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We are obliged to practice virtue and keep God's
commandments not only because of what God is in
Himself, but because of what He is to us, because of
His innumerable benefits to us. The first of these
benefits is our creation, which obliges man to give
himself wholly to the service of his Creator, for in
justice he stands indebted to Him for all he has
received; and since he has received his body with all
its senses, and his soul with all its faculties, he
is obliged to employ them in the service of his
Creator, or incur the guilt of theft and ingratitude
towards his gracious Benefactor. For if a man builds
a house, who should have the use and profit of it, if
not he who built it? To whom does the fruit of a vine
belong, if not to him who has planted it? Whom should
children serve, if not the father who gave them
being? Hence the law gives a father almost unlimited
power over his children, so natural does it seem that
he should be master of an existence of which he is
the author. What, then, should be the authority of
God, the sovereign Author of all being in Heaven and
on earth? And if, as Seneca remarks, those who
receive benefits are obliged to imitate good soil and
return with interest what they have received, what
return can we make to God, when we have nothing to
offer Him but what we have received from His infinite
goodness? What, therefore, must we think of those who
not only make no return to their Creator, but use His
benefits to offend Him? Aristotle tells us that man
can never make adequate return to his parents or to
the gods for the favors received from them. How,
then, can we make a suitable return to the great God,
the Father of us all, for the innumerable blessings
bestowed upon us? If disobedience to parents be so
grievous a crime, how heinous must it not be to rebel
against this gracious God! He Himself complains of
this ingratitude by the mouth of His prophet: "The
son honoreth the father, and the servant his master:
if, then, I be a father, where is my honor? And if I
be a master, where is my fear?" (Mal. 1:6). Another
servant of God, filled with indignation at like
ingratitude, exclaims, "Is this the return thou
makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and
made thee, and created thee?" (Deut. 32:6). This
reproach is addressed to those who never raise their
eyes to Heaven to consider what God is, who never
look upon themselves in order to know themselves.
Knowing nothing, therefore, of their origin or the
end for which they are created, they live as though
they themselves were the authors of their being.
This was the crime of the unfortunate king of Egypt
to whom God said, "Behold, I come against thee,
Pharao, king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest
in the midst of thy rivers and sayest: The river is
mine, and I made myself." (Ezech. 29:3). This is, at
least practically, the language of those who act as
though they were the principle of their own being,
and who refuse to recognize any obligation to serve
their Maker. How different were the sentiments of
St. Augustine, who by studying his origin was brought
to the knowledge of Him from whom he had received his
being! "I returned to myself," he says, "and entered
into myself, saying: What art thou? And I answered: A
rational and mortal man. And I began to examine what
this was, and I said: O my Lord and my God, who has
created so noble a creature as this? Who, O Lord, but
Thou? Thou, O my God, hast made me! I have not made
myself. What art Thou, Thou by whom I live and from
whom all things receive being? Can anyone create
himself or receive his being but from Thee? Art Thou
not the source of all being, the fountain whence all
life flows? For whatsoever has life lives by Thee,
because nothing can live without Thee. It is Thou, O
Lord, that hast made me, and without Thee nothing is
made! Thou art my Creator, and I am Thy creature. I
thank Thee, O my Creator, because Thy hands have made
and fashioned me! I thank Thee, O my Light, for
having enlightened me and brought me to the knowledge
of what Thou art and what I myself am!" This,
then, the first of God�s benefits, is the foundation
of all the others, for all other benefits presuppose
existence, which is given us at our creation. Let us
now consider the acknowledgment God demands of us,
for He is no less rigid in requiring our gratitude
than He is magnificent in bestowing His benefits; and
this is an additional proof of His love, for our
gratitude results in no advantage to Him, but enables
us to profit by the favors we have received, and thus
merit other graces from His infinite goodness.
Thus we read in the Old Testament that whenever He
bestowed a favor upon His people He immediately
commanded them to keep it in remembrance. When He
brought the Israelites out of Egypt He commanded them
to commemorate by a solemn festival every year their
happy deliverance from bondage. When He slew the
firstborn of the Egyptians and spared the Israelites,
He commanded that the latter, in return, should
consecrate their firstborn to Him. When He sent them
manna from Heaven to sustain them in the wilderness,
He ordered that a portion of it should be put in a
vessel and kept in the tabernacle as a memorial to
generations of this extraordinary favor. After giving
them victory over Amalec He told Moses to write it
for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to Josue.
Since, therefore, God so rigidly requires a continual
remembrance of the temporal favors He grants us, what
return of gratitude will He not demand for this
immortal benefit? Such we truly call the benefit of
creation, because with it we receive from God the
gift of an immortal soul. The patriarchs of old were
deeply sensible of this obligation of gratitude, and
therefore we read that whenever God bestowed upon
them any special favor or blessing they evinced their
gratitude by erecting altars to His name and by
rearing other monuments to commemorate His mercies to
them. Even the names they gave their children
expressed the favors they had received, so desirous
were they that their debt of gratitude to God should
never be forgotten. St. Augustine, speaking on this
subject in one of his soliloquies, says, "Man should
think of God as often as he breathes; for as his
being is continuous and immortal, he should
continually return thanks to the Author of his
being." This obligation is so deeply graven in
nature that even the philosophers and sages of this
world earnestly inculcate gratitude to God. Hear the
counsel of Epictetus: "Be not ungrateful, O man, to
this sovereign Power, but return thanks for the
faculties with which He has endowed thee, for thy
life itself and for all the things which sustain it,
for fruits, wine, oil, and whatever advantages of
fortune thou hast received from Him; but praise Him
particularly for thy reason, which teaches thee the
proper use and the true worth of all these things."
If a pagan philosopher teaches such gratitude for
benefits common to all men, what should be the
gratitude of a Christian, who has received the light
of faith in addition to that of reason, as well as
other gifts vastly superior to those we have just
mentioned? But perhaps you will urge that these
benefits common to all seem the work of nature rather
than graces emanating from God; and why, you ask,
should I be grateful for the general order which
reigns in the world, and because things follow their
natural course? This objection is unworthy of a
Christian, of a pagan, of any but an unreasonable
animal. Hear how the same philosopher answers it:
"You will say, perhaps, that you receive all these
benefits from nature. Senseless man! In saying this
you but change the name of God, your Benefactor. For
what is nature but God Himself, the first and
original nature? Therefore, it is no excuse,
ungrateful man, to urge that you are indebted, not to
God, but to nature; for without God there is no
nature. Were you to receive a benefit from Lucius
Seneca you would not dare to say that you were
indebted to Lucius and not to Seneca. Such a
subterfuge would change your benefactor's name, but
would by no means cancel your obligation to him."
It is not only a motive of justice which obliges us
to serve God, but our necessities force us to have
recourse to Him if we would attain the perfection and
happiness for which we were created.
In order to understand this more clearly, let us call
to mind the general principle that creatures are not
born with all their perfections. There remain many to
be cultivated and developed, and only He who has
begun the work can perfect it. Things instinctively
go back to their first cause for their development
and perfection. Plants unceasingly seek the sun, and
sink their roots deep into the earth where they were
formed. Fishes will not leave the element where they
were engendered. Chickens seek vivifying warmth and
shelter beneath their mother's wings. In like manner
a lamb, until it has attained its strength, clings to
the side of its ewe, distinguishing her among a
thousand of the same color, arguing, doubtless, with
blind instinct, that it must seek what it lacks at
the source whence it has received all that it is.
This is apparent in all the works of nature, and if
those of art could reason they would doubtless
proceed in like manner. Were a painter to make a
beautiful picture and omit the eyes, whither would
the picture, were it sensible of its want, go to seek
its completion? Not to the palaces of kings or
princes, for all their power could not give it what
it sought; no, it would seek its first cause, the
master who designed it. And is not this thy position
also, O rational creature? Thou art an unfinished
work. Many things are lacking to the perfection of
thy being. Thou hast naught of the beauty and luster
which are yet to be thine. Hence thy restless,
unsatisfied yearning; hence those unceasing
aspirations for a higher, a better state, which arise
from thy very necessities. Yes, God let thee
hunger, in order that, driven by necessity; thou
mightest have recourse to Him. For this reason He did
not give thee perfection at thy creation, but He
withheld it only through love for thee. It was not to
make thee poor, but to make thee humble; it was not
to leave thee needy, but to compel thee to have
recourse to Him.
If, then, thou art blind, poor, and in need, why dost
thou not seek the Father who created thee, the Artist
who designed thee, that He may satisfy thy wants and
supply all that is lacking to thy perfection?
Penetrated with this truth David cried out, "Thy
hands have made me and formed me: give me
understanding, and I will learn thy commandments."
(Ps. 118:73). Thy hands have made me, the prophet
would say, but the work is incomplete. The eyes of my
soul are still imperfect; they see not what they
ought to know. To whom shall I go in my necessities,
if not to Him from whom I have received all that I
possess? Enlighten, then, my eyes, O Lord, that they
may know Thee, and that the work Thou hast begun in
me may be perfected. Therefore, only God can perfect
the understanding, the will, and all the faculties of
the soul. It is He alone who satisfies His creature and never
fails him. With Him the creature is content in
poverty, rich in destitution, happy in solitude, and
though despoiled of all possessions, yet master of
all things. Hence the wise man so justly says, "One
is as it were rich, when he hath nothing: and another
is as it were poor, when he hath great riches."
(Prov. 13:7). Rich indeed is the poor man who, like
St. Francis of Assisi, has God for his inheritance,
though owning naught else; but poor would he be who
knew not God, though he possessed the entire
universe. What do their wealth and power avail the
rich and great of this world when they are a prey to
anxieties which they cannot calm, a victim to
appetites which they cannot satisfy? For what comfort
can costly raiment, luxurious viands, and overflowing
coffers bring to a troubled mind? The rich man tosses
restlessly on his soft couch, and his treasure is
powerless to stifle the remorse which banishes sleep.
Independently, therefore, of God s benefits to us, we
are, from the necessities of our nature, obliged to
serve Him, if we would attain our happiness and
perfection.
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