States of Christian Life and Vocation, According to the Doctors and Theologians of the Church/Part 1/Section 2/ARTICLE I. The State of Tendency to Perfection, or the Religious State/CHAPTER IV. ADVANTAGES OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE.
CHAPTER IV. ADVANTAGES OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE. edit
BECAUSE the religious state, in addition to the observance of the commandments, requires also the keeping of the counsels, one might be exposed to the delusion of believing that salvation is in that state more difficult and less secure, on account of the new obligations which have to be assumed. But Suarez takes upon himself to put this prejudice to the rout. The addition of a countermure to the walls of a fort, even though increasing the bulk of the building, protects it none the less. This is just what the state of perfection does when to the commandments it superadds the obligation of the counsels. First of all, there are in that state fewer occasions for violating God s law.[1] This would be the place to speak of the dangers of the world. The holy doctors of the Church have done so with their habitual vigorous logic and commanding eloquence. We shall limit ourselves to a few short quotations from them. Let us hearken, first, to the grand voice of St. Chrysostom : " Do not believe," says he, " that the state of the world is better than that of a city ruled over by a ferocious tyrant : it is still worse than that. It is no man, but the devil himself, that tyrannizes over all the earth, letting loose everywhere his destructive hordes. I see him stationed in a citadel overlooking the world ; he issues his impious orders, and everywhere spreads corruption and anarchy. Worst of all, he separates the soul of man from her God. What tyranny, what captivity, what slavery, what war, what shipwreck, what famine, would not be preferable to such evils ! "[2] Then addressing worldlings, whose example and language stifle virtue, he continues : " You do not content yourselves with extolling maxims in opposition to those of Jesus Christ, you furthermore bestow on vice attractive names. Thus, for instance, frequenting theatres is fashion ; enriching one's self by every kind of means is to secure independence ; desire of glory is greatness of soul ; insolence is frankness ; extravagance is charity ; injustice is courage. After that you travesty virtue, by presenting it under names that make it ridiculous. You call rusticity temperance, imbecility justice, frugality meanness; and, what is most frightful, to your words you add the teaching of example."[3]
" The atmosphere of the world is poisonous for the soul," says St. Liguori. " The ways of society, bad example, bad language, are so many baits that attract us to earth, and draw us away from God. Every one is aware that dangerous occasions are the ordinary cause of the ruin of souls."[4]
It is indeed true that, with the grace of God, we may sanctify ourselves everywhere, just as, in the holiest places, we may fall under the weight of our weakness and the malice of the devil ; but the same St. Liguori tells us that the souls lost in the world are many in number, while but few come to eternal ruin in religion.[5] St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, continues St. Liguori, used often to kiss the walls of her convent, exclaiming : " O walls, sacred walls, that shield me against the temptations of hell! " Whenever the saintly Mary Orsini saw a nun laugh, " Laugh," she would say, " laugh, sister: you have reason to laugh. You are sheltered from the storms of the world.[6]
Not only the religious state delivers from the greater part of the occasions of sin which are so numerous in the world, but it also preserves man from transgressing the commandments, in obliging him to practise the counsels. The counsels of a wise friend, says the Angelical, are a great benefit, according to the words of the book of Proverbs, c. xxvii, 9: " Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, and the good counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul." Now, there is no friend or wise man above Christ : his counsels are, therefore, of the very highest utility. The evangelical counsels, he adds, are in themselves profitable to all. From want, however, of dispositions in persons not inclined to follow them, it happens at times that they are not an advantage to this or that person in particular.[7] But here is, according to Suarez, one of the great benefits of the counsels : they surround and protect the commandments. Where the counsels are violated, the commandments are in greater danger of being treated in the same way.[8] And, indeed, who does not see that he who gives up his own property is less exposed than another to seek riches by unjust means ; and to allow himself to be carried away " into many unprofitable and hurtful desires " of the things of the earth, which, as the apostle says, " drown men into destruction and perdition"? (i Tim. vi, 9.)
Again the state of perfection, and therefore the religious state, makes a holy life more easy, for two reasons, which Suarez sets forth. The first reason is : what renders a holy life easy is, above all, the habit of performing virtuous acts. Now, the state of perfection requires, and in itself entails, the frequent use of such acts, and the constant surmounting of the difficulties to be met with in the path of virtue. By its very nature, therefore, this state is of immense assistance for the acquirement, sustenance and increase of God's grace and the rights of heaven. Finally, there are in this state more means for the practice of virtue."[9] This is the second reason in support of our proposition. We shall confine ourselves to a bare enumeration of these larger means, for our scope is not exhortation, but instruction.
" Persons living in the world," says St. Liguori, " are trees planted in a parched soil, on which the dews of heaven rarely fall. Poor worldlings! you would wish to give much time to prayer and meditation, often to hear the word of God, and enjoy a little solitude and recollection. But your domestic cares, your parents, social exigencies, visits, and many other distractions, prevent you. On the other hand, religious are privileged trees, growing in a rich soil that is always watered by the showers of heaven. The Lord incessantly helps his spouses by the lights and inspirations of meditation, by sermons, spiritual books, and the good example of their companions. When we sin in the world, there is no one to warn or reprove us; but when one falls in the monastic state, his companions hurry to raise him up."[10] To these words of the holy doctor let us add that the frequent reception of the sacraments, constant direction, the watchfulness of superiors, the rule of a religious house which fills up the day with useful and holy occupations, present extraordinary resources for good, and often afford unspeakable consolation. This is also St. Liguori's opinion : " Look," says he, " among the great ladies of the world, and see whether there is one as happy as that humble religious, who, divested of all earthly bonds, seeks only to merit the approbation of God. Saint Scholastica was in the habit of saying that, if men knew how peaceful religious are in their houses, the whole world would become a solitude ; people would scale the walls of convents, and renounce the goods of this earth, as St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi used also to say."[11]
And this peace of fervent souls is not troubled by the commotions and storms of the political world. These souls are aware that God has special watchfulness over them. History informs us that, among the multitude of virgins who suffered death in the persecutions of the first ages of the Church, God did not allow a single one to be outraged:[12] which is certainly a great miracle. For, as Tertullian remarks, the tyrants of those days, in order more cruelly to torture Christian women, aimed at their chastity more than their lives, knowing well that they had greater fear of dishonor than of death.[13] " Sacred virgins! " cried out St. Ambrose, " there is a special assist ance from heaven for you, who by chastity keep in spotless purity the nuptial couch of the Lord. What wonder that angels combat for you, since you vie with them in virtue ! "[14]
Did not Jesus Christ give the counsel about abandoning all things to follow him only a few years before the fury of Jew and Gentile burst upon his first followers? Persecution, after all, can only make martyrs ; and if, on embracing the religious state, one can entertain a fuller hope of dying for Christ, it is a still greater advantage. Hence, when a person has determined to enter the religious state, no account is to be taken of possible or even probable revolutions. They who aspire to that state are no better than those who have embraced it : why, then, would they fear to run the risk of the same dangers in order to merit a similar reward ?
St. Liguori, after speaking of the pure joy of the religious life, remarks very sensibly that in it one is not out of the reach of the sufferings that are inseparable from life in this world ; still, according to the same doctor, sorrows are there only for unfaithful souls. For fervent religious, the tribulations of their life are sweet consolations. Besides, it is ever true to say that religious receive the hundred-fold during their life. The holy doctor adds, that in the religious state one dies with greater confidence; and that the soul of the religious is sooner purified after death. Indeed, the religious life is one of the most efficacious satisfactions for the sins that preceded it; and if, at the hour of death, the religious has some atonement to make, the Masses offered for him, and the prayers of his brethren, will shorten the time appointed for his purgatory. Finally, the religious, if faithful, will possess everlasting life. St. Bernard says that it is easy to pass from a cell to heaven. And St. Lawrence Justinian was wont to say that religion is the gate of heaven ; for, to be a religious is a sign that one is already chosen to be a companion of the elect. St. Chrysostom wrote in these words to a monk : " God cannot lie ; he has promised eternal life to whoso gives up the world. You have left every thing: who, then, hinders you from reckoning with confidence on this promise?"[15]
Footnotes edit
- ↑ Suar., De statu perfectionis, lib. I, c. ii, n. 9.
- ↑ Adv. oppugnator. vitae monast., lib. I, c. vii.
- ↑ Ibid., lib. 3, c. vii
- ↑ " The Nun Sanctified," c. ii, n. 6.
- ↑ " Spiritual Letters."
- ↑ "The Nun Sanctified," ibid.
- ↑ Suar., lib. I, c. xi, n. II.
- ↑ Suar., lib. I, c. xi, n. II.
- ↑ Suar., lib. I, c. ii, n. 10.
- ↑ "The Nun Sanctified," c. ii, 7, I0.
- ↑ St. Lig., "The Nun Sanctified," c. ii, nn. 13, 16.
- ↑ Corn. & Lapide in I. Cor. vii, 35.
- ↑ Tertull., De pudicitia, c. i
- ↑ De virgin., lib. I, c. viii.
- ↑ St. Lig., "The Nun Sanctified," c. ii, passim.