|
It is not sufficient to persuade men to love virtue;
we must also teach them how to acquire it. The first
condition, a wise man has said, is the absence of
vice. We shall therefore first treat of the most
common vices and their remedies, and afterwards of
the virtues and the means of acquiring them.
Before entering upon this subject, bear in mind that
there ; are two principles in which you must be
firmly established if you would change your life and
give yourself to God. The first is a just
appreciation of the importance of the labor you ; are
about to undertake; you must be convinced that this
is the sole interest, the sole pro it, the sole
wisdom in the world. This is what the Holy Ghost
Himself teaches us: "Learn where is wisdom, where is
strength, where is understanding, that thou mayst
know also where is length of days and life, where is
the light of the eyes, and peace." (Bar. 3:14). "Let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the
strong man glory in his strength, and let not the
rich man glory in his riches; but let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and
knoweth me." (Jer. 9:23-24). The second principle
with which you must be imbued is that as this is such
a glorious and profitable engagement, you must
undertake it with vigor and a firm determination to
conquer. Be persuaded that all the dangers which you
will encounter will be of little moment compared to
the sublime end you have in view. It is a law of
nature that nothing great is accomplished without
labor and trouble, You will no sooner have resolved
to give yourself to God than Hell will send out its
forces against you. The flesh, corrupted from its
birth by the poison of the serpent, will assail you
with its insatiable desires and alluring pleasures.
Evil habits as strong as nature itself will fiercely
resist this change of life and exaggerate the
difficulties which you will encounter. To turn a river from its course is hardly more
laborious than to change a life confirmed by
inveterate habits. The world, as powerful as it is
cruel, will wage a fierce war against you. Armed with
its pleasures and bad examples, it will hasten to
compass your downfall. At one time it will seek to
captivate your heart with its pomps and vanities. At
another time it will strive to entangle you in the
net of its ways and maxims. Again it will boldly
attack you with ridicule, raillery, and persecution.
The devil himself, the arch-deceiver, will renew his
warfare and turn all his forces against you. Enraged
at your desertion from his party, he will leave
nothing undone to ruin you. Be prepared,
therefore, to meet with difficulties. Remember the
words of the Wise Man: "Son, when thou comest to the
service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and
prepare thy soul for temptation." (Ecclus. 2:1). Do
not think you are called to enjoyment alone. You must
struggle and combat; for, notwithstanding the
abundant succor which is offered to us, we must
expect hard labor and difficulties in the beginning
of our conversion. That you may not be discouraged,
bear in mind that the prize for which you are
striving is worth more than all you can ever give to
purchase it. Remember that you have powerful
defenders ever near you. Against the assaults of
corrupt nature you have God's grace. Against the
snares of the devil you have the almighty power of
God. Against the allurements of evil habits you have
the force of good habits confirmed by grace. Against
a multitude of evil spirits you have numberless
angels of light. Against the bad example and
persecutions of the world you have the good example
and strengthening exhortations of the saints. Against
the sinful pleasures and vain joys of the world you
have the pure joys and ineffable consolations of the
Holy Ghost. Is it not evident that all that are
for you are stronger than all that are against you?
Is not God stronger than the devil? Is not grace
superior to nature? Are not the good angels more
powerful than the fallen legions of Satan? Are not
the pure and ineffable joys of the soul far more
delightful than the gross pleasures of sense and the
vain amusements of the world? Resting on these two
principles, your first determination must be a deep
and unshaken resolution never to commit mortal sin,
for it can only rob us of the grace and friendship of
God. Such a resolution is the basis of a virtuous
life. As long as the soul perseveres in it she
possesses divine charity, which makes her a child of
God, a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost,
and gives her a right to the blessings of the Church
here and the kingdom of Heaven hereafter.
In all things we distinguish substance and accidents.
The latter may be changed, while the former remains
the same; but if the substance fails all is lost.
Thus a house is still called a house though its
ornaments are removed, but if the building is
destroyed the ornaments perish with it. Now, the very
substance, the life of virtue is charity. This
remains, and therefore our spiritual edifice stands
as long as we maintain our resolution not to commit
mortal sin. If this fails, the whole structure is
reduced to ruin; we cease to be God's friends; we
become His enemies. Hence the constancy with which
the martyrs endured such cruel torments. Rather than
be deprived of God's grace by mortal sin they
submitted to be burned, to have their flesh torn with
heated irons, and to suffer every torture which the
cruelty of men could invent. They knew that had they
sinned they could, if time were given them, repent
and obtain forgiveness, as Peter did immediately
after denying his Master; yet the most terrible
torments were more tolerable to them than the
momentary deprivation of God's favor and grace.
Holy Scripture gives us a glorious example of this
constancy in the mother of the seven sons, whom she
exhorted to die manfully, and whose martyrdom she
heroically witnessed before she gave up her own life
for the law.(Cf. 2Mac. 7). Equally sublime was the
fortitude of Felicitas and Symphorosa, who lived in
the early age of the Church, and who had also seven
sons each. These intrepid soldiers of Christ were
present at the martyrdom of their children, and in
accents of sublime courage besought them to endure
their tortures with constancy. They had the heavenly
consolation of seeing them die for Christ, and then,
with a heroism born only of faith, they yielded their
own lives to complete the sacrifice. In his Life
of St. Paul, the first hermit, St. Jerome tells of a
young man whom, after the tyrants had vainly used
many means to force him to sin, they finally bound
him in so helpless a condition that he could not
escape from the wretched creature whom they brought
to him to tempt him. Yet his courage failed him not,
but, biting off his tongue, which they could not
bind, he spat it into the face of his tempter, who
fled in dismay. In this he was doubtlessly inspired
by the Holy Ghost, as were so many of the saints, who
by every kind of bodily suffering subdued the
violence of passions which would lead them to offend
God. He who desires to walk resolutely in the same
path must strive to imitate them by fixing this
resolution deep in his soul. Appreciating things at
their true value, he must prefer the friendship of
God to all the treasures of earth; he must
unhesitatingly sacrifice perishable joys for delights
that will be eternal. To accomplish this must be the
end of all his actions; the object of all his
prayers; the fruit he seeks in frequenting the
sacraments; the profit he derives from sermons and
pious reading; the lesson he should learn from the
beauty and harmony of the world, and from all
creatures. This will be the happy result of Our
Saviour's Passion and all the other works of love
which He unceasingly performs. They will inspire him
with a horror of offending the good Master who has
done so much for him. Finally, this holy fear and
firm resolution will be the mark of his progress in
virtue. Take a lesson from the carpenter, who, when he wishes
to drive a large nail, is not satisfied with giving
it a few strokes, but continues hammering until he is
sure it is firmly fastened. You must imitate him, if
you would firmly implant this resolution in your
soul. Be not satisfied with renewing it from time to
time, but daily take advantage of all the
opportunities afforded you in meditation, in reading,
in what you see or hear, to fix this horror of sin
more deeply in your soul. If all the calamities
which have existed in the world since the creation,
and all the sufferings of Hell, were put into one
side of a scale, and but one mortal sin into the
other, it would outweigh all these evils, for it is
incomparably greater. This is a truth which must be
strongly felt and constantly remembered. I know that
the world judges differently, but the darkness which
reigns in this second Egypt cannot change the real
character of sin. Is it astonishing that the blind do
not see an evil, however great, or that the dead do
not feel the pain of a mortal wound? We shall
treat, therefore, not only of mortal but of venial
sin; not that the latter destroys the life of the
soul, but because it weakens us and disposes us to
mortal sin, which is death. We shall first speak of
the seven deadly sins, the source of all the others.
These sins are not always mortal, but they can easily
become so, particularly when they violate a
commandment of God or of the Church, or destroy
charity.
In the Memorial of a Christian Life we treated of
this subject, and gave a number of remedies against
sin in general, Our intention at present is to give
special remedies applicable to particular sins, such
as pride, covetousness, anger, or revenge. By this
means we hope to supply each one with the medicine
necessary for his infirmities, and with arms suitable
for engaging in this warfare. Before entering upon
this subject, it is important to observe that in this
spiritual combat we have more need of eyes than of
hands and feet. The eyes, which signify vigilance,
are the principal weapons to be used in this war,
which is waged, not against flesh and blood, but
against the malice of the evil spirits. The reason
for this is because the first source of sin is error
in the understanding, which is the natural guide and
counselor of the will. Consequently, the chief
endeavor of the devil is to darken the understanding,
and thus draw the will into the same error. Thus he
clothes evil with the appearance of good, and
presents vice under the mask of virtue, that we may
regard it as a counsel of reason rather than a
temptation of the enemy. When we are tempted to
pride, anger, ambition, or revenge, he strives to
make us believe that our desire is just, and that not
to follow it is to act against the dictates of
reason. Man, therefore, must have eyes to perceive
the perfidious hook which is concealed beneath the
tempting bait, that he may not be misled by vain
appearances. This clearness of mental vision is
also necessary to enable the Christian to appreciate
the malice and hideousness of sin, and the dangers to
which it will expose us. Seeing the evil, we must
restrain our appetites and fear to taste the poison
which will immediately cause death. We also gather
this lesson from that passage in Holy Scripture (Cf.
Ezech. 1:18) which speaks of those mysterious
creatures, figures of the just, which had eyes all
over their bodies, for in them we find a striking
symbol of that watchful vigilance which the Christian
must constantly exercise to avoid the snares of vice.
|