Of Another Means of Helping Our Neighbor, Which Is to Abandon All Confidence in Ourselves and Put Our Whole Trust in God

ji een confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not on thine own prudence (Prov. iii. 5). Another and quite a main means that will help us greatly in attaining the end of our institute, is what the Wise Man says here, and our Father also lays it down, and so does the bull of our institute: ‘“Distrusting their own strength, and confiding in that of God.” Do you know, it says, how to make great gain and do great good to souls? Distrust yourself, your own strength, prudence, and industry, and all human means, and put all your confidence in God. This is one of the chiefest and most effectual means for producing fruit in souls; so it is one of the best dispositions that a workman in God’s vineyard can have to understand that of himself he can do nothing that is of any good, and so to place his entire trust in God. These are the sort of men whom our sovereign Lord uses as instruments to do great things by them, and to work great and marvelous conversions. So says the Apostle St. Paul: We have confidence through Christ in God; not that we are sufficient to do anything of ourselves, not so much as to have one good thought; but our whole sufficiency must come of God, who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament (II Cor. iii. 4-6). St. Augustine, referring to the praise that Christ Himself bestowed on Nathaniel: Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile (John i. 47), says: “One would have thought that a man like that should have been called to the apostolate first of all, since the Son of God bears him such witness; yet we see that he was not called first, nor midway, nor last. What can be the reason of this? Nathaniel [or Nicodemus: John iii. 1, 10*] was a learned man, a doctor of the law, and therefore he was not chosen to the apostolate, because Christ was not minded to choose doctors to preach His Gospel and convert the world, but poor fishermen, unlettered, common men. The weak things of this world hath God chosen (I Cor. i. 27.)

St. Gregory alleges to this purpose the story in the Book of Kings (I Kings xxx.). When the Amalekites set fire to Siceleg, and led away into captivity David’s women and those of his companions, and their children, one of them left behind on the road an Egyptian servant because he had fallen sick and could not follow. David met with this poor sick man, almost on the point of expiring because he had been three days and three nights without eating or drinking. David gave him food, and brought him round, and took him for a guide on the way, and by his guidance tracked the Amalekites and found them eating and making good cheer with much feasting and rejoicing. He fell upon them and slew them and recovered the booty that they had made. This, says St. Gregory, is the behavior of the true David, Christ our Redeemer, Who gathers the forlorn outcasts of the world, brings them back to their right senses with the food of His word, and uses them for His guides, making them preachers of His Gospel, to overcome and destroy the Amalekites, that is, worldlings, who feast and make merry, entertaining themselves with the delights and pastimes of the world.

But let us see why God acts thus and why He chooses weak instruments for so lofty an undertaking. The Apostle tells us (I Cor. i. 29-31) it is that man may not trust in himself nor take occasion to attribute anything to himself, but may put all his confidence in God, attribute all to Him, and give Him the glory of all. God sets much store by this; and that we may have this truth well brought home to us, and hold it fixed and stamped on our *Nathaniel Bar Tholomaeus, St. Bartholomew probably.

hearts, we find Holy Writ full of instances of God’s choosing weak instruments for the doing of great things, since in this way it is better understood that it is He Who does them, and not we. This redounds to the greater glory of God, and in this way His greatness and omnipotence become more evident. Many were the wonders that God wrought by means of Moses in leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, but in none of them did the Egyptians better come to know the might and power of God than when Moses struck the dust of the earth with his rod and converted it into gnats, and covered the whole land with them. Then Pharaoh’s magicians, after trying all their arts and enchantments, confessed that they could not do that, and said, The finger of God is here (Exod. viii. 19) ; this is the finger of God and a sensible sign of His great might and power. In the war that Sapor, King of the Persians, waged against the Romans, he had besieged with a huge army the city of Nisibis, which some call the Antioch of Migdonia. The bishop of the city was a holy man named James. The Church history relates that the citizens begged this holy man to come to the ramparts and from thence curse the army of the enemy. At their request the venerable bishop mounted a tower, and saw thousands of people on whom he imprecated no other curse, nor asked God for any other calamity to fall upon them, than fleas and mosquitoes, that, worn out by these vile little insects, they might recognize the sovereign power of the Almighty. No sooner had he finished his prayer than there came down upon the Persians hosts of fleas and mosquitoes. They filled to swelling the trunks of the elephants, and the nostrils and ears of the horses and other animals in the army. Unable to stand the stings of these little creatures, they pranced and upset the men they were carrying, flung their drivers to the ground and broke their necks, and, running wildly, they routed the battalions and all the goodly array of the army. In this way King Sapor came to recognize the power of God and the providence which He exercises over His own. He raised the siege and went back to his own land, mortified and ashamed. With fleas and mosquitoes God can make war on all the emperors and monarchs of the world; and so He chose to do in this case, the better to make it appear that it was He Who did it, that so it might redound to His greater glory and honor. To this same purpose God chooses also weak means and instruments to do high things for the conversion of souls. In Church histories we have many examples of conversions of great sinners, infidels and heretics, whom many bishops and many very learned men had been unable to convert in general councils where was gathered the flower and cream of the Church; and at the end of it all they came to be converted by means of a plain, unlearned man, and by very ordinary and simple words, that so we may learn to distrust ourselves and trust in God, and give Him the glory of it all.

Hence we must draw three lessons. The first is, not to be discouraged or lose heart at seeing our poverty and misery, and the small store of ability that we have for so high an end and institute and the exalted functions that we have in the Society; but rather to take thence occasion to encourage ourselves and have more confidence in God, since this is His way, to take such instruments to do by their means great and wonderful things. That was the very good answer which the blessed St. Francis made to his companion on this matter. It is related in his chronicles how Friar Maseo, the constant companion of St. Francis, was minded one day to test the humility of the saint. Understanding and knowing full well his relish and desire of being slighted, he went up to him and said to him: “Tell me, whence is it that all the world runs after you, all want to see and hear you and do your bidding? You are not learned, you are not high-born, you are not handsome, you are not an eloquent man; whence comes it that all the world runs after you?” St. Francis replied, like the true humble man that he was: “Would you know, my brother, whence it is to me that all the world is on my track? From the immense goodness of God, Who has cast His eyes on me, the greatest sinner, the greatest simpleton, the vilest creature of all that there are in the world. It is because God chooses the weak and simple things of the world, thereby to confound the great and powerful, that all the glory and honor be to God, and no creature may be able to glory in His sight (I Cor. i. 27-29), but he that glorieth may glory in the Lord, and to Him alone be given glory and honor forever.” This should be our answer, this should be our comfort and all our confidence.

The second lesson that you have to learn hence is that, though God produce great fruit in souls through your ministry, and work great conversions and even miracles, you should not be proud nor think more of yourself on that account, but remain as rooted in your knowledge of yourself and your own mean condition as if you had done nothing, since you have not this of your own strength; it is God who works by your means. Oh, how well does the Prophet David teach us this, theory as well as practice! “Lord, we have heard with our ears, and our forefathers have told us, the wonderful works that Thou didst do in their days, in those olden times. It is Thou, O Lord, Who didst do those wonders, and Thine were those exploits, not theirs. It was Thy powerful hand, O Lord, that did destroy the nations, and cast them out of their land, and planted and placed our ancestors in their stead. Thou didst do it, O Lord; it was not their arms nor their bravery that did it. Thy right hand, Thy might and strength it is, O Lord, that wrought these wonders in them and for them; and that was not for their merit either, but because so it pleased Thee, O Lord, and Thou didst choose to do it, and wert pleased to have it so” (Psalm xliii. 2-4).

Thus we have nothing to be proud of in the fact that God works great things through our means; but rather, the greater they are, the more we should feel confounded and humbled to think that He uses such weak and pitiful instruments for the doing of things so great and marvelous. We should behave herein as the Apostle St. Peter behaved when Christ our Redeemer wrought through his means that great take of fish. The Evangelist St. Luke narrates that Christ bade St. Peter put out his nets for fishing, and he replied: Master, all night we have labored and caught nothing, but at thy word I will once more put out the net (Luke v. 5). And when they did so, they caught such a quantity of fish that the net was ready to break, and they had to call to their mates who were in the other ship to come to their help and draw the net in, and they filled both boats with fish; such was the multitude of fishes that they threatened to sink the boats with their exceeding great weight. The holy Gospel says that, when St. Peter saw such a great miracle as this, he fell at the feet of Christ, and said, Depart from me, O Lord, because I am a sinful man, and unworthy to be in Thy company: for he was astounded, and the rest who were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken (Luke v. 8-9). Peter was amazed and astonished, and not less humbled and confounded, seeing that he had labored all night in vain, and when he cast the net in the name of Christ, he had caught such a quantity. With such amazement and astonishment, then, and with still greater humility and recognition of our own weakness and misery, we should be struck when our Lord does any great work through our means. How far was Peter from any vanity or pride at having caught such a great draught! You should be equally far from any vanity and pride when God accomplishes anything through your means, recognizing it to be a work of God and very unlike you. This it is to have no confidence in self, and confidence in God; this it is to attribute to oneself what is one’s own, and to attribute to God what is God’s. See what Peter did when he cast the nets in his own name;

and there you will see what you are worth and what you can do by your own means, industry, and diligence; and see what he did when he cast his nets in the name of Christ, and there you will see how much you can do by His grace and favor. Looking at the former, you will give up confiding in self; looking at the latter, you will gather strength and confidence in God. In this way, on the one hand we shall have no vanity, however great be the things that the Lord does by our means; and on the other hand we shall not be discouraged at the sight of our own weakness and lowliness.

St. Jerome starts this question: Let us see, he says, which of the two did better: Moses, who, when God sent him to lead His people out of Egypt, excused himself, saying that he was not fit for the work, and begged God to send a better man; or Isaias, who without being called or chosen volunteered to go and preach, saying, Here I am, send me (Isaias vi. 8). The saint answers that an excellent thing is humility, and knowledge of oneself and one’s good-for-nothingness; and an excellent thing also is readiness and courage to serve and help one’s neighbor; but if you ask which is the better thing, he says that with Moses we ought to take the side of humility, looking at our own weakness; and with Isaias we should pluck up heart and readiness, trusting in the mercy and goodness of the Lord, Who touched his lips and gave him confidence for the mission on which He sent him. Humility and confidence are not contraries, nor do they hinder one another, but rather humility is a help to putting all our confidence in God and gathering thence increase of courage and strength.

The third lesson to learn is this, that, though it is true that no one ought to be confident or rest upon his own efforts, yet we must put forward and bring to play on our part all the energies we can for the help of our neighbor, since to expect God to produce the fruit without our taking the means would be to ask for miracles and tempt God. He wishes to make use of our aid for the conversion of souls, and so St. Paul calls us fellow workers and co-operators with God (I Cor. iii. 9). And on this account the Lord bade St. Peter cast his nets, and would not give him the fish except in that manner, to give us to understand that we are not to fold our arms and do nothing. And on the other hand that we should not attribute the good success and gain of souls to our own nets, our own industry and diligence, He would have it that Peter should first cast his nets and labor all night at fishing without taking anything. Thus we are to cast our nets and apply all possible means and use all diligence, as though that alone were sufficient to bring our concerns to issue; while on the other hand we are to distrust all that as though we had done nothing, and put our whole confidence in God. This it is that Christ our Redeemer teaches us in the holy Gospel: When ye have done all things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants, we have done but what we ought to have done (Luke xvii. 10). Where observe that He does not say: “When you have done something of what you ought,” but “When you have done all that you ought;” giving us to understand that, however much diligence we show and however many means we employ, we are not to trust in that, but put all our confidence in God, attributing and giving to Him the glory of all. The saints set this down for the highest and most perfect humility, as we have said in its due place.

When St. Peter and St. John cured the man lame from his birth, who was begging alms at the gate of the Temple that was called Beautiful, the people, astonished at the miracle, flocked to gaze upon them as something divine; and the Apostle St. Peter said to them: Ye men of Israel, why gaze ye in wonder at us as though we had done this by our own power? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye gave up and denied before Pilate, when he judged that he ought to be set free (Acts iii. 12-13). The same thing happened in the case of St. Paul and St. Barnabas, on occasion of a similar miracle which they wrought, so that the people took them for gods, and wanted to adore and sacrifice to them as such, and brought crowns to crown them, saying: Gods in human shape have come down amongst us. They rent their garments, saying: “What do ye? We too are mortal men like yourselves (Acts xiv. 14); it is not we that could do such a deed, but God; to Him give this honor and glory.” They remained seated in their humility, as though they had done nothing. So we should remain when we have done all that we ought in aid of souls.