Meeting the Main Difficulty That Is Apt to Stand in the Way of Openness in Manifestation

ONE of the greatest, or the greatest, difficulty that is apt to occur to some in the way of their declaring and discovering their heart to their superior is the thought that they will be dishonored, and lose the good name and credit that possibly they enjoyed with him, and that henceforth he will look upon them with other eyes, and will not trust them nor show them so much love. By this thought the devil deceives many, and makes them not open themselves or not open themselves entirely. Now, if we can show that all this is the other way about, and so much the other way about that by discovering and manifesting oneself one rather gains honor and esteem and more love, and by not declaring themselves people lose all this, I think that this difficulty will be quite smoothed over. So, then, by the grace of the Lord we will show here the truth, and let it be seen that things are just the reverse of what the devil represents them to be to deceive us, according to his ordinary procedure in all temptations, for he is the father of lies.

I say, then, that there is nothing that makes one lose reputation and esteem with a superior more than shrouding oneself up and being shy with him. It gives the superior occasion to begin to take him for a close man and a dissembler. No fault that he could ever reveal of himself could do him so much harm as that, for one fault is one fault, but to take anyone for a close man includes a good deal, since it puts him under suspicion of many faults, “That is a close man; he never opens his heart. How do I know but that, as he has kept this thing up his sleeve, he will keep another and another thing concealed?” This -mere suspicion goes for more than one can say. On the other hand, when a man opens out his whole soul to his Superior and declares to him all his temptations, inclinations, and defects, he not only loses nothing, but gains much credit with him, for he takes him for a humble and mortified man, plain and straightforward, in whom there is nothing else within but what he shows without.

We will go on with this topic further down to the root of the matter, for it is one of the principal things to be said on this subject. I say, first of all, that a man cannot take a more effectual means to be cherished and loved by his superior, and gain his good will, than to manifest and discover his whole heart to him without hiding anything. The reason of this is that, as philosophers and saints commonly say, one of the most powerful motives for loving is being loved. The Evangelist St. John brings forward this motive to invite us to love God, that he hath loved us first (I John iv. 10). But one of the chief things by which a subject can show that he has a great love for his superior is by discovering his whole heart to him, and all his secrets, great and small. Where the love of two persons goes so far as that, that there is nothing hidden between them, there is there a very great and very close friendship. So said Christ our Redeemer to His disciples: J have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known unto you (John xv. 15). To others I have spoken in parables, but to you I have given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God (Luke viii. 10). When, then, a superior sees that someone reveals to him his whole heart, and that nothing is left there untold, he then understands that that person has a true love for him, and takes him for his father, holding the place of God, since he confides his soul and honor to him, and puts everything into his hands. This wins his heart, and obliges him to love that person more and look better after him. But if the superior sees that his subject does not declare himself fully, but speaks with reserve and beats about the bush, dealing in parables that he may not understand the matter as it is, that is sufficient cause for his forming no high opinion of him, and loving him less, because he sees that the other does not love him, nor esteem him, nor take him for a father, nor confide in him, nor dare to reveal himself to him; this naturally causes a coolness in love. How can you expect the superior to love you as a son, if you do not love him as a father? Love him as a father, trust him, deal openly and plainly with him, and he will love you as a son.

The same thing we shall say afterwards, speaking of the relations of superiors to subjects. When the superior speaks to the subject clearly on any point, and says to him: “See, you have this or that fault; there is a hitch there and people complain of you; try to correct yourself on it,” that is the procedure of true love. But when the superior uses roundabout phrases, and does not fully tell his subject of his faults, or of the points on which he would wish him to amend, but puts an outward complexion on the matter different from what he thinks within, he speaks not the language of true love, but of dissimulation and pretense. So I say that, when the thing is carried on with this cpenness and plainness on both sides, then there will be true love of superiors for subjects and of subjects for superiors, and true union of hearts, and we shall get on well; but when otherwise, all will be formality and fiction. Thus the revealing and declaring of oneself to the superior does not destroy love, but increases it.

Hence it follows in the second place that neither will one lose thereby the good name and opinion that the superior had of him; for where there is love, there is always esteem, the will loving only that which the understanding represents to it as good and worthy of being loved. Thus these two things, love and esteem, ordinarily go together. But apart from that, coming down more to particulars, it is clear in the first place that nothing is lost by the mere fact of a man’s having temptations, however evil and foul soever. Rather it is a mark of them that serve God and aim at spirituality; whereas other people often do not know what temptation is like, nor recognize temptations when they come, nor need the devil waste his time over them, because of their own will, without solicitation of his, they follow his ways. It is against those that betake themselves to the service of God and aim at virtue and perfection that the war of temptation is generally declared, according to that saying of the Wise Man: Son, betaking thyself to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation (Ecclus. ii. 1). Some people have the idea that temptation is a very shameful thing, a thing quite singular and extraordinary, and that nobody ever had the like; and so they dare not declare it, fearing that it will quite startle the superior. But this is a temptation proper to novices, who, having no experience, have no knowledge of temptations, and take that for a new thing which is very old and common. Hold for certain that you will say nothing to the superior or confessor that will be new to him, however extraordinary it may appear to you. Many others have met with that temptation; possibly he himself may have passed through it. Nothing is new under the sun, says the Wise Man (Eccles. i. 10). All things are old, though to you they seem new.

Nor again will one lose credit with the superior for revealing to him his faults and imperfections—for that is a consideration that is apt to make this manifestation difficult. The reason is because it is in human nature to fall, for, after all, we are creatures of clay, which is easily broken, and the superior knows well by himself the weakness of his subject, since we are all one same lump; so he is not shocked when people discover to him their faults and imperfections. Gerson, by way of persuading persons of tender age not to omit to confess anything for shame, which is wont to be a very ordinary fault in such little folk, says: “Think you that I shall cherish you less, or make less account of you, for knowing your sins and weaknesses? You are mistaken; nay, I shall thenceforward love you more, as a very dear son, and one who has had confidence in me and disclosed to me what he would not dare disclose to his own father. God knows the tender affection which I feel for one who lays bare to me his miseries; and the more low and shameful they are, the more do they soften my feelings, and make my heart go out towards him.” That humility and plain speaking with which he declares his fault, that desire which he shows of better things and of his being cured and finding remedy, naturally moves the superior and makes him deal with him affectionately, and love him. Even when a stranger comes to us and tells us of his troubles and miseries, we receive him with love and a great desire to help him, and try to comfort and encourage him; what, then, must it be with a son? It is very important for all to understand and be persuaded of this truth, that in discovering their imperfections and weaknesses to their spiritual father they shall lose nothing, but rather gain more love and consideration, that so none may omit a duty of such importance as this for the representations that the devil makes to the contrary, false and lying as they are.

For the greater confirmation of this it is to be observed that, while doing evil and having a will and purpose to do it is a shameful thing and unworthy of appearing before God and before men, abhorrence of the evil done, and repentance and shame for having done it, and bewailing and confessing one’s errors and sins, is not a shameful thing, but a thing highly honorable before God, and so it should be also before men who are in the place of God. Theologians, then, raise a question, whether at the day of judgment the sins that the saints and blessed have committed are also to be exposed to public view. Opinions differ, but one thing we may say in this matter for certain, and it makes for our purpose. It is that, if those sins are made public, it will not be to the confusion and shame of them that have committed them, but to their honor and praise; for along with the sin there shall come into view such penance and satisfaction as they have done for it, so that they shall not be confounded and ashamed, but rather honored and thought well of. God is quite able to effect this, and we see that He does it here on earth in the case of many saints. Magdalen’s sins are exposed to all eyes and published every day; and on her feast day they are chanted in the Gospel to her great honor and renown, and for the honor and glory of God, Who even out of sins is able to draw so much good. And the same we see in the sins of the Apostles, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Matthew, and those of the Prophet David. Thus, by those sins which have been followed by repentance and satisfaction, honor and esteem are not lost, but rather gained.

There is a good similitude often used to explain this. Someone gets a new silk gown; it is well made and looks very well. It catches somewhere and tears; now it looks as though it were spoiled. He puts over the rent a ribbon, or some trimmings of gold, or a very rich piece of embroidery, and the gown turns out very graceful and goodly to see, so that it looks as though that tear had been done on purpose to increase its beauty. So shall the sins of the saints and blessed, if they are to be made manifest, be exposed to all eyes at the day of the last judgment. They shall be to them no cause of confusion and shame, but rather of glory and honor, for their having got out of them as they have. They have put a band of gold and rich embroidery over the rent, whereby they shall be the more honored and adorned. In this way, then, here in religion, when one makes known to confessor or superior his weaknesses and miseries, in a spirit of shame and repentance and a true desire of finding his cure and remedy, not only does he not lose credit with the superior, but rather gains increase of honor and respect and love. The Wise Man says: There is a confusion that carries with it sin, and another confusion that carries grace and glory (Ecclus. iv. 25). The confusion and shame with which one manifests his faults, that it is which carries with it honor and glory; but the confusion and shame that makes one hide his faults carries with it sin.

It is recounted of our blessed Father Ignatius that, to win back a priest and religious from a very dissolute and profane life, a life wholly contrary to his profession, after having tried other means to win him without success, he adopted the expedient of going to confession to him. After mentioning his everyday faults, he said he would like also to accuse himself of sundry sins of his past life that pricked his conscience most; so he began to confess the weaknesses of his youth, and ignorances of his past life, with such great sentiment of sorrow and so many tears that the confessor came to change places with him in such sort that he began to love and reverence him whom he had formerly abhorred; took him for his director and guide, and made the Spiritual Exercises which our Father gave him. There followed a great change of his life, to the notable edification of all who had known him before. Hence it will be seen how far a man is from losing hereby honor and reputation. That whereby one comes to figure better in the eyes of God and gain more favor with Him, cannot be a loss to him, but rather a gain, in the eyes of men who are God’s ministers and have to make His ways their ways.

Hence may be inferred a truth, well borne out by experience and worthy of consideration, which is this, that, when a man is close and dark and will not go on to declare himself, it is a sign that he has no mind to mend his ways, nor is bent on that, but means to go on anyhow in his faults, and has no desire to get out of them. For if he had true sorrow and repentance for his faults, and a firm purpose of being henceforth all that he ought to be, it is plain to see that he would not lose with his superior by declaring his fault, along with his repentance and purpose of amendment, but rather would gain. This is a thing whereby they lose much who will not go the length of declaring themselves.