Chapter III. The occupations of the interior life

Article I

Of vxUcJ^vlness over owr interior.

Our principal study ought to be to watch over our interior, in order to ascertain its state and correct its disorders. To this the following considerations powerfully excite us :

1. We remain immersed and as it were buried in a mass of faults and imperfections, which we never see, and ijever shall see till the hour of death, unless we exercise ourselves in observing the movements of our interior, wherein the devil and nature play strange parts, while we are wholly absorbed in the hurry and excitement of exterior occupations.

2. The ruin of souls in the path of perfection proceeds from the multiplication of venial sins, whence follows a diminution of divine lights and inspirations, spiritual consolations, and other succours of grace ; next, a great weakness in resisting the attacks of the enemy ; and finally, a fall into some grievous fault, which makes us open our eyes and perceive that, whilst we were thinking of any thing else, our heart was betraying us for want of watchfulness in guarding it, and from not entering often into it to ascertain what was passing.

3. It is this living out of ourselves, and this carelessness in ordering our interior, which is the reason that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are almost without effect in us, and that the sacramental graces which are given us by virtue of the sacraments we have received, or are frequenting, remain without profit.

By sacramental grace is meant the right which each sacrament gives us before God, of receiving from Him certain succours which preserve within us the effect that sacrament has wrought in our soul. Thus the sacramental grace of baptism is a right which baptism gives us to receive lights and inspirations to lead a supernatural life, as members of Jesus Christ, animated by His Spirit. The sacramental grace of confirmation is a right to receive strength and constancy to combat against our enemies, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, and to win glorious victories over them. The sacramental grace of confession is a right to receive an increase of purity of heart. That of communion is a right to receive more abundant and efficacious succours to unite us to GU)d by the fervour of His love. Each time we confess and communicate in a good state, these sacramental graces and the gifts of the Holy Spirit increase in us j and yet we do not perceive their effects in our daily life. Whence comes this 1 From our unmortified passions, our attachments and disorderly affections, and our habitual faults. We allow these vicious principles to have more dominion over us than sacramental graces and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that the former keep the latter, as it were, bound and captive, without the power of producing their proper effects. And why do we let sin and the vicious principles of corrupt nature usurp this despotic empire over the divine principles of grace and the Spirit of God 1 It is for want of entering often into ourselves. If we did so, we should discover the state of our interior and correct its disorders.

§n.

1. By watching over our interior we gradually acquire a great knowledge of ourselves, and attain at last to the direction of the Holy Spirit ; and at times God brings before us in an instant the state of our past life, just as we shall see it at the Judgment. He makes us see all our sins, all our past youth ; at other times He discloses to us the whole economy of the government of the universe : and this produces in the soul a perfect subjection to God.

2. They who have applied themselves for three or four years to watch over their interior, and have made some progress in this holy exercise, know already how to treat a multitude of cases with address and absence of all rash judgment j they penetrate, as it were natu- J, the heart of others^ and discover almost all its movements by the knowledge they possess of their own interior, and of the natural movements of their own heart.

3. Without performing extraordinary mortifications, or any of those exterior actions which might be the occasion of vanity to us, by simple attention in watching our own interior, we perform excellent acts of virtue and make prodigious advances in perfection ; whereas, on the contrary, by neglecting our interior we incur incalculable losses.

4. This exercise may be practised at every age, at all times, and in all places, in the midst of our exterior functions and in time of illness ; and there is no business so embarrassing, which does not allow us to enter into ourselves from time to time, to observe the movements of our heart.

5. What exterior actions did St. Paul the Hermit perform, and so many other Saints, and so many holy Virgins ? It is the merit of their interior life which raised them to the highest ranks of the blessed.

But, alas, we are so little enlightened, or so bewitched with all the brilliancy of exterior employments, that we understand not the excellence, nor the necessity, nor the merit of that life which is hidden from the eyes of men and known to God alone.

§ ni.

Nothing is so dangerous as to neglect the care of our interior, and to take no pains to know what is passing therein. This negligence and this ignorance give occasion to a multitude of venial sins, which dispose us insensibly to some mortal sin or great temptations, whence ensue fatal falls.

Such is often the end of the purely exterior life of those amongst us who are continually engaged in the tumult of action, abandoning the care of their interior under pretext of zeal and charity, because they labour for the service of their neighbour. But even should they not proceed to this extremity, it is still certain that by wasting themselves exteriorly, and giving scarcely any attention to the regulation of their interior in the exercise of their functions, they suffer incalculable losses of grace and merit. Their labours produce but very little fruit, not being animated by that strength and that vigour which come from the interior spirit, nor accompanied with the benedictions which God bestows on men of prayer and recollection. They do nothing purely for God, they seek themselves in every thing, and always secretly mix up their own interest with the glory of God in their best undertakings.

Thus they pass their lives in this mixture of nature and grace, without once taking a single step forward towards perfection for ten or twenty years, the mind as distracted, the heart as hard, amidst all the exercises of Christian piety and the religious life, as if they had never enjoyed all these aids.

At last death comes; and then they open their eyes, they perceive their illusion and blindness, and tremble at approaching the dread tribunal of God.

The means of avoiding all these woes is to regulate our interior so well, and to keep watch over our heart so carefully, as to have ground for desiring, rather than fearing, to appear before our Sovereign Judge. This watchfulness it is that our Lord so much recommends to us in the Gospel, when He says so often, VigUcUe, " Watch." " Our father director," says Father Rigoleu, " requires nothing else from us but this constant attention to our interior."

Article II

How important it is that we ahotddjoin the interior life with owr exterior occupations, Our occupations are often indifferent in themselves, and yet may be most glorious to God, and more to His glory than others which in themselves are supernatural. Thus our studies and our office of regent conduce to the salvation of souls, and promote the glory of God, more than would the assisting in choir and chanting the Divine Office, were such the practice of the Company, as of the other orders. But unless in this occupation of the classes and of study we act from the principle of the interior spirit, we are just like seculars, and often merit only chastisements in the next life.

We ought to join together action and contemplation in such a way, as not to .give ourselves more to the former than to the latter, endeavouring to excel as much in one as in the other. Otherwise, if we throw ourselves altogether into the exterior life, and give ourselves wholly to action, we shall undoubtedly remain at the lowest degrees of contemplation ; that is to say, we shall practise only ordinary prayer, and perform the other exercises of piety in a low and imperfect manner.

We ought so to unite action and the exterior life with contemplation and the interior life, as to give ourselves to the former in the same proportion as we practise the latter. If we make much mental prayer, we ought to give ourselves much to action ; if we have made but moderate progress in the interior life, we ought to employ ourselves only moderately in the occupations of l2 the exterior life ; and if we are but little advanced in the ways of the interior, we ought to abstain altogether from what is exterior, unless obedience prescribes the contrary ; otherwise we shall do no good to others and ruin ourselves.

§ rv.

We must be like the eagle, who soars into the air as soon as he has seized his prey. Thus we ought to retire for prayer after any active employment for our neighbour, and never intrude ourselves into such, unless obedience enjoins it.

§v.

A labourer of the Company must say Kke our Lord, "I am not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give my life a redemption for many." He must serve God and his neighbour, occupy himself with God in his interior, and devote his labours and his life, even to the last breath, to promoting the salvation and perfection of his neighbour.

Let us be thoroughly convinced that we shall gain fruit in our ministrations only in proportion to our union with God and detachment from all self-interest. A preacher when he is much followed ; a missionary when he produces a great sensation ; a confessor when he sees his confessional surrounded by a crowd of penitents j a director when he is the fashion ; a person who devotes himself entirely to good works, — one and all flatter themselves they are gaining much fruit, and to judge from appearances we might believe it. The world praises them ; applause confirms them in the good opinion they have of their success. But are they united to God by prayer ? Are they perfectly detached from themselves 1 Do they act only from divine motives 1 Do not human views mix themselves up with their designs 1 Let them beware of deceiving themselves.

Men are easily deceived in this matter. They seek God, it is true ; but do they not also seek themselves ? They intend the good of God and the good of souls ; but do they forget their own glory and their own petty interests ? They employ themselves in works of zeal and charity ; but is it out of a pure motive of zeal and charity ? Is it not because they find their own satisfaction in it, and love neither prayer nor study, and cannot live retired in their own room or endure recollection.

If we examine ourselves well, perhaps we shall find in our soul so little union with God, and in the services we render our neighbour so much self-seeking, that we shall have just ground for doubting whether we do all the good to others we imagine, and do not inflict more evil upon ourselves than we are aware.

To labour profitably for the salvation of others, we must have made great progress in our own perfection. Until we have acquired perfect virtue, we ought to practise very little exterior action. But if superiors lay too much upon us, we may trust that Providence will so dispose thbgs that the burden will soon be diminished, and all will turn out to the greater good of inferiors, if they are good men. ^ We must first acquire virtues in a solid degree, and after that labour to promote the salvation of souls ; then exterior action will aid us in the interior life. But until we have acquired solid virtues and are closely imited to God, exterior occupation will certainly be injurious to us.

Article III

We ought not to engage m exterior occupations of our ovm accord.

It is not for us to choose our own employments. Of our own free will, we ought to give our whole attentioA to onrselves, unless obedience imposes <m us functions for the service of our neighbour. From obedience must come the movement which leads us to external action for the good of others. So long as it leaves us at rest, let us willingly remain so. God will know very well how to find us when He wishes to make use of us to His glory. It is great rashness to intrude ourselves into the government of souls, an office which the most perfect Saints, the Ambroses and the Gregories, fled from with fear. The blessed Louis tGonzaga had a scruple in having speculated for a moment as to what employment superiors would allot to him.