Chapter VI: Who are they that advance the most rapidly in the spiritual life?

It will be interesting to ask ourselves now what ways lead most speedily to intimate union with God, even before death gives us entrance “within the veil.”¹ This is a useful study, and we can enter upon it without difficulty aided by the holy Scriptures; we shall not attempt to exhaust the subject, but merely to offer some general considerations, which each one can apply to himself.

Those persons attain union with God more promptly and securely who are free from all lofty thoughts and pretensions, who do not aim at making a display, at being learned, witty or men of character—in a word who are perfectly simple. This our adorable Master teaches when He says: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones.”² And again, “Amen I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”³ There can be no doubt that the “kingdom of heaven” thus mentioned in Scripture very often signifies, not only the heavenly Jerusalem, but moreover the highest reach of the spiritual life.

There is an obvious connexion between spiritual infancy and the virtue of humility; but since some souls, already wearied with the sorrows and struggles of the Christian life, might be affrighted at not feeling within themselves any freshness or spiritual youth, our divine Lord forestalls these fears and shows these wearied souls how they may renew their youth. He knows well that if some begin with this graceful simplicity, which easily resolves the greatest problems of the spiritual life, others on the contrary end with it, and recover this simplicity only by the total transformation of their nature. Hence to these our Lord says: "Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me because I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls, for My yoke is sweet and My burden light."⁴

These are well-known texts, but they require to be carefully studied. Our Lord is speaking to wearied souls, worn out with struggle; He shows them that they also can advance; He promises to be their support, and even proposes Himself as their example and encouragement. "Be not affrighted at your miseries," He says to them; "take up My yoke; do as I did in the midst of My toils upon earth; I was meek and humble of heart. If you imitate My example, you shall find rest to your souls, that is the peace which is the tranquillity of order and a very heaven upon earth when it is firmly established in the soul."

Therefore souls that apply themselves to acquire humility and meekness of heart, taking this attitude towards God, towards their neighbour and towards themselves, advance with giant strides towards their sanctification. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land,”⁵ says our Lord. The Psalms also proclaim God’s preference for the meek: “He will teach the meek His ways.”⁶ The Book of Proverbs likewise says: “It is better to be humbled with the meek, than to divide spoils with the proud.”⁷ Lastly, the great contemplative Moses is thus praised by the Holy Spirit: “Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth.⁸

Meekness, however, and humility are not the only dispositions that touch the heart of our God; true compunction and deep regret for sin are means for advancing rapidly: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, I am not now worthy to be called Thy son.”⁹ And the Father’s heart gives way; not only does He grant pardon but He dowers the repentant child with all His wealth. David well understood this tender compassion on the part of God, when he cried out: “A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”¹⁰

Those again advance more rapidly in the ways of God who, in accordance with the lesson of our Lord Jesus Christ, banish all disquiet and vague forebodings: “Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary.”¹¹ Or again: "Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. . . . Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow. . . . Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."¹² St. Paul is urgent in teaching Christians how all anxiety can easily be cut short: "Be nothing solicitous," he says, "but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God."¹³ And again he says: "But I would have you to be without solicitude."¹⁴ St. Peter in like manner says: "Casting all your solicitude upon Him, for He hath care of you."¹⁵ It would be superfluous to point out the innumerable passages in which the Holy Spirit teaches that anxiety and exaggerated forecasting are enemies of the spiritual life. Our Lord Himself indicated this fatal tendency as one of the things which stifle the good seed: "And that which fell among thorns are they who have heard, and, going their way, are choked with cares . . . and yield no fruit."¹⁶

Those progress rapidly who have a blind confidence in the goodness of God; they as it were put a constraint upon our heavenly Father, and bear away His highest favours: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?”¹⁷ What is this “good Spirit,” if not the perfection of charity and the consummation of divine union?“Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward.”¹⁸

Only, these words do not refer to a timid and wavering confidence, but to that very same which made holy Job exclaim: “Although he should kill me, I will trust in Him;”¹⁹ or again to that expressed in the psalm: “In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded.”²⁰ is David goes so far even as to say that the fulness of heavenly sweetness is reserved for this confidence: “Oh, how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord .... which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee”;²¹ which Jeremias confirms, saying: “The Lord is good to them that hope in Him.”²² Moreover, David shows that this is the path of perfect security, for he assures us that God Himself is the shield of them that hope in Him: “God .... is the shield of all that trust in Him.”²³ And Isaias declares that supernatural privileges of highest price are bestowed upon souls that trust: “But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”²⁴ Is not this insuring to confidence in God, together with the final victory, the most powerful soarings of contemplation?

It is certain that nothing is more odious and more unjust than the servile mistrust which makes us doubt of the infinite goodness of God. We ought to expect everything from the divine generosity, according to those words of the apostle: “He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?”²⁵ These thoughts are old as the world. By the mouth of Ezechiel God said: “I will seek that which was lost; and that which was driven away I will bring back again; and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve; and I will feed them in judgment.”²⁶ Are we not then grievously insulting God when we ignore His merciful intentions and obstinately persist in fearing, in spite of this law of confidence? Are we not wounding our Lord to the quick? Can we be astonished that Saint Benedict ends the list of his “Instruments of Spiritual Profession” with these two admirable sentences: “To put his trust in God,” and “Never to despair of God’s mercy.”²⁷

Again, those who covet divine favours must be openhearted and generous towards their neighbour. Much more than we think do we ourselves provide for God the measure of His graces to us, and often His conduct in our regard is modelled upon our conduct towards our neighbour: "For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again."²⁸ Severity, dryness, exclusiveness and selfishness merit for us a corresponding return of severity and rigour on the part of God. We have proof of this in that sentence of our Lord which points out what will be the matter of God's judgment: "Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment."²⁹ Whereas charity is the distinctive mark of the true disciples of Christ, who taught it to His apostles, saying: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another."³⁰ It is even to works of mercy that the prophet attributes the remission of sins: "Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow, and then come and accuse Me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow."³¹

Love of our neighbour is also the sign of true love: "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.”³² “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him.”³³ St. Paul will have this charity exercised at one’s own cost. “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” he says, “and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ.”³⁴ But that which throws the clearest light upon all this teaching is the very word of our Saviour Himself. “And not for them only do I pray,” He says, “but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me; that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee: that they also may be one in us.”³⁵ How then can any one that breaks unity enjoy the blessings accruing from this prayer, which is the one only source of all sanctification?

Once more, those walk with a more rapid step who willingly and perseveringly despoil themselves of all that they have and of all that they are. “So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth cannot be My disciple”³⁶—a conclusion which our Lord again expresses thus: “If a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.”³⁷ This facility in parting with what we possess marks the detachment indispensable for one who would rise on the wings of the spirit. It is besides the law for the athlete: "And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things."³⁸

Finally, they run a quick race who arm themselves with courage, and who brave all obstacles: "Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? . . . But in all these things we overcome because of Him that hath loved us."³⁹ These violent ones carry away the kingdom of heaven by assault; they have a right to that promise of the Apocalypse: "To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna, and will give him a white counter, and in the counter a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it."⁴⁰ This mysterious food and this hidden name is the great secret which God communicates to the soul when it has attained perfect charity and the consummation of its union with the heavenly Bridegroom.

Footnotes

1. Ad interiora velaminis (Heb. vi, 19). ↩

2. Confitebor tibi, Pater, Domine coeli et terræ, quia abscondisti hæc a sapientibus et prudentibus, et revelasti ea parvulis (Matth. xi, 25). ↩

3. Amen dico vobis, nisi conversi fueritis et efficiamini sicut parvuli, non intrabitis in regnum coelorum (Ibid., xviii, 3). ↩

4. Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos. Tollite jugum meum super vos, et discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde; et invenietis requiem animabus vestris. Jugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve (Matth., xi, 28-30). ↩

5. Beati mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram (Matth. V, 4). ↩

6. Docebit mites vias suas (Ps. xxiv, 9). ↩

7. Melius est humiliari cum mitibus, quam dividere spolia cum superbis (Prov., xvi, 19). ↩

8. Erat Moyses vir mitissimus super omnes homines qui morabantur in terra (Num., xii, 3). ↩

9. Pater, peccavi in cœlum et coram te: jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuus (Luc., xv, 21). ↩

10. Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies (Ps. L, 19). ↩

11. Sollicita es, et turbaris erga plurima, porro unum est necessarium (Luc., 41, 42). ↩

12. Nolite ergo solliciti esse, dicentes: Quid manducabimus, aut quid bibemus, aut quo operiemur? Hæc enim omnia gentes inquirunt. . . . Nolite ergo solliciti esse in crastinum. . . . Sufficit diei malitia sua (Matth., vi, 31-34). ↩

13. Nihil solliciti sitis; sed in omni oratione et obsecratione cum gratiarum actione, petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum (Philipp., vi, 6). ↩

14. Volo autem vos sine sollicitudine esse (1 Cor., vii, 32). ↩

15. Omnem sollicitudinem vestram projicientes in eum, quoniam ipsi cura est de vobis (1 Pet., v, 7). ↩

16. Quod autem in spinas cecidit, hi sunt qui audierunt, et a sollicitudinibus. . . . euntes suffocantur et non referunt fructum (Luc., viii, 14). ↩

17. Si ergo vos cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris: quanto magis Pater vester de coelo dabit Spiritum bonum petentibus se? (Luc., xi, 13). ↩

18. Nolite itaque amittere confidentiam vestram, quæ magnam habet remunerationem (Heb., x, 35). ↩

19. Etiam si occideret me, in ipso sperabo (Job xiii, 15). ↩

20. In te Domine, speravi, non confundar in æternum (Ps., xxx, 1). ↩

21. Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuæ, Domine. . . perfecisti eis qui sperant in te (Ps., xxx, 20). ↩

22. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum (Thren., iii, 25). ↩

23. Deus . . . scutum est omnium sperantium in se (2 Reg., xxii, 31). ↩

24. Qui autem sperant in Domino, mutabunt fortitudinem, assument pennas sicut aquilæ, current et non laborabunt, ambulabunt et non deficient (Isa., xl, 31) ↩

25. Si etiam proprio Filio suo non perpercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum: quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? (Rom., viii, 32). ↩

26. Quod perierat requiram, et quod abjectum erat reducam, et quod confractum fuerat alligabo, et quod infirmum fuerat consolidabo, et quod pingue et forte custodiam; et pascam illos in judicio (Ezech., xxxiv, 16). ↩

27. Spem suam Deo committere, et de Dei misericordia numquam desperare (S. Reg., iv, 41, 72). ↩

28. Eadem quippe mensura, qua mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis (Luc., vi, 38). ↩

29. Amen dico vobis, quamdiu fecistis uni ex his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis (Matth., xxv, 40). ↩

30. Mandatum novum diligatis invicem. In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipuli me estis, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem (Joann., xiii, 34-35). ↩

31. Discite benefacere: quærite judicium, subvenite oppresso, judicate pupillo, defendite viduam, et venite et arguite me, dicit Dominus; si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur (Isa., I, 15-18). ↩

32. Nos scimus quoniam translati sumus de morte ad vitam, quoniam diligimus fratres (1 Joann., iii, 14). ↩

33. Qui diligit fratrem suum, in lumine manet, et scandalum in eo non est (Ibid., ii, 10). ↩

34. Alter alterius onera portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi (Gal., vi, 20). ↩

35. Non pro eis autem rogo tantum, sed et pro eis qui credituri sunt per verbum eorum in me: ut omnes unum sint, sicut tu Pater in me, et ego in te, ut et ipsi in nobis unum sint (Joann., vii, 20, 21). ↩

36. Sic ergo omnis ex vobis, qui non renuntiat omnibus quæ possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus (Luc., xiv, 33). ↩

37. Et qui vult tecum judicio contendere et tunicam tuam tollere, dimitte ei et pallium (Matth., v. 40). ↩

38. Omnis autem qui in agone contendit, ab omnibus se abstinet (1 Cor., ix, 25). ↩

39. Quis ergo nos separabit a caritate Christi? Tribulatio? An angustiæ an fames? An nuditas? An periculum? An persecutio? An gladius? . . . Sed in his omnibus superamus propter eum, qui dilexit nos (Rom., viii, 35-37). ↩

40. Vincenti dabo manna absconditum, et dabo illi calculum candidum: et in calculo nomen novum scriptum, quod nemo scit, nisi qui accipit (Apoc., ii, 17). ↩