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         Title: Light and Peace
    Creator(s): Quadrupani, Carlo Giuseppe
   Print Basis: B. Herder, 1898
        Rights: Public domain in the U.S.; author DOD 1941.
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                                LIGHT AND PEACE.
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   INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
   TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND
   ALLAY THEIR FEARS.

   BY
   R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.

   Translated from the French.

   With an Introduction by
   THE MOST REV. P. J. RYAN, D.D.,
   Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pa.

   ST. LOUIS, MO. 1898.
   Published by B. HERDER,
   17 South Broadway.

   NIHIL OBSTAT.

   F. G. Holweck, Censor Librorum.

   IMPRIMATUR.

   St. Louis, Mo., 1. Oct. 1897. H. Muehlsiepen, V. G., Adm.

   The French translation, from which the present English version has been
   made, is approved by the Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Versailles
   and the Bishop of Meaux.

   Copyright, 1898, by Jos. Gummersbach.

   --BECKTOLD--
   PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
   ST. LOUIS, MO.
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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

   These Instructions for Pious Souls, now published in English under the
   title Light and Peace, were written in 1795 by the illustrious and
   saintly Barnabite, Padre Quadrupani. They contain a summary of
   spiritual guidance for earnest Christians in the ordinary duties of
   life in the world. The author had formed his own spirituality on the
   model presented by the life and teaching of St. Francis de Sales, and
   in this little book he reflects the wisdom, prudence and sweetness of
   that "gentleman Saint."

   The work has passed through uncounted editions in its original Italian,
   and through a large number of editions in both the French and the
   German translations. An English translation was published many years
   ago, but besides its present rarity, its many imperfections warrant the
   belief that a new rendition will not be unwelcome. The translator has,
   moreover, been encouraged by the persuasion that the maxims of Father
   Quadrupani are specially adapted to the American character. Unlike many
   foreign religious works, whose spirituality often fails to touch the
   Anglo-Saxon temperament, this author's teaching is decidedly practical
   and practicable, and appeals in every way to the common sense and fits
   in with the busy, matter-of-fact life of the average American Catholic.

   The present translation has been made from the twentieth French edition
   and has been collated with the thirty-second edition of the original
   Italian published at Naples in 1818. The many recommendations from the
   Episcopacy of France prefixed to the French translation are here
   omitted, as the Introduction by the Most Reverend Archbishop of
   Philadelphia is abundant testimony to the doctrinal solidity of the
   work.

   I. M. O'R. Overbrook, PA.
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INTRODUCTION.

   God's attributes being infinite and our intellects limited and also
   darkened by the fall, we see these attributes only in part and "as afar
   off and through a glass." In contemplating His awful sanctity, we are
   overwhelmed with fear and forget His ineffable mercy. Our views are
   also greatly influenced by our natural temperaments, whether joyous or
   sad, and change with our environments and moods.

   As the blue firmament is ever the same, so is the great God
   Himself--"the King of Ages immortal and invisible, without change or
   shadow of vicissitude." But as the clouds that hang as veils of the
   sanctuary are movable and variegated, now dark and gloomy and again
   brilliant in silver or gold, now opening into vistas of the firmament
   above and again closing in darkness, except when arrows of light pierce
   them and show their outlines, so are we variable and inconstant and
   need spiritual direction adapted to our peculiar wants. The naturally
   joyous, hopeful and sometimes presumptuous, need that wholesome fear of
   the Lord which is "the beginning of wisdom." The constitutionally
   severe, scrupulous and almost despairing, need to remember God's tender
   paternal character and to learn that "His mercies are above all His
   works." To such souls this little book must prove invaluable. Its
   theology is sound, as the various episcopal approbations testify. Hence
   its statements can be entirely trusted. The fact that it has passed
   through twenty editions in French is sufficient evidence of its
   appreciation in that country. May it continue its holy mission of light
   and consolation and joy in this country and act like the angelic
   messenger to Peter in prison, liberating the soul from the chains of
   doubt and despondency, illuminating her by the light of God's holy
   truth and bringing her out of the darksome prison into the company of
   the confiding, prayerful, joyous saints of God.

   ?P. J. RYAN.
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                                Light and Peace

   INSTRUCTIONS FOR DEVOUT SOULS
   TO DISPEL THEIR DOUBTS AND ALLAY THEIR FEARS.

   By R. P. QUADRUPANI, Barnabite.

PART FIRST.
EXTERIOR PRACTICES.
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  I.
  SPIRITUAL DIRECTION.

   For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Ghost. (S. Mark, xiii, 11.)

   1. It is absolutely true that in matters of conscience obedience to a
   spiritual director is obedience to God, for Christ has said to His
   ministers on earth: "He that heareth you, heareth Me." (St. Luke, x,
   16.)

   2. A soul possessed of this spirit of obedience can not be lost: a soul
   devoid of this spirit can not be saved. (St. Philip Neri.)

   3. Saint Bernard says there is no need for the devil to tempt those who
   ignore obedience and permit themselves to be guided by their own light
   and deterred by their fears, for they act the devil's part towards
   themselves.

   4. Do not fear that your director may be mistaken in what he prescribes
   for your guidance, or that he does not fully understand the state of
   your conscience because you did not explain it clearly enough to him.
   Such doubts cause obedience to be eluded or postponed and thus
   frustrate the designs of God in placing you under the direction of a
   prudent guide. It was the priest's duty to have questioned you further
   had he not fully understood you, and that he did not do so is a
   positive proof that he knew enough to enable him to pronounce a safe
   judgment. God has promised his special help to those who represent Him
   in the direction of souls. Is not this assurance enough to induce you
   to obey with promptness and simplicity as the Holy Scripture commands?

   5. God does not show the state of our souls as clearly to us as he does
   to him who is to guide us in his place. You should be quite satisfied,
   then, if your director tells you the course you follow is the right one
   and that the mercy and grace of your Heavenly Father are guiding you in
   it. You should believe and obey him in this as in all else, for as St.
   John of the Cross tells us, "it betrays pride and lack of faith not to
   put entire confidence in what our confessor says."

   6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore,
   therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk
   confidently in this path exempt from danger. "You sometimes fear," says
   St. Bonaventure, "that in obeying you act against the dictates of your
   conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you
   really increase your merit before God."

   7. We should allow obedience to regulate not only our exterior actions
   but likewise our mind and our will. Hence do not be satisfied with
   performing the works it prescribes, but let your thoughts and desires
   be also moulded according to its direction. In fact, it is in this
   interior submission that the merit of spiritual obedience essentially
   consists.

   8. Obedience should be simple and prompt, without reservation or
   disquietude. Simple, because you ought not to argue about it, but
   decide by the one thought: I must obey; prompt, for it is God whom you
   obey; without reservation, because obedience extends to everything that
   does not violate God's law; without disquietude, because in obeying God
   you cannot go astray: this thought should be sufficient to drive away
   all fear of doing or of having done wrong.

   9. When choosing a director, be careful to select one who has the
   necessary qualifications. He should be not only virtuous, but prudent,
   charitable and learned. St. Francis de Sales gives the following
   opinion on the subject:

   "Go," said Tobias to his son, when about to send him into a strange
   country, go seek some wise man to conduct you.' I say the same to you,
   Philothea. If you sincerely desire to enter upon the way of devotion,
   seek a good guide to direct you therein. This advice is of the utmost
   importance and necessity. Whatever one may do, says the devout Avila,
   he can never be certain of fulfilling God's will, unless he practice
   that humble obedience which the saints so strongly recommend and to
   which they so faithfully adhere. And the Scriptures tell us: A faithful
   friend is a strong defence: and he that hath found him, hath found a
   treasure: .... a faithful friend is the medicine of life and
   immortality: and they that fear the Lord shall find one.'
   (Ecclesiasticus, c. VI, vv. 14-16.)

   But who can find such a friend? They that fear God, the Wise Man
   answers--that is to say, those humble souls who ardently desire their
   spiritual progress. Since it is so essential, then, Philothea, to have
   a skilful guide in the devout life, ask God fervently to give you one
   according to His Heart, and rest assured that when an angel is
   necessary to you as to the young Tobias, He will give you a wise and
   faithful director.

   In fact, the selection once made, you should look upon your spiritual
   guide more as a guardian angel than as a mere man. You place your
   confidence not in him but in God, for it is God who will lead and
   instruct you through his instrumentality by inspiring him with the
   sentiments and words necessary for your guidance. Thus you may safely
   listen to him as to an angel sent from heaven to lead you there. To
   this confidence, add perfect candor. Speak quite frankly and tell him
   unreservedly all that is good, all that is evil in you, for the good
   will thus be strengthened, the evil weakened, and your soul shall
   thereby become firmer in its sufferings and more moderate in its
   consolations. Great respect should also be united with confidence and
   in such nice proportion that the one shall not lessen the other: let
   your confidence in him be such as a respectful daughter reposes in her
   father, your respect for him such as that with which a son confides in
   his mother. In a word, this friendship, though strong and tender,
   should be altogether sacred and spiritual in its nature.

   Choose one among a thousand,' says Avila: "among ten thousand, rather,
   I should say, for there are fewer than one would suppose fitted for
   this office of spiritual director. Charity, learning and prudence are
   indispensable to it, and if any one of these qualities be absent, your
   choice will not be unattended with danger. I repeat, ask God to inspire
   your selection and when you have made it thank Him sincerely, and then
   remain constant to your decision. If you go to God in all simplicity
   and with humility and confidence, you will undoubtedly obtain a
   favorable answer to your petition."

   In conclusion, it may be well to remind you that the director and the
   confessor have not necessarily to be the same priest. St. Francis de
   Sales was the spiritual director of many persons to whom he was not the
   ordinary confessor. "To a director," he says, "we should reveal our
   entire soul, whereas to a confessor we simply accuse ourselves of our
   sins in order to receive absolution for them."
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  II.
  TEMPTATIONS.

   My brethren, count it all joy when ye shall fall into divers
   temptations. (Epist. S. Jas., Cat., c. i, v. 2.)

   Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin,
   which dwelleth in me. (St. P., Rom., c. vii, v. 20.)

   1. "If we are tempted," says the Holy Spirit, "it is a sign that God
   loves us." Those whom God best loves have been most exposed to
   temptations. "Because thou wast acceptable to God," said the angel to
   Tobias, "it was necessary that temptation should prove thee." (Tobias,
   c. xii, v. 13.)

   2. Do not ask God to deliver you from temptations, but to grant you the
   grace not to succumb to them and to do nothing contrary to His divine
   will. He who refuses the combat, renounces the crown. Place all your
   trust in God and God will Himself do battle for you against the enemy.
   [1]

   3. "These persistent temptations come from the malice of the devil,"
   says St. Francis de Sales, "but the trouble and suffering they cause us
   come from the mercy of God. Thus, despite the will of the tempter, God
   converts his evil machinations into a distress which we may make
   meritorious. Therefore I say your temptations are from the devil and
   hell, but your anxiety and affliction are from God and heaven." Despise
   temptation, then, and open wide your soul to this suffering which God
   sends in order to purify you here that He may reward you hereafter.

   4. "Let the wind blow," remarks the same Saint, "and do not mistake the
   rustling of leaves for the clashing of arms. Be perfectly convinced
   that all the temptations of hell are powerless to defile a soul that
   does not love them. St. Paul endured terrible temptations, yet God,
   through love, did not deliver him from them." Look upon God as an
   infinitely good and tender father and believe that He only allows the
   devil to try His children that their merits may increase and their
   recompense be correspondingly greater.

   5. The more persistent the temptation, the clearer it is that you have
   not given consent to it. "It is a good sign," says St. Francis de
   Sales, "when the tempter makes so much noise and commotion outside of
   the will, for it shows that he is not within." An enemy does not
   besiege a fortress that is already in his power, and the more obstinate
   the attack, the more certain We may be that our resistance continues.

   6. Your fears lead you to believe you are defeated at the very moment
   you are gaining the victory. This comes from the fact that you confound
   feeling with consent, and, mistaking a passive condition of the
   imagination for an act of the will, you consider that you have yielded
   to the temptation because you felt it keenly.

   St. Francis de Sales, with his usual simplicity, thus describes this
   warring of the flesh against the spirit:

   "You are right, my dear daughter. There are two women within you ...
   and the two children of these different mothers quarrel, and the
   good-for-nothing one is so bad that sometimes the good one can scarcely
   defend herself, and then she takes it into her head that she has been
   worsted and that the wicked one is braver than she. Now, surely, this
   is not true. The bad one is not the stronger by any means, but only
   slyer, more persistent and more obstinate. When she succeeds in making
   you weep she is delighted, because that is always just so much time
   lost, and she is content to make you lose time when she cannot make you
   lose eternity." [2]

   It is not always in our power to restrain the imagination. St. Jerome
   had retired into the desert and still his fancy represented to him the
   dances of the Roman ladies. His body was benumbed, as it were, and his
   blood chilled by the severity of his mortifications, and yet the flames
   of concupiscence encompassed and tortured his heart. During these
   frightful conflicts the holy anchorite suffered, but he did not sin; he
   was tormented but was not guilty; on the contrary, his merits were
   augmented in the sight of God in proportion to the intensity of the
   temptations.

   7. The holy abbot St. Anthony was wont to say to the phantoms of his
   mind: I see you, but I do not look at you: I see you because it does
   not depend upon me that my imagination places before my eyes things I
   would wish not to see; I do not look at you because with my will I
   repulse and reject you. "It is so much the essence of sin to be
   voluntary," says St. Augustine, "that if not voluntary, it is not sin."

   8. The attraction of the feelings towards the object presented by the
   imagination is at times so strong that the will seems to have been
   carried away and overcome by a sort of fascination. This, however, is
   not the case. The will suffered, but did not consent; it was attacked
   and wounded, but not conquered. This state of things coincides with
   what St. Paul says of the revolt of the flesh against the spirit and of
   their unceasing warfare. The soul, indeed, experiences strange
   sensations, but as she does not consent to them, she passes through the
   ordeal unsullied, just as substances coated with oil may be immersed in
   water without absorbing a single drop of it.

   St. Francis de Sales explains this distinction so plainly and yet so
   simply in one of his letters, that it may be useful to repeat the
   passage here:

   "Courage, my dear soul, I say it with great love in Jesus Christ, dear
   soul, courage! As long as we can exclaim resolutely, even though
   without feeling, My Jesus! there is no cause for alarm. Do not tell me
   it appears to you that you say it in a cowardly way, and only by doing
   great violence to yourself. It is precisely this holy violence that
   bears away the kingdom of heaven. Do you not see, my daughter, it is a
   sign that the enemy has taken everything within our fortress except the
   impenetrable, unconquerable tower--and that can never be lost save by
   wilful surrender. This tower is the free-will which, perfectly visible
   to the eye of God, occupies the highest and most spiritual region of
   the soul, dependent on none but God and oneself; and when all the other
   faculties are lost and in subjection to the enemy, it alone remains
   free to give or to refuse consent. Now, you often see souls afflicted
   because the enemy, occupying all the other faculties, makes therein so
   great a noise and confusion that they scarce can hear what this
   superior will says; for though it has a clearer and more penetrating
   voice than the inferior will, the loud, boisterous cries of the latter
   almost drown it: but note this well: as long as the temptation is
   displeasing to you, there is nothing to fear; for why should it
   displease you, except because you do not will it?"

   9. Should it frequently happen that you have not a distinct
   consciousness of your success against temptation, it may be that God
   refuses you this satisfaction in order that, lacking this clear
   assurance, your knowledge may come through obedience. Therefore, when
   your spiritual director, after hearing your explanation, says that you
   have not given consent, you should be satisfied with his decision and
   abide by it with perfect tranquillity, discarding all fear that he did
   not understand you aright or that you did not explain the matter
   sufficiently. These doubts are but fresh artifices of the devil to rob
   you of the merit of obedience. As has been said above, to give way to
   such inquietude is to offend seriously against this virtue, for all
   direction would thus be rendered impossible, by the failure of the
   penitent to recognize God Himself in the person of his director.

   10. To constitute a mortal sin three conditions must co-exist. First,
   the matter must be weighty; secondly, the mind must have full knowledge
   of the guilt of the action, omission or dangerous occasion in question;
   and, thirdly, the will, through a criminal preference for the forbidden
   action, culpable omission, or proximate occasion of sin, must give full
   consent. These reflections should serve to reassure your mind if the
   fear of having committed a mortal sin disturb it, for it is very
   difficult for this threefold union of conditions to be effected in a
   God-fearing soul. However, perfect security can come, and ought to
   come, only from spiritual obedience.

   11. In temptations against faith and purity, do not make great efforts
   to form acts of these virtues, but simply turn a pleading glance
   towards God, without speaking even to this compassionate Friend
   concerning the thought that afflicts you, lest thereby you root the
   evil suggestion more firmly. Then, without disquieting yourself, engage
   at once in some exterior occupation or continue what you were doing.
   Make no answer to the tempter, but ignore him, just as though his
   assault had never occurred. In this way, whilst preserving your own
   peace of soul, you will cover your enemy with confusion.

   The same counsel is given by St. Francis de Sales in his characteristic
   style:

   "Do you know how God acts on these occasions? He permits the wicked
   maker of such wares to come and offer them to us for sale, in order
   that by the contempt we show for them we may testify our love for holy
   things. And for this is it necessary, my dear child, to feel anxious,
   and to change our position? No, no. It is only the devil who is
   prowling around your soul, raging and storming, to see if he can find
   an open door....What! and you would be annoyed at that? Let the enemy
   storm away; only be careful on your part to keep all the entrances well
   fastened, and finally he will grow weary; or if he do not, God will
   force him to raise the siege."

   12. Though you should be assailed by temptations during your entire
   life time, do not be disquieted, for your merits will increase in
   proportion to your trials and your crown be accordingly all the
   brighter in heaven. The only thing necessary is to remain firm in your
   resolution to despise the efforts of the tempter.

   "This serious trial, and so many others that have assailed you and left
   you troubled in mind, do not at all surprise me, since there is nothing
   worse. Do not worry, then, my beloved daughter. Should we allow
   ourselves to be swept away by the current and the storm? Let Satan rage
   at the door; he may knock and stamp, and clamor and howl, and do his
   worst, but rest assured that he can never enter our souls but through
   the door of our consent. Let us only keep that closed tight and often
   look to see that it is well secured and we need have no concern about
   all the rest--there is no danger."--St. Francis de Sales.

   13. The most learned theologians and masters of the spiritual life
   agree in saying that simply to ignore a temptation is a much more
   effectual means to repulse it than words and acts of the contrary
   virtues. On this subject read attentively Chapters III. and IV. of the
   [1]Introduction to a Devout Life. You will find much light and
   consolation in them. See also Chapter XII. of the Spiritual Combat, and
   Chapters VI., VII., XII., XX., XXIX., LV., and LVII. of the Third Book
   of the [2]Imitation.
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   [1] Saint Paul, I. Cor. x., 13, says: ... God is faithful, Who will not
   suffer you to be tempted above what you are able: but will even make
   with temptation an issue. that you may be able to bear it.

   [2] The Chevalier du Chambon de Mésilliac, who translated this little
   work of P. Quadrupani's into French, inserted much additional matter,
   quotations for the most part from the same authorities frequently cited
   by the Italian author. These selections he placed at the end of each
   Instruction under the title of "Additions." The English translator has
   changed this arrangement into one which seems more convenient and
   better calculated to maintain the connection of ideas. Therefore the
   extracts chosen by the French translator are here inserted in the body
   of the text, immediately following the paragraphs which suggested them,
   and are marked by asterisks to distinguish them from the original
   matter.
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  III.
  PRAYER.

   Who can persevere the whole day in the praise of God?
   I will suggest a help. Whatsoever thou doest do well, and thou hast
   praised God. ([3]S. Aug., on Ps. xxxiv., Disc. 2.)

   Oh! what do I suffer interiorly whilst with my mind I consider heavenly
   things;
   and presently a crowd of carnal thoughts interrupt me as I pray.
   ([4]Imit., B. III., c. XLVIII., v. 5.)

   1. We ought to love meditation and should make it often on the Passion
   of our divine Lord, striving above all to derive therefrom fruits of
   humility, patience and charity.

   2. If you experience great dryness in your meditations or other
   prayers, do not feel distressed and conclude that God has turned His
   Face away from you. Far from it. Prayer said with aridity is usually
   the most meritorious. *It is quite a common error to confound the value
   of prayer with its sensible results, and the merit acquired with the
   satisfaction experienced. The facility and sweetness you may have in
   prayer are favors from God and for which you will have to account to
   him: hence the result is not merit but debt. (Read the [5]Imitation, B.
   II, c. IX.)* The very fact that we derive less gratification from such
   prayer, makes it all the more pleasing to God, because we are thus
   suffering for love of him. Let us call to mind at such times that our
   Lord prayed without consolation throughout his bitter agony.

   "All this trouble comes from self-love and from the good opinion we
   have of ourselves. If our hearts do not melt with tenderness, if we
   have no relish or sensible feeling in prayer, if we do not enjoy great
   interior sweetness during meditation, we are at once overwhelmed with
   sadness: if we find difficulty in doing good, if some obstacle is
   opposed to our pious designs, we give way to disquietude and are eager
   to conquer all this and to be free from it. Why? Undoubtedly because we
   love consolations, our own comfort, our own convenience. We wish to
   pray immersed in sweetness, and to be virtuous that we may eat sugar;
   and we do not contemplate our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, prone upon the
   ground, is covered with a sweat of blood caused by the intense conflict
   He feels interiorly between the repugnances of the inferior portion of
   his soul and the resolutions of the superior."--St. Francis de Sales.

   The same teaching is given by another great master of the spiritual
   life:

   "We frequently seek the gratification and consolation of self-love in
   the testimony we desire to render to ourselves. Thus we are disturbed
   about our lack of sensible fervor, whereas in reality we never pray so
   well as when we are tempted to think we are not praying at all. We fear
   to pray badly then, but we should fear rather to give way to the
   vexation of our cowardly nature, to a philosophical infidelity, which
   ever wishes to demonstrate to itself its own operations--in fine, to an
   impatient desire to see and to feel in order to console ourselves.

   There is no penance more bitter than this state of pure faith without
   sensible support. Hence I conclude that it is freer than any other from
   illusion. Strange temptation! to seek impatiently for sensible
   consolation through fear of not being sufficiently penitent! Ah! Why
   not rather accept as a penance the deprivation of that consolation we
   are so tempted to seek?"--Fénelon.

   3. You will sometimes imagine that at prayer your soul is not in the
   presence of God and that only your body is in the church, like the
   statues and candelabras that adorn the altars. Think, then, that you
   share with those inanimate objects the honor of serving as ornaments
   for the house of God, and that in the presence of your Creator even
   this humble rôle should seem glorious to you.

   "You tell me that you cannot pray well. But what better prayer could
   there be than to represent to God again and again, as you are doing,
   your nothingness and misery? The most touching appeal beggars can make
   is merely to expose to us their deformities and necessities. But there
   are times when you cannot even do this much, you say, and that you
   remain there like a statue. Well, even that is better than nothing.
   Kings and princes have statues in their palaces for no other purpose
   than that they may take pleasure in looking at them: be satisfied then
   to fulfil the same office in the presence of God, and when it so
   pleases Him He will animate the statue."--St. Francis de Sales.

   4. When you have not consciously or voluntarily yielded to
   distractions, do not stop to find what may have been their cause, or to
   discover if you have in any way given occasion to them. This would be
   simply to weary and disquiet yourself unprofitably. From whatever
   direction they come, you can convert them into a source of merit by
   casting yourself into the arms of the Divine Mercy. St. Francis de
   Sales when asked how he prayed, replied: "I cannot say it too often--I
   receive peacefully whatever the Lord sends me. If he consoles me, I
   kiss the right hand of his mercy; if I am dry and distracted, I kiss
   the left hand of his justice." This method is the only good one, for as
   the same Saint says: "He who truly loves prayer, loves it for the love
   of God: and he who loves it for the love of God, wishes to experience
   in it naught but what God is pleased to send him." Now, whatever you
   may experience in prayer, is precisely what God wills.

   5. St. Francis de Sales teaches us that merely to keep ourselves
   peacefully and tranquilly in the presence of God, without other desire
   or pretension than to be near him and to please him, is of itself an
   excellent prayer. "Do not exhaust yourself," he says, "in making
   efforts to speak to your dear Master, for you are speaking to Him by
   the sole fact that you remain there and contemplate Him."

   "Remember that the graces and favors of prayer do not come from earth
   but from heaven and therefore that no effort of ours can acquire them,
   although, it is true, we must dispose ourselves for their reception
   diligently, yet withal humbly and tranquilly. We ought to keep our
   hearts wide open and await the blessed dew from heaven. The following
   consideration should never be forgotten when we go to prayer, namely,
   that we draw near to God and place ourselves in His presence
   principally for two reasons. The first is to render to God the honor
   and the homage we owe Him, and this can be done without God speaking to
   us or we to Him, for the duty is fulfilled by acknowledging that He is
   our Creator and we are His vile creatures, and by remaining before Him,
   prostrate in spirit, awaiting His commands. The second reason is to
   speak to God and to listen to Him when He speaks to us by His
   inspirations and the interior movements of grace.... Now, one or other
   of these two advantages can never fail to be derived from prayer. If,
   then, we can speak to our Lord, let us do so in praise and
   supplication: if we are unable to speak, let us remain in his presence
   notwithstanding, offering him our silent homage; he will see us there,
   our patience will touch him and our silence will plead with him and win
   his favor. Another time, to our utter astonishment, he will take us by
   the hand, and converse with us, and make a hundred turns with us in his
   garden of prayer. And even should he never do this, still let us be
   content to know it is our duty to be in his retinue, and that it is a
   great favor and a greater honor for us that he suffers us in his
   presence.

   In this way we do not force ourselves to speak to God, for we know that
   merely to remain close to him is as useful, nay, perhaps more useful to
   us, though it may be less to our liking. Therefore when you draw near
   to our Lord speak to him if you can; if you cannot, stay there, let him
   see you, and do not be anxious about anything else.... Take courage,
   then, tell your Saviour you will not leave him even should he never
   grant you any sensible sweetness; tell him that you will remain before
   him until he has given you his blessing."--St. Francis de Sales.

   6. The same Saint gives further valuable advice as follows: "Many
   persons fail to make a distinction between the presence of God in their
   souls and the consciousness of this adorable presence, between faith
   and the sensible feeling of faith. This shows a great want of
   discernment. When they do not realize God's presence dwelling within
   them, they suppose He has withdrawn himself through some fault of
   theirs. This is an ignorant and hurtful error. A man who endures
   martyrdom for love of God does not think actually and exclusively of
   God but much of his own sufferings; and yet the absence of this feeling
   of faith does not deprive him of the great merit due to his faith and
   the resolutions it caused him to make and to keep."

   7. Your vocal prayers should be few in number but said with great
   fervor. The strength derived from food does not depend upon the
   quantity taken but upon its being well digested. Far better one Our
   Father or one Psalm said with devout attention than entire rosaries and
   long offices recited hurriedly and with restless eagerness.

   8. If you feel whilst saying vocal prayers--those not of
   obligation--that God invites you to meditate, gently and promptly
   follow this divine impulse. You may be sure that in doing so you make
   an exchange most profitable to yourself and agreeable to God from whom
   the inspiration comes.

   9. Prepare yourself for prayer by peaceful recollection and begin it
   without agitation or uneasiness. St. Francis de Sales has this to say
   on the subject: "Some little time before you are going to pray, calm
   and compose your heart, and be hopeful of doing well; for if you begin
   without hope and already devoid of relish, you will find it difficult
   to regain an appetite.... The disquiet you experience in prayer,
   accompanied by great eagerness to discover some object that can fix and
   satisfy your thoughts, is of itself sufficient to prevent you finding
   what you seek. When a thing is searched for with too great eagerness,
   one may have his hands or his eyes almost upon it a hundred times and
   yet fail to perceive it. This vain and useless anxiety in regard to
   prayer can result in nothing but weariness of mind, and this in turn
   produces coldness and apathy in your soul."

   10. Be careful not to overburden yourself with too many prayers, either
   mental or vocal. As soon as you feel uncontrollable weariness or
   distaste, postpone your prayers, if possible, and seek relief in some
   pleasant pastime, or conversation, or in any other innocent diversion.
   This advice is given by St. Thomas and other learned Fathers of the
   Church and is of the utmost importance. Follow it conscientiously, for
   lassitude of mind begets coldness and a kind of spiritual stupor.

   11. Never repeat a prayer, even should you have said it with many
   distractions. You cannot imagine the innumerable difficulties in which
   you may become entangled by the habit of repeating your prayers.
   Therefore I beg of you not to do it. *In St. Ignatius' time there was a
   certain religious of the Society of Jesus who was a victim of this kind
   of scruple. The recital of the daily Office always kept him much longer
   than was necessary because he would repeat again and again and for
   hours at a time any passage that he suspected had not been said with
   sufficient attention. St. Ignatius tried to correct him by various
   means, but in vain. At length the thought occurred that one scruple
   might be cured by another. He therefore commanded the poor Jesuit,
   under pain of sin and in virtue of religious obedience, to close his
   breviary every day at the end of a specified time, this being just
   enough to allow him to read the Office through once and rather quickly.
   The first day the religious was obliged to stop before he had half
   finished. This caused him such intense regret that ere long the fear of
   not being able to say the entire Office made him contract the habit of
   finishing it within the allotted time.* Begin your prayer with the
   desire of being very recollected. This is all that is necessary. "A
   desire has the same value in the sight of God as a good work", says St.
   Gregory the Great, "when the accomplishment of it does not depend upon
   our will." During these involuntary distractions God withdraws the
   sensible feeling of His presence, but His love remains in the depths of
   our hearts. St. Theresa, in the midst of dryness and distractions, was
   wont to say: "If I am not praying I am at least doing penance." I
   should say: you are doing both the one and the other: you do penance by
   all that you are suffering, you pray by the desire and intention you
   have to do so.

   12. You should never repeat a prayer nor a point in your meditation
   even if you have had in the inferior portion of your soul ideas and
   feelings at variance with the words pronounced by your lips or with the
   sentiments you wished to excite in your heart. Nay, do not be induced
   to do it, even were these ideas and feelings injurious to God. Under
   such conditions, be careful not to give way to anxiety and agitation
   and do not try to make reparation for an imaginary offence. Continue
   your prayer in peace as if nothing had disturbed it, not taking the
   trouble to notice these dogs that come from the devil and that can bark
   around you while you pray in order to distract you, if may be, but that
   cannot bite you unless you let them.

   "This temptation should be treated exactly the same as temptations of
   the flesh: do not dispute with it at all, rather imitate the children
   of Israel who made no attempt to break the bones of the paschal lamb
   but cast them into the fire. You need not answer the enemy, nor even
   pretend to hear what he says. Let the wretch clamor at the door as much
   as he wants to, it is not even necessary to call: Who is there? What
   you tell me is no doubt true, you say, but he annoys me and the uproar
   he makes prevents those within from hearing one another speak. That
   makes no difference. Have patience, prostrate yourself before God and
   remain at his feet. He will understand from your very attitude,
   although you utter no words, that you are his and that you crave his
   help. Above all, however, keep yourself well within and do not on any
   account open the door, either to see who it is, or to drive the
   importunate fellow away. Eventually he will tire of shouting and will
   leave you in peace." [3]

   St. Augustine says that the devil is a formidable giant to those who
   fear him, but only a miserable dwarf to those who despise him.

   13. Should it happen that the whole time given to prayer be passed in
   rejecting temptations or in recalling your mind from its wanderings,
   and you do not succeed in giving birth to a single devout thought or
   sentiment, St. Francis de Sales is authority for saying that your
   prayer is nevertheless all the more meritorious from the fact of its
   being so unsatisfactory to you. It makes you more like to our divine
   Lord when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani and on Mount Calvary.
   "Better to eat bread without sugar, than sugar without bread. We should
   seek the God of consolations, not the consolations of God: and in order
   to possess God in heaven, we must now suffer with him and for him."

   "When your mind wanders or gives way to distractions, gently recall it
   and place it once more close to its Divine Master. If you should do
   nothing else but repeat this during the whole time of prayer, your hour
   would be very well spent and you would perform a spiritual exercise
   most acceptable to God."--St. Francis de Sales.

   14. It is well to bear in mind that in commanding us to pray always our
   Saviour did not mean actual prayer, as that would be an impossibility.
   The desire to glorify God by all our actions suffices for the rigorous
   fulfilment of this precept, if this desire be habitual and permanent.
   "You pray often," says St. Augustine, "if you often have a desire to
   pay homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have
   this desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed."

   "Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the
   whole Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts
   towards that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only
   happiness consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in
   itself a prayer; consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray
   always. Do not think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and
   to struggle much with one's self in order to pray. To pray is to ask
   God that his will may be done, to form some good desire, to raise the
   heart to God, to long for the riches he promises us, to sigh over our
   miseries and the danger we are in of displeasing him by violating His
   holy law. Now this requires neither science nor method nor reasoning;
   one can pray without any distinct thought; no head-work is necessary;
   only a moment of time and a loving effusion of the heart are needed;
   and even this moment may be simultaneously occupied with something
   else, for so great is God's condescension to our weakness that he
   permits us to divide it when necessary between him and creatures. Yes,
   during this moment you can continue what you were doing: it is
   sufficient to offer to God your most ordinary occupations, or to
   perform them with the general intention of glorifying him. This is the
   continual prayer required by St. Paul ... thought by many devout
   persons to be impracticable, but in reality very easy for those who
   know that the best of all prayers is to do everything with a pure
   intention, and frequently to renew the desire to perform all our
   actions for God and in accordance with his divine will."--Fénelon.

   15. You should never omit or neglect the duties of your state of life
   in order to say certain self-imposed prayers. These duties are a
   substitute for prayers and are equally efficacious, St. Thomas teaches,
   for obtaining the graces you stand in need of and which are promised to
   those who ask them properly. It is even more meritorious to perform
   some work for the love of God, to whom we offer it, than merely to
   raise the soul to Him by actual prayer.

   "Every person is bound to observe strictly the duties of his particular
   calling. Whoever fails to do this, although he should raise the dead to
   life, is guilty of sin and should the sin be grave deserves damnation
   if he die therein. For example, bishops are obliged to make a
   visitation of their diocese in order to console and instruct their
   flock and to rectify whatever may be amiss. If I, a bishop, neglect
   this duty I shall be lost even though I spend my entire time in prayer
   and fast all my life."--St. Francis de Sales.

   16. Make frequent use of the prayers called ejaculations,--which are
   short and loving aspirations that raise the soul to its Creator.
   According to St. Francis de Sales, ejaculations can in case of
   necessity replace all other prayers, whereas all other prayers cannot
   supply for the omission of ejaculations.

   "Acquire the habit of making frequent ejaculations. They are sighs of
   love that dart upwards to God to sue for His aid and succor. It will
   greatly facilitate this custom if you keep in mind the point of your
   morning's meditation that you liked best and ponder it over during the
   day. In sickness let pious ejaculations take the place of all other
   prayers.--St. Francis de Sales.

   17. Ejaculatory prayers can be made at all times, wherever we are or
   whatever we may be doing. They might be compared to those aromatic
   pastilles, which we may always have about us and take from time to time
   to strengthen the stomach and please the palate. Ejaculations have a
   like effect on the soul by refreshing and fortifying it.

   18. The monks of old, of whom St. Augustine speaks, could not say long
   prayers, obliged as they were to earn their bread by daily toil.
   Ejaculatory prayers, therefore, took the place of all others for them,
   and it may be said that although laboring unceasingly they prayed
   continually.

   19. I cannot too earnestly urge you to accustom yourself to the
   profitable and easy practice of making frequent ejaculations. It is far
   preferable to saying many other vocal prayers, for these when too
   numerous are apt to employ the lips only rather than to reanimate and
   enlighten the soul.

   20. St. Theresa's opinion is that the body should be in a comfortable
   position when we pray, as otherwise it is difficult for the mind to pay
   the proper attention to prayer and to the presence of God. Do not then
   fatigue your body by remaining too long prostrate or kneeling: the
   important thing is that the soul should humble itself before God in
   sentiments of respect, confidence and love.

   Read Chap. XIII, Part II, of the [6]Introduction to a Devout Life.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [3] St. Francis de Sales.
     __________________________________________________________________

  IV.
  PENANCE.

   A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart,
   O God, thou wilt not despise. (Ps. L., 19.)

   1. According to the teaching of St. Thomas there are three ways of
   doing penance, namely, fasting, prayer, and alms-deeds--either corporal
   or spiritual. Therefore you must not suppose you are prevented from
   doing penance when not allowed to subject your body to severe fasts and
   painful mortifications. The other two penitential works, prayer and
   alms-giving, can in this case take the place of corporal austerities in
   the fulfilment of the Christian duty of penance. Observe also that it
   is not in accordance with the spirit of the laws of God and of his
   Church, which prescribe fasting, to injure your health thereby, nor to
   hinder the accomplishment of the duties of your state of life.

   2. Labor, sickness, disappointments, reverse of fortune, dryness in
   prayer, all these when accepted with resignation are penitential works,
   such, too, as are the more agreeable to God from their being so
   distasteful to ourselves. All virtues may be divided into two great
   classes, active and passive. The characteristic of the active virtues
   is to do good, of the passive, to endure evil. Now the virtues of the
   second class are more meritorious and less perilous. In the active
   virtues nature can have a large share, and a dangerous
   self-complacency, or satisfaction in their effects, may easily glide
   into them. This danger is less to be feared in the practice of the
   passive virtues, especially when the sufferings are not of our own
   choosing but come to us direct from the hand of God.

   3. St. Jerome teaches that when the devil cannot turn a soul away from
   the love of virtue, he tries to urge it to excessive mortification, in
   order that it may thus become exhausted and lose the vigor
   indispensable to its spiritual progress. Numbers of devout people have
   fallen into this snare.

   4. "I charge you," says St. Francis de Sales, "to preserve your health
   carefully, for God exacts this of you, and to husband your strength so
   as to employ it in his service. It is even better to save more than the
   requisite amount of strength than to reduce it too much, for we can
   always lessen it at will, whereas, once lost, it is no easy matter to
   regain it." Therefore give your body the nourishment it needs to
   maintain its strength and health.

   5. We learn from Cassian and St. Thomas that in a celebrated conference
   held by the holy Abbot St. Anthony with the most learned religious of
   Egypt, it was decided that of all virtues moderation is the most
   useful, as it guards and preserves all the others. It is owing to the
   lack of this essential moderation in their devotional exercises and
   mortifications that many persons whilst seeking holiness find only ill
   health. As a consequence they eventually abandon the path of
   perfection, judging it impracticable because they have attempted to
   walk in it bound with fetters.

   6. St. Augustine makes the following apt comparison, which you can look
   upon as a good rule in this matter: "The body is a poor invalid
   confided to the charity of the soul, the soul being commissioned to
   give it such assistance as it requires. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, are
   its habitual ailments; let the soul then charitably apply to them the
   needful remedies, provided these be always within the bounds of
   moderation and prudence." He who acts in this way fulfils a duty of
   obedience to his Creator.

   7. From these various opinions it is easy to see how false are certain
   maxims met with in some ascetical works: for example, that it is of
   small consequence if one should shorten his life by ten or fifteen
   years in order to save his soul. If this were true, a much surer way
   would be to secure a still speedier death, and see to what that would
   lead. No: it is not permissible in ordinary practice to impose upon
   ourselves arbitrarily any kind of mortification that would directly
   tend to shorten life. "To kill one's self with a single blow," says St.
   Jerome, "or to kill one's self little by little--I make but slight
   distinction between these two crimes." Life, health and strength are
   blessings that have been given us in trust, and we cannot lawfully
   dispose of them as though they belonged to us absolutely.

   8. The example of those saints who practised extraordinary penances
   deserves our sincere admiration, but it is not in these exterior acts
   that we should try to imitate them; to do this would necessitate being
   as holy as they were. Duplicate their miracles also, then, if you can.
   "If we had to copy the saints in everything they did," says St. Frances
   de Chantal, "it would be necessary to spend our life in a horrible cave
   like St. John Climachus, or on top of a pillar as St. Simon Stylites
   did, to live several weeks without other nourishment than the Holy
   Eucharist like St. Catharine of Sienna, or to eat but a single ounce of
   food each day as St. Aloysius did." Aspirations to imitate the saints
   in what is extraordinary are the effect of secret pride and not of
   genuine virtue.

   The French translator of these Instructions had a conversation in Rome
   with the learned and pious Jesuit, Rev. Father Rozaven, on this
   subject. Speaking of the extraordinary fasts and mortifications of St.
   Ignatius, Father Rozaven said: "Do not let us confound cause and
   effect. It is not because he did these things that Ignatius became a
   saint: on the contrary, it is because he was already a saint that it
   was possible and permissible for him to do them." In truth every act
   that exceeds human strength is an act of presumption unless it be the
   result of a special inspiration, and the Church approves it only if she
   recognizes this divine impulse which alone can authorize a deviation
   from the general rule. It is owing to such an exception that she
   venerates among those who suffered for the faith Saint Theodora, Saint
   Pomposa, Saint Flora and Saint Denys, notwithstanding the fact that
   they violated the law which forbids any one to seek martyrdom. The same
   spirit influenced her in sanctioning the voluntary death of Sampson and
   of Saint Appolonia, who might be called pious suicides were it
   allowable to connect two such contradictory words.--Read Chap. XXIII,
   Part III. of the [7]Introduction to a Devout Life.
     __________________________________________________________________

  V.
  CONFESSION.

   I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and
   thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. (Ps. XXXI, 5.)

   But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
   the Just. (1st Epist. St. John, c. II, v. 1.)

   Whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose ye shall
   retain, they are retained. (St. John, c. XX. v. 23.)

   1. The sacrament of penance is a sacrament of mercy. We should
   therefore approach it with confidence and in peace. Saint Francis de
   Sales assures us that for those who go to confession once a week a
   quarter of an hour is enough for the examination of conscience, and a
   still shorter time for exciting contrition. Not even this much is
   necessary, he adds, for those who confess more frequently.

   2. Faults omitted in confession either because they were forgotten or
   because they seemed too trivial to mention, are nevertheless effaced by
   the absolution. St. Francis de Sales has this to say on the subject:
   "You must not feel worried if you cannot remember your sins when
   preparing for confession, for it is incredible that any one who often
   examines her conscience would overlook or be unable to recall such
   faults as are important. Neither should you be so keenly anxious to
   mention every minute imperfection, every trifling fault; it is enough
   to speak of these to our Lord, with a sigh of regret and a humble
   heart, whenever you remark them." And do not imagine in consequence
   that you are guilty of secret sins which you are hiding from your
   confessor. This fear is an artifice made use of by the devil to disturb
   your peace of mind.

   You must not be so anxious to tell everything, nor to run to your
   superiors to make a great ado over each little thing that troubles you
   and that will, perhaps, be forgotten in a quarter of an hour. We must
   learn to bear with generosity these trifles which we cannot remedy, for
   ordinarily they are only the consequences of our imperfect nature. That
   your will, feelings, and desires are so inconstant; that you are at one
   time moody, at another cheerful; that you now have a wish to speak, and
   presently feel the greatest aversion to do so; and a thousand similar
   insignificant matters are infirmities to which we are naturally prone
   and will be subject to as long as we live. ... It is needless to accuse
   yourself in confession of those fleeting thoughts that like gnats swarm
   around you, or of the disgust and aversion you feel in the observance
   of your vows and devotional exercises, for these things are not sins,
   they are only inconveniences, annoyances."--St. Francis de Sales.

   3. Rest assured that the more closely you examine your conscience the
   less you will discover that is worth the trouble of telling. Moreover,
   you must remember that too long an examen fatigues the mind and cools
   the fervor of the heart.

   4. To those who in their confessions are inclined to confuse
   involuntarily movements with sins, Saint Francis de Sales gives the
   following useful advice: "You tell me that when you have experienced a
   strong feeling of anger, or have had any other temptation, you are
   always uneasy if you do not confess it. When you are not sure that you
   have given consent to it, I assure you it is unnecessary to mention it
   except it may be in spiritual conference, and then not by way of
   accusation, but to obtain advice how to behave another time in like
   circumstances. For if you say: I accuse myself of having had movements
   of violent anger for two days, but I did not give way to them, you are
   telling your virtues, not your sins. A doubt comes into my mind,
   though, that I may have committed some fault during the temptation. You
   must consider maturely if this doubt have any foundation in fact, and
   if so, speak of the matter in confession with all simplicity; otherwise
   it is better not to mention it, as you would do so only for your own
   satisfaction. Even should this silence cost you some pain, you must
   endure it as you would any other to which you can apply no remedy."

   5. "Omit from your confessions"--we again quote the same Saint--"those
   superfluous accusations which so many persons make merely through
   habit: I have not loved God sufficiently; I have not prayed with enough
   fervor; I have not loved my neighbor as much as I should; I have not
   received the Sacraments with all the reverence due to them; and others
   of a like nature. You will readily see the reason for this. It is that
   in speaking thus you tell nothing particular that would make known to
   the confessor the state of your conscience, and because the most
   perfect man living, as well as all the saints in Paradise might say the
   same things were they making a confession."

   6. Those who go to confession frequently should always bear in mind
   what the saintly director says in addition: "We are not obliged to
   confess our venial sins, but if we do so it must be with a firm
   resolution to correct them, otherwise it is an abuse of the sacrament
   to mention them."

   7. After confession keep your soul in peace, and be on your guard--this
   is a point of cardinal importance--against giving access to any fear
   about the validity of the sacrament, either as regards the examination
   of conscience, the contrition, or anything else whatsoever. These fears
   are suggestions of the devil whose aim it is to instil bitterness into
   a sacrament of consolation and love.

   "After confession is not the time to examine ourselves to find if we
   have told all our sins. We should rather remain attentively and in
   peace near our Lord, with whom We have just been reconciled, and thank
   Him for His great mercy. Nor is it necessary subsequently to search out
   what we may have forgotten. We must tell simply all that comes to mind;
   after that we need think no more about it."--St. Francis de Sales.

   8. It is essential to be sorry for our sins--it is not essential to be
   troubled about them. Repentance is an effect of love of God, anxiety is
   an effect of self-love. In the midst of the keenest and most sincere
   repentance we can still thank God that He has not permitted us to
   become yet more culpable. Let us promise Him a solid amendment, relying
   for success solely upon the assistance of divine grace; and should we
   fall again a hundred times a day, let us never cease to renew the
   promise and the hope. God can in an instant raise up from the very
   stones children to Abraham and exalt the most corrupt natures to the
   highest degree of sanctity. At times He does so, but usually it is His
   will that we long continue to bear the burden of our infirmity: let us
   not then lose our trust in Him, nor mistake a state of trial for a
   state of reprobation.

   *God has, indeed, on some occasions cured sinners instantaneously and
   without leaving in them any trace of their previous maladies. Such, for
   instance, was the case with the Magdalen. In a moment her soul was
   changed from a sink of corruption into a well-spring of perfection,
   never again to be contaminated by sin. But, on the other hand, in
   several of the beloved disciples this same God allowed many marks of
   their evil inclinations to remain for some time after their conversion,
   and this for their greater good. Witness Saint Peter, who, even after
   the divine call, was guilty of various imperfections and once fell
   totally and miserably by the triple denial of his Lord and Master.

   "Solomon says there is no one more insolent than a servant who has
   suddenly become mistress. [4] A soul that after a long slavery to its
   passions should in a moment subjugate them completely, would be in
   great danger of becoming a prey to pride and vanity. This dominion must
   be gained little by little, step by step; it cost the saints long years
   of labor to acquire it. Hence the necessity of having patience with
   every one, but first of all with yourself."--St. Francis de Sales.*

   *There is no sight more pleasing to Heaven than to witness the
   persevering and determined struggle of a soul which, throughout,
   remains united to God by a sincere desire and a firm resolution not to
   offend him--and maintaining this struggle calmly and patiently even
   when it is to all appearance fruitless. Such a soul, resigned to retain
   its defects if it is God's will, yet determined notwithstanding to
   fight against them relentlessly, is more precious in the eyes of God
   than if the practice of virtue were easy for it and it were in peaceful
   possession of spiritual gifts. Labor, then, in the presence of your
   heavenly Father; struggle on with strength and courage; but do not be
   too desirous of success, for when this craving for self-satisfaction is
   excessive it is sure to be accompanied by vexation and impatience.

   "Evil things must not be desired at all," says Saint Francis de Sales,
   "nor good things immoderately." And elsewhere: "I entreat of you, love
   nothing too ardently, not even the virtues, for these we sometimes
   forfeit by exceeding the bounds of moderation." And again: "Why is it
   that if we happen to fall into some imperfection or sin we are
   surprised at ourselves and become disquieted and impatient? Undoubtedly
   it is because we thought there was some good in us, and that we were
   resolute and strong. Consequently when we find this is not the case,
   that we have tripped and fallen to the earth, we are anxious, annoyed
   and troubled; whereas if we realized what we truly are, in place of
   being astonished at seeing ourselves down, we should wonder rather how
   we ever remain erect."

   "We should labor, therefore, without any uneasiness as to results. God
   requires efforts on our part, but not success. If we combat with
   perseverance, nothing daunted by our defeats, these very defeats will
   be worth as much to us as victories, and even more. But beware!--there
   is a rock here! If this conflict is not undertaken in perfectly good
   faith, we will try to deceive ourselves as to the genuineness of our
   efforts by calling the cowardice which caused us to refuse the battle a
   defeat, and by dignifying with the name of trial the results of our own
   effeminacy and sloth."*

   9. Contrition is essentially an act of the will by which we detest our
   past sins and resolve not to commit them in future. Hence sighs, tears,
   sensible sorrow are not necessary elements of true contrition.
   Contrition can even attain that degree of disinterested perfection
   which suffices for the justification of a sinner, in the midst of the
   greatest dryness and an apparent insensibility. Therefore never allow
   yourself to be disturbed by the want of sensible sorrow.

   10. Do not make violent efforts to excite your soul to contrition, for
   these only have the effect of producing anxiety, weariness and
   oppression of mind. On the contrary seek to become very calm; say
   lovingly to God that you wish sincerely you had never offended Him and
   that with the assistance of His grace you will never offend Him
   more--that is contrition. True contrition is a product of love, and
   love acts in a calm.

   11. "An act of contrition," says St. Francis de Sales, "is the work of
   a moment." Cast a rapid glance at yourself to see and detest your sins,
   and another towards God to promise Him amendment and to express a hope
   of obtaining His assistance in keeping this promise. David, one of the
   most contrite penitents that ever lived, expressed his act of
   contrition in a single word: Peccavi--I have sinned, and by that one
   word he was justified.

   "You ask how an act of contrition can be made in a short time? I answer
   that a very good one can be made in almost no time. Nothing more is
   needed than to prostrate oneself before God in a spirit of humility and
   of sorrow for having offended Him."--St. Francis de Sales.

   12. You say you would wish to have contrition but cannot succeed in
   feeling it. Saint Francis de Sales replies: "The ability to wish is a
   great power with God, and you thus have contrition by the simple fact
   that you wish to have it. You do not feel it indeed at the moment, but
   neither do you see nor feel a fire covered with ashes, nevertheless the
   fire exists." The immoderate desire of sensible sorrow comes from
   self-love and self-complacency. A sorrow that satisfies only God is not
   sufficient for us, we wish it to satisfy us also; we like to find in
   our sensibility a flattering and reassuring testimony of our love of
   good.

   13. If God does not grant you the enjoyment of sensible sorrow, it is
   in order that you may gain the merit of obedience, which should suffice
   to reassure you as to your perfect reconciliation. Believe therefore
   with humility, obey with courage, and you will earn a twofold reward.
   The greatest saints have at times believed they had neither contrition
   nor love, but in the midst of this darkness of the understanding, their
   will followed the torch of obedience with heroic submission.

   14. Do not conclude that you lack contrition or that your confessions
   are defective, because you fall again into the same faults. It is very
   essential to make a distinction in regard to relapses. Those that are
   the offspring of a perverse will which has preserved an affection for
   certain venial sins, takes pleasure and wishes to take pleasure in
   them,--these should not be tolerated; we must vigorously attack them at
   the very root and not allow ourselves any respite until they are
   utterly exterminated. But those relapses that proceed from
   inadvertence, from surprise notwithstanding constant vigilance, from
   the infirmity and frailty of our nature, to these we shall remain
   partially subject until our last breath. "It will be doing very well,"
   says Saint Francis de Sales, "if we get free of certain faults a
   quarter of an hour before our death." And elsewhere: "We are obliged
   not only to bear with the failings of our neighbor, but likewise with
   our own and to be patient at the sight of our imperfections." We must
   try to correct ourselves, but we should do it tranquilly and without
   anxiety. We cannot become angels before the proper time.

   "You complain that you still have many faults and failings
   notwithstanding your desire for perfection and a pure love of God. I
   assure you that it is impossible to be entirely divested of self whilst
   we are here below. We shall always be obliged to bear ourselves about
   with us until God transfers us to heaven; and whilst we do this we
   carry something that is of no value. It is necessary, therefore, to
   have patience, and not to expect to cure ourselves in a day of the
   numerous bad habits contracted through past carelessness in regard to
   our spiritual welfare. Pray do not look here, there and everywhere:
   look only at God and yourself; you will never see God devoid of
   goodness, nor yourself without wretchedness and that wretchedness the
   object of God's goodness and mercy."--St. Francis de Sales. (After the
   examination of conscience read the [8]Following of Christ, B. III.,
   Chap. XX.)

   Fénelon speaks in the same tone:

   "You should never be surprised or discouraged at your faults. You must
   bear with them patiently yet without flattering yourself or sparing
   correction. Treat yourself as you would another. As soon as you find
   you have committed a fault make an interior act of self-condemnation,
   turn to God to receive a penance, and then tell your fault with
   simplicity to your director. Begin over again to do well as though it
   were the first time, and do not grow weary if you have to make a fresh
   start every day. Nothing is more touching to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
   than this humble and patient courage. We should not be cast down if we
   have many temptations and even commit numerous faults. Virtue,' says
   the Apostle, is made perfect in infirmity.' [5] Spiritual progress is
   effected less by sensible devotion, relish and spiritual consolations,
   than by means of interior humiliation and frequent recourse to God."

   15. Habitually add to your confession some general accusation of all
   the sins of your past life, or of such of them as occasion you most
   remorse. Say, for example, I accuse myself of sins against purity, or
   charity, or temperance. You thus preclude the possibility of there
   being lack of sufficient matter for the validity of the Sacrament.

   16. Banish from your mind the dread of having omitted any sins in
   either your general or ordinary confessions, or of not having explained
   their circumstances clearly enough. The learned theologian Janin sets
   forth the following rules on the subject: The Church, the interpreter
   of the will of Jesus Christ, requires sacramental integrity in
   confession, and not material integrity. The former consists in the
   confession of all the sins we can remember after a sufficient
   examination, the duration of which should be regulated by the actual
   state of the conscience. Material integrity would require a rigorously
   complete accusation of all the sins we have committed with their number
   and circumstances, without the slightest omission. Now sacramental
   integrity may be reasonably exacted since it exceeds no one's ability;
   whilst material integrity, on the contrary, could not be exacted
   without the sacrament becoming an impossibility; for, no matter how
   carefully we make our examination of conscience, some sin, or some
   detail in regard to number or circumstance, will always escape us. In a
   word, all that the Church demands of the faithful is a sincere and
   humble avowal of every sin that can be brought to mind after a suitable
   examen: for the rest, she intends good will to supply for any defect of
   memory.

   *Do not be uneasy because you fail to remember all your failings in
   order to tell them in confession. This is unnecessary, because as you
   often fall almost without being aware of it, so you often get up again
   without perceiving it; just as in the passage you quote it is not said
   that the just man sees or feels himself fall seven times a day, but
   simply that he falls seven times a day: in like manner he gets up again
   without noticing particularly that he has done so. Hence have no
   anxiety about this, but frankly and humbly confess whatever you
   remember, and commit the rest to the tender mercies of him who puts his
   hand under those who fall without malice that they may not be bruised,
   and raises them up again so gently and swiftly that they scarcely
   realize they had fallen.--St. Francis de Sales.*

   17. By a diligent examination of conscience you have thoroughly
   satisfied all the requirements for sacramental integrity; therefore
   banish whatever doubts and fears may come to beset you, for they are
   nothing but temptations.

   18. Should you suspect that you failed to fulfil these requirements
   owing to not having been particular enough about your examination of
   conscience, you may feel sure that your confessor has by prudent
   interrogations supplied for whatever may have been wanting on your
   part. And if he did not question you further it was due to the fact
   that he understood clearly enough the nature of your sins and the state
   of your soul, and this is the object of sacramental accusation.

   19. How great then is the error of those poor souls who wish
   continually to make their general confessions over again, either
   through fear of incomplete examination or of insufficient sorrow; and
   how blameworthy the weak complaisance of those confessors who offer no
   opposition to their doing so! If such fears were to be listened to,
   every one would be obliged to pass his entire life in making and
   repeating general confessions, for they would incessantly spring up
   afresh and even the greatest saints would not be exempt from them. A
   sacrament of consolation and love would thus be transformed into a
   perfect torture for the soul--an heretical perversion anathematized by
   the Council of Trent.

   "I have found in your general confession all the marks of a sincere,
   good and earnest confession. Never have I heard one that more
   thoroughly satisfied me. You may rely on this, for in these matters I
   speak very plainly. However, if you really omitted something that ought
   to have been told, consider if you did so consciously and voluntarily,
   in which case, if it was a mortal sin or you thought it one at the
   time, you would undoubtedly have to make the confession over again. But
   if it were only a venial sin, or though mortal you omitted it out of
   forgetfulness or some defect of memory, have no scruples; for at my
   soul's peril, I assure you there is no obligation to repeat your
   confession. It will be quite sufficient to mention the matter to your
   ordinary confessor. I will answer for this."--St. Francis de Sales.

   20. It is the teaching of the saints and doctors of the Church that
   when a general confession has been made with a sincere and upright
   intention and with a desire to change one's life, the penitent should
   remain in peace in regard to it, and not make it over again under any
   pretext whatsoever. Those who do otherwise recall to their memory
   things that should be banished from it, and increase the trouble of
   their soul by a too eager desire to purify it. For, as Saint Philip de
   Neri so well expresses it: the harder we sweep, the more dust we raise.

   21. Remember, in conclusion, that according to the common opinion of
   the saints, the fear of sin is no longer salutary when it becomes
   excessive.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [4] Proverbs, XXX, 21-23: "By three things is the earth disturbed ...
   by a bondwoman, when she is heir to her mistress...."

   [5] II. Cor., xii., 9.
     __________________________________________________________________

  VI.
  HOLY COMMUNION.

   Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
   shall not have life in you. (St. John, c. vi., v. 54.)

   And he sent ... to say to those who were invited, that they should
   come; for now all things were ready. And they began all at once to make
   excuse. (St. Luke, c. xiv., vv. 17-18.)

   And if I send them away fasting ... they will faint in the way. (St.
   Mark, c. viii., v. 3.)

   My heart is withered; because I forgot to eat my bread. (Ps. ci.)

   1. Frequent communion is the most efficacious of all means to unite us
   to God. "He that eateth my flesh," said our divine Saviour, "abideth in
   Me and I in him." [6]

   2. St. Bernard calls the Holy Eucharist the love of loves. Hence you
   should desire to receive it frequently in order to be filled with this
   divine love.

   3. St. Francis de Sales says there are two classes of persons who
   should often receive holy communion; the perfect, to unite themselves
   more closely to the Source of all perfection, and the imperfect to
   labor to attain perfection; the strong that they may not become weak,
   the weak that they may become strong; the sick that they may be cured,
   and those in health that they may be preserved from sickness. You tell
   me that your imperfections, your weakness, your littleness make you
   unworthy to receive communion frequently; and I assure you it is
   precisely because of these that you ought to receive it frequently in
   order that He who possesses all things may give you whatever is wanting
   to you.

   *The following words on this subject will not perhaps be considered by
   others as giving much additional value to the authority of the saintly
   Bishop of Geneva. They do so, however, in ours, because they are from
   the lips of a holy religious whose memory will always be dear to
   us----from a man whose last moments were the occasion of the greatest
   edification it has ever pleased God to accord us. The Rev. Father
   Margottet, a Jesuit, died at Nice, April 1st, 1835, shortly after his
   return from Portugal where he had suffered a most cruel captivity with
   the courage that faith alone can inspire. During the last months of his
   life he took great pleasure in conversing with a certain young man who
   visited him regularly to be instructed and edified by his pious
   discourse. One day this young man confided to him the confusion he felt
   in availing himself of his director's permission to receive holy
   Communion several times a week. This was due especially to the thought
   that St. Aloysius, whilst a novice of the Society of Jesus, went to
   Communion on Sundays only. "Come, come, my dear sir," laughingly
   replied the good Father, "continue your frequent Communions--you need
   them much more than St. Aloysius did." It is indeed an error to
   consider holy Communion a reward of virtue, and, in a measure, a guage
   of perfection, whereas it is above all a means to attain perfection,
   and the one pre-existing virtue required in order to employ this means
   is the desire to profit by it. Our divine Lord did not say: Venite ad
   me qui perfecti estis--Come to Me all ye who are perfect: He said:
   Venite ad me qui laboratis et onerati estis [7] --Come to me all ye who
   labor and are burdened. (Read Chapters XX. and XXI., Part II., of the
   [9]Introduction to a Devout Life; and Chapters X. and XVI. Book IV. of
   [10]The Imitation.)

   The spirit of the Church has at all times been the same in regard to
   this important subject. Fénelon says in his letter on frequent
   Communion that St. Chrysostom admits of no medium between the state of
   those who are in mortal sin and that of the faithful who are in a state
   of grace and communicate every day. In vain certain Christians,
   believing themselves purified and just, do no penance as sinners and
   nevertheless abstain from Communion, because, they say, they are not
   perfect enough to receive it. This intermediate state is not only most
   dangerous for one who wilfully remains in it, but is also injurious to
   the Blessed Sacrament. Far from doing honor to the Holy Eucharist by
   depriving ourselves of it, we offend our divine Lord when we decline to
   partake of the Banquet to which He invites us. In a word, according to
   this early Father of the Church, we ought either to communicate with
   those who are in a state of grace, or to do penance that we may be
   united to them as soon as possible.

   We will quote the Saint's own words: "Many of the faithful are weak and
   languishing, many among them sleep. And how, you say, does this happen
   since we receive the Blessed Sacrament but once a year? That is
   precisely the cause of all the trouble! For you imagine that merit
   consists not so much in purity of conscience as in the length of time
   intervening between your Communions. You consider no higher mark of
   respect and honor can be paid to this Sacrament than not to approach
   the Holy Table often.... Temerity does not consist in approaching the
   Altar frequently, but in approaching it unworthily were this but once
   in an entire life time.... Why then regulate the number of Communions
   by the law of time, instead of by purity of conscience, which should
   alone indicate how many times to receive? This divine Mystery is
   nothing more at Easter than at all other seasons during which it is
   celebrated continually. It is ever the same, that is to say, ever the
   same gift of the Holy Ghost. Easter continues throughout the year. You
   who are initiated will understand perfectly what I say. Be it Saturday,
   or Sunday, or the feasts of the martyrs, it is always the same Victim,
   the same Sacrifice." "It was not the will of our divine Lord that His
   Sacrifice should be restricted by the observance of time."

   Other Fathers of the Church speak in the same way of Holy Communion:

   "If it is daily bread," says Saint Ambrose, "why do you partake of it
   but once a year?... Receive it every day in order that every day you
   may benefit by it. Live in such a manner that you may deserve to
   receive it every day, for he who does not deserve to receive it every
   day will not deserve to receive it at the end of the year.... Do you
   not know that every time the Holy Sacrifice is offered, the death,
   resurrection and ascension of our Lord are renewed to the atonement of
   sin? And yet you will not partake daily of this Bread of Life! When one
   has received a wound does he not seek a remedy? Sin which holds us
   captive is our wound: our remedy is in this ever adorable Sacrament."

   In order that it may be plainly proved that the faithful of the present
   day have no reason to act differently in this respect from those of the
   primitive Church, let us see how this ancient discipline has been
   confirmed in later times by the Council of Trent:

   "Christians should believe in this Sacrament and reverence it with such
   a firm faith, with so much fervor and piety, that they may often
   receive this Super-substantial Bread; that it may be, in truth, the
   life of their soul and the perpetual health of their spirit, and that
   the strength they derive therefrom may enable them to pass from the
   temptations of this earthly pilgrimage to the repose of their heavenly
   fatherland.... The Council would have the faithful receive Communion
   each time they assist at Mass, not only spiritually, but sacramentally,
   that they may derive more abundant fruit from the Holy Sacrifice."

   4. The evening before your Communion devote some little time to
   recollection in order to ponder the inestimable gift that God is about
   to bestow upon you, and endeavor also to excite in your soul the desire
   and the hope of finding therein your delight.

   5. Do not conclude that you derive no benefit from Holy Communion
   because you find no perceptible increase in your virtues. Consider that
   it at least serves to keep you in a state of grace. You give
   nourishment to your body every day but you do not pretend to say that
   it daily gains in strength. Does food appear useless to you on that
   account? Certainly not; for, though it fail to augment strength, it
   preserves it by repairing the constant waste. Now, this is precisely
   the case with the divine Food of our souls.

   Observe, moreover, that there is no real increase in virtue without a
   corresponding growth in humility. Consequently the more virtuous you
   are the less so you will esteem yourself; the worthier you are to
   approach your God, the more profoundly will you feel your unworthiness.
   For man, no matter to what degree of virtue he attain, cannot be
   otherwise than weak and sinful here below, and he realizes his baseness
   more and more distinctly in proportion to his advancement in grace and
   in light.

   Fénelon speaks as follows on the same subject:

   "Hitherto you lacked the light to discover in your soul many movements
   of our malicious and depraved nature, which now begin to reveal
   themselves to you. In proportion as light increases we find ourselves
   more corrupt than we supposed: but we should be neither surprised nor
   discouraged, for it is not that we are in reality worse than we
   were,--on the contrary we are better,--but because whilst our
   sinfulness decreases the light which shows it to us increases."

   6. Do not fear that you are ill-prepared for Holy Communion and abuse
   the Sacrament because in receiving it you are cold, indifferent, and
   devoid of feeling. This is a trial sent or permitted by God to test
   your faith and to advance you in merit. All that has been said in
   regard to dryness in prayer might be repeated here. Try to have an
   abiding desire to feel for the Blessed Eucharist as ardent transports
   of love as were ever experienced by the saints. A desire is equivalent
   before God to the thing desired, as I have already quoted for you from
   Saint Gregory the Great; therefore you should be satisfied with this
   when you can attain nothing higher. Everything over and above this is
   grace, not merit.

   7. If you dare not receive Holy Communion often because you are not
   worthy, then you must never receive it, for you will never be worthy.
   What creature could be worthy to receive a God? Nay more, to follow out
   this principle We should have to abandon the practice of visiting
   churches and of speaking to God in prayer; for a miserable, sin-stained
   human being is unfit to enter the House of the Lord or to converse with
   Him.

   "How many scrupulous Christians do we not see languishing for want of
   this divine Food! They consume themselves with subtle speculations and
   sterile efforts, they fear, they tremble, they doubt, and they vainly
   seek for a certainty that cannot be found in this life. Sweetness,
   unction, are not for them. They wish to live for God without living by
   him. They are dry, feeble, exhausted: they are close to the Fountain of
   Living Water and yet allow themselves to die of thirst. They desire to
   fulfil all exteriorly, yet do not dare to nourish themselves
   interiorly: they wish to carry the burden of the law without imbibing
   its spirit and its consolation from prayer and frequent
   Communion!"--Fénelon.

   8. In regard to Holy Communion, therefore, do not confine yourself to a
   consideration of your own unworthiness, but temper this with the
   thought of God's mercy. The guests at the symbolic marriage-feast,--a
   figure of the Holy Eucharist,--were not the great and the rich, but the
   poor, the blind, the lame. Whosoever is clothed in the nuptial garment,
   that is to say, whosoever is in a state of grace, is welcome to this
   banquet.

   9. St. Francis de Sales says that when we cannot go to Holy Communion
   without giving annoyance to others, or without failing against duties
   of charity, justice or order, we should be satisfied with spiritual
   Communion. "Believe me," he adds, "this mortification, this
   deprivation, will be extremely pleasing to God and will advance you
   greatly in His love. One must sometimes take a step backward in order
   to leap the better." It was not by frequent Communion that the holy
   anchorites sanctified themselves, but by the exact observance of the
   duties of their calling. Saint Paul the Hermit received Holy Communion
   but twice during his long, penitential life, nevertheless he was
   precious in the sight of God. A propos of this subject Saint Francis de
   Sales gives us this admirable advice: "In proportion as you are
   hindered from doing the good you desire, do all the more ardently the
   good that you do not desire. You do not like to make such or such an
   act of resignation, you would prefer to make some other; but offer the
   one you do not like, for it will be of far greater value." Saint John
   the Baptist was more intimately united in spirit with our Lord than
   even the Apostles themselves: yet he never became one of His followers
   owing to the fact that his vocation required this sacrifice on his part
   and called him elsewhere. This is the greatest act of spiritual
   mortification recorded in the lives of the saints.

   "I have often admired the extreme resignation of Saint John the
   Baptist, who remained so long in the desert, quite near to our Lord,
   without going to see, hear and follow Him. And after baptizing Jesus,
   how could he have allowed Him to depart without uniting himself to Him
   with his bodily presence, as he was already so united to Him by the
   ties of affection! Ah! the divine Precursor knew that in his case the
   Master was best served by deprivation of His actual presence. Well, my
   dear daughter, it will be the same with you in regard to Holy
   Communion. I mean that for the present God will be pleased if in
   accordance to the wish of the superiors whom He has placed over you,
   you endure the privation of His actual presence. It will be a great
   consolation to me to know that this advice does not disquiet your
   heart. Rest assured that this resignation, this renunciation will be
   exceedingly beneficial to you."--St. Francis de Sales.

   11. Never refrain from receiving the Holy Eucharist because you happen
   to be beset by temptations; this would be to capitulate to your enemy
   without offering any resistance. The more combats you have to sustain,
   the greater the necessity of providing yourself with the means of
   defence, and these are to be found in the Blessed Sacrament. Go
   courageously then and renew your strength with the Food of the strong
   and victory shall be yours.

   12. Be careful not to frequent the Holy Table because such and such a
   person does so: an imitation common for the most part to women's vanity
   and jealousy, says Saint Francis de Sales. It is through love that our
   divine Saviour gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament: love alone
   should lead us to receive it.

   13. Holy Communion should not be partaken of with the same frequency by
   all the faithful. All, indeed, must have the same object in view, that
   is union with God, but the same means to attain that object are not
   proper for every one. It is only by obedience to the advice of a
   spiritual director that each person can know what is suitable for him,
   as that which would be too little for one might be too much for
   another.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [6] John, vi, 57.

   [7] Matt. xi., 28.
     __________________________________________________________________

  VII.
  SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS.

   The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (St. Mark,
   c. II., v: 27.)

   1. Every day of our life should be employed in glorifying God, but
   there are certain days He has particularly appointed whereon to receive
   from us a more special exterior worship. These are Sundays and
   holydays.

   2. It is therefore obligatory upon us to sanctify such days. The
   ordinary means of fulfilling this duty are, principally, works of
   charity, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, sermons,
   religious instructions, and spiritual reading.

   3. Nevertheless, we should avoid over-fatiguing the mind and wearying
   the body by too many exercises of devotion. Excess even in holy things
   is wrong, as virtue ends where excess begins. All that was said on this
   subject in the chapter on Prayer is equally applicable here.

   4. Moreover it is well to know that a friendly visit, a walk, a lawful
   diversion, all of which can be referred to God, serve also for the
   sanctification of Sundays and holydays, when undertaken with a view to
   please Him. The same may be said of such daily occupations as are
   required of man by his bodily needs.

   "How often we are mistaken in our point of view! I tell you once again
   it is not the outward aspect of actions that we must look at, but their
   interior spirit, that is to say, whether or not they are according to
   the will of God. By no means regard the nature of the things you do,
   but rather the honor that accrues to them, worthless as they are in
   themselves, from the fact that God wishes them, that they are in the
   order of his providence and disposed by His infinite wisdom. In a word,
   if they are pleasing to God, and recognized as being so, to whom should
   they be displeasing?"--Saint Francis de Sales.

   5. These things are said for the instruction of those who are eager and
   anxious on Sundays and holydays of obligation to heap devotion upon
   devotion and who make a crime of everything that is not an exterior act
   of piety. They apply themselves, it seems, to the material observance
   of the sabbath, following the superstitious custom of the Pharisees,
   instead of peacefully sanctifying the Lord's day with that sweet and
   holy liberty of spirit which our divine Saviour teaches in the Gospel.
   Too much dissipation and over long prayers are two extremes each of
   which it is equally necessary to avoid.

   6. Should it happen that you are obliged to travel on Sunday or to
   attend to some unforseen business, do not be disquieted about the
   impossibility of fulfilling your customary devout exercises. Replace
   these with pious ejaculations, which, as I have already said, can in
   case of necessity supply for the omission of all other prayers.

   7. Remark, in conclusion, that to assist at a low Mass suffices
   strictly speaking for the sanctification of the Sunday or holyday. Even
   this may be omitted by those persons whom duty obliges to attend the
   sick, to mind the house, or to take care of young children; for these
   being works of justice and charity and good in themselves, may, when
   performed with a pure intention and accompanied by ejaculatory prayers,
   equal and even surpass in value all exterior practices of devotion.

   I do not speak at all of the sick, for by their sufferings they can
   sanctify every day and make each one equal to the greatest festival.

   "Worldly notions are forever blending with our thoughts and throwing
   them out of perspective. In the house of an earthly prince it is not so
   honorable to be a scullion in the kitchen as to be a
   gentleman-in-waiting. But it is different in the house of God, where
   those in the humblest positions are oft-times the most worthy; for
   although they labor and drudge it is done for the love of God and in
   fulfilment of His divine will; and the true value of our actions is
   fixed by this divine will and not by their exterior character.
   Therefore he who truly loves God's will in the accomplishment of his
   duties, does not allow his affections to become engaged in any of his
   spiritual exercises; and so, if sickness or accident interfere with
   them he experiences no regret. I do not say indeed that he does not
   love his devotions, but that he is not attached to them."--Saint
   Francis de Sales.

   "If you have a sincere regard for the virtues of obedience and
   submission, I wish that, should justice or charity demand it, you would
   forego your pious exercises, which would be a sort of obedience, and
   that this omission should be supplied by love. I told you on another
   occasion: the less we live according to our own liking, and the less
   option we have in our actions, the more goodness and solidity will
   there be in our devotion. It is right and proper sometimes to leave our
   Lord in order to oblige others for love of Him."--Saint Francis de
   Sales.
     __________________________________________________________________

  VIII.
  SPIRITUAL READING.

   Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach
   him out of Thy Law. (Ps. XCIII, v. 12.)

   All scripture divinely inspired, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to
   correct, to instruct in justice. (S. P. Timoth., Ep. II, iii, 16.)

   1. Spiritual reading is to the soul what food is to the body. Be
   careful, therefore, to select such books as will furnish your soul with
   the best nourishment. I would recommend you to become familiar
   especially with the works of Saint Francis de Sales.

   2. When the choice of reading matter is made by the advice of a
   spiritual director the teaching it contains should be looked upon as
   coming from the mouth of God.

   3. Do not affect those lives of the Saints in which the supernatural
   and marvellous predominate. The devout imagination becomes inflamed by
   such reading and is imbued with vain and useless desires: it leads some
   to aspire to the revelations of Saint Bridget or the raptures of Saint
   Joseph of Cupertino, others to imitate the mortifications of the
   Stylites; and thus by losing time in desiring extraordinary graces,
   they neglect, to their great detriment, ordinary duties and real
   obligations. Take great care, then, not to allow yourself to be
   absorbed in those wonderful characteristics of the saints which we
   should be content to admire; give preference rather to their simple and
   interior virtues, for these alone are imitable for us.

   "We ought not to wish for extraordinary things, as, for example, that
   God would take away our heart, as He did with Saint Catherine of
   Sienna's, and give us His in return. But we should desire that our poor
   hearts no longer live save in subjection to the Heart of our loving
   Saviour, and this will be the best way of imitating Saint Catherine,
   for we shall thus become meek, humble and charitable.... True holiness
   consists in love of God, and not in foolish imaginations and dreamings
   that nourish self-love whilst they undermine obedience and humility.
   The desire to have ecstacies and visions is a deception. Let us turn
   rather to the practice of true meekness and submissiveness, of
   self-renunciation and docility, of ready compliance with the wishes of
   others. Thus we shall emulate the saints in what is more real and more
   admirable for us than ecstacies.--St. Francis de Sales.

   4. Use still greater precautions in regard to ascetical works. Many of
   these are carelessly written, confound precepts with counsels, badly
   define the virtues by not showing the limits beyond which they become
   extravagances, and entertain the reader with trifling and purely
   exterior practices that are more apt to flatter self-love than to
   reform the heart.

   5. It has been remarked very justly by a learned theologian that the
   ignorance and indiscreet zeal of certain writers of ascetical books
   have furnished the heretics of later times with arms to attack our holy
   religion and to turn it into ridicule.

   6. A judicious author expresses himself thus on the same subject: "In
   order to write on spiritual matters it is not enough to have great
   piety,--great learning is also necessary. A man actuated by the best
   motives in the world may yet have strange delusions, and feed his
   imagination with devout extravagances." An author should be equally
   well versed in theory and experienced in practice, otherwise he will
   err either in regard to principles or to their application. There is a
   well known saying generally attributed to Saint Thomas: "If a man be
   good and holy let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him
   teach us." It is essential, in matters of religion especially, to give
   none but true and precise ideas, or else they will do more harm than
   good. Doctrines that are not exact create scruples in weak souls and
   invite the criticisms of intelligent Christians, whilst they excite the
   railleries of free-thinkers and furnish arguments to unbelievers.

   7. Almost every day we find ascetical works published which contain
   many inaccuracies of the kind described. Exercise great care,
   therefore, in the selection of this kind of reading or you may injure
   your soul instead of sanctifying it. The safest course is to consult
   your director on the subject.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

PART SECOND.
INTERIOR LIFE.
     __________________________________________________________________

  IX.
  HOPE.

   Casting all your solicitude upon Him for He hath care of you. (St.
   Petr., Ep. I., c. V., v. 7.)

   Let Thy mercy descend upon us according to the trust we have placed in
   Thee. (Cant. Saint Ambrose.)

   1. "Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord," says the Holy Spirit.
   The weakness of our souls is often attributable to lukewarmness in
   regard to the Christian virtue of hope.

   2. Hold fast to this great truth: he who hopes for nothing will obtain
   nothing; he who hopes for little will obtain little; he who hopes for
   all things will obtain all things.

   3. The mercy of God is infinitely greater than all the sins of the
   world. We should not, then, confine ourselves to a consideration of our
   own wretchedness, but rather turn our thoughts to the contemplation of
   this divine attribute of mercy.

   4. "What do you fear?" says Saint Thomas of Villanova: "this Judge
   whose condemnation you dread is the same Jesus Christ who died upon the
   Cross in order not to condemn you."

   5. Sorrow, not fear, is the sentiment our sins should awaken in us.
   When Saint Peter said to his divine Master: "Depart from me, O Lord,
   for I am a sinful man," what did our Saviour reply? "Noli timere,--fear
   not." [8] Saint Augustine remarks that in the Holy Scriptures we always
   find hope and love preferred to fear.

   6. Our miseries form the throne of the divine mercy, we are told by
   Saint Francis de Sales, for if in the world there were neither sins to
   pardon, nor sorrows to soothe, nor maladies of the soul to heal, God
   would not have to exercise the most beautiful attribute of His divine
   essence. This was our Lord's reason for saying that He came into the
   world not for the just but for sinners. [9]

   7. Assuredly our faults are displeasing to God, but He does not on
   their account cease to cherish our souls.

   It is unnecessary to observe that this applies only to such faults as
   are due to the frailty inherent in our nature, and against which an
   upright will, sustained by divine grace, continually struggles. A
   perverse will, without which there can be no mortal sin, alienates us
   from God and renders us hateful in His eyes as long as we are subject
   to it. At the feast spoken of in the Gospel, the King receives with
   love the poor, the blind, and the lame who are clothed with the nuptial
   garment,--that is to say, all those whom a desire to please God
   maintains in a state of grace notwithstanding their natural defects and
   frailty: but his rigorous justice displays itself against him who dares
   to appear there without this garment. This distinction, found
   everywhere throughout the Gospels, is essential in order to inspire us
   with a tender confidence when we fall, without diminishing our horror
   for deliberate sins.

   A good mother is afflicted at the natural defects and infirmities of
   her child, but she loves him none the less, nor does she refuse him her
   compassion or her aid. Far from it; for the more miserable and
   suffering and deformed he may be the greater is her tenderness and
   solicitude for him.

   8. We have, says Saint Paul, a good and indulgent High-Priest who knows
   how to compassionate our weakness, Jesus Christ, who has been pleased
   to become at once our Brother and our Mediator. [10]

   9. Do not forfeit your peace of mind by wondering what destiny awaits
   you in eternity. Your future lot is in the hands of God, and it is much
   safer there than if in your own keeping.

   10. The immoderate fear of hell, in the opinion of Saint Francis de
   Sales, can not be cured by arguments, but by submission and humility.

   11. Hence it was that Saint Bernard, when tempted by the devil to a sin
   of despair, retorted: "I have not merited heaven, I know that as well
   as you do, Satan; but I also know that Jesus Christ, my Saviour, has
   merited it for me. It was not for Himself that He purchased so many
   merits,--but for me: He cedes them to me, and it is by Him and in Him
   that I shall save my soul."

   12. Far from allowing yourself to be dejected by fear and doubt, raise
   your desires rather to great virtues and to the most sublime
   perfection. God loves courageous souls, Saint Theresa assures us,
   provided they mistrust their own strength and place all their reliance
   upon Him. The devil tries to persuade you that it is pride to have
   exalted aspirations and to wish to imitate the virtues of the saints;
   but do not permit him to deceive you by this artifice. He will only
   laugh at you if he succeed in making you fall into weakness and
   irresolution.

   To aspire to the noblest and highest ends gives firmness and
   perseverance to the soul. (Read [11]The Imitation, B. III, C. XXX.)
     __________________________________________________________________

   [8] Saint Luke, c. V. vv. 8-10.

   [9] Luke V., 32. Mark II., 17. Matthew IX., 13.

   [10] Epist. St. Paul to the Hebrews.
     __________________________________________________________________

  X.
  THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

   Walk before Me and be perfect. (Genesis, c. XVII, v. 1.)

   I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come
   to me. (Psalm CXX, v. 1.)

   1. The constant remembrance of God's presence is a means of perfection
   that Almighty God Himself prescribed to the Patriarch Abraham. But this
   practice must be followed gently and without effort or disturbance of
   mind. The God of love and peace wishes that all we do for Him should be
   done lovingly and peacefully.

   2. Only in heaven shall we be able to think actually and
   uninterruptedly of God. In this world to do so is an impossibility, for
   we are at every moment distracted by our occupations, our necessities,
   our imagination. We but exhaust ourselves by futile efforts if we try
   to lead before the proper time an existence similar to that of the
   angels and saints.

   3. Frequently the fear comes to you that you have failed to keep
   yourself in the presence of God, because you have not thought of Him.
   This is a mistaken idea. You can, without this definite thought,
   perform all your actions for love of God and in His presence, by virtue
   of the intention you had in beginning them. Now, to act is better than
   to think. Though the doctor may not have the invalid in mind while he
   is preparing the medicine that is to restore him to health,
   nevertheless it is for him he is working, and he is more useful to his
   patient in this way than if he contented himself with merely thinking
   of him. In like manner when you fulfil your domestic or social duties,
   when you eat or walk, devote yourself to study or to manual labor,
   though it be without definitely thinking of God, you are acting for
   Him, and this ought to suffice to set your mind at rest in regard to
   the merit of your actions. Saint Paul does not say that we must eat,
   drink and labor with an actual remembrance of God's presence, but with
   the habitual intention of glorifying Him and doing His holy will. We
   fulfil this condition by making an offering each morning to God of all
   the actions of the day and renewing the act interiorly whenever we can
   remember to do so.

   4. For this purpose, make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We have
   already spoken of them. Accustom yourself to make these pious
   aspirations naturally and without effort, and let them for the most
   part be expressive of confidence and love.

   5. Should it happen that a considerable space of time elapses without
   your having thought distinctly of God or raised your heart to Him by
   any loving ejaculation, do not allow this omission to worry you. The
   servant has performed his duty and deserves well of his master when he
   has done his will, even though he may not have been thinking of him the
   while. Always bear in mind the fact that it is better to work for God
   than to think of Him. Thought has its highest spiritual value when it
   results in action: action is meritorious in itself by virtue of the
   good intention which preceded it.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XI.
  HUMILITY.

   If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. (St. John, c. VIII, v. 54.)

   For behold I was born in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive
   me. (Psalm L., v. 7.)

   1. Few persons have a correct idea of this virtue. It is frequently
   confused with servility or littleness.

   2. To attribute to God what is God's, that is to say everything that is
   good, and to ourselves what is ours, that is to say, everything that is
   evil: these are the essential characteristics of true humility.

   *Hence it would appear at first sight that simple good sense ought to
   suffice to make men humble. Such would be the case were it not that our
   faculties have been impaired and vitiated in their very source by
   pride, that direful and ineffaceable consequence of original sin. The
   first man, a creature owing his existence directly to God, was bound to
   dedicate it entirely to Him and to pay continual homage for it is as
   for all the other gifts he had received. This was a duty of simple
   justice. The day whereon he asserted a desire to be independent, he
   caused an utter derangement in the relations of the creature with his
   Creator. Pride, that tendency to self-sufficiency, to refer to self the
   use of the faculties received from God--pride, introduced into the soul
   of the first man by a free act of his will, has attached itself as an
   indelible stigma to the souls of all his descendants, and has become
   forevermore a part of their nature. Thence comes this inclination, ever
   springing up afresh, to be independent, to be something of ourselves,
   to desire for ourselves esteem, affection and honor, despite the
   precepts of the divine law, the claims of justice and the warnings of
   reason; and thus it is that the whole spiritual life is but one long
   and painful conflict against this vicious propensity. Divine grace
   though sustaining us in the combat never gives us a complete victory,
   for the struggle must endure until death,--the closing chastisement of
   our original degradation and the only one that can obliterate the last
   traces thereof. (See [12]Imitation, B. III., Ch. XIII.--XXII.)*

   3. As God drew from nothingness everything that exists, in like manner
   does He wish to lay the foundations of our spiritual perfection upon
   the knowledge of our nothingness. Saint Bonaventure used to say:
   Provided God be all, what matters it that I am nothing!

   4. When a Christian who is truly humble commits a fault he repents but
   is not disquieted, because he is not surprised that what is naught but
   misery, weakness and corruption, should be miserable, weak and corrupt.
   He thanks God on the contrary that his fall has not been more serious.
   Thus Saint Catherine of Genoa, whenever she found she had been guilty
   of some imperfection, would calmly exclaim: Another weed from my
   garden! This peaceful contemplation of our sinfulness was considered
   very important by Saint Francis de Sales also, for he says: "Let us
   learn to bear with our imperfections if we wish to attain perfection,
   for this practice nourishes the virtue of humility."

   5. Some persons have the erroneous idea that in order to be humble they
   must not recognize in themselves any virtue or talent whatsoever. The
   reverse is the case according to Saint Thomas, for he says it is
   necessary to realize the gifts we have received that we may return
   thanks for them to Him from whom we hold them. To ignore them is to
   fail in gratitude towards God, and to neglect the object for which He
   gave them to us. All that we have to do is to avoid the folly of taking
   glory to ourselves because of them. Mules, asses and donkeys may be
   laden with gold and perfumes and yet be none the less dull and stupid
   animals. The graces we have received, far from giving us any personal
   claims, only serve to increase our debt to Him who is their source and
   their donor.

   6. Praise is naturally more pleasing to us than censure. There is
   nothing sinful in this preference, for it springs from an instinct of
   our human nature of which we cannot entirely divest ourselves. Only the
   praise must be always referred to Him to whom it is due, that is to
   say, to God; for they are His gifts that are praised in us as we are
   but their bearers and custodians and shall one day have to render Him
   an account for them in accordance with their value.

   7. The soul that is most humble will also have the greatest courage and
   the most generous confidence in God; the more it distrusts itself, the
   more it will trust in Him on whom it relies for all its strength,
   saying with Saint Paul: I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth
   me. [11] Saint Thomas clearly proves that true Christian humility, far
   from debasing the soul, is the principle of everything that is really
   noble and generous. He who refuses the work to which God calls him
   because of the honor and éclat that accompany it, is not humble but
   mistrustful and pusillanimous. We shall find in obedience light to show
   us with certainty that to which we are called and to preserve us from
   the illusions of self-love and of our natural inclinations.

   "We should be actuated by a generous and noble humility, a humility
   that does nothing in order to be praised and omits nothing that ought
   to be done through fear of being praised."--Saint Francis de Sales.

   8. It is even good and sometimes necessary to make known the gifts we
   have received from God and the good works of which divine grace has
   made us the instruments, when this manifestation can conduce to the
   glory of His name, the welfare of the Church, or the edification of the
   faithful. It was for this threefold object that Saint Paul spoke of his
   apostolic labors and supernatural revelations.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [11] St. Paul to the Philippians, IV., 13.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XII.
  RESIGNATION.

   Yea, Father: because so it has pleased Thee. (St. Luke, c. X., v. 21.)

   O my Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.
   Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (St. Matthew, c. XXVI.,
   v. 39.)

   1. We should recognize and adore the will of God in everything that
   happens to us. The malice of men, nay of the devil himself, can cause
   nothing to befall us except what is permitted by God. Our divine Lord
   has declared that not a hair of our heads can fall unless by the will
   of our Heavenly Father. [12]

   2. Therefore in every condition painful to nature, whether you are
   afflicted by sickness, assailed by temptations, or tortured by the
   injustice of men, consider the divine will and say to God with a loving
   and submissive heart: Fiat voluntas tua--Thy will be done: O my
   Saviour, do with me what Thou willest, as Thou willest, and when Thou
   willest.

   3. By this means we render supportable the severest pain and the most
   trying circumstances. "Do you not feel the infinite sweetness contained
   in that one sentence, the will of God?" asks Saint Mary Magdalen de
   Pazzi. Like unto the wood shown to Moses, that drew from the water all
   its bitterness, it sweetens whatever is bitter in our lives.

   4. Without this practice, so comformable to faith, and without the
   light and strength that result from it, the pains and afflictions of
   life would become unbearable. This is what Saint Philip de Neri meant
   when he said: It rests with man to place himself even in this life
   either in heaven or in hell: he who suffers tribulations with patience
   enjoys celestial peace in advance; he who does not do so has a
   foretaste of the torments of hell.

   5. Not only is it God who sends or permits our troubles, but He does so
   for the good of our souls and for our spiritual progress. Do not, then,
   make a matter of complaint that which should be a motive for gratitude.

   6. Saint Francis de Sales says that the cross is the royal door to the
   temple of sanctity, and the only one by which we can enter it. One
   moment spent upon the cross is therefore more conducive to our
   spiritual advancement than the anticipated enjoyment of all the
   delights of heaven. The happiness of those who have reached their
   destination consists in the possession of God: to suffer for the love
   of Him is the only true happiness which those still on the way can
   expect to attain. Our Lord declared that those who mourn during this
   exile are blessed, for they shall be consoled eternally in their
   celestial fatherland. [13]

   7. Notice that I say, to suffer for the love of God, for, as Saint
   Augustine remarks, no person can love suffering in itself. That is
   contrary to nature, and moreover, there would no longer be any
   suffering if we could accept it with natural relish. But a resigned
   soul loves to suffer, that is she loves the virtue of patience and
   ardently desires the merits that result from the practice of it. A calm
   and submissive longing to be delivered from our cross if such be the
   will of God, is not inconsistent with the most perfect resignation.
   This desire is a natural instinct which supernatural grace regulates,
   moderates, and teaches us to control, but which it never entirely
   destroys. Our divine Saviour Himself, to show that He was truly man,
   was pleased to feel it as we do, and prayed that the chalice of His
   Passion might be spared Him. Hence you are not required to be stolidly
   indifferent or to arm yourself with the stern insensibility of the
   Stoics; that would not be either resignation, or humility, or any
   virtue whatsoever. The essential thing is to suffer with Christian
   patience and generous resignation everything that is naturally
   displeasing to us. This is what both reason and faith prescribe.

   *The Redeemer of the World seems to wish to show us in His Agony the
   degree of perfection which the weakness of human nature can attain
   amidst the anguish of sorrow. In the inferior portion of the soul where
   the faculty of feeling resides, instinctive repugnance to suffering,
   humble prayer for relief if it please God to accord it; and in the
   superior portion of the soul where the will resides, entire resignation
   if this consolation be denied. A desire for more than this, unless
   called to it by a special grace, would be foolish pride, as we should
   thus attempt to change the conditions of our nature, whereas our duty
   is to accept them in order to combat them and to suffer in so doing.
   (See [13]Imitation, B. III., Ch. XVIII-XIX.)

   In the following terms Saint Francis de Sales proposes to us this same
   example of our Saviour's resignation during His agony: "Consider the
   great dereliction our Divine Master suffered in the Garden of Olives.
   See how this beloved Son, having asked for consolation from His loving
   Father and knowing that it was not His will to grant it, thinks no more
   about it, no longer craves or looks for it, but, as though He had never
   sought it, valiantly and courageously completes the work of our
   redemption. Let it be the same with you. If your Heavenly Father sees
   fit to deny you the consolation you have prayed for, dismiss it from
   your mind and animate your courage to fulfil your work upon the cross
   as if you were never to descend from it nor should ever again see the
   atmosphere of your life pure and serene." (Read [14]The Imitation. B.
   III., Chapters XI and XV.)

   The same Saint also gives us some sublime lessons in resignation
   applied to the trials and temptations that beset the spiritual life. He
   draws them from this great and simple thought that serves as foundation
   for the Exercises of Saint Ignatius, namely, that salvation being the
   sole object of our existence, and all the attendant circumstances of
   life but means for attaining it, nothing has any absolute value; and
   that the only way of forming a true estimate of things is to consider
   in how far they are calculated to advance or retard the end in view.
   Accordingly, what difference does it make if we attain this end by
   riches or poverty, health or sickness, spiritual consolation or
   aridity, by the esteem or contempt of our fellow-men? So say faith and
   reason; but human nature revolts against this indifference, as it is
   well it should, else how could we acquire merit? Hence there is a
   conflict on this point between the flesh and the spirit, and it is this
   conflict that for a Christian is called life. (On this subject read
   [15]The Imitation, B. II., Ch. XI.; and B. III., Ch. XVIII., XIX.,
   XXXVII., XLIX., L. and the prayer at the end of Ch. XXVII.)

   "Would to God," he says elsewhere, speaking on the same subject, "that
   we did not concern ourselves so much about the road whereon we journey,
   but rather would keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon that blessed
   country whither He is conducting us. What should it matter to us if it
   be through deserts or pleasant fields that we walk, provided God be
   with us and we be advancing towards heaven?... In short, for the honor
   of God, acquiesce perfectly in his divine will, and do not suppose that
   you can serve him better in any other way; for no one ever serves him
   well who does not serve him as he wishes. Now he wishes that you serve
   him without relish, without feeling, nay, with repugnance and
   perturbation of spirit. This service does not afford you any
   satisfaction, it is true, but it pleases him; it is not to your taste,
   but it is to his.... Mortify yourself then cheerfully, and in
   proportion as you are prevented from doing the good you desire, do all
   the more ardently that which you do not desire. You do not wish to be
   resigned in this case, but you will be so in some other: resignation in
   the first instance will be of much greater value to you.... In fine,
   let us be what God wishes, since we are entirely devoted to him, and
   would not wish to be anything contrary to his will; for were we the
   most exalted creatures under heaven, of what use would it be to us, if
   we were not in accord with the will of God?...

   And again: "You should resign yourself perfectly into the hands of God.
   When you have done your best towards carrying out your design (of
   becoming a religious) he will be pleased to accept everything you do,
   even though it be something less good. You cannot please God better
   than by sacrificing to him your will, and remaining in tranquillity,
   humility and devotion, entirely reconciled and submissive to his divine
   will and good pleasure. You will be able to recognize these plainly
   enough when you find that notwithstanding all your efforts it is
   impossible for you to gratify your wishes.

   For God in his infinite goodness sometimes sees fit to test our courage
   and love by depriving us of the things which it seems to us would be
   advantageous to our souls; and if he finds us very earnest in their
   pursuit, yet humble, tranquil and resigned to do without them if he
   wishes us to, he will give us more blessings than we should have had in
   the possession of what we craved. God loves those who at all times and
   in all circumstances can say to him simply and heartily: Thy will be
   done."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [12] Matt. X., 30.

   [13] Matt. X., 30:--Luke XII., 7.--"Blessed are they that mourn, for
   they shall be comforted."
     __________________________________________________________________

  XIII.
  SCRUPLES.

   Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence. (St. Paul, II.
   Cor., c. III., v. 12.)

   Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because
   fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfect in charity. (St.
   John, I. Epist., c. IV., v. 18.)

   1. There are persons who look upon scrupulosity as a virtue,
   confounding it with delicacy of conscience, whereas it is, on the
   contrary, not only a defect but one of a most dangerous character. The
   devout and learned Gerson says that a scrupulous conscience often does
   more injury to the soul than one that is too lax and remiss.

   2. Scruples warp the judgment, disturb the peace of the soul, beget
   mistrust of the Sacraments and estrangement from them, and impair the
   health of body and mind. How many unfortunates have begun by
   scrupulosity and ended in insanity! How many, more unfortunate still,
   have begun by scruples and ended in laxity and impiety! Shun then this
   insiduous poison, so deadly in its effects on true piety, and say with
   Saint Joseph of Cupertino: Away with sadness and scruples; I will not
   have them in my house.

   3. Scrupulosity is an unreasonable fear of sin in matters where there
   is not even material for sin. But the victim does not call his doubts
   and fears scruples, for he would not be tormented by them if he
   believed he could give them that name. He should, however, place
   implicit reliance in the opinion of his spiritual guide when he tells
   him they are such and that he must not allow himself to be influenced
   by them.

   4. In all his actions a scrupulous person sees only an uninterrupted
   series of sins, and in God nothing but vengeance and anger. He ought,
   therefore, to consider almost exclusively the attribute of the divine
   Master by which He most delights to manifest Himself, mercy, and to
   make it the constant subject of his thoughts, meditations and
   affections.

   "We should do everything from love and nothing from constraint. It is
   more essential to love obedience than to fear disobedience."-- Saint
   Francis de Sales.

   5. There is but one remedy for scruples and that is entire and
   courageous obedience. "It is a secret pride," says Saint Francis de
   Sales, "that entertains and nourishes scruples, for the scrupulous
   person adheres to his opinion and inquietude in spite of his director's
   advice to the contrary. He always persuades himself in justification of
   his disobedience that some new and unforseen circumstance has occurred
   to which this advice cannot be applicable." But submit", adds the
   Saint, "without other reasoning than this: I should obey, and you will
   be delivered from this lamentable malady."

   6. By sadness and anxiety the children of God do a great injury to
   their Heavenly Father. They thereby seem to bear witness that there is
   little happiness to be found in the service of a Master so full of love
   and mercy, and to give the lie to the words of Him who said: "Come unto
   Me all you that labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you."

   "Woe to that narrow and self-absorbed soul that is always fearful, and
   because of fear has no time to love and to go generously forward. O my
   God! I know it is your wish that the heart that loves you should be
   broad and free! Hence I shall act with confidence like to the child
   that plays in the arms of its mother; I shall rejoice in the Lord and
   try to make others rejoice; I shall pour forth my heart without fear in
   the assembly of the children of God. I wish for nothing but candor,
   innocence and joy of the Holy Ghost. Far, far from me, O my God, be
   that sad and cowardly wisdom which is ever consumed in self, ever
   holding the balance in hand in order to weigh atoms!... Such lack of
   simplicity in the soul's dealings with Thee is truly an outrage against
   Thee: such rigor imputed to Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal
   heart."--Fénelon.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XIV.
  INTERIOR PEACE.

   Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things.
   (St. Luke, c. X., v. 41.)

   Always active, always at rest. (St. Augustine.)

   1. Be on your guard lest your zeal degenerate into anxiety and
   eagerness. Saint Francis de Sales was a most pronounced enemy of these
   two defects. They cause us to lose sight of God in our actions and make
   us very prone to impatience if the slightest obstacle should interfere
   with our designs. It is only by acting peacefully that we can serve the
   God of peace in an acceptable manner.

   Do not let us suffer our peace to be disturbed by precipitation in our
   exterior actions. When our bodies or minds are engaged in any work, we
   should perform it peacefully and with composure, not prescribing for
   ourselves a definite time to finish it, nor being too anxious to see it
   completed."--Scupoli.

   2. Martha was engaged in a good work when she prepared a repast for our
   divine Lord, nevertheless He reproved her because she performed it with
   anxiety and agitation. This goes to show, says Saint Francis de Sales,
   that it is not enough to do good, the good must moreover be done well,
   that is to say, with love and tranquillity. If one turn the
   spinning-wheel too rapidly it falls and the thread breaks.

   3. Whenever we are doing well we are always doing enough and doing it
   sufficiently fast. Those persons who are restless and impetuous do not
   accomplish any more and what they do is done badly.

   4. Saint Francis de Sales was never seen in a hurry no matter how
   varied or numerous might be the demands made upon his time. When on a
   certain occasion some surprise was expressed at this he said: "You ask
   me how it is that although others are agitated and flurried I am not
   likewise uneasy and in haste. What would you? I was not put in this
   world to cause fresh disturbance: is there not enough of it already
   without my adding to it by my excitability?"

   5. However, do not on the other hand succumb to sloth and indifference.
   All extremes are to be avoided. Cultivate a tranquil activity and an
   active tranquillity.

   6. In order to acquire tranquillity in action it is necessary to
   consider carefully what we are capable of accomplishing and never to
   undertake more than that. It is self-love, ever more anxious to do much
   than to do well, which urges us on to burden ourselves with great
   undertakings and to impose upon ourselves numerous obligations. It
   maintains and nourishes itself on this tension of mind, this restless
   anxiety which it takes for infallible signs of a superior capacity.
   Thus Saint Francis de Sales was wont to say: "Our self-love is a great
   braggart, that wishes to undertake everything and accomplishes
   nothing."

   "It appears to me that you are over eager and anxious in the pursuit of
   perfection.... Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of
   Kings, [14] that God is not in the great and strong wind, nor in the
   earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an almost
   imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and agitation contribute nothing
   towards success. The desire of success is good, but only if it be not
   accompanied by solicitude. I expressly forbid you to give way to
   inquietude, for it is the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is
   necessary in all things and everywhere. If any trouble come to us,
   either of an interior or exterior nature, we should receive it
   peacefully: if joy be ours, it should be received peacefully: have we
   to flee from evil, we should do it peacefully, otherwise we may fall in
   our flight and thus give our enemy a chance to kill us. Is there a good
   work to be done? we must do it peacefully, or else we shall commit many
   faults by our hastiness: and even as regards penance,--that too must be
   done peacefully: Behold, said the prophet, in peace is my bitterness
   most bitter. [15]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [14] III Kings, C. XIX.

   [15] Ecce in pace est amaritudo mea amarissima. (Isaias.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  XV.
  SADNESS.

   I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the
   house of the Lord.... Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the
   Lord with gladness.... Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou
   trouble me? (Psalms CXXI., XCIX., XLII.)

   And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Apoc. C. XXI., v.
   4.)

   1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is the worst thing in the
   World, sin alone excepted.

   2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection in sadness: it is the
   spirit of God that produces recollection; sadness is the work of the
   spirit of darkness.

   3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint Francis de Sales for the
   discernment of spirits: any thought that troubles and disquiets us
   cannot come from the God of peace, who makes his dwelling-place only in
   peaceful souls.

   "Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in writing what I before said to you
   in person, always be as happy as you can in well-doing, for it gives a
   double value to good works to be well done and to be done cheerfully.
   And when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not mean that if you happen
   to commit some fault you should on that account abandon yourself to
   sadness. For God's sake, no; for that would be to add defect to defect.
   But I mean that you should persevere in the wish to do well, that you
   return to it the moment you realize you have deviated from it, and that
   by means of this fidelity you live happily in the Lord.... May God be
   ever in our heart, my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous, for
   this is the will of God, whom we love and to whose service we are
   consecrated."--Saint Francis de Sales. ([16]Imitation, B. III., Chap.
   XLVII.)

   4. It is wrong to deny one's self all diversion. The mind becomes
   fatigued and depressed by remaining always concentrated in itself and
   thus more easily falls a prey to sadness. Saint Thomas says explicitly
   that one may incur sin by refusing all innocent amusement. Every
   excess, no matter what its nature, is contrary to order and
   consequently to virtue.

   5. Recreations and amusements are to the life of the soul what
   seasoning is to our corporal food. Food that is too highly seasoned
   quickly becomes injurious and sometimes fatal in its effects; that
   which is not seasoned at all soon becomes unendurable because of its
   insipidity and unpalatableness.

   6. As to the amount of diversion it is right to take, no absolute
   measure can be given: the rule is that each person should have as much
   as is necessary for him. This quantity varies according to the bent of
   the mind, the nature of the habitual occupations, and the greater or
   less predisposition to sadness one observes in his disposition.

   7. When you find your heart growing sad, divert yourself without a
   moment's delay; make a visit, enter into conversation with those around
   you, read some amusing book, take a walk, sing, do something, it
   matters not what, provided you close the door of your heart against
   this terrible enemy. As the sound of a trumpet gives the signal for a
   combat, so sad thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable moment has
   come for him to attack us.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XVI.
  LIBERTY OF SPIRIT.

   Now the Lord is a spirit: and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is
   liberty. (St. Paul, II. Cor., c. III., v. 17.)

   For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but ye
   have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba,
   Father. (St. Paul, Romans, c. VIII., v. 15.)

   Love God and do what you will. (Saint Augustine.)

   1. Christian liberty of spirit, so earnestly recommended by the saints,
   consists in not becoming the slave of anything, even though good,
   unless it be of God's will. Thus our purest inclinations, our holiest
   habits, our wisest rules of conduct, should yield without murmur or
   complaint to every manifestation of this divine will, in order that
   they may never become for us obstacles or impediments to good or the
   occasion of trouble and disquietude. By this means only can we perform
   all our actions with cheerful confidence and devout courage.

   "I leave you the spirit of liberty; not that liberty which hinders
   obedience, for such is the liberty of the flesh, but that which
   excludes scruples and constraint.... We ask of God above all things
   that his name be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that His will be done
   on earth as it is in heaven. All this implies the spirit of liberty;
   for provided God's name be sanctified, that His divine Majesty reign in
   you, that His will be done, the spirit desires nothing more." [16]
   ([17]Imitation, B. III., Chap. XXVI.)

   2. St. Francis de Sales, speaking on this important subject, says: "He
   who possesses the spirit of liberty will on no account allow his
   affections to be mastered even by his spiritual exercises, and in this
   way he avoids feeling any regret if they are interfered with by
   sickness or accident. I do not say that he does not love his devotions
   but that he is not attached to them."

   3. A soul that is attached to meditation, if interrupted, will show
   chagrin and impatience: a soul that has true liberty will take the
   interruption in good part and show a gracious countenance to the person
   who was the cause of it. For it is all one to it whether it serve God
   by meditating or by bearing with its neighbor. Both duties are God's
   will, but just at this time patience with others is the more essential.

   4. The fruits of this holy liberty of spirit are prompt and tranquil
   submission and generous confidence. Saint Francis de Sales relates that
   Saint Ignatius ate flesh meat one day in Holy Week simply because his
   physician thought it expedient for him to do so on account of a slight
   illness. A spirit of constraint would have made him allow the doctor to
   spend three days in persuading him, he adds, and would then very
   probably have refused to yield. I cite this example for the benefit of
   timid souls and not for those who seek to elude an obligation by
   unwarranted dispensations.

   *This matter is of such importance and a just medium so difficult to
   follow in practice, that it seems useful to transcribe the following
   passage from Saint Francis de Sales in its entirety, with the rules and
   examples it contains, in order that the proper occasions for the
   exercise of this virtue and its limitations may be well understood.

   "A heart possessed of this spirit of liberty is not attached to
   consolations, but receives afflictions with all the sweetness that is
   possible to human nature. I do not say that it does not love and desire
   consolations, but that its affections are not wedded to them.... It
   seldom loses its joy, for no privation saddens a heart that is not set
   upon any one thing. I do not say it never loses it, but if it does so
   it quickly regains it.

   The effects of this virtue are sweetness of temper, gentleness, and
   forbearance towards everything that is not sin or occasion of sin,
   forming a disposition gently susceptible to the influences of charity
   and of every other virtue.

   The occasions for exercising this holy freedom are found in all those
   things that happen contrary to our natural inclinations; for one whose
   affections are not engaged in his own will does not lose patience when
   his desires are thwarted.

   There are two vices opposed to this liberty of spirit,--instability and
   constraint, or dissipation and servility. The former is a certain
   excess of freedom which causes us to change our devout exercises or
   state of life without reason and without knowing if it be God's will.
   On the slightest pretext practices, plans and rules are altered and for
   every trivial obstacle our laudable customs are abandoned. In this way
   the heart is dissipated and spent and becomes like an orchard open on
   all sides, the fruit whereof is not for the owner but for the
   passers-by. Constraint or servility is a certain lack of liberty owing
   to which the mind is overwhelmed with vexation or anger when we cannot
   carry out our designs, even though we might be doing something better.
   For example: I resolve to make a meditation every morning. Now if I
   have the spirit of instability or dissipation I am apt to defer it
   until evening for the most insignificant reason,--because I was kept
   awake by the barking of a dog, or because I have a letter to write,
   although it be not at all pressing. If on the contrary I have the
   spirit of constraint or servility I will not give up my meditation even
   though a sick person has great need of my aid just then, or if I have
   an important and urgent dispatch to send which should not be deferred;
   and so on.

   It remains for me to give you some examples of true liberty of spirit
   which will make you understand it better than I can explain it. But,
   before doing so, it is well that I should say there are two rules which
   it is necessary to observe in order not to make any mistake on the
   subject.

   The first is that a person must never abandon his pious practices and
   the common rules of virtue unless it is plainly evident that God wills
   that he do so. Now this will is manifested in two ways,--through
   necessity and through charity. I desire to preach this Lent in some
   little corner of my diocese; however, if I get sick or break my leg I
   need not give way to regret or inquietude because I cannot do as I
   intended, for it is evident that it is the will of God that I serve Him
   by suffering and not by preaching. Or, even if I am not ill or
   crippled, but an occasion presents itself of going to some other place
   which if I do not avail myself of the people there may become
   Huguenots, the will of God is sufficiently manifest to make me amiably
   change my plans. The second rule is that when it is necessary to make
   use of this liberty of spirit from motives of charity, care should be
   taken that it is done without scandal or injustice. For instance: I may
   know that I should be more useful in some distant place not within my
   own diocese: I should have no freedom of choice in this matter for my
   obligations are here and I should give scandal and do an injustice by
   abandoning my charge.

   Thus it is a false idea of the spirit of liberty that would induce
   married women to keep aloof from their husbands without legitimate
   reason under pretext of devotion and charity.... This spirit rightly
   understood never interferes with the duties of one's vocation nor
   prejudices them in any way. On the contrary, it makes every one
   contented in his state of life, as each should know it is God's will
   that he remain in it.

   Saint Charles Borromeo was one of the most austere, exact and
   determined of men; bread was his only food, water his only drink; he
   was so strict, that during the twenty-four years he was an Archbishop
   he went into his garden but twice, and visited his brothers only on two
   occasions and then because they were ill. Yet this austere priest when
   dining with his Swiss neighbors, which he often did in order to move
   them to amend their lives, did not hesitate to join them in drinking
   toasts and healths on every occasion and in doing so to take more than
   was necessary to quench his thirst. Here is true liberty of spirit
   exemplified in the most mortified man of his time. An unstable spirit
   would have gone too far, a spirit of constraint would have thought it
   was committing a mortal sin, a spirit of liberty would act in this way
   from a motive of charity.

   Saint Spiridion, a bishop of olden times, once gave shelter to a
   pilgrim who was almost dying of hunger. It was the season of Lent and
   in a place where nothing was to be had but salt meat. This Spiridion
   ordered to be cooked and then gave it to the pilgrim. Seeing that the
   latter, notwithstanding his great need, hesitated to eat it, the Saint,
   although he did not require it, ate some first in order to remove the
   poor man's scruples. That was a true spirit of liberty born of
   charity."--Saint Francis de Sales.*

   5. Again, it is this Christian spirit of freedom that excludes fear and
   uneasiness in regard to all those things which God has not permitted us
   to know. It gives us a sweet and tender confidence as to the pardon of
   our past sins, the present condition of our souls and our eternal
   destiny. It reminds us continually that although we have deserved hell,
   our divine Lord has merited heaven for us, and that it would be doing a
   great injury to His goodness not to hope for pardon for the past,
   assistance of divine grace for the present, and salvation after death.
   Finally, it teaches us to drown our remorse for sin in the ocean of the
   divine mercy.

   6. I earnestly exhort you never to make indiscreet vows in the hope of
   thus increasing the merit of your ordinary works. One can attain the
   same end by many ways that are easier and less dangerous. Those who are
   guilty of this imprudence often run the risk of breaking their vows and
   of thus sinning gravely. And if they avoid this misfortune it is only
   at the expense of their peace of soul, sacrificed to a craven and
   unquiet servitude which is totally incompatible with the tranquillity
   and confidence required in the great work of our spiritual perfection.

   7. Many pious persons are too prone to advise obligations of this kind.
   If they do so to you, humbly excuse yourself by saying that you do not
   possess the extraordinary virtue requisite in order to fulfil them
   without disquietude. Saint Francis de Sales disapproved of all the
   particular vows made by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal and declared them
   null. I have almost invariably found persons bound by such solemn
   obligations restless and agitated, and have frequently seen them
   exposed to the gravest falls.

   8. Do not allow yourself to be misled by the example of some of the
   saints who made vows. Rarely is the desire to imitate certain
   extraordinary practices of theirs an inspiration of divine grace:
   rather is it a temptation from the devil inciting us to pride and
   temerity. Saint Francis de Sales exclaimed: "Give me the spirit that
   animated Saint Bernard and I shall do what Saint Bernard did." Let us
   apply ourselves, I repeat, to the imitation of those simple and solid
   virtues by which the saints attained sanctity, and be content to admire
   those supernatural acts that suppose it already acquired.

   9. To bind one's self by arbitrary vows without compromising salvation,
   three things are necessary: 1st. supernatural inspiration urging one to
   make them; 2d. extraordinary virtue so as never to violate them; 3d.
   unalterable tranquillity in order to preserve peace of soul in keeping
   them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [16] Saint Francis de Sales.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XVII.
  CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

   Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth. (Psalm
   LXXXV.)

   Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.
   (Psalm CXXVI.)

   1. A Christian is not obliged to be perfect, but to tend continually
   towards perfection; that is to say, he must labor unceasingly and with
   all his strength to increase in virtue. To make no attempt to advance
   is to go back.

   You see it is a question not of succeeding but of laboring earnestly
   and sincerely. Success does not depend upon us. God grants that or
   refuses it or defers it according to what He knows is best for us.

   "Let us do three things, my dear daughter, says Saint Francis de Sales:
   first, have a pure intention to look in all things to the honor and
   glory of God; second, do the little we can towards this end, according
   to the advice of our spiritual father; third, leave the care of all the
   rest to God. Why should he torment himself who has God for the object
   of his intentions and does all that he can? why should he be anxious?
   what has he to fear? God is not terrible for those whom He loves; He is
   satisfied with little for He knows well that we have not much to give."

   ..."Allow yourself to be governed by God; do not think so much of
   yourself; make a general and universal resolution to serve God in the
   best manner you are able and do not waste time in examining and sifting
   so minutely to find out what that may be. This is simply an
   impertinence due to the condition of your acute and precise mind which
   wishes to tyrannize over your will and to control it by fraud and
   subtlety.... You know that in general God wishes us to serve Him by
   loving Him above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of
   Him; and in particular, to fulfil the duties of our state of life; that
   is all. But it must be done in good faith, without deceit or
   subterfuge, and in the ordinary way of this world, which is not the
   home of perfection; humanly, too, and according to the limitations of
   time; to do it in a divine and angelic manner and according to eternity
   being reserved for a future life. Do not therefore be so anxious to
   know whether or not you have attained perfection. This should never be;
   for were we the most perfect creatures on earth we ought not to dwell
   upon or glory in it but always consider ourselves imperfect. Our
   self-examination must never be for the purpose of discovering if we are
   imperfect, for this we should never doubt. Hence it follows that we
   must not be surprised at seeing ourselves imperfect, since we can never
   be otherwise in this life; nor on that account give way to despondency,
   for there is no remedy for it. But, yes; we can correct our faults
   gently and gradually, for that is the reason they are left in us. We
   shall be inexcusable if we do not try to amend them, but quite
   excusable if we are not entirely successful in doing so, for it is not
   the same with imperfections as with sins."--Saint Francis de Sales.

   2. Now the means to be employed in laboring for perfection and in
   making progress in virtue do not consist in multiplying prayers, fasts
   and other religious practices. Some good religious who had fasted three
   times a week during an entire year, thought that in order to satisfy
   the obligation of advancing more and more in virtue they ought to fast
   four times a week the following year. They consulted Saint Francis de
   Sales on the subject. He laughingly answered them: "If you fast four
   times a week this year so as to advance in perfection, you will be
   obliged for the same reason to fast five times the next year, then six,
   then seven times; and the number of your fasts being always the guage
   of the degree of perfection you shall have attained, it will be
   necessary for you, under pain of advancing no more, thereafter to fast
   twice a day, then thrice, then four times, and so on." What Saint
   Francis de Sales said of fasting is just as applicable to all other
   devout practices.

   3. Instead, then, of continually adding to your religious exercises,
   study to perfect yourself in the practice of those you already perform,
   doing them with more love and peace of soul, and with greater purity of
   intention. Should it happen that you are unable to perform all your
   usual devotions conveniently, omit a portion of them so that the
   remainder may be done with greater tranquillity. The spirit of
   perfection, says Saint Bernard, does not consist in doing great things,
   but in doing common and ordinary things perfectly. Communia facere, sed
   non communiter. [17]

   Most people when they wish to reform, pay much more attention to
   filling their life with certain difficult and extraordinary actions,
   than to purifying their intention and opposing their natural
   inclinations in the ordinary duties of their state. In this they often
   deceive themselves, for it would be much better to make less change in
   the actions and more in the dispositions of the soul which prompt them.
   When one is already leading a virtuous and well regulated life it is of
   far greater consequence, in order to become truly spiritual, to change
   the interior than the exterior. God is not satisfied with the motions
   of the lips, the posture of the body, nor with external ceremonies:
   What he demands is a will no longer divided between Him and any
   creature; a will perfectly docile ... that wishes unreservedly whatever
   He wishes and never under any pretext wishes aught that He does not
   wish.

   This will, perfectly simple and entirely devoted to God, you should
   bear with you into all the circumstances of your life, and everywhere
   that divine Providence leads you.... Even mere amusements may be
   transformed into good works, if you enter into them only through a
   kindly motive and to conform to the order of God. Happy indeed the
   heart of her for whom God opens this way of holy simplicity! She walks
   therein like a little child holding its mother's hand and allowing her
   to lead it without any concern as to whither it is going. Content to be
   free, she is ready to speak or to be silent; when she cannot say
   edifying things she says common-place things with an equally good
   grace; she amuses herself by making what Saint Francis de Sales calls
   joyeusetés, playful little jests, with which she diverts others as well
   as herself. You will tell me perhaps that you would prefer to be
   occupied with something more serious and solid. But God would not
   prefer it for you, seeing that He chooses what you would not choose,
   and you know His taste is better than yours: you would find more
   consolation in solid things for which He has given you a relish, and it
   is this consolation of which He wishes to deprive you, it is this
   relish which He wishes to mortify in you, although it may be good and
   salutary. The very virtues, as they are practised by us, need to be
   purified by the contradictions that God makes them suffer in order to
   detach them the better from all self will. When piety is founded on the
   fundamental principle of God's holy will, without consulting our own
   taste, or temperament or the sallies of an excessive zeal, oh! how
   simple, sweet, amiable, discreet and reliable it is in all its
   movements! A pious person lives much as others do, quite unaffectedly
   and without apparent austerity, in a sociable and genial way; but with
   a constant subjection to every duty, an unrelenting renunciation of
   everything that does not enter into God's designs in her regard, and,
   finally, with a clear view of God to whom she sacrifices all the
   irregular inclinations of nature. This indeed is the adoration in
   spirit and in truth desired by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His eternal
   Father. Without it all the rest is but a religion of ceremonial, and
   rather the shadow than the reality of Christianity."--Fénelon.

   4. Apply yourself in a particular manner to become perfect in the
   fulfilment of the duties of your state of life; for on this all
   perfection and sanctity are grounded. When God created the world He
   commanded the plants to produce fruit, but each one according to its
   kind: juxta genus suum. [18] In like manner our souls are all obliged
   to produce fruits of holiness, but each according to its kind; that is
   to say, according to the position in which God has placed us. Elias in
   the desert and David on the throne had not to become holy by a like
   process; and Joshua amidst the tumult of arms would have sought in vain
   to sanctify himself by the same means as Samuel in the peaceful retreat
   of the Temple. This instruction is addressed to those who being placed
   in the world would wish to practise there the virtues of the cloister,
   or whilst residing in palaces would attempt to lead the life of the
   solitaries of the desert. They bear fruits which are excellent in
   themselves, no doubt, but not according to their kind, juxta genus
   suum, and hence they do not fulfil the will of God.

   5. Perfection has but one aim and it is the same for all,--to wit, the
   love of God; but there are divers ways of attaining it. Among the
   saints themselves we find most striking differences. Saint Benedict was
   never seen to laugh, whereas Saint Francis de Sales laughed frequently
   and was always animated, bright and cheerful. Saint Hilarion considered
   it an act of sensuality to change his habit, whilst, on the other hand,
   Saint Catherine of Sienna was extremely particular about bodily
   cleanliness which she looked upon as a symbol of purity of soul. If you
   consult Saint Jerome you hear only of fear of the terrible judgments of
   God: read Saint Augustine and you will find only the language of
   confidence and love. The minds, dispositions and characters of men are
   as varied as their physiognomies; grace perfects them little by little
   but does not change their nature. Hence in our endeavors to imitate the
   ways of such or such a saint for whom we feel a particular attraction,
   we should not condemn those of the others, but say with the Psalmist:
   Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. [19] Consult your director as to whom
   and what may be most suitable for your imitation.

   6. Never be afraid that you are not following the way of perfection
   because you still have defects and commit many faults. This was true of
   the greatest saints, for Saint Augustine declares that all of them
   could exclaim with the Apostle Saint John: "If we claim to be without
   sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." "He who came
   into the world with sin," says Saint Gregory the Great, "cannot live
   there without sin."

   "Act like the little child who, when it feels that its mother is
   holding it by the sleeve, runs about quite boldly and without being
   surprised at all the little falls it gets. Thus, as long as you find
   that God is holding you by the good will and the resolution He has
   given you to serve Him, go on bravely and do not be astonished that you
   stumble and fall occasionally. There is no need to be troubled about
   it, provided that at certain intervals you cast yourself into your
   Father's arms and embrace Him with the kiss of charity. Go on your way,
   then, cheerfully and heartily, doing the best you can; and if it cannot
   always be cheerfully, let it at least be always courageously and
   faithfully." --Saint Francis de Sales.

   7. But we must bear in mind the vast difference that exists between the
   love of sin and sin committed inadvertently or from weakness. (See
   [18]Confession, § 14.) Affection for sin is the sole obstacle to
   perfection. Thus the most learned Fathers of the Church make a
   distinction between two kinds of tepidity: that which can be avoided
   and that which cannot be avoided. The former condition is that of a
   soul that retains an attachment for certain sins; the other, that of
   one falling into sin through frailty and from being taken unawares,
   which has been the case even with the greatest saints.

   8. Therefore in place of troubling yourself about these accidental
   falls, inseparable from human nature, make them turn to your spiritual
   advantage by causing them to increase your humility. It often happens,
   says Saint Gregory the Great, that God allows great defects to remain
   in some souls at the beginning of their spiritual life that by means of
   them they may grow in self-knowledge and learn to place their entire
   confidence in Him. Saint Augustine tells us that God in his infinite
   wisdom has been better pleased to bring forth good out of evil than to
   hinder the evil itself. Thus when you learn to draw fruits of humility
   from your faults, you correspond to the sublime designs of God's
   unspeakable providence.

   9. Should you happen to fear that you are not walking in the true way
   of perfection, consult your director and place implicit reliance upon
   the answer he gives you. Who is the saint that has not had to suffer
   because of a like doubt? But they were all reassured by the
   consideration of God's infinite goodness and by obedience to their
   spiritual father.

   "Some persons, although conscious of a sincere desire to serve God,
   nevertheless are disposed to feel alarmed about their spiritual
   condition, at the remembrance of all they have heard and read in regard
   to false consciences, self-illusion and the deceptive security of those
   who are following a wrong path. There are two ways of forming a false
   conscience: first, by choosing among our duties those for which we feel
   most attraction and natural tendency, and then, in order to give
   ourselves up to them more than is necessary, to persuade ourselves we
   can neglect the others. Thus a person with a preference for exterior
   acts of religion will spend all day praying or attending sermons and
   offices of the Church and considers herself very devout, although she
   may have been neglecting her temporal duties. Another, being
   differently disposed, will apply herself exclusively to the duties of
   her state of life, sacrificing to them without regret those of
   religion, quite convinced that one who is faithful in all the domestic
   relations, and gives to every one his due, cannot possibly be otherwise
   than pleasing to God. The second way of making a false conscience
   consists in giving the preference in our esteem and practice to those
   among the Christian virtues which find their analogies in our natural
   dispositions, for there is not one of the virtues that has not its
   correlative amongst the various qualities of the human character.
   Persons of a gentle and placid disposition will affect meekness, the
   practice of which will be very easy for them and require no effort; and
   imagining they exercise a christian virtue when in reality they only
   follow a natural bent, they are liable to fall into a culpable
   weakness. Those who, on the contrary, have an exact and rigid mind will
   esteem justice and order above all else, making small account of
   meekness and charity; and thus justifying themselves falsely by their
   natural temperament, they follow the tendency of the flesh whilst
   believing they obey the spirit, and may easily become addicted to
   excessive severity.

   It is evident, therefore, that the first rule to be observed in order
   to avoid these dangerous illusions and to walk securely in the way of
   perfection, is to apply ourselves in a special manner to the practice
   of those duties for which we feel least innate attraction, and always
   to mistrust our natural virtues however good they may appear. Then
   there is one consideration that should serve to reassure all Christians
   who are in earnest about their salvation; whilst they act in good faith
   and deal frankly and sincerely with their confessor, it is impossible
   for them to become the victim of a false conscience.

   In the following passage Saint Francis de Sales recommends us to watch
   carefully over our natural tendencies and to substitute for them as
   much as possible the inspirations of grace, which he calls living
   according to the spirit:

   "To live according to the spirit, my beloved daughter, is to think,
   speak and act according to the virtues that are of the spirit, and not
   according to the senses and feelings which are of the flesh. These
   latter we should make serve us, but we must hold them in subjection and
   not allow them to control us; whereas with the spiritual virtues it is
   just the reverse; we should serve them and bring everything else under
   subjection to them.... See, my daughter, human nature wishes to have a
   share in everything that goes on, and loves itself so dearly that it
   considers nothing of any account unless it be mixed up in it. The
   spirit, on the contrary, attaches itself to God and often says that
   whatever is not God's is nothing to it; and as through a motive of
   charity it takes part in things committed to it, so through humility
   and self-denial it willingly gives up all share in those which are
   denied it.... I am diffident and have no self-confidence, and therefore
   I wish to be allowed to live in a way congenial to this disposition;
   any one can see that this is not according to the spirit.... But,
   although I am naturally timorous and retiring, I desire to try and
   overcome these traits of character and to fulfil all the requirements
   of the charge imposed upon me by obedience; who does not see that this
   is to live according to the spirit?

   Hence, as I have said before, my dear daughter, to live according to
   the spirit is to have our actions, our words and our thoughts such as
   the spirit of God would require of us. When I say thoughts, I of course
   mean voluntary thoughts. I am sad, says some one, consequently I shall
   not speak; magpies and parrots do the same: I am sad, but as charity
   requires me to speak, I shall do so; spiritual persons act thus: I am
   slighted and I get angry: so do peacocks and monkeys. I am slighted and
   I rejoice thereat: that is what the Apostles did."

   In fine, to live according to the spirit is to do in all circumstances
   and on all occasions whatever faith, hope and charity demand of us,
   without even waiting to consider if we are or are not influenced by our
   natural disposition. ([19]The Imitation of Christ, B. III., Ch. LIV.)

   10. Generally speaking it is only after a long and painful struggle
   that one succeeds in climbing the mount of perfection. There are some
   statues, says Saint Francis de Sales, that it has cost the artist
   thirty years' labor to perfect. Now the perfecting of a soul is a much
   more difficult work. We must therefore set about it with tranquillity,
   patience and confidence in God. We shall always obtain what we wish
   soon enough if we obtain it at the time God pleases to grant it.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [17] See P. Rodriguez, S. J., Christian Perfection, C. I.

   [18] Gen. I., 11.

   [19] Psalm CL., 5. Let every spirit praise the Lord.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

PART THIRD.
SOCIAL LIFE.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XVIII.
  CHARITY.

   By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
   one for another. (St. John, c. XIII., v. 35.)

   He who saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, he is in
   darkness even until now. (St. John, Ep. I., c. II., v. 9.)

   1. Our divine Lord has said that His disciples should be known by their
   love one for another. This christian virtue of charity makes us love
   our neighbor in God, the creature for the sake of the Creator. Love of
   God, love of our neighbor,--these virtues are two branches springing
   from the same trunk and having but one and the same root.

   2. Assist your brethren in their needs whenever you can. However, you
   should always be careful to consult the laws of prudence in this matter
   and to be guided by your means and position. Supply by a desire to do
   good for the material aid you are unable to give.

   3. When your neighbor offends you he does not cease on that account to
   be the creature and the image of God; therefore the christian motive
   you have for loving him still exists. He is not, perhaps, worthy of
   pardon, but has not our Saviour Jesus Christ, who so often has forgiven
   you much more grievous offences, merited it for him?

   4. Observe, however, that we can scarcely avoid feeling some repugnance
   for those who have offended us, but to feel and to consent are two
   distinct and widely different things, as we have already said. When
   religion commands us to love our enemies, the commandment is addressed
   to the superior portion of the soul, the will, not to the inferior
   portion in which reside the carnal affections that follow the natural
   inclinations. In a word, when we speak of charity the question is not
   of that human friendship which we feel for those who are naturally
   pleasing to us, a sentiment wherein we seek merely our own satisfaction
   and which therefore has nothing in common with charity.

   "Charity makes us love God above all things; and our neighbor as
   ourselves with a love not sensual, not natural, not interested, but
   pure, strong and unwavering, and having its foundation in God.... A
   person is extremely sweet and agreeable and I love her tenderly: or,
   she loves me well and does much to oblige me, and on that account I
   love her in return. Who does not see that this affection is according
   to the senses and the flesh? For animals that have no soul but only a
   body and senses, love those who are good and gentle and kind to them.
   Then there is another person who is brusque and uncivil, but apart from
   this is really devout and even desirous of becoming gentler and more
   courteous: consequently, not for any gratification she affords me, or
   for any self-interested motive whatever, but solely for the good
   pleasure of God, I talk to her, aid her, love her. This is the virtue
   of charity indeed, for nature has no share in it."--Saint Francis de
   Sales. (Read St. Luke, C. VI., vv. 32-33-34.)

   The literal and exact fulfilment of the evangelical precept is often
   found impracticable. How, we say, is it possible to have for all men
   indiscriminately that extreme sensibility we feel for everything that
   touches us individually, that constant solicitude for our spiritual or
   temporal interests, that delicacy of feeling that we reserve for
   ourselves and for certain objects specially dear to us?--And yet it is
   literally au pied de la lettre, that our Lord's precept should be
   observed. What then is to be done? An answer will be found in the
   following passage from Fénelon, and we shall see that it is not a
   question of exaggerating the love of one's neighbor, but of moderating
   self-love, and thus making both the one and the other alike subordinate
   to the love of God:

   "To love our neighbor as ourselves does not mean that we should have
   for him that intense feeling of affection that we have for ourselves,
   but simply that we wish for him, and from the motive of charity, what
   we wish for ourselves. Pure and genuine love, love having for its sole
   end the object beloved, should be reserved for God alone, and to bestow
   it elsewhere is a violation of a divine right."

   5. But although it is forbidden us to show hatred or to entertain it
   voluntarily against the wicked and those who have offended us, this is
   not meant to prevent us from defending ourselves or taking such
   precautions against them as prudence suggests. Christian charity
   obliges and disposes us to love our enemies and to be good to them when
   there is occasion to do so; but it should not carry us so far as to
   protect the wicked, nor leave us without defence against their
   aggressiveness. It allows us to be vigilant in guarding against their
   encroachments, and to take precautions against their machinations.

   6. Always be ready and willing to excuse the faults of your neighbor,
   and never put an unfavorable interpretation upon his actions. The same
   action, says Saint Francis de Sales, may be looked upon under many
   different aspects: a charitable person will ever suppose the best, an
   uncharitable one will just as certainly choose the worst.

   "Do not weigh so carefully the sayings and doings of others, but let
   your thought of them be simple and good, kindly and affectionate. You
   should not exact of your neighbor greater perfection than of yourself,
   nor be surprised at the diversity of imperfections; for an imperfection
   is not more an imperfection from the fact that it is extravagant and
   peculiar."

   7. It is very difficult for a good christian to become really guilty of
   rash judgment, in the true sense of the word,--which is that, without
   just reasons or sufficient grounds he forms and pronounces in his own
   mind in a positive manner a condemnation of his neighbor. The grave sin
   of rash judgment is frequently confounded with suspicion or even simple
   distrust, which may be justifiable on much slighter grounds.

   8. Suspicion is permissible when it has for its aim measures of just
   prudence; charity forbids gratuitously malevolent thoughts, but not
   vigilance and precaution.

   9. Suspicion is not only permissible, but it is at times an important
   duty for those who are charged with the direction and guardianship of
   others. Thus it is a positive obligation for a father in regard to his
   children, and for a master in regard to his servants, whenever there is
   occasion to correct some vice they know exists, or to prevent some
   fault they have reasonable cause to fear.

   10. As to simple mistrust, which should not be confused with suspicion,
   it is only an involuntary and purely passive condition, to which we may
   be more or less inclined by our natural disposition without our
   free-will being at all involved. Mistrust, suspicion, rash judgment are
   then three distinct and very different things, and we should be careful
   not to confound them.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XIX.
  ZEAL.

   But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your heart,
   glory not, and be not liars against the truth: for this is not wisdom
   descending from above, but earthly, sensual, diabolical. (St. James,
   Cath. Ep., c. III, vv. 14 and 15.)

   For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God. (St. James, Cath.
   Ep., c. I., v. 20.)

   1. Zeal for the salvation of souls is a sublime virtue, and yet how
   many errors and sins are every day committed in its name! Evil is never
   done more effectually and with greater security, says Saint Francis de
   Sales, than when one does it believing he is working for the glory of
   God.

   2. The saints themselves can be mistaken in this delicate matter. We
   see a proof of this in the incident related of the Apostles Saint James
   and Saint John; for our Lord reprimanded them for asking Him to cause
   fire from heaven to fall upon the Samaritans. [20]

   3. Acts of zeal are like coins the stamp upon which it is necessary to
   examine attentively, as there are more counterfeits than good ones.
   Zeal to be pure should be accompanied with very great humility, for it
   is of all virtues the one into which self-love most easily glides. When
   it does so, zeal is apt to become imprudent, presumptuous, unjust,
   bitter. Let us consider these characteristics in detail, viewing them,
   for the sake of greater clearness, in their practical bearings.

   4. In every home there grows some thorn, something, in other words,
   that needs correction; for the best soil is seldom without its noxious
   weed. Imprudent zeal, by seeking awkwardly to pluck out the thorn,
   often succeeds only in plunging it farther in, thus rendering the wound
   deeper and more painful. In such a case it is essential to act with
   reflection and great prudence. There is a time to speak and a time to
   be silent, says the Holy Spirit. [21] Prudent zeal is silent when it
   realizes that to be so is less hurtful than to speak.

   5. Some persons are even presumptuous enough in their mistaken zeal to
   meddle in the domestic affairs of strange families, blaming,
   counselling, attempting to reform without measure or discretion, thus
   causing an evil much greater than the one they wish to correct. Let us
   employ the activity of our zeal in our own reformation, says Saint
   Bernard, and pray humbly for that of others. It is great presumption on
   our part thus to assume the rôle of apostles when we are not as yet
   even good and faithful disciples. Not that you should be by any means
   indifferent to the salvation of souls: on the contrary you must wish it
   most ardently, but do not undertake to effect it except with great
   prudence, humility and diffidence in self.

   6. Again, there are pious persons whose zeal consists in wishing to
   make everybody adopt their particular practices of devotion. Such a
   one, if she have a special attraction for meditating on the Passion of
   our divine Lord or for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, would like to
   oblige every one, under pain of reprobation, to pass long hours
   prostrate before the crucifix or the tabernacle. Another who is
   especially devoted to visiting the poor and the sick and to the other
   works of corporal mercy, acknowledges no piety apart from these
   excellent practices. Now, this is not an enlightened zeal. Martha and
   Mary were sisters, says Saint Augustine, but they have not a like
   office: one acts, the other contemplates. If both had passed the day in
   contemplation, no one would have prepared a repast for their divine
   Master; if both had been employed in this material work, there would
   have been no one to listen to His words and garner up His divine
   lessons. The same thing may be said of other good works. In choosing
   among them each person should follow the inspirations of God's grace,
   and these are very varied. The eye that sees but hears not, must
   neither envy nor blame the ear that hears but sees not. Omnis spiritus
   laudet Dominum: let every spirit praise the Lord, says the royal
   prophet. [22]

   7. Bear well in mind that the zeal which would lead you to undertake
   works not in conformity with your position, however good and useful
   they may be in themselves, is always a false one. This is especially
   true if such cause us interior trouble or annoyance; for the holiest
   things are infallibly displeasing to God when they do not accord with
   the duties of our state of life.

   8. Saint Paul condemned in strong terms those Christians who showed a
   too exclusive preference for their spiritual masters; some admitting as
   truth only what came from the mouth of Peter, others acknowledging none
   save Paul, and others again none but Apollo. What! said he to them, is
   not Jesus Christ the same for all of you! Is it then Paul who was
   crucified for you? Is it in his name you were baptized? [23] This
   culpable weakness is often reproduced in our day. Persons otherwise
   pious carry to excess the esteem and affection they have for their
   spiritual directors, exalt without measure their wisdom and holiness,
   and do not scruple to depreciate all others. God alone knows the true
   value of each human being, and we have not the scales of the sanctuary
   to weigh and compare the respective wisdom and sanctity of this and
   that person. If you have a good confessor, thank God and try to render
   his wisdom useful to you by your docility in allowing yourself to be
   guided; but do not assume that nobody else has as good a one. To
   depreciate the merits of some in order to exalt those of others at
   their expense is a sort of slander, that ought to be all the more
   feared because it is generally so little recognized.

   9. "If your zeal is bitter," says Saint James, "it is not wisdom
   descending from on high, but earthly, sensual, diabolical." [24] These
   words of an Apostle should furnish matter of reflection for those
   persons who, whilst making profession of piety, are so prone to
   irritability, so harsh and rude in their manners and language, that
   they might be taken for angels in church and for demons elsewhere.

   10. The value and utility of zeal are in proportion to its tolerance
   and amiability. True zeal is the offspring of charity: it should, then,
   resemble its mother and show itself like to her in all things.
   "Charity," says Saint Paul, "is patient, is kind, is not ambitious and
   seeketh not her own." [25]

   "You should not only be devout and love devotion, but you ought to make
   your piety useful, agreeable and charming to everybody. The sick will
   like your spirituality if they are lovingly consoled by it; your
   family, if they find that it makes you more thoughtful of their
   welfare, gentler in every day affairs, more amiable in reproving, and
   so on; your husband, if he sees that in proportion as your devotion
   increases you become more cordial and tender in your affection for him;
   your relations and friends, if they find you more forbearing, and more
   ready to comply with their wishes, should these not be contrary to
   God's will. Briefly, you must try as far as possible to make your
   devotion attractive to others; that is true zeal."--Saint Francis de
   Sales.

   11. Never allow your zeal to make you over eager to correct others,
   says the same Saint; and when you must do it remember that the most
   important thing to consider is the choice of the moment. A caution
   deferred can be given another time: one given inopportunely is not only
   fruitless, but moreover paralyses beforehand all the good that might
   have subsequently been done.

   12. Be zealous, therefore, ardently zealous for the salvation of your
   neighbor, and to further it make use of whatever means God has placed
   in your power; but do not exceed these limits nor disquiet yourself
   about the good you are unable to do, for God can accomplish it through
   others. In conclusion, zeal, according to the teachings of the Fathers
   of the Church, should always have truth for its foundation, indulgence
   for its companion, mildness for its guide, prudence for its counsellor
   and director.

   "I must look upon whatever presents itself each day to be done, in the
   order of Divine Providence, as the work God wishes me to do, and apply
   myself to it in a manner worthy of Him, that is with exactness and
   tranquillity. I shall neglect nothing, be anxious about nothing; as it
   is dangerous either to do God's work negligently or to appropriate it
   to one's self through self-love and false zeal. When our actions are
   prompted by our own inclinations, we do them badly, and are
   pretentious, restless, and anxious to succeed. The glory of God is the
   pretext that hides the illusion. Self-love disguised as zeal grieves
   and frets if it cannot succeed. O my God! give me the grace to be
   faithful in action, indifferent to success. My part is to will what
   Thou willest and to keep myself recollected in Thee amidst all my
   occupations: Thine it is to give to my feeble efforts such fruit as
   shall please Thee,--none if Thou so wishest."--Fénelon.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [20] Luke, IX., 54.

   [21] Ecclesiastes III., 7.

   [22] Ps. CL., 5.

   [23] St. Paul, I Cor. I., 13.

   [24] S. James, Cath. Ep. III., 14-15.

   [25] S. Paul, I Cor. XIII., 4-5.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XX.
  MEEKNESS.

   Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land. (S. Matth., c.
   V., v. 4.)

   Learn of me because I am meek. (St. Matthew, c. XI., v. 29.)

   1. Our Lord offers us in His Divine Person a model of all the virtues.
   Meekness, however, is the one that He seems to have wished more
   particularly to propose for our imitation since He said: "Learn of Me
   for I am meek and humble of heart."

   2. Try, therefore, to acquire and always preserve in your soul this
   christian virtue and to make all your exterior actions correspond with
   it. I do not say that you should never have the slightest feeling of
   irritation, as that would be to expect an impossibility; but you should
   be attentive to repress these movements and never yield to them
   voluntarily. It is natural for man to be often assailed by anger, says
   Saint Jerome, but it is peculiar to the Christian not to allow himself
   to be overcome by it.

   3. A Christian, says Saint Bernard, who has no one at hand who gives
   him occasion to suffer, should seek such a person eagerly and buy him
   at any price, that he may have opportunity to practice meekness and
   patience. If you are not disposed to go to this expense, at least
   profit of whatever opportunities divine Providence has given you
   gratuitously, that you may accustom yourself to the exercise of these
   two inestimable virtues.

   4. An excellent rule to follow is to make a compact with your tongue
   such as Saint Francis de Sales did with his, namely, that the tongue
   remain silent whenever the feelings are irritated. Otherwise you will
   begin to speak with the sincere resolution to keep within the bounds of
   moderation and prudence, but you will never succeed in so doing,
   because the bridle once loosened you will invariably be carried farther
   than you wished. Reprimand from an angry man can do no good. Reproof is
   a moral remedy: how would it be possible for you to select and
   administer this remedy with discernment and prudence, when you yourself
   are ill and stand in need of both medicine and physician? Wait
   therefore until your soul is at peace, and when you have been restored
   to calmness you can speak advantageously. Even when it is your positive
   duty to administer a rebuke, defer it if possible until free from
   excitement, remembering that to have a salutary effect both he who
   gives it and he who receives it must be calm. Without this precaution
   the remedy will only aggravate the disease.

   5. When obliged to reprove the fault of another, never fail to pray
   that God will speak to the person's heart whilst your words are
   sounding in his ears.

   6. Observe, however, with Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Thomas,
   that if those it is your duty to correct abuse your mildness and
   considerateness, you are then justified in repressing their boldness
   with vigor and firmness. "Speak to the fool," says the Holy Spirit,
   "the language that his folly renders necessary, that he may not
   continue wise in his own eyes." [26] I repeat it: reproof is a remedy,
   and a remedy must be chosen and proportioned according to the nature
   and gravity of the evil.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [26] Proverbs, XXVI., 5.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XXI.
  CONVERSATION.

   Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a
   candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in a house.

   Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works,
   and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. V., vv.
   15-16.)

   Contend not in words, for it is to no profit, but to the subversion of
   the hearers. (St. Paul, II Tim., c. II., v. 14.)

   1. Conversation should be marked by a gentle and devout pleasantness,
   and your manner when engaged in it, ought to be equable, composed and
   gracious. Mildness and cheerfulness make devotion and those who
   practice it attractive to others. The holy abbot Saint Anthony,
   notwithstanding the extraordinary austerities of his penitential life,
   always showed such a smiling countenance that no one could look at him
   without pleasure.

   2. We should be neither too talkative nor too silent,--it is as
   necessary to avoid one extreme as the other. By speaking too much we
   expose ourselves to a thousand dangers, so well known that they need
   not be mentioned in detail: by not speaking enough we are apt to be a
   restraint upon others, as it makes it seem as though we did not relish
   their conversation, or wished to impress them with our superiority.

   "Take great care not to be too critical of conversations in which the
   rules of devotion are not very exactly observed. In all such matters it
   is necessary that charity should govern and enlighten us in order to
   make us accede to the wishes of our neighbor in whatever is not in any
   way contrary to the commandments of God."--Saint Francis de Sales.

   3. Do not conclude from this that it is necessary to count your words,
   as it were, so as to keep your conversation within the proper limits.
   This would be as puerile a scruple as counting one's steps when
   walking. A holy spirit of liberty should dominate our conversations and
   serve to instil into them a gentle and moderate gaiety.

   4. If you hear some evil spoken of your neighbor do not immediately
   become alarmed, as the matter may be true and quite public without your
   having been aware of it. Should you be quite certain that there is
   calumny or slander in the report, either because the evil told was
   false or exaggerated or because it was not publicly known, then,
   according to the place, the circumstances and your relations towards
   those present, say with moderation what appears most fitting to justify
   or excuse your neighbor. Or you may try to turn the conversation into
   other channels, or simply be content to show your disapprobation by an
   expressive silence. Remember, for the peace of your conscience, that
   one does not share in the sin of slander unless he give some mark of
   approbation or encouragement to the person who is guilty of it.

   5. Do not imitate those who are scrupulous enough to imagine that
   charity obliges them to undertake the defence of every evil mentioned
   in their presence and to become the self-appointed advocates of whoever
   it may be that has deserved censure. That which is really wrong cannot
   be justified, and no one should attempt the fruitless task: and as to
   the guilty, those who may do harm either through the scandal of their
   example or the wickedness of their doctrines, it is right that they
   should be shunned and openly denounced. "To cry out wolf, wolf," says
   Saint Francis de Sales, "is kindness to the sheep."

   6. The regard we owe our neighbor does not bind us to a politeness that
   might be construed as an approval or encouragement of his vicious
   habits. Hence if it happen that you hear an equivocal jest, a witticism
   slurring at religion or morals, or anything else that really offends
   against propriety, be careful not to give, through cowardice and in
   spite of your conscience, any mark of approbation, were it only by one
   of those half smiles that are often accorded unwillingly and afterwards
   regretted. Flattery, even in the eyes of the world, is one of the most
   debasing of falsehoods. Not even in the presence of the greatest
   earthly dignitaries, will an honest, upright man sanction with his
   mouth that which he condemns in his heart. He who sacrifices to vice
   the rights of truth not only acts unlike a christian, but renders
   himself unworthy the name of man.

   7. In small social gatherings try to make yourself agreeable to
   everybody present and to show to each some little mark of attention, if
   you can do so without affectation. This may be done either by directly
   addressing the person or by making a remark that you know will give him
   occasion to speak of his own accord,--draw him out, as the saying is.
   It was by the charm and urbanity of his conversation that Saint Francis
   de Sales prepared the way for the conversion of numbers of heretics and
   sinners, and by imitating him you will contribute towards making piety
   in the world more attractive. In regard to priests you should always
   testify your respect for the sacerdotal dignity quite independently of
   the individual.

   8. Disputes, sarcasm, bitter language, and intolerance for dissenting
   opinions, are the scourges of conversation.

   9. Although this adage comes to us from a pagan philosopher, we might
   profitably bear it always in mind: "In conversation we should show
   deference to our superiors, affability to our equals, and benevolence
   to our inferiors."

   10. Generally speaking, it is wrong for those whom God does not call to
   abandon the world, to seclude themselves entirely and to shun all
   society suited to their position in life. God, who is the source of all
   virtue, is likewise the author of human society. Let the wicked hide
   themselves if they will, their absence is no loss to the world; but
   good people make themselves useful merely by being seen. It is well,
   moreover, the world should know that in order to practice the teachings
   of the Gospel it is not necessary to bury one's self in the desert; and
   that those who live for the Creator can likewise live with the
   creatures whom He has made according to His own image and likeness.
   Well, again, to show that a devout life is neither sad nor austere, but
   simple, sweet and easy; that far from being for those in the world an
   impediment to social relations, it facilitates, perfects and sanctifies
   such; that the disciples of Jesus Christ can, without becoming
   worldlings, live in the world; and that, in fine, the Gospel is the
   sovereign code of perfection for persons in society as well as for
   those who have renounced the world.

   Fénelon, who perhaps had even greater occasion than Saint Francis de
   Sales to teach men of the world how to lead a Christian life in
   society, wrote as follows to a person at court:

   "You ought not to feel worried, it seems to me, in regard to those
   diversions in which you cannot avoid taking part. I know there are
   those who think it necessary that one should lament about everything,
   and restrain himself continually by trying to excite disgust for the
   amusements in which he must participate. As for me, I acknowledge that
   I cannot reconcile myself to this severity. I prefer something more
   simple and I believe that God, too, likes it better. When amusements
   are innocent in themselves and we enter into them to conform to the
   customs of the state of life in which Providence has placed us, then I
   believe they are perfectly lawful. It is enough to keep within the
   bounds of moderation and to remember God's presence. A dry, reserved
   manner, conduct not thoroughly ingenuous and obliging, only serve to
   give a false idea of piety to men of the world who are already too much
   prejudiced against it, believing that a spiritual life cannot be
   otherwise than gloomy and morose."

   11. If all confessors agreed in instilling these maxims, which are as
   important as they are true, many persons who now keep themselves in
   absolute seclusion and live in a sad and dreary solitude would remain
   in society to the edification of their neighbor and the great advantage
   of religion. The world would thus be disabused of its unjust prejudices
   against a devout life and those who have embraced it.

   12. Never remain idle except during the time you have allotted to rest
   or recreation. Idleness begets lassitude, disposes to evil speaking and
   gives occasion to the most dangerous temptations.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XXII.
  DRESS.

   Women also in decent apparel, adorning themselves with modesty and
   sobriety. (St. Paul, I. Tim., c. II., v. 9.)

   1. Clothing is worn for a threefold object: to observe the laws of
   propriety, to protect our bodies from the inclemency of the weather,
   and, finally, to adorn them, as Saint Paul says, with modesty and
   sobriety. This third end is, as you see, not less legitimate than the
   other two, provided you are careful to make it accord with them by
   confining it within proper limits and not permitting it to be the only
   one to which you attach any importance, so that neither health nor
   propriety be sacrificed to personal appearance.

   2. External ornamentation should correspond with each one's condition
   in life. A just proportion in this matter, says Saint Thomas, is an
   offshoot of the virtues of uprightness and sincerity, for there is a
   sort of untruthfulness in appearing in garments that are calculated to
   give a wrong impression as to the position in which God has placed us
   in this world.

   3. Be equally careful, then, to avoid over-nicety and carelessness in
   respect to matters of toilet. Excessive nicety sins against moderation
   and christian simplicity; negligence, against the order that should
   govern certain externals in human society. This order requires that
   each one's material life, and accordingly his attire which is a part of
   it, be suitable to his rank and condition; that Esther be clad as a
   queen, Judith as a woman of wealth and position, Agar as a bond-woman.

   5. I shall not speak of immodest dress, for these instructions being
   intended for pious persons or for those who are endeavoring to become
   such, it would seem unnecessary. Nevertheless, as some false and
   pernicious ideas on this subject prevail in the world and lead into
   error souls desirous to do right, here are some fundamental principles
   that can serve you as a rule and save you from similar mistakes.

   5. A generally admitted custom can and even should be followed in all
   indifferent matters; but no custom, however universal it may be, can
   ever have the power to change the nature and essence of things or
   render allowable that which is in itself indecent and immodest. Were it
   otherwise, many sins could be justified by the sanction they receive in
   fashionable society. Remember, therefore, that the sin of others can
   never in the sight of God authorize yours, and that where it is the
   fashion to sin it is likewise the fashion to go to hell. Hence it rests
   with yourself whether you prefer to be saved with the few or to be
   damned with the many.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XXIII.
  HUMAN RESPECT.

   I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people.... Lo, I will not
   restrain my lips.... I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from
   a great council. (Psalms CXV. and XXXIX.)

   That which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops....
   Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before
   my Father who is in heaven. (St. Matthew, c. X., vv. 27-32.)

   1. Charity towards your neighbor, tolerance for his opinions,
   indulgence for his defects, compassion for his errors, yes; but no
   cowardly and guilty concessions to human respect. Never allow fear of
   the ridicule or contempt of men to make you blush for your faith.

   2. We are not even forbidden to call one human weakness to the
   assistance of another that is contrary to it: men do not like to
   contradict themselves, and they dread to be considered fickle. Well,
   then, in order that no person may be ignorant of the fact that you are
   a christian, once for all boldly confess your faith and your firm
   resolve to practise it, and let it be known that in all your actions
   your sole desire is to seek the glory of God and the good of your
   neighbor. Let this profession be made upon occasion in a gentle and
   modest manner, but firmly and positively; and you will find that
   subsequently it will be much easier for you to continue what you have
   thus courageously begun. (Read Chapters I. and II., IVth Part of the
   [20]Introduction to a Devout Life.)
     __________________________________________________________________

  XXIV.
  RESOLUTIONS.

   Long-standing custom will make resistance, but by a better habit shall
   it be subdued. ([21]Imitation, B. III., c. XII.)

   To him who shall overcome, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, as
   I also have overcome. (Apocalypse, c. III., v. 21.)

   1. We should not undertake to perfect ourselves upon all points at
   once; resolutions as to details ought to be made and carried out one by
   one, directing them first against our predominant passion.

   2. By a predominant passion we mean the source of that sin to which we
   oftenest yield and from which spring the greater number of our faults.

   3. In order to attack it successfully it is essential to make use of
   strategy. It must be approached little by little, besieged with great
   caution as if it were the stronghold of an enemy, and the outposts
   taken one after another.

   4. For example, if your ruling passion be anger, simply propose to
   yourself in the beginning never to speak when you feel irritated. Renew
   this resolution two or three times during the day and ask God's pardon
   for every time you have failed against it.

   5. When the results of this first resolution shall have become a habit,
   so that you no longer have any difficulty in keeping it, you can take a
   step forward. Propose, for instance, to repress promptly every thought
   capable of agitating you, or of arousing interior anger; afterwards you
   can adopt the practice of meeting without annoyance persons who are
   naturally repugnant to you; then of being able to treat with especial
   kindness those of whom you have reason to complain. Finally, you will
   learn to see in all things, even in those most painful to nature, the
   will of God offering you opportunities to acquire merit; and in those
   who cause you suffering, only the instruments of this same merciful
   providence. You will then no longer think of repulsing or bewailing
   them, but will bless and thank your divine Saviour for having chosen
   you to bear with Him the burden of His cross, and for deigning to hold
   to your lips the precious chalice of His passion.

   6. Some saints recommend us to make an act of hope or love or to
   perform some act of mortification when we discover that we have failed
   to keep our resolutions. This practice is good, but if you adopt it do
   not consider it of obligation nor bind yourself so strictly to it as to
   suppose you have committed a sin when you neglect it.

   7. It is by this progressive method that you can at length succeed in
   entirely overcoming your passions, and will be able to acquire the
   virtues you lack. Always begin with what is easiest. Choose at first
   external acts over which the will has greater control, and in time you
   can advance from these, little by little, to the most interior and
   difficult details of the spiritual life.

   8. Resolutions of too general a character, such as, for example, to be
   always moderate in speech, always patient, chaste, peaceable and the
   like, ordinarily do not amount to much and sometimes to nothing at all.

   9. To undertake little at a time, and to pursue this little with
   perseverance until one has by degrees brought it to perfection, is a
   common rule of human prudence. The saints particularly recommend us to
   apply it to the subject of our resolutions.
     __________________________________________________________________

  XXV.
  CONCLUSION.

   But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and which have
   been committed to thee; knowing of whom thou hast learned them. (St.
   Paul, II Tim., c. III., v. 14.)

   1. The writer of these instructions makes no pretension to have derived
   them from his own wisdom. The material was furnished him by the
   greatest saints and the most eminent doctors of the Church. You can
   therefore believe in them with great confidence, follow them without
   fear and adopt them as a safe and reliable guide in your spiritual
   life.

   2. If you try to regulate your practice by making personal and
   indiscriminate application of everything you find in sermons and books
   you will never be at rest. One draws you to the right, the other to the
   left, says Saint Francis de Sales: doctrine is one, but its
   applications are many, and they vary according to time, place and
   person. Besides, those who speak to a hardened multitude, from whom
   they cannot get even a little without exacting a great deal, insist
   vehemently upon the subject with which they wish to impress their
   hearers and for the time being appear to forget everything else. If
   they preach on mortification of the senses, fasting, or any other
   penitential work, they fail to explain the proper manner of practising
   it, the limits that should not usually be exceeded and the
   circumstances under which we can and should refrain from it. This is
   due to the fact that the cowardly and the lukewarm, whom it is more
   necessary to excite than to restrain, will take from these instructions
   only just what is suitable for them. Now as these form the majority, it
   is for them above all that it is necessary to speak.

   3. It would then be better for you individually, without lessening your
   respect and esteem for books of devotion and for preachers animated by
   the spirit of God, to confine yourself as far as practice is concerned
   to the advice of your director and to the teachings of the saints as
   presented in this little volume.

   4. Recall what has been already said, that Saint Francis de Sales
   counsels you to select your spiritual guide from among ten thousand,
   and to allow yourself subsequently to be entirely directed by him as
   though he were an angel come down from heaven to conduct you there.

   5. Without this rule of firm and confident obedience, books and sermons
   and all that is said and written for the multitude, will become for you
   a source of fatiguing inquietude, and of doubts and fears, owing to the
   fact that you will try to assimilate things which were not intended for
   you.

   6. Remember, moreover, the pleasant saying of Saint Philip de
   Neri,--namely, that he had a special predilection for those books the
   authors of which had a name beginning with the letter S.; that is to
   say, the works of the saints, because he supposed them to be more
   illumined by heavenly wisdom.

   Now, in observing these instructions you will have for guide and
   director not the poor sinner who has compiled them for the glory of God
   and the good of souls, but Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Philip
   de Neri and especially Saint Francis de Sales, in whom the Church
   recognizes and admires such exalted sanctity, profound wisdom, and rare
   experience in the direction of souls. These are the three eminent
   qualities requisite to constitute a great doctor in the Catholic
   Church, and to form the safest and the most enlightened guide for those
   who wish to be his disciples.
     __________________________________________________________________

  ADDITIONS.
  FINAL ADVICE IN REGARD TO HOLY COMMUNION.

   A cause of frequent error and trouble, particularly in regard to Holy
   Communion, is that feelings are confused with acts of the will. The
   faculty of willing is the only one we possess as our own, the only one
   we can use freely and at all times. Hence it follows that it is by the
   will alone that we can in reality acquire merit or commit sin. The
   natural virtues are gratuitous gifts of God. The world is right in
   esteeming them for they come from Him, but it errs when it esteems them
   exclusively for they do not of themselves give us any title to heaven.
   God has placed them at the disposal of our will as means to an end, and
   we can make a good or bad use of them just as we can of all God's other
   gifts. We may be deprived of these natural virtues and live by the will
   alone, spiritually dry and devoid of sentiment, and yet in a state of
   intimate union with God.

   This explanation is intended to reassure such persons as are disposed
   to feel anxious when they find nothing in their hearts to correspond
   with the effusions of sensible love with which books of devotion abound
   in the preparation for Holy Communion. These usually make the mistake
   of taking for granted the invariable existence of sentiment, and of
   addressing it exclusively. How many souls do we not see who in
   consequence grow alarmed about their condition, believing they are
   devoid of grace notwithstanding their firm will to shun sin and to
   please God! They should, however, not give way to anxiety, nor exhaust
   themselves by vain efforts to excite in their hearts a sensibility that
   God has not given them. When He has granted us this gift we owe Him
   homage for it as for all others; but God only requires that each of His
   creatures should render an account of what he has received, and
   free-will is the one thing that has been accorded indiscriminately to
   all men. Thus we find Saint Francis de Sales, who possessed in such a
   high degree sensible love of God and all the natural virtues, making
   this positive declaration: "The greatest proof we can have in this life
   that we are in the grace of God, is not sensible love of Him, but the
   firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or small."

   Pious persons can make use of the following prayers with profit when
   they are habitually or accidentally in the condition described above.
   They will then see how the will alone, without the aid of feeling, can
   produce acts of all the christian virtues.

    Act of Confidence.

   I will go unto the altar of God. (Ps. XLII.)

   It is obedience, O my God! that leads me to Thy Holy Table: the tender
   words by which Thou hast invited us would not have sufficed to draw me,
   for in the troubled state of my soul I cannot be sure they are
   addressed to me. Misery and infirmity are claims for admission to Thy
   Feast, but nothing can dispense from the nuptial garment. Therefore
   when I turn my eyes on myself, after having raised them to Thee, I
   doubt, I hesitate, I tremble; for if I go from Thee I flee from life,
   and if I approach unworthily, to my other sins I add the crime of
   sacrilege. [27] But Thy merciful wisdom, O my God, whilst foreseeing
   our every need, has foreseen all our weaknesses and has prepared helps
   for us against both presumption and distrust. For if Thou hast not
   willed that, certain of Thy grace, we should ever advance with the
   assurance of the Pharisee and say like him: I come to the altar of the
   Lord because I know I am just in His eyes: neither hast Thou permitted
   that a sacrament of love should become for us a torture and an
   unavoidable snare. I therefore obey, O my God, and in the darkness that
   envelops me I wish to follow implicitly the guidance of him whom Thou
   hast appointed to lead me to Thee. I shall approach the Holy Table
   without wishing for any other warrant than the words spoken by my
   confessor, or rather by Thee: You may receive Holy Communion. I accept,
   O my God!--be it a well merited punishment or a salutary trial,--this
   privation of light and sensible devotion, this coldness and
   distraction, which accompany me even into Thy presence when all the
   faculties of my soul should be absorbed and confounded in sentiments of
   adoration and of love. Faith, hope and charity seem to be extinct in my
   heart, but I know that Thou never withdrawest these virtues when we do
   not voluntarily renounce them.

    Act of Faith.

   Notwithstanding, then, the doubts that cross my mind, I wish to
   believe, O my God! and I do believe all that Thy holy Church has taught
   me. I have not forgotten that brilliant light of Faith which Thou didst
   cause to illumine my soul in the days of mercy in order that the
   precious remembrance of it should serve me as support in the days of
   trial and temptation.

    Act of Hope.

   In spite of these vague fears that seem to extinguish hope within my
   soul, I know that although Thou art the mighty and strong God before
   whom the cherubim veil themselves with their wings, the just and
   all-seeing God who discovers blemishes in the purest souls, still Thou
   wishest to be in the most Holy Sacrament only the Victim whose Blood
   effaces the sins of the world; the Good Shepherd who hastens after the
   strayed sheep and carries it tenderly and unreproachfully back to the
   fold; the divine Mediator who comes not to judge but to save. [28] All
   this I know, O my God! and therefore I hope.

    Act of Love.

   Notwithstanding the coldness and insensibility that benumb my soul, I
   know that I love Thee, O my God! since my will prefers Thy service to
   all the joys of this world, since Thy grace is the sole good to which I
   aspire, and because I suffer so much by reason of my lack of sensible
   love for Thee.

    Act of Desire.

   No, I am not indifferent, Thou knowest, O my God! that I am not
   indifferent to this Most Holy Sacrament which I approach unmoved by any
   sensible feeling: for Thou seest that although I find in Holy Communion
   neither relish nor consolation, I would yet make any sacrifice in order
   to receive it.

    Act of Contrition.

   I feel neither hatred nor horror of sins to which the world does not
   attach shame and contempt; I experience no sensible sorrow for the sins
   I have committed, but I know, O my God! that, with the assistance of
   Thy grace, my will denounces them, for I am resolved to commit them no
   more. I have taken this resolution because sin displeases Thee and
   because all that swerves from eternal order is abhorrent to Thy
   infinite sanctity. I believe, then, that I am contrite, O my God!
   because I believe in Thy promises, and if Thou dost not always grant us
   the consolation of realizing our contrition, Thou wilt never refuse its
   justifying virtue to those who humbly implore it; and this I do.

   No, my God, I shall not pray Thee to grant me sensible enjoyment, not
   even that of Thy spiritual gifts: what I implore of Thy grace is to
   keep my will ever turned towards Thee and never to permit it to fall or
   wander anew on the earth.

   Lord! into Thy hands I commend my spirit.

   (Read [22]The Imitation, Chapters IV., XIV., XV. of B. IV.; and
   Chapters XXV., XLVIII and LII of B. III.)
     __________________________________________________________________

   If you have an ardent desire for the sensible love of God, a desire
   that cannot but be pleasing to Him provided you are at the same time
   resigned to be deprived of it, remember that according to Saint John
   Chrysostom it can be obtained only by fidelity to prayer. God wishes,
   says the Saint, to make us realize by experience that we cannot have
   His love but from Himself, and that this love, which is the true
   happiness of our souls, is not to be acquired by the reflections of our
   minds or the natural efforts of our hearts, but by the gratuitous
   infusion of the Holy Ghost. Yes, this love is so great a good that God
   wishes to be the sole dispenser of it: He bestows it only in proportion
   as we ask it of Him, and ordinarily makes us wait for some time before
   He grants it.

   There are few prayers better calculated to dispose the soul to receive
   this great grace than the XVI. and XVII. chapters of the IVth. Book,
   and XXI. and XXXIV. of the IIId. Book of [23]The Imitation.

   For thanksgiving after Communion, read Chapters XXXIV., V., XXI., II.
   and X. of the III. Book of [24]The Imitation.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [27] Imitation, B. IV., c. VI.: "For if I do not appeal to Thee, I fly
   from life; and if I intrude myself unworthily I incur Thy displeasure."

   [28] S. John, c. XII., v. 47: "For I came not to judge the world, but
   to save the world."
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

   Genesis

   [25]1:11   [26]17:1

   1 Kings

   [27]19

   Psalms

   [28]32:5   [29]34   [30]40   [31]41   [32]43   [33]51:7   [34]51:19
   [35]66   [36]86   [37]94:12   [38]100   [39]102   [40]121:1   [41]122
   [42]127   [43]150   [44]150:5

   Proverbs

   [45]26:5   [46]30:21-23

   Ecclesiastes

   [47]3:7

   Isaiah

   [48]38:17

   Matthew

   [49]5:4   [50]5:15-16   [51]9:13   [52]10:27-32   [53]10:30
   [54]10:30   [55]11:28   [56]11:29   [57]26:39

   Mark

   [58]2:17   [59]2:27   [60]8:3   [61]13:11

   Luke

   [62]5:8   [63]5:32   [64]6:32-34   [65]9:54   [66]10:16   [67]10:21
   [68]10:41   [69]12:7   [70]14:17-18

   John

   [71]6:54   [72]6:57   [73]8:54   [74]12:47   [75]13:35   [76]20:23

   Romans

   [77]7:20   [78]8:15

   1 Corinthians

   [79]1:13   [80]10:13   [81]13:4-5

   2 Corinthians

   [82]3:12   [83]3:17   [84]12:9

   1 Timothy

   [85]2:9

   2 Timothy

   [86]2:14   [87]3:14   [88]3:16

   Hebrews

   [89]8:15

   James

   [90]1:2   [91]1:20   [92]3:14-15   [93]3:14-15

   1 Peter

   [94]5:7

   1 John

   [95]2:1   [96]2:9   [97]4:18

   Revelation

   [98]3:21   [99]21:4

   Tobit

   [100]12:13

   Sirach

   [101]6:14-16
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Pages of the Print Edition

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   [110]3  [111]4  [112]5  [113]6  [114]7  [115]8  [116]9  [117]10
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     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

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  25. file:///ccel/q/quadrupani/light/cache/light.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=11#v.ch_17-p11.2
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  30. file:///ccel/q/quadrupani/light/cache/light.html3?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=40&scrV=0#vi.ch_23-p1.2
  31. file:///ccel/q/quadrupani/light/cache/light.html3?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=41&scrV=0#v.ch_15-p1.3
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  38. file:///ccel/q/quadrupani/light/cache/light.html3?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=100&scrV=0#v.ch_15-p1.2
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