|
How are you to meet the swarm of foolish attachments, triflings,
and undesirable inclinations which beset you?
By turning sharply away, and thoroughly renouncing such
vanities, flying to the Saviour's Cross, and clasping His Crown of
thorns to your heart, so that these little foxes may not spoil
your vines. (1) Beware of entering into any manner of treaty with
the Enemy; do not delude yourself by listening to him while
intending to reject him.
For God's Sake, my daughter, be firm on all such occasions; the
heart and ear are closely allied, and just as you would vainly
seek to check the downward course of a mountain torrent, so
difficult will you find it to keep the smooth words which enter in
at the ear from finding their way down into the heart. Alcmeon
says (what indeed Aristotle denies) that the goat breathes through
its ears, not its nostrils. I know not whether this be so, but one
thing I know, that our heart breathes through the ear, and that
while it exhales its own thoughts through the mouth, it inhales
those of others by the ear. Let us then carefully guard our ears
against evil words which would speedily infect the heart.
Never hearken to any indiscreet conversation whatsoever--never
mind if you seem rude and uncourteous in rejecting all such.
Always bear in mind that you have dedicated your heart to God, and
offered your love to Him; so that it were sacrilege to deprive Him
of one particle thereof. Do you rather renew the offering
continually by fresh resolutions, entrenching yourself therein as
in a fortress;--cry out to God, He will succour you, and His Love
will shelter you, so that all your love may be kept for Him only.
If unhappily you are already entangled in the nets of any
unreal affection, truly it is hard to set you free! But place
yourself before His
Divine Majesty, acknowledge the depth of your wretchedness, your
weakness and vanity, and then with all the earnestness of purpose
you can muster, arrest the budding evil, abjure your own empty
promises, and renounce those you have received, and resolve with a
firm, absolute will never again to indulge in any trifling or
dallying with such matters.
If you can remove from the object of your unworthy affection,
it is most desirable to do so. He who has been bitten by a viper
cannot heal his wound in the presence of another suffering from
the like injury, and so one bitten with a false fancy will not
shake it off while near to his fellow-victim.
Change of scene is very helpful in quieting the excitement and
restlessness of sorrow or love. S. Ambrose tells a story in his
Second Book on Penitence, of a young man, who coming home after a
long journey quite cured of a foolish attachment, met the unworthy
object of his former passion, who stopped him, saying, "Do you not
know me, I am still myself?" "That may be," was the answer, "but I
am not myself:"--so thoroughly and happily was he changed by
absence. And S. Augustine tells us how, after the death of his
dear friend, he soothed his grief by leaving Tagaste and going to
Carthage.
But what is he to do, who cannot try this remedy? To such I
would say, abstain from all private intercourse, all tender
glances and smiles, and from every kind of communication which can
feed the unholy flame. If it be necessary to speak at all, express
clearly and tersely the eternal renunciation on which you have
resolved.
I say unhesitatingly to whosoever has become entangled in any
such worthless love affairs, Cut it short, break it off--do not
play with it, or pretend to untie the knot; cut it through, tear
it asunder. There must be no dallying with an attachment which is
incompatible with the Love of God.
But, you ask, after I have thus burst the chains of my unholy
bondage, will no traces remain, and shall I not still carry the
scars on my feet--that is, in my wounded affections? Not so, my
child, if you have attained a due abhorrence of the evil; in that
case all you will feel is an exceeding horror of your unworthy
affection, and all appertaining thereto; no thought will linger in
your breast concerning it save a true love of God.
Or if, by reason of the imperfection of your repentance, any
evil inclinations still hover round you, seek such a mental
solitude as I have already described, retire into it as much as
possible, and then by repeated efforts and ejaculations renounce
your evil desires; abjure them heartily; read pious books more
than is your wont; go more frequently to Confession and Communion;
tell your director simply and humbly all that tempts and troubles
you, if you can, or at all events take counsel with some faithful,
wise friend. And never doubt but that God will set you free from
all evil passions, if you are stedfast and devout on your part.
Perhaps you will say that it is unkind, ungrateful, thus
pitilessly to break off a friendship. Surely it were a happy
unkindness which is acceptable to God; but of a truth, my child,
you are committing no unkindness, rather conferring a great
benefit on the person you love, for you break his chains as well
as your own, and although at the moment he may not appreciate his
gain, he will do so by and by, and will join you in thanksgiving,
"Thou, Lord, hast broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to Thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the Name of the
Lord." (2)
|