Article 4
On the foundation of religious life, and indeed of truly Christian life.
THESE things concern every one of Christ's faithful: to walk the narrow way of salvation;1 to lead a life of penance; to crucify one's own body with its vices and concupiscences;2 to spend fruitfully all the time granted from above; to conquer oneself, that is, to root out the passions and vices; to obey one's superiors, that is, to fulfill the commandments of God and of the Church; to yield to the one who presides; to order one's whole life to the honor of God and to growth in divine love; to do to one's neighbors as one would reasonably wish done to oneself;3 to offer almighty God a clean heart within oneself, and to serve Him faithfully with a good conscience; never to depart from the way of justice and truth out of hatred or love, desire or fear of any creature; to bear adversity with an even mind; to humble oneself in all things,4 and to follow in Christ's footsteps: to persevere in these and like virtuous acts to the end, in the holy fear of God and in diligent guard of the heart; and also to resist temptations strenuously and unceasingly, because no one is crowned unless he has striven lawfully against the enemies of his salvation.5
Behold, these things belong to every one of Christ's faithful: as is most clearly plain from the Gospel. Hence the most blessed Apostle Paul in his epistles exhorts all the faithful abundantly and fervently to all these things, saying: I beseech you in the Lord to walk worthily of the vocation to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace;6 be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who has been created according to God;7 let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamor be put away from you; be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ;8 be imitators of God, as most dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and delivered Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness;9 bless those who persecute you, bless, and do not curse.10 Hence our Savior and Lawgiver, the Son of God, says in the Gospel: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and speak all evil against you falsely, for my sake;11 rejoice in that hour and exult, for your reward is very great in heaven;12 love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you.13
But perhaps someone will say: It is heavy and hard to fulfill these things. To which one may answer from the words of our Lord: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away.14 And again: Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to death and perdition, and many enter by it. How narrow is the gate and strait the way that leads to life, and few find it!15 Furthermore, although fulfilling these things is laborious in some measure, yet in comparison with the eternal and incomprehensible reward and the most glorious happiness that is given to the elect and the virtuous for this short and passing labor and service, it is very little, easy and pleasant. Likewise, it is light to fulfill all these things inasmuch as by them we escape the intolerable and everlasting damnation of hell. Therefore the Apostle said: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us;16 and again: What is momentary and light in our present tribulation works in us, beyond measure, exceedingly, an eternal weight of glory.17 Further, although fulfilling these things is laborious to man considered in himself, it nonetheless becomes easy and sweet to him by the help of God's grace and by the consolations and gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are granted to God's faithful servants. Hence our Lord invites and exhorts us: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you; take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls: for my yoke is sweet and my burden light.18 It is certain, too, that the charity of God, if it truly grows and advances in us, makes all the things mentioned easy and pleasant.
Finally, if we weigh carefully what, of what kind and how great are the things God's Saints and elect did and suffered to obtain that eternal and unspeakable glory, we shall count all the service and labor we offer our God as little and almost nothing: above all if with an enlightened mind we consider how incomprehensible and immense is the dignity, holiness, excellence and honor of our Creator and Savior.
Moreover, with God's help we shall be able to fulfill all the things mentioned easily and vigorously, if we strive hard to cleanse our hearts of self-love, private love, which is the origin of all vices and crimes, so that we love ourselves not in ourselves but in God. That is, to desire, love and willingly receive, practice and bear all that is necessary or profitable to us for pleasing the Lord God almighty, and for advancing in His grace and love, in true perfection, holiness and everlasting glory. And what are these things but to humble oneself in all things, to receive rebukes and corrections joyfully, to practice works of penance, to chastise one's own body, to be subject and obey willingly, and indeed to rejoice in subjection and abasement, to glory in contempt of oneself and in adversity as in all riches? All this is to hate oneself rightly in oneself, and to love oneself in God wholesomely, spiritually and wisely. Hence the Savior taught: He who hates his soul in this world keeps it for eternal life.19 Lastly, all these things concern spiritual and religious persons the more especially and eminently, the more perfect their state compared with people in the world and the greater the things to which they are bound. All these things the Lord and Savior showed by His deeds and taught by His words throughout His whole life in this world, from the beginning of His birth to His death on the wood of the cross. Most rightly, then, is it said that this is the foundation of religious, and indeed of Christian, life: to root private love out of one's heart entirely, and to advance in true charity.
Now from private love of self springs the craving for riches, pleasures and honors. The beginning of religious life, then, is to despise these, to be content with simple food and clothing, to humble oneself. Hence, as that holy man Climacus declares, the avaricious man is a mocker of the Gospel; the proud man is an imitator of the devil; the ambitious man follows that first and most wicked apostate, the devil, and is filled with unspeakable sins: for, as blessed Gregory writes, the faults that are born of that vicious, diabolical ambition cannot be counted. And the lover of pleasures is a disciple of Epicurus, not of Christ.
Hence religious, by the solemn vow of poverty, renounce wealth and ownership; by the vow of chastity, pleasure; by the vow of obedience, their own will, and arrogance, vanity, ambition and obstinacy in their own opinion. Therefore, just as by the vow of obedience they are obliged to subject their own will to the will of the superior, so too to submit the judgment of their own reason to the direction and judgment of the one who presides: indeed, as Alexander of Hales, called the Irrefragable Doctor, and the lord Bonaventure, the Devout Doctor, teach, religious persons are more bound to obey their superior's command than the dictate of their own conscience. And whoever acts against his vow not only sins mortally, but with extreme gravity, and more gravely than one who acts against his own oath, as St. Thomas declares. Thus it is evident that although a religious person must be adorned with every virtue, yet these three virtues especially, poverty, chastity and obedience, belong to her, so that she is bound to them by solemn vow.
Footnotes
Chapter 5 of 8