saint Francis
+de Sales, "is kindness to the sheep."
+
+6. The regard we owe our neighbor does not bind us to a politeness that
+might be construed as an approval or encouragement of his vicious habits.
+Hence if it happen that you hear an equivocal jest, a witticism slurring
+at religion or morals, or anything else that really offends against
+propriety, be careful not to give, through cowardice and in spite of your
+conscience, any mark of approbation, were it only by one of those half
+smiles that are often accorded unwillingly and afterwards regretted.
+Flattery, even in the eyes of the world, is one of the most debasing of
+falsehoods. Not even in the presence of the greatest earthly dignitaries,
+will an honest, upright man sanction with his mouth that which he
+condemns in his heart. He who sacrifices to vice the rights of truth not
+only acts unlike a christian, but renders himself unworthy the name of
+man.
+
+7. In small social gatherings try to make yourself agreeable to everybody
+present and to show to each some little mark of attention, if you can do
+so without affectation. This may be done either by directly addressing
+the person or by making a remark that you know will give him occasion to
+speak of his own accord,--draw him out, as the saying is. It was by the
+charm and urbanity of his conversation that Saint Francis de Sales
+prepared the way for the conversion of numbers of heretics and sinners,
+and by imitating him you will contribute towards making piety in the
+world more attractive. In regard to priests you should always testify
+your respect for the sacerdotal dignity quite independently of the
+individual.
+
+8. Disputes, sarcasm, bitter language, and intolerance for dissenting
+opinions, are the scourges of conversation.
+
+9. Although this adage comes to us from a pagan philosopher, we might
+profitably bear it always in mind: "In conversation we should show
+deference to our superiors, affability to our equals, and benevolence to
+our inferiors."
+
+10. Generally speaking, it is wrong for those whom God does not call to
+abandon the world, to seclude themselves entirely and to shun all society
+suited to their position in life. God, who is the source of all virtue,
+is likewise the author of human society. Let the wicked hide themselves
+if they will, their absence is no loss to the world; but good people make
+themselves useful merely by being seen. It is well, moreover, the world
+should know that in order to practice the teachings of the Gospel it is
+not necessary to bury one's self in the desert; and that those who live
+for the Creator can likewise live with the creatures whom He has made
+according to His own image and likeness. Well, again, to show that a
+devout life is neither sad nor austere, but simple, sweet and easy; that
+far from being for those in the world an impediment to social relations,
+it facilitates, perfects and sanctifies such; that the disciples of Jesus
+Christ can, without becoming worldlings, live in the world; and that, in
+fine, the Gospel is the sovereign code of perfection for persons in
+society as well as for those who have renounced the world.
+
+*F�nelon, who perhaps had even greater occasion than Saint Francis de
+Sales to teach men of the world how to lead a Christian life in society,
+wrote as follows to a person at court:
+
+"You ought not to feel worried, it seems to me, in regard to those
+diversions in which you cannot avoid taking part. I know there are those
+who think it necessary that one should lament about everything, and
+restrain himself continually by trying to excite disgust for the
+amusements in which he must participate. As for me, I acknowledge that I
+cannot reconcile myself to this severity. I prefer something more simple
+and I believe that God, too, likes it better. When amusements are
+innocent in themselves and we enter into them to conform to the customs
+of the state of life in which Providence has placed us, then I believe
+they are perfectly lawful. It is enough to keep within the bounds of
+moderation and to remember God's presence. A dry, reserved manner,
+conduct not thoroughly ingenuous and obliging, only serve to give a false
+idea of piety to men of the world who are already too much prejudiced
+against it, believing that a spiritual life cannot be otherwise than
+gloomy and morose."*
+
+11. If all confessors agreed in instilling these maxims, which are as
+important as they are true, many persons who now keep themselves in
+absolute seclusion and live in a sad and dreary solitude would remain in
+society to the edification of their neighbor and the great advantage of
+religion. The world would thus be disabused of its unjust prejudices
+against a devout life and those who have embraced it.
+
+12. Never remain idle except during the time you have allotted to rest or
+recreation. Idleness begets lassitude, disposes to evil speaking and
+gives occasion to the most dangerous temptations.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXII.
+                                 DRESS.
+
+
+  Women also in decent apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and
+  sobriety. (St. Paul, I. Tim., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Clothing is worn for a threefold object: to observe the laws of
+propriety, to protect our bodies from the inclemency of the weather, and,
+finally, to adorn them, as Saint Paul says, with _modesty and sobriety_.
+This third end is, as you see, not less legitimate than the other two,
+provided you are careful to make it accord with them by confining it
+within proper limits and not permitting it to be the only one to which
+you attach any importance, so that neither health nor propriety be
+sacrificed to personal appearance.
+
+2. External ornamentation should correspond with each one's condition in
+life. A just proportion in this matter, says Saint Thomas, is an offshoot
+of the virtues of uprightness and sincerity, for there is a sort of
+untruthfulness in appearing in garments that are calculated to give a
+wrong impression as to the position in which God has placed us in this
+world.
+
+3. Be equally careful, then, to avoid over-nicety and carelessness in
+respect to matters of toilet. Excessive nicety sins against moderation
+and christian simplicity; negligence, against the order that should
+govern certain externals in human society. This order requires that each
+one's material life, and accordingly his attire which is a part of it, be
+suitable to his rank and condition; that Esther be clad as a queen,
+Judith as a woman of wealth and position, Agar as a bond-woman.
+
+5. I shall not speak of immodest dress, for these instructions being
+intended for pious persons or for those who are endeavoring to become
+such, it would seem unnecessary. Nevertheless, as some false and
+pernicious ideas on this subject prevail in the world and lead into error
+souls desirous to do right, here are some fundamental principles that can
+serve you as a rule and save you from similar mistakes.
+
+5. A generally admitted custom can and even should be followed in all
+indifferent matters; but no custom, however universal it may be, can ever
+have the power to change the nature and essence of things or render
+allowable that which is in itself indecent and immodest. Were it
+otherwise, many sins could be justified by the sanction they receive in
+fashionable society. Remember, therefore, that the sin of others can
+never in the sight of God authorize yours, and that where it is the
+fashion to sin it is likewise the fashion to go to hell. Hence it rests
+with yourself whether you prefer to be saved with the few or to be damned
+with the many.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIII.
+                             HUMAN RESPECT.
+
+
+  I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people.... Lo, I will not
+  restrain my lips.... I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from
+  a great council. (Psalms CXV. and XXXIX.)
+
+  That which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops....
+  Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before
+  my Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. X., vv. 27-32.)
+
+1. Charity towards your neighbor, tolerance for his opinions, indulgence
+for his defects, compassion for his errors, yes; but no cowardly and
+guilty concessions to human respect. Never allow fear of the ridicule or
+contempt of men to make you blush for your faith.
+
+2. We are not even forbidden to call one human weakness to the assistance
+of another that is contrary to it: men do not like to contradict
+themselves, and they dread to be considered fickle. Well, then, in order
+that no person may be ignorant of the fact that you are a christian, once
+for all boldly confess your faith and your firm resolve to practise it,
+and let it be known that in all your actions your sole desire is to seek
+the glory of God and the good of your neighbor. Let this profession be
+made upon occasion in a gentle and modest manner, but firmly and
+positively; and you will find that subsequently it will be much easier
+for you to continue what you have thus courageously begun. (Read Chapters
+I. and II., IVth Part of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.)
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIV.
+                              RESOLUTIONS.
+
+
+  Long-standing custom will make resistance, but by a better habit shall
+  it be subdued. (_Imitation_, B. III., c. XII.)
+
+  To him who shall overcome, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, as
+  I also have overcome. (Apocalypse, c. III., v. 21.)
+
+1. We should not undertake to perfect ourselves upon all points at once;
+resolutions as to details ought to be made and carried out one by one,
+directing them first against our predominant passion.
+
+2. By a predominant passion we mean the source of that sin to which we
+oftenest yield and from which spring the greater number of our faults.
+
+3. In order to attack it successfully it is essential to make use of
+strategy. It must be approached little by little, besieged with great
+caution as if it were the stronghold of an enemy, and the outposts taken
+one after another.
+
+4. For example, if your ruling passion be anger, simply propose to
+yourself in the beginning never to speak when you feel irritated. Renew
+this resolution two or three times during the day and ask God's pardon
+for every time you have failed against it.
+
+5. When the results of this first resolution shall have become a habit,
+so that you no longer have any difficulty in keeping it, you can take a
+step forward. Propose, for instance, to repress promptly every thought
+capable of agitating you, or of arousing interior anger; afterwards you
+can adopt the practice of meeting without annoyance persons who are
+naturally repugnant to you; then of being able to treat with especial
+kindness those of whom you have reason to complain. Finally, you will
+learn to see in all things, even in those most painful to nature, the
+will of God offering you opportunities to acquire merit; and in those who
+cause you suffering, only the instruments of this same merciful
+providence. You will then no longer think of repulsing or bewailing them,
+but will bless and thank your divine Saviour for having chosen you to
+bear with Him the burden of His cross, and for deigning to hold to your
+lips the precious chalice of His passion.
+
+6. Some saints recommend us to make an act of hope or love or to perform
+some act of mortification when we discover that we have failed to keep
+our resolutions. This practice is good, but if you adopt it do not
+consider it of obligation nor bind yourself so strictly to it as to
+suppose you have committed a sin when you neglect it.
+
+7. It is by this progressive method that you can at length succeed in
+entirely overcoming your passions, and will be able to acquire the
+virtues you lack. Always begin with what is easiest. Choose at first
+external acts over which the will has greater control, and in time you
+can advance from these, little by little, to the most interior and
+difficult details of the spiritual life.
+
+8. Resolutions of too general a character, such as, for example, to be
+always moderate in speech, always patient, chaste, peaceable and the
+like, ordinarily do not amount to much and sometimes to nothing at all.
+
+9. To undertake little at a time, and to pursue this little with
+perseverance until one has by degrees brought it to perfection, is a
+common rule of human prudence. The saints particularly recommend us to
+apply it to the subject of our resolutions.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXV.
+                              CONCLUSION.
+
+
+  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and which have
+  been committed to thee; knowing of whom thou hast learned them. (St.
+  Paul, II Tim., c. III., v. 14.)
+
+1. The writer of these instructions makes no pretension to have derived
+them from his own wisdom. The material was furnished him by the greatest
+saints and the most eminent doctors of the Church. You can therefore
+believe in them with great confidence, follow them without fear and adopt
+them as a safe and reliable guide in your spiritual life.
+
+2. If you try to regulate your practice by making personal and
+indiscriminate application of everything you find in sermons and books
+you will never be at rest. _One draws you to the right, the other to the
+left_, says Saint Francis de Sales: doctrine is one, but its applications
+are many, and they vary according to time, place and person. Besides,
+those who speak to a hardened multitude, from whom they cannot get even a
+little without exacting a great deal, insist vehemently upon the subject
+with which they wish to impress their hearers and for the time being
+appear to forget everything else. If they preach on mortification of the
+senses, fasting, or any other penitential work, they fail to explain the
+proper manner of practising it, the limits that should not usually be
+exceeded and the circumstances under which we can and should refrain from
+it. This is due to the fact that the cowardly and the lukewarm, whom it
+is more necessary to excite than to restrain, will take from these
+instructions only just what is suitable for them. Now as these form the
+majority, it is for them above all that it is necessary to speak.
+
+3. It would then be better for you individually, without lessening your
+respect and esteem for books of devotion and for preachers animated by
+the spirit of God, to confine yourself as far as practice is concerned to
+the advice of your director and to the teachings of the saints as
+presented in this little volume.
+
+4. Recall what has been already said, that Saint Francis de Sales
+counsels you to select your spiritual guide from among ten thousand, and
+to allow yourself subsequently to be entirely directed by him as though
+he were an angel come down from heaven to conduct you there.
+
+5. Without this rule of firm and confident obedience, books and sermons
+and all that is said and written for the multitude, will become for you a
+source of fatiguing inquietude, and of doubts and fears, owing to the
+fact that you will try to assimilate things which were not intended for
+you.
+
+6. Remember, moreover, the pleasant saying of Saint Philip de
+Neri,--namely, that he had a special predilection for those books the
+authors of which had a name beginning with the letter S.; that is to say,
+the works of the saints, because he supposed them to be more illumined by
+heavenly wisdom.
+
+Now, in observing these instructions you will have for guide and director
+not the poor sinner who has compiled them for the glory of God and the
+good of souls, but Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Philip de Neri
+and especially Saint Francis de Sales, in whom the Church recognizes and
+admires such exalted sanctity, profound wisdom, and rare experience in
+the direction of souls. These are the three eminent qualities requisite
+to constitute a great doctor in the Catholic Church, and to form the
+safest and the most enlightened guide for those who wish to be his
+disciples.
+
+
+
+
+                               ADDITIONS.
+               FINAL ADVICE IN REGARD TO HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+A cause of frequent error and trouble, particularly in regard to Holy
+Communion, is that feelings are confused with acts of the will. The
+faculty of willing is the only one we possess as our own, the only one we
+can use freely and at all times. Hence it follows that it is by the will
+alone that we can in reality acquire merit or commit sin. The natural
+virtues are gratuitous gifts of God. The world is right in esteeming them
+for they come from Him, but it errs when it esteems them exclusively for
+they do not of themselves give us any title to heaven. God has placed
+them at the disposal of our will as means to an end, and we can make a
+good or bad use of them just as we can of all God's other gifts. We may
+be deprived of these natural virtues and live by the will alone,
+spiritually dry and devoid of sentiment, and yet in a state of intimate
+union with God.
+
+This explanation is intended to reassure such persons as are disposed to
+feel anxious when they find nothing in their hearts to correspond with
+the effusions of sensible love with which books of devotion abound in the
+preparation for Holy Communion. These usually make the mistake of taking
+for granted the invariable existence of sentiment, and of addressing it
+exclusively. How many souls do we not see who in consequence grow alarmed
+about their condition, believing they are devoid of grace notwithstanding
+their firm will to shun sin and to please God! They should, however, not
+give way to anxiety, nor exhaust themselves by vain efforts to excite in
+their hearts a sensibility that God has not given them. When He has
+granted us this gift we owe Him homage for it as for all others; but God
+only requires that each of His creatures should render an account of what
+he has received, and free-will is the one thing that has been accorded
+indiscriminately to all men. Thus we find Saint Francis de Sales, who
+possessed in such a high degree sensible love of God and all the natural
+virtues, making this positive declaration: "The greatest proof we can
+have in this life that we are in the grace of God, is not sensible love
+of Him, but the firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or
+small."
+
+Pious persons can make use of the following prayers with profit when they
+are habitually or accidentally in the condition described above. They
+will then see how the will alone, without the aid of feeling, can produce
+acts of all the christian virtues.
+
+
+                           Act of Confidence.
+
+  I will go unto the altar of God. (Ps. XLII.)
+
+It is obedience, O my God! that leads me to Thy Holy Table: the tender
+words by which Thou hast invited us would not have sufficed to draw me,
+for in the troubled state of my soul I cannot be sure they are addressed
+to me. Misery and infirmity are claims for admission to Thy Feast, but
+nothing can dispense from the nuptial garment. Therefore when I turn my
+eyes on myself, after having raised them to Thee, I doubt, I hesitate, I
+tremble; for if I go from Thee I flee from life, and if I approach
+unworthily, to my other sins I add the crime of sacrilege.[27] But Thy
+merciful wisdom, O my God, whilst foreseeing our every need, has foreseen
+all our weaknesses and has prepared helps for us against both presumption
+and distrust. For if Thou hast not willed that, certain of Thy grace, we
+should ever advance with the assurance of the Pharisee and say like him:
+I come to the altar of the Lord because I know I am just in His eyes:
+neither hast Thou permitted that a sacrament of love should become for us
+a torture and an unavoidable snare. I therefore obey, O my God, and in
+the darkness that envelops me I wish to follow implicitly the guidance of
+him whom Thou hast appointed to lead me to Thee. I shall approach the
+Holy Table without wishing for any other warrant than the words spoken by
+my confessor, or rather by Thee: _You may receive Holy Communion_. I
+accept, O my God!--be it a well merited punishment or a salutary
+trial,--this privation of light and sensible devotion, this coldness and
+distraction, which accompany me even into Thy presence when all the
+faculties of my soul should be absorbed and confounded in sentiments of
+adoration and of love. Faith, hope and charity seem to be extinct in my
+heart, but I know that Thou never withdrawest these virtues when we do
+not voluntarily renounce them.
+
+
+                             Act of Faith.
+
+Notwithstanding, then, the doubts that cross my mind, _I wish to
+believe_, O my God! and _I do believe_ all that Thy holy Church has
+taught me. I have not forgotten that brilliant light of Faith which Thou
+didst cause to illumine my soul in the days of mercy in order that the
+precious remembrance of it should serve me as support in the days of
+trial and temptation.
+
+
+                              Act of Hope.
+
+In spite of these vague fears that seem to extinguish hope within my
+soul, I know that although Thou art the mighty and strong God before whom
+the cherubim veil themselves with their wings, the just and all-seeing
+God who discovers blemishes in the purest souls, still Thou wishest to be
+in the most Holy Sacrament only the Victim whose Blood effaces the sins
+of the world; the Good Shepherd who hastens after the strayed sheep and
+carries it tenderly and unreproachfully back to the fold; the divine
+Mediator who comes _not to judge but to save_.[28] All this I know, O my
+God! and therefore _I hope_.
+
+
+                              Act of Love.
+
+Notwithstanding the coldness and insensibility that benumb my soul, I
+know that _I love Thee_, O my God! since my will prefers Thy service to
+all the joys of this world, since Thy grace is the sole good to which I
+aspire, and because I suffer so much by reason of my lack of sensible
+love for Thee.
+
+
+                             Act of Desire.
+
+No, I am not indifferent, Thou knowest, O my God! that I am not
+indifferent to this Most Holy Sacrament which I approach unmoved by any
+sensible feeling: for Thou seest that although I find in Holy Communion
+neither relish nor consolation, I would yet make any sacrifice in order
+to receive it.
+
+
+                           Act of Contrition.
+
+I feel neither hatred nor horror of sins to which the world does not
+attach shame and contempt; I experience no sensible sorrow for the sins I
+have committed, but I know, O my God! that, with the assistance of Thy
+grace, my will denounces them, for I am resolved to commit them no more.
+I have taken this resolution because sin displeases Thee and because all
+that swerves from eternal order is abhorrent to Thy infinite sanctity. _I
+believe, then, that I am contrite_, O my God! because I believe in Thy
+promises, and if Thou dost not always grant us the consolation of
+realizing our contrition, Thou wilt never refuse its justifying virtue to
+those who humbly implore it; and this I do.
+
+No, my God, I shall not pray Thee to grant me sensible enjoyment, not
+even that of Thy spiritual gifts: what I implore of Thy grace is to keep
+my will ever turned towards Thee and never to permit it to fall or wander
+anew on the earth.
+
+_Lord! into Thy hands I commend my spirit._
+
+(Read _The Imitation_, Chapters IV., XIV., XV. of B. IV.; and Chapters
+XXV., XLVIII and LII of B. III.)
+
+
+If you have an ardent desire for the sensible love of God, a desire that
+cannot but be pleasing to Him provided you are at the same time resigned
+to be deprived of it, remember that according to Saint John Chrysostom it
+can be obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God wishes, says the Saint,
+to make us realize by experience that we cannot have His love but from
+Himself, and that this love, which is the true happiness of our souls, is
+not to be acquired by the reflections of our minds or the natural efforts
+of our hearts, but by the gratuitous infusion of the Holy Ghost. Yes,
+this love is so great a good that God wishes to be the sole dispenser of
+it: He bestows it only in proportion as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily
+makes us wait for some time before He grants it.
+
+There are few prayers better calculated to dispose the soul to receive
+this great grace than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the IVth. Book, and
+XXI. and XXXIV. of the IIId. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+For thanksgiving after Communion, read Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II. and
+X. of the III. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                               Footnotes
+
+
+[1]Saint Paul, I. Cor. x., 13, says: ... God is faithful, Who will not
+   suffer you to be tempted above what you are able: but will even make
+   with temptation an issue, that you may be able to bear it.
+
+[2]The Chevalier du Chambon de M�silliac, who translated this little work
+   of P. Quadrupani's into French, inserted much additional matter,
+   quotations for the most part from the same authorities frequently
+   cited by the Italian author. These selections he placed at the end of
+   each _Instruction_ under the title of "Additions." The English
+   translator has changed this arrangement into one which seems more
+   convenient and better calculated to maintain the connection of ideas.
+   Therefore the extracts chosen by the French translator are here
+   inserted in the body of the text, immediately following the paragraphs
+   which suggested them, and are marked by asterisks to distinguish them
+   from the original matter.
+
+[3]St. Francis de Sales.
+
+[4]Proverbs, XXX, 21-23: "By three things is the earth disturbed ... by a
+   bondwoman, when she is heir to her mistress...."
+
+[5]II. Cor., xii., 9.
+
+[6]John, vi, 57.
+
+[7]Matt. xi., 28.
+
+[8]Saint Luke, c. V. vv. 8-10.
+
+[9]Luke V., 32. Mark II., 17. Matthew IX., 13.
+
+[10]Epist. St. Paul to the Hebrews.
+
+[11]St. Paul to the Philippians, IV., 13.
+
+[12]Matt. X., 30.
+
+[13]Matt. X., 30:--Luke XII., 7.--"_Blessed are they that mourn, for they
+   shall be comforted._"
+
+[14]III Kings, C. XIX.
+
+[15]Ecce in pace est amaritudo mea amarissima. (Isaias.)
+
+[16]Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+[17]See P. Rodriguez, S. J., Christian Perfection, C. I.
+
+[18]Gen. I., 11.
+
+[19]Psalm CL., 5. _Let every spirit praise the Lord_.
+
+[20]Luke, IX., 54.
+
+[21]Ecclesiastes III., 7.
+
+[22]Ps. CL., 5.
+
+[23]St. Paul, I Cor. I., 13.
+
+[24]S. James, Cath. Ep. III., 14-15.
+
+[25]S. Paul, I Cor. XIII., 4-5.
+
+[26]Proverbs, XXVI., 5.
+
+[27]_Imitation_, B. IV., c. VI.: "For if I do not appeal to Thee, I fly
+   from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily I incur Thy
+   displeasure."
+
+[28]S. John, c. XII., v. 47: "For I came not to judge the world, but to
+   save the world."
+
+
+
+
+                           Translator's Notes
+
+
+--Corrected a few palpable typos.
+
+--Added several missing quotation marks and asterisks where unpaired ones
+  occurred.
+
+
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+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: Light and Peace
+       Instructions for devout souls to dispel their doubts and
+              allay their fears
+
+Author: Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38355]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT AND PEACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Veronica Brandt and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1>LIGHT AND PEACE.</h1>
+<hr />
+<p class="center"><b>INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+<br /><span class="small">TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND
+<br />ALLAY THEIR FEARS.</span></b></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="small">BY</span>
+<br />R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.</p>
+<p class="tbcenter"><i>Translated from the French.</i></p>
+<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">With an Introduction by
+<br />THE MOST REV. P. J. RYAN, D.D.,
+<br />Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.</span></p>
+<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">ST. LOUIS, MO. 1898.
+<br />Published by B. HERDER,
+<br />17 South Broadway.</span></p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_ii">[ii]</div>
+<p class="tbcenter">NIHIL OBSTAT.</p>
+<p><span class="lr"><span class="sc">F. G. Holweck</span>,</span>
+<span class="lr"><i>Censor Librorum</i>.</span></p>
+<p class="tbcenter">IMPRIMATUR.</p>
+<p>St. Louis, Mo., 1. Oct. 1897.
+<span class="lr"><span class="sc">H. Muehlsiepen</span>, <i>V. G.,</i></span>
+<span class="lr"><i>Adm.</i></span></p>
+<p class="tb"><i>The French translation, from which the present
+English version has been made, is approved by the
+Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Versailles and the
+Bishop of Meaux.</i></p>
+<p class="tbcenter">Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach.</p>
+<p class="tbcenter">&mdash;BECKTOLD&mdash;
+<br /><span class="small">PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
+<br />ST. LOUIS, MO.</span></p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_iii">[iii]</div>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">TRANSLATOR&rsquo;S PREFACE.</span></h2>
+<p>These <i>Instructions for Pious Souls</i>, now
+published in English under the title <i>Light
+and Peace</i>, were written in 1795 by the illustrious
+and saintly Barnabite, Padre Quadrupani.
+They contain a summary of spiritual
+guidance for earnest Christians in the ordinary
+duties of life in the world. The author had
+formed his own spirituality on the model presented
+by the life and teaching of St. Francis
+de Sales, and in this little book he reflects the
+wisdom, prudence and sweetness of that
+&ldquo;gentleman Saint.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The work has passed through uncounted
+editions in its original Italian, and through a
+large number of editions in both the French
+and the German translations. An English
+translation was published many years ago, but
+besides its present rarity, its many imperfections
+warrant the belief that a new rendition
+will not be unwelcome. The translator has,
+moreover, been encouraged by the persuasion
+that the maxims of Father Quadrupani are
+<span class="pb" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span>
+specially adapted to the American character.
+Unlike many foreign religious works, whose
+spirituality often fails to touch the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament, this author&rsquo;s teaching
+is decidedly practical and practicable, and
+appeals in every way to the common sense
+and fits in with the busy, matter-of-fact life
+of the average American Catholic.</p>
+<p>The present translation has been made from
+the twentieth French edition and has been
+collated with the thirty-second edition of the
+original Italian published at Naples in 1818.
+The many recommendations from the Episcopacy
+of France prefixed to the French translation
+are here omitted, as the Introduction by
+the Most Reverend Archbishop of Philadelphia
+is abundant testimony to the doctrinal solidity
+of the work.</p>
+<p><span class="lr">I. M. O&rsquo;R.</span>
+<span class="sc">Overbrook, PA.</span></p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_v">[v]</div>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">INTRODUCTION.</span></h2>
+<p>God&rsquo;s attributes being infinite and our intellects
+limited and also darkened by the
+fall, we see these attributes only in part and
+&ldquo;as afar off and through a glass.&rdquo; In contemplating
+His awful sanctity, we are overwhelmed
+with fear and forget His ineffable
+mercy. Our views are also greatly influenced
+by our natural temperaments, whether joyous
+or sad, and change with our environments
+and moods.</p>
+<p>As the blue firmament is ever the same, so
+is the great God Himself&mdash;&ldquo;the King of Ages
+immortal and invisible, without change or
+shadow of vicissitude.&rdquo; But as the clouds
+that hang as veils of the sanctuary are movable
+and variegated, now dark and gloomy
+and again brilliant in silver or gold, now
+opening into vistas of the firmament above
+and again closing in darkness, except when
+arrows of light pierce them and show their
+outlines, so are we variable and inconstant
+and need spiritual direction adapted to our
+peculiar wants. The naturally joyous, hopeful
+<span class="pb" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>
+and sometimes presumptuous, need that
+wholesome fear of the Lord which is &ldquo;the
+beginning of wisdom.&rdquo; The constitutionally
+severe, scrupulous and almost despairing,
+need to remember God&rsquo;s tender paternal
+character and to learn that &ldquo;His mercies are
+above all His works.&rdquo; To such souls this
+little book must prove invaluable. Its theology
+is sound, as the various episcopal approbations
+testify. Hence its statements can be
+entirely trusted. The fact that it has passed
+through twenty editions in French is sufficient
+evidence of its appreciation in that country.
+May it continue its holy mission of light and
+consolation and joy in this country and act
+like the angelic messenger to Peter in prison,
+liberating the soul from the chains of doubt
+and despondency, illuminating her by the
+light of God&rsquo;s holy truth and bringing her out
+of the darksome prison into the company of
+the confiding, prayerful, joyous saints of God.</p>
+<p><span class="lr">&#10016;P. J. RYAN.</span></p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_vii">[vii]</div>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">CONTENTS.</span></h2>
+<p class="center"><span class="small">PART FIRST.</span>
+<br /><i>Exterior Practices.</i></p>
+<dl class="toc">
+<dt class="jr">Page.</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c1">I. Spiritual Direction</a> 1</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c2">II. Temptations</a> 8</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c3">III. Prayer</a> 19</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c4">IV. Penance</a> 37</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c5">V. Confession</a> 43</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c6">VI. Holy Communion</a> 62</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c7">VII. Sundays and Holydays</a> 76</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c8">VIII. Spiritual Reading</a> 81</dt>
+</dl>
+<p class="center"><span class="small">PART SECOND.</span>
+<br /><i>Interior Life.</i></p>
+<dl class="toc">
+<dt><a href="#c9">IX. Hope</a> 85</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c10">X. The Presence of God</a> 90</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c11">XI. Humility</a> 93</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c12">XII. Resignation</a> 99</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c13">XIII. Scruples</a> 108</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c14">XIV. Interior Peace</a> 112</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c15">XV. Sadness</a> 116</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c16">XVI. Liberty of Spirit</a> 119</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c17">XVII. Christian Perfection</a> 130</dt>
+</dl>
+<p class="center"><span class="small">PART THIRD.</span>
+<br /><i>Social Life.</i></p>
+<dl class="toc">
+<dt><a href="#c18">XVIII. Charity</a> 146</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c19">XIX. Zeal</a> 153</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c20">XX. Meekness</a> 162</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c21">XXI. Conversation</a> 165</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c22">XXII. Dress</a> 173</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c23">XXIII. Human Respect</a> 176</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c24">XXIV. Resolutions</a> 178</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c25">XXV. Conclusion</a> 182</dt>
+<dt><a href="#c26">Additions</a> 186</dt>
+</dl>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_1">[1]</div>
+<h1>Light and Peace</h1>
+<p class="center"><span class="small"><b>INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS</b>
+<br />TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND ALLAY THEIR FEARS.</span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="small">By R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.</span></p>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">PART FIRST.</span>
+<br />EXTERIOR PRACTICES.</h2>
+<h3 id="c1">I.
+<br /><span class="small">SPIRITUAL DIRECTION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>For it is not you who speak, but
+the Holy Ghost. (<span class="scripRef">S. Mark, xiii, 11.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. It is absolutely true that in matters of
+conscience obedience to a spiritual director is
+obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
+ministers on earth: &ldquo;He that heareth you,
+heareth Me.&rdquo; (<span class="scripRef">St. Luke, x, 16.</span>)</p>
+<p>2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience
+can not be lost: a soul devoid of this
+spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)</p>
+<p>3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for
+the devil to tempt those who ignore obedience
+and permit themselves to be guided by their
+<span class="pb" id="Page_2">[2]</span>
+own light and deterred by their fears, for they
+act the devil&rsquo;s part towards themselves.</p>
+<p>4. Do not fear that your director may be
+mistaken in what he prescribes for your
+guidance, or that he does not fully understand
+the state of your conscience because you did
+not explain it clearly enough to him. Such
+doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed
+and thus frustrate the designs of God
+in placing you under the direction of a prudent
+guide. It was the priest&rsquo;s duty to have
+questioned you further had he not fully understood
+you, and that he did not do so is a positive
+proof that he knew enough to enable him
+to pronounce a safe judgment. God has
+promised his special help to those who represent
+Him in the direction of souls. Is not
+this assurance enough to induce you to obey
+with promptness and simplicity as the Holy
+Scripture commands?</p>
+<p>5. God does not show the state of our souls
+as clearly to us as he does to him who is to
+guide us in his place. You should be quite
+satisfied, then, if your director tells you the
+course you follow is the right one and that
+the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father
+are guiding you in it. You should believe and
+<span class="pb" id="Page_3">[3]</span>
+obey him in this as in all else, for as St. John
+of the Cross tells us, &ldquo;it betrays pride and
+lack of faith not to put entire confidence in
+what our confessor says.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for
+a Christian. Ignore, therefore, the groundless
+suspicion that you sin by obeying, and
+walk confidently in this path exempt from
+danger. &ldquo;You sometimes fear,&rdquo; says St.
+Bonaventure, &ldquo;that in obeying you act against
+the dictates of your conscience, whereas, on
+the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
+really increase your merit before God.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>7. We should allow obedience to regulate
+not only our exterior actions but likewise our
+mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied
+with performing the works it prescribes, but
+let your thoughts and desires be also moulded
+according to its direction. In fact, it is in
+this interior submission that the merit of
+spiritual obedience essentially consists.</p>
+<p>8. Obedience should be simple and
+prompt, without reservation or disquietude.
+Simple, because you ought not to argue
+about it, but decide by the one thought: <i><b>I</b>
+must obey</i>; prompt, for it is God whom you
+obey; without reservation, because obedience
+<span class="pb" id="Page_4">[4]</span>
+extends to everything that does not violate
+God&rsquo;s law; without disquietude, because in
+obeying God you cannot go astray: this
+thought should be sufficient to drive away all
+fear of doing or of having done wrong.</p>
+<p>9. When choosing a director, be careful to
+select one who has the necessary qualifications.
+He should be not only virtuous, but
+prudent, charitable and learned. St. Francis
+de Sales gives the following opinion on the
+subject:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go,&rdquo; said Tobias to his son, when about
+to send him into a strange country, &lsquo;go seek
+some wise man to conduct you.&rsquo; I say the
+same to you, Philothea. If you sincerely
+desire to enter upon the way of devotion, seek
+a good guide to direct you therein. This
+advice is of the utmost importance and necessity.
+Whatever one may do, says the devout
+Avila, he can never be certain of fulfilling
+God&rsquo;s will, unless he practice that humble
+obedience which the saints so strongly recommend
+and to which they so faithfully
+adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: &lsquo;A
+faithful friend is a strong defence: and he
+that hath found him, hath found a treasure:
+... a faithful friend is the medicine of life
+<span class="pb" id="Page_5">[5]</span>
+and immortality: and they that fear the Lord
+shall find one.&rsquo;
+(<span class="scripRef">Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.</span>)</p>
+<p>But who can find such a friend? They
+that fear God, the Wise Man answers&mdash;that
+is to say, those humble souls who ardently
+desire their spiritual progress. Since it is so
+essential, then, Philothea, to have a skilful
+guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to
+give you one according to His Heart, and
+rest assured that when an angel is necessary
+to you as to the young Tobias, He will give
+you a wise and faithful director.</p>
+<p>In fact, the selection once made, you should
+look upon your spiritual guide more as a
+guardian angel than as a mere man. You place
+your confidence not in him but in God, for it
+is God who will lead and instruct you through
+his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
+sentiments and words necessary for your
+guidance. Thus you may safely listen to him
+as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you
+there. To this confidence, add perfect candor.
+Speak quite frankly and tell him unreservedly
+all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the
+good will thus be strengthened, the evil
+weakened, and your soul shall thereby become
+<span class="pb" id="Page_6">[6]</span>
+firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in
+its consolations. Great respect should also be
+united with confidence and in such nice proportion
+that the one shall not lessen the other:
+let your confidence in him be such as a respectful
+daughter reposes in her father, your respect
+for him such as that with which a son confides
+in his mother. In a word, this friendship,
+though strong and tender, should be
+altogether sacred and spiritual in its nature.</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Choose one among a thousand,&rsquo; says Avila:
+&ldquo;among ten thousand, rather, I should say, for
+there are fewer than one would suppose fitted
+for this office of spiritual director. Charity,
+learning and prudence are indispensable to it,
+and if any one of these qualities be absent,
+your choice will not be unattended with danger.
+I repeat, ask God to inspire your selection
+and when you have made it thank Him
+sincerely, and then remain constant to your
+decision. If you go to God in all simplicity
+and with humility and confidence, you will
+undoubtedly obtain a favorable answer to
+your petition.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In conclusion, it may be well to remind you
+that the director and the confessor have not
+necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis
+<span class="pb" id="Page_7">[7]</span>
+de Sales was the spiritual director of many
+persons to whom he was not the ordinary confessor.
+&ldquo;To a director,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;we should
+reveal our entire soul, whereas to a confessor
+we simply accuse ourselves of our sins in order
+to receive absolution for them.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_8">[8]</div>
+<h3 id="c2">II.
+<br /><span class="small">TEMPTATIONS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>My brethren, count it all joy when
+ye shall fall into divers temptations.
+(<span class="scripRef">Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.</span>)</p>
+<p>Now if I do that which I will not,
+it is no more I that do it, but sin,
+which dwelleth in me.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. &ldquo;If we are tempted,&rdquo; says the Holy
+Spirit, &ldquo;it is a sign that God loves us.&rdquo;
+Those whom God best loves have been most
+exposed to temptations. &ldquo;Because thou wast
+acceptable to God,&rdquo; said the angel to Tobias,
+&ldquo;it was necessary that temptation should
+prove thee.&rdquo; (<span class="scripRef">Tobias, c. xii, v. 13.</span>)</p>
+<p>2. Do not ask God to deliver you from
+temptations, but to grant you the grace not to
+succumb to them and to do nothing contrary
+to His divine will. He who refuses the combat,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_9">[9]</span>
+renounces the crown. Place all your
+trust in God and God will Himself do battle
+for you against the enemy.<a class="fn" id="fr_1" href="#fn_1">[1]</a></p>
+<p>3. &ldquo;These persistent temptations come
+from the malice of the devil,&rdquo; says St. Francis
+de Sales, &ldquo;but the trouble and suffering they
+cause us come from the mercy of God. Thus,
+despite the will of the tempter, God converts
+his evil machinations into a distress which
+we may make meritorious. Therefore I say
+your temptations are from the devil and hell,
+but your anxiety and affliction are from God
+and heaven.&rdquo; Despise temptation, then, and
+open wide your soul to this suffering which
+God sends in order to purify you here that He
+may reward you hereafter.</p>
+<p>4. &ldquo;Let the wind blow,&rdquo; remarks the
+same Saint, &ldquo;and do not mistake the rustling
+of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly
+convinced that all the temptations of
+hell are powerless to defile a soul that does not
+love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations,
+yet God, through love, did not deliver
+<span class="pb" id="Page_10">[10]</span>
+him from them.&rdquo; Look upon God as an infinitely
+good and tender father and believe
+that He only allows the devil to try His children
+that their merits may increase and their
+recompense be correspondingly greater.</p>
+<p>5. The more persistent the temptation,
+the clearer it is that you have not given consent
+to it. &ldquo;It is a good sign,&rdquo; says St.
+Francis de Sales, &ldquo;when the tempter makes
+so much noise and commotion outside of the
+will, for it shows that he is not within.&rdquo; An
+enemy does not besiege a fortress that is
+already in his power, and the more obstinate
+the attack, the more certain We may be that
+our resistance continues.</p>
+<p>6. Your fears lead you to believe you are
+defeated at the very moment you are gaining
+the victory. This comes from the fact that
+you confound feeling with consent, and, mistaking
+a passive condition of the imagination
+for an act of the will, you consider that you
+have yielded to the temptation because you
+felt it keenly.</p>
+<p>*St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity,
+thus describes this warring of the
+flesh against the spirit:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are right, my dear daughter. There
+<span class="pb" id="Page_11">[11]</span>
+are two women within you ... and the two
+children of these different mothers quarrel,
+and the good-for-nothing one is so bad that
+sometimes the good one can scarcely defend
+herself, and then she takes it into her head
+that she has been worsted and that the wicked
+one is braver than she. Now, surely, this is
+not true. The bad one is not the stronger by
+any means, but only slyer, more persistent
+and more obstinate. When she succeeds in
+making you weep she is delighted, because
+that is always just so much time lost, and she
+is content to make you lose time when she
+cannot make you lose eternity.&rdquo;*<a class="fn" id="fr_2" href="#fn_2">[2]</a></p>
+<p>It is not always in our power to restrain
+<span class="pb" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+the imagination. St. Jerome had retired into
+the desert and still his fancy represented to
+him the dances of the Roman ladies. His
+body was benumbed, as it were, and his blood
+chilled by the severity of his mortifications,
+and yet the flames of concupiscence encompassed
+and tortured his heart. During these
+frightful conflicts the holy anchorite suffered,
+but he did not sin; he was tormented but was
+not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were
+augmented in the sight of God in proportion
+to the intensity of the temptations.</p>
+<p>7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont
+to say to the phantoms of his mind: I see you,
+but I do not look at you: I see you because
+it does not depend upon me that my imagination
+places before my eyes things I would
+wish not to see; I do not look at you because
+with my will I repulse and reject you. &ldquo;It
+is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary,&rdquo;
+says St. Augustine, &ldquo;that if not voluntary,
+it is not sin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>8. The attraction of the feelings towards the
+object presented by the imagination is at times
+so strong that the will seems to have been
+carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination.
+This, however, is not the case. The
+<span class="pb" id="Page_13">[13]</span>
+will suffered, but did not consent; it was
+attacked and wounded, but not conquered.
+This state of things coincides with what St.
+Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the
+spirit and of their unceasing warfare. The
+soul, indeed, experiences strange sensations,
+but as she does not consent to them, she
+passes through the ordeal unsullied, just as
+substances coated with oil may be immersed
+in water without absorbing a single drop
+of it.</p>
+<p>*St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction
+so plainly and yet so simply in one of his
+letters, that it may be useful to repeat the
+passage here: &ldquo;Courage, my dear soul, I say
+it with great love in Jesus Christ, dear soul,
+courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely,
+even though without feeling, My
+Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not
+tell me it appears to you that you say it in a
+cowardly way, and only by doing great
+violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy
+violence that bears away the kingdom of
+heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is
+a sign that the enemy has taken everything
+within our fortress except the impenetrable,
+unconquerable tower&mdash;and that can never
+<span class="pb" id="Page_14">[14]</span>
+be lost save by wilful surrender. This tower
+is the free-will which, perfectly visible to the
+eye of God, occupies the highest and most
+spiritual region of the soul, dependent on none
+but God and oneself; and when all the
+other faculties are lost and in subjection to
+the enemy, it alone remains free to give or
+to refuse consent. Now, you often see souls
+afflicted because the enemy, occupying all the
+other faculties, makes therein so great a noise
+and confusion that they scarce can hear what
+this superior will says; for though it has a
+clearer and more penetrating voice than the
+inferior will, the loud, boisterous cries of the
+latter almost drown it: but note this well:
+as long as the temptation is displeasing to
+you, there is nothing to fear; for why should
+it displease you, except because you do not
+will it?&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>9. Should it frequently happen that you
+have not a distinct consciousness of your success
+against temptation, it may be that God
+refuses you this satisfaction in order that, lacking
+this clear assurance, your knowledge
+may come through obedience. Therefore,
+when your spiritual director, after hearing
+your explanation, says that you have not given
+<span class="pb" id="Page_15">[15]</span>
+consent, you should be satisfied with his decision
+and abide by it with perfect tranquillity,
+discarding all fear that he did not understand
+you aright or that you did not explain the
+matter sufficiently. These doubts are but
+fresh artifices of the devil to rob you of the
+merit of obedience. As has been said above,
+to give way to such inquietude is to offend
+seriously against this virtue, for all direction
+would thus be rendered impossible, by the
+failure of the penitent to recognize God Himself
+in the person of his director.</p>
+<p>10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions
+must co-exist. First, the matter must
+be weighty; secondly, the mind must have
+full knowledge of the guilt of the action, omission
+or dangerous occasion in question; and,
+thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference
+for the forbidden action, culpable omission,
+or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
+consent. These reflections should serve to
+reassure your mind if the fear of having committed
+a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very
+difficult for this threefold union of conditions
+to be effected in a God-fearing soul. However,
+perfect security can come, and ought to
+come, only from spiritual obedience.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_16">[16]</div>
+<p>11. In temptations against faith and
+purity, do not make great efforts to form acts
+of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading
+glance towards God, without speaking even
+to this compassionate Friend concerning the
+thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root
+the evil suggestion more firmly. Then, without
+disquieting yourself, engage at once in
+some exterior occupation or continue what
+you were doing. Make no answer to the
+tempter, but ignore him, just as though his
+assault had never occurred. In this way,
+whilst preserving your own peace of soul, you
+will cover your enemy with confusion.</p>
+<p>*The same counsel is given by St. Francis
+de Sales in his characteristic style:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know how God acts on these
+occasions? He permits the wicked maker of
+such wares to come and offer them to us for
+sale, in order that by the contempt we show
+for them we may testify our love for holy
+things. And for this is it necessary, my dear
+child, to feel anxious, and to change our position?
+No, no. It is only the devil who is
+prowling around your soul, raging and storming,
+to see if he can find an open door.... What!
+and you would be annoyed at that?
+<span class="pb" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
+Let the enemy storm away; only be careful on
+your part to keep all the entrances well fastened,
+and finally he will grow weary; or if he
+do not, God will force him to raise the siege.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>12. Though you should be assailed by
+temptations during your entire life time, do
+not be disquieted, for your merits will increase
+in proportion to your trials and your crown be
+accordingly all the brighter in heaven. The
+only thing necessary is to remain firm in your
+resolution to despise the efforts of the tempter.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;This serious trial, and so many others
+that have assailed you and left you troubled in
+mind, do not at all surprise me, since there
+is nothing worse. Do not worry, then, my
+beloved daughter. Should we allow ourselves
+to be swept away by the current and the
+storm? Let Satan rage at the door; he may
+knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and
+do his worst, but rest assured that he can
+never enter our souls but through the door of
+our consent. Let us only keep that closed
+tight and often look to see that it is well
+secured and we need have no concern about
+all the rest&mdash;there is no danger.&rdquo;*&mdash;St.
+Francis de Sales.</p>
+<p>13. The most learned theologians and
+<span class="pb" id="Page_18">[18]</span>
+masters of the spiritual life agree in saying
+that simply to ignore a temptation is a much
+more effectual means to repulse it than words
+and acts of the contrary virtues. On this
+subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV.
+of the <i>Introduction to a Devout Life</i>. You will
+find much light and consolation in them. See
+also Chapter XII. of the <i>Spiritual Combat</i>,
+and Chapters VI., VII., XII., XX.,
+XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book of
+the <i>Imitation</i>.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_19">[19]</div>
+<h3 id="c3">III.
+<br /><span class="small">PRAYER.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God? I will suggest
+a help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast praised God.
+(S. Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)</p>
+<p>Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider
+heavenly things; and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt
+me as I pray.
+(Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. We ought to love meditation and should
+make it often on the Passion of our divine
+Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom
+fruits of humility, patience and charity.</p>
+<p>2. If you experience great dryness in your
+meditations or other prayers, do not feel distressed
+and conclude that God has turned His
+Face away from you. Far from it. Prayer
+said with aridity is usually the most meritorious.
+*It is quite a common error to confound
+the value of prayer with its sensible
+<span class="pb" id="Page_20">[20]</span>
+results, and the merit acquired with the satisfaction
+experienced. The facility and sweetness
+you may have in prayer are favors from
+God and for which you will have to account
+to him: hence the result is not merit but debt.
+(Read the <i>Imitation</i>, B. II, c. IX.)* The
+very fact that we derive less gratification from
+such prayer, makes it all the more pleasing to
+God, because we are thus suffering for love of
+him. Let us call to mind at such times that
+our Lord prayed without consolation throughout
+his bitter agony.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;All this trouble comes from self-love
+and from the good opinion we have of ourselves.
+If our hearts do not melt with tenderness,
+if we have no relish or sensible feeling
+in prayer, if we do not enjoy great interior
+sweetness during meditation, we are at once
+overwhelmed with sadness: if we find difficulty
+in doing good, if some obstacle is
+opposed to our pious designs, we give way to
+disquietude and are eager to conquer all this
+and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly
+because we love consolations, our own comfort,
+our own convenience. We wish to
+pray immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous
+that we may eat sugar; and we do not
+<span class="pb" id="Page_21">[21]</span>
+contemplate <i>our Saviour Jesus Christ, who,
+prone upon the ground, is covered with a sweat
+of blood</i> caused by the intense conflict He
+feels interiorly between the repugnances of
+the inferior portion of his soul and the resolutions
+of the superior.&rdquo;*&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.</p>
+<p>*The same teaching is given by another
+great master of the spiritual life:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We frequently seek the gratification and
+consolation of self-love in the testimony we
+desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are
+disturbed about our lack of sensible fervor,
+whereas in reality we never pray so well as
+when we are tempted to think we are not
+praying at all. We fear to pray badly then,
+but we should fear rather to give way to the
+vexation of our cowardly nature, to a philosophical
+infidelity, which ever wishes to
+demonstrate to itself its own operations&mdash;in
+fine, to an impatient desire to see and to feel
+in order to console ourselves.</p>
+<p>There is no penance more bitter than this
+state of pure faith without sensible support.
+Hence I conclude that it is freer than any
+other from illusion. Strange temptation! to
+seek impatiently for sensible consolation
+through fear of not being sufficiently penitent!
+<span class="pb" id="Page_22">[22]</span>
+Ah! Why not rather accept as a penance the
+deprivation of that consolation we are so
+tempted to seek?&rdquo;*&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.</p>
+<p>3. You will sometimes imagine that at
+prayer your soul is not in the presence of God
+and that only your body is in the church, like
+the statues and candelabras that adorn the
+altars. Think, then, that you share with
+those inanimate objects the honor of serving
+as ornaments for the house of God, and that
+in the presence of your Creator even this
+humble r&ocirc;le should seem glorious to you.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;You tell me that you cannot pray well.
+But what better prayer could there be than to
+represent to God again and again, as you are
+doing, your nothingness and misery? The
+most touching appeal beggars can make is
+merely to expose to us their deformities and
+necessities. But there are times when you
+cannot even do this much, you say, and that
+you remain there like a statue. Well, even
+that is better than nothing. Kings and princes
+have statues in their palaces for no other purpose
+than that they may take pleasure in
+looking at them: be satisfied then to fulfil the
+same office in the presence of God, and when
+it so pleases Him He will animate the
+statue.&rdquo;*&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_23">[23]</div>
+<p>4. When you have not consciously or
+voluntarily yielded to distractions, do not stop
+to find what may have been their cause, or to
+discover if you have in any way given occasion
+to them. This would be simply to weary
+and disquiet yourself unprofitably. From
+whatever direction they come, you can convert
+them into a source of merit by casting yourself
+into the arms of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis
+de Sales when asked how he prayed, replied:
+&ldquo;I cannot say it too often&mdash;I receive peacefully
+whatever the Lord sends me. If he
+consoles me, I kiss the right hand of his
+mercy; if I am dry and distracted, I kiss the
+left hand of his justice.&rdquo; This method is
+the only good one, for as the same Saint says:
+&ldquo;He who truly loves prayer, loves it for the
+love of God: and he who loves it for the love
+of God, wishes to experience in it naught
+but what God is pleased to send him.&rdquo; Now,
+whatever you may experience in prayer, is
+precisely what God wills.</p>
+<p>5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that
+merely to keep ourselves peacefully and tranquilly
+in the presence of God, without other
+desire or pretension than to be near him and
+to please him, is of itself an excellent prayer.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
+&ldquo;Do not exhaust yourself,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;in
+making efforts to speak to your dear Master,
+for you are speaking to Him by the sole fact
+that you remain there and contemplate Him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Remember that the graces and favors of
+prayer do not come from earth but from
+heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can
+acquire them, although, it is true, we must
+dispose ourselves for their reception diligently,
+yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to
+keep our hearts wide open and await the blessed
+dew from heaven. The following consideration
+should never be forgotten when we go to
+prayer, namely, that we draw near to God
+and place ourselves in His presence principally
+for two reasons. The first is to render to God
+the honor and the homage we owe Him, and
+this can be done without God speaking to us
+or we to Him, for the duty is fulfilled by
+acknowledging that He is our Creator and we
+are His vile creatures, and by remaining before
+Him, prostrate in spirit, awaiting His commands.
+The second reason is to speak to God
+and to listen to Him when He speaks to us by
+His inspirations and the interior movements
+of grace.... Now, one or other of these two
+advantages can never fail to be derived from
+<span class="pb" id="Page_25">[25]</span>
+prayer. If, then, we can speak to our Lord,
+let us do so in praise and supplication: if
+we are unable to speak, let us remain in his
+presence notwithstanding, offering him our
+silent homage; he will see us there, our
+patience will touch him and our silence will
+plead with him and win his favor. Another
+time, to our utter astonishment, he will take
+us by the hand, and converse with us, and
+make a hundred turns with us in his garden
+of prayer. And even should he never do
+this, still let us be content to know it is our
+duty to be in his retinue, and that it is a
+great favor and a greater honor for us that he
+suffers us in his presence.</p>
+<p>In this way we do not force ourselves to
+speak to God, for we know that merely to remain
+close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps
+more useful to us, though it may be less to
+our liking. Therefore when you draw near to
+our Lord speak to him if you can; if you
+cannot, stay there, let him see you, and do
+not be anxious about anything else.... Take
+courage, then, tell your Saviour you will not
+leave him even should he never grant you
+any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will
+remain before him until he has given you
+his blessing.&rdquo;*&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_26">[26]</div>
+<p>6. The same Saint gives further valuable
+advice as follows: &ldquo;Many persons fail to make
+a distinction between the presence of God in
+their souls and the consciousness of this adorable
+presence, between faith and the sensible
+feeling of faith. This shows a great want of
+discernment. When they do not realize
+God&rsquo;s presence dwelling within them, they
+suppose He has withdrawn himself through
+some fault of theirs. This is an ignorant and
+hurtful error. A man who endures martyrdom
+for love of God does not think actually and
+exclusively of God but much of his own sufferings;
+and yet the absence of this feeling of
+faith does not deprive him of the great merit
+due to his faith and the resolutions it caused
+him to make and to keep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>7. Your vocal prayers should be few in
+number but said with great fervor. The
+strength derived from food does not depend
+upon the quantity taken but upon its being
+well digested. Far better one Our Father or
+one Psalm said with devout attention than
+entire rosaries and long offices recited hurriedly
+and with restless eagerness.</p>
+<p>8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers&mdash;those
+not of obligation&mdash;that God invites you
+<span class="pb" id="Page_27">[27]</span>
+to meditate, gently and promptly follow this
+divine impulse. You may be sure that in
+doing so you make an exchange most profitable
+to yourself and agreeable to God from
+whom the inspiration comes.</p>
+<p>9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful
+recollection and begin it without agitation or
+uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to
+say on the subject: &ldquo;Some little time before
+you are going to pray, calm and compose your
+heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you
+begin without hope and already devoid of
+relish, you will find it difficult to regain an
+appetite.... The disquiet you experience in
+prayer, accompanied by great eagerness to
+discover some object that can fix and satisfy
+your thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent
+you finding what you seek. When a thing is
+searched for with too great eagerness, one may
+have his hands or his eyes almost upon it a
+hundred times and yet fail to perceive it.
+This vain and useless anxiety in regard to
+prayer can result in nothing but weariness of
+mind, and this in turn produces coldness and
+apathy in your soul.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>10. Be careful not to overburden yourself
+with too many prayers, either mental or vocal.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_28">[28]</span>
+As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness
+or distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible,
+and seek relief in some pleasant pastime, or
+conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
+This advice is given by St. Thomas
+and other learned Fathers of the Church and
+is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously,
+for lassitude of mind begets coldness
+and a kind of spiritual stupor.</p>
+<p>11. Never repeat a prayer, even should
+you have said it with many distractions. You
+cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties
+in which you may become entangled by the
+habit of repeating your prayers. Therefore I
+beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius&rsquo;
+time there was a certain religious of the
+Society of Jesus who was a victim of this
+kind of scruple. The recital of the daily
+Office always kept him much longer than
+was necessary because he would repeat again
+and again and for hours at a time any passage
+that he suspected had not been said with
+sufficient attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct
+him by various means, but in vain. At
+length the thought occurred that one scruple
+might be cured by another. He therefore
+commanded the poor Jesuit, under pain of sin
+<span class="pb" id="Page_29">[29]</span>
+and in virtue of religious obedience, to close
+his breviary every day at the end of a specified
+time, this being just enough to allow him to
+read the Office through once and rather
+quickly. The first day the religious was
+obliged to stop before he had half finished.
+This caused him such intense regret that ere
+long the fear of not being able to say the
+entire Office made him contract the habit of
+finishing it within the allotted time.*
+Begin your prayer with the desire of being
+very recollected. This is all that is necessary.
+&ldquo;A desire has the same value in the sight of
+God as a good work&rdquo;, says St. Gregory the
+Great, &ldquo;when the accomplishment of it does
+not depend upon our will.&rdquo; During these
+involuntary distractions God withdraws the
+sensible feeling of His presence, but His love
+remains in the depths of our hearts. St.
+Theresa, in the midst of dryness and distractions,
+was wont to say: &ldquo;If I am not praying
+I am at least doing penance.&rdquo; I should
+say: you are doing both the one and the
+other: you do penance by all that you are
+suffering, you pray by the desire and intention
+you have to do so.</p>
+<p>12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a
+<span class="pb" id="Page_30">[30]</span>
+point in your meditation even if you have had
+in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and
+feelings at variance with the words pronounced
+by your lips or with the sentiments you wished
+to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced
+to do it, even were these ideas and feelings
+injurious to God. Under such conditions,
+be careful not to give way to anxiety and
+agitation and do not try to make reparation for
+an imaginary offence. Continue your prayer
+in peace as if nothing had disturbed it, not
+taking the trouble to notice these dogs that
+come from the devil and that can bark around
+you while you pray in order to distract you, if
+may be, but that cannot bite you unless you let
+them. *&ldquo;This temptation should be treated
+exactly the same as temptations of the flesh: do
+not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the
+children of Israel who made no attempt to
+break the bones of the paschal lamb but cast
+them into the fire. You need not answer the
+enemy, nor even pretend to hear what he says.
+Let the wretch clamor at the door as much as
+he wants to, it is not even necessary to call:
+Who is there? What you tell me is no doubt
+true, you say, but he annoys me and the
+uproar he makes prevents those within from
+<span class="pb" id="Page_31">[31]</span>
+hearing one another speak. That makes no
+difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself
+before God and remain at his feet. He will
+understand from your very attitude, although
+you utter no words, that you are his and that
+you crave his help. Above all, however, keep
+yourself well within and do not on any account
+open the door, either to see who it is, or to
+drive the importunate fellow away. Eventually
+he will tire of shouting and will leave you
+in peace.&rdquo;*<a class="fn" id="fr_3" href="#fn_3">[3]</a>
+St. Augustine says that the devil
+is a formidable giant to those who fear him,
+but only a miserable dwarf to those who
+despise him.</p>
+<p>13. Should it happen that the whole time
+given to prayer be passed in rejecting temptations
+or in recalling your mind from its
+wanderings, and you do not succeed in
+giving birth to a single devout thought or
+sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority
+for saying that your prayer is nevertheless
+all the more meritorious from the fact of its
+being so unsatisfactory to you. It makes you
+more like to our divine Lord when he prayed
+in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount
+Calvary. &ldquo;Better to eat bread without sugar,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_32">[32]</span>
+than sugar without bread. We should seek the
+God of consolations, not the consolations of
+God: and in order to possess God in heaven,
+we must now suffer with him and for him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;When your mind wanders or gives way
+to distractions, gently recall it and place it
+once more close to its Divine Master. If you
+should do nothing else but repeat this during
+the whole time of prayer, your hour would be
+very well spent and you would perform a
+spiritual exercise most acceptable to God.&rdquo;*&mdash;St.
+Francis de Sales.</p>
+<p>14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding
+us to pray always our Saviour did
+not mean actual prayer, as that would be an
+impossibility. The desire to glorify God by all
+our actions suffices for the rigorous fulfilment
+of this precept, if this desire be habitual and
+permanent. &ldquo;You pray often,&rdquo; says St.
+Augustine, &ldquo;if you often have a desire to pay
+homage to God by your actions: you pray
+always if you always have this desire, no
+matter how you may be otherwise employed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Need we be surprised that St. Augustine
+often assures us that the whole Christian life
+is but one long, continual tending of our
+hearts towards that eternal justice for which
+<span class="pb" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
+we sigh here below? Our only happiness
+consists in ever thirsting for it, and this
+thirst is in itself a prayer; consequently if we
+always desire this justice, we pray always.
+Do not think it necessary to pronounce a great
+many words and to struggle much with one&rsquo;s
+self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God
+that his will may be done, to form some good
+desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for
+the riches he promises us, to sigh over our
+miseries and the danger we are in of displeasing
+him by violating His holy law. Now
+this requires neither science nor method nor
+reasoning; one can pray without any distinct
+thought; no head-work is necessary; only a
+moment of time and a loving effusion of the
+heart are needed; and even this moment may
+be simultaneously occupied with something
+else, for so great is God&rsquo;s condescension to our
+weakness that he permits us to divide it when
+necessary between him and creatures. Yes,
+during this moment you can continue what
+you were doing: it is sufficient to offer to God
+your most ordinary occupations, or to perform
+them with the general intention of glorifying
+him. This is the continual prayer required
+by St. Paul ... thought by many devout persons
+<span class="pb" id="Page_34">[34]</span>
+to be impracticable, but in reality very
+easy for those who know that the best of all
+prayers is to do everything with a pure intention,
+and frequently to renew the desire to
+perform all our actions for God and in accordance
+with his divine will.&rdquo;&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.*</p>
+<p>15. You should never omit or neglect the
+duties of your state of life in order to say certain
+self-imposed prayers. These duties are a
+substitute for prayers and are equally efficacious,
+St. Thomas teaches, for obtaining the
+graces you stand in need of and which are
+promised to those who ask them properly. It
+is even more meritorious to perform some
+work for the love of God, to whom we offer
+it, than merely to raise the soul to Him by
+actual prayer.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Every person is bound to observe
+strictly the duties of his particular calling.
+Whoever fails to do this, although he should
+raise the dead to life, is guilty of sin and
+should the sin be grave deserves damnation if
+he die therein. For example, bishops are
+obliged to make a visitation of their diocese
+in order to console and instruct their flock
+and to rectify whatever may be amiss. If I,
+a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost
+<span class="pb" id="Page_35">[35]</span>
+even though I spend my entire time in prayer
+and fast all my life.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>16. Make frequent use of the prayers
+called <i>ejaculations</i>,&mdash;which are short and loving
+aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
+According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations
+can in case of necessity replace all
+other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot
+supply for the omission of ejaculations.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Acquire the habit of making frequent
+ejaculations. They are sighs of love that dart
+upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor.
+It will greatly facilitate this custom if you
+keep in mind the point of your morning&rsquo;s
+meditation that you liked best and ponder it
+over during the day. In sickness let pious
+ejaculations take the place of all other prayers.&rdquo;&mdash;St.
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all
+times, wherever we are or whatever we may
+be doing. They might be compared to those
+aromatic pastilles, which we may always have
+about us and take from time to time to
+strengthen the stomach and please the palate.
+Ejaculations have a like effect on the soul
+by refreshing and fortifying it.</p>
+<p>18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine
+<span class="pb" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
+speaks, could not say long prayers, obliged
+as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
+Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place
+of all others for them, and it may be said that
+although laboring unceasingly they prayed
+continually.</p>
+<p>19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to
+accustom yourself to the profitable and easy
+practice of making frequent ejaculations. It
+is far preferable to saying many other vocal
+prayers, for these when too numerous are apt
+to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate
+and enlighten the soul.</p>
+<p>20. St. Theresa&rsquo;s opinion is that the body
+should be in a comfortable position when we
+pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind
+to pay the proper attention to prayer and to
+the presence of God. Do not then fatigue
+your body by remaining too long prostrate
+or kneeling: the important thing is that the
+soul should humble itself before God in sentiments
+of respect, confidence and love.</p>
+<p>Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the
+<i>Introduction to a Devout Life</i>.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_37">[37]</div>
+<h3 id="c4">IV.
+<br /><span class="small">PENANCE.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>A sacrifice to God is an afflicted
+spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
+O God, thou wilt not despise.
+(<span class="scripRef">Ps. L., 19.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas
+there are three ways of doing penance, namely,
+fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds&mdash;either
+corporal or spiritual. Therefore you must not
+suppose you are prevented from doing penance
+when not allowed to subject your body to
+severe fasts and painful mortifications. The
+other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving,
+can in this case take the place of
+corporal austerities in the fulfilment of the
+Christian duty of penance. Observe also that
+it is not in accordance with the spirit of the
+laws of God and of his Church, which prescribe
+fasting, to injure your health thereby,
+nor to hinder the accomplishment of the
+duties of your state of life.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_38">[38]</div>
+<p>2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse
+of fortune, dryness in prayer, all these
+when accepted with resignation are penitential
+works, such, too, as are the more agreeable to
+God from their being so distasteful to ourselves.
+All virtues may be divided into two great classes,
+active and passive. The characteristic of
+the active virtues is to do good, of the passive,
+to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second
+class are more meritorious and less perilous.
+In the active virtues nature can have a large
+share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or satisfaction
+in their effects, may easily glide into
+them. This danger is less to be feared in the
+practice of the passive virtues, especially when
+the sufferings are not of our own choosing
+but come to us direct from the hand of God.</p>
+<p>3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil
+cannot turn a soul away from the love of
+virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification,
+in order that it may thus become
+exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable to
+its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout
+people have fallen into this snare.</p>
+<p>4. &ldquo;I charge you,&rdquo; says St. Francis de
+Sales, &ldquo;to preserve your health carefully, for
+God exacts this of you, and to husband your
+<span class="pb" id="Page_39">[39]</span>
+strength so as to employ it in his service. It
+is even better to save more than the requisite
+amount of strength than to reduce it too
+much, for we can always lessen it at will,
+whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
+regain it.&rdquo; Therefore give your body the
+nourishment it needs to maintain its strength
+and health.</p>
+<p>5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas
+that in a celebrated conference held by the
+holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned
+religious of Egypt, it was decided that of all
+virtues moderation is the most useful, as it
+guards and preserves all the others. It is
+owing to the lack of this essential moderation
+in their devotional exercises and mortifications
+that many persons whilst seeking
+holiness find only ill health. As a consequence
+they eventually abandon the path of perfection,
+judging it impracticable because they
+have attempted to walk in it bound with
+fetters.</p>
+<p>6. St. Augustine makes the following apt
+comparison, which you can look upon as a
+good rule in this matter: &ldquo;The body is a
+poor invalid confided to the charity of the
+soul, the soul being commissioned to give it
+<span class="pb" id="Page_40">[40]</span>
+such assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst,
+fatigue, are its habitual ailments; let the soul
+then charitably apply to them the needful
+remedies, provided these be always within the
+bounds of moderation and prudence.&rdquo; He
+who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience
+to his Creator.</p>
+<p>7. From these various opinions it is easy
+to see how false are certain maxims met with
+in some ascetical works: for example, that it
+is of small consequence if one should shorten
+his life by ten or fifteen years in order to save
+his soul. If this were true, a much surer way
+would be to secure a still speedier death, and
+see to what that would lead. No: it is not
+permissible in ordinary practice to impose
+upon ourselves arbitrarily any kind of mortification
+that would directly tend to shorten life.
+&ldquo;To kill one&rsquo;s self with a single blow,&rdquo; says
+St. Jerome, &ldquo;or to kill one&rsquo;s self little by little&mdash;I
+make but slight distinction between these
+two crimes.&rdquo; Life, health and strength are
+blessings that have been given us in trust,
+and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as
+though they belonged to us absolutely.</p>
+<p>8. The example of those saints who practised
+extraordinary penances deserves our
+<span class="pb" id="Page_41">[41]</span>
+sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior
+acts that we should try to imitate them;
+to do this would necessitate being as holy as
+they were. Duplicate their miracles also,
+then, if you can. &ldquo;If we had to copy the
+saints in everything they did,&rdquo; says St. Frances
+de Chantal, &ldquo;it would be necessary to
+spend our life in a horrible cave like St. John
+Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon
+Stylites did, to live several weeks without
+other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist
+like St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a
+single ounce of food each day as St. Aloysius
+did.&rdquo; Aspirations to imitate the saints in
+what is extraordinary are the effect of secret
+pride and not of genuine virtue.</p>
+<p>*The French translator of these Instructions
+had a conversation in Rome with the
+learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven,
+on this subject. Speaking of the extraordinary
+fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius,
+Father Rozaven said: &ldquo;Do not let us confound
+cause and effect. It is not because he did
+these things that Ignatius became a saint: on
+the contrary, it is because he was already a
+saint that it was possible and permissible for
+him to do them.&rdquo; In truth every act that
+<span class="pb" id="Page_42">[42]</span>
+exceeds human strength is an act of presumption
+unless it be the result of a special inspiration,
+and the Church approves it only if she
+recognizes this divine impulse which alone can
+authorize a deviation from the general rule.
+It is owing to such an exception that she
+venerates among those who suffered for the
+faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint
+Flora and Saint Denys, notwithstanding the
+fact that they violated the law which forbids
+any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit
+influenced her in sanctioning the voluntary
+death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia,
+who might be called pious suicides were it
+allowable to connect two such contradictory
+words.&mdash;Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the
+<i>Introduction to a Devout Life</i>.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_43">[43]</div>
+<h3 id="c5">V.
+<br /><span class="small">CONFESSION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I said: I will confess against
+myself my injustice to the Lord,
+and thou hast forgiven the wickedness
+of my sin. (<span class="scripRef">Ps. XXXI, 5.</span>)</p>
+<p>But if any man sin, we have
+an advocate with the Father,
+Jesus Christ the Just.
+(<span class="scripRef">1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.</span>)</p>
+<p>Whose sins ye shall forgive,
+they are forgiven them: and
+whose ye shall retain, they are
+retained. (<span class="scripRef">St. John, c. XX. v. 23.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament
+of mercy. We should therefore approach
+it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis
+de Sales assures us that for those who go
+to confession once a week a quarter of an hour
+is enough for the examination of conscience,
+and a still shorter time for exciting contrition.
+Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for
+those who confess more frequently.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_44">[44]</div>
+<p>2. Faults omitted in confession either
+because they were forgotten or because they
+seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless
+effaced by the absolution. St. Francis de
+Sales has this to say on the subject: &ldquo;You
+must not feel worried if you cannot remember
+your sins when preparing for confession, for
+it is incredible that any one who often examines
+her conscience would overlook or be
+unable to recall such faults as are important.
+Neither should you be so keenly anxious to
+mention every minute imperfection, every
+trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these
+to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a
+humble heart, whenever you remark them.&rdquo;
+And do not imagine in consequence that you
+are guilty of secret sins which you are hiding
+from your confessor. This fear is an artifice
+made use of by the devil to disturb your peace
+of mind.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;You must not be so anxious to tell everything,
+nor to run to your superiors to make a
+great ado over each little thing that troubles
+you and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a
+quarter of an hour. We must learn to bear
+with generosity these trifles which we cannot
+remedy, for ordinarily they are only the consequences
+<span class="pb" id="Page_45">[45]</span>
+of our imperfect nature. That your
+will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant;
+that you are at one time moody, at another
+cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak,
+and presently feel the greatest aversion to do
+so; and a thousand similar insignificant matters
+are infirmities to which we are naturally
+prone and will be subject to as long as we live....
+It is needless to accuse yourself in confession
+of those fleeting thoughts that like
+gnats swarm around you, or of the disgust and
+aversion you feel in the observance of your
+vows and devotional exercises, for these things
+are not sins, they are only inconveniences,
+annoyances.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>3. Rest assured that the more closely you
+examine your conscience the less you will
+discover that is worth the trouble of telling.
+Moreover, you must remember that too long
+an examen fatigues the mind and cools the
+fervor of the heart.</p>
+<p>4. To those who in their confessions are
+inclined to confuse involuntarily movements
+with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
+following useful advice: &ldquo;You tell me that
+when you have experienced a strong feeling
+of anger, or have had any other temptation,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_46">[46]</span>
+you are always uneasy if you do not confess it.
+When you are not sure that you have given
+consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary
+to mention it except it may be in spiritual
+conference, and then not by way of accusation,
+but to obtain advice how to behave another
+time in like circumstances. For if you say:
+I accuse myself of having had movements of
+violent anger for two days, but I did not give
+way to them, you are telling your virtues, not
+your sins. A doubt comes into my mind,
+though, that I may have committed some fault
+during the temptation. You must consider
+maturely if this doubt have any foundation in
+fact, and if so, speak of the matter in confession
+with all simplicity; otherwise it is better
+not to mention it, as you would do so only for
+your own satisfaction. Even should this
+silence cost you some pain, you must endure
+it as you would any other to which you can
+apply no remedy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>5. &ldquo;Omit from your confessions&rdquo;&mdash;we
+again quote the same Saint&mdash;&ldquo;those superfluous
+accusations which so many persons make
+merely through habit: I have not loved God
+sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough
+fervor; I have not loved my neighbor as much
+<span class="pb" id="Page_47">[47]</span>
+as I should; I have not received the Sacraments
+with all the reverence due to them; and
+others of a like nature. You will readily see
+the reason for this. It is that in speaking
+thus you tell nothing particular that would
+make known to the confessor the state of your
+conscience, and because the most perfect man
+living, as well as all the saints in Paradise
+might say the same things were they making
+a confession.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>6. Those who go to confession frequently
+should always bear in mind what the saintly
+director says in addition: &ldquo;We are not obliged
+to confess our venial sins, but if we do so it
+must be with a firm resolution to correct them,
+otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to
+mention them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>7. After confession keep your soul in peace,
+and be on your guard&mdash;this is a point of cardinal
+importance&mdash;against giving access to any
+fear about the validity of the sacrament, either
+as regards the examination of conscience, the
+contrition, or anything else whatsoever.
+These fears are suggestions of the devil whose
+aim it is to instil bitterness into a sacrament
+of consolation and love.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;After confession is not the time to
+<span class="pb" id="Page_48">[48]</span>
+examine ourselves to find if we have told all
+our sins. We should rather remain attentively
+and in peace near our Lord, with whom We
+have just been reconciled, and thank Him for
+His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently
+to search out what we may have
+forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes
+to mind; after that we need think no more
+about it.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins&mdash;it
+is not essential to be troubled about them.
+Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety
+is an effect of self-love. In the midst of the
+keenest and most sincere repentance we can
+still thank God that He has not permitted us
+to become yet more culpable. Let us promise
+Him a solid amendment, relying for success
+solely upon the assistance of divine grace;
+and should we fall again a hundred times a
+day, let us never cease to renew the promise
+and the hope. God can in an instant raise up
+from the very stones children to Abraham and
+exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest
+degree of sanctity. At times He does so, but
+usually it is His will that we long continue
+to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us
+not then lose our trust in Him, nor mistake
+a state of trial for a state of reprobation.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_49">[49]</div>
+<p>*God has, indeed, on some occasions cured
+sinners instantaneously and without leaving
+in them any trace of their previous maladies.
+Such, for instance, was the case with the
+Magdalen. In a moment her soul was changed
+from a sink of corruption into a well-spring
+of perfection, never again to be contaminated
+by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of
+the beloved disciples this same God allowed
+many marks of their evil inclinations to remain
+for some time after their conversion, and this
+for their greater good. Witness Saint Peter,
+who, even after the divine call, was guilty of
+various imperfections and once fell totally and
+miserably by the triple denial of his Lord
+and Master.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Solomon says there is no one more insolent
+than a servant who has suddenly become
+mistress.<a class="fn" id="fr_4" href="#fn_4">[4]</a>
+A soul that after a long slavery to its
+passions should in a moment subjugate them
+completely, would be in great danger of becoming
+a prey to pride and vanity. This
+dominion must be gained little by little, step
+by step; it cost the saints long years of labor
+<span class="pb" id="Page_50">[50]</span>
+to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having
+patience with every one, but first of all with
+yourself.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven
+than to witness the persevering and determined
+struggle of a soul which, throughout,
+remains united to God by a sincere desire and
+a firm resolution not to offend him&mdash;and
+maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently
+even when it is to all appearance fruitless.
+Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects if it
+is God&rsquo;s will, yet determined notwithstanding
+to fight against them relentlessly, is more
+precious in the eyes of God than if the practice
+of virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful
+possession of spiritual gifts. Labor, then,
+in the presence of your heavenly Father;
+struggle on with strength and courage; but do
+not be too desirous of success, for when this
+craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is
+sure to be accompanied by vexation and impatience.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Evil things must not be desired at all,&rdquo;
+says Saint Francis de Sales, &ldquo;nor good things
+immoderately.&rdquo; And elsewhere: &ldquo;I entreat
+of you, love nothing too ardently, not even
+the virtues, for these we sometimes forfeit by
+<span class="pb" id="Page_51">[51]</span>
+exceeding the bounds of moderation.&rdquo; And
+again: &ldquo;Why is it that if we happen to fall
+into some imperfection or sin we are surprised
+at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient?
+Undoubtedly it is because we thought
+there was some good in us, and that we were
+resolute and strong. Consequently when we
+find this is not the case, that we have tripped
+and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed
+and troubled; whereas if we realized
+what we truly are, in place of being astonished
+at seeing ourselves down, we should wonder
+rather how we ever remain erect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We should labor, therefore, without any
+uneasiness as to results. God requires efforts
+on our part, but not success. If we combat
+with perseverance, nothing daunted by our
+defeats, these very defeats will be worth as
+much to us as victories, and even more. But
+beware!&mdash;there is a rock here! If this conflict
+is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we
+will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness
+of our efforts by calling the cowardice
+which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat,
+and by dignifying with the name of trial the
+results of our own effeminacy and sloth.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>9. Contrition is essentially an act of the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_52">[52]</span>
+will by which we detest our past sins and resolve
+not to commit them in future. Hence
+sighs, tears, sensible sorrow are not necessary
+elements of true contrition. Contrition can
+even attain that degree of disinterested perfection
+which suffices for the justification of a
+sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness
+and an apparent insensibility. Therefore
+never allow yourself to be disturbed by the
+want of sensible sorrow.</p>
+<p>10. Do not make violent efforts to excite
+your soul to contrition, for these only have
+the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and
+oppression of mind. On the contrary seek to
+become very calm; say lovingly to God that
+you wish sincerely you had never offended
+Him and that with the assistance of His grace
+you will never offend Him more&mdash;that is
+contrition. True contrition is a product of
+love, and love acts in a calm.</p>
+<p>11. &ldquo;An act of contrition,&rdquo; says St. Francis
+de Sales, &ldquo;is the work of a moment.&rdquo;
+Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and
+detest your sins, and another towards God to
+promise Him amendment and to express a
+hope of obtaining His assistance in keeping
+this promise. David, one of the most contrite
+<span class="pb" id="Page_53">[53]</span>
+penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of
+contrition in a single word: <i>Peccavi</i>&mdash;I have
+sinned, and by that one word he was justified.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;You ask how an act of contrition can be
+made in a short time? I answer that a very
+good one can be made in almost no time.
+Nothing more is needed than to prostrate
+oneself before God in a spirit of humility
+and of sorrow for having offended Him.&rdquo;&mdash;St.
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>12. You say you would wish to have contrition
+but cannot succeed in feeling it. Saint
+Francis de Sales replies: &ldquo;The ability to wish
+is a great power with God, and you thus have
+contrition by the simple fact that you wish to
+have it. You do not feel it indeed at the
+moment, but neither do you see nor feel a fire
+covered with ashes, nevertheless the fire
+exists.&rdquo; The immoderate desire of sensible
+sorrow comes from self-love and self-complacency.
+A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
+sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also;
+we like to find in our sensibility a flattering
+and reassuring testimony of our love of good.</p>
+<p>13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment
+of sensible sorrow, it is in order that
+you may gain the merit of obedience, which
+<span class="pb" id="Page_54">[54]</span>
+should suffice to reassure you as to your perfect
+reconciliation. Believe therefore with
+humility, obey with courage, and you will
+earn a twofold reward. The greatest saints
+have at times believed they had neither contrition
+nor love, but in the midst of this darkness
+of the understanding, their will followed
+the torch of obedience with heroic submission.</p>
+<p>14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition
+or that your confessions are defective,
+because you fall again into the same faults.
+It is very essential to make a distinction in
+regard to relapses. Those that are the offspring
+of a perverse will which has preserved
+an affection for certain venial sins, takes
+pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,&mdash;these
+should not be tolerated; we must
+vigorously attack them at the very root and
+not allow ourselves any respite until they are
+utterly exterminated. But those relapses that
+proceed from inadvertence, from surprise notwithstanding
+constant vigilance, from the
+infirmity and frailty of our nature, to these we
+shall remain partially subject until our last
+breath. &ldquo;It will be doing very well,&rdquo; says
+Saint Francis de Sales, &ldquo;if we get free of certain
+faults a quarter of an hour before our
+<span class="pb" id="Page_55">[55]</span>
+death.&rdquo; And elsewhere: &ldquo;We are obliged
+not only to bear with the failings of our
+neighbor, but likewise with our own and to
+be patient at the sight of our imperfections.&rdquo;
+We must try to correct ourselves, but we should
+do it tranquilly and without anxiety. We
+cannot become angels before the proper time.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;You complain that you still have many
+faults and failings notwithstanding your desire
+for perfection and a pure love of God. I
+assure you that it is impossible to be entirely
+divested of self whilst we are here below. We
+shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
+with us until God transfers us to heaven; and
+whilst we do this we carry something that is
+of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to
+have patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves
+in a day of the numerous bad habits
+contracted through past carelessness in regard
+to our spiritual welfare. Pray do not look
+here, there and everywhere: look only at God
+and yourself; you will never see God devoid
+of goodness, nor yourself without wretchedness
+and that wretchedness the object of God&rsquo;s
+goodness and mercy.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.
+(After the examination of conscience read the
+<i>Following of Christ</i>, B. III., Chap. XX.)*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_56">[56]</div>
+<p>*F&eacute;nelon speaks in the same tone: &ldquo;You
+should never be surprised or discouraged at
+your faults. You must bear with them patiently
+yet without flattering yourself or sparing
+correction. Treat yourself as you would
+another. As soon as you find you have committed
+a fault make an interior act of self-condemnation,
+turn to God to receive a penance,
+and then tell your fault with simplicity
+to your director. Begin over again to do well
+as though it were the first time, and do not
+grow weary if you have to make a fresh start
+every day. Nothing is more touching to the
+Sacred Heart of Jesus than this humble and
+patient courage. We should not be cast down
+if we have many temptations and even commit
+numerous faults. &lsquo;Virtue,&rsquo; says the Apostle,
+&lsquo;is made perfect in
+infirmity.&rsquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_5" href="#fn_5">[5]</a>
+Spiritual progress is effected less by sensible devotion,
+relish and spiritual consolations, than by
+means of interior humiliation and frequent
+recourse to God.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>15. Habitually add to your confession some
+general accusation of all the sins of your past
+life, or of such of them as occasion you most
+<span class="pb" id="Page_57">[57]</span>
+remorse. Say, for example, I accuse myself
+of sins against purity, or charity, or temperance.
+You thus preclude the possibility of
+there being lack of sufficient matter for the
+validity of the Sacrament.</p>
+<p>16. Banish from your mind the dread of
+having omitted any sins in either your general
+or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained
+their circumstances clearly enough.
+The learned theologian Janin sets forth the
+following rules on the subject: The Church, the
+interpreter of the will of Jesus Christ, requires
+sacramental integrity in confession, and not
+material integrity. The former consists in
+the confession of all the sins we can remember
+after a sufficient examination, the duration of
+which should be regulated by the actual state
+of the conscience. Material integrity would
+require a rigorously complete accusation of all
+the sins we have committed with their number
+and circumstances, without the slightest
+omission. Now sacramental integrity may be
+reasonably exacted since it exceeds no one&rsquo;s
+ability; whilst material integrity, on the contrary,
+could not be exacted without the sacrament
+becoming an impossibility; for, no
+matter how carefully we make our examination
+<span class="pb" id="Page_58">[58]</span>
+of conscience, some sin, or some detail
+in regard to number or circumstance, will
+always escape us. In a word, all that the
+Church demands of the faithful is a sincere
+and humble avowal of every sin that can be
+brought to mind after a suitable examen: for
+the rest, she intends good will to supply for
+any defect of memory.</p>
+<p>*Do not be uneasy because you fail to
+remember all your failings in order to tell
+them in confession. This is unnecessary, because
+as you often fall almost without being
+aware of it, so you often get up again without
+perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote
+it is not said that the just man sees or feels
+himself fall seven times a day, but simply that
+he falls seven times a day: in like manner he
+gets up again without noticing particularly
+that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety
+about this, but frankly and humbly confess
+whatever you remember, and commit the rest
+to the tender mercies of him who puts his
+hand under those who fall without malice
+that they may not be bruised, and raises them
+up again so gently and swiftly that they
+scarcely realize they had fallen.&mdash;St. Francis
+de Sales.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_59">[59]</div>
+<p>17. By a diligent examination of conscience
+you have thoroughly satisfied all the
+requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore
+banish whatever doubts and fears may
+come to beset you, for they are nothing but
+temptations.</p>
+<p>18. Should you suspect that you failed to
+fulfil these requirements owing to not having
+been particular enough about your examination
+of conscience, you may feel sure that
+your confessor has by prudent interrogations
+supplied for whatever may have been wanting
+on your part. And if he did not question you
+further it was due to the fact that he understood
+clearly enough the nature of your sins
+and the state of your soul, and this is the
+object of sacramental accusation.</p>
+<p>19. How great then is the error of those
+poor souls who wish continually to make their
+general confessions over again, either through
+fear of incomplete examination or of insufficient
+sorrow; and how blameworthy the
+weak complaisance of those confessors who
+offer no opposition to their doing so! If such
+fears were to be listened to, every one would
+be obliged to pass his entire life in making
+and repeating general confessions, for they
+<span class="pb" id="Page_60">[60]</span>
+would incessantly spring up afresh and even
+the greatest saints would not be exempt from
+them. A sacrament of consolation and love
+would thus be transformed into a perfect torture
+for the soul&mdash;an heretical perversion
+anathematized by the Council of Trent.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;I have found in your general confession
+all the marks of a sincere, good and earnest
+confession. Never have I heard one that
+more thoroughly satisfied me. You may rely
+on this, for in these matters I speak very
+plainly. However, if you really omitted something
+that ought to have been told, consider
+if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in
+which case, if it was a mortal sin or you
+thought it one at the time, you would undoubtedly
+have to make the confession over
+again. But if it were only a venial sin, or
+though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness
+or some defect of memory, have no
+scruples; for at my soul&rsquo;s peril, I assure you
+there is no obligation to repeat your confession.
+It will be quite sufficient to mention
+the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will
+answer for this.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>20. It is the teaching of the saints and
+doctors of the Church that when a general
+<span class="pb" id="Page_61">[61]</span>
+confession has been made with a sincere and
+upright intention and with a desire to change
+one&rsquo;s life, the penitent should remain in peace
+in regard to it, and not make it over again
+under any pretext whatsoever. Those who do
+otherwise recall to their memory things that
+should be banished from it, and increase the
+trouble of their soul by a too eager desire to
+purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so
+well expresses it: <i>the harder we sweep, the
+more dust we raise</i>.</p>
+<p>21. Remember, in conclusion, that according
+to the common opinion of the saints, the
+fear of sin is no longer salutary when it
+becomes excessive.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_62">[62]</div>
+<h3 id="c6">VI.
+<br /><span class="small">HOLY COMMUNION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood,
+ye shall not have life in you.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. John, c. vi., v. 54.</span>)</p>
+<p>And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
+come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once
+to make excuse.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.</span>)</p>
+<p>And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Mark, c. viii., v. 3.</span>)</p>
+<p>My heart is withered; because I forgot to eat my bread.
+(<span class="scripRef">Ps. ci.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious
+of all means to unite us to God. &ldquo;He
+that eateth my flesh,&rdquo; said our divine Saviour,
+&ldquo;abideth in Me and I in
+him.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_6" href="#fn_6">[6]</a></p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_63">[63]</div>
+<p>2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist
+<i>the love of loves</i>. Hence you should desire
+to receive it frequently in order to be filled
+with this divine love.</p>
+<p>3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two
+classes of persons who should often receive
+holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves
+more closely to the Source of all perfection,
+and the imperfect to labor to attain
+perfection; the strong that they may not become
+weak, the weak that they may become
+strong; the sick that they may be cured, and
+those in health that they may be preserved
+from sickness. You tell me that your imperfections,
+your weakness, your littleness make
+you unworthy to receive communion frequently;
+and I assure you it is precisely because
+of these that you ought to receive it frequently
+in order that He who possesses all things
+may give you whatever is wanting to you.</p>
+<p>*The following words on this subject will
+not perhaps be considered by others as giving
+much additional value to the authority of the
+saintly Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however,
+in ours, because they are from the lips
+of a holy religious whose memory will always
+be dear to us&mdash;&mdash;from a man whose last moments
+<span class="pb" id="Page_64">[64]</span>
+were the occasion of the greatest edification
+it has ever pleased God to accord us. The
+Rev. Father Margottet, a Jesuit, died at Nice,
+April 1st, 1835, shortly after his return from
+Portugal where he had suffered a most cruel
+captivity with the courage that faith alone
+can inspire. During the last months of
+his life he took great pleasure in conversing
+with a certain young man who visited
+him regularly to be instructed and edified
+by his pious discourse. One day this young
+man confided to him the confusion he felt in
+availing himself of his director&rsquo;s permission
+to receive holy Communion several times
+a week. This was due especially to the
+thought that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice of
+the Society of Jesus, went to Communion on
+Sundays only. &ldquo;Come, come, my dear sir,&rdquo;
+laughingly replied the good Father, &ldquo;continue
+your frequent Communions&mdash;you need them
+much more than St. Aloysius did.&rdquo; It is
+indeed an error to consider holy Communion
+a reward of virtue, and, in a measure, a guage
+of perfection, whereas it is above all a means
+to attain perfection, and the one pre-existing
+virtue required in order to employ this means
+is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord
+<span class="pb" id="Page_65">[65]</span>
+did not say: <i>Venite ad me qui perfecti estis</i>&mdash;<i>Come
+to Me all ye who are perfect</i>: He said:
+<i>Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati
+estis</i><a class="fn" id="fr_7" href="#fn_7">[7]</a>&mdash;<i>Come
+to me all ye who labor and are burdened</i>.
+(Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part II., of the
+<i>Introduction to a Devout Life</i>; and Chapters X.
+and XVI. Book IV. of <i>The Imitation</i>.)</p>
+<p>The spirit of the Church has at all times
+been the same in regard to this important
+subject. F&eacute;nelon says in his letter on frequent
+Communion that St. Chrysostom admits of no
+medium between the state of those who are
+in mortal sin and that of the faithful who are
+in a state of grace and communicate every
+day. In vain certain Christians, believing
+themselves purified and just, do no penance as
+sinners and nevertheless abstain from Communion,
+because, they say, they are not perfect
+enough to receive it. This intermediate state
+is not only most dangerous for one who wilfully
+remains in it, but is also injurious to the
+Blessed Sacrament. Far from doing honor to
+the Holy Eucharist by depriving ourselves of
+it, we offend our divine Lord when we decline
+to partake of the Banquet to which He invites
+us. In a word, according to this early Father
+<span class="pb" id="Page_66">[66]</span>
+of the Church, we ought either to communicate
+with those who are in a state of grace,
+or to do penance that we may be united to
+them as soon as possible.</p>
+<p>We will quote the Saint&rsquo;s own words:
+&ldquo;Many of the faithful are weak and languishing,
+many among them sleep. And how,
+you say, does this happen since we receive
+the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That
+is precisely the cause of all the trouble! For
+you imagine that merit consists not so much
+in purity of conscience as in the length of time
+intervening between your Communions. You
+consider no higher mark of respect and honor
+can be paid to this Sacrament than not to
+approach the Holy Table often.... Temerity
+does not consist in approaching the Altar
+frequently, but in approaching it unworthily
+were this but once in an entire life time....
+Why then regulate the number of Communions
+by the law of time, instead of by purity of
+conscience, which should alone indicate how
+many times to receive? This divine Mystery
+is nothing more at Easter than at all other
+seasons during which it is celebrated continually.
+It is ever the same, that is to say,
+ever the same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter
+<span class="pb" id="Page_67">[67]</span>
+continues throughout the year. You who are
+initiated will understand perfectly what I say.
+Be it Saturday, or Sunday, or the feasts of the
+martyrs, it is always the same Victim, the
+same Sacrifice.&rdquo; &ldquo;It was not the will of our
+divine Lord that His Sacrifice should be restricted
+by the observance of time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Other Fathers of the Church speak in the
+same way of Holy Communion:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If it is daily bread,&rdquo; says Saint Ambrose,
+&ldquo;why do you partake of it but once a year?...
+Receive it every day in order that every day
+you may benefit by it. Live in such a manner
+that you may deserve to receive it every day,
+for he who does not deserve to receive it every
+day will not deserve to receive it at the end of
+the year.... Do you not know that every time
+the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death, resurrection
+and ascension of our Lord are renewed
+to the atonement of sin? And yet you will not
+partake daily of this Bread of Life! When
+one has received a wound does he not seek a
+remedy? Sin which holds us captive is our
+wound: our remedy is in this ever adorable
+Sacrament.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In order that it may be plainly proved that
+the faithful of the present day have no reason
+<span class="pb" id="Page_68">[68]</span>
+to act differently in this respect from those of
+the primitive Church, let us see how this ancient
+discipline has been confirmed in later
+times by the Council of Trent:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Christians should believe in this Sacrament
+and reverence it with such a firm faith, with
+so much fervor and piety, that they may often
+receive this Super-substantial Bread; that it
+may be, in truth, the life of their soul and the
+perpetual health of their spirit, and that the
+strength they derive therefrom may enable
+them to pass from the temptations of this
+earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly
+fatherland.... The Council would have
+the faithful receive Communion each time
+they assist at Mass, not only spiritually, but
+sacramentally, that they may derive more
+abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>4. The evening before your Communion
+devote some little time to recollection in order
+to ponder the inestimable gift that God is
+about to bestow upon you, and endeavor also
+to excite in your soul the desire and the hope
+of finding therein your delight.</p>
+<p>5. Do not conclude that you derive no
+benefit from Holy Communion because you
+find no perceptible increase in your virtues.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
+Consider that it at least serves to keep you in
+a state of grace. You give nourishment to
+your body every day but you do not pretend
+to say that it daily gains in strength. Does
+food appear useless to you on that account?
+Certainly not; for, though it fail to augment
+strength, it preserves it by repairing the constant
+waste. Now, this is precisely the case
+with the divine Food of our souls.</p>
+<p>*Observe, moreover, that there is no real
+increase in virtue without a corresponding
+growth in humility. Consequently the more
+virtuous you are the less so you will esteem
+yourself; the worthier you are to approach
+your God, the more profoundly will you feel
+your unworthiness. For man, no matter to
+what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be
+otherwise than weak and sinful here below,
+and he realizes his baseness more and more
+distinctly in proportion to his advancement in
+grace and in light.</p>
+<p>F&eacute;nelon speaks as follows on the same subject:
+&ldquo;Hitherto you lacked the light to discover
+in your soul many movements of our
+malicious and depraved nature, which now
+begin to reveal themselves to you. In proportion
+as light increases we find ourselves
+<span class="pb" id="Page_70">[70]</span>
+more corrupt than we supposed: but we should
+be neither surprised nor discouraged, for it is
+not that we are in reality worse than we were,&mdash;on
+the contrary we are better,&mdash;but because
+whilst our sinfulness decreases the light which
+shows it to us increases.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared
+for Holy Communion and abuse the Sacrament
+because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent,
+and devoid of feeling. This is a trial
+sent or permitted by God to test your faith
+and to advance you in merit. All that has
+been said in regard to dryness in prayer might
+be repeated here. Try to have an abiding
+desire to feel for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent
+transports of love as were ever experienced by
+the saints. A desire is equivalent before God
+to the thing desired, as I have already quoted
+for you from Saint Gregory the Great; therefore
+you should be satisfied with this when
+you can attain nothing higher. Everything
+over and above this is grace, not merit.</p>
+<p>7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion
+often because you are not worthy, then you
+must never receive it, for you will never be
+worthy. What creature could be worthy to
+receive a God? Nay more, to follow out this
+<span class="pb" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+principle We should have to abandon the
+practice of visiting churches and of speaking
+to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
+human being is unfit to enter the House of
+the Lord or to converse with Him.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;How many scrupulous Christians do
+we not see languishing for want of this divine
+Food! They consume themselves with subtle
+speculations and sterile efforts, they fear, they
+tremble, they doubt, and they vainly seek
+for a certainty that cannot be found in this
+life. Sweetness, unction, are not for them.
+They wish to live for God without living by
+him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they
+are close to the Fountain of Living Water
+and yet allow themselves to die of thirst.
+They desire to fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not
+dare to nourish themselves interiorly: they
+wish to carry the burden of the law without
+imbibing its spirit and its consolation from
+prayer and frequent Communion!&rdquo;&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.*</p>
+<p>8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore,
+do not confine yourself to a consideration
+of your own unworthiness, but temper this
+with the thought of God&rsquo;s mercy. The
+guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,&mdash;a
+<span class="pb" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
+figure of the Holy Eucharist,&mdash;were not the
+great and the rich, but the poor, the blind,
+the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial
+garment, that is to say, whosoever is in a
+state of grace, is welcome to this banquet.</p>
+<p>9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we
+cannot go to Holy Communion without giving
+annoyance to others, or without failing against
+duties of charity, justice or order, we should
+be satisfied with spiritual Communion. &ldquo;Believe
+me,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;this mortification, this
+deprivation, will be extremely pleasing to
+God and will advance you greatly in His love.
+One must sometimes take a step backward in
+order to leap the better.&rdquo; It was not by frequent
+Communion that the holy anchorites
+sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance
+of the duties of their calling. Saint
+Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion
+but twice during his long, penitential life,
+nevertheless he was precious in the sight of
+God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis
+de Sales gives us this admirable advice: &ldquo;In
+proportion as you are hindered from doing the
+good you desire, do all the more ardently the
+good that you do not desire. You do not like
+to make such or such an act of resignation,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_73">[73]</span>
+you would prefer to make some other; but
+offer the one you do not like, for it will be of
+far greater value.&rdquo; Saint John the Baptist
+was more intimately united in spirit with our
+Lord than even the Apostles themselves: yet
+he never became one of His followers owing
+to the fact that his vocation required this
+sacrifice on his part and called him elsewhere.
+This is the greatest act of spiritual mortification
+recorded in the lives of the saints.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;I have often admired the extreme resignation
+of Saint John the Baptist, who remained
+so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord,
+without going to see, hear and follow Him.
+And after baptizing Jesus, how could he have
+allowed Him to depart without uniting himself
+to Him with his bodily presence, as he was
+already so united to Him by the ties of affection!
+Ah! the divine Precursor knew that
+in his case the Master was best served by
+deprivation of His actual presence. Well,
+my dear daughter, it will be the same with
+you in regard to Holy Communion. I mean
+that for the present God will be pleased if in
+accordance to the wish of the superiors whom
+He has placed over you, you endure the privation
+of His actual presence. It will be a great
+<span class="pb" id="Page_74">[74]</span>
+consolation to me to know that this advice
+does not disquiet your heart. Rest assured
+that this resignation, this renunciation will be
+exceedingly beneficial to you.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis
+de Sales.*</p>
+<p>11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy
+Eucharist because you happen to be beset by
+temptations; this would be to capitulate to
+your enemy without offering any resistance.
+The more combats you have to sustain, the
+greater the necessity of providing yourself
+with the means of defence, and these are to be
+found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go courageously
+then and renew your strength with
+the Food of the strong and victory shall be
+yours.</p>
+<p>12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy
+Table because such and such a person does
+so: an imitation common for the most part to
+women&rsquo;s vanity and jealousy, says Saint
+Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
+divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the
+Blessed Sacrament: love alone should lead us
+to receive it.</p>
+<p>13. Holy Communion should not be partaken
+of with the same frequency by all the
+faithful. All, indeed, must have the same
+<span class="pb" id="Page_75">[75]</span>
+object in view, that is union with God, but
+the same means to attain that object are not
+proper for every one. It is only by obedience
+to the advice of a spiritual director that each
+person can know what is suitable for him, as
+that which would be too little for one might
+be too much for another.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_76">[76]</div>
+<h3 id="c7">VII.
+<br /><span class="small">SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>The sabbath was made for man,
+and not man for the sabbath.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Mark, c. II., v: 27.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Every day of our life should be employed
+in glorifying God, but there are certain days
+He has particularly appointed whereon to
+receive from us a more special exterior worship.
+These are Sundays and holydays.</p>
+<p>2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to
+sanctify such days. The ordinary means of
+fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of
+charity, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the
+Sacraments, sermons, religious instructions,
+and spiritual reading.</p>
+<p>3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing
+the mind and wearying the body by
+too many exercises of devotion. Excess even
+in holy things is wrong, as virtue ends where
+excess begins. All that was said on this subject
+in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable
+here.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_77">[77]</div>
+<p>4. Moreover it is well to know that a
+friendly visit, a walk, a lawful diversion, all
+of which can be referred to God, serve also
+for the sanctification of Sundays and holydays,
+when undertaken with a view to please Him.
+The same may be said of such daily occupations
+as are required of man by his bodily
+needs.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;How often we are mistaken in our point of
+view! I tell you once again it is not the outward
+aspect of actions that we must look at, but
+their interior spirit, that is to say, whether or
+not they are according to the will of God. By
+no means regard the nature of the things you
+do, but rather the honor that accrues to them,
+worthless as they are in themselves, from the
+fact that God wishes them, that they are in
+the order of his providence and disposed by
+His infinite wisdom. In a word, if they are
+pleasing to God, and recognized as being so,
+to whom should they be displeasing?&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>5. These things are said for the instruction
+of those who are eager and anxious on
+Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap
+devotion upon devotion and who make a crime
+of everything that is not an exterior act of
+<span class="pb" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to
+the material observance of the sabbath, following
+the superstitious custom of the Pharisees,
+instead of peacefully sanctifying the Lord&rsquo;s
+day with that sweet and holy liberty of spirit
+which our divine Saviour teaches in the
+Gospel. Too much dissipation and over long
+prayers are two extremes each of which it is
+equally necessary to avoid.</p>
+<p>6. Should it happen that you are obliged
+to travel on Sunday or to attend to some unforseen
+business, do not be disquieted about
+the impossibility of fulfilling your customary
+devout exercises. Replace these with pious
+ejaculations, which, as I have already said,
+can in case of necessity supply for the omission
+of all other prayers.</p>
+<p>7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at
+a low Mass suffices strictly speaking for the
+sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even
+this may be omitted by those persons whom
+duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind the
+house, or to take care of young children; for
+these being works of justice and charity and
+good in themselves, may, when performed
+with a pure intention and accompanied by
+<span class="pb" id="Page_79">[79]</span>
+ejaculatory prayers, equal and even surpass in
+value all exterior practices of devotion.</p>
+<p>I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their
+sufferings they can sanctify every day and
+make each one equal to the greatest festival.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Worldly notions are forever blending
+with our thoughts and throwing them out of
+perspective. In the house of an earthly
+prince it is not so honorable to be a scullion
+in the kitchen as to be a gentleman-in-waiting.
+But it is different in the house of God, where
+those in the humblest positions are oft-times
+the most worthy; for although they labor and
+drudge it is done for the love of God and in
+fulfilment of His divine will; and the true
+value of our actions is fixed by this divine will
+and not by their exterior character. Therefore
+he who truly loves God&rsquo;s will in the
+accomplishment of his duties, does not allow
+his affections to become engaged in any of his
+spiritual exercises; and so, if sickness or accident
+interfere with them he experiences no
+regret. I do not say indeed that he does
+not love his devotions, but that he is not
+attached to them.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;If you have a sincere regard for the virtues
+of obedience and submission, I wish that,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_80">[80]</span>
+should justice or charity demand it, you would
+forego your pious exercises, which would be a
+sort of obedience, and that this omission
+should be supplied by love. I told you on
+another occasion: the less we live according
+to our own liking, and the less option we have
+in our actions, the more goodness and solidity
+will there be in our devotion. It is right and
+proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order
+to oblige others for love of Him.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_81">[81]</div>
+<h3 id="c8">VIII.
+<br /><span class="small">SPIRITUAL READING.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Blessed is the man whom Thou
+shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt
+teach him out of Thy Law.
+(<span class="scripRef">Ps. XCIII, v. 12.</span>)</p>
+<p>All scripture divinely inspired,
+is profitable to teach, to reprove,
+to correct, to instruct in justice.
+(<span class="scripRef">S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what
+food is to the body. Be careful, therefore, to
+select such books as will furnish your soul
+with the best nourishment. I would recommend
+you to become familiar especially with
+the works of Saint Francis de Sales.</p>
+<p>2. When the choice of reading matter is
+made by the advice of a spiritual director the
+teaching it contains should be looked upon as
+coming from the mouth of God.</p>
+<p>3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints
+in which the supernatural and marvellous
+predominate. The devout imagination becomes
+inflamed by such reading and is imbued
+<span class="pb" id="Page_82">[82]</span>
+with vain and useless desires: it leads some
+to aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget
+or the raptures of Saint Joseph of Cupertino,
+others to imitate the mortifications of the
+Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring
+extraordinary graces, they neglect, to their
+great detriment, ordinary duties and real
+obligations. Take great care, then, not to
+allow yourself to be absorbed in those wonderful
+characteristics of the saints which we
+should be content to admire; give preference
+rather to their simple and interior virtues, for
+these alone are imitable for us.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;We ought not to wish for extraordinary
+things, as, for example, that God would take
+away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine
+of Sienna&rsquo;s, and give us His in return. But
+we should desire that our poor hearts no longer
+live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
+Saviour, and this will be the best way of
+imitating Saint Catherine, for we shall thus
+become meek, humble and charitable.... True
+holiness consists in love of God, and not in
+foolish imaginations and dreamings that nourish
+self-love whilst they undermine obedience
+and humility. The desire to have ecstacies
+and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather
+<span class="pb" id="Page_83">[83]</span>
+to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness,
+of self-renunciation and docility, of
+ready compliance with the wishes of others.
+Thus we shall emulate the saints in what is
+more real and more admirable for us than
+ecstacies.&rdquo;&mdash;St. Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>4. Use still greater precautions in regard
+to ascetical works. Many of these are carelessly
+written, confound precepts with counsels,
+badly define the virtues by not showing
+the limits beyond which they become extravagances,
+and entertain the reader with trifling
+and purely exterior practices that are more apt
+to flatter self-love than to reform the heart.</p>
+<p>5. It has been remarked very justly by a
+learned theologian that the ignorance and indiscreet
+zeal of certain writers of ascetical
+books have furnished the heretics of later
+times with arms to attack our holy religion
+and to turn it into ridicule.</p>
+<p>6. A judicious author expresses himself
+thus on the same subject: &ldquo;In order to write
+on spiritual matters it is not enough to have
+great piety,&mdash;great learning is also necessary.
+A man actuated by the best motives in the
+world may yet have strange delusions, and
+feed his imagination with devout extravagances.&rdquo;
+<span class="pb" id="Page_84">[84]</span>
+An author should be equally well
+versed in theory and experienced in practice,
+otherwise he will err either in regard to principles
+or to their application. There is a well
+known saying generally attributed to Saint
+Thomas: &ldquo;If a man be good and holy let him
+pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him
+teach us.&rdquo; It is essential, in matters of religion
+especially, to give none but true and precise
+ideas, or else they will do more harm than
+good. Doctrines that are not exact create
+scruples in weak souls and invite the criticisms
+of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite
+the railleries of free-thinkers and furnish arguments
+to unbelievers.</p>
+<p>7. Almost every day we find ascetical
+works published which contain many inaccuracies
+of the kind described. Exercise great
+care, therefore, in the selection of this kind of
+reading or you may injure your soul instead of
+sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult
+your director on the subject.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_85">[85]</div>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">PART SECOND.</span>
+<br />INTERIOR LIFE.</h2>
+<h3 id="c9">IX.
+<br /><span class="small">HOPE.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Casting all your solicitude upon
+Him for He hath care of you.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.</span>)</p>
+<p>Let Thy mercy descend upon
+us according to the trust we have
+placed in Thee.
+(Cant. Saint Ambrose.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. &ldquo;Blessed is the man who hopes in the
+Lord,&rdquo; says the Holy Spirit. The weakness
+of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness
+in regard to the Christian virtue of hope.</p>
+<p>2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who
+hopes for nothing will obtain nothing; he who
+hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes
+for all things will obtain all things.</p>
+<p>3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater
+than all the sins of the world. We should
+not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration
+of our own wretchedness, but rather turn our
+thoughts to the contemplation of this divine
+attribute of mercy.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_86">[86]</div>
+<p>4. &ldquo;What do you fear?&rdquo; says Saint Thomas
+of Villanova: &ldquo;this Judge whose condemnation
+you dread is the same Jesus Christ who
+died upon the Cross in order not to condemn
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our
+sins should awaken in us. When Saint Peter
+said to his divine Master: &ldquo;<i>Depart from me,
+O Lord, for I am a sinful man,</i>&rdquo; what did
+our Saviour reply? &ldquo;<i>Noli timere,</i>&mdash;fear
+not.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_8" href="#fn_8">[8]</a>
+Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy
+Scriptures we always find hope and love preferred
+to fear.</p>
+<p>6. Our miseries form the throne of the
+divine mercy, we are told by Saint Francis de
+Sales, for if in the world there were neither
+sins to pardon, nor sorrows to soothe, nor
+maladies of the soul to heal, God would not
+have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine
+essence. This was our Lord&rsquo;s reason for saying that He
+came into the world not for the just but for
+sinners.<a class="fn" id="fr_9" href="#fn_9">[9]</a></p>
+<p>7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to
+God, but He does not on their account cease
+to cherish our souls.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_87">[87]</div>
+<p>*It is unnecessary to observe that this
+applies only to such faults as are due to the
+frailty inherent in our nature, and against
+which an upright will, sustained by divine
+grace, continually struggles. A perverse will,
+without which there can be no mortal sin,
+alienates us from God and renders us hateful
+in His eyes as long as we are subject to it.
+At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King
+receives with love the poor, the blind, and the
+lame who are clothed with the nuptial garment,&mdash;that
+is to say, all those whom a desire
+to please God maintains in a state of grace
+notwithstanding their natural defects and
+frailty: but his rigorous justice displays itself
+against him who dares to appear there without
+this garment. This distinction, found everywhere
+throughout the Gospels, is essential in
+order to inspire us with a tender confidence
+when we fall, without diminishing our horror
+for deliberate sins.*</p>
+<p>A good mother is afflicted at the natural
+defects and infirmities of her child, but she
+loves him none the less, nor does she refuse
+him her compassion or her aid. Far from it;
+for the more miserable and suffering and deformed
+<span class="pb" id="Page_88">[88]</span>
+he may be the greater is her tenderness
+and solicitude for him.</p>
+<p>8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and
+indulgent High-Priest who knows how to compassionate
+our weakness, Jesus Christ, who
+has been pleased to become at once our Brother and our
+Mediator.<a class="fn" id="fr_10" href="#fn_10">[10]</a></p>
+<p>9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by
+wondering what destiny awaits you in eternity.
+Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it
+is much safer there than if in your own keeping.</p>
+<p>10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the
+opinion of Saint Francis de Sales, can not be
+cured by arguments, but by submission and
+humility.</p>
+<p>11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when
+tempted by the devil to a sin of despair,
+retorted: &ldquo;I have not merited heaven, I
+know that as well as you do, Satan; but I also
+know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has
+merited it for me. It was not for Himself
+that He purchased so many merits,&mdash;but for
+me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him
+and in Him that I shall save my soul.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_89">[89]</div>
+<p>12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected
+by fear and doubt, raise your desires
+rather to great virtues and to the most sublime
+perfection. God loves courageous souls, Saint
+Theresa assures us, provided they mistrust
+their own strength and place all their reliance
+upon Him. The devil tries to persuade you
+that it is pride to have exalted aspirations and
+to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints;
+but do not permit him to deceive you by this
+artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed
+in making you fall into weakness and
+irresolution.</p>
+<p>To aspire to the noblest and highest ends
+gives firmness and perseverance to the soul.
+(Read <i>The Imitation</i>, B. III, C. XXX.)</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_90">[90]</div>
+<h3 id="c10">X.
+<br /><span class="small">THE PRESENCE OF GOD.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Walk before Me and be perfect.
+(<span class="scripRef">Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.</span>)</p>
+<p>I have lifted up my eyes to
+the mountains, from whence
+help shall come to me.
+(<span class="scripRef">Psalm CXX, v. 1.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. The constant remembrance of God&rsquo;s
+presence is a means of perfection that Almighty
+God Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham.
+But this practice must be followed
+gently and without effort or disturbance of
+mind. The God of love and peace wishes
+that all we do for Him should be done lovingly
+and peacefully.</p>
+<p>2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think
+actually and uninterruptedly of God. In this
+world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at
+every moment distracted by our occupations,
+our necessities, our imagination. We but
+exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to
+lead before the proper time an existence similar
+to that of the angels and saints.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_91">[91]</div>
+<p>3. Frequently the fear comes to you that
+you have failed to keep yourself in the presence
+of God, because you have not thought of
+Him. This is a mistaken idea. You can,
+without this definite thought, perform all
+your actions for love of God and in His presence,
+by virtue of the intention you had in
+beginning them. Now, to act is better than
+to think. Though the doctor may not have
+the invalid in mind while he is preparing the
+medicine that is to restore him to health,
+nevertheless it is for him he is working, and
+he is more useful to his patient in this way
+than if he contented himself with merely
+thinking of him. In like manner when you
+fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you
+eat or walk, devote yourself to study or to
+manual labor, though it be without definitely
+thinking of God, you are acting for Him, and
+this ought to suffice to set your mind at rest
+in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint
+Paul does not say that we must eat, drink and
+labor with an actual remembrance of God&rsquo;s
+presence, but with the habitual intention of
+glorifying Him and doing His holy will. We
+fulfil this condition by making an offering
+each morning to God of all the actions of the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_92">[92]</span>
+day and renewing the act interiorly whenever
+we can remember to do so.</p>
+<p>4. For this purpose, make frequent use of
+ejaculatory prayers. We have already spoken
+of them. Accustom yourself to make these
+pious aspirations naturally and without effort,
+and let them for the most part be expressive
+of confidence and love.</p>
+<p>5. Should it happen that a considerable
+space of time elapses without your having
+thought distinctly of God or raised your heart
+to Him by any loving ejaculation, do not
+allow this omission to worry you. The servant
+has performed his duty and deserves well of
+his master when he has done his will, even
+though he may not have been thinking of him
+the while. Always bear in mind the fact
+that it is better to work for God than to think
+of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual
+value when it results in action: action is
+meritorious in itself by virtue of the good
+intention which preceded it.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_93">[93]</div>
+<h3 id="c11">XI.
+<br /><span class="small">HUMILITY.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>If I glorify myself, my glory
+is nothing.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.</span>)</p>
+<p>For behold I was born in iniquities:
+and in sins did my
+mother conceive me.
+(<span class="scripRef">Psalm L., v. 7.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Few persons have a correct idea of this
+virtue. It is frequently confused with servility
+or littleness.</p>
+<p>2. To attribute to God what is God&rsquo;s, that
+is to say everything that is good, and to ourselves
+what is ours, that is to say, everything
+that is evil: these are the essential characteristics
+of true humility.</p>
+<p>*Hence it would appear at first sight that
+simple good sense ought to suffice to make
+men humble. Such would be the case were
+it not that our faculties have been impaired
+and vitiated in their very source by pride,
+that direful and ineffaceable consequence of
+original sin. The first man, a creature owing
+<span class="pb" id="Page_94">[94]</span>
+his existence directly to God, was bound to
+dedicate it entirely to Him and to pay continual
+homage for it is as for all the other gifts
+he had received. This was a duty of simple
+justice. The day whereon he asserted a
+desire to be independent, he caused an utter
+derangement in the relations of the creature
+with his Creator. Pride, that tendency to
+self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the
+faculties received from God&mdash;pride, introduced
+into the soul of the first man by a free act of his
+will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma
+to the souls of all his descendants, and has
+become forevermore a part of their nature.
+Thence comes this inclination, ever springing
+up afresh, to be independent, to be something
+of ourselves, to desire for ourselves esteem,
+affection and honor, despite the precepts of the
+divine law, the claims of justice and the warnings
+of reason; and thus it is that the whole
+spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict
+against this vicious propensity. Divine
+grace though sustaining us in the combat
+never gives us a complete victory, for the
+struggle must endure until death,&mdash;the closing
+chastisement of our original degradation and
+the only one that can obliterate the last
+<span class="pb" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
+traces thereof.
+(See <i>Imitation</i>, B. III., Ch. XIII.&mdash;XXII.)*</p>
+<p>3. As God drew from nothingness everything
+that exists, in like manner does He wish
+to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection
+upon the knowledge of our nothingness.
+Saint Bonaventure used to say: <i>Provided
+God be all, what matters it that I am nothing!</i></p>
+<p>4. When a Christian who is truly humble
+commits a fault he repents but is not disquieted,
+because he is not surprised that what
+is naught but misery, weakness and corruption,
+should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
+He thanks God on the contrary that
+his fall has not been more serious. Thus
+Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found
+she had been guilty of some imperfection,
+would calmly exclaim: <i>Another weed from my
+garden!</i> This peaceful contemplation of our
+sinfulness was considered very important by
+Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: &ldquo;Let
+us learn to bear with our imperfections if we
+wish to attain perfection, for this practice
+nourishes the virtue of humility.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>5. Some persons have the erroneous idea
+that in order to be humble they must not
+recognize in themselves any virtue or talent
+<span class="pb" id="Page_96">[96]</span>
+whatsoever. The reverse is the case according
+to Saint Thomas, for he says it is necessary
+to realize the gifts we have received that we
+may return thanks for them to Him from
+whom we hold them. To ignore them is to
+fail in gratitude towards God, and to neglect
+the object for which He gave them to us. All
+that we have to do is to avoid the folly of
+taking glory to ourselves because of them.
+Mules, asses and donkeys may be laden with
+gold and perfumes and yet be none the less
+dull and stupid animals. The graces we have
+received, far from giving us any personal
+claims, only serve to increase our debt to Him
+who is their source and their donor.</p>
+<p>6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us
+than censure. There is nothing sinful in this
+preference, for it springs from an instinct of
+our human nature of which we cannot entirely
+divest ourselves. Only the praise must be
+always referred to Him to whom it is due,
+that is to say, to God; for they are His gifts
+that are praised in us as we are but their
+bearers and custodians and shall one day have
+to render Him an account for them in accordance
+with their value.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_97">[97]</div>
+<p>7. The soul that is most humble will also
+have the greatest courage and the most generous
+confidence in God; the more it distrusts
+itself, the more it will trust in Him on whom
+it relies for all its strength, saying with Saint
+Paul: <i>I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth
+me</i>.<a class="fn" id="fr_11" href="#fn_11">[11]</a>
+Saint Thomas clearly
+proves that true Christian humility, far from
+debasing the soul, is the principle of everything
+that is really noble and generous. He
+who refuses the work to which God calls him
+because of the honor and &eacute;clat that accompany
+it, is not humble but mistrustful and
+pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience
+light to show us with certainty that to which
+we are called and to preserve us from the illusions
+of self-love and of our natural inclinations.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;We should be actuated by a generous and
+noble humility, a humility that does nothing
+in order to be praised and omits nothing that
+ought to be done through fear of being
+praised.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>8. It is even good and sometimes necessary
+to make known the gifts we have received
+<span class="pb" id="Page_98">[98]</span>
+from God and the good works of which divine
+grace has made us the instruments, when this
+manifestation can conduce to the glory of His
+name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification
+of the faithful. It was for this threefold
+object that Saint Paul spoke of his apostolic
+labors and supernatural revelations.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_99">[99]</div>
+<h3 id="c12">XII.
+<br /><span class="small">RESIGNATION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Yea, Father: because so it
+has pleased Thee.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.</span>)</p>
+<p>O my Father, if it be possible,
+let this chalice pass from
+me. Nevertheless not as I
+will, but as Thou wilt.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Matthew, c. XXVI., v. 39.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. We should recognize and adore the will
+of God in everything that happens to us.
+The malice of men, nay of the devil himself,
+can cause nothing to befall us except what
+is permitted by God. Our divine Lord has
+declared that not a hair of our heads can fall
+unless by the will of our Heavenly
+Father.<a class="fn" id="fr_12" href="#fn_12">[12]</a></p>
+<p>2. Therefore in every condition painful to
+nature, whether you are afflicted by sickness,
+assailed by temptations, or tortured by the
+injustice of men, consider the divine will and
+say to God with a loving and submissive heart:
+<i>Fiat voluntas tua</i>&mdash;Thy will be done: O my
+<span class="pb" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
+Saviour, do with me what Thou willest, as
+Thou willest, and when Thou willest.</p>
+<p>3. By this means we render supportable
+the severest pain and the most trying circumstances.
+&ldquo;Do you not feel the infinite
+sweetness contained in that one sentence, <i>the
+will of God?</i>&rdquo; asks Saint Mary Magdalen de
+Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses,
+that drew from the water all its bitterness, it
+sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.</p>
+<p>4. Without this practice, so comformable
+to faith, and without the light and strength
+that result from it, the pains and afflictions of
+life would become unbearable. This is what
+Saint Philip de Neri meant when he said: It
+rests with man to place himself even in this
+life either in heaven or in hell: he who suffers
+tribulations with patience enjoys celestial
+peace in advance; he who does not do so has
+a foretaste of the torments of hell.</p>
+<p>5. Not only is it God who sends or permits
+our troubles, but He does so for the good of
+our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do
+not, then, make a matter of complaint that
+which should be a motive for gratitude.</p>
+<p>6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the
+cross is the royal door to the temple of sanctity,
+<span class="pb" id="Page_101">[101]</span>
+and the only one by which we can enter
+it. One moment spent upon the cross is
+therefore more conducive to our spiritual
+advancement than the anticipated enjoyment
+of all the delights of heaven. The happiness
+of those who have reached their destination
+consists in the possession of God: to suffer
+for the love of Him is the only true happiness
+which those still on the way can expect to
+attain. Our Lord declared that those who
+mourn during this exile are <i>blessed</i>, for they
+shall be consoled eternally in their celestial
+fatherland.<a class="fn" id="fr_13" href="#fn_13">[13]</a></p>
+<p>7. Notice that I say, <i>to suffer for the love
+of God</i>, for, as Saint Augustine remarks, no
+person can love suffering in itself. That is
+contrary to nature, and moreover, there would
+no longer be any suffering if we could accept
+it with natural relish. But a resigned soul
+loves to suffer, that is she loves the virtue of
+patience and ardently desires the merits that
+result from the practice of it. A calm and
+submissive longing to be delivered from our
+cross if such be the will of God, is not inconsistent
+with the most perfect resignation.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_102">[102]</span>
+This desire is a natural instinct which supernatural
+grace regulates, moderates, and teaches
+us to control, but which it never entirely
+destroys. Our divine Saviour Himself, to
+show that He was truly man, was pleased to
+feel it as we do, and prayed that the chalice
+of His Passion might be spared Him. Hence
+you are not required to be stolidly indifferent
+or to arm yourself with the stern insensibility
+of the Stoics; that would not be either resignation,
+or humility, or any virtue whatsoever.
+The essential thing is to suffer with Christian
+patience and generous resignation everything
+that is naturally displeasing to us. This is
+what both reason and faith prescribe.</p>
+<p>*The Redeemer of the World seems to
+wish to show us in His Agony the degree of
+perfection which the weakness of human
+nature can attain amidst the anguish of sorrow.
+In the inferior portion of the soul
+where the faculty of feeling resides, instinctive
+repugnance to suffering, humble prayer for
+relief if it please God to accord it; and in the
+superior portion of the soul where the will
+resides, entire resignation if this consolation
+be denied. A desire for more than this, unless
+called to it by a special grace, would be foolish
+<span class="pb" id="Page_103">[103]</span>
+pride, as we should thus attempt to change
+the conditions of our nature, whereas our
+duty is to accept them in order to combat them
+and to suffer in so doing.
+(See <i>Imitation</i>, B. III., Ch. XVIII-XIX.)</p>
+<p>In the following terms Saint Francis de
+Sales proposes to us this same example of our
+Saviour&rsquo;s resignation during His agony:
+&ldquo;Consider the great dereliction our Divine
+Master suffered in the Garden of Olives. See
+how this beloved Son, having asked for consolation
+from His loving Father and knowing
+that it was not His will to grant it, thinks no
+more about it, no longer craves or looks for it,
+but, as though He had never sought it, valiantly
+and courageously completes the work of
+our redemption. Let it be the same with you.
+If your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny you
+the consolation you have prayed for, dismiss
+it from your mind and animate your courage
+to fulfil your work upon the cross as if you
+were never to descend from it nor should ever
+again see the atmosphere of your life pure
+and serene.&rdquo;
+(Read <i>The Imitation</i>. B. III., Chapters XI and XV.)</p>
+<p>The same Saint also gives us some sublime
+lessons in resignation applied to the trials and
+<span class="pb" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
+temptations that beset the spiritual life. He
+draws them from this great and simple thought
+that serves as foundation for the Exercises of
+Saint Ignatius, namely, that salvation being
+the sole object of our existence, and all the
+attendant circumstances of life but means for
+attaining it, nothing has any absolute value;
+and that the only way of forming a true estimate
+of things is to consider in how far they are
+calculated to advance or retard the end in
+view. Accordingly, what difference does it
+make if we attain this end by riches or poverty,
+health or sickness, spiritual consolation or
+aridity, by the esteem or contempt of our
+fellow-men? So say faith and reason; but
+human nature revolts against this indifference,
+as it is well it should, else how could we acquire
+merit? Hence there is a conflict on this point
+between the flesh and the spirit, and it is this
+conflict that for a Christian is called life. (On
+this subject read <i>The Imitation</i>, B. II., Ch.
+XI.; and B. III., Ch. XVIII., XIX., XXXVII.,
+XLIX., L. and the prayer at the end of Ch.
+XXVII.)</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would to God,&rdquo; he says elsewhere,
+speaking on the same subject, &ldquo;that we did
+not concern ourselves so much about the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_105">[105]</span>
+road whereon we journey, but rather would
+keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon
+that blessed country whither He is conducting
+us. What should it matter to us if it
+be through deserts or pleasant fields that we
+walk, provided God be with us and we be
+advancing towards heaven?... In short, for
+the honor of God, acquiesce perfectly in his
+divine will, and do not suppose that you can
+serve him better in any other way; for no one
+ever serves him well who does not serve him
+as he wishes. Now he wishes that you
+serve him without relish, without feeling,
+nay, with repugnance and perturbation of
+spirit. This service does not afford you any
+satisfaction, it is true, but it pleases him; it
+is not to your taste, but it is to his.... Mortify
+yourself then cheerfully, and in proportion
+as you are prevented from doing the good
+you desire, do all the more ardently that
+which you do not desire. You do not wish to
+be resigned in this case, but you will be so in
+some other: resignation in the first instance
+will be of much greater value to you.... In
+fine, let us be what God wishes, since we are
+entirely devoted to him, and would not wish
+to be anything contrary to his will; for were
+<span class="pb" id="Page_106">[106]</span>
+we the most exalted creatures under heaven, of
+what use would it be to us, if we were not in
+accord with the will of God?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And again: &ldquo;You should resign yourself
+perfectly into the hands of God. When you
+have done your best towards carrying out
+your design (of becoming a religious) he will
+be pleased to accept everything you do, even
+though it be something less good. You cannot
+please God better than by sacrificing to
+him your will, and remaining in tranquillity,
+humility and devotion, entirely reconciled
+and submissive to his divine will and good
+pleasure. You will be able to recognize these
+plainly enough when you find that notwithstanding
+all your efforts it is impossible for
+you to gratify your wishes.</p>
+<p>For God in his infinite goodness sometimes
+sees fit to test our courage and love by depriving
+us of the things which it seems to us
+would be advantageous to our souls; and if
+he finds us very earnest in their pursuit, yet
+humble, tranquil and resigned to do without
+them if he wishes us to, he will give us more
+blessings than we should have had in the possession
+of what we craved. God loves those
+<span class="pb" id="Page_107">[107]</span>
+who at all times and in all circumstances can
+say to him simply and heartily: <i>Thy will be
+done</i>.&rdquo;*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_108">[108]</div>
+<h3 id="c13">XIII.
+<br /><span class="small">SCRUPLES.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 12.</span>)</p>
+<p>Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear,
+because fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfect
+in charity.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. John, I. Epist., c. IV., v. 18.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. There are persons who look upon scrupulosity
+as a virtue, confounding it with delicacy
+of conscience, whereas it is, on the contrary,
+not only a defect but one of a most
+dangerous character. The devout and learned
+Gerson says that a scrupulous conscience often
+does more injury to the soul than one that is
+too lax and remiss.</p>
+<p>2. Scruples warp the judgment, disturb
+the peace of the soul, beget mistrust of the
+Sacraments and estrangement from them, and
+impair the health of body and mind. How
+many unfortunates have begun by scrupulosity
+and ended in insanity! How many, more
+<span class="pb" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
+unfortunate still, have begun by scruples and
+ended in laxity and impiety! Shun then
+this insiduous poison, so deadly in its effects
+on true piety, and say with Saint Joseph of
+Cupertino: <i>Away with sadness and scruples;
+I will not have them in my house.</i></p>
+<p>3. Scrupulosity is an unreasonable fear of
+sin in matters where there is not even material
+for sin. But the victim does not call his
+doubts and fears scruples, for he would not be
+tormented by them if he believed he could
+give them that name. He should, however,
+place implicit reliance in the opinion of his
+spiritual guide when he tells him they are
+such and that he must not allow himself to be
+influenced by them.</p>
+<p>4. In all his actions a scrupulous person
+sees only an uninterrupted series of sins, and
+in God nothing but vengeance and anger. He
+ought, therefore, to consider almost exclusively
+the attribute of the divine Master by
+which He most delights to manifest Himself,
+<i>mercy</i>, and to make it the constant subject of
+his thoughts, meditations and affections.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;We should do everything from love and
+nothing from constraint. It is more essential
+<span class="pb" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+to love obedience than to fear disobedience.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>5. There is but one remedy for scruples
+and that is entire and courageous obedience.
+&ldquo;It is a secret pride,&rdquo; says Saint Francis de
+Sales, &ldquo;that entertains and nourishes scruples,
+for the scrupulous person adheres to his opinion
+and inquietude in spite of his director&rsquo;s
+advice to the contrary. He always persuades
+himself in justification of his disobedience
+that some new and unforseen circumstance
+has occurred to which this advice cannot be applicable.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;But submit&rdquo;, adds the Saint, &ldquo;without
+other reasoning than this: <i>I should obey</i>,
+and you will be delivered from this lamentable
+malady.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>6. By sadness and anxiety the children of
+God do a great injury to their Heavenly
+Father. They thereby seem to bear witness
+that there is little happiness to be found in
+the service of a Master so full of love and
+mercy, and to give the lie to the words of Him
+who said: &ldquo;Come unto Me all you that labor
+and are heavily burdened and I will refresh
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Woe to that narrow and self-absorbed
+soul that is always fearful, and because of fear
+<span class="pb" id="Page_111">[111]</span>
+has no time to love and to go generously forward.
+O my God! I know it is your wish
+that the heart that loves you should be broad
+and free! Hence I shall act with confidence
+like to the child that plays in the arms of its
+mother; I shall rejoice in the Lord and try to
+make others rejoice; I shall pour forth my
+heart without fear in the assembly of the
+children of God. I wish for nothing but
+candor, innocence and joy of the Holy Ghost.
+Far, far from me, O my God, be that sad and
+cowardly wisdom which is ever consumed in
+self, ever holding the balance in hand in order
+to weigh atoms!... Such lack of simplicity
+in the soul&rsquo;s dealings with Thee is truly an
+outrage against Thee: such rigor imputed to
+Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal heart.&rdquo;&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_112">[112]</div>
+<h3 id="c14">XIV.
+<br /><span class="small">INTERIOR PEACE.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about
+many things.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Luke, c. X., v. 41.</span>)</p>
+<p>Always active, always at rest.
+(St. Augustine.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate
+into anxiety and eagerness. Saint
+Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy
+of these two defects. They cause us to lose
+sight of God in our actions and make us very
+prone to impatience if the slightest obstacle
+should interfere with our designs. It is only
+by acting peacefully that we can serve the
+God of peace in an acceptable manner.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Do not let us suffer our peace to be disturbed
+by precipitation in our exterior actions.
+When our bodies or minds are engaged in any
+work, we should perform it peacefully and
+with composure, not prescribing for ourselves
+a definite time to finish it, nor being too
+anxious to see it completed.&rdquo;&mdash;Scupoli.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_113">[113]</div>
+<p>2. Martha was engaged in a good work
+when she prepared a repast for our divine
+Lord, nevertheless He reproved her because
+she performed it with anxiety and agitation.
+This goes to show, says Saint Francis de
+Sales, that it is not enough to do good, the
+good must moreover be done well, that is to
+say, with love and tranquillity. If one turn
+the spinning-wheel too rapidly it falls and the
+thread breaks.</p>
+<p>3. Whenever we are doing well we are
+always doing enough and doing it sufficiently
+fast. Those persons who are restless and
+impetuous do not accomplish any more and
+what they do is done badly.</p>
+<p>4. Saint Francis de Sales was never seen
+in a hurry no matter how varied or numerous
+might be the demands made upon his time.
+When on a certain occasion some surprise was
+expressed at this he said: &ldquo;You ask me how
+it is that although others are agitated and flurried
+I am not likewise uneasy and in haste.
+What would you? I was not put in this
+world to cause fresh disturbance: is there not
+enough of it already without my adding to it
+by my excitability?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>5. However, do not on the other hand succumb
+<span class="pb" id="Page_114">[114]</span>
+to sloth and indifference. All extremes
+are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity
+and an active tranquillity.</p>
+<p>6. In order to acquire tranquillity in action
+it is necessary to consider carefully what we
+are capable of accomplishing and never to
+undertake more than that. It is self-love, ever
+more anxious to do much than to do well,
+which urges us on to burden ourselves with
+great undertakings and to impose upon ourselves
+numerous obligations. It maintains
+and nourishes itself on this tension of mind,
+this restless anxiety which it takes for infallible
+signs of a superior capacity. Thus Saint
+Francis de Sales was wont to say: &ldquo;Our self-love
+is a great braggart, that wishes to undertake
+everything and accomplishes nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;It appears to me that you are over eager
+and anxious in the pursuit of perfection....
+Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of
+Kings,<a class="fn" id="fr_14" href="#fn_14">[14]</a>
+that God is not in the great
+and strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor
+in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an
+almost imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and
+agitation contribute nothing towards success.
+The desire of success is good, but only if it be
+<span class="pb" id="Page_115">[115]</span>
+not accompanied by solicitude. I expressly
+forbid you to give way to inquietude, for it is
+the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is
+necessary in all things and everywhere. If
+any trouble come to us, either of an interior
+or exterior nature, we should receive it peacefully:
+if joy be ours, it should be received
+peacefully: have we to flee from evil, we
+should do it peacefully, otherwise we may
+fall in our flight and thus give our enemy a
+chance to kill us. Is there a good work to be
+done? we must do it peacefully, or else we
+shall commit many faults by our hastiness:
+and even as regards penance,&mdash;that too must
+be done peacefully: <i>Behold</i>, said the prophet,
+<i>in peace is my bitterness most bitter</i>.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_15" href="#fn_15">[15]</a>*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_116">[116]</div>
+<h3 id="c15">XV.
+<br /><span class="small">SADNESS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I rejoiced at the things that
+were said to me: We shall go
+into the house of the Lord....
+Sing joyfully to God, all the
+earth: serve ye the Lord with
+gladness.... Why art thou sad,
+O my soul, and why dost thou
+trouble me?
+(Psalms <span class="scripRef">CXXI.</span>,
+<span class="scripRef">XCIX.</span>,
+<span class="scripRef">XLII.</span>)</p>
+<p>And God shall wipe away all
+tears from their eyes.
+(<span class="scripRef">Apoc. C. XXI., v. 4.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is
+the worst thing in the World, sin alone
+excepted.</p>
+<p>2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection
+in sadness: it is the spirit of God that
+produces recollection; sadness is the work of
+the spirit of darkness.</p>
+<p>3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint
+Francis de Sales for the discernment of spirits:
+any thought that troubles and disquiets us
+cannot come from the God of peace, who
+makes his dwelling-place only in peaceful
+souls.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_117">[117]</div>
+<p>*&ldquo;Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in
+writing what I before said to you in person,
+always be as happy as you can in well-doing,
+for it gives a double value to good works to be
+well done and to be done cheerfully. And
+when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not
+mean that if you happen to commit some
+fault you should on that account abandon
+yourself to sadness. For God&rsquo;s sake, no; for
+that would be to add defect to defect. But I
+mean that you should persevere in the wish
+to do well, that you return to it the moment
+you realize you have deviated from it, and
+that by means of this fidelity you live happily
+in the Lord.... May God be ever in our heart,
+my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous,
+for this is the will of God, whom we love
+and to whose service we are consecrated.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+(<i>Imitation</i>, B. III., Chap. XLVII.)</p>
+<p>4. It is wrong to deny one&rsquo;s self all diversion.
+The mind becomes fatigued and depressed
+by remaining always concentrated in
+itself and thus more easily falls a prey to sadness.
+Saint Thomas says explicitly that one
+may incur sin by refusing all innocent amusement.
+Every excess, no matter what its
+<span class="pb" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
+nature, is contrary to order and consequently to
+virtue.</p>
+<p>5. Recreations and amusements are to the
+life of the soul what seasoning is to our corporal
+food. Food that is too highly seasoned
+quickly becomes injurious and sometimes
+fatal in its effects; that which is not seasoned
+at all soon becomes unendurable because of
+its insipidity and unpalatableness.</p>
+<p>6. As to the amount of diversion it is right
+to take, no absolute measure can be given:
+the rule is that each person should have as
+much as is necessary for him. This quantity
+varies according to the bent of the mind, the
+nature of the habitual occupations, and the
+greater or less predisposition to sadness one
+observes in his disposition.</p>
+<p>7. When you find your heart growing sad,
+divert yourself without a moment&rsquo;s delay;
+make a visit, enter into conversation with
+those around you, read some amusing book,
+take a walk, sing, do something, it matters
+not what, provided you close the door of your
+heart against this terrible enemy. As the sound
+of a trumpet gives the signal for a combat, so
+sad thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable
+moment has come for him to attack us.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_119">[119]</div>
+<h3 id="c16">XVI.
+<br /><span class="small">LIBERTY OF SPIRIT.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the
+Lord is, there is liberty.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.</span>)</p>
+<p>For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in
+fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption of sons,
+whereby we cry: Abba, Father.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.</span>)</p>
+<p>Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Christian liberty of spirit, so earnestly
+recommended by the saints, consists in not
+becoming the slave of anything, even though
+good, unless it be of God&rsquo;s will. Thus our
+purest inclinations, our holiest habits, our
+wisest rules of conduct, should yield without
+murmur or complaint to every manifestation
+of this divine will, in order that they may
+never become for us obstacles or impediments
+to good or the occasion of trouble and disquietude.
+By this means only can we perform
+<span class="pb" id="Page_120">[120]</span>
+all our actions with cheerful confidence
+and devout courage.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;I leave you the spirit of liberty; not
+that liberty which hinders obedience, for
+such is the liberty of the flesh, but that which
+excludes scruples and constraint.... We ask
+of God above all things that his name be hallowed,
+that His kingdom come, that His will
+be done on earth as it is in heaven. All this
+implies the spirit of liberty; for provided
+God&rsquo;s name be sanctified, that His divine
+Majesty reign in you, that His will be done,
+the spirit desires nothing more.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_16" href="#fn_16">[16]</a>
+(<i>Imitation</i>, B. III., Chap. XXVI.)*</p>
+<p>2. St. Francis de Sales, speaking on this
+important subject, says: &ldquo;He who possesses
+the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his
+affections to be mastered even by his spiritual
+exercises, and in this way he avoids feeling
+any regret if they are interfered with by sickness
+or accident. I do not say that he does
+not love his devotions but that he is not
+attached to them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>3. A soul that is attached to meditation, if
+interrupted, will show chagrin and impatience:
+a soul that has true liberty will take the interruption
+<span class="pb" id="Page_121">[121]</span>
+in good part and show a gracious
+countenance to the person who was the cause
+of it. For it is all one to it whether it serve
+God by meditating or by bearing with its
+neighbor. Both duties are God&rsquo;s will, but
+just at this time patience with others is the
+more essential.</p>
+<p>4. The fruits of this holy liberty of spirit
+are prompt and tranquil submission and generous
+confidence. Saint Francis de Sales
+relates that Saint Ignatius ate flesh meat one
+day in Holy Week simply because his physician
+thought it expedient for him to do so on
+account of a slight illness. A spirit of constraint
+would have made him allow the doctor
+to spend three days in persuading him, he
+adds, and would then very probably have
+refused to yield. I cite this example for the
+benefit of timid souls and not for those who
+seek to elude an obligation by unwarranted
+dispensations.</p>
+<p>*This matter is of such importance and a
+just medium so difficult to follow in practice,
+that it seems useful to transcribe the following
+passage from Saint Francis de Sales in its
+entirety, with the rules and examples it contains,
+in order that the proper occasions for
+<span class="pb" id="Page_122">[122]</span>
+the exercise of this virtue and its limitations
+may be well understood.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A heart possessed of this spirit of liberty
+is not attached to consolations, but receives
+afflictions with all the sweetness that is possible
+to human nature. I do not say that it
+does not love and desire consolations, but that
+its affections are not wedded to them.... It
+seldom loses its joy, for no privation saddens
+a heart that is not set upon any one thing. I
+do not say it never loses it, but if it does so it
+quickly regains it.</p>
+<p>The effects of this virtue are sweetness of
+temper, gentleness, and forbearance towards
+everything that is not sin or occasion of sin,
+forming a disposition gently susceptible to the
+influences of charity and of every other virtue.</p>
+<p>The occasions for exercising this holy freedom
+are found in all those things that happen
+contrary to our natural inclinations; for one
+whose affections are not engaged in his own
+will does not lose patience when his desires
+are thwarted.</p>
+<p>There are two vices opposed to this liberty
+of spirit,&mdash;instability and constraint, or dissipation
+and servility. The former is a certain
+excess of freedom which causes us to change
+<span class="pb" id="Page_123">[123]</span>
+our devout exercises or state of life without
+reason and without knowing if it be God&rsquo;s will.
+On the slightest pretext practices, plans and
+rules are altered and for every trivial obstacle
+our laudable customs are abandoned. In this
+way the heart is dissipated and spent and
+becomes like an orchard open on all sides, the
+fruit whereof is not for the owner but for the
+passers-by. Constraint or servility is a certain
+lack of liberty owing to which the mind is
+overwhelmed with vexation or anger when we
+cannot carry out our designs, even though we
+might be doing something better. For example:
+I resolve to make a meditation every
+morning. Now if I have the spirit of instability
+or dissipation I am apt to defer it until
+evening for the most insignificant reason,&mdash;because
+I was kept awake by the barking of a
+dog, or because I have a letter to write,
+although it be not at all pressing. If on the
+contrary I have the spirit of constraint or
+servility I will not give up my meditation
+even though a sick person has great need of
+my aid just then, or if I have an important
+and urgent dispatch to send which should not
+be deferred; and so on.</p>
+<p>It remains for me to give you some examples
+<span class="pb" id="Page_124">[124]</span>
+of true liberty of spirit which will make you
+understand it better than I can explain it.
+But, before doing so, it is well that I should
+say there are two rules which it is necessary
+to observe in order not to make any mistake
+on the subject.</p>
+<p>The first is that a person must never abandon
+his pious practices and the common rules
+of virtue unless it is plainly evident that God
+wills that he do so. Now this will is manifested
+in two ways,&mdash;through necessity and
+through charity. I desire to preach this Lent
+in some little corner of my diocese; however,
+if I get sick or break my leg I need not give
+way to regret or inquietude because I cannot
+do as I intended, for it is evident that it is the
+will of God that I serve Him by suffering and
+not by preaching. Or, even if I am not ill
+or crippled, but an occasion presents itself of
+going to some other place which if I do not
+avail myself of the people there may become
+Huguenots, the will of God is sufficiently
+manifest to make me amiably change my
+plans. The second rule is that when it is
+necessary to make use of this liberty of spirit
+from motives of charity, care should be taken
+that it is done without scandal or injustice.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_125">[125]</span>
+For instance: I may know that I should be
+more useful in some distant place not within
+my own diocese: I should have no freedom of
+choice in this matter for my obligations are
+here and I should give scandal and do an injustice
+by abandoning my charge.</p>
+<p>Thus it is a false idea of the spirit of liberty
+that would induce married women to keep
+aloof from their husbands without legitimate
+reason under pretext of devotion and charity....
+This spirit rightly understood never interferes
+with the duties of one&rsquo;s vocation nor prejudices
+them in any way. On the contrary, it
+makes every one contented in his state of life,
+as each should know it is God&rsquo;s will that he
+remain in it.</p>
+<p>Saint Charles Borromeo was one of the
+most austere, exact and determined of men;
+bread was his only food, water his only drink;
+he was so strict, that during the twenty-four
+years he was an Archbishop he went into his
+garden but twice, and visited his brothers
+only on two occasions and then because they
+were ill. Yet this austere priest when dining
+with his Swiss neighbors, which he often did
+in order to move them to amend their lives,
+did not hesitate to join them in drinking toasts
+<span class="pb" id="Page_126">[126]</span>
+and healths on every occasion and in doing so
+to take more than was necessary to quench
+his thirst. Here is true liberty of spirit
+exemplified in the most mortified man of his
+time. An unstable spirit would have gone
+too far, a spirit of constraint would have
+thought it was committing a mortal sin, a
+spirit of liberty would act in this way from a
+motive of charity.</p>
+<p>Saint Spiridion, a bishop of olden times,
+once gave shelter to a pilgrim who was almost
+dying of hunger. It was the season of Lent
+and in a place where nothing was to be had
+but salt meat. This Spiridion ordered to be
+cooked and then gave it to the pilgrim. Seeing
+that the latter, notwithstanding his great
+need, hesitated to eat it, the Saint, although
+he did not require it, ate some first in order to
+remove the poor man&rsquo;s scruples. That was a
+true spirit of liberty born of charity.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>5. Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom
+that excludes fear and uneasiness in
+regard to all those things which God has not
+permitted us to know. It gives us a sweet
+and tender confidence as to the pardon of our
+<span class="pb" id="Page_127">[127]</span>
+past sins, the present condition of our souls
+and our eternal destiny. It reminds us continually
+that although we have deserved hell,
+our divine Lord has merited heaven for us,
+and that it would be doing a great injury to
+His goodness not to hope for pardon for the
+past, assistance of divine grace for the present,
+and salvation after death. Finally, it teaches
+us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean
+of the divine mercy.</p>
+<p>6. I earnestly exhort you never to make
+indiscreet vows in the hope of thus increasing
+the merit of your ordinary works. One can
+attain the same end by many ways that
+are easier and less dangerous. Those who
+are guilty of this imprudence often run the
+risk of breaking their vows and of thus
+sinning gravely. And if they avoid this
+misfortune it is only at the expense of their
+peace of soul, sacrificed to a craven and
+unquiet servitude which is totally incompatible
+with the tranquillity and confidence
+required in the great work of our spiritual
+perfection.</p>
+<p>7. Many pious persons are too prone to
+advise obligations of this kind. If they do
+<span class="pb" id="Page_128">[128]</span>
+so to you, humbly excuse yourself by saying
+that you do not possess the extraordinary
+virtue requisite in order to fulfil them without
+disquietude. Saint Francis de Sales disapproved
+of all the particular vows made by
+Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and declared
+them null. I have almost invariably found
+persons bound by such solemn obligations
+restless and agitated, and have frequently seen
+them exposed to the gravest falls.</p>
+<p>8. Do not allow yourself to be misled by
+the example of some of the saints who made
+vows. Rarely is the desire to imitate certain
+extraordinary practices of theirs an inspiration
+of divine grace: rather is it a temptation
+from the devil inciting us to pride and temerity.
+Saint Francis de Sales exclaimed: &ldquo;Give me
+the spirit that animated Saint Bernard and I
+shall do what Saint Bernard did.&rdquo; Let us
+apply ourselves, I repeat, to the imitation of
+those simple and solid virtues by which the
+saints attained sanctity, and be content to
+admire those supernatural acts that suppose it
+already acquired.</p>
+<p>9. To bind one&rsquo;s self by arbitrary vows
+without compromising salvation, three things
+<span class="pb" id="Page_129">[129]</span>
+are necessary: 1st. supernatural inspiration
+urging one to make them; 2d. extraordinary
+virtue so as never to violate them; 3d. unalterable
+tranquillity in order to preserve
+peace of soul in keeping them.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_130">[130]</div>
+<h3 id="c17">XVII.
+<br /><span class="small">CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy
+way, and I will walk in Thy
+truth. (<span class="scripRef">Psalm LXXXV.</span>)</p>
+<p>Except the Lord build the
+house, they labor in vain who
+build it. (<span class="scripRef">Psalm CXXVI.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. A Christian is not obliged to be perfect,
+but to tend continually towards perfection;
+that is to say, he must labor unceasingly and
+with all his strength to increase in virtue.
+To make no attempt to advance is to go back.</p>
+<p>*You see it is a question not of succeeding
+but of laboring earnestly and sincerely. Success
+does not depend upon us. God grants
+that or refuses it or defers it according to what
+He knows is best for us.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let us do three things, my dear daughter,
+says Saint Francis de Sales: first, have a pure
+intention to look in all things to the honor
+and glory of God; second, do the little we can
+towards this end, according to the advice of
+our spiritual father; third, leave the care of
+<span class="pb" id="Page_131">[131]</span>
+all the rest to God. Why should he torment
+himself who has God for the object of his intentions
+and does all that he can? why should
+he be anxious? what has he to fear? God is
+not terrible for those whom He loves; He is
+satisfied with little for He knows well that we
+have not much to give.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>... &ldquo;Allow yourself to be governed by
+God; do not think so much of yourself; make
+a general and universal resolution to serve
+God in the best manner you are able and do
+not waste time in examining and sifting so
+minutely to find out what that may be. This
+is simply an impertinence due to the condition
+of your acute and precise mind which wishes
+to tyrannize over your will and to control it
+by fraud and subtlety.... You know that in
+general God wishes us to serve Him by loving
+Him above all things and our neighbor as
+ourselves for love of Him; and in particular,
+to fulfil the duties of our state of life; that is all.
+But it must be done in good faith, without deceit
+or subterfuge, and in the ordinary way of
+this world, which is not the home of perfection;
+humanly, too, and according to the
+limitations of time; to do it in a divine and
+angelic manner and according to eternity
+<span class="pb" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
+being reserved for a future life. Do not
+therefore be so anxious to know whether
+or not you have attained perfection. This
+should never be; for were we the most
+perfect creatures on earth we ought not to
+dwell upon or glory in it but always consider
+ourselves imperfect. Our self-examination
+must never be for the purpose of discovering
+if we are imperfect, for this we should never
+doubt. Hence it follows that we must not be
+surprised at seeing ourselves imperfect, since
+we can never be otherwise in this life; nor on
+that account give way to despondency, for
+there is no remedy for it. But, yes; we can
+correct our faults gently and gradually, for
+that is the reason they are left in us. We
+shall be inexcusable if we do not try to amend
+them, but quite excusable if we are not entirely
+successful in doing so, for it is not the same
+with imperfections as with sins.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.*</p>
+<p>2. Now the means to be employed in laboring
+for perfection and in making progress in
+virtue do not consist in multiplying prayers,
+fasts and other religious practices. Some
+good religious who had fasted three times a
+week during an entire year, thought that in
+<span class="pb" id="Page_133">[133]</span>
+order to satisfy the obligation of advancing
+more and more in virtue they ought to fast
+four times a week the following year. They
+consulted Saint Francis de Sales on the subject.
+He laughingly answered them: &ldquo;If you
+fast four times a week this year so as to advance
+in perfection, you will be obliged for
+the same reason to fast five times the next
+year, then six, then seven times; and the
+number of your fasts being always the guage
+of the degree of perfection you shall have
+attained, it will be necessary for you, under
+pain of advancing no more, thereafter to fast
+twice a day, then thrice, then four times, and
+so on.&rdquo; What Saint Francis de Sales said of
+fasting is just as applicable to all other devout
+practices.</p>
+<p>3. Instead, then, of continually adding to
+your religious exercises, study to perfect yourself
+in the practice of those you already perform,
+doing them with more love and peace
+of soul, and with greater purity of intention.
+Should it happen that you are unable to perform
+all your usual devotions conveniently,
+omit a portion of them so that the remainder
+may be done with greater tranquillity. The
+spirit of perfection, says Saint Bernard, does
+<span class="pb" id="Page_134">[134]</span>
+not consist in doing great things, but in doing
+common and ordinary things perfectly. <i>Communia
+facere, sed non communiter</i>.<a class="fn" id="fr_17" href="#fn_17">[17]</a></p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Most people when they wish to reform,
+pay much more attention to filling their life
+with certain difficult and extraordinary actions,
+than to purifying their intention and opposing
+their natural inclinations in the ordinary
+duties of their state. In this they often
+deceive themselves, for it would be much
+better to make less change in the actions and
+more in the dispositions of the soul which
+prompt them. When one is already leading
+a virtuous and well regulated life it is of far
+greater consequence, in order to become truly
+spiritual, to change the interior than the exterior.
+God is not satisfied with the motions
+of the lips, the posture of the body, nor with
+external ceremonies: What he demands is a
+will no longer divided between Him and any
+creature; a will perfectly docile ... that
+wishes unreservedly whatever He wishes and
+never under any pretext wishes aught that
+He does not wish.</p>
+<p>This will, perfectly simple and entirely
+devoted to God, you should bear with you
+<span class="pb" id="Page_135">[135]</span>
+into all the circumstances of your life, and
+everywhere that divine Providence leads
+you.... Even mere amusements may be transformed
+into good works, if you enter into
+them only through a kindly motive and to
+conform to the order of God. Happy indeed
+the heart of her for whom God opens this
+way of holy simplicity! She walks therein
+like a little child holding its mother&rsquo;s hand
+and allowing her to lead it without any concern
+as to whither it is going. Content to be
+free, she is ready to speak or to be silent; when
+she cannot say edifying things she says common-place
+things with an equally good grace;
+she amuses herself by making what Saint
+Francis de Sales calls <i>joyeuset&eacute;s</i>, playful little
+jests, with which she diverts others as well as
+herself. You will tell me perhaps that you
+would prefer to be occupied with something
+more serious and solid. But God would not prefer
+it for you, seeing that He chooses what you
+would not choose, and you know His taste is
+better than yours: you would find more consolation
+in solid things for which He has
+given you a relish, and it is this consolation of
+which He wishes to deprive you, it is this relish
+which He wishes to mortify in you, although
+<span class="pb" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+it may be good and salutary. The very virtues,
+as they are practised by us, need to be
+purified by the contradictions that God makes
+them suffer in order to detach them the better
+from all self will. When piety is founded on
+the fundamental principle of God&rsquo;s holy will,
+without consulting our own taste, or temperament
+or the sallies of an excessive zeal, oh!
+how simple, sweet, amiable, discreet and
+reliable it is in all its movements! A pious
+person lives much as others do, quite unaffectedly
+and without apparent austerity, in a
+sociable and genial way; but with a constant
+subjection to every duty, an unrelenting renunciation
+of everything that does not enter into
+God&rsquo;s designs in her regard, and, finally, with
+a clear view of God to whom she sacrifices all
+the irregular inclinations of nature. This
+indeed is the adoration in spirit and in truth
+desired by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His
+eternal Father. Without it all the rest is but
+a religion of ceremonial, and rather the
+shadow than the reality of Christianity.&rdquo;&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.*</p>
+<p>4. Apply yourself in a particular manner
+to become perfect in the fulfilment of the
+duties of your state of life; for on this all perfection
+<span class="pb" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
+and sanctity are grounded. When
+God created the world He commanded the
+plants to produce fruit, but each one according
+to its kind: <i>juxta genus
+suum</i>.<a class="fn" id="fr_18" href="#fn_18">[18]</a>
+In like manner our souls are all obliged to produce fruits
+of holiness, but each according to its kind;
+that is to say, according to the position in
+which God has placed us. Elias in the desert
+and David on the throne had not to become
+holy by a like process; and Joshua amidst the
+tumult of arms would have sought in vain to
+sanctify himself by the same means as Samuel
+in the peaceful retreat of the Temple. This
+instruction is addressed to those who being
+placed in the world would wish to practise
+there the virtues of the cloister, or whilst
+residing in palaces would attempt to lead the
+life of the solitaries of the desert. They bear
+fruits which are excellent in themselves, no
+doubt, but not according to their kind, <i>juxta
+genus suum</i>, and hence they do not fulfil the
+will of God.</p>
+<p>5. Perfection has but one aim and it is the
+same for all,&mdash;to wit, the love of God; but
+there are divers ways of attaining it. Among
+the saints themselves we find most striking
+<span class="pb" id="Page_138">[138]</span>
+differences. Saint Benedict was never seen to
+laugh, whereas Saint Francis de Sales laughed
+frequently and was always animated, bright
+and cheerful. Saint Hilarion considered it
+an act of sensuality to change his habit,
+whilst, on the other hand, Saint Catherine of
+Sienna was extremely particular about bodily
+cleanliness which she looked upon as a symbol
+of purity of soul. If you consult Saint Jerome
+you hear only of fear of the terrible judgments
+of God: read Saint Augustine and you will find
+only the language of confidence and love.
+The minds, dispositions and characters of men
+are as varied as their physiognomies; grace
+perfects them little by little but does not
+change their nature. Hence in our endeavors
+to imitate the ways of such or such a saint for
+whom we feel a particular attraction, we should
+not condemn those of the others, but say with
+the Psalmist: <i>Omnis spiritus laudet
+Dominum</i>.<a class="fn" id="fr_19" href="#fn_19">[19]</a>
+Consult your director as to whom and what
+may be most suitable for your imitation.</p>
+<p>6. Never be afraid that you are not following
+the way of perfection because you still
+have defects and commit many faults. This
+was true of the greatest saints, for Saint
+<span class="pb" id="Page_139">[139]</span>
+Augustine declares that all of them could exclaim
+with the Apostle Saint John: &ldquo;If we
+claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
+and the truth is not in us.&rdquo; &ldquo;He who came
+into the world with sin,&rdquo; says Saint Gregory
+the Great, &ldquo;cannot live there without sin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>* &ldquo;Act like the little child who, when it
+feels that its mother is holding it by the sleeve,
+runs about quite boldly and without being
+surprised at all the little falls it gets. Thus,
+as long as you find that God is holding you by
+the good will and the resolution He has given
+you to serve Him, go on bravely and do not
+be astonished that you stumble and fall occasionally.
+There is no need to be troubled
+about it, provided that at certain intervals
+you cast yourself into your Father&rsquo;s arms and
+embrace Him with the kiss of charity. Go
+on your way, then, cheerfully and heartily,
+doing the best you can; and if it cannot
+always be cheerfully, let it at least be always
+courageously and faithfully.&rdquo; &mdash;Saint Francis
+de Sales.*</p>
+<p>7. But we must bear in mind the vast difference
+that exists between the love of sin and
+sin committed inadvertently or from weakness.
+(See <i>Confession</i>, &sect; 14.) Affection for
+<span class="pb" id="Page_140">[140]</span>
+sin is the sole obstacle to perfection. Thus
+the most learned Fathers of the Church make
+a distinction between two kinds of tepidity:
+that which can be avoided and that which
+cannot be avoided. The former condition is
+that of a soul that retains an attachment for
+certain sins; the other, that of one falling into
+sin through frailty and from being taken
+unawares, which has been the case even with
+the greatest saints.</p>
+<p>8. Therefore in place of troubling yourself
+about these accidental falls, inseparable from
+human nature, make them turn to your spiritual
+advantage by causing them to increase
+your humility. It often happens, says
+Saint Gregory the Great, that God allows
+great defects to remain in some souls at the
+beginning of their spiritual life that by means
+of them they may grow in self-knowledge and
+learn to place their entire confidence in Him.
+Saint Augustine tells us that God in his infinite
+wisdom has been better pleased to bring forth
+good out of evil than to hinder the evil itself.
+Thus when you learn to draw fruits of humility
+from your faults, you correspond to the
+sublime designs of God&rsquo;s unspeakable providence.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_141">[141]</div>
+<p>9. Should you happen to fear that you are
+not walking in the true way of perfection,
+consult your director and place implicit reliance
+upon the answer he gives you. Who is
+the saint that has not had to suffer because of
+a like doubt? But they were all reassured by
+the consideration of God&rsquo;s infinite goodness
+and by obedience to their spiritual father.</p>
+<p>*Some persons, although conscious of a
+sincere desire to serve God, nevertheless are
+disposed to feel alarmed about their spiritual
+condition, at the remembrance of all they
+have heard and read in regard to false consciences,
+self-illusion and the deceptive security
+of those who are following a wrong path.
+There are two ways of forming a false conscience:
+first, by choosing among our duties
+those for which we feel most attraction and
+natural tendency, and then, in order to give
+ourselves up to them more than is necessary,
+to persuade ourselves we can neglect the
+others. Thus a person with a preference for
+exterior acts of religion will spend all day
+praying or attending sermons and offices of
+the Church and considers herself very devout,
+although she may have been neglecting
+her temporal duties. Another, being differently
+<span class="pb" id="Page_142">[142]</span>
+disposed, will apply herself exclusively
+to the duties of her state of life, sacrificing to
+them without regret those of religion, quite
+convinced that one who is faithful in all the
+domestic relations, and gives to every one his
+due, cannot possibly be otherwise than pleasing
+to God. The second way of making a false
+conscience consists in giving the preference
+in our esteem and practice to those among the
+Christian virtues which find their analogies
+in our natural dispositions, for there is not one
+of the virtues that has not its correlative
+amongst the various qualities of the human
+character. Persons of a gentle and placid
+disposition will affect meekness, the practice of
+which will be very easy for them and require
+no effort; and imagining they exercise a christian
+virtue when in reality they only follow a
+natural bent, they are liable to fall into a culpable
+weakness. Those who, on the contrary,
+have an exact and rigid mind will esteem justice
+and order above all else, making small account
+of meekness and charity; and thus justifying
+themselves falsely by their natural temperament,
+they follow the tendency of the flesh
+whilst believing they obey the spirit, and may
+easily become addicted to excessive severity.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_143">[143]</div>
+<p>It is evident, therefore, that the first rule to
+be observed in order to avoid these dangerous
+illusions and to walk securely in the way of
+perfection, is to apply ourselves in a special
+manner to the practice of those duties for
+which we feel least innate attraction, and
+always to mistrust our natural virtues however
+good they may appear. Then there is one
+consideration that should serve to reassure all
+Christians who are in earnest about their salvation;
+whilst they act in good faith and deal
+frankly and sincerely with their confessor, it is
+impossible for them to become the victim of a
+false conscience.</p>
+<p>In the following passage Saint Francis de
+Sales recommends us to watch carefully over
+our natural tendencies and to substitute for
+them as much as possible the inspirations of
+grace, which he calls living according to the
+spirit:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To live according to the spirit, my beloved
+daughter, is to think, speak and act according
+to the virtues that are of the spirit, and not
+according to the senses and feelings which are
+of the flesh. These latter we should make serve
+us, but we must hold them in subjection and
+not allow them to control us; whereas with
+<span class="pb" id="Page_144">[144]</span>
+the spiritual virtues it is just the reverse; we
+should serve them and bring everything else
+under subjection to them.... See, my daughter,
+human nature wishes to have a share in
+everything that goes on, and loves itself so
+dearly that it considers nothing of any account
+unless it be mixed up in it. The spirit, on the
+contrary, attaches itself to God and often says
+that whatever is not God&rsquo;s is nothing to it;
+and as through a motive of charity it takes
+part in things committed to it, so through
+humility and self-denial it willingly gives up
+all share in those which are denied it.... I am
+diffident and have no self-confidence, and
+therefore I wish to be allowed to live in a way
+congenial to this disposition; any one can see
+that this is not according to the spirit.... But,
+although I am naturally timorous and retiring,
+I desire to try and overcome these traits of
+character and to fulfil all the requirements of
+the charge imposed upon me by obedience;
+who does not see that this is to live according
+to the spirit?</p>
+<p>Hence, as I have said before, my dear
+daughter, to live according to the spirit is to
+have our actions, our words and our thoughts
+such as the spirit of God would require of us.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_145">[145]</span>
+When I say thoughts, I of course mean voluntary
+thoughts. I am sad, says some one, consequently
+I shall not speak; magpies and parrots
+do the same: I am sad, but as charity
+requires me to speak, I shall do so; spiritual
+persons act thus: I am slighted and I get
+angry: so do peacocks and monkeys. I am
+slighted and I rejoice thereat: that is what the
+Apostles did.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In fine, to live according to the spirit is to
+do in all circumstances and on all occasions
+whatever faith, hope and charity demand of
+us, without even waiting to consider if we
+are or are not influenced by our natural disposition.
+(<i>The Imitation of Christ</i>, B. III., Ch. LIV.)*</p>
+<p>10. Generally speaking it is only after a
+long and painful struggle that one succeeds in
+climbing the mount of perfection. There are
+some statues, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+that it has cost the artist thirty years&rsquo; labor
+to perfect. Now the perfecting of a soul is a
+much more difficult work. We must therefore
+set about it with tranquillity, patience
+and confidence in God. We shall always
+obtain what we wish soon enough if we obtain
+it at the time God pleases to grant it.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_146">[146]</div>
+<h2><br /><span class="small">PART THIRD.</span>
+<br />SOCIAL LIFE.</h2>
+<h3 id="c18">XVIII.
+<br /><span class="small">CHARITY.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
+have love one for another.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. John, c. XIII., v. 35.</span>)</p>
+<p>He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother,
+he is in darkness even until now.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. John, Ep. I., c. II., v. 9.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Our divine Lord has said that His disciples
+should be known by their love one for
+another. This christian virtue of charity
+makes us love our neighbor in God, the
+creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of
+God, love of our neighbor,&mdash;these virtues are
+two branches springing from the same trunk
+and having but one and the same root.</p>
+<p>2. Assist your brethren in their needs
+whenever you can. However, you should
+<span class="pb" id="Page_147">[147]</span>
+always be careful to consult the laws of prudence
+in this matter and to be guided by your
+means and position. Supply by a desire to
+do good for the material aid you are unable to
+give.</p>
+<p>3. When your neighbor offends you he
+does not cease on that account to be the creature
+and the image of God; therefore the christian
+motive you have for loving him still
+exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of pardon,
+but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so
+often has forgiven you much more grievous
+offences, merited it for him?</p>
+<p>4. Observe, however, that we can scarcely
+avoid feeling some repugnance for those who
+have offended us, but to feel and to consent are
+two distinct and widely different things, as we
+have already said. When religion commands
+us to love our enemies, the commandment is
+addressed to the superior portion of the soul,
+the will, not to the inferior portion in which
+reside the carnal affections that follow the
+natural inclinations. In a word, when we
+speak of charity the question is not of that
+human friendship which we feel for those who
+are naturally pleasing to us, a sentiment wherein
+we seek merely our own satisfaction and
+<span class="pb" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
+which therefore has nothing in common with
+charity.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Charity makes us love God above all
+things; and our neighbor as ourselves with a
+love not sensual, not natural, not interested,
+but pure, strong and unwavering, and having
+its foundation in God.... A person is extremely
+sweet and agreeable and I love her tenderly:
+or, she loves me well and does much to oblige
+me, and on that account I love her in return.
+Who does not see that this affection is according
+to the senses and the flesh? For animals
+that have no soul but only a body and senses,
+love those who are good and gentle and kind
+to them. Then there is another person who
+is brusque and uncivil, but apart from this is
+really devout and even desirous of becoming
+gentler and more courteous: consequently,
+not for any gratification she affords me, or for
+any self-interested motive whatever, but solely
+for the good pleasure of God, I talk to her,
+aid her, love her. This is the virtue of charity
+indeed, for nature has no share in it.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint
+Francis de Sales.
+(Read <span class="scripRef">St. Luke, C. VI., vv. 32-33-34.</span>)</p>
+<p>The literal and exact fulfilment of the evangelical
+precept is often found impracticable.
+<span class="pb" id="Page_149">[149]</span>
+How, we say, is it possible to have for all
+men indiscriminately that extreme sensibility
+we feel for everything that touches us individually,
+that constant solicitude for our
+spiritual or temporal interests, that delicacy
+of feeling that we reserve for ourselves and
+for certain objects specially dear to us?&mdash;And
+yet it is literally <i>au pied de la lettre</i>,
+that our Lord&rsquo;s precept should be observed.
+What then is to be done? An answer will be
+found in the following passage from F&eacute;nelon,
+and we shall see that it is not a question of
+exaggerating the love of one&rsquo;s neighbor, but
+of moderating self-love, and thus making both
+the one and the other alike subordinate to the
+love of God:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To love our neighbor as ourselves does not
+mean that we should have for him that intense
+feeling of affection that we have for ourselves,
+but simply that we wish for him, and from
+the motive of charity, what we wish for ourselves.
+Pure and genuine love, love having
+for its sole end the object beloved, should be
+reserved for God alone, and to bestow it elsewhere
+is a violation of a divine right.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>5. But although it is forbidden us to show
+hatred or to entertain it voluntarily against the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_150">[150]</span>
+wicked and those who have offended us, this
+is not meant to prevent us from defending
+ourselves or taking such precautions against
+them as prudence suggests. Christian charity
+obliges and disposes us to love our enemies
+and to be good to them when there is occasion
+to do so; but it should not carry us so far
+as to protect the wicked, nor leave us without
+defence against their aggressiveness. It allows
+us to be vigilant in guarding against their
+encroachments, and to take precautions
+against their machinations.</p>
+<p>6. Always be ready and willing to excuse
+the faults of your neighbor, and never put an
+unfavorable interpretation upon his actions.
+The same action, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+may be looked upon under many different
+aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose
+the best, an uncharitable one will just as certainly
+choose the worst.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Do not weigh so carefully the sayings
+and doings of others, but let your thought of
+them be simple and good, kindly and affectionate.
+You should not exact of your neighbor
+greater perfection than of yourself, nor be
+surprised at the diversity of imperfections;
+for an imperfection is not more an imperfection
+<span class="pb" id="Page_151">[151]</span>
+from the fact that it is extravagant and
+peculiar.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>7. It is very difficult for a good christian
+to become really guilty of rash judgment, in
+the true sense of the word,&mdash;which is that,
+without just reasons or sufficient grounds he
+forms and pronounces in his own mind in a
+positive manner a condemnation of his neighbor.
+The grave sin of rash judgment is frequently
+confounded with suspicion or even
+simple distrust, which may be justifiable on
+much slighter grounds.</p>
+<p>8. Suspicion is permissible when it has
+for its aim measures of just prudence; charity
+forbids gratuitously malevolent thoughts, but
+not vigilance and precaution.</p>
+<p>9. Suspicion is not only permissible, but
+it is at times an important duty for those who
+are charged with the direction and guardianship
+of others. Thus it is a positive obligation
+for a father in regard to his children, and
+for a master in regard to his servants, whenever
+there is occasion to correct some vice they
+know exists, or to prevent some fault they
+have reasonable cause to fear.</p>
+<p>10. As to simple mistrust, which should
+not be confused with suspicion, it is only an
+<span class="pb" id="Page_152">[152]</span>
+involuntary and purely passive condition, to
+which we may be more or less inclined by
+our natural disposition without our free-will
+being at all involved. Mistrust, suspicion,
+rash judgment are then three distinct and very
+different things, and we should be careful not
+to confound them.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_153">[153]</div>
+<h3 id="c19">XIX.
+<br /><span class="small">ZEAL.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in
+your heart, glory not, and be not liars against the truth: for
+this is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, sensual,
+diabolical.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. James, Cath. Ep., c. III, vv. 14 and 15.</span>)</p>
+<p>For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. James, Cath. Ep., c. I., v. 20.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Zeal for the salvation of souls is a sublime
+virtue, and yet how many errors and sins
+are every day committed in its name! Evil
+is never done more effectually and with greater
+security, says Saint Francis de Sales, than
+when one does it believing he is working for
+the glory of God.</p>
+<p>2. The saints themselves can be mistaken
+in this delicate matter. We see a proof of
+this in the incident related of the Apostles
+Saint James and Saint John; for our Lord
+<span class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</span>
+reprimanded them for asking Him to cause
+fire from heaven to fall upon the
+Samaritans.<a class="fn" id="fr_20" href="#fn_20">[20]</a></p>
+<p>3. Acts of zeal are like coins the stamp
+upon which it is necessary to examine attentively,
+as there are more counterfeits than good
+ones. Zeal to be pure should be accompanied
+with very great humility, for it is of all virtues
+the one into which self-love most easily glides.
+When it does so, zeal is apt to become imprudent,
+presumptuous, unjust, bitter. Let us
+consider these characteristics in detail, viewing
+them, for the sake of greater clearness,
+in their practical bearings.</p>
+<p>4. In every home there grows some thorn,
+something, in other words, that needs correction;
+for the best soil is seldom without its
+noxious weed. Imprudent zeal, by seeking
+awkwardly to pluck out the thorn, often succeeds
+only in plunging it farther in, thus rendering
+the wound deeper and more painful.
+In such a case it is essential to act with reflection
+and great prudence. There is a time to
+speak and a time to be silent, says the Holy
+Spirit.<a class="fn" id="fr_21" href="#fn_21">[21]</a>
+Prudent zeal is silent when it realizes
+that to be so is less hurtful than to speak.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div>
+<p>5. Some persons are even presumptuous
+enough in their mistaken zeal to meddle in
+the domestic affairs of strange families, blaming,
+counselling, attempting to reform without
+measure or discretion, thus causing an
+evil much greater than the one they wish
+to correct. Let us employ the activity of our
+zeal in our own reformation, says Saint Bernard,
+and pray humbly for that of others. It
+is great presumption on our part thus to
+assume the r&ocirc;le of apostles when we are not
+as yet even good and faithful disciples. Not
+that you should be by any means indifferent
+to the salvation of souls: on the contrary you
+must wish it most ardently, but do not undertake
+to effect it except with great prudence,
+humility and diffidence in self.</p>
+<p>6. Again, there are pious persons whose
+zeal consists in wishing to make everybody
+adopt their particular practices of devotion.
+Such a one, if she have a special attraction for
+meditating on the Passion of our divine Lord
+or for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, would
+like to oblige every one, under pain of reprobation,
+to pass long hours prostrate before the
+crucifix or the tabernacle. Another who is
+especially devoted to visiting the poor and the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</span>
+sick and to the other works of corporal mercy,
+acknowledges no piety apart from these excellent
+practices. Now, this is not an enlightened
+zeal. Martha and Mary were sisters,
+says Saint Augustine, but they have not a like
+office: one acts, the other contemplates. If
+both had passed the day in contemplation, no
+one would have prepared a repast for their
+divine Master; if both had been employed in
+this material work, there would have been no
+one to listen to His words and garner up His
+divine lessons. The same thing may be said
+of other good works. In choosing among
+them each person should follow the inspirations
+of God&rsquo;s grace, and these are very varied.
+The eye that sees but hears not, must neither
+envy nor blame the ear that hears but sees
+not. <i>Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:</i> let
+every spirit praise the Lord, says the royal
+prophet.<a class="fn" id="fr_22" href="#fn_22">[22]</a></p>
+<p>7. Bear well in mind that the zeal which
+would lead you to undertake works not in conformity
+with your position, however good and
+useful they may be in themselves, is always a
+false one. This is especially true if such
+cause us interior trouble or annoyance; for
+<span class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</span>
+the holiest things are infallibly displeasing to
+God when they do not accord with the duties
+of our state of life.</p>
+<p>8. Saint Paul condemned in strong terms
+those Christians who showed a too exclusive
+preference for their spiritual masters; some
+admitting as truth only what came from the
+mouth of Peter, others acknowledging none
+save Paul, and others again none but Apollo.
+What! said he to them, is not Jesus Christ
+the same for all of you! Is it then Paul who
+was crucified for you? Is it in his name you were
+baptized?<a class="fn" id="fr_23" href="#fn_23">[23]</a>
+This culpable weakness is
+often reproduced in our day. Persons otherwise
+pious carry to excess the esteem and
+affection they have for their spiritual directors,
+exalt without measure their wisdom and holiness,
+and do not scruple to depreciate all
+others. God alone knows the true value of
+each human being, and we have not the scales
+of the sanctuary to weigh and compare the
+respective wisdom and sanctity of this and
+that person. If you have a good confessor,
+thank God and try to render his wisdom useful
+to you by your docility in allowing yourself
+to be guided; but do not assume that nobody
+<span class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</span>
+else has as good a one. To depreciate
+the merits of some in order to exalt those of
+others at their expense is a sort of slander,
+that ought to be all the more feared because
+it is generally so little recognized.</p>
+<p>9. &ldquo;If your zeal is bitter,&rdquo; says Saint
+James, &ldquo;it is not wisdom descending from on
+high, but earthly, sensual,
+diabolical.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_24" href="#fn_24">[24]</a>
+These words of an Apostle should furnish matter of
+reflection for those persons who, whilst making
+profession of piety, are so prone to irritability,
+so harsh and rude in their manners and language,
+that they might be taken for angels in
+church and for demons elsewhere.</p>
+<p>10. The value and utility of zeal are in
+proportion to its tolerance and amiability.
+True zeal is the offspring of charity: it should,
+then, resemble its mother and show itself like
+to her in all things. &ldquo;Charity,&rdquo; says Saint
+Paul, &ldquo;is patient, is kind, is not ambitious
+and seeketh not her own.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_25" href="#fn_25">[25]</a></p>
+<p>*&ldquo;You should not only be devout and love
+devotion, but you ought to make your piety
+useful, agreeable and charming to everybody.
+The sick will like your spirituality if they are
+<span class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</span>
+lovingly consoled by it; your family, if they
+find that it makes you more thoughtful of
+their welfare, gentler in every day affairs,
+more amiable in reproving, and so on; your
+husband, if he sees that in proportion as your
+devotion increases you become more cordial
+and tender in your affection for him; your
+relations and friends, if they find you more
+forbearing, and more ready to comply with
+their wishes, should these not be contrary to
+God&rsquo;s will. Briefly, you must try as far as
+possible to make your devotion attractive to
+others; that is true zeal.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint Francis de
+Sales.*</p>
+<p>11. Never allow your zeal to make you over
+eager to correct others, says the same Saint; and
+when you must do it remember that the most
+important thing to consider is the choice of
+the moment. A caution deferred can be given
+another time: one given inopportunely is not
+only fruitless, but moreover paralyses beforehand
+all the good that might have subsequently
+been done.</p>
+<p>12. Be zealous, therefore, ardently zealous
+for the salvation of your neighbor, and to further
+it make use of whatever means God has
+placed in your power; but do not exceed
+<span class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</span>
+these limits nor disquiet yourself about the
+good you are unable to do, for God can accomplish
+it through others. In conclusion,
+zeal, according to the teachings of the Fathers
+of the Church, should always have truth for
+its foundation, indulgence for its companion,
+mildness for its guide, prudence for its counsellor
+and director.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;I must look upon whatever presents itself
+each day to be done, in the order of Divine
+Providence, as the work God wishes me to do,
+and apply myself to it in a manner worthy of
+Him, that is with exactness and tranquillity.
+I shall neglect nothing, be anxious about nothing;
+as it is dangerous either to do God&rsquo;s work
+negligently or to appropriate it to one&rsquo;s self
+through self-love and false zeal. When our
+actions are prompted by our own inclinations,
+we do them badly, and are pretentious, restless,
+and anxious to succeed. The glory of
+God is the pretext that hides the illusion.
+Self-love disguised as zeal grieves and frets if
+it cannot succeed. O my God! give me the
+grace to be faithful in action, indifferent to
+success. My part is to will what Thou willest
+and to keep myself recollected in Thee amidst
+all my occupations: Thine it is to give to my
+<span class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</span>
+feeble efforts such fruit as shall please Thee,&mdash;none
+if Thou so wishest.&rdquo;&mdash;F&eacute;nelon.*</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div>
+<h3 id="c20">XX.
+<br /><span class="small">MEEKNESS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land.
+(<span class="scripRef">S. Matth., c. V., v. 4.</span>)</p>
+<p>Learn of me because I am meek.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Matthew, c. XI., v. 29.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person
+a model of all the virtues. Meekness, however,
+is the one that He seems to have wished
+more particularly to propose for our imitation
+since He said: &ldquo;Learn of Me for I am meek
+and humble of heart.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>2. Try, therefore, to acquire and always
+preserve in your soul this christian virtue and
+to make all your exterior actions correspond
+with it. I do not say that you should never
+have the slightest feeling of irritation, as that
+would be to expect an impossibility; but you
+should be attentive to repress these movements
+and never yield to them voluntarily. It is
+natural for man to be often assailed by anger,
+says Saint Jerome, but it is peculiar to the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_163">[163]</span>
+Christian not to allow himself to be overcome
+by it.</p>
+<p>3. A Christian, says Saint Bernard, who
+has no one at hand who gives him occasion
+to suffer, should seek such a person eagerly
+and buy him at any price, that he may have
+opportunity to practice meekness and patience.
+If you are not disposed to go to this expense,
+at least profit of whatever opportunities divine
+Providence has given you gratuitously, that
+you may accustom yourself to the exercise of
+these two inestimable virtues.</p>
+<p>4. An excellent rule to follow is to make
+a compact with your tongue such as Saint
+Francis de Sales did with his, namely, that
+the tongue remain silent whenever the feelings
+are irritated. Otherwise you will begin
+to speak with the sincere resolution to keep
+within the bounds of moderation and prudence,
+but you will never succeed in so doing, because
+the bridle once loosened you will invariably
+be carried farther than you wished. Reprimand
+from an angry man can do no good.
+Reproof is a moral remedy: how would it be
+possible for you to select and administer this
+remedy with discernment and prudence, when
+you yourself are ill and stand in need of both
+<span class="pb" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
+medicine and physician? Wait therefore until
+your soul is at peace, and when you have been
+restored to calmness you can speak advantageously.
+Even when it is your positive duty
+to administer a rebuke, defer it if possible
+until free from excitement, remembering that
+to have a salutary effect both he who gives it
+and he who receives it must be calm. Without
+this precaution the remedy will only
+aggravate the disease.</p>
+<p>5. When obliged to reprove the fault of
+another, never fail to pray that God will speak
+to the person&rsquo;s heart whilst your words are
+sounding in his ears.</p>
+<p>6. Observe, however, with Saint Gregory
+the Great and Saint Thomas, that if those it is
+your duty to correct abuse your mildness and
+considerateness, you are then justified in repressing
+their boldness with vigor and firmness.
+&ldquo;Speak to the fool,&rdquo; says the Holy
+Spirit, &ldquo;the language that his folly renders
+necessary, that he may not continue wise in his own
+eyes.&rdquo;<a class="fn" id="fr_26" href="#fn_26">[26]</a>
+I repeat it: reproof is a
+remedy, and a remedy must be chosen and
+proportioned according to the nature and
+gravity of the evil.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_165">[165]</div>
+<h3 id="c21">XXI.
+<br /><span class="small">CONVERSATION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
+but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all who are
+in a house.</p>
+<p>Let your light so shine before men that they may see
+your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Matthew, c. V., vv. 15-16.</span>)</p>
+<p>Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subversion
+of the hearers.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, II Tim., c. II., v. 14.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Conversation should be marked by a
+gentle and devout pleasantness, and your manner
+when engaged in it, ought to be equable,
+composed and gracious. Mildness and cheerfulness
+make devotion and those who practice
+it attractive to others. The holy abbot Saint
+Anthony, notwithstanding the extraordinary
+austerities of his penitential life, always
+showed such a smiling countenance that no
+one could look at him without pleasure.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_166">[166]</div>
+<p>2. We should be neither too talkative nor
+too silent,&mdash;it is as necessary to avoid one
+extreme as the other. By speaking too much
+we expose ourselves to a thousand dangers,
+so well known that they need not be mentioned
+in detail: by not speaking enough we
+are apt to be a restraint upon others, as it
+makes it seem as though we did not relish
+their conversation, or wished to impress them
+with our superiority.</p>
+<p>*&ldquo;Take great care not to be too critical of
+conversations in which the rules of devotion
+are not very exactly observed. In all such
+matters it is necessary that charity should
+govern and enlighten us in order to make us
+accede to the wishes of our neighbor in whatever
+is not in any way contrary to the commandments
+of God.&rdquo;&mdash;Saint Francis de
+Sales.*</p>
+<p>3. Do not conclude from this that it is
+necessary to count your words, as it were, so
+as to keep your conversation within the proper
+limits. This would be as puerile a scruple as
+counting one&rsquo;s steps when walking. A holy
+spirit of liberty should dominate our conversations
+and serve to instil into them a gentle
+and moderate gaiety.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_167">[167]</div>
+<p>4. If you hear some evil spoken of your
+neighbor do not immediately become alarmed,
+as the matter may be true and quite public
+without your having been aware of it. Should
+you be quite certain that there is calumny or
+slander in the report, either because the evil
+told was false or exaggerated or because it was
+not publicly known, then, according to the
+place, the circumstances and your relations
+towards those present, say with moderation
+what appears most fitting to justify or excuse
+your neighbor. Or you may try to turn the
+conversation into other channels, or simply be
+content to show your disapprobation by an
+expressive silence. Remember, for the peace
+of your conscience, that one does not share in
+the sin of slander unless he give some mark
+of approbation or encouragement to the person
+who is guilty of it.</p>
+<p>5. Do not imitate those who are scrupulous
+enough to imagine that charity obliges them
+to undertake the defence of every evil mentioned
+in their presence and to become the self-appointed
+advocates of whoever it may be that
+has deserved censure. That which is really
+wrong cannot be justified, and no one should
+attempt the fruitless task: and as to the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
+guilty, those who may do harm either through
+the scandal of their example or the wickedness
+of their doctrines, it is right that they
+should be shunned and openly denounced.
+&ldquo;To cry out wolf, wolf,&rdquo; says Saint Francis
+de Sales, &ldquo;is kindness to the sheep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>6. The regard we owe our neighbor does
+not bind us to a politeness that might be construed
+as an approval or encouragement of
+his vicious habits. Hence if it happen that
+you hear an equivocal jest, a witticism
+slurring at religion or morals, or anything
+else that really offends against propriety, be
+careful not to give, through cowardice and in
+spite of your conscience, any mark of approbation,
+were it only by one of those half smiles
+that are often accorded unwillingly and afterwards
+regretted. Flattery, even in the eyes
+of the world, is one of the most debasing of
+falsehoods. Not even in the presence of the
+greatest earthly dignitaries, will an honest,
+upright man sanction with his mouth that
+which he condemns in his heart. He who
+sacrifices to vice the rights of truth not only
+acts unlike a christian, but renders himself
+unworthy the name of man.</p>
+<p>7. In small social gatherings try to make
+<span class="pb" id="Page_169">[169]</span>
+yourself agreeable to everybody present and
+to show to each some little mark of attention,
+if you can do so without affectation. This
+may be done either by directly addressing the
+person or by making a remark that you know
+will give him occasion to speak of his own
+accord,&mdash;draw him out, as the saying is. It
+was by the charm and urbanity of his conversation
+that Saint Francis de Sales prepared
+the way for the conversion of numbers of
+heretics and sinners, and by imitating him
+you will contribute towards making piety in
+the world more attractive. In regard to priests
+you should always testify your respect for the
+sacerdotal dignity quite independently of the
+individual.</p>
+<p>8. Disputes, sarcasm, bitter language, and
+intolerance for dissenting opinions, are the
+scourges of conversation.</p>
+<p>9. Although this adage comes to us from
+a pagan philosopher, we might profitably bear
+it always in mind: &ldquo;In conversation we should
+show deference to our superiors, affability to
+our equals, and benevolence to our inferiors.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>10. Generally speaking, it is wrong for
+those whom God does not call to abandon the
+world, to seclude themselves entirely and to
+<span class="pb" id="Page_170">[170]</span>
+shun all society suited to their position in life.
+God, who is the source of all virtue, is likewise
+the author of human society. Let the
+wicked hide themselves if they will, their
+absence is no loss to the world; but good people
+make themselves useful merely by being
+seen. It is well, moreover, the world should
+know that in order to practice the teachings
+of the Gospel it is not necessary to bury
+one&rsquo;s self in the desert; and that those
+who live for the Creator can likewise live
+with the creatures whom He has made according
+to His own image and likeness. Well,
+again, to show that a devout life is neither
+sad nor austere, but simple, sweet and easy;
+that far from being for those in the world an
+impediment to social relations, it facilitates,
+perfects and sanctifies such; that the disciples
+of Jesus Christ can, without becoming worldlings,
+live in the world; and that, in fine, the
+Gospel is the sovereign code of perfection
+for persons in society as well as for those who
+have renounced the world.</p>
+<p>*F&eacute;nelon, who perhaps had even greater
+occasion than Saint Francis de Sales to teach
+men of the world how to lead a Christian life
+in society, wrote as follows to a person at court:</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_171">[171]</div>
+<p>&ldquo;You ought not to feel worried, it seems to
+me, in regard to those diversions in which
+you cannot avoid taking part. I know there
+are those who think it necessary that one
+should lament about everything, and restrain
+himself continually by trying to excite disgust
+for the amusements in which he must participate.
+As for me, I acknowledge that I cannot
+reconcile myself to this severity. I prefer
+something more simple and I believe that
+God, too, likes it better. When amusements
+are innocent in themselves and we enter into
+them to conform to the customs of the state of
+life in which Providence has placed us, then
+I believe they are perfectly lawful. It is
+enough to keep within the bounds of moderation
+and to remember God&rsquo;s presence. A dry,
+reserved manner, conduct not thoroughly ingenuous
+and obliging, only serve to give a
+false idea of piety to men of the world who
+are already too much prejudiced against it,
+believing that a spiritual life cannot be otherwise
+than gloomy and morose.&rdquo;*</p>
+<p>11. If all confessors agreed in instilling
+these maxims, which are as important as they
+are true, many persons who now keep themselves
+in absolute seclusion and live in a sad
+<span class="pb" id="Page_172">[172]</span>
+and dreary solitude would remain in society
+to the edification of their neighbor and the
+great advantage of religion. The world would
+thus be disabused of its unjust prejudices
+against a devout life and those who have embraced
+it.</p>
+<p>12. Never remain idle except during the
+time you have allotted to rest or recreation.
+Idleness begets lassitude, disposes to evil
+speaking and gives occasion to the most
+dangerous temptations.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_173">[173]</div>
+<h3 id="c22">XXII.
+<br /><span class="small">DRESS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Women also in decent apparel, adorning themselves
+with modesty and sobriety.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, I. Tim., c. II., v. 9.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Clothing is worn for a threefold object:
+to observe the laws of propriety, to protect
+our bodies from the inclemency of the weather,
+and, finally, to adorn them, as Saint Paul says,
+with <i>modesty and sobriety</i>. This third end
+is, as you see, not less legitimate than the other
+two, provided you are careful to make it
+accord with them by confining it within proper
+limits and not permitting it to be the only
+one to which you attach any importance, so
+that neither health nor propriety be sacrificed
+to personal appearance.</p>
+<p>2. External ornamentation should correspond
+with each one&rsquo;s condition in life. A
+just proportion in this matter, says Saint
+Thomas, is an offshoot of the virtues of uprightness
+and sincerity, for there is a sort of untruthfulness
+in appearing in garments that
+<span class="pb" id="Page_174">[174]</span>
+are calculated to give a wrong impression as
+to the position in which God has placed us in
+this world.</p>
+<p>3. Be equally careful, then, to avoid over-nicety
+and carelessness in respect to matters
+of toilet. Excessive nicety sins against
+moderation and christian simplicity; negligence,
+against the order that should govern
+certain externals in human society. This order
+requires that each one&rsquo;s material life, and
+accordingly his attire which is a part of it, be
+suitable to his rank and condition; that Esther
+be clad as a queen, Judith as a woman of
+wealth and position, Agar as a bond-woman.</p>
+<p>5. I shall not speak of immodest dress, for
+these instructions being intended for pious
+persons or for those who are endeavoring to
+become such, it would seem unnecessary.
+Nevertheless, as some false and pernicious
+ideas on this subject prevail in the world and
+lead into error souls desirous to do right,
+here are some fundamental principles that
+can serve you as a rule and save you from
+similar mistakes.</p>
+<p>5. A generally admitted custom can and
+even should be followed in all indifferent
+matters; but no custom, however universal it
+<span class="pb" id="Page_175">[175]</span>
+may be, can ever have the power to change
+the nature and essence of things or render
+allowable that which is in itself indecent and
+immodest. Were it otherwise, many sins
+could be justified by the sanction they receive
+in fashionable society. Remember, therefore,
+that the sin of others can never in
+the sight of God authorize yours, and that
+where it is the fashion to sin it is likewise the
+fashion to go to hell. Hence it rests with
+yourself whether you prefer to be saved with
+the few or to be damned with the many.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_176">[176]</div>
+<h3 id="c23">XXIII.
+<br /><span class="small">HUMAN RESPECT.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people....
+Lo, I will not restrain my lips.... I have not concealed thy mercy
+and thy truth from a great council.
+(Psalms <span class="scripRef">CXV.</span> and
+<span class="scripRef">XXXIX.</span>)</p>
+<p>That which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops....
+Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also
+confess him before my Father who is in heaven.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Matthew, c. X., vv. 27-32.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. Charity towards your neighbor, tolerance
+for his opinions, indulgence for his defects,
+compassion for his errors, yes; but no
+cowardly and guilty concessions to human
+respect. Never allow fear of the ridicule
+or contempt of men to make you blush
+for your faith.</p>
+<p>2. We are not even forbidden to call one
+human weakness to the assistance of another
+that is contrary to it: men do not like to contradict
+<span class="pb" id="Page_177">[177]</span>
+themselves, and they dread to be considered
+fickle. Well, then, in order that no
+person may be ignorant of the fact that you are a
+christian, once for all boldly confess your faith
+and your firm resolve to practise it, and let it
+be known that in all your actions your sole
+desire is to seek the glory of God and the
+good of your neighbor. Let this profession
+be made upon occasion in a gentle and modest
+manner, but firmly and positively; and you
+will find that subsequently it will be much
+easier for you to continue what you have thus
+courageously begun. (Read Chapters I. and II., IVth Part of the
+<i>Introduction to a Devout Life</i>.)</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_178">[178]</div>
+<h3 id="c24">XXIV.
+<br /><span class="small">RESOLUTIONS.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Long-standing custom will make resistance, but by a better
+habit shall it be subdued.
+(<i>Imitation</i>, B. III., c. XII.)</p>
+<p>To him who shall overcome, I will grant to sit with me in
+my throne, as I also have overcome.
+(<span class="scripRef">Apocalypse, c. III., v. 21.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. We should not undertake to perfect ourselves
+upon all points at once; resolutions as
+to details ought to be made and carried out
+one by one, directing them first against our
+predominant passion.</p>
+<p>2. By a predominant passion we mean
+the source of that sin to which we oftenest
+yield and from which spring the greater number
+of our faults.</p>
+<p>3. In order to attack it successfully it is
+essential to make use of strategy. It must be
+approached little by little, besieged with great
+caution as if it were the stronghold of an
+<span class="pb" id="Page_179">[179]</span>
+enemy, and the outposts taken one after
+another.</p>
+<p>4. For example, if your ruling passion be
+anger, simply propose to yourself in the beginning
+never to speak when you feel irritated.
+Renew this resolution two or three times during
+the day and ask God&rsquo;s pardon for every
+time you have failed against it.</p>
+<p>5. When the results of this first resolution
+shall have become a habit, so that you no
+longer have any difficulty in keeping it, you
+can take a step forward. Propose, for instance,
+to repress promptly every thought
+capable of agitating you, or of arousing interior
+anger; afterwards you can adopt the
+practice of meeting without annoyance persons
+who are naturally repugnant to you; then of
+being able to treat with especial kindness
+those of whom you have reason to complain.
+Finally, you will learn to see in all things,
+even in those most painful to nature, the will
+of God offering you opportunities to acquire
+merit; and in those who cause you suffering,
+only the instruments of this same merciful
+providence. You will then no longer think of
+repulsing or bewailing them, but will bless and
+thank your divine Saviour for having chosen
+<span class="pb" id="Page_180">[180]</span>
+you to bear with Him the burden of His cross,
+and for deigning to hold to your lips the precious
+chalice of His passion.</p>
+<p>6. Some saints recommend us to make an
+act of hope or love or to perform some act of
+mortification when we discover that we have
+failed to keep our resolutions. This practice
+is good, but if you adopt it do not consider it
+of obligation nor bind yourself so strictly to it
+as to suppose you have committed a sin when
+you neglect it.</p>
+<p>7. It is by this progressive method that
+you can at length succeed in entirely overcoming
+your passions, and will be able to
+acquire the virtues you lack. Always begin
+with what is easiest. Choose at first external
+acts over which the will has greater control,
+and in time you can advance from these, little
+by little, to the most interior and difficult
+details of the spiritual life.</p>
+<p>8. Resolutions of too general a character,
+such as, for example, to be always moderate
+in speech, always patient, chaste, peaceable
+and the like, ordinarily do not amount to
+much and sometimes to nothing at all.</p>
+<p>9. To undertake little at a time, and to pursue
+this little with perseverance until one has
+<span class="pb" id="Page_181">[181]</span>
+by degrees brought it to perfection, is a common
+rule of human prudence. The saints
+particularly recommend us to apply it to the
+subject of our resolutions.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_182">[182]</div>
+<h3 id="c25">XXV.
+<br /><span class="small">CONCLUSION.</span></h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
+and which have been committed to thee; knowing of whom
+thou hast learned them.
+(<span class="scripRef">St. Paul, II Tim., c. III., v. 14.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>1. The writer of these instructions makes
+no pretension to have derived them from his
+own wisdom. The material was furnished
+him by the greatest saints and the most eminent
+doctors of the Church. You can therefore
+believe in them with great confidence,
+follow them without fear and adopt them as a
+safe and reliable guide in your spiritual life.</p>
+<p>2. If you try to regulate your practice by
+making personal and indiscriminate application
+of everything you find in sermons and
+books you will never be at rest. <i>One draws
+you to the right, the other to the left</i>, says
+Saint Francis de Sales: doctrine is one, but
+its applications are many, and they vary
+<span class="pb" id="Page_183">[183]</span>
+according to time, place and person. Besides,
+those who speak to a hardened multitude,
+from whom they cannot get even a little
+without exacting a great deal, insist vehemently
+upon the subject with which they
+wish to impress their hearers and for the time
+being appear to forget everything else. If
+they preach on mortification of the senses,
+fasting, or any other penitential work, they
+fail to explain the proper manner of practising
+it, the limits that should not usually be exceeded
+and the circumstances under which
+we can and should refrain from it. This is
+due to the fact that the cowardly and the lukewarm,
+whom it is more necessary to excite
+than to restrain, will take from these instructions
+only just what is suitable for them.
+Now as these form the majority, it is for them
+above all that it is necessary to speak.</p>
+<p>3. It would then be better for you individually,
+without lessening your respect and
+esteem for books of devotion and for preachers
+animated by the spirit of God, to confine
+yourself as far as practice is concerned to the
+advice of your director and to the teachings
+of the saints as presented in this little volume.</p>
+<p>4. Recall what has been already said, that
+<span class="pb" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
+Saint Francis de Sales counsels you to select
+your spiritual guide from among ten thousand,
+and to allow yourself subsequently to be
+entirely directed by him as though he were
+an angel come down from heaven to conduct
+you there.</p>
+<p>5. Without this rule of firm and confident
+obedience, books and sermons and all that is
+said and written for the multitude, will become
+for you a source of fatiguing inquietude, and
+of doubts and fears, owing to the fact that
+you will try to assimilate things which were
+not intended for you.</p>
+<p>6. Remember, moreover, the pleasant saying
+of Saint Philip de Neri,&mdash;namely, that he
+had a special predilection for those books the
+authors of which had a name beginning with
+the letter S.; that is to say, the works of the
+saints, because he supposed them to be more
+illumined by heavenly wisdom.</p>
+<p>Now, in observing these instructions you
+will have for guide and director not the poor
+sinner who has compiled them for the glory
+of God and the good of souls, but Saint
+Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Philip de
+Neri and especially Saint Francis de Sales,
+in whom the Church recognizes and admires
+<span class="pb" id="Page_185">[185]</span>
+such exalted sanctity, profound wisdom, and
+rare experience in the direction of souls.
+These are the three eminent qualities requisite
+to constitute a great doctor in the Catholic
+Church, and to form the safest and the most
+enlightened guide for those who wish to be
+his disciples.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_186">[186]</div>
+<h3 id="c26">ADDITIONS.
+<br /><span class="small">FINAL ADVICE IN REGARD TO HOLY COMMUNION.</span></h3>
+<p>A cause of frequent error and trouble, particularly
+in regard to Holy Communion, is
+that feelings are confused with acts of the
+will. The faculty of willing is the only one
+we possess as our own, the only one we
+can use freely and at all times. Hence it
+follows that it is by the will alone that we
+can in reality acquire merit or commit sin.
+The natural virtues are gratuitous gifts of God.
+The world is right in esteeming them for they
+come from Him, but it errs when it esteems
+them exclusively for they do not of themselves
+give us any title to heaven. God has
+placed them at the disposal of our will as
+means to an end, and we can make a good or
+bad use of them just as we can of all God&rsquo;s
+other gifts. We may be deprived of these
+natural virtues and live by the will alone,
+spiritually dry and devoid of sentiment, and
+yet in a state of intimate union with God.</p>
+<div class="pb" id="Page_187">[187]</div>
+<p>This explanation is intended to reassure
+such persons as are disposed to feel anxious
+when they find nothing in their hearts to correspond
+with the effusions of sensible love
+with which books of devotion abound in the
+preparation for Holy Communion. These
+usually make the mistake of taking for granted
+the invariable existence of sentiment, and of
+addressing it exclusively. How many souls
+do we not see who in consequence grow
+alarmed about their condition, believing they
+are devoid of grace notwithstanding their firm
+will to shun sin and to please God! They
+should, however, not give way to anxiety, nor
+exhaust themselves by vain efforts to excite in
+their hearts a sensibility that God has not
+given them. When He has granted us this
+gift we owe Him homage for it as for all
+others; but God only requires that each of His
+creatures should render an account of what he
+has received, and free-will is the one thing
+that has been accorded indiscriminately to all
+men. Thus we find Saint Francis de Sales,
+who possessed in such a high degree sensible
+love of God and all the natural virtues, making
+this positive declaration: &ldquo;The greatest proof
+we can have in this life that we are in the
+<span class="pb" id="Page_188">[188]</span>
+grace of God, is not sensible love of Him, but
+the firm resolution never to consent to any sin
+great or small.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pious persons can make use of the following
+prayers with profit when they are habitually
+or accidentally in the condition described
+above. They will then see how the will
+alone, without the aid of feeling, can produce
+acts of all the christian virtues.</p>
+<h4>Act of Confidence.</h4>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I will go unto the altar of God. (<span class="scripRef">Ps. XLII.</span>)</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It is obedience, O my God! that leads me
+to Thy Holy Table: the tender words by
+which Thou hast invited us would not have
+sufficed to draw me, for in the troubled state
+of my soul I cannot be sure they are addressed
+to me. Misery and infirmity are claims for admission
+to Thy Feast, but nothing can dispense
+from the nuptial garment. Therefore when
+I turn my eyes on myself, after having raised
+them to Thee, I doubt, I hesitate, I tremble;
+for if I go from Thee I flee from life, and if I
+approach unworthily, to my other sins I add
+the crime of sacrilege.<a class="fn" id="fr_27" href="#fn_27">[27]</a> But Thy merciful
+<span class="pb" id="Page_189">[189]</span>
+wisdom, O my God, whilst foreseeing our
+every need, has foreseen all our weaknesses
+and has prepared helps for us against both
+presumption and distrust. For if Thou hast
+not willed that, certain of Thy grace, we should
+ever advance with the assurance of the Pharisee
+and say like him: I come to the altar of
+the Lord because I know I am just in His
+eyes: neither hast Thou permitted that a
+sacrament of love should become for us a torture
+and an unavoidable snare. I therefore
+obey, O my God, and in the darkness that
+envelops me I wish to follow implicitly the
+guidance of him whom Thou hast appointed
+to lead me to Thee. I shall approach the
+Holy Table without wishing for any other
+warrant than the words spoken by my confessor,
+or rather by Thee: <i>You may receive
+Holy Communion</i>. I accept, O my God!&mdash;be
+it a well merited punishment or a salutary
+trial,&mdash;this privation of light and sensible
+devotion, this coldness and distraction, which
+accompany me even into Thy presence when
+all the faculties of my soul should be absorbed
+and confounded in sentiments of adoration
+and of love. Faith, hope and charity seem
+to be extinct in my heart, but I know that
+<span class="pb" id="Page_190">[190]</span>
+Thou never withdrawest these virtues when
+we do not voluntarily renounce them.</p>
+<h4>Act of Faith.</h4>
+<p>Notwithstanding, then, the doubts that
+cross my mind, <i>I wish to believe</i>, O my God!
+and <i>I do believe</i> all that Thy holy Church has
+taught me. I have not forgotten that brilliant
+light of Faith which Thou didst cause to
+illumine my soul in the days of mercy in order
+that the precious remembrance of it should
+serve me as support in the days of trial and
+temptation.</p>
+<h4>Act of Hope.</h4>
+<p>In spite of these vague fears that seem to
+extinguish hope within my soul, I know that
+although Thou art the mighty and strong
+God before whom the cherubim veil themselves
+with their wings, the just and all-seeing God
+who discovers blemishes in the purest souls,
+still Thou wishest to be in the most Holy
+Sacrament only the Victim whose Blood
+effaces the sins of the world; the Good Shepherd
+who hastens after the strayed sheep and
+carries it tenderly and unreproachfully back
+to the fold; the divine Mediator who comes
+<span class="pb" id="Page_191">[191]</span>
+<i>not to judge but to
+save</i>.<a class="fn" id="fr_28" href="#fn_28">[28]</a> All this I know,
+O my God! and therefore <i>I hope</i>.</p>
+<h4>Act of Love.</h4>
+<p>Notwithstanding the coldness and insensibility
+that benumb my soul, I know that
+<i>I love Thee</i>, O my God! since my will prefers
+Thy service to all the joys of this world, since
+Thy grace is the sole good to which I aspire,
+and because I suffer so much by reason of my
+lack of sensible love for Thee.</p>
+<h4>Act of Desire.</h4>
+<p>No, I am not indifferent, Thou knowest, O
+my God! that I am not indifferent to this
+Most Holy Sacrament which I approach unmoved
+by any sensible feeling: for Thou seest
+that although I find in Holy Communion
+neither relish nor consolation, I would yet
+make any sacrifice in order to receive it.</p>
+<h4>Act of Contrition.</h4>
+<p>I feel neither hatred nor horror of sins to
+which the world does not attach shame and
+contempt; I experience no sensible sorrow for
+the sins I have committed, but I know, O my
+<span class="pb" id="Page_192">[192]</span>
+God! that, with the assistance of Thy grace,
+my will denounces them, for I am resolved to
+commit them no more. I have taken this
+resolution because sin displeases Thee and
+because all that swerves from eternal order is
+abhorrent to Thy infinite sanctity. <i>I believe,
+then, that I am contrite</i>, O my God! because I
+believe in Thy promises, and if Thou dost not
+always grant us the consolation of realizing
+our contrition, Thou wilt never refuse its justifying
+virtue to those who humbly implore it;
+and this I do.</p>
+<p>No, my God, I shall not pray Thee to grant
+me sensible enjoyment, not even that of Thy
+spiritual gifts: what I implore of Thy grace is
+to keep my will ever turned towards Thee
+and never to permit it to fall or wander anew
+on the earth.</p>
+<p><i>Lord! into Thy hands I commend my spirit.</i></p>
+<p>(Read <i>The Imitation</i>, Chapters IV., XIV.,
+XV. of B. IV.; and Chapters XXV., XLVIII
+and LII of B. III.)</p>
+<hr />
+<p>If you have an ardent desire for the sensible
+love of God, a desire that cannot but be pleasing
+to Him provided you are at the same time
+<span class="pb" id="Page_193">[193]</span>
+resigned to be deprived of it, remember that
+according to Saint John Chrysostom it can be
+obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God
+wishes, says the Saint, to make us realize by
+experience that we cannot have His love but
+from Himself, and that this love, which is the
+true happiness of our souls, is not to be acquired
+by the reflections of our minds or the natural
+efforts of our hearts, but by the gratuitous infusion
+of the Holy Ghost. Yes, this love is
+so great a good that God wishes to be the sole
+dispenser of it: He bestows it only in proportion
+as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily
+makes us wait for some time before He
+grants it.</p>
+<p>There are few prayers better calculated to
+dispose the soul to receive this great grace
+than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the
+IVth. Book, and XXI. and XXXIV. of the
+IIId. Book of <i>The Imitation</i>.</p>
+<p>For thanksgiving after Communion, read
+Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II. and X. of
+the III. Book of <i>The Imitation</i>.</p>
+<h3 id="c27">Footnotes</h3>
+<div class="fnblock"><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_1" href="#fr_1">[1]</a>Saint Paul,
+<span class="scripRef">I. Cor. x., 13</span>,
+says: ... God is faithful,
+Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you
+are able: but will even make with temptation an issue,
+that you may be able to bear it.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_2" href="#fr_2">[2]</a>The
+Chevalier du Chambon de M&eacute;silliac, who translated
+this little work of P. Quadrupani&rsquo;s into French,
+inserted much additional matter, quotations for the
+most part from the same authorities frequently cited by
+the Italian author. These selections he placed at the
+end of each <i>Instruction</i> under the title of &ldquo;Additions.&rdquo;
+The English translator has changed this arrangement
+into one which seems more convenient and better calculated
+to maintain the connection of ideas. Therefore
+the extracts chosen by the French translator are here
+inserted in the body of the text, immediately following
+the paragraphs which suggested them, and are marked
+by asterisks to distinguish them from the original
+matter.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_3" href="#fr_3">[3]</a>St. Francis de Sales.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_4" href="#fr_4">[4]</a><span class="scripRef">Proverbs, XXX, 21-23</span>:
+&ldquo;By three things is the
+earth disturbed ... by a bondwoman, when she is heir
+to her mistress....&rdquo;
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_5" href="#fr_5">[5]</a><span class="scripRef">II. Cor., xii., 9.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_6" href="#fr_6">[6]</a><span class="scripRef">John, vi, 57.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_7" href="#fr_7">[7]</a><span class="scripRef">Matt. xi., 28.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_8" href="#fr_8">[8]</a><span class="scripRef">Saint Luke, c. V. vv. 8-10.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_9" href="#fr_9">[9]</a><span class="scripRef">Luke V., 32.</span>
+<span class="scripRef">Mark II., 17.</span>
+<span class="scripRef">Matthew IX., 13.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_10" href="#fr_10">[10]</a><span class="scripRef">Epist. St. Paul to the Hebrews.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_11" href="#fr_11">[11]</a><span class="scripRef">St. Paul to the Philippians, IV., 13.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_12" href="#fr_12">[12]</a><span class="scripRef">Matt. X., 30.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_13" href="#fr_13">[13]</a><span class="scripRef">Matt. X., 30:</span>&mdash;<span class="scripRef">Luke XII., 7.</span>&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Blessed are they that
+mourn, for they shall be comforted.</i>&rdquo;
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_14" href="#fr_14">[14]</a><span class="scripRef">III Kings, C. XIX.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_15" href="#fr_15">[15]</a>Ecce
+in pace est amaritudo mea amarissima. (<span class="scripRef">Isaias.</span>)
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_16" href="#fr_16">[16]</a>Saint
+Francis de Sales.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_17" href="#fr_17">[17]</a>See P. Rodriguez, S. J., Christian Perfection, C. I.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_18" href="#fr_18">[18]</a><span class="scripRef">Gen. I., 11.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_19" href="#fr_19">[19]</a><span class="scripRef">Psalm CL., 5.</span>
+<i>Let every spirit praise the Lord</i>.
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_20" href="#fr_20">[20]</a><span class="scripRef">Luke, IX., 54.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_21" href="#fr_21">[21]</a><span class="scripRef">Ecclesiastes III., 7.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_22" href="#fr_22">[22]</a><span class="scripRef">Ps. CL., 5.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_23" href="#fr_23">[23]</a><span class="scripRef">St. Paul, I Cor. I., 13.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_24" href="#fr_24">[24]</a><span class="scripRef">S. James, Cath. Ep. III., 14-15.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_25" href="#fr_25">[25]</a><span class="scripRef">S. Paul, I Cor. XIII., 4-5.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_26" href="#fr_26">[26]</a><span class="scripRef">Proverbs, XXVI., 5.</span>
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_27" href="#fr_27">[27]</a><i>Imitation</i>, B. IV., c. VI.:
+&ldquo;For if I do not appeal to
+Thee, I fly from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily
+I incur Thy displeasure.&rdquo;
+</div><div class="fndef"><a class="fn"  id="fn_28" href="#fr_28">[28]</a><span class="scripRef">S. John, c. XII., v. 47</span>:
+&ldquo;For I came not to judge the
+world, but to save the world.&rdquo;
+</div>
+</div>
+<h3 id="c28">Translator&rsquo;s Notes</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Corrected a few palpable typos.</li>
+<li>Added several missing quotation marks and asterisks where unpaired ones occurred.
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+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: Light and Peace
+       Instructions for devout souls to dispel their doubts and
+       allay their fears
+
+Author: Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+Release Date: December 20, 2011 [EBook #38355]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT AND PEACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Veronica Brandt and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            LIGHT AND PEACE.
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+                       TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND
+                           ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                                   BY
+                      R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+                     _Translated from the French._
+
+
+                        With an Introduction by
+                    THE MOST REV. P. J. RYAN, D.D.,
+                    Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+
+                          ST. LOUIS, MO. 1898.
+                        Published by B. HERDER,
+                           17 South Broadway.
+
+
+                             NIHIL OBSTAT.
+
+                                                      F. G. Holweck,
+                                                  _Censor Librorum_.
+
+
+                              IMPRIMATUR.
+
+St. Louis, Mo., 1. Oct. 1897.
+                                            H. Muehlsiepen, _V. G.,_
+                                                              _Adm._
+
+
+_The French translation, from which the present English version has been
+made, is approved by the Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Versailles
+and the Bishop of Meaux._
+
+
+                 Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach.
+
+
+                              --BECKTOLD--
+                       PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
+                             ST. LOUIS, MO.
+
+
+
+
+                         TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+These _Instructions for Pious Souls_, now published in English under the
+title _Light and Peace_, were written in 1795 by the illustrious and
+saintly Barnabite, Padre Quadrupani. They contain a summary of spiritual
+guidance for earnest Christians in the ordinary duties of life in the
+world. The author had formed his own spirituality on the model presented
+by the life and teaching of St. Francis de Sales, and in this little book
+he reflects the wisdom, prudence and sweetness of that "gentleman Saint."
+
+The work has passed through uncounted editions in its original Italian,
+and through a large number of editions in both the French and the German
+translations. An English translation was published many years ago, but
+besides its present rarity, its many imperfections warrant the belief
+that a new rendition will not be unwelcome. The translator has, moreover,
+been encouraged by the persuasion that the maxims of Father Quadrupani
+are specially adapted to the American character. Unlike many foreign
+religious works, whose spirituality often fails to touch the Anglo-Saxon
+temperament, this author's teaching is decidedly practical and
+practicable, and appeals in every way to the common sense and fits in
+with the busy, matter-of-fact life of the average American Catholic.
+
+The present translation has been made from the twentieth French edition
+and has been collated with the thirty-second edition of the original
+Italian published at Naples in 1818. The many recommendations from the
+Episcopacy of France prefixed to the French translation are here omitted,
+as the Introduction by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Philadelphia is
+abundant testimony to the doctrinal solidity of the work.
+
+                                                          I. M. O'R.
+Overbrook, PA.
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+God's attributes being infinite and our intellects limited and also
+darkened by the fall, we see these attributes only in part and "as afar
+off and through a glass." In contemplating His awful sanctity, we are
+overwhelmed with fear and forget His ineffable mercy. Our views are also
+greatly influenced by our natural temperaments, whether joyous or sad,
+and change with our environments and moods.
+
+As the blue firmament is ever the same, so is the great God Himself--"the
+King of Ages immortal and invisible, without change or shadow of
+vicissitude." But as the clouds that hang as veils of the sanctuary are
+movable and variegated, now dark and gloomy and again brilliant in silver
+or gold, now opening into vistas of the firmament above and again closing
+in darkness, except when arrows of light pierce them and show their
+outlines, so are we variable and inconstant and need spiritual direction
+adapted to our peculiar wants. The naturally joyous, hopeful and
+sometimes presumptuous, need that wholesome fear of the Lord which is
+"the beginning of wisdom." The constitutionally severe, scrupulous and
+almost despairing, need to remember God's tender paternal character and
+to learn that "His mercies are above all His works." To such souls this
+little book must prove invaluable. Its theology is sound, as the various
+episcopal approbations testify. Hence its statements can be entirely
+trusted. The fact that it has passed through twenty editions in French is
+sufficient evidence of its appreciation in that country. May it continue
+its holy mission of light and consolation and joy in this country and act
+like the angelic messenger to Peter in prison, liberating the soul from
+the chains of doubt and despondency, illuminating her by the light of
+God's holy truth and bringing her out of the darksome prison into the
+company of the confiding, prayerful, joyous saints of God.
+
+                                                        +P. J. RYAN.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                         _Exterior Practices._
+
+                                                                     Page.
+  I. Spiritual Direction                                                 1
+  II. Temptations                                                        8
+  III. Prayer                                                           19
+  IV. Penance                                                           37
+  V. Confession                                                         43
+  VI. Holy Communion                                                    62
+  VII. Sundays and Holydays                                             76
+  VIII. Spiritual Reading                                               81
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                            _Interior Life._
+
+  IX. Hope                                                              85
+  X. The Presence of God                                                90
+  XI. Humility                                                          93
+  XII. Resignation                                                      99
+  XIII. Scruples                                                       108
+  XIV. Interior Peace                                                  112
+  XV. Sadness                                                          116
+  XVI. Liberty of Spirit                                               119
+  XVII. Christian Perfection                                           130
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                             _Social Life._
+
+  XVIII. Charity                                                       146
+  XIX. Zeal                                                            153
+  XX. Meekness                                                         162
+  XXI. Conversation                                                    165
+  XXII. Dress                                                          173
+  XXIII. Human Respect                                                 176
+  XXIV. Resolutions                                                    178
+  XXV. Conclusion                                                      182
+  Additions                                                            186
+
+
+
+
+                            Light and Peace
+
+
+                     INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
+             TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND ALLAY THEIR FEARS.
+
+                    By R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART FIRST.
+                          EXTERIOR PRACTICES.
+
+
+
+
+                                   I.
+                          SPIRITUAL DIRECTION.
+
+
+  For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Ghost. (S. Mark, xiii, 11.)
+
+1. It is absolutely true that in matters of conscience obedience to a
+spiritual director is obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
+ministers on earth: "He that heareth you, heareth Me." (St. Luke, x, 16.)
+
+2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience can not be lost: a soul
+devoid of this spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)
+
+3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for the devil to tempt those who
+ignore obedience and permit themselves to be guided by their own light
+and deterred by their fears, for they act the devil's part towards
+themselves.
+
+4. Do not fear that your director may be mistaken in what he prescribes
+for your guidance, or that he does not fully understand the state of your
+conscience because you did not explain it clearly enough to him. Such
+doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed and thus frustrate the
+designs of God in placing you under the direction of a prudent guide. It
+was the priest's duty to have questioned you further had he not fully
+understood you, and that he did not do so is a positive proof that he
+knew enough to enable him to pronounce a safe judgment. God has promised
+his special help to those who represent Him in the direction of souls. Is
+not this assurance enough to induce you to obey with promptness and
+simplicity as the Holy Scripture commands?
+
+5. God does not show the state of our souls as clearly to us as he does
+to him who is to guide us in his place. You should be quite satisfied,
+then, if your director tells you the course you follow is the right one
+and that the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father are guiding you in
+it. You should believe and obey him in this as in all else, for as St.
+John of the Cross tells us, "it betrays pride and lack of faith not to
+put entire confidence in what our confessor says."
+
+6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore,
+therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk
+confidently in this path exempt from danger. "You sometimes fear," says
+St. Bonaventure, "that in obeying you act against the dictates of your
+conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
+really increase your merit before God."
+
+7. We should allow obedience to regulate not only our exterior actions
+but likewise our mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied with
+performing the works it prescribes, but let your thoughts and desires be
+also moulded according to its direction. In fact, it is in this interior
+submission that the merit of spiritual obedience essentially consists.
+
+8. Obedience should be simple and prompt, without reservation or
+disquietude. Simple, because you ought not to argue about it, but decide
+by the one thought: _I must obey_; prompt, for it is God whom you obey;
+without reservation, because obedience extends to everything that does
+not violate God's law; without disquietude, because in obeying God you
+cannot go astray: this thought should be sufficient to drive away all
+fear of doing or of having done wrong.
+
+9. When choosing a director, be careful to select one who has the
+necessary qualifications. He should be not only virtuous, but prudent,
+charitable and learned. St. Francis de Sales gives the following opinion
+on the subject:
+
+"Go," said Tobias to his son, when about to send him into a strange
+country, 'go seek some wise man to conduct you.' I say the same to you,
+Philothea. If you sincerely desire to enter upon the way of devotion,
+seek a good guide to direct you therein. This advice is of the utmost
+importance and necessity. Whatever one may do, says the devout Avila, he
+can never be certain of fulfilling God's will, unless he practice that
+humble obedience which the saints so strongly recommend and to which they
+so faithfully adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: 'A faithful friend is a
+strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure: ... a
+faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and they that
+fear the Lord shall find one.' (Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.)
+
+But who can find such a friend? They that fear God, the Wise Man
+answers--that is to say, those humble souls who ardently desire their
+spiritual progress. Since it is so essential, then, Philothea, to have a
+skilful guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to give you one
+according to His Heart, and rest assured that when an angel is necessary
+to you as to the young Tobias, He will give you a wise and faithful
+director.
+
+In fact, the selection once made, you should look upon your spiritual
+guide more as a guardian angel than as a mere man. You place your
+confidence not in him but in God, for it is God who will lead and
+instruct you through his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
+sentiments and words necessary for your guidance. Thus you may safely
+listen to him as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you there. To this
+confidence, add perfect candor. Speak quite frankly and tell him
+unreservedly all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the good will
+thus be strengthened, the evil weakened, and your soul shall thereby
+become firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in its consolations.
+Great respect should also be united with confidence and in such nice
+proportion that the one shall not lessen the other: let your confidence
+in him be such as a respectful daughter reposes in her father, your
+respect for him such as that with which a son confides in his mother. In
+a word, this friendship, though strong and tender, should be altogether
+sacred and spiritual in its nature.
+
+'Choose one among a thousand,' says Avila: "among ten thousand, rather, I
+should say, for there are fewer than one would suppose fitted for this
+office of spiritual director. Charity, learning and prudence are
+indispensable to it, and if any one of these qualities be absent, your
+choice will not be unattended with danger. I repeat, ask God to inspire
+your selection and when you have made it thank Him sincerely, and then
+remain constant to your decision. If you go to God in all simplicity and
+with humility and confidence, you will undoubtedly obtain a favorable
+answer to your petition."
+
+In conclusion, it may be well to remind you that the director and the
+confessor have not necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis de
+Sales was the spiritual director of many persons to whom he was not the
+ordinary confessor. "To a director," he says, "we should reveal our
+entire soul, whereas to a confessor we simply accuse ourselves of our
+sins in order to receive absolution for them."
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+                              TEMPTATIONS.
+
+
+  My brethren, count it all joy when ye shall fall into divers
+  temptations. (Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.)
+
+  Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin,
+  which dwelleth in me. (St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.)
+
+1. "If we are tempted," says the Holy Spirit, "it is a sign that God
+loves us." Those whom God best loves have been most exposed to
+temptations. "Because thou wast acceptable to God," said the angel to
+Tobias, "it was necessary that temptation should prove thee." (Tobias, c.
+xii, v. 13.)
+
+2. Do not ask God to deliver you from temptations, but to grant you the
+grace not to succumb to them and to do nothing contrary to His divine
+will. He who refuses the combat, renounces the crown. Place all your
+trust in God and God will Himself do battle for you against the enemy.[1]
+
+3. "These persistent temptations come from the malice of the devil," says
+St. Francis de Sales, "but the trouble and suffering they cause us come
+from the mercy of God. Thus, despite the will of the tempter, God
+converts his evil machinations into a distress which we may make
+meritorious. Therefore I say your temptations are from the devil and
+hell, but your anxiety and affliction are from God and heaven." Despise
+temptation, then, and open wide your soul to this suffering which God
+sends in order to purify you here that He may reward you hereafter.
+
+4. "Let the wind blow," remarks the same Saint, "and do not mistake the
+rustling of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly convinced that
+all the temptations of hell are powerless to defile a soul that does not
+love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations, yet God, through love,
+did not deliver him from them." Look upon God as an infinitely good and
+tender father and believe that He only allows the devil to try His
+children that their merits may increase and their recompense be
+correspondingly greater.
+
+5. The more persistent the temptation, the clearer it is that you have
+not given consent to it. "It is a good sign," says St. Francis de Sales,
+"when the tempter makes so much noise and commotion outside of the will,
+for it shows that he is not within." An enemy does not besiege a fortress
+that is already in his power, and the more obstinate the attack, the more
+certain We may be that our resistance continues.
+
+6. Your fears lead you to believe you are defeated at the very moment you
+are gaining the victory. This comes from the fact that you confound
+feeling with consent, and, mistaking a passive condition of the
+imagination for an act of the will, you consider that you have yielded to
+the temptation because you felt it keenly.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity, thus describes this
+warring of the flesh against the spirit:
+
+"You are right, my dear daughter. There are two women within you ... and
+the two children of these different mothers quarrel, and the
+good-for-nothing one is so bad that sometimes the good one can scarcely
+defend herself, and then she takes it into her head that she has been
+worsted and that the wicked one is braver than she. Now, surely, this is
+not true. The bad one is not the stronger by any means, but only slyer,
+more persistent and more obstinate. When she succeeds in making you weep
+she is delighted, because that is always just so much time lost, and she
+is content to make you lose time when she cannot make you lose
+eternity."*[2]
+
+It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. St. Jerome had
+retired into the desert and still his fancy represented to him the dances
+of the Roman ladies. His body was benumbed, as it were, and his blood
+chilled by the severity of his mortifications, and yet the flames of
+concupiscence encompassed and tortured his heart. During these frightful
+conflicts the holy anchorite suffered, but he did not sin; he was
+tormented but was not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were augmented
+in the sight of God in proportion to the intensity of the temptations.
+
+7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont to say to the phantoms of his
+mind: I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does not
+depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I would
+wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I repulse and
+reject you. "It is so much the essence of sin to be voluntary," says St.
+Augustine, "that if not voluntary, it is not sin."
+
+8. The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the
+imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been
+carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is not
+the case. The will suffered, but did not consent; it was attacked and
+wounded, but not conquered. This state of things coincides with what St.
+Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the spirit and of their
+unceasing warfare. The soul, indeed, experiences strange sensations, but
+as she does not consent to them, she passes through the ordeal unsullied,
+just as substances coated with oil may be immersed in water without
+absorbing a single drop of it.
+
+*St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction so plainly and yet so
+simply in one of his letters, that it may be useful to repeat the passage
+here: "Courage, my dear soul, I say it with great love in Jesus Christ,
+dear soul, courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely, even though
+without feeling, My Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not tell me it
+appears to you that you say it in a cowardly way, and only by doing great
+violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy violence that bears away
+the kingdom of heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is a sign that the
+enemy has taken everything within our fortress except the impenetrable,
+unconquerable tower--and that can never be lost save by wilful surrender.
+This tower is the free-will which, perfectly visible to the eye of God,
+occupies the highest and most spiritual region of the soul, dependent on
+none but God and oneself; and when all the other faculties are lost and
+in subjection to the enemy, it alone remains free to give or to refuse
+consent. Now, you often see souls afflicted because the enemy, occupying
+all the other faculties, makes therein so great a noise and confusion
+that they scarce can hear what this superior will says; for though it has
+a clearer and more penetrating voice than the inferior will, the loud,
+boisterous cries of the latter almost drown it: but note this well: as
+long as the temptation is displeasing to you, there is nothing to fear;
+for why should it displease you, except because you do not will it?"*
+
+9. Should it frequently happen that you have not a distinct consciousness
+of your success against temptation, it may be that God refuses you this
+satisfaction in order that, lacking this clear assurance, your knowledge
+may come through obedience. Therefore, when your spiritual director,
+after hearing your explanation, says that you have not given consent, you
+should be satisfied with his decision and abide by it with perfect
+tranquillity, discarding all fear that he did not understand you aright
+or that you did not explain the matter sufficiently. These doubts are but
+fresh artifices of the devil to rob you of the merit of obedience. As has
+been said above, to give way to such inquietude is to offend seriously
+against this virtue, for all direction would thus be rendered impossible,
+by the failure of the penitent to recognize God Himself in the person of
+his director.
+
+10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions must co-exist. First, the
+matter must be weighty; secondly, the mind must have full knowledge of
+the guilt of the action, omission or dangerous occasion in question; and,
+thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference for the forbidden
+action, culpable omission, or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
+consent. These reflections should serve to reassure your mind if the fear
+of having committed a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very difficult for
+this threefold union of conditions to be effected in a God-fearing soul.
+However, perfect security can come, and ought to come, only from
+spiritual obedience.
+
+11. In temptations against faith and purity, do not make great efforts to
+form acts of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading glance towards
+God, without speaking even to this compassionate Friend concerning the
+thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root the evil suggestion more
+firmly. Then, without disquieting yourself, engage at once in some
+exterior occupation or continue what you were doing. Make no answer to
+the tempter, but ignore him, just as though his assault had never
+occurred. In this way, whilst preserving your own peace of soul, you will
+cover your enemy with confusion.
+
+*The same counsel is given by St. Francis de Sales in his characteristic
+style:
+
+"Do you know how God acts on these occasions? He permits the wicked maker
+of such wares to come and offer them to us for sale, in order that by the
+contempt we show for them we may testify our love for holy things. And
+for this is it necessary, my dear child, to feel anxious, and to change
+our position? No, no. It is only the devil who is prowling around your
+soul, raging and storming, to see if he can find an open door.... What!
+and you would be annoyed at that? Let the enemy storm away; only be
+careful on your part to keep all the entrances well fastened, and finally
+he will grow weary; or if he do not, God will force him to raise the
+siege."*
+
+12. Though you should be assailed by temptations during your entire life
+time, do not be disquieted, for your merits will increase in proportion
+to your trials and your crown be accordingly all the brighter in heaven.
+The only thing necessary is to remain firm in your resolution to despise
+the efforts of the tempter.
+
+*"This serious trial, and so many others that have assailed you and left
+you troubled in mind, do not at all surprise me, since there is nothing
+worse. Do not worry, then, my beloved daughter. Should we allow ourselves
+to be swept away by the current and the storm? Let Satan rage at the
+door; he may knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and do his worst, but
+rest assured that he can never enter our souls but through the door of
+our consent. Let us only keep that closed tight and often look to see
+that it is well secured and we need have no concern about all the
+rest--there is no danger."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+13. The most learned theologians and masters of the spiritual life agree
+in saying that simply to ignore a temptation is a much more effectual
+means to repulse it than words and acts of the contrary virtues. On this
+subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV. of the _Introduction to a
+Devout Life_. You will find much light and consolation in them. See also
+Chapter XII. of the _Spiritual Combat_, and Chapters VI., VII., XII.,
+XX., XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book of the _Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  III.
+                                PRAYER.
+
+
+  Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God? I will suggest a
+  help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast praised God. (S.
+  Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)
+
+  Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider heavenly
+  things; and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt me as I
+  pray. (Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)
+
+1. We ought to love meditation and should make it often on the Passion of
+our divine Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom fruits of
+humility, patience and charity.
+
+2. If you experience great dryness in your meditations or other prayers,
+do not feel distressed and conclude that God has turned His Face away
+from you. Far from it. Prayer said with aridity is usually the most
+meritorious. *It is quite a common error to confound the value of prayer
+with its sensible results, and the merit acquired with the satisfaction
+experienced. The facility and sweetness you may have in prayer are favors
+from God and for which you will have to account to him: hence the result
+is not merit but debt. (Read the _Imitation_, B. II, c. IX.)* The very
+fact that we derive less gratification from such prayer, makes it all the
+more pleasing to God, because we are thus suffering for love of him. Let
+us call to mind at such times that our Lord prayed without consolation
+throughout his bitter agony.
+
+*"All this trouble comes from self-love and from the good opinion we have
+of ourselves. If our hearts do not melt with tenderness, if we have no
+relish or sensible feeling in prayer, if we do not enjoy great interior
+sweetness during meditation, we are at once overwhelmed with sadness: if
+we find difficulty in doing good, if some obstacle is opposed to our
+pious designs, we give way to disquietude and are eager to conquer all
+this and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly because we love
+consolations, our own comfort, our own convenience. We wish to pray
+immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous that we may eat sugar; and we
+do not contemplate _our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, prone upon the ground,
+is covered with a sweat of blood_ caused by the intense conflict He feels
+interiorly between the repugnances of the inferior portion of his soul
+and the resolutions of the superior."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+*The same teaching is given by another great master of the spiritual
+life:
+
+"We frequently seek the gratification and consolation of self-love in the
+testimony we desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are disturbed about
+our lack of sensible fervor, whereas in reality we never pray so well as
+when we are tempted to think we are not praying at all. We fear to pray
+badly then, but we should fear rather to give way to the vexation of our
+cowardly nature, to a philosophical infidelity, which ever wishes to
+demonstrate to itself its own operations--in fine, to an impatient desire
+to see and to feel in order to console ourselves.
+
+There is no penance more bitter than this state of pure faith without
+sensible support. Hence I conclude that it is freer than any other from
+illusion. Strange temptation! to seek impatiently for sensible
+consolation through fear of not being sufficiently penitent! Ah! Why not
+rather accept as a penance the deprivation of that consolation we are so
+tempted to seek?"*--Fenelon.
+
+3. You will sometimes imagine that at prayer your soul is not in the
+presence of God and that only your body is in the church, like the
+statues and candelabras that adorn the altars. Think, then, that you
+share with those inanimate objects the honor of serving as ornaments for
+the house of God, and that in the presence of your Creator even this
+humble role should seem glorious to you.
+
+*"You tell me that you cannot pray well. But what better prayer could
+there be than to represent to God again and again, as you are doing, your
+nothingness and misery? The most touching appeal beggars can make is
+merely to expose to us their deformities and necessities. But there are
+times when you cannot even do this much, you say, and that you remain
+there like a statue. Well, even that is better than nothing. Kings and
+princes have statues in their palaces for no other purpose than that they
+may take pleasure in looking at them: be satisfied then to fulfil the
+same office in the presence of God, and when it so pleases Him He will
+animate the statue."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+4. When you have not consciously or voluntarily yielded to distractions,
+do not stop to find what may have been their cause, or to discover if you
+have in any way given occasion to them. This would be simply to weary and
+disquiet yourself unprofitably. From whatever direction they come, you
+can convert them into a source of merit by casting yourself into the arms
+of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis de Sales when asked how he prayed,
+replied: "I cannot say it too often--I receive peacefully whatever the
+Lord sends me. If he consoles me, I kiss the right hand of his mercy; if
+I am dry and distracted, I kiss the left hand of his justice." This
+method is the only good one, for as the same Saint says: "He who truly
+loves prayer, loves it for the love of God: and he who loves it for the
+love of God, wishes to experience in it naught but what God is pleased to
+send him." Now, whatever you may experience in prayer, is precisely what
+God wills.
+
+5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that merely to keep ourselves
+peacefully and tranquilly in the presence of God, without other desire or
+pretension than to be near him and to please him, is of itself an
+excellent prayer. "Do not exhaust yourself," he says, "in making efforts
+to speak to your dear Master, for you are speaking to Him by the sole
+fact that you remain there and contemplate Him."
+
+*"Remember that the graces and favors of prayer do not come from earth
+but from heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can acquire them,
+although, it is true, we must dispose ourselves for their reception
+diligently, yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to keep our hearts
+wide open and await the blessed dew from heaven. The following
+consideration should never be forgotten when we go to prayer, namely,
+that we draw near to God and place ourselves in His presence principally
+for two reasons. The first is to render to God the honor and the homage
+we owe Him, and this can be done without God speaking to us or we to Him,
+for the duty is fulfilled by acknowledging that He is our Creator and we
+are His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him, prostrate in spirit,
+awaiting His commands. The second reason is to speak to God and to listen
+to Him when He speaks to us by His inspirations and the interior
+movements of grace.... Now, one or other of these two advantages can
+never fail to be derived from prayer. If, then, we can speak to our Lord,
+let us do so in praise and supplication: if we are unable to speak, let
+us remain in his presence notwithstanding, offering him our silent
+homage; he will see us there, our patience will touch him and our silence
+will plead with him and win his favor. Another time, to our utter
+astonishment, he will take us by the hand, and converse with us, and make
+a hundred turns with us in his garden of prayer. And even should he never
+do this, still let us be content to know it is our duty to be in his
+retinue, and that it is a great favor and a greater honor for us that he
+suffers us in his presence.
+
+In this way we do not force ourselves to speak to God, for we know that
+merely to remain close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps more useful to
+us, though it may be less to our liking. Therefore when you draw near to
+our Lord speak to him if you can; if you cannot, stay there, let him see
+you, and do not be anxious about anything else.... Take courage, then,
+tell your Saviour you will not leave him even should he never grant you
+any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will remain before him until he
+has given you his blessing."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+6. The same Saint gives further valuable advice as follows: "Many persons
+fail to make a distinction between the presence of God in their souls and
+the consciousness of this adorable presence, between faith and the
+sensible feeling of faith. This shows a great want of discernment. When
+they do not realize God's presence dwelling within them, they suppose He
+has withdrawn himself through some fault of theirs. This is an ignorant
+and hurtful error. A man who endures martyrdom for love of God does not
+think actually and exclusively of God but much of his own sufferings; and
+yet the absence of this feeling of faith does not deprive him of the
+great merit due to his faith and the resolutions it caused him to make
+and to keep."
+
+7. Your vocal prayers should be few in number but said with great fervor.
+The strength derived from food does not depend upon the quantity taken
+but upon its being well digested. Far better one Our Father or one Psalm
+said with devout attention than entire rosaries and long offices recited
+hurriedly and with restless eagerness.
+
+8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers--those not of obligation--that
+God invites you to meditate, gently and promptly follow this divine
+impulse. You may be sure that in doing so you make an exchange most
+profitable to yourself and agreeable to God from whom the inspiration
+comes.
+
+9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful recollection and begin it
+without agitation or uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on
+the subject: "Some little time before you are going to pray, calm and
+compose your heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you begin
+without hope and already devoid of relish, you will find it difficult to
+regain an appetite.... The disquiet you experience in prayer, accompanied
+by great eagerness to discover some object that can fix and satisfy your
+thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent you finding what you seek.
+When a thing is searched for with too great eagerness, one may have his
+hands or his eyes almost upon it a hundred times and yet fail to perceive
+it. This vain and useless anxiety in regard to prayer can result in
+nothing but weariness of mind, and this in turn produces coldness and
+apathy in your soul."
+
+10. Be careful not to overburden yourself with too many prayers, either
+mental or vocal. As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness or
+distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible, and seek relief in some
+pleasant pastime, or conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
+This advice is given by St. Thomas and other learned Fathers of the
+Church and is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously, for
+lassitude of mind begets coldness and a kind of spiritual stupor.
+
+11. Never repeat a prayer, even should you have said it with many
+distractions. You cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties in which
+you may become entangled by the habit of repeating your prayers.
+Therefore I beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius' time there was a
+certain religious of the Society of Jesus who was a victim of this kind
+of scruple. The recital of the daily Office always kept him much longer
+than was necessary because he would repeat again and again and for hours
+at a time any passage that he suspected had not been said with sufficient
+attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct him by various means, but in
+vain. At length the thought occurred that one scruple might be cured by
+another. He therefore commanded the poor Jesuit, under pain of sin and in
+virtue of religious obedience, to close his breviary every day at the end
+of a specified time, this being just enough to allow him to read the
+Office through once and rather quickly. The first day the religious was
+obliged to stop before he had half finished. This caused him such intense
+regret that ere long the fear of not being able to say the entire Office
+made him contract the habit of finishing it within the allotted time.*
+Begin your prayer with the desire of being very recollected. This is all
+that is necessary. "A desire has the same value in the sight of God as a
+good work", says St. Gregory the Great, "when the accomplishment of it
+does not depend upon our will." During these involuntary distractions God
+withdraws the sensible feeling of His presence, but His love remains in
+the depths of our hearts. St. Theresa, in the midst of dryness and
+distractions, was wont to say: "If I am not praying I am at least doing
+penance." I should say: you are doing both the one and the other: you do
+penance by all that you are suffering, you pray by the desire and
+intention you have to do so.
+
+12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a point in your meditation even
+if you have had in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and feelings
+at variance with the words pronounced by your lips or with the sentiments
+you wished to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced to do it, even
+were these ideas and feelings injurious to God. Under such conditions, be
+careful not to give way to anxiety and agitation and do not try to make
+reparation for an imaginary offence. Continue your prayer in peace as if
+nothing had disturbed it, not taking the trouble to notice these dogs
+that come from the devil and that can bark around you while you pray in
+order to distract you, if may be, but that cannot bite you unless you let
+them. *"This temptation should be treated exactly the same as temptations
+of the flesh: do not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the children
+of Israel who made no attempt to break the bones of the paschal lamb but
+cast them into the fire. You need not answer the enemy, nor even pretend
+to hear what he says. Let the wretch clamor at the door as much as he
+wants to, it is not even necessary to call: Who is there? What you tell
+me is no doubt true, you say, but he annoys me and the uproar he makes
+prevents those within from hearing one another speak. That makes no
+difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself before God and remain at
+his feet. He will understand from your very attitude, although you utter
+no words, that you are his and that you crave his help. Above all,
+however, keep yourself well within and do not on any account open the
+door, either to see who it is, or to drive the importunate fellow away.
+Eventually he will tire of shouting and will leave you in peace."*[3] St.
+Augustine says that the devil is a formidable giant to those who fear
+him, but only a miserable dwarf to those who despise him.
+
+13. Should it happen that the whole time given to prayer be passed in
+rejecting temptations or in recalling your mind from its wanderings, and
+you do not succeed in giving birth to a single devout thought or
+sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority for saying that your prayer
+is nevertheless all the more meritorious from the fact of its being so
+unsatisfactory to you. It makes you more like to our divine Lord when he
+prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount Calvary. "Better to eat
+bread without sugar, than sugar without bread. We should seek the God of
+consolations, not the consolations of God: and in order to possess God in
+heaven, we must now suffer with him and for him."
+
+*"When your mind wanders or gives way to distractions, gently recall it
+and place it once more close to its Divine Master. If you should do
+nothing else but repeat this during the whole time of prayer, your hour
+would be very well spent and you would perform a spiritual exercise most
+acceptable to God."*--St. Francis de Sales.
+
+14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding us to pray always our
+Saviour did not mean actual prayer, as that would be an impossibility.
+The desire to glorify God by all our actions suffices for the rigorous
+fulfilment of this precept, if this desire be habitual and permanent.
+"You pray often," says St. Augustine, "if you often have a desire to pay
+homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have this
+desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed."
+
+*"Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the whole
+Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts towards
+that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only happiness
+consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in itself a prayer;
+consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray always. Do not
+think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and to struggle much
+with one's self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God that his will may
+be done, to form some good desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for
+the riches he promises us, to sigh over our miseries and the danger we
+are in of displeasing him by violating His holy law. Now this requires
+neither science nor method nor reasoning; one can pray without any
+distinct thought; no head-work is necessary; only a moment of time and a
+loving effusion of the heart are needed; and even this moment may be
+simultaneously occupied with something else, for so great is God's
+condescension to our weakness that he permits us to divide it when
+necessary between him and creatures. Yes, during this moment you can
+continue what you were doing: it is sufficient to offer to God your most
+ordinary occupations, or to perform them with the general intention of
+glorifying him. This is the continual prayer required by St. Paul ...
+thought by many devout persons to be impracticable, but in reality very
+easy for those who know that the best of all prayers is to do everything
+with a pure intention, and frequently to renew the desire to perform all
+our actions for God and in accordance with his divine will."--Fenelon.*
+
+15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life in
+order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a substitute
+for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches, for
+obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to those
+who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform some work
+for the love of God, to whom we offer it, than merely to raise the soul
+to Him by actual prayer.
+
+*"Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular
+calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to
+life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves damnation if
+he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a visitation of
+their diocese in order to console and instruct their flock and to rectify
+whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect this duty I shall be lost
+even though I spend my entire time in prayer and fast all my life."--St.
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+16. Make frequent use of the prayers called _ejaculations_,--which are
+short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
+According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations can in case of necessity
+replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot supply for
+the omission of ejaculations.
+
+*"Acquire the habit of making frequent ejaculations. They are sighs of
+love that dart upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor. It will
+greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your
+morning's meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the
+day. In sickness let pious ejaculations take the place of all other
+prayers."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or
+whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic
+pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time
+to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. Ejaculations have a like
+effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.
+
+18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long
+prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
+Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them,
+and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed
+continually.
+
+19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the
+profitable and easy practice of making frequent ejaculations. It is far
+preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too
+numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and
+enlighten the soul.
+
+20. St. Theresa's opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable
+position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay
+the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of God. Do not then
+fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the
+important thing is that the soul should humble itself before God in
+sentiments of respect, confidence and love.
+
+Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+                                PENANCE.
+
+
+  A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
+  O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)
+
+I. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of doing
+penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds--either corporal or
+spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from doing
+penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and painful
+mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and alms-giving,
+can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in the fulfilment
+of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it is not in
+accordance with the spirit of the laws of God and of his Church, which
+prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to hinder the
+accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.
+
+2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in
+prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works,
+such, too, as are the more agreeable to God from their being so
+distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great
+classes, active and passive. The characteristic of the active virtues is
+to do good, of the passive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the second
+class are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active virtues
+nature can have a large share, and a dangerous self-complacency, or
+satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide into them. This danger is
+less to be feared in the practice of the passive virtues, especially when
+the sufferings are not of our own choosing but come to us direct from the
+hand of God.
+
+3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from
+the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in
+order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor indispensable
+to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have fallen into this
+snare.
+
+4. "I charge you," says St. Francis de Sales, "to preserve your health
+carefully, for God exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so as
+to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the
+requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can
+always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
+regain it." Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to maintain
+its strength and health.
+
+5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference
+held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of
+Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most useful,
+as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the lack of
+this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and
+mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill
+health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of perfection,
+judging it impracticable because they have attempted to walk in it bound
+with fetters.
+
+6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look
+upon as a good rule in this matter: "The body is a poor invalid confided
+to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to give it such
+assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are its habitual
+ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the needful
+remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of moderation and
+prudence." He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of obedience to his
+Creator.
+
+7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain
+maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of small
+consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen years in
+order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way would be to
+secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would lead. No: it is
+not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon ourselves arbitrarily
+any kind of mortification that would directly tend to shorten life. "To
+kill one's self with a single blow," says St. Jerome, "or to kill one's
+self little by little--I make but slight distinction between these two
+crimes." Life, health and strength are blessings that have been given us
+in trust, and we cannot lawfully dispose of them as though they belonged
+to us absolutely.
+
+8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances
+deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts
+that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being as
+holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can. "If
+we had to copy the saints in everything they did," says St. Frances de
+Chantal, "it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave like
+St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites did, to
+live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy Eucharist like
+St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of food each day as
+St. Aloysius did." Aspirations to imitate the saints in what is
+extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of genuine virtue.
+
+*The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome
+with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this subject.
+Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St. Ignatius,
+Father Rozaven said: "Do not let us confound cause and effect. It is not
+because he did these things that Ignatius became a saint: on the
+contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it was possible and
+permissible for him to do them." In truth every act that exceeds human
+strength is an act of presumption unless it be the result of a special
+inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she recognizes this
+divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation from the general
+rule. It is owing to such an exception that she venerates among those who
+suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint Pomposa, Saint Flora and
+Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that they violated the law which
+forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same spirit influenced her in
+sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and of Saint Appolonia, who
+might be called pious suicides were it allowable to connect two such
+contradictory words.--Read Chap. XXIII, Part III. of the _Introduction to
+a Devout Life_.*
+
+
+
+
+                                   V.
+                              CONFESSION.
+
+
+  I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and
+  thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.)
+
+  But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
+  the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)
+
+  Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall
+  retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)
+
+1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should therefore
+approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de Sales assures
+us that for those who go to confession once a week a quarter of an hour
+is enough for the examination of conscience, and a still shorter time for
+exciting contrition. Not even this much is necessary, he adds, for those
+who confess more frequently.
+
+2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or
+because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by
+the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject: "You
+must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when preparing for
+confession, for it is incredible that any one who often examines her
+conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such faults as are
+important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to mention every
+minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough to speak of these
+to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble heart, whenever you
+remark them." And do not imagine in consequence that you are guilty of
+secret sins which you are hiding from your confessor. This fear is an
+artifice made use of by the devil to disturb your peace of mind.
+
+*"You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your
+superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you
+and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must
+learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for
+ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That
+your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one
+time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and
+presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar
+insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone and
+will be subject to as long as we live.... It is needless to accuse
+yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm
+around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance of
+your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins, they
+are only inconveniences, annoyances."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the
+less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover,
+you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools the
+fervor of the heart.
+
+4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse
+involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
+following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a
+strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are always
+uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you have
+given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it except
+it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of accusation, but
+to obtain advice how to behave another time in like circumstances. For if
+you say: I accuse myself of having had movements of violent anger for two
+days, but I did not give way to them, you are telling your virtues, not
+your sins. A doubt comes into my mind, though, that I may have committed
+some fault during the temptation. You must consider maturely if this
+doubt have any foundation in fact, and if so, speak of the matter in
+confession with all simplicity; otherwise it is better not to mention it,
+as you would do so only for your own satisfaction. Even should this
+silence cost you some pain, you must endure it as you would any other to
+which you can apply no remedy."
+
+5. "Omit from your confessions"--we again quote the same Saint--"those
+superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through habit:
+I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough fervor;
+I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not received the
+Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others of a like
+nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that in speaking
+thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to the confessor
+the state of your conscience, and because the most perfect man living, as
+well as all the saints in Paradise might say the same things were they
+making a confession."
+
+6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind what
+the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to confess our
+venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm resolution to correct
+them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament to mention them."
+
+7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard--this
+is a point of cardinal importance--against giving access to any fear
+about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination of
+conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears are
+suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into a
+sacrament of consolation and love.
+
+*"After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we
+have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in peace
+near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank Him for
+His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out what we
+may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind; after
+that we need think no more about it."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins--it is not essential to be
+troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is
+an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere
+repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to become
+yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying for
+success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we fall
+again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the promise and
+the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very stones children to
+Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the highest degree of
+sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His will that we long
+continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us not then lose our
+trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a state of reprobation.
+
+*God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and
+without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for
+instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was
+changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection, never
+again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in several of
+the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of their evil
+inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion, and this for
+their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after the divine call,
+was guilty of various imperfections and once fell totally and miserably
+by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.
+
+"Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has
+suddenly become mistress.[4] A soul that after a long slavery to its
+passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in great
+danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must be
+gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years of
+labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with every
+one, but first of all with yourself."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+*There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the
+persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout, remains
+united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to offend
+him--and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even when it is
+to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain its defects
+if it is God's will, yet determined notwithstanding to fight against them
+relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God than if the practice of
+virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful possession of spiritual
+gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your heavenly Father; struggle on
+with strength and courage; but do not be too desirous of success, for
+when this craving for self-satisfaction is excessive it is sure to be
+accompanied by vexation and impatience.
+
+"Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales,
+"nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love
+nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes
+forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it
+that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are surprised
+at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly it is
+because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were resolute
+and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case, that we have
+tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed and troubled;
+whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of being astonished at
+seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how we ever remain erect."
+
+"We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God
+requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with
+perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will be
+worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!--there is a
+rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good faith, we
+will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our efforts by
+calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a defeat, and
+by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own effeminacy
+and sloth."*
+
+9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our
+past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears,
+sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition. Contrition
+can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection which suffices
+for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the greatest dryness
+and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow yourself to be
+disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.
+
+10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for
+these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and oppression
+of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say lovingly to God
+that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and that with the
+assistance of His grace you will never offend Him more--that is
+contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and love acts in a
+calm.
+
+11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of a
+moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins, and
+another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope of
+obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the most
+contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of contrition in a
+single word: _Peccavi_--I have sinned, and by that one word he was
+justified.
+
+*"You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer
+that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is
+needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and
+of sorrow for having offended Him."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in
+feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: "The ability to wish is a
+great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact
+that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but
+neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the
+fire exists." The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from
+self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
+sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in our
+sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of good.
+
+13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is in
+order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice to
+reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore with
+humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward. The
+greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition nor
+love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their will
+followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.
+
+14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions are
+defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very
+essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are the
+offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for certain
+venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in them,--these
+should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at the very root
+and not allow ourselves any respite until they are utterly exterminated.
+But those relapses that proceed from inadvertence, from surprise
+notwithstanding constant vigilance, from the infirmity and frailty of our
+nature, to these we shall remain partially subject until our last breath.
+"It will be doing very well," says Saint Francis de Sales, "if we get
+free of certain faults a quarter of an hour before our death." And
+elsewhere: "We are obliged not only to bear with the failings of our
+neighbor, but likewise with our own and to be patient at the sight of our
+imperfections." We must try to correct ourselves, but we should do it
+tranquilly and without anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper
+time.
+
+*"You complain that you still have many faults and failings
+notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I
+assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst
+we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
+with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we carry
+something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to have
+patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the numerous
+bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to our
+spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere: look only
+at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of goodness, nor
+yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the object of God's
+goodness and mercy."--St. Francis de Sales. (After the examination of
+conscience read the _Following of Christ_, B. III., Chap. XX.)*
+
+*Fenelon speaks in the same tone: "You should never be surprised or
+discouraged at your faults. You must bear with them patiently yet without
+flattering yourself or sparing correction. Treat yourself as you would
+another. As soon as you find you have committed a fault make an interior
+act of self-condemnation, turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell
+your fault with simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well
+as though it were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to
+make a fresh start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred
+Heart of Jesus than this humble and patient courage. We should not be
+cast down if we have many temptations and even commit numerous faults.
+'Virtue,' says the Apostle, 'is made perfect in infirmity.'[5] Spiritual
+progress is effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual
+consolations, than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse
+to God."*
+
+15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all the
+sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most remorse.
+Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or charity, or
+temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there being lack of
+sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.
+
+16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in either
+your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained their
+circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets forth the
+following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter of the will
+of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in confession, and not
+material integrity. The former consists in the confession of all the sins
+we can remember after a sufficient examination, the duration of which
+should be regulated by the actual state of the conscience. Material
+integrity would require a rigorously complete accusation of all the sins
+we have committed with their number and circumstances, without the
+slightest omission. Now sacramental integrity may be reasonably exacted
+since it exceeds no one's ability; whilst material integrity, on the
+contrary, could not be exacted without the sacrament becoming an
+impossibility; for, no matter how carefully we make our examination of
+conscience, some sin, or some detail in regard to number or circumstance,
+will always escape us. In a word, all that the Church demands of the
+faithful is a sincere and humble avowal of every sin that can be brought
+to mind after a suitable examen: for the rest, she intends good will to
+supply for any defect of memory.
+
+*Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in order
+to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you often
+fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again without
+perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said that the
+just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but simply that he
+falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again without noticing
+particularly that he has done so. Hence have no anxiety about this, but
+frankly and humbly confess whatever you remember, and commit the rest to
+the tender mercies of him who puts his hand under those who fall without
+malice that they may not be bruised, and raises them up again so gently
+and swiftly that they scarcely realize they had fallen.--St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly satisfied
+all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore banish whatever
+doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are nothing but
+temptations.
+
+18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements owing
+to not having been particular enough about your examination of
+conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent
+interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your part.
+And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact that he
+understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state of your
+soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.
+
+19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish continually
+to make their general confessions over again, either through fear of
+incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and how blameworthy the
+weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no opposition to their
+doing so! If such fears were to be listened to, every one would be
+obliged to pass his entire life in making and repeating general
+confessions, for they would incessantly spring up afresh and even the
+greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A sacrament of consolation
+and love would thus be transformed into a perfect torture for the
+soul--an heretical perversion anathematized by the Council of Trent.
+
+*"I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere,
+good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more thoroughly
+satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I speak very
+plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought to have been
+told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily, in which case,
+if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the time, you would
+undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But if it were only a
+venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of forgetfulness or some
+defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my soul's peril, I assure you
+there is no obligation to repeat your confession. It will be quite
+sufficient to mention the matter to your ordinary confessor. I will
+answer for this."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that when
+a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright intention
+and with a desire to change one's life, the penitent should remain in
+peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any pretext
+whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory things that
+should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of their soul by a
+too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de Neri so well
+expresses it: _the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise_.
+
+21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of the
+saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes excessive.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+                            HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+  Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
+  shall not have life in you. (St. John, c. vi., v. 54.)
+
+  And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
+  come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make
+  excuse. (St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.)
+
+  And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way. (St.
+  Mark, c. viii., v. 3.)
+
+  My heart is withered; because I forgot to eat my bread. (Ps. ci.)
+
+1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious of all means to unite us to
+God. "He that eateth my flesh," said our divine Saviour, "abideth in Me
+and I in him."[6]
+
+2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist _the love of loves_. Hence you
+should desire to receive it frequently in order to be filled with this
+divine love.
+
+3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two classes of persons who should
+often receive holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves more
+closely to the Source of all perfection, and the imperfect to labor to
+attain perfection; the strong that they may not become weak, the weak
+that they may become strong; the sick that they may be cured, and those
+in health that they may be preserved from sickness. You tell me that your
+imperfections, your weakness, your littleness make you unworthy to
+receive communion frequently; and I assure you it is precisely because of
+these that you ought to receive it frequently in order that He who
+possesses all things may give you whatever is wanting to you.
+
+*The following words on this subject will not perhaps be considered by
+others as giving much additional value to the authority of the saintly
+Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however, in ours, because they are from the
+lips of a holy religious whose memory will always be dear to us----from a
+man whose last moments were the occasion of the greatest edification it
+has ever pleased God to accord us. The Rev. Father Margottet, a Jesuit,
+died at Nice, April 1st, 1835, shortly after his return from Portugal
+where he had suffered a most cruel captivity with the courage that faith
+alone can inspire. During the last months of his life he took great
+pleasure in conversing with a certain young man who visited him regularly
+to be instructed and edified by his pious discourse. One day this young
+man confided to him the confusion he felt in availing himself of his
+director's permission to receive holy Communion several times a week.
+This was due especially to the thought that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice
+of the Society of Jesus, went to Communion on Sundays only. "Come, come,
+my dear sir," laughingly replied the good Father, "continue your frequent
+Communions--you need them much more than St. Aloysius did." It is indeed
+an error to consider holy Communion a reward of virtue, and, in a
+measure, a guage of perfection, whereas it is above all a means to attain
+perfection, and the one pre-existing virtue required in order to employ
+this means is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord did not say:
+_Venite ad me qui perfecti estis_--_Come to Me all ye who are perfect_:
+He said: _Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati estis_[7]--_Come to me
+all ye who labor and are burdened_. (Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part
+II., of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_; and Chapters X. and XVI.
+Book IV. of _The Imitation_.)
+
+The spirit of the Church has at all times been the same in regard to this
+important subject. Fenelon says in his letter on frequent Communion that
+St. Chrysostom admits of no medium between the state of those who are in
+mortal sin and that of the faithful who are in a state of grace and
+communicate every day. In vain certain Christians, believing themselves
+purified and just, do no penance as sinners and nevertheless abstain from
+Communion, because, they say, they are not perfect enough to receive it.
+This intermediate state is not only most dangerous for one who wilfully
+remains in it, but is also injurious to the Blessed Sacrament. Far from
+doing honor to the Holy Eucharist by depriving ourselves of it, we offend
+our divine Lord when we decline to partake of the Banquet to which He
+invites us. In a word, according to this early Father of the Church, we
+ought either to communicate with those who are in a state of grace, or to
+do penance that we may be united to them as soon as possible.
+
+We will quote the Saint's own words: "Many of the faithful are weak and
+languishing, many among them sleep. And how, you say, does this happen
+since we receive the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That is precisely
+the cause of all the trouble! For you imagine that merit consists not so
+much in purity of conscience as in the length of time intervening between
+your Communions. You consider no higher mark of respect and honor can be
+paid to this Sacrament than not to approach the Holy Table often....
+Temerity does not consist in approaching the Altar frequently, but in
+approaching it unworthily were this but once in an entire life time....
+Why then regulate the number of Communions by the law of time, instead of
+by purity of conscience, which should alone indicate how many times to
+receive? This divine Mystery is nothing more at Easter than at all other
+seasons during which it is celebrated continually. It is ever the same,
+that is to say, ever the same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter continues
+throughout the year. You who are initiated will understand perfectly what
+I say. Be it Saturday, or Sunday, or the feasts of the martyrs, it is
+always the same Victim, the same Sacrifice." "It was not the will of our
+divine Lord that His Sacrifice should be restricted by the observance of
+time."
+
+Other Fathers of the Church speak in the same way of Holy Communion:
+
+"If it is daily bread," says Saint Ambrose, "why do you partake of it but
+once a year?... Receive it every day in order that every day you may
+benefit by it. Live in such a manner that you may deserve to receive it
+every day, for he who does not deserve to receive it every day will not
+deserve to receive it at the end of the year.... Do you not know that
+every time the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death, resurrection and
+ascension of our Lord are renewed to the atonement of sin? And yet you
+will not partake daily of this Bread of Life! When one has received a
+wound does he not seek a remedy? Sin which holds us captive is our wound:
+our remedy is in this ever adorable Sacrament."
+
+In order that it may be plainly proved that the faithful of the present
+day have no reason to act differently in this respect from those of the
+primitive Church, let us see how this ancient discipline has been
+confirmed in later times by the Council of Trent:
+
+"Christians should believe in this Sacrament and reverence it with such a
+firm faith, with so much fervor and piety, that they may often receive
+this Super-substantial Bread; that it may be, in truth, the life of their
+soul and the perpetual health of their spirit, and that the strength they
+derive therefrom may enable them to pass from the temptations of this
+earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly fatherland.... The
+Council would have the faithful receive Communion each time they assist
+at Mass, not only spiritually, but sacramentally, that they may derive
+more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice."*
+
+4. The evening before your Communion devote some little time to
+recollection in order to ponder the inestimable gift that God is about to
+bestow upon you, and endeavor also to excite in your soul the desire and
+the hope of finding therein your delight.
+
+5. Do not conclude that you derive no benefit from Holy Communion because
+you find no perceptible increase in your virtues. Consider that it at
+least serves to keep you in a state of grace. You give nourishment to
+your body every day but you do not pretend to say that it daily gains in
+strength. Does food appear useless to you on that account? Certainly not;
+for, though it fail to augment strength, it preserves it by repairing the
+constant waste. Now, this is precisely the case with the divine Food of
+our souls.
+
+*Observe, moreover, that there is no real increase in virtue without a
+corresponding growth in humility. Consequently the more virtuous you are
+the less so you will esteem yourself; the worthier you are to approach
+your God, the more profoundly will you feel your unworthiness. For man,
+no matter to what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be otherwise than
+weak and sinful here below, and he realizes his baseness more and more
+distinctly in proportion to his advancement in grace and in light.
+
+Fenelon speaks as follows on the same subject: "Hitherto you lacked the
+light to discover in your soul many movements of our malicious and
+depraved nature, which now begin to reveal themselves to you. In
+proportion as light increases we find ourselves more corrupt than we
+supposed: but we should be neither surprised nor discouraged, for it is
+not that we are in reality worse than we were,--on the contrary we are
+better,--but because whilst our sinfulness decreases the light which
+shows it to us increases."*
+
+6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared for Holy Communion and abuse the
+Sacrament because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent, and devoid
+of feeling. This is a trial sent or permitted by God to test your faith
+and to advance you in merit. All that has been said in regard to dryness
+in prayer might be repeated here. Try to have an abiding desire to feel
+for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent transports of love as were ever
+experienced by the saints. A desire is equivalent before God to the thing
+desired, as I have already quoted for you from Saint Gregory the Great;
+therefore you should be satisfied with this when you can attain nothing
+higher. Everything over and above this is grace, not merit.
+
+7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion often because you are not
+worthy, then you must never receive it, for you will never be worthy.
+What creature could be worthy to receive a God? Nay more, to follow out
+this principle We should have to abandon the practice of visiting
+churches and of speaking to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
+human being is unfit to enter the House of the Lord or to converse with
+Him.
+
+*"How many scrupulous Christians do we not see languishing for want of
+this divine Food! They consume themselves with subtle speculations and
+sterile efforts, they fear, they tremble, they doubt, and they vainly
+seek for a certainty that cannot be found in this life. Sweetness,
+unction, are not for them. They wish to live for God without living by
+him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they are close to the Fountain of
+Living Water and yet allow themselves to die of thirst. They desire to
+fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not dare to nourish themselves interiorly:
+they wish to carry the burden of the law without imbibing its spirit and
+its consolation from prayer and frequent Communion!"--Fenelon.*
+
+8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore, do not confine yourself to a
+consideration of your own unworthiness, but temper this with the thought
+of God's mercy. The guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,--a figure of
+the Holy Eucharist,--were not the great and the rich, but the poor, the
+blind, the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial garment, that is to
+say, whosoever is in a state of grace, is welcome to this banquet.
+
+9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we cannot go to Holy Communion
+without giving annoyance to others, or without failing against duties of
+charity, justice or order, we should be satisfied with spiritual
+Communion. "Believe me," he adds, "this mortification, this deprivation,
+will be extremely pleasing to God and will advance you greatly in His
+love. One must sometimes take a step backward in order to leap the
+better." It was not by frequent Communion that the holy anchorites
+sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance of the duties of their
+calling. Saint Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion but twice during
+his long, penitential life, nevertheless he was precious in the sight of
+God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis de Sales gives us this
+admirable advice: "In proportion as you are hindered from doing the good
+you desire, do all the more ardently the good that you do not desire. You
+do not like to make such or such an act of resignation, you would prefer
+to make some other; but offer the one you do not like, for it will be of
+far greater value." Saint John the Baptist was more intimately united in
+spirit with our Lord than even the Apostles themselves: yet he never
+became one of His followers owing to the fact that his vocation required
+this sacrifice on his part and called him elsewhere. This is the greatest
+act of spiritual mortification recorded in the lives of the saints.
+
+*"I have often admired the extreme resignation of Saint John the Baptist,
+who remained so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord, without going
+to see, hear and follow Him. And after baptizing Jesus, how could he have
+allowed Him to depart without uniting himself to Him with his bodily
+presence, as he was already so united to Him by the ties of affection!
+Ah! the divine Precursor knew that in his case the Master was best served
+by deprivation of His actual presence. Well, my dear daughter, it will be
+the same with you in regard to Holy Communion. I mean that for the
+present God will be pleased if in accordance to the wish of the superiors
+whom He has placed over you, you endure the privation of His actual
+presence. It will be a great consolation to me to know that this advice
+does not disquiet your heart. Rest assured that this resignation, this
+renunciation will be exceedingly beneficial to you."--St. Francis de
+Sales.*
+
+11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy Eucharist because you happen to
+be beset by temptations; this would be to capitulate to your enemy
+without offering any resistance. The more combats you have to sustain,
+the greater the necessity of providing yourself with the means of
+defence, and these are to be found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go
+courageously then and renew your strength with the Food of the strong and
+victory shall be yours.
+
+12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy Table because such and such a
+person does so: an imitation common for the most part to women's vanity
+and jealousy, says Saint Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
+divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: love alone
+should lead us to receive it.
+
+13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by
+all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that is
+union with God, but the same means to attain that object are not proper
+for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a spiritual
+director that each person can know what is suitable for him, as that
+which would be too little for one might be too much for another.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VII.
+                         SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.
+
+
+  The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark,
+  c. II., v: 27.)
+
+1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but there
+are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive from us
+a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and holydays.
+
+2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The ordinary
+means of fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of charity, the
+Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, sermons, religious
+instructions, and spiritual reading.
+
+3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying the
+body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things is
+wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this
+subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.
+
+4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful
+diversion, all of which can be referred to God, serve also for the
+sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to
+please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are
+required of man by his bodily needs.
+
+*"How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again
+it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their
+interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to the
+will of God. By no means regard the nature of the things you do, but
+rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in
+themselves, from the fact that God wishes them, that they are in the
+order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word,
+if they are pleasing to God, and recognized as being so, to whom should
+they be displeasing?"--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and
+anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon
+devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act
+of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance of
+the sabbath, following the superstitious custom of the Pharisees, instead
+of peacefully sanctifying the Lord's day with that sweet and holy liberty
+of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel. Too much
+dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of which it is
+equally necessary to avoid.
+
+6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to attend
+to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the impossibility
+of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace these with pious
+ejaculations, which, as I have already said, can in case of necessity
+supply for the omission of all other prayers.
+
+7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at a low Mass suffices strictly
+speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even this may
+be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the sick, to mind
+the house, or to take care of young children; for these being works of
+justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when performed with a
+pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers, equal and even
+surpass in value all exterior practices of devotion.
+
+I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can
+sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.
+
+*"Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing
+them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so
+honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a
+gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of God, where
+those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for
+although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of God and in
+fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is fixed
+by this divine will and not by their exterior character. Therefore he who
+truly loves God's will in the accomplishment of his duties, does not
+allow his affections to become engaged in any of his spiritual exercises;
+and so, if sickness or accident interfere with them he experiences no
+regret. I do not say indeed that he does not love his devotions, but that
+he is not attached to them."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+*"If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and
+submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would
+forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and that
+this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another occasion:
+the less we live according to our own liking, and the less option we have
+in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will there be in our
+devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our Lord in order to
+oblige others for love of Him."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+
+
+
+                                 VIII.
+                           SPIRITUAL READING.
+
+
+  Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach
+  him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)
+
+  All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
+  correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)
+
+1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be careful,
+therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with the best
+nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar especially with the
+works of Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a spiritual
+director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as coming from
+the mouth of God.
+
+3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural and
+marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by such
+reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some to
+aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint
+Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the
+Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces, they
+neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real obligations.
+Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be absorbed in those
+wonderful characteristics of the saints which we should be content to
+admire; give preference rather to their simple and interior virtues, for
+these alone are imitable for us.
+
+*"We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that
+God would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of
+Sienna's, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor
+hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
+Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine, for
+we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness
+consists in love of God, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings
+that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility. The
+desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn rather
+to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of self-renunciation
+and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of others. Thus we
+shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more admirable for us
+than ecstacies."--St. Francis de Sales.*
+
+4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of
+these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly
+define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become
+extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely exterior
+practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to reform the
+heart.
+
+5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the
+ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books have
+furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy
+religion and to turn it into ridicule.
+
+6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: "In
+order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great
+piety,--great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best
+motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his
+imagination with devout extravagances." An author should be equally well
+versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will err
+either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a well
+known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: "If a man be good and
+holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us."
+It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give none but true
+and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than good. Doctrines
+that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and invite the
+criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the railleries
+of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.
+
+7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain many
+inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care, therefore, in
+the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure your soul instead
+of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult your director on the
+subject.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART SECOND.
+                             INTERIOR LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IX.
+                                 HOPE.
+
+
+  Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
+  Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)
+
+  Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in
+  Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)
+
+1. "Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord," says the Holy Spirit. The
+weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in regard to
+the Christian virtue of hope.
+
+2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain
+nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for all
+things will obtain all things.
+
+3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world.
+We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our own
+wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of this
+divine attribute of mercy.
+
+4. "What do you fear?" says Saint Thomas of Villanova: "this Judge whose
+condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the Cross
+in order not to condemn you."
+
+5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us. When
+Saint Peter said to his divine Master: "_Depart from me, O Lord, for I am
+a sinful man,_" what did our Saviour reply? "_Noli timere,_--fear
+not."[8] Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always
+find hope and love preferred to fear.
+
+6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by Saint
+Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to pardon,
+nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, God would not
+have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine essence. This
+was our Lord's reason for saying that He came into the world not for the
+just but for sinners.[9]
+
+7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to God, but He does not on their
+account cease to cherish our souls.
+
+*It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as
+are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an
+upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A
+perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us
+from God and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject to
+it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with love the
+poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial
+garment,--that is to say, all those whom a desire to please God maintains
+in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and frailty:
+but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares to appear
+there without this garment. This distinction, found everywhere throughout
+the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us with a tender confidence
+when we fall, without diminishing our horror for deliberate sins.*
+
+A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of her
+child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her
+compassion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and suffering
+and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and solicitude for
+him.
+
+8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows
+how to compassionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased to
+become at once our Brother and our Mediator.[10]
+
+9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits you
+in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it is much safer
+there than if in your own keeping.
+
+10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the opinion of Saint Francis de
+Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.
+
+11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin
+of despair, retorted: "I have not merited heaven, I know that as well as
+you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has merited
+it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many merits,--but
+for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him that I shall
+save my soul."
+
+12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise
+your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime perfection.
+God loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa assures us, provided they
+mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance upon Him. The
+devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have exalted aspirations
+and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints; but do not permit him
+to deceive you by this artifice. He will only laugh at you if he succeed
+in making you fall into weakness and irresolution.
+
+To aspire to the noblest and highest ends gives firmness and perseverance
+to the soul. (Read _The Imitation_, B. III, C. XXX.)
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+                          THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
+
+
+  Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)
+
+  I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come
+  to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)
+
+1. The constant remembrance of God's presence is a means of perfection
+that Almighty God Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this
+practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of
+mind. The God of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be
+done lovingly and peacefully.
+
+2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and uninterruptedly
+of God. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for we are at every
+moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities, our imagination.
+We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try to lead before the
+proper time an existence similar to that of the angels and saints.
+
+3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep yourself
+in the presence of God, because you have not thought of Him. This is a
+mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought, perform all your
+actions for love of God and in His presence, by virtue of the intention
+you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than to think. Though
+the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he is preparing the
+medicine that is to restore him to health, nevertheless it is for him he
+is working, and he is more useful to his patient in this way than if he
+contented himself with merely thinking of him. In like manner when you
+fulfil your domestic or social duties, when you eat or walk, devote
+yourself to study or to manual labor, though it be without definitely
+thinking of God, you are acting for Him, and this ought to suffice to set
+your mind at rest in regard to the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does
+not say that we must eat, drink and labor with an actual remembrance of
+God's presence, but with the habitual intention of glorifying Him and
+doing His holy will. We fulfil this condition by making an offering each
+morning to God of all the actions of the day and renewing the act
+interiorly whenever we can remember to do so.
+
+4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have
+already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious aspirations
+naturally and without effort, and let them for the most part be
+expressive of confidence and love.
+
+5. Should it happen that a considerable space of time elapses without
+your having thought distinctly of God or raised your heart to Him by any
+loving ejaculation, do not allow this omission to worry you. The servant
+has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he has done
+his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the while.
+Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for God than to
+think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it results in
+action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the good intention
+which preceded it.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XI.
+                               HUMILITY.
+
+
+  If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)
+
+  For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive
+  me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)
+
+1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently
+confused with servility or littleness.
+
+2. To attribute to God what is God's, that is to say everything that is
+good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is
+evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.
+
+*Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to
+suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our
+faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by pride,
+that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The first man,
+a creature owing his existence directly to God, was bound to dedicate it
+entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as for all the
+other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple justice. The day
+whereon he asserted a desire to be independent, he caused an utter
+derangement in the relations of the creature with his Creator. Pride,
+that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the use of the
+faculties received from God--pride, introduced into the soul of the first
+man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an indelible stigma
+to the souls of all his descendants, and has become forevermore a part of
+their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever springing up afresh, to
+be independent, to be something of ourselves, to desire for ourselves
+esteem, affection and honor, despite the precepts of the divine law, the
+claims of justice and the warnings of reason; and thus it is that the
+whole spiritual life is but one long and painful conflict against this
+vicious propensity. Divine grace though sustaining us in the combat never
+gives us a complete victory, for the struggle must endure until
+death,--the closing chastisement of our original degradation and the only
+one that can obliterate the last traces thereof. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XIII.--XXII.)*
+
+3. As God drew from nothingness everything that exists, in like manner
+does He wish to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection upon the
+knowledge of our nothingness. Saint Bonaventure used to say: _Provided
+God be all, what matters it that I am nothing!_
+
+4. When a Christian who is truly humble commits a fault he repents but is
+not disquieted, because he is not surprised that what is naught but
+misery, weakness and corruption, should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
+He thanks God on the contrary that his fall has not been more serious.
+Thus Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found she had been guilty of
+some imperfection, would calmly exclaim: _Another weed from my garden!_
+This peaceful contemplation of our sinfulness was considered very
+important by Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: "Let us learn to
+bear with our imperfections if we wish to attain perfection, for this
+practice nourishes the virtue of humility."
+
+5. Some persons have the erroneous idea that in order to be humble they
+must not recognize in themselves any virtue or talent whatsoever. The
+reverse is the case according to Saint Thomas, for he says it is
+necessary to realize the gifts we have received that we may return thanks
+for them to Him from whom we hold them. To ignore them is to fail in
+gratitude towards God, and to neglect the object for which He gave them
+to us. All that we have to do is to avoid the folly of taking glory to
+ourselves because of them. Mules, asses and donkeys may be laden with
+gold and perfumes and yet be none the less dull and stupid animals. The
+graces we have received, far from giving us any personal claims, only
+serve to increase our debt to Him who is their source and their donor.
+
+6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us than censure. There is nothing
+sinful in this preference, for it springs from an instinct of our human
+nature of which we cannot entirely divest ourselves. Only the praise must
+be always referred to Him to whom it is due, that is to say, to God; for
+they are His gifts that are praised in us as we are but their bearers and
+custodians and shall one day have to render Him an account for them in
+accordance with their value.
+
+7. The soul that is most humble will also have the greatest courage and
+the most generous confidence in God; the more it distrusts itself, the
+more it will trust in Him on whom it relies for all its strength, saying
+with Saint Paul: _I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me_.[11]
+Saint Thomas clearly proves that true Christian humility, far from
+debasing the soul, is the principle of everything that is really noble
+and generous. He who refuses the work to which God calls him because of
+the honor and eclat that accompany it, is not humble but mistrustful and
+pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience light to show us with certainty
+that to which we are called and to preserve us from the illusions of
+self-love and of our natural inclinations.
+
+*"We should be actuated by a generous and noble humility, a humility that
+does nothing in order to be praised and omits nothing that ought to be
+done through fear of being praised."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+8. It is even good and sometimes necessary to make known the gifts we
+have received from God and the good works of which divine grace has made
+us the instruments, when this manifestation can conduce to the glory of
+His name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification of the faithful.
+It was for this threefold object that Saint Paul spoke of his apostolic
+labors and supernatural revelations.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+                              RESIGNATION.
+
+
+  Yea, Father: because so it has pleased Thee. (St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.)
+
+  O my Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.
+  Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (St. Matthew, c. XXVI.,
+  v. 39.)
+
+1. We should recognize and adore the will of God in everything that
+happens to us. The malice of men, nay of the devil himself, can cause
+nothing to befall us except what is permitted by God. Our divine Lord has
+declared that not a hair of our heads can fall unless by the will of our
+Heavenly Father.[12]
+
+2. Therefore in every condition painful to nature, whether you are
+afflicted by sickness, assailed by temptations, or tortured by the
+injustice of men, consider the divine will and say to God with a loving
+and submissive heart: _Fiat voluntas tua_--Thy will be done: O my
+Saviour, do with me what Thou willest, as Thou willest, and when Thou
+willest.
+
+3. By this means we render supportable the severest pain and the most
+trying circumstances. "Do you not feel the infinite sweetness contained
+in that one sentence, _the will of God?_" asks Saint Mary Magdalen de
+Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses, that drew from the water all
+its bitterness, it sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.
+
+4. Without this practice, so comformable to faith, and without the light
+and strength that result from it, the pains and afflictions of life would
+become unbearable. This is what Saint Philip de Neri meant when he said:
+It rests with man to place himself even in this life either in heaven or
+in hell: he who suffers tribulations with patience enjoys celestial peace
+in advance; he who does not do so has a foretaste of the torments of
+hell.
+
+5. Not only is it God who sends or permits our troubles, but He does so
+for the good of our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do not, then,
+make a matter of complaint that which should be a motive for gratitude.
+
+6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the cross is the royal door to the
+temple of sanctity, and the only one by which we can enter it. One moment
+spent upon the cross is therefore more conducive to our spiritual
+advancement than the anticipated enjoyment of all the delights of heaven.
+The happiness of those who have reached their destination consists in the
+possession of God: to suffer for the love of Him is the only true
+happiness which those still on the way can expect to attain. Our Lord
+declared that those who mourn during this exile are _blessed_, for they
+shall be consoled eternally in their celestial fatherland.[13]
+
+7. Notice that I say, _to suffer for the love of God_, for, as Saint
+Augustine remarks, no person can love suffering in itself. That is
+contrary to nature, and moreover, there would no longer be any suffering
+if we could accept it with natural relish. But a resigned soul loves to
+suffer, that is she loves the virtue of patience and ardently desires the
+merits that result from the practice of it. A calm and submissive longing
+to be delivered from our cross if such be the will of God, is not
+inconsistent with the most perfect resignation. This desire is a natural
+instinct which supernatural grace regulates, moderates, and teaches us to
+control, but which it never entirely destroys. Our divine Saviour
+Himself, to show that He was truly man, was pleased to feel it as we do,
+and prayed that the chalice of His Passion might be spared Him. Hence you
+are not required to be stolidly indifferent or to arm yourself with the
+stern insensibility of the Stoics; that would not be either resignation,
+or humility, or any virtue whatsoever. The essential thing is to suffer
+with Christian patience and generous resignation everything that is
+naturally displeasing to us. This is what both reason and faith
+prescribe.
+
+*The Redeemer of the World seems to wish to show us in His Agony the
+degree of perfection which the weakness of human nature can attain amidst
+the anguish of sorrow. In the inferior portion of the soul where the
+faculty of feeling resides, instinctive repugnance to suffering, humble
+prayer for relief if it please God to accord it; and in the superior
+portion of the soul where the will resides, entire resignation if this
+consolation be denied. A desire for more than this, unless called to it
+by a special grace, would be foolish pride, as we should thus attempt to
+change the conditions of our nature, whereas our duty is to accept them
+in order to combat them and to suffer in so doing. (See _Imitation_, B.
+III., Ch. XVIII-XIX.)
+
+In the following terms Saint Francis de Sales proposes to us this same
+example of our Saviour's resignation during His agony: "Consider the
+great dereliction our Divine Master suffered in the Garden of Olives. See
+how this beloved Son, having asked for consolation from His loving Father
+and knowing that it was not His will to grant it, thinks no more about
+it, no longer craves or looks for it, but, as though He had never sought
+it, valiantly and courageously completes the work of our redemption. Let
+it be the same with you. If your Heavenly Father sees fit to deny you the
+consolation you have prayed for, dismiss it from your mind and animate
+your courage to fulfil your work upon the cross as if you were never to
+descend from it nor should ever again see the atmosphere of your life
+pure and serene." (Read _The Imitation_. B. III., Chapters XI and XV.)
+
+The same Saint also gives us some sublime lessons in resignation applied
+to the trials and temptations that beset the spiritual life. He draws
+them from this great and simple thought that serves as foundation for the
+Exercises of Saint Ignatius, namely, that salvation being the sole object
+of our existence, and all the attendant circumstances of life but means
+for attaining it, nothing has any absolute value; and that the only way
+of forming a true estimate of things is to consider in how far they are
+calculated to advance or retard the end in view. Accordingly, what
+difference does it make if we attain this end by riches or poverty,
+health or sickness, spiritual consolation or aridity, by the esteem or
+contempt of our fellow-men? So say faith and reason; but human nature
+revolts against this indifference, as it is well it should, else how
+could we acquire merit? Hence there is a conflict on this point between
+the flesh and the spirit, and it is this conflict that for a Christian is
+called life. (On this subject read _The Imitation_, B. II., Ch. XI.; and
+B. III., Ch. XVIII., XIX., XXXVII., XLIX., L. and the prayer at the end
+of Ch. XXVII.)
+
+"Would to God," he says elsewhere, speaking on the same subject, "that we
+did not concern ourselves so much about the road whereon we journey, but
+rather would keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon that blessed
+country whither He is conducting us. What should it matter to us if it be
+through deserts or pleasant fields that we walk, provided God be with us
+and we be advancing towards heaven?... In short, for the honor of God,
+acquiesce perfectly in his divine will, and do not suppose that you can
+serve him better in any other way; for no one ever serves him well who
+does not serve him as he wishes. Now he wishes that you serve him without
+relish, without feeling, nay, with repugnance and perturbation of spirit.
+This service does not afford you any satisfaction, it is true, but it
+pleases him; it is not to your taste, but it is to his.... Mortify
+yourself then cheerfully, and in proportion as you are prevented from
+doing the good you desire, do all the more ardently that which you do not
+desire. You do not wish to be resigned in this case, but you will be so
+in some other: resignation in the first instance will be of much greater
+value to you.... In fine, let us be what God wishes, since we are
+entirely devoted to him, and would not wish to be anything contrary to
+his will; for were we the most exalted creatures under heaven, of what
+use would it be to us, if we were not in accord with the will of God?..."
+
+And again: "You should resign yourself perfectly into the hands of God.
+When you have done your best towards carrying out your design (of
+becoming a religious) he will be pleased to accept everything you do,
+even though it be something less good. You cannot please God better than
+by sacrificing to him your will, and remaining in tranquillity, humility
+and devotion, entirely reconciled and submissive to his divine will and
+good pleasure. You will be able to recognize these plainly enough when
+you find that notwithstanding all your efforts it is impossible for you
+to gratify your wishes.
+
+For God in his infinite goodness sometimes sees fit to test our courage
+and love by depriving us of the things which it seems to us would be
+advantageous to our souls; and if he finds us very earnest in their
+pursuit, yet humble, tranquil and resigned to do without them if he
+wishes us to, he will give us more blessings than we should have had in
+the possession of what we craved. God loves those who at all times and in
+all circumstances can say to him simply and heartily: _Thy will be
+done_."*
+
+
+
+
+                                 XIII.
+                               SCRUPLES.
+
+
+  Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence. (St. Paul, II.
+  Cor., c. III., v. 12.)
+
+  Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because
+  fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfect in charity. (St.
+  John, I. Epist., c. IV., v. 18.)
+
+1. There are persons who look upon scrupulosity as a virtue, confounding
+it with delicacy of conscience, whereas it is, on the contrary, not only
+a defect but one of a most dangerous character. The devout and learned
+Gerson says that a scrupulous conscience often does more injury to the
+soul than one that is too lax and remiss.
+
+2. Scruples warp the judgment, disturb the peace of the soul, beget
+mistrust of the Sacraments and estrangement from them, and impair the
+health of body and mind. How many unfortunates have begun by scrupulosity
+and ended in insanity! How many, more unfortunate still, have begun by
+scruples and ended in laxity and impiety! Shun then this insiduous
+poison, so deadly in its effects on true piety, and say with Saint Joseph
+of Cupertino: _Away with sadness and scruples; I will not have them in my
+house._
+
+3. Scrupulosity is an unreasonable fear of sin in matters where there is
+not even material for sin. But the victim does not call his doubts and
+fears scruples, for he would not be tormented by them if he believed he
+could give them that name. He should, however, place implicit reliance in
+the opinion of his spiritual guide when he tells him they are such and
+that he must not allow himself to be influenced by them.
+
+4. In all his actions a scrupulous person sees only an uninterrupted
+series of sins, and in God nothing but vengeance and anger. He ought,
+therefore, to consider almost exclusively the attribute of the divine
+Master by which He most delights to manifest Himself, _mercy_, and to
+make it the constant subject of his thoughts, meditations and affections.
+
+*"We should do everything from love and nothing from constraint. It is
+more essential to love obedience than to fear disobedience."--Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. There is but one remedy for scruples and that is entire and courageous
+obedience. "It is a secret pride," says Saint Francis de Sales, "that
+entertains and nourishes scruples, for the scrupulous person adheres to
+his opinion and inquietude in spite of his director's advice to the
+contrary. He always persuades himself in justification of his
+disobedience that some new and unforseen circumstance has occurred to
+which this advice cannot be applicable." "But submit", adds the Saint,
+"without other reasoning than this: _I should obey_, and you will be
+delivered from this lamentable malady."
+
+6. By sadness and anxiety the children of God do a great injury to their
+Heavenly Father. They thereby seem to bear witness that there is little
+happiness to be found in the service of a Master so full of love and
+mercy, and to give the lie to the words of Him who said: "Come unto Me
+all you that labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you."
+
+*"Woe to that narrow and self-absorbed soul that is always fearful, and
+because of fear has no time to love and to go generously forward. O my
+God! I know it is your wish that the heart that loves you should be broad
+and free! Hence I shall act with confidence like to the child that plays
+in the arms of its mother; I shall rejoice in the Lord and try to make
+others rejoice; I shall pour forth my heart without fear in the assembly
+of the children of God. I wish for nothing but candor, innocence and joy
+of the Holy Ghost. Far, far from me, O my God, be that sad and cowardly
+wisdom which is ever consumed in self, ever holding the balance in hand
+in order to weigh atoms!... Such lack of simplicity in the soul's
+dealings with Thee is truly an outrage against Thee: such rigor imputed
+to Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal heart."--Fenelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+                            INTERIOR PEACE.
+
+
+  Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things.
+  (St. Luke, c. X., v. 41.)
+
+  Always active, always at rest. (St. Augustine.)
+
+1. Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate into anxiety and eagerness.
+Saint Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy of these two defects.
+They cause us to lose sight of God in our actions and make us very prone
+to impatience if the slightest obstacle should interfere with our
+designs. It is only by acting peacefully that we can serve the God of
+peace in an acceptable manner.
+
+*"Do not let us suffer our peace to be disturbed by precipitation in our
+exterior actions. When our bodies or minds are engaged in any work, we
+should perform it peacefully and with composure, not prescribing for
+ourselves a definite time to finish it, nor being too anxious to see it
+completed."--Scupoli.*
+
+2. Martha was engaged in a good work when she prepared a repast for our
+divine Lord, nevertheless He reproved her because she performed it with
+anxiety and agitation. This goes to show, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+that it is not enough to do good, the good must moreover be done well,
+that is to say, with love and tranquillity. If one turn the
+spinning-wheel too rapidly it falls and the thread breaks.
+
+3. Whenever we are doing well we are always doing enough and doing it
+sufficiently fast. Those persons who are restless and impetuous do not
+accomplish any more and what they do is done badly.
+
+4. Saint Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry no matter how varied
+or numerous might be the demands made upon his time. When on a certain
+occasion some surprise was expressed at this he said: "You ask me how it
+is that although others are agitated and flurried I am not likewise
+uneasy and in haste. What would you? I was not put in this world to cause
+fresh disturbance: is there not enough of it already without my adding to
+it by my excitability?"
+
+5. However, do not on the other hand succumb to sloth and indifference.
+All extremes are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity and an
+active tranquillity.
+
+6. In order to acquire tranquillity in action it is necessary to consider
+carefully what we are capable of accomplishing and never to undertake
+more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much than to do
+well, which urges us on to burden ourselves with great undertakings and
+to impose upon ourselves numerous obligations. It maintains and nourishes
+itself on this tension of mind, this restless anxiety which it takes for
+infallible signs of a superior capacity. Thus Saint Francis de Sales was
+wont to say: "Our self-love is a great braggart, that wishes to undertake
+everything and accomplishes nothing."
+
+*"It appears to me that you are over eager and anxious in the pursuit of
+perfection.... Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of
+Kings,[14] that God is not in the great and strong wind, nor in the
+earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an almost
+imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and agitation contribute nothing towards
+success. The desire of success is good, but only if it be not accompanied
+by solicitude. I expressly forbid you to give way to inquietude, for it
+is the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is necessary in all things
+and everywhere. If any trouble come to us, either of an interior or
+exterior nature, we should receive it peacefully: if joy be ours, it
+should be received peacefully: have we to flee from evil, we should do it
+peacefully, otherwise we may fall in our flight and thus give our enemy a
+chance to kill us. Is there a good work to be done? we must do it
+peacefully, or else we shall commit many faults by our hastiness: and
+even as regards penance,--that too must be done peacefully: _Behold_,
+said the prophet, _in peace is my bitterness most bitter_."[15]*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XV.
+                                SADNESS.
+
+
+  I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the
+  house of the Lord.... Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the
+  Lord with gladness.... Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou
+  trouble me? (Psalms CXXI., XCIX., XLII.)
+
+  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Apoc. C. XXI., v.
+  4.)
+
+1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is the worst thing in the World,
+sin alone excepted.
+
+2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection in sadness: it is the
+spirit of God that produces recollection; sadness is the work of the
+spirit of darkness.
+
+3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint Francis de Sales for the
+discernment of spirits: any thought that troubles and disquiets us cannot
+come from the God of peace, who makes his dwelling-place only in peaceful
+souls.
+
+*"Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in writing what I before said to you
+in person, always be as happy as you can in well-doing, for it gives a
+double value to good works to be well done and to be done cheerfully. And
+when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not mean that if you happen to
+commit some fault you should on that account abandon yourself to sadness.
+For God's sake, no; for that would be to add defect to defect. But I mean
+that you should persevere in the wish to do well, that you return to it
+the moment you realize you have deviated from it, and that by means of
+this fidelity you live happily in the Lord.... May God be ever in our
+heart, my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous, for this is the
+will of God, whom we love and to whose service we are
+consecrated."--Saint Francis de Sales.* (_Imitation_, B. III., Chap.
+XLVII.)
+
+4. It is wrong to deny one's self all diversion. The mind becomes
+fatigued and depressed by remaining always concentrated in itself and
+thus more easily falls a prey to sadness. Saint Thomas says explicitly
+that one may incur sin by refusing all innocent amusement. Every excess,
+no matter what its nature, is contrary to order and consequently to
+virtue.
+
+5. Recreations and amusements are to the life of the soul what seasoning
+is to our corporal food. Food that is too highly seasoned quickly becomes
+injurious and sometimes fatal in its effects; that which is not seasoned
+at all soon becomes unendurable because of its insipidity and
+unpalatableness.
+
+6. As to the amount of diversion it is right to take, no absolute measure
+can be given: the rule is that each person should have as much as is
+necessary for him. This quantity varies according to the bent of the
+mind, the nature of the habitual occupations, and the greater or less
+predisposition to sadness one observes in his disposition.
+
+7. When you find your heart growing sad, divert yourself without a
+moment's delay; make a visit, enter into conversation with those around
+you, read some amusing book, take a walk, sing, do something, it matters
+not what, provided you close the door of your heart against this terrible
+enemy. As the sound of a trumpet gives the signal for a combat, so sad
+thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable moment has come for him to
+attack us.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVI.
+                           LIBERTY OF SPIRIT.
+
+
+  Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is
+  liberty. (St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.)
+
+  For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but ye
+  have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba,
+  Father. (St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.)
+
+  Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.)
+
+1. Christian liberty of spirit, so earnestly recommended by the saints,
+consists in not becoming the slave of anything, even though good, unless
+it be of God's will. Thus our purest inclinations, our holiest habits,
+our wisest rules of conduct, should yield without murmur or complaint to
+every manifestation of this divine will, in order that they may never
+become for us obstacles or impediments to good or the occasion of trouble
+and disquietude. By this means only can we perform all our actions with
+cheerful confidence and devout courage.
+
+*"I leave you the spirit of liberty; not that liberty which hinders
+obedience, for such is the liberty of the flesh, but that which excludes
+scruples and constraint.... We ask of God above all things that his name
+be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done on earth as it
+is in heaven. All this implies the spirit of liberty; for provided God's
+name be sanctified, that His divine Majesty reign in you, that His will
+be done, the spirit desires nothing more."[16] (_Imitation_, B. III.,
+Chap. XXVI.)*
+
+2. St. Francis de Sales, speaking on this important subject, says: "He
+who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his
+affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this
+way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by sickness
+or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions but that he
+is not attached to them."
+
+3. A soul that is attached to meditation, if interrupted, will show
+chagrin and impatience: a soul that has true liberty will take the
+interruption in good part and show a gracious countenance to the person
+who was the cause of it. For it is all one to it whether it serve God by
+meditating or by bearing with its neighbor. Both duties are God's will,
+but just at this time patience with others is the more essential.
+
+4. The fruits of this holy liberty of spirit are prompt and tranquil
+submission and generous confidence. Saint Francis de Sales relates that
+Saint Ignatius ate flesh meat one day in Holy Week simply because his
+physician thought it expedient for him to do so on account of a slight
+illness. A spirit of constraint would have made him allow the doctor to
+spend three days in persuading him, he adds, and would then very probably
+have refused to yield. I cite this example for the benefit of timid souls
+and not for those who seek to elude an obligation by unwarranted
+dispensations.
+
+*This matter is of such importance and a just medium so difficult to
+follow in practice, that it seems useful to transcribe the following
+passage from Saint Francis de Sales in its entirety, with the rules and
+examples it contains, in order that the proper occasions for the exercise
+of this virtue and its limitations may be well understood.
+
+"A heart possessed of this spirit of liberty is not attached to
+consolations, but receives afflictions with all the sweetness that is
+possible to human nature. I do not say that it does not love and desire
+consolations, but that its affections are not wedded to them.... It
+seldom loses its joy, for no privation saddens a heart that is not set
+upon any one thing. I do not say it never loses it, but if it does so it
+quickly regains it.
+
+The effects of this virtue are sweetness of temper, gentleness, and
+forbearance towards everything that is not sin or occasion of sin,
+forming a disposition gently susceptible to the influences of charity and
+of every other virtue.
+
+The occasions for exercising this holy freedom are found in all those
+things that happen contrary to our natural inclinations; for one whose
+affections are not engaged in his own will does not lose patience when
+his desires are thwarted.
+
+There are two vices opposed to this liberty of spirit,--instability and
+constraint, or dissipation and servility. The former is a certain excess
+of freedom which causes us to change our devout exercises or state of
+life without reason and without knowing if it be God's will. On the
+slightest pretext practices, plans and rules are altered and for every
+trivial obstacle our laudable customs are abandoned. In this way the
+heart is dissipated and spent and becomes like an orchard open on all
+sides, the fruit whereof is not for the owner but for the passers-by.
+Constraint or servility is a certain lack of liberty owing to which the
+mind is overwhelmed with vexation or anger when we cannot carry out our
+designs, even though we might be doing something better. For example: I
+resolve to make a meditation every morning. Now if I have the spirit of
+instability or dissipation I am apt to defer it until evening for the
+most insignificant reason,--because I was kept awake by the barking of a
+dog, or because I have a letter to write, although it be not at all
+pressing. If on the contrary I have the spirit of constraint or servility
+I will not give up my meditation even though a sick person has great need
+of my aid just then, or if I have an important and urgent dispatch to
+send which should not be deferred; and so on.
+
+It remains for me to give you some examples of true liberty of spirit
+which will make you understand it better than I can explain it. But,
+before doing so, it is well that I should say there are two rules which
+it is necessary to observe in order not to make any mistake on the
+subject.
+
+The first is that a person must never abandon his pious practices and the
+common rules of virtue unless it is plainly evident that God wills that
+he do so. Now this will is manifested in two ways,--through necessity and
+through charity. I desire to preach this Lent in some little corner of my
+diocese; however, if I get sick or break my leg I need not give way to
+regret or inquietude because I cannot do as I intended, for it is evident
+that it is the will of God that I serve Him by suffering and not by
+preaching. Or, even if I am not ill or crippled, but an occasion presents
+itself of going to some other place which if I do not avail myself of the
+people there may become Huguenots, the will of God is sufficiently
+manifest to make me amiably change my plans. The second rule is that when
+it is necessary to make use of this liberty of spirit from motives of
+charity, care should be taken that it is done without scandal or
+injustice. For instance: I may know that I should be more useful in some
+distant place not within my own diocese: I should have no freedom of
+choice in this matter for my obligations are here and I should give
+scandal and do an injustice by abandoning my charge.
+
+Thus it is a false idea of the spirit of liberty that would induce
+married women to keep aloof from their husbands without legitimate reason
+under pretext of devotion and charity.... This spirit rightly understood
+never interferes with the duties of one's vocation nor prejudices them in
+any way. On the contrary, it makes every one contented in his state of
+life, as each should know it is God's will that he remain in it.
+
+Saint Charles Borromeo was one of the most austere, exact and determined
+of men; bread was his only food, water his only drink; he was so strict,
+that during the twenty-four years he was an Archbishop he went into his
+garden but twice, and visited his brothers only on two occasions and then
+because they were ill. Yet this austere priest when dining with his Swiss
+neighbors, which he often did in order to move them to amend their lives,
+did not hesitate to join them in drinking toasts and healths on every
+occasion and in doing so to take more than was necessary to quench his
+thirst. Here is true liberty of spirit exemplified in the most mortified
+man of his time. An unstable spirit would have gone too far, a spirit of
+constraint would have thought it was committing a mortal sin, a spirit of
+liberty would act in this way from a motive of charity.
+
+Saint Spiridion, a bishop of olden times, once gave shelter to a pilgrim
+who was almost dying of hunger. It was the season of Lent and in a place
+where nothing was to be had but salt meat. This Spiridion ordered to be
+cooked and then gave it to the pilgrim. Seeing that the latter,
+notwithstanding his great need, hesitated to eat it, the Saint, although
+he did not require it, ate some first in order to remove the poor man's
+scruples. That was a true spirit of liberty born of charity."--Saint
+Francis de Sales.*
+
+5. Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom that excludes fear and
+uneasiness in regard to all those things which God has not permitted us
+to know. It gives us a sweet and tender confidence as to the pardon of
+our past sins, the present condition of our souls and our eternal
+destiny. It reminds us continually that although we have deserved hell,
+our divine Lord has merited heaven for us, and that it would be doing a
+great injury to His goodness not to hope for pardon for the past,
+assistance of divine grace for the present, and salvation after death.
+Finally, it teaches us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean of the
+divine mercy.
+
+6. I earnestly exhort you never to make indiscreet vows in the hope of
+thus increasing the merit of your ordinary works. One can attain the same
+end by many ways that are easier and less dangerous. Those who are guilty
+of this imprudence often run the risk of breaking their vows and of thus
+sinning gravely. And if they avoid this misfortune it is only at the
+expense of their peace of soul, sacrificed to a craven and unquiet
+servitude which is totally incompatible with the tranquillity and
+confidence required in the great work of our spiritual perfection.
+
+7. Many pious persons are too prone to advise obligations of this kind.
+If they do so to you, humbly excuse yourself by saying that you do not
+possess the extraordinary virtue requisite in order to fulfil them
+without disquietude. Saint Francis de Sales disapproved of all the
+particular vows made by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and declared them
+null. I have almost invariably found persons bound by such solemn
+obligations restless and agitated, and have frequently seen them exposed
+to the gravest falls.
+
+8. Do not allow yourself to be misled by the example of some of the
+saints who made vows. Rarely is the desire to imitate certain
+extraordinary practices of theirs an inspiration of divine grace: rather
+is it a temptation from the devil inciting us to pride and temerity.
+Saint Francis de Sales exclaimed: "Give me the spirit that animated Saint
+Bernard and I shall do what Saint Bernard did." Let us apply ourselves, I
+repeat, to the imitation of those simple and solid virtues by which the
+saints attained sanctity, and be content to admire those supernatural
+acts that suppose it already acquired.
+
+9. To bind one's self by arbitrary vows without compromising salvation,
+three things are necessary: 1st. supernatural inspiration urging one to
+make them; 2d. extraordinary virtue so as never to violate them; 3d.
+unalterable tranquillity in order to preserve peace of soul in keeping
+them.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+                         CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.
+
+
+  Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth. (Psalm
+  LXXXV.)
+
+  Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.
+  (Psalm CXXVI.)
+
+1. A Christian is not obliged to be perfect, but to tend continually
+towards perfection; that is to say, he must labor unceasingly and with
+all his strength to increase in virtue. To make no attempt to advance is
+to go back.
+
+*You see it is a question not of succeeding but of laboring earnestly and
+sincerely. Success does not depend upon us. God grants that or refuses it
+or defers it according to what He knows is best for us.
+
+"Let us do three things, my dear daughter, says Saint Francis de Sales:
+first, have a pure intention to look in all things to the honor and glory
+of God; second, do the little we can towards this end, according to the
+advice of our spiritual father; third, leave the care of all the rest to
+God. Why should he torment himself who has God for the object of his
+intentions and does all that he can? why should he be anxious? what has
+he to fear? God is not terrible for those whom He loves; He is satisfied
+with little for He knows well that we have not much to give."
+
+... "Allow yourself to be governed by God; do not think so much of
+yourself; make a general and universal resolution to serve God in the
+best manner you are able and do not waste time in examining and sifting
+so minutely to find out what that may be. This is simply an impertinence
+due to the condition of your acute and precise mind which wishes to
+tyrannize over your will and to control it by fraud and subtlety.... You
+know that in general God wishes us to serve Him by loving Him above all
+things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of Him; and in particular,
+to fulfil the duties of our state of life; that is all. But it must be
+done in good faith, without deceit or subterfuge, and in the ordinary way
+of this world, which is not the home of perfection; humanly, too, and
+according to the limitations of time; to do it in a divine and angelic
+manner and according to eternity being reserved for a future life. Do not
+therefore be so anxious to know whether or not you have attained
+perfection. This should never be; for were we the most perfect creatures
+on earth we ought not to dwell upon or glory in it but always consider
+ourselves imperfect. Our self-examination must never be for the purpose
+of discovering if we are imperfect, for this we should never doubt. Hence
+it follows that we must not be surprised at seeing ourselves imperfect,
+since we can never be otherwise in this life; nor on that account give
+way to despondency, for there is no remedy for it. But, yes; we can
+correct our faults gently and gradually, for that is the reason they are
+left in us. We shall be inexcusable if we do not try to amend them, but
+quite excusable if we are not entirely successful in doing so, for it is
+not the same with imperfections as with sins."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+2. Now the means to be employed in laboring for perfection and in making
+progress in virtue do not consist in multiplying prayers, fasts and other
+religious practices. Some good religious who had fasted three times a
+week during an entire year, thought that in order to satisfy the
+obligation of advancing more and more in virtue they ought to fast four
+times a week the following year. They consulted Saint Francis de Sales on
+the subject. He laughingly answered them: "If you fast four times a week
+this year so as to advance in perfection, you will be obliged for the
+same reason to fast five times the next year, then six, then seven times;
+and the number of your fasts being always the guage of the degree of
+perfection you shall have attained, it will be necessary for you, under
+pain of advancing no more, thereafter to fast twice a day, then thrice,
+then four times, and so on." What Saint Francis de Sales said of fasting
+is just as applicable to all other devout practices.
+
+3. Instead, then, of continually adding to your religious exercises,
+study to perfect yourself in the practice of those you already perform,
+doing them with more love and peace of soul, and with greater purity of
+intention. Should it happen that you are unable to perform all your usual
+devotions conveniently, omit a portion of them so that the remainder may
+be done with greater tranquillity. The spirit of perfection, says Saint
+Bernard, does not consist in doing great things, but in doing common and
+ordinary things perfectly. _Communia facere, sed non communiter_.[17]
+
+*"Most people when they wish to reform, pay much more attention to
+filling their life with certain difficult and extraordinary actions, than
+to purifying their intention and opposing their natural inclinations in
+the ordinary duties of their state. In this they often deceive
+themselves, for it would be much better to make less change in the
+actions and more in the dispositions of the soul which prompt them. When
+one is already leading a virtuous and well regulated life it is of far
+greater consequence, in order to become truly spiritual, to change the
+interior than the exterior. God is not satisfied with the motions of the
+lips, the posture of the body, nor with external ceremonies: What he
+demands is a will no longer divided between Him and any creature; a will
+perfectly docile ... that wishes unreservedly whatever He wishes and
+never under any pretext wishes aught that He does not wish.
+
+This will, perfectly simple and entirely devoted to God, you should bear
+with you into all the circumstances of your life, and everywhere that
+divine Providence leads you.... Even mere amusements may be transformed
+into good works, if you enter into them only through a kindly motive and
+to conform to the order of God. Happy indeed the heart of her for whom
+God opens this way of holy simplicity! She walks therein like a little
+child holding its mother's hand and allowing her to lead it without any
+concern as to whither it is going. Content to be free, she is ready to
+speak or to be silent; when she cannot say edifying things she says
+common-place things with an equally good grace; she amuses herself by
+making what Saint Francis de Sales calls _joyeusetes_, playful little
+jests, with which she diverts others as well as herself. You will tell me
+perhaps that you would prefer to be occupied with something more serious
+and solid. But God would not prefer it for you, seeing that He chooses
+what you would not choose, and you know His taste is better than yours:
+you would find more consolation in solid things for which He has given
+you a relish, and it is this consolation of which He wishes to deprive
+you, it is this relish which He wishes to mortify in you, although it may
+be good and salutary. The very virtues, as they are practised by us, need
+to be purified by the contradictions that God makes them suffer in order
+to detach them the better from all self will. When piety is founded on
+the fundamental principle of God's holy will, without consulting our own
+taste, or temperament or the sallies of an excessive zeal, oh! how
+simple, sweet, amiable, discreet and reliable it is in all its movements!
+A pious person lives much as others do, quite unaffectedly and without
+apparent austerity, in a sociable and genial way; but with a constant
+subjection to every duty, an unrelenting renunciation of everything that
+does not enter into God's designs in her regard, and, finally, with a
+clear view of God to whom she sacrifices all the irregular inclinations
+of nature. This indeed is the adoration in spirit and in truth desired by
+Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His eternal Father. Without it all the rest
+is but a religion of ceremonial, and rather the shadow than the reality
+of Christianity."--Fenelon.*
+
+4. Apply yourself in a particular manner to become perfect in the
+fulfilment of the duties of your state of life; for on this all
+perfection and sanctity are grounded. When God created the world He
+commanded the plants to produce fruit, but each one according to its
+kind: _juxta genus suum_.[18] In like manner our souls are all obliged to
+produce fruits of holiness, but each according to its kind; that is to
+say, according to the position in which God has placed us. Elias in the
+desert and David on the throne had not to become holy by a like process;
+and Joshua amidst the tumult of arms would have sought in vain to
+sanctify himself by the same means as Samuel in the peaceful retreat of
+the Temple. This instruction is addressed to those who being placed in
+the world would wish to practise there the virtues of the cloister, or
+whilst residing in palaces would attempt to lead the life of the
+solitaries of the desert. They bear fruits which are excellent in
+themselves, no doubt, but not according to their kind, _juxta genus
+suum_, and hence they do not fulfil the will of God.
+
+5. Perfection has but one aim and it is the same for all,--to wit, the
+love of God; but there are divers ways of attaining it. Among the saints
+themselves we find most striking differences. Saint Benedict was never
+seen to laugh, whereas Saint Francis de Sales laughed frequently and was
+always animated, bright and cheerful. Saint Hilarion considered it an act
+of sensuality to change his habit, whilst, on the other hand, Saint
+Catherine of Sienna was extremely particular about bodily cleanliness
+which she looked upon as a symbol of purity of soul. If you consult Saint
+Jerome you hear only of fear of the terrible judgments of God: read Saint
+Augustine and you will find only the language of confidence and love. The
+minds, dispositions and characters of men are as varied as their
+physiognomies; grace perfects them little by little but does not change
+their nature. Hence in our endeavors to imitate the ways of such or such
+a saint for whom we feel a particular attraction, we should not condemn
+those of the others, but say with the Psalmist: _Omnis spiritus laudet
+Dominum_.[19] Consult your director as to whom and what may be most
+suitable for your imitation.
+
+6. Never be afraid that you are not following the way of perfection
+because you still have defects and commit many faults. This was true of
+the greatest saints, for Saint Augustine declares that all of them could
+exclaim with the Apostle Saint John: "If we claim to be without sin, we
+deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." "He who came into the
+world with sin," says Saint Gregory the Great, "cannot live there without
+sin."
+
+* "Act like the little child who, when it feels that its mother is
+holding it by the sleeve, runs about quite boldly and without being
+surprised at all the little falls it gets. Thus, as long as you find that
+God is holding you by the good will and the resolution He has given you
+to serve Him, go on bravely and do not be astonished that you stumble and
+fall occasionally. There is no need to be troubled about it, provided
+that at certain intervals you cast yourself into your Father's arms and
+embrace Him with the kiss of charity. Go on your way, then, cheerfully
+and heartily, doing the best you can; and if it cannot always be
+cheerfully, let it at least be always courageously and faithfully."
+--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+7. But we must bear in mind the vast difference that exists between the
+love of sin and sin committed inadvertently or from weakness. (See
+_Confession_, [S] 14.) Affection for sin is the sole obstacle to
+perfection. Thus the most learned Fathers of the Church make a
+distinction between two kinds of tepidity: that which can be avoided and
+that which cannot be avoided. The former condition is that of a soul that
+retains an attachment for certain sins; the other, that of one falling
+into sin through frailty and from being taken unawares, which has been
+the case even with the greatest saints.
+
+8. Therefore in place of troubling yourself about these accidental falls,
+inseparable from human nature, make them turn to your spiritual advantage
+by causing them to increase your humility. It often happens, says Saint
+Gregory the Great, that God allows great defects to remain in some souls
+at the beginning of their spiritual life that by means of them they may
+grow in self-knowledge and learn to place their entire confidence in Him.
+Saint Augustine tells us that God in his infinite wisdom has been better
+pleased to bring forth good out of evil than to hinder the evil itself.
+Thus when you learn to draw fruits of humility from your faults, you
+correspond to the sublime designs of God's unspeakable providence.
+
+9. Should you happen to fear that you are not walking in the true way of
+perfection, consult your director and place implicit reliance upon the
+answer he gives you. Who is the saint that has not had to suffer because
+of a like doubt? But they were all reassured by the consideration of
+God's infinite goodness and by obedience to their spiritual father.
+
+*Some persons, although conscious of a sincere desire to serve God,
+nevertheless are disposed to feel alarmed about their spiritual
+condition, at the remembrance of all they have heard and read in regard
+to false consciences, self-illusion and the deceptive security of those
+who are following a wrong path. There are two ways of forming a false
+conscience: first, by choosing among our duties those for which we feel
+most attraction and natural tendency, and then, in order to give
+ourselves up to them more than is necessary, to persuade ourselves we can
+neglect the others. Thus a person with a preference for exterior acts of
+religion will spend all day praying or attending sermons and offices of
+the Church and considers herself very devout, although she may have been
+neglecting her temporal duties. Another, being differently disposed, will
+apply herself exclusively to the duties of her state of life, sacrificing
+to them without regret those of religion, quite convinced that one who is
+faithful in all the domestic relations, and gives to every one his due,
+cannot possibly be otherwise than pleasing to God. The second way of
+making a false conscience consists in giving the preference in our esteem
+and practice to those among the Christian virtues which find their
+analogies in our natural dispositions, for there is not one of the
+virtues that has not its correlative amongst the various qualities of the
+human character. Persons of a gentle and placid disposition will affect
+meekness, the practice of which will be very easy for them and require no
+effort; and imagining they exercise a christian virtue when in reality
+they only follow a natural bent, they are liable to fall into a culpable
+weakness. Those who, on the contrary, have an exact and rigid mind will
+esteem justice and order above all else, making small account of meekness
+and charity; and thus justifying themselves falsely by their natural
+temperament, they follow the tendency of the flesh whilst believing they
+obey the spirit, and may easily become addicted to excessive severity.
+
+It is evident, therefore, that the first rule to be observed in order to
+avoid these dangerous illusions and to walk securely in the way of
+perfection, is to apply ourselves in a special manner to the practice of
+those duties for which we feel least innate attraction, and always to
+mistrust our natural virtues however good they may appear. Then there is
+one consideration that should serve to reassure all Christians who are in
+earnest about their salvation; whilst they act in good faith and deal
+frankly and sincerely with their confessor, it is impossible for them to
+become the victim of a false conscience.
+
+In the following passage Saint Francis de Sales recommends us to watch
+carefully over our natural tendencies and to substitute for them as much
+as possible the inspirations of grace, which he calls living according to
+the spirit:
+
+"To live according to the spirit, my beloved daughter, is to think, speak
+and act according to the virtues that are of the spirit, and not
+according to the senses and feelings which are of the flesh. These latter
+we should make serve us, but we must hold them in subjection and not
+allow them to control us; whereas with the spiritual virtues it is just
+the reverse; we should serve them and bring everything else under
+subjection to them.... See, my daughter, human nature wishes to have a
+share in everything that goes on, and loves itself so dearly that it
+considers nothing of any account unless it be mixed up in it. The spirit,
+on the contrary, attaches itself to God and often says that whatever is
+not God's is nothing to it; and as through a motive of charity it takes
+part in things committed to it, so through humility and self-denial it
+willingly gives up all share in those which are denied it.... I am
+diffident and have no self-confidence, and therefore I wish to be allowed
+to live in a way congenial to this disposition; any one can see that this
+is not according to the spirit.... But, although I am naturally timorous
+and retiring, I desire to try and overcome these traits of character and
+to fulfil all the requirements of the charge imposed upon me by
+obedience; who does not see that this is to live according to the spirit?
+
+Hence, as I have said before, my dear daughter, to live according to the
+spirit is to have our actions, our words and our thoughts such as the
+spirit of God would require of us. When I say thoughts, I of course mean
+voluntary thoughts. I am sad, says some one, consequently I shall not
+speak; magpies and parrots do the same: I am sad, but as charity requires
+me to speak, I shall do so; spiritual persons act thus: I am slighted and
+I get angry: so do peacocks and monkeys. I am slighted and I rejoice
+thereat: that is what the Apostles did."
+
+In fine, to live according to the spirit is to do in all circumstances
+and on all occasions whatever faith, hope and charity demand of us,
+without even waiting to consider if we are or are not influenced by our
+natural disposition. (_The Imitation of Christ_, B. III., Ch. LIV.)*
+
+10. Generally speaking it is only after a long and painful struggle that
+one succeeds in climbing the mount of perfection. There are some statues,
+says Saint Francis de Sales, that it has cost the artist thirty years'
+labor to perfect. Now the perfecting of a soul is a much more difficult
+work. We must therefore set about it with tranquillity, patience and
+confidence in God. We shall always obtain what we wish soon enough if we
+obtain it at the time God pleases to grant it.
+
+
+
+
+                              PART THIRD.
+                              SOCIAL LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVIII.
+                                CHARITY.
+
+
+  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
+  one for another. (St. John, c. XIII., v. 35.)
+
+  He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in
+  darkness even until now. (St. John, Ep. I., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Our divine Lord has said that His disciples should be known by their
+love one for another. This christian virtue of charity makes us love our
+neighbor in God, the creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of God,
+love of our neighbor,--these virtues are two branches springing from the
+same trunk and having but one and the same root.
+
+2. Assist your brethren in their needs whenever you can. However, you
+should always be careful to consult the laws of prudence in this matter
+and to be guided by your means and position. Supply by a desire to do
+good for the material aid you are unable to give.
+
+3. When your neighbor offends you he does not cease on that account to be
+the creature and the image of God; therefore the christian motive you
+have for loving him still exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of pardon,
+but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so often has forgiven you much
+more grievous offences, merited it for him?
+
+4. Observe, however, that we can scarcely avoid feeling some repugnance
+for those who have offended us, but to feel and to consent are two
+distinct and widely different things, as we have already said. When
+religion commands us to love our enemies, the commandment is addressed to
+the superior portion of the soul, the will, not to the inferior portion
+in which reside the carnal affections that follow the natural
+inclinations. In a word, when we speak of charity the question is not of
+that human friendship which we feel for those who are naturally pleasing
+to us, a sentiment wherein we seek merely our own satisfaction and which
+therefore has nothing in common with charity.
+
+*"Charity makes us love God above all things; and our neighbor as
+ourselves with a love not sensual, not natural, not interested, but pure,
+strong and unwavering, and having its foundation in God.... A person is
+extremely sweet and agreeable and I love her tenderly: or, she loves me
+well and does much to oblige me, and on that account I love her in
+return. Who does not see that this affection is according to the senses
+and the flesh? For animals that have no soul but only a body and senses,
+love those who are good and gentle and kind to them. Then there is
+another person who is brusque and uncivil, but apart from this is really
+devout and even desirous of becoming gentler and more courteous:
+consequently, not for any gratification she affords me, or for any
+self-interested motive whatever, but solely for the good pleasure of God,
+I talk to her, aid her, love her. This is the virtue of charity indeed,
+for nature has no share in it."--Saint Francis de Sales. (Read St. Luke,
+C. VI., vv. 32-33-34.)
+
+The literal and exact fulfilment of the evangelical precept is often
+found impracticable. How, we say, is it possible to have for all men
+indiscriminately that extreme sensibility we feel for everything that
+touches us individually, that constant solicitude for our spiritual or
+temporal interests, that delicacy of feeling that we reserve for
+ourselves and for certain objects specially dear to us?--And yet it is
+literally _au pied de la lettre_, that our Lord's precept should be
+observed. What then is to be done? An answer will be found in the
+following passage from Fenelon, and we shall see that it is not a
+question of exaggerating the love of one's neighbor, but of moderating
+self-love, and thus making both the one and the other alike subordinate
+to the love of God:
+
+"To love our neighbor as ourselves does not mean that we should have for
+him that intense feeling of affection that we have for ourselves, but
+simply that we wish for him, and from the motive of charity, what we wish
+for ourselves. Pure and genuine love, love having for its sole end the
+object beloved, should be reserved for God alone, and to bestow it
+elsewhere is a violation of a divine right."*
+
+5. But although it is forbidden us to show hatred or to entertain it
+voluntarily against the wicked and those who have offended us, this is
+not meant to prevent us from defending ourselves or taking such
+precautions against them as prudence suggests. Christian charity obliges
+and disposes us to love our enemies and to be good to them when there is
+occasion to do so; but it should not carry us so far as to protect the
+wicked, nor leave us without defence against their aggressiveness. It
+allows us to be vigilant in guarding against their encroachments, and to
+take precautions against their machinations.
+
+6. Always be ready and willing to excuse the faults of your neighbor, and
+never put an unfavorable interpretation upon his actions. The same
+action, says Saint Francis de Sales, may be looked upon under many
+different aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose the best, an
+uncharitable one will just as certainly choose the worst.
+
+*"Do not weigh so carefully the sayings and doings of others, but let
+your thought of them be simple and good, kindly and affectionate. You
+should not exact of your neighbor greater perfection than of yourself,
+nor be surprised at the diversity of imperfections; for an imperfection
+is not more an imperfection from the fact that it is extravagant and
+peculiar."*
+
+7. It is very difficult for a good christian to become really guilty of
+rash judgment, in the true sense of the word,--which is that, without
+just reasons or sufficient grounds he forms and pronounces in his own
+mind in a positive manner a condemnation of his neighbor. The grave sin
+of rash judgment is frequently confounded with suspicion or even simple
+distrust, which may be justifiable on much slighter grounds.
+
+8. Suspicion is permissible when it has for its aim measures of just
+prudence; charity forbids gratuitously malevolent thoughts, but not
+vigilance and precaution.
+
+9. Suspicion is not only permissible, but it is at times an important
+duty for those who are charged with the direction and guardianship of
+others. Thus it is a positive obligation for a father in regard to his
+children, and for a master in regard to his servants, whenever there is
+occasion to correct some vice they know exists, or to prevent some fault
+they have reasonable cause to fear.
+
+10. As to simple mistrust, which should not be confused with suspicion,
+it is only an involuntary and purely passive condition, to which we may
+be more or less inclined by our natural disposition without our free-will
+being at all involved. Mistrust, suspicion, rash judgment are then three
+distinct and very different things, and we should be careful not to
+confound them.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIX.
+                                 ZEAL.
+
+
+  But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your heart,
+  glory not, and be not liars against the truth: for this is not wisdom
+  descending from above, but earthly, sensual, diabolical. (St. James,
+  Cath. Ep., c. III, vv. 14 and 15.)
+
+  For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God. (St. James, Cath.
+  Ep., c. I., v. 20.)
+
+1. Zeal for the salvation of souls is a sublime virtue, and yet how many
+errors and sins are every day committed in its name! Evil is never done
+more effectually and with greater security, says Saint Francis de Sales,
+than when one does it believing he is working for the glory of God.
+
+2. The saints themselves can be mistaken in this delicate matter. We see
+a proof of this in the incident related of the Apostles Saint James and
+Saint John; for our Lord reprimanded them for asking Him to cause fire
+from heaven to fall upon the Samaritans.[20]
+
+3. Acts of zeal are like coins the stamp upon which it is necessary to
+examine attentively, as there are more counterfeits than good ones. Zeal
+to be pure should be accompanied with very great humility, for it is of
+all virtues the one into which self-love most easily glides. When it does
+so, zeal is apt to become imprudent, presumptuous, unjust, bitter. Let us
+consider these characteristics in detail, viewing them, for the sake of
+greater clearness, in their practical bearings.
+
+4. In every home there grows some thorn, something, in other words, that
+needs correction; for the best soil is seldom without its noxious weed.
+Imprudent zeal, by seeking awkwardly to pluck out the thorn, often
+succeeds only in plunging it farther in, thus rendering the wound deeper
+and more painful. In such a case it is essential to act with reflection
+and great prudence. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent,
+says the Holy Spirit.[21] Prudent zeal is silent when it realizes that to
+be so is less hurtful than to speak.
+
+5. Some persons are even presumptuous enough in their mistaken zeal to
+meddle in the domestic affairs of strange families, blaming, counselling,
+attempting to reform without measure or discretion, thus causing an evil
+much greater than the one they wish to correct. Let us employ the
+activity of our zeal in our own reformation, says Saint Bernard, and pray
+humbly for that of others. It is great presumption on our part thus to
+assume the role of apostles when we are not as yet even good and faithful
+disciples. Not that you should be by any means indifferent to the
+salvation of souls: on the contrary you must wish it most ardently, but
+do not undertake to effect it except with great prudence, humility and
+diffidence in self.
+
+6. Again, there are pious persons whose zeal consists in wishing to make
+everybody adopt their particular practices of devotion. Such a one, if
+she have a special attraction for meditating on the Passion of our divine
+Lord or for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, would like to oblige every
+one, under pain of reprobation, to pass long hours prostrate before the
+crucifix or the tabernacle. Another who is especially devoted to visiting
+the poor and the sick and to the other works of corporal mercy,
+acknowledges no piety apart from these excellent practices. Now, this is
+not an enlightened zeal. Martha and Mary were sisters, says Saint
+Augustine, but they have not a like office: one acts, the other
+contemplates. If both had passed the day in contemplation, no one would
+have prepared a repast for their divine Master; if both had been employed
+in this material work, there would have been no one to listen to His
+words and garner up His divine lessons. The same thing may be said of
+other good works. In choosing among them each person should follow the
+inspirations of God's grace, and these are very varied. The eye that sees
+but hears not, must neither envy nor blame the ear that hears but sees
+not. _Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum:_ let every spirit praise the Lord,
+says the royal prophet.[22]
+
+7. Bear well in mind that the zeal which would lead you to undertake
+works not in conformity with your position, however good and useful they
+may be in themselves, is always a false one. This is especially true if
+such cause us interior trouble or annoyance; for the holiest things are
+infallibly displeasing to God when they do not accord with the duties of
+our state of life.
+
+8. Saint Paul condemned in strong terms those Christians who showed a too
+exclusive preference for their spiritual masters; some admitting as truth
+only what came from the mouth of Peter, others acknowledging none save
+Paul, and others again none but Apollo. What! said he to them, is not
+Jesus Christ the same for all of you! Is it then Paul who was crucified
+for you? Is it in his name you were baptized?[23] This culpable weakness
+is often reproduced in our day. Persons otherwise pious carry to excess
+the esteem and affection they have for their spiritual directors, exalt
+without measure their wisdom and holiness, and do not scruple to
+depreciate all others. God alone knows the true value of each human
+being, and we have not the scales of the sanctuary to weigh and compare
+the respective wisdom and sanctity of this and that person. If you have a
+good confessor, thank God and try to render his wisdom useful to you by
+your docility in allowing yourself to be guided; but do not assume that
+nobody else has as good a one. To depreciate the merits of some in order
+to exalt those of others at their expense is a sort of slander, that
+ought to be all the more feared because it is generally so little
+recognized.
+
+9. "If your zeal is bitter," says Saint James, "it is not wisdom
+descending from on high, but earthly, sensual, diabolical."[24] These
+words of an Apostle should furnish matter of reflection for those persons
+who, whilst making profession of piety, are so prone to irritability, so
+harsh and rude in their manners and language, that they might be taken
+for angels in church and for demons elsewhere.
+
+10. The value and utility of zeal are in proportion to its tolerance and
+amiability. True zeal is the offspring of charity: it should, then,
+resemble its mother and show itself like to her in all things. "Charity,"
+says Saint Paul, "is patient, is kind, is not ambitious and seeketh not
+her own."[25]
+
+*"You should not only be devout and love devotion, but you ought to make
+your piety useful, agreeable and charming to everybody. The sick will
+like your spirituality if they are lovingly consoled by it; your family,
+if they find that it makes you more thoughtful of their welfare, gentler
+in every day affairs, more amiable in reproving, and so on; your husband,
+if he sees that in proportion as your devotion increases you become more
+cordial and tender in your affection for him; your relations and friends,
+if they find you more forbearing, and more ready to comply with their
+wishes, should these not be contrary to God's will. Briefly, you must try
+as far as possible to make your devotion attractive to others; that is
+true zeal."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+11. Never allow your zeal to make you over eager to correct others, says
+the same Saint; and when you must do it remember that the most important
+thing to consider is the choice of the moment. A caution deferred can be
+given another time: one given inopportunely is not only fruitless, but
+moreover paralyses beforehand all the good that might have subsequently
+been done.
+
+12. Be zealous, therefore, ardently zealous for the salvation of your
+neighbor, and to further it make use of whatever means God has placed in
+your power; but do not exceed these limits nor disquiet yourself about
+the good you are unable to do, for God can accomplish it through others.
+In conclusion, zeal, according to the teachings of the Fathers of the
+Church, should always have truth for its foundation, indulgence for its
+companion, mildness for its guide, prudence for its counsellor and
+director.
+
+*"I must look upon whatever presents itself each day to be done, in the
+order of Divine Providence, as the work God wishes me to do, and apply
+myself to it in a manner worthy of Him, that is with exactness and
+tranquillity. I shall neglect nothing, be anxious about nothing; as it is
+dangerous either to do God's work negligently or to appropriate it to
+one's self through self-love and false zeal. When our actions are
+prompted by our own inclinations, we do them badly, and are pretentious,
+restless, and anxious to succeed. The glory of God is the pretext that
+hides the illusion. Self-love disguised as zeal grieves and frets if it
+cannot succeed. O my God! give me the grace to be faithful in action,
+indifferent to success. My part is to will what Thou willest and to keep
+myself recollected in Thee amidst all my occupations: Thine it is to give
+to my feeble efforts such fruit as shall please Thee,--none if Thou so
+wishest."--Fenelon.*
+
+
+
+
+                                  XX.
+                               MEEKNESS.
+
+
+  Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land. (S. Matth., c.
+  V., v. 4.)
+
+  Learn of me because I am meek. (St. Matthew, c. XI., v. 29.)
+
+1. Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person a model of all the virtues.
+Meekness, however, is the one that He seems to have wished more
+particularly to propose for our imitation since He said: "Learn of Me for
+I am meek and humble of heart."
+
+2. Try, therefore, to acquire and always preserve in your soul this
+christian virtue and to make all your exterior actions correspond with
+it. I do not say that you should never have the slightest feeling of
+irritation, as that would be to expect an impossibility; but you should
+be attentive to repress these movements and never yield to them
+voluntarily. It is natural for man to be often assailed by anger, says
+Saint Jerome, but it is peculiar to the Christian not to allow himself to
+be overcome by it.
+
+3. A Christian, says Saint Bernard, who has no one at hand who gives him
+occasion to suffer, should seek such a person eagerly and buy him at any
+price, that he may have opportunity to practice meekness and patience. If
+you are not disposed to go to this expense, at least profit of whatever
+opportunities divine Providence has given you gratuitously, that you may
+accustom yourself to the exercise of these two inestimable virtues.
+
+4. An excellent rule to follow is to make a compact with your tongue such
+as Saint Francis de Sales did with his, namely, that the tongue remain
+silent whenever the feelings are irritated. Otherwise you will begin to
+speak with the sincere resolution to keep within the bounds of moderation
+and prudence, but you will never succeed in so doing, because the bridle
+once loosened you will invariably be carried farther than you wished.
+Reprimand from an angry man can do no good. Reproof is a moral remedy:
+how would it be possible for you to select and administer this remedy
+with discernment and prudence, when you yourself are ill and stand in
+need of both medicine and physician? Wait therefore until your soul is at
+peace, and when you have been restored to calmness you can speak
+advantageously. Even when it is your positive duty to administer a
+rebuke, defer it if possible until free from excitement, remembering that
+to have a salutary effect both he who gives it and he who receives it
+must be calm. Without this precaution the remedy will only aggravate the
+disease.
+
+5. When obliged to reprove the fault of another, never fail to pray that
+God will speak to the person's heart whilst your words are sounding in
+his ears.
+
+6. Observe, however, with Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Thomas, that
+if those it is your duty to correct abuse your mildness and
+considerateness, you are then justified in repressing their boldness with
+vigor and firmness. "Speak to the fool," says the Holy Spirit, "the
+language that his folly renders necessary, that he may not continue wise
+in his own eyes."[26] I repeat it: reproof is a remedy, and a remedy must
+be chosen and proportioned according to the nature and gravity of the
+evil.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXI.
+                             CONVERSATION.
+
+
+  Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a
+  candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in a house.
+
+  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works,
+  and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. V., vv.
+  15-16.)
+
+  Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subversion of
+  the hearers. (St. Paul, II Tim., c. II., v. 14.)
+
+1. Conversation should be marked by a gentle and devout pleasantness, and
+your manner when engaged in it, ought to be equable, composed and
+gracious. Mildness and cheerfulness make devotion and those who practice
+it attractive to others. The holy abbot Saint Anthony, notwithstanding
+the extraordinary austerities of his penitential life, always showed such
+a smiling countenance that no one could look at him without pleasure.
+
+2. We should be neither too talkative nor too silent,--it is as necessary
+to avoid one extreme as the other. By speaking too much we expose
+ourselves to a thousand dangers, so well known that they need not be
+mentioned in detail: by not speaking enough we are apt to be a restraint
+upon others, as it makes it seem as though we did not relish their
+conversation, or wished to impress them with our superiority.
+
+*"Take great care not to be too critical of conversations in which the
+rules of devotion are not very exactly observed. In all such matters it
+is necessary that charity should govern and enlighten us in order to make
+us accede to the wishes of our neighbor in whatever is not in any way
+contrary to the commandments of God."--Saint Francis de Sales.*
+
+3. Do not conclude from this that it is necessary to count your words, as
+it were, so as to keep your conversation within the proper limits. This
+would be as puerile a scruple as counting one's steps when walking. A
+holy spirit of liberty should dominate our conversations and serve to
+instil into them a gentle and moderate gaiety.
+
+4. If you hear some evil spoken of your neighbor do not immediately
+become alarmed, as the matter may be true and quite public without your
+having been aware of it. Should you be quite certain that there is
+calumny or slander in the report, either because the evil told was false
+or exaggerated or because it was not publicly known, then, according to
+the place, the circumstances and your relations towards those present,
+say with moderation what appears most fitting to justify or excuse your
+neighbor. Or you may try to turn the conversation into other channels, or
+simply be content to show your disapprobation by an expressive silence.
+Remember, for the peace of your conscience, that one does not share in
+the sin of slander unless he give some mark of approbation or
+encouragement to the person who is guilty of it.
+
+5. Do not imitate those who are scrupulous enough to imagine that charity
+obliges them to undertake the defence of every evil mentioned in their
+presence and to become the self-appointed advocates of whoever it may be
+that has deserved censure. That which is really wrong cannot be
+justified, and no one should attempt the fruitless task: and as to the
+guilty, those who may do harm either through the scandal of their example
+or the wickedness of their doctrines, it is right that they should be
+shunned and openly denounced. "To cry out wolf, wolf," says Saint Francis
+de Sales, "is kindness to the sheep."
+
+6. The regard we owe our neighbor does not bind us to a politeness that
+might be construed as an approval or encouragement of his vicious habits.
+Hence if it happen that you hear an equivocal jest, a witticism slurring
+at religion or morals, or anything else that really offends against
+propriety, be careful not to give, through cowardice and in spite of your
+conscience, any mark of approbation, were it only by one of those half
+smiles that are often accorded unwillingly and afterwards regretted.
+Flattery, even in the eyes of the world, is one of the most debasing of
+falsehoods. Not even in the presence of the greatest earthly dignitaries,
+will an honest, upright man sanction with his mouth that which he
+condemns in his heart. He who sacrifices to vice the rights of truth not
+only acts unlike a christian, but renders himself unworthy the name of
+man.
+
+7. In small social gatherings try to make yourself agreeable to everybody
+present and to show to each some little mark of attention, if you can do
+so without affectation. This may be done either by directly addressing
+the person or by making a remark that you know will give him occasion to
+speak of his own accord,--draw him out, as the saying is. It was by the
+charm and urbanity of his conversation that Saint Francis de Sales
+prepared the way for the conversion of numbers of heretics and sinners,
+and by imitating him you will contribute towards making piety in the
+world more attractive. In regard to priests you should always testify
+your respect for the sacerdotal dignity quite independently of the
+individual.
+
+8. Disputes, sarcasm, bitter language, and intolerance for dissenting
+opinions, are the scourges of conversation.
+
+9. Although this adage comes to us from a pagan philosopher, we might
+profitably bear it always in mind: "In conversation we should show
+deference to our superiors, affability to our equals, and benevolence to
+our inferiors."
+
+10. Generally speaking, it is wrong for those whom God does not call to
+abandon the world, to seclude themselves entirely and to shun all society
+suited to their position in life. God, who is the source of all virtue,
+is likewise the author of human society. Let the wicked hide themselves
+if they will, their absence is no loss to the world; but good people make
+themselves useful merely by being seen. It is well, moreover, the world
+should know that in order to practice the teachings of the Gospel it is
+not necessary to bury one's self in the desert; and that those who live
+for the Creator can likewise live with the creatures whom He has made
+according to His own image and likeness. Well, again, to show that a
+devout life is neither sad nor austere, but simple, sweet and easy; that
+far from being for those in the world an impediment to social relations,
+it facilitates, perfects and sanctifies such; that the disciples of Jesus
+Christ can, without becoming worldlings, live in the world; and that, in
+fine, the Gospel is the sovereign code of perfection for persons in
+society as well as for those who have renounced the world.
+
+*Fenelon, who perhaps had even greater occasion than Saint Francis de
+Sales to teach men of the world how to lead a Christian life in society,
+wrote as follows to a person at court:
+
+"You ought not to feel worried, it seems to me, in regard to those
+diversions in which you cannot avoid taking part. I know there are those
+who think it necessary that one should lament about everything, and
+restrain himself continually by trying to excite disgust for the
+amusements in which he must participate. As for me, I acknowledge that I
+cannot reconcile myself to this severity. I prefer something more simple
+and I believe that God, too, likes it better. When amusements are
+innocent in themselves and we enter into them to conform to the customs
+of the state of life in which Providence has placed us, then I believe
+they are perfectly lawful. It is enough to keep within the bounds of
+moderation and to remember God's presence. A dry, reserved manner,
+conduct not thoroughly ingenuous and obliging, only serve to give a false
+idea of piety to men of the world who are already too much prejudiced
+against it, believing that a spiritual life cannot be otherwise than
+gloomy and morose."*
+
+11. If all confessors agreed in instilling these maxims, which are as
+important as they are true, many persons who now keep themselves in
+absolute seclusion and live in a sad and dreary solitude would remain in
+society to the edification of their neighbor and the great advantage of
+religion. The world would thus be disabused of its unjust prejudices
+against a devout life and those who have embraced it.
+
+12. Never remain idle except during the time you have allotted to rest or
+recreation. Idleness begets lassitude, disposes to evil speaking and
+gives occasion to the most dangerous temptations.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXII.
+                                 DRESS.
+
+
+  Women also in decent apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and
+  sobriety. (St. Paul, I. Tim., c. II., v. 9.)
+
+1. Clothing is worn for a threefold object: to observe the laws of
+propriety, to protect our bodies from the inclemency of the weather, and,
+finally, to adorn them, as Saint Paul says, with _modesty and sobriety_.
+This third end is, as you see, not less legitimate than the other two,
+provided you are careful to make it accord with them by confining it
+within proper limits and not permitting it to be the only one to which
+you attach any importance, so that neither health nor propriety be
+sacrificed to personal appearance.
+
+2. External ornamentation should correspond with each one's condition in
+life. A just proportion in this matter, says Saint Thomas, is an offshoot
+of the virtues of uprightness and sincerity, for there is a sort of
+untruthfulness in appearing in garments that are calculated to give a
+wrong impression as to the position in which God has placed us in this
+world.
+
+3. Be equally careful, then, to avoid over-nicety and carelessness in
+respect to matters of toilet. Excessive nicety sins against moderation
+and christian simplicity; negligence, against the order that should
+govern certain externals in human society. This order requires that each
+one's material life, and accordingly his attire which is a part of it, be
+suitable to his rank and condition; that Esther be clad as a queen,
+Judith as a woman of wealth and position, Agar as a bond-woman.
+
+5. I shall not speak of immodest dress, for these instructions being
+intended for pious persons or for those who are endeavoring to become
+such, it would seem unnecessary. Nevertheless, as some false and
+pernicious ideas on this subject prevail in the world and lead into error
+souls desirous to do right, here are some fundamental principles that can
+serve you as a rule and save you from similar mistakes.
+
+5. A generally admitted custom can and even should be followed in all
+indifferent matters; but no custom, however universal it may be, can ever
+have the power to change the nature and essence of things or render
+allowable that which is in itself indecent and immodest. Were it
+otherwise, many sins could be justified by the sanction they receive in
+fashionable society. Remember, therefore, that the sin of others can
+never in the sight of God authorize yours, and that where it is the
+fashion to sin it is likewise the fashion to go to hell. Hence it rests
+with yourself whether you prefer to be saved with the few or to be damned
+with the many.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIII.
+                             HUMAN RESPECT.
+
+
+  I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people.... Lo, I will not
+  restrain my lips.... I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from
+  a great council. (Psalms CXV. and XXXIX.)
+
+  That which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops....
+  Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before
+  my Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. X., vv. 27-32.)
+
+1. Charity towards your neighbor, tolerance for his opinions, indulgence
+for his defects, compassion for his errors, yes; but no cowardly and
+guilty concessions to human respect. Never allow fear of the ridicule or
+contempt of men to make you blush for your faith.
+
+2. We are not even forbidden to call one human weakness to the assistance
+of another that is contrary to it: men do not like to contradict
+themselves, and they dread to be considered fickle. Well, then, in order
+that no person may be ignorant of the fact that you are a christian, once
+for all boldly confess your faith and your firm resolve to practise it,
+and let it be known that in all your actions your sole desire is to seek
+the glory of God and the good of your neighbor. Let this profession be
+made upon occasion in a gentle and modest manner, but firmly and
+positively; and you will find that subsequently it will be much easier
+for you to continue what you have thus courageously begun. (Read Chapters
+I. and II., IVth Part of the _Introduction to a Devout Life_.)
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIV.
+                              RESOLUTIONS.
+
+
+  Long-standing custom will make resistance, but by a better habit shall
+  it be subdued. (_Imitation_, B. III., c. XII.)
+
+  To him who shall overcome, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, as
+  I also have overcome. (Apocalypse, c. III., v. 21.)
+
+1. We should not undertake to perfect ourselves upon all points at once;
+resolutions as to details ought to be made and carried out one by one,
+directing them first against our predominant passion.
+
+2. By a predominant passion we mean the source of that sin to which we
+oftenest yield and from which spring the greater number of our faults.
+
+3. In order to attack it successfully it is essential to make use of
+strategy. It must be approached little by little, besieged with great
+caution as if it were the stronghold of an enemy, and the outposts taken
+one after another.
+
+4. For example, if your ruling passion be anger, simply propose to
+yourself in the beginning never to speak when you feel irritated. Renew
+this resolution two or three times during the day and ask God's pardon
+for every time you have failed against it.
+
+5. When the results of this first resolution shall have become a habit,
+so that you no longer have any difficulty in keeping it, you can take a
+step forward. Propose, for instance, to repress promptly every thought
+capable of agitating you, or of arousing interior anger; afterwards you
+can adopt the practice of meeting without annoyance persons who are
+naturally repugnant to you; then of being able to treat with especial
+kindness those of whom you have reason to complain. Finally, you will
+learn to see in all things, even in those most painful to nature, the
+will of God offering you opportunities to acquire merit; and in those who
+cause you suffering, only the instruments of this same merciful
+providence. You will then no longer think of repulsing or bewailing them,
+but will bless and thank your divine Saviour for having chosen you to
+bear with Him the burden of His cross, and for deigning to hold to your
+lips the precious chalice of His passion.
+
+6. Some saints recommend us to make an act of hope or love or to perform
+some act of mortification when we discover that we have failed to keep
+our resolutions. This practice is good, but if you adopt it do not
+consider it of obligation nor bind yourself so strictly to it as to
+suppose you have committed a sin when you neglect it.
+
+7. It is by this progressive method that you can at length succeed in
+entirely overcoming your passions, and will be able to acquire the
+virtues you lack. Always begin with what is easiest. Choose at first
+external acts over which the will has greater control, and in time you
+can advance from these, little by little, to the most interior and
+difficult details of the spiritual life.
+
+8. Resolutions of too general a character, such as, for example, to be
+always moderate in speech, always patient, chaste, peaceable and the
+like, ordinarily do not amount to much and sometimes to nothing at all.
+
+9. To undertake little at a time, and to pursue this little with
+perseverance until one has by degrees brought it to perfection, is a
+common rule of human prudence. The saints particularly recommend us to
+apply it to the subject of our resolutions.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXV.
+                              CONCLUSION.
+
+
+  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and which have
+  been committed to thee; knowing of whom thou hast learned them. (St.
+  Paul, II Tim., c. III., v. 14.)
+
+1. The writer of these instructions makes no pretension to have derived
+them from his own wisdom. The material was furnished him by the greatest
+saints and the most eminent doctors of the Church. You can therefore
+believe in them with great confidence, follow them without fear and adopt
+them as a safe and reliable guide in your spiritual life.
+
+2. If you try to regulate your practice by making personal and
+indiscriminate application of everything you find in sermons and books
+you will never be at rest. _One draws you to the right, the other to the
+left_, says Saint Francis de Sales: doctrine is one, but its applications
+are many, and they vary according to time, place and person. Besides,
+those who speak to a hardened multitude, from whom they cannot get even a
+little without exacting a great deal, insist vehemently upon the subject
+with which they wish to impress their hearers and for the time being
+appear to forget everything else. If they preach on mortification of the
+senses, fasting, or any other penitential work, they fail to explain the
+proper manner of practising it, the limits that should not usually be
+exceeded and the circumstances under which we can and should refrain from
+it. This is due to the fact that the cowardly and the lukewarm, whom it
+is more necessary to excite than to restrain, will take from these
+instructions only just what is suitable for them. Now as these form the
+majority, it is for them above all that it is necessary to speak.
+
+3. It would then be better for you individually, without lessening your
+respect and esteem for books of devotion and for preachers animated by
+the spirit of God, to confine yourself as far as practice is concerned to
+the advice of your director and to the teachings of the saints as
+presented in this little volume.
+
+4. Recall what has been already said, that Saint Francis de Sales
+counsels you to select your spiritual guide from among ten thousand, and
+to allow yourself subsequently to be entirely directed by him as though
+he were an angel come down from heaven to conduct you there.
+
+5. Without this rule of firm and confident obedience, books and sermons
+and all that is said and written for the multitude, will become for you a
+source of fatiguing inquietude, and of doubts and fears, owing to the
+fact that you will try to assimilate things which were not intended for
+you.
+
+6. Remember, moreover, the pleasant saying of Saint Philip de
+Neri,--namely, that he had a special predilection for those books the
+authors of which had a name beginning with the letter S.; that is to say,
+the works of the saints, because he supposed them to be more illumined by
+heavenly wisdom.
+
+Now, in observing these instructions you will have for guide and director
+not the poor sinner who has compiled them for the glory of God and the
+good of souls, but Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Philip de Neri
+and especially Saint Francis de Sales, in whom the Church recognizes and
+admires such exalted sanctity, profound wisdom, and rare experience in
+the direction of souls. These are the three eminent qualities requisite
+to constitute a great doctor in the Catholic Church, and to form the
+safest and the most enlightened guide for those who wish to be his
+disciples.
+
+
+
+
+                               ADDITIONS.
+               FINAL ADVICE IN REGARD TO HOLY COMMUNION.
+
+
+A cause of frequent error and trouble, particularly in regard to Holy
+Communion, is that feelings are confused with acts of the will. The
+faculty of willing is the only one we possess as our own, the only one we
+can use freely and at all times. Hence it follows that it is by the will
+alone that we can in reality acquire merit or commit sin. The natural
+virtues are gratuitous gifts of God. The world is right in esteeming them
+for they come from Him, but it errs when it esteems them exclusively for
+they do not of themselves give us any title to heaven. God has placed
+them at the disposal of our will as means to an end, and we can make a
+good or bad use of them just as we can of all God's other gifts. We may
+be deprived of these natural virtues and live by the will alone,
+spiritually dry and devoid of sentiment, and yet in a state of intimate
+union with God.
+
+This explanation is intended to reassure such persons as are disposed to
+feel anxious when they find nothing in their hearts to correspond with
+the effusions of sensible love with which books of devotion abound in the
+preparation for Holy Communion. These usually make the mistake of taking
+for granted the invariable existence of sentiment, and of addressing it
+exclusively. How many souls do we not see who in consequence grow alarmed
+about their condition, believing they are devoid of grace notwithstanding
+their firm will to shun sin and to please God! They should, however, not
+give way to anxiety, nor exhaust themselves by vain efforts to excite in
+their hearts a sensibility that God has not given them. When He has
+granted us this gift we owe Him homage for it as for all others; but God
+only requires that each of His creatures should render an account of what
+he has received, and free-will is the one thing that has been accorded
+indiscriminately to all men. Thus we find Saint Francis de Sales, who
+possessed in such a high degree sensible love of God and all the natural
+virtues, making this positive declaration: "The greatest proof we can
+have in this life that we are in the grace of God, is not sensible love
+of Him, but the firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or
+small."
+
+Pious persons can make use of the following prayers with profit when they
+are habitually or accidentally in the condition described above. They
+will then see how the will alone, without the aid of feeling, can produce
+acts of all the christian virtues.
+
+
+                           Act of Confidence.
+
+  I will go unto the altar of God. (Ps. XLII.)
+
+It is obedience, O my God! that leads me to Thy Holy Table: the tender
+words by which Thou hast invited us would not have sufficed to draw me,
+for in the troubled state of my soul I cannot be sure they are addressed
+to me. Misery and infirmity are claims for admission to Thy Feast, but
+nothing can dispense from the nuptial garment. Therefore when I turn my
+eyes on myself, after having raised them to Thee, I doubt, I hesitate, I
+tremble; for if I go from Thee I flee from life, and if I approach
+unworthily, to my other sins I add the crime of sacrilege.[27] But Thy
+merciful wisdom, O my God, whilst foreseeing our every need, has foreseen
+all our weaknesses and has prepared helps for us against both presumption
+and distrust. For if Thou hast not willed that, certain of Thy grace, we
+should ever advance with the assurance of the Pharisee and say like him:
+I come to the altar of the Lord because I know I am just in His eyes:
+neither hast Thou permitted that a sacrament of love should become for us
+a torture and an unavoidable snare. I therefore obey, O my God, and in
+the darkness that envelops me I wish to follow implicitly the guidance of
+him whom Thou hast appointed to lead me to Thee. I shall approach the
+Holy Table without wishing for any other warrant than the words spoken by
+my confessor, or rather by Thee: _You may receive Holy Communion_. I
+accept, O my God!--be it a well merited punishment or a salutary
+trial,--this privation of light and sensible devotion, this coldness and
+distraction, which accompany me even into Thy presence when all the
+faculties of my soul should be absorbed and confounded in sentiments of
+adoration and of love. Faith, hope and charity seem to be extinct in my
+heart, but I know that Thou never withdrawest these virtues when we do
+not voluntarily renounce them.
+
+
+                             Act of Faith.
+
+Notwithstanding, then, the doubts that cross my mind, _I wish to
+believe_, O my God! and _I do believe_ all that Thy holy Church has
+taught me. I have not forgotten that brilliant light of Faith which Thou
+didst cause to illumine my soul in the days of mercy in order that the
+precious remembrance of it should serve me as support in the days of
+trial and temptation.
+
+
+                              Act of Hope.
+
+In spite of these vague fears that seem to extinguish hope within my
+soul, I know that although Thou art the mighty and strong God before whom
+the cherubim veil themselves with their wings, the just and all-seeing
+God who discovers blemishes in the purest souls, still Thou wishest to be
+in the most Holy Sacrament only the Victim whose Blood effaces the sins
+of the world; the Good Shepherd who hastens after the strayed sheep and
+carries it tenderly and unreproachfully back to the fold; the divine
+Mediator who comes _not to judge but to save_.[28] All this I know, O my
+God! and therefore _I hope_.
+
+
+                              Act of Love.
+
+Notwithstanding the coldness and insensibility that benumb my soul, I
+know that _I love Thee_, O my God! since my will prefers Thy service to
+all the joys of this world, since Thy grace is the sole good to which I
+aspire, and because I suffer so much by reason of my lack of sensible
+love for Thee.
+
+
+                             Act of Desire.
+
+No, I am not indifferent, Thou knowest, O my God! that I am not
+indifferent to this Most Holy Sacrament which I approach unmoved by any
+sensible feeling: for Thou seest that although I find in Holy Communion
+neither relish nor consolation, I would yet make any sacrifice in order
+to receive it.
+
+
+                           Act of Contrition.
+
+I feel neither hatred nor horror of sins to which the world does not
+attach shame and contempt; I experience no sensible sorrow for the sins I
+have committed, but I know, O my God! that, with the assistance of Thy
+grace, my will denounces them, for I am resolved to commit them no more.
+I have taken this resolution because sin displeases Thee and because all
+that swerves from eternal order is abhorrent to Thy infinite sanctity. _I
+believe, then, that I am contrite_, O my God! because I believe in Thy
+promises, and if Thou dost not always grant us the consolation of
+realizing our contrition, Thou wilt never refuse its justifying virtue to
+those who humbly implore it; and this I do.
+
+No, my God, I shall not pray Thee to grant me sensible enjoyment, not
+even that of Thy spiritual gifts: what I implore of Thy grace is to keep
+my will ever turned towards Thee and never to permit it to fall or wander
+anew on the earth.
+
+_Lord! into Thy hands I commend my spirit._
+
+(Read _The Imitation_, Chapters IV., XIV., XV. of B. IV.; and Chapters
+XXV., XLVIII and LII of B. III.)
+
+
+If you have an ardent desire for the sensible love of God, a desire that
+cannot but be pleasing to Him provided you are at the same time resigned
+to be deprived of it, remember that according to Saint John Chrysostom it
+can be obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God wishes, says the Saint,
+to make us realize by experience that we cannot have His love but from
+Himself, and that this love, which is the true happiness of our souls, is
+not to be acquired by the reflections of our minds or the natural efforts
+of our hearts, but by the gratuitous infusion of the Holy Ghost. Yes,
+this love is so great a good that God wishes to be the sole dispenser of
+it: He bestows it only in proportion as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily
+makes us wait for some time before He grants it.
+
+There are few prayers better calculated to dispose the soul to receive
+this great grace than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the IVth. Book, and
+XXI. and XXXIV. of the IIId. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+For thanksgiving after Communion, read Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II. and
+X. of the III. Book of _The Imitation_.
+
+
+
+
+                               Footnotes
+
+
+[1]Saint Paul, I. Cor. x., 13, says: ... God is faithful, Who will not
+   suffer you to be tempted above what you are able: but will even make
+   with temptation an issue, that you may be able to bear it.
+
+[2]The Chevalier du Chambon de Mesilliac, who translated this little work
+   of P. Quadrupani's into French, inserted much additional matter,
+   quotations for the most part from the same authorities frequently
+   cited by the Italian author. These selections he placed at the end of
+   each _Instruction_ under the title of "Additions." The English
+   translator has changed this arrangement into one which seems more
+   convenient and better calculated to maintain the connection of ideas.
+   Therefore the extracts chosen by the French translator are here
+   inserted in the body of the text, immediately following the paragraphs
+   which suggested them, and are marked by asterisks to distinguish them
+   from the original matter.
+
+[3]St. Francis de Sales.
+
+[4]Proverbs, XXX, 21-23: "By three things is the earth disturbed ... by a
+   bondwoman, when she is heir to her mistress...."
+
+[5]II. Cor., xii., 9.
+
+[6]John, vi, 57.
+
+[7]Matt. xi., 28.
+
+[8]Saint Luke, c. V. vv. 8-10.
+
+[9]Luke V., 32. Mark II., 17. Matthew IX., 13.
+
+[10]Epist. St. Paul to the Hebrews.
+
+[11]St. Paul to the Philippians, IV., 13.
+
+[12]Matt. X., 30.
+
+[13]Matt. X., 30:--Luke XII., 7.--"_Blessed are they that mourn, for they
+   shall be comforted._"
+
+[14]III Kings, C. XIX.
+
+[15]Ecce in pace est amaritudo mea amarissima. (Isaias.)
+
+[16]Saint Francis de Sales.
+
+[17]See P. Rodriguez, S. J., Christian Perfection, C. I.
+
+[18]Gen. I., 11.
+
+[19]Psalm CL., 5. _Let every spirit praise the Lord_.
+
+[20]Luke, IX., 54.
+
+[21]Ecclesiastes III., 7.
+
+[22]Ps. CL., 5.
+
+[23]St. Paul, I Cor. I., 13.
+
+[24]S. James, Cath. Ep. III., 14-15.
+
+[25]S. Paul, I Cor. XIII., 4-5.
+
+[26]Proverbs, XXVI., 5.
+
+[27]_Imitation_, B. IV., c. VI.: "For if I do not appeal to Thee, I fly
+   from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily I incur Thy
+   displeasure."
+
+[28]S. John, c. XII., v. 47: "For I came not to judge the world, but to
+   save the world."
+
+
+
+
+                           Translator's Notes
+
+
+--Corrected a few palpable typos.
+
+--Added several missing quotation marks and asterisks where unpaired ones
+  occurred.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Light and Peace, by Carlo Giuseppe Quadrupani
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT AND PEACE ***
+
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