The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ (Intro. part II)

II.

How much Jesus Christ deserves to be Loved by us, on Account of the Love He has shown us in Instituting the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved His own . . . He loved them unto the end.¹ Our most loving Saviour, knowing that his hour was now come for leaving this earth, desired, before he went to die for us, to leave us the greatest possible mark of his love; and this was the gift of the most Holy Sacrament.

St. Bernardine of Sienna remarks, that men remember more continually and love more tenderly the signs of love which are shown to them in the hour of death.² Hence it is the custom that friends, when about to die, leave to those persons whom they have loved some gift, such as a garment or a ring, as a memorial of their affection. But what hast Thou, O my Jesus, left us, when quitting this world, in memory of Thy love? Not, indeed, a garment or a ring, but Thine own body, Thy blood, Thy soul, Thy divinity, Thy whole self, without reserve. “He gave thee all,” says St. John Chrysostom; “He left nothing for himself.”³

The Council of Trent says,⁴ that in this gift of the Eucharist Jesus Christ desired, as it were, to pour forth all the riches of the love he had for men. And the Apostle observes, that Jesus desired to bestow this gift upon men on the very night itself when they were planning his death: The same night in which He was betrayed, He took bread; and giving thanks, broke and said: Take ye, and eat: this is My body.⁵ St. Bernardine of Sienna says, that Jesus Christ, burning with love for us, and not content with being prepared to give his life for us, was constrained by the excess of his love to work a greater work before he died; and this was to give his own body for our food.⁶

This Sacrament, therefore, was rightly named by St. Thomas, “the Sacrament of love, the pledge of love.”⁷ Sacrament of love; for love was the only motive which induced Jesus Christ to give us in it his whole self, Pledge of love; so that if we had ever doubted his love, we should have in this sacrament a pledge of it: as if our Redeemer, in leaving us this gift, had said: O souls, if you ever doubt my love, behold, I leave you myself in this Sacrament: with such a pledge, you can never any more doubt that I love you, and love you to excess. But more, St. Bernard calls this sacrament “the love of loves;”⁸ because this gift comprehends all the other gifts bestowed upon us by our Lord,—creation, redemption, predestination to glory; so that the Eucharist is not only a pledge of the love of Jesus Christ, but of paradise, which he desires also to give us. “In which,” says the Church, “a pledge of future glory is given us.”⁹ Hence St. Philip Neri could find no other name for Jesus Christ in the Sacrament save that of love; “and so, when the holy Viaticum was brought to him, he was heard to exclaim, “Behold my love; give me my love.”

The prophet Isaias¹⁰ desired that the whole world should know the tender inventions that our God has made use of, wherewith to make men love him. And who could ever have thought—if he himself had not done it—that the Incarnate Word would hide himself under the appearances of bread, in order to become himself our food? “Does it not seem foilly,” says St. Augustine, “to say, Eat my flesh; drink my blood?”¹¹ When Jesus Christ revealed to his disciples the sacrament he desired to leave them, they could not bring themselves to believe him; and they left him, saying: How can this Man give us His flesh to eat? . . . This saying is hard, and who can hear it?¹² But that which men could neither conceive nor believe, the great love of Jesus Christ hath thought of and accomplished. Take ye, and eat, said he to his disciples before he went to die; and through them to us all. Receive and eat: but what food shall that be, O Saviour of the world, which Thou desirest to give us before Thou diest? Take ye, and eat; this is my body.¹³ This is not earthly food; it is I myself who give myself entirely to you.

And oh, with what desire does Jesus Christ pant to come into our souls in the Holy Communion! With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer.¹⁴ So he spoke on that night in which he instituted this sacrament of love. With desire I have desired: so did the excessive love which he bore us cause him to speak, as St. Laurence Justinian remarks: “These are the words of most burning love.”¹⁵ And in order that everyone might easily receive him, he desired to leave himself under the appearance of bread; for if he had left himself under the appearance of some rare or very costly food, the poor would have been deprived of him; but no, Jesus would hide himself under the form of bread, which costs but little, and can be found everywhere, in order that all in every country might be able to find him and receive him.

In order, then, to excite us to receive him in the Holy Communion, he not only exhorts us to do so by so many invitations, Come, eat My bread; and drink the wine which I have mingled for you;¹⁶ Eat, O friends, and drink,¹⁷ speaking of this heavenly bread and wine, but he even gives us a formal precept: Take ye, and eat; this is My body. And more than this; that we may go and receive him, he entices us with the promise of paradise. He that eateth My flesh hath everlasting life. He that eateth this bread shall live forever.¹⁸ And still more, he threatens us with hell, and exclusion from paradise, if we refuse to communicate. Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you shall not have life in you.¹⁹ These invitations, these promises, these threats, all proceed from the great desire he has to come to us in this sacrament.

But why is it that Jesus Christ so desires that we should receive him in the Holy Communion? Here is the reason. St. Denis says that love always sighs after and tends to union, and so also says St. Thomas, “Lovers desire of two to become one.”²⁰ Friends who really love each other would like to be so united as to become one person. Now this is what the infinite love of God for man has done; that he would not only give us himself in the eternal kingdom, but even in this life would permit men to possess him in the most intimate union, by giving them himself, whole and entire, under the appearances of bread in the sacrament. He stands there as though behind a wall; and from thence he beholds, as it were, through a closed lattice: Behold He standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.²¹ It is true, we do not see him; but he sees us, and is there really present: he is present, in order that we may possess him: but he hides himself from us to make us desire him: and as long as we have not reached our true country, Jesus desires to give himself wholly to us, and to remain united with us.

He could not satisfy his love by giving himself to the human race by his Incarnation and by his Passion, dying for all men upon the cross; but he desired to find out a way whereby he might give himself entirely to each one of us in particular; and for this end he instituted the Sacrament of the Altar, in order to unite himself wholly to each: He that eateth My flesh, he said, abideth in me and I in him.²² In Holy Communion Jesus unites himself to the soul, and the soul to Jesus; and this is not a union of mere affection, but it is a true and real union. Hence St. Francis de Sales says: “In no other action can the Saviour be considered more tender or more loving than in this, in which he annihilates himself, so to say, and reduces himself to food, in order to penetrate our souls, and to unite himself to the hearts of his faithful.”²³ St. John Chrysostom says, that Jesus Christ, through the ardent love which he bore us, desired so to unite himself to us, as to become one and the same thing with us. “He mingled himself with us, that we might be one thing; for this is the property of those who ardently love.”²⁴

“It was Thy wish, in short,” says St. Laurence Justinian, “O God, enamoured of our souls, to make, by means of this sacrament, Thine own heart, by an inseparable union, one and the same heart with ours!”²⁵ St. Bernardine of Sienna adds, that “the gift of Jesus Christ to us as our food was the last step of his love; since he gives himself to us in order to unite himself wholly to us; in the same way as food becomes united with him who partakes of it.”²⁶ Oh, how delighted is Jesus Christ to be united with our souls! He one day said to his beloved servant, Margaret of Ypres, after Communion, “See, my daughter, the beautiful union that exists between me and thee: come, then, love me; and let us remain ever united in love, and let us never separate again.”

We must, then, be persuaded that a soul can neither do, nor think of doing, anything which gives greater pleasure to Jesus Christ than to communicate frequently, with dispositions suitable to the great guest whom she has to receive into her heart. I have said suitable, not indeed worthy dispositions; for if worthy were necessary, who could ever communicate? Another God would alone be worthy to receive God. By suitable, I mean such dispositions as become a miserable creature, clothed with the unhappy flesh of Adam. Ordinarily speaking, it is sufficient if a person communicates in a state of grace, and with a great desire of growing in the love of Jesus Christ. St. Francis de Sales said, “It is by love alone that we must receive Jesus Christ in the Communion, since it is through love alone that he gives himself to us.”²⁷ For the rest, with regard to the number of times a person should communicate, in this he should be guided by the advice of his spiritual Father. Nevertheless, we should be aware that no state of life or employment, neither the married state nor business, prevents frequent Communion, when the director thinks it advisable, as Pope Innocent XI. has declared in his decree of 1679, when he says, “Frequent Communion must be left to the judgment of the confessors . . . who, for lay persons in business, or in the marriage state, must recommend it according as they see it will be profitable for their salvation.”²⁸

We must next understand that there is nothing from which we can derive such profit as from the Communion. The Eternal Father has made Jesus Christ the possessor of all his own heavenly treasures. The Father hath given all things into His hands.²⁹ Hence, when Jesus Christ comes to a soul in Holy Communion, he brings with him boundless treasures of grace; and consequently after Communion we can justly say, Now all good things came to me together with it.³⁰ St. Denis says, that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is far more powerful for the sanctification of souls than all other spiritual means of grace;³¹ and St. Vincent Ferrer, that one Communion does more for the soul than a week’s fasting on bread and water.

In the first place, as the Council of Trent teaches, Communion is that great remedy which frees us from venial, and preserves us against mortal sins.³² It is said “from daily faults;” because according to St. Thomas,³³ a man is excited by means of this sacrament to make acts of love, by which venial sins are forgiven. And it is said that “we are preserved from mortal sins, because Communion increases grace, which will preserve us from great faults. Hence Innocent III. says, that Jesus Christ delivered us from the power of sin by his Passion, but that by the Eucharist he delivers us from the power of sinning.³⁴

This Sacrament, moreover, above all others, inflames our souls with divine love. God is love.³⁵ And he is a fire which consumes all earthly affections in our hearts. He is a consuming fire.³⁶ And for this very purpose, namely, to enkindle this fire, the Son of God came upon earth. I am come to send fire on the earth; and he added, that he desired nothing but to see this fire enkindled in our souls: And what will I but that it be kindled?³⁷ And oh, what flames of love does not Jesus Christ light up in the heart of every one who receives him devoutly in this sacrament! St. Catharine of Sienna once saw the Host in a priest’s hand appearing as a globe of fire; and the saint was astonished that the hearts of all men were not burned up, and, as it were, reduced to ashes by such a flame. Such brilliant rays issued from the face of St. Rose of Lima after Communion, as to dazzle the eyes of those who saw her; and the heat from her mouth was so intense, that a hand held near it was scorched. It is related of St. Wenceslaus, that by merely visiting the churches where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, he was inflamed by such an ardor, that his servant who accompanied him did not feel the cold, if when walking on the snow he trod in the footsteps of the saint.

St. John Chrysostom says that the most Holy Sacrament is a burning fire; so that when we leave the altar we breathe forth flames of love, which make us objects of terror to hell.³⁸ The spouse of the Canticles says: He brought me into the cellar of wine, He set in order charity in me.³⁹ St. Gregory of Nyssa says that Communion is precisely this cellar of wine, in which the soul becomes so inebriated with divine love, that it forgets and loses sight of creatures; and this is that languishing with love of which the spouse again speaks: Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples, because I languish with love.⁴⁰

Some one will say: “But this is the very reason why I do not communicate frequently, because I see that I am so cold in the love of God.” Gerson answers such a one by saying: “Do you, therefore, because you are cold, willingly keep away from the fire? Rather, because you feel yourself cold, should you so much the more frequently approach this sacrament, if you really desire to love Jesus Christ.” “Although it be with lukewarmness,” wrote St. Bonaventure, “still approach, trusting in the mercy of God. The more one feels himself sick, the greater need has he of a physician.”⁴¹ In like manner, St, Francis de Sales: “Two sorts of persons ought to go frequently to Communion: the perfect, in order to remain so; and the imperfect, in order to be become perfect.”⁴² But for frequent Communion, it is at least necessary to have a great desire to become a saint and to grow in the love of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said once to St. Matilda: “When you go to Communion desire all the love which a soul has ever had for me, and I will receive your love according to your desire.”⁴³

Affections and Prayers.

O God of love, O infinite lover, worthy of infinite love, tell me what more canst Thou invent to make us love Thee? It was not sufficient for Thee to become man, and to subject Thyself to all our miseries; not sufficient to shed all Thy blood for us in torments, and then to die overwhelmed with sorrow, upon a cross destined for the most shameful malefactors. Thou didst, at last, oblige Thyself to be hidden under the species of bread and wine, to become our food, and so united with each one of us. Tell me, I repeat, what more canst Thou invent to make Thyself loved by us? Ah, wretched shall we be if we do not love Thee in this life! And when we shall have entered into eternity, what remorse shall we not feel for not having loved Thee! My Jesus, I will not die without loving Thee, and loving Thee exceedingly! I am heartily sorry, and am pained for having so greatly offended Thee. But now I love Thee above all things. I love Thee more than myself, and I consecrate to Thee all my affections. Do Thou, who inspirest me with this desire, give me also grace to accomplish it. My Jesus, my Jesus, I desire nothing of Thee but Thyself. Now that Thou hast drawn me to Thy love, I leave all, I renounce all, and I bind myself to Thee: Thou alone art sufficient for me.

O Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me, and make me a saint! Add this also to the many wonders thou hast done in changing sinners into saints.

1“Sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus, ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem, cum dilexisset suos qui erant in mundo, in finem dilexit eos.” – John, xiii. 1.

2“Quæ in fine in signum amicitiæ celebrantur, firmius memoriæ imprimuntur, et cariora tenentur.” – T. ii. s. 54, a. 1, c. 1.

3“Totum tibi dedit, nihil sibi reliquit.”

4“Divitias divini sui erga homines amoris velut effudit.” – Sess. xiii. c. 2.

5“In qua nocte tradebatur, accepit panem, et gratias agens fregit, et dixit: Accipite et manducate; hoc est corpus meum.” – 1 Cor. xi. 23.

6“In illo fervoris excessu, quando paratus erat pro nobis mori, ab excessu amoris majus opus agere coactus est, quam umquam operatus fuit, dare nobis corpus in cibum.” – Loco cit.

7“Sacramentum charitatis, Pignus charitatis.”

8“Amor amorum.”

9“In quo . . . futuræ gloriæ nobis pignus datur.”

10Isa. xii. 4.

11“Nonne videtur insania: Manducate meam carnem, bibite meum sanguinem?” – In Ps. xxxiii. en. 1.

12“Quomodo potest hic nobis carnem suam dare ad manducandum?—Durus est hic sermo; et quis potest eum audire?” – John, vi. 53, 61.

13“Accipite et manducate; hoc est corpus meum.”

14“Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum.” – Luke, xxii. 15.

15“Flagrantissimæ charitatis est vox hæc.” – De Tr. Chr. Ag. c. 2.

16“Venite, comedite panem meum, et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis.” – Prov. ix. 5.

17“Comedite, amici, et bibite.” – Cant. v. 1.

18“Qui manducat meam carnem, . . . habet vitam æternam. Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in æternum.” – John, vi. 55, 59.

19“Nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis, . . . non habebitis vitam in vobis.” – John, vi. 54.

20“Amantes desiderant ex ambobus fieri unum.” – 1. 2, q. 28, a. 1.

21“En ipse stat post parietem nostrum respiciens per fenestras, prospiciens per cancellos.” – Cant. ii. 9.

22“Qui manducat meam carnem, ... in me manet, et ego in illo.” – John, vi. 57.

23Introd. p. 2, ch. 21.

24“Semetipsum nobis immiscuit, ut unum quid simus; ardenter enim amantium hoc est.” – Ad pop. Ant. hom. 61.

25“O quam mirabilis est dilectio tua, Domine Jesu, qui tuo corpori taliter nos incorporari voluisti, ut tecum unum cor et unam animam haberemus inseparabiliter colligatam!” – De Inc. div. am. c. 5.

26“Ultimus gradus amoris est, cum se dedit nobis in cibum; quia dedit se nobis ad omnimodam unionem, sicut cibus et cibans invicem uniuntur.” – T. ii. s. 54, a. 4, c. 1.

27Introd. p. 2, ch. 21.

28“Frequens accessus (ad Eucharistiam) confessariorum judicio est relinquendus, qui, . . . laicis negotiatoribus et conjugatis, quod prospicient eorum saluti profuturum, id illis prrescribere dcbebunt.”

29“Omnia dedit ei Pater in manus.” – John, xiii. 3.

30“Venerunt mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa.” – Wisd. vii. 11.

31“Eucharistia maximam vim habet perficiendæ sanctitatis.”

32“Antidotum quo liberemur a culpis quotidianis, et a peccatis mortalibus præservemur.” – Sess. xiii. c. 2.

33P. 3, q. 79, a. 4.

34“Per crucis mysterium, eripuit nos a potestate peccati; per Eucharistiæ sacramentum, liberat nos a voluntate peccandi.” – De Alt. Myst. 1. 4, c. 44.

35“Deus charitas est.” – 1 John, iv. 8.

36“Ignis consumens est.” – Deut. iv. 24.

37“Ignem veni mittere in terram; et quid volo, nisi ut accendatur?” – Luke, xii. 49.

38“Carbo est Eucharistia, quæ nos inflammat, ut tamquam leones ignem spirantes ab ilia mensa recedamus, facti diabolo terribiles.” – Ad pop. Ant. hom. 61.

39“Introduxit me in cellam vinariam, ordinavit in me charitatem.” – Cant. ii. 4.

40“Fulcite me floribus, stipate me mails, quia amore langueo.” – Cant. ii. 5.

41“Licet tepide, tamen confidens de misericordia Dei accedat; tanto magis æger necesse habet requirere medicum, quanto magis senserit se ægrotum.” – De Prof. rel. l. 2, c. 77.

42Introd. p. 2. ch. 21.

43Spir. Grat. l. 3, c. 22.

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The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ

Introduction

I.

How deserving Jesus Christ is of our Love, on Account of the Love He has shown us in His Passion.

The whole sanctity and perfection of a soul consists in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer. Whoever loves me, says Jesus Christ himself, shall be loved by my Eternal Father: My Father loves you because you have loved Me.¹ Some, says St. Francis de Sales,² make perfection consist in an austere life; others in prayer; others in frequenting the Sacraments; others in alms-deeds. But they deceive themselves: perfection consists in loving God with our whole heart. The Apostle wrote: Above all things, . . . have charity, which is the bond of perfection.³ It is charity which keeps united and preserves all the virtues that render a man perfect. Hence St. Augustine said: “Love God, and do whatever you please;”⁴ because a soul that loves God is taught by that same love never to do anything that will displease him, and to leave nothing undone that may please him.

But perhaps God does not deserve all our love? He has loved us with an everlasting love.⁵ O man, says the Lord, behold I was the first to love thee. Thou wast not yet in the world, nay, the world itself was not, and I already loved thee. As long as I am God, I loved thee; as long as I have loved myself, I have also loved thee. With good reason, therefore, did St. Agnes, that young holy virgin, reply to those who wished to unite her to an earthly spouse: “I am engaged to another lover.”⁶ “Go,” said she, “O lovers of this world, cease to sue my love; my God was the first to love me. He has loved me from all eternity: it is but just, then, for me to give him all my affections, and to love none other but him.”

As Almighty God knew that man is won by kindness, he determined to lavish his gifts upon him, and so take captive the affections of his heart. For this reason he said, I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love.⁷ I will catch men by those very snares by which they are naturally caught, that is, by the snares of love. And such exactly are all the favors of God to man. After having given him a soul created in his own image, with memory, understanding, and will, and a body with its senses, he created heaven and earth for him, yes, all that exists, all for the love of man, the firmament, the stars, the planets, the seas, the rivers, the fountains, the hills, the plains, metals, fruits, and a countless variety of animals: and all these creatures that they might minister to the uses of man, and that man might love him in gratitude for so many admirable gifts.

“Heaven and earth, and all things, tell me to love Thee,”⁸ says St. Augustine. “My Lord,” he said, “whatever I behold on the earth, or above the earth, all speak to me, and exhort me to love Thee; because all assure me that Thou hast made them for the love of me.”

The Abbot de Rancé, founder of La Trappe, when from his hermitage he stood and surveyed the hills, the fountains, the birds, the flowers, the planets, and the skies, felt himself animated by each one of these creatures to love that God who had created all through love to him.

In like manner St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, when she held any beautiful flower in her hand, was enkindled by the sight of it with love to God; and she would say: “And God, then, has thought from all eternity of creating this flower for love of me!” Thus did that flower become, as it were, a dart of love, which sweetly wounded her, and united her more and more to her God.

On the other hand, St. Teresa, at the sight of trees, fountains, rivers, lakes, or meadows, declared that all these fair things upbraided her for her ingratitude in loving so coldly a God who created them that he might be loved by her.

To the like purpose is it related of a pious hermit, that when walking through the country, it seemed to him that the plants and flowers in his path reproached him for the cold return of love he made to God; so that he went along gently striking them with his staff, and saying to them: “Oh, be silent, be silent; you call me an ungrateful wretch; you tell me God has made you for love of me, and yet I do not love him; but now I understand you, be silent, be silent; do not reproach me more.”

But God was not satisfied with giving us so many beautiful creatures. He has gone to such lengths to gain our love, as to give himself to us. The Eternal Father did not hesitate to give us even his only-begotten Son: For God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son.⁹ When the Eternal Father saw that we were all dead, and deprived of his grace by sin, what did he do? For the immense love, nay, as the Apostle writes, for the too great love he bore us, he sent his beloved Son to make atonement for us; and so to restore to us that life which sin had robbed us of: Who through his exceeding charity with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ.¹⁰ And in granting us his Son (not sparing his Son, that he might spare us), he has granted us every good together with him, his grace, his love, and paradise, since assuredly all these gifts are much less than that of his Son: He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also with Him given us all things.¹¹

And so, likewise, the Son, through his love towards us, has given himself wholly to us: Who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.¹² In order to redeem us from everlasting death, and to recover for us the divine grace and heaven which we had forfeited, he became man, and put on flesh like our own: And the Word was made flesh.¹³ Behold, then, a God reduced to nothingness: But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, . . . and in habit found as a man.¹⁴ Behold the sovereign of the world humbling himself so low as to assume the form of a servant, and to subject himself to all the miseries which the rest of men endure.

But what is more astonishing still is, that he could very well have saved us without dying and without suffering at all; but no: he chose a life of sorrow and contempt, and a death of bitterness and ignominy even to the expiring on a cross, the gibbet of infamy, the award of vilest criminals: He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.¹⁵ But why, if he could have ransomed us without suffering, why should he choose to die, and to die on a cross? To show us how he loved us. He loved us, and delivered Himself for us.¹⁶ He loved us, and because he loved us, he delivered himself up to sorrows, and ignominies, and to a death more cruel than ever any man endured in this world.

Hence that great lover of Jesus Christ, St. Paul, took occasion to say: The charity of Christ presseth us.¹⁷ Wishing to show us by these words that it is not so much the sufferings themselves of Jesus Christ as his love in enduring them, that obliges us, and, as it were, constrains us to love him. Let us hear what St. Francis de Sales says on this text: “When we remember that Jesus Christ, true God, has loved us to such an excess as to suffer death, and the death of the cross, for us, our hearts are, as it were, put in a wine-press, and suffer violence, until love be extorted from them, but a violence which, the stronger it is, becomes the more delightful.”¹⁸ He then goes on to say, “Ah! why do we not therefore cast ourselves on Jesus crucified, to die on the cross with him, who has chosen to die for love of us? I will hold him (should we say), and I will never let him go; I will die with him, and will be consumed in the flames of his love. One flame shall consume this divine Creator and his miserable creature. My Jesus gives himself unreservedly to me, and I give myself unreservedly to him. I will live and die on his loving breast; neither life nor death shall ever separate me from him. O eternal love, my soul longs after Thee, and makes choice of Thee forever. Come, O Holy Spirit, and inflame our hearts with love. O love, O death, to die to all other loves, to live solely to that of Jesus Christ! O Redeemer of our souls, grant that we may eternally sing, Live, Jesus! I love Jesus; live, Jesus, whom I love! yes, I love Jesus, who reigns for evermore.”¹⁹

The love of Jesus Christ towards men created in him a longing desire for the moment of his death, when his love should be fully manifested to them; hence he was wont to say in his lifetime: I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!²⁰ I have to be baptized in my own blood; and how do I feel myself straitened with the desire that the hour of my Passion may soon arrive; for then man will know the love which I bear him! Hence St. John, speaking of that night in which Jesus began his Passion, writes: Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.²¹ The Redeemer called that hour His own hour, because the time of his death was the time desired by him; as it was then that he wished to give mankind the last proof of his love, by dying for them upon a cross overwhelmed by sorrows.

But what could have ever induced a God to die as a malefactor upon a cross between two sinners, with such insult to his divine majesty? “Who did this?” asks St. Bernard; he answers, “It was love, careless of its dignity.”²² Ah, love indeed, when it tries to make itself known, does not seek what is becoming to the dignity of the lover, but what will serve best to declare itself to the object loved. St. Francis of Paula therefore had good reason to cry out at the sight of a crucifix, “O charity, O charity, O charity!” And in like manner, when we look upon Jesus on the cross, we should all exclaim, O love, O love, O love!

Ah, if faith had not assured us of it, who could ever have believed that a God, almighty, most happy, and the Lord of all, should have condescended to love man to such an extent that he seems to go out of himself for the love of him? We have seen Wisdom itself, that is the Eternal Word, become foolish through the excessive love he bore to man! So spoke St. Laurence Justinian: “We see Wisdom itself infatuated through excess of love.”²³ St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi said the same: One day, being in ecstasy, she took a wooden crucifix in her hands, and then cried out: “Yes, my Jesus, Thou art mad with love: I repeat it, and I will say it forever: My Jesus, thou art mad with love.” But no, says St. Denis the Areopagite; “no, it is not madness, but the ordinary effect of divine love, which makes him who loves go out of himself, in order to give himself up entirely to the object of his love: divine love causes ecstasy.”²⁴

Oh, if men would only pause and consider, looking at Jesus on the cross, the love that he has borne each one of them! “With what love,” says St. Francis de Sales, “would not our souls become enkindled at the sight of those flames which are in the Redeemer’s breast! And oh, what happiness, to be able to be consumed by that same fire with which our God burns for us! What joy, to be united to God by the chains of love!” St. Bonaventure called the wounds of Jesus Christ, wounds which pierce the most senseless hearts, and which inflame the most icy souls.²⁵ How many darts of love come forth from those wounds, to wound the hardest hearts! Oh, what flames issue from the burning heart of Jesus Christ to inflame the coldest souls! And chains, how many, from that wounded side, to bind the most stubborn wills!

The Venerable John of Avila, who was so possessed with the love of Jesus Christ that he never failed in any of his sermons to speak of the love which Jesus Christ bears towards us, in a treatise on the love which this most loving Redeemer has for men, has expressed himself in sentiments so full of the fire of devotion, and of such beauty, that I desire to insert them here. He says as follows:

“Thou, O Redeemer, hast loved man in such a manner, that whoso reflects upon this love cannot do less than love Thee; for Thy love offers violence to hearts: as the Apostle says: The charity of Christ presseth us.²⁶ The source of the love of Jesus Christ for men is his love for God. Hence he said on Maunday Thursday, That the world may know that I love the Father, arise, let us go hence.²⁷ But whither? To die for men upon the cross.”

“No human intellect can conceive how strongly this fire burns in the heart of Jesus Christ. As he was commanded to suffer death once, so, had he been commanded to die a thousand times, his love had been sufficient to endure it. And if what he suffered for all men had been imposed upon him for the salvation of one single soul, he would have done the same for each in particular as he did for all. And as he remained three hours upon the cross, so, had it been necessary, his love would have made him remain there even to the day of judgment. So that Jesus Christ loved much more than he suffered. O divine love, how far greater wert thou than thou outwardly seemedst to be; for though so many wounds and bruises tell us of great love, still they do not tell all its greatness. There was far more within than that which appeared externally. That was but as a spark which bounded forth from the vast ocean of infinite love. This is the greatest mark of love, to lay down our life for our friends. But this was not a sufficient mark for Jesus Christ wherewith to express his love.”

“This is the love which causes holy souls to lose themselves, and to stand amazed, when once they have been allowed to know it. From it spring those burning sentiments of ardor, the desire of martyrdom, joy in sufferings, exultation under the storms of distress, the force to walk on burning coals as if they were roses, a thirst for sufferings, rejoicing in that which the world dreads, embracing that which it abhors. St. Ambrose says that the soul which is espoused to Jesus Christ upon the cross, thinks nothing so glorious as to bear upon itself the marks of the crucified one.”

“But how, O my lover, shall I repay this your love! It is right that blood should be compensated by blood. May I behold myself dyed in this blood and nailed to this cross! O holy cross, receive me also! O crown of thorns, enlarge thyself, that I too may place thee on my head! O nails, leave those innocent hands of my Lord, and come and pierce my heart with compassion and with love! For Thou, my Jesus, didst die, as St. Paul says, in order to gain dominion over the living and the dead, not by means of chastisements, but by love:” For to this end Christ died and rose again: that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.²⁸

“O robber of hearts, the strength of Thy love has broken the exceeding hardness of our hearts! Thou hast inflamed the whole world with Thy love. O most loving Lord, inebriate our hearts with this wine, consume them with this fire, pierce them with this dart of Thy love! Thy Cross is indeed an arrow which pierces hearts. May all the world know that my heart is smitten! O sweetest love, what hast Thou done? Thou hast come to heal me, and Thou hast wounded me. Thou hast come to teach me, and Thou hast made me well-nigh mad. O madness full of wisdom, may I never live without you! All, O Lord, that I behold upon the cross invites me to love Thee: the wood, the figure, the wounds of Thy body; and above all, Thy love, engages me to love Thee, and never to forget Thee more.”²⁹

But in order to arrive at the perfect love of Jesus Christ, we must adopt the means. Behold, then, the means which St. Thomas Aquinas gives us:³⁰

1. To have a constant remembrance of the benefits of God, both general and particular.

2. To consider the infinite goodness of God, who is ever waiting to do us good, and who ever loves us, and seeks from us our love.

3. To avoid even the smallest thing that could offend him.

4. To renounce all the sensible goods of this world, riches, honors, and sensual pleasures.

Father Tauler³¹ says that meditation on the sacred Passion of Jesus Christ is a great means also for acquiring his perfect love.

Who can deny that, of all devotions, devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ is the most useful, the most tender, the most agreeable to God, one that gives the greatest consolation to sinners, and at the same time most powerfully enkindles loving souls? Whence is it that we receive so many blessings, if it be not from the Passion of Jesus Christ? Whence have we hope of pardon, courage against temptations, confidence that we shall go to heaven? Whence are so many lights to know the truth, so many loving calls, so many spurrings to change our life, so many desires to give ourselves up to God, except from the Passion of Jesus Christ? The Apostle therefore had but too great reason to declare him to be excommunicated who did not love Jesus Christ. If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.³²

St. Bonaventure says there is no devotion more fitted for sanctifying a soul than meditation on the Passion of Jesus Christ; whence he advises us to meditate every day upon the Passion, if we would advance in the love of God. “If you would make progress, meditate daily on the Passion of the Lord; for nothing works such an entire sanctification in the soul, as the meditation of the Passion of Christ.”³³ And before him St. Augustine, as Bustis relates, said, that one tear shed in memory of the Passion is worth more than to fast weekly on bread and water for a year.³⁴ Wherefore the saints were always occupied in considering the sorrows of Jesus Christ: it was by this means that St. Francis of Assisi became a seraph. He was one day found by a gentleman shedding tears, and crying out with a loud voice: being asked the cause “I weep,” he answered, “over the sorrows and ignominies of my Lord: and what causes me the greatest sorrow is, that men, for whom he suffered so much, live in forgetfulness of him.” And on saying this he wept the more, so that this gentleman began also himself to weep. When the saint heard the bleating of a lamb, or saw anything which reminded him of the Passion of Jesus, he immediately shed tears. On another occasion, being sick, some one told him to read some pious book. “My book,” he replied, “is Jesus crucified.” Hence he did nothing but exhort his brethren to be ever thinking of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Tiepoli writes: “He who becomes not inflamed with the love of God by looking on Jesus dead upon the cross, will never love at all.”

Affections and Prayers.

O Eternal Word! Thou hast spent three-and-thirty years in labors and fatigues; Thou hast given Thy life and Thy blood for man’s salvation; in short, Thou hast spared nothing to make men love Thee; and how is it possible that there should be those who know this, and yet do not love Thee? O God, amongst these ungrateful ones I also may be numbered! I see the wrong I have done Thee; O my Jesus, have pity upon me! I offer Thee this ungrateful heart ungrateful it is true, but penitent. Yes, I repent above every other evil, O my dear Redeemer, for having despised Thee! I repent, and I am sorry with my whole heart. O my soul, love a God who is bound like a criminal for thee; a God scourged like a slave for thee; a God made a mock-king for thee; a God, in short, dead upon a cross, as the vilest outcast for thee! Yes, my Saviour, my God, I love Thee, I love Thee! Bring continually to my remembrance, I beseech Thee, all that Thou hast suffered for me, so that I may never more forget to love Thee. O cords that bound my Jesus, bind me to Jesus; thorns that crowned my Jesus, pierce me with the love of Jesus; nails that transfixed my Jesus, nail me to the Cross of Jesus, that I may live and die united to Jesus. O blood of Jesus, inebriate me with his holy love! O death of Jesus, make me die to every earthly affection! Pierced feet of my Lord, I embrace you; deliver me from hell, which I have deserved; my Jesus, in hell I could no more love Thee, and yet I desire to love Thee always. Save me, my dearest Saviour; bind me to Thyself, that I may never again lose Thee.

O Mary, refuge of sinners, and Mother of my Saviour! help a sinner who wishes to love God, and who recommends himself to thee; succor me for the love thou bearest to Jesus Christ.

1“Ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis.” – John, xvi. 27.

2Spirit, p. 1, ch. 25.

3“Super omnia, . . . charitatem habete, quod est vinculum perfectionis.” – Col. iii. 14.

4“Ama, et fac quod vis.”

5In charitate perpetua dilexi te.” – Jer. xxxi. 3.

6“Ab alio amatore præventa sum.”

7“In funiculis Adam traham eos, in vinculis charitatis.” – Osee, xi. 4.

8“Cœlum et terra et omnia mihi dicunt, ut te amem.” – Conf. B. 10, c. 6.

9“Sic enim Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium unigenitum daret.” – John, iii. 16.

10“Propter nimiam charitatem suam qua dilexit nos, et cum essemus mortui peccatis, convivificavit nos in Christo.” – Eph. ii. 4.

11“Qui etiam proprio Filio suo non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit ilium: quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit?” – Rom. viii. 32.

12“Dilexit me, et tradidit semetipsum pro me.” – Gal. ii. 20.

13“Et Verbum caro factum est.” – John, i. 14.

14“Exinanivit semetipsum formam servi accipiens, . . . et habitu inventus ut homo.” – Phil. ii. 7.

15“Humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.” – Phil. ii. 8.

16“Dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis.” – Eph. v. 2.

17“Charitas Christi urget nos.” – 2 Cor. v. 14.

18Love of God, B. 7, c. 8.

19Love of God, B. 12, c. 13.

20“Baptismo habeo baptizari; et quomodo coarctor usquedum perficiatur!” – Luke, xii. 50.

21“Sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus, ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem, cum dilexisset suos, . . . in finem dilexit eos.” – John, xiii. 1.

22“Quis hoc fecit? Fecit amor, dignitatis nescius.” – In Cant. s. 61.

23“Vidimus Sapientiam amoris nimietate infatuatam.” – Serm. de Nat. D.

24“Extasim facit divinus amor.” – De Div. Nom. c. 4.

25“Vulnera, corda saxea vulnerantia, et mentes congelatas inflammantia.” – Stim. div. am. p. 1, c. 1.

26“Charitas Christi urget nos.” – 2 Cor. v. 14.

27“Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem, . . . surgite, eamus.” – John, xiv. 31.

28“In hoc enim Christus mortuus est et resurrexit, ut et mortuorum et vivorum dominetur.” – Rom. xiv. 9.

29Disc, on the Love of God.

30De Duob. Præc. c. 4.

31Epist. 20.

32“Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, sit anathema.” – 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

33“Si vis proficere, quotidie mediteris Domini passionem; nihil enim in anima ita operatur universalem sanctimoniam, sicut meditatio passionis Christi.”

34“Magis meretur vel unam lacrymam emittens ob memoriam passionis Christi, quam si qualibet anni hebdomada in pane et aqua jejunaret.” – Rosar. p. 2, s. 15.

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Pious Reflections

on Different Points of Spirituality,
to Guide Souls that Desire
to Advance in the Love of God.

This little work was published in 1773, with the "Considerations on the Passion." The saintly author wrote on the 8th of September, 1773, in one of his spiritual letters: "Here are two little works, one of which may aid you to meditate on the Passion; I use it myself every day. . . . I also read every day something of the other little work, entitled 'Pious Reflections, etc.' I wish you to do the same; for I wrote it especially for those souls that desire to give themselves entirely to God."
— Rev. Eugene Grimm.

1. The Thought of Eternity
2. We are Pilgrims on Earth
3. God Deserves to be Loved above Everything
4. In order that a Soul may become Holy, it must give itself to God without Reserve
5. The Two Great Means for Becoming Holy--Desire and Resolution
6. The Science of the Saints
7. Our Eternal Safety Consists in Prayer
8. I Must One Day Die
9. Preparation for Death
10. He that Loves God must Love and not Abhor Death
11. Our Salvation is in the Cross
12. How much it Pleases Jesus Christ that we Suffer for the Love of Him
13. Divine Love Conquers All Things
14. The Necessity of Mental Prayer
15. The Object of Mental Prayer
16. The Mercy of God
17. Confidence in Jesus Christ
18. Salvation Alone is Necessary
19. Perfect Resignation to the Divine Will
20. Happy is He who is Faithful to God in Adversity
21. He that Loves Jesus Christ ought to Hate the World
22. The Words of a Dying Man to Jesus Crucified
23. Acts of Devotion for the Time of Death
24. The House of Eternity
25. Souls Who Love God Desire to Go to See Him in Heaven
26. Jesus is the Good Shepherd
27. The Affair of Eternal Salvation
28. What will be the Joy of the Blessed
29. The Pain of having Lost God will be that which Constitutes Hell
30. Contempt for the World
31. Love of Solitude
32. The Solitude of Heart
33. The Sight and Love of God in the Next Life will Constitute the Joy of the Blessed
34. Meditation before the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar
35. In God Alone is Found True Peace
36. We Ought to Have God Alone as the End of Our Actions
37. We must Suffer Everything in order to Please God
38. Happy is he who Desires Nothing but God
39. Dryness of Spirit
40. The Retired Life
41. Detachment from Creatures
42. Precious is the Death of the Saints
43. Lukewarmness
44. Purity of Intention
45. Aspirations after the Country of the Blessed

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Aspirations after the Country of the Blessed

Happy is he who is saved; who leaves this place of exile, and enters into the heavenly Jerusalem, and enjoys that perfect day which will be always day and always joyful, free from all molestation, and from all fear of ever losing so infinite a happiness.

Jacob said, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty; few, and evil.¹ The same may be said of us miserable pilgrims, whilst we remain on this earth, to endure the toils of our exile, afflicted by temptations, torn by passions, and tormented by miseries, and still more by the fear of losing our eternal salvation at last. Seeing all this, we should conclude, and ever keep it in mind, that this is not our country, but a land of exile, where God detains us, in order that we may, through suffering, come to merit the reward of entering one day into our happy country. And thus living detached from this earth, we ought always to aspire after Paradise, saying: “When shall it be, O Lord, that I shall be delivered from all these distresses, and think only of loving Thee and praising Thee? When will it be that Thou wilt be all to me in all things, as the Apostle writes: That God may be all in all?² When shall I enjoy that unchanging peace, free from all affliction, and from all danger of being lost? When, my God, shall I find myself dwelling with Thee, and enjoying the sight of Thine infinite beauty face to face, and without veil? When shall I attain to the possession of Thee, my Creator, in such a manner that I may say, My God, I cannot lose Thee more?

O my Saviour, whilst Thou seest me an exile, and full of trouble, in this land of enemies, where I live in continual warfare, help me with Thy grace, and console me in this sorrowful pilgrimage. Whatever the world may offer me, I know that nothing in it can bring peace; but yet I fear lest, if I have not help from Thee, the pleasures of the world, joined to my evil inclinations, should draw me on to some terrible precipice.

Exile as I am in this valley of tears, I would think of Thee continually, O my God! and share in that infinite happiness which Thou enjoyest; but the evil appetites of sense make themselves heard within me, and disturb me. I would that my affections were ever occupied in loving Thee and thanking Thee; but in my flesh I feel drawn towards sensual delights, and thence I am constrained to exclaim with St. Paul, Unhappy man that lam, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?³ Miserable man that I am, in continual combat, not only with external enemies, but with myself, whence I am weighed down and a trouble to myself.⁴

Who, then, will deliver me from the body of this death? that is, from the danger of falling into sin, from that peril, the fear only of which is to me a continual death, which torments me, and will not cease to torment me during all my life: Go not far from me, O God; my God, in Thy help I put my trust.⁵

My God, go not far from me; because if Thou goest from me, I fear I shall displease Thee. Therefore, draw nearer to me with Thy powerful help; succor me continually, that I may be able to resist the attacks of my enemies. The royal prophet has said that Thou art ever near, that Thou dost endow with holy patience all those who are of sorrowful heart, afflicted within themselves.⁶ Remain beside me, then, my beloved Saviour, and give me that patience that I need to overcome the continual attacks by which I am tormented. As often as I try to give myself to meditation and prayer, troublesome thoughts draw me away, and distract me with a thousand follies; do Thou give me force to drive them from me, and to crucify all the evil inclinations that hinder me from uniting myself to Thee. And take from me, I pray Thee, the great repugnance that I feel to embracing in love and peace everything that is not according to my own self-love.

O house of my God, prepared for those that love Thee, to Thee I sigh from this land of misery. “I have gone astray as a sheep that is lost: O, seek Thy servant.” O beloved Shepherd of my soul, who didst descend from heaven to seek and to save the lost sheep, behold me, one of these who has turned from Thee, and lost itself! Seek Thy servant; Lord, seek me; abandon me not, as I deserve; seek me and save me; take me and keep me safe within Thine arms, that I may not leave Thee any more.

While I am looking towards Paradise with strong desire, my enemy frightens me with the remembrance of my sins; but the sight of Thee, my crucified Jesus, consoles me, and gives me courage to hope that some day I may come to love Thee, and behold Thee unveiled, in Thy blessed kingdom. Queen of heaven, continue to be my advocate. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, and through thine intercession, I have a firm hope of being saved.

1“Dies peregrinationis meæ centum triginta annorum sunt, parvi et mali.” -- Gen. xlvii. 9.

2“Ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus.” -- 1 Cor. xv. 28.

3“Infelix ego homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?” -- Rom. vii. 24.

4“Factus sum mihimetipsi gravis.” -- Job, vii. 20.

5“Deus, ne elongeris a me; Deus meus, in auxilium meum respice.” -- Ps. lxx. 12.

6“Juxta est Dominus iis qui tribulato sunt corde.” -- Ps. xxxiii. 19.

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Purity of Intention

Purity of intention consists in doing everything from a simple desire to please God. Jesus Christ has said, that according to the intention, whether it be good or evil, so is our work judged before God. If thine eye be single, thy whole body is full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body is full of darkness.¹ The single eye signifies a pure intention of pleasing God; the dark and evil eye signifies a want of such honest and holy intention, when our actions are done from a motive of vanity, or from a desire to please ourselves.

Can any action be more noble than for a man to give his life for the faith? and yet St. Paul says, that he who dies from any motive but that of a pure desire to do God’s will, gains nothing by his martyrdom.

If, then, martyrdom avails nothing unless it be endured for the sake of God alone, of what value will be all the preaching, all the labor of good works, and also all the austerities of penitents, if they are done to obtain the praise of men, or to satisfy their own inclination?

The prophet Aggæus says, that works, however holy in themselves, if not done for God, are nothing better than bags full of holes;² which means, that they are all lost directly, and that no good comes of them. On the contrary, every action done with an intention of pleasing God, of however little value in itself, is worth more than many works done without such pure intention.

We read in St. Mark that the poor widow cast into the alms-box of the temple only two mites; but yet of her the Saviour said, See, that poor widow has cast in more than all.³ St. Cyprian remarks on this, that she put in more than all the others, because she gave those two little pieces of money with the pure intention of pleasing God.

One of the best signs by which we may know whether a person’s work is done with a right intention is, that if the work has not the effect desired he will not be at all disturbed. Another good sign is, that when a person has completed any work, and then is spoken ill of for it, or is repaid with ingratitude, he nevertheless remains contented and tranquil. On the other hand, if it happen to any one to be praised for his work, he must not disquiet himself with the fear of being filled with vain glory; but should it come upon him, only let him despise it in his heart, and say, with St. Bernard, “I did not begin it for thee, nor because of thee will I leave it.”⁴

To work with an intention of acquiring more glory in heaven is good, but the most perfect is the desire to give glory to God. Let us be sure that the more we divest ourselves of our earthly interests, so much the more will our Saviour increase our joy in Paradise. Blessed is he who labors only to give glory to God, and to follow his holy will. Let us imitate the love of the blessed, who, in loving God, seek only to please him. St. Chrysostom says, “ If we can attain to the fulfilment of God’s pleasure, what more can we desire? If thou art worthy of doing anything⁵ that pleases God, dost thou ask any other reward?”

This is that single eye which pierces the heart of God with love towards us; as he says to the holy Spouse, Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes.⁶ This single eye signifies the one end that holy souls have in all their actions, that of pleasing God. And this was the counsel that the Apostle gave to his disciples: Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.⁷ The Venerable Beatrice of the Incarnation, the first daughter of St. Teresa, said, “No price can be put on anything, however small, that is done entirely for God.” And with great reason she said this, for all works done for God are acts of divine love. Purity of intention makes the lowest actions become precious, such as eating, working, recreation, when they are done from obedience and from a desire to please God.

We must, then, in the morning, direct to God all the actions of the day; and it will be very useful to us to renew this intention at the beginning of every action, at least of the most important, such as meditation, Communion, and spiritual reading pausing a little in the beginning of these, like the holy hermit, who, before beginning anything he had to do, lifted his eyes to heaven, and remained still; and when he was asked what he was then doing, replied, “I am making sure of my aim.”

When, O my Jesus! shall I begin to love Thee truly? Miserable that I am! If I seek among my works for any that are good, for one work done only to please Thee, my Saviour, I shall not find it. Alas! then, have pity on me, and suffer not that I continue to serve Thee so ill up to the time of my death. Grant me Thy help, that what remains to me of life I may spend only in serving and loving Thee. Make me overcome all, that I may please Thee, and do all only to fulfil Thy holy pleasure; through the merits of Thy Passion, I ask it. O my great advocate, Mary, obtain for me this grace by thy prayers!

1“Si oculus tuus fuerit simplex, totum corpus tuum lucidum erit, si autem oculus tuus fuerit nequam, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit.” -- Matt. vi. 22.

2In sacculum pertusum.

3“Vidua hæc pauper plus omnibus misit.” -- Mark, xii. 43.

4Nec propter te cœpi, nec propter te desinam.

5“Si dignus fueris agere aliquid quod Deo placet, aliam præter id mercedem requiris.” -- De Compunct. 1. 2.

6“Vulnerasti cor meum, soror mea sponsa, vulnerasti cor meum in uno oculorum tuorum.” -- Cant. iv. 9.

7“Sive ergo manducatis, sive bibitis, sive aliud quid facitis, omnia in gloriam Dei facite.” -- 1 Cor. x. 31.

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Lukewarmness

There are two kinds of lukewarmness; one that can be avoided, and the other that cannot. We cannot avoid that kind which, in the present state of being, is suffered even by spiritual souls, who, through their natural weakness, cannot avoid falling, but who, from time to time, without the full consent of their will, fall into some light fault; from which defects no one is free, because of the corruption of our nature through original sin, without a most special grace, which was granted to none but the Mother of God. God himself permits these flaws in his saints, in order to keep them humble. Often they find themselves without fervor, wearied and wandering in their devout exercises; and at such times of dryness they are more apt to fall into many defects, at least without deliberation. For the rest, they who find themselves in this condition must not leave off their ordinary devotions nor lose courage, nor believe that they have fallen into real lukewarmness; for this is not lukewarmness. Let them go on with their accustomed exercises, let them detest their defects, let them often renew their resolutions of giving themselves wholly to God, and let them have confidence in him, for he will comfort them. There is true lukewarmness to be mourned over, when the soul falls into venial sins with a full will, and grieves but little for them, and takes little care to avoid them, asserting that they are trifles of no moment. What! is it nothing to displease God? St. Teresa said to her nuns, “My daughters, may God deliver you from known sins, however small.”

Yet people say, that such sins do not deprive us of the grace of God. He that says this is in imminent danger of seeing himself one day deprived of divine grace, and in a state of mortal sin. St. Gregory writes, that whoever falls into deliberate mortal sins habitually, without feeling pain at it, and without thinking of amending himself, does not stay just where he has fallen, but goes on to fall down a precipice: “The soul never lies on the spot where it falls.”¹ Mortal diseases do not always spring from serious disorders, but from slight disorders of long continuance; and thus the fall of certain souls into a state of sin is often to be attributed to the repetition of venial sins, which make the soul so weak, that when it is attacked by any powerful temptation, it has no strength to resist, and so falls.

“He that despiseth little things, by little degrees shall he fall.” He that takes no account of trifling falls, will one day find himself upon a precipice. The Lord said, “Because thou art lukewarm, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth.” This signifies that the soul would be abandoned by God, or at least deprived of those special divine aids which are necessary to preserve us in a state of grace. Let us pay good heed to this. The Council of Trent condemns those who say that we can persevere in grace without a special help from God: “If any man shall say, that the justified can persevere in the justification he has received without the special help of God, let him be accursed.” Thus, we cannot persevere in grace without a special extraordinary help from God; but this special help God will justly deny to one who makes no account of committing many venial sins with his eyes open. Is God bound to give this special help to one who thinks nothing of voluntarily causing him continual displeasure? “He that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly.” If we act grudgingly with God, how can we hope that God will act bountifully with us?

Miserable is that soul that is at peace with sin, even when it is venial! Such a one will go from bad to worse; for his passions, ever gaining strength upon him, easily blind him; and when a man is blind, it is easy for him to find himself falling down a precipice when least he expects it. Let us fear to fall into voluntary lukewarmness; for it is like a fever, that does not cause much alarm, but is in itself so malignant, that it is with great difficulty cured.

For the rest, though it is very difficult for a lukewarm person to amend, yet there are remedies, if only he desires amendment. The remedies are: 1. A resolution to escape, at all costs, from this miserable state; 2. The removal of the occasions of falling, without which there is no hope of amendment; and 3. The constant recommendation of himself to God, with fervent prayer that he would give him strength to escape from this deplorable condition, continued until he finds himself free.

O Lord, have mercy upon me! I see that I have deserved to be vomited forth by Thee, for the many defects with which I serve Thee. Miserable I am, for I see my self without love, without confidence, and without desire. O my Jesus! abandon me not; stretch forth Thy powerful hand, and drive me from this depth of lukewarmness in which I see myself fallen. Grant this through the merits of Thy passion, in which I trust. O holy Virgin, pray to Jesus for me!

1“Nunquam illic anima, quo ceciderit, jacet.” -- Moral. 1. 31, c. 12.

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