flew to perfection with such rapidity

True Spouse of Jesus Christ

On the desire of perfection.

AN ardent desire of perfection is the first
means which a religious should adopt, to acquire
sanctity and to consecrate her whole
being to God. As the sportsman, to hit a bird
in flight, must take aim in advance of his
prey, so a Christian, to make progress in virtue,
should aspire to the highest degree of holiness
which it is in his power to attain, " Who,"
says holy David, " will give me wings like a
dove, and I will fly and be at rest." (Ps. liv.
7.) Who will give me the wings of the dove
to fly to my God, and, divested of all earthly
affection, to repose in the bosom of the Divinity ?
Holy desires are the blessed wings with
which the saints burst every worldly tie, and fly
to the mountain of perfection, where they find
that peace which the world cannot give. But,
how do fervent desires make the soul fly to
God ? " They," says St. Lawrence Justinian, "
supply strength, and render pains light and
tolerable." On the one hand, good desires
give strength and courage, and on the other,
they diminish the labour and fatigue of ascending the mountain of God. Whosoever, through
diffidence of attaining sanctity, does not ardently
desire to become a saint, will never
arrive at perfection. A man who is desirous
of obtaining a valuable treasure which he
knows is to be found at the top of a lofty
mountain, but who, through fear of fatigue and
difficulty, has no desire of ascending, will
never advance a single step towards the wished
for object, but will remain below, in careless
indifference and inactivity. And he who, because
the path of virtue appears to him narrow
and rugged, and difficult to be trodden, does
not desire to climb up the mountain of the
Lord, and to gain the summit of Christian
perfection, will always continue in a state of
tepidity, and will never make the smallest
progress in the way of God.

2. On the contrary, he that does not
endeavour to advance continually in holiness,
will, as we learn from experience, and from all
the masters of spiritual life, go backwards in
the path of virtue, and will be exposed to great
danger of eternal misery. "The path of the
just," says Solomon, "as a shining light
goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect
day. The way of the wicked is darksome:
they know not when they fall." (Prov. iv. 18, 19.) As light increases constantly from
sunrise to full day, so the path of the saints
always advances ; but, the way of sinners becomes
continually more dark and gloomy, till they know not where they go, and at length
walk into everlasting ruin. " Not to advance,"
says St. Augustine, "is to go back." St. Gregory beautifully explains this maxim of
spiritual life, by comparing a Christian, who
seeks to remain stationary in the path of virtue,
to a man situated in a boat on a rapid river,
and striving to keep the boat always in the
same position. If the boat be not continually
propelled against the current, it will be carried
away in an opposite direction, and consequently, without continual exertion, its station
cannot be maintained. Since the fall of Adam
man is naturally inclined to evil from his birth. "For the imagination and thought of man's
heart are prone to evil from his youth." (Gen.
viii. 21.) If he do not push forward, if he do
not endeavour by incessant efforts to improve
in sanctity, the violence of passion will carry
him back. "Since you do not wish to proceed,"
says St. Bernard addressing a tepid
soul, "you must fail." "By no means," she
replies ; " I wish to live, and to remain in my
present state. I will not consent to be worse;
and I do not desire to be better." "You, then,"
rejoins the Saint, "wish what is impossible." (Epis. 253, ad. Gariv.) Because, in the way
of God, a Christian must either go forward and
advance in virtue, or go backwards and rush
headlong into crime.

3. In seeking eternal salvation, we must,
according to St. Paul, never rest, but must run continually in the way of perfection, that we
may win the prize, and secure an incorruptible
crown. "So run that you may obtain." (1 Cor: ix.'24.) If we fail, the fault will be ours :
for God wills that all be holy and perfect. "
This is the will of God — your sanctification." (1. Thes. iv. 3.) He even commands us to
seek perfection. "Be you therefore perfect,
as also your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mat. v. 48.) He promises and gives, as
the holy Council of Trent teaches, abundant
strength, for the observance of all his commands,
to those who ask it from him. "God
does 'not command impossibilities ; but, by his
precepts, he admonishes you to do what you
can, and to ask what you cannot do ; and he
assists you, that you may be able to do it." (Sess. vi. c. 13.) God does not command
impossibilities; but, by his precepts, he admonishes
us to do what we can by the aid of
his ordinary grace; and when greater helps
are necessary, to seek them by humble prayer.
He will infallibly attend to our petitions, and
enable us to observe all, even the most difficult
of his commandments. Take courage, then,
and adopt the advice of the venerable Father
Torres to a religious who was one of his penitents : "Let us, my child, put on the wings of
strong desires, that, quitting the earth, we
may fly to our Spouse and our Beloved, who
expects us in the blessed kingdom of eternity."

4. St. Augustine teaches, that the life of a good Christian is one continued longing after
perfection. "The whole life," says the Saint, "of a good Christian, is a holy desire." (Tract.
4, in 1. Ep. Joan.) He that cherishes not in his
heart the desire of sanctity, may be a Christian ;
but he cannot be a good one. If this be
true of all the servants of God, how much
more so must it be of religious, who, though it is
not imperative on them to be actually perfect,
are strictly obliged to aspire after perfection. "He that enters the religious state," says St.
Thomas, "is not commanded to have perfect
charity ; but he is bound to tend to it. It is
not," continues the Saint, "obligatory on him
to adopt all the means by which perfection may
be attained ; but, it is his duty to perform the
exercises prescribed by the rule, which, at his
profession, he promised to observe." (2, 2. qu. 186, ar. 2.) Hence, a religious is bound
not only to fulfil her vows, but also to assist
at public prayer ; to make the communions,
and to practise the mortifications ordained by
the rule ; to observe the silence, and to discharge
all the other duties of the community.

5. You will, perhaps, say, that your rule
does not bind under pain of sin. That may
be : but, theologians generally maintain, that,
to transgress without sufficient necessity, even
the rules which of themselves do not impose a
moral obligation, is almost always a venial
fault. Because, the wilful and unnecessary
violation of rule generally proceeds from passion, or from sloth, and consequently must be,
at least, a venial offence. Hence, St. Francis
de Sales, in his entertainments, teaches, that,
though the rule of the visitation did not oblige
under the penalty of sin, still the infraction of
it could not be excused from the guilt of a
venial transgression. " Because," says the
Saint, " by disobedience to her rule, a religious
dishonours the things of God, violates her
profession, disturbs the community, and dissipates
the fruits of the good example which
every one should give." Whoever, then, breaks
the rule in the presence of others, will, according
to the Saint, incur the additional guilt of
scandal. It should be observed, that the
breach of rule may be even a mortal sin, when
it is so frequent as to do serious injury to regular
observance. To violate the rule, through
contempt, is likewise a grievous transgression.
And St. Thomas remarks, that the frequent
infraction of rule practically disposes to the
contempt of it. This is my answer to those
tepid religious who excuse their own irregularities
by saying that the rule imposes no obligation.
The fervent spouses of Jesus Christ
do not inquire whether their rule has the force
of a precept or not : it is enough for them to
know that it is approved by God, and that he
takes complacency in its observance.

6. As it is impossible to arrive at perfection
in any art or science without ardent desires of
its attainment, so no one has ever yet become a saint, but by strong and fervent aspirations
after sanctity. "God," observes St. Teresa, "
ordinarily confers his signal favours on those
only who thirst after his love." "Blessed,"
says the royal Prophet, "is the man whose
help is from thee : in his heart he hath disposed
to ascend by steps, in the vale of tears.
s * * They shall go from virtue to virtue." (Ps. Ixxxiii. 6.) Happy the man who has resolved,
in his soul, to mount the ladder of
perfection : he shall receive abundant aid from
God, and will ascend from virtue to virtue.
Such has been the practice of the saints, and
especially of St. Andrew Avellino, who even
bound himself by vow, "to advance continually
in the way of Christian perfection." (Lect.
5, offic. in die. Testi.) St. Teresa used to say,
that " God rewards, even in this life, every
good desire." It was by good desires that the
saints arrived, in a short time, at a sublime
degree of sanctity. " Being made perfect in a
short space, he fulfilled a long time." (Wis.
iv. 13.) It was thus that Lewis Gonzaga, who
lived but twenty-five years, acquired such perfection,
that St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi,
to whom he appeared in bliss, declared, that
his glory equalled that of most of the saints.
In the vision he said to her : my eminent sanctity
was the fruit of an ardent desire, which I
cherished during my life, of loving God as
much as he deserved to be loved : and, being
unable to love him with that infinite love which he merits, I suffered on earth a continual martyrdom
of love, for which I am now raised to
that transcendent glory which I enjoy.

7. The works of St. Teresa contain, besides
those that have been already adduced, many
beautiful passages on this subject. "Our
thoughts," says the Saint, "should be aspiring:
from great desires all our good will come."
In another place, she says : "We must not
lower our desires, but should trust in God that
by continual exertion we shall, by his grace,
arrive at the sanctity and felicity of the saints."
Again she says: "The Divine Majesty takes
complacency in generous souls who are diffident
in themselves." This great Saint asserted,
that in all her experience she never knew a
timid Christian to attain as much virtue in
many years, as a courageous soul acquires in a
few days. The reading of the lives of the
Saints contributes greatly to infuse courage
into the soul. It will be particularly useful to
read the lives of those who, after being great
sinners, became eminent saints; such as the
lives of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Augustine, St.
Pelagia, St. Mary of Egypt, and especially of
St. Margaret of Cortona, who was for many
years in a state of damnation ; but, even then,
cherished a desire for sanctity ; and who, after
her conversion, flew to perfection with such
rapidity, that she merited to learn by revelation,
even in this life, not only that she was
predestined to glory, but also, that a place was prepared for her among the Seraphim. St.
Teresa says, that the devil seeks to persuade
us that it would be pride in us to desire a
high degree of perfection, or to wish to imitate
the saints. . She adds, that it is a great delusion,
to regard strong desires of sanctity as the
offspring of pride : for, it is not pride in a soul,
diffident of herself, and trusting only in the
power of God, to resolve to walk courageously
in the way of perfection, saying with the Apostle — "
I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me." (Phil. iv. 13.) Of myself I can
do nothing ; but, by his aid I shall be able to
do all things, and, therefore, I resolve to desire
to love him as the saints have loved him.

8. It is very profitable frequently to aspire
after the most exalted virtue ; such as to love
God more than all the saints ; to suffer for his
glory more than all the martyrs ; to bear and
to pardon all injuries ; to embrace every sort
of fatigue and suffering for the sake of saving
a single soul ; and to perform similar acts of
perfect charity. Because, these holy aspirations,
though their object shall never be
attained, are, in the first place, very meritorious
in the sight of God, who glories in men
of good will as much as he abominates a perverse
heart and evil inclinations. Secondly,
because the habit of aspiring to heroic sanctity,
animates and encourages the soul to perform
acts of ordinary and easy virtue. Hence it is of great importance to propose, in the morning, to labour as much as possible for God during
the day ; to resolve to bear patiently all crosses
and contradictions ; to observe constant recollection;
and to make frequent acts of the love
of God. Such was the practice of the seraphic
St. Francis. " He proposed," says St.
Bonaventure, " with the grace of Jesus Christ,
to do great things." St. Teresa asserts, that "
the Lord is as well pleased with good desires,
as with their fulfilment." Oh ! how much
better is it to serve God than to serve the
world. To acquire goods of the earth, to procure
wealth, honours, and applause of men, it
is not enough to pant after them with ardour :
no, to desire, and not to obtain them, only
renders their absence more painful. But, to
merit the riches and the favour of God, it is
sufficient to desire his grace and love. St.
Augustine relates, that, in a convent of hermits,
there were two officers of the emperor's
court, one of whom began to read the life of
St. Antony. " He read," says the holy Doctor, "
and his heart was stripped of the world."
Turning to his companion he said : "What do
we seek ? Can we expect from the emperor
any thing better than his friendship ? Through
how many dangers, are we to reach still greater
perils ? — and how long shall this last ? Fools
that we have been, shall we still continue to
serve the emperor in the midst of so many
labours, fears, and troubles ? We can hope
for nothing better than his favours : and should we obtain it, we would only increase the danger
of our eternal reprobation. It is only with
difficulty that we shall ever procure the patronage
of Csesar ; but, if I will it, behold, I
am, in a moment, the friend of God." Because,
whoever wishes, with a true and resolute
desire, for the friendship of God, instantly
obtains it.

9. I say with a true and resolute desire :
for little profit is derived from the fruitless
desires of slothful souls who always desire to
be saints, but never advance in the way of
God. Of them Solomon says : "The sluggard
willeth and willeth not." (Prov. xiii. 4.) And
again: "Desires kill the slothful." (Prov. xxi. 25.) The tepid religious desires perfection,
but never resolves to adopt the means of its
acquirement. Contemplating its advantages
she desires it ; but, reflecting on the fatigue
necessary for its attainment, she desires it not.
Thus, "she willeth and willeth not." Her
desires of sanctity are not efficacious : they
have for object means of salvation incompatible
with her state. Oh ! she exclaims, were I
in the desert, all my time should be employed
in prayer and in works of penance ; were I in
another convent, I would shut myself up in a
cell to think only of God : if my health were
good, I would practise continual mortifications.
I would wish, she cries, to do all this ; and still
the miserable soul does not fulfil the obligations
af her state. She prays but little ; and is even absent from the prayers of the community;
she neglects communion; is seldom in
the choir, and frequently at the grate and on
the terrace: she practises but little patience
or resignation in her infirmities : in a word, she
daily commits wilful and deliberate faults, but
never labours to correct them. What, then,
will it profit her to desire what is inconsistent
with the duties of her present state, while she
violates strict and imperative obligations? "
Desires kill the slothful." Such useless desires
expose the soul to great danger of everlasting
perdition: because, wasting her time,
and taking complacency in them, she will
neglect the means necessary for the perfection
of her state and for the attainment of eternal
life. " I do not," says St. Francis of Sales, "
approve of the conduct of those who, while
bound by an obligation, or placed in any state,
spend their time in wishing for another manner
of life inconsistent with their duties, or for
exercises incompatible with their present state.
For, these desires dissipate the heart, and make
it languish in the necessary exercises." It is,
then, the duty of a religious to aspire only
after that perfection which is suitable to her
present state, and to her actual obligations ;
and, whether a superior, or a subject, whether
in sickness or in health, the vigour of youth,
or the imbecility of old age, to adopt resolutely
the means of sanctity suitable to her condition
in life. " The devil," says St. Teresa, " sometimes persuades us that we have acquired the
virtue, for example, of patience, because we
determine to suffer a great deal for God. We
feel really convinced that we are ready to
accept any cross, however great, for his sake :
and this conviction makes us quite content :
for the devil assists us to believe that we are
willing to bear all things for God. I advise
you not to trust much to such virtue, nor to
think that you even know it, except in name,
until you see it tried. It will probably happen,
that, on the first occasion of contradiction,
all this patience will fall to the ground."

10. Let us now come to what is most important —
the means to be adopted for acquiring
sanctity. The first means of perfection is
mental prayer, and particularly the meditation
of the claims which God has to our love, and
of the love which he has borne towards us,
especially in the work of redemption. To
redeem us, a God has sacrificed his life in a
sea of sorrows and contempt; and, to obtain
our love, he has gone so far as to make himself
our food. To inflame the soul with the
fire of divine love, these truths must be frequently
meditated. " In my meditation," says
David, "a fire shall flame out." (Ps. xxxviii.
1.) When I contemplate the goodness of my
God, the flames of charity are kindled in my
heart. St. Lewis Gonzaga used to say, that,
to attain eminent sanctity, it is first necessary
to arrive at a high degree of prayer. The second means of perfection is, to renew frequently
your resolution of advancing in divine
love. In this renewal, you will be greatly
assisted by considering, each day, that it is
only then you begin to walk in the path of
virtue. This was the practice of holy David : "And I said now have I begun." (Ps. Ixxvi.
11.) — And was the dying advice of St. Antony
to his monks : " My dear children, figure
to yourselves that each day is the day on which
you began to serve God." The third means
is, to search out continually and scrupulously
the defects of the soul. " Brethren," says St.
Augustine, "examine yourselves with rigour.
Be always displeased with what you are, if you
desire to become what you are not." (De
verb. Apos. Serm. 15.) To arrive at that perfection
which you have not attained, you must
never be satisfied with the virtue you possess. "
For," continues the Saint, " where you have
been pleased with yourself, there you have remained."
Wherever you are content with the
degree of sanctity which you have acquired,
there you will rest, and, taking complacency
in yourself, you will lose the desire of further
perfection. Hence, the holy Doctor adds what
should terrify every tepid soul who, content
with her present virtue, cares but little for her
spiritual advancement : " But if you have said
it is sufficient, you have perished." If you
have said that you have already attained sufficient perfection, you are lost: for, not to advance in the way of God, is to retrograde ;
and, as St. Bernard says, " not to wish to go
forward, is certainly to fail." (Ep. 253, ad Gariv.) Hence, St. Chrysostom exhorts us to
think continually on the virtues which we do
not possess, and never to reflect on the little
good which we have done : for, the thought of
our good works "generates indolence, and
inspires arrogance" — (Hom. xii. in Ep. ad
Phil.) — and serves only to engender sloth in
the way of the Lord, and to swell the heart
with vain glory, which exposes the soul to the
danger of losing the virtues she has acquired. "
He that runs," continues the Saint, " does
not compute the progress he has made, but
the distance he has to travel." He that
aspires after perfection, does not stop to calculate
the proficiency he has made, but directs
all his attention to the virtues he has still to
acquire. Fervent Christians — " as they that
dig a treasure" — (Job, iii. 21) — advance in
virtue as they approach the end of life. "As,"
says St. Gregory, " the man who seeks a treasure,
the deeper he has dug, the more he exerts
himself in the hope of finding it; so the soul,
that pants after holiness, multiplies her efforts
to attain it, in proportion to the advancement
she has made.

11. The fourth means is that which St. Bernard employed to excite his fervour. "He
had," says Surius, "this always in his heart,
and frequently in his mouth — ' Bernard, for what purpose hast thou come ?' " Every religious
should continually ask herself the same
question. I have left the world, and all its
riches and pleasures, to live in the cloister, and
to become a saint — what progress do I make ?
I do not advance in sanctity; no, but, by my
tepidity I expose myself to the danger of eternal
perdition. It will be useful to introduce,
in this place, the example of the venerable Sister
Hyacinth Marescotti, who at first led a
very tepid life in the convent of St. Bernardine,
in Viterbo. She confessed to Father Bianehetti, a Franciscan, who came to the convent
as extraordinary confessor. That holy man
thus addressed her : " Are you a nun ? Are
you not aware that Paradise is not prepared
for vain and proud religious ?" " Then," she
replied, " I have left the world to cast myself
into hell ?" " Yes," rejoined the Father, " that
is the place which is destined for religious who
live like seculars." Reflecting on the words
of the holy man, Sister Hyacinth was struck
with remorse ; and, bewailing her past life, she
made her confession with tearful eyes, and
began from that moment to walk resolutely in
the way of perfection. O how salutary is the
thought of having abandoned the world to
become a saint ! it awakens the tepidity of the
religious, and encourages her to advance continually
in holiness, and to surmount every
obstacle to her ascent up the mountain of God.
Whenever, then, O spouse of Jesus, you meet with difficulties in the practice of obedience, say
to your heart : I have not entered religion to do
ray own will ; if I wished to follow my own
inclinations I should have remained in the
world. But I have come here to do the will
of God, by obedience to my superiors ; aud
this I desire to do in spite of all difficulties.
Whenever you experience the inconveniencies
of poverty, say — I have not left the world, and
retired into the cloister, for the enjoyment of
ease and riches, but to practise poverty for the
love of my Jesus, who, for my sake, became
poorer than I am. When you are rebuked or
treated with contempt, say — I have become a
religious only to receive and bear with patience
the humiliations due to my sins, and thus be
rendered dear to my divine Spouse, who was
so much despised on earth. By this means
you will live to God and die to the world. In
conclusion, I recommend you frequently to
ask yourself this question : what will it profit
me to have abandoned the world, to have confined
myself in the cloister, and to have given
up my liberty, if I do not become a saint, but
if, on the contrary, I expose my soul to everlasting misery, by a careless, and tepid, and
negligent life ?

12. The fifth means, for a religious to attain
sanctity, is frequently to call to mind and
anew the sentiments of fervour, and the desires
of perfection which she felt when she first entered religion. The Abbot Agatho being once asked by a monk for a rule of conduct in religion,
replied : " See what you were on the day
you left the world, and persevere in the dispositions
you then entertained." Remember, O
consecrated virgin, the resolutions which you
made, on the day you retired from the world,
to seek nothing but God, to have no will but
his, and to suffer all manner of contempt and
hardship for the love of Jesus Christ. This
thought, as we learn from the lives of the
Fathers — (Part ii. §. 201)— brought back to
his first fervour, a young monk who had fallen
into tepidity. When he first determined to
retire into a monastery, his mother strongly
opposed his design, and endeavoured by various
reasons to shew that it was his bounden duty
not to abandon her. To all her arguments he
replied : I am resolved to save my soul. And,
in spite of her opposition, he entered religion.
But, after some time, his ardour cooled, and
tepidity stole into his heart. His mother died,
and, a little after her death, he was seized with
a dangerous malady. In his sickness, he
thought he saw himself before the judgment
seat of God, and his mother reproaching him
with the violation of his first resolution : My
son, said she, you have forgotten the words, I
have resolved to save my soul, by which you
replied to all my entreaties. You have become
a religious, and is it thus you live ? He recovered
from his infirmity, and, reflecting on his
first fervour, he commenced a life of holiness,