sign in sign up
<<
Home , Louis de Blois, Monk, Religious profession, The Monk (Doctor Who)

CHRIST THE IDEAL OF THE : H3/S hU6- PREFACE.

Chnst is the sublime Ideal of all holiness, the Divine Model -presented by Himself to the imitation His elect NIHIL of OBSTAT: Christian holiness consists in the complete and sincere acceptation 3rugis, n a Februarii 1926 of Lhnslby , and in the expansion of this Ald. Boone, S. J. faith by hope and chanty; it implies the stable and total hold exercised by Chnst upon our activity through the influence His of. Spirit. Christ Jesus, the Alpha and of all our works, becomes by the communication of His own life, the very hfe of our : Mini vivere Christus est. This is what wc have tried to show, in the light of the Gospels and the writings of St. and St. in IMPRIMATUR John, a first series of conferences Brugis, n a Februarii entitled Christ the Life 1926 of the . A s a logical consequence, H. van den Berche, Vic. Gen. these uv&nuirc truths required the concrete showing forth of the very existence of the Incarnate Word. This existence is mani- fested to us by the states and mysteries, the actions and words of the Sacred Humanity of Jesus. Christ's works, during His terrestrial life are at once models to be imitated and sources of holiness: from them ever goes out a powerful and efficacious virtue to heal, enlighten and sanctify those who by faith come in contact with the mysteries of Jesus with the sincere desire of walking in His footsteps. We have studied, under this aspect, the Incarnate Word, in a second volume: Christ in His Mysteries. But besides the laid down by Christ to His disciples as condition of salvation and essential holiness, there are to be found in the Gospels some counsels that Christ proposes to those who zvish to make the ascension of the sublime heights of perfection: Si vis perfectus esse, vade, vende omnia quae habes, et veni, sequere me. These are only counsels, " " undoubtedly: If thou wilt, Si vis, said . But the magnificent promises made by Him to those who follow them show the value that He Himself attaches >IAHL IN CHI AT IIRJTAIN AT Till! fllMAN PIir?S, UATII !

VIII IK

observance has for its aim amor,, et secutl te. to their observance: this — sumus That is the whole substance of the complete and more perfect imitation of the Saviour. Here again, practice of the counsels, the secret of perfection. He is the Way and the Model: religious perfection is but the It will be seen that this plan closely follows the one adopted full acquisition and the entire taking possession of the soul by in Christ the Life of the Soul. This is not to be wondered at, the teaching and example of the Word Incarnate : Veni, sequere since religious perfection is so essentially akin to Christian me... Perfectus omnis discipulus erit si sit sicut Magister holiness. ejus. May these'pages serve to make a great number of souls better These are the thoughts that we have endeavoured to comment understand the nature of this 'perfection to which God so widely tlie present the upon in volume. We have constantly placed invites Christians; to increase in some of these the esteem of Divine Figure of Christ before the eyes of privileged souls called the religious vocation sometimes misunderstood by our age; to in to walk the path of the counsels : nothing is so efficacious help some chosen ones to realise in themselves the call' of grace as this contemplation to touch and draw souls, and to obtain or to triumph over the obstacles that natural affections or the from them the necessary efforts in view of remaining faithful to spirit of the oppose to Us call... May they above all so high a vocation and one so rich in eternal promises. quicken the first fervour of such consecrated souls whose perseve- these Many of pages explain Ike religious life such as St. Be- rance perhaps is wcari-ed by the length of the way; obtain nedict understands it; but,. as we shall fully see in the sequal, for those who are faithful to their the resolution of applying in the eyes the , of of the religious state, taken themselves without relaxing to attain the summit of the in what is essential, does not constitute a particular form of virtues; finally, stimulate among them the best of ambitions, existence on the bordef.s or at the side of : it is this ever unsatisfied, that of holiness same Christianity lived in its fulness in the pure light of the • Confident that the Heavenly Father will recognise in our Gospel: Per ducatum Evangelii pergamus itinera Christi. 1 humble^labour the traditional teachings of His Saints , and The extraordinary supernatural fecundity of which the Rule has will vouchsafe to bless our efforts to prepare His field — Apollo given proof throughout so many centuries, is only to be explained rigavit — we earnestly beseech Him to throw therein the divine by this essentially Christian character imprinted by St. Benedict seed by handfuls and to bring it to maturity — Deus autem on all his teaching. incrementum dedit. A glance cast on the Index of the Conferences, at the begin- For this let us render Him even now our humble and filial ning of the volume, will show the simplicity of the plan adopted. thanksgiving! The first part gives, in broad outline, a general view of the D. C. M. monastic idea and institution, such as they appear to those who Maredsous , wish to cross the threshold of the . The second par* Solemnity of St. Benedict. develops the programme to be filled by those desirous of adapting July, nth, 1922. themselves to this idea and of embracing this institution in such 1. Among Benedictine authors, we have chiefly quoted those who, by their a way as teaching life, particularly laid stress on the central idea expressed to assimilate all its, spirit. or have more This work presents a utilised by the of this ; this explains why wo have by preference two-fold aspect: The necessary Mochtilde and Blosius. detachment from created things the writings of St , St Bernard, St Gertude, St m order to cleave to Christ; the way of detachment, ihus embraced, leadtng to the- life of union: "Behold we have aU left things - to follow Thee, " Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, INDEX OF CONFERENCES

GENERAL VIEW OF THE MONASTIC INSTITUTION

I. " To seek God. " 1 II, The Following of Christ .... 19 III. The , Christ's Eepresentativo 40

IV. The Cenobitical Society . . . . 63

II. STARTING POINT AND TWO-FOLD CHARACTER OF MONASTIC PERFECTION GENERAL VIEW V, Our Faith, . the Victory over the World 87 VI. Monastic Profession , 106 OF THE MONASTIC INSTITUTION *' " VII. The Instruments of Good Works. 121

THE WAY OP ABNEGATION (Religuimvi omnia)

VIII. Compunction of heart 148 IX. Self-Benunciation . 172 X. ..... 191 XI, Humility .... 209 XII; Bomtm obedicntiae . 250

B. THE LIFE OF UNION WITH OHEIST („.et tecutitumutte)

XIII. The Oput Dei, Divine Praise .291 XIV. The Oput Dei, Means of Union ,' with God ... . ,310 XV. Monastic . . Q07 XVI. The Spirit of Abandonment to God's Will T79 XVII. Good Zeal ... Jl

XVIII. .' The Peace of Christ .'.'.[ ' \\ \ \\ \\ 428 I. — " TO SEEK GOD ".

Summary. — Importance of the end in the human life. — I. '* To seek God ", the end of the Monastic Life. — II. To seek God in all things. — HI. To seek Him only. — IV. Precious fruits of this search. — V. How Christ Jesus is the perfect Model of this seeking after God.

WHEN, we examine the Rule of St. Benedict, we see very clearly that he presents it only as an abridge- ment of Christianity, and a means of practising the Christian Life in its fulness and perfection. We find the great Patriarch declaring from the. first lines of the Prologue of his Rule, that he only addresses those who wish to return to God under' Christ's leadership. And in ending the monastic code he declares that he proposes the accomplishment of this rule to whomsoever, through the help of Christ, hasteneth to the heavenly country: Quisquis ergo ad patriam caelestem festinas, hanc... regirfam descriptam, adjuvante Christo., perfice K , To his mind, the Rule is but a simple and very safe guide for leading to God. In writing it, St. Benedict does not wish to institute anything beyond or beside the Christian life : he does not assign to his monks any special work as a " particular end to be pursued ; the. end is, as he says, to " 2 seek God : Si revera quaerit Deum . This is what he re- quires, before all, of those who come to knock at the door of the to be there received as monks ; in this disposition he resumes all the others ; it gives, as it were, the key to all his teaching, and determines the mode of life he wishes to see led by his sons. This is the end that he proposes, and this is why we ought always to have this end before our eyes, to examine it frequently, and above all only to act in view of it. You know that every man, as a free and reasonable crea- ture, acts from some deliberate motive. Let us imagine ourselves in a great city like London. At certain hours of is like the day the streets are thronged with people ; it a moving army. It is the ebb and flow of a human sea. Men are coming and going, elbowing their way, passing to and fro,

i. Holy Rule ch. i.xxin. — s. Ibid. ch. lviii. ;

TO SEEK GOD IDEAL OF THE 3 2 CHKIST, THE " yourself to the infinitely perfect Being. Are you seek- for " time is money, - almost unite and all this rapidly - themse ves. Each one ing the creature ? gold, pleasures, honours, satisfaction of without exchanging any signs among is to say yourself under all these forms ? Then, is independent of the others pride, that of these innumerable bemgs view. Quid quaerunt? however great you may be in the sight of men, you are just and has his own particular end in thousands and thousands of worth as much as this creature, you lower yourself to its level, What are they seeking, these are .they in such and the baser it is, the more you debase yourself. A poor men who are hurrying in the City ? Why others pursue Sister of Charity, a simple Lay , who, seeking God haste? Some are in search of pleasure, spend their lives' in humble and obscure labours in order to are urged by the fever of ambition, those honours ; these the Divine will, are incomparably greater in the are quest of daily accomplish thirst for gold ; the greater number m by the Whose judgment alone matters, for He is visit the poor sight of God — bread. From time, to time, a lady goes to eternal •— than a man who has heaped up riches, or is Christ in the person of the a Sister of Charity seeks Jesus surrounded with honours, or lives only for pleasures. passes by, the pyx hidden upon ; unnoticed, a priest sick Yes, a man is worth what he seeks. This is why the Viaticum to the dying... But his breast, as he carries Benedict, who shows us the adepts of the cenobitical life created things, only a St. out of this immense crowd pursuing ", genus 1 as "the most strong race coenobUarum fortissimum , number are working for God alone. very small so supernatural and perfect a motive from one who in the requires And yet the influence of the motive is predominant of wishes to embrace this career : the motive and ambition value of our actions. See these two men who are embarking 2 possessing God, si revera Deum quaerit . together for a far-off destination. Both leave country, friends, " " But, say, what is it to seek God ? And by penetrate into the you may family ; landing on a foreign shore, they what means are we to find Him ? For it is needful to seek interior of the country ; exposed to the same dangers, they in such a way that we may find. To seek God constitutes cross the same rivers and the same mountains ; the the whole programme; to find God and remain habitually they impose upon themselves are the same. But the one united to Him by the bonds of faith and love, in this lies all is a merchant urged on by the greed of gold, the other is perfection. an apostle seeking souls. And this is why, although the the Let us see what it is to seek God; — let us consider scarcely discern the difference, an abyss which human eye can the fruits that conditions of this seeking ; we shall next see lives these God alone can measure separates the of two men ; shall have it brings to whomsoever applies himself to it. We • tliis abyss has been created by the motive. Give a cup of pursue, pointed out at the same time, with the end that we water to a beggar, a coin to a poor man ; if you do so in the perfection and beatitude. For supernatural the path that will lead us to name of Jesus Christ, that is to say from a rinding if truly God, nothing will prevent us from motive of grace, and because in this poor man you see Christ we seek " Him, and, in Him, we shall possess all good. Who said : As long as you did it to one of these my least 1 " brethren, you did it to Me , your action is pleasing to I. God ; and this cup of water, which is nothing, this small coin, will not remain without a reward. But pour out hand- We must seek God. T fuls of gold into the hand of this poor man in order to pervert sought Is But is God in some place where He must be ( him : on this account alone, your action becomes abominable. know, God is m He not everywhere ? Assuredly, as we Thus then, the motive from which His we act, the end that every being by His Presence, by His Power, and by we pursue, and that is as it were to direct from the our whole life, is Essence. In God the operation is not separated for us of capital importance. is identical active virtue whence it is derived, and the power Never forget this truth : a man is worth sustaining that which he with the essence. In every being, God operates by seeks, that to which he is attached. Are you seeking ? God it in existence^ are you tending towards Him with all the fervour of your for all exist and In this manner God is in every creature, soul ? However little removed you may be from nothingness action that continue to exist only by an effect of the Divine by your condition of creature, you raise yourself, because you S. Thomas, II SenUnt. Dut. 1. Holy Rule, ch. 1. - 2. Ibid. ch. lviii. - 3- 1. Matth. 1 xxv, 40. xxxvn, q. I, a. 2. "

j CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK TO SEEK GOD e

intimate presence. But reasonable beings supposes God's *riendshiP of God, to seek . His love, moreover, know and love God, and thus possess Him ll^Tf? T\b"de^poking can, upon the bridegroom seeks to themselves. SfinvhlS e5 th e de in P th of his soul telling her of his this kind of immanence was not sufficient for God J n5 r f-1S + US However, a Father fuU of f u i°i go^ness. He is more intimate and elevated degree lltZ h as regards us. There a ^e below we should find our ffi™ happiness in of union. God does not content Himself with being the Hun, intm,^His ineffable perfections. object of a natural knowledge and love on man's part, but dict He calls us to share His very life and His own beatitude. «,'S B n other * ,T £*? ° ^ews for his disciples. From infinite love towards us, God wishes the first lines of the Prologue, By a movement of he warns us not to grieve by Sovereign Master of all things, 5 the G°d to be for our souls not only the Whohas vouc^fed to count us among but a Friend, a Father. It is His will that we should know HiTcMdren Himself, the source of all truth and o? "To attain to God, » this Him as He knows is the end that St. Benedict all It is His Will that we should possess Him, the wishes us to have ever before beauty. our eyes. This principle, like Infinite Good, here in the dimness of faith, and above a life-giving sap, circulates below through all the articles of the in the light of glory. monastic code. itself We have not come to To this end, as you know, He raises our nature above the monastery then, in order to devote ourselves to science, by adorning it with sanctifying grace, infused virtues and nor the arts, nor the work of education. the gifts of of It is true that the great the Spirit. God wills, by the communication Patriarch wishes us at all times to His infinite and eternal life, to be Himself our perfect beati- serve God with the good things He has given us : ei (Deo) omm tempore de bonis tude. He does not wish us to find our happiness apart from suis in nobis parendum est 1 - He wishes the house Himself, the plenitude of all leaves to creature of God to be wisely 2 • good ; He no governed by prudent men the power of doubtless this satisfying our heart : ego merces tua magna recommendation primarily foresees the mate- 1 " rial organisation, nimis It is I myself who am thy reward exceeding great. but it can be equally applied to the moral and intellectual And Our Lord confirmed His promise when about to pay life of the monastery. St. Benedict does not wish the the price thereof by the of His Precious Blood. talents given by God to remain hidden, he permits " Father, I will that where I am,.they also whom Thou hast the cultivation of the arts; a constant tradition, which we givenMe ought humbly to may be with Me ; that they may see My glory... that respect, has in the same way sufficiently the love 2 . established wherewith Thou hast loved me, may be in them for monks the legitimacy of studies and apostolic Such is labours, the unique and supreme end to which we must and the Abbot, the head of the monastery, will tend we have certainly have it ; to seek God ; not only the God of nature, at heart to preserve the diverse manifesta- but the God of " tions of Revelation. For us Christians, then, to monastic activity ; he will endeavour to develop for seek the God ", is to tend towards Him, not only as simple common good, for the service of the Church, for the creatures who move towards the first principle and last end salvation of souls, and for God's glory, the various aptitude of their being, that but supernaturally, that is to say as children he finds in each of his monks. who. wish to remain united to their Father with all their But once again, the end does not lie in this. All these strength of will urged works are only by love, and through that mysterious means in view of an end ; the end is higher : participaticm in the very nature of it is in God, it is God sought for Himself, as God, of which St. ' the Supreme speaks it is to ; have and to cultivate with the Divine' Beatitude. Persons an intimacy so real and so profound, that St. John Thus as we shall see later, the Divine itself neither eUowshipwith the Father, and with His Son constitutes nor can constitute the direct end that the SSjesus rl -\ j . Urnst, m their 4 monastic common Spirit . institution established by the Rule wills to attain. 18 this " { ie psalmist alludes us to St. Benedict will have us seek God, seek for His cili ^ , l when he exhorts — Him own seek the face of " God Quaerite faciem ejus semper*: that glory, because we love Him above all things. He would have us seek to unite ourselves to Him by charity. There is not, Cf J0an> ' XV 25 "< - - 3- •" Petr. I J°an; 1: -5. ' 4. - 4. h Ill c; v74f ^ » J- Prologue of the Rule. — 2. Rule, ch. ua. '

THE MONK 6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF TO SEEK GOD

end, or any other perfection. The worship - for us, any other but do we not possess God from the time of our baptism, of proceeds from the virtue of , doubtless the God and as long as we are in possession of sanctifying grace ? and it is united to the virtue highest of the moral virtues, Undoubtedly. Then why seekGod.if we possess Him already? of justice, but it is not a theological virtue. The infused " To seek God ", is to remain united to Him by faith, it theological virtues : faith, hope, and charity are the specific is to attach ourselves to Him as the object of our love. Now virtues of our state as children of God. Properly speaking, we know that this union of faith and love admits of a vast the supernatural life is based here below on these three " number of degrees. God is everywhere present, " says virtues. They regard God directly inasmuch as He is the " St. , but He is nearest to those who love Him/ of supernatural order. Faith is like author the the root, hope He dwells far from those who neglect His service ". Dominus the stalk, and charity at once the flower and the fruit of the xibique semper est : sed est praesentior diligentibus, negligentibus supernatural life. 1 abest . When we have found God, we can still seek Him, Now, it is this charity, whereby we are and remain truly that is to say we can always draw nearer to God, by an ever united to God, that constitutes the end assigned by intenser faith, an ever more fervent love, an ever more

St. Benedict and the very essence of perfection : Si revera faithful accomplishment of His will, and this is why we can DEUM quaeril. and ought always to seek God, until the day whefrHe will This end establishes the true greatness of the monastic give Himself to us in an inamissible manner in the glorious life ; it also establishes the true reason of its existence. In splendour of His indefectible light. the opinion of the Pseudo-Denys the Areopagite, we are given If we do not attain this end, we shall remain useless and the name of " " " " monks fiovoz alone, one on account of unprofitable. The Psalmist says, — and St. Benedict quotes this life of indivisible unity, whereby, withdrawing our mind these words in the Prologue in commenting upon them, — from the distraction of manifold things, we hasten towards that " the Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the divine unity and towards the 1 perfection of holy love . children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become un- II; profitable together ". Dominus de caelo prospexit super filios hominum ut videat si est intelligens aut requirens Deum; The ambition of possessing God: — 2 such is the primal omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt . How many disposition that St. Benedict requires of the who men indeed do not understand that God is the source of all presents himself at the door of the monastery ; he sees in good and the supreme end of every creature ? These men this a proof of a sure vocation ; but this disposition must have turned aside from the road that leads to the end, they extend to the monk's whole life. have become unprofitable. Why is this ? What is a useless For the abbot himself, the great Patriarch wishes that first being? It is one that does not correspond to* the end for and foremost he should " seek the Kingdom of God' " in which it was created. For instance, in order to fulfil the Ch"s * m^nded ?° ; that he should have care, end for which it is purchased, a watch must show the time. abnv^lf to tab u hls kinSdom in the souls It may well be of gold, studded with diamonds, encrusted to ffima" A1f ^ entrusted acti vity exerted in the monastery with precious stones, but unless it keeps time it is useless. oLhought to havehf wTbut this one end in view : Ul in omnibus We too become useless beings if we do not tend unceasingly to the end for which we came to the monastery. Now, this end is to seek God, to refer all to Him as to our Supreme End, " to place in Him our sole beatitude ; all the rest is vanity 3 " of vanities . If we do not act thus, we are useless, it is

in vain that we spend ourselves ; even though this spending lace evermore of ourselves should appear remarkable in the eyes of the . Quaenle factem ejus semper. Youmaysay: world, in God's sight, it would be that of profitless beings, 2 H°ly Rule who do not fulfil the conditions required by their existence, " ch ^3$:-°l - M^th. KHfgff SPSS."— ' » «* — I. St. Ambrose '2. Ps. Kin, 2-3. — 3. Eccle. 1, a. s ;:

8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK TO SEEK GOD 9 and have lost sight of the end to which their vocation pre- Never forget this extremely important truth : as long as destined them. How terrible is the uselessness of a human we experience the need of a creature, and are attached to is that is useless sometimes in life ! And how much there it, we cannot say that we seek God solely, and God will not our life, even our religious life, because God is absent from give Himself entirely to us. If it is our will that our our actions I... search be sincere, — si revera quaerit, — if we want to find then, of those foolish people of which Do not let us, be fully, 1 God we must detach ourselves from all that is not Scripture speaks, who are stayed by vain and passing trifles . God, and that would shackle in us the operation of His grace. Let us be attentive to seek God in all things : in the Supe- This is the doctrine of the saints!. Listen to what St. riors, in our brethren, in all creatures, in the events of life, Catherine of Sienna said on her death bed. Feelingher end in the midst of contradiction as in hours of joy. approaching, she gathered her spiritual family around her, Let us seek Him always, so as to be able unceasingly to and gave them her last instructions which have been collected put our lips to this source of beatitude ; we can always by her , the Blessed Raymund of Capua: "Her drink from it, without fear of seeing the waters exhausted, first and fundamental teaching was that he who enters into for, says St. Augustine, their abundance surpasses our need the service of God, ought necessarily, if he truly wishes to Fons vincit sitientem. It is of them that Christ Jesus said possess God, to root out from his heart all sensible affection, that they become in the soul " a fountain of water, springing not only for 2 " persons but moreover for any creature whatever, up into life everlasting . and tend towards His Divine Creator in the simplicity of III. an undivided love. For the heart cannot be given entirely to God if it is not free from all other love, and if it does Another condition of the sincerity of our seeking is that 1 " not open itself with a frankness exclusive of all reserve .

it be , exclusive. Let us seek God solely ; I look upon this St. Teresa, speaking from the same experience says, " We condition as capital. are so miserly, so slow in giving ourselves to God that we never To seek God solely, is that without doubt the same as finish putting ourselves into the necessary dispositions. And saying " " to seek God Himself. Notice the term God, not yet Our Lord will not allow us to enter into the enjoyment the gifts of God, although they help us to remain faithful of so precious a treasure (the perfect possession of" God) nor His consolations, although God wills that we taste the without paying a high price for it. I see 3 clearly that there sweetness of His service ; but we ought not to stop at these is nothing upon earth wherewith it can be.purchased. " How- gifts nor be attached to these consolations. is " It for God ever, the Saint adds, if we did all that depended Himself that we upon have come to the monastery ; our seeking ourselves not to cling to anything earthly, if our will then only " conversation be true," as St. Benedict wishes it to be, and all our thoughts were in heaven', such a treasure I am it will only be pleasing to God, if we are attached to nothing convinced would be granted to us. " The Saint apart from God. next shows by some examples how it often happens that we give When we seek the ourselves creature, when we are attached to it to God, entirely, but afterwards take back little by little it is as if we said to " " what God : My God, I do not find all " in Thee we have given ; and she concludes: There are many A nice way for- souls who have need of something with sooth to seek the God, love of God ! We must have it of something wore than at once God ; God is not all for " them ; they and "in handfuls as the saying is, but on cannot like the Saint condition of of Assisi, look at God and say to retaining Him our affections. To take possession of it, with all the truth of their " " we do not being : My God and m AH make any effort to fulfil mwia V our good desires, we allow them ««£/*??*' They cannot re eat after St. Paul! to drag miserably omnia \ P upon the earth. And with all this, we detnmentum feu et arbitror ut stercora ut Christum must moreover have many spiritual lucnfaciam " I consolations! Truly : count all things to be but loss for the exceUentX they will not be granted to us; In my opinion, these two S Chri my L° r d ; f0r Whom I have things ui ed are quite incompatible. Therefore it is because our thTw!f\1IrgS and^°0Unt them, ' as dun that I is, '; Christ V' S m*y gain gift not entire that we do not receive without delay the 2 " treasure of divine love . i. sap. ,v, I2 . _ . 2 Joan . IVi ._ 14 3 . Cf ps xxxni) _ 9 ^ phi]jp i. Life by Raymund ^ of Capua. — 2. Life by herself, ch. xi. 10 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK TO SEEK GOD II

" " It is to find God, to please Him alone, that, after the There are souls who so sincerely seek God that they are left all Soli Deo example of the great Patriarch, we have : wholly possessed by Him, and no longer know how to live 1 always " " placere desiderans, says St. Gregory . We must without Him. I declare to you, a holy Benedictine , remain in this fundamental disposition. It is only at this the Blessed Bonomo, wrote to her father, " that it is not I price that we shall find God. If, on the contrary, forgetting that live, but another in me Who has entire possession of gift, allow ourselves to turn little by little our initial we me ; He is my absolute Master. O God ! I know not how to 1 " aside from this supreme aim, if we cling to some person* drive Him from me !... some employment, some charge, some work or occupation, When the soul is thus wholly given to God, God also gives this, shall some object, then, let us be convinced of we Himself to the soul, He takes a particular care of her ; one never possess God fully. might at times say that for such a soul God forgets the rest all truth, what the Apostle Oh ! if we could say, and say in of the universe. Look at St. Gertrude. You know what a " us the Father, and it is Philip said to Jesus.- Lord, shew special love Our Lord manifested towards her ; He declared " truth, " enough for us ! But in order to be able to say this in that He had not then upon the earth any creature towards " : Lord, 2 " we must also be able to say with the Apostles we whom He stooped with more delight ; to the point that " have left all things and have followed Thee... Happy are he added He would always be found in the heart of Gertrude, they who carry out this desire to its end, to extreme, actual whose least desires He . loved to fulfil. One who knew

and perfect renunciation I But let them not say : this trifle of this great intimacy dared to ask Our Lord what were to which I cling is nothing. Do you not know the nature the attractions whereby St.: Gertrude had merited a like " " " of the human heart ? However little we leave to it, it will preference. I love her in this way replied Our Lord, on not be content till it has obtained all its desire. Tear all account of her liberty of heart wherein nothing enters that away, break all asunder, hold to nothing. Happy indeed are can dispute the sovereignty with Me. " Thus because, entirely they to whom it is given to carry out this desire to the end, detached from every creature, she sought God only in all 2 to pursue it even to attainment . things, this Saint merited to be the object of divine delight truly ineffable and extraordinary. IV. Let us, then, seek God always and in all, after the example of this great soul, herself a worthy daughter of the great If we seek God in spite of every trial, if each day, each Patriarch ; let us seek Him sincerely, from the depth of our hour, we give Him this homage, so extremely pleasing to Him, " hearts. Let us often say to Him like the Psalmist : Thy which consists of placing in Him, and in Him alone, our 3 face, O Lord, will I seek ". Faciem tuam, Domine,reqttiram . beatitude if we never seek anything ; but His will ; if we act, " For what have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I in such a way that His good pleasure is the true motive desire upon earth ?... Thou art the God of my heart, and the power of all our activity, God will never fail us. " " God is God that is my portion for ever Quid enim mihi est in faithful ;" 3 He cannot forsake those who seek Him : Non caelo, et a te quid volui'super terram? Deus cordis mei et dereliquisti quaerentes te, Domine*. The nearer we approach pars mea Deus in aeternuni*. My God, Thou art so great, Him by faith, confidence and love, the nearer we approach so beautiful, so good, that, as Thou knowest, Thou dost our perfection. As God is the principal author of our holi- fully suffice me. Let others cling to human love, not only ness, since it is supernatural, to draw near to Him, to remain dost Thou permit it but Thy Providence has established united to Him by charity constitutes the very condition of that it should be so, and this mission of preparing the elect our perfection. The more we set ourselves free all from sin, for Thy Kingdom is a great and high mission : Thy Apostle from all imperfection, from all creatures, 5 from all human says: Sacramenium hoc magnum est ; Thou givest abun- springs of action, in order to think only of Him, to seek only dant blessings to those who observe Thy law in this state . His good pleasure, the more, too, life will abound in us and As for me, I want Thee alone so that my heart may be un- God will fill us with Himself : Quaerite Demi, et vivet 5 anima vestra . Paris P. 56. i.D. duBourff, La Bse J. M. Bouo?no, momate btiMicline, 1910, Ps. — 2. Herald of Divine Love. Book I, chap. in. — 3. Ps. xxvi, 8. — 4. lxxii, 25-26. — 5. ERh. v, 32. — 6. Ps. cxxvii. THE MONK TO SEEK GOB 12 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF 13

interests of Thy glory happy ; if it is anything mortal, unceasingly divided and solicitous only for the consumed by 1 without impediment . rust, corruption, mortality, your treasure will escape you, and may cleave to Thee " let 1 And when created things present themselves to us, us and your heart will remain poor and arid . me, pabulum mortis: " Depart from When a man of the world tires of his own hearth, he forgets say inwardly : Discede a 2 " his boredom by seeking distractions outside ; he goes to his me, for thou art the prey of. death . God, and with Him Club, or he travels. But the religious has not these resources; If we act in this way, we shall find " " Himself to the soul, he has to stay in his monastery, where the regular life, all good things. Seek Me, He says with " with that simplicity of heart which is born of sincerity, its successive exercises for which the bell inexorably rings, Myself uninterrupted those natural for I am found by them that tempt me not, and shew is by distractions which people s " lawfully ; to them that have faith in Me. in the world may seek with souls for whom God is not all, weariness easily slips into that monotony inherent God, we shall likewise possess joy. In finding to all regular life ; and when the monk does not find God, ; human heart has a capacity We were made to be happy the because he does not seek God, he is very near estimating can fully satisfy us. " Thou didst for the infinite ; onlv God that the burden he has to carry is too heavy. restless until make us for Thyself, Lord, and our heart is He could, doubtless, become absorbed in an occupation, " : Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est it finds its rest in Thee torget himself in his work, but, says Blosius, this is an insuffi- 4 cor nostrum, donee requiescat in te . This is why when we cient and illusory diversion : Quidquid praeter Deum quaeritur apart from Gpd or from His will, we do not seek anything mentem occupat, non satiat\ And why is this ? Because, find stable and perfect happiness. especially in the monastery, there are always hours when a that in any rather numerous religious It may be said man has to come face to face with himself, that is to say community, different categories of souls are to be met with. with his own nothingness ; the soul in its depths does not will see some living in continual gladness. Their inward You taste that transporting joy, it does not experience that deep joy radiates outwardly. I am not now speaking of that sen- and peaceful fervour which is given by the intimate nearness sible joy which often depends upon the temperament, the of God ; it does not go straight to God ; it hovers unceasingly state of health, or of circumstances independent of ,the will, around Him without ever finding Him perfectly. but of joy abiding in the depth, of the soul which is like a But when the soul seeks God, and seeks Him alone, when it foretaste of heavenly bliss. Have* these souls then never any tends towards Him with all its energies, when it clings to trials ? Have they no conflicts to sustain, nor contradictions no created thing, God fills it with joy, with that overflowing to undergo ? Certainly they have, for ' each disciple of Jesus joy he says that in the B of which St. Benedict speaks when Christ has to carry his cross ; but the fervour of grace and measure wherein faith, and with it hope and love increase divine unction make them endure these sufferings joyfully. in the soul of the monk, he runs, " with heart enlarged and souls Other do not feel this gladness ; inwardly, and often unspeakable sweetness of love, in the way of God's command- even outwardly, they are troubled, distressed, unhappy. " ditlcedine cur- Whence ments : DUatato corde, inenarrabili dilectionis comes this difference ? z riiur via mandatorum Dei < . Because the first seek God in all things, and seeking Him alone they find Him everywhere,, and, with Him, supreme great monk St. Bernard : good and Let us then often repeat like that unchanging bliss : Bonus est Dominus animae quae- Ad venisti? " have I come ? " Why have renti ilium 5 quid Wherefore . The others are either attached to created I left the world ? Why have I separated myself from all things or seek themselves, egotism, by self-love, levity ; and who were to ? have I renounced my liberty ?. it is themselves dear me Why too that they find — themselves, that is to say Why have I made so many and such great sacrifices ? Did nothingness, and this cannot content them, for the I intellectual labours ? To gain soul, created for " come to give myself up to God thirsts after perfect good. What fills your mind the Mount. th day. 2. ? Where your thoughts naturally turn, there is 1. Bossuet. "ilfedilations on the Gospel, Sermon on 29 — your treasure, viiae spirilualis, c. 15. The great Abbot was moreover in this but the there is your heart. If it is God, you are echo of an old monk: Ad imagmem Dei jacta est anima rationalis ; caeteris 2-.0ffice °f St Agnes, I.t omnibus occupari potest, repleri non potest; capacem Dei quidquid Deo minus Ant. I Noct.- Sap. I, i- 3 . -iSW^'4- S. Aug. Conf. f^~ 3 - Ltb. i, c. i. — 5. Cf. Luc. est non Prologue to the Holy Rule. ix, 23. — 6. Thren. m, 25. implebit. P. L. t. 184, col. 455- — 3- :

THE MONK TO SEEK GOD 14 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF 15

arts, or with knowledge ? To occupy myself with the unique treasure. I am resolved to surrender myself to the

I indifferent to all else ; I wish to love teaching? * . am this, for one thing, and No, we came, never let us forget Him even to folly ; men may break and crush my will and " ". fevera Deum quaerit. one thing only : to seek God Si understanding, all that you will, but I do not intend to let go It was to win this one precious pearl of the possession of God of the sole good, our Divine Jesus, or rather I feel that it that we renounced everything : Inventa una pretiosa marga- is He Who will not let me go. It is needful that our souls 1 1." rita vendidil omnia quae habuit et emit earn . should please Jesus, but no other person We should examine ourselves to see to what degree we seek God, to what point we are detached from the creature. If we are loyal, God will show us what there is in us that In this seeking after God, the principle of our holiness, hinders us from going to Him with all our heart. . Our end we cannot find a better model than Christ Jesus Himself. and our glory is to seek God ; it is a very high vocation, that But, you will at once say, how is this, can Christ be our of belonging to the race of those who seek God : Haec est " 2 Model? how could He seek God, " since He was God getieratio quaerentium ettm ; in choosing the one thing Himself ? necessary, we have chosen the better part : Hereditas mea 3 It is true that Jesus. is God,, the true God come forth from praeclara est mild . 2 Light arising from the Uncreated Light , the Son Let us remain faithful to this sublime vocation. We shall God, the God, equal to the Father. But He is likewise not arrive at the realisation of our ideal in a day nor yet of the Living is authentically one of us, through His human in a year; we shall not arrive at it without difficulty or man ; He although this human nature is united in an without sufferings, for that purity of affection, that absolute nature. And to the Divine Person of the Word, although detachment, full and constant, which God requires of us indissoluble way the holy soul of Jesus has ceaselessly enjoyed the delights of before giving Himself entirely to us, is only gained .by much the Beatific Vision, although it has been drawn into the generosity ; but if we have decided to give ourselves com- necessarily bears the Son towards the pletely to God, without reservation, and never to bargain divine current which that Christ's human activity, with Him for the least corner of our heart, to admit no Father, it remains true to say His human faculties as from its attachment, however slight it may be to any creature, let us which was derived from sovereignly free. be assured that God will reward our efforts by the perfect immediate sources, was possession of Himself, wherein we shall find all our beatitude. It is in the exercise of this free activity that we can find " " " in i "_ With what mercy God treats a soul, says St. Teresa, Jesus that which we call the seeking after God. What " when He bestows upon her grace and courage to devote are the innermost aspirations of His soul, those to which He herself generously and with all her might to the pursuit of Himself refers all His mission, and in which He sums up all such a good ! Let her but persevere, God refuses Himself to His life ?

none : little to by little He will increase her courage, and finally St. Paul tells us ; he raises for us a corner of the she will 4 " gain the victory . enable us to penetrate into the Holy of Holies. He tells us " When we are thoroughly resolved, " wrote a soul that the first throb of the soul of Jesus on entering into this nderst00d world towards His Father 7-ir « ? how God is everything, and knew was one of infinite intensity faithfully how to " Ubri scri~ seek God alone, it is only the first Ingrediens mundum, dicit:... Ecce venio, in capite steps that count; 5 for from the moment that our well beloved ptum est de me: ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam . Saviour sees our way, good will, He does all the rest. I will refuse And we see Christ Jesus, like a giant, rejoice to run the nothing to Jesus Whose love urges me. You know how in the pursuit of the glory of His Father. This is His primal iS th6 !° V0I e of sus. Besides, disposition. Let us hear how, in the Gospel, He clearly tells n - il > no one is foolish S S UP e Wh0le for a us so. " I seek not own will, but the will of Him that art lQ My P ' The ve of Jesus, SS tfZ WhT° ,le £ 4 " from ; the rest whatever one sent Me . To the Jews, He proves that He comes - ' may think, is but a»U-neghgablew quantity, despicable even, in contrast with our God, that His doctrine is divine, because He seeks the glory of I. Mattb. xu, 46. - 1. Unf dme binidiciint, D. Pie de Heinplintie. 5" 6dit., p. 3C4. — a. Credo s . Ps . XXIIIf 6# _ 3> ps xv> 6 _ 4 L c P- MS- the . — 3. Hebr. x, 5-7. — 4. Joan, v, 30. OF. THE MONK i6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL TO SEEK GOD 17

of Him that sent Him K He seeks it to such a degree that is the unique Exemplar wherefrom we ought never to turn 2 for His own . has ever these words our gaze. Let us take to He has no solicitude He ourselves these words and say : " " Ingrediens monasteriurn, upon His lips : My Father ; His whole life is but the dixi : Ecce venio. On the day of my All entering the magnificent echo of this cry: Abba, (Pater). for Him monastery I said : Behold I come. In the head is summed up in seeking the will and the glory of His Father. of the Rule, which is for me the book of Thy goodpleasure, And what constancy in thisscauch 1 He Himself declares it is written. that I should seek Thee in doing Thy will, for " is to us that He never deviated from it : I do always the it to Thee, My heavenly Father, that I will to attain. " " things that please [my Father] : Quae placita sunt M facio And in the same way as Christ Jesus rejoices to run the z 1 semper ; at the supreme hour of His last farewell, at way " ad currendam the mam , let us run in His train, since He moment when about to deliver Himself up to death, He is Himself the Way. " Run, " says St. Benedict, " while telles us that all the mission ye have the light life " He had received from His of ; carried along by the holy desire 4 Father was accomplished . of reaching the Kingdom where our heavenly Father awaits Nothing, moreover, stayed Him in this search. It was to us, let us press forward unceasingly in the practise of good it that at pursue the age of twelve years He left His Mother, deeds ; that is the indispensable condition for attaining the the Blessed Virgin, at . goal. Nisi illuc 2 Never did child love his bonis actibus currendo minime pervenitur . Mother as Jesus loved the Blessed Virgin'. Put together all the And again in the same way as Christ Jesus, coming down love that can animate the heart of a son ; it is only a flickering from heaven, only finished His glorious course when He gain- spark beside this furnace of the love of Jesus for His Mother. ed the height of heaven ; Et occursus ejus usque ad summum And yet, as soon as it concerns His Father's will, or His ejus*, so let us not grow weary, as we follow after Him, glory, one would say that this love no longer counts for in seeking God, in seeking Him solely, until we arrive at anything. Jesus knew into what an abyss of anguish that which the great Patriarch so well calls, at the close of He plunged His Mother's heart during three days, but his Rule, the culmina virtulum,the celsitudo perfectionist, the the interests of His Father required it, and hence He did "lofty summits of virtue," "the heights of perfection." not hesitate " " " : Did you not know that I must be about The soul thus arrived lives habitually united to God 5'" My Father's business ? These words fallen from the lips Whom she seeks, she has already a foretaste of the delights of Jesus, are the first that have been gathered up by the of the ineffable union which is attained in the beatitude of Gospel. Christ therein sums up all His Person, condenses the Father's Bosom : apud Patrem. all His Mission. The sorrows " and the ignominies of the Passion, even death O Lord, my God,- my one hope, hear me so that I may itself, does not diminish this burning fervour of the Heart never weary of seeking Thee, but that with unfailing ardour of Jesus for His Father's glory; quite the contrary. It is my soul may ever' seek Thy Countenance. Grant the because in. all things He seeks the will of the Father, as * strength to seek Thee, O Thou Who givest the grace to manifested by the Scriptures, that He delivers Himself/out find Thee after having more and more given the hope of the torments of the attaining 5 " Cross : Ut impleantur scripts Thee . ?ie'-r!°e . £ °f a T et do not rush towards ocean . ^e i. Ps. xviii, 6. 2. Prologue the Rule. Ps. xvm, ?. — 4. Rule, withw?th'™£more majesticJ* ? impetuosityr — to — 3. than the soul of Tesus tended ch.Lxxm. — 5. Domine Deus mens, una spes mea, exaudi me, ne fatigatus the a /sufferings wherein ttolun tequaercre, sed quaeram faciem tuam semper ar&tnter. Tu da quaerendi the Son vires rffirwas to plunge %Him. te qui invanire te jecisti, et magis magisqxie htveniendi te spent dedisti t That the world may S. know that I Augustin. De Trinitate, i, xv, c. 28.

Sicut manda^n.dedit fatiX mihi Pater, sic

If. NOTE as God, Jesus is the term of our seeking, as Man, He " SEEKING AFTER GOD ", ACCORDING TO ST. BERNARD. i. Joan, vh, 18. — z. Ibid vnr c„ _, ti,;a " It is a great good, this will to seek God. In my opinion it deserves to be esteemed second to none of all the goods of the soul. It is the first grace i8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK which the soul receives, and it is also the last advance she makes in her pro- cess towards perfection. It follows after no virtue, neither does it yield place to any. What virtue can it be supposed to follow, since it is preceded by none ? Or to what virtue can it give place, since it is itself the crown and consummation of all ? For how can any virtue be ascribed to the man who has not the will to seek God ? And as to him who does seek God, what II. — THE " FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. term shall be appointed for his seeking ? Seek His Face evermore ", says the Psalmist, by which he implies, as it seems to me, that even after God has been found He shall not cease to be sought. For it is not by bodily locomotion have to seek God, but by fervent desire. Now this desire, so far from that we Summary. — In consequence of sin, the " seeking after God " takes being extinguished by the happy attainment of its Object, is on the contrary the character of a " returning to ; greatly intensified. How is it possible that the consummation of joy should God " this is carried into be the exclusion of desire ? It would be more true to say that the former effect by following Christ. — I. Christ is the Way by His is the latter as oil to flame, because desire is in truth a flame. So it is, to teaching and example. — II. He is the supreme High Priest my brethren. The joy is made perfect, yet there is no end to the desire, Who binds us to God. — III. The Fountainhead of grace where- and by consequence no end to the seeking. But conceive (if you can) of this eager seeking as implying no absence of what is sought, and of this ardent from we may draw the necessary help. — IV. These truths being solicitude. absence is incompatible desire as accompanied by no For apply to religious perfection : Christ is "the Religious" super- with possession and solicitude with security of tenure 1, In Cantica, Serrri. eminently. — V. How the Rule of St. Benedict is permeated LXXXIV, i, translated by a priest of Mount Melleray. " ". with these truths ; its character is Christocentric

" " object of our life is to , is The seek God ; that our destiny, our vocation. This vocation is incomparably high, because every creature, even the angelic creature, is of its nature infinitely far removed from God.

God is the fulness of Being and of all perfection ; and every creature, however perfect it may be, is only a being drawn out of nothing and possesses only a borrowed perfection. Moreover, as we have said, the end of a free creature is,

in itself, proportioned to the nature of this creature ; as every created being is " finite, " the beatitude to which it has a right by nature is necessarily limited. But God, in immense condescension, has willed to admit us to share His intimate life in the bosom of His Adorable Trinity, to enjoy His own Divine Beatitude. This Beatitude, placed infinitely beyond our nature, constitutes our last end and the foundation of the supernatural order. You know that from the time when He first formed man,

God has called us universally to this beatitude : Adam, the head of the human race, was created in supernatural "justice;" his soul, filled with grace, illuminated with divine light was entirely set towards God. He possessed the gift of integrity by which his lower faculties were fully subjected to reason while reason was fully subjected to the Divine

Will : all, in the head of our race, was perfectly in harmony. Adam sinned, he separated himself from God, and drew all his descendants after him into his revolt and misery. AH — the Blessed Virgin Mary excepted — are conceived God with the imprint of his apostacy ; in each one of us is beholds the trace of our first father's rebellion : that why ,

20 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 21 1 ", filii irae sons of dis- we arc born "children of wrath , for themselves, they want to be the architects of their own far removed from God, turned away from God. obedience, perfection, built up according to their personal conceptions The consequence of this state of things is that " the ; they do not understand God's plan as it concerns them, or seeking after God " takes for us the character of a " returning else they do not adapt themselves to it. These souls make to God " Whom we have lost. Drawn into the original some progress, certainly, because the goodness of God is solidarity, we have all forsaken God by sin in order to turn . infinite and His grace ever fruitful ; but they do not fly in to the creature ; the parable of the Prodigal Son is but the the way that leads to God, they go haltingly all their life. picture of all the human race that has left the Heavenly The more I come in contact with souls, the more assured I Father and must return to Him. It is this character of am that it is already a most precious grace to know this a " return " deeply imprinted on the Christian life that Divine Plan ; to have recourse to it is a source of continual St. Benedict teaches, as a master, from the first lines of communication of to adapt " ; oneself to it is the the Prologue to whomsoever comes to him : Hearken, my very substance of sanctity. son... incline the ear of thy heart... that thou mayest return has known to us His " But God made Will ? Yes, as to Him from Whom thou hast departed : Ausculta, o fili... St. Paul says, He has revealed to us the secret " hidden from et inclina atirem cordis ltd tit ad eum... redeas a quo... " * eternity : Sacramehtum abscondititm a saeculis. And what reccsseras. This is the well-determined and precise end. " is this secret ? What are these Divine thoughts ? St. Paul Now, by what path are we to return to God ? " It is disclosed us Divine Plan in four words : extremely has to the Instaurare important that we should know it. In fact if we do 2 " omnia in Christo . God has willed to reestablish all things not take this path, shall we not come to God, we shall miss " " our in Christ or better, according to the Greek term to re- end. For we must never forget that our holiness is a " capitulate all things in Christ'. supernatural holiness, we cannot acquire it by our own efforts. . Christ, the Divine Word, Son of God, become Son of If God had The not raised us to the supernatural order, if He had Adam by being born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is constituted not placed our beatitude in His intimate glory, we might have been the Head of the race of the elect in order to bring all those able to seek Him by the light of reason, and attain, who believe in . Him to God His Father. As Man-God, by natural means, a natural perfection and beatitude. God committed Adam, will restore did not will this Christ will repair the sin by : He has raised man to a suDernatural state, of Heaven and because destined to us the Divine adoption, re-open the gates He him for a beatitude which surpasses all the exigences bring us thither by His grace. This is in a few words the and powers of our nature. Outside this destiny Divine Plan. there is nothing but error and damnation. this plan of God And what is true Let us contemplate for a few moments of the way of salvation, in general, is for us its height and depth, compre- equally so of perfection and of and try to comprehend holiness which are but a impleamini higher way of salvation hendere... quae sit... stiblimitas et profi{ndum...ut : they likewise belong to the super- 3 " filled unto all in omnem plenitudinem Dei , that we may be J man m t finished - °? Perfection in the 2 \ ! • merely " give us all things, to naturalnpS domain has of itself the fulness of God. God wishes to no value for eternal life. There are not two give Himself entirely to us, but He only gives Himself by states of perfection for us nor two beatitudes cum Ipso.in **«**>?" ^supernatural, Christ, in Christ and with Christ : Per Ipsum, between which it IpsoK is secret for us. Let us contemplate wma?^ our cho ' ce Now, This God's . - as God is the sole Author surpasses all _our Sffi^SS; 1 with faith and reverence, for it infinitely °r er e l0ne " ' ^ deling to His good P easu* T™Lw lben S conceptions. Let us also contemplate it with love, for it is « can show us the 5 It is Sad wL'ebv tn f.f^.ms\ itself thermit of love: Sic Deus dilexit mundttm . because God loved us that He has given us His Son, and through Him and in Him, every good. What is for us ? then Christ Jesus ,

Priest ; He is the Fountam- i. He is the Way ; He is the High Eph. ir, . _ . 3 2 i bid , ( 9 18-19. 4« i. 2. 1, 10. — 3- Ibid, m, — Cf. l, 26. — Eph. Eph. in, 9 ; Col. Canon of, the Mass. — 5. Joan, in, 16. THE TDEAL OF THE MONK 22 CHRIST, THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 23

is the by His doctrine and example " head of grace. He Way ; I have seen with My Father : Ego quod vidi apud Patrem merited for 1 He is the supreme High Priest, Who was us, by meum loquor ; I do not deceive you, for I " have spoken the power to follow in the way which " 2 His sacrifice, the He truth to you : Veritatem vobis locutus sum ; "I am the of grace wherefrom "': 3 has established ; He is the Fountain we Truth Ego sum Veritas ; those who seek God must do so persevere in the path that leads to " " " 4 draw strength to the in spirit and in truth : In spiriiu et veritate oportet adorare ; " 1 : Usque ad montem Dei . " B holy mountain the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life ; . " We will first of all listen to the very words of the Holy if you continue in My word... you shall know the truth 3 Spirit ; next we will take up in respectful parallelism the Si vos manseritis in sermone ineo... cognoscetis veritatem . " corresponding teaching repeated by the one who Was, accord- I have not spoken of Myself : but the Father Who sent " ing to St. Gregory, his first biographer, filled with the spirit Me, He gave Me commandment what I should say and what 2 " of all the just . I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life " everlasting : Quia ego ex meipso non sum locutus, sed qui mtsit Me Pater, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam et quid 7 loquor ; et scio quia mandatum- ejus vita aeterna est .

Christ is the Way. The Father moreover confirms this testimony of the Son : " " God wills that we should seek Him as He is in Himself, Hear ye Him ; for He is My own Son in Whom I have 8 in a way conformable to our supernatural end. But, says placed all My delights : Ipsum audite . " 3 St. Paul, " us then hear this word, this doctrine of : it is God inhabiteth light inaccessible , He dwells in Let Jesus very holiness : Tu autem in sancto habitas*. How then are first of all through this doctrine that He is our Way; let us " we to attain to Him ? Through Christ. Christ Jesus is the say to Him with ardent faith, like St. Peter : Lord, to Whom " Word Incarnate, the Man-God. He it is Who becomes shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life : Verba " 5 our vitae . Way" : Ego sum via . This way is sure, infallible, aetemae habes We truly believe that Thou art the it leads to in to eternal light : Qui sequitur Me non ambulat in Divine Word, come down on our earth order teach us ; 6 " tenebris, sed habebit Thou art truly God, speaking to our souls ; for God in lumen vitae , but above all, never let " us : forget, this way'is unique, there is no other.' As Jesus these days, hath spoken to us by His Son Novissime " 10 says : No man cometh to the " locutus est nobis in Filio . We believe in Thee, O Christ, Father but by Me : Nemo venit ad Pair tell secrets, em nisi per Me\ Ad Pairem, that is to say we accept all that Thou dost us of the Divine to life everlasting, to God loved and possessed in Himself and because we accept Thy words, we give ourselves to in the intimate secret of His beatifying Trinity. So then in Thee in order to live by Thy Gospel. Thou didst say that order to find God, to leave all to follow n attain the end of our search we have if we would be perfect, we must Thee ; only to follow Christ Jesus. we believe this and we have come, having left all things ia And how is Christ the to be Thy disciples. Lead us, Thou, Indefectible Light, for Way that leads us to God ? By His teaching and His have the most invincible hope. Thou wilt not example : Coefit facere et docere* in Tbee we haVe the a d God wills that we reject us ; we come to Thee that we may be brought to • ' should seek Him as -J f V He " first hast declared : Him that cometh to Me, I ^^fore know Him. Now Jesus Christ Father. Thou WWho i! " 13 thC S °m f the will not cast out : Et eum qui venit ad me non ejiciam foras . ? Father", in sinu Patris*. revealsv£lcfrGod^to us ^ : Umgemtus... ipse enarravit^ ;God is made he ° f HiS S° Again Jesus is the Way by His example. bTnosti? n :Deus - M'^^ordt WtUt mnatt^°n*>» is perfect God, the sole-begotten Son of God : Deum scientiae He if l claviialis Dei in facie ChJTr 1 de Deo *; but He is also perfect Man ; He belongs authen- tically to our race. You know that from His two-fold nature is not Mine, but His that ?» a divine activity, and a Wnt Me™ ; flows a two-fold activity; human K ^ea^CS r. Joan, vm, 38. — 2. Ibid, 40. — 3. Ibid, xiv, 6. — 4. Ibid, iv, 24. — 5. «.":- ' vm i \ '£••„- - - > "" "• -,. ».S:l--i^'S;_«. T"i Ibid, vi, 64. — 6. Ibid vm, 31-32 — 7- Ibid, xii, 49-50. — 8. Matth. xvn, 5. , „ ,. ,„'„ j~ /fi"^ — 9. Joan, vi, 69. — 10. Hebr. 1, 2. — 11. Matth. xix, 21. — 12. Ibid, 27. t ^j ,7, 1 i!* £? — 13. Joan, vi, 37. — 14. Credo of the Mass. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 24 THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 25 activity, but these two activities are not confounded, any according to the spirit, according to the soul, and even in natures are confounded, although ineffably more than the two the flesh 1." united in one and the same Person. For it is to the Father that Jesus leads us. Listen to Christ is the revelation of God adapted to our weakness; " what He says on leaving His ' disciples : I ascend to " My He is the manifestation of God under a human form. He 2 " Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God ; that seeth Me, " Christ has said " seeth the Father " :' also the Word has come down from Heaven to take upon Himself 1 Qui videt me, videt et Patrem . He is God living amongst our flesh and to redeem us ; His work accomplished, He us and showing us by this tangible human life how we ought ascends to Heaven, but He does not ascend alone ; He to live in order to please our Father in Heaven. virtually takes with Him all who believe in Him. And why ? All that Jesus accomplished was perfect, only not because In order that — in Him again — the union of all with the of the love wherewith He accomplished it, but also in the 2 Father should be accomplished : Ego in eis et tu in Me . manner He brought it to fruition ; and all that Jesus did, Is not this Jesus' supreme prayer to His Father ? "That even His least actions, we're the actions of a God and infinitely I may be in them, O Father, — by My grace — as Thou in pleasing to His Father : they are consequently for us examples Me, that they may contemplate, in the Divinity, the glory " to be followed, models of perfection : Exemplum dedi vobis 4 which Thou hast given Me . 2 ut quemadmodum ego ita jet vos . fed faciatis In imitating Never let us wander from this way, for that would be to Christ Jesus,. we are sure of being, like Him, although under run the risk of losing ourselves ; to follow it, is to journey a different title, pleasing to His Father. " The life of Christ," infallibly to the light of eternal life. When we. take as our said a holy monk who spoke from experience, " is an excellent Guide the One Who is the true Light of the World, Lux book for the learned and the ignorant, the perfect and the 5 vera quae illuminat omnem hominem , we walk with sure imperfect, who desire to please God. He who reads it and certain steps, and cannot fail to reach the sublime goal carefully and frequently, attains high wisdom, and easily of our vocation: Father grant they may be with Me, even obtains... spiritual light, peace and quietness of conscience, to the sharing of My glory: Ut ubi sum ego et illi sint and a firm confidence 3 " in God in sincere love . 6 - mecum / . Let us then contemplate in the Gospel the example of Jesus it is : the norm of all human sanctity. If we remain II. united to Jesus by faith in His doctrine, by the imitation of His virtues especially His religious virtues, we shall surely It is not enough to know the way, we must also be able to attain to God. It is true that there is an infinite distance follow it. It is likewise to Christ Jesus that we owe this between God and us ; God is the Creator, and we are crea- power. tures, the last rung on the ladder 7 declares that the riches brought to us through of intellectual creation : St. Paul God is spirit, we are spirit and Christ, our Redeemer, are inexhaustible matter ; God is unchanging, the mediation of ; we are ever subject to change abound which express the ; but with Christ we can bridge under the Apostle's pen, terms this distance and establish ourselves in the immutable manifold aspects of this mediation, and give us a glimpse because, in Jesus, God and the creature meet in aainSe of its inestimable treasures. The Apostle above all reminds and indissoluble union. In Christ we find God. " UnlS vou us that Christ redeems us, reconciles us with the Father, P U ayS 7 again the ^nerable Abbot of and creates anew within us the power of bearing iruits Lisl^« to1^-'? mt Up-° n ur soul the of justice. ? - y° loveable image of ChSt-t'Christ s TTn f + . Humanity,Jf it !s in vain that you aspire to the We were the slaves of the devil — Christ delivers us from eminent knowledge and enjoyment of. His ? this the enemies of God — Jesus reconciles DiviniU bondage ; we were the L°rd in the us ; had lost our inheritance — the - «Bht" oiZl, be with the Father we JedinGo/TJ fS aS ere * With he form «»« the Only-begotten Son restores.to us this inheritance. Let us for a LWymvinity unkssunless ifit hashi becomeh I ' the perfect image of Christ, few moments contemplate these aspects of Jesus' work of

i. Joan, xiv, 1. A Book of Spiritual Instruction, ch. xn, 2. — 2. Joan, xx, 17. — 3. cb. x, The Mitror Ibid, 6. Ibid, xvn, — 7 Z'i'mct^^FaihfuTso^ ^' °l th< S™1* xvii, 23. — 4. Cf. Ibid. 24. — 5. Ibid. 1, 9. — 24. 7. Eph. in, 8. '

26 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 2 7 mediation. These truths are doubtless known to us, but " Father. The absolute character of this prayer shows the is it not always a joy for our souls to return to them ? oneness of the Divine Nature in which Jesus, as the Word, lives with the Father and their common Spirit. When " the fulness of time " fixed by the eternal decrees is also He Man : the human nature bestows on Jesus the had come, says St. Paul, " God sent His Son, made of a power of offering to the Father all the satisfaction that love woman, that He might redeem them who were under the and justice demand: l " " Holocautomata... non tibi placuerunt, law . It was then that the grace of God our Saviour hath corpus autem aptasti mihi, ecce vcnio ut factum, Dens, volun- appeared to all men... that He might redeem us from all tatem 2 " tuam \ The sacrifice of this Divine Victim appeases iniquity . God, and makes Him propitious to us : Pacificans per san- Such is the essential mission of the Word Incarnate, 2 guinem cruris ejus . As Mediator, Christ " Jesus is Pontiff ; signified by His very name : Thou shalt call His name as Man-God, " He forms the bridge over the gulf made by sin Jesus, says the Holy Gospel — Jesus, that is to say Saviour between heaven and earth. " 8 He binds us to God through — for shall save . " He His people from their sins There- His " " Manhood wherein dwelleth all the fulness of the God- fore, adds St. Peter, There is no other name under heaven 3 " head corporeally . " given to men, whereby we must be saved ; this name is * St. Paul also tells us that " God indeed unique as the Redemption was in Christ, wrought by it is universal: reconciling the world to Himself " : Deus erat in Chrisio And from what does Christ deliver us ? From the yoke mundum reconcilians sibi*, so that we " who some time were of sin. What did Jesus say at the time of His Passion when afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ " : Vos qui about to consummate His Sacrifice ? Nunc princeps hujus aliquando eratis longe, facti estis 5 " prope in sanguine Christi . mnndi ejicietur foras. Now shall the prince of this world At the foot of the Cross, justice appeased and peace restored be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will give each 5 " other the kiss of reconciliation : Justiiia et pax draw all things . to Myself 6 osculatae stmt . It was indeed by His immolation upon Mount Calvary Rightly does the Apostle conclude by saying : In quo that our King destroyed 's reign. St Paul tells us [Christo] habemus that Christ, fiduciam et accessum in confidentia per snatching from the devil's hands the sentence 7 fidem ejus . Through faith in Christ we may indeed have of our eternal bondage, destroyed " it fastening it to the the boldness cross to draw near to God with confidence. How : Delens quod adversum nos erat chirographum dccreti... can we lack confidence affigens illud when Christ, the Son of the Father, cruci «. His death is the ransom of our deliver- having become our Surety and the ance. Propitiation for our What is the song that resounds in the holy splendour iniquities, has expiated and paid off all ? Why should we not Ven lr m 6 ln merable ™ of the redeemed? draw near to this High Priest, Who, like unto us in all things, Tnlo Thee,Th n Lord,T° A be all honour, praise and glory for it is sin excepted, chose to experience all our infirmities, to drink by Thy immaculate Blood, Divine Lamb, that we have of the of all our sufferings, to find, in the experience become 7 Thy Kingdom 1 of sorrow, the power of compassionating our miseries more deeply ?

So powerful indeed is this High Priest, so effectual is His

i. Hcbr. x, 5-7. — 2. Col. 1, 20. — 3. Ibid. 11, g. Let us quote this beautiful text of the great S l Gregory, the biographer of S' Benedict, where we find something more than a simple reminiscence of the Prologue of the Rule: Redire ad Dcum. "Dei Filius adjuvit hommem fadus homo ut quia puro homini via redeundi non palebat ad Detim, via rcdeundi fieret per Homincm- Deum, Longe quippe distabamus a juslo et immorlali, nos mortales et injusti. Sed inter itnmortalem et juslum, et- nos .mortales et injustcs, apparuit mediator that we .«.* ™~ Dei el hominum, mortalis el Justus, qui et mortem habcrei cum Jtominibus, et WASS^jS?. pcstiliam cum Deo, ut quia per ima nostra longe distabamus a sttmmis, in seipso uno jungeret ima cum summis, atque ex eo nobis via redeundi fieret ad Deum, quo summis suis ima nostra copularet.. " S. Gregor. Moralist in . Lib. sxii, in *» 31. P. L. 76, col. 337-328. — 4. II Cor. v, ig. — 5. Eph. 11, 13. — 6. Ps. xxxiv, 11. — 7. Eph. in, 13. :

28 CHKIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 29

mediation that the reconciliation is perfect. From the moment this glorious inheritance in a wonderful manner. But the when Jesus paid the price of our salvation with His Blood Man-God, only enters into Heaven as our Forerunner : Prae- we entered into the rights of the heavenly inheritance. 1 cursor pro nobis intr.oivit . And there, for the soul of each When about to accomplish His essential work of mediation, one of us, He offers to the Father the infinite price of His our Lord reveals the inmost sentiments of His Passion in a perpetually living mediation : Semper vivens ad in the prayer He addresses to His Father. He prays that 2 interpettandum pro nobis . He may be with Him : Ut illi sint mecum. And where does So our confidence ought to be boundless. All the graces He desire this union should be realised. In the glory full that adorn the soul and make it blossom forth in virtues of delights " which, from all eternity, is His own : That from the time of , its call to the Christian faith until its they may see My glory which Thou hast given me... before vocation to the religious life, all the streams " of living water the ^creation of the world : Ut videant claritatem quam de- that gladden the city of God which is the religious soul, have disti mihi... 1 ante constitutionem triundi . c their inexhaustible source on Calvary: for this river »~ life 2 says somewhere in his: writings : Tarn Pater gushed forth from the Heart and Wounds of Jesus. nemo " " [quam Deus] : No one is a father like God is. We - Can we contemplate the magnificent work of our powerful might say too : Nemo tam frater quam : " Christus No one High Priest without exulting in continual thanksgiving: is a brother " like' Christ is. St. Paul calls Christ 3 "the Dilexit me et tradidit semetipsum pro me : "Who loved Firstborn amongst " many brethren : Primagenitus inmultis " " " 5 me, says St. Paul, and delivered Himself for me. The frafribus ; but, he adds, Christ is not ashamed to call us Apostle does not say, although it be the truth brethren very : Non confunditur fratres eos vocare «. Indeed " " " " what dilexit nos : He loved us ; but He loved me, that is does Jesus Himself say to Magdalen when already in the to say His love is distributed to all, while being appropriated . " glory of His Resurrection ? Go to " My brethren : Vade ad to each one of us. The life, the humiliations, the sufferings, fratres meos*. " And how great is His ! " fraternity God the — all concern me. And how has He s He xs" this Only-begotten Son takes ? , . . upon Himself our loved a me ? To love's last extremity : in finem dilexit . O infirmities, He makes Himself responsible for our sins in most gentle High Priest, Who by Thy Blood hast re-opened order to be like unto us. Because, says St. Paul, we 'are to. me the doors of the Holy of Holies, Who ceaselessly dost formed of flesh and blood, Christ has willed to fake upon intercede for me, to Thee be all praise and glory Himself our for ever- nature, sinful in us, that by His death, " He might more! Wh ha the em ire S??*-/^ ? ? P of ^ath, that is to sly Secondly, Christ's merits are so much our own that we d Te V S *he Passion of the eternal may justly appropriate them to ourselves ; the satisfactions KingdomKWd™\fof Life T^ with-tu theV°^ Father of Jesus compose an infinitely precious treasure whence bidding us who are called t0 be we can continually draw in order to expiate our faults, repair "o^w'nf^l^partakers^of the heavenly vocation" to "consider our negligences, provide for the our needs, , perfect our deeds, a d lg rieSt of our confession, supply for our shortcomings. " tffin f i,n ,\f Jesus "Who The servant of God, "says Him Whom He was Blosius, "should form the holy custom of establishedstabH h^d Head ofn? His^T^Kingdom* ^ This Kingdom this offering all his works by a pure intention for the honour of house of God, continues St. Paul, "are we, if God. tbe wfhoTd fas? He should be careful to join and unite all he does and confidence and glory of hope unto the end™ all he suffers to the actions and sufferings of Christ, through at W a glory r us is this h r,™ ff . i J? °Pe we have in Tesus prayer and desire. In this way, the works and trials that are in themselves, and when looked at as belonging to the servant of God. himself, vile, worthless and imperfect, will become noble, of the highest value, and most pleasing to God. They receive an unspeakable dignity from the merits of Christ, to which they are united, as a drop of water poured into a vessel full of is entirely absorbed by the wine,

1. Hebr. vi, 20. — a. Ibid, vn, 25. — 3. Gal. ji, 30. — 4. Joan, xm, 1. ".

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 30 THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 3t

and receives the full flavour and colour of the wine. life in Himself, so He hath given to the Son also to have life The good works of those who piously practise this union " in Himself : Sicut Pater habet vitam in semetipso, sic dedit with Christ's actions incomparably excel the good works of 1 el Filio habere vitam in semetipso . And is life ? x " what this those who neglect it . It is an eternal life, an ocean pf divine life containing all the Therefore this great monk, so versed in spiritual ways, perfections and beatitude of the Godhead. Now Christ Jesus does not hesitate to exhort his disciples to unite all their " " has this Divine Life in Himself in semetipso, that is to actions to those of Jesus : it is the surest way of attaining say by nature, being fully entitled to it, for Christ is the perfection. " Confide your good works and exercises to the Incarnate Son of God. When the Father beholds His most holy and sweetest Heart of Jesus that He may correct Christ, He is ravished, for this Infinite God beholds His and perfect them : this is the most ardent wish of His loving equal in Christ His Son, and He declares: "This is my Heart ever ready to complete our defective' works in the " 2 beloved Son .: Hie est Filius metis dilectus . He sees nothing most excellent manner. Rejoice and exult with gladness in in His except " Son what comes from Himself : Thou art My that, poor as you are in yourself, you possess such riches in Son, this day have I begotten " your Redeemer Thee ; Filius metis es tu, ego Whose will it is to make you a partaker 3 " hodie genui te . Christ is truly the brightness of His glory in His merits... In Him is laid up for you an immense trea- and the figure of His substance* ; and it gives the Father sure provided you have true humility and goodwill 2 ". 5 infinite joy to behold Him : In quo mihi bene This is what our Lord Himself said to-a complacui . Benedictine nun, " Thus Christ, because He is the Son of God, is Life Mother Deleloe, whose wonderful inner life has but recently " B supereminently : I the Life ", been revealed " am Ego sum vita . : What more can you desire than to have This within you the true Divine Life that Jesus possesses personally and in its source of all good, My Divine Heart ?... plenitude, He wills to communicate and lavish All these great things are yours, upon us : all these treasures and riches " I am come that they may have life, and it are for the heart that I have chosen... may have more Draw as much as you " abundantly : desire of 3 " Ego veni ut vitam habeant et abundantkis these infinite delights . and riches 7 habeant ; He wills' that the life which is His through the hypostatic union, should be ours grace, " III. by and it is of " His fulness we all have received : Vidimus [eitrn] plenum gratiae et 8 It did not de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimtis . Through suffice for our Heavenly Father to give us His Son as Mediator has die Sacraments, through the action ot His Spirit in us, He ; He appointed Him the universal distri- butor of every gift infuses grace into us as the principle of our life. ; the Father loveth the Son : and hath He Bear this truth given all things into His " well in mind : there is no grace of which hand : Pater MUgit Filium a soul can have need that is not found in Jesus, the Fount m efU ^^communicates to us theTaltne grace -.\ of " 9 " tSthat wHeThas merited for us every grace. For if without [Him] we can do nothing that M at Ur L °rd S brings us nearer to Heaven and to the Father, in Him ° the °W way that leads to the Fath^-M J are laid up " all the treasures of " man Cometh to the Father but wisdom and knowledge : w£in •/ jt? . by me" : In quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae 10 1 r me5; that He has absconditi . Hfe ™^ed 2Z BllrftfUt rth Pf rg6t And they are there laid up that they may be transmitted - at least t0 practical pumosls Pnn4« + +7 ? ^ to us. If can sing only : mth f im rta we that Jesus Christ is holy Tu ° P° nee : it is that Christ^ the Ca, t n ^^ solus sanctus 11 eVery , it is because no one is holy except by Him graCE and that He acts us by His Spirit » and in Him. hriSt US SeS n Himself the There is perhaps no truth upon which St. Paul, the herald giace.ei P Plenitude of every HearH ? whatrf^He HimselfJ " of the mystery of Christ, more insists when commenting says : As the Father hath upon the Divine Plan. Christ is the second Adam and, like BeVtrif fron Adam, is the head of a race, but this is the race of the elect. t *gg£ h0 Lati ° ** «* ** should be read. ??W5fc£ff?&Pr acher, s-V!Ch. ix.-AH this - 2 . The Mirlo, of aZ%Z . f chapter e Vn, i. " La Joan, v, 26. — 2. Matth. hi, ; xvii, 5. Ps. Hebr. i, flection 3 - Mirt /««»»< 17 — 3. 11, 7. — 4. 3. ?lovih-byfl°t' St Pa?"faiS>wS*°"' 2\C~6 the Mechtilde. -1 " same doctrine set p 5. Matth. xvn, 5. cf. Ibid. 111, 17. — 6. Joan, xiv, 6. — 7. Ibid, x, 10. — 4 . Joan n, « M 8. Ibid 1, 14 and 16.— 9. Ibid, xv, 5. — 10. Col. it, 3. — 11. Gloria of the Mass. ;'

32 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 33 "By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death tinavit (nos) conforms fieri imaginis Filii sulK All that and so death passed upon all men... if by one man's offence God enjoins upon us and asks of us, all that Christ death reigned through one ; much more they who receive counsels us, has no other end than to give us the opportunity abundance of grace, and of the gift and of justice shall of showing that we are God's children and the brethren of reign in life through one, Christ 1 "... Jesus With this Jesus; and when we attain this ideal in everything, not difference, however, that " where sin abounded grace did only in our thoughts and actions, but even in a " the motives more abound . from which we act, then we reach perfection. Christ has been established by His Father the Head of Perfection can indeed be resumed in this inward disposition the race of the redeemed, of the faithful, with whom He of the soul seeking to please the Heavenly Father by forms one body. His infinite grace is to flow into the mem- living habitually and totally in the spirit of its supernatural bers of the mystical organism, "according to the measure adoption. " of the giving of Christ : Unicuique nostrum data est gratia Perfection has love for its habitual motive '; it embraces secundum 3 mensuram donailonls Christi . And, by this grace the entire life, that is to say it makes one think will, love, which flows from Himself, Christ renders each of the elect hate, act, — not only according to the views of nature like unto Himself, and pleasing, as He is, to the Father. vitiated by original sin, nor yet merely according to nature For in the eternal decrees the Father does not separate us in so far, as it is upright and moral (although this is certainly from Christ Jesus : the act by which He predestined a human always requisite,) but in the spirit of this divine nature to be personally united to His word is the " " same act superaddition infused by God : to wit, grace which makes by which He predestined us to become the brethren of Jesus us His children and friends. We cannot work out our salvation without Christ, without He alone is perfect who lives habitually and totally the help of the grace that He gives to us. He is the according one, to grace ; it is a failing, an imperfection, for a tne true Life that man saves from death : Ego sum vita*. adopted as a' child of God to withdraw any one of his acts from the influence of grace and from charity which

. iv. accompanies grace. Jesus has given us the watchword of Christian perfection: "I must be about My Father's business": These essential truths apply to salvation ; they 3 are equally In his quae Patris mei sunt oportet . to be me esse understood of perfection. You are perhaps surprised The result of this disposition is to render all the actions that I have spoken at such length of Christ Jesus before of a soul, thus fully living according to the meaning of its speaking to you of religious perfection. It is because Christ supernatural adoption, pleasing to God, because they are all is the foundation of monastic perfection that He is "the rooted in charity. Religious pre-eminently, the Example of the " ," Pperfect reli- Let us listen to St. Paul : Walk worthy of God he writes, gious more than that, u ; He is the very source of " in " perfection all things pleasing : Ut ambuletis digne Deo per omnia 10a °faU h0HneSS "*» a authored -placentes . tells this «;orSp ' The Apostle us we are to do by walking worthy of the vocation in which we are called. Ut digne 11 a ?' n kstftution created on ambuletis bo^tf^J****- - the vocatione qua vocati estis\ And this vocation is t ^ffi$ jf^2& ° e to the supernatural life and the glorious beatitude that G e r £P i* S?fi crowns it : Ut a.mbularetis digne Deo qui vocavit vos in suum regnum et gloriamK v ," So then, to please our Heavenly Father, in order that He be glorified, that His Kingdom be established within us and should esse tia that we His will be done by us totally and steadfastly — that is be Hifworthv chudTe^ " ? % R perfection " be made -formao^^^ : "Stand perfect, and full in all the will of God : Ut 8 stetis ferfecti et pleni in omni voluntate Dei , I Ia ' 17 Ibld He — ---3.Eph. I v, . - brXl' 7 Rom - VI,I - 4.^x^,6.-5. > 2 9- — -• Ll>c. 11, — 3, Col. i 10. — 4. Eph. IV, 1. — 5» t &L 49. ( i Ihess. n, 12. — 6. Col. iv, 13. X

34 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 35

This attitude towards God avails to " make us more freedom and is able to bear more fruit. " I would, " " fruitful in every good work : Per omnia placentes, in omni says St. Paul,, " have you to be without solicitude. He that bono ere fruciificantes K And does not Our of Lord Himself is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to declare that this perfection is glorious to God ? " In this the Lord : how he may please God. But he that is with is My Father glorified : that you bear " very much fruit : a wife is solicitous for the things of the world : how he In hoc clarificalus est Pater mens ut frustum plnrimum affera- may please his wife. And he is divided... And this I speak UsK for your profit... which may give you power to attend upon Whence are we to draw the sap which is to " make all our the Lord, without impediment : Volo vos sine sollicitudine actions fruitful in order that we may bring to the Father esse... quod facultatem praebeat sine impedimenta Dominum this abundant harvest of good works whereby 1 we shall aglorify obsecrandi . Him ? * This is why Christ Jesus said to the young man enamoured This fruitful sap which is grace comes to us " through Jesus of the ideal : If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou only. It is only by remaining united to Him that we can hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in be divinely fruitful " : He that abideth in heaven. " Me. and I in And come follow me : Si vis perfedits esse, vende Him.the same beareth much fruit"; Qui 2 manet in Me et omnia quae hakes, et veni, sequere me . Ego in eo Hie fert fructum multum*. If without Him we The religious, the monk, despoils himself, detaches himself can do nothing that is worthy of His Father, with Him in 3 from everything : Reliquimus Him, we bear omnia ; he puts away all the much fruit : He is the Vine, we are the obstacles that could retard branches *. his progress and shackle bis flight towards God. In him, faith, whereby Christ dwells in You will perhaps ask how we are to '" abide " in Jesus ? souls, is more ardent, love, whereby they dwell in Christ, f aU. St. Paul tells us that W. ?? ?, it is by our is more generous and far-reaching. In this blessed state, the iaitn Ghnst dwells in our hearts : Christum per fidem inhaU- " soul can more fully cleave to God, because it follows Christ b S *??***• Next love: - Abide My 4 ioveZl™ m ? ^ ™ more closely : Et secuti sumus te . . Monde w dilcctione mea«, the love that, ioined to Perfection has its grace^ gives us up then grace for principle, love for entirely to Christ's service and the keeping of His mainspring, and the degree of union with Jesus for its commandments: "If you love Me keep Mv measure. Of this perfection Jesus is the initiator by the commandments ": Sidiligitis Me, mandata mea server supernatural vocation; secondly, He is its one model, at once divine and accessible'; finally above all, it is He UG and °f V^kctioa in which aStia2°SSt t r H every Who gives it to us as a participation in His own perfection. 5 We must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect ; this is what Christ tells us, but it is God alone Who can make us perfect and He does so by giving us His Son. Therefore all is summed up in constant union with Jesus, ny °-b tadeS to Paction in ourselves and all in ceaselessly aroTnd^- + i contemplating Him in order to imitate Him, SCenCe of the flesh of the and in did: quia diligo eves and the - ** doing, at all times, for love, as He rS^f°f ^^lfe hcits •' -° and divides the 6 heart aJ 1" A poorhumanP Pairem — the things that please the Father : — Quae necissary *?*** to perfectTom placita 7 is secret of perfection. T?e rengiouTS Sd sunt ei facto semper . This the his P^^t^C^^.^ It is related in the life of St. Mechtflde, that one Saturday, ^?^ during the singing of the Mass Salve sancte parens, she saluted the Blessed Virgin and besought her to obtain for he i " the thfu fr0m her true holiness. The glorious Virgin replied : If thou flucfaS°u^dS£JTh- i . i?i f divide his 7*** disturb and desirest true holiness, keep close to my Son ; He is Holiness heartwc -inin thisthi lt*Tstate, « , the grace^of itself, " adoption has sanctifying aU things. While St. Mechtilde was I. Col. J, 10. — a. Toan vv R ,,,, *7. - 6. Joan, xv, ™' 5 " IW4 9f- 7\ Ibid - * ~ 5 . Epb. in, 'x^^ i. I Cor. vn, 32, 35. — 2. Matth. xix, 21. — 3. Ibid. 27. — 4. Ibid. — 3, Ibid, v, 48. — 6. Joan, xiv, 30. — 7« Ibid, vm, 29. :

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 36 THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST 37

herself she could do this, the sweet Virgin desirest to fight for " asking how said who... the Lord Christ, our true King : " to her again : Unite thyself to His most holy Childhood, Ad te ergo nunc mens sermo dirigitur quisquis... Domino beseeching Him that by His innocence, the faults and Christo vero Regi mililaturus. It is not a mere formula repaired. negligences of thy childhood may be Unite thyself with St. Benedict ; this idea impregnates the entire Rule and to His most fervent Boyhood ever unfolding in • a more gives it that eminently Christian character, so much admired 1 burning love which alone had the privilege of giving sufficient byBossuet . The ho\y Legislator points out by these opening matter to the love of God. Unite thyself to His Divine words of his Rule that he intends to take Christ fundamentally virtues, which have power to ennoble and elevate thine. as Example and to consider Him as the source of perfection. Secondly, keep close to My Son by directing all thy thoughts, His Rule is " Christocentric ". So he tells us again and again words, and actions " 3 " " towards Him in order that He may to prefer nothing to the love of Christ , to hold nothing blot all 3 " out that is imperfect therein. Thirdly, keep close dearer than Christ ; and, in ending his Rule, he condenses to my Son as the bride keeps close to the bridegroom who, all the ascetic programme of the monk in a sentence of out of his possessions, furnishes her with food and clothing, absolute devotion to Christ: "Let nothing whatever be while she cherishes and honours, for love of him, the friends preferred to Christ, Who deigns to bring us all alike to and family of " her bridegroom. Thus, thy soul will be sus- everlasting life : Christo omnino nihil praeponant qui nos tained by the Word of God as with the best sustinence, and pariter ad vitam aetemam perdticat. 4. dad and adorned with the delights she takes in Him, that These are the great Patriarch's last words, as it were the is to say with, the example that He gives her to imitate... supreme farewell that he bids his sons upon leaving them Thus ; thou wilt be truly holy, according as it is written, these words echo those that open the Rule. Christ is the with the holy thou shalt be holy, in the same way as a Alpha and Omega of all perfection. queen becomes queen 1 " in sharing the lot of the king . In the chapter that serves as the epilogue and crown of " Therefore, beloved brethren, " concluded the Saint on the monastic code, S 1 Benedict repeats this truth that we shall another occasion when the same doctrine was revealed to find the way to our eternal country in Christ, and that it is her, 'receiving with deep gratitude this high favour from by His grace alone we can fulfil the Rule traced out, and thus the divine Clemency, let us " take possession of Christ's most attain the end proposed' at the head of the first page : to holy life that we may supply for " ah that is lacking to our seek God : Quisquis ergo ad patriam caelcstem festinas, merits. Let us also strive, 5 as far as we are able, to be hanc Regulam descriptam adjtivante Christo perfice . conformed to Him our by virtues for this will be our supreme So throughout our life, whatever be the state of our soul glory in eternal beatitude.' What glory indeed could be and the circumstances that may arise, we ought never to greater than, by a certain resemblance, to approach Him turn our gaze away from Christ. St. Benedict constantly Who is the splendour 2 " of everlasting light ? places the Divine Model before our eyes. If he tells us we ought to deny ourselves, it is that we may follow Christ: 9 .V. Abncgare semdipsum sibi itt sequatur Christum . All our obedience — and what is the whole of our life but a continual G li d fitful truths;fromthesespAifis obedience ? — is to be inspired by the love of Christ of n^nfJlf r Slak^ ^th thirSt caritts aliquid existi- °f his Sreat soul this Haec convenit his qui nihil sibi a Christo beneficed bVhfh -t ? > & 8 8 CS ee 7 ? must have the Iives of ^s disciples tnant . Are we a butt to temptation We SSfiSidtransfigured. LetT^ us go u f that back to the beginning of his recourse to Christ, it is against Him as against a rock we e ** * must dash our evil thoughts the instant they come into the orde^o be P^n^hfrnself in rSfv°P7 m°nkT^* advenientcs mox ad Chris- and asks what heart : Cogitationesmalas cordi suo St Benedict SSw £ he must do. at e mUSt return tum allidere 8 tribulations, our adversities, must be Chnstuinst. " 5 t0 G°d by following . Our To Sthee, Stherefore, per patien- Christi my words are now addressed united to Christ's sufferings : Passio?tibus monk is to tiam . whole existence of a "f* B«* participemur The j, AST\f%$gf £ 37. to obtain true Holiness.- gg$ Z\- iv. Ibid. ch. v. .(. ibid, himself alt the Life man can «""'*"<<* I. Panegyric of S' Benedict. — a. Rule, ch. — 3. — of Jesus Christ Ct' rf« ± 1 *> tb »T iv cf. Matfh. xvi, 24. 7. ; — 15 H 16; chl rd ch. i.xxii. — . Ibid. ch. lxxiii. — 6. Ibid. ch. 4 Part. ci. «, Hownow Jesusjesus ^' 3 Part. ch. 5 , Cutmst\?£ supplies?t£™H to the Rule. for what is lacking to us- Rule, ch. v. — 8. Ibid. ch. iv. — 9. Prologue 38 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST consist in walking in the path traced out by the Divine Master pourings of Yen. Blosius to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus K in the Gospel : Per ducatum Evangelii pergamus itinera ejus *. These great souls so pure and high in holiness, had fully made Finally, if we come to a state of perfect charity, which is the proof of this line of conduct proposed by the great Patriarch bond of perfection, it is the love of Christ that has brought faithful disciples whose they were : Nihil amori Christi prae- us thither and because He is the mainspring of all our actions: ponere: " 2 " To put the love of Christ before all things . Ad caritatem Dei perveniet Mam quae perfecta... universa 2 This way of making everything converge to Christ Jesus, custodit... amore Christi . which is so characteristic of St. Benedict, is extremely advan- You see how for St. Benedict Christ must be everything tageous for the soul. It makes the life of the soul powerful, to the monk. In all things he would have the monk think for it concentrates it in unity ; of and in the spiritual life, as Christ, lean upon Him ; the monk is to see Christ in in everything/sterility is the daughter of everyone, in the 3 4 6 dispersion. It Abbot , in his brethren , in the sick in , renders it attractive, for nothing the guests 6 in 7 8 can more delight the mind , strangers , in the poor , and, if need be, he and more easily obtain the necessary efforts from the heart is to pray for his enemies in Christi amore*. The love of than to view the Adorable Person of Christ Jesus. " It Christ brought the postulant to the monastery, it is the love requires very little experience of life to know how necessary of Christ that keeps him there and transforms him into the it is for every one to have ever ready some sort likeness of his Elder Brother. of idea or word or thought — which by practice comes instinctively We understand why it was that St. Benedict told a to our aid in times who had bound " of difficulty or mental stress and gives himself by chains in his cave : If thou art us courage and strength to walk in the right path. This — the servant of God, do not bind thyself by an iron chain a veritable talisman to soul if but by the chain the we will only let it be so of Christ " : Non teneat te catena ferri sed 1 —js, to be found in the sacred Name of our Blessed Lord. catena Christi *, that is to say by the love that binds thee to His should Christ. be an ever abiding presence to us, not a theo- retical and abstract personality but a living actuality ever with us, 'Christ in the mind, Christ in the heart, May it be the same for us Christ in ; may the love of Christ hold us the hands'—the abiding thought of Christ, the abiding love united to Him : Teneat te catena Christi! There is no other way of Christ, the constant and conscious following of Christ — so traditional for us. Read the most authentic and most this secures the union of our souls with God and makes our magnificent.monuments of Benedictine and service real and a work of love... Of all the means which you will see they are overflowing with this teaching. It St. explains the Benedict proposed to his disciples as aids to the spiritual ardent aspirations of St. Anselm towards the Word Incarnate, life, this constant keeping of our Lord before the mind and the tenderness of St. Bernard's for love following His example is aSt h perhaps insisted on most frequently g familiarities of St. Gertrude and 3 " bt.f'J ™ °.T T and clearly . Mechtilde with the Divine Saviour, the burning out- I. And so many others like S' Odilo, S* HUdegarde, S* Elisabeth of Schonau, S* , Mother DeleloS, favoured, long before S' Margaret Mary, with the revelations of the Sacred Heart, Blessed Bonomo, etc. For the 1-3'° period previous to the century, see D. Bcsse : Les Mystiques Binididins (Paris, 1922) ; for the Abbot of Liessies, see the excellent article La place du aild th bcarin of the Christ dans la doctrine spirihielle de de Blois, to open out a special ? 6 Quotation, and Louis by Dom P. de Puniet, in o£S3CTLu.unknoWtl l thought of the ° Cassian but revealing the Li Vie Spirituellc, August 1920, p. 386 seq. — 2. Rule, ch. iv, v and lxxii. great PaK££ r„ , ^rence to Cassian, it has — 3 Card. Gasquet, Retigio Rehgiosi. The object and scope the remarked with justice ttet ""in thJ moreover been 0/ Religious that to Cassian in wna Benedict is indebted Life. concerns the ob<™ J*™}a° ? life, he d orSa™at i™ of the claustral differs from him in his few* does not then ° *?*? Ben <=dicfs originality consist on?y n the m Si ' *\ the East 6 ada ts the asceticism to Western^ wnditi^ns h,ft =1^ P of "•"'i^1 repudiates rationalistic "^clearness with which he 2S™ «« i" ubjec supernatural: y * the natural hence !? . to «« subordination ^teTte ™^„ f ascet,clsm of the . the indubitable letter to the £h < .ntention." S I matter D. M. g" °f ** «* to the FestugL> in fil^B, R'lle, ch. ir and wm. a. 12 ' 1 - 3- — Ibid ch i, fr^ f'""' ^ P- +9 ~ uu. 7 and 5 - . 8. Ibid. - \. Ibid. 6•™- cb - &i.u. £iv.Z.— io. b. Greg.&?*£?', Tu ^ Dial. lib. nr, c. xvi. :

THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 41 1 " follow Me . You know too the refusal that tne Divine Master met with. Jesus had at first only pointed out the " common way : If thou wilt enter into life, keep the III. — THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE. vis 2 commandments ":Si ad vitam ingredi, serva mandata . Then after the rejoinder of the young man: "All these- things 8 " I have kept from my youth , Jesus wished to show him a Summary. — The monk is to seek God by walking in Christ's foot- higher way, a way which leads to a more intimate degree of steps ; he belongs to the cenobitical society, the authority of union, a more perfect ' beatitude. These successive which is concentrated in the hands of the Abbot. — I. The and " ascending calls had love only for- : Abbot, the representative of Christ, is to imitate Him as Pastor. their source Jesus looking " — II. As Pontiff. — III. He is to be conspicuous for his discre- on him, loved him : Intuitus eum, dilexit eum*. It is the tion. — IV. For his kindness. — V. Attitude of the monk love of God which draws us to the cloister, which invites us towards " the Abbot : humble and sincere love. — VI. Docility to serve Him in the cenobitical life, the fellowship of the of spirit. — VII. " Obedience of action. brethren : Et vestram confraternitatem. The monastery is the basis of a society. What is a society? It is an assembly of men whose wills conspire seek towards a God by walking in Christ's footsteps : such in a determined end, under a recognised authority. In order To few is words the sublime vocation that St. Benedict to form a society it is not enough for men to be materially assigns to his sons. When a secular wishes to be united, for example like a crowd of curious people grouped admitted into • the Community, this question is put to him together in a public place : that would be simply an acciden- "What do " you ask ? and the Church places upon his lips tal conglomeration without consistency ; men must have an this reply exactly appropriate " to the situation : The mercy identical aim to which all tend by common consent : this of God and your ", fellowship Misericordiam Dei et vestram 1 aim gives to the society its direction and specification. But conjraterniiatem . as men are unstable, as discussions often arise among them, Every vocation, even the simple Christian vocation, comes and as individual liberty has to be directed, it is especially from God. Our Lord Himself says " No man can come to necessary for the constituting and functioning of a society Me, except the " Father draw him : Nemo potest venire ad that there should be an authority maintaining me nisi z the union of Pater traxerit eum . the members in pursuit of the social ends and keeping them ' But it is God's love for us —and as we are born miserable, united as to the means. it is His merciful love — which is the origin of this call We at once see the importance of this latter element aUraxt tc mtserans*. This vocation is great, and this first authority recognised loving glance without one supreme as incontestable cast upon us by God is the first link in the chain by all, any society.however nobly inspired we might otherwise of graces which He bestows upon us throughout the course suppose it be, is fatally of our existence; to condemned to dissensions and all the Divine mercies toward " " us have ruin : kingdom divided against itself, Christ r h fiF Every has '£ 1 this station to share, " " P^S ? byAdoptionauu uu"' said, shall be brought to desolation : Regnum in seipsum inn thefh SonshipS of ^ Christ Jesus. f 5 The divisum desolabitiir . St. Benedict remarks this in one of monastic vocation itself only aims at perfecting this his chapters, and we shall nowhere else see the Lawgiver

of monks" express himself with such warmth : he declares as "absurd 6 " the existence of an authority that would be, in any degree, independent, and consequently a rival of the

supreme authority ; he heaps up terms depicting the disastrous couns ls S^n, but " all word » & f, men take not this consequences that would ensue. Dissensions inevitably follow disunion, and from these dissensions " souls are endangered... and run. to destruction": Necesse est sub i. Jitlualc momslkitm. i. Matth. xix, ax ; Marc, x, si ; Luc. xvm, 22. — 2. Matth. xix, 17. — — 2 . loan vt a a t 3 S* Paul, Tit. 4 ' 3> Jcrem i,i, ~ ' . XXXI See also Ibid. 20. — 4. Marc, x, 21. — 5. Luc. xi, ; cf. Matth. xii, ; Marc, 5 , 7 _ 4 . Matth? xixl ii! - 3- 17 25 m, 24. — 6. Rule, cb. lxv. e —

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 42 THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 43 1 animas periclitari... emit in perditionem . hac dissensione Whom he represents, as Pastor, and a? Pontiff; we shall next see how he is to show forth his discretion and thus imitate I have pointed out the primal object that St. Benedict the loving kindness of the supreme Pastor ; from these 2 us to pursue, namely, to seek God , to return to wishes considerations will quite naturally follow the monk's attitude 3 Him: Ut ad Eum redeas ; I have shown how the great towards the Abbot, an attitude which is summed up in places in our hands is courageously to means that he follow love, docility of spirit and obedience of action. Christ the true King; Domino Chrislo vero Regi militaturus*. its end, as well as By by the means employed to attain this I. end, the monastery forms a supernatural society. But before studying the monastery from the cenobitical point of view, If we want to understand the ideal' that the lawgiver of it is necessary first of all carefully to analyse the authority monks forms of the head of the monastery, it is not enough which is its mainstay : this authority is concentrated in the to study the two chapters of the Rule treating ex professo hands of the Abbot. 1 of the Abbot ; we must know the mind and spirit of the There is a striking analogy between the Church and the great Patriarch, such as they appear' in the Rule taken as a monastery, both envisaged as societies. Christ founded a whole, and in its thousand details, as well as in St. Benedict's society to continue among His men mission of redemption and life itself. For our Blessed Father cannot propose to the sanctification. Now what means did He, Infinite Wisdom, Abbot any other ideal than that which he himself contem- take in order to constitute His society ? It is remarkable plates in prayer, the principles of which he explains in his that the first time Christ speaks of His Church it is to monastic code, and accomplishes in his own government. indicate.its foundation. Christ, the wise Architect 5 first , of According to his custom, St. Benedict begins by laying all lays the foundation; this foundation is Peter. Tu es down a supreme principle whence he deducts all his teaching, Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam . and that gives unity, cohesion and supernatural fecundity Authority being once established,the rest is regulated without to the whole ordering of the society which he intends to found. difficulty. This principle is thus announced: Abbas... Christi agere The great Patriarch, whose Roman genius 2 and Christian vices in monasterio creditor . "The Abbot is believed to spirit appear so clearly in the Rule, uses no other logic. hold the place of Christ in the monastery. " In this axiom Arter a preliminary chapter where he sets aside the different is condensed the whole synthesis of the chapter of the Rule forms of religious life in order to retain only the cenobitical concerning the Abbot ; all the remainder is but development torm he at once and before all speaks of the Abbot ; Qualis and application. Thus St. Benedict wishes the Abbot to be dcbeat esse abbas'. And tnis Abbot" he defines from the penetrated with this fundamental thought and to adapt opening of the chapter as the head of the monastery : Abbas himself to it in order to find the norm of his conduct and E SE M0NASTERl6 --- SL Benedict, in this, the rule of his life. " Let the Abbot, since he is considered to imitates?^tTc Ourn Lord.T^?"^c He first and foremost lays the foundation represent the person of Christ, be called Lord and Father... the corner stone upon which the edifice is to rest, and he out of reverence and love for Christ. Let him be mindful of eaU u1 if not " cZ X ofut SV^?' 5 .f ' the most beautiM this and show himself to be worthy of such an honour : tlfmotst^1 ^ ** *Mffito "* ™™ Abbas quia vices Christi agere videtur, Domnus et Abbas SS vocetur... honore et amore Christi. Ipse atttem cogitet, et sic 3 the 3 PaW^cVfcrnffrr'? f '° ideal that the great se exhibcat ut dignus sit tali honor . In the mind of St. Benedict, the Abbot represents Cnrist in the midst of his

i. S* Benedict devotes two chapters to the Abbot : in ch. n he describes

the qualities that the head of the monastery ought to possess ; in the ch. lxiv Rule concerning the order to be observed ' (to be found in that section of the in the different elements of the monastic city) he first shows the mode of * after the exampie election of the Abbot, and completes ^l * chifat proceduro to be followed in the the ™ ."srj advice given in Chapter ti. Let us add that, in the course of the Rule, the great Patriarch constantly mentions the abbatial power. — 2. Rule, ch. 11. 3. Ibid. ch. Lxnl. h

44 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 45 monks; he ought therefore, in the measure possible to human for must look in their head ; then he sets before the Abbot- frailty, to reproduce in his life and in his government the elect the principles, he should follow in his government and of Christ person and actions Jesus. the spirit that should inspire, him in the 1 " guidance of souls , Now in the Church which is His Kingdom, His " family 1 (that is the idea of St. Paul) , Christ appears as Pastor, and From St. Benedict's point of view the Abbot then appears as Pontiff. first of all as pastor. The ideal corresponding to this word The Apostle tells us that Christ, as Man, did not arrogate is one particularly dear to St. Benedict, familiarised as he to Himself the honour of the Priesthood, but that He was 2 is with Holy Writ . It is to be remarked how often the 2 called to this dignity by the Father . It is the sajne " " " " " as terms pastor, flock, sheep ", occur under his pen regards Christ's office of Pastor. God proclaims by His pro- when he wishes to characterise the relations of the Abbot phet Ezechiel that He will set up one Shepherd Who shall with the 3 other members of the monastic society . "Let lead His flock : Suscitabb super eas Pastorem unum qui pascal him imitate " the loving example of ' the Good Shepherd, eas... et ipse erit eis in Pastorem*. Jesus Himself declares Pastoris boni pium imitetur exemplum*. It is the shepherd's that He is this Shepherd. In sublime words addressed to first His duty to feed his flock : Nonne greges a pastoribus pascun- Father at the Last Supper, He confesses that it is from B - His tur . And what is the food that he must give them ? God Father that has He received the guardianship of souls : " Tui answers us by the mouth of the prophet : They shall feed erant, et mihi eos dedisti 1 " , Thine they were ; to " and Me you with knowledge and doctrine ", Et pascent vos scientia et Thou gavest them. 8 " doctrina . Christ Jesus Himself declares : Not in bread This twofold office has conferred upon Jesus the fulness of alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth all 5 " power : Data est mihi omnis poiestas . 7 He wills to share from the mouth of God . this. power with certain men, whom He chooses, according This is why St. Benedict so insistently requires of the Abbot to the designs of His eternal providence, to co-operate with the perfection of doctrine and the knowledge of the Divine Him in the charge and sanctification of souls, and to whom law : Ergo cum aliquis suscipit nomen abbatis, duplici debet He distributes the measure of His gifts ; Secundum mensuram doctrina suis praeesse discipulis... oportet ergo eum esse donatttmis Christie St. Paul writes 8 that Christ appointed doctum in lege divina . some as apostles, others 'as pastors, for the edifyingJ of the The great Patriarch does not here mean the theoretic Mystical Body. 6 knowledge of philosophy and . A man may possess It is a like mission that • the Abbot has to fulfil it is this all the treasures of human knowledge, even in theological twofold ideal he must strive to attain. Called to receive a matters, and yet produce no fruit for souls. Hear how participation m the dignity, office " and grace of the universal St. Paul insists on this subject : If I speak with the tongues Pontiff and supreme Pastor, the Abbot will find his greatness, of men and,of , and have not charity, I am become as his perfection and joy in the care wherewith he acquits him- sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have self of this supernatural commission. and should know all mysteries and all knowledge... diGt encom " Pa3ses ^e appointment of and have not charity, I am nothing : Si- noverim mysieria thJAbbot^th^l'wrfa £uarantee the authenticity of the omnia, ct omtiem scientiam... {actus sum velut aes sonans aul DiviWDivine ™ncall, . ? J in\fthe first placeT as concerns the election itself cymbalum tinniens? . He speaks elsewhere of those who spend This election is to be " made in thefear of God' their lives in learning^without ever arriving at the profitable election "it 2 an that must be ratified by the supreme power in knowledge of the truth : Semper discenles, et nunquam ad person of the the Sovereign Pontiff, in 10 order'that he who is elee ed scientiam veritatis pervenientes . at St * e auth°*y of the head o^ The knowledge of which S* Benedict speaks and that he 5tft t Tn f^1Ct e Specifies the conditions requires of the Abbot is a knowledge of God and holy things, as trantituZ"to aptitude forf o? t? ffi the office which^T the future satisfy, Abbot mint and explains to 1. Rule,ch.LXiv. 2. This image is frequent, especially in theOldTestamerit, the electors the qualitieVthat :— They Israel having led the pastoral life. — 3. Rule, ch. xxvn and xxvm. — 4. i. Ephes. it, rq. Ibid. ch. xxvn. — 5. Kzech. xxxiv, 2. — 6. Jerem. 111, 15. — 7. Matth. iv, — a. Hebr v t f. . t? , a. E 2 4, Luc. iv, 4, — 8. Rule, ch. 11 and lxiv. — 9. I Cor. xhi, 1-2. — 10. II Tim. *™, 5 Mat*. 3 JOan ' - . xXV^J:l% ^•JV ^rRu.e ch.T^. in, 7. ) i ;

CHRIST, IDEAL 46 THE OF THE MONK THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 47 obtained from the Scriptures, a knowledge enlightened by the " lies with the head of the monastery : The Abbot ought not ra}'S of the Eternal Word and fructified by the. Holy Spirit. (God forbid J) to teach, or ordain, or command anything Tnis Spirit tells us that the wisdom of the Saints is true contrary to.th.eTaw^of the Lord. Let the Abbot be ever prudence : Scientia sanctorum prudentia \ It is therefore a mindful that' at* the dreadful judgment of God, an account question here of a knowledge of holiness, gained in prayer, will have to be given both of his own teaching and of the assimilated and lived by the one who is to transmit it to obedience of' his disciples. And let him know that to the souls. Such is the " wisdom of doctrine, " sapientia doctrina 2 , fault of the shepherd shall be imputed any detriment, how- wherein the Abbot ought to excel ; such is the treasury of ever small it be, which the Father of the household may find knowledge whence he should unceasingly find the traditional that His sheep have suffered... * " For the reading before maxims and also newlights for the directing of those who are Compline the Abbot must allow only the canonical Scriptures at " the 3 " school of the Lord's service : Ut sciat unde proferat or the writings of the Fathers who are acknowledged as nova et Vetera 4 . In the for the blessing of the 2 Abbot, . " '(orthodox and . " In the divine worship he is to the Church implores for him from God the thesaurum be inspired by the traditions of the Roman Church, Sicut sapientiae ul sciat et habeat unde nova et velera proferat. 3 psallit Ecclesia romana . In this as in all things, Christ, " the ", Wisdom of God You see the constant solicitude that appears throughout Sapientia Dei, remains the Model. " I am the Truth, " Jesus the Rule ; as shepherd, the Abbot is to keep in continual has said. He came into this' world to render testimony to contact with Him' in place he stands so guide the truth. Whose as to the flock, entrusted to his care, into fertile pastures "even The Abbot is to remember that he has received a participa- " 4 to the mountain of God : Usque ad montem Dei . tion in the dignity and mission of the Prince of Pastors This is a redoubtable responsibility upon which St. Bene- he is to strive ever to contemplate in prayer the Divine law dict, in several passages, insists with more than ordinary brought by Christ, and to be united with Him by faith. Then only force. Let the Abbot, he says, hold it of indubitable truth will he be in his turn a beacon-light of truth that it is not only for 'his own soul, but for the souls of all enlightening the hearts of his monks with the pure rays of his disciples that heavenly doctrme. he will have to give a strict account on For, to use another metaphor, his great the Judgment Day. , This wholesome fear of God's inevitable duty is to infuse this divine truth into the minds of his disciples judgments, adds the holy Lawgiver, will make the Abbot hke the leaven which is to permeate every action : attentive, and in the care he must take in directing Christ's **""'«•**" * ^cipulorum sheep, he will find the occasion of keeping himself pure and ^Zi^ToltplrXr 6 stainless in God's sight . Ce e Sity erfect orthodoxy in - P the doctrine It is t aiS Sf "f °J on this condition alone that St. Benedict guarantees m m kin Peter the SandS l ^ shepherd of the to him that heavenly bliss promised by God to the faithful steward who in due season distributes to his fellow servants not gIBnted t0 the ^ Abbot, hence the bread of revealed doctrine, the wheat of divine wisdom : S^rfSi^S?hJS . y takmg COnstan t care to nrtwi ? - assure the perfect Dum bene mfoiistravit, audiat a Domino quod servus bonus, qui y Ctrine not onI ' that ife may Sd teK^T °i f ^ y erogavit iriiicum conservis suis in tempore suo: amen dico &gainst enem' es would c gte * wh° nobis, ait, super omnia bona constituet eum . poisoned fond ^^6 Abbot must be ever viSrtlS error nr^ ng ^^ -^ °pmi0ns find their way into Sfsheenfo d Tf Z p T? IL. «* tbt^e L'nedTnthl *? c WSSffi,*?*ot bod ' doctum in divina iHc in ^tvw+iT It. ,.. ^leee To the ideal frequently evoked in the Rule by the word ihCem m0TS and condeni them iSfen l^S"* Pitite4 pastor, the Church, in her ceremonial for the blessing of the Abbot, joins that of pontiff. uow &rt- at 1S the responsibility that By the formulas of, her invocations, her rites, the exterior r. k5£' S&Z Rule - <*• LXIV r. Rule, eh. II. — a. Cf. ix, and lxxiii. — 3. Ibid. ch. xni. — 4. Cf. in. %?£&. & ^Zfed?2?fe* « Reg. xix, 8. — 5. Rule, ch. 11. — 6. Ibid. ch. uciv ; cf. Matth. xxiv, 47. 48 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 49 insignia wherewith she invests the one elected, the Bride of may increase in merit and in " number : Et merito et nmnero Christ signifies in the eyes of all, the quality of pontiff 1 which pnpulus tibi serviens augeatttr . she attaches to the function of the head of the monastery Each degree of the union of his soul with God, each step blessed by her. that he takes in the path of holiness, will render him more In this again, the Abbot represents Christ; he is to seek, powerful with God, more fruitful in his supernatural action in the measure of his weakness, to attain this lofty ideal on minds and hearts. by the holiness of his life. This is what St. Benedict requires This it is that gives such vast importance to the " " personal of him ; at the same time as the wisdom of doctrine, holiness that St. Benedict requires of the Abbot. 1 the abbot is to possess moral merit : vitae meritum . The Abbot is constantly to remember, says St. Benedict, Personal holiness is indeed necessary to a Pontiff. Every 2 ( that he has to bring souls to God . Now in a supernatural high priest, says St. Paul, is an intermediary between God society, the head is to be the pattern 2 of his flock: Forma and man ; it is through him that the 3 people's petitions gregis ex animo . are offered to God, and that God's gifts are communicated It is incontestable that the Abbot leaves his own impression to souls. He cannot draw near to God and effectually plead on the monastery, and casts upon it his own reflection. It the cause of the people unless he is, by reason * of his purity is exact to say as the Abbot, so is the monastery. If you pleasing to God. read monastic history, you will see how this truth is verified. Christ, called by the Father to be the unique High Priest, The first of Cluny : Odo, Odilo, Majolus, Hugh, are by His own right, is " holy, innocent, unde filed, separated four great admirable Saints whom the Church has placed from sinners, and made higher 3 " than the heavens being on her altars. Such glory did their holiness shed on the the very Son of God, He is the object of God's delight. " " This celebrated Abbey that it was called the court of Angels : is why He can efficaciously plead our cause. To the grace of Deambulatorium angelorum*. And as each one of them had personal holiness is added, in Jesus, the gratia capitis, which a long^ reign, the history of the two first centuries of Cluny makes of Him our Head " an all-powerful Mediator, Whose reads like a fairy tale of holiness. After them came an Abbot hfe and sanctity are communicated to His whole Mystical who was far from. possessing the holiness of his predecessors; Body Each action of Jesus is at once a homage of supreme Cluny visibly fell away from the path of perfection ; to bring love for His Father and a source of grace for mankind. it back, the efforts of a new Saint, , As far as human frailty allows, something analogous ought were needed. C e mth the head of ? ?ai f. the monastery As soon This example among a thousand others proves that the as the Abbot is canomcaUy appointed, the Church beseeches Abbot is truly the living Rule, fashioning to his own image God to communicate to him " the spirit of- the grace of the monastery that he governs. il leas e .™y P Gcxl to pour upon Again personal holiness is necessary to the Abbot in order him tKwTTa ^S ^ndant blessings. » The , extending that hish fh,handsnf1c he may be enabled to fulfil his office of mediator. over the head of the one elected, prays that hi St. Gregory says somewhere in bis writings that if an am- e Ia y™e ™ of bandsman ever be bassador is not persona grata with the sovereign to whom fet tl ? " fY X bein sanctified by Him. Fro™ thl T?/ °f S he is sent, far from promoting the cause. he is charged to Abb0t has t0 ^deavour and to h.^rr*' ^ to live plead, he risks compromising it. He says further that the n 1 er forhims ^ alone, but for his pontiff cannot effectually intercede for his flock unless he is, Sethren F, S'Hd K° °S ? able t0 s*y> like the 5 Priest Whn?. if ? ^ Supreme High by the sanctity of his life, a familiar friend of God . It is not sufficient, therefore, that a conduct pure and beyond reproach should be required, from the Abbot so that he may,

— 11. cfei ay? 1. Collect super popvlum for Tuesday in Passion Week. 2. Rule, ch. ass t. S5f hdaM a d — 3-1 Petr. v, 3. — 4. VtiaS. Hugon. aucl. Hildeberto, Migne, P. L. 159, #?S Artfulness of souls confidedunaea 885. — 5. Qua mettle apud Detim intercessionis locum pro populo arripit qut to mm,him ^'^t^that the peoplef ? who serve the Lord famili.irem se ejus gratiae esse per vitae meritum mscit ? Reg. Past. 1, 10. Lex I. Rule, ch. lxiv._ levitantm by Bishop Hedley. Under the pen of the great Pope are to be 2 . ct Hebr. v, *»*.I.— 3., iDia.Ibid vn,v,r „r 26.-4. Joan, xvn, 19 remarked the terms vitae meritum employed by S' Benedict. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 50 THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 51

by his example, draw his sons after him in the way of holi- shines out especially in the chapter concerning the Abbot. conspicuous for " the merit ", guidance of ness ; he must be of his life In the sotds, St. Benedict wills the Abbot to 1 " 1 vitae meritum , in order the more effectually to exercise discretion the " plead' the mother of virtues . What are we cause of his flock with God. We here touch on the highest to understand by discretion ? radiation condition of vital that the head can exert on the It is the supernatural art of discerning and measuring all members of the monastic society. Do we not often see, in things in view of the end ; of adapting every means, each the , the heads of Israel, such as Moses, according to its nature^ and circumstances, to the obtaining obtain Divine favours for the people because they end. were of the This end is to bring souls to God : Ut animae by their holiness, the friends of ? 2 God salventur . And to bring them in such a manner that the Was not Moses in this an anticipated figure of Christ, the monks may fulfil their task willingly. Therefore, says the one Mediator, Who to holy Legislator, the " " was appease the Father's justice, Abbot must well temper all things : 3 restore the heritage to us, and bring us alTheavenly gifts ? Omnia temperet ; and explaining his thought more fully, But why did our Divine Pontiff say that He was always he summarises from this point of view, the work of the Abbot heard by the Father, if " in precise " not because being holy, innocent, a very and significant formula : He is to accom- undefiled... and made higher 2 " modate himself to " than the heavens , He is, the diversity of characters : Multorum " 3 " i essentially, the Son of His love ? servire moribus . If then the Abbot wishes to fulfil worthily his mission of Such is the golden Rule laid down for the practical conduct head of the monastic of the society, he must strive unceasingly to Abbot towards his brethren ; such is the noble device remain united to the Godhead. In Christ Jesus, the Human- which, if well observed, will make him successful in the ity " was united hypos tatically to the Divine Word, and, delicate and arduous art — St. Gregory calls it the art of 5 " through this union, obtained floods of graces which overflow- arts —of ruling souls: Sciat quam difficilem et arduam ed from the Sacred 6 Humanity upon souls. By analogy, in rem suscipit regere animas . the measure which his lowly condition as man permits, the In this domain, St. Benedict requires of the Abbot a Abbot should live united to the Word that he may draw combination of contrasting qualities : strength linked with from " His treasures of wisdom and knowledge " the graces gentleness, authority tempered by love. See with what he is to shed upon his flock. perfect tact he selects the terms designed to characterise He will only attain to this fruitful union by a life of prayer. the exercise of the aforesaid virtue of discretion. He wishes Like Moses upon the mountain, he must remain on terms of the Abbot to be zealous without anxiety, prudent without familiarity with God, that timidity 7 " he may be able to communicate , ever seeking the Kingdom of God and His to bis brethren 8 " the Lord's commandments, and the lights justice, and yet in nowise neglecting the material care received m assiduous intercourse with the Father of Lights of the monastery which he has to administer wisely, with irom Whom comes " 4 " f 9 down every perfect gift . prudence and justice -; "loving the brethren but hating 1o " " sin ; using prudence even in correction for fear lest in

III. , seeking too eagerly to scrape off the rust, the vessel be bro- 1X ken ;" the Abbot is to vary his conduct with great pliability, haVe but an imperfect idea according to the circumstances and dispositions of each : one - of the mission that <^lS?\St. Benedict assigns Ato the Abbot if we do not bring forward is of an open character, another is reserved ; in one the 3 intellect sensibility here he finds PhaticXrir^^ WhlCh the La^er of monks em- predominates, in another ; t0 neCCSSaiy docility, ; adapt himself to every tQ him These are <*-- there self-will he must tn^kttlst ^ ' temperament : Miscens temporibus iempora terroribus blandi- f the Ch ra menta 1 *; severity of a master to the disobedient cteristics <* St. Benedict's showing the Ru^lfsT |°"L° B f . te disciple : magistri; to the upright soul seeking God, ta contrasting it with the Dirum otoasceLlRX^fotner ascetical rh . Rules of Christianw- antiquity. But this quality 1. Rule, ch. lxiv. — 2. Ibid. ch. xli. — 3. Ibid, ch, lxiv. — 4. Ibid. ch. 11. ~- 5. Regula pasloralis, I, 1. — 6. Rule, oh. 11. — 7. ibid. ch. lxiv. — 8. VU 26 Ibid. ch. 11. — Ibid. ch. in and passim. — 10 and 11. Ibid. ch. lxiv. — 12. ^^ ' - Col. I3 9, DS&lfc&FZZt - * !, . 4- Jac. i, 17. — 5. Ibid. ch. 11. the abbot, Christ's 52 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK representative 53

1 spirit of mercy abound throughout his Rule. See with what the tenderness of a father : Pium patris ostendat affectum . goodness he will have the or To the well-endowed souls, eager to find God, it suffices for Abbot the who replace treat children 1 old 2 the Abbot to set before them the heavenly doctrine '.Capacibus him, , men , the brothers in delicate 8 5 health pilgrims , the poor ; what discipulis mandata Domini verbis proponat ; to those of simpler , humanity full of noble delicacy he shows to guests and strangers G minds or of a more difficult temperament, the pastor will ; what attentive 7 solicitude he requires towards the sick : how the chapters point out the way by his own example : Duris vera cordc et simplicioribits factis 2 he consecrates to Christ's suffering members reveal the great suis divina praecepta demonstret . One he must win by kindness, another by reproofs, yet another Patriarch's tenderness ! by persuasion But it is especially in the chapter on the Abbot that and force of- reasoning : Et alium quidcm blandimentis, alium vero increpationibus, alium suasibnibus 3 St. Benedict gives a of love to the Father of the . 8 monastery : Diligat fratres . The is It is only at this price that "far from having to suffer any Abbot to love the monks;

and love them deeply, with equal love : detriment in the flock committed to his care he will be able for all Non unus " 4 " plus ametur quam alius , because, adds to rejoice in its increase in goodness , St. Benedict, we are all in Christ ; in Christ there is In summing up this magnificent teaching on discretion, one and neither bond nor " for all are called to the of the holy Lawgiver gives" us finally this lapidary formula free ; same grace adoption, and to be partakers of the same heavenly inheritance. dictated by his great experience of souls and his distinctly Roman genius, so skilful in " However, in the same way as God looks with more com- the management of men : Let the placency on those who most bear in themselves the features Abbot so temper aU things that strong souls may give rem to of His Son Jesus since that is the ideal of our predestina- their holy ambition, and the weak need not be — discouraged ' Stc omnia tion — so the Abbot may evince more love towards those : tempera ut sit et fortes quod cupiant et B this by their tnfirmi non refugiant . who most nearly approach Divine Model good

deeds and obedience : Nisi quern in bonis actibus aui 10 IV. obedientia invenerit melioretn . St. Benedict insists much on this love that the Abbot ought Is discretion the to have for his sons. He wishes the Abbot "to study to sole dominant virtue that St. Benedict re is his 6S the Abbot ? No he be loved rather than feared : "that to say government °1 ' furthermore wishes him to £T tyranny, Studeat plus amari quam °r th h is t0 be the love ought to be free from any ' of souls which will2m i££ w 11 make his supernatural? Ttact timeri . And this love of the Abbot for his monks ought to more delicate. It is because he loves souls well and individually go to the utmost extent. Read the chapter where St. Bene- that he will have it at dict sets in detail the solicitude that the Abbot should them Christ a 0Tdin t0 their forth ' Z tal^ts and andtud°P , ^f,- ^° sollicitudine aptitudes, their weaknesses, needsJ show to those who fall into any fault : Omni and aspirations 12 °Ur curam gerat abbas circa delinquentes fratres . And the gaZe T a instant towards the Adorable Trinlt^my "rT contemplatel° ? Legislator of monks recalls the example of the Good Shepherd Pot '- the Word Who, with the J™™.™ nine faithful sheep to go after the n Pl f Spirft f Who leaves the ninety ° Love : ^b'umspirZs AmoremAmollm ChristChS S ?? one is the Wordw Incarnate, has become that lost. Shepherd the Good into culpable Who gives His life for This kindness is in nowise to degenerate His sheep « and therebv rives weakness. Look at Jesus Christ. Full as He is of love and naoei full of hatred for evil. He - Ana ^>t. Paul pity for souls, He is equally 7 explicitly tells us thata rv.r,- c f h in adultery He S HUman NatUre forgives Magdalen, and the woman taken ; ^ °-?n firmitS shortcomings of His ^SefS ofde?t^d bears, much goodness ! the c ssionate with how who\xs pries£ to vice, above all to 'Sw t be disciples ; but what severity he shows Ssr°lful totrrhuman weakness:^ misericors fierei* ut Pharisaical pride ! St. Benedict, of Christ, ought to strive. so full of the spirit So the Abbot, holding the place of the Gospel, lets this Ibid. ch. xxxvi. — 4- Ibid. ch. un. 2 I. Rule, ch; xxxvii. — s. Ibid. — 3- Ibid •- — 8. Ibid. ch. lxiv. — 9 s*nd 10. 5 - and Ibid. Ibid. ch. xxxvi. Ibid. *!, " <*• -v.- 6. Joaa. — 5 6. — 7. x, „ and i .- . ^f&tX"-- 5 7 . Ibid. ch. xxvn. Ibid. ch. 11 — ii. Ibid. ch. lxiv 13. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK ABBOT, 54 THE CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 55 " " — however difficult and arduous the task : difficilcm et in monasterio crcditur. This principle also serve " may cor- rem to imitate in this, the Divine Model : Let arduam — relatively to characterise the attitude of " monks faithful to him love the brethren but hate vice : Diligat fratrcs, oderit their vocation. vitia. If a monk has to be corrected in anything, the Abbot This is a thought of capital importance to us, because the should rebuke him with great charity and fatherly love. It monastery constitutes a supernatural society where we live is certain that a too severe can do much harm to 1 faith : by Justus mens ex fide vivti . Notice the word cre- souls ; it is no less true that fervour will suffer in a monastery ditur. It is an eminent act of faith that is to illumine all where an easy-going Abbot does not correct faults, and never our conduct and make all our deeds fruitful. Either you refuses anything to anyone. However, in all this matter, believe or you believe not. If you do not believe with a firm it is charity that must be the motive power of his conduct. faith, then you will, little by little, insensibly but infallibly, It may happen that during a long time a monk does not end by detaching yourself from the Superior, from his give what is rightly to be expected of him. What is to be person and his teaching. But at the same time, and to the done in this case ? Is the Abbot to cease to concern himself - same extent you will separate yourself from the principle about this soul ? On the contrary, he will with great patience of grace, for we must know, says St. Benedict, that it is by await the hour of grace. will He remember too that all this path of obedience that we come to God: Scientes se per souls are not called to the same degree of perfection, and he 2 hanc obedientiae viam ituros ad Deum . will show more indulgence towards those whose ascent is If you believe that the Abbot represents Christ, your slower and more painful. attitude towards him will be ruled by this . This But what is the Abbot to do when he has to deal with one attitude will be composed of love, docility of mind, obedience who has a truly spirit bad ? St. Benedict wishes him to of action. • use severity, " the sword of " separation : ferrum abscissionis, The Abbot, as the name which St. Benedict wishes to " lest " he says, " one diseased sheep should infect the whole retain for him, itself denotes, is "Father": Abba Pater. flock, i " However, as long as he does not meet with And the holy Lawgiver requires that his monks shall have " incorrigible obstinacy, the Abbot is to " " "abound in mercy, a sincere and humble affection for their Abbot : Abbatem after Jesus Christ's example : Supcrexaltet 3 misericord'iam SUUM sincera et humili caritate diligant . judicio, so that, as Christ has promised in the Beatitudes, he It is in nowise requisite to have a sensible love or one of may benefit by a like indulgence, 2 Ut idem ipse consequatttr , enthusiasm ; it would be childishness to claim this ; but for " he ought ever to remember his " own frailty : suamque it must be a supernatural love given to God, Who is seen fragilitatem semper z suspectus sit . by faith in the person of the head of the monastery. The beautiful " words uttered by the Patriarch in reference St. Benedict wishes that this love be " sincere and humble, to the administration of the cellarer are first to be verified sincere because humble. The whole list of qualities that he in the government of " the Abbot : Let no one in the - requires in the Abbot is so complete and so remarkable, nastery, which is " " " " the house, the family, of God, be that it is almost impossible to find it perfectly realised in " troubled or grieved : Ut nemo perturbeturneque contristetur i one man. Few Superiors combine in themselves that har- in domoDet «. In simple and upright hearts, sincerely seeking I monious sum of diverse perfections which the great Patriarch God and living by His grace, joy should superabound, and, ! has gathered together in one full sheaf. The Abbot has with joy, the peace that passeth all E " understanding i certainly graces of state, but these do not essentially modify

r his nature ; and every man, with the best will in the world remains inferior to his ideal. What are we then to do in presence of the deficiencies, We have seen that at the very beginning of the chapter failings and imperfections which may be discovered in the concerning the Abbot, St. Benedict lays down this fundamen- iP the i. Hebr. x, 38. — 3. Rule, ch. lxxi. S' Benedict uses these words in refo m mon ter the Abbot holds the of lv y place rence to the obedience that the brethren are to have one to the other. But 5VSChrist this we ^ j , must believe : Abbas this to the Superior, and what is said Christi agere vices I mutual obedience supposes obedience R ch xxvm of the spiritual fruits of the first ai'phes. a {ortiori to the latter, — 3, Rule, - *** 3- Ibid <*• Phiiip — - ™- 4 Ibid. ch. xxxi. t: 7 5.- ch. LXXU. ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE ABBOT, 56 CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 57

Abbot, our Abbot, says St. Benedict, he who, for us, represents earth. These souls are so far removed from My Heart that these Christ ? Are we going to bring up shortcomings, the more they strive to approach me by means of the analyse or discuss them with others in order to criticise or Sacraments, prayer and other pious- exercises, the further censure them ? Such a way of acting would destroy the I withdraw Myself in horror from them. They will go from " spirit of faith, and be far from that humble and sincere one hell to another, for it is this disunion which has been affection ", smcera et huntili caritate, desired by the holy the loss of so many, and which will be the ruin of so many Legislator. Nothing would do more harm to a soul because yet to come, because every Superior, whether he be good or nothing is more contrary to the letter and spirit of our bad holds My place. That is why the inferior/thinking to . harm the Superior, inflicts so many, and such mortal wounds Let us know how to abstain with the greatest care from on his own soul. After all, it is in vain for him to sigh at these criticisms and recriminations. And if a brother the gates of mercy — he will not be heard if I do not hear " should come to us to complain of the Superior in a critical the voice of the Superior. spirit, the greatest charity we could show him would be to recall to him his Profession and bring him back to the spirit, VI. . of generous donation and humble submission vowed on that day. Let us throw a of love over the imperfections This humble and sincere love for the Abbot is to be mani- following of the Superior, the example of two of Noe's sons : fested by a great docility of mind to his teaching and a far from imitating their brother in bis mockeries, they generous obedience to his commands. Here again faith is covered their father's nakedness with a mantle. You know the true light. how they were blessed for doing so, and what a curse the God, Who does all things with wisdom, adapts His action x unhappy Cham brought upon himself . All the murmurings to our nature. He speaks to the intellect in order to touch and criticisms, not to speak of railleries, against the Superior the will, light becomes the source of action. Therefore, says do nothing to change the situation that one may think the Apostle, "It pleased God, by the foolishness of our preach- blameworthy or to " open disapproval ; they often only ing, to save them that believe : placuit Deo per stultitiam embitter it, casting trouble into souls, and thereby depriving praedicationis salvos facere cfedentes \ This good pleasure of them of peace and joy and diminishing their intimate union God, like all His ways, is adorable. Remark that Christ with God : such things draw down upon those who thus did not ordain His Apostles to write, but to preach, and by separate themselves from the Superior, the malediction this means, God has renewed the face of the earth. It is fallen upon Cham. the Word Who sanctifies souls, but to reach them He took It is a like chastisement that St. Benedict himself, full as a human and tangible form. This same Word likewise takes he is of compassionate loving kindness, calls down upon the a sensible form by preaching. While the word from the turbulent and disobedient who, despising or making light lips of men strikes the bodily ears, the internal Word reaches of the advice given to them, still rebel against their Pastor's the mind and is instilled sweetly and mightily into the will: care: death itself, having the 2 last word, shall be their Fides ex auditu .

punishment : Paena sit eis z fraevalens ipsa mors . But, continues the Apostle, how are men to believe unless Do we not 3 find the equivalent of a malediction in the preachers are sent? Quomodo credent nisi mittanlur ? grave words one day addressed by Our Lord Himself to Christ has provided for that: "Behold I send you... Go St Margaret Mary on this subject ? We cannot read them preach to every creature": Ecce miito vos: ite, prdedicate without trembling Listen i attentively to these words falling omni creaturae . And those sent by Christ do 1 h s of Truth itself « " P : All religious not speak in their own name but in His : He that heareth ? . who are not unitedXrf to their Superiors you, despiseth may look upon themselves as you heareth Me ; and he that despiseth re r 6 °bation " spernit spernit . P -m which good liquors are corrupted Me : Qui vos audit me audit, qui vos me r£ 6 ShUU f Christ : Pro g ° the Divine Sun °f Justice has God exhorts through these ambassadors of Stbut ^hfthe J™same effect£ . as ?uthe sun shining on the slime of the x. I Cor. i, 21. — a. Rom. x, 17. . 3. Ibid. — 4. Luc. x, 3 ; Marc, xvi, 15. i. Gen. ix, 21, 3 . _ 2. 5 Rule, ch. ij. - 5. Lug. x, 16. 53 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE ARBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 59 1 Chrisio legatione fmigimur tamqaam Deo cxhortante per nos . heart towards his word that we may the better put it into Hence the word they speak is not "as the word of men, practice. Inclina aurem l cordis tui . If the mind alone hears s " but (as it is indeed) the word of God . For do you not without the heart's co-operation, God's word does not bring know, says St. Paul again, it is " Christ that speaketh in forth all its fruit. If you do not listen to the word of 3 In me loquitur Christus ? me": him, who holds the place of Christ towards you, with faith, the obligation that all lawful Thus pastors have of dis- humility and in a childlike spirit, as St. Benedict desires tributing the bread of doctrine to their flock cannot suffer z (admonitionem patris) , but in a spirit of criticism or simply dispensation. This obligation reaches the Abbot who, as we with a closed heart, this word, even if it came from a saint, have seen, according to the will of St. Benedict, and in virtue would remain barren 3 and might even be hurtful . And on of his appointment, is missus, that is to say established the day of judgment we shall be asked to give an account the Church over portion by a of Christ's flock. of all the teachings by which we have not chosen to profit. But the word of the Abbot, like that of each one sent by Therefore the Psalmist exclaims : "Today if you shall hear Christ, like that of Christ Himself, does not always produce [the Lord's] voice, harden not your hearts": Hodie si the same effects. What was said of the Humanity of Jesus, vocem eius audieritis, i nolite obdurare corda vestra . And namely, that it " set fall, was for the and for the resurrection how do we harden our hearts ? By pride of spirit. " : " of many Ecce positus est hie in ruinam et inresurrectionem Yea rather, Blessed are they who hear the word of multorum 4 is true of every " , evangelical word. It is a seed of God and keep it, even when they are, or think themselves, life, hut it only bears fruit, as the Word declares, in well more learned than the one who speaks : Beati qui audiunt 6 5 disposed hearts . Christ is the Son of God, Eternal Wisdom ; verbum Dei . Receiving this word (it is still the same idea) all His teaching, full of the unction of the " Holy Ghost, is, as with a good and perfect heart" : corde bono et Optimo, they Himself declares, " B " " " He spirit and life . And yet during will bring forth at the heavenly harvest that hundredfold the years of His ministry what did those men say who listened that " very much fruit ". which alone rejoices our Heavenly to Him while their .hearts were not right with God, those Father because in this is He glorified : In hoc clarificatus who tried to entrap in ? " s Him His speech This saying is est Pater mens, ut fructum plurimum ajferatis . hard " ; and who can hear it ? Durus est hie sermo, et quis potest 1 turn audire ? Were these hearers, these disciples, VII. lacking in intelligence ? No, but their hearts resisted. And the result of this inward attitude was that they left Jesus To docility of mind, St. Benedict wishes the monk to to their own great loss " " " and walked no more with Him : ojin obedience of action and for the love of God to submit Et jam non cum Mo ambiilabant 6 " . Consider the behaviour himself to his superior in all obedience : Pro Dei amore of the Apostles under these 7 same circumstances. They hear omni o bedientia se subdat majori . But as the great Patriarch the same Jesus pronounce the same words, but, for these devotes a special and important chapter to this virtue, we lm u ri ht hearts th P S ' ey are the words of will treat is here is « £i? salvation : of it further on. What to be noted a Will you also " go away ? asks the Master. And they twofold aspect very characteristic of St. Benedict's teaching. answer ' Lord, to : whom shall we go ? Thou hast the On the one hand there is a rare width of view in the 8 " words of eternal life . Whence arises the difference be- material organisation of the monastic life ; on the other tween these two groups of souls ? From the dispositions hand, an almost boundless fidelity to the least details of the of the heart. ^ observance, when once established by authority, is required. There is an important word at -the beginning of the Pro- Far removed from all parti-pris, from all formalism, the logue The great Patriarch invites us to receive his teaching Lawgiver of monks leaves the regulation of many details, with joy , hbenler, and teils us to incline the ear of our i. St Gregory likewise employs this expression more than once : Si ipse verba Dei audit qui ex Deo est, et audire verba ejus non potest quisquis de illo I] 0r V, 2 ~ Zm Um "BXpissetis a nobis verbum non est, interroget se unusguisqtte si verba Dei in aure cordis percipit; et intelligtl «7^W L£ ;,, °i' 7 ^ audilus Dei acceblrti-: itnde sit. Homilia 18 in Evang. — 2. Prologue of the Rule, — 3. S* Paul speaks of the enlightening of the eyes of the heart as necessary for knowing I5 - L 6 - Joan - VI 6 U - <- the truth. (Eph. 1, 18.) — 4. Ps. xciv, 8. — 5. Luc. xi, 38. — 6. Joan, xv, S^ftr* - ~i-™^?~ t. ml-6 9 im. ^ 8. — 7. Rule, ch. vii. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 6o THE ABBOT, CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVE 6l

even points of consequence, to the Abbot's sometimes power attitudes ? How reconcile these extreme requirements with Thus in the matter of food, he refrains of discretion. from these broad views ? St. Benedict had too enlightened a mind quantity or quality with too much precision, for fixing, the to place monastic perfection in such or such a detail of the " everyone has his proper gift from God x " in what regards common life taken in itself : it would have been a pharisaical

necessities ; in case of illness or delicate health, corporal he tendency repugnant to his great soul. These details un- " use. of 2 generally allows the meat , and more a moderate doubtedly have their importance, but they do not constitute 3 ' of wine ; when the labour of the monks is harder than use the matter of perfection. The form of perfection is some- has the faculty of increasing the usual, the Abbot customary thing far higher. It is the absolute tradition of the monk portion 4 ". St. Benedict leaves a like latitude in what to God's Will by a loving and generous obedience. This is quality of the clothing : concerns the the Abbot is to decide why St. Benedict shows himself so exacting once this Will to the requirements of " according the climate and other is manifested, for the obedience which is given to supe- 5 considerations . In the matter of penances and " punishments riors is given to God : Obedientia quae majoribus praebelur, for faults committed, much is left again to the 1 " Abbot's Deo exhibetur . Therefore, he adds, Those who burn with 6 " judgment : Culparum modus in abbaiis pendet arbitrio ; we love of eternal life... desire to have an Abbot over them. find the same discretion, — and this seems astonishing — Our holy Father St. Benedict does not say that they " sup- relatively to the distribution of " psalms in the Divine Office : port the authority of the head of the monastery, but that

in proposing an order to be adopted in the , " psalmody, the they " desire it : A bbatem sibi praeesse desiderant ~. So holy Legislator adds that he does not wish to impose this true is it that the holy Legislator sees in the obedience given order; if any Abbot finds a better arrangement, he is free through love the very path that leads us to God : Scientes 7 to adopt it . 3 se per hanc viam ituros ad Deum . The extent of. the Abbot's authority is, in some ways, Ever faithful to his essentially Christian method, the great indefinite. All, from the and cellarer down to the last Patriarch places before the eyes of his sons the One Example of the brethren, must submit to the decision of of all : the Abbot ; perfection Christ Jesus. By obedience to their Abbot, In abbaiis pendeat arbitrio, utquod salubrius esse judicaverii, they will imitate Him Who said : "I came not to do Mine 6 et cuncti obediant ; every action 4 " done knowingly without own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me . the Abbot's authorisation is imputed to presumption and, Never let us lose sight of this essential principle placed however slight a matter it may be, its author will be by St. Benedict at the very head of his Rule ; it perfectly

subjected to a penance : Vindictae regulari subjacent qui prae- synthetises our whole life ; it lights us all along our path like sumpserit... quippiam quamvis parvum sine abbaiis iv..,sione a luminous and kindly beacon. The Abbot holds the place facere*. This entire submission naturally extends' to the of Christ. He is the head of the monastic society, the high use of material objects '* : It is not licit to have anything priest and pastor. The monks should show him a humble whatsoever that the Abbot has not given, or authorised to and sincere affection, great docility of spirit and perfect receive Nee liceat _: qmdquam habere quod A bbas non dederit obedience. 1 aid permtsenl *. St. Benedict goes still further- even the A Benedictine community animated by such sentiments supererogatory acts of mortification that the monks wish to becomes veritably the palace of the King, a Paradise where undertake are accounted by 5 him presumption andvainglorv Justice and Peace give one another the kiss of union . and as unworthy of reward, if the Abbot has not been From such souls who are " truly seeking God " goes up the consulted in this respect and if " they have not had the inward, silent cry : Father, Thy will be done on earth as C n n and f " °- Ws ra ers it is in Heaven : Pater, voluntas tua stent in coelo et in °^ ° P y " " Let everything fiat K^fthen be done r l with the approval of the " terra ! Abbot : Ergo cum By humble prayer, constant dependence on Eternal voluntatt abbahs 11 omnia agenda sunt Wisdom, and close union with the Prince of Pastors, the How are we to explain these apparently contradictory Abbot will endeavour to know this Divine will and set it xL before 2 bid c xxv x - his brethren ; it is for them to do it with generous x - I™. ' - 3 Ib:d <*• XL d^£ix _i iJd ch 6 si - - - 4- V t -' lbkL obedience inspired by love. - 8. Ibid. ch. in. - 7 ch - XVI »- - 9 ibid ch™LXVU VriI0 ' Ibld ch. - ^- ch. xxxni. i xlix. — ii. Ibid. and VI, 2. Rule, ch. v. — 3. Ibid. ch. lxxi. — 4. Ibid. ch. vii ; cf. Joan. 38; — 5. Ps. lxxxiv, 11. 62 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK

And when (again to take up St. Benedict's words) ^the Lord looks down to see if there be any who seek Him, He will find, in such a Community, hearts that are pleasing to Him love will because they imitate the Son of His ; He behold IV. — THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY. the realisation, as it were, of that ideal whereof He Himself " speaks by His Spirit in the Scriptures : This is the genera- tion of them that seek Him, of them that seek the face of Summary. — I. Hierarchical relations of the Abbot with the monies. " the God of : Haec est gcneralio quacrentium Eum, ,— II. Forms of activity - that are to be manifested in the 2 . monastic society quaereniitim faciem Dei Jacob : prayer.— .HI. Work ; thespiritthat should inspire it. — IV. Stability in the common life. — V. Mutual Nothing more vividly translates all this admirable and fruit- relations of the members of the Cenobitical society. — VI. Stability ful supernatural doctrine than the conventual Mass celebrated likewise attaches monks to their cloister. by the Abbot surrounded by his sons. Vested in the insignia of his dignity, the head of the monastery offers the Sacred foundation stone of the cenobitical Victim to God, or rather, through his ministry, Christ, the The society having been laid in the person of the Supreme High Priest and universal Mediator, offers Himself Abbot, it remains for us, in order to complete to the Father. The Abbot offers up to Heaven the homage, our broad outline of the Benedictine idea, to examine more closely the vows, the very hearts of his monks, whence arises a the divers elements whence result the organic life perfume of sacrifice and of love, which the Father receives, and intimate existence of this society. through Christ, in the odour of sweetness : in odorem suavi- 3 We will first treat of the Abbot's relations with tatis . the monks from the hierarchical point of view ; In this solemn moment of the holy Oblation, when voices — we will next see what sort of activity ought to be manifested in the framework are blended in one and the same praise, hearts uplifted in of this organisation, an activity which is summed up in the same spirit of adoration and love towards God, the Abbot prayer and work ; then stability in the common life will worthy of the name, can repeat the words uttered in the appear to us as one of the characteristic elements presence of His Disciples by the Divine Pastor, when He was of cenobiti- cal existence about to give life " ; — and we will conclude by indicating what His for His sheep : Father, Thine they should be the dispositions of those who dwell in the were, and to me Thou gavest them... I pray not that Thou monastery, so that the ideal formed by the great Patriarch shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst may be attained. keep them from evil... " May they be one among themselves and with me, as Thy Son is One with Thee... may Thy love \'£ abide in them, and to all may it one day be given to contemplate the glory of Thy Christ, and to be partakers of We have already Thy blessed fellowship with Thy beloved remarked that there is a striking analogy Son and the HolvJ Spirit. between the government instituted by St. Benedict and that of the Church, and this should in nowise astonish us in a i. Prologue, 3'. — 2. Ps. xxiir, 6. — Exod. xxix, 41. Rule coming from one in whom the Christian sense is so closely 1 allied to the Roman genius . You know that the constitution given by Eternal Wisdom to His Church establishes a monarchical and hierarchical form of government, reflecting upon earth God's supreme

r - This is evidently only an analogy ; if points of similitude exist between the Church and the monastery, there are also differences, and some are considerable. We at once see those that are most important ; in certain cases the Sovereign Pontiff is infallible, the head of the monastery nevei enjoys this; privilege ; the Pope's authority is universal, that of the Abbol is restricted, etc. . : ;

64 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 65 monarchy in Heaven and the hierarchy which reigns there. he wishes the Abbot to call together the brethren, and himself At the basis of the visible body which is His Church, lay before them the matter in question and ask their advice. Christ Jesus has placed a visible foundation, Peter and his And the reason our holy Legislator gives for this consultation successors. From them all power and jurisdiction is derived. is that it is often to the younger of the brethren that the Lord In the same way, our Blessed Father makes the entire judicious 1 gives the most views . And this shows us once organisation of the monastery depend upon the Abbot; more the supernatural spirit that guided St. Benedict's pen Nos vidimus expedire... in abbatis pendere arbilrio ordinalio- in the drawing up of the Rule. This consultation is however nem monasterii sui K From the supreme abbatial authority very different from those which are held in parliaments." flows all the activity of the monastery, and all delegation : " St. Benedict wishes the brethren to give their advice in the principal officials in the monastery, the prior, cellarer, all humility and subjection, without stubbornly upholding deans are instituted by the Abbot. St. Benedict says that their opinion." Then, the advice having been heard, it belongs the Abbot is to appoint the Prior himself and for himself to the Abbot to examine the matter himself and take z the Ordinet ipse sibi praeposiium . Not only does the first course which he considers to be best : Et audiens consilium investiture of these officials depend on the power of the Abbot, fratrum tractet 2 apud se, et quod utilins judicaverit faciat . but,in the exercise of their charges, they must not undertake Doubtless, the Abbot must regulate everything with foresight or carry out anything beyond the orders or wishes of the and equity ; for he will have to render 3 rigorous account of Abbot . his administration to One Who is Infinite Justice. Further- This centralisation of power within the hands of the Abbot more, the Church in her canon law has fixed the guaranties is one of the most distinct ideas in the monastic code. which surround several determined cases, such as the recep- tion of , in which the conclusion of the affair depends Absolute as is the Abbot's authority, we know however that on the vote of the Community. it is not arbitrary. The Sovereign Pontiff, in his teaching, As long as the question is in suspense, one ought to speak must follow Christ's doctrine and the spirit of tradition ; with humble frankness, at need with respectful boldness in the same way, the Abbot, says St. Benedict, must not but once the Abbot has taken his decision, all, says St. Bene- teach, ordain, or command anything contrary to the Divine dict,^ 5 must obey: Ei cuncti obediant . To murmur then, precepts in all ; things he must, like his brethren follow to discuss the matter judged, contendere, is an attitude that the Rule : Omnes in omnibus sequantur Regulam; but, as the holy Legislator rigorously condemns, because it is un- Christ's Vicar is the authorised interpreter of the laws of worthy and disloyal ; besides, nothing is more opposed to the Church, so it is for the Abbot to regulate and, if needs the spirit of faith and to the loving submission which should be to decide the meaning of the letter of the monastic characterise code make the true monk. modifications and permit the exceptions that he judges expedient for the good of the 4 community That palria potestas granted to the Abbot by our Blessed Moreover the Abbot is not left to his own lights. The Father St. Benedict gives us an insight into the family charac- Conned of Cardinals surround the Pope and guide him in ter which Kingdom many circumstances the cenobitical life ought to bear. The ; the Abbot likewise finds counsel in the of God is a family. liturgy often uses the seniors semores, who We see that the enlighten him in manifold ordinary " 4 occasions expression God's household " to designate the Church. where the life of the Abbey is interested. All Christians, God's children by the grace of adoption, form, St. Benedict goes further. In affairs where the spiritual in or temporal fact, one family of whom the eldest is the Only-begotten interests of the monastery are seriously concerned' Son, the Son of the Heavenly Father's delight. All the other members are to resemble this eldest Son, according to the degree of their union with Him ; they are pleasing hil aciat custodial. *%*"? i > 1™* jubentur oZacZeiln^JrTnhl V to God in the measure of perfection wherewith they reproduce cum ProkiburiF^Z^^^&J^to^ sub cum La; I gnibus omnibus secundum 1 eenuU "' in the features of this Only-begotten One become the Firstborn \ I T • Cafi «ftx "frt"Xt ,s h< noted that the Sovereign " ?£'* 4 ' wever to be Pontifl k m!f™ tU ~I 1. Rule, ch. in. Ibidi Hi. 4. Collect for fifth Sunday laws since ^interpreter of the Church's — 2. Ibid. — 3. ch. — he himself ^thc lawgfvS after after Pentecost, Epiphany ; first Sunday in Lent; twenty-first Sunday 66 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 67

multitude of brethren. This is indeed their divine of a age, nor yet human pride, are in accordance with this, but " " predestination ; Praedcsiinavit [nos] conformes fieri ima- it is still the one most in conformity with the letter and 1 multis . ginis Filii sui, ut sit ipse frimogcnitus in jratribus spirit of the Rule of the Lawgiver of monks. Where monks this household of God, upon earth, the Sovereign Pontiff " " In sincerely seek God, the closest union knits the sons to visible Father. The Abbot holds the same role in is the their father, and peace, the fruit of the Spirit of Love, the little monastic family; he is truly, according to the reigns in minds f-nd hearts. " great Patriarch's own words, " the Father of the monastery who has to provide for all the needs of his children : Omnia II. 2 a Paire monasicrii sperare . All is ordered in this household calls of 3 " which our Blessed Father "the house God in We have now to see what is to be the kind of activity such a way that the members may reproduce in themselves developed in the religious family thus constituted. This the features of the Eldest Brother, in Whose footsteps they is activity summed up in two points : prayer and work, are to tread. ora et labora. From this same principle of the patria potestas likewise Our Blessed Father, in founding the cenobitical life, had flows the following application, generally confirmed by tra- no particular end in view such as the care of the poor, the dition, although the letter of it is not explicitly found in evangelisation of nations, literary studies, scientific labours. the : Rule the power of the Abbot, like that of the Sovereign This it is that radically distinguishes the Monastic Order Pontiff, is for life, is that to say, Providence alone is to put from several later orders and institutes. If we here permit an end to the exercise of his authority at the same time as ourselves to establish such or such a comparison with other to his days. In other institutes of more modern times, forms of religious life, it is not to exalt the one and the Superiors called , Guardians, Rectors, are elected depreciate the other. Certainly nothing is further from our every three years ; for these institutes this is a condition mind. Religious orders are the flowers wherewith the Holy of vitality and perfection ; in the Monastic Society which Spirit has adorned the Church, the Garden of the Spouse. " forms one family, the Abbot, called Father ", normally Each of them has its particular beauty, its special splendour ; keeps in power during his life. This is one of the characte- each occupies a place in Christ's Heart and glorifies the ristics of the cenobitical life, and cannot be modified without, Heavenly Father by its works. But, according to the atthe same time, striking a blow at one of the essential nature of a thought of St. Thomas > in order to grasp the principles of our institution. For the monk, this continuity thing, it is useful to comprehend not only what it is but of the Abbot's power secures to him in a larger measure also what it is not ; in order to define, it is necessary to that " " good of obedience which he came to seek in the distinguish. cloister. Moreover this form of government is traced upon All religious leave the goods of this world that they may that which Christ Himself, Eternal " Wisdom, has given to imitate Christ : Behold we have left all things, and have His Church. " followed Thee : Ecce nos reliquimus omnia; et seculi sumns No one would think 1 _ of denying that this institution has te . However, the manner of following or imitating Christ its disadvantages; experience has shown that there have been differs for- religious orders according to the nature of their bad Abbots, as, m ecclesiastical history, unworthy particular vocation. Some are for the evangelisation of the are to be found. But no human system is exempt from poor; others for that of the heathen ; here, an institute is disadvantages. Against these, moreover, makes the Church has founded for the education of children ; there, another provided its guarantees and remedies in the monastic preaching its special end. We at once see that this particular government by Canonical visitations, General Chapters and end, by subordinating all energies and efforts to its influence other stipulations. r gives the society its direction, its specific character and its However this may be, the monarchial and absolute own modality. characterof the authority of the head of " " 2 Himself; that the monster? The monk seeks God in Himself , for remains: undoubtedly neither the democratic spirit of the is the adequate goal of all monastic life, that which gives i. Rom. viii, 29. — 2 . Rule, ch. xxxm. — 3> Ibid. ch. xxxi. 1. Matth. xix, 27. —. 2. Rule, ch. lviii. THE CENOBITICAL 6S CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK SOCIETY 6g

different forms of activity the end that he proposes to himself : union with God. it all its value and beauty. The There- constitute the goal of. his fore this work is indispensable in every of work, zeal or charity do not monastery, and other and manifestations works depend on the circumstances of place, life, but are at once the consequences time, and " necessary l " according persons, and can only be undertaken of this seeking after the one thing , in the measure that the perfection of the Saviour's counsels. they do not interfere with the primal character of the Divine to ^ The holy Patriarch, in writing his Rule, wished to found Office. That is and must remain the chief work excelling a supernatural society, a school of perfection in the practice all others, because it is, according to St. Benedict's beautiful " " 1 all its amplitude, a centre expression, the Work of God : of evangelical holiness taken in , the one that of the pure Christian spirit. The members of this society directly glorifies God, at the same time that it becomes who have left all worldly possessions in order to follow for the monk the most natural, important and fruitful source Christ, this Christ to Whom nothing must be preferred : Cui of his inmost prayer and assiduous intercourse with our 2 nihil praeponendum , strive to attain to union with God by Lord. the practice, as perfect as possible of the precepts of the Gos- pel and the counsels of Christ : Per ducatum Evangelii perga- III. mtts itinera ejus*. To this society St. Benedict gives an organisation modelled upon that which the Word Incarnate Important as is the Divine Office, it is not, as we have has chosen for His Church. Now in the works that the seen, and it cannot be the end and aim of the monastic life :

Christian has to perform, all have not the same importance that aim must necessarily be sought for higher ; neither is in God's sight ; those are more pleasing to Him that spring it the exclusive work nor the chief characteristic of our most directly from the highest virtues or are most closely vocation ; we are not Canons and we have not been gathered allied to them, such as the theological virtues and the virtue together directly for office in choir. In fact, neither the of religion. This is why certain duties relating to the virtue Rule, which wishes the monk to give himself in a very of religion are so grave that they are commanded to all notable measure to reading and work, nor tradition authorises Christians without distinction, such as assistance at Holy us to admit that the work of God constitutes a special 2 Maos, the reception of certain sacraments, prayer, — while prerogative of our Order . as for other works the greatest liberty is left to each one ; To Liturgical and mental prayer, work must necessarily no occupation is imposed in preference to another, no honest be joined : Ora etlabora. The whole of monastic tradition profession is interdicted, as long as it does not hinder the shows us that when these two means, prayer and work, obligations of religion. have been most held in honour the most abundant fruits of In a " school 4 " of Christian perfection , we must naturally monastic holiness have been brought forth. expect to see this principle affirmed and accentuated. In It is clear a priori that work is necessary to the monk the supernatural society founded by St. Benedict, of which in order to attain the holiness of his vocation. We must the aim is to pursue the perfection of evangelical holiness, not forget indeed that work is an essential part of the homage a preponderant place will naturally be given to the practice that the reasonable creature owes to God. Fashioned in the of the virtue of religion. This is one of the reasons why nowise the holy Legislator dedicates so many chapters of his Rule aeddsns, the monk can sanctify himself without office in choir, it is in the to organising 5 same without obedience. the Divine Office . This constitutes the work 1. Rule, ch. XLin, XLViiandm. — 2. "In short, Canonical prayer is, of " " life, because works, that to which nothing is to be preferred, and without doubt, the noblest of the elements of the Benedictine kinds ot it refers directly all, it leaves room for many that is to become for to God ; but, after the monk, with the lectio divina, labour, the rest. activity without being the necessary and indispensable end of all and what is furthermore with Uiar ordained by the vows, especially Its chosen place among all the exercises of the monk, corresponds Christians . that of obedience 6 the which it held in the regard and in the daily life of the Primitive , most authentic means of attaining D. G. Mo.rw< The Ideal of the Monastic life found in the Apostolic Age, by I C 1 C 2- IV O. In this little <& and LXXn - Prologue. Ibid, S. B., C. Gunning, p. 105. ; ic '^'tf Tu*" ^' — 3- — 4. translated from the French by ~ n lite that, historically and critically, yo ume established how the religious deveiomnfnt* the considerable of great originality, the author has WpC e lct ves t0 tJle is linked primitive Church such as the ? °t>us Dti in «"> text of his Rule to the life led by the faithful of the come from th P f,,ft?h f ^ (hth Christians ot au m the 5 century, the " " not yet Acts have as' a lasting example to unWorml^COn,tihftB ?»' was brought them down to us / U Was nec s a time, fruitfulness in the bcciesw ? T to give a regulation to this monks. and as the model of holiness, fortitude and —~6lfflS6. Ev:dently, obediencenw- f accepted for love is the supreme means. Per pcrcimis. ;

70 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 71

divine image, man ought to imitate his Creator. Now, God in imitation of Himself and for our example, Christ Jesus " ", " " ;" is the great Worker : My Father said Jesus, worketh shall be a workman an artisan; and Christ accepts " until now ; and I work : Pater metis usque modo operator and carries out this will. Is He not called in the Gospel all " " 1 et ego operor \ Although God finds happiness in Himself, the carpenter's son ; Fabri filius ? Although He is con- He has willed to rejoice in the works of His hands ; He saw scious of His Godhead, of the greatness of the work that " " 2 : it that creation was very good valde bona , that perfectly He comes to do upon earth, He passes thirty years of His " responded to His eternal thoughts : The Lord shall rejoice life in the obscure labour of a poor workshop. His apostolic " s in His works : Laetabitur Dominus in operibus sui$ . God journeys during His public life, what are they but continual also delights in the harmonious play of the activity of His and indefatigable toil, offered for His Father's glory and the creatures which glorify Him by acting in conformity to the salvation of souls ? laws of their nature. If it is true that the monk ought to carry out to per- Work is one of the laws of human nature, as we see in fection the programme of Christian life which finds in Christ the book of Genesis. After the narration of the creation its first and authentic Exemplar, he must necessarily give to of the world, it is added that God placed man in a garden work an important part of his life. of delight. What was he to do there ? Pass his life in repose and contemplation ? No, to cultivate this garden The forms and objects of this work are manifold. and to keep it: Ut operaretur et custodiret ilium*. Thus According to the letter of the Rule, the time that the monk even before the fall, God wished Adam to work, because has to dispose of, outside the time of Divine Office, is devoted work allows of the exercise of human powers and energies. to manual work or to reading, taken in the wide sense of " Only, by innocent man work was done with ease and delight the word, which helps towards " the seeking after God. it was moreover a hymn of praise, a song arising from the The holy Legislator devotes a whole chapter to manual 2 whole human being towards God. labour ; he allows arts and crafts to be practised in the 3 After sin entered the world, the Lord renewed to man the monastery ; but it is only in case of necessity that the monks 4 promulgation of the law of labour ; but this law was hence- themselves are to gather in the crops .

forth to cost Adam the sweat of his brow : In sudore vultus Little by little, in consequence of an evolution which had B i«t' . Toil became painful, arduous, thankless; it is, with its principle in the Rule itself, and has been accentuated death, the great penance, the supreme mortification inflicted since monks were raised to the priestly dignity, intellectual on sinful man. Our Blessed Father does not speak explicitly work has taken the place of manual labour. in his Rule of the hair shirt e We cannot consider the aspects of the and discipline , but he devotes here manifold work several chapters to work; work is a true penance, and it accomplished by monachism in the course of ages. What is impossible for one who shirks it to advance in union with it is_ especially important to establish at this moment, is God. Why indeed did we come to the monastery ? " To the inner spirit that is to vivify and sanctify all the work " seek God. And our law is to find God not only in prayer, of the monk. And what is this spirit ? That of obedience. but also in labour. We find Him in the measure in which The great Patriarch did not intend to found an agricultural we glorify Him, and we glorify Him by freely putting forth or industrial concern, nor to institute a , but a our energies in school 5 the service of His sovereign will. To seek of perfection . And here we do not come to seek the our ease and a base well-being in idleness, is to go against satisfaction of self-love, the pleasure of the mind, the joys " 6 the Divine Plan, and such behaviour cannot incline God to of dilettantism. We come here to seek God ;" otherwise give us His favours. we might have stayed in the world : we could have done Let us contemplate, too, how God acts with His Divine there just as well what we do here. Son when this Son is made man. The Father wills that, But we know the most direct path whereby we find God

i. Joan, v, 17. 3. at. in the monastery is that of obedience : Scientes se per hanc — Gen. 1, — 3. Ps. cm, 31. — 4. Gen. n, 15. — 5. lt>id. hi, 19. — 6. Special practices of afflictive 7 penance are clearly indicated, obedientiae viam ituros ad Detim . St. Benedict accounts as although not .in so many words, in treating of the observance of Lent (eta. y lv p jested, and individual initiative — Sii »,„» . ?*« l ? K infra 1. Matth. xiii, — 2. Rule, ch. xlviii. — 3. Ibid. ch. lvii. — 4. Ibid. ch. 8^5LS^y5!£&? ^t-taeplw * l-gepart. CI. 55. xlviii. — 5. Prologue. — 6. Rule, ch. lviii, — 7. Ibid. ch. lxxi. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL 72 SOCIETY 73 " 1 " presumption and vain glory the mortifications that the the end of his life to his abbey and the community of which'-' monk undertakes without having submitted them to the he makes a part. But this will only be well pleasing to approbation of authority. It is the same for work ; that God if we observe the spirit of it by our loving observance too is to be undertaken and performed with the blessing of the practices of cenobitical life. and permission of the Abbot ; cum [A bbatis] fiat oraiioni To understand clearly the importance of this point, it is et vohmtateK It is obedience that blesses our efforts, and needfiri to recall a principle which you already know, but assures success as God sees it, because it is obedience that which is so capital that it is always useful to bring it brings down upon us and our works light from above, the again to light. " first source of all fruitfulness. May the brightness of the All God's mercies towards us come from our predestination Lord shine upon us, and direct, G God, the works of our in Jesus Christ. This is one of the most explicit notions of 1 " sit no's, et hands : Et splendor Domini super opera manuum St. Paul, of that Apostle who was chosen and formed by 3 nostrarum dirigc . Such is the prayer which was formerly Christ Himself and caught up to the third heaven. From recited at the Chapter immediately before the distribution of the solitude of his prison, he writes to the Ephesians that the day's work. the aurora of every grace is the eternal election that God " The monk who lives in God's light knows well that every has made of us in His Word, in His Son : Blessed be the God work that obedience does not impose or ordain, approve and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us is himself or uphold, barren for and for the Kingdom of with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ ; as He " God : it is in vain that we labour to build up the city of chose us in Him : Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nosiri souls, unless God, by the way of obedience, helps us by His Jesu Christi, qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spirituali... grace and blessing : Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in sicui elegit nos in ipso \ By a free movement of love, God vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant earn*. willed to elect the human race, to choose us to be His chil-

dren ; but, before all things, He began, if we may thus speak, IV. by predestinating the Humanity of His Son Jesus Christ. In the Divine thought, Christ Jesus is " the Firstborn of of " s One the characteristics of cenobitical life, as conceived every creature : Primogeniius omnis creaturae . Therefore " and organised by St. Benedict, is stability ". God showers upon this Human Nature " all the treasures of 3 The great Patriarch wishes the monastery to possess, as wisdom and knowledge * " so that it is truly " full of grace far as be, all that is 4 can necessary to its subsistence, for and truth , "the object, consequently, of all the Father's " it is by no means expedient for their souls that monks delight. " 5 should go abroad uselessly : vagari foras . The world for But Christ draws and unites to Himself the whole of which Christ Jesus declared 6 that He prayed not , has its humanity that He comes to redeem and save ; and God, in maxims, its morals, its ways of acting which are opposed Christ and by Christ, extends His graces and good pleasure to the Christian and supernatural spirit ; its atmosphere is upon the Mystical Body of Jesus. All which is not in union fatal to the soul that wishes to safeguard the fragrance of with Christ does not exist, so to speak, for God ; union with the life hidden in God : Vita vestra est abscondita cum Christo Christ is the essential condition of our salvation and holiness, 7 in Deo . It is the cloister that, properly speaking, constitu- as it was of our election : it was in Him that we were chosen ; tes the social and moral sphere of the monk where his soul Elegit nos in ipso. will most naturally unfold in God. Therefore the true Now how do we abide in Christ, in ipso ? Through the monk in nowise seeks, even under pretext of zeal, to go Church. Since the Ascension, the normal regular way of our out of his cloister he ; leaves himself on this point to the union With Christ, and of safeguarding this union, is to make prescriptions of obedience. part of the visible organisation that He founded. In the Unknown before " St. Benedict's time, stability becomes in same way as the body of Jesus united to His soul was the the Rule the object of " a vow: the monk is attached until instrument of the Divinity and the channel of graces, so grace reaches us only -if we belong to the body of the Church. 4 " 5 Rule ch * * ~ - - LXVI 6 ' - - xvn, CoL "n, 3. — Jo^. 9. — 7. 1. Eph. 1, 3-4. — 2. Col. 1, 15. — 3- Ibid, n, 3. — 4. Joan- h H* ; ;

THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE 74 CHRIST, CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 75

is, with faith, 1 incorporates us to this body souls comes from Him , Baptism which our through His Son Jesus ; Christ " All the first condition of all grace as of all salvation. unites us to Himself only in His Church, the dispenser of " " power, Christ has said, is given to Me in heaven and in her Bridegroom's graces. In order to partake of these " " x he that earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations ; graces, we must abide in this visible organisation and live 2." believeth and is baptized, shall be saved Such is the law by its life. established by Christ Himself and ratified by the Father " 3 " " Who hath given all things into His hand . No man The religious Orders and Institutes raised up by the " cometh to the Father, is pleasing to -the Father, receives Spirit of God, recognised and approved by the Church, and the gifts of the Father, but by Jesus : Nemo venit ad Patrem associated in an and canonical manner to the nisi per me*; no man, (I am speaking of the law and of Church, possess, on this account, a closer union with the

the normal way ; we know that in certain cases, the baptism Bride of Christ ; their members, having thus become the " of desire suffices and that many of our "separated brethren privileged ones of the Church, acquire a new and special title live in entire good faith), no man, we say, is united to Christ to Divine blessings. except through the Church, nor receives His doctrine nor But these singular graces only reach our souls in the same partakes of His grace except through the Church. This is measure that we live by the organic life of the Society in fact, because Christ is the head of His Mystical Body whereof we are members. This is an important truth. In " E " the Church is of His flesh, and of His bones , says St.Paul the same way that we enter into contact with Jesus through now, continues the Apostle, " no man ever hateth his own the Church on the day of our Baptism, so we enter into the " flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it that it may come current of religious grace on the day of our Profession : to perfection. This is what Jesus does through His vivifying henceforward we have an effectual part in it, according to Spirit. the degree in which we live the common life. " We at once understand that the more we live by the life What do we ask on the day of our Clothing ? God's of the Church, through acceptation of her teaching, obedience mercy and the companionship of His servants. " It is the to her precepts and the practice of her worship, the more one that brings us the other. If we put aside the common abundant share we have in the blessings that Jesus ceases life, which is the sign of our particular divine election,we not to pour out upon His Bride. Truth and the light that shall be like wrecks stranded on the riVerbank, doubtless still

' shines from it in the soul are more fruitful in so far as we lapped by the tide, but no longer lifted up and borne along are more closely united to the Church. on its impetuous living waters. We likewise understand what a terrible penalty it is for You see then of what capital importance it is for the a soul to be separated of the from the Church by excommunication ;. religious to live the common life, in the framework it is to be separated as for from the very fount of grace ; like a established and accepted' organisation ; for the monk, branch cut off from the stem, the nourishing sap no longer the Christian, excommunication even in the simply monastic it reaches ; it is no longer good for anything but to be cast sense, such as instituted by St. Benedict, constitutes a terrible into the fire. As the etymology of the word indicates, ex- penalty. communication cuts the soul off from the communion of There are some minds, says the holy Legislator, unable Saints, from the solidarity of " 6 " the great harm the blessed of the Father , to grasp the greatness of this penalty, or and from aU the graces of light and strength that God sheds that can be wrought in the soul by being excluded from upon souls in His Patriarch has Son Jesus ; it is like the anticipated shadow the common life by the Superior. The great of final excommunication and " transgressions ; but supreme malediction : De- pronounced excommunication for certain " part from Me, ye cursed : Discedile 7 excommunicated brother a me, maledicti . do it not let it be supposed that the Such is, -in broad outline, the Divine plan established is therefore placed beyond the encircling fatherly love that by the Father, after Who has predestined us to share, as' children, the Abbot is to have for his monks. Human love, in His infinite severity beatitude. Every perfect gift which gladdens the example of Divine love, does not always exclude it is manifested quite as much by the just application of i. Matth. xxviii, 1S-19. — 2. Marc, xvi, 16. — 3. Cf. Toan ^ • m v* 22 - 4. Ib.d. xiv, 6. - 5. Epb. v, 30. - 6. Matth. - xxv, 34. 7. Ibi'd^i. 1. Jac. i, 17. ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAT, SOCIETY 76 77 salutary chastisements as by rewards and caresses. That he sometimes chooses the moments which, humanly speaking, may cure the one confided to him, does not use, appear the least favoi able to calm and recollection, to com- separations, to us His lights when there is occasion, prohibitions, and very municate ; — lights which He renders so bitter remedies ? much the more abundant in that the soul is the more attentive not to seek self-satisfaction, but to be conformed by obedience

It is rarely that the Abbot, to whom alone belongs the to the good pleasure from on high ; — lights sometimes power of pronouncing excommunication, ought to apply this lavished to such a degree that the impression of the Bride- penalty, which moreover admits of degrees. But, unless we groom's embrace remains ineffaceable, and the soul is for take care, we can practically excommunicate ourselves. And a long time embalmed with the fragrance of the Divine this is equally to be dreaded, perhaps even more so, in visit... that a wholesome reaction is less to be hoped for. occur ? wilful How can this case By . and habitual A monk can excommunicate himself not only by with- infidelities ; by our self-will which gradually withdraws us drawing himself , by unfaithfulness or by mistaken piety, from from the exercises and usages of the common life. Some the exercises, customs and traditions of the common life, souls have the tendency of preferring what they do alone to but also by making himself singular. Everything can serve what is done by the Community, as such ; they imagine, as an opportunity for singularity, even things of piety and for example, that it would be more useful for them to spend devotion. Some find the best pretexts for justifying the time of recreation in the oratory rather than in the midst themselves in their own eyes ; they are persuaded that they of their brethren ; this kind of piety is hot only false in itself, are showing a wider understanding of what should be done, but it is practically sterile, if not worse. How could God they think they are performing brilliant actions. give Himself to souls who put themselves outside Now, St. Benedict himself the current , gives us to understand that this of grace that He has established ? It is impossible. God is often only foolish pride. In fact does it not seem like " only communicates Himself to the docile and faithful soul saying : I know better than others what ought to be " 1 and such we are when, obedient to legitimate authority, done : non sum sictit caeteri ? However ordinary, however we are where this authority wills us to be, and at the hour indifferent may appear the common ways and customs, it and employment it wills us to be. If God does not find us is giving a proof of humility to hold to them and not to do will " " where He looks for us, He not bless us. Blessed are anytning to draw attention to oneself : The eighth degree those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find of humility is when a monk does nothing except what is " watching : Beati servi illi, quos, cum venerit Dominus.inve- commanded by the common Rule of the monastery or by 1 " nerit vigilantes . a the traditions of the seniors . No outward circumstance, besides, can hinder the Divine This point is very important, because grace is hidden in action and its beneficial effect in the soul. Was it not in the humble observance of common customs and traditions. the middle of the street, as she 3 was returning home one God gives His grace to the humble : Humilibus dat gratiam , evening with her young brother Stefano, that St. Catherine whilst pride, the most frequent principle of singularity, of Siena had her first vision, when she saw our Lord, seated separates us from God, and renders us, even if we do not upon a magnificent throne, smile lovingly upon her and see it, insupportable to our neighbour. Look at our Divine trace upon her the sign of the cross ? " And so powerful Saviour. What mpre perfect model of holiness can we con- was this blessing of the Eternal God, that transported out template and imitate ? He is God, Eternal Wisdom Incar- of herself, the child, who by nature was timid, remained nate. All that He does is infinitely pleasing to the Father : standing there, upon the public way, her eyes raised to Hea- Quae filacita sunt ei facio semper*; send that not. only because ven, in the midst of the passing to and fro of men and He is the Son of God, but because He brings to all His 2 " animals . actions a Divine perfection. Now, during thirty years, He What happens in the case of the saints, comes to pass, remains in such self-effacement — just the contrary to sin- all proportion guarded, in every faithful soul : Christ Jesus i. iv, Luc. Petr- Jac 6. — 4 xvui, 41. — 2 . Rule, ch. vi 5 I i. Luc. xn, l to. —3-1 37. — 2 . Jorgcnsen, S Catherine o) Siena. Joan, viii, 39. :

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 78 7j> gularity — that when He begins His public life, He is not the hearts of others by exciting them to distrust him... This " " known otherwise than as the carpenter's son : fabri iiliusK is a sin so utterly contrary to the Christian spirit that we The sublimity of His teaching, the greatness of His miracles, should especially be on our guard against it and act in this cause astonishment because until then He had not brought matter with the greatest delicacy. Himself into notice. And in the acts of His public life, The cenobitical family is one, the cement that joins together what admirable simplicity I He possesses all the treasures its different members is charity. If that is diminished, the of wisdom -. What is our personal wisdom, what is all divine life also tends to be lowered in the social body. What, human wisdom in face of His ? Nothingness and foolishness. in fact, is the distinctive sign whereby the members of the The. true monk, whose gaze is ever fixed upon the Divine Christian family are infallibly recognised, the sign given by

Model, follows with simplicity and uprightness the customs Christ Himself ? It is mutual : ^ love In hoc cognoscent omnes discipuli estis, 1 common to the Community he has entered and which are quia met si dilectionem habuerilis ad invicem . a sign of the unity that Christ wishes to see reigning among It is the same for the monastic family, and the true the members of His Mystical Body. Here exteriorly of the protection of Christ Jesus over a religious Community written for him, as it were, is the practical programme of the is the charity that reigns between its members. Woe to perfection he has vowed to seek. If the devil tries to beguile those who impair, in whatever manner it may be, this spirit us, to make us think that we shall remain more easily united of charity. In rending the of the Bride, they tear to God by living apart, and making ourselves singular, do not from their own soul the Christian sign excelling all others. let listen us to him. If truly, one day, we arrive at. the Christ is one ; He tells us that what we do to the least height of sanctity which St. Benedict requires for , of our brethren — of His brethren — of good or evil, we a and if God so designs, then a cell shall be built for us in a do to Himself . St. Benedict reminds the Abbot of this, solitary corner, and we shall be surrounded with the vene- when he enjoins upon him to love all the brethren without 3 . ration and regard due to so sublime a vocation 1 distinction He wishes too that we should testify towards one In the meanwhile — whether we be simple monks, or another a fervent though chaste love : Caritatem 5 whether the confidence of the Abbot has invested us with a fraternitatis casloimpendant amore . He wills us to translate share in his authority — let us keep to the loving obser- this love by forgetting ourselves, preferring what seems 4 good for others rather seems good for ourselves ; vance of the common life : it is the path the holy Patriarch than what it is this of the invites us to follow, it is the path God wills for us. This love, he again says, which will fill the hearts observance will be like the sign of our stability in good, as brethren with the greatest patience so that they may mutually also that of the permanence of God's grace within us. For endure their infirmities of body or defects of character therein Infirmitates suas sive sive morttm patieniissime we shall, find Christ Jesus ; and the Father, seeing corporum tolerent 5 us united to His Son in all things, will shower upon us, for . His sake and through This lOve will be itself manifested by " obedience one Him, all heavenly blessings : Benedixit 3 towards " nothing contrary has nos in omni benediclione spirituali . another, in matters where been commanded by the will of the Abbot ; a ready submission which can be exercised in many circumstances

when some slight service is asked of us : Etiam sibi invicem 7 From obediant °. sibi certaiim impendant . the point of view of the cenobitical life, the notion fratres Obedientiam Benedict of excommunication can take other shades of meaning and And because he wishes this love to be chaste, St. suggest other lessons. requires it to be accompanied with respect; he recalls St. Paul's " It : honour preferring may happen, and this is no less grave, that a monk recommandation to simple Christians In may himself one. " praeveniant*. What is the "excommunicate" his brethren. This may another : Honore se invicem be done by failing in charity underlying reason for this mutual respect ? It is that every ; by excluding someone, if not from his soul, Holy Spirit. heart, at least from the radiation of his effective in a state of grace, is the of the love. Again one may "excommunicate" someone from Joan, R»k. <* t-xxn. 4 V xiii, 35. — 2. Matth. xxv, 40 and 45. — 3. — . i. Matth. xiii, and 8.1bid. 55. — 2 . Col. n, 3. — 3. Eph. 5. Ibid. ch. lxxii. — 6. Ibid. ch. lxxi.— 7. K»d. ch. lxxii. — 1, 3. " ;

80 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 8l

We ought to havethat respect for others which strikes us fructifies the most thankless labours, he shrinks from in presence of something sacred. It is especially on the part nothing that can profit the common good of this of the young towards the seniors that the holy Legislator portion of the earth, for him blessed amongst all others. " requires this attitude and sense of respect : To reverence His thoughts, his love, his wishes, his , his labours, " 1 in the same way as he gives all " the seniors : Seniores venerare , his life, he them even to his last breath : Let my should shown especially on the_ part of cleave to my palate, if " wishes that love be tongue I do not remember thee : 1 the seniors towards the young brethren : Juniores diligere*; Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero iui ! — but certainly nothing ought to dispense from respect In this Jerusalem, the Church is the centre of the monk's it preserves from that wrong kind of familiarity which is love. The abbatial church is truly for him the building said to breed contempt. where all is sacred to_ God, the cherished dwelling echoing Respect, obedience, love, such is the three-fold character with the harmony of his praises and jubilation and proclaim- of the relations which the great Patriarch wishes to see ing to all the fervour of his faith in the one thrice holy 2 reigning between the members of the cenobitical family. Lord . There, several times a day, with all the members Happy, thrice happy, the community inspired by these of the cenobitical family, the monk extends his suppliant dispositions and where the members form but one heart and arms, like Moses on the mountain, for the intention of his

one soul 1 Our Lord will assuredly shed upon it His most brethren fighting in the plain ; he knows that he can obtain, abundant blessings for it realises the most ardent longing through the ardour and constancy of his prayer, the victory " of His Sacred Heart, the supreme wish of His life : That for the armies of Israel over the enemies of God and of His " they may be made perfect in one : Ut sint consummati in people. Therefore his gaze, enlightened by faith, reaches 3 " " unum . , The sole means that we have, said Venerable out to all that touches God's Kingdom ; his charity stirs " , of showing Others that Christ dwells within us, is up the flame of his devotion, it would reach all the souls the spirit of holy and individed charity": Docel cos non who are struggling in ignorance, error, doubt, misery, tempta- posse aliter dare experimentum Christ; in sc inhabitants nisi tion, suffering, sin ; all who are spending themselves in per spiritum sanclae ac individuae caritatis*. In which this promoting Christ's reign upon earth ; all those too who are great monk was but the faithful echo of Christ Himself: filled with the intense desire of being nearer to our Lord. "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if To render his intercession more efficacious, he joins his prayer you have love one for another. to the all powerful and ever-answered prayer of the Divine Victim with arms stretched out upon the new Calvary which VL is the high altar... With what veneration he surrounds this high altar of the In attaching ourselves to the monastic family, our vow abbatial church, this stone upon which holy oil was poured of stability binds us likewise of to the monastery : therefore and sacred incense burnt 1 This altar has lost nothing the monk ought to extend his iove to the very walls of his that which was solemnly bestowed upon it on the day of cloister. The Abbey is for him its Mass the Jerusalem sancta, the quite the contrary ! The conventual " " ; City of peace where he loves to dwell under the Eye of which, day by day, gathers the cenobitical family around it, Goc, in obedience to Christ's representative, in prayer and consecrates it more and more. Therefore it ought to be dear labour. For this Jerusalem, he repeats each day the Psalmist's to the heart of the monk as it is dear to the Heart of God. " prayer : Let peace be in its stone thy strength : and abundance in Is not this altar, with the five crosses engraved on E thy towers 1 " For his monastery, the true monk, who has to represent Christ's Wounds, the image of "the Son of His a horror of selfishness " vows, (that principle of spiritual sterility) love ? Is it not here that on the blessed day of our knows how to forget our himself, how to spend himself in hard we all placed with our own hands the chart of unremitting toil and the most obscure tasks. Feeling that the monastic profession, thus uniting our oblation more closely love he bears towards it God ennobles the humblest services and to the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus that it may rise up to dilectacivitas plena I- Ps. cxxx, vt. — a. Omnis tiUt Deo sacra — el — tnodulis umcumque — cum in lauds — e.t canorc ptbilo — Tritium Deum Lauds, Urvore praedical. Hymn for the Dedication of a Church at 82 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE CENOBITICAL SOCIETY 83

of sweetness ? Ecce odor fdii mei sicul odor agri in the odour is built up, and that the Heavenly Father is glorified. 1 By pleni, cui bencdixit Dominus . it, the .great Patriarch continues to live in the Church, for it is the Rule that maintains in those who follow it/that In this church where the'very stones breath forth adoration, spirit of sanctification which eminently " made of him the immolation, thanksgiving, supplication, the monk will often " Blessed of God. his the image of the great Patriarch stay steps before to This is why before the image of the holy Lawgiver, we learn from him the unique science of Divine things. Was may greatly rejoice and return most humble thanks to God, hot our holy Lawgiver, " the Man of God ", vir Dei, the great in that we, although unworthy, belong to the holy race that Seer who, at every hour of his magnificent life walked before forms his magnificent posterity. And we should repeat for z God in perfection : Ambula coram me, el esio perfectus ? Is ourselves, for our brethren, for every soul in the city of God, he not the new Abraham, to whom God promised, as a sign this " prayer that the Bride of Jesus places on our lips : Raise of supreme blessing, to make his illustrious name by a up, Lord, in Thy Church the spirit that animated our numerous powerful ? te in and posterity Faciam gentem Blessed Father Benedict, Abbot, that being replenished with magnam, et benedicam tibi, el magnificabo nomen tuum, erisque this same spirit, we may strive to love what he loved and 3 benediclus . in " our actions to practise what he taught : Excita, Domine, St. Benedict appears to us holding in his hand the Rule, in Ecctesia tua, spiritum cui Beaius Pater noster Bcnedictus which his profound humility makes declare to only him be abbas servivitt, ut eodem nos repleli, studeamus amare quod a sketch or " rough outline *. " But we know with what amyxvit et opere exercere quod docuit. spirit of holiness this immortal code overflows ; we know what innumerable cohorts of monks it has sanctified in the course

of an era of many hundred years ; we know with what power- ful help it has served Christ's Church and what signal fruits NOTE of Christian civilisation its observance has gained for the " (The Rule, which his profound humility makes him declare to be only an world. Who can measure the extraordinary influence that " "outline : Hanc minimum inehoationis regulam, p. 82). these few pages [of the Rule] have exercised, during fourteen We must not take words of the holy Patriarch too literally: Here we centuries, over the general development of the ? these certainly have an expression of humility, but there is something more. The Yet St. Benedict thought only of God and of souls desirous Rule of S* Benedict contains both relatively slight material observances and to go to very lofty ascetical directions. In this place, he is only considering the God ; in the tranquil simplicity of his faith he first; he draws a comparison between what he regulates in the way of common purposed only to establish a school of the Lord's service : ordinances and what was done by men such as Antony, Macarius, and even Dommici schola servitii. But, just because of this single- Pachomius. ' minded " From the individual point of view, the Rule embraces not only the phases pursuit of the one thing necessary, " " God has blessed of asceticism denominated " purgative way " and illuminative way : the Rule the of Monks with singular fruitfulness, and St. Benedict but furthermore it gives to souls — without expecting too much of human strength, — counsels of heroic virtue, and opens out to them — without, has taken his place in the line of the great patriarchs 6 " seeking to outstrip grace, — perspectives of the unitive life ". (D. Festugiere The holy Rule, indeed, the teaches us that, for the monk, '• c-, p. 92). " discourage everything lies in seeking God " in order to We see the holy Lawgiver writing that he in nowise wshes to give Him to weak to hinder others in sure souls who climb slowly, but for all that, he does noti intend ; characters, for they are all the Ut et stt borrowed from holy ascensions of the valiant up the heights of perfection : the Gospel of which quod but to read the it is the pure reflection, it marks out infirmi non re/ti£iarit et fortes quod ctipiant. We have 4"1 his the path of degree of humility to see to what a summit of heroism be invites most sublime perfection, then it guides us to disciples to rise. this end by following Christ by the in the way of obedience, prayer Moreover the value of the Rule of S' Benedict is sufficiently proved rapidity time, all the Rules and work. It is by the Rule with which it supplanted, in a relatively short that the monk sanctifies then lor himself in use, althought hese rules were made by personages remarkable individually, that socially their trurt- the Kingdom of Christ- holiness. Again it is proved by the extraordinary supernatural lulness ages. is only whereof it has been the principle in the course of Jt perfection in necessary to survey the long line of saints who found their the " excellent school of him whom S* Gregory the Great calls the most master of " vitas. the perfect life : Maeister optimus arclissimac his Is there, apart from the Gospel " — D. Delatte very truly writes in Commentary able, as it has, to on the Rule (p. 405) —"a book which has been adapt century to itself to all the needs of Christian society from the sixth 84 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK our own day ?... We should recognise for a last time that the Rule has km itself with wonderful adaptability to works of extremely various kinds, that it has accommodated itself better than any other to times and circumstan- ' ces, and that it has furnished a solid legislative framework to several founders of Orders or Congregations. To devise a Rule so wide as to embrace all, so strong as' to contain all, so divinely simple as to be understood by the un- lettered Goth and to charm S* Gregory the Great, so perfect as to deserve for ever the appellation of " the Rule, " the monastic Rule par excellence; is not this a work of surpassing supernatural genius " ?

II STARTING POINT AND TWO-FOLD CHARACTER OF MONASTIC PERFECTION V OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD.

Haec est victoria quae vincit mundum fides nostra K

Summary. — I. How by faith we overcome the world. — II. How precious this victory is and of what life, it is the prelude. — III. Faith is also the starting point of our monastic perfection the " " deifying light wherewith St. Benedict wishes the whole life of a to — monk be enlightened. ' IV. The stability resulting therefrom for the inner'life. — V. Exercise of the virtue of faith and the joy of which it is the source.

the preceding IN conferences, we have tried to view the Benedictine ideal and institution taken as a whole. " "To seek God only, by following Christ Jesus, such is the supreme end of the monastic life ; the monk proposes to himself to attain this end in the cloister, in the midst of his brethren, living with them under the guidance of the abbot who^holds the place of Christ, sharing with them a life of obedience divided between prayer and labour. We are now going to see how one desiring to embrace this ideal realises it in practice. We shall see that it is faith that makes him cross the threshold of the cloister and love that keeps him there by means of the religious profession, in the same way as the neophyte, at the moment of being received into the Church, performs an act of faith and becomes a member of the supernatural society by Baptism, which is the Sacrament of adoption and initiation. Faith and the religious profession are indispensable in order to enable him to cleave to Christ in the state of monastic perfection. Let us : call to mind what takes place in the case of the simple Christian. The example that God proposes to men's imitation is His Son Jesus. Twice — the first time upon the banks of the Jordan, and again on Mount Thabor — God breaks the eternal in order to present to us this same Son, the living expression, under human form, of Divine perfection.

i- " " This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith, I Joan. 88 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OE THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 89

And however high may be the summits of holiness which I- souls attain, this perfection is never anything else than the Incarnate. reflection of the holiness of the Word What is faith ? It is the homage that our intellect gives Now, how do we become one with Christ ? How do we without any reservation to the Divine veracity. participate in his grace and holiness ? First and before all, God tells us when showing us His Son co-equal to Himself : 1 by faith. in fact, does St. say ? " What, John Those have "Hear ye Him . And Christ tells us in His turn that received Christ who have believed in Him : Quotquot autem He is the Only-begotten Son of God and what He sees of receperunl 1 cum... his qui credunt in nomine ejus . This is the eternal secrets He reveals to us ; that His word is 2 "the work" that God requires first of all from us : That infallible, for He is the Truth . And when we accept this " we believe in Him Whom He hath sent " : Hoc est opus 'estimony of Jesus, when we give the assent of our intellect 2 Dei lit credatis in eum quern misit ille . to His word, to all that He says, we make an act of faith. Faith is the primary disposition of one who would follow But this faith must be complete, its object must extend

Christ ; it must be the first attitude of the soul in presence to all that Christ Jesus^says or does. It is not only in Christ's 3 of the Incarnate Word . word that we must believe, but in the divinity of His mission, Christianity is nought else than the acceptation, by in the infinite value of His merits and of the satisfaction faith — a practical faith — of the Incarnation with all its He made : faith embraces the whole Christ. this faith is living, it consequences ; the Christian life is but the constant putting And when ardent, casts us at the into practice " feet of Jesus that we accomplish will in all of this act of faith made to Jesus. Thou art may His things ; the Christ, the of 4 " it attaches us to Jesus never more to leave this is Son the Living God . Without this act Him: of faith, which involves all our life, there is no means of being perfect faith which blossoms into hope and love. a Christian. If you accept the Divinity of Jesus Christ, In order to be a Christian it is necessary to have this you must, in consequence, accept His will, His words, His faith in Jesus Christ ; one cannot be a Christian unless one institutions, the Church, the Sacraments, the reality of His prefers Christ's words, will and commands to his own ideas Mystical Body. and personal interests. Of course the has this faith, but with him it What is true of the simple Christian is yet more true of monk goes further ; it makes, him leave the world that he the monk. The monk aims at realising in himself the even may perfection of Christianity; attach himself to Christ alone. Why have we left the world ? we shall then be monks only if we " are first of all Christians Because we have believed in these words of Jesus : Come, ; we shall only be perfect monks if 3 " are follow Me, and you shall be perfect . And we have said we perfect Christians. Now, as I have just been saying, " it is above to our Lord : Thou callest me ? Behold here I am. I all faith in Christ that makes us Christians, disciples of have such faith in Thee and in Thy word ; I am so persuaded Christ, and by His grace, children of God. Let us consider that Thou art the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am so what this faith is to us. It is the principle of our victory convinced that in Thee I shall find all, that I wish to cleave oyer the world — a victory that comes to us from Christ to Thee alone. Thou art so powerful, that Thou canst make through the faith that we have in Him and that makes us God's me attain even to our Father in Heaven ; so powerful that children. Again it is the foundation and the Thou canst, grace and infinite merits, make me root of monastic perfection as of by Thy the Christian life ; thence comes what " " like unto Thyself in order that I may be pleasing to Thy St. Benedict calls the deifying light deificum lumen*. Father; so powerful, that Thou canst make me reach the This having been said, it remains for us and because I to explain how we are highest perfection and supreme beatitude ; to live by faith and what fruits this lite bears tor us. believe this, because I have confidence in Thee and Thou art the infinite Good beyond which all is vain and barren, " I wish to leave all to follow Thee and serve Thee alone : 4 is Ecce nos reliquimus omnia et' secuti sumus te . This a dev lo ed these ira or taai ideTin'the-c^fercnce- t> P FailhkTfnt fr^ ,, 4 xiv, 6. 3. Cf. Matth. i. Matth. xvn, 5. — 3. Cf. Ibid, xx, 27 ; Joan, Jax, 31. — 4. Ibid. 27. "

go CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUH FAITH, T11K VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 9 I pure act of faith in the omnipotence and in the infinite " good- of the counsels. If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou ness of Jesus Christ. hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in says St. " is 1 Now, this act of faith, John, the victory which heaven. And come, follow Me ." But, says the Gospel, " overcometh the world : Haec est victoria quae vincit - the young man having heard these words "went away sad 2," dum, fides nostra. And he immediately adds that this and did not follow the Saviour. Why was this ? Because faith " which overcometh the world " is that which we he had great possessions : the world held him enchained have in Christ, the Son of the Living God : Quis est qui vincit by wealth. And because he did not believe that Christ nisi credit 1 mundum, qui quoniam Jesus est Filius Dei ? Let was the Infinite Good, surpassing every other good, this us meditate for a few moments on these words for they are young man was unable to overcome the world. of a great importance for our souls. Christ Jesus gave us this light of faith on the day of our is the " What meaning of Vincere mundum : to overcome vocation ; and it is owing to this light which showed us the " the world ? The world does not here mean Christians, vanity of the world, the emptiness of its pleasures, the bar- faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, whose condition obliges renness of its works, and revealed to us the state of perfection them to live in the world, but those men for whom the in the absolute imitation of Christ, that we have "over- natural life " alone exists, who confine their desires and come the world : Haec est victoria quae vincit mundum, enjoyments to the life here below. This world has its fides nostra. principles, its maxims, its prejudices, all borrowed, according Blessed victory which set us free from one of the worst " to St. John's words, from the concupiscence of the flesh states of bondage to give us the full liberty of the children and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life 2 . of God, in order that we might join ourselves perfectly to It is this world for which our Divine Saviour says that He Him Who alone deserves our love 1 3 does not pray . And why does He not pray for it ? Because between this world and Christ there is absolute incompa- II. tibility. The world rejects the maxims of the Gospel ; for it, the Cross is foolishness and a scandal. What truly makes our victory so precious is that it is in

This world which itself signal gift of .lov.e which Christ to us : _ surrounds us has offered us its riches, a makes He its honours, its pleasures has it Blood. Listen to what our Lord ; it flatters the natural man, it purchased with His tempts us with " its attractions. But in following Christ in said to His disciples at the close of His life : Have con- order to attach " ourselves to Him alone, we have rejected fidence. I have overcome the world : Confidite, ego vici z the world we . ; have risen above all the natural satisfactions mundum that it could offer or promise us, we have been insensible to And how did He overcome the world ? With gold ? its charms " " : this is to overcome the world. With the splendour of exterior actions ? No, in the eyes of the world, Christ was only the son of a carpenter of Naza- 4 And what has enabled us to reth : fa bri filius . He was humble all His life. He was m win such a victory ? Faith Jesus Christ. It is born in a stable, dwelt in a workshop ; during His aposto- because we believe that Jesus is the He of trod is lic anywhere God and consequently is very perfection and journeys, He had not always a shelter, or even beatitude, that to lay 6 we have joined ourselves to Him. See the His head . The wisdom of the world would have rich young man scouted m the Gospel who comes to Jesus that he the idea that it could be overcome by poverty and immediate ap asks what he must do to obtain renunciation. Did He overcome the world by the 3cr^lasting ,?life. n S undertakings or other Our Divine Saviour Who loves him as temporal success of His by human soon as He looks upon him, advantages likely to impress or dominate it ? Again no. intuiius mm dilexit eum\ " t0 lm the He was derided and crucified. In the eyes of the "wise " 111?? keePinS of the commandments! All these**?things rtI " of that in lamentable failure upon have observed from my youth*, replies time His mission ended the young man. the crowd wag their Then our Lord shows him the higher way Cross. His disciples are scattered, the " heads ; the Pharisees laugh Him to scorn : He saved 4"5 2 lbid l6 ' ~ ' "' -~ 3- an xv -%!&'£ J° - ». 9- -4. Marc, x, ax. 1. Matth. xix, zi. — 2. Ibid. 22. — 3. Joan, xvi, 33. — 4. Matth. xm, 55- — 5. Ibid, vin, 20. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE 92 MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 93

others : Himself He cannot save... Let Him now come down Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called from the Cross, and then — but then only — we will " and should be the sons of : 1 " God Videte qualem caritatem believe in Him . dedit nobis Pater, ut filii 1 Deinomincmur et simus . This divine And yet the failure was only apparent ; it was precisely life does not destroy the natural life in what it has that at this moment that in reality Christ won the victory ; in is positive and good, but, surpassing its possibilities, its the sight of the world, from the natural point of view, He exigences and rights, it raises and transfigures it. was overcome ; — but in the sight of God, He was the Now, it is still in the Word that the source of this divine Victor over the prince of darkness and over the world. life its and outpourings is to be found : God beholds us " confidence. " Have I have overcome the world : Confidite, in His Word, not only as simple creatures but also in our ego vici mundum. And from that hour Christ Jesus has being of grace. Each of the predestined represents an eternal been appointed by His Father King, over the 2 nations .. thought of God. " Of His own will " hath He begotten ^s There is no other name " that is for us a cause of " by the word of truth : Voluntarie enim genuit nos vevbo salvation 3 and grace , and His enemies 2 are made His veritatis ; Christ, the Incarnate is 4 Word, truly the image footstool . in conformity with which we must be and remain the children Jesus gives to His disciples likewise the power of overcom- of God : Praedestinavit [nos] conformes fieri imaginis Filii ing the world. But how does He make them z share in His sui ; He is,, as I have said, the Son of God by nature, we victory ? By bestowing upon them, through the faith they by grace; but it is the same Divine life' that inundates have in Him, the divine adoption that makes them the Christ's Humanity and our souls with its fulness. This children of God. There is here a profound teaching given Only-begotten Son, born of God in the holy splendours of by St. John which it is important to bring forward. an eternal and ineffable generation, is the Son of the Living God is Being, Life. God knows and comprehends Himself God, for He possesses Life in Himself; He is very Life, perfectly ; He says to Himself, by an Infinite utterance, all Ego sum vita*, and He has become incarnate in order to that He is this : utterance is the Word. The 5 Word expresses make us partakers of this life : Ego veni ui vitam habeant . the whole of the Divine essence, not only taken in itself, And how do we participate in this life ? By receiving but also inasmuch as it is imitable. In the Word, God Christ through faith. " As many as received Him, He gave contemplates the exemplar of every creature, even of the them power to be made the sons of God, to them that creature merely possible; in this Word all being life. " has believe : in His name, who are born... of God : Quotquot In the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God... atttem receperimt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri his Were made b Him and 6 - without Him i 2F. , y was nothing qui credunt in nomine ejus... qui ex Deo naii stmt . Our made that was " made : in Him was life : In principio erat access to this new life is a veritable birth ; and this birth Verbum et Deus erat Ver bum.:. Sine ipso factum est nihil is brought about by faith and Baptism, the Sacrament of quod 5 factum est; in ipso vita erat 7 adoption : Renatus ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto . Thus St. John H Which has its first sour " - <* in the Word, writes that Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ comesr^l^l^to us from ll' those immediate agents who are " our parents. is born of God : Qui credit quoniam Jesus est Christus, ex aS °W are called ' t0 a et hi&her life, called to Ji» P% T, y Deo natus est*. . hfe hy becom " partakers " " " . of the As to be children divine nature« + - ™ ^ you see in order to be born of God, Sw . : Efficiamvm divinae consortes 8 " naturae . This of God, we must believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him. te beatit de is ? supereminently the work of Faith is the foundation of this supernatural life which makes W w£i° C WnS and m a rof ' ™*d sensef explains all us Divine Life faith th7n7w T? P share, in an ineffable manner, in the ; m natUra life comes from God's Hands: introduces is hidden Man^Zt J \ us into that supernatural sphere which asmawrunt Mum in circuitu from the eyes " Your life is hid with Christ It fs from %t .?! 'I tl ™ \ of the world. £ tha the suPematural 9 life springs forth! in God": Vita vestra est abscondila cum Christo in Deo . "BehS??^^Jiehold, says St. T t r , John, "what manner of charity The -the natural the only true life, because it does not end, like — 1. I Joan, m, 1. — 2. Jac. i, i3. — 3. Rom. vni, 29. — 4- Joan- xiv, 6. 3 5> j0an r - ** "* 6 v, —9. cf. Ps. cxv.ii, ~ - « Petr. r, 4. - 9. Job. x, 5. Ibid, x, 10. — 6. Ibid. 1. 12-13. — ?. Ibid. 111, $-5- — 8. 1 Joan, 1. ?3 . 5 ; Col. m 3. :

94 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 95 life, in death, but has its fruition in the unalloyed happiness The divine life that we received at Baptism with grace of eternity. is the germ of all our monastic sanctification, as it is of The world sees only, or rather wishes to see and know the simple Christian life. Our perfection is not of an essen- only, the natural life both for the individual and for society tially different order from that of Christian perfection ; both at large ; it onfy esteems and admires that which appears, intrinsically belong to the same supernatural order. Reli- which shines and obtains temporal success ; it judges by gious perfection is but the development, in a given form outward appearances, according to the eyes of flesh ; it and state, of our divine adoption. A simple Christian is a relies only upon human effort, upon the natural virtues child of God ; a monk is likewise a child of God, but one that is its way of judging and acting. It neglects, it syste- who seeks, in the largest possible degree and by especially matically ignores the supernatural life, and smiles at the adapted means, to develop this condition of a child of God. idea of a perfection that goes beyond reason alone. Human The Christian is allowed, without essential detriment to his reasoning, in fact, can only produce human results ; purely state as child of God, the lawful use of certain creatures natural effort can only be the ; cause of effects in the purely the monk chooses to adhere to God alone, and his chief natural order. " That " which is born of the flesh is flesh, work is to put away from him or destroy all such created says St. John : Quot 1 natum est ex came, caro est ; that which things as are opposed to the perfect expansion of the divine is the result of nature, outside " the supernatural, profiteth life in him. But for the religious as for the simple Christian, nothing " in God's sight 2 : Caro non : prodest quidqtiam . A faith in Jesus Christ is the door whereby he enters into this man who has not faith, who has not " grace, may attain divine life : it is as the Council of Trent says, the foundation by force of energy, of will and perseverance, to a certain and root of all justification \ ". natural perfection he ; may be good, upright, loyal, just, Faith is a foundation. Think of an edifice which attracts but this is but a natural morality which, furthermore, ever attention by its grandeur and the harmony of its proportions. remains deficient in some particular. Between it and the What is it that gives it solidity ? The foundations. If supernatural life lies an abyss. It is however with this these are shaken, at once the walls crack and the building natural perfection and this natural life that the world is in danger ; unless it be consolidated, it is doomed to ruin. contents itself. This is an image of the spiritual life. It is an edifice which At a single flight, faith rises higher and uplifts the soul God, together with us, constructs in us, to His glory; it above aU the vxsible universe, bringing it even to God. This is a temple wherein He would dwell. But if we do not lay $ s t0 be " born of God " which makes a firm foundation, it is impossible to build the edifice. And "SSiE Tr f I ' G°d tl r0Ugh Christ makes and firmer must ' us aIso conquerors the higher it is to be raised, the deeper oLr S, L Se l - s the wonderful doctrine of St. John be the foundation. When a spiritual man thinks to -arrive ni S' « w? I 06 is b0m of God overcometh at the summit of perfection, at the height of. contemplation, the world ^ -'w^lh IS he that overcometh the world, but without his faith, which is the basis of real love, being strong hi tw bellek r ^f l tb J?at Jesus is the " / Son of God ? Omne in proportion, all must come to ruin. ™Jquod natum est7 exDeovincit mundum... Qtds est quiviZii The Holy Council again compares faith to a root. Look mundum, msi qm credit quantum Jesus est Films Dei*? at a majestic tree, with mighty trunk, vigorous branches, and abundant foliage. Whence comes to it this strength III. and beauty ? From something unseen : the roots. These are plunged in the soil there to take a firm hold and draw the nourishing sap necessary to the life of this giant. Should the roots dry up, the tree will decay. The root of the Christian life is faith. Without faith all withers away, dries up and perishes. It is the necessary But, for the monk, how much more completeooni Plete arearp «»«thU condition of all life and all spiritual progress. severance and this transformation ! If faith of all Christian life, it is likewise upon i. Joan, 6. be the basis m, _ a . i bid , VI> j md y ^^ _ 1. Sess. vi, cap. 8V !

6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 9 OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 97 faith that the whole monastic life rests ; it is faith that judgments of the world, the wisdom of the world which, explains and maintains it. The monastic life, like the to St. Paul, is " l " " according foolishness with God . We Christian life, is the practical consequence of an act of have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that faith. Why are we Christians ? Because we have said' to is of God: that we may know the things that are given Christ " Jesus : Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living " " us from God. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, God ; Thou art He Who alone canst bring us to the Father, 2 " things of . " the deep God to eternal life. Why have we become monks ? Because we have said to " Jesus Christ : Thou art the Christ ; Thou And because we adhere to this Spirit by faith, faith art the that alone leads Way to the Father ; Thou art the " becomes, as our Blessed Father so well calls it, the deifying Fountainhead of alt life, of all good, of all perfection, of all light " that illumines beatitude." and uplifts our whole life : deificum And this initial act of faith explains the 3 lumen . whole of our conduct. Faith is, in fact, for us the true divine light. To the Without faith in Jesus Christ, the life that we lead has natural life, God gives the light of reason : the intellect is no meaning the world ; indeed takes us for fools : Vitam. the faculty that directs the specifically human activity. To illorum aestimabamtcs 1 insaniam . But the terrestrial man, *' the supernatural life God also gives an appropriate light. the- sensual man " as St. Paul calls him, " perceiveth not those What is this light ? In Heaven, where the supernatural things that are of the Spirit of God • " they are. foolish- life attains its perfection, it is the radiant light glory, ness for of him, and he cannot know them, because it is by the the visual power of the Beatific Vision. " In Thy light we Spirit of God, and not by the spirit of the world, that they " 4 2 shall see light : In luminc tuo videbimus lumen . Here are discerned . below it is veiled light soul In the the of faith. The that would eyes of faith, our life constitutes that " better part ", optimum live the true life must be guided by this light which makes partem*, that Christ. reserves to those upon whom it a partaker of the knowledge that God has of Himself and He has cast His look of special love : Intniitis mm dilexit eum*; already of all things. it is for us the assured pledge of a " eoodlv to ' In this Christ Jesus is as ever our perfect Example, and inheritance": hereditas praeclara B . the Ideal we are predestined to reproduce. The motive And what is true of our life taken as . a whole, remains power of Christ's activity was the light that shone for His true of the detail of our days. Blessed Soul in the Beatific Vision. As you know, from the Regarded from the natural point of view, from the world's first instant Soul contemplated point of view the of Its creation, the of Jesus thousand, details of our life of prayer, of obedience, God, and from this Vision arose the light wherein It regarded humility, abnegation and labour, may appear frinmg narrow all things and that directed It in all its ways. Jesus says that and insignificant. When a man who allows He reveals to us that which He sees ; He tells us only that himself to be led by the spirit of the world sees us chanting 5 sees the which He hears , He does nothing but what He the psalms in choir and learns- that we spend so many hours nisi Father doing : Non potest Filius a se facere quidquam, m praising God, he shrugs his " shoulders : What a pity 6 ° quod viderit Pattern facientem ; "Nothing of Himself, nothing 11 as their time like » 7 ^ that J It is because he reveals np n for Himself ; He only does that which the Father f fU e sta d and can*ot • understand, because he is l£wnQ flI ?. to Him/ and all that the Father does, He also does, but yet : reaSOn is t0° limited t0 allow to in h + - him He it the same dignity and the i^ n ^t nZOns does in a like manner, with \°- ; he has not the of faith fw T/ %ht same perfection, because He is the Sole-begotten Son, God Tn^ e e to ' m enter int0 God s secrets he 7 " ; of God, . SSinTES d\ nd, itha our perfect God of perfect God iife °f ra er is a ™*t power pleasingsssl tor?the ?LordJ ; p y ^ For us upon earth, the light of faith preludes the and most profitable for souls. of the Beatific Vision. Tne child of God knows God and theelements of our monastic life. Faith 8 if no i beholds light . God, first of all : for *^t?Jshow, us their value for eternity all things in this ; faith places us above the one here below has ever seen God Who " inhabiteth light a ~~ Rule. Ps. 2 J I4 1. I Cor. hi, 19. — 2. Ibid. 11, 10-ia. 3. Prologue of the — 4. ' "' — - ~ 3 Luc - x i. - 5. Ps- ^ - **• - 4- Marc, x, S £v,V' Meattattons xxxv, io. — 5. Joan, in, it. — 6. Ibid, v, 19. — 7. Bossuet, on the Holy Gospel — 8. Joan. 1, 18. :

98 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 99 1 " inaccessible , has, however, revealed God Himself to us receive its constantly rays ; he would have his disciples' whole through His Son : Illuxit in cordibtts Jesus noslris... in facie conduct based on faith. 2 " Christi.Jesu . The Only-begotten Son Who is ever in the On the strength of these words, we will 3 consider some pas- bosom of the Father", in sinu Patris , manifests God to sages taken from the Holy Rule. Why must the " " monk obey us : He that seeth Me, seeth the Father also : Qui videi " his abbot ? Simply because the abbot holds the place of Me, vidct et PatremK In accepting the testimony of the " 1 : Christi Christ A bbas agere vices creditur . Why must the Son, the Word, the soul knows the secrets of the Divine monks remain perfectly united to one another ? Because life. this In celestial light, the soul likewise judges all " 3 " all are one in Christ . Why must guests, at whatever things as God sees, considers and estimates them. It regards hour they arrive — and in St. Benedict's creation time they were with the same eyes as do those who have not the 3 very numerous, nunquam desunt , and arrived at faith unlooked ; but the universe reveals to this soul what is not dis- for hours — be received with eagerness ? closed and joy Because to others: to wit, that it is the reflection of the it is Christ Who is received in them, because it is before perfections of its Author. In the ceremonies of the Church, Christ that we prostrate when we bow down before the believing them soul does not see only the exterior side of christus in hospitibus adoretur qui et suscipitur... omnes actions and symbols, that outward aspect which all eyes 4 supervenientes hospites tamquam christus suscipiantur . may behold, but it penetrates to the depths of the rites, Again why must the poor and strangers be more especially therein to recognize God's ideal, the intentions of the Church, cared for ? - Because it is all the above in these disinherited hidden mystery of the worship, the realisation of the members that Christ presents Himself to our faith : Panpenim Divine thought, the perfections of God made manifest, the et peregrinorum maxime susceplionum cura sollicite exkibeatur : 0r God procured; and with the incense of the sanctuary, 6 v. u quia in ipsis magis christus suscipitur . And it is to be the hymn of the loving and grateful heart rises up to God. the same as regards the care given to the sick in the In like manner, under ordinary and commonplace appearan- monastery. St. Benedict most urgently recommends that ces under the unexpected, painful or enigmatical aspect of the sick are to lack nothing of the succour that their daily events, the child of God discerns the work full of love infirmity requires. This point appears astonishing since the n mfaIllbIe and maternal Providence pursues. monastic state is one of abnegation. And yet St. Benedict wuWhen this life of faith is intense, it leads to the highest " is : all things and above perfection, very precise on this point Before just as we have seen that the Sacred Humanity " U all things, care is to be taken of the sick : Infirmorum J n d its nciple.of 6 - P« perfection and activity from £ f l-i ^ cura ante omnia et super omnia adhibenda est . Why such 1S Doub«ess, the soul that lives by faith Srfc + l T- insistence ? Because here again faith sees Christ in His Td the ordinar y y existence of the rest of mankind; " if were fZ?Z -f l suffering members : They are to be served as they hu™an activity thk\S- ? like other souls, but it exerts Christ in person, for He hath said: 'I was sick and ye n he h, her y * g light of Divine truth. Christ is eis serviatur, quia the Trul + i! u visited Me'": XJtsicut revera Christo, ita L ' §h : he wh0 lives in 7 truth i s child of ipse . Krfif */?/ i - E TT * dixit: Infirmusjui et visitastis me S e lives in this truth hi ' * Hfe abounds This faith, this supernatural point of view, is extended itL^l* -r A- gl? hidl are sa s ' y St Paul, "goodness by the great Patriarch from persons to the actions of the and St cp ? ?tT itYth : Fructus enim hlcis esi omni life be in choir, or serve _at oomxate •» of the monk : whether the monk ImitTeT^n-et lushha elf veritate 8 table, or set out on a journey, everywhere St. Benedict U W tl n urPri d 'that St. us th i Benedict requires of would have him bathed in this light of faith. If the great at L ih m be Uided^ g in aU thinSS by the light of Legislator enumerates the natural qualities to be Sth? , carefully ?™«?? Und rstood <™* for all that thf holy desired officials, he requires before all things Patriarch f +t in the principal Z monk from " e " the super- he requires natural^eroS ^ ™^t on that they should have hearts fearing God ; ^C W he US t0 " have eacI day ", quoti- of especially "be dt*™> I^IZour *%' !t ? > the master of novices that he «hould ga,e fixed?on the "deifying " " light', that we may skilled in gaining souls °. Ibid. ch. lih. 1. Rule, ch. II, lxiii. — 3. Ibid. 11 ; cf. Gal. in. 35. — 3-4- » v 6 ~5 . - Joan, i 18. Ibid, ch. xxxvi cf. Matth. lbid?^;le:~t:ll^%-o, apn. -~J- - 4. xiv, 9. — 5. Ibid. ch. Lin. — 6. Ibid. ch. xxxvi. — 7. Ibid, ; • j v, 9. — ;. Prologue of the Rule. LVUI - xxv, 36. — 8. Ibid. ch. xxxi ; tin. — 9. Ib'd. ch- :

100 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 101 He envelops even the material things of the monastery faith. They do not live by faith ; theoretically, doubtless, with this light of faith. Because the monastery is " the house they know that the Abbot represents Christ, that Christ ", 1 " is of God domus Dei , he would have us look upon the in each of their brethren, that we ought to forget ourselves vessels and goods of the monastery as if they were, the in order to imitate Christ in His obedience. " But, practically, consecrated vessels of altar : the Omnia vasa monasterii truths not exist for these do them ; these truths have no cunciamquc substantiam, ac si altaris vasa sacrata conspicial 2 . influence on their life ; their activity does not spring from The world will find such a recommendation very trifling, their faith ; they make use of faith under certain circum- very simple and useless, but the holy Legislator judged quite stances, but, these circumstances having passed, they bid otherwise. And this was because his faith was strong, and farewell, as it were, to their faith. Then it is the natural he understood that all things are only of any value in God's life that is uppermost, the natural spirit that 3 becomes sight according to the measure of our faith . master. Certainly this is not to live by faith : ex fidevivere. Now, such a life, so devoid of homogeneity, cannot be IV. firm or stable ; it is at the mercy of impressions, of every sally of temperament or mood, of the chances of health or Such then is the supernatural atmosphere wherein St. Be- temptation ; it is a spiritual life that fluctuates and is nedict wishes the monk to live and breathe continually, tossed about by every wind that blows. It changes day by qnotidie;he wishes him, as St. Paul wishes the Christian, to day, at the will of the capricious rudder that serves it as " live by faith " : Justus ex fide vivii*. The just man, (that guide. is to say one who in Baptism has on put the new man created But when faith is living, strong, ardent, when we live by in justice) lives, in so far as he is just, by faith, by the light faith, that is to say when in everything we' are actuated that the Sacrament of illumination brings to him. The more by the principles of faith, when faith is the root of all our he lives by faith, the more he xealises in himself the perfection actions, the inward principle of all our activity, then we divine ado tion - Notice this xj P expression carefully become strong and steadfast in spite of difficulties within E The exact meanin u g of this is that faith ought and without, in spite of obscurities, contradictions and to\be the root of all our actions, of all our life. are There temptations. Why so ? Because, by faith, we judge, we souls who live "with" the faith: cum fide. They have estimate all things as God sees and estimates them: we raith, and one cannot deny that they practise it ; but it is only participate in the Divine immutability and stability. on certain occasions, for example, in exercises of piety, Is not this what our Lord has said ? " Everyone therefore ttoly Mass, Holy Communion, the Divine Office, that they that heareth these My words and doth them " — that is remember their faith to any purpose ; it is impossible that taitn to live by faith — "shall be likened to a wise man that should not come into play in these actions because, of built his house upon a rock. And the rain fell and the their nature, these actions relate directly to God and, floods came and the winds blew, and they beat upon this properly speaking, concern the supernatural economy. " immediately But one would house. And it fell not. For Jesus Christ say that these souls restrict themselves to 1 " tms; adds, "it was founded' on a rock . and that as soon as they leave these exercises, they our faith is deep enter into another This is truly what we experience when sphere, and return to a merely natural and live the supernatural life ; me. it obedience then intense. Faith causes us to commands them something irksome by house of or inconvenient,.they it we are of God's family, we belong to that murmur; if a is in " brother-monk God, whereof Christ, as St. Paul says, is the chief comer eth] hey a no 2 g ' P >^ attention to it ; are their " ^™*-K-iT ? l stone : Ipso summo angulari lapide Christo Jestt . By b ' ieS U< hed the are ' y irritated.' At these faith, our spiritual moments the outlooki° ; we adhere to Christ, and the edifice of 2 of their souls is not enlightened by life becomes thereby firm and stable. Christ makes us share bid ~, 3-." Faith, or rather call hell's the'^ft o?" iaith*'ih7 f:j} : what we would in the stability of the divine rock against which even W is manifested a thousand ways hat 2 ^>«\ in the Rule in 3 Lt^5 tou h fury praevalebunt . Thus „ ™S and edifying for the believer as they cannot prevail : Portae inferi non are paradoxical and ™. i ? 11 the eyes of the world: the milU divinely sustained, we are conquerors over the assaults and /^W^Gos^fe^rJ^^it0 the SUprWne deeree " D * The CalhoHcLUu^y - M * F"^** l^H^lf g i. Matth. vii, 35. — 2. Eph. 11, 20. — 3- Matth. xvi, 15. : ,

102 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD 103 temptations of the the' world and of devil, the prince of " Catherine speaks of faith with holy enthusiasm : In the this world : Haec est victoria quae vincit mundum, fides nostra 1 " . light of faith she says addressing the Eternal Father, " I The devil, and the world which the devil uses as an accom- gain that wisdom which is found in the wisdom of the Word, plice, offer violence to us or solicit us ; by faith in the word Thy Son ; in the light of faith, I become stronger, more con- of Jesus we come out victorious from these attacks. stant, more persevering. In the light of faith, I find the You will have remarked that the devil always insinuates hope that Thou wilt not let me faint upon my way. It is the contrary to what God affirms. Look at the sad expe- also this light which shows me the path along which I must rience that our first parents made of this. " In what day journey. Without this light, I should walk in darkness, soever thou shalt eat of [the forbidden fruit], thou shalt 2 and, therefore, I beseech Thee, Eternal Father, to enlighten die the death " such is ; the Divine word. The devil im- 1 " me with the light of most holy faith . pudently declares the " contrary : You shall not die the " 3 death : Nequaquam morte moriemini . When we lend an ' V. ear to the devil, we put our trust in him, we have faith in him, and not in God. Now, the devil " is the father of lies Let us, too, beseech the Father and Christ Jesus, His and the prince of darkness *, " while " 6 " God is the Truth Word, to grant us this light of faith. We have received and " in is no 6 " Him darkness . If we always listen to God the principle of it in Baptism ; but we ought to guard and we shall always be victorious. When our Lord was tempted' develop this divine germ. What is the co-operation that He repulsed temptation by placing the authority of God's Word God expects of us in this matter ? m opposition to each solicitation of the Evil One. He first of all expects us to pray. Faith is a gift of God ; We ought to do the same and repulse hell's " attacks by the spirit of faith comes from the Spirit of God : Lord, faith m Jesus' word. The devil says to us: " a "How can increase our faith : Adauge nobis fidem . Let us often say Christ be present under the "> " species of bread and wine to Christ Jesus, like the father of the dumb boy in the Gos- Answer him: " The Lord has said : This is " " My Body, this pel : I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief : Adjuva lucre- " m B He is the Truth that is 3 -,°°? ' en°ugh forme. dulitatem meant . It is truly God alone Who can, as the ™ ^ ; The devil tells us not to let an injury or an affront pass Efficient Cause, increase faith within us ; our part is to without retorting. Answer him : "Christ has said that all merit this increase by our prayers and good works. we do to the least of His brethren, we do 8 to Himself , This is to say that having obtained faith, it is our duty to therefore any feeling of coldness voluntarily shown to our exercise.it. At Baptism, God gives us the habitus of faith ; brethren or entertained towards them is " " " " shown to Jesus* in it is a force, a power ; but this force must not remain person. j« inactive, this " habit " must not become ankylosed, so to true f the devil ° is true of the world it is to on : by speak, from want of exercise. This habitus ought go Wftatweoyeitonie* ^ti ? it. When a man has a living faith getting ever stronger by corresponding acts. We must not G n ther •' dlfficul ties nor opposition, often renew ™S? 5 f f nor the be of those souls in whom faith slumbers. Let us 5"? 1 8 beCa 3e he knows that Christ devotion, rSfJSf ? u abides in our acts of faith, not only during our exercises of CCaUSe he relies on Him least - 0ur Lord explicitly but furthermore, as the great Patriarch wishes, in the L v/cn r, St " Catherine when He gave her details of our life. It is every day ", quotidie, that we must, miZt Tmd W1 ? f r ,° the od of His - g° Chu^h, especially in accordance with his counsels, walk in this light. Sf^kLn" S r ?baC S k the So^reign Pontiff faith is always - . from Avignon And you will remark that with St. Benedict, oCS Tu f . ' weakness us and humility, feared practical ; he never separates it from deeds ; he wishes a rnisTnn J2f "^ , rSe °f Which she foresa " . w insurmountable to faith, and the performance diffir, ni wTu have our loins girded with to her "Because thou art of good " vel observantia bonorum armed Zi ft* !*? works : Succinciis fide ^fof faith, thou wilt blessedness overov?r ^^ triumph happily actuum lumbis nostris*; he promises us joy and il^i^call adversaries'." Again, later on, in hJc Dialogue, only on condition that we " go forward in good works and 17 hid - «' Cf. Eph. vi, Joan, x""; I', tj fbidT ?' \~^ \\i ~ *• m. - 5- 5 " ' % Matth> XXVI ~ a6 28 8 • Prologue - - Ibid, xxv, 40. 1. Life ix, 23. — 4. - 9. LilhyBLRkymund. > ~ by Bl. Raymund. 2. Luc. xvii, 5- — 3- Mmc. of the Rule. ;

104 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WOELI> 105

" 1 in r faith Processu vero co7iversationis et fidei . Ecce nos reliqaimus Let us Christ ! omnia et secuti sumus £?4 We regard all things from the point of view of faith, the super- cannot go happiness from creatures. We must natural point of view, which is the only true one everything from Christ ; let all our expect What is it then that we actions be in accordance with our let ergo erit 2 faith, us do everything expect ? Quid nobis . ? Christ Himself promises us in its light. Under these conditions it can he said that the hundredfold even here below. Now, joy makes part of faith is manifested by love : it becomes logically anp this hundredfold, and it is faith above all that maintains joy. practically perfect, because it is through love that the. soul Faith in fact shows us the grandeur and beauty of this devotes itself to works of faith. supernatural life to which God has called us: "It is I, I Thus spiritually Myself, will be armed, we shall avoid routine which is Who thy Reward exceeding great ": Ego z one of the great dangers of the regular life. The intensity merces tua magna nimis ; it shows us the height and sublimity of our faith should animate our least actions. If we apply of our monastic vocation which causes us to live in Christ's ourselves to this, our life will be full of light and joy. The intimacy, since as St. Benedict says, it is our love for Christ, tiniest details that has us prefer to all 4 of the day will appear to us as precious pearls made Him things . which we want to gain, that with them we may compose Faith is yet again the fount -of joy because it is the fount our heavenly of truth and hope it is the treasure. And in the measure that we advance ; supreme testimony of promised in faith, in the measure that it becomes firmer, more ardent good, it already puts us in anticipated possession of the good e more active, things to come : Sperandarum substantia joy will more and more superabound in our rerum . Supersen- souls. Light is sible realities, the only realities that added to light, hope, beholding its horizons eternally remain, are widening is strengthened made tangible to us by faith. day by day ; love, feeling itself m a d nt makes everything °2 5 . easy ; and we run in the path ot l Let us then live the life the Lord s commandments. The great Patriarch of faith as intensely as we can himself assures with Christ's grace : let our whole existence us of this, and, without any doubt, he speaks be, as our great from experience. Patriarch would have it to be, deeply impregnated, even in Listen to what he says at the end of the Prologue, after the least details, with the spirit of faith, the supernatural having determined the end and shown the way in the spirit. Then temptation will be unable to take any hold on : measure that we go forward in the observance us, for of the Precepts which is our house will be built upon the rock of God's stability; the putting into practice of our faith, it is with we shall be victorious over the assaults of the devil and the hearts enlarged that we shall run the way of per- world. fection with unspeakable sweetness " of love : Processu vero conversatioms et Thus delivered from our enemies, we shall live in the fidei, dilataio corde, inenarrabili dilectioms dulcedtne curntur light of the spirit and in joy of heart. When Our Lord via mandatorum Dei. St. Benedict does so revealed to His disciples, at the Last Supper, the divine ™e^mes happen that the monk will ™SL- ^ find joy secrets heZ promises to all his that He alone possessed, what were the intimate sons that their hearts will dilate with aVe meaning and end of these ineffable revelations of God's love fc S0Urce 0f our wffl be 'the certain, P ,tL?- ^ fe i°y for His children fill with joy, W S ? They were to our hearts e ession of sovereign and immutable " Knd ?fc Tv ?°f to pour into divine joy : These things I L f J ghtS f gl them His own ; here b^ow, ^ - °, °jy the source of our fov^ X . S have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and your a already beSun of God tt« anticipated ' . joy " Son SriF7 ? ^ may be filled : Haec locutus vobis ut gaudium meum thlS ssession this P° . union is so much the fl morTi^l? ^ in vobis sit, et gaudium vestrum impleatur . h m°Te are bathed . » the light of faith. tLTo^W } Lh r 1. Matth. xix, 27. — a. Ibid. — 3. Gen. xv, i. — 4. Rule, ch. iv, v and *• S mS f0r is necessary here earth. lxxii. r ,?ffi if f f ^ upon — 5. Hebr. xi, 1. — 6. Joan, xv, 11. STSSh hearts, and He hL fashioned them need of g^dness. them It? Doubtless L\2 ^r ^ n Iv ° in the h°Pe and expectation of thee [o^ of Jeterm^ t V l ;y> but this is the happy small A privilege of a „J Snumber. As for us, we have left all things to follow i. Prologue of the Rule. MONASTIC PROFESSION 107

Let us then analyse the meaning of the monastic pro- shall fession ; we see that it is an immolation of our whole being which, made with love, is extremely pleasing to God VI. — MONASTIC ; PROFESSION. — that it becomes, for those who remain faithful to it, the starting-point towards perfection — and an unfailing source of spiritual blessings. Summary. — The necessity, in order to be a monk, of being incorpo- rated in the monastic society by religious profession. — I. I- Monastic profession constitutes an immolation of which Christ's* oblation is the model. — II. Character of a holocaust attached It is an acquired truth for to religious us that, in the work of our profession. — III. To unite this act to the oblation which perfection, we ought to keep our gaze always fixed on Christ Christ made of Himself. — IV. Blessings bestowed by God upon Jesus, Who is not only the one Model of our perfection those who make the vows of religion. — V Ne- cessity but also the of of remaining constantly faithful to our Vows. Fount holiness for us. When Our Lord calls His disciples to Him, He invites them to leave everything so as to follow and imitate Him, " " N order to draw the Christian and this they do : Leaving all things life at its authentic source they followed Him : and to be Christ's Reliciis 1 disciple, it is necessary to belong not omnibus, seculi sunt eum . Our Lord even tells us only to the soul but likewise that we cannot truly be worthy or perfect disciples, capable ^ to the body of the Church It is necessary " " to become a member of the visible organism of partaking in the glory of His Kingdom, unless having of the Church. This all incorporation is made by the profession left things to follow Him, we have the persevering strength of faith and the not to look reception of Baptism, the Sacrament of back. Nemo mittens manum suam ad aratum, et Christian 2 initiation it is respiciens retro, aptus est regno , ; maintained by participation in Dei the other Sacraments the rites of religion and by obedience Now as we are by nature weak and inconstant, St. Benedict to the authorities ordained by Christ. wills that he who presents himself at the door of the mo- The same analogy holds good as regards the monastic life. nastery in order to return to God by following Christ, shall To be truly a monk^is it sufficient to live according to the 'first of all be tried during the space of a year to ascertain if spirit of the great Patriarch ? 3 No, it is further necessary he truly seek God : Si revera Deum qitaerit . In a general to be received and incorporated in the monastic society. manner, the Orders founded in the course of the Middle r ei the h ly Habit the Postulant Ages adopted the same " "'of Council ' to probation a year. The Z^S^T* \° ^ ?„ J? asks /o the fellowship of of God's servants : Vestram Trent appropriated' this delay, in enacting the Canonical confratermtatemKrLlT"f His incorporation takes place on the day Noviceship. After having persevered in his purpose during of his profession. Faith brought him to the threshold of this space of time, the will confirm it in an irrevocable 0I er V ex ressed b ' P a solemn engagement will way by a promise made to God, a promise of his stability, ^fafS ? * y L 4 monastic life : tha * ™11 be the work of conversion of his manners, and obedience . This is monastic his Profession profession, which having once made, the monk is definitely e r eSS n is t0 t} e m°nastic life considered rr l what Baptism is to as a member of the community : Et jam ex ilia tnetJrChristian^ ? life certainly ; it is not a sacrament but its hora in congregaiione repntetur. n a 6 m S me manner comparable °R 5 ,° with those of The holy Legislator encompasses this promise with much Sr 1 aCeS the ne P hyte in God's solemnity : to be S5k w™ If i °P family and he wishes it to be put into writing — ?£ the charac of Christian; the Profession or read aloud "in the oratory ", — " before all the members emlln 7 , ^ ™w?.Plac<* the novice in the monastic family andrnnV he Apostolic Age (Ch. VI). These pages full of sure knowledge show how, S service n the - that he become a spirit of ecclesiastical tradition, religious Profession is a second periectSrfect disciple*S%* of^ri ^ 2 ™7 Baptism. Christ Jesus . Setting aside this aspect of the question, we will especially confine ourselves to pointing out in what way religious Profession is an oblation ; we numerous analogies shall ^^V^L^^Z^J^ existing between see how this concept is placed in relief by St. Benedict. remarkably 1. Luc. v, 11. — 2. Ibid, ix, 62. — 3. Rule, ch. lviii, — 4. This and (ASS^ft3^^ g the following texts cited are taken from the same chapter lviii of the Rule. " ;

io8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PROFESSION I09 the monastery " in the of ", — and made name of the St. Paul tells us that at the moment " when Christ entered saints whose relics enrich the altar : Ad nomen sanctorum into the world through the Incarnation, the first movement quorum reliquiae ibi sunt. His solemn engagement publicly of his soul was to cast His gaze upon the " by-gone centuries, made, the monk is to go and cast himself at the feet of upon the sacrifices that had been offered to God under the his brethren that all may help him with their prayers " ; Old Law. The Divine Word, Who knows His Father's infinite Tunc prosternatur singulorum pedibus, ut orent co. fro perfection, does not find these sacrifices worthy of the " " " " " Father: The promise is at the same time a prayer a peti- " Holocausts for sin did " not please Thee : Holocautomat'a " 1 tion. The novice asks to be received ; he especially asks non iibi placuerimt . But Christ has seen that His own that God's help may be obtained for him; he asks God Body is destined to be the true Victim of the only sacrifice Himself to accept him and nbt let the expectation of his of God, " " worthy A body Thou hast fitted Me : Corpus soul be in vain. The terms " engagement, " " oath 2 autem aptasti mihr . Why is the immolation of this Body denote therefore only one side (that of the human will, to be the only sacrifice pleasing to the Father ? First of the secondary cause) of monastic Profession, is all, which because this Victim is pure and spotless ; secondly, eminently regarded St. by Benedict as an act of co-operation because the Priest Who offers this sacrifice is " holy, innocent, wherein God's action works, wherein 3 " human liberty co- separated from sinners : this Victim and this Priest are operates. identified in the Person of the Father's Well-beloved Son, One detail is especially " " to be noted: St. Benedict the Son of His love *. If all that Jesus does is accepted links this profession to the Sacrifice of the Altar. When the by His Father Whose good pleasure He ever accomplishes : novice has read and signed the «', 5 document that bears his Quae placita sunt facio semper , this is above all true promise, he goes to place it, with his own hand, on the altar :' of His Sacrifice. Et manusua earn super altare ponat, as if to join the tangible and authentic testimony of his engagement to the gifts that , The plenitude of this Sacrifice further augments its value. are offered to God in sacrifice ; the monk then unites his It is a holocaust. We ought not to consider Christ's immolation with that of Christ Jesus. This is in fact what Sacrifice as offered only at the time of the Passion. Christ is our holy Father St. Benedict intends. We see how this a Victim from the moment of the Incarnation, and it is as intention is expressed in a complementary chapter where Victim that He offers Himself ; in entering into the world, he treats of the reception of children ; St. Benedict wishes He beheld the sum of suffering, humiliation, abjection and the parents to wrap their child's hand and the act of pro- ignominy that He was to endure from the Crib to the Cross : fession in the altar cloth, at the same time as the elements He accepted to fulfil all that was decreed : He said to His destined to become the 1 matter of the Sacrifice . Father: "Behold I come": Ecce venio*. The initial act Monastic Profession is indeed an immolation, and this of offering whereby He wholly yielded Himself up, virtually immolation derives all its value from its union with Christ's contained all His sacrifice ; from that instant His immolation holocaust. Now whence does the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass began ; and His whole life of suffering was but the continua- derive its value ? Is it not from the Sacrifice of the Cross tion of this immolation. Let us clearly understand the which the oblation of the altar renews and reproduces ? It meaning, at once present and retrospective, of the words our is in contemplating this Sacrifice of the Cross, in taking the Lord utters upon the Cross, before breathing forth His last " 7 immolation of Jesus as sigh : " . our example, that we shall learn the AH is consummated : Consummatum est This qualities that the offering of ourselves in Profession ought word is like the supreme echo of the Ecce venio. to have. Christ's immolation has three special characters : Our Lord's sacrifice is one ; it is perfect in its duration it is a holocaust worthy of God, — a full holocaust, — a it is also perfect in its plenitude. It is Himself, the whole holocaust offered out of love. These of 8 characters should b» Himself, that Jesus Christ offers : Semetipsum obtulit , and found again m our Profession. 'that He offers unto the last drop of His Blood, unto the fulfil- ment of the last prophecy and of His' Father's last desire. It is first of all a holocaust worthy of God. 1. Hebr. x, 6. — 2. Ibid. 5. — 3. Ibid, vii, 36. — 4. Col. 1, 13. — 5. Joan, viu, 29. 6. Ps. xxxix, 8: Hebr. x, >; — 7. Joan, xix, 30. — 8; i. Rule, ch. lix. — • - Hebr. ix, i<, • ' :

no CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PROFESSION X11

is nothing as this ; There so perfect holocaust it is so perfect odore suavitalis 1 cum ; this unbloody oblation is as acceptable that this oblation which Christ Jesus made, once for all, to as the Sacrifice of God Calvary : here Jesus is the Victim, of His own Body suffices to sanctify us : In qua voluntate as He was when upon the Cross, and as He was when He sanclificati sumits per oblalionem corporis Jcsu Christi 1 semel . came upon earth. Upon the altar, Christ " Jesus comes again By this one oblation He hath perfected for ever them that into this world every day as Victim ; every " day He repeats are sanctified : una enim oblatione consummavit in scmpiter- his oblation and His immolation for us. 2 Doubtless He wishes num sanctificatos . us to offer Him to the Father ; but neither does He ever weary of urging us to offer ourselves to His Father, in union What completely renders this holocaust infinitely pleasing with Him, that we too may thus be accepted, and, having to God is the perfection of love wherewith it is offered. in shared His Sacrifice here below, may likewise share in His What, in fact, is the inward motive power which urges eternal glory. the soul of Christ Jesus to embrace the Father's will and Our condition as creatures already obliges us to offer to confess, by His oblation and immolation, God's infinite ourselves to God, for His dominion over us is sovereign perfections and " sovereign rights ? It is love. Behold I " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof : the world come. In the head of the book it is written of all " Me that and they that dwell therein : Domini est terra et plenitudo I should do Thy will : O My God, I have desired it, and Thy ejus, orbis terrarum et universi 3 qui habitant in eo . We ought law in the midst of my heart " : Ecce venio, in capile libri to confess, by our adoration and the sacrifice of our submis- scnplum est de me; ut faciam vohmtatem iuam! Dens mens sion to God's will, His supreme perfection and our absolute volui, et legem iuam in medio 3 cordis mm. . It is in the midst dependence. of His Heart that Jesus places His 'Father's will : this is But our condition as members of Jesus Christ also obliges as much as to say it is love that urges Him to offer Himself us to imitate our Divine Head. St. Paul addresses these entirely to God's good pleasure. Our Divine Saviour words to " gives Christians : I beseech you, therefore, brethren, this clearly to be understood when the " moment comes to by the mercy of God, — that is to say because of God's complete, to consummate, upon the Cross, the Sacrifice infinite bounty towards you — " that you present your inaugurated by the Incarnation. Doubtless He dies for love bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your of His brethren " " : greater love, He says, man than this no reasonable service": Obsecro vos, fratres, per misericordiam hath that a man lay down his ", life for his friends Dei, Hit exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem, sanctam, Majorem dtlechonem nemo habetut animam suam fionat quis Deo placentem, rationabile 3 pro obsequium vestrum . amictssuis* But His fraternal charity is itself totally These words ought to be especially true of those who offer subordinate to the love He bears towards His Father and themselves to God by religious profession. a deV°Ur Him for His other's glory and Christians in the offer ?nwlc ? 4 , f world sacrifices to God. On account a W ld have the whole wor] d know the of our fallen nature, a certain self-abnegation is necessary supremacySSSS. S?that+ +thist- lover exerts over all that for all, He does : Ut a certain self-immolation, in order to obey God's cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem... sic faciot .commandments. But with the ordinary Christian this immolation has its limits ; he may offer his possessions to II. God, but he keeps the free disposal of his person ; he must love S find God, but he may also give a legitimate share of characters a ain the Holy his of Yhe Mass ^ S » Sacrifice love to creatures. He who gives himself to God by religious profession, Our Lord 'has willed that the immolation of the 41tar shall renounces n W everything ; he comes to God with all that he °f thG C 0SS " by-P-ducTngft torder has, all " o app v itsTutti ] r that he is : Behold I come ", Ecce venio ; and he lt is the same offersotters w;J Christ Who offers all this to God, keeping nothing back. This is what mmsefHimself to His 7*1*™Father "h " in the odour of it sweetness : means to be a living sacrifice, to offer a holocaust. At i. Hebr. x, 10. — 2 IJiirl , tj„ 3 Ps xxxlx Joan, xv, '. ". > 8-9 ; cf. i : _ . Hebr. x, 7. — 4. 3 5 Ib i d ^~ ; x. Ordinary of the Mass, offering of the Chalice. — 2. Ps. xxm.— 3. Rom. 112 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PROFESSION 113 our profession, is " it as if we said : My God, my nature gives God, Infinite Being, Who art very Beatitude, what an me the faculty of possessing ; but I abdicate earthly immense and inestimable goods that I possess grace Thou dost give to Thy poor may Thee alone. It allows me to love creatures in calling them to be, with the Son of Thy love, creatures, but' I wish to love Thee alone. It authorises acceptable sacrifices, me to dispose of myself, wholly consecrated to the glory of Thy but I wish to lay my liberty at " Majesty I Thy feet. We give up not only earthly possessions and the right of making a home of our own, but we renounce III. what is dearest to our being : our liberty ; and because we surrender this citadel of the will, we. surrender our entire " For this holocaust to be pleasing unto God ", Deo placens, being, the very root of all our activity, we keep back nothing. From this day as St. Paul says, it must be united to the sacrifice of Christ we have not even, as our holy Father St. Be- nedict says, the disposal Jesus. of our own bodies : Ex illo die nee is This a truth of capital importance : it is Christ's oblation propni corporis potestatem se habiturum sciatK We make the tradition which gives value to ours, and makes it worthy of the Hea- of everything in the joyful simplicity of our love: Domine, venly Father. It is in order to manifest outwardly this in simplicitate cordis mei laeius obtuli UNIVERSAL union of our immolation with that of Christ, that St. Benedict That great " wishes the Profession to be made during the Holy Sacrifice, monk St. Gregory says : When a soul offers to the Divine and the novice to place upon the altar, with his own hand, Omnipotence all that it has, all that is within the parchment that contains his written promise. As every- leases lt that is a " P > holocaust : Cum quis omne quodTV* thing laid upon the altar as an offering is consecrated to God, habet, omne quod vivit, omne quod sapit omnipotenti Deo voverit this act of profession is the symbol of the immolation that holocausium est*. St. Thomas expresses the same thought:^ the newly professed brother has just made in the sanctuary A holocaust consists in offering to God all that of his own soul. W e : Hohcaustum est cum aliquis ^ T^ . totum *quod habet offertDeo*. How is this union of our sacrifice with that of Jesus carried By this into effect ? Through love. Love it is that unites. immolation we acknowledge that God is the First It is because Principle of all we love Christ that we wish to cleave to Him things ; we lay. down at His feet all that " we and prefer Him to every creature. " Come, follow Me, have received from Him, we offer ourselves up entirely says 1 in order Jesus ; Vent, sequere me ; and like Jesus when entering that all that we are and all that we have mayJ return into this " " to Him. world, we have said to Him : Behold I come, Ecce venio; I wish to cleave to Thee alone. Because I Moreover, in believe that Thou art God, very Perfection and Beatitude order to make this holocaust more perfect, ; more complete, and, because I trust in the infinite value of Thy merits and of as far as possible, perpetual, we offer it by a Thy solemn public promise, grace ; because in Thee I love the Supreme Being, and accepted by the Church : this is the for " 2 Profession, the Thy Name's sake propter nomen tuum , I have left emission of the vows. It is true that ; all 1 "s.^y we entered the things and I even relinquish that which is most near and I? ? monastery, we effectively left all to follow Christ dear to me — liberty. reliquimus omnia, et Jesus ; but the great moral threshold my Ecce nos secuti a was not crossed it sumus te . : is the part of the vows to consecrate the donation Doubtless andmake it, of itself, irrevocable. The vows of what we have given to God is, taken in itself, re( ui e as a very small thing. are creatures have received l / y°u ^ow, a deliberate act of the will, We poor who ^llFTu ;i y a P 1C romise made to everything from our Heavenly Father, and God has no need - P the Church. St. Benedict «S S of me nS l1: our : *. y to be so : goods Bonorum meorum non eges But what God - the novice is to consider well SlSS ^ , ' T S° asks is our heart, our says, when me len th of tim e. before binding love ; and, as St. Gregory f u S £Sf 6Ver a love gives all, however little this "all" maybe, the gift pr0mise : ' - Et si haUia se * *» a "holy may by virtue of charity, which t£^'™ °StlV H s Ctam U is a s is the - tless sacrifice, queen of virtues. Then besides its splendour , --u P° own unstainedSn by earth.T TT If, on the contrary, a soul retains its and intrinsic value, this act of temperance or of humility attachment to created things, it remains glued to the earth, assumes the beauty and merit of an act of charity. Now Th y Heart ol Chnst J esus was attached in the life of a monk, all acts of virtue assume, by the fact L\lonly Tto >uthe l \u ^ Father : Ego vivo 3 of his " propter Patrem . Thereiore profession, the value of acts of religion. The acts bt. Jb'aul says that Christ was an unspotted sacrifice offered of the different virtues, " says St. Thomas, " become better to Uod: Qm semchpsum obtulit immaculatum Deo* The and more meritorious, when they are performed in virtue monk who makes profession casts of a away from him, in prin- vow : on this head they appertain to Divine worship, ciple, every creature, all that as if " sunt could turn him away from they were sacrifices : Opera aliarum virluium... fr0 eve y fetter that he ma be perfectly meliora et magis meritoria, si fiunt ex voto, quia sic jam perti- hnnr/rf f ^ f 7 bound to'V^Christ and seek solely nent 3 the will of His Father, ad divimim cultum, quasi quaedam Dei sacrificia . Thus ihis is an act of perfect love extremely pleasing to God. Profession communicates to the monk's whole life the a"se ProfesSIOn & the expression character and holocaust ; it makes of our life a . of so complete a virtue of a ^ f rS W lm e "se blessings and unceasing joy upon perpetual sacrifice. The act of profession itself only lasts a Sp <,?,?! t .^ P w°" t0 few MttK^thS? ^ thro ^ the lows and moments, but its effects are permanent and its fruits eternal. As Baptism is the starting point of Christian holiness, so is Profession that of our monastic perfection. It should of an initial i. Lib. I Homil.vin Evangel. appear to us like the gradual developing a° 3. — ,-.*, . tj..i„ t, . 2 Ps cxvm,rwm 116 Rule, cb. lviii. — 3. Joan, vi, 58. — ; 4. Hebr. ix, 14. 1. See VI, 15. "-H D. G. Morin : L'iddal monasliquc, p. 60. -2. Gal. — 3. f). 88, a. 6. : :

n6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PROFESSION TT „ " act of immense weight. The property of the vows, " says " ever : Quid mint mihi est for in caelo, et a te quid St. Thomas, " is vohti to immobilise the will in good: And the Deus cordis super lerram ? mei et pars mea Deus in aetermm acts which proceed from a will thus fixed in good, appertain K " to perfect virtue : Per votum immobiliter voluntas firmatur V. in bonum. Facet-e autem aliquid ex vohintale firmata in bonum, pertinet ad perfectionem virtutis K in order to taste But these joys, we must keep ourselves at the height of our profession; we must But here remain in this a precision is necessary : the perfection assigned state of absolute oblation ; we must, during our whole life to us is of a definite type. In the same way as the be faithful to our vows. In the same way as, by baptism' baptismal vows are the initial point of our supernatural the Christian engages himself for ever " to die " holiness, so monastic profession to sin and is the first impulsion to strive ever "to live unto 2 God , "so the monk, by his towards our Benedictine perfection. It is not, in fact, either profession, obliges himself to be ever more and more a Dominican perfection, nor a Carthusian perfection which detached from all that is created, in order is to follow Christ to arise from our profession : it is a Benedictine more and more closely. perfection ; for our vows have in view the practice of the Rule This is an arduous task which requires of us great of St.Benedict and of the Constitutions which govern us generosi- ty, because our fallen nature ever tends to take back some- Promitio... obedientiam secundum regulamS. P. Benedicti in congregatione 2 thing of what it has given. We cannot withdraw the offer- nostra . The Rule, interpreted by our ing ol ourselves once made ; if we do so by wilful infidelities, Constitutions — and not the Rule of another Order, or the constitutions we incur God's anger. Our holy Father St. Benedict himsell of another Congregation — is what we have warns us ot this in " vowed to observe. dramatic terms : Let him who acts other- The Rule contains moreover all that is wise than as he has promised, know that will necessary for our perfection and he be condemned holiness : it is in giving " by Him Whom he mocketh : XJt se aliquando aliter fecerit, themselves to God by the bonds of this Rule that so many 3 ab eo se damnandum sciat quern irridet . Never let us forget monks are made holy and come to the highest perfection, indeed to the summit of sanctity. that our chart of profession is registered in Heaven in the Jiook of Predestination, and that we shall be judged As it is the starting point of our perfection, so our profession not only as to our baptismal promises, but also as to the is also the origin of our joy. " Lord, in the simplicity of heart, " vows which we have pronounced before the holy altar my I have gladly given Thee all : such are the accents Stas in conspectu Dei ante hoc sacrosanctum altar e*. The of the soul, at the moment of offering itself to God. thought of not having faithfully observed the vows by which But God repays this joyful generosity soul of the he with a. freely bound himself would be a cause of terrible anguish further increase of joy. "God loveth a cheerful for a religious giver : Hilarem 3 at the hour of death. God judges according datorem diligit Deus, says St. Benedict , to the repeating the expression truth.; He even judges our justices : Ego justitias of the Apostle *. And as God is the judicabo 5 source of all . Let us therefore often examine the object of beatitude and we have left all things order to in our cleave to Him alone, He says threefold offering and see if we are faithful, despite to us : It is I Myself Who will be Thy reward, a reward " exceeding " opposition and difficulties, in keeping our vow of stability, great : Ego merces tua magna m labouring living in ntmis* ego : at the conversion of our manners, in Myself ! I will not leave the care of crowning thee obedience who, for us, to any other, God says to the soul; because under the guidance of the one represents y because thou art Christ and holds His place. ii°£- X ™£™' wholly Mine, I will be a e ltan e th Doubtless, this faithfulness is perfectly compatible with ' y Possession, and thou shalt find inf Mem thy+t' 7 S ^ a our miseries, us and beatitude : Ego merces tua I our infirmities, the faults that escape rd that L thus deed " we deplore and try to repair ; but it cannot be recon- -°, ' > : For what have I in Heaven A.^l' vu ciled with deliberate Ge What d0 l desire u n ea Thou habitual and unresisted tepidity or with «S fh r I f u P° *h ?•» art the God of my heart, infidelities. or nun, who bargains and the God that is my portion A religious, whether monk Ps-,ixxii, Initiation and j}- . 35-26. — 2. See Baptism, Sacrament of Ceremo- °» »» Christ, the Life of the Soul. — 3. Rule, ch. lviii. — 4- Hwai of Monastic Profession. — 5. Ps. lxxiv,.3. ; n8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PROFESSION II9 with Christ, who thinks that too much is asked, who makes 1 truth before dying : Consummafum est . Let us often reservations in the gift of self, who " looks back * ", is not contemplate Christ Jesus in the supreme and immutable worthy of Him. For such souls, neither perfection nor fidelity with which He fulfilled His mission, let us beseech intimate union with God is possible. Him to give us the grace to take nothing back of what we We must then fervently strive to remain generously faithful. have given. Like Him, and for love of Him, we gave all Strange aberration of certain souls who imagine that the at the moment of our profession : all the good we have " " profession once made, they can take things easily ! But done since is but the daily and exterior manifestation in reality it is quite the contrary ; then it is that the true of a will and determination rendered irrevocable by our life of intimate union with Jesus in His sacrifice begins for us.

. Union in sacrifice, we say, but also in our inward ascen- St. Paul writing to his disciple Timothy exhorts him to sions " " ; for God has likewise bound Himself on His side, stir up within himself the grace which he received on if I may thus speak : He is bound to help us, to make us the day of his , whereby he became a partaker attain to holiness. 2 And be assured that He will keep ' His of Christ's eternal Priesthood . It is for us likewise a 2 " contract. Fidelis Deus : God is faithful ;" He will never salutary practice to revive within us the grace of Profession fail the soul who sincerely seeks Him. Our Lord clearly by renewing the promises we then made. This monastic " tells us so : Everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sacramental is always at our disposal : when we have sisters, or father, or mother... or lands for My Name's sake, recourse to it a new influx of divine life flows into our souls. shallreceive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlast- After Holy Mass, there is no action so pleasing to God as ing. " And Christ Jesus confirms this promise by a kind the self-oblation of religious Profession : there is no state of oath " " : Amen, I say to you ». His word is that of so precious in His sight as that of constancy in the disposi- Truth itself; it is infallible. If we are faithful to cleave to tions wherein the soul was at that moment. It is a holy Jesus alone, we shall receive even here below, and without practice then to renew our profession daily, for example at any possible miscalculation, unite our sacrifice with the promised hundredfold ; we the offertory of the Mass. Let us shall " have our hands filled with great, immense blessings. that of Christ Jesus. Let us offer ourselves with Him in He is for our souls the most sincere of Friends, the most the spirit of humility, and with a contrite heart that our faithful Bridegroom. sacrifice may be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord": In Let us ask our Lord for the grace never to leave Him. spiritu humilitatis et inanimo contrito suscipiamur a te.Domine, Juravt el stalui: " placeat O Lord Jesus, I have sworn and am et sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu tuo hodie, iit determined to keep 3 not only the judgments of Thy justice ", tibi, Domine Deus . O Eternal Father, receive Thy C ustodire judtcia justitiae tuae «. Like Thee, for love of Thee, Divine Son, but ourselves with Him of Whom we say that I am determined " " : to keep my Rule even to the least detail He is a pure Host, a holy Host, an immaculate Host not so much as an iota, not so much as a comma, shall be Hostiam puram, hostiam sanctum, hostiam tmmaculatam*. taken away by me from miserable as Thy law : Iotaunum aut units apex Of ourselves, we are only poor creatures, but, non praetenbiia lege- donee omnia fmnt 5 we are, Thou wilt not reject us, for the sake of Thy Son hrist 0ffe e imself would be t0 His Father °n entering into Jesus Who is our Propitiation, and to Whom we thefh? world.M AtA AP that moment, He, so to speak, made His united, so that through Him, and with Him, and in Him, profession from that in the ; moment He gave everything, although all honour and glory be to Thee, Father Almighty, et cum ipso, et in ipso ** »«*«** throughout unity of the Holy Ghost : Per ifsum, We unm His His whole l^°UP CrOSS est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in imitate Spiritus Sancti.omnis - He never audit o Sfe tfA- °V5? retracted .honor et 5 He took back nothin gloria . from this ^^ K ourselves with m^W sou ht onl When with all our heart we thus associate FaScr lL„ ?* S y what pleased His S' ChaIlCe becomes the practical hat His our Lord's Sacrifice, our daily life overflowed * ™™ Proffered Him with bitterness.Hf** at the hour of our profes- He could therefore say in all expression of the oblation made I. Luc. IX, J 62. — 2. I Cnr 1 n » ** i-w. Canon 106. ' 9 ' ~ 3..Matth. xix, 1. Ordinary of the Mass. — 4- - 5. Matth. v, 18. 28-29. — 4. Ps. cxvni, Joan, xix, 30. — 2. II Tim. 1, 6,— 3.. of the Mass. — 5. Ibid. 120 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK

sion ; it is like the prolongation of the Mass wherein Christ our Divine Head is immolated, and hence, our whole existence is transfigured into a hymn of praise, a continual Gloria rising up to God like the incense of the sacrifice, " in the odour of sweetness " VII. — THE ; cum odore suavitatis, an act of perfect "INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS". adoration indefinitely renewed. The vows nail us to the Cross with Christ, and it may be said that these mystical Summary.— Religious Profession nails were forged by the Church, the Bride of Christ, since inaugurates the true monastic life — I. Why St. Benedict compares the monastic " it is she who approves our vows. It is the Church's explicit life to a soil ritual workshop ". — II. The intervention instruments he puts in our which guarantees that our vows are so hands that we may excel in it. — III. In what way we are to pleasing to our Lord and so useful to our souls. Doubtless make use of them; divers stages. — IV. The part that in the religious state is hard for nature, for it obliges us to our ascetic industry, proceeds from the divine co-operation.— constant is abnegation. When St. Gertrude, on one All Saints V. Love the supreme mainspring of this undertaking. — VI. Fruits Day, contemplated the legions of the elect, she saw that of a life guided by love. — VII. Persevering strength religious figured requisite in order to attain final success. in the ranks of martyrs : the vision signified that profession makes of our life 1 a perpetual holocaust . " Do not say, " an author of the first centuries had already " is under the guidance of Christ exclaimed, do not say that in our days the conflicts where IT Jesus that we must martyrs return to God. Christ is the Leader triumph no longer exist. For peace itself has its Who shows us the way and brings us to the supreme end. martyrs. To repress anger, to flee from impurity, to keep Faith yields us justice, up to Christ, by causing Him to reign in us — despise avarice, to beat down our pride, is not this a reign to " which is accepted in substance on the day of accomplish the principal acts of martyrdom 2 ? Baptism, and But the renewed in its full extent on the blessed day of our generous and faithful soul finds in this ever monastic Profession : at that hour we overcame the renewed self-oblation an inexhaustible joy, an ever increasing world by an act joy, because this of practical faith, in order to surrender ourselves entirely to joy comes from One Who is infinite and Christ and attach us to alone immutable Beatitude. It is this Him without looking back : Divine Beatitude that we " wished to Behold we have left all things, and have followed " gam when we left all things, like to the merchant, Thee : Ecce nos reliquimus 1 who omnia et secuti sumus te . when he had found one pearl of great price... sold But religious Profession is only all that he had, and bought it " the beginning of our real : Inventa autem una -pretiosa monastic life, as the donation that Christ marganta... vendidit omnia quae s made of Himself habuit, et emit eum . This happiness to His Father's good pleasure on entering into the world, we shall find • if we are ever seeking it we shall was but the ineffable prelude to all His possess it one day in all its perfection/or humano-divine rather we'shall lose activity. ourselves m its infinity: The faith that gave us up to Christ when we so much the more deeply lost in it according pronounced our Vows ought to continue to be a daily prin- to the measure wherein here below we are the ciple of action in us ; it ought, if it is to be perfect, more detached from creatures in to blossom order to cleave exclusively into to Lnnst Ecce nos love, and, through a motive of love, set all our energies : rehqmmus omnia et secuti sumus le. m motion, in order that we may work out our union with 1 L0Ve Christ Jesus. L IV ch< I v-- Nemo ' Mbet enim P*x martyr* suos. truly thus that our Holy Father, filled with the Nam ilaYwdial, 2,w! Vu-F™ spirit " a coniemnerc, superbtatn humiliate, of all the just, according to the saying of St. Gregory pars maena martvru ett rxlant- P I , conceives the cenobitical life which we have embraced by our profession. See for yourselves. The first vow that he makes us pronounce is that of stability which binds us to the cenobitical society and fixes us in the monastery until

death : Usque 3 ad mortem in monasterio ferseverantes . But r. Matth. xix, 37. — 2 . Dialog, lib, 11, c. vm. — 3. Prologue of the Rule. 122 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS 123 under what aspect doss he present this monastery ? Under 1 consists dorutn . Art in giving a faithful material that of a " spiritual workshop. " reproduc- Trades are not learnt an idea, of tion of an ideal. Consider a work of art. It there, but the soul is exercised in seeking God. The spiritual exists, to begin with, in the thought of the artist ; it is this workshop is also " a school of the Lord's " service '.Damlmci thought that guides his hand 1 ; and when the work is'executed schola servitii . In this workshop, in this school, the holy- it is often but an imperfect reflection " of the ideal formed Legislator places what he calls the instruments of good and cherished by the master's genius. God, if we may thus works, " the " tools of the spiritual " craft : Instrumenta is speak, the greatest of artists. The whole creation is but honorum opcrum, artis spiritualist. the outward expression of the ideal that God forms to Let us try to understand the profound teaching hidden Himself of all things in His Word. As the artist finds under these expressions. Why does St. Benedict compare his delight in the work that reproduces his thought, so crea- the monastic life to a "spiritual craft". What are the tion, in coming forth from God's hands, was seen by Him " instruments " that he places in our hands that we may to be "very good ", because it responded perfectly to the learn to excel ? In what manner are we to make use of ideal of its Divine ' Author : Viditgue Deus quae fecerat et them ? We shall have to recognise the part that, in 2 our erant valde bona . The Holy Spirit stirs up the Psalmist ascetical industry, proceeds from the Divine operation; to contemplate nature thereby to glorify the God of creation. finally we will explain how love must be the supreme Domine, Domi-nus noster, quant admirabile est nomen tutnn in mainspring of the 3 " whole of this undertaking, and wi+h what universa terra : O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is firm perseverance we must continue " in it so that it mav Thy name in the whole earth I Omnia in sapieniia be crowned with success. " 4 " fecisti: Thou hast made all things in wisdom . We do the same as the Psalmist when, at the chanting of the I. Benedicite of Lauds, we lend to all beings the accents of our lips, the life of our understanding and of our heart, in order The essentially practical terms that our Holy Father to praise God for having made them. employs sufficiently emphasize that an urgent work of But there remains a great difference between us and ma- activity is traced out for us. terial things. They are but a vestige, a far-off reflection of For St. Benedict, the necessity of good works is evident. the Divine Beauty. Man, on the contrary, was created with he 7 before us, namely, to find is an intellect and a heart in the image of God : Faciamus ,w + i ^. J^ God, not to be obtained " " 5 without good works. If we wish, he hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem noslram . Such is says in the Prologue, "to dwell in the tabernacle of His the secret of the dignity of man and the ineffable love that Kingdom, " we must run thither — and he uses this term God bears towards him. My delights are to be with the run time " e after time " children . — by good works... We shall only of men : Deliciae meat esse cum filiis hominum become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven if we fulfil by our God loves His image in us. Now, as you know, this image deeds the requisite conditions for obtaining this inheritance. has been degraded, disfigured by original sin and by our It is for this reason, " " " " he adds, that a delay, a respite personal sins. All spiritual art is hence to consist in is granted to us by God in this 4 present life . repairing the consequences of this degradation, and of restor- What are the works that the holy Legislator exhorts us ing to the soul its primitive beauty, in order to give God to accomplish and for which he " gives us "instruments of the joy of seeing His image more perfectly reflected in us. the spiritual art ? God is the first to work at this restoration. To this end, First of all remark the exactitude of " " this last expression. He sends His Son, perfect God and perfect Man : Per- *rs, says bt. 1 nomas, est ratio recta aliquorum 7 is " image operum facien- fects Deus, perfectus homo . As God, Christ the 8 :" of the invisible God and the brightness of His glory 6 c1k IV ' The meta hor eternal " worfi"" ' P °' "instrument", He is the adequate and substantial image of the fs^nlnh^T^^Jthat comes to us from the ; these tera in the l»n™ «?^ East we find C C ' Sm f the ofTe Desert ° ^centuries and of the Fathers «TkPw£ « Thom^ as, "-», q- 184, a. c. fin a. — 3, ; q. 188, Ps. cm, 24. 8 ,tol Cf P, X, ? 1. i-ii, q. 57, a. 3. — a. Gen. 1, 31. — 3. Ps. vm, 1. — 4- ! C*Vm 32 ! Vittm ' «"«**»«» cucdrri. 5. Gen. 26. attributed to S« Athanasius. — - 4. Prologue oi £ SSta ' <™ 1, — 6. Prov. vm, 31. — 7. Creed 8. Col. j, 15 ; Hebr. 1, 3. : ;

rz4 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS 125

perfections ; He is perfect God, pure and spotless Light; that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ ": begotten by Light. As Man, He is likewise perfect, surely Jesus Ita et vos existimate, vos mortuos esse fisccato, viventes autem the most beautiful of the children of men ; His soul is im- Christo 1 Deo, in Jesu . And this twofold formula is the sum- maculate, adorned with the plenitude of grace. Christ is mary of the whole work of the Christian and of the beloved Son in Whom the Father recognizes Himself all religious asceticism. in the midst of creation, He is the Divine Masterpiece in Manifestly St. Benedict makes this the starting Whom is all the Father's delight. point of the perfection that he wishes to develop in his monks. And it is Christ Who becomes for us the type, the example Through Christ's grace, the Christian dies to sin and lives which we must reproduce in order to restore the divine to God : St. Benedict wishes us to carry out this plan beauty to our souls and to be admitted to its into the heavenly full achievement. Like the simple Christian, the monk is kingdom. How many times have we not meditated ori the child of God, called by God to eternal beatitude, having these truths ? He Who created "us has willed that Christ Christ as Head and being sustained by the grace of shall be the very form of Christ. our predestination : Praedestinavit But if he starts from the same point as the simple [nos 1 Christian, Dens] conjormes fieri imaginis Filii sui . the monk goes further in order to reach a The 2 beatitude which] "new creature" : nova creaiura , who is the child of substantially the same, is yet adoption capable of degrees reaching to in Christ Jesus, reproduces in God's sight the ever ascending heights. The simple Christian dies to sin traits of His beloved Son. God's ; great desire is that we the monk, by his vows, renounces created should resemble things, renounces His Son Jesus as perfectly as possible. himself. The simple Christian lives, through grace, for God Therefore the whole method of the ; spiritual art consists in the monk must have in view perfect charity keeping the eyes where every of the soul unceasingly fixed upon Christ human motive power our disappears. The monk seeks to bring Model, this humano-divine Ideal, in -order to reproduce to realisation the fulness of the Christian life His features ; he must in us. It is thus that we shall rehabilitate our possess within himself a deeper degree of " death " but nature and raise it to its first splendour ; and it is thus we also a " " more powerful intensity of life than is the' case may be assured of the delight and liberality of the Heavenly with the ordinary faithful. To the precepts the observance Father, because then He will recognize in us the many of which leads to the Kingdom of " Heaven, he adds the St born Ut sii se Primogenitus in practice of the counsels which give a s %cdribus* ^ greater vigour and mm perfection But you to the merely Christian life. will say : Has not baptism washed awav sin and Hear how the great Patriarch himself presents these ideas : has it not clad us with Christ Himself ? Quicumauein Chris- he first makes the listen " to oaptizah monk to the Divine voice : The eshs, Christum induistis*. " Assuredly however Lord, he says, " seeks His workman in we have as yet but the multitude of the principle of our progressive the people, and cries out : "Who is the man that will have assimilation; evil tendencies remain. in us ever ready to life, and desireth to see good days. " break out sinful The end is here m deeds which disfigure the soul. On the indicated : the divine life, God's one hand it beatitude shared here below is in removing these stains and overcoming in these faith, up above in the brightness of eternal light. "And tendencies and on the other hand in developing this resem- u, ' continues blance to the holy Legislator, "thou respondest to Christ by the practice of virtues, that we tend this invitation " : to perfection. by the words I am he " what will be the " Lord's reply ? Turn evil, What in from and do good ; seek peace, fact is a Christian ? " " Another Christ, all and pursue it 2 " antiquity . Here is characterised the twofold work replies And who is Christ? The Man-God. to which St. Benedict would have us apply ourselves while d r sin b His death *? °y y ; He brings life living in the whereofwwS u?has f} monastery : Avoid evil and do good ; and by He the fulness. To renounce sin and participate the same fact, possess peace. Very general terms in m this life, such is which the programme so clearly traced out by he bt. Faul summarizes the spiritual craft. to the neophyte on the day when by his baptism So true is it that our he becomes Christ's Holy Father sees in monastic holiness disciple: " So do you also only reckon, the normal but full expansion of baptismal grace, for i. Rom. vm, 2g . _ a . G al. vj, i . _ . 1. 5 3 Rom . Vlllj ag _ _ Rom. vj 4 Gal HI, 2?. 11. — 3 . Prologue of Uir Rule. ;

CHRIST, 126 THE IDEAL OF THE MONK " THE " INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS I27 his , — I cannot insist too much upon this atmosphere that Christians breathed proceeds directly from was yet laden with evil the Gospel ; it is all steeped in it effluvia, the persistant remains of or and this it is that gives it that seal relapses into of greatness and sim- 1 In barbarism . his were to be found Jioblemen plicity, of strength and sweetness, which especially charac- who had known the most decadent periods of terises it. Roman society, there were also Goths scarcely freed from their brutal passions. For the use of such kind of disciples, II. it was necessary to publish anew even the precepts of the and the current truths of the In practice, the " Gospel. We know fulfilment of this maxim to turn from that moreover these precepts implicitly contain all the evil and do good " is apportioned according to specifically perfection of the corresponding virtues. divers 1 precepts and- manifold acts . St. Benedict thus Another and deeper reason guided the Holy furnishes his spiritual Lawgiver in workshop — the monastery his with choice : in thus blending sentences of the Christian life various instruments, which the workmen — the monks with those that concern monks only, St. Benedict wished to have to learn how to handle and continue to use. emphasize the plainly " Christian " character that meant " " he But what are these instruments ? The holy Lawgiver to give to his spirituality. The monk was to be first of all calls by this name sentences taken for the most part from a man who observes the natural law, and then fully Holy Scripture, others borrowed from the ancient Fathers practises the Christian law. Religious perfection comes from of the Church and the early monastic writers. These the are same root as Christian perfection in general ; the holy sentences, aphorisms, maxims which point out some fault to Legislator combines the precepts and the counsels in close be avoided, some vice to be uprooted, some virtue to be conjunction : never has the Evangelical ideal appeared more practised. These axioms which, by their concise form, recall indivisible. the formulas of the Decalogue, are easily retained by the This is why the Patriarch does not arrange his instruments memory, and the mind turns them over to derive fruit from according to an altogether systematic order which would them, and puts them into practice when the moment comes : result from a methodical plan all traced out in advance. they are to help us to overthrow the obstacles opposed to In this again, he resembles the Gospels, he is eminently simple the Divme action in us and to practise acts of virtue — which does not prevent him from being sure — in his As souls are different and have not the same tendencies manner of leading souls to God. However, certain groups to evil or identical aptitudes for good, our Holy Father stand out clearly : here are instruments that concern our has multiplied instruments : seventy-three are to be counted. duties towards God ; there are those that regulate our rela- When a man of the world reads over the list \ he is nearly tions with our neighbour; finally others that more directly always astonished to see St. Benedict giving his sons recom- concern ourselves. mendations which concern only the order of natural morality or the life of the simple " Christian. To love God with all But one s heart, whatever be the number and diversity of the said all one's soul, all one's strength to ; love one's instruments, must use with discernment. can- neighbour as oneself; we them We to honour all men; not to do to not attempt another what one to employ them all at the same time, any would not have done to oneself tell ; to more than we can practise all the virtues at the same time the truth from heart ; and mind ; not to kill, not to steal, souls are different and needs are various. bear f se witness to relieve ; the poor; to visit the Some of S°w°t f " ^ the sentences recall general dispositions that ought sick ; to console the afflicted. " always to animate us : To love God with all our heart and Why does our Blessed Father thus blend counsels so general with all — or so specifically our soul ; - to prefer nothing to the love of Christ Christian with exhortations of purely mo- — to desire eternal life with all the intensity of our loVe SP?r lOI ? S undoubtedly !- because, in his time, ?hriChristian^n civilisation-r ?i had not penetrated everywhere and the 1. Cf. S. Gregor. Dialog. 1, 11. S* Benedict is seen overthrowing the idols of ; before this he had endured the infamous proceedings of a bad priest ; he had only just escaped being poisoned by the wicked monks the Phil0s°phere' ^'^Sv^l^^Tor^^T^l^V m the neighbourhood of Subiaco. ;

128 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE " INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS I2() to — keep guard at every hour over the actions of bur * life goes through different stages which our — not to forget that " Holy Father has well God beholds us everywhere. defined. Other instruments are to be utilised at certain hours, for The spiritual craft has its beginnings, • example at the " and like all beginnings moment of temptation : To dash down at these are painful. The entrance into the the feet of Christ evil way of salvation thoughts as soon as they arise in is always " narrow : Via salrtis non est the heart. nisi angusto initio incipiendo 1 . Why is this ? Because it " " Others are particularly is a conversion fitted to root out some vice or which we have to bring about. A man repress some evil must divest himself inclination. It is for each soul to see of his way of envisaging things, of Ms manner of acting * what are the perverse inclinations that have the ascendency he must renounce himself, go against his and tend to disfigure the vicious habits' divine image within it. When the the tendencies of concupiscence, soul apply himself to uprooting is attached to the creature, it is fashioned to the image vices, to destroying and rectifying, feature by of this creature, and every bad feature, that tendency that is not striven caricature of God to which a against becomes, by soul plunged in sin may be the deeds that proceed from it likened the ; and this with so much the origin of more perseverance as many stains that we have to remove in order to be habits contrary to the virtues predominate in us. made like Christ Jesus. To get a With one soul it is pride that statue out of a block dominates of marble, one must first rough-hew and becomes the principle of a host of the reprehensible block. When we arrive at the monastery, we are a deeds. To such a one our Blessed Father gives proper little like these rough blocks. In His goodness, subjects instruments for repressing the God divers manifestations born of us to His interior action, but his pride; gives us also into the hands Not to love contestations; to fly from vain- of our Superiors and to our own personal efforts in order glory;— if one sees any good in oneself, to attribute it to that from this work may come forth Crod, and not to little by little the oneself ; — on the contrary, to impute to realisation of the Divine ideal. If we do not oneself the evil that one courageously does and to believe oneself the take the necessary ' instruments and employ them faithfully, : t0 te one s own u : ~ not to wish to be we shall remain . ™ very nearly in the state of esteemed2SS« fl as holyri beforew unhewn blocks. one is so ; but first of all to be holy Then as we are yet novices in the art to be practised, 1 may Je th " we are ™ more truth that one is so called. awkward, ^•i xJ , clumsy in the use of the instruments; hence we With another it is levity of mind that hinders divine union; must feel our way ; there are hesitations, perplexities, doubts, morm thls soul ?g. is recollected; at Our^ which n * a Communion may further increase what is rough in the work itself. ? a d embalm* with the of It is j£ nlt-n-f* ? ? ^ perfume a laborious stage to be gone through, but it is a necessary y w left the orator wfvTnT ? * g y- this soul gives one. dlssl at > n P > ^^^ges in . useless words. r If this im- Moreover St. Benedict takes care .to encourage rX,fperfection is not the soul fought against it will, during the day, make at the outset. In this spiritual workshop, in this school a fmitS 0f Uni° °/ *£? n with^hrist. where we learn to seek God, he has it at heart, he says, to WhaT allU't Y ?d° ^ Take the instruments 2 • appropriate establish nothing tohfa dtl °w + I rigorous or too arduous . He uses Wa h Ver his actions at very ° ever? moment great discretion; he is a father. To one who comes of hh m "~\eep t- ton ' **?. Sue from *n unruly discourse to place " !_ mft ; himself under his direction, he says : -not £ove much\ speaking. " If for the And so - forth. amendment of vices or the preservation of charity, things 6 t0 W himself in the ?n Sit - &,° ^t ^om on high are a little strictly laid down: "Si quid pauhikwt restricUus... and w S U1 ntin to him there is one, processerit, " l ^ ^ ; no take care, lest, under a cowardly emotion, you Sll an°edV WU1 not ' find in this workshop the fly neSI^ fn C T?° from the way of salvation of which the entrance is strait ": n o fectin§ in his soui the ineLbie Non illico favore perterrittis 3 ^ro7tS7vTne yoder refugias viam sahtiis . What argument does he employ ? Does he relax anything °|the vigour of the precepts? Does he dissemble the III. obligation of self-renunciation ? Far from it, as we have seen. But he shows already the facilities and joys of Not only are souls different, but one and the same soul Frcioguo .*• of the Rule. — 2. Ibid. — 3. IbidL '

130 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE " INSTRUMENTS OF " GOOD WORKS i3I acquired virtue, and gives a foretaste of the intimate rewards but, in its activity it no longer has promised to effort. " In the measure one advances in any human mainspring the all " " of action for that it does, it does solely observance and in faith, he says, the heart is enlarged for the love of Christ and the attraction of virtue and enables one to run with unutterable sweetness of : universa inci-bit love custodire, non jam timore " gehennae, sed amore ch'risti in the way of God's commandments : Processu vero conver- et delectahonc viriulum \ The soul has placed the sation's et fidei, inenarrabili dilectionis dulcedine curritur via love of Christ the centre of itself, 1 in and this love makes it find everything mandatorum Dei . When one is generous from the outset, light, however painful it be : then with and attentive to the light of faith, love increases, for God great facility and perfection it acquits itself of gives labours that formerly with Himself the more ; and, with the presence of God, the manifold efforts it only accomplished imperfectly. joy of being in His service abounds. The heart is enlarged, Virtue has become to it almost a second nature : Absque ullo labore our Blessed Father affirms. That is as much as to say the a ' velut naturaliter . heart is the capacity of loving, and this capacity is infinite The state that we are describing is that of as regards the object whereto ihe soul " perfect charity, must tend. Thou of the perfection of union with God ; hast made us for Thyself, the soul no longer God, and our heart is restless seeks aught but Him alone ; it no longer wills till it " anything except rests in Thee : Fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor His glory ; it no longer acts 2 except by the movement of the nostrum donee requiescat in Te . The actual capacity of Holy Spirit. Are there then no more trials to undergo ? the heart is measured by the object of its present affections : no more sufferings to endure ? Yes, indeed ; but if this object is small, the unction the heart becomes small ; if this of grace sweetens every trial, and love finds in the cross a object is infinite, the heart, enlarges its power even to the new opportunity of manifesting itself and increasing. Love infinite. To one who sees God, creatures appear small: is the principle of those Videnti wonderful interior ascensions that the Creatorem angttsta est omnis crealura, say St. Grego- 8 Lord, by the action of His Spirit, operates and manifests in ry , in speaking of St. Benedict himself. purified souls : Quae Bominus inoperariosuo mundo Now, when one truly seeks God, a vitiis et without going aside after peccatis Spiritu Sancto 3 creatures, dignabitur demonstrate 1 without any self-seeking, the heart is gradually enlarged; God fills it and, with God, joy floods it. IV:

Furthermore, this very joy augments the capacity of love ; But whatever be the then, stage in which the soul is, its work, and says our Holy Father, — this is the second stage however, is never anything but a work of co-operation. The — one runs in the way of the commandments : there are soul is not alone : God works in it and with it : for He is ever no longer those painful beginnings, those oft repeated efforts the first Author with of its progress. which one struggled, but, with the ever increasing light Doubtless, at the outset, when the soul is yet encumbered of faith, fervour stirs one up in God's service and renders with vices that and evil habits, it must needs apply itself with service full of sweetness. Then, the whatever be virility and ardour to remove these obstacles which are oppos- vicissitudes of life, the monk " never departs from the ed to divine^ union. The co-operation that requires teaching of the Divine " " God of Master, Who is the Truth but it at this period is particularly great and active, and is reveal- perseveres^ in His doctrine, " the light of the soul ; and if ed very clearly he shares to the conscience. During this period, God in Christ's sufferings it is that he may deserve by grants sensible graces that uplift, and' encourage.. But the patience also to enjoy the bliss 4 of His Kingdom . soul experiencies inward vicissitudes : it falls, then rises up again it The last stage ; labours, then rests ; it takes breath again, and then marked out by St. Benedict is that of perfect chanty. goes forward on its way. This stage, he says, is attained when the soul is purified " As far and in the measure as the soul advances, and from its vices and sins munda a vitiis et c peceaHs . Not only does the soul no longer obey its vicious R"lc ch. vtt. habits, for it has ,.* . S* Augustine, Tract. V in I Joan. n° 4, thus characterises uprooted them all as far as inesc three a creature can ; stagns : Caritas cum juerii vain mttnUtf; cum ftieril nutrita robora- Hm wril °f th Ule S Co * rohomta perflcittir. S. Thomas (11-11. q. 24, a. 9) classes - ~,% -^- »/"-lib. I c. i. - 3> Dialog, lib. ihJt\ine n, . p t tnreo categories n xxxv. M of the proficienia, . ct^SST — 4. Prologue of the Rule. — souls after this manner : the incipientcs, 5. Rule, ch. vii. the pcr/ech 2. Rule, ch. vii. — 3. Ibid. : :

132 CHRIST, IDEAL THE OF THE MONK THE " INSTRUMENTS OF " GOOD WORKS 133 obstacles give way, life the inner becomes more homogeneous- sees in oneself to God, and not to oneself ; as more regular, more uniform to the evil ; the action of God is felt to be' always to impute it to oneself and recognize it as one's own " • more powerful, because it is more free to act and because aliquod in it Bonum se cum viderit, Deo applied, non sibi; malum meets with less resistance and more suppleness in the soul vera semper a se factum sciat et sibi then reputet. But in what we rapidly go forward in the path of perfection. does St. way Benedict teach us how to make this conviction All this economy of our religious life is explained by the enter into the very trend of our life ? fact that all holiness is of its essence supernatural. First, he inculcates God the necessity of prayer, at the very alone is the Author of it ; and if He does not Himself build beginning of every undertaking. In his Prologue after the house it is in vain that the masons labour : Nisi Dominus having shown the end — to seek God, — and marked the aedificavcrit domum in vamtrn laboraverunt qui aedificant earn 1 . way — Christ, — he immediately tells us not to put our Our Lord has so clearly given us this fundamental doctrine! hand to any good work without earnestly beseeching God ' I am the Vine, you are the branches ; abide in Me that to bring it to a good end : In primis, you ul quidquid agendum may bear fruit, for without Me you can • do nothing" inchoas bonum, ab eo perfici instaniissima oratione deposcas. 5t»c me nihil 2 " " fotestis facere . Let no one, says St. Au- Weigh well all these terms, for each has its value. In primis gustine in commenting upon this " " " " passage, imagine that he first of all, before all, " the thing that can, he most wishes to by himself, bear the least fruit. Whetheritisa matter teach us, is to have recourse to the One Who is the first of doing much or doing little, one can only succeed through and principal Author of our sanctification, because without the help of Him without Whom we can do nothing. If the His grace we can do nothing. branch does not remain united to the vine and does not Quidquid... bonum: "whatever be the work proposed," draw the nourishing -sap from the stem, it cannot by itself that is to say a " good " work, morally good, which procures produce the least " fruit : Sive ergo parum, sive multum, sine the glory of God, for it evidently cannot be question of tUo fieri non -potest sine quo nihil fieri potest... nisi in vite an evil work, of a work wherein the creature, or the seeking mansertt el vixerit de radice, quantumlibet fructum a semelipso after self enters as the principal 3 r end, or from which God non potest ferre . would be absent. Instaniissima oratione: " with most earnest St Benedict well knows these important truths and their prayer, " for it is necessary to knock that God may open, different aspects. He does not tell us to abstain from good to seek so that we may find, to ask so that we may receive. works quite the ; contrary, as we have seen at And the beginning what must we ask ? That God will perfect our work : ab of this conference : we must do all that depends upon us. eo perfici. Manifestly, the holy Patriarch here has in mind Although our Lord is the the " Fountainhead of our sanctification, text of the Apostle : For it is God Who worketh in He sees it , good to leave to us a share of you, both to will and to accomplish, according to His work to perform ; good for we are causes, really " such, although entirely subordinate will : Deus est qui operatttr in vobis et velle et perficere to the Divine causality. It is pro 1 only on the condition that bona voluntate . we generously and faithfully contribute the said share that And see how our Holy Father himself applies this recom- continue and mendation St consummate in us the work of our in his Rule. When monks go on a journey or sanctihcahon To imagine return from 2 then that Christ will take upon one ; on entering into their functions as weekly Himself all the work servers 3 would at table their service ; in be a dangerous illusion ; but to- and on ending week's believe that we could do receiving 4 anything whatsoever without Him guests ; in all these actions, so simple and ordinary would be no less perilous. We must be convinced too that in the course of our life, and in yet others, he wishes that are the y value by reasoa of our union with Community should go to the oratory there to invoke God's j^uT help. e ^"""enk that The work ended, achieved, St. Benedict further mt^Zf ? the Holy Legislator puts the good 11 is 0ne which wishes that we should refer the glory to Him without Whom thi expressly concerns n^L? ^ ^efemng we can do God, he writes in his ev tl in our nothing. Those who seek - ™G, the work of SSecSSTperfection, toI n- ?y Divine grace: "To attribute any good one Prologue, are not be puffed up by their good observance;

i. ft. cxxvi, i. ~ 2 . . Joan . xv§ 5- __ i. Philip. Ibid, ch.un 3 Tracf n Joan Lxj£X( 3 11, 13.— 3. Rule, cb. lxvii.— 3;Ibid. ch. xxxv.— 4. *34 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE INSTRUMENTS OF " GOOD WORKS 135 " knowing that the good which is in them comes not from tion that a soul's progress towards perfection goes their own power but is wrought by the Lord, they together magnify with progress in faith. Faith the " increases love; love as it Lord Who worketh in them : Operaniem in se Dominum becomes greater, " surrenders the soul more' and more to the magnificant, sa}nng with the Prophet, Not unto us, O Lord action of Christ Who works in us not us, 1 " " " by His Spirit, and this unto but unto Thy name give , the glory Again action of Christ " becomes more and more powerful and more he adds, the Apostle Paul attributed nothing of the success fruitful in the measure that vices are of his preaching to uprooted, that the soul himself, but said : By the grace of God becomes more detached from creatures I am what I am 2 and and that every human , elsewhere : He that glorieth, let him mainspring 3 " of action vanishes. glory in the Lord . The great Patriarch strives in his Rule to You will open widely the say : Are not our works our own ? , Certainly avenues of our souls so that the grace of the Gospel they are, since it is may we who act ; but these works are good abundantly penetrate therein and produce all its effects of only if we accomplish them, moved by grace, in the faith holiness : operantem in se Dominum magnificant. He has and love of Christ. We are the branches, Christ is the no other end in organising the root. workshop of the spiritual Is it the root that bears fruit ? No, it is the branch, craft and in giving us entry into it, than to ensure all it is ourselves freedom we ; but it is the branch, inasmuch as it is for the Divine action within us. He wishes us to seek God united by the trunk to the root and draws its sap from the by our good works, but at the same time to rely solely root it is ; we, inasmuch as we are united to Christ Jesus upon His Divine Son Christ Jesus. and draw grace from Him. If, at the sight of a branch covered with beautiful- fruits, we believe they are produced Once being thoroughly and practically convinced that all by the branch, abstraction made of its union with the root, good comes, from God, we are for ever guaranteed we are in error against ; the branch only produces fruits by drawing discouragement, indeed if, without union with Christ by from the root the sap necessary for their formation.- So it faith and love, we can do nothing, with this union we can is with us never let us ; forget this ; the branch separated do everything that God expects of us. Our oneness with from the trunk, from the root, is a dead branch : such is Christ accords very well, not with sin — above all deliberate our lot unless we remain united to Christ by grace. or habitual sin, even venial — but with our weaknesses, This union comprises moreover an indefinite number of our miseries, and the short-comings inherent upon our degrees the intenser ; and stronger it is, that is to say the fragility. Our Lord knows that " the spirit indeed is willing, fewer obstacles we oppose to grace, and the deeper our faith 1 " but the flesh weak . Let not our faults then cast us down and love, — the more numerous will be the fruits that we nor temptations discourage us. The last instrument that our shall bear. Holy Father marks out is " never to despair of the mercy of It is, then, very important to direct our mind and heart " God : Et de Dei misericordia nunquam desperare. Even towards God, with faith and love, before beginning anything though we only know how to handle the other instruments whatsoever it may be : our mind, in order to have no other imperfectly, let this one at least never be out of our grasp, end before us but the glory of our Heavenly Father; our nunquam. The devil delights, throughout the course of our heart in order to have no other will save His : two-fold a spiritual life, in urging us to sadness, to discouragement, result which is the realisation of the " very " earnest prayer because he well knows that when the soul is sad it is led to required by St. Benedict. This prayer which ought to be abandon the exercise of good works, and that to its great oft repeated throughout the course of the day, need not be detriment. a like sadness arises in our heart, long being most When therefore : often reduced to a simple turning towards we may be assured that it comes from the devil or from our God, to a spiritual spark rising up to Him, it rather resembles own to it, we shall be listening form pride, and that, if we give way m what in these latter days we call ejaculatory prayer. What to the devil who is so clever at playing upon our pride. gives it price and value is the rectitude of intention, Could a movement of distrust, of despair, come from God ? the purity of our faith and the intensity of love. All this Never, nunquam. Were we to fall into great faults, were we teachmg wonderfully harmonises with our Holy Father's asser- to have the unhappiness of living a long time in unfaithfulness, i. Prologue of the Rule; Ps. cxm.- 2 . I Cor. xv, 10.-3. Cor. x, 1'/. II 1. Matth. xxvi, 41. 136 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE "INSTRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS *37 the Holy Spirit would doubtless urge us to penitence, to The Pharisees passed m the eyes of expiation, to immolation :• St. Benedict exhorts us to weep the multitude as holy personages. They for our past sins 1 esteemed themselves saints, and to amend them , but he would also and made all perfection consist the stir us up to hope, " 2 " m exactitude of outward to confidence in God rich in mercy . observan- ces. You know too how their fidelity to To distrust ? To discouragement ? To despair ? Never. the letter and this exactitude were so As long as we are here below fastidious that the examples we must never lose confidence : \ given of theirformahsm are sometimes ludicrous because the satisfactions and merits of Christ Jesus are *. Not content with thus scrupulously keeping the Law of infinite, because the Eternal Father has willed to place in Moses, which already constituted a heavy burden, they Him all the treasures of grace and holiness that He destines added thereto a whole catalogue of for souls, and these treasures prescriptions of their own invention — are inexhaustible ; because Jesus what our Lord called " the tradition 2 " prays and pleads of men . AH this for us with His Father : Semper vivens ad was so 5 well observed exteriorly that in this respect intcrpellandum pro nobis . Our strength is there was nothin? in Him, not in with which to reproach them : impossible ourselves : Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat. to find more " correct disciples of Moses. Can to O Lord, let the action of Thy mercy direct our hearts, mind the Pharisee whom Christ depicts going up to for without Thee we are " the Temple to pray. is not able to please Thee : Dirigat What his prayer ? " My God, I am a corda nostra quaesumus, Domine, tuae miserationis operatio: man altogether irreproach- able ; I fast, I give tithes quia tibi sine te placere non possumus*! : Thou canst not find me in fault on any point, Thou oughtest 3 " to be proud of me . V. And in the literal sense, what he said was true : he did observe all these things. However, what Praiseworthy though it be ardently to seek God by good judgment does Jesus pass upon him ? This man went out of the Temple works and especially by works of the Rule, we must yet be without being justified, his heart empty of God's grace. forearmed against a certain erroneous conception of Why this condemnation ? Because the unhappy man glorified perfection, which is sometimes to be met with in not very himself for his good actions and placed all his perfection enlightened souls. It may happen that these place the whole in merely outward observance, without troubling himself of perfection in the merely outward and material about the observance. inward dispositions Although the of his heart. Therefore our Lord tells word I am going to use is severe, I do not hesi- us that unless our justice is greater than that of the Pharisees tate to pronounce it : the abovesaid prejudicial idea would we shall have no part in the Kingdom of Heaven. border upon pharisaism or would risk leading to it and Do we enter into the deep signification of these words ? that would be a great danger. What is the Christian life ? A list of observances ? In You know what our Divine' Saviour, Who is very Truth nowise. It is the life of Christ within us, and all that Christ and Goodness, said " to His disciples : Unless your justice has appointed to maintain this life in us ; it is the Divine life abound more than that of... the Pharisees, you shall not overflowing from the bosom of the Father into Christ Jesus enter into 5 " the Kingdom of . Heaven These words are and, through Him, into our souls. There is the supernatural truly those of Christ. He Who would life in its not condemn the foundation and at its fountainhead ; and without woman taken in adultery ; Who vouchsafed to speak with this all the rest is nothing. Are we to understand by this the Samaritan woman and reveal heavenly mysteries to her that the exterior prescriptions of Christianity are to be in spite of her guilty life : He Who consented to eat with disdained ? Far from it. Their observance is at once the the Publicans, socially disqualified as normal sinners ; Who allowed condition and the obligatory manifestation of the Magdalen to wash His feet and wipe them with the hairs interior life. But the first is the more important, as the of her " " head ; He Who was 8 so meek and , soul, in humble of heart man, is more important than the body : the soul is publicly hurled " anathemas at the Pharisees : spiritual, Woe to you... immortal, created to the image of God ; the body, hypocrites, because you shut the a little kingdom of heaven against earthly clay ; but the soul is only created at the mo- men, for yourselves do not enter 7 " in ment of being united to the body, and the exercise of its

i. See Christ in His Mysteries, ch. XI. Some aspects of. the Public Life. — a. Marc, vii, 8. — 3 . Cf. Luc. xvm, n-12. ;

138 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE ' INSTRUMENTS " OF GOOD WORKS 139 faculties depends on the good constitution of the body. In of perfection. Only, bear this well in mind r the Church of Christ, there are also the soul and the body. — What is important in our observance is the inner Following the normal law, it is necessary to belong to the -principle that animates us. The Pharisees observed body, to the visible Church, and observe her commandments, all things exactly but it was that they_ might be seen and applauded by the in order to participate in her intimate life, the life of grace ; this multitude : and moral deviation utterly spoiled all their but the Christian life must not be placed principally in the works. As to the outward observance, kept outward observance of material ordinances. mathematically, but for its own sake and without anything to ennoble it, we In the same way, the essence of the monastic life does not may at least say that it is in nowise perfection. consist in the horarium of our daily life. It may happen The interior life must be the soul of our exterior fidelity. that a monk succeeds by force of will and energy in H must be the result, the fruit and manifestation of the keeping all the rules, and yet has no monastic spirit, no faith, confidence and love that govern our heart. The Rule true inner life : there is the body, but not the soul. And in is the expression of God's Will. Now the fulfilling of the fact it is not so rare to find religious whose spiritual progress Rule out of love constitutes fidelity. Fidelity is the most is very slow, although their outward exactitude lends itself precious and delicate flower of love here below. Up above, to no reproach. It is because there is often only self-seeking in heaven, love will blossom out into thanksgiving, in delight and self-complacency in this exactitude, or because they look and enjoyment, in the full and entire possession of the down on their brethren who do not appear to be so faithful beloved object ;. here, upon earth, it is manifested by a or else because they put their perfection in the exterior generous and constant fidelity to God, despite the obscurity observance itself. Now, of themselves these observances are of faith, despite trials, difficulties, oppositions. small matters : one is 1 worth as much as another . As Christ After the example of our Divine Model, we ought to give Himself said, drank no wine, and he was ourselves unreservedly, as He gave Himself unreservedly to blamed ; the Son of man ate of what was set before Him, the Father on entering into the world: Eccevenio, "Behold the and Pharisees still disapproved of Him, for they were a " I come... that I should will : " 2 " do Thy XJt fatiam voluntatem race of hypocrites . 1 tuam . Each morning; when, after Holy Communion, we If it is then somewhat indifferent, in itself, what our exte- make but one with Him, let us renew our disposition of rior practices be, it does not the less remain that we have wishing to belong entirely to Him. promised Jesus, I wish to live to keep them : hence, this observance, when by Thy life, through faith and love ; I wish Thy desires to animated by love, is extremely pleasing to : God. I say be my desires, and.like Thee, out of love for Thy Father, " animated love. " by It is in the heart, that perfection I wish to do all that may be pleasing to Thee : I have placed lies for love " ; is the supreme law. Christ Jesus searches " " Thy law in the midst of my heart : Bt legem tuam in medio hearts and He sees that one who says and he loves, a cordis mei . It is pleasing to Thee when I faithfully keep but without proving it by deeds, does not love. But likewise the prescriptions of the Christian law. which Thou hast one who exteriorly keeps Christ's words, and does not established and those of the monastic code which I have act from love, does not truly keep these words. We must accepted; as proof of the delicacy of my love for Thee, I wish join the doing of His word with His love, because His chief to say as Thou hast said Thyself : Neither a jot nor a tittle word and the abridgment of His doctrine is that we must shall 3 " be taken away by me from Thy law : Iota unum aut love . 3 unus apex non praeteribit a lege donee omnia fiant ; grant me The observing of the Rule does not constitute holiness, Thy grace that I may not let the least thing pass that but it constitutes a means of arriving at holiness. You may could give Thee pleasure, in order that, according to Thine say : Must we not observe all that is prescribed ? Certainly own word, being faithful in small things, I may likewise we must for ; oftentimes an habitual and wilful infidelity become 4 all so in great things ; grant above that I may ever upon such or such a point of the Rule — praver, charity, act out of love for Thee and for Thy Father : Ut cognoscat silence, work, — suffices to shackle our progress" in the path h mundus quia diligo Pairem ; my sole desire is to be able i. See what we have said above p. 59 on the width of St. Benedict 's views on this matter. — 2. Cf. Matth. xi, 18-19 ; Luc. vii ' — Ji0SSUet *vu4 3* Bossuet.' on the " 1. Ps, xxxix, S-g. Hcb. x, 2. Ps. xxxix, 8-9; j. iMatth. v, 18. — Gospel, The Last Supper, 9Z* day.' 559. — 4- Cf. Luc. xvi, 10, — 5. Joan, xiv, 31. " :

I/O CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE " INSTRUMENTS " OF GOOD WORKS 141 " to say like Thee I do always the things that ". please Him 1 1 cusiodire... amore Christi : St. Benedict says, Quia -placita sunt ei, facio semper . the monk outfit to be faithful in all things " " This is the programme for the love of Christ. that our Lord traced out for the Blessed " Let us take care then not to content Bonomo, an Italian nun : Before each of thy ourselves with actions regulating the outward offer all behaviour ; God must have to Me, with thy whole being, asking of Me the help His own spectacle that is to say, and grace to do nothing ; a heart which seeks in except for Me : for I am thy Him End secret 2 this God, . And is what our great Patriarch asks * thy and thy Lord Whom thou oughtest to please 2 " of us that we should seek God in All things done in love — love being the sincerity of our hearts the mainspring "of 3 Si revera Deum quaerit . all our activity and the • guardian of all our fidelity is not this the very formula of perfection ? Love it is that mea- sures, in the VI. last resort, the value of aU our actions even of the most ordinary. ' In this exactitude which is born of love there is something Thus St. Benedict points out as the first " instrument easy, wide, free, lovable, the love of God " joyous. On the contrary, if a : In the first place, in frimis, to love the monk places all his perfection in Lord God with all merely outward observance, one's heart, all one's soul and all one's it often happens that, when even without strength. This is as any fault of his much .as to say : Place love in your heart own, he is unable to carry out such or such a prescription before all things ; let love rule and guide you in all he is troubled and upset ; he imagines your actions it is that his spiritual edifice ; love that is to put in your hands all the is about to crumble into ruins, other instruments of good and that perfection is not works ; it is love that will give for him. If this happens repeatedly he gets discouraged, and e to the most insignificant details t£$\Z- of your days. this sense of Lrttle things, says discouragement is easily to be understood, since, St. Augustine, are little in themselves, but they become for him, all is summed up and made to consist in outward great through the faithful love with which they are done observance. : Quod minimum est, minimum est; sed in minimis On account of this flaetem 3 same false principle, it will sometimes esse magnum est . Outward occur that fie fails in charity towards his brethren and observance, sought after for its own sake, without the creates friction. Having to choose between the observance inward love which quickens it, is a formal show — even and an accidental a Pharisaical occasion of helping someone, he will not show. An interior love pretending to " hesitate : The observance' " dispense with the before everything 1 This is exterior faithfulness which is its fruit, servitude to the "letter", with its aridity and hardness. would be an illusion, for our Lord -tells us that he who loves See how the Him keeps His Pharisees reproached our Divine Saviour for commandments*. And this is true of the 4 healing the sick on the day : under the pretext that monastic life as it is of the Christian life. Christ Jesus says the 5 Sabbath was a day of rest , they even reproached the U pr teSt at you love Me ? Jt is f r Name's Sv? k T° ?. ? ° My disciples because, being hungry, they rubbed the ears of corn a e 1 t a11 thin Ss : Pr°Pier nomenmeum*? in their hands to eat. ThenThS, keepi Jf °"J* Z ? , faithfully the least points of your Rule. rhe Opposed to this, one who loves Christ Jesus and does all ideal we ought to have in view is the exactitude of for love, enjoys, at the same time, a great liberty in regard n°* C P e n0r anxiet -' never to make a mistake, to 4 t! J , y observances. In fact, not placing his perfection prin- ml W V bG1 ab e t0 sa : - g " l will never £ fS,l » ?u ^ y be found cipally in material practices, he does not seek them for them- B pnde in this * Jt is from th e heart SL+ Si"- r! selves ; and when, in consequence of some circumstance, he Spr gS and if *" n ssess it- will seek In fnlfif y° P° y^ is prevented from accomplishing them, he is not unduly I fiove all^ you have to do with the greatest troubled, puntyouritv Jof f ¥ because he is not attached to them. And if, as intention, and the greatest care possible. Universa may happen, he sees one of his brethren in need, he does not S( m liale Mntdictine hesitate.^ first of all to help his brother, even if such or such P. M?° Re™aboVlllV^frc fT£' ? by D. du Bourg, n peCwl GraCe XXVII - S'Mechtilde, chapter a o t^t^H^\thi°J^ . °J prescription — we are supposing, of course, that it does not oblige " Do small £' 8, Was U not Pascal who wrote: under sin — has to be put aside. Some might thinls as weM 8 Jb It' V , th e sake the majesty of Christ Who doe! . * Jesus 1. Rule, ch. vii. — 2. Bossuet, Meditations upon Vie Gospel, The Sermon hSf" ^^4- Joan, xiv, 21. — 5. Matth. xix, on th 29. tho Mount, 20 day. — 3. Rule, ch. lviii. — 4, Luc. vi, n. —5.Matth.xii,2, '

142 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK •THE " INSTRUMENTS OF " GOOD WORKS 143 " say as the Pharisees said of : Jesus This man is not of God, who 1 " we shal1 deserve the keepeth not the sabbath ; but this reward m d t is taking V^t^i p- - scandal in a Pharisaical spirit to which no attention must e be paid. e Ct ViftUe that ^s and crowS Xthe ' ^ Let us learn by this X" that we ought not generally to — make We must be careful to distinguish this ourselves the judges of how our brethren observe the Rule virtue from the gift of final perseverance by which we "die There are some who, outwardly, may appear less in the Lord:" correct this gift is purely gratuitous, than others, yet and, savs the Council of whose inner life is more intense. The ideal Trent none can, with absolute certitude,* would be doubtless that there should be nothing be assured that it will to blame be granted to him K m them, but it is not for us to set ourselves up as censors However, the " of our Holy Council adds, we ought brethren. Let us not then be Pharisees lest to have ; thinking and to keep the most lively so much of being confidence in God's- help, for a monk, it may befall that one is no longer God is all-powerful to finish in us the good that either Christian, or human, and fails in the He has begun great natural unless we ourselves be unfaithful " precept of charity. to grace : Nisi ip$i ttlius grahae defuermt*. See how well these truths were understood by our great The means then Lawgiver. given to us in order that we may count He assuredly esteemed the monastic observances upon this infinitely precious gift, the gift which after a long experience exceeding all others, he had himself laid down is daily fidelity ; and we shaU carry But none the less out well and to its end he knew how to make them cede to a the great work of our whole life, if we carry out higher motive. When for example well and to on a fast day a guest its end each work that we undertake for God : this is the arrives, St. Benedict wishes that, out of humanity and charity object of the virtue of tor this perseverance. guest, the prior who receives him, shall 3 break Ins St. Thomas most justly links this virtue to fzst:Jefumum a priore the virtue of frangatur propter hospitem*. A fortitude. What indeed Pharisee would not have is fortitude ? It is a disposition, acted thus : he would have of fasted steadfastness which inclines the soul to support valiantly and... made his guest " fast ! But our Holy Father full of all evils, even the worst and most the spirit of all " continuous, rather than the just*, places perfection before all forsake good ; pushed t6 the supreme things in charity, whether degree, fortitude goes it goes directly to God, or is so far as to endure manifested martyrdom. to Christ in the person of the neighbour. This virtue of fortitude is particularly required cenobites You will not mistake by my meaning. I in nowise mean living together in a to monastery. It seems truly as if Provi- sanction fadings in the observance, dence, nor to excuse negli- in instituting , had, besides its principal gences, the letting things go ; far from design, that ; I only want a secondary one. The principal design is to create aPPreciate each thin at its the YH*H g true value. Never forget coenobiiarum fortissimum genus*, the secondary design that the very source of the value of our deeds is in our oneness to receive now and then souls with Christ weak who rely upon the Jesus by grace, in the love wherewith we perform strong. Thus in our a forest of giant trees, beautiful and power- actions. To this end, we must, ful, as our Holy Father shrubs are not completely excluded from the soil where says direct our intention towards God before each good the former flourish. Here and there shrubs live in the work that shade we undertake, • with great intensity of faith and ir gTeat el(iers love and protectors, but they do not make : ymdquid agendum inchoas the«L*f bonum, ah eo perfid instan- forest. St. Benedict does not intend to discourage weak tissima orahone deposcas*. r souls, but it is chiefly to the ambition of the strong that he opens the avenues to perfection. It is in conformity with VII. the spirit of the great Patriarch that the abbot does not always repulse a postulant who avows his fears in face of the What we have undertaken for God and put under His temptations of the world and declares that one of the reasons protection, we must never, by our that own fault, cease to pursue. brings him to the cloister is the desire of security, it is only at the cost of persevering faithfulness, says provided that this postulant " truly seeks God, " and that

i. Sesa. vi, c. 13. — 2. Ibid. — 3. xt-xt, q. cxxxvi, a. 2. — 4. Rule, ch. i. " '

r44 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE " INS TRUMENTS OF GOOD WORKS 145 there is an underlying seriousness in his character. But the patient man is better than the valiant : and holy Lawgiver addresses himself above all to he that ruleth resolute souls- his spirit, than he that taketh " " cities ; Melior they alone are able to attain these " summits of virtute est pattens ': viro forji, etqm dommatur animo culmina 1 suo expugnatore urbium*- virtulum , indicated by St. Benedict. we understand why St. Benedict This in fact is because fortitude qualifies disobedience as is not only the principle ot sloth and the " " \ weapon of obedience which aggression aggredi, but it is likewise that " " he rives to ol endurance his disciples as strongly " sustinere and tempered *, and it is enough ; as this requires more steadfastness ol soul than i0 ^Sree. of humUity in the former, it constitutes, says - £ order to see to St. Thomas, the principal whatuTtheights ofTtheroic endurance act of the virtue ol he invites his sons to fortitude : Principalior actus tortitudinh climb*. est sustinere*. Now, the religious life, faithfully led in the h observed, cloister, ^^Uy the Rule becomes a principle at once demands • t and teaches this endurance of its ofJfortitude3l ; in disciplmmg the will, nature, it tends to establish it tempers it as steel is in the soul a steadfastness' which tempered directing ; the will, it increases can even go so far as to be heroic, its energies tenfold and this so much the and saves it from dispersing them *. It has become more real m that it is the more hidden. a common- place to speak of the patience of true This is because, monks at work of their on the one hand, the changeableness of holy pertinacity and faithfulness to their 6 our nature is extreme, task . They have and, in the long run, the life tells given the example of conscientious and persevering on the firmest will. On the other hand, toil under the life led in every form. Thus they became, community offers in the the nothing to poor nature that can flatter pioneers of Christian civilisation in 7 or distract it. Daily to bear generously . Would such and in the obscurity results have been possible ot faith 3 the if the cloisters had only contained , monotony inherent to the claustral life feeble souls ? Assuredly not. stability m the same place, the accomplishment of the" We are not then astonished same ever repeated exercises, that the great monks showed however minute they may be themselves to be strong souls. Where, if not the yoke of obedience, above all in the cloister, when it goes against of did holy offers violence to like Boniface and Adalbert find the ; nature; and that, as St. Benedict wishes, secret of crowning with martyrdom with patience, in silence, without a long apostolic life and growing weary or giving incessant labours m Tacita conscientia ? Where did such as Anselm, Gregory VII patientiam amplectatur et sustinens a nonlassescat °4 ms Vn obtain that wonderful steadfastness of soul vel discedat*. Daily to acquit oneself £ carefully which sustained them in of the task assigned by obedience, however their memorable conflicts for the humble, hidden liberty of the irom sight, or thankless Church ? Again it was. in the cloister. It it may be, without that strong was incentive the common life of the cloister that tried and to human activity Which is the moulded struggle against their souls, strengthened exterior obstacles, without seeking their characters and made them so compensation from crea- intrepid tures, without encountering and magnanimous that no danger affrighted them, those distractions those diver- no sions, so obstacle held them back, who, according to frequent m the world, which break the uniformity the noble saymg of Gregory VII " of occupations - all this himself to the monks of Cluny, never requires, of the soul singular bent ' beneath the endurance, self-mastery and 5 domination of the princes ^f this world and firmness . remained We understand " the courageous and submissive defenders of St. Pe- God's saying in Ho'ly : Scripture The ter arid of his Church... Monks and abbots have not failed this Holy Church their Mother. It is, this daily endurance in the common life, this toilsome X 2 prolo ?*: " Sue <* the Rule. — 3. Ibid. — 4. It is 4 011 1 1 refaar^w S* T- - 5 ne ^billon to reveal at 0us le the -^ \ P ^y was asked m smS paragraph the great Patriarch heaps up terms ex^rdin^ ;^;^ h, T hls ay bw£ endi 7° of linking would manifest or. e rance : once &e words sufferre, non discedere, non lassescere; testify to Xf^-fP^^' 7v? 7 t^i?,? ? . e a thc w°rd ° m03t »mftcnt religious of the pahenha and four times that of sustinere. — 5. Read on this Sre^ion J qt v ,? °tV'£D UaUde°l °l\ ««*:! t°?, - Martin This ^autiful es - &"»' ™»>< wroto but two PaS °f Buathier, in Le Sacrifice, eh. XVI, Le Sacrifice but rtev f , I ™S' m0S a T v 7 S profollnd lrllt!l : " I l^ow nothin;? of Dom ~ 6 - The holy Lawgiver , wars against every form and M*Sta eJttJLS ™ ^ mm\(^i[ ?• y0ne Se n ut his c instability, ? > °'^tant and unifor nly good versatility, caprice. See for example, ch. xivni; liffhoIdsX m« ijTS ^ ? , hewiis ., P °f a n racle 1 *5 " - Vic de V- Claude Touts moalis to read per 169/p 388 Martin; hv 7wZ 1?^ tf ordinem ex integro the given them t0 b read durin Lent ,? S - ~ 7- cl- Berliere, L. c., ch. 11 et hi, ^"Postolatmonasttque.-Vcsuvrccivilisatricc.Va^fS , " ;

146 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE " INSTRUMENTS OF " GOOD WORKS 147 fidelity, that St. Benedict requires of us in this workshop where he have had that constant application which love distributes our tasks and provides us with the brings to the perfect fulfilment of our Heavenly instruments of our sanctification. It is Father's wishes if "day and night " we have done always the things that please " die nocluque, that is to say "unceasingly", incessabiliter 1 Him Quae placita sunt ei facio semper 1 , we shall certainly that he would have us use these instruments, without being receive the magnificent reward promised in these words wearied by the length of the task, without being discouraged by Him Who is Faithfulness itself :" Well done,good by our want of success, without letting ourselves and faithful servant: be cast because thou hast been down by our failures. faithful over a few things, I will place thee over The virtue of fortitude many things : enter thou into the joy of thy constantly exercised', preserved and 2 " Lord . sustained until our last day constitutes perseverance. And Each Saint on entering it is to into Heaven hears these blessed acquire this that our great Patriarch exhorts us so words that form the welcome he receives explicitly when he tells us never to depart from from Christ Jesus. the teaching are of the Divine And what these things in which Our Lord gives him a Master, but to persevere in His teaching in share ? God Himself, the monastery until in His Trinity and His perfections death : Ab ipsius nunquam magisterio and, with God, all spiritual good. The soul dtscedentes, in ejus doctrina usque ad mortem in will be like unto monasterio for it " " 2 God will see Him as He is : "perseverantes . Similes ei erimus, In order to quoniam videbimus earn sicuti est. quicken and sustain us in the practice of endurance, Through this ineffable vision, which succeeds to faith, the our Holy Father places the Divine Ideal before our soul will be fixed in God, and will find in Him the Divine eyes ; he appeals to the supreme motive : the love of stability it will Christ Jesus " ; for ever be knit in a perfect embrace, and : That we may by patience share in the suffer- ings of without the fear of ever losing Him, to the Supreme and Christ " : Passionibus _ Christi per patientiam 3 Immutable Good: Partidpatio 3 partictpemur . incommutabilis boni . Indeed it is to Christ Jesus we must cleave. We cannot be His Whilst waiting till the splendours of eternal light shine disciples if, having put our hand to the plough, we look 4 before our purified sight, let us often repeat this prayer of back and shirk the weary labour. Only he who perseveres unto the Church which well epitomises the different points of death shall be saved : Qui perseveraverit usque this " conference : God, in in finem hie salvus erUK Christ Who Thy love dost restore Jesus prepares a place in the Mis .Kingdom only beauty of innocence, direct towards Thee the hearts of for those who have continued with Him Thy in trial Vos eshs qui ' servants ? that the fervour of love which is born of : permansistis mecum in tentationibus Thy mets, et ego dispono Spirit may make them steadfast in faith, and faithful vobis regnum . in practising " L S istf Thy Law : Deus innocentiae restitutor ei t0 thes e grave words of f ?ru? I? T teaching from the infallible iTruth. amator, dirige ad te tuorum corda servorum: ut spiriius Let us ask God daily, for the gift of final perseverance, tui fervore concepto, et in fide inveniantur stabiles, et and repeat the prayer that the Church puts IN opere 4 upon our lips each day " efficaces . at Holy Mass : O Lord, establish our days Thy 1. m peace, deliver us from eternal damnation, Joan, viii, 29. — 2. Matth. xxv, 21. — 3. S. Aug. Episl. ad Honorat. cxl, 31. — 4. Foria iv. post Dominic. II and vouchsafe to number 7 " Quadrages. us in the flock of Thy elect . Make us ever adhere to Thy commandments and never suffer us to be separated from Thee 8 " If we are faithful, despite temptations and difficulties, the day of reward promised by God will come for us : this is the assurance the great Patriarch gives us in ending this chapter on The Instruments of " Good Works : Ilia merces nobis a Domino recompensaUtur quam ipse promisit. If we 2 Prolo ~ e ° f tbe Rule. Ibid. 6 .- 5 M^th*' t'£' V ^ _ 3. - 4. Lrfc. ix, 2 COMPUNCTION OF HEART I49

incompatibility there is not, ; says St. Paul, any possible concord between Christ and Belial, the father of sin* And therefore to imagine that God will allow Himself to be found A. — THE OF by us, will give Himself WAT ABNEGATION" to us without our having to leave sin is to be under an illusion (Reliquimua omnia) ; and this illusion, more frequent ai we V»nk, is dangerous. We should $J\ ? ardently desire the Divine Word to be united to us ; but this desire should be effectual and urge us to destroy all that is ooposed in us to this union. There VIII. — COMPUNCTION OF HEART. are some minds that find admirable as it is " " — indeed — what they call the positive side of the spiritual life : love, prayer, contemplation, union with ** " Summary. — The return to God is only possible on God, but condition of forget that all this is only to be found with certainty first removing the obstacles opposed to it. — I. Compunction in a soul purified from all sin, from all evil habits, and that most efficacious means of putting away sin ; it is the habitual constantly tends, sense by a life of generous vigilance, to abate the of contrition. — II. What the Saints of the Church sources of sin and imperfection. The spiritual edifice think of this disposition. — HI. Far from being incompatible is very with fragile when it is not based upon the confidence and complacency in God, compunction constant flight from sin, for it is built upon sand. strengthens them. — IV. It makes us strong against tempta- tion. When one sees — V. How we ought to resist temptation. — VI. Means the terrible examples of those who abandon of acquiring their priesthood, " compunction : prayer, frequent contemplation of of those religious who make the angels the sufferings of Jesus. weep 2 asks " , "one oneself : How can these things be possible ? Whence come these falls ? Do these disasters come all " about at once ? No ; these are not sudden the first lines of the Prologue of the Rule, falls it is From ; often necessary to go a long way back to trace the St. Benedict, addressing himself to the soul, presents beginning of them. The foundations of the house were long the monastic life as " a returning " to God : Ut ad since undermined by pride, self-love, presumption, sensuality, Eum redeas a quo recesseras. You know the reason of this : the lack of the fear of God. At a given moment, a great it is that sin has, from our birth, turned us away from God : wind of temptation 1 arose which shook the edifice and Eratis longe , says St. Paul. By sin, the soul turns away overthrew it. from God, the Infinite and Immutable Good, to give itself Thus St. Benedict is very careful to point out to us the to the creature, which is but transitory good; this is the necessity of working at personal self-conquest, the logical definition that St. Thomas gives of sin: Aversio ab preliminary to all . development, to all preservation of the incommutabili bono et conversio ad 2 commutabile bonutn . If divine life in the soul. And because in us these roots of then we wish " to seek " God sincerely, we must sever all sin, which are the triple concupiscence of the eyes, of the inordinate attachment to the. creature in order to turn flesh and of the pride of life, are never entirely* destroyed, entirely to God. This is what St. Benedict calls " this conversion": work never completely ceases ; although in the measure Ventens quis ad conversionem 3 . that it advances, the soul, gaining spiritual liberty, moves Our holy Father in speaking of " " conversion does not' more at ease, it still must never renounce vigilance. here attach to the word the very particular and precise The holy Legislator therefore wishes this work to become meaning that we commonly give to it, but he views as a the object of a promise that obliges us throughout life. whole the actions whereby the soul, in turning away from This is the meaning of the second of our vows, the vow sin .and setting itself free from the creature of " " and every human conversion of manners : Promitto... conversionem motive, exerts all its powers to remove the 3 obstacles that morum meorum . this vow we are bound to tend to hinder By it from going to God and seeking Him alone. Between sin 1. II Cor. vi, 15. 2. Cf. Isa. xxxm, 7. — 3. Cf. Rule, ch. lviii. We do and God there is, as you know, absolute — not take it upon ourselves to affirm anything as to the true reading of the word I3 ~ 2 I '11 conversio " ' q ' ™xxv a and II-II, or conversatio, expression conversio morum in the RuVcS?™: ' "' - 4 q. cum, a. 6. - 3> but we take the traditional sense. i5o CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK COMPUNCTION OF HEART 151 perfection, that is to say to union, through love, with God Penance that this state is and His holy will. destroyed ; in the Sacrament, There are obstacles that prevent this Christ's infinite merits are applied to the soul to purify union : hence the it seeking after perfection from its sins. requires of us that we should first remove these obstacles There is no need to have recourse to from our path. St. Benedict is very the Sacrament of explicit on this point " Penance for venial sins, although it is an ; he puts within our hands the in- excellent thing to struments " destined to root " do so. out vices : Not to give way An act of charity, a to anger ; not to harbour a desire of fervent Communion, suffices to blot revenge ; not to foster guile in one's out venial sins provided one has no heart; not to give marks of affection that attachment to them, but, in formulating this last are not sincere ; not to return evil condition, we set forth a for good ; to keep one's truth mouth " which, in the spiritual life, has great from evil and wicked words \ etc. He likewise importance. wishes " Indeed when it is a question of that we should daily confess to God in prayer, with perfection, we must care- tears and fully distinguish between venial sin sighs, our pastsins, and amend them for the time and venial sin. A venial " sin, a sin of surprise, to come : De ipsis malis ds 2 which escapes us from weakness, cetcro cm&n&are . Then, furthermore, cannot keep us back in our seeking after he declares that it is only when the God ; we rise from soul is purified it ^ with humility, and find in the remembrance from vice and sin, that the Holy Spirit will of it a new fully act stimulus for loving God the more. within it, and perfect love reign as the principle But bear this well in 3 r mind, it is quite otherwise of its life . with. venial sin, habitual or fully deliberate. When a soul regularly You see that this work of destroying sin and attachment commits deliberate venial to sin is sins, when it coolly consents without remorse, necessary, if we wish to go to God and find Him to wilful and alone. Doubtless, habitual infidelities against the Rule, even though the Rule we shall not give ourselves up to this labour for the sake of the labour does not oblige under sin, it is impossible for this soul to itself ; we shall embrace it make true and constant as a condition of life, as the means for the development progress in perfection. It is not and our weaknesses, our infirmities of preservation of divine union within us Let us then body or mind that impede the examine, with action of grace ; God knows our misery and remembers some detail, how we ought to devote our- selves to it. that we are but dust. But it is a disposition that, so to It will be apparent that one of the best ways speak, of succeeding it is paralyses God's action within us ; it is the attachment m compunction of heart ; — we shall see what the saints to our own judgment and self-love; which is the most fruitful and the Church think of this sense of compunction the source of our infidelities and deliberate faults. A few days ; — precious advantages that it brings to before His blessed beholding the soul ; — finally, the Passion our Divine Saviour sources that foster it. 1 Jerusalem began to weep over the city : Flevit super Mam . " How often I. would I have gathered together thy children... " 2 and thou wouldst not : Bt noluisti . Weigh well this

The essential word : noluisti. When our Lord meets with resistance, even obstacle to divine union is mortal sin, while deliberate in small matters, feels, so to speak, the powerlessness of venial sin is opposed to all progress. He By mortal sin the His work in the soul. Why is this ? Because this soul turns away entirely 'from God in soul fosters order to make the creature its habits which form and maintain obstacles to Divine end ; separation from God is radical, and union is union. God would communicate Himself, but these barriers destroyed. This is so true that if death surprises the prevent the fulness of His action ; He finds no response soul in this state it is forever fixed in this to separation His Divine the soul, says " " from God: "Depart from Me, ye cursed": advances ; day by day no to Discedite a the inspirations it to me maleMcti \ The Heavenly Father does of the Holy Spirit Who urges obedience, not recognise the humility, charity and self-forgetfulness. It is then likeness of His Son in the sinner, who is impossible therefore for it to eternally excluded from the inheritance. As you make any real progress. know, Not it is by perfect contrition and the Sacrament of only does this soul no longer mount towards God, but it is much to be feared that it will fall into grave sins. r. Rule, ch. iv. _ 2 . Ibid. - 3. Ibid, cli. vn. - 4. Matth. xxv, 4. 1. Luc. xix, .41. — 2. Matth. xxm, 37. ;

COMPUNCTION OF HEART 152 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 153

The above mentioned venial sins are the first step towards ned against you, I am not worthy to be called your son like the last of " the severance of divine union. There is no longer, in such treat me your servants. We may be the rejoicings souls, enough vigour to resist temptation. The Holy Spirit certain that during with which his return was " " ends by being silent when He is grieved, — it is St. Paul's celebrated, those were his predominant dispositions. And x is often later the sense of contrition is less intense, it is word — by wilful resistance ; and simply a shock if never lost, even after the enough to cause the soul to fall into a mortal sin ; experience altogether boy has retaken for ever abundantly proves this. his former place in the paternal home. How many times " This state of tepidity is particularly dangerous when it he must have said to his father : I know you have forgiven concerns sins of the mind, pride, disobedience ; it places as me everything, but I can never weary of repeating with it were a wall between God and us ; and as God is the source gratitude how much I regret having offended you, how much of all our perfection, the soul that closes itself to the divine I want to make up, by greater fidelity, for the hours I have " action shuts itself out from all progress. lost and for my forgetfulness of you. Such should be the sentiment of a soul that has offended One of the best means of avoiding this perilous state is God, despised His perfections, and brought its share to the to cultivate compunction of heart. sufferings of Christ Jesus. For us, who are bound to seek perfection, this point is Let us now suppose in this soul no longer an isolated act

of extreme' importance. If so many souls make little progress of repentance, but the habitual slate of contrition : it is almost in the love of God ; if there are so many who easily accomo- impossible for this soul to fall anew into a deliberate sin.

date themselves — alas for them ! — to venial sin and It is established in a disposition which, essentially, makes it deliberate infidelities, it is because they are not touched repulse sin. The spirit of compunction is precisely the sense with compunction. What then is compunction ? of contrition reigning in an abiding manner in the soul. It is an abiding state of habitual contrition. Here is a It constitutes the soul in the habitual state of hatred against good man who has given way to a grievous fault ; this un- sin; by the interior movements that it provokes, it is of happily can befall, for in. the world of souls there are abysses sovereign efficacy in preserving the soul from temptation. of weakness as there are heights of holiness. The Divine Between the spirit of compunction and sin, there is irreducible Mercy gives this man the grace of rising again ; he confesses incompatibility : compunction .of heart renders the soul firm his sin with deep and true repentance. It is quite evident in its horror of evil and love of God. Thus St. Bernard more that at the moment When he grieves so sincerely at having than once uses the term " compunction " instead of " per- committed this fault he will not go and commit it anew. fection. " So much does the sense of compunction, when -Look at the Prodigal Son on his return to his father's it is real, keep one from offending God. house Do we picture him taking careless, free and easy airs, as if he had been always faithful. No, indeed. You may II. say : has not bis father forgiven him everything ? Certainly ne nas he has We cannot help being struck by the fact that the spiri- ; receded his son with open arms without tuality past times communicated a singular character of Pr°a< He did not of * ?- say : " You are a misera- wfSFwre1ch;? no stability to its adepts. Whilst taking inevitable exceptions - he Passed him „. f , to his heart. And his sons return into account, it is indeed to be remarked that the interior has even given the father such joy that he pre- sometimes recruited from a gr feaSt r life of the monks of old, who were the All is forgotten, all is ForX,n i° ^^ society than ours, rapidly attained ™ of T C duct f a much rougher class ° tfa e prodigal's father is the image of ?h? m . a great stability, while with many souls of our T Ur Heavenl ^ther. But degree of ? . y as for the prodSai ? f days — religious souls consecrated to God — the S 6 1S f rglVen What even ' are his feelings and attffi i ? instability. The fluctuations w n doubl spiritual life is of appalling the ° but tha t they are time th^VlVT to which it is subject are countless ; and its inward ascensions en M1 of repentance, himsSffaimself at .' he threw to point down at his? father's,^ are unceasingly meeting with opposition such a feet: "Father, I have sin- r, Eph. iv, 30. that all progress may be compromised. The reason of this vacillation is most often to be found : :

COMPUNCTION OF IDEAL OF THE MONK HEART 155 154 CHRIST, THE

to the 12'^ : is no surer means of when he comes degree of humility this monk, in the lack of compunction. There than to im- he says, has reached the point where the perfection of charity rendering the spiritual life firm and steadfast and divine union are about to be realised : Mox ad carltatem it with the spirit of compunction. pregnate 1 authors do Dei pe/veniet Mam, quae, perfecta foras mittet timorem . And Yet it seems that, speaking generally, modern 1 did ancient ascetic what is this monk's attitude ? He considers himself un- not insist as much on this subject as worthy, on account of his sins, to appear before God. writers who are never weary of dilating on the importance see the great- This is truly what all holy souls feel. A lady of high of compunction, for spiritual progress ; and we rank, who was converted after having lived in vanity and est saints constantly cultivating and recommending this to Gregory that she disposition of soul. luxury, wrote St. would give him no " her " You know, " said St. Paul to the Ephesians, from peace until he had assured in the name of God that sins were forgiven. The holy Pontiff, full of the spirit the first day that I came into Asia, in what manner I have her been with you, for all the time, serving the Lord with all of the Rule, answered her that her request was as difficult 2 " it detrimental : difficult, because he did not esteem humility and with tears . It was because he remembered as was 3 of having revelations ; detrimental also for how he once' persecuted the Church of God . himself worthy He does not fear to recall to his disciple Timothy how he this soul, as it was in the interest of her salvation that " " of forgiveness : absolute was a blasphemer, and a persecutor and contumelious ; she should not be assured [with an he declares himself the chief of sinners. And he adds. certainty that excluded all doubt and cast away all fear] " But for this cause have I obtained mercy, that in me first until the last moment of her life, when she would no longer be Christ Jesus might shew forth all patience, for the information in astate to weep for her faults and to deplore them in God's " of them that shall believe in Him unto life everlastings sight ; until this last hour came, she ought ever to live in And the Apostle, remembering this infinite mercy towards compunction and not to let a day pass without washing " 2 : tears . our St. Gertrude, him, cries out in gratitude Now to the King of ages, away her stains with . her See immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for that lily of purity. She said to our Lord with the deepest 4 " " ever and ever ! self-abasement : The greatest miracle in my eyes, Lord, is " 3 " It was another convert " the object of similar mercy, that the earth can bear such a worthless sinner as I am . 5 " Augustine, who wrote : To speak much when praying is St. Teresa,, formed to perfection by our Lord Himself, had to do a necessary thing with superfluous words. To pray placed under her eyes in her oratory, in order to make it much is to knock for a long time with the movements of the as it were the refrain of her prayer, this text of the Psalmist 4 heart at the door of Him to Whom we pray prayer, in fact, Non intres, in judicium servo tuo . It is neither ; Domine, cum consists more in sighs and tears than in grand discourses an exclamation of love, nor an act of sublime praise that and many words. God puts our tears in His sight; our we hear from this seraphic soul, who is declared by her sighs are not ignored by Him Who created all things by historians never to have sinned mortally, but it is a cry of His word, and has no need of " " our human words. compunction : Enter not, Lord, into judgment with Thy Our holy Father echoes the 6 " ^ words of the great Doctor. servant . St. Catherine of Siena did not cease to implore " If anyone desire to pray in private, in- let him do so quietly,... divine mercy ; she always ended her prayers with this 6 " " with tears and fervour of heart . : " Again he says Let vocation : Peccavi, Domine, miserere mei: Have pity upon us remember that not for our " much speaking, but for our me, Lord, for I have sinned . purity of heart and tears of " compunction shall we be heard : Non in Divine multiloquor, sed in puritate cordis et compunctione x. Rule, ch. vii. — 2. Episiolae, Lib. vii, cf. 25. — 3- The Herald of lacrymarum nos exaudiri r Love, Book i, ch. xn. — 4. Ps. cxlii, 2. — 3. Life of SI Teresa, according to sciamu$ . Certainly l our great theBollandists. Vol. II, ch. xi. — 6. Drane, Life of S Catherine of Siena. Patriarch does not affirm this truth without deep conviction 1" Part. ch. rv. We know that S' Catherine has in her Dialogue a whole and I treatise on tears. that marvelling at the works dare to say, an experimental conviction. Look too Bl. Raymund of Capua relates, of Catherine, he desired to have an undeniable proof that they came from at this portrait of a perfect monk that he draws for us God. The inspiration came to him to ask the Saint to obtain for him from the Lord an extraordinary contrition for his sins, for, he added, no one can have this contrition unless it comes from the Holy Ghost, and a like contrition is i-pist. cxxx, en. X. 6. a great sign of God's " S' Catherine obtained "a bull — Rule, ch. lh. — y. Ibid. ch. xx. grace. We know how ;:

OF THE MONK COMPUNCTION OF HEART 157 156 CHRIST, THE IDEAL " of isolated Domine, iniquilatss nostras : Take away from us our With all these souls, it was not a question repeated iniquities, we beseech Thee, Lord, that we may enter with acts and transitory impulses. The words we have pure minds into the Holy of Holies. " In the midst of the were but the outward manifestation of an inward abiding Angels, the priest blends compunction eager to find outlet. song of the cries for mercy with sense of " precious that, these exclamations of love and holy gladness : Thou Who This habitual sense of compunction is so " away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. pccording to St. Teresa, souls that are the most forestalled takest he offers the Immaculate Host to God, it is for his with divine favours are the most filled with it. Speaking When "innumerable sins, offences, and negligences. " Before the of souls that have reached the sixth mansion of the interior he prays " to be delivered from eternal damna- castle, she puts them on their guard against forgetfulness of consecration, " tion ": Ab aetema damnations nos eripi. After the con- their faults : Souls to whom God has granted these graces " " will understand what I say, she writes... Sorrow for secration in which he is even identified with Christ Himcelf, sin increases in proportion to the divine grace received, the priest beseeches God to grant him some part and fellow- and I believe will never quit us until we come to the land ship with the Saints notwithstanding his sins. Nobis quoque where nothing can grieve us any more... A soul so advanced peccatoribus... non aestimator meriti, sed veniae quaesumus as that we speak of does not think of the punishment threat- largitor admiite. Then comes the moment when he is about ening its offences, but .of its great ingratitude towards Him to unite himself sacramentally with the Divine Victim. " to Whom it owes so much, and Who so justly deserves that He strikes his breast, like a sinner : Lamb of God... regard it should serve Him; for the sublime mysteries revealed have not my sins... grant that this union of my soul with Thee " taught it much about the greatness of God. The soul may not turn to my judgment and condemnation. wonders at its former temerity and weeps over its irreverence; We think how many holy priests and pontiffs, held up

: inmtmerabili- , its foolishness in the past seems a madness which it never to our veneration, have said these words Pro ceases to lament as it remembers for what vile things it bus peccatis meis. And the Church obliges them to repeat forsook so great a Sovereign. The thoughts dwell on this " Lord, I am not worthy: " Why does the Church do this ? more than on the favours received, which... are so powerful Because without this spirit of compunction, one is not at that they seem to rush through the soul like a strong, swift the " right pitch, " the " diapason " of Christianity. When river. The sins, however, remain like a mire in the river the priest beseeches that his sacrifice' may be united with bed, " and dwell constantly in the memory, making a heavy that of Christ, he says : May we be received by Thee, 1 " " cross to bear . Lord, in the spirit of humility and with a contrite heart. The oblation of Jesus is always pleasing to the Father The Church herself gives us, in her Liturgy of the Mass, but, inasmuch as it is offered by us, it is only so on condition striking examples of compunction of heart. that our souls are filled with compunction and the spirit Look at the what priest does at the moment when about of self abasement that results from it. to offer the Holy Sacrifice, the most sublime homage that Such is the spirit that animates the Church, the Spouse the creature can render to God. The priest is necessarily of Christ, in the action that is the most sublime, the holiest supposed to be in a state of grace and in possession- of God's she can accomplish here below. Even when the soul is friendship; otherwise, in celebrating, he would commit a identified with Christ, united to God in communion, the sacrilege. Yet the Church, his infallible teacher begins by Church wishes us never to forget that we are sinners ; she making him confess before all the faithful there assembled, wishes the soul to be steeped in compunction : In spiritu his condition not only of a creature, but of a sinner : Confiteor humilitatis suscipiamiir a ic, Domine. Deo et in animo contrito omnipotenh... et vobis, fralres, quia peccavi nimis Then m the course of the holy action, the Church multiplies upon his hps formulas XXX. imploring forgiveness that he may steep his heart and mind in them : Aufer a nobis, quaesumus, compunction her No one doubts that these sentiments of diSdple Ufe °f Sl CatheHne " by B1 Rayn™d of - Capua. ?' P^ch/ ix prescribed by the Church for the Mass are perfectly fitting. i. Tki Interior Castle translated by the of Stanbrook, p. ma. But perhaps the thought may occur that they should be COMPUNCTION OF HEART 158 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 159

contrition, reserved for the renewing of the Sacrifice of the Cross, for it hence concerns perfect one of the purest forms the reception of the Sacraments, in a word for the Liturgy. of love. It unceasingly stirs up generosity and love which Elsewhere, in the ordinary course of the interior life, would want to repair the past by a greater fervour ; it makes the they not be pious exaggerations, would not this be going a soul distrustful of self, but wonderfully pliant under the little too far ? Certainly not. hand of God, extremely attentive to the action of the Holy " Listen to St. John in his divinely inspired Epistle : If Spirit. Compunction could not admit such a dangerous we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the hindrance to the supernatural life and one so contrary to " truth is not in us K As regards great and holy souls, this our religious state as wilful dissipation of mind and habitual assertion is luminous. The nearer they come to God, the ievity. Neither could it tolerate in relation to God any Sun of Justice, and spotless Holiness, the better they perceive Irreverence or wrong kind of familiarity, than which nothing

the stains that disfigure them ; the brilliance of the Divine is more perilous for the soul. Compunction avoids this x light in which they move, makes their least faults and failing danger. Father Faber says : "It leads to a more fruitful, appear in more striking contrast. Their inner gaze, purified because a more reverent-, humble, and hungry use of the by faith and love, penetrates more deeply into the Divine Sacraments, and no grace that comes to us is wasted while perfections ; they have a clearer view of their own nothing- this sorrow possesses our souls... Lukewarmness is incompa- " ness ; they are better able to measure the abyss that separates tible with this .holy sorrow and cannot co-exist with it. them from the Infinite. Their more intimate union with This sense of compunction is at times so deep and intense Christ causes the sufferings endured by Him for the expiation that it becomes the principle of a new life full of love, entirely of sin to touch them to the quick. Having a higher notion consecrated to God's service. St. Gregory says that it then of the life of grace, they better grasp all that is horrible in often renders the penitent soul more pleasing to God than offence committed against the Heavenly Father, in despising would be an innocent life passed in sluggish security : Et the Saviour's Passion, in injurious vita post culpam, resistance to the Spirit of fit flencmque Deo gratior amore ardens Love. 2 quam securitate torfens innocentia . We understand that the fact of having offended God, The source of humility as of generosity, compunction again were it but once in their existence, moves these souls with inclines the soul to accept the Divine will in its fulness,what- mtensest grief. And there is, in their habitual attitude of ever be the form under which this will is manifested, and repentance and detestation of sin, a constant proof of super- whatever be the trials to which it subjects the soul. The soul natural delicacy which cannot fail to please God, and draw then regards these trials as means whereby to avenge upon down His infinite mercy upon them. itself God's perfections and rights ignored or outraged by Moreover, the state of soul if we are studying is in nowise, sin. It so much regrets having offended Love, that, as might be imagined at first sight, incompatible with con- anything' disappointing, hard or painful befalls, the soul fidence and spiritual joy, with outpourings of love and generously accepts it and this becomes an immense source delight in God. Quite the contrary ! St. Augustine, St. Be- of merits. You know that episode in the life of David. 1 St ' * Gregory, St. Bernard, ™? St. Gertrude, St. Catherine At the end of his reign, David is forced to flee from Jerusalem oi biena, St. Teresa, all these souls filled with the spirit of in consequence of Absalom's revolt. In the course of his compunction, were they not also Semei. inflamed with divine love flight he is met by a man, a kinsman of Saul, named and earned away by the overflowing joy of the Holy Spirit ? This once begins to throw stones at the old king Mad they not man at come to a sublime degree of out... thou union with God ? and to curse him, saying : "Come out, come e and j0y findin S a France in the habitual man of Belial... behold thy evils press upon thee, because zwtHjt ^P^nce. which fil^TrV constitutes compunction, they thou art a man of blood. " One qf David's servants wants °ne °f the greatest incentives for to intervene and punish the insult, but the king prevents soarin, CnH rdS^w^ Whence in fact compunction " " " son, who feri^S ? K k » chiefly him : Let him alone, he says. Behold my the re™en brance of the much more i offence against' came forth from my loins, seeketh my life : how God ttiJrTconsidered as Infiniter tt Goodness. By its very nature, him alone that he may curse ..#.- .i now [shall this stranger] ? Let i.. I Joan, i, 8.

i. L. c. — a. Reg. paslor. Ill, o. 28. P. L. t. 77, col. 107. ;

COMPUNCTION OF HEART I6l r6o CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK

discouraging the soul, compunction rather makes it full of as the Lord hath bidden him. Perhaps the Lord may look God's service and is 1 the Lord may render me good gladness in ; not that the note of true upon my affliction , and 2 " his sins, his devotion ? Thus when the soul, at the remembrance of for the cursing of this day . Remembering its faults — a remembrance that ought to dwell on the fact heart full of the sense of compunction from which the Miserere offended God, and not on the overflowed, the holy king accepted every outrage" in expia- of having circumstances of sins committed, — humbles itself tion. the before God; when it in the flames of contrition in This sense of compunction is also the principle of ardent plunges order to be purified charity towards our neighbour. If you are severe in your .of any remaining rust, when it sincerely declares itself to the judgments, exacting with others, if you easily bring up the be unworthy of Divine graces, Exi a me, quia homo fiec- 1 faults of your brethren, compunction does not dwell in you. cator sum, Domine , God looks down upon it with infinite

: Cor contritum el Indeed one who is possessed by this sense, sees_ only his goodness and mercy humiliatum, Deus, non 2 own faults, his own weaknesses, such as he is before God despicies . "God is quicker to hear our tears than the " this is enough to make the spirit of self-exaltation die within movement of our lips, says St. Augustine : Fletus citius 3 him and to render him full of indulgence and compassion audit quam voces . And St. Gregory writes, "God does for others. not delay to accept our tears ; He dries our tears which are " Once again, do not let us suppose that joy is absent but momentary with joys that abide : Nee mora erit in from such a soul. Far from that! By awakening love, fietibus, quia tergent citius transetmtes lacrymas mansura quickening generosity, and preserving charity, compunction gaudia*. purifies us the more, and makes us less unworthy of being Penetrated with these same thoughts, our Holy Father united to our Lord ; it strengthens our confidence in God's wishes that we should each day confess to God, in prayer, forgiveness and confirms our soul in peace. Thus it takes with tears and sighs, our past sins : Mala sua fraeterita 5 nothing away from spiritual joy and the amiability of virtue. cum lacrymis vel gemitu cotidie in orations Deo confderi . Let us trust St. Francis of Sales who, better than any other, Remark this cotidie; St. Benedict does not say " from time knew how to speak of Divine love and the joy that flows to time " but " daily. " Why does, he make such a recom- it. " from "The sadness of . true penitence, he writes, "is mendation ? Because he is assured — and he wants us not so much to be named sadness as displeasure, or the sense to share this assurance — that it is on account of this humble and detestation of evil ; a sadness which is never troubled attitude of a contrite soul that we shall be heard : In com- nor vexed, a 5 sadness which does not dull the spirit, but makes punctione lacrymarum nos exaitdiri sciamtts . It is not it active, ready and diligent ; a sadness which does not weigh without deep reason that these words of the holy Legislator the heart down, 7 but raises it by prayer and hope, and have passed into an incontested axiom of monastic asceticism . causes in it the movements of the fervour of devotion ; a sadness which in the heaviest of its bitternesses ever produ- IV. ces the sweetness of an incomparable consolation... " And quoting an old monk, a faithful echo of the asceticism of bygone ages, the " Another of the most precious fruits of the spirit of com- great Doctor adds : The sadness, says punction is that it renders us strong against temptation. Cassian, which works solid penitence, and that desirable By fostering in the soul the hatred of sin, compunction puts repentance of which one never repents, is obedient, affable, humble, mild, it on guard against the snares of the enemy. sweet, patient, — as being a child and scion of chanty: Temptation plays such a large part in the spiritual life that so that spreading over every pain of body and it h necessary shall how compunction contrition of spirit, and being in a certain way joyous, to treat of it; we see courageous, and strengthened by the hope of doing better, i. Luc. v, 8. — 2. Ps. l, 19. — 3. Sermon xlvii of the appendix to the it retains... all the 3 ". Fruits of the Holy Spirit works lib. n, of S* Augustine. P. L. 39, col. 1S38. — 4. Homil. in Evangel, These are the horn — natural fruits of this compunction. Far from xxxi, 8. P. L. 76, col. 1232. — 5. Rule, ch. iv. — 6. Ibid. ch. xx. " " 7. S« Benedict wants to keep our souls habitually in the tonality of the Miserere: the interior state of David, penitent yet full of confidence in XXt> Transl of S?B. • *• atcd by the Revr. H. B. Maokey, we Divine Mercy, David indefinitely alternating in his psalms between contrition and love. " D. M. Festugiere, L. c. :

COMPUNCTION OF HEART t63 l62 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK at the holy man Job, Scripture lends God a kind of arms for resisting Look is furthermore one of the most effectual pride in the perfection of this great just man. One day — temptation. ... , writer has dramatised the scene — when Satan the interior life the sacred We come across people who imagine that " Him, God says to him : Whence comest flower-bordered path. stands before is but a pleasant easy ascent, along a " " replies : I have gone round about Sovereign thou ? And Satan You know it is not generally so, although God, the " the earth, and walked through it. The Lord says again His gifts, can lead us by such a path if He pleases. Master of " " Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none Long ago God said in Holy Writ : Son, when thou comest a simple and upright, and fearing " have come like him in the earth, man to the service of God — and it is for that we " God> and avoiding evil ? Satan sneers and asks what merit to the monastery, which is a school where we learn how to r " Job has in showing himself perfect when all prospers with serve the Lord : Schola dominici servitii , — prepare thy him and smiles upon him. " But, " he adds, " put forth soul for temptation " : Fili, accedens ad servitutem Dei, 2 Thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh and then Thou praepara animam tuatn ad tentationem * In fact, it is im- he will bless (or rather curse) Thee to Thy possible under the conditions of our present humanity, to shalt see that 1 " . gives Satan leave to strike His servant in his find God fully without being beset by temptation. And the face God possessions, in his family, even in his person. And now devil is most often infuriated against those who seek God little by little of all his goods, covered sincerely and in whom he sees the most living image of see Job, despoiled and obliged over Christ Jesus. with ulcers, seated upon his dunghill, and the sarcasms of his wife and friends But is not temptation a danger for the soul ? Would it above this to undergo to blaspheme. But he remains un- not be highly preferable not to be tempted ? We are who would excite him spontaneously inclined to envy those whom we may imagine shaken in his fidelity to God. No feeling of revolt rises are never tried by temptation. "Happy the man," we from his heart, not a murmur passes his lips, only words of " " " the hath would willingly say, who has not to undergo its assaults. wonderful submission : The Lord gave and Lord That is what our human wisdom might suggest; but God, taken away... blessed be the riame of the Lord!... If we Who is the infallible Truth, the source of our holiness and have received good things at the hand of God, why should 2 " " ? heroic constancy ! And what beatitude, says quite the contrary : Blessed is the man we not receive evil What that " this who, overwhelmed with endureth temptation : Beatus vir qui suffert ten- glory is given to God by man 5 tationem... Why does the Holy Spirit proclaim this man such woes, blesses the Divine hand ! And we know how " blessed " when we should have been inclined to think God, after having tried him, renders testimony to him, and quite otherwise ? Why does the say to Tobias: restores all his possessions while multiplying them. Tempta- " Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary tion had served to show the extent of Job's fidelity. that temptation should prove thee": Quia acceptus eras In many a soul, temptation does another work which Deo, necesse fuit tit tentatio probaret teK Is it. for the sake nothing else could do. Souls there are, upright but proud, of the temptation itself ? Evidently not, but because God who cannot attain divine union unless they are first humbled uses it in order to obtain a proof of our fidelity, which, upheld down to the ground. They have, as it were, to fathom the by grace, is strengthened and manifested in the conflict and abyss of their frailty, and learn by experience how absolutely wins at last a crown of life. Cum probatus iutril, accipiet dependent they are on God, so that they may no longer trust coronam vitae*. can in themselves. It is by temptation alone that they Temptation patiently borne is a source of merit for the measure their powerlessness. When these souls are buffeted soul and is glorious for abyss, God. By its constancy in trial, by temptation, and feel themselves at the edge of the the soul is the living testimony At that of the might of grace : they realise the necessity of humbling themselves. My grace is sufficient for thee : to God. , for power is made perfect moment a great cry escapes them and rises up in infirmity ; Sufficit tibi keeps gratia mea, nam virtus in infirmi- And then comes the hour of grace. Temptation tate perficttur \ God awaits in this homage and glory from us. them in a state of vigilance over their weaknesses, and

i. Prologue of the Rule. — 2 . Eccli. it, i. -_ T ' 3-3l jac.ac t I2 _ , Tob Xi„ 13. 1, 12. — 4. job. xn> 1. Job. jr-n. 2. 21; 11, 10. — 5. Jac. 1, 12. — C. II Cor. sen, 9. 1, — Ibid. COMPUNCTION OF HEART CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 165 1 64 upon God. For them, Our Holy Father was a model of this generous resistance. a constant spirit of dependence You know that one day tempted by the remembrance of temptation is the best school of humility. lukewarmness. worldly joys, he stripped himself of his garments and rolled Trial profits others by preserving them from thorns until his body 1 among was all torn . Without temptation, they would fall into spiritual sloth. The great in combating it Patriarch knew then by personal experience what temptation Temptation is for them a stimulus for finds an opportunity of was, and how strongly it must be resisted. Now is love is quickened while fidelity what he prescribes to in the. of the conduct us in presence of temptation ? manifesting itself. Look at the Apostles Garden Speaking in the language of his own asceticism, let us say In spite of the warning given them by their Divine Olives. furnishes us with " " " all unconscious of that he three instruments : To keep Master to watch and pray, they sleep ; guard at all times over the actions of our life. To know danger, they let themselves be surprised by the enemies of for certain that God sees us everywhere. To dash down at Jesus, they take to flight, forsaking their Master, despite all the feet of Christ our evil thoughts theirprevious protestations. How different was their conduct the instant that they 2 " come into the heart . from what it had been when they were struggling against Watchfulness has been the tempest on the Lake. Then in face of the imminent peril sovereignly recommended to us 3 our Lord Himself : Vigilate . of which they are fully aware, they awake Jesus from His by Now, how are we to keep " " this vigilance ? By the spirit of compunction which keeps sleep with cries of distress : Lord, save us, we perish : 1 us ever our guard; soul, Domine, salvanos, perimus ! upon A knowing its weakness by Again, temptation gives us the great formation of experience, has horror of anything that could expose it to experience. This is a precious fruit because we become offending God anew. On account of this loving fear, it is skilled in helping souls when they come to us seeking light careful to avoid all that could turn it away from God Who and help. How can anyone instruct or effectually help an- beholds us night and day. other who is tempted, if he himself does not know what And as it distrusts itself, it has recourse to Christ: Et 4 temptation is ? St. Paul says of Jesus Christ that He willed orate . He is a true disciple of Christ, says our Holy Father, to be tempted as we are, though without sin, that He might who when tempted by the Evil One. casts him and his 5 have compassion on our infirmities : Tentatum per omnia suggestions far from his heart, and brings him to naught . 2 absque pecc'ato ; in eo enimin qua passus est ipse el tentatus, And how are we to bring the Evil One and his malice to 3 " potens est et eis qui tentantur, auxilian . naught ? By seizing the first " offspring of the evil thought 6 Let us then not be afraid of the fact of temptation, nor and breaking it against the feet of Christ . St. Benedict

of its frequency or violence. It is only a trial ; God never compares evil thoughts to the offspring of the devil, the

permits it save in view of our greater good. However much father of sin ; he tells us to cast them out as soon as they it besets us, it is not a sin, provided that we do not expose appear : Mox ad Christum allidere''. Note this little word : ourselves wilfully to its attacks and never consent to it. " Mox ", immediately. When we play with temptation, we We its may feel sting or its seductions ; but as long as that let it grow and increase in strength while at the same time fine point of the soul which is the will remains steadfast the energy to resist it diminishes in us. We must give evil against it, we ought to be tranquil. Christ Jesus is with suggestions no time to grow, but dash them down while us, in us ; and who is stronger than He ? they are yet little and weak like beings just born. In this expression ad Christum allidere — our Holy Father has in • V. mind the maledictions of the Psalmist against Babylon, the city of. sin: "Blessed be he that shall take and dash tny little 8 " is ones against the rock . Christ, says St. Paul, But from wherever it comes, •— from the devil, the world, or our evil tendencies, — and whatever be its nature, we must, — \. S. Greg. Dialog. lib. 11, c. 11. — 2. Rule, ch. iv. —3. Matth. xxvi, 41. for our part, resist temptation with all courage and above 4. Matth. xxvi, 41. — 5. Prologue of the Rule. — 6. Ibid. — 7. Rule, ch. iv. with promptitude. — 8. Ps. exxxv. S« Jerome, (Epist. xxn, 6), S' Hilarius. {Tract, in Ps. cxxxvi, " sunt 14) and S' Augustine make use of the same language : Qui parvuli Babyloniae? Nasctnies mdlae ciipiditates... Cum parvula est... ad I. Matth. viii, 25. 2. — Hcbr, iv, 15. — 3. Ibid. 11, 18. " pctram elide. Petra uutem erat Christus. Enaix. in Psalm cxxxvi, § XXI. OF THE MONK COMPUNCTION OF HEART 167 i66 CHRIST, THE IDEAL 1 : Purgavit ttt fructum plus only stone "of our spiritual edifice: Ipso with His grace eum affcrat ; "the chief comer " 1 us cry out to Jesus, like His disciples : Save us, Lord, angulari lapide Christo Jesu . let summo 2 " without Thee, we shall perish 1 Recourse to Ghrist Jesus is indeed the most certain means for devil fears Christ and trembles If we thus act immediately the temptation arises, mox, of overcoming temptation ; the while it is yet weak ; if above all we keep our soul in that at the Cross. Are we tempted against faith? Let us at " to us He receives inward attitude of habitual repentance which is compunction, once say : All that Jesus has revealed assured that the devil will be powerless against us. from His Father. Jesus is the Only-begotten Son Who let us be will only have served to exercise our fidelity, from the bosom of the Father has come to manifest to us Temptation our love and make us more pleasing to our the Divine secrets which He alone can know. He is the to strengthen Truth. Yes, Lord Jesus, I believe in Thee, but increase my Father in Heaven. " faith ! If we are tempted against hope, let us look at VI. Christ upon the Cross : has He not become the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world ? Is He not the holy High compunction Priest Who has entered for us into Heaven and ever inter- But where are we to obtain this spirit of a great gain ? cedes with the Father on our behalf: Semper vtvens ad which is such " 2 asking it of God. This " gift of tears interpellandum pro nobis . And He has said : "Him that To begin with, by " " grace, that it is in imploring it from cometh to Me, I will not cast out : Et eum quivenit ad Me is so precious, so high a 3 " perfect gift comes non ejiciam foras . Does want of confidence in God seek the Father of lights from Whom every 3 contains to insinuate itself into our heart ? But who has loved us down upon us that we shall obtain it. The missal old monks often more than God, more than Christ : Dilexit me et tradidit a formula pro peliiione lacrymarum. The " Al- semelipsum pro me*? When the devil whispers thoughts recited this prayer. Let us repeat it after them : to quench the thirst of pride, let us again look on Christ Jesus ; He was God mighty and most merciful God, Who, and He humbled Himself even to the ignominious death on of thy people, madest a fountain of living water to spring Calvary. Can the disciple be above the Master 5 ?.„ When out of the rock, draw from our stony hearts the tears of wounded self-love suggests that injuries bewailing our sins, we may we should return the compunction, that effectually " done to us, let us yet again look at Jesus, our Model, during through Thy mercy deserve to obtain pardon for them. His Passion.: He did not turn away His Face from them We may also borrow from Holy Writ certain prayers that spat instance, David's upon and struck Him : Faciem meam non averti that the Church has made her own ; for ah increpantibus el 6 great king conspuentibus in me . If the world, the prayer after his sin. You know how dear the devil's accomplice, holds before our eyes the reflection of was to the Heart of God Who had lavished His benefits senseless, transitory joys, let gives to us take with Christ to upon him. Then David falls into a great sin ; he Whom Satan promised the kingdoms of the world and the his people the scandal of murder and adukery. The Lord glory of them if " He would adore him : Lord Jesus, it was sends a prophet to him to excite him to repentance. And for Thee that I left all things, that I might follow Thee David, at once humbling himself and striking his breast, more closely, Thee alone ;' never suffer " " wins pardon me to be separated cries out : I have sinned. This repentance from Thee !" Atenunquamsepararipermiltas'1 sin, "says . There is no for him: "The Lord also hath taken away thy temptation but that can be brought to nothing by the the prophet: Transtulit peccalum tuwn*. The king then remembrance of Christ : Mox ad Christum allidere. composed that inspired Psalm, the Miserere, at once full And if it continues, if above all it is accompanied by of contrition and confidence. " Have mercy on me, God, dryness and spiritual darkness, do not let us allow ourselves from my according to Thy great mercy ; wash me yet more to be discouraged it : is because God wishes to delve deep my sin is iniquity ; against Thee only have I sinned, and down in our soul to enlarge its capacity in order to fill it ever face, and take before me ; cast me not away from Thy not " That is contrition. Here i. Eph. it, Thy Holy Spirit from me. 20. — 2 Hebr. vii, . s — . 3 3 Joan, vi, 37, — 4. Gal. 11, 20. — ~ , 4 °" L °' 1 0rdinaI'> of the Mass, ' ~ ' prayer before II Reg- CoS^union?' i. Joan, xv, 2. — 2. Cf. Matth. vni, 25. — 3- Jac i» 17- — 4- *«, 13. ;

COMPUNCTION OF HEART 169 i6S CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK " " have not loved thee in jest, our Lord says one day is the hope which is inseparable from it : Restore unto I Blessed Angela of Foligno. "This word," writes me the joy of Thy salvation... Thou wilt open my lips, to the "struck a deadly pain into my soul, because and my mouth shall declare Thy praise... A sacrifice to the Saint, the eyes of my soul were opened and I saw clearly God is an afflicted spirit, a contrite and humbled heart, straightway 1 " He said was most true. For I saw the works and God, Thou wilt not despise . that what " of that love, and I saw all that this Son of God Such accents indeed cannot but touch God's Heart : Thou the effect " " by reason of that love. The Saint specifies the hast set my tears in Thy sight : Posuisli lacrymas meas in worketh " 2 " her vision. I saw that what He underwent in conspectu iuo . Has not Christ Jesus declared Blessed object of 3 " in death, this God-Man, Who suffered His Passion are they that weep . "But amongst all those who weep, life and love, and I understood none are sooner consoled than those who weep for their by reason of His ineffable tender that loves sins. In every other case, sorrow, far from being a remedy that the aforesaid word is most true, namely, He jest, but that by a most true and most perfect for the evil, is another evil which increases it ; sin is the only me not in loved me. " And what evil that is cured by weeping, for it... the forgiveness of and most tender love, hath He 4 " this contemplation for Angela's soul ? sins is the fruit of these tears . was the result of judges herself To the prayer imploring the gift of compunction from A deep sense of compunction. Hear how she " it was just the God,is naturally joined all spiritual means capable of awaken- in the divine light. And. I saw that in me ing it too, soul cried out and said: 'O within us : the most powerful is incontestably the fre- opposite... Then, my with quent contemplation of our Divine Saviour's Passion. Master... I have never loved Thee save in jest and desired to come If you contemplate with faith and devotion the sufferings falsehood and hypocrisy ; and never have I that Thou of Jesus Christ you will have a revelation of God's love near to Thee in truth, So as to feel the labours and justice will suffer for me ; and never have I ; you know, better than with any amount of hast willed to feel and to reasoning, the malice of sin. This served Thee truly and for Thy sake, but with double-dealing contemplation is like a '" sacramental causing 1 the soul to share in that Divine, sadness and negligently ? . which they humble invaded the soul of Jesus in the Garden of Olives — You see how holy souls are touched and how On the Jesus, the very Son of God, in Whom the Father, Whose themselves when they consider Christ's sufferings. Apostles to exigencies are infinite, was well pleased. And yet His heart night of the Passion, Peter, the Prince of the was full of sorrow — " sorrowful " His glory upon Thabor, who had even unto death : Tristis whom Christ had revealed est anmx mea usque ad s from Jesus' own hands, mortem . Great cries arise from His just received Holy' Communion breast, as tears arise from servant-maid, denies His Master. His eyes ; cum clamore valido et Peter, at the voice of a lacrymis «.. the caprices Whence come this sadness, these sighs and tears? Soon afterwards, the gaze of Jesus, abandoned to ihey come from The Apostle the weight of the burden of the world's of His mortal enemies, meets that of Peter. crimes his : PosuitDommus in eo bitter tears flow from iniquitatem omnium nostrum''. understands ; he goes out, and uinst is like the scape-goat laden 2 with all our sins. Certainly eyes : Flevit amare . 0t be a Penitent soul that contemplates " ; He could Q0t like effect is produced in the Snn,? ? u have contrition, A UC it, too, has followed. We have defined *. ^r the soul of the sufferings of Jesus with faith : 5 °r ' f w£ holu^ Passion it too, y and ^maculate the Jesus, with Peter, on the night of the ; off?. y, ; debt to be paid I?S ow that is .for it but ™rs: AUrilus est propter scelera meets the gaze of the Divine Crucified, and £»f£ ii \ owe er becauS e the footsteps of y ' of this substitution, Jesus has a true grace. Let us often keep close in Sed in ^ C that " the Cross. sadnei* which the soul feel the Suffering Christ, by making the Way of nresen" - must m STltS sm He has " suffered for thee :. ™lm to undergo Jesus will say to us : See what I have . the blows o* t d desertion E ]UStlC and therefore to be crushed I have endured a three hours' agony, endured the bv the efit rrsorrow: £ upon, the faise w/SteE? Dominus Voluit conierere ™m ™ of My disciples, and having My. Face spat from the by "A „ 1. The Book of Visions, ch. xxxin. Translated Leamington. z. Matin, Secular Priest " Publ. by the Art and Book C°, — Hebr. v, . - -J-^MatU,. xXV ,, 38. - 6. 7 7 . Isa. LIIlj 6i ^\ ^ xxvi, 75. ,....., COMPUNCTION OF HEART OF THE MONK 171 170 CHRIST, THE IDEAL of sinners Christ can rehabilitate derision of Herod, the greatest ; the sinner witnesses, the cowardice of Pilate, the him to holiness. This is a work reserved to Divine fell, the nakedness and bring the weight of the Cross beneath which I : Quis potest facere tmmdttm de immundo... nisi of My most deadly enemies, Omnipotence of the gibbet, the bitter sarcasms 1 tu qui solus es ? He is God : and God alone has this power the thirst which they would have quenched with gall and of renewing innocence in His creature : it is the triumph of vinegar, and, above all, the being forsaken by My Father. the Blood of Jesus. It was for thee, out of love for thee, to expiate thy sins paid debts But this ineffable renewal is only wrought upon one that I endured all ; with My Blood I have thy ; condition : it is that one imitates the sinner of the Gospel I underwent the terrible exigences of Justice that mercy loving repentance. Magdalen is truly a perfect model might be shown to thee !" Could we remain insensible in her compunction. Look at her, at the feast in Simon's house, to such a plea! The gaze of Jesus upon the Cross of at the Saviour's feet, watering them with her penetrates to the depths of our soul and touches it with prostrate them with the hairs of her head, the adornment repentance, because we are made to understand that sin is tears, wiping she seduced souls, humbling herself in pre- the cause of all these sufferings. Our heart then deplores wherewith had out her contrite love having really contributed to the Divine Passion. When God sence of all the guests, and pouring she will generously thus touches a soul with His light, in prayer, He grants it at the same time as her perfumes. Later, of the Cross, upheld by the love one of the most precious graces that can be. follow Christ to the foot reproaches with which It is a repentance, moreover, full of love and confidence. which make her share the sorrows and For the soul does not sink down in despair beneath the weight Jesus is overwhelmed. Love again will bring her the first Christ, calling her by her name, of its sins : compunction is accompanied with consolation to the tomb, until the Risen and comfort; the thought of the Redemption prevents rewards the ardour of her zeal and makes her the apostle of shame and regret from degenerating into discouragement. His Resurrection to the disciples: Remittuntur ei peccata 2 Has not Jesus purchased our pardon superabundantly : Et multd quoniam dilexit mulium . copiosa apud eum redemplio 1 ? The sight of His sufferings, Let us too often stay with Magdalen, near the Cross. at the same time as it gives birth to contrition, quickens After the application of the merits of Jesus in the Sacrament within us hope in the infinite value of the sufferings by which of Penance, after assistance at the Holy Sacrifice 'of the Mass Christ satisfied for us, and this brings us ineffable peace, which reproduces the immolation on Calvary, there is truly Ecce in 2 compunction for destroy- pace amaritudo mea amarissima . no surer means than the exercise of Perhaps in looking back upon the past, we see many ing sin and arming us against it. miseries and stains. Perhaps we are tempted to say to Let us then seek to keep ourselves in this disposition of Christ will give more : "Lord Jesus, howshallsuch as I ever be able to please which the fruits are so precious. Nothing " Thee ? Let us then remember that Christ came down to solidity to our spiritual life, more sureness to our perseverance. earth to seek sinners 3 says " It is as , that He Himself has said : the angels Speaking of compunction, Father Faber : rejoice over the conversion of one sinner more than over life-long with us as anything can be. It is a prominent part the perseverance of many just*. Each time that a sinner of our first turning to God, and there is no height of holiness repents and obtains forgiveness, 3 " the angels in Heaven glorify in which it will leave us . for God His mercy : Quoniam 6 in aeternum misericordia ejus . Let us think too of " 1. Job. xiv, 4. — a. Luc. vn, 47. — 3--L. "• these words : Thou, Who didst absolve Mary [Magdalen] and hear the Good Thief, hast not left me without 4 ." hope They are words full of confidence. Christ Jesus forgave Magdalen ; more than that, He loved her with a love of predilection ; He made her, who had been the shame of her sex, pure as a virgin. What Christ wrought in Magdalen, He can do again in

i. Ps.cxxix,7. Isa. — 2. xxxvm, 17. — 3. Matth. ix 1 n Lur xv v7' 10. . Ps. ' * - 5 ckxxy. — 6. Sequence Dies irae) * *' SELF-RENUNCIATION I73

Let us then study the way wherein Our Lord has gone before us, that we, in our turn, may walk in it. And if

. to our nature of flesh and blood, this way appears hard SELF-RENUNCIATION. to uphold us ; He is the Life as IX. - let us ask Jesus Himself unction of His Al- well as the Truth and the Way ; by the mighty grace, He will give us the power to contemplate ought to correspond with Summary. — Acts of Christian renunciation should, and to follow Him whithersoever He goes. sin concerns, for Him as we sincere compunction. — I. The expiation of of His Mystical different reasons, both Christ and the members mortifications imposed Body. — II. Practice of renunciation : by the Church. — HI. Mortifications inherent to common life mortifications fall, can only return to God by expia- and the observance of the Vows. — IV. The Since Adam's man on his own initiative of Christ that is which every one of good will may practise ; tion. St. Paul tells us in speaking He "a lays down on this point. essential condition which St. Benedict High Priest, holy innocent, unde filed, separated from sinners": Practices of self-renunciation constitute only a means, pecca- — V. Poniifex sanctus, innqcens, impollutus et segregatus a derived from their union with the sufferings and their value is 1 is infinitely far from all that is toribus . Jesus, our Head, of Jesus. to pass through the sufferings of the sin ; and yet He has Cross before entering into His glory. the episode of Emmaus related by St. Luke. to the Divine Plan which the Eternal Father You know According the Resurrection, two of Jesus' disciples set has traced out for us, He wills that we should only On the day of out to this town, a short distance from Jerusalem. They . go to Him by walking in the footsteps of His Son, of their disappointment caused by the Christ Jesus. Our Lord has given us the formula of this speak to one another of death of the Divine Master, and the apparent downfall fundamental truth : "I am the Way... No man cometh to kingdom " 1 all their hopes concerning the restoration of the the Father but by Me : Nemo venit adPatrem nisi -per Me . stranger, Compunction of heart, as we have seen, by fostering the of Israel. And behold, Jesus, unde the guise of a discourse. habitual detestation of sin, works very efficaciously at dissol- joins them and asks them the subject of their ving the obstacles which would hinder us from following the The ^disciples tell Him the cause of their sadness. Then Divine Model. the Saviour, Who has not yet revealed Himself to them " slow of heart However our inward dispositions must logically become says^in a tone of reproach : foolish and things, a part of our conduct, ruling and inspiring our deeds. To to believe... Ought not Christ to have suffered these " haec oportnit pati sincere compunction will necessarily correspond acts of Chris- and so to enter into His glory ? : Nonne 2 tian renunciation. Did not our Lord bequeath this maxim Christum et ita intrare in gloriam suam ? " If He to all His disciples : If any man will come after Me; let Why then "ought" Christ to have suffered ? him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me ": had so willed, could not God have universally forgiven sip His Si quisvult post Me venire, abneget semetipsum el iollat cruccm without requiring expiation ? Assuredly He could. 2 suam et sequatur . justice has exacted Me absolute power knows no limits ; but His This precept, in one sense characteristic of Christian asce- expiation, and, first of all, Christ's expiation. ticism, has naturally passed into our Holy Father's teaching, The Word Incarnate, in taking human nature, substituted which is the faithful reflection of the himself and Gospel. Before detail- Himself for sinful man, powerless to redeem ; ing the practice of renunciation among the instruments of Christ became the Victim for sin. This is what our Lord good works, the very His words of the Word Incarnate are gave His disciples to understand in telling them that recalled to us by the " Holy Patriarch : To deny oneself, in sufferings were necessary. Necessary, not only in their " order to follow Christ -.Abnegate semeiipsum sibi sequatur. if a s}ng*e ut generality, details : for 3 but even in their least Christum . sigh of .Christ would have sufficed, and far more than sufficed, i. to Divine will, touching Joan, xiv, 6. — 2. Matth. xvt, 24. — 3. Rule, ch. rv. redeem the world, afree decree of the

i- Hebr. vii, 26. 2. 26. .. — Luc. xxiv, # ;

SELF-REN U N CIATIO N 175 THE IDEAL OF THE MONK *74 CHRIST, actual sin turns the soul in the direction of r fl nce Every of the Passion, has accumulated therein remains a tendency an all the circumstances 'Even after forgiveness, there superabundance of satisfaction. Tvi\ engrafted an infinite ' latent for the moment, but real, which, to the Xnation, You know with what love and abandonment will finds the first opportunity mon our native concupiscence, Father, Jesus accepted all that He had decreed. to uproot these of His .Fnroducing fruit. It is for mortification entrance into the world, that He He suffered from His first Sndes, to counteract these habits, to annihilate accomplish this Divine will of which He knew v cFous inasmuch might fully to sin. Mortification pursues sin l accomplished Sis attachment full extent : Ecce vcnio . All was to be to therefore the between the soul and God ; 2 sin is an obstacle faithfulness : Iota aut the last detail with most loving unttm until these perverse tendencies 2 mortification must continue anus apex non practcribit a lege, donee omnia fiant . otherwise, these tendencies will are mastered ; testimony of this Divine exactness in Tour nature We find a singular by being the source of numerous faults suffering with end by dominating, St. John's Gospel. Fastened to the Cross, case will keep at a very will compromise, or, in any thirst, the point of expiring, Christ Jesus remembers which us on with God and the life of charity in fulfilled levd our union that a verse of the is not yet ; and, in bw morning our in the ; " 3 " have made a fervent Communion order that it should be so, He says : I thirst . Then, We of the God. But if, in the course soul is entirely united to having said this, our Lord pronounces the supreme words : " old awakens of our occupations, the man " " Father, I £ theSL Consummatum est*. It is consummated. O £ V anger, we must imme- " indine us to pride, to touchiness, to have fulfilled all : since the moment when I said : Behold to movements. Otherwise ^ght be " I repress these ** I come to do Thy will, I have omitted nothing ; now have dkSy the consent; and the life of chanty, the chalice gavest Me to drink wrorised into giving drunk to the dregs Thou lessened. If for s*oul with God would be there is nothing left for Me to do but commend My spirit uruon of our inclined to self-love accustomed into Thy hands. example we are strongly direct everything towards coSider self in everting and But if our Divine Saviour suffered that He might redeem S we shall De sh?U be touchy, hurt by a nothing, us, it also give us the grace to unite our expiation self we was to a quantity of «P"^Wj and show bad temper ; to His own and thus render it meritorious. For, says sullen and instinctively born of this self-love " flesh, actions will be almost St. Paul, they that are Christ's, have crucified their is 'we mus in it ; this why " impede the action of Christ with the vices and concupiscences : Qui sunt Christi camem S us that in the end^ the bye Jes 5 required mortify this self-love, so g suam crucifixerunl cum vitiis suis . The expiation «ts of us within us. Our Lord expe it extends Christ may alone reign by Divine Justice touches not only Christ Jesus ; urge us to sin ill-regulated movements that to all the members of His Mystical Body. We share in to repress the do not let us suppose the glory of our Head only after having shared in His suffer- and imperfection ; ™J**V«^£ habits to govern our heart. the state of union if we allow bad ings ; it is St. Paul again who tells us so : Si tamen compatimur necessary, not^only MMffi As you see, renunciation is ul et conglorificemur". means topreserve past sins, but also as a Having solidarity with Christ in suffering, we are however faction for our mortification again, thanks to the condemned to bear it for a quite different reason. He had us from falling into them inchne us to evu - but to expiate mei of the natural tendencies that » the sins of others : Propter scelus popidi Holy Father, ever 7 twofold motive that our percussi eum . We, on the contrary, have first to bear the It is this d]Cate fir °f of the Gospel, weight of our own iniquities : Digna hie vero filled with the spirit factis recipimus, ^ speak^ nf«*the ™™ 8 monastery, when he J ^ nihil mali gessit . By sin, towards those who enter the we have contracted a debt vicess ox tnc God's habits: " the amendment of justice ; and, when the offence has been remitted, the tying of vicious " quid fauhdum debt still remains for us to pay. This is role of satis- preservation charity. Si the of ^^'ff^vitiorum vel CON faction aequitalis ratione, propter emendationem Moreover, the spirit of self-renunciation assures perseve- servationem caritatis processcnt • nWrvance more advanced "m th To those who are f °^Sgained 1. Ps. xxxix, 8 and Hebr. - have already x, 7. — 2. Matth. v, 18. 3, Joan, xix, 28. and by Christ's grace ibid. in faith*, who — 4. 30. — 5. Galat. v, 24. — 6. Rom. vm, 17. 7. Isa. Lin, 8. — 8. Luc. xxm, 41. 1. Prologue of the Ruler— 2. Ibid. SELF-RENUNCIATION 177 THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 176 CHRIST, expression of the great Doctor, unless He is taken as and "to run in tn the overcome evil tendencies is the Head of the Church which the strength to united to the Church. He commandments St. Benedict brings for- Hence since Christ has brought he way ofGod's V forms His Mystical Body. higher and not less powerful one : Mystical ward another motive - a of expiation, it remains for the Body Passtonibus Chnsh His share in Christ's sufferings : Adimpletae fuerunt passiones m capite, The participation to bring its share: Indeed, for faithful and holy 1 Z Lieniiam farlicipemur*. adhuc passiones in corpore . faults whose restabcmt made satisfaction for their that, to satisfy justice souls who have the same way as God had decreed against the assaults of the In union with God is more assured His work of love, Christ was to undergo a sum of proof of a and crown self-renunciation becomes the means and a share of sufferings for the enemv, sufferings, so has he determined imitation of our Lord. These souls willingly each of more perfect to distribute among her members. Thereby in His Passion Cal- Church embrace the cross to "help" Christ : of Jesus, whether in is to co-operate in the expiation are led and held by them is the chosen place where they expiation endured, vary expiation of one's own faults, or in the Love. Master, for the faults of after the example of the Divine desires to give Him others A soul that truly loves our Lord II. Body by means of these this proof of love for His Mystical " Here is the secret of the extravagances recognised, we must learn mortifications. The need of mortification once for mortifications which of the saints, of that thirst in what measure we ought to practise it, — and first of all those things characterises nearly all of them: "To fill up specifically the value of the different how we are to appreciate of their Divine Master. as that are wanting" to the Passion acts of renunciation proposed to us. Their hierarchy is work ot The Church has naturally to legislate as to the follows: in the first place, the mortifications which the concerns her as a whole. She has fixed prescribes next those, expiation which Church, the Bride of Christ, ; — which notably for all her children a share of mortification which are prescribed by the Rule, or are inherent to the daily Ember the observances of Lent, of Fridays, of the life finally, those we choose comprises observance of the monastic ; — prefers his Vigils. One who is little enlightened for ourselves or that are sent to us by God. Days and is beyond doubt that to these ; but it To begin with the mortifications that the Church prescribes own mortifications the Church are more pleasing to for us. the expiations imposed by for our souls. We find in a letter of St. Paul some words ihat at first God and more salutary value of our suffer- " for you, The reason for this is clear. All the sight seem astonishing : I rejoice in my sufferings througn is derived from their union, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings ings and self-denial " sufferings and merits of Jesus, of Christ, in my flesh, for His body, which is the Church : faith and love, with the who is more united Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi in came mea, without Whom we can do nothing. Now, mortifications 3 to Church, His Bride ? The pro torpore ejus, quod est Ecclesia . What do these words Christ than the His Bride that she adopts mean? Is something then wanting to' the sufferings of she lays upon us are her own ; it is as mortifications ; these Christ ? Certainly not. We know that in themselves they and officially presents them to God of Christ s expiations , were, so to speak, measureless : measureless in their intensity, become like the natural prolongation are extremely acceptable for they rushed like a mighty torrent upon Christ ; measure- presented by the Church herself they participation less above all in their value, a value properly speaking to God Who sees in them the closest and deepest Beloved bon. infinite, since 'they are the sufferings of a God. Moreover, that souls can have in the sufferings of His salutary tor us. Christ, having died for all, has become by His Passion, the Moreover, these mortifications are very 4 beginning of Lent, Propitiation I for the sins of the whole world . St. Augustine The Church herself tells us, at the not explains *' salutary remedy the meaning of this text of the Apostle : to understand that she has instituted them as a the Anwaous mystery of Christ, we must not separate Him from His only for our souls but also for our bodies : " " Mystical Body. Christ is not the Whole Christ, according corporibusque curandis salubriter institutttm est . Saturday 1. Prologue of the Rule. cf. Ps. cxviu, 32. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Co. 1. 24.-4- CoUect for the >• S. Augustin. Enarrat, in Ps. rxxxvt, 5- 2. I Joan. 11, 2. . alter Ash Wednesday. SELF-REN UNCTATION 179 CHFIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 178 vessels, which rub against each ak bearing earthen of the holy forty morlales, fragiles, infirmi, lutea vasa forget either that in the course • Sttmus homines Do not Ther 1 for those who submit to these invicem angustias . days, the Church prays daily Inrtentes atiae jaciunt unceasingly beseeches God that these works * of the lives of the saints is full of this want expiations ; she The history that He will make them beneficial misunderstandings and dissensions resulting may be accepted by Him ; nf rnncord these educa- • strength to perform them with character, the turn of mind, to us that He will give us frnm temperament, from disciples of Christ and with a devotion formed by each one. Were there m mo- the piety befitting tion and the ideal veneranda solemnia worthy of canonisation nothing can trouble : Ut jefuniorum but holy religious, that 1 nasteries none percurrant . life and suscipiant et secura devotione to suffer from the common ; et congnia piotate Vhev would still have powerful oyer far as the This constant prayer of the Church for us is can be so much more acute in as this suffering com- of God.and becomes a fount of heavenly benediction and the soul more delicate. No the Heart mind is more refined mortifications fruitful. be, to whatever Order it which makes our munity, however fervent it may " Christ's, " as St. Paul says, let more than the greatest If then we wish to be belong, escapes this law, any mortifica- may us accept, with great faith and generosity, these in God's sight, they have a value and at the best school tions of the Church ; ^ok^rtSTpfstles. Were they not of expiation which other afflictive practices do not years, they were able to con- a power sanctity ? During three of and be under the possess. ?mpkte Jesus, to liften to His teaching We shall therefore not be astonished that our great grace. Now what do *e direct influence of His Divine Patriarch, the heir in this of the piety of the first ages, to the exclusion of the read in the Gospel ? Two" of them, a long chapter of his Rule to the observance of Kingdom before consecrates others!askfor a^pecial place in Christ's ; Lent. He desires that during this holy season, besides the - a strife amongs them the Last Supper there is again " all purity such fast and abstinence, we should keep ourselves in should seem to be the greater, to " which of them 3 times : Oinnes Later, of life ; and repair the negligences of other them anew . a degree that our Lord has to rebuke negligentias aliorum temporum his diebus Sanctis diluere*. St. Barnabas who, St Peter and St. Paul are at variance ; "This is what we shall worthily do," he adds, "if we St. Paul in topeach- for qut a?ong*me, had accompanied abstain from all vices, and apply ourselves to prayer with him: they no longer " ing, has one day to separate from tears, to holy reading, compunction of heart and abstinence. do not ^ays under- agree. St. Jerome and St. Augustine You see that to the expiation that afflicts the body, St. Be- Charles Borromeo and stand one another, anymore than St. nedict is careful to join inward mortification and especially St, of Neri. j Philip , , _„ the exercise of that sense of compunction which is, as it weaknesses andar> Thus human nature has at times such were, the will to do uninterrupted penance. seek God ana are deficiencies that even souls who sincerely Christ, are mw most united together in tne chanty of III. And this happens subjects of mortification for one another. . every community m in every clime, in every latitude, in r After the penances instituted by the Cburch rank the with patience, the endure this friction daily, mortifications and self-renunciation inherent to the monastic world. Now, to very complaining, constitutes a state. . with charity, without ever real must first life. much mortification. . , „„*.,* Qnrv» nf We name the common However great experience ot Thus Patriarch, who had such it be sweetened by fraternal charity, however fervently mu- our holy human^nature, the that everywhere tual love reigns, the common life still bears with it a great human heart, who knew infirmities and ™**™5^ deal of suffering. We love one another very much mutually, even among the best, has its pothers patiently enduring one with sincere affection, and yet, without wishing it; we jar insists upon our duty of infirmities suas sive upon one another. This is part of the very condition of : Infirmitates ™t°[T 'arisearise little dissensions^?JZt our poor human nature. Since sin entered the world, we TiENTissiME tolerentK When these are all, says St. Augustine, men subject to death, infirm, **' ^ 1. Sermo Domini. P. L. 38, ^aaaa""* X de Verbis Rule '&ch LXX^JS."*" 28 24-25- — *• ' ' 1. Collect for Ash Wednesday, — 2. Rule, ch. xlix. ; Marc, x, 35-45. — 3. Luc. xxh, SELF-RENUNCIATION l8l THE IDEAL OF THE MONK lSo CHRIST, • love and if we remain faith- we did so out of ; Scandalortim ^nfP «ion *• " of scandal ", it is still through love. This i, to <=n wen calls thorns of immolation upon our jffSt have us let the sun go down from feeling paim You may ask: Is l£J he wu not doesnot preventnature to taJK root: Cm iW- of Heaven ? Assuredly lest it be given time monastery the ante-chamber, Segment tnis subject occasum m pacem redire*. un S long time m a place of waiting, /?*»/*• a«/6 scZts to stay a a practice inspired > is but into the holy liturgy itself monotony and annoyances, can become he ntrodnces that the A there to bear Gospel. He prescribes big-dose of endurance the purest spirit of the and require a : bv day in choir Sneularly burdensome J. Pater nosier aloud every patient till Abbot shall say the * however remain firm and be monastic farndy We must 2 name of the ; is in the . God never at Lands and ispers, „"j • age et sustine Dominum Father to forgive .us Hme Viriliter that when we ask our Heavenly places His Son's Cross upon our so to forgive Senear to'us as when He not forget in our turn more of our ow^ffenees, we may never do we give our Father in Heaven us. shoulders; our brethren if they offend . our patience than m these acontinual glory that He receives from that the common life easily becomes the 3 So Sue is it AHerunt frucium in fiahenha . weak nature,. But for those who moments source of friction for our established to procure the practice of the one of boundless and T™e vows being this life is transformed into as regards seek God, virtues, it is not astonishing that angustiantur vasa carms, dilatentur corresponding unremitting charity: Si far It is true one finds enunciation, they lead us very spatia caritatis*! endure stability: after a time, submit to obedience, souls who may, force of habit. With them, the vow of common life which result from this they do from To the mortifications is absent or ; but the virtue those of the.vows strictly speaking, remain intact the social order of things, are to be added of disposition is very poor in love character of a contract between very enfeebled. Such a with their precise object and from love, .consti- the contrary, strive to practise and God. Constant fidelity to our engagements God. Let us, on us the virtue that serves as a nature, so inclined in all its extent and perfection, a veritable mortification : we are, by tutes all the d^Uies It is true This love will solve to independence, so fond of liberty and change ! stimulus to the vow. fervour will brave all the renunciations that faithful souls observe their vows with gladness, that can arise in our life, an us. and love; but this observance remains none the less to which our profession obliges contradictions are ever to us again look at our Divine Sa- Difficulties, disappointments, immolation for nature. Let be out of part of the world we may viour in His Passion. We know that He accepted it be encountered in whatsoever . That to escape them m tnat love for His Father, and that this love was immense : " It is so much the more impossible " cognoscat than with our numan the world may know, that I love the Father : Ut they have less to do with circumstances discreet of religious mundus quia diligo PatremK But did He not suffer despite condition. Our Holy Father, the most wishes to esta- this love? Certainly He did: what suffering has ever law-givers, warns us of this. Although he 4 into " rigorous he ww equalled His suffering which He accepted on coming blish in his Rule nothing too harsh or , Heart the this world ? Hear .the cry which escapes from His however have the Master of Novices show " possible, " " 5 that fallen crushed beneath the burden : My Father, if it be the hard and rugged things, dura et astern , I will, that leaas to let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless nOt as nature will inevitably meet with upon the path " overcome in as wilt . Love for His Father lifted Him makes us but Thou God. But, he says «, like St. Paul, love His above the shrinking of His sensitive native. And yet all caritate Christt?... ?™-?* things : Quis nos sefarabit a j* Heart, ana to terrible, His sorrows indescribable. His 3 O God, agony was sake, t moriificamur tota die" . It is for Thy es. says the Psalmist, hike wax, melting beneath the inten- deny oursei.\ became show Thee our love, that all the day long we 7 to avc d sity of suffering . But because remained fastened try to He If we truly love Christ Jesus, we shall not the Cross by love, He gave His Father infinite glory, worthy the laitMui the difficulties and sufferings that occur m of the Divine perfections. monastic are-, practice of the vows and observances of our We, too, fastened ourselves to the cross on the day of X » See — 3 * ™1 above, what we said about fortitude, P-^43. f$; ibidem! i. Rule, ch. xiii. — 2. Ibid. iv. — 3. Ibid. xm. — 4. S. Aug. L. c. — 5- Luc Rule, ch. lvih. °- vm, r5 , i_ — 5- 4 , proiogue of the Rule. Joan. xrv, 31. — 6. Matth. xxvi, 39. — 7. Ps. xxi, 15. ch. vii. — 7> Rom Vllh 36 and RulEt ch. vii. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 182 SELF-RENUNCIATION 183

we shall embrace them as our Divine Lord embraced This liberty left by St. His Benedict to private initiative is Cross when it was offered to Him. Some have a heavier limited to the season of not Lent ; it extends to the whole cross than others ; however heavy it may be, love gives of a monk the holy them life ; Patriarch himself makes this the strength to bear it ; the unction of divine grace understood at the beginning makes of the abovesaid chapter. If them cling to it instead of seeking how to cast it away, at no time would he discourage the weak, he always leaves and in the end they come to feel affection for it as a means free scope vo the holy ambition of the valiant : Ut sit quod of continually testifying to their love : Aquae multae non fortes ciipiant K Tftese are the works of supereroga tion which poiuerunt exstinguere caritatem \ If a monk who for love the valiant alone have the strength to undertake. To those of Christ to Whom he gave himself for ever on the day of on the contrary who find the integral accomplishment of his profession, were to remain constantly faithful to what he the common observance beyond their physical powers, the then promised, if he were to live in a spirit of poverty and idea will come spontaneously of imposing upon themselves never admit into his heart a too human and too natural some slight penances, so that if they are obliged to renounce affection, if his -whole life were to be spent in absolute depen- the of "letter" the regular discipline they may at least dence on his Rule and on those who represent Christ " towards have some modest pledges to give to its "spirit. him, if he were to bear, without ever murmuring, the burden of the day and the uniformity inherent to the regular life But whatever be the reason that instigates the exercise of the cloister this — monk would give our Lord continual of free choice in this matter of penitential practices, St. Be- proofs of love and find God perfectly. He would have nedict subjects it to one essential condition : every brought to naught within project himself every obstacle that could of mortification foreign to the rule laid down, is to be first have been opposed to perfect divine union. But who will of all submitted to the approbation of those will show us this who hold the religious, that in him we may celebrate the 2 place of Christ towards us . summit of virtue i Quis est hie, el laudabimus earn? Fecit The end that is here proposed by the holy. Legislator is enim mirabiha in vita sua... 2 . altogether " worthy of a clear-sighted director of souls : If obedience IV intervenes, it will not be to reduce initiative or manly resolution, but to guide them and make them fruit- ful 3 ;" he especially If the first place takes precautions against self-will; he is reserved by right, in our estimation would n r avoid the danger of vainglory which so easily creeps to he P611111 prescribed by the Church anda l °X. ^\ ^ ^ in with those who undertake mortifications of their by the Rule the preference ^ own given to them of course choice " does not tend to dissuade from : All that is done without permission of the spiritual and depreciate the mortifica- Father tions wherein everyone shall be accounted as presumption and vainglory of goodwill takes the initiative. and Indeed in the monastery, deserve no reward": Quod sine permissions patris personal initiative remains entire. spiritualis fit, praesumptioni Not only does St. Benedict deputabitur eivanae gloriae, non safeguard it, but he positively i mercedi . encourages it. On this subject it suffices to read the chapter Our Le holy Father furthermore exhorts us to offer to God, °\ He Wishes that durin these forty holv ?}- , K with the joy that emanates from L S 0Uld SOme the Holy Spirit, something ^ng to that which is ordina- beyond ^ the measure appointed : rn?app^nrd tn 5 to us OfferatDeo cumgaudio ^regards God's service, augeamus sancti 5 Spiritus . Let us n%tZZ!Jllq enso sermtuti be happy to have the opportunity * 'oli h t i t $ noslrae*: private pravers of offering God some acts of penance : fervour and joy must needs accompany what we give to God ; magnanimity and generosity are joyful in the giving : Hilarem datorem hhgit B Deus . However, before approaching the question itself of excep-

Rul x. chl LXIV - lbid Commen- Can, vm, * - inl', ^' > ~ 2 - ch. xlix. — 3. Abbot of Solesmes. ,. Eccl, xxxli _ w? on the ft 3> Ru]e> ch> Rule 0/ S' Benedict, translated by Dom Justin Mc Cann. P. 3 J 9- ^ 4- and 5, Rule, c h. xlix. — 6. I Cor. ix, 7 and Rule, ch. v. 184 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK SELF-RENUNCIATION 185

tional mortifications, we must well understand the attitude exterior renunciation, nothing should be done " without St. Benedict recommends to us in general regarding the creat- permission of the spiritual Father, " for " every one hath ed things with which God surrounds us in our exile here " .his proper gift from God : Unusquisque proprium habet below, and the legitimate pleasure we derive from them. 1 donum ex Deo, alius sic, alius veto sic . The holy Patriarch gives us a valuable counsel in this matter : : The domain where all latitude may be taken is that delicias 1 of "Not to embrace delights," non amplecti . What, interior mortification, which is likewise the most perfect. harms the soul in this domain, is to give oneself up to them This mortification represses the vices of the mind, breaks our in excess. Christ Jesus partook of food, contemplated the attachment to self-love and our own judgment ; it refrains beauties of nature, and enjoyed the charms of friendship, tendencies to pride, independence, vanity, touchiness, levity, but He only gave Himself to His Father and to souls. In curiosity, and subjects us to the common life, that the same way, self-renunciation penance of forbids us to let ourselves penances. Let us take the order of our day : — To rise at the be carried away in the use of permitted created things ; first sound of the belL_to go to the choir wether inclined to do and it is in following this line of conduct indicated by St. Be- so. or not, there to praise God with attention and fervour; to nedict that we acquire, little by little, that holy liberty of accept the thousand details of the rule as they are laid soul and heart in regard to all creatures — a liberty that, down for work, meals, recreation, sleep ; to submit oneself was one of the characteristic virtues of our great St. Gertrude continually to these things without ever murmuring or being and won for her most precious favours from Christ. in any way singular, forms an excellent penance To return to outward mortifications or which makes afflictive penances, the let soul greatly pleasing to God, and altogether docile to us say that in this matter itself, a certain discretion must be the action of the Holy Spirit. Consider silence, for instance. kept. The degree of voluntary mortification must be How many times, during the course of the day, measured according to the past state of the occasions soul, and the occur which tempt us obstacles to to speak needlessly I But we say , to be avoided ; it is for the director to fix this degree " ourselves : No, out of love for It would be dangerous temerity to undertakeextraofdinary Christ, to keep the perfume mortifications of His Divine presence in my soul, I will not speak. " without being called to do so by God In A fact to he able to give single day may be thus made up of acts of mortification oneself to constant macerations of the body is a gift which are so many acts of love. Again another point in of God. And this gift often constitutes one of His most precious which virtue may be frequently practised, is in immediate favours. When God grants it to a soul, it is because obedience to the voice of God calling us to the different He wills to lead her far in spiritual ways exercises: Mox exoccupatis z ; often He prepares manibus ,says St. Benedict. It her in this manner to receive ineffa- needs great mCat nS mS Divine ace virtue to put constantly into action what these - He delves deep O ! °i ^ ' few- d wn°ST S ° l words signify. are busy at our the bell, er emPty fler entirely of We work; h self, and vZ™ r undJ^°^™dedly. ^ rings. We are often tempted to say " It will only take a Only, before entering into this wavl'f > few " ls necess that. we should be moments to finish this. If we listen to this suggestion tW t , Fy called to it by God; n what is it that we do ? will to ?£ entenng ie of our own accord. To be We prefer our own God's Will. abl to i? " " M This is not forsaking our own will, nor is it what St. Be- l nedict G l °" wants : m ly glve us if He caUs « toit .-^thout Quod agcbant imperfectwn relinquentcs. Little i . . g : P °i \ things ? Yes, K P?ysica a^d in consequence in themselves; but great by reason of the have totaS JS?,— % virtue they require, °f °UV health/ And this great by reason of the love that observes the door easily Ss £?f °T them, and the holiness to which they lead. "He who " desires for My sake to mortify his body with many penances, said the Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena, "but Without renouncing his own will is wrong in thinking that this is pleasing 3 " to Me . We only please God when we seek to ' do His good-pleasure in all things. Sel-DMo's^nhc GifiSlt£&%?§* ** God Gave to St Catherine. *• I Cor. vii, 7. and- Rule, ch. xl. — 2. Rule, ch. v. —3. Dialogue, ch. x. *

186 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK SELF-RENUNCIATION 187

Let us also accept willingly the mortifications sent to 11s man " necessary to the fruition of the soul's union with cold, heat, small by Providence : hunger, inconveniences o? God'. place or time, slight contradictions coming from those around Finally, one truth upon which it is important to insist us. You may again say that these things are trifles.; yes, here, in relation to" exterior mortification, is that, although but trifles that form part of the Divine plan for us. Is not renunciation is an indispensable means, afflictive practices that enough to make us accept them with love ? have no value in themselves in the plan of Christianity. Finally, let us accept illness, if sent to us by God, or Their value comes to them from their union through faith what is sometimes more painful, a state of habitual ill -health, and love with the sufferings and expiation of Christ Jesus. an infirmity that never leaves us; adversities, spiritual Our Divine Saviour came down upon earth to show us how aridity to accept all these ; things can become very mortifying we must live in order to be pleasing to His Father. He is for nature. If we do so with loving submission, without ever the perfect Model of all perfection. Now the Gospel tells relaxing in the service we owe to God, although heaven seems us He ate what was set before Him, without making any to be cold and deaf to us, our soul will open more and more distinction, so much so that the Pharisees took scandal to the Divine action. " For, according to the saying of St. Paul, thereat. And our Lord tells them : Not that which goeth " all things work " together unto good to those whom God' into the mouth defileth a man : but what cometh out of the calls to share His glory: 2 " omnia cooperantur in bonum Us mouth, this defileth a man . Let us then not place our qui secundum proposition vocati sunt sancti. perfection in exterior mortifications, even extraordinary ones, considered in themselves. What is above all important is that we mortify ourselves and bear our sufferings out of V.. love for our Lord as a participation in His Passion. ." True perfection and true holiness, " says a great master Whatever be our morti fixations, corporal or spiritual, those of the spiritual life, the Venerable Louis Blosius, heir in that afflict the body or those that repress the ill regulated this of the best Benedictine traditions, " does not lie in tendencies of the mind, they are however only a means. frightful macerations nor the excessive use of instruments In some institutes, exercises of penance and expiation play of penance ; they consist in the mortification of self-will and " so preponderant a part that they 3 constitute the very reason of our vices, as well as in true humility and sincere charity . of their existence. These institutes have their own mission Great austerity of life is excellent when added to these m the Holy Church, a special function in the Mystical fundamental dispositions, but everyone is not capable Body; for the diversity- of functions, of which St. Paul speaks, of this, while everyone can lead a life of true and holy exists for. religious " orders as it does for the individual, mortification if they are careful to offer continually to ihose who make " profession in these institutes are vic- God the Father, the fasts, watchings and tribulations of tims the life of ; continual immolation 1 " little gives them a parti- Christ's most bitter Passion , and to accomplish the cular character and splendour. Happy the souls whom God they do in union with these sufferings of the Saviour and in calls to the bareness of the cross 1 It becomes for them honour of His continual and total submission to His Father's an inexhaustible fount of precious graces Will. He who knows how to offer to God the complete h rit f S -° Ben( dict rather to form Saviour's example, has : . * Christians submission of his free-will, after the who 5^S atJ- Practlsin ever virtue in in the Apostolic withoi^-T - f y a high degree 1. Rom. vi, 6. Cf. D. Morin, The Ideal of the Monastic Life allS ng m ay °f them 0ur Age. ch. ni. Do penance. This perfectly characterises S' Benedict's method on " Patriarch, in this Cathe- domain hasKf..q™te-V OtherJ this point. — 3. Matth. xv, 16. — 3. The Mirror of the Soul, ch. vn, 3. S» ' conceptions than some £ <4 of those rine in her Dialogue sets down the same teaching of the Eternal Father: "Those h Fathers 0f who are nourished the table penance are good and perfect, if their penance - the desert and the at of Sre^t^ EaSt^ ^ is founded in me with befitting discernment... with great humility, and the m e matter of afflictive practices. Wkhoafn.i k ? constant study to judge according to My will and not according to the will of ng aS haVe jUst man. humility, they ' seen exterior mortifica- If they are not thus clad with My will through true Son his ' «£fv- 1S T will very often in the way of their perfection, by making Ver br0USht t0 bear U the put obstacles virLs of h^-i-f 5°T P™ themslves judges of those who do not follow the same path as they do. above of Because they have & obedience : it is to And knowest thou why they do not attain perfection ? them tthath°t heh chieflyfl ^ their body than in looks for the destruction of " exerted their zeal and desire much more in mortifying the old " slaying their self-will. — 4. The Mirror of the Soul, ch. vii, 3- . ;

i88 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK SELF-RENUNCIATION jQg

" a soul that is truly detached and mortified like unto a Such is the Catholic doctrine on this point. God is the first ; ripe, tender and delicious grape " he who knows not this Author of our holiness, the source of our perfection, but " self-renunciation is, on the contrary,-' for God, like unripe must labour at removing the obstacles that hinder " we His sOur the taste *. fruit, hard and to action in us ; me must renounce sin, and the tendencies is one to encourage This thought a very useful us in our that give rise to it ; we must free ourselves from created the let work of self-renunciation. During day us think of' things in as far as they prevent us' going to God. One who our morning Mass. were then united to the We immolation will not submit himself to this law of mortification, who of and placed upon the altar with the Divine Jesus Victim ; seeks his ease and comfort, who is anxious to escape let us therefore accept generously the sufferings, the vexations, suffering and does all he can to avoid the cross, who puts the burden' of the day and the heat thereof, the difficulties no constraint upon himself to keep all the observances of and self-denial inherent to the common life. Thus we shall common life, will never arrive at intimate union with Christ practically live our Mass. Indeed, is not our heart an altar Jesus. This union is so precious that it must needs be bought whence the incense of our sacrifice and our submission to with labour and toil and perpetual self-denial. We can only His adorable Will unceasingly rises up to God? What find God fully after having removed all obstacles from our altar could be more pleasing to Him than a heart full of path, and destroyed all that displeases Him in ourselves. love constantly offered up to Him. For we can always St. Gregory — whose words are evidently a commentary sacrifice upon this altar, and offer ourselves with the Son on the first lines of the Prologue of the Rule — says that of His love, for His glory and the welfare of souls. in cleaving to ourselves and to creatures, we separate This is the teaching that our Lord Himself gave to ourselves from God. In order to return to Him, Ut St. Mechtilde. " One day whilst she was thinking that her ad Eum redeas, it is to Christ, and to Christ crucified, illness made her useless and that her sufferings were unavail- that we must cleave ; we must carry the cross with Him ing/the Lord said ' to her : Place all thy pains in My Heart along the path of compunction, obedience and self-forget- and I will give them the most absolute 1 perfection that suffer- fulness . It is only by passing through the sorrows of ing can possess. As My Divinity drew to itself the sufferings' Calvary and the poverty of the Cross that we shall come of My Humanity and made them its own, so will I transport to the triumph of the Resurrection and the glory of the thy pains into My Divinity, I will unite them to My Pas- Ascension : Nonne oporiuit Christum pati et ita inlrare in and make thee share in that glory 2 which God the Father gloriam suam . has bestowed on My Sacred Humanity in return for all its With this thought we will end bur conference after the sufferings. Confide, therefore, each of thy pains to Love example of our great Patriarch who thus closes his Pro- in saying: '0 Love, I give them to thee with the same logue : Passionibus Christi per patientiam participcmur , ut in intention that thou hadst when thou didst bring them to regno ejus mereamur esse consories. Mortification and self- me from the Heart of God, and I beseech thee to offer them denial are but for the life that they safeguard and to xiim again a time ; made perfect by intensest .. ' " gratitude. Mv foster in us is everlasting. It is true that here below, where Passion," added Christ Jesus, "bore infinite fruit in we five by life hidden from Heaven and upon faith, the splendour of this- is earth ; thus thy pains, thy tribulations our eyes: Vita est*; but in the fight of offered to Me vestra abscondita and united to My Passion will be so fruitful heaven where there is darkness it will shine for °CUre no more Pr m e el0r for the elect ne merit ever fo * °J y ' w ; there will be no more crying, no more suffering flSXT f venes f°r °^ ? sinners, and ^ alleviation of God liT<' T Himself will wipe away the tears from the eyes of Zi 6 S°U Pur ator y- What is there indeed His servants the heavenly hat Mv H^ ?Chaf ? ; He will make His elect sit down at ge for the better si*ce it is « - from feast, and torrent of t£ gJSL S™^* ? will inebriate them at the ever flowing 7 *** *** fl °WS faoth in Hea and ™ i; Jlegio nostra redirc per viatn qua on ^^ cognito, eartht paradisus est, ad guam, Jcsu venimns prohibcmur. A rcgione enim nostra superbiendo, mobedieitdo, visibtlia sequendo, cibum vetitum gustando disccssimus ; sed ad earn necesse est ut ftendo h s oocdiendo, thl^twW^P?%'ffl3f ?™ P*^* & i»ta from visibtlia contemnendo atque appelilum carnis refrcnando redeamus. de Louis % 2%I %CHmt dans U doctrine de Blois. (UVksSiidSit spiriluelle «omjZ. io in Evang. inserted this passage in the Octave of tJ me The Church has Epiphany as the 'interpretation applied to the "per aiiam viam reverst ««:* of the Magi. — 3 . Luc. xxiv, 26. — 3- Col. 111, 3- : :

190 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK

1 unalloyed delights: Et,torrente voluptatis tuae potabls eos . We shall then see the fulfilment of those words that the Church, the Bride of Christ, applies to us on the day of profession. At that decisive hour when our religious we X. POVERTY. responded to the Divine call, the Abbot showed us the Rule. He told us by what path of renunciation we must go to God. And we chose to enter upon this path, to labour Summary. — Necessity for one who seeks God of renouncing every at the soil of our soul that heavenly virtues might spring creature, material goods to begin with. — I. St. Benedict's the thorns and briars. " They that in up among sow tears requirements concerning individual poverty. — II. Hovy shall reap in joy." Now they plough the furrows in the everything necessary is to be hoped for from the Abbot. sweat of their brow, and the seeds they cast therein they III. Exercise of the virtue of poverty inseparable from that IV. Christ, water with their tears. The hour will come of overflowing of hope. — the Model of poverty ; deep aspect of poverty in- the inner life joy when they will bring their full sheaves to the Lord of of Christ. — V. Precious blessings that God bestows on those who are detached. the Harvest : Etmtcs ibant et flcbant mittenies setnina sua venientes anient venient cum exsultatione porlantes manipulos 2 suos . our seeking after God, we are hindered by the obstacles IN we find upon our way or within ourselves. 1. Ps. xxxv, 9. — s. Ibid, cxxv, 5-7. To find God perfectly, we must first of all be freed from every creature in so far as it keeps us back on the path of perfection. The young man of the Gospel who comes to our Lord and asks wha the must do to have life everlasting, is given this answer " Keep the commandments. " " All these have I kept from my youth, " replies the young man. Then our Divine " Saviour adds : If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poo^ and come follow Me. " At these words the young man goes away sorrowful. "For" says " 1 " the Gospel, he had great possessions . Riches held his heart captive and because of them he could not follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Our Lord has given us the immense grace of letting us hear His Divine voice calling us to perfection : Venite post Me z . By an act of faith in His word and in His Divinity, we have come to Him and have said like St. Peter : "Behold we " have left all things, and have followed Thee : Ecce nos.reliquimus 3 omnia et secuti sumus te . We have relinquish- ed material goods, in order that being voluntarily poor, no longer having anything to hold us' back, we may fully consecrate ourselves to the pursuit of the one true immutable Good. If we keep ourselves in the fervour with which we totally abandoned all worldly possessions, we shall surely find the Infinite Good even here below. "What therefore shall we have ? " Peter asked our Lord : Quid ergo erit nobis? And <-nnst " replies : You shall receive an hundredfold and shall ». Matth. xix, 16-22. — 2. Marc. 1, 17. — 3. Matth. xix, 37. .

192 CHRIST, THE' IDEAL OF THE MONK POVERTY 193

1 " possess life everlasting . God is so magnificent in His this point of individual poverty, and the practice of this dealings with us, that in return for the things we leave for renunciation to be a very lofty form of the theological Him, 'He gives Himself to us even now and here with incom- virtue of hope. " I say to you... mensurable generosity. Amen, there' is " no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father '" I. or mother, or children, or lands for My sake... who shall not receive in " St. " " an hundred times as much, now this time : Although Benedict does not make the. word poverty Amen dicovobis: Nemo est qui reliquerit domum... propter. enter into the formula of the vows, he prescribes, however, me...quinonaccipiatcentiestantumNVNC in 2 the at his tempore hoc . that monk profession shall distribute his goods He puts no bounds to His Divine communications, and this to the poor, or bestow them on the monastery; he is to

is the one source of our true : reserve nothing for : 1 beatitude "Blessed are the himself Nihil si bi reservans ex omnibus . poor in spirit " : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven : Beati Even when parents offered their sons to the monastery, pauper-es spiritu, 3 quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum . they had to promise that never, either of themselves, or Only it is important that we always remain in that dis- through anyone else, would they give anything whatsoever position of faith, hope and love, whereby we left all to to their son once he has become a monk, lest occasion should place our beatitude in God alone ; it is important that we be given him of violating, to the detriment of his soul, the should no longer be attached to what we have given up for poverty that he has promised. ever. And this is often. very difficult. Moreover, the practice of poverty enters into this conversio Thus as St. Teresa 2 _ remarks, our nature is so subtile that morum which we vow at the moment of our profession. it seeks to take back, in one way or another, what it has For, by this vow, we are bound to seek the perfection of once given. " " We resolve to become poor, she writes, our state. Now the exercise of poverty is necessary for and it is a resolution of great merit; but we very often one who wishes to be a perfect disciple of Christ. Thus take care not to be in want, not simply of what is necessary, we see our Holy Father consecrate a very remarkable chapter, but of what is superfluous ; yea, and to make for ourselves in his Rule, to the ascetical matter which he has not espe- friends who may supply us cially ; and in this way we take more mentioned in the act of profession. He calls private pains, and perhaps expose ourselves to ownership " " greater danger, in for the monk, a vice : vitium proprietatis ; a order that we may want nothing, " " s than we did formerly, baneful vice : vitium nequissimum which must be cut when we had our " own possessions in our own power. And off at all costs. the great Saint adds these words which I have already And yet has not man a natural right to possess ? The cited but which are always " good to read again : A pleasant simple Christian living in the world can fully use his faculty manner this of seeking the love of God! We retain our of having possessions without compromising his salvation own affections, and yet will have that love, and as they say, by perfection ; for, in this matter, it is not a precept but handfuls... This is not well, and we are seeking things that a simple counsel that our Lord gives when He speaks of are incompatible one with 4 " the other . leaving * everything in order to His perfect disciple. The See th be V0 untar Poverty is * y an indispensable action of Divine grace simple Christian CnSL 0r ? $ A in the soul of the g God fu% for ***** erfect sci Ies is fettered r ' P & P only by the ill-regulated attachment which makes SnSS? Xt^ extremel * y important, in the course of the; soul a captive l^fehf6 of exterior possessions. n0t t0 ta e • ' aching back from what we But for us who for love in order to follow have on^ 83 ? of Christ, and 5 Teg rds the enunciation Him Sod, TJ ^. ? of exterior more freely, have voluntarily renounced this right, it m Se x* what this renunciation how fkri L? ? / consists, would be in some measure a sin to attempt to take it back d th What Virtue we unduly. ou h t link it , so 1 to nrS" '^ ^ g to P e m x '£ P erfecti°n. We shall see that Our our HolyHolv FatherF»^ £ Holy Legislator wishes to eliminate this vice in every shows himself singularly exacting upon As you know tnere is nothing' absolutely nothing, tnattw\ the monk can receive or give, without leave of his Abbot, '• Rule, cb. Lvm. — 3 , ibid. — 3. Rule, ch, xxxm. :

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE POVERTY 194 MONK 195

nothing that he can possess as his own : Ne quis pmesumat this, there are different fashions of making any object what- " aliquid dare aut accipere sine jussione abbatis, neque aliquid soever "one's own. It may happen, for example, that a proprium, omnino 1 " himself habere nujxam rem ; neither books, nor religious makes from the very first so difficult that writing-tablets nor pen, nor anything " whatsoever : Neque he surrounds some book or other object with a hedge of codicem, neque tabulas, neque graphium, sed nihil 2 so tospeak, and in omnino . thorns, such a way that no one dare is still more significant is What the last means he points ask it 'from him. In theory, this object is for the common out by which a monk may dipossess himself of it every object use ; in fact, has become the property of this religious. the monk has not even power over his own body or his own Little things, in themselves ; but the detachment resulting

will : Qttippe quibus nee corpora sua nee vbluntates licet habere from them can become dangerous for the soul's liberty; in vohintate*. This is propria the application of the words the principle of our perfection itself is at stake. of the Gospel Ecce nos reliquimus : omnia. Our Holy Father " Let all things be common to all, " says our Holy Father. goes so far to the root of the matter that he does not That is one of the characters of monastic poverty such as tolerate that one should account as his own, even in x words, he intends it to be : Omnia omnibus sint communia : by these anything whatsoever : Necquisquam suum esse aliquid dicat\ words he refers to the community of goods that existed The monk may not receive anything, " neither letters, nor between the faithful of the early Church. He ordains that eulogies 5 " , or the least gifts without the order " of the Abbot, anyone who treats the things of the monastery in a slovenly and as to the gifts which have lawfully found their way into or negligent 3 " manner shall be punished . Why this seve- the enclosure it remains in the power of the " head of the rity ? Because the monastery being the " house of God, monastery to give them to whomsoever he pleases : " Quod all things in it ought to be considered as if they were si pisseritsuscipi, in abbatis sit potestate cui illud jubeat dari °. " the consecrated vessels of the altar : Omnia vasa monasterii St. Benedict takes care to warn the monk for whom the 3 cunctdmque substaniiam, ac si altaris vasa sacrata conspiciat . gift had originally been intended by those " outside not to Once more in this lofty motive, we see the deeply super- be grieved, " lest occasion be given to the '. devil natural and "religious" character with which the holy Why does the great Patriarch, ordinarily so wide in his Legislator wishes to steep the monk's whole existence, even views, enter here into such minute regulations ? It is be- in the least details. cause a question of principle is at stake, and when it concerns ajprinciple, as we have many times seen, he knows how to show II. himself uncompromising. The principle here involved is that of dependence on authority, and detachment of The care of these goods, " sacred " in the sight of the great heart. To give or receive anything without the Abbot's Patriarch, permission, is confided to the Abbot. It is for him to provide is an act of independence, and nourishes the for all the necessities of is the shepherd of n owne '' shi his monks ; he P- And nothing is so contrary to the T f ? J the flock, the father of the family, and it is from him, says absolute detachment that we have vowed We must St. Benedict, that the monk must hope for everything: then have nothing of our own. You perhaps Omnia a patre sperare monasterii*. A profound saying and ''1 ai uite at rest 1 ? 9 on that point. ' If it one h/i° 7^T^a,lk which marks the character of our poverty. God f0r lt for ft is a reat ' S race t0 be fully t l} tr , § The monk is to Abbot. At However, let us look for everything from the examine things more closely, for our ?Wfc t than profession we despoiled ourselves of everything and put Way °f havin an thin °f one's own. It S y g ourselves in him £™T f*a uesti the hands of the Abbot; it is through '5£ 4 °* here of hoarding. At the that last £« God will give is necessary. LTU fear t0 a ear us what ^° , PP before God.if we had Our popoLSS3sessed Zthe leasti\hoard. Holy Father follows this chapter on poverty with But, without going so far as another chapter entitled: "Whether all ought alike to R C receive 6 " Th^ - 5. Ibid. ch. what is necessary . Again citing, in his reply, uS> U™d7s^y u, the faithfi Sel es ed bread distributed to the Acts " du?fn|1h e solemn V,«™,°/ °L r' j of the Apostles, where it is said : distribution exist among symbolised the union that should Christian fiv «S * holy pictures, apP"ed frU"' 1 meda^elics! *° '^"10 ch Ibid. -I" ibid -7 Ibid ^ * ' **"»• — =• Ibid. ch. xxxii. — 3. Ibid. ch. xxxi. — 4. <*•ch xxxm. — 5, ibid, ch. xxxiv. POVERTY I96 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK I97 to God, and not be grieved thanks thereby ; and let was made to everyone according as he had need, " St. Be- him who requireth more be humbled by his infirmity " ought not to have and not be made nedict adds that the Abbot respect " proud by the mercy shewn to him *. And St. of persons but consideration for infirmities. " Necessities Benedict concludes with this sentence so one has full of his spirit: Et Ha are not mathematically the same ; need of more, a omnia membra erunt in pace, " and thus all of less. the Abbot has not infused knowledge, the members another As " of the family will be at peace. Peace is the we ought to tell him our needs with simplicity, and to fruit of de- tachment ; the soul has no longer any disquietude • confide ourselves to him, for he is the father of the monastic it belongsb altogether to God.; . family. What does not come from the Abbot does not come It certainly requires great faith to conform ourselves from God ; never let us then try to obtain anything, however per- to this programme fectly : but we may be persuaded that small it may be, by roundabout means ; do not let us be if we observe all the points of it, diplomatic in order, as St. Teresa says, to make friends who God will not fail us in anything, and our soul will will give us what we want. taste deep peace because it mil look for everything A trait in the life of St. Margaret Mary shows how pleasing from Him Who is the Beatitude of all Saints. to God is this manner of expecting everything from our the to the Superior. The Saint had revelations sometimes from the As Abbot, he is to provide for all things. To Saviour touching the line of conduct that her director, Pere de enable him to do this, St. Benedict leaves the monastery la Colombiere, should follow. One day when the latter was the power of possessing. In the practice of poverty the setting out for , she sent him some words of advice, great Patriarch does not understand it as it has been under- " stood and carried out since St. 's 3 amongst which the following were contained : that he should day . " St. take great care hot to draw good (direct) from its source. Paul says, there is but one Spirit Who governs and She further told him that this short saying contained much directs the Church of Jesus but the inspirations of this Spirit which God would give him. to understand according to the are manifold *. It is the same as to the ways that He opens out these way he acted on it. Pere de la Colombiere read and re-read : are very varied although thev all have in view the this phrase without at first comprehending its meaning; perfection of Christ's Mystical Body": In aedificatiowm corporis Christi 6 but, some days later, during prayer, our Lord gave him . To the wonderful Poverello of Assisi, the light on it. On account of the difficult situation in which Holy Spirit inspired a radical form of poverty touching not he found himself, only individuals, being in a land of persecution, he received but the itself ; and for the sons of a small pension from his relations. This was not without St. Francis this is an inexhaustible fount of precious graces. his Superior's permission but the pension did not pass through The same Spirit gave to our holy Legislator another direction, the latter's hand; and Christ gave Pere de la Colombiere to supernatural also and not less fruitful. In the Benedictine understand Order,, that this was not pleasing to Him. "I under- individual detachment is to be carried as far as " " stood, wrote P. de la Colombiere, that this saying con- possible, but the monastery may have possessions. tains much because it concerns Our the perfection of poverty.. . and Holy Father bids the postulant, about to make pro- that this is the " fount of a great inward and outward peace \ fession, to choose either to distribute his goods to the poor It is_ the same for or us. Everything is to be looked for give them to the' monastery, and in this latter case, he from the father of the monastery takes : Omnia a patre sperare care to wrap this donation in solemn legal forms: monaster*. For all that has to do with si the health, clothing, «fs quas habet aut eroget firius pauperibus, aut facta solcm- food, exceptions, and all else, let us niier with confidence tell our donatione, conferat monasterio °. In the intention of wants to the Abbot or to those at. whom he has delegated to Benedict, the monastery keeps the faculty of possessing, replace him m this domain. See and what our holy Legislator our whole tradition, in accord with the Church, has con- writes on this subject his ; words show, as ever, with much nrmed this concept. exactitude and discretion, the supernatural line of conduct that we should follow " inm plus indi- : Let him who has need of less give eet\ !? indiS£t, agat Deo gratias, et non contrhtetur; qui veto thetur Rule, oh. xx'kiv" J> r° infirmitatc, non extollatur pro misericordia. — 2. 3 0n - this made by D. G. Mo'rin ' r~V .' subject see the suggestive commentary win, in The Eph. Ideal of the Monastic Life. — 4. Cf. I Cor. xu, 4 sq. — 5- , it 6, Rul^ ^ LV , U> 198 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK POVERTY tQQ

moreover, how the splendour of Divine We know, worship and developed : one can be poor while wearing the of benefited with us from this state of things ; has again it is a king. The man who is perfectly poor will be ready to thanks to this, that, in the course of centuries, our abbeys seek God alone : never let us forget that this is the end that nave so often been able to relieve, Christ in His disinherited St. Benedict points out to us : to seek God in the sincerity members, with abundant . Certainty this use of earthly 1 of our heart, that is to say, solely : Si revera Deum quaerit . goods been clearly foreseen by our Holy had Father. Now the practice of the virtue of poverty is inseparable For all that concerned charity towards the neighbour, he from that of hope under a lofty form. What in fact is showed himself great and wide-hearted. see We how in a hope ? It is a supernatural habit which inclines the sold time of famine he ordered that the small quantity of oil to regard God as its one Good, and from Him to hope for remaining in the monastery should be distributed to the all necessary graces whereby to attain the possession of this poor you know how he -caused the vessel of oil, ; that the supreme Good. " Thou art, O Lord, the portion of my disobedient cellarer had kept in spite of his command, to " 2 be inheritance : Domimts, pars herediiatis meae . When in the thrown out of the window ^nd what miracle God wrought soul there is living faith it comprehends that God infinitely -at St. Benedict's prayer in 1 order to reward this charity . surpasses all earthly goods ; as St. Gregory says, speaking We likewise see by the life of our Patriarch that the monastery of St. Benedict, " all. creatures appear as small " to the of Monte Cassino had provisions 2 ; St. Benedict, full of the soul that contemplates the Creator: Videnti Creatorem an- spirit of the Gospel, intends that even material misery shall 3 gusta est omnis creatura . Faith shows us in the perfect be succoured ; he wishes guests, pilgrims, and the poor to possession of God that precious pearl of which the Gospel 3 " be welcomed at the monastery . Among the instruments 4 all it is speaks ; to gain it, we sell all, we leave ; a homage of good works " he points out that of " relieving the " poor : rendered to the Divine Goodness and Beauty. Faith blos- pauperes recreare\. and he orders the monk, charged with soms into hope. The soul is so enamoured of God that it no the temporal administration of the monastery, to have longer wishes for any other good, and the privation of any especial care of the poor : Pauperum cum omni sollicitudine 5 good, except God, does, not trouble it. Deus mens el omnia . curam gerat 5 . It is evident that these very clear precepts My God, to such as extent art' Thou my All that I need of the holy Legislator could only be carried out if the monastic I could not nothing besides Thee ; I want nought but Thee ; had goods at its disposition. bear to have anything besides Thee for my heart to cling " ? to ; Thou alone sufficest me, For what have I in Heaven III. " and besides what do I desire upon earth ? Quid Thee ^ miki.est in caelo, et te quid volui super ierram? "Thou Let us return to that a individual poverty which the monk portion ought to art the God of my heart, and the God that is my embrace so closely and let us try to enter fully 6 more " aeternum . for ever : et pars mea Deus in mto its spirit. We should Deus cordis mei understand it wrongly if limited we Like all things as dung, ut stercora, it to material privation. There St. Paul, the soul counts are some rich people who lucnfa- that so it may perfectly gain Christ : Ut Christum are detached from their riches, according to the saying of 1 of God, although ciam' . Neither is it attached to the gifts USe WOrW as if - the used • " in %?',. 75° ' y ^ not ; it but because they theft midst of ^l may ask for them, not for their own sake, their wealth, their heart is free ; they are of those help to consola- poor in the soul to advance ; neither is it attached spirit to whom Christ has promised His Kingdom. I tions from never severs it for ever here are some poor people, on on high, although God the contrary, who covet riches, alone. from the sweetness of His service : it wants God m attach ent the little ^ ^ they possess ; their Tnti 1 P, This is why the soul despoils itself, disengages itself, m y m tena HaVe these or e * P° Ie the virtue God hides of '?? > r , P °P order to if, even when TX Certainly not have more liberty ; and 1 As the Kingdom of God feSSfntt^ Himself, even when He leaves the soul in dryness and deso- heatt Regnum Dei 7 • ' inim ™ s is Divinity abZ^n"ab°Ve *7u «' - ^ lation, or gives only in the nudity of His aU in °ur heart that the virtue Himself . „ of poverty is perfected I r ~ Cf. ibid. - 3. 1. Rule, L. TT, c. xxxv. — 4- Ma«h- , ««. ch. r.vtiT. — <;. — 3. Dialon. ™^^\^^™?^^Dla cn c. Pi. xv, a ' " £ Luc. xvii, * x*xi. — o. I Cor. vn, 31. — 7. xiii 6. aud 26. — 7- FbHip. at. — 3 . s« Francis ol Assisi. — 6. Ps. lxxii, 25 "lj 8* ! , ;

200 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK POVERTY 201 in order to detach it not only from the earth but from itself treasures. We should be watchful not to attach ourselves thing that could keep us if, I say, the soul remains faithful to seek God only, to place to the least back from God. its beatitude in Him alone, it may be assured of finding, at It is this that gives assurance to our hops and renders last, never more to lose Him and to enjoy Him in all peace, it invincible: when our heart is truly loosened from all this God Who surpasses all treasures: Vade, quaecumque things, when We place our beatitude in God alone; when 1 habcs vende... et habebis thesaurum in caelo . for love of Him we detach ourselves from every creature, Hope has another aspect : it is that of inclining us to look and look but to Him for all necessary graces, then God shows to God for all that is necessary for our sanctification. Himself magnificent towards us : He fills us with Himself: 1 Monastic profession, as we have said, is a contract. When, Ego merces tua magna nimis : I, Who am God, will leave left all things having for Christ Jesus, we remain faithful to none other the care of assuaging your thirst for beatitude ! to our promise, Christ must, if I may thus express myself, bring us to perfection. He has bound Himself to do this. IV.

" ' Wilt thou be perfect ? " He says to us, " Go, sell whatso-

2 . ever thou hast... and come " God is a father, says our To arrive at this supreme degree of adherence to God, it Lord Himself ,* when a child asks his father for bread, will has first been necessary to leave the world and despoil our- he give him a serpent? And if, adds Jesus, you who are selves of all ownership. We must remain in that first fervour " evil, know how to give good things to your children, which made us forsake all things for love of Christ. Let us " how much more, will your Father Who is in Heaven give then be watchful that the observance of our vow of poverty you what is necessary 3 for you . remains intact. For example, let us often make the inven-

And how true this is ! St. Paul tells us that the tender- tory of what we have for our use, and if we find that we ness, as well as the authority, of the fathers of this world have a fondness for anything, or that we have such or such has its source in the Heart of God*. And if our Heavenly an object that has not been given or permitted by the Abbot, Father loves us, what will He not give us ? While we were let us restore it to the common use, let us cast it from us, His enemies He reconciled us to Himself by the. death of % projice abs t& , for it might become a veritable obstacle to His Son B : He gave Him to us that He might be our salvation , the development of the perfection /we' have vowed. Thus " and, says St. Paul, how hath not also, He with Him given to break off from everything needs an effort, it needs gene- us all " things ? Quomodo cumillo non omnia nobis donavit*. rosity ; but if a living faith in Christ, if our hope All we have that we can desire for the perfection holiness of and our is sincere, if our love for Him is ardent, we shall find in souls we find in Christ Jesus ; .in are all Him the treasures Him, through prayer, this strength and this generosity. We of the Godhead: Omnes thesauri sapientiae et scienliae 7 . have all made great sacrifices to give ourselves to God on The indubitable will of the Eternal Father is that His the day of our entering the monastery. How can we allow beloved Son should be our redemption, our justice; our ourselves, the nothings which sanctification 8 after this, to be held captive by • that all His merits, aU His satisfactions, — keep to God ! and their back the soul from winging its flight value is infinite — should be ours. You are made Let us contemplate our Lord Who is our Model in all so rich in Christ, exclaims St. Paul, " that nothing things, follow for love's sake. What is wanting to you in any " Whom we wish to grace : Ita ut nihil vobis desit does His life .teach us ? He, so to speak, espoused Poverty. tn ulla gratia* . He est esse se acqualem avbitratus t Oh, if we know the was God : Non rapinam gift of God I Si scires donumDei"! Deo 3 with a single word, if we knew what ; legions of angels are His ministers ; inexhaustible riches we may possess in j6S n0t He drew heaven and earth out of nothing ;.He decked them °nly Sh0uld we not begging happiness , ' , . S° with riches a pale reflection of W f 5 Se and beauty, which are but me !t from Perishable tt^hZ good^ but His admirabile est nomen f^T T ^ infinite perfections : Domine, quam GSP ourselves ,?f them - as much a! possible inJJSorder to increase tuum in universa terra*! His power and magnificence ^are our soul's capacity for possessing' true so extensive that, according to the Psalmist's expression, -*•« *&%*"• * *Wd. 3. Matth. T. - He has " with blessing every 32 but to open His hand to fill 30. ; 8 - I, h . i cor! «• Cor. - 9 i~7. -"lorTo™^io. Joan, iv, ~_!-3 ??]l"'.3— I. Ps. cxuv, 16. io, — n. Joan. iv, xo. Gen. xv, i. — a, Matth. v, 29-30. — 3. Philip. 11, 6.-4. * ;

POVERTY 202 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 203

" as the means of coming near to us and bringing even to living creature : Aperis tu manttm taam, et imples omnc

riches of His Divinity : animal bencdictioneK our souls the Scot's enim graliam nostri Jesu Christi quoniam propter vos And behold this God becomes incarnate to bring us to Domini egenus factns esset dives, ut illius inopia vos divites essetis 1 Himself. What way does He choose ? That of poverty. esl, cum . wonderful exchange When the Word came into this world, He, the King of Such is the made between the Divine Heaven and earth, willed, in His Divine Wisdom, to dispose Word and ourselves. He brings His infinite riches; but, let brings to the details of His birth, life and death, in such a manner us remember, He them those who are poor : Esu- 2 that what most transpired was poverty, contempt for the rientes implevit bonis ; and those who most despoil them- things of this world. The poorest are born at least under selves receive the most. a roof; He first sees the day, as He lies upon straw, in We can never go too far in this voluntary detachment. praesepio, for " there was no room " for His Mother in the There is one aspect of the inner life of Christ Jesus that 2 forward and of which the imitation inn . At Nazareth, He leads the obscure life of a poor St. John brings forms artisan: Nonne hie fabri films 3 ? Later on, in His public a very thorough exercise of the virtue of poverty. To life, He has nowhere to lay His Head although, " the foxes understand this aspect, let us raise our hearts and minds " have holes *. At the hour of His death, He is stripped as far as the mystery of the Adorable Trinity ; but let us of His garments and fastened naked to the Cross. He raise them with faith and reverence, for these things are leaves His executioners to take possession of that tunic only to be well understood in prayer. woven by His Mother ; His friends have forsaken Him ; of In the Trinity, as you know, God the Father has an attri- His Apostles, He sees only St. John near Him. At least, bute proper to Himself which is distinctive from His Person :

His Mother remains to Him i but no ; He gives Her to His He is the First Principle; proceeding from none : Principium 5 disciple : Ecce mater tua . Is not this absolute renunciation ? sine principio. This is true only of the Father; the Son finds Yet He a means of going beyond this extreme degree is a principle, yes ; He Himself has told us so : [Ego] principium of destitution. 3 There are still the heavenly joys with which qui et loquor vobis , only this is relatively to us; with the His Father inundates His Humanity ; He renounces them, Father and the Holy Spirit, He is the fount of all life for for now His Father abandons Him : Deus meus, ut quid every creature. But when we speak of the Three Divine dcreliquisii 6 me ? He remains alone, hanging between heaven Persons, the Father alone is the Principle proceeding from and earth. no other Person ; from Him proceeds the Son; and, from This is the example that has filled the world with monas- the Father and the Son, proceeds the Holy Spirit. This teries, and peopled these monasteries with souls in love attribute is personal to the Father. with poverty. When we contemplate Jesus poor in the The Son, even as God, holds everything from the Father : manger, poor at Nazareth, poor upon the Cross, holding Omnia quae dedisti mihi abs te sunt *. The Son, in beholding out His hands to us " " and saying : It is for you, we. under- His Father, can say to Him that all that He is, all that stand the follies of the lovers of poverty. He has, all that He knows, is from His Father because He Let us then keep our eyes fixed on this Divine Poor One proceeds from Him, without there being between the First of Bethlehem, of Nazareth and of Golgotha. And if we feel and Second or inferiority, or some Person, either inequality, of the effects of poverty, let us accept this generously ; do succession of time. is side of the mystery. This one _ not let us look upon it as a world-wide the calamity ! And let This sublime truth is especially revealed to us in us not forget that we ought not to be poor merely out of Gospel of St. John 5 where Our Lord constantly protests that convention, but because we have promised Christ really to He holds Father. Consider for a leave everything from His everything to follow Him. It is at this price that moment the mystery of the Incarnation. The Sacred Hu- we shall find m Him all our riches ; for if He has taken manity of integral ; nothing is wanting our miseries Christ Jesus is perfect, upon Himself it is in order to enrich us with to It which can constitute and adorn human nature His perfections the ; poverty of His Humanity serves personality: Him . Per/eclu$ homo*. And yet it has no proper

tth >""• 8 - !• II Cor. viii, 25. — 4- Ibid- evil, 7- - 35 L 9. — 2 . — 3. Joan.^ym, -» < Luc. 1, 53. 3 . joS:'«5%?-r l: &:• - * - ^,%f — 5. Ch. v, vii, viii, xiv. — 6. Creed attributed to St. Atbanasius. ;

THE MONK POVERTY 2o5 204 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF

It is the by simple attachment to these things, but still more there is no human person in Christ. Word Who, even the inordinate attachment to what is personal or proper in Him, is the Person, and it is in the Word that Human by to In the two following conferences we will point Nature subsists.- This 'is an ineffable mystery. ourselves. by humility and obedience, In the words of Jesus we shall find some expressions of out in detail how, we can arrive despoiling ourselves of self-love, self-esteem, this mystery. He tells us, — and it is the Incarnate Word at entirely and Who speaks — " My doctrine is not Mine, but His that self-will. But it has been expedient for us now to bring 1 " " mea, sed ejus qui misit . the different aspects of the same vice, this vice sent Me : Mea doctrina non est Me together " He says again, "I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father of ownership which forms a radical obstacle to Divine " produces a thousand fruits hath taught Me, these things I speak : A meipso facto communications and of sin and 2 " " nihil, sed sicut docuit me Pater, haec loquor . He then adds death. Pride, said our Lord to Blessed Angela of Foligno, " in all truth that He seeks not His own will nor His own glory, can exist in those alone who possess anything or believe 3 but that of Him Who sent Him . This glory is to refer that they possess anything. Man and angel fell, and fell everything to His Father, by Whom He is begotten: the by pride, because they believed they had something of their

Father gives all to Him and the Son refers all to His Father, own. But neither angel nor man has aught of himself ; all 1 ." as the Principle whence He proceeds : Pater, mea omnia tua belongs to God sunt, et tua mea sunt*. True of the Humanity of Jesus, it is We hence understand why St. Benedict, so enlightened likewise so, in a very lofty sense, of His Divinity. The Son upon the ways of God, wishes that the spirit of ownership in " " 2 has not anything that He has- not received from the Father us should be cut off by the roots : Radicitus ampiiteiur .

He proceeds from Him wholly ; when the Father beholds His Son, He sees that there is nothing in this Son that does not come from Him ; and this is why all is Divine in the Son, all is perfect, and this is. also why the. Son is the When this holy destruction has been wrought, God puts object of His Father's love. Filius diledionis suae*. no bounds to His graces :>the Kingdom of God is promised " This aspect, one of the deepest and most essential in the by Jesus to the poor in spirit. " This Kingdom is first of life of Christ, should enlighten us as to what our poverty Jesus all within us ; it is established in us in the very measure that ought to be. Let us imitate Christ in being not only ma- we strip ourselves of every creature and of self. All our terially poor but poor of spirit ; let us imitate Him in despoil- spiritual life consists in the imitation of Christ Jesus. The ing of ourselves of all that is our own, of all that 'conies from Word, being the Son of God, proceeds entirely from His sett: attachment to our own judgment, our self-love, our Father, " He lives by Him, He lives for Him : Ego vivo propter self-will, which are so many forms of " the vice of ownership, 3 P«/ran ;this sums up the whole life of Jesus, the Incarnate in order that we may no longer have any but the thoughts, Word. It will be proportionately the same for us ; themore the desires, and the will of God, and no longer act save from tnat our life and aims flow from God, the more that our motives that come from on high. Then, everything in us will activity finds the source of its inspirations in the will of God proceed, as it were, from God. God will see in us the realisa- — the higher and more supernatural will our life too become. tion of the Divine idea that, from all eternity) He has formed We need great abnegation in order to establish this disposition for us. When in our thoughts and actions we add something in us and never to seek the principle of our actions save in that is not from God, something that comes from our own Gpd; for the natural instinct of man urges him to make self, sin or imperfection, we impair God's image within us. himself his own centre and' to seek the principle of his life God then sees in us some proprium ; and as this proprium in himself alone, in that which is personal and proper to does not come from Him, it does not go, it cannot go, to God. himself. On the contrary the life of our soul must be en- The great obstacle to heavenly grace, to the love of God, tirely " " subject to the Divine good pleasure and must have no is this vice of ownership which in our case is manifested movement that does not come from the Holy Spirit. not only by possessing or disposing of material things, or This is what we ask of our Lord each morning at Prime, on beginning " of heaven i. Joan, vii, 16. — 2. Ibid, viii, 28, cf. jciv, 10. — 3. vm, 50. — 4. Ibid the day. O Lord our God, King ' T xvii, 10. — 5. Cf. Col. 1, 13. I. Booh 0/ Visions, ch. lv. — 9. Rule, ch. xxxm. — 3. Joan, vi, 58. : ! ; .

305 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK POVERTY 207

and earth, vouchsafe this day to direct and sanctify, to Lord, when Thou wilt reign entirely in me ; when no selfish rule and govern our hearts and our bodies, our feelings, motive will hinder Thy power in me, when, like Thee, I our words, and our works, according to Thy Law, and in shall be entirely yielded up to the Father, and nothing the doing of Thy commandments... O Saviour of the world, within me will be opposed to the Holy Spirit's action " Who livest and reignest world, without end : Dirigere et On that day we shall have done all that within us lies, sanctificare, regere et gubernare dignare, Domine Deus, Rex to bring our own personality to naught before the dominion caeli et terrae, hodie, corda et corpora nostra, sensus, will truly be for us " " sertnones of Christ. He All in all ; Omnia in el actus nostros, in legetua, et in operibus mandatorum tuorum. omnibus a ; morally speaking, we shall no longer have anything We here ask the Word to direct, to take in hand all that is of our own ; all will be subject, all will be given to Him in us ; our thoughts, our feelings, our actions, all that we this is to be pauper spiritu. Who are those whom Our Lord 2 are, all that we have, all that we do. AU that is ours will calls pauperes spiritu ? Those who own nothing either in then come from God through Jesus Christ and His Spirit, mind, heart, or will, who wish to have nothing except from and will return to God. shall bring We our personality God. Daily they lay down their own j udgment, their manner into subjection to Christ Jesus, in order to destroy what is of seeing things, their will, everything, at the feet of Christ bad in us, all " and to make that is good converge towards they say to Him : I do not want to have anything of myself; the doing of His Divine will : then without ceasing to remain I want to have only what comes from Thee, to do only that ourselves, we shall do everything under the impulsion, which, from all eternity, Thou, as the Word, hast decided by the action of His grace " and of His Spirit. It will be no for me : to realise Thy own divine ideal concerning me. longer in our self-love, our self-esteem, nor our self-will, They can then make their own the words which literally that 'we shall seek the mainspring of our thoughts, words, belong to St. Paul: Vivo autem, jam non ego; vivit vero in and deeds, but in the love " of Christ's will, in cleaving to me Chrislus*. I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me;" His law In lege : tua et in operibus mandatorum tuorum. but this will not be without having heroically taken the We shall have _laid down our personality to put on Christ same means as he did. The Apostle did not arrive in one Christum induistis 1 . Doubtless, in this union of ourselves day at this consummate union, for his personality was of a with the Word, two distinct persons always remain, for this rare power. A succession of immolations had made all that union is only morale but we can strive to subject our perso- was contrary to the Christ-life die within him, and leave the nality in the order of activity so perfectly to the Word, initiative of all Ins movements to the Spirit. that this personality will disappear as far as possible leaving This is perfection at its height. On the day of our profes- to the Divine Word all the initiative of our life. sion we renounced the principal motives which bring all The same prayer contains moreover the principle on which natural human activity into play : money, -love, indepen- it rests, namely, that the Word is King, King of heaven and dence ; we are in the best conditions for the divine life to of earth. The Word lives and reigns in God : Vivit et regnal be able to take full then try to Deus. possession of us. Let us Christ only lives where He reigns is ; He essentially despoil ourselves as completely as possible, not only of created King He lives ; in us in the degree that He governs all in things but even, in the of activity, of our perso- us, that domain our He reigns over our faculties, that He rules our acti- nality ; let us try to act in such a way that, through prayer vity. When all within us comes from Him, that is to say and through our eyes being ever fixed upon our Model, when we no longer think save as He thinks, when we no all our motives may be supernatural, so that the Father's longer will save as He wills, when we act only according to Name may be sanctified, and His Will His good pleasure, His Kingdom come we place our whole self in subjection at be done ±lis leet : — then our whole life will be truly deified. ; then He reigns in us ; all that is proper to us, Then, au too, our whole life, returning to God, will become mat is personal, disappears to give place to the thoughts hke an unceasing pleasing to our and will of the hymn of praise, extremely Divine Word. This domination of Christ Heavenly within us Father. Enlightened, inspired, united, through must, be complete. We ask this a hundred times His Word and i we shall a day: Adveniat regnum iuuml His Spirit, Spiritu Dei aguntur , May that day come, be able " " me. to say : The Lord ruleth me : Dominus regit i. Gal. in, 27. '• 1 Cor. J xv, 28. — z. Matth. v, 3. — 3. Gal. 11, 20. — 4- R°m - VI1 '» 4* : ;

208 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK

" And at once we shall add with the Psalmist : And I shall 1 want nothing": Ei nihil mihi deerit . For the Father, beholding in us only what comes from Himself, from the XL — HUMILITY. grace of His Son and the inspiration of His Spirit, beholding us, according to His desire, united in all things to His Son, embraces us with the same love of complacency that He Summary. — One of the greatest obstacles to the Divine outpourings is formed by pride ; humility removes this bears to His own Son and pours out upon us the inexhaustible t obstacle. — I. Necessity of humility. — II. St. Benedict's riches of His Kingdom. Our work has been to lay aside concept of humility and the important place he gives to it in self that we may be led to God by Christ. Christ Jesus the inner life. Nature of this virtue. — III. What St. Thomas, carries then us with Him to His Father, in sinu Patris*; following the example of St. Benedict, assigns as the root of " " , for it is essential to ; the Son to belong to His Father humility : reverence towards God, to which the holy Patriarch and, all that belongs to the Son belongs to the Father allies the most absolute confidence. — IV. Degrees of humility

Mea omnia tua sunt. laid down by St. Benedict ; the two first degrees of interior But likewise all the benedictions poured out upon the humility equally concern simple Chritians. — V. The degrees that are, properly speaking, monastic. — VI. Exterior Son become our lot and our inheritance : Tu es qui restitues s humility; its necessity, its degree. — VII. How humility hereditatem meant mihi . God abandons to the nothingness accords with truth and is allied to confidence. — VIII. The of their pretended riches those who, believing themselves most precious fruit of this virtue : it most efficaciously to possess something, confide in themselves ; but His infinite prepares the soul to receive the abundance of Divine mercy fills the needy, hope who only in Him, with gifts outpourings, and perfect charity. — IX. Means of attaining from on high : Esurientes imflevit bonis, et divites dimisit this virtue : prayer ; contemplation of the Divine perfections itianes 3 . consideration of the humiliations of Christ Jesus. — X. Christ i. Ps. xxn, i, — a. Roman Pontifical, makes the humble soul share in His heavenly exaltation. Ordo ad clericum faciendum. — J3. Luc. i, 53. •

ne of the greatest revelations that Our Lord has given

i to us through His Incarnation is that of God's immense desire to communicate Himself to our souls in order to be their beatitude. God might have dwelt throughout eternity Divinity; in the fruitful solitude of His one ' and " triune He has no need of the creature, for nothing is wanting to Him Who, alone, is the fulness of Being and the First Cause l de- of all things : Bonoriim meorum non eges . But having creed, in the absolute and immutable liberty of His sovereign Will, to give Himself to us, the desire He has of realising this Will is infinite. We might be tempted at times to believe that God may be " indifferent, " that His desire to are communicate, Himself is vague, inefficacious ; but these human conceptions, images of the weakness of our nature, too often unstable and powerless. In God all is pure act that which in our miserable language we call "Divine " desire, is an act really indistinct from the Divine essence, and consequently infinite. In this, as in all that touches our supernatural life, we

1. Ps. xv, 2. ;; ;

HUMILITY 210 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 211

" 1 others are poor in spirit : Pauperes spiritu must allow ourselves to be guided not by our imagination, si'^'Ut, the " . there is the Kingdom of God, with the abun- but by the light of Revelation. It is God Himself to whom For the* latter things Esurientes implevit bonis; we must listen when we vish to know the Divine Life dance of all good ; for the destitution of their utter nothingness : Divites it is towards Christ that we must turn, towards the Beloved former, the 2 " . Son Who is ever in the Bosom of the Father ", in sinu dimisit inanes us that hinder 1 revealed the Divine We all have obstacles within God's action : Pairis , He Who has Himself secrets : sin, perverse tendencies not fought against Ipse enarravtt. What does He tell us ? That God so loved sin the roots of 3 " "what fellowship hath light, with darkness ? These men, that He has given them His Only-begotten Son : Sic for' 2 by souls who renounce everything, Deus dilexit mundum tit Filium suum unigenitum daret obstacles are overcome . themselves, who increase their And why has He given Him ? That He may be our justice, — created things, and — detachment from all that is our redemption, our holiness. Christ Jesus, in obedience to capacity for what is divine, by 3 God. They look only to God for all they need ; they are His Father, Sicut mandatum dcdit miht Pater , delivered not rely fills Himself up to us even to the death of the Cross, even to the humble in themselves, they only upon God; God -pauperes spiritu with good things. As to the others, state of the Host, even to be our Food : in finem. Would these tendency particularly qualified to God have carried love to these extremes if He did not in- they bear within them a

; this tendency is pride. Pride is finitely desire to communicate Himself to us ? For, ac- form an obstacle to God

Divine communications ; God cannot cording to the thought of St. Thomas, God's love is not a radically opposed to the divites spiritu. This is a passive love, since being the First Cause of all things, He give Himself to these self-satisfied

cannot receive anything : it is an efficacious love, necessarily fact often to be met with. efficient 4 deeply, we shall acknowledge . And because God loves us, He wishes with an In studying this fact more soul we shall unbounded love and an efficacious will, to give Himself to us. how necessary humility is for the life of the ; But then, one might ask, why does He not give Himself understand how right our holy Father was in wishing this infallibly our monastic life ? Why are souls to be found to whom God does virtue to be placed as the very basis of ; not 7 will communicate Himself ? W hy so often such parsimony then we will specify its nature and character. We in the " as St. Benedict outpouring of the Divine gifts ? Why are there so examine next the degrees of humility, "such many souls follow the manifesta- who seem as if they ought to abound in graces, defined them ; we shall be enabled to and are the means con- yet so destitute of gifts from on high ? When we tions of the virtue, and finally to point out study the action of grace in souls, we are astonished, in passing ducive to its development in our souls. from more one to another, to notice the difference in the effects Let us ask Christ Jesus Whom we want to imitate produced. to teach With some, grace blossoms in an abundance of closely, after having left all things to follow Him, fights and gifts ; these souls us this to which He willed espe- advance visibly ; they are humility. It is the virtue hlled with something divine, cially to of our souls. One phrase of which is often manifested by draw the attention " the spiritual and " of Me... beneficial influence which radiates from the Holy Gospel begins with these words : Learn them. With others, on the Discite 4 are most specially contrary, it is quasi-sterility a Me . What is this thing that we the Sacraments, sovereign Mass, holy reading, the observance of the to learn of Him ? Is it that He is God ? the Kule, all these " means, which although they are authentic Being, All-powerful, full of wisdom ? What we must channels of Divine has grace produce little effect in them. And learn of Him ", says St. Augustine, "is not that He yet, when one examines invisible, these souls, nothing is to be discover- formed the world, created all things visible and rst Slght which that He has wrought ' explains such a difference. in this world which is His handiwork wLri fv • °ut " non ard regularity miracles, to life : Discite a me ffi»?i • leave them without and raised the dead habitual union with ^ creare, God, and without any real progress ? mundum fabricare, non citneta visibilia et invisibilia 6 SWer t0 thls uestion easily non in et mortuos suscitare. dJ,, n? q ^ to be found in certain ipso mundo miracuta facere, p e dm conference. Does " " from Him the most heroic . g Among the we He wish learn havehaSf^Lbeen Ff souls us to considering, some " " are rich in : Divites spirit Matth. xi, 29. l» Matth, v. - — 3. II Cor. vi, 14. — 4. *. Joan., r, z8. 3. 2. Luc. 1, 53. - a . ibid, - 3. Ibid. xlv x. - j. 6t>, n. 2. , 3 , . . r . S. P. L. Sermo 4 U , q CX| a 5- Augustin. Sermo 10 de Verbis Domini. ;:

212 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 213

He was obedient unto death, that He delivered virtues, that Prophet Isaias. He shows us the Angels singing the holiness wholly to His Father's will, that He was Himself up devoured glory fills heaven and earth : Sanctus, of God, because His with zeal for the interests of the Father's glory and those Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth ; plena est omnis terra of our salvation ? Without doubt He practised all these 1 gloria ejus . In the same way St. John at Patmos declares virtues with wonderful perfection : but what He wants us he saw the elect cast themselves down before the throne of especially to learn of Him is that He is " meek and humble " God and heard them repeat tnis canticle : Thou art worthy, of heart, " those virtues of self-effacement and silence, virtues Lord our God, to receive glory, and honour, and power 1 " unperceived by men, or even disdained by them , but which 2 all things have received being and life at Thy hands . for " He justly urges us to make our own : Discite a Me quia " 3 God Himself declares I willnot give my glory to another . mitts sum et humilis corde. Let us beseech Him that, This is because in contemplating Himself He beholds that through His grace, He will make our hearts like unto His, He merits infinite glory on account of the plenitude of His for perfection lies in this constant imitation, through love, Being and the ocean of His perfections ; God cannot, without of our Divine Model : Hoc enim sentite in vobis quod et in ceasing to be Holiness, tolerate s ceasing to be God, without Christo Jesu . that His glory be attributed to another than Himself. He

beloved Son : Sic gives us many graces ; He gives us His I. i Deus dilextt mundtim ut Filium suum unigenitum daret : He it gives Him to us entirely for ever, if we will have so ; He Holy Scripture, as you know has strange expressions to His Son; through His Son. Cum signify, gives us all good things in in human language, God's attitude towards the good illo omnia nobis donavit* ; He gives us that supreme proud. It says, " God resisteth the " proud : Deus superbis to enter 3 which is eternal and unending bliss, He grants us resistit . If it is a terrible thing for a man to be forsaken Trinity but by God, into the intimate fellowship of His Blessed ; what is it when God begins to resist him ? there is one thing which He neither will nor can communicate We cannot think without terror of this divine resistance. glory: Ego Dominus; God is the sole to anyone, — cuid this thing is His fount of our holiness, because He is the Author of every grace. gloriam meam alteri non dabo. Now what grace is to be hoped attempts for Now what is it that the proud man does ? He from God, if God not only does not give Himself to us* to which God alone merits and of which but resists us, rejects us ? rob God of this glory it to himself. The What is there He is so jealous, in order to appropriate _ then that is so evil, so contrary to God makes himself m pride, for God so proud man lifts himself up above others, he mightily to thrust it far from Him ? person, in his perfection, 1-ne reason the centre ; he glories in his own of this antagonism is derived from the very principle of all that nature of Divine his deeds ; he sees in himself alone the Holiness. God is the Beginning and the he' owes nothing £nd, 4 ; considers that the Alpha and Omega of all he has and all that he is he things ; He is the First Cause of every to anyone, not even to God, He would deprive God, of that creature and the Fountainhead of all perfection. All and Last End. Me comes from Him, all Divine attribute of being the First Principle good flows from Him ; but also every creature think that all comes from God, has to return to Him, all glory Doubtless, in theory, he may to be referred himself. m Go has but, in lives as if all came from ' made everything for practice, he acts and His glory : Universa between Z^propter semettpsum^ Such being the antagonism that pride sets up operatus est Dominus^. In us, a likfe be man 8 God should resist the egotism, and God , it is needful that supreme disorder ; in God, to 'ff^erm as an unjust aggressor egotlsm proud ; repulse' him can in nowis e be applied, it is a God cannot but ™ic > % f looketh on the d n 5 ve nature Superbis resistit. "The Lord is high, and *y - is essential to ££?£,God s ^"^ u?° P* " " Dominus sanctity to off : Excelsus bring back everything low : and the high He knoweth afar to His own glory ; G et cognoscif. c°™™e t W°Ud n0t be G°^ because. He wou!d^e humilia respicit, et alta a longe F, "?j> subordinate fto , " beholdeth JSL another end than Himself. oh these words, an ancient author writes : God Listen to the them more the proud from afar off, in order to oppress {' <«" of on Ameri",^^"^ "«*/. Leo XIII 03 1 J P J«V*»> 1. Isa. vt, Isa. xlu, 8. - 4. J "/" ' 5 Petr 3. . 11. - 3. " — 2 Apoc. iv, ~ 3 ' - v <"»d ' t^± xxn, - 5 Jac. .v, Apoc 13. _ 5, ProV. xv7, 4 6. - 4. 6. Utrum superou* Rom, vm, 32. — 6. Ct. S. Thomas 11-11, q. clxii a. *i» gtovissimum .peccatorwn- — 7- Ps. cxxxvn, 6. ;:

214 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 215

1 " " the other , Was not the Publican, however, rigorously : alta, id est, superba, de longe cognoscit ut depri- rather than Pharisee, on the other hand, mal\ Is there a more terrifying perspective for the soul a sinner ? Assuredly. The than that? was he not, at least outwardly, a faithful observer of the Our Divine Saviour, so merciful, so compassionate, teaches Law of Moses ? No less certainly he was. But he, full of he us these same lessons again under the impressive parable himself, showed by his contempt of the publican that these of the Pharisee and the Publican. Look at the Pharisee was puffed up in his own heart by reason of good repulses him : Dispersit he is a man convinced of his own importance full of and works he had done. Therefore God 2 " " stri . To the poor publican who sure of himself ; the Ego of this man seeks to advertise superbos menle cordis itself by words and attitude. He stands in the careless humbles himself, He, on the contrary, gives an abundance 3 gratiam . posture of one conscious of his personal worth and perfection, of grace: Humilibus autem dat one who owes nothing to anyone, and, inversely, esteems And Christ Jesus, in ending the parable, Himself lays with himself to have need of nothing. He complacently displays down the fundamental law which rules our relations before all the essential lesson we have to God that he has done ; it is true that he returns God ; He brings forward : : " himself shall be humbled thanks to God ; but, remarks St. Bernard, this false homage learn Everyone that exalteth is lie " himself, shall be exalted": Omnis but a added to pride ; the Pharisee has a double and he that humbleth 2 " exallabitur*. heart as the Psalmist says ; the contempt that he has for qui so exaltat hiimiliabitur et qui se humiliat the Publican shows that he believes himself to be much more the soul's perfect than he, and thus it is to himself that in reality he You see to what a degree pride is opposed to reserves the glory that in 3 not, says St. Thomas, any sin, or appearance he gives to God . He union with God ; there is does not ask anything from God, because he does not consider tendency/that bears more patently the character of an obstacle he has need of superbiam homines maxime anything : he suffices for himself ; he rather to Divine communications : Per grace, presents his conduct to God's approbation. Can we not a Deo avertimtur*. And as God is the principle of all almost " for the soul while hear him saying : My God, You must be very pride is the most terrible of all dangers ; content with I holiness and of finding me, for am truly irreproachable ; I am not there is no surer way of attaining like " prevents God other men, not even like this publican. In fact this God than humility. It is pride that above all personage is practically longer any pride in persuaded that all his perfection from giving Himself ; if there were no Humility is comes from himself. We read moreover in the evangelical souls, God would give Himself to them fully. text *' says the that our Lord spoke this parable to those Jews, who indeed so fundamental a virtue that without it, trusted in themselves " Virtutum as just, Abbot of Clairvaux, all other virtues go to rum : Now look at the other actor in the scene, the Publican. siquidem bonum qnoddam ac stabile fnndamentttm humihtas. He stands at a rutna est^ . distance, scarcely daring to lift up his eyes, Nempe si nutet ilia, virtutum aggregatio nonnisi for he feels how miserable there are in he is. Does he think he has This is because, by reason of our fallen nature, any plea that can inner lite if prevail with God ? He has none. He is us obstacles opposed to the expansion of the ; aware only " the of his sins. My God, I am only a guilty wretch, these obstacles are not removed, they end by stifling have pity on me. " because it is a He confides only in the Divine mercy virtues. Now, the greatest obstacle is pride, r nothm he hopes for opposed to Divine union 5? ; « u- g' nothing except from fundamental obstacle, radically that all his confidence, alone is the ; all his' hope, is placed in God. itself, and consequently to the grace whereof God Now, how does God act Humility, with these two men ? Quite source and without which we can do nothing. differently I say to you, " virtues, guards declares Christ Jesus, "this again says St. Bernard, receives the other man (the Publican) went acaptt, servat down into his house justified and perfects them: Humiliias virtutes alias S aSCen ni de te ore 7 m ' 3- ». (Appendice to the works acceptas... servatas consummat . , of St tn^ltfL tvTiS XI ^ 3 to ratias ' ' 7" 3 - °2 ^ «*«*> probas U tibi nihil all the gifts 01 uoa, MiLrSf;^L i The humble soid is ready to receive tta irudenUr "Snosure, eerie cacleros asper- tor Zndo'trodtit aLf?Zl"?j™! 'J , it looks to God first because it is empty of self, because v 4- Luo xvm, r. iv, 6 ; I Pctr 5- Luc. . - 2 . Ibid. Jac jr xvm, 1, 51— 3 honorandum «™««. S. Bernard Scrmo 13 H consxderaUonc, lib. v, cap. xiv, i™£ic7$L. cLxxk, ,^ 302 * 14. — 5. 11-11, q. clxii. a, 6 concl. — 6. De v, 17. 38. — 7. Traclatus de vtoribus et officio episcopt, cap. : ;

2l6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 217 all that is necessary to its perfection, and because it feels When we acknowledge that of ourselves we are weak, itself to be poor and miserable. All that God has done for poor, miserable, infirm, we implicitly proclaim God's power, us since the Fall into which we have been drawn, is the wisdom, holiness, loving-kindness ; it is rendering homage effect of His mercy. The Angels who have no miseries to the Divine plenitude, and this homage is so pleasing to hymn the sanctity of God; we hymn His mercy : Misericbrdias God, that He stoops towards the humble soul to fill it with

aeiernum cantabo K God, beholding fallen ; Domini in man, . good things Esurienles implevit bonis. As St. Bernard 1 encompassed with weaknesses, subject to temptation, at the again says : "Our heart is a" vessel , destined to receive his inclinations which mercy of change with the times and grace ; in order for it to contain grace in abundance it must health, 2 seasons, with surroundings, education, is touched be empty of self-love and vain glory . When humility has by this misery, as if it were His own ; this Divine movement there prepared a vast capacity to be filled, grace flows in, which inclines the Lord towards our misery in order to for there is close affinity between grace and humility ": semper 3 relieve it, is : mercy Quomodo miseretur Pater filiorum, miser- solet esse gratiae div'inae jamiliaris virtus humilitas . Nothing tus est Dominus timentibus se, quoniam ipse cognovit figmentum then is more efficacious than this virtue for meriting grace, 2 4 nostrum . for retaining it in us, or recovering it if we have lost it . So profound is our misery that it may be compared to There exists yet another reason for God's liberality towards an abyss, which calls upon the abyss of the Divine mercy humble souls. God sees that the humble soul will not, as Abyssus abyssum invocat*; but it only calls upon it in the proud does, appropriate to itself the Divine gifts, but so far as this misery is recognised, confessed ; and it is will return all glory and praise to Heaven. And this is humility that wrings this cry from us: Domine, miserere why, if we may be allowed so to speak, God has no fear in met! Humility is the practical and continual avowal of causing the abundance of His favours to flow into this soul our misery, and this avowal attracts the eyes of God. The it will not abuse them ; it will not use them otherwise than rags and wounds of the. poor plead for them ; they do not as God intends. strive to hide them, on the contrary, they display them so The hearer we would draw to God, the more deeply we as to touch the hearts of those who behold them. In the must anchor ourselves in humility. St. Augustine . shows same way, " we ought not to strive to dazzle God by our us this very clearly in a familiar comparison. " The end, perfection, but rather to draw " down His- mercy by the con- he says, that we pursue is very great ; for it is God Whom fession of our weakness. Each one of us has a sum of we seek, to Whom we would attain, for in Him alone is to be miseries sufficient to draw down the pity of our God. Are found our eternal beatitude. Now we can only come to we not all like that poor wayfarer lying on the road to Jericho, this lofty end through humility. Dost thou wish to raise stripped of his garments, covered with wounds ? By original thyself? Begin by abasing thyself. Thou dost dream of sin, we have all been stripped of grace ; our personal sins building an edifice that will tower towards the skies ? Take have covered our soul with wounds, but Christ Jesus has care first of all to lay the foundation by humility ": Magnus been for us the good Samaritan ;. He came to heal us, to esse vis? a tninimo 'incipe. Cogitas magnam fabricam con- pour the balm of His Precious Blood upon our wounds, to struere celsitudinis? de fundamento prius cogita humilitatis. take us into His arms and entrust us to the tenderness of And the higher the building is to be, adds the holy Doctor, Jlis Church which is another Himself. the deeper must the foundations be dug: the more so in 1 15 n exce ent Prayer to show our Lord all bur miseries, shifting and all.n ! ^ , .^ that the soil of our poor nature is singularly the deformities that still " disfigure our soul. O my God, unstable celsitudinem humiliatur, et behold : Ergo et fabrica ante this soul which Thou hast created and redeemed ; see fastigium post humiliationem erigitur. Now to what height defo how full it is of inclinations high rT . ™^ dost thou aspire to raise this spiritual edifice ? As Si'f- s Have - ifht- pity J This prayer goes as cactimen aedificii? the vision of God : Quo perventurumest gffSS H rt Hke the Prayer of the poor llper Cito then, " he ex- in trf.r™. F"? r dico : usque ad conspectum Dei. "See praec tor miserere nostri ^ ' *- And Our "— In Lord wHl heal uf" 1. P. Pouirat: La Spirituality chritietme, n; Le moyen-dge.jp.,43- «• Annuntiat. 2-3. 3- Super wb« B. M. V. Sermo 11 1, 9, cf. Epistota cccxcm, — est, Sermo hv, 9. i. homilia rv, 9, cf. In canlica, Sermo xxxiv. — 4. In caniica, n. z-xxxvm, *. - . . s Ps .. CIIj I3 . 14 _ $i VsKLh g _ i3i Cf. Epistola ^ Luc _ xvn> ccclxxii, Sermo xlvi de 4ivtrsK, — 2l8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 2ig

claims, " to what a sublime height this edifice us as creatures and as adopted must be raised should animate children ; thing it is see all our spiritual life is what a to God ; but it is not reached by self- an attitude on which to be based. elevation, " but by humility : Videtis quam excelsum est, quanta This proposition will be made clearer by what follows. res conspicere Deum, non elaiione sed humilitate 1 Benedict begins his chapter by recalling the law laid attingitur . St. down by Christ Himself at the end of the parable of the II. Pharisee and the Publican. "Everyone that exalteth him- self, shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself, shall Hence we easily understand St. Benedict, " " why who assigns be exalted. The intimate sense of the Divine hold upon us other end than " to find " no God, founds our spiritual human life causes a man to humble and submit himself, life upon humility. He had himself reached too near God while simultaneously he is exalted in God by this very to be ignorant that humility alone draws down grace, and submission. The deep meaning of St. Benedict's idea that without grace we can do nothing. All the asceticism of is the assertion of the evangelical truth that the more a St. Benedict consists in making the soul humble, then in mak- man progresses in true humility, the more he becomes ing it live in obedience (which is the practical expression absorbed in God and rises towards the heights of union of humility) this 1." : will be for it the secret of intimate union with Him with 2 " God . In the mind of the holy Patriarch, this chapter The theory of humility is, with St. Benedict, exactly cor- oh humility views the spiritual life taken as a whole. He relative with his conception of grace. The progress of the has marked out the stages of the soul's ascent to God, from soul in God is the progress of God in the soul. The work, the renouncing of ' sin to the plenitude of charity. Why which by: means of grace, belongs properly speaking, to the does St. Benedict view this. ascent from the angle of humility, soul, is to open the way to God's action, to open itself to granting to the development of this virtue the privilege of God. To every degree of ascension towards God, corresponds containing, so to speak, the increase of all the others ? He a degree of " the opening of self to God. " How do we could have claimed, and not without reason, that the ladder open ourselves to God ? By more and more abolishing pride that leads to God is made up of degrees of patience, humility. And or else within us ; by more and more deepening of a succession of graces of prayer : discursive prayer to this is how, definitively, the ladder, in the negative sense, begin with, then simplified, then mystically uniting the soul of humility can serve as the ladder, in the positive sense, to God or better still, he ; could have said that this ladder of perfection and charity. Upon the ladder of humility can was a succession of degrees of charity. If St. Benedict be marked a gradation which, doubtless admits of some con- preferred a conception of another kind, it is because, by vention and ingenuity, but which however well indicates tendency of character and the attraction of grace, he was all positive degrees in the supernatural life. predisposed to understand the ascension of the soul as Borrowing the expressive image of the Psalmist, St. Be- characterised by a deeper and deeper submission of man nedict compares the proud man repulsed by God to an infant before God. This conception is the reflection of an essentially 2 from the source " weaned too soon from its mother : severed religious and contemplative soul... 3 of life the infant is doomed to perish. This is the great danger B diCt deV°t S a whole cha ter t0 this God, the sole -, P fundamental that risks : to be separated from viSL 1 1 the soul virtue, wbut, as we shall see further on, he has a very sure and fount of every grace. If then, continues our Holy Father, at the same time a very wide concept of humility; he does " we wish to attain to the summit of supreme humility, l mP a3 a Very Spedal virtue a Iinked and heavenly exaltation to which we to th?™2f - f ll P^t speedily reach that tem an < P

220 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY $tl

Lawgiver next compares the two sides of the ladder to the the virtue consists of an habitual disposition, promptly and body and the soul, for the body is to share in the inward easily manifested. It is like a furnace whence acts of virtue, and divine grace has placed between these two sides humility arise as do sparks under a breath that stirs the the divers degrees which we must climb. flame. Being a moral virtue, humility has assuredly all its premis- the understanding, in the judgment. But think Before studying these degrees with St. Benedict, let us ses in we certain authors are wrong in placing it formally in the first say what humility is. St. Benedict does not define it that with St. Thomas we say that it dwells essen- he rather points out its different manifestations. We will understanding ; in the will : In ipso appetitu consistit humilitas essen- therefore borrow the divers elements of the definition of tially 1 existit circa appetitum magis circa aestimatio- humility from St. Thomas, who, moreover, in his Summa tialiter ; quam 2 . the other pride predisposes and contains theologica comments on this chapter of St. Benedict and nem So, on hand, 1 it consists more forms'';' in justifies the degrees of humility indicated by him .' God ill-regulated self-esteem, but of heart) which follows sometimes gives to a soul, all at once, a higher degree of self-complacency (the attitude the is goodwill, humility, as He gives to another the gift of prayer; but in the judgment. In humility, it the which aided by grace, humbles itself, out of reverence towards God, and the ordinary way, He requires our co-operation ; and since in the place we only esteem and seek what we know, let us try to under- urges the intellect and the whole man to remain 3 stand clearly what this virtue is. which he knows to be due to him . Now, is this place ? Let us consider the thing, not Humility can be thus defined : a moral virtue that inclines what us, from reverence towards God, to abase ourselves and from the point of view of the world, which only esteems keep ourselves in the place that we see is due to us. what is brilliant and assumes false appearances, but from It is a virtue, that is to say an habitual disposition. The the point of view of faith, from the point of view of God, virtue of humility is not constituted by a particular act Who is very Truth- and is not deceived. one can perform the acts without possessing In the natural order, what have I of myself ? Without the virtue ; any exaggeration, it must be replied : Nothing, neither life, " St. Benedict nor health, nor physical strength, nor talents : Thy hands restricts the idea to the practice of humility. Let us add then that in the sixth century, St. wrote his celebrated Scala have fashioned me... wholly. " Mantis tuae, Domine, fecerunt W, tbc ..^der '* that leads to Heaven," and that comprises thirty degrees,^™ to recall me totum in circuitu*. And not only have I been formed the thirty years of Christ's hidden life.

q - CLXr 6 ai a c.lxii, a. by upon Him : In Him, - ' '. ad God, but being relies wholly h V S-. 4, 4. However St. Thomas my H|;";V'tU mVer be n m 5' a">g by the last degree. In the body of " ": movemur et ?Sthe article^. . \he 1f "fV* we live, and move, and are In ipso vivimus, really takes up anew his teaching on humility beginning with S s !VC S things is, on God's part, S towardsGod It is known that St Thomas was a sumus . The active preservation of ^^ rHnP nhi,? at? «Mone Cassmo where he stayed nine years; he. was a continual creation. If God withdrew His hand, I should obhV^ to lit tlle% abbey ffi,vt?^ in consequence of the political troubles raised by exc°^™ted by Gregory instantly find myself without energy, without will, without torn IX, drove out the monks Xir L^l Dunns hts so ourn est at Cassino, the young Thomas reason, without life : Omnis euro faentim; exsiccatum S^^nl;the hol Patriarch's Rule. » . y "The writing! of the future a doctor rti«« faenum, et cecidit . I possess, it is true, the substance most recent of the historians of St- Thomas, Pere flos So'nneT n"^^b * "* testimony to his familiarity with St. Benedict's of my soul and body, their faculties and powers ; but that SS«J h ,"am hls ton=in ends his » ? study upon "St. Thomas, is " For who Benedtetfn?oeneaictine OblateObl?tP withwU t f. because I have received them from God. these lines which I may be : alfowed to auote " M shelter distinguished ? " says St. Paul. Or what hast thou JnSnJT**^^ \-^ »^syouS year!"rtth thee g "5 soul, the well spring of his life hast received, must have" SarPrtTn itf^ that thou hast not received ? And if thou 7 " why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it ? And in the supernatural order ? It is true that by grace

course, 1. 11-11, q. clxi, a. 2,c. — 2. Ibid. — 3. The holy Doctor adds, of (Ibid.) knowledge, t0 0ne a oth r had that humility is based, as upon its directing norm, upon ' alreadv confirmed the ^taa^SlTrt ? S whereby we do not esteem ourselves above what we are (Ibid. a. 2 and 6 :) an application to' a particular case of this exchange of causality known to all the will. psychologists and moralists, which is made between the reason and Cor IV 7- — 4. Job. x, 8. — 5. Act. xvii, 28. — 6. Isa. XL, 7. — 7- I - » • ;

222 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 223 we are the children of God, the brethren of Jesus, called by by grace, prompts us to keep in thevplace which is properly " ". God to be like unto Himself : Ego dixi ; dii estis K That is our own a wonderful condition, a sublime end, but God has called us to it gratuitously : Non ex operibus justitiae quae fecimus nos, III. z sed secundum sttam misericordiam salvos nos fecit . And after God's mercy has endowed us with this Divine gift, we cannot St. Thomas says that the principal reason and motive of use it without God; it is of faith, de fide, that we cannot this self-abasement is: "reverence towards God": Ratio have, by ourselves, in the order of grace, one good thought, praecipua humilitatis sumitur ex reverenlia divina ex qua con- meritorious for heaven. Our Lord has said speaking gene- iingit ut homo non plus sibi altribuat quam sibi competat 3 " 1 rally : Sine me nihil potestis facere ; Without My grace secundum gradum quern est a Deo sortilus . And the great " you can do nothing. And St. Paul develops the same truth; Doctor recalls that St. Augustine links humility to the gift " Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, of fear as he links it to the virtue of religion : Et propter hoc " as of ourselves : but our sufficiency is from God. Non Aitgustinus humilitatem atlribuit dono timorls quo homo Deuhi quad sufficientes simus cogitate aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis, reveretur. We here touch on the deepest point, the very sed sufficienlia nostra ex Deo est*. Furthermore, he tells us root of the virtue. that no man can supernaturally invoke the name of Jesus, When, in prayer, we contemplate the perfections and works 5 except by the grace of the Holy Spirit . As we see,' all of God, when a ray of Divine light reaches us, what is the good comes from God ; and if it is true that the merits of first movement of the soul touched by grace ? It is one our deeds are our own, they are so because God allows us of self-abasement ; the soul is lost in adoration. This atti- 6 to merit . tude of adoration is the only " true " one that the creature, " Very logically then our Holy Father tells us that if we as such, can have before God. What is adoration ? It is see any good in ourselves we ought to attribute it to God and the avowal of our inferiority before the Divine perfections ; not to ourselves " : Bonum aliquid in se cum viderit Deo ap- it is the acknowledgment of our absolute dependence in face plicet, sibi; non and, he at once adds, we ought, on the con- of Him Who, alone, is of Himself, the plenitude of Being trary to impute to ourselves all the evil that we do, and of it is the homage of our subjection in face of. the infinite which we know we are the cause : Malum veto semper a se Sovereignty. When a creature does not remain in this factum sciat el sibi 1 reputet . Indeed what is in nowise from attitude, it is not in the truth. In Heaven, the Blessed God, and is exclusively our own, is sin. If only once in are locked in God's embrace, an embrace surpassing all that our lifetime we have offended God mortally, we then deserved the most ardent love can imagine; they are possessed by in all justice, to become an object of is horror and hatred to God, they possess Him in the essence of their soul ; God this God Who is very Majesty and Goodness. if all lost in deep And we in them ; and yet they do not cease to be were not there and then struck down by death and doomed reverence, the expression of their adoration : Timor Domini to everlasting punishment, if God, with His forgiveness, vouch- sanctus permanens in saeculum saeculi. Should not the safed to restore to us His grace and friendship, it is again annihilation of self be likewise our law here below ? When to His goodness that we owe it : Misericordia Domini quia faith, which is the prelude to" the Beatific Vision, makes us 8 non sttmus consumpti . touch something of God's unfathomable perfections, we at Such is the condition that the infallible light of faith shows once cast ourselves down in adoration. The soul under- us as being our own, when we consider all things from the stands, under a strong inner light, what a close contact there point of view of Divine truth. Humility keeps us in an infinite con- may be between itself and God ; it beholds the attitude conformable with this condition ; the will, aided trast contrasted of the two terms : littleness and lowliness with greatness and majesty; greatness and majesty contrasted P X 2 * T5 1 5 6 Joan xv II Cor. in, with littleness and lowliness. The soul may moreover >,"- -,?• - ' 5- - 4. 5) -; I £? ^\~~~ ft / ; ) chnsttfl >^ homo in se ipso vet Ptnri'riur w I™ ' n V vet confidat I. ii-ii, i, ad Humilitas prateipue respicit ^'tessc mcnta^uac sunt ipstus dona. Council. q. ci.xi, a, 2, ad 3. Cf. a. 5; Trid. Sess. vi, c. iG. — . Rule, 7 subjedionem liominis atlVeum. — HumilXas proprie respicit revcrenHam qua notno Deo subjicilur. : ' : ,

±i4 Christ, the Ideal of the monk humility; 225 concentrate its attention the more upon the one or other Passion, the Resurrection and the triumph of Jesus, the of these two terms of the relation. Is it upon the term institution of the Church and the Sacraments, grace, the " " gifts of God" ? It tends to adore Him. Is it the term of "self ? virtues, the the Holy Spirit, all this marvellous The soul tends 'to humble itself. It is at the precise instant supernatural order has come forth from this movement of of our self-annihilation in presence of the Divine Majesty the Heart of God so as to make us His children : . Ut adop- 1 that humility is born in the soul. As soon as reverence tionem filiorum reciperemus . It is an admirable order, a towards God fills the soul, it is like the source whence work of power, of wisdom and love of which the spectacle humility springs up : Humilitas causatur ex reverentia ravished St. Paul. divina K If this cause is lacking, humility cannot exist. When our souls contemplate these divine perfections and This is a point which cannot be too much insisted upon. We works, not according to a philosophy that would make of " see how eminently humility is a religious " virtue, per- it an abstract, cold and dry study, but in prayer, and, when 2 all meated, as has been very well said , with religion, and God touches us with His light, terrestrial superiorities therefore essentially proper to our state. are effaced, all created perfections appear as nothingness, We understand too, how important it is.in order to streng- all human greatness fades away like smoke. Before this then humility, to give ourselves up to the contemplation of omniscient, this sovereign wisdom, this absolute power, this the Divine perfections. God is Almighty: " He spoke and august sanctity, this justice into which not the least move- " this all things were made. With a word, He drew out of nothing ment ot passion enters ; before this boundless goodness, a wonderful creation ; and this creation which is so beautiful, inexhaustible tenderness and mercy, the soul cries out " " these legions of angels, these nations of human beings* so great Who is like to Thee, G my God ? Quis sicut Dominus 2 and numerous, are in regard to Himself, like' an atom, as if they Deus noster, qui in altis habitat? And how profound are a existed not : Omnes genies quasi non sint, sic reverence seizes us to the very sunt coram eo . Thy thoughts 1 An intense is all nothingness: He eternal ; creatures pass away or pay their tribute depths of our souls, and we are lost in our to the order of succession, while He remains immutable in what are we, what are the celestial spirits, what are the human the full and sovereign possession of His perfections. So multitudes, in face of this wisdom, this power, this eternity, perfect is that sic sunt coram eo. He He has no need of anyone. His infinite tins holiness ? Omnes gentes quasi non sunt wisdom attains all His designs with strength for this again is very and sweetness ; But let us be careful to remark, His adorable justice is soul, while equity itself ; His goodness and important, that this sense of reverence in the power are unequalled from those of ; He has but to open His hand to nil yet being very intense and real, is not distinct 4 every living creature with blessings . 3 not contradict any confidence and love . Humility does And what contemplated accents would have to be found to celebrate of the aspects of the truth. God is to be m the Divine works in the is at once Lord supernatural order ? We have all His perfections and in all His works ; He children many times spoken of the magnificence of the creatures and adopted ; Divine Plan. and Father ; we are at once God wills to make us in the Almighty His children by making us partakers and it is from this total contemplation of the very filiation of His Son 5 Goodness of a Jesus , and thus cause us to Power of a sovereign Lord and the Supreme draw eternal beatitude towaros God, tne at the very fountainhead of the Father full of tenderness, that reverence Divinity. The Masterpiece of the eternal thoughts which is root of humility, ought to arise. Christ, the wonderful mysteries of the Incarnation, the far surpasses in CLXI a ad St. conception of humility '. - * * — *.D. O. Lottin, in t'Amedu Benedict's A?£K}h ^r Culte, la veriu moralists 0U m I92 s< In tllis classic with ' °' ,4° *') litt!e opuscule of condensed amplitude those that have become ?*J£;£ *Ve a !Sth0 R- B an enilghtened ^eologian, has shown " how after remains for navinghnvW i'inv i i? M' i 1 them. Humility baked humility to temperance and obedience but it in nowise contradicts ma to the observance, the inordinate ten- b™«Sht evidence of the reality, to relate all, virtue which restrains $£ . ty these virtues to him, as for a ilii£™ 1 — m ls ' ndeed ""deniable. It was perceived by the ancient but with mm, alcSl nSw & dencies of self-exaltation in the creature ; Rule of St. Benedict, for example, ignores the word IwStaftft I of the Rule, - on account mb ed th the s irit of reli as appears above in the Prologue • P ei°n - "Is sufficient, in ordef to SVna / f H V of i hl5 read the Kaplers upon the " " gives it with the virtue ,t }g 5-7 obedience, of the relationshi, that he Srirft o Sta 2Sff °l! (P y " - 49 n 3> Isa> XL l7 XCLIV, Mire ' '' ~ ' Ps. - Pax U ' ~ 4- Collection I? Cf. , 1 5 C, |ph t g i. Galnt tv, 5. - a. ft. «n. 5- - 3- Jeanne Deleloc. ;:

HUMILITY 227 226 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 1 omnibus proximis propter Deum . When we have religion, it is not complete unless blended with the love subjicere reverence towards God, it bears upon all " that and confidence that should animate the heart of a child. this spirit oE " in creatures. Being unable completely to anni- Reverence towards God ought to make a soul lost in self- is of God God, the soul for God's sake, and out of abasement, and at the same time, through this very self- hilate itself before itself This abasement, yielded up to the loving accomplishment of the regard for God, places at the feet of creatures. all Christ's Humanity Heavenly Father's desires. The virtue of humility is rather, reverence extends first of to Sacred this Humanity merits the with our Holy Father, the habitual attitude of soul which united personally to the Word, to Himself. rules our whole relation with God in the truth of our twofold worship and adoration that we render God blood, quality of sinful creatures and adopted children *. When we see our Lord upon the Cross, covered with et novissimum If forgetful of our nothingness we come before God, full become the scorn of the multitude, Defectum 2 fall upon our knees, we adore Him, because of confidence, but with little reverence ; or, if, on the con- virorum , we trary, we are penetrated with fear, but have only a slight He is God. confidence, our relations with God are not what they ought All proportion guarded, we act in an analogous manner to be. The self-abasement of the creature should not be with all the members of Christ's Mystical Body, because Christ's is united to the whole to the detriment of the confidence of the child ; the quality God, through Humanity, of child ought not to cause forge tfulness of the condition human race. The humble monk, filled with reverence to- of creature and sinner. Humility thus understood envelops wards God, sees in every man with whom he comes in to our whole being, and we understand why St. Benedict has contact an apparition of God ; and he devotes himself made one of the most characteristic notes of the spiritual serving this man because, in one way or another, the monk life to consist in this very precise and comprehensive attitude sees God in him. Such is truly the thought of our Holy of soul. We shall not have grasped the holy Patriarch's Father when he ordains " to incline the head or even prostrate teaching unless we have understood that the root of humility upon the ground before all guests at their arrival or at the to adore in them Christ is an intense reverence of the soul before God ; that this moment of their departure, in order " vcnientibiu reverence itself is born of the contemplation of what God Who is received in their persons : Omnibus is and does for us in His two-fold character of Lord and vel discedeniibus tiospitibus, inclinato capite vel proslrato omni 3 et suscipitur . Father ; and that this two-fold reverence, once anchored in corpore, in terra, Christus in eis adoretur qui the soul, keeps it in the self-abasement befitting it as a This is the attitude of humility. We prostrate before an- creature stained by sin, but at the same time surrenders it other, we serve him in all subjection, because we revere in attribute entirely, in confident and grateful abandonment, to the will him such or such a divine attribute ; for example,the of the Heavenly Father. of power in those holding authority. " It is in the reverence In consequence, this reverence towards God extends to with which I encompass the plenitude of God's rights that all to all created that touches, represents or announces God : to Christ's I derive the ultimate motive of my obedience 4 " Humanity, then to all the members of His Mystical Body. authority . " We ought, " St. Thomas well says, •" not only to revere God in treats with so Himself ; but also to revere, although in a different It is that humility of which St. Benedict manner, what is of God in every man. Therefore,." he much predilection that gives to Monastic spirituality its " concludes, we ought, out of humility, to submit ourselves particular character of greatness, and invests it with a to all our fellow-creatures for God's sake. " Non debemus special splendour. The Holy Spirit harmonises the two solum De-am and their revereri in seipso $ed etiam id quod est ejus, sentiments, the one of fear, the other of piety ; debemus revereri in quolibet; non tamen eo modo revercntiae accord causes the soul, selfless as it is before God and that quo reveremur Deum. Et ideo per humilitatem debemus nos the neighbour, to be yet assured of the divine grace

""The twelve decrees of humility }• (set forth by St. Banodict) form an with much justice astonishingly penetrating and 1. u-ii, q. clxi, a. ad 1. St. Thomas says again harmonious whole, showing the blending of 3 uteoqmhbet homo tear and confidence, of obedience Humilitas probrie rcspicit reverential qua homo subpettur, et and energy, of recollection and charity aa *a which ought secundum cuilibel proximo subneerc quantum to compofc the attitude of the monk who advances in spiritual id quod siwm est, debet se life... also a.. 1. ad 5. — a. isa. uii, D. Ryelandt, 1. c. quod est Dei in ipso. (a. 3, in corpore.) Cf. 3- — 3- Rule, ch. uii. — 4. D. Lottin, I. c. :

HUMILITY 22 228 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK Q

proper to the slave, which excludes love and paralyses comes to it through Christ, in Whom it finds everything ment, it concerns first of all imperfect fear with which which of itself it lacks. This invincible assurance fills it confidence ; secondly.reverential fear. Our Lord Himself with the very power of God, and thus renders its life love is blended, Him, Who after He hath killed, hath altogether fruitful. Knowing that without Christ it can do tells us: "Fear ye 1 cast into hell, " in gehennam. This fear makes us nothing, Sine me nihil potestis facere , it knows with the same power to sin, in order to displease certainty that it can do all things, as soon as it leans upon watch unceasingly to avoid not 2 : se a peccaiis'ct . is punishes evil Custodiens omnihora Him : Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat Humility the God Who Scripture places this prayer upon secret of its strength and vitality. vitiis. This fear is good. " " flesh with Thy fear : Confige our lips ; Pierce Thou my 1 IV. timoretuo carnes mens . Our Lord in person enjoins this fear even on those whom He vouchsafes to call His friends. It now remains for us to study the different degrees of Undoubtedly, as the soul progresses in the spiritual life, place, little by little, to love, as the this virtue, according to the teaching of the great Patriarch ; the aforesaid fear gives and having done this, we will point out its beneficent habitual mainspring of action. It never ought, however, to should constant- effects, artd the means of strengthening it within us. disappear altogether ; it is a weapon that we The general classification of the degrees of humility, laid ly hold in reserve, in our spiritual arsenal, for hours of combat down by St. Benedict, has received the approbation of the when love threatens to be overcome by passion. The Council 3 uncertainty in which we Angelic Doctor . Our Holy Father speaks first of all of of Trent insists forcibly upon the life is a continual interior virtue, and as the first degree he places the fear of are left touching our final perseverance ; our fail to God, reverence towards God. He rightly does so. St. Tho- trial of faith, and we ought never to part with, or mas shows us that tne holy Lawgiver considered humility, keep within our reach, the weapon of the fear of God. habitually set forth the teaching concerning it, and established its This imperfect fear ought however to culminate " adoration degrees, according to the very nature of the thing, secun- in the reverential fear whereof the ultimate term is i " " Domim dum ipsam . Timor naluram rei Exterior acts of humility, says full of love. It is of this fear that is said : the prince of " 2 fear of the theologians, should proceed from the interior sanctus, permanens in saeculum saeculi . "The disposition is the reverence " : Ex interior*, autem disposiiione humilitaiis Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever." It firocedunt quaedam exteriora 5 infinite plenitude of signa . But, he adds, the that seizes every creature before the principle and root of interior humility itself is reverence the Divine perfections, even when this creature has become

towards : kingdom of God Principium et radix humilitatis est reverentia a child of God, nay, even when admitted to the quam qttis habet ad Deum*. The fear of is to purest angels veil their God said Heaven ; a reverence which makes the constitute the first of Majesty all the degrees : because without it faces before the dazzling effulgence, of the Divine humility cannot be born or reverence which maintained. Hence as from a Adorant dominations, iremunt potestates* , a living stem spring forth all the other replebit eum spmtus degrees of humility, filled the very Humanity of Christ : Et — the virtue which lies within being naturally manifested *. timoris Domini . . ., outwardly. , invites What does the great Patriarch say to us when he The holy Patriarch therefore school .-' inat places reverence towards God us in the Prologue to place ourselves in his as the " point of departure : The first fear of God Vemte, degree of humility he wishes to teach us, as his sons, the : consists in having the fear of God 5 God is a Father ever before our eyes, Mi... timorem Domini docebo vos . This without " ever forgetting it : Si ought to listen timorem Dei sibi ante oculos full of goodness, to Whose admonitions we semper poncns, 7 sense oblivionem fugiat . a lively But there is a gradation with the ears of the heart, that is to say with the m fear of God. Of what fear is inheritance 01 there question here ? of love, for this Father prepares for us an it cannot be question of servile Benedict would fear, of the fear of chastise- immortal glory and eternal beatitude. St. goodness our faults « the 6. — 4. Ibid. a. have us take care not to weary with texts of the Rule of tho Mass.-4-Isa 1. Ps. cxviu, 120. - 2. Fs.xvm, ,0.-3- Palace Rule, X*» 3- — 5. Ps. xxxin, 12. — 6. Prologue of the 23° CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 231 of this Heavenly Father Who awaits us, Quia -pins est, and, The third degree is already higher and is properly speaking " in His love, destines those who fear Him, to an ineffable monastic. The disciple is to submit himself in all obedience " participation in His own life : Et vita aeterna quae timentibus to his Superior : Omni obedientia se subdat majorl. The Dettm praeparata est. This fear, this reverence towards soul has such reverence towards God and His will, that it God, the Father of infinite majesty, patrem inimensae admits that God intimates His " good pleasure " through the x " " : is pointed majestatis , ought to be habitual and constant, for it voice of a man Pro Dei amore; this the motive concerns the virtue, that is to say, an habitual disposition, out by St. Benedict. To submit to God (2nd degree) is a and not an isolated act : Animo suo semper evolvat. relatively easy thing ; but to obey a man in all things, and all one's life, is mucn more difficult to nature. It needs a Each degree o\ interior virtue is a step towards the greater spirit of faith and a deeper reverence towards God profound adoration of God, the final term of our reverence. to see Him in a man wno holds His place. God wills that, In fact, if we have this reverence towards God, we shall after having adored Him in Himself, we should render to pass on, as it were naturally, to the submission of our own Him the homage of our submission in the person of a man This however will to that of God ; this is the second degree. True fear of whom He has chosen to direct us. man, God obliges a man to be solicitous as to what God commands imperfect he may be in himself, represents God for the participates him ; it is a want of respect towards God not to think of believing soul, because owing to his authority he the soul surren- what He enjoins on us. God's Will is God Himself : if we in the divine attribute which is power ; and have the fear of God, we shall give ourselves up, from ders itself to him, for the sake of this communication that reverence towards Him, to the doing of all that He commands God makes of His sovereignty to the Superior. According soul us : Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus volet to the expression of Blessed Angela of Foligno, the 2 1 There- nimis . We shall have such reverence for God that we reads God's name on the man who represents Him. I shall always prefer His will to our own ; we shall immolate fore the soul says to God : Thou art so great, and am to Him this self-will which, in many souls, is an inner idol so small a thing before Thee, that I wish out of love and to which they unceasingly offer incense. The humble soul, reverence for Thee to obey, all my life, a man weak like secundum quod knowing the sovereignty of God's rights which flow from the myself, but who represents Thee : Humilitas the plenitude of His Being and the infinity of His perfections, est specialis virtus praecipue respicit subjeclionem hominis ad knowing too its own nothingness and dependence, does not Deum. Propter quem etiam aliis humiliando se sub- wish to find in itself 2 the motive power of its life and activity ; jicit . it seeks this motive power in the will of God ; it sacrifices its self-will adoration of the soul to that of God ; it accepts the rulings of Providence And see how the self-abasement and towards it, without the least inward resistance, because God before God are increased at the 4*" degree. The humble alone merits all adoration and all submission, by reason of monk not only accepts the divine economy that wills he and imper- and omnipotence : Humilitas proprie respicit should be led by one of his fellow creatures, weak reverentiam 3 submission despite the qua homo deo subjicitur ... Per hoc quod fect ; but,he inviolably preserves this Deitm reveremur et honoramus, mens nostra ei subjicitur*. difficulties he experiences in so doing, despite the injuries, contempt or affronts he may have to suffer in the exercise V. of his obedience, and this without a murmur arising from his heart \Tacita conscientia. Humility here blossoms out These two first degrees belong, in substance, as much to into heroic patience. What a contrast with pride ! The the simple full of the idea Christian as to the monk. But St. Benedict who proud man is assured of his perfection and so wishes the monk to aim at the perfection of Christianity, of his importance that he at once bursts out with excuses. has • Rule, taken care to recall these degrees emphaticallv to his Now on the day we made profession of our we sons. J promised to tend to this humility. If so admirable a patience appears very difficult for us to J. Hymn Te Deutn. — 2. ps. cxi 1 . ' 3- Ps, cxi, 1. — n-ii, clxi, 4, q. ii-ii, clxi, a. 1, ad 5. -)> in c, I. The Book ol Visions, ch. 63. — 2. q- ;

232 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 233

possess, let us turn our gaze upon our Divine Model during the esteem of others, and consequently to hide our defects His Passion. He is God, the All-Powerful, and His Soul is from them. It is therefore an act of humility to reveal 1 rich in all perfection. And behold, they spit in His to another man the true state of our soul ; Face ; voluntarily

this : Revcla He does not turn away : Faciem meam non averti ab incre- and we do it because we revere God in man 1 z pantibus et conspuenlibus in Me . He is silent before Herod domino viam tuani, et spera in eo . Notice the choice that of this text. ! It is to the Lord, who treats Him as a fool: At ipse nihil illi respondebat* ; St. Benedict here makes He submits Himself to Pilate who condemns Him to an Domino, to the Lord Whom faith causes us to see in our infamous death, He submits Himself because Pilate, being the Superior, that we unveil the state of our soul, assured that like a Father legitimate governor of Judea, represented, Pagan though he if we act as children, God will act towards us eo. fruit of this was, the authority that has its source in God : Non Jtaberes full of loving kindness : Et spera in The 3 is that God will lead us by a sure path, potestatcm adversum me ullam nisitibi datum esset desuper . degree of humility Why does Christ Jesus submit without complaint to all wherein we cannot go astray. these outrages ? From reverence and love for His Father But in order that this degree may be truly attained, it is very sincere with ourselves Who has fixed the circumstances of His Passion : Sicut man- necessary for us to be always dahtm dcdit mihi Pater*. before God and before the one who holds God's place, Revela. soul lest any It is proportionately the same for the humble monk. Why We ought to watch over the movements of our

dealings escape us ; others must does he accept all humiliation ? Always for the sake of falsehood in our attitude or 3 loquitur verilatem in corde suo . the reverence he has for God. As soon as he encounters a be able to say of us : Qui " " of ourselves in face sestige of- the Divine Majesty he surrounds it with respect We should be true in the sanctuary hearts as soon as he sees God, under whatever form God presents of God, and be true with him to whom we yield our says our Himself, " : Veritatem ex corde et ore proferre*, he yields to Him : And to show that the faithful for love of God should never tolerate seirvant ought to bear all things, however contrary, for the Holy Father. This is a great duty. We Lord, the Scripture insincerity with ourselves. If we did so fre- says in the person of the suffering : For the least our Thee we suffer all " should end by obscuring and blinding death the day long : Et oslendens fidelem quently, we impossible for our Lord to pro domino universa etiam contraria sustinere debere, dicit... conscience. It would then be of predilection, propter te morte adficimur tola die. make of our soul His own abiding place the state of our soul But love and confidence likewise animate the monk's soul because we have not revealed to Him in all these not that light of humility which shows circumstances, painful as they are to nature. such as it is ; we have If " he remains steadfast, if he does not draw back or give us how little we are before God. m, " Sustinens non lassescat, vel discedat, it is because a high. firm hope, full of last degrees of interior humility are very love and spiritual joy, at the same time fills The two his soul and Knowing have offended this God, so great, so full of ma- makes him say : "In all these things we over- we be under come through Him " jesty, and that by our sins we have deserved to Who hath loved us : Et securi de spe retnbuhonis are content with the worst of every- divinae subsequuntur gaudentes et dicentes; sed the feet of the devil, we tn according to the spirit of the his omnibus superamtts propter eum qui dilexit nos. thing, and esteem ourselves, 6 " are so small a You see how in Gospel, as "unprofitable servants . We _ humility, our Holy Father never separates the confidence actions are of themselves so defective of the child who, through Christ's grace, thing before God, our invincibly anything without the grace hopes in the goodness of his that we are incapable of doing Heavenly Father, It, trom the of alone gives worth to our deeds. reverence that possesses him on account of his Christ Jesus. It condition as creature. actually in force-,: 1. In the terms of the ecclesiastical legislation rtUBJ°J« disclose the r cogence Superiors cannot in any way ur e their inferiors to ? to open is in nowise forbidden for ^jects Monastic to them ; but on the other handlt submission goes so far in the text 1at tne that we reveal to our their hearts freely to their Superiors, and even, as is said superior the state of " to to their Supmora our soul ; here we have the 5" degree Code of Canon Law, it is advantageous for «»>WUS » them,_ if these Superiors are ol humility. Pride with filial confidence and thus also lay open to prompts us to exalt i-an. a. «. ourselves and seek priests, the doubts and anguish of their conscience. 530. Luc. xvii, 10. i. Isa. l, xxxvi, 5. — 3. — 4. Rule, ch. iv. — 5. 6. - 2 . Luc. 3. Ps. xiv, xxiu, . 9 _ . Joan, xix, 3 it. — 4 . Ibid, xiv, 21. HUMILITY 234 CHMST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 235

believe that we do a great deal by ourselves VI. practically, we ; that we have a right to consideration because we have ren- dered such or such service, we have yet not arrived at this From this interior humility of which St. Benedict has just degree. St. Benedict does not hesitate to deal rigorously, shown us the ascending degrees, is derived exterior humility. on occasion, with these persistent forms of the spirit of The virtue resides principally in the soul : Humilitas praecipue 1 self-exaltation. If, he says, among those who exercise an intsrius in anima consistit . Therefore the holy Patriarch art of craft in the Monastery, there be any who are tempted speaks first of humility ot soul. To wish to appear humble to pride themselves on their attainments and skill, or on outwardly when one has not, and does not strive to acquire the benefit that the monastery derives from them, they shall inward virtue, is a simulation in which there is something 1 2 be for ever forbidden to work at this art or craft rather Pharisaical, and St. Benedict bids us beware ot this , or it " " 3 than expose their souls to spiritual detriment. is immense pride, says St. Thomas . We should first of all aim at acquiring the interior virtue. If that is real, The 7« h degree constitutes the summit of the virtue of sincere, alive, well anchored in the soul, it will quite naturally humility : it is for a monk to believe himself, sincerely and manifest itselt outwardly, without difficulty as also without from the bottom of his heart, the last of all men : Si omnibus pretention. If we have interior humility, the body, by reason se inferiorem et viliorem intimo cordis credat afjectu. This is of the substantial unity ot our being, will express the reve- " St. Paul's counsel : In humility let each esteem others rence that fills the soul before God. Outward humility is " better than themselves ; In hmnilitate superior es sibi invicem only of any value if it is the real expression of inward humili- 2 arbitrages . Few souls arrive at this height and live there ty, or if it is the means employed to arrive thereat. A man the of the habitually ; it is assuredly a gitt ol God. For this it is need- must acquire and express humility by movements ful that the light ot the Holy Spirit should give the soul an soul and those of the body. We ought then to exercise if intensely clear view of the Divine perfections, which makes it ourselves likewise in outward humility even we have not humble itself to its lowest depths; then, seeing the nothingness reached a high degree of the inward virtue. that it truly is in presence of the Divine greatness, and On account of the close union between soul and body, considering the gifts of God in others, the soul inwardly places every act of virtue often repeated, such as striking the 3 breast, keeping the eyes lowered, going down on one's knees itself at the feet of all . Whoever mounts towards this degree, will to make " satisfaction, " has its echo in the soul and neces- keep himself , in every circumstance, from judging himself " " says St. Au- better than others and from being severe to them. If God sarily influences the interior life. When, " feet of our brethren, this had acted with rigour towards us, if He had treated us gustine, we prostrate at the disposes stirs up our heart to according to strict justice, what would have become of us ? humiliation of the body and if it already humble, streng- And are we so sure of ourselves ? For we must also consider inward self-abasement, or, was " help in the acquisition the possibilities of evil that are to be found in us. May not thens it in humility*. It is then to one whom we are tempted to despise today, soon become or in the strengthening of the inward virtue that the body

better ; it would be Pharisaical to than we are ? Moreover, can we be sure of what should be humbled otherwise, when pride reigns our dispositions will be tomorrow? Within us all, poor wish to appear humble in the eyes of men creatures that we are, there is a constant principle of insta- in the heart. of a certain dis- bility and deficiency that we have unceasingly to combat In this matter, however, there is need in the spiritual with the help of grace and the exercise of humility. cretion with those who take their first steps May life in one day, and novices ought God deign to allow us to rest a moment, at least in ; humility is not acquired and easy thought and holy desire, on the sublime summit towards not to wish to pass at the first onset from the free which St. Benedict St. very justly has traced the path and marked the 1. ii-ii, q. ci.xr, a, 3, Cf. a. I, ad 2 and a. 6. Thomas stages deducts from this principle that a Superior can perfectly well possess the ! Thus beholding our ideal, let us be convinced of virtue of humility without performing exteriorly certain acts of humility little the truth of our nothingness stt, sal and of the essential and constant compatible with his dignity. — 2. Non velle diet sanctum anlequam a. I, ad 2. need we have of help from above. prius esse quod verius dicatur. Rule, ch. iv. — 3- 11*11, q. CLxr, — 4- Cum enim ad pedes fratrisinclinalur corpus, etiam m enrde tpso vet exctta- x. Rule, ch. lvii. - s. Philip. . »n 58. ,,, _ . s . tur velsijam humilitatis ajjectus. Tract. Joan. Tllomas> . 3 3 lbidt a 3 ad 2 . t inerat canfirmatur, ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 236 . HUMILITY 237

undergraduate to the attitudes of manners of an an ecstatic. the temple of the Spirit of all holiness ; then St. Benedict The important thing is to aim at inward humility, and to above all condemns an habitual disposition to laugh readily, it, discretion fidelity, as practise with but so to acquire the noisily, on all and every occasion : the habitual tendency outward degrees. to jest. If we have well understood that humility has its Another reason, which necessitates the outward practice root in reverence towards God, a reverence itself resulting of humility, is that this practice often serves as a diagnostic from the sense of the Divine Presence, we shall at once grasp for reality of knowing the the virtue ; it reveals to us whether how much reason the great Patriarch has in utterly condemn- are actuated secret 1 we by pride. This is a great point, for ing, Acterna clausura , this injurious tendency to buffoonery; it is already "a step towards humility to know that we do this veritable dissolvant of inward recollection. not yet possess it. Ask the proud man if he has a high The failings we have been recalling are never to be found opinion of himself; most often he: will at once reply in the in the humble monk whose soul is full of reverence for the negative ; but, in practice, he will reveal himself as he is, in Divine Majesty always present to him. He does not try spite of himself, because from his secret pride will arise, as it to make himself different from others, quite the contrary. were instinctively and often enough without his perceiving Seeing in the common Rule the expression of the Divine it, acts manifesting this pride. Thus you will see him, Will, he fears to deviate from it however little ; he does not quite naturally, on " " account of the exaggerated sense of his speak on every occasion ; he knows how to keep silence, importance, seek to impose his own opinion, and tend to which is the atmosphere of recollection, " until a question act differently from others, — when he does not look down be asked him. " When he laughs it is not like the fool who on them — to make himself conspicuous 2 and singular, even " lifteth up his voice in laughter" ; for reverence towards in small matters 1 ; he his own person, his own ideas, God is the antithesis, not of joy, but of the spirit of levity, his waj's of doing things, although this is often uncon- of dissipation, of a bantering tone ; he keeps in his very speech sciously. Like the Pharisees he says: "I do this, 1= do the gravity and sobriety of the wise man who " is known by that; I am not like other men": Non sum sicut caeteri the fewness of his words. " Finally, his bearing, his gait homtmtm*. He begins to speak as soon as a discussion everywhere express this inward humility, although without begins ; you hear him raise his voice ; he never resists the affectation ; his soul is visibly possessed by God ; the reve- longing to speak, and he speaks unceasingly without enduring rence for God that animates him inwardly makes him keep contradiction 3 " ; he even imposes " silence, often in a cutting his head bent downwards arid his eyes downcast . tone. All this is a manifestation of pride, for our words are We may ask ourselves why it is that the monk who has something of ourselves. scaled the degrees of humility and has attained solid virtue The manner of laughing is no less a sure sign of the inward is to keep the attitude of a culprit, why it is that St. Benedict, dispositions of the soul. One might ask what there is in who yet writes nothing without reflection, places ever — laughter,; this attribute peculiar to man, that is opposed to semper— upon this monk's lips and in his heart the words humility ? Our Holy Father does " raise mine not condemn laughter of the publican : My God, I am not worthy to a monk habitually gloomy and morose would show that he eyes to Heaven " ? It is because in prayer God has given aoes not run in the way of the commandments with that this humble soul a light upon the greatness of His perfections; sweetness of love ^ "which St. Benedict promises to those in this divine light, the soul has beheld its own nothingness, hat the hol Legislator intends to and its least faults appear as intolerable stains. A ray *f I I' L y ™LS? 0i Hl,w g0eS ^thout laying) is the evil from on high has touched the monk, and whether he be EKmkind of laughterL whichL ^ has its source in an underlying with his brethren, or alone, in prayer, in his cell, in the garden, nat re tt '' is the laU8hter of raillery which he knows that the eyes of the Sovereign Master penetrate SSSTvfayS St? eSS n the - - ° ^entricities and defects of into the innermost recesses of his soul ; he lives in adoration, StS ^i ls tooJ con trary to the Christian spirit and to this adoration. , „ to be his whole exterior bears witness found inIn thoseIt, who " "seek God, those who ought to be animus 1. Rule, ch. vi. — 2. Ubi timor et tremor est, ibi non vocis elatio sed laus, ftebihs, el lacrytnosa dejectio. S. Hieronym. Epist. 13. Virginitatis a 5r e P W at P. L. xxx, Cot Extollentia oculorum est quoddam signum supertoat tbe*Jnobi -2 ™ sa5d °f singularity as opposed to 175.-3. S iife 2.a iJ_,uc.uc xvm,^\l m quantum St. Thomas, ibid. a. 2, ad 1. 12. — 3. Prologue of the Rule. excludii reverentiam et timorem. 4

238 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 239

" When the soul... understandeth that God Is present, she is VII. humbled exceedingly, and receiveth confusion at the thought of her sins. And here the soul receiveth an exceeding weight For—and here I approach an important point—humilitv 1 " consolation of God, a great joy . of wisdom, a great It is is truth. the truly to " sufficient to look at humble monk understand As St. Teresa says : Some think it humility not to believe that God's Presence, which is the source of his reverence, that God is bestowing His gifts upon them." Is this " is familiar to him, and that he has a profound sense of what honouring God ? Nothing is more unjustifiable. Let us " " the gravity of divine union brings with it. These traits Hearty understand this, adds the Saint, that it is per- might assuredly have been taken from our Holy Father's fectly clear God bestows His gifts without, any merit whatever portrait. His first biographer, Pope St. Gregory the on our part ". What are we then to do in presence of divine tells his life nothing else Great, us that was than the faithful graces ? Recognise that God alone is the Autnor and Prin- " application of the Rule : The spirit of all the just filled ciple of them : omne donum perfectum desursum est, descen- the soul of the Patriarch. " There are however some virtues 1 dens a Paire luminum , and thank Him for them with " which particularly characterise him. Among the most salient grateful hearts. For if we do not recognise the gifts of these traits is to be remarked an extraordinary spirit of received at His hands, we shall never be moved to love Him. 2 adoration and reverence towards . God Read, in fact, the It is a most certain truth that the richer we see ourselves Holy Rule you will see it throughout ; imbued with the to be, confessing at the same time our poverty, the greater spirit of religion. Whether he speaks of the Divine Office, will be our progress, and the more real our humility... if we of the reading of the Gospel, of the Gloria that ends each walk in simplicity before God, aiming at pleasing Him only, Psalm, St. Benedict insists on reverence. This same spirit 2 " and not men . is extended to the monk's relations with his brethren, with True humility moreover does not deceive itself : it does guests, and even to all glory to the ustensils ot the monastery, which is not deny God's gifts : it uses them, but returns the "House of God." In our Holy Father's sight, our Him from Whom they come. Look at the Blessed Virgin whole life is bathed in an atmosphere of supernatural reverence. Mary chosen out from among all women to be the Mother And the Holy Patriarch was himself the model of What he of the Word Incarnate. No creature, after the Humanity requires of gratia his sons ; the picture of the humble monk which of Jesus, has been filled with graces as she was : Ave, he draws in Chapter 3 when Eliza- VII of his Rule, is without doubt, his plena . She was surely conscious of this. Now own likeness. His soul, so dear to God that God granted beth, congratulates her on her divine maternity, does the to his prayers so many striking miracles, and vouchsafed to Blessed Virgin deny the signal favour of which she is the is a show him the entire world in a ray of light, was flooded object ? Indeed not. She even acknowledges that it with divine " great brightness ; and in this supernatural light, he unique privilege, that He that is mighty hath done saw the notliingness of every creature: Videnti Creatorem things " to her, things so great, so marvellous that all genera- angusla est creaiura*; he saw that God alone is the fount tions shall call her blessed. But, if she does not deny these of all good, that He alone merits all glory, and knowing graces, neither does she make them an occasion of glorifying thus that all comes All-Powerful from God, he returned to Him all praise herself ; she returns all the glory to God, the and all honour. Dominum , Who works them in her : Magnificat anima mea This is the way the humble soul acts. i. Bl Angela exactly the of Foligno. The Book nf Visiblts, ch. 27. The Ineffable. Our Holy Father's teaching is inspired with Secular Priest. ^bya — 2. "St. Benedict's gravity is essentially " in oneself, he religious,SfS™ same spirit. Let the good that one sees that js to say that it results from an habitual and deep sense ot the '* " Divine Presence. The says, to oneself : Bonum responsibilities of our present life, and. the realisation be attributed to God and not that our eternal life is at stake, the love 5 Benedict of Christ, the sight of God's judg- aliquid in se applicet, non sibi . St. ever present cum viderit Deo to him. All this inner life of his tends to make gravity gifts ?££a true recollection^ does aware of the Divine of soul, which radiates in the bodily attitude and behaviour, not deny that we may be m d iS * he aze ' S fixed upon Ood, it is the sense of man's to Translated from iw J?n?£ W1 A" \l L 1. Jac.i, 17. ~ 2. Life of St. Teresa by herself, ch. °° Hun that banishes from life levity no less than dilettantism Ittlroduchon to ft the Spanish by Cf. also St. Francis of Sales eg eent,e eraVUy David Lewis. S " G RyelaDdt' ' S Greg0r' theDe '<> Ibid. 40-49- — 5- ' - 3 out j. 18. 4. D&og Lib »7c! xxxv. °- '' "— - Life, 3 part, ch. 3. — 3. Luc. — Rule, ch, jv. 210 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK HUMILITY 241

far binding us to veil them from within us ; from ourselves, really exceeds his capacity and strength, he may represent

seen : videril; having he allows them to be Cum see them we these difficulties to his Superior, but if the latter, after shall feel urged to use them on every occasion in the service having heard the objections, persists in the order given, of Him Who has distributed them to us : Ei (Domino) omni then, says St. Benedict, let the monk know that the command 1 tempore de bonis suis in nobis parendum est . in Only we is expedient for him, and putting his trust God's helpj imagine they are due to us, but " must not thank God for let him obey for love of Him : Et ex caritate confidens de them. The holy Patriarch is still more explicit in x his Pro- adjutorio Dei obediat . God cannot fail a soul who acts thus. logue : Those who seek God, he says, fear the Lord {that is What we now say of individual injunctions is likewise to ,the root of humility,) they pride do not themselves on their be extended to the charges and employments to which good observance ; knowing that the good which is in them authority has full right to appoint. The presumptuous, does not come from themselves but from the Lord, they even if they have not the necessary capacity, desire posts glorify Him for what He divinely works in them, saying that place them in full evidence : on the other hand, those with the Prophet: " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, who have false humility decline every function, even those 2 " but unto Thy : Name give the glory Operantem in se that they naturally feel themselves capable of exercising Dominum magnificant. St. And Benedict adds: "So the well. Both go to extremes. What our Holy Father re- Apostle Paul imputed nothing to himself of the success of commends is to accept out of reverence and love for God his preaching, for he said: the "By grace of God I am the charges given us, placing in God alone all our trust, 3 " " what I am , and again : He that glorieth, let him glory neglecting nothing in order to fulfil these charges 4 " while in the Lord . with the greatest perfection possible. For in as far as He St. Paul's example brought forward by St. Benedict is rejects those who exalt themselves, qui SE exaltat humiUa- extremely well chosen for none has been a better exponent bitur*, so He lavishes His help on those who knowing their of humility than the great Apostle. Does he then deny bis own weakness, place their confidence in the support of good works ? On the contrary he draws the picture of Heaven. .« them as no other apostle has ever done. Does despise " " " oneself he It is one thing, says St; Augustine, to raise God^s gifts " ? Oh no. He says : We have received... the up to God, and another thing to raise oneself up agamst Spirit that is of God ; that we may know the things that are Him; he who casts himself down before God is uplifted; given us B ." from God" : Ut 3 sciamus quae a Deo donata sunt nobis . . he who rises up against God is cast down by Him He knows these gifts, but it is that he may render thanks for them to the Father and His Son, Christ Jesus. It is in VIII. Christ s grace that he places all his glory, all his hope : Ut tnhabttet in me virtus Christi*. . to The chief fruit of humility is to make us so pleasing • " It is contrary to humility, " o St. Thomas justly says, God meeting with no obstacles, abounds in tor a man to tend that His grace, to things too high for him, relying on remaining united to God nis own us and brings us the assurance of strength ; but if he puts his confidence in God and perfect charity. atterwards by love : this is the state of undertakes the most difficult things, action this After explained the different degrees of humility, is not contrary to humility, having above all when he considers with a phrase which tnat he rises so St. Benedict concludes his comments much the nearer to God in proportion as he merits our although is one of great depth, and submits to Him the more profoundly " so short by humility'. who has ascended all these When our Holy Father special attention. "The monk <( considers the contingency of " bear this degrees of humility, " he says, " will soon, mox — impossible things " that might be commanded by obedience, perfect charity from whence what does he tell the word in mind — arrive at that monk to do ? First of all to receive gradibus the all " omnibus kutmhtatts order in all meekness fear is cast out : Ergo his and submission. Then if after ulam renexjon the ascensis, monacJms mox ad caritalem Dei perventet monk is convinced that the thing enjoined quae per/ecta fortis mittit timorem. P^logue AUudtsl «t levan , of the Rule.-, 1. Rule, ch. lxviii. ^- 2. Luc. xiv, xi. - 3- f «"j Pscxnr, 9 .~3. T Cor. xv, ro. - 4. II Cor. *ff .7. 1 Lor. u, se proncit ab Mo W«r. J«» 5. I2 . _6. n Cor. xn, 9. — aliud est kvare se contra Deum. Qui ante ilium 7 . , j . LCXIi a> ad 2 . H p q 2j De uhMate potmtmtuu. advenus ilium se erigit ab illo projicitur. Sermo 351. ; :;

HUMILITY 243 242 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK sublime recompense of humility to contribute, You may have remarked that spiritual authors are some- It is the any other virtue, to prepare the soul to the times at variance or in some uncertainty when they have to more than of the Divine gifts which assure perfect union regulate the rank of pre-eminence among the virtues. It is outpouring God: MOX ad caritatem Dei Mam quae perfecfa est beyond doubt that the queen of virtues is charity ; but charity with " Nothing, in fact, is more sublime than this way cannot exist in a soul without humility, which on account perveniet: " says St. Augustine, " but it is only the humble of our fallen nature is the condition sine qua non of the exer- of union, " excelsius caritatis, et in ilia walk in it : Nihil via non cise of charity. Humility, then, is not perfection ; perfection who 1 humiles . It is not by exaltation, but by as we have said, consists in the love wherewith we remain, ambulant nisi that we attain to God : Non elatione sed humilitate in all things, united through Christ to God and to God's humility " attingitur. Will. But humility, as St. Thomas well says, is a dispo- . , , . , will enable us to ]udge how simple, and at sition that facilitates the soul's free access to spiritual and A glance back " same time sure and .profound, is the way marked out by divine goods : Est quasi quaedam dispositio ad liberum the Patriarch whereby to lead us to God. By humility, accessum hominis in spiritualia et divina bona K Charity is our holy reverence towards God, St. Benedict greater than humility, as the perfection of a state is greater itself derived from would have the monk destroy the obstacles that can prevent than the dispositions requisite to reach this state ; but this humility truly pos- humility, in achieving the work of removing the obstacles the soul's union with God. When Holy Spirit's action, being no longer opposed to divine union, takes, from this point of view, the sesses the soul, then the 2 attachment to sin, to the creature, or to first rank. In this sense, St. Thomas explicitly says humi- opposed by sin or fruitful. It is a remarkable thing lity constitutes the very foundation of the spiritual edifice self, is all-powerful and to have no longer any other direction it is the disposition that immediately precedes perfect charity, that St. Benedict seems the degrees of humility are scaled by so that without it and the work it does, the state of to give his sons, once that, for him, the .end is attained charity and of perfect union with God, cannot exist, still less them. One would say Spirit be maintained. he leaves his disciple, as it were, to the action of the for ever in the fear of God and Although humility is then in this sense a negative dispo- for this soul anchored fast high, is open to the divine effusions. sition, it is so necessary and so infallibly crowned by perfect expecting all help from on God is the soul arrived at this state ! charity, that in a soul that does not possess it, the- spiritual Happy, thrice happy highest acts freely in it, and leads it by the hand to the edifice is ever exposed to ruin for lack of foundation ; while be wills contemplation ; for He who possesses it attains in all surety to the state of union. perfection, to the summits of inclines Him to communicate This is what was said by Blosius, so versed in the science our holiness, and His nature down is that His " Himself ; only condition that He lays of union with God : The humbler one is, the nearer he the condition no obstacle : tins is to God and to perfection": Quanta quis humilior existit, gifts and His action meet with " by the s is fulfilled humility. May the Lord vouchsafe tanto Deo vicinior et inperfeclione evangelica excellentior est . by to this happy state of " action of His Holy Spirit, to bring us i. ii-ii, q, clxi, a. 5, ad 4. — 2. Primum" in acquisition* virtulutn ascension of thedegrees potest accipi dupliciter: uno modo per modum removentis prohibits et sic hiimi- perfect charity, after having, by the litas primum locum tenet, Quae in quantum scilicet expsllit supcrbiam cut Deus of humility, cleansed our soul from sin and vice : rcsistit et praebet hominem subditum et palatum ad suscipiendum influxvm. mimdum a peccatis el vitas dtvtnae gratiae, in quantum evacuat inflaiionem supcrbiae. Et secundum hoc, Dominus jam in operarium suum humthtas dicitur spiritual aedificii fundamentum. (a. 5, ad s.) The holy Spirilu Sancto dignabitur demonstrate! Doctor next shows in what sense faith is said to be the first of virtues. Cf. Faith, the foundation of the Christian Life, in Christ, the Life of the Sou!, and supra p. 95. See too above, pp. 215-217, the teaching of St. Bernard. The IX. Abbot of Clairvnux expressed the same idea as the holy Patriarch: "Oh! how great must be this virtue of humility seeing that it can so easily attract means of and draw down to itself even the It me to point out some Divine Majesty ! How quickly the name now only remains for expressive of reverence has been changed for the name inspired by love 1 attaining indispensable virtue. , lth what celerity this most has He drawn nigh, Who awhile since was so far qtmlem etprmct- remote! cito revereniiae prayer : Primo nomtn in vocabvlum amicitiae mulatum est; et qui The first of all means is longeeral, i» drevi foetus est prope. (In 2 of humility is a Cantica, xliii, translated by a Priest paliter . high degree of Mount per gratiae donitm A Melleray). in drevi et cito can be coupled with the mox of bt. .Benedict. — 3. Canon vitae IbicI a 6 ad 2- spirilualis, - - c. 7. 1. Enarrat. in Psalm, cxli, c. 7. — * s - Thom - ' HUMILITY 2 244 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 45

" monks find in the liturgy a great means of knowing gift of God, as is a high degree of prayer. Our Lord Him- We the Psalms, " " God's perfections. . In which form the ground- self, says St. Teresa, supplies (acts of humility) in a way the Divine Office, the Divine perfections are displayed very different from that by which we could acquire them by work of eyes of our soul by the Holy Spirit Himself with "bur own poor reflections, which are as nothing in comparison to the incomparable wealth of expression. We are therein at every with that real humility arising out of the light Our Lord 1 " moment invited to admire God's greatness and plenitude. here gives us . God Who infinitely desires to give Himself When we say the Divine Office well, our soul little by little to us will certainly not reject our prayer, if we beg of Him assimilates these sentiments expressed by the Holy Spirit to take away the chief obstacle that is opposed to His action on the perfections of the Infinite Being. in our souls. Let us often beseech God for that spirit of reverence which is the very root of humility and is one of the most striking Finally, one of the most important means is the contem- ^ characteristics of our Holy Father's humility of Christ through faith, spirit titnore 2 plation of the Jesus, and : Confige tuo cames meas . Let us beseech Him the dispositions of His Sacred Heart. The to show us, in the light of His grace, our union with that He is all and " great monk Blosius writes, that this contemplation is the that without Him we are nothing ; one ray of IDivine light 1 " means for healing the wounds of pride . can do more in this way than any reasoning. Humility most efficacious Blessed Angela of Foligno says that when she saw the state might be called the practical reflexion of our intercourse had an with God. A soul that to which Jesus was reduced as to His Manhood, she does not frequently enter into contact a inkling for the first time of the greatness of her pride . with God in prayer cannot possess humility in a high degree. If, More than once, in the course of the chapter that he even once, God gave us to perceive, in the depth of our soul, consecrates to humility, St. Benedict recalls the example of in the light of His ineffable Presence, something of His find Christ : he tells us to consider Him that we may greatness, we should be filled with intense reverence for Jesus Him the in Him the model of this virtue. Let us then contemplate ; groundwork of humility would be acquired and we should our Divine Saviour for a few moments. In Him humility only have to guard faithfully this ray of Divine light for was rooted in the reverence that He had for His Father. humility to be developed and kept alive in us. Let us The soul of bathed in heavenly light, saw the Divine often give ourselves up to the consideration of the Jesus, Divine perfections their plenitude, and this sight gave rise to perfections, not in a philosophic manner for the in satisfying Isaias says " the Spirit o. of the mind, but in a prayer and contemplation. intense and perfect reverence. " know how Our Believe me says St. Teresa, " the Lord shall rest upon Him, and you we shall advance more (the Et baint passage of the Prophet : is speaking of humility) by contemplating the Divinity Lord applied to Himself this requiescat super Spiritus Domini. But when he comes ping0ureyes fixed on ourselves, poor creatures of eum earth!fw(that uses a more powerful expression: we are... I believe we shall to speak of fear, the Prophet never learn to know " be ourselves except Et replebit Spiritus timoris Domini: He shall by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding eum 3 " What is His greatness fear. of the Lord . we are struck bv our own baseness, His purity filled with the spirit of the shows ? It was not our foulness «. " this fear that filled the soul of Christ Jesus This is so true ! The consideration of chastisements 6ry m7 terror it question of the fear of "^ Produce a passing sense of humility, ; for could not be w ^ & God: Christ, enjoying WlUCh is an habitual Neither was it the. fear of offending disposition, does not tins ?«n«S- J?""' r What then was '' the Beatific impeccable. erence towards God is the one cause that Vision, was canr»? .begetwV S?the ?I fear towards the Divine Majesty. virtue, and above all render ? Respect and adoration it stable*. reigns m And even now, although the Manhood of Jesus

ti medeberis fl "'-"' He m '*- character Benedictine t. ulcenbns superbiac ;.*" tttoM£-^Tkf&&C%i^r i <* ,. Nulla alio efficaciori remedio ?£Mansions, ch. Ncqut.ernm **» ^£ Benedictines ' *» 2 . Translated by the Utatm animi ponas. of Stanbrook 10 1 Salvatoris tibi ob acuta spv*V&jSjw*«, of 7 4 To sep ur souI in the lowliness corde Canon viae humility, it is tmdoubt^iv f.'wZi ; h ? dixit; DiseUe a me quia milis sum et humilis to co"s,der " on Hi, bumihty we our - what we are : of meditating misery/our the sifjht c 1. Saint : (/. c.) By deficient olf^u , Teresa said the same 1S W U calcu'ated to See also^ ». Benuirn. place and bring «s back to put us in our right find how very far we are from beinff humble. 1% £ 3- and His /' w ver the consideration. of God Epiphania, Visions, 13, 1, ch. 30. perfSns is a mom li"' ?? ,? Serrao I, 7. — 2. The Booh of humility* D. £S&4 l»Kf, Rift SS!"^^ «» V2-3. HUMILITY 246 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 247

" gloria Patris, His soul remains lost in perfect reverence. true humility we have no confidence in ourselves, as of " sufjicientes simus cogitate Christ is and remains the great, the only perfect adorer ourselves : Non quod aliquid a nobis our power comes of the Blessed Trinity. His Humanity is that of a God, woks QUASI ex ; from God Who, supernaturally, gives us being, life but this Humanity was created, and as a creature it ever naturally and and move- nostra ex Deo est... 1 In ipso enim humbled Itself before God in infinite reverence. ment : Sed sufficientia 2 It was likewise to expiate our pride and to show us what vivitntts, movemur ct sumtts . And this power extends to all our humility ought to be, that Christ descended to the things, because we have boundless confidence in the merits lowest depths of humiliation. Christ does not tell us to of our Divine Head, Christ Jesus. claim to draw their power from themselves, learn humility from the Apostles, nor from the Angels ; no, The proud who " He tells us to learn it from Himself. In proportion to the commit the sin of Lucifer who said : I will ascend into height of His Majesty is the depth of His humility. " Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... He " 3 Lucifer mil be gave Himself unto us as an example of humility... when I will be like the Most High. Like they ' ' se exallat, He said Learn of Me for I am meek and humble of heart. overthrown and cast down into the abyss : Qui ...Look deep down into the depth and usefulness of this humiliabitur*. But what do we say ? That without Christ, doctrine and regard the sublimity and worth of this instruc- we can do nothing as He has Himself declared: Sine me 1 " tion . nihil fiotestis facere. We declare that it is through Jesus, with Jesus that we can arrive at* holiness and enter into poor, miserable, X. Heaven ; we say to Christ : "Master, I am if naked, weak, of this I am daily more and more convinced ; If we frequently contemplate Christ Jesus in His Passion, Thou hadst treated me, at certain hours of my life, as I deserv- if wc are united to Him by faith, we may be assured that He ed I should be under the feet of devils. But I know too will I know make us participate in His humility, His reverence that Thou art ineffably powerful, great, and good ; towards His Father, and submission to His Father's Will. that the Father Thou lovest so much hath given all so- Neither let us forget this profound truth that the Sacred vereignty into Thy hands. I know that He hath placed in desire I Humanit)' ha<3 its motive power only in the Word to Whom Thee all the treasures of holiness that men may ; Thee. It was united. Its actions were truly Its own because the know that Thou wilt never reject those who come to Human. Nature in Jesus was perfect, but their value was Therefore, whilst adoring Thee in the deepest recesses of my satisfactions derived only from the union of the Humanity with the Word. soul, I have full confidence in Thy merits and ; by The Humanity referred to the Divinity the glory of all Its I know tnat altogether miserable as I am, Thou canst actions which were admirably holy. Thy grace shower Thy riches upon me, uplift me even to It ought to be the same for the Divinity, that I may be made like unto Thee and may us in the domain of our " spiritual activity. We can share in Thy Divine Beatitude ! do nothing oi ourselves ; let us be glorified : humble ourselves in beholding the Divine perfections and be It is the Father's supreme desire that His Son E glorify Our penetrated . never with reverence. We should next place all our Clarificavi et iterum clarificabo Now, we confidence by our whole life that in our union with Jesus Christ through faith and Lord so much as when we acknowledge humility Him throu He is the sole of every grace. Only true ' h Him with Him, Fount V?u tt & < we are the children ol the can to Jesus, for humble Heavenly Father. That is the source of this confidence render this homage to God and m which merits and have faith our lowliness finds its counterpart, and without souls alone feel the need of Christ's winch it cannot nourish such would be but imperfect humility and an occasion in them. Pride and false humility it does of from itself ; discouragement. To imagine that, even with Christ's sentiments. Pride looks for everything nelp we are not feel recourse to Christ. incapable of good actions; is to lose sight of the the habitual necessity of having greatness of Jesus' As to false itself incapable of everything, merits ; it is to lay open our soul to spiri- humility, it declares to tne tual distrust and even this it does a wrong despair which are the fruits of hell. By in presence of grace ; by s,v "' 1701 1. II Isa- »V, 13. — *•«* ' " ch 6 Cor. in, 5. — 2 . Act. xvn, 28. — 3.

: the soul merits of Jesus it casts down without glorifying soul advances in humble submission, it is raised towards God. Divine union. It is also raised towards heavenly glory. Christ Jesus said one day : Ego si exaUatus fuero a terra The law recalled by St. Benedict at the beginning of the chap- 1 iraham ad- meipsum . I shall be lifted omnia When up from ter is that laid down by Jesus Christ Himself, our Model. the earth, upon the Cross, My power will be such in this that I It is admirably verified Him ; but law touches all shall be able to lift up to Me those who have faith in Me. the members whereof He is the Head, and Christ prepares Those who looked upon the brazen serpent, in the desert, a glorious place in His Kingdom only for those who upon were healed ; thus those who look upon Me with faith and earth have participated in His Divine humiliations : Qui sc love will be drawn to Me, despite their sins, their wounds humiliat exaltabitur. and their unworthiness, and I will lift them as high as Heaven. I, Who am God, consented for love of thee to hang upon the Cross as one accursed. In return for this humiliation I have power to raise with Me even to the heavenly splendours whence I descended, those who believe in Me. I came down from Heaven, I shall ascend thither taking with Me those who hope in My grace. This grace is so powerful that it can unite thee to Me, and unite thee so indissolubly that no one can snatch out of My hands those whom My Father has given Me, those whom I have, through pure mercy, 2 redeemed with My precious Blood . What a perspective full of consolation for the humble soul is that of one day sharing in the exaltation of Jesus, owing to His merits ! St. Paul speaks to us in sublime terms of this supreme exaltation of Our Lord, the counterpart of " His abasements. Who being in the form of God emptied Himself... For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names : that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth : and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father" : Semetipsum exinanivit... propter quod et Dcus exaltavit 3 ilium . It is because Jesus humbled Himself to suffer the ignominy of the gibbet that God has exalted His Name to the highest.heavens. Sublime is the glory, sovereign is the power which the Man-God enjoys Sea at the right hand of the Father -in eternal glory. A ?i- - And this, incomparable triumph is the fruit of an incommen- surable humility. We here find again the whole teaching of our Holy Father. Me too tells us that in order to arrive at that exaltatio caelestis where the soul is absorbed in God, it is necessary to pass through humiliations. Here below, humility leads us from the renouncing of sin to the fulness of charity : Mox ad. carilatem perfectam perveniet. In the measure wherein the i. Joan 32 . ,_ , «, 3 Cf. Joan, x, . _ 29 3 . Philip, «, ? and 9. :

BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 251

humility. Therefore a soul is obedient in proportion to her humility, and humble in proportion to her obedience... Without this nurse (which is humility) obedience would 1 XII. _ BONUM OBEDIENTIAE . perish of hunger, for obedience soon dies in a soul deprived 1 ." of this little virtue of humility This obedience completes the work of abolishing any humility Summary. — Obedience is the practical expression of in obstacles yet opposed to divine union. Poverty has removed the monk. — I. Christ brings humanity back to the Father " the danger accruing from exterior belongings ; the con- by His obedience; every Christian must be united to this version of manners " represses the tendencies of concupiscence obedience in order to attain to God.— II. For the monk, and is careful to eliminate, in a general manner, all that, too, obedience is the path that leads to God. — III. The high speaking, is imperfection ; humility, going still concept that St. Benedict has of this virtue. — IV. Why he properly " " the root of the matter, refrains all inordinate calls it a good : Bonum obedienliae. — V. How this virtue further to constitutes for the monk an ineffable means of acquiring self-esteem. What yet remains to be overcome ? Self- perfection. — VI. Principal qualities that St. Benedict will. That is the citadel of the "ego." But once this Alieno requires in the exercise of this virtue : faith. — VII. will is surrendered, and it surrenders by obedience, all is obedience judicio ambuiare. Fruitfulness and greatness of given. The soul has nothing more belonging to it.nothing guided by faith. — VIII. Obedience should be sustained by that it any longer possesses as its own ; God can henceforward hope. — IX. St. Benedict desires that above all it proceed exercise His action over it in all plenitude : there are no from love. — X. Different deviations from this virtue ; why more obstacles opposed to His Divine action. St. Benedict is so strongly opposed to murmuring. — XI. The lives in the truth of his being vigilance we must have In order to live perfectly according to 3y perfect obedience, man is fundamental this virtue. and of his condition : that is why this virtue so and so pleasing to God. God, Who is the plenitude of Being, Who has no need of anyone or anything, created man foundation of spiritual life is, as we have seen accor- freely and by a movement of love. From this primordial fact, The derived ding to St. Benedict and St. Thomas, constituted in the essential relations between ourselves and God are ; some way by humility, this virtue being the a creature is something essentially dependent upon God " " ipso vivimns, preliminary and necessary disposition for the state "of perfect In Him we live, and move, and are : In 2 going against charity to be established in the soul : mo'x ad caritalem Dei et movemur ct sumus . Hence it would be 2 condition by our entire perveniet Mam quae perfecta [est] . the eternal law not to recognise this But,as our Holy Father has shown, the practical expression dependence in regard to God. What is the cry that should creatures ? of humility, with the monk, is obedience. Indeed, when burst forth from the very depths of our being as " ! And why ? the soul is full of reverence towards God, it submits itself Venite, adoremus : Come, let us addre the Lord

" " made us : Est to God and to those who represent Him, in order to do For He is the Lord our God : and He has will all 3 creatures we ought to His in things : Humilitas proprie respiat reverentiam Dominus Deus nosier . As reasonable qua homo Deo subjicitur... propter quern eliam aliis humiliando express our dependence by adoration and the submission of se subjicit z obedience throughout . Now this is obedience. This virtue is the fruit obedience. We see God requiring this 4 of the .. and crown of humility . Obedience, said the Eternal Father the history of the human race, at each page obedience to St. Catherine of Siena, in one of the dialogues He vouchsaf- The great saints of the Old Testament shine in ; " Abraham, ed to have with her has a nurse who feeds her, that is true we hear them ever renewing the cry repeated by " s Here I ani I Christ i. Rule, ch. lxxi. — 2. Ibid. cb. vn. — S. the father of believers : Adsum\ 3. Thorn. 11-ri, q. cLxr, a. 3 ; " a. 1 ad 5. — 4. The consideration of of God hence- God's perfections is inseparable from coming upon earth renders us i:he children ; that of His rights. Now is it not just that if God exercises His rights by of meaning, enacting laws, forward our obedience has taken a new shade man should respond to them by an active submission ? Obedience will be born of humility as its eldest daughter, inclining us to 283-284, 302. TbeDjig{' submit 1. Dialogue translated by Algar Thorold, pp. ourselves not only to God, but to superiors and events, because in The Saint relates m magnificent " contains an excellent treatise on Obedience. them we shall see reflected the perfections and absolute the Eternal i-atner. rights of the Creator. terms, the praise of obedience as she heard it from D. Lottin, L dme du Culle, la verlu de religion, p. 44. Gen xxn *» **• 2, Act. xvn, 28.-3. Ps. cxiv, 6-7. — 4. - > 252 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 253

character : it is an obedience full of love ; " a new but this "Father if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me : Pater, special seal placed upon our obedience, while giving it a si vis, transfer calicem istum a me; but His reasonable will its " special splendour, takes away nothing of fundamental remains submissive to the Divine decree : Yet not My will, " character which links it to humility and imbues it with re- but Thine be done : Verumtamen non tnea voluntas, — sed verence and religion. 1 tua fiat . He is presently arrested as a malefactor; he If obedience is infinitely pleasing to God it is no less could deliver Himself from His enemies who at a single word beneficial to the soul. God reigns as Master and Sovereign from Him are thrown to the ground ; He could, if He so in the obedient soul, but as a Sovereign Who is infinitely willed, ask His Father Who would have given Him " more good and lavishes His gifts and graces upon it. than twelve legions of Angels, " but He desires only that Obedience is named in the last place in the formula of His Father's will, as manifested by the Scriptures, shall be our monastic profession ; in our Vows it occupies 2 supreme fulfilled to the letter: Sed ut adimpleantur Scripturae , and rank. Let us then study its source — its nature — the therefore He gives Himself up to His mortal foes. He qualities it ought to have — and from what deviations it obeys Pilate because, although a pagan, the Roman gover- must be preserved. 3 nor represents the authority from above . He obeys His

executioners ; at the moment of expiring, in order to fulfil r. " " a prophecy, He cries out : I thirst : Postea, sciens Jesus quia omnia consummata sunt, ut consummaretur Scriptura The principle that makes obedience so necessary for us i dixit : Sitio . He does not die until all has been consummat- as monks is that this virtue resumes, in itself the of incli- means ed by a perfect obedience : Dixit: consummatum est, et finding God. Why have come to the D we monastery ? What nato capite, tradidit spiritum . The Consummatum est is the is our object in living here ? There is but one : to seek God, most true and adequate expression of His whole life of to tend towards Him with all the energies of our being. obedience. It echoes the Ecce venio of the moment of His But as we have often remarked, it is by following Christ Incarnation. Jesus that we find it is God, for He alone who brings humanity Now, says the Apostle, as it was through Adam's disobe- back to God : Ego sum via ; nemo venit ad Patrem nisi -per dience that became sinners and the enemies of God, so 1 we Me . And how does Christ achieve this gigantic work ? it was through this obedience of Christ that we are justified By His obedience. and saved. A great disobedience and a great obedience are He declares that has not He come to do His own will the two factors of the loss and salvation of the human race. but that of His Father sent 2 Who Him ; obedience is as This is the explicit teaching of St.Paul: sicut per inobedien- > it were His daily bread : Meus cibus est ul faciam voluntalem tiam unius hominis peccatores constitutl sunt multi, ita et per eius 3 6 qui misit me . During thirty years He obeys two crea- unius obeditionem, justi constituenhtf multi . tures, Mary and Joseph: Et erat subditus Mis*. Despite This obedience of Christ is the means preordained by God the transcendency of His Divinity, although He is the for saving the world and restoring to it the heavenly inhe- supreme Lawgiver and could have dispensed from His own disobedience of Adam, ritance ; it was an expiation for the laws, He will fulfil them even to the least detail : Iota unum uniting our obedience our first father ; and we go to God by aut unus apex non praeteribit a lege, 5 All donee omnia fiant . We to that of Christ Jesus, become the Head of our race. see Him seeking above all things soli- to do always, under every Adam's miseries have fallen upon us because we had circumstance, what pleases His Father : Quae placita sunt ei all the blessings that darity in his sin ; we have a share in facio semper 6 He accepts the Passion share because it expresses overflow from the holy soul of Christ Jesus when we His Father's will : Sicut mandaium dedit °ur mihi Pater sic facio''. in His obedience. All the economy of God's designs for And see how this obedience especially His shines out in sanctification converge for us in a state of obedience. When sufferings. During that terrible three- to hours' agony, all the the Father sent His Son upon earth, what did He say sensitive part of His being shrinks from the bitter chalice : ye Him. the Jews ? " This is My beloved Son. Hear xix, 1 xix, n. Ibid, Ibid V1 38 T bid ,V - t. Luc. xxii, — 2. Marc, xiv. 49. — 3- Cf. Joan, — 4- ' - 3 Luc. ii, i. 4s. * ~ " - ' 3.4- - 4- 5 5.< WuST'v*Matth. v, V-18. ~t T r — 6. Joaa. IV, 34-^-7- Joan, xiv, 31. 38. — 5. ibid, xix, 39. — 6, Rom. v, 19. ; ;

THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 254 CHRIST, BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 255

l . to to : " Ifisum auditc As much as say them Do what My ever. At these words, His listeners are divided into two

; obey : that is all I ask in order Son bids you Him to give groups. The one begins to reason : these are the Pro- friendship. " you My testants : quomodo? How can this man give us His flesh left us ascended " Now that Christ has and into Heaven, to eat ? Now how does Jesus act in the face of this reason- He has given His powers to the Church: Data est mihi ing ? Does He give any explanation ? No, He contents omuls fotestas in caelo et in terra; euntes ergo docetc omncs Himself with affirming what He has just said with more 2 " gentes servare omnia quaecumque mundavi vobis . All power insistency. Amen, amen, dico vobis.. "Amen, Amen, I say has been given by Father go then in virtue of Me My ; this unto you : Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and power that I delegate to you, teach all nations to keep My drink His Blood, you shall have not life in you. " Then commandments. He who hears you, hears Me ; he who longer finding this " reasonable, " Bunts est hie sermo " no despises you despises Me. et quis potest earn audire, they leave Christ : Jam non cum The Church is invested with the authority of Jesus Christ Mo ambulabant. But there is another group formed of the she speaks and commands in Our Lord's name ; and the Apostles. In these same circumstances what is their atti- essence of Catholicism consists in the submission of the tude ? Do these disciples understand any better ? No, intellect to Christ's teaching transmitted by the Church, but having faith in Christ's word, they remain with Him to and in the submission of the will to Christ's authority exercis- follow in His steps throughout all : Domine, ad quern ibimus? ed by the Church. 1 verba vitae aetemae habes . It is in this that the difference lies between Protestants Such is the attitude that procures salvation : to listen to and Catholics. This difference indeed is not measured by Christ, to listen to the Church, to accept her doctrine and the greater or lesser sum of revealed truths admitted by one submit oneself to what she directs : who despises her, despises or the other; certain Protestants accept materially nearly Christ. This is why Protestants do not belong to Christ's all our dogmas, and yet they remain Protestants to the 2 flock ; these sheep obey themselves, they follow their own marrow of their bones. The difference is much deeper and personal caprices, and do not hear the Shepherd's voice. more radical. It practically lies in the attitude of _ depen- Thus Christ does not recognise them : Non eslis ex ovibus dence, of obedience of the intellect and of the will 5 in regard meis . v to the living authority of the Church which teaches and Obedience of intellect and will is then the way of life for governs in the name of Christ the Son of God. The Catholic every Christian, for every soul: Qui vos audit, me. audit*, accepts the Church's dogma and regulates his conduct ac- qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen cording to this dogma because he sees in the Church, and 5 Father only vitae . We are the children of the Heavenly her head the Sovereign Pontiff, another Christ. The Pro- on condition of hearing His Son Jesus ; and, here on earth, testant admits such or such a truth because he discovers we obey Christ in the person of the Church; this is the it or imagines — himself to do so — by his personal lights. supernatural economy instituted by God Himself; apart Claiming the right of private interpretation and reading the from tliis way of obedience in the faith, there is no salvation Bible according to his reason alone, he takes or leaves what possible. " No One, " said the Father to St. Catherine of he will : each one then, keeping his faculty of choosing, is Siena, " can enter into eternal life unless he be obedient his own sovereign pontiff. The Protestant admits, the Ca- for was unlocked the door obedience was the key with which " tholic believes. As soon as the Church speaks, 8 the Catholic which had been iastened by the disobedience of Adam . submits in all obedience as to Christ Himself. Recall the scene in the Gospel described by St. John in II- his 6<» chapter, Jesus speaks to the multitude of people whom He had miraculously fed on the previous true of the day. He What is true of the Christian is, a fortiori, announces to them the Eucharistic Bread : Father Ego sum fanis monk. Christ Jesus brings humanity back to His vivus: " I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of iu regard to those this Bread, he shall live for 1. Joan, vi, 41-69. — 2. Reservation of course made Church. Joan, x, 20, i. who, being in cood faith, belong to the soul of the — 3. Matth. xvii, 5. — 2.' Ibid, xxvm, 18-20. Obedience, ch. 1. 4- Lue.x, 16. — 5. Joan, vm, 12. — 6. Dialogue; 0/ 256 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 257

" obedience ; every one must unite himself " by His to Christ of a complete imitation of Christ Jesus. For love of God, find in His obedience in order to God. Neither in this, as pro Dei amore \ to give God greater glory, they seek a more in anything else, does Christ separate ^ Himself from His exacting obedience than is imposed upon the simple faithful. the Christian must take his share in Mystical Body ; obedience An infallible supernatural intuition has revealed to them in his and accept it union with Divine Head. that it is more just, and they thereby give more adoration Our holy Legislator teaches no other doctrine than that and more love to God. of Christ and St. Paul. His words on this point are but By his profession, the monk strives to submit all that is in the direct echo of the Gospel and the teaching of the great him to Christ ; he does not wish anything to subsist that can Apostle. At the very beginning of the Prologue he points be an obstacle to union between him and Christ ; he wants out to us what is to be our end: "To return to God." to surrender to Him his whole being and every detail of his Immediately afterwards he indicates the means : we must life, because his adoration and his love aim at being perfect. return to God by obedience since it was by the sloth of dis- As long as we hold the citadel of self-will we have not " obedience that we turned away from Him. To thee surrendered everything to God; we cannot say to our Lord " therefore, " he adds, words are now addressed that " all my in all truth : Behold we have left things and have follow- renouncing thine. own will in order to fight for the Lord 2 " ed Thee . When we give ourselves by obedience we ac- Christ, our true King, dost take in hand the strong and bright complish a supreme act of adoration and love towards God. " weapon of obedience. St. Benedict knows but one way of Indeed there is one thing that is sacred to us even in God's leading us to God : this is by union with Jesus Christ in sight. God touches our goods, the beings dear to us, our " His obedience : Let the brethren is life know that it by the health, our existence ; He is the absolute Master of and " path of obedience they shall come to God : Scientes per respects, namely, our death ; but there is one thing that He hanc OBEDIENTIAE viam se iiuros 1 ad Deum . liberty. He desires, with infinite desire, to communicate This obedience certainly, first of all, has for its object the Himself to us, and yet the action of His grace is, if I may natural law strictly and the Christian law. We are only thus express myself, subordinate to our acquiescence : that monks if first we are honest men and perfect Christians. is, in a very real sense, our liberty is sovereign. Now, in The monk submits himself to Christ in the person of the religious profession, we come before the altar, we take Church as does the simple Christian. But he goes further. precisely what is most precious to us and out of love for The obedience of the Christian while imposing certain sacri- ' God, in order the better to confess His omnipotence, we im- fices upon human nature, and certain fulfilled, this " Isaac " this duties to be molate to Him, in union . with Christ, leaves intact the free disposition that the individual has over darling of our heart which is our liberty, and we give God his fortune, business, time and activity. Simply Christian full domain over our whole being and activity. Failing obedience is limited to the precepts contained in the martyrdom which is not at our disposal, we immolate our- Decalogue, and the commandments of the Church, which, selves as far as it depends upon us, by the . are themselves completed by each extremely pleasing one's duties of state. The sacrifice is immense ; it is besides God asks nothing more in order " exterior posses- to give His heaven : Si vis to God. To leave the world and give up ad vitam ingredi, serva 2 " some- mandala . sions, says that great monk, St. Gregory, "is perhaps But there are souls whom love constrains to follow Christ himself, to immolate thing still easy ; but for a man to give up more closely, Qui nihil sibi entire liberty a Christo carius aliquid existi- what is most precious to him by surrendering his want 3 , that they may share His life what one has 15 of obedience more is a much more arduous work : to forsake intimately. " These souls hear the counsel If is, that is the supreme of Jesus. a small thing ; to forsake what one thou wilt be perfect, " 3 He go sell what thou hast; ...and come gift. Without this gift, the sacrifice is not entire. follow Me": Veni, sequere Me*. These souls have been more Elfottasse laboriosum nonest enlightened from , 1. Rule.ch. xix, 27.-3. above upon the Divine attributes, vii.— 2 . Matth. Minus homini est rehnquere semeltpsum. upon the greatness of life relinquere sua, sel valde laboriosum a of perfection, upon the sublimity est Juod est. quippe est abnegate quod habet; valde autem nullum Abnegate Book Specml »omil. 32 in Evang. L. 1233. Cf. St Mechtilde. The of i. Rule, ch. lxxi. 2. Matth, xix, Pi 76, if. 3. Rule, ch. v. — 4. Matth. Grace, in His anns those who vow xix, 21. > part> cif. jcVin. How our Lord clasps obedience. :

25B CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 259

" is not detached from all, "said another holy monk, who character. Without ceasing to be the object of a vow and still retains himself ; moreover, it serves for nothing to relin- of a virtue* it is a means for arriving at a particular, special " quish every thing unless he relinquish himself : Non enim end, fixed by the constitutions of the said 'institutes. Thus relinquit omnia qui retinuit vel scipsum ; imo vero nihil prodesi such an Order or Congregation has for its special end the 1 sine seipso caelera reliquisse . evangelising of the heathen, another teaching, a third preach- ing. Obedience concurs in carrying out the particular work III. to which these iastitutes are dedicated. Those who belong to these Orders and submit themselves generously to this It is to be remarked that the gift we thus make of ourselves obedience for love of our Lord surely attain holiness, because*, on the day of our profession subjects us to a definite obe- for them, it is the vocation to which Christ has called them. " " " dience ; we vow obedience according to the Rule of St. Be- With St. Benedict, obedience has not this economic nedict" : Pro?niUo... obedientiam secundum Regulam S. P. N. character. It is to be desired in itself as the soul's homage to 2 Benedicti . Consequently, we must well understand the holy God, independently of the nature of the material work which Patriarch's concept of religious obedience. For there is obe- is its object. Let us suppose that the postulant in presenting dience and obedience ; and as this virtue is one of the prin- himself at the monastery puts this question to the Abbot " " " ciples of our life, if the idea we form of it is erroneous, all What do you do here ? He will be told : We go to our monastic existence will be falsified. There is an erro- God by following Christ in obedience. " That is the sole end neous conception of obedience which no religious soul could pursued. Such is certainly the teaching of our Holy Father, accept. This conception makes of the superior a sage, an from the first lines of the Prologue which we have recalled. 1 expert whom one has promised to consult, and to whom To seek after God, 5* revera Detim quaeril , that is the one goes out of prudence to learn what has to be done, and characteristic of the Benedictine vocation. St. Benedict only in order to avoid errors and mistakes. What the superior writes his Rule for those who seek obedience that they may says is worth just he less what knows, neither more nor ; find God : Ad te ergo nunc mihi sermo dirigitur quisquis his personal knowledge gives all the weight to his replies. abrcnuntians fropriis voluntatibus... obedientiae... anna This 2 manner of seeing things, essentially rationalistic, would sumis . suit the spirit of ; of the idea of submission, . In instituting , the great Patriarch did not homage paid to God in the person of a man is totally absent. intend to create an Order exclusively destined to attain such The mere fact of mentioning this conception is sufficient to or such a particular end, or to accomplish such or such a condemn it. special work. He wished only to make perfect Christians of Neither could the Catholic sense of what is right be satisfied his monks and envisaged for them the plenitude of Christia- with a merely outward obedience, such as is sufficient in the nity. Doubtless, as we have seen, it has befallen that in the army. Although in each particular case, the immediate object course of ages, monasteries have become centres of civilisa- of obedience is exterior and the intention is . not seen by the tion, by preaching, the clearing and cultivation of land, superior, yet perfection demands that the monk should teaching, art, literary work, but this was but the outward animate the exercise of 3 his obedience by interior submission . blossoming, the natural and normal outcome of the fulness In religious obedience itself, such as it is conceived by of Christianity with which these monasteries were inwardly Holy Church, there are different modes to be distinguished. animated. Being vowed to God, the monks spent them- Of cause it is not here a question of criticising any one or selves in the service of the Church, and under every form anything whatsoever : all the religious orders approved by that this service demanded. But what they sought before the Church procure God's all glory and are pleasing to Him; all, was to give to God, for love of Him, the homage of our intention is _only to lay stress, by way of comparison, their being in obedience to an Abbot, as Christ, in coming on what is special in Benedictine obedience. In some in- into this world, only sought His Father's will, leaving to stitutes, obedience is strongly marked with an economic venio at His Father the determination of this will : Ecce : faciam 3 Deus voluniatem tuam . i. S. Petr. Damian. In natale S, Benedicti, P. L. 144, 5.10. — 2 , Ceremonical of Monastic Profession. — 3. See further on § vm and ix. i- Hebr. x, 7. Rule, ch. Lvjii. — a. Prologue of the Rule. — 3- s6o CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK SON.UM OBEDIENTIAE 261

How is this will determined for the monk ? By the Rule return to God and are sanctified. God derives His glory It is for the Abbot, inspired by the to the Crucified and the Abbot. Rule from our submission ; and it is by means of its traditions, to fix the direction of the and respecting acti- this submission that He gives us His grace : Scientes per heme vity of the monastery. Having, moreover, according to our obediential viam se iluros ad Deum. " " Holy Father's saying, to govern the monastery wisely, We can therefore understand why our holy Lawgiver calls watchful to ": 1 he will undoubtedly be see how he may utilise, obedience "a good Bonum obedientiae . What a remark- for glory and the benefit of the Church and society, God's able expression ! Does this mean we naturally like to obey ? " the talents placed by God in each of his monks. as " But for No, quite the contrary 1 Then why is obedience a good,

, has the monk himself he nothing to arrange or determine in a thing that we ought to seek and hunger after ? Because

all this : he does not come to the to give himself Abbey to it is the path by which a God has passed, a path which one occupation rather than another, to discharge such or leads us to beatitude. Obedience gives us God. When we such a function that he finds suitable; to he comes seek do God's will, we are united to God ; by obedience we 1 in obedience. In this lies all his . God perfection embrace the Divine will ; this will is God manifesting Himself to us as Sovereign Master, received by us with adoration IV. and love. And as we come to the monastery to seek God and obedience gives Him to us, it becomes for us a precious 2 You may perhaps say : Is not this ? inconceivable nonsense good, for it gains us the sole Good . Is it not folly to submit oneself entirely in this way ? Yes, Thus our Holy Father strives, by his precepts or exhor- from the merely human point of view it is folly, as monastic tations, to procure this good for us as abundantly as possible. 3 " life taken as a whole is folly : " another that Vitctm illorum aestimabamits He wishes us to go so far as to obey one , insaniamK s of course, if the orders of superiors are not in question. " But, replies St. Paul in his energetic language the sen- He asks that the monk should obey even in undertaking sual man, " that is to say " 4 " us that we one who lets himself be guided by what is hard and impossible . He reminds " nothing but natural reason, perceiveth not these things are not authorised to do anything without the command of 3 " 5 that are of the Spirit of . even good works God What is foolishness in the the Abbot or of those delegated by him ; eyes of men is wisdom in the sight of God, and what is wisdom and mortifications are of no worth for one who performs in the world's sight is foolishness before the Lord. And it them unknown to the Abbot °. has pleased great Legislator God to confound the wisdom of the world with Whv so much insistence ? Because the works of 4 we shall divine folly . For the wise of this world, was it not is convinced that it is by the path of obedience for a folly and a scandal — the Greek philosophers of St. Paul's arrive at holiness. When the monk obeys in all things, amort, time already judged it to be so — for a God to have been love of God and in union with Christ Jesus, Pro Dei made man in order to redeem 7 summit of perfection; mankind and for thirty years imitans Dominum , he reaches the to have obstacles lived a life of obedience in an obscure workshop, for, as we have shown, there are no longer any and given have then consecrated three years to the labour of opposed to the Divine action for a soul unreservedly preaching before dying open to the influence upon a cross ? This was, however, up to obedience ; this soul is entirely the means chosen of all holiness, can out of all others, by God, Eternal Wisdom, of grace. God/Who is the Fountainhead for the salvation of His^ power . of the human race. And this loving obe- act within it according to the plenitude dience which the Sovereign was the mainspring of this life — a life which Christ reigns in it und'isputedly. He is closed as it soul. Then perfect had opened with a cry of obedience — had as Master of all the life and activity of the its object JJommus an existence full of toil, of deep humiliation, and union results, filled with divine communications : a death surrounded with 6 indescribable sufferings. But it regit me et nihil mihi deerit . was by this that the world was redeemed ; it is still thanks of S* Catherine of Siena, (0&£- to this 1. Rule, ch. lAxt. - 2. See in the Dialogue that the world continues is a good """=. to be saved, that souls diance, ch. x) in what an infinite measure obedience . 3- LXXt. «• ch. X UX. Ch. LXXt. _ 4. Ibid. Ch. LXVU1. - 5- Ibid. Ch. ~ J^ writings of S« Teresa at me D G 0r n The Ideal — 7. Ibid. ch. vii. — 8. See an extract from the ' *! °! the Monastic Life. Ch. n, Obedience. — a '*Wv :; i n 2. bap. v, 4.-3. I Cor. n, i«. — end of this conference. — 9. Ps. xxn I. 4. Cf. Ibid. 1, 30-21. f ;

262 CHIUST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 263

And where a spiritual good is concerned, of what dience. Now we have promised to follow his Rule that we It is this matter consequence is it whether it is found in doing one action may live according to his spirit. view of the practice in as are able, rather than another ? In the eyes of our holy Legislator, we must admit and put into far as we bring whether it he a question of a mission of confidence which because it is for us the path of perfection. In order to places us in full view, or an obscure action known to God us to holiness, our Blessed Father does not require of us are alone, what does it signify ? It is the matter upon which constantly repeated exercises whereby all our defects great corporal macerations, or rigo- obedience is exteriorly exercised ; the essential is the virtue, attacked one by one, or in this respect he is the homage we pay to God by our submission. For — rous and continual mortifications ; no, although there are evidently manifold degrees of intrinsic very discreet and full of moderation: Nihil asperum, nihil 1 that his Rule is of "admirable value among various actions, resulting from their very nature grave . St. Gregory remarks 2 in and their more or less direct relation with God's glory, — as discretion ." But the holy Legislator has especially root of regards our personal perfection and our own advancement in view _ and in this he goes as far as possible to the 3 obstacle the way of holiness, the merit of an action is measured, at the the matter — to despoil a man of all that is an for this reason last anafysis, by the degree of love wherein our obedience is within him to grace and the Divine action ; enveloped. Look at our Divine Saviour. Were those thirty absolute detachment is required of him, by means of poverty perfect hidden-years He spent at Nazareth less pleasing to His Father and humility, the latter being chiefly manifested by all attachment and less fruitful for the world's salvation than the three obedience. These virtues despoil the soul of plenitude may be years of His public life consecrated by preaching ? We to self and creatures, so that all liberty and salient charac- should not dare to uphold such an opinion. It was in left to the action of God. This is one of the underrating, obedience to His Father that Our Lord willed to remain teristics of St. Benedict's asceticism. Without mortifi- thus hidden so many years, and this obedience was the as we have seen, the value of personal practices of God, obedience of a God. cation in setting us free from vices that we may go to and chiefly Proportionately it is the same for us, since Christ is our he insists above all upon poverty, humility and to the Model. True wisdom, that which is the gift Of the Spirit, upon obedience. Full submission to the Superior surely to God, is to obey, to render to God the homage of our obedience, Rule is for the monk the way that leads most in all things whatever be the material work which is the object of this because a like humble and constant submission outlet to bad obedience and whereby it is manifested. For this reason such as our Holy Father requires, closes every are destroyed. our Holy Father says that true monks, those illumined habits and opposes them till in the end they for the monk with divine light, are only ambitious for eternal things, the Perfect obedience is the most authentic means depths of his being. things which alone are real : Qnibiis ad vitam aetemam of purifying himself to the innermost 1 " " the spirit indicated by the gradiendi amor inctimbil . They desire — remark the A monk who obeys perfectly, in " " word ; St. Benedict does not : support, obedience, say — xxxvi. 1. Prologue of the Rule. — 2. Dialog, lib. ir, c. - 3. as one seeks after a precious good that one take pos- of circumstances,"^[^ may carefulness never to go to extremes and to *^e accent dictate .to monks session of it. 2 nevertheless when S* Benedict Abbatem sibi praeesse desiderant ; they characterises the Holy Rule, and 1 .would bfrni m their duty of obedience, he shows himself categorical are upon the watch for occasions of obeying, and are thus How far the^cgukU'c-ns to seek for any compromise from him on this pomt. enabled Benedict leaves to ^ernme** <* to give to God the most effectual pledge of their are to be tempered In special cases, S im 3 to obey and not ^omm«.M the the monk love . Superior alone ; it is for bnngs us into touch with tne categorical manner 'of conceiving obedience... D. I. K^ndt,*.ssayonwe cenobitical sense of S» Benedict's asceticism.Benedtaaccordmgtoh^RuU^ character or the moral physiognomy of S' Mona*ticob^ience, |ucn Revue liturgique el tnonastigue, 1921, p. 203. penetrates to is prescribed by the Rule of S« Benedict, Such is the lofty concept that St. obe- of self-love^andseltWf^STat^B™5 ; Benedict forms of the soul and sets itself to destroy the very root of psycholog.cal PC^t-on ^ 1 e c v*. 2 Ibid this appears to be indeed the maximum * " ' 3> We at once see J£ . *>ow understood v?n .£' — — obedience, as 491. by ct Benedict, is permeated with M. Festugiere. See Revue Benedictine, 1912, P . "SL'l, to religion, and is, like humility, an eminently no rt S^esses *as religious virtue. " " that the religious obedience has made > Cf. above p. 223. One who is said the concept of "J. rderaer truly obedient, Benedict's time. It f"Sis woms^mro litomal tatner to S* Catherine, " ever the substance of the matter since S' o, retains the desire of submission v vn (3'" and 4 degrees contimially and unremittingly, " to be convinced of this, to read the chapters this desire is like an inward refrain ol music. Kuie. Dialogue, humility), xxxm, lviii, lxviii, lxxi, etc. of the ;

264 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 265

Rule, will quickly arrive at complete freedom from every as desires nothing so much as our that He wills ; and He trammel which holds him back from God. At the same time, holiness, a soul thus given and who never takes back anything he advances in virtue which, becoming stronger, renders from this gift, is upon the most sure path of perfection. more pliant under the Holy Spirit's action. Now him was You see how right our Holy Father is to insist so much it not this we came to seek in the monastery ? In this way thoroughly upon this virtue : let us try to understand the virtues hence increase, and progress all the other, towards he wishes to give to it. Obedience is a homage 1 character Divine union is assured . of perfect submission of all our being to God ; it is a good for the the surest to Obedience is then monk way holiness. must unceasingly strive to obtain, for in it we shall " which we St. Teresa calls it the road that leads most rapidly to the what we came to seek in the monastery, namely, God. " " find of perfection ; the most prompt and also summit the never lose sight of this capital point, our obedience 2 " If we most effectual means of arriving at perfection . When a and, will become easy, whatever be the command given ; mar achieves the work of giving himself entirely by obedience, through it, we shall obtain, with God, peace of soul and joy he receives the Infinite Good in an incomparable measure. and freedom of heart. This is what Christ Jesus said to that perfect nun who was so dear to Him — St. Gertrude. On the evening of Palm VI. Sunday she was meditating on the reception given to Jesus by His friends at Bethany, whither He had withdrawn in However, in order that obedience may thus become for the evening, and the desire burnt within her to offer hospita- the monk the channel of Divine. grace, it must be invested lity to Him in her heart. Immediately Christ appeared to with certain qualities. Our Holy Father evinces a real her: "I am here, " He said to the saint, wilt "and what complacency in detailing them, so much predilection has thou give Me ? " " Welcome, Salvation of soul, one my my this virtue. What then are these qualities ? There " " he for and only treasure, replied Gertrude ; alas ! I have pre- others are three principal ones from whence all the pared nothing that can befit Thy magnificence, but I offer supernatural, flow: the obedience of the monk must be Thee all my being, desiring that Thou wilt Thyself prepare be a trustful, and it must spring from love. It will then in me what shall best please Thy Heart." "Since practice of the three theological virtues of faith, " putting into thou givest Me the liberty, Christ said, " I will take it speaking hope and charity. As you see, we are especially but I need the key that My hand may find and may dispose humility from which qualities ; for obedience, like " " of inward of all that I wish. What is this key of which Thou hast When we have it is derived, resides essentially in the soul. need and that must he given to Thee ? " the asked. virtue, saint analysed the conditions of the inward exercise of this " It is " 3 "• thy self-will, replied our Lord . Hence the Saint and note we shall pass on naturally to its outward practice understood that Christ finds His delight in a soul wholly execution of the the qualities that accompany the material yielded up to Him, and keeping nothing back : it is by perfect work commanded. obedience that one gives to Christ the key that He demands. He then knows Himself to be the Master of this soul because to be supernatural, The first quality of our obedience is He holds the citadel which is its liberty *. all man obeys He can do faith : a that is to say accomplished in a spirit of *• ? Mechtilde "one day saw a train of virtues personified by virgins Himself. standing the Superior as if obeying God before God. One among them, more beautiful than her sisters, and with held much on this point, a golden cup into which the other virgins poured a fragrant wine which Our holy Legislator dwells v rgm ofiered kneeling, He tells us that the ct . to the Lord. Astonished at this sight, reason, for it is of capital importance. b „Mechtildew-, i was desirous of knowing its meaning when our Lord said to Chrtstt emm agere vtceyn ner: this Abbot represents Christ : [Abbas] virgin is obedience; she alone gives Me to drink, for obedience which contains within herself the last word: crechtur, riches of the other virtues : one who is truly obe- monasterio crediturK Note this dient must necessarily possess the whole of these virtues ' ". Our Lord then submission. The prompti- enumerated specifies that faith is the root of the different virtues, showing how they are necessarily to be deriv- found in the of St. Benedict, te perfectly obedient soul. The Book 0/ Special Grace. 1** Part., tude of obedience should, in the eyes en. without 35. — 2. Foundations, ch. 5. — 3. The Herald 0/ Divine Love, Book IV, obey, he says, en. ed from this spirit of faith. We must xxm. 4. Cod spoke in similar terms l " to S Catherine of Siena : I have " came from God made obedience the " " and as if the order key of the , whole delay : sine mora*; Kaymund edifice in very deed. Life by of Capua. . 1. Rule, ch. 11. — 2. Ibid. ch. v. : :

266 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 267 " Himself : Ac si divinitus imperetur, moram pati nescUtnt in jeling their powerlessness : Homines mortales, fragiles, l faciendo . The order does, indeed, come from God, as the 1 infirmi, lutca vasa portantcs . This is vexatious and painful Eternal Truth, which the great Fatriarch words of nature, but such is the way of Divine " to wisdom. Why, recalls, bear witness : He that heareth you, immediately once again, has God chosen these means, so humiliating for heareth Me. " He would have us never forget that '* the us ? -— for it is a humiliation to our pride and our which is given to Superiors is given to God " obedience spirit of independence to be subjected to another man, who Obedientia quae majorihus praebetur, deo exhibelur: ipse is not without imperfections, every man belying his own 2 enim dixit : qui vos audit me audit . 2 .- ideal : Omnis homo mendax . Why ? — God has thus is paid to God, in the order of supernatural Hereby homage decided thereby to exercise our faith, our hope, our love. things that God has Himself chosen to establish here below Him. God's ways are not our ways. to bring us to We Our faith first of all. You know it is befitting that the that, especially have more than once remarked since the free creature should not enter into participation of infinite Incarnation, God, in His relations with us, often acts through good without first undergoing the trial on which his merit men. This is to be seen in the Sacraments ; we can only is to rest. As for us, faith forms our trial : to live in the draw from them the^graces they contain by having recourse obscurity of a practical and active faith, such is the homage to men appointed by Christ to confer them upon us. Again that God requires of us. Obedience gives us the opportunity this is to be seen in the love of our neighbour which is the of showing God our faith in Him : obedience is the practical sign of the reality of our love for God. It is the same with manifestation of this faith. Indeed great faith,perfect faith, Divine it obedience. This economy constitutes as were a is needed, to maintain constant obedience to a man who, prolongation of the Incarnation. Since God has united it is true, represents God but does so while still keeping Himself to humanity in the Person of His Son, it is through his Own imperfections. And this is the source of deep virtue the members of His Son that He ordinarily enters into and great merit. communication with our souls. Such being the Divine Plan, One day when our own St. Gertrude besought Our Lord shall walk in all security in the of salvation and per- we way that He would Himself correct certain faults, alas ! too fection if we adapt ourselves to it ; to go aside from it is to apparent, in one of her superiors, Christ replied to her: withdraw ourselves from grace. " Do you not know that not only this person, but all who Why does God thus cause men to take His place with us .?. are in charge of this beloved congregation, have some defects? In order that our obedience inspired, by faith may be a hom- No one in this life is altogether free from imperfection. age rendered to merit. His Divine Son and may beget our This is an effect of My goodness, and I allow it in order that If to God were appear to us in" all the glory of His power, the merit of all may be increased. There is far more virtue where would be our merit in obeying Him ? God wills then in submitting to a person whose faults are evident than to that we should adore Him not only in Himself, not only in 3 " one who appears perfect . the Humanity of His Son Jesus, but also in the men whom When we look upon the Sacred Host, our senses cry out has chosen to us. infinitely He direct Doubtless it would be to us: "That is not Christ: only bread is there." We more agreeable for if us God were Himself to reveal what He see, we touch, we taste bread. But Christ has told us: desires of us in everything, angel " " or if He were to appoint an Hoc est corpus meum*,. This is My Body. Then, we put to do so.' Christ But what would be the result of this ? Most aside all the testimonies of the senses and we say to often, an extraordinary increase of self-love, or, in case " manifest — Thou hast said it, and I believe, Credo;" and to of our refusal, a not really more evident culpability. God has our faith we fall down upon our knees before Christ, chosen to act thus. His adore The means He has taken to imprint and substantially present' under these appearances ; we initiative on our life is that which St. Benedict recalls to us Him, we give ourselves up to Him to do His will. in citing these words of the Psalmist, Imposuhti homines 6 Christ Himself in our superiors. " In the same way , super a " capita nostra , Thou hast set men over our heads, " Ps. cxv, u. 3. men like to us, men who are mortal frail, infirm" and 1. S. Aufjustin. Sermo lxix, c. i. P. L. 38, 44°. — =• — Matth. xxvi 26. 5- D. G. Dolan. S' Gertrude the Great, ch. v. — 4- — i. Rule, ch. v. — 2. Ibid. Ibid. ch. Ps. — 3. vn ; lxv, iz. " " a simple analogy. This in the same way evidently implies only : ;

268 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 269

despite his imperfections, represents Christ for the The Abbot, the Veracity, the Wisdom, the Goodness, and Power of this point. is 1 St. Benedict is formal upon Christ hidden as to Himself . us. God it would be as much deny God under the imperfections and weaknesses of the man, as He is hidden under the sacramental appearances. But the Supe- VII. 1 rior is placed super candelabrum . By reason of our habitual contact with him, we naturally see his deficiencies and Our Holy Father, enlightened with the rays of divine light, " limitations, and then we are tempted to cry : This man efficacy of this means of bringing U9 is so convinced of the is Christ ; his judgment, limited as it is, is not infallible, requires not to perfection that, in obedience, he even of us " he mistaken, he is mistaken ; he cannot understand " another stto can be to follow the judgment and orders of : Non allows himself to be biassed. " my point of view ; he But arbitrio viventes, vel desideriis suis et voluptatibus obedientes a faith says again : Abbas Christi agere vices creditur; whether IMPERIO . is Sed AMBULANTES ALIENO JUDICIO ET There Christ gives us, as His representative, a man with the wisdom need to insist here, for sometimes we come across upright, of a Solomon, or a man without talent, it is', for faith, but simple minds that form an inexact idea of obedience. always Christ Who is represented. Faith discovers and They believe that the Superior can never be mistaken. touches Christ beneath the imperfections of the man.. And fallible and the merit This is an error. Every man is ; — " " then, if I have this faith, I say : Credo: I believe ; and. our initiative of our obedience consists precisely in placing I obey this man whomsoever he be, because in submitting fallible. in the hands of a man whom we know to be myself to him, I submit myself to Christ united as do. and remain It may happen that the Abbot does not think we 2 to Him : Qui vos audit me audit . the submission If he always thought like us, where would be Always thus to see Christ in the Superior, even if Superior then, of our judgment ? We should be convinced that the this Superior shows himself to us with all his failings, ever ideas that we is very sensible,... because. he had the same to obey him unfalteringly whatever be the circumstances, find what is ordered us is reason- have ! To obey, because we this requires of us strong : judgment. very faith because to be led able, is not obeying, but following our own always this supernatural so far by obedience without ever wavering Does this mean that we must give up our judgment is very hard and No. mortifying for nature. as to make all the judgments of the Abbot our own ? But it is certain, with a certainty that I do not fear to We cannot abdicate the light of our reason. Only, the to call divine, that the Lord cannot fail one who obeys in better placed Superior is already, humanly speaking, much this spirit of faith and is happy to offer the sacrifice of the Him than his inferiors for judging because oi his knowledge of his abnegation. On the day of our monastic profession decisions he possesses not case ; moreover, for taking his " we make a contract with God. : We say to Him My God, only the elements that escape us, but also the lights that are I have come here to seek Thee ; for love of Thee, I have not a myth. Let us wanting to us : the graces of state are left all things ; I come to lay at Thy feet my independence, suppose, however, that our reason evidently shows us things my liberty ; I promise from Thee to submit myself to a superior, under an altogether different light and point of view to obey him in everything, however contrary to my tastes can then those under which the Superior sees them : we and ideas his command " may appear to me. And God humbly expose to him our manner of looking at them says " to us on His side : I promise despite by'such you, the weaknes- St. Benedict whose supernatural spirit is tempered ses or even the errors of the one represents towards 3 But if who Me just good sense does not fail to suggest this to us . you, to direct you at each to step of your life, and to bring you, the Superior maintains his order, ought we, in order through him, to the one thing necessary that you seek obedience, theoretically to see things " realise the perfection of — perfect love and the most intimate union required. What with Me. as the Abbot sees them ? No, that is not If we observe our part of the contract, is absolutely see the thing it must be done then ? We may continue to beyond doubt that which God will observe His part : He has light from that under engaged speculatively under a different Himself to it, and His word is the word of a God : believe that our view the Abbot sees it ; we may theoretically Fidelis Deus*. To think the contrary would be to deny s. Rule, ch. v, 1. See text of'S 1 Teresa at the end of this conference. — i. Matth. v, 15. — a. Luc, x, 16. — 3- Ibid. ch. — . Lxvm. 3 I Cor. 1, 9, :

IDEAL OF THE MONK 270 CHRIST, THE BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 271 is better and more reasonable than what is commanded us. we pronounced the vow ; but we were only entering on the must obey perfectly in action, in the execution But we of path of the virtue. told to do ; we must besides be intimately what we are per- This virtue is only acquired and strengthened by corres- present case, in concrete, suaded that in the no spiritual ponding acts. Now, in the measure that we advance in our obedience, either for harm will result from the Divine maturity of mind or are inclined to take more initiative, our own soul, but only good will glory nor for come from we realise the more the truth of these words of the Psalmist it. It is this intimate persuasion that is necessary to obe- " recalled by our Holy Father : Thou hast placed men over 1 dience of judgment . " our heads : Imposuisti homines super capita nostra. Our Now, this persuasion is born of faith. Again, is it that holy Legislator gives us moreover to understand that obe- the Abbot is infallible or possesses infused knowledge? dience can become very hard to nature ; in his fourth degree of state " Assuredly not. The graces which he has the right of humility he speaks of hard and contrary things, even to expect from God do not go so far as to accord him this injuries \ " which may befall us in the course of obedience privilege. He can be mistaken, he is in fact mistaken at he warns us that " narrow is the way, " but he adds — 2 times ; but the one is never mistaken is " " who he who obeys : which leadeth unto life : ducit ad vitam . If indeed we for him the path is certainly straight that leads to God. submit with faith we may be assured, as St. Benedict guaran- And if the spiritual good which results for him and for his tees, that each of our acts done under these difficult circum- personal perfection from his obedience appears to him to stances will turn to good, and our virtue will go on strengthen- be less than it have if z triumphs would been the Abbot had not been ing : Sciai junior ita sibi expedire . God's glory in error, this is only in appearance. Real harm cannot be precisely in using men's frailty and errors for the good of done to his soul, for he gives an extremely pleasing homage those who trust in Him : Omnia cooperantur in bonwn*. to God. It is as if he said: " My God, Thou art so wise Our holy Father's words should then be ever before our and so powerful, fortiter et suaviter 2 more we see disponens omnia , and I eyes : Abbas Christi agere vices creditur. The am so convinced of Thy Divine attributes, that I affirm Thy enter into this life of faith, Christ in the Abbot, the more we " power of drawing my soul to Thee, in spite of the errors the more too will the Abbot become for us a cause of " that can " est obtemperanti- creep in at times in the orders of my Superior. eternal salvation and of perfection : Factus It is 5 incontestable, indeed, that God leads us to His love bits sibi causa salutis aetemae . by a through the very errors of men. He would intervene in a There is yet more. The man who yields himself up special way rather than allow His glory or our soul to suffer like obedience into God's hands can be compared to an real spiritual harm in the case we have been considering. arrow of election, shot by the hand of a mighty archer: In the e possesses this course of our spiritual life,. God will sometimes Sicut sagitta in manu potentis . The soul that permit the Superior to command us things that appear to supernatural suppleness of obedience is capable of great count us unreasonable or not quite prudent, or less good than those things, because if it can count upon God, God can we could imagine uses these : He will thus give us the opportunity of upon and be sure of it ; and very often, God stake. rendering Him this very pleasing homage of obedience of souls for work wherein His glory is particularly at judgment, and of hence renewing the tradition which we But He uses them through obedience, in order to preserve made to Him of our whole being ?om. vm on the dav of our profession. 1. Rule, ch. vii. — 2. Ibid. ch. v. — 3. Ibid. ch. wevm. — 4- individual At that blessed hour, in all the gladness of our donation, s8. " As experience shows so often, compulsion is best ^for the back on *ne 2" obedience and for the attainment of an object desired. Looking Vf appeared to us like child's play, although we had observation that some course that have gone by, I can testify from personal been " judgment at forewarned of things, hard ", et I against what in my w» and rugged Dura was obliged by authority to take, nave 5 the way, has proved in the event to aspera , whereby time I held to have been a better we go towards God. At that moment under obedience had been right. Even what I regarded as failures have 1 distinctly providently. results which I afterwards came to acknowledge as r. moments of weakness or^owar- Upon this subject we make our own the sentiments at oncemost safe and ...The real danger of failure comes when in most moderate or indirectly from the yoke or of one of the best modem ascetical writers, Mgr.Hedley, Bishop dico.we try to withdraw ourselves directly of Newport, condemning as perilous m tne in his excellent Retreat. See also the remarkable reflections authority. Spiritual writers are unanimous in expressed attitude even of passive °.PP° slt ' on by Abbot Delatte in his Commentary on the Rule oi S' Benedict. — extreme, from a spiritual point of view, an Of. " Rehgio Rchgtosi, en. xn. 2. Sap. vm, i. — 3. Rule, ch. lvih to constituted authority. Cardinal A. Gasquet, The Yoke of Obedience. — 5. Hcbr. v, 9. — Ps. cxxvi, 4. 272 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 273 them in humility. However high be the aim, the fully able, is unworthy of us and apart from the virtue of obe- obedient soul reaches it ; however arduous be the work dience. It is possible, in these cases, always to accomplish it accomplishes it to perfection, for the strong God is with materially what is commanded us by the Abbot, and yet never this soul which has at its disposition the very power of God to make a formal act of veritable obedience K We are therefore not surprised at the prodigies performed None of these natural motives ought ever to affect us. by those who, forgetting themselves and stripped of self Why so ? Because as soon as we place ourselves on the are invested by obedience with power from on high. A very natural plane, one man is worth as much as another, and remarkable example of this is given in the well-known the dignity of man commands him not to submit to another episode recounted in the Dialogues of St. Gregory. The creature, considered as such ; to do so would be to lessen young Placid having fallen into the Lake of Subiaco, St. Be- and abase himself. Never would I obey a man, were this nedict orders his disciple Maurus to go and pull the child out man a dazzling genius, if he had not received a participation of the water, and St. Maurus, in the promptitude of his in the Divine authority, hi' order to command me. But obedience, " walks on the water, and brings back St. Placid as soon as God says : "Such or such a man represents Me; safe and sound. were this man without talents, had he all the most crying It is this faith alone that can assure the security of natural defects, did this man belong to an altogether inferior our monastic life. As long as we see Christ in the Superior, race, I would yield myself to him, — as long as he ordered we shall participate, like St. Peter walking upon 1 the waves , nothing evidently contrary to the Divine Law ; in this in the Divine me immunity ; as soon as the breath of doubt latter case, he would no longer represent God. touches our heart, we shall sink. The soul who obevs in To obey thus is to raise oneself, for it is to acknowledge, laith in God's word is not supported solely by na'tural in order to bow down before it, but a single authority, that strength: Hi m curribus el hi in ;. eguis it has the right of before which all nations ought to lose themselves in adoration counting upon the very power of God : Nos autcm in nomine : to serve 2 — the authority of God. To serve God is to reign Domim . God thus is to rise above all human considerations, above Do not be natural contingencies even as far as the Supreme andSove- astonished in that I have insisted so much upon the is truly to be free, part that faith holds in reign Being, even as far as God; that religious obedience. It is a any most important part. to be strong, to be great, for one is not the slave of Faith makes our obedience safe and 2 regnare est . guarantees its fruitfulness creature, however high he may be : Servire Deo ; it also makes its greatness. raise But it is only faith, an intense, ardent faith, that can WOrId sometimes reproach us religious for x , iJTVbemg characterless, us to this level, and, above all, keep us there. servile or small-minded in face of autho- love the Superior ? Quite W S al ays read t0 Does this mean that we must not ;° - throw stonej; and very SSi,£ if ^ y , that our Holy Father " ] Wh Ie the contrary. Among the counsels lght itself be found at fault we need vn nl ? : " inspire love \ f T gives to the Abbot, is that he should study to m °- the WOrld in order - t0 be aware how often 3 Z InnK . quam timen ; to the ^ rather : Studeal plus awari m lts midst that want of character with which than fear" ? SmLT TT monks, he gives the precept to " love their Abbot with sincere ev i5it always without reason that we ?r? af™ ^ fi?? r " smim sincera et humili °f and humble affection : Abbatem LQ Us' confess that ^happily the reproach n0/V } S be UIld£Served in re ard sake g to those who routine, for the SiS-d i (? 1. "A religious may obey through mere habit, by one.leads Superi° : such a n There is in fact of of disposition • debasing fn ™ *! something a quiet life, or through mere slavishcess man t0 an obedient. Much less is Uj at religious °bey an0ther outwardly obedient life ; but he is not man when the latt" Re real, - Bishop Hedley. . aroSSriS f obedient who obeys to the eye, but rebels inwardly. . n> not sub- this ™? as ^presenting, in some ch. ordination of , *%£ ^ xix. Obedience. — 2. Roman Pontifical, Se S? l Demttrtadem)r.±.55, tbont {ad *5 y- To obey the Abbot because we expression is found in a letter attributed to S Leo have thP ZSf to the ground as regards eaS e 165. We see how the reproach of servility faUs * Same tastes as he has because spirit of faith ttert > the than this. The we Ll for , 1 obedient religious. Far more ?fm "atU? al s delivers man from all ymPath ^cause he animates this religious is the only moral force that Sentstalents y- possesses miiitarj thattouT^fwe admire, u servility whomsoever, — magistrate, because we find his orders are reason- in face of any superior true human dignity. The I. Matth. XIV, chief, prince — and it contains the secret of 20. 2 Ps Tiir S Cl .u: - — n least servile of men. 3. comes back f Sleaa fte ently . Catholic is at once the most obedient and the upon tnis point ia 'trelung ° ^ of obedienc"." Rule, ch. lxiv. :

274 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 275

1 " diligant . But this love itself must already is carilate be of Father to St. Catherine, patience ; impatience makes this love the supernatural order ; should certainly be known that thou hast it not... Disobedience has a sister manifested by obedience, but obedience ought not to have given to her by self-love and this is impatience... Patience its an affection that remains is as motive power purely in the and obedience are inseparable ; whoever not patient natural order. It is an obedience of faith that our holy has, by this very fact, the proof that obedience does not 1 " requires of us : the of Lawgiver commands the Superior dwell in his heart . must be carried out " as if they came from God Himself " Obedience quickened by supernatural confidence, infallibly Ac si divinitus imperettir*. If this is a living faith, it will draws down help from on high. St. Benedict is explicit on render obedience easy ; whatever be the order enjoined, it this point: when the Abbot commands us to do things will make us find God : that is the best recompense. difficult or impossible, the order must first of all be accepted. if we see that the burden altogether exceeds our strength VIII. Then we must make known, patiently and at the seasonable showing neither pride, Born of faith, religious obedience is sustained by hope. moment, the reasons of our incapacity, to these We have indeed already touched on this subject so need resistance, nor contradiction. If having listened persists in his of thinking not enlarge upon it, since, in a soul where faith is perfect, hope representations, the Abbot still way monk, says our Holy necessarily flourishes. We will therefore only say a little and maintains his command, the advantageous for about this. What is the r61e of hope in the exercise of Father, will: know that this command is in God's assistance: obedience ? To render us full of confidence in God's help, him and he will obey for love, confiding 2 obediat . especially in triumphing over the obstacles and difficulties Ex carHate confident de adjutorio Dei chapter so lofty, that may be foreseen and encountered in the execution of This admirable sentence concludes this full of discretion, devoted the task commanded. God cannot leave to itself a soul so firm and at the same time so hope that God that confides wholly in His grace. Look at Moses on Mount to obedience in "impossible" things. The " through Horeb. The Lord appeared to him and entrusted him with will be with us ought to sustain us, because it is delivering " obey. the children of Israel held in Egyptian bondage : love of Him that we " Come, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou mayst " bring forth My people. Moses is alarmed by the greatness IX. of this " mission : Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, " " which we have just and should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? The expression through love ", God " 3 " fundamental qualities, — and And answers : Ego-ero tecum: I will be with thee . quoted, marks the last of the our obedience. Henceforth intrepid, Moses went to the court of the Pharaohs this especially in relation to the motive — of offspring of humility, and you know the prodigies that God wrought by his hands Although he makes obedience the you will however to deliver the Hebrews. Ego ero tecum: we often read and gives it faith as its first inspirer, monastic these words in the lives of the Saints. Our Lord frequently remark that the holy Patriarch always presents dei amore omm repeated them to St. Catherine of Siena 4 and the Blessed obedience as an act of love: Ut quis PRO 5 tnat Bonomo is for the love of God , when He gave them commands: "Have no obedientia se subdat majori*: it " Certain lines fear, said He to the latter, " I shall be with thee. " He we submit to the Superior in all obedience. (Ch. v, yn, xvin, repeats these words to all of us, when obedience commands written by St. Benedict upon obedience low. us to do hard or impossible in his soul to act tor things : Noli timere quia ego xxii) reveal a deep-lying tendency enthusiasm for tecum sum*. Within him bunas as It were a restrained gives us, to his way of He with confidence, that virtue of patience God, for Christ, for love itself. According ; without which " inmost disposition *nich obedience is not perfect. The sign that thinking, obedience is not only an thou hast with prompu this virtue of obedience, " said the Heavenly inclines the monk to execute every command c Lxxn order requires tnat - ~~ 2> Ibid ch v the moral R™!l!i ^V - - - - 3- Exod. m, 12. - 4- Life, by tude and devotedness because y Capua, U»t exlatique Y M L -5 au XVIII* siicU. 1st Bicnhcurcme * binedktine h D <*" Bourg, 81-82, 6. 3> ' ' - ? - p. 141. — «*• "Vm - ~ ^ "Gen xxvi 1. Dialogue, On Obedience. Ch. 1 and 11. - 2. **, ch. vn. OBEDIENTIAE 276 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM 277

and this full obedience from the moment the inferior shall submit to the superior ; the obedience of this perfect love " " to the death of the Cross : the monk is to be an exercise or a perpetual effort of love... of the Incarnation even Obedience thus becomes the expression of an habitual dis- Usque ad mortem. position of unitive life by the conformity or perpetual Not only has He never for an instant hesitated to obey, l ". shrinking communion of the human will with the Divine Will but love draws Him, despite the sensible that He " His obedience : I have For, the Holy Lawgiver repeats to us that this virtue in feels towards the consummation of

" baptized : am I its perfection is only to be found in those who hold nothing a baptism wherewith I am to be and how 1 accomplished ? " It is with intense dearer to them than Christ " : Haec convenit Us qui nihil sibi straitened until it be 2 eat Pasch with His disciples -, a christo carius aliquid existimant . St. Benedict wishes desire that He desires to the inaugurate the Passion. If He deli- the monk's obedience to be the expression .of love ; and he that Pasch which is to it is that the world may know adds that in this above all we shall imitate Christ : pro dei vers Himself up to death, mundus quia diligo amore omni obedientia se subdat majori, imitans dominum that He loves His Father : TJt cognoscat 2 ) 3 is unutterable because this perfect de quo dicit Apostolus : 'actus obediens usque ad mortem . Patum . And this love cibus est tit The first act of the holy soul of Jesus in the Incarnation obedience is the very food of His soul: Mcus opus ejus*. was to dart through the infinite space that separates the faciam volurJatem ejus qui nihil me, ut perficiam created from the divine. Resting in the Bosom of the A similar sense of love ought to inspire the monk in " amore, omni obedientia Father, His soul contemplates face to face His adorable all his obedience : Ut quis pro Dei explicit upon this perfections. We cannot picture to ourselves that this con- se subdat majori. Our Lawgiver is very by faith templation could be, if I may so express myself, only specu- point. The obedience of the monk, enlightened bears to Christ, as the Model lative. Far from it. As the Word, Christ loves His Father, is to spring from the love that he after all in very deed, with an infinite love surpassing all compre- and mainspring of his submission. There is not more effectual hension. But the Humanity of Jesus is drawn into this any motive more essential and fundamental, than this ambition impetuous current of uncreated love and the Heart of Christ also, for making us perfectly obedient have^ we left all burns with the most perfect love that could ever exist. A to imitate Christ Jesus our Ideal. Why will, except to member of the human race through His Incarnation, Christ things, renounced all things,, even our own " habes... et vew sequere falls moreover under the great precept : Thou shalt love follow Him more closely : Vendequac b the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole me... Reliquimus omnia et secuti sumus te . 1." as far as the deatn soul.and with thy whole mmd,and with thy whole strength It is not an easv thing to follow Jesus an intense faitn, Jesus has perfectly fulfilled this commandment. From His of the cross. Only those hearts inspired by capable at u. first entering into the world, He yielded Himself up through hearts humble, steadfast and generous are footsteps of Christ love: Ecce venio... Deus mens volui et legem tuam in medio In order to march courageously in the 5 wishes, a man .must cordis mei . I have placed, Father, Thy law, Thy will Our Lord and King, as St. Benedict " " strongly tempered in the midst of My Heart. His whole existence is summed renounce his own will and take up the most to glory those ol up in love for the Father. But what form will this love take ? arms, the only ones that can lead us : a propmsvohmtatibts-DO- The form of obedience : TJt . faciam Deus voluntatem tuam obedience : Quisquis abrehuniians forttsstma And why is this ? Because nothing better translates filial mino christo vero regi militaturus obedientiae 7 6 Obedience may sometimes love than absolute submission . Christ Jesus has manifested atque arma sumis . praeclara Our Holy require heroic patience and self-abnegation 1. D. I. Ryelandt, I. c. .209. — 2. Rule, Philip. did ou^Divme p ch.v. — 3. Ibid. ch. vn ; Father himself forewarns us of this. But 11, 8. — 4. Marc. x:i, 30. — 5. Ps. xxxtx, 8-9. — 6. Hebr. x, 7.' — 7. The to the Jews, " to be delivered up Eternal Father said to S' Catherine, I wish thee to see and know this most Master find it agreeable wo, excellent virtue in that the soldiery . humble and immaculate Lamb, and the source insulted by the Pharisees, spat upon by whence it proceeds. What caused the great obedience of the Word ? The along the road of obedience love which He had for My honour and your salvation. Whence proceeded Father, and therefore hastened as one enamoured " Obedtctice, en. 1, this love ? From the clear vision with which His soul saw the divine essence lit up with the light of glory. Dialogue. On and the eternal Trinity, thus always looking eternal His by _, on Me, the God, Algar Thorold. ,, _ , T an. iv, 34- fidelity obtained an 3 this vision most perfectly for which vision you im- xxii IS- 3 " * Him, 1. Luc. xn, 50. — 2. Ibid, — J°, ' perfectly enjoy the Rule, by the light of holy faith. He was faithful to me, His Eternal 5. Matth. xix, 31, 27. — 6. Prologue of :

278 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 279 all this filled Him with horror and disgust; and yet He ac- everything, in omni obedientia, to a frail and fallible man, cepted all to prove to His Father the love wherewith His is, I repeat it, very hard to nature : but it gives God a homage Heart overflowed. His Father had willed that He should be that is very pleasing to Him. treated as the last of men, the outcast of the people ; that He A pleasing homage, first of all because to allow oneself of one cursed, sceleratis 1 thus moulded by obedience, is to arrive — and " in- should undergo the death cum . to be " 1 And so deep was His submission that He allowed Himself fallibly, sine dubio , St. Benedict says forcibly — at to be led to immolation as a Lamb that does " not open his perfectly reproducing in oneself the features of Christ. " z mouth, Et non aperiet os suum . Factus obediens usque ad mortem. Now this is all that the Now it is even as far as this that Christ Jesus is the Model Heavenly Fatherwills, namely, that we should be conformed of our obedience. None will ever make us suffer such things, to His beloved Son. Never let us forget that the more we nor ask of us such obedience. If God sometimes permits reproduce these features in us, the more will the Father that obedience should crush us, let us, in those difficult mo- place His delight in us and pour upon us the abundance of

ments, look at Christ Jesus in His agony or hung upon the His grace : for God's love is divinely active in the soul. Cross, and let us say to Him from the depths of our heart A pleasing homage, secondly, because it is to surrender 3 DUigam te et tradam meipsum pro le : "Because I love to God what is dearest and most sacred to us ; it is to offer Thee I accept Thy will. " Then divine peace — that peace Him the most entire and religious sacrifice that we can 2 which passes all understanding — will descend into our soul bring to Him . Therefore God draws straight to Him those with the sweetness of heavenly grace. This alone will give who never let themselves be turned away from rendering us the strength and patience to endure all things in silence Him this homage, those who aim at imitating the obedience

of heart and .lips : Tacita conscicntia paticntiam amplectatur^. of Christ Jesus, despite the difficulties and repugnances se ituros But when a man has not this faith which shows God to be they experience : Scientes per hanc obedientiae viam 3 the one Good, when he is not carried on by this generous ad Deum ; others, those who consider the man in the Supe- and ardent love for the Person of Christ Jesus, he seeks rior, discuss the rightfulness or expediency of his orders, himself, he is attached to such or such a work, to such or or are held back bv difficulties and these come near God

such a charge, he goes no further than his own ideal. Does without ever fully finding Him : In circuitu ambulant*. the Superior happen to touch this charge, this work, to oppose this ideal, then woe betide !... It cannot be said of these X. souls what our Holy Father declares of the perfect monk " " light of faith that he leaves what is his own : Relinquentes quae SUA Let us often beseech God to give us that 5 " " perfect. sunt . When a man truly seeks God, Si revera Deum . and strength of love which will render our obedience 6 will become quaeril , and not self, he is content with whatever task Thus supernaturally sustained, this obedience trepide, obedience imposes upon him, however humble, obscure, easy, generous, simple, prompt and joyous : Non vel cum response no- painful or difficult this task may be ; he even judges himself nontarde, non tepide, aut cum murmurio 7 5 qualities should accom- to be unworthy of it, as St. Benedict wills , because all lentis . It is important that all these wishes obedience, coming from God, leads us to God, and it is always pany the exercise of our obedience. Our Holy Father with a signal grace to be enabled to draw near to God in order us to obey with a good will, bono animo, and he adds 3 " 6 " Even when to be united to Him . St. Paul that God.loveth a cheerful giver . It needs great love to arrive at this degree of the virtue. we always see Christ in the Superior it may yet happen own, In fact, to obey always without faltering, to submit in that the Superior's character is the antithesis of our life render obedience natu- i. Isa. Liu, 12 2. Ibid. 7. — 3. Cf. Gal. n, so, — 4. Rule, ch. vii. — which may for the whole of our Rule, ch. v. overcome 5. — 6. Ibid. ch. win. — 7. Ad omnia quae sibi injunguntur rally difficult for us, but our love for God should velitt operajuum sit malum judiatt el indignum. Rule, ch. vn. — 8. We aro obedience it is be feared that our speaking hero of the orders of Superiors, but this cau be applied, all proportion these difficulties. If not, to guarded, to ' obedience to the Rule and to the traditions established bv the Con- est .net 1. Rule, ch. v. — s. Quod obedialur praelato in quantum stitutions. We touched on this point of faithfulness to the Rule and th« QttaaiiM. vi, pcrlinet ad religionem qua quiscoUl el diligit Deum. S. Thorn. common life in the conference " ", a: t — on The Instruments of Good Works Ps - x, 9* a. 11. Cf. 11-n, civ, a. ad i. — 3- Rule. ch. ue*r, — 4- » " The Cenobitical Society ". q. 3l 5. Rule, ch. v. — 6. Rule, ch. v and II Cor. ix, 7. 281 2S0 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE

1 . "Self-will begets nothing in the spiritual life, will fall short some day, and that to our great detriment. vanam 2 " For there are many ways of allowing the spirit of obedience except eternal need . souls voluntarily surround themselves with to be impaired, or even of losing it altogether. We see other The obedient monk, as St. Benedict wishes, places his needs, a hedge of thorns through which the Superior can scarcely that, for the sake of peace, he dare desires, aspirations and aptitudes before his Superior with pass ; it may happen such or such work, or employ them all the simplicity, all the frankness, all the loyalty of a child not command them Undoubtedly they would not refuse with his father. To use artifice or address, to show only in such or such charge. cannot be counted upon. They one side of a situation or affair, to circumvent the Superior in so many words, but they docility is the very essence so as to extract an authorisation from him, even under the are lacking in that spiritual which this lack of suppleness often comes from pretext of the good of souls, runs counter to the spirit of of obedience ; and of faith. These souls are not practically convinced submission required. by the great Patriarch : in these cases, want 1 that what is important in ubedience, is less the ma- says St. Bernard, one simply deceives oneself . enough the motive that makes us submit For certain souls, one danger is to feel urged to arrange terial work to be done than to please Him. They believe their own little existence apart, so as to be disturbed as all our being to God in order ensconce themselves are more little as possible, and practically to live as if the Superior that the works in which they reality everything, in the did not exist. This outlook may sometimes be covered under important than the rest,, while in the obedience the pretext of safeguarding the soul's union with God. sight of God, Eternal Wisdom, is measured by But this is only a fallacious pretext hiding a singular illusion and love that inspires it. 2 state which we have been considering does great full of perils . And how contrary is this manner of acting This practically cease to advance in to all that our vocation demands, to all that our Holy Rule harm to souls ; for they not drawn 3 we return to God ; they are requires : Abbatem sili fraeesse desiderant ! St. Benedict the way whereby not borne along into the current of heavenly peace ; they are certainly did not employ this last word haphazard ; we may them- river of God ; they amuse be assured, on the contrary, that he chose it designedly, as by the impetuositv of the indifferently, and they when he wrote that the monk ought " to walk according selves upon 'the banks, going on difficulty, — if indeed they to the direction of another": Alie.no judicio ambulare*. only reach the port with great oneself, wilfully, so little ap- This is the spirit in which we ought to live, since this is the do reach it. For, to render express " that the Superior no longer feels free to Rule we have vowed to observe "until death : Usque ad proachable has promised obedience, mortem. We must then in all that concerns our work, our his will, constitutes, for one who the in act of sloth : it is personal occupations, our undertakings, place ourselves under a breaking of his word and an speaks when obedientiaedesidia 3 of which our Holy Father the control of the Superior : Cum voluntate abbaiis omnia God. " " Set aside your agenda sunt; vindictae regulari subjaceat qui pracsumpserit... he says that it "separates from " for Grodwith 5 freewill says the Venerable Blosius, "and obey quippiam quamvis parvum sine . jussiONE abbatis facere in Better to pull up nettles and weeds Let every thing without exception, in our life, be marked humble readiness. than to employ :' our own choice with the seal of obedience that is our greatness, that is the simplicity of obedience by of the most sublime heavenly our security. Otherwise it is to be feared that, on the day our time in the contemplation God is tne the most pleasing sacrifice to of judgment, we shall come before God with empty hands, mysteries, for and who resists his Superiors because, having fulfilled our desires, realised our will, we shall abnegation of self-will. He grace and can in " " will deprives himself of heavenly likewise have received our reward here below : the vain not obey, nowise please Lord, if he change not . satisfaction of our self-love : Receperunt mcrcedem suam, vani the to obedience may It is true that to submit unreservedly in obe dience is require great sacrifices. But to hesitate i. Quisquis that we have vel apeiit vel accidie satagil, ul quod label in voluntate, hoc ei not this before the one Good spiriUiahs to hesitate Paler injungat ; ipse se sxdur.it, si foiie sibi quasi de obedientia blandtalur; neque enitn in ea re ipse praelato sed magis el praelatus obedit. Part, The Book oj Special Grau S. Bernard. Sermo 1. Cf vi, . - a. S< Mechtilde, de tribus ordinibus Ecclesiae. P. I,,, t. 183, 636. — 2. Matth. :5 ui "* £ See our sclt-mlL — 3- ± rpioguo note at the end of this Conference. — 3. Rule, ch. — ibid. — 5. ch. xix, How tisc/ul il is to break v, 4. spmtuelles. Ibid. ch. xux, lxvih. 4. Sancluaire de I'utue fidele, § 1. (Ettvres 282 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 283 come to seek in the monastery and which. we shall only was not for himself that he thus kept a part of the booty, obedience ? Is it not saying implicitly meet in the way of it was in order to offer it in sacrifice to the Lord. Now how " love Thee enough to for to God : My God, I do not make Thee did God act in this circumstance ? He rejected Saul " this sacrifice, to render Thee this homage ? Were these ever, despite the king's repentance. "Doth the Lord " the sentiments that inspired us on the blessed day of our desire holocausts and victims, said the prophet Samuel " religious profession ? to Saul, and not rather that the voice of the Lord Let ns then in this matter be of great and vigilant delicacy should be obeyed ? For obedience is better than all at once, but little by little, that to offer the fat of rams. of soul, for it is not one sacrifices : and to hearken than living, practically, outside like the arrives at that state of obedience, Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel : and — a state that cannot be without real danger for the religious. crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath " It is also of extreme importance to watch over the avenues also rejected thee from being king... Saul then breathes of our heart and never to permit murmuring to creep in. forth his repentance, as David was to do later: "I have " Murmuring is regarded by our Holy Lawgiver as one of the sinned... pardon my sin... But it is in vain that he beseeches greatest perils in the life of a monk ; he combats it forcibly reiterates the expression of his repentance, that he and in every circumstance. might ask why our Holy — and rejected for ever. — So great We Samuel : he is rejected, inspires God, even Father so strongly condemns all murmuring and all disobe- is the horror with which disobedience

reasons : Mdior est dience while he shows himself so unusually indulgent for when it seems to be justified by good 1 faults of weakness. It is because his soul, bathed in divine obedientia quam victimae . light, saw that this diversity of attitude was according to God's own ways. We hence understand why our Holy Father is so strongly so severely condemns Let us open the Holy Scriptures ; we shall therein find opposed to all disobedience, and why he the an astonishing revelation of the way God judges of sins. murmuring which, like a canker, eats into the root of submission impossible. There is David. Elected king by the Lord, heaped with spirit of obedience and makes all true If the monk, heaven's gifts, David forgets all these benefits from on high Let us listen to his words, for they are grave. " not with his lips, and allows himself to be drawn into murder and adultery. he says, obev with ill-will, if he murmur order he has The Lord sends the prophet Nathan to the king to denounce but even in his heart, although he fulfil the the enormity seeth the Heart of his crime. And David, immediately filled received, it will not be accepted by God Who with repentance, " obtaining any grace for utters these simple words : I have sinned of the murmurer; and. far from punishment of against the Lord " : Peccavi Domino. Then the prophet such an action, he will rather incur the " bucn replies : The Lord also hath sin : thou reparation . taken away thy murmurers, unless he amend and make _ shalt not die thee, this doctrine is ; nevertheless... the child that is born to is St. Benedict's explicit teaching. And shall like the mdemmty surely die*." The expiation was great, but God's perfectly just. Murmuring is, in fact, practjcally one forgiveness remained assured to David in spite of the extent that one takes for having obeyed when materially of his sin. cannot do otherwise than obey. The order is loving Let us now look at another scene which had come to pass of obedience, which is the executed ; but the essence a few years from thei.som. previously. There is Saul. Established as king submission of the whole being, is absent is must of Israel by God Himself, he is but he the soul which good, chaste, simple ; Murmuring is the resistance of is attached the order given, to his own judgment. The Lord had commanded often manifested by words, by criticising him to make war against the Amalecites and to exterminate its legitimacy or its expediency. «m- these evil MMw«r#mnura enemies of his people without sparing them. You murmuring "an : Our holy Father calls o^dunHue- know what Saul did : the of bonwn he spared the life the king of tionis malum*, quite the contrary soul away if not Amalecites and reserved what was best in the booty. And Because it turns the Why is it an evil ? from the remark that : it at least Saul's intention was, in itself, excellent always from the outward observance, Ibid. cfa. lxxi . i. II Reg. xn,.n-i*. Ibid. ch. xxx,v. - 2. x. I Reg. xv. - ,. Rule, ch. v. - 3- " —:

284 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 285

of the heart, essential to the perfection inward submission full of bitter zeal and thinking themselves the guardians of " 1 of obedience ; hence it turns away the soul from the way the Law, murmur . Does He eat with the Publicans ? " that leads to God : Scientes per Iianc obedicntiae viam se 2 they murmur . Does He enter the house of Zacheus ? iluros ad Dcum ; it turns the soul away from God, its supreme 3 4 they murmur . If He forgives sins, they are scandalised . in turning it away from the authority that represents Good, If He reveals the secret of His love for men, in announcing God. It is a stratagem of the devil to make a soul doubt 5 the gift of the , they cavil . Therefore Christ the legitimacy of the orders of authority ; when this Jesus Himself says that nothing finds favour in their eyes : doubt has arisen, the devil has won his part : this is the his- " Whereunto shall I esteem this generation to be like ?... tory of the first fall and of all those that have followed it. For John came neither eating nor drinking ; and they say Even when a man murmurs without any bitterness, when he He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, pretends only to state objectively the errors, the weaknesses and they say : Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine G or the faults of authority, he can do considerable harm to drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners . souls ; serving as an agent to the devil to do his business, Let us then carefully and before all things keep ourselves he repeats to others what the serpent breathes in his ears. from all murmuring, as our Holy Father warns us to do With poisonous breath he tarnishes the freshness of the so insistently and earnestly ; for nothing is more contrary " " humble and sincere love towards authority that St. Be- to the letter and spirit of the Rule than murmuring: nedict requires of the monk. ante omnia, ne murmurationis malum pro qualicumque The evil of murmuring is so much the more to be dreaded causa in atiquo qualicumque verba vel significations appa- in that it has the power of infecting others : it is like a 7 reat . microbe capable of ravaging all the members of a community one after the other. However, in order to live and be pro- However, we must distinguish the difference between pagated it needs a propitious soil. The Superior can do complaining and murmuring. Complaining is in nowise an .nothing directly against murmuring ; it is in a sense bevond imperfection, it may even be a prayer. Look at our Lord Ms grasp; it is for the organism to defend itself. If the Jesus, the Model of all holiness. Upon the Cross, did He murmurer finds no complaisant ear to listen to him, he loses hot complain to His Father of being forsaken ? But what his time and pains and has to keep his these two attitudes ? murmuring to himself ; is it that makes the difference between but it is a terrible evil because it is a sheer dissolvant of Murmuring evidently implies opposition, malevolence (at inward more perfection. least transitory) in the will ; however, it proceeds Whence comes the evil of mind derived from murmuring ? Almost always formally from the mind ; it is a sin of the from lack of faith \ One sees the man in the Superior, and the spirit of resistance. It is a contentious manifestation. no longer pure, Christ ; faith no longer covering the weaknesses or Complaint on the contrary, if we suppose it to be imperfections of heart that is the man, his commands are judged because comes only from the heart ; it is the cry of a entirely, the man himself is judged. And by force of habit, the crushed, that feels suffering, but however accepts it murmurer spares nothing, neither men, nor institutions, nor and lovingly. We can feel the difficulties of obedience, customs, happen nor works. Nothing escapes his criticism. If he experience even movements of repugnance : that may was governed imperfection m this by an archangel, he would still find means of to the most perfect soul ; there is no ot criticising his orders. Look at the Jews in the time of the as long as the will does not adhere to these movements Gospel. Our Blessed of the sensitive nature. Saviour was assuredly perfection itself ; revolt which sometimes get the better and yet the Jews often murmured at what He said or what Did not our Lord Himself feel such inward trouble ? <^P" He did. If what did He Who is Christ heals on the Sabbath day, these men, tacdsre et favere ci maestus esse. And disobedient man" said the Eternal Father to S 1 Catherine, "is a 1'1'T^ xrx, Ibid, v, gi. deluded by his self-love, because 1. 16. — 2. Matth. ix, 11. — 3- Luc. 7. — 4. the eye of his intellect is fixed with a- dead Joan, v, In &»o jaun, on pleasing his Jr. Rule. ch. »»v. self-will, and on things of the world.., because obedience 5- Joan, vi, S3. — 6. Matth. xr, 16-19, - seems weariness which surpasses all others as mur to him, he wishes to avoid weariness, whereby he arrives at nedict's eyes, monastic peace is a benefit the greatest weariness evils. " Abbot Delatte, of all, for he is obliged to obey either by force or by muring seems to him the worst of C~/f^wnole love, ana it Cann, p. 253- «» would have been better and less wearisome to have obeyed love the Rule of St Benedict, translated by D. Justin Mc than by without it." Dialogue, ch.vm. Translated by Algar Thorold. passage should be read. 286 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENT7 AE 287 our Ideal say in these terrible moments ? Faler, si possibile Christ give us in prayer, the counsel to leave all things and 1 " " follow est, transeat a me calix iste . My Father, if it be possible, follow Him. Come, Me and I will give thee life, " " let this chalice pass from Me. What a plaint wrung from I will be thy beatitude. This Divine Voice, full of God's innermost Heart in the face of the most terrible sweetness, touched our soul to its depths ; we understood

! like obedience ever proposed here below But likewise how this the call of Jesus ; and then, the merchant in the Gospel, cry from the depths of crushed sensitive nature, is covered who, having found a treasure in a field, sold all that he had by the cry, far deeper still, of entire abandonment to the to gain this field and make himself master of the treasure, said farewell all Divine Will : Verumtamen fiat voluntas tua, non meal we left all things. We to that was dear to the legitimate joys of hearth From murmuring, on the contrary, love is absent : therefore us we renounced and home, of our own dear ones. did murmuring separates from God ; it destroys precisely what the visible affection Why we " " acts of renunciation ? gain the trea- our holy Patriarch wishes to establish in us : that amen consent to all these To of every instant, that loving " fiat " coming more from the sure which is none other than God Himself. And where do ? In eternity we shall find it in the heart tlian the lips : in a word, that perpetual and incessant we find this treasure submission of our whole being to the divine will for love of ineffable and supreme bliss of God ; here below in the obe- Christ. dience of faith. This is the treasure we seek and that obedience gives us. And after such great sacrifices, so often XI. renewed, instead of appropriating this precious good in the greatest possible measure, shall we content ourselves with sufficient for us to obey Let us watch over ourselves. Obedience is too precious taking some small particles ? Is it fail in our vow? a good for us. not to safeguard it with care. Let us love from time to time, just "enough not to " " not so foolish as thus this good, this bonum, as our Holy Father is pleased God grant it is not so, that we are to call it, for it contains and gives God. Let us seek it with to squander eternal treasures in advance ! obedience is a solemn love and guard it jealously. Let us think of the example Neither let us forget that our vow of Each given us by those who seek for gold. They are told that promise made to God on the day of our profession. from obedience, in some El Dorado, in some region unknown to them, gold time that we deliberately exempt ourselves cowards ' (it is St. Be- is to be found. They set off with gladness,, upheld by the in whatever way it may be, we" like something from what we have hope of riches ; they leave country, friends, family ; they nedict's expression) take back mocked, embark, cross the seas, force their way through a thousand given On the day of judgment, God Who is not dangers, to the interior of 1 require of us, with a rigorous unknown lands. Behold them at Deus non irridetur , will Him/. last, after many toils, perils and explorations, arrived at judgment, the account of the fidelity we swore to " wished to attain the place where lies the precious metal. Let us now suppose We shall not be able to say to God: I imperfect, annoying that after having extracted it from the ground, at the cost perfection, but* my Superior was an be guided by of many pains and labours, they prepare to return without person with exaggerated ideas, who let himself taking plans. uoa back with them all the ingots they can, but content paltry and partial motives, and opposed my concern themselves with a : " Superior only few nuggets held in the hollow of their will answer us The faults of your hands. What should we say of these under- responsible for them, as tor an men who have Me ; it is before Me that he is gone so many sufferings, endured so many labours, overcome so many obstacles to content themselves finally with such meagre gain ? That they are fools. And we should be right. if we v t Now that is the portrait of a monk who, after some time exempt from falsification. If we argue wy™ spent another, the coin of our obedience is in the monastery, suffers the loyalty of his obedience andJ»^'SiM^«,.^out a"V_rcsmcu we have all promised obedience simply in to be impaired. the mas er s eye w« There is none amongst us that has not If then we make a feint of obeying utider ^ made great sacrifices before crossing the threshold of the cloister. We read one oa sermon day in Holy Scripture, or we heard eye now, is not mocked. a /»£•",' -,' sc ; Goa ahquando aMtr fw«,icceril, ™ab to P. See also Rule, cb. lvih : S» i. Mattb. xxvi, 39. L., 183, 500. damnandum sciat quern irridet. ;

288 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK BONUM OBEDIENTIAE 289

given as to you, I was, by the orders that he has ; My wisdom the Bosom of the Father. Love upholding us, all will be to up for the imperfections and goodness, bound make and indifferent to us ; we shall have no preference for such or represented human errors of the one who Me towards you such a work, but we shall accomplish with equal perfection done so abundantly it, having had and T would have faith little things as the great : all coming to us from God, " the placed your hope in My fidelity. in My word, you had all will likewise lead us to God. " Let us rather live in obedience, let us make it bur food" We shall unceasingly increase that eternal inheritance est ut as Christ Himself did : Mens cibus faciam vohmtaiem which we came here to seek and that nothing, if we so wish, 1 for this virtue of obedience in us, because find it eius . Let us ask our Lord can take away from we in God Himself. all its perfection, this virtue which surrenders the judgment, " O Lord, full of goodness, teach me, for the sake of this will, heart, the whole being to God and to His representative. goodness, to keep Thy precepts, for the law that falls from Tf we are faithful in asking for this grace, Christ Jesus will Thy lips is infinitely more precious to me than heaps of gold let us join tu, [Domine], et in bonitate tua doce certainly grant it to us. Each morning, ourselves and silver" : Bonus e$ to Jesus in His obedience, in the entire submission that He me justificationcs tuas; bonum mihi lex oris tui, super mittia " 3 made of Himself at the moment of the Incarnation.: Behold auri et argenii . me, God, I give myself to Thee, to Thy good pleasure. my 1, Ps. cxvm, 68, 72. Because I love Thee, I will give Thee the homage that consists in submitting my whole being to Thy will whatever it may be. I wish to say in union with Thy Son Jesus: Quia 2 diligo Patron, et shut mandatum iledit mihi Pater, sic facio . NOTE (See pp. 261 and 280), This Will may perhaps be painful to my nature, to my tastes, too significant it be opposed to personal ideal, hard to spirit of Sl Teresa has upon the subject of obedience some words may my my "It not to be quoted here, and her testimony can sura up all the others: independence, but I want to offer Thee this sacrifice as " " betake would be a strange thing, she writes, if, when God clearly told us to but stand testimonjr of my faith in Thy word, of my confidence in ourselves to some work that concerns Him, we were to do nothing joy. A pleasant still and raze upon Him because that gives us a greater Thy power, and of the love I bear to Thee and to Thy Son an opinion that the love of God ! — to tie His hands through " progress this in Jesus. We ought to renew this offering every day, even He can do us good only in one way. " I put on one side my — I know of some, and have lived among them — — and especially if it happen that a work imposed or of this when own experience, as 1 said before — who taught me the truth ; accordingly approved by the Superior responds to our personal tastes. I was myself in great distress because of the little time I had, and employed and having much to do, because they Otherwise, it is greatly to be feared that the natural satis- was sorry to see them always mucn were under obedience, and was thinking within myself, and even said as faction we find it us hurry and may in will carry us away and make to them, that spiritual growth was not possible amidst so much how different areilhy forget that spirit of obedience with which our works ought contusion, for they had then not grown much. O Lord, if a soul be determin- be ! and how Thou, to be done 3 ways from what we imagined them to in order to be pleasing to . but.obedience God ed to love Thee, and resigned in Thy hands, askest nothing of it , the desire toaoi. If we act in this way, our obedience will be sanctified the sure knowledge of what is for Thy greater honour, and wiuis al- •That soul need not seek out means, nor make a choice of any, for its by contact with that of Jesus. He, who infinitely desires the way ready Thine. Thou, Lord, hast taken upon Thyself to guide it m that we be " one 4 " not mindful of tuat soui s with Him , will grant us to reach little most profitable to it. And even if the superior be Community, by little the perfection not the profit, but only of the duties to be discharged in the JL only of the vow, but of and orderest those «&«things my God, art mindful of it ; Thou preparest its ways, virtue. And through this how, by taitn virtue, He. will finish the work we have to do, so that we find ourselves, without our knowing n s commands that are la uP° ' of detaching us from ourselves fully observing, for the love of God, the . ^. to unite us entirely to Himself, mis us wunwfth spiritually^growing and making great progress, which afterwards since we shall no longer have any will but His own, — and, teaching, through Him, we shall be united to His Father. AncTafter having brought forward several examples illustratingher exclamations so charactenst c.01 Then all will the great Saint stimulates us with one if tho^ become more and more pleasant and easy " orif °£?*en ce ^pioys her: Well, then my children, be not discouraged, ^ora for us because in- the kitchen our we shall draw our strength from Jesus, Who, you in outward things, know that even if you are and wtaoui. in order moves amidst the pots and pans, helping us both within to communicate it to us, draws it Himself from conviction which can Then becoming grave again, she concludes with this " believe myself i. Joan, tv, l only be born in the light from on high : I 34 — 2 . Ibid, xiv, 31. _ 3. This is the counsel that S Gre- ^"^^SifS gory there is quickly to the highes gives us : ObeiienUm sibi no road that leads more virtutem evacuat qui ad prospcm eliam et colourP^^f^'Ldof some good,<™ propno tiesiderto anhelat. obedience, he suggests many difficulties under the Moralia, lib. xxxv, c. 14. P. L., 76, 706. — 4. Joan, will see piaimy I'll t into it, and they XVII, 21, makes it distasteful ; let people look well 290 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK that I am telling the truth... What I aim at showing is the reason, in ray opinion, wliv obedience furnishes the readiest or the best way for arriving at so blessed a state. That reason is this : as wc are never absolute masters of our own will, so as to employ it purely and simply for God, till we subject it wholly to reason, obedience is the true means of bringing aboift that subjec- which can never be brought about by_ much reasoning, because tion ; our B. — THE LIFE OF UNION WITH CHRIST nature and self-love can furnish so much on their side that we shall never come to an end, and very often will make that which is most reasonable, if we have (...et eeeuti Bumus te). " no liking for it, to seem folly because we have no inclination to do it. The Foundations, ch. V. Translated from the Spanish by David Lewis. All this chapter should be read.

XIII. — THE OPUS DEI, Divine Praise,

Summary. — God has made all things for His glory ; how the Divine

Office procures this glory for God : St. Benedict rightly calls it the Opus Dei. — I. Ultimate basis of the excellence of the

Divine Office : the canticle of the Word in the bosom of the Divinity and in creation. — II. The Word Incarnate has bequeathed to the Church, His Bride, the mission of per- petuating His canticle. — III. The Church confides a more important part of this mission to some chosen souls. — IV. The Divine Office becomes, through the heart and voice of man, the hymn of all creation. — V. It forms a parti- cular homage of the virtues of faith, hope and charity. — VI. This homage is invested with a special splendour when it

is offered in suffering : Sacrificium laudis.

'hen we would judge of the absolute value of anything or any work we ought to try to do so from God's point of view. God alone is the Truth; truth is the light in which God, Eternal Wisdom, are in God's sees all things ; these are worth what they judgment, estimation. That is the sole infallible criterion of outside which we expose ourselves to deception. It is a truth familiar to us that our holiness is of the supernatural exigencies and order, that is to say above the rights, super- powers of our nature; all then that relates to this surpasses natural order, of which God alone is the Author, Gods by its transcendency, all our human conceptions. Himself tells us thoughts and ways are not ours ; He neque so;Non enim cogitationes mcae, cogitationes veslrae: 1 Between our'ways viae vestrae, viae meae, dicit Dominus , exaltantur caeh a terra . and God's there is the infinite : Stent things of the This is why, order to know the truth about in them supernatural domain, we must see them as God sees light that reveals that is, with the eyes of faith. Faith is the

I. Isa. lv, 8. — 2. Ibid. 9. —

OF THE MONK 292 CHRIST, THE IDEAL THE OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 293 makes us penetrate into God's the Divine thoughts to us and is the beautiful name by which our Holy Father calls it. and that designs. Lacking this light, there is but darkness error Doubtless, the Divine Office contains petitions, prayers of in regard to spiritual things. impetration, but this is not its dominant element ; before capital truth God has granted us to know touching is praise, and this praise is Now one all, the Divine Office perfectly has created everything and done His designs is that He summed up in the doxology which ends each psalm ; Gloria

: Universa propter semetipsum operates everything for His glory Patri el Filio et Spirilui Sancto. The direct aim of the

all things ; He gives Himself est Dominus K God gives us Office is to confess and exalt the Divine perfections, to Well-Beloved Son. Jesus, and with Him in the person of His delight in them, and thank God for them : Gratias agimus 1 things ; He has prepared for us for He gives us all good Ubi, propter magnatn gloriam tttam . It proceeds from this beatitude in the fellowship of His " all eternity an infinite principle : Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and Trinity. But there is one thing that He reserves " nosier, gloriam accipere adorable honour : Dignus es, Domine, Dens that He neither will nor can give us : 2 elect in jealously for Himself, et honorem... This is the cry of the heaven: that is His glory: Ego Dominus ; gloriam meant dlteri nott contemplating God's infinite perfections, they are necessarily et laudabilis dabo~. lost in praise and adoration : Magnus Dominus This being so, things are of value only in the measure in 3 NWIS . procure this glory for God. There are some it was for this we which they Now we, as religious, are seeking God ; of their own nature, have no direct relationship therefore works which, came to the monastery ; what is more natural the intellectual order, to with this glory ; for example, in than to adopt the Divine Office as our principal work, by to teaching and, in the ? devote oneself to literary work, ; which wc especially devote ourselves to God's service the garden " manual order, to sweep the cloisters or work in How are we " to seek Him truly, si revera Deum qiiaerit\ ; wherewith they are His or kitchen transformed by the love unless we occupy ourselves first of all with Him, with done, these pleasing to ; however, they am works become God perfections and His works ? Et laudabunt Dominttm procure His glory indirectly, not of themselves, fine operantis, 6 that we find Him, requirunt eum . But in return, the more that is intention of the one who feel the to say by reason of the right and that He reveals Himself to us, the more we 3 performs them in view of pleasing God . -.Quaerentes need of celebrating His perfections and works are 6 Other works go to procure this glory directly ; they . enim invenient eum, et invenientes laudabunt eum agreeable to God not only on account of the love of the our Me, Thus, after having pointed out the purpose of one who accomplishes them but in themselves : operis; ot the fine after having established the authority of the head their direct end, like the elements that compose them, are shown monastery and defined the cenobitical life, after having of supernatural : such are Holy Mass and the administration removing how humility and obedience achieve the work of the Sacraments. It is quite evident that in themselves, Benedict speaks obstacles from the path of perfection, St. abstraction made of the interior dispositions of the one who numerous chapters to us of the Divine Office. He devotes performs them, these works surpass, from God's point of not the end to regulating it; he makes the Divine Office, view, all other works. the moiiK, nor even the exclusive nor characteristic work of The Divine Office belongs to this second group. Not the^order or but the principal work to which the others m only in our intention, but by reason of its nature, its com- subordinate ^*«" estimation action, are to be : it and W position, and the elements of which it is constituted, the Lords Dei establishes a school of in praeponatur^ He relates entirely to God ; of itself, fine operis, it has God Divine Utnee service: Dominici schola serviiii\ and the view. With the Holy Sacrifice, around which it gravitates, our devot on . constitutes, this school the first " service of it forms in the most complete expression of religion ; it is by have already said, Devotionis servitium*. Doubtless, as we excellence " the work of God, "Opus Dei, Opus divinum: and history as St. Benedict does not exclude other works humble respect, i. to have a Prov. xvi, 4 ; see what we have said on this subject in the conference well as tradition for which we ought on humility. — 2. Isa. xlii, 8. — 3, We are speaking, of course, of the I. iv, 11. ~ 3- '- . , Gloria — 2. Apoc. fs- , . supernatural order ; it is evident gives of the Mass. f L 33 , that every upright act, morally good, Confess^I, eki of itself ch. Lvm. - 27.-6. S, AugUBto. a certain glory to God, from the into the 5 ._Ps. XXI , fo fact that it enters already of the ^ natural order willed by Him. col. 661. — 7. Rule, ch. xlii: 8. Prologue xviii ; ^

THE THE OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE Z95 294 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF MONK

1 all eternity He gives, has given and will shows us that in the course of ages our Order has filled many Verbum . From act is Himself, eternal missions in the varied domain of Christian civilisation give, in this infinite and unique which glory to His Father. This glory consists in but it remains none the less true that the work which first of and adequate that the Son has of His Father, of all claims our attention and energies is the Divine Praise. the infinite knowledge Father, and in the infinite appreciation This same Divine Praise is also, apart from the Sacraments, the perfections of His : appreciation equal the surest means for us monks of entering into contact that He utters concerning them an

of ; God has no need of any other with God. The Divine Office which gives so much glory to to God, worthy God the Lord becomes for each of us an extremely fruitful source glory. also in His Father the eternal decrees of of sanctification. We will reserve this second point for the The Word sees and Bounty, all the merciful designs which are next conference ; let us now endeavour to see how the Opus His Wisdom creation, in the Redemption, in the institution Dei constitutes an infinitely pleasing homage of praise to wrought in the sanctification of God. of the Eucharist, and realised daily in the 2 factum est in ipso vita est ; He contemplates all To comprehend its excellence, we have to form a concept souls : Quod Father for them : Quant magni- its these objects and glorifies His of its source, its nature, its elements and end. We must, 3 sunt opera tua, Domine! omnia in sapienlia fecisti . of course, come to this study with eyes of faith ; faith alone ficaia that ever resounds in sinu can help us to penetrate into the truth. St, Paul says This is the infinite hymn A ravishes the Father. The Word is the that only the Spirit of God is capable of searching into the Patris and ever the Canticle 1 Canticle that God inwardly sings to Himself, deep things of God ; while the natural spirit, not going the depths of the Divinity, the Living below the surface of things, falls frequently into error. that rises up from wherein God eternally delights, because it is the Our love of the Divine Office depending moreover on the Canticle infinite expression of His perfection. esteem we have for it, and on our faith in its value, it is supremely useful to us that this faith should be en- Divine Life which we have just searched solidly grounded. The mystery of the lightened and this esteem well and fundamental reason into with all reverence, bears in itself the

and value of the Divine Office. , I. among u* . " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt nobis". -But "ever caro factum est, et habitavit in Et Verbum Id It is in lifting our sing at Christmastide up minds by faith — a faith full of let us forget this truth that we reverence even to erat assumpsit*. In taking — the heights of the Adorable Trinity, quod fuit permansii; quod non not lessened He that we shall find the very fountainhead of praise. We a human nature, the Divine Word is have the right and consequently to seek our examples thus high, for by grace, remains what He is - the Eternal Word His Father How we are no longer strangers but sons belonging, through He remains the infinite glorification of to Himself in the Christy to the family of God: Non eslis ho spites et advenae, has united a human nature ever, as He -enters, sed eslis cives sanctorum et 2 this Sacred Humanity domestici Dei . unity of His Divine Person, the °* What has Christ granted us to know of this ineffable life through the Word, into participation of of like the tempf^e' wterethef God in Three Persons ? fication. Christ's Humanity is " glonfie the Fatter^ The Word, says St. Paul, is the brightness of His (Father's) Word sings the Divine canticle which s glory, and the 3 " the is figure of His substance . The Word, or rather? the Sacred Humanity «™* not the WordJ^*j^arna^e*J* Son, is essentially, the glory of His Father. From all current of the Divine Life. Did eternity, this Son in a single Himself, vivo propter P*«*\ infinite Word which is Christ Jesus say : Ego Fathers expresses, tends to procure HfeFaKHts the Father's perfection, and this is the essential Father." AH His activity glory that the Father receives. The Eternal Word is a *>'cm. =4- ~ J 1. i.- . Ibid. 1, 3-4.-3; - Joan.. ? f the ckcumcisiom Divine canticle singing the Father's praise. In principio eral Verbum, ct Verbum erai et erul apud Deum, Dens nature is n<* the Word with a human - 8. Joan, vi 5 5 and substantial^^1 unioiuunion. .1 the adorer ; it is a personal I. I Cor. ii, io-ii. — 2. . Eph. ii, i _ . 9 3 Hebr. 1, 3. 2g6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 297 glory. This theandric activity remains that of a human for once perfectly comprehended by a human soul ; Christ

_ fashion in looking upon the wonders of nature, as nature; it glorifies God in a human ; but, as it Jesus exulted " emanates from a Divine " Person, as it depends. upon the the Triune God in the days of creation contemplated the Word, the praises it supplies, human in their expression, goodnessand beauty of the work come forth from His hands : 1 become the praises of the Word, and acquire on this account Viditqitc Deus cttncta quae fecerat : et erantvalde bona . With an infinite value. what joy did Christ, seeing in creatures the reflection of the When Christ prayed, when He recited the Psalms, when, Father's perfections, constitute Himself their High Priest, in

all things back to His Father ! Hence was as the Gospel says, He spent the night in prayer : Erat per- order to bring 1 soul of Jesus that perfect worship which it noclans in oratione Dei , these were the human accents of a born in the to offer as the supreme High Priest in God ; of an absolute simplicity in eternity, the canticle of behoved Christ 2 the Word was multiplied, detailed, upon the lips of His Whom the Father finds all His delight . Manhood. Thus this same canticle which, from all eternity, the Word causes to resound in the sanctuary of the Godhead, II. was prolonged and sung upon earth when the Word became Himself incarnate. But, as you know, Christ does not separate from into Heaven, He Henceforward it will be prolonged for ever in creation. His Mystical Body. Before ascending Church. Christ, For ever, Christ's Humanity will therein sing, to the glory bequeaths His riches and mission to His gives her His power of of the Father, a canticle of human expression but of in uniting Himself to the Church, is ; this is the liturgy. It incommensurable price of adoring and praising the Father and consequently alone worthy . Church united to Jesus, supported by God: this is the Opus Christi. On the last day of His life, the praise of the > rather it is the praise of Christ, the Incarnate Christ summed up all His work in saying to His Father ; Ego Jesus or te 2 passing through the lips of the Church. clarificavi super tenant . His whole life was but a continual Word,' > ask each other: " Who is this praise to His Father's glory. This was His essential work Seeing her, the Angels ; delights leaning for Him, nothing came that cometh up from the desert flowing with before the glorification of His Father. her 3 ? " It is the Church, we reply, Certainly, He glorified Him by all His actions, in spending upon her Beloved to her from the Bridegroom Himsell, Himself for souls/in giving Himself to them as no apostle beauty and charm come voice is ever sweet and her lace has ever done, in Whose arms uphold her ; her going about doing good everywhere ; but these were secondary forms of His praise. Above all, C Church, His Bride, Christ, the °Dowered with the riches of Christ, the Word Incarnate, praised His Father in exalting the Heaven, Divine introduced by Him into the palace of the King of perfections in ineffable communings. Who shall tell is Uuist, us Father's presence, and there, united to Jesus how Jesus worshipped the Father and how full this into the the end_of ages - the canticle worship was of profound she sings - as she will do until adoration ! What incense of praise by Him to was sinu Patris by the Word, and brought that which went up unceasingly from His blessed soul to. sung in

God His Father! < Jesus contemplates the Divine perfections adoring " Him.that in all Apocalypse shows us the elect their splendour and this is praise. ^The the source of ineffable P^ecUons • He on the throne, " and exalting His ineffable rendered to His Father, in the name of the human race .sitteth ^p^^lonameihon^cm to which He authentically Dignus es.Domine Deus noster, belongs, all the duties of adoration, Church Glorious Here praise and etvirtulem*; that is the choir of the complacency which we owe to God. The perfect Mihtan called also the choir of the Church -, . is formed knowledge, the sublime comprehension that He had of below ^blessed but place one day in the ranks of J the inspired canticles made His of to take her praise infinitely worthy love with that of Heaven this choir is united, by faith and God for the Church the throne of ; = als0 contemplated the and resounds too before w^-P^ creation : in Him, the Divine In Heaven,, sajs St. Au is Christ, her Divine Head. creation was fuI1 Iif one in of e : In ipso vita erat. It was m t needful x. .. Cf. G. . «#•,** that the whole order of created he , Gen. :, 3 - Jta 7 vln -*" ££ WJ things should things. tant - > J? song for He hath done wonderful **f— 3- >

i. Luc, :o-ii ; cf. v, is-i3- vi, i2. _ . — 5. Apoc. iv, 2 joan , xvu> 4§ 298 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 299

to ones gustine, satisfied love sings the Alleluia in the plenitude of of her Spouse, so she confides some chosen a more this eternal enjoyment ; here below, yearning love seeks to ex- important and special share in her mission of praise : priests religious orders invested press the ardour of its desires ; Modo cantat amor esuriens phalanx is formed of and 1 is choir. The Church, in her name tunc cantaUt amor frticns . But it the same choir in two with the functions of the parts, the choir of one Church, singing the unparalleled and that of her Bridegroom, deputes them as her ambassadors canticle of Divine glory animated, both here on earth and up before God's throne. private in Heaven, by the same supreme High Priest, Christ Jesus. An ambassador does not present himself in his own of his The office is the official voice of the Bride of Christ. The capacity, he stands in the place of his sovereign or involved when he speaks in virtue of his Church, by her faith, confidence and love and by her union country ; these are with Jesus, bridges the space that separates her from God mission.' Therefore he has a right to all the honours and and sings His praise, like the Word Incarnate, in the bosom privileges which would be given to his sovereign; and there should be granted to him. of the Divinity. She sings, united to Christ, under God's is a juridical obligation that these arguments that he brings to bear in his very gaze ; because of her title of Bride, she always merits The reasons 'and resulting to be heard. The great work, the triumph of the Divinity diplomatic interviews have hot only a private value but they acquire of Jesus, is to raise us, poor mortals, even up to His Father. from the qualities and talents of the man, according to the God has given to the Sacred Humanity of the Word the a special weight, more or less powerful, country or the rank of the sovereign repre- power of drawing us with It where this Humanity Itself is : greatness of the simple fiction, but is a Ascendo ad Patrem metim et Patrem vestrum, Deum meum et sented by him. This is not a 2 " defines the very role Deum vestrum : I ascend to My Father and to your Father, moral and juridical reality which " to and your God. And again : Pater, volo tit ubi the ambassador. My God of , it „L , those whom the Church, ego sum.et till sint mecum*: "Father, I will that where I It is proportionately the same with bold her place am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with the Bride of Christ, deputes in her name to religious obliged to Me. " After death, we shall be — we truly hope to be — before God, that is to say the priests and virtue of the rules approved by ecclesias- in a real and immutable way, where the Saviour is ; but even the Divine Office in Father as ambassa- now we are there by faith. The Word dwells in us by tical authority. They stand before the Church, whose homage they ofler, faith : Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestrts*. We dors appointed by the as the Church is are especially united to the Word Incarnate when we join and whose interests they represent. And in the privileges ourselves to Him in order to sing, through Him and with Christ's Bride, these ambassadors share supernatural dignity as Him, the glory of His Father. conferred upon the Church by her choir we bear a twofold Such is the fundamental reason of the transcendency of the Spouse of Jesus. When we are in personality, that of our the Opus Dei ; such is the incommunicable and untransferable personality: our own individual also that of member of privilege attached to this prayer, the Work of God, accom- misery, our frailty, our faults, but the Church. In this plished with Christ, in His name, by the Church, His Bride. Christ's Mystical Body deputed by numerous and varied second capacity we have to guard the use ou power how to : HI. interests of Christendom. If we know of being pleasmg we are sure, in spite of our imperfections, For, when we are^acquitting The Church associates all her children in this praise. There to God and heard by Him. all our miseries areas* is a part of the public worship which ordinary Christians ourselves of our official functions, with which the Bride of Chrbt. themselves must perform if they are to be counted among were veiled by the prestige °f the disciples Father sees us during th of Jesus. However, the Church has not content- invests us. The withw ^ souls, coming ^^before Himm ed herself with this worship common to all. In the same Divine Office, no longer as merits, but a ambassa way as she chooses some from among her children to associate their private interestfand personal Son, txeataKoTge more particularly and of His Weil-Beloved preferably with the eternal Priesthood dors of the Bride officially with every right to do wjweaj 1. Sermo cclv, cause of souls 5. P. L. 38, 1183. — 2. Joan, xx, 17. — 3. Ibid, xvn, 34- power of the Bride of Jesus, — 4. Eph. in, 17. invested with the dignity and :;: ;;

THE DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 300 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OPUS 301 and with those of Jesus Himself. Moreover, Christ Himself dignitm el justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper el 1 gratias agere . is in the midst of us ; He has formally promised to be so ubique in creation, there are many beings who not He is the supreme Hierarch Who receives our prayers and Now, do know gathers up our praises to bear them to the throne of God God. They assuredly praise Him after their manner by the 1 this simple fact of their obedience to the laws that He ordained Ad thronum gratiac . Therefore, in God's sight, praise forth surpasses, in value and efficacy, all other praise, all other for them on their coming from nothingness : Caeli 2 ' enarrant gloriam Dei et opera manuum ejus annuntiat firma- prayer, all other work . 2 heavens not This truth is absolutely beyond doubt, and the saints, mentum . However the do know their own who lived in God's light, so understood it. St. Magdalen canticle, anymore than they know their Creator. Whence is of Pazzi put assistance in choir before all the private devo- the song of inanimate creation to take life ? Upon our own lips of humanity. Hear what Bossuet so admirably tions that pious persons can make ; and when one of her lips, the long but it renders asked to be dispensed from choir in order to give herself says ; the text is rather the idea very " " inanimate creature cannot see, it is seen up to mental prayer, she replied : No, my daughter, I clearly. The should certainly deceive you in giving you such a permission, it cannot love, it urges us to do so ; and this God Whom to ignore. for it would be making you believe that this private devotion it knows not, it does not allow us Thus imper- would honour God more and render you more pleasing to fectly and in its own manner it glorifies the Heavenly Father. the Divine Majesty, while in comparison with this public But in order that it may consummate its adoration, man an understand- office which you sing with j^our sisters, private prayer is must be its mediator. He must lend a voice, 3 ing, and a heart burning with love, to all visible nature that " ' but a small thing . St. relates, while love, in and through him, the invisible beauty making this opinion his own, the saying of a wise religious it may man of the Creator. This is why he is placed in the midst of the " If time is lacking to us, it is much better to shorten world, himself the world in brief... a great world in the mental prayer, .and give more time to the Divine Office little world, because although the world contains him, he that we be enabled to may recite it with the devotion due in order 4 " has a mind and a heart greater than the world; to it . that contemplating the whole universe and gathering it up Such is the opinion of the saints, such is the language of in himself, he may offer, sanctify, and consecrate it to the faith. There is no work that comes anywhere near the. 3 " Living God . Divine Office. All other works are opera hominum. This this sublime r61e each day at the " " We acquit ourselves of is truly the Work of God pre-eminently, because it is a Divine Office. The Church wills that every creature should work of praise that comes from God through the Word that take life upon the lips of the priest or religious, so Incarnate and is offered by the Church, in Christ's Name. omnia opera every creature may praise its Lord : Benedicite 4 Domini Domino, latidate et superexaltatc ewn in saecitla . IV. in ipso vita erat, all these , Upon our lips as in the Word, creatures become animate that they may sing the Creators Another reason of the transcendency Praise come of the Divine perfections. " Come, " we say to all these creatures, is that it directly tends to procure God's glory. you know not God, but you may know Him through the Doubtless, as we have said, God finds His essential glory through my > medium of my understanding, and sing to Him m Himself independently of any creature : metis es lit, in the Dcus lips. Come, sun, moon, stars that He has sown bonorum meorum non eges*. But from tne moment that mountains and valleys, firmament ; cold and light, " come, there are creatures, it is truly " they magnify Him meet and just that seas and rivers, plants and flowers, come and should praise God, magnify that i His name and give thanks to Who created you. my God I love Thee so much Him this is ; in the right order of things, it is justice; it is from this principle that the virtue of religion is born : Vcre 1. Preface of the Mass. - 2. Ps. xvni,2.- 3 . has ^""•^''•^"f^taken up this idea again H br ,V l6 "~ 2 vid Annunciation, 1G62. 3'" point. The great orator * - E enUy supposing that the dcRrcc of love be the ™°°- c-,™ ^ i' ,V , to God, April - • and developed it in his Sermon on the worship due "§ *£art thG Sacram ents. Life by P. Cepari, S. - fT'tm»Lf: - 3- J. in, «. L Office meprtsi; compiles. — 4. Canticle for Sunday Lauds ; Dan. 57- (Emm Paris, 1836, t. XI, p. 39. — 5. Ps. xv, ;

THE DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 302 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OPUS 303

praise " of very essence as the Word, the splendour of would have the whole earth adore and Thee : Omnis extension His 1 terra adorct Te et psallat Tibi ! Through our lips, all the infinite glory. Neither is there any work that glorifies the formulas that has Himself inspired, praise of creation rises up to God. Spirit more : for by the He It rises up to Him because Christ, the Divine Word, makes we express our love under its most delicate forms, admiration His own this praise which we, guided by the Church, offer to continually renewed, and unending complacency. Gloria et Spiritui Sancto. Him. Man is the mediator of creation ; but, says Bossuet Patri et Filio 2 mediator and this When this work is performed with all the faith, all the again , man himself needs a Mediator all the love whereof our soul is is Christ the Word Incarnate. We lend our lips to Christ, heart-felt confidence and so that, through Him, our praise may be accepted in the capable, it surpasses every other work, and therefore our " 1 " filled with the spirit of all the just , Bosom of the Father : Per ifsum et cum ipso et in ipso est great Patriarch

: Nihil Operi Dei tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti in imitate Spiritus sancli, omnis wishes nothing to rank before this work 2 3 ; without being exclusive.it comes before every- honor et gloria . All things are ours, and we are Christ's, praeponatur us. Although we are not , we and Christ is His Father's : Omnia vestra sunt, vos auiem thing with place, because it concerns Christi, Chrislus auiem Dei*. " Rejoice, human nature, cannot put this work in the second especially to thou lendest thy heart to the visible world that it may love God directly and we came to the monastery the Divine Praise is one of the its Almighty Creator, and Jesus Christ lends thee His own seek God. Ardent love of " " God : Heart wherewith thou mayest worthily love the One most indubitable signs that we are truly seeking Who 3 5 " revera Deum quaerit... si sollicilus est ad opus Dei . can only be worthily loved by another Himself . Si Through the Divine Praise, we associate creation and ourselves, as intimately as possible, with the eternal praise V. that the Word gives to His Father. This participation in What further renders the Divine Praise extremely pleasing the eternal, thrice-holy canticle is realised above all in the virtues of to God is that it constitutes a homage of those doxology of the Gloria, repeated at the end of each psalm, faith, hope and love which are the specific virtues of our and again in many other parts of the Office. As we bow down state as children of God. to give " glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the r Everything here — let us repeat it — is to be judged Holy Ghost " we unite ourselves to that ineffable glory from the point of view of faith. To gather together several that the Holy Trinity finds in Itself from all eternity : Sicut faith hours day by day to praise God is a homage of our erat in principio et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorunti we thereby confess and proclaim that this Unseen God is It is like the echo of the infinite mutual complacency of the reverence, alone worthy of adoration and praise. The acts of Divine Persons in the plenitude and bliss of their adorable thanksgiving complacency that we accomplish in the fellowship. and extolling God, are, course of this work consecrated solely to What work equals this in greatness ? What work is more its meaning to above all, acts of faith. Faith alone gives pleasing to God ? None ; let us be deeply convinced of this. null, pity men who the Divine Office. Those whose faith is The Opus Dei is what is most precious in the inheritance praises they do their life in chanting God's ; of our pass a part of Order : Funes cecideruni miM in praeclaris, etenim hours occupy not comprehend how people can, at certain Jteredilas mea praeclara est mihi*. There are -no other hours Ut qmd perdiho Infinite Being : when we can themselves solely with the do more for God's glory than those we spend Office is undervalued *. faith is weak, the Divine in choir, in haec Where union with the Divine Word praising Father s.which hke His ; preferred before it. Soil pemoctans 7 and other works are in oratione Dei . There is de fying no work more pleasing Patriarch are bathed in the to the Father that of our Blessed, than that whereby we join, in order to glorify " Divine Praise they light* of faith, give the first place to s Him, in the canticle sung in " of of sinu Patris by the Son even if, in consequence His love 8 " do so at least in their estimation, . There is no work that better pleases the Son themselves to it. cannot devote , than this which their state in life, they we borrow from Him and that is like the the eternal Divine Praise becomes uninterrupted when i. Ps. lxv 4. — a. Continuation Ibl

3°4 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 305

light to exalt ; Exaltare light of vision succeeds the obscure of faith : Sint perfections in order them Domine, in 1 el psallemus virtutes tuas... Narrabo fine laudani. virtute tua, cantabimus 2 omnia mirabilia tua . "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and In the second place, our praise is a homage of hope. adore His footstool, for it is holy " : Exaltate Dominum 3 During the divine psalmody we rest upon the infinite merits Deunt nostrum... quoniam Sanchis Dominus Deus nosier . 4 of hearts of Christ Jesus. We hope for everything from the satisfac- "Justice shall walk before Him ; the searcher 5 " " of the I will sing tions of our Divine High Priest. In fact no prayer of the and reins is God . The mercies Lord 6 " " is like to Thee ? Office terminates without explicitly seeking its support in for ever . Lord God of hosts, who truth is round about Our Lord : Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. We Thou art mighty Lord, and Thy 7 " " Lord ? Thou hast make our claim through this All-Powerful Mediator Who Thee . How great are Thy works, " " ".: opera lives and reigns for ever with the Father, and pleads made all things in wisdom Quam magnificata sunt a the soul with Him unceasingly in order to render Him propitious to iua, Domine, omnia in sapientia fecisti . Then 1 " grateful love : I will sing to us : Semper vivens ad interpellandum pro nobis . turns to God to express its Cantabo Domino In leaving everything in order to hasten to the choir, it the Lord Who giveth me good things":

" " the Lord, my soul : and is like saying to God : There is nothing of which I am qui bona tribuit mihi*.' Bless Bless the more certain than of Thy goodness; I come to praise let all that is within me bless His holy name. hath done for and bless Thee, leaving in Thy hands the care of all the Lord, O my soul/and never forget all He iniquities healeth all rest. I have nothing more at heart than to praise Thee, thee. Who forgiveth all thy ; Who destruction being persuaded that if I leave every other work for thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from Who sate- this, Thou wilt know how to' take better care than I could Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion, things. "Then feehng incapable do of my dearest interests ; I want only to think of Thee, fieth thy desire with good the soul invites knowing that Thou wilt think of me. " To go to the choir of glorifying God as He should be glorified, Benedicite Domino omnes every day, and several times a day, in this disposition of the Angels to unite in praising Him : 10 times, " virtutes ejus . At other soul ; to put in practice the one thing necessary ", Unum Angeli ejus, benedicite omnes peoples est 2 the soul convokes necessarium , to lay aside all our cares, all that regards together with the sacred singer, terrae canlateueo , our personal work, so as to occupy ourselves during several and nations to join in this praise : Regna , " the going down of hours with Him alone, what an evident proof of our absolute for, from the rising of the sun until is worthy of praise "admir- confidence in Him 1 the same, the name of the Lord " the soul.pours able... in the whole earth". Yet again, Finally, our before God in being admitted^ praise contains above all a homage of love. out its joy and gladness a In it every labia mea cum cantaverotiOi... form of love finds expression, especially in the praise Him : Exsuliabunt 1 *. This joy is so neep Psalms which form the most considerable element of the labiis exsultationis laudabit os mettm power to praise Divine Office. Admiration, complacency, love and that the soul asks God for delight, the overflowing glonam of benevolence, os meum laudeut cantem .contrite love, grateful love, all these affections Him unceasingly : Replealur find 10 a place in an almost uninterrupted manner. Love tuam... Psallam Deo meo quamdtufuero . burning and ever new as confesses, admires, exalts the Divine perfections. Compla- Where could love find accents as cency psalms this love is^mani- whereby we rejoice in the joy and beatitude of the these ? At every instant in the condescension person beloved is one of the purest and most perfect forms fested and diffused. A truly extraordinary shown toKwhat.an of love. When we truly love, than has more than once we find nc sweeter joy of Divine Goodness lxntt in We see Out praising and glorifying. agreeable to God. , St. Francis of Assisi composing extent these praises are tne hls " ignorant souls Canticle, St. Teresa writing her ." Exclamations, deigning with infinite kindness to teach such is the hli soul overflowing with love, express Ibid. Mcvin, 5, and seeking to . ix, s, - 3- 9.-J-} ! ^ffi i - . Ibid, LPs. xx, 4 2 -"' x I 9 1S also the love vii,"10. -^'•"lbid cx ' that transported the Psalmist. 14. - 5. Ibid, ^i c _ xx .*IWd."ucva; Ibid,T J"on, 1-5.I ™"• w-^u 6. — 10. |°, d. With the sacred writer, cm, 24. — 9. Ibid, xii, lxx, -3. _ , s . lbi the soul passes in review all the Divine 1. 14. ttid. vni. . - 33. -12. Ibid, cxii, 3 . - 13. Ibid. cxliv, .. lxii, 6. 16. Ibid, lxx, 8. — 17. Ibid, 1. Hebr. vii, — 25. — 2 . Luc. x, 42- DEI, DIVINE PRAISE 3o6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS 307 special splendour and a singular Latin tongue, so that having this knowledge they may be Suffering gives to love a of the sacred in suffering is truly the height of self- able to penetrate into the meaning texts. value ; to love God life of a certain Benedictine Divine Saviour loved His Father with immense •A like trait is met with in the oblation ; our " " but this love shone out in an nun, the Blessed Bonomo. Often, during her ecstasies, love at each instant of His life, " His Passion, when Christ endured says a biographer, she was heard reciting the Divine incomparable way during cognoscat was that she pronounced the unutterable sufferings for love of His Father : Ut Office ; but a curious thing His 1 verses alternatively, as if the inhabitants of Heaven were mundtts quia duigo Patrcm . . become, and even frequently does repeating the psalms with her ; she recited the whole without The Divine Office can In this case omitting a single syllable, whatever was the Office of the become for certain souls, a veritable sacrifice. truly takes on a special day*." the expression Sacrificium laudis- in various ways to fulness of meaning. This can happen ; must give all Then, do not let us forget that in the Divine Office the soul begin with we must not spare ourselves ; we unsparingly, to submit exalts these perfections as is befitting, in a manner truly the energy we have. To use our voice of the ceremonial, worthy of God, a manner which He has "Himself ordained. to the manifold and varied details of the cantor, Left to ourselves, we could not render due homage to each willinely to accept and follow the indications differs from his on such and such a Divine attribute ; God alone can tell us how we can and even when our opinion continual : all this requires ought to praise Him ; God alone knows how worthy He is point of musical interpretation our imagination from wandering, of being magnified, blessed, glorified ; and it is the Holy attention. We must keep renewed efforts Spirit, the Spirit of Love, Who places upon our lips the very and this requires generosity. Frequently apathy or levity; formulas we are to use in singing to God. These praises, are needed to overcome our natural in their origin, are not of earth, they come to us from Heaven, these are so many sacrifices pleasing to God necessarily from the innermost depths of the Godhead and of Love. Next come the sufferings that the common life stimulus; the fact of And when we appropriate them to ourselves with faith, entails. Certainly common life is a fervour, but it allows above all when we recite or sing them in union with the being together in our stalls excites often repeated^ Divine Word, our canticle becomes infinitely pleasing to God, also of a number of inevitable small sacrifices, mmcem *»£««<" because it is presented to Him by the Word in person. Sumus homines fragiles... qui facitmt '; upon us is inherent St. Gertrude had the revelation of this truth in one of The possibility of tiny annoyances jarnng true even of prayer m her visions. As were being intoned on the Feast human nature ; this is to our poor movements of the Holy Trinity, Christ, holding His Heart in His hands common A ceremony awkwardly performed, false discord m the rhythm like a melodious lyre, presented it to the glorious Trinity. of the choir, a melody badly rendered, our nerves on edge Upon this lyre the fervour of souls and all the words of the with those around us, aUtWs can set an ^nj state ot sacred canticles resounded before the Lord in a hymn of especially when, in addition, fatigue or a superexcites the sensibility heavenly delight . health weighs upon the body and -these con^ions When we have to hymn God's glory under ; veritable VI. there is room for a real sacrifice, a ?; praise^™£.Him m In Heaven, when we possess God, we shall gladness here below m One circumstance often occurs in our monastic life to the eternal harmony of overflowing , topraise to happen that we have enhance further this homage of love : it is when we have the valley of tears! it may add a new degee of offer it to the Lord in suffering. Him in suffering; but our sufferings sincerity our seeking i. prove the Dom du Bourg. Une exlatique du XVII" siicle, la Bse Bonomo, monialc love to our praise, and only b&Mictine, Our His Father not p. ii and 52. We likewise see S* Catherine of Siena asking after God*. Jesus sang the praises of Lord to teach her to read in order to be able to chant the Psalms and praises Scnno lxix, c. of God during the Canonical Hours. Often, too, Our Lord walked up and down ^ Aucustin.b 1. Joan, xiv, 31. — 2. Ps. »«, 23^- 3- * 0SSU mUs, with her in her cell and recited the Office with the Saint. It was as two p religious might have done." Life Bl. Raymund of Capua. — 2. The Herald 0/ Divine Love. Bk. iv, ch.' 4*. S' Gertrude often expresses this idea. See Ibid. Bk. II, ch..23 Bk. Ger- ; MI, ch. 23 ; Bk. IV, ch. 48 and 51 ; cf. Dolan, St trude the Great. Ch. 11. The Divine Office. ;

OPUS DEI, DIVINE PRAISE jog CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE 3 o8 of Love, or leaves it like a desert land where upon Thabor, but on the Cross. St. Augustine of His Spirit savs 1 1 will ever praise Him with all the energy 1 there is no water , explicitly that upon Golgotha Our Lord recited the Psalm He is my God, my Lord and my King, of my heart, because that begins with these words : Deus, Deus mens respice in me; praise : Exaltabo te, Deus mens Rex 2 This striking and is worthy of all quare me dereliquisti . Messianic psalm 2 mens nomini tuo , confiiebor tibi Domine Dens et benedicam expressed not only the circumstances of the Passion, but z nomen tuam in aelemum . in toto corde meo, et glorificabo also the affections of Our Blessed Saviour's soul. In the darkness of Calvary, in the midst of indescribable tortures, becomes Recited in these dispositions, the Divine Office Christ Jesus recited " the Office, " and, at that moment, latidis pre-eminently, the most agreeable gave, the sacrificium because He was suffering, he much more than when to Christ's Sacrifice, it sacrifice to God, because, united on Thabor, infinite glory to His Father. . that the creature can constitutes the most perfect homage following His example, must praise God, not only We too, • honorificabit me. Moreover, offer Him Sacrificium laudis when the Holy Spirit replenishes us with His consolations, generosity, the God not allowing Himself to be out-done in. but likewise when we suffer. Loving souls follow Jesus one who accomplishes same sacrifice of praise becomes for the even more willingly to Golgotha as quo osten- everywhere, as well and beatitude : Et illic iter it the way of salvation and to the Mount of the Transfiguration. Who remained at the dam illi salutare Dei*. Cross with Jesus ? His Virgin-Mother who loved foot of the ljcxxv, a. 4- Ibid. - 3. Ibid, exuv, i. - 3- IKd. - Him with a love into which not the least self-seeking entered i. Ps. lxh, 3. XLIX, 23. Magdalen whom Jesus had forgiven much because she loved secrets of the Divine much ; St. John who possessed the

Heart. These three stayed there near to Jesus ; they remained "in their stalls" when the soul of Christ, the supreme High Priest, sang its sorrowful canticle for the world's salvation.- The other Apostles, Peter himself, who had so loudly protested his love, would willingly have remain- est nos hie ed on Thabor, where it was good to be : Bonum 3 the foot of esse: faciamus hie tria tabcrnacula , but not at the Cross. Christ Jesus Who loves us, Who has chosen us in preference to so many others to associate us in His work of praise, prayer allows us sometimes to feel, by the sufferings that ari ieS - in common brings with it, by the desolations and the Office^ to which it may subject us/what it is to chant tbat with Him on Calvary. If really you seek God solely, prove it is to say His Holy Will, and not His consolations, by continuing even then.and even especially at such m°™S with urn to sing ex toto corde vestro do not run away, stay ; wossi as long as He will have it so, near the Cross. The surrounob. raised, as a reminder, upon the altar that the choir Let us then repeat with the Psalmist; Benedicam DoW»w

. in ore meo - omni tempore, semper laus ejus in n shall be always bless the Lord at all times ; Plis praise " the sweets my mouth. Whether He fills my soul with

Matth- Ps. xxi. _ 3 . 1. S. Augustin. Enarr. in Psulm j-uxxv, 0. 1. _ 2. xvii, 4. — 4. Ps. XXXIII, 2. THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 311

enrich us with heavenly favours. In one of her collects, Christ's Bride herself logically links together these two " people aspects of the Divine Office : Grant, Lord, to the to Thee to find the source of increase in the XIV. — THE OPUS DEI, Means of Union with God. consecrated affections of pious devotion, that, being taught by the sacred rites, they may be filled with favours so much the according as they become more pleasing to Summary. —- Divine praise, the Opus Dei, is likewise a means of union more precious, 1 ." first Author with God and of sanctification. — I. It furnishes excellent Thy Divine Majesty God, being moreover the that forms of prayer and impetration. — II. It provides oppor- of our sanctification, the daily and repeated contact tunities of practising the virtues well. — III. It constitutes we have with Him in the Divine Praise veritably constitutes one with Christ. Dispositions the best manner of being made for us an inexhaustible principle of union and holiness. in which the Divine Office ought to be accomplished : immediate of This principle is true for every soul, even for those preparation ; intentions to be formulated. — V. Attitude of Christians; the faithful who, although in a more worthily, with simple the soul during the Divine Office : to pray with faith restricted manner, take part in Divine worship attention, and devotion. — VI. Final exhortation. and devotion, imbibe the Christian spirit as from its fount. explicitly said : This is what Pius X, of holy memory has so T F the Opus Dei were presented exclusively as a homage mys- " active participation of the faithful in the sacred to the Divine perfections in union with Christ The rendered of the Church teries and in the public and solemn prayer Jesus, it would already, and on this ground, eminently whence is drawn the is the first and indispensable source all fervour. In the last conference we tried to show merit our 2 " Christian spirit . , it is the true . what a lofty work the Divine praise constitutes ; applied not manifest that this truth is to be excellence, the voice of the Church addressing But, is it Opus Dei by who, like us have the still more appropriately to those herself officially to the Father, being entitled, as Christ's Besides the means happiness of the monastic vocation ? offer her adorations it is the homage of a Bride, to Him ; all the members 01 of sanctification that are common to soul wherein faith is active, hope assured and love ardent. there exists, Christ's Mystical Body, such asthe Sacraments, It is for these reasons that liturgical prayer is so pleasing corresponding to so to speak, in each Order, a special means : nomen Dei cantico, et placebit Deo to God Laudabo cum souls belonging to this Order 1 its institution and to which super vitulum novellwn . ve at perfection ought preferably to be attached, so as to am Worship is also a conversation, an exchange ; man, being engrafted for us Upon Christian predestination, God has full of needs, asks at the same time that he adores ; and not think mdeed the Benedictine predestination ; we must God gives more than He receives. This is why the Opus to chance .every that God has left our monastic vocation Dei is an abundant source of precious graces for the soul. grace, is the fruit o religious vocation, constituting a signal After having said in the Psalm, that the sacrifice of praise Chnst Jesus bears t the infinite and privileged love which is pleasing to Him, God, is magnificence itself and ever an ac Who dilexit eum*; and it is only by a soul : Intuitus eum bestows the hundredfold, adds this sacrifice becomes gives us thi that and Divine will that the.Word of His sovereign th for him who offers it, a way of salvation : Et illic iter quo to this call on immense grace' We definitely responded ostcndam Mi salutare Dei. It is impossible indeed for a let us ^^oij^ day of our. profession; but do not soul to come near to God, to come before Him in the name profession secundu« fact that we have made *f|«*JJ of His Son Jesus, and, finding strength in the infinite merits character like the singula, S.P. N. Benedict*: The particular , : of this supreme High Priest, to offer unceasing homage to expects of us should b( splendour of the holiness that God God, without the Father delighting in this soul and pouring our great Patriarch, i derived from the monastic code of special graces upon it. When He sees in us " the Son of His love 2 " a , — and He sees Him during the Divine Office *aj.estati ^ruAE fit_ sacris actionibus erudite, Qoanto celebrated in from ul {SaturfayjnP«aon Wee ; the aforesaid dispositions — the Father bonis pononmus augsatur ^ ^^ .*-<=• ^ " 3 nd x, 21. Whom comes " but ot Nov. 22 . 1903. — 3. Marc, down every perfect gift , cannot sion. i. Ps. lxviii, 31-32. — a. Coi. i, 13. — 3 . Jac. 1, 17. ::

THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 313 312 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF Augustine or the institutions direct end of the Divine Office is the glory of the Creator is not in following the Rule of St. Dominus noster, qaam admirabilc est nomen tuum , however great and lofty they be, that Domine, of the 1 demands of universa terra ! The dominant idea of the Opus Dei is we shall arrive at the perfection that Christ in perfection, or rather from these words of the Psalmist, as it is summed us. To a particular vocation, a special drawn the ever recurring doxology of the Gloria. a special form of holiness, ought to respond. up in 1 Divine Office contains, however, numberless forms our Holy Father ordains that among all the positive But the Now ex- is to take and supplication. The psalms, for example, works of piety that his monks are to perform, none of prayer 2 joy, exultation of soul in presence praeponatur .. not only admiration, precedence of the Divine Office : Nihil OperiDci press in admirable perfections; all the needs of the soul are Doubtless, it is right to repeat that this work is not our of God's therein set forth as it were in God's sight. We case exclusive of the others; but being the one which, in also found the Psalmist, beseech forgiveness of our sins: the Rule of St. Benedict, is given the first place, it becomes can, with " mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy. by that fact, for us monks, a very sure and authentic means Have according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot of attaining that form of perfection which God willed for us And Wash me yet more from my iniquity, when He called us to the cloister. Thus if it is averred that out my iniquity. from sin... Turn' away Thy face from pleasing to God in the measure that we give our- and cleanse me my we are Cast not away sins, and blot out all my iniquities... me selves up to this work, it will not be less truly averred that my 2 Thy Holy Spirit from me . face ; and take not the Divine Praise constitutes one of the most infallible means from Thy and my ignorances do not remember ourselves the eternal and special idea that The sins of my youth of realising in meminens ; juventutis meae et ignorantias meas ne of our perfection. Delicta God has tuo . meis munda me, et ab alums farce servo Let us then explain how the Divine Office is a means of ab occultis Thee, Lord... if Thou, Out of the depths I have cried to p union with God and of sanctification ; it will next remain iniquities, Lord who shalLstand. Hope, for us to point out the requisite conditions in order that O Lord, wilt mark for His Rgdmptaon therefore, soul, hope in Thy Lord, this means may produce all its fruits in our souls. O my redeem thee from all thy ini- is abundant, and He shall redempuo K Thou shalt wash : Et cofiosa afud eum I.. quities whiter than snow. To my hearing L, and I shall be made , the bones that have Thou shalt give joy and gladness : and One of the most important truths of the spiritual life is f tore to 6 ° been humbled shall rejoice ... ^ .™ ^ incontestably the necessity of prayer for obtaining the Divine with a perfect^SjJ *£**•» " " " Thy salvation, and strengthen me : you help Ask, said Our Lord, and it shall be given ; mouth shall declare Lord, Thbu wilt open my lips : and my seek, and you shall find : knock, and it shall be opened

3 . T ai to you " Our needs are immense, and without Christ's P distress, when beset by the soul is in trouble, in grace we can do nothing. How are we to obtain Christ's When it,whend^cour^ement i temptation, when sadness overpowers help ? : Petite et accipietis qui petit, By prayer ; omnis enim to open the inspiredBook possession of it, it has but accipit*. Now, the Divine Office contains wonderful suppli- takes " assistance O God come to my ; cations as pressing as they are varied. Undoubtedly, as multiplied^./^J^JgfcJthat afflict help me'. Why, O Lord, are they we have seen, it is first and before all a Divine Praise, the Many say rise up against me. me ? many are they who .But cry of the soul that, full of faith and love, admires and for him in his God £ my Suh There is no salvation magnifies God's perfections : et laudabilis Magnus Dominus protector my glo and toWj 6 ThouT O Lord art my g nimis . We do not come to the choir primarily to beg; Lord, save me . up of my head... Arise, no ; we come to praise God, to glorify Him, to think upon dost^thou chsqmetJme^ soul ? and why . His glory, to lend to thou sadf O my the salvation material creation our lips with which give praise to Him Hope in God, f o^ I will still sing, and our heart et. with which to love God : The first and God And of my countenance, and my i. " Positive" in opposition to works of a rather "negative " character, ^ d L 1 Ibid- such as the exercise of the virtues 1. Ps. vm. -a. > 7- of poverty, humility, etc., which serve ^ '-Tlbid t™%y U, £ ~ ; an'85-8.. ' above all to remove obstacles. — 13-14- — 5- Ibid,S cxxix, 1, 3. T7.?' „' - — 2. Rule, ch. xun. — 3. Matth. vn, 7. 5' 3-4. 7- - 9- Ibid- *"** 4. Joan, xvi, 24. — 5; Luc. xi, 10. — 6. Ps. lviiix, 2, lxix, 2 . —8. Ibid, in, ::

3^4 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 315

in Thee... Lord, Thou hast crowned be glad that hope O under a condensed, but often profound form ; finally, the us, as with a shield of Thy good will " : Et laetenlur omncs invoking of the infinite merits of Christ Jesus, the Beloved bonae voluntatis tuae coronastl 1 qui sperant in te... Scuto nos . Son, equal to His Father, Who lives and reigns with Him " trust, In the Lord I put my how then do you say to my and the Spirit, in the heavens : Per Dominum_ nostrum to the 2 ? soul : Get thee away from hence mountain Hear, Jesum Christum Eilium tuum, qui tecum vivum et rcgnat... supplication, I O Lord, the voice of my when pray to Thee ; when I lift up my hands to Thy holy temple... Save, O Lord, How should a like prayer fail to be powerful with God ? Thy people, and bless Thy inheritance : and rule them and How could God refuse His grace to whomsoever beseeches 3 " 1 exalt them for ever . Him according to the words He Himself has inspired ? Does the soul need light ? strength? courage? Words God loves all that comes from Himself or from His Son, wherewith to invoke God flow endlessly to our lips : "My and so this prayer which we address to Him in the name 4 soul is as earth without water unto Thee . Send forth of His Son is most pleasing to Him, and efficacious for us : 2 Thy light and Thy truth, they have conducted me, and Pater ego sciebam quia semper me audis . brought me unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy tabernacles. On this head, the Divine Office possesses great power of

And I will go to the altar of God : to God Who giveth joy sanctification. I am certain that a monk who gives himself to my youth. To Thee, O God my God I will give praise up to it with devotion cannot fail to obtain from it an " & upon the harp : Confitebor tibi in cithara Deus, Deus meus . abundance of divine help for every circumstance of his life. Then, above all, the holy longings of the soul to attain This is so much the more true in that the devout recitation one day to God rise ardently from the sacred poesy, the of the Office familiarises us with these holy forms of prayer " expression of its thirst for the divine meeting : For what spontaneously then, in the course of the day, these arise have I in Heaven? and besides Thee what do I desire again from his soul under the form of " ejaculatory " prayers, upon earth ?... Thou art the God of my heart, and the short but ardent aspirations, whereby the soul is lifted up " Siena God that is my portion for ever : Quid mihi est in caelo et, to God to remain united to Him. St. Catherine of a te, quid volui super terrain*?... "As the hart panteth had a special devotion to the Deus, in adjutoriummeum inten- 3 verses after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after de; she often repeated it during the day . So many Thee... when shall I come and appear before the face of of the Psalms, after having served us in choir can thus 7 " between God ? I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear : become, outside the Divine Office, bonds of union Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua a l Thus, the soul's most God and ourselves, uprisings from the heart to beseech His intense desires, its deepest aspirations, its most pressing help or to tell Him that it is our will never to turn away " to God, to put and extensive needs find wonderful forms of expression fur- from Him : It is good for me to adhere my 4 Lord, for I have nished by the Holy Spirit. And each soul can appropriate my hope in the Lord God . Preserve me, Thou art to itself these forms as if they had been made for itself put my trust in Thee. I have said to the Lord, alone. 6 shall fail, do not Thou forsake my God . When my strength to long for Thy justifications, me . My soul hath coveted Lord To the inspired texts are to be added the "Collects", at all times... I have stuck to Thy testimonies, the 7 " ' prayers composed by the Church herself, where are daily put me not to shame . . formulas gathered up the supplications that the Bride of Jesus offers Each soul can thus choose from among so many in her children's name, in union with her Divine Spouse. those which most aptly express its innermost aspirations, to Our Lord. They are ordinarily very concise, but contain, in their brevity, those which best help it to remain united the Divme Office the true pith of doctrine. As you know their structure is Often it has no need to seek them. When is the Holy Spirit Who throws almost always the same : the Church addresses her homage is recited with fervour, it Psalms or of the to the power and goodness of the Eternal Father, then a His Divine light upon some text of the petition in correlation with the Feast of the day, the whole " inspired " thesame sense when.U 1. evidently do not give the word, We Joan xj, i. Ps. v, 12-13. 2. Ibid, origin, of the Divine Office. — 2. , — x, 2. — 3. Ibid, xxvn, 2, 9. — 4. Ibid, cxlii, concerns the elements, of diverse lxxii, 28. 5. ^s. xv, 5. Ibid. xLii, 3-4. — 6. Ibid, xlxii. S. part., ch. v. — 2. — 4- Ps. — £.— 35-26. — 7.' Ibid. xli. 2-3.J — 42. — 3. Life by Drane, i» Ibid, xvi, 15. ' 31- 1-2. — 6. Ps. t-xx, 9. — 7. Ps- cxviii, 20, J

3i6 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 317

Liturgy ; this text then particularly strikes the soul, and by It is in the Divine Office too that we learn reverence towards this vivid, penetrating and effectual action of the Spirit God ; the Liturgy is the best school of respect ; all within

, of Jesus, it hereafter becomes a principle of light and joy, it is regulated by the Church herself in view of magnifying and like a wellspring of living water where the soul may God's Sovereign Majesty. When the soul performs all the constantly allay its thirst, renew its strength, and find the ceremonies, even the smallest, carefully and lovingly, it is secret of patience and inward gladness : Psalierium mettm, gradually formed to that inward reverence which is, as 1 we gaudium meum . have said, the very root of humility. It is impossible for " a monk to be devoutly assiduous at the " Work of God li- without gaining in a short time a great knowledge of the divine perfections, and without that respect and reverence springing lt is not only in itself and directly that the Divine Office up in his soul from this contemplation. is a means of sanctification it also ; gives us the occasion of We have likewise seen how the Divine Office is moreover practising many virtues several times a day. Now this a school where, on account of the common life, may be practice, Council 2 according to the of Trent , is a source of exercised the virtue of patience and self-forgetiulness. union with God and of progress in perfection. Thus the virtues most necessary to our state as children When a soul is in God's friendship, each act of virtue it of God, faith and confidence, humility, love, and religion, makes increases grace in it, and this is above all true of find each day not only the means of being exercised, but of charity which is the queen of every virtue. Now, the Divine being maintained, and strengthened ; the Divine Office hence Office recited with fervour, is a continual exercise of the becomes an abundant source of holiness. most varied virtues. We saw, in the last conference; the frequency with which acts of faith, hope, and charity occur III. in the course of the Divine Office ; charity especially shines out in it ; it finds the purest and most perfect expression in The sanctifying power of the Divine Office however goes the Opus Dei, namely, complacency in God ; and this com- further than this. Not content with being the best form placency is manifested at almost each moment in accents of of impetration for our spiritual necessities and giving admiration 3 and joy . When, for example, we have recited us the opportunity of daily practising lofty virtues, this and Lauds with devotion, we have made numerous praise constitutes for us the best way of being made one acts 1 of perfect. love. with Christ . We must never forget this capital truth of

the spiritual life : all is summed up, for the monk as for the To the theological virtues, which are the specific virtues of simple Christian, in being united, in faith and love to Christ our state of children of God, must be joined the virtue of Jesus in order to imitate Him. Christ being the very 2 " religion. Religion has no purer manifestation than the "form of Our predestination, is at the same time the monasticism Divine Office gravitating around the Eucharistic Sacrifice ideal of all holiness for us. He is the centre of is Christ, to imitate Him, which its crown. The Divine Praise encompassing the as of Christianity : to- contemplate altar, will in order to please His Father, where the holy oblation is offered, is the purest to unite our will to His expression of all perfection. The Father has of the virtue of religion; it is also the most that is the sum total all pleasing beloved Son ; we find in Him to God, because this expression is determined by placed all things in His the Holy Spirit the treasures of redemption .justification, wisdom, heavenly and by the Church, Christ's Bride:; worship lies in con- finds its plenitude 4 knowledge, sanctification ; for us everything in the Divine Office . to For the thought i. S. Augustin. Enarral. templating Him and drawing near Him. in Psalm. 137,1!. 3, P. L. col. 2. Sess. ~ 37, 1775.— tl I 1 are not only holy, but „',,?' *~ 3 ' jsa great mistake to imagine that a sacrifice is only of Jesus, the looking upon Jesus, nd agr a le t0 God if il is ? - *. sad and mortifying to nature. The T^i,f r ki ? , sanctifying. . ?1V6S testm n tha God receives . TT m2J2i a }? y * flowers and fruits as well as Our Lord in His JOy aS as tearSl And nowhere can we better contemplate - - There are certainly many tears in the «^„sacntce of* praise which^ is named the Psalter, but how joy overflows in it commentary on this thought in D Festu£6re. I* and how often one t. See a remarkable is^made aware of a ! " comme source el caust jubilant and ravished soul Mgr. Utnrgiecntholigue.essaide synthhe, ch. xui. La Ulur&e r S S" r s • ste"s *» Rosaire, I. pp. 80-81. — 4. Cf. Lottfn, Cf. Rom. vii, 29. T?Lt , *f ?y de vie religieuse, pp. in, sq. — 2. Lame,£du culte,ZT la vertu de religion. 3i8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 3ig

Person and in His mysteries, than in following the liturgical this Model is represented in each stage of His terrestrial cycle established bv the Church, His Bride, she herself guided existence, but above all because a divine virtue goes out in this by the Holy Spirit. From Advent to Pentecost, from these mysteries to sanctify us, according to the measure all leads the liturgy is Christocentric ; in it back to Christ, of our faith, and to make of the soul the living reproduction representation, is all converges towards Him ; it is a but a of Him Who our Elder Brother. Does not all our pre- living representation of His mysteries : His Incarnation, His destination, all our holiness consist in being made conform- most sweet Nativity, His hidden life, His public life, His able to Christ for the glory of His Father ? sorrowful Passion, the triumph of His Resurrection, His admirable Ascension ; the Mission of the Holy Spirit. The It is this custom of following, under the Church's guidance, Church leads us by the hand in Jesus' footsteps ; we have the mysteries of Jesus that gives to Benedictine spirituality only to listen, only to open the eyes of faith : we are such a specifically Christian character : the piety of the soul, following Jesus. traced upon the very piety of the Bride of Christ, becomes The mysteries of Jesus thus contemplated with faith and extremely lucid. It is a fact of experience that with souls, love, give rise within us to the affections that we should who say the Divine Office devoutly, who let themselves be have felt had we been present at the Birth of Jesus, had we replenished with the truths of the Psalms and follow Our followed Him to Egypt, been with Him at Nazareth, in Lord step by step in each of His mysteries, the spiritual His discourses, in the Garden of Gethsemani, upon the life is very limpid, sane, and at the same time abundant Way of Sorrows, and at Calvary; as we should have felt and fruitful ; in these souls piety is exempt from all compli- 1 if we had been present at His Resurrection, and Ascension . cation, nor is there anything forced about it. If we try to

This is what was said by a holy Benedictine, Mother DeleloS : create or arrange our own spiritual life, there is danger of " At Christmastide, during all those solemnities of our Sa- putting much of ourself into it much that is human, and viour's Birth, I' received great favours ; His Majesty often there is the risk at times of not taking the way that God gave me a vivid light so that I knew these divine mysteries wishes us to follow in order that we may attain to Him. " 2 risk of as if they were then really taking place . Walking in the footsteps of the Church, there is no Indeed, although Christ is no longer upon earth, although going astray. The secret of the safety, as of the simplicity the historical reality of His mysteries has gone by, He ever and breadth, of Benedictine spirituality lies in the fact that remains our Head and the virtue of His actions and of His it borrows hot from ever fallible man, but from the Cburch, life is ever fruitful: Jesus Christies heri et hodie: ipse et in from the Holy Spirit, all its elements even to its framework, 3 of life of saecula . It is as the Head of the human race, and for which is nothing else than the representation the

the human race, that He has lived these mysteries : there- Christ. fore, simply by contemplating them with faith, the soul is holiness moulded little by little upon Christ, its Ideal, and is gradually This is a point of extreme importance. Our transformed into Him, by entering into the sentiments felt indeed is of the supernatural order, absolutely transcendent, by His Divine Heart when He lived each of His mysteries. having its source, not in us, but in God. Now, says St. Paul, in Jesus lives the reality of His mysteries in us, and when we know not how we ought to pray, we know not, we have faith, and rest lovingly united to Him, He draws this unique affair of our sanctification, what is befitting; us with Him, making us partakers of the virtue proper to but the Spirit of Jesus, Who is in us since our Baptism, each of these states. Each year, as the soul follows the Who directs the Church, Who is as it were the Soul of the 1 Liturgical cycle, it shares ever more intimately in these Mystical Body, prays in us with ineffable groanings . by this mysteries, and is identified more and more with Christ, In the Liturgical Office, everything is inspired Holy Spirit, with His thoughts, His feelings, His life. Hoc enim senlite Divine Spirit or created under His action. The bis, 4 ingraves in the docile and in vo quod et in Christo Jesu . Gradually it is transformed Author of the psalms, deeply they give admirable formulas, into the likeness of the Divine Model ; not only because devout soul, the truths whereof the sacred canticles i. See the He fills soul with the. affections that development of this idea in our work : Christ in His Mysteries, the st i Conference : Christ's Mysteries are our mvsteries. — 2. La Mire Jeanne Deleloi, " ". 1. Cf. Rom. vii, 26. p. 247, Collection Pax — 3. Hebr. xm, 8. — 4. Philip, n, 5. : ;

320 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 321

" express. Little by little the soul lives on these truths, is tempteth God : Ante orationem, praepara animam tuam, et it see judge 1 " nourished on these sentiments which make and noli esse quasi homo qui tentat Deum . What is to tempt " all things as God sees and judges them ; it lives constantly God ? It is to undertake an action without being assured in the supernatural sphere ; it cleaves to Him Who is the of the means of carrying it out. If we begin the Divine unique object of all our religion, the One Who is placed Office without preparation, we cannot recite it as is befitting unceasingly before our eyes in the reality of His mysteries to expect the necessary dispositions to come to us from on and the power of His grace. high, without first using the means of producing them within There is no surer way than this of keeping united to Jesus, us, is to tempt God. and consequently going to God. The Church, guided by The first disposition required of us then is that we prepare the Holy Spirit, leads us to Christ, Christ leads us to His our soul by most fervent prayer : instanUssima oratione. It " " Father and makes us pleasing to Him : what incomparable is with this object in view that we assemble at the station security and what powerful fecundity of the inner life this in the cloister before entering the Church. The silence of spiritual way guarantees to us I the station ought to be inviolable. It is important that each one should respect the recollection of his brethren and IV. not trouble (even by words which are necessary but might be said at other moments) the work of a soul that is preparing The Divine Office will produce its precious fruits in us itself to be united to God. The moments which pass at the fervour only if it be well accomplished ; it does not act in the manner station are golden moments. Experience proves that of the Sacraments, ex opere operate; its fruitfulness depends during the Divine Office is to be very exactly measured by the in great part on the dispositions of the soul. It is a divine immediate preparation. Almost infallibly, if we do not from the " Work of God " as work, extremely acceptable to God ; it is a privileged means prepare ourselves, we come out of our negligence. of union and sanctification ; — on condition however that we entered, with, moreover, the culpability 2 we bring the necessary dispositions. What are these dispo- In what then does this preparation consist ? As soon as 3 the bell calls venite adoremus , we ought to leave every sitions ? . us, agebant Before the Office, we must first of all, prepare our- other work: Mox exoccupatis manibus, et quod 1 selves. The perfection with which we acquit ourselves of imperfectum relinquentes ; direct our thoughts towards God "Behold I the Work of God depends in great part on the preparation and say to Him by a movement of the heart: alto- glorify Thee ; may I give myself of the heart ; it is the heart which God looks at first of all come, O my God, to " if needs be by 1 " gether to work I We ought secondly, Praeparationem cordis eorum audivit auris tua . Whatever Thy " a effort of the mind, to put from us good work thou undertakes t, our holy Patriarch says, generous and vigorous thought, speaking to us in general, " beseech God with most earnest every irrelevant preoccupation, every distracting " and gather up our energies that all may be concentrated prayer to vouchsafe to bring to a, good end : Quidquid agen- intellect, our will, our dum inchoas bomim, a Deo perfici instantissima oeatione upon the. work about to begin : our 2 heart, our imagination, in order that our whole being, body deposcas . If this recommendation extends to all our under- soul, Lord. We should be able to say takings, how much more expressly is it to be applied to a and may praise the in mea Domino, et omnia, quae work which demands of us faith, love, patience, the sense all truth : Benedic anima 5 intra nomini sancto ejus .; to say like aV1 of reverence, and which is for us the "work " by excellence, me sunt, p. ^' meant ad te custodiam : " the sacred singer : Fortitudinem because it is the Work of God ? " If we do not beg the Lord, and for Thy help of God before I will keep my strength for Thee, giving ourselves to tne Divine Praise, we power service I consecrate to Thy praise every shall never accomplish it well. Not to recollect ourselves ; wish to within before the Office, but to let our minds wander, then begin ex me. preparation, supposing 1. Eccli. — 2. speak of the immediate abrupto, and imagine that fervour will be born of itself in xvm, 33. We The remote the remote preparation to be understood and admitted. of tfle the soul, is to be under : heart and the habit a illusion. , singular Scripture tells us preparation is) in the moral order, purity of the sacred tests, " presence the intellectual order, knowledge of Before, prayer prepare thy soul : and be not as that of God, and, in a man Rule, ch. v. 5- *"s. ch, of the rubrics and chant etc. — 3. Ps. xciv, 6. — 4. — i. Ps. x, 17. — 2. Prologue of the Rule. 1. — 6. Ps. Lvm, 10. 322 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 323

Then let us unite ourselves, by a spiritual communion of We must not forget that if Christ Jesus recited the psalms, " faith and love, to the Word Incarnate. We must have it was not only individually but, moreover, as the Head recourse to Christ Jesus ; in this as in all things He is our of humanity, morally identifying Himself with all Adam's Model and our Head. Christ Jesus loved the Psalms. We race, being touched at Heart with every peril, struggle and see Him, in the Gospel, more than once making use of the fall, with every regret and hope of men, uttering to His inspired songs, for example, the magnificent psalm Dixit Father, at the same time as His own. prayer, the supreme 1 " Domimts Domino meo , wherein is exalted the glory of and universal prayer of all humanity K This truth applies Christ, the Son of God, triumphant over His enemies. His to all the prayer of, Jesus, to all His works, and to His Divine lips have recited these canticles " in such a manner sacrifice. that manifestly His soul took possession of the sacred poetry This is why, with its every movement, the Liturgy finds 2 " as belonging to Himself . We then recited the Psalms in its support in Christ Jesus, the Son of dilection. All its 3 Him, as now He recites them in us , in virtue of that mar- prayers end in recalling Christ's merits and Divinity : Per vellous union which grace establishes between Christ and Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum... At the Mass, which " His members. This is what Our Lord Himself made Saint is the centre of the liturgy and of all our religion, the Ca- " Mechtilde understand. One day when she asked Him if non, that most sacred part of the holy oblation, begins He had really celebrated the Hours upon earth, He most solemnly by having recourse to Christ's mediation: " to : I beseech Thee : accept these deigned to reply her did not recite them as you do ; "O Father most clement, we however, at these hours, I rendered homage to God the gifts through Jesus Christ Thy Son and Our Lord. " It ends Father. All that is observed among My disciples, I Myself with the same thought, still more explicitly formulated : Per inaugurated, as for example Baptism. I observed and ac- Ipsutn, et cum Ipso, ei in Ipso: it is through Christ, with complished these things for Christians, thus sanctifying and Christ, and in Christ that we can render all honour and all perfecting the works of those who believe in Me. " Our Divine glory to the Father. Why so much insistence ? Because " universal Saviour gave the following counsel to the Saint : In be- the Father has appointed His Son as the one ginning the Hours, let these words then be said with the Mediator. St. Paul, who penetrated so far into the mystery " therefore let heart and even with the lips : Lord, in union. with the atten- of Christ, exhorts us in these terms : By Him tion wherewith when upon earth Thou didst observe the us. offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that is to say, " ipsum ergo Canonical Hours in honour of the Father I celebrate this the fruit of lips confessing to His Name : Pee labiorum Hour in Thy honour. Secondly let all our attention be kept offeramus hostiam laudis semper Deo, id est frucium 2 for God. And when this practice having been often repeated confitentium nomini ejus . support; He supplies has become a habit, this exercise will be so lofty and noble In Christ Jesus, we find our best to be in us the in the sight of God the Father, that it will seem to make but for our deficiencies. Let us entreat Him l " the Sacred Humanity, one with that which I Myself practised - Word that praises His Father. In Word let us the personal principle of every work was the ; in all our praises.; i. Ps. also to take the initiative cm. — 2. D. Festugiere, I. c, pp. 114-115. — 3, Oramtts ergo ad entreat Him illum per tllum, inillo, ei dieimus illo el illo, infinite love whereby, t cum dicit nobiscum; dicimus in let us unite ourselves to Him in the dial m nobis psalmi hujus oralionem. S. Augustin. Enarr. in Ps. lxxxv, i immense in the Trinity, He glorifies His Father, and in that P. L. 37, col. 1082. All this § 1 should be read. — 4, The Booh of Special rd Body, CJmstus Grace, 3 part, ch. 31, Our Lord deigned still explicitly to teach the love Church, His Mystical more " He bears to the same doctrine to another Benedictine nun, Mother Deleloe. "One day, unite ourselves to Him, " dilexit EcclestamK Let us further this holy nun relates, the Well-Beloved drawing my heart close to Him, Church it that He gives to the seemed to me that truly this most lovable Spouse plunged it with warm praising Him for the glory caresses and demonstrations «s wrinkle His holy of love into the recesses of His Divine Heart. triumphant, which is without spot or m in a furnace of infinite Love. It was this then given me to understand ho"" maculam aid mgam*; let us beseech favour was granted me by the Well-Beloved, in order that my soul which sight: now habens belonged Mother, of His entirely to His Majesty, should not come alone into the presence Him to increase the glory of His Blessed of the Eternal Father to confess accompanied and love Him, but that being Collection this Mire Deleloe. p. 231- by Divine Saviour, united to Him, and as it were altogether transfonned means, by the Sovereign Bounty. " La into the unique object of His eternal delight, it should love and honour the "Pax, XVI". „ •(.„>, „, h v -5- _,4- Divine Majesty the more, 2. Hebr. xm, i> — 3- W - . — with and by the most adorable Heart of Sis Only- 1. D. Festugiere, I. c. p. "5. — begotten Son, my Beloved, — and be more acceptably received, through this Cf. Ibid. 27. ;: :

324 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 325

Angels and of His Saints ; then let us unite our love to Saviour, the Church lets her motherly gaze travel over the His love for the Church suffering, in order that we may diverse series of souls who have need of help from on high, help those of His members who are waiting in the place and she offers special supplications for each. Let us imitate of expiation ; let us unite ourselves to Him in that prayer this example of our mother and approach God with made at the Last Supper for all His Church which He here confidence, for at this moment 1 we are the mouth of the below : Paler, rogo pro eis qui crediiuri sunt in me . 1 whole Church : Tolius Ecclcsiae os . As the ages succeed one another, Christ leaves His Bride I was saying in the preceding conference that, in choir, to accomplish a part of the prayer that He recited when we are the Church's ambassadors. Now what is the most offering sacrifice. , on the point of His Although this prayer fundamental quality of an ambassador ? To be clever ? is of infinite efficacy, Our Lord wills us to join our to own powerful ? to have a large fortune at his disposal ? to it. One day our Divine Saviour, casting His gaze upon the have influence ? to shine by his personal talents ? to be multitude of souls to be redeemed, said to His Apostles persona grata with the sovereign to whom he is sent ? All whom He was about to send to preach the Gospel : Rogate this is useful and necessary ; all these qualities would messis a " dominum ut mittat operarios in messem suam , Pray contribute without any doubt to the success of his mission, ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send labourers but they would be insufficient and sterile, they would even into His harvest. " The Apostles might have replied deviate from the end in view did not the ambassador " Lord, why dost Thou tell us to pray ? Does not Thy identify himself first of all, and as perfectly as he possibly " " " prayer suffice ? No, it does not suffice : Rogaie: Pray, could, with the intentions and opinions of the sovereign who you also. Christ Jesus chooses to have need of our prayers sent him, with the interests of the country he represents. as of those of His Apostles. Let us think, at the moments The Church deputes us to the King of kings, to the throne " " when we are recollecting ourselves at the station that of God. We must then identify ourselves with her views from the depths of the tabernacle, interests, which Christ is about to say and wishes ; the Church confides to us her us : Rogate Dominum messis : "Lend Me your lips and hearts are those' of souls, those of eternity. This is not a trivial that I prolong all the needs, all may My prayer here below while in Heaven matter ! Let us then take into our hearts I offer since she My merits to the Father. Prayer first of all : the the necessities of the Church — so dear to Jesus labourers will only come afterwards and their work will is purchased by His Blood— the anguish of souls in pain, bear fruit only in the measure that My Father, attentive the perils of those who are at this moment grappling with to direct us in to your prayer, which is Mine, will pour down the heavenly the devil, the anxieties of those who have ; " dew of His grace upon earth. order that all may receive God's help. This is what was rg. She took Before beginning the Divine Office, let us then cast a done by the holy Sister Mechtilde of Magdebou glance of her soul to present it to the over the world : the Church, the Spouse of Christ, is all Christendom in the arms " be, said ever in travail of redemption. Let us behold the Sovereign Eternal Father that it might be saved. Let " " " No, Lord, Pontiff, the pastors of dioceses and parishes, the religious Our Lord to her, it is too heavy for thee. " bear it to Thy feet Orders, the missionaries who carry the good word to the replied the Saint, I will lift it up and heathen in that so Thou mayest bear it Thyself order to extend the Kingdom of Jesus ; let us with Thine own arms, 2 " of the faith of great souls behold, in spirit, the sick in the hospitals, the dying whose upon the Cross. 1 An example the dogma of the Communion eternal salvation is about to be decided at this very moment | which constrains them to put and most perfect practice. let us think of prisoners, of the poor, of those who suffer, of saints into the highest models, and we may be assured that of souls in temptation; of sinners who wish to return to Let us imitate these and the grace of forgiveness will God but are weighed down by the burden of their cnains fight, consolation, help, the throne of mercy upon the of the just who ardently long love. flow down abundantly from to advance in divine said Is what Our Lord Himself it not this that the Church herself Friday ? whole Church. Remember does on Good ask the Father " I say to you ; if you Remembering the sacrifice for the redemption of the whole Amen, amen, world, and feeling herself strong in very of the the strength ch. 12. 2 The Li ht 0/ the Divinity, b. II, r S. Bern. Senen. Sermo xx. — E i- Jom. xvir, 20. — 2. Luc. x, 2.' CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 326 THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 327 anything in Name, He will give it you \ " Rely " " My upon The Work of God is an eminently apostolic work, this promise, ask much, ask in all confidence, and the Father although this does not appear outwardly ; this character of " 2 " every perfect gift comes down , will from Whom open the Office is perceived by faith alone, but for those 3 who His hands to fill every soul with blessings . For it is not have faith, how much the value of this work is enhanced ! intercede at this moment ; it is we who pray, who the Church, A Sister of Charity can count the number of sick persons Priest it is Christ, our Head, the supreme High Who prays she has assisted, the number of the dying for whose conversion in us, and stands before His Father to plead the cause of she has laboured; a can verify the success of the souls He has redeemed : Ut appareat vultui Dei pro his preaching, take into account the good that he does, and 4 5 nobis... Semper vivens ad interpellandum pro nobis . therein find encouragement for his efforts and motives for thanksgiving. We cannot keep any such register. It is in It is true that men of the world shrug their shoulders the obscurity of faith that, during the Divine Office, we work stay when they learn that we such long hours in choir for souls ; it is in heaven alone that we shall see all the praising God. For them, nothing is worth anything unless glory we have given to God by devoutly singing His praises, it is exterior, unless the results can be touched or felt, all the good we have gained for the Church and for souls ; unless it is something that is talked about, that is successful below we cannot gauge it ; this is one sacrifice the more that and brilliant ; but, says St. Paul, in his inspired energetic faith asks of us. But although the apostolic efficacy of the language, the sensual man, whose natural reason is his only Work of God well performed does not appear to our bodily guide, cannot understand the things of God : Animalis homo eyes, it is no less deep and far-reaching. non percipit quae sunt Spiritus Dei 6 ; the supernatural sense Let these great thoughts occupy our minds at the moment is lacking to him. For him, these hours are lost and wasted of beginning the Divine Office ; they enlarge the horizon hours ; but to the eyes of faith, in the sight of God, — and of the soul ; they increase its energies tenfold, they prevent who is just and true as God ? — these hours are rich in routine. When we habitually act in this spirit of faith, graces for the Church, and of great weight for souls as regards when we thus forget our personal pain and troubles, in order eternity. It is at these hours we fulfil the most excellent to occupy ourselves with the needs and interests of souls, spite of apostolic work, even towards our neighbour ; we obtain for we go out of self ; we praise God with fervour, in him the grace of God, we give him God : this is the greatest the weariness that may befall us, in spite of the repugnance good for a soul. St. Bernard, that great monk and apostle, which God sometimes permits us to feel ; and let us be assured consumed with zeal, says, " all apostleship demands three that if we think, before all things, of God's glory and of will pour things : the word, example, prayer. But of these three Christ's Mystical Body, Jesus will think of us and prayer is the most important, because it is prayer which down blessings upon our souls surpassing all our hopes and " 7 this Himself ? " Give — obtains the grace and efficacy of the word and example . desires. Has He not promised 1 " " . Indeed unless the Lord build the house, they labour in and it shall be given to you : Date, et dabiiiir vobis vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watch- 8 " V. eth in vain that keepeth it . It is truly God Who holds

the eternal destinies of souls within His hands : In ma7iihts D rapid but tuts sortes meae ; and when we fervently recite the Divine After having formulated our intentions, in a few instantissima Office for the whole Church, in union with Christ Jesus, we intense acts, let us ask God "earnestly" His holy name labour for the salvation and sanctification of souls in a mea- oratione, to open our lips that we may praise ; 10 vain, perverse, or simply irrelevant sure we cannot compass . to cleanse our hearts from to enkindle our ; enlighten our understanding, i. Joan, xvi, 23. — 2. Jac. 1, 17. — 3. Cf. Ps. cxuv, 16. — 4. Hebr. ix, thoughts to attention and 24. — 5. Ibid, vn, 25- — 6. I Cor. n, 14. — 7. Mancnt Iria !:.rec: verbwn, love, that we may praise Him worthily, with exemplum, oratio; major autem his est oratio; nam, eisi vocis virtus sit opus, devotion. This is all contained in the prayer Aperi which el operi tamen et voci gratiam cfficaciamque promcretur oratio. Epistola, 201, should endeavour to say it * n. 3. P. L. 1S2, co. 370. A disciple of S' Bernard, Dom Chautard, Abbot ot Sept- we recite before each Office ; we Fons, lias written on this subject a most valuable work translated into English with humility and fervour, for it points out the dispositions under the title " of The True Apostolate" , which we cannot sufficiently recommend. — 8. Ps. cxxvi, 1. — 9. Ps. xxx, 16. — 10. See La Vie con- I. I.UC VI, 38. \ templative el son r6lc apostoliquc, by a Carthusian monk. — .

OF THE MONK 3 28 CHRIST, THE IDEAL THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 329

of Digne, that we ought to have during the work God : on the other. We have just now pointed out the intent ons attcnte et devote. we ought to have in the course of the divine psalm dy. To pray worthily, — that is to observe faithfully the cere- Attention, too, is very necessary, for the Divine Praise s a monial, the rubrics, the rules of chanting, all that forms human action, performed by a being endowed with re; son kings those the protocol imposed by the King of upon who and will. Failing this attention, we should fill the m& ha- If, being admitted to the present themselves before Him. nical r&le of a series of well tuned phonographs ; we shi uid court of an earthly sovereign, we did not trouble ourselves be like the praying-wheels of the monks of Thibet. about etiquette, we should be quite reasonably taxed with But what is the kind of attention required ? St. Thonas Church, under the being guilty of great disrespect. The distinguishes first : the attentio ad verba, the mental appli- ceremonial of Holy Spirit's action, has arranged the her cation to pronounce the words well ; it is this that beginners this she manifests the prayer with extreme care. By have to strive after first of all ; secondly, the attentio ad Spouse. the reverence she bears to her Divine Under Old sensuvt, attention to the meaning of the words ; finally, Covenant, God Himself gave the details of the worship to the attentio ad Deum;. this is, according to St. Thomas, 1 shed blessings upon " " necessaria . be paid to Him, and we see that He the most necessary : Quae quidem est maxime the Jewish people in the measure that they observed His Our holy Lawgiver combines the whole in a sufficiently ordinances. And yet, what was the immediate object of this synthetical manner in his beautiful chapter De disciplina worship ? The ark of the covenant, containing the tables of psallendi. He first of all lays_ down the principle : Ublque the Law, and the manna. It was but a figure, a symbol, an credimus divinam esse praesentiam, maxime tamen... cam ad " " " imperfect shadow egena elementa, to speak in the language Opus divinum assistimus : We believe, he says, that 1 maxime, when of St. Paul . Ours is the true tabernacle, for it contains tha God is present everywhere, but especially, Office. " From this principle true Manna of souls ; it contains the One Who alone is we are assisting at the Divine 2 . sing God's praises with holy: Tu solus sanctus, Jesit Christe The Divine Office he draws two conclusions ; we must simns quod ait is celebrated around the tabernacle, under the eyes of the greatest reverence : Ideo semper memores Christ. The Father lovingly beholds a soul who seeks to propheta: servite Domino in. timore; with understanding, saying; Et iterum; procure the glory of His Beloved Son Jesus : Et clarificavi, knowing well what we are doing and he links et iterum clarificabo*; therefore all is pleasing to Him that Psallite sapienter. Then at the end of the chapter,

: Ergo const- composes or enhances the worship whereof Jesus is the centre. together the two dispositions with these words sic Let us then take care not to exempt ourselves from the cere- deremus qualiter oporteat in conspectu Divinitatis esse, et nosiroe : monial nor to recite or chant the Office according to our siemus ad psallendum ut mens nostra concordat vocl " reverence we ought to behave own fancies or caprices ; this would be wanting in respect Let us consider with what' assist at the psalmody that our to God ; it would be exposing ourselves to a wrong kind in God's presence, and so should weigh tlus of familiarity which could only be harmful to us. God mind be in accord with our lips. " We remains God, that is to say the Infinite Being, full of in- teaching carefully. _„ ,. the Office we ought communicable majesty, even when He admits us to praise We are first of all told that during before God. bod Him. interiorly prostrate in adoration Neither let us say that the rubrics are small matters ; to remain "the Lord God of all things our yes, these things are materially small ; but they are great is Infinite Holiness, De reverentiaom- of reminds us in the chapter by reason the love with which we should observe them ; Blessed Father father of fevers :spoke to great because they so closely concern God's honour; a soul tionis*. When Abraham, the dust and ashes*. When Moses who loves Our Lord shows this love by putting as much the Lord, he called himself his profoundsens e-of^e divine fidelity into small things as into great actions, for nothing conversed with God, such was not raise his eyes to lookuponHim is really small which is according to the Divine good pleasure- Majesty that he durst vocali potest rf«j**^ x. Triplex attentio oraHoni rrd;sec«nda qua attaAt ft^ttn n Let us pray attentively. Attention must be distinguished ad verba, ncaliquis in eh e ?U*£ I£ JM orat«r. from intention, although the one is not without influence

I. Cf. Gal. iv, 9. — a. Gloria of the Mass. — 3, Joan, xn, 28. OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH 330 CHRIST, THE IDEAL GOD 33* 1 the reading Non audcbat respkere contra Deum ; and yet Scripture tells listen to of the Gospel, at the end of Matins, 1 *' wont to speak to his standing in reverence and awe : Cum honore et us, God spoke to him as a man is timorc . These are some of the outward manifestations of inmost reverence, but we ought to be From the time of the dedication of Solomon's Temple, watchful to keep ourselves in this " exceedingly reverence throughout all the " the Majesty of the Lord filled the temple so Office without however making 3 Even under violent efforts of mind or imagination. that the priests dare not cross the threshold . is the Nothing hinders us, while thus the law of love, even in the Beatific Vision, which inwardly prostrate in from absolute perfection of intimacy with God, adoration does adoration, attending to the meaning of the words, to Elect the affections that the Holy not cease. St. John shows us the Angels and the Spirit makes the Psalms express. This is Blessed casting themselves down before the Infinite Majesty: Et what our Father asks of us when Office, tells us, in a lapidary phrase, to ceciderunt in fades suas*. Now, during the Divine he put our heart in unison " we are introduced by the Church into the presence of the with our lips : Mens nostra concordet voci nostrae. If the ; if it if it the children of this heavenly Father, Psalm prays, pray weeps, weep ; rejoices, rejoice ; Father ; we are, it is true, forget our first if it hopes, hope ; and if it fears, fear. All that is contained but His adopted children ; we ought not to s " condition of creatures. The Invitatory psalm which is therein is our mirror . We remain in adoration during all repeated daily at the beginning of Matins and is like the the time of the psalmody ; it is a fundamental attitude; " our being prelude to the " Hours of the whole day, is very expressive but over this reverence which holds the depths of " in of love, joy, praise, complacency, of this attitude. Come, let us praise the Lord with awe surge movements supplications. All these gladness... letus come before His presence with thanksgiving; confidence, intense longings, earnest our and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms. For the Lord modulations rise up from the Psalms, to the glory of in Father in heaven, and for the good of souls, in the measure is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For that the Holy Spirit touches the chords of our heart. Our His hand are all the ends of the earth : and the heights of docile to the fingers of this the mountains are His... For the sea is His, and He made soul ought to be like a harp let us adore Divine Artist, that so our canticle may be pleasing. to God. it : and His hands formed the dry land. Come, apparent divergency, there is perfect accordance and fall down. Let us weep before the Lord that made us, Under an 5 " open- between the views of St. Thomas, quoted above, and those for He is the Lord our God . What a magnificent moment, of St. Benedict. The angelic Doctor does not in any way ing ! "Come," says the Psalmist, and at this " " exclusive of " attention we bend the knee, to manifest our adoration, our reverence. teach that attention to God is " that the soul of to the sense (of the words) ; he only wishes Our fear is not that of the slave, unworthy of us and word for word, that it shall God; nor even an imperfect fear, like that of a servant; shall not be bound to follow free Godwards, in short that the means shall not but it is the fear of children in their heavenly Father's house, be to soar become an end. And this is exactly how St. Benedict for we are really His people, the sheep of His pasture : Nos soul ought 6 intense understands things; he does not say that the aulem populus ejus et oves pascuae ejus . It is an word we pronounce (verbis) ; he reverence, like that which even now in Heaven fills the to be tied down to each voice, that says that it ought to be in harmony with our Sacred Humanity of Jesus Himself : Timor Domini sanctus, the wings that 7 is to say it ought to go towards God by using permanens in saeculum saeculi . . " This is what the elect do in This inward reverence for a " Father of infinite majesty, the liturgical theme offers. they unceasingly remain in contemplation Pattern immensae majestaUs*. should from time to time be heaven's liturgy ; perfect adoration, without this contem- manifested outwardly. Let all, says our holy Patriarch, before God in most praising each of the Divine incline at the Gloria Patri which follows each psalm, and is plation hindering then from attributes. ,., doxology wherein translate our adoration, ob honorem ^. . „ , , the we Divine Model, did is what our Saviour, our et reverentiam sanctae Triniiatis ; let us, he says again, This moreover gemit, Rcmili; et si gra- A C - oral psalmus, orate; et si i. Ex. hi, 6. — 2. Ibid, xxxm, n. — 3. II Parat. vn, 2. — 4- .P° 1 Rule ch xi — 2 Si Ommaanm^ 1-7. xciv. here give the text of me Jerate ; el si ^.Junete vn, ti. — 5. Ps. xoiv, — 6. Ps. We tuM^udet^sisperat, ps. S. Augustin, Enarrat. 11 m Breviary and not that of the . — 7. Ps. xvm, 10. — 8. Hymn it hie conscripts, sunt, speculum nostrum sunt. Dcum. — 9. Rule, ch. ix. 30. Scrmo 3, N° I. P. L. 36, col 248, ;

332 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE OPUS DEI, MEANS OF UNION WITH GOD 333

always plunged in here below. The soul of Jesus was the one's being to celebrate it well ; it is to go to the choir contemplation and adoration of the Father's perfections. every day and several times a day, with all the zeal, strength in orations Dei 1 that When He spent the night in prayer, , when and energy we can bring, in order to accomplish the canticles, of His Divine lips murmured the sacred His under- Work God as perfectly as possible ; it is to persevere in standing sounded all their depth, exhausted all their pleni- doing this, not only when feeling consolation, but whatever tude. be the state of our mind, the weariness of our body, the In the same way when the monk, united to Christ Jesus, inward repugnance that God sometimes, allows us to ex- enters the oratory, bearing in his soul the deepest and most perience. These are sacrifices to be accepted during the precious interests of Jesus' Mystical Body, when bis heart hours of praise ; we have mentioned several of them in is filled, and then overflows with the varied affections to the preceding conference. To accept them requires self- which the Holy Spirit successively gives rise by means of the abnegation and much generosity. From whence will this words uttered by the lips, — he offers God an extremely generosity arise ? What will nourish it ? Love ; for devo- pleasing homage, while torrents of light and love, flowing at tion is love put into practice. When one possesses this his prayer from God's munificence, are poured out upon the fervour which is born of love, he truly gives to God a sacrifice 1 world of souls. of praise : Tibi sacriftcabo hostiam laudis . Devotion is to praise God with one's whole being, to make of one's self a ". The last disposition required for acquitting oneself well holocaust to God : Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo of the work of God is devotion : devote. Devovere means A monk who does not sacrifice every thought foreign to the " to consecrate. " Devotion is the consecration of our whole occasion, who, during the Work of God, does not concentrate self to God ; it is the most delicate flower and the purest all the forces of his intellect and will upon God, and assists fruit of love, for it is love giving itself wholly to the beloved at the office of praise scarcely moving his lips, neglecting the being; it is the literal fulfilment of Christ's words: points of the ceremonial established by the Church for the Diliges Dominum Deum. tuum ex toto corde tuo et ex tota glory of God, does not fulfil his duty as a monk in a satisfactory 2 is of a mente tua . It is this totality in love which is the mark manner. This negligence, this indolence, unworthy of devotion. When we love with all our heart, we do not monk. While so many religious in purely active Orders, so count the cost, we willingly spend ourselves without measure many missionaries spend themselves without counting the for the sake of those we thus love. In regard to God and cost in ministering to souls, it would be inadmissible that in the Work of God, these dispositions constitute devotion. a monk should perform without fervour the lofty work to We must not confound this devotion with certain of its devolving upon him. When we are in choir, we ought glorify effects. It does not consist in feelings of sensible consolation; be able to say in all truth : "0 my God, I can now can do much for however frequent these may. be, they are not the less acci- Thee, in union with Thy beloved Son ; I Blood of this Son dental, depending as much on temperament and circum- the interests of souls redeemed by the of Thy Son, there might stances as on Our Lord. It is good to feel sweetness in without my prayer, which is that would be lost for God's service. The inspired singer says himself, Gustate ct perhaps be some at this moment who let there be 3 eternity. Let all within me sing Thy praise ; videte quoniam suavis est Dominus , but it does not constitute " generosity is not Thine ! God loves the essential of devotion. We must thank God if He allows nothing in me which to the energetic expression of us to experience that His service is full of sweetness, for in His service, but, according 8 , indifferent 4 Scripture, " vomits the tepid " those who are that encourages us and stimulates love ; however we must He and those of souls. not cling to tnese consolations as if they formed the very to the interests of His glory work of capital basis of devotion. Let us then give ourselves wholly to this example of so many holy monks wno To be truly devout in the Divine Office is to strive with all importance, after the their love to God have found it the best means of showing her i. Luc. vi, iz — 2. Marc, xn, 30, — 3. Ps. 9. — This is what Mechtilde that it was : xxxm, 4. and souls. It is related of St. we say to God in the Postcommunion " Vouch- of the Mass of the Rogations : praising God with fervent safe, custom to use all. her strength in O Lord, favourably to receive our vows ; that receiving Thy ^ifts in the midst of our tribulation, we may, (,'ivest us, from the consolation Thou Apoc. in, 16. increase * i. Ps. cxv, i?. — 2. Ps. ix, 3. — 3- Ct in Thy love : tie consolatione nostra in H10 amnre crcscamm. :;

THE OPUS DEI, MEANS 334 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK OF UNION WITH GOD 335 strive to love; it seemed that she would never be stayed even it and penetrate ourselves with devotion at the thought of the oblation it were at the cost of her last breath. One day when she we ought to make of ourselves to was weary with singing, as often happened, she felt ready to the Holy Trinity in chanting these words. swoon. It then appeared to her that she drew all her strength If it happens that despite all our ardour to praise God in from Christ's Divine Heart, and could thus continue to sing, choir, we are there assailed with distractions, what are we to do ? Distractions less by her own strength than by Divine virtue. In this are inevitable. We are all weak ; so union, she seemed to sing with God and in God, and Our many objects solicit our attention that our mind easily wanders. Lord said to her : Thou dost now appear to draw thy breath We need not be anxious about those distractions shall which are the result of our frailty. " in My Heart ; in the same way, every person who sigh As for the distractions " after Me with love or desire, shall draw his breath not in you experience in reciting the Divine Office, St. Teresa 1 " " himself, but in My Divine Heart . wrote to one of her correspondents, I am subject to them as you are, and I advise you to attribute them, as I do, to VI. weakness of the head ; for Our Lord well knows that, since " we pray to Him, our intention is to pray well. For the Divine Office to be accomplished with the fervour This last phrase of the great contemplative is one to entirely worthy of it, great faith and generous love are needed. bear in mind. Inasmuch as we ought not to trouble our- If we have not this living faith and this ardour of love, it selves about the distractions that arise during Divine may happen that after some time we do not sufficiently the Office owing to the instability of bur imagination, so, before esteem the Divine Office ; that we no longer have a high enough the Work of God, ought we to do our utmost to prepare our- idea of its immense value for God's glory and the welfare " selves, in order to show " our intention is to pray well. of souls, and we end by considering other works more im- Otherwise, having made no effort before the Office to turn portant. Without owning this to ourselves, we may perhaps our mind towards God, to recollect ourselves in Him, to feel some satisfaction if it happens that for such or such a fill our soul with deep reverence and great devotion, it will reason we are dispensed from presence in choir. be very difficult for us not to have those distractions which On the contrary, to a soul inspired with a living faith, are to be imputed to negligence. We can appeal to our the Opus Dei always appears incomparably great and own experience ; the greater number of our distractions inexhaustibly fruitful. Joined to the Holy Sacrifice which would be avoided if we gave the proper care to the immediate it encircles, it appears as the' most perfect homage we can mechanical preparation ; and if, going through the Office in a offer to God, as an extremely effectual means of union with manner, we let many lights and graces escape us, it lis our Him. Routine takes no hold on such a religious ; every own carelessness we have to blame. the Divine Praise has fresh attractions for him ; every day recollect But if, before offering our homage to God, we day it is a " new canticle " caniicum novum 2 that all his ourselves with fervour; if we unite ourselves/in an intense being, body and soul, sends up to God to glorify Him. act of faith and love, to Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Word, For example, at the oft repeated words of the Invitatory that we may lend Him our lips, in order to praise His Father " Come, let us adore the Lord, " all heads are bowed, like and draw down the lights and gifts of His Spirit upon all a field of corn bending beneath the breeze. If this inclination His Mystical Body, we may be at peace on the subject of is made by routine, without attention to the meaning the the result of our infirmi- the distractions that arise ; they are action expresses, it is an almost valueless ceremony, but let us recover possession ty ; as soon as we are aware of them, if the soul, full of devotion, casts itself interiorly before violent of our mind, but let us do so gently without any God and gives itself entirely to Him, what magnificent frequent effort. In particular, let the Gloria Patri, by its praises then rise up to God ! The Angels alone can admire recurrence, opportunity of reawakening our vigilance. all be an the beauty of this action. In the same way, when we give to God the In pronouncing it, we bow in order to incline at the Gloria Patri let us at the end of each psalm, is the easiest homage of our reverence and adoration ; it gather up into this action all our praise and all our devotion, the Divine moment for bringing back the soul to the sense of i. The Book Special Grace, rd 1 to reanimate our of 3 part. ch. 7. — 2. Ps. xcv, 1 ; xcvh, Presence. Distractions will thus serve c.xi.ix, 1. THE MONK 336 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF

to do out utmost to observe fervour ; and if we continue all the rites carefully, our praise will remain none the less pleasing to God and fruitful for the Church. XV. — MONASTIC PRAYER. Tins is what Bossuet admirably says in terms which we " will borrow as the conclusion of this conference. Religious Summary. I. The place that prayer holds in the teaching upon prayer should — life of the monk. soul ! The fruit of Jesus Christ's — II. Qualities that St. Benedict requires of prayer ; necessity principally be to be faithful to the hours consecrated to it. of preparation. — III. Character of monastic prayer in the if you lament being so, Were you to be distracted inwardly, purgative way. — IV. In the illuminative way. — V. How if you only wish not to be so, and remain faithful, humble the Opus Del is the pure source of abundant illumination. — and recollected outwardly, the obedience you give to God, VI. State of prayer in the unitive life. — VII. Means given by the Church and the Rule, by observing the genuflexions, the St. Benedict for maintaining the life of prayer within us. — inclinations and all the other exteriour pious observances, VIII. This life constitutes the normal state of a religious in his cloister; the precious fruits it produces. maintains the spirit of prayer. We pray then by state, by disposition, by will : but especially if we humble ourselves tor our dryness and distractions. Oh t how pleasing to God representation, of the life of Christ forms the soul 1 it is this prayer I How it mortifies body and How The principal basis of the Liturgical Cycle. But Christ is 1 " obtains graces and expiates sin 1 not alone ; we also celebrate those members of His th i. Meditations on the Gospel, Sermon on the Mount. 44 day, Mystical Body who already make part of His glorious Kingdom, the elect who are the noblest purchase of the Blood of Jesus and the most beautiful fruit of the Church's union with her Divine Spouse. The Saints form Christ's cortege throughout the Liturgical Cycle, and when we praise their virtues and chant their merits, we exalt and celebrate the One Who, being their Head, is now likewise their Crown : 1 Ipse est corona Sanctorum omnium . according There is great variety among these saints ; each of to his or her vocation, and the measure of the giving of Christ's grace, secundum mensuram donationis Chnsh; Man- reproduces one of the aspects of the plenitude of the 3 St. Paul has God's perfections. The same Spirit, says , upon given to each a special grace which, being engrafted particular nature, makes each one of the elect shine with a others, prudence ; glory. In some, strength has dominated ; in glory; in one lth as again in others, zeal for God's f£ ,£ whether tney especially shone out, in another, purity. But concerns be the Apostles, Martyrs or Pontiffs, whether it to De Virgins or , one common character is stability in seeking found in them all. This character is a great virtue after God and in love of Him. And this is redoubtable penis tnat for inconstancy is one of the most menace mankind. -3- Saints. - i. Eph. iv, 7- 1. Invitatory at Matins for tho Feast of All I Cor. xn, 4. ;

338 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 339 The Saints sought God indefatigably. Whatever the circumstances wherein they were placed, the temptations *ie says • furthermore that a with which they were buffeted, the difficulties they encoun- brother who wishes to pray by himself after the recitation of the Divine tered, the seductions that surrounded them, the Saints all shall have leisure Office to do so ». Again he remained steadfast and faithful. Therefore on the day writes a veryWifS of though short page upon the their into the Eternal Kingdom, qualities which prayer ough entrance God crowned them to have*. Nowhere, " however, does he fix for with glory and inebriated them with joy : Good and faithful Ms monks one hour rather than another to servant, because thou hast been give themselves to private faithful over a few things, prayer There are " people of a certain turn of enter into the joy of thy : nSnTwho Lord Euge, serve bone et fidelis, cannot refrain from evincing their surprise quia at this : but super pauca fuisti fidelis... intra in gaitdium Domini gey are wrong. 1 The existence of the monk, tut , in seeking after such as Because, the unique Good, they did St. Benedict ^organised it, with not allow themselves to be turned back, the Saints have its separation from the world, its solitude, the Divine Praises, attained the glorious goal. holy reading is in view of creating and at the same time And what is the intimate reason of this stability in good supposes, a life ? of prayer. The holy Legislator did is the secret not therefore feel the What of the Saints ? necessity of determining one hour or half This secret is the life of prayer. soul hour for the _ The that leads a exerctse of prayer. Monks who live life of prayer, remains united to in perfect obedience God ; it lays hold upon to the prescriptions enacted by St. Benedict God, it shares in the Divine immutability and eternity, and necessarily attain to the life of prayer. In the conception therefore it is not moved whatever be the circumstances. of the holy Patriarch as in that of all monastic tradition, prayer is not A child who in the tempest clings to the rock is stronger simply a transitory isolated action accomplished than a man abandoned to the caprices of the waves. at such or such an hour and having only The firm adherence the a virtual relation with the of soul to God is the fruit of other actions of the day ; it prayer. The Saints in should be the very breath of Heaven cannot but remain united the soul without which there is no true to God and to His will because they contemplate God and inner life. But when a man lives this life of union with God, he quite natu- see in Him the fulness of all perfection and the fountainhead rally consecrates an interval of specified time during the of all sovereignity. To live a life of prayer is to abide day for communing specially with God, for the soul that habitually in contact with God in faith, and, in this union, loves God wishes to be united with Him in a more exclusive the soul finds the necessary light and strength to do the manner at certain moments. This hour of prayer is as it Divine good pleasure in all things. And as God is for it were the intensifying of the life of prayer in which the soul the principle of all holiness, the soul that lives by prayer habitually moves. finds in this habitual union with God Who created prayer No day should pass without our applying ourselves to the fruitfulness of its supernatural life. this prayer, for our holy Father desires that " daily in Let us examine the place that prayer holds in our monastic ( prayer " life cotidie in orationi*, we should confess our sins to ; — what characters St. Benedict wishes to give to it God. Even " frequently " in the day, the monk should — what means are put within our hands by the Rule for turn to God to commune with Him, Oratwni frequenter safeguarding and maintaining the life of prayer within us. incumbere. Moreover, according to the Rule, the monk is to consecrate two to four hours a day to "holy reading 5 ". I. This last expression has, with St. Benedict, a very elastic meaning, allowing of the possibility, foreseen for certain Prayer should occupy a very large place in the life of the souls, of devoting a very long time to prayer. monk. Those who read the Rule of St. Benedict for the We know too how the holy Patriarch has himself set us first time are a little astonished to see that he does not the example. Each dav he poured out his soul before God assign to his monks any special length of time to consecrate in sublime prayer which was the well-spring of magnificent to private prayer. He says simply that the monk should i. Matth. xxv, 13. i. Rule, ch. iv. xx. — 4- Ibid. ch. IV. — 2 . Ibid. ch. lii. — 3- Ibid. ch. — 5- Ibid. ch. xlviii. 340 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 34* graces. It was assuredly whilst he was in prayer that God sifaonswehad one day showed the at that moment, we him entire universe gathered up as it should become real saints. This is were in one ray of light 1 it absolutely beyond doubt. ; was as a sequel to his prayer Now, only an that^he raised intense life of prayer can keep us to life a monk crushed by the falling of a unfaltering this 2 attitude y m wall 3 of unreserved self-donation. , and, at another time, the son of Two a peasant ; again reasons wS con it was vince us that this assertion is well during prayer that he saw the soul of his sister St. Scho- founded lastica ascend 4 aU 1*6 f ra er to Heaven under the - ' ° P makes "s live form of a dove . • • y constantly m ^wthat Divinen ^ulight whereof If then we want to be true disciples of the great Patriarch, a ray enlightened us on the we must day of our monastic vocation often give ourselves to prayer, in view of that and profession. Shut out life of from this light, we should come prayer which he certainly desires each one of us to little by little to have no lead. longer any esteem for the thousand Our Blessed Father, in fact, has no other aim than details of religious life to 6 which is meaningless if it is not help us to find God : Si revera supernatural; and, on Deum quaerit . As we the other hand, religious life is too much said in our first conference where we tried to show the opposed to fallen nature for greatness a man to be able to bear it long without of this aim, we shall only attain it by the entire Divine help. It is gift of from this light that we draw the strength ourselves. We quoted the words uttered by St. Ca- and jov for the practice of the • therine of Siena on her abnegation of which our life is composed death-bed ; we cannot truly possess God, said she, that we nourish our hope of one day attaining to save by giving ourselves to Him by an undivid God ; that we find the love which makes us ed love. But the Saint immediately added that she had love Him here below in also " faith. recognised that without prayer one cannot arrive at that state The second reason which flows from the preceding where the whole heart is given to God without is that ever taking 8 " the means we have of ever tending to God and remaining anything back . There is nothing in this that united to Him, — the Sacraments, ought to astonish us. Man is naturally weak and unstable, .Mass, Divine Office, the life and it of obedience and labour, — only attain the is only in habitual contact with God by means of prayer summum that of their efficacy if we lead a life of prayer. All these he practically learns the emptiness of created things means in themselves are valuable and fruitful only if we do not put any obstacle ; and the plenitude of God Who, alone, is in the way of their action, but bring to it the worthy of the whole of our love. Therefore our Blessed interior dispo- Father sitions of faith, confidence, love, compunction, humility, and wishes us to give ourselves frequently to prayer in order abandonment to God's will. Now it is above all by the never to lose sight of the Sovereign Good nor let life of prayer, by habitual union -with God in prayer, that ourselves be turned away from Him by the ephemeral attraction we gather strength to thrust obstacles aside and keep of the creature. . ourselves in dispositions favourable to grace. A soul that We have need of prayer to keep ourselves constantly at the does not live this habitual life of prayer heeds a great effort height of that seeking after God which constitutes our vocation. each time it wants to be recollected and to arouse the affec- When Our Lord caUed us to the monastic life, tions upon which, generally speaking, depend the fruitfulness He illumined us with the light of His Spirit; we under- of stood this the supernatural means that we have for sanctifying m Divine light that He is the Supreme Good and ourselves. On the other hand, a soul that leads a life of we left all to follow Him. On the day of our profession, we, the prayer never lets the Divine fire go out but keeps it ever m simplicity of our hearts, "joyfully offered all of prayer or these things " smouldering ; and when the regular hours upon the altar : In simplicitale cordis .met, laetus, moments of inspiration arrive where this fire is put more oUuli umversa". We vowed stability, conversion of our manners and directly or more exclusively in contact with grace — as obedience : this act constituted a supreme occurs in the Sacraments, the Holy Sacrifice, the Opus Dei, homage of love and adoration, extremely pleasing to God. the or permitted by If throughout orders of obedience, the trials sent life we could maintain ourselves in the dispo- God — these smouldering embers burst into flame and become i. S. Greg. Dir a its love for God and II, . glowing furnace wherein the soul sees t Jib. c 35. — 2. Ibid, c, n. — 3. Ibid. c. «. — 4. 5 Cb LVm ' 6 Life by Bl RaymUQd of Ca ua "" the neighbour and transformed, sometimes in a ' "~ ' * P - increased 7 1 PaV.^'xiT, i 7. very high degree. Love of God being the only source, and 342 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 343 its intensity being the only measure of the fruitfulness of that is the note of reverence. our acts, even of the most ordinary ones, We are to draw near to the life of praver with that God which maintains and sense of respect before His increases this love within us become infinite r Sections ' which is expressed by a the secret of holiness for us. humble attitude and the longing to be pure in the presence You see how right our Blessed of holiness itself. St. Benedict Father is in telline us to apply knows of and wishes for no better ourselves often to prayer. It is by the manifestation of this faithful and reverence than tears frequent exercise of prayer that come of compunction shed in remembrance we gradually to lead of faults -this Me of whereby, miserable creatures as habitual union with God in view of which we are, we have St Be offended a God full of majesty nedict has established everything in his — tears accompanied by monastery : J 1 J Dominiciww**« entire purity of heart. schola serviln . He wishes " " our prayer to be pure and short "" unless he adds, — and here comes n. in the note of submission of heart proper to an adopted child of God — "it be perchance prolonged by the inspiration " I of Divine grace : Nisi have elsewhere commented at lengthen forte the nature of ex affectu inspiraiionis divinae gratiae 1 prayer firotendalur . and pointed out the elements that constitute it Our holy Patriarch requires then that we Taking it for granted that we have come before grasped the substance God with respect and humility, of the teaching on prayer as befits creatures, and . let us content ourselves here with creatures who have sinned; but this touching, upon some points deep reverence which that concern the characteristics holds U us prostrate before Him in all submission, does not n< them in the letter an f ± * spMt oi prevent the heart from opening out, under the thett/Sr*Rule of the+f l\™Jholy Patriarch. movement of the Holy Spirit, in confidence, e aVe love and tenderness. Said'-*s the intercourse of the This of^f^^ u child confidence is so much the surer in that it rests exclusively b avenl Father; thereby 5? y we adore Him, on the goodness of our Father in Heaven. praisepra£ Himml £SteH Him our love for Him, learn to know His In will, and obtain from Him the Prologue, our Blessed Father recalls these Divine the necessary help for the perfect 8 " words : My eyes will be upon you, and My ears will be Prayer 1S ^e formal ^ oXme open to your prayers, and before you call upon Me, I will S^hS*d r e 1 ^ 1011 °f ****»» say ' ! ™**« unto you : ' fTom our dS a^ptVon^ ' *» Behold, I am here What can be sweeter, dearest brethren, " the great Patriarch immediately adds, 011 afi°rdS a Iim se of the primary quaUtiesQuIuJL^Siwhich f ^ P than this voice of the Lord inviting us and shewing unto prayer ought to have. If " Pprayer be the us the way of life ? r n f thG ChUd °f God ™th his Heaveiy Father Thus itrwillwm tfbear the,K° appears the double aspect of piety as St. Benedict impress both of a high degree of piety and understands it. These affections are both necessary; they a e r C f°f the child of Gol for the are inseparable, brother * '^ as our condition of creatures and our cha- & ShHT T68 ^mess, no intimacy is sreat but on tS J ?.;-* too racter of children of God are inseparable. If an unrestrained COndltl0n that it be always £d sustainpVw accompanied familiarity, forgetful of reverence, is perilous, fear, separated 6115 of unutterable reverence from tew/t/ ? before confidence, is not less so; each of these two attitudes is a wrong done to God ; irreverence, to His infinite S t0 ad0re the ' Father in Truth? * ^ spirit and sovereignty : servile fear, to His boundless goodness.

This reverence and this confidence are possible and are maintained only if we take care to prepare ourselves for our intercourse with God. Some might say: Since it is the Spirit of Jesus Who prays within us, we can come into God's presence without preparation: To think in this way, the would be to make a great mistake ; we cannot expect

i. Rule, ch. xx. — 2. Cf. Ps. xxxm, 16 ; Isa. txv, 24 ; Win, 9. 344 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER Holy 345 Spirit's action to be forthcoming in our souls inde- pendently of certain interior conditions. f You know the character, is Protestant of UktwSsfd'eSef°Th°P T? FT- ^^ Quakers. Very respectable people are to be met with among them, but their religion is rather singular. The principal religious act consists for them in assembling in their meeting-houses, large square halls with white-washed walls with God You may say ; men and women sit upon benches which that God sometimes gives a soul the gift are the only furniture in of prayer even before it the edifice ; silence is established has acquired great knowledge all await until " " the spirit moves. All at once, aith and or is completely sometimes' • . ^' purified! after long waiting, Un^ftUndoubtedlyW^this is so, one of those present, a man or woman but it is not the general way. here find We boy or girl, cries out: "The Spirit moves a certain analogy between the manner me." And God in which Im ne d atel she he rises and begins governs the natural world, and His : to mode of c ! . 5 y „°F say "what the action in bpint breathes. the order of grace. All listen attentively to the words which See how things come to pass in the are, most often, only domain of creation. God could disconnected ramblings. When the produce effects without the speaker has finished, concourse of secondary causes the "prayer" is at an end and the ; He could create bread and assembly wme without man disperses These Quakers expect everything having to sow and reap, plant and gather from the the Spirit • their grapes Did He not change whole religion consists in this desire for the the water into wine at moving of the Spirit L-ana and multiply the loaves in which makes the soul vibrate and agita- ^ the desert ? He is the tes the body, whence " " Sovereign Master of all the elements, the name of quakers. No interior but His glory requires that the habitual preparation is required, no exterior action course of things be ruled* by the laws is asked for. which It cannot be the same for His eternal wisdom has established. God wills us ; our prayer is not the result that of nervous " the vine shall be planted and the troubles or iUusion. The Spirit Himself leaves bud forth, that asketh the for us, says St. Paul \ but the fruit shall ripen and be gathered by man and go through <( same Apostle warns us not to grieve * nor " the wine-press, before the wine is poured out into the cup. extinguish the Spirit =. Now, how do we extinguish the After the same manner in the supernatural order there Spirit ? By mortal sin, which forces are laws fixed by Divine Him to separate Himself from the soul. Wisdom and shown by the experience How do we grieve of 1 the Saints. God undoubtedly is not C^ not b the frailties we enslaved by His ! ^ . y deplore, the faults thatf£? take us by surprise, laws. Thus He makes certain souls pass in an instant from but we grieve Him by our infide- an Ur d the state of sin to a state of perfect love. Magdalen, by ebberate resistance to divine inspirations. r the WeW.™must,w£then if disorders of her life, was at the antithesis of love ; it we would make the life of prayer possible needs but a word from Our Lord to change her life into WatCh °Ver the rit of ' P^ y ou? heart, one of bt.S?te?BenedictIW™*^holds glowing charity. Again look at Saul ; he is a perse- much to this quality. It is " the puritv cutor 1 0t of the Christians, spirans minarum , "breathing out hi0h is to ** the condition of our suppli- rJnL?l f'l ^ - threatenings and slaughter," hating the cations PuntatisT " disciples of Jesus and devoiione supplicandum est; "let us know blaspheming Christ : he is overthrown on the road to Da- PUr °f heart and tears of compunction that wltv 6 K r mascus, and our Divine Saviour makes of him, in an instant, ^hear : In uHtale cordis ?- $ et compunction* 2 " "a vessel of election , an Apostle full of fire wl™ r sciamus who preaches ?. *- The souI that does not stavefSffto punfyT itself™™t Christ from Whom nothing can henceforth separate him. of its faults by compunction, to avoid In the same way, read in the life of St. Teresa 3 that, in P U aU that C uW we - ^pleasing to God, cannot % • ? ^ one of novice received gift StSattain Zto a°fllife of union with her Carmels, a the of prayer Him through prayer : it wilfully7 prepared this H01 S rit without anything having her for grace. But ho must uPh°ld tneLui m pTayer iTSTn £E unt^ ?l I these are exceptional gifts or extraordinary prodigies whereby P y that the preparation of the heart aI remote«w consists, God manifests His sovereign power and reminds us of the preparation, but always necessary. infinite liberty of His Spirit and of His Spirit's action.

i. — ' Rom. vm, a6 1 . _ 2 . Eph, xv, 30. - . I. IX, I; 2! Itid. 15. '3. -History S Teresa, according to the 3 I. Thos. v, i . _ Act. of . ] 9 4 Ru e , eh. «* Bollandists. 346 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER God's ordinary way in leading 347 souls to Himself is to havP respect to the laws of finally, habitual union. With this which He is the Author. reservation, let us say a But God excludes no one word on each of these three " ways. " from benefiting from these laws about which we will say a In the purgative way, the soul is few words. He calls all baptised chiefly occupied in the souls to be work of purification. It has intimately united to Him. Are we come from the world to which not bv wasniore grace. His children or less given up ; ? the brethren of the Son of His £ more or less it has offended love ? the Divine Majesty ; it comes " " f His Spirit? M the mysteries for its conversion savs T^,^n^ u° of our Blessed Jesus all the Father : Veniens quis 1 • " marvellous supernatural organism that ad convcrsionem con- He has version " established m His Church, to here being taken in the wide sense what do they tend, if not of the word open to to and meaning detachment upright, generous and faithful souls from every creature in order to the way of love seek and of most intimate union with God unceasingly. The has Himself ? And if this be re- mitted the sms of this true of Christians in general, soul but the scars of sins and evil ten- how much more must it be so for those dencies remain; the attraction whom, by a singular predestination, towards creatures is not Christ entirely has chosen corrected ; the soul is full to consecrate especially ? yet of spiritual imper- to His service It is of them above all " fections. It is doubtless. in a state of grace that He says : /have » and seeks God, calledI you friends but tor I have made you has not yet reached that state of purity and stability enter into the secrets of My love \ in good which is to make it worthy of the embrace of the

Divine Spouse : soul III. the is not yet paraium sicut sponsam 2 ornatam viro sua . In speaking of the God requires of this soul to take the last place at the instruments of good works we alreadv said a word about the feast. It must above all exercise itself in the first degrees three stages that, in the or'dTnary way the soul must of humility and in reverence towards God. It is not becom- pass through before coming to perfect^S I is necessary ing, especially when one has greatly offended God, to expect to return to this subject because the decree to enter into familiarity 617 Practicall with Him at the beginning of the " y determined by the degree of°our iWlSe^ spiritual life. We must remain at the end of the banquet table until our calls 3." piritUal Lord us "to go up higher What authors mark out three states of thfinn°P r fc,fthe " ought to be the prayer of the soul in this state ? Not ' Purgative, the illuminative, Iht^Sv and finally having any acquired habit of prayer, nor possessing within theSe three sta es are real, the£ are not In ^ itself the material elements of intercourse with God, it must 3 f^dl tinCt t0 on e - another; there exists Sween rhnrn a T perforce borrow them from such or such a work that will reaProc l Penetration, a certain thesTd^n^ v f affinity; provide these elements and of which it will make use until fe lt nIy fr°m the such ° Predominance of the heart be touched and the will be made subject to God. wSSS^i Ten nt? a , ' P"dominanoe which so fa tn . u cannot go Otherwise mental prayer may degenerate into a vague J ViC Ude H e °-ther elements. Thus fafe t£ Zt -« a soul who barren reverie. If in the course of prayer, God draws the y Puni Ion Nowise accomplishes, mav nTf and it soul to Him, then it can lay aside every book. Our Blessed £ aCtS °fK the m^inative way and acts of 4 2. ft Father compares prayer to an audience . Now when we ***** a SOul that is the state of personage that we may present uSon'cannnf ' ^ beg an audience with a great lT***?l0 Y er need the thought of hell to are careful to come 1% l ?Z ^ him our homage and respect, we £dS*5 mortlfi ion " °^ - We cannot in this if in matter ^? (Sen prepared in order not to be taken unawares ; but the aS?"Ch r UCh imP«KaMe nmits, or direction of Snnot ^nSlt i,° i rather, we course of the interview, this personage takes the SOuk in one aTohrZ T^ ^ state di^inct from the conversation, we make it our duty to follow his lead S *" not SeP^ated by fixed same PassedTonrJf\l% ? boundaries without thinking any more of ourselves. In the way f°r r; th^ "lore truly comprehend we ought, especially at the beginning of the spiritual life, to ITd susSn JS? C 7f P ete ne another practice, such or ° ' but with one have recourse to the help of such or such a mdSSw?predominating element°T herel : purification, there illumination, i. Cf, 3. Luc. xiv, 10. 4- Rule Joan, xv, 15. i. Rule, ch. lvhi. — 2. Apoc. xxi, — 3. — ch. xx. :

348 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER such a method but without attaching so great importance 349 to it as would leave us no liberty o£ spirit ; the dangeTol W,KfS dhision will moreover *"* «- be avoided by submission^omission In th r^LrrlthShTu'nianneste^' direction to the ™ of the The Father Master'. duration of this stage is more or less • In this extended it- we should imitate the discretion much depends on the manner of which our of life pre^ous to eiuennentering holy Patriarch gave proof. the monastery, £ He was certainly a truTcZ the strength of hid n =Ku X , templative he possessed a ; great gift of prayer and a experience S is of the ways of union with It for a prudent and enlightened God : none ra» dZt director to of this on studying his life this. However it S and Rule. In the latter is not presumptuous to believe expect we 3, thS those to find long pages upon who during the , have allowed prayer We find bTrflv themselves to be" moulded by humility and obedience, who have been glneroul and full of ardour, who made their monastic profession with great love and great purity of intention, will on tha+ day reach the threshold of the illuminative life. Monastic prcl fession is mdeedhlce^a second baptism; to one who has been constancy faithful to grace during the time of probation God certainly gives a great purity that enables him to advance in spiritual ways.

IV.

As the name indicates, the illuminative way is characterised by the spiritual lights that God causes to abound in the soul, thanks to which it is filled, if we may thus speak with the knowledge of divine things. God leads beings according # to their nature. We are intellect and will ; now we only love the good that we know. If then we wish to cleave fully to tmi state that God, we must first know bt. Benedict is speaking whenn hf. SqQ t. "JT Him as perfectly as possible. Therefore, as the soul begins l °"el to S sins „,h tears^d's&'^r' V^4 be purified from all sin, from all negligence, God enlightens it little by little in order to bring it entirely to Himself. God has only to show Himself and the soul is drawn by e m n0te n0t h His ?*«ver the exclusive infinite wisdom, beauty, note1f"h? stfr Tht 'i, t goodness and mercy. In return God requires of the soul who seeks Him that it should also give itself, and even for a long time, to the study of divine truths. This extremely important work was already begun in the preceding stage, but it must be intensified as one advances. The soul must go deeply into the truths of faith.

Some might say : What is the use of so much searching ^et-mbfe into the truths of faith ? What is the use of so many theo- ^£~ S'SS^MS logical notions ? What advantage do we reap from them ? It would be dangerous to reason after this manner. Listen to these words of our Lord : O Holy Father, eternal life consists in knowing Thee, and in knowing Him Whom Thou

hast sent here below, Jesus Christ : Haec est vita aeterna lv> «wwy. • /"A* B/«W rf Bonomo. — a. Rule, ut cognoscant te solum Deum varum, et quern misisti Jesum ^ : T J

35o CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PKAYER Cknstumh Thus it 351 is Christ Jesus, the Infallible Truth Who makes will be so eternal life consists in the much the more oprfpr-t anri «*«»,.• i o , knowledge of Hi,' " Father and of Himself, certainly proportion as our knowledge^ not a knowledge purely £ matters^ S* theoretical love is 3 but. a practical knowledge derived - is the widt and™ which surrenders us per pIocess^ wholly to the service cumtur via mandatorum ™T of God and of His Beloved Son Det\ It is th P rpf«r» n J? thing or there is knowledge and knowledge. to apply ourselves to nourish There is a know tSeStht thin us" The ( riSt hiGh iS monk who is called by his °/ Pure1 in ^ctual,hmited vocation to a gTeat unfon understanding? T ^ to the" Christ cannot S alone content S ; one might himself with a thus faith know all that is iSorant of tW marvels wrought by God for our sanctificatioS it us seek as St. Paul says, " to comprehend... what is the breadth »« length, and height, and depth" of the D vfne mysteries that we" may be filled unto all the fulness of Sd»S There is another knowledge -^ tmpleammt m omnem pienitudinem Dei*. of which tho mnfi™ ;<, „ Such is the »na l of curiosity i our efforts in this of „, m nd nor way illumination : - taeufct^pWe, bSto^SSS to fiU our s!uS the beloved object with with the truths of faith that they the view of bein^nitedToi? may become for us ie S principle of a closer union with God. Now how are we to carry into effect this part of the work tftat trod requires of us, whereby we may live in this state of luummation ? The result mly be obtained dge 1S n cessar in Sfferen? itis tapori™^ ? '» »= ways. Ihere are souls it be dewl™°?l y who lay up and appropriate to P then ' becomcs the principle of an ' ^^ " themselves supernatural ardent love knowledge by reflection and medi- tation. This is an excellent means for souls who d are en- ^Aeep tnLnuriei^'SS! *«* " gaged the most part of their time in what we agree I?? to call the active life; for them, this is often the only means of entering deeply into the hat mth notions of faith and being per- ' humUity and eves on thf Ch«JS« * i with meated with supernatural truths. § shouId ' "? exe s e our in- te%ence in Snomin, ™ Other souls incapable of giving themselves S ^P and in to this discursive it all that extracting from labour, set apart t orecW Jn^ ^ a regular time for spiritual reading, either g G°d and fraitful souls. ' &r our in the Gospels, tL lives S^p ?"T k° or a Life of Our Lord, or an ascetic treatise seeking s that God loves this on His afterTheUt£\h f^™ H mysteries, frequently interspersing this reading with charity. a mo generous aspirations When ? ^ of the heart towards God, towards Christ. He^£ AftfIead t0ahi^ herde This ree a soul . g S of union is for th^t i? n fl many the only possible manner of getting light S Httle on St. ^tructed. like Divme Catherine of llna \^^ things and of holding intercourse with the Heavenly charge of ^ShtJngltbyKSX^^^M^^ , Father. °f manner mn * in an in^ed For us, " the knowledge ottH SS / £ monks, this illumination " finds its principal therein P * mystenes that it may source in the find thesecrpfnf 1 f Divine Office ; therefore it is quite natural e ei Ve IoVe Let us th be persuaded ' ™ that after having spoken tha studv^Symg the ? 5 of the Opus Dei we should pass on " » 1115 of faith the talent confiXrf , J™ ™kes to the subject of mental prayer. It is an t0£ US fructif immense advantage ' a«d we thus oursanctificafion y> labour at to be able to link our mental prayer to liturgical prayer, but to be enabled duly to appreciate this advantage it is inStoJ^Jfrt *"""" necessary to understand it well. We have often encountered gSaVmonk^r^St A * SeIm3 to our . ^- According the truth holy Father thf 1 „2 ' ? that in the spiritual life all leads up to Christ 18 a sch°o1 to serve I 7 where we learn Jesus. methe Lord -^V , When St. Paul speaks of the understanding of the . Dommict7W schola servilU*: but our service J Prologue I- : of the Rule. — a. Innocent condemned this proposition of Joan, xvii, t . XI 3. — a , „ ur ytY „ " Mobnos h n, ep. xu S Anselm M<;if( : Theologus minorem disposilionem habet qttant homo rudis ad slalutn . _ 4< Prologue of * ' to' *«> «* */>«' Uie' Rule.' conletnplativi. Denziger-Banwart. Enchiridion su'tnbolorum, p. 363, — 3, Eph. in, 18, 19. 352 CHRIST THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER mysteries of faith that to 353 we ought have, he sums all up the knowledge hi L of Jesus. He writes to the Ephesians he that na?u?al «™ of Supe, does not cease to pray for them " that the muSnS^^ God ot our truth e tMs Lord Jesus Christ, the " of paramoun? ~~ « a Father of glory, may give them I importance C ^ spirit we can therein ^V^ifkatlon - ot wisdom and of revelation in order to obtain K*33 £? know Christ to *-hat ur Lord that so the eyes ot their attach to each of His ? ^ed hearts may be enlightened * ChrS mvK^myStenes ln f them is the great revelation below, as our Head for us here of God : He is W God interpreted to U our J firat makes known t0 us the Divine secondlyS?* S \ sec?e?s He shows us how a God lives among men to teach Bride °f them to in Christ's Christ' live perfectly; He is the purest, the most hW fofteteps HsZ S S ^'^ mamfestatjon of the Divine perfections. When the Anostlf * * Philip asks of returning W OurXord to show him the. Father, to these themes in our what do s MfS F ^ Christ each state reply ? "He that seeth in Christ's hfeTn Me seeth the Father* "for ^SS^^tf^ he makes only one wide sense of the "^ with His Father : Ego et word, a Pater \inum sacrament »Tn approa<^* 6 ,S the image ot the Christ thus is to walk in a Visible God*. There pattP which IK on,one Iof + JT*«. ? , oS and i. the surest th the kn °wled e of God* most fruitful p & we have bu to looktl\f^at the Person of Our We may be easily Lord, to listen to His convinced that this path is to contemplate wordsworas, wherein trulv that His mysteries. St. Benedict leads his sons. The holy lSiSS1 e fi d t e account of what Christ said treated P^^^^ately^Ta and^Tn'Jhfr , S "eSel ofth^D-of the Divine^^Praise "^ »; he Knks it closely to thf Work of God * * According to his life written by St. Gregory we see that the monks gave themselves to prayer "after the office exfihla : fsalmodiaK Like the Egyptian monks fi it was after each psalm that they prayed for a few instants in silence, first standing then prostrating themselves on the uoct0r ground as they poured out before y The Church makes us God their souls enlightened DlatP ™« Lf f.- , contem- and touched by the sacred verses. This custom has dis- appeared, but St. Benedict has kept the idea that inspired • and we it must keep it after him. Our holy Father wishes likewise that the time which according to the regular hora- num remains available after Matins should be spent in medi- tating on the psalms or lessons: Quod vero restat fostvigilias... fsalterii vel leciionum... meditationi inserviaiur. We know that Savl0Ur it was the custom of the monks, anterior to the great • of the ,^'2- . world, Head of His MwSrSI Patriarch, to fill the y' interludes of the Divine Office with to the arid of n '°™k virtue on the See a fffifTf ^ eternal truths ; St. Benedict gathered up mvs te "es ^ - Nowhere so the fiSSv . much as in this precious tradition 6 dS SfJ eXB and made it his own . a n rrati°n as complete and simpl ToriSr ^ J / We should then take from the Divine Office, of which f Christ °. a11 the wonders that ffias woS is the centre, the elements of our prayer, whether we have S a revelat™fwhat ^ t[ °a lt is retained some text that us £ a tSe tT°r ^ ' struck during the recitation, in' order to meditate upon it, or whether a'fter the Office we speak to Our Lord with the help of a Breviary or other book 011 "* 7 appropriate to the feast or the mystery . Our prayer should C touchS^t^vet^l tolt^ryXtf '

i.^Eph. i. See the Note at Rule, ch. xix — r, i6-iS._ a. the end of the Conference. — 2. a xx. Joan, xiv, , — 9 . Ibid 5- CJ. Eph. hi, 3 _ x. 3°. — Col. 3- Ch. li i. — 4. Dialog. Lib. n, c. 15. 5. Cassian, Institut. 11, 7. — 6. Rule, i 9 . 4. r, 15. — — ch. vm. — 7. For example, the Meditations upon the Gospel, or the Elevations ;;"

354 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 355 be like the flower of the psalmody. We know how the an- cient monks, St. Gregory, St. Bede, St. Anselm, St. Bernard prepared and so many others by God Himself, lived this life of prayer ; we know and those who that U recite the OffiS it was by drawing at this source that n he °f St. Hildegarde, St. Eli- iew **** the Holy SpSt; afte^a sabeth of few yLs^years, prayerraver bbecomesP Schonau, St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde' rose to an easv ha hit fn th,*™ tj, such heights of f°r firSt time h contemplation and love. So sure arid fruitful affirmed mayS f™7n?for want of experience,^ ^ is this 1 astonished™ way which is that at of the Church herself . it. But, if he is fervent' CWV enou h that assiSs a S V. trit™*™;^'y quamta*Ce ™&^ ther inspired ««, » £ word is a sure and easy way of conversing with God. Like those " who have gone before us, we too shall find H°w <*n ** be that a soul in w . prepared and formed by the the Opus Dei a pure and unfailing source of Holy Spirit should not illumination know better than any other how to extremely fruitful for the inner life. converse with God in the When we are faithful intimacy of her heart returning as in reciting the Divine Office well, she does to her the Holy Spirit — Who sohtude laden like a bee with honey from inspired the Psalms and directs the so many flowers Church in the organisation ? How can she be ignorant of the right of the worship of Jesus language in which — gives us little by little a deep to address the Divine Majesty, when she knowledge.^ full of unction, enters into the sapida, of God's perfections and secret chamber of her heart, all replenished the mysteries of Christ ; a with the Divine knowledge more fruitful than Word? What is contemplation in its any we could gain by study highest form but the opening and reasoning ; the Holy out of the beautiful affirmations Spirit lllummes with His which the prayer of Divine light some truth, some word the Church puts upon our lips ? When or ste esus a soul borrows ™7 *y °\ J »* He deeply engraves them in the soul. her expressions from human language, she This knowledge will never find altogether heavenly, supernatural and any words that more exactly convey the truths sweet, fills the soul which she has with humility and confidence, and thus contemplated than the forms of liturgical illumined with divine prayer, lending themselves, splendours, it annihilates itself before as they do, with equal ease to God and surrenders itself the lispings of the soul beginning entirely to His holy will. The to seek God and to the Holy Spirit, as has enraptured outpourings 1 . been justly said, "suggests the attitude of the soul that has found Him of sincere souls Do we not grasp V the inward attitude which places the how well founded is this doctrine when soul before God in full truth. we examine things with the eyes of faith, and view everything For you in a supernatural light will remark that the sacred texts are not taken ? What is the aim of prayer, of all fromman; they come to us from prayer ? To unite ourselves to God in order to do His Heaven ; and as none but the Holy Ghost, will. If prayer does not tend to this, it is a mere amusement Who inspired them, can make us know their depth, of the so none but He alone, as Christ Himself mind, mere child's play of the soul. Now what is said, can " " make us understand the will of God ? Our sanctification : Haec est voluntas the words that fell from lips of the 2 the Incarnate Word, Dei sanctificalio vestra . These are St. Paul's words. But the actions accomplished and the mys- teries lived by the Saviour's Sacred this same Apostle does not cease to repeat to us under a Humanity : IUe vos sanctification is of docebitomma etsuggeret vobis ovinia 3 hundred different forms that our the quaecumque dtxero vobis . res supernatural order, that it is God alone Who has created Y Pm P nts these truths in a divine light to SfcSS ^ u £ it in us Ce h C me this order and established the means of realising ' y as k were 1?? -^ ? the elements of our ownnwn life, without^! t that our sanctification amounts to the entire reproduction there, being need of reasoning. The passing vividness in us of features of Jesus. The Father has no other of the first impression fades, the it is true ; but thf will veiy form of our predestination, d ly c ive for us ; indeed, the Pf ? d and remains in the soul hke a 1principle-T f£ — and holiness is but the realisation of predestination in K of life : Verba Chrisii spiritus el vita sunt*. its plenitude — is the conforming of ourselves to His beloved tzpj^r^x^ %rtions vpon the Li« and **»* * °<" r. Spiritual Life and Prayer according to Holy Scripture and Monastic Tradition by Cecile Bruyere, of Solesmes. Ch. x, translated Briman et MddiUiUott, x Madame J. — 9 i 3 . _ . joSi. XIV| 2 6. *,. Cf. Ibid, vi, 6+.' 3 by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. Tbis work is excellent in every point unfortunately it is too little known. — s. I Thess. iv, 3. » "

356 CHRIST. THE IDEAL OF THE MONIC MONASTIC PRAYER Son : Praedcstinavit [nos Dens] 357 conforms fieri imaHins FiW smK All prayer, the whole life of prayer, aS We haVe said t0 ought - ' accomplish then to P!fl»"\ i "the work of tend to form Christ within us ^ more, until we shall be ahl* to say in all " truth : I hve, now not I ; but Christ liveth in me : Vivo autem, jam non ego: vivtt veto in me Christtts* Now what better way could be found of forming Jesus US contemplate ne S d oslt His mysteries, and thereby obtaS lons goes out from the choir replenSd Xthe . ?w with tru + strength to imitate them ? th7 ^ IS thereby The soul.faithful in follovvin. Placed in altogether fTinnriw * ! * ** St by S ep as favourable atmosphere for the Church presents Him, prayer and the inner life. ^l ? i - infallibly arrives at reproducing 1S lnClm ab0Ve al1 within itself t0 ex ress ] ts the character fin the » ZhnU A - P desires. It deep meaning of the Bin holy desires whichu\ come from word) of Christ Jesus. The Church the heart and not in the multitude and arrangment of i5 gUided the Holy words that prayer lies. ?*?$£"&' ^ Spirit, and it is this When Spirit Who not only e &rd d1 °f conve ^ing enlightens us a/to Christ's mysterie 3 ? with Our Lord, S m US ZL^lwhen we f%Tfeel the need of speaking with disit S Dei2 the Him, we do not ofoi Chn?tUinst " ? ~ SS£ make phrases; we tell Him StSt. ^Paul,°t^tells us^that without how much we love Him how the Holy Spirit much we desire we cannot even to love Him ; we listen to pronounce the name of Him ; we slay Jesus' with w. looking at Him, praising e r e re Him, adoring Him, were it only $"*»?*• ******* hdp oMht by a humble Se rrSsT'o7 re attitude, full of reverence and confidence Commenting on these " words. of Job : Who would grant, 1 that the Almighty " Undoubtedly may hear my desire, St. Gregory the ! we'eTs^sul d Great " yfor'SS tells us: Remark these words: my desire. True ™** ^thin themselves humar^ character the prayer is not in the sound of the voice, if^l'tUr"S*VirtUes but in the desires '' but in order form of the us the ^ heart ; not our words but our desires Sn n^nf T f to eD give power to «Iave ™th™ our cries in God's Natural trait! fc^^ ™ ^P^- most secret hearing. If we ask for eternal °°d life i?5*3?acti * g ' with our lips without desiring it from the bottom of our ntf t^Holy Spirit *?• Y P "*' a°d thlS achon ls heart, our cry unceasing in the Liturgy is a silence ; if, without speaking, we desire it from the bottom x . r of our heart, our silence cries out P WhiGh is Iike the continual. the^iturded echo of The words of this great monk, who was at the same time ll K aC?1, makeS faith US waIk doser b a great Pope and a great reverence andVnv IT" . y contemplative, are but an echo m the Ste s •' P of Chris t Jesus, from of " His Birth 1 - those of our holy Father. " Let us remember, says to hI A? 81011 beSideS havin a ve 2 supernatural ' S *«e and St. Benedict — who himself echoes Our Lord's own words — f™3ff°UndatlonJ?" oss W > P <*ses " fruTtSlness incomparable efficacy and that it is not for our much speaking, but for the purity of heart, and tears of compunction that we shall deserve to be heard... 3 " A monk may remain in the oratory monks from^LiWv^H £f °? takes its ^ments after the Divine Office and there pray " not in a loud voice ^* d not mostly aff ^tTl' ° ^ exclusively but for fear of disturbing his brethren praying beside him, but S 1 eX ' Presses de rather than with " forms reasonWs ? ^ tears and fervour of heart : Intret et oret, non in clamosa W^ ng -° er d t0 reas voce, 1 to be c °n ^ order sed in lacrymis et intentions cordis . The monk pours 3of lit S? + U T set before™ hs : we find th ready out to Him the desires with which the liturgy has inflamed bv tL Ch» T*°h ![ ™ "1 their fuIness and splendour his soul, in that prayer we have on?v toon™ n ; desires which are all summed up y • 0Ut our 5 our 1° P hand dispose taught to us Christ, our Master , and that occurs heart m orde?to an" Y* > ^ by Jesus ^1 these truths and faithful soul f£ ^PF ^ ; the attentive" i. Moral, in I. xxii, n. p. L. t. 76, col. 238. St Augustiae of tude is S ared the Iabour Job. ch. 17, 43. discuSve P says the lua est, et si continuum destdenum reasonfn^ W? J^ same : Ipsum desiderium tuum oratio 1S necessar vox tua est... Flagrantia *. » to be well contimia oratio... continuum desiderium tuum continua Ro . m vT a -! r f' y — Vcni 2 C caritatis clamor cordis est. Enarr. in Ps. xxxvn, n. 14. P. L. 37. col. 404. Creator. ibi d- »v, i . - £ j Cor. ' "i £ 9 - 4 . C f. Hymn r 3 ^ 67A 2. Mattli. vi, 7. — Rule, ch. xx. — 4. Ibid. ch. lii. — 5. Matth. vi, 9, of the sentimental. Tho 3. tel Sliffici tl >£ <£ ^ y exp j a -g^: sq ; Luc. xi, 2-4. h ;

358 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 359 so frequently in the Divine Office: "Father... hallowed simple glance tells all their love and be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be tenderness The soul " done on remains in this prayer earth as in Heaven... of faith, united to God, to Chds Ut inte ™ediar To speak thus to the Father is to " y y- The soul puts aside a adore Him in spirit £fthJ^ ff " th natUrd "^Ksence, even and in truth, in spirilu et •?' - revealed truths, in veritate, it is a prayer saysav ornf LrodCn* ! that : it rests in pure faith. rises up to Him like fragrant incense; when we recite It can say to God: "Since I am unable to the Office with piety and devotion, this see Thee such prayer becomes U rt X t ' wan no types or images very ; I prefer to identify easy. As soon as the soul comes in contact my™ mtelhgencei!S ir with a with that of Christ and to contemplate Divine truth or one of Christ's Thee mysteries, it overflows in through His eyes, for He seeth Thee, pure but " " my God, as Thou fervent desire, and sees in the truth art. In of God tfus tryst of the soul with its God, in this immediate what God asks of it. The soul has reached the fountainhead contact with the Beloved, the soul of gives itself and finds all a life of intense union. good, for God also communicates Himself in revealing Himself. This contact of faith and 'love is sometimes very VI. short, lasting only a few instants, but it is sufficient to fill the soul with light ; the life of God becomes its own, the When a soul is thus faithful in following Christ Jesus Divine activity transforms its own. step by step, in allowing itself to be replenished by the Holv This union with God in faith is very simple but very Spirit with truths from on high fruitful. and in conforming its life For the soul who lives in it, these words of the to them God leads it little by little Lord in the " to the state of prayer. Scriptures are fulfilled : I will espouse thee to This is the third stage : that Me " of the in faith : and shalt unitive life, where the thou know that I am the Lord : S ely t0 God t0 Christ lt Sponsabo te mihi in et scies r °, ' - can "ake the worS fide: quia ego Dominus . What T -. A ." Wh ° shaU separate (me) from ought the soul to do ? To give itself up, to let itself be taken thetnlC-n^love of Christ ? Qms me sepambit a caritate Christ^? God touches the soul, He seizes its every fibre to make them are an rees ™ y this state, but it is certain that all converge to Himself as to their centre;. it is a Divine JhZl C H > when God w" ^ise us to that degree which embrance, in which the soul, despite aridity, or darkness, He t-llw °T , e f US U We COntinue to be or its own powerlessness, has nothing to do but yield itself ??- ° ' generously faithfulSthShjfm seekingv Him alonei : Ego merces iua magna nimiJ. up into the Divine Artist's transforming hand. m m^sure. wherein a soul is stripped of self, The fruitfulness of this prayer merits for it the name of Pnr? =!?f 16 ^dmore within it; He draws to Himself transforming. It is said that in Heaven we shall be like Sfcall the facultiesT of the soul that " " He may simplify their exer- to God, because we shall see Him as He is : Similes eC es 2 more sim ]e ei erimus, sicuti est . Immediately P ' the soul no longer feels quoniam videbimas eum t :; PPf, nf A T f efle ctm rauch of thinking the it is identified with Him in the %° g - much, of speaking blessed soul sees God, much / f f a n f G °d is made intellect by truth, and in the will by love. In the measure ?°, ° dee er '- ^e soul if motionlessZtinnlSc w P before God, as it like were, knowing that He is possible, the soul is, — not equal evidently, — but there it is , intimately united this transformation, to Him byy an act of loving to God : the Beatific Vision works 06 lle tWs ct God, to such a degree that it is OSS? 'r? & l is enveloped with the shadXf rendering the soul like to um a be united to Him in unity. Now, during this life, what is the thTlth I °V ? compared to that of two souls the enjoy ? Prayer through 0ther is thinkil e™n without prelude to the vision that the elect sneakin'\nH ^ 1 ^ are c ^plete union of sentiment, faith. The soul by contemplating God, through faith, P v ^ without ed5n thems es in prayer, sees His perfections in all truth, it surrenders - Such is contemplation : the soul T ^y look; a t?fG° truth and thus beholding in God the Sovereign Him and is silent And looks itself to this ; ' God at the so ] nn fi .i T/ Good, its will is united to this Divine will, fount ° This is what persons and Unique do who are knit In *« ^' t0 therT^h a dee lov of all beatitude for the soul; and the more powerful this P e = when they have saidsad all theyi A p l is have to say, adherence is, the more the soul is united to God. This they are content to be silent; a i. Rom. viii, . _ 35 2 . Gcn< XV) |# i. Ose. ii, 20. — 2. I Joan, in, 3. °

360 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 36l why prayer in faith is so precious for the soul. We ought to wish to reach a high degree in this prayer, the pretede to that that is tosav lidl ete"» °f to attain to this union full of love taSS*?? ™ and simplicity which results in an outpouring of the most pure Divine light The value of VII. this union is very great, for it sometimes transforms a soul a very m short time. Plunge an iron bar into the fire; The best means of stimulating without delay, the iron shares in within ourselves the holv all the ambition of alike qualities of the fire. God is a state is to maintain with furnace ; the soul that vigUance our life plunges r Our m God through prayer is wholly '. holy Lawgiver organised filled with light and heat fh Ws monkery so its love thatf^this life might become increases in immense easy for us :. separation proportions, and this is a from great grace God then tUde SileI1Ce and^collection, acts in the soul much more than ' holy read££ the rhPthe DivinefiSOffice are- soul itsel acts so many elements He works in it, the Holy S^rit talS that are of a nature it m hand We then to create and favour accomplish with great ease and much the life of prayer. better what was hitherto We must first of all seek done very imperfectly God soUtude and silence. We see Himse brings forth the ^d Father in his virtues which before youth leave the world : recessU, wf.had toUed S£ * painfully to acqmre. What is his aim ? To please " This state is therefore God alone : Soli Deo Uacere e^Ldinrfy to 2 bedesired;the Fathers desiderans but there is of the Church have always ; no true solitude that is not bathed in regarded an atmosphere h n0rmai r n of silence. Noise, in fact, disturbs the soul's piStu^ltff ^ P°Int ^tfi^Sta inward °Vr Lm / ^ recollection ; to walk noisily, to shut PT0duci Pride, it the doors in , ?5 gives birth in the soul t , fl,; l* the same way, deepest sense of its to hold loud conversations, can hinder our !, u r i nothingness for it is brethren from giving themselves up to 6 to comprehend loS'gSatnesI prayer ; upon this li^T" point, each one should have it at heart to respect the inner life of his brethren, to facilitate it by carefully avoiding all k that we can attain to hirfi rlp/rr «f «,- . a M that could be an obstacle to it. Little things, yes, but pleas- ing to God, for they favour His intimate work in souls.

More than _ outward noise, indulgence in useless conversa- tions divert the attention of the soul and destroy recollection. Whenever, apart from the time given to recreation, we speak without authorisation, unless urged to do so by the motive 0ne :St reveraDeum quaerii\ We ouSf tn L„a r 5,™^ of the love of God or of our neighbour,we commit an infidelity, we put an obstacle in the way of our intimate union with

God ; with culpable levity, we allow the perfume of the Divine visit received in that morning's Communion to evaporate. As St. Benedict says, we do harm to ourselves and are a ipped of self and *U sin ' cleansed irom distraction sibi inutilis est, tha Go/G m f[, to others : Non solum sed etiam S M Master 3 the action f ? *"»«* alios distollit . Where silence is not observed, it can be H?s ^L^Ufj* . 1. This is how a nun of a wonderful mystical life, the Blessed J. Bonomo, " characterised the three stages : The purgative way leads to the feet of Christ (this signifies humility feeling its misery and imploring grace and pardon); P feCt charit that is reach" ed by the eeneroS: y the illuminative way leads to the side of Christ, wherein arc contained the «S? / ntf °f the de rees divine secrets which the beloved disciple learnt at the Last Supper as he of humility^S resJme S S leads to the kiss : supreme ^themselves^Tthe leaned upon his Master's breast ; the unitive way whole work of purification Hh £2^ * testimony of that union which begins upon earth to be consummated in Heaven." Lite of D. du Bourg, pp. 38-40. This comparison is already to be in the writings of S' Catherino of Siena. Dialogue, ch. x. S' Bernard foris found mm titnorm* M"** speaks of the kiss of the Feet, of the Hand and of the Mouth of the Lord m , A^ZtZ^'V^™wappy state V" wherein the soul that which signify tho three stages of the soul's progress, (In car.lic. Sermones x. Rule ch. in, iv, col. sq.). 3. S. Greg. Dialog, lib. 11. c, 1. — 3. una- 2 . ibid P. L. 183, 794, — . ch . VII> _ ^ ^ ^ ^ Rule, ch. XLVin. 36s CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 363 affirmed that the inner life is lacking in intensity. Therefore thoughts as soon as our Blessed Father rarely concedes to his disciples the they appear let us dash faculty St them as 1 Benedict wishes, against the rock of speaking together . Is it not remarkable that after having which is Christ CoS- tationes mates cordi suo pointed out a great number of " instruments of good works " advcnientes mox ad Christum aUi&erV It is by this vigilance, says our he reserves three of which to treat more specially, thus Blessed Father again, that we shall remain exempt at every signalising that these are, in his eyes, particularly precious, hour from sins of thought" Uard W1thm OUrSelveS the namely; obedience, silence, humility ? He warns us to keep Precious &00d <* interior recollection.^ol1^^ A frivolous,f 1 he calls " A superficial soul, wilfully what by a word of deep meaning : the gravity and habi- tually distracted the of silence, " taciturnitatis 2 by disordered agitation of sterile gravitas . He knows and repeats thought cannot hear God s voice. But happy that that a multitude of words is often the source of sin. Silence soul that lives in inward silence, the fruit is, for him, the of a calm imagination, of the atmosphere of prayer ; when he invites us rejection of vain solicitude to give ourselves 3 and heedless haste, of the quelling frequently to prayer , it is only after, of the passions, of having laid down the " progress in solid virtue, of the concentration preliminary conditions : To keep our of the faculties upon the constant seeking mouth from all evil words. Not to love much speaking. Not after the Only Good ! this • Happy soul ! God will speak to speak vain words apt only to provoke laughter. to it frequently Not to the Holy Spirit " will make it hear those words of life which love excessive laughter*. Does then our great Patriarch do not strike the bodily ears, but which the attentive soul condemn joy ? Quite the contrary ! " He extols that dila- gathers up with j oy within itself as the nourishment of tation of heart " the fruit of a joy of which the its life. sweetness Was it not in interior recollection is unspeakable s but that the Blessed Virgin ; he condemns, with a severity which is lived ? The Gospel writes of her that she kept the words of only too well justified, all that dissipates the soul and the her Divine Son in her heart, so that she might meditate interior life, particularly words out of season, buffooneries, upon them : Maria conservabat omnia verba mere jesting, the habitual haec conferens tendency to levity of spirit : things 3 in corde suo . The Blessed Virgin did not speak many words: which he wishes to see for ever banished from his monasteries : filled with. grace and light from on high, inundated with Aeterna clausttra in G omnibus locis damnamus . So sure is he" the gifts of the Spirit, she remained, silent, that a soul in the adoration which pours itself out in a torrent of words of her Son ; she lived on the contemplation of the cannot hear within ineffable itself the Divine voice Of the interior mystery Master. wrought in her and through her; and from the sanctuary of her immaculate heart a hymn of praise and thanksgiving rose up unceasingly to God. Our monasteries Silence of the lips would be of small use unless silence are like other Nazareths where, in virginal souls, divine of the heart " were joined to it : To what serves material mysteries should likewise be wrought. Let us then live in solitude, says St. Gregory, "if the solitude of the soul recollection and try to remain closely united to our Lord. be lacking ? ' Quid prodest solitudo corporis 1 si solitudo de- merit cordis '? We might live in a Carthusian monastery It is not enough to keep outward silence, to put away and not be recollected, if we allowed our imagination to vain and profitless thoughts from mind and heart; this wander over an immense field of memories and insignificant inward solitude must be filled with reflections that help things, if we dreamt of these futilities and opened our mind the soul to rise towards God. Our Patriarch provides for to vain " thoughts. It is distressing to see how lightly we this by "holy reading; he wishes the monk to listen to often squander 4 our thoughts. In God's sight, a thought it willingly: Lectiones sanctas libenter audire : Numerous is worth more than all the material hours set apart by him for what he calls the lectio universe ; heaven may are be gained, B it may be lost by a thought... Let us then watch divina ;he wishes this holy reading to be taken especially over ourselves let us works of the Fathers, and the ; guard our imagination and our mind, from Holy Scripture, the 6 which we have ancient times . consecrated to God, from all tendency to conferences of the monks of run after deceptive experience that no source mirages and unwholesome or useless Our Blessed Father knew by i. Rule, ch. vi. is purer and more fruitful than the Holy — 2. Ibid. ch. vi. — 3. Ibid, ch.iv — of contemplation o he a Ibid — 5< Pro- K ,le - 6 >v. - - <*• vu. — 3- Luc. 11, 19. — 4. Rule, ch. ^ -? £> £*, c Jn 1. Rule, ch. tv. — 2. Ibid. ch. L-y6, coi ;: ^ A. 55 ^ lxxhi. — 5. Ibid. ch. xlviii. — 6. Ibid. ch. ix a ;

364 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 365 Scriptures. Indeed what is contemplation but the j move S ment of the soul that, touched and illumined by light from in h^^^ above, enters into the mystery of God ? It is true & that invisible into no one has ever seen God x for " , deeds ol^k^olT , He inhabiteth light inac- ^Xt^I -t 2 " have but to open our eyes, to cessible , says St. Paul. prepare How then are we to know Him ? our heart fa ordTr to know and rejoice in this " By His words. " hght of glory : Would you enter into the very heart of The 3'orv which " Thou hast given me - says the God ? says St. Gregory. " Listen to His " Saviou? in speak n7 words : f Disce Apostles to the cor Da in verbis 3 His Father, "I have given to Dei . With a being them* as essentially true as Gospels "To he God, His are to be added the letters of the words manifest His nature. Have we not here Apostles especially those of St. John and of St. the very Paul : both repeat to mystery of the Eternal Essence ? God expresses us the divine Himself words into the meaning of which they had in His Word, in an infinite manner, so perfect and penetrated the one while resting his head upon the so adequate that this Word is Master's Heart' the Unique. other m those visions where Christ Himself gave And see how this Word, Who is Light, veiling His him to'hear native the arcana verba*, " secret words " splendour under the infirmity borrowed from containing His mystery our flesh And as Jesus Christ " " reveals Himself to was yesterday" as He is to-day" us in the Incarnation : Illuxit cordibu's and will be 3 to-morrow , even the nostns ad tUuimnattonem scientiae Old Testament itself clariialis Dei in facie Christi reveals Him to us. Did He hot say that it was of Jesu* This Word makes us hear the words His Person from on high that Moses spoke? Did He not which He alone knows because frequently bring to mind He alone ever dwells in the the prophecies fathers Bosom: concerning. Him ? And as for the Psalms, Qui est • in sinu Patris ipse enarravit 5 are they n not overflowing with Him, to the point of being, J?nejrith the Father, " He gives us the words which If f 4 according to Bossuet's beautiful expression, "a Gospel of the Father has given to Him«, so that the words of Jesus, Jesus Christ turned into sent by the canticles, affections, acts of thanks- Father, are the words of God 4 " Himself : Quem giving, and holy desires .? emm misii '. Deus, . verba Dei loquitur \ Manifold words of The whole treasury of the; Scriptures, then, reveals Christ rd the human words that Irf '/^ - translate them to us; on. each page we .read His name. These pages are manifoldir%^ and hkewise the generations that are to hear are full of Him, of His Person, His perfections, His deeds tnem m order to live by them. each repeats to us His incomparable love. His boundless heSe Worf od are words of Eternal Life : ,„vT , ? Verba goodness, His untiring pity, His ineffable wisdom ; they a Ur L°rd US US : " This is eternal unveil the unfathomable riches of the mystery of His life KfeTO . \ T, [ VZJlJ £ at They ma ? rnA ^ m- T£ y ^ow thee, the only true and sufferings, they recount to us the supreme triumphs of God, and [Him] Whom " Thou hast sent". The. words of His glory. re al " God t0 us : > His Nature, We understand what St. Jerome wrote To be ignorant KtB rf??'s Perfections, ^His *£ Love, S, W His Rights, His of the Scriptures, is to be ignorant of Christ " : Ignoratio B the iterances of the Word, 5 S 7 the utterances of Scripturarum, ignoratio Christi est . The first Christians did m 6 e S Ul enetrate into not only did they lavish ahnvTrt. ? ? ? P the light from' not incur the reproach of ignorance ; 7 int° these holy splendours where" upon the book of Scriptures a special veneration, which God dwpll Trf^rC sovl > th c 0re that ' fu11 of fait has passed into the Liturgy, but they read Holy Writ assi- ? > h, hearkens assfdS;assiduously tof thesei r words is Apostle's exhortation : wonderfully enlightened upon duously ; they put into practice the 6 f th " " Divine myster fs Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly : Verbum "/! ° - ? ?> and abl with perfect safe?! e ain ^ P contemplation of this mystery. Christi habitet in vobis abundanter*. It is said of St. Cecilia wtr ^ ^ ffind Gospel in her heart. She W°rdS these Words tha should that she always carried the Holy beTor » ' us fon^ °l"™!f Wa ter therefore remained united to. God by an unceasing colloquy, » sPrin&in up into everlasting Sfe«We > Tl ? £ r , , & ? n the Gospel, by an uninterrupted prayer : Et non diebus tteque noctibus a first of all. There we listen to colloqniis divinis et oratione cessabaf.

1. Cf. Ibid, xvn, 22. — 2. II Cor. xn, 4- — 3- Hebr. xm, 8. — 4. Elevation ~ 5 ' J "' '' l8 6 Cf 1. Ibid, in, * — " " Ibid - xvn 8 - - . 34™ -\ IbidiD,a viVI i - 1 Isaiam Prologus, P. L. ' * t 3" Elev. — 5. In 24, - °9" an upon the Mysteries io«> Week, 14. ' — 9- J° - xvn, 3. ~ jo. Cf, Ibid, iv, col. 28. — 6. Col. in, 16. — 7. Antiphon of the office of S* Cecilia. 366 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 367 But that this word may be " living and effectual 1 " in us, tures" : Nonne cor nostrum that it may really touch the sou], and truly become the fount ardens erat in nobis - logueretur in via dum of contemplation et aperiret nobis > and principle of life, we must receive it Scripturas* What is there astonishing, then, with faith and humility and a sincere desire of knowing in the tact' that the soul Christ charmed and won by this living " and uniting ourselves to Him in order to walk in word which penetrates even to the marrow, " His footprints. The deep and intimate knowledge, makes the prayer ol these dTsc n the its P e own : Mane nobiscum\ " " supernatural and fruitful perception of the meaning StaV with us ' n Thi!, i of Holy incomparable Writ is Master, indefectible a gift of the Spirit, a gift so precious that our Lord Light infallible Truth* the. only true Life of our souls i Himself, Eternal Wisdom, communicated it to His Foresti tfaes disciples desires Pholv in one of last "the Holy Spirit Himself His apparitions : Tunc aperuit tilts asketh for us sensum ui speakable with uX intelligent Scripturas 2 groanmgs*, " which constitute . To souls that have obtained this true prayTr theL vehement desires gift by great humility 3 to possess God, to live no and earnest prayers , the Scriptures longer save for disclose the Father's glory and for that abysses unsuspected by other souls. These souls of His Son Jesus La e become great and burning repice in the possession of these divine testimonies by contact with God, takes as those possession who have " found great of all the powers of the soul, spoil " : Laetabor ego super eloquia renders it strong tua steta and generous to do perfectly all the qui tnventi spolia muUa*. They truly discover Father's Will, to give therein itself up fully to the Divine good "the hidden manna," manna absconditum 5 which pleasure. has a thousand What better or more fruitful prayer different tastes, contains all sort of 8 than this ? What delights contemplation can and becomes their daily food, be comparable to it ? full of savour. Hence we W 11 6 innermost understand why our Blessed Father heir to ? reason of this fruitfulness of God's ™7 }^ H the thought of St. Paul and Word ? It is that Christ is the first Christians, wishes the ever living ; He is ever the God saves monk to consecrate so many hours to the lectio divina, Who and quickens. What was said of that Him durinc ls^to say 1S lfe to the reading of the Holy Scriptures and the works ? " Virtue wen t out from Him, and ? , fW I of the Fathers which are their healed all who came near echo and commentary. to Him : Virtus de Mo exibal et We understand how it is that a monk, attentive AU r rt to gather P °P° i^rded, that which is true of IhTvfrZZthe i up daily in the liturgy this substantial nourishment of the Person of Jesus is true alsoT of His word ; and true what was Scriptures given to him with perfect fitness by the Church, yesterday is still true in our days. Christ hves^nTht .Christ's Bride, could not be better soul of the just under the prepared to converse ; infallible direction of Ihis inner Master, the soul intimately with the Divine Master. humbly seated like Magdalen at His feet I if * to Oh we knew the gift of God ! If we knew all the hear His words, penetrates into the Divine Light Chrilt value of gives it His our share of the inheritance ! Funes ceciderunt mihi Spirit, the first Author of Holy Writ that it may in praeclaris, etenim hereditas mea s there search into the very praeclara est miki l depths of the Infinite Omnia VIII. in respect to men it ; measures, by faith, the divine tions propor- of the mystery of Jesus, and this wonderful sn ad In truth, the monk whose soul, pure and faithful, is atten- whereof the splendours enlighten t and iUuminate t touches tive to keep the silence of the lips and heart, who listens reS UpH tS tranSports ' ' and transforms the devoutly to holy reading day by day, is excellently prepared sou] ! r'S W l tu« n.^at the disciples of Emmaus to live in God's presence. We are not yet in Heaven, felt when SSTu g. esns Himself vouchsafed shall Ml il . J to interpretP to where by the Beatific Vision we be forever in the rGd Was not our he"t burn ng w1h]n Eternal Presence ; let us, at least, often place ourselves usus, wl^Vwwhilst He l°°^lu spoke m the way, " live, and opened to us the Scrip- under the gaze of God : In Him we and move, and i. are °. " Presence actual by the free Hebr. iv. 12. — 2. Luc xnv „ t- Let us render His spirituals 4 umw Hbros et sensum non aitin^mm J' J7J' T" .*. '«'»'•«. sed movement of a recollected soul; this Divine Presence will indesinciiibus postulate, CSt !acry 'nls cl °™tionibm "22 aLJ'Lrft"' ,

P t. Luc, xxiv, 32. — 2. Ibid. 29. 3. Rom. vin, 26. 4. Joan, iv, 10. — — 7- Luc. vi, 7 ' ~ °" XVI — 19, — 8. I Cor. n 10. ' P' ' m 5. Ps. xv, £1. — 6. Act. xvii, 28, !

368 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 369 thus become the atmosphere in which we move. Like upon the soul a St. " ; divine touch Benedict of whom it is said; He dwelt alone which becomes the starting with point of a new orientation himself under the eyes of the Sovereign Beholder, " of our soul toVarcL God ,nl Solus h n a in snperni Spectatoris oculis habitavit 1 m abs secum , we man^ shall s ?kin1 rfter God °B "if ^ £ abide continually in ^ presence of the thrice-holy God, not by means of ceaselessly renewed prayers, or violent efforts of mind or imagination, but by a deep and peaceful sense will make us enter of faith which everywhere with Him, cum eo\ into the keeps us before God. We shall feftaT hallL. put in practice the precept of our Blessed Father • " To US Uttle b Uttle the soul hold for certain that God sees us " ' mounts towards God everywhere : In omni nr^ l ^ . and loco prayer becomes its very breath Deum se respicere pro certo scire*; we shall ; habitual union, full of love seek the raze is established, a very and smile of our Father in simple but steadfast contact with the Heaven ; we shall often repeat Lord : God becomes C the life of the soul. If the monk keeps ray °f lf eht uP°n Thy servant, ?fJ' ^ ? silence, it is to converse inwardly with wSf™y m tMm illumina God ; if he speaks, suPer servum it is in God, of hm™/ God for His glory. Such was the practice of a holy monk, Hugh, Abbot of e are fai thus Cluny : SUens quidem to keep habitually the sense nfof ^ 5^ semper cum Domino- loquens antem, semper SGods Presence, the ardour of love in Domino ve'l is constant ; all our 3 ae Domino loquebatur . activity, even the most ordinary, is not only kept pure from The monk who lives this life does not our Lawgiver wishes, waste his time ', j* Actus vitae suae omni' thinking horaSL custodtre* of himself, of what others are doing, of the wrongs but, moreover, raised to a supernatural that may have been done to him, or that he level Ourwholehfeis irradiated imagines have with heavenly light "com been done to mg down from him; he does not turn over in his mind all the Father of lights" desceldens a luminum* PaTre these littlenesses, all these trifles, but he seeks only God; and this is the secret of strength and joy. whenever he can do so, at every free moment left to him th resence of • P God disposes the soul thJ^Jt -f T for . by work, the functions of his charge, the ministry of souls, 1 happen and t0 certa souls it his heart haDD^Tft^ ^, ' * turns towards God to cleave to Him, to express ^uTlat they find y' a real difficulty in to . making Him his desires, brief but ardent : that is the tendency SEiS?itt r e ? r assi&ned weariness, of his . ' sleepiness, I soul. The soul withdraws into its own depths there state S ff h2iS iwdlstrac ' ons binder, ^ . in appearance, all to find God, the adorable Trinity, Christ Who dwells effortefforts LJto attain ^ : this is spiritual dryness3 Let the in us by faith. Christ unites us to Himself ; we live with iemai\^»l ai£ do ? neS theTrS what ^ can To stay Him in sinu Patris*; and there we are united to the Divine 8 without fumentJZt ™ ^V sensible fervour: Vt Persons; our life becomes a communing with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and in this union we find the well-spring atan °ther moment. It can be said of of joy. We meet sometimes with sorely tried souls who these vS-fnf *l 'tL u What the yet by a life themselves a sanctuary comtn^t fhf 2* °^ Suture declares of His of prayer make within 0i ear* U life : " You where the peace of Christ reigns. It is enough to ask them : r y know not at whS hour^lr % T11 " C°me ? ZtlveSTl^rT " :Nesciiis W hora Dominus, Would you not like to have some diversion in your life eV " here : dwell alone ' in the ceU in the Ulster to hear them at once reply Oh, no, I wish to k the ' ^garden in\h? rr " Svine We hVe rec°"ected in the with God. Happy state of a soul living the life of prayer Presencerresence o^Vl^'°ur Lord will t?Y7j / come ,the Trinitv will come It everywhere finds God, —and God suffices for it, because Vememus8 ^th hands whiS^iT > full of Kind S it is filled with God, the Infinite Good. P Se t0 hour ** dePths and ha But the soul feels the need of consecrating one r cotSerabTe TCr ^ ™ ^tfmS r^PeT sl0n u our exclusively with God, that, this may be, as it then P°n inner life. There is to communing produced,orodnrln aa lt^ were, habitual life. This hour an indelible imprint of God were, the intensification of the soul's

S C c. P. L. ule ch 1. Luc. xir, 26. — 2. Matth. xxv, 10. — 3- Vila Hugonis, 1, 159, < " '- ~ 3. Ps. cxvm, ,55. ~).%%?£t ^:&J ; %~%7 6 iPs loc. ' ' " LXX 863. — 4. Joan. 1, 18. — 8. Joan, xiv, 23. ' ~ ». 23- — 7- Malth. xxiv, 42. ' ' "

37° CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK MONASTIC PRAYER 371 is at once a manifestation of and a means of attaining the life ing this of prayer. It is lofty end We live impossible for a soul to have arrived at a in solitude, far from the state noise of the world; we v where prayer is its life without giving itself in sit down daily/and are an exclusive the Church served bv manner, at certain hours of herself, at the splendid table the day, to the formal excrciseoi of the 1 turg^where prayer ' but this exercise is only the natural expansion 2** d f G°d S Word of its The soulV bettord *5?

We have said elsewhere (Christ, the Life of the Soul, conference on Prayer) ^Iigious in his monastery, • how the contemplation of the Sacred Humanity of Jesus is the source of Tr?; ?t of a nun in her cloister it is the prayer even, for perfect. We there gave a very explicit text of necessary expansion of the most our grace of adon fnn nf S* Teresa. Let us add thereto the following passage. Having, in The In- S We °f terior Castle, taught that it must be truly admitted that the soul raised to ™ PS5S i/ o'urto ?'ex°- SSffiA perfect contemplation cannot meditate in discoursing inwardly, the Saint how- can a " cannot dwell o^lttTnTs ght ever adds : Souls... would be wrong in saying that they 7vTgoTi sTuis hutfrtluS mimst on these mysteries (of the Life and Passion of Jesus Christ) nor frequently *? should be the ' ^ these events are being celebrated by the natural venationradiation £ ^ think about them, especially when of our innermost life in so God Let Tirthf™ * . Nor is it possible for the soul which has received much US aWa His love, which are living sparks ea' * ?- ^ from ifc •* Non aufcralur ab from God to forget these precious proofs of butrlZ^f to inflame the heart with greater love for our Lord... Such a soul comprehends of pra^e, Our these perfect way than do other people. The ZJ^^^X\*£^*°?*uohks is mysteries... in a more a Benedictines of magnificent one for attain- Interior Castle, 6"> Mansion, ch. vu. Translated by the i. Ps. lxxxiii, 8. Stanbrook. — 2 Ibid rviU1it «6 ^, „ xxxii, 2. - - — 3- Cf- Luc. vin, Dcut. - 5 . Luc. x, 42, 4. _ 4. THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL m All those virtues of which we have spoken until now- poverty, humility, obedience, are like the fruits of the monastic profession their XVI. — SPIRIT OF ; practice is the logical consequence THE ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S of that deed which yielded us up entirely to Christ under . WILL. the Rule of the holy Patriarch all ; our Benedictine perfection flows from that as from its source. That donation to God on the blessed day of our profession can only Summary. — The spirit of holy abandonment is the crowning point be true entire complete, absolute, if it is afterwards of the way of detachment. — I. Objective basis of this aban- manifested during our whole existence donment: the Divine Will. — II. This spirit of abandonment by these virtues of detachment, reverence is found in and submission but a high degree in the Rule of St. Benedict. — ; these virtues, to be living and. fruitful, III. Practice of this virtue. — IV. Above all in trials. — must constantly draw their sap from that loving abandon- V. Holy abandonment constitutes 1 a very pleasing homage to ment which marked our donation . God. — VI. Special blessings flow from it for the soul. It is now the moment to speak of this spirit of abandon- riot ment : only does it explain our existence, because, being at the very basis of religious profession, it inspires all the end of the whole 'life of the " The monk is to seek acts that are derived from this profession as from their point " 1 God : Si revera Deum quaerit ; and on the day of of departure ; but it also gives them their supreme fecundity. °ur Profession, we . promised to pursue , ,. with constancy Indeed holy abandonment is one of the purest and most this high and great end. In order to attain it we have left absolute forms of love ; it is the height of love ; it is love everything ; we have all made sacrifices ; like St. Peter we giving to God, unreservedly, our whole being, with all its can say to our Lord : Ecce nos reliquimus omnia et secuti energies and activities in order that we may be a veritable sumus fc»; 'Behold we have left all things, and have holocaust to God : when the spirit of abandonment to God followed Thee. animates a monk's whole life, that monk has attained holiness. ,The motive power of these sacrifices and acts of renuncia- What in fact is holiness ? It is substantially the conformity tion is love which drew us in the footsteps of Christ Tesus. of all our being to God ; it is the amen said by the whole being said " We to Him : Good Master, Thou callest me, and I am and its faculties to all the rights of God ; it is the fiat full nere I : believe that Thou art so great, unceasingly so powerful, so good, of love, . whereby the whole creature responds, that Thou wilt not confound and that which any of my hopes : Non confundas and unfalteringly, to all the Divine Will; me ab exspeclahone mea. I believe that Thou wilt make me causes us to say this amen, to utter this fiat, that which sur- 2 " hee the fount of beatitude renders, in a perfect donation, the whole being to God is • ^ and of all life : Et a , J mvam This is, sum total ! on our part, an act of faith in Jesus Christ. the spirit of abandonment, a spirit which is the We eave 2 all, persuaded of faith, love . that in Him we shall find all. confidence and Faith aban- e of ltSeIf th ivin Let us try to see what is the basis of this spirit of - '^ § e of our whole being to the Tmth w£* T e the characteristics of eSUS e ncarnate donment ; how it constitutes one of -° * ' Word. And our monastic £rikw? -I ? l Blessed Father e the inner life as it is understood by our ° extensi°n to our entire life of an hSt^Mluinitial act of H *l we can practise it, and faith and abandonment St. Benedict ; we shall then show how eceived the excellent fruits to be gained from it. r ^ official consecration in the offering thJt 1 ™ f 0urseIves to G°d on the day of our religious ProfeSon I. 016 iS maint^ned in this spirit of holy Divine abSnn^^^n whereb^ wereanimated The objective basis of holy abandonment is the • when we pronounced ourVn^our Vows, it \ yr considered as being the last becomes true and extremely pleasing I. The spirit of holy abandonment can be to God. ! expression of detachment or the summit of the life of «£°° J*^?™ that we are here cmsidjnag. i. Rule, ch. aspects are correlative, but it is chiefly the tot _ lviii. " M-ittii vtv -^ -n. Samt Aba*, Pra er the Right Rev. Abbot Lehodey, U Psalmist, and L'; /' ,~ 3 ' y borrowed from the -2. In the beautiful book by that S< Bciiwlir I the teaching relative, to the by don, i i is found a complete exposition of moment of his monasUc^roSn ° ^ ^ "^ the ,lovicc at 9 9l to be this important subject. 374 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 375 Will. All that God decides, all that He decrees, is absolutely r0m Him WC may bring perfect : Judicia Domini vera, justificata in scmetipsa t0 His Father \ Now H?m. ' fruit Pta^ig to God wills our holiness and our beatitude, but this holiness and this beatitude You hence see the necessity are not of some indefinite kind. There for the soul of not are Divine separating itself from God, the two utterances, — and these two utterances are Fount of grace w thou the completing of Whom we can do nothing. But, one another, — which make known to much more than this we ought to give ourselves us the ways of Providence as regards ourselves, to Him without reserve, for with and in the this light of grace we can "do all things": which we may comprehend the wherefore of this is the second of the the two utterances spirit of abandonment. that show the reason of holy abandon- ment : Omnia possum in eo qui Christ Jesus pronounced the first of these me confortatK There is no utterances- honest deed, Without Me, you can do nothing " however commonplace it be, that, done : Sine me, nihil poieslis under faccre 2 the inspiration of grace, cannot contribute . We have often meditated upon these to make us reach words but that it is sovereignly useful supreme exaltation which is the Beatific to penetrate into them anew. All Vision for the all things work together unto reunited efforts of nature cannot produce one good, to such as God 'calls supernatural to live in union act one act which with Himself : Omnia cooperantur in bomtm has any proportion with our end, which is the Us qui secundum proposiium vocati sunt beatifying Vision of the Adorable Trinity sancti*. But why does God. ordain This end is the only one assigned all unto the good of His elect, why does to us ; outside this one He grant to them, through there is only damnation. God could His grace, to do all things whereby have disposed things they otherwise if may reach Him ? For several reasons. He had so willed : He might have asked of " " God's Will towards souls is : us only a full of love God is Love : natural religion and • a natural morality but 3 Dens caritas est . Not only does He possess love : He Is Love, He did not establish things thus. God is Master of His boundless, unfailing, r °f indefectible Love. It has not entered ; His b su ^ Pre and it is in into the heart S£this T^f ^ ^ ™ of man to understand what is Infinite Love. wdl that our salvation and sanctincation find the™ principle: Now the weight of this infinite love draws God to give Him- Secundum benepiacitum ejus 3 . It is from Gn<\ self that our sanctincation : Bonum est diffusivum sut. All that God does for us first of all comes, because it is l£s has love as its motive power, and as is not only Love, infinitely free will which God has . fixed its laws, and these laws make of our but Eternal Wisdom and Almighty Power, the works that sanctification a- supernatural work impossible It b Love causes this Wisdom and this Power to accomplish are to attain perfection without actaowted&urUWieQgmg Divine Plan thSt01s ineffable. Love is at the foundation of the Creation and of established from all eternity But God, all the mysteries of the Redemption. Who accomplishes all His works with infinite This character : that of wisdom, has given love bears moreover a particular us, in grace, the means of realising ^thin being the love of a father for his children : Videte'qualem With0Ut race 1 S whichTomes caritatem... ut filii Dei nominemur et simus , God loves us irom God only ^^ ' KodonfvTwe are incapable of doinp anvthinz as His children. He is the Father essentially : all paternity n rder t0 reach 0ur supernatural • -. end St Paul is derived from His : Ex quo omnis paternitas in caelis et in 7^°^itells us that without grace we cannot have a terra 6 is meaningless word. And as, to be good thought nominator . This not a counted worthy of eternal beatitudf Nonmiod in God, all is active, this paternity in relation to us is all that

is most great, most solicitous, most constant : God acts with us as with His children, and leads us during our whole fife in the light of His incomparable fatherly love. esu Himself has manifested this fatherly love ? In having tMs Snth S; h? ffJ f commented upon How has He is the Vine and we are destined us to His own beatitude as our inheritance. He the branchef tl?bnng ? w ^ \° forth fruit, we must loves us to the point of adopting us as His own children, of tonSrHim through abide united grace, in order that, bliss of making us enter into drawing supernal giving us a share in His own ;

iy, Ibid, in, i. Ps. X. Philip, iv, 13. — 2. Rom. Yin, 28. — 3. I Joan, 16. — 4. :o. - 2 . to, Joan, xv, . - 5 . Eph . 3 ,, 9> _ 1. • Eph. in, 15. ^ n ^ ^ fc — 5. ;

376 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S the fellowship of His WILL 377 Blessed Trinity. All the graces given to the elect, H^offers us all the mercies granted to sinners, all the to His Father, and blessings His Father finds us in that raise, beautify and rejoice souls, had, their dawn in this eternal act of our divine adoption 11 th foundati°ns : Omne datum oUimum ? Upon which holy et restsrJT ^ n abandonment omne donum perfectiw desursnm est, God wills our sanctification desccndens a Patre : Haeo est vohintes Dei hmnnum\ It is the first Jink in sancUficaUo ; this Willin that interrupted chain of God is efficariouTand fulfo heavenly graces love, therefore^He has granted to souls multiplied throughout the centuries the means of sanctKion Aow this predestination comes •' God giants us to find in the forth from the Heart of God Son of His delight th? well Vtdete qualcm spring o -all grace " caritatem habmt in and all perfection : nosDcus ut filii Dei nomi- How hath He not nemur et simus. also, with Him, given us " all things ? Quomodo non etiam This is not all; for the marvels ctimillo omnia nobis donavit*? Shall and manifestations of we not therefore Gods love for. us are inexhaustible. ab^on ourselves in all confidence to Divine Love sh nes this all-powerful out not only in the.fact Will, which is love itself and has of our adoption, but in the admirable not only fixed the laws of way, chosen by God of our perfection but is the principle and realising it in us. God loves us with source of it ? Grace goes before, aids and crowns all the acts that we. do. For 5 says St. Paul, " I can do all 1115 cMdle God ves us things in Him Who strengthened ' & His Son Christ " JesusTesus that is ^ me : omnia possum in 3 i?^love s eo qui me. conforiat . supreme gift. " God so loved This qui me as to " the world give His Only-begotten confortat shows us that holy abandonment does not consist Son : sicDeusSm mundum tUW in doing nothing; let us guard ourselves against that false S DARET And why does He t^LTV^T , \ gZ quietude, that " far niente " falsely esteemed as mystical passivity. "By the grace of God, I am what I am, " says the Apostle again, "and His grace in me hath not been void V better^ * Grace acts sovereignly, it 2S uT. S&^S^o ffi^ leads to a high degree of holiness, but only where it meets with no obstacles to its action ; the Spirit of God acts powerfully but only where it is not 5 oon t a- t tt„ ' V God. pours down from Heaven opposed, "grieved," — speaking still in the language of upon our souls all divine blessings of grace tS St. 5 make us Paul , and where the created powers are surrendered live as children worthy of — this Heavenly Father to Him. What is the part left to us in our seeking after God ? 065 COme t0 US throuS h Jesns, and To put away generously of course, with the help of grace — God lovesus in th^ . — we Jesus an believed'mH ? "^ ^ His Son all the, obstacles that are opposed in us to the action of this ,nl consoling words 1,lseIf teUs us these same grace, and to keep ourselves constantly in the dispo- -&^iriras ,S you havf f * ove th V™, because sitions required by God in order that He may and will act. loved Me \t fS ? f T God " eheved that J Came For supreme as is God's will, wide as is His power, infinite : IfiseenimSL ? ™* ^om as is His love, God expects of us that we should remove all When soul should remain in that soul full of love the Father sees a that impedes His grace, that the for ffifson *S sh\ TT blessings °wer His most abundant attitude of humility and confidence whereby it hopes for upon it ?ha t ? ? \the from God. When the soul has reached that state from all • ]an established everything eterni . P y h J?^' attach- £ it is obstacles : sin, imperfections, ^stituted where freed from King over aU God's St,? I Head and beC it has emptied His USe h is He Who ment to created things, and to itself ; where Blood, has > though resWH T US .t truly seeks he ights itself of all that is not God ; where it no longer "The °* this heritag! : Father hath Is , aU J finding it entirely given up thlngs into His anything but God ; then God, Omnia dedU . hand*" : Pater t F r soul e to will, acts freely within it. Happy the to faith and loveove *"£ abide in Him by His liHe abidesIT"- ^ generosity: the , us such m by His grace and merits whom God grants such light and

. Philip, iv, 13. — 4- I Cor. xv, an I Thess. iv, 3. — 2. Rom. vin, 32. 3. ~ * J° " '»> 5. Jo^V/, * - 3. Eph. ,, 3. - %: . . 4 Joan. x,,, a7 - — 5. Eph. iv, 30, 378 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 379 Lord wtfl bring it, by His own ways, to the highest perfection. (5« degree) to be contented ; with the worst of every thing to perform the meanest tasks, II. because of the feYiingof wh ch ™akes <™ humWe himself $^2?*?(6'h l be or ?g£ degree) and before men (7th The spirit of holy abandonment is to be found in a high decree) Is not this recognition of God's right, the degree in the Rule of our holy Patriarch. un'derlyln^rtson of n to self-surrender and complete detachment It is true that all religious life leads the faithful f Each degree of soul to humility itself only this increases with faith and confidence constant union of its will with the divine will, a in union God With every degree of inward which forms one of the chief elements of holy abandonment humility, our Blessed Father gives hope of. a special correspondence but this abandonment is particularly' of Divine realised in the form grace. Have we not shown of life how with him humility finds regulated by the holy Lawgiver ; his concept of poverty its completion in. invincible confidence in the merits humility, obedience, leads the faithful soul of Christ by a very sure Jesus Who bnngs grace to path, to us ? It is for God then to direct detachment from the creature and from self in us by His wdl, by that of His Church, by events order to look for all good from ; it is for God alone. us to do this will each time that it is manifested to us', trusting Call to mind what poverty is in this respect, and to what ourselves to God, for the rest, a radical and holding ourselves assured degree our Blessed Father carries this virtue which that we shall infallibly come to perfect charity: detaches us from creatures. The Mox ad monk is to have nothing cariiaiem Dei perveniet... perfecta[m]... of his This is the whole aim own, since he has not power 1 even over his own body of the asceticism of humility. To this stripping of self, St. Benedict clearly links the i&a The practice of obedience, such as ot holy St. Benedict understands abandonment ; the monk should hope to receive all it, has no other aim. Why does the monk come to the that is necessary from the Abbot, the Father of the monas- monastery ? Is it to accomplish such or such special work ? tery Omnia vero ; nccessaria a j>aire sperare monasterii*. To give himself to some occupation that he prefers ? No, Ihe practice of monastic poverty, as I have tried to show it is solely to follow Christ in obedience, relinquishing all is a very high form of the virtue of hope, without x which there that is his own : Relinqaentes statim quae sua sunt . The is no virtue of abandonment. monk, faithful to the' spirit of his Rule, "relinquishes" 06S hx [ity- in its turn, lend its "ladder" to the himself literally by obedience ; he gives up his will to that virtue^£ ?°t T of abandonment* ? Its divers degrees are so many of God. He says to God : "I lay down my will into Thy ever-widening acts of abandonment to " God's Will We have hands ; I wish henceforward to listen only to Thee. To th 17 °f this virtue ?S? *% £ ** reverence. towards act thus is to follow Him Who, by essence, is the principle *foa, tne fatherS ofT^incommensurable " majesty : Pairem of all things ; it is to will to be guided by Eternal Wisdom. ttnmensae maf estate. This reverence towards God, the Sove- reign Master of all things and unique Fountainhead of every We make this act of self-surrender on the day of our good, keeps the soul -habitual m submission to all that God religious profession, which is the most perfect expression of ka S the souI hands. The inner dSLc? FTVffty ? to avoid a11 ^at can the full surrender of ourselves into God's ' d6gree) infallibly ; constan to seek after the life of the monk who remains faithful to his vows SfDivine Will,wni (z^; id degree), % ; to abandon oneself to this will evolves into this spirit of abandonment which is one of the r aSup n0 de ree greatest for the soul. <£* S ' even if this man's graces wUl^nn, l S' ) w ha hl s yielded up unreservedly, m ' contrar to This is because, in a soul thus our tastes - ^ ^ ' elSTKexposing us to the worst5 is supreme. The injuries : this is the 4^ God's action, the source of all holiness, which abandonment degree in goes as far as heroism, for eVerylingS Rule which we promise to follow is like a sacred and beneficial 6 ta a c ourselves to be taken up into ™™™t™. as mill-wheel : when we allow . with victims dLtiLSSh? I f/' f " set this " mill of God, the soul is ground like wheat and God's sight. Our holy g° CVe t0 ^ding-up of the secrets free from all that is displeasing in of the h3heart tof^^the one u < % this in remarkable terms, who holds the place of God with us Legislator gives us to understand 1. Rule, ch. xxxin. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Ibid. ch. vu. 1. Rule, ch. v. ;

3&*0 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD's WILL 381 at the end of the chapter on humility. When he has led R he ar S ma his disciple, by successive acts, to the lait degree of y ^.^ations of the Divine self- What oSh f l °K ^ will abnegation, he no longer gives him any direction : he leaves him to the action of the Holy Spirit, Who makes the soul altogether yielded up 6nergy 0f our bein sho to Him, His abode full of delights, and Sthwith fi!ir w 7 S "W be employed fidelity and constancy, to brings it, if such be His design, to the most sublime carry out this wM]iT* perfection, 6 ^y0ne to the height of contemplation ; in ' "ore'careS weir this soul STtanot to flS*displease"I" ^ ^ him; m regard to there is no longer, as it were, any other life than God, our fidelitv ouStf that of to be absolute " I g 1 : do always the things » • love . th5 pleale Hhn Quae flacita sunt ei facia We see how St. semper*. Such oughTto Benedict leads the soul to the spirit of passion bTthe of a soul that seeks God solely self-surrender. For him this is not a negative ; his eyefL the Psal- state of mist says, should be "ever immobility or towards the llrd" OadimTi mistaken indifference. To arrive at holy semper adDominum*. abandonment, thereby to learn His will and the soul labours to put away a crowd of to obstacles, then to keep itself faithfully in this fundamental Souls differ from one another in the fulfilment disposition of humility and of submission in regard to of the grace Divine will, in the intensity of love wherewith it accepts all the Divine Will, even in they acquiesce things most contrary in it. None of us would do what God forbids, act in oppo- to its tastes, even those that make it suffer the most ; but, sition to the Divine law, transgress/however slightly, this done, the soul has fulfilled the its task, it no longer looks Lord s commandments. But can to anyone except we testify that we do every- God for what is necessary to enable it thing solely because God wills it ? Are we totally detached .to come to Him, and it looks to Him with invincible confi- from ourselves and dence given up unreservedly to the good pleasure and unshaken faith in His word, in His power in His from on high ? Are we always ready to bow down before goodness, and in the merits of Christ. This state of aban- the Divine will, however painful it be to our nature ? As donment is the purest and sweetest fruit of the practice of far as it depends upon us we ought always humility and to be ready to . obedience, upon which the holy Patriarch has execute this will perfectly, whatever it be, with the greatest rounded our inner life. " love possible. Is it not written : Thou hast commanded

Thy commandments to be kept most diligently " : Tu III. 3 mandasli mandata ina custodiri nimis . Whenever this Divine law commands, we. must be ready to let ourselves be It is from the very nature of holy abandonment that the cut in pieces rather than hesitate, for to transgress this means we have of practising it are derived. will is to wish that God did not exist. Love servei as the ^andonment is first of all • the consecration of one's self, measure of this sehSsurrender, and the deeper love is, and m faith and love, to God's will. The will of God is not dis- the more intense and active, the more complete and absolute tinct from Himself ; it is God intimating 1 it to us His wishes ; renders self-surrender. St. Benedict intends to carry us it is as holy, as powerful, as adorable, as immutable as God to the furthest limits of self-surrender. Do we not see Himself. him bidding the monk whom the Superior commands, in the In relation to us, this will is in part manifested, and in name of God, to do impossible things "to obey for love, part hidden God s will -is " revealed, is manifested to us by trusting solely in the help of God : Ex caritate confidens de Uinst. Hear ye " Him : Ifsum au&ite*; this is what the adjutorio Dei obediat*? That is perfect abandonment Father said m sending us His Son. On His side, Our Lord which, for love's sake, totally forgets self, and confides only tells us that He has made known to us all that His Father in the Divine Power and Goodness. uas given Him to reveal : Omnia qtmecumque audivi a Patrc mco nota feci vobtsK The Church, the Bride of Christ, has The loving soul does not only adhere to the will of God received tte deposit of especially, to the hidden these revelations and these precepts, manifested ; it yields itself also, and whereto are joined the voice of Superiors, the precepts of the Ibid, cxvin, 4. — 4. Rule, 1. Joan, viii, 29. — a. Ps. xxiv, 15. — 3. i. Rule, ch. vii. - 2 . Matlh. xvn, 3. - 3. Joan, xv, 15. ch. xlviii. ;

382 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 383 will of God ; this enwraps our natural existence and our page of the Gospel yields to us ! But their aDnlieatinn t ft supernatural life, in the whole as in detail. The state of each one of *PPhcation to us often remains veiled. health or sickness, the events in which we are involved, the In face of God's designs, our attitude success or failure of our undertakings, the will be one of aban- hour and circum- donment to give ; ourselves to God, to place within stances of our death, the degree of our holiness, the particular our ffis hands personality, our own views, in means which- God wills to employ to lead us order to accept His hi to this degree, all humihty such wiU : be the order we these are so many things whereof we are ignorant, that God' follow? In this matter, true wisdom is not to have any wisdom of our wills to keep hidden from us. but own to trust entirely in the infallible In regard to this will, two attitudes are possible. word, the eternal wisdom and ineffable tenderness of a God There is that dictated by the wisdom of the world, Who loves us merely At present God hides from human wisdom, which always wants me certain of His designs' to be ruled by itself, over me I ought ; to find it well that He hides them from to do everything only according to merely natural lights me, without troubling myself as to wherefore. I do not it wants to arrange life in its own fashion it ; is irritated by know if I shall live a long time, or if I shall die soon if all that is ; I contrary to what it seeks, contrary to the concep- shall remain m good health, or if sickness will weigh me tions of perfection that it forms for itself. But what is down ; if I shall keep my faculties, or if " the wisdom " " I shall lose them of this world in God's sight ? Foolishness," long before my death ; I do not know whether God will replies St. Paul : Sapientia enim hujits mttndi stuliitia est lead me by one particular path or by another. apud 1 In this Dam . It has not understood that God willed to domain God keeps the sovereign right of disposing everything redeem the world not by riches or brilliant deeds, nor by both as concerns my natural existence and my supernatural the prestige of science or of eloquence, but in taking the perfection; for He is the Alpha and Omega of all things. weakness of our nature, and in leading a poor and hidden And what am I to do ? To lose myself in adoration. To life ; it has not comprehended that during thirty years God adore God as Principle, as " Wisdom, as Justice, as Infinite put under a bushel " that ineffable plenitude of perfection Goodness ; to throw myself into His arms, like a child in the which is the Sacred Humanity of Jesus ; it has not com- arms of its mother, letting itself be swayed with her every prehended that it behoved Christ to die a bitter death upon movement. Are you afraid of throwing yourself into your the gibbet. The Cross is " a 2 " stumbling-block and foolishness mother's arms ? Certainly not, for what mother, unless a to the world's wisdom. But God has willed to confound monster, has ever betrayed the confidence of her child? this wisdom the by folly of His impenetrable decisions. And where has a mother derived her tenderness, her goodness, We must not let ourselves be guided by this natural her love ? From God. Or rather, these virtues of a mother wisdom. God's thoughts are not our thoughts ; His ways are but the pale reflection of the perfections of goodness, are not ours. What are our ways, those that we should love, and tenderness, that are in God. Has He not compared ourselves suggest ? What would be our own ideal ? To be Himself to a mother? "Can a mother forget her infant... " the master of our life, to arrange our existence, even super- and if she should forget, yet will I not forget thee \ natural not to suffer, ; never to be subject to temptation, Therefore whether this Divine will leads me by wide paths never to feel any repugnance in obedience. Human ways strewn with roses, or draws me along ragged ways bristling are these, leading up to an extraordinary increase of our with thorns, it is still the adorable and loving will of God, pride. What are God's ways ? the thoughts of Eternal of my God. Wisdom ? Without Me you 3 holiness, that, guided can do nothing ; if any man But I know that this Will wills my will come after Me, let beyond the him deny himself, and take up his by love, it works ever and mightily to this end ; S ; m n Poking back, established to lead me to r° J}° f - is fit for the Kingdom of means that God has officially bodA blessed are practice of ; the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure, perfection, such as the sacraments, prayer, the the merciful, those who mourn, those who suffer persecution virtue, He possesses a thousand particular means for realising tor justice sake 6 " holiness that He . And so many other thoughts that each in me, little by little, the special form of whole thing for me, in this i. I Cor wills to see in my soul. The at, 10. — 2. I Cor. i, 23, — 3. Joan. xv. ;. — -1 xvr il ' 5 4 MitthU V — 5- Luc. ix, 02. — 6. Matth. * ' ' *' v, 3-11. 1. Isa. xux, 15. ;

}8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE 4 SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD S WILL 385 hidden domain, is to surrender myself entirely to His action; and humiliations of His Son Tpc 11e ? ** r\ v **. T with faith, confidence, and love. All is salutary for me all the that sorrows, all the humans aH conies from God : — joys and sorrows, light and darkness, te&M consolations and aridities, for " all things work together to which it shall please Thee to " subject me all theGainful unto good for those whom God calls to holiness K This is obediences that t shall please Thee to impose what our Lord said to His faithful servant, u?on me St. Gertrude : and all this for love of Thee, in union with Thy beloved " Make an act of abandonment to My good pleasure, leaving Me the full disposal of all that concerns thee, in the spirit If we could always keep ourselves in these inward disposi- of ' obedience which dictated to Me this prayer : Father, tions, never stopping at secondary causes, never asking not will, but My Thine be done. ' Be resolved to receive murmunngly, when annoyed " and contradicted : Whv has adversity or prosperity from My hand for My love it is that this happened " ? Why do they treat me in this mamier ? sends them to thee for thy salvation. In all things, unite If we could hit ourselves up to that supreme Will which thy thoughts and desires to those of My Heart. love it permits everything, My and without the permission of which is that gives thee days of dilatation and of joy, out of indul- nothing happens if ; we could always look up above creatures gence to thy weakness, and in order to raise thine eyes and with hearts uplifted, sursum corda, to see only God, to aban- hopes towards Heaven ; welcome these joys with gratitude don ourselves to Him, we should constantly abide 'in peace. and unite this gratitude to , love. My Again it is My love A great nun, the Blessed Bonomo, wrote to her father, at a that sends thee days of weariness and sadness that they time when she was exposed to sharp persecution through an may gain for thee everlasting treasures " ; accept them, uniting unenlightened confessor : I say " to the Lord, all is for Thee, thy resignation to love. My I will not be troubled : Fiat voluntas ttia in aetemum. I let everything pass, as the water passes returning to the sea ; if IV. things come from God, I at once return them to God ; and I

live in my state of peace ; if I am tempted, I commend It is above all on days of weariness, sickness, impatience, myself to God and await His help and light ; and thus all temptation, spiritual dryness, and trials, during hours of goes well. Let your Lordship then have no trouble on my sometimes terrible anguish which press upon a soul, that account, even when you hear that I am sick and in holy abandonment is pleasing to God. anguish ; for I know not what trouble is, because all is More than once we 1 ". have considered this truth, namely, love, and I fear but one thing : to die without suffering . that there is a sum total of sufferings, of humiliations and A like state of soul requires strong and generous faith. If sorrows, which God has foreseen for the members of Christ's we only had this faith I If we could hear bur Lord saying Mystical Body in order " " all to fill up those things that are to us : I, Who know the Divine secrets ; I, Who see wanting of the sufferings of Christ 2." We cannot reach that My Father does, say to you that not a hair of your perfect union with Christ Jesus unless we accept that portion head falls without the permission of your Heavenly Father. of the chalice which our Lord wills Solomon, all his glory, was not arrayed in splendor to be Him to give us to drink with in and after Him. compared to that of the lilies of the field. The birds of Our _ Lord knew all about the terrible way along which heaven sow not neither do they spin, and your Father does His Father had ordained that food. And you, with your immortal He should travel ; did He not leave them without reiuse to accept the Divine with Blood, you think will or refuse to fulfil it ? No, He souls, who have been purchased My embraced it. " Behold I Himself about you ? Modicae come, O Father ; I have placed that God does not concern this law of suffering fear ? All the suffer- in My Heart, and I accept it for love fidei, men of little faith, what do you of Thee that may come The Word of God, Eternal Wisdom, Christ ings, all the humiliations and annoyances likewise foresaw Father Who knows the part that we should have in His Passion, upon you, come from the hand of your What is there better knows by what road, than to surrender ourselves, with Him, what is most expedient for you. He to our father bring you to beatitude and accept this participation in the sufferings by what winding paths, He will r. CL Rom. vnr, 38. Bonomo, moniale bdncdictine, p 134. — 2. Col. 1, 24. 1. D. du Bourg, La Bienheurcusc J. M. ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 386 THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD's WILL 387 of your predestination. He knows the form arid the measure that come to him through men, the anguish that fills his Give yourself up to Him, for He is a Father full of goodness upon weariness, *fok ™y my miseries, my sufferings and closest \??u 1 wisdom Who wills to lead you to union with W r they "Wolfed that " afflict me ? gffi Himself. quid-J'mttUtphcattn-l r' ^ sunt qui inhalant me...*? Look upon me Do not then let us be afraid of the sufferings, humiliations; and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor The temptations and desolations that come upon us ; let us try troubles of my heart are multiplied : deliver me from " ", 1 2 mv to support God Sustine Dominum , that is to say to necessities... ! Bow clown Thy ear to me : make haste to accept everything, absolutely everything, that He would deliver me. Be Thou unto me... a house of refuge to save have us accept. The Father is 3 the Vinedresser Who purges me... I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly... my " groan- the branch, says Christ Himself, that it may bring forth ing is not hidden 4 from Thee... ! Withhold not Thou, more fruit 2 " . He wishes to enlarge our capacity ; wishes He Lord, Thy. tender mercies from me,... for evils without to make us sound the depth of our weakness, our insufficiency, number have surrounded me... I am a beggar and poor, but so that, convinced of our powerlessness to pray, to work, the Lord is careful for me... fi " to advance, we may place all our in trust Him. Only let Whether our troubles come from men, from the devil, or us remain docile, generous, 2 faithful : Viriliier age ; the hour arise from our fallen nature or from circumstances, we will come when having emptied us of ourselves, God will ought to confide everything to God. Let us recall our own fill us with His own fulness : Ut impleamini in omnem experience. Is it not true that when we pour out our heart plenitudinem Dei*. into that of men, to every comer, or turn over within our- selves our difficulties, especially those that arise from obe- of One the most important and most fruitful practices of dience, we are enervated, weakened, and each time feel our the virtue " of abandonment is to have immediate and persever- heart more empty ? While if we address to God those ing recourse to God, to our Lord, in our sorrows and tribula- plaints full of reverence that a sorrow full of submission tions, in order to confide them to Him. pours out before Him in Order to make them die away at It is 6 recounted of St. Mechtilde that in her sorrows, she His feet ," or if we confide our difficulties to the one who had the custom of taking refuge with our Lord and of aban- represents Our Lord in our regard, we find light, strength doning herself to in all 5 Him submission . Christ Jesus Him- and peace. Evidently, we may also at times open our heart self " had taught her to do this : If Blessed Saviour, a person wishes to make to a faithful and discreet friend .; did not our Me an acceptable offering, let him seek refuge in none beside the Divine Model of every virtue do so Himself, in the in Me tribulation, and not complain .of his griefs to anyone, Garden of Olives ? Did He not confide to His Apostles but entrust to Me all the anxieties with which his heart the supreme anguish of His Sacred Heart? "My soul is is burdened. I will B " " est aninta mea usque never forsake one who acts thus . sorrowful even unto death : Trtstis We ought to accustom to be ever craving ourselves to tell everything to Our ad mortem'. This is not forbidden ; but Lord, to entrust " give us 8 leaves us to Him all that concerns us. Commit from creatures what they are unable to , thy way to the Lord, " that is, is no light and strength reveal to Him thy thoughts, weak and restless ; while there is the surest thy cares, thy anguish, and Christ Jesus : He He Himself will guide thee : that we cannot find in Mechtilde, Revela Domino viam titam, et 7 Himself said again to St. spera in eo, et ipse faciei . Friend ; He is, as He How 9 to Him: Lord do most men act ? They talk over their troubles "essential fidelity ." Let us then say either within themselves, or xxxvii, to others ; few go to pour out - Ps. xxx, 3- — 4- Ps. 1. Ps. in, 2. 2. Ps. xxiv, 16-17. — 3-3. *^*\3 — f* xxvi, 38.- their souls at the feet of 1" 6. Bossuet. — 7. Matth. Christ Jesus. And yet that is 9-10, — 5. Ps. xxxix, 12-13 et a prayer so pleasing to God, and so fruitful a practice for and to ":* " is permitted by love to bemoan itself... =& the soul Look at the 391) ^™ f^. ! Psalmist, the singer inspired by the in Jiighest and most a. Holy Ghost. He discloses still preserved in the depths of the heart, .^e to God all that happens to him us not - holy bis £P Wwms « he shows all point of the spirit. But the ™ £ ^ Him the difficulties that beset find enougnjeop him, the afflictions lamenting, if it seems as if we cannot special in de f' X Ch ~ a ~~ bewail ourselves and recount our sorrows ™jz -' xv s s. *£££ be re ad ; Our *• J £- > - 3- p xxvi, 14. 4. Epb. c s in* if*" T'nnii Vr ? — All the last port oTthis ™ % Grace, 3- Part., ch. 5. e t0 kim. abandonment ^^ana couuuvn e^ Lord shows the saint how pleasing 388 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 389 Jesus, behold I come to Thee, with such or such a sorrow, Will. .. But it is especially when it concerns hard, humiliat- difficulty, suffering, or affliction ; I unite it to those which ing painful things, that this " es - ought Thou didst endure here below, Thou y to come from the when wast in bottom of the heart, that our eyes ought to be keot fivln Gethsemane ; I abandon myself to Thee, assured that Thou on Christ nailed to the Cross. WWtin s t& gr£t wilt accept this sacrifice in expiation of my sins : Vide im ta e ChriS n this ' Man-God, our hwnilitalem meam el laborcm ct dimitte ' Exemplar meum, universa delicto. SSfidesolate andi Jforsaken,°u Who^ 1 after His bitter complaint mca . In return Thou wilt give me strength, constancy My God, ' My God why hast Thou forsaken 1 ? and joy. " This confidence will Me casts not be deceived ; a virtue Himself once more, with a last effort, into the hands goes out from all that Christ Jesus which heals the wounds of ' ' repulse Him : Father, ' he says. into Thy hands I com- those who unite themselves to Him in this way : Virtus de mand My spirit'.' Thus, be obstinate, Christian, exibat et 2 " with a Mo sanabat omnes . Indeed, says St. Teresa, this holy obstinacy, however forsaken, in throwing thyself again Divine Master will behold you with those eyes, so beauteous with confidence into the hands of thy God ; yea, even into and compassionate, big with tears ; He will forget His own these bands that strike thee with their thunder-bolts yea, sorrows to comfort yours, and that only because you went ; even into these hands that repulse thee, that they may draw to seek consolation from and Him turned to look uponv thee the closer. If thy Him 3." heart does not suffice thee in the making of such a sacrifice, take the Heart of an Incarnate God, of a God overwhelmed with sorrow, of a God forsaken Once more we shall experience how, in every circumstance ; and with all the strength of this Divine Heart, lose thyself of our life, it is good for the soul to keep the eyes ever fixed in the abyss of holy love. Ah I this losing of thyself is thy upon the Divine Ideal. Is He not moreover the most perfect 3 "- salvation, and this death is thy life . example of holy abandonment ? When the Precursor announces to the world the coming V. of the Saviour, in what terms does he designate Him? there is perfect " " In this spirit of holy abandonment a and Behold the Lamb of God : Ecce Agnus Dei*. And is it continual homage of faith, confidence and love; " it is com- not the characteristic of the lamb to let one do with it as posed of a rich store of acts of most perfect faith, most one will, to let itself be immolated without resistance ? " entire and trustful hope, the purest and most faithful love *. It was thus that the prophet Isaias symbolised the Messias. Therefore God is truly delighted by it. And how truly Christ verified this symbol especially during confidence in God, is the It is an act of faith. To put our time of His Passion ! He does not seek to escape from it not indeed to believe in His word ? to be assured that the unheard of treatment of which He, Eternal Wisdom in listening to Him we shall attain to holiness, that in and Sovereign Master of all things, is the object. He keeps abandoning ourselves to Him, He will bring us to beatitude ? silence B " : Jesus aulem iacebat ; He is dumb as a lamb This faith is easy when we meet with no difficulty/ and before his shearer " : Quasi agnus coram tondcnte se obmu- little like the walk in a way of light and consolation : it is a lescet . But in the sanctuary of His blessed soul, a what case of those who read the account of expeditions to the prayer of abandonment to His Father! What an entire North Pole while comfortably sitting by the fireside. But donation of Himself to justice and love I with temptation, with suffering and " " when we are struggling Christian, BossUet admirably says, " imitate this God darkness, ; trial, when we are in dryness of heart and spiritual adore the decrees of the Father, whether He strikes or con- to God then it needs a strong faith to abandon ourselves soles ; whether He crowns or chastises more thee, adore, embrace and remain entirely united to His holy will. The His holy will. But in what spirit ? ! more pleasing Ah there lies perfec- difficult the exercise of this faith is for us, the tiontion:inthespiritoftheIncarnateGod...Lettherebeaccord, to God is the homage that flows from it. consent, eternal " " acquiescence, an eternal yes, so to speak, Holy abandonment likewise bears with it an act of confi- not of our lips but of our heart, in response to His adorable Sermon for the Feast of the 1, Matth.xxvn.46.-2. Luc. xxin, 4?.- 3- PS XIV ,8 L " c CI Etats d'or.ttson, x, lb. ' - — Bossuet, ' *9- — 3. Way of Perfection, cli. xxvi. — 4. Annunciation. 4. TrVn i,, 'ii \T.?,- Joan, 2 g. . Matlli. — 5 xxvi, 63. — 6. Isa. uii, 7. ; ' :

39° CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD's WILL 391 deuce in God's goodness and almighty power. Sometimes, selves up to the one they love ; this affection it seems to us as if God does not keep His promises, that bridegroom: honours the he is proud to see this we are mistaken in confiding ourselves to Him. Let us confidence What is confiden us <*? Admiration, love And however learn how to wait patiently. Let say to Him : the^ SfTobject fJh of this love is but a poor " God, I know not where Thou art leading me, but I human creature who My may sometimes deceive the confidence placed in him. Yes, am "sure that if I do not separate myself from Thee, if I this trustfulness of the bride who leaves family remain generously faithful to all that Thou askest of me, and home to follow one who perhaps but a short time Thou wilt be solicitous for my soul and for my perfection. ago was unknown to her, is absolute. But admirable though this trust Therefore, though I should walk in the midst of the shadow may be, how groundless is it compared to ours : the One to of death, even if all should seem to be lost, I will fear nothing Whom we give ourselves we have long 1 " known, even from the first for Thou art with me, and Thou art faithful . This is an awakening of our intelligence and our power of loving admirable, heroic act of confidence in God, suggested by the ; we have already received in profusion the pledges of His Jove spirit of abandonment; an act glorifies God's ; which Almighty He is God, a God Who cannot deceive us, Who is wisdom Power, and forces from Him, as it were, the most precious itself, boundless power, and infinite tenderness. Who is favours. Of this faith and hope, of which abandonment is there amongst us who cannot appropriate to himself the composed, we find a memorable example in Abraham. God " words of St. Paul : I know Whom I have believed " had promised him a numerous posterity yet the years 1 ; pass Scio cui credidi ? by ; Abraham reaches extreme old age, still without having The love which this abandonment supposes, is so great any children. But, as St. Paul, who glorifying the faith and that it honours God perfectly. Is it not equivalent to this confidence of the father of the faithful, says so well : Abra- " declaration : I love Thee so much, my God, that I want ham " against hope believed in hope. " His faith unshaken, none but Thee ; I only want to know and do Thy will ; I he did not consider that he was almost a hundred years old lay down my will before Thine, I wish to be directed only and that Sara was bej'ond the usual age for having children ; by Thee. I leave to Thee all that is to befall me. Even if but " in the promise also of God he staggered not by dis- Thou shouldst leave me the choice of Thy graces, the liberty trust ; but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God of arranging all things according to my will, I would say: most faithfully knowing, that whatsoever He has promised, No, Lord, I prefer to commend myself wholly to Thee ; dispose He is able also to perform. And therefore it was reputed of me entirely, both in the vicissitudes of my natural life, 2 " to him unto justice . Later, when Isaac was grown, God and in the stages of my pilgrimage towards Thee ; dispose commanded Abraham to go forth and immolate this only of everything according to Thy good pleasure, for Thy glory. son upon a mountain. And Abraham immediately obeyed, I desire one thing alone: that air within me may be fully without murmur or complaint. He did not ask : What subject to Thy good pleasure, to Thyself and to those who posterity will then be given me if I must sacrifice my only hold Thy place, — and this, whatever be Thy will, whether son ? No, he abandoned himself to God, to His truly mys- it leads me by a flower-bordered path, or makes me pass by terious ways, " convinced that God is able to fulfil His pro- the way of suffering and darkness. Such language is the mises, despite all appearance to self-surrender which the contrary : Contra spem of perfect love ; the spirit of in spem credidit. What glory this full abandonment gave is nourished with such dispositions of love and complacency to God I Therefore God rewarded him by saving Isaac and and makes us find in them the rule of all our conduct is keeping His most magnificent promises : the Father of likewise the source of a continual homage to the wisdom believers truly received a posterity numberless as the stars and power of God. of heaven. It is related that during the last days of St. Gertrude's " Holy abandonment also and especially includes deep and life when she " was sick of a violent fever, our Lord came entire love it is health in one hand ; love's last word. Consider how brides to her radiant with beauty and holding behave in the world. They very rarely know what the future and sickness in the other. He bade her choose between has in store for neither. She only cast herself them ; and yet they leave all to give them- them. But she would have l. Cf. Ps. xxn, 4.-2. Rom. iv, 18-22, X. II Tim. 1, 13, T

392 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 393 upon His Sacred Heart, desiring nothing but what He now his career is broken but chose to give her. And turning her face away ; no, from this circumstance from Him ' God brings all success • she ' to Joseph said : Sec, dear Lord, I turn my face he is toTo™ £2w away from Thee his adversity desiring with chat he mayWh the my whole heart that Thou wilt not consider very^step of ttetoSne my wishes a d U is t0 be but wilt accomplish Thine own adorable Will ^Ject to him! in Itit lis thusto ?S'tthat Godr / acts. all that concerns me.' In ^Even when all seems return for her generosity lost He our shows Himself and comes to our Lord caused two streams of grace to flow from aid. God leads the just His Heart man through right ways, and to ners, saying ' From shews him His kingdom : the moment when, in turning ; and your gives him the science of the saints face from Me, you renounced your ; He makes him glorious own will, I have poured m his labours and crowns his works : out upon you all the sweetness of 1 \ " Jmtum deduxil Dominuz My Heart i>er vias rectus et oslendtt illi regnum Dei; et dedit Mi scientiam sanctorum; honestavtt Mum in laboribus, VI. et comblevit laborer tlhtis These words \ may be perfectly applied to the soul that gives itself utterly Such indeed to God. is the way God leads tne soul that gives Per vias rectos; God's ways are straight, however 17 Rim He °UrS winding ' P 0Ut sin lar S" and S™™ and crooked they may appear to human eyes. Is bWir^blessings, upon\it we can not God ; never repeat often enough how infinite wisdom and power " d Whom nothing holds back ? All y SUCh a S0U1 and how {t things are equal ho H^l ^ncefin in My sight," He said to Catherine of S leadsfVllt b sure ways to the . . y height Siena, of perfec- . for My power equally tion. + reaches to them all. It is ;~iSometimes, it is true, these ways appear as easy for to go quite Me to create an angel as a worm ; it is written of a Cd °n but G°d attai"s ends, Me that all that I have willed, aUall ^ «* ordering I have done... Why trouble thingstC ^^fwith strength and sweetness : AUingit ereo a fine thyself as to how ? Thinkest thou that I know not or cannot find the way of carrying out My plans and My SU 2 " J again t0 His faithful decrees ? Let us then trust God. Gertrude, "^ , ^rvant Our own ways seem GertSdp are orderedf* tby \ " the wisdom of My Providence 3 to us to be sure and certain, but, says St. Benedict, " there °f 11 J °Seph a ^riSng e'ample are ways which to men seem right, but the ends thereof lead of t^ProVidr ^ ^Th '" men bv to the depths of hell. Only souls who let themselves led whereTn Go7™T ifW ^ wonderful ways, be ^S^r f° r the od of the by God as children do not go astray. soul > TarnK^ f f °? g° dS J e h his beloved Ostendit Hit regnum Dei. There are many souls in the °/ ? ' son to find out how hi/wi, 5 > fanng This is world who have not understood the Kingdom of God. They - a detail an act of slLht^mDorS^ ¥S « ; * beC eS Prccisel have formed a kingdom of their own ; but it is God -V the first Unk a chain Who ofCSJ^ , T ^ 5 Seph is to show us His Kingdom: He is the architect of our - g0es t0 his brethren; but the^StrfT- J° ' spiritual edifice. is this kingdom ? The perfect °f Jacob s affection "for him. What They want n L -TJt^l 3 .Je "d him by means of a union with God in our heart: Regnum Dei intra vos est . be CI °! ' cri ™ if need tbe ntreat In the concrete, the souls wherein God is entirely the master P y. of one "f them, they content ttaiBdS^Jh + , him mt adr compose His Kingdom. Believe me, if we did but embrace f ° y cistern tben some mSanS h?SLS God's will in its entirety, Our Lord would take upon Himself 8 1° PaS$ °n lheir to Egypt, Sev seT To T W despite our miseries, despite S C m Human> wisdom the care of uniting us to Him - ' ™uld nk hat tins rf r ^ W? $ W flXed our absorbing occupations and all that we deem to be '' nothin ? - ?° more wouId £ heard of Mm *?% & give ourselves 1S ]USt the distractions and obstacles. While if we do not awaits cir^stance that God to i^'l,- ^th SR up entirely to God's Will and to His ways, we shall never reach 0UT of ESVPt and of his own X Tn %i + t V intimate union with Him. Souls who do not give themselves bGing f0r some time in favo,ir with his in the of 'mnffif*'the ChlCf-f do not understand this ; they put obstacles way f CaP tain of Pharaoh's army, the youth iss , : itself to Him KS;tlnown mtoprison. God's supremacy ; while a soul who surrenders We might still think that recognises in all things no other power than His own. Luc. xm, 21. 1. Sap, x, 10. — a. Life by Bl. Raymund of Capua. — 3. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 394 THE SPIRIT OF ABANDONMENT TO GOD'S WILL 395 Deiit Mi scicntiam sanctorum. What is this "science o according " to human foresight, but according the saints that God gives to the soul whom He leads to the good of this soul and the interests of His glory. It is the knowledge of the truth of things. Every The influence man is a such a soul in the 1 supernatural world is liar, Scripture says . When a man leads immeasurable himself, by the because its action participates in some way in wisdom of the world, by ways that are merely the veryj innni tv human, he of God s action. j goes astray because he follows false maxims which are so widespread in this world of darkness. But when he gives God acts towards us as we act towards himself to God, God enlightens him, because Him; God as it God is the were, measures His Providence according Truth and the Light. The soul to our altitude in comprehends the truth relation to Him : and the more we give concerning God, itself, ourselves to Him and the world ; little by little it the more we look upon Him as our all as Father, as the Spouse sees things Eternal Wisdom sees them, it possesses of our souls, the more His Providence enters into the this science which is the least only true one, because it leads us details and circumstances of our life. For to our supernatural end. a soul totally surrendered to Him, God has ineffable delicacies which show Honcstavii ilium in laborious suis el complcvit labores illius. that His gaze is ever fixed upon it ; never has mother cared Wisdom enriches the just man in his labours and crowns for her child, never has friend gladdened his friend, as God his works. The more we come in contact with souls, the cares for and gladdens this soul. more we see ihat God is our holiness. We shall never be When God sees a soul utterly given up to Him, He would holy if we 'wish to become so in our own way, and not in move the whole world for it, He encompasses it with a God's way. We do not altogether know what is good for special and intimate protection. Read the Psalm, Qui us we do not ; understand the utility of temptations 1 trials habitat in. adfutorio altissimi , and you will have an idea of and sufferings. But God is wisdom and He created us the singular protection with which God covers a soul who He sees everything in our soul. He beholds with an infinite " dwelleth " — habitat — in absolute confidence in Divine intensity and in light incomparable. The soul that leads aid. itself by its own sense of what is fitting, easily thinks that This soul is perfectly free and detached from self and from all it does must be right, and is very astonished that others creatures. It is the captive of nothing whatsoever, neither do not think the same. • This soul builds up its own plan of an employment, nor of a charge. It seeks and desires but what would happen if all succeeded according to its God, Rcvera quaerit Deum, and when it has found Him, views and desires It ? would grow so full of self that it its every desire is fulfilled. God is the sovereign Master would become insupportable to God and the neighbour. of this soul; nothing in it disputes this sovereignity: it When God sees a soul, He sees its good will, but also its mi- procures Him incomparable glory by the continual homage series. He.allows this soul to great things through be tempted. What is the of utter self-surrender ; the Lord works result of this Divine in the treatment ? That self-love begins to it, and its life has the most wonderful repercussion die in the soul in order to give place to the Love of God. spiritual world. \\e may speak in brings analogous terms of sufferings or of success The liberty possessed by souls thus given to God, in our work is a Certainly we must do everything as perfectly them great peace and deep joy: they know that God as possible, for the glory and wills to of God, and, for our part" neglect Father full of goodness, that He loves them nothing in order to do so they to fear? tod ; but we must not wish for success bring them to Himself. What have for the sake of success neither hght nor : this is often to meet with a stumbling guides them, nothing is wanting to them block They live A soul left to itself wishes et nihil mihi deerit*. to succeed, but God grace : Dominus regit me, permits that it does not succeed, gifts and in an inward so that it may say to : in the abundance of Divine God near e and ld " It is enough to come * me " Tllen God re 1J " understanding. es : Very well, peace passing all ™now +wthat you Fknow P how weak and powerless you are, I wdl lead you » And the more this soul gives itself, the more God acts and blesses its works, doubtless not always Hts tabernacle. He ham exauca. v i. Ps. cxv ii. hath protected me in the secret place of a rock. " — 2. Ps. xxii, ?, 396 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK them to feel the sweetness of the influence which flows from them and has its well-spring in their unshaken confi- dence in God, and in the close intimacy which unites them to Him. The Lord has become for them their wisdom XVII. — GOOD ZEAL. strength and glory, and even " in the midst of the shadows of death, " they taste the peace of God and an inalterable joy, because they know they are in the hands of the Summary. — The life of prayer best of and of union with God is the source fathers, the most faithful of friends, of zeal. I. St. Benedict the most tender of — begins by condemning bad zeal. — spouses : Et si ambulavero in II. Forms of good zeal medio umbrae mortis, non timebo which he wishes to see us practise mala, 1 towards our brethren in the quantum tu mecam c's . cloister : respect. — III. Patience. IV. — Promptitude in rendering service. — V. Diversity of i. Ps. xxii, 4. faults committed against charity. — VI. Good zeal ought to be extended to the whole Community. — VII. Divers forms of good zeal towards souls Jiving in the world. — VIII. How all this holy fervour has its principle in the love of Christ Jesus: Chdsio omnino nihil praeponantl

One of the most precious results of the life of union with God is the keeping alive of the fire of love in the soul, not only the fire of divine love, but also f charity towards our neighbour. By frequent contact with the furnace of substantial Love, the soul is set on fire for God's interests and glory, and for the extension of Christ's reign in hearts. The true innerlife makes us give ourselves

to souls as well as to God : it is the fount of zeal. When one truly loves God, one desires that He be loved, that His name be hallowed, His Kingdom come in spuls and His will

be done in us : Sanctificetur nomen tuum, adveniat regnum 1 tuum, fiat voluntas iua sicut in caelo et in terra ! The soul that truly loves God, deeply resents the injuries that are " hold of it done to the object of its love ; a fainting takes " because of the wicked that transgress the divine law : 2 Defectio tenuit me pro peccatoribus dereliqueniibits legem iuam . It suffers at seeing the empire of the prince of darkness roaring lion goeth about extended by sin ; for Satan "as a 3 " has accomplices into seeking whom he may devour , and he whom he breathes an incessant ardour, a zeal of hatred against the members of Jesus Christ. devoured with The soul that loves God sincerely is also of the Lord lelus zeal, but it is for the glory of the house :

domus tuae comedit me*. , . that burns and is What in fact is zeal ? It is an ardour abroad it is communicated, that consumes and is spread manifested by action. the flame of love — or of hatred - I Petr. V, 8.-4- A vena, 1. Matth. v.. 9-10. - i. Ps. cxvm, 53- - 3-

;to ; Joan, 11, 17. ; h ^

39S CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 399 The soul inflamed with holy zeal spends itself for the of any interests of God without counting the cost, it strives to. SthTn other ^^^Z^i^f^ Wth " with all its powers. And the more glowing this cessarily blameworthy U is ne serve them ; they want to lZ it radiates outwardly. This soul own t0 heir inward fire is, the more way of seeing and doing hence arkee T^dlssensions. V Christ Jesus came to cast zeal • This is animated with that fire which tends to' hatred. See with ! \ see kindled 1 upon earth, and so ardently desires to in us . moved by this zeal, purine Every Christian who truly loves God and Christ, who questions to Him, setting ^jSTSS/ft?^Sldl °US snares to fi?m ^ i? wishes to respond to the desire of the Heart of the Divine to know the truth, 2 1 but to find Christ", faulf Ct™^ Master, ought then to be inspired with this zeal. But this press Him, how they try Y to induce H^t- -» ardour ought above all to be enkindled in those whom woman taken in adultery f " Now Moses^n thJ *? of His Priesthood. ^T^™ Christ has rendered participants The ed us to stone .such a oL. Bui whaT£^t priest is called, by his function and dignity, to work more ergo, quid dtcts^P fe^ See too how thev rVnrn.S? w-' T" than any other for the extension of the Kingdom of Jesus healing on Him for the Sabbath day 2 • how tW I ? - he can fully accomplish his mission only by unceasing mediation between souls and God. Let us then see, in the cloister itself to begin with, what of this zeal towards our brethren ought form the exercise S ar man manif « ? <*tations of this " to take. Indeed, if we must be zealous for the salvation ^into whichL ll°hypocrisy bitter zeZ so often enters in general, there are, however, of our neighbour evident There is also excessive " zeal, ever strained ever restl^ degrees in spiritual "proximity. Our neighbour is first of tormented agitated ; nothing is ever perfect all he with whom we live in community of vocation and enough for souk "*"* the life. To be enlightened in this matter, we have only to warns ^ ^ * caSly foS warnfttthe Abbotibbofagainst this " unseasonable zeal. Let liim read over together the magnificent chapter wherein our no be turbulent and over anxious, not impatient Holy Father has condensed in truly lapidary formulas how self-opmionated, S not ealous " and prone to suspicion or good zeal " is to be manifested. We will next consider he will never else be at rest" : the divers manifestations of this NonsitturhdenSunxius ton zeal outside the cloister; stinitmus et obstinatus, non zelotyfius — we will finish our comments by showing in what furnace rt nim£ susilsus the fire of the love of souls is nourished. P Ce a d n0t C °mmit an excess for that Si iSS ton ? ^ ' ^r *° °ff the rust from thel vessel and[make Tt 1 *?*P * Sft0° clean he break it- S-5+ * t - Let him never lose 6 In Our holy Father declares first " a word he is " to 1 of all that there is "an atlse zeal ,7" ^^u- ^ 2 " GnVy 0r ltterness be kindled " evil zeal that leads to hell . It is zeal ? ^ in his soul : the of the agents NefoJS J- ; of Satan UU Zdt fiamwa urat animam 7 who are intent on snatching from - What he Christ's hands, sav/X^w£bb°t, l by every means, the souls .the holy Legislator repeats-to the redeemed by His Precious Blood. «eyhev musti«? monks : This not give way to animosity and " baneful ardour constitutes the most bitter form of envy : zelum evil zeal: the devil keeps it alive with his breath; this is 11 11 5665 w whVc^fearsYh^cont^';! fre. urged not by the zeal of justice the holy ^of evil^example, but why Patriarch says it ends in the eternal abyss. zeal, or the by the -impatience of a bitter S?U nde f affected of ° m " " exert a spec Other forms of evil zeal, taking the tyrlnny ovl o^r' rLS ^^ ™* es appearance of good, WC m0Ved by & S irit of spirit of disdain a/ainsf Ft P bitterness -or a are to be met with. There is, for & d hc™me cen to example, we fors such a degree the zeal of Pha- forget vve are ?' ?" . that bELhers Such was vlce risees, strict observers " compafsion - «« of the Pharisees: it was not of the outward law. w®,,™' , This bitter" 9 wea ness hat made them reprove men : thev ? j the sins of zeal as our holy Lawgiver held Xm^ to Kbe £b styles it, ,eyond compare has its source, not in k*a ; and as if they alone had inVpeccabiP *h™ alWaySV the love of God and of they 0ke ° f Pelicans and sinners our neighbour, but in pride. Those s?t ?hemsflv^ ,^ ^P ^^'""V : «n, P nSOrS n°t t0 heal, wounds and correct who are tainted with but to ev^t t -1 £ °.i ' J it are filled with inordinate esteem for l?L i. Cf. Luc. xii, 49. — 2, Rule, ch. lxxii. M h 2 - - lbid - * - 4 Rule iT - «• 5 - v *• » ^ : !! g i,& 77iiid £ L™- 400 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 1 401 non habere; invidiam non exercere . This is a wise precept. to love, while in fact these two Religious are to be sentiments can h> n t « met with who frequently criticise what allied to e erfectly one another : respect P is done they «fj„iT £ ; believe themselves to be full of zeal, and it is consecrated to God ^ We are souls ; that th fir + t true: zeal animates them, but it is a contentious f S °UrCe f zeal, a love. " I pray for » ° 0Vlr mutu^ zeal of 2 " " them sa ,7l t bitterness . And why is this zeal bitter ? Be- cause it is impatient, indiscreet, and wanting in sweetness. It is of this zeal that our Lord speaks in the parable of the sower, when the servants ask the master of the field if they may go to pull up the cockle sown by the enemy, not thinking how they run the risk of also rooting up the good grain. "Wilt thou " not that we go ? Vis inizis*? religious Christian and vocation gives us first of ,iilr }l It is this zeal that carried away the disciples with indignation JeSUS as our ° ' ° Christ and made souls are the temnle of th, w ? > them want to call down fire from heaven upon ght t0 respect what i TdS ™ the city of Samaria in punishment nTS1,SS T for fi ^S0ur not having received ; lovc however fervent it be should * - ' their Divine Master. " Lord, " nwL„ wilt Thou ? A word would from drawing 11110 familiarit7 &r suffice close tSTton^?^- ; : Domine, vis dicimus tit ignis descendal? But what of familkrity wron ki»d does Christ nds by' *? S Jesus reply to this headstrong ? " hSSne ttT"/far ardour You charity alive $ .' from keeping know not of " it end* hi u- what spirit : ^ you are Nescitis cujus spiritus be "* Ur loVe sh°uld eshs. supernatural thaUs ^f > The Son of man came not to destroy souls, whS^n°U r B1essed ?F but by • - *ther indicates " ' these ' words "it Ji , to save K fmternal chaste lov T" Carita^L fj^f^ charity ™th II.

Good zeal knows not this excess ; it is not eager to impose its personal conceptions of perfection upon others, nor is it tull of the sense of duty accomplished, nor of inconsiderate, violent impulses but of the love of God, pure, humble, full tha th^hX that SPirit of «**<» of sweetness. Let us see 7 PaSarchmnarch ^TthTm to' bear how the holy Patriarch would his Rule ^ in all the articles of have us manifest it. A fC the f m °f g00d zeal of the monk towards hishk Lbrethren£ cf 4 5* to^ifawa^^^ St. Benedict reduces, degree from the them to three : respect, our &&*** oh of patience, and love M 2JSu i^ promptitude in rendering service 6 glVer equireS first of aI1 res " a tlS nsatlableforlove but ect •' - P Let monks it is - ' once prevent^^ one . 1f , consecrate ;n?thh r^ . another with " DlVme S marks of honour °. These words * ° P°use h is no ] onger per- e missive to Ib6gging ? *n»n St. Paul ..Honore invicem fFOm the creature for ^e wherewithal Th .rP°f i>mevenienles\ S satisfy if Ihere are some who think that respect acts as a constraint MU C n0t We then loVe one °rt nt evelTn another not P point is to know what we have in toe bo?o flK > our'hKs' Perh;m7wP%L»w r ? " m 6 oriastic fa anSWer l m ™ily ? Are we to be scarcely anyonl ^ve myself much; for each . eke counts I ™£J° I oft? w belon/heJt self-asserciveness I abst act ons ? Ce^ainly andI soulTo ; one we must love my owHews L^t ls another riSf / since I f^to m delusions. And am not .-lone in the worM * • , ^ 26 but in fZ tZ 1S a *' ^' God for God. around me who multitud° of other selves OurCe for nth ' ^ limit me and t v to1 i^ ther m"^fst be impatience, me zeai casil becomes. supernatural, and this anger, TOntentiousnHLnrl £• ' 2? y which « l character, r ' 2iS be hoa : Zelus ". Abbot Delatte f, amaritudinis malus. P ComJ^iZf«w ?;. , " &U purit also ve£ i4 invincible u S ' Benedict, strength - ^ ^ Dom lustin Me CaLn 787 ^ *? £ k °f translated by W.^ ^T,tha ^ * C^ris* esus our Divine - 5. We have had 4> Ll IX 5 very J ' Model, had aheady to tou^n" raoidfJ ur,™ & ^ ^ * ^ y real a give a PM theSe threeZ pomts to w n a rUly general view of the cenoWBMflSrfi?™ so ^ His W human Heart He loved 7 e must MotLerotiler q/° ' here more in ' n John, His friends at Bethania, Lazarus, Gospelandthe the* b **» r ^-HtS^^E?*^^* ? 9 *• di cL J Cor Aid. ch. " ' - x r ?- Rule, ch. - ~ 3- lxxii. - wm. irs ?ibi£! - J

402 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 403 Martha and Mary, and His disciples. At the tomb of Lazarus, even souls who sincerely He did not J seek God wh n «~ fear to let His tears flow, so that the Jews, "ear to i Him, who are the object of His uJtirJ who witnessed this touching spectacle, could not refrain ^ their limitations from " " and imperfectfons ?*%£ P exclaiming : Behold, how He loved him ! Ecce quo- miseries, says St. S^hem' theSetlT 1 Gregory, in order t ft . modo amabat ewn . W always be kept humble: Our affections ought to be the reflection Etiam of His ; He Him- qT'bmVmadnT?n parva ^bmi ' quaedam reprehensibilia 1™ " " rlunauit f , self said : Love one another, as I have loved tfZ you : Sicut quod mcntem habeant z non erigant K To be dilexi vos . His affections asfon 'shfd were divinely human : divine in d 3fthe resence of these frailties betrays a * P their source and mainspring, human in their expression. lack of ^ZP We that we are still imperfect show You know too with what tenderness if*wP L f *JfSM St. Paul addresses belongs .only his dear disciples tc of Philippi ; he calls them his >£X^^^&^* "joy and his 3 " crown he declares • ; that he has them all in his heart he takes God to witness that he loves them all tenderly' And whence does the great Apostle find the secret of this love ? In the Heart of Christ : in visceribus Jesu Chrisiii It is especially when a soul has arrived at a high degree of veritable detachment, where God is really its all, that Now, what wiil throw a it can love with" a holy liberty, because veil over all this ? wi™* -n its affections, being prevent coldness at ™U rooted in God, from gaining the heart serve to increase its charity. The history Iand re upance of from manifesting itself ? ' P shows th s outwardlv? T - At .the beginning of her ft On?! , ^ l spiritual ep^°acheS her f°r loving creatures i'„ I too natu- rally when later,,/ Teresa , is entirely dead to all created things the Divine Master restores to her all her affections, but super- U 11 G°d We are astonished to see the ^- US ? Unquestionably 11 , exquisite tender- loveVeaclfon^n/ -^ He Sl w f US her etters overflow, ° ™ an md^idual manner but we feel truly, by taWtaking 1 ; He loves us us as a IIthousand7??,details andl we are, with that something expressions, that it has its source in which makes each ther with me ay in no ^despondence does '\ a11 *e gifts of"atoetnd •! ^ J affection grace ovprfW !f grace^Sthat He11^HimselfThasT d°eS m that 0f St AnseIm placed within us with all . *** his friends; tint Zwe naveh»Z no longer any ne5 dmit °f llmitations conception in our days of such out- " and defers And o U r S l^li7ZlP VIenCe h de th affection^- g ^ He v the °* but great ' & proof wMle he°a ^ Ws wo we 3?f* ™ ™ rr^ ^ f T rX enemies ^ 1 itwas in his ' children of • " ^ love for . wrath ? If theWord incarnate He had thin f 4 f KnSJlnthat he found this Wth ri r°US ustice wealth of affection. we ?° J where sh<^d ^ be now ? ^ ' Jf °U brethren S h timeS has not must then God for 5* be true, sincere, us ? y given fervent w * 5*21at nlyT Divinen-^ often wJ a* ^ magnanimity has He not ltGd f US hke the hig °5 ^ther of the Prodigal, enlighten- u S ?n , opibg ^^ °Uf res 'stances and out ffi^, 'J' ^ in. mS t0 U aS S00n as we return " Him ? We shall fiS . , ^ ^ hol Father St Ben - edict an example o y. admirable eC d f Si C °nTe f g00d 2eal " is Patience CenSI °n and patience His reat with one arrived - S soul . ano?hy »T f ?rK° ^ at ^"t K f- St ati^tly bear lmeSS and S0 near t0 God overflowed another's iJtL H P with one with iridniinn 5° ' ^w^whetl er TPhysical " § ncea"d co™Passion. Is not or moral : the Good Shepherd Zelsuas ? Infirmi- th ideal ! *t corTorum Slve e Che r t ^rum fatientissimc tolerent*. P y hed him and Presented as JNot / model to ?f ^ Notnn,one of us is th P A S + s , T exempt from infirmities and • ? Llke the Good ShePherd, like the defects Patriarchtnarcn 111aco ? d J b whose conduct St. Benedict 34 ' 3 Phili IV brings 3. ti.tife %' ~ ", P- ' Ibid, i, forward, ferZl?' ch'' ATi - ~ 4- 7-8. - lib ni C " ' ' P L c0] - - - - =49. 2 Eph. n'iSS* * . „, 3. - 3 . Ru.e, en! ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MOtiK GOOD ZEAL 404 405 must not cause his flock to be overdriven but have charity towards our brethren, he he recalls Christ to our minds 1 consideration for those among his sheep whose progress is Our Blessed Saviour Jesus is in truth the most perfect 1 to with more painful . The Abbot has not always do Example of this wonderful patience. He wishes us especially heroic souls. While striving to rei-ain himself at a high to learn that He is " meek of 2 " heart . The Evangelist applies level, he must know how to stoop towards souls who mount to Him that beautiful text of Isaias — a text that the slowly, sustaining them by his example as well as by his holy Legislator repeats in order to apply it in his turn to encouragement and charity. the Abbot— "The .bruised reed He shall not break and And what astonishing indulgence the holy Patriarch a " smoking flax He shall not quench . manifests in regard to delinquents ! He is not scandalised, Far from extinguishing the smoking flax, He awaits the he is not angry; like a kind physician he does all he can hour of grace, the hour when it will burst forth in a magni- to save them, and to console the wavering and troubled ficent flame of pure love. Thus it was with " 2 " Magdalen and culprit lest he be overwhelmed with excess of grief . the_ Samaritan woman and so many others. What indulgent It is not until he has duly proved that his efforts and prayers loving kindness He manifested to misery under every form, are unavailing and that the offending brother's will is including that of sin which is most hideous in His Divine obstinately anchored in evil that St. Benedict cuts him off 1 sight 1 And what unwearied 3 patience He shows with His from the monastic flock . Up to this point he bears with disciples ! He sees and hears them dispute among themselves, ; even wishes that the door of the everything he monastery and express their ambitions ; He sees the weakness of their shall be re-opened to fugitives as many as three times from faith ; He witnesses their impatience : one day, they want to the moment they show sincere repentance *. See too with send little children 5 away from Jesus ; more than once, what thoughtful tenderness, what almost maternal solicitude, even after His Resurrection, He has to rebuke them for he concerns himself with the weakness of children, the their hardness 5 of heart, their slowness to believe in Him , infirmities of the aged , with ingenious love he wishes what despite so many miracles wrought under their eyes. He is the sick to be borne with and nursed . It truly seems that the Model of admirable patience even so far as to endure no other religious rule demands such perfect patience from having near Him the one He knows is to betray Him. those who follow it. Whence comes the indulgence of Christ ? From His love. " Have we ever read elsewhere anything to compare with He loves His disciples, because He sees in them the nucleus this for generous compassion ? We might search all tradi- of that Church for which He gives His life, Dilexil Ecclesiam tions from the end of the sixth century to this time, when et 7 seipsum tradidit fro ea ; and, because He loves them He ecclesiastical discipline appears most to take human weakness bears with them with infinite sweetness. into account, without finding anything to surpass, or even to equal, the merciful large-mindedness shown by St. Bene- Such is our Model. Let us keep our eyes ever fixed upon dict. Only perhaps to some exceptionally great soul, an Hun, and we shall learn, by His example, to be "meek Augustine or a Gregory, has it been given to share this and humble of heart. " Far from being scandalised at our immense treasure of condescending charity.' If it be true " neighbour's faults, we shall see in each of our brethren all that the Benedictine Rule is a compendium — a mysterious that God has put in him that is good and noble, and we abridgment " of the whole Gospel — and that the Gospel itself snail bear willingly, with patience, fiaiientissime, may be reduced " " inexhaustible to the one word charity, it may be all the imperfections of character, all the physical in firmities said that the Rule has found means (at least, in most cases) " that may be found in him. shall to remain in to epitomise 7 We know how still further ; it is all compassion . the company of our brethren, at recreation for example, even The Rule is here truly the pure reflexion of Gospel. the if this exercise of the common life is burdensome to us It is remarkable' that wherever St. Benedict speaks of this not only shall we never seize a vain pretext for dispensing

t. Rule, ch. of. lxiv ; Gen. xxx, 13. — 2. Ibid, ch. xxvn. — 3. Ibid, cli.xxvin 1. Rule, ch. xxvm, xxxvi, vat, — 2. Matth. xr, 20- — 3- Ib'd. xn, 2°; — 4. Ibid. ch. xxix. — 5. Ibid. ch. xxvn. — 6. Ibid. — sa ch. xxxvi. D. G. ' XL,I 7. ', i 3 Rule, ch. lxiv. development of this idea, Mpnn. The Ideal — 4. For the further 0/ the Monastic Life found in the Apostolic Age, ch. x. re,er th e j reader to the conference, Some Aspects of the Pubhc Life of Jesus, Discretion and Breadth of View, translated in from the . French by C. Gunning, our work : Christ in His Mysteries.— 5. Matth. xix, 13. — <5. -Marc. x.vi, H > Luc. xxiv, ._ 24. 7 . £ph. v, 25. '

406 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 407 ourselves from it,but we shall bring to it a spirit of cordiality: habete, quod est vinculum perfections, el exsultet 1 this is one of the precious occasions when fraternal charity in cordibus veslris, in qua et vocali eslis in n?io corpore . may be manifested in its every form. Neither shall we look with a severe eye on the exceptions granted to our brethren ; IV. when one's own health does not need any special exceptions, one is easily inclined to see in the dispensations granted to To respect and patience, St. Benedict adds promptitude work, concessions others concerning rest, food or granted to in rendering mutual service ; he would have emulation in and is to criticise 2 their self-indulgence, one tempted the this matter: Obedientiam sibi certatim impendant . •This is Superiors. " conduct of the the faithful echo of St. Paul's counsel : By charity of the I would say to you with St. Paul: "Put ye on therefore, spirit serve one another " ; Per caritatem Spiritus servite invi- " 3 " as the elect of God as those who tend towards charity and cem . And again : Let every one of you please his neigh- " are dear to the Lord — the bowels of mercy, benignity, bour unto good, to edification, " Unusqtiisque vestrum proximo 1 " humility, modesty, patience : bearing with one another . sua placeat in bonum*. And how right St. Paul is! He who is humble does not Naturally, this is not a question of orders properly so consider himself as the only one who is perfect, he is not called, nor demands which might be against the commands exacting towards others, he does not lay stress on the of the Superiors, but of small services of which each may weaknesses of his neighbour in order to criticise them with have need. In such a matter, we must be very generous. malignity and hardness; he has not that " bitter zeal" God looks with pleasure upon a soul that forgets itself to which, arising in the soul from the sense of one's own perfec- think of its neighbour : this is what St. Benedict wishes. tion, so easily becomes imperious and intransigeant. As " Let no one follow what seemeth good for himself, but " patience is the daughter of humility, so pride often gives what seemeth good for another : Nullus quod sibi utile 2 5 birth to impatience . judical sequatur, sed quod magis alio . It is the precept of " " " " I therefore beseech you, St. Paul says again, that the Apostle to the Philippians : Each one not considering you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, the things that are his own, but those that are other men's ": all mildness, G with, humility and with patience, supporting Non quae suae singuli considerantes sed ea quae aliorum . To one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit think more of our neighbour, of his interests, his satisfaction 3 " in the bond of peace . and his joy, than of ourselves is the unequivocal sign of the great Apostle for The reason gives these earnest exhor- true charity : for to act in this way, not once, not ten times, tations is that we are all one in Christ, that we are all members but always, under every circumstance, towards all our bre- one of another in the Mystical Body of Jesus : we ought thren without distinction, one must love God truly ; a like therefore to bear with one another, thus imitating our Head, love of the neighbour requires too much abnegation to be the Lord Jesus, Who gave His life for each one of us ; so sustained for long for his own sake : it can only be so if that by this charity which makes us. to be of one mind, it is born of God. Therefore charity towards the neighbour we may, with one mouth, glorify God, the Father of our is given by Jesus in person as the special sign of God's pre- 4 Lord Jesus Christ . sence in the soul. This is what St. Gregory wrote to St. Au- Thus bearing with one another, we shall fulfil, in its pleni- gustine of Canterbury whom he had sent to preach Christ tude, all the law of Christ: Alter alterius onera porlate, et to the pagans of Great Britain. Augustine had addressed 6 sic adimplebitis legem Chrisii . to the holy pontiff an account of the marvels God wrought " " This humble and patient charity, which is the bond of by his hands for the conversion of these pagans : Think perfection, " is at the same time the source, for us, of God's 1. Col. in, 41-15. — 2- Rule, ch. lxxii. — 3. Gal. v, 13. — 4. Rom. xv, 2. gifts : it brings us in abundance that excellent gift l " most — 5. Rule, ch. lxxii, S Anselm wrote the same to his disciples : Let the " " for one another cause you to live in peace and concord ; of our common vocation the peace of Christ : Caritatcm love that you have and in order to cherish this love let each study to do the will of others rather i. Col in, 12-13. — z. This is what the Eternal Father several times re- than his own" :> Ad invicem pacem et concordiam per mutuam dilcciior.cm peated to S* Catherine of Siena, See Dialogue, Passim and especially where habetc, qitam dilcclionem sic nulrirc el servnre poteritis si timtsguisque non ut it treats of Obedience. — 3, Eph. iv, 2-3 ;.Cf. 32 a I Thess. v, 14 : Patienles alius suam, sod ut ipse alterius vnluntaUm facial studuerit, Epistol. L.III, ! 49, estate ad omnes, — 4, Cf. Rom. xv, 1-7. — 5. Gal. vi, 2. P. L. 1*9, col. S0-S1. — 6, Philip, u, 4. :

4o8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 409

" that the gift of miracles is not given thee for thyself, the her senses to exterior things. However, if it concerned great Pope replied to him, " but for those whose salvation is acts of charity, she recovered her liberty and performed

entrusted to thee. There are miracles wrought by the repro- them without any hesitation ; an evident proof, adds the bate, and we know not if we are of the number of the elect. Saint's biographer, that the Guest to Whom Gertrude inward- God has given us only one sign whereby to recognise His ly clung in the ecstatic repose of those days was He of Whom 1 " : it is that love one another . " elect we St. John wrote : God is charity : and he that abideth in " indeed is charity ? It is the love of 1 What God enfolding charity, abideth in God, and God in him . is in a single embrace God and all that united to Him : the These examples of charity show us how important it is Humanity of Christ, and, in Christ, all the members of His to give ourselves to our brethren, in the measure that is Mystical Body. Christ is afflicted in the afflicted, He suffers permitted by obedience to the Rule and the orders of the in those who suffer, He is sad in those overwhelmed with Superiors. God loves one who is happy to give himself. sadness. Are not these the words of Infallible Truth Such a disposition is the contrary of official charity, which " As long as you did it to one of these' My least brethren, is so often but the simulation of love that an English proverb 2 you did it to Me " ? In becoming incarnate, " " Our Lord says : Cold as charity. Our charity ought to be warm, all took upon Himself our infirmities : Vere languores nostras ready to adapt itself generously, lovingly and always, to all 3 ipse tulit . In ministering to these infirmities, it is Himself our brothers' needs. Let us behold Christ Himself in the 4 to Whom we minister . brother who comes to knock at our door and we shall then serve him with delight. If we think it is Our Lord Who The lives of the Saints are full of traits " verifying this comes to ask this service of us, shall we say : Yes, Lord, teaching. St. the Gregory Great recounts to us the history but wait till I've finished what I am doing " ? Quite the of the monk Martyrius who met upon his way leper a weighed contrary ! Applying to this fraternal obedience what our down with misery and exhaustion. Martyrius wrapped the holy Lawgiver says of obedience to the Abbot, we shall sick man -in his cloak and carried him upon his shoulders as immediately leave our own occupations in order to serve far as the monastery. But, behold, the leper appeared asv Christ with joy: Relinquenles statim quae sua sunt, mox Christ Himself Who, before disappearing from the monk's ex occupalis manibus... 2 If we have these views of faith, gaze blessed " him in saying : Martyrius, thou hast not our love will always be zealous, disinterested, and we shall been ashamed of Me upon earth, and I will not be ashamed not complain if we have often to give ourselves to others. 5 " of thee in Heaven . So St. Gertrude, that worthy daughter of St. Benedict, Christ Jesus will not leave our generosity unrewarded. showed inexhaustible charity throughout her life. It is Was it not He Himself, the source of all grace as of all truth, G related that during the last days of Holy Week, her soul " Who said : "Give, and it shall be given to you : Date, et remained so united to Christ, Whose sorrowful mysteries dabitur vobis 3 ? He who gives to his neighbour receives in were then being renewed, that it became almost impossible his turn from God. There are souls who do not advance for her to tear her away thoughts from Jesus and apply in the love of God, because God acts sparingly towards

I. Epislol. them ; and God shows Himself sparing because they are xxvin, lib. XI, P. L. 77, 1140-1141. — 2. Matth. xxv, 40. — S3 "•" 4 ' 4 " Y6u cannot render Me any service, " selfish and will not give themselves to Christ in His members. c't P- l\. ^~ God said to b Catherine of Siena, ' but you can come to the help of vour neighbour, and is of the lack of afflictive morti- if you seek It not always on account the glory and salvation of souls, it is the proof that I dwell in your heart by grace. is retarded in so many souls The soul enamoured of My truth, allows itself no rest fication that inward progress ; while ever seeking to succour others. It is impossible for you to render this often be sought for in the selfishness that Me personally cause must the love I exact, but I have given you your neighbour that you may be enabled to do for him makes them indifferent to the needs of their brethren, in what you could not do for Me : to love him disinterestedly, without " looking for any gratitude or anv advantage the stiffness that they show towards them : With the irom him. I then consider as done to Myself what you do for your neigh- r Dtal same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured " °S^. ch. vir, lxiv, lxxxix. Our Lord several the f,°^same 1 times used " language m speaking to S< : mensura, qua mensi jueritis, Mechtilde ; cf. The Booh of Special Grace, to you again eadem quippe 4I and Part i 4 ' h - «' 5- Horn. i„ Evangel, fib. II liomil. Tn p ?' S- c f - demetietur vobis . 3 0, 111 analogous trait in the life of S* Wandrille, (D iw„ c \lr J -?, ^J r Besse, S. Wandnllc, 16. 2. Rule, ch. v, 3. Luc. vi, 3S. — Luc. vi, pp. 38-40). — 6. The Herald' of Divine Love, b. IV, ch. 25. j. I Joan. 16, — — 4. 38. :

4io CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 411

Herein lies the secret of the spiritual sterility of more . failings in a high and mighty way, if we turn over in our than one soul ; God leaves in their isolation those who sur- mind the offence that has been done to us, we shall always round themselves with precautions to safeguard their selfish live in trouble ; even to think of it once is once too often. 1 tranquillity : shutting by themselves up from their neighbour Our holy Legislator wishes, like St. Paul , that we should these souls close to themselves God. very readily forgive one another these small offences ; he And as God is the Fount of every grace, as without Him wishes the Abbot, the Father of the monastic family, to we can do nothing for eternal beatitude, what can a soul sing the Pater Noster from beginning to end in the choir, hope for that thus voluntarily closes the avenues of grace ? twice a day during the Divine Office, in order that in asking God lets Himself be touched by our miseries, but on condition God to forgive us our faults, we may thereby be ready like- 2 that we are ourselves sensible to the miseries and needs of wise to forgive our brethren . Our holy Father St. Benedict our brethren. also wishes that in case we are at variance with anyone we

Let us then give, as ; this is Christ His own precept should be reconciled before the setting of the sun : Cum 1 Sicut dilexi vos . Our Divine z Saviour has no need of us ; discordante ant& solis occasum in pacem redire . and yet He has given Himself, Heart, Blood, Life ; He still delivers Himself up daily in the Eucharist. Every day, Other faults which in the long run can become grave, Christ Jesus gives Himself to all those who wish to receive. because they are deliberate, are those of wilful coldness " Him, whatever be the state of their soul : Both the wicked towards anyone, the cherishing of resentment, prolonged " 2 andthe receive : good Him Summit bom, summit mali . indifference, and other forms of evil which St. Benedict Let us too give without reservation, let us listen to our Lord names in order to combat them, in his list of the instruments " Who tells us : I " Who am God, have loved this neighbour, of good works : Not to give way to anger; not to harbour I have given Myself for him, I call him to the same eternal a desire of revenge ; not to foster guile in one's heart; not beatitude as yourself ; why do you not love him, if not in to give insincere tokens of friendship. " Such faults are too the same measure that I have loved him, at least as ardently contrary to the spirit of Jesus for it to be necessary to " as you can for My sake, and in Me? That is our ideal, insist more upon this. and it is by ever striving to reach this ideal that, according Only let us give a forcible reminder that such failings in to the precept of St. Benedict, we shall fully. pay off the charity paralyse the soul and hinder spiritual progress. And debt of fraternal charity : Caritalem fraternitatis impendant what is the reason of the greatness of the wrong thus done 3 amore . ., to oneself ? It is that Christ Himself is the object of this coldness, this resentment. If you wound me in one of my V. members, the eye or the hand, it is myself you wound. Now, says St. Paul, " you are the body of Christ, and mem- As to faults against charity, they are of kinds. " two bers of member : Vos estis corpus Christi, et membra de The first are faults of weakness, whereby the will is taken 4 membro . by surprise : movements of temper or impatience, unkind This language is that of faith. Do we live by this faith ? words, in heat discussion. It is such as these that the great Do we always reflect that all we think, all we say, all we Patriarch so well names " thorns of " scandal : Scandalorum do against our neighbour, we do and say against Christ spinae. These slight frictions " " are wont to arise, he adds : Himself ? If our faith is weak, we do not live by these Quae oriri soleni i , above all in a rather numerous Christ Community. truths ; we easily offend our neighbour and, in him, Such faults are not grave, because they generally arise with- in person. out premeditated intention. When a person thus fails in charity, and receives Christ On these occasions, when " we are the object of them, we in Holy Communion, he cannot say to Him : My Jesus, ought not to be touchy, and think that a crime of lese-majeste' I love Thee with all my heart. " It would be a lie, since he has been committed against us. If we take these little does not envelop Christ and His members with a self-same

i. Joan, xin, 1. si quis adverstts aliquem habet qtiaerclam sicut it 34. — 2, Sequence Lauda Sion. — 3. Rule, cb. lxxii. — 4. Donanles vobismelipsis, Ibid. ch. xiii. • cf. Eph. iv, 32. — 2. Rule, ch. xm. Domimts donizvit nobis, ita ci vos. Col. hi, 13 ; — 3. Ibid. ch. iv. — d.. I Cor. xn. 27. ;

412 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 413 love. He has not accepted the mystery of the Incarnation behold us see that we are all one in Christ, each one being in its totality ; he stops at Christ's individual Manhood, united to Christ Jesus, and Christ being one, we are then and forgets the spiritual prolongation of the Incarnation truly one in Him. We thus fulfil the dearest desire of the which is the Mystical Body of Jesus. So, then, when we Word Incarnate. communicate, we ought ever to be ready to embrace, in Indeed, at the supreme farewell hour, when Christ Jesus one and the same charity, Christ and all that is united to spoke for the> last time with His Apostles before entering Him ; for the measure of the giving of Christ to our souls into His sorrowful Passion and sacrificing Himself for the is that of our own donation to our brethren. The Eucharist world's salvation, what is the exclusive theme of His discourse is a Sacrament of union with Christ, and of union between and the first object of His prayer ? 1 Spiritual charity. souls . "A new commandment I give unto you... by this shall all Thus a soul who draws near to our Lord, in Communion, men know thai you are My disciples... Father... that they in these dispositions of unreserved love towards the neighbour may be one, as We also are one, I in them, and Thou in M<% is very pleasing to the Sacred Heart. Christ showers magni- x " that they may be made perfect in one . That is the testa- ficent gifts upon it; faults moreover, and shortcomings in ment of' Christ's Heart. respect to the other virtues are at once forgiven, because of Our Blessed, Father St. Benedict, in concluding his Rule, this fervent love it bears towards the of members Jesus. also leaves us as his last testament, his magnificent teaching This is what Christ Himself made St. Gertrude see one day on good zeal. After having set forth in detail the ordering during Mass. She suddenly beheld her soul adorned with of our life, he sums up all his doctrine in this short chapter. precious stones of marvellous brilliance : it was the reward And what does he tell us ? Does he speak to us of prayer ? for an act of charity towards an infirm nun. this But adorn- of contemplation ? of mortification ? Undoubtedly, the holy ment revived St. Gertrude's sense of her own unworthiness ; Patriarch forgets nothing of all this, as we have seen ; but she remembered several slight faults which she had not been having reached the end of his long life so full of experience, able to reveal to her confessor, then absent from the mo- at the moment of closing the monastic code which con- nastery ; and she was troubled at not being able to accuse tains for us the secret of perfection, he speaks to us, before herself of them before Communion. Then Jesus said to her : all else, of mutual love ; he wishes, with that intense desire " Why lament these shortcomings since thou art so gloriously which was that of Jesus at the Last Supper, to see us apparelled in this mantle of charity which covers a multitude 2 excel in most fervent love : Ferventissitno amore exerceant , " " of sins ? The Saint replied : How can I be consoled in This chapter is the worthy crowning of a Rule which is that charity dissimulates my faults, when I still see myself but the pure reflection of the Gospel. all sullied with them ? " " Charity, " replied the. Saviour, "not only covers sin, but like to a burning sun, it consumes VI. and effaces all venial sins ; moreover, it fills the soul with 2 " merits . 'The exercise of good zeal ought not to be limited, distri- butively to the person of each of our brothers in particular When, on Maundy Thursday, the Abbot has communicated the character of the cenobitical society requires that it be all the members of the monastic family, the Angels who extended likewise to the Community whereof we are members,

i. ttnius Symbolum illius corporis, ciijus ipse (Chrhtus) caput exislil, cuique taken as a whole. We ought to love this community to 1105, tamquam membra, arctissima jtdci, spei el carilatis connexione adstrictos which the vow of stability binds us for ever. To love is to esse voluit, ul tdipsum omnes dicerctnus nee essenl in nobis schismata. Cone. 3 SeS xl wish well ; we should then desire, and, in the measure of c ' 2< L c b ch !?'£ ~ ?• - " - - 6l - °»r Lord said likewise to m > u . h ]L' b Mecntilde, the " of S* Gertrude : If anyone wishes to make Me our power, procure the spiritual welfare, and.according to an acceptable ottering, let him be careful never to forsake his neighbour in the Providence, the need or distress let views of material well-being of this ; him ever be ready to extenuate and excuse his brother's Sailings and sins as much as he can. I promise to be attentive to all the community. necessities of the one who so does, and to cover his sins and neKlieences in In this domain, we may have duties to fulfil in the capacity excusing him to My Father... This practice is so pleasing to Me as to pay every debt that he may have contracted towards " his neighbour. The Book 1. xnt, ; xvii, 22-23. 2» Rule, ch. Thorn. o/ 4U1 Joan, 34-35 — lxxu. — 3. St. bpectal Grace, Part, ch. 7. Sum. Theol. 1, q. xx, a. a. ;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK • 414 GOOD ZEAL 41

of " officials. " As soon as obedience entrusts us with faithful to a observe all the details of the code which rules function to fulfil in the monastery, are responsible, the cenobihcal life. we before Experience shows that the least breach and before the Abbot, as to the manner in which in this matter God we can bring disaster. Nothing is more lament- acquit ourselves of it. Good zeal here consists in acquitting able than the decadence of great monasteries, founded by ourselves of this function according to the instructions saints, inhabited by souls dear to God, souls who throughout given by the head of the monastery, and with the the centuries utmost have embalmed with the fragrance of their perfection possible. In this matter, the field of zeal may virtues the cloisters where they lived. How are such down-

be boundless ; the acts of self-abnegation, patience falls and de- brought about ? Is it at one blow that institutions votion are numberless. Let us devote ourselves to at first the so vigorous have fallen away ? More than once, accomplishment of this charge even if it absorbs our time undoubtedly, exterior circumstances, ravaging wars, decima- and makes painful us. demands on We must not fall into ting plagues, revolutions by which the very walls were a false which would make us substitute prayer destroyed, have hastened these downfalls ; but more than for the " " accomplishment of our duties. Believe me, writes once also, ruin has come from within, and was prepared long St. Teresa on this subject, " it is not length of time that in advance. The decadence began with slight failings enables a soul to make progress in prayer ; if it is given these failings became habits, they took root and were pro- up to active works also, [by charity and obedience]- that is pagated ; soon the dikes thrown up by monastic discipline a great help whereby the soul in a very short time may were destroyed, relaxation entered in, and, with it, the prin- attain to a greater enkindling of its love than it could attain ciple of destruction. to by many hours spent in meditation . All has to come from Let us be strict on these points, let us beware of infringing His hand \ " Do not let us think we only approach God the least of our observances, however insignificant they may when we pray ; we are near to Him and find Him when we appear. Let us jealously and lovingly safeguard the tradi- do the work obedience has laid upon us so that we may tions, the customs, which form the very come to the help of our brethren. physiognomy of the monastery. This is the best form of zeal that we can exert in our community; it is also Even when obedience does not lay the principle of our any charge upon us, perfection. there still remain to us many opportunities of exerting In fact the more we endeavour to practise our rule and good zeal towards the Community to which we belong. our observances, the more we shall enter into the spirit of What form ought this zeal to take ? our holy Patriarch, and realise the destiny God has for us. We ought to love our monastery with an ardent indefect- This is because a very real relation exists between our spiri- ible love, never allowing ourselves, especially when with tual Vocation to the Order of which we are members, and outsiders, to throw the least shadow upon it by mentioning our sanctification. It is evident that the Divine call out- the imperfections which human weakness ever bears in its train wardly manifests God's special design and that to each ; such indiscretion and evil speaking moreover shock soul He distributes His lights and gifts according to the the ears upon which they fall, as we are all hurt by hearing measure in which that soul responds to its own particular anyone speak unkindly or to the disadvantage of our own family. vocation. We ought especially, within the monastery, to labour with us live all our might, each for his own part, to render the monastic We should often ask our holy Patriarch to make according to pour signal Community less unworthy of God's loving kindness, more to his spirit ; God was pleased graces skilled in serving Christ's upon him ; but he received them as head and lawgiver interests in the Church ; — we in ought to avoid all that, even remotely, can diminish the order to make them overflow upon all those who, living under his his spirit. As in the fervour of the Community, impair its spiritual health, lessen Rule, seek to be imbued with its supernatural Old Testament, the blessing of the Patriarchs was a pledge radiation : in a word, we must be entirely of the protection of Jehovah for their descendants, so the i- The Book of the Foundations, ch. v. Translated from the Spanish by. blessing of the founders of different Orders is the source David Lewis. v of favours from on high for those of their disciples who CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK 416 GOOD ZEAL 417 in their footsteps. The wide mantle of the Patriarch the Venerable walk Bede, Alcuin, Rabanus, St. Anselm and St. Ber- of monks preserves and safeguards those who take refuge nard, down to the Ven. Blosius, Dom Mabillon and Dom under its folds, while awaiting that they in their turn and Martene, Dom Gueranger, Dom Maurus Wolter, Bishop in his train ascend that magnificent luminous may by way Ullathorne and Bishop Hedley. Doctors full of wisdom 1 1 , his great soul went into heaven . by which up theologians or consummate scholars, ascetics full of doctrine] they have rendered inestimable service to the City of God! VII. scientific The study of Holy Scripture, of the Fathers of the Church, of the Liturgy and ecclesiastical and monastic Of its nature, zeal is ardent, it tends to diffuse itself. history: all these forms of zeal and activity are justified by From the cloister, monastic zeal has naturally spread itself the most ancient and constant tradition, the interpreter of abroad in manifold manifestations which we cannot pass the Rule a ; they have found and still find in the cloister over in silence : they form part of our history and constitute fervent representatives who have had and still have it at an intangible and inalienable part of our purest traditions. heart to put their talents and the fruit of their labours at We have seen that the time at the monk's disposal, apart the service of the Church and of souls. from the hours of the Divine Office, is consecrated by St. Be- nedict to manual labour or to the lectio divina. The education of youth likewise takes an important place Among manual labours was included, as the Rule itself in the series of the works of monastic zeal. One of the great- insinuates 2 , the transcribing of manuscripts ; to copy a est monks of the last century, Dom Maurus Wolter, called manuscript was as meritorious as to sow a field or exercise attention to this work 3 which he declared to be especially a craft . confided to monks and is, moreover, several times indicated Little by little, by a quite natural evolution, which has its " in the Rule itself. He calls it, in all truth, an ancient and principle in the monastic code, and has been accentuated 3 traditional mission ." Not indeed that it is a question since the elevation of monks to the priestly dignity, brain here of vast over-peopled: colleges of which the care would work has taken the place of the labour of the hands, and absorb all the vital strength of the abbey ; but of schools the abbeys have thus become important centres of intellectual where the limited number of students is favourable to edu- life and Christian civilisation. How many names it would cation, at the same time that it permits those devoting be necessary to cite among so many monks have placed who themselves to this work to safeguard habitually the regular their knowledge at the service of truth, either to defend it life of Benedictine cenobitism. against its adversaries, or to elucidate it, or to guide souls in the path of the inner life from St. Gregory the Great and Another form of apostolic zeal dear to sons of St. Benedict i. S. Greg. Dialog, lib. II, c. 37. — 2, Ch. xkxiti. — 3. The monks were is the exercise of hospitality. One of the most beautiful moreover applied to this work with a wonderful brcadrhind'edncss, transcribing chapters of the Rule is devoted to this subject. It is with the same fervour, upheld by obedience, not only Holy Scripture and the here works of the Fathers, but that also the writings of profane antiquity : in their St. Benedict reveals the greatness of his soul ; he rises libraries^ the manuscripts that contain the works of Cicero and Livy are side above any narrow point of view to embrace all mankind by side with those where are to be read S< Paul's Epistles, the treatises of l l in S Augustine and the homilies of S Gregory. Read on this subject the discourse the charity of Christ Jesus. One of the greatest reproaches delivered in September 1010 on the occasion of the io"i centenary of Cluny, that the Word Incarnate made to the Pharisees was for by an " eminent member of the Institute, M. E. Babelon. There is one side preferring their human traditions to the explicit of the activity of the monk which ought to be sufficient to assure to them, as most precepts long as the humaii race lasts, the gratitude of every man who thinks and of the Divine law, above all, the precept of charity. Religious reflects. This is that they have passed down from century to century, and— bequeathed to us, the inestimable treasure of ancient literature. The monks 1. We know that four conditions are requisite in order to be inscribed in of the Middle Ages are the bond of intellectual union between antiquity and the catalogue of " of the Church: purity the modern spirit. They prevented, "Doctors of orthodoxy, eminence in the normal evolution of the human of mind, a complete doctrine, holiness, and, what consecrates all, the express declaration, of rupture, a solution of continuity suddenly taking place " " ttie Church. The number of Doctors for the entire Church is at present which would have swamped civilisation and thrown it back for an incalculable twenty three, 1 number of centuries... among which the Order of S* Benedict numbers S Gregory the Deprived of the literary treasure of the Greeks and l Great, the Venerable Bede, S Peter Damian, S' Anselm and S' Bernard. Komans, the principal foundation of our modern culture would have been wanting to us — 2. Cf. D. Mabillon, Traiti des Etudes monastiques, and the beautiful book : who would dare to estimate the consequences In which a like of D. •— catastrophe " Besse : Le Moine btnMiclm. • 3. La Vie monastique, ses Elements csseti- would have involved the human race ? tiels, ch. vi. Cf. D. Berliere, UOrdre monastique des origines au XIIe siecle. ;

4i8 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 419 are to be found who, by a small and superficial way of been exercised in a spirit of true Christian charity, surrounded understanding the exigencies of the cloister, would exclude moreover with the safeguards St. Benedict himself prescribed, their brethren in the the the monks, world from monastery. But do far from suffering from these visits of Christ have they not thereby shut out Christ Himself from the sphere received abundant blessings from them because they of their charity ? have known the Divine 1 Guest in jractione pants . " Did not Christ Jesus say : As long as you did it to one of these least brethren, x " This love My you did it to Me ? This is of the neighbour, the fruit of true love of God. the supernatural principle held by our holy Father St. Be- has necessarily led monks to occupy themselves directly nedict, with alwajs so penetrated with the pure spirit of the the care of souls. This is one of the most fruitful 2 Gospel . For if he desires that his sons shall not seek aspects of monastic zeal. contact with the The world, he well knows that in order to be normal and habitual place of the monk is in his a monk, one does not cease to be a Christian, and that the monastery. It is there that he was hidden with Christ 2 basis of the true Christian spirit is not only the love of on the day of that second baptism which is the religious God but also love of our neighbour. Thus he wishes that profession ; it is there that he diligently works out his sancti- far from closing fication is the door to the poor, to pilgrims and ; there properly speaking the workshop where he guests, " all is those who come shall be received as if they to spend his activity : Officina ubi haec omnia diligenter were Christ in person, for He will say to us one day : I operemur clauslYa sunt monasterii*. Thus St. Benedict desires " was a stranger, and ye took Me in : Otnnes supervenientes that the monks shall be able to find in the enclosure all tamquam Christus that is 4 suscipiantur , quia ipse dicturus est: necessary to their existence and occupations . 3 Hospes fui et suscepistis me . The great Patriarch secondly However if we study the question in the light of the exam- ordains that guests shall be treated with all respect and ple that our holy Father St. Benedict himself gives us, we " " " charity. He even goes so far as to enjoin on the Superior to see that this "cloistered or enclosed life is not to be break his fast out of consideration for the understood in too absolute and too exclusive sense. St. — guest who arrives, a Be- - unless it be a fast day of the Church. nedict was the perfect imitator of Christ. Christ is before True sons of St. Benedict in nowise fear to imitate their all things the Adorer of the Father, and this is why the Father's example and to let Christ enter their monastery great Patriarch wills that no work be preferred to the Opus in the person of guests. St. Teresa pleasantly jests at those Dei. But he does not forget that Christ is also the Saviour who during prayer dare not stir nor make the least movement of men, that He consecrated to them three years of preaching, for fear of interrupting the 4 that union of their soul with God . He shed for them the last drop of His blood ; and there- All proportion guarded, it may be said that he who, under fore St. Benedict also, so steeped in the true Christian spirit, pretext of preserving tranquillity, wished to exclude guests wished to devote himself to the salvation of the neighbour. from the cloister, would understand nothing about charity He tells us that the Abbot ought to instruct his community and his pietist recollection would be very fragile and propped especially by his example, and that he ought not to do up on a very artificial basis. anything that he teaches his brethren to avoid in their Experience proves that where monastic hospitality has own conduct : Omnia vero quaediscipulis docuerit esse contraria i. Matth. xxv, in s 40. — 2. We know too how S* Paul insists upon the duty suis factis indicet non agenda . St. Gregory assures us of hospitality see : Rom. xn, ; Tit. 1, 8 13 ; I Tim. v, 10. Hebr. xm, 1-2. — that St. Benedict's own life was the authentic commentary n eT Lile wriHen by herself, ch. xv all ™ r J ¥ \,~.i-£ ; see above 6 " nU, on his Rule , adds The of God by w .Y^tle 5«" Mansion, ch. in, translated by the Benedictines of and he how man btanbrook.c. i , When.I see people very anxious to know what sort of prayer continual preaching, converted many of the people there- they practise.covering their faces and afraid to move or think, lest they should " lose any slight tenderness about : Vir Dei commorantem circnmquaque multitudinem and devotion they feel, I know how little they understand how to attain 7 union with God, since they think it consists in such praedicatione continua ad fidem vocabat . And elsewhere the tilings as these. No, sisters, no ; our Lord expects works from us ! If you see a sick great Pope remarks that in a certain town not far from the sister whom you can relieve, never Jear losing your devotion na e her ; f She is in monastery, no small number of people, by the exhortations - ain feel for jt as 'f J } P - were your own, and, ^r^'°ere ,s nced fast ' so that she may eat, not so as , much for her sake Rule, ch. iv. Ibid. ch.ucvi. w a J 1 . Luc. xxiv, 35. — 2. Cf. Col. in, 35. — 3. — 4, y L rd aSkS ° f °U ThiS the trUe Uai0n 0f 0UI " " y - Cf. above — Rule, ch. n. — 6. Dialog, lib, II, c. 36 : Vir v,m wUh the ft of GcJd " p. 72 sq 5. sanctus nulla modo potuit aliter docere quant vixit. — 7. Ibid. c. 8. 420 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 421 x of Benedict were converted to the faith of God. " its concourse The lent to the great liturgical work of Rome and Saint himself therefore evangelised the neighbouring side side with by the Roman faith, introduced civilisation populace. We read too that he sent certain of his monks to the farthest boundaries of Europe, the Monastic Order " often, " crebro, to instruct some nuns who were at a [whose power was then concentrated at Cluny] wil! 2 be called distance from the monastery . to a still higher mission. Identified for the time being with What St. Benedict taught his monks by word and example, the destinies of Rome, it. will furnish, inspire, and support the best traditions of the Order have consecrated by the in every way those great Popes of the eleventh 3 and twelfth practice of centuries . Without touching the integrity of the centuries, the heroic defenders of the sanctity and indepen- community, nor the essential exigencies of stability, 1 " the dence of the Church , monastic Order has exerted this fruitful apostolate " which After this epoch it begins, from various causes to play has converted so many nations to the light of the Gospel and a less important part. Nevertheless, it is- an established and extended the boundaries of Christ's Kingdom. None can significant fact that the Popes have never ceased their deny the title of true sons of St. Benedict to those great efforts to protect and uphold it, and to attach it to themselves monks, full of the love of souls, such as were St. Gregory, as the principal member to the head — velut principalia St. and his companions, St. Boniface, capili suo membra* — to use the expression of Pope Gregory St. Anscar, St. Willibrord, St. Adalbert and, nearer to our VII. " Have we not ourselves had the happiness and conso- selves, Mgr. Marty, Bishop Polding and Ulla- lation of witnessing the attachment of the last Pontiffs to thorne, Bishop Salvado and so many others, "men powerful 3 our Order ? It is to the princely munificence of Leo XIII, in word and deed, " according to the expression of Dom of glorious memory, that we the erection in " owe Rome of Gueranger, illustrious Saints of the monastic order, great the international college of St. Anselm ; and without speaking religious souls who were at the same time by their whole of other facts, the Roman Church has asked the monks of life the most vivid expression of the spirit which our great the French Congregation to place at her disposal the results Patriarch has, 4 " laid down in his holy Rule . The zealous of the admirable work they have done for sacred music, life of these great monks constitutes one of the most beautiful that all Christian assemblies may benefit by it : she has con- pages of monastic holiness ; they are themselves the purest fided to St. Benedict's sons the arduous and delicate task glory of a past singularly fruitful for the 5 Church of Christ . of the critical revision of the biblical text of the Vulgate. These are undubitable marks of singular confidence. Let us One of the most remarkable characteristics of the life of " see that we respond to it, ever remembering that the these great monks is their boundless devotion to the Apostolic monk to be faithful to his mission, must show himself and Roman 6 Church . This union with the Apostolic See 'St. Peter's ' son of the was, man, the servant and the devoted to our fathers, always an assured vitality " pledge of holy and Apostolic of *. and glory. Church Rome Wherever the Benedictine monk his turned And what was the source of this zeal ? Where did these steps, he was considered as the born representative of Roman holy monks find the secret of becoming, when God called '"• Whether he is called Augustine in England, them by obedience or circumstances, great apostles and Willibrord in Frisia, Boniface in Germany, Adalbert in the • that blav wonderful men of action ? Whence did they obtain countries, it is always Rome who sends him, who blesses irresistible ardour, that generous and indomitable strength nis beginning, seconds his efforts, hallows his success. Having which enabled them to accept every labour, confront every i.Woft c. ig. 2 Ibid the - . — 3. Cf. L'AposMal Monaslique, in Berliere, difficulty, endure every suffering for the extension of 4 motions sur la vie rehgieuse ct 'hf: i monastique. — 5. Sec at the end of 1. Cf. Mgr. Baudrillart, Clunv et la PafwilJ. — 2. S. Gregor. p. vii, Epist. found in 69. P. L. 118, 430. — 3. D. Morin, Ths Ideal 0/ the Monastic Life- the Apostolic Age, translated from the French by C. Gunning, p. 74. — 4- D. that, Morin, /, c p. 75. Let us say by way of completing these statements, given the extreme variety of Benedictine works, not only docs the Abbot proportion and distribute tasks to each monk, but each monastery has in some we have seen way its own part in this vast inheritance ; and furthermore, and still see Benedictine' Congregations, according to the period and the country, specialise, here in the direction of colleges and of the sacred ministery, there in matters of Liturgy and sacred learning, etc. ;

422 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 423

Kingdom of Jesus Christ ? The love of God and of Christ For us, who must do all things in obedience, the outward was the inward furnace where the living flame of zeal was exercise of this zeal has its limits fixed by the kind of activity enkindled. assigned to the monastery by traditions, circumstances, and It was the great monk, and at the same time great apostle, above all by the orders of the Abbot. But each one of us, " St. Bernard, who wrote these lines : It is the characteristic in the sphere given to him,. ought to become Jesus' apostle. of true and pure contemplation that it not only inflames Although we ought deeply to love and eagerly to seek soli- the soul with the fire of divine charity, but it also occasionally tude, recollection, the hidden life, we must, when obedience fills her with such zeal and desire to gain others to God who imposes charges upon us or active offices to fulfil in the shall love Him as she loves Him herself, that she gladly monastery or outside, give ourselves wholly up to them. interrupts her contemplative repose and devotes herself to It is not to leave Christ when we give ourselves to His the labour of preaching. Afterwards, having satisfied this members by obedience.;: Quite the contrary ! All that we longing at least to a certain extent, she returns to her solitude do for the love of our brethren — of His brethren — touches with all the more eagerness in. proportion as she knows •Christ Himself.' This is what He Who is the infallible that her apostolic efforts have been fruitful. . Then when she Truth, and unique Fount of our perfection has told us in has recruited her strength once more with the sweet food of His. own words. prayer, she again issues forth with renewed zeal and energy

" ' 1 -' to resume her work for souls- . : VIIL " :v'V '..wV. This was also the opinion of St. Gregory : If it is a good " " thing, he writes, to pass from the active to the contem- Does not St. Benedict himself give us to understand this plative life, it is generally also useful for- the soul to return capital truth that good zeal springs from the love of God life again to the active : the ardour obtained in, contemplation and of Christ ? Indicating the different forms which good allows the works of the active life' to be all the better zeal ought to take in regard to our brethren.the great Patriarch 2 " accomplished... adds, in the.same page of the Rule, three precepts concerning " " St. Teresa does not speak otherwise : Oh, the charity, the exercise of this. zeal. He repeats to us once more, as " she writes, of those who truly love our Lord and who under-' if he- wished to sum up his thought before leaving us, " to stand their own State I How scanty the rest they will be tear God, to love the Abbot with a humble and sincere able to take if they but see they can in : ariy- degree help a affection, finally, never to prefer anything to Christ. " A single soul to advance, and to love God more, or be able passion for the rights of God, the Sovereign Master; obedience to comfort it in any or it 1 way rescue from any danger to His representative > the love of Christ : have we not here ill How at ease such souls will be when they are at rest I the most life-giving^and purest springs for the nourishing

And when they cannot help them in act they have recourse of zeal ? to prayer, beseeching our Lord on behalf of the many souls We need not come back to the two first points ; we have it whom grieves them to see going to ruin ; they abandon seen, in other conferences, what an important place they their own comfort, and look on it as well lost, for they think occupy in the monk's life. Let us. insist only, like our not of their own rest, but only how they may more and Blessed Father himself, upon the last phrase of this chapter 3." " more do the will of our Lord ; of Good Zeal, " with which the great Patriarch has chosen to " close the holy Rule : Let monks prefer nothing whatever to i. In canlica .Sermo lvii, translated by a Priest of Mount Melkray. And again Christ ": nihil praeponant. It will be good : Zelum tuum inflammet caritas (In canlica Sermo xx, 4. Ibid. col. 868) Christo omnino Est emm tantum luccre vanum, tantum ardere parttm, ardere el luccre per/eclum for our soul to stay a few seconds to consider this absolute l (Sennon on the Nativity of S John the Baptist). — 2. In Ezech: lib. II, Homil. n° love which we ought to -bear-to- the Person of Christ Jesus. 11, 11. Cf. also Ibid. lib. I, Homil. v, n° 12. — 3. The Foundations, ch. slated T n from the Spanish by David Lewis. All this chapter dissatisfaction, in is \ rf , remarkable Tho second source of this my opinion, that the soul should " be read. The Saint seeks to discover whence comes that inward seems to live in greater purity when left in solitude, because there are fewer dissatisfaction which we generally feel when. we have not passed the greater opportunities therein of offending God. " The Saint admirably shows how part of the day alone " and absorbed in God; This dissatisfaction proceeds, this second cause itself, is not always sufficient and how one may have illusions according to the Saint,- from- " two causes: One, and this is the chief, is on this point. — The Eternal leather likewise showed to S' Catherine of self-love, which thrusts itself in here in a most subtle way, and accordingly Siena how, in this matter, spiritual self-love may be a deception for the soul. escapes detection; that is, we would please ourselves rather than God... Dialogue^ ch. xxxix. ;

424 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 425

it is necessity Our heart, as you know, is made to love ; a and great silence, at the sight of His loving kindness and or of our life ; hence we shall love either the Creator the wonders... In this kind of prayer, it is not a question of that a cannot serve creature. Did not our Lord say man producing many thoughts, nor of making great efforts : we two masters ? And this love will be so much the more ardent are in God's presence : we are filled with wonderment at as our capacity for affection is the more profound. Now the graces He gives us : with David we repeat a hundred our Blessed Father St. Benedict tells us that Christ is to times without ever speaking a word: Quid est homo?... hold the first place in our heart : Christo omnino nihil prae- What is man that Thou deignest to be mindful of him ?... fionant. Notice how absolute are these two terms : Omnino One is lost in astonishment and gratitude without thinking nihil. And why is St. Benedict so forcible in expressing of wishing to frame, either within or without, the least word, this precept ? It is because we are consecrated to Christ as long as this blessed and most simple state lasts... This on the day of our profession, we lost the right of giving admiration is an act of love. The first effect of love is to our soul to creatures. There is — always supposing the make us admire what we love, to make us always regard it essential order of finality secure — a division that God allows with complacency, to bring it before our eyes, not to lose fo persons in the world ; He does not ask of them that entire, sight of it. This way of honouring God is marked in the complete, dominating love ; but as for us, we have promised saints of early times... It is David's way when he says : to love God solely, to seek Him always, and Him alone, and Quam admira bile ! quid homo I Qimm magna muUiludo dul- " to love creatures only in Him. We have said to Him : My cedinis tuae, Domine ! How wonderful is Thy Name ! What

God, I know that Thou art so great, so powerful, so good, is man ! How great is the multitude of Thy sweetnesses ! that Thou alone canst content all the aspirations of my soul It is the canticle of all the Saints in the Apocalypse... We and the needs that lie the deepest in my heart, therefore I are silent then, not knowing how to express our tenderness, " want only Thee, I want to live only for Thee. reverence and joy, nor in fine what we feel of God. And

is " " : God pleased with such an act of faith ; we made it there is silence in Heaven, as it were for half an hour gladly on the day of our monastic profession. We should a wonderful silence, which cannot last long in this turbulent 1 " remain always at the height of this faith. Now this is very and tumultuous life , difficult for the human heart. In His immaterial nature, This way of loving and honouring Him in His mysteries God is so far above us that, to keep ourselves in the love is acceptable to our Lord. Did He not Himself give us that seeks Him uniquely, we need an objective, concrete, the example when He exulted with holy enthusiasm at the tangible support. God knows this need, and He satisfies sight of His Father's adorable perfections and His wonderful 2 it through the Incarnation. The Incarnate Word is God ways with souls ? Exsultavii Spiritu Sancto . made visible and living in our midst, and the love we manifest to Jesus Christ reaches God Himself. This admiration and this attachment find their practical So we should have the most absolute, burning and constant expression in frequently seeking Christ's company. When love for Christ Jesus. the heart is overflowing with love for anyone, the mind is always occupied with the same object. And we shall find wherever we will, in the oratory, in the tabernacle, How is this love to be expressed ? We must first strive our Lord of our soul. We shall find Him to know the Saviour, to render ourselves familiar with His in our cell, in the sanctuary His contemporaries :the Shepherds and Person, His works, His mysteries. All that touches Him as He was seen by the Crib, the multitudes upon the roads, Martha ought to interest us, not to increase a coldly intellectual Magi at at Bethania, the disciples in the Supper-room ; knowledge, but to become a source of prayer. The more and Magdalen Christ Who spoke with the Samaritan woman at we know Him in this way, the more we shall be attached the same " didst the to Him. Jacob's Well, and said to her : If thou know a " the lepers, Who calmed ; the same Who healed There is one affection which we ought chiefly to have in gift of God Christ Son of the Father, presence of the person the angry waves ; the same Jesus, and mysteries of Jesus ; it is that of admiration. it is 11° Elevation. — Indeed an excellent way of honouring 1. Bossuot, EUvations sur les Mystires, XVIII" semaino, " iv, these mysteries to remain before God in great admiration 2. Luc. x, 21. — 3- Joan, 10. IDEAL OF 4z6 CHRIST, THE THE MONK GOOD ZEAL 427 our Saviour, become our Redeemer, our Wisdom, our Holi- NOTE (See above p. 420). ness. We shall find Him in the plenitude of His Almighty The founder of the Congregation of Beuron, Dom Maurus Wolter, a learned power, in the virtue of His Divine mysteries, in the infinite and pious monk, whose monastic spirit was imbibed at the purest sources, thus summed up his teaching, " superabundance of His merits and satisfactions, in His love's on the subject of the monastic apostolate : The monk being by excellence God's son, His liege-man and His vassal... as soon ineffable mercy. And this contact established between us as the king or His Church calls a monk or an army of monks, they intrepidly and Himself by faith will bring to our souls help, light, come forward, and whatever bo the fierceness of the combat, their invincible " courage carries off the victory... Ready for every work of zeal, monks show and joy : to Me, I will strength, peace Come and refresh in action a sovereign scorn for every human consideration and place so much " 1 you : Venite ad Me ct ego refictam vos . He is, in truth, magnanimity, firmness and valour at the service of the Church that to see them combat, we at once recognise in them, in all its fulness, the very a faithful, compassionate, magnificent Friend ; He receives strength of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what has brought us that He may bring us to His Father and make us partakers, forth from the cloister that wonderful phalanx of apostles, confessors, doctors in the holy and beatifying splendours, in the eternal glory and martyrSjWhose labours have so powerfully contributed to found, preserve, and multiply the great Christian family. Enkindled with this zeal, innumerable of the Only-begotten Son, the object of infinite delight. legions of monks have not hesitated to give themselves entirely to this task, to sacrifice to it their very life, and consummate it by the shedding of their blood. The Gospel in one hand, the Rule in the other, they penetrated Finally, the most indubitable token of our love will be into the most distant regions and by the new peoples they have constantly that in all things we seek to do His will and that of His Fa- added to the Christian family, they founded, extended and strengthened " " the Kingdom of. the Cross throughout almost all the universe... " 1 ther : Whosoever shall do the will of My Father, said " 2 " Jesus Himself, he is My brother, and sister, and mother . Dom Maurus Wolter had been in the school of D. Gueranger who helped " "': him in the establishment of the Constitutions of the Beuron Congregation. And elsewhere : If you love Me, keep My commandments illustrious l in his Notions 3 The restorer of the order of S Benedict in France wrote diligilis . Si me, mandata mea servate When we love anyone sur la vie religiettse el monastique (Solesmes, 1885), destined for the formation separation are we not ingenious in giving, him pleasure ? of novices: Although one of the essentials of monastic life is from the world, we must, nevertheless, beware of the idea_ that the monk There cannot be a of more sure means pleasing Jesus, of may possibly arrive at the perfection proper to his state without including manifesting to Him that absolute love which He alone merits, zeal for his neighbour in his intentions and mode of life... Monastic life tends to draw man nearer to God by submission and love. So the monk, entering than in ever seeking " with most fervent love " to do the will into the spirit of his vocation, should be carried away by a holy zeal for the of His Father Who is also ours ; in keeping united to Him, welfare of his neighbour, the great and eternal occupation of God, for which end He delivered up even His only-begotten Son. the Father's Beloved Son ; and in striving to reproduce in " Let no one imagine that monastic life consists exclusively in working out ourselves the dispositions of reverence and love for His our own perfection, regardless of the sanctification of our neighbour... Nothing Father, of charity for our brethren,of humility and obedience, can be more contrary to charity, which is the distinguishing mark of every with self, which would conceal which animated His true disciple of Christ, than a petty occupation blessed soul here below. from the eyes of the monk the needs of those who will always remain his

The exercise of this most fervent love : ferventissimo amore, brethren... "Husband the time before your holy profession and prepare yourselves will provide us with the secret of being among these souls well for those works of zeal which may be entrusted to you by obedience, of ardent zeal, such as our holy Patriarch requires us to be. be thev employments within the monastery, or works which have for their object the propagation of the truth in writings destined for the public, or the It is in giving ourselves up fervently throughout our life exercise of the sacred ministry, preaching the word of God and administering to this exercise that we shall find the assurance of seeing the Sacraments... works of zeal performed fulfilled the wish expressed by St. Benedict at the end of "We will magnanimously recommend to God the in our Order. Let us entreat Him to accept our endeavours, whether they the chapter often upon good zeal: May Christ, the supreme object regard our own deeds or those of the public, or serve directly the sublime of our love, " object of the salvation souls. Ask Him frequently that for His divine glory bring us all alike to life everlasting " : Christo of service our filled with men powerful in wordand deed, omnino nihil fraeponant, qui nos pariter and Order may be ad vilam aeicmam men after the pattern of the many illustrious Saints of the monastic life, who f&rducat. became all things to all meii and knew so well how to serve the Church and the souls ransomed by Jesus Christ. The whole life of these great religious souls was, at the same time, the most vivid expression of the spirit which 1. Matth. xi, 28. — 2. Ibid, xn, 50. — 3. Joan, xiv, 15. our great Patriarch has laid down in his holy Rule. " a

1. La Vie monastique, set principes essentiels, pp. 131, 131 sq. — z. Translated from the French by Rev. Jerome Veth, O. S. B., under the title of .Religion* and Monastic Lilt Explained. THE PEACE OF CHRIST 429

When Christ appeared upon earth, after thousands of years of waiting and anguish, what was the first message that fell from heaven, the message wherein man XVIII. — THE PEACE OF CHRIST. could discov- er in advance the secret of the ineffable mystery of the 1 Word Incarnate, and, as it were, the plan of all the work "Pax Christi exsultet in cordibus vestris . of Jesus ? It was the message brought by the angels sent by God Himself to announce to the world the good tidings of " Summary. — The gift of peace to souls all the Birth of His : sums up Christ's work in Son Glory be to God in the highest ; and regard to us peace also sums up the of the " x ; harmony monastic on earth peace to men of good will ! The Word becomes life. I. Peace is — the tranquillity of order. — II. How we incarnate to give all glory to His Father, and bring peace are to conform to the Divine order. — III. The peace that to the world. To seek His Father's glory is the supreme the soul finds in God is unchanging. — IV. St. Benedict has aspiration of Christ's Heart in regard to Him by Whom He ordained everything in his Rule towards the finding of this is sent, of is peace. and Whom He the Beloved Son ; the gift of peace condensss in itself every good which the Saviour brings to the souls He comes to redeem. N all the preceding conferences, I have sought but one Christ's life upon earth has but this one aim. When that is attained, He looks upon His work as finished. In thing : to place the Divine figure of Christ Jesus before your eyes, that contemplating this unique Ideal you may the presence and hearing of His Apostles, He says in that love and imitate It. This is in fact the whole of monasticism, wonderful prayer to His Father when about to consummate " as it is His life sacrifice : I glorified the very substance of Christianity. The integral by His have Thee on the earth ; I " seeking after God, the entire gift of self, poverty, humility, have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do : obedience, abandonment to the Divine will, the spirit of Ego ie clarificavi super tenant ; opus consummavi quod dedisti 2 religion towards our Heavenly Father, charity and good zeal mihi ut faciam . And at this same moment, what does He towards our neighbour, all these virtues which, if carried say to His disciples to show that in regard to--them too, " " to a certain degree of perfection are characteristic of the He has finished His work ? He leaves them peace, His religious life, have their first Exemplar in Jesus. own peace, not that which the world promises, but that 3 which He alone can give . It is the perfect gift He leaves The one aim of monastic life is to make us perfect disciples to His Apostles, as to all souls redeemed and saved. of Christ is so for the preser- ; we are truly monks only on condition that we This gift so precious and necessary are first of all Christians. Our holy Patriarch wrote his vation' of every other gift that Jesus bids His disciples Rule only as an greet one another with this wish of peace as their salutation abridgment of the Gospel ; this is why, 1 in ending as in beginning the code destined for his sons, of rule . he tells them nothing " 2 " " All the letters 5 of St. Paul — the herald of the mystery else than to follow Christ ; That " they should prefer absolutely nothing before Christ Who of Christ — begin with this salutation : Grace to you will bring us to " and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus everlasting life : Christo omnino nihil prae- ponant, qui nos pariter 3 Christ " : Gratia vobis et pax a Deo nostro ei Domino Jesu ad vilam aeternam perducat . It is peace, because with these words that the holy Legislator takes leave of us Christo. The Apostle associates grace with " " in the last chapter. grace is the primary condition of peace, without grace, " " to peace : Now when we seek to sum up the whole of Christ's work, says St. Thomas, it is impossible have true vera pax B to see in brief the extent of His mystery, what do we find Sine gratia non potest esse gift, comes from God to say ? Is there one word in which can be gathered up This peace, like other every good 7 the whole thee Father as being its first principle . This is why St. Paul substance of the mystery of the Man-God ? Yes, there is such a word. 1. Luc. ir, 14. — 2. Toann. xvn, 4- — 3- Ibid, xiv, 27. — 4. Luc, x, 5. — *• "And let the " peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts. Col. m. IS. — 5. Except that to the Hebrews which, as we know, was probably not written 2. Prologue of the Rule. — 3. Rule, ch. lxxii. by Paul's own hand. — 6. u-n, q. xxix, a. 3, ad 1. — 7. Cf. Jac. 1, 17. :: ;:;

CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE 430 OF CHRIST 431 throughout his Epistles often designates the Heavenly Fa- Beati pacifici, quoniam filii 1 Dei vocabunlur . Our Holy Fa- " *. " This ther wishes, ther as the God of peace peace comes, too, from who throughout his Rule, to bring us to God Christ : did He not gain it for us in giving, through His and make us perfect children of the Heavenly Father by immolation, full satisfaction to Divine justice ? , Then, as the grace of Jesus, has ordained everything in the monastery 2 says St. Paul peace comes to us from the Holy Spirit in such a way " that all 2 " , the members may be at peace . it is one of the fruits of the Spirit of Love, as much so as is With this conference on peace we shall therefore finish joy. Peace is an essentially supernatural, an essentially determining the characteristics that mark the physiognomy of Christian gift. the monk, the disciple of Christ. We cannot then be astonished that the holy Lawgiver places it before us as a gift that we should eagerly seek after, I. and that the word "fax" has become one of our dearest mottoes. It adorns the front of our monasteries. Inscribed What then is peace ? It is not here a question of exterior on the threshold of our cloisters, it ought above all to be peace, that which results for us from solitude and silence. engraved in the depths of our hearts and emanate from This peace is certainly a great thing, for silence and solitude our whole being. It is the word that best sums up, even help the faithful soul to be recollected, the better to turn to in the eyes of seculars, 3 the characteristic harmony of our God . However, as we have said, this outward peace is 3 life . Peace, the supreme result of the practice of virtue profitless if the imagination is wandering and the soul is in a heart given wholly to God, is the first good we wish troubled and disquieted. It is of inward peace that I wish to those who come to us ; faithful to the Gospel precept to speak to you. You know the definition that St. Augustine and inheritor of the first ages of :." " the Church, our Holy has given of this peace Peace is the tranquillity of order : Father wills that the prior and brethren shall give the Pax est tranquillilas ordinis*. kiss of peace to .all guests 4 who arrive at the monastery . To understand the, force of this sentence let us carry our But how can we truly wish this good to others if we do minds back to the days of the creation of Adam. It is said not possess it in ourselves ? Let us then see what this that God created mart "right," in perfect rectitude of peace is, its 6 — what are characteristics, — and what is the nature : Fecit Deus hominem rectum . He had given him, source whence it is to' be derived. moreover, sanctifying, grace, original justice. All Adam's If we are to be worthy disciples of Christ and of St. Bene- faculties were perfect and perfectly harmonised. In this dict we must seek this good as a great treasure. In the virgin nature, come forth from the hands of God, there Prologue where he traces .the broad outline of his institution, was a magnificent subordination of the inferior powers to 6 the holy Legislator recalls these words of the Psalmist : reason, of reason to faith, and of the whole being to God " Seek " after peace, and pursue it : Inquire pacem et perse- a harmony which was the divine radiation of original justice. quere earn. It is remarkable that he associates the seeking The order was perfect in Adam, complete concord reigned after peace with the seeking after God, as two ends which between all the faculties, each of which rested in its object become but one. Indeed they who strive to find this peace hence was born unalterable peace. As St, Thomas says, it for themselves and others are truly the children of God is " from the union of the different appetites in man tending is the " He Who Infallible Truth tells us: "Blessed are the towards the same object that peace results : Unto autem 6 peacemakers : for " they shall be called the children of God : horum motuutn est quidem de ratione pads . Sin came into the world: all this admirable order was i. Ps, xv, 53 ; xvi, 20 ; 1 Cor, xiv, etc. — 2. Gal. v, 22. — This is 33 3. ; longer union e overthrown there was no between man's masons why Newman lias characterised life as !?l r . ..V^ the monastic Virgilian. ; contrary tendencies,generally But the great Cardinal is totally mistaken in making what is different appetites diverse and poetical a sort of attribute and a dominating and almost exclusive in conflict, are henceforward to be encountered in him attribute of the Patriarch of monks and Western monasticism. Newman's spirit, the spirit knowledge of S» Benedict's character is the flesh conspires against the and wars incomplete and inexact : his psychology of the great Patriarch is fantastic; 7 the idealogist, in Newman, has misled against the flesh . the psychologist and the historian. We see with what reservations The Misswn of S' Benedict 1. Matth. v, 9, — 2. Rule, ch. xxxiv. — 3. See above p. 363 sq. — 4. (Historical Sketches II) must be read. — 4. Rule, ch. LJII. 5. Ps. XXXIII, De civitate Dei, L. xix, ch. 13. P. L. 41 ; col. 640. — 5. Eccle. vn, 30. — 6. — 15. , ii-ii, q. xxxix, a. 1. -— 7. Ibid. a. 1 and 2. :

432 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE OF CHRIST 433 To find peace again, the desires must be brought moon be taken away " back ; to Orietur in diebus ejus et fusiUia order and unity. Now this order consists in the a bundaniia pads, donee senses auferatur luna K In the weeks follow- being dominated by reason and the reason being ing His Resurrection, it is subject peace that Christ wishes to His to God : until such order is re-established, Apostles each peace cannot time He appears to them. His Passion exist in the heart. "Thou hast made us for expiated everything, Thyself, O paid off everything; therefore this Lord, and our hearts are ever restless until thevJ rest in salutation of peace, henceforward restored by His 1 ." grace falls Thee continually from His Divine 2 lips . Is it not remarkable But how are we to rest in God if sin that this has made us His ene- same wish of peace should be heard at the two mies ? In consequence of sin — Adam's sin and our — extremities of His earthly own career : when the Angels announce far from being able to approach God, the we are separated from opemng of His mission of salvation and when, this Him by an abyss. Is man then for ever to be being accomplished, robbed of peace, He enters into His glorious life ? "Peace is all his sighing after this " lost possession to be in vain ? be with you : Pax vobis. No. Order is to be re-established, and peace restored ; and Look at St. Paul. Tormented by the inward you warfare of know in what an admirable manner. It is in the flesh against the " Christ spirit, he cries out : Who shall deliver and through Christ that both order " and peace are to be found me from the body of this death ? And what answer does g " God " we sa in one of the he give « ^' ° ' y Prayers of the Mass, to his own question ? "The grace of God, by Who in creating human nature, didst wonderfully Christ " m dignify Jesus Our Lord. For, he adds, Christ by His death it and hast still " ; more wonderfully it : has freed renewed Dens, qui us from all condemnation ; His grace has been humanae substantias dignitatem mirabiliter condidisti, etmira- given to us that we may live, not according to the desires bilius reformasti. A wonder that consists in the of the flesh Word being but according to those of the Spirit ; and he made Man, in having taken our sin upon Himself in order concludes, the desires and affections of the flesh bring forth to offer befitting expiation to His Father, in having restored death, the desires and affections of the Spirit bring life to us God's friendship and given us His own infinite merits and peace : Nam prudentia carnis mors est : prudentia autem whereby we may retain this 3 friendship. spiritus, vita et pax . St. Paul wrote to " the Ephesians : Now in Christ Jesus, It is then in the grace of Christ Jesus that the principle you, who some time were off, of afar are made nigh by the peace is to be found ; this it is which makes us pleasing Blood of 2 " Christ. For is . to He our peace He says again : God and gives us His friendship, which makes us see God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, that other men are our brethren, which subdues perverse not imputing to 3 " them their sins . Christ is the holy tendencies in us and makes us live according to the Divine Victim, perfectly pleasing to God and in Him God has forgiv- Will. en us 4 . As the Psalmist so well says, in Him, justice ait And this grace comes to us only through Christ. For length satisfied and peace at length restored have given each such is the Divine order, the essential order: Christ Jesus other the kiss of reconciliation : Jttstitia et pax osculatae has been established King over Sion. He is King by right 5 r sunt . of conquest, having delivered Himself up to death for the Christ is "the Prince ": of peace Princeps fads*. He souls He wills to bring back to His Father ; He is this peaceful has come to fight against the prince of darkness and snatch King Who shows His magnificence in coming down from S the power of the devil r A™, and to make Peace between Heaven to bring us pardon ; Magnificatus est rex pacificus*; God and man. And this Prince of Peace is so magnificent the Father has given Him all power : Data est mihi omnis in His victory 5 that He gives us a share in all His merits in potestas in caelo et in terra ; in order that He may be our order that we may for ever keep this peace won by His justice, our sanctification, our redemption, and hence, " our IJlood. When the " G Psalmist announces the coming of the peace : ipse est pax nostra . Messias, he says, as characteristic of His visitation :" In His Such is the admirable order established by God Himself days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the 1. Ps. lxxi, 7. — 2. Luc. xxiv, Joan, xx, 19, 26. — 3. Rom. vii, 24- 37 ; i. Con/ess. Bt lib, I c. i. P. L. col. 25 ; vm, 1-6. —4. Antiphou for i Vespers at Christmas. — 5- Matth. xxvin, 32, GGi. — 2. Eph. 11. ivjm — t II Cor v 19. - 4-. Cf. Eph. iv, 18. — 6. Eph. 11, 14. 32. - 5. Ps. lxxxiv, 1 1. -6. lk.\x,'6. CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE 434 OF CHRIST 435

all the is, Christ, the Head of elect, for each one of them, First of all by an act of practical faith which surrenders the source of grace, the principle of peace. Outside this our whole being to Christ that we may follow 1 Him . An order there can only be trouble and insecurity for the soul. act of faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, for we cannot Those who want to do without God, those whom Scripture give ourselves entirely to Him unless we have this deep " " 1 calls the impious cannot have peace : Non est pax impiis conviction that is . He the Son of God and that He is every- Doubtless, certain of their desires can be satisfied, fulfilled thing for us. We must have this absolute faith in the Al- even. They can satisfy to a certain point their thirst for mighty power of Jesus, in His sovereign bounty, in the pleasures and honours. But, says St. Thomas 2 this , is an infinite value of His merits, in the inexhaustible abundance apparent and false peace the impious ; are ignorant of man's of His riches. When the Father sent Him to us to be the true good : they put the contenting of their desires in appa- ambassador of Divine peace, He told us nothing else than to rent, relative, fugitive good ; thus these souls who appear hear this Son in Whom has He placed all His delight : Ipsum are never truly happy so ; the heart remains empty even audite*. It is on this condition that the Divine grace and after having exhausted all the sources of joy that the creature friendship are restored to us. Our first attitude is therefore can give, because our deepest desires exceed all " sensible faith : Yea, Heavenly Father, Jesus is Thy Well-beloved good. All we can do is in vain, our heart is created for Son; this I believe, and I adore this Son." Then the God : this is one of the principles of order ; our heart has a Father regards us with the same look of love with which He capacity ior the infinite, arid no creature can satisfy it regards His Son. Does not Our Lord Himself assure us of perfectly. in " Except God there is only ephemeral joy and this ? The Father Himself loveth you, because you have illusive peace; the heart is agitated in vain in 3 " running loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God . after " " " the creature. Why, says St. Augustine,' do you And when He pleads for His disciples and for us, when persist in ever traversing painful and wearisome paths ? upon the point of quitting earth He confides us to His Rest is not where you are seeking it. .. you pursue happiness Father's goodness, He brings forward no other reason for in the sojourn of death ; it is elsewhere. How shall a happy His request than the faith that His disciples have in His life " be found where there is not even true life ? Non Divinity. Let us listen to Him in that ineffable discourse est requies ubi quaeritis earn... Beatam vitam quaeritis in He has with His Father when about to reconcile the world regione mortis, non est illic. enini Quomodo beata vita, ubi with God by His sacrifice : Father keep them, save them, nee vita? And the holy Doctor concludes : "'He Who is for they have truly known that I am Thy Son and that Life, our Life, has come down amongst us : Et descendit all I have comes from Thee : Pater, serva eos... cognoverunt hue ipsa vita 3 nostra . In Christ Jesus alone is to be found quia omnia quae dedisti mihi, abs te sunt... cognoverunt vere the principle of life, the source of 4 4 peace . To enjoy true quia a te exivi . peace, we must then not only "seek God, " but moreover This act of faith marks the dawn of peace for us. we must seek Him in the way He wishes us to seek Him, Is not this natural.since it is through faith in Jesus Christ that is to say in Christ. This is the fundamental order, that we enter into the Divine order of grace, the foundation established by God Himself, according to the good' pleasure of peace ? " Being justified therefore by faith, let us have of His sovereign will : Ut notum faceret nobis sacra'mentum peace with God, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom voluntatis suae, secundum- beneplacitum ejus quod proposuit also we have access through faith into this grace... and in eo... instaurare omnia in 5 5 " Christo . Outside this order glory in the hope of this glory of the sons of God . fixed by Infinite Wisdom, we can find neither holiness, nor This faith ought to.be practical ; it ought to extend to perfection ; we can find neither peace nor joy. all our being, and have for its object all that touches Christ. Souls are to be met with who truly wish to adore Christ, II. but they confine their submission to His Person alone, refusing to extend it to His Church. When these souls are How we to conform ourselves to this Divine order I." Peace between man arid God, is obedience well ordered in faith under of things ? •the eternal law. " St. Augustine. De civitate Dei, lib. XIX, c. 13- P- L- 4*. 7-8. — XLV 22 LVn 2I 2> col. 640. — 2, Matth. xvji, 5. — 3. Joan, xvi, 27. — 4. Ibid, xvn, 11, '{ ' ' - — »-». XXIX a- ad. - *. 3. - 3- Confess. TL. VJ^"IV, t , p , T J "' c. 12. P. L. '. 32, col. 701. — . _. 5. Rom. v, 1-2. 4 Rule, c\ LVIII hi , j*. 10# ^ Ep ( ;

436 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE OF CHRIST ~- 4o7 conformed by love to cannot lay claim to be in good faith, they cannot find His admirable order, peace : where all leads up to Christ Jesus : she , .. they are not according to the Divine order. We must then tastes Dpam J „I . St. Paul says that give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ, surrender to Him : it-u^^Su^taa^?^^ aU expression. "It is " our soul, our understanding, our will, impossible, says •• our body : everything Blosiuf to exnkS in us ought to be the abundance of this peace in the subject to Him ; all that is withdrawn soul altogc 2 " 5 herdvengiven too God and seeking Him . from the action of His Spirit is withdrawn from the Divine alone order. Outside the light of the Word, there is only darkness; outside the way which is III. Himself, . we find only error ;\ without His grace, there is only powerlessness. And indeed - And this peace is a lasting _ peace. What what peace can be given to indeed cah trouble us by darkness, error and f it ? I he devil ? He is a powerful enemy, powerlessness to go to God, without doubt the only true Good, the only who seeks to devour us ; but if the dog; true End of our life ? when he is chained up, barks; he can only bite those who go hear Let us then yield ourselves up to Our him : Lulrare Lord by an act of potest, mordere non potest, 3 nisi volentem . Christ living faith, of deep adoration, of has conquer- perfect submission and ed him, we shall be entire abandonment. conquerors in our turn, for Christ Jesus Let us ask Him to direct all our life, > is more powerful than he. Moreover, does not to be the object of all our aspirations, God surround the principle of ail the soul with a special protection, if, seeking Him alone, our actions. He is "the Prince of Peace, " it "the pacific likewise puts all King its confidence in Him ? He commands His : Rex pactfiats; may He be really the King of our Angels to keep it in souls. " all its ways in order that it shall not We say to God every day : " Thy Kingdom come : 4 " " stumble ; He Himself keeps it in 5 Advemat regnum the secret of His face . tuum. What is this Kingdom of God What enemy shall be able to trouble it ? What terror shall which we desire ? It is the Kingdom of Christ, for God has be able to come near apomted Him King upon earth and " it ? in heaven : Poshila a me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam 1 ! Neither " " When we thus can the world destroy this peace. Fear not, submit ourselves entirely to Christ Jesus said our Lord to His disciples ; when and He repeats this to us : we abandon ourselves to Him, when our soul only Fear not you shall responds, like His ; have tribulations in the world, but I own, with a perpetual Amen to all that abide with you. " Have confidence, He asks of us m the name of I have overcome the His Father ; when, after His " 6 world : Confidite, ego vici example we abide in mundum . If you remain faithful this attitude of adoration before all the manifestations to Me, I will give you, with My grace, My own peace. My of the Divine Will, in face of the least permissions all-powerful grace shall indeed make you victorious over the of His Providence, then Christ Jesus establishes His peace in solicitations of the world. us : His peace, not that which the world pro- The mises, but the true peace which world may offer us its pleasures, vent its sarcasms can only come from Himself : upon us it facem meam do ; no longer touches us ; we have left all to follow vobis; non quomodo mundus dat, eeo do Christ ; our peace, founded upon the truth of Jesus, cannot Indeed, such adoration be broken into by the world's weapons. produces in us the unity of all desires The soul has but one thing in view : the establishing in her of Christ s Shall our peace be destroyed by temptation ? by contra- Kingdom Christ Jesus, in return, satisfies dictions ? here his desire with magnificent plenitude. by sufferings ? Again no. Doubtless, be- The soul possesses low, the perfect peace is not always sensible ; upon earth we are in a contentment of her deepest tendencies because the condition of trial and, most often, peace is won by conflict. satisfaction of her supernatural desires has been reduced to one she is Christ has not restored to us that original justice which estab- ; in the right order of things ; she lives in PS£ICC lished harmony in Adam's soul, but the soul that lays H e hold on God alone participates in the Divine stability P s oul ™ho has thus understood the order f ^ t 7^ el established by the Father, 1. Philip, iv, 7, — 2. Canon vitae spirituaHs, ch. xiv. Pffecta pax quia that soul who seeks only to be atiimarum. — 3. Appendix to the Sermons of S* Augustine, xxxvn, 6. — 4. i. Ps. ii, Ps. 8. — 2. Joan, xiv, 27. xc, 11. — 5, Ibid, xxx, 21. — 6. Joan, xvi, 33. 433 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE OF CHRIST 439 temptations, sufferings, " trials touch only the surface of Let us ever cleaVe to • our God ; let us have Him within us being; the depths where every peace reigns are inaccessible to in Him object. of our love is stable and immutable 1 " disturbance. The surface of the sea may be violently agitated n 1S re eace t0 bc -!V P found where love remains "t ^ifi ,? K by the waves during the tempest ; the faithful Et ibi est deep waters remain : locus quietis imperiurbahilis, ubi non tranquil. We may be slighted, amor, si 2 opposed, persecuted, be desentur ipse non deserat . unjustly treated, our intentions and deeds may be misunder- stood temptation ; may shake us, suffering may come sud- Even its past sins do not trouble the soul established in denly upon us but there is ; an inner sanctuary which none peace. Certainly it feels profound sorrow in having offended can reach here is ; the sojourn of our peace, because in the Heavenly Father, in having caused the sufferings of this innermost secret of the soul dwell adoration, submission Jesus and grieved the Spirit of Love ; but this sorrow is and " " abandonment to God. I love my God, said St. Au- not mixed with agitation and fever: the soul knows that gustine, "no one takes Him from me : no one takes Jesus is the Ransom for sin, and a from Ransom of infinite value ; me what I ought to " give Him, for that is enclosed within that He has become the propitiation for our sins, and... my heart... O inward riches which no 8 one or anything can for those of the whole world ; "that now, He is at the right 1 " take away ! hand of His Father, ever living, a compassionate High In the centre of the soul that loves _ God there rises up the Priest Who unceasingly pleads in our favour : Semper vivens civitas fads which no noise of earth can trouble, that no ad interpellandum pro nobis*: Nothing gives such peace to attack can surprise. We may truly say that nothing which a contrite soul as to be able to offer to the Father all the is exterior, outside us, can, unlcsswe so will, touch our sufferings, expiations, satisfactions and merits of His beloved inward peace this essentially : depends on only one thing Son ; nothing gives the soul such confidence as to be able to namely our attitude towards God. It is in Him that we render to Him, through Jesus, all glory and praise. For must trust. " The Lord is my light and my salvation this homage of Christ, which the soul makes its own, is full, 2 whom shall I fear ? " If the wind of temptation and trial adequate, leaving nothing to be desired ; thus it gives deep arises, I have only " to take refuge with Him. Lord, save peace to the soul that finds in Jesus the perfect means of me, for without Thee, I " perish. And our Lord, as formerly repairing all its negligences and all its faults. when in the ship tossed about by the waves, will Himself calm the tempest with a single gesture ; and there will Neither can discouragement penetrate into this soul to come ' a great calm ": " Et facta est tranquillitas magna 3 trouble it; it knows something of the unsearchable riches If we really seek God in everything, 5 by following in the of Christ ": Investigabiles divitids Chrisli . Doubtless, of footsteps of Christ, Who is the sole way that leads to the itself, it can do nothing, nor even have a good thought, Father if we strive to be ; detached from all, that we may but it submits to the order willed by God, the Author of only desire the Master's good pleasure ; if, when the Spirit the supernatural life, and it knows that in this order is of Jesus speaks to us, there is in us no inflexibility of soul likewise contained the power the soul has of appropriating no resistance to His inspirations, " but only docility and to itself the riches of Jesus : I can do all things in Him adoration, we may be assured that peace, " eo qui me deep and abundant Who strengtheneth me : Omnia possum in will reign in us for, " ; Lord, much peace have they that confortat*. It knows that, with Him, through Him, in Him, love 1 Thy law : Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam^ Souls it is rich with the very riches of Christ, "so that nothing that do not wish to give all to Our " estis... ita ut Lord, and to brine all is wanting to [it] of any grace : Divites jacti their desires to unity by this total 7 be donation, cannot teste nihil vobis desit in ulla gratia . Its confidence cannot this true peace. They are divided, tossed to and fro between shaken, because the soul belongs to Him Who is for it the themselves and God, between the above satisfaction of their Way, the Light, and the Life ; He Who is the Master self-love and obedience; they are the prey of. trouble and all others, the Good Shepherd, the charitable Samaritan, disquiet. 2. 1. S. Augustin. De musica, lib. VI, c. 14, n. 48. P. L. 32, col. 1188. — PSal V "• I0 P L S. A\igustin. Ibid. col. 700. —3-1 an - "» «•_ *• ' - - 36 «*• C Ps. xxv,, Confess. L. IV, c. 11. J° — ' 59. - 3. i. . Mat'ufMaun, v£*viii, t,20. '"'v ; ' - 3J — 4. Ps. cxvin, 165. Hcbr. vii, 25. — 5. Eph, in, 8. — 6. I Cor. I, 5. 7- — 7- Herald of Dwme Love, book I, ch, 10. 440 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE OF CHRIST 441 the faithful Friend. Our Lord revealed to a soul that one Thou wast Thyself judged and condemned in my stead of the reasons of His bounteous gifts to St. Gertrude was ; that, all poor and destitute as I am in myself, I might the confidence " absolute that this great nun had in His have all and abound \ 1 goodness and His treasures . For souls moved by such sentiments, death is but a tran- Christ sition ; comes Himself to open to them the gates of Finally, neither can death trouble the soul that has only the Heavenly Jerusalem, which, much more so than that sought God. Has it not confided itself to the One Who of old, deserves to be called the " Blessed vision " " of peace : says : He that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall visio 2 Beatapacis .. There will be no more darkness, trouble, live, Qui credit 2 " in Me, etiamsi mortuus fuerit, vivit ? Our or sighs " tears, ; but peace, infinite and perfect peace. Peace is Lord the Truth ; He is also the Life ; and He brings us, first becomes ours with the longing and seeking for the He restores to us, the life that is unending. Even though Creator; it is in the full vision and eternal possession of the shadow of death falls upon it, this soul will abide in peace, Him that peace is made perfect " : Pax enim nostra ex Nam etsi ambulavero in medio umbrae mortis, non timebo desiderio Condiloris inchoatur, ex 3 manifests autem visions mala, quoniam tu mecum es . Does it not know in 3 i Whom perficitur . it has trusted: Scio cui credidi'*? And this presence of Jesus reassures the soul against every terror. IV, In one of her "Exercises," St. Gertrude allows her Let us then ask Jesus to bring us, to give us tliis assurance, which the infinite merits of Jesus give her, to peace which is the fruit of His love. " Lord God, give overflow. At the thought of the divine tribunal of which peace unto us, "'as St. Augustine so well says the image rises up before her mind,' she makes the most at the end of his moving " Confessions, that wonderful book where he shows us how appeal to these merits. Woe, woe unto me, if, he had sought peace in every possible satisfaction of the when I come before Thee, I had no advocate to plead my cause Love, senses, the mind and the heart, without finding them else- ! O stand thou forth on my behalf, answer where than in God. "Give peace unto us... the peace of for me, sue out my pardon. If thou undertake my cause, I know that the Sabbath, a peace without any evening, " Domine Deus, I still have hope of life.- I know what I will do, pacem da nobis, pacem quietis, pacem sabbati, sabbati sine I will take the chalice of salvation, even the chalice of vespera. "For Thou, the Supreme Good, that needest no my Jesus. I will lay it upon the empty scale of the balance of Truth. good, art ever at rest, because Thou Thyself art that rest. So shall I supply all that is lacking, and outweigh all And what man is there that can make another man to my sins. That chalice will raise up again the ruins of my hope, understand this ? Or what Angel, an Angel ? Or what for therewith I shall infinitely overbalance all " Angel, a man ? Let it be asked of Thee, let it be sought my unworthiness... Come Thou with me to judgment, says St. Gertrude " in Thee." And the holy had made the experience to our Lord ; there let us stand together. of all felt the vanity of every creature, Judge me, for the right is things, who had Thine ; but remember Thou art the all happiness, ends the book with also my Advocate. In order that frailty of human I be fully acquitted, " inou this cry-; So shall it be received, so shall it be found/ so hast but to recount what Thou didst of become for love 4 " me, the shall it be opened . good Thou hast decreed to do unto me, the price wherewith Let us ask this peace for each of our brethren who dwell Thou hast purchased me. Thou hast taken my with us in spiritual Jerusalem, Rogate quae ad nature to this very end, that I might the same not perish. Thou 6 nast borne pacem sunt Jerusalem ; this. peace will be given to us ; but the burden of my sins, Thou hast died for me, tnat might 1 not die an eternal death. Thou hast willed 1. Exeroices of S' Gertrude. Seventh Exercise: Reparation. Translated to make by Thomas Alder Pope, M. A., of the Oratory. — 2. Hymn for Vespers for me rich in merit, and so hast Thou all. given me the Dedication of a Church. — 3. S. Gregor. Moralia in Job, lib. VI, c. xxxiv, Judge me, then, at semper quietus the hour of my death according to P. L. 75, col. 758. — 4. Tu autem bonum niillo indigens bono, tnat es quoniam intelligtte, quis hominnm dab-.t homini ? innocence and that purity which ; tua quies tu ipse es. Et hoc Thou didst bestow quis tc peiatur, in U quaeralttr, ad ie on me in Thee when angelns angelof quis angelus homini? a Thou didst pay all my debts, when pulsetur ; sic, sic; accipiclttr, sic invenietur, sic aperietur. Amen. Lib. XIII, c. 35 and 38. P. L. 33, col. 867, 868. Translation of Sir Tobie Matthew, Kt. r. 6. Joan, xi, . Revised. Huddleston. O. S. B. — 5- Ps. cxxi, 25. — 2 oan . and amended Dom Roger xr, 25. — . by j PS . XXII( , . 3 4 _ 4 , Iz Tim> Xj I2 442 CHRIST, THE IDEAL OF THE MONK THE PEACE OF CHRIST 443 shall we especially obtain it by an attitude of soul full of he takes leave of us, he repeats this to us once more under adoration, of submission and abandonment to Our Lord. the form of an urgent counsel of which he shows us the Here, as I repeat, is the source of the only true peace, because " value : Prefer nothing whatever " to Christ : Christo omnino here is the Divine order and consequently the true satis- nihil praeponant, qui nos pariter 1 ad vitam aeternam perducat . faction of the innermost desires of our souls.' On the day Such is, in brief, the whole of the Divine order shown of our Profession we relinquished everything, we gave our- forth by the holy Legislator with an selves to Jesus that admirable simplicity we might follow Him : Reliquimus omnia, of outline. To return to God by Christ, to seek God in et secuti sumus te K We have but to continue in this dispo- Christ, to tend towards God in the footsteps of Christ. sition and we shall taste peace. Everything in the Holy And so as to prove that this seeking after God is sincere, Rule is ordered in such a way as to procure this peace, all absolute and total : —separation from the world, humility, leads. us it to ; and the monastery, where men live according loving obedience, the spirit of abandonment and to this is " " confidence, Rule indeed, even here below, a vision of peace. the preponderance given to the life of prayer, the love of Each one who lets himself be fashioned and moulded by our neighbour. These are virtues of which Christ Jesus has humility, obedience, the spirit of abandonment and confi- given us the first example; their exercise proves that we dence, those foundations of the monastic life, becomes a truly seek God, that we prefer absolutely city of peace. nothing to the love of Jesus Christ, that we make Him our one and only Ideal. This is because our Holy Father has marvellously under- Happy the monk who walks in this path ! Even in the stood the Divme plan, the order established by God Our greatest sufferings, in the most painful temptations, in the souls are made for God unless ; they are set towards this most trying end they adversities, he will find light, peace and joy. are perpetually in agitation and trouble. Now Everything is ordered in his soul as God wills it, and all St Benedict wishes that we should have but this one and his desires are unified universal in the one sole Good for Whom he is intention : That we should seek God : Si revera created. Deum quaent*;he makes all converge to this : this is the St. Benedict, who spoke from experience, could likewise centre of his Rule By the unity of this end, he brings unity guarantee to us the obtaining of many and great things. the ™aiufold actions of our life, and 1? j • especially into In the measure, he says, that the monk goes forward in the the desires of our being ; and this is, according to St. Thomas way of faith and the practice of the virtues, it is " with one of the essential elements of peace: Tranqidllitas consistit heart enlarged that he runs with unutterable sweetness of in hoc quod omnes motus appetitivi in uno homine " conquies- in : Dilatato corde, cunt* love the way of God's commandments Our souls are troubled when they are 2 torn by desires inenarra bili dilectionis dulcedine curritur via mdndatorum Dei . that bear upon a thousand different objects : Sollicita es Happy, once again, is this ! Divine peace dwells in et monk turbans erga piurima* ; when we seek God alone by an his soul, it is reflected upon his countenance, it is shed around obedience full of abandonment and love, we sum up all him. He is essentially what our Holy Father wishes the things in the one thing necessary ; and it is this that esta- monk : through Christ's grace, a blishes to be — the child of God strength and peace within us. perfect : quoniam filii Dei vocabun- Secondly, Christian Beati pacifici, penetrating more deeply into the 3 Divine order, tur . Blessed, indeed, because God is with him ; and at Y tr Ch teMs US that ™thout Ch - ^- ™t we shal every moment, he finds in this God, Whom he came to noth attainS ?to fins J TT end : He< alone is the way that leads us the monastery to seek, the greatest and most precious good, re n pemn 8 Rule he shows Good mI f£ 'A ? J" > us no because He Himself is the Supreme and Unchanging Swother means than the love of^Christ : Ad te ergo mihi who seek Him sermo nunc Who never disappoints the desire of those drngUur quisquis... Domino Christo vero Regi mili- in the simplicity and sincerity of their hearts : Si revera, h full dominion over ou/hearts, Deum quaerit. that wew'lshalln Z r^PnPf be true disciples of St. Benedict. And when I. Matth. xix, 2 ;r _ 2 . Rule,ch. i. Rule, ch. — Prologue of the Rule. — 3- Matth. v, 9. Lvm. 3. ., . lxxii. z. — u-u <, ' XXIX T ^ T „ q X a " 3.-4- Luc. x, i. ' ' h *4 4 - 5. Prologue of the Rule. * ' ;

CONTENTS 445

nt : hV rfg °f S title ersonal holi ' P ™ss is necessary to*Jhh7him, 47-48« ?R ^it makesx ^his S 1; action on souls more fruitful, 494?' hi mediation with God more powerful, 49-50 III. — Dominant qualities of the Abbot: discretion: an entirelv supernatural tact will make him adapt himself to the dispositionsuslL CONTENTS of each, in F i«ns oi01 order to lead every soul to God 50-52 Kindness IV-— : the depth of love that he is to show to his monks"waits, 52-53 ; chanty in correction, 54. ~~ *titude V * A °* the monks towards the GENERAL Abbot : humble and "incere VIEW OF THE MONASTIC ; ntidSm 8 "^ ° f *" that seParates a "^iTs from mrSu|eriorr 5 6-5 INSTITUTION VI. ~- Docility of mind, 57 ; God speaks to us by His ambassadors • diversity of the effect of the. Abbot's words, — 58 ; to listen to these . words as to those I. " To seek God. " ...... j-js of Christ Himself, 5Q. V1 Obedience of }- — action, 59-60; St. Benedict's breadth of view Predominance of the motive in the value of our actions, 1-3. allied to an extreme exigence for all that touches obedience, 61 • I. union — The seeking after God : aim and end of the monastic life, between the head and the members, realised by the Mass celebrated bv assigned by St, Benedict to his disciples, 3-6. the Abbot, 62. J II. — Conditions of this seeking : it must be constant, and manifested in all things, 6-8. IV. — The Cenobitieal . . Society. . . . 63-84 III. — Exclusive: necessity of absolute detachment," 8-10. IV. Fruits ,of this 1: Centralisation of in — seeking after God : it makes us find God fully, — power the Abbot's hands, 63-64 ; " Council" 10-12 ; source of joy, of the brethren, 12-15. 64-65 ; family character of the cenobitieal society V. " the Abbot, — How Christ Jesus is our Model in the seeking after God", 65 ; named for life, is the father of the monastery, 66. II. — Forms of activity to be manifested in the monastery 67 • prayer : place of the Opus Dei, 68-69.

III. — Work, 69-71 ; the motive II. — . power that is to animate it : obe- The Following of Christ. . . . . 19-39 dience, 71-72.

Since IV- — Stability, characteristic of the cenobitieal life, sin separated us from God, our "seeking after God" takes 72 ; in the the character " same way as grace is applied to us in so far as live the life of a returning to God," 19-20; how important it is we of the to know the path by which Church, 73-74, so we enter into the current of the grace of religion we are to return to God, 20-21 ; it is only in so far as we live the " in following Christ that we find this path, 22. common life, 75-76 ; how one can excommu- nicate" I. himself : by unfaithfulness, ; himself — Jesus is the only Way : 77 by making singular, 78. by His teaching, 22-23 ; bv His example, »-**. f V. 23-25. — Mutual relations between the members of the monastic family : , II- Christ's charity, obedience, respect, 78-80. — mediation : by His Sacrifices, He delivers us from sin VI. Stability and damnation, 25-26 — likewise attaches monks to their cloister, 80 ; how ; reconciles us with God, 26-29 ; His merits they ought and satisfactions are ours, 29. to love their abbey, the abbatial church and its altar, III. Christ 81; to venerate their Founder, 82-83. — Jesus, possessing in Himselt Divine life and the pienitude of grace, is the Fount of every grace needful for us, 30-32. IV. — The essentia] truths which apply to salvation are likewise II. to be understood of monastic " STARTING POINT AND TWO-FOLD perfection ; Jesus, the Religious" pre-eminently, the Example of the perfect religious, 32 ; how the CHARACTER OF MONASTIC PERFECTION religious hfe constitutes a state of perfection, 33-35 ; the degree of this perfection is to be measured by the degree of our union with Christ, 35-36. V. — Our Faith, the Victory over the World. 87-105 V - Benedictine Rube is „ "P*** impregnated with these truths, 36 ; its Chnstocentric " Faith in Christ's Divinity, foundation of the monastic life as of character, ; Christ 37 must be everythingJ b "to the monk, 38-39. Christian life, 87-88. I. — The extent of this faith in Jesus Christ: for the Christian,

89 ; for the monk, 90 .; how it enables us to overcome the world, 90-91. III. The Abbot, Christ's — Representative. . . 40-62 II. — How precious this victory is : Christ purchased it with His

Blood. 91 ; it makes us participate in His Divine life, 92-93 ; how Analogy between the Church founded by Christ and the monastic the supernatural life transcends the natural life, society, 40-43. 94. HI. Faith, religious perfection, 94-95 ; it explains L The Abbot holds — principle of . — the place of Christ in the monastery, " 43 and ; the deifying light" which ne must intimate maintains the monastic life, 95-96 him as Pastor, nourishing his flock with divine illumines the life of the child of God, 97-98 ; St. Benedict wishes the knowledge and doctrine, 45-47. whole life of the monk to be thus enlightened, 99. 446 CONTENTS CONTENTS 447 IV. — To live by faith, 100 ; spiritual stability resulting from this sin 18 and attachment to sln 101 ; despite the assaults of the world and the devil, ' in order to b 102. ScS^^S* * »««4 V. — Exercise of the virtue of faith, 103-105.

VI. — Monastic Profession 106-120 In order to be a monk, it is necessary to be incorporated in the monastic *^ society by religious profession, 106. tb^h^f^l^ofS s* Sftf&Z** I. Monastic profession is a promise, e — a solemn engagement 107-108 b h S Ufa I5 59 ' why St. Benedict unites it to the Sacrifice of the Altar, 108 S ~iair^eX^ o?Sa^ ; charac- ' 595 cnantvcSl l6 ' S. ddoes V - teristics not prevent joy, 160. ° ; of Christ's immolation : • a holocaust worthy of God its IV H th e Spir t of plenitude, 109 ; offered through love, 11b. ~7 comP«nction * 1 °^ . | makes us stronz aeainst 0n I " H- — How the immolation of P l62: r°le aDd UtiHty °f the altar reproduces that of the ' temP^tion insplrftuaTlife! Cross, no; in His Sacrifice, Christ x6T, i64. is our Model, III ; by Profession- the monk offers himself V. — The arms with which we to God as £. holocaust, must combat 112. temptation : watchfulnesswau-muiness, 164-165 recourse . X Uni n of this holocaust with the ; to Christ, 166-167. .. F" ~ ~ Sacrifice of Jesus renders it pleasing to God, VI Mean of acquiring 113 ; to separate oneself from all compunction : prayer, that is created in i TT i 167-168 : the con- order to cleave to alone, templation of the sufferings of God 114, Jesus, 168-170 ; Christ's tender and love for mercywe«.y ~~ lessines brought to the soul by Profession sinners, 170-179. „ ^ ? ; it is a second Baptism it causes all ; our actions to participate in the virtue of relitrion ' 115 ; is a source of joy, 116. IX. V. Necessary — Self-Renunctatlon. — to remain constantly faithful to the promises we 172-190 have sworn to keep, 117-118 ; how it is pleasing to God and profitable Acts of Christian self-renunciation to our souls to renew our Profession daily, should correspond to sincere 1 19-120. compunction, 172. £t beloved Christ VII. — The *' Instruments " 7 to pass through suffering before entering of Good , tr,h. Works. . 121-147 into Hisw-^glory. although 173 ; we have solidarity with Christ in Hil sufferings, Religious Profession we are doomed to suffer • inaugurates the true monastic life 121 for very different reasons, 174 I. — Necessity of good works, necessity of renunciation in order to expiate 122 ; in what the spiritual art consists. our sins and assure our I2 I2 perseverance, 4 .how St. Benedict wishes to see 174-175 ; to imitate Christ : thought of St. 3; it exercised by his monks, 12s, Benedict 176 nstrumen*s wherewith ~How we should practise this he furnishes his" spiritual • renunciation/176 ; a) mortifications „?: 7~i[ , workshop", 126 ; to be used imposed by the Church with discretion, 127-128. ; the reason why they have a special value T empl° th possessed by no other expiation, ° y ^cording to the diversity of stages through 177 ; how St. Benedict puts this JS5; ;Z , !? truth into which the soul passes : the practice, 178. \ labour of conversion 129; progress and in faith Ilr love, 130 ; state of perfect - — b) Mortifications inherent charity, 130-! 31 to the monastic state : common lab 0f life, precepts of St. Benedict, ,°"/ the soul is a work of co-operation 178-179 ; fidelity to our engagements, *>,f£- : God is the FirstT^tlAuthor of its progress, 1 81-182. ; 131 ; insistency with which St. Benedict throws light on this truth^ Iv-. c) Practises of penance left to private ; 132-133 its initiative, ; consequences : the importance — 182-183; of remaining united to Christ, essential condition here laid by St. Benedict, 134; the soul is secure down 183 ; discretion to againstb dis! be couragement, 135-136. kept in outward mortification, 184; inward renunciation, 185; T e dangCr ther to accept willingly ™uld be in placing all perfections in merelv whatever God sends us that is painful, 186. ™£,3 ^ / ' v 3 °^Vard bSOrVanCe - — Practices of renunciation only constitute a means; the spirit " ° bC ZtZZL%7^39%l ' ^ of St. Benedict on this subject, ^ 186 ; their value derivesfrom their union with Christ's l0Ve: Ilberty sufferings, 187-188 ; what the fruit of renunciation will be * and Charity ' towidToSS! filUg."*** ^ W for us, 189-190. VII. How the vu-tue f — fortitude is necessary in Order to abide thiulne 5 I42 ".I44: ' the °bservance of the Rule l X. . makesmJ£ £«™V?strong souls, to — Poverty ...... 191-208 145 ; exercise oneself constantlyy in this virtuevirtue, with gaze fixed on Christ, 146-147. The soul that seeks God must renounce every creature, material goods first of all, 191-192. A. I. THE WAT OF ABNEGATION —; The monk can not possess anything as bis own, 193, why St. Benedict (Reliquitnus omnia) is so exacting on this point, 194. *!• — How the monk must . hope to receive all things from the Abbot,A 195-197 1 the holy Lawgiver allows the monastery to possess, VIII. — Compunction of heart 148-171 197 ; the use to bo made of these possessions, 198. Sin, obstacle HI- — Poverty in material abnegation, between the soul and God, does not consist only 198 ; 148-149; necessity of the the practice of this virtue inseparable from hope : the soul desires ;; 44S CONTENTS CONTENTS 449 no other possession except God, ; 199 it looks to Him for the eraccs Christ, in order to come to 5 God 253 ; submission needful to its sanctification, 200. to the Church 2 «- a « II. Obedience is hkewise for S _ the IV. — Not to allow ourselves to be monk the way that "to held back by trifles in our ascension how far this God" towards 255-256 ; virtue extends for him 256-2.58 God, 201 ; to imitate our Lord, the Model of Poverty 201-202- 1 1- S Bencdic deep aspect *> lofty ?°"cept of obedience, "258 of poverty in Christ's inner life r ^- ; the whole : His Humanity has no" of Benedictine^ r' perfection proper personality, consists of being riven to Brf 203-204 ; how to resemble on S g d ISwlthout Him this point, 204- reservation, through obedience, 259-260 * IV" — Why the holy Patriarch calls this " *oa entirely "poor in spirit" lets . obedience a Eood"- aJ'^Z,?^ }. Christ live in it and bonum obedienhae 260-261 ; the value that actmtv 205-206 Divine blessings obedience givesb to the ' ; showered upon it. actions of the monk, 261-262. 20-208 HoW onstitut 3 for him an infallible Y-.TV , *5f "^ ? ? means of acquiring perfection, 263-264; our Lord's XI. — Humility. words to St. Gertrude. 265 uallties f bed»?n ce, ...... 209-249 °. 265 : a) it T-h °} .? should be supernatural, accomplished m a spirit of faith, 265-266; God desires to should make us see in communicate Himself to our • souls, 209-210 oride is every circumstance .Christ in the person of the Abbot, t0 267 268 *• diviae outponri*gs* VII. In what manner '^» — we must understand our Bles'sed Father's S£?SK&L£25r *" words -.ahenojudtao ambulare, 269-270 ; nderlying eason whv fruitfulness of this obedience . God resists the proud, faith, „f +iT"t3Y / 212-21* parable embued with 270-272 ; its greatness. 272-274. Y111 r Obedience must be upheld by hope: God never 2i5; av° —M faits ** wai °f °ur **** ^ d°-> one who obeys Him, 274-275. s^xfr IX - c) St. Benedict L — wishes above all that our obedience should BC e iCt baSCS the s Wtnal proceed - Ufe on humility, from love, Jesus Christ i3 2i8 P 275 ; our Model, 276-278 ; to accept Ws^S7Pt „?f S"th,s VlrtueK 2I - ^ture of for love 9J humility, 220 ; in of Him the immolations of obedience, thetheiJh^f™™hght from on high,v ^ 278-279. we see the place due to it, 221-222: X. — How the spirit of obedience may be impaired, 280-282 • what 3 a ,B" re ereilce towards God as God thinks " . the root of sins of militv Y of hu- disobedience, 282-283 ; the" evil of murmuring T-? w^* S Xt t0 & ' * coatemPlare God's perfections in 283-286. Se/to? stren^^?,hu ^ ^>"4"«5 according to St! XI. ; Benedict, To safeguard the of isan aStSnfcn, 1 it — good obedience and seek after it eagerly, deep reverence and absolute 286 to unite ourselves mSST confidence, ; daily to Jesus in His obedience, 288-289, as assified by St - Benedict, 228 i«t d^Je^S^^T^ /2 ; B. THE LIFE OF UNION WITH CHRIST "^ : e ee 0perly s eakin monastic P K : 3'" degree, 4*" (,..et secuii sumus te) 2 2 ? JI rI 231 ; degree, 3J-' 3 dl^gre 232 '2 6tn * ^ f* 33 : degree, 233-234 *7» VT i + I deeree Vu3 n r hUlnility itS n CeSs!ty ' 2 tht'file 23 f p ' 35; £fdegreet 236337S,7:s^St^spuit^o ddeej reverence l XIII. — The Opus Dei, Divine Praise. .. . 291-S09 : that characterised St. Benedictf 238 ' di,V G°d S SiftS d, ; W4t God has made all things for His glory, 291-192 ; things are of value ^^^»^%^. only according Sl- "* ° f humilit it disposes to the measure in which they procure this glory, 292 abundant of f- y the soul to receive the how the Divine Office tends directly to procure it, 292 ; St. Benedict justly calls it the Opus Dei, 293. I. — Ultimate basis of the excellence of the Divine Office: the the con- ^^oS^?^^^^^-^-^-^ canticle of the Word, in sinu Palris, 294-295 ; continued, upon earth, the source of h> by the Word ; n^'jesu^ f^sfS$£%&£2£ Incarnate, 295-297. JJJ II. — Christ has given to the Church, His Bride, the mission of per- petuating eaC iD His canticle ; by Him, and with Him, the Church is introduced 246 ; the more the soul **«*<. led^esltS wefcT mfa KT if' into the presence of the Godhead, 297-298. C''^e nioro werful grace within it.lS;S4 s P° ^ ^klf^WMkES the humble Soul sharc, III. — The Church associates all her children in this praise, 298 248-249. in His heavenly exaltation, the chosen souls to whom she entrusts a more important share in this mission, 299; the Divine Office surpasses every other prayer in value XI*- —Bonum, obedientiae. and efficacy. 250-290 IV. — Through the heart and voice of man, the Divine Office becomes the this hymn of all creation, 300-301 ; it is through Christ that hymn rises up to God; the Gloria Patri; the Opus Dei our most precious inheritance, 302-303. C V. — The Divine Praise constitutes a perfect homage of the virtues b b C h raanity t0 - Father by His 2 52':7ec obedience, of faith, ; ; these praises give ecessarye^at fo^?vetor everyrl 303 of hope, ; of love, 304-305 how ChristianCh H to unite^ their 304 obedience to that of pleasure to God, 306. ' : : 450 CONTENTS CONTENTS SufFcli 451 akeS 0f the Divine ffice a veritable . ° sacrificlum Objective Unites,;.3vT«306-307 ^^God's *• — basis of this • ; praises sung at the foot of the Cross, abandonment ih» tv. 308. mB ' without God. we can do ' nothing, 37 T%£h Hfc ™° m'™ W CaU d XIV. things, 375; how God's will tow^ards us i? ° a11 — The Oinis Del, fafn of ^ ? , Means of Union with Paternal love, God 310-386 manifestations of this love. 376 • 375; to ribandaDandon ourselves The Opus wills our sanctification, to God Who Dei is likewise a means of union with God 377: cation. and of sanctifl. 3:0-311 **• — This spirit of • . how this abandonment is fn f™,„,i L , . ; truth applies. to the children of St Benedict" the Rule of St, Benedict, hlgh de "ree in 378 ; in the conceJ tw k° ? , ° f p5wrtjr of humility, ^ ' 378 ; 378-37' of ; obedience! So ^ ' I °f °d S ' ^ G ** fervouri heIps th -SSfitS?fSKSJ 383^^ ~ Tg^iv:^7zxTs * £KKy& DiVinC °ffice Us «» opportunity "P °n Chnst the ^ of - most perfect prSisTng^rs^ ^ example of abandonment 388^389 V.' he Divi e ffice How pleasing the spirit of •* f°rms the best means, — abandonment in to r^ . oneoafti^with ?h°V o 9 of makingg us continual * Christ. 3.1 7-31.8 simplicity homage of faith, of ; and safety of the sorritual iiS 389 ; hone. love ,0 * for souls nourished Y spintual life 390™ ?«92 by the Liturgy, to WhlCh G°d hCapS Up0D SouIs 319. g' given'Xliy to Him • ~~ dispositions for the good' HefetaJ,leads «rthem by sure ways to the , *Y* accomplishment summit E • + of the Ofiuv n*4- o perfection m™ encompasses them with special protection, 395 TrSkeT*«««ses memthem tastetelte peace and joy, 395-396. ™

XVII. - Good Zeal. 397-427 The life of prayer and union with God. source of zeal, 397-398. nde ed by St 5nedict: its " ? different forms bitterleal S Pharil^ r excessive 398-3°9: and unquiet zeal. 399-400. II Pn4rS nf J^h 1 of good zeal in regard to our »i iivr" brethren in the cloister- a) respect,f 400 this respect XV. — Monastic ; in nowise stands in the way Prayer. love 400-401 7 of Jrateraalfraternal 337-371 ; what our affections ought to be, 402. W b atlenCe mu a to support 0iDg given fa '«« of % each others' failings and y «* prayer. infirmi^ L^- J I^^SLfh ,^ 4°2 4°3 admirable^ condescension w wf t^?' of St. Benedict manifested hOW in this * 4°£4 4 the Rule is a reflection 0,55. £ °<. V of the GoVpeh Exam lc *""£? P of this P^ience and loving-kindness, 404-405Jo^nc^to imitate vfJtioT^ profit, ; our Divine Model. 405-406. by the means of sanctification to us. 341. given C :Pl pta d in rendering service, : 407 ; characteristics of phIrf+,7cnanty in.. li, ^ ? ^ h the lives of the lives of the Saints, Q B1 d 408-409 ; to see Christ Ie*™es of in our piety ™a ^?£j lT %*? P™y*'-- *™ brethren: "Give, and it shall be given unto yon," Z™ v 409-410. ' ~ faults against charity : faults of P heart . weakness, 410 ; the fostering ' knowledge ot things of faith. ' ^ 3 « 4 : of the coldness or resentment, 345-346 411 ; how such failings in charity hinder spiritual a progress, 412 ; fraternal charity 1 1 the subject of the last discourse iv: 1 6-**- o: jesus =S S before His death; ultimate recomendation of m^S^K 4 ?^? ftp**lth shouldir v St. Benedict's enlightened. • ^? seek to be Rule, 350 « T to ilntTrSln*. 413. pu* us lb L in coJtict ° *"«* VI; "~ H°w the exercise of S &£{ myTterU^S ^^ ., good zeal ought to extend to the Commu- nity taken as a whole, 4x3 ; to love our monastic family and desire its spiritual welfare, 414 ; to safeguard the observances therein established, 4*5- trans " & **• — From the cloister, monastic zeal overflows UM^1^1^^*™^ boyond ; divers manifestations of this zeal: intellectual labours, 416; the education o* v outh, 417; hospitality, the care of souls, tra- 3 e ltCtl ° dlmna in the 417-418; 419-420; 363-367. ' Holy Scriptures, ditional devotedness of monks to the Roman Church, 420-421 ; the Jove of God, the furnace where the flame of zeal is enkindled, 421-422 ; lor the monk, the exterior exercise of this zeal hap its bounderies set of Prayer. it oy 369 ; is the norma^T^ obedience, 423. •X • — ^° maintain this holy ardour, we must love Christ Jesus XVI. -The Spirit of witn an absolute Abandonment to God's Will love: Christo omnino nihil praeponanl, 423; this 372 396 Jove is expressed The spirit of above alt by acts of complacency and admiration abandonment is one of the r u r L°rd, purest forms of ~ 424-425 ; the seeking after His companionship. 425 j Jove, 373. i°.the ? , fulfilling of His will, 426. ' ; 452 CONTENTS

XVIII. - The Peace of Christ. 428-443 Jesus Christ, the unique Ideal of the monk, 428 ; the rift of nea™ to souls sums up the whole of Christ's work in regard to us • peace 42a completes the whole harmony of ' the monastic life, 430-431 ANALYTICAL INDEX I, ,~ Pcac e te thc tranquility of order, . : 431 ; this peace, of which destroyed the harmony, is restored by Christ, 432 ; in Him alone Abandonment. See Conference ANSELM e peace : such is the order (S»), tt U? established by God 4*%. J* XVI, pp. 372-396. 350. e c?°form ourselves to this Apostolate, exercised «,„ f,~ -I divine order through faith in Abbey. See Monastery. by the 1Vin1 3 Divine Office. 1 : this faithif £t is ' 435 to be Practical 325-327; how r?nrf?r Sr*- must su° Abbot, his discretion, 50-52 render us to^ Htm^in perfect ; cen- monks devote submission and deep adoration, tralisation themselves to it 436 of power in his in the nchang*n Peace enjoyed by the cloister, sq . F S soul thus 413 . ; out Chritl 7Z. surrendered to hands, sq. ; his SeCl re 64 power for siae thc against the attacks of the devil - monastery, 'J ™ i aQd the world 4*7 life, 419 sq temptationsS^J 66 ; must provide for the Art, and sufferings do not impair this peace, reproduction of an ideal 438 ; nor Vet needs of all, ' past sins, neither 7 195 ; holds the 123, 439 ; does death trouble it any more, 440 place of Christ, sq. us 265 ; see AUGUSTINE * k God t0 vc us this S»ft of peace, (S'). 8, 12, 17, „J;- VT ^ & 44 ifhow St Be- Conference III, pp. 40-62. 130, 131, 132, r o, i eVei7thine inhiS RUk ta 4 147, , otlniktaf us'find ABRAHAM, 329, 390. 54 x6s, V 176, 178, 180, 2ii, K^I^S 214, 235, Actions, value they derive from 2 r 4 . 243, 267, 293, 298, 307, the motive power that deter- 3o8, mines 315, 322, 331( 357i 43Ii them, 2-3 ; to perform 432, 434. 435, 437. 438. 439, them in union with Christ, 1 34-i35 merit ; given to them AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY by obedience, 261 ; must pro- (S*), 407. cure God's glory indirectly or directly, 292. BABELON (M. E,), 416. Activity must be directed by faith, BEDE (Ven.), 80. sq- governed 97 ; by Christ BENEDICT (S«), his kindness, . 205-208 ; 436. 52-53 I his breadth of view, 59- Admiration for the Person and 60; is exacting in the matter mysteries of Christ, 424-425. of obedience, 61 ; to rejoice Adoption, our divine adoption in to be his children, 82-83 ; his Jesus Christ, 92, 94 ; the child resistance in temptation, 165 of ; . God lives by faith, 100-101 ; character of his asceticism, must reproduce Christ's fea- 186 ; his strictness in regard tures, 124-125 ; all his acti- to poverty, 194 sq. ; his con- vity directed by grace. 220- cept of humility, 219, 225 sq. 208; he is the brother of Christ, his spirit of reverence and 222 ; magnificence of the Divine adoration, 238 ; seeks, in his Plan, 224; attitude of the Rule, to divest man of what- child of adoption in regard to ever is an obstacle to the God, 342 ; God's love manifest- Divine action. 263-264 ; makes 1° our adoption, ate 376. of the Divine Office the prin- Affections, must be supernatural, cipal work of the monk, 293, 401, 3011-312 ; man of prayer, 339- Aim, unique aim of the Christian: 340 ; his discretion in the union with 5-6 God, matter of prayer, 348 ; his ALPHONSUS OF LIGUORI (S«) wonderful indulgence, 403-405; v " 300. blessings granted to those who Altar, to love the altar of the live according to his spirit, church of our outside monastery, 81- 415 ; his zeal for souls 82 ; our heart an altar whence the monastery, 419. See Rulo should arise the incense of sa- of S' Benedict. crifice, :88. Asceticism. "Christo- AMBROSE Benedictine (S«) 7 centric " character of St. Be- ANOELO OF analogy FOLIGNO (B1.J, 169; nedict's Rule, 36 sq. ; * 2o 5. 231, 23 8, 245, 246. between the Church and the ;; ; ; ; ANALYTICAL INDEX 454 ANALYTICAL INDEX 455

monastery, 42 ; discretion, 50- 306, 315, 340, 350, 393, 408. Community. See .Cenobitioal So- at the feet of Christ, 52 ; width of view and the 423- 165 ; he ciety, Common Life. 1 tempts us against obedience, strictness with which he re- CECILIA (S .), 365. Communion (Holy), 411. 284 ; not to fear him, quires fidelity, sq. ; stabi- 437. 59 Cenobitioal Society, constituted Compunction, 327, 347, 348, 357. Devotion, in what it consists, lity, 72 sq. ; the spirit of under the authority of tho See Conference VIII, pp. 148- 332-333- faith permeates the whole Abbot, 1-42 its 4 ; analogy with 190. Discouragomcnt, 135-136, Rule, 98-99 ; monastic Pro- the Church, 42-43, sq. 246, 63 Confidence in God and in the fession linked to the Sacrifice 68-69. See .439- Monasticism ; see merits of Jesus Christ, 89-90, Discretion, characteristic of the of the Altar, 10S ; the spiritual IV, Conference pp. 63-84. 240-241, 247, 304, 343, 435- Benedictine Rule, ; art according to St. Benedict, Charity towards God. See Love 50-52 to 436, 439. See Abandonment, be kept in outward mortifica- 122 sq. ; part which St. Bene- towards God. Hope. tions, 184 ; discretion of which dict attributes to God in the Charity (fraternal), 79-80, 141- Contemplation, how the St. spiritual divine Benedict gives proof on the work, 131-135 ; part 142, 160, 179-180. Sea Confe- Office disposes the soul subject of love, 138-142; the Rule, to of prayer, 348. rence on Good Zeal, pp. 397- contemplation, source of fortitude, 315, 317-318, Distractions during the Divine 143-146 ; 427. 359 sq. ; what it is, sq. Office, compunction, 161-162 358 367 335 ; during mental ; St. Be- Charity towards the poor, 198. sq. prayer, 368. nedict's idea of renunciation, Charges to be fulfilled in tho Conversion of Manners, 149-150, Distrust of God, 176, 179-180, is 135-136. 183-186; he Monastery : how one ought to i93- Divine Office, its primary rank in exigent in regard to poverty, acquit oneself of them, 413- Co-operation that we ought to Benedictine Life, 68-69; source 194 ; inner life based on hu- 4*5- bring mility, to the labour of our of illumination and of prayer, 217, 238, 243 ; St. Be- Christian, must offer himself with sancidfication, 131 sq. 351-353- See Conferences XIII nedict's concept of obedience, Christ, 11 1-1 12, Alter Chrisius, Creatures, sq., how to use them, and XIV, pp. 291-336. 258 269, 275 ; the Opus 124-125, his submission to the all Dei 183-184 ; must praise God, Dryness at the hour of prayer. in the mind of St. Bene- Church, 254 sq. See Adoption. dict. 300 ; they praise Him through 368. 293, 311-312, 319 ; St. Be- Church unites us to Christ, 73-74; the heart and lips of man, 300- nedict and prayer, sq. 339 body of Christ, 176 ; expiations the 302. Rule and the spirit of the Church imposes on her Education of Youth, 417. abandonment, Criticism, 56. See Murmuring. 378-380 ; St.Be- children, 177-178 ; obedience Ejaculatory Prayers, taken from nedict and zeal, 398 sq. that we owe her, 381 the Divine Office, 134, 315. 254, ; DAVID, 159-160, 167, 282. Benedictine peace, 442-443. sings the Divine Praise in stmt Epistles, letters of the Apostles, Death, will not trouble the soul See Abbot, Benedict (S«), dis- Patris, 297-298 ; associates the 365. cretion, who has sought God alone, Honk, , Monastery, faithful in this praise, Exceptions granted to our bre- 298-300 440-441. Cenobitioal Society, Stability, makes Christ's mysteries to thren, not to look upon them be Decadence of monasteries, what Common Life. lived over again through her severely 406. leads to it, 415. BERLIERE (Dom), 417. Liturgical Cycle, 352- Excommunication (Ecclesiasti- 317-319 ; DELATTE (Dom), 82, 83-84, ; monastic life, BERNARD (S«), 13, i , 353' 35& ; to unite ourselves cal), 74 in 76 7 214, 215, 183, 285, 400. 217, 242, 280, 287. 326, to all the intentions of the sq. 361, DELELOE (Mother), 30, 225, 417, 422. Church, in the prayer of the 318. 322. BERNARDINE OF liturgy, ; devotedness of SIENA (S«) 324 Dependence that we ought to FABER (Father), 159, 171. monks to the Roman Church, . 325- have upon God, 251 ; to let Failings, not to reveal those of BLOSIUS 420-421. (Ven.), 13, 24, 29, 39, Christ reign in us, 205-208,- Superiors, 56-57. See Vices. Church of the 187, 188, 242, 245, 281, 41V Monastery, love in obedience, 436. 438, 44 2 - Faith, necessary 437- due to it from the monks, 81- Divine Desires of the soul, 314, 357. 265 sq. ; gives to the 83- BONIFACE (S»), 420. Detachment, must be absolute Praise all its meaning, 303 Cloister, the monk ought to lovo of the BONOMO (Bl. J. M.),. 11, 140, in order that the soul may find makes the greatness to abide in it, 72. See. Monas- 274. 306, 348, 361, 385. God fully, 8-10, 191, 199-200, Divine Office to be understood. tery. in BOSSUET, 201 ; first aspect of holiness, 326-327 ; prayer of union 10, 13, 37, 97> I38, Cluny, Abbots and monks of, 49, 114 ; to detach ourselves from faith, 359 ; in trials, 385-389, 141, 168. 301, 302, 365, 387, 421. 388-389, all self-love, self-judgment and See Conference V, pp. 87-105, 399, 425. Collects said at the Divine Office, Je"sus self-will, 204, 257, 438 ; de- See Confidence, Christ BRUYERE (Dame C), 355. 314- tachment in charges and occu- (faith in the Divinity of Jesus Common Life, how dangerous it pations, in affections, Christ and in His merits). CASSIAN, 38, 160, 278 ; 353. is to exempt ourself from it, 401, 424. See Poverty. Falls, uncombated vices prepare CATHERINE OF SIENA (St), seq. 9, 75 ; sufferings it bears in falls, Devil, how he is overcome, 102 ; the way for grave 149. 76, 103, 155. 185, 18,7, 251, its train, 180, 185. See Singu- 228-230. See. drives us to sadness, X35-136 ; Fear of God, Reve- *55. 262, 264, 274, 17.7, 284, larity. to dash down his suggestions rence, ; ;:

456 ANALYTICAL INDEX ANALYTICAL INDEX 457

FESTUGIERE (Dom), 38, 83, towards us, 266; has made all not to 311, 415 ; place it in INNOCENT XI, 351. 100, 161, things 263, 317, 322, 333. for His glory, 292 ; His outward observance, 136 sq. Intercession so much the more Fidelity to our engagements, 117 ways are not our ways, 291, nor in mortification only, 186 powerful in that the soul is the sq., 180-181, ; to the 340-341 382, 392-395 ; his Will full of to await from God the. graces more united to God, 50 ; those observance of the Rule, 138- love in relation to us, necessary to attain holiness, 375 ; whom the Church deputes to 139 ; in the fulfilling of God's how He manifests this love 300 ; what hinders souls from intercede, will, 3S1, 299, 325. 426. See Common to us, ; loves us in 376 the advancing in holiness, 211 ; by Lifo. measure that we love Christ, what way we attain to it, JEROME (S«.), 219, Filial Piety, one of the 237, 365, primary 376 ; what our attitude ought consists 261, 264 ; in knowing JESUS CHRIST, revelation of qualities of obedience, 342, to be in face of His will, 380 sq; Christ, in imitating Him and God, 22-23, 352, 364 ; posses- Fortitude that faith in our Lod the means whereby Divine being united to Him, 317, 353, ses Divine Life in its fulness, gives us, 101-102 ; virtue of Wisdom willed to redeem the co-operation 355 ; our in the 25-26 ; First-Born of every fortitude, 143-144 ; requisite in world, 382 ; His fatherly pro- work of perfection, creature 377, 380; 73 ; how He overcame order to persevere in the mo- vidence; 383, 395 ; God wills holiness to which the, soul the world, 91-92, 437 ; our nastic life, 144 ; is acquired by our holiness, uses 383 ; indul- arrives by the way of holy predestination in Christ, 92-93, observance of the Rule, 145 sq. gence towards us, 403 ; gives abandonment, 392 ; faults a- 576; enjoys the Beatific Vi- FRANCIS of ASSIS1 (S»), 8, 197, Himself to us according to the gainst charity, obstacle to sion, 97 ; fidelity with which 199. measure we give ourselves to inward progress, 410, 411. See Christ fulfilled His mission, FRANCIS of SALES (S«), 160, our neighbour, 409-410 ; joy Grace, Seeking after God, Su- 118; image of the invisible 387- and rest that the soul finds in pernatural Life. God, 123 ; His loving kindness God, 434. " ", Holy Scripture, not to grieve for sinners, 170, 405 ; His love GASQOET (Cardinal), 39, 271. Gospel, makes Christ " " live again .nor extinguish the Holy for His Father, 180 ; His GAY (Mgr), 316. 297, before our eyes. Spirit, 152, 344; His action Humanity. has no proper per- Generosity, necessary in order to Grace, every grace comes from upon our souls during Divine sonality, 204 ; the" fear of God remain faithful to our engage- Christ, 30-32 ; action of grace Office and prayer, filles His soul, ; has only ments, 315, 319, 245 117-119, 180 ; in pen- in our sanctification, 131 sq. ; 354-356, 360 ; makes us under- will in the Word, 246 ; how ance, 201 ; in trials, 186, 188 ; different effects that it pro- stand the Holy Scriptures, 366. Christ praised His Father here in the sacrifices demanded by duces in ' souls, 210 ; God gives Hope (Virtue of), makes us con- below and said the Psalms, poverty, 201, 202 ; in the His grace ' abundantly to the sider God as our unique Good, 296, 321-322, 322 ; His affec- exercise of obedience, 279, 281; humble, • 217 ; without grace 199 ; to expect from Him the tions divinely human, 402 ; at the Divine Office, 306-309, we can do nothing, with it, all graces necessary to our sancti- considers as done to Himself 333 : the soul that gives all to things are possible, 222, 245, fication, 200 ; to keep hope in what is done to the neighbour, our Lord finds peace, 438. 374. 376-377- See Adoption, trials and difficulties, 232, 274, 407-409, 411, 418. GERTRUDE (S«), it, 120, 155, Supernatural Life. 390; homage of the virtue of Considered in His Passion 264, 267, 306, 408- 391, 392, GREGORY the GREAT (S*), 10; hope rendered to God in the the contemplation of His 409 ; 412- 440. 22. 27, 38, 42, 49, 50, 51, 59, recitation of the Divine Office, sufferings source of compunc- GOD, His different ways of being 112, 113, 122, 130, 142, IS5, 304. See Confidence. tion, 169 ; necessity of His present in the creature, 3-4 ; *59. 165, 189, 198, 199, 238, Hospitality that monks should Passion, 173; depth of His gives Himself to the soul that patience 257, 263, 288, 303, 340, 354, practise, 417-418. sufferings, 180 ; His seeks Him, 10-n, 192;. the abyss of His 357. 3d, 362, 364, 368, 404, HUGH (S'), Abbot of Cluny, 369. in outrages, 232 ; Divine Plan in regard to our- 407, 408, 416, 420, 422, Humility, eight degree of humi- humiliations, 246 ; His com- selves, 20-21 441. ; God, the Divine : prayer in the Gar- GREGORY VII (S*), 421. hty, 77-78 ; allied to compunc plaint and Artist, loves 145, His own image GUE den of Olives, 285, 387; love RANGER (Dom), 420, 427. punction, 154-155 ; given by i° us, 123; Author of the God to the soul in the prayer shown by Christ to His Father, soul's progress, 131 sq. ; will Happiness, tasted in of union, source of self- in His Passion, 307; His give God's ser- 481 ; Himself as our Reward in vice. See sorrowful canticle upon the Joy. surrender, 378 ; renders one Heaven. to 147; place our Heaven, will be our reward, indulgent towards others, 405- Cross, 308. beatitude 189 ; in God, 201 ; Divine God's there we shall be like to God, 406. See Conference XI, pp. Our Example: our desire to communicate Him- 123- 359; beata pacts pisio, 441. 209-249. Ideal, 23-24, 35, 77-78, self to our souls, 209-210; why '279 HEDLEY (Bishop), 49, 270 273. 124, 146, S^-SiS, 355, He " resists the proud ", seeking 212 HEMPTINNE 428 ; Model of our sq. (Dom Pie de),' 15. Imperfections. See Weaknesses, ; God gives .and preserves has given us Holiness, its supernatural cha- Miseries. after God, 15-16 ; our being, 221 ; is to of labour, be racter, 19-20, 132 sq., sq., Indulgence towards others, 403 the example 71 contemplated in 374 201- His perfec- its two elements, sq. perfect Model of poverty, tions, 114; to 223-225, 244 ; causes of patience, 232 ; of sanctify ourselves according to Infidolitios (Deliberate),the harm 202 ; men to act as His substitutes ; of obedience, the spirit of our Order, 116, they do to the soul, 117-118. humility, 245 :: ;. ;"; '

45§ ANALYTICAL INDEX ANALYTICAL INDEX 459

252-254, 260, 276-278 ; of holy- about God, the truths of faith relinguish everything in order his monastery, 80 sq. abandonment, 388-389. and the mysteries ; 413 sq 1 of Christ to follow Him, H3-114; 256, spiritual Our Pontiff workshop, 122 sq. and Mediator ; 349-350- 345. 372; makes all things light can possess, He alone brings us to God, 22 197 ; normal and ; easy, and 130, 181 ; motive habitual place efficacy of His sacrifice and of Labour, the law of the monk, of labour, 69 for our obedience, 275 sq. 410 the His : peace to be tasted mediation, 25-30 : charac- labour of monks, 69-72 " ; ser- how the monk ought to there, 44I - teristics 442( , of His sacrifice : wor- vices which monks 443 have ren- prefer nothing to Christ, laonk, is thy of God, 108-109 fixed in the slate of ; complete dered by their labours, 416. 423 sq. perfection, 34-35; his union 109 ; offered out of love, no ; LA C0L07.IBIERE (Ven. P. de Lnkewarmness, incompatible with Christ, Christ gives us a share in 35-36; should find la), 196. with compunction, 152, 159 ; all in Him, 36-39; love and His exaltation, 248 ; in His Lectio divina, made above all in how unworthy it is of the Sacred Humanity submission that he owes to He takes us the Holy Scriptures, at Divine Office, 339, 363- monk 333. the Abbot, 55-56, with Him in sinu Palris, 273 ; how 297 ; 367. he ought Mediator through our to hear his word, Whom Laughter, what is the kind of MABILLON, 144. 57-59 ; obey him, 59-61 praise rises up to God, ; the and laughter condemned by St. l Be- MAROARET MARY (S ), 56, monk's faith in Christ, 89-90 our prayers are offered to God, ; nedict 236-237, 362. 196. overcomes 302, has the world in order 323 ; come to reconcile Lent, 177-178. MARTIN (Dom Claud), 144. to fpllow Christ, 90-91 perfect us with God and bring peace LEO the ; GREAT (S».), 273. (In MARTVRIUS, monk, 408. Christian, faith to the world, 95 ; animates 429, 431-434. the Appendix of his Works.) MARY, Mother of God. See V'r- and explains his life, Efficient 96 ; ought Cause of all grace LEO XIII, 421. gin Mary: to see all things in the light 30-32 ; contemplation of His Liberty of heart, how it pleases MARY MAGDALEN OF PAZZI of faith, Person 98 sq. ; must renounce and of His mysteries, our Lord, rr>" in regard to (S«), 300. everything to follow Christ, source of grace, 317-319, 352- creatures, 184, 402 ; liberty of Mass, (Holy Sacrifice of theMass), 107, vivifying 146 ; to ofier himself as a 353 ; effect of His mind enjoyed by the Divine soul that celebrated by the Abbot sym- holocaust at his Profession, word, 366-367. acts out of love, ; of bolises the of 141-142 union the Com- in sq. ; to sanctify himself Our Subtitute, everything to the soul abandoned to God's munity, 62 ; reproduces the according to the Holy the Christian and the monk Rule, good pleasure, 395. Sacrifice of the Cross, 1 10-111 116, ought faith in His Divinity, 311, 415 ; to keep His me- Life of Prayer ought to be unceas- to renew one's rits, Profession at the observance, for love's sake, and His riches, 29-30, 89, ing with the monk, 33S-342, Holy Mass, ; the 240, 118 liturgy 138-142 ; to reproduce the 246, 433, 439 : what Christ 3 67-3 1 ; favoured 7 by the of the Mass, full of the spirit features of Christ, 146 ; for should be for the children of liturgical life, 356-358; what of compunction, love of St. Benedict, 156-157 ; how. Jesus, to embrace the 36-39, its 442-443 ; elements are, 361-367. we ought to live our Mass, 118; immolations of the monastic union with Christ gives value Liturgy, makes known the per- renders all glory fife, 181-182 to our deeds, to God ; how th? monk 134 ; to have fections of God, ' ; source . through Christ, : recourse 245 323 ; the kiss may live his Mass, 188 must to Him in temptation, of grace, 311 ; school of rever- of peace at Mass, expect all from the Abbot, 166-167 to let 430, : Him live and ence, 316; finds its support (S«), ; obedience gives value reign in us, 205-208, MAUR 272. 195-196 436, 438 ; in Christ Jesus, ; celebrates his the to lean upon 323 MECHTILDE (S*), 35-36/, r88. to actions, 261 ; monk Him in prayer' the Saints, 337 ; source of 264, 281, should always see Christ in ' love 322, 333-334, 386, 3°4, 323 that the monk illumination and prayer, 351- 412. the Abbot. 267-268 ; let him- owes to Christ, 425 «q 387, 356 ; provides JOB, us with formulas MECHTILDE OF MAGDEBOURG, self be guided by the Abbot. 163, 357. of prayer to Christ, See ; love his JOSEPH the PATRIARCH, 425. 325. 269 sq., 280 to 392- Church, Divine Office. absolute love 393- Miseries, acknowledged, call monastery, 4 14 ; LOTTIN (Dom), 224, Christ, 227, 244, forth God's mercy, 216 ; to which the monk owes to Joy, experienced by souls that 250. Christ, every- appropriate . sq. Jesus seek God to oneself the 423 ; only, .' 12-13 that is Love of God for us, ; Christ riches thing for the monk, gained by faith, 403 of Christ, 439.Sce Weak- 443. 104-105 ;' has given Himself to us out nesses. M0R1N (Dom), 69, 404. reward of generosity, 1 120 1 7, of love, 410. See Renunciation. which the soul finds MOLINOS, 351. Mortification. in God! Love towards God, motive power 130. is not Monnsticism,itsend, 5 sq. ; the MOSES, 274, 329. 394 ; incompatible of all outward with compunction, activity and perfect' development of our .Motive, its predominant influence 160-161 ; observance, 138-140 ; supreme the value of our actions, 2-3. differs from • adoption in Jesus, 32 sq. ; its in dissipation, 362 virtue, 242, ; joy tasted 316 finds its analogy with the Church, 42, Murmuring, the evil of murmur- by the soul aban- expression in the Divine Office, perfection ing, 56. 282 sq. doned to God's will, 75 ; of Christianity, 396 ; is 304-305 ; manifested in aban- not found apart from God, 95. 125. 127, 186, 256, 259, 434. donment to His will, (Canonical). 107. 391 ; 428 ; makes strong souls, 143 Novitiate principle Knowledge of zeal, 421-422. sq. which we should gain Love towards Christ, makes one Monastery, the monk's love for Obedience, St. Benedict uncom- ; ; . ; ; 460 ANALYTICAL INDEX ANALYTICAL INDEX 461 promising for all that concerns PETER (S»), 272. Recollection, necessary in l order it is obedience, 60-61 ; must vivify arranged PETER DAMIAN (S ), 258. to remain in order to Eain united to God, 128, peace, b the labour of the monks, 71-72; Pharisaism, what it is, 137, 442. 138, 361 ; makes us to live under the obey one another, 79 ; to 139. 187, 214-215, 417; the eyes of God, 367-370. See submit private mortifications bitter zeal of Lifo Sacrifice of which it is the of Prayer. Christ. See jCSu3 to the control of obedience, source, Christ. 398-399. Recreation, not to be absent from Saints, 1S3 ; obedience must be im- PIUS X, 311. mark to be found it, 405-406. in all mediate at the sound of the the saints, in Plaints, differ from murmuring, Religious. See spite of their bell, Monk. various 185 ; constitutes the characters, 338. zh Religious Life. SefiMonlr.Monas- S degree of humility, 231 Poverty, makes us practice aban- Sanctity. See Holiness. causes ticism. Seeking holy abandonment to donment, 378. See Conference after God, end and aim Religious Profession, inaugurates of be practised, 379. See Confe- X, pp. 191-209. monastic life, 67, 252, our monastic life, 259, rence 121 ; by XII, pp. 250-290. See 293. 2 .' requires Praise. Divine Office. Profession the 44 absolute Obediences which appear impos- monk gives his detachment, Prayer, necessity of prayer at the 191-192, 395 ; God liberty arid his whole being to sible to execute, 240-241, beginning of gives Himself to the soul 275, ever undertaking, God, to that 381. 257; remain. faithful seeks Him alone, *33-i34 J to pray with 443. See Con- com- to what we gave on the Observance (Outward), must be punction, day ference I, pp. x-18. 154-155 ; to have vivified of our Pro- fession, 270, 240, by love. 136-142 ; kept Self-love, 151. See recourse to prayer in time of second Pride. faithfully, the best of penances, 379 ; Baptism, 349. Sea Silence, constitutes temptation, 166 ; necessity one of the of Conference VI, 106-120. pp. best • 185 ; danger of breaches of prayer in order to obtain com- mortifications, 185 mark observance, Resistance to grace, unyielding- of 415. punction, humility, 237 ; inviolable at 167 ; and to obtain ness of the Obstacles to divine union soul ; danger of this the" Station", ought humility, 244. See Divine 321 ; necessary to be disposition, 151, 438. generously set aside, 149 Office; and Conference XV, in order to be united to God, sq. Respect, which ought to reign 361-363- _ PP- 337-371- among the members # Order that reigned in creation, Preaching, of a reli- Sin, hinders union with God, means employed by gious before sin, Community, 79-80, 400- sq. 431. God to save the world and 149 ; distinction to be made Orders (Religious) .their 401. between diversity, sanctify souls, 57. deliberate venial sin 186, Return to God, necessary for 67, 259 ; their union with Predestination and faults of frailty, 151.; sin in Jesus Christ 21, sinful the Church, man, 20, 148 ; is carried 75; to sanctify 73-74- has made man the enemy of oneself out in following Christ, according to the 21 sq. God, ; not to spirit Presence of God, ought to be by 432 trouble about of one's Order, renunciation, 189 ; by obe- past 116, 311, 415 habitual to the monk, 367-368. sins, 439. See Compunc- Origin, 366. dience, 256. See Recollection. tion. Ownership Reverence towards (Vice of). 193 sq. See Pride, how temptation subdues God, the only Singularity, 77 sq., 236. true attitude Poverty. it, " of the creature, Solitude, favours recollection, 163-164 ; why God resists 223 ; caused by contemplation the proud, " 212 sq. pride 361, 431 ; solitude of the soul, Parable of the Prodigal Son. ; of the Divine perfections, 152 does not accept reprimands, 224 ; 362 363 ; our Lord leads us of the Pharisee and Publican' source of humility as conceived into solitude that 231 ; urges us to hide our He may 214- by St. Benedict, 137. faults, 225 sq, 37S ;. speak to us, 232-233 ; seeks to 371. PASCAL, 140. ought to fill our soul during domineer and to make oneself Spiritual Life, its simplicity and Patience Divine in the midst of con- singular, Office, 317, 329 sq. sureness for souls living on the 236 ; makes one tempt and difficulties, during prayer, 231-232; commit the sin of Lucifer, 343. Liturgy, 319. See Fidelity, Mor- sister of obedience, Routine, how it is avoided, 275 ; to 247. See Humility. 104, tification, Holiness, Watchful- support mutually 335. our lail'icgs Protestants, wherein especially ness. and infirmities, REYLANDT (Dom), 402 sq., 406. lies the difference between 218, 219, Stability, characteristic of the PAUL (SO. 226, 207, o, 238, 263, ; 24 J;* 402> Catholics and Protestants, 254. 276, 354. Benedictine Life, 72-73 what 429 and passim. Rule Psalms, in them every form of of St Benedict, abridgment explains its importance, 73-75. Peace that self of " -surrendered souls Christianity, 1 ; its Chris- (Spin- .love towards God finds ex- States of Prayer. SeeW&ys , 396. See tocentric " -5PJ°y. Conference pression, character, ; tual). 304-305 ; they con- 37739 XVIII, pp. 428-443. shines by discretion, spirit of tain formulas of prayer -for all 50-51 ; Sufferings, how the Perfection (Benedictine), embued- consists our needs, 312-314; Christ with kindness and compunction makes us accept above all in obedience, spirit of 263. said the mercy, ; its in- them, ; necessity of suffer- Psalms, 322 ; to recite 53 159 See Holiness. fluence to them in union with Him, 322 throughout centuries, ings, 175 ; holy souls wish Perseverance ; (Virtue of), 82 ,* sufferings, needs to adapt our soul to the diffe- code according to which share in Christ's the virtue of fortitude, 143 sq.; rent sentiments we are to sanctify ourselves, 176 ; to receive from God's assured expressed in by renunciation, 174- "6, X that He sends them, 331. See Divine Office. 31 ; leads to perfection, hands the trials 175. value only PSEUDO-DENYS, 6. 380 ; pure reflection of the us, 186 ; are of Gospel, with 404 ; everything in through being united ; ; a6z ANALYTICAL INDEX ANALYTICAL INDEX 463

those of Jesus, 187 sq. ; per- only by renunciation, 189 others, 538-537- See Grace, Scriptures, missible to complain to God in union in prayer, 358-360 ; God . 362 sq. Miseries. Work. See suffering, 285 ; ordinary way unites us to Himself when we Labour. WOLTER (Dom Maur), to attain a high degree of have no longer any other will 417, 427. (the Divine), Word Exemplar Zeal, for God's glory prayer, 360 ; abandonment to than His, 288, 394-395. See and the of all creation, 92-93, 123 ; is good of souls, God in hours of trial, 384-386 ; Recollection, Life 0! Prayer. 397-398, 421- the Canticle eternally sung in to confide our sufferings to TJselessness, how it can creep into 422, 424 ; bitter and excessive stmt Patris, 294 ; in becoming zeal, Our Lord, 386-388 ; inevitable our life, 7-8. 398-400 ; good zeal to be Incarnate still remains the sufferings in prayer made in Vices, how the Abbot must cor- exercised towards our brethren Word, 295; by the Word-made- in the cloister, common, 306-309 ; do not rect them, 53-54 ; the harm 400-401 ; to- Flesh the Eternal Canticle is trouble the soul united to God, they cause to the soul, 128; wards the Community, 413 sq.; perpetuated in creation, 296. apostolic zeal of 438. 148-150 ; in what manner they monks, 416 Word of God, how it must be sq. Superior. See Abbot. must be repressed, 175, 185. heard, in the Holy Supernatural Life, its transcen- VIRGIN MARY, did not deny 57-59; dency over the natural life, God's graces in her, 239 ; lived 92-93 ; directed by the light in inward contemplation, 363. of faith, 97-98 ; to let Christ Vision (Beatific). See Heaven.

govern our activity, 205-208 ; Visits 0! God to the faithful and all supernatural good comes recollected soul, 76, 368. to us from God, 221-221. See Vocation (Religious), has its Adoption (Divine) Grace, source in God's love for us, Holiness. 40-41, 371. Vows, in what consists the vow " Temptation, we can overcome it of conversion of our man- " only through faith in Christ, ners 149 ; are established to procure 102 ; role of temptation in the the practice of the corresponding spiritual life, 161 sq., 394 virtues, 181 ; does not trouble the peace of' why the vow of poverty is a soul that trusts in Our Lord, not explicitly formulated in monastic 437-438- profession, 193 ; will form the matter of our That in all things, God may be glorified. TERESA (S»), 9, 14, 155, I56> judg- 192, 239, 244, 264, 289- ment at the last day, 287. See 245, Rule of S. Benedict. 29°, 335. 345. 37*. 388, 402, Profession. 414, 418, 422. TERTULLIAN, 28. Watchfulness, to put away what could separate THOMAS of AQUINAS (S<), 3, -us from God, 112, Il6, 122, Z2T., I43, I44, 165. I48, 210, 213, 2J5, 2l8, 220, Ways (Spiritual), how the three states 221, 223, 224, 227, 228, 230, of prayer are not com- 231, 234, 235, 237, 24O, 24I, pletely separated from each other, 6 2 42, 243, 250, 279, 329, 413, 34 -347. a) the 4?9, 431. 434, 442. labour of conversion, Tepidity. See Lukewarmness. 129, 131, 148-150, 347-349- b) progress Trent (Council of), 95, 143, 222, in faith and love, 229, 316, 412. 104-130 ; the illuminative way, Trinity (Blessed), procession of 349 sq. the Divine Persons, 203. c) the state of perfect charity, 1 3i.24i, Truth, to be true with the Abbot 363 ; the life of union, s and with 35 . 369 ; contemplation and oneself, 233 ; to see things as God sees them, 291- transforming prayer, 358 sq. " Weaknesses, the 292 ; is the science of the more we feel " Saints, 394. ourselves weak, the more we are strong, 247 ; we cannot do anything without the help Union with God, procures joy, of grace, 374-375 ; not to be 104-105 ; can ; 369 be obtained astonished at the weakness of