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 VII. IS IT ALLOWABLE TO EXHORT PERSONS TO ENTER RELIGION.

by Jean-Baptiste Berthier

CHAPTER VII. IS IT ALLOWABLE TO EXHORT PERSONS TO ENTER RELIGION.

ST. THOMAS puts himself this question, and returns the following answer : "Those who entice others to enter religion, not only commit no sin, but even merit a great reward. For it is written : He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins (James v, 20) ; and : 'They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.' (Dan. xii, 3.) "^[1]

Thus St. Thomas, as Suarez remarks, is of opinion that in itself it is good to induce persons, by true and solid reasons, to enter the religious state. And here is the ground of the holy doctor's teaching : " Entrance into religion is in itself a good act ; and it is praiseworthy to induce persons to perform good acts."^[2] Suarez recommends prudence in the matter; but acknowledges, meanwhile, that the truth is to be freely told to any one that seeks advice. " He," adds the same theologian, " whom the Holy Ghost begins to impel toward the religious life must be helped, so that he may remain steadfast in his purpose, or may not resist grace, and may more readily obtain, through prayer and good works, more abundant graces." This learned theologian, though considering that it is rarely proper to exhort a person directly to enter the religious state before the Holy Ghost has begun to call him, still recognizes and teaches that it is very good to excite all souls to purity of conscience, to fear the occasions of sin, and to lay before them at the same time the advantages and excellence of the religious state.^[3] And, indeed, this is what our Lord himself did : "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting." (Matt, xix, 21, 29.)

In the three books in which he writes a defence of the monastic state, St. Chrysostom relates that already, in his own day, those who taught the religious life were subjected to severe persecution. The holy doctor takes up their defence with all his eloquence, and having made a most appalling description of the world of that time, he exclaims: "If we knew a place unhealthy and subject to pestilence, would we not withdraw our children from it, without being stopped by the riches that might be heaped up in it, or by the fact that their health had not as yet suffered, and might, perhaps, be secure in it from all danger? And yet, now that so deadly a contagion has overspread everything, not only are we the first to push these same children into the chasm, but we even drive away as impostors those who would fain keep them back from destruction."^[4]

Farther on, the saint adds : " Among seculars shipwrecks are more frequent and sudden, because the difficulties of navigation are greater ; but with anchorites storms are less violent, the calm is almost undisturbed. This is the reason why we seek to draw as many as we can to the desert. We draw them to it, not merely to make them wear haircloth, but that they may shun evil and practise virtue."^[5] What is there more forcible and more touching than the letter of St. Jerome to Heliodorus inciting him to quit the world ? In it the saint begs, weeps, reproves, exhorts, and enters into poetical eulogies of solitude: " I invite you, make haste. You have made light of my entreaties ; perhaps you will listen to my reproaches. Effeminate soldier ! What are you doing under the paternal roof? Where are the palisade and the entrenchment ? Where is the winter passed under tent ? Even though your little nephew should twine around your neck; even were your mother with streaming hair to show you, through her rent garment, the breast that nurtured you ; even if your father were to throw himself across the threshold of your house, step over the obstacle, and with unquivering eye rush to take your place under the standard of the cross. Our heart is not of iron, nor are our feelings dead ; the tigress born amid the mountains of Hyrcania has not given us suck--still we have burst all our bonds. Lo, your sister, who has lost her husband, presses you in her arms ; your attendants who have witnessed your growth, say to you, 'Whom shall we henceforth serve? ' your nurse, your grandmother, your tutor, who, next to your father, has a claim on your filial affection, exclaim, 'Wait a while until we are dead ; bury us before you go'--love for God and fear of hell easily break all chains. O solitude, all spangled with the flowers of Jesus Christ! O solitude, wherein are shaped the stones that build up the city of the great King! Blessed retreat where one enjoys familiarity with God ! Brother dear, what are you doing in the world, which is so far less than you? How long more shall the paternal roof shelter your head ? Will you tarry much longer in the smoky prison of cities ? Do you fear hardship? And what athlete was ever crowned without a struggle ? It is my love for you, O brother ! that has urged me to say these things, to the end that, on judgment-day, you may share the glory of those who now live amid the holy rigors of penance."^[6]

St. Augustine also wrote : " I have been passionately fond of the perfection of the evangelical counsels : with God's grace I have embraced it. With all the power I have, I exhort others to do the same ; and I have companions whom I have succeeded to persuade."^[7]

But there is nothing more striking than the example of St. Bernard. The details are taken from the best historians of his admirable life.^[8] This saint in the flower of his youth, at the age of twenty, began to feel the impulse of grace drawing to retirement from the busy world. He not only triumphed over the opposition of his family, but drew to his purpose his uncle and his brothers, and took with him to Citeaux thirty of the noblest gentlemen of his country. To increase the little flock that he had brought together, this incomparable young man was endowed with a marvellous and heavenly winningness of manner. Indeed, so attractive was he, that, whenever he preached, mothers concealed their sons, wives their husbands, and friends kept their friend out of Bernard's way.

Nor is it only in the later times of Christianity that the fathers and doctors of the Church have held up before generous souls the excellence and advantages of the religious state. To be convinced of this, we have only to quote a letter of St. Liguori, the doctor of the Church, the missioner of consummate experience, the bishop of truly apostolic heart, who lived in the eighteenth century. Here is what he wrote, at the close of his long and laborious career, to one of his relatives. His letter bears date April 23, 1771 : " I have not forgotten that, only a few years ago, you seemed desirous to form an alliance with Jesus Christ. I pray to the Lord to strengthen in you this holy disposition. In the world it would be difficult for you to keep yourself in the grace of God. What I say to you, I repeat to all young women who come to ask my advice. I always remind them that, such is the corruption of the world, they will meet in it a thousand hindrances to their salvation. You should then fear to abandon Christ for the world. Thus far I have had the consolation to see all my relatives whom death has snatched away, die a good death. I hope, one day, to be in their company in heaven, and to meet you there. Beg of God to grant me a happy death ; for I feel that my last hour is not far distant."^[9] This is sufficient to show the teaching and practice of the great doctors of the Church in reference to the subject on which we are now engaged. Their lessons have in all ages borne abundant fruit.

The number of religious who, in the fourth century, lived in the solitudes of Egypt would be incredible, were it not supported by undeniable testimony. In our own times, notwithstanding the worldly prejudices amid which Christian souls have to live, in spite of the hatred manifested by thousands against the religious state, not only are ancient religious orders flourishing with renewed vigor, but around them are growing up many new and fair trees that shade and ornament the fertile fields of the Church.

Let those who may be alarmed at the multiplication of religious communities and the numbers who enter them, give ear to the following words of St. John Chrysostom, which one would almost suppose written for the days in which we live : " It is not the observance of the commandments and counsels of Jesus Christ that exposes society to danger. Who is it that troubles the world and upsets order? Is it those who lead a wise and regular life ; or those who invent new and hitherto unheard-of means to flatter the passions ? Are they men deeply interested in the welfare of all, or those who think only of what concerns themselves? Are they the lovers of obedience, or rather the place-and office-seekers who shrink from no daring or enterprise? Are they those who build for themselves sumptuous mansions, and feast at luxurious tables ; or those who seek nothing beyond the bare necessaries of food and lodging? Are they those who employ every wicked artifice to achieve wealth ; or they who subtract from their own to assist the indigence of others? Of these two classes of men, one is the scourge of society, and may be compared to tumors that destroy the beauty of the body ; or to those furious winds that upheave the sea, and cause numberless shipwrecks. Is it not they who bring on revolutions, wars, and battles ; the sacking of towns, the imprisonment and bondage of men, murders, and a thousand other evils of this life? Are not they the authors, not only of the evils that men cause men, but of those others which heaven pours on men such as droughts, inundations, earthquakes, the ruin and swallowing up of cities, famine, pestilence, and all the chastisements which angry heaven heaps upon us? These are the men who overthrow states and destroy governments. It is for them that are established courts of justice, laws and penalties of sundry kinds. On the contrary, the other class, like lighthouses shining afar in the night, summon from every quarter, to secure and tranquil havens, the wretched seaman who is tossed about on the waters and in extreme danger of his life. Lighting up in high places the lamp of wisdom, they lead, as it were, by the hand, men of good-will to the port of safety and peace."^[10]

Footnotes

1. St. Th., 2, 2, q. 189, a. 9.
2. Suar., lib. 5, c. viii, n. 10.
3. Suar., lib. 5, c. viii, n. 10.
4. Adv. oppugn, vit. monast., lib. 3, c. viii, ed. Migne, t. I, col. 362.
5. Ibid., c. xv, ed. Migne, t. I, col. 375.
6. St. Hieron. ad Heliodor., passim.
7. Epist. 157, ed. Migne, col. 692, ad Hilar., n. 39.
8. Ed. Migne : Inter opera S. Bern., t. 4, p. 656, et seqq.
9. "Spiritual Letters," ed. Perisse, 1834, let. 121.
10. St. Chrysost., adv. oppugn, vit. monast., lib. 3, c. ix, ed Migne, vol. i, coll. 363, 364.