The Perfect, the Extraordinary, and the Excellent

Perfectionism is trying to be extraordinary. The extraordinary here is beyond the ordinary and beyond the capacity of what is normal. Not everyone can be extraordinary; otherwise there would be no such thing as extraordinary.

Perfectionism is a rejection of limit, the limits imposed by our finitude. Every perfectionism pretends to overcome those limits but can do so only by imposing new limits. The person neurotically committed to perfectionism is not free from limits but enslaved to the demands of that "perfection."

We cannot aspire to the extraordinary because the extraordinary is a combination of chance talent, circumstances, and effort.

We can aspire only to what is within our capacity and potential, which when I begin, I do not know. All I do know is that my potential has a limit. Perhaps my potential is the extraordinary, but I cannot expect that.

The excellent is within the capacity of the ordinary and is the true perfection of the ordinary. Whatever is done, is done well, and this is excellent. If when achieving excellence, I attain to the extraordinary, that can be recognized only in hindsight. The extraordinary, for those with the potential for it, is the fruit of pursuing excellence, which all may and should pursue.

St. John of the Cross on Perfect Transformation in God

Since every living being lives by its operations, as the philosophers say, and the soul's operations are in God though its union with him, it lives the life of God. Thus it changed its death to life, its animal life to spiritual life.

The intellect, which before this union understood naturally by the vigor of its natural light by means of the natural senses, is now moved and informed by another higher principle of supernatural divine light, and the senses are bypassed. Accordingly, the intellect becomes divine, because through its union with God's intellect both become one.

And the will, which previously loved in a base and deadly way with only its natural affection, is now changed into the life of divine love, for it loves in a lofty way with divine affection, moved by the strength of the Holy Spirit in which it now lives the life of love. By means of this union God's will and the soul's will are now one. 

And the memory, which by itself perceived only the figures and phantasms of creatures, is changed through this union so as to have in its mind the eternal years mentioned by David [Ps. 77:5].

And the natural appetite that only had the ability and strength to relish creatures (which causes death), is changed now so that its taste and savor are divine, and it is moved and satisfied by another principle: the delight of God, in which it is more alive. And because it is united with him, it is no longer anything else than the appetite of God.

Finally all the movements, operations, and inclinations the soul had previously from the principle and strength of its natural life are now in this union dead to what they formerly were, changed into divine movements, and alive to God. For the soul, like a true daughter of God, is moved in all by the Spirit of God, as St. Paul teaches in saying that those who are moved by the Spirit of God are children of God himself [Rom. 8:14].

Accordingly, the intellect of this soul is God's intellect; its will is God's will; its memory is the memory of God; and its delight is God's delight; and although the substance of this soul is not the substance of God, since it cannot undergo a substantial conversion into him, it has become God through participation in God, being united to and absorbed in him, as it is in this state. Such a union is wrought in this perfect state of the spiritual life, yet not as perfectly as in the next life. Consequently the soul is dead to all it was in itself, which was death to it, and alive to what God is in himself. Speaking of itself, the soul declares in this verse: "In killing you changed death to life." 

The soul can well repeat the words of St. Paul: I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me [Gal. 2:20]. The death of this soul is changed to the life of God. 

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Source: St. John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, trans. by K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1991), 2.34.

Pressure vs. Cooperation

In common experience, we feel "under pressure" when the results of some effort depend upon us combined with the expectation of success in achieving the goal of that undertaking, whether these expectations are internal to us or external/social.

Feeling under pressure in the spiritual life is a sign of pride, a sign that the results of our progress depend principally upon our efforts. In contrast, cooperation with God removes pressure because we know that God provides a superabundance of means for our sanctification; hence any failure to achieve sanctity is not because God places an expectation without providing the means to achieve the goal, but because we failed to cooperate with those graces offered at every moment by our free resistance.

Hence as cooperation increases, pressure decreases. The Blessed Virgin was under no pressure when Gabriel extended the invitation to become the Mother of God; all the just souls of the past, the present, and the future waited on her response, united mystically to this moment every time they pray the Angelic Salutation. If the Blessed Virgin could, by means of an infused understanding from God, see this reality at the moment that Gabriel waited, the reality of all souls to be redeemed watching and waiting on the Blessed Virgin to give her fiat, she nevertheless would have felt absolutely no pressure to "make the right choice." Her only concern was to cooperate as perfectly as possible with God's will with the full humble knowledge that any positive acceptance of God's will would be provided totally by God's power, His grace not only allowing the cooperation but providing the condition by which her free will could even exercise itself without doing harm to its integrity.

Insofar as we believe that our salvation depends upon ourselves, we shall feel the pressure of perfectionism. Insofar as we believe that our salvation depends upon God and our simple cooperation, there is no pressure, no fear, only perfect love.

The Purpose of St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises & Discernment of Spirits

[39] The overall goal is the removal of obstacles in us to the one certain expression of love for God, our seeking sincerely to find and do his will (Spiritual Exercises, no. 1), and so enabling us to grow toward the ideal of hearts so pure as to experience God's revelation of himself in all things, and to live lives in Christ totally dedicated to thanksgiving, praise, and service, or, in other words, to doing always what is for the greater glory of God (Spiritual Exercises, no. 230). The way to such purity of heart is mainly contemplation of God's love revealed in Jesus as he is seen in the Gospels—contemplating in such a way as to experience his personal love "for me" and so to enter into intimate personal relationship with him, taking on his mind and heart.

Growth into such purity of heart is God's work in us, impossible to achieve merely by our own efforts, but not to be effected by God without our free response and effort. So it is of essential importance to be able to recognize when God is acting on our consciousness and to know when it is not God, but our own selves, or the prodding of the world, or of Satan. Only so, can we by our free choice open ourselves to God's influence and close out anything opposed to it.

The Threefold Purpose of the Rules: to Notice, to Understand, to Accept or Reject

Accordingly, when he comes to write his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits, Ignatius states that they are "to help persons get in touch with and understand in some manner the diverse motions which are prompted in them, in order to receive the good ones and expel the evil ones." If we analyze this statement, we can see that [40] it proposes three aims in an ordered series: (1) to help us get in touch with—that is, to become reflectively and discriminatingly aware of—the spiritually significant motions among all those in the whole mass of motions swarming in our consciousness; (2) to help us to a practical "understanding" of these perceived motions; and (3) to enable us intelligently to receive or expel these spiritually significant motions. The first purpose is for the sake of the second and makes it possible; the second in turn is for the sake of the third and makes it possible. The first two are so closely bound together that they can be discussed as one combined purpose. [...]

Ignatius assumes that those who study these rules will truly desire their third and ultimate purpose; they will want to open themselves wide to the movements from God and allow them to influence their lives in whatever way God intends by giving them; they will respond with decision and action when this is called for. On the other hand, he assumes that such persons will be ready to resist the movements from Satan and thrust them out. [...]

[41] An obvious condition for the possibility of understanding the spiritually significant motions within our minds and affectivities is our becoming aware of them. This is, therefore, the first purpose of the rules, to help us become perceptively aware of what is going on within us. This purpose involves more than mere consciousness of the motions; it involves reflective and discriminating attention. All the motions of which Ignatius speaks are conscious acts or feelings, but generally most of them are not attended to reflectively. In fact, when we make the effort to attend to them we find it very difficult to do so.

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Source: Fr. Jules J. Toner, S.J., A Commentary on Saint Ignatius' Rules for the Discernment of Spirits: A Guide to the Principles and Practice (St. Louis, MO: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1982), 39–41

St. Teresa of Avila and Fr. Dubay on the First Mansions

FIRST MANSIONS

[81] [...] St. Teresa's starting point is the absolutely basic condition for a serious prayer life: an earnest, continuing effort to rid oneself of sins, imperfections and attachments. [...] Christic communion cannot be produced by techniques, because it is above all a love matter before it is anything else—and precisely because interpersonal intimacy is its heart, it is suffocated, even killed, by selfishness in any form. Hence, in writing of the first three mansions, the saint wisely spends much time explaining how the beginner, even though in the state of grace, can and must emerge from a whole web of more or less petty faults. [...]

[The saint] is speaking of men and women who want to avoid offending God and who "may perform good works". Yet they are, at this early stage, still absorbed in worldly matters and pleasures, and they are "puffed up with worldly honours [sic] and ambitions". Because they are free from serious sin, the King does dwell in their castle, but they have only a tenuous relationship with Him, and they scarcely see His light, so submerged are they in things of the world. [...] Neither Jesus nor Teresa explains spiritual retardation as resulting from a lack of techniques or methods. In almost identical terms they lay the blame on the free-will choice of worldliness in its sundry forms.

What, then, is a beginner to do? Most people cannot leave the world in a bodily sense, but every follower of Christ who is serious about genuine growth must leave the spirit of the world. Everyone, says Teresa, who wishes to go on to the second mansions [82]

will be well advised, as far as his state of life permits, to try to put aside all unnecessary affairs and business. For those who hope to reach the principal Mansion, this is so important that unless they begin in this way I do not believe they will ever be able to get there. (Interior Castle, mans. 5, ch. 2)

The New Testament has already admonished us that we must not love the passing world or anything that is in it, for the love of the Father cannot exist in the person who loves the world, the sensual body, the lustful eye, pride in possessions (1 Jn. 2:15–17). God's grace has taught us "that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions" (Titus 2:12). The main business of the beginner, therefore, is to make a determined turnabout from preoccupation with this worldly life to a life centered in the Trinity. The struggle will be long and at times arduous, but there is no other way to accomplish the ascent of the mountain and reach the rewarding outcome that awaits one at the submit.

We direct our attention now to some of what St. Teresa says about the methods of discursive meditation. While, in her mind, procedures in prayer are clearly secondary, they do have their proper place for beginners. She valued thoughtful reflection, and she herself had a keen sense of the marvels of nature. [...] [The saint] found in a worm or a bee matter for meditating "upon the wonders and the wisdom of our God. [...] It will be a great help to us if we occupy ourselves in thinking of these wonderful things and rejoice in being the brides of so wise and powerful a King" (IC, mans. 5, ch. 1).

Yet splendid as nature is, it is not sufficient. The mysteries of the supernatural order are still more fruitful sources of meditative prayer, and in the presentation of these mysteries nothing can surpass the Gospels. "I have always been fond of the words of the Gospels," she notes, "and have found more recollection in them than in the most carefully planned books—especially books of which the authors were not fully approved, and which I never wanted to read" (Way of Perfection, ch. 21). [...]

There are no complicated steps and substeps. [...] She offers the same advice to a layman [83] to whom she writes: "You must not tire yourself by trying to think a great deal, nor worry about meditation... keep occupying yourself all the time with the praise of the Lord" (Letter 57 to Don Antonio).

SECOND MANSIONS

[...] What are these people like who have made some progress but are as yet still far from their destination? They are still engaged in worldly pastimes, half giving them up and half clinging to them. They see imperfectly, and they act imperfectly, but nonetheless some growth has occurred. God is calling them ceaselessly, and they are able to hear Him now. In the first mansions they were both deaf and dumb, notes Teresa, but now the message is beginning to get through. Yet these people are not able to do the divine bidding immediately, for they are weak and irresolute. God's appeals to them come in several ways: conversations with good people ... sermons and homilies ... good reading ... sickness and other trials ... divine light during prayer itself.

The man or woman in the second mansions is a battleground where the conflict between the world and the divine call is being waged. There is a tug-of-war going on, and the individual experiences the two opposing pulls. The world's tug is experienced in several ways: earthly pleasures remain attractive, and they appear as though almost eternal. The soul finds it hard to give up esteem in the world and a selfish clinging to family and friends. It unreasonably fears doing penances to which it now feels called, and it vacillates, says Teresa, as to whether to return to the first mansions or to strive bravely on. In the opposite direction God's tug is likewise felt in diverse manners: reason itself shows the person how mistaken the world's message is and why it is mistaken. Significant growth has now taken place and has instilled a conviction that only in God is one's surety. Thus the will is inclined to love Him and to press on to leave worldliness with all of its falsehoods.

Given this conflict between the human and the divine, it is not surprising that the person in the second mansions is still a child in the practice of humility, obedience, love and patience. In her charming manner the saint observes that the virtues are "young", that they "have not yet learned to walk—in fact, they have only just been born". Hence, if prayer is to grow in depth, Gospel living must be perfected—the first cannot happen without the second.

What, then, is the program for those in the second mansions? St. [84] Teresa's first bit of advice concerns companionship: the soul should avoid a close association with "evil" and mediocre people and make it a point to mix with the good, that is, not only with those in the early mansions but also with those who have advanced into the mansions "nearer the center", where the King is. To be in close touch with these latter is a great help, for they tend to bring others to higher things along with themselves. Second, there is need to "embrace the Cross" along with the suffering Lord. Resignation is not enough; there must be a generous, willed welcome to hardships and dryness in prayer. Third, there is the typical teresian insistence on daily fidelity to the divine will: "All that the beginner in prayer has to do ... is to labour [sic] and be resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will into conformity with the will of God." The more one does this, the more "he will receive of the Lord". In the divine will "our entire welfare is to be found". In saying this the saint is, of course, reflecting the teaching of Jesus Himself: it is not those who merely proclaim "Lord, Lord" who enter the kingdom but those who do the Father's will (Mt 7:21). Fourth, when one falls, there is no reason to lose heart but rather to continue making serious efforts toward progressing. People in the second mansions surely do fall, and if they repent and persevere in their efforts, God will bring good even out of the failures. St. Paul himself, noting that he was not yet perfect, forgot what was behind and pressed on; indeed, he raced toward the finish (Phil. 3:12–14). Finally, adds Teresa, people in the second mansions need to exercise fidelity to prayer. We cannot enter heaven without first entering our own souls, getting to know ourselves better, reflecting on the divine goodness and our need for mercy: "The door by which we can enter this castle is prayer." There is no other, for Jesus is Himself the door (Jn. 10:7).

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Source: Fr. Thomas Dubay, Fire Within (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1989), 81–84.

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on Holy Church's Aids to Contemplation

[385] We recognize the fact that environment has its importance; also that a calm temperament is much better disposed to the contemplative life than a restless and agitated spirit. It may indeed be that among these [386] last, some, even though quite generous, would reach the mystical life only after a period longer than the ordinary span of life. And it is certain that bad spiritual direction often allows souls to vegetate or turns them away from infused contemplation, whereas another type of direction would definitely turn them toward contemplation.

However important these conditions may be, they remain superficial compared to others which are the chief ones. Here again the same rule holds true as in the matter of salvation, which is possible to all who possess a developed conscience, even to those not born in a Christian environment, who are strongly inclined to evil, and who have not had an opportunity to hear the Gospel preached. If they ordinarily follow the dictates of their conscience, they will be mysteriously led from grace to grace, from fidelity to fidelity, to eternal life.

Anyone who wishes to advance in the spiritual life and to prepare himself for the grace of contemplation must, to the best of his ability, use the great means which the Church gives us all. The assiduous reception of the sacraments, daily hearing of mass, frequent communion, love of the Eucharist, devotion to the Holy Ghost, filial and incessant recourse to the Sacred Heart of Jesus [1] and to the Blessed Virgin, mediatrix of all graces, are evidently necessary.

Contemplation is a fruit of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as explained by Blessed Grignion de Montfort (True Devotion, ch. 4, art. 5). He says that, without a great love for her, a soul will attain union with God only with extreme difficulty. "It is necessary to pas through dark nights, combats, strange agonies, sharp thorns, and frightful deserts. By the way of Mary, the soul advances with greater sweetness and tranquillity. Along this way it encounters many crosses and great difficulties to [387] overcome, but our good Mother keeps so close to her faithful servants ... that, in truth, this virginal road is a path of roses in spite of the thorns." It thus leads more easily and surely to divine union. Mary, wonderful to relate, makes the cross easier and, at the same time, more meritorious: easier, because she sustains us with her gentle hand; more meritorious, because she obtains for us a greater charity, which is the principle of merit, and because, by offering our acts to our Lord, she increases their value. By reason of her pre-eminent charity, Mary merited more while performing the easiest acts than all the martyrs in their tortures.

Another great means to prepare for the grace of contemplation, a means within the reach of all interior souls, is found in the liturgy, in an ever more intimate union with the great prayer of the Church. "The graces of prayer and of the mystical state have their type and source in the hieratic life of the Church; they reflect in the members the likeness of Christ which is perfect in the body" (Fr. Clérissac, O.P., Le mystère de l'Église, p. 102). Liturgical prayer recited with recollection, in union with our Lord and His mystical body, obtains for us holy lights and inspirations which illumine and inflame our hearts. Consequently it is advisable to make mental prayer after the psalmody which prepares us for it [i.e. after the Divine Office]; just after mass and holy communion, it is well to prolong our thanksgiving, and if possible devote an hour to it [following St. Teresa of Avila's advice].

Lastly, the frequent reading of Scripture and the study of sacred doctrine, undertaken in a truly supernatural manner, are other excellent means to prepare the soul for contemplation. Thus the ancients used to say that divine reading (lectio divina) by pious study (studium) leads to meditation (meditatio), then to prayer (oratio), and finally to contemplation (contemplatio) (see 2a2ae.180.3).

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Footnotes:

1. It is fitting to unite ever more closely devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and that to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, in order to thank our Lord for the act of supreme love by which He gave us the Holy Eucharist.

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Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, trans. by M. Timothea Doyle (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1946), 385–387.

"Where Are Their Sins?"

I've often heard Catholics ask about the Saints, "Where are their flaws? Where are their sins? They seem so perfect that it's almost inhuman." Seeing these Saints and their lives, rather than being awed and inspired, they are rather turned away because they cannot form any connection. Unfortunately, there is something to be learned from most hagiography, which is this: the lives of the Saints as recorded tend not to focus on the Saints' struggle for holiness as such. The purpose of hagiography isn't so directly didactic; its form, not so framed by the contemporary interest in self-help.

When this point is understood, people will be freed from the illusion of trying to draw out of hagiography what simply isn't there. Every Saint underwent a struggle for holiness because every Saint had to overcome original sin and its consequences. Nevertheless, some Saints were "sped" along this path of purification faster than others because they had a mission to fulfill that may have been more extraordinary than others. Thus, for example, we see people such as St. Paul or St. Francis of Assisi. Other Saints were called to such a high life of union with God that they too underwent their purifications very rapidly although they did not live without intense suffering, such as St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Gemma Galgani, or St. John of the Cross.

Most of us come from the perspective of laity living in the world with daily concerns. It is admittedly difficult to find many examples of lay Saints whose lives we can connect with not only spiritually but practically. The life of the 21st century is radically different than it was even 30 years ago, and this for many reasons.

Nevertheless, we should always understand when reading the lives of the Saints that they too had to undergo intense self-discipline and struggles to be rewarded with the deep holiness that God brought them to. Knowing this, reading hagiography shouldn't discourage us. Perhaps it may even inspire us to make the struggle so that someday someone may write about our lives and provide for future others that example that they may need.

Commentary on the "Veni Creator Spiritus"

Veni Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita,
Imple superna gratia,
Quæ tu creasti pectora

Qui diceris Paraclitus,
Altissimi donum Dei,
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.

Tu septiformis munere,
Digitus Paternæ dexteræ,
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus,
Infunde amorem cordibus
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus;
Ductore sic te prævio,
Vitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Noscamus atque Fillium,
Teque utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.

Deo Patri sit gloria,
Et Fillo, qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In sæculorum sæcula.

English translation:

Creator-Spirit, all-Divine,
Come, visit every soul of Thine,
And fill with Thy celestial flame
The hearts which Thou Thyself didst frame.

O gift of God, Thine is the sweet
Consoling name of Paraclete—
And spring of life and fire and love
And unction flowing from above.

The mystic sevenfold gifts are Thine,
Finger of God’s right hand divine;
The Father’s promise sent to teach
The tongue a rich and heavenly speech.

Kindle with fire brought from above
Each sense, and fill our hearts with love;
And grant our flesh, so weak and frail,
The strength of Thine which cannot fail.

Drive far away our deadly foe,
And grant us Thy true peace to know;
So we, led by Thy guidance still,
May safely pass through every ill.

To us, through Thee, the grace be shown
To know the Father and the Son:
And Spirit of Them both, may we
Forever rest our faith in Thee.

To Sire and Son be praises meet,
And to the Holy Paraclete;
And may Christ send us from above
That Holy Spirit’s gift of love.

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Translation by Father Aylward, O.P. There are about sixty translations; eight of which are in the Annus Sanctus. 

Liturgical Use: Hymn for Vespers and Terce on Whitsunday and throughout the octave. Terce (the 3rd hour, 9am) was the hour on which the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2, 15). The hymn is used on many other solemn occasions in liturgical and extra-liturgical functions as an invocation to the Holy Spirit. With the exception of the Te Deum, there is probably no other hymn so extensively used in the Church as the Veni Creator Spiritus. [...]

1. "Come, Creator Spirit, visit the souls of Thy children, and fill with heavenly grace the hearts which Thou hast made." 

Creator: The three Divine Persons concur equally in their external operation; thus the Father created, the Son created, and the Holy Ghost created.

2. "Thou who art called the Paraclete, the gift of God most high, the living fountain, fire, love, and spiritual unction."

Paraclitus: the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit; a Greek word signifying—the consoler, comforter. In the Scriptures the word occurs only in St. John 14, 16; 14, 26; 15, 26; 16, 7. 

Donum: The Holy Spirit is called the ''gift of God most high." To receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2, 38) is equivalent to receiving the Holy Ghost with His gifts. 

Fons vivus: Sed aqua, quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquse salientis in vitam seternam [Translation: But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.] (John 4, 14).

Ignis: Earthly fire illuminates, enkindles, consumes, and purifies from dross; so too, in its nature, is the fire of the Holy Spirit—enlightening, love-enkindling, sin-destroying, and purifying. This fire manifests itself in works of charity, and especially in preaching with zeal and fervor the word of God. 

Caritas: Deus caritas est, et qui manet in caritate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo [Translation: But the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.] (I John 4, 16). 

Spiritalis [or] Spiritualis: The grace of God is called unction or anointing because the effects produced by it in the spiritual order are analogous to those produced by ointment in the natural order. It cools, refreshes, exhilarates, strengthens, heals, enriches, etc. 

3. "Thou art sevenfold in Thy gifts, the finger of the Father's right hand; Thou art the express promise of the Father, endowing tongues with speech." 

Septiformis: The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are enumerated by the Prophet Isaias: Et requiescet super eum spiritus Domini; spiritus sapientias et intellectus, spiritus consilii et fortitudinis, spiritus scientias et pietatis, et replebit eum spiritus timoris Domini [Translation: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.] (Is. 11, 2-3).

Digitus Dei: The Holy Spirit is called the "finger of God" as may be seen from the following parallel passages: Si in digito Dei eicio daemonia [Translation: But if I by the finger of God cast out devils...] (Luke 11, 20). Si autem ego in Spiritu Dei eicio daemones [Translation: But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils...] (Matt. 12, 28). 

Rite: explicit, distinctly stated. 

Promissum, i = promissio. Et ego mitto promissum Patris mei in vos [Translation: And I send the promise of my Father upon you...] (Luke 24, 49). Sed expectarent promissionem Patris [Translation: ...but should wait for the promise of the Father...] (Acts 1, 4). 

Sermone: A reference to the gift of tongues (Acts 2, 4). 

4. "Enkindle Thy light within our minds, infuse Thy love into our hearts ; strengthen the weakness of our flesh by Thy never-failing power." 

5. "Drive far away our enemy, and forthwith grant us peace; so that while Thou leadest the way as our guide, we may avoid everything harmful." 

6. "Grant that through Thee we may know the Father; through Thee, the Son; and may we ever believe in Thee, the Spirit of Them both."

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Source: Fr. Matthew Britt, OSB, The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal (New York, NY: Benzinger Brothers, 1922), 162–164.

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If there are few perfect souls, this is because there are few that follow the direction of the Holy Ghost. His seven gifts often have little effect in many souls because they are, as it were, fettered by contrary habits and affections. More or less deliberate and frequent venial sins exclude the graces necessary to produce the acts of the gifts. But we cannot doubt their existence, because Scripture, tradition, and the liturgy speak of them, and, if the obstacles were removed, we should ordinarily see the gradual realization of what the Church makes us implore in the Veni Creator [....]

This prayer, which should be said by the faithful soul with an ever increasing fervor of will, reminds us that the life of grace is eternal life begun; and it ends by asking for the normal fruit of this "grace of the virtues and of the gifts," the infused contemplation of the Blessed Trinity dwelling in us:

To us, through Thee, the grace be shown
To know the Father and the Son:
And Spirit of Them both, may we
Forever hold firm trust in Thee.`

[...] We must trust in the Holy Ghost who dwells in us and who increases His work in us in proportion to our growing fidelity to the first commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind" in order to become "adorers in spirit and in truth." Our Lord said: "I will not now call you servants... but I have called you friends." We should believe in the wholly divine strength of the grace received in baptism, of the Holy Ghost who was given to us. We do not see this strength any more than we see the life hidden in an acorn from which a vigorous oak grows. If the oak is encircled by a band of iron, the bark will soon grow over it. Who can measure the supernatural energy contained in the grace of the virtues and the gifts, which is none other than eternal life begun? Who can set a limit to the work of sanctification which the Holy Ghost has begun in us, and prevent souls from reaching even the inner sanctuary where the Blessed Trinity dwells? "Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me" (Wis. 7:7). "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" (Mt. 11:25).

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Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, Christian Contemplation and Perfection, trans. by M. Timothea Doyle (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 2003), 406–408.

At What Cost?

Perhaps some of us have difficulty in committing to the spiritual life because we have little sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility follows an awareness of some pressing and important task to be completed, the failure or neglect of which would result in something unfavorable. The greater the task, the greater the potential failure, but also the greater the potential success—and hence, the greater the sense of responsibility. This sense of responsibility, which follows from a true perception not only obligation but its consequences, is different than the resentment of workaholics, who work to hide within the busyness of their work from what they must actually take responsibility for—their brokenness.

It's easy to put off the responsibility of cooperating with God's grace in becoming transformed to our fullest potential in God for His glory and the salvation of souls because we do not see and hence do not believe that there are any serious consequences to neglecting our interior life. Hence what Christ said to the Samaritan woman, He says to us all: "If you but knew the gift of God!" (Jn 4:10). If we knew what was offered to us and Whom was offering it to us, we would have asked Him, and He would have given us living water. But because we do not know, we do not ask. The paradox, of course, is that we must ask to know and know to ask.

Perhaps many of us believe that if we put off praying today or persevering in being more charitable, more self-giving, more noble and generous, everything will be all right since we have tomorrow. There is always time, we think, because our lives are relatively stable and predictable. And in the trap of predictability, we become stagnant, like J. Alfred Prufrock, and perhaps even end up like Richard Cory.

But everything is affected. St. John of the Cross warned us: imperfection leads us imperceptibly but surely to venial sin, which disposes us bit by bit for mortal sin. A trickle adds up over time, the same time that we think we have to change. Not only do we reject God's infinitely wise and noble plan for us, but we spurn those that we could have helped if only we had cooperated with God. How many more souls could we have touched; how many more prayers and sacrifices could we have offered—if only we were generous and realized that the time we have now is the time that affects everything, everywhere. The smallest prayer said now, in good faith, only in heaven shall we see its effects. Dr. Peter Kreeft said that he believes if we saw the effect of one such a small prayer throughout the entire world, we would fall to our knees and never rise for the rest of our lives, deep in intense prayer and rapt admiration for how God uses such seemingly-insignificant means to effect great change in the world.

When we come closer to God through this little sacrifice or that little act of virtue, the angels rejoice, devils fly, and the entire Mystical Body of Christ is strengthened, like medicine being administered through its veins because the mouth opened to receive the pill, the hand accepted the medicine, the throat swallowed, the heart pumped blood, the lungs breathed to aid the heart, etc. Everything works together. And when we become holy, we change the entire fabric of the universe by aiding it in its goal of transformation to become a symphony to God's glory.

For this reason did Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, the renowned spiritual theologian of the early 20th century, recommend that someone beginning to read the works of St. John of the Cross begin with his Spiritual Canticle or the Living Flame of Love because these books show us the glorious end that holiness attains to. With the end in mind, we might persevere because we see how precarious the situation is, how much danger we truly are in, how much progress there is to be made, how close the devils are to us but as well as the angels, how intense the struggle is over each and every soul.

But stuck in the day-to-day monotony and gray of work and technology, it's easy to forget that anything is really happening. It's easy to disbelieve that monotony has been sanctified by Christ's Resurrection. It's easy to forget that gray, like all the other colors, glorifies God. Some of us want yellow and blue and green and red all the time, thinking that these colors matter more somehow. But Christ spent thirty years with the grey—or the brown wood, if you prefer—to show us that each has its proper place—the red for the Passion and the gold and white for the Resurrection.

And so Christ also told us, surely knowing how easily we are prone to forget, since He knew how easily the Israelites forgot the covenant they had with God, "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?" (Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25). Remember: "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who he is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

"Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?"

Distinction: Being Nice

What does it mean to be nice? It seems to me to mean basically that a person follows social conventions with a certain gracefulness, exhibiting socially and biologically attractive qualities. Those socially-attractive qualities are relative to the culture. In our society, they may include independence and personal resolve. The clothes we wear also reflect these qualities and project an image. Biological qualities may be things like confidence and self-sustenance (a form of independence).

Social conventions include mostly the different forms of etiquette as well as colloquial language (and slang). Clothing reflects an aesthetic sense as well as a sense of fashion. Hair, make up, and accessories also complement the image.

Basically, being nice means you fit into this particular culture well by exhibiting the qualities and behaviors that this culture proclaims are positive, good, "wholesome," uplifting, constructive, etc.

But just because you fit in, what does that matter to God? It matters to God only if we think God is nice. But God isn't nice. God commanded the genocide of entire peoples, slew the first born of Egypt, threatens unrepentant sinners with hell, and laughs at the folly of sinners. God wiped out the entire human population, crushed Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent His own people into exile.

But this culture rejects the Biblical God. Then what god does it believe in? What is the god that most people adhere to? Is it the god of nice? Where is this god of nice? Do we worship it? What will it do if we commit heinous crimes? What will it do if we sacrifice all that we have and are in service to others? Does any of it matter?

Therefore the issue must be clarified:

1) What God are we talking about here? The God of the Bible? Or the god of nice? What God is the object of our belief?

Answering this question reveals the trajectory of what follows. In fact, answering this question closes the conversation: if we answer the God of the Bible, the conversation ends because we know what the God of the Bible expects. If we answer the god of nice, then the conversation ends as well because the god of nice accepts everything, tolerates everything, cares about nothing. And if that's what a person believes in, all you can really say is, "Have a nice day then!" After all, if you said, "I'll pray for you," they could just as well say, "That's nice." There is no leading "nice" people to the truth because nice people don't care about the truth. Truth demands sometimes that we not be nice. Truth is a higher standard than niceness. Truth calls us beyond social expectations.

There are some people who reject and rebel against social convention because they see its emptiness. Although there is truth to this perception—social convention is mostly relative and changeable—, it tosses the baby out with the bathwater. After all, not everything that is nice is wrong or evil. Some nice things really are good things. But then again, many people use these nice conventions so emptily that humanity disappears, and when humanity disappears, manifold opportunities open up for mutual manipulation, the politics, the game playing, the lies.

Sadly, most "rebels" end up playing their own game because you can't overcome the game by rebelling against it. That sets off another game. Rebellion is as blind to the truth as niceness is. Only a reflective mind and a magnanimous heart can hear the call of truth and follow it.

"But I'm a 'Good Person'!"

This article by John-Mark Miravalle really hits the nail on the head about this phenomenon of "I'm a good person." I'll add more below.

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In my experience, some people just don’t want to talk about the big questions – Does God exist? Is Jesus Lord and Savior? What must I do to be saved? – and their dismissal of these kinds of questions almost always appeals to the notion of “good person.” It usually goes something like this:

“If God exists, then all He cares about is whether you’re a good person. Because at the end of the day, all that really matters is being a good person. And I’m a good person, so I don’t really need to worry about anything else.”

What are we supposed to say to this? What do we say when someone pits “being a good person” against the urgency of accepting and spreading the Gospel?

Well, I think there are a couple of things you can say to a “good person” who doesn’t feel the need to worry about God or His Christ or His Church:

First off, ask the person: have you ever really tried being a good person? I mean a really good person? Because if you have, if you’ve really made an effort to be fair and courageous and to think your decisions through carefully, and only to say what should be said, and not to act on cravings or impulses you know are addictive and hurtful, and to really behave as though other people are just as important as you are – if you’ve ever tried to do that, then you know it’s incredibly difficult. It’s hard even to know how to be good, let alone actually being good. In fact, one of the best preparations for understanding who Jesus is and why we need Him as our Savior, is actually, sincerely putting “being a good person” as the number one priority of you life. When you make that your main goal, you’ll really see how desperately you need help–how desperately you need Christ.

Or maybe this “good person” dismissal is trying to say that the only thing that matters is to be an okay person. An average person. Not a psychopath or a sociopath. Maybe what some people mean by “good person” is just a “pretty good person.” But is that really all that matters? Would anybody really say that the main thing in life is to be mediocre? Because if mediocrity is your priority, if that’s what matters to you, then you actually have some very serious problems – you are lost in life, and you badly need to get some direction. You need to ask God for help, and you need to be open to the help He sends you.

Here’s another point: either Christianity is true or it isn’t. If it’s true then the things it says about how to be good are true as well. And if you don’t recognize that then you won’t know as much about how to be good. In other words, if Christianity is true then it matches up with reality – but in that case your ignoring or rejecting Christianity will set you in opposition to reality. And if you’re acting against reality then it doesn’t matter whether you’re a well-wishing sort of person, you’ll actually be doing a lot of harm. So if you really care about being good then you simply can’t ignore the special claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And finally, let’s talk about what God cares about. Remember, according to the Scriptures, God is our Father who loves us dearly. So He wants to be close to us, the way every good Father wants to be close to His children. Do you think it’s “good” to ignore the loving Father who gave you everything? To ignore His Son, to ignore his family? Do you think it would be admirable for a child in a loving family to ignore all his relatives because he was too busy being a “good person”?

Consider this illustration: one thing every schoolteacher notices is the difference in class between the students who have a strong, positive relationship with their parents and the students who don’t. All the students may be “good kids,” but that parental relationship makes a big difference, a difference in the way the students relate to their peers, to authority figures, to assignments. It makes a big difference even to the students’ self-image. Better to be a “good kid” with a positive parental relationship then to be a “good kid” on your own.

So too, it’s better to be a good person with a positive relationship with God the Father, and that’s precisely what Jesus Christ came to offer. You can be a good person and an orphan, but it’s a harder life without that core relationship. You can be a good person and a non-believer, but it’s a harder life without that core relationship.

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Source: John-Mark Miravalle, "Is It Enough to Be a "Good Person"?," Prayer and Perspective Website, April 12, 2014, accessed April 14, 2014, http://www.prayerandperspective.com/2014/04/is-it-enough-to-be-a-good-person/.

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See this article for a deeper psychological analysis into this issue of being "nice": http://www.chastitysf.com/q_nice.htm

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If a sick person desires health without limitations, with greater reason we should desire the love of God, without limiting our desire to a certain degree. We do not know the degree to which God wishes to lead us and will lead us if we are faithful and generous. St. Thomas says: "Never can we love God as much as He ought to be loved, or believe and hope in Him as much as we should" (Ia IIae, q. 64, a. 4). In contrast to the moral virtues, the theological virtues do not consist essentially in a happy mean: their object, their formal motive, their essential measure is God Himself, His infinite truth and goodness. [...]

We cannot love God too much, believe too greatly in Him, hope too much in Him; we can never love Him as much as He should be loved. Thus we see more clearly that the supreme precept has no limit. It asks us all ever to strive here on earth for a purer and stronger love of God.

If hope is the mean between despair and presumption, this is not because the presumptuous man hopes too greatly in God, but because he displaces the motive of hope by hoping for what God could not promise, such as pardon without true repentance. Likewise, credulity does not consist in believing too greatly in God, but in believing what is only human invention or imagination as if it were revealed by him. [...]

To wish to make the theological virtues consist essentially in a golden mean as the moral virtues do, is characteristic of mediocrity or tepidity, erected into a system under pretext of moderation. Mediocrity is a mean between good and evil and, indeed, nearer evil than good. The reasonable, golden mean is already a summit, that is, moral good; the object of the theological virtues is infinite truth and goodness. This truth has at times been brought into relief by the comparison between the mediocre man and the true Christian. [1]

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Footnotes:

1. Cf. Ernest Hello, L'homme, Bk. 1, chap. 8: "The truly mediocre man admires everything a little and nothing with warmth.... He considers every affirmation insolent, because every affirmation excludes the contradictory proposition. But if you are slightly friendly and slightly hostile to all things, he will consider you wise and reserved. The mediocre man says there is good and evil in all things, and that we must not be absolute in our judgments. If you strongly affirm the truth, the mediocre man will say that you have too much confidence in yourself. The mediocre man regrets that the Christian religion has dogmas. He would like it to teach only ethics [à la Kant], and if you tell him that its code of morals comes from its dogmas as the consequence comes from the principle, he will answer that you exaggerate.... If the word 'exaggeration' did not exist, the mediocre man would invent it.

"The mediocre man appears habitually modest. He cannot be humble, or he would cease to be mediocre. The humble man scorns all lies, even were they glorified by the whole earth, and he bows the knee before every truth.... If the naturally mediocre man becomes seriously Christian, he ceases absolutely to be mediocre.... The man who loves is never mediocre."

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Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, trans. by M. Timothea Doyle (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1989), 200-201.

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Would God send a "good person" to hell? Ultimately only God knows who will go to hell, for He alone will make the judgment. That being said, God has given us this little bit of insight into the process, which I think should make us pause (Matthew 7:13-27, DR):

[13] Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. [14] How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! [15] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 

[16] By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?[17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. [19] Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. [20] Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. 

[21] Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.[22] Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? [23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. 

[24] Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, [25] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. 

[26] And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, [27] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof.

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Remember St. John of the Cross's commentary on verse 14 of the above passage. He calls attention to our Lord's choice of words—"How narrow!"—as if to say, "Yes, the gate is very narrow, narrower than you think" (cf. Ascent of Mount Carmel, 2.7.2 ff.).

Simple Confessional Advice

I went to confession today and confessed that I have a hard time trusting God, and I doubt whether I can turn to Him for strength and consolation amidst my daily stress and pain. The priest gave me a lot of existential baloney, saying things like, "Continue in your search for meaning. Continue in your search for God," and something about my doubts being a sign of something good. I couldn't really comprehend what he was saying, and I'm used to reading dense material.

Later, I opened the book that I have been reading for spiritual reading, Fr. Victorino Osende's Fruits of Contemplation, and came across this passage:

It is possible to be of good will and yet feel the greatest rebellion against the idea of belonging wholly to God. A person's good will and sincerity are demonstrated in the firmness with which he maintains his resolution in spite of the combats and resistances he may experience. [...] 

It must be noted that the goodness and sanctity of man reside basically in the will and in the struggle for sanctity a man always retains power over his will—his intense, absolute, and sincere desire to be good. That is why, first and above all, God asks of man his heart, his will, his absolute and sincere desire. But often a man's actions and even his interior natural dispositions are not in his power fully to control. God sees this and does not demand it of him. However, He does demand that when He shall grant a soul this power, he should be grateful and correspond with divine grace to the fullest extent of his capacity. [...]

What matter the numerous falls through human frailty or the arduous battles and conflicts we may experience? What matter if we do not even feel the desire to be good and holy or experience no attraction for God? Of far greater importance than sentiment or feeling is the sincere will which is manifested by our constancy and perseverance in the midst of spiritual dryness and bitterness. It does not matter if by nature we should be inclined to the worst evil and should experience difficulty only in doing good, for what we lack we can ask for and it will be given us. 

If we lack good will, let us ask for it; if we have no desire for God or for things spiritual, let us ask for it; if we are blind and torpid in regard to things spiritual, let us beg God to awaken, illumine, and vivify us. He who infused life and intelligence into the dust of the earth can also illumine that intelligence and give new life to the heart. All our failure and disappointment in the way of sanctity are due to the fact that we do not desire it enough. From the very fact that God gives all to him who asks, and sanctity more readily than anything else, it follows that if there are few saints it is because few really want to be such. [...] 

Do not fear anything; let nothing terrify or frighten you; do not be afraid of the sacrifices or the aridities of the spiritual life; do not fear obscurities or darkness or fluctuation, still less any danger. If God is with you, who is against you (Rom. 8:31)? He will guide and conduct you across all the chasms with greater security than over firm rock. Fear nothing and let yourself be carried in His arms without knowing whither or how; for "in order to arrive at that which thou knowest not, thou must go by a way that thou knowest not" (Ascent of Mount Carmel, 1.13). Do you wish to know more than God? Let yourself be guided without the least resistance and ask nothing. Do you not know that it is God who is leading you? Do not, then, do Him the injury of distrusting or doubting Him, for that is the greatest injury a child can inflict upon so loving a Father. 

On the other hand, if you are a person of ill-will, that is, if your will is vitiated and distorted; if you worship other gods, other idols in your heart; if you seek yourself; if you desire your own glory, your own ambitions and satisfactions outside of God and do not wish to renounce them but prefer them to God; if you do not even dare to ask God sincerely and whole-heartedly to deliver you from such slavery and tyranny, but on the contrary, you desire to be subject to them because their yoke seems to you sweeter than that of Christ; in short, if you do not wish to conquer and renounce yourself for His love, then the peace of Christ will never be yours and you can expect nothing but constant misery. [...] 

Oh precious soul, if up to now you have hesitated to give yourself completely to God, resolve upon it once and for all! Forget self; detach yourself from all things for the sake of God. And if you know not how or do not have the strength to do so, ask God to help you; ask Him constantly, persistently, and never weary of this petition. If you make it earnestly, I assure you that God will not be able to resist it, so much does He love those who love Him! He desires so greatly to be loved by souls that if He were to fail to heed you, He would cease to be what He is: Infinite Love. [...] 

It is not enough that man make this consecration of self only once. He must repeat it as many times as is necessary to make it true and effective, until God shows Himself pleased with our good will. The abandonment of self will be all the more efficacious as it is made with a greater spirit of detachment and self-renunciation and a greater desire for union with God. God wants nothing from us but our heart. We need not be perfect in order to give ourselves totally to God; rather, we should do so in order to become perfect, even though this be the last thing to be attained, for the last thing in execution is the first thing in intention. The reason why there are so few saints is because there are few generous hearts who will give themselves totally to love, for nothing is more opposed to love than restraint and niggardliness. (92-96)

Granted, the priest wouldn't have had time to say all of this to me, but he could have at least been as clear. He could have said the essence of what Fr. Osende wrote above. Or could he have? It's not my place to judge this priest's soul (or any soul), but I can judge what he told me and how he said it, and it just confused me. If only there were more priests like Fr. Osende to tell it as it is.

Fr. Victorino Osende on Holy Pride

All passions have a good as well as a bad aspect, but by reason of regarding them always from their bad aspect, we forget the good that is in them. Pride, ambition, anger, and all aversions and affections are bad only when they are disordered, that is, when they deal with unworthy objects or when they are wrongly exercised concerning good objects. Pride is evil if it is founded on one's own worth or induces us to despise others. Ambition is evil if it impels us to strive after false honors and dignities or makes us as eager for false as for true honors. Anger is evil if it moves us to act unjustly or, though justly motivated, exceeds due limits. In short, the love of evil and aversion to good are bad because that is the source from which all sins flow.

However, these same passions are good and holy when they deal with worthy objects and are rightly exercised. Even self-love, which is the root and sum of all the passions, becomes good and holy when it is founded on just motives and deals with objects worthy of man. Righteous self-love is the father of holy pride which makes us esteem ourselves and take just pride in our exalted state as children of God. It is the father of holy ambition which makes us despise all things earthly as unworthy of noble and generous hearts that only the immortal, eternal, and divine can satisfy. It is the father of holy indignation which reveals itself with indomitable energy against every action or intention beneath the dignity of a being whose soul is marked with the seal of divinity.

This is what good self-love and holy pride teach us:

Do not occupy yourself with nor attribute importance to anything but the divine, the immortal, and the eternal, for that alone is worthy of you. Do not occupy yourself with anything earthly, not even to despise it.

Do not sell your holy liberty for anything, for you are worth more than the whole world. Do not make yourself a slave of men or submit to their judgments and whims, for they are not your judges nor your God. God alone is superior to you and only He can judge you.

Conduct yourself well and do all the good that you can for everyone, for you are a child of God and you should do as He did; but never expect any recompense from man. To know that one is good is the best reward.

When that which at one time gave you pleasure becomes a source of mortification to you, then you will be perfect.

He who is a slave of his passions is a slave of every tyranny. No one can be free if he does not liberate himself from himself.

To him who has the approbation of God, the praises and vituperations of men matter little. He who has a place among the angels is little concerned about having one among men.

He who realizes his divine greatness can easily humble himself. Contempt humiliates only the contemptible. He who is proud with a holy pride recognizes no other absolute sovereignty than that of God.

Do not attempt to enslave him whom God has made free, for it is a vain attempt. He will forever sing his sublime Magnificat:

I am nothing.
I am miserable.
I am the least of men.
But God has regarded my humility and has done great things to me.
In God I am great.
In God I am free.
In God I am divine.

No; it is vain to try to enslave him whom God has made free. His heart is free, his soul is free, and his spirit is free, for they are slaves of love and of truth.

Be, therefore, proud with a holy pride and do not taint your dignity or sell your sovereignty for all the world.

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Source: Fr. Victornio Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister of the Perpetual Rosary (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 105-107.

The Grandeur of Life

Do not underestimate your life nor yourself, for that would be slighting God and you would be doing yourself the greatest possible harm. God does not do things on a small scale. In Him all things are great. He has created you according to His image and likeness and has given you the power to become His child and, as such, to become God by participation in His own divinity. You will therefore be divine if you will but act divinely.

Do not mark your misery and lowliness and say: "I am a poor mortal born for the things of earth; heaven is too high for me and I am not able to mount to it." Do not underestimate yourself this way nor underestimate the work of God. For if you are part earth, you also have a spark of divinity that makes you greater than the universe.

It is not external things that make you great, but you must magnify or make great all things. The smallest thing, the most insignificant action, will become great if you will perform it with a magnanimous spirit. Before God what is great and what is small in the material order? To Him there is but one greatness in man: greatness of heart. Just as God is equally great when He creates an ant as when He creates the universe, for in each case He operates with the same power, so also the man who acts in virtue of his interior greatness elevates all things to his own greatness.

Wherefore, do not mark the external lowliness of your life; do not mark the servility and insignificance of your occupations and believe yourself bereft of the right to true greatness, which is to become like God. Did He not spend thirty years in a carpenter's shop? He did it in order to consecrate your life. Thenceforth there would be no vile or base occupations. Everything is great, everything is holy, everything is divine if we but do it in the spirit of the children of God. What does it matter, then, if my actions and occupations are lowly, if in them I accomplish the will of God and through them I ravish His heart? For nothing pleases Him more than humility of heart!

Sing, then, O soul, sing with jubilation to your God while your hands sow the seed or carve the stone, for thus you sow seeds of eternal life and fashion your eternal crown.

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Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister of the Perpetual Rosary (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 104-105.

Wolves—More Influential Than We Think

I came across an intriguing blog post earlier today that flipped the image of the wolf in sheep's clothing on its head: http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2014/04/when-wolves-evangelize.html. The post links to this video, which I highly recommend. I thought it was very cool:

The video illustrates how a species can have a huge impact on the environment. In this specific case, the wolves have a very positive impact on the environment at Yellowstone. The blog post takes this idea and suggests that these certain positive traits of the wolves can be effective in the work of evangelization.

I want to suggest that this analogical application of specific "positive" traits of wolves can just as equally be applied to negative circumstances that have positive appearances. In other words, I'm returning to Christ's own image of the wolf in sheep's clothing and exploring it in light of the above video.

The mental image of a wolf in sheep's clothing conjures up something ridiculous and obvious. Only sheep would fall for it (but, of course, many times humans act like sheep). I think also of Little Red Riding Hood—"What big teeth you have!"

But these influential traits of the wolves on the surrounding environment suggest several applications to evangelical work where there may be wolves in sheep's clothing, both of insidious and innocent intent. What do I mean?

I mean the activists of the Church who wish to "do" something good when they are not prepared—these are the wolves of innocent intent, leading sheep to slaughter without meaning to and with the best of intentions (at least on the conscious level...). There are the insidious wolves, those of malicious intent, who use their positions of power and charisma for selfish ends. 

But if the wolf is so influential to the environment, in hundreds of different ways, some of which are subtler than others, others of which have results that follow from a kind of chain reaction, then we ought also to note how people in the apostolate can have similar influences.

When I was talking about the necessity for holiness in doing authentic evangelical work with other seminarians, one seminarian remarked how a pastor he had worked with and was close to was tremendously popular and successful at his parish but admitted to not always praying the Breviary or not putting such a huge emphasis on holiness. This apparently was supposed to counter my point about the necessity of holiness, but we can see now, from the example of the wolves, how even on the human or natural level alone, influence and persuasion can work very deeply in an environment.

Take another example to show its immediate absurdity: look at popular social Gospel people and pastors at mega churches. How do we "calculate" "success"? This same seminarian, incidentally, several months later in a somewhat related conversation made the counter to me that success in evangelization isn't about "numbers." (At this point, I have no idea what "success" to that seminarian really means, but he has my prayers.)

Just because a person is having huge, observable influences around him—what does it amount to? And what standard is being used? People often point to Medjugorje and remark, "Look at all the good that is coming from it!" Hundreds of thousands of conversions with a particular emphasis in devotion to the Blessed Mother. Of course, that is the ostensible behavior. But at what cost? What might Satan see, for example? Perhaps he sees the opportunity to sneak in an attitude of outright disobedience to Church authority. Perhaps he sees the opportunity to sneak in slightly heretical notions of eschatology and Marian devotion as well as the nature of private revelations. I don't know. I suppose on this specific matter, we will see when Rome comes out with their final report on the phenomenon within the next few years. 

My point, to repeat and summarize, is this: on the natural level, humans can have a huge impact on their environments with effects that ripple out in ways we can't imagine nor take into account. Those around us, using standards that we derived from who knows where, judge these effects to be good or ill. But I want to question, not so much how much good is really being done, but whether we are really in any position to judge such a matter, and especially in light of what we know from the example of the Saints in doing evangelizing work, what are the odds that the situation really is all well or that we are judging it properly? The fact of the matter is that the majority often isn't trustworthy with respect to judging these matters because the majority is precisely the group who needs evangelizing! 

Food for thought.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 8: "Holy Mary, Mother of God"

Holy Mary, Mother of God

These words begin the second part of the Hail Mary, which does not appear in the Gospels. Now, we have already noted in the first part of this commentary that the second part of the prayer began to appear in the 14th century, but it was not used universally until the reform of the Roman Breviary, promulgated by Pope St. Pius V in 1568. We pick up again the pious commentary of Fr. Barcón:

1. Holy Mary. God values the sanctity of Mary more than her maternity. Hence, I should prefer Mary to be holy before being the Mother of God. And for this reason, the Church firstly calls her "Holy Mary." And in the litanies we place her sanctity before her other prerogatives, saying: Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins. And it is before holiness that the angels and archangels, the cherubim and seraphim, unceasingly sing before God in heaven: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus [Holy, Holy, Holy]! 

Mary is holy because she faithfully fulfilled the will of God in all things. She is holy because, after her Son, nobody had the same degree of charity, the same humility, the same patience, or any of the other virtues to the same degree as her. She is holy in her conception, in her life, in her death. Holy in Bethlehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, at Calvary.

Holy Mary, obtain for us from your Son celestial light to deem holiness above all the goods of the earth. 

We know how one degree of grace is of greater value than the entire good of the universe combined. We ought never waste the occasion to augment our virtues, and we ought to understand the glory that awaits in heaven for all eternity to a single work of virtue. We must believe within that we have come to earth for no other purpose than to be holy. We have come neither to be rich, nor to be praised, nor to be entertained, nor to pursue a happy life, comfortable, and more or less free of faults [as society deems them], but we are here to be chaste, humble, mortified, meek, obedient to the law of God. This is our obligation and our bliss.

2. Mother of God. No mother is a seraphim or cherubim, but all things and the celestial hierarchies are of the Lord and God. No mother is powerful, rich, the owner of great treasures and possessions, nor is any mother the master of the earth and the seas, of the air and the depths of the abyss, of the stars and the clouds, of the birds and the fields.

But the Mother of God is to be a Mother under whose care are all things: those things which, like bodies, perish, and those things which, like souls, are immortal. The Mother of God is to possess, after God, the loftiest dignity, sanctity, goodness, loving-kindness, and power. The Mother of God is to be the Mother most pure, without original sin; the Mother most chaste, the Mother most amiable, the Mother most admirable, the Mother of all Christians, the Mother of the Creator, the Mother of the Savior, the Mother of Beautiful Love, the Mother of divine grace.

3. The Mother of God is our Mother as well. We ought to recall that the life of grace was communicated to us by Mary's Son in Redemption.

Because Christ is head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members, Mary is our Mother. Because at the foot of the Cross Christ said to Mary, "Woman, behold your son," and we are the adopted sons of God by grace, Mary is our Mother. 

And for these reasons we are obliged to reciprocate: She to love us, to defend us, to raise us, to teach us; we to love her, invoke her, reverence her, to present ourselves to her.

He who will not be safeguarded by Mary will be lost; he who will not be led by Mary will walk as a blind man; and he who will not love Mary will not know Jesus, nor will he be preserved in grace, nor will he enter glory, for She is the gate of heaven: ianua cæli [the door of heaven].

Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, defend us from the enemy and receive us at the hour of death. Show yourself to be a Mother; bring our petitions before Him who, born for us, desired to be your Son.

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Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 456-457.

A Reason NOT to Clericalize the Laity

I was reading some statements that Pope Francis recently made against clericalizing the laity. In one instance, a priest half-jokingly said that a certain layman should be ordained a deacon because he was so helpful. And here is one main reason given today in so many different forms for clericalizing the laity: they are helpful, i.e. it is convenient to do so. I heard the exact same-old stuff from an old Jesuit priest and theologian at a recent talk that I attended.

This is a huge argument for women priests: so many women are already running parishes and their administrations, sacristies, schools, hospitals, religious education, music, etc. So many women are just as good at public speaking if not better than men. So many women are just as educated if not more. So many women are x, y, x equal to or more capable than men at doing a, b, and c. But this is all on the NATURAL level. The priesthood is strictly governed by the laws of the supernatural.

In other places, the argument is made that there should be more extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and female altar servers because there is some sort of shortage, i.e. it is convenient for them to help.

As an aside, here I think is a huge reason for the failing vocations to the priestly and religious life in the past 60 years: the liturgical reason. Yes, vocation directors may have been doing a poor job at defining what the religious or priestly lives are about (cf. http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/sacrificing-religious-life-on-the-altar-of-egalitarianism), but it may also be that once the external center of Catholic life, i.e. worship, becomes dictated by what is "convenient," then what appeal is there left to dedicate one's life to that? To convenience?

As with all clericalization, there is a fundamental premise: there is something "better" about being a priest that the layfolk do not have. Now, this "something" is usually presented as some form of power or influence. The cleric has the power to do things that the laity do not. And also usually therefore it is argued that the cleric can serve more than the laity.

But this premise regarding the power to do more or serve more is always disassociated from a more fundamental premise, one that upholds both the clerical and lay state alike, namely, the purpose for Church structure in the first place. The purpose of Church structure is directed by the nature of the Church herself and her mission, which is the salvation of souls, and the salvation of souls occurs only through the supernatural. All service in itself is meaningless for salvation unless it is in accordance with the New Law, which is the law of grace, which is the law that flows from God's inner nature of love, and this law, when applied concretely to our order, is necessarily hierarchical.

The hierarchy is "ordained" to salvation, and hence with respect to salvation, cleric and lay are equally vital for the life of the Church, considered as a whole (to deny this premise of equality with respect to salvation would open up the priesthood to women, among many other things). This premise of equality with respect to salvation, regardless of sex, gender, state, etc., was one of the distinguishing traits of Christianity, especially from Judaism before it. It is only in certain respects that the clerical state is superior to the lay state, such as with respect to the sacramental power to forgive sins or to consecrate the Eucharist, all through the power of Christ. Likewise, it is only in certain respects that the lay state is superior to the clerical state, such as with respect to the direct raising of children within a Catholic family or the more direct engaging of culture. But with respect to salvation, the efficacy of each state for sanctification is determined solely by God's calling of each individual to this concrete state and that individual's response to and cooperation with that vocation.

Therefore, the push to clericalize the laity out of some kind of necessity or shortage or convenience is precisely a reduction of the supernatural order to the natural, the law of grace to the law of politics or a zero-sum game, all presented behind the mask of "service."

The true solution is not to force politics against the supernatural structure but to trust that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the Church (Mt 16:18) and that God will supply (cf. Gen 22:8; Phil 4:19). Let the priest be as best as possible as priest, and let the layfolk be best as possible as layfolk, and everything will sort itself out.

Finally, with respect to salvation, the best state is the religious state (which may embrace both clerics and laity alike, be it noted) because the evangelical vows are precisely ordained to the sanctification of the individual. If we really cared about saving souls in this quasi-political, quasi-selfless quest, then we would be saying to priest and layman alike, "You should enter the religious life." But that only reveals the whole lie of the push to clericalize the laity because it will be responded, "Then nothing will get done! There will be no more society!" Etc. etc.

The whole purpose behind this agenda is to "do" something, forgetting that we must first "be" children of God, sanctified, and from that holiness flows the ministry or apostolate proper to each state.

Holiness is like an Overflowing Fountain, not a Pipeline

I attended a talk the other day on theology and culture, and one of the speakers shared an experience he had speaking with his spiritual director. He told his spiritual director that he had an insight that we are to be holy, and in effect, our holiness is a kind of pipeline through which God's grace pours out onto other souls for their sanctification; he also compared this to how the image of God within us shines through most effectively when it is Christ (the image of God) that is seen rather than our ego (the image we put up). The spiritual director said that a better "image" is a fountain that overflows since a pipeline keeps nothing for itself and hence isn't "holy" itself. I was a bit surprised by the response since it's exactly what St. Bernard said in one of his sermons (perhaps the spiritual director was/is familiar with it!).

I copy the sermon below in its entirety for the benefit of the reader since it is not a very long sermon. Imagine hearing this on Sunday! It's a brilliant compendium of the entire spiritual life and the apostolate that flows from contemplative love. One thing I'm struck by in this sermon is how many times St. Bernard insists that we are safe to undertake apostolic work only after and insofar as we have been fully penetrated by the love of the Holy Ghost. Then, he says, will apostolic works be performed "truly and safely," implying before we reach such a state, we do these works at our spiritual peril. And yet one can already hear the cascade of objections amounting to especially, "But then nothing will get done!"

Well, take it from the Mellifluous Doctor, or leave it.

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"Your name is oil poured out." Of what truth of our interior life does the Holy Spirit wish to assure us by means of this text? He refers to the experience of a twofold operation, one by which he inwardly strengthens the virtues that lead us to salvation, the other by which he outwardly endows us with serviceable gifts. The former is of benefit to ourselves, the latter to our neighbors [NB: these are the charismatic gifts, some of which are listed by St. Paul in his letters; St. Thomas Aquinas expands on them in his Summa Theologiæ]. For example, faith, hope and charity are given to us for our own sake, without them we cannot be saved. But the gift of wise and learned speech, the power to heal, to prophesy, and endowments of this kind without which we can fully achieve our own salvation, are undoubtedly meant to be used for our neighbor's salvation. And these operations of the Holy Spirit, that we take note of either in ourselves or in others, are named from their method of functioning: we call them infusion and effusion. To which of them may we suitably apply the words: "Your name is oil poured out"? Is it not to effusion? If he had meant infusion he would have said "poured in." When the bride says: "Your name is oil poured out," she refers to the perfumes sprinkled on her breasts, attributing their scent to the Bridegroom's name, as if it were an unguent poured on her breasts. Any man who perceives that he is endowed with an exterior grace enabling him to influence others, can also say to the Lord: "Your name is oil poured out."

2. At this point we need to be warned not to give away what we have received for our own welfare, nor to retain for ourselves what must be expended for others. For example, you keep for yourself what belongs to your neighbor, if along with your full endowment of interior virtues you are also adorned with the external gifts of knowledge and eloquence, and, through fear or sloth or ill-judged humility, smother this gift of speech that could be of help to so many, in a useless and even pernicious silence; for "the people's curse is on the man who hoards the wheat." On the other hand, you squander and lose what is meant to be your own if, before you are totally permeated by the infusion of the Holy Spirit, you rashly proceed to pour out your unfulfilled self upon others; you contravene the law which says: "You must not put the first-born of your herd to work, nor shear the first-born of your flock." You deprive yourself of the life and salvation which you impart to another if, lacking right intention and inspired by self you become infected with the poison of worldly ambition that swells into a deadly ulcer and destroys you.

3. The man who is wise, therefore, will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal. The canal simultaneously pours out what it receives; the reservoir retains the water till it is filled, then discharges the overflow without loss to itself. He knows that a curse is on the man who allows his own property to degenerate. And if you think my opinion worthless, then listen to one who is wiser than I [NB: the Saint here is subtly appealing to the authority of the Holy Ghost in confirming his teaching by quoting Him as speaking through Solomon]: "The fool," said Solomon, "comes out with all his feelings at once, but the wise man subdues and restrains them." Today there are many in the Church who act like canals, the reservoirs are far too rare [NB: Bernard spoke these words in the 1130s!]. So urgent is the charity of those through whom the streams of heavenly doctrine flow to us, that they want to pour it forth before they have been filled; they are more ready to speak than to listen, impatient to teach what they have not grasped, and full of presumption to govern others while they know not how to govern themselves.

I am convinced that no degree of the charity that leads to salvation may be preferred to that suggested by the Wise Man: "Have pity on your own soul, pleasing God." If I have but a little oil, sufficient for my own anointing, do you suppose I should give it to you and be left with nothing? I am keeping it for myself, utterly unwilling to proffer it to anyone except at the Prophet's bidding. And should any of you, thinking me to be better than I seem or than my words suggest, insist on asking for it, here is my answer to him: "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves." But charity, you reply, does not seek what is its own. And do you know why? It does not seek what is its own precisely because it has it. Who seeks for what he possesses? Charity never lacks what is her own, all that she needs for her own security. Not alone does she have it, she abounds with it. She wants this abundance for herself that she may share it with all; and she reserves enough for herself so that she disappoints nobody. For charity is perfect only when full.

4. But you, my brother, your salvation is not yet assured; your charity as yet is either non-existent or so meager and reed-like that it bends with every breeze, puts its trust in every spirit, and is carried along by every wind of doctrine; or it is so great that you transcend the limits of the commandment by loving your neighbor more than yourself, or yet again so unsound that, contrary to the commandment, it bows to flattery, flinches under fear, is upset by sadness, shriveled by avarice, entangled by ambition, disquieted by suspicions, tormented by insults, exhausted by anxieties, puffed up by honors, consumed by envy. If you discover this chaos in your own interior, what madness drives you to insinuate yourself into other people's business? But listen to what a prudent and vigilant charity advises: "This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves: it is a question of balancing." "Do not be over-virtuous." It is enough that you love your neighbor as yourself; this is the balancing to which the Apostle refers. David says: "My soul will feast most richly, [and after feasting, then shall there be] on my lips a song of joy and, in my mouth, praise." To preclude a mere empty yawning, he wishes that infusion should precede the effusion, an infusion to the fullest capacity that gushes out. In this he shows prudence, his relieving of others does not embarrass himself; and he has a right intention, since he imitates him of whose fullness we have all received. You too must learn to await this fullness before pouring out your gifts, do not try to be more generous than God. The reservoir resembles the fountain that runs to form a stream or spreads to form a pool only when its own waters are brimming over. The reservoir is not ashamed to be no more lavish than the spring that fills it. And so, he who is the primal Fountain of life, full in himself and filled with himself, gushed forth and danced into the secret places of the heavens about him, to fill them all with his favors. And having endowed these remotest heights and recesses, he burst upon our earth, saving men and beasts through his munificence, multiplying his mercies everywhere. When he had first filled up the secret places, his teeming mercies billowed over; they poured upon the earth and drenched it, to multiply its riches. You must imitate this process. First be filled, and then control the outpouring. The charity that is benign and prudent does not flow outwards until it abounds within. "My son," said Solomon, "do not let yourself drift away." And the Apostle says: "We ought then to turn our minds more attentively than before to what we have been taught, so that we do not drift away." See what is involved here. Are you holier than Paul, wiser than Solomon? [NB: Or St. Bernard, for that matter?] Besides, I cannot see myself being enriched by your wasting of your powers. For if you are mean to yourself, to whom will you be good? Help me out of your abundance if you have it; if not, then spare yourself the trouble.

5. But I wish to remind you now of the principles necessary for our salvation and how to apply them, the truths that must be infused into us and their order of importance, before we can presume to pour ourselves out. Circumstances oblige me to be as brief as possible, for the time's quick passage demands that I bring this sermon to a close. Just as a doctor comes to a wounded man, so the Holy Spirit comes to the soul. Is it possible to find any person whom the devil's sword does not wound, even after the wound of original sin has been healed by the medicine of baptism? Therefore, when the Spirit draws near to a soul that says: "My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness," what is the first thing he should do? Before all else he must amputate the ulcerous tumor that has grown upon the wound and prevents its healing. This ulcer, caused by inveterate bad habits, must be sliced away with the scalpel of piercing sorrow. The pain will be bitter, but it can be alleviated with the ointment of devotion which is nothing other than the joy born of the hope of pardon. This in turn springs from the power of self-control, from victory over sin. Soon the victor is pouring out words of thanks: "You have loosed my bonds, I will offer you the thanksgiving sacrifice." He then applies the medicine of penance, a poultice of fastings, vigils, prayers, and other tasks that penitents perform. And as he toils he must be fed with the food of good works that he may not falter. We are not left in doubt about what the necessary food is: "My food," said Christ, "is to do the will of my Father." Hence works motivated by love, that are a sure source of strength, should accompany the performance of penances. For instance it is said: "Alms is a most effective offering for all those who give it in the presence of the Most High." Food causes thirst, therefore one must drink, so let the food of good works be moistened with the beverage of prayer, that a work well done may rest quietly in the stomach of conscience and give pleasure to God. In prayer one drinks the wine that gladdens a man's heart, the intoxicating wine of the Spirit that downs all memory of the pleasures of the flesh. It drenches anew the arid recesses of the conscience, stimulates digestion of the meats of good works, fills the faculties of the soul with a robust faith, a solid hope, a love that is living and true; it enriches all the actions of our life.

6. The sick man has had his food and drink; what should he do now but take his ease and let the sweat of his labors dry while he enjoys the quiet of contemplation? Falling asleep in the midst of his prayer he dreams of God; what he sees is a dim reflection in a mirror, not a vision face to face. However, although it be but a vague apprehension and not an actual vision, a fleeting glimpse of the sparkling glory as it passes, utterly delicate in its impact, yet he burns with love and says: "At night my soul longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you." A love like this is full of zeal; it is a love becoming the Bridegroom's friend, the love that must inspire the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord appoints over his household. It fills the soul's capacity, grows heated and brims over, gushing with abandon into streamlets. This is the love that cries out: "Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is scandalized and I am not inflamed?" Let such a man preach, let him bear fruit, let him show new signs and do fresh wonders, for vanity can find no toehold in the man whom charity totally possesses. A total love is the law in all its fullness, it can effectively fill the heart's capacity. Finally God himself is love, and nothing created can satisfy the man who is made to the image of God, except the God who is love, who alone is above all created natures. The man who has not yet attained to this love is promoted to office at the gravest risk to himself, no matter how distinguished he be with other virtues. Even if he knows everything, if he gives all his goods to the poor and lets his body be taken for burning, without charity he is worthless. See how precious the graces that must first be infused, so that when we venture to pour them out we may dispense them from a spirit that is filled rather than impoverished.

We need first of all compunction of heart, then fervor of spirit; thirdly, the labor of penance; fourthly, works of charity; fifthly, zeal for prayer; sixthly, leisure for contemplation; seventhly, love in all its fullness. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, accomplished by the process called infusion [NB: to reiterate, all of the above form the process of personal sanctification; afterwards comes "effusion," or in modern terminology "apostolate" or "evangelization"]; and, in so far as it has taken place those services called effusion can be truly and hence safely performed to the praise and glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Source: St. Bernard, "Sermon 18 on the Song of Songs: The Two Operations of the Holy Spirit," Pathways of Love, accessed March 19, 2014, http://www.pathsoflove.com/bernard/songofsongs/sermon18.html.