That This Enterprise Belongs to All Members of the Society, and that All Have Their Share in It, Even though They Be Not Priests

SINCE some heart perhaps may be melancholy, thinking that the end of which we have spoken is only for priests, who hear confessions and preach and have such immediate dealings with their neighbor, we will give some explanation here for the consolation of those who serve and help in temporal and exterior offices. This end and enterprise belongs to all who are in the Society, and not only to priests and men in their studies. Thus all should know to what end their labors are directed, of whatever sort they be, and the value and merit of them, and thus be better disposed to do them. We all make one body, one order, one Society; and the end of all this body and Society is what we have said, to attend not only to our own advancement and perfection by the grace of God, but also to attend to the salvation and perfection of our neighbor. For the compassing and attaining of this end proper to our order, some must be preachers, others confessors, others lecturers, and others coadjutors to aid in outward offices.

So in war, for the gaining of victory, it is needful for some to fight and others to guard the baggage. The latter aid the former to fight and gain the victory, and deserve no less reward and remuneration than those who fight. As David said: Equal shall be the portion of him who goes down to battle and of him who stays with the baggage; and they shall share alike in the division of the spoil (I Kings xxx. 24). Holy Writ says that this is a standing rule in Israel to this day, and with reason, for they are all one army, and for the gaining of the victory the one is as necessary as the other; the one party could not fight if the other did not stay on guard with the baggage. So it is here; we all make one body, one army, one company and troop of soldiers of Christ, for this enterprise of the conversion of souls. This man could not preach, nor that other hear confessions, nor that other lecture or study, if there were not someone to remain in charge of the temporalities. Thus he who minds the latter helps in preaching and in hearing confessions and in saving souls, and has his share in the victory and fruit that is won. St. Augustine says that at the death of St. Stephen, the first martyr, while others were stoning him, Paul was keeping their clothes, and thereby did more than all the rest, since he kept the clothes of them all. If we may say this of an evil deed, much more may we say it of a good deed, since God is more inclined to reward than to punish.

Father Master Avila, in a letter that he wrote to two priests who were on the point of entering the Society, being already missioners and coming to a Society which makes that its profession, tells them not to fix their minds on rendering spiritual aid to their neighbor, nor be troubled at their not being employed in such ministries, since in the Society all that is done, down to the washing of dishes in the kitchen, is, he says, for the saving of souls. The saving of souls being the end of this order, and great profit of souls depending upon its preservation and increase, all that is done to preserve and increase this Society, though it be the discharge of very humble offices, counts for the conversion of souls, and should be done very cheerfully. Members as we are of this body and this order, every one of us by doing his duty and fulfilling his office helps to the fruit and profit that is made in the body, and so is partaker in the conversions and good works that are wrought throughout the whole Society. Our Father lays this down expressly in the Constitutions, speaking of the temporal coadjutors. So each one should be highly content and comforted in his office, taking it for a great blessing to be a member of this body of the Society, in which God is so well served and so much help is given to souls. Thus in the Society everything is the conversion of souls, the being cook, the being porter, the being sacristan, because the end of it all is converting souls, and whatever helps the Society helps to that end.

This may be put in a clearer light. For if it were only to preachers, confessors, and others who are immediately occupied with their neighbor’s salvation that this glory belonged, and to them alone were to be attributed the good that is done to our neighbor, the people who would have most reason to be unhappy in their life in the Society would be superiors; for it is they who are least able to attend to these particular ministries, as the General and the Provincials, for they have quite enough to do in visiting provinces, answering letters, and conducting affairs, without their having any time left to occupy themselves with the good and utility of their neighbor. But the superior does more to help his neighbor by doing his office well and superintending the spiritual laborers who are under his charge, seeing that they all go on as they ought, than he would by hearing confessions or preaching as a private. The master or foreman of works does more than any single workman, in taking care that all do their duty. The commanding officer in war does more by arranging what has to be done than he would do by fighting as a private soldier—or, rather, he does all that the rest do by this helping and directing of all, and therefore the victory is attributed to him. In this way, he that is in the sacristy, and he that is in the porter’s lodge and the other offices, gains souls as well as the preacher and the confessor, because he helps them and leaves them free so that they can exercise these ministries, which otherwise they could not.

This is the meaning of our all being one body, and all members of that body. As the members of the body have not all the same function, but each has its own, and yet the function which each member discharges, it does not discharge for itself alone, but for the whole man—the feet do not walk for themselves alone; the hands do not work for themselves alone; the mouth does not eat for itself alone, but for the whole man, and so of the rest—so it is in this mystical body of religion. This is a metaphor and comparison applied by the Apostle St. Paul to this same purpose, speaking of the Church. The body is one and yet hath many members: and all these members make but one body. If the foot saith that it is not of the body, because it is not the hand, is it not therefore of the body? And if the ear saith it is not of the body, because it is not the eye: does it for this reason cease to be of the body? If the body were all eye, where would the sense of hearing be? And if it were all ear, what would become of the sense of smell? So God hath placed each member in the body after such a manner as he thought fit; and the eye cannot say to the hand: I want not your help; nor the head in like manner say to the feet: I have no need of you. God hath placed in his Church in the first place, apostles: in the second prophets: in the third place, doctors. To some he hath given the grace of healing, and to others the speaking of divers tongues (I Cor. xii. 14-28). But it is always one and the selfsame spirit that worketh all these things, distributing to each one as he pleaseth (I Cor. xii. 11). It is the same in a religious body; not all can be eyes, nor tongues, nor ears; all cannot be superiors, preachers, and confessors; there must also be in the body hands and feet; and the eye cannot say to the hand: I want not your help; nor the head say to the feet: I have no need of you; because all these offices are necessary for gaining our end. And thus the fruit that is produced in the Society is produced by all.

In the second place, all members of the Society, brothers as well as fathers, help and should help to the salvation of souls, not only in the manner said—and by the example of their good and holy lives, which, as we shall say afterwards, is a chief and very powerful means to this end—but also by their words in familiar conversation and dealing with their neighbor, saying good and profitable things for the salvation of their souls. This is a means productive of much fruit, and our holy Father in the Seventh Part of his Constitutions, speaking of the means whereby we are to help our neighbor, places this among the first. He sets it down for a general means which all those of the Society are to contrive to apply, even though they be lay brothers, and them he specifies expressly; and that we might understand and practise this the better, he has placed it among the rules. “Let all according to their state, when occasion offers, endeavor to improve their neighbor by pious conversations, and to advise and exhort him to good works, especially to confession.” Thus not only the preacher and the confessor, but the caterer, accountant, porter, companion, are to contrive to help their neighbor by good conversation, speaking on occasion to people of things profitable to their souls; to one, of the devotion of the rosary; to another, against swearing; to another, of confession; to another, a little more advanced, of examination of conscience every night. We know of sundry lay brothers who have done much good to those they met by their good talks and conversation, and drawn many to confession, and gained many souls to God, more perhaps than sundry preachers and confessors.

In the third place, all help to the conversion of souls by their prayers, which is one of the principal means to that end, as we shall say afterwards, and belongs to all. Many a time a preacher, or a confessor, or one who goes to assist the dying, will think that he is doing good, and all the while it may be that the good is done by his lay brother companion, who has commended the matter to God, or by the cook, who took the discipline the night before the sermon, begging God our Lord to convert some soul. Oh, how many spiritual children are the lay brothers destined to take away from preachers and confessors, children which they thought were their own, and in the day of judgment it will be seen that they were not theirs, but belonged to the lay brothers! Joseph is not the father of the Child, only His putative father—he being, as was thought, the son of Joseph (Luke iii. 23). They seemed to be the spiritual children of the preacher or the confessor, and people thought that these were their spiritual fathers; and they are afterwards found to be children of tears, children of the prayers of the lay brother. He that appeared sterile shall have many children; and he that had the name of father and seemed to have many sons shall find himself perhaps without any (I Kings ii. 5). Rejoice and be glad, ye that appear sterile; for if you do what you ought, it may be that you will have more spiritual children than the preachers and confessors, and you will be astonished afterwards to find yourself with so many sons (Isaias liv. 1; Gal. iv. 27). The Prophet Isaias says: Who hath begotten to me all these children? I am not a preacher, I am not a confessor. I am not learned, and who hath given me these? (Isaias xlix. 21). Do you know who? Prayer, sighs, tears, and groans. God hath heard the desire of the poor, the prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds. God complies with the will of them that fear Him and grants them what they ask. This it is that gives so many children to him who appeared sterile, and did not bear the name of father.

From this consideration Father Francis Xavier used to say that preachers and confessors should be helped, in one way, not to esteem themselves more than their brethren, thinking that they are doing more good and working more; and in another way, to keep greater union and charity among themselves.

There is another advantage which the brothers have herein, and it is this. When they produce fruit in souls in the manner we have said, they are safer than preachers and confessors and lecturers; because the preacher and the lecturer are in great danger of vainglory, and the confessor runs the risk of being right or wrong in his decisions. And besides, these ministries carry with them great cares and embarrassments, insomuch that sometimes, in their anxiety to discharge them, people forget themselves and their own spiritual advancement; while the brothers have their business and their merit and their gain secure; they are free from that vanity, from those cares and scruples. Thus the brothers share with us the enterprise, and often bear the better part in it: but they do not share with us the loss; that falls upon us alone. God grant that it may not happen sometimes that the preacher gets the vainglory, and the lay brother all the profit and fruit that is gained! That would not be a fair division; rather let us all rejoice in the fruit of our labor, doing ever all things to the greater glory of God.