t‚Äôs such a big country, it‚Äôs a small town. We do know people in common. DAROLD: So you and [Fermine] are going to have to play your recordings to each other and your families, because you both had some different stories. MACCARELLI: Well, there‚Äôs a lot of years in between [Fermine] and I. So his growing up is different than mine. He‚Äôs a lot younger. DAROLD: Well, I'm sure you‚Äôre proud of him. MACCARELLI: Yes, yes. And my mother would be, he was my mother‚Äôs favorite. And he was always in so much trouble -- he was, she admitted it till the end, till she died. She didn‚Äôt die until he got there. And she admitted it to the end, but he was always in trouble, and she was always worrying about him. But she would be proud. DAROLD: And you too. Thank you Nilda, thank you so much. END OF TRANSCRIPT
5, sec. 3. ~O3Ep 5:25. , ~Ep 1:18. IO~Lk 5:27. ~¬∞~1 Jn 4!12. ~¬∞TPope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 80. ~¬∞sSee Ep 3:14. ~¬∞gSee Ep 3:16. n0Ep 3:17
19. ml Co 1:9. Encourage Vocations May I also ask you for something?You are well aware of the needs of the Church all over the world in relation to vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life. My request is that you do not fail to challenge the young to follow Christ in this way. Help them to discover the divine call. Support them by your prayer, your advice, and the example of your lives.--John Paul Ii, to the General Chapter of the Congregation of Christian Brothers. L‚ÄôOsscrvatore Romano, 24 April, 1984, p. 9. Commitment: Dying and Rising to Self Anthony Wieczorek, O. Praem. This article is the fruit of the prayerful reflections of Bro~ Wieczorek as he approached the time of his solemn profession during the days of Holy Week. His last article. "Poverty. Time. Solitude: A Conte.xt for a Celibate Life-Style.~appeared in the issue of September/October. 1982. Bro. Wieczorek resides in St. Joseph Priory: 103 Grant Street: De Pere. WI 54115. Commitment is a life and death decision. This is especially true for such commitments as marriage, profession, arid even the taking ‚Äôon ~of certain jobs requiring a good degree of responsibility. Commitment is a decision to live a certain life, to embrace life and enter into it fully. At the same time, it is a death. It means letting go of other options and alternatives, of other equally good or better ways of living. For both these reasons, because commitment is an embracing of life and death, commitments are‚Äô often difficult to make, causes of not a little anxiety and fear. The fear is not simply because of the dying required
it is perhaps least of all due to that. Rather, the main cause for fear in commitment is precisely the living, the life that is chosen with all its unknown consequences. Life is just as much out of human control as death. Life is just as much a surrender as death. When a person truly abandons oneself to living, truly living--wak.efully, consciously, with senses open and alert to every and anything--the final result is just as mysterious and uncertain as death. At least that is what I am finding out as the day of my solemn profession nears. What is involved in making such a commitment? Where will such a life lead? What price will such a life demand? For make no mistake, living exacts a terrible price--terrible and beautiful. Truly, commitment is a dying and rising of self. The self I am and know given over to transformation by living a life the consequences and end of which 1 cannot envision. The frightening part of commitment, for many of us, as these reflections try to articulate, is not just the dying to other lives, it is the rising to new and different life and, perhaps, to 503 504/ Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 an equally new and different self. The Seed of An Uncertain Future I wonder, Lord, if you wonder where all the singleheartedness has gone. It is still there, thought now I am no longer so wholly consumed by it. All its life, the residue of its past as well as the fire of its dreams, is squeezed tightly into a single seed. The seed is all curled up about itself. It is afraid to die for when it does it will erupt into nbt only new life, that is not so bad, but into different life. The tree from which that scared seed grew is only one parent. The other is mystery, wild and elusive. It will be no new tree that stretches itself upward and downward but a different tree. And so I cling to the last shreds of my former life, feeling it nonetheless slipping, being pulled endlessly from my grasp. And when the last element is gone and I fall helplessly into the soil, half buried by the force of the fall, then I shall die/rise--for it is all the same--to not only live anew but differently. I die to arise as a self I do not know
the me I am assumed, eaten up as food, by the person 1 shall become. .The seed existing in me is devouringme to nourish itself. It is eating its way out of me, bite by bite. Soon I will be gone. Yet not gone, for a new and different self will begin to grow from where 1 stood, with its own life, its own dreams and future. As it is now part of me, so then ! shall be part of it, consumed as fuel until it is strong enough to move away and seek its own source of life, to wrap its lips around the mystery which gave it birth and suck into its being a vitality and energy I cannot imagine, let alone comprehend. And it will grow as the mystery it drinks saturates every cell of it. By that time l will have played my part. The husk that will be what remains of me will slowly crumble with a dry, crinkling sound. Discarded, will I be remembered by what has become of me? Will anything of me survive in that which survives me? When 1 too hang a lifeless husk from a tree, consumed wholly by what exists within me? Of Acorns and O~ks It‚Äôs too bad acorns can‚Äôt fly. Maybe it‚Äôs just as well. I wonder, if they could, how many over the years would have changed their minds and returned in a flurry of little wings to the tree from which they fell? A person just can‚Äôt be sure. In the fall, if you sit quietly amid the sounds of wind and rustling leaves you can occasionally hear the sudden and quite distinct plop of an acorn hitting the ground. And if you lean over it you can even hear the final little sigh the acorn makes just before, separated from the life of the tree, it dies. For me, the acorn is a symbol of faith. The whole and utter point of an acorn‚Äôs life is to die. It dies so that the oak tree within it can sprout and grow and give birth to more acorns and so more oak trees. But what about the acorn? That surely isn‚Äôt much of a life. I wonder if they‚Äôre informed of the odds of success before they‚Äôre sent on their suicide dive? For all the acorns that fall, how slim a percentage are able to accomplish their full mission? How many of Commitment: Dying and Rising to Self / 505 the well meaning little things end up in the bellies of squirrels? or get picked up by people like me who put them in a pocket, or sit them on a desk as a remembrance? All that wasted potential. That‚Äôs why l say, it‚Äôs too bad acorns can‚Äôt fly. But acorns don‚Äôt seem to mind the odds. Millions fall to pointless deaths each year. Each one, I suppose, acts in faith. And so do they die. Maybe I‚Äôm too romantic about this. Maybe acorns kick and scream over their fate. Maybe it‚Äôs not that acorns voluntarily let go at all. Perhaps they hang on for dear life, literally, while the wind and tree try to shake them loose. And don‚Äôt blame the tree
it is, after all, the wind that does the shaking. The wind jostles and bounces the branches and leaves until the acorns can no longer hang on, until .th,.ey fall, with a plop, onto the ground below. In my room is an 1con, Rublev‚Äôs The Holy Trinity. On it are three figures, the three visitors greeted by Abraham. Each represents a different person of the Holy Trinity. They are, from left to right, Son, Father, and Spirit. They are seated at a table and on its center is a solitary cup. The symbolism speaks of the cup as the cup of commitment or decision or vow. The cup is the symbol of the incarnation. The Son in drinking it would vow to undergo the incarnation, the ministry and death. The Father looks sadly at the Son but makes no move to urge his drinking. The decision must be made freely and the Father respects that. The Spirit, though, is much less inhibited, much more impetuous. The Spirit motions toward the. cup, as if to push it closer to the Son, encouraging him to drink. In Greek and Hebrew, the word for spirit and wind is the same. I think that the word for Jesus and acorn should be the same also. The Spirit blew the cup across the table and thbn with a sudden gust blew the Son right out of heaven so that he fell, with a plop, upon the earth to live so briefly and then with a sigh die so that from his seed new life might sprout and grow. I wonder if the Son would rather have hung on to the Father? I Wonder if without the Spirit‚Äôs insistence the Son would have continued to cling to heaven? Who can blame either of them? What were the Son‚Äôs odds for.success? And the Spirit? The Spirit is the seed contained within the acorn--Son. Do not feel sorry for the acorn, nor for the Son.. Rather, feel sorry for yourself
All of us are acorns. Each one is complete with a spirit-seed~ We cling to a cross and cling desperately, lest we too fall and we too germinate into a new and different creation. And yet, it is our purpose and fate to let go and drop down into the life we find ourselves forced by various kinds of necessity to live. I like to fancy myself a tree. Sad to say I am only the acorn. I am meant to fall, meant to die so that the. life within me might sprout and grow. For now, though, l~cling with all my strength to the tree, high above life, not at all anxious to.surrender my grasp and fall into it. I look down on the acorns already fallen with arms that ache and fingers that are numb. The wind will not let up. It is but a matter of time. Eventually I will fall and that will be that. There will be nowhere to go but into life, a life wholly foreign and different from my life as an acorn. Up to now I have not minded being an 506 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 acorn. But now I see a very serious shortcoming: acorns can‚Äôt fly. The Waves and Tides of Life Yesterday I stood at the water‚Äôs edge and watched the waves ebb and flow. The water Would rush ashore in a burst of extroversion and then, just as shyly, recede, as though it had scared and embarrassed itself with its own excitement. Today I think, how much life is like those waves. There is an ebb flow to my emotions. Today, though, 1 ebb, recede back into myself to be alone with my loneliness. And today, as I sit and recall the waves, they seem like hands groping, flaying out to grab hold of an3ithing or anyone~ They are like the hands of a ghost that can. neither hold nor ever be held. The waves that beat the sand and stones, are they ii‚Äôying in fact to climb the shore? to step out and stand and walk out among the people who have from time to time plunged into their world only to emerge after a moment and walk away? Those people who enjoyed the waves for a moment, befriending them only to leave for the business of their own lives, leaving, too, the waves to lap longingly after life they can never know or share? I with them ebb further into my heart, receding back into the memories of those who have plunged for a moment into my llfe only to leave and leave me lapping after them. Like a lake .I sit alone, from time to time rising up with a rush only to slip back into myself, startled and embarrassed by my own need. Something within me is like a wave that slaps ashore but never stays, Something within me surges up only to be pulled back within by some internal gravity. I‚Äôm not sure if that something is just shy, testing the air and environ-ment then fleeing back inside, or if it is trapped, tryin~ to escape the,grasp of something else holding it bound. I don‚Äôt even know what the something within me is, the wave-like thing that surges within me. I wonder if the waves feel the futility of their endless spending of energy? What do the waves accOmplish? At what do they succeed? Too pragmatic a question? I guess so. But the question comes because I, like them, ebb and flow over and over, so much motion without any progress onward or toward. Things within me, feelings, truths, continually well up and slide onto the shore of consciousness only to teasingly return to the depths, staying only long enough to be quickly felt, to be glanced, to pose a question but never long enough to give: an answer or even listen to my response. Maybe then 1 have it all wrong. Maybe the point of the waves is not for them to venture ashore. Maybe the waves are not groping but beckoning hands, calling me to enter it, urging and compelling me into its depths. The ebb and flow of feelings that roll up into consciousness, are they bait meant to lure me into my own depths? Endlessly they call, endlessly they reach .out to stroke and caress me into compliance, easing my fear with warm, soft strokes. Those waves that nowhere go gather me and draw me not nowhere but~down, deep down, then deeper still until memory of shore is gone and the memory of me upon the shore is equally gone, washed away by the waves. Commitment: Dying and Rising to Self ] 507 The Bondage of Busyness I‚Äôm sorry, Lord, so much these past few weeks l‚Äôve had to do, to be busy about. How easy it is to put off being sensitive and aware by doing. It leaves no time to be, only time enough to do. Lately I‚Äôve been going through life at light‚Äôs speed. Stars blur into indistinguishable streaks of white light. And people too. And you, God
and you, too. You bead up on the surface of my life like water and roll away while 1 race on. It is for self-defense. Awareness requires sensitiv-ity and for that ability to feel. To feel. Can‚Äôt I just ponder you slowly in my mind? Must I dare to feel you? To be pierced by experiences, allowing them to enter in, leave an impression, even draw blood7 There ,is something in me struggling to be free. Always the same words. And why not? It is the same reality. Bondage. When, Lord, when will I learn? When will 1 take the lessons to heart and emerge whole and authentic? It is being you require not sacrifice~ not doing. They are quite wrong, those who say "just being" is a passivity. It is work, painful work without respite: 1 know why people are wont to go mad. It is all so painfully obvious. Why do I go on living in such foreign realms where things done and not being alive is the currency? The True, the Real is here, so obvious, waiting. 1 wait too. I wait for death to free me from all my falsity and foolishness, from the hustle and bustle. And l blame you for the fire and brimstone I call upon myself. I hold my breath while ! pray for death, hoping ¬Ø all the while it will pass me by.,I am too afraid of living
of feeling life, to die. Doing is my excuse for not being, for not taking the time or oppo~unity to feel. After death, 1 imagine, there will be all eternity to be. But even now I can feel the fabric of the womb pressing against my face and hands. My fingers grope to tear it away. 1 strain to open my eyes against it and see beyond it, crying an angry moan through it and dissolve it with my tears. Being means living and I will not allow myself to be born. I want to die but fear birth, fear the living. If 1 do not die I cannot be born, cannot be. 1 am afraid of eternity, afraid that once I pass through this existence to life I will have nothing to keep me from being, from living truly. It is not physical death I fear. That is only the symbol. Physical death reminds me that someday I must make the 9assage: Physical death is a taunt that reminds me that this existence is illusion and all the busy things I do to keep me from being and feeling are illusory too. That‚Äôs why I flee from death, for 1 am afraid to live, to be, to feel. The struggle is to be born. The bondage to be enwombed. Death is the door I refuse to open for life awaits me on the other side. When will I let go and let death take me? When, 1 know now, I can let go of my fear of feeling. Death is release but 1 do not want to be free. No, that is not true. I crave it, crave life even as I fear it. I die to the wrong thing. I die to life so that I may live in death instead of dying to death, the death in which I now, and yet, live. If I die to death 1 shall rise again to live life, to feel life. And so, to insulate myself, I lie buried beneath piles of mud while my spirit struggles to soar. I choose death 5011 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 for it is painless, effortless, feelingless. The mud is all the deedsI do, must do, ought to do, have to do, can do, should do. All these excuses, a facade of life to imagine the things 1 do, the death I live in, means I am really alive. I refuse the resurrection and choose the facade. The facade of life that I live, for I have not died. Death waits. I can be embraced any time, any time I choose to live. It is so simple:,to be free 1 must simply die to death and be willing to live. Two things block my way, fear and self-consciousness. Maybe there are three things, death is the third. They are, I‚Äôm sure, all interrelated., Fear of death of the selL.l have, after all, gone through quite a turnsince my graduate school day~ when self-fulfillment was the key. Maybe it still is a key, though not to any doors I find before me. The key now is death~ death to self. Maybe I‚Äôm morel a Buddhist than 1 thought. Fear stares me in the face every :step of the way. The face of fear fills my vision. It is only an illusion though. Fear has no more a face than does a mirror. Fear‚Äôs face is my own reflection. So here it is Good Friday, a day of self-denial, a day of the celebration of the conquest of fear. Your faith, Lord, conquered your fear. And for me, I lack the faith for it will bid me to face fear and enter into death. And when 1 die I shall rise__to live, to feel. Feel what? The truth: uncertainty, sorrow, loneliness made more real by love, impotence, insignificance. Even your death, Lord, has changed so little. What then of mine? ~
ou see my self-consciousness is all that keeps me from consciousness. Make no mistake, I know the grace is there. I know that if I stand silently with outstretched hands you will fill them. For that reason my hands are tightly closed into fists, fists that grasp and cling to every shred of self-consciousness I can find. ~Get behind me, Satan, your ways are not God‚Äôs but man‚Äôs." There is so much power in those words. The object of that little outburst of yours was not Peter‚Äôs remarks but the voice within you that Peter only echoed. Why after all die, to whom will it matter in the end, much less now? I have the same voice in me, it is my voice trying to shout down the voice Of the spirit-seed begging for birth. And so I cry out.with you, "get behind me, self-consciousness." An Allegory on Arising Somewhere an alarm is ringing but I can‚Äôt seem to wake enough to turn it off. It pulls and tugs at me but I am too groggy to do much more than mutter with swollen tongue still drunk with sleep. I must wake, I tell myself, but my limbs refuse to acknowledge any signals from my duty-bound brain. Of the past Triduum, Good Friday was my best day, of the three the day of greatest wakefulness. It left me eager for the Vigil service--but there it ended, l lie in my tomb thrilling over resurrection but cannot muster the consciousness to rise. I close my eyes to resurrection so that I may return to the opium of my ¬Ø Commitment: Dying and Rising to Self / 509 dreams. I,know I am dreaming for I know that 1 am unawake. But my sleep-logged body lacks the bouyancy to rise. I sleep on while the alarm rings on. Good Friday and I became such good friends because we spoke the same language: death--only unlike Good Friday, I refused to move on to‚ÄôEaster Sunday, Each day by my own decree is a Good Friday. For, having to choose between the tomb and wakefulness, I have chosen the tomb. Holy Thursday was too busy for me to find in it any portal to mystery, let alone your presence. But Good Friday loomed like a sudden door in the middle of the service and I entered in. It felt right, necessary. I need to die, to hand myself over to death. But I refuse to enter fully into Good Friday, for from where I stood j,ust inside the threshold I could see that it extended out into Holy Saturday--when the alarm begins to ring--and opened up into Easter Sunday. So there it is, a matrix of transformation, a labyrinth one wanders through to emerge as some new self the old one lost somewhere within. I don‚Äôt even think I mind the death anymore. It is somehow inevitable and in a sense it has already begun. But in the foreground I can hear the alarm waking me to consciousness even before fully asleep. It is that that scares me. I try to ignore it: can‚Äôt you tell I‚Äôm dead? What do you mean it‚Äôs time to get up? Do the dead rise and shine? I found in Good Friday an escape from consciousness and feeling but found also the alarm that tries so persistently to raise these unwilling limbs to new life. It does not end on Good Friday. On the third day, it says, he rose again. It took Jesus three days to lose his tug-of-war with God. Obvously you simply weren‚Äôt trying, l‚Äôm proof that the contest can go on much longer. We are told to give our lives over to God as though we were lumps of clay, as though it were an act done once and for all. That is simply not how it is. We are balls of yarn that God slowly pulis, unraveling us and knitting us into something new. The same yarn but a new being--and we don‚Äôt even get to choose the pattern. And so I hang on as mightily as I can, trying to unravel what God has knitted and rewrap myself into a safely static ball of potential: After all
look at what God did with the "yarn" that was--and is--Jesus. His own friends couldn‚Äôt recognize him when God got through. So God and I are engaged in a tug-of-war. It took you three days, Lord? Three days to let totally go and be remade? Would that I were as weak. Unfortunately, God does not seem to be as strong as we claim. He is losing, his new creation is losing its shape, slowly being undone. The alarm bids me to stir and awaken, to loosen my hold on myself and let what I am be used up, transformed and brought back as one more patch on a huge and colorful woven mosiac. But now I am talking about Easter. Now I am talking about wakefulness, consciousness, the empty tomb with its wrappings neatly folded and put aside, like sheets and blankets on a bed remade and forgotten during the daylight hours. But I am still wrapped warm within my bed. The tomb is not yet vacant. I cling to my self-consciousness, the self 1 think 1 know and do not want to lose. But despite the sleep, I cannot hold on to myself much longer, the sleep deepens and my grip upon myself loosens. 510 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 God. tugs once more and smiles, "Nothing but a little snag," and goes on knitting making who knows, what to one day soon be sewn into a patchwork of eternity and serve some purpose in a plan not my own. Each day for me is Good Friday and soon Holy Saturday when I will be remade an~ then reappear a stranger, washed ashore on the morning of some Easter Sunday. Reciprocal On top of hell a bluebird sits On an apple branch. A mocking bird‚Äôs swelling song, Tiptop in a tall cedar, chants A confiteor to such irony. Cows graze in emerald pastures. The sun~ rising red, puts the moon to rest: And morning prayers are said. Below these placid pastures, Below fring.ed acres, --primed and waiting-- Are the missiles, restrained, yet ready To fly whistling seaward, to other Pastures, where other dwellers sit on Top of hell, listening to another Bluebird singing, on an apple branch, A mocking bird trilling, tiptop In a tall cedar. Martha Wickham 560 N. Walnut, Apt~ ¬∞1 o Taylorville, IL 62568 Ecclesial Relationships for Religious: Desires and Limits Alexa Suelzer, S.P. This article is the text of the second annual lecture and colloquium sponsored by Review for Religious in conjunction with the Department of Theological Studies of St. Louis University which took place at the university April 12-13. In the spring of 1983, Sister Alexa was appointed to the special committee of religious formed by Archbishop John Quinn to collaborate with the ponifical commission established to facilitate the pastoral ministry of bishops to religious in this country. Sister Alexa, whose background is in Scripture, has had extensive administrative experience within her own community. She may be addressed as St. Mary-of-the-Woods College
St. Mary-of-the-Woods, IN 47876. Almost a year has passed since John Paul 11 wrote to the bishops of the United States concerning the religious--both men and women--in their dio-ceses and.sent them a document titled Essential Elements in the Church‚Äôs Teaching on Religious Nfe As Applied to Institutes Dedicated to Works of ApostolateJ a compendium drawn from pertinent decrees of Vatican H, papal writings, and documents of the Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes. Its authority derives from its sources and from the personal approval of John Paul? Perhaps there was a time when such imposing credentials would preclude criticism--but no more! Reaction from religious has covered the gamut from strong affirmation thro.ugh indifference to angry rejection. One religious‚Äô assertion that the teaching affirms her.waY of life is counterbalanced by another‚Äôs depression at seeing her path questioned. Between these extremes lie varying degrees of agreement and disagreement. It seems safe to say that the enumeration of the indispensable elements (prayer, evangelical witness, and so forth) meets with general acceptance, but description of each of them finds the variety of reactions described. Sometimes the criticism is on peripheral issues: Why single out American religious? ~Why 511 512 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 were the LCWR and CMSM passed by? What is the hidden agenda? At times the criticism stems from misreading the text, e.g., presuming that the "ending of the special period of experimentation," condemns religious life henceforth to the s, tatus quo. At times the language and concepts are faulted as archaic and stereotypical, better suited to an earlier time. More serious are the theological challenges: the failure to realize adequately the evolution of religious life through the centuries, the use of consecration as a master category, the neglect of the prophetic element, and an unsatisfactory eccle-iology. From listening and speaking to religious, both individually, and in groups, I am led to believe that the last name---ecclesiology--is the source of the greatest difficulty. How one receives the document depends in great part upon the view of the Church--the ecclesiology--that is operative, consciously or uncon-sciously, in the reader:. Ecclesiology is assuredly an issue, for relatedness of religious life to the Church is one of the clearest affirmations in Essential Elements. In his letter accompanying the document John Paul refers to this fact in such phrases as "their ecclesial vocation,TM and "specific relation to tile‚Äô Church."~ Essential Elements repeats and elaborates these ideas: "Religious life belongs to the life and holiness of the Church... The Church authenticates the gift and mediates the consecration.6 And throughout there is a steady recurrence of phi‚Äôases like "canonically erected by competent ecclesiastical authority"
7 "according to constitutions wh‚Äôich the Church, by her authority, accepts and approves"
8 or "works of charity entrusted to the institute by the Church and performed in her name.‚Äô‚Äô9 Relationship to the Church is in fact the seventh of the ten essentials named. Some parts of the section bear quoting: Religious life has its own place in relation to the divine and hierarchical structure of the Church. The founders and foundresses of religious institutes ask the hierarchial Church.publicly to authenticate the gift of God on which the existence of the institute depends. In their origins, religious institutes depend in a unique way on the hierarchy... As a particularly rich and important example of these manifold gifts, each religious institute depends for the authentic discernment of its founding charism on the God-given ministry of the hierarchy. This relationship obtains not only for the first recognition of the institute but also for its ongoing development... In short, the Church continues to mediate the conseCratory action of God in a specific way, recognizing and fostering this particular form of consecrated life.t0 Similarly in the section on evangelical witness it is noted that the saving work of Christ is shared by means of the concrete services mandated by the Church ‚Äôin the approval of the constitutions,tt The fact of this approval qualifies‚Äôthe kind of service to be undertaken, since it must be faithful to the Gospel, the Church and the institute.12 ¬Ø .These statements are explicit to the poi‚Äônt of overkill. They can be seen as a Ecclesial Relationships for Religious / $15 counterbalance (if not a reaction) to the exuberance of post-conciliar years in which the institutional dimension of the Church had been played down, if not denigrated. To understand how this state of affairs came about, it will be helpful to look at events in the field of ecclesiology both during and after the Council: In the first session of Vatican II the proposed schema on the Church offered by the Theological Commission was modeled, on the standard theological treatment of th~ manuals, a treatment laying heavy stress on the juridical and organizational aspects of the Church. Quite early in the debate the Council Fathers realized that the desired definition and description could not be simply in external, hierarchical terms, but the Church must be seen as mystery, that is, as described by Paul V1, a divine reality inserted into history, not fully to be captured by human thought and language. It is an indication of the development of the Church‚Äôs understanding bf her nature and mission that the bishops turned to a fresh approach which would, be more historical, dynamic, and biblical. After a new draft and a series of revisions during the second and.third sessions, Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,~3 was approved almost unanimously/and was immediately pro-mulgated, November 21, 1964. ~ The course of theology these past two decades has been charted largely by the insights‚Äôof Lumen Gentium. Its pastorial stance, its :use of fresh imagery, and its insistence on the universal c, all to holiness provided a new approach to the role of .the laity. Its presentation of the episcopate (a subject whose discussion had been necessarily cut short~ during the interrupted deliberations of Vatican I) introduced collegiality. And the discussion of the relation between the Church and other Christians led not only to rapprochement with other denominations but, through recognition of the Spirit‚Äôs action in all men and women, led the Church to a clearer understanding of her own nature and mission. The decision of the Council Fathers to begin their reflection at the level of mystery, and only thereafter consider the visible, hierarchical elements of the Church was not fortuitous. The work of Vatican ..II was built on an .ecclesiology which had been developing for the past half century. Nevertheless the Council, by reason of its stature and its pronouncements, gave a definite impetus to subsequent studies in ecclesiology= The topic is a leading one in the system of Karl Rahner. The major post-coriciliar work of Hans Kiing deals with the Church. Edward Schillebeeckx‚Äô recent works in Christology followed upon his treatment, over a period of years,of the Church in terms of sacramentality. On the popular level Avery Dulles‚Äô Models of the Church helped the non-specialist to appreciate the Church by means of many models, intellectual constructs, each giving a particular insight into the mystery of the Church, never fully to be apprehended by any of the models, or, indeed, by all of them~ Despite the advances of Vatican II and of subsequent ecclesiology, it 5"14 ] Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 should be recognized that the theology of Vatican I1 is transition theology. Lumen Gentium, for example, is filled with fresh insights, but these are seldom developed and their relation to older views--which the Council apparently still espoused--is not always evident. For example, although: Lumen Gentium treated the‚Äôx
isible, hierarchical dimension of:the Church only in second place, the institutional element still looms large, partially, of course, because it could be dealt, with in practical, coherent terms. (Probably the Church as institution is still the model in. possession~among the rank and file.) Again, the Council documents speak often of charismata (dona is the word used) but apart from insisting that these must be respected when shown to be genuine, little is said about the. relationship between "the gifts, both hierarchical ,and charismatic"~4 and their interplay. All in all, a kind of nervousness characterizes some postconciliar theology, especially in "offici
s a transformation, for the entire economy of the redemption is set in the framework of the words spoken in the priestly prayer to the Father: "1 do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one."~0 The evangelical counsels in their essential purpose aim at "the renewal of creation": "The world," thanks to them, is to be subjected to man and given to him in such a way that man himself may be perfectly given to God. Participation in the Self-Emptying of Christ 10. The internal purpose of the evangelical counsels leads to the discovery of yet other aspects that emphasize the close connection of the counsels with the economy of redemption. We know that the economy of redemption finds its culminating point in the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, in whom there are joined self-emptying through death and birth to a new life through the Resur-rection. The practice of the evangelical counsels contains a deep reflection of this paschal duality
5~ the inevitable destruction of what in each of us is sin and 492 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 its inheritance
and the possibility of being reborn each day to a more pro-found good hidden in the human soul. This good is manifested under the action of grace, toward which the practice of chastity, poverty and obedience renders the human soul particularly sensitive. The entire economy of redemp-tion is realized precisely through this sensitivity to the mysterious action of the Ho!y Spirit, the direct author of all holiness. Along this path the profession of the evangelical counsels opens out in each one of you, dear Brothers and Sisters, a wide space for the "new creation"~z that emerges in your human ‚ÄôT‚Äô precisely from the economy of the redemption and, through this human "I," also into the interpersonal and social dimensions. At the same time it emerges in humanity as part of the world created by God, that world that the Father loved "anew" in the eternal Son, the Redeemer of the World. Of this Son St. Paul says that "though he was in the form of God... he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."53 The characteristic of self-emptying contained in the practice of the evangelical counsels is therefore a .completely Christocentric characteristic. And for this reason also the Teacher from Nazareth explicitly indicates the cross as the condition for following in his footsteps, He who once said to each one of you "Follow me" has also said: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (that is to say, walk in my footsteps).54 And he said this to all his listeners, not just to the disciples. The law of renunciation belongs therefore to the very essence of the Chris-tian vocation. But it belongs in a particular way to the essence of the vocation linked to the profession of the evangelical counsels. To those who walk the way of this vocation, even those difficult expressions that we read in the Letter to the Philippians speak in comprehensible language: For him "I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be-found in him.‚Äô~5 Renunciation therefore--the reflection of the mystery of Calvary--in order "to be" more fully in the crucified and risen Christ
renunciation in order to recognize fully in him the mystery of one‚Äôs own human nature and to confirm this on the path of that wonderful process of which the same apostle writes in another place: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.‚Äô~6 In this way the economy of the redemp-tion transfers the power of the paschal mystery to the level of humanity, docile to Christ‚Äôs call to life in chastity, poverty and obedience, that is, to a. life according to the evangelical counsels. Chastity, Poverty, ,Obedience II. The paschal character of this call makes itself known from various points of view in connection with each individual .counsel. Chastity It is indeed according to the measure of the economy of the redemption Redemptionis Donum / 493 that one must also judge and practice that chastity which each of you has promised by vow, together with poverty and obedience. There is contained in this the response to Christ‚Äôs words, which are at the same time an invitation: "There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it. Prior to this Christ has emphasized: "Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given."~s These last words clearly show that this invitation is a counsel. To this also the apostle Paul devoted a special reflection in the First Letter to the Corinthians.59 This counsel is addressed in a particular way to the love of the human heart. It places greater emphasis on the spousal character of this love, while poverty and still more obedience seem to emphasize primarily the aspect of redemptive love contained in religious consecration. As you know, it is a question here of chastity in the sense "of making themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," a question, that is, of virginity or celibacy as an expression of spousal love for the Redeemer himself. In this sense the apostle teaches that they "do well" who choose matrimony, but they "do better who choose virginity.‚Äô~¬∞ "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord,‚Äô~ and "the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit."62 There is contained neither in the words of Christ nor in those of Paul any lack of esteem for matrimony. The evangelical counsel of chastity is only an indication of that particular possibility which, for the human heart, whether of a man or of a woman, constitutes the spousal love of Christ himself, of Jesus the "Lord." "To make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" is not in fact merely a free renunciation of marriage and family life, but a charismatic choice of Christ as one‚Äôs exclusive spouse. This choice not only specifically enables one to be "anxious about the affairs of the Lord
" but--when it is made "for the kingdom of heaven"---it brings this eschatologi-cal kingdom of God close to the life of all people in the conditions of temporal-ity and makes it in a certain way present in the midst of the world. In this way consecrated persons accomplish the interior purpose of the entire economy of the redemption. For this purpose expresses itself in bringing near the kingdom of God in its definitive, eschatoiogical dimension. Through the vow of chastity consecrated persons share in the economy of the redemp-tion through the free renunciation of the temporal joys of married and family life
on the other hand, precisely by their "having made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," they bring into the midst of this passing world the announcement of the future resurrection63 and of eternal life: life in union with God himself through the beatific vision and the love which contains in itself and completely pervades, all the other loves of the human heart. Poverty 12. How very expressive, in the. matter of poverty, are the words of the 494 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 Second Letter to the Corinthians, which constitute a concise synthesis of all that we hear on this theme in the Gospel: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yete for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.TM According to these words, poverty actually enters into the interior structure of the redemptive grace of Jesus Christ. Without poverty, it is not possible to understand the mystery of the gift of divinity to man, a gift which is accomplished precisely in Jesus Christ. For this reason also it is found at the very center of the Gospel, at the beginning of the message of the eight Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."~5 Evangelical poverty reveals to the eyes of the human soul the perspec-tive of the whole mystery, "hidden for ages in God.‚Äô~6 Only those who are "poor" in this way are also interiorly capable of understanding the poverty of the One who is infinitely rich. The poverty of Christ conceals in itself this infinite richness of God
it is indeed an infallible expression of it. A richness, in fact, such as the divinity itself, could not have been adequately expressed in any created good. It can be expressed only in poverty. Therefore it can be properly understood only by the poor, the poor in spirit. Christ
the God-man, is the first of these: He who, "though he was rich became poor," is not only the teacher, but also the spokesman and guarantor of that salvific poverty which corresponds to the infinite richness of God and to the inexhaustible power of his grace. And thus is it also true--as the apostle writes--that "by this poverty we have become rich." It is the teacher and spokesman of poverty who makes us rich. For this very reason he says to the young man.of the synoptic gospels: "Sell what you possess and give .... and you will have treasure in heaven.‚Äô~7 In these words there is a call to enrich others through one‚Äôs own poverty. But in the depths of this call there is also hidden the testimony of the infinite richness of God which, transferred to the human soul in the mystery of grace, created in man himself, precisely through poverty, a source for enriching others that is not comparable with any other resource of material goods, a source for bestowing gifts on others in the manner of God himself. This giving is accomplished in the cohtext of the mystery of Christ who "has made us rich by his poverty." We see how this process of enrichment unfolds in the pages of the Gospel, finding its culmination in the paschal event: Christ, poorest in his death on the cross, is also the one who enriches us infinitely with the fullness of new life through his resurrection. Dear Brothers and Sisters, poor in spirit through your evangelical profes-sion, receive into the whole of your lives this salvific profile of the poverty of Christ. Day by day seek its ever greater development! Seek above all "the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all other things "shall be yours as well.‚Äô~8 May there be accomplished in you and through you the evangelical blessedness that is reserved for the poor,69 the poor in spirit!70 Redemptionis Donum/ 495 Obedience 1 3. Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And beingfound in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.7~ Here, in these words of the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians, we touch the very essence of the redemption, In this reality is inscribed, in a primary and constitutive way, the obedience of Jesus Christ. Other words of the apostle, taken this time from the Letter to the Romans, confirm this: For as by one man‚Äôs disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man‚Äôs obedience many will be made righteous.72 The evangelical counsel of obedience is the call which derives from this obedience of Christ "unto death." Those who accept this call, expressed by the words "Follow me," decided--as the council says--to follow Christ who "by an obedience which carried him even to death on the cross, redeemed human-ity and made it holy.‚Äô‚Äô73 By living out the evangelical counsel of obedience, they reach the deepest essence of the entire Economy of the Redemption. By ful-filling this counsel, they desire to gain a special sharing in the obedience of that "One alone" by whose obedience all "will be made righteous." It can therefore be said that those who decide to live according to the counsel of obedience are placed in a unique way between the mystery of sin74 and the mystery of justification and salvific grace. They are in this "place" with all the sinful background of their own human nature, with all the inheritance "of the pride of life," with all the selfish tendencies to dominate rather than to serve
and precisely by means of the vow of obedience they decide to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, who "redeemed humanity and made it holy by his obedience." In the counsel of obedience they desire to find their own role in the redemption of Christ, and their own way of sanctification. This is the way which Christ marked out in the Gospel, speaking many times of fulfilling the will of God, of ceaselessly searching for it. "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his works."75 "Because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me."76 "He :who sent me is with me
he has not left me alone, for 1 always do what is pleasing to him.‚Äô‚Äô77 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me."78 This constant fulfilling of the will of the Father also reminds us of that messianic confession of the psalmist in the Old Testament: "Behold I come
in the written scroll it is prescribed for me. To do 3/our will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart.‚Äô‚Äô79 This obedience of the Son--full of joy--reaches its zenith in the face of the passion and cross: "Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me
yet not my will but yours be done."s0 From the prayer ~in Gethsemane onward, Christ‚Äôs 1196 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 readiness to do the will of the Father is filled to the very brim of suffering, becoming that obedience "unto death, even death on a cross" spoken of by St. Paul. Through the vow of obedience consecrated persons decide to imitate with humility the obedience of the Redeemer in a special way. For although sub-mission to the will of God and obedience to his law are for every state a condition of Christian life, nevertheless in the "religious state," in the "state of perfection," the vow of obedience establishes in the heart of each of you, dear Brothers and Sisters, the duty of a particular reference to Christ "obedient unto death." And since this obedience of Christ constitutes the essential nucleus of the work of the redemption, as is seen from the words of the apostle quoted above, therefore also in the fulfilling of the evangelical counsel of obedience we must discern a particular moment in that "economy of the redemption" which pervades your whole vocation in the Church. From this derives that "total availability to the Holy Spirit" who is at work above all in the Church, as my predecessor Paul VI puts it in the apostolic exhortation Evangelica Testificatio,8i a‚Äônd who is likewise manifested in the constitutions of your institutes. From this derives that religious submission which, in a spirit of faith, consecrated persons show to their legitimate superiors Who hold the place of God.82 In the Letter to the Hebrews we find on this theme a very significant indication: "Obey your leaders and submit to them
for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account." And the author of the letter adds: "Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you."~3 On the other hand, superiors will bear in mind that they. must exercise in a spirit of service the power conferred on them through the ministry of the Church, and they will show willingness to listen to their brothers or sisters in order to discern more clearly what the Lord asks of each one. At the same time they retain the authority proper to them to decide and order what they consider appropriatr. Hand in hand with submission-obedience thus conceived goes the attitude of service which informs your whole life after the example of the Son of Man who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."s4 And his mother, at the decisive moment of the annunciation-incarna-tion, entering from the very beginning into the whole salvific economy of the redemption, said: "Behold, 1 am the handmaid of the Lord
let it be done to me according to your word."aS Remember also, dear Brothers and Sisters, that the obedience to which you committed yourselves by consecrating yourselves without reserve to God through the profession of the evangelical counsels is a particular expression of interior freedom, just as the definitive expression of Christ‚Äôs freedom was his obedience "unto death": "1 lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one Redemptionis Donum / takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.‚Äô~6 Love for the Church Witness 14. In the Jubilee Year of the Redemption the entire Church wishes to renew her love for Christ, the redeemer of man and of the world, her Lord and also her divine Spouse. And so in this holy year the Church looks with special attentibn to you, dear Brothers and Sisters, who, as consecrated persons, occupy a special place, both in the universal community of the People of God, and in every local community. While the Church wishes also your love for Christ to be renewed through the grace of the extraordinary jubilee, at the same time, she is fully aware that this love constitutes a special possession of the whole People of God. The Church is aware that, in the love that Christ receives from consecrated persons, the love :of the entire Body is directed in a special and exceptional way toward the Spouse who, i~t the same time, is the Head of this Body. The Church expresses to you, dear Brothers and Sisters, her gratitude for your consecration, and for your profession of the evangelical counsels which are a special witness of love. She also expresses anew her great confidence in you who have chosen a state of life that is a special gift of God to the Church. She counts upon your complete and generous collaboration in order that, as faithful stewards of this precious gift, you may "think with the Church" and always act in union with her, in conformity with the teaching and directives of the magisterium of Peter and of the pastors in communion with him, fostering at the personal and community level a renewed ecclesial awareness. And at the same time, the Church prays for you, that your witness of love may never fail.87 She also asks you to accept in this spirit the present message of the Jubilee Year of the Redemption. Precisely in this way the Apostle Paul prayed in his Letter to the Philippians, that "your love may abound more and more.., with all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness. "~ Through the work of Christ‚Äôs redemption "God‚Äôs love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.‚Äô~9 1 constantly ask the Holy Spirit to grant to each one of you, according to your own gift,9¬∞ to bear special witness to this love. May "the law of the Spirit that gives life in Christ Jesus" be victorious within you in a way worthy of your vocation, that law that has "set us free from the law of... death.TM Live, then, this new life in the measure of the different gifts of God, which corresponds to the vocation of your individual religious families. The profession of the evangelical counsels shows each of you how, with the help of the Spirit, you can put to death92 everything that is contrary to life and serves sin and death
everything that is opposed to true love of God and others. The world needs the authentic "contradiction" provided by religious conse- 4911 / Reviow for Religious, July-August, 1984 cration, as an unceasing stimulus of saivific renewal. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.‚Äô~3 After the special period of experimentation and renewal provided for by the motu proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae, your institutes have recently received, or are preparing to receive, the Church‚Äôs approval of your renewed constitutions. May this gift of the Church encourage you to know them, to love them, and, above all, to live them in generosity and fidelity, remembering that obedience is an unambiguous manifestation of love. It is precisely this witness of love that the world today and all humanity need. They need this witness to the redemption as this is imprinted upon the profession of the evangelical counsels. These counsels---each in its own way and all of them together in their intimate connection--"bear witness" to the redemption which, by the power of Christ‚Äôs cross and resurrection, leads the world and humanity, in the Holy Spirit, toward that definitive fulfillment which man, and through man, the whole of creation finds in God and only in God. Your witness is therefore of inestimable value, You must constantly strive to make it fully transparent and fully fruitful in the world. A further aid to this will be the faithful observance of the Church‚Äôs norms regarding also the outward manifestation of your consecration and of your commitment to poverty.94 Apostolate 15. From this witness of spousal love for Christ, through which the entire salvific truth of the Gospel becomes particularly visible, there also comes, dear Brothers and Sisters, as something proper to your vocation, a sharing in the Church‚Äôs apostolate, in her universal mission--which is accomplished con-temporaneously in every nation in many different ways and through many different charisms. Your specific mission is in harmony with the mission of the apostles whom the Lord sent "to the whole world" to "teach all nations,‚Äôs5 and it is also linked to the mission of the hierarchial order. In the apostolate which consecrated persons exercise, their spousal love for Christ becomes, in an as it were organic way, love for the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Church as the People of God, fbr the Church which is at one and the same time Spouse and Mother. It is difficult to describe, or even to list, the many different ways in which consecrated persons fulfill through the apostolate their love for the Church. This apostolate is always born from that particular gift of your founders which, received from God and approved by the Church, has become a charism for the different needs of the Church and of the world at particular moments of history, and, in its turn, this apostolate is extended and strengthened in the life of religious communities as one of the enduring elements of the Church‚Äôs own life and apostolate. In each of these elements, in each field--both of Redemptionis Donum / 499 contemplation so fruitful for the apostolate and of direct apostolic action--the Church‚Äôs constant blessing accompanies you, as does at the same time her pastoral and maternal solicitude with regard to the spiritual identity of your life and the correctness of your activity in the midst of the great universal community of vocations and charisms of the whole People of God. Through each of the institutes separately, and through their organic integration into the whole of, the Church‚Äôs mission, special emphasis is given to the Economy of Redemption, the profound sign of which each one of you, dear Brothers and Sisters, bears within himself or herself through the consecration and profession of the evangelical counsels. And thus, even though the many different apostolic works that you perform are extremely important, nevertheless the truly fundamental work of the aPostolate remains always what (and at the same time who) you are in the Church. Of each one of you can be repeated, with special appropriateness, these words of St. Paul: ‚Äô~For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."96 And at the same time this "being hidden with Christ in God" makes it possible to apply to you the words of the master himself: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."97 For the sake of this light with which you must "shine before men," of great imPortance among you is the witness of your mutual love linked to the fraternal spirit of each community, for the Lord has said: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."gg The fundamentally communitarian nature of your religious life--nourished by the teaching of the Gospel, by the sacred liturgy, and above all by the Eucharist--is a special way of accomplishing this interpersonal and social dimension. By caring for one another, by bearing one another‚Äôs burdens, you show, by your unity, that Christ is living in your midst.99 Important for your apostolate in the Church is every kind of sensitivity to the needs and sufferings of the individual, which are seen so clearly and so movingly in today‚Äôs world. For the Apostle Paul teaches: "Bear one another‚Äôs burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,
~¬∞¬∞ and he adds that "love is the fulfilling of the Law."1¬∞1 Your mission must be seen! Deep, very deep must be the bond which links it to the Church!~¬∞2 Through everything that you do, and especially through everything that you are, may the truth be proclaimed and reconfirmed that "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her"~o3--the truth that is at the basis of the whole Economy of Redemption. From Christ, the Redeemer of the World, may the inexhaustible source of your love of the Church pour forth! Conclusion The Eyes Enlightening the Heart 16. This exhortation, which 1 address to you on the Solemnity of the Annunciation in the Jubilee Year of the Redemption, is meant to be an 5{11) / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 expression of that love which the Church has for men and womeri religious: You, dear Brothers and Sisters, are truly a special treasure of the Church. And this treasure becomes more understandable through ¬∞meditation on the reality of the redemption--for which the present Holy Year offers a continuous opportunity and a welcome encouragement. Recognize therefore, in this light, your identity and your dignity. May the Holy Spirit--through Christ‚Äôs cross and resurrection--"having the eyes of your hearts enlightened," enable you "to know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."~0~ These "eyes enlightening the heart" the Church unceasingly asks ]‚Äôor each ¬Ø one of you who have already taken the road of the profession of the evfingelical counsels. The Church, together with you, asks for the same "enlightened eyes" for many other Christians---especially for young men and women--that they, too, may discover this way, and not be afraid to enter upon it, that---even in the midst of the adverse circumstances of life today--they may hear Christ‚Äôs "Follow Me."1¬∞5 You, too, must strive for this through your prayer, and aiso through the witness of that love whereby "God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us."~o6 May this witness become present everywhere, and universally clear. May the people of our times, in their spiritual weariness, find in this witness both support and hope. Therefore serve your brethren with the joy that wells up from a heart in which Christ has his dwelling. "And may the world of our time.., be enabled to receive the good news, not from evangelizers who are dejected and discouraged.., but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ."~07 The Church, in her love for you, does not cease "kneeling before the Father... and praying"t0g that he may effect in you "the strengthening of the inner nature,‚Äô‚Äô~09 and, as in you, so also in many others of your baptized brothers and sisters---especially young people--so that they, too, may find the same way to holiness which, in the course of history, so many generations have traveled together with Christ the Redeemer of the World and Spouse of Souls, often~ leaving behind them the bright radiance of God‚Äôs light against the dark and gray background of human existence. To all of you who travel this road in the present phase of the history of the Church and the world there is addressed this fervent hope of the Jubilee Year of the Redemption, that "you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."~0 Message of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord On the Feast of the Annunciation in thi~ Holy Year of the Redemption, I place the present exhortation in the heart of the Immaculate Virgin. Among all Redemptionis Donum / 501 persons consecrated unreservedly to G6d, she is the first. She--the Virgin of Nazareth--is also the one most fully consecrated to God, consecrated in the most perfect way. Her spousal~love reached its height in the divine motherhood through the power of the Holy Spirit. She, who as mother carries Christ in her arms, at the same time fulfills in the most perfect way his call: "Follow me." And she follows him--she, the mother--as her teacher of chastity, poverty and obedience. How poor she was on Bethlehem night, and how poor on Calvary! How obedient she was at the moment .of the Annunciation, and then--at the foot of the Cross--obedient "unto death!" How dedicated she was in all her earthly life to the cause of the kingdom" of heaven through most chaste love. If the entire Church finds in Mary her first model, all the more reason do you find her so--you as consecrated individuals and communities within the Church! On the day that calls to mind the inauguration of the Jubilee of the Redemption, which took place last year, I address myself to you with this present message to invite you to renew your religious consecration according to the model of the consecration of the very Mother of God. Beloved Brothers and Sisters! "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."lll Persevering in fidelity to him who is faithful, strive to find a very special support in Mary! For she was called by God to the most perfect communion with his Son. May she, the faithful Virgin, also be the Mother of your evangelical way. May she help yoti to experience and to show to the world how infinitely faithful is God himself! With these hopes 1 bless you with all my heart. From the Vatican, March 25, in the Jubilee Year of the Redemption, 1984, the sixth of my pontificate. NOTES ~See Mt 7:14. 2Ps 130(129):7. .JSee 2 Co 11:2. sSee Mt‚Äô 19:21
see also document of the Congrega-tion for Religious and Secular Institutes "Essential Elements in the Church‚Äôs Teaching on Religious Life as Applied to Institutes Dedicated to Works of the Apostolate" (May 3 I, 1983), nn. 5ff. ~6Rm 6:3-4. ~TRm 6:6. 2SRm 6:1 I. ~gSee Ep 4:22-24. 51)2 / Review for Religious, July-August, 1984 J¬∞ls 43:1. 34Rm 12:1. asPs 16( 15):2,5. 42See Mt 7:1. ~6See Mt 6:14-15. ~¬∞Jn 17:15. 5JPh 2:6-7: 57Mr 19:12.¬∞ 6~I Co 7:32. ~2 Co 8:9. ~Mt 19:21. 32Ps 135 (134):4. J3Jn 17:19. a~Heb 10:5,7. ~6Rm 12:1. aTPs 73(72):25-26. 39See Sg 8:6. ~See Lk 20:38. :4~2 Co 5:17. *JLk 6:35. ‚Äô~See Mt 5:40-42. *~See Lk 14:13-14. *TRm 8:19-21. ‚Äô~1 Jn 2:15-17. ~gSee Gn 1:28. ~See Perfectae Caritatis, 5. 522 Co 5:17. ~Mk 8:34: Mt 16:24. ssPh 3:8-9. 562 Co 4:16. 5SMt 19:11. 59See I Co 7:28-40: ~¬∞See I Co 7:38. 621 Co 7:34. 6~See Lk 20:34-36
Lk 18:22. 7¬∞Mr 5:3. 7~Ph 2:6-8. 74Mysterium lniquitatis
see Heb 10:17. s~See Evangelica Testificatio, 6. S~Heb 13:17. ~4Mk 10:45. sTSee Lk 22:32. ssPh 1:9-1 I. 91Rm 8:2. 92See Rm 8:13. 9-~Rm 12:2. 9~See Code of Canon Law, canon 669. 9~See Mt 28:19. 9~Col 3:3. 97Mt 5:16. ~Jn 13:35. 99See Perfectae Caritatis, 15. t¬∞¬∞Ga 6:2. ~o~ Rm 13:10. ~¬∞2The Code of Canon Law explicitly mentions this with regard to apostolic activity: see canon 6
tion might have been mitigated. .... Coming to a Decision In the years following Vatican Council II my community undertook its renew-al and adaptation. I welcomed all the initial changes as healthy and hopeful. As time went on, however, I became unhappy with my own and the community‚Äôs level 24 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 of secularization. My modest wardrobe and collection of trifling possessions troubled my conscience. I wanted and expected to receive annual assignments, but the new approach of applying for both position and residence, with the full expectation that one‚Äôs preferences would be honored, contradi6ted my understand-ing of Gospel obedience. T.V., mixed drinks, popular novels, dating, and all the inevitable departures from religious life were matters of grave concern to me. It seemed to me that the true life of the community was ebbing away, that God and the love of God were no longer the focus of life. We still did a first-class job in our work, but there appeared to me~ little difference between ourselves and dedicated lay persons. Without going into more detail, I felt it necessary to include the foregoing inasmuch as it formed some of the background for my transfer. However, I do not feel that discontent and disapproval, even if justified, are good reasons for transfer. They would form a very shaky foundation for any new beginning and would surely raise questions in the community accepting a transfer sister. Flight from trouble could well indicate that the same pattern would be followed in the new community. It could also mean that the heart of the problem might be within the sister herself, and her response to difficult circumstances. Fleeing trouble was never part of my motivation. Had this been the case, I would have done it much sooner because I lived in painful community situations for several years before making a transfer. Furthermore, 1 was always very open and honest in communicating my thinking to my superiors. One cannot simply leave. There must be integrity in the decision and it should be made in peace and, as far as possible, in harmony with one‚Äôs higher superiors. There should be no bitterness, resentment or anger. The vocation is followed as God‚Äôs call and is a result of his initiative. This fact, if kept central in the minds of all concerned, makes for peace
and it is in this way that God‚Äôs presence manifests itself to all involved. God uses all our experiences to our good and brings about his purposes. While not my motivation, discontent and disapproval were part of my personal expe-rience and did serve to keep me from what I saw as wrong, In a more positive vein, they ,kept me praying for God‚Äôs light, strength and help. Certain tragic events in my own family also form a part of this picture and had their effect. Instead of completely discouraging me or leading me to despair or exodus from religious life altogether, everything brought me to the God of all peace and consolation. He alone became myRock of Refuge and Teacher. The alienation I experienced from my community and its value increased my love for him and my trust in him. Thus it was that my attraction for simply being with God in love grew stronger. A mere "concidence" (in quotation marks because the providence of the God who numbers the hairs of our fieads extends to every circumstance and happen-ing) occasioned my writing to the superior of a monastery. In time we became correspondents. When I first visited her and met her community in the grilled and bare parlor of the monastery I was deeply moved. This surprised me. I had not thought of contemplative life as my vocation for years, yet here 1 was, feeling completely at home with relative strangers and very strongly drawn to their sim- A Personal Account of Transfer / 25 plicity, humility, joy, peace and poverty. In the months that followed 1 was haunted by the experience. I found out more about their life and read of their origin. Could it be? Might 1 become one of them? Or was this merely a desire for escape from present suffering ("the grass is always greener...") or a dream too good to be true? Then, too, there was the possibility to be faced that God was calling me to deeper contemplative prayer rather than actual contemplative life. And might I be doing more good in the world outside a cloister rather than in it? I went through this inner and secret turmoil for several months. All the while 1 begged for light and some discernible, positive direction from God. 1 kept waiting and hoping for some outside confirmation of God‚Äôs will. God was, in fact, giving me all the "signs" I needed, but I distrusted the most significant of them: the profound attraction the life held for me over the years and especially at that moment, the fact that it fulfilled the most unselfish aspirations of my heart, and the fact that I seemed to have the requisite "talents." How is it we so readily distrust our own intuition and heart? Yet here at the deepest level of our being is where God works. Again, I have heard the same experience related by others who transferred to contemplative life. 1 went through no particular "process" of dis-cernment. There was just myself and, I trust, the Holy Spirit, plenty of tears, prayer, and searing, soul-searching honesty. One thing 1 knew: my life had one purpose and that was to love God with all my heart and soul, mind and being and to tend solely to him. Nothing else mattered. I did not see it then as clearly as I do now, but that, too, was evidence of a contemplative vocation, and had been the most important reality in my whole religious life. In his own time, God spoke, and he completely calmed the storm. I came to a "peace surpassing understanding." All my doubts vanished. My questions came to an end. I knew. In light of that peace I first asked the superior of the monastery (of the same order as that to which I was first attracted at the age of twelve) if there were any possibility of her accepting me. At the time I made my request I know now I was too little aware of the risk a small enclosed community takes in accepting a transfer. 1 next confided in my old and saintly grandmother who gave me her blessing, encouragement and wisdom--along with a warning that there was "still plenty of the world" in me and that I‚Äôd have far to go. She was absolutely correct. With my grandmother‚Äôs prayers to back me, I approached my major superior. She was wonderful and accepting. The depth of my peace and conviction were evident to her. She fully realized and agreed.that this was a genuine vocation and not a result of any differences of values or opinions. We communicated in a real spirit of love. Not knowing much about contemplative life, her concern was that my personality might be stifled or my gifts ignored and unused. 1 had tentatively broached the subject to a priest friend in a letter some weeks before. Visiting him, 1 told him the whole story and said that I really thought it was God‚Äôs will for me to transfer. He informed me that it came as no surprise to him, that he had seen it coming but had not wanted in any way to interfere with God‚Äôs guidance of me. Among my family and friends, the least suprised was my mother. Her intuition had led her to realize that a great change was in the offing. 96 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 The responses of all the above mentioned persons further confirmed my expe-rience. I cannot say that my decision was accepted or understood by all my friends and religious family. It caused some painful estrangements and there were those who could only accept it as my "thing" and therefore all right for me. The actual process of transfer was thus initiated after what had felt like an interminable period of waiting and praying. Perhaps God wanted me to realize that it was first necessary that I be utterly surrendered to his desires and that the only way he could achieve this was to let me struggle on "alone" during that time. It was a kind of game of love. He so deeply drew me but never let me fully reach him. Left to myself 1 could not believe in my own heart. It was not until he gave me that unmistakable sign and gift of peace that 1 was sure that what I had been experiencing in my own heart was indeed his will for me, that the two were not two, but one. Legal Process of Transfer Because 1 am rather sure questions about procedure will arise, it may be helpful here to tell what 1 know about getting the document known as a "Rescript of Transfer" from the Sacred Congregation for Religious. In my own case this was done in the last months of my postulancy immediately prior to my receiving the habit and commencing my canonical year. For the validity of novitiate, one must have this document. Ordinarily the Vicar for Religious of the diocese in which the monastery is located handles the paperwork. He directed that three letters be written: the first by the superior of the community ! was leaving expressing her approval and her willingness to receive me back at any time before solemn vows should I leave the monastery
the second by the superior receiving me stating her willingness to receive me and including pertinent data regarding my status in religion (name, age, years professed, community of origin)
the third by myself. handwritten and addressed to the Pope, stating my request and my reasons for it. These letters are sent to the Vicar who forwards them to.Rome through his office. In approximately six weeks, upon receipt of the rescript, he sends copies to the superiors. This is, as ! understand it, the general procedure, although I have heard of it being done through the Vicar of the diocese which the transferring sister was leaving. I have also heard of cases handled by a major superior independently of the Vicar for Religious. The superior dealt directly with the Sacred Congregation for Religious. In any case, this rescript is the only permission one needs to begin the canonical year and proceed through formation to vows. New Beginning I entered upon my new life with certain expectations. Some were realistic and some not so realistic. It was realistic to expect some sense of dbjb vu. This was in many ways a return to customs and practices l had lived in my first several years of religious life. With these things I was at home. I had also rightly anticipated a warm community life. Of course 1 allowed for a period of adjustment, but I did not A Personal Account of Transfer expect it to last more than six to eight weeks, in fact, it took much longer than that. The reason was not that I was too old to learn or change or that 1 lacked a willing docility. It was more subtle than this. Without realizing it, I expected to enter upon a period of rest, a sort of honeymoon in a safe harbor after years of struggle and sorrow. This was not to be. For one thing, the monastic community I entered was going through its own renewal pains. And much worse, for me, was that when I came in the front door of the monastery it seemed that God left by the back door. Here 1 was at last, and where was he? The work tired me. The hard bed took some getting used to. Often it was impossible to get back to sleep once it had been broken by the Office or night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Sometimes the closeness of my neighbors irritated me beyond measure. There were no days off from routine. I expected to master everything easily but it turned out that I was the one to be mastered. After many years in religious life it amazed me to learn how deluded I was about myself. Without the distractions of apostolic work and all that goes with it, without useless conversation, reading and entertainment, God‚Äôs light began to clarify my vision. The very starkness of the life, its purity, makes for this experience. I was face to face with myself, my weakness, my poverty. Anything is possible if God is tangibly supporting us. It is when he is appar-ently nowhere to be found that things get out of hand and we are unable to cope with the simplest and most normal inconveniences and trials of daily life. But ought not a contemplative be able always to find refuge in prayer? Self-made prayer is most unsatisfactory. What a contemplative learns by being unable to pray, by being reduced to utter poverty at every level of existence (and this was my experience) is just to cling in naked faith to Jesus Crucified. Paradoxical as it may sound, there is no greater happiness. Having come to this reality through suffering, both in my life before 1 entered the monastery and in the years 1 have been here, I know something of what it means to say with Paul that I have been crucified with Christ, that my life is not my own and Christ lives in me (Ga 2:19-20). The way to the deepest joy I have ever known is just as the Son of God has taught us and that way is by losing my life and denying my very self. The total experience of knowing myself as nothing, of having nothing, has opened my eyes in faith to the All within me, the Being who in unfathomable love calls non-being into union with himself. My love for God, my hunger for him, unites me at the Heart of Reality with all my brothers and sisters in this world. I do not live for myself, nor suffer for myself, nor weep for myself. My vocati6n embraces every person on earth. In their names 1 pray and work. In their names, I, too, am in misery and pain. I am a whole world calling to God in need, in love, in trust. 1 have entered eternity in time and within me there is infinite scope for love. I came because of love and I have stayed because of love. Surely it is "a narrow gate and a hard road" (Mt 7:13-14), but it "leads to life," life opening more and more into the mystery of God as love. The Needs of Contemplatives in Direction Barbara Armstrong, O.SS.R. This article had its origin in a presentation made to a group of retreat masters by Sister Barbara, a cloistered nun residing in the Redemptoristine Monastery
Liguori. MO 63057. Somewhere in her writings, the great St. Teresa compares the contemplative with the standard-bearer in battle. She says that, because he is the standard-bearer, he is exposed to great danger. He can‚Äôt defend himself because he carries the standard, of which he must not let go--even if he is to be cut to pieces. "Contemplatives," she says, "have to bear aloft the sign of humility, the Cross. And they must suffer all the blows aimed at them without striking back. Their duty is to suffer as Jesus did." "Let them watch what they are doing," she says again, "for if they let the standard fall, the battle is lost." It isn‚Äôt the standard-bearer who is important. It is the standard itself which is all important, for it is imprinted with the sign of our salvation: the Cross. Perhaps this is why there are so few contemplatives. Perhaps, too, this is why contempla-tives need all the help they can get just to respond fully to the call of their vocation, to persevere and become fruitful in the Church of today. You Have No Eyes to See The message sent to the Church in Laodicea, in the Book of Revelation, is also a message meant for contemplatives--and for those who guide them. Right after the familiar passage about lukewarmness, we hear the Lord say: "You have no eyes to see that you are wretched, pitiable, poverty-stricken, blind and naked. My advice to you is to buy from me that gold which is purified in the furnace, so that you may be rich, and white garments to wear so that you may hide the shame of your nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes to make you see." That phrase, "You have no eyes to see," is significant for us because ignorance The Needs of Contemplatives in Direction is one of the reasons why relatively few contemplatives ever attain the end for which they were called: union with God. Mystical graces, we are told, are always available. God‚Äôs goodness and generosity are never lacking. But very few actually arrive at a state of contemplation. Why is this? To answer this question, I would like to tell you a story. Actually, it is a parable which is told in the book of a Carmelite nun, Sister Ruth Burrows. Here is her parable. A Love Story Hidden away in a valley surrounded by high mountains there lived a very primitive tribe. The people of this tribe knew very little of the world outside their valley. Occasionally, they would get a glimpse of a jet streaking across the sky far over their heads, and this, they thought, was one of the gods throwing spears at another. One day a man appeared in the valley, a young anthropologist. He had come to study the tribe at close quarters--if they would have him. But they were a gentle tribe, so they welcomed him. The young man was lodged in the chief‚Äôs hut and lived there for some years. Eventually he fell in love with the chief‚Äôs daughter and married her. Hitherto, the girl had thought herself wealthy. Was not her father the most powerful of their people? But the closer she grew to her beloved, the more she saw that her riches--the family cattle, some cooking pots and animal skins--were as nothing compared to the possessions that were her husband‚Äôs. He had materials, leathers and machines, knives and matches to make fire--riches unimaginable. But the girl saw, too, that her husband‚Äôs greatest delight was to share his riches with her. Her lack merely aroused his bounty, so she knew her poverty itself primarily as a richness, giving them both pleasure. There came a time when the anthropologist had to leave and, taking his wife with him, he returned to his own civilization. The native girl found this new environment terribly alien. She discovered, to her horror, that her husband‚Äôs enemies laughed at him behind his back because of his primitive wife. Even his friends pitied him. She didn‚Äôt know what to do with this bitter knowledge. Some-how she had brought disgrace on her loved one. The girl always knew that her husband loved her. She knew that he longed to share his heart with her, take her completely into his life. But when he tried to speak of so many things closest to him, she would notice his voice falter, for she could not follow even the meaning of his words, let alone the scope of his thoughts and concepts. She was shut off from him by her own limitation and ignorance. That caused her distress almost beyond bearing. The more she realized what her poverty cost her beloved, the more absolute became her will to escape from it for his sake. Equally the more clearly did she see that, of herself, there was no escape. But all was not lost because she also realized that in her husband she had come not only to understand her poverty, but to find an effective and everpresent escape from it. From him she could receive all that his Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 love had prepared for her. So she opened her heart to everything he had to offer her. She found in him the most loving of teachers. Soon she became the echo of his thought. There passed between them intimate glances of complete understanding. She had an intuitive knowledge of how his mind worked, so closely did she grow to him. Yet she bad lost nothing of that natural woman he had first loved. On the contrary, she only now realized her own innate capacity. Her enrichment had brought all that was already there to bloom. But now, more than ever, she knew, too, that this was all his doing. Every perception, every growth, had come from his love and his teaching. Genuine Contemplatives This story, lengthy though it be, brings out so many important points about the contemplative vocation. Years ago, maybe it‚Äôs different now, one of the phrases we often heard was that "we should strive for perfection." This tended to make us think that we could do it all ourselves. The main idea seemed to be that we were in control of our lives. The success of things depended on our own efforts. And so, many of us thought we could become contemplatives by the things we did. Like the primitive tribe of our story living in their valley, though, our horizons were very limited. We were content with our regulated existence, our own personal riches and the consolations sent us from time to time by a loving God. Much confid~nce was attached to the good things of our little enclosed world. We had no eyes to see beyond our then present peaceful life. But since we are meant to be genuine contemplatives, Jesus began to break through our ignorance and complacency. He asked us to leave our valley of poverty. He invited us to a rich interior world, one we had never dreamed of. These invitations continue to be offered to us in many ways. Perhaps they come in a retreat, in a sermon, in our reading, or through the words of a friend. But the voice is the voice of Jesus, and he invites us over and over again. If the primitive tribe in our story had turned away the young anthropologist when he came among them, he would never have married the chief‚Äôs daughter. She would never have learned about the larger world
she would have stayed in her ignorance. Think of all the beauty, rich, ness and love of which she would have been deprived. The great St: Teresa was satisfied for a long time with her routine religious exercises, even though in her heart she knew better. We read that she continued to live just over twenty ,years with her heart divided between two extremes: the pleasures, satisfactions and pastimes of her fashionable world, and the spiritual life of a contemplative. How can this happen? How can we contemplatives continue to fool ourselves ---even though we are continually prodded, continually touched by grace? One of the ways we contemplatives have of staying in our valley of poverty is by our attachment to .the Law. We can" fall prey to a sort of fanatical legalism. The Needs of Contemplatives in Direction Most often, it seems, it is the most pious of persons who become rigid and unbending formalists. "Here at last," we say, "is something solid to hang on to." In our own eyes we are in the right. "We are doers of the Law." Any ,doer of the law, however, will also be tempted to live by the law, whereas the true lover of Jesus lives by the spirit. We contemplatives tend to make the Law, and it alone, our security. We never even dream that it is possible to seek a perfection in anything whatever with an intensity of zeal that is in itself imperfect. For instance, often in the past, the cross, austerity, suffering was unthinkingly perverted by us in our zeal. Wehad the idea that, since we were only pleasing God when we were suffering, the more suffering the better. Fearing and hating our bodies, we thought, would make us spiritual people. This, together with the notion that we were redeemed by suffering since Jesus died for us, we pushed .to its logical conclusion, thinking that we could never have too much suffering. It wasn‚Äôt suffer-ing that redeemed us. It was love.t We contemplatives can develop attachments to just about anything: to prayer and fasting for their own sake
to a method of meditation, even to contemplation itself (or to what we think is contemplation.) We can become attached to virtues, to things that, in themselves, are marks of heroism and high sanctity. We religious men and women, called to be saints, can allow ourselves to be blinded by an inordinate love for such things and can remain just as much in darkness and error as those who seem far less perfect than we. Some of us can become gluttons for prayer and for silence and solitude. Silence can become an ultimate. When there is noise we become angry and rebel-lious. If we are required to set aside our solitude for the sake of charity, we fill the air with our complaints. This kind of solitude and silence is false, of course, a refuge for the individualist. Perhaps the deepest attachment of all, the one which keeps us in our valley of poverty the longest, is attachment to ourselves. On this we must keep a fingerhold
we just cannot let go. Self-respect, self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction--we have to look good in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. We worry.about failure because somehow we are not living up to the expectations we have set for our-selves. Only secondly do we consider the expectations of God. In our story the chief‚Äôs daughter found that her lack aroused her husband‚Äôs bounty. She knew her poverty primarily as a sweet thing. But covetous as we are, we contemplatives want our hands full. We must have something of our own which we can bestow on God
or at least hold out to him, thinking to win him over with our generosity. When Jesus Touches Us Sooner or later we begin to realize that this way of living does not work
we begin to see that relying on ourselves alone is doomed to failure. When Jesus touches us with his mystical graces, what happens? Our eyes are opened and we are Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 dissatisfied with everything. This overwhelming feeling of dissatisfaction could very well be Jesus‚Äô most precious gift of all. But it does not seem so to us~ We look within and discover the same faults and vices we have always been burdened with. Prayer has become almost unbearable. Spiritual things in general lose their familiarity and joy. Panic deepens. Life seems turned upside down and inside out. Above all this, the knowl-edge that we have failed the Lord, that we have dropped the standard, that the battle is being lost--this is our deepest sorrow. But although all seems lost, what we experience in reality is the finding of our true life in Jesus. Like our primitivegirl, we, too, begin to realize, at last, that only in Jesus will we find our ever present redemption from our dreaded poverty. Retreat masters, spiritual directors and confessors will do us the greatest favor if they direct their efforts toward instilling in us an abiding trust in the all-loving Providence of God and in the saving life of Jesus. They should help us to mistrust ourselves and to surrender ourselves into His hands. They should teach us to cling to him no matter how dark things seem to be, teach us to have faith in his love and in his forgiveness no matter what we think we have done
no matter how we think we have failed. Signs of Progress What are the signs by which spiritual directors may gauge for certain real progress in contemplatives? Some of the outward manifestations of an inward mystical encounter or of infused contemplation might be the following: We contemplatives might describe to directors an experience of a deep and painful knowledge of ourselves, for we begin to see ourselves as we truly are. We may say that all our illusions are b~ing shattered, especially our illusions of self-importance. We may tell them that all our cherished ambitions are unmasked for the first time, or that we feel our dignity has been overthrown. We will, perhaps, tell them that we are lost
that we are not sure any more if we are leading dedicated lives at all. We exper!ence a growing sense of insecurity. At the same time, strange as it may seem, we experience at~ acceptance of this state. As our native girl found when she op~ned her heart to everything her husband had to offer her, so we contemplatives begin to see everything in a different light. Our lives of austerity, our efforts at mortification will acquire a deeper significance. We understand that as God is our life, we must let nothing take the edge off our need for him. This is a new way of living out our hunger and thirst, our refusing to be satisfied. We are consenting to have no security and no other satisfaction but God
a God who is unseen and unfelt. So near is he and so awesome, that unless we say "Yes" to him all the time, and accept life as he gives it, we must return to our valley of poverty. The temptation to turn back can be overwhelming. But it is also true that we are given a powerful strength at this time, enabling us to persevere. All this, of course, is an effect of Jesus‚Äô lox
e for us. We remember, indeed we cannot for a The Needs of Contemplatives in Direction moment forget, that any enrichment in us is all his doing. Still, this is a time of great struggle and temptation. Perhaps the greatest temptation will be to abandon prayer or at least to try to escape, in some way, the grievous suffering of a deep emptiness and poverty within. This empty prayer, however, has tremendous importance. If we consent to wait humbly for the Lord, we will, all unknowingly, find that it is precisely in this arid waste that Jesus is touching us. At this juncture, the contemplative might tell the director of an experience of being literally undone and remade, for there are no half measures any longer. What is really happening is that our faith is being deepened all the time. A sure sign that we contemplatives have not made progress will be precisely the certainty that we have! Alternatively another certain sign of growth might be the gradual disappearance of a tendency to criticize and find fault. There appears instead, a more gentle outlook
a kinder and more compassionate approach, thanks be to God. Love: Human and Divine Love has been our theme all the way through. But now I would like to be a li‚Äôttle more specific about love, I mean the place of both human and divine love in the contemplative life. I think we will all agree that human affection is probably the most sweeping emotion in us. So, from the outset, we need to keep these two loves, the human and the divine, in order, lest the human sweep us off the foundation of the divine. To feel attraction for another, of course, is not wrong. Yet, for some of us, it can and does become a .dangerous thing. We fear to admit our feelings and to accept them, for the very difficulty in doing so can pose a thousand problems for us. At the same time, we know that this is the only healthy approach. It means we are accepting our sexuality and womanliness. I wonder if any of us ever fully grasps what a block to God‚Äôs transforming action lies in the refusal to face up to and integrate our sexuality, and live it out continently for the glory of God? The Carmelite, Sr. Ruth Burrows states: "Being sexual means basically that 1 am a half and. not a whole. I am incomplete as I am and I tend, unconsciously, always to seek my other half, even though consciously, ! have renounced my right to marry and have children and be made whole by another. But grace does not work fully in a half person, so I struggle to love purely though it be through a great deal of suffering, because Jesus has promised to fill my emptiness with himself and so take away the ache of loneliness. If I am to become whole it will be in him and I must live in the hope of becoming whole in him and in him alone." The greatest danger is that we will try to get rid of the pain. We will even deny that these desires and attractions exist because they do not fit our stereotypic image of "the holy nun for whom God is enough." When we deny these feelings, the temptation will be to seek compensation for what we have given up. Frustrated longing comes to the surface sooner or later. It shows itself in outward behavior 3tl / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 such as domination of others, maternalism (or paternalism), or a passive or child-ish dependence. Who hasn‚Äôt encountered these types in religious life? There are the old maids or bachelors. They will avoid personal involvements of every kind. In the name of holy recollection, they "keep their hearts for God alone." They are afraid to make friends and so they play it safe. Then there are the frustrated wives and mothers--and we might add, frus-trated fathers. These have never faced up to the truth of their feelings and desires. So they live on compensations instead of on God. They use their friends selfishly, looking for gratification from them. They dominate.and control other lives for their own ends, thinking all the while that this is "holy freedom" and "human fulfillment." To get back to us women: a woman, by nature, is meant to be selfless, receptive, wholly intent on giving and loving, that others ‚Äômight become them-selves. But when we see so many religious women leave their institutes these days, giving up their vocation and going back to secular life, we‚Äôre not judging them when we ask, "Could it be that they did not get the help they needed in this problem of love?" Perhaps they found no one to understand their problem. Was there anyone to whom they could have gone for guidance amid these conflicting feelings, desires and attractions? I think we all need to know that it‚Äôs alright to feel attraction and affection for others, especially for those of the oppos
uity in using available resources and at the same time remaining alert to the opportunities for deliverance if and when they present themselves, so too with the struggle for spiritual survival. It requires anger against avoidable evils, sensitivity to appropriate solutions in which one‚Äôs anger may be expressed, and the capacity to wait without exploding from within or being sapped of one‚Äôs energies from without. One may have to buy chemically treated food because fresh produce has been priced beyond one‚Äôs budget
one may have to drive an automobile to work because public transport systems have become an economic deficit to the com-munity
one may have to put up with menial labor because one‚Äôs skills are not in demand
one may have to swallow large doses of injustice, stupidity, and callous-ness. But one does not have to pretend to like it or allow it to embitter enjoyment. Survival means wedding a resistance to resignation with a love of playfulness so as to forfeit neither the gusts nor the disgusts of life. Fourthly, leisure needs to infuse a spirit of the sacred into the time that we waste. When the ritual, beliefs, and holy writ of a religious tradition become fettered to the myth of consumer time, they forsake their sacredness. When they cease to cut like a. two-edged sword that denounces sinfulness and announces goodness, they dull and profane their capactiy of re-creation. At the same time, when they provide mere divertissement from the trials of working life or serve only as platforms for supporting the flood of causes that wash through the mass media with the regularity of spring and autumn fashions, they betray their meaning. Sacred time is not an investment measured in loss and profit to the current problems of a civilization. It is a necessity--the necessity to hallow the self, the earth, and the human race as a single great gift beyond all desert. It insures that, whatever of practical use may come out of time wasted in leisure, it is the wasting that is holiest. Sacred time unplugs us from our own time and opens up a horizon of all time, against which the greatest sin appears as the desire for absolute control and the greatest goodness as the grace of being absolutely loved. All of us, every soul of us on earth, breathe the myths of our civilization as inevitably as we breathe the air .that surrounds us. They are transparent, taken for The Art of Wasting l~me / 13 granted, but essential for human .life. Leisure time is like a flute that transforms.the silent secrets in the air into music. It shows us the harmonies and the cacophanies, the purity and the pollution of our myths. Without leisure, we have no way to know the air about us, no way to love back the One who made us the,mythmaking animals we are. View From Behind Tapestries look like battlefields from the back. Threads like soldiers in hand to hand combat-- who is most resilient? Arms locked, elbows out, clenched fists of knot scattered like small skirmishes across the expanse. Who is most flexible? Stitches quarrel in overbearing voice, rush to trenches, maintain positions. Colors invade each other‚Äôs territory, singing violent victories of light. All clamor, all struggle, It faces the wall of faith while the weaver and the watcher . work from the front. St. Anne Higgins, D.C. 123 Franklin St., Petersburg, VA 23803 Celibacy in Africa Matungulu Otene, S.J. Zaire‚Äôs Father Otene, ordained in 1977, is presently working in St. Peter and Paul parish: B.P. 1125: Lubumbashi: Zaire. This article is excerpted from the booklet. "C~libat Consacr~ pour une Afrique assoiff~: de F~:conditi:," published by Editions Saint-Paul Afrique, P.O. Box 8505
Kinshasa, which was translated into English by Louis C. Plamondon. S.J.: Manresa
Kenya. In English, it is no. 65 of the Spearhead series, "Celibacy and the African Value of Fecundity," published by Gaba Publications: P.O. Box 908: Eldoret: Kenya, which graciously granted permission for our use. ~f the reason for Christian celibacy is unique, that is, for Jesus Christ and his kingdom, every Christian called to this type of life is also called to live out this experience in the context of his own culture and personal history. An African celibate today is not celibate in exactly the same way as an Indian of today, even if both are celibate for the sake of Jesus Christ and his kingdom. There is a whole world of emotions and affectivity which permeates our celibacy very deeply. This is so true that the world we live in affects the objective and subjective content of our celibacy. Both what we hear being said about celibacy and what we experience in our flesh by living out what is said, are rooted emotions. Without this emotive element, there would be no human celibacy in the full sense of the term
conse-quently, there would be no Christian celibacy since the latter is deeply rooted in human nature and since celibacy itself has also to be incarnated. The affective life of a South American--his way of feeling and living celibacy--differs from that of an African from Zaire or Senegal. Among Africans there are a certain number of differences in affectivity. However, even if it must be admitted that within the same people there are different ways of feeling things, this, nevertheless, does not mean that African peoples do not have a greater affinity with one another than with peoples from the West or the East. After all, their cultural heritage is common. This seems evident even if there are shades of meaning or subtle nuances which are hard to express in these few short pages, which do not pretend to be a psycho-so-cial study of human societies. 14 Celibacy in Africa The cultural milieu in which the young African lives has a very great impact on his response to the Lord‚Äôs call. Celibacy is surely an area in which sensibility is a very important factor, if not the most important. In fact, coming as he does from a family where marriage is viewed in a very special light, the young African will carry in the depths of his being, perhaps through his whole life, the impact of this way of thinking. It will take only a circumstance or an event to awaken in him a whole world of memories accumulated throughout his short life. The fact that his grand-father was polygamous, that his own father had more than one wife, and that his own mother was not the first wife of his father, nor the one preferred, cannot but have significance in his life of celibacy. The mere fact of knowing that in his extended family there is somewhere a cousin with five children, each with a different father, cannot be without significance. Those are his half brothers, but this entails that this good cousin of his.is a husbandless woman with children entirely dependent upon her. To know that his aunt is a prostitute with children, cannot‚Äô but have some impact on him. It is no small thing to have a deep sense of all these situations and still, despite all this, to dedicate his life to God in conse-crated celibacy. This world which I have just described briefly cannot be found as such in Europe nor in North or South America, but this is the world that has shaped the young African of whatever black African country he may be. One cannot ignore these realities and pretend that they do not have any influence whatsoever on people. For Africans the child is a reality to be treasured
and each human being does all in his power to leave behind him :some offspring, whether he be married or not married, living the life of a prostitute or of enforced celibacy. All Africans desire to have children, sometimes by any means. The young man who hears the Lord‚Äôs call is living in this very world and not in any other. His‚Äô reflections and ways of thinking are rooted in the environment from which he comes, in the psycho-social milieu which surrounds him. This does not frighten the Lord just as no human milieu frightens him, because it is in such complex situations that he manages to find celibates for his kingdom. Growth in the Life of Celibacy To be sure, other cultures also have their own difficult problems in this area. I am merely showing that our way of experiencing the world has an influence on celibacy and that the cultural traditions are to be taken seriously, but without exaggeration. The young African called to a life of celibacy or religious life will have to integrate progressively within his affective life the realities which surround him without seeking to escape from them. He will do so by looking at them frankly, without panic, in prayer, in his personal relationship with Christ in the Eucharist. God‚Äôs grace is always there, and this is what gives us confidence in the face of the strong temptations in this life. This young human being will have to understand that since the Incarnation, God gives his grace through weak human beings. Accordingly, to see clearly within his own being, he will have to be open with another person who has the experience of Jesus Christ. The one the Lord will "16 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 put in his path will show him the road to follow and will give him courage in the moment of trial when temptations are strongest. Celibacy requires a lot of disci-pline. He will have to learn to exercise great control over his senses and sometimes to give up things which are innocuous, and to focus on the unique reality which is necessary, Jesus Christ. For certain types of people, chastity can be gained only after a hard fight lasting many years
and this can cause a lot of anxiety when it happens to people who are scrupulous by nature, yet desirous of achieving holiness. What I have just written is not rhetoric. It sometimes happens that young people are torn apart inwardly because they want to dedicate themselves entirely to the Lord but yet cannot completely control certain evil habits or certain attitudes which they find difficult to evangelize. I insist that it is a difficult fight--a fight to death--a fight which moulds a man gradually as he learns bit by bit not to depend upon his own strength but on that of the Lord who has set him apart from his mother‚Äôs womb to preach his Gospel to men of good will There are less sensitive types of people who do not encounter very many types of problems in their development, but irrespective of their sensitivity, all will undergo moments when they are forced to make a decision for the Lord. The chastity that is required by a life of celibacy is not a case of spontaneous generation--it is a garden that must be tended lest weeds grow in it. When one has gone astray, one finds it difficult, sometimes even impossible, to go back
thus, it is not surprising that some young, generous people have gone astray. Vigilance is necessary in these matters, but the kind of vigilance characteristic of those who are sure of victory
for if Christ is with us, who can be against? Sooner or later Christ will defeat this devil of our middle age who likes to attack our flesh, born in the human condition, born incomplete. The young celibate, therefore, will learn not to abuse God‚Äôs grace. He will be prudent
he will not take chances with his celibacy. He will have the simplicity of a dove but the prudence of a serpent. The married man who is a dedicated Christian will not flirt with other women lest his marriage, be threatened and, accordingly, his real happiness and that of his home. The same holds true for religious. They also cannot take chances with their passions and put themselves in the position of violating the gift they have made of themselves in the simplicity of their heart. Nothing escapes lay people when it comes to observing the behavior of reli-gious. They notice even the smallest detail when they want to criticize their priests or religious men and women. Some even take pleasure in judging them, in scrutin-izing their behavior to find the smallest reprehensible thing. In this way, they purify their religious, even without wanting to. Lay people are surely not gullible, even though they sometimes misinterpret the way African religious live out their celibacy. They can often distinguish between the religious who is loyal and faithful to his consecration to the Lord from the religious who is beginning to compromise and.. to give in. Assuredly, their judgments are not gospel truth, and often one would do well to minimize themremembering that even the great saints were often Slandered by malicious tongues. Celibacy in Africa Certain Difficulties or Certain Illusions It is sad to ‚Äônote that many young, generous and seemingly solid religious have lost the grace of celibacy because of supposedly spiritual relationships with women religious and with young girls. There is nothing more dangerous than these suspect relationships between men and women religious, nothing more scandalous for African Christians than to see their priests, their men and women religious become involved in expressions of human love under the pretext of love in Christ..Many men and women religious believe rather too easily that they have been made immune to the weakness of their flesh. They are a little too quick to believe that they have attained the required maturity in celibacy. They sincerely think that henceforth sex has no hold over them since they have become spiritual. Yet, it is a very sad and illusory spirituality which makes man believe that he is now immune to sin. A really spiritual person, on the contrary, depends entirely on the grace of God without giving up healthy vigilance. I believe that the closer one gets to the Lord, the more one realizes that what seemed innocent until then now takes on the appearance of something that is not entirely pure. However, far from being threatened or discouraged by this increasing desire for purity, one has more and more confidence in the Lord and greater humility when one thinks 6f how little one is virtuous. In true love there is no fear. This is so, it seems to me, in the case of one who wants to respond wholeheartedly, day after day, to the call of him who has made us pass from darkness to his wonderful light. In my humble opinion, it often takes many years of solitude to be able to experience a true spiritual friendship in Christ with members of the other sex. The danger is to believe too quickly that the right moment has come. That is often when one goes astray. As for any genuinely Christian life, celibacy cannot go without suffering. There is no real celibacy without the mystery of the cross written, as it were, in the flesh of baptized people. A celibacy without renunciation, without a sacrifice that is willingly accepted, a celibacy which refuses to die like the grain of wheat fallen in the soil is a celibacy locked up in solitude and bearing no lasting fruit. There are people who are undoubtedly privileged because of circum-stances and especially because of the Lord, but let us not be too quick to classify ourselves among those people and risk spoiling the splendid grace the Lord has given to us--the grace of living the celibacy of simple people without any special favors from God, I mean without any extraordinary grace. This simple gift, in fact, honors the Lord just as much as the extraordinary gift that some of us humans might receive from God. I don‚Äôt mean to say that it is absolutely impossible for men or women religious to experience a healthy spiritual friendship with members of the other sex, but I believe that some of us think that we have attained that stage when we really haven‚Äôt. Often, because of a lack of restraint or a lack of real self-knowledge, one strikes up a friendship which will tomorrrow become sinful, therefore, bad for oneself and for theirs. A friendship to which we are too attached, a friendship which prevents us from fulfilling our duties is a friendship to be "18 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 purified or, better still to be abandoned while there is time
that is, as soon as we become aware off where it is. leading, the relationship must be severed politely and without human respect. This is for the greater good of the person whom we love in Christ
finally, it is for the greater glory of the one who has called us to holiness, Jesus Christ. In the same way, a friendship which would render a member of a religious order incapable of being available to do what his superiors want 9f him is simply not good. It is for the Lord that we have joined religious life, not for the purpose of surrounding ourselves with protective partnerships which go against true charity. In,his infinite goodness, the Lord may put on our path a person of the other sex for a certain period of time. This, person will enrich us through, friendship, and this enrichment can be mutual. But, here again, this gracemust be lived in all simplicity and with the necessary prudence since we are all weak, sinful human beings. Hope for Africa ~ , Certain missionaries have led young Africans to believe that celibacy is more difficult for them than !t is for young people from the West. This opinion is based on ignorance or it is a lie. The fundamental problem, in fact, is the same for all human beings
the conditions that are found in any culture are not qualitatively different. In the final analysis, it is the same fundamental problem for different people in different cultures
there are accidental but no essential differences. I have sometimes been shocked to hear this type of broad statement according to which it would be practically impossible for Africans to live a life of celibacy. For me, celibacy is rooted in faith in the living Christ. It is something which permeates the faith of the one who feels called, and faith is something which is given by the Lord without any distinction of culture or race. There are differences, but they are not so essential that they make a life of celibacy impossible in AfriCa. There are enough African religious to show th~.t this is true. Among these meia and women of Africa, often living in some isolated areas, there are men and women religious who live their cbnsecration to the Lord even in heroic fashion. Their silent example is enough to prove that celibacy is possible for Africans, at least for those who feel themselves called to it and who respond generously. Not too long ago, 1 was telling a group of young Africans the following: either we are Christians or we are not
either we believe in Jesus Christ or we don‚Äôt believe in him at all. In this area there are no half measures. It‚Äôs all or nothing. This is why faith in Jesus Christ requries a complete transformation of our life-style and of our outlook. One of the aspects of our outlook on life which must change because it is absolutely against Christianity is this requirement of a fruitfulness that is exclusively biological. A man without children among us in black Africa is one who does not bear fruit, who is useless and even an outcast. If there is an obstacle to the awakening and living out of vocations (and I am talking here about voca-tions to the priesthood or religious life), it is our too limited way of looking at fruitfulness. Many Africans believe that a man cannot be completely fulfilled in or outside of marriage unless he has many children. Among us, celibate people and Celibacy in Africa married couples without children are not seen in a good light because they seem useless to our society. It may be understandable that some non-Christians think this way. But for Christians this is disastrous. Haven‚Äôt we ever meditated on the life of Christ? Can we ignore that he was himself celibate? Or do we believe that Jesus was not a man like us except for sin? Yet our creed is very clear on this. Jesus was truly God and he was truly man. If such is the case, why wouldn‚Äôt we allow those among us who wish to live like Christ to doso? If it be true that the face of being celibate did not diminish the God made man, why wouldn‚Äôt we accept that a certain number among us are not diminished by celibacy for Jesus Christ and his kingdom? Has the world ever known a being as fully developed as Jesus of Nazareth, our Love? Yet, he was celibate. Isn‚Äôt this Jesus who lived without a wife and children still, even today, a source of all life for us? One doesn‚Äôt lose anything by responding to his call, by becoming celibate for him and for his kingdom where we shall all have only one Father, his own, and where all of us will truly be brothers and sisters in the Spirit who makes us one. The young African is thus called to live a life of faith in Christ. He must not think that celibacy is more difficult for him than for young people in other continents. This is simply not true. Let us take the example of the West where today may be found pornographic films, sex shops, nightclubs. To live in such a world is not always easy. It requires a certain self-discipline. In order to live a life of celibacy in such an atmosphere, it is necessary to cling to Jesus Christ, to have a deep life of prayer and to receive the Eucharist regularly. The young African man or woman called to religious life will always remember that we live in a world of male and female
consequently, it is clear that we have to live our celibacy in the midst of men and women of our times and of our culture. There is nothing wrong with that
on the contrary, it is a grace that the Lord gives us by inviting us to live out his gospel in the midst of the world and not in some isolated corner. At the crossroads the Lord may put on our path certain persons of the other sex. We will welcome them as brothers and sisters in the Lord. The gospel is full of examples that show us how Jesus respected persons of the other sex. He doesn‚Äôt send away the sinful woman who comes to the house of Simon, the Pharisee to have her sins forgiven. On this occasion, Jesus could have been afraid of shocking people by receiving such a woman with open arms. But the Lord was not afraid of what people would say or think because in true love there is no fear. Neither does Jesus judge the woman caught in adultery like the Pharisees who bring her to him. On the contrary, he defends her against the "unmarked tombs" who have grown old in sin and yet want to preach to others. Jesus is close friends with Martha and Mary as well as with their brother, Lazarus. Jesus has pity on the widow from Naim who has lost her son. The Lord admires the Canaanite woman‚Äôs faith, and he is exceedingly affectionate toward his mother Mary, the Immaculate Virgin. In his Gospel, the Lord shows us how his celibacy did not exclude anybody. He Was completely open
he welcomed others. In solitude he prayed and he was a 20 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1982 source of joy and peace for the people that God, his Father, had placed in his path. If religious life is to flourish in our African continent,it is necessary that there be more and more religious who witness by their life of celibacy. A celibacy based on Jesus Christ cannot but be fruitful. Black Africa, which has such a high regard for fruitfulness, will see a new type of love which outstrips in fruitfulness the love of the children of this world. We, the sons and daughters of Mother Africa, have believed in the word of him who said, "there are some who are eunuchs because they have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven. Let him who can understand, understand" (Mt 19:!2). If there is a word which has become the life of our life, that is the one. Spiritual Fruitfulness If there is a fruitfulness that is biological, there is another one which is spiritual. Any parent worth his salt knows that it is‚Äô not enough to procreate children. In responsible parenthood, it is also necessary to help the child that we have brought to life to grow untilhe has reached a stage where he will truly be an adult. To educate, to instruct are part and parcel of his awakening to human life. It takes only one instant for a couple to initiate the process of procreation. It takes only a little time to call someone into existence, but it requries many years for a child to become an adult. Whether it be as parents, as educators, or in any other capacity, all those who are engaged in human formation are doing a type of work that is spiritually generative. Any man who helps another one grow and become more human is a man who is gpiritually generative. This spiritual generation exists at various levels
yet, the spiritual fruitfulness of a Christian is not that of a non-Christian. From a Christian point of view, any Christian man or woman who awakens another human being to the life of God in Jesus Christ is spiritually fruitful. The object of spiritual fruitfulness for a Christian is Jesus Christ and his message. It is the person of Christ which distinguishes any typically Christian fruitfulness from any other. All Christians are called to be fruitful but in different ways and in accordance with their state in life. The form of life of one who wakens to the life of God in Jesus Christ is not something that is accidental. There are some who believe that the way of life--whether it be of married Christians or of "eunuchs for the king-dom of God"---has no importance in the process of awakening to life. But when one awakens somebody else to life, one does it with all one‚Äôs being. If our way of life is not something external to us but a part of our being and, therefore, a part of our relationship to God, to others, and to the world, we can readily understand that this life-style is not without importance in matters of spiritual fruitfulness. In his life Jesus preferred celibacy to marriage, and this choice is not something accidental. The Jesus of the gospels presents himself to us as celibate and not otherwise, and this is part of the mystery of incarnation. In the same way Jesus was not at the same time a man and a woman. He was not both married and non-mar-ried. He was a celibate, and tfiis fact has some relevance in the transmission of his Celibacy in Africa message. He wanted to be born of a virgin, Mary, and this also is not something purely accidental or accessory in the mystery of salvation. Thus one who chooses celib~acy for the kingdom of God is fruitful differently from married people. This difference is rooted in the order of being and not of having. It is an ontological reality and, therefore, it is a dimension surrounded with mystery. The spiritual fecundity of those who live in celibacy resembles closely that of Christ. In other words, the way that Christ was spiritually fruitful resembles the way in which a man is fruitful through a celibacy chosen for Christ. Obviously "to resemble" or "to be close to" is not the same thing as "to be identical to." Wherever a true local Church is to be found, there will be found also Christians who are married and Christians who are eunuchs for the kingdom. Each of these forms of life has a great importance in the aspect of fecundity which is essential for the life of the Church. The uniqueness of the spiritual fruitfulness of a celibate for the kingdom of heaven shares something of the mystery of God made man, of God who wanted to be among us without woman or child while being eternally generative. Death Song of a Grain of Wheat Born above the earth, Beloved of the sun, Sky-held. Rain-touched. Wind-taught to dance, I know I sang of joy. Borne beneath the ground, Forsaken by the sun, Sky-denied, Rain-forgot, I feel no more the winds, And know a slower song. Yet reach I for the sun-set fires And C~rr the hidden waters. Stretched, song-heavy with the wait ‚Äô Of days too long to measure, I learn to trust the darkness That consumes me: That sends my myriad children to be Born above the earth. Sister Linda Karas. RSM Mercy Consultation Center P.O. Box 370 Dallas, PA 18612 The Sparrow Has Found Its Home At Last: A Personal Account of Transfer Anonymous The author is a sister who transferred from an active to a contemplative community some several years ago. She explains in the article why she prefers to remain anonymous. The sharing which follows comes as the result of a suggestion made to me that I write about my experience of transfer from an active community to a contempla-tive order. My first response was a hasty and hearty "No." Then the possibility of helping any individual or community involved in a similar experience crept into my prayer and thinking. The good which might be achieved seemed to outweigh my natural reticence and my disinclinatio.n to discuss the subject. I have not taken any polls, nor have I statistics. I personally know exactly six solemnly professed nuns and a few people in formation who transferred from active to contemplative life. However, one would‚Äôhave to have lived on a remote Pacific atoll for the last several years not to know that transfers are on the increase. What follows is not a scholarly analysis of the phenomenon of transfer. It is just my own experience and an endeavor to share what ! have learned. The reason for my choosing anonymity is that I might feel freer in what I write and also guard the identity of my former and present communities. There is another reason: the story is more God‚Äôs than my own. The transfer, or more correctly, my contempla-tive vocation, is his work, his call, his idea. My part has only been a response to his initiative and to his love. Early History The idea of transfer did not come as a sudden inspiration. My first desire to be a nun came when ! was twelve and I was certain then that I was called to be a contemplative: I even knew to which order and monastery I was attracted. Some-thing, though, interfered with following this vocation: My father adamantly opposed the idea of his daughter being immured in a cloister. The whole topic was 22 A Personal Account of Transfer forbidden, and gradually I forgot the idea. In the meantime, I became acquainted wi~h the sisters working in our parish. I won my father‚Äôs consent to join this :community which 1 genuinely loved and admired. I received a good fo, rmation and an excellent education. I was very happy and contented. One thing consistenly moved and drew me: prayer. Right from the beginning I had some difficulty with meditation books and their outline of points, colloquies and resolutions. It all seemed too ready-made. Also, the time given to this prayer (one-half hour) never seemed to satisfy my longing for greater intimacy and depth. My difficulty was remedied by the fact that God simply transcended the books and led me along his chosen path for me in prayer. Another remedy came by way of hiding alone in solitary places on the novitiate property. There God had free rein in my heart. The one thing I most wanted was to love him and see him known and loved. Of course I did try to speak of this desire to superiors. They seemed mbre concerned that I live the common life, practice virtue, and eliminate my faults. All this was quite understandable but not terribly encouraging. Matters came to a head when I became a junior sister. My desires for loving God alone and in hiddenness, and for a life which would embrace withdrawal and penance became a steady fire within me. Neither studies nor work could distract me from it. After some months of inner turmoil I finally had the courage to broach the subject of a contemplative vocation to the community confessor, a, retreat maste.r, and my immediate superior. None of these persons told me the whole thing was a temptation against my vocation, but since 1 was happy and well adjusted, they each felt that I had enough opportunity for the things I was seeking within the scope of the religious life as it was then being lived in the congregation. Again, this was essentially what I had been told in the novitiate. My disappoint-ment was as strong as the attraction I had experienced but l was able to set aside my yearning. The work in which I was engaged kept me busy. I enjoyed it and gave myself to it wholeheartedly. A few years later, an unforgettable retreat, coupled with God teaching me to pray with Scripture some months after retreat, gave direction and support to me in my relationship with him. He was so near, and daily he spoke to me in his word. This did not rekindle the desire for contemplative life~ but it did establish me firmly in the way of contemplative prayer. This brief history serves, I think, to underscore a fact in my life and in the lives of those women whose stories of transfer I know well: the vocation was felt very early and not taken too seriously by those in a position to advise and assist. Had they done so, a good deal of the suffering, struggle and turmoil of coming to a decision to transfer,after many years in an apostolic congreg
ess, 1981), p. 20. 61bid.. p. 22. The Celibacy Experience disinterest than of hatred--and celibacy is a heroic life. It receives inspiration from a culture which applauds those who live it. And it flourishes when it is persecuted. But when it is ignored, it is most sorely tried. On a deeper level, however, it is not quite accurate to say that our culture is totally oblivious to Christianity. The words of the Gospel ring true: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Lk 1 !:23). In the final analysis, it is not possible to be neutral to the message of Christ. In whatever form it is presented, explicitly or implicitly, the message of salvation will either be accepted or rejected. Our culture is no exception. Underneath its appar-ent unconcern with Christianity is a subtle barrage of counter-invitations. There are constant overt and subliminal innuendos that cannot fail to tug and tug at the Christian‚Äôs sexual drives. Our society manifests a sort of cultural passive-aggressive behavior, one that seems tolerant of Christianity but is subtly waging war on its norms. Without Christ, our society loses touch with its deepest need for meaning. According to psychiatrist Viktor Frankl: What is behind the emphasis on sexual achievement and power, what is behind this will to sexual pleasure and happiness is again the frustrated will to meaning. Sexual libido only hypertrophies in an existential vacuum. The result is an inflation of sex .... 7 This "inflation of sex" in our society sorely tests the strongest of celibates. The uncommitted are likely to be entrapped. Not only does our culture attack the value of celibacy, new Western attitudes also undermine previous supports for the celibate. There is a new attitude towards authority and tradition: a child-like obedience is not acceptable to the modern mind. As Victor Frankl says, "in contrast to man in former times, he is no longer told by traditions and values what he should do.‚Äô~ Likewise, those in the Church accept less and less the fact of canon law and magisterial teaching as being reason enough for remaining celibate. This changing attitude towards authority and tradi-tion is encouraged by the great upheavals within the post-Vatican II Church. The opportunities within such a freedom are great, yet there is also a concomitant increase of danger. Within such a freedom celibates are required to make their commitment their own, with little support from the culture or Church tradition. Concomitant with this rejection of authority and tradition, there is a shift in our concepts, theologies and spirituality. Words such as obedience, sacrifice, ascet-icism and sin are used less frequently. A new model has been substituted which 1 will call the "human growth" model of spirituality. This modern growth-model uses existential concepts such as freedom, human development, holistic growth, and personal responsibility. It understands development in the spiritual life as growth in love and intimacy. It stresses the importance of psychology, self-knowl- 7Viktor E. Frankl, The Unconscious God: Psychotherapy and Theology (New York: Simon and Schuster. 1975), pp. 85-86. ~ Slbid., p. 91. 6 ~4 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 edge, wholeness and all that is authentically human. This model is no doubt a positive, legitimate step in the progress toward a twentieth-century spirituality. It reacts strongly against a previous tendency to reject humanity in favor of some angelic spirituality. Nonetheless, the model has serious shortcomings, e.g., a failure to relate a mature, self-sacrificing obedience to human freedom. And with the transition from earlier models of spirituality to the human growth model, a problem has developed in our theology of celibacy. On the basis of this model it is not so easy to provide an understanding of a celibate life. Love, marriage, children are all an integral part of what it means to be fully human. Without the sharing of the deepest levels of intimacy, as between husband and wife, it would seem that the human growth of.a celibate must be stunted. Our former theology had several ways of dealing with this lack of full intimacy for celibates. For example, repeating an oft-cited idea on celibacy, the Council Fathers of Vatican I1 stated that celibate priests thereby evoke that mysterious marriage which was established by God and will be fully manifested in the future, and by which the Church has Christ as her only spouse.9 There is a theological truth in these and similar statements, but to the modern mind they seem to mean little. How can a "mysterious marriage" deepen my intimacy? To some it sounds like "magical grace." Such theological categories do not mesh with the modern mind which thinks in terms of intersubjectivity, inti-macy, personal self-gift, loving response, and the importance of concrete, interper-sonal relationships for spiritual growth and for ushering in the kingdom of love and peace. This change in mentality requires a change in theology as well. Some New Approaches to Celibacy In Sacrarnentum Mundi Leonhard Weber says: In the formation of priests and in their further development, many of the supports of celibacy which were hitherto relied on will fall away, having proved themselves unreal or erroneous. They must no longer be appealed to. In their place theologically valid arguments must be used, and new aids which correspond to present realities.~0 Many modern spiritual men and women have grappled with the absence of such new arguments. They generously tried to rework an outdated theology of celibacy to correspond to the needs of today--with limited success. For example, much energy is going into showing that one‚Äôs sexuality is not stunted by celibacy. This is done by making a distinction between the terms genital and sexual. This is a redefinition of categories according to which the word "genital" is applied to what was usually meant by the word "sexual," and then "sexual" in its broadest sense is taken to mean maleness or femaleness. Thus, modern reflection can say that the celibate is still a fully sexual being--but without genital expression. And so a nun could have a close relationship with a priest, and call it a "sexual" relationship-- 9Walter M. Abbott, gen. ed., The Documents of Vatican.H (Chicago: Follett Pub. Co., 1966), p. 566. ~¬∞Sacramentum Mundi..p. 183. The Celibacy Experience / 665 but denying to it "genital" expression. This definition rightly admits that the celibate is not a neuter being but always remains truly male or female. And so at least it should help to keep celibates from attempting to become sexless angels. But however true the first step, saying "a celibate is still male or female," may be, the next statement, "a celibate is fully sexual but not genital," conveys mean-ings and values that are not as evidently proper. The latter statement blurs the important distini:tion there must be between male-female friendship and male-female romantic intimacy. Just as a married man may have female friends, a nun and priest may indeed be friends. But they may not have a romantic intimacy-- even if they do not engage in "genital" activity.~ The distinction between genital and sexual may do more harm than good if it becomes a permission to cross the line of prudence in relations between celibate men and women. Using the excuse that "our relationship is not genital" stems from a legalistic approach to celibacy which in turn endangers true friendship. In addition, any short-term benefits of the principle will be overshadowed by the further fact that it will only justify the kind of obsession with sexuality that is already present in the Church and in society. To focus on the sexuality of the celibate, in fact, obscures the true nature of celibate witness--which should be to point to the primacy of God‚Äôs kingdom over passing, though good, temporal values. A better approach would distinguish between intimacy and celibacy more strictly. Modern thought in this area is trying to show that the celibate has the same opportunity for intimacy as the married person. This has become especially important in the light of the 1972 NORC study that found that the American priest in general is an "emotionally underdeveloped adult." This has been cause for alarm in the contemporary spiritual milieu which so closely associates spiritual development with human development. What is often forgotten, however, is that the study pointed out that this makes the priest "much like his fellow citizens on the scale of psychological growth" since the average American male also tested out as emotionally underdeveloped.~2 Nevertheless, this new area of reflection, the relationship between intimacy and celibacy, is also having very beneficial results. Celibacy cannot be used as an excuse for refusing to enter into deep human relationships, relationships that are often painful yet necessary for any human growth. Celibacy cannot be seen as representing an excessively other-worldly piety that shuns human affections as unworthy of a spiritual life. The 1971 Synod of Bishops recognized the importance of such human relations in the life of a celibate when it recommended "human balance through well-ordered integration into the fabric of social relationships: fraternal association and companionship with other priests and with the bishop."~3 ~See Paul Conner, "Friendship Between Consecrated Men and Women?" Review for Religious. Vol. 40 (Sept-Oct 1981), pp. 645-659. I:Ernest E. Larkin and Gerard T. Broccolo. eds., Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood (Wash. D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference. 1973), p. I. 666 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 Pope Paul VI, in his letter, "Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, "likewise stressed the impor-tance of the celibate relations with the laity. In a moving section of his fatherly letter, Paul VI says: By their devoted and warm friendship [the laity] can be of great assistance to the Church‚Äôs ministers since it is the laity . . . who are in a position, in many cases, to enlighten and encourage the priest .... In this way the whole People of God will honor Christ... promising an assured reward to whoever in any way shows charity toward those whom he has sent (Mt 10:42).~4 In a similar way, the community of the individual religious must supply this same much-needed human warmth and intimacy. The 1980 Plenaria for the Sacred Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes stated that the religious community is itself a theological reality, and object of contemplation.., it is of its nature the place where the experfence of God should be able to, in a special way, come to fullness and be communicated to others?5 There is no excessive supernaturalism here. The celibate is a person firmly planted on the earth and relating with others in a shared community life. Thus, this modern movement in spirituality which ties celibacy to human intimacy can make a positive but limited contribution to a new theology of celibacy, as well as to the humanity of celibates. But, like the distinction between genital and sexual, this attempt to show that the celibate can be as fully intimate as his married counterpart is not totally convincing. The approach may confuse as much as it helps--as, indeed, I think it has done. There is a qualitative difference between the human intimacy possible in a marriage and the :human intimacy permissible for a.celibate. Paul VI commented on this type of love: "And love, when it is genuine, is total, exclusive, stable and lasting."~6 A human marriage, in its final perfection, is such a close bond that "they are no longer two but one flesh" (Mr 19:6). For the celibate this is not permitted. A marriage relationship, if fully realized, has an exclusivity and a totality of self-giv‚Äô- ing which is just not available to the celibate. Indeed, if a celibate were to have such an exclusive relationship with another person, regardless of whether it was genital or not, he hardly could be considered celibate. The great witness of centuries of consecrated celibates must lead us to conclude that another kind of ultimate depth of intimacy is possible for a celibate. But our theology has not yet completely uncovered the depths of this celibate intimacy. Communion Is More Than Communication As the pro.blem of celibacy and intimacy and of other celibate issues continues ~31971 Synod of Bishops, The Ministerial Priesthood
Justice in the World (Wash. D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1972), p. 24. ~‚Äô~Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter on Priestly Celibacy--June 24, 1967 (Wash. D.C.: U.S. Catholic Conference), p. 39. ~S"The Contemplative Dimension of Religious Life," L‚ÄôOsservatore Rornano, 26 January 1981, p. 14. ~6Paul VI, Encyclical Letter, p. 1 I. The Celibacy Experience / 667 to be discussed, the debate on the relevance of celibacy in the modern Church continues. This debate often swings between "lyrical panegyrics and one-sidedly negative criticism."~7 Part of the conservative faction believes that the priest must be celibate. No doubt such a vision of Church and faith would be shaken without a celibate priesthood, despite the tradition of the East. Thus, this position clings to such external forms for security--a need which is especially intense during the post-Vatican II upheavals in the Church. Some of the liberals, on the other hand, blame celibacy for destroying the humanity of priests and sisters--a fact which may have validity in a few cases but which glosses over the dynamic witness of a long history of celibacy within the Church. For example, one priest told me that if he ever started to "die" in the ministry he would get out. This is precisely the image some have of the pre-Vatican II Church. In their eyes, it was a church that so stressed an other-worldly piety that it killed the humanity of its people. This section of the liberal faction traces our celibate theology back to Greek philosophi-cal dualism which is said to dismiss worldly values and exalt spiritual ones: others trace celibacy back to Old Testament law which stated that sexual acts made one ritually impure. There are other ways theologians have accounted for our previous tradition of celibacy. The obvious way out is to maintain one‚Äôs humanity through human intimacy. Seeing the emotional deadness and brokenness of some of their predecessors, many stress the importance of human‚Äôgrowth for spiritual development. Thus, the stress today is on celibate intimacy and communication. And there is a significant attempt within our religious houses to develop a community intimacy, often with good results. Certainly this is a good thing and should be continued. However, is community enough? Does it answer the heart of the problem? We communicate with others to achieve intimacy and wholeness. At times there is an almost compulsive need to lay ourselves bare in a search to maintain or recover our humanity. Admittedly, a certain amount of this is healthy and necessary for any human life, especially a celibate life. This mutual sharing, this intermediate level of intimacy will indeed help our humanity and thus our spirituality. But it is not the final answer, and it is becoming apparent that it is not enough for an authentic celibacy. Of itself, it does not lead to a mature celibacy. Psychiatrist Conrad Baars (who died last October) also believed there is too much communication and not enough communion. In his basic work, Feeling and Healing Your Emotions, he says: Interestingly. wherever members of a community--religious, prayer group, covenant--use the term [affirmation] most freely and glibly, there seems to be the least amount of true affirma-tion. Such places depress one with their bustling activity--planned togetherness, meetings. expected modes of behavior and participation, carefully scheduled recreation, etc, There seems little opportunity for just being--even less for being different or for wanting to be alone. Underneath the new freedom of behavior is often a hidden agenda of new co~7l‚Äôormism .... The sign of "new heart living" is communion
yet. there is still too much cornmunication to ~TSacramenturn Mundi. p. 181. 6611 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 permit communion and authentic being.~s This sort of excessive communication places a burden on friendships that such relationships should not, cannot carry. We are sharing more and more to satisfy the deepest Iongings of our heart, but in the final analysis we are in danger of silencing these longings with a mass of words and superficialities. In fact, such an approach is contrary to real humanity. To share everything easily actually reveals a lack of intimacy. The work of psychiatrist Viktor Frankl shows the nature of true intimacy: The quality of intimacy so characteristic of love is no less characteristic of religion. It is intimate in two senses: it is intimum in the sense of innermost, and second, it is, like love. protected by shame. Genuine religiousness, for the sake of its own genuineness, hides from the public .... The mistake is often made of confounding such shame with neurotic inhibition. Shame. however, is a perfectly natural attitude.~‚Äô~ It is not normal nor is it healthy to share the deepest intimacies of love, or of faith, in a casual or even friendly way. To keep such things private, except from the most intimate of soul friends, or from one‚Äôs spiritual director, is a normal and healthy action. It is a sign of true intimacy. Such an attitude maintains the sanctity of the human person. To violate this sanctity is a grievous affair. This violation would ultimately impair the growth of intimacy by destroying some of the conditions necessary for its growth, such as respect for the human person and the need for individual solitude. During a 1978 lecture to the Unione Internazionale dei Superiori Generali, Henri Nouwen commented on this close link between solitude and intimacy: Solitude leads us to a new intimacy with each other and makes us see our common task precisely because in solitude we discover our true nature, our true self, our true identity. That knowledge of who we really are allows us to live and work in community3o It is precisely this depth of intimacy which is the sign of a mature celibate and it is this depth which should enliven and nourish all the other relations a celibate has, just as the intimacy of marriage should ground and nourish the other relations a spouse has. Is Optional Celibacy the Answer? Optional celibacy seems to be emerging as the moderate position in the Church. For pastoral reasons, and in order to recognize cultural diversity, its concession may be required. This change would be theologically easy, given our present understanding of celibacy as distinct from, and not essential to, Orders. But this distinction, though affirmed in modern times, does not take fully into ISConrad Baars. Feeling and Healing Your Emotions (Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1979), p. 221. ~gFrankl, Unconscious God, pp. 47, 46. 2¬∞Henri J. M. Nouwen, "Solitude and Community," lecture presented to the Unione Internazionale dei Superiori Generali, 4 April 1978. p. 20. The Cefibacy Experience account the reality of the place of celibacy in the Latin Church. With the rise of historical and existential theologies, we are coming to a fuller understanding of the place of the whole human person in our theologizing. Thus, while celibacy is only a canonical duty, it figures as an important element in our "collective memory," or our "story," or again, our western Catholic "identity." Concepts that are appearing in the new theology should make us more hesitant to favor optional celibacy too quickly. Celibacy is more than just a discipline. Rather, it has been woven into our history and thus into our collective memories. In the midst of a Church already suffering a severe identity crisis, the impact of optional celibacy on our "story" should be carefully considered. In addition, a case could be made that in no time of history is celibacy more necessary than today. At first glance the statement seems absurd, but when placed into the total context of the times, when one observes the signs of the times, it gains in its appearance of truth. As stated earlier, our people are under a sexual siege by advertisers, movies, TV and other elements of society. In an age when people are trying harder and harder to become liberated from Christian sexual mores, we are becoming more and more enslaved to sex. Such is precisely the nature of sin and evil. It promises the opposite of what it gives. Our society has promised sexual liberation and has produced just the opposite. The value of celibacy as a sign that shows the relative value (while not negating its intrinsic goodness) of sex is never more needed. Also, given the unity of all in the Mystical Body of Christ, it has likewise been never more important for a few to persevere in the struggle against sexual license in a heroic way for its spiritual aid to all people who are struggling with sexual difficulties within their own vocations. Paul speaks of this union of all in Christ when he says to the Corinthians: "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it
if one member is honored, all the members share its joy" (I Co 12:26). Nonetheless, the pressure is on the Vatican for optional celibacy. While such a compromise may be necessary, I doubt that it will truly alleviate the problem. (Perhaps rather than making celibacy optional, it would be more to the point for the Vatican to announce that marriage is mandatory for all priests and religious! Then when a select few would flee to the mountains and the deserts, there to listen more intently to the "still, small voice," and thus refuse to marry, these are the ones who should be ordained.) Compromise, while often necessary, can fall into tepid-ity, failing to see that, for the celibate, the Christian message is nothing if not radical. "I am Come to cast fire on the earth and what will 1 but that it be kindled" (Lk 12:49), or again, "But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth" (Rv 3:16). Without such a radical, total commitment, there is no deep intimacy--for the celibate as well as for the married person. Deepest Intimacy Is in Mystery This intimacy is completed only in the deepest levels of the person. This depth is beyond the spoken word
it is beyond verbal communication. It can only be 670 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 called mystery--a mystery which marvelously opens itself up in the communion of love. Thus the depths of intimacy are experienced as mystery, and as love, for both the celibate as well as the married person. This is the deepest level of personal growth and the truest level of self-knowledge. Some commentators on this deepest level of the person have cited the efforts of Nietzsche. They say that Nietzsche saw this great depth which he called "nothing-ness" and yet he was a courageous man to continue to face his "nothingness" and carry on bravely. This may be courage but it also may be a disguised fear--a fear to really experience this "nothingness" or depth of mystery. Nietzsche stood at the brink of the ocean of mystery and summoned the courage to remain there and look. The Christian is called to go one step further--to dive in! Viktor Frankl put forth a similar idea using the image of a summit surrounded by fog: On his way to find the ultimate meaning of life, the irreligious man, as it were, has not yet reached the highest peak, but rather has stopped at the next to highest .... And what is the reason the irreligious man does not go further? It is because he does not want to lose the "firm ground under his feet." The true summit is barred from his vision: it is hidden in the fog. and he does not risk venturing into it, into this uncertainty. Only the religious man hazards it.2~ This depth, this "diving into the ocean" or "climbing through the fog to the highest peak" is open to a married couple united in faith. Such an unspoken depth to their relationship allows the mystery of one to be opened and joined to the mystery of the other, the ocean of one to the ocean of the other. This mystery therefore cannot be opened by the effort of one
it requires two to open it. Love requires union, and this deepest mystery is a union of love. At first glance, this would seem to exclude the celibate because the necessary love is, recalling the words of Paul VI, "total, exclusive, stable and lasting." This love seems denied the celibate who has no partner! Within such a quandary, our theology of celibacy is too often opaque, making little sense to the modern person. We could foist the problem onto "grace," and thus expect a solution from some magical power to hold our humanity in abeyance until the end-times. But this would be a denial of the real nature of the Christian message and a misunderstand-ing of the true nature of grace. Christianity is not essentially a negative religion. If it denies, it does so only to affirm in a more profound way. If God asks for any sacrifice, it is only to return the gift a hundred-fold. And, it seems to me, this is the problem with which modern thought on celibacy must deal--a problem that is especially difficult to solve if we use the growth model of spirituality. Celibacy and Theological Distancing To this point, we have merely opened up several problems in our theologies of celibacy. There seems to be a real difficulty in relating the depths of intimacy and celibacy, despite some modern attempts to do so. The older approaches with their 2~Frankl, Unconscious God. pp. 55-56. The Cefibacy Experience / 671 reliance on grace threaten to skip over our true humanity. What is perhaps lacking in both approaches, what may be largely responsible for the crisis in celibacy today, is a proper starting point. An accumulation of theologizing and reflection has developed an elaborate theological understanding of celibacy, but may have lost contact with its simple yet radical starting point. Paul Ricoeur‚Äôs warning of cultural distancing may apply to our case: Cultural distance is not only the altering of the vehicle, but also the forgetting of the radical question conveyed by the language of another time. It is necessary to undertake, therefore, a struggle against the.forgetting of the question, that is. a struggle against our own alienation in relation to what operates in the question?2 We may, indeed, have forgotten the "radical question" which underlies the very existence of celibacy. This question must come as an existential question which demands a radical human response. The existential question involves an expe-rience that gives rise to the unusual phenomenon of celibacy. This experience I call the celibacy experience. Theological reflection can help make this experience understandable. It can explain its fruits and it can even help prepare someone for it. But theological reflection cannot impart the experience itself. Celibacy must spring from an expe-rience which begets a radical and total response. In the experience, a radical question is asked, and a radical answer must be given--though the response will have to grow in actualization with time. What we need is an existential model of celibacy, one that starts with human experience. This model must be able to address the concepts of intimacy and humanity in a convincing way. These concepts, though, can only be understood when viewed in the light of the beginning section of this article, when we wrote of mysticism, the internalization of celibacy, and higher psychic functions. An,"Existential Scriptural Approach To find such an existential approach, it is necessary to cut through centuries of cultural and theological distancing and return to Scripture. But our approach should not be to use Scripture. in the usual way of the conventional theologies of celibacy. In these approaches, citations are made of such Pauline passages as: The virgin--indeed any unmarried woman--is concerned with things of the Lord. in pursuit of holiness in body and spirit. The married woman, on the other hand, has the cares of this world to absorb her.. , (I Co 7:34). Or again, To those not married and to widows, I have this to say: h would be well if they remain as they are. even as I do myself: but if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry (I Co 7:8-9). These and other such passages, though, are not the celibacy experience itself, a-‚ÄôPaul Ricoeur, "The Language of Faith," in Charles Reagan and David Steward, eds.. The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Boston: Beacon Press, 1978), p. 224. 672 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 but only reflections on the experience. It is the mystical encounter with God in Christ that results in these inspired theological reflections. Paul‚Äôs embrace of the life of consecrated celibacy stemmed primarily from his encounter with Christ. He refers to his own celibacy experience: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? And are you not my work in the Lord? (1 Co 9:1). To the community at Corinth, Paul claims a direct vision of Jesus which grounds his apostolate
it drives him almost compulsively: Yet preaching the gospel is not the subject of a boast
I am under compulsion and have no choice. 1 am ruined if I do not preach it! (I Co 9:16
see 2 Co 5:14). This experience of Paul was not really one experience, but many: "I must go on boasting, however useless it may be, and speak of visions and revelations" (2 Co 12:!). It is only in the light of such experiences that Paul‚Äôs celibacy makes any sense. He saw everything else as being of secondary importance compared to his being "grasped by Christ" (Ph 3:i2). Paul says, even more forcefully, "1 have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ" (Ph 3:8). And it is precisely in this light that Paul recommends celibacy as being a way to devote oneself fully to the things of the Lord--just as it was for him. The authority and very existence of his apostolate depended on these experiences, and they became such a driving force in his life that celibacy was a result of it. Traditional celibacy-literature also quotes a passage from the Gospel of Matthew: Some men are incapable of sexual activity from birth: some have been deliberately made so
and some there are who have freely renounced sex for the sake of God‚Äôs reign. Let him accept this teaching who can (19:12). This teaching, which supplies the theory to Paul‚Äôs practice, focuses on celibacy "for the sake of God‚Äôs reign." Notice again that there is no attempt to show that one should be celibate because Christ was, or that celibacy reflects the marriage of Christ with the Church, or even that celibacy is good because one is more effective for ministry. These are all later theological reflections, no matter how true they may be. They do not ground anyone‚Äôs celibacy. The),‚Äô are not the celibacy expe-rience. Rather, as the Matthean Gospel points out, marriage is renounced "for the sake of God‚Äôs reign." The passage implies that there is a direct experience of the reign of God. Otherwise, it would be impossible to dedicate oneself to it. In fact, the reign of God became a direct reality in the lives of many of those early Christians, enough of a reality to cause them to renounce a fundamental of human life--marriage. This, then was a powerful experience. This in-breaking of the reign of God is an eschatological experience. It is an in-breaking of the eschaton, or last times, into people‚Äôs lives. Paul‚Äôs experience was also truly an eschatological one since in his vision he saw the risen Christ who is himself the Reign of God. This is precisely what a mystical experience is, although it can take many different forms. It is an in-breaking of the eschaton, the reign of The Celibacy Experience / 673 God, the risen Christ into people‚Äôs lives. There is no mysticism without eschat-ology-- an eschatology that proclaims that the kingdom is already present among us, though in a hidden way. Eschatological Fervor And such an eschatological, mystical experience totally changes one‚Äôs life. It creates such a powerful force and conversion that it can make one cry out, as it did with Paul, "I am ruined if 1 do not preach [the Gospel]." With this conversion comes a new vision--a mystical vision. This experience gives rise to an eschatolog-ical fervor which makes it easy to believe that the end is at hand. Such was often the case with the prophets who, upon experiencing the greatness of God, saw the depths to which God‚Äôs creation had fa
till reecho with the sound of your voice
the mind and heart of many a transcendental-ist quiver with awe at your observations. Even the woods and hills of New England have never been the same since your vision of their very essence. The inward journey! If for no other reason than this, your writings challenge our achievement-oriented generation and activistic culture to reexamine its values and life-style. Prime time and energy must be budgeted for personal interior renewal. You model well for us here. Interiority was a way of life which you evidenced by the depth of your writing. Your words come from a source far beyond your own power
one can sense this in the tone of your discourse. Your contemplative stance presents a viable option for many of us desirous of a life-style radically different from the one offered by our culture. Another world that is not primarily concerned with productivity and external achievements is available to anyone who desires it. Your life makes present such a choice and, though fear of the interior life remains, your courageous entrance instills hope. "Self-Reliance" is a most powerful essay. You state that the divine spark resides in all of us and tends to be activated in sporadic moments. All have the potential in varying degress for genius--those with developed artistic skills express that genius in some visible-audible manner. My understanding of your meaning of self-reli-ance is not that we are called to some solitary, stoical, individualistic self-suffi-ciency
but rather, that we are motivated to get in touch with our deepest self, far beyond the superficial narrowness of our surface self and find therein a wealth that is wedded to the life force (what we call in theological terms, God). Such an analysis would imply that not to have self-reliance would be to cut oneself off from the source of existence. Your abhorrence of conformity and false consistency is well taken at this point. A failure to live from internalized values carries the price tag of no personal identity, a price paid by too many. Healthy and authentic self-reliance fosters true identity and its accompanying freedom. Initially, I struggled with your style--philosophic, at times highly abstract and tight. Profundity and clarity are seldom happily married because of the mysterious nature of reality. The closer one is to truth the more difficult becomes its expres-sion. Simplicity gets covered by human discourse. The mental challenge to reach beyond any style is well worth the effort. Your writings contain a spirit of deep tension between the individual and collective whole, between personal freedom and authoritarian structures, between self and institutions. You are clearly committed to the first value in each set, i.e., the individual, freedom and self. This seems so obvious that the advantages and importance of the common good are not given full weight, the necessity of some structures containing an authority is not fully appreciated, the role that a given institution can play in fostering life fails to be properly valued. Your own expe-rience of leaving the institutional ministry may have had much to do with your outlook. Perhaps the delicate balance between complementary sets of values can-not be maintained by a prophetic spirit such as yours. An implicit principle of 652 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 nature indicates that the development in one direction of our giftedness entails the underdeveloping of others. Such is reality. Thus the experience of your own genius would not allow outer pressures to thwart its expression. The negative and re-straining forces within institutional structures, the decisions of authority and the challenges of social concerns--all thirsting for precious time and energy--weighed so heavily in your judgment that their advantages had to be forfeited. Your piercing intellect cut through what is extraneous in human experience into its heart, the essence of things. In succinct, pithy phrases, you captured principles and patterns of universal significance, thus shedding light on complex experiences and bringing joy to the spirit which perceives but lacks words to articulate its insight. In a single essay many such phrases reside, awaiting discovery by the thirsting soul. For example, in "Compensation" we read: Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. There is a crack in every thing God has made. Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of all revolutions. Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass. It is the nature of the soul to appreciate all things. How unfortunate that many have not stopped at your well of late. As a beneficiary of your life-giving water, ! express deep gratitude to you. Your legacy is vast and varied: intellectual excellence of the highest quality, challenging us to develop the rich potential of our minds
historical perspective promoting a contextual vision of life
critical analysis of incisive accuracy, drawing us out of naivete into a sense of healthy criticism
personal integrity as a key goal of growth, demanding that we be true to our own giftedness
enthusiastic living of life, abhorring stagnation and the living of others‚Äô scripts
literary expertise ranging from the classic prose to the most lyrical poetry, inviting us to revisit the verbal gems of distant ~pilgrims. These qualities have influenced many: Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and countless others. The legacy has not been forgotten. Sincerely, R.F.M. Revelation Perspective We distinguish the announcements of the soul, its manifestations of its own nature, by the term Revelation. These are always attended by the emotion of the sublime. For this communication is an influx of the Divine mind into our mind. It is an ebb of the individual rivulet before the flowing surges of the sea of life. Every distinct apprehension of this central com-mandment agitates men with awe and delight. A thrill passes through all men at the reception of new truth, or at the performance of a great action, which comes out of the heart of nature. In these communications the power to see is not separated from the will to do, but the insight proceeds from obedience, and the obedience proceeds from a joyful perception. (269) The field cannot be well seen from within the field. The astronomer must Letters of Gratitude / 653 Hope Beauty Poet Words Beauty Wisdom Expectation Action Presence have his diameter of the earth‚Äôs orbit as a base to find the parallax of any star. (285) But the man and woman of seventy assume to know a[[, they have outlived their hope, they renounce aspiration, accept the actual for the necessary and talk down to the young, Let them then become organs of the Holy Ghost
let them behold truth: and their eyes are uplifted. their wrinkles smoothed, they are perfumed again with hope and power. (289) Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. (309) Too feeble fall the impressions of nature on us to make us artists. Every touch should tbrill. Every man should be so much an artist that he could report in conversation what had befallen him. Yet, in our experience, the rays or appulses have sufficient force to arrive at the senses, but not enough to reach the quick and compel the reproduction to themselves in speech. The poet is the person in whom these powers are in balance, the man without impediment, who sees and handles that which others dream of, traverses the whole scale of experience, and is representative of man, in virtue of being the largest power to receive and to impart. (321) Words and deeds are quite indifferent modes of the divine energy. Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words. (322) Wherever snow falls or water flows or birds fly, wherever day and night meet in twilight, wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds or sown with stars, wherever are forms with transparent boundaries, wherever are outlets into celestial space, wherever is danger, and awe. and love--there is Beauty, plenteous as rain, shed for thee, and though thou shouldst walk the world over, thou shalt not be able to find a condition inopportune or ignoble. (341) To finish the moment, to find the journey‚Äôs end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. (350) I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe and is disappointed when anything is less than the best, and I found that ! begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of thanks for moderate goods. (351) Therefore all just persons are satisfied with their own praise. They refuse to explain themselves, and are content that new actions should do them that office. They believe that we communicate without speech and above speech, and that no right action of ours is quite unaffecting to our friends, at whatever distance
for the influence of action is not to be measured by miles. (358) Why should 1 fret myself because a circumstance has occurred which hinders my presence where I was expected? If I am not at the meeting, my presence where 1 am should be as useful to the commonwealth of friend-ship and wisdom, as would be my presence in that place. I exert the same quality of power in all places. (358) Reprinted from The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson edited by Brooks Atkinson. Pub-lished by Random House, Inc. 654 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 Truth Joy Life Renewal Faith Avarice Truth is the summit of being: justice is the application of it to affairs. (368) On the other part, rectitude is a perpetual victory, celebrated not by cries of joy but by serenity, which is joy fixed or habitual. (370) Life goes headlong. We chase some flying scheme, or we are hunted by some fear or command behind us. But if suddenly we encounter a friend, we pause: our heat and hurry look foolish enough: now pause, now posses-sion is required, and the power to swell the moment from the resources of the heart. The moment is all. in all noble relations. (378) The criticism and attack on institutions, which we have witnessed, has made one thing plain, that society gains nothing whilst a man, not himself renovated, attempts to renovate things around him: he has become tediously good in some particular but negligent or narrow in the rest
and hypocrisy and vanity are often the disgusting result. (455) The disease with which the human mind now labors is want of faith. (458) A canine appetite for knowledge was generated, which must still be fed but was never satisfied, and this knoffledge, not being directed on action, never took the character of substantial, humane truth, blessing those whom it entered. It gave the scholar certain powers of expression, the power of speech, the power of poetry, of literary art, but it did not bring him to peace or to beneficence. (459) Address: The Contemporary Spirituality Of the Monastic Lectio by Matthias Neuman, O.S.B. Price: $.50 per copy, plus postage. Review for Religious Room 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 Poverty, Time, Solitude: A Context for a Celibate Life-style Anthony Wieczorek, O.Praem. Brother Wieczorek‚Äôs ~Parables and Paradigms" appeared in the July/August issue. He resides presently at the Holy Spirit House of Studies
Chicago, IL 60615. Celibacy is a dimension of a religious way of life. To be understood, therefore, celibacy must be seen in the context of religious life. The meaning of celibacy arises out of its relationship with the complementary vows of poverty and obedience, as well as out of the significance of communal life, prayer, and basic Christian virtue. Seen out of the context of all these elements, celibacy suffers a deprivation and a distortion. From the outset, it is important to be reminded that celibacy is not simply an ethic. Taken out of its context, celibacy is often reduced to being a moral direc-tive-- a negative moral directive. Celibacy is much more than a set of specific sexual mores
it is an extension of Christian virtue, a continuation of it. The sexual demeanor proper to celibacy rests upon Christian virtues and values such as respect for human dignity, single-heartedness, the sacredness of human life, a deep appreciation for what friendship and love can be, compassion, selflessness, and service. A discussion of celibacy must begin here. Before a decision can be made about living celibately, the question must be considered: What does it mean to live a Christian way of life? Am I willing to live with the restraints and limitations imposed upon me, not by celibacy, but by basic Christian values? Only after a person is willing to try to understand, accept, and live a Christian way of life can the matter of celibacy be addressed. Without this prior realization and commitment, celibacy has no context, no depth of meaning, and is left to be nothing more than just another "Thou shalt not .... To see at least some part of the richness and potential of celibacy, it must be 655 656 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 viewed as a dedication to poverty, a devotion of time, and a dependence upon solitude. Celibacy as a Dedication to Poverty The vow of celibacy stands nearest to the vow of poverty. Hence, it is an understanding of poverty that sheds the most light upon an understanding of celibacy. If poverty as a way of life cannot be embraced, neither can celibacy. Poverty is precisely a way of living. It is much more than not having the money to buy something .To be poor means to be without many of the everyday options and opportunities that people who are not poor have. To be poor means, among other things, to live in a constant situation of restriction and limitedness. A poor person has not the option of going to a movie or a ball game, of eating apple pie or cherry, of going to one restaurant rather than another, of wearing these shoes or those, this coat or that. Very often poor people do not have these options because they do not have the physical resources that allow for them. Yet despite being deprived of these "necessities" the poor can live happy and holy lives. The fact of poverty, the force of its physical reality, compels people who are poor to live according to needs and not simply wants. Poverty can "cleanse" us of the unnecessary. It can put us into a situation where we are able to more clearly distinguish between a need and a want. Poverty can liberate us from the bondage of wants, leaving us free to pursue our true needs, those things without which we cannot fully live a human life. Poverty can be humbling by forcing us to face our needs but it can also teach us that happiness lies not in having every want satisfied but in having our true needs satisfied. Seen in this light, poverty is the paradigm for celibacy. Celibacy is not simply a deprivation, it is a way of life. Therefore, it must be a way of relating. While we can be impoverished in some ways of expressing love, we can be rich in others. After all, intimacy does not depend upon sexual expression any more than a meaningful gift depends upon price. The very restrictedness of our expression can heighten the value of a poem or letter or a simple touch or smile. Celibacy, like poverty, can teach true gratitude for the beauty and preciousness of relationships. Celibacy has the potential to "cleanse" us of what is not essential and let us see what we truly need to both give and receive from people--the trust, the sharing, the dreaming. Celibacy does not demand that we repress our needs. Rather, it points them out in bolder relief and challenges us to distinguish between the frustration caused by the deprivation of needs and that caused by the depriva-tion of our wants. It sometimes requires just as much creativity to live celibately as it does to live in poverty. Do I have the grace to express myself creatively to others? If the limitedness of deliberate impoverishment can be willfully chosen and reason for gratitude in one‚Äôs life still be found, if one can be satisfied to have needs fulfilled even if wants must go unsatisfied and yet remain appreciative and joyous, then perhaps such a person truly has the grace, the call to live celibately. A Context for a Celibate Life-style / 657 Such a call is a gift. It is the nature of gifts to be both given and received. Therefore, it is quite possible to refuse the gift of celibacy. One of the most common ways of refusing celibacy is by being filled with self-pity. It is not uncommon to hear celibates of all ages bemoan their celibacy the way an amputee bemoans the loss of a limb. Like some amputee victims, celibates can easily become lost in the conviction that they are only half human, that they are not whole. The way to overcome such feelings is not by trying to prove manliness or womanliness. Rather, the challenge is to find worth and dignity in who we are, in the deeper and more lasting qualities of humanness like compassion, the ability to listen, to laugh, to be grateful, to stand outside ourselves at the service of others. Our humanness depends upon our ability to love. That we love and are loved is a need. How we love and are loved is a want. Celibates live in the poverty of not having all their wants satisfied. Celibacy means distinguishing between needs and wants, accepting what cannot be. and finding satisfaction, thanksgiving, and peace in what is. Celibacy as a Devotion of Time One thing that poverty does provide in abundance is time. Being bereft of options does free up large amounts of time. Celibacy likewise provides an abundance of time. The challenge is how that time is to be spent, what our time is to be devoted to. Celibacy, for example, frees us from the time it takes to raise a family, but what does it free us for? Ideally, perhaps, we are freed for prayer, reading, study, even the opportunity to take time to see and wonder and dream. Celibacy also frees us to serve, to be available for people. Yet if all we do is remain available for work and devote little or no time to prayer and reading, we are distorting celibacy by removing it from a critical dimension of its context. A big danger for both celibates and non-celibates is that they give themselves more to their jobs than to God and their families or communities. It is this issue, the proper use of time, that causes one of the biggest consternations for celibates. The tendency toward entrenchment in work can be an escape from intimacy, but it is also true that many of the occupations engaged in by celibates are extremely time-consuming and energy draining. Moreover, it is work which simply must be done. The tension between giving time and taking iime is not lessened by the fact that most celibates do recognize the necessity for being present to community and for entering into solitude with God. A celibate life-style that does not allow for time not only to recreate but also to read and reflect cannot give life to the celibate. Such a life-style will consume that person instead. One of the challenges and disciplines of celibacy is the proper use of time. While celibacy ought to provide time, in practice it often does not. Here, too, celibacy shows a connection with poverty. The poor guard and dispense their resources carefully, So too with the celibate‚Äôs dispensing of time. Workaholism is as much a threat to celibacy as sexual licentiousness--perhaps 6511 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 even more so. Our consciences are sensiiive to the issue of sexual restraint but not to making mistresses out of our work. Our culture emphasizes efficiency, produc-tivity, and frowns upon anything that hints of wasting time. Therefore, celibates who find even a little free time quickly and perhaps unconsciously fill it in by doing more. Yet celibacy as a life-style requires time to be set aside not for doing but for being. Time is a gift many celibates refuse to accept because in part they are afraid to take it. Time only makes the loneliness echo more loudly. Time takes away excuses. It confronts us, Yet time in a celibate life-style is essential, for it provides the panorama that enables us to see what we are to move toward. It gives us the opportunity to see and address our needs. Time must be part of every celibate‚Äôs life, for without that time celibacy loses its context and the solitude that nourishes celibacy cannot be obtained. While celibacy ought to provide time, it is a commod-ity which so few celibates seem to have. Yet time is an essential resource for the celibate for it alone can acquire solitude for us. Celibacy as a Dependence Upon Solitude Celibacy cannot be endured, let alone lived, without the time to enter into solitude with God. Only by freely and gratefully embracing solitude can a person find life in celibacy. Solitude is not loneliness but aloneness, time apart to be alone with oneself and with one‚Äôs God. Solitude for the celibate is essential for several reasons. Solitude teaches surrender. It strips away the illusion of wants. It is a confrontation with what is real. of what is essential, of what is true. Solitude teaches sight. In the stillness of solitude we see what we would ordinarily have overlooked, assumed, or taken for granted. Through solitude, we are taught to appreciate, admire, and wonder. Solitude teaches sensitivity. Compassion comes from seeing with another‚Äôs eyes. Solitude makes one hungry to enter into another‚Äôs life deeply, personally, respectfully, and ge~atly. But often celibates do not embrace solitude. Instead we try to fill in our time with possessions, work. television, and peripheral friendships. Yet it is essential that celibates in particular spend time in solitude so as to spend time with God. In sqlitude we take time to share in God‚Äôs aloneness. It is in solitude that we can more deeply fall in love with God. If a celibate does not put an effort into being at peace with solitude, into making a friend of solitude, not only does God become a stranger, but we become strangers to ourselves, and celibacy becomes an empty taunt and an ache. Solitude is so important for celibacy because solitude is a quiet moment with God in the privacy and intimacy of one‚Äôs own heart. Solitude is the backdrop for the silence we need to hear the Word of God. Solitude is the setting for prayer..It directs our life back to God. There is some-thing about solitude that draws us back to center. If we are afraid to spend time with ourselves in the aloneness of our center, we will not come to commune with the silent places of God. The prayer that comes from solitude is the celibate‚Äôs life blood. Without prayer, celibacy will not. cannot, endure. Without solitude spent with God we become A Context for a Celibate Life-style / 659 strangers to him and so to prayer. Prayer may lead us out of a celibate life-style, but without prayer the apparent emptiness and futility will drive us out of it. Solitude, far from removing us from relationships, prepares us for them. In solitude we have the setting in which to know ourselves, to see ourselves truly, to hear ourselves honestly. To enter into solitude is to venture into the truth of ourselves--be that what it may. With that knowledge we are free to interact with people as persons. With a sense of our own depths we can move toward the depths of others and together with them enter in faith into the depths of God. Conclusion For a full understanding of what celibacy is, it is important that a person move beyond the initial frustration and unnaturalness of living a life of Christian virtues and enter into the discovery of the real mystery and beauty of celibacy. Celibacy centers around accepting solitude, welcoming time, and living in gratitude. It is such things as these that make celibacy seem unnatural. It is not acceptable or typical to be poor, to have time for oneself and for prayer, or to enter willingly into the solitude of one‚Äôs own soul. To so many, the "unnaturalness" of celibacy is reduced to sexual denial, the deliberate refusal to marry and raise a family. Yet these are only peripheral issues. The seriousness of these issues, however, under-scores the deeper difficulty of celibate life. Celibacy is not only an orientation away from family and spouse (which is hard enough), it must be an orientation toward poverty, time, and solitude. Celibacy itself is neither the sacrifice nor the offering. What we do with celi-bacy is. The beauty and fulfillment in celibacy is found not in what it moves us away from but in what it compels us toward. To find peace and sanctity in celibacy, it is not so important what we purposely and deliberately deny. Rather, it is much more important what we willingly and lovingly embrace. The Celibacy Experience Stephen Rossetti In May, Stephen Rossetti, author of "Psychology and Spirituality: Distinction Without Separation" (July/August, 1981), was awarded his M.A. in Theology from Catholic University, where he plans to continue in the graduate program. His mailing address is: 26 Reed Pkwy., Marcellus, NY 1310g. He who remains in Zion and he that is left in Jerusalem Will be called holy (Is 4:3). Consecrated celibacy is in crisis. The resignation of priests, sisters and brothers, many of them highly respected members of the Church, is no secret. Fear ripples through the ranks of those who have remained, as their closest friends leave to get married. A painful self-analysis naturally follows: Do we really have to be celibate? Why am I the only one left? Will it happen to me? Is celibacy only a vestige of an outmoded spirituality? Why am I still left? Some say the crisis is waning. The Diocese of Buffalo recently reported that its loss of priests and sisters from 1976-81 was only 8.1% and 4.6% respectively, compared to 21.2% and ! 7% from 197 !-76.~ While it seems that fewer are leaving, there are still fewer left in the ranks to do the necessary tasks. It is questionable whether relief is in sight. The continuing decline in priestly vocations in the United States indicates that the crisis is still with us. This past year there has been yet another decline (8.8%) in the number of U.S. theology students studying for the priesthood. These are less than half of the number of the peak years of 1966-67.2 The exodus of priests and sisters is a mult: faceted problem which is more than ~John C. Given, "Buffalo Diocese: Fewer Priests, Nuns Leaving Religious Life," Syracuse Herald- Journal, 30 December 1981, p. A-3. 2"Seminary Enrollment Drops," National Catholic Register, 20 December 1981. 660 The Celibacy Experience / 661 just a crisis in celibacy. However. the internaliTation of celibacy must be seen as a key element in any discussion of the problem. In the first half of this article, i will raise the modern problems with celibacy and look at contemporary attempts to solve this crisis. In this first section, 1 will include such key issues as the essential relationship between mysticism and inter-nalized celibacy, the lack of support for young celibates, a critical look at current discussions about celibacy, and then the important issue of intimacy in a celibate life. In the second half, 1 will attempt to resolve the modern problems with celibacy by returning to the context of mysticism and positing an approach to the subject which is both existential and scriptural. Celibacy and Mysticism In The Psychology of Loving, Ignace Lepp says that the chastity of those consecrated to Christ must be "counterbalanced by a genuinely mystical life." If it is not, there is the risk of psychic damage: The libido cannot be channeled in a different direction without injury to sexuality unless it finds itself entirely consumed in the service of higher psychic activity? There must be, then, a necessary connection between celibacy and mysticism. In our use of the word here, "mysticism" does not refer to extraordinary phenome-na such as visions or locutions, nor does it refer to the highest states of union with God. Rather mysticism, here, means a "genuine though mediated experience of encounter and communication with the personal God."4 In this sense of mystical, the experience is direct and conscious, and it involves God as person. The experience is also mediated. The word mysticism derives from the Greek word mueo. which means to initiate (as into a "hidden" mystery). The mystery can be hidden under, or mediated by, any aspect of life. However, a preeminent place must be given to the classic Christian mediations--which include Scripture, prayer, tradition, and the sacraments--most of all the Eucharist. Hidden within our ordinary life experiences is the presence of Christ. The "mystical experience" is one in which this personal encounter becomes more and more conscious. This encounter becomes stronger as the years pass and celibacy is internalized. The mystical life allows the channeling of sexual and some emotional needs into "higher psychic activity" which results in a mature celibacy. On the other hand, if the mystical life is permitted to atrophy, then a mature celibacy, if not the entire celibate life, will suffer with it. William McNamara, in his latest work, Christian Mysticism: A Psychotheology, believes that the mystical life is indeed atrophying, despite some evidence to the contrary: Hgnace Lepp, The Ps.vchology of Loving. trans. Bernard B. Gilligan (New York: A Mentor Omega Book, 1963), p. 213. 4Karl Rahner, ed., Encyclopedia of Theology: 7he Concise Sacramentum Mundi (New York: A Crossroad Book, The Seabury Press, 1975), p. 1009. 662 / Review for Religious, Sept.-Oct., 1982 It is obvious that we are presently witnessing a psychical revolution, one. in many respects. that has won the approval of science (biofeedback. body consciousness, metapsychiatry. neuroscience, paraphysics, etc.) and one that could, if properly guided, improve our human condition, and expand our human consciousness immeasurably. There is little evidence. however, that a spiritual-mystical renewal is going on. despite Vatican 11 and the subsequent changes in the Church.5 If McNamara is correct, celibacy will be lost. A truly internalized celibacy, that is, a mature celibacy, requires this mystical life. If celibacy does not become mystical, if it does not grow into a mystical vision, then "God‚Äôs grace" alone will not uphold the celibate. Grace builds and makes possible an authentic Christian-mystical life
it is not a supernatural substitute for our humanity. Celibacy without mysticism may degenerate inlo mere asceticism, which would be ultimately self-destructive for lack of love. McNamara goes on to say that "man is naturally contemplative. But his mystical powers, left unexercised for so long, are seriously atrophied."6 This is a serious loss for all believers since it has a direct impact on the vitality of their faith and on the development of their full humanity. However, for the celibate in particular, this situation is fatal. With an atrophied mystical life, he is likely to reject celibacy for the sake of his "sanity": he will slowly die to ministry: or he will sublimate his sexual desires in non-productive ways. ls McNamara correct in saying that we have let our mystical powers atrophy and thus we have lost an internalized celibacy? The exodus of consecrated celibates points in that direction. At any rate, in the light of the past twenty years, we can slarely say that in the present state of crisis the depth of our commitment is being tested. In previous years it might have been possible to survive in celibacy by relying on secondary supports. Today it is just not possible. Within this crisis, celibates must develop a mature, internalized love of celibacy based first and fore‚Äômost on their own mystical vision and growing encounter with the risen Christ. The state of the Church and Western society makes this absolutely necessary. Little Support for Remaining in the Celibate State Our Western culture offers little support for celibacy. In fact, it is, in some ways, the most discouraging culture possible for a celibate. It ignores religion. Our culture is essentially a-Christian (without Christianity). It would be easier to main-tain a celibate commitment in a culture that is hostile to Christianity--as in the days of the early Christians. At least one could then take heart amidst persecution and ‚Äôjoin" on~self to a tightly knit community of brothers and sisters totally dedi-cated to Christ while fighting an obvious, common antagonist. But today‚Äôs West-ern culture ignores religion and the celibate. Heroism is more difficult in the face of 5William McNamara, Christian Mysticism: A Psychotheology (Chicago: Franciscan Herald P
joy..? By hearing a¬Ønd keeping the~ word :of,God." Fidelit9 to his state of life necessarily entails‚Äô.for a reli-. gious the practice of. virtue, another.fertile source of spit-" itual joy. St. Th~r~se_acknowiedged ,that until the age of fourteen she pradtised‚Äôvirtue without any idea of making it a joy
that was a grace bestowed‚Äô upon her later. There is danger that many of us may pass a whole lifetime without becoming aware of this joy. ConSciousness of duty well diJne is a crysta!-pure sourcg "of true spiritual joy. Lucie Christineprayed, "Grant that I may place the joy of fulfilling my ~duties abo~e all other \ "XReverend Joseph Kempf, New Things and Old (St, Louis: B. Herder Book Co., ¬Ø i943), p. 160. 352 November, ‚Äô1947 CHR] STIAN‚ÄôJOY joys, Tra: simple e~nough prayer until wd .remember
that‚Äô the joys she, was experiencing af this time ,~ere thbge corriing from the.~highest kind of.mystical.uriioh ~with God.~‚Äô .Ahd ¬Ø yet, above those she esteemed the joy of fulfilling her dut~r. The hidden, often ~monotonous tasks of dail~r, life, then, are a source of real joy for a religious
and he should advert often to this t~uth, lest through indi~erence or ~thoughtless-: n~ss, he,squander~his wealth.. There is the joy of poverty. "~ou took with‚Äôjoy the b~ing stripped of yoh~, own goods, knowing that you have-a better and a lasting substance." Poverty is a ~joyous affair because it entails such tremendous wealth. ~"The¬∞ kingdom of‚Äôheaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field which a‚Äô.man‚Äôhaving‚Äô: found, hid ..it, .and for joy .thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buye~tb that field.:" Paupertas. cure laetitia was th, e motto coined by Francis to impress his brethren‚Äôwith this truth, and the Three .Com-panions testify that Francis and his compani~ons ‚Äô:became exceedingly.joyful ~ecafise oftheir poverty." There is the joy of charity. "For I have bad ~reat joy and consolation in thy¬∞charity, because through thee, ~brother, the hearts~ of the saints have found rest." True loversof Christ easily find this joy of charity
and as they" advance, they learn that there is still greater joy in.loving those who afflict them because .by so doing they imprint on their sou_!s a still greater resemblance to Our Loid.- There is the joy of obedience. The dying-St. Th~r~se could say to her prioress, "You, Mother~ are the compa~ss which JeSus has provided to direct me safely to the eternal shore. I find it a joy to fix my eyes upon you, and then do the will of my Lord." There is no joy comparable to that ih the sbul of a. religi‚Äôous who is truly obedient. St. Teresa with the daring of her valiant love asserted that even the sufferings of the Passion were not so pain.ful fo our Lord~ MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALL~ _ ~ " as‚Äô,was~‚Äôthe.agony of ~eeing the~cons.tant offenseva~ain~t-His F~a~ther,~ for ih His Passion, at least
He:found the end of, all His~trials, while His agony was~ allayed by the, consolatiori - oLp~o~irig, fi0~ He-loved His Father ~by suffering for Him‚Äô. An& she adds./with _characteristics. insight, ‚Äô?What~, joy to suff~ro in doing~God‚Äôs .~..,!Rel.igious life is i‚Äôn fact the to~al, dedication of self, which‚Äôbrings us close to the very‚Äô source of all .spiritual joy -:2,the~Divine Good cofisid~red either, in_Itself or as~part~c,- opatei:hb,y us.~ ~o .live this. 1ire in ~its~dntirety
,therefore‚Äô,, ~is for,~ usi an infallible means .of attaining _that joy ,which..we n~&l"both :for~ourselves ~and for, tho~e tow.ards:whom .exe~cise our.!~ipostolate:~~ Dom0oMarmion‚Äôs ,exhortation~in this:respe~ct:~aptly i~pit0mi~.es the .doctrine of joy~:in the,i~elb gioas,‚Äô~life::~ ¬∞. , : -,( ,-.L.et ~ yield ourselyes~.to,Him by. faith, confidence, ,love,:humil-. ity, and obedien~ce. If the soul is closed,to earth‚Äôs clamors, to.,the " tumult pf the passions and senses, the Incarnate, Word will Himself ¬Ø become Master of ,t,... He will make us understsnd that true ~oys
the.deepest joys, ~are‚Äôth~ose th.at are found m rtts seyvtce. ‚Äô- MARIAN NOTICES " N~sl~tt‚Äôer, the b~imont1"ily leaflet df the M~ian Lit/rarer of th~ Umver.s~ty 6f Dayton
Dayton 9, Ohio, ‚Äôis no~-in its f0urdi ye~ir 6f ptlbli~ti6fi: It¬Ø contaiias ifiteres.ting f~cts about "Marian books~in general, esp~ciall‚Äô.y.aboht~books in the Dayt6n.Marian Library-: This u~nu~sual‚Äô~project is ~ucceeding ~well. The,Library. collects.‚ÄôMarian ~.o, pks.and magazines. Fatima Findinqs,~ another leaflet, is published by the R‚Äôeparatio~n So, ciety of, the Imn{acuiate Heart, 720 North Calvert Str&t, Bald-more 2, Ma.ryland. It is well written and keeps !ts readers posted the prdgr~ss?of the Fattma-~nsp~red prayers and sacrifices offered by our country" to Mary. ¬Ø It includes a monthly. First Saturday. meditation. ~D~m Columba,~.Marmion, Christ in His M~lsteries,~ t, rans. by Mother M. gt.Thomas, 3rd‚Äôdd.~ (St‚Äô. Lodis: B. He‚Äôrdei Book Co.
1939), pp. 244-245. - 354, - "We Are All One" Claude .Kean, O.F.M. ~S A CASUAL listening to the radio attests, the song ~ market suffers from no deartbof love lyrics. Tw~enty-. four hours a day, in iambics and dactyls, in figurati,~e speech, and literal, crooners offer their hearts to matchless members of the other sex ,from coast to coast, or profess: delirium over offers that the matchless members have accepted, .or. plot self-destruction over offers that the match-less members have spurned. No conceivable phase of the great passion, seems to elude, their expe~ienc~e, their report. Yet, for all- the exhaustive ly.ricizlng,~ the truest of all lbves remains still unsung. It is the first love to captivate a young heart, and the lasf to forsake an old. Its sincerityis unquestionable, its ardor inextinguishable
..To win its way, it cheerfully makes a thousand daily sacrifices, calmly endures a thousand daily.rebuffs. It is the one love certain to survive the- fading of "all those, endearing young charms," of all that is humanly attra~ctive. I mean
of c(~urse, self-love. -, " By our very nature, we .do love ourselves. ~re live with ourselves on happy terms. We Opine (though not publi~- cizing the opinion) that, like a certain cigarette, we pos-sess just ab6ut the "right combination" of the ~choicest ingredients. We do, indeed, have our p~ccadilloes, our idiosyncrasies
but. we are secretly a bit proud of them, feeling that they~ add warm touches of color to our per-sonality
Our views and tastes‚Äôabe quite sane and sound. Seldom do ,we question them
never do we ridicule ‚Äôthe~. If it cfiance that we sometimes err in word or deed, We can quote ready reasons why, in the circumstances, error has been humanly unavoidable. \ CL.AUDE KEAN .R~vieu) [or Religious Nowl if otir neighbors were like us, they would be highly satisfactory per.sons. We could love them spon-taneously, we could live with them harmoniously, But, alas, they are not like us. They differ from us on a hun-dred c6unts" perhaps, in nationality, ~olor, age
" certainly Oom appearance, temperament, habits, opinions, likes, and dislikes. The less they differ from us, the more likely are they to become our friends
the more they diff~i‚Äôr from ,us, the more liable are they to become our foes. The differences between their characters and ou_rs frankly anngy us. If marked or persistent, they may even enrage us. What can we do about them? We can do one ,of two things: either we can seek to r~move themm by removing our neighbors
or we can attempt to tolerate them. And-I quickly-add tha, t the toleration is the pre-scribed Christian solution. "Bear ye one another‚Äôs bur-dens," Saint Paul expresses it, "and thus ye shall fulfill the law of Christ." " At a boys‚Äô boarding school where I was once stationed, a sort of ritual annually attended the opening of the Sep-tember term. Freshmen would genially pick their room-mates, genially arrange their rooms, genially settle down to domestic life. But the following S‚Äôaturday afternoon would reveal that a considerable number of them had found it anything but "good and pleasant for brethren to dVell together." There would be much grim moving of trunks from one room to another, accompanied by dark mutterings about the unreasonableness br even the downright insanity of certain me~mbers of the freshman class. It had taken thbse boys only several days of communal life to learn that, though "it is‚Äônot good for man to be alone," it is extremely diffidult for men to live. together. To borrow a Comparison.from Father Isidore O‚ÄôBrien, O.F.M., community life is like a watch. It takes.the right 356 November, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" functioning of eighty-some parts for, a watch to function properly
but it takes the breaking-down of only one of those parts--the snapping of one spring, the clogging of one wheel--to stop a watch. So, too, it.takes the heroic exercise of all the virtues, natural and supernatural, plus a jubilee of God‚Äôs grace, for human beings to live happily together within the same walls
15ut it takes only one fault, consistently practised, to stop their happiness. And that ¬Ø one fault, no matter what its disguise, is invariably selfish~ nes.s--the unwillingness to give and to take, the lack of mutual forbearance. If, then, we are to live together in religious life peace-ably, we must, first, ~xpect others to differ from us
and, secondly, we must acquire a broad toleration of those dif-ferences. My confrere may laugh hysterically-at remarks that to me seem inane, or eagerly dial the community-room radio to gang-busting programs that bore me stiff, or loudly chant the OffiCe in a voice that ,grates me like the rasp of a file, or persistently close the chapel windows that I open, or walk or talk or work or recreate or eat or room in a way that clashes with all my concepts of those various human activities. He and I‚Äô may (to use Stevenson‚Äôs figure) stand back to back in all things, seeing an altogether dif-ferent heaven and earth. Yet are we called to live in char-itable unity. And we shall fulfill that call only by tol-erating each other‚Äôs differences. Many of our differences undoubtedly spring from our different nationalities. To belabor them is to belabor the obvious. Chesterton has summed them up by defining a foreignermand that term denotes any person with a nationality different from our own--as "a man who laughs at everything---except jokes." Even in religious life, we need to remember that despite these national dif-ferences God made all men. He has no predilection for 357 CLAUDE KEAN Ret~iew for Religious Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, Ameri_cans, even Irishmen..‚Äô Once He did have a chosen people, the Jews
but now,.since Good .Friday afternoon, the whole race is His chosen people..Omthis truth Catholicism insists: "We are all one in Christ,". The water‚Äôof baptism is thicker than.blood. Many American religious communities, like America itself, are "melting pots‚Äôi containing elements of the Old World and elements of.the New, If those elements refuse to melt, ~ serious, explosion-is certain to occur. Both the Old World members of the community and the New World members must .again, therefore, first,, expect to find multiple differences between them
and, secondly, ¬∞through constant tact, and¬∞ sympathy, and understanding, and for-bearance~ :seek to blend :those differences.. Suppose, for.ins.tance, that to our American community comes an immigrant from (a land unknown to even Rand McNally!) far-off Volabia. Being a genui:ne Volabian, he will of course look, not like a genuine American, but like a genuine Volabian. Shall we disdain~ him for this reason and demand that through plastic surgery his looks be Americanized?. He will also posses.s distinctly Volabian traits of character: perhaps a patience of method that pro: vokes our impatience
or a mute submissiveness that we interpret as almbst a lack of courage
or a religious frank-ness that to us seems akin to ostentation
or a smiling indifference to worldly problems that chafes our. sense of the‚Äôpractical. Shall we forthright condemn him for being what ten or twenty centuries of Volabian history have made him to be, and peremptorily set about trying to remould him according to the pattern of sesquicentennial America? The more adult procedure, and the more Chris-tian, would be to accept our Volabian brother as he is and to seek to understand his character. Under his surface oddness, we.shall undoubtedly find traits worthy not only 35.8 Not
ember, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" "of our admiration but of our imitation. In similar fashion must the Volabian try to understand us who are American-born. He will find that, perhaps unlike Volabians, we do not wear our religious hearts on our sleeves
that we prefer to "pray to our Heavenly Father in secret"
that we care not to "let our right hand know what our left hand doeth,"~ even though our left hand does much. With this knowledge of us, he will not hastily~con-dude that we American religious lack religion--that we are some Lost Legion in the Church of God. He must, fur, thermore, strive to understand something of the American wayof life: to understand that, instead Of washing at wells, we are accustomed to showe.r-baths
that, instead of travel-ling on mule carts, we commonly travel on trains or buses or even airplanes
that, instead of carrying a ~tale sandwich on a whole day‚Äôs journey, we prefer to buy a fresh one, just as cheaply, at some point along the way. Understanding American‚Äôstandfirds .of living, he will understand our wants .and needs. And if some future chapter should appoint him our superior, he will not be predisposed to dismiss our requests solely on the basis, "We didn‚Äôt need these things in Volabia!" Indeed, he will seldom (if ever) institute comparisons between the Old World and the New, realizing that such comparisons are as fatuous as they are odious. When he comes to America, he expects to find new scenery--and not a literal reproduction of the Volabian panorama. So surely must he expect to find dif-ferent customs and standards of living---customs and standards not necessarily better or worse than those of Volabia, but inevitably different. His task is, not to adjust Americans to Volabia, but to adjust a Volabian to Ameri-ca. He will succeed in his task in proportion to his spirit of sensible compromise. Thus it is mutual forbearance that alone can build a 359 CLAUDE KEAN Review [or Religious Peace Bridge between the Old World and the New
mutual forbearance that alone can make a religious community of a hundred different nationalities yet transcendently "all one," Finally, there are the differences between the young religious and the old. Wide differences they are indeed, May having so little in common with December. And what are some of those differences? Horace outlined them unforgettably two thousand years ago. "The young," he says, "delight in games. They resent advice. They are high~spirited, and quick to change their opinions." And the old? "They" he observes, "are stingy, timid in trans-actions. They procrastinate. .They are inactive, peevish, querulous, the chastisers and censors of youth, prhisers of the bygone days when they themselves were young." What a chasm yawns between them! Wherefore the young are prone to consider the old as cranks, kill-joys, meddlers, brakes upon the progress of the community
and the old are prone to regard the young as upstarts, know-it-alls, saboteurs, vandals bent on destroying all the traditions of the community! How, 0 how, can‚Äôthe "twain meet" and be "all one"? Only by constant efforts towards mutual toleration. The young must bring themselves to realize that the community existed before their arrival and somehow man-aged to get along passably well. They must learn that the label "New" does not necessarily mean "Good." (Shake-speare somewhere speaks of "younger spirits, whose appre-hensive senses all but new things disdain!") They must strive deliberately to cultivate a respect for old things-- the Church herself being quite old, and religious life quite time-tested in all its phases. Just as a certain wise pastor, taking over a new parish, resolved: "For one year, I will make no sweeping changes in the routine of this parish"
360 Nouernber, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" so the young religious might resolve: "Until I have been professed at .least one year, I will not attempt to reorganize my community. Rather, I will try to learn from the older members, seeking their advice ina friendly spirit." The young, even Scripture grants, cannot help dreaming dreams
but they shogld not interpret every dream as a divine apparition with‚Äôa commission of supreme 6rgency in it! Above all, the young must respect the old. "Peculiar" in the eyes of youth the old may be. But what can you expect of them? Are they not subject to the laws of na-ture? And can you reasonably expect that, at seventy or eighty, they have the energy, the dash, the fresh faculties of mind and powers of body of seventeen or eighteen? They once were young. But they spent their youth generously for the good of the community
they bore "the burdens and the heats of the day." They fully merit, therefore, not the ridicule of the young, but their sincere appreciation‚Äô, their constant consideration, their kindly assistance, their sympathetic understanding. The young should remember that, when looking at the old, they are looking at them-selves in the mirror of tomorrow. Only by striving to make beautiful and ~ranquil the evening of life for others will they insure for themselves a happy ending. The old, on their part, must try to understand and assist the young. The young belong, it is true, to a differ-ent generation, yet not a lost generation. By nature, the young have zeal. Instead of restraining them and thwart-ing them, why not give them full vent for that zeal? Some of their efforts may prove unhappy
but did all of yours succeed signally? Some of their methods may differ from yours
but may two roads not lead to the same place? "Sis-ter Mary," a Mother General once confided to me, "has been playing the organ for forty-five years. She should 361 CLAUDE KI~AN really retire. But she refuses to do so.~ She says that she wants to die at the console." In plain truth, the music of that convent suggested that Sister Mary was dying at the console--a slow, torturous death. And all the meanwhile there stood in the offing other nuns, well-trained young organists, who could have provided music much more acceptable to the ears of God and of man. Saint ,John the Baptist, knowing that his day had ended and that Christ‚Äôs day had begun, said, "I must decrease: He must increase." If, instead of standing pat on honors and assignments, the old would similarly make way for the young in religious life, how much Christian charity would be promoted, and how greatly the welfare of many a community would be advanced! Yes, despite all our differences--in temperament, in nationality, in age--we are to be "all one." .How can such pe~rfect unity be achieved? Only (my text from Saint,Paul significantly concludes) "in Christ." Only when our:hearts bare caught from tb~ Heart of Christ a charity that makes us forget ourselves and think constantly of others
a char-ity that makes us overlook the natural differences that divide us and stress the supernatural ties that bind us. OUR CONTRIBUTORS MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS is a member of the English Department of the College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York. CH/~RLES F. DONOVAN is at Yale University studying education. CLAUDE KE!~N is Principal of the Timon High School in Buffalo, New York. AUGUSTINE KLAAS is professor of Sacra-mental Theology at St. Mary‚Äôs College, St. Marys, Kansas. ADAM C. ELLIS is professor of Canon Law in the same college and is one of tbe editors of this review. 362 In Praise ot Pr yer Augustine Klaas, S.3. DlUS XII has more than once during recent years called p attention to the similarity of our present troublous times to those which cradled the infant Church. He bids us observe the Christians of the early ages of the Church in order to draw strength and inspiration from them to surmount the persecutions and obstacles of various sorts which harrass us on every side. He wants us to study their virt.ues, their heroic deeds, their words of wisdom, which saw them successfully through their many trials and temptations, so that we.may do as they did with like tlapp} results. - An outstanding quality of the early Church was its prayer life, The first Christians prayed ferventlyand much, both vocally and mentally. With predilection they prayed the Our Father, they made the sign of the gross, they said mornifig and ~eyeiaing prayers, table prayers, and accompanied all the actions of the day with ..aspirations. They often came together for liturgical prayer, especially for the agape, or love-feast, which was sometimes followed - by the Eucharistic celebration. Mental prayer, too, was in constant use, particularly among the virgins, ascetics, and primitive r.eligious both of the deserts and of the ancient monasteries. Furthermore, many of them wrote dgwn their thoughts and counsels on prayer. It is this praise of prayer uttered by the Christians of primitive times that I have tried to illustrate by choosing certain striking selec-tions from the writings of the first seven centuries. These interesting excerpts make up a kind of rough treatise on the whole spirituality of prayer and contain magnificently 363 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuiew for Religious that vital, inspiring message for our day referred to by Pius XII so frequently and eloquently. Nature of Prayer Saint Basil (d. 379 A.D.), one of the most important lawgivers of Oriental monasticism, besides defining the prayer of petition, stresses the intention, attention, and frequency which should characterize prayer. Prayer is the asking for so.mething good from God by those who are devoted to Him. We do not, however, reduce petition to mere words. For we do not think that God has need of reminders uttered by the lips: surely He knows what is good for us, even if we do not ask at all. What then are we saying? Prayer should certainlTnot be thought to consist in syllables only, but rather the power of prayer must be a~tributed to the mind‚Äôs intention and to those virtuous deeds which compass our whole life. "‚ÄôTherefore, wbethei" you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all for the glory of God" (I Corin-thians 10:31). When you are at table, pray
when you take a piece of bread, thank the Giver of it: when you strengthen‚Äô the body‚Äôs weakness, with wine, be mindful of Him who gave you this gift to rejoice the heart and alleviate bodily infirmities. Has the need for eating passed? The remembrance of the Giver has not. When you put on‚Äôyour garment gi~‚Äôe thanks to the Donor of it. When you throw your cloak about your shoulders, love God more diligently, who has given us clothing adapted to winter and summer, clothing by which life is preserved and shame covered. Is the day drawing to a close? Thank Him who gave us the sun to assist us in our daily tasks, who gave us fire to illumine the night and to minister to other necessities of life. (Migne PG 31, 244 A.) Saint Arobrose (d. 397 A.D.), bishop of Milan, whose preaching contributed so much to the conversion of Saint Augustine, calls prayer a cry of the heart. Our heart cries out, not with the voice of the body, but with sub-limity of thought and harmony of virtue. The cry of faith is loud. Hence, in the spirit of adopted sons we exclaim, "Abba, Father," and the Spirit of God Himself cries out within us. Great is the voice of 364 November, 1947 IN PRAISE OF PRAYER justice, great is the voice of chastity, by Which even the dead speak: and not only do they speak, but like Abel they cry aloud. The soul of the unjust man, however, even if he be alive, does not cry out. because it is dead to God. There is in it nothing.lofty, nothing noble, as there is, in those whose sound has gone forth to every land and whose words have penetrated to the confines of the earth .... And the Lord Jesus exclaimed: "‚ÄôIf an~/one thirst, let him come to me and drink" "(John 7:37). Truly he cried out great things who called men to the kingdom Of heaven t6 that holy d~aught by which the waters of life eternal are imbibed. When you pray, pray for worth-while things, that is, for things not perishable but everlasting. Pray for things divine and celestial that you may be like the angels in heaven. Do not pray for money, for it is dross
do not pray for gold, for it is only metal
do not pra‚Äôy for possessions~ for they are earth
such prayer does not reach to God. God does not hear anyone unless He considers him worthy of His gifts
on the other hand, He. listens to a filial voice that is full of devotion and grace. Wherefore, not only must we cry out.in our hearts, but we must also cry out with all our heart. Just as to declaim well physically we must declaim with full throat, so we must cry out spiritually with our whole heart if we wish to request grea, t things and obtain from the Lord what we ask .... Whoever then would pray to the Lord, should not wait for certain prescribed occasions, not knowing that time is of no Worth where there is question of supplicating the LOrd, but rather let him be always‚Äô at his petitionings. Whether we eat, whether we drink, let us proclaim Christ, let us entreat Christ, let us think Christ, let us speak Christ
let Christ be ever in our hearts, ever on our lips ..... Accordingly, if anyone pray for anything, let him persevere in praying for it, and if he is not always praying, let him always have a prayer-ful disposition, (PL 15, 1471 B.) In a work of prayer long attributed to the famous oriental monk, Saint Nilus of Anc~.tra (d. circa 430 A.D.), we find these descriptions of prayer: Prayer is mental converse with God .... Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. You cannot pray well if you are involved in earthly business affairs or disturbed by pressing cares
hence, prayer is a dis-carding of distracting thoughts. When at prayer you rise superior 365 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Ret@w for Religious to every other joy, then you have found real prayer. (PG 79, 1168 C, 1181 C, 1200 C.) Saint dohn Clirnacus (d. circa 600 A.D.)~ a guiding light of early eastern monasticism, ~enumerates a litany of expressions descriptive of true prayer. If you consider its n~ature, prayer is conversation and union with God. If you examine its power, prayer is .the preservation of the~ world, reconciliation with God, the mother and also the daughter of tears: prayer is propitiation for sins, a bridge across temptations, a bulwark against afflictions, exterminhtion of wars, the occupation of angels, sustenance of all pure spirits, future happiness, everlasting acti~‚Äôity, a b&bbling spring of virtues, cause of graces, spiritual advancement, the soul‚Äôs nourishment, enlightenment of [be mind, destroyer bf despair, a sign of hope, a remedy for sadness, the riches of monks, treasure of solitaries, calmer of anger, mirror of progress, a stan~dard of mdas~urement, a revelation of one‚Äôs present condition, a prognostication of the future, a portent of the glory to come .... ~¬∞ The beginning of prayer is to rdpel instantly mental distracti6ns by ~ single act of the mind. The midway of prayer is reached when. the mind rests only in those things which are proposed for medita-tion and discourse. Its culmination is rapture in God. (PG 88, 1129 A.) Pope Saint Gregory the Great (~d. 604 A.D.) empha-sizes the interior element of prayer: True petition does not consist in words of the lips but rather in thoughts of the heart. For it is not: our words but our desires that make our voices louder in the most secret ears of God. Indeed, if we ask for eternal life orally and do not desire it with our heart~ though we shout, we .are silent. Therefore within, in our desires, there is a secret cry which does not reach human ears but fills those of the Creator. (PL 76, 238 C.) II Excellence ot: Prayer ¬ØThe excellence of prayer is shown by what it can do. Thus, Tertullian (d. circa 222 A.D.) : What shall God refuse to prayer coming to Him in spirit ahd in 366 November, 1947 IN PRAISE OF PRAYER truth since that is what He .wants of us? We read, hear, and see proofs of its power .... It is prayer alone which vanquishes God. But Christ wished it do no evil. He gave it all power for good. Hence, it does nothing less than recall the souls of the dying from the very path of death
it reforms the weak, cures the sick, atones for the possessed, opens prison doors, looses the bonds of the innocent. Prayer wipes out sins, repels temptations, stops persecutions, encourages the wavering, pleases the generous, brings.travelers back home, stills the waves, confounds thieves, feeds the poor, rules the rich, raises up the fallen, sustains the tottering, and supports those standing erect. Prayer is a wall of faith, our arms and weapons against the ene-my,. who watches us on all sides. Hence, let us never go about un-armed. During the day we shall remember our battle stations
at night, our guard posts. With the arms of prayer let us defend the standard of our leader
in prayer let us await the angel‚Äôs trumpet call. All the angels pray, too .... Even the Lord Himself prayed, to whom be honor and power for ever and ever. (PL 1, I 195 A.) For Origen (d. circa 255 A.D.) prayer is a kind of sharing in the divine intelligence: When the eyes of the mind are thus raised aloft so that they no .lonl~er dwell on earthly things nor any more are filled with images of material objects
when they are so elevated that they despise all cor-ruptible things and are given to this alone that they think on God. and speak reverently and modestly to Him as He listens,--why should not those eyes penetrate still further, "to catch the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, u~ith faces unveiled
and so... become trans-figured into the same likeness, borrou~ing glory from that glorq‚Äô" (II Corinthians 3:18)? Thdn indeed they participate in the over-flow of a certain diviner intelligence, as is clear from these words: "‚ÄôThe light of thy countenance, 0 Lord, is signed upon us" (Psalms 4:7). (PGli, 444C.) The oriental writer known as Pseudo-Macarius (d. circa 390 A.D.) has this to say: The culmination of all spiritual training and the height of vir-tuous action is perseverance in prayer, by means of which we are able daily to acquire the rest of the virtues by asking them of God. For thence comes to those who are deemed worthy a participation in divine holines~ and spiritual power, and an affective union of the soul 367 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoieto /:or Religious with God as though by a secret love. Whoever forces himself every day to perseverance in prayer, he is stirred by a spiritual love to the love of God and to an ardent desire for God, and he receives the grace of the sanctifying Spirit‚Äôs perfection. (PG 34, 764.) III Efficacy of Prayer According tO Origen, prayer produces perfect chastity: To those in the state of celibacy and chastity God will give per-fect purity, an extraordinary gift, if they ask for it with their whole soul, with faith and continual prayer (PG 13, 1252 B.) Saint Jerome (d. circa 420 A.D.) has this to say about prayer: If to one who asks is given, if the seeker finds, if it is opened to him who knocks, therefore to whom it is not given, who does not find, to whom it is not opened, it is evident that he has not asked, nor sought, nor knocked rightly. (PL 26, 47 C.) And again: Accordingly Christ also promises a reward that we may the more eagerly hasten tb peace, since He says that He willbe in the midst of two or three .... We can also interpret this spiritually, namely, that where spirit and soul are in harmony with the body and do not carry on a war of opposing desires, the flesh lusting against .the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, all that. may be asked will be received from the Father. No one can doubt but that good things are asked for when the body wants the same thing as the spirit. (PL 26, 132 A.) Saint Augustine (d. 430 A.D.) interprets a Scripture text for us: "‚ÄôIf you ask me anything in my name, l will do it" (John 14: 14). Be alert, therefore, Christian man, and listen diligently to what is put down here: in my name, for He does not say whatever you ask in any way at all, but in my name. Who then has p~omised such a great boon, what is His name? Christ Jesus, of course
Christ means king, Jesus means savior. Not any king, surely, will save us, but a savior king
and so whatever wi ask that is not conducive to salvation, we are not asking in the Savior‚Äôs name. And nevertheless He is our Savior, not only
tion our faith. We act as if faith were a static and fixed thing, whereas, not in its content, but as a virtue, it can be ¬Ø improved
and therefore we should be questioning ourselves about how constant, how pervasive, how operative and aggressive is our faith. What are the truly important things in our life? Not visible and material things but the invisible and spiritual. Love and loyalty are more important than food
the soul is more important" than the body
God is more important than His world. Some of these invisible things are known by reason, but they can also be known by faith, on the word of God, which gives a higher motfve for belief than does sight or a syllogism. And there are other invisible thingsu . truths about the nature of God and His plans, about eter-nity and the supernatural life--which can be known only 335 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Review for Reffgious on the word of God and, therefore, only through faith. You look at a chair. Your eyes tell yo.u a chair is there
reason and faith tell you that God is there, by His omni-presence and by His conservation..You loo, k at a Catholic. Your eyes show you a person of certain age, complexion, and stature
your faith tells you that here-is a temple of God, a man redeemed by Christ‚Äôs blood and alive with Christ‚Äôs life through grace. The superngtural is present just as much as the natural and material, but you come in contact with it only through faith. Think of the impor~ tant, the enduring, the non-trivial things of your day: prayer, the sign of the cross, holy water, your guardian angel, holy Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, the souls in purgatory, Our Lady interceding for you in heaven, and the unity of us all in the Church, Christ‚Äôs Mystical Body. These are the things that count, not the external motions that we often think of as comprising life--washing the face, buttoning clothes, ascending stairs, chewing bread, hearing a door shut, smelling coffee. Yet all the super-natural facts and truths--everything we prize most highly --are ours by faith. Faith is the bridge between us and the supernatural
it is the doorway to the world of spirit
it is a floodlight on supernatural truth. Faith is only a means. There is no intention here of exaggerating its place in the divine economy. It is a means to the great ends of Christian living--union with God, prayer, love, supernatural life. Faith will pass. There will be no faith in heaven. On earth it is‚Äôonly a means
but it is an indispensable means. The intellect (to use a paral-lel) may also be considered as only an instrument
it is not itself the man nor is it itself rational life. Yet without intellect or its use, man is irrational, insane, idiotic. The gift of faith is the means, the instrument to supernatural life and love, and so indispensable is it that when mortal 336 November, 1947 FAITH AND PRAYER sin attacks supernatural life, unless the sin is directly against ¬Ø the virtue of faith, though sanctifying grace and God‚Äôs love are repelled from the soul, byGod‚Äôs mercy a thread of super-naturality remains, namely,, the thread of supernatural¬∞ faith (and faith). We must ponder the significance of Our Lord‚Äôs unweary-ing emphasis on faith. It is true that He proclaimed the primacy of love
love of God and love of neighbor are the first commandments. But the virtue He always links with love, the virtue He demands first in His disciples, the virtue that moves Him to miracles, the virtue Hementions more than any other is faith. Our Lord performed miracles for the Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed by a devil, for.the centurion, for the woman with the issue of blood, for the ruler whose daughter was dead
and the reason He gave for these miracles was the faith of the peti-tioners. Surely some of these people must have loved Jesus, because He was so immed, iately attractive and lovable. But Our Lord doesn‚Äôt mention their love
He mentions only their faith. The Gospels present an almost pitiable picture of Our Lord trudging the dusty roads of an unimportant Roman province trying to get people to believe in Him, so anxious about faith in Him, and so pleased when a few believe. In the case of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus we know that there was warm affection both on their side and on Our Lord‚Äôs
yet the .reason Our Lord gave for raising Lazarus from the dead was not His affection for His friends or theirs for Him, but that they might believe. One of the great decisions of Our Lord‚Äôs life was the choice of a man to head His Church. And for that criti-cal decision, what was the test? Faith. When Peter stated his conviction that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Our Lord replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, 337 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Reoieto for Religious but my Father in heaven." Peter‚Äôs confession‚Äô, therefore, was based not on natural conviction or natural knowledge but on faith, and 3esus praised his faith and immediately promised him the primacy and the keys. Later, after the triple denial by Peter, Ou~ Lord demanded a triple affir-mation of love. But the original test was the test of faith. Our Lord left no doubt that love, supernatural charity, is the first law. Yet His last word to the apostles was on the necessity of faith: "Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." It is not enough f~r us to grasp the plain fact of Our Lord‚Äôs constant iteration of the need and value of faith. We may ask ourselves toby, what was the reason for this divine emphasis. Our Blessed Lord stressed faith, which is a means, rather than love, which is the end and consummation to which He invites us, because it was His very function as Redeemer and Mediator to make possible to us, to give us, to disclose to us the means for attaining secure and eternal union with God. He is the Way, and faith in Him is the indispensable and the first means by which we may attain beatitude and come into superna.tural intellectual possession of God. By tl‚Äôie very operation .of the nature God gave us the action of the will follows the action of the mind, the will can embrace only what is presented to it by the intellect, we can love only what we know. Therefore, as the consum-mation to which we are summoned is supernatural love stemming from our will, the necessary prerequisite for that act is the supernatural illumination of our intellect. In heaven the illumination will be by the lumen glorlae, which will enable us to accept the immediate penetration by God into every recess of our being. That will be vision. As 338 FAITH AND PRAYER long as vision is lacking, as it is in the state of trial on earth, the necessary supern~itural illumination God gives us is the gift of faith. Faith is not love, but it is the bridge to love, it is the means of communicating with God: and i~f our love is to be constant, our faith must be active and constant. This is the simple A B C of the spiritual life, so obvious that no spiritual director or writer could overlook it. It is not over-looked. It suffers, however, a lack of due emphasis because it is referred to in conferences and spiritual treatises by cir-cumlocutions. We talk about faith but not always by name. We say, for instance, that for spiritual success we must have recollection: we must be interior men and women
we speak of the man of God, the man of th~ spirit
we talk of the spirit of prayer and the spirit of con-templation. Each.one of these_phrases is really a reference to the virtue of faith. What is recollection but attention to the things faith makes known to us? By an interior person we mean more than a philosopher, one given to speculation and thought
we mean specifically one who concentrates on the truths of faith. And no less an authority than St. ,~ohn of the Cross calls contemplation naked faith. All these phrases, by which we designate one who is earnest about the spiri_tual life, are ways of saying,that faith is actife, faith is constant, faith is sustained. It is precisely when you realize this, that you become c6nvinced of the critical centrality of faith in the soul-life. Sanctity means the constant flow of love and adoration from. the soul to God, and this implies and demands--as it has in the li(res of the saints--the practice of the presence of God. And what is the practice of the presence of God except the actuation of faith in God‚Äôs loving nearness the virtue of "faith overflowing in an almost uninterrupted act?‚Äô 339 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Reoiew [or Religious It can be seen that if we are men and women of faith, we will by that very fact be men and women of prayer, men and women of God. A very simple and fundamental way of progressing in the spiritual .life is simply to con-centrate on the virtue of faith, trying to exercise it, nourish it, increase it, and begging for its .increase by God. The just man, the completely spiritual man, lives by faith
faith active as. soon as he arises in the morning
faith active when he beholds a fellow-religious
faith active at prayer. This is walking in the presence of God
this is the sanctity of the life of faith. When we pray for an increase of faith, therefore, we are not just asking God to keep us from doubt or from hesitant assent
we are not merely asking for the grace to stay in the Church and remain Catholics. We are asking for some-thing more positive: for growth in awareness of God, for growth in taste and understanding of spiritual things, for an increased realization that the world is shadow and the spirit is substance. We are asking for a firmer grip on the substance of things hoped for, a livelier appreciation of the evidence of the things that are not seen. St. Paul says that without faith it is impossible to please God. As faith is necessary for even the beginning of the spiritual life, so spir-itual progress means progress towards a life of sustained faith. Constar~tly actuated faith is itself a very high form of prayer. Bossuet calls the prayer of simplicity attention in faith. The more we try to live by faith, the sooner and more rapidly we will advance. Father Grou in The School of Jesus Christ says of the prayer, "Increase our faith," This is the prayer we should have most constantly on our lips. This is not merely the faith that accepts all revealed dogma and sub- 340 1947 mits to the decisions of the Church. We wouldn‚Äôt even be Chris-tians, children of the Church, if we didn‚Äôt have that. It is not a simple belief in revelation, but a practical virtue influencing all our conduct, which rouses and feeds devotion, supports the soul4n trial, teaches us‚Äô to sanctify our actions, gives our mind a standard of judging, the will a motive to ~ict on supernatural principles. This distinguishes the true Christian, the interior man, from,the apparent, external Chris-tian. Without this faith even pious works are dead. Its effects are: recollection, dependence on grace, the familiar presence of God. In prayer [because of this faith] God seems visible to the soul, which is struck with‚Äôawe, is pro[oundly attentive, and walks in the sight of God.. Archbishop Ullathorne quotes St. Leo, "The force and wisdom of faith is the light of charity," and adds: For charity is the light of faith and faith is the light of charity
for whilst faitl~ gives its luminous truth to Charity¬∞ charity gives its fire and ardent sense of God to faith
and so faith works by charitT, for charity gives its force to the will to cleave to the truth of God for the love of-God. Faith is the end of the Divine Incarnation, and God is the end of Faith. YOUNG CHRISTIAN FARMERS Priests and teachers in rural communities should find Young Christian Farmers a helpful p.amphlet on Rural Catholic Action. It contains a group of seven well-prepared inquiries on the basic human relationships of young farm boys to the farm home and the rural community. Each inquiry describes and observes the problem under consideration, judges the findings from the Christian viewpoint, arid suggests possible lines of action to improve the situation. Each inquiry also has its own proper Gospel commentary. Though in-tended for teen-age farm boys, the material can easily be adapted to other farm groups. (Eugene Geissler, Fides Publishers, South Bend, Indiana. 50 cents.) 341 - Christ:Jan Joy Mother Mary Robert Falls, O.S.U. 44
OY to the world, the Lord is come!" With brevity and directiaess the 61d carol thus sounds the domi-nant. note of the Christmas season and its period of preparation, for whether we looI~ to the Advent liturgy with its imperious calls to joy, or whether we consult the customs and traditions of men, we find always the same exultant gladness, the same triumphant joy and satisfac-tion at the Coming of Christ. And rightly so, of course, for joy is eminently a Christian gift flowing ~from the abiding consciousness of loving and of being loved
and nei.ther paganism with ~its haunting sense df unfulfilled .desires nor the fieo-paganism of ~os.t-Protestantism can 9ffer even a vague substitute for the joy that came with the Birth of Christ. ,,~ Since this is so, Advent seems an appropriate time to investigate what we can‚Äô know of the nature of joy and to seek the answer, not i~a ~pec~lation nor in emotion, "but in the bracing realm of doctrine as found in Holy Scripture and in the lives and teachings of the saifits. For religious, the question ~assum~s still .greater significance when we remember the words of St. Francis of )~ssisi: "What else are we servants of God, but in a measure His minstrels, who should uplift the hearts of men and move them to spiritual joy?" The Nature of do~ Dom Marmion defines joy as "the sentiment ~that is born in a soul, conscious of the good it possesses." For St. Thomas, joy is the sequel of charity, in itself not a vir-tue but the effect of love. Moreover, not feelings, not emo- 342 (~HRISTIAN .JOY tions, but intellectual apprehension is the sine qua non of true joy
. for while joy is a kind of delight, not all. delight is joy, since a necessary condition of joy is the rational apprehension of a good-~an important distinction in view of the predominant attention given in these times to th~ more superficial delights often mistaken for joy. Dora Marmion, stressing this rational aspect of joy, addsi "The good ~f our intelligence is truth
the more this truth is abundant and luminous~ the deeper is our inward joy." The classic utterance concerning joy is found in St. Pau.l, "The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace .... " And again, "Thekingdom of God is . . . justice and. peace and joy‚Äôin theHoly Ghost." From these considerations, there, fore, it is evident that true joy is‚Äômbre thah a transient emotional state
it is at once a conscious an.d~a reasonable delight in those, goods proper to man and, above all in the Supreme Good--God Himself. ~ St. Thomas tells us that "peace is the perfectio.n of joy." It is evident, therefore, that peace is possible onl$ on the foundation of joyI and is its necessary conseituent. St. Th~r~se illustrates well this sequence, Describing" her realization of her spekial vocation, she wrote, "Then, in an ecstasy of joy, I cried out ‚Äô0 Jesus, my Love... !‚Äô " A few lines farther on, she added, "Why do I‚Äôspeak of an ‚Äôecstasy of joy‚Äô? Those words do not convey my exact meaning. I should rather say that peace, has become my portion." Source of Our Joy God is love, and love is the source of all joy--this is the alpha and the omega of the question. There is no one ele-. ment of joy so indispensable as this love of God, and in pro-portion as our love increases and our lives‚Äôbecome theo-centric our joy will deepen and permeate all. Well might the Curi of Ars say that it is always springtime in the heart 343 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Review for Religious that loves God. The Holy Spirit in the inspired Scriptures has emphasized the joy consequent upon the coming of God among men with an insistence that cannot be ignored. No sooner had Elizabeth come into contact with Mary. bearing Christ within her, than she exclaimed, "Behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." When the shepherds, confronted with an angelic messenger, were affrighted, they were reassured,"Fear not, for behold I bring ‚Äôgood tidings of great joy." The Wise Men, recovering once more their luminous guide, "rejoiced with exceeding great~ joy." Truly, the .coming .of Christ promised ~joy to those who should receive Him. Lest we. forget this truth, the Church in the third Collect for the Advent Ember Saturday peti-tions, "Give joy, we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, hy the coming of Thine only begotten Son, to us Thine unworthy servants...." And when He had come, neither His Personality nor His message belied the doctrine of joy. How many of His parables emphasized just this note! There will be joy in heaven itself upon the return of a sinner. At the _end of .the time of trial the faithful servant will enter into the joy of his lord: Indeed, the very hearing of the word of God in itself brought joy. Moreover, ~those associating with Christ experienced for themselves this gladness in His presence. Zacheus, called from his perch to entertain Christ, "came down and received him with joy." After their first missionary jour-ney, the seventy-two disciples "returned with joy" to Christ, glad to be with Him again and proud of. their accgmplishments. Not only His immediate disciples but all the people experienced this delight in His pre.sefice. "T~e whole multitude.., began with joy to praise God." So well had the apostles learned the lesson that they 344 November, 1947 CHRISTIAN .JoY found little difficulty in remaining faithful to this tradi-tion of Christian joy. On ]Easter morning Peter and ,John ‚Äô~went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy," and the fear of the unknown was powerless to over-come the joy of the known. When the clouds had hidden Christ from their sight on Mount Olivet and the angels had bidden them return to the city, "they went back into Jerusalem with great joy," even though they had just been separated from their Friend. On that first [~entecost morning "the disciples .were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost," and in the strength of that joy they began their missionary conquest of the world. _ Joy is the true heritage of a Christian. Christ Himself emphasized thig at the Last Supper with an insistence that revealed His concern. Moreover, it is Christian jo~l, that is, the joy of Christ Himself. After. the tremendous lesson of the many mansions, after the new commandment and the promise of the Paraclete, after the gift of His peace, after the parable of the vine and the branches, Christ reassured His listeners, "These things I have spoken to you that tn~t jolt mat! be in you, and your joy may be filled." Nor is this joy to be .merely transitory
it is Christ who says so, "Amen, amen, I say to you . .. you now indeed have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you." Mind-ful that men, left to themselves, might forget the source of joy, Christ encouraged them, "Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name
ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full." And then in the sublime prayer ad-dressed to His heavenly Father, Christ reveals unmistak-ably the true nature of Christian joy, "These things I speak in the world, that they may have m~/ joy filled in them-selves." 345 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Reoieto for Religious ¬Ø The Character of True Christian dog In all ages great loversof God have known this truth: God is love, and love is joy,~ Tauler says, "~The lovers of God pass into a worldless peace where all is happiness and joy
whatever happens to them, whatever they do, that j6.y and peace remain." Fore Chesterton, joy was the "gigahtic secret of the Christian," a secret of which Isaias, centuries earlier, had told the source, "Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,‚Äôin the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful." For Dom Marmion, "Joy is the echo of God in the soul." This emphasis on the theocentric character of joy is not in any sense intended to deny the reality of ~arthly joys, but rather to intensify an appreciation of the source and qualities of all joy. Earthly joys have earthly sources
and So ‚Äôlong as these sources are good in themselves the joys are good and are blessed by God. When Lucie Christine reproached herself for tl~e happiness she experienced with ber~hu~sband and her children, Our Lord, coming to her in Holy Communion, made her understand "hOW His kind Heart lo~‚Äôes to see the joys arising from the affection of a Christian family." Then, too, by means of earthly joy we are often led further to the higher realms of heavenly joy, "Kepler, in the introduction to his monumental work on astronomy, acknowledged this: O Thou, who hast scattered Thy glorious stars in the depths of Heaven, I give Thee thanks . . . for the ecstasies of delight ‚ÄôI have enjoyed while contemplating the works of Thy.hands. If such be the joy we ex~perience in scientific research, what must it be to study God Himself? It is well to remember, however, that joys of earth are necessarily transient and finite, depending as they do upon that which cannot endure
and there is danger that in con-fusing the two we may look upon all joy as depending in some way upon the contingent. With her wisdom born of 346 November, 1947 CHRISTIAN J~)Y. faith, the Church takes care to remind u~.of this. "Grant to Thy people abidir~9 jolt,", she prays on the Second Sun-day after Easter
and on the Fourth Sunday her petition is still more explicit: 0 God, who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant to Thy people .to love that which Thou commandest and desire that which Thou dost promise
that so. among the changing things of this world, ,our hearts may be set where true joys are to be found. The Paradox of Joy Perhaps nothing seems so paradoxi.cal as the joy the sa‚Äôints find in the midst of suffering or evefi from suffering, but the truth of th‚Äôis state is too often httest~d to‚Äôallow any doub~"of~its re~ility. The simple gaze which can go right past the suffering td the Core of that ~uff~ring is‚Äôthe an-swer to this paradox. God is:hlw~iys.God. ¬∞ Wfie~ a novice at Lisieux cofiaplained"that life is dreary, St. ThOr~se cot2 rected her: it is not life that is dreary
it is ekile. Our‚Äôlife mustbe considered in its totality. ‚Äô ‚Äô The rhythm of joy and SUffering is noted BY many. Father Plus says, there are only,, two mountains in the world--Thabor and Calvary, and often the 0nly way.to the summit of the former is by way of the long slope of Calvary. For Paul Claudel, "Every rose is slight in com-parison with its thorn." Our gaze will be directed either to the suffering .or to God
and if to the latter, the paradox of joy-inysuffering is easily explained. Th~r~se in a lettei to her sister writes, "C~line, I want to forget this world .... .I find only one joy, that of suffering
and this joy, which is above that Of the senses, is beyond all happiness." And again in a let-ter written after the tragic illness of her father, "Our Father must indeed be loved by God since he has so much to suffer. It is a joy.f0rus to be humiliated with .him." Such were her MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Review for RelioiouS dispositions in trials Of the spirit. After months of physi-cal pain her faith was even more sublime. "What joy it is to feel that I am wasting away," she said. For theencour-agement of the less courageous she explained, nevertheless,. that this joE pervaded only the inmost depths of her soul. Elsewhere there was intense suffeling~ In the heart of the Saint of the Little Way there is a faithft~l echo of St. Paul‚Äôs strong cry of faith,, "I-exceedingly abound with" joy in all our tribulation." Indeed, the presence of suffering seems to indicate that all is well. St. Teresa bad already pe~rceived this truth, "I realize better every day what grace our Lord has shown .me in enabling me to understand the blessing:of suffering so that .I can peacefully endure the wart of happines~ in earthly things since they pass so quickly." To Blessed Henry Suso, Eternal Wisdom promised, "There is nothing more painfu! than suffering and nothing more joyful than to have suffered. Suffering is a. short pain and a long joy .... He who is always cheerful in suffer.ing has for his servants joy and sorrow, friend and foe." Then, too, souls who remain close t6 God in their suffering find joy in the thought that they are pleasing Him. It is this which acquits them of all suspicion of abnormal tendencies. A soul favored with divine caresses,, after a long period of desolation, addressed himself to. God, "O my God, can I then never again be happy?" The response ¬Ø was immediate, "Let it be thy joy to be conscious that thou dost give joy to thy Lord by thy beauty and thy love." For a true lover of God, another source of joy in suffering lies in his realization that by means of suffering God draws " him still closer to Himself. Th~r~se of Lisieux recognized this fact well: He is divinely lovable for not permitting me to be the captive of any passing joy. He knows well that if He sent me but a shadow of 348 Nouember, 1947 , CHRISTIAN JOY ¬Ø earthly happiness, I should cling‚Äô to it with all the intense ardorof my heart . . . He prefers~o leave me in darkness rather than afford mt aTfalse glim_mer which would not be Himself, St, Franci~ of Assisi] whose life according to Father Felder~ was "oz~e hymn of.joy," has left in his discourse with ]~r~ther Leo the apotheosis of all that .can be said on the subject of joy‚Äôin suffering.‚Äô For him the perfect joy consists not in success, not in worldly Ieaming, not even in a suc~ cessful apostolate, but in the enduring of blows, insults, inconveniences, and even repudiation ~ by his own. Arid~ why? "If we should bear all these things p~tiently and with joy, thinking of tlq~ pains of the Blessed Christ as that which .we ought to b~ar for His love, O Brother Leo, write that it i~ in this that there is perfect joy." Obstacles to Jog , For a soul in the state of grace, fortified as..it is by the grace of the sacraments and by faith, all the obstacles to‚Äô joy can be reducedto a single one selfishness. Eitfi~r we shall‚Äô be "concerned with God and"His interests or with ourselves and our own interests. And as our concern~is so our remuneration will be. God is the source of love and joy
and where He is, joy is ~ure to follo‚Äô#. But preoccupation "with self brings only sadness and discouragement and a ~endency to,criticize and to complain all of which are fatal tb joy. The more exacting we are in this selflessne‚Äôss. the more minute the dttention we pay to being unselfish in every.detail of our life, the greater.will be our concern with God and the greater, consequently, will be the joy of our lives. The saints of God knew well this secret. St. Teresa-reminded her nuns, "This house will be a heaven, if heaven can be-found on.earth, for~her who can cofi~efit herself. ¬Ø s61ely with‚Äôcontenting God, caring nothing for her own. content." Even more delicateis the remark of St. Th&~se. 349 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS~ Review for Religious When a picture of the Hol~ Face had been placed near-I4er bedside, she remarked, "Ot~r Lord did well to close His eyes in giving us the imprint of His Counteria.nce, for the eyes are the mirror of the soul
, if we had been able to gaze into His soul, we should have died from joy." St. Catherine of Genoa described the joy of the souls in purgatory as so intense that only the joys of the Blessed in hsaven surpass them "a joy which goes on increasing day ¬Ø by day, as God more and more flows ih upon the soul, which He does abundantly in 16roportion as every hindrance to His entrance is consumed away." Mother St. Austi~ , reaffirms this ~ffect of God‚Äôs presence_ in a. suffering soul
whether He comes to the unpurified soul as its intolerable suffering or its, perchance, more-intolerable joy." To ‚Äô~hoose what God chooses, to-be content with what He" disposes four us, to desire only what He desires these are the means used by the saints to arrive at the summit of all joy.-~ And they knew well that the only path to this summit is that of complete selflessness before the will of God. St. Th~r~se in her farewell letter to L~onie could dare to say, "The only means of attaining true happiness on earth is to strive always to accept whatever God chooses for us as being the rap, st delightful." Here is no stoical endur- ¬Ø ance
it .is tgue delight that Th~r~se found in God‚Äôs .will. Being men, we are ever seeking satiet)~
.true loveri and true souls of joy, knew well that this.satiety is achieved only by‚Äô casting off all that is not God. Richard --Rolle prayed: _~, ~Fhe nature that Thou didst make, change ~wlth honeysweet gifts,-that my soul, filled ~with Thy d~llghfful joy, may despis,e and cast away all things of this world, that it may receive ghostly songs, - given by Thee, and going with joyful longs into infinite light, m..ay _ be all melted Withholy love. 350 November, 19"~7 ~ CHRISTIAN JOY ~ .~ ~,St% Johrf of~ the Cross
~the apostle, of. renunciation,, has no other d0ctrine¬∞than this :total denudatibnof sel~ in‚Äô order that God.may
be ~11:¬Ø ",:: ~ - ~ _ ...... " ~‚Äô :‚Äô~ Inasmuch as.~there is no room~ for. the b~.utidless gif_ts of God, sayy in a h~art~th~t,is empty and solitary, . . therefore, ,the L~rd who ld4/s.yoh~r~atlY, lov~s~ou ~o be quit~ ~lbne, ~d~siring to be" H~self ~o~r‚Äôonl~‚Äô.kompafiion. ~nd you will‚Äône~d to, set your mind ~n being~ con~ented.w~th H~m alone, that y~u m~y f"ind ~all. content i~ Him. ~,~ ~ ~.~ . , ~. .do~ in Our e the mj ~y oful‚Äô~in ~m:~~bosue o~f rpaver.".:: :-- . : ~o~Mar~ion., vpeaki~g of Chri#tjan~ in general
iays~ :~h~w~hagg~J~sgs in our~hear,t~, it~is like 9ffering ~im an :affront. ff-we: are, sad.: It,-~s hke, say ng:
~ You. do~not-suffic~ fore.me ~ ~ Monsignor .Gay~.ye~terates th~s~not~on, ~ ~e:s~g~[~g fgr: jgy~ indicatys .a-~ tru~ un~er~[anding~ ~f [h~ grag.g~ of Baptism.
‚Äô IL-~.[1 Christians.ha.~e ~p their possq~sion . "hoy~‚Äô~ so~rce ~qf joy.~an~ t~. ~ljgatiqn~ t%.rej~icq,/ what . ~o live" i~[fl~vest intimacy wi~h~Hi~.: .~ C~ti~ns.~:~st ¬¢ ,
Jof‚Äôis not, something~,weare .~gree .to cho0se~0r to gejedt: _ our very,~nature dictates-that.~e ~i~e aware of its influence" . and-of: our:need for it. Deliberately,tO: reject~.true~j0y.is ~to. de~ny.,t0,
God~.tha~_ dominion over our~ soul~ a~d ou, r lives ~hich is His~by so:many titles. ~-Mo~eover,~it is ~o run~: the serious~ri~k.0fdegenerating to lqwer~ jpys,~ for as St: Gregory warns us, "The soul cannot~be without ~joy
~or~it,will-." delight eitherAn the basest things or themost exal~ed.‚Äôf"And Fathe~-~Farre11. remarks, "The human.~heart~ simpl~: mfist haqe ~oy." Ill.the joy is not forthcoming from ~our friendship, %e shall cast about for, more agreeable~compan-ionship.., in a realm other than that of the Spirit.v, ~o live joyfully, therefore, is at once a privilege for a~conse- " 351 MOTF~ER M~RY R(~BERT FALLS Review for Religious cra~ed soul an‚Äôd a safeguard fo~ hislspiritual,ff~ll-bein‚Äôg. ~And flow shall thi~ be d~Sfie? ¬Ø in great things and small, in prayer and charity and.s~l,fq dehial and the countless Occasions which religious life offers. For-a religious the fai.thful ob~ervafice of his rule neces-sarily brings joy into his life
the thought albfie that he is st.riving to be faithful and to conquer himself for !ove.0f~ his Lord will bring peace and ,happiness surpassing any earthly joy. Father Kempf remarks, "One of the basic conditions of~ real"spiritual joj~ is th~ testimony" Of a" clean ~ conscience .... The kind Of conscience thav makes joy ~po~ sible is that which testifies . . . that we are .performi~ig our duties tb the best ,of our-ability, that we are earnestly striying for perfection.‚Äô‚Äô~ For a religious, Gbd‚ÄôS Will is manifested in his rule and in thewishes of his superior, and the jealou~ carrying ~ut of this will is the,infallible means of happiness. Dom Marmion asserts that our Blessed Mother merited the joys of divine motherhood by her faith‚Äô and lo
¬¢e, and theh‚Äôhe adds the significant comment, "Jesus wishes tO .‚Äôte¬∞ach us that we may sl~are . . . in the joy of bringing Him forth in souls. And:how
And by your sweet breathing, Filled with good and glory, How tenderly you swell my heart with love! (Living Flame, stanza 4) It begins with God. God reaches down, takes your hand, and guides you along the way to-a place of ineffable love. He teaches you to be still and to await his touch. He strips you of all that is not himself. He draws forth love that is like his own. He gifts you‚Äôwith the life of Jesus his Son. There are Old Wine and Old Lovers: Hope in John of the Cross 345 two kinds of life according to John of the Cross. One consists in the v~sion of God, which must be attained by natural death
"the other is the perfect spiritual life, the possession of God through union of love" (F 2, 32). This union is John‚Äôs ultimate hope for the human personality--total transforma-tion in the immense love of the Triune God. REPRINTS FROM THE REVIEW "A Method for Eliminating Method in Prayer," H. F. Smith, S.J ........................ 30 "An Apostolic Spirituality for the Ministry of Social Justice," M. Oliva, S.J ................. 50 "Celibate Genitality," W. F. Kraft ................. 50 ¬Ø "Celibacy and Contemplation," D. Dennehy, S.J ........ "i. ¬Ø .30 "Colloquy of God with a Soul that Truly Seeks Him" . ....... 30 "Consciousness Examen," G. A. Aschenbrenner, S.J ......... 50 "Hidden in Jesus Before the Father," G. A. Aschenbrenner, S.J ................... 50 "Institutional Business Administration & Religious," Flanagan and O‚ÄôConnor ................... 30 "Instruction on the Renewal of Religious Formation" S.C. for Religious ...................... 35 "Prayer of Personal Reminiscence," D. J. Hassell S.J ........ 60 "Profile of the Spirit: A Theology of Discernment of Spirits," J. R. Sheets, S.J ................... 50 "Psychosexual Maturity in Celibate Development," P. Cristantiello ........................... 60 "Retirement or Vigii," B. Ashley, O.P ............... 30 "The ‚ÄôActive-Contemplative‚Äô Problem," D. M. Knight .......75 "The Contemporary Spirituality of the Monastic Lectio," M. Neuman, O.S.B ...................... 50 "The Four Moments of Prayer," J. R. Sheets, S.J .......... 50 "The Healing of Memories," F. Martin .. . ............. 35 "The Nature and Value of a Directed Retreat," H. F. Smith, S.J ....................... 35 Orders for the above should be sent to: Review for Religious Room 428 3601 Lindeli Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108 St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience Francis X. J. Coleman Dr. Coleman is Associate P~‚Äôofessor of Philosophy at Boston University
Boston, MA 02215. When picturing Christfin the way I have mentioned, and sometimes even while reading, I used to experience a consciousness of the presence of God of such a kind that I could not possibly dotibt that He was within me or that 1 wgs wholly engulfed in Him? On September 27, 1970, Pope Paul VI conferred the title of Doctor of the Church on St. Teresa of Avila, thereby placing her in the ranks of such giants as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In his homily delivered at St. Peter‚Äô.s Basilica," the pope. spoke of Teresa as "the reformer and founder of an historic and eminent religious order,‚Äô~ a prolific writer of great genius, teacher of the spiritual life, an incomparable contemplative who was tire-lessly active." The pope went on to speak of "the holiness of her life... a value which was already officially proclaimed as early as March 12, 1622---St. Teresa died 30 years before--by our predecessor Gregory XV." The pope enquired concerning the source of Teresa‚Äôs doctrine: :‚ÄôAnd we might mention another particular point, the charism of wisdom, which ~AII quotations from St. Teresa‚Äôs writings are drawn I~rom The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, tr. and ed., E. Allison Peers, from the critical.edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, O.C.D. (Sheed and Ward, London and New York: 1950). This citation is from Life, chapt. X. 2The Italian text is in L‚ÄôOsservatore Romano, Sept. 29, 1970. 3He is referring to the Order of Discalced Carmelites. 346 St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience / 347 makes us think of the most attractive and at the same time most myst, erious aspect of St. Teresa‚Äôs title of Doctor: the flow of divine inspiration in this prodigious and mystical writer. From where did the wealth of her do¬∞ctrine come to Teresa?" ~ After mentioning Teresa‚Äôs cultural and spiritual education, her conver-sations with great masters of theology, her singular sensibility and ascetic discipline, pope Paul asked whether ther~e was not another sourc~ of her "eminent doctrine: .... Ought we not re~zognize in St. Teresa acts, facts and states which did not come from her but were undergone by her, things both endured and suffered, mystical things in the" t‚Äôrue sense of the word... ‚Äô~" Pope Paul was sensitive to the grea~t difficulties involved in mystical experience: "‚ÄôThe originality of mystic‚Äôai.adtion is one of the‚Äômost delicate and complex of psychological phenomena. Many factors can play a part in ~t, and they oblige the observer to rnaint~ain the severest caution," though he went on to imply that there are som+ who would deny the very possibility of mystical experience itself: "... 15sychoS_nalytic exploration is breaking down that frail and complicated instrument that we are, in such a way that all that can be heard is not the sound~i~f mankind in its sufferin~ and its redemption, but rather the troubled h~utterings of man‚Äôs animal subcon-scious, the cries of his "disordered passions and of his desperate anguish." What, .then, were the "‚Äôacts, facts and states" which did not‚Äô originate from Teresa but "were undergone by her"? What are "mystical things in the true sense of the word," according to the first woman doctor of the Church? In this paper i shall attempt some.‚Äôanswer to these questions. In the first part I shall give a broad survey of the varieties of mystical data to be found in Teresa‚Äôs writings. These data fall into three main categories: locutions, visions and ecstasies. Then I shall describe how Teresa first reacted to her experiences, what was her reflective doctrine con~zeining the methods of distinguishing demonic deception and/or self-decepti~)n from authentic mystical experience. Next I shall turn to a contemporary of Teresa who recorded his own thoughts concern‚Äôing the supposedly super-natural events in her life. And, finally and ver~
‚Äôbriefly, I shall attempt a tentative conclusion regarding her value and a method of approaching her .for readers of today. Before beginning,‚Äô however, 1 believe it is essential to define the proper place of mystical experience within the Catholic faith. When my,stical ex.pe-rience is construed as some merely private revelation, or when it is con-strued to be irrational, insidious errors inevitably ensue, both of a doctrinal and of a personal sort. Mystical experience must never be pitted against rationality
on the contrary, the immediate experience of the infinite and the transcendent is the ultimate expression of rationality. And, when mystical experience does entail privaie revelation, the sin of pride is always lurking: the mystic may affirm propositions at variance with the traditional and authoritative teachings of the Church, and contumacy is quick to follow. 341~ / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 As a highly intelligent woman, St. Teresa was aware of how readily people deceive themselves. She knew that there is a special temptation for religious.to delude themselves into believing ttiemselves to be the chosen recipients of some particular revelation. She was especially suspicious of the Alumbrados, or llluminists.,., The Alumbrados were in.many ways the sixteenth-century counterparts of some types of charismatics and other seekers of special gifts in our own day. The Alumbrados were not a sect of Catholicism, but rather a collective term for small groups of priests and lay persons who practiced what they thought to be a new and interior form of Christianity. Opposed to cere-monial liturgical celebration, t.hey placed much emphasis on mental prayer, in the course of which it was assumed that the mind would be subject to a "kindling," a "spiritual flight towards God." Such experiences led to confidence in one‚Äôs own salvation, the shedding of all fear. In this there were dangerous resemblances to some. contemporary forms of Luther-anism. Moreover, such experience, s were indications of the possession of the state of grace, and the absolute exclusion of sin. Teresa‚Äôs suspicions stemmed not only from the taint of heresy in their doctrines, but also because the Alumbrados were publically extravagant, laying claim to direct access to the Holy Spirit. To Teresa, the ecstasies and visions of the Alumbrados were either unintentional self-deceptions or intentional deceptions wrought by others upon the hapless victims. Teresa knew, and heard of, nuns who had worked themselves into states that resembled mystical,experience by excessive abuses in the area of penances, with consequent deterioration of their health. In our own day, we know that so-called "hallucinogenic" drugs of various sorts have been used even delibera.tely to replicate the behavioral and bodily manifestations of mys-tical experience. But the result, then as now, is counterfeit. Teresa confesses that she had been influenced by the Alumbrados when she was twenty years of age and had read Fray Osuna. Yet, as her thought and her mystical theology mature, she places less and I~ss emphasis on the sensuous details of her mystical experiences, and more and more weight upon the ineffable and analogical knowledge that is part of such experience, The earliest vision described by Teresa occurred when she was about twenty-one years of age. It must be borne in mind, however, that the description appears in Chapter VII of her Life, the rough draught of which she completed when she was forty-seven years old. Teresa confesses that she had a friendship with a certain woman which was "not good" for her. Although Teresa does not go into details, she states that "Christ revealed himself to me, in an attitude of great sternness, and showed me what was in this that displeased him. I saw him with the eyes of the soul more clearly than I could ever have seen him with those of the body .... ,,4 In Chapter X ofherLife, Teresa distinguishes the sort of experience just ~Life, chapt. Vll. St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience / 349 described from the one that she describes as a suspension of the soul. She complains of her imagination, i.e., the ability to conjure up at will a mental image or picture of someone or something, that it was so feeble that if she did not actually see a thing, she could not use her imagination "as other people do, who can make pictures to themselves .... "~ Teresa was conse-quently very fond of images and pictures. Although she tried to imagine Christ inwardly, no matter how much she read about him, she could never succeed. She compared herself to a blind person who knows he is talking to some6ne but cannot see him. "I used unexpectedly to experience a consciousness of the presence of God, of such a kind that I could~not possibly doubt that he was within me or that l was wholly engulfed in him.: This was in no sense a vision: I believe it is called mystical theology.‚Äô‚Äô6 Teresa‚Äôs description of this experience of"divine engulfment" may well have been deformed by the lapse of some twenty-five years when she wrote about it. At any rate, she does not want to call"such an experience a "vision" because the soul does not "see~‚Äô anything. "The soul is sus-l~ ended in such a way that it seems to be completely outside itself. Th~ will loves
while the understanding, I be-lieve, though it is not lost, does not reason--I mean that it does not work, but is amazed at the extent of all it can understand .... ,,7 Teresa‚Äôs "visions," then, do not become rich and graphic until much later in her Life, beginning in Chapter XXXI. Even these, though, were not had by the bodily eye: they were not in a~ny sense objective, shareable, "out there." But neither did the visions consist in a series of merely mental images, for Teresa complains often of her extremely feeble eidetic imagina-tion. She describes these visions as "inward disturbances" and finds it impossible not to detect in them the hand of the devil.~ Teresa felt herself powerless to resist the devil at such times. She felt interior disquiet, but was afraid to ask the other nuns to assist her through the use of holy water (she had learned "from long experience‚Äô‚Äô9 that holy water is the best method to put devils to flight). In one of her most dramatic and painterly visions,
Teresa beheld, while in a state of rapture, a great battle between devils and angels. At the time, she could not understandthe meaning of the vision. A fortnight later, she saw that it was an allegory of nuns, those who did not practice prayer, and those who did.~¬∞ In 1559, shortly before the decision to found her first convent~ Teresa had a vision which carried her spirit to a place in .hell. Her description assails each of the senses: "evil-smelling mud," "wicked-looking reptiles," and a claustrophobic sense of containment: "There was a hollow place scooped out of a wall, like a cupbgard, and it was here that I found myself 5Complete Works, I, p. 55. 8Ibid., p. 204. 61bid., p. 58. Slbid., p. 207. 7lbid. 1¬∞Ibid., pp. 208-9. $$0 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 in clos%confinement.‚Äô‚Äôn She suffered from "an oppression, a suffocation and an affliction so deeply felt, and accompanied by such hopeless and distressing misery‚Äô‚Äôt=‚Äô that she could not describe it too strongly. Worse than the physical pains were the pains of despair and "interior fires." She felt herself being both burned and dismembered. She was stifled. She found herself in the blackest darkness, .yet she was able to "see everything the sight of which can cause affliction.‚Äô‚Äôt‚Äô~ This vision must have occurred when Teresa was about forty-one. When she compared it to the terrible and painful paralysis which struck her at the age of seventeen, she~concluded that the vision of hell was incom-parably more painful. The vision "happened in the briefest space of time."14 Sometimes Teresa‚Äôs visions were of holy persons who came through such visitations to give her advice. St. Peter of Alcantara, for example, a reformer of the Franciscan Order during the Counter-Reformation, ap-peared to her in a vision to reconfirm his admonition that her convents must not be permitted endowments)5 At other times, Teresa had visions of a dove fluttering over her head, albeit the dove was very different from those one sees on earth: ¬Ø.. for it had not feathers like theirs, but its wings were made of little shells which emitted a great brilliance. It was larger than a dove: 1 seem to hear the rustling of its wings. It mu~
t have been fluttering like this for the space of an Ave Maria. But my soul was in such a state that, as it became lost to itself, it also lost sight of the dove.16 According to Teresa‚Äôs own testimony, the most sublime vision that she ever experienced recurred on four occasions. It involved seeing the Humanity of Christ in a greater glory than she had ever known. Teresa seemed to see herself in the presence of the Godhead.17 The vision, and its recurrences, had the effect of purifying her soul and almost destroying her sensual nature. Using one of her favorite images, that of a consuming fire, Teresa writes .that the vision, through excess, burnt up all her desires for vain things, such as worldly possessions and dignities. The vision made her hair stand on end, causing her "to feel completely annihilated.‚Äô‚Äôis Once, when she was to communicate at-Mass, Teresa saw "with the eyes of the soul, more clearly than ever I could with those of the body, two devils of most hideous aspect,‚Äô‚Äô19 who seemed to have their horns around the priest‚Äôs throat while heconsecrated. Teresa understood that the priest‚Äôs soul was in morthl sin, yet this fact did not invalidate the Sacrament. Although she makes no explicit reference to it, this vision gave to Teresa a direct, experiential disproof.of the Donatist heresy. Teresa wryly commented, after describing one vision with elaborate ltl‚Äôbid., pp. 215-16. ~‚Äô
lbid., p. 281. rZlbid., p. 216. t:~lbid. 171bid., p. 273¬Ø ~lbid., p. 274: ~41bid., p. 215. ~91bid., p. 275. ~lbid., p. 257. St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience / 351 ~ detail, one which was thronged with figures of angels and demons,"¬∞ that she does not mind writing all sorts of nonsense provided that she can write sense sometimes, and :bring people closer to God. In regard to the vision just:described, she says that it "will seem meaningless" until it. is seen as an allegory of the teaching that one should not put much trust in anyone, for there is none who never changes except God."~ ~Teresa‚Äôs visionscan be of an extraordinarily"personal nature. In her Spiritual Relations, Teresa recounts how Christ revealed himself to her "in an imaginary vision, most interiorly," and gave her his right hand, saying, "Behold this nail. It is a sign that from today onward‚Äôthou shalt .be my bride .... My honor is thine, and thine mine.‚Äô.‚Äôzz Later in the same work she describes how he gave her a beautiful rihg.with a stone like an amethyst, only brighter, as a pledge that he promised to grant all that she asked him. Yet Teresa quickly breaks off this account with, "1 write this foolish-heSS .... ,,23 Even though the imaginary visions ceasedtowards the end of her‚Äôlife, Teresa was still able to write a year before her ¬∞death, from Palencia, in the year 1581, that she still seems to experiencethe intellectual vision of the Three Persons of the Trinity and of Christ‚Äôs humanity. She states very simply: "I realize now, I think, that the visions which 1 have had were of God, for they prepared my soul for the state in which it now is.‚Äô‚Äô‚Äô4 I shall give a much briefer description of Teresa‚Äôs locutions, mainly because she does so herself, even though they are no less important than her visions. Teresa speaks of her first locution in Chapter XIX of her Life. Finding that many of her sisters were only peripherally religious, Teresa wondered why so few of them.had a true calling, as she believed herself to have. Teresa heard: "Serve thou Me, and meddle not with this.‚Äô‚Äô25 Later, at the age of 42, filled with self-doubt as well as doubts concerning certain friendships, Teresa, at the direction of P. Baltasar Alvarez, recited the hymn Veni Creator. She hea?d the words: "I will have thee converse now, not with men, but with angels.‚Äô‚Äô2" Her locutions are usually brief but always of translucent clarity and distinctness. "Be not troubled
let Me alone.‚Äô‚Äô2s Sometimes they are of a practical nature: "What dost thou fear? When have 1 ever failed thee? I am the same nowas I have always been. Do not give up either of these two foundations,‚Äô ,29 or simply, "That is the house for thee.‚Äô‚Äô‚Äô~¬∞ And sometimes intensely familiar: "Now, Teresa, hold thou fast.‚Äô‚Äôz~ The locutions sometimes seem condescending: "Thou wilt act very 2¬∞lbid., p. 286. 261bid., p. 155. 211bid., p. 287. Z7lbid., p. 200. 2Zlbid., p. 352. ~Slbid., I1!, p. 130. Zalbid,, p. 353. 2~lbid.., p. 167. 24lbid., p. 335. Z¬∞lbid., p. 171. ZSlbid., p. !15. ~lbid., p. 194. 352 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 foolishly, daughter, if thou regardest the laws of the world. Fix thine eyes on Me ..... ":~" Sometimes the locutions instructed her~ why she must not have further raptures in public: "It is not fitting just now. Thou hast as much credit as I desire thee to have ..... 1 shall cite only one example of Teresa‚Äôs ecstasies, because this well-known ecstasy suffices. Teresa‚Äôs own description of the transverberation of her heart occurs in Chapter XXIX of her Life. The ecstasy and vision occurred throughout several days. On her left hand, an angel in bodily form, rather short and beautiful, appeared:with a long, golden spear in his hands. At the end of the iron tip was what seemed like a point of fire. The angel "seemed to pierce my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he drew it out, I thought he was drawing them out with it and he left me completely afire, with a great love of God.":~4 II It should not be surprising that when Teresa began telling friends and confessors about such extraordinary events, some persons were certain that she was. possessed,by the devil and should be exorcised?‚Äô~ Exorcism was as common, and believed to be as efficacious, in sixteenth-century Spain, as psychoanalysis is in twentieth-century America. In their later lives both St. Teresa and St.: John of the Cross were well known for their prowess in exorcising evil spirits. Teresa, however, was herself never exor-cised. Instead, her confessors commanded her to make the Sign of the Cross whenever she had a vision,, and then to make a sign~ of contempt?~ At one point in her life Teresa herself was afraid that all her spiritual favors might be illusions?7 We know from~a deposition taken from Teresa‚Äôs niece that Teresa was greatly distressedl when her raptures came upon her in public, and embarrassed when she had to confess her spiritual favors to her confessors.an Teresa had a keen eye for religious fraud and excess. She writes that women are especially susceptible to ruining their health because of exces-sive prayer
~igils and severe penances. Such women become frail and languorous, falling into stupors which they deceive themselves into think-ing are spiritual?9 She knew that many supposedly religious raptures were nothing but the result of inanition or bad health?¬∞ In her own convents, she 321bid., I, p. 338. 33lbid., p. 339. ¬Ø ~lbid., pp. 192-93. ~lbid., p. 188. a6See ibid., p. 165, n. 3 for the nature of this contemptuous motion. a71bid., p. 287. aSlbid., Ill, p. 366. The niece, also nam.ed Teresa de Jesus, was born in Quito, in present-day Ecuador, in 1566. a9lbid., II, pp. 245-46. For other spiritual excesses condemned by Teresa, see Gerald Brenan, St. John of the Cross, Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp. 16-18. ~¬∞lbid. St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience / 353 made certain that the sisters received adequate food and rest. Teresa could be as detached and objective about her spiritual favors as if they had been granted to someone else. Writing in the third person in the ‚Äô Spiritual Relations, Teresa begins by saying "It is forty years since this nun took the habit .... ,,4~ Turning to the subject of her "supernatural visita-tions," as she calls them, Teresa writes in a matter-of-fact way: She never saw anything with her bodily eyes, as has been said, but always in such a sul~tle, intellectual way that at first she would sometimes think she had imagined it, though at other times she could not think so. Nor did she even hear anything with her bodily ears, except on two occasions, and on these occasions she could make nothing of what was said and did not know what it was all about.42 Without mentioning Pelagianism, Teresa nonetheless reveals a knowl-edge of that heresy and rejects it as an explanation of her rare experiences: The soul collects wood and does all it can by itself, but finds no way of kindling the fire of the love of God. It is only by his great mercy that the smoke can be seen, which shows that the fire is not altogether dead. ]‚Äôhen the Lord comes back and kindles it, for the soul is driving itself crazy with blowing on the fire and rearing the fire more and more. I believe the best thing is for the soul to be completely resigned to the fact that of itself it can do nothing, and busy itself, as I have already suggested, in other meritorious activities, for the Lord may perhaps be depriving it of the power to pray, precisely so that it may engage in these other activities and learn by experience how little it can do of itself.4‚Äô~ Regarding the imagination,Teresa argues that it can only recombine what the mind has already experienced, and that it is prey not only to the devil but also to emotions such as melancholy. To affirm or deny anything on the basis of the imagination is invariably to be misled. Teresa concludes that because her visions do not consist of mental images, her imagination or fancy is not the source of her spiritual experiences. Although the devil can give pleasures and delights which might seem spiritual, they are inevitably disruptive of the soul‚Äôs quiet. The devil might present himself to the imagination in the likeness of Christ, but the mere fact that the devil is making use of the imagination proves that he is bent on deceiving. In a true vision of Christ, he is surrounded in glory
but glory cannot possibly be counterfeited by the imagination because it is a kind of intellectually perceived aura. ~2onsequently, the most that the devil can counterfeit is the flesh.4~ But since God will never give the devil the power to feign his glory--for this would involve the impossible, i.e., divine abdication--the devil can deceive no one when he assumes the likeness of Christ, unless one is willing to be deceived. Teresa calls the devil "a skillful painter.‚Äô‚Äô~‚Äô~ But just as a very wicked man might paint a beautiful painting, and one that has good effects, so, too, the devil might conjure up a beautiful image from which one might profit. 411bid., IIl, p. 319. 4~lbid., I, pp. 324-25. "~albid., pp. 264-65. 441bid., pp. 182-83. 451bid., 111, p. 41. 354 /Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 "We should never allow the identity of the painter to hinder our devo-tion." 46 Similarly, a vision is not good or evil in itself, but in its effects upon the person who has it. Humility~ is essential to drawing profit from a vision: if the vision is of God, but the person who receives it lacks humility, then the vision is wasted
if the vision is from the devil, and the person lacks humility, he will be misled and become even more swollen with pride. Again, although the devil can give delight, he can never conjoin extreme physical or mental pain with tranquillity and joy in the soul. Both the pains and the pleasures caused by the devil necessarily bring restlessness and discord. "Secondly, this delectable tempest comes from another region than those over which he has authority.‚Äô‚Äô47 And thirdly, pain and suffering in which the soul takes delight make one all the more determined to serve God and renounce the ephemeral pleasures of this world. True visions have a clarity and distinctness which prove that they could not be produced either by anything corporeal, or by one‚Äôs own imagination, or by the devil. If one has any doubts whether or not one has experienced .a true vision, then one can be sure that the vision was spurious. When Teresa had her first mystical experiences, she did not doubt whether they were genuine, but she greatly doubted and feared what other people would say. A genuine vision comes when it is least expected. The content .is no more and no less than what appears to the person having the vision. One of Teresa‚Äôs confessors tried to force her to fill out the description of Christ, in view of her claim that she had seen him. Teresa replied that when she tried to see the color of his eyes or how tall he was, the vision vanished. One can always be asked to add to a description of something in the phenomenal world
but if a certain quality is not given in a vision--e.g., the Color of Christ‚Äôs eyes, then the assumption that the quality was in the vision but unobserved is a categorical mistake. The final criterion of a genuine vision is the great peace and tranquillity ¬Ø produced by it, coupled with a strengthening of one‚Äôs moral fiber.4s Physical concomitants are also frequent: the soul faints away in a manner which one cannot resist. But these physical repercussions are of relatively minor significance. It seems as if my life is about to end, and this makes me cry aloud and call upon God: this comes upon me with great vehemence. Sometimes it makes me so restless that I cannot remain seated and this trouble attacks me without my havir~g done anything to bring it on .... For Ifrom my yearnings] there can be no relief
the only relief for them is the vision of God, which comes through death,, and this 1 cannot obtaih of Him.4~ Much of‚Äôwhat has already been said concerning the differences between authentic and spurious visions also applies to locutions. A few points, 461bid. "~rlbid., II, p. 278. 48lbid., 1, pp. 262-63
il, pp. 296-97. 46lbid., !, p. 306. St. Teresa on Demonic Deception and Mystical Experience however, should be emphasized. Although clear and distinct, the words of a locution are not heard with the bodily ear
they are more strongly im-pressed upon the understanding than if they were so heard. When one does not want to hear something, one can close one‚Äôs ears or attend to something else
"But~when God talks in this way to the soul, there is no such remedy: I have to listen, whether I like it or no .... -5o The locution is the unique object of one‚Äôs attention, canceling out all else. Teresa is well aware that persons sometimes "talk" to themselves and deceive themselves into believing it to be some higher, spiritual force communicating with them. But no matter how subtle the locution might be., when the understanding has made up the words itself, one must know that the mind is active, rather than passive and receptive, as it is in genuine, locutions. Spurious locutions always lack the clarity and distinctness of those from God
moreover, one always has the power to divert one‚Äôs attention from self-spoken locutions. Lastly
counterfeit Io~:utions are empty vocables, effecting nothing. Gen-uine locutions, even if they are of reproof, prepare and move the soul towards greater love, and "give it light and make it happy and tranquil."5~ Sometimes locutions are so lengthy, even though they come in a flash, that one knows that it would have (aken a long time to make them up oneself. ‚Äô Teresa argues that one would have to court deception in order to be deceived about~ the true provenance of a locution.5~ Of course one may pretend to having heard a locution, and lie about its contents, but, then, one may lieabout .anything. Divine locutions "instruct us at once, without any lapse of time, ‚Äôand by their means we can understand things which it would probably take us a month to makeup ourselves.‚Äô‚Äô5‚Äô~ Demonic locutions have only bad effects, and leave one ina state of aridity and. anguish. Teresa is emphatic on the point that no privately heard locution can be contrary to the publicly enunciated doctrine of the Church. If any locution is at variance with Holy Scripture or the teachings of the Church, it must be. from the devil or from one‚Äôs own self-conceit.54 There emerge, then, three types of locutions: (1) those which are heard by the corporeal sense of hearing
(2) those which are received by the imagination alone but which give the impression of having been heard by the sense of hearing
and (3) those from God, which involve neither sound nor‚Äôvoice, and which leave an indubitable, fecund, unforgettable and clear concept in: the depths of the spirit. Teresa recommends that anyone who seriously believes he hears locutions of the first two types should be treated like a sick person. He should be advised to pay no heed to the matter: "One: should humor such people so as not ‚Äôto distress them further. If one tells 5¬∞Ibid., p. 157. 5llbid., p. 158. 521bid., p. 159. ~lbid., pp. 159-60. 541bid., p. 161. 3*$6 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 them they are suffer.ing from melancholy, there will be no end to it. They will simply swear they see and hear things, and really believe that they do."55 Teresa casts the same clinical eye on nuns who fall into swoons and call them raptures. Such women are of a physically debilitated nature and given to melancholy. Their swoons may last for hours, but nothing productive comes from them. Although swoons and ecstasies may seem alike in some aspects, they are profoundly different. Ecstasy or rapture, which involves the union of all the faculties, is wont to last a very short time. The.soul is enlightened and spiritual effects are produced.56 Rapture is the sign of spiritual betrothal, carrying the soul out of its senses. Sometimes rapture is brought about by God‚Äôs having compassion on so
may learn to bear the beams of love:52 Activities find their meaning in terms of their goal. The end of the spiritual life is union with God and by means of this unity we are myste-riously united to all of creation. Oneness is attained by love
prayer is a central Iove-act‚Äôin our lives. Through the ongoing communication with God, we grow in mutual knowledge and respect until one day we awake to an intimacy incapable of description. The bonding here is subtle and myste-rious, powerfi)l and challenging. The Lord stands at the door knocking and a choice t]as to be made. Following our "Fiat," God comes to dwell with us and our homes are never the same. Prayer‚Äôs unifying power does not terminate in intimacy with God alone. Authentic prayer necessitates ever deeper union with our brothers and sisters. To be united to the Father means to be united to his children, the entire family of God. The closer we are to the cross of Christ and the power of the Spirit, the closet" we are to all of life. By touching the fountain of life and holiness, we touch all creation. Thus, without prayer a sense of aliena-tion and isolation invades our hearts. Separated from the source we cannot come into vital contact with the created world. Prayer gives us entrance not only into the heart of our triune God but also into the mystery of his loving creation. Because prayer fosters intimacy it is not uncommon for fear to block our communication with God. Intimacy means to know and to be known whole
such radical sharing implies the possibility of radical rejection. Perhaps we are not sure that we are all that lovable. Thus it is in faith and trust that we approach our God, believing that he loves us unconditionally
it is with humility and courage that we approach our brothers and sisters knowing 49Ps 139: Jr 31:31-34. ~¬∞St. John of the Cross, p. 523. ~Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery (New York: Doubleday & Company. 1976), p. 51. ~2George Herbert, -The Little Black Boy." Principles of Prayer / 333 that through grace we can accept them and that they can accept us. Prayer involves revelation, acceptance and humility
it demands faith, trust and courage. Gifted by the Spirit, we enter the land of prayer and therein find our happiness. The Journey and the Map In discussing any one aspect of the spiritual life we must view it con-textually. This paper points out ten signs on the road to union: prayer as loving attention, prayer‚Äôs relationship to love, prayer‚Äôs need for discipline, prayer and proper identity, prayer‚Äôs focus, the conditions for prayer, prayer‚Äôs tonality, source of prayer, the principle of pluralism, and prayer‚Äôs goal. A corresponding set of principles marking out other aspects of the terrain in the spiritual life could easily be worked out and these would provide meaning in such areas as ministry and asceticism. The map is large
we have considered but one aspect. Regardless of the principle and its specification, the destination is always the same: the experience of Love. That experience comes alive when we move from the map to the land it describes. Contemplative Prayer: Many Are Called William Meninger, O.C.S.O. Father Meninger is a monk of St. Joseph‚Äôs Abbey, Spencer, MA 01562. ~n the foreword to his beautiful treatise on contemplative prayer, the unknown author of the 14th century Cloud of Unknowing describes the kinds of persons who should, and those who should not read his little book. He swiftly eliminates: worldly gossips, flatterers, the scrupulous, busy-bodies, hypocrites, and those who are simply curious--whether they are educated or not. Then he goes on to describe those whom grace has pre-pared to grasp his message. These are people who, every now and then, taste something of contemplative love by way of the action of the Holy Spirit in the very center of their souls, exciting them to love. This ought to include, at some time or other of his or her life, every Christian. That is to say, contemplative prayer, in some form or other, really is for everyone. Instead of speaking of the "extra6rdinary" grace of contemplative prayer (the beginnings of which, at least, we are here equating with Centering Prayer), we should speak of the extraordinary grace of prayer itself. Given the great miracle of prayer itself, contemplative prayer, as well as every other degree or intensity of prayer, ought to follow naturally, as it were. Origen, one of the earliest of the fathers of the Church, in his com-mentary on the Our Father, says that the most marvelous thing about this prayer is not any particular phrase included in it, but the very fact that we can say it at all. The extraordinary grace lies in our God-given ability to bridge the infinite gap between God and man and to converse with him 334 Contemplative Prayer: Many Are Called / 335 face to face, in a word, to pray. Once we understand this, the place con-templative prayer can and should have is no longer a problem. Prayer differs from prayer, not in essence, but merely in its degree of intensity. Basically the simplest recitation of the Our Father in faith, hope and love by .any child is the same as the most profound communion in a silence beyond words of the greatest mystic. The difference can be found in degree or intensity but not in the nature of prayer itself. In any prayer, of whatever type or intensity, the one praying so enters into the triune life of God that he becomes one with the Holy Spirit pre-cisely as the Spirit is the fullest expression of the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father. The one who prays becomes, as it were, the H01y Spirit, and ,this prayer activity becomes the trinitarian expression of God loving himself. What then is contemplative prayer? How does it differ in intensity from other degrees of prayer? To answer these questions we have to look at prayer as a human relationship. For this, indeed, it truly is: a relationship with God, of course
but because it is the relationship of a human person with God it must, as are ~ali his relationships, be a human relationship. A simple‚Äô understanding of this obvious fact will take us a long way in understanding prayer. The man-to-God relationship is human. Obviously it is a graced rela~ tionship, but, nonetheless, it is still human. A man-to-man relationship is also human, and it is by understanding this kind of relationship that we can come to a deeper understanding of the man,to-God, or prayer re]ationship. Let us take a concrete example of a human, man-to-woman relationship and see how it helps us to understand our prayer-,relationship with God, ‚ÄôAt some .social gathering, let us say, a party, John meets Mary. And, of course, Mary meets John. The hostess introduces them in typical fashion: "John, I would like you tomeet my good friend, Mary. Mary, I would like you to meet my cousin, John. John, you will be happy to know that Mary is also a rabid baseball fan!" The hostess then walks away, leaving them together. Now, if John and Mary simply stand there awkwardly staring at nothing and saying nothing, the relationship will end before it really begins. However, this is why the hostess, conscious of her role, has indicated their mutual interest in baseball. It provides them with enough background to pursue their acquaintanceship. And so, with so superficial and external a beginning, John and Mary enter that level of human relationship that we call acquaintance. It is not a deep relationship. Even so, should they find it difficult to continue the conversation, the ensuing silence would be uncomfortable, even embar-rassing. Still, at this level, such personal things as deeper aspirations, peak experiences, intimate feelings, or life goals are not shared. This, then, isa human relationship on the first, most primitive level that. of acquaintance. The couple meet, introduced by a third party who gives 336 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 them some mutual background, and they pursue the relationship from there--or allow it to die. Understanding that our prayer relationship is simply a human relationship with God,. it, too, must have an acquaintance level. And it does. This began for most of us in early childhood when a third party, perhaps our mother or father, introduced us to God, gave us some background (as the hostess did to John and Mary), and told us that God loved us and would answer prayers. "This is Jesus. He is God. He loves you and will answer your prayers." And so we began our first level of relationship with God, the level of acquaintance. This level expresses itself mostly in the simpler prayers requesting favors or in memorized prayers said without any profound comprehension. We have many relationships on this first level--we have many mere acquaintances. The tCagedy is that for some, the relationship with God never develops beyond this level. Their prayer life is limited to periodic appeals for divine help in times of trouble. But let us return to our example of John and Mary. As a result of the small talk characteristic of their acquaintance-relationship, each begins to recognize in the other certain qualities which make their relationship worth pursuing. Each desires to get to know the other better. In order to do this, they make a "date," they make arrangements to get together, just the two of them, so they can share and become further acquainted with those attractive qualities they are beginning to recognize in each other. Now they begin to reveal more and more of their personal feelings, experiences, ideas and goals in their conversation. Perhaps John tells Mary things about himself that he has never before revealed to anyone. And her response is more sympathetic than any he has ever found before. Some-times this response is merely a comfortable, accepting silence
for no longer is silence between them awkward and uncomfortable. It is no longer a negative thing but as they get to know each other better and better, what had been just a void becomes filled with one another. They have now entered, not into a different kind of human relationship, but into a deeper, more intense one. We will call this deeper level the relationship of friend-ship. Remembering that our prayer relationship with God is also a human relationship, we willexpect to find the same thing happening here. After we become acquainted with God, on the first level, we begin to recognize that He has qualities worth pursuing. And so we do just what John and Mary did--we make a "date" with God! We go apart with him in order to learn more about him and also to reveal to him intimate, personal thoughts and concerns. This is done in many, many different ways. We may attend some form of religious instruction where we learn to know God better. We may read and meditate and listen to the Scriptures where God personally reveals himself to us. Whatever the source, we begin to allow his truths to form our Contemplative Prayer: Many Are Called / 337 lives. We talk over with him our successes and failures, our new begin-nings. We internalize his truths and live his life of grace as we witness them in others or as we read the reflections of others about them. In other words by reflection or "discursive meditation," as we call it, we become ac-customed to speaking with God on a personal level, revealing ourselves to him, and, at the same time, learning about him from the truths of his revelation. Our acquaintanceship with God has deepened to the level of friendship. It would be well here to emphasize one point. The friendship between John and Mary is going to endure only as long as~ in some way or other, they continue to find interest in sharing with one another, to ‚Äô~date" in some fashion or other. They must, even if it is only by telephone or by mail, keep up contact with one another. We have all experienced the strangeness of an old friendship which, after years without contact, descends once again into the awkwardness of mere acquaintance. And so it is with God. If we are to continue with him, we must per-severe in our spiritual reading, in our reflective meditation. Friendships do not remain stable. Either they are cultivated and grow, or they lessen. God, by reason of the free, bountiful bestowal of his grace, is always actively encouraging a growth in our friendship with him--Imagine! He finds quali-ties in us worth pursuing! It remains for us to cooperate. Let us look now at the third level of a developing human relationship as we see it in John and Mary. ‚ÄôAs they continue to grow closer to one another, the relationship be-tween John and Mary takes on physical overtones. They desire not only the intimacy of shared thoughts, but also physical closeness. This is the time when they are hardly ever seen alone. Walking arm in arm, holding hands, embracing--all these manifestations emerge now. This level of relationship, sometimes called romantic love or affection (the affective level), when it has been preceded by a genuine friendship, represents an authentic growth in John and Mary‚Äôs relationship. If it has not been preceded by friendship in some way, it is merely an animal relationship. This affective relationship will develop most completely in marriage where the sharing of both per-sonalities and bodies find their fullest expression. But how can this human relationship on the physical, affective level express itself in our human, prayer relationship with God? It must do this somehow if, as we have been insisting, our prayer-relationship is a human one. And it does! Spiritual masters have given us many descriptions of this level of prayer. Some even refer to it as "the honeymoon period‚Äô~ because of its brevity, its place early in the prayer-relationship, and because of its emotional (physical, affective) elements. During this period, prayer often takes the form of intimate conversations with God, not infrequently accompanied by tears~ profound, emotionally felt sorrow for sins and a lively joy at the 33~1 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 realization of God‚Äôs love and redemptive activity. This period (as well as the earlier friendship level) may often be interspersed with longer or shorter periods of dryness or aridity as God leads us into a deeper, firmer relation-ship. One o.f the most obvious forms of this affective prayer-relationship with God is seen in the charismatic renewal. When someone is prayed over for the anointing of the Spirit, he is not infrequently "zapped," as it were. This is often accompanied by tea~s, intermingled with expressions of joy and a desire to express and to share with others the abundant overflow of graces. More often, perhaps, it is a quieter experience which serves to fill and inform the basic prayer structures presented by the Church for our worship. This affective level has a great deal to do with the effectiveness of our formal prayer. In the liturgy, for example, the priest is given a structure (readings, prayers, canon). The power in grace that this structure is able to communicate depends in great part (though not entirely) on the depth, of faith, hope and love of the minister. On the part of the participant, the level of his affective prayer-relationship with God will determine to a great extent how much he will grasp of the readings and prayers. In other words, our affective prayer-relationship with God is dependent on our friendship with him. If we do not keep faithful to our periodic "dates" with him, going apart with him for a while, then our affective prayer relationship, as well as our friendship, will degenerate to mere acquaintanceship. Now for a final look at John and Mary. Picture them, if you will, after many years of a long, sometimes difficult, but still happy marriage. Their children are grown, married and gone. John and Mary are back where they began--just the two of them sitting alone of an evening in their home. John perhaps is reading the sports page. Mary is knitting booties for a grand-child. Neither is speaking. Indeed, Mary knows by now just how John feels about everything under the sun. John is equally aware of Mary‚Äôs thoughts. Yet there is a deep communion between them that does not require words. They are happy just to be in one another‚Äôs presence. This is what we call the relationship of love. Verbal expressions, words and symbols are no longer necessary or even adequate for John and Mary to communicate. Their deepest relationship is known, felt and expressed by something much more complete than the partial, inadequate attempts to verbalize it. Presence to one another without words or other external signs can be the fullest expression of this human relationship of love. And so it isqn our developing relationship with God. The fourth level of our prayer is the relationship of love, or, what we call "contemplative prayer." It is a simple, quiet, peaceful abiding in his presence, One old man who spent hours daily in the church was once asked by St. John Vianney what he did during all that time. "I don‚Äôt do anything," he replied. "I just Contemplative Prayer: Many Are Called / 339 look at him and he looks at me." This is contemplative prayer! Contemplative prayer is a very natural, very simple, albeit graced thing which is lived rather than taught. It is a quiet, loving gazing on the face of God (with the eyes of the soul) who is recognized, often even felt by his touching the soul, as present. God is known now, not through the medi-ation of words, or thoughts, or things. These have been used in earlier relationships and have served their purpose. God is seen now with and within the innermost center of the soul, not in light but in darkness, a darkness which is not the mere absence of light but the blinding effulgence of infinite light. He is heard now, not in words, but in the Word who cries "Abba, Father" in the Holy Spirit in a profound and filled silence. One other thing ought to be mentioned in regard to all of the levels of our prayer relationship with God. We must respond in accord with each level of relationship to the voice of God as he manifests his will in our lives. This involves a genuine attempt to make central in our lives the Great Commandment of love, a wholehearted and generous response to the guid-ance of his Church, a frequent and informed participation in ‚Äôthe sacra-ments, and a continued effort to carry out the duties of our particular vocation in life. Eventually these things will themselves be seen as part of our prayer-relationship also. The distinction between prayer and activity will become less and less significant until everything we do becomes a response to, and thus a part of, our prayer life. It is important to stress the normality of these relationships--both with others in our daily life and with God in our prayer. The progression from acquaintanceship to love is a natural one (and only because of this is it able to be a supernatural one--grace builds on nature). We are all called to love God. And as Saint Bernard says: "The measure of our love is to love without measure." The precise manner or tradition or school of spirituality which we em-ploy to develop and express this love will vary with various individuals. There are many ladders of ascent to God. Each has to find his or her own way. Nonetheless, it remains true that in our day, the approach to God sometimes called Centering Prayer" or "the work of love" (as it is termed in the, fourteenth-century Cloud of Onknowing) has proven helpful to many either as an introduction to contemplative prayer or as a simple, system-atic approach which clarifies and facilitates contemplation. Centering Prayer i:loes presuppose, in some way or other, that we are ready for the love-relationship with God, that we have already passed through the levels of acquaintanceship, friendship, and affection, that we do feel, as the Cloud of Unknowing says, "every now and then a taste of contemplative love, by way of the action of the Holy Spirit in the very center of their souls, exciting them to love." Old Wine and Old Lovers: Hope for the Human Personality in St. John of the Cross Joyce Hampel, C.S.J. This article is an outgrowth of a graduate course followed by Sister Joyce at Gonzaga Univer-sity in Washington. She resides in Star of the Sea Convent: 4350 Geary Blvd. : San Francisco, CA 94118. ~t begins, according to St. John of the Cross, with a certain burning Jove. God reaches down, takes your hand, and guides you along the way to a place you know not (N 2, 16, 7*). There you no longer understand by means of your natural light, but by means of the divine wisdom to which you are united. You no Iong.er love in a lowly manner, but with the strength and purity of the Holy Spirit. Your memory, too, is changed into presentiments of eternal glory (N 2, 4, 2). Having reached the end of your journey of love, you and your beloved are one. "Happy is the life and state," declares St. John of the Cross, "and happy the person who attains it" (C 28, 10). John of the Cross images the human personality as participant in the life of the living God. For the person seeking God, it is God who communicates himself. And it is in the transformation of the person in God that the two become one, "as a window united with a ray of sunlight, or coal with fire, or starlight with the light of the sun" (C 26, 4). Throughout John‚Äôs writings, *Symbols: A, The Ascent of Mount Carmel N, The Dark Night C, The Spiritual Canticle" F, The Living Flame of Love 340 Old Wine and Old Lovers: Hope in John of the Cross / 34"1 the human person is challenged to a process of awakening and purification, making him more and more capable of God. This transformation is par-ticularly emphasized as a growth into freedom realized in fourareas of human life: stillness of spirit, radical simplicity, authentic love, and intimate knowledge of Christ the Word. Essential to each of these is the new life of God rooted in the soul, comparable in John to the perfected evolution of aged wine and tried lovers. In his Spiritual Canticle, John‚Äôs bride-soul sings: In the inner wine cellar I drank of my Beloved, and, when I went abroad Through all this valley I no longer knew anything, And lost the herd which I was following (stanza 26). The image of wine is for John a helpful one in instructing spiritual persons. It suggests all the stages of spiritual growth, and parallels the relationship between lovers. "New lovers," says John, "are comparable to new wine. They are beginners in the service of God" (C 25, 10). While in the process of fermentation, wine is incomplete
its good qualities and value are uncertain, and its taste is sharp. New lovers are also in a process of fermentation. They often rely on exterior fervor, finding strength in the "savor of love" alone. Such love cannot be trusted
in fact, it carries such anxieties that the lovers are more often fatigued than refreshed. Just as this fervor and the warmth of sense can incline one to good and perfect love, and serve as a beneficial means for such love by a thorough fermentation of the lees of imperfection, so too it is very easy in these beginnings and in this novelty of tastes that the new wine of love fails and loses its fervor and delight (C 25, 10). On the other hand, old wine offers transformed refreshment. Its fer-mentation is complete, its good quality is evident, its taste is smooth. The strength of aged wine lies not in the taste, however, but in the substance. "Old !overs," reflects John, "~hose who are exercised and tried in the service of the Bridegroom, are like old wine" (C 25, 11). The souls are at rest, afflictions of love no longer burden the sense of spirit. "Spiced wine" flows in them from the "balsam of God" (C stanza 25). Such love is based not on sensible delights, as is th~ love of new lovers, but settled within the soul, in spiritual substance and savor, and truly good works (C 2~, I I).. John‚Äôs hope for the human personality is reflected in this example of tried love: the person is still and rests in his Beloved
sensory delights and dangers no longer affect him, for he loves only One
the essence of the " person seeks a quality of love that is purged of selfishness and hardly ever fails the Beloved
and knowledge of God clothes the person with a di~)inity that, as we shall see, is fastened on Christ alone (A 2, 22, 5). 342 /Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 In reflecting on the perfection of the human personality, we so often think of human capabilities as powers--powers that men and women use to control, 6r at least influence, an external force. John of the Cross, however, speaks not so much of power.or amassed capabilities as he does of sur-render. The person chooses, having already experienced the infinite love of the Lord, to hand over to him all his powers. Human perfection rests, then, in allowing another, the one who is totally other, to move him. It is a process of holding back desire~, of permitting another to enter your life, of losing some of self in order to become gr~eater. This first movement toward stillness of spirit is described in John‚Äôs Ascent of Mount Carmel. "Renounce and remain empty of any sensory satisfaction that is not purely for the honor and glory of God" (A 1, 13, 14)
"enter into complete nudity, emptiness, and poverty in everything" (A 1, 13, 6). Such a self-emptying will bring the stillness that one desires. John‚Äôs diagram of the ascent speakseven more clearly: In this nakedness the spirit finds its quietude and rest. For in coveting nothing, nothing raises it up and nothing weighs it down, because it is in the center of its humility. When it covets something in this very desire it is wearied.(A 1, 13, 11). The mark of a person who has achieved this spirit is that he is able to "abide in quietude" (A 2, 12, 8). He can give loving attentiveness to the Lord because he has learned to be empty. Like the wine that has stopped effer-vescing, he is still. The journey that is ahead of him will surely bring darkness and pain, but trust in God effects its own inner peace. It is significant .to mention the underlying attitude that accompanies a still heart. The‚Äô person must be able to see himself in relation to God, and to exercise the patience that will allow transformation in God to happen. This is one of John‚Äôs hopes for the human personality, but not everyone achieves it. Many "would rather want all to be perfect, but God finds fe~v vessels that will endure so lofty and sublime a work" (F 2, 27). Waiting is the first act of love. "God usually does things, not so there will be an immediate understanding of them, but that afterwards at the proper time, or when the effect is produced, one may receive light about them" (A 2, 20, 3). God knows what he is doing. It is we who do not know how to be still in his hands. The second characteristic John anticipates is radical simplicity. In the darkness of its cask, wine becomes mellow when the lees of the grapes settle. The liquid has taken into itself the deep color of the skins and drawn from the pulp its delicate flavors. But the wine must be purged of the sediment before it can exhibit the valued clarity. So too with the spiritual journeyer. Old Wine and Old Lovers: Hope in John of the Cross / 343 To journey to God, the will must walk in detachment from every pleasant thing, rather than in attachment to it. It thus carries out well the commandment to love, which is to love God above all things
this cannot be done without nakedness and emptiness concerning them all (F 3, 51). Such poverty requires radical denial and convergent vision. For John, this implies a todo-nada approach to the search for human fulfillment in God. You must want nothing and have nothing in order to possess everything: :For to go from all to the all you must deny yourself of all in all. And when you come to the possession of the all you must possess it without wanting anything. Because if you desire to have something in all your treasure in God is not purely your hll (A 1, 13, 11). All sensory desires, all thoughts,oall imaginings, all passions must find their satisfaction in the mercy of God alone. At the same time, the person must consider the life God offers him his only treasure. To rely on appre-hensions, natural or supernatural, would be to hold God in less esteem than we should. "God makes the ~soul die to all that he is not, so that when it is stripped and flayed of its old skin, he may clothe it anew.., and thus this soul will be a soul of heaven, heavenly and mor.e divine than human" (N 2, 16, 7). The human person becomes more than the limitations of his appetites formerly allowed. The person becomes divine. "God loves us," writes John to one of his directees, "that we might love b~ means of the very love he bears toward us" (Letter 33). Embodied in this statement is John‚Äôs third hope foi" human growth, authentic love. It is not enough to love what is good and to‚Äôavoid what is evil. An investment must be made of all that is truly human. Every passion, e~,ery hope, must be purified and directed toward the Lord of all ~reation. John admonishes ‚Äôthe spiritual person to Rejoice only in what is purely for God‚Äôs honor and glory, hope for nothing else, feel sorrow only about matters pertaining to this, and fear only God (A 3, 16, 2). Joy,, hope, sorrow
and fear are worthy of human attention only insofar as they are bound to God. "My every act is love,‚Äô? says the bride of the Spiritual Canticle. "Everything I do, I do with love, and everything I suffer, .I suffer with the delight of love" (C 28, 4). Authentic love immerses the total person in a self-effacing commitment. One loves with one‚Äôs bodyand with one‚Äôs spirit, with emotions as well as intellect. The will seeks only to love with the love of God, to "reach the consummation of the love of God" and the "essential glory to which he predestined her from the day of his eternity." (C 38, 2). In reflecting the gift of the whole person, authentic love brings the sensitive and the spiritual parts of the person into conformity with each other. The "sensory faculties ¬Ø ~.‚Äô. share in and enj6y in their own fashion the spiritual grandeurs which God is communicating ‚Äôin the inwardness of the spirit" (C 40, 5). To refer 344 / Review for Religious, Volume 38, 1979/3 once again to the quality of aged wine or old lovers, individual elements intermingle to become essentially one creation, new and ever fulfilling. Union with the Beloved requires stillness, simplicity, and authentic love. Consummation of that union requires an intimate knowledge of Christ the Word. "Fasten your eyes on him alone," instructs God the Father, "because in him I have spoken and revealed all, and in him you shall discover even more than you ask for and desire" (A 2, 22, 5). Left to his own, the human person cannot know God. Echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah~ his eyes have never even seen the things that God wills for him. Christ came to reveal to mankind the Father. It was in his humanity, in his life of human joys and disappointments and hopes and pain that Jesus calls us to our human perfection. "I have now called you my friends," he says, "because all that I have heard from my Father I have manifested to you" (Jn 15:15, see C 28, 1). To imitate Jesus in all that one does is John of the Cross‚Äô teaching
to live with Jesus in union with the Father is his hope. Even though this happy night darkens the spirit, it does so only to impart light concerning all things: and even though it humbles a person and reveals his miseries, it does so only to exalt him
and even though it impoverishes him and empties him of all possessions and natural affection, it does so only that he may reach out divinely to the enjoyment of all earthly and heavenly things, with a general freedom of spirit in them all (N 2, 9, 1). Do not seek Christ without the cross, John writes
let Jesus be in your soul (Letters 22 & 23). It is Jesus who is the true wine of life. He is the one who brings the person to intimate knowledge of Father-care and Spirit-love. The wine cellar is .the last and most intimate degree of love in which the soul can be placed in this life (C 26, 3). It is filled, relates John, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in perfection "according to the soul‚Äôs capacity for receiv-ing them.." Even here the gentleness of the all-consuming God allows for differences in the human personality, and brings to each person those gifts that will best fulfill him. Bridegroom and bride "mutually communicate their goods and delights with a wine of savory love in the Holy Spirit" (C 30, 1). How gently and lovingly You wake in my heart, Where
Alphonsus‚Äô Liguori point out that many simple people are a~t to get the habit of going to confession without really appreciating the need of contrition
especially with reference to purpose of amend-ment. In all.cases like the above, where the confessor has a reasonable .suspicion that-contrition is lacking or defective, he must ask a question or two. And besides these general difficulties there are certain sl~ecific problems concerning which he must be especially careful. Among these specific cases a m6st important one .is that of the penitent with a habit of serious sin. .. The habitual sinner is apt to have a very vague and ineffective purpose of amendment. In. a general way he wants to break his habit, but he fails to decide on any deft-nite way of doing so. Strong habits are not broken in that way. One must.try to find the reason for his habit and try to remove that reason. The habit may be the result of his own weakness
and in this case he must take some means to strengthen himself. Or the habit may be connected with an occasion of sin
and in this event some very drastic measures may" halve to be taken, with regard to the occasion. These are basic points concerning habits of sin
yet the penitent may be ignorant of them and unconscious of his need for 250 J~,ty, 1945 Wl-iy DOES FATHER ASK QUESTIONS? help. And even if he feels his need very acutely, even if h~ is dreadfully discouraged--a not uncommon effect of habits of impurity---~ he may be too timid to ask for help
hence, if the .confessor does not takethe initiative, great harm may result. Even when a habitual sinner shows good Will his pr6b-lem is apt to be a‚Äôdifficult one, because.it is not always easy to determine the exact ~ause of the trouble and to prescribe an immediately effective remedy. But the difficulty is much more serious when the penitent manifests a lack of sincer-ity: for example,, if he returns to the same confessor again and again without having made any attempt to follow advice, or if he goes from one confessor to another in order to find an "easy" one or to avoid the .need of giving an account of himself. Human nature is prone, to seek the ehsy ¬Ø way, and the very law of the Church which allows peni-tents a choice of confessors can be abused in such a way ~s to defeat the purpose of confession. Knowing these things. the confessor cannot omit questions when he notices or has a solid reason for suspecting that his peniten( is insincere. Other Reasons :or Questions. Thus far I have given the principal reasonswhy a con-lessor might feel obliged to ask questions: namely, to determine if there is sufficient matter foi absolution
to help the penitent to make‚Äô- a complete, confession
and to give needed advice and encouragement. Another very important reason is his desire to correct a false con-science. .These and similar purposes all fall within the scope of his sublime office as minister of the sacrament-- as judge, physiciah, teacher, and spiritual father. And to these we might add the simpler and more natural reasons, such as the fact that he does not hear what is.said, or that 25! GERALD KELLY . he is, not ‚Äôsure h.e catches "the penitent‚Äôs meaning. And finally, the confessor is not exempt~from such difficulties as distractions and sleepiness. His mind may wander, and.his head may nod! If penitents were to keep all these things i‚Äôn mind, they would not resent questions, bfit they would try to make their confessions sufficiently clear and complete to allow the confessor tom keep his questions to the mini-mum. No doubt-it is true that occasionally unnecessary and even useless questions are asked: but this is‚Äônot the rule. Questioning penitents is seldom pleasant. Books Received ¬Ø(From A~rll ZO to ,lune 20) " " LONGMANS~ GREEN. AND CO., INC., London, New York, Toronto. Enjoying the Neu~ Testament. By Margaret T. Monro. $2.50. THE BRUCE PUBLISHING CO.. Milwaukee. A Dynamic 1~7or/.d Order. By Rt. Rev. Msgr. Donald~A. Mac Lean, A. M., S.T.L., Ph.D. $2.50. Weapons for Peace. By Thomas P. Neill. $2.50. CATECHETICAL GUILD, St. Paul, Minn. That You Mug Liue. By L. F. Cervantes, S.J. $2.00. SOCIETY OF SISTERS OF THE HOLY NAMES, Marylhurst, Oregon. The Hope of the Hart, est. By a-Sister of the Holy Names. $4.00 (plus postage). FREDERICK PusTET CO., INC., New~ York. Meditations on Eternitg for t~eligious. By the Venerable Mother Julienne Morell, O.P. $2.50. B. HERDER BOOK CO., St. Louis. A Retreat for Religious. By Rev. Andrew Green, O.S.B. $2.00. Christian Denominations. By Rev. Konrad Algermissen. $7.50.. MOTHERHOUSE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, Cdnvent Heights, New Britain, Conn. D,n‚Äôl~) Progress in Religious Virtues. By Rev. John Pitrus, S.T.D.‚Äô$1.60. 252 Perl:ecfion Is Union wish God Augustine Klaas, S.3. WE OFTEN HEAR it said.that spiritual perfection is union with God .and that~ the moreintimate this union is, the greater our perfection. The statement is true
but is there not frequently some haziness of mind as to just what is meant by. union With God and how it per-tains to perfection? Let .us examine variouskinds of union with God and their relation to spiritual perfectionl Hgposti~tic Union with God ‚ÄôThe closest union of our human nature with the divine is had in Jesus_Christ by rdason, of the hypostatic union, that is, the union of the divine and human natures of Christ in the Person of the Word. One Persofi, the Son of God, having a divine nature from all eternity, took to Himself a human nature like our very own from. the flesh of Mary, and by a viriginal birth became also .the son of Mary. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt‚Äô among us" (John 1 : 14). ~Or as. Pope Saint Leo the Great graphically expresses it: "the Wisdom of God built a house in the flesh, whkh He took from a human being, and which He animated with a -rational soul." The human nature of.Christ ever remains distinct from the divine, but the two natures, are subs[an-t~ iallg united in the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. This is the closest possible .union of our human nature with God. Such an intimate, substantial union of the human and the divine is had in Jesus Christ alone, for revelation tells of only one hypostatic union. It were blasphemy to say that in our pursuit of perfection we could ever attain to such an 253 AUGUSTINE KLAAS for Religious immediate union with God. We cannot even understand its character fu!ly since‚Äôit is an ineffable mystery. Before it we can only bow our heads in faith, in adoration, and in grati-tude, too, because from the hypostat!c union comes not only our sublime Model of perfection, but also from it, as from a fo~antainbead, flow all our grace, justification, incorporation into the Mystical Body, spiritual perfection. and ultimately our everlasting:union with God in heaven. Union with God in Hea~)en The blessed Jn heaven are intimately united to God. This union of our human nature with ,the divine is not substantial, like the previous one, but only accidental. Called the beatific vision, it is an immediate intuitive p.er-ception of the essence of God ~esuking in 10ve, and a sati-ating joy and bliss that Will last forever. Aided .by the "light of glory
the blessed see God face to face. .‚Äô.‚ÄôWe see‚Äônqw, ,through a glass in a dark manner.
but then fa~e to face" (I Corinthians 13" 12). And because of this direct vision of God the blessed love God to‚Äô their utmost and are supremely happy for all eternity~ They can neither increase nor diminish this union, since their time of probation is over. They are home at last in their Father‚Äôs house. ¬Ø However, union with God in heaven is not had by all the blessed in the same degree, for "there are many man-sions" in our~elestial abode. What determines its degree? The degree o.f our vision of God and of our capacity for love and happiness .hereafter is indirect proportion to the sanctifying grace, merit, and spiritual perfection we have acquired in this l~fe.. In other words, the degree.of our union with God in heaven is measured wholly by the degree of our union with God on earth. Union with God on Earth On earth we are united to God‚Äô by sanctffging grace. 254 dul~,1945 PERFECTION IS uNIoN WITH GOD Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical on the Holy spirit explains this union as follows: No. one can express the greatness of this work of divine grace in the souls.of men. Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and in the Gritings. of the Fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures, partakers of 0the Divine Nature, children of God, godlike, and similar el~ithets. Now these great blessings are justly‚Äôconsidered as especially belonging to the. Holy Spiri.t . . . He not only .brings to us His Divine gifts, 15ut is the Author of them and is Himself the supreme Gift .... To show tile nature and e~icacy of this gift it is.wel! to recall the explanation given by thee Doctors.of the Church of the words of Holy Scripture. Tfiey say that God is.present and exists in‚Äôall thin, gs by His. power, in so far as all things are sub‚Äôject toHis power
by His presence, inasmuch a‚Äôs al! thin~s are uncovered and open to His eyes
by His essence, inasmuch as He is present to all.as the cause of their being (St. Thomas, Summa Tbeologica I, Q. 8, Art. 3). But God is‚Äô in ma.n, not just as. in lifeles~ things, but in the.furthe.r way thaf He is also known and loved by him, since even by nature we spontane-ously love, desire and seek after the good.~ Moreover, God by‚Äôgrac~ resides in the justsoul.as in a temple, in a most intimateand peculiar manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres cl~sely to God, mor~ so than the friend is united t6 his most lovi.ng and beloved friend,‚Äô ~nd enjoys God in all fulness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is prop~ly called "indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in Heaven, alt1~ougl4 it is most certainly produced by ~the presence of the whole Blessed Trin-ity--" We {vill come to him, and will make .our abode ,with him" (dohn 14: 23)--nevertheless‚Äô is attributed in .a peculiar manner to the Holy Spirit. " Habitual union with God present in the~soul in a pecul-iar way through sanctif)fing, grace is of. the very essence of spiritual perfection in this world, since without sanct.ifying. grace we are supernaturallyand spiritualIy dead. On the other hand, the more sanctifying grace is increased in our souls by the worthy r.eception of the sacraments, especially of the Holy Eucharist, and by the assiduous practice of .the 255 AUGUSTINE KI~AAS Review [or Religious virtues, principally charity, the more, intimate becomes our habitual union with God and "the greater our spiritual.per-fection. When We shall have.acquired the maximum sanc-tifying grace we are capable of, granted our particular, indi-vidual opportunities of nature and.of grace, then.we shall hard attained to the closes~ habitual union with God and tbe highest perfection. This fundamental, essential perfec-tion spiritual writers sometimes call static, perfectior~. There is still another union with God flowing almost spontaneously from the‚Äôpreceding‚Äôone-active union. Ac-tive union with God is called d~cnamic perfection and is what we ordinarily mean when we speak of spiritual per-fection. It consists in union with God by mind and will activity. Union with God b~t Mind Activity Active union with God" through intellect is had by thinking of God, by acquiring more and more knowledge of Him and His divine attributes fromthe .double source of reason and supernatural faith. Such knowledge of God is highly praised in Holy Scripture: "For to know thee is perfect justicei and to know thy justice, and thy power, is‚Äôtbe root of immo~tali,ty" (Wisdom 15:3). And Saint Paul: "Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the ‚Äô excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my lord (Philippians 3:8) .... in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). Among the Fathers of the Church, did not Saint Augustine epitomize the whole of the spiritual life as an ever increasing knowledge of self and of God? By knowledge of God is here meant not. merely theo-retical knowledge, scientific knowledge, knowledge of God acquired chiefly by the study of philosophy and theology, book knowledge, if you will. Practical knowledge of God. 256 July, 1945 PERFECTION I$ ~JNION WITH GOD that is, knc~wledge inducing will activity, , is still more important. Let us evaluate knowl~dge of God with refer~ ence to perfection. Theoretical knowledge of God is excellent. It can be, .and frequently is, a puissant help and incentive‚Äô tospiritual perfection. However, it must be asserted that while such knowledge provides a useful soiid basis for perfection, it does not constitute our spiritual perfection, nor even..indi-care the degree of perfection we may possess. Have there ¬Ø not been saints, like Benedict Labre and Bernadette Soubi-rous, whose scientific theoretical knowledge of God was ¬Ø very meager? On the other hand, do we not sometimes see students of theology, who have a verst superior knowledg~ of God and work at it all day long
leading imperfect liveR? The fallen angels have an excellent theoretical knowledge of God, but they are the very opposite of perfect. Eminent theologians warn us that perfection "does not consist in union with God by mind activity alone, even a great deal o~ it. "Tell me, dear Father," said Brother Giles one day to the learned Saint Bonaventure, "can a simple, uneducated person love God as much as a scholar? .... Yes," replied Bonaventure, "a simple, little old grandmother can love God more¬Ø than a master of theology." Whereupon, we are told, guileless Brottier Giles rose up, rushed out ¬Ø th?ough the garden and along the streets of the town crying at the top Of his voice: :"O poor, ignorant, simple old grand-mother, love Gri!! You can still overtake Brother Bona-venture." If this is true, what the little old gran.dmother probably bad was not so much a theoretical as a practical, a ‚Äô~realized" knowledge of God, a knowledge leading to,the firm judgment.and deep conviction:‚Äô "I must value and 10ve God above all else." ¬ØUpOn this pract!cal mind activity can be built the loftiest perfection, but in itself it still is not the union with God that is equated with spiritual perfection. 257 AUGUSTINE "KLAAS Reoiew for~ Retigiou
Hence, .while we must greatly esteem knowledge of God, both theoretical ~nd practical, and strive constantly and perseveringly to incre~ise it, by meditation, .by spiritual reading, by delving deeper into the truths of faith, by ofien recalling the presence of God. by recollection, and the like, we must not remain content with only that. If we would be perfect we must pass from union with God by mere mind activity to something b~yonfl, to something still more. pre-. cious, to union witb God‚Äô by will activity,by~love. Saint Teresa of Avila says t.hat clearly when discussing union with God in her Foundations (chapter 5): "The soul‚Äôs advancement, does not conist in thinking much
but in loving much." Our spiritual perfection .is measured, .therefore, not by our knowledge of God, even though it be the knowledge of strong supernatural faith, but rather by" our~active lo~¬¢e of Him. That is why Saint Thomas can say that "the love of those things which are above us
and especially of God, is to be preferred to the knowledge ~f them: Wherefore charity is more excellent than fafth" ¬Ø (Summa II-II. Q. 23, Art. 6). A‚Äônd so the little old grand~ mother could probably never overtake the saintly Doctor of the Church by her mind activity, even hi~r practical mind activity: she could overtake him by her will, by her union with God through will acti~
ity, by her active love of God. : Union with God by Will Actiuitg Presupposing in the soul a-close union With God through sanctifying grace and a certain necessary union with Him through mind activi(y, we maintain that spir-itual perfection consists above all in union with God by will activity, that is, by active love of God. Supernal~ural faith and hope must be present in the soul, but we are per-fect in proportion as we love God more
and when we have 258 du1~,1945 PERFECTION IS UNION WITH GOD attained the maximum.activelove of God we are capable of with the assistance of grace, then we have reached the very summit of the mount of perfection. Active love is th~ norm and gauge of spiritual perfection. We are just as perfect as we are united to God by active love of Him. Such is the unanimous teaching of Catholic theologians. as for instance, Saint Thomas, who states in his Perfection of Spiritual Life that "the spiritual life consists principall~r in charity... He is simply perfect in the spiritual life who is perfect in charity."¬∞ It is‚Äô the teaching of the Fathers of the Church who agree with Saint Augustine when he informs us in. his work On Nature and Grace that "incipi-ent charity is incipient justice [justice here means holiness]
perfect charity is perfect justice." It is the teaching of Saint Paul (I Corinthians 13). It is the explicit teaching of Christ Himself: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and withlthy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greates.t and the first com-mandment. And the second-is like to th~s:.Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39.) And again: "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). And Saint ~John explains: ‚Äô:God is charity... ‚Äô" (I John 4: 16).1 Degrees of Union with God Spiritual masters have made many attempts to give us ~he ascending scale, of degrees in this unifying love of God and the characteristics that mark each degree. They are at ,variance in detail
fundamentally, however, they are in accord, for the main landings on the grand stairway leading to the highest love of God are p.retty well known and agreed upon by all. There are three suchlafidings or degrees of 1For. a fuller treatment of this point, el. Revi‚Äôeto for Reliyious, Vol. I, pp. 238 sqq. 259 ¬Ø ~,UGUSTINE KLAAS union with God through love. In the first the soul is so united to God and loves Him to such a degree that it habitually avoids all mortal sin and the occasions of grave sin. It has a nascent but still feeble desire for greater perfection
it still commits many venial sins, but it struggles valiantly and successfully against strong temptations. Penance for the past, purification, and mortification characterize this rather negative degree. Its prayer is mainly discursive meditation on the .fundamental truths of faith, particularly the four last things. This is the degree of beginners in the life of perfection and it is called the Purgative W.ay. in the second degree, the soul not only avoids all mor-tal sin, but habitually rejects deliberate venial sin. It makes advances in detachment from creatures and has an inc.reasing desire for perfection. The degree is more positive than negative, since the emphasis is on the acquirement of the virtues, especially by the imitation ot~ and assimilation to Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life." The prayer in this degree tends to be predominantly affective. It is the degree of those ad.vancing in perfection: it is called the" Illuminative Way. Presupposing the habitual practice of the other two, the third degree is marked by the struggle to reduce semi-deliberate venial sins and imperfections to the minimum. The soul has made great strides towards heroic detachment and is now intent on the maximum practice of the counsels and works of supererogat!on. Its manner of praying becomes more and more simple, contemplation of God‚Äôs attributes being a favorite form in this degree. Intense charity permeates all its activity, since it now lives for God alone. This is the Unitive W.ay. Of course, these degrees cannot be rigidly delimited. Nor does .the soul. leave one degree and proceed to the next 260 July, 1945 PERFECTION IS UNION WITH GOD mechanically: it may. be and generally.is ~to some extent in all degrees at once. For example, in.order.to keep onese!f babitually from mortal sin, does one not have to observe a certain number of.the counsels? ~.Is the soul in the third degree exempt from doing penance? The Whole matter is one 0f emphasis, and according to the predominance of the va.rious.qualities noted above, a soul.can be easily placed in one of the tb?ee degrees. Moreover, tb~ third degree admits of indefinite progress, since we can neverlove God as much as He can be loved, and hence
our unions with Him can ,ever become more., intimat~ ag long as we live on this earth. Perf.ect and Imperfect. Love of God From the restricted viewpoi.nt of, nobility of moti~ce .two kinds Of active love of God may be distinguished. can love God above all else because He is good to us. Such is the love of God .indicated by the Psalmist when .be exclaims: "For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away" thou art the God of-my b.eart, and the God that is my portion forever" (Psalms 72:26).. And again: ."I will ¬Ø love thee, O Lord,my strength.: the Lord, is-my firmament, my.refu‚Äôge, and ~my deliverer .... " .(Psalms 1‚Äô7:2). Our Lord appeals to thismotive when He proposes "treasure. in bea‚ÄôOen. ‚Äô~ tbe"bundredfold," and "life e.verlasting." Because of the less perfect nature of the motive this love of God, called "imperfect love" or "i.nterested love" of God... it is already a great deal and should by no means be contemned or slighted, but there is a higher love of God springing from a nobler motive: "perfect. love," or as it is sometimes called "disinterested love", of God. "Perfect love" of God is had when We love Him above all else not so much for the good He so generously bestows on us, but for Himself, because He is all-good in Himself. , This "perfect love" is known as the love of benevolence and 261 AUGUSTINE KL&AS Revietv /:or Religio~s friendship. In its exercise we prescind from our own inter-ests or at least subordinate them to Him, since we love God simply for Himself,, and not for our own advantage. "Fhis highest of motives makes this the highest type of love of .God. In it we take complacent delight in God and in His perfections
we actively give glory to Him by conforming our will as much as pos-sible in all. things to His: we .bring others to glorify Him. And all tl~is simply because God is God,.because God is all-good and all-lovable in Himself. The love Of benevolence affd friendship: is perfected extensively when we embrace by our lov~ more of the per-fections of God and more of His creatures
it: is perfected intensivelty when we make the acts of love more vehemently and more constantly until we develop a solid habit of the perfect love of God. W‚Äôhen the love reaches the maximum we are capable of then we are simply perfect. M~/stic Union with God Finally, there is still another union with God for which the union by rhind and will activity is an indispensable preparation. It is mystic union, a special gift of God‚Äôs grace to His favored friends. Mystic unidn with God, an earthly union which approaches that of theblessed in heaven, is not necessary for spiritual perfection, but it is a potent means to it because it results insublime and intense acts of the perfect love of God. The precious gift of mystic union generally presupposes in him who receives it an advanced degree of union with God by active love, espe-cially perfect love. Conclusion To conclude by way of.summary: spiritual perfection is union with. God. It is union with God by a maximum 262 July/, 1945 ‚Äô PERFECTION IS UNION WITH GOD of sanctifying grace, called static perfection. It is unio.,n., with God. by a certain am.ount of necessary supernatura‚Äô[ mind activity, theoretical and practical. It is union with God by a maximum of supernatural will activity, a maxi-mum of the perfect love of God, called dynamic perfecti..on. This earthly union with God .whkh is our perfecti6n merits for us and is the measure~of our Union with God in "heaven, our ultimate, inamissible perfection. All our union with God, both in heaven and on earth, all.our spiritual perfection, we owe to the hyp0static union with God had in Jesus Christ, since He as God-man merited them fbr us by His life, passion and death. Moreover, He is the peerless Model of all spiritual perfection and union with God. PAMPHLET NOTICES It seems that religious institutes in increasing numbers are issuing pamphlets and other material to attract aspirants to their ranks. This is as it should be. One such pamphlet comes from South Africa and bears the title, Priestly/ and Religious Voca-tion. After giving a brief account of the m. issionary activity of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the author, Father T. F. Kelly, O.M.I., describes the nature and signs of vocation both in relation to the priesthood and to the religious life. He con-cludes with an earnest plea to the generous young people of South Africa to heed‚Äô the call of Christ. The pamphlet may be.obtained from the Oblate Novitiate, 44 Park-hill Road, Glebe, Germistou, Transvaal, South Africa. With the same purpose in mind the Sisters of Loretto, Lor~tto M0therho~se, Ner~inx. P.O., Kentucky, have issued a folder entitled "Congratulations Pegg~It."‚Äô Written in the form of a letter to a young woman about to enter the novitiate it gives us a brief account of the founding, the history, and the ~vork of the Lorettines in the Uuited States and in China. Some good photogral~hs depicting houses and activities of the congregation greatly increase the value of the folder. Father Albert H. Dolan, O.Carm., the zealous promoter of devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux, has issued a pamphlet, St. Therese, Patroness of the Mis-sions. In 16 pages he sets forth the reasons why SL Therese was chosen as Patron-ess of the Missions and urges her devout clients to follow her example of prayer and unfemittipg sacrifice for the missions. The pamphlet may be obtained from The Carmelite Press, 6413 Dante Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, or 55 Demarest Avenue
Engie~ood, N.J. Piice: ten cents. 263 Our,.Lady‚Äôs Parents Francis L. Filas, S.3. MUCofH thaes p waree Wntso.u lodf l iOkue rt o,L‚Äôkandoyw, w thee c aacnt"u afli nlidf en-osttohriyng directl‚Äôy concerning them in the Gospels. However~ Holy Scripture gives us some information in stating that Christ was promised to Abraham and to 3acob, ~nd that He came out of the tribe of 3uda.1 This means that 3esus was a son of David and a son of Abraham, not only legally ~hrough St. 3oseph but also naturally through the Blessed Virgin, and therefore through her parents, 3oachim and /~nne. Various Scripture scholars have proposed a rather ingenious theory tO show that Luke set forth the genealogy of Mary rather than of 3oseph when he.wrote, "And 3esus Hi.resell, when He began His work, was about thirty years . of age, beingmas was supposed--the son of 3osdph, the son of Heli . : . the son of David . .. the son of Adam. who was the son of God" (3:23). According to this the-ory the text is phrased differently so as to read, "3esus... being--as was suppbsed the son of 3oseph--the sori of Hell," and so,forth. Thus the person of Heli is identified with the person of 3oachim. Even further, the two names are said~ to be the same, for "Hell" ~Eli) is taken as a shortened form of "Eliachim." Both "Eliachim‚Äô~ and "3oachim" are interchangeable, meaning in Hebrew, "God sets up." Unfortunately, so charming a .theory is far from being accepted by all Scripture scholars. From earliest times the ¬Ø genealogies of Matthew and Luke have usually been inter- XGenesis 18,22, 28
Hebrews 8. 264 OUR LADY‚ÄôS PARENi‚ÄôS preted as giving the 1,egaI ancestry of Our Lord through St. Joseph and not through Mary. This has been the gen-eral tenor of opinion even thoug,19 no one theory fits per-fectly in further explaining th~ problems connected with the two varying accounts. Because of this silence ofthe Gospels we must turn to the only other possible sources of information concerning Mary‚Äôs parents: the Iegends of Joachim and Anne. The Legends of Joachim and Anne At first sigh~ it might)seem a worthless task to have recourse to a legend to seek data about historic personages. Yet in the case of Joachim and Anne nothing else exists. We must at least consider what‚Äô was said about them, even if we cannot a~cept it all as true. The earliest account in which they are mentioned.-is Called the Protoeoange! of James, a work pretending to be a history of the birth of Mary and of the early events in tl~e life of Jesus. ‚ÄôHaving originated about 150 A, D., it is 0nly a hundred years younger than the Gospels and thus enjoys a reputation of antiquity. .- In common with other apocryphal literature ,of its type the Protoeoanget of James was apparently based on snatches of true tradition--a sort.of ‚Äôpious gossip---con-cerning Christ and those who were near to Him. Some~ thing like our modern historical novel, the Protoevanget wa~ meant to fill in with plausible details the gaps where the curiosity of the faithful was left unsatisfied by the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke~ and John. But unlike "these Gospels the Apocryphal tradition was of purely human origin. It was neither divinely inspired when com-posed nor providentially kept pure when transmitted. Accordingly, as it was.repeated again and again in word and writing, it accumulated more and more exaggerations, 265 FRANCIS L. FILAS R6biew for Religious and additions, so that at the present day we have no way of determining what is genuine and what is spurious in ~its content. The Chur~ch never accepted this imitation of the true Gospels, but early branded it as apocryphal‚Äô(as, for example, in .the Decree‚Äô of Pope Gelasius in 495). The majority of early Fa,thers of the Church, as well as later ecclesiastical writers, likewise recognized it as counterfeiL None the less, popular authors in the Middle Ages and afterward borrowed .extensively from .the legendary, source in order to stimulate the great ~levotion of the Ages of Faith. In all this spurious devotional literature the ques-tion of lying or passing on a lie was seemingly not attended to
rather, generous hearts uncritically sought and eagerly accepted every means to gain mbre knowledge, of the lives of desus and His saints. Two enlargements were made of the legend of ,loachiin and Anne as it appeared in the Pt‚Äôptoevar~gd of da~es: namely, the Gospel of Pseado-Matthev~ (about 450 A. D.) and the Gospel of the Nativity/ [~f Mat‚ÄôV (exact date unknown). As is evident, there is more likelihood of truth in the original, the P, rotoevar~get, than in any of its suc-ceeding variations. This is the substance of the original account: Joadhim is a rich and generous shepherd. He and his Wife Anne are deepl.y grieved because they have no chil-. dren. V~rhile Anne is lamenting tl6e curse of her sterility, an angel appears tO her with the Words, "The Lord hath heard thor prayer, and thou shalt conceive, and shalt bring forth
and thy seed shall be spoken of in all the world." At the same tim~ a similar vision is granted Joach~m ~hile tending his flocks~ In gratitude to God, Anne promises to consecrate.he~ child to the divine service in the Temple. Upon the birth‚Äôof the child, who receives the name of 266 dulg, 1945 OUR LADY‚ÄôS PARENTS l~ary, the happy mother breaks out into a canticle of thanksgiving. Later, when she is three years old, Mary is .brought to the,Temple and joyfully remains there to praise and serve God. Such is the g!st of the early chapters of the Proto-evangel of James. In the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew :the story is given more imagingtive coloring: Joachim‚Äôs gen-erosity is described at greater length. He distributes his riches to the poor and to those "who‚Äô worshipped God"‚Äô before taking ashare for himself. At 15 he is already a wealthy shepherd" and at 20 be marries Anne, "the daughter of Acbar, of his own tribe, that is,. of the tribe of ‚ÄôJuda of the family of David." The couple‚Äôs childlessness lasts for twenty years, after which the angels appear to Anne and Joachim. The rest of this tale merely develops the story of the Protoevangel, adding more details, greatek emphasis, and .particularly more frequent miraculous inter-ventions. The third and final form of the legend is contained in the Gospel of the Nativitg of Maw, a charming though unhistorical con~pilation of the preceding tradition. This Gospel do
continues, "was that you might bare private papers in your writing desk .... Dr. F. said one thing was provided gratis--snuff ad libitum and I should be allowed to take a snuffbox." In the event, Newman was not subjected to the rules here described for the young seminarians.. According .to our projected theory, this should pro.re that he had no stomach for any life restrained by strict rule. His.sub-conscious repugnance to restraint asserted itself here, and be somehow automatically edged his way around even temporary regular observance--this enterprising theory would hold. Other evidence could be scraped up. ofit of " Newman‚Äôs letters to give body to such proof. For instance, shortly after his conversion he writes of a visit just paid to the Catholic college at Oscott:. ChaHes Woodmason and I . . . arrived here on the fe.Xstival of St. Cecilia .... We found the passage crowded and no servants to answer the bell, and bad to poke in as we might, leaving our 1Bggage at the entrance. I say they perhaps were" scandalized, for they have the most absurd notions about us. I think they fancy I never eat, and‚Äô I have just lost a good dinner in.consequence. After returning from Birmingham walking and hungry, I literally have had to pick up a crust from the floor left at breakfast and eat it,. from shame at asking again and again for fhings.2 Does this hankering for servants ‚Äôand victuals Show the spirit of abnegation which the re!ig~ous life demands? And, the letter gets worse instead of better: 2lbid., I, 103-104. 233 WALTER J. ONG Review for Roligious .... Wall, we were ushered into the boys‚Äô dining room--the orches-tra at the end, and the table~ plentifully laden,for all hearers with cake and (pro pudor)" punch~a very sensible w.ay of hearing mu..sic. They certainly were scandalized at my d~tecting the pu.nch--for they said again and again that it was made of lemon and sugar. All i~can say is that ours.at the high table was ~emarkably stiff,.and that I was obliged to dilute it to twice or thrice i~s quantity with water. More of this kind of thing ~ould be dug from New-man‚Äôs correspondence, and one could turn it all to account to explain quite ~eadily Newman‚Äôs turning away from the religious state. His unconscious self had said from the first, "Don‚Äôt be a religious,‚Äô.‚Äô adding with standard subconscious ¬Ø hypocrisy, "but talk sometimes about the religious life So you‚Äôll get the credit for being interested in it." Thus New-man‚Äôs attraction, to the religious state was sham--the the-ory Would conclude. A good conclusion, if only it ‚Äôwere true. Such a con-clusion, hoWever, would not be founded on fact, but rather on a wild misinterpretation of some of Newman‚Äôs pleasant-ries. Indeed, the last passage just quoted hints that people bad associated with Newman, not. mere talk, but definite habits of abstemiousness quite in accord with the little sac-rifices demanded by religious life. Newman‚Äôs Self-Abnegation. )ks.a matter of fact, Newman had such habit~.. An appetite for quite real s~lf-abnega~ion in .imitation of Christ had worked itself out very practically in Newman‚Äôs lifd even before he entered the Catholic Church. In 1842 he had retired from Oxford to the neighboring town of Littlemore, where he gathered some of his Oxford friends. Here he became a Catholic ‚Äôand here he continued to live until February,. 1846. We have an account of the place of retreat at Littlemore in a letter in the Tablet shortly after Newman‚Äôs conversion written by Father Dominic, the 234 July, 1945 NEWMAN ~AND THE‚Äô,RELIGIOUS LIFE Italian Passionist who received him into the Church. "Littlemore," Father Dominic explains, is a village about :two or three miles from Oxford. It presents nothing charming in its aspect or situation, but is placed in a low, flat country
it exhibits no delightful vill.as, nor agreeable Woods and meadows, but one u~nvafi~d uniform appeara.nce, rather dull than pleasant. In the midst of this village we meet with a building, which has‚Äômore the look of a barn than a dwelling:house
and in reality, I think it formerly was a barn. This unsightly.building is "divided by a number of walls, so as to forni so many little cells: and it is So low that you might almost‚Äô touch the roof with‚Äôyour hand. In the interior )
ou will find t.h.e most beautiful specimen of patri-archal simplicity and gospel i~overky.8 The Italian was iensitive to the vagaries of the English weather and impressed by the sombrene.ss ofEngland‚Äôs dark, damp days. Failure to take measures against such conditions was to him a sign of real mortification: To pass from one cell to another, you must go through a little out-side corridor, covered iladeed with tiles, but opeln to all inclemencies of the weather. At the end of this corridor, you find a small dark room,‚Äôwhi.ch has served as an oratory. The furnishings and diet impressed him most of all. In the cells nothing is to be seen but poverty and simplicity-~bare walls, floors composed‚Äô of a few rough bricks, without carpet, a straw bed, one or two chairs, and a few books, this comprises the whole furniture ! !-! The refectory and kitchen are in the same style, all very small and v.ery poor. From this description one may easily guess what sort of diet was used at table: no delicacies, no wine, no .ale.,‚Äôno liquors, but seldom meat
all breathing an .air of the strictesk poverty, such I have never witnessed in any religious house in Italy. or France, or in any other.country,where I have been. A C~ipuchin monastery would appear a great palace when compared with Little-more. It is the "best geniuses of the Ang!ican. Church" who. have retired, to this house, Father Dominic goes on, and have lived there--persons "of birth, learning, and pie~ty,. Slbid.o I, 106,107. 235 WAETER 3. ONG Review [or Religiou~ who possessed, or at least might have possessed, the richest livings and fellowships which the Church of England can bestow." And yet it had been said that their living as they had at Littlemore was due to singularity and pride! "Those who entertain such an idea," the good father continues, "might in the same way calumniate our Blessed Saviour
his Apostles, and all the followers of the Gospel." Foroit was plain to any open-eyed observer that the life at Little-more was undertaken in imitation of Christ.. The. ho!y and simple Italian priest, as Newman‚Äôs biographer Wilfrid Ward calls Father Dominic, gets so excited at the blindness and malice of Newman‚Äôs critics that he breaks into a regular, litany of puns: "O men, O English-men," he almost chants as he concludes his letter to the Tablet, hear the voice of Littlemore. Those wails bear testimony that the Catholic is.a little more than the Protestant Church, the soul a little more than the body, eternity a little more than the present time. Understand well this little more, and I am sure you "will do a little more for your eternal salvation. This is .apparently what made Newman, who was undoubtedly embarrassed by t.he good father‚Äôs letter, remark that no one at Littlemore could read the letter with a grave face. Bu~ Newman does not contest the facts which Father Dominic had set down. Newman and the English Scbne Littlemore shows in some ways a .greater attraction to a life of self-abnegation and self-surrender than perhaps most religious exhibit before their novitiate. But Little-more provides us as well with the key to Newman‚Äôs final decision against the religious life. For Littlemore was the place wh~re Newman retired to learn God‚Äôs will in his regard, and there, were good signs.that the will of God called him elsewhere than to a r.eligious institute. 236 dulyo 1945 NEWMAN AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE Had he been at the time of his conversion a young man, Newman might perhaps have entered a religious institute and let his life be shaped there, just as Gerard Manley Hop-kins was to do. Hopkins, an Oxford man like Newman and destined like, Newman to become a great figure in nineteenth-century literature, was converted at the ‚Äôage of twenty-two. But Newman. (who incidentally, was to be the one to receive Hopkins into the Chu.rch in 1866) was forty-four when he became a Catholic. He bad already cut himself a niche in English life. He had been the leader of a party which had split open the intellectual .world of Oxford and with it the Anglican Church
and, although the party had finally b~een .badly routed by the liberal Anglicans at the. time it lost many of its ,leaders to Rome, Newman‚Äôs place in the Oxford movement had made him a marked man in England. And here we have the basic reason why New-man did not turn to. the religious state: he felt that his value to the Church, a value already fixed by his place in Eng-land‚Äôs life, could not be best exploited the~e: ~ Being Taught God‚Äôs Wilt .W.riting many years later to young Edmund Froude, who had rather precipitately made up his mind to be a religious, Newman sald, "I know you are a prudent boy, and I wish you gravely and continually to pray God, that you may. be taught His Will as regards you. For we must persevere in prayer, if we would learn it.‚Äô‚Äô~ Newman him-self had had to persevere in prayer-to be taught God‚Äôs will in his regard and this not only with regard to entering the true Church. For a year and a half after his conversion there was an interval of prayerful searching, as both New-man and his friends, eager to find what place God ,had marked out for them, felt their way about the edifice of‚Äô the 4Gordon-Huntington Harper, Cardinal Newman and William Froude, A Correspondence (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. 1933), p. 169. ¬Ø237 ~rALTE~ ,~. ONG ReOiew [or Reti~iou, s Church,‚Äôin which they Were at the same time.very much at home and strangely unconversant with many ordinary thifigs. They were at home because they were indeed in their Father‚Äôs house, about whichthey, had been reading all their ~lives in the Scriptures and in patristic writings. But, how-ever much at home they felt, the fact was, their Father‚Äôs house or no, they had never been in it before. Forthis rea-son Newman and Ambrose St. John went frorfi~England to Rome in 1846 to imp.rove their knowledge of the Church from the inside. It is a little amusing to see them cautiously smelling out different theological schools at Ro~e or still indulging in themselves something of the amazement of the benevblent Protestant who has just found thht the Cath-olic clergy are not such a bad lot after all. In this vein, Newman, en route to Rome, writes delight-edly from Langres in France to his friend Frederick Bowles that the French clergy are a merry, simple, affectionate set--some of them quite touchingly, kind and warm-hearted towards me, and only one complaining, as I think he did, of English heaviness (our stomachs were in fault) .... M. La~ont is Very cheerful, hnd talks Latin well, which few of "the other clergy.do. The Dean does, and is a kind warmhearted person.5 During this time when he was gaining familiarity with the Church from inside her doors, Newman was in close contact with many religious-TDorninicans, Passionists, Jesuits, Franciscans, and others. He bad a Jesuit confessor at Rome. And Newman was certainly thinking of the various religious institutes in terms Of his usefulness in Christ‚Äôs cause: "‚ÄôIt i~ ,one especial benefit in the Catholic ~burcb," he writes from Rome to Henry Wilberforc~, that a person‚Äôs usefulness does not ~lepend on the accident of its .SWard, Life,~ I, 136. 23‚Äô8 ,lulg, ~94~ NEV~MAN AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE being found out. There are so many ready-formed modes of‚Äôus~ful-hess, great institutions, and orders with great privileges and means, of operation, that he has but to unite himself to one of them, and it is as if Pope and Cardinals took him.up personhlly.¬∞ Newman adds a remark which shows that he was ~hinking of the religious life as a sort of r~fuge from pos-sible ecclesiastical honors: Since, I am in for it, I will add," what (as ~far as Io know) I have. never told to anY0ne--thai, before now
my prayers have been so earnest that I never might" have dignity or station, that, as they have been heard as regar.ds the English Church, I think their will be heard now also. They were~ No honors threatened for m~n)~ weary years
but rather failure and misunderstanding. Special Responsibilities But from the time of his conversion Newman was con-scious tl~at he might have "special responsibilities" which .would not‚Äôleave his choice of a State of,life entirely free. He was afraid that these responsibilities might not be discov-ered for him evenin Rome. "I can‚Äôt tell as yet," he informs . Wilberforce in the same letter, what they will make of me here, or whether they will find me but. It is very difficult to get into the mind of a person like me, especially considering so few speak English . . . and I can say .so little in Italian. Newman and St. John had indeed picked up Italian only in their leisurely journey down through Italy to Rome picked it up not without some disaster, as when, mehning to tell a departing Italian acquaintance in Milan that he hoped to.see him in the winter., St. John blunHered confi~ dently, onto the word inferno for inverno and succeeded only "in leaving the startled Italian with the understanding that the English visitor hoped to see him s6on in hell. Newman was delighted at this occurrence, for St. John Olbid., I, 151. " ¬Ø 239 WALTER J, ONG Review [or Religious was the greater enthusiast for the language. But when they got to R6me arid Newman could pick his way only rather gingeriy through an Italian ~onversation, he fel‚Äôtthat he w~s greatly handicapped in his efforts to find his prope,r place within the Church. Newman wanted information and advice. But "what can people know of me?‚Äô" he goes on to Wilberforce, .... I don‚Äôt expect people will know me. The consequence will be, that, instead of returnihg with any special responsibilities upon .me, any special work to do, I Should on my return slink into some re~ady-formed plan of operation, and if I did not become a fi~iar or a Jesuit, I should go on hiamdrumming in some theological seminary or the like. Thus Newman felt that, /:or him
fitting into a ready-made plan might indeed be "‚Äôslinking" dodging the "spe-cial responsibility." In accordance with this line of thought, the conviction that he should not join a religious institute finally won out, as it had threatened to do from the first. He writes to Dalgair.ns from Rome on the last day of the year 1846: I have‚Äôthe greatest fear I am bamboozling nays.elf when‚ÄôI talk of an order: and that, just as Anglicans talk of being Catholics butdraw back when it comes to the pgint, so I, at my time of life, shall never feel able to give up property and take to new habits.7 But the repugnance to giving up property was no greater,. certainly, for Newman than for many who have embraced the religious life, and it was not this, repugnance which decided him in the course he took. He goes on: -Not that I should not do it [enter a religious institute], had I a clear call--but it is so difficult to know what a. clear call is. I do not know ~nough of the rule of the different ~ongregations to haste any opinion yet--and again I do not think I could, religiously, do any-thing that Dr. Wiseman disapproved. 71bid., I, 170. 240 July, 1945 NEWMAN AND THE RELIGIOUS LII::E Final Reasons for the Orator~t Even with this protestation of ignorance concerning the rules of religious institutes, Newman sbts down‚Äô at this time ¬Ø the reasons which were ultimately to d~termine--indeed, we[e already determining--his choice. In thinking of a. .regular life, he continues, a great difficulty . . . is my own previous history: When it comes upon me how late I am trying to serve the Church,the obvious ahswer is, Even saints, such as St. Augustine, St. Ignatius, did not begin in earnest till a late age. "Yes, but I am much older than ~hey." So then I go on to think and to trust that my past life may form a sort of aphorme [base of operations] and a ground of future usefulness. Having lived so long in Oxford, my name and person are known to a very great many people I do not know--so are my books--and I may have begun a workwhich I am,now to finishl Now the ques-tion is whether as a regular I do not at once cut off all this, as becoming a sort of instrument of others, and so clean beginning life again. As a Jesuit e.g. no one ~ould know that I was speaking my own words:" or was a continuation, as it. were, of my former self. Newman goes on to.set down a notion which he,had thought worthwhile ment.ioning to Bishop Wiseman, that he and his associates should be a group or college in Eng-land dependent on Propaganda, which still administered England in place of a regular hierarchy. "This," Newman concludes, "would not be inconsistent ~ith being Ora-torians." By the beginning of the year 1847 Newman and a group of his friends had fixed on the Oratory of St. Philip as their place in the Church--the place where prayer and common sense and the wishes of their eccclesiastical supe-riors made it plain that God wanted them. In the spring of t847 Newman, St. John, W. Goodenough Penny, J. D. Dalgairns, Robert Coffin, Richard Stantc~n, and F. S. Bowles began a brief novitiate at Rome, and in January of the following year the first English Oratorian ~ommunit~r 241 WALTER J. ONG began tO assemble at Birmingham under a rule adapted slightly to the demands of life in England. Newman‚Äôs Choice and Prbvidence The event proved that Newman‚Äôs calculations were {ralid, that his patient and‚Äô prayerful search had effectively laid his life in the hands of Providence. For it was to the best interests of Christ‚Äôs Kingdom that Newman should remain preeminently an individual in the minds of the English people. The English never succeeded in under-standing Newman the Catholic. They would never even have tried to understand Newman the religious---the mem-ber of some weird and superstitious‚Äôposse of the Pope‚Äôs. But with Newman the individual they could at least try to sympathize. And that is how Newman won his countrymen in his ,.Apologia pro Vita Sua, diverting the currents of feeling which swirled confusedly about him into channels friendly to the Church. In 1845 and 1846 and 1847 Newman could not see ahead to the Apologia, in which he was to l~iy bare the history of his religious convictions and jus-ti. fy his conversion to Catholicity. But in the Provi-dence of God, which calls some to one kind of life ai~d some to another, "disposing all things sweetly," he took the step in 1847. which made the Apologia possible and turned his life from a long series of failures into.a great spiritual suc-cess. Had he become a .religious, Newman would have had the same story to tell as he tells in the Apologia. But, as he shrewdly foresaw in 1846, no one would have belie~‚Äôed that he was speaking his own words. In the Oratory of St. Philip, only loosely tied to his associates, he remained .in the popular mind Newman, the individual Englishman. That made" possible the work which God bad for him to do. 242 Why Does Father Ask Questions? Gerald Kelly, S.J. DURING the years of his seminary training,, the young priest-to‚Äôbe is thoroughly instructed in the duties of those who go to confession anal is also made acquainted with some of the principal difficulties that his future, peni-tents might experience. ‚Äô This is as it should be, The priest should be able to help and sympathize with his penitents. But that is only one side of the picture. The confessor-. penitent relationship .is "mutual
and, particularly from the point of view of the penitent, it is, perhaps the most pro-f0u. ndly intimate relationship in the world. The penitent often reveals things to the confessor that he Would not dis-close to anyone, else, even his dearest friend..It seems logical, therefore, that the penitent ought to know something of the duties and problems of the confessor. Catholics do know, in.a rather vague way, something of the confessor‚Äôs duties and difficulties. They know that he ~ears their sins as the ambassador of God and that he is bound by the most rigid and sacred secrecy possible. And they can readily understand that long hours in the confes-sional must be tiresome and must create a. spei:ial :difficulty with regard to the practice of such virtues as patience and kindness. But there are many things that they do not understand" and one of these seems to be the asking of questions by the.confessor.~ If we may judge from remarks heard in conversations about confession, we may conclude that penitents fall into three rather general classes with respect to being questionbd by the confessor.. Some penitents rather like it because it 243 GERALD KELLY Reoieu~ for Religiou~ makes their own task easier and makes them more satisfied that their confession was good. Others definitely resent ~luestioning
they want to say what they have to say and then be allowed to go in peace. Still others neither like nor resent the questioning, but among these many wonder why questions are asked. All these classes of penitents--and of course all who teach catechism and instruct others how~ to go to confession--would very likely profit by-a knowledge of som‚Äôe of the reasons why the priest questions ¬∞~hem
and if they ~kriew these reasons they would very likely try to improve their methods of going to confession and thus avoid the necessity of questions. As a judge in the placeof Christ, the priest gives abso-lution to a worthily-disposed sinner and refuses absolu-tion to the sinner who is not sufficiently disposed. This is the most imporl)ant office of the confessor
but it is not his only..‚Äô function. He is also a pb~tsician., with the duty of healing the wounds of sin.and prescribing remedies for the "future
he is, to some extent~ a teacher, with the duty of instructing the ignorant
and he is the spiritual ~:atber to his penitent, with the¬∞ duty of giving paternal admonitions, counsel, affd e.ncouragement. In each and‚Äô all of these capacities, the priest might tinct reasons, for questioning pe.nitents. I" cannot discuss all these reasons here
but I should like to call attention to those tbat might be most common or most important. Sut~cien‚Äôt Matter? For the instruction of. seminarians and for the help. of priests, moral theologians sometimes prepare ~¬¢hat thev call "case books"--that is, books of practical problems that ~the priest .is likely~ to encounter in.his ministry. To make the problem concrete, it is proposed in the form "of a ficti-tious incident. The student is to,decide what he would do 244 ,lul.q, 1945 \VllY DOES FATHER ASK QUES‚ÄôI~IONS? under the circumstances
then he can check his solution with the solution offered by the author of the book. I can illustrate the first reason why a priest might ask questions by two s.ample Confessions taken from one of these case books. The first confession is that of a devout woman named Eudoxia. "I never detract others, as many women do," EuSoxia tells her confessor. "I have had to listen to men blaspheme, but.I told them I disapprove of their language. And I forgot to say my morning prayers several times.". That, according to the case book, is Eudoxia‚Äôs entire confession. Not. a real sin is mentioned
and there is no concluding accusation of the sins of her past life. So far as absolution is concerned, Eudoxia might just as well be a newly baptized baby. But there is this l~rofound difference between Eudoxia and the baby" the baby has not sinned, whereas Eudoxia--unless she has the special privilege given to Our Lady--most certainly has committed some small sins, at least in he.r past life. The confessor‚Äôs problem is to get her to confess a sin. "Perhaps you have told some small lies, or given way to impatience, or committed some other small sins
like sins of vanity?" the confessor asks Eudoxia. Most of us, I am sure, would call this an easy, safe approach, Tl~ere is" nothing particularly opprobrious about these .sins,.and even very good people occasionally fall into them. But not Eudoxia! "Far be it from me, Father," she replies firmly, ever to commit any of those sins!" With that we can leave Eudoxia to her confessor. He may try to explain to her how all people commit some small, sins, and that in her case it is just a matter of recog-nizing the sins and perhaps of examining her conscience more carefully. He might even indicate that she could get some valuable information abmit herself from. those "other 245 GERALD KELLY women" of whom she spoke in her confession or from those men who blasphemed in her presence. But he may not and cannot give absolution until he knows, there is something to absolve. Virtues, mere imperfections, involuntary acts, and doubtful sins (for example: "I accuse myself in so far asI amguilty") arenot sufficient matter for absolution
‚Äô and if a confessionconsists entirely of such things~ the con-fessor simply has to ask questions. ¬Ø Anbther sample confession, taken from the same case bbok, will illustrate the problem of insufficient matter under a slightly different aspect. This time the penitent is a man, .whose Latin name is best translated by Goodfellow. "‚ÄôFather," runs Goodfellow‚Äôs confession, "I haven‚Äôt anything to confess except that I frequently had impure thoughts, and once, when I was traveling, I missed Mass on Sunday." That is the whole of Goodfellow‚Äôs confession.. He seems tO be a man of few deeds and fewer words. The prin-dipal difference between his and Eud0xia‚Äôs confessions is that Eudoxia deaily confessed no sins, whereas Goodfellow may be confessing real sins. Every confessor learns, after some little ~xperience, that the accusation, "I had impure thoughts," does,not necessarily mean sin. It could mean that the penitent committed a mortal sin against purity_
but it could also mean that the penit.ent was merely tempted against purity--in other words, that the thoughts were entirely involuntary and not at all culpable. And the same may be said for Goodfellow‚Äôs failure to hear Mass. Devout people sometimes confess "missing Mass," even when they had. a broken leg. They. do not really mean that they sinned
they merely feel better when they tell the confessor aboutoit. Goodfellow might be one of these devout people
perhaps his journey made it impossible to .hear Mass and lie knew this .was no sin. 246 dul~,IP45 WHY DOES FATHER ASK QUESTIONS? If Goodfellow‚Äôs impure thoughts were involuntary and he had a good excuse or thought he had a good excuse ‚Äôfor missing Mass, his confession is the same as Eudoxia‚Äôs: it Gontains no real sin. Strictly speaking, things like this should not be confessed unless one wishes to get, some advice about them
but if the peni.tent does confess them, he should indicate .that they were not sins and should ‚Äô include in his confession some other matter for absolution. Otherwise the confessor must ask questions. Mortal or Venial Sin? Even if Goodfellow‚Äôs impure thoughts were really sin-ful, there would still be a further problem for the confessor. He has to judge, in so far as this is reasonably possible, whether the penitent ~ommitted a venial sin.or a mortal sin: and this judgment is particularly difficult .to make with regard to such things as internal sins. As I said before, the accusation, "I had impure thoughts," may refer merely to a. temptation, in which case it would be no sin at all. But it could also mean that the penitent was guilty of some negli-gence in getting rid of impure thoughts--and this, though it would be a venial, sin, is a far cry from full consent and deliberate mortal sin. All of us learfied (or were supposed to learn) in cate-chism class that a full-fledged mortal sin must have three. elements: serious matter, sufficient ~eflection, and full con-sent of the will. In some types of[accusations a confessor can readily presume that all these elehaents were present
but in many other~ be must ask a question or tWO to determine whether the matter was really, serious or whether there was sufficient reflection and full consent. It is often very difficult, even after questioning, to.forma judgment regarding reflec-tion and consent
and it can happen that both the penitent and the confessor will have to leave the judgment to God. 247 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious But they are not supposed to "leave it to God" without r~aking some reasonable effort to decide it for themselves. I might mention here that the judgment concerning d~gree of guilt is not nearly so important as the judgment ~oncerning sufficiency of matter. A mistake concerning sufficient matter (for example: if the confessor judged that the confession contained real sin when not even a real venial sin was included in thea c‚Äôcusa"tion) would make the abso-lution invalid, even though the penitent, being in good faith, would commit no sin. But a mistake in judging the degree of guilt (for example: by judging a sin to be mortal when it was only venial, or vice vers)~) would not affect the validity of the absolution. The Law or: Integrity Reminiscing on catechism days will also bring to our minds the la~ of Christ that all mortal sins must be con-fessed according to species and number: in other words, the ekact kind of ~in committed andthe exact number of times each sin was committed, in so far as the penitent can tell these details, must be confessed. If the priest notices that this law is not being kept, he must prudently help the penitent by questions. The man who has committed mur-der does not satisfy this obligation by merel.y saying that he violated the Fifth Commandment, because there are many ways of violating that Commandment
and if he murdered his brother he would not satisfy his obligation by saying that he had killed a man, because homicide and fratricide are different kinds of sins. Finally, if we make the wild supposition that he bad seven brothers and that he mur-dered them all, he would not fulfill the law of integral con-fession by simply saying that he had murdered his brothers, because he "is Supposed to tell how many mortal sins he committed. 248 dulg, 1945 WHY DOES FATHER ASK QUESTIONS? I realize that homicide and fratricide are not the regular subject-matter for confessions. A Commandment that would probably touch the lives of ordinary people more ¬Ø closely would be the Sixth. And the confession of sins against this Commandment present~ special difficulties for both penitent and confessor. Penitents find the confession of sins of impurity embarrassing, and they would naturally ‚Äôlike to keep their accusation as general as possible. Further-more. they often do not know just how to express them-selves, perhaps because they feel that they do not know the proper terms to be used in the confessional. As for the con-fessor, it is easily seen how he might find the questioning of penitents concerning sins of impurity a particularly delicate matter. The best solution to‚Äô the mutual embarrassment problem is to have the penitent try to keep the law of .integrity by confessing in his own words the kind of sin he committed. The confession should be brief and to the point. The confessor can hardly fail to understafid: and thus the need of questions, at least on this score, will be avoided. Of course, there are 15enitents who prefer to be questioned in this matter because they find it too difficult to express themselves without help. These penitents should at least mention their inability to the confessor and asl( for his assistance. True Contrition? A very important--in fact, an essential--judgment to be made by the confessor concerns the penitent‚Äôs disposition. Practically speaking, tbis means that before giving absolu-tion the confessor must judge that his penitent has. true contrition, at least imperfect contrition. Absolution can-not be ~‚Äôalid if the penitent has not this minimum‚Äôdisposi-sition. ¬ØGenerally speaking, of course, the presumption is that 249 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious ¬Ø people do not confess their,sins unless they are sorry for them. But this presump.tion admits of many exceptions, as the moral theologiai~s are careful to point out. For instance, there is thecase of the penitent w, ho has been prac-t. ically forced to confession by wife, m0ther~ br teacher. It is true that even under such circumstances a good confession can be made
but there is a very real danger that such con-fessions might be insincere and that genuine contrit.ion and desire for absolution mil~ht be lacking. Another difficulty tha‚Äôt might make for defective contrition is lack of instruc-tion. Great moralists like St
for permission to be established juridically as a secular inst.itute. 27 FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious 16. I~ an association [ull~lls all the requirements for a secular insti-tute, doesit have an option of remaining in its status quo, e.g. as a pio‚Äôus union of the faithful, or must it make application for establish-ment as a secular institute? When an association has all the nec.essary requisites, it must apply to Rome for permission to be set up as a secular institute. 17. Who is to make such application to Rome? The local Ordinary (and not. a mere titular BishOp nor a Vicar Capitular orVicar General) is the proper person to make such appli-cation. 18. To whom should the application be sent? ~ The application is to be sent to the Sacred Congregation for Reli-gious, since this Sacred Congregation moderates things pertaining to the juridical state of perfection to-be-acquired. 19. What information is to be forwarded with the application? The Sacred Congregation for Religious wishes to have informa-tion, with the proper adjustments, on all the points required by the Normae (nos. 3-8) issued by the same Sacred Congregation in 1921 in regard to the establishment of religious congregations. The infor-mation to be sent includes, therefore, the following: name and quall-ficati~ ns of the founder, reason for establishing the new secular insti-tute, proposed name of tb~ new institute, number and nature of works proposed as proper to the institute, means of support, list of similar~ institutes in the diocese (if any) with their proper work‚Äôs. Six copies of the constitutions must also be sent, as well as coigies of the directory and of other documents which can be of service in showing the spirit of the association. The constitutions would give information ‚Äôabout the nature of the proposed institute, its proper works, its government, common houses, classes of members, the fo~m of consecration, the bond resulting from incorporation in the insti-tute, training of the members, exercises of piety, and other relevant matter. Besides the above, any further information the Sacred Congrega-tion may require must also be sent. 20. After permission has been obtained from the Sacred Congrega-tion, what is the next step? After permission (the nihil obstat) has been obtained from the .Sacred Congregation, the local Ordinary may proceed to establish the secular institute as an ecclesiastical moral person. Official notice of 28 January, 1952 SECULAR INSTITUTES such establishment is then to be sent to the same Sacred Congrega-tion. 21. What is the juridical status of the new institute? The new secular institute is an ecclesiastical moral person of diocesan right, that is, a diocesan secular institute. 22. Could a diocesan secular institute later receive recognition as a pontifical institute? Yes, after a period of time such papal approval could be obtained. The procedure is similar to that followed for obtaining pontifical approval for a religious co.ngregation or a society of common life, with some necessary adjustments and additions. 23. Wh~t expansion is possible for a secular institute? A secular institute need not necessarily be confined to one dio- Cese
interdiocesan and even universal expansion might be possible. 24. By what laws are secular institutes governed? Secular institutes are governed by: (1) the provisions of the Provida Mater Ecclesia
(2). further provisions, interpretations, or applications of that Apbstolic Constitution made by the Sacred Con-gregation
(3) their own individual constituti6ns (which would embody the regulations of the Provida Mater Ecclesia and the further provisions of the Sacred Congregation, and make them more specific in conformity with the purpose of the institute)
(4) the common law of the Code in matters pertaining to them or to their members and which are not provided for by their own special or proper law. 25. Do the members of secular institutes consequently have the obli-gations, or share in the privileges, of religious or clerics? As a general ru.le, they do not have the obligations nor share the privileges of religious. As fa~ as the obligations and privileges of clerics are concerned, again as a general thing, members of secular in-stitutes who are clerics share those obligations and privileges, while non-clerics do not. 26. What about the novitiate, training of candidates, transfer to another institute, dismissal, suppression of an institute, and the like? A secular institute, even if only diocesan, can be suppressed by the Holy See alone. The other points could be determined in the constitutions of each institute or in future communications from the Holy See. The three existing Roman documents on secular insti-tutes do not treat these points. 29 FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious 27. Which are the three documents referred to in the preceding answer? They are: (1) the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Provida Mater Ecclesia, of February 2, 1947
(2) the Motu proprio Primo feliciter of March 12, 1948
and (3) the Instruction Cure Sanctissimus, issued by the Sacred Congregation for Religious on March 19, 1948. Up to the present, these are the main documents about secular institutes. (An English translation of these docu-ments can be found in Bouscaren‚Äôs Canon Law Digest: Supplement 1948, pages 63-86). 28. If a secular institute bad been established with the approval ot~ the Holy See prior to the Prouida Mater Ecclesia, do the prou[sions of that Apostolic Constitution apply to such an institute? The Prouida Mater Ecclesia is not retroactive in regard to those secular institutes (any association which fulfills the substantial ‚Äôre-quirements, no matter under what form it was approved) which had been previously approved by the Holy See or established after con-sultation with the Holy See, as far as their rights and obligations are concerned, but they now come under the classification of secular in-stitutes. In regard to all other associations the Provida Mater Eccle-sia does apply. 29. One [inal question. Why was the name "‚Äôsecular institutes" chosen? In the ‚Äôdeliberations preceding the official recognition of secular institutes as a new juridical state of perfectibn, various names were proposed for the new institution. Among these were: "religious sodalities," "religious unions," "societies without vows and without common life." However, in order to bring out the specific character of the new organizations, the present name, "secular institutes," was happily chosen. That ‚Äôname spotlights the fact that members of the new institutes do not live a cloistered life but live in the world and support themselves by the same occupations and employment as do other people. A concluding‚Äôremark. As the Holy Father in his Motu proprio (II) emphasized: "... in working out the general as well as the par-ticular organization of all these Institutes, this must always be kept in mind, that in all of them their special and peculiar character as secular Institutes, which is the whole reason for their existence, be clearly expressed. Nothing is to be subtracted from the full profes- 30 January, 19~2 OPEN LETTER TO SELF sion of Christian perfection, solidly based on the evangelical coun-sels, and in substance truly religious
but this perfection is to be exer-cised and professed in the world, and therefore in all things which are licit and which can be brought into conformity with the duties and works of that same perfection, it must be adapted to the secular life. "... [The] apostolate of Secular Institutes is to be faithfully practiced not only in the world, but as of the world, and therefore with avowed aims, practices, forms, and in places and circumstances corresponding t~o this secular condition" (Bouscaren, op. cir., pages 77-78). Open Letter to Sell: Everett J. Mibach, S.J. DEAR SELF: You have often asked me why it is that you make such little progress in the things of God. You complain, dear Self, that you often have clear lights and high aspirations after holiness only to have them vanish like a puff of smoke that never was or like the seed in the gospel withering away before it brings forth the promised fruit that lay pregnant in its husk. You resign yourself to a spiritual mediocrity. You leave, the "why" of it unanswered. I am afraid that you have forgotten, dear Self, a lesson that you were taught many years ago when you first set out in quest of God. -Then it was that you had explained to you the importance of t~delitg in little things.. This means simply: fidelity to grace. As you grew older, but not wiser, you noticed the "great deeds" won the applause of the day. You concentrated your efforts on performing the big things" and have neglected the little ones. Because things seem little you should not account them of no value. A man‚Äôs thumb can cover the button that will plunge a bril-liantly lighted city into aconfused darkness. A bronze door weighing several hundred tons can be easily opened because of a little pin in the hinge. Five cents worth of iodine in the thyroid gland keeps this world‚Äôs genius from being an idiot. Little things? Yes. Unimportant? Hardly. If you insist, upon spurning the seemingly little things, 31 EVERETT3. MIBACH Review t:or Religious Self, you will never attain to sanctity. Fidelity to little things is the small button that will flood the soul with the light of God‚Äôs grace. It is the small pin upon which swing the gates to our eternal glory. Self, think back to some of the little things you have neglected. What far reaching consequences that‚Äô neglect has had! Every time Christ whispers--and He does so constantly to the Christian soul-- He is offering you a greater share in His divine life. He is inviting you to a closer participation in Him. All of His invitations have written upon them R.S.V.P. R3loondez, s‚Äôil oous plait. Answer, if you please. You can throw the invitation aside unans~wered, thinking it too unimportant, too inconsequential to merit your serious atten-‚Äô tion. Nothing that Christ invites you to is unimportant. Nothing is inconsequential. Christ is God. His divine life of grace in us is the all-important thing in this life. When He offers you a greater .degree of this divine life, a closer union with Him, do you dare to say that it is unimportant, to say it is a little thing? I have told you, Self, that Christ is constantly whispering to your soul. Do you not hear Him? Do you not know what I mean by the "whisper of Christ"?Can it be that you have never, experienced it? Of course you have. Because you have told me of your aspira-tions that were still-born. He speaks daily to your intellect, to youi right judgment, to your conscience. Perhaps if we recall together a few of the neglected little ~hings you will better understand what I mean. Remember the day when everything wasgoing so well. You had been living in union with your Divine Guest, turning to Him in the quiet of your soul. And then you found yourself with some "other Christs." The conversation was of many things. Suddenly you thought about a little remark you could repeat about an "absent Christ." It was just a little thing, a word or two, nothing more. A little mocking inflection of innocent words, a little raising of the ey~- brows with a knowing nod--little things in themselves but just enough to start the ball rolling. Like a snow ball rolling downhill, it grew in size as it passed from one to another. How you blushed when you saw the consequences! Before you gave it your little push you had heard Christ‚Äôs whisper, "Don‚Äôt say that about Me. It is just a little defect and my ‚Äôother Christ‚Äô and I are sin-cerely trying to work it out. R.S.V.P." But the thing asked was too small, one or two words held back. Christ would not ask that of you, Self. So you said it because it was just a little thing. Then you went back to find again your Divine 32 Januarv, 1952 OPEN LETTER TO SELF Guest and resume your communing with Him. But He hid Himself from you. Perhaps He went to console His "absent Christ" who was wounded by your infidelity. Do you recall the night 9t supper when the potatoes were burnt? The thought occurred to you to eat them and not complain about it. That was Christ‚Äôs invitation: "My other Christs are suffering. Won‚Äôt you fill.up my sufferings in union with theirs? R.S.V.P." And you answered, "This is‚Äônothing. What a foolish thought! That is for novices. I‚Äôll do some real penance tomorrow." But you had turned your back on the invitation of the moment. Christ offered you a greater share in His life and you refused it. That unguarded look, that littl~-~oh, so little--self indulgence in curiosity, that little un-pe~: ceived concession to ease that is known only to.you and your Divine Guest, that little slurring off of modesty, that little lack of silence--and all the time you knew what Christ asked of you. With the timelessness of thought you were able to weigh in the balance what was asked of you. You chose yourself. You could have chosen Christ but you did not. It was too little. Imagine Christ‚Äôs life to be bought for a trifle and you refused to buy it! Do you still wonder at .your lack of progress? Self, I want you to stop and think of what a mistake you are making in neglecting these little things. You are stifling the growth of Christ in your soul. He is nourished by your willing acceptance of His graces. He is starved by your refusals. Nothing is too small to offer Christ when He asks for it. "When you hear His voice harden not your heart." You wonder, I know, why it is so very hard at times to give these little things, it should be easy because they are so small. Yet what a struggle it costs you. Don‚Äôt look too far for the answer, Self. It is in your very name. You bear in your-self the seeds o‚Äôf death. Your very name betrays you. I can promise you, Self, that if you take a firm resolution to be faithful to~ the !ittle things of the present moment you will make progress. Keep saying, "Yes, yes, dear Christ, this little thing" for You, and an increase of Your divine life for me. In giving You this little thing I am giving part of myself to You, my body, my judg-ment, my will. There can be no vacuum in nature, so You must fill up the void with Your sweet presence." God Bless you, Self. " Your constant companion, ME ¬Ø 33 Cont:emporary Depreclat:ion ot: t:he Religious Lit:e P. De Letter, S.J. OF LATE in many a religious institute, particularly of nuns, scarcity of vocations has provoked a veritable crisis and raised a r~roblem. The ideal of the religious qife, apparently, no longer appeals to the young. They dream of something greater and more modern, more active and efIicient, offering them a better chance of developing their tMents and personality. This practical deprecia-tion of the religious life may be due to many causes, from a worldly spirit with its desire for comfort and of the sensational, up to the specious pretence of more fruitful apostolate and more widespread action. But it is a fact that together with it, and perhaps as its par-tial if not chief cause, echoes are heard of a plain theoretical deprecia-tion of the religious state. However well-intentioned may have been the praise and commendation of another ideal, that of the secular priesthood and of‚Äô the secular apostolate, which gave occasion to this slur on the religious life, the errors involved cannot but be harmful in the long run, even to the other cherished ideal. Religious writers have not failed to take up the challenge and to defend the Catholic idea of the religious state against its detractors. It must have been gratifying to them and to all religious that recently the Holy Father himself took up their defence when he addressed the members of the First Congress for Religious, held in Rome, Novem-ber 26-December 8, 1950) The congress had expressed the wish for a papal pronouncement which would condemn the errors rampant about the state of perfection, and give clear directives for the adapta-tion of the religious life to modern times. In answer to this desire the Holy Father stated in unmistakable language the erroneous opin-ions concerning the traditional idea of the religious life. It is not out-of-place for religious to reflect awhile on the Pope‚Äôs teaching about the religious state. This reflection should increase our oivn appreciation of our vocation, and enable us t9 inspire others with the same ideal. The Holy Father deals with five main causes of the present-day 1The Latin text of this allocution is found in the Acta Apost?licae Sedis, 43 (1951), pp. 26-36. 34 DEPRECIATION OF RELIGIOUS LIFE depreciation of the religious life
the first two concern the position of religious priests
the last three concern all religious. They comprise both theoretical and practical errors, to which he opposes the tradi-tional Catholic teaching. He thus indicates both the ill and its cure. The Place of the Religious Clergg within the Church The first cause of undervaluing the religious state, particularly that of the .religious clergy as distinct from the secular clergy, ‚Äôis a wrong idea of its place within the Catholic Church. This is mainly a theoretical error but it entails practical consequences. It has been said that the hierarchy instituted by Christ is that of pope, bishop, and parish clergy. The religious state is not of divine origin
it is only an ecclesiastical institution. The religious clergy derives from and is secondary to the secular or diocesan clergy. Religious priests do not exactly fit in the degrees of the normal hierarchical order
they are practically outside the hierarchy. Proof of it is their exemp-tion from the bishops. This theoretical view naturally inclines one to underrate the state of the religious clergy and to consider them as more or less irregular. Should we not rather abide by the normal hierarchical position of the secular or diocesan clergy? A.practical consequence, logically flowing from this pr~mise, would divert aspirants to the priesthood grom the cloister and direct them to the seminary. To this partly erroneous view the Pope opposes what may be called the first papal decision in the age-long rivalry between secular and regular clergy. The Church, he says, is hierarchical by divine institution, that is, composed of clerics and laity.‚Äô Both of these, clerics and "laity, can enter the religious state which is, it is true, of ecclesiastical origin. Both religious and non-religious can be clerics and priests. But neither of the two pechliar forms of life for the, clergy that exist today, secular or regular, was established by Christ. The divine law does not give the preference to one above the other, nor exclude one or the other. Christ left to His Church the task of ¬Ø settling their mutual differences and relations, and their respective labors. Accordingly, the religious clergy is not less within ~he hierarchy than the secular clergy. Both religious and secular priests are helpers of the bishop, as determined, for the religious too, by the Code of Canon Law (626-631
454, ¬ß 5). At times, especially in the mis-sions, the whole diocesan clergy happens to be religious. This, the Pope says, is not an abnormal situation which should be ended as 35 P. DE LI~TTER Reoieu) t:or Religious soon as possible. Accordingly also, the exemption of religiou~ !s not against the divine institution of the Church nor against the general principle that priests are depqndent on the bishop. For two reasons: first, because even exempt religious depend on the local bishop to the extent determined by canon law
secondly, because they are subject, both by the ruling of the Church law and by virtue of their vow of obedience, to the pope who has immediate ordinary jurisdiction in every diocese and over all the faithful. The practical sequel of this papal teaching is self-evident: reli-gious priests are as much in place in the Church as the secular clergy. The specious pretext for depreciating the religious life of priests, as though it placed them outside the hierarchical order of the Church, vanishes into thin air. Which Is the State of Evangelical Perfection? A second cause of depreciating the religious life is a mistaken idea of the state of evangelical perfection. It is right and necessary to exalt the sanctity of the priesthood and to inculcate in all priests their need of personal holiness required by their saintly fur~ctions. But this well-meant endeavor has sprea.d the idea that the clerical state is a state of evangelical perfection. The clerical state, it has been said, of its nature and by virtue of its divine origin demands that its fol-lowers keep the evangelical counsels. If that were correct, then the clerical state would be preferable to the religious life. A state of perfection instituted by Christ Himself would be, in itself, more essential than the state of perfection which is only an ecclesiastical institution. But, the Holy Father says, it is not fully correct. Before hearing his criticism, it may be well to say that there is something true in the exalted idea of the priesthood and in its connection with the evangelical counsels. This was brought out clearly in two recent documents on the priesthod
one, the great pastoral of the late Cardinal Suhard, Priests among Men
the other, the exhortation of the Pope himself, Menti nostrae, on the sanctity of the priesthood. Both of these show that the spirit and, when pos-sible, the practice of the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chas-tity, and obedience are the ideal setting for the priestly task and for the apostolic ministry. But this does not mean that the priesth.ood itself entails the state of evangelical perfection such as is sanctioned by the three religious vows. A cleric, the Pope teaches, is not bound by divine law to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Particularly, 36 January, 1952 DEPRECIATION OF RELIGIOUS LIFE a cleric is not bound to them in the" same manner as a‚Äôreligious is bound by his public vows. A cleric may take these obligations upon himself privately and freely. Even the canonically established law of priestly celibacy for clerics of the Latin rite does not take away the essential difference between the religious and the clerical state. A cleric who is a religious professes evangelical perfection not because he is a cleric but because he is a religious. This important papal teaching means that the state of evangelical perfection is not found without the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
that these three excellent means for perfection are not just casual and more or less replaceable bY other means or counsels. The many means of sanctification or apostolate which the priestly state includes, however excellent they may be, are not sufficient to establish priests in the state of evangelical perfection. This state sup-poses the three counsels opposed to the threefold concupiscence which St. John names (I John, 2:16) as the great obstacle to charity, the substance of Christian perfection. The Pope confirms this teaching by answering the objection one could draw from the approbation he himself g~ve to secular insti-tutes. His Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater canonically ap-proved these in I947, as one form of the state of perfection. Mem-bers of these institutes, he says, are in the state of perfection, not be-cause they happen to be clerics, but because they ~ire members of an approved institute. As such they follow the three evangelical cdun-sels, even though not being religious or regulars and whilst keeping externally to the secular life. This teaching involves a grave practical cotisequence. It .means that when young men feel drawn to the state of evangelical perfec-tion, and when this attraction, after due scrutiny and probation, proves to be a genuine, divine inspiration, then it would not do just to direct them to the seminary. The Holy Father himself states that the priesthood by itself does not place one in the state of perfection. Only the ~eligious vows do this, or the vows of a society or institute approved by the Church. This teaching cuts at its root any under-valuation of the religious life considered from the viewpoint of Christian or evangelical perfection. Motives/:or Joining or Not doining the Religious Life A third symptom of contemporary undervaluing of the religiotis life is shown in the way the motives for entering the religious state are interpreted. It has b‚Äôeen said that the cloister is a haven of peace 37 P. DE LETTER Review/:or Religious for the timid who are afraid of‚Äôthe battles of life in the world--who are what is called escapists. Better pray for grace to be courageous ¬Ø and stay on in the battle. That means, in plain language, that reli-gious life is not for the courageous but for the faint-hearted. To this imputa.tion the Holy Father takes exception in strong words. Generally speaking, this alleged reason for joining the religious life is false and unjust. The religious vocation demands gre~it courage and devotedness. Proof of it is the history of the religious orders. Another proof is the work done today by religious in the missions, the ministry, hospitals, and education. Most of the religious are fighting the battles of the Church not less than priests or laymen in the world. Why then, the Pope asks, are there few vocations today? Not because of the specious reason just set aside, but because many of the young find it too hard to strip themselves of their freedom by the vow of obedience. The reason vocations are fewer is the. lack of courage to face the real sacrifice involved in the religious vows. Yet some try to justify this refusal of giving up one‚Äôs freedom on prin-ciple, a false principle which is a novel error concerning Christian perfection. A new ideal of perfection is being proposed to the young --no longer, as formerly, the sacrifice of one‚Äôs freedom for love of Christ, but a controlled freedom: restrict freedom, they say, as far as is necessary, leave it full scope as far as possible. Again, if this novel asceticism is right, then religious life is no longer the better part. But the Pope condemns it in plain terms. Not only is it problematic, he says, whether the new basis of Christian sanctity will prove as firm and fruitful in the apostolate as the old rule of obedience for love of Christ, but that concept contains a serious ~rror regarding the nature of the evangelical counsels whose excellence it slights. The new form of perfection is not of the same spiritual value as the vow of obedi-ence by which one imitates Christ who became obedient unto death. In other words, to place the new ideal of perfection on a par with the religious vows, or even to place it above the ideal of the religious life, is erroneously to depreciate the. state of evangelical perfection. Accordingly, the Holy Father concludes, it is wrong to propose only the new ideal of perfection to one who asks for advice about a vocation. When signs of a vocation to the state of perfection are present in a young person, the ancient ideal of freely immolating one‚Äôs freedom by the vow of obedience must be proposed to him. It is contrary to Catholic principles about Christian perfection to ad-vise against it. And so the depreciation of religious life, implied in 38 danuar[l, 195"2 DEPRECIATION OF RELIGIOUS LIFE the exaltation of this new ideal of freedom, rests on an erroneous understanding of evangelical perfection. Depreciation of the Contemplative ,Lille in Favor Action That Yields Results The preceding causes of undervaluing religious !ife are mainly found among non-rellgious. They are errors in the theory about the life and organization of the Church, about the perfection of Christian life, about the meaning of the evangelical counsels
the-oretical errors that dictate the practical advice to look for the better thing, not in the ranks of the world-fleers, but among the courageous warriors who stay in the thick of the world‚Äôs battles. Religious themselves easily keep free from these errors but not from the next two causes of the depreciation. The.first oLthese,.consists in. .~y..e..r~[!.ng. external activity which aims at tangible results and in undervaluing interiob-life or the con-templation of the eternal truths. Even religious do not always keep clear of this danger. Stated bluntly, the implicit objection against the religious life, which is always contemplative to a great extent, and in some cases almost exclusively so, comes to this: that contem-plation is useless, or nearly so, for practical results in the work for Christ and His Church
it is mainly a waste of time. Evidently. this grievance is rarely put in this extreme form. But something of it is at the basis of many an "actionist‚Äôs" depreciation of religious life. Not so rarely is something of it also in the mind or practice of reli-gious. Is it any wonder? Have we not been warned time and again against the modern heresy of action? Shall we be surprised that even religious who labor in the world without being of the world, imbibe something of the atmosphere in which they live, and that they too, in their active life, either in theory or in practice or in both, exalt action to the detriment of contemplation?‚Äô But on the assumption that action comes first and contemplation second it would logically follow that the state of life in which contemplation takes a large place is less excellent than a life which can be wholly given to the activity of the apostolate. This, again is wrong. The error originates, the Holy Father says, from a mentality of our day which is reflected in the latest phi-losophy, existentialism
this underrates eternal values and is all taken up with the action of the moment and its result. The right manner for the apostolate, after the example of St. Francis Xavier and St. Theresa of Lisieux, is to unite action and interior life. Religious 39 P. DE LETTER‚Äô . Review for Religious ought to grow in interior life in the measure that their action ex-pands. And pure contemplatives are not less necessary for the life of the Church, nor are they less apostolic than active religious. They are needed in the Church to ensure harmony between exterior work and the interior life. It is only when interior life penetrates into our action that reli-gious can counteract, more in deeds than in words, the modern tend-ency to laicize the works of charity. Christian charity is radically different from lay philanthropy. It is incomparably stronger be-cause it draws its spirit and inspiration from the love of Christ. This strength even non-Christians acknowledge and ‚Äôappreciate. And that is the direct answer to any depreciation of the religious life. It is up to us religious to take care of this interior inspiration of our exterior action. Unless we do this, we willy-nilly play into the hands of. those who in practice depreciate the religious state. Adaptation of the Religious Life to Modern Needs and Wags A last modern grievance against the religious life is its lack of adaptation to modern needs and ways. The Holy Father faces the objection and strikes .the right balance in answering. The objection, he says, is partly founded. It is true that adaptation is necessary, but it ought to be done in the right way and unite the old and the new. The zeal of young religious--for the objection does not only come from outside the cloister--"to be of their time" is good and legitimate to an extent. Why? Simply because religious foun~lers adapted their institutes to the needs of their own times. But the needs change with the changing times. Their present-day successors have to do as they did
they have to study and to know the aspirations and needs of their contemporaries if they wish to help them. After granting that much, the Pope insists on what must remain unchanged, on what never grows old and is ever new. Such is the patrimony of the Church. The Holy Father recalls his defence of it in his encyclical Humani generis. Another part of that inalienable patrimony is this: the purpose of .the state of perfection is to make saints. This too is ever modern. And it involves this capital truth of Christian asceticism: that the only way to perfection is self-abnegation for love of Christ: Of this eternal truth no adaptation is needed or allowed. Once these substantials are safe, other things regarding the exterior setting of religious life can and must be adapted to the circumstances of the times. Much of this, the Pope says, has been done already
and more was pla~ined in this congress. The 40 danuarg, 1952 DEPRECIATION OF RELIGIOUS LIFE adaptation concerns the w
problem. IV. Erection and Suppression of Religious Houses "In the erection and suppression of houses, were the rules of law (cc. 497, 498) and the standards of prudence observed, among which must be numbered a written contract, clear, complete and 3Cf. Bastien, Direetoire Canonique, n. 379, 3
Coronata, Institutiones Iuris Canon-ici0 I, n. 519. 4Cf. Bastien, ibid., n. 71: Sartori, 3"urisprudentiae Ec¬¢lesiasticae Eleraenta, 74. 14 January, 1952 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT drawn up in accordance with canon law and the Constitutions, with due regard to the civil law?" Pontifical 21
Diocesan, 11. This question is found in identical language in the pontifical and diocesan lists of questions. The primary insistence of the question is on the observance of the norms of canon law in the erection and sup-pression of religious houses. These norms are frequently emphasized by diocesan law in the United States, and since the matter is essen-tially a relation between dioceses and religious institutes, it will not be without profit to give a summary of diocesan law in this respect. Diocesan statutes almost universally contain the declaration that a pastor may not introduce or dismiss a religious community from the parish school, high school, or works of mercy and charity with-out the written consent of the Bishop. This consent is demanded in most cases by canon law. The admission of a religious community usually implies the canonical erection of a religious house or the opening of a filial house, and for bbth of these canon 497, ¬ß I and ¬ß 3 demand the written permission of the local Ordinary. The dis-missal of a community" usually implies the suppression of a religious house. The local Ordinary alone is competent to suppress a canoni-cally erected house of a diocesan congregation, and the superior gen-eral of a ponrificaI congregation must have the consent of the local Ordinary before suppressing such a house. The suppression of a filial house in a pontifical congregation appertains to the superior general
in a diocesan congregation both the local Ordinary and the superior general possess this right. Diocesan law frequently extends beyond the Code in this matter and demands the permission of the local Or-dinary even when the opening or suppression of a religious house is not involved, for example, when sisters go out daily from the motherhouse to teach in a parish school. The admission and espe-cially the dismissal of a religious community.is a very serious matter, and prudence seems to demand that a pastor should not even take an initial step in such a matter without consulting the Bishop. This can also be the sense of the diocesan statutes that demand both the consent and the advice of the Bishop.5 Religious superiors should be equally diligent in observing ~he rights of the Ordinary and the parish. The Code forbids the superior general of a pontifical congregation to suppress a house without the consent of the local Ordinary. Before withdrawing from any work religious should inform the Ordinary in proper time, that he may make other provision for the work. One diocese demands that tell- SGreen Bay, n. 73
Pittsburgh, n. 63. 15 ,JOSEPH F: GAI~LEN Ret~iew t~or Religions gious superiors give a year‚Äôs notice before withdrawing from a parish.6 The difficulties‚Äô that can occur in this and similar matters manifest the necessity of a written and detailed contract between the diocese and the religious institute. Such a contract is either inculcated or presumed in some diocesan statutes,7 and the present question makes it also a directive of the Holy See. V. Presidencg of the General Chapter "Who presided at the Chapter: a) In the election of the Superior General? b) in the other elections and in the business meetings." Pontifical, 29
Diocesan, 20. "Who presided at the Chapter of election?" Independent Monas-teries, I 1. Canon 506, ¬ß z~ reads: "In congregations of:women the Ordi-nary of the place in which the election is held shall preside, either in person or.by delegate at the election of the superioress general...". A religious congregation is an institute in which all the members should and do take only simple, not solemn, .vows. The canon cited above refers to all congregations of religious women, whether pontifical or-diocesan. The canon confers on the Ordinary of the diocese in which the election is held the right and the duty of presiding at the election of the superioress general. The Code of Canon Law gives the local Ordinary no right of .presiding at the election of the other general officials, who are ordi-narily the four general councillors, the secretary general, and the bur-sar general, or at the chapter of affairs. If there is no declaration of the constitutions, n6 custom or usage to the contrary, it is certain that this presidency applies solely to the newly elected mother gen-eral. Three authors, Vermeersch,8 Schaefer? and Berutti?¬∞ hold that the local Ordinary can have the right of presiding at the election of the general officials and at the chapter of affairs from a prescription of the particular constitutions, and Vermeersch and Schaefer admit also custom or usage as a foundation of the same right. It cannot be said that this opinion is certainly false, but the question is one that may 6Lincoln, 24. ~Nashville, n. 170
San Francisco, 125. 8Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome Iuris Canonici, I, n. 626. 9Schaefer, ibid., n. 509. 10Berutti, De Religiosis, 60. 16 January, 195Z QUINQUENNIAL REPORT be authoritatively settled by the Holy See after receiving th~ answers to the new lists of questions. Bastien aptly remarks that such a presidency is in conformity neither with the Code nor with the prac-tice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious in approving the consti-tutions of pontifical congregations, aiad Vermeersch agrees with the latter observation.11 A general chapter is something.that by its na-ture appertains to internal government. Therefore, external author-ity should have only that part in the general chapter that is express~ly given to it by the positive law of the Code. There is no distinction. in this matter between pontifical and diocesan congregations. The Code makes no such distinction, and it is an admitted principle that" in legal articles diocesan constitutions should be the same as pon-tifical, except in those matters in which the Code or the practice of the Holy See demands a distinction. Canon 506, ¬ß 2 reads: "In the monasteries of nuns, the assem-blies for the election, of the su~erioress shall be presided over, with-out however entering the cloister, by the local Ordinary or his dele-gate, with two priests as tellers, if the nuns are subject to the Ordi-nary: if not, by the regular superior
but even in this case the Ordi-nary should be duly informed of. the day and hour of the election, at which he may assist, either in person or by a delegate, with the regu-lar superior, and, if he assists, he presides." The canon is thus con-cerned with the presidency and the tellers at the election of the supe-rioress in a monastery of nuns, whether the vows of the nuns are actually solemn or simple. If the nuns aie not s~bject to regulars, this presidency appertains to the Ordinary .of the diocese in which the monastery is situated
if the nuns are subject to regulars, the same Ordinary presides if he attends
otherwise the regular superior is the president. Whoever actually presides also chooses two priests as tellers, neither of whom may be the ordinary confessor of the mon-astery. 12 This canon also is concerned only with the election of the superioress and not with the president and the tellers at the election of other officials or at the chapter ofoaffairs of the monastery. The two priests as tellers is something distinctive of institutes of nuns. In congregations of religious women the Code itself (cc. 507, .¬ß 1
171, ¬ß 1) prescribes that the tellers must be members of the chapter and thus sisters. Any priest who accompanies the presiding local Ordinary or his d~legate may be admitted only as an attendant llBastien, ibid., 172, note 1
Vermeersch-Creusen, loc. cit. 12Cf. Berutti, ibid., 59. 17 WINFRID HERBST Revietu [or Religious or mere spectator. He is no~ permitted to take any active part in the election
such as to collect, count, or examine the ballots, to compute or record the votes.1~ I believe a fairly serious reason should exist for the admission of such priests. Chapters of their very nature apper-tain to the internal government of the institute. The unofficial at-tendance of persons who are not members of an institute at a chapter is thus just as foreign as would be their presence at a meeting of a local, provincial,, or general council of the institute. Matters that constitute natural secrets occur of necessity at every election, for ex-ample, the number of ballots and the number of votes received by various candidates in a particular election.14 A justifying reason should exist for permitting unofficial persons to acquire this knowl-edge. Religious institutes are also justifiably sensitive of the protec-tion of the secrecy of their chapters, which is manifested by the fact that many constitutions explicitly oblige the capitulars to secrecy. In some orders of nuns of simple ~ows the Holy See has approved the prescription of the constitutions that two nuns are to be, the tellers, is Pert:ec!: elrr-love Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. y~ou have been exhorted many times and in many different ways to heap up treasures for heaven, to use each moment of every day in order to gain an ever higher place in heaven, to keep adding to your store of sanctifying grace because your degree of glory in heaven will be determined by the amount of sanctifying grace you have when you die. And at times you have been puzzled, wondering whether all such striving isn‚Äôt rather selfish. And the other day you were told by someone that this is good selfishness, that it is the self-love of hope. You were assured that it is perfectly all right to love God and do good in order to gain a high place in heaven. That indeed, so you were told, is Catholic doctrine. It is. 13Normae Secundum Quas S. Congr. Episcoporum et Regularium Procedere Solet in Approbandis Novis Institutis Votorum Simplicium, 28 iun. 1901, n. 224. 14Cf. Bastien, ibid., n. 253, 1, and note 5
Vermeetsch-Cteusen, ibid., n. 286. ~SUrsuline Nuns of the Congregation of Paris, Pittsburgh and Brown County, Ohio, aa, 215-217. 18 danuarq, 1952 PERFECT SELF-LOVE Protestants have denied the proposition that we are permitted to act in view of the rewards God promises us. But such a denial is contary to the express teachings of the Church. The Council of Trent solemnly states: "If any one says that the just ought not for their good works done in God to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God...
let him be anathema." And again: "If any one says that the justified man sins when he performs good" works with a view to an eternal recompense
let him be anathema." (Sess. 6, can. 26 and 31.) Anathema is a solemn ban or curse pro-" nounced by ecclesiastical authority. It is a consoling thought that we can always add to our future glory in heaven while we are still on earth. And it is interesting to reflect wherein this increase of glory of one blessed soul above another consists. Of course, we know that as far as the substance of happi-ness is concerned, it is the same for all the elect. The essential hap-piness of heaven is the beatific vision, the happy-making sight of God. Still there is a difference of degree according to the difference of merit. This difference, however, does not cause jealousy, because each one knows that a higher degree of glory than he enjoys would not be becoming or suitable for him. The consoling truth is that here on earth, during the time of merit, each one can make his future glory always‚Äô greater and greater. Now, since the least degree of heavenly glory is an almost infinite good, what a great good must not be a still higher and higher degree of that glory! And now we can always add to our future glory if we but wish, though many neglect that, and most people do not even think of it. Would that they had more selfishness in this regard, more of the self-love of Christian hope. Would that they might be prevailed upon to excel in prayer and good works proptec retribu-tionern, because of the reward. You ask wherein this higher degree of glory in heaven consists. It consists in a clearer vision of God
in greater joy. Wherefore, how grateful you must be to God, Who preserves you that you may earn more glory in heaven. What a good use you ought to make of time, taking care to be always in sanctifying grace and living in union with God through prayer and the good intention in whatsoever you do. Reflect a little more upon this good seIf-love, this increasing of your merits and consequently of heavenly glory. God does not re- 19 WINFR1D HERBST Reoiew /or Religious quire anything extraordinary of you in order to gain heaven. He ac-cepts your daily and even in themselves trivial acts as meritorious of glory, if you do them in the state of grace and for Him, that is, for God‚Äôs sake, with a good intention, out of love for God. God is so generous that He has ordained that your supernaturally good works cannot merit anything but grace and heavenly glory. Moreover, you cannot give this merit away to others, as you can the satisfac-tory value of all your good works
indeed, the very giving away of the satisfactory value in favor of the poor souls, for example, is a good work that again gives you an increase of merit which you can-not give away. And here is another striking thought. It is a very probable view of theologians that your good works continually in-crease in merit mbre and more according to the measure of the increase and augmentation of sanctifying grace. The more sanctifying grace you possess when doing good, the greater is your power of meriting just then. How is‚Äôthis to be explained, you ask. The answer is simp.le enough. The higher the degree of grace we have, the more we please God
and the more we please God, the nobler, the more agreeable our actions are to Him and, therefore, the more meritorious. Hence it is that living a more fully supernatural life, having a higher degree of grace, the quality of our‚Äô actions will be better and deserving of a greater reward. It is an article of faith that good works merit an increase in sanctifying grace and eternal life. Therefore, by multiplying your meritorious acts you daily increase your stock of grace. This increased stock Of grace enables you to put more love into your good works and these thereby have more efficacy to further the growth of your spiritual life and to obtain still more merit.. According to the degree . of grace does merit increase
and the just man through his merits can increase his amount of grace. "He that is justified, let him be justified still," says Holy Writ. Every good work done in the state of grace can merit an increase of sanctifying grace. Even in the reception of the sacraments, which give grac~ automatically, of themselves, every second of devout preparation and thanksgivirig, being a good work, merits an increase of sanctifying grace, over and above that given by the sacraments of themselves. Every pious ejaculatory prayer, every devout aspiration, every rosary, every such ~bing done in the grace of God, can heap up treasures in heaven. What a goodkind of self-love it will be i~ you devote your whole 2O danuar~t, 1952 PERFECT SELF-LOVE attention to this business of gaining heaven--and that, right now, since this day may be your last. Yes, today at least-you will labor in earnest. All your thoughts, words, and daily" duties shall be directed to heaven by a good intention
heaven must spur you on to true devotion and to the frequent .practice of virtue
heaven must make you humble, patient in adversity, constant in temptation, until you possess at last for all eternity‚Äôas an exceedingly great reward for your labor that happiness which is now shown you afar off by the light of faith. Remember that the essential j6y of heaxieh is :t.he beatific vision, the happy-making sight of God. After this life,, if you die in sanc-tifying grace, you shall by a wonder of Go~t‚Äô~s ~omnipotence, directly and without intermediary see God, which means to know Him with your intelligence, to understand God according to your degree of glory. You shall see God, not merely in the sense of looking at Him, for one only looks at an outside object, but in the sense that God shall come into immediate contact Mth our mind, with nothing between us and Him. Only God Himself could ever make us eter-nally happy. When, therefore, you work for heaven you are striving to attain God, your first Beginning and your last End. Thus striving to attain to God is self-love. It is good love of self. It really is the keeping of the great commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!" Here the Savior gives you the measure of the love of the neighbor, tells you how much to love him. That measure is the love of self. Remember that there is indeed a beautiful and highly virtuous self-love. Recall that it is the heresy of the Quieti~ts to hold, among other errors, "that no form or act of self-love, however spiritual and however fully referred to God, can at all befit a person eiatered upon the way of perfectlon. Remember that there is the love of Christian h6pe. But there is a higher self-love than that, a self-love that looks to our own interests, indeed, even to our own highest possible interests. But it looks to our interests out of the purest and most perfect love of God. We can loire ourselves for the sake of God Himself alone. Just suppose that you are a poor sinner. It seems that there are but. few mortals who have not offended God grievously at some time or other. Suppose you are such a one as has grievously offended Him. And suppose that you are a repentant sinner, t15at you are working hard for heaven. By prayer and good works you seek an ever higher degree of bliss and glory for yourself in the dearer vision and closer 21 WINFRID HERBST Review/or Religious union with your Creator and Father and Savior and Sanctifier for all eternity in heaven. You are constantly thinking ot: greater merit as you strive for higher virtue, and closer Chri~tlikeness. But in thus striving for your personal happiness in goodness here on earth and the highest.possible deli~ghts in heaven hereafter, your motive is not any good or happiness merely as your own, praiseworthy though that motive is. Your motive is really the greatest honor and glory of God your Father in heaven. How is this to be understood? You try to heap up treasures for heaven, to get an ever higher place in heaven, because of your loving conviction that your very presence there, and especially your greater bliss and glory, will be in the eyes of all the saints and angels throughout eternity an exceptionally marvelous manifestation of the infinite power and the incomprehensible mercy and goodness of the incarnate Son of God crucified for you, a poor sinner. "He loved me and delivered Himself for me," you will be proclaiming by your very bliss in heaven. Thus you will be loving and praising and glo-rifying Him in return for ever and ever. And the greater the degree of your glory, the greater will be your eternal praise of God. For all eternity your happiness will be a most evident proof and exhibition to all heaven of the absolutely pure and ‚Äôunselfish love of the infinite, eternal charity burning for you in the bosom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. In still other words, you will be casting down your heavenly crown before the Triune God. As we read in the Apocalypse: "And they do not rest day and night, saying, ‚ÄôHoly, holy, holy, the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is coming.‚Äô And when those living creatures give glory and honor and benediction to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before him who sits upon the throne, and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‚ÄôWorthy art thou, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power
for thou hast created all things, and because of thy will they existed, and were created.‚Äô " (Apoc. 4:8-11.) The above, of course, suggests the highest perfection of self-love. It may seem hard to understand and practice such perfect self-love. Then you can at least practice a less perfect, though good, self-love. Keep the divine law of self-love. Live a virtuous Christian life, seeking to become ever more and more conformable to the Savior. 22 PERFECT SELF-LOVE Be Christlike in your goodness. Look forward with joy to that reward which he has promised to those who serve Him faithfully and who die in His love and grace. To repeat, if you strive for the highest possible place in heaven within your reach merely because of your own bliss and joy iri:, the vision and possession of God, you do well
for the Church teaches that you are permitted to act with a view of the rewards God prom-ises us. That would be good, though rather narrow, self-love. But it is much better, self-19ve, the very perfection of it indeed, if you keep thinking that the higher your place and glory in heaven, the more will all the angels and saints wonder that you ever got to heaven at all, not to mention such heights of glory and bliss, and the more they will praise God for it. Keep thinking that for all eternity they, and you too, will be "admiring and praising the infinite power, mercy, and love of God, which raised you from your nothingness--to which you had added the sinfulness that is less and worse than nothingness--to the glory of he~ven and even to such a high degree and place of everlasting bliss. And you want your God to be eternally praised because of your glorious reward. That is why you strive for it. Behold the perfection of self-love! It is blended with the perfect love of God-- loving God for His own sake, because He is the highest, most perfect, and most amiable Good. If you understand this perfect self-love, you will be filled with an ardent desire to attain it. And if your desire were put into weak words it would be a prayer for the perfection of self-love, as follows: O my God, let me daily, even hourly, indeed at all times strive sensibly to grow in virtue, to increase in sanctifying grace, knowing that my place in heaven will be determined by the amount of sancti-fying grace I have when I die. Let me so live that I may merit a high place in heaven, in order that Thou, my Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier mayest receive from me and from all the.angels and s~ints of heaven for all eternity the greatest everlasting admiration and praise in return for the mercy and love which Thou hast expended upon me by creating me, redeeming me through Jesus Christ Thy Son, and sanctifying me through the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. Let them all look upon my place in heaven and cry out: "He that is mighty has done great things to this soul and holy is His name!" O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and understanding, help me to 23 FRANCIS N. KORTH realize that, to be perfect, my interest in my eternal happiness and glory in heaven, my interest in higher m.erits, higher degrees of glory, higher bliss in heaven must all grow out of and be directed to the greater honor and glory of God. This I can only do if I have a pro-foundly humble estimate of myself, if I realize that of myself I am nothing and that Thou art "my God and my all." O Mary, my Queen and my Mother, that perfection of self-love was thine, as we see from the Magnificat, in which thou didst refer all to God. May it be also mine. Help me to realize that to be truly Christlike my love of "self must be God-centered, that it must be‚Äô directly and intentionally perfect love of God. Help me, dearest Mother, to live so that both here on earth in time and in heaven for all eternity I may look up and see, no longer me, but only God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. oAmen. Secular Institutes: Juridical Nature Francis N. Korth, S.J. ~N A PREVIOUS ARTICLE some historical notes on secular in-stitutes were offered. Now let us glance at the juridical structure ¬Ø of these institutes. I shall follow the catechetical form of presen-tation because it might be better suited to our purposes. I. What are "‚Äôsecular institutes"? "Secular institutes" are a new juridical institution, recently recognized officially as a component of the juridical state of perfec-tion to-be-acquired in the Church. In brief, secular institutes are a new juridical state of perfection. 2. Does a state of perfection implg that the individuals in that state are perfect? No, not necessarily so. There is a difference between ~i state of perfection and the moral perfection or holiness of a person in that state. Just as individuals in the world, in societies of common life, or in religious institutes are striving after personal holiness or moral perfection, so too do members of secular institutes. But a juridical slate of perfection does ‚Äônot necessarily imply that persons in that 24 Januarg, 1952 SECULAR INSTITUTES state have already acquired moral perfection
perhaps so, perhaps not. Of itself, a juridical state says nothing about the personal sanctity of individuals in that state. 3. Wh~/ then are secular institutes called a state of perfection? Secular institutes are now recognized by the Church as a state of perfection because their members must bind themselves in a stable manner to the practice of the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. 4. How do secular institutes differ from religious institutes? The essential difference lies in this point. Religious take public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Members of secular insti-tutes do not take those vows of the religious state but similar vows, oaths, promises, or consecrations. They likewise differ in the fact that religious live a common life in the sense of sharing the same board and roof under the direction of common superiors, while members of secular institutes for the most part do not lead such a common life. 5. Are societies of common life the same as secular institutes? Obviously not, since secular institutes do not have common life or at least not the canonical common life, while societies of common life imitate religious in that respect. Thus we arrive at a descriptive definition ~f a secular institute. A secular institute is the juridical state of perfection in which the members, for the purpose of acquiring Christian perfection a‚Äônd of exercising the apostolate, bind themselves to the practice o~ the evan-gelical counsels in the world, that is, to the practice of evangelical poverty, chastity, and obedience by a vow, oath, promise, or special consecration accdrding to the provisions of their proper constitutions and under the direction of common superiors, but often for the most part without leading a common life. 6. Consequent upon the definition proposed
what are the main re-quirements of a secular institute? The main requirements of a secular institute can be grouped under three headings: (1) profession or full consecration to a life of perfection, (2) membership in the institute with its concomitant bond, (3) common house Or houses (even though common life for the most part is not required). 7. What is the nature of the profession or consecration to a life of perfection ? The profession or consecration is threefold. Besides the exercises 25 FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religiou~ of piety and self-denial common to all who aim at perfection, this profession embodies: (1) a vow or promise of poverty which regu-lates the use of temporal goods
(2) a vow, oath, or consecration of celibacy and perfect chastity
(3) a vow or promise of obedience by which the individual gives himself entirely to God and to the works proper to the institute under the guidance of superiors. Each of the above is made according to the constitutions of the particular insti-tute. 8. Does an~t obligation in conscience arise from these vows, oaths, promises, or consecrations? Yes, an obligation binding in conscience does result. The obli-gation would come from the virtue of religion, or from justice or. fidelity, as the case may be. (See the individual constitutions and the particular formulas of profession.) 9. ]n regard to the second requirement, how is incorporation into an institute effected ? An applicant is incorporated into a secular institute by profession. 10. What is the nature of the bond resulting from profession? By profession a stable, mutual and complete bond arises between the institute and the member making the profession. 11. Why is the bond stable? The bond is s~abte because the profession is either perpetual (taken once for all), or temporar~r (taken for a definite period but with the oMigation of renewal at the end of that period). It might be well to note, in passing, that even‚Äôif the profession is temporary, the member should have the intention of remaining per-manently in the institute if nothing calls him away, merely renewing his profession from time to time as required. If that were not the case, the bond would seem to lack stability. Stability of the bond also demands that the institute be not free to dismiss a member arbi-trarily but only for reasons permitted by law. 12. In what sense is the bond mutual and complete? The bond is mutual and complete in the sense that the individual gives himself entirely to the institute, and the institute in turn takes care of its member by providing for his spiritual needs and, if neces-sary, also for his temporal wants. There is some flexibility in the application of this point
the constitutions will determine the matter more fully. 13. As to the third requirement, why are common houses needed for secular institutes? 26 danuarg, 1952 SECULAR INSTITUTES At first glance it might seem strange to list "common houses" as a requirement of secular institutes which in general have as one of their distinguishing characteristics the lack of common life for their members. But the answer is rather simple. For proper functioning, an organization needs headquarters. In a secular institute a common or central house is to serve as the seat of th~ supreme or regional gov-ernment o1~ the institute and to be the dwelling-place of the superiors. Likewise some common house (or houses) is necessary for training prospective members, for conducting spiritual exercises for members, for meetings and gatherings, for taking care of sick and aged mem-bers, for providing for those who have lost their employment or have no means of taking care of themselves, or for assisting members in moral danger (such as removing them from an occasion of sin). 14. Is a common house necessar!t before a secular instituie could be established? Even though a common house is listed as one of the requirements of a secular institute, in practice it seems that permission can be ob-tained to establish a secular institute although at the time a common house is lacking, provided that sufficient assurance is had that such a development will take place. However, the force of this requirement is not too clear. 15. What is the procedure for establishing a secular institute? The preliminary pattern is as follows. A group of the devout faithful (lay people or clerics) function for some time as a loosely-knit organization with a common purpose (apostolic, charitable, pious). Gradually the organization develops into some form of canonical pious association of the faithful, such as a pious union, sodality, confraternity. During this time " . . . vigilant care must be exercised to see that nothing be permitted to these associations, either internally or externally, which is beyond their present condition and seems to belong specifically to secular institutes. Those things espe-cially should be avoided which, in case the permission to establish the association as a secular institute is later refused, could not easily be taken away or undone and would seem to exert a sort of pressure on superiors to make them grant approval outright or too easily" (Instruction of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, March 19, L948, n. 6). After the association has proved itself sustaining and capable of carrying out its purpose and of living up to the require-ments of a secular institute, application should be made to Rom
. I~natius. Her. own words: "I knew that reflection clarified the mind." Al-though unaware of the manner of the op.erations of the Holy Spirit, I realized from time to time that certain thoughts stood out very clearly among others in a Scripture text or a rule, or persuaded me very gently to a higher way of action. Yet something, on my part, seemed deficient. I Wrestled again with the analysis, of my medita-tion, to admit tO myself tha~ I was using ‚Äôthe three powers of my soul‚Äô for a meditation, and my senses for the active contemplations of the mysteries of Christ, but I was not making much of the col-loquy. The next day I wrestled again with the though~t content. Then I put down reasoning, put away reflection, and just knelt before God waiting for a thought to come spontaneously. No books ever printed words like those I spoke to God, but I knew I shouId certain~y have spoken them to those I loved~~ my people, my friends-- so why not to God, the Supreme Being? The official Our Father sealed my prayer and obtained its last blessing. "Soon I realized that it was the colloquy that made the difference in my morning prayer. I had tasted~something I had never experi-- ended before. God had made me understand the words of the psalm: ‚Äô0 taste and see that the Lord is sweet.‚Äô " Prayer unites us to God. We must keep that union through a busy day. It may be kept active through the day by ejaculations-- 225 I~oMMuNICATIONS "‚Äô ~‚Äô "‚Äô ~ ,.~,! ,. grains:of, incense again, ~thrown~on¬∞.the.,fir~ dr: chari~y in/the s0ul‚Äô. Ejadulations first,in, h‚Äô0n6r 6f 7God.,¬∞ Bht,~the .background ‚Äôof the enti[e:mind, too,.m.ust‚Äôbe kept fqr God,, filled tho.ugh it mu.st.often be with.:a.,t:hous.and ..t_hings call.e~t for. by .duty: ~ An-intruder. ,of high r.ank: is ,the gra~tification, of curiosity.¬Ø Here iLmust be noted,that $3: Ignatius will not dispense from the examens
of his daily program of prayer.. It is .the moment‚Äô of detecting intruders into God‚Äôs kingdom and banishing them,, and Of resolving ~o make ~room for His‚Äôallies, one of whiqh is spir4tual readigg. Without this first step in prayer, aqcording to St. Bernard, we~ cannot‚Äôexpec[ t~he second that rest.s upgn it meditatio.n. In o_ur s.torehouse of the mind, we should keep~ not only choice thoughts from this reading, but also tidbits from conferences heard, direction given-,, holy conversations held. And regarding these, is there any-thing that mak~so earth more like heaven than conv.ersations about God and His ways? A~suredly, the mind must be kept free for God. Clogged with useless matter, it is not receptiv.e when‚Äôthe hour comes for morn.ing prayer, to the things of heaven, nor is it, if the body is ~rah‚Äôted all its desires during" the day and indulged in every whim. HOwever. it may happen that even with the utmost care expended !n~ p~p~ratio.n,, our morning prayer can seem a failure. St. Paul ~¬¢:ogni.~ed_sucl~‚Äôa situation: "To will is present‚Äôwith me: but to accbmplish that ~hich is good I find‚Äô not.", Again, concentration of in!fi‚Äô~:s~em~ i
np~ssible. I~ may be ~s. Our Lord said of confusion of another kind, An enemy hath done thts. Or. the mind seems _‚Äô~o~.
o.. . I~ . . ." , ¬Ø ~, . -, inoperative. , If the trouble continues for an apprectable txme, the remedy wdl come w~th a d~rector s counsel. Hts mtssxon an~ studtes prep~ire him to disc.ern ,wheth,er the s~tuation at‚Äôhand ts sloth or "the prayer of faith." the means of sanctifitatio9 of So ,many, saints: :- Moreovdr,,it is .well to re~alI, that~artists work years before they mas.tqr ,,their art. And,-,~he i~sue of ~hei~ lifework is so precarious. But ~e.~vho are called by God Himself to a life of pra, y~r know that while He will never fail to i~elp‚Äôus, Who "works both to will and accomplish" in us. we can never fail if we do our part. Whether or n.dt"Go~l calls us_f~om discursive to¬∞higfi~.r_forms~of prayer, we shall not .be h~i~led in persevering, however little or great the relish-our pFaydi: may a~ord us: Fo.r. linked with the Hbl‚Äôy: Sacrifice of the Mass, it will be acceptable unto‚ÄôGo~l‚Äôs praise‚Äôand glory, to out‚Äôown ~obd‚Äô.afid that 6f the entire~ Church.‚Äô " .-~" ..: ~ - - 226 Tt e ,.Will t:6, Perrrecfion ‚Äô " ~AugustineKlraas: S.J. ~IV]HILE recupera, tmg at hls ancestral castle of Loyola ~ from a serious wound received in the battle of Pam-o ploga, Ignatius, to "while .aw~r the lag~iqg hours, reluctantly took to red&rig the lives of the saints. Grace was at x~ork in his s0ul as he b~an to rep~eat over andover to himself: "Suppose I should do. what Saint Francis did, and what Saint Dominic did? Shint Dominic did it, I should do it too
Saint Francis did it, I should do it too." The will to pe_rf~&ioq, already s~t~ong at the beginn~ing of h!s. cgnv.ersi0.h,,.Ignatitis fostered~and de~elbped throughout¬∞ his subsequent life
unfalteringly h~ put it into practice.~ It b~tlght him.t9 th‚Äôe 16fty heights" of ~anctity, to the summit of spiritual perfe~ctign, to fellowship with Franc‚Äôis, Dgminic, and man,.y ~ore. ~" "¬∞ "8piritudl p~rfectioti is‚Äôa‚Äô:rfiatte~bf co-‚Äô6perating with" the. graee of G6d Whi&i is~alW~ly~ given hbundantl 9 when. asked for in hOmble prayer. We[wh6:pro~ess to sei~k‚Äôp{~ife&ioh ari~ somewtJat like"gai~den plants that receive glorious ~un= light ~ind reftesfiing‚Äô&v~ from ~ibove. Biai~ these gra~ious gifts Of G6dare‚Äôn6t enough~foiSlift! and growth to matu‚Äôr- .ity. The robts‚Äôdf the‚Äô~i~lant ~ust‚Äô also go down ~eeP irito the soil to draw from it adequate nourishme‚Äônt. That is the constant co-operation witch grace demands of us, and to achieve it, a strong initial impulse must be given and sus-tained. This ‚Äôstartirig~ p{ash that. goes on:" developi.ng momeritum is the ‚Äô~ill~t~o~perfection.~ W~ must will, we m~i~t eaffiesti~
d&ir~i .[w~m.ust~ be ~letermined that at an‚Äô~r 0~t we ~a~e going"t8 accumhi~it4 al‚Äôl the ~a‚Äônctifying grace we 227 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieu~ [or Religious can and also‚Äôacquire the highest activity of the love of God and the nelghbor~ posslble.ln ,the particular circumstances of nature and grace allotted to each one individually by an all-wise Providence. The will to perfection is not something physical, as the knit brow, grim jaw, and taut herves of certain mistaken young religious would have us believe
it is not sentiment or feeling though these are frequently present as by-products
it is essentially something in the spiritual nature of man: in his mind which evaluates perfection as a very great good, and above all in his spiritual will. It is not a mere velleity, a "Lord, Lord . . " and nothing more, a willing and no doing
rather it is an effective willing, a resolve that ei~ds in action. Father Le Gaudier likens per-sons who merely will and do not act to ostriches, which sometimes flap their wings ostentatiously as though about to fly away into the air. But nothing.happens, nothing ever happens: the silly birds remain grounded. Out Lord said to the rich young man, "If thou u
ilt be perfect..." (Matthew 19:21 ) .~ The first thing to do then is to will perfection, and-to keep on willing it ever more and more, and then to follow through with steadfast, pru-dent action every day. That is precisely what the young man in the Gospel was not prepared to do. He just did n~t have the efficacious will to perfection
hence he did not co-operate with the special grace given him, and conse-quently he missed his great chance, his call to close intimacy with the Savior. II Holy Scripture in many places recommends the will to perfection indirectly, since it is .included in the prayers
aspirations, and good deeds of all God‚Äôs holy ones. But also directly, especially in David‚Äôs Psalms: "My soul bath 228 J-l~t, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION cove~ed to long for thy justificationsat all times" (Psalm 118). "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water
so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God..." (Psalm 41). Did not Solomon receive spiritual wisdom mainly because of his ardent desires for it (Wisdom 7:7)? The prophet Daniel was the "man of desires" of the Old Testament (Daniel 9:23), not so much perhaps because he was beloved of God, but because he wanted so earnestly that God‚Äôs glory be revealed fully in himself and in others. It can rightly be said that the whole of the Old Testament was one great longing for perfection, since it was a longing for Christ, the Savior, the source and model of all spiritual perfection. This yearning for the more perfect life is the insistent motif of the Church‚Äôs magnificent Advent liturgy. The New Testament confirms the old. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justness, for they shall have their fill" (Matthew 5:6). "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and let him drink" (John 7:37). And Mary. said: "He hath filled the hungry with good things ¬Ø . ." (Luke 1:53). Who is the "man of desires" of the New Testament? I thinlY it is St. Paul, that courageous athlete of Christ, and it is manifested on almost every page of his Epistles, for example (Philippians 3: 12-14): Not that I have already secured this, or am already made perfect. Rather I press on, in the hope that I may lay hold of that for which Christ hath laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not. count myself ~o have laid hold of it already. Yet one thing I do
I forget what is behind, and strain forward to what is before, and press on towards the goal, to gain the reward of God‚Äôs heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Like a runner in a close race Paul "strains forward" to reach the goal of his whole Christian life, world, and suffering. Saint John Chrysostom, commenting on this text, says that not the least of the runner‚Äôs straining forward is his 229 AUGUSTINE KL/kAS ,‚Äô ‚Äô ,~ Review for :Religious will: ~and dete~niination to reach the‚Äôgoal, in this case, the goal .of spiritual perfection.
Saint Augustine shrewdly remarks that the sum-total of Christian.life is fundamen-tally a matter of holy desires for advancement in perfection: The early ,religious of the primitive deserts were wont to have the aspirant to perfection repeat over and over to him-. self, day and night, for weeks on end this little question: "Why did you come here?" This is what Sai:nt Bernard says (Epistle 341): Did you ever meet with an ambitious man, who, after attaining to one dignity, did not hanker after one of a higher grade? . . . What shall I say of the covetous, are they not ever thirsting after increase of gain? Are dissipated men ever sated with their illicit sex-pleasures? Do not the vainglorious ever go in quest of new honors? If, therefore, the desire of persons who are bent on obtaining the trifles of earth 13e thus insatiable, should we not blush to be less eager after spiritual goods, less eager after perfection? In another letter (Epistle 253) he gives a paradoxical definition: "True perfectidn consists in an unrelenting de-sire of it and assiduous effort to achieve it." Saint Thomas Aquinas‚Äô sister, who was a religious, once asked him what she must do to reach perfection. "You must will it," replied the l(arned Doctor of the Church. When with feminine insistence she pressed him with further detailed questions, his only answer was: "You muse will it." And in the Summa (I,.q. 12, a. 6), does he not teach that "desires predispose and render a person apt to receive what he desires"? He writes in his commentary on the text of St.-Matthew (5:6) : " "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after jti~tice: for they shall have their fill.‚Äô" The Lord wishes us to thirst fif‚Äôter ~that justice which consists in rendering to every man arid to God first of all what is his due. He wishes us never to be satiated on earth.., but rather that our desire,s, bould grow Mw.ays .... Blessed are they that bare this insatiable ,desire. , 230 July, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION . Such-is the~..unanim6us verdict~ of the spiritual masters, put into.practice by ~/11 the saints, who valued it highly and even considered it a necessity for advancemqnt~ along the path to perfection
" Let us close this testimony with that remarkable psychologist0 Saint Teresa of Avila
who writes in her Autobiographtj (Chapter 13) : We must have great confidence, for it is most important that we should ngt cramp our good desires, but should believe that, with God‚Äôs help, if we make continual efforts to do so, we shall attain, though perhaps not at once, to that which many saints have reached through His favor. If they had never resolved to desire to attain this and to carry ~heir desires continually into effect, they‚Äô would never have risen to ashigh a state as they did. Against this solid teaching of tradition and experience stands alone the seventeenth century Spanish Quietist, Molinos, who was condemned by Pope Innocent XI for instructing his followers to have ."no desire for their own perfection, nor for virtues, nor for their own sanctity .... " III There are certain qualities which the will to perfection shpuld possess. First of all, it-must be supernaturally mo.tivated. God‚Äôs glory, our own sanctification, the spir-ithal good of the neighbor, these must b.e.the fundamental reasons why we desire to be more perfect in the spiritual lii~e. All-too-human ambition and foolish .vanity are to be excluded. However, a reasonable desire to succeed, to win the esteem of our fellow-religious, to be in the good graces of superiors, and other such merely natural motives, may be profitably utilized in a supplementary way: but the main stress must always be on supernatural motives if our desire for perfection is to be solid and free from illusions. Then it is more apt to be prudent, humble, apd sincere. It must, too, be all-embracing, like perfection itself. It has to include great things and small, hard things and easy, 231 AUGUSTINE KLAAS " Review for "Religio~is the pleasant and the pain‚Äôful
with a special inclination toward the more difficult, and even the heroic, seeing that our actions generally fall short of our laudable ideals. Hence, we may not pick and choose, ~desiring to be perfect in prayer but not in obedience, perfect in our work but not in our play, perfect in pursuing the hobbies andside issues of life we love so much but not in doing our main tasks, perfect in dealing with externs but not with our fellow religious. The list could be considerably lengthened. At the same time, it must be practical, that is, adapted to our particular condition and state of life, in accord with bodily health, mental capacity, and spiritual strength. The universality of our desire for perfection is thus limited, made definite, concretized by our practicality. A teaching religious may have a strong desire to make a holy pilgrim-age on foot to ,Jerusalem--and no doubt his students would approve it, too~but such a desire is normally out of place, at least during the school year. It just is not prac-tical. Another religiou~ may be wanting to lead a more contemplative life by spending a great deal‚Äô of time in the chapel, but meanwhile the orphans are creating pandemo-nium, the pupils are hurling erasers, the sick are getting sicker, and the soup is boiling over. It isn‚Äôt practical. This practicality will be particularly in evidence when we are choosing the means to perfection
and here let me recall that it is not so much the number of actions nor their greatness in the eyes of the world that counts for advancement in per-fection, but rather the more perfect manner of doing a few well-chosen ones. The saints have done nothing if they have not taught us that lesson, namely, that it.doesn‚Äôt matter so much to/~at we do as bow we do it. Hence, our desire for perfection must take in the whole concrete situa-tion and be eminently realistic
it cannot afford to chase il!usive spiritual butterflies. 232 July, 19 4 7 THE WILL TO.PERFECtION Furthermoie, the desire forperfection must be effective at all times and in all ptaces~ Here the present moment is all-important. -We must desire to be perfect not only when we have taken our first vows, or our final vows, or when we are thirty years old, or forty, or fifty--but now, at the present moment. "‚ÄôNunc coepi.‚Äô" (Now I have begun.) Like the saints we must learn to value what has been called "the sacrament of the present moment." Nor must the will to perfection be effective just on certain days, on feast-days and not on fast-days, on Sundays and not on Mon-days. The present moment is every moment. No place must be left out: the desire for perfection must be activated in the chapel as well as in the laundry, the classroom, the hospital, the kitchen, the orphanage, the recreation room, everywhere. I like to recall how the sainf of Lisieux struggled With her dislike of that malodorous cheese in the dining room as well as with her annoyance at her neighbor‚Äôs rattling beads in the chapel. Always and everywhere must the desire of perfection be efficacious, in a simple, .~natural, and balanced way, with no tensefiess, wor.ry, or constraint. Otherwise it can happen, as Holy Scripture sa3is, that "desires kill the ~slothfu1: for his hands have refused to work at all. He longeth and desireth all the day! but he that is just will give, and will not cease" (Proverbs 2:1~:25-26). "Do what you do" is a maxim, which, if followed faithfully, will go a long way towards m~king ~our will to perfection something more than a mere velleity, something more than a will erratically effective only at certain times and places. Finally, the will to perfection must be persevering, so much so that gradually it becomes the dominating desire to which all others are subordinated. "Seek ye first the king-dom of God and His justice .... " No more powerful means to .perfection exists than the habitual hunger and 233 thirst-for the higher life of the soul. 2 Indeed, it is an .excel-lent gauge of the degree of perfection a religious has already attained since the desire increases‚Äô in ,proportion[ toe his progress in virtue. - IV There are some obstacles to the acquirement and fos-tering, of the will to perfection. Indifference to spiritual perfection itself is, of course, a great hindrance to culti-vating a desire for it. We do not desire whai: we are not interested in. May we lawfully.-adopt.a "don‚Äôt care" atti-tude of mind towards our own spiritual perfection and consequently neglect to desire and will it? Certainly we may not, and the reason is simply that our greater, perfec-tion is bouiad up with God‚Äôs greater glory, and no one may b~ wholly indifferent about that: True, one may be of equal mind regarding the various means conducive to per-fection-- riches or poverty, honor~ or dishonor, health or illness, .and the like--since any of them can advance one to perfection and promote God‚Äôs greater glory. But it is otherwise with perfection itself. God‚Äôs greater glory, can never demand that we do not seek our own perfection, much less contemn it
hence, we must in some way strive for and desire perfection. " o~ ~ ¬Ø Perhaps one may admit theoretically what has just been stated, but deny it practically by the tepidity oflone‚Äôs life. This spiritual torpor, lukewarmness, and Carelessness in the service of God is doubtless the deadliest enemy of perfection and its desire. It warps the judgment
it makes the wiII fickle and inconstant. It is a creeping pa‚Äô}alysis which gradually chokes off and Stifles all will to advance in .the 1ore of God and the neighbor, the esSenCe of perfection. It must be resolutely combated
~ it nius~ be replaced by its 0pposit~e, :Which is devotedness, fervor of" sl~iritual life, a 234 Jul~
o~19 4 7 THE WILLTO PERFECTION synonym for the desire of perfection. ",~ ~ ..... Anothe~r obstacle is what spiritual writers call rnoratism. This is the baneful tendency to be content with the practice of. the moral virtues and with doing only what is strictly obligatoty. The desire for perfection is thus shoit-circuited, human means are relied on rather than divine, our own little schemes and devices are preferred to a generous trust in the grace of God. In a word, it is a kind of naturalism in the spiritual life which reduces the desire of perfection to an ignoble minimum. The remedy, of course, is, a stronger emphasis on the supernatural in our lives and, while not neglecting the moral virtues, a greater insistence on the theolog.ical virtues of faith, hope, and charity, a more determined practice of the counsels. By our desires we must "hitch our wagon to a star."‚Äô After all, a Chris-tian should desire to be eery much more than the equiva-lent of a good.pagan, whose ideal of perfection is the golden mean of the natural moral qirtues. Plus XI points to the objective of.Catholic education a‚Äôs being "thd supernatural man. who thinks, judges and acts consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by t~he supernatural ligh~t of the example and teaching of Christ." If that is applicable to layfolk, how much more so. to religious? There must be no deliberate limiting of ,the desire for perfection, to the lower level of moralism
the desire must surely transcend the minimum observance-of the Ten Commandinents. Similhrly the will to perfection is hobbled by a pre-dominantly negative concept of ~erfection. If we are wholly taken up with avoiding sin and impe‚Äôrfection rather than with cultivating the mote positive aspects of spiritual-ity, such as the acquiring of the virtues and the doing of meritorious works, particularly those of supererogation, it is easy to see how this will curtail our desire for perfec-tion.. "Accentuate the positive" is an excellent rule to gov-. 235 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review for Religious ern our spiritual desires and ideals. Finally, the desire bf one‚Äôs own perfection, if not rightly m‚Äôanaged and ~controlled, can make one self-centered, self-complacent,, spiritually~egotistic. Too much concern with knowing down to the last detail where one stands on the ladder of perfection, just how much one is advancing from day to day, from hour to hour, by doing this or not doing that, does not make for a healthy spirituality, because this attitude often leads to excessive introspection, exaggerat~ed solicitude for minutiae and the relatively unimportant, uneasiness, preoccupation of mind, destruction of internal peace, and loss of true resignation and conformity to the will of God. All these things will hamper a true desire for progress in virtue. This evidence of a subtle pride and selfishness must be cast out of the soul, especially by puri-fying the motives for seeking perfection. It is good to know in a general way where one stands on the road to perfection, but it does no. good and can be very harmful to go too much into detail about it. Let God and His loving. Providence take care of the precise degree of perfection reached. A good principle here is not to look backward too much but rather by our desires to keep looking forward and upward to the summit of the mountain of Christian perfection. Eyes on God., rather than on one‚Äôs own petty self! V To awaken and augment a real desire for perfection we must have a deep appreciation of the value of perfection itself. To this it will contribute to have a correct estima-tion of the worth of earthly things as Solomon had when he exclaimed "vanity of vanities," and also to be thor-oughly convinced of the importance of the "one thing necessary" spoken of in the Gospels. From this will flow a clear understanding that in the scale of values the desire of 236 ,I~l~1, 1947 " THE WILL TO PERFECTION perfection, when tightly comprehended, is .above all other desires. : The grace of God is needed to make this desire habitual and ever more fruitful
hence, for this grace, we must humbly pray. Can there be any more l~recious thing to pray for? Meditations, examens of conscience, spiritual reading, monthly recollections, retreats, all should be directed to arousing and stimulating the will to perfection, ~specially by proposing tO the mind the correct and most effective motives for will-action: God‚Äôs glory, our own per-sonal sanctification, the spiritual good of the neighbor. Another help to foster and a~tivate the desire ~for per-fection is to study the lives of. Our Lord, of His Blessed Mother, of the saints, and .of other holy persons. Example always has the effect of engendering a desire to emulate. Saint Ignatius Loyola. is not the only saint who found example a powerful stimulus to the perfect life. It will also aid us to be on the alert to take advantage of the various circumstances of time and place to increase our desire for perfection. In this way, our trials, sufferings, failures, even our sins and imperfections, if rightly used, as well as our successes and triumphs, can be made into steppingstones to greater perfection, if only we seize upon these golden opportunities to whet our appetite for God and His love. Lastly, if we now have no real desire for perfection, or only a very feeble one, let us desire to have that desire and pray for it perseveringly. Spiritual writers say that such a manifestation of good will is almost always rewarded by .a gift from God. VI If the desire for perfection becomes the one, all-consuming, all-pervading passion of the religious, if 237 AUGUSTINE KLAAS‚Äô de.spising thethings bf earth:,heconq‚Äôuers human ,resp‚Äôect
and_ can honestly say with David: "For what have I in heaven?: and besides thee what do l‚Äôdesire~ upon, earth?, ¬Ø For thee my flesh and heart hath fainted awaY/:, thou, oart the God of m~ heart, and the‚ÄôGod thatis my portion‚Äôforever‚Äô‚Äô, .(‚ÄôPsalm then there willl come into hisAife a~deeposense‚Äôof personal freedom, detachment from transitory created~ al,lurements, a"growing generosity in God‚Äôs service, and an unexpected happiness. For wherever there is generosity of will and intention, there is spiritual joy: And God in His turri will not be outdone. He will pour out His gracesandfavors on the largehearted religiouso as He did of old on Daniel, on Paul, and on all those other men and women~of consuming desire for perfection. He will satisfy.that hunger and slake that. thirst.with His celestial gifts. Hol,y. desires are very meritorious in the sight of God~ even though some particular longings are not realized because oof circumstances beyond the .contro.1 of the reli-gious.~ Sb6uld fiecessity or:~obedience thwart
i particular desir~e t~o do something .generous for God‚Äôs gl6ry, that desire .will receiv:e :its .full-reward an~rway, as Saint Bernard cor-rectly notes. (Epistle 77) : .‚Äô,The. desire is reckoned as the, deed itself by God,,when the deed is hind~ered by necessity." Hence~ it isono~illusion to desire to do great and~ even heroic things for Christ, such as going on the foreign missions, or undergoing martyrdom, and the
like, even, if there,,is little possibility of their, realization. Ir~ a particular case, God may. really want.only the d~sire~ and hence He will reward it as though it had been fulfilled. , ~ . The fruitful desire of perfection is of immense benefit, not only to ourselves, but to the neighbor also. It will blossom into a zealous apost01at.e, it will add honor and splendor to the w, bole‚Äô cburcbof G0d) and ~best ofall it will give grea~"glory, t6 God~~ not 6ia]~r~in~ this w6rld, -but‚Äô 238. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS through6ut eternity. ‚Äô ‚Äô " ~‚Äô To conclu~te With Clement: Of "Alexa~drih, cgmm~nting on Christ‚Äôs offer of the p~fect life. tb the rich young~ man (Migne, Patr~logid Graeca, IX, 613) : ¬∞ "If thou u~ilt~ be perfectly! Therefore he was not yet perfect . . , and the words if thou wilt divinely show the liberty of the soul which is dealing,with the Lord. ¬Ø It was in the power of the man, who was free, to choose.
to give was the prerogative of God, as being the Lord. He gives to those who will, to those who make an effort, to those,who pray ..... God after all, does.not force anyone ..... He gives to those who ask, He opehs to those who knock. Let us then with God‚Äôs grace will, and do, and pray
and spiritual perfectionwill surelybe ours to God‚Äôs greater glory andour own everlasting happiness. Quesffons ncl Answers . What should be the conduct "of the r.ec~pient.of Ho
y Communion should a tiny particle of the Host, unnoticed by the priest, fall.upon his person?, " ~ .Because of the words "tiny particle" this question needs cautious answering. Some people are prone to see "tiny particles" everywhere. For them, the only prudent course of ~action is to ignore what they think are "tiny particles." Putting aside, therefore, the question of imaginary particles, the communicant who notices that a Host or a real particle of a Host has fallen upon his person should .wait at the communion rail and call the priest‚Äôs attention to the fact. --17- Is" there anything in the Code which mlcjhf be construed as
an obliga-tion on the part of higher superiors to give Sisters a one- or two-week vacation annually? ¬Ø ~ The Code makes no explicit provision for an annual vacation for Sisters--but:we are inclined to wish that it did. Moreover, since some kind 6f vacation appears to be a normal requisite for preserving 239 QUESTI~)NS AND ANSWERS Reoieto for ~Religious good health and for fostering a wholesome,, c‚Äôommu~ity .~pirit, it seems "that superiors have an implicit duty o~f trying .to provide such a vacation. This statement may call for some further explanation, for there seems to be much confusion concerning what constitutes a vaca-tion for Sisters. In some cases "vacation" app~ar~s to be synonymous with "annual retreat." This is particularly the case with regard to hospital Sisters
but it is not uncommonly verified in many teaching institutes in which the yearly round ‚Äôof activities may be ‚Äôsummed up thus: teachm summer school--retreat---clean house--teach. In view of the fact that Sisters commonly make a fervent retreat, it is nothing less I~han fantastic to consider their retreat as a vacation. In other cases the Sisters‚Äô vacations consist in visiting their parents for several days. Of course, this is a "break," and in that sense it is a vacation. But it is not a vacation in the true, and par-ticularly the religious, sense of the word. Often enough these visits are characterized by strenuous activity and loss of sleep, and are therefore not even physically relaxing. However, even if in some cases they provide physical rest and release of mental strain, they are hardly a religious vacation. A vacation f0~religious should serve the purpose of intensifying the community spirit: and this purpose is cer.tainly not achieved b~y going off‚Äôfor a time with one other Sister tO live ampng seculars, even though the~e seculars be relatives and very saintly persons. Still another misnomer for a vacation is teaching in a vacation school. This too may be a "break." The Sisters get away from strict community life for a time
and some find the novelty, very enjoyable, even though the‚Äô work may be hard. Nevertheless, though novel, though enjoyable, though mentally relaxing, it is not what we mean by a religious ,vacation. What do we mean by a vacation? Perhaps the following ~tory will illustrate what we mean: A certain mother general who was keenly interested in the spiritual progressl of her subjects, was thinking of having an inten-siv6, spiritual program that would last about thirty days
and she asked a priest friend what he ~thought of the idea. This priest happened to be a man who leans strongly towards what might be called a practical view of life .... "Well, Mother,‚ÄôY he replied, after having considered the idea, "‚Äôif you can spare your Sisters from their duties for thirty¬∞ days, I 240 July, 1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS think the best thing to do would be to give them an eight-day retreat and three weeks‚Äô vacation." "A vacation!" she exclaimed in astonishment~ "ddst what would they do with a vacation? They‚Äôre often here at the mother-house. It‚Äôs a lovely, s~0acious place. Isn‚Äôt that. vacation enough?" "I agree with you~it is a nice place. Nevertheless, a mother-house is a motherhouse. It has an atmosphere of strict discipline and constant occupation. I suppose you could plan for a vacation here
but you would really have to plan it, or you might run into diffi, culties. When I speak of giving Sisters a vacation, I am thinking of your getting a pla~e away from your regular houses--a place that‚Äôs private, where many Sisters could go together and rest and play games and, above all, get to know one another. Religious can go through the stress and strain of ordinary duties, and scarcely get to know one another. In fact, when they are always under stra
the: Church can also mate laws in the proper and full sense of the:term. ~Thesd laws, made by the Church, are called ecclesiastical 1~iws. They,are human taws, not divirle
and they are to be ‚Äôinter-preted ~according to the rules that pertain ~to human l~ws, Applying this discussion of th~ various types of laws to the matter of feast-day worship, the following obierva-tions are in order, o Since men are social beings and since they depend on God not merely as individuals but as a group, the law of nature itself demands that they render to God some kind of social worship. But this law of nature is very vague, It does not prescribe certain days for such worship
it does not clearly indicate how often the worshi~ should be offered
and it does not tell us categorically what religious acts should characterize our social worship, although it cer-tainly seems appropriate that: sacrifice should be one of the community tributes to God.~ From the very nature of the case there is need of some more accurate determination of these points if men are to act in harmony, and obviously this more accurate determination should be made by the existing religious authority. In the Old Testament God Himself sanctioned the religious observance of the Sabbath and of certain special feast days. It is well to note here a great difference between the Third Commandment of the Decalogue and the other nine. The entire Decalogue is revealed
and in this sense all the precepts belong to the divine positive law. In the Third Commandment, however, God went beyond the natural‚Äôlaw, whereas in the other nine Commandments He simply confirmed and stated clearly certain duties "that already existed by reason of the natural law. The Third C0mmaildment
therefore, in its prescriptions concerning 209 GERALD KELLY ~- , Review [or Religio.us the frequency of worship (once a week) and ,the exact day for worship ,(the,Sabba‚Äôth)o is entirely divihe positive law, given by God,to‚Äô the chosen people and obliging them until. such time as He, would withdraw or change it. Did God withdraw these positive precepts with the promulgation,,of the New Testament? With regard to the special feasts~prescribed for the Jews there is :no difficulty: the duty of observing them certainly ceased
in fact, it Would be a form of superstition to observe them today. But with regard, to the weekly observance there is some obscurity even in theological literature. One view is that the divine law of sanctifying every seventh day.remained in force and that God Himself transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday. This opinion has but slight authority to uphold it, and we may safely call it improb-al~ le. Acco[ding, to a second opinion the divine law ,of sanc-tifying one day out of seven remained in existence, but the specification of the Sabbath day was simply withdrawn, and in its place not God, but the Church, assigned Sunday as the day for worship. This view has much more authority than the firsf
yet it is far from being, a common opinion. A third explanation, sponsored by the majority of eminent theologians, is .that with¬∞ the promulgation of the NeW Testament God simply withdrew the positive pre-cepts contained ,in the Third Commahdment anti" left it to the Church tO make appropriate legislation. According to this view,, the precept of hearing Mass, as we now have it, is a merely ecclesiastical law in all its particular aspects-- the frequency~ .the exact days, the method of worship. This last is by far the best opinion and the only~ofie that seems in~, perfect‚Äôharmony with..the mind of "the Church as expressed in. the~ ~ode:. ~ For the Holy :See claims~ f6r itself~the duly
1947. THE DUTY OF: HEARING MASS‚Äô p0wer..tb ‚Äôconstitu~e, transfer," and abblish these feast :days. and to dispe‚Äônse~,from their, o.bservance
(c.f. cations 1244-" 45) : It could not do this ina matter of~divine law. ~, ..... ~,~ It seems khat .in ~the.early. cefituries,of~ Christiani.t~r thdre~ was. no general l~gislation cbncerning the observanc~ of feast~ days~ : Rather, the faithful, themselves spontaneously‚Äô assumed~certainpractices, and thdse practices ~raduaHy acquired ~he force bf law and were‚Äôconfirmed and crystal-lized by written‚Äô~legislation. Sunday was chosen as the. Lord‚Äôs day, principally because it was the day of the Resur, rection and of ~the coming of the. Holy Ghost. Gradually other special, festivals came to be observed to commemorate special blessings, to recall the victories of the saints, and so forth. In fact, the tendency to add feast days of obliga-tion was so common that much bf the Church‚Äôs legislation in recent times has been to restrict the obligation lather than to add to it. A ,catalogue of feasts of 6bligation in ~:he univer~gl Church in the time of Pope Urban. VIII, in 1642, lists thirty-five such feasts
b~sides Sundays. Today v~e have‚Äô only ten special feasts of‚Äô precept! for the" universal Church: Irnmaculai~e CodcelStidn,"~ Christrnds~ Ci~cum, cisi~n, Epip‚Äôhany,‚ÄôSt. Joseph
Asc~hsion Thursd~‚Äô~, Corpui Christi: Sts. Peter and Paul, Assumption, and All Saints. ¬∞ F6r some~cbuntries"the Holy See has ri~duced the number: f6r. exhmple,‚Äôin"~he United¬∞State~ g‚Äôe a~e obliged to observe onI~r the six itMicized feasts. ‚Äô ~ I have gone to ~some length ifi-consiii~i~g the origin bf the precept of .hearing Mass because ~I think ~that :the ordinary way of~explaining the: matter in catechisms and even in moral treatises tei~ds to be~,misleadihg~,, .T, he duty of hearing Mass is" almost invariably~explhined iia~ connec-tion with~the Third Commandment of"the D~calogue
and this leads readily to the.inference that
~like~:the~othero pre-cepts of the~,D&~logue
it is‚Äôa divine" hlW,, ~wo serious 211 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious errors are occasioned by this inference. People of lax con~ sdences and weak faith, seeing that the Church can change this precept of feast-day observance, easily conclude that the other Commandments can be changed too and that it will ¬Ø not be long before the Church mitigates her rigid stand on such things as therapeutic abortion and artificial birth con-trol. These people confuse the human with the divine by reducing the divine to a human level. On the other hand, genuinely conscientious people raise the human to the divine. Finding the law of feast-day observance explained under the Third Commandment, they infer that it is a divine law and thus form exaggerated ideas of its binding A Serious Obligation ~ A young man once came to me with the following difficulty: ~"Father, a group of us werediscussing these laws like going to Mass on Sundays and fasting and abstaining, and we came to a dead stop over the idea ~that breaking .these laws is a mortal sin. You go to hell for a mortal sin, you know. We couldn‚Äôt figure out why the Church should be so strict about these things
so we decided to ask So-and-So.: He just brushed us aside. He said all we had to do was to keep ~the laws
we needn‚Äôt worry about the wbgs and the wherefores. It isn‚Äôt wrong to want to l(now such thin~s, is it? We‚Äôre not rebelling against the Church
we‚Äôd just like to know why she does this." The answer to the young man‚Äôs question is obvious. It is highly desirable that adult Catholics should know the whg of their obligations. Itincreases their own apprecia-tion of the laws that govern them and enables them to explain them reasonably to others. Ecclesiastical laws are not made arbitrarily
we are 212 July, 1947 THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS not commanded to do certain things under pain of mortal sin merely because some Pope wants to sat.isfy a personal whim. These laws are formed according to certain eminently reasonable principles. For instance, a serious obligation is not usually imposed on the faithful in general unless-these three conditions are verified: (1) there is ques-tion of attaining some very important purpose
(2) the thing commanded is either necessary or highly useful for attaining this purpose
(3) the thing commanded would very likely not be done by the majority of people (the ordinary people, not the saints) unless they were obliged under pain of mortal sin. It is not difficult to see how these conditions are verified with regard to the precept of hearing Mass. (1) The principal purpose of the law is to see that the members of the true Church of God render fitting social worship to God. That this is a purpose of the highest importance seems evident. Moreover, a secondary but very significant purpose of the law is the spiritual good of the worshippers themselves. (2) That the sanctification of one day a week and of certain feast days is eminently useful, if not neces-sary, for attaining these purposes is clear from the fact that God Himself made similar prescriptions in the Old Testa-ment. As for the secondary purpose, in particular, experi-ence confirms the fact that those who do not set aside some time for the worship of God readily fall into temptation and sin. And with regard to the method prescribed by the Church, namely, the Mass--surely no one who realizes the meaning of the Mass will question the fact that it is the best possible expression of social worship. (3) Finally, it is ¬Ø not hard to imagine how empty our churches would become if this were not.a serious obligation. The Church makes her laws for the ordinary peo~01e, not the saints
and it is simply a fact that most ordinary people are not sufficiently 213 GEI~ALD‚ÄôKELLY moved by the thoi~ght of "venihl sin" or "counsel" to make the sacrifices ~iecessary for assisting at Mass on ther, days assigned. o Who Must Hear Mass? To be obliged by this law one must (a) be baptized, (b) have completed his seventh year, and (c) have attained the use of reason. All three conditions .must be verified. The Church claims no power to legislate for the unbaptized except indirectly, for example, in the case of a marriage between a baptized and an unbaptized person. The com-. pletion of the seventh year is normally required for subjec-tion to an ecclesiastical law unless the law makes some other express provision. For example, the law of fasting does not bind one until one has completed the twenty-first year
on the other hand, yearly confession and Communion can be obligatory before the age of s~even. "In the present law no special provision is made
hence children under seven, even though quite precocious, are not obliged to hear Mass on Sundays,and holydays.~ It. is praiseworthy to accustom them to attend Mass at an earlier.age
but it is .not obligatory, Finally, even those who .are baptized and are seven years old are not obliged ,to hear Ma~ss if they have not yet attained the use of. reason. The normal .presumption is that those who have completed their ~sevent.h year have sufficient use of reason
but this presumption admit~ of exceptions. However, the mere fact that a child is. "back-ward" is not necessarily a sign that he does not have the use of reason. The ultimate test is his appreciation of :moral right and wrong. , A question of some delicacy in this matter concerns baptized non-Catholics. Strictly speaking, since they are bapt!zedl they are subject to.the laws of the Church unless the Church herself exempts them. Theoretically~, there- July, 1947- THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS foie, it seems ~.tl-iat they ~re obliged.by .this l~w Because the‚Äô Church~ ddes not exPlicitly exempt them. Some, theologians and canonists, however, hold that even though no explicik exemption is declared, the Church cannot reasonably be considered to hold them to the law, for she knows that they. will not observe it. This dispute is of .little practical value since the non-Catholics do not know of the obligation, even if it does exist
hence they cannot sin by failing, to fulfill it. ‚ÄôA iomewhat similar difference of opinion concerns the duty of excommunicated persons. By reason of their excommunication they‚Äôare deprived of their right to assist at Mass
hence some moralists argue that they. cannot have a duty to do so. In practice, they may be considered as excused from the obligation
e a duty to do what is necessary to be absolved from the excom-munication. Where to Hear Mass We may conclude these genelal remarks about the pre-cept of hearing Mass with a word a
bout the place for ful-filling the obligation. Canon 12‚Äô~9 enumerates these places, and in that canon the only explicit restriction has to do with what is termed a private or~atbry. A private or domestic oratory is ushally a chapel in a private housd where Mass may be celebrated for the benefit of an indi‚Äô- vidual or his family. Permission to have such oratories with the privilege of having Mass said there habitually can be granted only by the Holy See
and in granting th~s permission the Holy See specifies who may satisfy the pre-cept of hearing Mass there and the days on which it is allowed. Occasionally private chapels are erected in cemeteries. The faithful may satisfy their feast-day obligation by 215 GERALD KELLY hearing Mass in ‚Äôthese cemetery chapels~ They may also fulfill their obligation, in any church or chapel which is not private in the technical sense explained above
also by hearing a Mass which is said in the open air. All these ,points are explicitly covered by canon 1249. It not infrequently happens tl~at priests get permission to say Mass iia a cabin aboard ship, or in the parlor of a private home, or in some other building or room which is not a chapel in the sense of canon 1249. Can the faithful, fulfill their feast-day obligation by hearing Mass in such places, or is this privilege implicitly excluded by canon 12497 Here again we are in the realm of controversy: some authorities say "yes"
and some say "no." In practice, therefore, liberty prevails: the faithful may satisfy their obligation in these places if they wish to do so. What is to be said of Catholics of the Latin rite who wish to attend Mass celebrated according to the Easterv, rite? The Code explicitly allows this, provided the Eastern Church is truly Catholic, that is, in union with ROme. One concluding remark: the Church does‚Äô not i,mpose a strict duty‚Äôto hear Mass in one‚Äôs ownparish church. We should not argue from t~ais, hbwever, that the Church is indifferent in this rfiatter. Certainly the whole spirit of ecclesiastical organization arid‚Äô legislation favors an intense parochial life
, and part of.this life is the regular attendance at Mass in one‚Äôs own parish church. It is not in.accordance with tl~is spirit to encourage the faithful to, attend Sunday Mass habitually in a school or .hospital chapel unless there is some special reason for doing so: 216 Silence C. A. Herbst, S.J. 441~OLITUDE is the home of the saints and silence is ~ their language." I read these simple and beautiful words years ago in a religious house in a great Midwestern city. The place, the time, the room have somehow stuck in my memory. Perhaps it is because the great truth they express has been dear to the beloved in Christ‚Äôs church for almost two thousand years. The soli-tude of the deserts of Syria and Egypt was the home of those giants in the Christian way of life, the Fathers of the Desert, and they founded there great cities where silence was the language of them all. Surely this was because "Jesus was led by the spirit intothe desert" (Matthew 4:1). He, too, "retired into the desert, and prayed‚Äô,‚Äô (Luke 5:16). From the very first years of the religious life the observance of silence is insisted upon. "The practice of silence is useful for novices," says St. Basil in his Regulae Fusius Tractatae. And he continues, "Unless some special business, or the care of one‚Äôs soul, or some pressing work, or a question demands it, one should live in silence except for the chanting of the psalms" (Patrologia Graeca. XXXI, 950). Accordingly, as novices we were expected to refrain from unnecessary speaking and from noise
for example, to avoid slamming doors, moving up and down stairs or about the corridor or room noisily, loud talking, and the like. Many a good young religious has had to be given a penance for breaking silence. Perhaps we were told one needs a reason to speak but none to keep silent, and heard quoted the proverb, "Speaking is silver, silence is gold." We read with some humor in Rodriguez: "When 217 C .A. HERBST Reaiew/oc Religious there is no lock to a chest, we thereby understand that there is ~9~hing.valuable inside. When a nut is very light and . bounces, it is a sign tha~ it has no kernel." (Practice of Per-fecffor~, II, "123~)~ Silence may have been a matter of dis¬∞ dpline, a thing imposed from without~ but the mechanics of a profes‚Äôsion~have fo be learned that way. A disdpl~ine
an external, a mecbani~ Perhaps. And ~mall?~ I am afraid‚Äô to apply this word to things‚Äôintimately connected with the spiritual l~fe, to ~hings so intimately connected with love for God and with eternal glory in heaven. .At any rate, silence is a challenge to even a brave and mortified man. Let the heroes step forth" gnd accept the challenge of St. Jame‚Äôs, "But the tongue no man can tame" .(J. ames 3:8). As far as I have observed, the rule of silence is the most consistently and universally violated rule in the religious !ife. I even make bold fo say that experience showsus‚ÄôeIess talking is not‚Äôconfined to‚Äôwomen‚Äô~a~d chil-dren. It is a man-sized job to "h0id one‚Äôs tongue:" Nay, more than a man-sized job for the natural man
~"But the tongue no can can tame:" Who is not so human as. not to have experienced the urge to ask curious and pr,yirig ques-kions? It is hard t6 repres~ the itch for gossip, to-hold back the smart remark, to abstain from criticism: ‚Äô It is,hard to wait till the .time for recreation, hard to, breakoff:when.the bell rings. And it is only the strong man. who will crush human respect and remain .silent i.n~the midst of those who will not. This is no longer a small thing, the task of a novice. "But the tongue no man can tame." Speech is a most common, :spontaneous, and "self-full" "expression of the natural man. .A child is born into the f~imily, given a name, and ta.ught with endless pains to speak, o Thereafter one of the most demanding urges of his human nature is to express itself in words. His language ii full of his personality. But tainted as he is by original sin, 218 dulg, 19 4 ~ SILENCE his speech betkays that, too. A man is born again into a religious
~famil#, oftefi takes a new name, and must be taught again .to speak, to express.a personality renewed in Christ. Silence is theschool and the teacher. Advising the ~rbung monk, the Abbot Cassian says,~ "Be careful before all.else ¬Ø ¬Ø ¬Ø to impose the strictest silence on 3~our lips. Thi~ is the first real entrance to an ordered life" (Coltationes, XIV, 9). ~ One must now.unlearn one‚Äôs evil ways and learn again to speak in God. "And if any man think him-self to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man‚Äôs religion is vain" (James 1:26). Arsenius, preceptor of empero.rs, is said to have heard an _angel say to him, "Arsenius, flee, keep silence, rest: these are the principles of salvation" (a Lapide, Commentaria in Scripturarn Sacram, XX, 137). To preserve exterior silence for the loire of God is a praiseworthy practice and an exc~llent beginning to a reli-gi. ous life. But its higher value lies in this: it prepares and leads the earnest seeker after God to interior silence, to the silence of the imagination, of the mind, of the soul. It is indispensable to recollection. "He, therefore, who.aims at inward and spiritual things, must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd" (Imitation of Christ, I, 20). Od enter.ing a religioushouse wheresilence is carefully kept one cannot help feeling that God is very near. There is~an atmosphere ,of prayer. The place seems to "breathe the Divine Presence. "Silence, prayer, charity, and contineficy are the ho~rses of the chariot drawing the mind toheaven," said th~ Abbot Thalassius (Rouet de Journel, Encbiridion Asceticum, 1315). "In silence and quiet the devout soul maketh progress, and learneth the hidden things of Scrip-ture" (.Imitation, I, ~0). We must shut out the noises~of this wo~ld if we would hea¬• the gentle whisperings ofthe Holy Spirit. A noisy interior is ~ miserable thing. If a 219 C .A. HERBST Review for Religious restless imagination is encouraged by much ~alk to go thumping about within us recollection will be impossible. There is a close and intimate connection between speech and the imagination. Idle and vain words call up idle and vain images in the imagination. These images summon others of a kindred sort, in virtue of what is called the law of the association of ideas. In this way a train of flattering, useless, and egoistic images is started. Thought follows imagination and partitipates in its self-gratifying tendencies. Speech follows thoughts and words flow that do not bear on subjects that have a tendency to supernaturalize the soul either of speaker or listener. In conversation words are interchanged and mul-tiplied
and thoughts follow all the time the direction set by the vocal and mental images. (Leen, Progress Through Mental Prayer, p. 266.) " And so on and on, until we realize how spritually wise we should be were we to follow the old Italian proverb, "‚ÄôOdi, vedi, et taci, si voi vivere in pace." (Listen,-look, and be silent, if you want to live in peace.) When we read the startling and thought-provoking words in St. James‚Äôs Epistle, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man" (3 "2), our first inclination might be to explain away the exaggeration. But there is no explaining away to be done. There is no exaggeration. "Out of the abundance of the heart tl~e mouth speaketh" (Matthew 1.2:34). A man says.what he thinks and what he feels. The thought is father to the word as well as to the deed. If his words are good, his thoughts are good
his emotioris, his passions are under control. For a while one might sometimes think one thing, feel one thing, and say anotheri but that would not be common for long in most things. If any man offends not in word he has acquired self-mastery, he has perfect control over his interior. This control is an important aim of as fine a SyS-tem of spirituality as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola: "Spiritual Exercises to conquer oneself and regu- 220 dul~l, 1947 SILENCE la~te one"s life withou‚Äôt determining oneself through any tendency that is disordered,", the title reads. Words tha~ are charitable, patient, obedient, humble, mortified, well up from a heart that is charitable, patierit~ obedient, humble, mortified. When we meet this happy child of God we shall gladly agree with St. James that "the same is a perfect man." But let it be a woman first, "A Woman Wrapped in Silence," Mary, God‚Äôs mother, of .whom John W. Lynch wrote so beautifully. Her words were few but very pre-cious. Countless generations have cherished them and pondered them and have seen mirrored in them the Immacu~ late Heart of Mary. "But Mary kept all these words, pon-dering them in her heart" (Luke 2: 19). The Blessed Virgin did not speak many words: filled with grace and light from on high, inundated with the gifts of the Spirit,. she remained, ‚Äôsilent, in the adoration of her Son: she lived on the contemplation of the ineffable mystery wrought in her and through her: and from the sanctuary of her immaculate heart ~ hymn of praise and thanksgiving rose up unceasingly to God. (Marmion, Chcist, the Ideal ot: the Monk, 3 6 3.) And then a Man, the Lamb of God led to th~ slaughter, "and he opened not his mouth" (Isaias ~3:7). In His lifetime "He retired into the desert and prayed" so that the Christian centuries after Him might understand that "he who aims at inward and spiritual things must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd." The Son of God spent thirty years of His short life, that carried within it the salvatiori of the world, in silence. Yet how he must have longed to speak, who was so marvellously eloquent! Must he not have yearned to give forth light, in whom the whole communicative wisdom of the Godhead was compiised? When he was so full to overflowing of beautiful wisdom and ravishing intelligence, must not silence have burned in his Heart like a coal of fire? Must there not have been something in his being the 221 COMMUNICATIONS Reoieto [or Religi6us Father,s ‚Äô~Wor~d, Ghich,-~wguld" .make" him exult ~in .s‚Äôpeaking~ of ,. the ~Fath.er, with‚Äôhis human to~gue.g‚Äô (‚ÄôFoa.ber, ,Beth~lefiera, 0332.) ‚Äô¬∞~ ~, "But 3.esus h¬£1d his peac.e,"~ (Matt.hew 26
63). The W,o~ Himself did not‚Äôspeak he.cause the Word, is Wisdom, Incarnate ommunicaEions ¬Ø Reverend Fathers: ‚Äô A little dose of dissatisfaction with one‚Äôs own achievements in mental prayer is a necessary.condition of progress. But when the complaints about "bad meditations" extend for years and years, we must asl~ ourselves whether we know what a "good meditation" is? At least fbr ~yselL I have discovered‚Äôthat ~it the very bottom of these complaints l~es a good measure of selfishness. An analysis of our complaints reveals the causes of our d~ssiatlS~ factioq. They~are: distractions
lack of sehsible joy,~onsolation, and spiritual comfort
*s‚Äôthe lives of.saints tell us that they had. We are satisfied When we e~xperi~ e.n~cre ‚Äôjo: yi,r t~ealrs
‚Äôconso~atlon, a 1 these ca~es we find OURSELVI~S as the c~nter:of interes~tin p~dyei~ ~-W~ ar~ seekirig personal Satisfaction. !Thi~" is especiall~ trt~e if,,after sbm~e :efforts‚Äô~w.e‚Äôqui~ making !meditations
because .we, do~ nbt find: ~ezgxpect~d personal satisfaction., This,~ naturally, generates a ~ense of frustration, of guilt,..~nd a certain nervousness about the whole business of meditation.. ¬∞" The ~medy fo~ this lies in
realization ~f, the primary ehd of every prayer which is: praise, adoration, admiration of God
thanks2 givin~ for His supernatural and natural, gifts
atonemerit for sins and,. finally, p~etitions for .newl graces. ‚Äô aeAs long"as one does make efforts to elicit some of the afore-haention~ d acts, his mental, prayer i~ good, In such a prayer we seek only‚ÄôGod, His gl0~y
He is the center of our prayer, n6t:our own gratification. ‚Äô ...... 222 Julg, 1947 o., :/ .‚Äô COMMUNICA,~IONS~ ~I.t‚Äôis.always.possiBle to praiseo:God, ~ven in the midsv:of., grea‚Äôt distractions. (Who could not fill the gaps between invbltintary: dis.tractions~ with praise of God?) It is ~possible to thank Him, exen for~His crosse~s.~ .,~even for the distraction¬∞ and aridity themselves
. as~ far.,~,asothey are of ,His make, and not the fruit of our negl.ect of: spiritual~life. It,is possible to expose our wretchedness and misery, a~nd .cry for His help .... Should, however, once in a while even that ~be impossible, then it remains possible just to keep oneself respectfully and humbly in His holy presence an‚Äôd let the .gaze of:His mercy fall‚Äô upon our misery. Once we grasp this, once we sacrifice,our ow~n pleasure in prayers
all anxiety .disappears, peace returns to. one‚Äôs heart. We know-then when our prayer is good, namely, when we make ¬∞efforts to please God, not to satisfy our own selfishness.--A Jesuit Father. Reverend Fathers: ‚ÄôIt seems to me that the follow!ng are among the principal reasons for the:difficulties and the neglect of~mental prayer: ,, 1. Failure to Realize Its lmportance,,~That one‚Äôs prayer .life is synonymous with one‚Äôs interior life
that it is the source of real growth in the love of God, by disposing our souls to r.eceive and to profit more fully from the grates ‚Äôof ~the sacraments
that it is the. greatest help to purity of soul and to an ever greater hunger and thirst after God. St. Teresa of Avila said: "There is but one road that reaches God., and that is prayer: if anyone s~hows you‚Äô anotheri.you ~ire b.ejn~ de~elv‚Äôed." " ~ " 2: Di‚Äôsc?uragement. Du~. p~r(nci15al‚Äôiy- ~o "judging¬∞ by,‚ÄôBhd‚Äôs feehngs. ‚ÄôWe-cannot judgebur praTe~ by our feelings nor by "th~ arhounf,of‚Äôdryness or desolfi~ion v~e experience it/ pbayer. As long as~ ~ve‚Äô tr~ to make our prayer well,‚Äôit is "alt~a(/s pldasing t~5 God ~nd prpfita~ble to us, even though,‚Äô at ti~e~s, we seem to do little inor~ t~han siinply fight distractions or temptations! 0 God Uses th~se
tria~s for‚Äôour advancement. ~: ...... ~ " " 3. Lack of Proper li~struction.~--Sou~Isshould be t.au~h~" to pa~s on (th6ugh,not hurriedly.), from discui:sive n~editation to the ~nore simplified‚Äôarid richer forms of prayer.
To try to keep to dis‚Äôcursive meditati6n ,wl~en that no q6nger :sUits the‚Äô needs df one‚Äôs, soul i~harrfi-ful
‚Äô as ~ell‚Äô as difficult~and r~pugnant: ."In this regard, "I,.heartil~ aplSr~ove of all-ileal, y~oi~r fi~st.~correspO~ld~nt-"in the-,March ~ilsue (pp: 109! ft.). ¬∞.said‚Äô bfi" th~i~subject.‚Äô.- ‚Äô.H~re0 is :wherh¬∞- dire~tion-~e~en " ..-223 C~OMMUNICATIONS Ret~ew for Religious though-just occasional, perhaps just two or three times a year---is a great help. " 4. Failure to Lead an "‚ÄôAll Around" Spiritual Life, Proportioned to Our Prayer,--We cannot expect to make great~ progress in our prayer life and the love of God, unless we are s~riving generously to please God during the other hours of the day. There is much tha~ could be said here, but I can think of_no better way of summing up what I would like to say, than to quote from the regulations that St. Paul of the Cross gave to. his religious. He ends his chapter on prayer by saying: "In fine, let all remember that they will never suc-ceed in the exercise of prayer
nor will it produce in them any satis-factory fruit, unless they endeavor with all diligence to be recollected during the day in the presence of God, to be lovers of solitude, to practice mortification, interior as well as exterior, and to observe with fidelity and exactness even the. smallest precepts of the Holy Rule." The first time we read this quotation, it looks discouraging: it seems like we have to be almost saints before we can begin to make progress in prayer and the love of God. But if we re-read it, we see that all he asks is that we try, though diligently, to practice recollection, to love solitude (i.e. to be detached from the world), to practice morti-fication, and to observe the rule. But I do believe that these admoni-tions are very important.--A Passionist Father. Reverend Fathers: .~ The very word religious, it seems to me, suggests~ a d.aily program of prayer more extensive than Catholics. in general adopt. Every religious enters on her career with her eyes open., if she firm,ly believes she is personally called, not only to her holy state, but also to her particular Congregation or Society, and is instructed during. her novitiate in all her obligations, why not always keep it at heart that in the important matter of her daily program of prayer, He who called her will assist her to fulfill that duty to His satisfaction aiad her merit, if not always to her enjoyment? Itomust be remembered, too, that prayer is first of all for God‚Äôs sake, then for ours. It may be likened to the incensations during the Hole Sacrifice of the Mass,, acording to, the liturgical versicles, "‚ÄôDirigatur, Domine, oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo,‚Äô" and "‚ÄôVespertina oratio ascendet ad te Domine et descender super nos misericordia tua.‚Äô" How con.soling to reflect that as the Holy Sacri- 224 1947 COMMUNICATIONS /ice is celebrated around the world, our prayer rises as clouds of incense and, in return, there falls the dew of God‚Äôs blessings upon our lives! In regard to the formal hour of prayer that begins the day of most religious, it goes without saying that unless the highlights of the subject have been tucked into the mind beforehand, little focussing will-be possible on the subject. Who would think of going into the presence of a dignitary or a professional man without knowing what h~ is going to do or say? St. Ignatius Loyola has given us admirable indications on how to use the time of meditation to the greatest profit. I recall how the list of these directives appalled a young reli-gious I know. She intimated that she felt sure they would ruin her prayer. Rising, however, to intellectual considerations, she decided to analyze an hour of prayer just completed. To h~r joyful amaze-ment, she found tbat she had followed them largely as if pressed by logic. Inflamed with this encouragement, she began accordingly, day 15y day to build up her med{tations synthetically according to the methods of S
" ~‚Äô A East Applicatio~n But ,.rfght here on earth there is quite a bi.t Of heaven,," what with, the~. ~r.ii~ity ~indwellifig in our souls, the, Real Presence, the Holy Sacrifice. The Adoro Te of St. Thomas 312 September, 1946 How IS YOUR FAITh? Aquinas will furnish bur last application: Sight, touch and taste in Thee are each deceived, The ear alone most safel~l is believed, I believe all the Son of. God has spoken Than Truth‚Äôs own word there is no truer token. If a blind man lived in paradise, how eagerly he would Hsten to every description and explanation of his surround-ings. His would be a very real world
and he would act accordingly, e.njoying every delight to the utmost of his limited capacity. In fadt‚Äô his very handicap would result -in sharpening other faculties" to chmpensate for his defect of vision. His prayer would be-ceaseless for full vision. his ~whole b~ing rejoicln~ at ¬∞every slightest advance to the goal. Now it is an astoun~dirig reality that every element of the beatific vision is so proximate to us. With Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwelling in us through sanctifying grace, only mortal bodies and the obscurity of faith prevent full vision. This will come after we pass through the portal of death
but meanwhile immelisurable p~rogress toward vision is within our pdwer. T.he blind man is hopeless compared to us aided by God revealing Himself to us ceaselessly. How is ‚ÄôYour Faith? In the light o~f all that has gone b~fore, we should be able to get a clear picture of the st/fie of our ow.n intellectual life of faith. ~re are halrdly in the class of those outside ‚Äôthe fold for.whom God .means so little in faith and religion that freedom of reli~i.on means .the right to choose any re!igion you like. But if faith is mere words, a jumble.of words wi.tb no~.‚Äôireality ~be~ind them, if praye~ is nothi~ng..but the droning of words, and spiritual reading a study of literary form and style, then God is‚Äônot a great r~ality in our, spit,] itual life. But perhaps many do actually glimpse a vague vision 31,3 PATRICK M~ REGAN of God as a great reality. Their faith Will still be weak unless daily they exert themselves constantly to keep in contact with "God revealing" Himself personally to them. This is our life‚Äôs work and, faithfully followed, it leads to great heights. While checking the foregoing, we can also profitably~ examine our attitude towards the office of the Church and towards~ the function of steadfastness in our faith. All will be well if we find that for us faith is a first link with a supernatural world that is very real, and that through grace we contemplate that world, making God ever more real to us. In such a case we will welcome the helpful sug-gestions of the Vatican Council for studying mysteries, and the exhortation of our Holy Father to do this in a spirit of piety to promote our spiritual progress. In Case You Donq: Know ~Twelve years ago the Salvatorian Fathers inaugurated ~he devotion known as the "Priest‚Äôs Saturday." It consists essentially in offering Holy Mass, Hbly Com-munion, all prayers, labors, sacrifices, joys, and sorrows on the Saturday f011owing the First Friday of each month for the sanctification of all priests and students for the priesthood throughout the world. Literature explaining the devotion in detail may be obtained from the Salvatorian Fathers, Publishing Department, St. Nazianz0 Wisconsin. "To de~,elop in souls a strong permanent devotion toward Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love by concentrating attention on the Eucharist during thirty consecutive days," the Fathers of.the Blessed Sacrament organized a movement, which is now enriched with indulgences, fo~ the observance of April as the "Month of the Holy Eucharist." For full information wirite to.the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament, Desk: M.H.E., 184 East 76th Street, New York 2, N. Y~ ~ new quarterly review, Catholic Action, is now published to provid~ for the special conditions, needL and opportunities of Catholic Action in India. The magazie is published at 2, Armenian Street, George Town, Madras, India. Ann.ual Subs.cription Re. 1-4-0. Our Lady‚Äôs Press Mart, P. O. Box 122, Passaic, New 3ersey, offers gratis attractive "Go to Mass Sunday" ~tamps suitable for use on letters, packages, and so forth. Requests for stamps must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. 314 On Reading a!: e Claude Kean, O.F.M. ~T CAN hardly fail to Strike the newcomer to religious life as odd--this reading aloud of pious books during meals.. What, he wonders, is the purpose of it? Is it to expedite meals? Or to safeguard communal charity? Or to expiate the self-concession inherent in eating? Or, at least on fast days, to divert the mind from the menu? It is not long, of course, till he finds the answer: that, just as restaurants add music to meals for the consumer‚Äôs pleasure, religious refectories add reading to meals for the consumer‚Äôs profit. This profit can,. undoubtedly, be substantial. The refectory reading can draw our minds, after a morning or an afternoon of distracting duties, back from the perimeter of religious life to the Center
can "knit up the the ravell‚Äôd sleave of care"
can freshen our spirit and fill anew the wells of our motives. But it can do these things only if several conditions--quite .obvious, yet quite often ignored are posited. First, the reading must be heard. Normally, it will be heard if the reader observes Father Pardow‚Äôs simple rubric: Open, your mouth, and,read slowly. There is the whole crux of the matter. A lectern, rightly placed, can help
and, in large refectories, a public-address system can help even more. But, as trained actors have proved a thousand times over in whispered lines, the audibility of a voice depends not primarily on bigness of volume, but on sharp-ness of diction. Barring marked impediments of speech, then, there is not one reader in the religious community who cannot be easily understood if, in the phrase of Canon Sheehan, he will "~bite off:. his words, as riflemen bite their 315 CLAUDE KEAN Review for Religio‚Äô~s cartridges,, and chisel:every~ consonant, and giv~ full scope to every vowel. Nekt to ~nunciation comes .interpretation. It would seem that, under this heading, a curious tradition governs mu~b bf our refectory reading:xhe traditiori¬∞ofut‚Äôter~.imp~r~: sonali‚Äôty. Perhaps from"promptings~of humility, we‚Äôstrive to sou:nd not like ourselves Or. lille any recognizable person at all, but like some generic concept of a religious. To that end we affect a voice suggestive of a~cold in the head: a voice - that is toneless, lifeless, remote, altogether detached from its posseskor
a voice that, shorn of allaccidents, comes forth before mafiklnd as a, sheer essence. We read .every word like every other word. We reduce all the author‚Äôs thoughts " to a common denominator of impassivity. His challenging ~question-marks and his indighant exclamation-points w.e turn ~like‚Äôinto prosaic periods. If dialog odcurs, we flatten it into monolog. If we come to a passage of poetic beauty.- we read it as dispiritedly as though w~ were reading the cdnstitutions of the community. And this is.passing strange.. An hour or two ago, in a classroom, We read aloud a story so imaginatively that our young listeners hung on our every word
we read aloud another story, or at least another book, so‚ÄôperfunctoriIy that our religious hearers nod‚Äô over their plates. Why the sudden declension.from Dr.Jekyll to~‚ÄôMr.‚Äô Hyde? ¬∞WSy the horreht change~ fro~ entirely natfiral reading to entirely unnatural chanting? from a "stylethat vivifies a text to a style.l:hat embalms it? We .are, indeed, not to "tear passion t6 tatters" in our reading: we are not to over-read. -~But neither are we to under
read. Good reading is nothing but intelligent reading. And religious self-effacement demands neither the privat.e nor the public abstention from the. use of intelligence. The Horation precept still‚Äô holds: ""If you want me ,to 316 ~epte~nber, 1946 ON READING AT TABLE weep, yoti yourself" must-first grlev .‚Äô- The :interested listener still 15resupposes‚Äôthe interested reader. A,nd, instead of a. drably~ ascetic feature of our daily schedule, what a profitable and pleasurable pastime might our table reading become if all our readers were, to read, not "in..,mournful numbers," but,in~tories thatovariously "echoed the sense" Of what. they read! Much of the prosperity_ of reading, it is true, depends upon the book: And 14ere let superiors remember that books, like music, fit particular purposes and occasions. Bach and Beethoven and B‚Äôrahms are masterly music indeed
but, as tests have proved (as though proof were needed!-), they are not good dinner music:, The subtlety of Bach~ tl‚Äôie e/no-. tional inten~ity~of..Beethoven, the massiveness of‚Äô Brahms impede digestion, instead of promoting it. On the other hand, Strausi is ggod dinner music:~ for the most part light-some
melodious, and not too profound. In‚Äôa similar~ay, many books of devotion, :though in themselves excellent
-are not good table reading. -Contro-versial works aye not, nor are scholarly works of apologet-ics, nor are solid treatises on asceticism. Close concentration and happy digestion do not get along well together. Saint FranCis de gales, .for "that~ reason, advises against mental prayer ~immediately after a. meal, "before digestion-, is adxianced
" .citing.~not Only the diffidulty of concentration when-ori~:is "heavy .and drowsy," but the positive danger to.14ealthinoit. And is it hot at[ least conceivable thxt.some off,the stomach ~disofde‚Äôrs n‚Äôot uncommon.among religious can~be~ofra~ed0to the tieayy.literary fare.serv_ed at our m~als.: thd .bookS:of unrelenti.ng s¬¢tf-an, alysis,.~the pon~derousotrea-tises on ,th~‚Äô~irows,
the.~un.relie.vedly.,statistical bi~graphi~sof the‚Äôsaints? ~ ¬Ø One mother superior told the writer not long ago that, weary of high and dry books, she had appointed for table 3 CLAUDE KEAN reading an excelleiit novel by an excellent novelist, White Fire, by FatherE. J. Edwards. S.V.D. Though a few rigogists in the communiyy frowned at the, innovation
the majority of the sisters rejoiced. Here, for once, was a book to which they could listen without effort
indeed, a book which they could follow daily with bated interest and yet not without genuine spiritual profit. From the trials of a real flesh-and-blood nun, "Sister Agnes," they derived more practical wisdom than from whole libraries of abstract ascetics: Would the ~xperiment of that superior not be ~orth duplicating in al! communities? Is it against a book that it excite interest? that on occasiofi it even provoke good-humoredlaughter? Must we eoer eat our bread in serious-. nes~ and sorrow, as though joy w~re not a gift of theHoly Ghost? If Our Lord "taught in parables," is it undignified for us to listen to parables in the form of religious nov.els? If almost every word that He utterid was fringed with the pictoriM and often even the poetic, do we indulge in unseemly leyity by preferring the colorful and concrete religious bool( to the vaporous and abstract? We,live in an age of excellent, Catholic writing: of first
rate biographies[ such as .Walsh‚Äôs Theresa of Aoila. Feeney‚Äôs American Woman, Maynard‚Äôs Too Small a World, O‚ÄôBrien‚Äôs Enter Saint Antl~on!1,~Sargent‚Äôs Mitri, Repplier‚Äôs dunipero Sera or Mere. Marie of the Ursulines
of well-Written novels, such as‚Äôthose of Benson and Shee-ban and more recent writers like Edwards
of attractive works of apologetics, such as thoseof Chesterton and Lunn
of Nell-edited Catholic rnagazines and papers, replete with articles of current "interest and importance. Why, in the midst of such plenty, should we keep to a starvation diet? 318 ‚Äô Preparing t:or t:he Lay Apos!:oh !:e 3ohn A. Hardon, S.3. SOME time ago, one thousand Detroit public high school students and their teachers filled the Rackham Memorial Hall to listen to the devout recitation.of the Hail Mary! The Ave Maria was part of a dramatic story a young man was telling about a Canadian commando who seems to have been miraculous!~ cured of blindness by our Blessed Mother. o How did such a Catholic subject as. devotion to Mary ever get a hearing in a public speech exhibition? before an auditorium full of non_-Catholics? and .the whole affa~ir sponsored by a large secular university? The answer-is: Catholic Action through t~e Sodality. We must all be aware of the interest manifested by the late Holy Father and by the present Pontiff in the forming of a lay apostolate and of their wish that the Catholic school be made a training ground for such an apostolate. These facts were made quite evident by the letter to the superiors general of all religious institutes on the "Pro-motion of Catholic Action.‚Äô~‚Äô This letter, written in 1936 by the Cardinal Secretary of State in the name of Plus XI, was quoted in full in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS (September, 1945), and was accom-panied by a very complete commentary by Father F~fincis B. Don-nelly. It is one thing to know the fact that the Holy See. wishes our Catholic schools to be a training groun~ for the formation Of lay apostles
it is quite another thing to determine the meang o~f accom-plishing this purpose. Space fdrbids our giving ~ here an extended study of all the different ways in which training lay apostles can be integrated into the regular program of a Catholic grammar school, high school, or college. There are many methods of doing this:, and the teacher‚Äôs own ingenuity will suggest scores of ways besides the one here detailed. But the writer‚Äôs experience is limited to the effective-ness of one method of" dovetailing Catholic Action with Catholic education. The method in question is extra-curricular speech wbrk in high school elocution and debatifig. Elocution in its variant fo~ms---oratory, declama‚Äôtion, and dra- 319 JOHN A. HARDON Review for Religious matic dialog has long been recognized as an excellent medium for "d~vel6}ing the-intellectual and emotional talents of young students. But it can b‚Äôe much more than that. It can become the instrument f~f~aining"them tO give‚Äôthat evidence of the faith within them of which we‚ÄôAmerican Catholics are so sorely in need. Once a teachdr df eloquence becomes convinced that his or her trainees can be inspired by higher ideals than mere excellence in vocal expression, then what began as-at~ elementary ~btirse in speech:culture become~ overnigh~‚Äô~ dyn~‚Äô.mi~ an~t almost r~sistless force of tl~e ‚Äôapostolate. No secular sub-jec(, be‚Äôit ever so nbble, has the power ofqhspiring young minds with ~the s~me enthusiasm that is evoked by the simplest truths of our ¬Ø Catholic ‚Äôfaith. But there is more than inspirational value to this change of atti-tudd. As soon as a definite apostolic turn is given to elocution sub-ject matter ~nd technique, oppdrtunities will be found without even lookir~g‚Äôfor them top~ut the ammumnon¬∞t9 immediate use. In many ci‚Äôti~‚Äôs tl~er¬∞~ are forensic l~a.gues with mixed Catholic and non- Cat.holic membership. Ih such places Catholic studenf‚Äôs have all the room they.w.ant to give express.ion to the ideals and principles of the religion th,ey profess/ This does not mean that every elocution, piece ips9 fdcto becomes a vehicle for Catholic propaganda: but it does ,mean that eyeiy speech cariies.enough of the substance of the faith to impress the ndn-Catholic ‚Äôaudience that, "Here i~ something dif-fe‚Äôrdnt. It‚Äôs good:and it‚Äôs Catholic: ‚Äô: " 3~V‚Äôhen,. for ek.ample, a young man gives ‚Äôa,n‚Äô oratorical piece like "T‚Äôh~ Easter ‚ÄôMessage from Co‚Äôr~regidor~‚Äô‚Äô even the most blas~ are bound to li~te~n sy~mpatbetica, lly. He quotes, the words of the an-nouncer of the Voice ~‚Äôo~ Freedom thht" fateful Easter morning of 1942: "People of the Philippines, .do nbt despair. Your deliverance is near at hand. Likh your Mas~t~r before¬∞‚Äô:you, you have been betrayed into the hands of your enemies. Like your Lord and Mas-~ tel you have been beaten and tortured and put to death. But like Him tOO, you will soon rise again to a glory and a peace that you have never known before. People of the Philippines do not despair." When words like that are spoken,, it doesn‚Äôt take a Catholic or iven a Christian to appreciate the depth of human, feeling hidden behind ihem.. But the important thing for our purpose is that they were_ originally spoken-by a devout Catholic, Colonel Romulo, aide to the late President Quezon of the Philippines. And they carry the sub- 320 September, 1946 PREPARING LAY APosTLES stance of a penetrating truth: the rederfiption of mankind by the death of Christ on the, Cross. So much for elocution as a suitable medium for cultivating~the apostolic spirii in our students by .giving them first hand oppor-tunities of‚Äôputting this spirit into practice. Another means‚Äôthat has _been found even more effective in this respect is interscholastic debating. As an outlet for Catholic ~Action, debating is~only just beginning to be exploite~d .by our teaches of forensics. A case in point is the State of Michigan where out of two hundred high schools in the‚Äôforensic league all but five or so are secular institu-tions. .This argues to~ an oversight somewhere. Either the p~blic schools are~ misguided in the emphasis they place on" forensics, or we Catholics have not yet come to realize that there are more than~ edu-cational possibilities hidden in this field. It may sound romantic to talk about high school teensters,getting up in a ~ublic forum to defend some elemental troth like the charity of Christ in a godless world. But they doit. The aildience may be indifferent or unfriendly, and there is always the clever witticism to take from "the gentleman on the opposition." This offers no diffi-culty at all. The teensters enjoy the smell of battle aiid soon develop a cast of mind that practically nullifies a purely secular approach to‚Äôany stibject, political, social, or economic. Many examples could be given to illustrate the effectiveness of debating as an entree into the lay apostolate. On one occasion, during a city wide tournament, twelve of our debaters were defending Pope Pius XII‚Äôs Five-Point Plan for World peace..Their opponents were eight ottier groups of high school students from as many dif-ferent secular institutions. One of the coaches openly criticized the program our young men were following: "Cut out that religion stuff. R~ligion is all right iri church, but it has no place on a debate platform. If~you want to get any decision from the judges, you‚Äôd better change your method of argument. ,You‚Äôll never win a debate that"way." Well, he was wrong
because the young Ciceros not only Won a debate but ran off‚Äôwith the whole.tournament. Another timei~while debating with an out-of-town fsublic school on thd‚Äôquestion of a federal world government, the,first speaker on the affirmative did not defend.the affirmative. He brok~ into a tirade that lasted ten minutes, defending a world order in ~vhicb the Providence of God woul~l‚Äô not"be recognized. "What has .religion got us any-way~ Nothing but wars ‚Äôand misery: After all, we are masters of 321 JOHN A. HARDON Reoieto for Religious our own destiny. Let us work out a plan of world peace in which every notion of a power higher than man‚Äôs will be scuttled." This might have beeh ranting nonsense, except that the poor fellow was dead serious about what hewas saying. The logical thing for our first speaker to do was to forget all about his own prepared talk ‚Äôand answer the blasphemy. So be spent his ten minutes of allbted time defending, not a substitute for a world government, but the recog-nition of Almighty God in the world which He created. Incidentally there is a peculiar significance in th~ choice of sub-jects or resolutions for. interscholastic debates. Individual schools do not choose a subject but the choice is made for them, apparentl~, through the National Educational Association and according to the recommendation of the Federal Government. Only one subject is given out each" year. It is the same for all the high schools and col- . leges throughout the country, As a matter of policy, the annual debate topic is being discussed in Congress during the very time that student polemists are threshing out the subject among themselves. All of th~s is part of our democratic system, whereby national issues are first ~ired among thg people before official action is taken upon ¬Ø them by the government. This emphasizes the.importance of our Catholic schools‚Äô . taking advantage of their democratic privilege to instil some of the principles of Christ into the minds and hearts of those who hardly know Him. And along with this positive indoc-trination of others, the students are training themselves to become what the late Holy Father made bold to call, "Bearers of light, helpers of the Holy Spirit, auxiliary light-armed soldiers of the Church."‚Äô A word is in place on the ranks from which the young men‚Äô were drawn for this basic training in the apostolate that we have reviewed. They were Sodalists, actively interested in promotiiag the apostolic aims of the Sodality. Many of them were members of a local Catholic Action cell where they received the backgroflnd and inspiration necessary to appear in public as youthful exponents of their faith. It took courage to do what they did
but the courage was never lacking. Sometimes their efforts were repaid with the high compliment of imitation. They might come back to a return engagement in debate and listen to the opposition non-Catholic, of course defending -the Pope as" an authority in politics and the social sciences. , An objection might be raised that it is time enough to introduce Catholic students inl~o the lay apostolate after they have finished their 322 September, 1946 PREPARING LAY APOSTLES formal studies. Then too there is the question whether the secular clergy and not religious are to take the 15fimar~r‚Äô.and~almost exclusive initiative in the promotion of Catholic Action. To both these ques-tions we have the authoritative answer of Plus XI in~his Apostolic Letter to the Brazilian hierarchy, October 27, 1935. His words deserve to be me, moriz, ed ~by every religious who is sincerely interested in th~ apostolate of the laity: "Surely the most p6werful and far-flung support o~f Catl~oli~ Action may be expected from the numerous religious institutes of men and vi‚Äôomen wl~ich have already rendered such signal services to the‚ÄôChurch .... Religiofis men and women will he!p‚ÄôCatholic Action in.~a very.spec!al way if they strive to prepare for it from their earF, est years the boys and girls whom they have in their schools and academies. These young people should at first be g~ntlV drawn to a desire for the apostolate, and then should be steadily ~nd earnestly urged to join the associations of Catholic. Action
and ,where such associations are wanting, they should be promoted by the religibus tb~rnselt~. Surely there is no bettdr way and no better opportunity for training young people in Catholic Actioia, than those which exist in schobls and cblleges.~‚Äô -One las~"pbint needs to be cleared up. The objection might be made that our Catholic schools already have as many organizations as the student body and teachers can manage. More additions would be useless‚Äô~here they would not be a positive.burden. In any case, there is no rriore room for organizations of a spe.cifically apostolic, cl‚Äôiar-acter. It will have been noticed in the present review of "apostolized‚Äô" speech activities that they were first and foremost,a sodality activity, o In other words, promoting the work of the apostolate among our students can and in most cases.should be the immediate work of school organizations which are riot. 0penly and avowedly "Catholic Actionist." Pius XI is explicit on this point, in the letter which he wrote to the Hierarchy of Brazil iff 1935. Touching this very ques-tion, he says: "Thus also the associations and institutions which have for their purpose the spread of piety, the teaching of Christian doc-trine, or any other form of social apos~01ate, will bec6me ai~xiliary forces of Catholic Action. and without departing in any way from each one‚Äôs peculiar sphere, will happily secure that concord and har-mony, that organized co-operation, and that mutual understanding, which We have ceaselessly recommended." 323 . ur Lady s Rosary ..... A Adam C.-ElliS, S.J:,, ". "- ~ ..... . ~ " ~C~6BER is. t~e‚Äô, month~ p~ OuE Lady‚Äô~ Rbs~ry. Throfighout ~the Catholic ~world pri~st~,,-,.rgligio~s~ and men and~women of,every walk of life vie with ~ach other to,do honor to ~Our Lady by the daily recitation "0f the ros?ry? R may be hel~ful-~as-a ~timulant ~‚Äôfor 6u~ ~evo~i6n,~‚Äôt6~re~all the 6rigin, hature
and onditi6ns of this p0pp[ar devotion.. , .. .~ ~ . . :, ~- ¬∞ ~" " " o The Our Father ¬Ø T~e most ..... precl,o, us of~fie 3ral pr ~r~ ~n t~ tr~as~r tb~.~Ch~r~h ,is un~oubt~)y th~ Q6r.Fath~T. ~Cbri~t Him
s~l~ taught this prayer to His,disciples when they ~arn~stly as~d~Hxm.:
~acb‚Äô 6s to pray,~ ~wn as ~ohn~likd~is~ ta~t,~i~ ‚Äôdisqi~l~s" (U~k~ 1‚Äôi": ‚Äô1~) :~" ‚Äô~nd‚Äôth~‚Äô~t~Xv%~ ~or~-s Prayer as g~wn to.us by Saint Matthew m hxs Gos-pel‚ÄôS( 6:9-.13) became the daffy prayer ~, tile first.Chns~ fiansz.as, w~ll,as,~o~ alhth~ ~a.kh~Ldo~-,.through ,th~ ~n~ "" I( We f&~ll‚Äôthat :6~"~t3 the~l~ttdr half‚Äôof ~ntur~, ~h~ ~h~ art ot p~ntmg. ~s ~nwnt~d, ~only th~ nob~l~t~ could r~ad.an~ wnt~, a r~. not surprised
to l~arn that,th~ p~i~cip~! d~vo~ion~ ~a~th~ul~ at~.larg~was.,th~ r~p~tition~o~ th~ Ofir Fath~i~ th~ 9~ghth c~ntury, th~ p~mt~nt~als, .or books.r~lat~ng t0 p~mt~nts, pr~scr~o~d, var~ous p~nanc~s ot tw~nty,,,ntty, o~ mor~ Pat~r.Nost~rs.... ~gain, in th~ cours~ o~ th~ early.c~n-turi~ s o~"t~ ~Middl~ ~.g~s~~ w~n-.th~ lay ‚Äôbrothers "in r~ligious orders b~cam~ .distinct ~mm‚Äô~h~ choir mofiks~ th~ ~orm~r, who w~r~ illiterate, r~cit~d on~ hundred and fifty 324 OUR LADY‚ÄôS ROSARY ISater Nosters in~plhce‚Äôofithe one.hundred hiid fi~ty psalms which were recited .in choir.as part ,of" the~DixCine O~ce. O~rig‚Äôin‚Äô and U~e of P~r B~ads use of One and the same prayer spon-a methqd Q( counting ~the number of p~ayers recited. At ~st ~e count was kept o~ one‚Äôs fi~- gers. Then ~he Fathers of t~e ,Desert, following t~e example of St. Anthony, t~e F~rst Hermit, collected a.num-ber of pebbles and laid,them aside one by one as they recited t~e~r prayers. In the West th~ uAe of pebbles was soon replaced by gg~ins of bernes, seeds, bone,~or ~ood, ~attache~ to ~ach other by a cord. In~.the course of time such a string~of grains o~ beads was c~lled a paterno~ter~since it~ .~as. used ~o~t freq~e~ptly~ for the. recitation o~,,the Our Fath~r.~ .In ~be thirteenth centut~ the ~anufac~urers o~_ these,, articles... ,. ~ere known as paternosterersi and, almost everyx~here~ i~, Europe ~hey formed a recognized craft guild of consider. hble importante. P~,t3rnoster-Row in ~ondon preserves the memory of the strest in which th~.ngl~sh craft-fellows ~o~regated.. That such beads ~ere in use in the ele~en~lf century is evident fr~ M~lmesbur~-who relates that the Countess Godiva bf Covehtry (circa 1075) left by w~l(to the ~statue of a certain_ monastery."the,,ci[clet 0f precious stones wfiich she. had.threaded on a cord in orderthat fin-gering them qne aft~ a~other Sh~ might count-tier, prayers exactly.‚Äô~ .The ._~ilit~rY ~orders, ~otably the. ~nights Templar of St. 3ohn, adopted the paternoster beads as p~art ~f.~he,e~uip~ent of hY members., The~e paternoster beads were also.,used ~by ,the laity in general and were,openly, carried as a s~gn~ of penance,, espdcia~ly bY b~nds of pilgrims who v~sited the ,shrines,~ churches, ~and other holy places, of Rome in procession: ~ : -" ~ 325 ADAM C. ELLIS Review/:or Religious "‚ÄôAve Maria" _or "‚ÄôHail Mary‚Äô" The .Hail Mary owes its‚Äôorigin to certain pious persons who joined the words of the Angel Gabriel" with those of St. Elizabeth to form a greeti~ng and salutation in honor of the Mother of Christ, hence the name-"Angelic Salutation." It was .repeated many times in succession, accompanied by genuflections or some other..external acts of reverence. Thus a contemporary biographer of St. Albert (died 1140). tells us: "A hundred times a day he bent his knees, and fifty times he prostrated himself raising his body again by his fingers and toes, while he repeated at every genuflection: ‚ÄôHail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.‚Äô " This form constituted the whole of the Hail Mary as then said, and"the fact that all the. words are set down in this biography seems to imply that the formula had not yet become universally familiar. But by the end of the‚Äô twelfth century it was in common use in many parts~ of Europe. Pope Urban IV, who died in 1264, granted an indul-genc~ to all Who added the‚Äôwords ",Iesus Christ, Amen" to the form quoted above. It was in this form that~Thomas ~ Kempis recited the Hail Mary at the ~nd of the thirteenth cent.ury. The second half of the Hail Mary begins to appear in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. St. gernardine of Siena added to the Angelic Salutation the words: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.sinners
" And at the end of the fifteenth century, in an ordinance of the Arch-bishop of Mayence (1493) the longer formula, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death, Amen" appears, perhaps for the first time. The complete form of the Hail Mary, as we have it .today, was included in the various breviaries used by the diocesan 326 September, 1946 OUR LADY‚ÄôS ROSARY i~lergy and by the religious orders, though occasional ~light variations in form are found. This complete form is recommended b~r the Roman Catechism in 1566. It received final approval when Pope St. Pius V, in‚Äôthe new edition of the Roman Breviary promulgated by him in 1568, ordered it to be recited by .all priests before the singl~ canonical hours, together with the Pater Noster. From tl~e breviary the complete form passed into general use ~amo~g the faith-ful. Rosary Beads As we saw above, the paternoster beads were used by the laity as a substitute for the Divine Office, and for this reason were sometimes called "the psalter of the laity." At the ‚Äôbeginning bf the eleventh century, the custom was introduced of adding the angelic salutation to the Our Father, and for a while some of the clergy, religioias, and laity recited 50 or 150 Pater~ and Aves on the paternoster beads. Gradually thecustom of reciting 50 or 150 Aves only on the beads came into vogue, and it was probably this form of prayer which was popularized by St. Dominic at the suggestion of the Blessed Virgin. ‚ÄôThe Roman Breviary, in the fourth lesson for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, tells us ~hat when the Albigensian heresy was devastating the country of Toulouse, St. Dominic earnestly besought the help of Our Lady and Was instructed by her (so tradition asserts) to preach the Rosary among the people as an antidote to heres.y and sin. That this form of devotion was known before the birth of St. Dominic is clear especially from two sources. The first is the so-called "Mary-legends" according to one of wl~ich, ~ating bac~k to the early twelfth century, a client of Our Lady who had been wont to recite one hundred and fifty Ayes every day was bidden by her to say only fifty, but more slowly. Again 327 ADAM C. ELLIS Review for,Relioious iu~,the~‚Äô~twelfth centur¬¢ this form bf prayer was, recom-mended‚Äô to, the.: anchoresses of~ England-and practiced by. them, as aplSearg from the ancient Ancren Riwte which was written~abotit the middle of‚Äô the ~tw.elfth centur~y. In th~ course of:time the one.hundred and fifty beads ivhich the Ave‚ÄôMaria was recited b~came distribute‚Äôd into decades~ or‚Äô seriesof ten, separated from one another by a large,grain or bead on which is r~cited a Pater Noster
and by the middle of th~ fourteenth century the use of such beads had spread rapidly. In 1469 Sixtus IV called these beads the "Psalter of Our Lady" and encouraged their u~e by grantin~ ind~ulgences. The¬∞ religious orders, notably,~, the Benedi~ctines, .t_he Cartbusians, and the.Dominicans, retaingd the use bf the b~ads made u~‚Äô~f fifteen dedades. But amon~th~e,faithful-the, o smaller beads o of. five decades., became
., popular., in¬Ø .~ the~ c~ourse ot~time~ The Gloria Patti .wa.s-added to each decade 9~n1~i in,~ the seventeentfi ce~n.tu~ry in Italy.
o~ ahy s~ve the~saints (and we~can be quite~sure that th~.y:did not go about it in an unyary-jng ~ay eitherI~)~ One step, then, toward freshening and revitalizing~his duty~ ~hich has been ~ell described as "a fifteen-minute retreat," is to~‚Äôri~ it‚Äô~of ~t~ Oeudensianmge~n‚Äôe~ss", s"p:~~c~m "g‚Äô "~ t‚Äô to palatability~‚Äô~with" variety. Hd~ ~afirthii be~done?~ Whh[‚Äôsauce is to be7used? Offe excellent me~hs is~"th‚Äôe ,following: Put ~asidd the ordinary p~ayerbOoks and e~[~men-p~mphlets. " In ,their, ~ead, ~out~j~de of~ th~ ~examen‚Äôbut.with an. eye,to ~t, dip into our liturgical prayerbooks, into t~e. missal, t~ bregiary,, the Psalter. ,If th~s ~s done mtelhgently, consc~entmusly, and perseveringly, ~t wll~ be surprising how tasty the flht old examen can become. Something refreshingly new ~s a~ded by bringing the *i ~.~.?‚Äôi:.‚Äô~ ~.~" i .~., ~.~ ,~. ., ¬Ø ~ .. ~ ¬Ø : ..... : ~ ~ ¬Ø objective prayer of~ the hturgy ~nto wtahzmg contact wsth th~s @ost~~Objk‚ÄôCt~vF spmtual-~erclse of our whble rehgmus~*day. ~ ~" There follow two methods of maRmg t~e daffy examens" "one ~s pr~yers taken f{~ the"mi~fal
theot~er, ,of s[lecti6d~ from the +Psalter. ~e~ are:lnten~e~"merely as models,~ Anyone ~296 VITALITY~ FOR THE, EXAMEN with~a liftle‚Äôtime, and effort can work out other such.exame‚Äô~iS to suit hi~ own needs¬∞and tastes. .o , L EXAMEN FRoM THE MISSAL An examen made with prayers selected f~om the missal has this-special advan~tage, that.it effects a union between our Mass and the daily examens. ~he Mass, which is the most "public" of our prayers and actions, becomes the dyna‚Äômo which communicates,,,light and energy via the missal.to our examination, of conscience,, the most per-sonal of o~ur religious exercise~. The me.t~hod,given her, e merdy points_ out one_way which leads to.a~ simplifying of religious life and Loward ~making it,&n,ter about and draw its vitality, as,,i~t should, in all of it~ aspects, from~ ~.the Holy Sacrifice of the M, a.ss. Since we go in‚Äôa veyy special ~ay into God‚Äôs holy ,presencdl when-ever we pray, on approaching the place of the examen, especially if it is to be made in the chapel
W‚Äôe can say the prayer which the priest says a~ he ascends the altar,:~ :"Take‚Äôaway from us our iniquities, owe beseech Thee, O ~Lord, that being made pure in heart, we may be worthy to enter into the, Holy oLHolies. Throul~h Christ our Ldrd, Amen." ~ Such a. piayer~ serves~ two purposes: (1), It puts us‚Äô in -the-proper disposition to begin:our exercise, and, (2) :it gives,,our ex~men~a mein~ry-lifik at least with our Mass. The P.reparatorg Pra~er o
A slight modification of the‚Äôdeclaration of inter~tior~ said by" ~he priest before Mass can serve ~ell as‚Äôour preparatory prayer: ~‚ÄôI‚Äô wish,~to:offdr,this examination of my conscience .... to the praise~of Almighty‚ÄôGod,,and the whole court of heaven, for my owri gobd and that of the Church Militant. for all those who have com-mended ~themselves to ~y prayers .in general and in partichlar, and for the happy state of the Roman, Church. Amen. " ~.May theAlmighty and merciful God grant,us jog with peace, a 13ette"ring of llfe. time for true repentance, the grace and strengthen-ing of the Holy.Spirit~and pemeverance in,good works. Amen." Thanksgiving ¬∞ Instead of our usual‚Äôstuttered words of personal gratitude, or the r~ading of them from the composition of somme other private indi-¬∞ vidual, could we not do better to turn to our missals and use some of the official prayers of the Church? 297 RICHARD L. ROONEY Reolew for Rdioious 1. The slow and heartfelt praying of the Gloria would certainly give us new life and vigor and dispel dryness. " Try it for a week and see if this is not true. 2. The same way 9f praying the various Prefaces would have a similar effect. They are hymn~ of thanksgiving. Further, they lend themselves,nice!y td ~¬¢ariety if they are used in connection with the Mass‚Äôsaid that day. F6r example, the Preface of the Trinity could ~ used for Sundays
that of th~ Nativity or the Epiphany would give the right tone to our examens at Christmas time. 3.‚Äô The prayers (Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion) of the ~otive Mass of Thanksgiving, which may be found at the end of the votive Mass section of the mimal, make an excellent thanksgiving in themselves and hehlthily link our personal thanks with the .morning‚Äôs Eucharistic (thanksgiving) Sacrifice. ,Pra!ler for Light What,better prayer for light could be-desired than the Gradual of the Mass for the First Sunday of Advent: "0 Lord, show me Thy ways
teach me Thy paths. Show us, 0 Lord, Thy mercy and grant us Thy salx
ation." All the Collects for the Sundays of Advent fit well under this point as does the following from the Mass of Pente- .cost: "Alieluia, alleluia. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou wilt renew the face of the earth. Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them~the fire of Thy love." The Examen Itself Much freshness could be added to the examination of conscience by changing from our routine.form of self-questioning to an exam-ination on the manner in which we have lived up to the four activi-ties tha~ we are engaged in at Mass itself:, Adoration o~ God: gratitude for the b~nefits He has given us betWeen-times: contrition (propitia-. tion) as shown by faithfulness to the Commandments, to conscience, to our vows, rules, special di~ties, a~fd so forth
petition for further" graces to do even better in all our works, little and great. Contrition and Purpose of Amendment ¬Ø A new and helpful change of this point can be obtained by saying with a "humble and contrite heart" such prayers as the Confiteor, the Kyrie repeated over and over again, the Lavabo psalm, or the. Introit of the Mass for Ash Wednesday. 298 September¬∞ 1946 VITALITY FOR THE EXAMEN II. EXAMEN FROM THE PSALTER That the Psalter can be used to goodadvantage to bring variety into our examination of conscience wbilelcome evident from the following examples, which ?re by no means exhaustive. Preparatory Prayer ~ "Hear, O Lord, my prayers, give ear to.my supplication in thy truth: hear me in thy justice. And enter not into judgmefit with thy servant for in thy sight no man living shall be justified. (Psalms 142:1, 2.) To vary the above one could use the following from verses 6-10 of the same psalm: "I stretched forth my hands unto thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee. H~ar me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be~like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy mercy~ in th~ morning
for in theehave I hoped‚Äô. Make the way known to me wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee .... Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God." Thanksgiuing To make the act of thanksgiving, one can-choose from,m~ny psalms, for example, Psalms 9:1-20: Psalms 17, 20, 64, 67, 75., 102, 106, 114, 115, 11-7, 134, 135, 137, and 146. With sucha h6st of psalms to choose from one can certainly never complain of monotony in tl:ie way one gives thanks to God! Petition for Light Psalm 5 can be used here
or one can turn back to Psalm 142 again as it is essentially a prayer for divine guidance. Simply saying from the heart, "Show me thy ways, ,0 Lord, teach me thy pathsL‚Äô~ would be quit~ enough. "The Examen The actual examen can be made in the Usual way
or, to lend variety, our self-questioning may be made in the light of ‚Äôsuch new and usually neglected psalm-themes as.gratitude, Psalms 20 and 64: charity, Psalm 132
suffering, Psalms 12, 101, and so ,forth
discouragement, Psalm 10. A glance through the topical index of the new edition of the Psalms (Benziger, 1945) will yield a rata- 299 RICHARD L. ROONEY ,, "~ logue of subjects fo.r se!f~ex.am.i_nation ,that ,will be enlivening and p.~,rh~ps .o.~n ~o.ccasio.n a,~bit .s.tar.tling in.their self,revelation. C6nt~itlon ~‚ÄôPu~rpose o‚Äô~ Ame~drnent tw, hhiics‚Äôh ,iws .ea .cpaent.i.t.siaoyn,, ttohe o "bMtaisien~‚Äôe¬Ørteh:,e(P gsraa!mce S iQo)f~ ,aomr,.ean, ndym oneen ,to. fF :tohlel o"wotihnegr Ee, n,i, te~tial, p.sa~!,ms.o Since there are,seven of, the latter, a ,different one .c,o,~uld.,,be used f,o.r.e.a.c.h,~ay o,,f the we.ek. ,~An~y~.or all o.f .,t.bes.e
.will he!p us to tell God that we are sorry in accents which are not, merely‚Äò ~ou~ own but His, .~ ,. - In ~cqnc.lusion it should, be~noted that .it ,is not n.ec~s~a~y, to,say ali~,o.f ths pr_.ayers.,.or psalms here.suggested. If one :fin,,ds,tha.t.o.a,, sj.n.gle sq.uena,_htae.sn, cine, ,fhr.?isml h. teha.ret:,m ..iwss, ahl,y o -rg,o a . .ofsuirntghle.er. v?e Ir_.sne ~.furco~m. aa. pcsaasl~m" ,o,>n sea syhsq w.uhla.dt simply ,repeat the verse o~r s, entence over, and over w!tho~.t bejn, g con--. cerned about finish, i.ng .the. prayer or psalm. A month of consistent work at the al~ov~ method of ~xamining on-e‚Äôs conscience will yield ~uch light :and life to the exercise as to make‚Äôit, the exciting cdnt~ict with God that it~can" be and was.meant t6 be. It~will help‚Äôtoo to fuse one‚Äôs private prayers and liturgical prayers ,‚Äôiri~o the unified wholeness that should be the mark Of "the adult ieligious. , , ,OUR CONTRIBUTORS CLAUDE‚ÄôKEAN, formerly,professor of chant and homiletics at Holy Name, Col-lege, Washington, D. C., is now principal of Timon High,~ School, .,Buffalo, New York. RICHARD L. ROONEY, after serving as a chaplain m the armed forces of the United States during the war, recently joined the staff of The Queen‚Äôs Work. St.:,Louis,-Missouri. JOHN A. HARDON. who has done much work with high school students in‚Äôt1~e fiei~l ~f debating and i~ublic speaking,-is‚Äôa~ tl~eological s~udent at West Baden College, West Baden Sprifigs, Indiana. [~ATRICK~ M.‚ÄôREGAN, until r~ecently ,professor of-fundamental theology at St. Mary‚Äôs C~ollege
St. Marys, Kansas, is sp.iritual director of the junior scholastics at St. Stanislaus Sem!nary, Florissant, Missouri. ~D^M C. ~ELLIg‚Äô anal ~EI~.~ED KELLY are"prof~s~ors of canon law m~)ral, theolog~, ‚Äôrespectively at St‚Äô. Mary‚Äôs .College, St. M~ys. Kdnsas, and are mem-bers of the Editorial Boaid of,REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. ~. 300 . )~‚ÄôE~ENTL~ a non-Cath0hc journal of theology printed ~1~ ~aff~ditdfial ~n freed~N d{religion. After an.~lysis ~ - of-the‚Äô concept of freed5~, ~Yb~ author 6rew tb~s cob
c]usion: "Freedom i~?th~ ~fruit"of~~]legxance~ given "to God .~f~ne."v ‚ÄôHe then c~htinued~ VGr~nfing only~a~truly re]i-giSus man-is ~u]ly‚Äô~fre~, .,wfi~tL‚Äôd0~~ fr~edo~ Col: r~]igion mean? . It means, fi~st bf ~]l,a fr~edbm to .cHb~s~sn~s re]i
freedom td~ ch00se, bne: s own:~religi6nq.~ Why
Go6 s r~l.igion,~ r~veal~d4or all me~ b~ll:‚Äô ages? A~ain,,~:sffan~eg
e:xpl‚Äôai~s there a:fe assortment~of Chr~stmn~ tell: , one .as.good,as. anotHefl. ,~ In,. l‚Äô{~‚Äôs concern God~ ~s left-us to ‚Äôbelleve~contrad~ctory doctnnes
to~,}fbllow Lconflietigg~ p~adric~s ~‚Äô "all~.this~the fruit , ~‚Äô That in the very worship of-God, ~an andnot the‚Äô norm~ ~s‚Äô contradzctory
"yet-that is precisely~ the~ daffy pracnce of mdhons of Chnstmns. "~s a matter‚Äôof factJ‚Äôzt - _does noi even occur to them that there is such a thing as one , true religion excludin~ M1 o~fiers as false. When on rare occasions someone institutes ,a s~arc~ for .[ehg~on, t[ut~ consloeranon, because sofew realize that ‚Äô~ree‚Äô~d~m"i?‚Äô the‚Äô right to CBOose only‚Äô, what xs gqod ahd t~ue, Godis almost unlvers~lly ~gnored.m matters religious: Truth in Revelation .... . ,.:.,: ~o. ‚Äô In this whole question. ~f belief, erflphasis must be .laid 301 PATRICK M.R.EGAN R.eview for Religious on tfie‚Äôfact that there can bi~ no choice between true and false. GodHiinself in..m~kin.g a revelation could not ignore truth but had:t0, m, an~ifest divine reality as.it actually exists. In a Word, God revealed Himself
and since God cannot .possibly be altered to conform to human opioi0ns,-,man must nece,,,ssafily conform his intellect to the.,truth about God. This he,,does .by believ!ng .the. revealed word. describing God‚Äôs essence and His relations to man.. Now.the first step in,,,the act whereb.y we assent to this .~ruth~ is submission of.the intellect to God‚Äôs au~h0rity. Thus at the very. outset we must establish direct.,communication with God. Catholics, even though blessed with the true faith and filled .with .high religi‚Äô0us id.eals, must, pay special heed to this need of.intellectual contact with God. Though not as vulnerable as those outside the fold, they still may be pron.e ,to give God a sub‚Äôordinate place in their intellectual life of faith, or, even forget Him altogether. Many, for instance, never realize that faith first, last, and always reaches up, to God as the One revealing and the Reality revealed. In the matter of divine charity most of us under-stand clearly enough the necessity of going straight to God without detours through selfish interests, and so strive valiantly for perfect love and perfect contrition. But just as sure as the will embraces God in love,, so the mind is united to Him. in divine faith. God Overlobked However, in. our very zeal for the faith we incline to overlook this intellectual union with God. Bechuse of our tendency to concentrate on the truth, we are quite apt to forget God revealing and even God revealed. Nowadays with so many facilities for stu‚Äôdying our religion, wi,th so much urging to understand it and to be able to explain it, we are particularly inclined to focus‚Äôattention on its e~pla- 302 September, 1946 Hov~ IS YOUR FAITHi‚Äô nation or on a set of questions, thus.overlooking its divine Author as well as tl~e Reality revealed. Quite regularly it happens that, while probing the depths of-the mystery of the Trinity and answering objections proposed, we never even think of the Triune God. Or to take another setting, how many ever think to re, pel a. temptation against faith with: Can‚ÄôI possibly doubt God‚Äôs word? Only too.many, terrori.zed by the temptation against faith, wrestle with the truth itself, trying to comprehend, for example, how Christ can be really present in the Eucharist. The Church‚Äôs Contribution What may prove another obstacle to the union of faith is the relation of the Church to our belief. If this is not dearly understood, it confuses us and may lead even to the Church‚Äôs supplanting God in our mental attitude towards matters of faith. Any number of Catholics would sub-scribe to: "Because the infallible Church teaches "this doc-trine, it is true, and I believe it." By stopping there the~, profess faith in the Church‚Äôs teaching with6ut advertence to the real.motive of faith. Following an accepted axiom in the Church th~at prayer conforms to truth (lex orandi, lex credendi), we can verify the motive from our ordinary act of faith: "I believe what the Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed it." Hence the act of faith in its full-ness erriphasizes God‚Äôs place: "Because God has revealed this, it is true, and I believeAt." " To cede God‚Äôs place to the Church, even unwittingly, is to lose the advantage‚Äôof the. power, beauty, intimacy, and the vision of faith
the com- -‚Äômunication of the divine mind to ours. Even though by faith we see God only as "a confused reflection in a mirror" (I Corinthians 13: 12), still it is God, as surely and really as if we saw Him face to face in heaven, and it is He who revealed the reflection. ~ 303 - PATRICK M, REGAN ,.~ Review for ‚ÄôReligious ,,~
The~primary‚Äôoffice, of the Church is to give us an in,, fallibl guarantee‚Äô, "This is God‚Äôs~ messa.ge:r‚Äô , This prd: nouncement ig
we must not make-it, a,~ goal. Pius IX in his definition of the Immaculate Conception emphhsized tile duty of.submission both, to the:Chu¬¢ch and to God
, to fail in the :latter.means, shipwreck for" the faith
¬∞to fail in~ th~ former in~ w6id, w}itihg or ex~er, nal act subjects the offender to alLpefialties of Church Law. ~. The Church‚Äôs contribution is further cl~irified by St. Paul‚Äôs distinction: "It was for me to plant the seed, for Apollo to water it, but it was God ~vho gave the increase" (I Corinthians 3: 6). Like:~paul‚Äôs, the Church!s missi6n is limited to Planting the seed and wateriffg it
it is gtill God who gives the increase. W~ too must beware the error of ¬Ø Corinth, decried by Paul: "Why, what is Apollo,. What Paul? Only ~the mlnis~er of God in whom your faith rests,.. who have brought the.faith to each of you in the measure God granted" (I Corinthians 3:5). We must beware mistaking the gardener for God, to whom the life and. beauty of faith‚Äôs garden is.realjy doe, Incidentally, we must ‚Äôalso guard lest the beauty of the flowers of revealed: truth blind us to the beauty of God from whom all beauty comes. Contact with God .One more comparison will clarify and emphasize this ¬Ø fa~t of intellectual contact with God in faith., A telephffne operatorrs main work is to connect us With our party
tha( done, she maintains the connection and.finally breaks it ,at th~ e‚Äônd of the conversation. While, the office of the infal-lible. :teaching Church‚Äô is .far more important than an operator‚Äôs, involving~fa~, greater power arid ac‚Äôtivity,, still there is a :resemblance.. It consists in this that the first duty and wish of the Church is to put us in communication with 304 Septe~b‚Äôer, 1946o HOW IS ‚ÄôYbOR FAITHi~ Gbd. ~:Of::~burse,.i ~minirhizing ~her activity wand influence must be,.avoided., She is.not‚Äô.,a mechariic~il operhtor,:merely establishing communi~ation Vcith God,that wbuld involve exclusi~cely private ‚Äôin~piration. ~ind ~inter~pretatiofi‚Äô for a.n3? and.all. No,: she is God%~.own:guardian Of. the whole of His message, teaching it .~ithout possibility 6f er‚Äô~or to~.all men, ~xplaining" it, adapting it to our understar
ding, and applyirig,itto current problems. Thus, as mediator ‚Äô of God‚Äôs truth," she is~ His supernatural instrum~nt~ for many~ an i~nspiration and clearer interpretation* in individual souls. -God‚Äôs then is the,task of love,~‚Äôto aid the intellect, engaged with the dogma proposed by the Chu¬∞r~h, to a free assent, and then to admit it~to the mysterious, counsels of the Trinity. It is the: ope~ration of His~ grace, ~silent, effica-cious, mysterious, as is every great work of G6d. Message of the Inffividu~t " Wha(has the individual to say to God, once he has con-tacted. Him th~rodgh the Church? By-passing theological ~ontroversies on ~he prea,~ble.s of faith and on the act i~self, we may say its ~es~a.ge~would be briefly: "Eord, through your Church I have learned of your r~velation to men, now contained in Scripture and tradition. Thes( truths-=I believe because You have revealed them wh~ ‚Äôcan neither deceive nor be deceived. But more importan~ still, since Your truth is li~ing reality, I wish~ to explore:itslength ~:~ ‚Äô an~ ~ ~ depth, b~ead~h and height for. a ~f~r clearer~ arid m~r~~ in-timate apprehension. On the Church I rely for explanation. direction, exhortation
but it is only by communicating "with You that I can share more fully in the knowledge of Your intimate nature." Faith Must Grow This contact established, answering divine communi= cationsare set in~mbtion as God through graces and~ inspi: 305 PATRICK M. REGAN ~ Reoi~to for Relioious rations opens .up new vistas of ~,understanding. for the believing soul.,~ To be sure, the..soul mustkeep the line of communication operi throi~gh an attentive mind, remem-bering a distracted or disinterested mind cannot capture the full imports of a messa.ge. This dedper, understanding cbmes, .therefore, during periods of special activity in spiritual matters: in meditation, in vocal prayer, during periods of recollection~, during attentive reading or listening to sermons
in. time of Mass, Communion, thi~nksgiving. Particularly. a recollected rnihd will be quick to recognize God‚Äôs~inspiratibn, desiroias of profiting by it. Very. rich and elevat~ed is this concept of divifie faith ~:ompared to the all-too-frequent notion that it is mainly a vice-like grip on revealed truth. Thus many ‚Äôerr in thinking that the more we grit our teeth and. the tighter we clench our fists, the strdnger our faith. Such an attitude exposes faith to the danger .of becoming a lifeless formality., a bone clenched between the teeth
it saps its vitality and dynamic force. In this atmosphere profession of faith can "quickly deteriorate into, "I believe, and that‚Äôs that
now to Catholic Action, study clubs~ social.uplift, and the rest of the Church‚Äôs activity." "I believe" should introduce the intellect to a whole world of reality, which like a greaLpainting grows on us through contemplating it. "Gbd revealed" ,challenges the mind to intense activity and will tax it to the limit~ of its capac.ity. Co-operating with "God revealing" by being ever attentive-to His illuminati6ns, we stimulate our life of faith, growing to fuller comprehension of the Reality that is God. In this manner our mental gaze is focused on the God-man,.forinstance, not as He appears in thee light of weak human reason -an-historical personage of the past but, as He is comprehended in all His mysteriousness by God Himself. For in this ihtimate union of faith, God shares 306 September, 1946~ HOW IS YOUR F~AIT~I.
‚Äô His own knowledge with us. It is quite detrimental, therefore, to the whole spiritual life to mistake faith as mainly tenacity in clinging to revealed truth. While~striving for ~the union of love, our minds do not meet God‚Äôs to participate in its treasures. ‚Äô To be sure, tenacity has its own importance since we must hold ,fast to the faith. But revelation is not a bodyof truth delivered two thousand years ago, passed on from age I~o age as a sort of sacred fossil guarded by the Church, and exhib~ ited to our astonished gaze as an archaeological phenom-enon. True, "God revealed" does not change
there is no change in the Three Persons who are God. But our knowl-edge of ‚Äô-‚ÄôGod revealed" changes, and that very rhuch, if we nurture it zealously to a robust growth
in fact, it will neve~ cease to grow as long as we tend it. Even in the Church there has been development in ufiderstanding doc-trine since the time of the Apos, tles, for living truth must grow. Our own individual growth must be fostered by a mind attentiv~ and a will docile to divine illuhaination
necessary too is our own burning desire and resolute will to overcome our natural dislike for contemplating truth. Steadt:ast in Faith " ~ome~of the foregoing strictures may give the impres-sion that constancy in faith is of minor importance. Such an impressi6n would be erroneous since tenacity has its place and importance as one of the essential properti~es of faith. Thus millions of martyrs through the centuries demonstrate and emphasize the need of cons(ancy
because they professed the faith even in the jaws of death, they were gloriously, crowned. This constancy is also living and dynamic enabling us to face the trials and difficulties of faith perseveringly to the end. It involves cooperation with God‚Äôs activity in our souls. ~ This constancy, as a living thing, must also grow. For 307 P2(TRiCK-M. REGAN Ret~ieto [or Rel]oiou~ -one ~hi~g it will grow apace with our increasing intellectual apptehensior~ of God‚Äôs.mysteries through our grac.e-assisted contemplation‚Äôof truth. The more peni~trating our. faith and the more real, the~deeper our convictions that make. for steadfastness: :No man.ever,laid down his life for a cold, unrealized .proposition
have died for God who through faith, bec~ime a g~eat and loved reality. ~Every element~,of,~.faith, therefore, must ,be ~arefull~r fostered to ~ttain full and healthy growth. God sets no limits to ‚ÄôHis~ graces to enable-us to accomplish this: Brighter and brighter will be ¬∞the~‚Äôilluminations~as We make progress, clearer and-clearer the vision, until only a thin veil. as~ it, were separates us from th~ i~naccessible light ,of "God revealed.‚Äô[ .Co-operating generously, with grace, m~ny
a~ saint ha~ attained to that sublim~ height,of intel~ lectual realization of~‚Äô:God revealed." _ .. Pihs XII Exhorts The majority of us, perhaps,~are altogether tOO supine about contemplating‚Äô ~evealed truth, even fighting shy of mysteries. Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on the Mystical Body writes:. ,- So‚Äôhe through empty fear look upon so profound a doctrine . (of the Mystical ‚ÄôBody) as something-dangerous, and so,they fight shy of it as~ the, be~autiful-~but.~forbidden ifrtiit of,~paradis_e.~. ,It is:not s0: Mysteries-revealed~ by God. cannot: be harmful to men
nor should they remain as treasures.hidden in a field, useless.¬∞ .... : These words a~one if taken seriousl~‚Äô~at f~ll face vai, u~ should.inspire us to a study of mysteries, a study which is capable of ~assisting,.us to the heights :of. contemplative u~ion.~~~ ~ ~ery hexf ~brds 0~ the ~offti~m~l~~ this: "~ysteries ,~ve been given .from on high preqisely ,to hel~ th~ spiritugl progress of those who stud~ them ~ a ~pjrit of-piety~ This would seem to be. a fruitful_source itual advance which manz~0~erlo~k ~rneglect.," " .". - 3O8 ¬Ø Septelnb"er, 1946. ,, HOW IS -YdlJR"FAITH? < ,7 ,,Makir~9, G~d Real -~‚Äô This~sthdy of.mysteries
thotigh ,it can be promoted throu~gl~ ,stu~ty ,clubs, ,doctrinal
‚Äôassimila tiv~e .readin‚Äôg, does not necessarily involve such formal methods. Inq?act, if s~iritual p‚Äôrogtess is to result, it is only ac(omplished Under the tutelage of ~God Hims~elf, "in a spiri~ of.piety," as the ~oritiff puts it. ~ A fei?vent ~so~il, ‚Äôfilled vith grow, will b‚Äôe0,greatly encouraged and , orisoled by its noticeable progress in spiritual insight into mysteries. making dailymeditation in this way in.~the presence of Christ, reflecting on th~ mysteries, prayihgfor light, in-voking the ~intercession of "the saints for grace, a s0ul will t~avel far toward making God very real to itself. Nor are these" exhortations to contemplate rev.ealed truth only f6r the highly educated and‚Äôfor those learned in theology. It is the only way I~o make God real to the soul. Hence many uneducated and simple people have attained . brilliant success, not 0nly canonized saints, but hidden ones als0. ~rchbish6p Goodier in his booklet, "Some Hints on Prayer," tells the story of a poor woman., bedridder~ for years. When she-first became ill she arranged some daily prayers for~ herself, resolving to say them slowly to make them go bett~r. But soon the Our Father had gr6~n so much that.it took her a wh01eweek to‚Äôget.,through it. She often prayed~ that many otlfers wot~ld"find how much¬Ø ~s ~hidden in‚Äô~the Our Father. Through the grace of ~.God, therefore, through patient endurance of her sufferings, and through ridding herself of haste, which according to St. Francis de Sales is the ruin bf devotion, this poor, uneducated-woman reached "sublime heights of contempla-tion. Week after week the mystery of the fatherhoodof . G6d and the brotherhood of men.filled her thoughts as the ~reat reality it is. Her method was simplicity itself, yet few follow her example. _: ~ ~09 PATRICK M. REGAN Review for Religious Method. of Vatican Council The identical method for the st-udy of mysteries, explained in more technical language, is outlined in the encyclical: For, as the Vatican Council teaches,
‚Äôreason illumined by faith, if it seeks earnestly, piously and wisely, does attain, under God, to a certaiti knowled, ge.and a most helpful knowledge of mysteries, by considering their analogy with what it knows naturally, and their mutual relations and their common relation with man‚Äôs last end," although, as the same hol~r Synod observes, reason even thus illumined ~‚Äôis never made capable of understanding these mysteries as it does those truths which form its proper object." Undoubtedly, the poor woman in meditating the fatherhood of God was unaware she was using analogy and was integrating the mysteries, but she did that nonetheless. There is no other Way. Application Even a few meditations on this method of studying revealed mysteries would bring immediate advantage to any soul striving for spiritual progress. Such considerations as the following would be profitable: ( 1 ) Since an ecumen-ical council proposes this method and stamps it With its approval, we have antecedent certitude of its efficacy. (2) The first requisite is to "seek," and this involves the intellectual effort always required in the search for truth. (3) We must be "earnest, pious, wise" (each word fur-riishes enough matter for a meditation) in our search. (4) All‚Äôthis leads to "a certain knowledge .and a helpful knowledge of mysteries." Having pkescribed the proper attitude and indicated the certain goal, the council then tells us how this is to be reached. Three lines of procedure are indicated._ .We must consider,the analogy of mysteries with what we know naturally. " Since God is mirrored in His creation, we can consequently always find at least a faint resemblance" 310 September, 1946 HOW IS YOUR FAITH? . for a mental take-off into the stratosphere of divine reality. The shamrock,indeed, has but a very remote resemblance to the Trinity
yet St. Patrick, according to tradition, used it successfully tb teach that mystery to the Irish. St. Augus-fine‚Äôs mirror of the Trinity was the human soul with its being, knowing, willing. Ever.y successflil catechism teacher has learned by experience the practical value of clear, striking examples, which is nothing else but the method of analogy applied. The second line of procedure indicated b~ the Vatican Council is to consider the "mutual relations of mysteries." Thus a consideration of the relation of the Trinity to the Incarnation, of this to the Redemption, of this to the Mysr tical Body (to indicate only one .chain of mysteries) will astonish most of us by the abundant fruits of progress in knowledge of God. , The third line of procedure is a consideration of the "common relation of mysteries with man‚Äôs last end." It too will delight us with the new superna[ural world it pre-sents to our wondering gaze. An Example An outstanding example of .the application of this method is to be found in the encyclical on the Mystical Body itself. This doctrine .is a strict mystery.involving very many other revealed mysteries. The main purpose of-the encyclical is to explain the doctrine. The entire first part is an explanation in three sections of the terms, ,Body," "of Christ," and "Mystical." The explanation of "Body" is an unfolding of the analogy of this Body to physical and moral bodies found amongst us. "Of Christ" is explained .by interrelating the mysteries of the Incarna~ tion, redemption, and sanctification to our union with Christ :for our eternal salvation. "Mystical" summarizes the two preceding expl~inations. Other mysteries involved 31i PATRICK M. "REc.~N Re~ieu~ for Religious in .the furtherexplanation are: union in faith, hope, and charity through .the Holy Spirit, the divine indwelling, and the sacrifice, of the Mass. An Application The" very intellectual life of faith we are treating is mysterious. It will not be amiss to apply what we have been l~earning from the¬∞ Vi~tican Council to throw new light on it. We shall employ an analogy. Suppose a sci-entist made a radar contact with an inhabited planet~ learning much of the nature of the place ahd its inhabitants. This scientist ~e would accept as an authqrity, studying with avidity the information he 1Sassed on. We would be most eager for mdre and more informati6n, ff by some chance" the ficientist enabled us personally ti~ communicatd in amystefious way with the ~uler of the. planet, we would seize every opportunity with miser‚Äôs greed. Slow and imperfect though the method might be, we would l~atiently persevere, wqlcoming every new. bit of information, rejoic-ing that first crude ideas were being gradually clarifiedl Now the Church presents us th~ revealed facts of heaven, its citizens, its nature. As intermediary she guar-antees ¬∞the facts as ,revealed by God. The personal com-munication with God she makes.possible to us,~and, daily we speak familiarly with God, His Mother, the angels, and the saints. "We really live in .that atmosphere of the super~ nati~ral life, with God ‚Äôand its ~charac_ters growing more and more. real:with the passing of time~ Surely it all should~ be as
~ctual as‚Äôany ~tadar communication‚Äôwith a distant planet might be. : " ¬∞ ‚Äô~ "
our lips: ‚ÄôHail, Mary, woman full of grace
.you are the most blessed woman on earth
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.‚Äô And since we will be faithful in doing our part, you will be faithful in doing yours: you will remember that you are our mother, and will therefore help us in all our needs: ‚ÄôHoly Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and, at the.hour of our death. Amen.‚Äô ‚ÄôMediatrix ~nd Dispehser of All Graces, pray for us." The Hail Mary has two sharply divided parts. It is like a rocket~ swdft and straight, which ascends on high till it reaches Mary
and then, at the foot of her throne, it breaks and gently descends, in a myriad-colored shower of graces, upon the child.ten of Mary in this vale of t~ars. 178 Remedies for t:he Parficuhr Friendship Gerald Kelly, S.d. C‚ÄôPEAKING of possible reactions to emotional problems, ~ Father G. Augustine Ellard once wrote in this REVIEW: "Some mak~ the right and in our case, it would be the religious reaction." they face the facts squarely, see what is to be done about them, and then do it, promptly and courageously.‚Äô‚Äô1 The purpose of the p~esent article might be aptly indicated by sabring that it is an attempt to apply Father Ellard‚Äôs words to the specific emotional prob!ems ielative to the particular frie~ndship. This article is rieeded, I think, because in a former article I could do no more than discuss the nature of the particular friendship.~ To be con-tent with that discussion ~vould be like giving all the symp-toms of an illness without saying anything about the cure or the prevention of the malady. In a general way, the problem of restraining .any unwholesome emotional reaction involves some or all of th‚Äôe following fact-ors. One should not dodge his problem, but should face it squarely.. One must realize that at least for him the expression of this emotion is really, undesirable-- agenuin¬¢ evil, or at least a hindrance to a great good. In controlling the emotion, one should avoid everything that stimulates it, in so far as this is reasonably possibly, and, if the stimuli themselves are unavoidable, the impu.lses to f0s~ ter the emotion should then be restrained. It is particularly advisable that this avoidance of stimuli and restraining of imptilses should be accomplished calmly, without fear.and 1See "Sanity and Sanctity," in Vol. III, p. 310. Father Ellard‚Äôs article contains many helpful suggestions for analyzing and solving emotional problems. Z"The Particular Friefidship," in Volume V, p. 93. 179 GERALD KELLY ~ Reoieto for Religious worry. And, whenever possible, some positive, wholesome substitute: for ~he undesirable emotion should be cultivated. These-general suggestions should be kept in mirid in solving any emotional problem. In appl.ying them to the question of the particular .friendship, it is necessary to visualize two distinct cases and to treat~ these cases sepa.- rately.. T~h~e first case concerns a person who hhs not ,yet formed a pariicul‚Äôar friendship but who feels a s[rong tend-ency t6wa~d~‚Äôd6ing so, In the religious lifethis ~ould be the~ more common, and~ the less ditticult,, pr0bl.eml~ The ~econdcase concerns one who his already formed a p,articu-lar friendship. Because of the great difficulties presented by "this-latter casel we shall . , ~- . consider 7xt first.-~.F.or the sake bfclarity, 0ur remark~ will be grouped round these key-word~ s~ conutc~ton,.cqnadence, 9eneral self-dis~tphne, pt?ysi-cat se]oaration., ~e~t.a.! sepqration, and ~o‚Äôtfier interests. BREAKING A FRIENDSHIP By conoiction I me~i‚Äôfa realization of.values~ ‚Äôsincere, deep motivation. No one will,attempt to restrain a stron~ and pleasant affection unless~he really sees that it is unde-sirable and unless he really wants to restrain it. An uncon-vinced and half-hearted man will do nothing that calls for effort and sacrifice. , Moreover, when there, is question of a personal emotional problem, mere argument i~ generally u~dess. Theo-former article on th~ particular friendship outliiaed many harrrffu], even disastrous, effects of the par-tlcfilar fr~efi~d~hilS~ - tt hurts prayer, interferes with "work, is a nuisa~nce‚Äô to social lif~ within a community, leads to a loss-of ideals, is ~ source of danger to chastity, ~tnd may even‚Äô.?~uimir~ate iri a loss of vocation. In fine, at its best it blocks off true,progress in the love of God
at its worst leads to. hell. These varioias effects of the particular .fr.iendship are 180 MaV, 1946 THE PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP well-known to everyone who has had to deal with such cases. Yet the religious who is involved in ~a particular friendship is apt to hear or read a recital of these evils with-" 6ut being much affected. He.is in the same mental State as the Catholic-who knows his ‚Äôfaith perfectly yet blinded by love runs off with a divorced person: Such people will rlot be convinced, inthe real sense of the word, withou~ humbie, ~prolonged prayer. They~have tO see, even td feel,, with the aid of what I might call the warniing grace of‚ÄôGod, that these arguments: apply :to t, hem. They have to :fight‚Äô love - with love. The ~love~ involved in theib ‚Äôhuman. attachment conflicts‚Äôwith the love theyowe.to OUr L‚Äôord. ~Compromis~ in this~ ma~ter is an impossibility),,they cannot have both ¬Ø Real convicti‚Äôom theiefore~, results in a desire to break" a particula‚Äôr friendship. L But desire in itself is not enough. One. must.also have confidence:that this can be done. No one, will att,empt to do what he reall)?‚Äôjudges to be impossible
and when the emotions have been captivated one naturally~ and qtiite spontaneously/feels help, less to adjust‚Äô them, One.way of counteracting this feeling of helpli~ssness is the practice of the toormuch-neglected virtue of hope. We have Our Lord‚Äôs solemn promise that He‚Äô will¬∞ give Us the graces necessary for doing His will
and we have the examples of the saints and of everyday experience to prove that those who stretch.out their,hands to Him and cooperate with His grace,can do-almost incredibly heroic things. It is hardly necessary to dwell here on the examples of great conversions.fimong the saints, but it may be helpful to insist 0n the fact that~daily experience proves that those who sin-cerely want to control even the strongest emotions can do so. " Religious themselves, as guides of young people, fre~ quently have to urge them to break off some unsuitable cohr.tship, i‚ÄôMany lose be‚Äôart and do not follow the advice
GERALD KELLY Review [or Relig!ous but many others do follow it and succeed. What they can do, religious can surely do, especially since religious have such easy access to supernatural helps. The third key-word is general self-discipline. The organization called Alcoholics Anonymous, which has achieved remarkable results in the rehabilitation of persons addicted to alcoholism, has capitalized on this point as, indeed, it has capitalized on almost the entire program outlined here. The alc6holic‚ÄôS attention is not wholly concentrated on his one central problem, as if he were a saint except ,for that
he is directed to make an inventory of all his faults and to begin a complete reform by general. self-discipline. This is sound psychology and sound asceticism, too
and the religious who faces the problem of breaking a particular friendship would do Well to follow it. To speak, cqncre.tely, the whole spiritual life mus~ be tuned up: observance of rule, application to duty, control of temper, and so on. The ~regtdar..practice of prayer and of ‚Äôsmall mortifications is especially important. An inte-grated program like this has the natural advantage of giving general control over feelings and impulses and the super-natural advantage of winning the special graces necessary for victory in.the central problem, .namely, the breaking of the friendship. ¬Ø , The first direct attack on the friendship itself is the blocking 6ff of all unn&essarystimuli"~o the emotioff. Evi-dently this includes some degree of physical separation. At the very minimum, private mee~tings must cease
.and really Severe cases can hardly be cured without complete l~hysical separation,-which implies a change of residence for one of tFie parties,a Obviously, a change of residence cannot be aWhen I say that severe cases may call for a change of residence I do not wish to imply that an even greater change might not occasionally tie required. Cases, may occur in which one or both parties manifest either an excessive and very dangerous lack of emotional control or even an abnormally-directed instinct. In such cases the 182 Mag, 1946 THE PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP effected without the cooperation of the superior
and when a subject frankly approaches a superior on a matter of this kind, the s.uperior should be sympathetic and as helpful as circumstances permit. Harshness with a subject who has sponta~neously asked for help is certainly inexcusable. Some-times, of course, a change of residence is impossible, at least temporarily
and sometimes it is not necessary because the friendship is not far enough advanced to call for such a drastic measure. Physical separation alone will not accomplish the desired result
there must also be mental separation. There slfiould ~be no letter writing
and little souvenirs such as pic-tflres, no~es, and old letters, should be destroyed. Tl~en, with these external reminders out of the way, the next step is~ fb purify the im.aginati0n of its tendency to dwell fondly .~ on "the good old times." This involves the same p~oBlem that is encountered in ariy attempt to rid the mind of per-sistent undesirable thoughts. The preceding steps are largely negative
they are designed to empty th~ mifid and heart of the troublesome attachment. But one cannot preserve a vac~i~um-of soul. One must love something and be intere~sted in something. Hence, the final step is the cultivation ofother interests. At first this is very difficult, for loneliness, moodiness, and a distaste for other persons and things are the natural keac-tions tO an effort to break a particular friendship. But one must not succumb to such unwholesome reactions. This_is not the time to indulge a rn~arty‚Äôr complex by volunteering for the foreign missions
rather, it is khe time to‚Äôlearn to appreciate the interesting things, the enjoyable companion-ships, and the profitable labors that are right at hand. Wholesome friendships and a more intensified love of God, good of the individual and especially the common good call for a change, not merely of residence, but of vocation. In the text I am supposing the existence of a genuine vocation and am simply giving the remedies fora temporary emotional difficulty. 183 GERALD KELLY Rev[eu~ [or Reffqious manifested by a, willingness to work arid‚Äôto .takepart in common recreations and entertainmentsPthings like these will ~di~pel the gloom and readjust the violently shaken. emotions. . . Such‚Äô in gene~ral is the program for~l~reaking a particular ftiendship:~:" The second case to be‚Äô Considered-concerns the person who has not ~formed such a friendship but who feels stronglp attracted towards doing so. RESTRAINING AN ATTRACTION Perhaps the most fundamental rule to be observed by a religious when he.first feel~ a strong exclusive attraction towards another is this: clo r~ot be surprised. In this-con-nection, I might mention the very effective technique fol-lowed by a certain wise spiritual director in quieting young religious who were unnecessarily worried over the fact that they experienced temptations against, chastity. He would -.begin by asking his worried consultant: .."On a fast day, don‚Äôt you ever feel: hungry at about ten or eleven o‚Äôclock in the morning?‚Äô:‚Äô "Why
9f course," would be the iilercitable answer. "And do ~you get surprised or worried?" "Of course not,", the equally, inevitable answer. "Then why should you be s, urprised at these tempta-tions?., You are denying ,a, very ~trong appetite‚Äô..~These strong urges that you feel are merely signs of i~ts hunger." TI‚ÄôIiS samd reasoningmay be aigplied to the longing for intimate exclusive companionsfiip., God gaveeveryone this yearning
but the religioos has renounced its fulfillment in ¬Ø favor of a greater good. Yet~in renouncing the.right to -satisfy the yearning, the religious has not destboyed the yearning itself
and‚Äôhe Should not be surprised,if it should make itself felt at times in regard to so~rne person either of his own or of the opposite sex.- 184 THE PARTICULAR FRIENDSHIP The first bule, therefore, is to keep calm and to remem-ber, "I‚Äôm fasting." Then very quietly‚Äô but firmly"one should see thfit he does not foster the exclusive attraction in ~ny way: by needless thinking of the other person, by .1~ri-vate meetings, o~ special signs of affection. Let him be faith-ful~ to the common life, to the practice of universal charity, to his work, and to his prayer. As his mind tends to be absorbed with thoughts of the one person, let him quietly try to replace these by other thoughts. It is high.ly desirable that a religious who is undergoing this trial should be perfectlTf frank with hisspiritual direc-tor or with his superior, or with both. The young religious is apt to fear this
he is prone to think that he may be con-sider~ d singular. This fear is vain. If he is singular, then to be human is singular. It is very heltSful, if not a~Sso-lutely necessary, to be able to unburden one‚Äôs soul in these human difficulties. Even if the spiritual direct6r or the ¬Ø superior can do little more than listen sympathetically, the. soul is cheeredand encouraged. Occasionally a religious ~:ho does not wish to talk over his difficulty with the superior or spiritual director feels,, a strong impulse to talk it over with th~ person towards whom he is attracted. This impulse is to be suspected
it is very likely just a subtle manifestation Of the very tendency that is worrying him. It is a type of self-manifestation that can do no good, but much harm
at the very least it is iikely to lead to distressing embarrassment. It sometimes happens that in a friendship that is other-wise very wholesome and beneficial one party begins to experience the .tendencies characteristic of tl~e particular. friendship. ~rhat is to be done in‚Äôa case like this? A very brief answer to this question might be, "Don‚Äôt be surprised or worried, but do be careful." It is.certainly not necessary to break the friendship immediately
but on the other hand 185‚Äô GERALDKELLY it is necessary to take precautions: -In the words, of Father Tanquerey" "One must first of all forego what would.fos-ter sentiment, like frequent and affectionate conversations, fairiiliariiy, etc. From time to time one must deny oneself meetings otherwise in Order, and be willing to shorten con-" versations that cease to be useful. In this way one gains control of sentiment and wards off danger." (The Spirffual. Lit:e, n. 606.) - CONCLUSION It is hardly necessary to mention, by way of conclusion, that extremist attitudes are to be avoided. One should not .make too little of the particular friendship for it does pre-sent a re.al danger, and few religious, if any, can safely con-sider themselves immune from it in all its forms. It is true that advancing age does diminish liability. Yet who ‚Äôcan set the definite age at which falling-_in-love ceases to be a possibility? On the other hand the problem should not be exagger-ated. It is unwise to raise the cry, "particular friendship," merely because two people have been rather frequently seen toge.ther. It is also unwise to look upon this as the onlg type of harmful companionship
for there are many other damaging associations, in which little or no sentiment is involved. Finally, it.is not wise to guide oneself according to a policy of undue fear and to shun all friendship in order to avoid a particular friendship. In companionhips, as in other matters, virtue follows the middle course. And the plan for the middle course-seems to be this: avoid unwhole-some friendships entirely, and purify wholesome friend-ships of unwholesome tendencies.. 186 Brot:her Lawrence on I:he Presence ot: God Augustine Klaas, S.,J. 44
-TURN my. little omelette in the pan for the love of "[ God
when it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the ground and adore my God, Who gave me the grace to make it, after which I arise, more content than a king.‚Äô.‚Äô These are the simp.le self-revealing words of‚ÄôBrother Lawrence of I?he Resurrection, a Discalced Carmelite, who spent thirty years in a kitchen "~,hich~ he hated," and incidenta.lly became an authority 0nth~ prac-tire of the presence of Gdd. Brothers and Sisters in the k~tchen, give ear toa fell0w-cook who found God pres‚Äôent. among your pots and pans!1 I Brother Lawrence‚Äôs name in the world was Nicholas Herman. He wasborn in l 611 at H~rimini iri Lorraine of Catholi‚Äôc parents who grofinded him well in baiic religi6us principles. As a youth he seems to have been first, employed as a footman to Monsieur di~ Fuibert, treasurer of a savings bank, and on his own admission was "a clumsy loul~who used to break everything." When war came, he joined the army of Lorraine. He was suddenly ca.ptured by some German troops, accused of being a spy, and was on the poi~i‚Äôt of being hanged when I/is coolness‚Äô, courage, and indiffer-ence to death finally convinced his captors of his innocence and they released him. Later, fighting against the Swedes, he was seriously wounded, being carried half de~d to his home nearby. ‚ÄôThough the wound healed eventually, it - put an end to his army career. 1What follows is based on the book, Practice of tbe Presence of God, which is re-viewed on p. 201 of this issue. 187 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review for Relioious Alwa~
s a serious:minded youth, although he ~dmits ~.l~a‚Äô~fie ~lid n~St ‚Äôc6me through his soldiering morally q~ns~th~eO, ~ichg[as-,Hermhn now decided to take up spir-itual warfare, and after an acute interior struggle, placed-h~ msdf u~der the direction of an uncle, a Discalced Carmel-ite. ,Forthwith he made some real advances on the road, to perfection, but somewhat hastily made up his mind to fol-lo~ a hermit‚Äôs life of so!itude. ~With a like-minded young nobleman, who had renounced tile world, he retired to a lo~Iy, desert pla
e: but after a few months o~ isolation he was convinced~ ~hat this manner of life was not suited to a beginner in perfection such as he was. Of a ~olatile, impttuous, impressi6nable nature, he felt heneeded ~ more stable, orderly, regulated hfe. He went‚Äôt0 Par{S~]hd asked to be. received among the lay brothers of the Order of Dis-calced Carmelites. He passed the preliminary probations, received the habit, and took the name of Brother Lawrenc~ ¬Ø of the Resurrection. As a ~rmelite novice he made rapid progress in virtue. He was assigned to the humblest tasks~ of the monastgry, tned~by every.sort of contradiction known to ~xperi~h~d no~ce masters, and came through them all ,n spitg 9f ~omy ve[y ~e~e~sing ~nterior .dimcul~ie~ ~hich~clhng tO him for gears after his novitia~g ffas over. ~ ‚ÄôHis ~profess"i o"n madd, he was" detailed toduty ~n the kitchen.. ‚ÄôThirfy gears fie held th~s‚Äôimportant honastery post, to whtch was added that of ~buyer for the commumty, thdugh he always protested he had "no head for business." Towards the end of this long span of years his work had to be lightened because he was now lamed by an ugly ulcer on his leg caused by sciatica, from which he had been quietlE suffering for some twenty-five years. Finally he had to give up the kitchen altogether and spent the .remainder of his life doing "shoe-repatr work" fdr his discalced brethre‚Äôn~ 188 ~Ma~t 1946 PRESENCE OF GOD Throughout his long career Brother Lawrence was an alert, top-notch worker. His brethren used to say that he regularly did the normal work of two men, yet withal was hai~dly ever seen to bustle or rush things unduly because he "did his work calmly, peacefully, steadily, and efficiently. His general character was not severe, but rather on the genial side.. He was extremely kind, patient, and cheerftil, espe-cially when the going was. hardest.. Consequently it is not ~urprising thathe won the esteem, .confidence, and love of all‚Äô With whom he came into.contact. People liked him chiefly for his uncommon common sense. " His spiritual life was just as simple and unostentatious. It centered about the continual practice of the presence ,of God and the prayer that spontaneously flowed from it, prayer which the Brother himself described paradoxically as "a mute, familiar conversation with Him." By means of thisoexercise faithfully adhered to and perfected through the years, and by the practice of the virtues it presupposes, ‚Äôsuch as faith, humility, penance, and mortification,. 1~ reached a very high level of spiritual life. A bit contemp-tuous of human learning, .he was skilled in divine wisdom arid could impart it simply but~effectively to others. Tha~t is why he was consulted on the spiritual life by so many devout layfolk, religious, priests, and even bishops. He taught and adapted to the. needs of others what he had found so beneficial in his.own spiritual life, namely, the constant, practice of the 15resence of God, so that he might rightly be called its apostle. As he once wrote: "If I were a preacher, I would preach nothing else than the practice of the presence of God
and if I were a,director of souls, I would urge it upon everyone, so necessary and even easy do I believe it to be." He called it "the shortest and easiest way .to arrive at Christian perfection, the mold and life of virtue and the great preservative from sin." 189 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieu~ fof oReligio~ , .,Brother La.v~ren~e‚Äôs last year, of" li.f~ was marked by repeated iHnesses
, all ,of ~hich he bore.bravely,~ even,,heroi-cally.-..: Succumbing finally to
in attack .of pleurisy, he died as quietly as he had li#ed, on MOnday, :February 12, 169.1, at nine_o‚Äôclock in‚Äôthe morning. He was eighty .years old. While his religiousbrethren stood about hi~ bed waiting for the. end, Brother Lawrence was asked by one of them ~hat he was doing at the moment. Answering, the brother spoke his .last words, which may be taken~as the epitome of his whole life, ~, am doing," he said, "what I.will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him
adoring Himo.and.loving Him with all my heart. That is.our pro-fession, Brothers,~to adore God‚Äôand to love Him, without botherii~g about the~ rest." ......
: II, Brother Lawrence‚Äôs doctrine on,the practi& of the p~es-enceof~ God and all that it implies is but a reflection"of ‚Äôhis own, remarkable spir,itual life, "since-he himself-lived first what he, so earnesdy recommended ~aind skilfully adapted to others. Hence, I shall~ try‚Äô to iynthesize h~s‚Äô ~mportant message frbm the‚Äô monastery kitchen to the world by rep0*ting as often as possible his own words, .,just as¬∞he spoke them or Wrote them, or as they were relayed to us by the Abb4 2oseph .de Beaufort, his close friend for many ~ears ..... 8ome Ne~es~artt Foundation Virtues Brother Lawrence .was eminently.a man of faith and so he is_ especially insistent" on the pra&ice of die virtue,,,bf ~aith. /i~!l the fine,,speeches-that I hear about God, what I can myself read about Hiin or feel about Him, would not,be ~enough to satisfy me: for, being-infinite in His perfe{tions, He is consequdntly in~ffable, and there ~ir~ no words eloquent ehough to give me a perle& con~el~- tion of His grandeur. ~ It is faith that discovers them to md and makes 190: Ma0 1946 ~ PRESENCE OF GOD me know Him as He is. By means of it I learn m0re~bbut Hi~ in a sh‚Äôort time than~I would learn in many years in the schools .... O faith, faith, admirable, virtue! You enlighten~the mind of man and conduct hini to the kn~owledge of his Creator
- Eovable virtue, ho~w little yofl~ are known ahd still less practise~l, al~hough the knowledge of you is, .so giorious and so profitable. ¬∞. ~ ,~,~ ,~
The Abb~ de Beaufort describes the brother‚Äôs practice of the viitue of hope, From this lively faith were born the firmness of his hope in the go~odness of God, a filial confidence in His providen.ce, a totaltand universal abandonment of himself into His hands, withotit worrylng what would become of him after his death .... The more desperate things appeared to him, the more he h013ed, like a rock beaten by.the‚Äô waves of the sea and settling itself moie firmly in the¬∞midst of the tempest. ‚Äô Of charily Brother Lawrence speaks in a v~ry familiar way. , , It is too much, O Lord!, It is too ~much for-me..Give if~itplease Thee, th~se kinds of favors and corisolations to si.nners and to the people who do not know Thee, in order to attract them to Thy~ serwce. As for me, who have the happiness of knowtng Thee by faith,I think that must be sufl~ctent: but because I ought not tO refuse anything from a hand so rich ahd generou.s as Thine, ‚ÄôI hccept, O‚Äômy G6d,. the fav6rs Thou" givest me. Yet grant, if it please Thee, that after having received theml I may return them just as Thou didst give them to me
for Thou kno, west well that it is not Thy gifts that I seek and desire, but Thyself, and I can be content with nothing. less. - However, it w~s not ever thus, as he tells his younger brethren in religion. ,¬∞ O Goodness, so ancient and so new, too late have I loved Th~ei Do not act this way, my Brothers. You are young
profit by‚Äôthe sincere confession.I make to you of the lit~e care I took to consecrate my first years to God. Consecrate all of yours to His .love
for, as for me, if I had known sooner and if anyone had told me, the things that I am telling you now, I would not have waited so long ~o love Him. Believe me, and count for lost all the t~me that is not spent in loving God. 191 A~/GUSTINE KLAAS ~ Review for Re.ligious To sum up: All thingsarc possible to l~im who believes
still more to him who hopes: still more to him who loves: and most of all. to him who practices these three virtues and perseveres in them. Besides faith: hope, and charity, Brother Lawrence counsels puritg of intention in the follqwing maxim: Always to regard God and His glory in what we are doing, saying and undertaking
let the end that we propose be to become the most perfect adorers of God in this life as we hope to be through all eternity. .And self-know.ledge: When we undertake the spiritual, life, we ought fundamentally to consider who we are: and we will find ourselves deserving of all contempt, unworthy of the name of Christian. subject to all sorts of. miseries and to an infinity of accidents which upset us and render us unstable in our health, in our moods, in our interior and exterior dis-position in short, people whom God wills to humble by a countless number of pains and labors, within us as well as without. Hence, there must be.submission to the trill of God, for "without this submission of he
irt and mind to the will of God, devotion and perfection cannot exist." "I try in all things to do His will, and I am so submis-sive to it that I would not wish to lift a straw from the ground.against His order, nor for any other motive than ~he pure love, of God." ~ ,And this submission must be carried even to the point of abandonment, for Brbther Lawrence used to say that "bne must give oneself entirely to God in pure abandon-ment, for temporal and spiritual affairs, and seek one‚Äôs hap-piness in the doing.of His will, whether He should lead us by suffering or by consolation. It should be all the same to one who was truly abandoned." Mortit~ication and progressive detacbmer~t /Yore ccea-tures are indispensable. I know that fbr this (the practice of the presence of God) the heart must be emptied of everything else, God wishing to be the only one~" 192 PRESENCE OF GOD to possess it
and as He cannot be the only one to do so without e~nptying it of everything that is not-He, so neither can He act in it or do with it what He would like .... This exercise does not kill the body. Still, it‚Äôis proper to.deprive the latter from time to time, and even often, of many little consola-tions, although they are innocent and permissible: for God does not allo~r a soul that wishes to be entirely His to take its consolations elsewhere th~n with Him .... Do not be‚Äôdiscouraged by the repug-nance you may feel on the part of nature, for you must do violence to yourself .... It is impossible that a soul which still¬∞takes some pleasure in crea, tures can wholly enjoy this divine presence: for to be with God, one must absolutely leave creatures. ¬Ø To achieve the proper dispositions for the practice of th~ presence of God reqtiires not only energetic will=action but above all a dependence on the grace of God/for "a S0hl is all the more dependent upon the grace of God, the more it aspires to high perfection, and the help of God is so much the more needed at each momerit, because without it the s0ul can do nothing:"~ Faith, hope
charity, purity of intention, self-knowl-edge, sub,mission to God‚Äôs holy will, detachment, mortitica‚Äô- tion, and reliance onthe grace of God‚Äô the~e are the fot~n-dation stones on which Brother Lawrence would build his temple of the presence of God. The Presence: of God Let us now examine the all-important practice .that made~ of Brother Lawrence a saintly Carmelite, all the while he stoked his ~stoves, peeled his potatoes, wrestled ‚Äôwith his pots, and strove successfully to please his hungry but discerning brethren. He. tells us about it simply and ¬Ø clearly. The most holy, common and necessary practice in the spiritual life is the presence, of God
that is, habitually to take pleasure in His divine company, sbeaking humbly and conversing with Him lovingly at all seasons, at every minute, without rule or measureu 193 ~AuGUSTINE KLAA$‚Äô Review for Rdigiods abovd all, inotime of, temptations, sorrows, dry.ness, distaste, even of ihfidelities and¬∞ sins. ‚Äô One must try continually so that all~‚Äôbis actions withoi~t distinc-tion may~be a sort oL little~converSation with God
.however, not in a studied way,obut.~just as they happen, with‚Äô purity and simplicity of heart :2. ..... " ~ ,, ~, ~During ou~ wbrk and:or‚Äôher actions, even during dur reading ahd writing.on ~piritual.topi~s. more~during ouf~exterior devotions‚Äôand ,v~al,prayers~let us‚Äôstop a few minutes, as
often as ~we can. to adore God in the depths of our hearts, to enjoy Him, as it were,fin passing and4n secret:~‚Äô, Since you ~ar~ nov unaware~that God is present before you during your~actions, that H~ is in ~‚Äôthe depth and center~ of your heart, why should you not cease your exterior occupationi~at least, trom~Mme ~to,~tim~and:[e~en, your ~yocat prayers, to ador~ Him interiorly~,i to praise ~petiti~Him, to, offer Him youF heart and, to ~hank Him~ . ..... , ~,~ ~, ," ‚Äô" -All t~i~‚Äôadb~iOd shbuld ‚Äôbe mad~ by fa,th, behevmg th~ ~d ,n our hearts
~tha~)H~~ m~st be adored, ~loved ~d ~erved ~pirit and in ‚Äôtruth ~.~ . . ? "~ ~, BrOthei‚Äô~Lawrence ~akes.a~great deal‚Äôof‚Äôadoring God in spirit and in truth. Here is how he explaias4t: ~ ‚ÄôGod is~,a¬Ø spiriL: then 2He must be‚Äô adofed~ in spirit and in truth. ¬Ø hat~ is~tg.say.,~ ~e ~q~t)yog~hip Him with~a humbJe, sinc~e.adora-tion~ of spirit-in the.depth and center of our Souls .... To adore God in ~ruth is to recognize truly, actually T and what He ~s ~-t~at ]s to say, tnfimtely perfect
tnfinttdy" adgrable, infinitdy apart from ~vil, and so ~ith
al¬£ the diVih~ attributes- .... To adore God in truth is~to admit, moreover, that we are just the opposite, a~d that He ]s wdlmg to make us hke Him, tf we wish it. ~ D~ tD]8,8ort o[ ptayeE one attmns to un on ~t~ of whtch there are three.~tnds. :‚ÄôThree ‚Äô: k‚Äôi .n..d..s of umon exist
t~e f"ir‚Äôs"t habitual, the second virtual ~fid‚Äôthe th,rd actual. Nab~tual n on occurs" ~h on~ is unlteO to God onl~ b~ ~race: Vi~hai gni0n exist~"~hen, ‚Äôio~ending~i~h~ action by which one unites oneself to God, a person remains united.to Hi.by virtue~of,,this~action, as .long as it4asts. Actfial union ~s the mostperfect~ind. Whollyi spiritual~ as it- is it makes.its movement felt. b~cause~,th~ soul is not asleep as in the other unions, but powei: fully~excited.,- :Its operation is liveli&, than that. of fire and ‚Äô~or~ 194 Ma~l 1946 PREsENcE :(~F GOD luminous than!a0,sun, undarkened by a clou~l. Ho~.ver, on‚Äô~fican4b‚Äô~ mistaken in, this sentiment. It is not a simp!e %xp.ressi?~ of t:hg he~r,t: hk~, saying, M~gy God I love Thee with all my heart, or other similar words
i{,i.~ .an ineffable, state of ~be soul--gentle, peaceful, dex
.rayer iri the "M_ass for the Propagation of the Fait¬∞h. The collect of this Mass reads as follows: "O God, who. desirest that all men should be saved, and come to a l~no~vl~ lge of Thy truth, send we beseech Thee, laborers into Thy,harvesL .and gran~t them grace to Sl6e~ak Thy word in all trust, that Thy words may run and be glorified, and all nationsomay kng..w Thee, the one true God, and Him who‚ÄôThou ha~t sen~, Jestis Christ, Thy Son Our Lord.‚Äô‚ÄôI -~ iThe Saint ,Ahdretv Daily Missal. 161 Reuieto for Religiotzs In his first pastoral letter to Timothy, St. Paul urges prayers" for the salvation of all: "I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanks-givings be made for all men: For kings, and for all that are in high stations
that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and chastity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (2: 1,-4). The Apostleship of Prayer, which is one of the better known practices of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, makes itself exactly what its name implies. It is an apostleship praying for the salvation of souls. The various intentions are, known to all who read the league leaflets. Under the calendar for the month such intentions are proposed as reconciliations, conversions, temporal and spiritual favors. sinners. The various spiritual endeavors for the neighbor of which we have spoken thus far are known as prayer of petition or impetra(ion. More specifically, and in so far as they are offered for others, they .are called intercessory prayer.. Closely allied to impetration is merit. These two acts, th6ugh similar in certain respects, are clearly distinct realities. The difference between them will appear from a ¬Ø consideration of the characteristics of each. Impetration is an act in which one manifests his needs to God and appeals outright to His mercy and power, It derives its value from an ackno~vledgement of personal ineffectiveness and a recognition of God‚Äôs goodness, mercy, and power. Merit, on the other hand, looks rather to an act in as much as it gives honor to another. It can be defined as an act placed in honor of God and worthy of a reward. The difference between merit and impetration becomes abun- 162 Mail, 1946 ‚Äô MERIT FOR OTHERS dantly clear from a very~simple example. Impelled by the desire of going to a movie a.child will do one of two things. He will promise to be good or to do s6me work if he. can go to the movie
or he will thrown himself outright on parental generosity and ask permission. This second. alternative is impetration~ the first, merit. it is a well-known fact ~hat man in the state o~f grace can merit graces for himself. The question now is, can he also merit graces for. others? Can he, for example, merit the graces necessary for the reconciliation of a sinner with God? Can he merit the grace of conversion for heretics and infidels? Can he merit the gift of a ha1~py death for friends and relatives? If he can, then the daily round of meri-torious actions can be a wonderful apostolate for the salva- ~:ion of souls. If he can merit for another, he has, over and above intercession, an added means of helping the neighbor. The religious busy in the hospital, or in the class room, in executive positions or in the kitchen, or in any work at all can carry on an apostolate in tl4e secret of his heart. The contemplative religious, the invalid, the helpless cripple, the one who has inculpably failed in duties assigned can play a part ~h~it will f~r surpass his expectations. The question, then, is: Can man in the state of grace merit graces for others and thus exercise his apostolic ze:i1 for souls? The practically unanimous answer of theo-logians is in the afFirmAtive. A person in the state of grace can merit graces for others. He cannot, indeed, merit them condignly. Condign merit for others is a matter of jus-tice and is a s.ingular perogative of Christ. But man can merit for others congruously, that is to say, by reason of a title based on God‚Äôs liberality. What, then,, a~re these graces that we can merit=for others? In his work on merit Father Franci~ Suarez writes 163 LEO A. CORESSEL Review /or Religious as follows: ‚Äô.‚ÄôThere is a,rule that the~ just man can merit congruously for another Whatever..he can merits, forohim-self, and over and above, this, something more. ~.This last is stated because,.he can‚Äômerit for-another a first grace, ‚Äô,as St. Thomas and_ all theologians teach, even though he can-not merit it for himself. ‚Äô The reason is t.hat merit supposes first grace in the one meriting it,. not, however, in him for whom meritis gained.‚Äô‚Äô2 Here we have sketched for us "the general rule for m~riting for others.-We can best 5!ar,ify the .,v6rfls of Fathe~ Suarez by Setting down and explaining a number of the outstanding graces_we can merit for others. In doing so the whole field of .apostolic endeavor referred to will be opined up to us. It is said, first of all, that we can merit for another a grace which We cannot even merit for otirselves. Such a grase is a first actual grace. By first grace is meant one which is given to a person who is considered as acting while endowed with natural powers.alone. Such a person.lacks the ability to pla~e an act proportionat.e to eternal life. He must have graqe to do so, for a supernatural end requires supernatural help.o Hence it is that we cannot merit a first grace for ourselves: To merit grace w~e must already have grace. St. Thomas Aquinas explains why we~can merit con-gruously first grace for another. He says that "a man in grace fulfills God‚Äôs will and it is congruous and in harmony with friendship that God should fulfill man‚Äôs desire for the-. salvation of another.‚Äô‚Äô3 Some theglogians also appeal.to St. James and find support of this truth in the fo!lowing Words of his Epistle: "Pray one for another, that you .may 2Sua~z, OperaOmnia X, De Meritc, L 3Surorna Theologia 1-11, q. 114, a. 6. lish Dominican Province. 12. c. 38 n. 21. Literally translated by Fathers of the Eng- Ma~t, 1946 MERIT FOR OTHERS be saved. For the continual prayer of the just availeth " much." (5:16). When theologians cite these words," they understand praye~ not only as-impetration but also as having meritorious value. That such a concurrence of diverse realities can be had, is generally admitted. The second part of the Our Father, for example, is a series of petitions~. Yet no one will doubt that their recitation can also be highly meritorious to the suppliant. First grace will mean much more to us if we make some practical applications. In this Father Suarez gives us a lead: "The just man," he says, "can merit first grace for another because he can merit either the application of a ~ac-rament or a congruous call, even to contrition. With these two things first grace is infallibly and per se joined.,‚Äô‚Äô~ "Since this is so, it can be said that a person in the state of grace can merit the reconciliation of a sinner with God, and the conve~rsion of a heretic or of an infidel. These truths reveal our vast potentialities in the realm of daily good works in their relation to the salvation of souls. We can proceed with full confidence, offering our. days in accordance with these intentions, We shall be the more inclined to do this if we recall the pious saying that the conversion of St. Augustine was due to the tears of his mother St. Monica, that to St. Stephen is attributed the conversion of St. Paul. What Saints Monica and Stephen wrought for the glory of God and of His Church, that we can do in our own small way for the salvation of souls. It is a hidden aposotolate, but withal, a very fruitful one. The greatness and the dignity of cooperating in the ‚Äôsalvation of souls is seen in a consideration offered by St. Thomas Aquinas. He asks whether the justification of the ungodly is God‚Äôs greatest work. St. Thomas answers 4Suarez, Opera Omnia X, De Merito, L. 12, c. 38, n. 21. 165 LEb A. CoREssEL ‚Äô Review for :Religiou~ that¬∞ if-lookgd .at under :the aspect of, what, is. made
,~L‚Äôthe jtistification,,of _tile ung~dl~, Which tCtminate~
it the eternal goodof a~share of .the Godhead, isgreater than the creation" of heaven~a~nd earth, which terminates~h.t ,the good .of muta.ble, nature:~ -
,~Thoma~‚Äô thought runs a~..fol,lows: If you look‚Äô,at thi~ ~matterCund~,r the aspect of the, resuIts.,produced, it is a grea~er ,work to bring a sinner to the state of grace thhn. it is to cr‚Äôeat~ heave~n and ea_rt.h. The reason,is this:,To,bring a ~inner to the state of grace~o.means the bestowal of.,divi~e ~na~ture. ¬∞creation¬∞ of .heaven, and earth means¬∞ the,~profl~uction of nature asmesee it all about us. While this is:good and the handiwork of God‚Äôs creative power, .dr is but, transitory and suhject~ to de.cay and change, As St. Augustine~says: For a ju,st¬∞m.an to be made from a sinner is greater than to" create heaven and ,ea‚Äôrth, for. heaven and earth,shall, pa~s away, but the justification of the~, ungodly shaIl~endure, ~ The inspiring lesson in all this is not hard to see. The conversion of a sinner is-principally the~ work- of God, for it means the forgiveness of sins and the infusion ~of grace. But,humaia beings can cooperate iri this work. ~They can act as instruments of,,God‚Äôs gra~e. Their good ,works can channel this, grace to.sinners. In doing this human beings cooperate in a work which is greater than the creation of heaven, and earth.~ ~¬∞ Afiothfir possible obj‚Äôe~f of merit for otheis"is final perL severande. By this gift is meant what is commonlT?known as a h~ippy dearlY. It means the ~ontinuan~e~in the irate of grace up to the end df life and inciusive*‚Äôof death. Thd end of:life may be years away or it may be a matter of hours. In either Case one is said to have ritual pers~veran‚Äôce if death iliads him ira the state of grace. ~" ~Surnrna ~Fheologica 1-11, q. 113, a. 9. 166 May, 1946 MERIT FOR OTHERS ~,,o ,~:~T6,merjt~finak, persegetai~ce for another.does no.~.mean that one can acquire for him a quasi-confirmation.: in grace_. ¬Ø If this ,~ere~ true, he. would receive-a gift which w~ould ~strai~fit~a~
gi~nicet~, as it 4er~,~th~ re~t gf fiis li~e ~nd pre- ~very ~ great an~ ,aq,,exceedingly w~!c0m~ one.. The o9~y trouble,is that it cannbt bemerited ~for another. This~,is cl~ar fr~-t~e wo~ds ~f F~t~r"~uarez already .qugtea, in which the extent ot merit tot another was esgbhsneo. . . ,_ To ,merit&na! perseverance for another means tha~ one cag, indeed, merit e~cacious helps for him. But,this is,true onlyg[~sing!e‚Äôinstagces at a time, : That~i~is to say,.one can merit an e~cacious help for another so that, he will. not fall on~ this or that-oc~asion.,.~ Dqi~g this one .can merit for ~ . vtcgg~ after y~ctqry, so)that.he _goes from‚Äôact to act.with sug~es~,.,doigg~ ~hat is 9f~pr$ceP.t, or overcoming ~t~mptat~ons, and finally,, 9y~ives ay~_t~e judgem~ntrseat,, God in the state oLgrace. ,. ~e difference,~betw~en~a quasi-confirmation
in:gracer ~ha"c"h .cannota ,-b e‚Äô,, adm"itted, and, the -second manner, of meriting fifial pirseverafice for another can b~ illugtrated~‚Äôgy an example. Eet,us suppose, two teachers ea.ch.oLwhom has charge of a stud~ group. ,~The first, teacherois" given th~ p.Qver~go~,.~i:vg~b~is students genera!.permission, to,go io the lib~gy, whenever ~hey.~ish. The second teacher, is restricted ~n ~ch
~ay that,,he m~st give ~ermission,-eagh time.~ ,In som~Nhag,theosome ~way,~God does not allow us to, merit p~rseyerg~ge,f0r gnother al! at once.,, A single ,act on ou~r part will nqtmerit for anot~e~ a,gi[Lpre~enting a~fall~ into m~rtal-sin, in every diNculty and ~temptation: theieafteL ~e can merit~‚Äôsu&ess for another only in this~or,th~t :t~b~ tatiofl~6rfulfillment of a prec~pt.-~
We can r~p~at‚Äô~t~iS, winfiing for gim individ6alOhelps fo~qn~ivi6ua~occasions,,- ~167 LEo A. COk¬£SSEL and thus see a person through life, tothe very end in the state of grace. It is not certain that we can merit final perseverance for another
but there are good grounds for saying that we can do so. If this great gift is beyond the scope of our merit for others, there remains the opportunity of offering impetratory prayer in supplication for this intention. We have now considered a number of the graces that can be rcierited for others. Although they do not exhaust "the list, they are the most significant and as such‚Äôdeserve ~special mention. As to other objects of merit, they nded detain us only long enough to state the more important and to add a word,of explanation. We car/merit ~in increase of sanctifying grace and of gloryfor another, but.‚Äôonly indirectly. This is done by acquiring actual grades for him, the good use of which brings about an increase of sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace, in turn, determines the degree of glory in eternity. Also obtainable for another are e~cacious graces. Such are gracesthat the recipient will most-certainly put to good use. They will be helps to do good and to avoid evil. Finally, even temporal goods can be merited for another, but only in so far as they are conducive to eternal life. These various objects of merit are encouraging pros-pects for our zeal. But we must be reconciled to the possi-bility of failure in acquiring them for others. Suppose we have been offering our good works for this Or that person. We have also given our days and months to the salvatibn of heretics and infidels and notorious sinners. But we see very little fruit as the result of all our endeavors. A reason for this is the perversity of the human will. As long as human beings retain freedom of will they can put obstacles to grace. This is the thought of St. Thomas, .who says of 1~68 May, 1946 MERI~T FOR OTHER8 congruous merit for .others" "It is congruous and in har-mony with friendship that God should fulfill man‚Äôs desire for the salvation of another, although ~ometimes ~here may be an impediment on the part of him who_se salvation the just man desires.‚Äô‚Äô6 We must also recognize the fact that in meriting for others, we have no divine guarantee that our good works will actually win the various graces enumerated. Merit for others is based on God‚Äôs liberality and on a sense of what is becoming, or as St. Thomas has it, on a sense of what is "congruous and in harmony with friendship." But this basis will l~e sufficient for us to set about sharing in a work the possibilities of which are too great to be passed by. We can confidently expect that our endeavors will become in God‚Äôs plans, genui.ne contribution_s~to His glory and the good of souls throughout the world. It onlyremains for us to indicate a good practice in ~this matter. We should continue our prayers of petition and intercession for our ~¬¢arious intentions. But to these can be added the purpose of meriting for others. We go about this in the very same way that we merit for ourselves. We make the very same offering, but we now include the inten-tion of vinning certain graces for others. This does not mean that we will give a!l our merit to some one e!Se. Bu~ it does mean that our efforts will enable us tO share in an apostolate.with tremendous power for good. 6Summa Theologica 1-1 1. q. 114. a. 6. 169 . iE, DITORS‚Äô NO2FE: Faiher Edmund 3. Baumei~ter, S.M., has kindly sent us some rather d~tailed ihforn~ati0ff coriierning the Marian Lil~rary.: ~ In the‚Äô‚Äô f611bwing park-graphs we present this information (condensed somewhat because of spac,¬¢ limita-tions) to our readers, whom we earn‚Äôestly fequ~est to do all in their power to make this splendid project ~ne of the great glories of Mary in our country:] ~Fbe Maiian Library, begun recently at the.University b,f~Dayton to cc~‚Äô~memorat~ its‚Äô:centenary in 1950, is a nev~ type of monument to Mary, It aims‚Äô to serve, ~11
and it. looks, f01 the cooperat, i0n~o~f all, Its beginnings‚Äôhave been alded by Mary s~chlldren froni alLvCall~s of life, and even by. non-Cath61ics. A Protestant army .sergeant,, was among the.donors when the pr.oject was first announc~e.d.~ The late ~:ranz Werfel grac‚Äôiously donated an autographed copy of his Song of Bernadette. ~urpose. The purpose of the library is ~o ga~her all ava!.lable niaterialofi" our Blessed Mother-into one place, so that ‚Äôit may be readily accessible for research either~on the ‚Äôlocal campus or through, the inter:library loan service for those Carrying on their investigations. elsewhere. All forms of printed materials are ,being,. assembled. Eventually a Marisn~museum may supplement the library~ proper. Sources of Marian art and music are b~i~g ~tudie~l with th[~ in ~,iew. Movie~, slid s, phonograph records, and musical scores ~ilt integral part of the ¬∞Marian clearing house proposed: for ge~neral service. Obstacles in the way. The greatest handicap to th.e,~ more rapid developme~nt of the Marian Library collection is the fact. ~tbat pr~ac.ti-rally all but the most recent Marian books are out of prifif. All.the leading Catholic publisher.s have been contacted but the message invariably most discouraging
only the very lates~ are still puichas-able. The wa~ oat. Though it must have been obvious to all from the start that many valuable books may never reach the Marian Library, it dbes not follow that these books are excluded from the.service of the library. Through a carefully planned system, the Marian Library is constructing a Union Catalogue which in effect will include the catalogues of all Marian books to be found in every library that is willing to cooperate. Through this Union Catalo~ueo once it is ade-quately developed, the Marian Library will be able to inform anyone 170 THE M~RIAN LIBRARY of the nearest library that contains the book he may desire for research-purposes. The Booklist of the Marian Lib~‚Äôd~l~publi‚Äôsh‚Äôd~d last fall contains 4200 entries including most of the Marian. books found in libraries. Since each of these entries is nUmb~rdd,‚Äô~ny lliisbtr~airnyg cthaea nbuem rb~eeras doifl yit sc hhoelcdkinegds f‚Äôoorn t ~hseE Uecnia~l‚Äô~o .nR eCcaotradl oCgaured s‚Äô bthya tm,t.he~reely Marian Libra‚Äôry will ‚Äôbe glad to suppl~ to" all th0~e"~ willing~ to check their libr~iries. A~ lotea for ~Our~ Lad~!. .Of ttie 4200 entries in the Booklist,~:l~s~s than a-thousand have actually found their way into the Marian Library. ~0n~e~ hope still looms bright.~for the library staff: and that~ is the possibility, of loca~ing many of these books in private‚Äôuncata-logued‚Äô~ lil~rarids that ~rill be willing to¬∞ sell,‚Äô them. The S~taff under-stands that individuals a~e not anxious to part with all theifMarian books: consequently, it 15roposes to ask each individual .having tiny out-of:pr.int books to 0be~willing to sell j.ust one to the Marian Library..,: In this way Mary‚Äôs project can gro.w while private libr~aries may‚Äôb~e practicall~r left. intac~ - " H6w~re~i, t~‚Äôp‚Äôe~rmit ~he Staff to carry out ~his plan it wiil be neces-sary to contact hundreds of libraries and to record, their Marianobooks ~or th~,~Union Catalogue
field workers have vol-unteefed:. their services .in,~the persons, of priests, Sisters
. Brothers, and hymen in many:parts~0f~the states. Our plea is~th~n that priests, superiors of religious houses, and owners of piivate libiaries allow these field .workers or assistants to ~heck their libraries in _order tO s&bmi~ a lis[ ofthe~r~" lq01dings for‚Äôour Union~‚Äô~C~taloq‚Äôue. The sta~ff"will be gladto furnish gratis copies of the Booklist to all those ~who are willing to check for Marian ‚Äô books the .libraries,in their region. Many new field workers are needed to speed up" this work of chec.ki~ng libraries. The staff will b~ glad. tg _hear from you and keeI3 ydu informed Of its l~rogress through the Newsletter." "~ F6~" further" dbtails write: Marian Library, University ~o~f Dayton, Dayton 9, ~Ohio!~- 171 f Ave Maria 3amesA. Kleist, S.3. .r‚Äô~ERHAPS no prayer is more frequently upon~the lips of devout Catholics than the Hail Mary. Could we wish it otherwise? The Church is the world-wide family of God‚Äôs children, over which Mary presides as the mother. And in every well-regulated family it is always the mother~. , who is appealed to for "first aid" When things, go wrong. If sh~ can do no more, she must at least blow upon the injured finger to cheer the little sufferer. TO this relation-ship between mother and child, God has seen fit to adapt His ways of dealing with us‚Äôin spiritual m~t~ers. He wants us to go to Mary when help is needed. Mary is His Mother as well as ours. Mary is the universal, dispenser of grace, the Mediatrix of All Graces. Since we say the Hail Mary so frequently, we should say it with great devotion lest it become mere lip-servlce: and devotion springs from intelligent appreciation. It may not ~be amiss, therefore, to renew our understanding of what the scene bf the Annunciation meant in the life-of Mary, for the Hail Mary is a glorious reminder of that scene. In this effort the Gospel according to St. Luke will l~e our guide. One day in Mary‚Äôs early life, the Angel Gabriel came to visit her. ‚ÄôWhen or where "he came into her prese_nce" we are not told. It may have been in daytime, ot late in the afternoon, or perhaps at night. Nor do we know what she happened to be doing at the time. She may have been praying--and praying, perhaps, for th~ speedy coming of the long-promised Messias--or she may have been going about her ordinary household duties. The great artists of the Renaissance were hard pressed for finding a suitable 17~ o, AVI~ MARIA ,bakkgroun~ for,thd angel‚Äôs,,visit. ~But .that matters little to us:~ and each one~ may follow his own imagination in ,pkturing the great e%nt. ~ ~- ¬∞ " What odoes."matter is that suddenly the angel stood. before her "with amessage from God " Mary knew at once that the messenger was an angel. It may well be tha~t she-had seen him before. There have been many saints in every age of the Church who were favored with frequent angelic"visitatibns. We-read in the life of Gemma Galgani that on one occasion she and her-guardian angel played at m~rbles together
on another she gave him a letter to deliver to her spiritual, director ,who was miles away at the time. "What are the angels, all of ~hem," s~iys St.‚Äô Paul (Hebrews 1:14), "‚Äôbut spirits apt for service, whom He sends out when the destined hdrs of osalv
ition, have need of them._ (Msgr. ~Knox‚Äôs ttanilation.} ":And shall we believe that Mary, the (~ueen of Angels~ was less favored-in this respect? At all events, the‚Äôre is, no hint in St. Luke‚Äôs accoun~ of her entert~iiningany doubt or fear on seeing the Angel Ghbrid. The first ~thing the angel did was to greet Mary) ~ .That is what-the word "Hair:~,means.- Since he spoke in Aramaic, Which was‚Äôthe language of the people in that part 0¬£ the" w6rld at that, time, .the Greek oword~ rendered ‚Äô,"Hail" may have meant as much as/
:Pehee:be .to you," which was ‚Äôthe ordinary Jewish greeting. Just ohow we may suitably r~n2 der it in modern English- is not¬∞a matter of gr~at conse-quence. Some scholars ,,translate it "Good ~morning," which~ seems out of place because it takes for grahted that the 9isit occurred in the morning. Perhaps :‚ÄôI greet you" or "Greetings" will do. For m¬∞~rself, I prefer to think that the literaFrendering ‚Äô,‚ÄôRejoice" is perhaps the best, as though the angel meant to say: "Rejoice, Mary
I have good news for you." It is ‚Äôextremely interesting to see with what adroitness 1‚Äô73 ¬Ø ~AMES A. KLEIST Review for Religions the angel proceeded.to carry out his delicate embassy, which consisted in o.btaining Mary"s consent to become the mother of Christ. At first, he only distantly hinted his ~object :by addressing Mary as Kecharitomene. Whether he als0 pronounced Mary‚Äôs name, as we do in saying the Hail Mary, we do not know. Some scholars think that Kechar, .itortTene, used in the vocative case, was meant to take ~the place of Mary‚Äôs name in his address to her. But it is not ,certain thai this Word isin the vocative case
it may be taken by itself as a statement: "You are full of grace." ~ Be this as it may, it is at once evident that such.~an, expression was most appropriate on this occasion..It assured Mary at the very .beginning ttiat she stood high in God‚Äôs factor. .- Mary knew, therefore, that she was the recipient of a special "grace" at the hands of God. But, of course, ""grace" may be of .one kind or another. By itself, the Greek word rendered ".grace" may mean that inward endowment Which we call sanctifying .grace
and if this is the meaning here, then Mary was told that she was "full of grace‚Äô
and in the possession of that abundance of grace which means con-summate holiness. But I doubt v~ry much whether.this,is what the, angel intended to say
for why should she be told -that hersanctity was so extraordinary? I prefer to believe that the Greek word rendered "grace" ,meant-rather a more external favor_granted, or to be gra‚Äônted, to Mary .by the .grace of God. In ,English, too, the word "grace" may be so interpreted
so, for example, a bishop will‚Äôintroduce his pasto, ral letters with the phrase: "I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See, Bishop of such and such a diocese." The episcopal dignity is here. called a grace
and it. so happe.ns that the Greek word underlying the expres-sion "full of .grace" may mean both kinds of "grace" at the same time. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that the angel wished to convey the idea that Mary had received 174 May, 1946 A~rE MARIA from God both the special favor of~ becoming the Lord‚Äôs Mother, and the grace that was adorning her ~oul in view of that favor. For the moment the precise shade of meaning in the wor~ "grace" was left in abeyance
and Mary prob-ably understood that by a special grace or favor of God she was expected to undertake an office, accept a dignity, and to render a service, though she may not as yet have ha~d a clear idea of what was to be asked of her. If the word "grace" is taken in the sense just explained --a sense, by the way, found in several passages of the New Testament--it becomes at once clear‚Äô why the angel fol-lowed up by saying, "The ~Lord is with you"
for this expression in ‚Äòlewish parlance, meant as much as "the Lord is your Helper." Mary would certainly-need God‚Äôs~very special help if she became the Mother of the l~edeemer
for -this office implied heavy obligations and, as she was ~o" final out. later, much suffering. All this was but the introducti6n to the angel‚Äôs mission. He went on to‚Äôsay:"‚ÄôYou, are the most blessed woman on earth." Mary knew now that, in discharging the Special t~isk laid upon her, her womanhood would be called into play, Did it, perhaps, dawn upon her that she was expected tO become a mother? Among the ‚Äòlews, at all events, motherhood was the crown of womanhood. And now the angel paused awhile, as if to study the effects of his words on Mary, and to give her time to show her reaction. Mary was "troubled," in fact "she was shaken in her inmost soul" at the angel‚Äôs address, and she puzzled "to know what this form of greeting might mean.", So it was time for the messenger tocome to the point. "Do not fear, Mary," he said to her" "you have found favor with God. ,lust think! You are to become a mother, and to bear a Son, and to call Him ,lesus." And then he went on in .glowing language to picture to her the greatness of her 175 JAMES A. KLEIST" Review [or Religious Son: "He will be great! ,The Lord God will give Him the ‚Äôthrone of his father David, and He ‚Äôwill be King over the house of Jacob, and of His kingship there will be no end!" That, surely, was to‚Äô Mary‚Äôs enlightened mind a clear indi-o catiQn that her Son would be the Messias. "How shall this be since I am a virgin?" the current rendering continues. This question presupposes that Mary was resolved to keep her virginity intact even in the mar: tied state. Note that I said Mary "was resolved" to remain.a virgin
whether or not her resolution was streng-thened by a vow can neither be denied nor affirmed. It is also clear that Mary did not dream of setting her "resolve" against the clearly expressed will of God in case God‚Äôwished her to become a mother. The question thus understood shows~her to be the "Virgin most prudent." Without doubting the words of the angel, she merely inquired what she, in her pec liar circumstances, would have to,-do to accomplish God s design. .~ That was reasonable
and most Catholic interpreters explain the question in that sense. It so happens, how-. ever, ~that her words as expressed in the Greek of St. Luke are capable of another interpretation
they need not have been a question at all, but an exclamation of glad surprise clothed in the .form of a question: "Oh~ can this be true how wonderful this will bepsince (by God‚Äôs .arrange-ment) I remain a wrgm. This makes beautiful sense and, incidentally, shows us Mary in: all her girlish innocence. We may assume, therefore, that when the angel told, Mary ~that she was.to become a mother, her quick mind, enlight-ened by the grace of God, recalled at once the prophecy of Isaias which said: "A virgin shall be with child and bear a Son. ~‚Äô The Jews at that time did not, it is true, expect that the mother of the Messias would be a virgin
but it is rea-sonable to think that, in her supreme moment, God gave 176 May, 1946 AVE MARIA Mary light to know‚Äôthe real meaning of, the~ well~known. prophecy of Isaias, If God sent anangel to obtain Mary‚Äôs consent
~He dertainly ~must ~have enlightened‚Äô her about the nature of the work imposed upon her and about the nificance~of the angel‚Äôs proposal. Hence, far from~seeing.in her vir~inity~an obstacle: to her becoming .the mother of the Reedeemer,.,she understood that her virginity, . was in fact the first .step .towhrd realizing this~motherhood.~ ¬∞ It :is hardly likely, therefore, that Mary asked to be enlightened by the angel as to what she was to,do
:it seems to me much more worthy of Our Lady to assuifie that in the spirit~of~ her later Maglnificat~ she gave lively expression to her:glad surprise ~that she could be both mother and virgin at the :same. time. ~ Reverently contemplating~ the scene from. a~ distance through the eyes of St. Luke, and awaiting with bated breath Mary‚Äôs~ answer,‚Äô we,~are ~deeply moved with admiration when we hear her say: ".0h~ how wonderful this will be~---since I remain a virgin!" "~Yes, Mary," we silendy exclaim, "it was ~all very wonderful! Motherhood was "highly ,prized by the women of~your nation
but you," Mary, are the: most blessed of them all
for, by a sweet disposition of Go, d‚Äôs .pr6vidence, you"are able,to crown your motherhood with the jewel of vir-ginity.~‚Äô~ ~ 0 The angel then: proceeded:to
‚Äôexplain‚Äô~ to her~ that the Holy Spi.ri[ would ~o~ie~shadow" her~,and that for this reasoia her Son would b~ the~Son‚Äô~of‚Äôthe Most High~ God! This is a new stage in the unfolding of,.the.ahgel‚Äôs~message: not only was Mary to be the Mothe~‚Äô6f.the ~Messias~ ~but also the Mother of !~he‚ÄôSon of God.~ ‚Äô~After hearin~ this fur-ther e~planation
there was but one thing for Mary to say: ~‚ÄôRegard~me asthe humble servanf~of the Lord! M.ay all that you have said be fulfilled in fine!" ,, ~ ,, The angel‚Äôs mission was now eke~uted and crowned 177 JAMES A. KLEIST with success
and "he departed from her.~‚Äô But we who have watched this,entrancing scene cannot be so abrupt in leaving her. We pause a moment to ~dore the Child thus miraculously conceived and tO indulge in a little colloquy with the happy mother. "Indeed, Mary, you were right When you exclaimed, ‚ÄôHow wonderful this will be!‚Äô It is very wonderful that, by accepting God‚Äôs ,proposal, _you became God‚Äôs Mother and our mother
you are mother and virgin at the same time. And that is why, in your Litany, we address you as ‚ÄôMother most admirable.‚Äô And now that the Annunciation is accomplished, what remains to be done? Two, things remain, of which we will do the one and you the other. You said in your Magnit~cat,,that all generations shall call you blessed. -It will be 6ur privilege to-bring your prophecy to its destined fulfillment. With renewed fervor we will go on saying the Hail Mary
we will kindle our~ devotion by contemplating the glorious scene of the ‚ÄôAnnuncihtion and we will offer you the-h6mage due to you as God‚Äôs chosen instrument in bringin~ about the Incarnation.and the Redemption... Our praise of you shall-never disappear from
my own way I understood how he felt having been stirred by Yahweh (Gn 12:1). When Abraham was seventy-five years oid he had an experience 0f God that created a disturbance in the order of his life. Yahweh took possession of him as friend and placed within him the seed for upsetting the known order of the time. Abraham was headed toward a new foundation caused by the deliberate intervention of God into the course of human history. In response, Abraham abandoned his natural roots and "went" (Gn 12:14). Abraham was called to bring life to celebration in know-ing God‚Äôs affirmation, and he allowed God to alter the course of his life ‚Äô Nouwen, Henri J. M., Clowning in Rome, New York, 1979, p. 2-3. Journey into Journey--A Reflection dramatically. His response brought biblical religion to birth. God moved across the existing culture, purified the existing religion and showed himself to be a personal, saving God. Abraham‚Äôs story is a story of the trials and con-solations he experienced in his need to have faith in the God who called and stirred him. I think Abraham would have made a good clown. His faith touched me as I reflected on his journey into a new land. I, too, was journeying in a new land and realized that love had placed within me, also, the seed for upsetting my known order of time. Jesus had intervened in the course of my human history and created a disturbance in the order of my life with his call to follow him. He walked on my sand and seeded the field of me. He called me friend, beloved
and I felt his warmth. I was unbirthed, in labor to be born, wrapped in silent wonder, wrapped in warmth, encased, ensacked in womb-like nurturing, waiting to become more of who I am. I was born and aging, greying, daily dying, stepping slower, encased, ensacked in tomb-like mystery, waiting to become more ofwho I am. I was spiraling unborn to birth, spiraling birthed to dying, going both ways--to life, to death-- like the seed, dying to be alive. Quantum leap, broken shell, o rising beauty from out of clay, reaching upwards to the Son
I felt the warmth of him who enters and transforms in utter silence and mystery. His warmth pulled my roots down into the numerous sands of time. His warmth pulled my beauty up into the spiraling newness of his life. Ah, the wonder of it all. I was 894 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 nurturing the mystery of God in me, waiting for the moment to be more of who I am. I had journeyed into the human condition and found the footprints of those who had been there before me. I had cried out from my own slavery that held me deep within my selfishness. I had longed for a new freedom. My Lord, I ask you‚Äô to lure me once more and lead me out into the wilderness and speak to my heart. Give me back the vineyards of your love and make my troubled valley a gateway of hope. Show me how to respond to you as I did when I was young, as I did when I came out of the Egypt of sin and into the land of freedom in your love. When that day comes, teach me again how to call you "my husband" and no longer let me call you "distant Lord." Take the names of sin off my lips
let them never be uttered again. When that day comes make a treaty for me with all that is wild in me. Break up the battle in me and make my sleep secure. Betroth me to yourself forever, betroth me with integrity and justice, betroth me with tenderness and love. Betroth me to you with faithfulness so I may come to know you. (see Ho 2:16-22) The Lord put Moses before me for reflection. He marks a turning point in salvation history and is a promise, an expectation for the future (Dt 18:15). Moses‚Äô journey with God took him to.the edge of fulfillment. He was deprived of the joy of entering the Promised Land in this life. His glance across the Promised Land accepted ownership of it for his people and it climaxed his ministry to them. His glance thrust us forward as a people of God. Glances along my journey, glimpses of future freedoms thrust me forward, too, and helped form me along the way. My living-dying-living is an exodus event that I continue to celebrate in my covenant with God in grace. I had to learn, as did Moses and the Israelites, to live with confidence in God. God wished me, too, to be content with him. Though he provided much manna, he continued to call to a deeper surrender, to total reliance (Dt 8:2-3). Exodus became a present :reality in the celebration of Eucharist. My "daily bread experience" called me to come out of my self-will slavery into the freedom of surrendering my needs to my Provider. I began to learn to live Journey into Journey--A Reflection / ~125 without the securities and comforts that had been baals along the way. He gave to me in "miraculous measure" (see Ex 16:14-31, 17:6) to increase my faith in order to conquer temptations and survive the desert trials. I began to realize that my whole life was dependent upon his sovereign grace and prom-ise. I felt the trust formed within me asI came to a new life, became a truer person, nourished and brought into covenant. My gratitude and trust found expression in the celebration of the Eucharist and in the ways I began to live with others. His all-the-time presence which had cut into my life, became a deeper experience of presence. This "peak:‚Äô experience left its mark on me and continues to call me into wonder and celebration and into deeper exami-nation of the heart of my being. I found that I was interacting with the extra-ordinary love of God. Justice, equity and charity e.ntered a new depth within me. "The wages of a day laborer are to be paid before the day is over, before sundown of the day itself, since he is poor and looks forward to them" (Dt 24:15). This thought brought affirmation alive in me. To pay my brothers and sisters their due ,wages before the sun goes down, to affirm them for who they are, for what they do, was to help me to live in sacred truce with my God and with each one of them. Affirmation makes me lovable. God affirmed me by my creation, by my calling to be more along the journey. Affirmation enriched community liv-ing and spilled out over into liturgy where the heart of affirmation comes to a depth of appreciation around the table of the Lord. I had journeyed into the human condition and learned affirmation from God‚Äôs presence to Abraham, to Moses in the desert, and with me in the desert night into which he had invited me. I realized that finally My self-will cocoon had worn thin. It had cracked. The long hours of darkness and death-like sleep were at an end. A new awaking had flashed through my being, and I felt the pulsation of new life in the deep recesses of my unknown self. I felt my weakness, fragileness, and the limited space this life permits
but I had come to know the unbounded space of time that my Creator has. I felt a flutter in my new wings, faith sustained and overcame the fear of being lifted by the gentle breeze that warmed my wings and lifted them to the sun and sky. There ffere flashes of color and shapes of hope I had never seen before. They surrounded me and formed a world of trust that enhanced the colors I, too, had been gifted with. Wings and color, 826 / Review for fleligious, Volume 39, 1980/6 warmth and sun, gentle .breeze and cracked cocoon, --a new world, a new pulsation of life, and surrender, amen, your will be done. ... and I was born, and borne aloft to him on the wings of love. Silence, burst of sound. Darkness, flash of light. " Once entombed, now unwombed, made real. Made real and set free, set free in the desert castle of life, sparked by the Flame of Love, enveloped by the Cloud of the Spirit, held only by the Song of Mortalness and the time to sing it in joy. I was made real, with what was real gone. I no longer fit into the crevices of the past nor in the ways of yesterday. I couldn‚Äôt speak to yesterday as once I did. I tried and laughter faded, while puzzles formed and pain stood up. Yesterday and I were no longer one, and I had to trust that wings and colors would speak for themselves, that pains would be salved by the Son for I could not fold my wings to return to the cocoon of yesterday. A new form of life was presented io me in my quantum leap
for it to remain effective I knew I had to relate to and affect the world where I lived. I had to examine what would guide and support, my internal strength during my period of adjustment~ I was. on journey with a definite purpose, to keep cove-nant with my beloved God. I knew my quantum leap was a "peak" moment to recall and bring to celebration. I knew that I had to celebrate.by living fully alive, deeply in tune and in harmony with the life that surrounded me. God had funneled me down through many generations of people and I had to live as an important part of the whole production of life. I realized that Jesus held the promise of life. He set me free from sin and death through the sorrow and joy of the cross. Faith and trust had to stay alive in me and come to external expression in the celebration of life. Jesus had drawn me close and changed the structure of my existence. I became aware of his wanting my total dependence, a dependence of love, a life of daily living- " dying-living in the internal martyrdom of the consuming fire of love. I felt like bread dough that had become leavened and I was rising to the proportion that Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 827 he had measured out for me. He asked only for love. His was the action which created laughter within me, a love that reflected itself in a deeper sense of peace and joy. I was given a new identity in living a deeper form of covenant love. I was being built and structured into a new expression of love that gentles, purifies and strengthens as it sets the soul aflame with the desire to serve and love in total unity of mind, heart, and will. Nothing seemed dif-ferent, yet everything was different, is different. There is a new beauty in the air, in the pulsation of life and in silence which is an alive silence filled with wonder. In the silence of wonder I found and. still find my attitudes under reform. My wildness is being consumed further. The cry of the poor wants to be heard
and Jesus asks for a compassionate friend to respond to the cry of pain, of loneliness, of suffering that is crying out from members of his bruised body. In my meeting with Jesus at the crossroads of my journey, in the quan-tum leap of faith, in exodus from self, Jesus had blessed me--blessed me as poor. He brought me to the beautiful awareness of the fragileness of the human condition we all share. In union with him in the blessed poverty of dependence I am learning to share his love-gift. His living word gives me courage and encouragement. I hear him say: You are poor, and I have need of your povertyr your dependence on Me, Blessed are ihe poor in spirit
the kingdom o‚Äôf heaven is theirs (Mr 5:3). Your Father, who sees all that is done in secret, will reward you (Mt 6:6). You are poor, and I have need of your poverty to fill the hungry with good things and to give dessert to the poorest poor who are filled even with the crumbs of things, and the little that the poor can share. You are poor... Come! I know the plans .I have in mind for you... Plans for you to seek me with all your heart (Jr 29:11-14), for you are poor with need to find me, with need to listen so to listen to the poor and the poorer-- with a heart‚Äôs care. 828 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 You are poor... The Plan I have for you is poor, a foolish plan, a prophet‚Äôs plan. ¬Ø Console my people, console them (Is 40:1). Go now to those to whom I send you... and say whatever I command you (Jr 1:7). Do not be afraid, for I am with you (Is 43:5). I have called you- pool‚Äô, I will be with you--poor, passing through the sea.--poor, walking through fire~ poor, you are precious in my eyes--poor, you are honored--poor, and I love you--poor. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty for the poor are blessed in spirit, heaven is the kingdom that is theirs. It is the Father‚Äôs given reward. You are poor .... Come! I lead you with reins of kindness, With leading strings of love (Ho 11:4), for you are poor with need to be fed, with need to be led-- so to, lead, for it is only the led who become those who lead. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty
for the poor are blessed in spirit, heaven is the kingdom that is theirs. It is the Father‚Äôs given rewhrd You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. Come! I shall feed you in good pasturage. Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 829 You will rest in good grazing ground. I will show you where to rest (Ezk 35:14-16) Come! Come to feed the rich who fatten on the spoils of greed. Come! Come to look with me for the lost one, the stray one, the wounded one. Come! Be a true shepherd to them. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty, for the poor spirit is blessed. Heaven is the kingdom, a reward given by the Father who sees... Who sees that you are poor. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. I have need for your spirit to be poor, poor enough to be sustained only on manna, on quail, on water, from rock (Ex 16), poor enough to be sustained on providence, the sustenance of the poor. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. Come! Show the anawim the manna for thb seventh day so they may gather and share what few omers they need (Ex 16:23). Bring forward the people tha~t is blind, yet has eyes, that is deaf and yet has ears (Is 43:~). They are poor and in need of your poverty. Your poverty-- my song, piped through a bruised reed of foolish clay. Come! Sing a new hymn! Let praise resound from the ends of the earth, Let the sea sing praise, 830 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 Let the deserts and the cities raise voice! (Is 42:10-11). Your poverty--my song, piped through a bruised reed of foolish clay. Come! Come to the water, thirsty as you are
and though you have no money, come! I make no charge for corn, for wine, for milk. I make no charge for satisfying bread (Is 55:1-3). Come! Give your attention, listen! I know theplans I have in mindforyou (Jr 29:1 l). Come! Come to covenant (Is 55:4). you are poor... Your poverty--my song. My words do not return to me empty. They water the earth. They give growth and seed (Is 55). --seed for the poor. Your poverty--my song. You are poor, and I have need of your poverty, for the poor spirit is blessed. Heaven is the kingdom, a reward given by the Father, who sees .... ... and he took pity on them... (Mk 6:34). He took the five loaves and the two fish... (v. 41). They all ate.., and (v. 42) They collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full (Mt 14:20). Come! You are poor, and I have need of your poverty. In grace and love I respond: Let what you have said be done to me (Lk 1:38). I am poor, ¬∞ and I have need of your song. Journey into Journey--A Reflection / 831 It took many years to form Israel as a people:. It takes us years to be formed as his beloved. We each experience our own Exodus, Covenant, Tran-sition, and Celebration through many times of stepping but of chronolo..gical time into kyriological moments. So, come! I was tired, as though ~at the end of a long journey. Long it had been, for 1 had journeyed into the human condition to find that the next stage of the journey was just beginning. I have joyfully met you along the way. Come! O God, in mercy bless us
let your face beam with joy as you look down on us. Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all people. How everyone throughout the earth will praise you! (Ps 67:1-3, adapted The Way). An Apostolic Spirituality for the Ministry of Social Justice by Max Oliva, S.J. Price: $.50 per copy, plus postage. Address: Review for Religious Rm 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 Developmental Stages and the Contemporary Male Novice Jonathan Foster, O.F.M. Father Jonathan is Director of Continuing Education for the Chicago-St. Louis Province of Franciscans. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Adult Education and Develop-ment. His present address is Office of Continuing Education
Oak Brook, IL 60521. Writing an article such as this is a precarious business. The study of adult development stages is of fairly recent origin in the empirical sciences. There is some very interesting theory (Erikson, 1963, 1964
Vaiilant, 1977), but not an abundance of evidence. Moreover, what theory and evidence exist leave us with no clearcut delimita-tion of such stages. One prominent developmentalist (Neugarten) has in fact stated that all we know is that there is some development in adults. Its precise staging is by no means widely accepted. An article such as this is also precarious because of the subject of interest: novices. They comprise no one adult developmental stage. In recent years in my own community, the age range has run from twenty-two to fifty. To treat them all as "young adults" is obviously to allow some of them to fall through the cracks, or, if you will, off the end. Nevertheless, I will attempt to make some sense out of the evidence we have to date, and apply this to a reasonable estimate of what a novice is. I take the age of a typical novice from our Vocation Center‚Äôs projection of the next few classes currently in pre-novitiate programs for our province. According to this projection, the age of most novices in the immediate future will fall between twenty-two and twenty-eight. There will certainly be a few older than this. But it is not likely, in view. of current policies, that there will be any younger. The observations I will make here will concern the generality of 832 Developmental Stages / 883 young American adults, from whose company we can assume most novices come. According to Levinson (1978), the essential task of the young adult is to separate himself .from emotional dependence on his family and the social structure from which he comes-- not thesame, it should be noted, as destroy-ing his roots. He does this by exploring different possibilities for making his life and creating a stable life structure in which to live out whatever this separation has led him to. Both elements, exploration and stabilization, need equal attention during this period. In one way or another, ehch of the stages we shall look at attempt to deal with this dynamic. The Developmental Task: Identity and Dream Formation I am treating these two stages as one because of their intimate connection with each other. By identity I mean the ability of the individual to see himself as essentially the same person as he passes through the many, even profound, changes of his life. The first great change in a person‚Äôs life is the traumatic passage from adolescence to adulthood with all the separation and newness it brings with it. The achievement of identity is not so much the search for something new and frustratingly elusive as it is the maintenance and building of a "unique and reasonably coherent whole"..(Erikson, 1968), something that holds together and remains ultimately the same despite the shock of change, and the addition of the new. In other words, "identity" is not exclu-sively drawn from within. It is built on a given reality growing out of the experience of community, persons, the historical times, and especially at this age, out of ideology. Ideology is a vision according to which the individual wants to live. Identity in this ideological sense moves into dream formation, a concep-tion of life that the individual picks oi~t as most suitable to his personality. Identity is thus not a mere summation of all experiences a young man has. It is the process by which he tries to integrate what he already knows about himself with elements of experience that seem to promise him a vision and purpose by which he can live and give meaning to life. In this process he must perceive himself as at core unchanged. The question he must answer at this stage of life is simply, "Do I fit with this dream?" Several elements go into the achieving of this identity. One of the principal catalysts is the attraction of a strong ideological system, such as, for example, the Franciscan way of life. This is the "dream." It may stem from a purely ideological contact with St. Francis. But it does not become a real and viable dream until it is experienced in a vital institutional reality, and in attractive personalities living it out. In accepting and trying out the "lived dream," it is especially important that there be at least one special person who embodies that dream, and inter-prets it to the new aspirant in a way that has personal significance to him. This 834 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 is the mentor so often spoken of today. He is not typically a hcro at a distance--though this is possible--but, in our context, a committed religious who shares the younger religious‚Äô visionandwho pays special attention to the latter‚Äôs apprenticeship in that vision. The first reality is probab!y of more significance to older communities with well-known and charismatic founders. We find it particularly so in the Franciscan order, whose founder is one of the most popular and attractive men in history. The problem is this, that today, to a far greater extent than in earlier years, young men are attracted to the Franciscan order precisely by the dream, with relatively less experience of those who profess to embody it. Up to fifteen years ago, most aspirants came to the order out 6f heavily Franciscan contexts, attracted, not by the historical vision of St. Francis--of which they had but a dim view--but by the actual way in which Franciscan priests and brothers lived their own vision of religious life, or by a traditional piety which was, upon close examination, barely distinguishable from that of any other religious order. The dream that attracts candidates today, however, is more often.in touch with the historical view. Candidates thus are more likely to be confused and puzzled by their encounter with many friars who entered the order out of con-tact with Franciscans, not St. Francis, and who may seem, therefore, to the candidate to have rationalized the historical "dream" away. It creates in him, moreover, great insecurities that perhaps his vision is not a real one, or that "those who count" may not view his "dream" as an acceptable version of the Franciscan vision. It is for this reason, once more, that the mentor is extremely important to the young religious, to reassure him--perhaps even to play the advocate before "those who count." In this connection, it seems desirable that the place where novices live should not feature a uniform view of the particular order‚Äôs "dream." Both staff and community should display some diversity in interpretation of that "dream." Thus both mentor and community can at once challenge and support the candidate‚Äôs perception of the "dream." Another identity-related problem with this age-group is the prolongation of the moratorium (Erikson, 1963). This is a period of life, usually beginning with adolescence and lasting an indeterminate period (often well into the mid-twenties), in which an individual, committed to nothing, explores and plays with a variety of possibilities or dreams. This is an entirely legitimate develop-ment, perhaps one that many of us never fully undertook. Ideally, it ought to be completed by the time of entry into novitiate, but in today‚Äôs society, which increasingly delays adulthood, it is not at all unlikely that a candidate will try novitiate with the same degree of uncommittedness as he might hax~e tried being a cowboy in the nineteenth century. Novitiate, it seems, implies some degree of commitment to the dream, and"should not be ‚Äôviewed as a moratorium experience. A third problem is that young adults at the "identity-dream formation" Developmental Stages / 835 stage are given to caricaturization. In an attempt to make the dream fit, and fit so securely as to cover all aspects of the aspirant‚Äôs reality, he tends to see it in terms of black and white. Consequently, he tends to portray his chosen dream somewhat unrealistically, and even to be intolerant of other dreams. The attraction of young people to an oversimplified view of life and reality is well known, and applies just as much to novices in religious orders. Kohibert (1968) and Fowler (1978) have both pointed out that people at this stage of development make moral and religious judgments primarily in terms of their commitment to a particular group of people or an institution which they see as embodying their dream. This is distinct from making judgments in terms of abstract principles applicable to one~‚Äô.s own group as well as others. Such a development is perhaps natural and necessary. However, the activity of an overzealous or overly charismatic director--or indeed mentor--can play directly into this .,caricaturizing tendency and allow it to sharpen into a dangerously unrealistic view of life. A further problem is that powerful religious conversions sometimes occur at this stage. Individuals allow themselves to be so overwhelmed by a vision or dream .that they cease to see continuity between what they were before the conversion and what they see themselves to have become because of the conversion. Indeed often they do not want to see the continuity. Such conver-sions, apart from rare cases, are obviously disruptive to the developmental process of identity formation. Of some interest to directors of a novitiate, which, ambng other things, is a time of an intense and unremitting daily round of organized prayer, is the attitude of young adults towards organized religiosity. It is in the latter phases of identity formation that participation in formal religious practice is typically at its very lowest ebb. This usually reflects the individual‚Äôs attempt to separate himself from dependence on his family and culture, including the religious structure bound up with that. The fact is that it is precisely in the novitiate year that aspiring religious are subjected to the most intense exposure to formal religiosity they will perhaps ever know, and this may rub a bit excessively against the developmental grain. Some caution must be urged, too, concerning the possibilities of contem-plation at this stage. True religious contemplation--by means of which the individual, while retaining his identity, is drawn out of himself into union with God--is objectively oriented. It assumes some stable sense of identity. It is for this reason that religious contemplation is not normally found in young adults and most often flourishes in the more contented self-acceptance of mature adulthood. What passes for contemplation among the young is more typically a preoccupation with the achieving of identity than the handing over of this identity into union with God. The young adult is by developmental necessity more self-centered, indeed self-absorbed, than other-centered. Novitiate directors need to keep this in mind when inculcating habits of prayer and contemplation. To speak of the novitiate as a "year of contemplation" 8:36 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 can be misleading, and even, in terms of what both novices and their directors expect to happen, damaging. The Developmental Task: Intimacy Intimacy is basically the task of learning to establish close relationships with others, to respect human beings as ends, not mere means, of learning to communicate. It is a form of love, and it is the love that characterizes persons at this age. Erikson (1964) distinguishes this love of Relationship from the love of Care that is characteristic of the more mature adult. The task of intimacy may be described as one of the major tests of a person‚Äôs identity. If this identity is‚Äôsecurely in hand, then one is capable of risking it in relationship, and indeed must do so. If the identity is not secure, intimacy is more difficult to achieve and is often avoided or at least sim~ated. Most young people, however, make serious forays into intimate or quasi-intimate relationships at this stage. Intimacy is indeed the task that marriage at this age seeks to accomplish. The relationship is not, however, exclusively heterosexual, although this is the typical form it takes. Erikson (1964), in a phrase reminiscent of St. Francis of Assisi who urged his brothers to exercise a mother‚Äôs love for their confreres, wrote that intimacy also happens when "young adults become sons of each other." The failure to achieve intimacy results to some degree or other in isolation, the inability to relate deeply. A number of structures will be important in a novitiate to enable the process of intimacy achievement to go forward. Obviously, there must be opportunities for the development of friendships, including friendships with women. Some friendship will be available within the community, but since friendship-making is highly selective, this may not always be the case. With the smaller novitiate classes prevalent today, making intimate friendships has become more difficult. Larger classes make such relationships more possible. Smaller numbers limit the possibility. Given these smaller numbers, the importance of locating the novitiate in a community which includes a substan: tial number of other religious seems important. For this reason, close friend-ships outside the novitiate community cannot be excluded either. Hence the advisability of allowing, indeed encouraging, other forms of maintaining friendship contact: visits, correspondence, telephones. The mentor is very important to this task. The mentor-relationship is an intimate one when it is exercised in spiritual direction, confession, or simple friendship. There is indeed a case to be made (Levinson, 1978) for the "Special Woman" as mentor to the young male adult. In this relationship, intimacy expands easily into a heterosexuality which is less threatening to the celibacy aspect of the dream. A lived brotherhood is important for the young adult. Not only does it increase the likelihood of selective friendship, but failing this, still allows for a considerable amount of sharing at a deeper level. In this respect, the current emphasis in most orders on brotherhood or community is an especially attrac- Developmental Stages / 837 tive aspect of/he dream for young men. The achievement of intimacy in an all-male structure presents special problems. Women, in such situations, tend to get caricaturized. They may be over-romanticized as indispensable partners in the life-journey. They may be feared as a threat to the dream. Or they may be ridiculed as a result of a cultural residue of male chauvinism, a position unfortunately supported by a large segment of the male ecclesiastical establishment. Hence, it is important that novices have an on-going encounter with women their own age, such as for example the inter-novitiate program in the Chicago area where novices from several different communities of men and women meet weekly for study, prayer and informal interaction. However, it is also interesting to note that, even in the larger world, many men get so caught up in their dream, or their career, that women do not romantically interest them at this stage. This may very well describe the situa-tion of the modern novice, as we shall note when we discuss career consolida-tion below. What frequently happens, however, is that once they reach the thirties, some of that pressure lifts, and the quest for intimacy with women starts anew, including a deep interest in marriage. Homosexuality is a form of intimacy, and is, of course, always a problem in the all-male society. This is more true today when there has been some social legitimation of the homosexual friendship. There is simply no way of avoiding this possibility, and directors should understand that an occasional homosexual encounter neither automatically implies homosexuality nor is necessarily grounds for expulsion. Finally, the concern for intimacy explains in part the young religious‚Äô preference for one-to-one ministries over the ministries involving administra-tion, leadership and social change. It is the need for people in his life. Developmental Stage: Career Consolidation Vaillant (1977) points out that an intermediary stage occurs between Erikson‚Äôs stages of Intimacy and Generativity, one that Erikson did not fully consider. This is the stage at which the young adult becomes preoccupied with establishing work skills and climbing the career ladder. It begins in
ber of Congress who bullied every member of his staff consistently and impartial-ly. The former novice‚Äôs skin again took on the anxiety blotches, again she was consulting a doctor about stomach pains, again :she felt herself sinking into a dark and angry depression. But to her surprise, at. t.he fourth level of awareness now opened to her by her previous and present experience, she found a constant serenity never before experienced, The Lord was apparently experimentalis, i.e., "knowledge that is joined to charity" (p. 146). But he is unable to determine whether for Aquinas "this knowledge is merely discursive cognition based on signs or rather some kind of immediate or supra-discursive perception of the divine persons." Such knowledge is cer-tainly at the deepest l~vel of man‚Äôs experience and, according to.the above analysis, is inferential, that is, the person becomes aware by contrasting the top three levels with the fourth level. The cen-tral texts noted in Aquinas by Fr, Dedek are in I Sent., D. 14, q. 2a., and 3
D. 15, Expositio Secundae Patris Textus. Also Sum. Theol. I, q. 43, a.5, ad 2. 812 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 approving her new way of life. At a great price and with subtle indirectness she had discovered the fourth level of awareness where the Lord calls to her and speaks in her discernment. Among other factors for diagnosing God‚Äôs will for her, the crucial factor was the continuous uneasiness or the steady Peace at this fourth level. A second quick example illustrates these same points in a less extra-ordinary way. One day in a community corridor I met a fellow Jesuit who had just returned from home. He said to me, "You know my younger sister just died, I discovered two weeks ago that my doctoral thesis of a year‚Äôs slaving has already been written by a South American, I‚Äôm wondering whether I can handle the theology courses scheduled for next year, and I haven‚Äôt slept more than four hours a night during the last two weeks. But do you know? I must be crazy. Down deep I‚Äôm at peace, God loves me and will help me work out these things, I worry at one level of me
but at a deeper level I feel at peace." Could it be that this man is discovering with new clafity ‚Äôand enjoying with fuller appreciation the fourth level within his experience--precisely because of the striking contrast between the top three levels of suffering-sorrow and this fourth level of serenity-security? But what is this fourth level so poetically described as the underground river of God within us? First of all, its peace ap-pears to be a sense of God‚Äôs approval, almost a companioning of the person by God, On the other hand, its uneasiness seems to express God‚Äôs disapproval which produces an emptiness and loneliness. Secbndly the experience of peace or uneasiness is implicit to the top three levels
that is, it is recognizable by contrast with these levels yet is hidden under and within them. Thirdly, because of its depth and implicitness, this fourth level is difficult to describe directly. Instead, one offers experiential case-histories with the hope that the latter can point within the hearer‚Äôsexperience to his or her fourth level. For this reason, too, metaphor ("underlying river of God," "the ocean floor of life-experience" and "the background music of our activity at the top three levels") is employed rather than neat definitions composed of essential char, acteristics or criteria. Fourthly, the peace of the fourth level is marked by a passive alertness to.the top three levels of activity, an intent listening at the fourth level, a sense of not being along, a wi!lingness simply to be and to let be, an expectant openness to all future events. Yet at the same time, this peace permeates, patiently strengthens and lends finer quality to all the activities at the top three levels? What Is Happening at the Fourth Level? Peace. One event of vital importance seems to be happening at the fourth level: peace, a perduring serenity even amid storms at the top three levels. ~ Prayer experience at the fourth level bears a number of resemblances to what Karl Rahner describes as transcendental experience in his Foundations of Christian Faith (Seabury, New York, 1978), pp. 20, 21, 54, 58. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 813~ Once the four levels are distinguished, it becomes clear that the word peace can refer to at least four different states in a person‚Äôs awareness. At the first level, peace would mean enjoyment of life‚Äôs little pleasures without its normal irritations. Confer television‚Äôs beer and cosmetic advertisements for further clarification of this bodily peace. At the second level, peace could well mean a combination of good health, unworried mind and settled emotions. The fisherman, safe from the office telephones and watching the sun rise over water dimpled by surface-fee~ding trout, may well be the symbol of tl~is peace of mind. At the third level, peace may be euphoria, the neatly balanced inner life of felt achievement, of skilled competence, of fully satisfying family life, of pleasant prospect. For examples, look at the All-American father or mother in the Geritol or insurance-annuity advertisements
or, .better, look to the disciplined people who are willing to suffer much for the good of others. This could be called peace of heart. As we have mentioned, the top three level~ of peace, when disturbed, can reveal by contrast the fourth level of peace. Evidently, when one is recollecting himself or sinking into himself to discover his center of being so that he can pray better, he is actually dropping down through the three upper levels of awareness so that he can reach the fourth level where life flows most richly, quietly, serenely. He will note how the peace of this fourth level tends to render peaceful the upper three levels and he will understand better the restlessness of those who appear to have everything but lack peace of being or person. So, h‚Äô~ will discover that fourth-level peace is not just the concern of the wise, the religiously inclined~ the fortuna~tely educated
it is the goal and hope of every living person. Indeed, this is precisely what the Taoist, the Buddh.ist, and the transcendental meditator seeks. Yet not all seem to recognize the fourth level cli~arly for what it is: the felt presence of God. And quite a few seem unwilling to pay the price of such .recognition. For the price i~ double: (1) a sometimes painful discerning of ~what factors are operating within the fourth level and (2) for the Christian, the consequent willingness to accept the call of Christ (n6w heard more clearly,) and to respond to it more generously. Let us attempt some exploration of thesetwo points. Discernment. A spate of articles and floods of conversation about discern-ment make it one of the "in" terms. As luck would have‚Äôit, the mystery of discernment is not lessened by all this attention. Nor will this article do anything more than try to show where discernment takes place~ To put it starkly, discernment occurs radically at the fourth level.6 What 6 In using the term radical discernment to point to God‚Äôs approving (peace) or disapproving (uneasiness) movemeni within the fourth level, I do not intend to discount the other convergent factors which go into the full discernment process, e.g., the weighing of reasons pro and con, obe-dience to lawful authority, spiritual direction, the testing of the decision in the actual living of it, use of Scripture, the calibrating of patterns of past behavior and accomplishments (the direction 814/Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 this:statement means become clearer only after one defines the events (or states) of desolation, consolation, depression, and elation. For it would seem that these four states occur only at the upper three levels. In other words, although desolation and consolation are used to read the spirits influencing a person to good or to evil, and although they may well appear to intrude upon the fourth level, still they are quite distinct from a perons‚Äôs peace or lack of peace at this lowest level. Nor do depression and elation enter the fourth level of man‚Äôs awareness even though they can obscure the peace or uneasiness of this level. Consolation-Desolation, Elation-Depression. It is necessary to define these four terms experientially in order to understand and to test in one‚Äôs own awareness the truth of the above statements. First of all, though desolation can cause depression and intermingle with the latter almost inextricably, still desolation is not the psych.ological state of depression. For desolation is induced by the evil spirit, not by the psychological dy~.namisms causing depres-sion such as extreme fatigue, poor self-image, seemihgly depreciatory actions by admired people, neurotic or psychotic impulses, and so on. In addition, desolation has spiritual effects, i.e., those based on faith experience. Thus the person undergoing desolation feels that God igat a cold distance or does not exist at all. This person finds himself convinced that he has no future b~cause he can do no good for. anyone, least of all for the kingdom of Godl He feels totally unloving and unlovable for God and his people. On the other hand, depression is not concerned with faith-o.bjects such as these, but is involved with natural goals and hopes which, however, can be easily entwined with faith objects, e.g., when th~ nun-teacher estimateg that her attempt to write a biology book is being thwarted (depression) by her own lack of competence or (paranoia) by the devious enyy-tactics bf the department chairman so that as a result she cannot Contribute to God‚Äôs glory and his kingdom. To put all this succinctly, depression paralyzes or weakens the human as human
while desolation freezes or enerx~ates the Christian as Christian. Thus it almost goes without saying that consolation is not elation since of one‚Äôs life), and so on. But I am saying that in the midst of complex decisions, peace or uneasiness at the fourth lex
el is the predominant factor to be considered. For often enough the reasons pro and con cancel each other out
authority often gives such broad directives that numerous alternatives are left open
spiritual direction can only help the directee discover for himself or herself the peace or uneasiness
testing of the decision in practice can be somewhat ambivalent
use of scriptural prayer is itself tested in terms of consolation and desolation which, in turn, are discerned in terms of peace or uneasiness
patterns of past behavior do not fully account for new demands of life, new turns on the road of life. For more on discernment, confer Karl Rahner‚Äôs The Dynamic Element in the Church, (Herder and Herder, New York, 1964) Part 111: "‚ÄôThe Logic of Concrete Individual Knowledge in Ignatius Loyola." Thomas M. Gan. non and George W. Traub‚Äôs The Desert and the City (Macmillan, Toronto, 1969) Chapter VIII: "The Logic of Christian Discernment" says much clearly in short compass. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 815 strengthening consolation ~(as distinct from Satan‚Äôs eventually debilitating elation) is caused by God, not by such psychological dynamisms as the sense of worked achievement, the feel of competence in skilled activity, the reassurance of someone‚Äôs deep affection, the hope of career-success, the discovery of one‚Äôs deepest self. Fo~ consolation, unlike the elation which it can cause and enter, is concerned with faith-effects. That is, God consoles me with the inner faith-vision that he pervades the whole world, with the hope that I can do much for him and his people, with the certainty that I amcapable of deep devotion to the triune God and his people, Briefly, consolation is the state of feeling cl.ose to self, God, and others
just as desolation is the state of feeling isolated from God,. others, and even one s self, Consolation ~s a deep sense of the commu‚Äônion‚Äô~of saints because of the felt presence of faith, hope, and charity
while desolation is experience of the utter loneliness of hell. Only God can cause consolatio.n
just as Satan is the sole cause of desolation, a deliberate attack on the three God-given virtues of faith, hope and charity. And both pheno~aeha occuronly at the top three levels of a person‚Äôs experience- .Dryness in Prayer. Obviously, when consolation and desolation are swinging back and .forth (along with elation and depression) in one‚Äôs experience, one feels no "dryness in prayer." For this dryness is the state of normalcy, the middle balancing state between the swings of consolation and desolation, of elation and desolation. Indeed, it is the state of~everyday living. Thus, dryness in prayer is not necessarily a sign of God‚Äôs displeasure. For one cannot undergo the alternations of desolation-consolation or of depression-elation over.long periods of time without becoming exhausted‚Äôphysically as well as spiritually. There must be periods of so-cailed~dryness if only so that the con-solations and desolations may be felt with refreshed sensitivity.. It should be noted here that there is a dryness induced by ungrateful or disloyal actions, by petty selfishness, by clever screening out of spiritual insights which might disturb Complacency. This is when God declines to speak to Us with Consolation lest he seem.to approve our.state, and when Satan does not want to disturb our foolish self-satisfa‚Äôction with desolation. But this dryness of complacency is not the normal dryhess in prayer even though both types of dryness occur within the same top three levels and can intermingle or at least succeed each other This intermingling makes it necessary to enter the fourth level of e~xperi-ence to explain~what normal dryness in prayer is. For underlying this dryness of the top three levels, can be a perduring sense of being right with God, of not being alone, and even of companioning God--despite all one‚Äôs mistakes, shortcomings, and sin~fulness. This fourth-level, implicit sense of God is itself a prayer of quiet calmness which gives endurance, balance, and centering to all our spiritual living.~ This prayer of trusting expectancy would seem to be the somewhat experiential divine presence of which Aquinas speaks. Here the 816 ./ReviewforReligious, Volume 39, 1980/6 person is, in the words of Hans Urs von Balthasar, "a sustained utterance of prayer.‚Äô‚Äô8 For this reason, such prayer can go on underneath one‚Äôs fatigue, distractions, deadness of feeling, fitful sexual urges, tightening tensions, twitches and quirks. The quiet, hidden (not explicitly conscious) presence of God is supporting all the events at the tbp three levels of experience as one studies educational theory, works crossword puzzles, sells toothpaste, kisses children goodnight, and argues with one‚Äôs spouse
This is why the :fourth level of experience can be described as a great underground river which quiets, stabilizes, nourishes, and guides the praying person. It is that which enable us literally to pray always. For, to change the figure, peace of the fourth level is like the quiet background music to all our endeavors on ‚Äôthe upper levels. Again, this peace is the sense of carrying within oneself the Center of the World and of having nothing to fear (See Rm 8:35-39
I Co 3:21-23). Seeming Dereliction. For these reasons, even a partial obscuring of the fourth level can be a confusing, even an initially frightening, experience. When one‚Äô~ sense of the indwelling presence of God seems clouded in some way within the fourth level itself and not merely by desolation or depression at th~ top three levels, one experiences a certain dereliction. One.feels cut adrift, terribly alone, like a solitary canoeist drifting on a great body of night water. For the fourth level contains the center of one‚Äôs universe, the hope of one‚Äôs total future, the sourse of one‚Äôs strength to love when not loved back. Of course, the fourth level of experience is never completely obscured
God is never far away. In fact, our very vulnerability and helplessness prob-ably make us, like the waif, even more appealing to him. Yet because this feel-ing of atheism at the fourth level is often accompanied by a convergence of outside calamities affecting the top three levels (confer the example of the Jesuit mentioned earlier), the suffering is acute. In fact, the sufferer needs the reassurance of spiritual direction as much as the storm-engulfed navigator needs clear sighting on the North Star. Still, in this seemingly total absence of consolation, to say nothing of elation, there perdures the subtle peace of God‚Äôs presence never doubted even though ba~ely felt. Indeed, after the tem-porary dereliction, one feels more sensitive to peace‚Äô, more alert to G.od‚Äôs movements within the fourth l~vel.9 ‚Äô A wise and experie~ntial description of prayer amid dryness is Leonard Boase‚Äôs Prayer of Faith (B. Herder, St. Louis, 1962), especially Chapters IV and V. (Paperback reissue: Our Sunday Visitor Press, Noll Piazza, Huntington, Indiana, 1976, a somewhat rearranged edition). ~ Hans Urs yon Balthasar, Prayer(Paulist Press, New York, 1961), translated byA. V. Littledale, p. 36. (Though not easy reading, this book gives deep understanding of prayer. One of its surpris-ing insights is that "even the dark night of the soul, the total absence of consolation, is a form of consolation" (p. 239). The paradox would seem to be that the ve~:y endurance of desolation with trust and love is itself a type of consolation. , * In his When the Well Runs Dry (Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, 1979), Thomas H. Green, S.J., has provided an encouraging synthesis of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Leonard Boasei and The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 817 Levels of Prayer. Consequently, as one sinks down past the first or sensuous level where vocal prayer finds expression, past the second and third levels where meditative and affective prayer predominate, and into the fourth level where prayer of.simplicity (simple being) occurs, the praying person hears more and more clearly the call of Christ within. Here one listens with a deeply passive alertness underneath the swirl of activities on the top three levels.‚Äô¬∞ Here the God-hunger is never sated
here in faith one feels heard, faced, touched by the Other. From here one responds with a surprising strength and tenderness. For, from here an all-embracing hope reaches up through the top three levels to say: "There will always be someone to serve and to love wherever I go, whomever I meet, whatever be the conditions of myself and others," From here love explodes up through the top three levels in strong generosity: "How can I give joy to my friends, coworkers, people I serve? How can I help each discover his or her deepest value and find this in each other and in Christ?" Thus, at the fourth level one seems to discover the peaceful river of God‚Äôs mysterious presence, the radical source of discernment underlying consola-tion and desolation, the prayer of quiet calmness underneath the normal dryness of routinized life, the sometime feeling of dereliction when God is Closest, and the source of exuberantly hopeful generosity at the call of Christ. Influence of the Fourth Level on the Top Three Levels Despite its many levels, human experience is a unified focusing on the world, God, and self. So, it is not surprising that the peace of the fourth level percolates up through the upper three levels--with varying results. For example, in flooding up into the top three levels, this peace may make a face radiant, give added physical strength, direct strong emotions into creative activity, lend stable purpose .to one‚Äôs thinking, imagining, feeling, deciding. Under these conditions even the ordinarily dour person will occasionally appear to be cheerful and rather outgoing. Because joy and lightness of heart are not infrequently a result of this pe~ace, people may rashly judge that a per-son undergoing deep sorrow at the third level is strange because of "his being unmoved, his quiet smile." On the other hand, uneasiness felt at the fourth level can move up and disturb. A person may be fe~eling euphoric at the top three levels and yet expe-the Cloud of Unknowing, within his own experience of prayer and of giving spiritual direction. ¬Ø Especially helpful are Chapters IV, V, and VI where he imaginatively and succinctly describes the Dark Night of the Senses and the Dark Night of the Soul. ~o M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O., works with brilliant clarity at this fourth level in his two articles "Centering Prayer--Prayer of Quiet" (REwEw FOR RELIGIOUS, Vol. 35, 1976/5, pp. 651-662) and "Progress in Centering Pr~iyer" (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOOS, VOI. 38, 1979/6, pp. 833-838). These are complemented by Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., with his "Cultivating the Centering Prayer" (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Vol. 37, 1978/1, pp. 10-15). 818 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 rience a vague restlessness
‚Äôamid continuing success, the man who has everything may feel a sense of incompleteness
within a totally secure situation ("I simply can‚Äôt lose") a sense of impending chaos sends up ripples of fear from the fourth level. When this happens, people will sometimes~seek to distract themselves from this basic uneasiness. They will overwork., start an unending process of job-jumping, try multiplemarria.ges, haunt psychiatrists, exhaust themselves .on attractive trifles like stamp collecting, golfing, crocheting and televiewing. St. Augustine‚Äôs description of his ownfascinatio nugacitatis is a case history of one man‚Äôs twenty-year struggle with constant uneasiness at the fourth level. But if peace from the fourth level is arising within a person‚Äôs euphoria at the top three levels, it acts as a stabilizing ballast to the ballooning emotions and exuberant activities. For its very perdurance at the depth of one‚Äôs being gives a sharp sense of the temporariness of success. Indeed, the .implicit awareness of God at the fourth level helps us to feel, as well as to understand, how relative are all events and things compared to the absolute faithfulness of the Lord. In this way, contemplation is permeating not only the top three levels of experience but entering into all the activities issuing from these levels of experience. The duality of contemplation and action is becoming more and more unified as the active person becomes more and more aware of the fourth level of experience. For the prayer of simplicity at the fourth level, in penetrating the top levels of experience, gives a new alertness to God‚Äôs presence in others, a renewed hope in people‚Äôs future fidelity, a deeper con-fidence in God‚Äôs providence. Lastly, it should be mentioned here that the neurotic or psychotic person, if put in touch with the fourth level,, may find a new source of hope. Underneath all the disturbances at the top three levels where the psychiatrist competently works to free his client from constricting fears, is the fourth level where the spiritual director competently tries to help a person interpret God‚Äôs call.. Because these four levels intermingle, both the psychiatrist and the spiritual director must know something of the other‚Äôs area of competence, must learn to respect each other‚Äôs discoveries, and must cooperate to help their client accept and live within his limitations. In this way, the neurotic or the psychotic can slowly learn that God will be daily with him, that he can hope against hope without this being just another contradiction, that he is lovable and capable of loving, that, like Theresa of Lisieux, he can become a saint. ‚Äô~ Four Dimensions of Prayer Experience. Once we have indicated, how the fourth level of awareness intermingles with and influences the other levels, we " In his Storm of Glory (Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1955, Image) John Beevers indicates that Theresa of Lisieux struggled with personality imbalance of a serious nature from her mother‚Äôs death (Aug. 28, 1877) until her miraculous cure by the Blessed Virgin (May 13, 1883). See pp. 34, 41-43. The Fourth Level of Prayer: Mystery / 819 are in a position to change the metaphor of "levels" to that of "dimensions" of experience. For human experience is marvelously unified and thus all the levels of awareness do permeate and mutually modify each other in forming a single human consciousness. For example, the fourth level contains the deep root of every prayer. Yet this prayer flowers differently, e.g., into prayer of the feelings and imagination at the third level, into reflective-meditative prayer at‚Äôthe second level and into vocal prayer (action-prayer) at the first level.. This is why these forms of prayer can be equally profound, can succeed each other quickly during a fifteen-minute period of prayer, can support and challenge each other, and can vary in intensity as does conversation between two human beings. This interchange between levels of prayer experience is also the reason why discernment, though founded radically at the fourth level in basic peace or uneasiness, nevertheless also occurs at the third level in the shapes of consola-tion, desolation, obedience, friendship
at the second level in terms of Scrip-ture, historical memories, and reasons pro and con
and even at the first level in the setting of such conditions for discernment as fasting, silence, and mortification. Obviously, then, the presence of God, so intimately and per-duringly active at the fourth level, is not limited to that level of awareness. Consequently, to change the model of explanation from "levels" to "dimensions" is not to deny the distinctions among the four levels and to homogenize their diverse influences on each other. Rather, it is to assert con-comitantly the remarkable unity of a praying person‚Äôs consciousness. This is to say that all four levels, while remaining distinct, nevertheless are como penetrating and mutually influencing each other like distinct eddies in the single stream of human consciousnesL ,Some Cautions About the Fourth Level Because the above description of the location and the dynamics of the fourth level is rather crude, one must carefully assess one‚Äôs own experience to see if it somewhat fits this description. One should not be unduly surprised if things are not totally clear. Then, too, one‚Äôs spiritual director should be con-sulted for the necessary qualifications of the many flat statements made above. At the heart of each person is the deepest mystery and this article can hold only a fitful candle-flame to it. It is hoped that the shifting shadows accompanying such a flame will not obscure the basic contours outlined. For there are many, many layers of experience, and consequently, many, many interpretations of them to be considered. Still, no matter how many levels of experience, there is always the last and deepest level of man‚Äôs being where union with God is radical.‚Äô2 ,2 Would it be outrageous to predict that growing sensitivity to the fourth level of experience will occur through steady practice of the examen of consciousness? 1120 / Review for Religious, Volume 39, 1980/6 Further, though God may be most present and most clearly speaking at the so-called fourth level, still he is also present in all the levels above. As a result, it takes some reflective living to distinguish these levels and to calibrate their functions. So I have been warned: "Only veterans of the spiritual life will really understand what you are saying
others will be mystified or will mistakenly think that they understand--with consequent bad results." In response to this, I can only say that the Lord protects those trying to find him and that no one can escape the facing of mystery deep within himself. It seems to me that we are never "safe" with any mystery, never in control, never ade-quately understanding, always searching and groping, always trusting amid our fears. If we must take chances in order to grow, then here would be the best place of all to gamble. Now Available As A Reprint Prayer of Personal Reminiscence: Sharing One‚Äôs Memories With Christ by David J. Hassel, S.J. Price: $.60 per copy, plus postage Address R~view for Religious Rm 428 3601 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108 Journey into Journey--A Reflection Rita Bernard Walton, S.S.J. Sister Rita‚Äôs last article, "Nomadic Memories," appeared in the January issue, 1978. She resides at St. Charles Seminary
Philadelphia, PA 19151. i was tired, as though at the end of a long journey. Long it had been, for I had journeyed into the human condition and had come to the doorway of under-standing that the human condition was so fragile, so delicately beautiful and so unique. I had journeyed and had come to the crossroads of another journey. It was there that I met Jesus in a new and startlingly beautiful way. For many days I had concentrated on the road itself, the dust, the rocks, the potholes, the many trials of faith and trust, the deaths along the way. It was easy to lose sight of the sunshine, even when it was directly overhead, when my mind grappled with the why of human events of suffering and death, events that seemed to crash in, like hurricane winds. Jesus had been my companion on the whole of my‚Äôjourney, but for awhile I lost full sightoof him as I became enveloped in the dust-cloud of self pity and independence. It was only when I fell, or when I cried out in hurt or pain that my vision cleared enough to allQw me to see that others were just as fragile and beautiful as I, and I saw him in them. Friends tended to my wounds, making his,compassion so real. I continued on my journey, renewed in tasting the empathy that had been portioned out to me.. It was when I came to what seemed like the end of my journey, at the crossroads, that my vision cleared in grace and I saw Jesus again. He was standing there right in front of me as though in a line at the bus depot. He was as dusty and worn down at the heels as I was. He had been journeying in the human condition, too. We looked deeply into each other‚Äôs eyes, feeling recognition flood within as our eyes drank in the sight of the human condition. "I have come to do the will of him who sent me" (see Jn 6:35-40) we both said together, laughing and hugging 821 822./Review for Religious, ~‚Äôolume 39, 1980/6 each other as old friends do. Calvary lingered in my bones and memory. We had tasted each other‚Äôs experience in dialogue often along the way before this. The look in our eyes now spoke more eloquently than words as we recalled our meetings on The Hill. I saw myself reflected in his eyes and came to understand how much he loved so many other fragile creatures like me--enough to die upon that Hill. Suddenly, I saw an endless procession of fragile creatures reflected in his eyes as once again I heard him say: "I have come to do the will of him who sent me... come follow me" (ibid.
Jn 1:43). All through my life I had worked to achieve something and here I was wrapped in the total surprise of being given unconditional love and the knowledge of its depth of meaning, of its desire for response. I felt rooted in time, yet weightless, as my mind and heart saw and felt the others who had responded to his call. I saw Jesus before me gesturing like a white-faced clown who beckons a crowd to come forward. He skipped around gleefully to show the.adventure with him that lay ahead. I felt life and death penetrate me, both at the same time. Self came to life and self died as I stepped forth, lifted by the urgency ofthat leap. I found myself transformed, a new clown among clowns, called to love the human condition. The clowns remind us, with a tear and a smile, that we share the same human weakness. Thus, it is not surprising that, in the:clown, we have a powerful image to help us under-stand the role of, the minister in contemporary society.‚Äô I had laughed and cried so often along the way, feeling the human condi-tion fired in my bones, but it was only my own condition that I had felt. I had seen others and so often moved on without feeling. In this leap away from myself I experienced the desire to share in, and feast in the human condition of my brother an~d sister clowns, the soon-to-be Clowns as well as the never-to-be clowns. Jesus had touched my fire-brighted stillness and unharnessed me. I no longer marched in my own parade~ My mind whirled in thoughtful excitement and new comprehension as I" found myself thinking of my Old Testament favorites, friends whose life stories had~ encouraged me to persevere along the way. I laughed when I thought of Abraham. I
tempo of character chahge is a slow one. Being‚Äô American-minded, we naturally expe.~t rapid results. The very at- . mosphere of our times--an era of modern machine .efficiency, high- 13ressure business methods, production miracles, and high-speed travel--promotes an ingrained bent toward immediate success. Rightly‚Äô or wrongly, we feel there should be a twentieth-century ¬Ø masterkey to the spiritual life, a foolproof device as dependable ?s the multiplication table. Yet strangely enough, our spiritual life seems to move at the tempo of the first centuiy in a twentieth-century World. True character change may be hard to see. We Americans see the, entrancing picture of industrial production, but we look upon spiritual progress in our own lives as a vague or blank picture. Sanc-tifying grace and internal actual grace are both intangible and invis-ible. We sow the representative crops, the seeds of humility, love of God, obedience, and the other virtues, yet always wonder2--when‚Äôs the harvest? To see results, we often make one good resolution suc-ceed another in rapid succession, turning our spiritual life into a series of short-term cycles, partly for variety, partly to convince ourselves that we are getting somewhere and making progress. But after six months of short-term cycles we are ready to doubt whether we are changed an iota. That old spiritual problem which we settled once, and for all two weeks ago somehow surges back to life again today. A series of .these experiences can readily warp ore: spiritual judgment or ~lgrudence and lead to loss of effort and discouragement. Then 195 CHARLES A. NASH Review for Religious failure charts our course. Being constitutiOnall~y successful, we shift our effort to some more promising line of_ endeavor, and the spirit of‚Äô spiritual progress becomes like a ghost on the outermost rim of the real business of daily living. 200-300 Hours Psychiatrists have much this same time-problem. How much time is required to make a permanent change in a patient‚Äôs character~ How long to turn a man around and start him forward again on the life-line to maturity? A considerable body of evidence indicates that it takes two hundred to three hundred hours, roughly speaking
to make a permanent character change.4 This means one hour a day, seven days a week for about nine months devoted to making the change, whate
cer that change may be. No matter how un-American it may sound, there seems to be normally no substitute for time in a ‚Äôpermanent character change. Even if our minds thunder and rever-berate in syllogisms, it still takes from two to three hundred hours to drive‚Äô the lesson home permanently and to relate it in experience to the concrete parts of life. A religious may profitably add a bit of timing to his spiritual motor
Permanent growth is not like reading through a spiritual book in three or four days ~nd expecting the result
it is more l,!ke the slow, nine-months‚Äô nurturing of the child in the mother‚Äôs womb. It is not the work of a day or a week, but it finds a closer parallel in the one hour a day for nine months thata student devotes, say, to mathe-matics ~r history or language in school.. Putting on a facet of Christ‚Äôs personality is not done in one meditation
it slowly develops like the b.aby slowly developing back and neck muscles, balancin‚Äôg on his feet at six months, and finally learning to walk near the end of a year. Permanent character change, is more in the image of St.,Peter and the Apostles learning confidence in Christ over a period of several years, and still being a bit shaky at His death when confronted with actual life experience. But worth noting is the ever-recurring fact of suc-cess. After nine months in the womb the baby actually is born
in nine months the student knows his history, mathematics, and language. In time the Apostles did attain cona-dence in Christ. Actual success is the constant experience of the hu-man race if timk and energy are dev6ted to the task. 4Leland E. Hinsie, Concepts and Problems of Psychotherapy, 11-12. 169. John Knight, S~o‚Äôry oI My Psychoanalysis, 2-3. 196 155, 166- Ju~,~, ! 953 PROGRESS AND REGRESS ¬•~rhat l~appens in two or three hundred hours? In that time our perso.nal equilibrium changes. Through ~ur mind and emotions there slowly winds a new track of virtue all its own. Character change invoIyes a rather thoroughgoing shift in our habitual reaction to life. It requires a new appreciation of life as a permanent part of the m~nd, a‚Äô new emotional pattern, a new reaction to a vast number of concrete situations. Suppose, for example, a close friend dies with whom you have associated night and day for ten years. In all the old situations which constantly remind you of this lost friend you m~lst make clear to yourself that you have this friend no longer, and that a renunciation is necessary. He is Vividly represented {n many personal memories and experiences. You will have to correct your reactions for many a day, and detachment must t~ke place separately in each instance. Similarly in character chan, ge. "The single action, the passing thought hardly dents the human system: it remains more like a feeble echo in the soul. A single action leaves one‚Äôs equilibr!uin for meeting life largely unchanged.. In two or three hundred" hours, however, the new reaction "works through" and permeates our mind and our thinking~ In that time it develops its own emotional pat-tern and becomes permanently related in experience to most of the concrete parts of life. Factors in Adult Progress As adults, we tend to sell human nature short. We frequently forget what a long way we have come since childhood, the countless number of small successes involved in our present degree of maturity. Starting out as a helpless babe, man slowly learns t6 walk, to speak, to run, to master language, to enjoy countless new experiences,, to cope with school life, to earn a living, to marry and support a fam-ily. Any one of thesehas practical difficulties of time and energy and personal ability somewhat like those in the spiritual life: Yet by the common experience of mankind, their attainment ih practically cer-~ rain if sufficient time and energy is devoted to the task. As adults we tend to forget the countless milestones we have already passed, and even come to expect no new milestones in the future. Often as adults we cut down on spiritual time and energy, and act in the practical order as if religious experience had been exhausted. If a religious tries to compress thirty hours int6 twenty-four, it is inevitable that he will have to scalp time from his spiritual life to ac-complish this feat. In this regard it would seem that all of us are endowed with a certain native shrewdness of the horse-trading vari- 197 CHARLES A. NASH ety. But little time means little progress. Sometimes we run our spiritual life like a carburetor with too thin a mixture of energy to operate the machine. Life‚Äôs fast teinpo drains away energy. The more our limited daily energy is channeled to other things, the less remains available for character change or spiritual growth. ~ If there is no time and energy, there is no progress. As we grow older, our ideas of spiritual experience tend to become mote and more .rigid. Spiritual progress is difficult in a rigid mind, like mov, ement in a. straitjacket. Progress demands an open and pliant mifid with the door ever open to wider spiritual experience. Often in order to pro-gress we first have to unstiffen our spiritual ideas and keep them lim-ber. Age is not a true limit to spiritual growth. Remai‚Äôning ever an experiencing being, man normally moves ever forward irma dynamic equilibrium toward an ever greater maturity in God. If the human mind closes to the future, it falls back upon the past. Not age but the man himself puts a stop to progress, by refusing new spiritual ex-perience. The Divine Plan Time, energy, and an open mind docile to the Holy Spirit fit into God‚Äôs design for human experience on earth. In His divine plan as the Creator of human nature and every human experience, God has an eminently skilful regard for bo~h the strength and the weakness of the earthly pilgrim in his slow daily progress. He assists the slo~v, three-hundred-hour pace by the superior motivation of divine reve-lation, by countless actual graces, by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. When only a miracle can be substituted for time, when our very best efforts are always attended by some failure, we catch no small glimmer of the "divinity that shape~ our ends" in the gift of-the three theological virtues. For without hope progress stops
without faith the path grows dim: without love the heart grows faint along the way. But in God‚Äôs design for religious ex-perience ,the pilgrim is fortified by God Himself. Faith illumines our mind along the road to God
hop~ keeps effort alive and the goal be-fore our eyes
and love is even now a participation of the goal itself while progressing along the way: Divine assistanc~ and a ready w~l-come ever await the pilgrim at every step of his journey. "Come to Me all you that‚Äôlabor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you." The lq.ng-run trend of spiritual growth, in God‚Äôs design, is a quickening triumphal march. ~ 198 The Unseen World Jerom~ Breunig, S.J. THE telescope and microscope have extended our horizons im-
measurably. They have opened up unseen worlds for us. "How mean is earth when I look to heaven," said St. Ignatius one night in Rome more than 400 years ago. Hbw much more mean-ingful this remark is today when the giant eye at Mt. Palomar, California, a 200 inch telescope, helps us penetrate into the sky to the staggering limits of more than one billion light years" and reveals millions of suns like our own moving at the incredible .speed of 500,000 miles, per hour. .~Apart from the findings of the great ob-servatories, even a good telescope on a clear night can reveal wonders hidden to the eye. We can see the pock marks that craters ma~ke on our next ~lo~r neighbor, the moon, which is a scant 238,000 miles fr6m our planet. We. can see the nine moons that cluster about Jupiter, the‚Äôring of light about Saturn, as well as the fiery masses said to be billions of stars. ~The inicroscope opens another unseen world. To the unaided eye what is on the glass slide lo6ks like‚Äôa drop of water. Under the microscope we see many protozoa of all kinds. We can see scores of little slipper-shaped animals called paramecia caromin~ about in the water. Perhaps a sluggish, slow-moving amoeba can be sighted or a green euglena of the mastigophora (whip-bearing) family, propel-ling itself by its whiplike tail. After human vision gtopped, the zo-ologist has pushe,d on with his microscdpe to discover 30,000 kinds of protozoa in an unseen world. But there is another world still more ‚Äômarvelous and far more important than the worlds that the magnifying glass reveals. It is the unseen world of spiritual realities. Higher visual aid is required to penetrate far into this invisible but real world. We are blind and helpless without the eyes of faith. St. Paul speaks right to the point. "What is faith? It is that which‚Äôgives substance to our hopes, which convinces, us of things we cannot see." What are some of the realities in this unseen world? What are some of the "things we cannot see" except with the eyes of fai‚Äôth? No one has ever seen a soul at the moment God created it,‚Äôwhen it.left the body, or at any other time. Nor has anyone seen the re-birth of a soul at Baptism when the higher life of grace is infused and the human clay is made immortal diamond, when the bap‚Äôtized 199 ,In I JEROME BREUNIG Reoieto for Religious is made a son of God and heir of heaven, when the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity come and make their home in the soul, trans-forming it into a temple of God. "Blessed are those who have not .seen and have believed." Faith convinces us of things we cannot see. No one has seen a soul red as scarlet washed whiter than snow by the absolution of a priest. Nor has anyone seen the bread of heaven restoring the waning strength of the soul. No one has seen the inexpressible joy of the elect in the mansion,s of heaven, the chastening anguish of the souls in the prison of purgatory, or the black despair of the damned ‚Äôin hell. "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Faith convinces us of things we can-not see. Opposition of the Sense-World It is essential to salvation to stay aware of the unseen world but it is not easy. We live in a world of sense. Our very mode of learning is rboted in sense impressions. There is nothing in the mind / that was not first in the senses. Even faith comes by hearing. Our convictions about what we cannot see are constantly being challenged by things we can see. It is a losing battle, naturally. For instance, we will ordinarily be more vividly impressed by paging through a national picture magazine for a few minutes than we will by reading the Imitation of Christ for the same length of time. Unless we con, stan.tly cultivate supra-sensible reality by reading, reflection, and prayer, we will not be able to offset the ever-present attraction of the sensible. We.are also at the m‚Äôercy of our less immediate environment. We are influenced by what we see, hear, feel
and much of this is secular. It is not informed with respect for the sacred unseen realities. There are also abundant examples of godlessness. To claim there are no atheists in foxholes, on the operating tables in our hospitals, among the alumni of our schools
Or ("there but for the grace of God go I") among ex-religious is to close one‚Äôs eyes to the facts. The lack of respect for God‚Äôs creative co-operation in h.uman generation is widespread and appalling. There are hardened, blinded men who look on death like the fallen-away who "assured" the hos-pital chaplain: "If I die on the operating table, there will not b‚Äôe any-one to take me away." Many non-believers patronize our "naivete" in accepting the sacramental system. A Catholic mayor was openly ridiculed in the public press: "How can he be fit to manage the city goverttment when he is foolish enough to believe a little wafer is his 200 duly, 1953 THE UNSEEN WORLD God." Communists use brutal methods..to eradicate, "to wash away," a sense of the supernatural, but secularism has a smooth ap-proach that sometimes is even more effective in uprooting faith, hope, and charity. The recent ~u.rvey of religion in the United States has produced some startlin~ data. The first report that 99% of the people be-lieved in the existence of G~od was heartening, but the subsequent studies revealed the shallowness of much of this belief. Thd eighth" of the series, "What Americans Think of Heaven and Hell," reported the following statistics in the March number of the Catholic Digest. "Do you think there is any real possibility of your going to.hell? Yes, answered .I 2 %
Do not beh.eve in hell, 42 %." In other words, 88 % of those questioned were not greatly concerned with .a truth that Christ underlined clearly, in His teaching. And this is the. environment, through the press, radio, television(?), and a thousand other contacts, we live in. The un-seen world of faith has competition. Witnesses to the Unseen The greatest Witness to the reality of the unseen world was" Christ, God2s Son, who clothed Himself with flesh and blood, a true human nature, worked miracl~s, and founded a ,visible Church to bear witness to the invisible grandeur of divine realities. He invites religious in a special way to continue to bear witness. He has invited them to prove the eternal value of.a better world to a money-mingled, sex-sick, rugged-individual generation by being poor, chaste, and obedieht as He was in the wor‚Äôld. "But if religious are not inhabi-tants of this unseen world they will never impart the irresistible con-viction that the unseen world exists." The recent communication from a Poor Clare (REVIEW, No-vember~ 1952, 312-14) contained the eloquent witness to the un-seen world that is afforded by contemplatives. "There is an unseen world which to her (a Poor Clare) is very real. The incidents of daily lilt‚Äôare mere accidentals which are of value so far as they pur-chase for her more perfect union with God. This unseen world is as real to her as the things she can reach out and touch, and touching it she can make every action of hers prayer. I am speaking of prayer,mnot prayers," Until the unseen world is as real to us as the things we can reach out and touch, we will not convey the conviction so badly needed. 201 C. A. HERBST Reuieto for Religious, There is on~ way to make this world that real. It is by living in it. I remember a retreat master‚Äôs remark on tills point. "You have to have darkness to find a picture on the sensitive plate, and you ha~e to have prayer to bring out the invisible presence of God." Again, it is ‚Äô prayer and not prayers that will enable us to live the convictions of our faith. Chari!:y C. A. Herbst, S.J. W~HEN a learned man among the Jews asked Our Lord: "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Christ answered: "Thou shalt love the‚Äô Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, andwith thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment." (Mt. 22: 37, 38). This was not new with Christ. It is the burden not only of the New but als0 of the Old Testament. written, as St. Paul says, "with the Spirit 6f the living God...in the fleshly tables of the heart" (II Cot. 3:3). The theological virtues are the greatest of all the virtues. Thdre are three of them: faith, hope, and charity. "And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three." Of these three, love of God‚Äô for His own sake is the queen: "But the greatest of these is charity" (I Cot. 13:13). Its object is God Himself, and our motive for loving Him,. too, is His own dear Self, "because Thou are all good and worthy of all love." "I call charity that virtue which moves the soul to love God ‚Äôfor His own sake and oneself and the neighbor for God‚Äôs ~ake," said St. Augustine. Charity makes all the virtues live. It is the soul even of faith, without which it is impossible to please God. "The life. of the body is the soul. By it the body moves and feels. Even so the life of faith is charity, because it works through charity, as you read in the Apostle: ‚Äôfaith that worketh by charity‚Äô (Gal. 5:6). When charity grows cold, f~ith dies, just as the body does when the soul leaves it." (St. Bernard, Serrn. "2 In Resurr.) "O my God, ,I love Thee above all things." How can I truth-fully say this when I prove many times every day by committing venial sins that I love even tiny creatures more than I love God? Or why is it that I do not cry for love of God wheaa I lqse Him by mor-tal sin but I do cry when I lose my mother by death? Although ¬Ø 202 drain, 1953 CHARITY these actions seem to be contradicting my words "0 my God, I love Thee above all things," they, really do not. I can weep over my mother‚Äôs death and commit venial sins and" still love God objectively above all things. That is, I can, and do, go on sincerely and earnest-ly wishing Him the l~reatest good, .that He will continue to be the supreme object of all love and receive divine honors. I can commit venial sins and weep over temporal ld~s and still love God above all things appreciative4 , too. by preferring God with an efficacious will to all created things, by esteeming Him as thehighest good. I can so value and esteem Him ak to be r~eady to lose all else rather than abandon God. We canndt recall too often that true love is in the will, not in the fe~!ings or ~motions. A mother‚Äôs instinctive and spontaneous feelings and enfotions may draw her to love her child more ir~rensel~, with greater ease, tenderness, and alacrity, than she does God, yet she is ~eady to lose her child rather than offend God seriously. Her love for God is greater and deeper, and influences her soul more p[ofoundly. She loves God objectively and appreciatively more, and intensively and emotionally less. Thihgs of sense appeal more directly and affec-tively than spiritual things do. That in the supreme test, love for God is greater and stronger than any natural love is wonderfully shown in the death of St. Perpetua, martyr. "Neither the tears and oft-repeated prayers of her. aged father, nor the mother-love for the baby boy at her breast, nor the ferocity of her tormentors could move Perpetua from her faith in 3esus Christ." This is brought out, too. by the incidents in the daily lives of the "little people" in Christ‚Äôs Church‚Äô in this living present, so well presented by Father Trese. " ‚ÄôWe‚Äôve a good pastor,‚Äô my.people say --and I am ashamed. Ashamed as I stand beside Katie Connelly at the bed of her just-dead son, and hear her say, ‚ÄôIt‚Äôs God‚Äôs will. isn‚Äôt it, Father?‚Äô while she clutches my. hand. Ashamed as I stand beside Ed Fetter at his wife‚Äôs bier, and hear him say, with three little tykes hanging to his pants-legs, ‚ÄôIf this is what God wants,, we‚Äôve got to take it, Father.‚Äô Ashamed as I ride with the Martins to the Stat~ Hospital where they are taking their son, and hear the mother say, as she bites her lip, ‚ÄôWell, we‚Äôve all got to have our cross, Father.‚Äô " (Leo Tress, Vessel of Clapt, 24.) Love has various degrees. - In the love of concupiscence there is something of self. I love another because I will get something out of it for myself. This is love of God for my own sake, with selfishness, 203 C. A. HERBST but a very good selfishness. This is the great virtue of hope. Then there is the love of complacency, in which I am glad and rejoice, take pleasure in, another‚Äôs good, just~ because it ishis good. By it I re-joice in ~the divine perfections~ "Thus approving the good which we see in God, and rejoicing in it, we make the act of l~ve which is called complace-ncy
for we please ourselves in the divine pleasure infinitely more than in our own,‚Äô (St. Francis de Sales, Looe of God, V, i). A third and higher‚Äôdegree of love is~ the love of benevolence, By it we wish another well, want good to come to him. This love we express in the Our Father when we pray: "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom ~ome, Thy will be done!" Love consists more in deeds than in words. "If you love me, keep my commandments," Our Lord said (John 14: 15). Every-body knows that "talk is che~p,‚Äô¬∞ but actions filled with love are purest gold. A fine expression of love is a gift. That is why we give gifts on birthdays and on other joyous occasions. Gifts are the language of love. This is shown most strikingly at Christmas time. It is ~ the . feast of giving, of the Gift. Men give then because God taught them to show love that way. He gave the first Christmas Gift by giving Jesus Christ, His son. "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten son" (John 3:16). That was Bethlehem. That was Calvary, too. "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten son." The .lesson ChriSt taught from the crib and from the cross is the same lesson
love in deed, in giving. The soul that loves God cannot miss that. It is convinced that love consists in a mutual exchange of gifts. "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I do for cnrlst. The answer leaps forth: "Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding~ and my whole will." One gives oneself whole and entire. We cannot do more. But we can do it more solemnly and more specifically, and we have. Religious surrender to God the goods of the world by the vow of poverty. They surrender to .God the goods of the body and of family, life by the vow of chastity. They surrender to God the goods of the soul, especially that most precious thing, their will, by ~he vow of obedience. "Almighty and Eternal God, I vow to Thee perpetual poverty: chastity, and obedience." This is our answer to the divine challenge: "Thou shalt love‚Äôthe Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy .whole soul, and with all thy strength, and wi‚Äôth all thy mind .... This do, and thou shalt live." 204 The Moral Code Cat:holic I-lospit:als Gerald Kelly, S.J. SOME years ago there was a colorful basketball official who used to delight (and sometime~ enrage) spectators by his dramatic way of telling players, "You can‚Äôt do that[" Again and again his whistle would be heard and he would be seen speeding across the floor, an accusing finger‚Äô pointed at some offending player, as his piercing voice insisted," "You can‚Äôt do that!" ¬Ø For all too many people, I fear, this officialmminus his pleasing dramatics--might represent the Catholic hospital and its moral code. Engraven in the minds of these people is the picture Of a devoted non- Catholic physician bending over his patient in the operating or de-livery room, yearning to do something to save the patient‚Äôs life, but frustrated in this salutary design by the Church, which, through the Sister superior or supervisor or chaplain, raises its restraining hand ‚Äôand says unsympathetically, "You can‚Äôt do that!" Certainly much of the publicity given to v~arious events that take place in our hos-pitals caters to this impression. For example, a few years ago, in Brownsville, Texas, a physician who had sterilized a woman in defiance of the hospital code was dis-missed from the staff. The incident received nation-wide publicity in the daily‚Äôpapers
and the correspondent of one widely-read weekly devoted to it considerable space and ev?n more emotion. The Sisters of Mercy had closed the doors of mercy to the doctor whose only purpose was mercy~ Follow-up letters from doctors, including one from the vice-chief‚Äô-of-staff of their hospital, favored the Sisters and showed little sympathy for the expelled physician. Other letters, however, showed marked sympathy for the doctor and for his emo-tional reporter. One letter in particular expressed great !mpatience with this.Church which insists on projecting the taboos .(a favorite epithet for commandments, divine and human) of the Dark Ages into the twentieth-century operating and delivery rooms. In this and similar incidents We have examples of the old prob-lem of misunderstanding.‚Äô The critics usually do not understand our hospital code. Even Catholics, I think, seldom realize what goes into a code. In fact, many seem to have the impression that a Cath- 205 GERALD KELLY Review fur Religious olic hospital moral code consists in ond supreme principle (which, incidentally, is "best-seller" nonsense at its best) that mothers must die fortheir babies. These people ought ko have more accurate in-formation, and it seems logical that they might expect to get it from religious because the Catholic hospital, is one of the most distinctive and extensive achievements of our religious institutes. The following paragraphs p~ovide at least the minimum essentials for giving correct information. ~ Why a Code? Since.the administrators of Catholic hospitals are men and women whose lives are consecrated to God, they can conscientiously conduct these hospitals only when they have a reasonable assurance that the law of God will be observed in the treatment of the sick. One way of obtaining this assurance is to formulate the pertinent moral prin-ciples and their applications into a code and to have the staff-members guarantee that they will observe this code. The first reason for having a code, therefore, is to satisfy the conscience of the admin-istrators. This is aptly stated in the introduction to the present code of the Catholic Hospital Association: "Catholic hospitals exist to render medical and spiritual care to the sick. The .patient adequately considered, and inclusive of his spiritual status and his claim to the helps of the Catholic religion, is the primary concern of those entrusted with the management of Catholic hospitals. Trustees and administrators of Catholic hos-pitals understand this responsibility tbwards each patient whom they accept, to be seriously binding in conscience. "A partial statement of this basic obligation is contained in the present Code of Ethical and Religious Directives. All who associate themselves with a Catholic hospital, and particularly the members of the medical and nursing staffs, must understand the moral and reli-gious obligations binding on those responsible for the management and operation of the hospital, and must realize that they are allowed to perform only such acts and to carry out only such procedures as will enable the owners and administrators to fulfill their obligations." What was .lust said might be construed as meaning that the sole or primary purpose for having a moral code is to protect administra-tor~ against doctors who might perform illicit opera.tions in their hospitals. This" is not true. Generally speaking, doctors and nurses, both Catholic and to a large extent the non-Catholics, want clear 206 July, 1953 ~ HOSPITAL CODE guidance in the ethical problems of their profession. And they want it because they are conscious of a need. As members of a. profession ithat deals constantly with life and death, with mutilation of the hu-man body, with expensive and sometimes dangerous remedies, they are faced again and again With acute ethical problems. Yet large numbers of them, even among tl~e Catholics, have never had the op-portunity of taking~a course in medical ethics. Others who have had such a course have grown "rusty" and need some convenient way of refreshing their memories. For all of these a moral code, which con-tains concisely-stated principles and practical applications to the field of medicine, satisfies a definite need. Making a Code What have our Catholi~ hospitals done to provide the needed guidance through a moral code? For many years the hospitals of the United States and Canada used a very brief ~ode which was excellent at the time it was formulated but which became more and mor~ in-adequate as the progress of medicine introduced new problems and threw new light on old ones. A new and more complete code was needed, and many dioceses prepared such a cod~ for their own use. It was not until 1947 that work was begun on a revised code for the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada. The work done by the committee on this revised code may be of interest., The committee first made a careful examinationof all the recently-composed diocesan codes, selected what seemed the best material from them. and arranged this material plus their own contributions in a manner that seemed best for handy reference. When this was done, a preliminary draft of a new code was sent for criticism to a large number of doctors and moralists in various parts of the United States and Canada. The doctors consulted included both Catholics and non-Catholics. They were chosen for eminence in their profession and not for ~hei~‚Äôreligion. These consultants, doctors and moralists
: submitted criticisms some of them. very detailed---of the prelim-inary formula. The criticisms were carefully weighed by the com-mittee and a new formula was drafted. , This was referred again to the original critics
and the code was finally formulated in a manner that met"with universal apprbval. This code was publ!shed in 1949 by the Catholic Hospital Associa-tion of the United States arid Cahada, and it is used today in most o‚Äôf the dioceses of these two countries. Some dioceses which had gone~ 207 GERALD KELLY Review [ur Religious to great trouble to prepak-e their own codes still use these in preference to the revised code of the C~tholic Hospital Association. Two observations are in place here in order to ~0revent misunder-standings. First, there is a question pertinent to revising a code: does this mean that morM principles change, or, as some people would put it, does it mean that the Church has changed its moral ~tandards? Obviously, the revision of a hospital code should have no such im-plications. Moral principles do not change: and, from the stand-point of ~principles, the only‚Äôreasons for revising an approved code might be to include some principle not beret0fore included, or to ex-press more clearly and simply one of the principles already included. But the application of moral principles to medicine can change be-cause this application depends on the medical facts, which can change with the progress of.science. For example, there was a time when the only way of successfully treating certain infections was‚Äô by surgi
of that interest or need, directed both by grace and by our psychology. As a matter of fact, our spiritual needs and interests evolve gradhally according to seasons and circumstances and to the inspirations of grace. These will reveal now one,e, ~now another side which before remained more or less hidden or unnoficed. Moreover, when our retreat resolutio.n, as is gener~ally the case, is not restricted to one but foresees several particular needs, we can alternate the practice and change from one to the other when the ‚Äôone seems to have worn out and lost its grip. Later, we can often return to the first with a refreshed outlook and new ardor. ( Dispositions and/or Acts Does this manner of practicing the examen require specific acts as does the first, or may we dispense with these? It may require them and generally does. That depends on the subject matter and on in-dividual dispositions. Some people can maintain a habitual disposi-tion of recollectedness or selflessness without insis(ing on or multiply- , ing definite acts. Others are in need of such acts, which arise spon-taneously from their resolve to be recollected or self-forgetful. spirit of praye.r normally demands some explicit acts of formal prayer
habitual or virtual prayer alone would not be sufficient. Self-lessness, trust, apostolic zeal can be habitual dispositions, but some explicit acts, whether exterior or interior, would not do any harm but would help very much even if they were not altogether necessary. The marking in a book after the noon "and evening check-up, which is generally a real help to our dodging human nature,‚Äôis not to be overlooked in this second way. But it need not be done in numer-als. Some people are congenitally poor in.arithmetic. Instead of marking the number of acts or df faults, a gener~al notation may suf-fice, for instance: good, average, poor
or any way one prefers. When we mean business with our particular examen and make use of all the means to succeed, we still must expect times when our effort will have little success. Some days everything goes well spir-itually
other days it does not. These ups and downs need not be 182 July, 1953 PARTICULAR EXAMEN
even in0 the "downs:‚Äô our effort can and generally does remain substantially faithful and successful to an extent. This should not be oveHooked: otherwise unwarranted and naive optim-ism may flounder during low moods, Provided our desire and effort .does not flag, even this partly unsuccessful particular examen still marks a steady progress. - The second way of conceiving and. practicing the particular exa-men makes the exercise not just a small device for casual use if it suits but rather an important ~nd obligatory factor in every serious effort for progress. Without it. spiritual life~.slackens if it does not die down. Perhaps we should say that every, fervent life actually keeps this practice of the particular examen, though possibly without giving it that name. Every fervent spirituality is practically boun,d to aim at and concentrate on some definite objective required by the present need. Fervent sduls do so spontaneously. It can only make for better ~esults if they are aware of this law of spiritual vitality and resolve to follow it. Seen in this light, the particular examen-is an essential unit inthe structureof spiritual progress. It is, not just a decorative trifle. We need not fear that this determined and steady effort at lJrog-ress in one particular direction will result in a state of uneasy t~nslon and nervousness. As in the whole spiritual life, so also here, ti~e-de-sire and endeavor for advancement must combine ardor and peace,, earnestness and patience, genuine‚Äôeffort and disinterested acceptance of the results. For is it not grace that makes our effort possible and suc-cessful? Human endeavor is a subordinate factor. It is no doubt, necessary: grace does ndt replaceit. But it is trust in grace combined with sincerity in not sparing ourselves unduly that makes a burning, yet peaceful ardor possible. The particular examen, understood in this grand and realistic way,, repays, th~ effort we make in a measure which it is impossible,to anticipate. Fidelity to grace is often re-warded beyond human expectation. Gabriel A. Zema, S.J. 1. Let us take, for example, the habit of passing on to a friend or acquaintance our low opinion of the fault or sin 0f another. De-pending on circumstances, the thing may be no sin at all, a.venial, or a mortal sin. Even if no actual sin, it is a habit that belongs to no 183 GABRIEL A. ZEMA lady or gentleman
and it can lead to a lot of trouble. 2. On rising, or after morning prayer, write a figure, say "3," some place where you can again see it at the end of the day. (Even nosey people will never know what "3" stands for.) For you "Y‚Äô means you are determined to control your tongue three times that day on the habit you set ouk to break. 3. When you look at the figure at the end of the day while examining your conscience as every sincere re!igious.should--it is pos- Sible you won‚Äôt know what it stands for yourself. You may even have forgotten you put it there. ,But a little reflection will bring back the breaking-that-habit idea. 4. Very well, begin all over again. On the second day you may find that you have not controlled your tongue even once. Go to the third day more determined than ever. 5. I~eep‚Äôup the practice for ten or twelve days. You will find a definite improvement if you are at all serious about it. 6. At the end of ten or twelve days take tip another fault and give it ~he same treatment. Follow the same procedure. After you have worked on three or four faults.--never forgetting to keep im-‚Äô proving on them--go back to the first one and see how the patient looks! 7. In morning and evening prayers ask Our Lady to come to your aid. BOOK NOTICE THE INTERIOR CARMEL: THE THREEFOLD WAY OF LOVE, by John C. H. Wu, a very brilliant Chinese. convert, diplomat, and scholar, "wi‚Äôll help highly intellectual.lay men and women to raise their spiritual lives of contemplation and divine love td an equal height and to give them something of the lofty mysticism that char-acterized St. John of the Cross. It will also aid very busy religious or priests to make their exterior activities conducive to a ,higher and more intense internal spirit. Interestingly and inspiringly Dr. Wu quotes the ancient Cbiriese sages, Confucius and Mencius, to rein-force the lessons of modern Catholic and Spanish Carmelite mysti-cism. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1953. Pp. xii + 257. $3.25.) 184 Child Mo!:her: r cious ynt:hesis Mother Winifred Corrigan, r.c. AT HOLY COMMUNION, the soul authentically in love with ~ God, is sometimes conscious of itself as a banq~ethall in which the memorable gospel of the anointing of the Lord‚Äôs feet by "a sinner" is being reenacted. This soul becomes aware in itself of two sep.arate impulses. One is the generous spirit of the Magdalen, utterly expending self for the beloved Master, freely offering to spend its best years in obscurity or lovingly giving its body to be burned. The other impulse, also within .the soul, is viewing, rea-soning, even objecting: "To what purpose is this waste?" It is the soul speaking in terms of the apostle 3udas, not yet the traitor, who prudently considers the extravagance of broken alabaster.."For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." That Our Blessed Lord openly favored and approved the sym-bolic self-surrender ~f Mary Magdalen, the sinner, we know. "The poor you have always with you but me you have not.always." We have experienced, too, bow the logic of Divine Wisdom reconciles our opposing desires and restores equilibrium. "Thy. sins are for-given thee. Thy faith hath‚Äômade thee safe, go in peace." Devotion to Mary performs a similar function. It tends to unify two spiritual realities sometimes thought to be at variance: the doctrines of spir-itual" cbildbood and spir!tual motherhood. Why are these doctrines ever considered incomigatible? In the natural order, it is plain that the two states, childhood and mother-hood, are not in opposition. Obviously, the same person can be both child and mother. The basic concept, mother, one who merci-fully sustains the life of her offspring ("do not kill it"), is unfor-gettably presented to us as illustrating the wisdom of Solomon. "Give the living Child to this woman...for she is the mother there-of." This concept of mother ~choes the first woman‚Äôs name, Eve, mother of the living. The concept of child, in the Divine Mind, is expressed for us in the Fourth Commandment. In the Book of Ec-clesiasticus (Chapter 3) the blessings of fruitfulness and long life are promised in detail to the loving, obedient child. Writing to his dear Ephesians, St. Paul confirms this divine revelation for New Testa- 185 MOTHER WINIFRED CORRIGAN Review for Religious merit times.- "Children, obey your parents in. the Lord, for this is just. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first command-ment with a prorriise: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon earth." Thus, for the Christian, it is natural for the faithful child to become fruitful, nor would the sacrifice of mar- ¬Ø riage and family usually be required in order to keep the Fourth Commandment. In the supernatural order, the harmonious‚Äô sequence between the roles of child and mother is less apparent. In making ready to lighten up the mists by reference to M.ary, it may be well to clarify the meaning of the terms, spiritual childhood and spiritual mother-hood, according to Scripture and the lives of the saints. Spiritual Childhood Our Lord has strongly set forth the reality, even. the necessity of spiritual childhood. "Amen, I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little, children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." He then counsels the humility of a little child for his disciples, and for all who would be "greater in the kingdom of heaven." The reality of spiritual motherhood is presented for us in the forceful language of St. Paul. "My little dhildren," he wrote to the Galatians, "of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you." His apostolic cry for souls re-echoes the appeal of the Divine Lover, heard in the Old Testament (Isaias 49:15). There it tran-scends rather than distinguishes itself from the pangs of .natural motherhood. "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her wombs. And if she should forget, y.et will I not forget thee/‚Äô Amid the miracles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we find this divine, motherly concern for human needs manifesting itself in a sweet, considerate way. He took the hand of Jairus‚Äô 12"-year-old daughter and raised her from the dead. Then, having counselled her parents to secrecy, he "commanded that something should be given her to eat." Some of tl‚ÄôJe saints have discovdred the .beautiful qualities of spir-itual childhood and spiritual motherhood.contained in the above and similar passages. At Holy Communion, they have explored the mystery of their Eucharistic Lord .entering the human body, resting there like a helpless, unborn child, in order to nourish the life of the soul. The Divine Word, repeating the mother‚Äôs cry: "Do not kill 186 Jul~,1953 GRACIOUS SYNTHESIS it!" ‚Äôdaily fulfills His own promise: "The bread that I will give. is my flesh, for the life of the world." The saints have understood how, by their very self-effacement, by being belittled and becoming as little children, they too can maternally assis~ in the birth, growth, and‚Äô development of the Mystical Body. St. Th~r~se of the Ch‚Äôild Jesus (1873-1897) has renewed the interest of the modern world in the doctrine Of spiritual.childhood: Her position as youngest child of the Martin family and her early entrance into religious life preserved in her soul the true attitude of a child. How this spirit of utter dependence on her heavenly Father helped her to fulfill her maternal duties as nox}ice mistress to the souls "who came to me asking for food," she tells with unique charm in her Autobiographgt (p. 213). Her present title of patroness of the missions suggests the breadth of her spiritual moFherh0od, hidden deep in her youth and Carmel. No discordant contrast is the spirituality of Blessed Th~r~se Couderc (1805-1885), foundress of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacl~. As the oldest girl in a large family and as young superior of a religious community, sloe early developed the valiant traits characteristi(of spiritual motherhood. Then. con-sequent upon bet consecration to Our Lady, shesaw her responsibili-ties removed and she went down willingly into years of oblivion.. In her 60th year, Blessed Th~r~se or, as we know her better, Mother Th~r~se, had emerged from the darkness of humiliation and failure, to find herself a humble, cherished adorer confronted with the holi-ness of God. "He treats me always." she wrote at this time, "like a child who would not have the strength to bear trials, Also the sweetness He makes me feel in His service makes me forget and bear all." This is the stage at which she detailed her doctrine of self-surrender. While it graduall~ led her into the thicket of unitive suffering and reparation, she continued to call it an easy means of sanctification, noting that there is "nothing so sweet to practice.‚Äô: Marg, the Ideal The ideal of self-surrender is Our Lady of the Cenacle. It is Our- Blessed Mother in th~ last. perhaps 15-year, epoch of her earthly life. She has already received her Divine son‚Äôs formal commission for the motherhood of mankind, on Calvary. In the Cenacle or "upper room," by a mother‚Äôs persevering prayer and a claild‚Äôs anonymity- ("who when she was first of all became-the last" St. Bernard), 187 COMMUNICATIONS ReotetO [or Reltgtot~s Mary continues to attract us to the sublime by the gracious synthesis of her life. In religious life, Mary‚Äôs spirit is learned and gained in a‚Äôvariety o.f ways: perhaps in the shared intimacy of Holy Communion, perhaps in the fragrant solitude of a retreat. Our Lady is ever the, true child ,and the true mother. Her spirit, ‚Äô!meek and strong, zealous and prudent, humble and courageous, pure and fruitful," imparts to us our own proper measure of both these roles. When we have reverently analyzed ~and appreciated the doctrines of spiritual childhood and spiritual motherhood, we may be allowed to accommodate an angel‚Äôs words as our simple directive,. "Take the Child and His mother." Thus, sincere, day to day imitatio‚Äôn of Our Blessed Mother. gradually becomes our meaningful response to an ever more imRerative invitation. We then find that we have tended to integrate in our spiritual .life the two ways‚Äôof which Mary, our model, is the gracious synthesis. Reverend Fathers: I agree with Sr. Ma~y Jude‚Äô, 0.P., in her articl~, "The Summa for Sisters" (March, 1953), that a study of the works of St. Thomas would help our Sisters become better religious and better teachers However, I do not agree with Sister regarding "the distinctive phe-nomenon of the active orders today." Professed religious who are seeking admission to contemplative orders are a growing concern of the Church, but they are not a phe-nomenon. They are the logical result of the transition that has been taking place within active orders. Truly "their final profession is far enough behind," but a glance at those former days may illuminate the darkness, mistrust, and mis-understanding that surrounds them. When ~hey entered religious life the goal was one--it was clear-cut, that is, perfection which would I, mean intimate union with God. During their novitiate and perhaps I‚Äô for the first ten years of their religious life their concentrated all their it efforts to attain this end. Then stress was not on education, nursing, i! or Catholic Action, but on the presence of God and the pursuit of I virtue
however, because of pressure from without, the change of l 188 duly, 1953 COMMUNICATIONS standards, and the requirements by the St‚Äôate, professional knowledge, ability, and skill became a necessity. Therefore. higher education with Saturday and weekday classes was added to teaching, plus parent-teacher m~etings, sodalities, public relation groups, discussion clubs and first~id courses. These religious lack neither intelligence nor good will. They readily admit with St. Thomas the greatness of the charity of the apostolate. Theylive, for the most part, lives of self-renunciation and sacrific6. Other,wise they would not be seeking admission to the cloister.- Nor are they seeking only the joys of contemplation. Most of them would gladly spend themselves and be spent in the apostdlate if they could still be c~rtain that their union with God was increasing not decreasing. But the signs point in the opposite direction. Let us look at one of these Sisters of fifteen y~ars ago. Today, instead of the one goal of ‚Äôunion with God, she has another, that of professional competence. What has happened to her.as a result? First, the intensity of her desires and her efforts in the spir~itual life has naturally been weakened by her concentration on her work. Second!y, the virtues of the interior life, silence, and recollection do not have the opportunity for development they had in fdrmer days. Distractions in one form or another and activity hinder their growth. Thirdly, the virtues of the hiddefi life have become watery. They lack the positive yirility that so characterizes interior souls. She is in the world and does not wish to be of the world, yet its spirit of ac-tivity and distraction are now hers. ~ Viewing these results, she finds a growing conviction that her. spiritual life is deprived of the degree of vitality that once was hers and thai the culprit is activity. From this conviction flows the fear that her work and its accessories are separating her from Christ. It is not the fear of a neurotic
it is a well:founded fear that demands recognition and attention. No zealous religious desires to go to heaven alone
no thinking religious denies the value of the apostolic life,, but there is much ac-tivity in the life of the religious today that could not conceivably be put in the category of Apostolic. Those who strive to unite prayer and action as St. Paul and St. Thomas, St. Catherine and St, Teresa of Avila did, find they fall short of the ideal, in fact they fail. Tl~is is not just subjective thinking. It can be proven without much spiritual examination. As in nations, so in groups, and so with the individual, the pe- 189 COMMUNICATIONS ~" riod of adjustment is ‚Äôfraught with dangers. These must not be spurned. They should be recognized and analyzed. It is the chal- . lenge of our age. , The desire for contemplation is rapidly growing in America, not o~ly.in orders of women but also among men. We have a Father Moore, a Father Raymond, and a Father Merton, to name only a few outstanding ones, to prove this. Not only is contemplation sought by‚Äô religious in active orders, but so many young, eager Americans have sought admission to the Trappist Monastery in Kentucky that they .have had to build five new foundations in a short time, The Carthusians, stiil in their infancy in America, have a waiting list. All. this is significant. ¬Ø Would Sr. Mary Jude say all these people were exceptions, or that they lack the ability to find the delicate balance between prayer and work. I doubt it. Looking at it from this‚Äô broader .point of view, we see that this cbndition of which~ Sister M, Jude speaks i~ only a branch of a much larger river that is sweeping America from coast to coast. If we wish to insure the vitality and growth of our active orders, we must see that. the desire for intimate union ‚Äôwith Christ is given outlets and opportunities for development, .even if it means the curtailment of many activities. We can do without the latter, but without the for-mer all action is but sounding brass and tinklilag cymbals. --A SYMPATHIZER. "BLESSED BE HER GLORIOUS ASSUMPTION" .On December 23, 1952, Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, decreed that the in-vocation printed above is.to be added, to‚Äôthe Divine Praises whenever they are re-cited after Mass or‚Äôafter Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.‚Äô In the official publi-cation of this decree, which appeared in the Acti~ Apostolica Sed~‚Äôs under date of March 21, 1953, vol. 45, p. 194, it was stated that this new invocation should be inserted after the invocation "!Blessed be~ th~ Name of Mary Virgin and Mother." However, L‚ÄôOsseroatore Romano for April 9 contained a correction, issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on Apr!l 8, to the effect that it should be inserted im-mediately after the other invocation: ‚Äô,‚Äô,Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate C.oncep, tion." ,. The ob‚Äô.i~ati0n of inserting this new. invocation into the Divine Praises begins on dune 21, 1953, that date being three months from the date of the ACtu Apos-tolicae Sedis in which the decree appeared, in conformity with canon 9 of the Code of Canon Law. We take this occasion to remind our readers that on Oc~0ber 31-, 1950, in con-nection with the formal definition, Pope Pius XII decreed that the invocation Queen assumed into f-leaven should be added to the Litany of Loretto after the ~‚ÄôoCation "Queen conceived without original :sin." At the same time he also up-, proved a new Mass which is to replace the Mass formerly said on the Feast of the Assumption.. 190 I Spiri :ual Progress and Regress Charles A. Nash, S.J. AN IDEA as old as St, Augustine, and. rebbrn in Rodriguez, pic-tures the spiritual life "as a ,b~all of string you are carefully winding up. IL once you drop it, it readily unwinds, and it takes a long time and much effort to .wind it up again. This same idea, on a natural plane, permeates the business day of six thousand psychiatrists in the United States who have become profoundly, interested in what happens once the ball of life is dropped and starts to unwind. Their technical name for it is regression or the reversal of t~ae normal steps Of growth. Regression is of such paramount im-portance in psychiatry that it is often .defined as "the science of re-gressive phenomena." The aim of this article is to picture regression in the spiritual life and.to use psychiatric data in order to empha.size certain psychological factbrs that underlie spiritual progress. " Because it is their.daily, business, psychiatrists today are fast be-coming experts in the delicate art of character change or the forward step to maturity, As modern scientific.innovators in an ancient field. these medical specialists have made many valuable scientific investi-gations and acquired much practical experience in the last twenty-five years. Religious ark wise to profit by some of their ideas on regress and pr,og~ess toward maturity ‚Äôwhich have a direct practical bearing on the religiou~ life. Like the psychiatrist, a religious, too, practices daily the delicate art of character change, but be aims at a greater spiritual maturity. The forward progress at which a psy-chiatrist aims in treating his patient strikes a close parallel to the for-ward progress of a religious in the spiritual life. Both involve a gradual change of character. Psychiatrists must know character change in two directions, both Zegre~s and progress. The classic exampl,e of regression or unwinding in human life is old age. We are often a casual witness when time, by its slow process, lays its fingeron a man. We have watched elderly PerSons gradually drop things most cherished in !ife, one by one. first a man b~gins to lose the wide ifiterests he once had. Sports no longer interest him
he stops traveling is much as he used to
interest in his daily, work begins to lag. All gradually culminate in his retirement.1 If he.k~eps his mind open ‚Äô~Leland El Hinsie?Concepts and Problems of Ps~ychotherapg, p. 124: Understand-able Psgchiatrg, chapter on "Regression." * 191 ¬Ø CHARLES A. NA~H Reoietu for Religious and pliant and is ready to welcome whatever the future may bring, the elderly pers.on often mqves gracefully through his last years. Often enough, however, his mind closes up and he loses track of the day and the hour. He becomes hostile to what is new, to change, to innovation, closing off hislmind to the future. In the ,course of time he may become self-centered and petulant, and fall back upon the ‚Äômanners of his childhood, then of his infancy. He may have to be bathed, fed, dressed, assisted in walking. For him it is a haven of repose, a citadel of safety. He has reverted to his "second child-hood" and regressed to the activities of an infant. Besides the com-plete unwinding of habits of maturity in "second childhood," there are many pictures of partially unwound habits which are but-smaller portraits on a much reduced scale. Unwinding Spiritual Life Complete spiritual regression can be ‚Äôseen in-the nominal of "fallen-away" Catholic of any age who knows his religion but drops. its practice entirely. The unwinding spiritual, life runs down a path more or_ less parallel to "old age and ~econd childhood." The ¬Ø"fallen-away" .Catholic‚Äôs practical interest in religion slowly wanes, and he gradually closes off his mind to religion, becoming spiritually self-centered. One by one he drops the religious practices he once cher-ished. -Sunday is like any other day
the churchdoor remains ever .i:los~d. He stops going to Mass
he falls away from the Sacraments: his prayer life diminishes to a minimum or none at all. Gradually, his acquired spiritual habits Unwind until he is back to "childhood," where spiritual obligations and.moral responsibilities are at a mini-mum. He has traded away God for careless, vacant ioaming. As far as religion is concerned, he is once‚Äô again like a small boy, sans reason and his seventh birthday. Instead of progressing to an ever greater possession of God, he has gone backwards. Here, too, miniature por-traits of regression are quite common in the spiritual life where a spiritual habit or two may start to unwind. Progress and regress follow definite patterns. .One is a dynamic, forward-moving pattern toward maturity
the other moves back-ward down the path a man has come up, Life experience normally present~ the picture of a continuum of, forward growth along a life-line which falls into natural periods: birth, childhood,, adolescence, young manhood, adulthood, change of life, and decline. It is the common lot of mortal man to :crown his numberless daily experi- 192 Jul~j, 1953 PROGRESS AND REGRESS ences with.an ever greater maturity. This growing maturity is dearly won through countless small successes.. In sharp contrast, the re-gression pattern, at any age and at any level of development, is a‚Äôre-versal of the‚Äô normal steps of growth along‚Äô, this life-line. Read the life-line forward and you have progress
read it backward and you have regression. Psychiatrists‚Äô~tell us that every man takes a backward step now and then. No one, save Christ our Lord and His Blessed Mother, is co,mple.te master of his every action.. For religious, the single back-ward step may occur in problems of obedience,‚Äô the daily order, pov-erty, t~he practice of virtue, the daily rosary, spiritual reading--to name but a few possibilities. The single backward step is not. so significant. When this backward step becomes a definite pattern, then real spiritual regression is beginning. But despite" occasional backward steps, psychiatrists say the nor-real person is about ninety per cent adjusted to life.~ About ten per "cent of life he cannot quite master and he dodges it in one way or another. In other words, man‚Äôs daily batting average is about .900
the ratio of small successes in life to small failures is about ninety to ten. Whether saint or sinner, some failure pursues him every day, but success (forward progress) definitely predominates in his actions. Dgnamic Equilibrium Because he is fundamentally successful but always carries some failure in tow, the average person strikes a balance with life. He reacts in terms of an equilibrium--a dynamic, forward-moving equilibrium in which progressive factors predominate, ,but regressive ones are also present. This equilibrium ,is built into the very struc-ture of his mind through the years. It is his own practical system of reacting to life, his working method of dealing with experience de-rived ,from his past.psychological history. Psychiatrists have learned~ to investigate this equilibrium scientifically and now actually measure it,.with~scientific formulas,a When it breaks down, regression begins. If it does not break down, progress continues. ~This figure refers to the over-all or.comprehensive picture of all man‚Äôs actions in meeting life. Personal success in one particular action, however, may vary from mastery, to littleor no control. Leland E. Hinsie, Concepts and Problems of Pay-. chotherapt./, p. 77. Edward A. Strecker, Fundamentals of Ps~/chiatr~/, graph on p. 231, 3E~lward A. Strecker, Fundamentals of Psv. chiatr~t, p. 51. Franz Alexander and H~len Ross, Dgnamic Psgchiatrg, p. 140. CHARLES A. NASH Reoieto for Religious This dynamic equilibrium produces manifold effects. It gives an even tenor to, man‚Äôs ways and stability to his character. It embeds past success in the human system for‚Äôfuture successful operation. As a result, whatever a man does in his normal day leaves most of his old order standing. A singld act, forward or backward, leaves most of his autobiography of character largely unchanged. Occasional back-ward steps are readily tolerated and absorbed without throwing the forward motion offstride. Because of it, a major change of character. occurs slowly. A spiritual character change requires many actions over a considerable period of time. In many aspects of life this equilibrium acts as a shock-absorber, an internal ,resistance built right into the structure of personality for resisting the "blows of outrageous foitune." For instance, a death in the family may score a temporary psychological and emotional knockout in other members of the family~. But soon the pendulum swings back to normal and old habits take over once again. Gradu-ally, the appreciation of life built up through the years prevails, and life goes forward once more. Because of his equilibrium, a man does not deteriorate psychologically at one major blow, nor can ,he turn himself‚Äôinside out, for better or worse, overnight. Role o~ Failure After much failure or long-enduring stress, this same personal balance or equiliblium can wear thin or even "break down." When this occurs, the backward pattern of regression slowly begins. Then, a religious falls back upon lower and lower levels of his spiritual life, and becomes beset by earlier and earlier habits of his career. The first failure is easy to take, but not a series of them. Failtire is hard on morale, and daily failure has a numbing effect on our effort. The effect of failure is to close off the mind to the difficulty and 0fall back upon.earlier habits. After repeated failure, for instance, a religious may gradually close off his mind to formal mental prayer, and fall back upon his earlier habits when mental prayer was not part of the daily schedule. All spiritual regression has one point in common: it is a back-ward step to an earlier and easiei adjustment to the difficulties of the spiritual life. At the, same time, unfortunately, spiritual progress either slows down or stops. Part of the goal drops out of the picture "for the present," and there is a partial farewell to hopes of greater things. Instead of the "new man in Cl~rist," it is a return to the 194 PROGRESS AND REGRESS "old man" of self when spiritually less mature. The significance of regression in the spiritual life is that it sounds the knell of forward progress. Continued progress requires that a religious take failure~ in stride. Often small successes in life become so integrated into a religious per-sonality that they almost go unnoticed. We only see and take note of our failures, and they can come to loom large on the daily hori-zon. After repeated failure, therd is danger that a religious will close his mind and chart his future course by past failure. The true measure of the future, bower(r, is past success. There is no small touch of humility and wisdom in expecting some daily failure and not charting our future course by it. Man normally moves forward in a dynamic equilibrium with a ninety per-cent rate of success. American Stgiritualitg The pace o