User:Bernadeta
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Bernadeta is the Occitan name of St. Bernadette.
[edit] Blessed Caius of Korea (new version)
Blessed Caius of Korea (1571-1625) is the 128th of the 205 martyrs of Japan[1] that Pope Pius IX beatified in 1867, after he had canonized 26 Martyrs of Japan in 1862. Charles Dallet wrote of him: "His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart."
Caius was born in Korea and was given to a Buddhist monastery by his parents. He left the monastery because he could not find the peace that he wanted there. He went into a mountain to live as a hermit, and found a cave of a tiger, which he lived with. The tiger did not harm Caius, and later went away to find another dwelling.[2]
Caius exerted himself all kinds of mortification; he only ate what was necessary to preserve his life.
One night that he was in meditation, a man of majestic aspect appeared to him, and said to him:
"Take courage; in one year you will pass the sea, and, after many work and from fatigues, you will obtain the object of your desire."
The same year, in 1592, the Japan invaded Korea, and Caius was made a prisoner. While heading to Japan, they suffered a shipwreck at Tsushima island. Caius escaped to the shore. Allured by the austere life of the Buddhist monks, he thought he found what he sought for many years, and withdrew himself in one of the most famous pagodas of Kyoto.
It didn't take long until he felt that he could not find the peace that he wanted there. This mistake caused him a so great sorrow that he became ill. During his illness, it seemed to him that he saw the pagoda all on fire, then a child of a charming beauty appeared to him and comforted him:
"Fear no more", he told him, "you are close to obtaining the happiness you desire."
He was completely cured after the dream and left the temple and went back to his master, who introduced him to a Christian, who in turn introduced him to the Jesuit priests. He was converted and received baptism immediately.
While he was instructed, one of the Fathers showed him a tableau representing Our Lord, at which Caius exclaimed, "Oh! Voila! Here is who appeared to me in my cave, and who foretold all that happened to me."
He served the sick, especially the leprous.
In 1614, he went to the Philippines with a general of an army of Japan who was exiled for the faith, in order to work as a servant for the general. After the death of the general, he went back to Japan, and began again his functions of catechist. He was a great help to the missionaries by preaching in his native language to the Koreans who were brought to Japan after the war. [3]
In 1625, he was burned at the stake with James Coici, a Japanese martyr.
- ^ List of Martyrs of Japan
- ^ Dallet, Charles. Histoire de le̓́glise de Corée 1874. p. 6 "The young Korean Caius was burned at the stake at Nangasaki. His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart. Born some time before the entering of the Japanese, he as a youth had an extreme desire to arrive at the true happiness, i.e. with a happiness which did not have end. He withdrew into solitude to meditate with more ease on this happiness which he sought. He had as a dwelling only a cave, which he shared with a tiger, which occupied it before him. This wild animal respected its host; it even yielded the cave to him some time after, and withdrew elsewhere."
Original French: "le jeune Coréen Caïo fut brûlé vif à Nangasaki. Son histoire prouve, d'une manière éclatante, que Dieu ferait un miracle plutôt que d'abandonner un infidèle qui suit les lumières de sa conscience, et cherche la vérité d'un cœur droit et docile. Né quelque temps avant l'invasion japonaise, il éprouva dès son jeune âge un désir extrême de parvenir au vrai bonheur, c'est-à-dire à un bonheur qui n'eût point de fin. Il se retira dans une solitude pour méditer plus à son aise sur cette félicité qu'il cherchait. Il n'avait pour habitation qu'une caverne, qu'il partageait avec un tigre qui l'occupait avant lui. Ce féroce animal respecta son hôte ; il lui céda même la caverne quelque temps après, et se retira ailleurs.
- ^ http://www.catholictimes.org/news/news_view.cath?seq=27387
- ^ A letter written by a missionary (translated from the Korean which was in turn translated from a European language): "This Korean Caius could have stayed at Japan, but he volunteered to be banished with the feudal lord to work as his servant. Born in Corea at 1571, his adopted parents gave him to a temple. While living as a Buddhist monk and then a hermit, in 1592 was made a captive and brought to Kyoto. His master was a compassionate person, so he let Caius go to a temple of Kyoto. But in here Caius could not find peace of soul and consequently fell into distress and became ill. Caius went back to his master, was introduced to a Christian and was baptized at the Church of Kyoto. Afterwards he worked as an examplary novice brother at the Society of Jesus. He preached to Koreans who came here because of the war that ended three years ago in his native language as well as to the Japanese, which was a great blessing for us." 이 조선인 가이오는 일본에 머물 수도 있었지만 스스로 자진하여 영주의 봉사자로 추방되는 길을 택하였다」. 이어 「가이오는 1571년에 조선에서 태어났는데 양친은 그를 사원에 바쳤다. 불승으로서, 은둔자로서 동굴생활을 하고 있던 중, 1592년 포로가 되어 교토에 끌려왔다. 그의 주인은 애정 깊은 사람이어서 교토의 어느 사원에 들어갈 수 있게 하였다. 그러나 그는 여기서도 결코 영혼의 안식을 얻을 수가 없어 고뇌에 빠져 병에 걸렸다. 가이오는 다시 전 주인을 찾아가 기리시탄을 소개받아 교토의 교회에서 세례를 받았다. 그 후 예비수사로 예수회 수도원에서 생활의 모범을 보였다. 일본인 뿐 아니라 3년 전에 끝난 전쟁으로 많은 조선인이 있어 그들에게 자국말로 설교를 하여 우리들로써는 큰 행복이었다」라고 말하고 있다. 가이오는 예수회의 전도사로서의 일을 오사카에서 시작하여 사카이와 가나자와에서 봉사하다가 추방의 무리에 합세하였다. 그 후 가이오는 다시 일본에 잠입하여 순교하게 된다. http://www.catholictimes.org/news/news_view.cath?seq=27387
- ^ St. Alphonsus Liguori, Victories of the Martyrs (1954) pg. 393
I REFRAIN from speaking of those martyrs whose com bats resemble one another too much, so that the narrative may not become irksome to the reader. I cannot, how ever, pass over in silence those whose history contains certain particular circumstances. Such is the martyrdom of James Coici and of Cains, both having been burnt for the faith at Omura in 1625.
James was arrested for having lodged a missionary. Caius, on learning that James, his friend, was in prison, went thither to speak to him; and as the guards opposed his entrance, he opened a passage for himself by main force. In punishment for this insolence he was held a prisoner, and the lieutenant of the governor had him punished so severely that his face was black and blue. The lieutenant then told him that he could not save him from the chastisement that he merited unless he would promise to teach no more the Christian doctrine, as he had been in the habit of doing. Caius pleaded in excuse that he had consecrated his life to the instruction of his neighbor. The lieutenant nevertheless, as he took a liking to him, wished to set him at liberty; but Caius said to him while leaving the prison: " Do not think that I shall stop coming here; I will come to serve the prisoners, cost what it may." At these words the lieutenant changed his mind, and ordered him to be put in irons.
The governor having arrived at Omura from Nangasaki, ordered Caius to be brought before him; he prom ised that the past would be forgotten if he would bind himself no more to instruct the Christians. Caius again protested that it was a work of charity, which he could not give up. Thereupon the governor remanded him to prison, threatening that he would have him burnt alive. In fact, a short time afterwards he, with his friend James, was condemned to death by fire. They gayly walked to the place of execution, singing the litany of the saints. When they arrived, Caius broke away from the hands of his guards, and ran to embrace the stake that was destined for him; James in his turn did the same. They were then tied, and fire was set to the funeral pile, Caius knelt down in the middle of the flames, and while thanking God in a loud voice for having found him worthy to die as he had desired, he expired. James was also kneeling in the middle of the fire; when his cords had been consumed he arose as if he wished to speak to those present, but as his strength failed him he again knelt down, and died while invoking Jesus and Mary.
I must relate here the conversion of Caius. He was a native of Corea. Although brought up in paganism, he conceived so ardent a desire for the salvation of his soul that he retired into the woods so as better to think of the means to attain it.
Corea having fallen into the hands of the Japanese, our young solitary was made a slave and transported to Japan, where he begin to examine what sect of bonzes he should embrace. In the mean time he retired to their principal house at Meaco. One day during sleep it seemed to him that the house was on fire: a little while afterwards a young child of ravishing beauty appeared to him, and announced to him that he would soon meet what he desired; at the same time he felt himself quite well, though he had been sick. Desparing of seeing among the bonzes the light for which he was longing, he resolved to leave them. Scarcely had he left the house when he met a Christian, to whom he made known his mental troubles. The Christian having explained to him some truths of our faith, he was filled with admiration, and went to the house of the missionaries to become more thoroughly instructed. After receiving baptism Caius consecrated himself unreservedly to the service of GOD and to the instruction of the idolaters, and martyrdom put him in possession of the sovereign happiness which he was seeking."
- ^ Dallet, Charles. Histoire de le̓́glise de Corée 1874. p. 6 "The young Korean Caius was burned at the stake at Nangasaki. His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart. Born some time before the entering of the Japanese, he as a youth had an extreme desire to arrive at the true happiness, i.e. with a happiness which did not have end. He withdrew into solitude to meditate with more ease on this happiness which he sought. He had as a dwelling only a cave, which he shared with a tiger, which occupied it before him. This wild animal respected its host; it even yielded the cave to him some time after, and withdrew elsewhere. The young recluse in the single view of preserving his innocence, exerted all kinds of mortifications; he abstained from all that was not absolutely necessary to the life. One night that he was in meditation, a man of majestic aspect appeared to him, and said to him:
"Take courage; in one year you will pass the sea, and, after many work and from fatigues, you will obtain the object of your desire."
This same year, the Japanese invaded Korea, and the young recluse was made a prisoner. The vessel which transported him to Japan having been shipwrecked close to the Tsushima island, Caius escaped to the shore; those who led the vessel probably perished in the floods. At all events, he recovered his freedom. Allured by the austere life of the bonzes, he believed to have found what he sought since so many years, and withdrew himself in one of the most famous pagodas of Kyoto.
But it was not a long time to realize of his error; these idolatrous monks were certainly something less than perfect men. This mistake caused him a so great sorrow that he fell sick from there. During his illness, it seemed to him to see the pagoda all on fire, then a child of a charming beauty appeared to him and comforted him:
"Fear no more", he told him, "you are close to obtaining the happiness you desire."
He was not yet cured when he abandoned the Buddhist monastery. The very same day, he met a Christian with whom he told his sorrows and his adventures; this one brought him at once to the college of Jesuits, where one informed him of the mysteries of the religion. As his heart was already prepared to receive the divine inspiration, he believed without hesitating, tasted without sorrow holy morals of the Gospel, and asked baptism immediately. They did not think it fit to subject him to a longer test, and the grace of the sacrament produced in a soul laid out so well of the admirable effects. While he was instructed, one of the Fathers showed him a tableau representing Our Lord: "Oh! here, he exclaimed, here is who appeared to me in my cave, and who predicted all to me that arrived to me"
He was put to the missionaries and was devoted to the care of the patients, especially the leprous ones. There is no virtue in which this predestined soul has not set an example: mortifications almost excessive, charity for the unhappy ones, eager care for the missionaries, whose works and dangers he shared, zeal for the salvation of souls, etc... Nothing was above his powers when needed to testify for the recognition of a God who had conferred on him so many graces, even before he could know and appreciate His gifts. In 1614, he followed to the Philippines, Ukandono, a general of the armies of Japan, who was exiled for the faith. After the death of this great man, he went back to Japan, and took again his functions of catechist.
Persecution taking everyday a more alarming character, he believed himself obligated to redouble his fervor; he multiplied his austerities and his prayers. God rewarded him so much for his virtues by a glorious martyrdom. The neophyte having gone one day, according to his habit, to visit the confessors of the faith, declared himself Christian and catechist; he was stopped at once and led in the prisons of Nangasaki, where he had to suffer much. He submitted with admirable constancy."
"le jeune Coréen Caïo fut brûlé vif à Nangasaki. Son histoire prouve, d'une manière éclatante, que Dieu ferait un miracle plutôt que d'abandonner un infidèle qui suit les lumières de sa conscience, et cherche la vérité d'un cœur droit et docile. Né quelque temps avant l'invasion japonaise, il éprouva dès son jeune âge un désir extrême de parvenir au vrai bonheur, c'est-à-dire à un bonheur qui n'eût point de fin. Il se retira dans une solitude pour méditer plus à son aise sur cette félicité qu'il cherchait. Il n'avait pour habitation qu'une caverne, qu'il partageait avec un tigre qui l'occupait avant lui. Ce féroce animal respecta son hôte ; il lui céda même la caverne quelque temps après, et se retira ailleurs. Le jeune solitaire dans l'unique vue de conserver son innocence, s'exerçait à toutes sortes de mortifications ; il s'abstenait de tout ce qui n'était pas absolument nécessaire à la vie. Une nuit qu'il était en méditation, un homme d'aspect majestueux lui apparut, et lui dit : « Prends courage; dans un an tu passeras la mer, et, après bien des travaux et des fatigues, tu obtiendras l'objet de tes désirs. » Cette même année, les Japonais entrèrent en Corée, et le jeune solitaire fut fait prisonnier. Le vaisseau qui le transportait au Japon ayant fait naufrage près de l'île Tsoutsima, Caïo se sauva à la côte ; ceux qui le conduisaient périrent probablement dans les flots. Quoi qu'il en soit, il recouvra sa liberté. Séduit par la vie austère des bonzes, il crut avoir trouvé ce qu'il cherchait depuis tant d'années, et se retira dans une des plus célèbres pagodes de Méaco. Mais il ne fut pas longtemps san s'apercevoir de son erreur ; ces religieux idolâtres n'étaient rien moins que des hommes parfaits. Cette méprise lui causa un si grand chagrin qu'il en tomba malade. Pendant sa maladie, il lui sembla voir la pagode tout en feu, puis un enfant d'une beauté ravissante lui apparut et le consola : « Ne crains pas, lui dit-il, tu es à la veille d'obtenir ce bonheur tant désiré. » Il n'était pas encore guéri, qu'il abandonna la bonzerie. Le jour même, il rencontra un chrétien à qui il raconta ses peines et ses aventures; celui-ci l'amena sur-le-champ u collége des Jésuites, où on l'instruisit des mystères de la relion. Comme son cœur était déjà préparé à recevoir la divine menée, il crut sans hésiter, goûta sans peine la sainte morale l'Évangile, et demanda aussitôt le baptême. On ne pensa pas levoir le soumettre à une plus longue épreuve, et la grâce du sacrement produisit dans une âme si bien disposée des effets admirables. Pendant qu'on l'instruisait, un des Pères lui montra un tableau représentant Nôtre-Seigneur: « Oh ! voilà, s'écria-t-il, voilà celui qui m'a apparu dans ma caverne, et qui m'a prédit tout ce qui m'est arrivé. » Il se mit à la suite des missionnaires el se consacra au soin des malades, surtout des lépreux. Il n'est point de vertu dont cette âme prédestinée n'ait donné l'exemple : mortifications presque excessives, charité pour les malheureux, soins empressés pour les missionnaires, dont il partageait les travaux etles dangers, zèle pour le salut des âmes, etc... Rien n'était au-dessus de ses forces, lorsqu'il fallait témoigner de la reconnaissance pour un Dieu qui l'avait prévenu de tant de grâces, avant même qu'il pût connaître et apprécier ses dons. En 1614, il suivit aux Philippines, Ukandono, général des armées du Japon, qui était exilé pour la foi. Après la mort de ce grand homme, il retourna au Japon, et reprit ses fonctions de catéchiste. La persécution prenant tous les jours un caractère plus effrayant, il se crut obligé de redoubler de ferveur; il multiplia ses austérités et ses oraisons. Dieu récompensa tant de vertus par un glorieux martyre. Le néophyte étant allé un jour, selon sa coutume, visiter les confesseurs de la foi, se déclara lui-même chrétien et catéchiste ; il fut arrêté sur-le-champ et conduit dans les prisons de Nangasaki, où il eut beaucoup à souffrir. On le condamna à être brûlé à petit feu, supplice horrible, qu'il subit
avec une constance admirable."
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
[edit] A letter written by a missionary (translated from the Korean which was in turn translated from a European language)
"This Korean Caius could have stayed at Japan, but he volunteered to be banished with the feudal lord to work as his servant. Born in Corea at 1571, his adopted parents gave him to a temple. While living as a Buddhist monk and then a hermit, in 1592 was made a captive and brought to Kyoto. His master was a compassionate person, so he let Caius go to a temple of Kyoto. But in here Caius could not find peace of soul and consequently fell into distress and became ill. Caius went back to his master, was introduced to a Christian and was baptized at the Church of Kyoto. Afterwards he worked as an examplary novice brother at the Society of Jesus. He preached to Koreans who came here because of the war that ended three years ago in his native language as well as to the Japanese, which was a great blessing for us." 이 조선인 가이오는 일본에 머물 수도 있었지만 스스로 자진하여 영주의 봉사자로 추방되는 길을 택하였다」. 이어 「가이오는 1571년에 조선에서 태어났는데 양친은 그를 사원에 바쳤다. 불승으로서, 은둔자로서 동굴생활을 하고 있던 중, 1592년 포로가 되어 교토에 끌려왔다. 그의 주인은 애정 깊은 사람이어서 교토의 어느 사원에 들어갈 수 있게 하였다. 그러나 그는 여기서도 결코 영혼의 안식을 얻을 수가 없어 고뇌에 빠져 병에 걸렸다. 가이오는 다시 전 주인을 찾아가 기리시탄을 소개받아 교토의 교회에서 세례를 받았다. 그 후 예비수사로 예수회 수도원에서 생활의 모범을 보였다. 일본인 뿐 아니라 3년 전에 끝난 전쟁으로 많은 조선인이 있어 그들에게 자국말로 설교를 하여 우리들로써는 큰 행복이었다」라고 말하고 있다. 가이오는 예수회의 전도사로서의 일을 오사카에서 시작하여 사카이와 가나자와에서 봉사하다가 추방의 무리에 합세하였다. 그 후 가이오는 다시 일본에 잠입하여 순교하게 된다. http://www.catholictimes.org/news/news_view.cath?seq=27387
[edit] St. Alphonsus Liguori
St. Alphonsus Liguori, Victories of the Martyrs (1954) pg. 393
I REFRAIN from speaking of those martyrs whose com bats resemble one another too much, so that the narrative may not become irksome to the reader. I cannot, how ever, pass over in silence those whose history contains certain particular circumstances. Such is the martyrdom of James Coici and of Caius, both having been burnt for the faith at Omura in 1625.
James was arrested for having lodged a missionary. Caius, on learning that James, his friend, was in prison, went thither to speak to him; and as the guards opposed his entrance, he opened a passage for himself by main force. In punishment for this insolence he was held a prisoner, and the lieutenant of the governor had him punished so severely that his face was black and blue. The lieutenant then told him that he could not save him from the chastisement that he merited unless he would promise to teach no more the Christian doctrine, as he had been in the habit of doing. Caius pleaded in excuse that he had consecrated his life to the instruction of his neighbor. The lieutenant nevertheless, as he took a liking to him, wished to set him at liberty; but Caius said to him while leaving the prison: " Do not think that I shall stop coming here; I will come to serve the prisoners, cost what it may." At these words the lieutenant changed his mind, and ordered him to be put in irons.
The governor having arrived at Omura from Nangasaki, ordered Caius to be brought before him; he prom ised that the past would be forgotten if he would bind himself no more to instruct the Christians. Caius again protested that it was a work of charity, which he could not give up. Thereupon the governor remanded him to prison, threatening that he would have him burnt alive. In fact, a short time afterwards he, with his friend James, was condemned to death by fire. They gayly walked to the place of execution, singing the litany of the saints. When they arrived, Caius broke away from the hands of his guards, and ran to embrace the stake that was destined for him; James in his turn did the same. They were then tied, and fire was set to the funeral pile, Caius knelt down in the middle of the flames, and while thanking God in a loud voice for having found him worthy to die as he had desired, he expired. James was also kneeling in the middle of the fire; when his cords had been consumed he arose as if he wished to speak to those present, but as his strength failed him he again knelt down, and died while invoking Jesus and Mary.
I must relate here the conversion of Caius. He was a native of Corea. Although brought up in paganism, he conceived so ardent a desire for the salvation of his soul that he retired into the woods so as better to think of the means to attain it.
Corea having fallen into the hands of the Japanese, our young solitary was made a slave and transported to Japan, where he begin to examine what sect of bonzes he should embrace. In the mean time he retired to their principal house at Meaco. One day during sleep it seemed to him that the house was on fire: a little while afterwards a young child of ravishing beauty appeared to him, and announced to him that he would soon meet what he desired; at the same time he felt himself quite well, though he had been sick. Desparing of seeing among the bonzes the light for which he was longing, he resolved to leave them. Scarcely had he left the house when he met a Christian, to whom he made known his mental troubles. The Christian having explained to him some truths of our faith, he was filled with admiration, and went to the house of the missionaries to become more thoroughly instructed. After receiving baptism Caius consecrated himself unreservedly to the service of GOD and to the instruction of the idolaters, and martyrdom put him in possession of the sovereign happiness which he was seeking."
[edit] Charles Dallet
Dallet, Charles. Histoire de le̓́glise de Corée 1874. p. 6 "The young Korean Caius was burned at the stake at Nangasaki. His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart. Born some time before the entering of the Japanese, he as a youth had an extreme desire to arrive at the true happiness, i.e. with a happiness which did not have end. He withdrew into solitude to meditate with more ease on this happiness which he sought. He had as a dwelling only a cave, which he shared with a tiger, which occupied it before him. This wild animal respected its host; it even yielded the cave to him some time after, and withdrew elsewhere.
The young recluse in the single view of preserving his innocence, exerted all kinds of mortifications; he abstained from all that was not absolutely necessary to the life. One night that he was in meditation, a man of majestic aspect appeared to him, and said to him:
"Take courage; in one year you will pass the sea, and, after many work and from fatigues, you will obtain the object of your desire."
This same year, the Japanese invaded Korea, and the young recluse was made a prisoner. The vessel which transported him to Japan having been shipwrecked close to the Tsushima island, Caius escaped to the shore; those who led the vessel probably perished in the floods. At all events, he recovered his freedom. Allured by the austere life of the bonzes, he believed to have found what he sought since so many years, and withdrew himself in one of the most famous pagodas of Kyoto.
But it was not a long time to realize of his error; these idolatrous monks were certainly something less than perfect men. This mistake caused him a so great sorrow that he fell sick from there. During his illness, it seemed to him to see the pagoda all on fire, then a child of a charming beauty appeared to him and comforted him:
"Fear no more", he told him, "you are close to obtaining the happiness you desire."
He was not yet cured when he abandoned the Buddhist monastery. The very same day, he met a Christian with whom he told his sorrows and his adventures; this one brought him at once to the college of Jesuits, where one informed him of the mysteries of the religion. As his heart was already prepared to receive the divine inspiration, he believed without hesitating, tasted without sorrow holy morals of the Gospel, and asked baptism immediately. They did not think it fit to subject him to a longer test, and the grace of the sacrament produced in a soul laid out so well of the admirable effects. While he was instructed, one of the Fathers showed him a tableau representing Our Lord: "Oh! here, he exclaimed, here is who appeared to me in my cave, and who predicted all to me that arrived to me"
He was put to the missionaries and was devoted to the care of the patients, especially the leprous ones. There is no virtue in which this predestined soul has not set an example: mortifications almost excessive, charity for the unhappy ones, eager care for the missionaries, whose works and dangers he shared, zeal for the salvation of souls, etc... Nothing was above his powers when needed to testify for the recognition of a God who had conferred on him so many graces, even before he could know and appreciate His gifts. In 1614, he followed to the Philippines, Ukandono, a general of the armies of Japan, who was exiled for the faith. After the death of this great man, he went back to Japan, and took again his functions of catechist.
Persecution taking everyday a more alarming character, he believed himself obligated to redouble his fervor; he multiplied his austerities and his prayers. God rewarded him so much for his virtues by a glorious martyrdom. The neophyte having gone one day, according to his habit, to visit the confessors of the faith, declared himself Christian and catechist; he was stopped at once and led in the prisons of Nangasaki, where he had to suffer much. He submitted with admirable constancy."
"le jeune Coréen Caïo fut brûlé vif à Nangasaki. Son histoire prouve, d'une manière éclatante, que Dieu ferait un miracle plutôt que d'abandonner un infidèle qui suit les lumières de sa conscience, et cherche la vérité d'un cœur droit et docile. Né quelque temps avant l'invasion japonaise, il éprouva dès son jeune âge un désir extrême de parvenir au vrai bonheur, c'est-à-dire à un bonheur qui n'eût point de fin. Il se retira dans une solitude pour méditer plus à son aise sur cette félicité qu'il cherchait. Il n'avait pour habitation qu'une caverne, qu'il partageait avec un tigre qui l'occupait avant lui. Ce féroce animal respecta son hôte ; il lui céda même la caverne quelque temps après, et se retira ailleurs. Le jeune solitaire dans l'unique vue de conserver son innocence, s'exerçait à toutes sortes de mortifications ; il s'abstenait de tout ce qui n'était pas absolument nécessaire à la vie. Une nuit qu'il était en méditation, un homme d'aspect majestueux lui apparut, et lui dit : « Prends courage; dans un an tu passeras la mer, et, après bien des travaux et des fatigues, tu obtiendras l'objet de tes désirs. » Cette même année, les Japonais entrèrent en Corée, et le jeune solitaire fut fait prisonnier. Le vaisseau qui le transportait au Japon ayant fait naufrage près de l'île Tsoutsima, Caïo se sauva à la côte ; ceux qui le conduisaient périrent probablement dans les flots. Quoi qu'il en soit, il recouvra sa liberté. Séduit par la vie austère des bonzes, il crut avoir trouvé ce qu'il cherchait depuis tant d'années, et se retira dans une des plus célèbres pagodes de Méaco. Mais il ne fut pas longtemps san s'apercevoir de son erreur ; ces religieux idolâtres n'étaient rien moins que des hommes parfaits. Cette méprise lui causa un si grand chagrin qu'il en tomba malade. Pendant sa maladie, il lui sembla voir la pagode tout en feu, puis un enfant d'une beauté ravissante lui apparut et le consola : « Ne crains pas, lui dit-il, tu es à la veille d'obtenir ce bonheur tant désiré. » Il n'était pas encore guéri, qu'il abandonna la bonzerie. Le jour même, il rencontra un chrétien à qui il raconta ses peines et ses aventures; celui-ci l'amena sur-le-champ u collége des Jésuites, où on l'instruisit des mystères de la relion. Comme son cœur était déjà préparé à recevoir la divine menée, il crut sans hésiter, goûta sans peine la sainte morale l'Évangile, et demanda aussitôt le baptême. On ne pensa pas levoir le soumettre à une plus longue épreuve, et la grâce du sacrement produisit dans une âme si bien disposée des effets admirables. Pendant qu'on l'instruisait, un des Pères lui montra un tableau représentant Nôtre-Seigneur: « Oh ! voilà, s'écria-t-il, voilà celui qui m'a apparu dans ma caverne, et qui m'a prédit tout ce qui m'est arrivé. » Il se mit à la suite des missionnaires el se consacra au soin des malades, surtout des lépreux. Il n'est point de vertu dont cette âme prédestinée n'ait donné l'exemple : mortifications presque excessives, charité pour les malheureux, soins empressés pour les missionnaires, dont il partageait les travaux etles dangers, zèle pour le salut des âmes, etc... Rien n'était au-dessus de ses forces, lorsqu'il fallait témoigner de la reconnaissance pour un Dieu qui l'avait prévenu de tant de grâces, avant même qu'il pût connaître et apprécier ses dons. En 1614, il suivit aux Philippines, Ukandono, général des armées du Japon, qui était exilé pour la foi. Après la mort de ce grand homme, il retourna au Japon, et reprit ses fonctions de catéchiste. La persécution prenant tous les jours un caractère plus effrayant, il se crut obligé de redoubler de ferveur; il multiplia ses austérités et ses oraisons. Dieu récompensa tant de vertus par un glorieux martyre. Le néophyte étant allé un jour, selon sa coutume, visiter les confesseurs de la foi, se déclara lui-même chrétien et catéchiste ; il fut arrêté sur-le-champ et conduit dans les prisons de Nangasaki, où il eut beaucoup à souffrir. On le condamna à être brûlé à petit feu, supplice horrible, qu'il subit avec une constance admirable."
[edit] Blessed Caius of Korea (old version)
Blessed Caius of Korea (1571-1625) is the 128th of the 205 martyrs of Japan[1] that Pope Pius IX beatified in 1867, after he had canonized 26 Martyrs of Japan in 1862. Charles Dallet wrote of him: "His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart."
Caius was born in Korea and was given to a Buddhist monastery by his parents. He left the monastery because he could not find the peace that he wanted there. He went into a mountain to live as a hermit, and found a cave of a tiger, which he lived with. The tiger did not harm Caius, and later went away to find another dwelling.
Caius exerted himself all kinds of mortification; he only ate what was necessary to preserve his life.
One night that he was in meditation, a man of majestic aspect appeared to him, and said to him:
"Take courage; in one year you will pass the sea, and, after many work and from fatigues, you will obtain the object of your desire."
The same year, in 1592, the Japan invaded Korea, and Caius was made a prisoner. While heading to Japan, they suffered a shipwreck at Tsushima island. Caius escaped to the shore. Allured by the austere life of the Buddhist monks, he thought he found what he sought for many years, and withdrew himself in one of the most famous pagodas of Kyoto. (His master allowed him to go live at the pagoda).
It didn't take long until he felt that he could not find the peace that he wanted there. This mistake caused him a so great sorrow that he became ill. During his illness, it seemed to him that he saw the pagoda all on fire, then a child of a charming beauty appeared to him and comforted him:
"Fear no more", he told him, "you are close to obtaining the happiness you desire."
He was completely cured after the dream and left the temple and went back to his master, who introduced him to a Christian, who in turn introduced him to the Jesuit priests. He was converted and received baptism immediately.
While he was instructed, one of the Fathers showed him a tableau representing Our Lord: "Oh! Voila!", he exclaimed, "here is who appeared to me in my cave, and who foretold all that happened to me."
He served the sick, especially the leprous.
In 1614, he went to the Philippines with a general of an army of Japan who was exiled for the faith, in order to work as a servant for the general. After the death of the general, he went back to Japan, and began again his functions of catechist. He was a great help to the missionaries by preaching in his native language to the Koreans who were brought to Japan after the war.
In 1625, he was burned at the stake with James Coici, a Japanese martyr.
- ^ List of Martyrs of Japan
- ^ 이 조선인 가이오는 일본에 머물 수도 있었지만 스스로 자진하여 영주의 봉사자로 추방되는 길을 택하였다」. 이어 「가이오는 1571년에 조선에서 태어났는데 양친은 그를 사원에 바쳤다. 불승으로서, 은둔자로서 동굴생활을 하고 있던 중, 1592년 포로가 되어 교토에 끌려왔다. 그의 주인은 애정 깊은 사람이어서 교토의 어느 사원에 들어갈 수 있게 하였다. 그러나 그는 여기서도 결코 영혼의 안식을 얻을 수가 없어 고뇌에 빠져 병에 걸렸다. 가이오는 다시 전 주인을 찾아가 기리시탄을 소개받아 교토의 교회에서 세례를 받았다. 그 후 예비수사로 예수회 수도원에서 생활의 모범을 보였다. 일본인 뿐 아니라 3년 전에 끝난 전쟁으로 많은 조선인이 있어 그들에게 자국말로 설교를 하여 우리들로써는 큰 행복이었다」라고 말하고 있다. 가이오는 예수회의 전도사로서의 일을 오사카에서 시작하여 사카이와 가나자와에서 봉사하다가 추방의 무리에 합세하였다. 그 후 가이오는 다시 일본에 잠입하여 순교하게 된다. http://www.catholictimes.org/news/news_view.cath?seq=27387
- ^ St. Alphonsus Liguori, Victories of the Martyrs (1954) pg. 393
I REFRAIN from speaking of those martyrs whose com bats resemble one another too much, so that the narrative may not become irksome to the reader. I cannot, how ever, pass over in silence those whose history contains certain particular circumstances. Such is the martyrdom of James Coici and of Cains, both having been burnt for the faith at Omura in 1625.
James was arrested for having lodged a missionary. Caius, on learning that James, his friend, was in prison, went thither to speak to him; and as the guards opposed his entrance, he opened a passage for himself by main force. In punishment for this insolence he was held a prisoner, and the lieutenant of the governor had him punished so severely that his face was black and blue. The lieutenant then told him that he could not save him from the chastisement that he merited unless he would promise to teach no more the Christian doctrine, as he had been in the habit of doing. Caius pleaded in excuse that he had consecrated his life to the instruction of his neighbor. The lieutenant nevertheless, as he took a liking to him, wished to set him at liberty; but Caius said to him while leaving the prison: " Do not think that I shall stop coming here; I will come to serve the prisoners, cost what it may." At these words the lieutenant changed his mind, and ordered him to be put in irons.
The governor having arrived at Omura from Nangasaki, ordered Caius to be brought before him; he prom ised that the past would be forgotten if he would bind himself no more to instruct the Christians. Caius again protested that it was a work of charity, which he could not give up. Thereupon the governor remanded him to prison, threatening that he would have him burnt alive. In fact, a short time afterwards he, with his friend James, was condemned to death by fire. They gayly walked to the place of execution, singing the litany of the saints. When they arrived, Caius broke away from the hands of his guards, and ran to embrace the stake that was destined for him; James in his turn did the same. They were then tied, and fire was set to the funeral pile, Caius knelt down in the middle of the flames, and while thanking God in a loud voice for having found him worthy to die as he had desired, he expired. James was also kneeling in the middle of the fire; when his cords had been consumed he arose as if he wished to speak to those present, but as his strength failed him he again knelt down, and died while invoking Jesus and Mary.
I must relate here the conversion of Caius. He was a native of Corea. Although brought up in paganism, he conceived so ardent a desire for the salvation of his soul that he retired into the woods so as better to think of the means to attain it.
Corea having fallen into the hands of the Japanese, our young solitary was made a slave and transported to Japan, where he begin to examine what sect of bonzes he should embrace. In the mean time he retired to their principal house at Meaco. One day during sleep it seemed to him that the house was on fire: a little while afterwards a young child of ravishing beauty appeared to him, and announced to him that he would soon meet what he desired; at the same time he felt himself quite well, though he had been sick. Desparing of seeing among the bonzes the light for which he was longing, he resolved to leave them. Scarcely had he left the house when he met a Christian, to whom he made known his mental troubles. The Christian having explained to him some truths of our faith, he was filled with admiration, and went to the house of the missionaries to become more thoroughly instructed. After receiving baptism Caius consecrated himself unreservedly to the service of GOD and to the instruction of the idolaters, and martyrdom put him in possession of the sovereign happiness which he was seeking."
- ^ Dallet, Charles. Histoire de le̓́glise de Corée 1874. p. 6 "The young Korean Caius was burned at the stake at Nangasaki. His history proves, in a striking way, that God would rather make a miracle than to abandon an infidel who follows the lights of its conscience, and seeks the truth with an upright and docile heart. Born some time before the entering of the Japanese, he as a youth had an extreme desire to arrive at the true happiness, i.e. with a happiness which did not have end. He withdrew into solitude to meditate with more ease on this happiness which he sought. He had as a dwelling only a cave, which he shared with a tiger, which occupied it before him. This wild animal respected its host; it even yielded the cave to him some time after, and withdrew elsewhere. The young recluse in the single view of preserving his innocence, exerted all kinds of mortifications; he abstained from all that was not absolutely necessary to the life. One night that he was in meditation, a man of majestic aspect appeared to him, and said to him:
"Take courage; in one year you will pass the sea, and, after many work and from fatigues, you will obtain the object of your desire."
This same year, the Japanese invaded Korea, and the young recluse was made a prisoner. The vessel which transported him to Japan having been shipwrecked close to the Tsushima island, Caius escaped to the shore; those who led the vessel probably perished in the floods. At all events, he recovered his freedom. Allured by the austere life of the bonzes, he believed to have found what he sought since so many years, and withdrew himself in one of the most famous pagodas of Kyoto.
But it was not a long time to realize of his error; these idolatrous monks were certainly something less than perfect men. This mistake caused him a so great sorrow that he fell sick from there. During his illness, it seemed to him to see the pagoda all on fire, then a child of a charming beauty appeared to him and comforted him:
"Fear no more", he told him, "you are close to obtaining the happiness you desire."
He was not yet cured when he abandoned the Buddhist monastery. The very same day, he met a Christian with whom he told his sorrows and his adventures; this one brought him at once to the college of Jesuits, where one informed him of the mysteries of the religion. As his heart was already prepared to receive the divine inspiration, he believed without hesitating, tasted without sorrow holy morals of the Gospel, and asked baptism immediately. They did not think it fit to subject him to a longer test, and the grace of the sacrament produced in a soul laid out so well of the admirable effects. While he was instructed, one of the Fathers showed him a tableau representing Our Lord: "Oh! here, he exclaimed, here is who appeared to me in my cave, and who predicted all to me that arrived to me"
He was put to the missionaries and was devoted to the care of the patients, especially the leprous ones. There is no virtue in which this predestined soul has not set an example: mortifications almost excessive, charity for the unhappy ones, eager care for the missionaries, whose works and dangers he shared, zeal for the salvation of souls, etc... Nothing was above his powers when needed to testify for the recognition of a God who had conferred on him so many graces, even before he could know and appreciate His gifts. In 1614, he followed to the Philippines, Ukandono, a general of the armies of Japan, who was exiled for the faith. After the death of this great man, he went back to Japan, and took again his functions of catechist.
Persecution taking everyday a more alarming character, he believed himself obligated to redouble his fervor; he multiplied his austerities and his prayers. God rewarded him so much for his virtues by a glorious martyrdom. The neophyte having gone one day, according to his habit, to visit the confessors of the faith, declared himself Christian and catechist; he was stopped at once and led in the prisons of Nangasaki, where he had to suffer much. He submitted with admirable constancy."
"le jeune Coréen Caïo fut brûlé vif à Nangasaki. Son histoire prouve, d'une manière éclatante, que Dieu ferait un miracle plutôt que d'abandonner un infidèle qui suit les lumières de sa conscience, et cherche la vérité d'un cœur droit et docile. Né quelque temps avant l'invasion japonaise, il éprouva dès son jeune âge un désir extrême de parvenir au vrai bonheur, c'est-à-dire à un bonheur qui n'eût point de fin. Il se retira dans une solitude pour méditer plus à son aise sur cette félicité qu'il cherchait. Il n'avait pour habitation qu'une caverne, qu'il partageait avec un tigre qui l'occupait avant lui. Ce féroce animal respecta son hôte ; il lui céda même la caverne quelque temps après, et se retira ailleurs. Le jeune solitaire dans l'unique vue de conserver son innocence, s'exerçait à toutes sortes de mortifications ; il s'abstenait de tout ce qui n'était pas absolument nécessaire à la vie. Une nuit qu'il était en méditation, un homme d'aspect majestueux lui apparut, et lui dit : « Prends courage; dans un an tu passeras la mer, et, après bien des travaux et des fatigues, tu obtiendras l'objet de tes désirs. » Cette même année, les Japonais entrèrent en Corée, et le jeune solitaire fut fait prisonnier. Le vaisseau qui le transportait au Japon ayant fait naufrage près de l'île Tsoutsima, Caïo se sauva à la côte ; ceux qui le conduisaient périrent probablement dans les flots. Quoi qu'il en soit, il recouvra sa liberté. Séduit par la vie austère des bonzes, il crut avoir trouvé ce qu'il cherchait depuis tant d'années, et se retira dans une des plus célèbres pagodes de Méaco. Mais il ne fut pas longtemps san s'apercevoir de son erreur ; ces religieux idolâtres n'étaient rien moins que des hommes parfaits. Cette méprise lui causa un si grand chagrin qu'il en tomba malade. Pendant sa maladie, il lui sembla voir la pagode tout en feu, puis un enfant d'une beauté ravissante lui apparut et le consola : « Ne crains pas, lui dit-il, tu es à la veille d'obtenir ce bonheur tant désiré. » Il n'était pas encore guéri, qu'il abandonna la bonzerie. Le jour même, il rencontra un chrétien à qui il raconta ses peines et ses aventures; celui-ci l'amena sur-le-champ u collége des Jésuites, où on l'instruisit des mystères de la relion. Comme son cœur était déjà préparé à recevoir la divine menée, il crut sans hésiter, goûta sans peine la sainte morale l'Évangile, et demanda aussitôt le baptême. On ne pensa pas levoir le soumettre à une plus longue épreuve, et la grâce du sacrement produisit dans une âme si bien disposée des effets admirables. Pendant qu'on l'instruisait, un des Pères lui montra un tableau représentant Nôtre-Seigneur: « Oh ! voilà, s'écria-t-il, voilà celui qui m'a apparu dans ma caverne, et qui m'a prédit tout ce qui m'est arrivé. » Il se mit à la suite des missionnaires el se consacra au soin des malades, surtout des lépreux. Il n'est point de vertu dont cette âme prédestinée n'ait donné l'exemple : mortifications presque excessives, charité pour les malheureux, soins empressés pour les missionnaires, dont il partageait les travaux etles dangers, zèle pour le salut des âmes, etc... Rien n'était au-dessus de ses forces, lorsqu'il fallait témoigner de la reconnaissance pour un Dieu qui l'avait prévenu de tant de grâces, avant même qu'il pût connaître et apprécier ses dons. En 1614, il suivit aux Philippines, Ukandono, général des armées du Japon, qui était exilé pour la foi. Après la mort de ce grand homme, il retourna au Japon, et reprit ses fonctions de catéchiste. La persécution prenant tous les jours un caractère plus effrayant, il se crut obligé de redoubler de ferveur; il multiplia ses austérités et ses oraisons. Dieu récompensa tant de vertus par un glorieux martyre. Le néophyte étant allé un jour, selon sa coutume, visiter les confesseurs de la foi, se déclara lui-même chrétien et catéchiste ; il fut arrêté sur-le-champ et conduit dans les prisons de Nangasaki, où il eut beaucoup à souffrir. On le condamna à être brûlé à petit feu, supplice horrible, qu'il subit
avec une constance admirable."
[edit] Rosary
Rosa mystica : the 15 mysteries of the most holy rosary and other joys, sorrows and glories of Mary http://www.archive.org/details/rosamystica00bestuoft
[edit] NFP
There is a natural law written in the human heart and conscience will tell them if they transgress this law. So a pagan will feel guilty if he murders someone out of hatred. If they don't feel guilty, it means their conscience is awry, and that's their fault.
The same way, if one were to argue that NFP is a mortal sin, one would have to say that people will feel guilty about NFP, because sin of impurity is a sin against the natural law written in the human heart. If they don't feel the guilt, it's because their conscience has gone awry because of repetition of the same sin, and they are guilty nevertheless.
[edit] Luis Granada
[edit] Biography
He was born of poor parents. At the age of nineteen he was received into the Dominican Order in the convent of Santa Cruz, Granada. His philosophical studies finished, he was chosen by his superiors to represent his convent at the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid, an institution of the Dominican Order reserved for extraordinary students.
His studies completed, he entered upon the career of a preacher, in which he continued with extraordinary success during forty years. The fame of his preaching spread beyond the boundaries of his native land, and at the request of the Cardinal Infante, Dom Henrique of Portugal, son of King Manuel, he was transferred to Portugal, where he became provincial of the Portuguese Dominicans in 1557. His extraordinary sanctity, learning, and wisdom soon attracted the attention of the queen regent, who appointed him her confessor and counselor. The Bishopric of Viseu and the Archbishopric of Braga were successively offered to him only to be courteously, but firmly, refused. The honours of the cardinalate, offered to him by Pope Sixtus V, were also declined.
Besides ascetical theology, his published works treat of Scripture, dogma, ethics, biography, and Church history. He is best known, however, for his ascetical writings. Most of them were translated into many languages. The best known of his ascetical writings, and the one that achieved the greatest measure of success, is The Sinner's Guide (La Guia de Pecadores), published in 1555. It is marked by a smooth, harmonious style of purest Spanish idiom which has merited for it the reputation of a classic, and by an unctuous eloquence that has made it a perennial source of religious inspiration. It has been most favourable compared with A Kempis's "Imitation of Christ". Within a comparatively short time after its first appearance it was translated into Italian, Latin, French, German, Polish, and Greek. He earned much money for his writings, all of which went to the poor.
In 1539, at the age of 35, he wrote a small tract on the method of prayer for a student who had written to him for advice. This tract developed into his first book, The Book of Prayer and Meditation, published in 1554. The unexpected success of the book led him to dedicate himself to writing on spiritual themes for all. He led a life of an ascetic, his cell being poor and having little possessions. He wrote for 35 years, producing 49 works.
He died at the age of 84.
St. Rose's favorite book of Ven. Louis was The Book of Prayer and Meditation--a book that laments the miseries of life and manifests spiritual contempt for the world. Once, she banished the devil's temptations by reading this book causing the devil to snatch the book from her and throw it onto a rubbish heap. Rose remained calm, certain that the Lord would return it to her, and she got it back.
Other famous Catholics who have read and loved the works of Venerable Louis include St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, St. Francis de Sales, Cardinal Berulle and Bossuet (all French); St. Charles Borromeo (Italian), Louis of Leon (Spanish), and the Jesuit and Barnabite Orders. St. Teresa read his books and commanded her nuns to do so.
St. Francis de Sales highly commended to a Bishop-elect to read the works of Louis of Granada, and to regard them as a second breviary. He advised the Bishop-elect to read them slowly, beginning with The Sinner's Guide.[1]
[edit] His books
- de Granada, Luis (1554). Libro de la Oracion y Meditacion (The Book of Prayer and Meditation); Andrés de Portonariis; Salamanca, Spain.
[edit] Works by others
- A biography was written by L. Munoz, La Vida y virtudes de Luis de Granada (Madrid, 1639).
[edit] EENS
[edit] One must explicitly believe in the Trinity and Incarnation
Quotes below from: Chapter II of The Catholic Dogma: Extra Ecclesiam Nullus Omnino Salvatur by 19th century author Fr. Michael Muller C.SS.R., who always submitted his works to two Redemptorist theologians before publishing them, by the rule of the Redemptorists. [1]
...
"Some theologians," says St. Alphonsus, "hold that the belief of the two other articles [besides Existence of God and his punishing or rewarding the immortal soul for eternity] - the Incarnation of the Son of God, and the Trinity of Persons - is strictly commanded but not necessary, as a means without which salvation is impossible; so that a person inculpably ignorant of them may be saved. But according to the more common and truer opinion, the explicit belief of these articles is necessary as a means without which no adult can be saved."
...
We also learn from Christ and his Church, that the explicit faith in the mysteries of the Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation of the Son of God is also required as a necessary means of salvation.
"This is life everlasting," says our Saviour, "that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent; " (John, xvii. 3.), for, says he, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," that lead man to the Father. Hence "no man cometh to the Father but by me." John, xiv.6.)
…
This doctrine is clearly expressed in the following words of the Athanasian Creed: "He, therefore, who wishes to be saved, must thus think of the Trinity," that is, he must believe the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as explained in this Creed. "Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Hence St. Peter says: "Be it known to you, that there is no salvation in any other name than that of Jesus Christ; for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved." (Acts, iv. 10, 10). "Thus," says St. Alphonsus, " there is no hope of salvation except in the merits of Jesus Christ. Hence St. Thomas and all theologians conclude that, since the promulgation of the Gospel, it is necessary, not only as a matter of precept, but also as a means of salvation (necessitate medii, without which no adult can be saved), to believe explicitly that we can be saved only through our Redeemer." (Reflections on the Passion of Jesus Christ, Chapt. I., No. 19). The explicit belief in the mysteries of the Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation of the Son of God is therefore of the greatest importance. This belief teaches the origin of the world, its creation by God the Father; it teaches us the supernatural end of man, his fall, and the redemption of mankind by God the Son; it teaches the sanctification of souls by the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
[edit] Even if a non-Catholic [including protestants] live up to his conscience he cannot be saved unless he has the Catholic faith
“Not guilty of the sin of heresy are all those who, without any fault of theirs, were brought up in a sect of Protestantism, and who never had an opportunity of knowing better. This class of Protestants are called invincibly or inculpably ignorant of the true religion, or material heretics..."
...material heretics may call them selves Christians, and their sects Christian Churches; but they are not the right sort of Christians and their sects are not the true Church of Christ. They are not Catholic Christians....
As long, then, as a material heretic, though through inculpable ignorance, adheres to an heretical sect, he is separated from Christ, because he is separated from his Body—the Catholic Church. In that state he cannot make any supernatural acts of divine faith, hope, and charity, which are necessary to obtain life everlasting, and therefore, if he dies in that state, he is pronounced infallibly lost by St. Augustine, St. Alphonsus and all the great Doctors of the Church." [2]
...we answer with St. Thomas and St. Augustine: "There are many things which a man is obliged to do, but which he cannot do without the help of divine grace: as, for instance, to love God and his neighbor, and to believe the articles of faith; but he can do all this with the help of grace; and `to whomsoever God gives his grace he gives it out of divine mercy; and to whomsoever he does not give it, he refuses it out of divine justice, in punishment of sin committed, or at least in punishment of original sin, as St. Augustine says. (Lib. de correptione et gratia, c. 5 et 6; Sum. 22. q. ii. art. v.) "And the ignorance of those things of salvation, the knowledge of which men did not care to have is without doubt, a sin for them; but for those who were not able to acquire such knowledge, the want of it is a punishment for their sins," says St. Augustine; hence both are justly condemned, and neither the one nor the other has a just excuse for being lost." (Epist. ad Sixtum, Edit. Maur. 194, cap. vi., n. 27.)
Inculpable or invincible ignorance has never been and will never be a means of salvation. To be saved, it is necessary to be justified, or to be in the state of sanctifying grace. In order to obtain sanctifying grace, it is necessary to have the proper dispositions for justification; that is, true divine faith in at least the necessary truths of salvation, confident hope in the divine Savior, sincere sorrow for sin, together with the firm purpose of doing all that God has commanded, etc. Now, these supernatural acts of faith, hope, charity, contrition, etc., which prepare the soul for receiving sanctifying grace, can never be supplied by invincible ignorance; and if invincible ignorance cannot supply the preparation for receiving sanctifying grace, much less can it bestow sanctifying grace itself. "Invincible ignorance", says St. Thomas Aquinas, "is a punishment for sin". (De Infid. q. x., art. 1.) It is, then, a curse, but not a blessing or a means of salvation.
But if we say that inculpable ignorance cannot save a man, we thereby do not say that invincible ignorance damns a man. Far from it. To say, invincible ignorance is no means of salvation, is one thing; and to say, invincible ignorance is the cause of damnation, is another. To maintain the latter would be wrong, for inculpable ignorance of the fundamental principles of faith excuses a heathen from the sin of infidelity, and a Protestant from the sin of heresy; because such invincible ignorance, being only a simple involuntary privation, is no sin.
Hence Pius IX said "that, were a man to be invincibly ignorant of the true religion, such invincible ignorance would not be sinful before God; that, if such a person should observe the precepts of the Natural Law and do the will of God to the best of his knowledge, God, in His infinite mercy, may enlighten him so as to obtain eternal life; for, the Lord, who knows the heart and thoughts of man, will, in His infinite goodness, not suffer any one to be lost forever without his own fault."
The following quote is from Fr. Muller's article, "Questions and Answers on Salvation".
41. Will those heretics be saved, who are not guilty of the sin of heresy, and are faithful in living up to the dictates of their conscience?
- Inculpable ignorance of the true religion excuses a heathen from the sin of infidelity, and a Protestant from the sin of heresy. But such ignorance has never been the means of salvation. From the fact that a person who lives up to the dictates of his conscience, and who cannot sin against the true religion on account of being ignorant of it, many have drawn the false conclusion that such a person is saved, or, in other words, is in the state of sanctifying grace, thus making ignorance a means of salvation or justification.
- If we sincerely wish not to make great mistakes in explaining the great revealed truth, "Out of the Church there is no salvation," we must remember:
- 1. That there are four great truths of salvation, which everyone must know and believe in order to be saved; [Existence of God, Justice of God (rewards the good and punishes the wicked), Trinity, Incarnation/Redemption.]
- 2. That no one can go to heaven unless he is in the state of sanctifying grace;
- 3. That, in order to receive sanctifying grace, the soul must be prepared for it by divine Faith, Hope, Charity, true sorrow for sin with the firm purpose of doing all that God requires the soul to believe and to do, in order to be saved;
- 4. That this preparation of the soul cannot be brought by inculpable ignorance. And if such ignorance cannot even dispose the soul for receiving the grace of justification, it can much less give this grace to the soul. Inculpable ignorance has never been a means of grace or salvation, not even for the inculpably ignorant people that live up to their conscience. But of this class of ignorant persons we say, with Saint Thomas Aquinas, that God in His mercy will lead these souls to the knowledge of the necessary truths of salvation, even send them an angel, if necessary, to instruct them, rather than let them perish without their fault. If they accept this grace, they will be saved as Catholics.
[edit] Bishop Hay
The following is a quote from The Catholic Dogma: Extra Ecclesiam Nullus Omnino Salvatur.
But if a man act according to the dictates of his conscience, and follow exactly the light of reason which God has implanted in him for his guide, is that not sufficient to bring him to salvation?
"This is, indeed," says Bishop Hay, "a specious proposition; but a fallacy lurks under it. When man was created, his reason was then an enlightened reason. Illuminated by the grace of original righteousness, with which his soul was adorned, reason and conscience were safe guides to conduct him in the way of salvation. But by sin this light was miserably darkened, and his reason clouded by ignorance and error. It was not, indeed, entirely extinguished; it still clearly teaches him many great truths, but it is at present so influenced by pride, passion, prejudice, and other such corrupt motives, that in many instances it serves only to confirm him in error, by giving an appearance of reason to the suggestions of self-love and passion. This is too commonly the case, even in natural things; but in the supernatural, in things relating to God and eternity, our reason, if left to itself, is miserably blind. To remedy this, God has given us the light of faith as a sure and safe guide to conduct us to salvation, appointing his holy Church the guardian and depository of this heavenly light; consequently, though a man may pretend to act according to reason and conscience, and even flatter himself that he does so, yet reason and conscience, if not enlightened and guided by true faith, can never bring him to salvation.
"Nothing can be more striking than the words of Holy Scripture on this subject. 'There is a way,' says the wise man, 'that seemeth right to a man, but the ends thereof lead to death.' (Prov. xiv. 10.) What can be more plain than this, to show that a man may act according to what he thinks the light of reason and conscience, persuaded he is doing right, and yet, in fact, he is only running on in the way to perdition! And do not all those who are seduced by false prophets, and false teachers, think they are in the right way? Is it not under the pretext of acting according to conscience that they are seduced? and yet the mouth of truth itself has declared, that 'if the blind lead the blind; both shall fall into the pit.' (Mat. xv. 14.) In order to show us to what excess of wickedness man may go under the pretence of following his conscience, the same Eternal Truth says to his apostles, ' the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God a service;' (John xvi. 2.) but observe what he adds, - 'And these things will they do because they have not known the Father nor me.' (Ib. 3.) Which shows that, if one has not the true knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, which can be obtained only through true faith in the Church, there is no enormity of which he is not capable while thinking he is acting according to reason and conscience. Had we only the light of reason to direct us, we would be justified in following it; but as God has given us an external guide in his holy Church, to assist and correct our blinded reason by the light of faith; our reason alone, unassisted by this guide, can never be sufficient for salvation.
"Nothing will set this in a clearer light than a few examples. Conscience tells a heathen that it is not only lawful, but a duty, to worship and offer sacrifice to idols, the work of men's hands. Will his doing so, according to his conscience, save him? or will these sets of idolatry be innocent or agreeable in the sight of God, because they are performed according to conscience? ' The idol that is made by hands is cursed, as well as he that made it; . . . for that which is made, together with him that made it, shall suffer torments.' (Wis. xiv. 8, 10.) Also, 'He that sacrificeth to gods shall be put to death, save only to the Lord.' (Exod. xxii. 20.) In like manner, a Jew's conscience tells him that he may lawfully and meritoriously blaspheme Jesus Christ, and approve the conduct of his forefathers in putting him to death upon a tree. Will such blasphemy save him, because it is according to the dictates of his conscience? The Holy Ghost, by the mouth of St. Paul, says, 'If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,' that is, 'accursed.' (I. Cor. xvi. 22.) A Mahometan is taught by his conscience that it would be a crime to believe in Jesus Christ, and not believe in Mahomet; will this impious conscience save him? The Scripture assures us that 'there is no other name given to men under heaven by which we can be saved,' but the name of Jesus only; and 'he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remaineth on him.' All the various sects which have been separated from the true Church, in every age, have uniformly calumniated and slandered her, speaking evil of the truth professed by her, believing in their conscience that this was not only lawful, but highly meritorious. Will calumnies and slanders against the Church of Jesus Christ save them because of their approving conscience? The Word of God declares, 'That the nation and the kingdom that will not serve her shall perish;' and 'there shall be lying teachers who shall bring in damnable heresies, bringing upon themselves swift destruction, . . . through whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.' (II. Pet. ii. 1.) In all these, and similar cases, their conscience is their greatest crime, and shows to what a height of impiety conscience and reason can lead us, when under the influence of pride, passion, prejudice, and self-love. Conscience and reason, therefore, can never be safe guides to salvation, unless directed by the sacred light of revealed truth."
[edit] Bp. Hay. 'Can invincibly ignorant protestants be saved?'
Below from The Sincere Christian: [3]
Q. 9. What judgment does the Scripture pass on all those Christians who are separated from the Church by heresy? Can they be saved if they be in invincible ignorance, and live and die in their state of separation from the True Church of Christ?
A. These are in a very different state from Mahometans, Jews, and heathens, provided they have true Baptism among them; for if they either have no Baptism, or have altered the form of giving it ordained by Christ, then they are in no better state as to the possibility of their salvation than heathens, though they may assume the name of Christians. But if they have valid Baptism, then they are, by it, made true members of the Church of Christ, and those who die young, in their Baptismal innocence, shall undoubtedly be saved. But as to those among them who come to the years of discretion, are educated in a false faith, and live and die in a state of separation from the communion of the Church of Christ, we also must distinguish between two different cases. The first is that of those who either live among Catholics or have Catholics living in the same country with them; who know there are such persons, and often hear of them. The second regards those who have no such knowledge, and who seldom or never hear Catholics spoken of except in a false and odious light.
Q. 10. What is to be said of those who live among Catholics? If they be in invincible ignorance, and die in their state of separation, can they be saved?
A. It is next to impossible for anyone of this class to be in a state of invincible ignorance; for, to be invincibly ignorant, three things are necessarily required,-----first, that a person have a real and sincere desire of knowing the truth; for if he be cold and indifferent about an affair of such importance as his eternal salvation; if he be careless whether he be in the right way or not; if, enslaved to this present life, he take no concern about the next, it is manifest that an ignorance arising from this disposition is voluntary ignorance, and therefore highly culpable in the sight of God. It will be still more so if a person be positively unwilling to seek the truth from the fear of worldly inconvenience, and therefore avoid every opportunity of knowing it. Of these the Scripture says, "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to Hell; who have said to God, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways," [Job 21: 13]. Secondly, In order that one be invincibly ignorant, it is required, that he be sincerely resolved to embrace the truth wherever he may find it, and whatever it may cost him. For if he be not fully resolved to follow the will of God, wherever it shall appear in all things necessary to salvation if, on the contrary, he, be so disposed that he rather would neglect his duty and hazard his soul than offend his friends or expose himself to some temporal loss or disadvantage, his ignorance is culpable, and can never excuse him before his Creator. Of this Our Savior says, "He that loveth father or mother, or son or daughter, more than Me, is not worthy of Me," [Matt. 10: 37]. The third thing necessary for a person to be in invincible ignorance is, that he sincerely use his best endeavors to know his duty, and particularly, that he recommend the matter earnestly to Almighty God, and pray for light and direction from Him. For, whatever desire he may have of knowing the truth, if he does not use the proper means of finding it, his ignorance is not invincible but voluntary. Ignorance is invincible only when a person has a sincere desire to know the truth, with a full resolution to embrace it, but. either has no possible means of knowing it, or after using his best endeavors, is unable to discover it. Therefore, if a person be deficient in seeking to know his duty, his ignorance is not invincible-----it is his own fault that he does not know it; and if inattention, indifference, worldly motives, or unjust prejudices influence his judgment, and cause it to yield to the bias of education, he has neither invincible ignorance nor the fear of God.
Now, it is inconsistent with the goodness, and promises of God, that a person brought up in a false religion, but who is in the state supposed by these three conditions, and uses his best endeavors to know the truth, should be left in invincible ignorance of it; but if, from his attachment to the world, to sensual or selfish objects, he be not so disposed, and neglect the proper means for arriving at the truth, then his ignorance is voluntary and culpable, not invincible.
Q. 11. But what if doubt never rises in his mind, and he goes on bona fide, in the way in which he was brought up?
A. It is a mistake to suppose that a formal doubt is necessary to render one's ignorance of his duty voluntary and culpable; it is enough that there be sufficient reason for doubting, though from his unjust prejudices, obstinacy, pride, or other evil dispositions of the heart, he hinder these reasons from exciting a formal doubt in his mind. Saul had no doubt when he offered sacrifice before the prophet Samuel came; on the contrary, he was persuaded that he had the strongest reasons for doing so, yet he was condemned for that very action, and himself and his family rejected by Almighty God. The Jews believed that they were acting well when they put our Savior to death; nay, their high priest declared in full council that it was expedient for the good and safety of the nation that they should do so. They were grossly mistaken, indeed, and sadly ignorant of their duty; but their ignorance was culpable, and they were severely condemned for what they did, though it was done in ignorance. And indeed all who act from a false and erroneous conscience are highly blamable for having such a conscience, though they have never entertained any formal doubt. Nay, their not having such a doubt when they have just and solid grounds for doubting, rather renders them the more guilty, because it shows greater corruption of the heart, greater depravity of disposition. A person brought, up in a false faith which the Scripture calls sects of perdition, doctrines of devils, perverse things, lies, and hypocrisy-----and who has heard of the True Church of Christ, which condemns all these sects, and sees their divisions and dissensions has always before his eyes the strongest reason to doubt the safety of his own state.
If he make any examination with sincere dispositions of heart, he must be convinced that he is in the wrong; and the more he examines, the more clearly will he see it,-----for this plain reason, that it is simply impossible that false doctrine, lies, and hypocrisy should ever be supported by solid arguments sufficient to satisfy a reasonable person, who sincerely seeks the truth, and begs light from God to direct him in the search. Hence, if such a person never doubts, but goes on, as is supposed, bona fide, in his own way, notwithstanding the strong grounds of doubt which he daily has before his eyes, this evidently shows either that he is supinely negligent in the concerns of his soul, or that his heart is totally blinded by passion and prejudice.
There were many such persons among the Jews and heathens in the time of the Apostles, who notwithstanding the splendid light of truth which these holy preachers everywhere displayed, and which was the most powerful reason for leading them to doubt of their superstitions, were so far from having such doubts, that they thought by killing the Apostles they did God a service. Whence did this arise? St. Paul himself informs us: "We renounce," says he, "the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the Word of God, but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Here he describes the strange light of the truth which he preached; yet this light was hidden to great numbers, and he immediately gives the reason: "And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not shine upon them," [2 Cor. 4: 2]. Behold the real cause of their incredulity: they are so enslaved to the things of this world by the depravity of their heart, and the devil so blinds them that they cannot see the light; but ignorance arising from such depraved dispositions is a guilty, a voluntary ignorance and therefore never can excuse them.
...
This is the line of argument. Suppose a man born and Baptized in a heretical sect, and afterwards, when he comes of age, to be placed in such circumstances as prevent his ever hearing of the True Religion, except in such false and odious terms as serve only to make him detest it, and to make him more and more attached to his own way, and, on this account, to be in invincible ignorance of the truth: it is acknowledged by all, that this man, by Baptism, is made a member of the Church of Christ, and that, if he die before he comes to the use of reason, he will certainly be saved in his Baptismal innocence. Let us now suppose further, that, when he comes to age, he continues to live an innocent life, and, co-operating with the graces which God bestows upon him, perseveres in his innocence, and does his best, according to his knowledge, and would do better if he knew it: is it not inconsistent with the goodness of God to suppose that such a man, living and dying in this state, would be lost? Is he not, in the sight of God, a real member of the Church of Christ, though not joined in her Communion? And, if he die in his innocence, must he not be saved?
Such is the argument proposed; and it has a specious appearance. But it must be observed that there is the strongest reason to doubt if there ever was, or ever shall be, such a case.
(1) There is not the smallest ground in Scripture to suppose it.
(2) As it is impossible for man, in his present fallen state, to preserve his Baptismal innocence for any space of time, much less to persevere in it to the end of life, without a special and extraordinary grace from God; and, as a grace of this kind is justly esteemed one of the most singular favors given by God to His faithful servants, who are members of His Church, and enjoy all the powerful helps that are only to be found in her Communion, to enable them to do so;-----is it to be supposed that He will bestow this priceless favor upon anyone who is out of her Communion, and consequently deprived of all these helps? And if it be supposed that he loses his Baptismal innocence by committing a mortal sin, but recovers the grace of justification by a sincere repentance, the difficulty still increases. For a repentance without the help of the Sacraments sufficient to obtain the grace of justification includes a perfect contrition, founded on the love of God above all things; a favor so seldom granted to sinners, even in the Church itself, that the Sacrament of Penance is appointed by Jesus Christ as the standing means of supplying our deficiency in that respect. Now, what likelihood is there that Almighty God will bestow so very singular a favor upon one who has lost his innocence, and is not in the Communion of His Church to obtain the helps which she affords for recovering it?
But, (3) let us suppose the case to happen as proposed, and that Almighty God gives this man these extraordinary graces by which he preserves his Baptismal innocence to the last, dies in the Grace of God, and goes to Heaven,-----would not this be making God contradict Himself, and act directly contrary to the whole tenor of His revealed will? All the testimonies of Scripture concur to prove that God has appointed True Faith in Jesus Christ, and the being in Communion with the Church of Christ, as necessary conditions of salvation; and yet, in the present case, the person would be saved who had not had the True Faith in Jesus Christ, had not been in Communion with His Church, but who had lived and died in a heretical Communion. There is therefore the greatest reason to believe that such a case will never happen, but that a person brought up in heresy, and invincibly ignorant of the truth, being deprived of the helps and graces which are the consequences of the True Faith, and which are only found in the true Church, will not preserve his innocence, but, continuing in heresy, shall die in his sins, and be lost; not precisely because he had not the True Faith, of which he is supposed to be invincibly ignorant, but for the other sins of which he dies guilty.
Q. 15. But can none who are in heresy, and in invincible ignorance of the truth, be saved?
A. God forbid we should say so! All the above reasons only prove that if they live and die in that state they shall not be saved, and that according to the present providence they cannot be saved; but the great God is able to take them out of that state, to cure even their ignorance though invincible to them in their present situation, to bring them to the knowledge of the True Faith, to the Communion of His Holy Church, and to salvation: and we further add, that if He be pleased, of His infinite mercy, to save any who are at present in invincible ignorance of the truth, in order to act consistently with Himself, and with His Holy Word, He will undoubtedly bring them to the union of His Holy Church for that purpose before they die.
Q. 16. Are there any grounds in Scripture for this doctrine?
A. This doctrine is founded upon the most positive declarations of Scripture. For the Scripture lays down this fundamental truth, "The sure foundation of God standeth firm, having this seal: The Lord knoweth who are His." [2 Tim. 2: 19] That is, God, from all eternity, knows those who, by co-operating with the graces He shall bestow upon them, will persevere to the end in His Faith and love, and be happy with Him forever. Now, to all mankind, without exception, and in whatever state, heathen, Muhammadan, Jew, or heretic, in vincible or in invincible ignorance, God, through the merits of Christ, and for His sake, gives such graces as He sees proper for their present state, with a view to their eternal salvation; if they comply with those He gives, and cooperate with them, He will then give them more and greater, till He brings them at last to that happy end; but if they resist and abuse those graces they receive, no more will be given them, and they will be left to their own ways, as the just punishment of their ingratitude.
Those, therefore, whom Almighty God foresees will make a proper use of His graces, and be saved, those He ordains to eternal life; and all such the Scripture assures us He will in His own good time, and in the way and manner He sees proper, bring to the knowledge of the True Faith, and to the Communion of His Holy Church. Thus, "The Lord daily added to the Church such as should be saved." [Acts 2: 47] Now, what the Lord daily did in the time of the Apostles, He daily will continue to do till the end of the world; and as none could be saved who were not added to the Church in those days, so neither can any afterwards be; for there is no new revelation since the Apostles' time, discovering a different way to salvation. Again the Scripture says, that "as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," [Acts 13: 48]-----that is, were brought to the True Faith which the Apostles preached: the same then will be done ever afterwards; for as then none were ordained to eternal life who did not believe, so neither will there be any afterwards.
Our Savior Himself decides this point in the clearest terms when He says, "Other sheep I have who are not of this fold; them also I MUST BRING, and they SHALL hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd." [John 10: 16] Here He manifestly speaks of those who had not as yet heard His voice, but were either Jews or heathens, and not united in the fold of His Apostles and other disciples; yet He calls them His sheep, because "the Lord knoweth who are His," and He foreknew who would cooperate with His grace and follow His voice; now He expressly declares, "them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice." It was not enough for their salvation that they were ready in the disposition of their hearts to answer His call, and to do better if they knew better; it was necessary they should actually be brought to the Communion of His own fold, "them also I must bring;" it was necessary they should have the True Faith of Christ, "and they shall hear My voice," in order to secure their salvation; for, as He says a little after, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall snatch them out of My hand." [John 10: 27]
This will still further appear from the account which St. Paul gives of the several steps of Divine Providence in the salvation of the elect, and of the principal graces bestowed upon them for that great end; "for whom He foreknew," says he, "He also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son; and whom He predestinated, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them he also glorified." [Rom. 8: 29] First, he lays down the "sure foundation of God," above mentioned, "which has this seal, The Lord knoweth who are His." [2 Tim. 2: 19] God, from all eternity, foreknew who would improve the talents He should in time bestow upon them, and who, persevering, to the end, should be His forever. Now, says the Apostle, "whom" He thus "foreknew He also predestinated to be conformable to the image of His Son;" that is, He preordained that all His elect should resemble Jesus Christ, by "putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, according to the image of Him that created Him." [Col. 3: 9]
To procure this conformity with Jesus Christ, the next step He takes is to call them; for, "whom He predestinated, them He also called" -----namely, to the knowledge and Faith of Jesus Christ, and to the Communion of His Holy Church; that is, He gives them such internal graces, and so disposes all external circumstances, as effectually to bring them to this great happiness; and whom He thus called to the True Faith, "them He also justified"-----that is, being brought to the True Faith, "without which it is impossible to please God," he continues to bestow still further graces upon them, of fear, hope, love of God, and sorrow for their sins, with which they, cooperating, are brought by means of His Holy Sacraments to the grace of justification. Greater and greater graces are bestowed upon them, and they, persevering to the end in their co-operation, are received at last into eternal glory; for "whom He justified, them He also glorified." Here it is manifest that our being called to the Faith and Church of Jesus Christ is ordained by Almighty God as an essential step in the affair of salvation, a necessary condition to be performed, even, before we can be justified from the guilt of our sins, and consequently, that without True Faith, and out of the Communion of the Church of Christ, there is no possibility of salvation. It is no less manifest that, let a person be in any state whatsoever-----heathen, Muhammadan, Jew, or heretic-----if Almighty God foreknows that this person will cooperate with those graces which from all eternity He had resolved to bestow upon him, and continue faithful to the end, He will by no means permit him to live and die in his present state, but will so order matters out of the treasures of His Divine Wisdom, that sooner or later he shall be brought to the union of the Church of Christ, out of which he has ordained that salvation cannot be found.
[edit] How God leads to salvation those who are involuntarily ignorant of the truths of salvation and sustains their life until they can receive instruction and baptism
[edit] St. Leonard of Port Maurice's sermon "On the Little Number of Those Who are Saved":
"Brothers, you must know that the most ancient belief is the Law of God, and that we all bear it written in our hearts; that it can be learned without any teacher, and that it suffices to have the light of reason in order to know all the precepts of that Law. That is why even the barbarians hid when they committed sin, because they knew they were doing wrong; and they are damned for not having observed the natural law written in their heart: for had they observed it, God would have made a miracle rather than let them be damned; He would have sent them someone to teach them and would have given them other aids, of which they made themselves unworthy by not living in conformity with the inspirations of their own conscience, which never failed to warn them of the good they should do and the evil they should avoid. So it is their conscience that accused them at the Tribunal of God, and it tells them constantly in hell, "Thy damnation comes from thee." They do not know what to answer and are obliged to confess that they are deserving of their fate."
[edit] Fr. Francisco de Vitoria, O.P., a famous 16th century Dominican theologian:
"And Gerson (De spirituali vita animae, lect.) 4) appears to be of the same view. "Doctors are unanimous," says he, "that in matters of the divine law there is no room for invincible ignorance, seeing that God will always help him who does what in him lies, and He is ready to enlighten the mind as far as will be necessary for salvation and the avoidance of error." And Hugo de Sancto Victore ([11]bk. 2, pt. 6, ch.5) says that none is excused by ignorance for breach of the command to receive baptism, for he could have heard and known, had it not been for his own fault, as was the case with Cornelius (Cornelius the Centurion) (Acts, ch. 10).
... "But the mistake which the doctors in question [doctors holding opposite view to the above] make is in thinking that when we postulate invincible ignorance on the subject of baptism or of the Christian faith, it follows at once that a person can be saved without baptism or the Christian faith, which, however, does not follow. For the aborigines to whom no preaching of the faith or Christian religion has come will be damned for mortal sins or for idolatry, but not for the sin of unbelief, as St. Thomas (Secunda Secundae, as above) says, namely, that if they do what in them lies, accompanied by a good life according to the law of nature, it is consistent with God's providence and He will illuminate them regarding the name of Christ, but it does not therefore follow that if their life be bad, ignorance or unbelief in baptism and the Christian faith may be imputed to them as a sin.
[edit] 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
4 3 And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
4 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them. Meditation on this passage
Haydock Commentary on the above bible passage:
Ver. 3. The apostle here brings another proof of the sincerity of his preaching, viz. the success with which it is attended: And he says, if there be any who have not yet received it, that is their own fault. For had they been as eager to receive it, as we have been to announce it to them, the whold world had long since been converted. (Theodoret)
Ver. 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers. Thus the words are placed, both in the Latin and Greek text, so that the true God seems to be called the God of this world, as he is elsewhere called the God of heaven, the God of Abraham. God, says St. Chrysostom, blinded, that is, permitted them to be blinded. Others translate, in whom God hat blinded the minds of the infidels of this world;so that this world may be joined with unbelievers, and not with God: and by the God of this world, some understand the devil, called sometimes the prince of this world, that is, of the wicked. (Witham)
Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide:
Ver. 3.—But if Our Gospel be hid. So as not to be understood and hence not believed. He alludes to the veil of Moses (iii. 13), and anticipates the objection: “If you, O Paul, manifest, as you say, the word of God in truth, and commend yourself to every man’s conscience, how comes it that this word of God of yours is not manifest to all? Why do not all believe it?” He replies that it is plain enough to the good and faithful, but to the wicked and unbelieving it is hidden and unknown, because they are reprobate. He is not speaking of the written Gospel, as heretics suppose, as though that were clear to all the elect, but of the mysteries of the Gospel, or the articles of the faith that are open and obvious to every Christian, such as the birth, Passion, and resurrection of Christ. These truths were preached by Paul and the Apostles before the Gospels were committed to writing; and when this letter was written, all the Gospels were not yet written. To them that are lost. It is the proof and cause of their reprobation that they have a veil of blindness and unbelief over their heart, which prevents them from seeing and believing Christ and His mysteries, which are so clearly set forth in the Gospel and the New Testament. Ver. 4.—In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Who is meant by the “god of this world?” (1.) Marcion, according to Chrysostom, inferred that there is a certain god, just but not good, who was the creator of the world. (2.) The Manicheans reply that it is the devil, and that he was the creator of the world and of matter in general. (3) Chrysostom, Anselm, Theodoret, and Theophylact make the sentence run: God, i.e., true God, hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world; or God, the true God, the author and maker of the world, hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. (4.) Œcumenius and S. Thomas say: The God of this world is the devil, who is the god of worldly men, not by having created them, but in the way of wickedness, example, power, and suggestion. This seems the simplest explanation; for S. Paul does not call him God simply, but the God of this world, i.e., of worldly men, who prefer the perishing things of time to the realities of eternity. Cf. Eph. vi. 12. (5.) S. Thomas also says: “The God of this world is mammon, or the power and pomp that men of the world make their chief good and set up as their god.” Cf. Phil. iii. 19.
[edit] Sincere nations getting converted
The paragraphs below are from here: (8. HOW ALMIGHTY GOD LEADS TO SALVATION THOSE WHO ARE INCULPABLY IGNORANT OF THE TRUTHS OF SALVATION) [4]
Almighty God can also, by a miracle, carry a priest to a person invincibly ignorant and living up to the dictates of his conscience; or he can carry such a person to a priest—or make use of an angel or a saint to lead him to the way of salvation.
Among the holy souls of past centuries who have been loaded with signal favors and privileges by Almighty God, we must place, in the first rank, Mary of Jesus, often styled of Agreda, from the name of the place in Spain where she passed her life. The celebrated J. Goerres, in his grand work, "Mysticism," does not hesitate to cite as an example the life of Mary of Agreda, in a chapter entitled, "The Culminating Point of Christian Mysticism." Indeed, there could not be found a more perfect model of the highest mystic ways.
This holy virgin burned with a most ardent love for God and for the salvation of souls. One day, she beheld in a vision all the nations of the world. She saw the greater part of men were deprived of God's grace, and running headlong to everlasting perdition. She saw how the Indians of Mexico put fewer obstacles to the grace of conversion than any other nation who were out of the Catholic Church, and how God, on this account, was ready to show mercy to them. Hence she redoubled her prayers and penances to obtain for them the grace of conversion. God heard her prayers. He commanded her to teach the Catholic religion to those Mexican Indians. From that time, she appeared, by way of bilocation, to the savages, not less than five hundred times, instructing them in all the truths of our holy religion, and performing miracles in confirmation of these truths. When all were converted to the faith, she told them that religious priests would be sent by God to receive them into the Church by baptism. As she had told, so it happened. God, in his mercy, sent to these good Indians several Franciscan fathers, who were greatly astonished when they found those savages fully instructed in the Catholic doctrine. When they asked the Indians who had instructed them, they were told that a holy virgin appeared among them many times, and taught them the Catholic religion and confirmed it by miracles. (Life of the Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda, § xii.) Thus those good Indians were brought miraculously to the knowledge of the true religion in the Catholic Church, because they followed their conscience in observing the natural law.
[Note: St. Francis Xavier noted that the Japanese people were extremely well disposed to receive the Gospel:
"Japanese nation appeared to be extremely well disposed to receive the preaching of the Gospel." [2]
They excelled in the virtue of temperance, which is why they were ready for the Gospel: "They eat three times a day, and always very sparingly, eating but very little meat, and never the flesh of any domestic animal. Their food appears to consist chiefly of various kinds of grain, as rice, millet, and the like ; they seldom, if ever, make bread. Arrack, made from rice, is the universal beverage ; but drunkenness is apparently unknown, for as soon as any one feels himself getting out of his own control, he ceases his potations, and betakes himself to sleep." http://books.google.com/books?id=aDYH62y0cR0C&pg=PA1&dq=francis+xavier&ei=ZjM8SOPVIoiSjgHzpaH_BQ#PPA218,M1
"People here never kill fowls or eat them. The common food is vegetables and rice ; wheat, fish, apples, and other fruits are considered luxuries. Thus it is that on account of their temperance most people here enjoy very good health : you see a great many old people about. This in itself is enough to prove that our nature, which otherwise might seem to be quite insatiable, is really contented with little. For ourselves, we are in excellent bodily health: may God give us the same health in our souls'."]
[edit] Sincere Individuals who have kept the law of nature all their life; God gives them the grace of instruction and baptism at the last moment so that they can go straight to Heaven
Something similar is related in the life of Father J. Anchieta, S. J. (chap. vi.). One day, this great man of God entered the woods of Itannia, in Brazil, without any assignable motive and, in fact, as if he were guided by another. At a little distance he perceived an old man seated on the ground and leaning against a tree. "Hasten your steps," cried the old man when he saw the father, for I have been expecting you for some time." The saintly missionary asked him who he was, and from what country he had come. "My country," said the old man, "is beyond the sea." He added other things, which led the father to infer that he had come from a distant province, near Rio de la Plata, and that he had either been conveyed by supernatural means from his own country to the place where he then was, or that, by the direction and guidance of heaven, he had been led thither with great labor and fatigue, and had placed himself where the father found him, in full expectation of the accomplishment of the divine promise. Father Anchieta then asked him why he had come to that place. "I have come hither," he answered, "in order that I might be taught the right path." This is the expression which the Brazilians use when they speak of the laws of God and of the way to heaven. Father Anchieta felt convinced, from the answers of the old man, that he had never had more than one wife, had never taken up arms except in his own just defense, and that he had never grievously transgressed the law of nature. He perceived, moreover, from the arguments of the old man, that he knew many truths relative to the Author of nature, to the soul, and to virtue and vice. When Father Anchieta had explained to him several of the mysteries of our holy religion, he said: "It is thus that I have hitherto understood them, but I knew not how to define them." After having sufficiently instructed the old man, Father Anchieta collected some rain-water, from the leaves of the wild thistles, baptized him, and named him Adam. The new disciple of Christ immediately experienced in his soul the holy effects of baptism. He raised his eyes and hands to heaven, and thanked Almighty God for the mercy which he had bestowed upon him. Soon after, he expired in the arms of Father Anchieta, who buried him according to the ceremonies of the Church.
[similar story: St. Columba preached and worked miracles among the Picts, and, though he spoke by an interpreter, he made converts. One day on the banks of Loch Ness he cried: Let us make haste to meet the angels, who are come down from heaven and await us beside the death-bed of a Pict, who has kept the natural law, that we may baptize him before he dies." He was then aged himself, but he outstripped his companions, and reached Glen Urquhart, where the old man expected him, heard him, was baptized, and died in peace. And once, preaching in Skye, he cried out, "You will see arrive an aged chief, a Pict, who has kept faithfully the natural law; he will come here to be baptized and to die;" and so it was. [3]
St. Columba said: "My sons, today you will see an ancient Pictish chief, who has kept faithfully all his life the precepts of the natural law, arrive in this island ; he comes to be baptised and to die." Immediately after, a boat was seen to approach the shore with a feeble old man seated in the prow, who was recognized as the chief of one of the neighboring tribes. Two of his companions took him up in their arms and brought him before the missionary, to whose words, as repeated by the interpreter, he listened attentively. When the discourse was ended the old man asked to be baptised ; and immediately after breathed his last breath, and was buried in the very spot where he had just been brought to shore.
At a later date, in one of his last missions, when, himself an old man, he travelled along the banks of Loch Ness...he said to the disciples who accompanied him, " Let us make haste and meet the angels who have come down from heaven, and who wait for us beside a Pict who has done well according to the natural law during his whole life to extreme old age : we must baptise him before he dies." Then hastening his steps and outstripping his disciples, as much as was possible at his great age, he reached a retired valley, now called Glen Urquhart, where he found the old man who awaited him. Here there was no longer any need of an interpreter, which makes it probable that Columba in his old age had learned the Pictish dialect. The old Pict heard him preach, was baptised, and with joyful serenity gave up to God the soul which was awaited by those angels whom Columba saw. [4]]
About these miraculous conversions Dr. O. A. Brownson well remarks:—
"That there may be persons in heretical and schismatical societies, invincibly ignorant of the Church, who so perfectly correspond to the graces they receive, that Almighty God will, by extraordinary means, bring them to the Church, is believable and perfectly compatible with the known order of his grace, as is evinced by two beautiful examples recorded in Holy Scripture. The one is that of the eunuch of Candice, Queen of Ethiopia: he, following the lights that God gave him, though living at a great distance from Jerusalem, became acquainted with the worship of the true God, and was accustomed to go from time to time to Jerusalem to adore him. When, however, the Gospel began to be published, the Jewish religion could no longer save him; but being well disposed, by fidelity to the graces he had hitherto received, he was not forsaken by Almighty God; for when he was returning to his own country from Jerusalem, the Lord sent a message by an angel to St. Philip to meet and instruct him in the faith of Christ, and baptize him (Acts, viii. 26). The other example is that of Cornelius, who was an officer of the Roman army of the Italic band, and brought up in idolatry. In the course of events, his regiment coming to Judea, he saw there a religion different from his own,—the worship of one only God. Grace moving his heart, he believed in this God, and following the further notion's of divine grace, he gave much alms to the poor, and prayed earnestly to this God to direct him what to do. Did God abandon him? By no means; he sent an angel from heaven to tell him to whom to apply in order to be fully instructed in the knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ, and to be received into his Church by baptism. Now, what God did in these two cases he is no less able to do in all others, and has a thousand ways in his wisdom to conduct souls who are truly in earnest to the knowledge of the truth, and to salvation. And though such a soul were in the remotest wilds of the world, God could send a Philip, or an angel from heaven, to instruct him, or, by the superabundance of his internal grace, or by numberless other ways unknown to us, could infuse into his soul the knowledge of the truth. The great affair is, that we [the-non Catholics] carefully do our part in complying with what he gives us; for of this we are certain, that, if we be not wanting to him, he will never be wanting to us, but, as he begins the good work in us, will also perfect it, if we be careful to correspond and to put no hindrance to his designs.
[edit] Cornelius the Centurion and the Eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia
Here is the Cornelius the Centurion's miraculous conversion: 1 And there was a certain man in Caesarea, named Cornelius, a centurion of that which is called the Italian band; 2 A religious man, and fearing God with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and always praying to God. 3 This man saw in a vision manifestly, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in unto him, and saying to him: Cornelius. 4 And he, beholding him, being seized with fear, said: What is it, Lord? And he said to him: Thy prayers and thy alms are ascended for a memorial in the sight of God. 5 And now send men to Joppe, and call hither one Simon, who is surnamed Peter: 6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side. He will tell thee what thou must do.
God tells Philip the Evangelist in Acts 8:26-39 to go somewhere so that he will meet a sincere non-Catholic so that he could baptize him:
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying: Arise, go towards the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza: this is desert. 27 And rising up, he went. And behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch, of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusalem to adore. 28 And he was returning, sitting in this chariot, and reading Isaias the prophet. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip running thither, heard him reading the prophet Isaias. And he said: Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?
31 Who said: And how can I, unless some man show me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32 And the place of the scripture which he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb without voice before his shearer, so openeth he not his mouth. 33 In humility his judgment was taken away. His generation who shall declare, for his life shall be taken from the earth? 34 And the eunuch answering Philip, said: I beseech thee, of whom doth the prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man? 35 Then Philip, opening his mouth, and beginning at this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said: See, here is water: what doth hinder me from being baptized? 37 And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found in Azotus; and passing through, he preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
[edit] Is it uncharitable or ridiculous to plainly tell people that they would go to hell if they didn't believe in Catholicism? and that their dead non-Catholic relatives are in hell?
People tend to believe that telling someone that if they stay non-Catholic they will be damned will keep them even more away from Catholicism because they would think that it's very uncharitable/ridiculous.
Fr. Muller wrote in "Questions and Answers on Salvation,"
- 42. But is it not a very uncharitable doctrine to say that no one can be saved out of the Church?
- On the contrary, it is a very great act of charity to assert most emphatically, that out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation possible; for Jesus Christ and His Apostles have taught this doctrine in very plain language. He who sincerely seeks the truth is glad to hear it, and embrace it, in order to be saved.
The Spaniard missionaries in China (of the Dominicans and Franciscans) plainly told the Chinese that their emperors were in hell: "their method of evangelizing was direct, uncompromising, and took little account of the different psychology of the people to whom it was addressed. The mendicants walked through the street, holding up crucifixes, and when a crowd gathered, preached in public very often through interpreters. The Spaniards among them did not hesitate to proclaim that all the long line of Chinese emperors were burning in hell."[5]
St. Francis Xavier apparently told the Japanese converts that all their dead relatives who never heard the Gospel are in hell, which shows that ii'ism (the-invincibly-ignorant-can-be-saved-ism) is not rooted in tradition.
St. Francis Xavier wrote this which implies that he taught the Japanese that all their relatives who died without hearing the Gospel are lost: "One of the things that most of all pains and torments these Japanese is, that we teach them that the prison of hell is irrevocably shut, so that there is no egress therefrom. For they grieve over the fate of their departed children, of their parents and relatives, [In other words, they are certain that their relatives are in hell because they have learned from St. Francis Xavier that those who did not hear the gospel can't be saved] and they often show their grief by their tears. So they ask us if there is any hope, any way to free them by prayer from that eternal misery, and I am obliged to answer that there is absolutely none. Their grief at this affects and torments them wonderfully; they almost pine away with sorrow. But there is this good thing about their trouble---it makes one hope that they will all be the more laborious for their own salvation, lest they like their forefathers, should be condemned to everlasting punishment. They often ask if God cannot take their fathers out of hell, and why their punishment must never have an end. We gave them a satisfactory answer, but they did not cease to grieve over the misfortune of their relatives; and I can hardly restrain my tears sometimes at seeing men so dear to my heart suffer such intense pain about a thing which is already done with and can never be undone."[6]
“The corsair who commanded our vessel died here at Cagoxima. He did his work for us, on the whole, as we wished, throughout the voyage, and yet we were not able to repay him by good offices either when we came to port or when he died. He himself chose to die in his own superstitions; he did not even leave us the power of rewarding him by that kindness which we can after death do to other friends who die in the profession of the Christian faith, in commending their souls to God, since the poor fellow by his own hand cast his soul into hell, where there is no redemption.[7]
[edit] Stories which demonstrate that the truly sincere will be led to Catholicism
Modern advocates of Baptism of Desire argue that as long as a non-Catholic wants to do whatever God wills, and therefore has an implicit (implied) desire of Baptism and Sacrament of Penance, said to be belonging to the 'Soul of the Church', he can be in a state of grace, and if he falls into mortal sin, his sins can be forgiven by Perfect Contrition at some point in life, and if he is in the state of grace at death, he might go to heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
4 3 And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
4 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.
Haydock Commentary on the above bible passage:
Ver. 3. The apostle here brings another proof of the sincerity of his preaching, viz. the success with which it is attended: And he says, if there be any who have not yet received it, that is their own fault. For had they been as eager to receive it, as we have been to announce it to them, the whold world had long since been converted. (Theodoret)
Ver. 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers. Thus the words are placed, both in the Latin and Greek text, so that the true God seems to be called the God of this world, as he is elsewhere called the God of heaven, the God of Abraham. God, says St. Chrysostom, blinded, that is, permitted them to be blinded. Others translate, in whom God hat blinded the minds of the infidels of this world;so that this world may be joined with unbelievers, and not with God: and by the God of this world, some understand the devil, called sometimes the prince of this world, that is, of the wicked. (Witham)
Fr. Francisco de Vitoria, O.P., a famous 16th century Dominican theologian: "And Gerson (De spirituali vita animae, lect.) 4) appears to be of the same view. "Doctors are unanimous," says he, "that in matters of the divine law there is no room for invincible ignorance, seeing that God will always help him who does what in him lies [in their power] and He is ready to enlighten the mind as far as will be necessary for salvation and the avoidance of error." And Hugo de Sancto Victore ([11]bk. 2, pt. 6, ch. 5) says that none is excused by ignorance for breach of the command to receive baptism, for he could have heard and known, had it not been for his own fault, as was the case with Cornelius (Cornelius the Centurion) (Acts, ch. 10).
... "But the mistake which the doctors in question [doctors holding opposite view to the above] make is in thinking that when we postulate invincible ignorance on the subject of baptism or of the Christian faith, it follows at once that a person can be saved without baptism or the Christian faith, which, however, does not follow. For the aborigines to whom no preaching of the faith or Christian religion has come will be damned for mortal sins or for idolatry, but not for the sin of unbelief, as St. Thomas (Secunda Secundae, as above) says, namely, that if they do what in them lies, accompanied by a good life according to the law of nature, it is consistent with God's providence and He will illuminate them regarding the name of Christ, but it does not therefore follow that if their life be bad, ignorance or unbelief in baptism and the Christian faith may be imputed to them as a sin.
The following examples shows that God leads the truly sincere non-Catholics to Catholicism and baptism.
In Acts 10:1-7, the God-fearing man named Cornelius the Centurion is miraculously informed to send for St. Peter so that he may become Catholic.
1 And there was a certain man in Caesarea, named Cornelius, a centurion of that which is called the Italian band; 2 A religious man, and fearing God with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and always praying to God. 3 This man saw in a vision manifestly, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in unto him, and saying to him: Cornelius. 4 And he, beholding him, being seized with fear, said: What is it, Lord? And he said to him: Thy prayers and thy alms are ascended for a memorial in the sight of God. 5 And now send men to Joppe, and call hither one Simon, who is surnamed Peter: 6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side. He will tell thee what thou must do.
From Victories of the Martyrs, by St. Alphonsus Liguori:
"St. Justin was born about the beginning of the second century....Having gone through the usual elemntary course of studies, he found himself inspired with a great desire to know something concerning the Great Cause, or Creator of all. Having in vain sought for truth among the Stoics, Peripatetics, Pythagoreans, and those of the Platonic school, God was pleased to satisfy his yearnings after a wonderful manner. Having wandered one day into a solitary place in order that he might with more quietude enjoy his meditations, he met with an old man of very venerable appearance, who told him that if he wished to arrive at the knowledge of the true God, he should leave the study of philosophy, and begin to read the prophets, who in their writings had manifested to man the mysteries of God, and announced Jesus Christ His Son, through whom alone we can arrive at the knowledge of the true God. "But," continued this venerable personage, "above all things, pray to the Lord to illuminate thy mind; because these things are not to be understood except by those unto whom God hath given the knowledge of them." Having pronounced these words, he disappeared.
"After this interview, Justin applied himself continually to the reading of the Holy Scriptures, from which he derived that blessed knowledge which made him embrace the faith and receive the sacrament of regenaration....The constancy and fortitude of the martyrs, in suffering tortures, and laying down their lives for Jesus Christ, as he himself confesses, contributed much to his conversion, from which time he dedicated himself entirely to the love of Jesus Christ, and the advancement of his religion.[8]
[edit] Their life had only been preserved by God until they could receive baptism and hence be saved
St. Francis Xavier, May, 1546: "Here (Ambon Island of Indonesia) there are altogether seven towns of Christians, all of which I went through and baptized all the newborn infants and the children not yet baptized. A great many of them died soon after their baptism, so that it was clear enough that their life had only been preserved by God until the entrance to eternal life should be opened to them." http://books.google.com/books?id=gmsBAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA375&dq=died+soon+after+their+baptism,+so+that+it+was+clear+enough+that+their+life+had+only+been+preserved+by+God+until&ei=4YtASM3tBKayjAHvo62IBQ
Fr. De Smet, Dec. 9, 1845: “I have often remarked that many of the children seem to await baptism before winging their flight to heaven, for they die almost immediately after receiving the sacrament.” [9] "… over a hundred children and eleven old people were baptized. Many of the latter [the old people], who were carried on buffalo hides, seemed only to await this grace before going to rest in the bosom of God." [10]
The Life of St. Isaac Jogues, p. 92: "The Huron sorcerers...claimed... the Blackrobes caused people to die by pouring water on their heads; practically everyone they baptized died soon after." Talbot, Francis. Saint Among Savages: The Life of Saint Isaac Jogues
" Among these people was a little child about one year old....It was happily baptized. God preserved its life only by a miracle, it would seem, so that it might be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and might bless His mercies forever." http://books.google.com/books?id=uT4OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=It+was+happily+baptized.++God+preserved+its+life+only+by+a+miracle,+it+would+seem,+so+that+it+might+be+washed+in+the+blood+of+Jesus+Christ+and+might+bless+His+mercies+forever.&ei=9o1ASK_HCZ72iwGog-CIBQ
Fr. Lalemant wrote: "...it has happened very often, and has been remarked more than a hundred times, that where we were most welcome, where we baptized most people, there it was in fact where they died the most ; and, on the contrary, in the cabins to which we were denied entrance, although they were sometimes sick to extremity, at the end of a few days one saw every person prosperously cured. We shall see in heaven the secret, but ever adorable, judgments of God therein. Meanwhile, it is one of our most usual astonishments and one of our most solid pleasures, to consider, in the midst of all those things, the gracious bounties of God in the case of those whom he wishes for himself; and to see oftener than every day his sacred and efficacious acts of providence, which so arrange matters that it comes about that not one of the elect is lost, though hell and earth oppose." http://books.google.com/books?id=kj4OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93&dq=It+happened+very+often,+and+has+been+remarked+more+than+a+hundred&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=0rM_SLCJDJOcjgGYtqCIBQ#PPA93,M1
St. Columba said: "My sons, today you will see an ancient Pictish chief, who has kept faithfully all his life the precepts of the natural law, arrive in this island ; he comes to be baptised and to die." Immediately after, a boat was seen to approach the shore with a feeble old man seated in the prow, who was recognized as the chief of one of the neighboring tribes. Two of his companions took him up in their arms and brought him before the missionary, to whose words, as repeated by the interpreter, he listened attentively. When the discourse was ended the old man asked to be baptised ; and immediately after breathed his last breath, and was buried in the very spot where he had just been brought to shore.
At a later date, in one of his last missions, when, himself an old man, he travelled along the banks of Loch Ness...he said to the disciples who accompanied him, " Let us make haste and meet the angels who have come down from heaven, and who wait for us beside a Pict who has done well according to the natural law during his whole life to extreme old age : we must baptise him before he dies." Then hastening his steps and outstripping his disciples, as much as was possible at his great age, he reached a retired valley, now called Glen Urquhart, where he found the old man who awaited him. Here there was no longer any need of an interpreter, which makes it probable that Columba in his old age had learned the Pictish dialect. The old Pict heard him preach, was baptised, and with joyful serenity gave up to God the soul which was awaited by those angels whom Columba saw. [11]
St. Columba preached and worked miracles among the Picts, and, though he spoke by an interpreter, he made converts. One day on the banks of Loch Ness he cried: Let us make haste to meet the angels, who are come down from heaven and await us beside the death-bed of a Pict, who has kept the natural law, that we may baptize him before he dies." He was then aged himself, but he outstripped his companions, and reached Glen Urquhart, where the old man expected him, heard him, was baptized, and died in peace. And once, preaching in Skye, he cried out, "You will see arrive an aged chief, a Pict, who has kept faithfully the natural law; he will come here to be baptized and to die;" and so it was. [12]
[edit] Massillon's Sermon on the number of those who are saved
http://books.google.com/books?id=fRM3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA17&dq=inauthor:massillon&as_brr=1&ei=31EqSPimLqaiiwHz7aHDDQ#PPA48,M1 ON THE SMALL NUMBER OF THE SAVED. LUKE iv. 27. And many Lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the Prophet: and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. ' Everyday, my brethren, you continue to demand of us, if the road to heaven is really so difficult, and the number of the saved is indeed so small as we say. To a question, so often proposed, and still oftener resolved, our Saviour answers you at present, that there were many widows in Israel afflicted with famine ; but the widow of Sarepta was alone found worthy the succour of the Prophet Elias That the number of lepers was great in Israel in the time of the Prophet Eliseus; and that Naaman was the only one cured by the man of God.'
Were I here, my brethren, for the purpose of alarming, rather than instructing you, I needed only to recapitulate what in the holy writings we find dreadful, with regard to this great truth ; and running over the history of the just, from age to age, to show you, that in all times the number of the saved has been very small. The family of Noah alone saved from the general flood : Abraham, chosen from amongst men, to be the sole depository of the covenant with God : Joshua and Caleb., the only two of six hundred thousand Hebrews, who saw the land of promise : Job the only upright man in the land of Uz : Lot, in Sodom.
To representations so alarming, would have succeeded the sayings of the Prophets. In Isaiah, you would see the elect as rare as the grapes, which are found after the vintage, and have escaped the search of the gatherer ; as rare as the blades which remain by chance in the field, and have escaped the scythe of the mower. The Evangelist would still have added new traits to the terrors of these images. I might have spoken to you of two roads ; of which one is narrow, rugged, and the path of a very small number ; the other broad, open, and strewed with flowers ; and almost the general path of men. That every where, in the holy writings, the multitude is always spoken of, as forming the party of the reprobate ; while the saved, compared with the rest of mankind; form only a small flock, scarcely perceptible to the sight. I would have left you in fears with regard to your salvation ; always cruel to those who have not renounced faith, and every hope of being amongst the saved. But what would it serve, to limit the traits of this instruction, to the single point of proving, how few persons are saved ? Alas! I would make the danger known, without instructing you how to avoid it : I would show you, with the Prophet, the sword of the wrath of God,suspended over your heads, without assisting you to escape the threatened blow : I would alarm the conscience, without instructing the sinner.
My intention is therefore today, in our morals and manner of life, to search for the cause of this number being so small. As every one flatters himself he will not be excluded, it is of importance to examine if his confidence be well founded. I wish not, in marking to you the causes which render salvation so rare, to make you generally conclude, that few will be saved ; but to bring you to ask of yourselves, if living as you live, you can hope to be so. Who am I ? What is it I do for heaven ; and what can be my hopes in eternity ? I propose no other order, in a matter of such importance. What are the causes which render salvation so rare? I mean to point out three principal ones which is the only arrangement of this discourse. Art and far-sought reasonings would here be ill-timed. O attend, therefore, be whom you may ! No subject can be more worthy your attention, since it goes to inform you, what may be the hopes of your eternal destiny.
PART I. Few are saved ; because in that number we can only comprehend two descriptions of persons ; either those who have been so happy as to preserve their innocence pure and undefiled ; or those, who after having lost it, have regained it by penitence : — First cause. There are only these two ways of salvation ; and heaven is only open to the innocent or the penitent. Now of which party are you ? Are you innocent ? Are you penitent ?
Nothing unclean shall enter the kingdom of God. We must consequently carry there, either an innocence unsullied, or an innocence regained. Now, to die innocent, is a grace to which few fouls can aspire ; and to live penitent, is a mercy, which the relaxed state of our morals renders equally rare. Who indeed will pretend to salvation, by the claim of innocence? Where are the pure souls in whom sin has never dwelt ; and who have preserved to the end the sacred treasure of grace confided to them by baptism, and which our Saviour will re-demand at the awful day of punishment ?
In those happy days, when the whole church was still but an assembly of saints, it was very uncommon to find an instance of a believer, who, after having received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and acknowledged Jesus Christ in the sacrament, which regenerates us, fell back to his former irregularities of life. Ananias and Saphira were the only prevaricators in the church of Jerusalem ; that of Corinth, had only one incestuous sinner. Church penitence was then a remedy almost unknown ; and scarcely was there found among these true Israelites one single leper, whom they were obliged to drive from the holy altar, and separate from communion with his brethren. But since that time, the number of the upright diminishes, in proportion as that of believers increases. It would appear, that the world, pretending now to have become almost generally Christian, has brought with it into the Church its corruptions and its maxims. Alas ! we all go astray, almost from the breast of our mothers ! The first use which we make of our heart is a crime ; our first desires are passions ; and our reason only expands and increases on the wrecks of our innocence. The earth, says a Prophet, is infested by the corruption of those who inhabit it : All have violated the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the alliance which should have endured for ever : All commit fin ; and scarcely is there one to be found, who does the work of the Lord. Injustice, calumny, lying, treachery, adultery, and the blackest crimes, have deluged the earth. The brother lays snares for his brother ; the father is divided from his children ; the husband from his wife : There is no tie which a vile interest does not dissolve : Good faith and probity are no longer virtues but among the simple people ; animosities are endless ; reconciliations feints ; and never is a former enemy regarded as a brother : They tear, they devour each other. Assemblies are no longer but for the purpose of public and general censure. The purest virtue is no longer a protection from the malignity of tongues.
Gaming is become either a trade, a fraud, or a fury. Repasts, those innocent ties of society, degenerate into excesses, of which we dare not speak. Our age witnesses horrors, with which our forefathers were unacquainted. Behold then already one path of salvation shut to the generality of men. All have erred. Be whom you may, who listen to me at present, the time has been, when sin reigned over you : Age may perhaps have calmed your passions ; but what was your youth ? Long and habitual infirmities may perhaps have disgusted you with the world ; but what use did you formerly make of the vigour of your health ? A sudden inspiration of grace may have turned your heart ; but do you not most fervently intreat, that every moment prior to that inspiration may be effaced from the remembrance of the Lord ?
But with what am I taking up my time ? We are all sinners, O my God ! And thou knowest our hearts : What we know of our errors, is perhaps in thy sight the most pardonable ; and we all allow, that by innocence, we have no claim to salvation. There remains, therefore, only one resource, which is penitence. After our shipwreck, say the saints, it is the happy plank, which alone can conduct us into port ; there is no other mean of salvation for us. Be whom you may, prince or subject, great or low, penitence alone can save you. Now permit me to ask, where are the penitent ? You will find more, says a holy father, who have never fallen, than who, after their fall, have raised themselves by true repentance : This is a terrible saying ; but do not let us carry things too far ; The truth is sufficiently dreadful, without adding new terrors to it by vain declamation. Let us only examine, if the majority of us have a right through penitence to salvation. What is a penitent ? According to Tertullian, a penitent is a believer, who feels every moment the unhappiness which he formerly had, to forget and lose his God ; who has his guilt incessantly before his eyes ; who finds every where the traces and remembrance of it;
A penitent is a man, entrusted by God, with judgment against himself ; who refuses himself the most innocent pleasures, because he had formerly indulged in the most criminal ; who puts up with the most necessary ones with, pain ; who now regards his body as an enemy, whom it it necessary to conquer ; as an unclean vessel which must be purified ; as an unfaithful debtor, of whom it is proper to exact the last farthing ; a penitent regards himself as a criminal condemned to death, because he no longer is worthy of life. In the loss of riches or health, he sees only a privation of favours that he had formerly abused ; in the humiliations which happen to him, but the pains of his guilt ; in the agonies with which he is racked, but the commencement of those punishments he has justly merited ; such is a penitent. But I again ask you, where amongst us are penitents of this description ? Now look around you. I do not tell you to judge your brethren, but to examine what are the manners and morals of those who surround you ; nor do I speak of those open and avowed sinners ; who have thrown off even the appearance of virtue, I speak only of those who like yourselves live like the generality ; and whose actions present nothing to the public view, particularly shameful or depraved. They are sinners ; and they admit of it : You are not innocent ; and you confess it yourselves. Now, are they penitent ; or are you ? Age, avocations, more serious employments, may perhaps have checked the sallies of youth : Even the bitterness which the Almighty has made attendant on our passions ; the deceits, the treacheries of the world ; an injured fortune, with a ruined constitution, may have cooled the ardour, and confined the irregular desires of your heart : Crimes may have disgusted you even with crimes ; for passions gradually extinguish themselves. Time, and the natural inconstancy of the heart, will bring these about; yet nevertheless, though detached from sin by incapability, you are no nearer your God. According to the world, you are become more prudent, more regular, more what it calls men of probity ; more exact in fulfilling your public or private duties ; but you are not penitent. You have ceased from your disorders ; but you have not expiated them : You are not converted : This great stroke ; this grand change of the heart, which regenerates man, has not yet been felt by you. Nevertheless this situation, so truly dangerous, does not alarm you ; Sins, which have never been washed away by sincere repentance, and confequently never obliterated from the book of life, appear in your eyes as no longer existing ; and you will tranquilly leave this world in a state of impenitence, so much the more dangerous, as you will die, without being sensible of your danger. What I say here, is not merely a rash expression, or an emotion of zeal : Nothing is more real, or more exactly true : It is the situation of almost all men, even the wisest and most esteemed by the world.
The morality of the younger stages in life is always lax, if not licentious. Age, disgust, and establishments for life, fix the heart, and withdraw it from debauchery : but where are those who are converted ? Where are those who expiate their crimes by tears of sorrow, and true repentance ? Where are those, who having begun as finners, end as penitents ? Shew me, in your manner of living, the smallest trace of penitence. Are your graspings at wealth and power ; your anxieties to attain the favour of the great, (and by thefe means an increafe of employments and influence), are thefe proofs of it ? Would you wifh to reckon even your crimes as virtues ? That the sufferings of your ambition, pride, and avarice, fhould discharge you from an obligation which they themselves have imposed ? You are penitent to the world ; but are you so to Jesus Christ ? The infirmities with which God afflicts you ; the enemies he raises againt you ; the disgraces and losses with which he tries you ; do you receive them all as you ought, with humble submission to his will ; and far from finding in them occasions of penitence, do you not turn them into the objects of new crimes ? It is the duty of an innocent soul, to receive with submission the chastisements of the Almighty ; to discharge, with courage, the painful duties of the station allotted to him ; and to be faithful to the laws of the gospel ; but do finners owe nothing beyond this ? And yet they pretend to falvation ; but upon what claim ? To fay that you are innocent before God, your own conscience will bear testimony against you. To endeavour to persuade yourselves that you are penitent, you dare not ; and you would condemn yourfelves through your own mouths. Up on what then dost thou depend, O man ! who thus Ilives fo tranquil ?
And what renders it ftill more dreadful is, that acting in this manner, you only follow the torrent : Your moral's are the morals of almoft all men. You may, perhaps, be acquainted with fome ftill more guilty, (for I suppose you to have ftill fome sentiments of religion, and regard for your falvation) ; but do you know any real penitents ? I am afraid we must search the deserts and solitudes for them. You can scarcely particularize among persons of rank and usage of the world, a small number whose morals and mode of life more austere and more guarded than the generality, attract the attention, and very likely the censure of the public : All the rest walk in the same path. I see clearly that every one comforts himfelf by the example of his neighbour : That in that point, children succeed to the false security of their fathers; that none live innocent; that none die penitent : I fee it ; and I cry, O God ! If thou hast not deceived us ; if all thou hast told us with regard to the road to eternal life, shall be fulfilled to a point ; if the number of thofe who must perish, shall not influence THEE to abate from the severity of thy laws, what will become of that immense multitude of creatures which every hour disappears from the face of the earth ? Where are our friends, our relations who have gone before us'; and what is their lot in the eternal regions of death ? What shall we- ourfelves be one day ? When formerly a Prophet complained to the Lord, that all Ifrael had forfaken his protection; He replied, that seven thousand ftill remained, who had not bowed the knee to Baal : Behold the number of pure and faithful souls which a whole kingdom then contained.
But couldest thou ftill, O my God ! comfort the anguish of thy servants today by the same assurance? I know that thine eye discerns ftill fome upright amongst us; that the pt priesthood has still its Phineas ; the magistracy its Samuels ; the sword its Joshuas ; the Court its Daniels, its Eithers, and its Davids ; for the world only exists for thy chosen ; and all would perish were the number accomplished : But thofe happy remains of the children of Ifrael who shall inherit salvation, what are they, compared to the grains of land in the sea ; I mean to that number of finner who combat for their own destruction ? YOU come after this my brethren, to enquire if it be true, that few fhall be saved. Thou haft said it, O my God .' and consequently it is a truth which will endure for ever. But, even admitting that the Almighty had not spoken thus, I would wifh, in the second place, to review, tor an instant, what passes among men : The laws by which they are governed : The maxims by which the multitude is regulated : This is the fecond cause of the paucity of the faved ; and, properly fpeaking, is only a developement of the firft : The force of habit and cuftoms.
PART II. Few people are faved, becaufe the maxims most univerfally received in all countries, and upon which depend, in general, the morals of the multitude, are incompatible with falvation. The rules laid down, approved, and authorifed by the world, with regard to the application of wealth, the love of glory, Chriftian moderation, and the duties of offices and conditions, are diametrically opposed to thofe of the Evangelifts ; and consequently can lead only to death. I fhall not, at present, enter into a detail too extended for a discourse, and too little serious, perhaps, for Christians.
I need not tell you, that it is an established cuftom in the world, to allow the liberty of proportioning expences to rank and wealth ; and provided it is a patrimony we inherit from our ancestors, we may distinguish ourfelves by the ufe of it, without restraint to our luxury or without regard in our profusion, to any thing but our pride and caprice. But Chriftian moderation has its rules : We are not the absolute masters of our riches ; nor are we entitled to abuse what the Almighty has bestowed upon us for better puposes: Above all, while thousands of unfortunate wretches languish in poverty, whatever we make ufe of beyond the wants and necessary expences of our station, is an inhumanity to, and a theft from the poor. These are refinements of devotion, fay they ; and in matters of expence and profusion nothing is excessive or blameable, according to the world, but what may tend to derange the fortune. I need not tell you, that it is an approved cuftom, to decide our lots, and to regulate our choice of professions or situa- tions in life, by the order of our birth, or the interests of fortune. But, O my God ' does the ministry of thy gospel derive its force from the worldly considerations of a carnal birth ? We cannot establish all, says the world, and it would be melancholy to fee perfons of rank and birth in avocations unwonthy of their dignity. If born to a name distinguished in the world, you muft get forward by dint of intrigue, meanness, and expence : Make fortune your idol. That ambition, however much condemned by the laws of the gofpel, is only a fentiment worthy your name and birth.
You are of a sex and rank which introduce you to the gaities of the world : You cannot but do as others do : You muft frequent all the public places, where thofe of your age and rank assemble ; enter into the same pleasures ; pass your days in the fame frivolities ; and expofe yourself to the fame dangers ; thefe are the received maxims ; and you are not made to reform them : Such is the doftrine of the world.
Now permit me to ask you here ; Who confirms you in thefe ways ? By what rules are they justified to your mind ? Who authorifes you in this dissipation, which is neither agreeable to the title you have received by baptifm, nor perhaps to thofe you hold from your ancestors ? Who authorizes thofe public pleasures, which you only think innocent, becaufe your soul, already too familiarized with fin, feels no longer the dangerous impressions or tendency of them ? Who authorizes you to lead an effeminate and sensual life, without virtue, sufferance, or any religious exercise ? To live like a stranger in the midst of your own family, disdaining to inform yourself with regard to the morals of thofe dependent upon you ! Through an affected ftate, to be ignorant whether they believe in the fame God; whether they fulfil the duties of the religion you profess ? Who authorizes you in maxims fo little Christian ? Is it the gofpel of Jefus Chrift ? Is it the doctrine of the Apostles and saints ? For surely fome rule is necessary to assure us that we are in safety : What is yours ? Custom : That is the only reply you can make. We fee none around us, but what conducts themselves in the same way and by the fame rule. Entering into the world, we find the manners already established : Our fathers lived thus, and from them we copy our cuftoms : The wisest conform to them: An individual cannot be wifer than the whole world, and will not pretend to make himfelf singular, by acting contrary to the general voice. Such, my brethren, are your only comforters against all the terrors of religion: None act up to the law. The public example is the only guarantee of our morals. We never reflect that, as the Holy Spirit says, the laws of the people are vain: That our Saviour has left us rules, in which neither times, ages, nor customs, can ever authorize the smallest change: That the heavens and the earth shall pass away; that customs and manners shall change; but that the Divine laws will everlastingly be the same. We content ourselves with looking around us: We do not reflect, that what at present we call custom, would, in former times, before the morals of Christians became degenerated, have been regarded as monstrous singularities; and, if corruption has gained since that period, these vices, though they have lost their singularity, have not lost their guilt. We do not reflect, that we shall be judged by the gospel, and not by custom; by the examples of the holy, and not by men's opinions; that the habits, which are only established among believers by the relaxation of faith, are abuses we are to lament, not examples we are to follow: That in changing the manners, they have not changed our duties: that the common and general example which authorizes them, only proves that virtue is rare, but not that profligacy is permitted: In a word, that piety and a real Christian life are too unpalatable to our depraved nature, ever to be practised by the majority of men. Come now and say, that you only do as others do: It is exactly by that you condemn yourselves. What! the most terrible certainty of your condemnation, shall become the only motive for your confidence! Which, according to the Scriptures, is the road that conducts to death?
Is it not that which the majority pursues? Which is the party of the reprobate? Is it not the multitude? You do nothing but what others do: But thus, in the time of Noah, perished all who were buried under the waters of the Deluge: All who, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, prostrated themselves before the golden calf: All who, in the time of Elijah, bowed the knee to Baal: All who, in the time of Eleazar, abandoned the law of their fathers. You only do what others do; but that is exactly what the Scriptures forbid: Do not, say they, conform yourselves to this corrupted age: Now, the corrupted age means not the smals number of just, whom you endeavour not to imitate; it means the multitude whom you follow. You only do what others do: You will consequently experience the same lot. Now, "Misery to thee, (cried formerly St. Augustine,) fatal torrent of human customs; wilt thou never suspend thy course? To the end wilt thou drag in the children of Adam to thine immense and terrible abyss?"
In place of saying to ourselves, "What are my hopes? In the church of Jesus Christ there are two roads; one broad and open, by which almost the whole world passes, and which leads to death; the other narrow, where few indeed enter, and which conducts to life eternal; In which of these am I? Are my morals the usual ones of persons of my rank, age, and situation in life? Am I with the great number? Then I am not in the right path: I am losing myself: The great number in every station is not the party of the saved." Far from reasoning in this manner, we say to ourselves, "I am not in a worse state than others; those of my rank and age live as I do: Why should I not live like them?" Why, my dear hearer? For that very reason: The general mode of living cannot be that of a Christian life: In all ages, the holy have been remarkable and singular men: Their manners were always different from thofe of the world ; and they have only been faints, becaufe their lives had no fimilarity to thofe of the reft of mankind. In the time of Esdras, in spite of the defence againft it, the cuftom prevailed of intermarrying with stranger women : This abuse became general : The priests and the people no longer made any scruple of it : But what did this holy restorer of the law ; or did he follow the example of his brethren ? Did he believe that guilt, in becoming general, became more legitimate ? No. He recalled the people to a sense of the abuse : He took the book of the law in his hand, and explaining it to the affrighted people, corrected the custom by the truth. Follow, from age to age, the history of the just ; and fee if Lot conformed himfelf to the habits of Sodom, or if nothing distinguished him from the other inhabitants : If Abraham lived like the reft of his age : If Job resembled the other princes of his nation : If Esther conducted herselt in the court of Ahasuerus like the other women of that Prince : If many widows in Ifrael refembled Judith : If, among the children of the captivity, it is not faid of Tobias alone, that he copied not the conduft of his brethren ; and that he even fled from the danger of their commerce and fociety. See, if in thofe happy ages, when Chriftians were all faints, they did not shine like stars in the midft of the corrupted nations ; and if they served not as a spectacle to angels and men, by the singularity of their lives and manners : If the Pagans did not reproach them for their retirement, and shunning of all public theatres, places, and pleasures : If they did not complain that the Chriftians affected to distinguish themfelves in every thing from their fellow-citizens ; to form a separate people in the midft of the people ; to have their particular laws and cuftoms ; and if a man from their side embraced the party of the Christians, they did not confider him as for ever lost to their pleafures, affemblies, and customs : In a word, fee, if in all ages, the faints whofe lives and actions have been transmitted down to us, have refembled the reft of mankind. You will perhaps tell us, that all thefe are singularities and exceptions, rather than rules which the world is obliged to follow : They are exceptions, it is true ; but the reafon is, that the general rule is to throw away falvation ; that a religious and pious foul in the midft of the world, is always a fingularity approaching to a miracle. The whole world, you fay, is not obliged to follow thefe examples ; but is not piety the general duty of all ? To be faved, must we not be holy ? Muft heaven, with difficulty and fufler- ance, be gained by fome ; while with eafe by others ? Have you any other gofpel to follow ; other duties to fulfil ; other promifes to hope for, than thofe of the Holy Bible ? Ah! Since there was another way more eafy to arrive at falvation, wherefore, ye pious Christians, who at this moment enjoy in heaven, that kingdom, gained with toil, and at the expence of your blood, did ye leave us example fo dangerous and useless?
Wherefore have ye opened for us a road, rugged, disagreeable, and calculated to repress our ardour, seeing there was another you could have pointed out, more eafy, and more likely to attract us, by facilitating our progress ? Great God ! how little does mankind consult reafon in the point of eternal falvation !" ' Will you confole yourfelves after this with the multitude, as if the greatness of the number could render the guilt unpunished, and the Almighty dost not condemn all those who live like you ? But what are all creatures in the sight of God ? Did the multitude of the guilty prevent him from destroying all flesh at the Deluge ? From making fire from heaven descend upon the five iniquitous cities ? From burying in the waters of the Red Sea, Pharaoh and all his army? From striking with death all who murmured in the desert ? Ah ! The kings of the earth may have regard to the number of the guilty, because the punishment becomes impossible, or at least dangerous, when the fault is become general. But God, who wipes the impious, fays Job, from off the face of the earth, as one wipes the dust from off a garment; God, in whose sight all people and nations are as if they were not, numbers not the guilty : He has regard only to the crimes ; and all that the weak and miserable sinner can expect from his unhappy accomplices, is to have them as Companions in his misery. So few are faved ; becaufe the maxims moft universally adopted, are maxims of fin : So few are faved, because the maxims and duties moft univerfally unknown, or rejected, are thofe moft indifpenfable to falvation. Last reflection, which is indeed nothing more than the proof and the explanation of the former ones.
What are the engagements of the holy vocation to which we have all been called ? The folemn promifes of baptifm. What have we promifed at baptifm ? To renounce the world, the devil, and the flefh : Thefe are our vows : This is the situation of the Chriftian : Thefe are the essential conditions of our covenant with God, by which eternal li£e has been promifed to us. Thefe truths' appear familiar, and destined for the common people ; but it is a miftake : Nothing can be more fublime ; and alas ! nothing is more generally unknown : It is at the court of kings, and to the princes of the earth, that without ceafing we ought to announce them. Alas! They are well inftrufted in all the affairs of the world, while the firft principles of Chriftian morality are frequently more unknown to them than to humble and fimple hearts. At your baptifm, you have then renounced the world. It is a promife you have made to God, before the holy altar ; the Church has been the guarantee and depofitory of it ; and you have only been admitted into the number of believers, and marked with the undefeasible seal of falvation, upon the faith that you have sworn to the Lord, to love neither the world, nor what the world loves. Had you then anfwered what you now repeat every day, that you find not the world fo black and pernicious as we fay ; that after all it may innocently be loved ; and that we only decry it fo much, becaufe we do not know it ; and since you are to live in the world, you wifh to live like thofe who are in it : Had you anfwered thus, the Church would not have received you into its bofom ; would not have connected you with the hope of Chriftians, nor joined you in communion with thofe who have overcome the world : She would have advised you to go and live with thofe infidels who know not our Saviour. For this reafon it was, that, in former ages, thofe of the Catechumen, who could not prevail upon themselves to renounce the world and its pleasures, put off their baptism till death ; and dared not approach the holy altar, to contract by the sacrament, which regenerates us, engagements of which they knew the importance and sanctity ; and to fulfil which, they felt themfelves still unqualified. You are therefore required, by the most sacred of all vows, to hate the world ; that is to fay, not to conform yourselves to it : If you love it, if you follow its pleasures and customs, you are not only, as St. John fays, the enemy of God, but you likewise renounce the faith given in baptism: You abjure the gofpel of Jefus Chrift : You are an apostate from religion, and trample under foot the moft sacred and irrevocable vows that man can make. Now, what is this world which you ought to hate ? I have only to anfwer, that it is the one you love : You will never miftake it by this mark: This world is a society of fin- ners ; whofe desires, fears, hopes, cares, projects, joys, and chagrins, no longer turn but upon the successes or misfortunes of this life. This world is an assemblage of people, who look upon the earth as their country ; the time to come as an exilement ; the promifes of faith as a dream; and death as the greatest of all misfortunes. This world is a temporal kingdom, where our Saviour is unknown ; where thofe acquainted with his name glorify him not as their Lord ; hate his maxims ; despise his followers ; and neglect or insult him in his sacraments and worship. In a word, to give a proper idea at once of this world, it is the great number ; behold the world, which you ought to shun, hate, and combat against by your example,
Now is this your fituation with regard to the world ? Are its pleafures a fatigue to you ; do its excesses afflict you ; do you regret the length of your pilgrimage here ? Are not its laws your laws ? Its maxims your maxims ? What it condemns, do you not condemn ? Do you not approve what it approves ? And should it happen, that you alone were left upon the earth, may we not fay, that the corrupted world would be revived in you ; and that you would leave an exact model of it to your posterity ? When I fay you, I mean and address myself to almoft all men.
Where are thofe who fincerely renounce the pleafures, habits, maxims, and hopes of this world ? We find many who complain of it ; and accufe it of injuftice, ingratitude and caprice ; who fpeak warmly of its abufes and errors ; but in decrying, they continue to love, to follow it ; they cannot bring themfelves to do without it ; in complaining of its injuftice, they are only piqued at it, they are not undeceived ; they feel its hard treatment, but they are unacquainted with its dangers ; they cenfure, but where are thofe who hate it ? And now, my brethren, you may judge, if many can have a claim to falvation. In the fecond place, you have renounced the flefh at your baptifm ; that is to fay, you are engaged not to live according to the fenfual appetites ; to regard even indolence and effeminacy as crimes ; not to flatter the corrupted defires of the flefh ; but to chastise, crush, and crucify it. This is not an acquired perfection ; it is a vow ; it is the first of all duties ; the character of a true Chriftian, and infeparable from faith. In a word, you have anathematized Satan and all his works : And what are his works ? That which composes almost the thread and end of your life ; pomp, pleafure, luxury, and dissipation : Lying, of which he is the father ; pride, of which he is the model ; jealoufy and contention, of which he is the artisan : But I ask you, where are thofe who have not withdrawn the anathema they had pronounced against Satan ? Now confequently, (to mention it as we go along), behold many of the questions answered. You continually demand of us, if theatres and other public places of amusement, be innocent recreations for Christians. In return, I have only one question to ask you, Are they the works of Satan, or of Jefus Chrift ? For there can be no medium in religion. I mean not to fay, but what many recreations and amufements may be termed indifferent : But the moft indifferent pleafures which religion allows, and which the weakness of our nature renders even necessary, belong in one sense to Jefus Chrift, by the facility with which they ought to enable us to apply ourfelves to more holy and more ferious duties. " Every thing we do ; every thing we rejoice or weep at, ought to be of fuch a nature, as to have a conneftion with Jefus ' Chrift, and to be done for his glory. Now, upon this principle, the moft incontestible, and moft univerfally allowed in Chriftian morality, you have only to decide whether you can conneft the glory of Jefus Chrift with the pleafures of a theatre. Can our Saviour have any part in fuch a fpecies of recreation ? And before you enter them, can you, with confidence, declare to him, that in fo doing, you only propofe his glory, and to enjoy the satisfaction of pleasing him ? What ! The theatres, such as they are at present, still more criminal, by the public licentiousness of thole unfortunate creatures who mount them, than by the impure and passionate fcenes they repre- fent : The theatres are the works of Jefus Chrift ! Jefus Chrift would animate a mouth, from whence are to proceed founds, lafcivious, and intended to corrupt the heart ? But thefe blasphemies strike me with horror. Jefus Chrift would prefide in aflemblies of fin, where every thing we hear weakens his doftrines ; where the poifon enters into the foul by all the senses ; where every art is employed to inspire, awaken, and justify the passions he condemns ? Now, fays Tertullian. if they are not the works of Jefus Chrift, they muft be the works of Satan : Every Chriftian ought, therefore, to abstain from them: When he partakes of them, he violates the vows of baptifm : However innocent he may flatter himfelf to be, in bringing from thefe places an untainted heart, it is sullied by being there ; since by his prefence alone he has participated in the works of Satan, which he had renounced at baptifm, and violated the moft facred promifes he had made to Jesus Christ and to his Church. Thefe, my brethren, as I have already told you, are not merely advices, and pious arts ; they are the moft essential of our obligations : But alas ! who fulfils them ? who even knows them ? Ah ! my brethren, did you know how far the title you bear, of Christian, engages you ; could you comprehend the sanctity of your ftate ; the hatred of the world, of yourfelf, and of every thing, which is not of God, that it ordains you ; that life, according to the Gofpel, that continual watching, that guard over the passions : in a word, that conformity with Jefus Chrift crucified, which it exacts of you : could you comprehend it ; could you remember, that as you ought to love God with all your heart, and all your ftrength, a single desire that has not conneftion with him defiles you, you would appear a monster in your own sight. How! would you fay to yourfelf, duties fo holy, and morals fo profane ! A vigilance fo continual, and a life fo careless and dissipated ! A love of God fo pure, fo complete, fo univerfal, and a heart the continual prey of a thoufand impulses, either foreign or criminal: If thus it is, who, O my God! will be entitled to falvation ?
Few indeed, I am afraid, my dear hearer : at leaft it will not be you, (unlefs a change takes place,) nor thofe who refemble you : it will not be the multitude. Who fhall be faved ? thofe who work their falvation with fear and trembling ; who live in the midft of the world, but not like the world. Who fhall be faved ? that Chriftian woman, who fhut up in the circle of her domeftic duties, rears up her children in faith, and in piety ; divides her heart only betwixt her Saviour and her husband ; is adorn- ed with delicacy and modesty ; sits not down in the assemblies of vanity ; makes not a law of the ridiculous cuftoms of the world, but regulates thefe cuftoms by the law of God ; and makes virtue appear more amiable, by her rank and example. Who fhall be faved ? That believer, who, in the relaxation of modern times, imitates the manners of the firft Chriftians ; whofe hands are clean, and his heart pure ; watchful; " who hath not lift up his foul to vanity ;" but who, in the midft of the dangers of the great world, continually applies himfelt to purify it: Just, who fwears not deceitfully againft his neighbour, nor is indebted to fraudulent ways for the innocent aggrandisement of his fortune : Generous, who with benefits repays the enemy who sought his ruin : Sincere, who facrifice not the truth to a vile intereft, and knows not the part of rendering himfelf agreeable, by betraying his confcience : Charitable who makes his houfe and intereft the refuge of his fellow-creatures, and tiimfelt the consolation of the afflicted; regards his wealth as the property of the poor; humble in affliction, chriftian under injuries, and penitent, even in profperity. Who will merit falvation ? You, my dear hearer, if you will follow thefe examples ; for fuch are the fouls to be faved. Now thefe assuredly do not form the greatest number : while you continue, therefore to live like the multitude, it is a point of belief, that you cannot pretend to falvation.
Thefe, my brethren, are truths which would make us tremble ; nor are they thofe vague ones which are told to all men, and which none apply to themfelves : Perhaps there is not in this aflembly, an individual, who may not fay of himfelf, " I live like the great number ; like thofe " of my rank, age, and fituation : I am loft, fhould I die in this path." Now can any thing be more capable of alarming a foul, in whom fome remains of care for his falvation ftill exifl ? It is the multitude, neverthelefs, who tremble not. There is only a fmall number of juft, which operates apart, its falvation, with fear and trembling : All the reft are tranquil. After having lived with the multitude, they flatter themfelves they fhall be particularifed at death ; every one augurs favourably for himfelf, and chi- merically thinks he fhall be an exception. On this account, it is, my brethren, that I confine my- felf to you, who at prefent are aflembled here ; I include not the reft of men ; but confider you as alone exifting on the earth. The idea, which occupies and frightens me, it this, I figure to myfelf the prefent, as your laft hour, and the end of the world : That the heavens are going to open above your heads : Our Saviour in all his glory, to appear in the midft of this temple ; and that you are only affem- bled here to wait his coming, like trembling criminals, on whom the fentcnce is to be pronounced, either of life eternal, or of everlafting death : For it is vain to flatter your-, felves, that you fhall die more innocent than you are at this hour : All thofe defires of change with which you are amufed, will continue to amufe till death arrives ; the experience of all ages proves it ; the only difference you have to expeft, will moft likely be only a larger balance againft you than what you would have to anfwer for at prefent : And from what would be your deftiny, were you to be judged this moment, you may almoft decide upon what will take place at your departure from life. Now I afk you, (and connefting my own lot with yours, I afk it with dread,) were Jefus Chrift to appear in this temple, in the midft of this aflembly, to judge us, to make the dreadful feparation betwixt the goats and fheep, do you believe that the greateft number of us would be placed at his right hand ? Do you believe that the number would at leaft be equal ? Do you believe there would even be found ten upright and faithful fervants of the Lord, when formerly five cities could not furnifh fo many ? I afk you. You know not : and I know it not. Thou alone, O my God ! knoweft who belong to thee. But if we know not who belong to him, at leaft we know that finners do not. Now, who are the juft and faithful, affembled here at prefent ? Titles and dignities avail nothing : You are flripped of all thefe in the prefence of your Saviour : Who are they ? Many finners, who wifh not to be converted ; many more who wifh, but always put it off; many others, who are only converted in appearance, and again fall back to their former courfes : In a word, a great number, who flatter themfelves they have no occafion for converfion : This is the party of the reprobate. Ah ! my brethren, cut off from this affembly thefe four claffes of finners, for they will be cut off at the great day : And now appear, ye juft : Where are ye ? O God ! where are thy chofen ? And what a portion remains to thy fhare !
My brethren, our ruin is almoft certain ; yet we think not of it. When even in this terrible separation, which will one day take place, there fhould be only one sinner in this aflembly, on the fide of the reprobate ; and that a voice from heaven fhould affure us of it, without particularifing him : Who of us would not tremble, lest he fhould be the unfortunate and devoted wretch ? Who of us would not immediately apply to his confcience, to ex-. amine if his crimes merited not this punifhment ? Who of us, feized with dread, would not demand of our Saviour, as the Apoftles formerly did, and fay, " Lord, is it I '?" And fhould a fmall refpite be allowed to our prayers, who of us would not ufe every effort, by tears, fupplications, and fincere repentance, to avert the misfortune ? Are we in our fenfes, my dear hearers ? Perhaps, among all who liften to me, ten juft would not be found ; perhaps fewer: What do I know, O my God ! I dare not with a fixed eye regard the depths of thy judgments and thy juftice. More than one perhaps would not be found amongft us all. And this danger affects you not, my dear hearer? You perfuade yourfelf, that in this great number who fhall perifh, you will be the happy individual ; you, who have lefs reafon perhaps than any other to believe it; you upon whom alone the fentence of death should fall, were only one of all who hear me, to fuffer? Great God! How little are the terrors of thy law known to the world ! In all ages; But what are we to conclude from thefe grand truths ? That all muft defpair of falvation ? God forbid : The impious alone, to quiet his own feelings in his debaucheries, endeavours to perfuade himfelf, that all men shall perifh as well as he.
This idea ought not to be the fruit of the prefent discourse. It is meant to undeceive you with regard to the general error, that any one may do whatever others do ; to convince you, that in order to merit falvation, you muft diftinguifh yourfelves from the reft ; in the midft of the world, lead a life to the glory of God, and refemble not the multitude.
When the Jews were led in captivity from Judea to Babylon, a little before they quitted their own country, the Prophet Jeremiah, whom the Lord had forbid to leave Jerufalem, fpoke thus to them : " Children of Ifrael, when you fhall arrive at Babylon, you will behold the inhabitants of that country, who carry upon their shoulders gods of filver and gold : All the people will prostrate themfelves, and adore them. But you, far from allowing yourfelves by thefe examples, to be led to impiety, fay to yourfelves in fecret, It is thou, O Lord ! whom we ought to adore."
Let me now finifh, by addrefling to you the fame words : At your departure from this temple, you go to enter into another Babylon : You go to fee idols of gold and fil- ver, before which all men proftrate themfelves : You go to regain the vain objefts of human paflions, wealth, glory, and pleafure, which are the gods of this world, and which almoft all men adore : You will fee thofe abufes, which all the world permits ; thofe errors, which cuftom authorifes ; and thofe debaucheries, which an infamous fafhion has almoft conftituted as laws. Then, my dear hearer, if you wifh to be of the fmall number of true Ifraelites, fay in the fecrecy of your heart, It is thou alone, O my God! whom we ought to adore. I with not to have conneftion with a people, which knows thee not : I will have no other Jaw„ than thy holy law : the gods, which this foolifh multitude adores, are not gods : they are the work of the hands of men ; they will perifh with them : Thou alone, O my God .' art immortal ; and thou alone deferv- efl to be adored. The cufloms of Babylon have no con- neftion with the holy laws of Jerufalem : I will continue to worfhip thee with that fmall number of the children of Abraham, which ftill in the inidllof an infidel nation com- pofes thy people : With them, I will turn all my delires towards the Holy Sion : The fingularity of my mariners will be regarded as a weaknefs ; but blefled weaknefs, O my God ! which will give me flrength to refift the torrent of customs, and the seduction of example : Thou wilt be my God in the midst of Babylon, as thou wilt one day be in Jerufalem.
Ah ! The time of the captivity will at laft expire : Thou wilt call to thy remembrance, Abraham and David : Thou wilt deliver thy people : Thou wilt tranfport us to the holy city : Then wilt thou alone reign over Ifrael, and over the nations which at prefent know thee not. All being deftroyed ; all the empires and fceptres of the earth ; all the monuments of human pride annihilated ; and thou alone remaining eternal, we then fhall know, that thou art the Lord of hofts, and the only God to be adored. Behold the fruit which you ought to reap from this dif- courfe ; live apart ; think without ceafing, that the great number work their own deftruftion : Regard, as nothing, all cuftoms of the earth, unlefs authorifed by the law of God : and remember, that holy men have in all ages been always looked upon as fmgular.
[edit] Massillon's Sermon--Small number of the elect (Paraphrase-translation)
ON THE SMALL NUMBER OF THE ELECT. http://www.archive.org/details/massillonssermo00massuoft (This translation done by a Fr. Edward Peach is not a direct translation but a paraphrase.) Original French of the "Small Number of the Elect" can be read here: http://books.google.com/books?id=bkIAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=massillon&ei=eGJHSOeXHoHIigHFiczqBA#PPA300,M1
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"Many are called, but few are chosen" Matt., xx. 16.
THIS, my beloved brethren, is a sentence, which is seldom reflected on with that serious attention which its importance requires. It is generally supposed that salvation is attainable at a much easier rate than we represent it to be ; and that the number of the elect far surpasses the number of the reprobate. But the words of my text declare, that "many are called, but few are chosen".
Were it my intention to strike terror into your minds, instead of consulting your improvement by instruction, I would in this discourse enumerate the alarming examples with which the scriptures are filled on this subject: I would tell you, that the prophet Isaias compares the small number of the elect to the few bunches of grapes which escape the eye of the vintager ; to the few ears of corn, which chance only preserves from the sickle of the reaper. I would tell you, in the words of God himself, that there are two paths ; the one, narrow, rugged, strewed with thorns, and frequented by very few the other, broad, spacious, adorned with flowers, and trodden by the far greater part of mankind. I would tell you, that the gospel unreservedly declares, that perdition is the fate of the multitude, and that the number of the elect bears no comparison with the number of the reprobate.
But what profit would you reap from this discourse, were I to confine my observations to this subject alone ? You would be informed of the danger, and you would not be acquainted with the means of escape. You would behold the sword of God's wrath lifted over your heads, and you would not be empowered to avert the stroke. Your peace of mind would be destroyed, and you would not discover the irregularities of your moral conduct.
For your instruction, therefore, I will examine the causes why the number of the elect is so small. I will apply the subject individually to yourselves, and examine the foundation on which your hopes of salvation are established. Banish all foreign thoughts from your minds, and attend solely to my words. The subject is important, if any subject can be so, and more immediately relating to the concerns of your real and immortal welfare than any thing, I believe, that has ever before occupied your attention. 1. The elect of God will be composed of people of two different descriptions ; of those who have been so happy as to preserve their innocence spotless and undefined by mortal sin, and of those who have regained their lost innocence by suitable works of penance. These are the elect. Heaven is open only to the innocent and to the truly penitent. Now, my brethren, of which description are you ? Are you of the number of the innocent? or are you of the number of the penitent? Faith assures you that nothing defiled can enter Heaven. You must consequently either have avoided every defilement, or your defilements must have been washed away by sincere repentance. The first is a privilege which is enjoyed by very few ; and the second requires a grace which, in the present general relaxation of morals and discipline, is either seldom received or seldom corresponded with.
In those happy times when the Church was an assembly of saints, few of the faithful who had been cleansed by the laver of regeneration, and had received the Holy Ghost, relapsed into their former ways. Ananias and Sapphira were the only prevaricators we read of in the church of Jerusalem : one incestuous man only is recorded to have dishonoured the church of Corinth. Seldom was it necessary to subject a disciple to the rigour of canonical penance ; or, at least, the number of lepers, who were banished from the presence of the altar and separated from the society of their brethren, was very small in comparison with the rest of the faithful.
But those times are elapsed ; and great is the change that has taken place. The Gospel indeed has extended its empire, but the reign of piety is confined within narrower boundaries : the number of believers is increased, but the number of the just is diminished ; the world is the same now as it was from the begin ning corrupt and profligate; its conversion to the faith has produced no change in its manners arid customs. When it entered the Church, it introduced likewise its immorality and profaneness. Yes, my beloved, true it is that the land, even the land of Christianity, is infected by the corruption of its inhabitants ; all work iniquity, and seldom is there one who does good. Injustice, calumny, lying, adultery, and crimes of the blackest hue, lay waste the fair inheritance of Christ ; hatreds are perpetual ; reconciliations are seldom sincere ; an enemy is seldom loved ; detractions, and censures on the conduct of others, are indulged on all occasions ; and the gifts which God intended for the support of the corporal frame, are abused by excesses too shameful for description.
All states and conditions have corrupted their ways. The poor murmur against the rich; the rich forget the Author of their abundance ; the great seem to exist only for themselves ; and licentiousness is made the privilege of their independent station. Even the lamps of Jacob are extinguished : the salt has lost its savour : the priest has become like unto the people.
Behold, my brethren, the state of Christianity. And, my God ! is this thy Church, thy Spouse, thy beloved inheritance ? Is this thy delightful vineyard, the object of thy tenderest care ? Ah ! more heinous or more enormous crimes were not committed in Jerusalem, when thou pronouncedst against it the sentence of its condemnation.
Thus, one gate, the gate of innocence, is irrevocably shut against us. We have all gone astray. There probably was a time when sin defiled the heart of every individual of this assembly. The impetuosity of the passions has perhaps subsided in some; the world has perhaps become disgusting to others ; grace, perhaps, has wrought the conversion of others; but there probably was a period which we all look back upon with regret, and would gladly consent that it were for ever blotted out from the history of our lives.
But why do I lose my time in attempting to prove the loss of our baptismal innocence ? We know that we are sinners ; we dread the scrutinizing eye of an omniscient God ; and we have too much reason to fear that he beholds innumerable stains even in that part of our lives which appears to us unsullied by any crime. It is vain, therefore, to claim Heaven on the score of innocence : consequently, there is only one road to salvation left, which is that of penance. After the shipwreck of sin, this is the only plank, say the holy fathers, that can save us.
2. Now let me ask, where are the penitents in this assembly? Are their numbers considerable? There are more, said a holy father, who never lost their baptismal innocence, than have recovered it again by true repentance. A dreadful sentence, my dear brethren, but, I hope, not to be too strictly enforced, however respectable the authority. We will not run into extremes. There are sufficient motives for alarm in the exposition of the known truth, without adding to them by unnecessary declamations. Let us only examine, whether the greater number of us have any right to expect eternal happiness on the score of repentance.
In the first place, what is a penitent ? A penitent, says Tertullian, is one who every hour calls to mind in the bitterness of his soul the sins of his past life who takes part with the justice of God against himself, and renounces innocent pleasures in order to atone for the criminal excesses which he formerly committed. A penitent is one who treats his body as an obstinate enemy as a rebel, whom he must bring into subjection as a dishonest debtor, from whom he must exact the last farthing. A penitent is one who considers himself as a malefactor condemned by the justice of God to death, and is convinced that his only portion in this life ought to be sufferings and contempt. A penitent is one who is ready to submit to the loss of health and property, as to the just privations of blessings which he has criminally abused to crosses and afflictions, as to a punishment due to him on account of his transgressions to corporal pains, as to a foretaste of the eternal torments which his sins have deserved. This is the description of a true penitent. Now let me ask, where are the men in this assembly who answer this description ?
Are they prostrate in the porch of the temple ? Are they covered with sackcloth and ashes ? Do they supplicate the brethren, who are entitled to enter the sanctuary, to offer up their prayers to the Father of mercies in their behalf? Have they spent whole years in the exercises of prayer, of fasting, of mortification, and of other penitential austerities? Are they excluded from the Church, and forbidden to assist at the celebration of the tremendous mysteries? Are they treated as the outcast of men, and deprived of every consolation but that of their tears and repentance ? This, at least, was the course of atonement prescribed to the ancient penitents, and scrupulously fulfilled by them.
I admit that the Church has long since authorized a relaxation of this discipline; and my motive for hinting at the severities of those times, was not to lead you into a supposition that the observance of them was still necessary, or to cast reflections on the mild condescension of the Church in abolishing them, but to stigmatize the general corruption of the Christian world which rendered the abolition necessary. External discipline must be accommodated to the manners and customs of the times. But although laws framed by men are liable to change, the laws of penance are founded on the gospel, and can never change. We may satisfy the Church without the rigours of public penance ; but we cannot satisfy either the Church or God, unless by our private penance we make full atonement for our crimes.
Now, my brethren, what is your private penance ? Is it proportionate to the penance of the primitive Christians ? Is it proportionate to the number and the enormity of your sins ? You, perhaps, may say, that you endure the cares and anxieties inseparable from your state of life : that solicitude for the present and future well-being of yourselves and families embitters your days : that you labour from morning till night, and that, in spite of all your endeavours, you are frequently the victims of want, of wretchedness, of infirmities, and of other numberless evils. This, perhaps, may be true. But do you submit to these trials with a truly Christian spirit, without murmurings, without complaints ? Do you submit to them in the spirit of penance, arid offer them up to God as an atonement for your sins? If not, they will be found deficient in the scales of unerring justice, and they will not be entitled to a reward. But, supposing that you did not offend in any of these points, would you rank in the number of penitents ? Would nothing more be required of you ? Your merit, I allow, would be great. You would offer up an acceptable sacrifice of atonement to the justice of God. But would his justice be completely satisfied ? The primitive Christians endured the ordinary trials of life with patience, and, in addition, submitted to all the rigours of canonical penance, and yet did not do too much. Can your reconciliation be effected by easier means ? Are not voluntary mortifications in private required of you? You know that the penance of every individual must be proportionate to his guilt: and can you reasonably entertain hopes of salvation, when your own penance is not regulated according to this maxim? Oh! be not deceived. The ways of repentance are far more painful than you imagine: the road to Heaven presents far greater difficulties to the sinner than you have hitherto experienced. This is the real truth ; and yet you spend your days in perfect tranquillity and peace!
You are not, indeed, singular in this respect. You do nothing more than follow the example of a great majority of your fellow Christians. Yon are not more attached to worldly pleasures, more averse to sufferings and crosses, more deficient in the works of repentance, than they. I allow that there are men of more dissolute characters : for I will not suppose that you are either destitute of religion, or unconcerned about salvation: but where are the men that are more penitent ? Alas ! the few that are of this description, I fear, are chiefly to be found in the shades of sequestered solitude. Amongst the people of the world there is only a small number, who, by a little stricter attention to religious duties, attract the notice, and perhaps the censures and ridicule, of the public. All the rest tread the same beaten path: children inherit the false security of their parents; seldom is there one that lives innocent; and seldom is there one that dies penitent. Good God ! if thou hast not deceived us if every precept of the gospel must be fulfilled to an iota if the number of the reprobate will not induce thee to relax something of the severity of thy law, what becomes of that multitude of people which daily drop into eternity before our eyes! What is become of our parents, our relations, our friends! What is their eternal lot!
Formerly, when a prophet complained to the Lord, that all Israel had abandoned his alliance, the Lord assured him, that he had reserved to himself seven thousand men, who had not bent their knee before Baal. But can the faithful servants of Jesus be comforted with the same assurance in these days ? There are undoubtedly many chosen vessels of election; the priesthood, the army, the court, the cottage, have their ornaments men according to God's own heart, with whom he delighteth to dwell ; for the world exists only for the sake of the elect, and when their number is complete, the final dissolution will take place. But how few are they, when compared with that immense multitude which is hurried headlong into the deep abyss!
3. You, perhaps, have been encouraged to rely with confi dence on your state, and to conclude that nothing more was required of you, because you perceived that you were as regular, as moral, as attentive to your duty as other people. But, my beloved, this, instead of being a subject of consolation, ought to strike you with dismay. Others, that is the generality of people, live in a state of tepidity and spiritual sloth ; they aje the slaves of pride and vain-glory ; they are addicted to detraction, hatred, and other vices; they love neither God nor their neighbour in the manner they ought; in a word, they walk in the broad road that leadeth to damnation. And can you imagine that you are secure, because you walk in the same path with them ? The small number of the elect walk in the narrow path : their lives are regulated, not by the conduct of the multitude, but by the precepts of the gospel: their fervent piety, their strict morality, their penitential austerity, exalt them far above the rank of other people : they are, and have been in every age, men of singular lives: they shine like lights in the midst of darkness : they are spectacles worthy both of angels and men : they hold in abhor rence the ways, the maxims, the pleasures, and the vanities of the world : they live, says St. Paul, not they, but Christ liveth in them.
Perhaps, you will say, that the saints are exceptions to the general rule, worthy indeed of your admiration, but not fit for your imitation. That they are exceptions, I will readily allow. But they are exceptions only from that general rule of walking in the broad road of perdition. A chosen soul, in the midst of the world, must necessarily be an exception. Are we then obliged to walk in the footsteps of the saints ? We are. It is the duty of every one to be holy and to be a saint. Heaven is open only to saints. There is no other gospel to be followed, no other duties to be fulfilled, no other promises to be hoped for, than those proposed to the saints. Every one is obliged to love God above all things, and his neighbour as himself: every one is obliged to seek Heaven in the first place, to be meek and humble of heart, to comply with every precept of the gospel, to avoid sin as the greatest of all evils, and to do condign works of penance for the sins into which he has fallen: every one is obliged to do good, to advance forward in the ways of virtue, and to be perfect, as his Heavenly Father is perfect. These are obligations imposed on all : these are the same that were imposed on the saints : and the fulfilling them alone made them saints. Oh! if there were an easier road to Heaven, it would certainly have been pointed out to us ; it would have been traced out in the gospel ; there would have been saints who would have walked it, and encouragements would have been held out to us by the Church to follow their easy example. But you know that there has been nothing of the kind. Good God ! how little do men consult the dictates of reason when their eternal salvation is at stake !
Be not, therefore, lulled into a fatal security by the assurance that you are as virtuous as other people. On the contrary, beware of the multitude : walk not with the multitude, lest you share the same fate. Take your model from the saints, and imitate their virtues and sanctity. If you are innocent, continue to fulfil every precept of the gospel, and by self-denial and prayer prepare yourselves for future temptations. If you are sinners, bewail your sins without ceasing; water your couch every night with your tears ; put on the weeds of mourning; and anticipate the judgments of God by mortification and penance. Enter on this penitential time with alacrity and joy ; and instead of seeking to increase, or of availing yourselves of, the relaxations which the multitude has extorted, vie with the penitents of old: make it a truly penitential time. Be not seduced by the examples of the impenitent; but, with the chosen few, devote both body and soul to the painful works of fasting and penance. Then you may confidently hope that you will receive the reward promised to the truly penitent, and you will be united to their company hereafter in the joys of a blissful immortality.
XVIL SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY.
ON THE SMALL NUMBER OF THE ELECT. (Part II)
"A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the way side. . . .and
other some fell upon a rock and other some fell among thorns and other some
fell upon good ground, and brought forth fruit a hundred fold" Luke, viii. 5, 8.
OUR attention, my beloved, is again awakened by a repetition of the dreadful truths which were the subject of my last discourse. In this parable, the elect and the reprobate are plainly designated ; and the comparatively small number of the elect is discernible to the slightest observer. In the first place, out of that immense multitude of people who either know not God, or refuse obedience to his authority, and throw off the restraints of religion, none are chosen ; the parable does not even notice them : and the reason is, because, according to the scripture, they who believe not are already judged. In the second place, out of the seed which God hath sown in his Church, watered with the dews of Heaven, and nourished with the manure of his holy word, only one of the four parts described forms the number of the elect. The man who hears the word of God, but never follows it in practice, is rejected. The man whose sloth and tepidity, like the dryness of a rock, prevent the word of God from taking root in his soul, and whose only efforts for salvation consist in attending at the service of the Church, and in perform ing a few exercises of devotion without the spirit and without the fervour of divine love, is rejected. The man whose heart is divided between God and the world, and whose entanglement in the thorns of riches and pleasures draws off his attention from the duties of religion, is rejected. He alone who hears the word of God and keeps it he alone who seeks the kingdom of Heaven in the first place, and makes salvation the great business of his life he alone who, notwithstanding the opposition of his own nature, and the influence of public example, serves his Maker in spirit and in truth, and brings forth fruit in patience he alone is admitted into the number of the elect, and entitled to the rewards prepared for the saints.
But, my brethren, where shall we find men of this description ? That you may be enabled to form an idea of the comparative smallness of their number, I will describe in detail the obligations of a Christian, and I will examine how far they are observed by mankind in general. Be attentive, for the subject is applicable to every individual in this assembly.
1. By the title and character of Christian, which we bear, we are obliged to renounce the world and all its pomps, the Devil and all his works, the flesh and all its concupiscences. These are our engagements. These are the essential articles of the treaty concluded between us and God. On the fulfilment of these we shall be entitled to the promises, and not otherwise.
In the first place, we engaged in baptism to renounce the world and all its pomps. This engagement we made at the foot of the altar of God ; the Church witnessed and sealed it, and on this condition alone received us into the society of the faithful.
But what is this world which we engaged to renounce ? I reply, that it is the world, to which the greater part of mankind are attached; and by this mark we may always distinguish it. The world is that multitude of sinners, whose desires arid fears, whose hopes and solicitudes, whose joys and griefs are excited by the goods or evils of this life alone. The world is that great portion of the human race, who fix their affections on the Earth, as
if it were their true country; who dread the world to come, as if it were a land of banishment; who are less anxious about their eternal inheritance, than about their temporal pursuits; who consider death as the greatest of all evils the extinction of every hope and the end of every enjoyment. The world is that temporal kingdom, where Christ is not known, or, if he be known, is not glorified as God ; where his maxims are reprobated, his faithful servants despised, his blessings abused, his sacraments neglected or profaned, his worship abandoned. This is the world which we have engaged to renounce, to avoid, to hate, to oppose by our good example, and to resist with all our heart and mind and strength. This is the world which ought to be crucified to us that is, ought to be the object of our aversion, and to which we ought to be crucified that is, ought to be the objects of its censures and ridicule.
Now, my beloved, in what manner do we fulfil this engage ment? Do we loathe the enjoyments of the world? Are we grieved at the sight of its abominations and crimes ? Do we sigh after our true country, and lament that the time of our pilgrimage is prolonged ? Do we wish to be dissolved and to be with Christ? No: we do nothing of the kind; or rather, we do directly the reverse. Our thoughts and affections are centred in the world ; its laws are our laws; its maxims are our maxims; we condemn what it condemns; and we commend what it commends. When I say we, I mean the generality of Christians. I know that there are many who complain bitterly of the world ; who accuse it of injustice, ingratitude, and caprice; who discharge upon it the coldest venom of invective; and who describe its errors and abuses in the strongest terms. But, notwithstanding all this, they still continue to love it; they court its favours; they cannot live without it. Where is the man who can say from his heart that he hates the world, and that he has renounced its pleasures, its customs, its maxims, and its expectations? All are pledged, all, without exception, have entered into a most solemn covenant to do this, and not one will do it.
We engaged, in the second place,to renounce the flesh and all its irregular inclinations and desires: that is to say, we engaged to shun indolence and sensuality, to resist the cravings of a corrupted heart, to chastise the body, to crucify it, and to bring it into subjection. This was our vow ; and we are obliged to fulfill it: it is one of our principal duties: it is inseparable from the character of a Christian. And by whom is it fulfilled ?
Lastly, we engaged to renounce the Devil and all his works. If it be asked, what these works are, I reply, that they are the works which form the history of the most considerable part of our lives. They are ambition, pride, hypocrisy, vain-glory, and deceit: they are fraud, injustice, double-dealing, and lies: they are hatred, dissension, envy, and jealousy: they are worldly pomp and show, plays, comedies, and unprofitable parties of pleasure.
"What!" methinks I hear you say, " is the Christian to be debarred the theatres, and other public places of resort? " Certainly, if his innocence be exposed to danger. Every action that we perform must have for its object the greater honour and glory of God, or it is not innocent. Every work that is not placed to our account in the book of life, is recorded against us. The weakness of human nature, indeed, requires pastimes and relaxations; but those pastimes and relaxations only are innocent, which may be referred to the honour of God, and which will enable us to apply with more vigour to our more holy and more serious duties.
Now, according to this universally received point of Christian morality, 1 leave you to decide whether the public amusements above mentioned are innocent or not. Do they unbend the mind only for a time, and thereby enable it to apply with more ear nestness to the great affair of salvation? Can they be referred to the greater honour and glory of God ? Is it possible to frequent them through motives of religion and virtue ? No : the most profane Christian would blush to make the assertion. Consequently, your innocence is not only endangered, but injured by them ; and consequently, as often as you frequent them, you violate the sacred engagement to renounce the Devil and all his works, which you contracted in baptism, and which you ratify by your public profession of the Christian faith.
2. These, my brethren, are our baptismal vows. They are not matter of counsel only : they are what we call pious practices. They are obligations the most essential the most indispensable. And yet how few observe them! how few give them a place in their thoughts ! Ah ! did you but seriously reflect on the extent of the duties which the name of Christian imposes on you were you but once thoroughly convinced that you are obliged to hate the world and all that is not God, to live the life of faith, to maintain a constant watchfulness over your senses, to be conformed to Christ crucified did you but seriously consider, that the great command of loving God with your whole heart and strength, is violated by every thought, every action, which is not referred to him ; oh ! you would be seized with fear and trembling ; you would shudder at the sight of the immense chaos which your infidelities have formed between you and God ; you would exclaim with astonishment: "Who can be saved ? if these are our duties if this constant watchfulness, this pure and fervent love are required of every individual, who can be saved ?" This would be your exclamation ; and I would immediately answer : "Very few indeed will be saved: you will not be saved unless you reform your lives ; they who live like you will not be saved ; the multitude will not be saved".
Who then will be saved ? The man who, in these days of irreligion and vice, walks in the footsteps of the primitive Christian " whose hands are innocent, and whose heart is pure ; who has not received his soul in vain" P*., xxiii. 4 ; who has successfully struggled against the torrent of worldly example, and purified his soul ; who is a lover of justice, " and swears not deceitfully against his neighbour "ib.; who is not indebted to double dealing for an increase of fortune ; who returns good for evil, and heaps favours on the enemy that had laboured for his destruction; who is candid and sincere, and never sacrifices truth to interest, nor conscience to civility; who is charitable to all in distress, and a friend to all in affliction ; who is resigned in ad versity, arid penitent even in prosperity.
He, my dear brethren, will be saved, and he only. Oh ! how alarming is this truth ! And nevertheless, all the chosen few only excepted, who work out their salvation with fear and trem bling all, I say, live on in the greatest peace and tranquillity of mind. They know that the greater number is lost ; but they flatter themselves with the assurance that, although they live like the world, they shall die like the just: each one supposes that God will favour him with a particular grace : each one looks for ward with confidence to a happy death.
These are your expectations likewise. I will therefore say no more about the rest of mankind, but address myself solely to you as if you were the only inhabitants of the Earth. Now this is the thought which occupies my mind, and strikes terror into the very centre of my soul. I suppose that the last day is arrived ; that the trumpet has sounded ; that you are risen from the dead ; that you are assembled together in this place, to await the com ing of the great Judge ; that the heavens are about to open ; and that you will shortly behold the Son of Man descending with great power and majesty to pronounce upon you the sentence either of election or reprobation.
Rouse your attention, my brethren. Are your accounts in order ? Are you prepared for the trial P Are you ready to meet your Judge ? Do not say that you will prepare yourselves here after. This is a delusive hope. What you are now, the same will you probably be at the hour of death. The intention of re forming your conduct, which has so long occupied your thoughts without effect, will continue without effect as long as you live. This is testified by the experience of ages.
Now I ask you I ask you with dismay, and without meaning to separate my lot from yours : Were the Son of Man to appear in this assembly, and separate the good from the bad, the innocent from the guilty, the penitent from the impenitent, how many would he place on his right hand ? Would he place the greater number of us P Would he place one half? Formerly, he could not find ten just men in five populous cities ; and could he find as many, do you think, in this small assembly? How many, then, would he place on his right ? You cannot give an answer, neither can I. Thou alone, my God, knowest thy elect, thy chosen few.
But if we cannot say who will be placed on his right hand, we can say at least that sinners will be placed on his left. Who, then, are sinners ? They may be divided into four classes. Let every individual attend, and examine whether he may not be ranked in one of them. 1. They who are immersed in vice, arid will not reform : 2. They who intend to reform, but defer their conversion: 3. They who fall into their former habits as often as they pretend to renounce them : 4. They who think that they need not a change of life. These are the reprobate: separate them from the rest of this assembly, for they will be separated from them at the last day. Now, ye chosen servants of my God ye remnant of Israel, lift up your heads; your salvation is at hand : pass to the right : separate yourselves from this chaff, which is destined for the fire. O God ! where are thy elect ! How few of us will be comprehended in the number !
Beloved Christians, our perdition is almost certain; and why are we not alarmed ? If a voice from Heaven were heard in this temple, proclaiming aloud that one of us here present would be consigned to eternal flames, without disclosing the name, who would not tremble for himself? who would not examine into the state of his soul ? who would not, like the apostles at the last supper, turn to Jesus, and say: "Is it I, Lord?" And, if time were still at our disposal, who would not endeavour to secure his own soul by the tears and sighs of repentance ?
Where then is our prudence ? Perhaps not more than ten of my present auditory will be saved; perhaps not even so many;
perhaps But, O God ! I dare not, I cannot fix my eyes on the
dreadful, unfathomable abyss of thy justice: perhaps not more than one of us will see Heaven. And yet, we all flatter ourselves that we shall be the happy souls that will escape : we all imagine, without considering either our virtues or vices, that God will have mercy on us in preference even to those who are more inno cent and deserving.
Good God! how little are the terrors of thy justice known in the world ! The elect in every age withered away through fear, when they contemplated the severity and the depth of thy judg ments on the sins of men. Holy solitaries, after a life of the severest penance, were terrified at the thought, and when stretched on the bed of death, shook their hard couch of poverty and mor- tification by the trembling motions of their emaciated frame. They turned towards their weeping brethren, and with a faltering and dying voice asked them: "Do you think that the Lord will have mercy on me ?" Their fears bordered on despair, and their minds were in the grealest agitation, until Jesus himself appeased the storm, and produced a calm. But now, the man who has lived like the multitude, who has been worldly, profane, sensual, and unthinking, dies with the assurance of a happy immortality : and the minister of God, when summoned to attend him, is neces sitated to cherish this false confidence, to speak only of the infi nite treasures of the mercies of God, and in some measure to aid and assist him in deceiving himself. Good God! what wrath is stored up by thy justice against the day of wrath !
What conclusion, ray beloved, are you to draw from these alarming truths ? That you are to despair of salvation? God forbid. The impious man alone, in order to indulge his passions with less restraint, endeavours to convince himself that salvatioa is unattainable, and that all mankind will perish with him. My object is, that you should be undeceived respecting that almost universally received opinion, that it is not unlawful to do what is done by others, and that universal custom is a sufficient rule for your conduct. My object is, that you should be convinced, that in order to be saved, you must live in a different manner from the generality of mankind, that your piety must be singular, and that you must be separated from the multitude.
When the captive Jews were on the point of departing from their beloved country for the land of bondage the great Baby lon the prophet Jeremiah, who was commanded by God to remain in Jerusalem, addressed them in words to this purpori: Children of Israel, when you arrive in Babylon, you will behold their gods of silver and gold borne on the shoulders of the inha bitants, and the multitude before and behind adoring them ; but do not you imitate their example; on the contrary, say in }'our hearts: "Thou alone, O Lord, art worthy to be adored" Bar., vi. 6.
My advice to you at parting is nearly in the same words; and I earnestly exhort you never for a moment to lose sight of it. As soon as you have left the house of God, you will find your selves in the midst of Babylon. You will behold the idols of gold and silver, before which are prostrated the greater part of man kind: you will see the gods of this world wealth, glory, and plea sure, surrounded by their numerous votaries and adorers: you will witness abuses, errors, and disorders, authorized by universal example. Then, my beloved brethren, if you are Israelites in deed, you must turn to God, and say: " Thou alone art worthy to be adored". I will not take part with people who are strangers to thee: I will follow no other law but thine. The gods which the senseless multitude adores are not gods; they are the work of men's hands, and they shall perish with them. Thou only art immor tal: Thou alone art worthy to be adored. The laws of Babylon have no connection with thy holy laws. I will adore thee in the society of thy elect, arid with them I will ardently sigh after the Heavenly Jerusalem the seat of bliss. The world, perhaps, may attribute my conduct to weakness, my singularity to vain-glory; but do thou, O Lord, give me strength to resist the torrent of vice, and suffer me not to be seduced by evil example. The days of captivity will have an end. Thou wilt remember Abraham and David, thy servants. Thou wilt deliver thy people from slavery, and lead them into Sion. Then shalt thou alone reign over Israel, and over the nations that refuse to know thee. Then shall the former things pass away, and thou alone shalt remain forever. Then shall all nations know that "thou alone, O Lord, art worthy to be adored".
In order therefore to profit by this discourse, you must be re solved to live differently from the rest of men: you must boar constantly in mind that the greater number are lost : you must disregard all customs which are not consistent with the law of God: you must reflect that the saints in every age were men of sin gular lives. Then, after having been distinguished from sinners on Earth, you will be gloriously separated from them for all eternity.
===MASSILLON'S SERMON ON THE FEW TO BE SAVED.===
Let me suppose that your last hour and the end of the world is come ; that the heavens are about to open above our heads and Jesus Christ to appear in his glory in the midst of this church ; that you are now gathered together to hear him, like trembling criminals on whom a favourable judgment or a doom of everlasting death is about to be passed ; for, deceive yourselves as you may, you will die just such as you now are : all the plans of amendment which now fool you, will fool you on to your death-bed ; such is the experience of all ages.
You will find nothing changed about you save that, perhaps, the account which you will then have to give will be a little longer than that for which you would have been called upon to-day : so that by thinking what would be your lot if you were to be judged at this instant, you may almost tell for a certainty what will happen to you at your death. "Now then, I ask you, overwhelmed myself with fear, and without separating my lot from yours in this matter, but arousing within me that same state of mind which I wish you to put on ; I ask you, then, if Jesus Christ were now to appear in this church, in this congregation, to judge us, to make the fearful separation of the goats and the sheep, do you think that the greater number of us all would be placed on the right hand ? Do you think that we should at least be equally divided ? Do you think that there would be found amongst us even ten just ones, whom the Lord could not heretofore find in five whole cities ? I ask it of you. You do not know ; and I myself, I do not know. Thou only, oh God ! dost know those who belong to thee. But if we know not who do belong to him, we know, at all events, that sinners do not belong to him. What then are those now present ? Wealth and rank go for nothing : you will be stript of them before the day of judgment : what then are those now present ? A great many sinners who do not wish to be converted :
a still greater number who do wish it, but who delay their conversion :
many others who, as often as they are converted, fall back again into sin :
and a great many who think that they have no need to be converted at all.
All these must be damned : separate, then, these four classes of sinners from this congregation as they will be separated at the last day Come forth now, ye righteous ones ! Where are ye ? Faithful children of Israel, pass to the right hand ! Gram of Jesus Christ, separate yourself from this chaff that is to be burned ! Great God ! where are thy chosen ones ? and what is left for thy share ?"
[edit] Mortification
CHAPTER VII of True Spouse of Jesus Christ On interior mortification, or abnegation of self-love.
1. THERE are two sorts of self-love — the one good, the other pernicious. The former is that which makes us seek eternal life — the end of our creation. The latter inclines us to pursue earthly goods, and to prefer them to our everlasting welfare, and to the holy will of God...
2. Unhappy the soul that suffers himself to be ruled by her own inclinations. " A domestic enemy," says St. Bernard, "is the worst of foes." The devil and the world continually seek our destruction ; but self-love is a still more dangerous enemy. " Self-love," says St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, " is like a worm which corrodes the roots of a plant ; deprives us not only of fruit, but of life." ...He that cannot cut it off by a single stroke, should, at least, endeavour to destroy it by degrees...
3. " The life of man upon earth," says Job, "is a warfare." (Job. vii. 1.) Now, he that is placed in the front of battle must be always prepared for an attack : as soon as he ceases to defend himself, he is conquered. And here it is necessary to remark, that the soul should never cease to combat her passions, however great her victories over them may have been : for, human passions, though conquered a thousand times, never die. "Believe me," says St. Bernard, " that, after being cut off, they bud forth again; and, after being put to flight, they return." (In Can. Ser. 58.) Hence, by struggling with concupiscence, we can only render its attacks less frequent, less violent, and more easy to be subdued.
4. The human soul is a barren soil in which useless and noxious herbs constantly spring up : we must therefore, by the practice of holy mortification, continually hold the mattock in our hands, to root them up, and banish them from our hearts; otherwise, our souls shall become a wild uncultivated waste covered with briers and thorns. " Conquer yourself," was an expression always on the lips of [[St. Ignatius of Loyola]], and the text of his familiar discourses to his religious. Conquer self-love, and break down your own wills. Few of those who practise prayer, (he would say,) become saints, because few of them endeavour to overcome themselves. " Of a hundred persons" says the Saint, " devoted to prayer, more than ninety are self-willed." Hence he preferred a single act of mortification of selfwill to long prayer accompanied with many spiritual consolations. " What does it avail," says Gilbert, " to close the gates, if famine — the internal enemy — produce general affliction?" (Serm. 26, in Cant.) What does it profit us to mortify the exterior senses, and to perform exercises of devotion, while, at the same time, we cherish in our hearts rancour, ambition, attachment to selfwill and to self-esteem, or any other passion which brings ruin on the soul ?
5. St. Francis Borgia says, that prayer introduces the love of God into the soul, but mortification prepares a place for it, by banishing from the heart earthly affections — the most powerful obstacles to charity. Whoever goes for water to the fountain, must cleanse the vessel of the earth which it may contain; otherwise he will bring back mire instead of water. " Prayer without mortification," says Father Balthassar Alvarez, " is either an illusion, or lasts but for a short time." And [[St. Ignatius]] asserts, that a mortified Christian acquires a more perfect union with God in a quarter of an hour's prayer, than an unmortified soul does by praying for many hours. Hence, whenever he heard that any one spent a great deal of time in prayer, he said : " It is a sign that he practises great mortification."
6. There are some religious who perform a great many exercises of devotion, who practise frequent communion, long prayers, fasting, and other corporal austerities, but make no effort to overcome certain little passions — for example, certain resentments, aversions, curiosity, and certain dangerous affections. They will not submit to any contradiction ; they will not give up attachment to certain persons, nor subject their will to the commands of their superiors, or to the holy will of God. What progress can they make in perfection? Unhappy souls ! they shall be always imperfect : always out of the way of sanctity. " They," says St. Augustine, " run well, but out of the way." They imagine they run well, because they practise the works of piety which their own selfwill suggests; but they shall be for ever out of the way of perfection, which consists in conquering self. " Thou shall advance" says the devout a Kempis, "in proportion to the violence thou shalt have offered to thyself." I do not mean to censure vocal prayer, or acts of penance, or the other spiritual works. But, because all exercises of devotion are but the means of practising virtue, the soul should seek in them only the conquest of her passions. Hence, in our communions, meditations, visits to the blessed Sacrament, and other similar exercises, we ought always to beseech Almighty God to give us strength to practise humility, mortification, obedience, and conformity to his holy will. In every Christian, it is a defect to act from a motive of self-satisfaction.
But, in a religious who makes a particular profession of perfection and mortification, it is a much greater fault. "God," says Lactantius, " calls to life by labour : the devil, to death by delights." (Lib. vi. de Prov. cap. 18.) The Lord brings his servants to eternal life by mortification ; but the devil leads sinners to everlasting death, by pleasure and self-indulgence. 7. Even works of piety must be accompanied with a spirit of detachment; so that whenever our efforts are unsuccessful, we will not be disturbed, and when our exercises of devotion are prohibited by the superior, we will give them up with cheerfulness. Self-attachment of every kind hinders a perfect union with God. We must therefore seriously and firmly resolve to mortify our passions, and not to submit to be their slaves. External as well as interior mortification is necessary for perfection : but with this difference, that the former should be practised with discretion; the latter without discretion, and with fervour. What does it profit us to mortify the body while the passions of the heart are indulged ? " Of what use is it," says St. Jerome, " to reduce the body by abstinence, if the soul is swelled with pride ? — or to abstain from wine, and to be inebriated with hatred ?" (Epis. ad Laetanziam.) It is useless to chastise the body by fasting, while pride inflates the heart to such a degree, that we cannot bear a word of contempt, or the refusal of a request. In vain do we abstain from wine, while the soul is intoxicated with anger against all who thwart our designs, or oppose our inclinations.
8. By attention to the mortification of self-love we shall become saints in a short time, and without the risk of injury to health: for, since God is the only witness of interior acts, they will not expose us to the danger of being puffed up with pride. Oh! what treasures of virtue and what treasures of virtue and of merits are laid up by stifling, in their very birth, those little inordinate desires and affections; those bickerings; those suggestions of curiosity; those bursts of wit and humour; and all similar effects of self-love.
When you are contradicted, give up your opinion with cheerfulness, unless the glory of God require that you maintain it. When feelings of self-esteem spring up in your heart, make a sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ. If you receive a letter, restrain your curiosity, and abstain from opening it for some time. If you desire to read the termination of an interesting narrative, lay aside the book, and defer the reading to it to another time. When you feel inclined to mirth, to pull a flower, or to look at any object, suppress these inclinations for the love of Jesus Christ, and deprive yourself, for his sake, of the pleasure of indulging them. A thousand acts of this kind may be performed in the day. St. Leonard of Port Maurice relates, that a servant of God performed eight acts of mortification in eating an egg, and that it was afterwards revealed to her, that, as the reward of her self-denial, eight degrees of grace, and as many degrees of glory, were bestowed upon her. It is also narrated of St. Dositheus, that, by similar mortifications of the interior, he arrived, in a short time, at a high degree of perfection. Though unable, in consequence of bodily infirmities, to fast, or to discharge the other duties of the community, he attained so perfect an union with God, that the other monks, struck with wonder at his sublime sanctity, asked him what exercises of virtue he performed. "The exercise," replied the Saint, "to which I have principally attended, is the mortification of all selfwill."
9. St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say, that "the day which is spent without mortification, is lost." To convince us of the necessity of mortification, the Redeemer has chosen a life of perfect self-denial, full of pains and ignominy, and destitute of all sensible pleasure. Hence, he is called by Isaias, "a man of sorrows." He might have saved the world, amid thenjoyment of honours and delights; but he preferred to redeem it by sorrows and contempt. "Who having joy set before him, endured the cross." (Heb. xii. 2.) To give us an example, he renaounced the joy which was set before him, and embraced the cross. "Reflect, again, and again," says St. Bernard, "on the life of Jesus, and you will find him always on the cross." The Redeemer revealed to St. Catherine of Bologna that the sorrows of his passion commenced in his mother's womb. For his birth, he selected the season, the place, and the hour most calculated to excite pain. During life, he chose to be poor, unknown, despised: and, dying, he preferred the most painful, the most ignominious, and the most desolate of all sorts of death which human nature could suffer. St. Catherine of Sienna used to say, that as a mother takes the bitterest medicine to restore the health of the infant she suckles, so Jesus Christ has assumed all the pains of life to heal the infirmities of his children. 10. Thus, he invites all his followers to accompany him to the mountain of myrrh ; that is, of bitterness and of sorrows. "I will go to the mountain of myrrh." (Can. iv. 6.) " Do you come," says St. Peter Damian, " to Jesus crucified ? If you do, you must come already crucified, or to be crucified." (Ser. 1, de exalt. S. cruce.) If, O sacred spouse, you come to embrace your crucified Saviour, you must bring with you a heart already crucified, or to be crucified. Speaking especially of his virginal spouses, Jesus Christ said to blessed Baptist Varani: " The crucified Bridegroom, desires a crucified spouse." Hence, to be the true spouses of Jesus, religious must lead lives of continual mortification and self-denial. "Always bearing about in our body, the mortification of Jesus." (2 Cor. iv. 10.) They must never seek their own will or pleasure, in any action or desire, but the glory of Jesus Christ, crucifying, for his sake, all their inclinations. "They that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences." (Gal. v. 24.) Religious, if they expect to be recognised as the spouses of the Redeemer, must transfix all their passions.
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which human nature could suffer. St. Catherine of Sienna used to say, that as a mother takes the bitterest medicine to restore the health of the infant she suckles, so Jesus Christ has assumed all the pains of life to heal the infirmities of his children. 10. Thus, he invites all his followers to accompany him to the mountain of myrrh ; that is, of bitterness and of sorrows. " I will go to the mountain of myrrh." (Can. iv. 6.) " Do you come," says St. Peter Damian, " to Jesus crucified ? If you do, you must come already crucified, or to be crucified." (Ser. 1, de exalt. S. cruce.) If, O sacred spouse, you come to embrace your crucified Saviour, you must bring with you a heart already crucified, or to be crucified. Speaking especially of his virginal spouses, Jesus Christ said to blessed Baptist Varani : " The crucified Bridegroom, desires a crucified spouse." Hence, to be the true spouses of Jesus, religious must lead lives of continual mortification and self-denial. " Always bearing about in our body, the mortification of Jesus." (2 Cor. iv. 10.) They must never seek their own will or pleasure, in any action or desire, but the glory of Jesus Christ, crucifying, for his sake, all their inclinations. " They that are Christ•s, have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences." ( Gal. v. 24.) Religious, if they expect to be recognised as the spouses of the Redeemer, must transfix all their passions. 1 1 . Let us now see what are the
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1 1 . Let us now see what are the means by which the spirit of interior mortification may be acquired. The first means is, to discover the passion which predominates in our heart, and which most frequently leads us into sin ; and, then, to endeavour to conquer it. St. Gregory says, that, to overcome the devil, we must avail ourselves of the artifices by which he seeks our destruction. He labours continually to increase in us the violence of the passion to which we are most subject; and, we must direct our attention principally to the extirpation of that passion. Whoever subdues his predominate passion will easily conquer all other evil inclinations : but, he that is under its sway, can make no progress in perfection. " Of what advantage," says St. Ephrem, "are wings to the eagle when her foot is chained?" Oh ! how many religious are there who, like the royal eagle, are capable of lofty flights in the way of God, and who, because they are bound by earthly attachments, never advance in holiness. St. John of the cross says, that a slender thread is sufficient to fetter a soul who flies not with eagerness to her God. Besides, he that submits to the tyranny of any passion, not only does not go forward in the way of virtue, but is exposed to great danger of being lost. If a religious does not subdue her ruling passion, all other mortifications will be unprofitable. Some despise worldly riches, but are full of self«esteem. If they do not endeavour to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of
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to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of mammon will profit them but little. Others, on the contrary, are patient and humble, but enslaved to the love of money. If they do not mortify the desire of wealth, their patience and humility in bearing with contempt, will be of little use to them. 12. Resolve, then, O sacred virgin, to subdue the evil inclination which is most predominant in your heart. A resolute will, aided by the grace of God, (which is never wanting,) conquers all difficulties. St. Francis de Sales was very prone to anger; but, by continual violence to himself, he became a model of meekness and of sweetness. We read in his life that he bore, without murmur or complaint, the injuries and calumnies which, to try his patience, were, by the divine permission, heaped upon him. As soon as one passion is subdued, we must endeavour to overcome the others : for, a single unmodified passion will be sufficient to lead the soul to destruction. St. Joseph Calasanctius asserts that, while a single passion reigns in the heart, though all the others should have been extirpated, the soul shall never enjoy tranquillity. " A ship," says St. Cyril, " however strong and perfect it may be, will be unsafe, while the smallest hole remains in the bottom." (Ap. S. Augus. Ep. 206.) And St. Augustine says: "Trample under foot passions already subdued, and transfix those that still offer resistance." (In cap. 8, Rom.) If you wish to be a saint,
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to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of mammon will profit them but little. Others, on the contrary, are patient and humble, but enslaved to the love of money. If they do not mortify the desire of wealth, their patience and humility in bearing with contempt, will be of little use to them. 12. Resolve, then, O sacred virgin, to subdue the evil inclination which is most predominant in your heart. A resolute will, aided by the grace of God, (which is never wanting,) conquers all difficulties. St. Francis de Sales was very prone to anger; but, by continual violence to himself, he became a model of meekness and of sweetness. We read in his life that he bore, without murmur or complaint, the injuries and calumnies which, to try his patience, were, by the divine permission, heaped upon him. As soon as one passion is subdued, we must endeavour to overcome the others : for, a single unmodified passion will be sufficient to lead the soul to destruction. St. Joseph Calasanctius asserts that, while a single passion reigns in the heart, though all the others should have been extirpated, the soul shall never enjoy tranquillity. " A ship," says St. Cyril, " however strong and perfect it may be, will be unsafe, while the smallest hole remains in the bottom." (Ap. S. Augus. Ep. 206.) And St. Augustine says: "Trample under foot passions already subdued, and transfix those that still offer resistance." (In cap. 8, Rom.) If you wish to be a saint,
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1 1 . Let us now see what are the means by which the spirit of interior mortification may be acquired. The first means is, to discover the passion which predominates in our heart, and which most frequently leads us into sin ; and, then, to endeavour to conquer it. St. Gregory says, that, to overcome the devil, we must avail ourselves of the artifices by which he seeks our destruction. He labours continually to increase in us the violence of the passion to which we are most subject; and, we must direct our attention principally to the extirpation of that passion. Whoever subdues his predominate passion will easily conquer all other evil inclinations : but, he that is under its sway, can make no progress in perfection. " Of what advantage," says St. Ephrem, "are wings to the eagle when her foot is chained?" Oh ! how many religious are there who, like the royal eagle, are capable of lofty flights in the way of God, and who, because they are bound by earthly attachments, never advance in holiness. St. John of the cross says, that a slender thread is sufficient to fetter a soul who flies not with eagerness to her God. Besides, he that submits to the tyranny of any passion, not only does not go forward in the way of virtue, but is exposed to great danger of being lost. If a religious does not subdue her ruling passion, all other mortifications will be unprofitable. Some despise worldly riches, but are full of self«esteem. If they do not endeavour to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of
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to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of mammon will profit them but little. Others, on the contrary, are patient and humble, but enslaved to the love of money. If they do not mortify the desire of wealth, their patience and humility in bearing with contempt, will be of little use to them. 12. Resolve, then, O sacred virgin, to subdue the evil inclination which is most predominant in your heart. A resolute will, aided by the grace of God, (which is never wanting,) conquers all difficulties. St. Francis de Sales was very prone to anger; but, by continual violence to himself, he became a model of meekness and of sweetness. We read in his life that he bore, without murmur or complaint, the injuries and calumnies which, to try his patience, were, by the divine permission, heaped upon him. As soon as one passion is subdued, we must endeavour to overcome the others : for, a single unmodified passion will be sufficient to lead the soul to destruction. St. Joseph Calasanctius asserts that, while a single passion reigns in the heart, though all the others should have been extirpated, the soul shall never enjoy tranquillity. " A ship," says St. Cyril, " however strong and perfect it may be, will be unsafe, while the smallest hole remains in the bottom." (Ap. S. Augus. Ep. 206.) And St. Augustine says: "Trample under foot passions already subdued, and transfix those that still offer resistance." (In cap. 8, Rom.) If you wish to be a saint,
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which human nature could suffer. St. Catherine of Sienna used to say, that as a mother takes the bitterest medicine to restore the health of the infant she suckles, so Jesus Christ has assumed all the pains of life to heal the infirmities of his children. 10. Thus, he invites all his followers to accompany him to the mountain of myrrh ; that is, of bitterness and of sorrows. " I will go to the mountain of myrrh." (Can. iv. 6.) " Do you come," says St. Peter Damian, " to Jesus crucified ? If you do, you must come already crucified, or to be crucified." (Ser. 1, de exalt. S. cruce.) If, O sacred spouse, you come to embrace your crucified Saviour, you must bring with you a heart already crucified, or to be crucified. Speaking especially of his virginal spouses, Jesus Christ said to blessed Baptist Varani : " The crucified Bridegroom, desires a crucified spouse." Hence, to be the true spouses of Jesus, religious must lead lives of continual mortification and self-denial. " Always bearing about in our body, the mortification of Jesus." (2 Cor. iv. 10.) They must never seek their own will or pleasure, in any action or desire, but the glory of Jesus Christ, crucifying, for his sake, all their inclinations. " They that are Christ•s, have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences." ( Gal. v. 24.) Religious, if they expect to be recognised as the spouses of the Redeemer, must transfix all their passions. 1 1 . Let us now see what are the
1 1 . Let us now see what are the means by which the spirit of interior mortification may be acquired. The first means is, to discover the passion which predominates in our heart, and which most frequently leads us into sin ; and, then, to endeavour to conquer it. St. Gregory says, that, to overcome the devil, we must avail ourselves of the artifices by which he seeks our destruction. He labours continually to increase in us the violence of the passion to which we are most subject; and, we must direct our attention principally to the extirpation of that passion. Whoever subdues his predominate passion will easily conquer all other evil inclinations : but, he that is under its sway, can make no progress in perfection. " Of what advantage," says St. Ephrem, "are wings to the eagle when her foot is chained?" Oh ! how many religious are there who, like the royal eagle, are capable of lofty flights in the way of God, and who, because they are bound by earthly attachments, never advance in holiness. St. John of the cross says, that a slender thread is sufficient to fetter a soul who flies not with eagerness to her God. Besides, he that submits to the tyranny of any passion, not only does not go forward in the way of virtue, but is exposed to great danger of being lost. If a religious does not subdue her ruling passion, all other mortifications will be unprofitable. Some despise worldly riches, but are full of self«esteem. If they do not endeavour to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...
which human nature could suffer. St. Catherine of Sienna used to say, that as a mother takes the bitterest medicine to restore the health of the infant she suckles, so Jesus Christ has assumed all the pains of life to heal the infirmities of his children. 10. Thus, he invites all his followers to accompany him to the mountain of myrrh ; that is, of bitterness and of sorrows. " I will go to the mountain of myrrh." (Can. iv. 6.) " Do you come," says St. Peter Damian, " to Jesus crucified ? If you do, you must come already crucified, or to be crucified." (Ser. 1, de exalt. S. cruce.) If, O sacred spouse, you come to embrace your crucified Saviour, you must bring with you a heart already crucified, or to be crucified. Speaking especially of his virginal spouses, Jesus Christ said to blessed Baptist Varani : " The crucified Bridegroom, desires a crucified spouse." Hence, to be the true spouses of Jesus, religious must lead lives of continual mortification and self-denial. " Always bearing about in our body, the mortification of Jesus." (2 Cor. iv. 10.) They must never seek their own will or pleasure, in any action or desire, but the glory of Jesus Christ, crucifying, for his sake, all their inclinations. " They that are Christ•s, have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences." ( Gal. v. 24.) Religious, if they expect to be recognised as the spouses of the Redeemer, must transfix all their passions. 1 1 . Let us now see what are the
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1 1 . Let us now see what are the means by which the spirit of interior mortification may be acquired. The first means is, to discover the passion which predominates in our heart, and which most frequently leads us into sin ; and, then, to endeavour to conquer it. St. Gregory says, that, to overcome the devil, we must avail ourselves of the artifices by which he seeks our destruction. He labours continually to increase in us the violence of the passion to which we are most subject; and, we must direct our attention principally to the extirpation of that passion. Whoever subdues his predominate passion will easily conquer all other evil inclinations : but, he that is under its sway, can make no progress in perfection. " Of what advantage," says St. Ephrem, "are wings to the eagle when her foot is chained?" Oh ! how many religious are there who, like the royal eagle, are capable of lofty flights in the way of God, and who, because they are bound by earthly attachments, never advance in holiness. St. John of the cross says, that a slender thread is sufficient to fetter a soul who flies not with eagerness to her God. Besides, he that submits to the tyranny of any passion, not only does not go forward in the way of virtue, but is exposed to great danger of being lost. If a religious does not subdue her ruling passion, all other mortifications will be unprofitable. Some despise worldly riches, but are full of self«esteem. If they do not endeavour to bear the humiliations which they receive, their contempt of mammon will profit them but little. Others, on the contrary, are patient and humble, but enslaved to the love of money. If they do not mortify the desire of wealth, their patience and humility in bearing with contempt, will be of little use to them.
12. Resolve, then, O sacred virgin, to subdue the evil inclination which is most predominant in your heart. A resolute will, aided by the grace of God, (which is never wanting,) conquers all difficulties. St. Francis de Sales was very prone to anger; but, by continual violence to himself, he became a model of meekness and of sweetness. We read in his life that he bore, without murmur or complaint, the injuries and calumnies which, to try his patience, were, by the divine permission, heaped upon him. As soon as one passion is subdued, we must endeavour to overcome the others : for, a single unmodified passion will be sufficient to lead the soul to destruction. St. Joseph Calasanctius asserts that, while a single passion reigns in the heart, though all the others should have been extirpated, the soul shall never enjoy tranquillity. " A ship," says St. Cyril, " however strong and perfect it may be, will be unsafe, while the smallest hole remains in the bottom." (Ap. S. Augus. Ep. 206.) And St. Augustine says: "Trample under foot passions already subdued, and transfix those that still offer resistance." (In cap. 8, Rom.) If you wish to be a saint,
[edit] Mortification of the Eyes
On the mortification of the eyes, and on modesty in general p. 252
1. ALMOST all our rebellious passions spring from unguarded looks : for, generally speaking, it is by the sight that all inordinate affections and desires are excited. Hence holy Job "made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not so much as think upon a virgin." (C. xxxi. v. 1.) Why did he say, that he would not so much as think upon a virgin ? Should he not have said that he made a covenant with his eyes, not to look at a virgin? No, he very properly said that he would not think upon a virgin ; because thoughts are so connected with looks, that the former cannot be separated from the latter ; and therefore, to escape the molestation of evil imaginations, he resolved never to fix his eyes on a woman. St. Augustine says : " The thought follows the look ; delight comes after the thought; and consent after delight." From the look, proceeds the thought ; from the thought the desire ; (for, as St. Francis de Sales says, what is not seen is not desired,) and to the desire succeeds the consent. If Eve had not looked at the forbidden apple, she should not have fallen; but, because "she saw that it was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and beautiful to behold, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." (Gen. iii. 6.) The devil first tempts us to look, then to desire, and afterwards to consent.
2. St. Jerome says, that satan "requires only a beginning on our part." If we commence, he will complete our destruction. A deliberate glance at a person of a different sex, often enkindles an infernal spark, which consumes the soul. "Through the eyes," says St. Bernard, "the deadly arrow of love enters." (Ser. 13.) The first dart which wounds and frequently robs chaste souls of life, finds admission through the eyes. By them, holy David fell. By them was Solomon, once the inspired of the Holy Ghost, drawn into the greatest abominations. O how many are lost by indulging their sight. The eyes must be carefully guarded by all who expect not to be obliged to join in the lamentation of Jeremiah: "My eye hath wasted my soul." (Jer. Thren. iii. 51.) By the introduction of sinful affections, my eyes have destroyed my soul. Hence St. Gregory says, that "the eyes, because they draw us to sin, must be depressed." (Mor. L. xxi. c.2.) If not restrained, they will become instruments of hell, to force the soul to sin almost against her will. He that looks at a dangerous object, continues the saint, "begins to will what he willed not." It was this the inspired writer intended to express, when he said of Holofernes, that "the beauty of Judith made his soul captive." (Jud. xvi. 11.)
3. Seneca says, that "blindness is a part of innocence;" and Tertullian relates, that a certain Pagan philosopher, to free himself from impurity, plucked out his eyes. Such an act would be unlawful; but he that desires to preserve chastity, must avoid the sight of objects calculated to excite unchaste thoughts. "Gaze not about," says the Holy Ghost, "upon another's beauty...hereby lust is enkindled as a fire." (Ecc. ix. 8, 9) Gaze not upon another's beauty: for, from looks arise evil imaginations, by which an impure fire is lighted up. Hence St. Francis de sales used to say, that "they who wish to exclude an enemy from the city, must keep the gates locked."
4. Hence, to avoid the sight of dangerous objects, the saints were accustomed to keep their eyes almost continually fixed on the earth, and to abstain even from looking at innocent objects. After being a novice for a year, St. Bernard could not tell whether his cell was vaulted. In consequence of never raising his eyes from the ground, he never knew that there were but three vindows to the church of the monastery in whic hhe spent his noviciate. He once, without perceiving the lake, walked along its banks for nearly an entire day: hearing his companions speak axout it, he asked when they had seen it. St. Peter of Alcantara kept his eyes constantly cast down, so that he did not know the brothers with whom he conversed: it was by thevoice, and not by the counenance, that he was able to recognize them. The saints were particularly cautious not to look at persons of a different sex. St. Hugh, when compelled to speak with women, never looked at them in the face. St. Clare would never fix her eyes on the face of a man. She was greatly afflicted, because, when raising her eyes at the elevation to see the consecrated host, she once involuntarily saw the countenance of the priest. [[St. Aloysius Gonzaga]] never looked at his own mother in the face. It is related of St. Arsenius, that a noble lady went to visit him in the desert, to beg of him to recommend her to God. When the saint perceived that his visitor was a woman, he turned away from her. She then said to him : Arsenius, since you will neither see nor hear me, at least remember me in your prayers. No, replied the saint, but I will beg of God to make me forget you, and never more to think of you.
5. From these examples may be seen the folly and temerity of some religious who, though they have not the sanctity of a St. Clare, still gaze around from the terrace, in the parlor, and in the church, upon every object that presents itself, even on persons of a different sex. And notwithstanding their unguarded looks, they expect to be free from temptations and from the danger of sin. For having once looked deliberately at a woman who was gathering ears of corn, the Abbot Pastor was tormented, for forty years, by temptations against chastity. (Dial. L. c. 20.) St. Gregory states, that the temptation, to conquer which St. Benedict rolled himself in thorns, arose from one incautious glance at a female. St. Jerome, though living in a cave, in continual prayer and macerations of the flesh, was terribly molested by the remembrance of ladies whom he had long before seen in Rome. Why should not similar molestations be the lot of religious who wilfully and without reserve, fix their eyes on persons of a different sex ? " It is not," says St. Francis de Sales, " the look, so much as the repetition of it, that proves fatal. " If," says St. Augustine, " our eyes should by chance fall upon others, let us take care never to fix them upon any one." (In reg. iii. e. 21.) Father Manareo, when taking leave of St. Ignatius for a distant place, looked steadfastly in his face : for this look he was corrected by the saint. From the conduct of St. Ignatius on this occasion, we learn that it is not becoming in religious to fix their eyes on the countenance of a person even of the same sex, particularly when the person is young. But I do not see how looks at young persons of a different sex can be excused from the guilt of a venial fault, or even from mortal sin, when there is proximate danger of criminal consent. "It is not lawful," says St. Gregory, "to behold what it is not lawful to covet." The evil thought which proceeds from looks, though it should be rejected, never fails to leave a stain upon the soul. Brother Ruggiero, a Franciscan of singular purity, being once asked why he was so reserved in his intercourse with females, replied: that when men avoid the occasions of sin, God preserves them; but when they expose themselves to danger, they are justly abandoned by the Lord, and easily fall into some grievous transgression. (Lib. i. conform. S. Fran.2.)
6. The indulgence of the eyes, if not productive of bad passions, at least destroys recollection during the time of prayer. For, the images and sensations excited by the objects seen before, or by the wanderings of the eyes, during prayer, will occasion a thousand distractions, and banish all recollection from the soul. It is certain that, without recollection, a religious can pay but little attention to the practice of humility, patience, mortification, or of the other virtues. Hence it it is her duty to abstain from all looks of curiosity, which distract her mind from holy thoughts. Let her eyes be directed only to objects which raise the soul to God. St. Bernard used to say, that to fix the eyes upon the earth, contributes to keep the heart in heaven. "Where," says St. Gregory, "Christ is, there modesty is found." (Epis. 193.) Wherever Jesus Christ dwells by love, there modesty is practised. However, I do not mean to say that the eyes should never be raised, or never fixed on any object. No; but they ought to be directed only to what inspires devotion, to sacred images, and to the beauties of creation, which elevate the soul to the contemplation of the Divinity. Except in looking at such objects, a religious should in general keep the eyes cast down, and particularly in places where they may fall upon dangerous objects. In conversing with men, she should never roll the eyes about to look at them, and much less to look at them a second time.
7. To practise modesty of the eyes, is the duty of a religious, not only because it is necessary for her own improvement in virtue, but also, because it is necessary for the edification of others. God only knows the human heart: man sees only the exterior actions, and by them he is edified or scandalized. "A man," says the Holy Ghost, "is known by his look." (Ecc. xix. 26.) By the countenance the interior is known. Hence, like the baptist, a religious should be "a burning and shining light." (John, v. 35.) She ought to be a torch burning with charity, and shining resprendent by her modesty, to all who behold her. To religious the following words of the Apostle are particularly applicable: "We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men." (1 Cor. iv. 9.) And again: "Let your modesty be known to all men: the Lord is nigh." (Phil. iv. 5.) Religious are attentively observed by the angels and by men; and therefore their modesty should be made manifest before all: if they do not practise modesty, terrible shall be the account which they must render to God on the day of judgment. O what devotion does a modest religious inspire by keeping her eyes always cast down? St. Francis of Assisium once said to his companion that he was going out to preach. After walking through the town, with his eyes fixed on the ground, he returned to the convent. His companion asked him when he would preach the sermon. We have, replied the Saint, by the modesty of our looks, given an excellent instruction to all who saw us. It is related of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, that when he walked through Rome, the students would stand in the streets to observe and admire his modesty.
8. St. Ambrose says, that, to men of the world, the modesty of the saints is a powerful exhortation to virtue. "The look of a just man is an admonition to many." (In Ps. 118.) The Saint adds: "How delightful is it to do good to others by your appearance." It is related of St. Bernardine of Sienna, that even when a secular, his presence was sufficient to restrain the licentiousness of his young companions, who, as soon as they saw him, were
[edit] The Five Methods of St. Louis-Marie [13]
[edit] First method
- The prayer "Come Holy Ghost" is recited.
- An offering prayer for the whole Rosary, composed by St. Louis-Marie, is recited, in which one denounces the distractions that may come while saying the Rosary.
- A short prayer--asking for a particular virtue associated with the mystery at hand--is recited, and at the end of the decade there is a concluding prayer.
[edit] Second method
This methods is named "shorter method of celebrating the life, death and glory of Jesus and Mary, and of decreasing distractions." A few words related to the mystery at hand are added to "...Fruit of thy womb, Jesus..." part of the Hail Mary, to help focusing on the mystery by bringing into the mind 10 times by words the mystery to be meditated. This is an old German custom. For example, for the mystery of crucifixion, one would say, "...thy womb, Jesus crucified."
[edit] Third method
This method is a combination of the first and second methods, and was written for the use of Daughters of Wisdom.
The additional prayers are slightly different from those of the first method.
-
- The prayer said at the beginning to pray the Rosary well expresses the desire to pray as if it was the last Rosary to be said in one's life, something that is not mentioned in the similar prayer that is in the first method.
- The decade-offering prayers ask largely for the same things but differ in little details.
-
- For example, in the first method, for the mystery of Presentation it is asked, "we ask for the gift of wisdom and purity of heart and body," whereas in the third method, it is asked,"through this mystery and her intercession we ask for purity in body and mind."
Moreover, there are additional prayers said after each set of five decades:
- After the Joyful mysteries, the Magnificat is recited.
- After the Sorrowful mysteries, a prayer for Divine Wisdom is asked, and a prayer to St. Joseph is recited three times
- After the Glorious mysteries, a prayer to the Blessed Virgin composed by St. Louis-Marie is said and concluded by the Superior saying "Nos cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria. Amen" (May the Virgin Mary with her Loving Son bless us.)
On two decades, a group of intercessors are invoked at each Ave Maria.
- In the tenth decade, the intercession of the nine choirs of angels is asked, one choir per bead. (for the tenth Ave, intercession to all the Saints is asked.)
- In the fifteenth decade, the intercession of all the saints is asked, one group per bead, e.g. "St. Teresa, St .Catherine, and all the virgins," "St. Hilary and all the holy pontiffs."
[edit] Fourth method
There is a small reflection on the life of Jesus/Mary for each bead, usually associated with the 15 mysteries.
The title of this method is "Summary of the life, death, passion and glory of Jesus and Mary in the Holy Rosary," which is expansion of mysteries by reflecting on significant details of the fifteen mysteries and related mysteries.
For example, the mystery of the Finding of Jesus covers the whole laborious part of his life:
- 1. Ave: To honor his hidden, laborious and obedient life at Nazareth.
- 2. Ave: His preaching and his being found in the temple among the doctors.
- 3. Ave: His fasting and his temptations in the desert.
- 4. Ave: His baptism by St. John the Baptist.
- 5. Ave: His wonderful preaching. (etc.)
Similarly, for the mystery of the Assumption, the whole life of Mary--starting from her predestination and Immaculate Conception--is reflected.
[edit] Fifth method--150 Motives Impelling us to say the Rosary
Small reflection for each bead regarding the Rosary itself; its power, its history, its prayers, in what manner it is to be said, etc. The fifteen mysteries are replaced by fifteen incentives to pray the Rosary. Here are the meditations for the fifteen Pater nosters. (Each
- excellence of the holy Rosary is shown by the prefiguring/foreshadowing of it from the stories of the Old and New Testament.
- It is a gift from heaven; a great present that God gives to his most faithful servants.
- The Rosary is the triple crown that we place on the heads of Jesus and Mary and he who recites it every day will receive the same crown.
- The Rosary uses the most beautiful and efficacious prayers of the Church.
- The Rosary contains the angelic greeting which is the most pleasing prayer to Our Lady.
- The Rosary is a divine Summary of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary in which we proclaim and commemorate their life, passion and glory.
- The Rosary is the tree of life which bears marvellous fruits all the year round.
- Many miracles in the spiritual life have been wrought by the Rosary
- The Confraternity of the Rosary was established for great purposes and has great results
- The Rosary has much indulgences attached to it
- Many saints have used the Rosary
- The spiritual languish of the enemies of the Rosary shows the importance of the Rosary
- Objections to the use of the Rosary to beware of
- How to pray it well
- Different methods of praying it.
- 10th Ave: Can...blend with one of the above-mentioned methods as the Holy Spirit inspires.
[edit] Gluttony in Christianity
Early Church leaders (e.g., St. Gregory the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it also consists in an anticipation of meals, the eating of delicacies, and costly foods, seeking after sauces and seasonings, and eating too eagerly.[14]
St. Gregory the Great, a doctor of the Church, described five ways by which one can commit sin of gluttony:[15]
- Eating before the time of meal in order to satisfy the palate.
- Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "vile sense of taste."
- Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.
- Exceeding the necessary amount of food.
- Taking food with too much eagerness, although eating the proper amount.
- The fifth way is worse than all others, said the saint, because it shows attachment to pleasure most clearly among others.
To recapitulate, St. Gregory the Great said that one may succumb to the sin of gluttony by:
- time (when)
- quality
- stimulants
- quantity
- eagerness
St. Thomas Aquinas reiterated the list of five ways to commit gluttony:
- Praepropere - eating too soon
- Laute - eating too expensively
- Nimis - eating too much
- Ardenter - eating too eagerly
- Studiose - eating too daintily
St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote the following when explaining gluttony. "Pope Innocent XI has condemned the proposition which asserts that it is not a sin to eat or to drink from the sole motive of satisfying the palate. However, it is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault."[16]
[edit] Analysis of the sin of gluttony by St. Gregory the Great[17]
St. Gregory the Great, a doctor of the Church, described five ways by which one can commit sin of gluttony:
- Eating before the time of meal in order to satisfy the palate.
- Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "vile sense of taste."
- Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.
- Exceeding the necessary amount of food.
- Taking food with too much eagerness, although eating the proper amount.
- The fifth way is worse than all others, said the saint, because it shows attachment to pleasure that comes with eating.
To recapitulate, St. Gregory the Great says that one may succumb to the sin of gluttony by
- time (when)
- quality
- stimulants
- quantity
- eagerness
[edit] Analysis of the sin of gluttony by S. Gregory the Great [5]
We are tempted to the sin of gluttony, says the Saint and Doctor, in five different ways : and these five temptations oppose five distinct hindrances to our spiritual perfection. We will take them in order, and nearly in the language of the Father.
I. We are tempted to gluttony when, for the mere purpose of gratifying our palate, we anticipate the time of eating, by forestalling [acting in advance of; dealing with ahead of time] our regular hour for meals.
II. Without anticipating the time of eating, we may be tempted to sin in regard to the quality of our food, when we see delicacies wherewith to pamper, what the ascetic bishop well calls, this vile sense of taste.
III. It may further happen, that although we be content with ordinary food, and so escape the second temptation; and although we fail to anticipate the hour of our meals, and so escape the first; yet, we may fall into a third temptation. And the third incentive to gluttony, to use the Saint's words, consists in seeking after sauces and seasonings for the sensual enjoyment of the palate.
IV. We may, by GOD's help, be free from these three temptations only to fall, by the malice of our bitter foe, into a fourth. We may avoid condiments; we may be indifferent to quality; we may be punctual in time: but if we exceed in the amount of food which we consume, so as to partake of common dishes beyond what nature demands, we succumb to the fourth temptation of this capital sin.
Here the main point, in this fourth temptation to gluttony, consists in quantity.
V. Lastly, even if we avoid all the former means of sinfulness in the matter of eating, we may still offend against the opposite virtue of temperance, by partaking necessary food with too much eagerness. The last note of gluttony, therefore, is marked by the mode or method of eating : and adds the holy bishop, this last fault is worse than all the others, as it is a clearer sign of our attachment to the sensual pleasure which eating affords to our natural appetite. Hence, according to this great master of spirituality, we may become guilty of the sin of gluttony in five different ways, each of which possesses its own distinctive character, each of which may be recalled to mind by a single word.
- 1. We may sin in the matter of time.
- 2. We may sin on a question of quality.
- 3. We may sin by the use of stimulants.
- 4. We may sin in relation to quantity. And
- 5. we may sin, lastly, from eating with undue eagerness.
[edit] Stories about Gluttony [18]
- It is related of a nun, walking in the garden of her
convent, that her eyes fell on a lettuce, and that she was tempted to the sin of gluttony. She yielded to the sin, plucked the lettuce, and ate it greedily. But she yielded fatally ; for as she was eating, a devil entered into her, and she became possessed, with torments. Help was procured from a neighbouring abbot, who was sent for to exorcise the fiend : and as soon as the holy man entered the garden, and before he was exorcised in the holy Name, the fiend began to cry out, by the mouth of his victim : " What have I done, what have I done, that I am to be cast forth ? I was resting quietly on a lettuce, and she came and greedily swallowed me up, and I have taken possession of her."
- A worse fate happened to a monk who gave up himself
to the sin of gluttony. This hapless man lived in a monastery of Lycaonia, and was held in great esteem and veneration by all his brethren for his apparently godly life, and for the manner in which he performed all his outward duties. But the unhappy monk was a slave to gluttony ; so that, whilst others fasted, he took secret opportunities for eating. At length he was overtaken with a serious illness which proved to be his last. As the hour of his departure drew near, the monks flocked around his bed, thinking to hear and behold at the death of so holy a man something for their soul's edification. What they did hear was this : " Brethren," said the dying man, " when you fasted, I feasted [eat heartily] in secret : for which cause I am given over to the infernal enemy, who has already coiled himself around my feet and knees, and is now reaching my heart." With these words he expired.
- A saintly old monk, while sitting at table with other
monks, was favoured by GOD with an inward vision, in which it was revealed to him that some of his brethren were eating sweet honey, others were eating plain bread, and others, again, were eating uncleanness. Astonished at the vision, as he was well aware that the same provision had been provided for all, he besought GOD to enlighten him as to its meaning. The Good LORD answered his prayer and told him, that those who were eating in fear of transgressing against temperance, and hence had their minds uplifted to GOD, and joined prayer with eating, were they who fed on honey. Those who merely were taking their meal with thankfulness, and acknowledged their food as GOD'S gift, without any special remembrance of the Giver of it, were they who fed on bread. Those who were eating for the sake of eating only, who gave up themselves to the sensual gratification and could think of nothing but their food, were they who fed on uncleanness. The vision set forth the divers effects of the same needful act of eating upon divers characters, according to the end and intention which each one set before himself. To those who were eating for a holy purpose, the support of our mortal frames for the glory of GOD, their nourishment was as bread and honey : while to the souls of those who were eating for the unworthy end of satisfying the palate only, their food was turned into uncleanness, defiling them with many faults. " If then," continues the author quoted, " we wish our food to be profitable to the body without prejudice to the soul, let us set before ourselves a right intention, and perform this lower action of our bodies without eagerness, and with an inward renouncement of all gratification."
[edit] Methods of Praying the Rosary
There are five methods of praying the Rosary that St. Louis-Marie de Montfort wrote in the last rose (chapter) of his book Secret of the Rosary. Only the first two appear in the book published nowadays (the editors removed it--possibly to prevent the book from becoming too thick), although all five are given in the book God Alone,--which is a compilation of all of the saint's works--as well as on the web page montfort.org. [19]
St. Louis-Marie wrote in the last rose (chapter) of the book,
"In order to facilitate the exercise of the Holy Rosary, here are several ways to recite the holy Rosary, with the meditation of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of Jesus and Mary. You stop at that which is most to your liking: you can train yourself another particular method, as several saintly persons have done."
Then he wrote the five methods.
[edit] First Method
1. Say the “Come Holy Spirit”
Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of thy faithful people, and kindle in them the fire of thy love. V. Send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created. R. And thou shall renew the face of the earth.
In Latin: Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuoruni corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. V. Emitte spiritum tuum, et creabuntur. R. Et renovabis faciem terrae. and then make this offering of the Rosary:
I unite with all the saints in heaven and with all the just on earth; I unite with you, my Jesus, to praise your holy Mother worthily and to praise you in her and by her. I renounce all the distractions that may come to me while I am saying this Rosary. O Blessed Virgin Mary, we offer you this creed to honour the faith you had upon earth and to ask you to permit us to share in that same faith. O Lord, we offer you this Pater Noster to adore you in your oneness and to acknowledge you as the first cause and the last end of all things. Most Holy Trinity, we offer you these three Ave Marias to thank you for all the graces which you have given to Mary and which you have given to us through her intercession.
Pater Noster, three Aves, Gloria Patri
There are prayers for offering of the each decade and asking for a particular virtue associated with the mystery, and at the end of the decade there is a concluding reminder for the intention of the virtue.
Sample: First decade
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this first decade in honour of your Incarnation. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for humility of heart. Pater Noster, ten Ave Marias, Gloria Patri. May the grace of the mystery of the Incarnation come into me and make me truly humble.
[edit] Second, shorter Method
of Celebrating the life, death and heavenly glory of Jesus and Mary in the Holy Rosary and a method of restraining our imagination and lessening distractions.
To do this a word or two is added to each Ave Maria of the decade reminding us of the mystery we are celebrating. This addition follows the name of Jesus in the middle of the Ave Maria: and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Decade
1st “Jesus becoming man” 2nd “Jesus sanctifying” 3rd “Jesus born in poverty” 4th “Jesus sacrificed” 5th “Jesus holy of holies” 6th “Jesus in his agony” 7th “Jesus scourged” 8th “Jesus crowned with thorns” 9th “Jesus carrying his Cross” 10th “Jesus crucified” 11th “Jesus risen from the dead” 12th “Jesus ascending to heaven” 13th “Jesus filling thee with the Holy Spirit” 14th “Jesus raising thee up” 15th “Jesus crowning thee”
In Latin: 1. quem, Virgo, concepisti.
2. quem visitando Elisabeth portasti.
3. quem, Virgo, genuisti.
4. quem in templo paesentasti.
5. quem in templo invenisti.
6. qui pro nobis sanguinem sudavit.
7. qui pro nobis flagellatus est.
8. qui pro nobis spinis coronatus est.
9. qui pro nobis crucem baiulavit.
10. qui pro nobis crucifixus est.
11. qui resurrexit a mortuis.
12. qui in caelum ascendit.
13. qui Spritium Sanctum misit.
14. qui te assumpsit.
15. qui te in caelis coronavit.
At the end of the first five mysteries we say: May the grace of the joyful mysteries come into our souls and make us really holy.
At the end of the second: May the grace of the sorrowful mysteries come into our souls and make us truly patient.
At the end of the third: May the grace of the glorious mysteries come into our souls and make us eternally happy. Amen.
[edit] Third Method (combination of first and second methods)
for saying fruitfully the holy Rosary, for the use of the Daughters of Wisdom.
I unite with all the saints in heaven, with all the just on earth, and with all the faithful here present. I unite with you, my Jesus, in order to praise your holy Mother worthily and to praise you in her and through her. I renounce all distractions which may arise during this Rosary. I desire to say it with attention and devotion as if it were the last of my life. Amen. We offer you, Lord Jesus, this Creed in honour of all the mysteries of our faith, the Pater Noster and three Ave Marias in honour of the unity of your being and the Trinity of your persons. We ask of you a lively faith, a firm hope and an ardent charity. Amen.
I believe in God; Pater Noster; three Ave Marias.
In each mystery, after the word Jesus, add a word to recall and honour the particular mystery. For example: Jesus incarnate, Jesus sanctifying, etc. as it is indicated at each decade.
(This method has offering of the decades like the first method but uses slightly different wording.)
Example: We offer you, Lord Jesus, this first decade in honour of your Incarnation in Mary’s womb; through this mystery and her intercession we ask for deep humility. Amen. Pater Noster. Ave Maria ten times, adding “Jesus becoming man”. May the grace of the mystery of the Incarnation come into our souls. Amen.
In the last decade, before each Ave Maria we ask God through the intercession of all the saints for the graces we stand in need of. St. Michael the Archangel and all the holy angels, ask of God etc. Ave Maria etc. St. Abraham and all the holy Patriarchs, ask of God etc. St. John Baptist and all the holy Prophets, ask of God etc. St. Peter and St. Paul and all the holy Apostles, ask of God etc. St. Stephen, St. Lawrence and all the Martyrs, ask of God etc. St. Hilary and all the holy Pontiffs, ask of God etc. St. Joseph and all the holy Confessors, ask of God etc. St. Catherine, St. Therese (St. Teresa) and all the holy Virgins, ask of God etc. St. Anne and all holy Women, ask of God etc. Gloria Patri etc. May the grace of the mystery of the Crowning in glory of Mary come into our souls. Amen.
At the end of the third Rosary the following prayer is said:
Ave Maria, well-beloved daughter of the eternal Father, admirable Mother of the Son, most faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit, glorious temple of the Blessed Trinity. Hail, sovereign Queen, to whom everyone is subject in heaven and on earth. Hail sure Refuge of sinners, our Lady of mercy, who has never repelled anyone. Sinner as I am, I cast myself at your feet and beg you to obtain from Jesus, your dear Son, contrition and pardon for all my sins and the gift of divine wisdom. I consecrate myself to you with all that I have. I choose you today as my Mother and Mistress (master); treat me then as the weakest of your children and the most submissive of your servants. Hear, O my Queen, the prayers of a heart that desires to love and serve you faithfully. Let it not be said that of all who have ever had recourse to you, I was the first to be unheeded. O my hope, my life, my faithful and immaculate Virgin Mary, hear me, protect me, strengthen me, instruct me, save me. Amen. Praised, adored and loved be Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the altar. Forever and ever. O Jesus, my dear Jesus, O Mary, Mother of Jesus, my beloved Mother, give us your holy blessing. Amen. Support us in our troubles, hear us when we pray, preserve us from the world and the devil. Amen.
The superior says, “Nos cum prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria. Amen”.[“May the Virgin Mary bless us with her loving Son . Amen.”]
[edit] Fourth Method--Summary of the life, death and passion and heavenly glory of Jesus and Mary in the holy Rosary.
There is a short mystery to be meditated for each bead, for example:
- 1 Hail Mary To honour the promise that Jesus Christ made to his apostles to send them the Holy Spirit and the command he gave them to prepare to receive him.
- 2 Hail Mary The gathering of all his disciples on the Mount of Olives.
- 3 Hail Mary The blessings he gave them as he rose from the earth towards heaven.
- 4 Hail Mary His glorious ascension by his own power into heaven.
- 5 Hail Mary The welcome and triumphant acclaim which he received from God, his Father and from all the heavenly court.
- 6 Hail Mary The triumphant power with which he opened the gates of heaven through which no mortal had passed.
- 7 Hail Mary His being seated at the right hand of his Father as his beloved Son equal to his Father.
- 8 Hail Mary The power he received to judge the living and the dead.
- 9 Hail Mary His last coming upon earth when his power and majesty will appear in all their magnificence.
- 10 Hail Mary The justice he will mete out at the last judgment when he rewards the just and punishes the wicked for all eternity.
[edit] Fifth Method--150 Motives Impelling us to say the Rosary
Sample:
- Our Father The Rosary is a divine Summary of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary in which we proclaim and commemorate their life, passion and glory.
- 1 Hail Mary Men's misfortune and ruin come from ignorance and neglect of the mysteries of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Hail Mary The Rosary provides the knowledge of the mysteries of Jesus and Mary and recalls them to mind in view of applying them to one's life.
- 3 Hail Mary The greatest desire of Jesus Christ was and still is that we remember him. With this in mind he instituted the sacrifice of the Mass (liturgy).
- 4 Hail Mary After holy Mass the Rosary is the holiest action and prayer that we can offer because it is a remembrance and a celebration of what Jesus Christ has done and suffered for us.
- 5 Hail Mary The Rosary is the prayer of the angels and saints in heaven because they are engaged in celebrating the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ.
- 6 Hail Mary When we say the Rosary we celebrate in one day or one week all the mysteries that the Church celebrates in a year for the sanctification of her children.
- 7 Hail Mary Those who say the holy Rosary every day have a share in what the saints are doing in heaven which is the same as they were doing upon earth meritoriously, for they who are on earth are doing what the saints are doing in heaven.
- 8 Hail Mary The mysteries of the Holy Rosary are like mirrors for the predestinate in which they see their faults and like torches which guide them in this world of darkness.
- 9 Hail Mary They see springs of living water from the Saviour to whom one may go with joy to draw the saving waters of grace.
- 10 Hail Mary They are the 15 steps of the temple of Solomon and the 15 rungs of the ladder of Jacob by which the angels descend to them and return to heaven and by which they ascend to heaven.
[edit] Translational Errors in the fifth method
- 36. 5 Our Father The Rosary is a mystical summary of all the most beautiful prayers of the Church.
- 1 Hail Mary The Creed is a summary of the gospel.
- 2 Hail Mary It is the prayer of believers.
- 3 Hail Mary The shield of the soldiers of Jesus Christ.
- 4 Hail Mary The Our Father - prayer of which Jesus Christ is the sole author.
- 5 Hail Mary Prayer he used when praying to his Father and through which he obtained what he desired.
- 6 Hail Mary Prayer which contains a summary of all we must ask of God. ["Prayer which expresses as many mysteries as there are words." "prière qui renferme autant de mystères que de paroles]
- 7 Hail Mary Prayer in which are found all our duties towards God.
- 8 Hail Mary Prayer which contains a summary of all we must ask of God.
- 9 Hail Mary Prayer whose value is unknown and which is said very badly by the majority of Christians.
- 10 Hail Mary Paraphrase of the Our Father.
- 45. 14 Our Father The overcoming of objections that heretics, critics, libertines and those who neglect and ignore the Rosary generally make either to do away with it or to avoid saying it.
- 1 Hail Mary It is a new religious practice.
- 2 Hail Mary It is an invention of Religious to make money.
- 3 Hail Mary It is a devotion of ignorant women who do not know how to read.
- 4 Hail Mary It is superstitious being based on counting prayers.
- 5 Hail Mary It is preferable to say the penitential psalms.
- 6 Hail Mary It is preferable to make a meditation.
- 7 Hail Mary It is too long and too tiresome a prayer.
- 8 Hail Mary One cannot be saved without saying the Rosary. [8. Ave: on peut se sauver sans dire le Rosaire.: "One CAN be saved without saying the Rosary" (which is what people say to avoid praying the Rosary)]
- 9 Hail Mary We sin if we fail to say it. [The French one the web says the same thing: 9. Ave: on pèche si on vient à y manquer. But this is probably transcriber's error, because obviously anti-Rosarians would say just the opposite: "We DON'T sin if we fail to say it."]
- 10 Hail Mary
It is good, but I have not the time to say it.
- 46. 15 Our Father Manner of saying the Rosary well.
- 1 Hail Mary It must be said with a pure heart without attachment to grave sin.
- 2 Hail Mary In a worthy manner with good intentions.
- 3 Hail Mary With attention avoiding voluntary distractions.
- 4 Hail Mary Slowly and calmly with pauses in the prayers.
- 5 Hail Mary Devout whilst meditating on the mysteries.
- 6 Hail Mary Modestly and in a respectful attitude whether standing or kneeling.
- 7 Hail Mary Wholeheartedly and every day.
- 8 Hail Mary Inwardly when it is said alone. [8. Ave: secrètement [secretly] lorsqu'on le dit tout seul. He does say "We can recite it inwardly without speaking." on the next decade (#47)]
- 9 Hail Mary Publicly and in two responding groups.
- 10 Hail Mary Perseveringly until death.
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- ^ Venerable Louis of Granada
- ^ The life and letters of St. Francis Xavier, pg. 178
- ^ New Catholic World (1867) pg. 668
- ^ Montalembert, Charles. Saint Columba: Apostle of Caledonia (1868) pg.63-64
- ^ Cronin, Vincent. The Wise Man from the West (1955) pg. 280
- ^ Coleridge, Henry. Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier (1876) pg. 347
- ^ Coleridge, Henry. Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier (1876) pg. 281
- ^ Liguori, St. Alphonsus. Victories of the Martyrs (1954) pg. 124
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=RikUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93&dq=many+of+the+children+seem+to+await+baptism+before+winging+their+flight+to+heaven,+for+they+die+almost+immediately+after+receiving+the+sacrament.&ei=tI9ASIqgLYegiwHJktSIBQ Laveille, Eugene. The Life of Father de Smet, S. J. (1915) pg. 93]
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=RikUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA172&dq=seemed+only+to+await+this+grace+before+going+to+rest+in+the+bosom+of+God&ei=_49ASK6dJaakiwHR_KWIBQ Laveille, Eugene. The Life of Father de Smet, S. J. (1915) pg. 172]
- ^ Montalembert, Charles. Saint Columba: Apostle of Caledonia (1868) pg.63-64
- ^ New Catholic World (1867) pg. 668
- ^ St Louis-Marie de Montfort's five Methods of Praying the Rosary
- ^ Gluttony. Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ^ Shipley, Orby. A Theory About Sin, London (1875) pg. 268-278
- ^ St. Alphonsus Liguori. The True Spouse of Jesus Christ. Trans. from Italian. Dublin (1835), pg. 282
- ^ Shipley, Orby. A Theory About Sin, London (1875) pg. 268-278
- ^ Shipley, Orby. A Theory About Sin, London (1875) pg. 265
- ^ http://www.montfort.org.uk/Writings/MFTE_MSR.html Methods of Saying the Rosary
