Skip to the text
Ember
PT

II.6. Our Supernatural Growth in Christ

Summary. — The supernatural life is subject to a law of progress. — I. Besides being so by the Sacraments, the supernatural life is perfected by the exercise of the virtues. — Il. The theological virtues. Nature of these virtues ; how they are specific of the state of a child of God. — IM. Why preeminence ought to be given to charity. — IV. Necessity of acquired and infused moral virtues. — V. They safeguard charity, which, in return, governs and crowns them. — VI. The tending to perfect charity by purity of intention. — VII. Charity can envelope all human actions, sublimity and simplicity of the Christian life. — VIII. The fruit of charity and of the virtues ruled by charity: to make us grow up in Christ so as to complete His mystical body. — IX. Supernatural progress can be continuous until death : donec occurramus omnes... in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi.

LL life tends not only to manifest itself by acts which are proper to it and emanate from its interior principle, but also to grow, to progress, to unfold, to become perfect. The child is not born to remain always a child; the law of his nature is that he should come to the age of manhood.

The supernatural life is no exception to this law. Our Lord could, if He so wished, fix us in an instant, after one act of adhesion of our will, in the degree of holiness and of glory that He has destined for our souls, as was done for the angels. He has not so willed. He has established that, although His merits are the cause of all sanctification and His grace the principle of all supernatural life, we should constantly do our part in the work of our perfection and spiritual progress; the time we pass here below in faith is granted us for this end. We ought, as we have seen, to put away all obstacles that are opposed to the divine life in us and, at the same time, to accomplish the actions destined to develop this life until at the moment of our death it is established in its final term. This is what St. Paul calls ” to come to the perfect age of Christ”.

The same Apostle is careful to show the necessity of this growth, this progress, and how it should be ordered. After having told us ” to do the truth in charity ” he immediately adds: ” In all things grow up in Him Who is the Head, even Christ”. Veritatem facientes in caritate, crescamus in illo per omnia qui est caput Christus}.

We have seen in the preceding conferences what St. Paul means by ” living in truth and charity” ; I have shown how these words contain the fundamental principle according to which we must act in order to live supernaturally: namely, to remain united to Christ Jesus by sanctifying grace and, through love, to refer all our human actions to the glory of the Father. Such is the primordial law which governs the divine life in us.

Let us now see how this life of which we have received the germ in baptism must, as far as it depends on us, develop and expand.

This is an important subject. Look at Christ Jesus. All His life is consecrated to the glory of His Father Whose will He always accomplishes: Non quero voluntatem meam, sed ejus qui misit me Patris?. He seeks only that. At the moment of achieving His life on earth, He says to His Father that He has fulfilled His mission, which is to procure His glory: Ego te clarificavi super terram?, The desire of His Divine Heart is that we too should seek the glory of His Father. And what does that mean for us ?

Our Lord tells us: ” That we should bear much fruit ”, that our perfection should not remain mediocre, but that our supernatural life be intense, / hoc clarificatus est Pater meus ut fructum PLURIMUM afferatis*. Was it not for that moreover that Jesus came, that He shed His blood and gave us a share in His infinite merits ? He came that the Divine life might abound in us to overflowing: Ego veni ut vitam habeant et ABUNDANTIUS habeant®. Like the Samaritan woman to whom He had revealed the greatness of the ” Divine Gift” let us ask Him to give us ” of the living water ”; let us ask Him to teach us, through His Church, to what sources we must go in order to find the abundance of these waters; for they make us produce numerous fruits of life and holiness pleasing to His Father; they quench our thirst unceasingly until the day of eternal life.1

The sacraments are the principal sources of the divine life in us. They act in our souls ex opere operato, as the sun produces light and heat; it is only necessary there should be no obstacle within us to oppose their operation. The Eucharist is, of all the sacraments, the one that most augments the divine life within us, because in it we receive Christ in person, we drink at the very fountainhead of the living waters. It is by reason of the greatness of this sacrament that I will expose further on in a special conference the nature and condition of its action within us.

What I wish now to show you are the general laws, besides the reception of the Sacraments, by which we can augment the life of grace within us. i

This is how the Council of Trent exposes the doctrine upon this subject: ” Once we are purified and become friends of God and members of His race (by sanctifying grace), we are renewed day by day, as St. Paul says, going on from virtue to virtue... we grow, through the observance of the commandments of God and of His Church, in the state of justice in which we have been placed by the grace of Jesus Christ; faith co-operates with our good works and so we advance in the grace which renders us just in God’s sight. For it is written: Let the just (that is to say, he who, by sanctifying grace, possesses the friendship of God) become ever more just. And again: Progress in the state of justice until death. It is this increase of grace for which the Church asks when she says to God (XIII. Sunday after Pentecost) : Give unto us an increase of faith, hope and charity*”.

As you see, the Holy Council indicates good works and the exercise of the virtues, especially of the theological virtues, as the source of our progress and growth in the spiritual life of which grace is the principle.

How is this to be realised ? First by good works. I have said that every good work done in a state of grace, under the action of divine charity, is meritorious: ” every meritorious work is a source of the increase of grace within us ”: Quolibet actu meritorio meretur homo augmentum gratiae*. The good actions of a soul in a state of grace are not only the fruits or manifestations of our quality of children of God; they are besides, says the Council of Trent, a cause of the increase of that justification which makes us pleasing to God?. In the measure, then, that our good works are multiplied, grace increases, it becomes stronger, more powerful and, with it, so does charity; and with it likewise is increased the future glory which is only the blossoming in heaven of our degree of grace here below®. That is why the Holy Council repeats to us the words of St. Paul: ” Be ye steadfast and immoveable: always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not vain in the2

Lord 4 uv

But it is chiefly by the exercise of the virtues that the life of grace is increased.

You know that in man, there are, inherent to his nature, certain faculties, — intelligence, will, sensibility, imagination. — which are in us principles of action, powers of operation, which allow us to act fully as men; without these, a man is not perfect in his concrete reality as man.

Something analogous is to be met with in the supernatural life. Sanctifying grace animates our souls, and giving us like a new being, Nova creatura, makes us children of God. But to this being, God, Who does all things with wisdom and scatters His gifts munificently, has given some faculties, which, proportioned to his new condition, give him the capacity of acting according to the supernatural end to be attained, that is to say, as a child of God awaiting the inheritance of Christ in eternal beatitude: these are the infused’ supernatural virtues.

These faculties are called virtues (from the Latin word

  1. S. Thom. I-II, q. cxiv, a.8.— 2. Si quis dixerit justitiam acceptam non conservari atque etiam augeri coram Deo per bona opera, sed opera ipsa fructus solummodo et signa esse justificationis acceptae, non autem ipsius augendae causam, anathema sit. Sess. vi,can.24.— 3. Si quis dixerit... ipsum (hominem) justificatum bonis operibus quae ab eo per Dei gratiam et Jesu Christi meritum cujus vivum membrum est, fiunt, non vere merert augmentum gratiae,vitam aeternam et ipsius vitae aeternae,si tamen in gratia decesserit,consecutionem atque etiam gloriae augmentum,anathema sit. Concil.Trid.Sess. v, can.32.— 4. Sess. vi, cap.16. Cf. I Cor. xv,58. virtus ” strength”), because they are the capacities of action, principles of operation, and energies that remain in us as stable habits, and, being exercised at the befitting moment, cause us to produce with promptitude, ease and joy, works pleasing to God. As these powers of operation have not their source in us and as they tend to make us act in view of an end that surpasses our requirements and exceeds the strength of our nature, they are called supernatural. Finally, the word ” infused ” indicates that God Himself places them in us directly on the day of our baptism, with sanctifying grace.

By grace, we are children of God; by the infused supernatural virtues, we can act as children of God, and produce acts worthy of our supernatural end.

We must distinguish between infused virtues and natural virtues. The latter are qualities, ” habits”, that man, even when he is an unbeliever, acquires and develops in himself by personal effort and repeated acts: such are courage, strength, prudence, justice, gentleness, loyalty, sincerity, These are the natural dispositions we have cultivated and that have arrived by exercise at the state of acquired habits. They perfect and beautify our natural being in the intellectual or simply moral domain’.

A comparison will make us grasp the nature of natural acquired virtue. You possess the knowledge of several foreign languages; you did not receive this knowledge at birth; you have acquired it by exercise and repeated effort ; once acquired, it has become in you a state of habit, of power, ready to be used at the least command of the will. When you wish to do so, you speak these languages without any difficulty. It is the same with one who has acquired the art of music; he cannot exercise this art at every moment; but the art remains in him in the state of habit; when the musician so wills, he takes the bow of his violin, or places himself at the keyboard, and plays as easily as others open their eyes, walk, etc. You understand equally that the acquired natural virtues, like every acquired habit, must, so as not to be lost, be kept up and cultivated; and this by the same principle that gave it birth, that is to say by exercise.

The infused supernatural virtues are of another essence. To begin with, they lift us above our nature. Doubtless we exercise them with the faculties with which nature has endowed us, (intelligence and will), but these faculties are uplifted, if I may so express it, to the divine level, so that the acts of these virtues attain the proportion necessary to: reach our supernatural end. Then, it is not by personal effort we acquire them ;but the germ of these virtues is liberally implanted in us by God with the grace which they accompany: Simul infunduntur.3

II

What are these virtues? As I have said, they are powers of acting supernaturally, forces that render us capable of living as children of God and arriving at our heavenly beatitude.

The Council of Trent, when speaking of the growth of the Divine life within us, distinguishes first of all faith, hope and charity. These virtues are called theological, because they have God immediately for their object’; by them, we can know God, hope in Him, love Him in a supernatural manner, worthy of our condition as God’s children. These are, properly speaking, virtues of the supernatural order : hence their priority and eminence.

And see how well they correspond to our divine vocation. What is in fact necessary in order to possess God ?

First of all to know Him; in Heaven we shall see Him face to face and therefore ” we shall be like to Him”; Similes ei erimus quia videbimus eum sicuti est”; but here below, we do not see Him; it is through faith in Him, and in His Son, that we believe in His word, that we know Him. It is knowledge in obscurity. But what He tells us of Himself, of His nature, of His life, of His plan of Redemption through His Son, we know however with certitude; the Word Who is always in the bosom of the Father tells us that which He sees, and we know it because we believe what He tells: Deum nemo vidit unquam; Unigenttus Filius qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit*. This knowledge of faith is then a divine knowledge, and that is why Our Lord said it is a knowledge that gains eternal life. Haec est vita aeterna ut COGNOSCANT te solum Deum verum et quem misisti Jesum Christum *.4

In this light of faith, we know where our beatitude lies; we know that which ”’eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive”, that is to say, the beauty and greatness of the glory that “God hath prepared for them that love Him?”. But this ineffable beatitude is beyond the strength of our nature; can we attain to it ? Yes, without any doubt; God even places in our soul this certainty of arriving at this supreme end by His grace, the fruit of the merits of Jesus, and in spite of the obstacles opposed to it. We can say with St. Peter: ” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy, hath regenerated us (at baptism) unto a lively hope... unto an inheritance incorruptible... reserved in heaven*” for us.

Lastly, charity, love, achieves the work of bringing us here below nearer to God, whilst we await the possession of Him above: charity completes and perfects faith and hope; it makes us experience a real complacency in God; we prefer God to all things and we try to manifest towards Him this complacency and preference by observing His will. ” The companion of faith”, says St. Augustine, ”is hope; it is necessary because we do not see what we believe; with hope, we are not overcome with faint-heartedness in the waiting; then charity comes and places in our souls the hunger and thirst for God and makes our aspirations soar up to Him‘”. For the Holy Spirit has shed abroad in our hearts the charity whereby we cry to God: Father! Father! It is a supernatural faculty that makes us adhere to God as to the Infinite Goodness we love more than anything besides. Quis nos separabit a caritate Christi *?

Such are the theological virtues: wonderful principles, marvellous powers for living the divine life as long as we are here below. To know God such as He is revealed to us by Our Lord, to hope in Him and in that beatitude He promises us because of the merits of His Son Jesus; to love Him in preference to all: we can do nothing better to realise our condition of children of God and tend to the acquisition of that eternal heritage which we are called to share with Christ, become our Elder Brother.5

God has liberally placed these powers in us.

But do not let us forget that if they are given to us without our concourse, they are not however maintained nor do they progress without our efforts.

It is of the nature and perfection of a power to accomplish the act correlative to itt; a power which would remain inert, for example, an intelligence never producing an act of thought, would never reach the end, and consequently the perfection, due to it. Faculties are only given to us that we may put them into action.

Although they are infused, the theological virtues do not escape this law whereby perfection is brought about ; if they are unused, it will be to the great detriment of our supernatural life. It is true that exercise does not give birth to them, otherwise they would not be infused; for the same reason, it is God alone Who augments them in us. Therefore the Holy Council of Trent tells us to beseech God to give us the increase of these virtues?. See how in the Gospel the Apostles ask Our Lord to increase their faith . St. Paul writes to the faithful at Rome telling them how he asks God to make hope abound in them‘, and again he beseeches the Lord to make charity “more and more abound” in the hearts of his dear Philippians °.

To prayer, to the reception of the sacraments, exercise must be added. If God is the efficient cause of the increase of these virtues, our acts, done in a state of grace, are the meritorious cause of this increase. By our acts, we merit that God should augment these vital virtues in our souls. Besides, exercise produces in us the facility of making the acts of these virtues. And this is a very important point, since these virtues are properly speaking the virtues of our state as children of God.

Let us then often ask our Father in Heaven to increase them in us; let us say to Him especially when we approach the sacraments, in prayer and in temptation: O Lord, I believe in Thee, but increase my faith; Thou art my only hope, but strengthen my confidence; I love Thee above all things, but increase this love so that I may seek for nothing outside Thy holy will !...6

III

We ought especially to exercise charity. When we shall have arrived at the ultimate goal of our existence, faith and hope will pass away; faith will give place to vision, and hope to possession; and from this perfect vision, this assured possession, will radiate the love that shall have no end. That is why St. Paul says charity is the greatest of the three theological virtues, it alone remains for ever. Major autem horum est caritas }.

Charity already holds this place of honour here below, and on this capital truth I wish to dwell with you.

You know that when charity accompanies the exercise of the other virtues, it adds new lustre to them, it confers on them a new efficacy and is the principle of a new merit. You submit to a humiliation and accept it with all your heart, that is an act of the virtue of humility; you freely renounce a permitted pleasure, that is an act of the virtue of temperance; you honour God by singing His praises, that is an act of the virtue of religion. Each of these acts, done by a soul in a state of grace, has its own value, its particular merit, its special splendour. But if each of these acts is, moreover, done with an explicit intention of love of God, this motive colours, if I may so express it, the acts of the other virtues, and without taking from them any of their particular merit, it adds a new one?.

What follows from this? This consequence, which puts into full relief the eminence of charity, that our supernatural life and our holiness grow and progress according to the degree of love with which we perform our acts. Take the accomplishment of any act, (provided, of course, that this act be, as we have seen, supernatural and in accordance with the divine order), take any exercise of piety, justice, religion, humility, obedience or patience, and the more the love of God is perfect, pure, disinterested and intense, that is to say, the more the mainspring of these acts is our love for7

God, for His interests and glory, the more elevated is the degree of merit of this act; and hence more rapid is the increase of grace and divine life in us. Listen to St. Francis of Sales, the eminent doctor of the inner life, who has spoken so well on these matters: ” If love be ardent, powerful and excellent in a heart, it will the more enrich and perfect all the virtuous works which proceed from it. One may suffer death or fire without having charity, as St. Paul presupposes ; with still greater reason, one may suffer while having a little charity: now I say, Theotimus, that it may well be that a very little virtue has more value in a soul where holy love reigns ardently, than even martyrdom where this holy love is languid, feeble and dull... Thus the little simplicities, abjections and humiliations under which the saints delighted to hide themselves and shelter their hearts from vain glory, having been done with great excellence in the art and ardour of heavenly love, were found more pleasing before God than the great and illustrous labours of some others which were done with little charity or devotion’? ”.

In the same place, St. Francis of Sales sets before us the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And with how much reason !

Contemplate our Divine Saviour for a moment, for instance, in the work-shop at Nazareth. Until the age of thirty, He lived a life of labour and obscurity, so much so that when He began to preach and worked His first miracles, His compatriots were astonished even to being scandalized: Nonne hic est fabri filius? “Is not this the carpenter’s son ?... Whence therefore doth He all these things?”? Indeed, ‘during these years, Our Lord did nothing extraordinary to attract the eyes of the world upon Him: He lived in labour, very simple labour. And yet this labour was infinitely pleasing to His Father. Why was that ? For two reasons: — First, because He Who laboured was the very Son of God; at each moment of this obscure life, the Father could say: ” This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased”. — Secondly because Our Lord Christ Jesus not only brought to His work great material perfection, but He did all things solely for the glory of His Father: Non quaero voluntatem meam, sed ejus qui misit me (Patris) ; this was the one motive power of all His actions, of all His life: Quae placita sunt ei facio semper. Our Lord did every thing with an incomparable perfection of interior love towards His Father.8

Such is the two-fold reason why the works of Jesus, however commonplace they may have appeared outwardly, were so agreeable to God and redeemed the world.

Can we imitate Jesus Christ in this? Yes. What in us corresponds to the hypostatic union which makes Jesus the very Son of God, is the state of grace. This grace makes us children of God: the Father can say in looking upon one who possesses sanctifying grace: Hic est filius meus dilectus. "This is My beloved child”. Our Lord said: Nonne scriptum est... Ego dixi: Dii estis? I said you are gods ?; although it is true that Christ is not, like us, a son by adoption, but Son by nature. The second reason of the value of our works is, as in Christ, not only the motive of charity, but likewise the inward perfection of the charity with which we do them, the degree of love that envelops these acts, and, by the very fact, determines our growth in the Divine life.

This is very important if we do not wish to be content only with what is strictly required to make our actions meritorious, but to increase the degree of this merit and advance rapidly in union with God. Look around you : you meet with two pious persons, in the state of grace who lead side by side the same kind of life; both perform outwardly the same material actions, and yet there may be, often even there is, an enormous difference between them in the eyes of God. The one continually goes over the same ground, the other advances with speedy steps in the life of grace, perfection and holiness. Whence comes the difference ? From the state of grace? No, since we are supposing these two persons to be in possession of God’s friendship. From the special excellence of the actions of one of them ? No, since we are also supposing that these material actions are substantially the same. Perhaps from the care with which these actions are materially performed? Again no; for although this exterior perfection certainly matters, yet we are supposing it to be equal in both. Whence then comes the difference ? From the inward perfection, the intensity of love, the degree of charity with which each of them performs these actions. The one soul, attentive to God, acts with elevated powerful love; she acts only to please God; she remains interiorly prostrate in the spirit of adoration before the Lord; the root of her activity proceeds only from God; and that is why each of her actions draws ther nearer to God; she advances rapidly in divine union. — The other accomplishes the same work; but, in this soul, faith is asleep; she does not think of God’s interests; her love has little ardour, and is of but a low degree ; doubtless her action is not without merit, but the measure of this merit is small and may still further be diminished by dissipation, self-love, vanity and so many other human motive powers that this soul, through negligence or levity, allows to glide into her actions.9

That is the secret of the great difference that sometimes in the eyes of God exists between certain souls living side by side and leading an outwardly identical life *.

Such is the eminence of the virtue of charity. It is charity that, properly speaking, rules the measure of the divine life in us.

Let us then be watchful to act in all things only to imitate Our Lord so as to procure the glory of His Father. Let us often ask Jesus Christ, in our intimate intercourse with Him, that all our activity may spring, like His, from love; let us ask Him to give us a share in that love He had for His Father and that made Him do all things perfectly: Quia diligo Patrem*. Our Divine Saviour cannot fail to hear us.

Py.

But you will say, if this be so, is it not sufficient to keep to charity? Does not charity render the other virtues useless ? No, it would be a great error to think so. Why? Because charity, love, is a treasure more exposed than the others.

You know that faith and hope are not destroyed in us except by grave sins directly contrary to their object, for

  1. I have said in the eyes of God, for the human eye cannot always distinguish this difference. It may be that outwardly one may be more ” correct” and give less occasion for the criticism of men ; while with the other, although in reality more advanced in union with God, the outward example, heresy or despair: — while charity is destroyed, like the grace which is its root, by every mortal sin, of whatever nature this sin may be. Every grave sin is a mortal enemy to charity. By grave sin, indeed, the soul turns away completely from God so as to turn towards the creature and this is the contrary of supernatural charity. Supernatural charity is a pearl of great price, an inestimable treasure, but it is exposed to be lost by any grave fault whatsoever. That is why it is necessary to protect it on all sides; and such is the function of the moral virtues. These virtues are the safeguards of love; by means of them the soul is kept free from deliberate venial sins and from the grave sins which threaten charity.10

I ought here to say a few words about the moral virtues ; the scope and character of our conferences do not allow me to make a very extensive explanation ; I hope, however, to show sufficiently the necessity of these virtues and the place they hold in our supernatural life.

As the name indicates, the moral virtues are those that regulate our morals, that is to say the actions we must freely accomplish so that our conduct may be in accordance with the divine law (the commandments of God, the precepts of the Church, duties of state), and that thus we may attain our last end. As you see, the immediate object of these virtues is not God in Himself, as with the theological virtues. The moral virtues are very numerous: patience, obedience, humility, self-abnegation, mortification, piety and many others ; but all refer to or are implied by the four great virtues called cardinal? (fundamental): prudence, fortitude, justice and temperance. These cardinal virtues are at the same time natural (acquired) and supernatural (infused) : the first correspond to the second; there is an acquired temperance and an infused temperance, an acquired fortitude and an ‘infused fortitude, and so with the rest. What is their mutual relation ? They have the same field of action, and the concourse of the acquired moral virtues is necessary for the full development of the infused moral virtues. Why is this ?

In consequence of original sin, our nature is vitiated ;

1, From the Latin word cardo, "pivot, hinge” ; these four virtues constitute, as it were, a pivot on which all our moral life rests and is supported. there are within us depraved inclinations resulting from atavism and temperament, as well as from the bad habits we contract, which are so many obstacles to the perfect fulfilment of the divine will. What is to remove these obstacles ? The infused moral virtues that God places in us with grace ? No, they have not, of themselves, this privilege. Undoubtedly they are admirable principles of operation; but it is a psychological law that the destruction of vicious habits and the redressing of evil inclinations can only be effaced by the contrary habits, and these good habits themselves only result from the repetition of acts: thence the acquired moral virtues. It is for them to destroy our bad habits and give rise to facility in doing good; this facility is the concourse given by the acquired moral virtues to the infused moral virtues. These latter turn this concourse — very humble, but necessary — to their profit and, in return, raise the acts of virtue to the divine level and bestow on them a meritorious value. Remember this truth: no natural virtue, however powerful it may be, can be raised of itself to a supernatural level: that only belongs to the infused virtues and this constitutes their superiority and preeminence.

An example will make the explanation of this doctrine clearer. In consequence of original sin, we bear in us an inclination towards the pleasures of the senses. A man may, by obeying his natural reason, strive to abstain from the irregularities and abuse of these pleasures ; by often repeating acts of temperance, he acquires a certain facility, a certain habit which constitutes in this man a strength (virtus) of resistance. This acquired facility is of the purely natural order; if this man does not possess sanctifying grace, these acts of temperance are not meritorious for eterna! life. But let grace come with the infused virtues. If, in this man, there had not been already, in consequence of the acquired moral virtue, a certain facility for temperance, the infused moral virtue of temperance would have difficulty in developing itself, on account of the obstacles which result from our evil inclinations and have not been destroyed by contrary good habits; but finding a certain facility for good, grace utilises it so as to act with more ease. Then not only does the infused virtue urge this man further and make him rise higher in the degree of the virtue, to the point of causing

Christ, the life of the soul. 16 him to despise even permitted pleasures in order to imitate Jesus Crucified more closely; but grace (without which there is no infused virtue) will also give to the acts of the acquired moral virtue a supernatural and meritorious value which these acts could never attain of themselves.

Where the two virtues (acquired and infused) come in contact, a necessary exchange is established between them: the natural or acquired virtue destroys the obstacle and creates facility for good; —- the infused or supernatural virtue takes possession of this facility in order to develop itself more freely, and also to raise the value of this good habit, give it additional strength, extend its field of operation, and render it supernaturally worthy of eternal beatitude.

}

V

A like exchange of services exists between the moral virtues (acquired and infused) and charity. — I have said that charity is a treasure liable to be lost by every grievous sin: it is for the moral virtues to protect it. They are love’s safeguards. By means of these virtues, the soul avoids mortal sins that threaten the existence of charity and the venial faults that lead to grave sin.

This is above all true of those that are not far advanced in the inner life and whose love has not yet reached that eminent degree which makes it strong and stable. One of these souls receives Our Lord in Communion; this communion is fervent; the soul is, at that moment, full of love. But if during the day, this soul is solicited by a temptation of the senses, it is necessary that the moral virtue of temperance should incline her to resistance; otherwise the soul will consent and love will suffer shipwreck. In the same way, if the soul be tempted to anger, it is necessary that the moral virtue of patience, of meekness, should urge her to accept the humiliation, otherwise she will give way to anger and vengeance at the risk of losing sanctifying grace and, with it, charity.

It is not mortal sin only that is a danger for charity ; every venial fault of habit not striven against, as I have said above, becomes a danger, because these faults expose the soul to serious falls. Now to combat these venial faults, deliberate or habitual, we need to exercise the moral virtues which cause us to resist the many solicitations of concupiscence. Our will is weakened in consequence of original sin; it is of great flexibility and easily inclines towards evil. To make it incline towards good needs strength; this strength is virtue, it is a ” habit ” that constantly inclines the soul towards good, It is a fact of experience that we act nearly always if not always, according as our habits incline us; from a habit, especially if not striven against, sparks are continuously thrown out as from a furnace. A soul that has the vice of pride will be constantly committing acts of pride and vanity, unless this vice is combated. It is the same with the virtues; they are habits whence constantly arise the acts corresponding to them. The moral virtues (acquired and infused) serve then principally to remove from the soul all the obstacles that delay our advancement towards God; they help us to use the necessary means to fulfil the divers obligations of the moral life, and thus they safeguard within us the existence of charity. Such is the service that the moral virtues have to render to charity.

In return, charity, above all when it is strong and ardent, crowns, as I have said, the other virtues by giving them a special lustre and adding to them new merit.

The influence of charity goes still further: it may rule the whole of our actions so that in case of need it leads the soul to bring forth, so to speak, the acquired moral virtues; the soul, urged by charity, accomplishes little by little the acts of which the repetition produces the acquired moral virtues. The motive then comes from charity; but charity cannot exercise all the acts of every virtue. Each faculty has its own work and special exercise.

This is what happens to souls advanced in the divine life. In these souls, charity has attained high perfection. It is not only on the lips and in the heart, but manifests itself by works. If we really love God, we shall keep His commandments: S72 diligitis me, mandata mea servate 1.

Affective love is necessary for the perfection of charity ; we praise, and extol those whom we love, we rejoice in the good qualities they possess. He who loves God _ takes delight in His infinite perfections and repeats constantly with the Psalmist: ’” Who is the great God like our God !

O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth!” ! He ardently sings God’s glory; praise mounts from his heart to his lips: Cantare amantis est?. It was because they loved, that St. Francis of Assisi composed his wonderful Canticles, and St. Teresa her burning Exclamatons.

But is that enough ? No; to be perfect, love must translate itself by acts; affective love must be prolonged in the effective love that embraces the divine good-pleasure and yields itself entirely to it; that is the true mark of love . ‘And when this love is ardent, when it is well anchored in the soul, it then governs all the other virtues and every good work; it acts supremely. Because it is powerful, it ever inclines the will towards good, towards God. It manifests itself by constant fidelity to the divine good pleasure and to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. It is to these souls full of love, that St. Augustine could say: Dilige, et quod vis fac. " Love, and do what thou wilt®”, because these souls embrace only what pleases God; following the example of Christ Jesus, they can say: Quae placita sunt et facio semper,” I do always that which pleases My Father in Heaven”. That is perfection.

VI

Now how is this perfect love to be acquired ? How are we to increase it in us so as to live by it ? For it contains, when it is true, the germ of every virtue: it sets them all in motion, each of course at the required moment, as a captain does with his soldiers ®. Caritas omnia credit, omnia sperat,

  1. Ps. uxxvi, 14 and Ps. vin, 2. — 2. S. Augustin, Sermo cCCXxXXVI, c. 1. — 3. " We have two principal exercises of love towards God; the one affective, the other effective. By the first we bear affection to God and to what He loves; by the second we serve God and do what He ordains; the first makes us find our complacency in God, the second makes us pleasing to God.” St. Francis of Sales, Treatise on the Love of God. Rook VI, chap. 1. — 4 Cf. St. Francis of Sales, Treatise on the Love of God. Book XI, c. 8. — 5. In Epistol. Joan. Tract. vu, c. 4. — 6. St. Francis of Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Book III, chap.z. This is what St. Jane de Chantal wrote regarding the saint : "The Divine Goodness had placed in this holy soul a perfect charity, and, as he says, charity entering a soul lodges there with the whole train of virtues ; certainly charity had placed and arranged them in his heart in wonderful order ; each held therein the rank and authority belonging to it; one undertook nothing without the other; for he clearly saw what was befitting for each and the degrees of their perfection ; and all produced omnia suffert, omnia sustinet*. Each step taken in love is a step in holiness, in union with God. How can we reach this perfection of holiness? How can we maintain within us the intensity of love ?

It is above all by the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrament of union, that this love increases; we shall presently see this point in detail; we will here consider the question in the domain of our co-operation, beyond the action of the sacrament.

Charity is maintained and its intensity increased above all by the renewal of the intention in view of which we act. As the Fathers of the Church so truly say, in commenting the words of Our Lord, the intention is the eye of the soul which directs all one’s being towards God?. If this eye is pure, is not obscured by any human, created obstacle, then all the activity of the soul is referred to God.

Is it necessary that this intention of acting for love of God, that is to say to procure His glory by doing His will, should be always actual ? No, that is not requisite nor even possible, but experience and the science of the saints have shown how well founded and helpful is the practice of frequently renewing our intention so as to advance, to progress in the love of God and the divine life ®. Why is this ? Because purity of intention keeps our soul in the presence of God and urges us to seek Him alone in all things, it prevents curiosity, levity, vanity, self-love, pride their actions according to the occasions that presented themselves, and in the measure that charity excited him and that gently and without ostentation. ”

  1. 1 Cor. xm, 8. —2. Oculum hic accipere debemus ipsam intentionem gua facimus quidquid facimus : quae si munda fuertt et recta et illud aspiciens quod aspiciendum est, omnia bona opera nostra, quae secundum ean operamur, necesse est bona sint, St, Augustine. Lib. II. in posterior. partem sermonis Domini in monte, c. XII, Nn. 45. — Ouid enim per oculum exprimitur nisi opus suum praeveniens cordis intentio? Quae priusquam se in actione exerceat, hoc jam quod appetit contemplatur. 'Et quid appellatione corporis designatur, nisi unaquaequec actio, quae intentionem suam quasi intuentem oculum sequitur? Lucerna itaque corporis est oculus quia per bonae intentionis radium, mevita illustrantur actionis. S. Gregor. Moralia, Lib. XXVIII, c. x, n. 30. Cf. Ven. Beda, In Lucae Evang. Expositio, Lib. IV, c. x. — St. Thom. I-Ie gs Xi, a. 1 ad 1 and 2. — 3. We are not here speaking of what is strictly requisite to make an act meritorious, but of the growth of perfection. “Our intentions”, Bossuet somewhere says, " are subject naturally to fall away, if we do not revive them.” Practically, the intention is renewed by a sign of the cross, an ejaculatory prayer, an aspiration of the heart towards God. and ambition from insinuating and diffusing themselves into our action so as to diminish their merit. A pure intention, frequently renewed, surrenders the soul to God in its being and in its activity: it unceasingly reanimates and maintains in the soul the fire of divine love; and thus by each good work it causes to be done and referred to God, it increases the life of the soul. ” In order to make excellent progress in devotion”, says St. Francis of Sales, ” we must offer all our actions to God every day ; for, by this daily renewing of our oblation, we spread over our actions the vigour and virtue of love by a fresh application of our heart to the procuring of the divine glory; by the means whereof it is ever made holier. Besides this, let us apply ourselves hundreds of times a day to the divine love by the practice of ejaculatory prayers, elevations of the heart and spiritual retreats (recollections of the soul), for these holy exercises cast our minds continually into God, bearing with them all our actions. And how could it be, I pray you, that a soul that at every moment throws herself into the arms of the Divine Goodness and incessantly breathes forth words of love whereby to keep always in the bosom of this Heavenly Father, should not be considered as doing all her good actions in God and for God?”.

Let us then take care to act habitually only for the glory of God, to please Him and be pleasing to Him; so that, according to Christ’s own prayer, the name of our Father in Heaven may be hallowed, His Kingdom come in hearts and His will be done. A soul thus turned towards God is one taken possession of by love and that ever more and more, for, at each step, she advances more deeply in divine love by constantly renewing these acts of love. Love then becomes a weight that draws the soul, with ever increasing power, to generosity and fidelity in God’s service: Amor meus, pondus meum*. Hence comes this promptitude of the soul to devote herself to the service of God, to seek the interests of His glory; that is true devotion. What is the meaning of the word devotion ? The Latin word devovere means ” to be consecrated ”, vowed to God’s service and to accomplish it with ease; devotion is not only to have been consecrated to Christ in baptism, but it is to vow all one’s energies and works with ease and promptitude to His service and the glory of His Father?.11

That is what the Church frequently asks for us: ” Grant us, O Lord, ever to have a will devoted to Thee, and to serve Thy Majesty with a sincere heart”: Fac nos tibt semper et devotam gerere voluntatem et majestati tuae sincero corde servire®. Elsewhere the Church makes us ask to be devoted in good works to the glory of God’s name: In bonis actibus nomini tuo sit devota®.

To have no other principle than grace in the exercise of our activity, no other end than the accomplishment of the will of God Who has made us His children, no other supreme spring of action than the love of God and the interests of His giory, — that is, as St. Paul says, to ” walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing to Him; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God”. Ambuleits digne Deo per omnia placentes; in omni opere bono fructificantes et crescentes in scientia Dew*.

May this ideal be ours; then we shall fulfil the precept Jesus gave us, that precept which is the greatest of all and sums up all, namely, to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind and our whole strength °.

VII

St. Paul has just told us that in order to fulfil this precept, we must be pleasing to God in all things: Per omnia placentes. He uses the same expression when he speaks of the increase of the Divine life within us: Crescamus PER OMNIA. This term occurs more than once under the Apostle’s pen, and it is full of meaning. What does St. Paul mean by this: in all things to grow up in Him”? — He means that no action, so long as it be ” true” in the sense we have spoken of, is excluded from the domain of grace, of charity, of merit; that there is none but may serve to the increase of the life of God within us. St. Paul has himself detailed this word per omnia, in his first epistle to the Corinthians. ” Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God?”; and to the Colossians: ” All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him?”.12

As you see, it is not only the actions which, of their nature, refer directly to God, such as the ” exercises” of piety, assistance at Holy Mass, Communion and the reception of the other sacraments, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy; but also the most commonplace actions, the most ordinary incidents of our daily life, such as taking food, attending to our business or work, fulfilling our social duties, taking rest or recreation; — all those actions that occur every day and literally weave, in their monotonous and successive routine, the thread of our entire life, can be transformed, by grace and love, into acts very pleasing to God and rich in merit. To use another simile, each is like the grain of incense which seems nothing in itself but, when thrown into the fire, becomes a fragrant perfume. When grace and love take hold of everything in our life, then all our existence is like a perpetual hymn to the glory of the Heavenly Father; it becomes for Him, through our union with Christ, like a censer from whence arise perfumes that rejoice Him: Christi bonus odor sumus DEo*. Each act of virtue gives immense joy to the Heart of God because it is a flower and fruit of grace, and because grace has been acquired for us by the merits of Jesus: In laudem gloriae gratiae suae *.

No good action then is excepted, no effort, toil, good work, renunciation, suffering, pain, or tear but, if we will to have it so, comes under the salutary influence of grace and charity. How simple and sublime is the Christian life! Sublime, because it is the very life of God, come forth from God, come into us through the grace of Christ and leading to God: Agnosce, O Christiane, dignitatem tuam*®. Simple, because

  1. I Cor. x, 31. — 2. Col. m, 17. — 3. II Cor. m, 15. — 4. Ephes. 1, 6. — ” Those little daily acts of love, or this headache, toothache, this fever, this breakage of a glass, this slight or mark of contempt, in brief, all these little sufferings, being taken or accepted lovingly, are extremely pleasing to the Divine Goodness Who, for a single cup of water, has promised a sea of bliss to all His faithful..... Great opportunities of serving God rarely offer themselves, but the little ones are always occurring... let us then do all things in the name of God, and all will be well done.” St. Francis of Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life. Part Third. chap. xxxv. — 5. S. Leo. Sermo. I. de Nativitate Domini. this Divine life is engrafted on the human life, however low, humble, infirm, poor and ordinary this human life may be of itself. To become His children and the co-heirs of His Son, God does not ask us to perform many heroic acts; He does not ask us to ” go up to heaven nor cross the sea’”. No, the kingdom of God is within us; within us it is built, beautified and perfected: Regnum Dei intra vos est®; the supernatural life is an inner life of which the principle is hidden with Christ in God and in the soul: Vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo *.

We have not to change our nature but to repair what is defective in it; we have not to use long formulas: a single glance of the heart can contain an intensity of love. It suffices for us to remain in sanctifying grace; to refer all to God and to His glory by a pure intention, and thus to live our human lives in the place assigned to us by Providence, in accomplishing the Divine Will, in fulfilling the duty of the present moment; and that simply and peacefully, not feverishly and restlessly, but with that inward and deep confidence — composed of liberty of soul and interior joy — of a child who knows himself to be loved by his Father and returns this love according to the measure of his weakness.

This life, animated by grace and filled with love, does not always appear to the eyes of the world; undoubtedly, Our Lord says‘, that every tree is known by its fruits; the Holy Spirit Who dwells in the soul makes it produce fruits of charity and benignity that outwardly manifest the power of His action; but the principle of this actiom is altogether hidden, its substantial splendour altogether interior: Omnis gloria filiae regis ab intus *, its supernatural beauty is often veiled beneath the common appearances of everyday life.

How careless we should be if we often neglected to profit by so many treasures put every day within our reach, by attaching ourselves to ” bewitching vanities”: Fascinatio nugacitatis ® ! What should we say of poor people to whom a great prince was to open his treasury and who, instead of drawing freely from it and so enriching themselves, would be indifferent to these riches and pass them by? We should say they were senseless. Do not let us be such as these. As I have said, of ourselves, we can do nothing; Our Lord wishes us never to forget that: Sine me nihil potestis facere?, but when we possess His grace within us, it becomes with love, the principle of a life altogether divine.13

With the grace of Christ, we must do everything to please His Father. ”I can do all things”, says St. Paul, “in Him» Who strengtheneth me”. Omnia possum in in eo qui me confortat?; let all our actions, the least as well as the greatest, the most obscure as well as the most brilliant, serve to make us advance with great strides in the divine way, by reason of the intense love with which we do these actions. Then God will look upon us with complacency, because He will find reflected in us the image of His Son, an image ever becoming more and more perfect. With the growth of grace, of charity and the other virtues, the features of Christ will be more faithfully reproduced in us to God’s glory and the joy of our souls.

VIII

In order that we may become more conformable to Jesus Christ we must live in all things by charity : Crescamus per omnia IN ILLO QUI EST CAPUT CHRISTUS. The end of all development in the supernatural life is, for each one of us, to attain ” unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ ”.

I said, when speaking of the Church, that Christ, in His personal and physical reality, is perfect, but He forms, with His Church, a mystical body which has not yet reached its complete perfection. This perfection is attained gradually in the course of the centuries by the sanctification of souls, ’according to the measure of the giving of Christ*”. Ina body there are many members and all have not the same function and the same nobility. This mystical body makes only one with Jesus Christ, Who is its Head; through grace we make part of this body; but we must become perfect members, worthy of the Divine Head; that is what we must have in view in our supernatural progress.

And because He is the Head, Christ is the first source of this progress. Never forget this: Jesus Christ, having taken our nature, has sanctified all our actions, all our feelings: His human life was like to ours, and His Divine Heart is the centre of every virtue. Jesus Christ exercised every form of human activity; we must not think of Our Lord as living rapt in ecstasy; on the contrary, He found the motive power of His activity in the beatific vision of the _-perfections of His Father; He willed to glorify His Father by sanctifying in His Person the forms of activity we ourselves have to exert. We pray: He passed the nights in prayer; we work: He toiled in labour till the age of thirty; we eat: He sat at table with His disciples; we suffer contradictions on the part of men: He has known them; did the Pharisees ever leave Him in peace? We suffer: He has shed tears. He suffered for us, before us, both in His body and soul, as none other has ever suffered. We experience joy: His holy soul felt ineffable joy; we take rest: sleep has likewise closed His eyelids. In a word, He has done all we do. And why has He done all this? Not only to set us the example, since He is our Head; but also by all these actions, to merit for us the power of sanctifying all our acts: to give us that grace which renders our actions pleasing to His Father. This grace unites us to Him, makes us members of His body; and in order to grow up in Him, to attain our perfection as His members, we have but to let this grace take possession, not only of our being, but of all our activities.14

Christ dwells in us with all His merits, so as to vivify all our actions; when, therefore, by an upright and pure intention, often renewed, we unite all the actions of our day to the same human actions that Jesus accomplished here below, the Divine virtue of His grace exercises a constant influence over us. If we do everything united to Him by love, it is certain we shall advance very quickly. Listen to this magnificent text of Our Lord: Pater non reliquit me solum, quia quae placita sunt ei facio semper”. My Father is with Me, and hath not left Me alone, for I do always the things that please Him'”. Each one of us ought to do the same. O Heavenly Father, it is solely to please Thee, for Thy glory and that of Thy Son that I do this action. Christ Jesus, it is in union with Thee I wish to accomplish this act so that Thou mayest sanctify it by Thy infinite merits !

The love for His Father that filled the Heart of Christ ought to become the motive power of the action of His members as it was of His own action. The glory of His Father was the constant thought of Christ in all His works; may it also be ours through our continual union with the grace and charity of Christ! That is why Holy Church makes us ask God to render our actions conformable to His good pleasure; by remaining united to ” the Son of His love’, we shall deserve to abound in good works*. “Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us”, says St. Paul*; and then you will be fully in accord with your Head: Hoc enim sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesu*. Thence we shall go on from virtue to virtue: [bunt de virtute im virtutem . By this, we shall tend towards the perfection of our Model by uninterrupted growth, for Christ dwells in us with His Father Who loves us; Pater diliget eum®; with the Holy Spirit Who guides us by His inspirations; that is the source of progress unceasing and fruitful for heaven. We shall thus attain that solid perfection which is born of the fulness of works entirely conformed to the Divine Will. Ut sTETIs PERFECTI et PLENI in OMNI voluntate Dev®.15

IX

‘As long as we are here below we can always grow in grace. The river of Divine life began to flow in us on the day of Baptism, but it can ever go on increasing for the joy of our soul which it waters and fertilises, until this river flows into the Divine ocean; Fluminis impetus laetificat ctvitatem Dei".

Do not say that this is a mercenary thought. It is true, it is to our interest to make the Divine life increase within us, for the more we advance in grace and charity, the more our merits increase and the greater will be our future glory and eternal beatitude. But God Himself in the magnificence of His generosity has willed it to be so; if it concerns our joy throughout eternity, it also concerns the Will of God and the glory that the accomplishment of this Will procures for our Heavenly Father ®.

  1. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, dirige actus nostros in beneplacito tuo, ut in nomine dilecti Filii tui mereamur bonis operibus abundare. Prayer for the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity. — 2. Ephes. v, 2. — 3. Philipp. u, 5. — 4. Ps. rxxxm, 8. — 5. Joan. xiv, 23. —16

St. Paul is an admirable model in this. He has reached the end of his career; he has only a short time to live, for he awaits death in the Roman prison; he has preached Christ with unwearying perseverance and sought to reproduce in himself the Divine features of the Christ he so much loves. And this is what he writes to his beloved Christians of Philippi after so many labours undertaken for Jesus, after so many struggles undergone for His glory, and tribulations borne with that ardent love that nothing could diminish: ” Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus... I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do; forgetting the things that are behind and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus?”. Why does St. Paul press towards the mark with all the energy of his great soul? Doubtless to win the prize, but it is “the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus”. It is to the glory of the Eternal Father that we bear much fruit; Our Lord Himself has assured us of this; it is that the Divine life may abound in us that God has given us His Son, and that His Son has given us the Church, His Spirit, and all His merits.

That is why St. Paul so much exhorted the Christians of

‘his time to progress in the Christian life: ” As therefore ye have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith as also you have learned, abounding in Him in thanksgiving? ”. Again from his prison he wrote to the Philippians: ” And this I pray that your charity may more and more abound... that you may be sincere and without offence unto the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God*”. And yet more insistently: ” May the Lord... confirm your hearts without blame in holiness, before God and our Father, at the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ with all His Saints... brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus; that as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, takes delight and to possess them in the degree conformable to His so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the Will of God, your sanctification”, Haec est voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra?.17

Let us then seek to realise this Will of our Heavenly Father. Our Lord demands that the brightness of our works be such that it leads those who behold it to glorify His Father ?. Do not let us fear temptation: God makes it profitable for us when we resist it. Cum tentatione proventum*, because it is the occasion of a victory that strengthens us in the love of God; neither let us fear trials: we may pass through great difficulties, undergo serious contradictions, endure deep sufferings, but from the moment we begin to serve God through love, these difficulties, these contradictions and sufferings serve to nourish love. When we love God, we may still feel the cross; God even makes us feel it the more in the measure we advance, because the cross establishes in us a greater likeness to Christ ; but we then love, if not the cross itself, at least the hand of Jesus Who lays it on our shoulders; for this hand gives us also the unction of grace wherewith to bear this burden; love is a powerful arm against temptations and an invincible strength in adversities. Neither let us be cast down by our miseries, by the imperfections we deplore. They do not prevent the growth of grace, for God knows of what dust we are made: Cognovii figmentum nostrum*; they are the consequences of our fallen nature and the fruitful root of humility. Let us have patience with ourselves in this striving after perfection, however long it may be. True Christian life is not restless or unquiet; its development is perfectly compatible with our miseries, our limitations, our weaknesses; for it is in the midst of these weaknesses we feel the triumphant strength of Christ dwelling within us: Ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi ®.

God, in fact, is the first and principal author of our sanctification, as of our salvation®. Never let us forget that.

  1. I Thess. Im, 13; IV, 1-3. — 2. Luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant opera vestra bona et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in ceelis est. Matth. v, 16.— 3. I Cor. x, 13. — 4. Ps. cu, 14. — 5. II Cor. xu, 9. — 6. St. Paul writes: "May the God of peace... fit you in all goodness, that you may do His Will: doing in vou that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ: to Whom is glory for ever and ever.” WHebr. xut, 20-21.

” Do not let us glory ”, says the Council of Trent, ” as if we did everything ourselves; but God is so rich in mercy that He wills to recompense the gifts He Himself places in us?”. ” By the grace of God I am what I am”, says St. Paul. Gratia Det sum id quod sum, and he adds: Ef gratia ejus in me vacua non fut? : ” and His grace in me hath not been void, but I have laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I but the grace of God with me”. In order that God may give the increase, he says again, it is necessary to plant and water: Ego plantavi... Deus autem incrementum dedit *.

With all the energy of our being, by the meritorious practice of the virtues, above all, the theological virtues, and by the essential disposition of doing all for the glory of the Heavenly Father, let us aim at leaving the greatest freedom possible to the development within us of the action of God and of the Holy Spirit. It is by this ” we shall grow up in Christ Who is our Head”; to this we have been called by Christ Jesus: In quo et comprehensus sum a Christo Jesu *. To stand still on the road of sanctification is to recede. On the other hand we can always advance as long as we are here below, as Our Lord Himself said: ” I must work the works of Him that sent Me, whilst it is day; the night cometh when no man can work®”. Only death puts an end to those ascensions of the heart that are attained in this valley of tears ®. Grant that we may then have arrived at the age of the perfection of Christ, to that fulness of life and beatitude God has willed for each one of us in predestinating us in His beloved Son. Donec occurramus omnes... in virum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi’.

  1. Absit ut Christianus homo in seipso vel confidat vel glorieiur et non in Domino; cujus tanta est erga homines bonitas ut noruM velit esse MERITA quae sunt IPSIUS DONA. Sess. Vi, cap. 16. This is what the prayer after the 12th. Prophecy on Holy Saturday expresses so well. Omnitpotens sempiterne Deus, spes unica mundi... auge populi tut vota placatus, quia in nullo fidelium, nisi ex tua inspiratione, proveniunt quarumilibet incrementa virtutum. — 2. I Cor. xv, 10. — 3. Ibid. m, 6. — 4. Philipp. m, 12. — 5. Joan. 1x, 4-5. —6. Ps. txxxiu, 6-7. — 7. Ephes. Iv,13.

Note

(The numbers placed in parentheses indicate the pages of the present volume in which the different points raised in this note are to be found exposed more in detail.)

We think it useful to end this conference with a rapid glance at the supernatural organism taken as a whole; this wide synthetic view will serve to mark the order of the different elements that constitute the life of the child of God. With this aim in view, we cannot do better than contemplate for a few seconds the Person of Our Lord, since He is our Model.

In virtue of the grace of the Hypostatic union, Jesus Christ is by nature, God’s own Son (pp. 37 and 106-107); we become children of God by the grace of adoption (pp. 14-15). In Christ, sanctifying grace exists in its fulness (pp. 106-107) ; we share in this fulness in a more or less abundant measure, according to the gift Christ makes of it to us : Secundum mensuram donationis Christi (pp. 19-20). Sanctifying grace brings in its train the infused theological and moral virtues. Our Lord had not, properly speaking, faith, He had hope up to a certain point; He carried charity to its highest degree (pp. 39-40) ; there remains in us, as long as we are here below, faith, hope, and charity in a greater or lesser degree (pp. 233-234). Jesus Christ possessed the infused cardinal virtues and the other moral virtues compatible with His Divinity (p. 40) ; but in Him they developed freely, unimpeded and without effort, because Our Lord, having a perfect human nature, exempt from sin and the consequences of sin, these virtues met with no obstacle in their exercise ; in us, as a result of the consequences of original sin, the development of the infused moral virtues is hindered and requires the concourse of the acquired moral virtues (p. 240). Lastly, the Holy Spirit poured out in the soul of Jesus the fulness of His gifts (pp. 108-109) ; He makes us participate in them, and this participation, although limited, produces wonderful fruits (pp. 115-122). Let us add that the theological virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit raise us to a special plane, which does not necessitate the direct aid of the natural virtues (pp. 115-116 and 252-233) ; while the infused moral virtues require, for their full development, the concourse of the corresponding natural moral virtues, a concourse which they raise whilst utilising it. Charity, alone, supernaturally quickens the other virtues; that is why charity has the priority.

Such is, in a few lines, the wonderful supernatural organism that God’s infinite goodness has established to make us holy.

Footnotes

    1. Ephes. 1v, 15. — 2. Joan. v, 30: vi, 38. — 3. Ibid. xv, 4. — 4. Ibid. xv, 8. — 5. Ibid. x, 10.
    ↩
    1. Sess. VI, cap. 10.
    ↩
    1. Cf. §. Thom. I-II, q. cx, a. 3.
    ↩
    1. S. Thom. (I-II, q. Lxu, a. 1) states two reasons for this term ” theological virtues" : these virtues are given by God alone, and Divine Revelation alone makes them known to us. — 2. I Joan. m, 2. — ay bid. ay er8:
    ↩

  5. t. Joan. xvi, 3—"erl Cor. 1, oF — "30 Pt Petces. 3 5 Ch. Ti'Gorss, 3. — 4. Sermo Liu. — 5. Rom. vit, 35. ↩

    1. S. Thom. II-II, q. tvi, a. 2; cf. I-II, q. tv, a. 2. — 2. Sess. x, cap. 10. — 3. Luc. xvu, 5. — 4. Rom. xv, 13. — 5. Philipp. 1, 9.
    ↩
    1. Cor. x1, 13. — 2. S. Thom. IJ-II, q. xxi, a. 8.
    ↩

  8. ah Treatise on the Love of God. — 2. Matth. x11, 55. — 3. Joan. v1, 38. ↩

    1. Joan. vi, 29. — 2. Ibid. x, 34, and Ps. LXxx!, 6.
    ↩

  10. manifestation of grace is impeded by defects of temperament, independent of the will. — 2. Joan. x1v, 31. ↩

    1. Treatise on the Love of God. Book XII, chap. 1x. — 2. S. Augustine, Confess. Book. XIII, chap. 1x.
    ↩
    1. Devotio est quidam voluntatis actus ad hoc quod homo prompte’se tyadat ad divinum obsequium. S. Thom. II-II, q. LXXxu, a. 3. — 2. Collect for the Sunday in the octave of the Ascension. -— 3. Collect for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost. — 4. Col. 1, 10. — §. Marc. xl, 30.
    ↩
    1. Deuter. xxx, 12-13. — 2. Luc. xv, 21. — 3. Col. 11, 3. —4. Matth. XI, 33- — 5. Ps. xLiv, 14. — 6. Sap. Iv, 12.
    ↩
    1. Joan. xv, 5. — 2. Philipp. rv, 13. — 3. Ephes. iv, 7.
    ↩
    1. Joan. vmt, 29.
    ↩
    1. Col. Iv, 12. — 7. Ps. xtv, 5. — 8. "A soul that loves God ought to wish sincerely to unite within herself all the perfections in which God
    ↩

  17. Will.” St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. Life by P. Cepari. 1. Philipp. m1, 12-14. — 2. Col. u, 6-7. — 3. Philipp. 1, 9-11. ↩

Chapter 14 of 21