Selected works

LO

CT WORKS OF

IT-

RASH

ARIDITY

ATHER LANCICIUS, S,J

X BJBLIOTHBCA

Corigregationis Sanctissimi

REDEMPTORIS

Sanctum f atrittum, I

TORONTO, CAN.

JOHN M. KELLY LIBBARY

Donated by

The Redemptorists of
the Toronto Province

from the Library Collection of
Holy Redeemer College, Windsor

University of
St. Michael's College, Toronto

HOLY

SELECT WORKS

VENERABLE FATHER NICHOLAS LANCICIUS, S.J.

VOL. II.

I. ON RASH JUDGMENTS.
II. ON ARIDITIES.

ROEHAMPTON :
PRINTED BV JAMES STANLEY.

SELECT WORKS

Venerable Father Nicholas Lanciciiis, S.J.

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN.

VOL. II.

I. ON RASH JUDGMENTS.
II. ON ARIDITY.

itt) a Preface bp
FATHER GALLWEY, SJ.

LONDON: BURNS AND OATES.

$

».
f

HOLY MDEEMER LIBItARY, KI«OSO«

PREFACE.

I THINK that it is Venerable Bede who has preserved for us
the ancient story, that when St. Paulinus first preached the
Gospel in the northern parts of this island, the rude Pagan
warriors met in council to deliberate whether they would
listen to him or kill him. It chanced that, as they debated^
a bird flew into their council-chamber and out again. And
one of the assembled chiefs noticed the incident and made
it the text of his harangue. " It appears to me," he said,
"that we come into this world and leave it again just as
this bird appeared here and disappeared. If then this
stranger who is come among us can teach us something
on these two points — whence we came and whither we go —
he will do us a service, and we ought to hear him. If he
cannot teach us anything useful, let him die."

This second volume of the Works of the Venerable
Father Lancicius does not deal precisely with these two all
important questions, "whence we came" and "whither we
are going," but still it treats of two questions on which all
who wish to save and sanctify their souls are specially glad
to receive help and instruction. I think that every one,
whether in Religious life or living in the world, who "wishes
to live piously in Christ Jesus,"1 will be glad to know what

1 2 Tim. iii. 12.

vi Preface.

so practical a guide as Father Lancicius has to say on two
subjects of such vital importance as those discussed in this
volume — Rash Judgments, and Dryness and Distraction in
prayer.

Any one who has himself conquered the difficulties
which beset prayer, and has moreover schooled himself to
the faithful observance of the precept, "Judge not," well
deserves a hearing when, in the spirit of charity, he comes
forward to make known to others the methods by which he
has helped himself. He is truly a friend in need, for he
brings succour where our need is the sorest/' Dryness
and distraction in prayer is avowedly one of the most
common causes of discouragement and loss of hope.
How many have uttered in their own fashion the sub
stance of this sentence : " I would gladly pray if I
could; but I cannot. My prayer is nothing but a
hopeless distraction."

The evil that comes to our soul from judging others
hastily and severely, is perhaps not so commonly felt or
understood; and for this reason the treatise of Father
Lancicius is the more valuable, since it will help to awaken
us to truths which we cannot forget with impunity. For so
long as that golden rule stands on the page of our Blessed
Lord's Gospel : " With what judgment you judge you shall
be judged; and with what measure you mete it shall be
measured to you again,"2 every one who allows himself
habitually to judge too severely is continually heaping up
difficulties on his own path. For whether he betakes himself
to prayer, or sets his hand to work, in all places and at
all times he needs God's mercy and God's blessing; and
everywhere the sentences he has pronounced against his

2 St. Matt. vii. 2..

Preface.

vn

fellow-servant confront him, and hinder mercy and blessing
from reaching him and his works.

In conclusion I think that I may without rashness
predict that this volume will be cherished by many as a
wise and sincere Counsellor and Friend, which has helped
them to learn two lessons of priceless value — the first, due
leniency in estimating the faults of others ; and the second,
great patience and hopefulness in presence of our own
defects in prayer.

P. GALLWEY.

Feast of the Epiphany, 1881.

CONTENTS.

ON RASH JUDGMENTS.

PAGE

AUTHOR'S PREFACE i

CHAPTER I. — The first reason for avoiding rash judgments . 3
CHAPTER II. — Second reason for avoiding rash judgments . 12

CHAPTER III. — Third reason for avoiding rash judgments . 22

CHAPTER IV. — Let those who are addicted to rash judgments
learn from the words and deeds of God not to judge the
servants of God, because in the most holy deeds and words
of God, they have examples of words and deeds of God, such
that, if they did not know that they had been spoken and
done by God, they would, by their unjust judgment, malig
nantly condemn similar good words and deeds of the servants

of God . 30

CHAPTER V.— It is shown by other most holy examples and
sayings of God and of Christ our Lord, and of the saints,
that all things should be favourably interpreted and defended,

unless they are manifestly evil 38

CHAPTER VI. — Fifth reason for avoiding rash judgments . . 66
CHAPTER VII. — Sixth reason for avoiding rash judgments . . 71
CHAPTER VIII. —Seventh reason for avoiding rash judgments . 76
CHAPTER IX.— Eighth reason against rash judgments . . 78
CHAPTER X. — Ninth reason for avoiding rash judgments . . 79
CHAPTER XI. — Tenth reason for avoiding rash judgments . . 81

CHAPTER XII. —Eleventh reason 83

CHAPTER XIII. — Twelfth reason ...... 84

Contents. ix

PAGE

CHAPTER XIV. — We must now see when and to whom it is

permitted to judge or not to judge one's neighbour . . 85

CHAPTR XV. — Remedies against error in the use of these rules,

and against sin in rashly judging and condemning others . 97

CHAPTER XVI. — What other ancient Fathers have said and

done against condemnatory judgments of others . . . 105

CHAPTER XVII.— Men who are spiritual and of good report are
not to be judged, or rather not to be condemned, like
imperfect men, if they labour under human imperfections ;
for these have existed even in the most holy men, and are
either inevitable, or such as sometimes arise from human
frailty and surprise, not from badness and gross imperfection,
without prejudice to their sanctity . . . . .121

ON ARIDITY.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE 135

CHAPTER I. — On the nature of dryness in prayer ; its various

kinds; and its origin ........ 137

CHAPTER II. — On the first cause of aridities . . . .141

CHAPTER III. — On the second cause of aridities . . . 150
CHAPTER IV.— On the third cause of aridities . . . .157

CHAPTER V. — With what disposition aridities of soul in prayer are

to be received ......... 169

CHAPTER VI. — Some things to be remarked with regard to

aridities and delights in prayer . . . . . .181

CHAPTER VII. — Who they are to whom God is wont to concede

the gift of prayer without aridities . . . . .191
CHAPTER VIII. — On the fourth cause of aridities . . . 199
CHAPTER IX. — Distracting occupations not to be declined from

fear of aridities . . . 211

CHAPTER X. — The neglect to prepare the points of meditation

oftan a cause of aridities . 232

Contents.

PAGE

CHAPTER XI. — Wandering of the mind and senses before medi
tation produces aridities in the exercise of meditation . . 239

CHAPTER XII. — Of the remedies against aridities given by the

ancient Fathers 248

CHAPTER XIII. — Of other remedies against aridities prescribed

by more recent masters of the spiritual life .... 254

CHAPTER XIV. — A summary of the foregoing, drawn up for the
sake of beginners and the scrupulous, for their consolation ;
with some teachings of the saints added to confirm the same 273

CHAPTER XV. — Counsel given to one who, through weakness of
body after a long sickness and langour of head, was unable
to reason out the points in time of meditation . . . 289

ON RASH JUDGMENTS.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

IN order that I may propose some remedies for a disease
which is very common and widely diffused, I will treat of
the reasons for avoiding rash judgments, and of the rules
which should be observed in order that we may not err in
our judgments of others, and of the remedies by means of
which we may avoid this vice. For it grows strong in many
now as in the days of St. Chrysostom, when he said (in
book i. on Compunction of heart), " You will not easily
find either men of the world, or hardly a monk, free from
this vice ;" because, as St. Gregory Nazianzen remarks
(Oration 26), " Men are very ready to judge other men's
works, but slow to judge their own." " For," says Seneca
(book ii. chap. 28, on Anger), "we have other men's vices
before our eyes ; our own are behind our back."

Men too, as Themistius observes (Oration 17), "take
occasion to calumniate others for things the most contrary
to each other. The philosopher is silent : they heap
reproaches upon him as if, from his awkwardness in
speaking, he put on an affectation of gravity. He prepares
to speak : they find fault with him as passing from the camp
of philosophy to that of rhetoric. If he utters a warning,
they declare that he is trifling ; if he bestows praise, that he
is flattering ; if he finds fault, that he is atrabilious ; if he
comes to Court, he is going out of his place ; if he remains
at home, he is lying like useless lumber on the ground ; if
he interests himself in the affairs of the State, they assert
that he is ambitious ; if he retires from it, the very same

B 2

Author s Preface.

people maintain that he is of no use. What can we do
with men so peevish, who have nowhere to put us ? "

The very same things may be said about our own times,
so far and wide is this vice diffused ; and it is hurtful not
only to him who judges, but also to others. Its evil impulse
spares none ; whether superiors or spiritual fathers,
preachers or professors, masters or scholars, procurators,
missioners, domestics or externs. For it is a vice which
is one of the chief roots of that great liberty in speaking of
the faults of others which we all condemn, and yet which
we almost all cherish ; and therefore it is necessary to speak
of this evil which assails all and hurts all, so that a matter
in which all are interested may be dealt with, and that all
may learn to shrink from this vice, to which even holy men
are sometimes liable.

St. Catharine, although a saint, testifies that she laboured
under this vice before she was taught by our Lord that she
should not judge any one. Therefore (in chap, cviii. of
her Dialogues), addressing God the Father in a rapture, she
said : " Thou gavest me a welcome medicine for a certain
secret malady, of which I was still ignorant, nor did I know
its nature, by teaching me that I should in no way presume
to judge any rational creature, and least of all Thy servants,
with respect to whom I was sometimes tainted with this
disease, like one who was blinded and sick ; because,
under colour of zeal for Thy honour and the salvation of
souls, I was judging rashly." And this is no wonder, as
well because we cannot help seeing many things in others
which are not perfectly done or said, as because of a certain
tendency of our corrupt nature to rash judgments. " For it
is difficult," says Socrates (in Xenophon's Memorabilia^
book ii), "to do anything in such a way as to make no
mistake ; and even if any one should do anything without a
fault, it is difficult to escape unjust judgment."

CHAPTER I.

The first reason for avoiding rash judgments.

THE first reason is, that we may not, for such judgments,
be severely judged by God and by men. "For in that
great day," says St. Chrysostom (in his homily on those words
of the Apostle, Salutate Priscani), " God will thoroughly
judge us, not only for those things in which we have sinned,
but for those things in which we have not sinned, but on
account of which we have passed judgment on others. And
that which in its own nature is often a slight sin, becomes
grave and unpardonable when the offender is one who judges
another. Perhaps what we have said is not sufficiently
clear, and therefore we will express it more clearly. Some
one has sinned, and has condemned another for committing
the same sin : he will, in that most bitter day, not suffer that
punishment only which the nature of his sin demands, but
more than double or triple, not because he has sinned him
self, but because he has judged another. For this it is that
God will pronounce judgment against him. And that this is
true I will prove from things which have already taken
place. For the Pharisee, although he had in no way sinned
himself, but had lived justly, and could claim many virtues
for himself, yet because he condemned the Publican as an
extortioner, as avaricious, and as most unjust, was not him
self justified, and was reserved for a greater punishment than
the Publican's. But if he who had in no way sinned, and
condemned in very few words one who was a notorious
sinner, incurred such loss, and was punished so heavily,
think how great punishment they will have to bear, and how

First reason

they will be excluded from all forgiveness, who sin daily in
many ways, and yet condemn the life of others, even of
those who are unknown to them." "For with what judg
ment you judge, you shall be judged," says our Lord, "and
with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you
again;" that is, as the same St. Chrysostom explains
(Horn. 14), as also the author of the Opus Imperfectum
(Horn. 17), and St. Augustine (bk. ii. on our Lord's Ser
mon), as well as Bede and Euthymius, " by God," and, as
others explain, "also by men." For it comes to pass, by
the just judgment of God, that those who pry inquisitively
into the deeds of others, and condemn them severely, are
permitted by God to fall into similar faults, and are
punished for them, and are also condemned by men. And
this severe judgment against those who judge rashly, God
shows in these ways :

First, by being displeased at such judgments. " There is
nothing," says St. Dorotheus, "which God more dislikes
and abominates than the judging of one's neighbour, as all
our Fathers most clearly set forth, since they have esteemed
nothing worse, nothing more wicked, than judging one's
neighbour." And further on : " Nothing so provokes God to
anger, nothing so ruins a man, nothing so denudes him of
every moral defence and virtue, nothing exposes him to a
judgment so severe, as to speak against his neighbour, and to
judge and condemn him. From such faults," says the same
saint in the same place, "it comes to pass, beyond all
doubt, that we fall into the same vices which we had con
demned in others."

When, in the year 1616, I was looking over the Vatican
Library at Rome, I fell upon a Greek manuscript of a book
called Geronticon, containing the Lives of the Fathers. In
it, besides many most beautiful examples, I fell upon that of
an old man who thus writes of himself. " When," he says,
" I was in a very remote desert, there came to me from the
monastery a certain Brother with refreshments, and when I
had asked him respecting the Fathers, how they fared, and

for avoiding rash judgments.

he replied, they fare well through the power of your prayers,
I inquired further concerning a certain Brother of ill fame,
and he said to me, ' I believe, Father, he is not yet free
from that ill name.' When I heard that, I said, Oh ! And
immediately I was seized with sleep and an ecstasy, and I
seemed to be on Mount Calvary, and there to see our Lord
Jesus Christ between the thieves; and when I began to
pray, and was drawing nearer, an angel, speaking with a
loud voice, gave command to those who were standing by :
'Cast out this man, because he is as Antichrist to me; for
before I judge, he has judged his brother.' And when I was
forcibly driven out, my cloak remained sticking in the door,
which was immediately closed, and leaving it, I came away.
And immediately I awoke, and considering what I had
seen, I said to the Brother who had come to visit me :
' This is an unhappy day for me.' And he : * Why, Father?'
And when I had told him all, I added : ' My cloak, that is,
God's protection which I enjoyed, I am now deprived of.'
And from that time I spent seven years walking in desert
places, as in the presence of the Lord of Glory, and I
tasted no bread, and went under no roof, until I saw again
my Lord on Calvary, Who now in like manner ordered my
cloak to be restored to me."

Rightly, therefore, did St. Catharine of Siena, in con
versing with God, pray that she might be taught by God the
Father, " that," as she said, " she might avoid every kind of
false judgment towards creatures, and chiefly towards Thy
servants, for this reason, that such judgments seem to me to
be a reason why the soul is separated from Thee." And
when very near to death, as St. Raymund writes in her Life,
among other good counsels which she left by way of testa
ment to her spiritual sons and daughters who were then
assembled, one was, "that they should never judge any
one. And she said it was necessary, in order to acquiring
true purity of mind, to preserve ourselves from every judg
ment of our neighbour, and from every remark on our
neighbour's actions, so that in all things we might wait upon

First reason

the will of God, Who permits all things for a good end.
And therefore, she constantly affirmed, with much earnest
ness, as being certain of this truth, that a man should not,
for any reason, judge— that is, despise or condemn— any
one, although he should see with his own eyes a manifest
sin, since God does not reject or condemn such an one, but
even gave His own Blood for him. And she was wont to
add, as from the mouth of God, 'That many, from not
observing this, had been hindered from perfection of life,
which they would have acquired as true saints of God, on
account of the excellence of their works.' " It is a great
sign from God that He is displeased with our rash judg
ments of our neighbours, when for this reason He denies
perfection to those who judge others which He would other
wise give them on account of their good works.

Secondly, God shows the same severity towards those
who judge others rashly, by permitting those who censure
others to fall into the same faults, on account of which they
have condemned others. St. Vincent, in his Treatise on
Spiritual Life, says : " If you do not wish to fall, do not
judge others. For it commonly happens that whoever
judges another in anything, is afterwards permitted by God
to fall into the same fault, or a greater."

A most beautiful example of this respecting Abbot
Machetes is preserved by Cassian. "This old man," he
says, " when he was teaching us that no one ought to judge,
brought forward three cases in which he criticized or re
proved his brethren — namely, that some of them had
allowed their uvula to be cut ; that they had in their cells a
thick cloak ; and that they had blessed oil and given it to
seculars — and all these things he said he had himself fallen
into. For having contracted a disease of the uvula, he
said, I was so long prostrated by this affliction, that being
constrained, as well by the force of the pain, as by the
entreaty of the elders, I allowed it to be cut. In conse
quence of which infirmity I was also compelled to have a
cloak. And in like manner I was forced to bless oil and give

for avoiding rash judgments.

it to some who asked for it — a thing which I execrated above
everything else, considering that it came from great pre
sumption — but when many seculars suddenly came round
me, I was so hemmed in that I could in no other way
escape from them but by yielding to their violence and
urgent entreaties, and taking from them the vessel, and
putting my hand upon it, making the sign of the cross ; so
that they, believing that they had obtained consecrated
oil, let me go. By which means it was clearly shown to me
that a monk becomes entangled in the same things, and in the
same vices, in which he has presumed to judge others. It
behoves every one, therefore, to judge himself alone, and
to watch circumspectly and cautiously in all things, and not
to discuss the life and conversation of others, according to
that precept of the Apostle : ' But thou, why judgest thou
thy brother?' 'To his own Lord he standeth or falleth.'
And those words of our Lord: 'Judge not, that you may not
be judged ; for with what judgment you judge, you shall be
judged.'" And that was always the custom of God, to
punish others through those things by which they sinned, or
by which they might be reminded of their sin.

Procopius of Gaza asks why the first plague of the
Egyptians was the turning of the waters into blood ? He
answers, To show them their sin, which was the killing of
so many children by throwing them into the waters. The
sons of Aaron sinned by bringing "strange fire;' for the
sacrifices ; and they were also punished by fire.1

David violated the wife of Urias :2 his wives were also
violated by Absalom,3 according to the words of the
Prophet Nathan.4 David killed Urias by means of the
enemy.5 God also allows his son to be killed.6 Absalom
pursued David to the death ; but he died himself in an
oak.7 For among the ancients an oak rod was the symbol
of royalty, and was painted with as many leaves as there
were provinces. As, therefore, he was plotting for sove-

1 Lev. x. i, 2. 2 2 Kings xi. 4. 3 2 Kings xvi. 22. 4 2 Kings xii. n.
5 2 Kings xi. 15, 17. 6 2 Kings xiii. 29. 7 2 Kings xviii. 14.

8 First reason

reignty, he was hung on a tree which was the symbol of
sovereignty. He wished to be higher than others ; and so
he became higher when hanging in the tree. He injured
the father by whom he was fed ; and he hung from that tree
by whose fruit men were fed before they used wheat. He
used a mule in order to reach his father as he fled ; and a
fleeing mule led him to reach death by hanging on a tree,
and as he hung he ended his life, as did his counsellor,
Achitophel, who hanged himself by reason of the same crime.
So it is that those who condemn the life, or words, or deeds,
of others, are condemned, by Divine permission, for prac
tising the same things. Lest this then should happen to
us, we must abstain from rashness in judging others.

But even if God does not permit those who censure others
to lapse into similar vices, yet he allows them to fall into
grave sins. Palladius writes: "Concerning a certain virgin of
Jerusalem, who wore sackcloth for six years, and was shut
up in a cell, nor did she make use of anything that tended to
give pleasure ; but afterwards, being deserted by the Divine
assistance, she fell, by reason of excessive pride, and
opening her window, she let in the man who had been her
servant, and fell into sin with him ; because her mode of
life had not been according to the Divine Spirit, nor from
charity, but from human display, which is vainglory, and
depravity. And in what way she had arrived at this state of
pride " he tells us immediately afterwards ; " for when her
thoughts had been occupied in condemning others, she was
urged on to that frenzy of pride by the demon, and
delighted in it, so that she was abandoned by the holy
angel, the guardian of her chastity."

Thirdly, God shows the same severity towards those
who judge rashly, in that, on account of such judgments, He
inflicts other punishments upon them, whether His friends
or His enemies. Mary had condemned Moses, not, indeed,
in any grave matter, but, as Cajetan well remarks, because,
under the pretext of prolonged prayer with God, he had
little intercourse with his wife, and often absented himself

for avoiding rash judgments. 9

from her. And although this was worthy of commen
dation in Moses, yet Mary condemned him for it, and for
this reason she was smitten with leprosy by God. In which
punishment some things are to be noted, (i) That this
leprosy covered only her face, as may be inferred from
Numbers xii. 12 ; because those who judge rashly are said
to "judge according to the appearance." "Judge not
according to the appearance; but judge just judgment"8
(2) Moses, praying for Mary, asks that she may not, on
account of this leprosy, "be as one dead, and as an abortive
that is cast forth from the mother's womb ; " which epithets
are fitting for those who judge rashly. For as an abortive
is an immature foetus, so rash judgments denote an imma
ture judgment; for he who maturely weighs all things,
easily makes excuses for all things ; but fools do otherwise.
Hence the Holy Spirit says : " Yea, and the fool when he
walketh in the way, whereas he himself is a fool, esteemeth
all men fools."9 And those who judge rashly may be called
dead, because he who is a living member does not rise
against another member. But " the members," as St. Paul
says, are "mutually careful one for another, and, if one
member suffer anything, all the members suffer with it;
or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with
it."10

So also God found fault with the friends of Job when they
were rashly judging him and condemning him, saying to
Eliphaz, the Themanite: "My wrath is kindled against thee,
and against thy two friends, because you have not spoken
the thing that is right before Me."11 And yet those friends
seem to have spoken very spiritually concerning God, and
the things of God; and in condemning Job they seemed and
professed to be doing the work of God, and were humbling
Job, as one who was lifted up, and was comparing himself
with God, and not fearing God greatly. " He was angry
against Job," says the sacred text of Eliu, "he was angry, and

8 St.Johnvii. 24. 9 Eccles. x. 3. 10 i Cor. xii. 25, 26.

" Job xlii. 7.

io First reason

was moved to indignation ; now he was angry against Job,
because he said he was just before God."12 And further
on he says : " I will not accept the person of man, and I
will not level God with man."13 And again : " Now this is
the thing in which thou art not justified, I will answer thee
that God is greater than man. Dost thou strive against
Him, because He hath not answered thee to all words?"1
And again : "For Job hath said : I am just, and God hath
overthrown my judgment. For in judging me there is a
lie : my arrow is violent without any sin."15

And that this is the way of God is shown by St.
Gregory. For when Bishop Cassius of Narni met King
Totila in that city, because Cassius' face was red from a
complaint of the liver, the King did not think it was caused
by this complaint, but by an excess of drinking, and showed
great contempt for him ; but Almighty God, that He might
show how great a man he was who was despised, in the
field of Name, whither the King had come, suffered an evil
spirit to assail his eunuch before the whole army, which
began to vex him cruelly. And when he was brought,
before the King's eyes, to that venerable man Cassius, the
man of God expelled the demon by prayer and by making
the sign of the cross, so that he did not presume to enter
him again. And so it came to pass that the barbarous King
from that day venerated from his heart the servant of God
whom he had despised on account of his face."

Disquietude and grief of conscience are also wont to be
the punishment of such judgments. Those who censure
others God is wont to trouble with great melancholy and
sadness. Whence we read in the Lives of the Fathers (as
Rufinus and Rosweyde) : " A certain Brother asked Abbot
Pastor, saying, 'What shall I do, Father, since I am
troubled with sadness?' And the old man said, 'Look
at no one for any reason, condemn no one, detract from
no one, and God will give you rest.'" We must therefore

12 Job xxxii. 2. 13 Job xxxii. 21. 14 Job xxxiii. 12, 13.

"Job xxxiv. 5, 6.

jfor avoiding rash judgments. 1 1

guard against rash judgments, lest we should feel Divine
judgments against ourselves, to our hurt.

Fourthly, in the next life also God specially punishes
such. Therefore our Lord revealed to St. Mechtildis, a
virgin of the Order of St. Benedict, " that it is a great crime
when a man judges his neighbour; for if he judge him
unjustly, he will be guilty of as great a crime as he would
be if he had committed the evil for which he judges
another. But even if a man had done what was said of
him ; yet he who is ignorant of his intention in doing it,
and judges him according to his own heart and feeling, will
be as guilty, because of the judgment itself, as he who did
the very thing judged, and unless he expiate it by peni
tence, he will be liable to the same punishment which he
deserved who has done this wrong." So it is written at the
end of the Spiritual Grace of St. Mechtildis (book i. chap. 7).

CHAPTER II.

Second reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A SECOND reason for avoiding rash judgments is found in
the wonderful example set us by God, and by Christ, Who
was in the highest degree careful, even in correcting human
excesses, so that Divine justice might be satisfied in such
a way that man's reputation should suffer no detriment,
and that we should have examples of not lightly con
demning others. Let us consider some remarkable instances
of this.

The first instance is that of Adam and Eve. We know
how grave was the sin of Adam, by which " sin entered
into this world, and by sin death : and so death passed
upon all men."1 Yet how gentle was the Divine judgment
and condemnation of Adam !

In the first place, God did not immediately rush upon
Adam ; but He walked in Paradise, and this not at night,
a time of terror, but "at the afternoon air;"2 and then He
said, "Where art thou?" and did not add, "Thou sinner,
disobedient, cause of so many evils ; " although He might
truly have said so. And even after He had heard him say,
" I heard Thy voice in Paradise ; and I was afraid because
I was naked, and I hid myself," although He sees insincerity
here, inasmuch as Adam conceals the chief cause of his
fear, namely, his sin, and says that it was his nakedness ;
yet God did not condemn him as insincere, but taking
occasion from his words to show him gently the chief cause
of his state, namely, his disobedience ; and that the source
1 Rom. v. 12. 2 Gen. iii. 8.

On avoiding rash judgments. 1 3

of his fear and shame was not his nakedness, but his dis
obedience, He said : " Who hath told thee that thou wast
naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I com
manded thee that thou shouldst not eat ? " He points out
the sin : He suspends His judgment and condemnation.

This has been remarked by St. Chrysostom. For
after I had written this passage I observed that he
says, in his Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans:5
"When He censured the transgressor, see how gently
He did it. He did not say to him : Criminal, when
thou hadst received so great kindnesses from Me, after
all these, thou hast trusted in the devil ; and leaving thy
benefactor, thou hast given heed to the evil suggestion of
the demon. But what did He say ? ' Who hath told thee
that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat ? '
Just as if a father had given orders to his child that he
should not touch a knife, and after he had disobeyed and
had been wounded, he were to say, How were you wounded ?
Was it not because you did not listen to me? You
observe that they are the words of a friend more than of
a lord ; of a friend, I say, who has been contemned indeed,
and yet does not cease from loving." Adam therefore, seeing
that time was given him for further excuse, said : " The
woman whom Thou gavest me to be my companion, gave
me of the tree, and I did eat ; " thus tacitly referring the
cause of his sin to God, just as a master might say to an
angry friend in the world, in reference to one of his servants
or handmaids who had injured him, that he or she had
been recommended or sent into service by himself.

God still withholds His judgment and condemnation,
lets the frivolous excuse of Adam pass, as well as the tacit
accusation of Himself, and speaks no more to him about it,
but acts, as judges are wont when they intend to set any
one free in a trial, taking occasion by some word of his,
so as to leave off the examination of the charge, and pass

3 Horn, xxiii.

14 Second reason

on to something else. Therefore He addresses the woman —
believing of course that she has done it, because He
knew it, and because Adam was an eye-witness, who
could not be excepted to, yet still not to condemn her,
but, as if giving her an opportunity of clearing herself
and coming out free from the trial — and says: "Why
hast thou done this?" He does not say, "Why hast thou
seduced Adam? Why hast thou been the cause of so
many evils? Why hast thou sinned?" He says none of
these things; but "Why hast thou done it?" "Sin is not
a work," says St. Augustine; "it is nothing; but God
speaks of it as a work done." She says : " The serpent
deceived me, and I did eat" She said nothing of
having also given to Adam and deceived him : God
still winks at this, and does not condemn. For this
reason, says St. Irenseus, he interrogates them, that the accu
sation may be passed on to the woman, and He further
interrogates her, that she may hand it on to the serpent ;
and so, leaving her, He says to the serpent : " Because
thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle
and beasts of the earth." He does not interrogate the
serpent, or ask him why he has done it, but immediately
condemns him. He thus deals with the serpent, because
he had no liberty of will, because, as an irrational animal,
he can neither do right nor sin, because not of himself, but
through the demon who appeared in his form, he deceived
Eve ; and yet he is condemned, and Adam and Eve not.
He did condemn them, but afterwards ; not at once, putting
off the condemnation as long as He could. And what
was the condemnation? He does not at first call her a
deceiver, a wicked one, and the like ; but being unwilling to
confound her, He makes no mention of her sin, does not
reprove it, only inflicts a punishment ; and of what kind ?
That which she would have had, even if God had not
proclaimed it with His own mouth ; for, when she had lost
her innocence, she could not bring forth without sorrow.
Then He tempers this penalty with the hope of the thing

for avoiding ras/i judgments. 1 5

which she desired, and which was to be connected with
the penalty itself. Mothers desire offspring : sometimes
even holy women have been afflicted at being without
children.

" I will multiply thy sorrows : " here is the punishment ;
" and thy conceptions : " here is the honey which tempers
the gall of condemnation ; "in sorrow shalt thou bring
forth : " here is punishment, condemnation ; " sons : "
here is consolation, both for the sake of the offspring,
as well as because they are male, which is commonly
pleasing to mothers. " Thou shalt be under thy husband's
power, and he shall have dominion over thee ; " but thence
thou shalt have help, defence, consolation. He condemns
Adam last, because he sinned last ; more severely, because
his sin was more grievous; for it injured us also. And
He denounces his sin clearly, but with three circumstances.
First, He sets forth the occasion of his sin, as having been
suggested by another, that He may the less confound him :
" Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife."
Secondly, He does not give him the names which belong
to his sin, as disobedient, offender, and the like ; but
simply mentions his wrong doing, " and hast eaten of the
tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not
eat." Thirdly, He does not mention the evil effects of his
sin which were to follow in others, but which were born
in him, lest He should have to censure him for these. But
He inflicts this punishment, "Cursed is the earth in thy
work," not upon him who deserved the malediction, but
upon the earth ; and of what kind ? Tempered with bene
diction : "Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee :"
things useful for hedges for keeping out thieves and beasts ;
" and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth," a useful and
necessary punishment; in truth, it were a greater punish
ment to be without this punishment. " In the sweat of thy
face (punishment!) shalt thou eat bread (consolation!) till
thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken ; " as
if He would say, Be not sad, this shall not be for ever. And

1 6 Second reason

because death is a thing hateful, that he might the less
feel the decree of death that was to follow, He tempers
it, as being a thing which was necessary, as if to say : It
is just, that you may bear it with resignation, "for dust
thou art, and into dust shalt thou return."

But that He might alleviate this punishment, He
"made for Adam and his wife garments of skins;" He not
only gave them skins, but He also made garments out of
them, as good masters do, who, not content to give cloth,
also have the garments made at their own expense, and
give them to their servants ; and besides, we read, " and
clothed them." As a mother herself clothes her son and
her daughter, that she may see whether the garments fit
well to the body, doing this from the tenderness of her
love. Thus, on one occasion, Rebecca, wishing that Jacob
should please his father, " put on him very good garments
of Esau, which she had at home with her, and the little
skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered
the bare of his neck."3 But God wholly clothed Adam
and Eve, as children. And what need was there ? Irenaeus
answers : " Instead of that clothing " — namely the fig leaves
— " which pricks and stings the body, the Lord, Who is
compassionate, clothed them with garments of skins. He
cast him out of Paradise, compassionating him, that he
might not for ever persevere in his transgression, and He
removed him from the tree of life, not as grudging him
the tree of life, but as pitying him ; lest sin which was
about him should be immortal, and an interminable evil;
and therefore He put an end to it by the dissolution of his
flesh, and by death." Or, as St. Chrysostom says in his
Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans:4 "Because He
cast them out of Paradise, and appointed them to labour,
therefore ought we the more to admire and adore Him.
For since pleasure had brought them down to that state of
deadness, cutting off their pleasure, He built up sadness as
a wall for keeping off dead slothfulness, that they might
3 Gen. xxvii. 15, 16. 4 Horn, xxiii.

for avoiding rash judgments. 1 7

return to His love." And more on the same subject you
will see in this Homily, on the clemency of God in
punishing.

Behold, then, the judgment and condemnation of the
first sinner on earth, and of so grievous a sinner, inflicted
by God the Lord of all, who hates sin more than all. If,
therefore, in a thing known to God, and so grievous, such
was the judgment of God, what ought judgment to be in a
matter which is hidden, and not so grievous, when it is to
be pronounced by a man of the same nature with the
offender ? Well, therefore, does Christ say to us now :
" Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."4

Secondly, this mercy of God appears in His not punish
ing the murmuring of Aaron.5 When God proposes to
punish, He says first, " Come out you three only ; " not
wishing to speak to them before many others, lest He
should give occasion for rash judgments, if others heard ;
and come not to a private house to which there is common
access for all, but to the tabernacle of the covenant, to
which men were not accustomed to come so often as to
their own houses, that the thing might be as private as
possible. Therefore " the Lord came down in the pillar
of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle," as
if to hinder by the cloud the entrance of others ; and then
he did not call Moses to Himself, but Aaron and Mary,
and blamed them by themselves, not wishing even Moses
to know this • " and being angry with them He went away,"
nor did Moses then learn this from God, but afterwards
from Aaron. Mary "appeared white as snow with a
leprosy," not Aaron. Why? Because, whilst God did
not think it expedient that their offence should pass un
punished, He chose to condemn Mary only, without Aaron,
because his reputation, being High Priest, was more neces
sary to be preserved among the people than that of Mary.
And this same mercy in rebuking the evil judgments of
men, God showed, after the death of Aaron, with Moses,

4 St. Luke vi. 36. 5 Numbers xii.

C 2

1 8 Second reason

when He hid his body. For first, He hid his body, as
some think, lest it should be adored with latria by a people
prone to idolatry. Secondly, " No man hath known of his
sepulchre until this present day." 6 Why this, when He chose
that so many other sepulchres of men less famous should
be known — as those of Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Lia, and
Joseph ? And not only have the sepulchres of good men
been known, but also of the bad men who desired the quails.7
But of Moses, a man so highly extolled by God, illustrious
by the working of so many prodigies, a god to Pharao, the
sepulchre is unknown. And the reason is, that men should
not have a bad opinion of him, because God buried him
on the mount, from which the Land of Promise could be
seen, and from which God showed it to him immediately
before his death.8 If the place of his sepulchre were
known, men coming thither to gratify their feelings and
seeing the place and the Land of Promise, would have had
opportunity of thinking or speaking of his sin, on account
of which he was shut out from the Promised Land. Lest,
therefore, there should be occasion for these judgments,
He concealed the place.

And that which God did with those who were in the
higher places of the Church, He did also with secular
persons. St. Theodoret asks why God willed that the
newly born son of David should die. He answers, Because
living he would have been a proof of the crime of David,
who had him by the wife of Urias. Therefore, having
regard to the pious King and His own prophet, He did
not suffer the child to live, lest occasion should be given
for judgments and words which, although true, should be
unfavourable. For it is said : " The children that are born
of unlawful beds are witnesses of wickedness against their
parents in their trial."9

King Solomon acted in the same way. For observe, the
homicide of Urias killed by David was notorious, and God

6 Deut. xxxiv. 6. 7 Numbers xi. 34. 8 Deut. xxxiv. i.

9 Wisdom iv. 6.

for avoiding rash judgments. 1 9

would not have the temple built by him because he had
shed much blood.10 Now though this may be understood of
bloodshed in just wars, especially as there is only one case
mentioned of unjust shedding of blood by David,11 and the
just shedding of blood by him is often mentioned, so that
there was greater reason for thinking that God had spoken
of this; yet because many might interpret God's words,
and with reason, of David's sin, Solomon would not assign
that reason, though the sin was quite public, and though by
so doing he might have enhanced the sanctity of the future
temple in the mind of Hiram the Gentile, but concealed it,
and gave him another reason, namely, that his father12
could not build the house "because of the wars that
were round about him." And thus God also exculpates
him. "Because David had done that which was right
in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside
from anything that He commanded him, all the days of
his life, except the matter (word) of Urias the Hethite;"13
that is, except in his adultery with the wife of Urias, and
the homicide of Urias. Where, mark — He does not call it
homicide, nor sin, nor work, but "matter" (in the Vulgate
sermone, meaning word), because the sins of words, other
things being equal, are less grievous than those of deeds.
And moreover He does not say the "matter" or "word"
of Bethsabee, although it was on her account that David
offended oftenest — since, in the case of Urias, he sinned
but once, having him put to death — because that would
have conveyed a greater reproach against David, the holy
Prophet of the Lord, than the homicide, since that does
not seem so foul an offence in a warrior, as lust in
a holy man.

And that which God did, Christ His Son also did in a
like case. Whence it can be said of Him: "The Son
cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the
Father doing ; for what things soever He doeth, these the

10 i Par. xxii. 8. n 3 Kings xv. 5. 12 3 Kings v. 3.

13 3 Kings xv. 5.

2O Second reason

Son also doth in like manner."14 There is brought to
Christ a woman taken in adultery,15 and that in the temple
before all the people, who might be scandalized at the
connivance of Christ, especially as the Pharisees referred
to the law in Leviticus xx. 10, which commanded that such
an one should be stoned ; and as they continued asking
Him what was to be done with her, "tempting Him, that
they might accuse Him ; " then Jesus began to write with
His finger on the ground. Why? It is commonly said,
especially by St. Jerome in his Commentary, that He
wrote down sins of the priests who had brought her
which were greater than hers ; so that they, while curiously
watching the acts of Christ, might be confounded, and
might desist from accusing her, although guilty. Why did
He not tell them of their sins openly? Lest He should
disgrace them. Why did He not write it on the wall, or
on some exposed place ? Lest others should see. He wrote
it on the ground, that those alone who surrounded the
woman might see, and might desist from their accusa
tion which, although she was sinful and guilty, was yet
made with an evil disposition; and when they continued
asking, Jesus wrote again, wishing to conquer them by His
patience. Mark two things which followed afterwards,
(i) That all, although there were many, for "all the
people," we read, "came to Him," — they all "went out
one by one ; " and the Evangelist remarks that they went
out, " beginning at the eldest," who were the chief movers,
so that " Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in
the midst." (2) He absolved her whilst she was alone,
because as He was going to say, "Woman, where are
they that accused thee ? " He would not say even this to her
before the others, lest He should even indirectly make
mention of the sin of which she had been accused. Finally,
He remained alone with her, as if to make her appear
innocent instead of guilty, and then He said : " Neither
will I condemn thee ; go, and now sin no more."
u St. John v. 19. 15 St. John viii. 3.

for avoiding rash judgments. 2 1

Observe, therefore, if Christ covered over a sin, public,
proved in the temple, putting to shame these judges, who
were truthful, although intemperate, what will He do to
those who judge and condemn faults which are slight,
uncertain, hidden, or which even have no existence, and by
so doing wrong their neighbours ? Let us not, then, want
to be better and more holy than Christ ; but let us regard
the /defects of others, if any there are, with the same
disposition with which God sees ours, not condemning
them rashly, but excusing them while we can, so that in
the day of judgment we may find mercy with our just
Judge, Who is the Judge of all.

CHAPTER III.

Third reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A THIRD reason is found in the condition of humanity,
which is such that there is no thing, action, or person so
perfect and holy, that he cannot be condemned, if one will
give reins to his judgment, and not make the best of things.
"Hardly anything," says St. Bonaventure, "is so purely done,
that it cannot be unfavourably interpreted by some one,
as though it had been badly done." And that this matter
may be explained fundamentally, we should consider the
various actions of various saints, concerning whose holiness
there can be no room for doubt among us. One thing only
I commend to the readers of this treatise, that when I refer
to the acts of the saints as not deserving reproach, which
yet might be found fault with by rash men, they should by
reflection recall to their memory other similar actions of
other men, which have sometimes been marked by a
similar unjust censure, and blamed as vicious by those
who judged rashly, that they may thus learn to correct
unfavourable judgments and speeches from the acts of
others. This is admirably taught by St. Chrysostom in
one of his homilies on the Epistle to the Romans. l " As,"
he says, "when you see Paul circumcising and sacrificing,
you do not for that reason condemn him as Judaizing, but
rather give him the highest commendation, as being far
removed from Judaism; so when you see him wishing to
be an anathema, be not disturbed by this, but commend
him for this, too, very greatly, when you have learned the

1 Horn. xvi.

On avoiding rash judgments. 23

cause for which he wishes it. For unless we examine the
cause, we shall say that Elias was a homicide, and that
Abraham was the assassin of his son, and we shall also
accuse Phinees and Peter of slaying, and not only those
saints, but the God of the universe Himself; and whoever
neglects this rule will fall into many absurdities. And that
this may not happen, in all these cases, we must as it were
undertake the defence of the acts done, putting together
the cause and design and occasion and all the circum
stances, and thus at length form our judgment on the
case.

And in one of his homilies on Genesis,2 he says : " Let
us not go over those things which are brought forward in
the Divine Scriptures hastily, nor let us glance superficially
at those things which are said; but when we have gone
to the very depths and have learned the riches which are
there hidden, let us glorify our Lord Who dispenses all
things with so great wisdom. For if we neglect to inquire
into the intention and cause of all things which have been
done, not only shall we condemn the conduct of Thamar,
but we shall also find fault with Abraham as having
intended child-murder, and Phinees as guilty of a double
homicide." Let us go on to other examples.

That was a holy action which Abraham performed in
being ready to sacrifice his most dear son Isaac to the
Lord, for by that means he merited to receive from the
Lord this commendation : " By My own self have I sworn,
saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast
not spared thy only-begotten son for My sake, I will bless
thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of Heaven,
and as the sand that is by the sea shore ; thy seed shall
possess the gates of their enemies. And in thy seed [that
is, in Christ, as the Apostle explains, Gal. iii. 16] shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast
obeyed My voice."3 Whence it follows that this action
of Abraham was not stained by any sin, for when sin infests
2 Horn. Ixii. 3 Gen. xxii. 16 — 18

24 Third reason

an action, even in a just man, it deprives it of merit, for it
is required in order to merit that an action be good ; but
good, as the theologians say, from St. Dionysius, "must
be complete and have all the requisite conditions, whereas
one single defect may render a thing evil." If any
one, therefore, would examine this action of Abraham
with the same disposition, and the same criticism with
which he is wont to inspect and blame the actions of his
brethren and superiors, he would say that Abraham told
a falsehood at the beginning of this action, because " he
said to his young men : Stay you here with the ass : I and
the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we
have worshipped, will return to you."4 And yet he intended
(the critic would say) to sacrifice him, and not therefore
to return with him. Therefore he lied when he said : " We
will return to you." Therefore he was insincere, he equi
vocated, he promised to return, and he did not mean to
fulfil his promise. But we must not thus judge, for St. Paul
defends him, saying : " By faith Abraham offered Isaac . . .
accounting that God is able to raise up even from the
dead," 5 that is to say, on account of the promise, which
was made to him, as the same Apostle says : " In Isaac
shall thy seed be called." 6 Whence also the Apostle says
of him, that he "against hope believed in hope/'7 He
said, therefore, that he would return with Isaac, hoping
that he would be raised up by God after the sacrifice had
been completed. So too Abraham seems to tell a lie,8
when he said of his wife that she was his sister. To which
St. Thomas replies : " In Sacred Scripture, as St. Augustine
remarks, the acts of some persons are brought forward as
examples of perfect virtue, with reference to which we must
not think that those who performed them lied. But if
anything appears in their words which resembles falsehoods,
we must understand that those things were spoken figura
tively and prophetically \ " and in this way the holy Doctor

4 Gen. xxii. 5. 5 Heb. xi. 17 — 19. 6 Gen. xxi. 12.
7 Rom. iv. 18. 8 Gen. xii. and xx.

for avoiding rash judgments. 2 5

explains various acts of the ancients drawn from the Sacred
Scripture.

In the same Abraham a censorious judgment might
discover incontinence, because he had two wives. But
St. Augustine, as quoted by St. Thomas, says : " The merit
of conjugal continence in Abraham was equal to the merit
of virginal continence in John."

Parsimony, too, might be discovered in the same man
by the censorious, because in dismissing Agar from his
house, by command of God, along with his son Ismael,
begotten of her, who moreover was his first-born, he is said
to have given her no more for her support on the way, but
"bread and a bottle of water."9 Who, the censor would
say, ever thus thrust forth his wife who was never to return,
and his son ? And indeed a wife who had long discharged
the duties of a handmaid was worthy of a good salary.
And he might add, too, that he gave her but little water,
for soon her son began to die of thirst, the water being
exhausted, and unless God had succoured her by an angel
showing her water, he would have died of thirst. But it
is certain that he did not sin ; for he was so liberal towards
guests that he willingly invited them, and speedily ordered
the best food to be prepared for them, as we read :
"Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara and said to
her : Make haste, temper together three measures of flour,
and make cakes upon the hearth. And he himself ran
to the herd, and took from thence a calf, very tender and
very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste
and boiled it. He took also butter and milk, and the calf
which he had boiled, and set before them."10 He who,
with his family, so gladly and so readily entertained guests,
and by his hospitality is said to have pleased God, and to
" have entertained angels," n undoubtedly would have given
larger provisions to Agar and Ismael ; but, inasmuch as his
not doing so was the will of God, he did not excuse himself
or give an explanation of what he did. Yet he was holy, and
9 Gen. xxi. 14. 10 Gen. xviii. 6—3. n Heb. xiii. 2.

26 Third reason

dear to God, and he lived perfectly, so that he merited, that
God with His prophets should place among His own names
and titles of honour the name of this man, Scripture so
often repeating it, "the God of Abraham." Therefore he
was worthy that the saints, when asking for the greatest
blessings, should commemorate his name in invoking God.
Thus did Moses when imploring that God, when displeased,
would spare the idolaters who were worshipping the golden
calf, saying : " Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Thy
servants."12 But if Abraham, the father of the faithful,
does not escape censorious judgments, much less would
Sara his wife escape. The censor would say that she was
cruel, tyrannical, envious, labouring under jealousy, because
after Abraham had begotten Ismael, she persuaded him to
expel Agar from his house with her son.13 The censor
would say that there was no sufficient cause for expelling
them. For why did she recommend that they should be
cast out? Because she "had seen the son of Agar the
Egyptian playing with Isaac her son." 14 A great matter,
that the boys should play, the censor would say : she
recommended this to Abraham from the promptings of
avarice and envy; and he would prove it by her words:
" Cast out this bondwoman and her son : for the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."
And it would be no wonder if the censor did say so, for
Abraham also " took this grievously," but complied, because
God persuaded him to it by the words : " Let it not seem
grievous to thee for the boy and for thy bondwoman : in
all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice."

If Abraham did not escape censure, certainly Jacob
would not escape, who was so dear to God that He said
to Laban when he was pursuing him : " Take heed thou
speak not anything harshly against Jacob ; " or, as it is in
the Hebrew, "Speak not to Jacob from good to evil;"
that is, speak not even good to him that should offend him ;
or it may mean, speak not even good, lest from thence, as
12 Exod. xxxii. 13. 13 Gen. xxi. 9 — 14. 14 Gen. xxi. 9.

for avoiding rash judgments. 27

happens in process of discourse, you pass on to speaking
evil. This man, I say. dear to God, whose very name God
assumed among His own titles, calling Himself the " God
of Jacob," might be called a liar by some censor, and
accused of having snatched by falsehood his brother's right
of primogeniture and his blessing, seeing that he called
himself "first-born" and "Esau," for he said : " I am Esau,
thy first-born."15 And yet, as St. Augustine says, he did
not lie, for although he was not Esau according to the
flesh, yet he was according to the right acquired from Esau's
consent, which God also had ordained for him.16 In which
sense St. John Baptist was called Ellas by Christ.17

Joseph, too, that model of chastity, might give occasion
for censorious tongues on the score of vanity, boastfulness,
illusions. Was it not vanity, the censor would say, that
he should narrate his visions openly : " I thought we were
binding sheaves in the field : and my sheaf arose as it were,
and stood, and your sheaves, standing about, bowed down
before my sheaf." 1S Which words were no sooner spoken
than he had his brothers as his censors : " His brethren
answered : Shalt thou be our king, or shall we be subject
to thy dominion ? Therefore this matter of his dreams and
words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred."
So afterwards, when he told another vision : " I saw in a
dream as it were the sun and moon and eleven stars
worshipping me. And when he had told this to his father
and brethren, his father rebuked him and said : What
meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed ? Shall I and
thy mother and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth ?
His brethren therefore envied him." And afterwards, when
they had sold him, undoubtedly they said that he had been
deluded. For this may be inferred from their words which
they spoke, while they were conferring about putting him
to 'death: "It shall appear what his dreams avail him."19
He is sold, then, and cast into prison, and there is no

15 Gen. xxvii. 19. 16 Rom. ix. 8, n.
17 St. Matt. xi. 14. 18 Gen. xxxvii. 7. 1D Gen. xxxvii. 20.

28 Third reason

appearance of the worship which he had foreseen. What
an illusion it had been ! But God showed the truth of his
visions in His own time, and, as the Holy Spirit says of
him : " In bands she [that is, the wisdom of God] left him
not, till she brought him the sceptre of the kingdom, and
power against those that oppressed him, and showed them
to be liars that had accused him." 20

The same holy Joseph might have been condemned as a
drunkard, because the Scripture says of him : " And they
drank [that is, his brothers] and were merry with him." 21
What testimony is more sure than the testimony of Scrip
ture? Thus we often judge others rashly, under the
influence of the words of some grave man badly understood —
taken with a bad meaning when they might bear a good
one — as if spoken against ourselves or against some of our
friends. Oh, how many sins arise in this manner ! Just as
a good and prudent man would not condemn Joseph of
drunkenness, because he is said to be "making merry" (ine
briated), but would say that this word means that he had
drunk more copiously than was his wont, but was sober, and
in the sense in which the word is used in Deut. xxxii. 42,
where we read : " I will make my arrows drunk with blood,"
that is, " I will stain, or wet my arrows with blood ;" and in
Psalm xxxv. 9 : " They shall be inebriated with the plenty
of Thy house ; " and in Canticles v. i : " Drink, and be
inebriated, my dearly beloved."

Job might have to endure a more severe censure than
these, because we read of him : "After this Job opened his
mouth, and cursed his day, and he said : Let the day
perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
said : A man-child is conceived. Let that day be turned
into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let
not the light shine upon it." ^ Now such maledictions have
the appearance of a grave fault ; for the theologians teach
with St. Thomas that even irrational creatures cannot be
cursed without sin. Therefore Brentius and the Anabaptists
20 Wisdom x. 14. 21 Gen. xliii. 34. 22 Job iii. 1—4.

for avoiding rash judgments. 29

and the Talmudists accuse Job of cursing and blasphemy.
Others, however, defend him from the charge of sin.
St. Thomas, writing on the third chapter of Job, says, that
he, by this curse, neither wished nor imprecated evils on that
day, but only declared that the day was evil, not according
to its own nature, in which it was created by God, but
according to the things which happened at that time, in
accordance with the words of the Apostle : " Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil ; " 23 and further, that
Job said this not from his reason, but from the lower part
of his soul, which on account of those evils was affected
with sadness and grief. In the same way, says Pineda, on
the third chapter of Job, and Sanchez, in his Commentary,
Christ our Lord also gave expression to "His sadness and
fear of death," in His sensitive part, and the vehemence
of His sorrow, and of His internal desolation, when crying
with a loud voice, He said : " My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me ? " 24 It is no contradiction of fortitude
or virtue to utter grief and groaning, as Cicero well observes,
as well as the philosopher Taurus in Gellius, in opposition
to the Stoics, who praise apathy and insensibility to pain.
As that man also observes, in Q. Curtius (lib. vi.), " Grief has
a right to be somewhat free in uttering recriminations." And
Aristotle gives a philosophical reason why those who sorrow
cry out. So that even if Job had spoken from the judgment
of his reason, he would have said well, as Pineda shows,
proving that the complaints of Job proceeded from love
towards God, and in that case are to be excused. Thus
Jeremias is to be excused who wrote these words, and
indeed, by Divine inspiration : " Cursed be the day wherein
I was born ; let not the day in which my mother bore me
be blessed. Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to
my father, saying : A man-child is born to thee ; and made
him greatly rejoice. Let that man be as the cities which
the Lord hath overthrown, and hath not repented ; let him
hear a cry in the morning, and howling at noontide : who
23 Ephes. v. 16. 24 st. Matt, xxvii. 46.

30 Fourth reason

slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have
been my grave, and her womb an everlasting conception.
Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow,
and that my days should be spent in confusion?"23 Now
these words are defended by Clement of Alexandria, by
Origen, and by St. Thomas.

CHAPTER IV.

Let those who are addicted to rash judgments learn
from the words and deeds of God not to jttdge the
servants of God, because in the most holy deeds and
words of God, they have examples of words and
deeds of God, such that, if they did not know that
they had been spoken and done by God, they would,
by their unjust judgment, malignantly condemn
similar good words and deeds of the servants of
God.

FOR the reason stated at the head of this chapter, it becomes
us to attribute a good sense and to give a favourable inter- .
pretation to the words of men, if at any time they seem to
utter anything that offends, even as we ought to interpret the
good things described in Holy Scripture (for they cannot
be so circumspect as the Holy Spirit Who dictated Holy
Scripture). Otherwise, if we should so proceed, as we are
wont to do with our brethren, we should say (which God
forbid) that God is a liar, inconstant in His promises,
promising one thing, doing another. For He said to Jacob
when he went down into Egypt : " I will bring thee back
again from thence,"1 and before He had promised him the
same thing;2 yet Jacob did not return thence, but died
there.3 Thus Porphyry once, as we are told by St. Jerome

25 Jerem. xx. 14 — 18.
1 Gen. xlvi. 4. 2 Gen. xxviii. 15. 3 Gen. xlix. 33.

For avoiding rash judgments.

when writing against the Pelagians, said that Christ had lied
when He said, " I go not up to this festival day,"4 since we
are told in the same chapter that " He also went up to the
feast."5 As therefore the words of God, Who is infinitely
wise and prudent, and, to speak in our ordinary way, infi
nitely considerate and circumspect in all His deeds, might
be distorted to an unfavourable sense, although unde
servedly, how much more the words of men, who neither are
so guarded nor can be so perfect as God is. Therefore,
even when they seem to sound amiss, let them be taken in
a good sense. And this is most highly necessary in our
intercourse with so many persons, and those so often dis
tracted and so greatly occupied; and hence it was not
without reason that our holy Father St. Ignatius, immediately
after the title to his Exercises, placed this caution in the very
first place : " It must be assumed," he says, " that every
pious Christian ought to be more ready to take any obscure
sentence or proposition of another in a good meaning than
to condemn it. But if he can in no way defend it, let him
search out the mind of the speaker." If the holy Father
judged this caution necessary for the time of the Spiritual
Exercises, at which time both he who gives the Exercises
and he who receives them are wont to be very considerate,
very circumspect, and very much inclined to good, and
more averse to evil than before; how much more is it
necessary at other times, in which our language and conduct
are not so considerate !

And that which I say on not rashly condemning the
words of others, I wish also to say on not condemning the
writings of others, whether they are letters, or the dictates
in the schools, or classical exercises, such as are odes,
orations, epistles, compositions, prefaces, dialogues, decla
mations : let us condemn nothing rashly, let us not judge,
let us not condemn judgment, style, words, phrases, sen
tences, connexion, elocution, action, erudition, historical
knowledge, and other things, the condemnation of which,

4 St. John vii. 8. 5 St. John vii. 10.

32 Fourth reason

if known to their authors, would greatly offend them, and
make them lose the sweetness of religious charity and
mutual benevolence. For it is most certain that, if any one
wants to be malicious, he may find fault with all writings,
even the most sacred, and also the Scripture itself.

For, to pass over heretics, who distort it into wrong
meanings, and sometimes with such acuteness and plausi
bility that it seems to speak for them ; are there any passages
of Scripture, even of those with respect to which there is
no contention between the followers of different religions,
which can be kept free from the censure of rash judgments ?
By no means. Everywhere the prurience of man's judgment
and of a malignant tongue will find something to carp at.
For example, it is said : " The Philistines were humbled,
and they did not come any more into the borders of
Israel."6 But afterwards they are said to have invaded the
borders of Israel,7 and to have been smitten in Gabaa,8
which was a city of the Israelites.9 So it is said, " Samuel
saw Saul no more till the day of his death ;"10 and in the
same book we read that Saul "prophesied before Samuel,"11
and in his house. So we are told that " in all " there were
"thirty and seven"12 (leading men) who were with David;
but in another place13 there is a larger number given, besides
many other similar passages which I leave out.

Now, if any of us were to write such things, would he
not be condemned as a liar ? Would it not be said to him
that " a liar ought to have a good memory ? " Most cer
tainly. As, therefore, it does not become us to condemn
Scripture of falsehood or error, so, by analogy, ought we
not to condemn the writings of others, who neither are nor
can be so accurate, so circumspect in writing, as were the
writers of the Sacred Books which were dictated by the
Holy Spirit.

That which I have said of words and writings, I must

6 i Kings vii. 13. 7 i Kings x. 5 ; xvii. i, 23, 26.

8 i Kings xiii. 3. 9 i Kings vii. i. 10 I Kings xv. 35.

11 i Kings xix. 22, 24. 12 2 Kings xxiii. 39. 13 2 Paral. xi.

for avoiding rash judgments. 33

also say of the deeds of others, that they are not to be
judged or condemned rashly. I have said something above
on this subject, and I will now add other instances, that I may
open the eyes of those who brand similar acts in others
with grave censure, though themselves good and spiritual
men. And sometimes those who seem to themselves to be
spiritual and devout, are more free in condemning others, as
St. Bonaventure has observed in his Inducements to Divine
Love. For St. John Climacus wrote truly : " Even those
who seem to be spiritual do sometimes slip into judgments
of their neighbours."

If any Superior or Master in a College, seeing the defects
and insolence either of his subjects or of his scholars,
should be so incensed with anger as to dash on the ground
and break a timepiece which he was holding in his hand,
he would be condemned as greatly wanting in mortification
and patience, particularly if he went so far as to order the
offenders to be beaten with a whip or with rods until the
blood came. But Moses did more, for he, as we read in
Exodus,14 when he saw his people engaged in idolatrous
dances, was inflamed with anger, and broke the tables of
stone of the Law which he had received from God, and
which had been written by God Himself on both sides, and
had been made by the work of God, as the Scripture says.
" Moses was justly angered," says St. Ambrose, in his book,
on Noe and the Ark, when discussing this breaking of the
tables, " lest they should have Divine privileges who did
not pay obedience." And yet after this God does not
reprove him, but again gave him other tables, and he was
called by the Holy Spirit, Who rightly interprets all things,
" a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon
earth;"15 although not contented with the breaking of the
tables of the Law, at the same time he put to death by the
sons of Levi about twenty-three thousand of those against
whom he had been angry ; and afterwards, as St. Chrysostom
remarks, "Though others had been slain in war by the

14 Exodus xxxii. 15 — 19. 16 Numbers xii. 3.

D 2

34 Fourth reason

Amalekites, and before that war they had been terribly
wasted because of their anger and gluttony, for God slew
very many of them, says Psalm Ixxvii., while the meat was
yet in their mouth ; yet Moses, after he had seen this
terrible slaughter, prayed that God would put an end to their
life by a new and strange kind of death. And thus some,
by the sudden breaking out of fire, were burnt in the con
flagration ; others were swallowed up by the sudden opening
of the earth, and these not few, but more than fifteen
thousand men. And afterwards, when they committed
fornication with strange women, and were initiated to Beel-
phegor,16 he gave orders again that they should take and
kill each other, saying, Let every man kill his neighbours
that have been initiated to Beelphegor." And yet he was
not judged by any of his own people to have governed
tyrannically, as a Superior would now be judged, or the
prefect or master of a school, if he should punish any fault
with a more severe penalty than was usual, or should
angrily chide any one on account of the commission of a
fault.

If any one should now utter as many praises of himself
as Job did — " My justification which I have begun to hold,
I will not forsake ; for my heart doth not reprehend me in
all my life;"17 and again : "I was clad with justice, and I
clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a
diadem. I was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame.
I was the father of the poor, and the cause which I knew
not, I searched out most diligently. . . . They that heard
me waited for my sentence, and being attentive, held their
peace at my counsel. To my words they durst add nothing,
and my speech dropped upon them. They waited for me
as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter
shower. If at any time I laughed on them, they believed
not, and the light of my countenance fell not on the earth.
If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as
a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a
16 Numbers xxv. 3, 5. J7 J0b xxvii. 6.

for avoiding rash judgments. 35

comforter of them that mourned."18 And throughout nearly
the whole of the thirty-first chapter he writes many things
abundantly in his own praise.

And if any one in the same way should inveigh
against his adversaries, as he did in chapters xii., xiii., xvi.,
xix., xxx., and vi. ; and if any one should so assert his inno
cence before God, and that his punishment was greater than
his offences, as he did (chapters vi. 2, 3 ; x. ; and xvii. 2),
he would be reckoned proud, impatient, and irreverent
towards God, as he was by his friends (chapters xxxii.,
xxxiii. 8, &c., xxxiv., xxxv., and xxxvi.). You may consult
the passages referred to. And although God Himself seems
to have spoken against Job, whence Job humbles himself,19
yet he is defended by God.

But this is still more wonderful that God Himself, Who
inspired the Prophets, Who, as we say almost daily in Holy
Mass, " spoke by the Prophets," foretold to David, " I will
give thee rest from all thy enemies;"20 and yet immediately
in the following chapter wars are recounted which he carried
on with the Philistines, with the Moabites, and with the
King of Soba, who had in his army twenty thousand foot
men, with the Syrian soldiers of Damascus, of whom he
slew " two-and-twenty thousand men." And in the tenth
chapter we read that he fought with the Ammonites, who
in their army brought against David twenty thousand footmen
and twelve thousand men. And again he fought with the
Syrians, of whom he slew the men of seven hundred chariots
and forty thousand horsemen, and put to flight eight-and-
fifty thousand of the residue of their army. Besides all this
he had not rest from his own son, who drove him to flight,21
a thing which other enemies had not done since the death
of Saul.

Afterwards Siba stirred up a new conspiracy and war
against David, so that all Israel departed from David who
said that Siba did him more harm than did Absalom.22

18 Job xxix. 14—16, and 21—25. w Job xxxix. 33 ; xlii. 3, 6, 7.

20 2 Kings vii. n. 21 2 Kings xv. 14, seq. 22 2 Kings xx. i, 2, 6,

36 Fourth reason

Afterwards, the Philistines again disturbed David by be
ginning war,23 in which his life was endangered by the
stroke of a spear. After this, another war was carried on
in Gob against the Philistines. Then another war against
the same enemy, in which Adeodatus was distinguished.
Besides these there was another war in Geth. Thus the
Scripture in this one chapter (xxi.) expressly says that David
fought four battles and waged four wars, and in the other
chapters referred to eight wars are mentioned. Is this rest,
to fight twelve times with enemies greater in number than
our most august Emperor has ever had ? And yet God
predicted what was true, although there may be a difficulty
in interpreting the Divine predictions. As, therefore, we
interpret these favourably and as being true, so let us-
interpret favourably all the words and acts of others, after
the example of St. Aloysius and St. Ignatius, which will be
mentioned further on.

We have another example in St. Matthew24 where the
holy Evangelist, drawing up the genealogy of Christ, says :
"All the generations from David to the transmigration of
Babylon, are fourteen generations ; " when it is quite plain,
from the Books of Kings and of Paralipomenon,25 that the
generations referred to by St. Matthew were not only four
teen, but seventeen, because he has omitted three. For
although St. Matthew, in the eighth verse, says that Joram
begot Ozias, yet it is quite plain from the passages here
adduced that Ozias was not begotten by Joram, but Ocho-
zias, and that Joram was begotten by Ochozias, and that
Amasias was begotten by Joram, and Azarias, who was
otherwise called Ozias, by Amasias.

If any one in these days, writing to another, should say
that he was beloved of God, it would be ascribed to boast-
fulness ; but St. John says of himself, and that not once
only, in the Gospel which was written by him for the whole

23 2 Kings xxi. 15, seq. 24 St. Matt. i. 17.

25 4 Kings viii. 24 ; xi. 2 ; xii. 21 ; xiv. 21 ; i Paral. iii. n, 12 ; 2 Paral.
xxvi, i.

for avoiding rash judgments. 3 7

Church, and not for any one person : " This is that disciple
whom Jesus loved," and no one has taken his doing so amiss.

So if now any one should say to another what Paul said
to Elymas the magician, "O full of all guile and of all
deceit, enemy of all justice, thou ceasest not to pervert the
right ways of the Lord"26 — good God, what censures would
he not undergo ! If, then, deeds and words of that kind
deserve no reproof, neither ought the same things to be
blamed if they proceeded from any of us ; for we cannot
be, nor are we bound to be, more holy than Christ and His
Apostles, nor can we be more circumspect in speaking than
they.

If any one should now say that he had never, in all his
life, deliberately sinned, or if any one should say in a public
discourse of himself, that, by the blessing of God, he had
preserved his virginity unimpaired, he would be condemned
as proud, and as boasting of himself and his virtues. And
yet both of these things were said by Cardinal Bellarmine,
first at Rome, to the Father Rector of the English College ;
secondly, in the Cathedral Church of Capua in a public
discourse ; and when a certain Canon was scandalized at
this, God, desiring to show that Bellarmine had well said,
and with the Divine approval, irradiated his face with
celestial splendour, which, when the Canon saw, he cor
rected his unfavourable judgment, and testified to this on
oath in the process for the canonization of Bellarmine,
made by Apostolic authority, in which I read it ; which was
also confirmed at the same time by the testimony of another,
namely, the Superior of the Theatine Fathers.

26 Acts xiii. 10.

CHAPTER V.

It is shown by other most holy examples and sayings of
God and of Christ our Lord, and of the saints,
that all things sJwuld be favoiirably interpreted and
defended, unless they are manifestly evil

IF one were now to see either the Superior in a house, or
the procurator at a farm, or the preacher, or the prefect of
the church in church, or the Prefect of the Studies, or
a master in the schools, or a cook in the kitchen, taking
a rope and attacking others, and overthrowing tables and
chests, and driving others out, he would be condemned as
most impatient and intolerant. But Christ our Lord, Who
said of Himself: "Learn of Me, because I am meek and
humble of heart," 1 did the like of this when, entering the
Temple, "He found," there, "them that sold oxen, and
sheep, and doves," although they were things necessary for
the sacrifices, " He drove them all out of the Temple, the
sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers
He poured out, and the tables He overthrew;"2 and yet
it was of Him that Isaias predicted : " The bruised reed
He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not
quench;" "neither shall His voice be heard abroad."3
And although these acts in men are commonly the effects
of great impatience, and of anger, and of unmodified
passions ; yet the disciples of Christ, taught rightly to
interpret all things, as it is written in the same place,
" remembered that it was written : ' The zeal of Thy house

1 St. Matt. xi. 29. 2 St. John ii. 14, 15. 3 Isaias xlii. 3.

On avoiding rash judgments. 39

hath eaten Me up.' " 4 Now there are many actions entirely
the same in their outward appearance, which proceed both
from virtues and from vices; but where Christian charity
flourishes, which, as the Apostle says, " thinketh no evil,"
and "believeth all good"5 of others, it will ascribe them
not to vice, but to virtue.

In the same way, if one should now attack others with
words like these : "Ye brood of vipers,"6 and, "you are of
your father the devil;"7 or again, "Go behind Me, Satan,
thou art a scandal unto Me;"8 he would be regarded as most
passionate, and yet those former words Christ spoke to the
Jews, whose conversion He desired, and the latter to His dear
disciple, and indeed at the very time at which He promised
him the primacy of the Church ; and He said these things
in the hearing of the other Apostles, among whom it was
necessary to commend his authority, as their future Superior,
although the person of Peter might fall into contempt
through so severe a rebuke from Christ.

If any one should now bring forward concerning another
a negative proposition without any further explanation, and
there should be opposed to such a proposition acts of his
almost entirely contrary to it, he would be considered by
his censors either as lying, or malignant, or inconsiderate in
speech ; for example, if one should say of a master, " That
master does not study, does not prepare for his lessons,
does not give attention to his pupils, has no discipline in
his school," and the contrary of all these things should
somehow be most certain and evident to all, he would
undergo the censure of which I have spoken. Again
Christ, Who was most considerate in speech, said of John,
"John came neither eating nor drinking,"9 when it is
certain that he both ate and drank, otherwise he could
not have lived, and it is said in the Gospel that "his
meat was locusts and wild honey."10 Therefore let us,

4 Psalm Ixviii. 10 ; St. John ii. 17. 5 i Cor. xiii. 5, 7.

6 St. Matt. iii. 7. 7 St. John viii. 44. 8 St. Matt. xvi. 23.

9 St. Matt. xi. 18. 10 St. Matt. iii. 4.

40 On avoiding rash judgments.

in like manner, piously interpret the words of others ; as,
for example, those of the Mother of God : " Behold, Thy
father and I have sought Thee sorrowing;"11 words, which,
if we take them literally, are not true, because Joseph was
not the father of Christ in the same sense in which Mary
was His Mother; yet they were well and holily spoken.
In the same way, therefore, let us interpret favourably the
words and deeds of others.

If any of us now should, on a mission, go to a marriage
feast, and, the wine failing, should procure from some friend
a number of jars of generous wine for the guests, good God,
what would he not hear ? He would be declared to be a
wine-drinker, an encourager of drunkenness and intem
perance. But Christ our Lord did that, and took with
Him His most pure Mother and His disciples, and the
very first time He made public use of His power of working
miracles, He multiplied wine in great abundance in six
water-pots. For the water-pots contained "two or three
measures apiece." Let us suppose the smaller quantity,
or that each water-pot held only two measures. Now, a
measure, or metreta, as Budaeus thinks, contains ten congii,
or, as St. Epiphanius thinks, twelve. But a congius contains
six sextarii [sextarius about an English pint], or eight
foliette, says our Cornelius, in his Commentary on the
passage. And thus ten congii, our Barradius says, contain
sixty sextarii. But Georgius Agricola, in his work on Greek
Measures, and Jansens, following Robert Cenali who, after
Budaeus, wrote very accurately on measures, assign twelve
congii to a metreta, that is, seventy-two Attic sextarii. For
a congius, as I said, contains ten sextarii. Therefore,
according to Budaeus, if each water-pot contained only two
measures, as there were six water-pots, they contained
altogether seven hundred and twenty sextarii [pints]. But,
according to Agricola, the six water-pots contained, accord
ing to the Greek measure, eight hundred and sixty-two
sextarii. But as the same writer says, in his book on
11 St. Luke ii. 48.

On avoiding rash judgments. 41

foreign measures, among the Syrians one metreta contained
one hundred and twenty Italian sextarii; so that if these
were Syrian metretse (and Judaea is a part of Syria), then
the water-pots contained fourteen hundred and forty sextarii.
Whence it follows, if they were Syrian measures, that Christ
our Lord gave them fourteen hundred and forty sextarii,
that is eleven of our jars,12 and thirty-two sextarii. If they
were Greek, according to Agricola, He gave eight hundred
and sixty-two sextarii, that is, six of our jars and ninety-four
sextarii. But, according to Budseus, who reckons fewer
sextarii to the metreta', He gave seven hundred and twenty
sextarii, that is, five of our jars and eighty sextarii ; for our
jar contains thirty-two pints [Bohemian pints of that period],
or one hundred and twenty-eight sextarii [modem English
pints], for there are four sextarii in a (Bohemian) pint. But,
as the Evangelist says, according to the exposition of Cajetan
and Toletus, that some of the water-pots contained three
measures, then Christ our Lord, Who was the Teacher of
temperance and sobriety, and of every unreprovable virtue,
furnished for the marriage feast a greater abundance of wine
than I have said. I speak here of the Bohemian jar, not
knowing the size of the jar in other provinces of Germany.

Cornelius remarks that " there were three kinds of sex
tarii : the Roman, which contained twenty ounces of water
or wine ; the Attic, which contained fifteen ; and the
Hebrew, which contained exactly thirteen, and is the same
which in Hebrew is called log." But here Cornelius thinks
we are to understand the Hebrew sextarius; so that a
metreta, containing seventy-two sextarii of thirteen ounces,
contained seventy-two pounds and as many ounces (for
Cornelius takes the common pound of twelve ounces),
which ounces make six pounds more, and so altogether it
makes up seventy-eight pounds ; so that the metreta con
tained thirteen Italian boccali and two foliette. For a
boccale contains four pounds of our ounces ; that is sixty-
four ounces ; and a folietta is the fourth part of a boccale,
12 \Urnas : an urna contained half an amphora.]

42 On avoiding rash judgments.

containing sixteen ounces. Therefore a water-pot which
contained two metretse, contained twenty-seven boccali;
and so six water-pots contained one hundred and sixty-
two boccali; so much wine, therefore, Christ here made
out of water. But if you allow three metretse to the water-
pot, each water-pot contained forty boccali, and two foliette,
so that six water-pots contained two hundred and forty
boccali and twelve foliette : that is, almost a whole cask
of wine ; for a Roman cask contains two hundred and fifty-
six boccali. So then Christ in this moment produced nearly
a cask of wine." This is the opinion of Cornelius.

Since then " every action of Christ," says St. Basil, " is
for our instruction," if any Superior should choose (which
I do not advise him, on account of censorious tongues) to
imitate Christ in this matter, not to the full amount, but even
a hundreth part, he would suffer much and grievously.

If any one now, regarded as a holy man and a prophet,
should predict anything which afterwards did not turn out
literally as he predicted it, he would be regarded as under
a delusion ; yet Christ predicted 13 that He should be " in
the heart of the earth three days and three nights." Since,
however, He was in the heart of the earth only in the night
following the sixth day, and on the Sabbath (Saturday), and
His death took place at the close of the sixth day, and
lasted till the night of the Sabbath, He did not come to
the third day, which was Sunday, because He rose before
the break of day on Sunday. As therefore we interpret
these words favourably, adding favourable explanations, so
also human words should be favourably explained, since
men cannot be so circumspect in speech as Christ.

Men, too, should not be accused of falsehood, if, in
referring to any thing which was said or done by one
person, they should say that it was said or done by several.
For thus the Scripture speaks of a thing which one Prophet
said as being said by several,14 as Maldonatus has well

]3 St. Matt. xii. 40
14 St. Matt. ii. 23 ; xxvi. 56 ; St. John vi. 45 ; Acts xiii. 40 ; xv. 15.

On avoiding rasJi judgments. 43

remarked in his Commentary on the last verse of the
second chapter of St. Matthew.

If any one now, either in sincerity, or ironically, or in
contempt, should be said to have the prophetic spirit, and
should predict that Rome would be destroyed after two
months, and if, after two months had elapsed, that did not
take place, he would be regarded as one deluded by the
devil, and as a false prophet ; yet we read that a true
prophet, Jonas, was sent by God, and predicted by com
mand of God : " Yet forty days and Ninive shall be
destroyed;"15 and yet it was not destroyed.16 So Isaias
was sent by God to King Ezechias, and predicted his
death; and yet he did not die, but God added fifteen
years to his life, and God confirmed it to him by the
miracle of the sun's going back.17

If in our days one of our Superiors, or a King, or a
leading senator, should dance in the procession of Corpus
Christi before the Most Holy Sacrament, he would be con
sidered an idiot or a fool ; yet David danced before the ark
when he was a public character, a most glorious King, and
not even attired in his royal apparel, but clad in the sacerdotal
or clerical linen ephod,18 and in a robe of fine linen.19 And
this appears to have pleased God, for He punished Michol
with barrenness, who had derided him for it, because,
St. Gregory says, "He liked to see him dancing better
than fighting," praising this act of his, " in which he con
quered himself." And our holy Father St. Ignatius did
something similar, when he was ordered to dance in private
after the manner of the Biscayans, and by his dancing restored
Ortizius, the Ambassador of the King of Spain, from his
.madness to a sound mind, when he was beginning to get
deranged, at Monte Cassino, in the first week of the
Exercises which our holy Father was giving him, becom
ing, in accordance with the custom and expression of the

15 Jonas iii. i — 4. 16 Jonas iv. 17 4 Kings xx.

18 2 Kings vi. 14. 19 i Paral. xv. 27.

44 On avoiding rash judgments.

Apostle, " all things to all men/' that he might gain them
to Christ, and " might save all." 20

If in these days any of our preachers, or any Father
giving domestic exhortations, or any professor of theology,
when asked by a king in a matter of great importance,
bearing upon the safety of his kingdom, should quote Holy
Scripture, and should quote it differently from what it was
in the Bible, or even in a sense almost opposed to that
which it bore in the text quoted, he would be regarded as an
ignorant person, and laughed at, and he would afford
matter for talk during recreation, and would be libelled as
ignorant throughout the colleges and the whole province,
perchance in private letters or in some other way. And
yet, in answer to King Herod, the passage of the Prophet
Micheas was quoted in this way by all the Chief Priests and
Scribes of the people : " And them Bethlehem, the land
of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda ; " 21
when the passage in Micheas means the reverse: "Thou,
Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands
of Juda."22 And yet no critic was found to censure the
answer which was given to the King, as though it alleged
something contrary to the text. Let us at least imitate
the Jews, the enemies of Christ, in abstaining from censur
ing others, although we may seem to have a clear and just
cause for finding fault with the words and acts of others.
But it is no wonder that those teachers of the law should
have gone astray in the quotation of Scripture ; it is more
wonderful that there should be very many sayings of the
Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture, which are entirely free from
all error, and are worthy of pious interpretation ; and yet
I dare to say if we should say or write the very same
things, they would not obtain a favourable interpretation,
but would be most severely censured. I will adduce one
or two other examples.

We read these words, dictated by the Holy Spirit to the
Hebrews : In the " ark of the testament " there " was a

2« i Cor. ix. 22. 21 St. Matt. ii. 6. 22 Mich. v. 2.

On avoiding rash judgments. 45

golden pot that had manna, and the rod of Aaron that had
blossomed, and the tables of the testament."23 But the same
Holy Spirit of infallible truth apparently dictated the contrary
in the sacred Old Scripture, that is, in His epistle to us,
for thus St. Gregory and other Fathers call the Holy
Scripture ; for in the Third Book of Kings it is written :
" Now in the ark there was nothing else but the two tables
of stone ; " 24 and yet, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, three
other things are said to have been placed there, namely,
" a golden pot," and " manna," and the " rod of Aaron."
As, therefore, we piously interpret the words of the Holy
Spirit, although they are in appearance self-contradictory,
so we ought .favourably to interpret similar human expres
sions, although they have the appearance of being untrue,
because men are not bound to be, nor can they be, so
accurate and circumspect in speaking and in writing as is
God, or the Holy Scripture dictated by God.

Another motive for avoiding false interpretations and
censures of other men's doings, is the example of the
demons among whom such things are not practised.
Christ our Lord did not think it unworthy of His mouth
to seek an argument for refuting the Jews, who assailed
His doctrine, and life, and miracles, and to rebuke them by
the example and custom of demons, among whom there
is no dissension ; that hence He might defend the power
of casting out demons which He possessed, which was by
them ascribed to the prince of demons ; nor should it be
alleged against me as a fault, if, from the custom of demons
who are free from mutual fault-finding and unfavourable
interpretations, I endeavour to persuade ourselves to abstain
from them, as they abstain, and applaud all the doings and
efforts of their companions, lest in this matter we should be,
and should be regarded by God, as worse than devils.
For, if Christ used the example of the Ninivites in order
to recall that perfidious nation from their impiety, when He
said : " The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this
23 Heb. ix. 4. 24 3 Kings viii. 9.

46 On avoiding rash judgments.

generation, and shall condemn it, because they did penance
at the preaching of Jonas;"25 it ought to be a much more
efficacious motive for deterring the servants and sons of God,
who are beloved of God, from a malign interpretation of the
words and deeds and intentions and omissions of others, lest
Christ should bring it as a reproach against them in the
particular or general judgment, that devils have been in
this respect better than they have been, in that they did not
assail their infernal companions with any harsh interpre
tations and censures, but by interpreting everything favourably
for the best, they rather animated them to things which indeed
were evil and execrable; and yet of such a character that we
may learn, like good bees, from them to suck the good even
from infernal poison, and that which is salutary for the direc
tion of our manners. And this should be done the more by us
from the example of our holy Father St. Ignatius, who, as
Maffei writes of him in his Life, "had wonderful ingenuity
in soliciting men and drawing them from the servitude of
the devil to the obedience of Christ, and adapted those
arts which the devil employs for the destruction of souls, as
far as it was lawful and right, for the salvation and well-
being of men." By which example the holy Father taught
us, that we might also make gain of demons, by turning
their custom to good, which they abuse to evil ; since God
made all creatures for three ends, as He revealed to St.
Mary Magdalene dei Pazzi, "for necessity, for recreation,
and for our instruction," as is written in her life.

David, together with Abiathar the High Priest, would
have been condemned as sacrilegious, because the former,
by permission of Abiathar,- eat the loaves of proposition,
"which might lawfully be eaten only by the descendants of
Aaron, who were employed in Divine ministries.26 And
from this act Christ was constrained to draw a defence
of His disciples, when they were judged by the Jews,

25 St. Matt. xii. 41.

26 i Kings xxi. 6 ; Exod. xxix. 32 ; Levit. viii. 31 ; xxiv. 9 ; St. Matt.
xii. 3. 4-

On avoiding rash judgments. 47

because they plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath.
The same David might be condemned by the censor
as lascivious, because he had ten wives, or, as the
Scripture calls them, concubines.27 And here the censor
would have on his side the law of God which ex
pressly forbade this to the kings.28 To that authority he
might add a good reason, and one which could not be
assailed, according to his wisdom, namely, that there was not
then a reason for so many wives as seemed necessary at the
beginning of the world for the propagation of the human
race, for in the time of David the human race was too much
propagated, since in his time the soldiers of Israel alone,
when the census was taken by order of David, were eleven
hundred thousand in number, and of Juda, four hundred
and seventy thousand ; 29 although, as we are told, they
were not numbered from all the tribes. If so many soldiers,
what of the rest, the children and women ? What
need, then, for so many wives ? " Oh, lascivious and
effeminate man ! " the censor would say.

He might further be reproached as having died badly,
and perhaps in sin, because he seems, in a spirit of vindic-
tiveness, when at the point of death, to have ordered that
Semei should be killed on account of the malediction which
he formerly pronounced against him : " Thou hast also with
thee Semei . . . who cursed me with a grievous curse, . . .
but because ... I swore to him by the Lord, saying, I
will not kill thee by the sword: do not thou hold him
guiltless. But thou art a wise man, and knowest what to
do with him, and thou shalt bring down his grey hairs with
blood to Hell." 30 Oh, how many things an ill-disposed
censor would here condemn ! First, the remembrance of
the injury; secondly, the spirit of vindictiveness, because
he ordered him to be put to death ; thirdly, perjury, for he
swore, and yet he wishes him to be killed by his son ; and
to the excuse that he wished him to be killed by another,

2? 2 Kings xv. 15. 28 Deut. xvii. 17.

29 i Paral. xxi. 5. so 3 Kings ii. 8, 9.

48 On avoiding rash judgments.

the censor might take objection, and say with the philoso
pher: " He who is the cause of the cause, is the cause of the
thing caused ; " and he might quote the legal maxim :
" He who does a thing by another, seems to do it by
himself." Qui facit per alium, per se ipsuin facer e videtur.
Fourthly, he might point out the cunning, since he had
acted insincerely, in swearing that he would not kill him,
that is, by himself, and yet meaning that he would kill him
by another. Fifthly, he might remark upon his artful and
adulatory speech, in praising his son as wise, that he might
the more easily persuade him to what he wished. Sixthly,
he might observe the tyrannical spirit which breathed in
his manner of speaking : " Thou shalt bring down his grey
hairs with blood to Hell." Seventhly, he might remark his
hypocrisy and feigned humility or patience, for he would
say : Where now are those words of piety, redolent of
humility, which he uttered when he heard the cursing of
Semei? "Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord
hath bid him curse David : and who is he that dare say,
Why hath he done so ? " 31 Eighthly, he might point out
his disobedience towards God; because he resisted His
will, from Whose decree he formerly thought that malediction
proceeded as a punishment. And yet it is certain that
David did this, not with a tyrannical or vindictive dis
position, nor with an evil motive, as we have seen, but
from a zeal for justice, for the good of Semei, for an
example to others, and to produce a horror of sin which is
committed against the authority of superiors ; because else
where David was so gentle, as he often showed, that he
could rightly say of himself, when openly conversing with
God, if he is the author of that Psalm (as is thought by
SS. Basil, Gregory, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, Theo
dore t, Euthymius, Innocent, in their writings on the
Psalms ; and by St. Irenseus, Justin, and Tertullian ;) or if
any one else is the author of it, still he could truly say to
to God, when asking Him to incline His mercy towards

31 2 Kings xvi. 10.

On avoiding rash judgments. 49

him. " O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness." 32
It is not vindictiveness, no ; it. is not cruelty, when
anything is ordered by a magistrate as a punishment of
others; because not alone the omission of a punishment
which is due (which would be a greater sin), but even the
omission of a heavier punishment, and the infliction of a
light and gentle punishment, when it ought to be more
severe, is a great and hateful sin before God.

Consider that wonderful decree of God : " For I have
sworn unto him [that is Heli], that I will judge his house
for ever, for iniquity; because he knew that his sons did
wickedly, and did not chastise them. Therefore have I
sworn to the house of Heli, that the iniquity of his house
shall not be expiated with victims nor offerings for ever."33
A wonderful thing ! And yet it is written that Heli said these
words to his sons : " Why do ye these kind of things which
I hear, very wicked things, from all the people ? " 34 Mark,
God called them iniquitous things, but here Heli uses a
harsher and more significant word, " very wicked things ; "
and yet he seems to God not to have chastised his sons.
And then he went on : " Do not so, my sons, for it is no
good report that I hear, that you make the people of the
Lord to transgress. If one man shall sin against another,
God may be appeased in his behalf; but if a man shall
sin against the Lord, who shall pay for him ? And they
hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the
Lord would slay them." Where mark, besides, that Heli
not only reproved the crimes of his sons, but also brought
forward certain reasons, by which they might be induced to
desist from sinning. And therefore St. Basil rightly remarks :
" Heli in no way connived at the crimes of his sons, and
often endeavoured to deter them from them, and in an
unusually long speech he showed them the greatness of
their crime, and its necessary and inevitable condemnation."
And St. Nazianzen says, that "Heli not only did not
approve of the impiety of his sons, but even very frequently
32 Psalm cxxxi. 33 i Kings iii. 13, 14. ^ i Kings ii. 23—25.
E 2

50 On avoiding rash judgments.

rebuked them." And moreover their sin seems to be attri
buted to the withholding of Divine aid, and to the Divine
permission : " Because the Lord would slay them ; " and yet
God says: "Because he did not chastise them." But how can
it be said that he did not chastise them, when he did chastise
them, as we have heard ? You know the cause. For this
reason He says that he did not chastise them, because he did
not punish them so severely as was required. "For he
ought to have struck them," says St. Gregory. " He ought to
have cast them off," says St. Jerome. " He ought to have
removed them from his presence, and to have disinherited
them, and to have had them beaten," says Theodoret ; and
Procopius says: "That, after a first and second admoni
tion, he ought to have removed them from the holy places
or inclosures."

St. Chrysostom remarks that David, in order to enhance
the greatness of his sin, used the name of Shepherd: "It is I
the shepherd that have sinned . . . these that are the sheep,
what have they done ? "35 As though he would say, " Even
if they had sinned, I should be regarded as guilty, because
I did not correct them."

" He ought to have shown a greater indignation against
them," says St. Basil, " because," he says, " he had not
inflicted upon them the punishments which they deserved,
nor had he been indignant with them, as it was right that
he should have been ; and thus he so stirred up the anger
of God, that his people, together with his sons, were taken
off in one destruction, and the ark itself was taken, and fell
into the power of the enemy, and he himself ended his life
by a miserable death."

" Heli did indeed restrain his sons," says St. Chrysostom,
" and check them, but not with so much care and earnest
ness as was necessary. For when he ought to have scourged
them, and cast them out of his house, and used every kind
of correction, he only exhorted them and counselled them,
saying, ' Do not so, my sons, for it is no good report that I

35 2 Kings xxiv. 17.

On avoiding rash judgments. 5 1

hear.' What do you say ? They have insulted God, and
you call them sons ? Therefore, He says that Heli had not
chastised them ; for it is chastisement when we do not
merely give counsel in this way, but more vehemently and
sharply, and when we inflict whatever wound the ulcer
requires. It is not, therefore, sufficient only to speak, but
we must also strike great terror, so as to get rid of the reckless
indifference of youth. Consequently as he only exhorted
them, and not this even as he ought, he exposed them to
the enemy ; and when war began they fell in battle, and he,
unable to bear the news, fell, and broke his neck, and died.
You see, then, I said truly that those are the murderers
of their children who do not chastise careless children
sharply, nor require of them the worship which is due to
God. And thus certainly Heli was the slayer of his children.
For although the enemy killed his sons, yet he was the
author of their death, because by his own negligence towards
them he turned away the help of God from them, and left
them, unprotected and forsaken, to those who wished to
slay them. And not only them, but he destroyed himself
along with them. And this very thing now also happens
to very many fathers, because they would not beat, or
rebuke, or grieve their children, when they were living
irregularly and iniquitously." And it is the opinion of
St. Augustine, of St. Gregory, of Eucherius, and of Bede,
that for this Heli was condemned to the pains of Hell.

When, therefore, David, for a similar cause, ordered
Semei to be severely punished, he did well. Hence learn
(as I may remark by the way) not to condemn the orders
of your Superiors, when they inflict upon offenders a greater
punishment than is usual : they are constrained by the love
of justice, by the love of religious discipline, by the love of
the brethren. Hence, when St. Louis Bertrand, the glory
of the most holy Order of St. Dominic, and the patron and
defender of our Society, whilst he lived, in the time of our
holy Father Ignatius, was asked why he punished so severely
the slight defects of those who were subject to him, he

5 2 On avoiding rash judgments.

replied, "that they may escape the more severe pains of
Purgatory." Correct was the reasoning of that most holy
man, because, if for one idle word which is not purged here,
the pains of Purgatory must be undergone, which are more
bitter than all the torments of this life joined together, what
wonder is it that sometimes our offences are not lightly
punished ? If any one should now for one idle word pre
scribe a public flogging in the refectory, he would be con
sidered cruel and tyrannical ; and yet one beating, compared
with even the lightest fire of Purgatory, is like painted fire
compared with real fire. And so God is not cruel when
He purges even idle words with that fire. Let not then
those Superiors seem, or be rashly judged to be cruel, who
punish our offences, who are angered and saddened by us
when we sin. " To be angry with one who sins," says
St. Augustine, " that he may be corrected ; to be saddened
for one who is afflicted, that he may be delivered ; to fear
for one who is in danger, lest he should perish ; surely no
one will, if right minded, find fault with this." These
things I have brought forward in defence of the gentleness
of David, and for the brotherly correction of his accusers.

I omit other actions of great Saints which might be
gnawed by a malignant tooth. Take that frankness of
Ezechias, when, addressing God, he said : " I beseech Thee,
O Lord, remember how I have walked before Thee in truth
and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is
pleasing before Thee,"36 which a rash judge might ascribe
to pride, arrogance, boastfulness, presumption. Yet God,
when He heard those words, recalled the decree which He
had spoken by Isaias, intimating that his death would soon
take place, and added fifteen years to his life, and confirmed
His promise by a miracle.

I pass by the zeal of Elias, who, although addressed not
by an insulting title, but as the " Man of God," yet slew a
hundred men by fire from Heaven,37 which act a rash and
blasphemous tongue might attribute to impatience.

36 4 Kings xx. 3. 37 4 Kings i.

On avoiding rash judgments. 53

I pass by the just severity of Eliseus, who, when called
by boys " bald head,"38 as he truly was, procured a severe
punishment from God against them, which a malignant
judge would say proceeded from his wrath and fury.

We know how great was the holiness of St. Paul the
Apostle, and yet not only his life was condemned by some,
but even his doctrine ; and hence it came to pass that some
did not receive some of his Epistles, as though they had
not proceeded from the Holy Spirit. For, as St. Jerome
writes, in his Preface to the Epistle to Philemon, they said
" he was not always an Apostle, nor did he say all things
from Christ speaking in him, and that there were times
when Paul would not venture to say, 'I live, now not I, but
Christ liveth in me,'39 or ' Do you seek a proof that Christ
speaketh in me?'40 What sort of a proof, they say, of
Christ speaking in him is it to hear him say, 'The cloak
that I left at Troas,'41 or 'But withal prepare me also a
lodging.'"42

I pass by numberless other examples of sacred actions
which appeared similar to those which we now rashly con
demn in others. You may consult the sermon of St. Augus
tine on these words, " But when all things shall be subdued
unto Him," who admirably explains how both Christ and
His Apostles did not always speak in the same manner,
and accommodated themselves to their hearers, and em
ployed language apparently contradictory. To unjust critics
St. John might seem vain, because he alone, and no other
Evangelist, wrote of himself that he outran Peter and came
first to the sepulchre.43

Oh, how often do we condemn, in a similar spirit, the
ordinances even of our Superiors ! Oh, how often we con
demn them as being partial, because they do not deal
equally with all, since to all they do not communicate all
things, but only to certain persons ! " But forgive me,

38 4 Kings ii. 23.

39 Galat. ii. 20. 40 2 Cor. xiii. 3. 41 2 Tim. iv. 13.

4- Philemon 22. 43 St. John xx. 4.

54 On avoiding rash judgments.

Fathers and brethren," says St. Theodore Studita, " it is
not right that matters should be disclosed to all, nor to any
but the leaders of the brethren, as we are taught by our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who at one time discloses the
secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven to all His holy disciples,
and at another, takes Peter, James, and John, and to them
alone exhibits the mysteries." At one time Superiors refuse
some things which are asked either by members of the
house or externs ; they forbid some things being done at a
particular time or place; either they forbid them at that
particular time or place, or they forbid them altogether ;
some things they punish, which it would not seem that they
ought to punish, and say things which it would appear they
ought not to say, and do things which it might seem they
ought not to do, and order things which it would appear
they ought not to order (that is, as it seems to men who are
imperfect, by whom such acts on the part of Superiors are
wont to be branded as evil), and do not prevent things
which it would appear they ought to prevent ; nor punish
things which should be punished ; and immediately judg
ments arise : O the cruelty ! O the inhumanity ! O the
heart of a step-mother ! O what folly ! and they do not
consider that the Superiors do this, perchance because they
were ordered so to do by those who were over them, which,
however, they do not say, lest they should transfer the
reproach to them. Nor do they consider that the Superiors
are taught either by experience and the sure judgment of their
natural reason, or by a peculiar Divine light; (and if this was
not wanting to Caiaphas when he prophesied concerning
Christ, no wonder that, when God wills, it is communicated
to a Religious Superior, who is not worse than Caiaphas), or
by a hidden Divine Providence which, even without the
Superiors themselves being conscious of it, directs them to
forbid, or not permit, or to order some things ; and that it
is under such influence that they forbid, refuse, command
certain things; and therefore some sciolists condemn them as
though those things were wrongly or through whim forbidden,

On avoiding rash judgments. 55

refused, or commanded. This is not right. If we were to
regard them as in the place of Christ ; if we were to regard
their judgment and will as the rule of our judgment and will;
if we believed that we should thus conform exactly to the
first and highest rule of all good will and judgment, which
is the eternal goodness and wisdom, as the thirty-first rule
of the Summary prescribes, we should not thus speak. We
should approve of all things ; we should excuse all things ;
we should refer all things to the Divine Providence, and we
should believe that which the thirtieth rule of the Summary
says : " Let every one persuade himself that those who live
under obedience ought to allow themselves to be carried
and ruled by Divine Providence through their Superiors,
as if they were a dead body, or the staff of an old man,"
and so forth. And unless this is done, we cannot hope for
that good in the religious life for the obtaining of which we
have embraced this state. For as in philosophy he who
does not believe the principles of philosophy will not be a
good philosopher, so he who does not believe practically
in religious life, that is, does not conduct himself according
to the first principles of his Order, will not be a good
religious.

One first principle of our Order, among others, is
this, to follow the direction of our Superior. But to what
extent ? "In all things in which there would be no sin,"
says Rule 31. How? "Entirely, promptly, resolutely, and
with due humility, without excuses, even when he orders
things which are difficult and repugnant to our sensuality."
And only externally ? No ; but let them also " endeavour
to have inwardly resignation and true abnegation of their
own will and judgment, conforming entirely their will and
judgment with that which their Superior wills and thinks."

Think not, dearest brethren, that it is cruelty when
sometimes small things are denied us, even those which
seem necessary. Superiors are compelled to do so, either for
your own good or for the good of others : they are com
pelled, that they may preserve either you or others from

56 On avoiding rash judgments.

evil. The playing of Ismael with Isaac seemed a small
thing, for what wonder is it that boys should play ? Yet it
did not seem a small thing to God, Who, not content to
forbid the play, willed them even to be separate in their
place of abode ; willed even that the mother of Ismael
should be driven out, that Isaac might be the more secure
from the evils which were impending from his playing with
Ismael. So it evidently happens in religion. Superiors
often foresee dangers in the ways mentioned, and do not
permit certain things which, if they were allowed, would
lead those subject to them involuntarily to destruction.
Oh, if we might venture to speak openly and plainly, how
some who have not confided in the command of their
Superiors, but have despised their oft-repeated admonitions
in things which seemed trifling, have fallen away to things
of which they never thought and which they have afterwards
acknowledged, while others who have been more severely
treated have found that in this manner they have been
preserved from great evils, and have afterwards given thanks !
I, indeed, although I have always believed with sim
plicity that Superiors are in an especial manner overruled
by God, and therefore have always held their ordinances
dear, even when difficult and repugnant to our liberty, yet
now practically experience it, and, as I may say, feel with my
hands, in my present office, that many things which seem to
fall out by accident are ordered by a special Divine direc
tion, which I do not remark until after the event — that
many things thus come to my knowledge, and are by me
regulated, but for which grave evils would have followed,
and have followed, when those things which had been
ordered have not been observed. But although things may
be most prudently regulated, it sometimes turns out, as
St. Thomas remarks,44 that " Men who have to pronounce
judgment on others, often have many adversaries for justice'
sake. Whence we ought not readily to believe what is said
against them, unless a considerable number agree in their

44 2. 2. q. 70, a. 2 ad 3.

On avoiding" rash judgments. 57

testimony." And in the next article he says of those who
are in a state of subjection, or those to whom commands
may be given, " it is likely that they should easily be
induced to bear witness against the truth."

From all these things let us learn to avoid this vice, mind
ful of two things. First, of that proverb which is drawn from
our natural light : " What you would not have done to your
self, do not to another. What you wish to be done to
yourself, do to another." We do not like our words,
writings, deeds, to be rashly judged ; we like them always
to be taken in good part, even when sometimes they might
be drawn to a bad meaning. Let us concede the same to
others ; for otherwise that saying of our Lord will be veri
fied : " With what measure you mete, it shall be measured
to you again." Believe me, it will be so done. "Thou
art just, O Lord ; and Thy judgment is right."45
I might bring forward household examples of this, and of
Divine judgments, which are of recent date, and which
have happened within my own remembrance, of the way
in which God has permitted severe judges of the morals
of others to lapse into much greater faults. Let us beware
lest the same happen to ourselves. A second thing which
we ought to remember is this, that if at any time we hear
our own actions condemned without cause by others, we
be not cast down, nor trouble ourselves about such
judgments. "Your thinking," says St. Gregory Nazian-
zen, "is nothing to us, any more than other people's
dreams. To many, you say, you do not seem to be a
man of that sort. Does the earth seem to be at rest to
those who are suffering from giddiness? And are those
who are sober thought to be sober by those who are
intoxicated ? and not rather to be walking on their head,
or upside down ? Is honey, then, bitter because it may
seem so to some who are sick and indisposed? Things
are not, then, as they appear to those who are diseased."
Let us not be angry with the authors of adverse judgments,

45 Psalm cxviii. 137.

58 On avoiding rash judgments.

but rather let us rejoice that we are treated in the manner
in which God is wont to treat those who are dearest to
Him ; because there never has been one holy to God and
very dear to the world; or whose life has not been set
up and shot at by arrows, through the judgments and
tongues of others. Let us therefore avoid unfavourable
interpretations of the doings of other men. But if it
happens that we innocently suffer such judgments without
our having given just cause for them, let us bear it patiently,
and solace ourselves by the examples of great saints who
have suffered such things after the manner of Christ, Who
was most unjustly harassed by so many malignant censures,
and even by the chief priests and the elders of the people,
whose business it was to prevent and to punish unjust
censures. Hence Christ our Lord says : " Blessed is he
who shall not be scandalized in Me."46

St. Severus Sulpicius writes of St. Martin of Tours, at
the end of his Life : " In truth we have found some envious
of his virtues and of his life, who hated in him what they
did not see in themselves, and what they were unable to
imitate. And, O lamentable and deplorable misery ! no
others were his assailants (and but few of them), no others,
according to report, than men who were themselves bishops."

St. Francis, although he was an example of surpassing
and admirable holiness, and evidently a miracle of grace,
on account of the many rare and admirable gifts which
had been granted to him by God, suffered many persecu
tions from his own General, Brother Elias, and was called,
from his manner of proceeding and acting, the " destroyer
of the Order " which he had founded. St. Romtiald, the
most holy founder of his Order, and already a centenarian,
was publicly condemned in a General Chapter, by his sub
ordinates, as guilty of a horrible crime, such as God
punished with fire, and prohibited from saying Mass. And
after he had borne this disgrace and calumny most patiently,
and, in obedience to the unjust decree, had abstained
46 St. Matt. xi. 6.

On avoiding rasli judgments. 59

from saying Mass, he was refreshed by an angel sent from
God, and ordered to say Mass, as is all written in his Life
by St. Peter Damian, as quoted by Surius.

So our holy Father St. Ignatius suffered the most grievous
things from one of his first companions : being accused,
among other things, of destroying the Society, and of
governing it badly, and was considered by Paul IV., the
Supreme Pontiff, to have governed despotically (as Laynez
expressed it), or tyrannically, as others are now wont to
say, who are unruly and cannot endure just discipline ; as
is recorded by the historians of the Society, Orlandini and
Sacchini, and is more clearly set forth in the Manuscript
History which is preserved in the Roman Archives of our
Society.

A certain holy man, now enrolled among the number
of the saints, was, before his canonization, in my presence
gravely censured by his own confessor, otherwise a good,
spiritual, prudent, and learned man, for two things, which
had reference as well to his holiness as to his spirit of
prophecy. For when once I asked him to tell me some
thing edifying of that holy man, he answered me with some
indignation, in Italian, in words of this kind: "Well,
I never saw such great sanctity in him ; yet he was a good
man ; but his spirit did not please me." But when it was
spread abroad that this holy man had predicted the day and
hour of his death, he began to deny this in my presence :
" I," he said, " when I was about to go to a certain place,
met him, and he asked me when I was going to return to
Rome. I answered him that I should return in about two
weeks. Whereupon he, thinking for a little while, said to
me: 'Then we shall meet again;' but before I returned from
Rome he had died; and I found him dead and buried."
These words were spoken to me by that man who was in
other respects of great authority, and most venerable from
his hoary old age.

And as for St. Teresa, what did she not suffer from
her confessors ? For they regarded her as one deluded by

60 On avoiding rash judgments.

the devil, so that some wished to make use of exorcisms
to expel the demon from her, by whom they thought she
was possessed. She was also reproved by her own Supe
riors, and by those above them, as fantastic and guilty of
spiritual extravagances, although she is now held in greater
honour and veneration by others, throughout the whole
world, and even by the Apostolic See, than many others
who were great saints.

We know also what things Father Balthasar Alvarez
suffered at the hands of our chief Fathers and Superiors, as
is written in his Life, being even rendered an object of
suspicion, through accusations made to the General, Father
Everard, and carefully examined, by his command, by a
severe Visitor; yet his holiness was so pre-eminent, that
God revealed to St. Teresa that no one in the Church of
God at that time was his equal in sanctity, but that he
exceeded in holiness of life all who were then living, and
that he was predestined by God to hold that rank in
Heaven; as our Father Louis de Ponte, his spiritual son,
writes in his Life of Father Balthasar.

Finally, these words of St. Gregory may afford much
consolation, " that he did not think that man to be an Abel
who had not a Cain against him." For all virtues are both
acquired and made known by the assaults of things contrary
to them, if they do not yield to them. But, when we are
led by self-love, we wish, as it is said in Cassian, " to obtain
the chastity of the flesh without chastisement, and to
acquire purity of heart without the labour of vigils, to
abound in spiritual virtues at the same time that we have
rest in the flesh ; to possess the grace of patience without
the provocation of any insult ; to exercise the humility of
Christ without the loss of worldly honour ; to serve Christ,
and have at the same time the praise and favour of men."
Let us go forth, therefore, to Him," as the Apostle
exhorts, "without the camp, bearing His reproach,"47 and
this " by evil report and good report ; as deceivers and yet
true; as unknown and yet known."48

4" Heb. xiii. 13. 4« 2 Cor. vi. 8.

On avoiding rash judgments. 6 1

In one word, those whom God loves, as well superiors
as inferiors, if they rightly discharge their duties, He leads
to Himself by that way by which He led His only-begotten
Son, that is by tribulations and crosses, especially if they are
profitable for their souls ; leading them from an evil life to a
good, or from a good to a more perfect life. And thus it
was, as Ribadeneira writes, that our holy Father St. Ignatius,
when he was not helping souls, lived without persecutions,
in great peace and tranquillity ; but whenever he expended
himself in assisting souls, immediately there were wont to
rise against him great adversities, and particularly tempests
of false accusations, allegations, and calumnies, which, how
ever, in process of time, his innocence and that care which
God has of His own dissipated with increase of his good
fame and glory. Wherefore, having experienced in himself
how greatly the devil assails those with unjust accusations
who increase the glory of God, he forewarned, in his
Constitutions, both superiors and inferiors, and, in short,
all of us, that we should be prepared to receive these
weapons of the devil with a courageous heart, and to repel
them with invincible patience, and by them to destroy the
stratagems of the demon, like a Goliath, hateful to the people
of God, slain with his own sword.

For he wrote of Superiors, in the ninth part of his
Constitutions (chap, iv.) : "Those who have the care of
others may suffer calumny unjustly from many, for various
reasons." St. Chrysostom, in his Homilies on the Epistles
to Timothy, speaking of an ecclesiastical Superior, says:
" He is set up to be lacerated by numberless tongues : one
blames, another praises, another detracts, another calls his
memory in question (that is, when he is preaching), another
his composition, and he has need of great firmness, in order
to endure these things." And that this is entirely true, is
experienced by all Superiors, and especially by those who
check the sins and imperfections of the more imperfect
members of their Community, and incite their good and
spiritual subjects to better things. And St. Gregory observed

62 On avoiding rash judgments.

the same. " Often," he says, " the deeds or words of the
better men displease those who are more imperfect, because
they cannot be understood. But on that very account these
deeds and words should not be rashly reprehended by
them, because they can in no way be justly reprehended.
It often happens that something is done or commanded,
according to a providential dispensation, by greater men,
which is considered an error by lesser men. Often, many
things are said by those who are strong, which the weak
criticise because they do not understand them. And this
was well signified when the ark of the Testament leaned
aside because the oxen kicked,49 and the Levite, thinking
it was about to fall, took hold of it, and immediately received
the sentence of death. For what is the mind of a just man
but an ark of the Testament, which leans aside when
carried by kicking oxen ; because sometimes even he who
presides well, whilst he is shaken by the disorderly action
of those who are subject to him, so as to grant a dispensa
tion, in doing so is moved by charity alone ; and yet, when
people look at the dispensation itself, that very yielding of
the strong is thought by the ignorant to be an accident.
Whence some who are subject put forth the hand of reproof
against this yielding, but instantly pay, with life itself, the
price of their temerity. The Levite then held out his hand,
as if to give assistance ; but he lost his life for his trans
gression, because, when the weak presume to reprove the
deeds of the strong, they are sometimes cut off from
companionship with the living."

When that holy old man, Father Bernardine Realini,
was in a position of subjection, no one spoke against him ;
but when in time he discharged the office of Vice-Rector,
he was not only assailed at home by slanderous tongues,
but was also traduced at Rome, by means of letters, written
to Father Claudius, the General. This is an old custom of
malevolent or rash subordinates. " Who/' says St. Gregory
of Nyssa, in his Oration on those who bear reproofs amiss,

49 2 Kings vi. 6, 7.

On avoiding rash judgments. 63

"who was a better pastor than Moses? What prince or
ruler so moderate and gentle, as to be become altogether to
his people, educator, leader, priest, in short, their father ; —
a fellow-servant in war ; furnishing them with good things in
the wilderness, where the earth was neither ploughed nor
sown ; judging rightly, and leading them on their way, free
from error ? But what followed ? As though he had been
doing them an injury, he was harassed by seditions ; assailed
by insults and reproaches as if he had been injuring them ;
their complaint was not less loud against him than if he
had stolen or appropriated the goods of others. He is
attacked with curses as an unskilful commander of the
army and one who did not govern rightly. He even came
in danger of being banished from the priesthood, when
Dathan and Abiron and the sons of Core, laying hold of
the mob and separating them from the people, strove to
be the profane priests of the holy places, and seized the
censers, and forthwith began to handle the sacred things
and kindle the mystic fire, which burnt them up before
they could touch it. And so readily did his administration
and his office and exercise of teaching provoke the dislike of
the people, that not even his own kin spared Moses, but even
Mary detracted, and Aaron assailed him with reproaches.
But all was vain and useless; for he all the while was
Moses, and came out nothing worse than himself. But
God exacted and took vengeance upon them for their
offences and crimes against His own leader." Such are
the words of St. Gregory Nyssen.

Others, also, our holy Father fortified to bear with equa
nimity the censures of others, when (as we have it in the
eleventh rule of the Summary) he ordered us "with all our
might to desire, and to receive whatever Christ our Lord
loved and embraced ; to be clothed, in short, with the same
garment and with the insignia of our Lord, out of love
and reverence to Him, to suffer contumelies, false testi
monies and injuries, and to be held and thought fools; to
the extent of desiring to be made like to Christ."

64 On avoiding rash judgments.

Let us bear, then, the unjust censures of others, and
judgments which are adverse to our reputation, and all the
more that they are painful to our self-love. "Not to know
one's own evils," says Seneca, " is not human ; not to bear
one's own evils is not manly." If such is the judgment of
a heathen, how much more ought it to be of the religious,
who are crucified to the world, as they are called by
St. Ephrem, St. Chrysostom, and other of the holy Fathers,
and who ought to conform themselves to Christ, their Leader
and Head ; because, as our holy Father wrote in the place
referred to, "for the sake of our greater spiritual advance
ment, He assumed suffering and gave to us an example, that
in all things, as far as it shall be possible, by the inspiration
of Divine grace, we may be willing to imitate and to follow
Him, since He is the true way that leads men to life."
For, as the Apostle says, "Whom He foresaw He also pre
destinated to be made conformable to the image of His
Son,"50 that is, in bearing those very things, as St. Augustine
explains, which He suffered from the judgments and tongues
and hands of His enemies. " That Seducer," they called
Him.51 " For if they contradicted Christ," says St. Cyril,
" how must we expect that they shall deal with us ? And
if calumnies were raised against the saints, without excep
tion, how should we, who are the least, escape ? " Let us,
therefore, suffer willingly unjust censures after the example
of Christ and the saints ; but let none of us censure others,
nor give occasion for lamentations, in the house of Christ,
to those who, for His sake, have left all worldly consola
tions, even those which were lawful and good. Therefore
the Apostle exhorts us : " Obey your prelates and be subject
to them, for they watch as being to render an account of your
souls : that they may do this with joy and not with grief."52
And again : " And you, fathers, provoke not your children
to anger."53 And again : " Be zealous of the better gifts."5*
And immediately after he adds, commending charity:

50 Rom. viii. 29. 51 St. Matt, xxvii. 63.

52 Heb. xiii. 17. 53 Ephes. vi. 4. 54 i Cor. xii. 31.

On avoiding rash judgments. 65

"Charity thinketh no evil."55 But censures are always
preceded by the thinking of evil ; and therefore St. Doro-
theus says : "Those who wish to be saved are never curious
^about the slight faults of their neighbours ; but they are
always occupied about their own, and cut them off."

But even if there were no examples of the saints, we
have Christ Jesus, the Head of our Order, by Whose
example we are able to console ourselves when innocently
we suffer so many unfavourable judgments. "Think dili
gently/'' says the Apostle,50 " upon Him that endured such
opposition from sinners against Himself; that you be not
wearied, fainting in your minds." Only take care that you
observe the caution given by the same Apostle : "Therefore,
judge not before the time, until the Lord come, Who both
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will
make manifest the counsels of the hearts : and then shall
every man have praise from God;"57 which I wish that we,
in the hour of our death, may hear from the mouth of God.
We shall hear it, if we do not censure others, and if we
live well ourselves ; deeply meditating in our minds that
which I have so often here inculcated, that even the
words of Scripture, dictated by the Holy Spirit, if they
were taken as they sound and at their first appearance,
might be assailed by unjust censure no less than the
words of men. Therefore, St. Chrysostom, in his Homilies
on the Epistle to the Romans, rightly remarks : " Unless
we mark well the words with proper circumspection and
regard them with great attention, in accordance with the
scope and mind of the Apostle, it will come to pass that
infinite absurdities will follow." And further on, ex
plaining the passage, " They who are in the flesh cannot
please God," 5S he remarks : " Some one will say, What ?
Shall we tear the body in pieces, shall we depart from the
flesh, in order that we may please God ? What ? Do you
think that we shall become man-slayers when we are drawn

55 i Cor. xiii. 5. 56 Heb. xii. 3.

57 i Cor. iv. 5. 58 Rom. vilC 8.

66 Fifth reason

by you to the pursuit of virtue? You see how many
absurdities arise if we take without discretion what is written
by an author."

CHAPTER VI.
Fifth reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A FIFTH reason is found in the manifold malice which is
hidden in such judgments, and which, therefore, does not a
little offend the Divine Majesty. "Often," says St. Am
brose, "when we judge, our judgment is a greater sin than
the sin on which it has been pronounced." " If it is wrong,"
says St. Chrysostom, " not to see our own sins, it is a double
or triple sin to judge others, and to carry the beam in one's
own eye without pain ; nay, this is something worse than
any beam." Nay, there are more sins than three in this vice.
For, first, for the most part these judgments arise from
some fault opposed to charity, as from hatred, or aversion
of mind, or anger, or envy, or from all these together (for it
is not uncommon that all these should be found together in
one judgment against the same person), and in consequence,
such a judgment will then be stained by manifold malice ;
and this is not found in the heart in which true charity
resides ; as well because " Charity covereth a multitude of
sins"1 — or, as it is said in the Book of Proverbs, "Charity
covereth all sins;"2 for as the Apostle says, "it thinketh no
evil"3 — as because we are taught by daily experience that
those things which we sometimes censure in others, we do
not blame in those whom we particularly love ; on the con
trary, we sometimes (and this is not free from vice)
praise even the defects of those whom we love, or at least
excuse them. Wherefore if we loved all, as we ought to do,
with a sincere and perfect love, we should judge and con
demn no one rashly. " He that judgeth his brother," says
1 i St. Peter iv. 8. 2 Prov. x. 12. 3 i Cor. xiii. 5.

for avoiding rash judgments. 67

St. James, "judgeth the law;"4 because, says St. Thomas,
"he despises the precept which requires him to love his
brother."

Secondly, rash judgments arise from pride, which is the
root of all evils \ for, where solid humility exists, it makes a
man judge others to be better than himself, and to prefer
the interests of others to his own ; yea, rather, as St. Ber
nard and other Fathers remark, " Let a man become vile in
his own eyes ; " and he who is so, condemns no one as
imperfect, but excuses all things as far as he can.

Thirdly, rash judgments often arise from levity of mind,
and impetuosity of thought, for he who seriously and maturely
considers the deeds of others can discover, without diffi
culty, that those things which they do admit of some excuse,
and are not mere subjects of abuse and condemnation, and
therefore most commonly those who judge others rashly,
and lightly condemn them, are themselves condemned by
others as guilty of levity, which, in fact, they generally are.

Fourthly, the rashness of our judgments arises not
seldom from irreverence, or from a want of due respect ;
for when we look on men with respect we dare not give
loose reins to our judgments upon their actions, either in
outward expressions, or even in our minds, as we do
when we despise some one.

Fifthly, they arise from self-ignorance. " Miserable man,"
said God the Father to St. Catharine of Siena, "whilst
ignorant of himself, wishes both to know and to judge
the heart and affection of his neighbours : and from some
particular act, or even from the slightest word, he rashly
judges and condemns those things which are hidden from
men; but My friends always judge on the side of good,
because they are founded in Me, the Chief Good ; but
miserable men of this kind always judge towards evil,
because they are founded in miserable evil."

Sixthly, whatever, in fine, may be the origin of such
judgments, they are contrary to justice. For as to defame
4 St. James iv. u.

68 Fifth reason

any one, by relating the fault of another which is not cer
tain, is an act of injustice, in the judgment of all the
Doctors, and this for no other reason than that such an act
destroys the good esteem of such an one in the minds of
other men, to which the person defamed has an undoubted
right, which is the object of justice ; so also he who within
himself and only internally judges another rashly, destroys in
his own mind the good estimation to which he who is thus
rashly judged has a right, because he has no more right to
the estimation which is in the mind of one man than to
that which is in another. Therefore he who destroys that
estimation in himself by judging another rashly, is unjust
towards him ; much more if he condemn him outwardly
before others ; because by condemning him he defames him.
And if this occur with full perception of the case, without
probable guides to the formation of such a judgment, and
in a matter in which the person thus judged sustains a
notable injury to his reputation, then certainly a mortal sin
is committed.

And therefore God the Father said to St. Catharine of
Siena, that various sins against justice arise from judgments.
" From such judgments," He said, " are most frequently
engendered hatreds, homicides, detractions, ill-feeling
towards our neighbour. After these forth spring the leaves
— that is, words contrary to reverence, rising even to
reproach and insult towards Me, and to the injury of one's
neighbour.

Finally, it is certain that judgments of this kind, as
St. Thomas says, are born of the malice of the heart. " An
evil man," says St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his Oration on the
praises of St. Athanasius, " is very quickly led to condemn
even a good man ; on the other hand, a just man will not
readily condemn one who is evil. For he who is little
prone to vice, is not easily moved to suspect evil of another."
And, as the same Father says, " He does not easily suspect
evil of another, who is not easily drawn to evil." And Abbot
Chaeremon says (in Cassian) : " It is most certain that a

for avoiding rash judgments. 69

monk falls a victim to those same vices which he condemns
in others with unmerciful and inhuman severity/' St. Niius
says : " Let us attend to ourselves, and not reproach
others." And again : " Many of those things exist in our
selves for which we find fault with others." He says the
truth ; because most commonly the imperfect judge others
rashly, but the perfect excuse all things, as far as is lawful.
"As a column," says St. Chrysostom, "if it stands upright
in a temple, is made more steady by the weight which is
placed upon it ; but if it lean the least, when a weight is
placed on it, not only is it not strengthened, but leans
more on one side ; so also the heart of man, if it is upright,
when it sees or hears of the works of any just man, is
more fully confirmed by the teaching of his wisdom ; but if
the heart be perverse, when it sees or hears of the works of
any just man, not only is it not confirmed, but rather it is
stirred to envy, and more perverted." Thus the inward
evil state of a man leads to the evil judging of others.
St. Dorotheus explains this by a beautiful similitude : " It
will often happen," he says, "that one may stand by night in
any place or corner of a city, I speak not of a monk, but any
one else from the city, and it shall happen that three men
pass by, near him, and one of them thinks that he is
waiting for some companion that they may go together to
commit lewdness ; another suspects him to be a thief, or a
robber ; but a third thinks that he has called his friend from
a neighbouring house, and is waiting for him, that they may
go together to prayer. Now these three men have all seen
the same man in the same place ; and yet they have not
had the same opinion of him, nor have thought the same
thought, but the first has thought one thing, the second
another, and the third something different, of the same
person. Each one has judged according to the state of his
own soul and the disposition of his own mind." "All who
are bad in morals," says St. Ambrose, " take delight in the
errors of others ; " and not only in their errors, but in those
things which seem evil to them, even when they are not.

7<D On avoiding rash judgments.

St. Dorotheus says : " As bodies in bad health, whatever
food they take, are injured by it, although the food may
have been very good — nor is the cause from the food, but
from the body which was disordered, and suffering from
want of power to digest, changes the nature of the food — so
the soul which is badly disposed is injured through its own
vice by anything, however good and useful. Imagine that a
vessel of honey was placed before us; if any one should
throw a little wormwood into it, would it not spoil the
whole vessel, and make the honey bitter ? We see ourselves
doing the same thing when, with a handful of our bitter
ness, we spoil all the good of our neighbour, judging him in
accordance with the state of our own mind, and trans
forming him according to the bad disposition which exists
in ourselves. For those who are well disposed in mind, are
so towards all, just as those who have sound bodies, even
when they eat something hurtful, turn all to nourishment.
The reason of which is found, as I have said, in the state of
the body, its health, and good habit, which turns every
thing, whatever they may eat, to good, digesting it, and
assimilating it." And almost the same thing had been said
long before by Seneca. " In the same way," he says, " as
the stomach, when vitiated by disease, and collecting bile,
changes whatever food it takes in, and turns all nourish
ment into a cause of pain, so the blind soul, whatever you
may give it, turns it to its own depression and ruin, and
makes it an occasion of misery."

Since unfavourable judgments of others are liable to
these evils, St. Catharine of Bologna was wont to say, as
our Father James Grasset writes in his Life of her, " That
nuns can infallibly attain to the glory of Paradise by two
ladders. The first is the ladder of virtue, which consists of
ten steps, of which the seventh step is purity of mind,
which, she said, consisted peculiarly in always thinking well
of others, and in always interpreting in good part any
action of our neighbour, refusing to stain even the mind
by admitting to it a corrupt thought on the works of others."

CHAPTER VII.

Sixth reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A SIXTH reason is found in the secret but just arrangement
of God, Who sometimes is willing to keep secret the great
virtues which are in His servants, lest even by possessing
them, they should be destroyed through elation of mind;
or (if there be no danger of this) sometimes lest the gifts
of God should suffer calumny from the inexperienced, or
worldly-wise, or malignant, He allows His servants to lapse
into some slight defects.

Such was that holy man Isaac, mentioned by St.
Gregory, endowed with virtues, miracles, and the gift of
prophecy, in whom was noted a certain excessive and
reprehensible joy. Of which St. Gregory thus speaks :
" Great is the dispensation of Almighty God, and very often
it happens that to those to whom He gives the greater
blessings, He does not grant some of the lesser, that their
soul may always have something for which to reprove itself;
so that, while they desire to be perfect, and cannot, and
labour for that which they have not received, and yet do
not succeed by labouring, they may not be lifted up by
those things which they have received, but may learn that
they have not those greater good things of themselves,
seeing that in themselves they are unable to conquer small
vices and the least faults. " As God did in the elements,"
says St. Chrysostom, "creating some weak and some
glorious, the one to declare His power, and the other to
check human error ; so also His saints were both admirable
and weak ; that by their work and their life their weakness

72 Sixth reason

might be disclosed." Elias, although he was a most eminent
man, yet was sometimes remarkable for timidity. And
Moses was also great, yet he also took flight from the same

cause.

Other reasons for the same thing drawn from Divine
illumination were given by St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi in
a rapture, according to the testimony of Puccino, her con
fessor, in her Life.

" Sometimes," she says, " God does not permit self-love
and self-consciousness to be removed from some souls, as
long as they live, although these things displease Him, as
being a hindrance to perfection. For He Who is Eternal
Wisdom sees that many souls, without the presence of this
self-love and self-consciousness, would not do those good
works which they do ; therefore He does not draw out nor
extirpate these passions, lest they should cease to pursue
good works, to the edification of their neighbours and to
increase of holy Church, but in the time of harvest, which
shall be at the end of the life of those souls which have
loved themselves too well and have been too self-conscious,
they will be punished. Although for a long time God
endures the tares of self-love in that soul, let none think
that it will lie stored up in the barn of eternal life with the
best seed, unless all the evil is first consumed in the fire of
Purgatory. In the same way the most wise God permits,
by His supreme providence, that some souls shall not know
that they have these tares of self-love, because He knows
that, if they were aware of it, they would fall into such
dejection of mind, that they would do nothing good.
Whence, as long as they are ignorant of it, they cannot
eradicate it, and so it grows in them until their death,
along with the good seed. But He will show to those souls
in the time of harvest, which will be at their death, that
these tares in them did not please Him; because it was
their own fault that they did not know their defects, since
they made themselves incapable of this knowledge by hav-

1 Exod. ii. ; 3 Kings xix.

for avoiding rash judgments. 73

ing a grovelling and cowardly heart ; therefore, by the judg
ment of the Supreme Judge, these also will be sent to the
flames of Purgatory."

From the Life of St. John the Almoner (in Rosweyde)
we take the following : " Among all his other virtues, this
blessed man (St. John) possessed this one, that (as it
was said) he did not condemn his neighbour, nor receive
those who did so. But I will give you an example of his
teaching on this subject which is profitable to all. A certain
young man, carrying off a nun, fled to Constantinople,
Learning this, the holy man became sad even to death. But
when some time had passed, while he was sitting one day with
some clerics, uttering a discourse useful for the soul, they
fell upon the subject of the young man who had carried off
a handmaiden of God, and those who sat by the holy
man, began to anathematize the young man, who had
destroyed two souls, his own and that of the virgin. There
upon the blessed man restrained them, and reproved them,
saying, Not so, my sons, not so; for I will show you that you
are committing two sins. One, because you transgress the
command of Him Who says, ' Judge not, that ye be not
judged;7 and a second, because you do not know for
certain if they are still sinning, and do not repent. For
I have read the Life of a Father, containing something
of the same kind : That in a certain city two monks went
out on ministerial work. And as one of them passed
along, a harlot cried to him, saying, ' Save me, Father, as
Christ saved the harlot.' But he, utterly disregarding the
criticism of men, said to her, 'Follow me.' And holding her
by the hand, he went publicly out of the city, in the sight of
all. Therefore the report went abroad that the abbot had
taken in the woman Domna Porphyria (for so she was
called). While they were going along, that he might place
her in a nunnery, the woman found in a church a boy left
on the ground, and raised him to nurse him. Then after a
year some persons came to the country where the abbot
was, and Porphyria who had been one of the harlots ; and

74 Sixth reason

seeing her hold the boy, they said to her, ' Truly you have
borne a fine child to the abbot.' For they had not yet heard
of the abbot's holy scheme for her. For those who had seen
her, going to Tyre (for thence the abbot had brought her),
spread abroad the rumour that Porphyria had had a child
by the abbot, and we, they said, have with our own eyes
seen that the child is like him. When, therefore, the abbot
knew from God of his approaching death, he says to the
nun Pelagia, for so he changed her name when he gave her
a holy state of life, ' Let us go to Tyre, because I have a
pledge to redeem there, and I wish you to come with me.'
And she, not being able to refuse him, followed him;
so they both went, taking with them the little boy, who
was then seven years of age. When therefore the abbot
had fallen sick, and death was drawing near, there came to
visit him from the city as many as a hundred souls. And
he said, 'Bring me some live coals.' And when they had
brought a censer full of coals, he took it and emptied it
upon his garment, and said, ' Believe, brethren, that as God
preserved the bush unburnt by fire, and as these coals
have not burnt my garment, so neither have I known sin
with woman since I was born.' And they all wondered that
the garment was not burnt with the fire, and they glorified
God, Who has His hidden servants. And influenced by
the example of Pelagia, who had been formerly a harlot,
other women of sinful life followed her, renouncing the
world, and proceeding with her to her nunnery. For the
servant of God, the monk, who had shorn her, after having
satisfied all, gave up his spirit to God in peace. Therefore,"
he said, " I say to you, my sons, be not precipitate in judging
and condemning the acts of others. For we have often
heard of the sin of fornication ; but we have not seen the
penitence for it which was done in secret. And it has
happened that we have seen some one committing a theft,
but we know not of the sighs and tears which he has poured
forth to God. And we hold him to be such as we have
seen him, a thief, or a fornicator, or a perjured person, but

for avoiding rash judgments. 75

with God his secret confession and penitence are accepted ;
and he is precious in His sight. Then all admired the
teaching of this industrious pastor and master."

When St. Macedonius, a simple man, and one who had
not had leisure for the cultivation of the Sacred Scriptures,
had been consecrated a Bishop by Bishop Flavian, without
himself being conscious of it, as soon as he knew of it, he
assailed every one with abuse and reproaches, and taking
the staff which he carried on account of his old age, he
pursued the Pontiff himself and others, as many as were
present, as we are told by St. Theodoret in his History
of Religion, where he records his miracles and the severity
of his life.

And, in fact, it not rarely happens that the servants of
God (but this must not be done without the approval of
Superiors, because it is forbidden by Rule n of the
Summary), led by a peculiar Divine instinct, intentionally
adopt certain exterior practices, which, although considered
in themselves they are not truly vices, are yet such as are
wont to be seen in those who are imperfect, that so
they themselves may be regarded as imperfect, and that
they may conceal the great gifts of God in themselves by an
act of humility. Such was the admirable St. Sala, by whom
we know so many ridiculous things were done to this end,
and yet whose holiness God has taught us and proved by so
many miracles.

Such was St. Philip Neri, who, as I have heard in a
public discourse delivered on his anniversary by Cardinal
Baronius, the saint's confessor, "excited anger in himself, and
sometimes showed forth the signs of a heated mind, that he
might be regarded as a man of bad temper." And, there
fore, the same holy man often recommended this to his
friends : " If any man among you wishes to be wise, let him
become a fool." And I know some in our Society, who,
that they might destroy in the minds of others the good
opinion in which they were held by them, and might not be
regarded as saints, as they were, did some things, not

76 Seventh reason

indeed wrong in themselves, but yet which are wont to be
condemned by the malignant ; such as more cheerful con
versation, a readiness to laugh, sitting longer at table,
and the like.

Abbot Agatho, when on the point of death, said to
his brethren (as quoted by St. Dorotheus) : " The judgment
of God is far different from that of men," which words were
also used by our Father John Piscator, when very near
death. Let us not, then, form an evil judgment of any one
from external things.

CHAPTER VIII.

Seventh reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A SEVENTH reason may be found in the fact that we see, or
at least ought to see, more evils in ourselves than in others;
therefore we ought to condemn ourselves rather than others.
This very reason for avoiding judgments is brought forward
by Christ in St. Matthew vii. and St. Luke vi. " And why
seest thou," He says, "the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
and seest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how
sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the beam out of thy
eye, and behold a beam is in thy own eye ? Thou hypocrite,
cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt
thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
" He compared," says St. Dorotheus, " the sin of one's
neighbour to a mote, but the judgment to a beam, because
the judging of one's neighbour is so offensive and dis
pleasing as to exceed almost every sin."

This is clear, that we know very many things of ourselves
which are worthy of reprehension, and these quite certain ;
but this is not so respecting others; and therefore, if we were
severe critics of our own faults, we should not attend to those

for avoiding rash judgments. 77

of others. For, as Pope St. Gregory well observes, " the
consideration of our own infirmity excuses to us the sins
of others." But the contrary happens. " For the wandering
eye," says St. Chrysologus, " is blind to its own crimes, but
is wide open to the faults of others ; and, ignorant of its own
sins, it becomes the accuser and witness of those of others."
Let us therefore consider ourselves, and first cast out our
own vices, and when we have done this, and are quite free
from fault, then we may attack the blemishes of others ; but
since we shall never be without these ourselves, let us
therefore abstain from censuring those of others. This is
what St. Bonaventure advises in his Rules of Novices.
" When you see the fault of a brother, before you judge,
see whether there is anything similar or equivalent in
yourself, and, leaving him, condemn yourself as evil." On
which subject St. John Chrysostom gives this counsel : " Set
your reason as a judge over your conscience, and bring
before it all the things that you have committed ; examine
the sins of your soul, and diligently exact punishment. And
say : Why hast thou dared to do this and that ? And if it
evades the question, and discusses the faults of others, say
to it : I do not judge thee for these ; thou hast not come to
clear thyself of these. For what if he is bad ? Why hast
thou committed this and that ? Answer ; Do not accuse ;
consider thy own faults, not those of others."

CHAPTER IX.

Eighth reason against rash judgments.

AN eighth reason is found in the consideration that to judge
others, and of others, belongs to God only and His Vicars ;
and therefore the Apostle, after saying, " Let not him that
eateth (namely a Gentile convert, who ate food forbidden to
the Jews by Moses, which offended the Jewish converts, as
yet not fully weaned from the Mosaic rites, the Apostles
conniving at this, lest any of them should revolt from the
Christian faith) despise him that eateth not; and he that
eateth not (namely the Jew), let him not judge him that
eateth •" adding the reason, "Who art thou that judgest
another man's servant P"1 as if to say — this belongs to God,
Who is Lord of all.

St. Basil remarks : " Even if many have committed
errors, small as well as great, in many things, and obstinately
and pertinaciously persevere in them, do not you constitute
yourself the judge of other men's errors, for they have a just
Judge, Who will render to every one according to his
works." It displeases God, if any one usurp to himself
what belongs to God ; whence, as it is written in the Lives
of the Fathers, when one had rashly judged his brother,
this voice was heard from Heaven : " Men have intruded
themselves into My judgments, and into the jurisdiction of
another." And in the same place it is written of Abbot
Isaac that, when he had entered a certain community, and
had judged a certain person as imperfect, returning to his
cell he found an angel preventing his access to it, and, when

1 Rom. xiv. 3, 4.

On avoiding rasJi judgments. 79

he asked him the reason why he stopped his way, he heard
these words — "God sent me to thee, that thou mayest
decide whither thou wilt have the monk to be cast, whom
thou hast judged and condemned." When he heard these
words he was covered with shame, and entreated forgive
ness. Then the angel said, " God hath spared thee ; judge
no one in future — leave it to God."

"There is a Judge appointed for the sinner," says
St. Ghrysostom ; "do not arrogate to yourself the dignity
of the only-begotten Son by your rash impulse ; for him the
seat and throne of judgment is reserved." And God Himself
said to St. Catharine of Siena, "To judge of the intentions
and minds of creatures possessed of reason, this is absolutely
Mine alone."

CHAPTER X.
Ninth reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A NINTH reason is found in this, that those who avoid rash
judgments, and interpret everything for the best, please
God, because they attend to themselves, and do not form
unfavourable judgments on others. "Those who are
anxious and careful," says St. Climacus, "attend most
cautiously to themselves, lest whilst, being too negligent,
they judge others, they should be more severely con
demned themselves. For on this account, as I think,
Lot was justified, because when he was surrounded by
vicious men, he was never found to have entirely judged
them." And God has made this plain more than once
by miraculous proofs.

Baronius quotes (under the year of our Lord 599) part
of a Sermon on Holy Communion by St. Anastasius Sinaita,
the Patriarch of Antioch, in which, desiring to lead his

8o Ninth reason

hearers to pardon the injuries which they had inflicted on
each other, he endeavoured to persuade them to this by
adducing the example of a certain monk, who had spent
his monastic life negligently and sloth fully, and yet when
he was at the point of death, was dying very joyfully, fearing
nothing, and when his brethren asked whence such security
proceeded, for they knew that he had lived negligently in
devotion, he answered : " That is true, Fathers ; but an
angel has in this hour shown me my sins written out ; and
I, greatly alarmed, said : From the time when I left the
world and became a religious, I have judged no one, and
was wont to forget every injury which was inflicted upon
me, and I pray that the words of the Lord may be verified :
'Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Forgive, and
you shall be forgiven.'1 As soon as I said this, the angel
tore up that catalogue of my sins ; and therefore I go with
joy to my Lord ; " and having said this, he yielded up his
spirit to God, leaving great edification in his hearers.

In the Chronicle of the Franciscans, we read that
Brothers Leo and Rufinus saw a great procession of the
saints of that Order, and in it one endowed with a greater
glory beyond the others, emitting from his eyes rays more
bright than those of the sun. Having asked who it was,
it was replied, that it was Bernard of Quintaval, the first
companion of St. Francis, whose eyes were so resplendent,
because he turned all that he saw to the best : if he saw
a beggar, he said, he is poorer than I am ; if he saw one
well dressed, he would say, perhaps he wears a hair-shirt
under his silk; and for this reason he was adorned with
glory.

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, as Father Virgilius
Ceparius writes in her life, saw that a certain nun had
been sixteen days in Purgatory for certain reasons; but
that her penalties had been diminished on account of
three virtues. First, on account of the solicitous care which
she always had for preserving the purity and simplicity of

1 St. Luke vi. 37.

for avoiding rash judgments. 8 1

her Order. Secondly, on account of the great charity
which she exhibited to all nuns. Thirdly, because she
always turned everything to the best, and interpreted every
thing favourably.

Amongst the means of arriving at purity of mind God
gave to St. Catharine of Siena this in the second place : to
judge no one. "In order," He said, "that thou mayest be
able to attain to that union and purity, never judge respect
ing anything which thou seest done or said by any one
against thee, or against another. Even if thou shouldst
see an actual sin, extract from that thorn the sweet rose,
by offering the offenders before Me by a true and brotherly
compassion, and in that way thou wilt come to perfect
purity." See then how they please God who avoid rash
judgments. And from the same source we read : " Both
this and every other judgment leave to Me; because it is
Mine and not yours." And again : " Thou and others
ought to exercise compassion; and leave the exercise of
judgment to Me." Nor is it wonderful that such should
please God Who is uncreated Wisdom, because He sees in
them the wisdom which is from above, which, as St. James
asserts, is "without judging;"2 that is, of the sayings and
doings of others.

CHAPTER XL
Tenth reason for avoiding rash judgments.

A TENTH reason is, that the injury suffered by those who
are rashly condemned, recoils upon Christ. In the "Spiritual
Meadow" it is written respecting the venerable old man
St. Stephen the Presbyter : " That when once his liver was

2 St. James iii. 17.
G

82 Tenth reason

seriously diseased, by which disease his holy soul afterwards
departed from the body, his physicians compelled him to
eat flesh. Now he had a brother present, a man living in
the world, but very religious, and living according to God.
And it happened that when the Presbyter eat the meat, his
secular brother arrived, and when he saw him eating flesh,
he was scandalized and greatly distressed, because after a
life of such abstinence and continence (for he was a monk),
at the very end of it, he should have fallen so low as to
eat flesh. But presently he fell into a trance, and saw some
one who said to him, ' Why art thou thus scandalized about
the Presbyter? because thou hast seen him eating flesh?
Dost thou not know that he did it under the compulsion
of necessity, and as an act of obedience ? Therefore thou
oughtest not to be scandalized. For, if thou desirest to see
the merits and glory of thy brother, turn back and see/
And, turning back, he saw his brother crucified with the
Lord, and he who had appeared to him said : ' Behold in
what glory thy brother is.' " Why, think you, was the
innocence of Stephen thus rashly condemned made known
by such a vision, but that Christ might show that He is in a
certain sense crucified, and hangs suffering on the cross,
when His servants are unjustly judged?

When St. Catharine of Siena, having called her confessor
Raymund to her (as he afterwards himself wrote in her
Life), was explaining some things which had on that day
been revealed to her by our Lord, and was recounting to
others some great and unusual things, and Raymund was
saying to himself of some of them: "Do you really think
that all these things which she says are true ? " and at the
same time had looked at the face of the speaker ; on a
sudden he saw her face turned into the face of a bearded
man, who looking at him with fixed eyes greatly terrified
him. For the face was oval, of middle age, with a beard
not very long, of the colour of wheat, presenting a certain
majesty, whence it was manifestly shown that it was our
Lord. "O who is it that looks upon me?" he asked;

for avoiding rash judgments. 83

and the Virgin replied : " He Who is ; " and at these words
the face immediately disappeared, and the face of the Virgin
returned. Which act this very Raymund records as
having happened to himself, and adds, "that he speaks
confidently before God ; because God Himself, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, knoweth that I lie not." l

So, when Sister Maria Gabriella, a nun, was doubting of
the extasies of Catharine Ricci, a Dominican, and was looking
at her caught in a trance, she saw the face of Catharine
changed into the face of Christ ; and then Catharine taking
the head of Gabriella, and laying it against her side, said
to her, while still in the trance : " Do you believe me to
be Catharine or Jesus ? " And this she asked three times ;
and Gabriella answered her, "I believe thee to be
Jesus." And thus her doubt vanished. Afterwards,
Catharine being asked how that change in her counten
ance had come about, replied : " Do you not know that
if one dwells in the Lord, the Lord also dwells in him ? "

CHAPTER XII.

Eleventh reason.

BECAUSE God has shown by miracles that we should not
judge rashly. St. Ephrem, as St. Amphilochus writes in the
Life of St. Basil, having seen by Divine revelation in the
desert a pillar of fire, whose top touched the sky, and having
heard a voice which came from above, saying, "Ephrem,
Ephrem, the pillar of fire which you saw is the great Basil,"
when he came to the great church of Csesarea on Christmas
Day, and saw Basil going to the church, wearing a white
robe, and a cleric attired in white garments, doubted of the
1 2 Cor. xi. 31.

84 On avoiding rash judgments.

truth of the vision which was shown to him. And he was
saying to himself, "We who have borne the burden and
heat of the day have attained to nothing, and this man,
followed by such crowds, and invested with so much
dignity, is, forsooth, a pillar of fire. This seems to me
something prodigious." But whilst this was passing in his
mind, Basil sends once and again to call to himself Ephrem
by name, who was lurking in a corner, and when he heard
him disclose to him his secret thoughts, and had before seen
a tongue of fire speaking by the mouth of Basil, he acknow
ledged his error.

CHAPTER XIII.
Twelfth reason.

BECAUSE often those things are good, or are done for a
necessary end, which seem evil to the inexperienced.
St. Philip Neri, according to Gallonius in his Life, was
accustomed before Mass, even when he was putting on the
sacred vestments, to find leisure for distracting works, that
by this pious distraction he might temper the Divine
raptures which he endured. Now this custom one who was
ignorant of his devotion might have attributed to a fault.

CHAPTER XIV.

We must now see when and to whom it is permitted to
judge or not to judge one's neighbour.

FIRST RULE. — It is never lawful for any one to judge the
internal things of the soul, which depend upon the free will
of man, because these are known to God alone ; they are
unknown even to angels, unless God reveal them. Such
are internal defects, desires, intentions. This is taught by
the Apostle: "Judge not before the time, until the Lord
come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts."1 For He "alone," as Solomon remarks, "knoweth
the heart of all the children of men."2 As also Job says :
"No thought is hid from Thee."3 And that not only at
present, but at every time ; " For the Lord knoweth all
knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of the world ; He
declareth the things that are past, and the things that are to
come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things."4 He
therefore who judges rashly respecting internal intentions
and defects, arrogates to himself that which belongs to God,
and makes himself a prophet when he is not one. Of such
persons the Wise Man speaks in Proverbs : " Eat not with
an envious man, and desire not his meats ; because, like a
soothsayer and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth
not."5

Thus Simon the Pharisee sinned when he said : " This
Man, if he were a Prophet, would know surely who and

1 I Cor. iv. 5. 2 3 Kings viii. 39. 3 Job xlii. 2.

4 Ecclus. xlii. 19. 5 Prov. xxiii. 6, 7.

86 When and to whom it is permitted

what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him."6 And
those whom Christ condemns by saying : " Why do you think
evil in your hearts ? "7 Therefore it must never be thought
or said of any one, He said that, he did that, with such an
evil intention, that he might vindicate himself, that he might
attain to this or that, that he might catch the popular gaze,
and the like.

Also "Holy Church," as St. Lawrence Justinian has
remarked in his book on the Spiritual Death of the Soul,
" relying upon humble prudence without any accepting
of persons, receives in her most ample bosom of charity
all who fly to her, by whom is made an oral confession of
the true faith. For of the faith of the heart which justifies man
she ventures to judge nothing, leaving this kind of examina
tion to Him to Whom alone the secrets of the heart are
known." Hence the rashness of some presumptuous ones is
to be condemned, who are not contented with discussing the
works of their neighbours, but even make themselves judges
of another man's heart. They venture even to judge what
are the thoughts of men, by what affections they are guided,
with what intention they work, or by what spirit they are
moved, all which is unlawful ; since no one can know what
passes in man but the spirit of man which is in him ; nay,
it oftentimes happens that he is unknown even to himself.
Such men set themselves up as representatives of the Divine
authority, which alone can grasp internal things, thinking that
they can penetrate hidden intentions and thoughts. Of these
it is said — they will walk in darkness as in the noonday.
Moreover, they also must be said to walk in darkness as if it
were noonday who, with inquisitive prying, try to throw light
upon the deep counsels of the minds of their neighbours.
And forming from this cause rash judgments, while walking in
the night of ignorance, they boast that they have seen the
noonday. Such men the Apostle rebukes, saying : " Judge
not before the time, until the Lord come, Who both will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make
6 St. Luke vii. 39. 7 St. Matt. ix. 4.

to judge one 's neighbour. 8 7

manifest the counsels of the hearts." Such judgments are
specially to be guarded against by the faithful, since they
cannot be formed without sin, seeing that they proceed for
the most part from a certain rashness of heart. The
judgments of men's hearts must be humbly reserved for
Him alone Who shall judge the world in equity, and sees
the secret things of every man in His own light, and
discerns all things by His wisdom, so that nothing can
remain hidden from Him, as the Apostle says : "The Word
of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any
two-edged sword ; and reaching unto the division of the sou
and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither
is there any creature invisible in His sight, but all things are
open and naked to His eyes, to Whom our speech is."8

Therefore, as no one is to be judged, so no one, however
criminal and evil, is to be condemned by man, as long as
he is in this pilgrimage. Since the judgments of God, which
are exercised for the salvation of men, are incomprehensible,
so that there is no one who is sure-footed in considering
them. For we know that it often happens, that he who was
yesterday wicked, to-day is made good; an'd he who was
considered a son of hell, is now reckoned in the number of
the sons of God. Therefore, for the cutting off of rash
judgments, our Lord set the parable of the cockle before us
in the Gospel, in which He restrained those who wished
to gather it up before the time of harvest, saying: "Lest
perhaps, gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also
together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest."9
And so evidently it very frequently happens in judging the
merits of our neighbours, that the just is condemned, the
innocent accused, and the elect of God is regarded as
reprobate.

What, I ask, was Paul before his conversion ? Was he
not a rapacious wolf, a savage persecutor, a restless plotter,
a wasting murderer ? It is of him that it is said : " Saul, as
8 Heb. iv. 12, 13. 9 St. Matt. xiii. 29, 30.

88 When and to whom it is permitted

yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
disciples of the Lord, went to the High Priest, and asked of
him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues ; that, if he
found any men and women of this way, he might bring them
bound to Jerusalem."10 But when he was cast to the ground,
and smitten with blindness of body, and called from
Heaven — "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" he
became more gentle than a lamb, and said, " Lord, what wilt
Thou have me to do ? " Who would not have thought him
unworthy of the grace of God, when they saw him running
about, seizing Christians, binding them, dragging them,
scourging them, killing them ? Nevertheless, he was a
chief vessel of election, to carry the name of the Lord
before Kings, and the Gentiles, and the children of IsraeL
A pre-eminent example is given us, in this case of Paul, to
judge no one, since he with such speed, and with such
abundance of graces, was changed into another man, and
was made a shining light to the world, and an excellent
teacher of the Gentiles, a chief colleague of the Apostlesr
and a careful ruler of the Churches.

Before Matthew the Publican was called, he was given
up to immoderate gains, publicly employed in collecting
taxes, seeking only those things which are of the world, and
separated from the fellowship of the saints. When the Lord
saw this man He called him to Himself, He sat down in
his house, He drew him from the world, and made him an
Evangelist. Why need I mention the justified woman, who
was a sinner, but being by Divine inspiration changed for
the better, deplored and amended her faults. For she came
to Christ, while He was sitting with many at a banquet, sat
at His feet, which she washed with tears, and wiped with her
hair, and kissed with her lips, and anointed with ointment ;
nor did she depart thence until she had merited to hear her
devout faith commended with the words : " Thy faith hath
made thee safe, go in peace."11

Let no one, therefore, despair of himself, or doubt of
10 Acts ix. i, 2. n St. Luke vii. 37 — 50.

to judge one 's neighbour. 89

others, as to whether they can find pardon and grace with
our Lord ; when he knows that the wisdom of God made of
Saul Paul and of the Publican Apostles, of the notorious
woman who was a sinner His dearest disciple. All these,
while living in the body, were dead in the soul, and yet are
restored by grace to a condition much more excellent than
before. Would you know how one living in the flesh, but
dead in spirit, has been raised to life ? Recall the parable
of the young man, who, after having devoured his substance
with harlots, was perishing with hunger, but returning
in penitence to his father, was most kindly received, clothed
with the first robe, adorned with a ring, fed with the flesh of
the fatted calf; on account of which his envious elder
brother was indignant, and was rebuked by his father with
the words, " It was fit that we should make merry and be
glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is come to life again ;
he was lost, and is found."12 Oh, how greatly is this grace
to be extolled, which of an impenitent man makes a peni
tent, of an impious a just man, and of a guilty man an
innocent ! And indeed, by reason of this grace, many offend
and perish and are drawn to eternal ruin, while they pre
sume that it will be granted at their pleasure. They mark how
good God is, how merciful, and how He triumphs over the
sins of men, and, from the daily conversions of sinners, they
infer that He is placable towards the penitent, especially
since He promised by the Prophet, saying, as often as the
sinner repents, "I will remember their sin no more," and
again, " If the wicked do penance for all his sins that he
hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do
judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die.
I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done : in
his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live."13

St. Isidore of Pelusium remarks, "Although the evil tree

cannot now bring forth good fruit, yet it may hereafter bear ;

for it is not the same thing to say it cannot and to say it

never can have the power ; for in the one case we speak of

12 St. Luke xv. 32. 13 Ezech. xviii. 21, 22.

90 When and to whom it is permitted

the present time, in which the slothful is slothful, and in
the other case of the future, in which it may come to pass
that he who a little before was evil, is now made good.
And this is proclaimed by the fact that day by day men
undergo such a change, and the Scriptures themselves con
firm the same. For how did David, when he had fallen,
raise himself ! And how did Paul, after being a persecutor,
repair this fault, and become the herald of Him Whom he
had persecuted ! In what way did Peter, after having
denied Christ, wipe out that stain ! In what manner did the
Ninivites obtain safety ! In what way was the robber sent
to Paradise ! When the power, then, of preventing grace
is known ({AaQuv rotvuv, or/ TTJJ avudtv trpoqyoupsvrig poxrig),
whoever wills, and labours, and uses all means (for the
mere will does not suffice), then learns, then brings forth
fruit, then attains salvation."

Second Rule. — As to the future. We must never judge
unfavourably of our neighbour, whatever indications of evil
there may be, because God alone knows this. One who
had seen the robber led to punishment with Christ, blas
pheming Christ on the Cross, as we read in the first two
Gospels,14 would have said that he would die most wickedly,
and yet he was converted. That the good robber also
blasphemed is the opinion of Athanasius, Hilary, Chrysos-
tom, Theophilus. Euthymius, and Juvenci, and it is thought
probable by Ambrose, Jerome, and Bede (although others
think that only one blasphemed, as Cyprian, Augustine,
Ambrose, in another place, Jerome, Leo, and Maldonatus).
And yet he died a better death than many just men after a
long life spent in holiness, for he heard from Christ, " This
day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise," that is, them shalt
see the essential nature of God, as the Fathers explain.
The same judgment might have been formed of Saul, the
persecutor of the Christians, and of Magdalen, and of so
many others. On this point the Apostle warns us, saying,
"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To
14 St. Matt, xxvii. 44 ; St. Mark xv. 32.

to judge one 's neighbour. 9 1

his own lord he standeth or falleth. And he shall stand,
for God is able to make him stand,"15 that is, to bring it
about, that he who now lies in sin shall arise to good.

Third Ride. — From outward actions which in themselves
are not intrinsically wrong, but may be done rightly or wrongly,
or are doubtful, our neighbour must not be condemned nor
judged, much less calumniated. "As he is foolish," says
Seneca, " who, when he is about to buy a horse, does not
inspect the animal itself, but only his surroundings and
his bridle, so is he most foolish who judges a man either by
his clothing, or from his condition and circumstances, which
surround us like a garment." "' Let us not judge the dispo
sition of another/7 advises St. Theodore Studita, " from our
own ; but let us judge that every one is working out his
salvation in secret, however different he appears outwardly.
Have there not been many commemorated by the Fathers
who seemed to be nothing, who have shone forth more
gloriously than those who seemed to be something ? " And
St. Gregory Nazianzen says : " I think we should so act in
doubtful or uncertain things as to be more inclined to kind
ness and humanity, and that we should acquit rather than
condemn those who are in fault." If that holy man thinks
that those who are guilty of a fault should be acquitted,
how much more those who are free from fault, but are
employed in things indifferent, which displease you and
others like you !

The explanation is, that there is no reason why you
should judge unfavourably rather than favourably, since the
one view is as probable as the other, and charity counsels
that we should think well of our neighbour, for the Apostle
says, "Charity thinketh no evil."10 The children of Israel
sinned against this when, on account of the great altar built
by the children of Ruben and Gad beyond the Jordan, they
wanted to fight with them and to destroy their possession,17
thinking that they had built it in order to offer sacrifices
upon it, whereas it had been built for another object, which

15 Romans xiv. 4. i« i Cor. xiii. 5. 17 Josue xxii. 12, 33.

92 When and to whom it is permitted

when they learnt they were appeased. Heli sinned against this
rule when, from the motion of the lips of Anna, saying many
prayers without audible utterance, he thought she was intoxi
cated,18 although she had drunk nothing which could make
her so. They also sinned against this rule who thought that
those who were full of the Holy Spirit were intoxicated,19
and they who condemned Christ as evil, as a wine drinker,
and the like, because He received sinners and eat with
them. Of such St. Augustine says : " Such persons, when
they see a grave man jesting, or prattling with boys and
young people, in order by his familiar and fostering kindness
to conciliate their immature minds, reproach him as one who
is doting, forgetting whence they themselves have grown, or
ungrateful for having grown." More remarkable is the admo
nition given by God to St. Catharine of Siena, " that even
if the soul of another should appear to her in a vision as
shrouded in darkness, it should not be judged." " Often
times," says St. Chrysostom, " human judgment is precipi
tate, and is deceived," especially in things which are doubt
ful. " Do you not hear," says the same St. Chrysostom,
" that the Pharisee spoke what was true, and said what was
clear to all, and did not reveal things which were hidden
(of the publican), and yet he paid grievous penalty ? If,
then, it is not lawful to accuse men of sins which are
manifest, much less of those which are doubtful : for he who
has sinned has another Judge."

Fourth Rule. — From outward things which are altogether
bad in themselves, as, for instance, if a private person should
slay one who was innocent, if he were intoxicated, or blas
phemed, although the things in themselves should be con
demned, yet the person must not be condemned, but
excused, not as having acted rightly, but, which is possible,
as not having sinned, if he did it from the first impulse, or
inadvertently, and as being capable of rising again and
becoming a saint, whilst you may fall and not rise again.
Thus David excused Semei, "The Lord hath bid him
18 i Kings i. 12, 13. 19 Acts ii. 13.

to judge one 's neighbour. 93

curse." " Excuse," says St. Bernard, " the intention, if you
cannot the works; say it is ignorance, or a surprise; say
it is an accident ; and if the certainty of the fact renders
extenuation impossible, nevertheless persuade yourself, and
say with yourself, The temptation was too vehement ; what
would it have done with me if it had in like manner got
me into its power?" For if even such things are con
demned, it displeases God.

" Ought we not to tremble," says St. Dorotheus, "when
we hear what happened to that great old man who, when
he heard that one of his brethren had fallen into fornication,
said, ' O how badly he has acted ! ' Do you not know,
brethren, what a horrible thing is related of him in the
Book of the Elders ? For a holy angel brought to this old
man the soul of him who had sinned, after he had departed
from this life, and said to him, ' Behold, he whom thou
hast judged has finished his life. Whither, then, dost thou
order his soul to be borne, to the Kingdom of Heaven, or
to eternal punishment?' By which terrible vision that
most holy old man was so powerfully moved, that he spent
the whole remaining time of his life in groans, in tears, in
innumerable hardships and labours, imploring and impor
tuning God with unceasing prayers, that He would grant
him forgiveness for the commission of so great a crime and
error. When he had in like manner cast himself at the feet
of the angel, and had sought to obtain forgiveness, he heard
him saying, ' Behold, God hath shown thee how grave a
thing it is to judge thy neighbour, lest afterwards thou
shouldst also commit the same thing.' Although, therefore,
he obtained forgiveness, yet he never fully received conso
lation, nor did his soul ever cease from grief until he had
exchanged life for death."

Consider two things here. First, the theologians say
that there is no sin in judging any one as having done evil,
if the thing is truly evil in its own nature. Secondly, at the
utmost this judgment was a venial sin, and yet it was called
a grave one by the angel, and was so long mourned by the old

94 When and to whom it is Permitted

man. Let us beware, then, of condemning our neighbour
even for things which are evidently evil, but let us find
excuses for him. " In these things," says Seneca, writing
on Anger, " let us make excuses for the nature and the will
of those who do them. Is it a boy who has sinned ? — let
allowance be made for his age : you know not whether he
sins. Is it a father ? — either he has by his act done so
much good, that his wrong-doing is right, or perhaps this
by which we are scandalized is in him a merit." Thus we
may defend other things in other ways. In the Lives of
the Fathers one of the elders says, " If you see any one
sinning, do not attribute blame to him, but to him who
tempts him, saying, ' Woe is me that he should have been
conquered against his will, as I also have been,' and lament
and ask consolation of God, because we are all deceived."

Fifth Rule. — Do not condemn a man for one evil act,
nor draw universal conclusions respecting his wickedness
from one action, or two, because he who is to-day evil may
to-morrow be good, as was David; and the sign which
to-day was a mark of wickedness, may not exist to-morrow.
Men are not like demons, who, as St. Basil remarks,
appeared in the form of a serpent to Eve, because, after
their sin, they are unable to raise themselves and stand
upright, just as serpents cannot. Man's changeableness,
which arises from the mutability of free will, is a reason for
our not being able to judge certainly of him from a very
few acts. Whence the philosopher Philemon said well, that
nothing exercised him more than the variable and inconstant
nature of man. The lower animals are each marked by
definite characters. Thus, the lion is always brave, the hare
always timid, the eagle always noble, the vulture always
voracious, the dove always simple, and so forth. But man
is now choleric, and again phlegmatic, now cunning, and
again simple, now courageous, again timid, now addicted to
one thing, and again the reverse. Therefore a certain judg
ment cannot be deduced respecting him from one act, nor
even from many.

to judge one 's neighbour. 9 5

Therefore God thus taught St. Catharine of Siena :
" Unless I should first clearly reveal to thy mind the fault
of thy neighbour expressly, not only once, but twice, and
even oftener, thou oughtest not to condemn him in any
particular thing in which there seems to thee to be a fault.
But thou oughtest in general to correct with charity the
vices of those who visit thee. Therefore, although it may
seem that I lay open to thee the faults of others, unless
thou knowest expressly that it is My revelation, do not
accuse in particular, but walk by a safer way, that thou
mayest be able to escape the cunning and fraud of the devil."

Sixth Rule. — It is lawful, however, for a master, and a
judge, and a confessor, to condemn as an offender one who,
either by the certain testimonies of others or by his own
confession, is convicted of an offence. Yet even in this
thing one should proceed with kindness. " When it seems
to thee necessary to take notice of any fault in thy neigh
bour," says God to St. Catharine of Siena, " accuse thyself
also along with him, with a kind of sweet humility. And if
then that vice shall be in thy neighbour whom thou desirest
to correct, without doubt he will be more quickly convicted
and amended when he finds himself so sweetly reproved."

Seventh Rule. — It is lawful for a master and Superior,
without condemning, or leaning his judgment to the one side
or the other, and without coming to any certain conclusion,
yet to fear and to be cautious, lest another should be de
ceived or suffer injury. For being taught by experience of
other men's defects, they may guard against evils, not by
settling that they have been committed, but by fearing lest
they may have been. As it is not lawful to condemn a
poor man, who enters a 'house, as a thief, yet it is lawful
to take care of the house, lest perhaps he should have
entered with the intention of stealing, and should steal.
On which point see St. Thomas;20 Menochius, On Presump
tions ;21 and Farinacius.22

20 II. 2. qu. 60. a. 3. 21 Book i. qu. 7. a. n. 41.

22 Tom. ii. qu. 36. n. 172 and 176.

96 On rash judgments.

Eighth Rule. — A Superior is bound to punish evils which
are proved in such manner that evil-doers may be amended
and the good may avoid them. Heli was punished because
he corrected his sons coldly, and he was punished without
pardon, as has already been shown.

Ninth Rule. — This one, which is in its nature more
delicate than any of the others, was given by God to St.
Catharine of Siena. " If at any time in prayer thou shouldst
see, in one for whom thou prayest, any light of grace, and in
another not, thou oughtest not and thou canst not rightly
judge the latter as being subject to any grave fault, because
most frequently this kind of judgment is false. For often
times that happens not from his own fault, but because I
have withdrawn Myself from his soul by taking away sen
sible devotion, but not grace ; as I frequently do, that the
soul may attain to perfection. Whence the soul does not
then feel any sweetness, and is arid, sterile, and in pain,
which pain I allow also to extend to the soul of one who
prays for such an one. And this I do out of the affectionate
charity which I have for that soul for which the prayer is
made, that he who prays to Me may both help himself and
help to dispel the cloud which had overshadowed the other.
Therefore thou seest how much he would be to be blamed
who should choose to judge from that mere vision." And
the same is repeated elsewhere.

CHAPTER XV.

Remedies against error in the use of these rules, and
against sin in rashly judging and condemning others.

FIRST. — Let us accustom ourselves not to condemn even
things which are evidently wrong, unless we are bound by
obligation of conscience, or by the office of a Superior.
Father Peter Faber, as Orlandini writes in his Life,
" instructed those who were about to enter any assembly
or society, that if they by chance should remark any more
serious blemish or fault in any of those present, they
should beware of rashly judging it, not only with their
tongue, but even in their mind, remembering that saying
of Christ : ' Man, who hath appointed Me judge or divider
over you?'1 and should at the same time thus admonish
themselves : 'Why dost thou judge the life of another, since
that belongs to his superiors, not to you; for it is your
business to judge only of your own offences, in judging
which you .will have employment enough, if you will give
yourself no indulgence and no partiality, and will always
keep before you that saying of Seneca : Spare others ; never
yourself. '"

This was the advice of St. Macarius, not only to
religious, who ought to be more perfect in this respect,
but also to seculars : " Christians," he says, " ought to
strive in all things, in no way to judge another, whether a
prostitute, or sinners, or those who live irregularly; but
to look upon all with a simple intention and a pure eye ;
so that this should be as it were natural and habitual,

1 St. Luke xii. 14.
H

98 Remedies against error

not to despise any one, or to judge or denounce, or make
any one an object of criticism." And since human judg
ments and tongues are slippery, if they become accustomed
to condemn defects of nature, they easily slide off to
censuring the morals of others ; therefore in the same place
St. Macarius says that this also is to be guarded against :
"If you see a one-eyed man, do not judge in your heart,
but look upon him as though he were sound ; regard a
maimed person as if he were not maimed ; a lame person
as if he walked properly; a paralytic as being in good
health."

Second Remedy. — If the obligation of justice, or of one's
office, compels one to inquire into the actions of others, let
him not be precipitate, nor easily condemn, but let him
first examine well the state of the case. "Do not," said
St. Isidore of Pelusium to Cyril of Alexandria, whom,
however, he unjustly condemned, neglecting his own ad
monition, "Do not," he says, "pronounce violent sentences;
but examine the charges with a just and upright judgment.
Since God Himself, Who knows all tilings before they
begin, yet willed, of His benignity, to come down and to
see the city of Sodom, hence teaching us to examine and
set forth things accurately." " The mind," says St. Gregory
Nazianzen, " should be much and long exercised and turned
about, and many things should be borne, before we con
demn another of impiety." And St. Chrysostom, speaking
particularly of superiors, says : "It is the duty of teachers
and masters to judge others, but only in manifest sins, and
those which are proved, and this at suitable times."

And thus did those good sailors act, when about to cast
Jonas into the sea : although he was conscious of his guilt,
they did not immediately throw him overboard, but as
Rabbi Eleazar remarks (and Montanus adduces others in
his Commentary on Jonas) : First, they cast lots, that they
might discover the guilty one, and when they had found
him, and he openly confessed his guilt, they did not imme
diately throw him down into the sea, but endeavoured to

in the use of these rules. 99

reach the shore that they might leave Jonas there. But
because the waves did not allow the approach of the ship
to the shore, they let him down bound into the sea, that
they might discover whether the tempest was on his account.
And when the sea became calm, they took him back into
the ship ; and when the sea began to rage again in conse
quence of his being taken back, they let him down again ;
and when the sea immediately became calm, they again
draw Jonas back into the ship ; but when for the third time
the sea was troubled, they let him down bound a third
time, and when for the third time the sea became calm,
then at last removing the rope with many entreaties to him
to provide for his safety, they committed him to the waves
and to the providence of God. So also ought we to do,
and not be precipitate in condemning others, even when we
are bound to condemn their actions. And because Moses
neglected this, he rashly condemned Aaron and his sons
because they had not eaten the sacrifice for sin, as they
were bound to do by the law of God ; but when he learnt
that it had been omitted through Aaron's sorrow on
account of his two sons being put to death by God, he
was satisfied.2

Even holy men overlook this admonition, because the
zeal with which they burn sometimes impels them to condemn
rashly those things which are reported to them as evil ;
therefore they should not give ready credence to accusers.
Thus St. Isidore of Pelusium, being deceived by the
accusations of the Nestorians, condemned St. Cyril of
Alexandria, writing a grave admonition to him, as though
he had been moved by private feeling to persecute some
bishops at Ephesus who favoured Nestorius, as Theo-
philus persecuted St. Chrysostom ; and, what is still worse,
duped by their assertion, he thought that St. Cyril of
Alexandria believed that Christ had only one nature, and
therefore wrote to him, and showed him by numerous
passages from St. Athanasius, that Christ consisted of two
2 Levit. x. 20.

ioo Remedies against error

natures. But afterwards, when he is made acquainted with
the innocence of St. Cyril, he exhorts him to remain un
moved in his judgment against the Nestorians. Thus also
St. Cyril of Alexandria would not allow the name of St.
Chrysostom, after his death, to be put on the register of the
Church, and wrote a long letter against it to Atticus, which
is quoted by Nicephorus. But being corrected by a Divine
vision and by St. Isidore of Pelusium, he acknowledged
his error, and placed the name of Chrysostom among the
other Catholic bishops on the register, as Nicephorus
testifies.

A third remedy is given by St. Chrysostom, in his homily
on the words, Salntate Priscam. "If through an eagerness for
judging," he says, "you wish to be a judge, I will show
you a seat, which will bring great gain to you, and will stain
you with no spot of crime. Let your mind and thought sit
as a judge upon your own soul and conscience, bring all your
offences before it, examine with your mind what you have
done, and carefully demand a reason, and say : Why have
you dared to do this and this ? Why have you perpetrated
that and that? But, if your conscience shrinks from this,
and pries curiously into the doings of others, say to it : I am
not a judge over others, nor are you called into judgment
to defend others. What is it to you, if this or that man
lives badly ? For what reason have you offended in this or
in that? Do not defend yourself, accuse your own vices,
not those of others." And in the same place you may see
several other things on this point.

St. Bonaventure teaches similarly, that when we see
anything which is wrong, we should inspect ourselves,
whether such things are in ourselves, or things of the same
kind ; and because we know many more of our own offences
than of other men's, we ought to condemn our own sins
rather than those of others. "Why, I pray you," says
St. Dorotheus, "do we not rather judge ourselves? Why
do we not endeavour to know accurately our own evils and
our own errors, and especially those things for which we

in the use of these rules. 101

must give an account to God ? Why do we usurp to our
selves the judgment of God? What have we to do with
His creature ? " And, further on : " Those who wish to
attain salvation, do not attend to the smallest offences and
errors of their neighbours, nor investigate them too curiously,
but giving heed to their own, they always make progress ;
like him who, when he perceived that his brother had
fallen, and perpetrated I know not how much crime, said,
with a groan : ' Woe is me ! it is he to-day ; to-morrow it is
I.' " And Seneca says the like in his book on Benefits :
"Perhaps the vice which you are seeking for, you will find
in your heart, if you diligently examine yourself, as you
can and should penetrate into your own heart, and as often
as an evil thought concerning another arises, you will say :
'This I too have committed.'" And in this sense our
Lord seems to have spoken, when He said : " Judge not,
and you shall not be judged;" and St. Paul: "Wherefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest. For, wherein thou judgest another, thou con-
demnest thyself. For thou doest the same things which
thou judgest, or equivalent."3

In the Lives of the Fathers, Rufinus, a presbyter of
Aquileia, writes : " When a Council was once held in
Scithis, while the Fathers were speaking of the life of
many, and of very many things, Abbot Pius was silent;
but afterwards went out, and taking a sack, he filled it with
sand and carried it on his back ; and again, in another little
basket he put some more sand, and carried it before him.
And when the others saw him, they asked him what that
was intended to show. And he answered, saying: 'That
sack which contains much sand represents my own sins,
for my iniquities are very many in number ; and behold
I have put them behind my back, not wishing to see them,
as then I should have to grieve and mourn for them. And
behold these small sins of my brother I have put before my
eyes, and I torment myself for them, condemning my brother.
3 Romans ii. i.

IO2 Remedies against error

But I ought not thus to judge, but rather to bring my own sins
before me, and to think of them, and to ask God to spare
me/ Which when the Fathers heard, they said : ' In truth,
this is the way of safety/ " " Although," says St. Chrysos-
tom, " there should be found one who had not sinned,
even he would not be worthy to judge the life of others ;
and if Paul who said, ' I am not conscious to myself of'
anything/4 yet thought himself guilty ('not hereby justi
fied '), much more those who are conscious to themselves of
innumerable things."

Fourth Remedy. — Let us learn, by making very strenuous
efforts, to interpret all things for the best. St. Vincent
advises that, when you see others erring in anything, " you
should compassionate them from your heart, and pray for
them, and excuse them as much as possible in your heart ;
thinking, that neither can you do anything, nor can they,
unless as far as Christ extends His hand, Who gives not for
our merits, but according to the good pleasure of His own
will. When an Angel of the Lord appeared to St. Paphnu-
tius before his death, saying to him : ' Come now, thou
blessed one, and enter into those eternal tabernacles, which
are due to thee ; for behold the prophets are there, who
will receive thee into their choir;' and when, on the following
day, certain presbyters came to visit him, he made known
to them all those things which the Lord had revealed to
him, saying to them, that no one should be despised in this
world, even if he were a robber, or acting on the stage, or
employed in the cultivation of the fields, and engaged in the
state of matrimony, or if he were called a trader and was
absorbed in merchandise ; yet in every order of human life,
there are souls that please God, and practise some secret
actions by which God is delighted. And when he had
recounted similar things of certain individuals, he gave up
his spirit. And the presbyters who were present, and all
the brethren plainly saw him carried away by angels, singing
a hymn and offering praises." So it is written in his life, as it
4 i Cor. iv. 4.

in the use of these Titles. 103

is contained in the Lives of the Fathers, published by a
member of our Society, Father Heribert Rosweyde.

Now the great servants of God, and the very great
saints, such as St. Philip Neri, are wont to do some things
which are not bad, but indifferent, for God's sake, that they
may be regarded as ordinary men, and be held inferior in
the opinion of others, and yet are not for this to be con
demned.

Therefore, let those who are exposed to rash judgments
follow the advice of Abbot Pastor. "A certain Brother
asked Abbot Pastor, saying : { How can a man avoid speak
ing evil of his neighbour ? ' The old man replied : ' I and
my neighbour are two pictures ; when therefore I see my
picture, and I reproach myself, the picture of my brother will
be venerable in my estimation. But when I praise my own,
then I shall regard the picture of my brother as evil.
Therefore I shall never detract from another, if I always
reprove myself/ "

Let them also consider the counsel of Abbot Hyperi-
chius, who said : " It is better to eat flesh and drink wine,
than to eat by backbiting the flesh of one's brethren ; for
as the whispering serpent drove Eve out of Paradise, so he
who detracts from his brother, destroys not only his own
soul, but also the soul of him who listens to him."

And let us plant firmly in our mind the saying of Abbot
John, who was wont to say : " We have thrown off a
small burden, that is the reproving of ourselves ; and we
have chosen to bear a heavy one, that is the justifying of
ourselves and the condemnation of others."

One Timothy, an anchorite, " hearing of a certain
negligent Brother, and being asked by his Abbot what he
should do to that Brother, gave as his advice that he should
expel him from the monastery. When, therefore, he had
been expelled, a temptation came to Timothy, and when
he was weeping in the presence of God, and saying, ' Have
mercy upon me,' there came to him a voice saying:
'This temptation hath come to thee for this reason,

1 04 On rash judgments.

that thou didst despise thy Brother in the time of tempta
tion.

"A certain Brother asked an old man, saying:
' How can a soul attain to humility ? ' He replied :
'By considering only its own sins, and not the sins of
another."

"A certain old man said to a Brother: "Think every
day that death is near you, and, as though shut up in a
tomb, care nothing for this world. Let the fear of
God abide continually in you, every hour. Believe that
you are inferior to all men. Do not condemn any one,
because God knows all things ; but be peaceful with all,
and God will always give you rest."

A Brother asked an old man : " How does the fear
of God come to a man ? " And the old man said : " If a
man has humility and poverty, and does not judge another,
thus the fear of God comes in him."

An old man said : " This is the life of a monk — labour,
obedience, meditation, and not to judge, or to find fault, or
to murmur. For it is written : ' You that love the Lord,
hate evil.' 5 This is the life of a monk — not to have com
panionship with the unjust, nor to see evil things with his
eyes, nor to act curiously, nor to pry, nor to hear of other
people's affairs, nor to take from another, but rather to
give, nor to be proud in heart, nor to malign in thought,
nor to be gluttonous, but to do all things with discretion.
In these things is the life of a monk."

An old man said : " Ask of God, to give you penitence
and humility in your heart : and always have an eye to
your own sins, and do not judge others; but be subject to
all, and do not have friendships with a woman, nor with
a boy, nor with heretics. Be not over-confiding, and
restrain your tongue, and your appetite, and abstain from
wine. And if any one speaks to you on any debateable
question, do not contend with him ; but if he says well, say :
' Yes ; ' if ill, say to him : ' You know what you are
5 Psalm xcvi. 10.

On rash judgments. 105

speaking about.' And do not contend with him respecting
those things which he has spoken, and then your mind will
be at peace."

CHAPTER XVI.

What other ancient Fathers have said and done against
condemnatory judgments of others.

IN the fifth book of the Lives of the Fathers, there is on
this subject a whole chapter (the ninth), by an uncertain
Greek author, translated by Pelagius, a deacon of the Holy
Roman Church, who was afterwards raised to the Roman
Pontificate, as our Rosweyde writes in his prolegomena to
the Lives of the Fathers, adducing the testimony of the
Rev. Father George Garnefelt.

" A certain brother had sinned, and a presbyter ordered
him to leave the church. But Besarion rose and went out
with him, saying : ' I too am a sinner.'

"A brother was once discovered in a fault in Scithis, and
the elder monks held a chapter, and sent to Abbot Moses,
saying that he should come, but he would not come. But
a presbyter sent to him, saying : ' Come, because the
assembly of the brotherhood are waiting for you.' And
he rising came. But taking with him his oldest basket he
filled it with sand, and carried it behind him. And they
went out to meet him, saying : 'What is this, father?' And
the old man said to them : ' My sins are running behind me,
and I do not see them, and I am come to-day to judge the
sins of another.' And when they heard him, they said
nothing to the offending brother, but forgave him.

"Abbot Joseph asked Abbot Pastor, saying: 'Tell me
how I may become a monk.' And the old man said to
him : ' If you wish to find rest both in this world and in the
world to come, say in every case, Who am I ? and do not
judge any one.'

io6 The ancient Fathers

" A certain brother asked him again, saying : ' If I see
the fault of my brother, is it good to conceal it ? ' The old
man said to him : ' Every hour in which we cover the sin of
our brother, God will also cover our sin ; and every hour in
which we lay open the faults of our brethren, God will, in
like manner, make known our own.'

" A brother once offended in the community. Now
there was in those parts a certain solitary, who for a long
time had not gone out of doors. And the Abbot coming
from that community to him, asked what he should do
with the brother who had offended. And he said : ' Expel
him.' And the brother being expelled from the commu
nity, set himself to dig, and was weeping there; and it
happened that other brothers, going to Abbot Pastor, heard
him weeping as he was digging. And going down to him
they found him in great sorrow, and they asked him to go to
that old solitary, and he did not consent, saying, ' In this
place I will die/ But the brothers, coming to Abbot Pastor,
told him of it, and he asked them to go to him and say,
1 Abbot Pastor wants you to go to him.' And when they
had told him this, he went to him. And the old man,
seeing him afflicted, arose and embraced him, and welcom
ing him asked him to take food. And Abbot Pastor sent one
of his brethren to the solitary, saying : ' Hearing of you for
many years, I have desired to see you, and on account of
the sloth of us both we have not been able to see each
other; but now that God wills, and that an occasion has
arisen, give yourself the trouble to come hither, that we may
be able to see each other;' for the solitary did not leave
his cell. And when he heard this he said : 'Unless God had
inspired that old man respecting me, he would not have sent
to me/ And he rose and came to him. And saluting each
other with joy they sat down. Then Abbot Pastor said to
him : ' There were two men in one place, and both had their
dead. But one of them left his own dead, and went to
bewail that of the other/ And the old man, hearing these
words, made confession with sorrow, and remembered what

on rash judgments. 107

he had done, and said : ' Pastor is up in Heaven, but I am
down on earth.'

"A certain brother asked Abbot Pastor, saying: ' What
am I to do, because I am frightened whenever I sit down ? '
The old man said to him : ' Despise no one, do not con
demn; and reproach no one; and God will grant you peace,
and you will sit without alarm.'

" An old man said : ' Judge not the unchaste, if you are
chaste, since you will equally break the law ; for He Who
said, 'Do not commit fornication,' said, 'Do not judge.'

" A presbyter of a certain church came to a certain
solitary, that he might consecrate the Oblation, in order that
he might communicate. And one coming to that solitary,
accused the presbyter to him. When therefore he, according
to custom, came to him again, in order to offer the Sacrifice,
the solitary, being scandalized, did not open to him. And
the presbyter, seeing this, departed. And behold, a Voice
came to the solitary, saying: 'Men have taken to themselves
My judgment.' And he fell as it were into a rapture, and
he saw as it were a golden well, and a gold bucket, and a
gold rope, and very excellent water. But he saw also a leper
drawing and pouring it into a vessel, and he wanted to
drink, and he could not because the man who was drawing
was a leper. And behold the Voice came to him again,
saying : ' Why do you not drink of this water ? What reason
is there in him who is filling? for he only fills and pours
into the vessel.' And the solitary, returning to himself, and
considering the meaning of the vision, called the presbyter,
and made him, as before, offer the Sacrifice.

"There were two brothers of a very holy life in a
community, and they each merited to see the grace of God
in the other. But it once happened that one of them, on
the sixth day of the week, went out of the community, and
saw some one eating in the morning. And he said to him :
' Do you eat at this hour on the sixth day ? ' But on the
following day there was a celebration of Mass, according to
custom. And his brother, looking upon him, saw that the

io8 The ancient Fathers

grace which had been given to him had departed from him,
and he was saddened. And when he had come into his cell
he said to him : '.What have you done, brother, that I have
not seen in you the grace of God, as on former days?'
And he answering said : * I am not conscious to myself of
any evil, either in deed or in thoughts.' His brother said to
him : ' And have you spoken no word of hatred ? ' And
remembering, he said : ' Well, yesterday I saw some one
eating in the morning, and I said to him, Do you eat at
this hour in the morning on the sixth day ? ' This is my
sin ; but labour with me for two weeks, and let us ask God
to forgive me.' They did so; and, after two weeks, the
other brother saw the grace of God coming again upon his
brother. And they were consoled, giving thanks to God,
Who alone is good.

" Some old men came once into Scithis, and there was
with them Abbot John Nanus. And while they were eating
a certain presbyter, a great man, arose, that he might give to
each of them a small vessel of water to drink ; and no one
would take it from him, except John the Short alone. And
the others wondered and said to him : ' How have you
presumed, being the least of all, to make use of the service
of a man who is old and great ? ' And he said to them :
'When I rise to hand water, I rejoice when all drink, that I
may have my reward ; and now I have taken some, that I
may make him who has risen to serve find his reward, and
lest perchance, also, he should be saddened because no one
takes from him.' And when he had said this, they were all
surprised at his discretion.

" A brother asked Abbot Pastor, saying : " I am
troubled, and I wish to leave this place.' And the old
man said to him : ' For what reason ? ' And he said :
* Because I hear words of one of the brethren, which do
not edify me.' And the old man said to him : 'The things
which you hear are not true.' And he said, 'Yes, Father,
they are true ; for the brother who told me is faithful.' But
he answering said : ' He who told you is not faithful; for, if

on rash judgments. 109

he were faithful, he certainly would not tell you such things.
Now God, when He heard the cry of Sodom, would not
believe unless he went down and saw it with His own eyes.'
And he said : ' And I have seen with my own eyes.' And
when the old man heard this, he looked on the ground, and
took a little piece of straw, and said to him : ' What is this ? '
And he answered: 'It is a straw.' The old man then
looked up to the roof of his cell, and said to him : l And
what is that ? ' And he answered : 'It is a beam, which
supports the roof.' And the old man said to him : ' Lay
this up in your heart ; for your sins are as those beams, but
those of that brother of whom you speak, as this straw.'
And Abbot Sisois, hearing this speech, wondered and said :
' How shall I bless you, Abbot Pastor ? for, like a precious
stone, so are your words, full of grace and glory.'

"A certain monk came once from the city of Rome, where
he had a high place in the palace, and dwelt in Scithis, in the
vicinity of the church • and he had with him one servant,
who waited upon him. And a presbyter of the church,
seeing his infirmity, and knowing how delicately he had
lived, used to send him what the Lord gave him, or what
came into the church. And after he had spent twenty-five
years in Scithis, he became a man of- contemplation, and
foreseeing events, and of great renown. And one of the
great Egyptian monks, hearing his fame, came to see him,
hoping to find him living a life of great bodily asceticism.
And having entered, he saluted him ; and when they had
made prayer they sat down. And the Egyptian, seeing him
clothed in soft raiment, and papyrus leaves and a skin spread
under him, and a small pillow of paper under his head, and
his feet clean and in shoes, was inwardly scandalized on his
account, because in that place such a manner of life was
not customary, but rather severe abstinence. But the old
Roman, having the gift of contemplation, or the grace of
foresight, understood that the Egyptian monk was inwardly
scandalized on his account, and said to his servant : ' Let us
have a good day to-day, on account of the Abbot who has

no The ancient Fathers

come to see us.' And he cooked some small herbs which he
had ; and rising at the proper hour they eat. And he had
also a small quantity of wine on account of his infirmity ;
and they drank it. And when evening arrived, they said
twelve psalms, and went to sleep ; and so also in the night.
And rising in the morning, the Egyptian said to him : ' Pray
for me.' And he departed, not edified with him. And when
he had gone a little way, the old Roman, wishing to cure
him of his error, sent after him and re-called him. And
when he came he received him again with joy, and asked
him, saying : ' From what province do you come ? ; And
he said : ' I am an Egyptian.' And he said to him : ' Of
what city?' And he answered: 'I have not come from a
city, nor have I ever dwelt in a city.' And he said to him,
' Before you were a monk, how were you employed in the
place where you lived ? ' And he answered : ' I was a
watcher on a farm.' And he said : 'Where did you sleep ?'
He answered : ' In the field.' And he said : ' Had you any
bed ? ' And he answered : ' I had to have my bed where I
slept in the field.' And he said : ' And how did you sleep ?'
He answered : ' On the bare ground.' And he said : ' What
did you eat in the field, or what kind of wine did you
drink ? ' He answered again : ' What is the food, or what
the drink in the field ? ' And he said, ' How then did you
live ? ' He answered : ' I ate my bread and salt fish, if I
found any; and I drank water.' And the old man said:
' A hard life ! ' and he said : ' Had you a bath there to
wash in?' And he said: 'No; but I washed in the river
when I chose.' When therefore the old man had obtained
all this from him in reply to his questions, and knew the
manner of his former life and labour, wishing to edify him,
he related to him his own past life, when he was living in
the world, saying : ' Miserable man that I am ; I whom you
see was of that great city, Rome, and I had in the palace a
very high post near the Emperor.' And when the Egyptian
heard the beginning of his words he felt compunction, and
listened anxiously to what he was saying. And he added :

on rash judgments. 1 1 1

* I left Rome and came into this solitude.' And again he
said : ' I whom you see had large houses and much money,
and, despising these things, I came to this small cell.' Again
he said: 'I whom you see had beds decorated with gold, and
most precious furniture, and in exchange for these God gave
me this papyrus bed and this skin. My garments, too,
were of inestimable value, and instead of them I have these
common rags.' Again he said : c Much gold was spent
on my dinner, and instead of that He has given me these
few herbs, and this little cup of wine. I had also a great
many servants who waited upon me, and instead of those
God in His compassion has given me this one to wait upon
me. Instead of a bath I pour a little water upon my feet,
and I use shoes on account of my infirmity. And again,
instead of the pipes and the cithara or any other musical
instrument, in which I took delight in my banquets, I say
by myself twelve psalms in the day and twelve in the night.
And for my sins which I committed before, I now offer in
peace a slight and unprofitable service to God. See, there
fore, Abbot, that you are not scandalized on account of my
infirmity.' And hearing these things, the Egyptian, returning
within himself, said : ' Woe is me, for I came from much
tribulation and from great labour in the world rather to rest
in the monastic life, and what I had not then I have now ;
but you have come from much enjoyment in the world, by
your own choice, into tribulation, and from much glory and
riches you have come to humility and poverty.' From
which he departed much edified, and became his friend, and
often came to him for his own profit ; for he was a man of
discernment, and filled with the good odour of the Holy
Spirit.

" A certain old man, being asked : ' What is humility ? '
said in reply : ' Humility is a great and Divine work ; but
this is the way to humility, that bodily labours should be
submitted to, and that a man should account himself a
sinner, and should make himself subject to all.' And the
brother said : * What is it to be subject to all ? ' The old

H2 The ancient Fathers

man replied : 'This is to be subject to all, that one should
not give heed to the sins of others, but should always have
regard to his own, and pray to God without intermission.'

" The old monk Moses said ' that a man ought to be as
dead to his companion, that is, die to his friend so as never
to judge him in any cause.'

" He said again : ' Unless a man holds in his heart that
he is a sinner, God does not hear him.' A brother said to
him : ' What is it to hold in one's heart that he is a
sinner?' And the old man said: ' If one carries his own
sins, he does not see the sins of his neighbour.'

" A brother questioned the old man, saying : ' Suppose a
man strikes his servant on account of sin which he has
committed, what will that servant say?' The old man
answered : ' If he is a good servant he will say, I have
sinned, have mercy upon me.' The brother said to him :
' And nothing else ? The old man said to him : ' No ; for
when he has taken his fault upon him, and said, I have
sinned, immediately his master will have mercy upon him ;
but the end of all these things is, not to judge one's neigh
bour. For when the hand of the Lord slew the first-born
in the land of Egypt, there was not a house in which there
was not one dead.' The brother said to him : ' What is
the meaning of these words ? ' The old man answered :
' That if we have seen our own sins, we shall not see the
sins of our neighbour. For it is folly for a man who has
his own dead, to leave that, and go and weep over the
dead of his neighbour; but to die to your neighbour
means to bear your own sins, and to be without thought of
other men, as that this one is good, and that one is bad,
and to do no evil to any man, nor think evil of any, nor
despise any one who does evil, nor consent to your neigh
bour when he does evil, nor rejoice with him who does
harm to his neighbour : this is to die to your neighbour.
And speak no evil of any one; but say that God knows
every one. Do not, therefore, agree with a detractor, nor
join with him in taking pleasure in his detraction. Do-

on rash judgments. 113

not consent to one who finds fault with his neighbour, that
is, do not judge, and you shall not be judged. Have no
enmity with any man, nor retain enmities in your heart,
nor have him in hatred who is hostile to his neighbour,
but do not consent to his enmities. Do not despise him
'who is at enmity with his neighbour, and this is peace.
In these things console yourself : for a little while there is
labour, and then eternal rest, by the grace of God the
Word. Amen.'

" While St. Anthony was praying in his own cell, a voice
came to him, saying: 'Anthony, thou hast not yet attained
to the measure of the tanner who is in Alexandria.' When he
heard this, the old man, rising in the morning, taking his stick,
went forth in haste into the city, and when he had arrived
at the house of the man designated, and had entered, the
tanner was confounded at seeing so great a man. To whom
the old man said : ' Recount to me your works, because on
your account I have left the desert and have come hither.7
And he answering, said : ' I do not know that I have ever
accomplished anything that is good. Whence, when I rise
from my bed in the morning, before I betake myself to my
work, I say that all in this city, from the least even to the
greatest, are going into the Kingdom of God on account
of their righteousness ; and I alone shall go to eternal
punishment for my sins. Which words in the morning,
and the same before I go to rest at night, I feel from the
truth of my heart.' And hearing this, St. Anthony replied :
' In truth, my son, sitting in your house like a good work
man, you have obtained the Kingdom of God with rest;
while I, spending all my time, like a simpleton, in
solitude, have not yet attained to the measure of your
words.'

"When Abbot Moses had asked some spiritual counsels
of Abbot Sylvanus, among others he gave him this : Do not
measure yourself with the great, nor think yourself just;
but believe yourself to be inferior to every creature, that
is, viler than any man who is a sinner. ' For if any man
i

H4 The ancient Fathers

thinketh himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he
deceiveth himself.'0 Judge not your neighbour, nor despise
other men when they offend, but lament your own sins, and
be anxious about the doings of no man."

And thus our holy Father St. Ignatius, as Ribadeneira
testifies, "never disparaged others, and never gave ear to
those who did so. In his daily conversation he never
spoke of other men's vices, even though public and such
as were in the mouths of all ; and guarded against others
referring to them. But if anything fell from others, he
either extenuated it, or excused the act itself, or certainly
the intention and the will. But if the heinousness of the
act precluded the possibility of excusing or extenuating it,
he took refuge in this : Judge not before the time. God
alone sees the heart. To his own master every one stands
or falls. The severest thing he said was : ' I certainly
should not have done this.' So that that precept of our
Lord seemed to be thoroughly settled in his mind : ' Judge
not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you
shall not be condemned.' "

" On the faults of those of the community he preserved
a wonderful silence ; nor, when anything amiss was done
by any one, did he make it known, unless, perhaps, for
the sake of correction; and then, indeed, so gently and
temperately, and with such friendly consideration for him
who had sinned, that if one witness was sufficient for a
remedy, he would not use two ; and he would set the
fault naked before his eyes without any contention or
reproof of words.

"I have heard from the Father himself, that he once
went in search of a confessor, to confess only one fault.
And that was, that he had discovered a fault to three
Fathers, when two would have sufficed for the application
of a remedy : and yet he who had offended was one who
would have suffered nothing in the estimation of that third
Father by that one error being made known. And he so
1 Galat. vi. 3,

on rash judgments. 115

spoke of all that they might each understand that he had
a good opinion of them, and that they were near his heart."

Concerning St. Aloysius also, the auditors of the Rota,
to prove his sanctity, allege that he always interpreted the
words and actions of others for the best, or, at least, made
excuses for them. And this was done, too, by a certain
pious religious, of whom St. Dorotheus thus writes : " I have
heard of a certain brother who, when he visited any one of
the brothers, and saw his cell in a state of disorder, dirty,
disarranged, used to say with himself, ' Oh, how happy
and blessed is this brother ; how he has cast away the care
of all earthly things, and thus has raised his whole mind
upwards to the contemplation of Divine things ; since he
bestows no pains on the arrangement and cleaning of his
own cell ! ' Then again, if he turned to another, and saw
his cell arranged, clean, adorned, in good order, he would
say within himself, ' Behold, how cleansed and pure is the
soul of this brother, since his cell is so clean and well
arranged ; for he has cleansed and arranged his cell to
correspond with the state and purity of his soul.' Nor did
he ever, indeed, think or speak any ill of another, as, This
man is disorderly, and dirty, and indolent ; or this one is
forward, and vain, and talkative. Never did such words
come from his mouth ; but from the good and excellent
state of his own mind, he judged of all well and piously,
and in this way he acquired profit and made progress from
all things."

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, as Puccino writes in her
Life, places second among the six things necessary for a
religious, " that she should have a mind so good, that from
everything which she sees in her neighbour, even from
what is evil, she should draw forth good."

St. Baptista Verana, a nun of St. Clare, as Bartholomew
Cimarelli writes, places second among the counsels which
she gave to a certain religious the following : " From every
thing which you hear and see, cull some good : take the
rose, leave the thorn, and although you might have a

1 1 6 The ancient Fathers

hundred reasons and a thousand authorities of Holy Scrip
ture, which might be perverted to evil, and only one which
could be turned to good ; take this alone, and leave the
hundred and the thousand. Such uprightness of heart gives
great courage in the presence of the Most High, and the
supplications of such an one suffer no repulse."

Nor is it sufficient not to condemn : it is necessary also
to defend. "Do not," says St. Dorotheus, "try to know
or inquire into the evil of your neighbour, nor at all admit
suspicions against him. But if they are disseminated by
the malignity of any, endeavour to change them to a better
meaning, to a more favourable sense and thought." It is
an excellent advice which is given by Horace :

Nor should we to their faults be more severe,

Than an indulgent father to his heir :

If with distorted eyes the urchin glares,

" O ! the dear boy, how prettily he stares ! "

Is he of dwarfish and abortive size ?

"Sweet little moppet ! " the fond father cries ;

Or, is the unshapened cub deformed and lame ?

He kindly lisps him o'er some tender name.

Thus, if your friend's too frugally severe,

Let him a wise economist appear.

Is he, perhaps, impertinent and vain?

"The pleasant creature means to entertain."

Is he too free to prate, or frankly rude?

" "Tis manly plainness all, and fortitude."

Is he too warm? " No, spirited and bold."

Thus shall we gain new friends and keep the old.

Horace, Sat. i. 3. 43 — 54 (Francis).

Fifth remedy. — Let us have this truth deeply implanted
in our mind by frequent meditation, that we have found
ourselves very often deceived when we condemned others,
and others deceived when they condemned us and others.
Therefore, on account of this danger, let us abstain from
condemning others.

St. John the Almoner was wont to discourage rash
judgments in his friends, and he adduced remarkable
examples, as of a certain monk, who was not an old man,
who, by travelling with a young woman, scandalized every
one ; and it was at last found out that it was a Hebrew
girl, who wished to be brought by him to Baptism, and that

on rash judgments. 117

seeing this, he took her, and went and begged for alms, so
that she might be conveyed to a nunnery.

Among other warnings which that holy man Master
Avila gave to Father James Guzman, and to Father Gaspar
Loartes, his disciples, when about to enter the Society (who
afterwards became eminent), this was one: "Let them in
no way think that they are entering to judge others, but
let them bear in mind that saying of a certain monk : ' I am
come to be judged, and not to judge;' and let those espe
cially guard themselves carefully from this danger, who
think they know something, because sometimes in this way
the grace of God is lost, and unless they preserve that, they
will live without peace or consolation." Elsewhere, and in
other words, Orlandini has given the same admonition,
but I obtained it, just as I have here given it, from a manu
script book at Rome, given to me many years ago, by
Father Louis Masello, the Assistant for Italy.

So also, Father Peter Faber, as Orlandini tells us in
his Life, instructed those who were about to enter into some
Order or the Society, " that the first feeling which they
entertained, and the good opinion which they imbibed in
their minds respecting their companions, they should take
the greatest pains to retain. But if at any time it should so
happen that they should lose the one or the other, that they
should never rest, until they recovered them ; and that they
should be fully persuaded that it was this their own fault
that they came not to think well of any one. For that
those companions were perhaps better now than when they
had first met them, but that they had themselves changed
and become worse."

Sixth remedy. — When we see a thing apparently evil,
which can with difficulty be excused, still let us not, by a
first impulse, or in any other way, condemn our neighbour,
even in our heart, and much less with our mouth.

St. John the Almoner gave this advice, saying :
"That no one ought to be swift to judge another, even in
those things which he sees himself, because we see sins

1 1 8 On rash judgments.

which are public, but do not see the penitence of the
sinner, and the rapid change which the Lord God is able
to give him in his heart."

There is given, in the Life of this St. John the Almoner,
by Rosweyde, the instance of St. Vitalius, a monk, sixty
years of age, who, wishing to try St. John the Almoner,
whether he would readily condemn any one, went to some
harlots, of whom he had made a list, now to one, now to
another, and gave one money, and said : " Pass this night
without committing any sin," and he remained all night
keeping watch that she did not sin, and he stood
from the evening in one corner of the room where the
woman was, saying psalms and praying for her, holding
up his hands and kneeling down, even to the morning ; and
as he went out he made her give him her word that she
would not tell any one of what he had done. This thing
scandalized many, but when it was told to St. John the
Almoner, he would not condemn him, because he had been
once mistaken, when he had given an order to punish a
certain monk for taking about a girl, having afterwards
discovered that he was innocent and chaste ; and was
taking about a Hebrew girl whom he caused to be baptized,
and for whom he was begging alms, that she might be taken
into a nunnery. By this means St. Vitalius converted many
harlots. And when he was dead, those who had been con
verted made known what he had done in secret. But
before his death he left this written on the floor of his cell :
" Men of Alexandria, judge nothing before the time, until
the Lord come." And when this was told to St. John
the Almoner, the Patriarch of Alexandria, he came
down to the body with his clergy, and all those harlots
who had been converted went before him with tapers and
torches, weeping and saying : " We have lost our saviour
and our teacher;" and one who had given him a blow
when he saw him coming from a harlot's house in the
morning, and had been possessed by the devil, was
(ielivered at the grave of Vitalius. And many were healed

On rash judgments* 119

after his death, by the venerable name of St. Vitalius. And
this is confirmed by what we read in the Lives of the
Fathers. 2 One of the Fathers said that we sometimes
meet with a man who has eaten a great deal, but still has
an appetite, and yet leaves off; while another eats but little
and is satisfied. But he who has eaten much, and leaves
off, having still an appetite, has a greater reward than he
who eats little and is satisfied.

It often happens, says St. Dorotheus, that one of the
brethren does something in his simplicity, which perhaps
excites considerable derision in you. But perhaps he has
some other gift by which he pleases God in a wonderful
manner, and more than the whole course of your life has
done; and lo ! you at rest and at your ease are judging him,
and you are injuring your soul. Besides, even if he did
turn aside and slip, how do you know, pray, how much he
endured before in the conflict in which he strove, or how
much blood he shed; it may be, perhaps, that his error
may before God be reckoned as justice. For God looks
upon his combat, and the labour and affliction, which, as I
said, he endured before he came to sin and to fall, and there
fore He pities and pardons. So that God pities, and gives
him forgiveness ; but you condemn, and destroy your own
soul. But how, I pray you, do you know what copious
floods of tears he shed for his sin in the presence of God?

St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, as it is said in her Life,
among various admonitions, gave this one : " If you see any
one low and imperfect, think that she has some interior
gift, on account of which God has complacency in her."

Seventh remedy. — In examen of conscience, let us scruti
nize ourselves on this particular point, that we may not fall.
St Dorotheus, commending the examination of conscience,
as a means given by the elders for purifying and reconciling
us, places this among the points which he prescribes for
examination : " When I have seen my brother doing his
work, have I judged him rashly or despised him ? "

2 Lib. vii. c. i.

I2O On rash judgments.

Let us, then, with all our might guard ourselves against
all rash judgments. And this will not be difficult if we are
well affected towards him whom we think worthy of con
demnation, and are not ill affected towards another on
whose account we wish to condemn some one else. For,
as St. Isidore of Pelusium well writes : " Partiality indeed
does not see clearly; but hatred sees nothing at all."
Therefore it is greatly to be wished that, as St. Dorotheus
says, Almighty God would give us the best state of
mind, and would make our soul piously disposed ; so
that we may be able to profit and to get gain by every
thing, and never to suspect anything or to think unfavour
ably or falsely of our neighbour. But if, by chance, at any
time, we have thus thought or suspected, from the evil dis
position of our perverse mind, let us instantly change the
thought of our mind for a better one ; since to be unwilling
to see evil and viciousness in our neighbour, brings forth in
us wonderful goodness by the aid of God, by which God is
in the greatest degree propitiated. To Him be glory for
ever and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER XVII.

Men who arc spiritual and of good report are not to be
judged, or rather not to be condemned, like imperfect

men, if they labour nnder human imperfections ;
for these have existed even in the most holy men,

and are eitJier inevitable, or sucJi as sometimes arise
from human frailty and surprise, not from badness

and gross imperfection, without prejudice to their

sanctity.

FOR that sometimes, and even oftentimes, the effects
of certain passions must be manifested, is most certainly
proved by the example of our Lord Jesus Himself. For
although it was predicted of Him : " He shall not cry, nor
have respect to persons, neither shall His voice be heard
abroad. The bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking
flax He shall not quench ; " * and although He proposed
Himself for imitation, as being "meek,"2 yet He was angry
when it was necessary. Thus, He looked on the Jews
"with anger;"3 and called them "a brood of vipers;"4
and when " He found in the Temple them that sold " and
bought, " when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little
cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, the sheep also
and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured
out, and the tables He overthrew." 5 Which He did most
holily, and He was bound to do it, from zeal for the
Divine glory; forbidding them to make the house of His
Father, a house of traffic. Therefore, His disciples, who
did not judge rashly, when they saw His wrathful action,

1 Isaias xlii. 2, 3. 2 St. Matt. xi. 29.

8 St. Mark iii. 5. 4 St. Matt, iii, 7. 5 St. John ii. 14, 15.

122 On rash judgments.

remembered that it was written : " The zeal of Thy house
hath eaten Me up." " Be angry," says St. Ambrose, "where
there is a fault against which we ought to be angry. For it
were not right that we should not be moved by the malice
of a crime ; for this would justly be considered not virtue,
but laxness and remissness." And St. Bernard, generally so
mild and honeyed, says more : " Not to be angry where one
ought to be angry, is sin." The same is to be thought of
similar external acts of natural passions, which sometimes
appear in the servants of God, and look like the affections
and actions of men who are very imperfect. For they moved
by God, for supernatural reasons unknown to us, have at
times shown such affections in word and deed. Thus holy
Elias, the Prophet, killed by fire, which he had called down
from Heaven, a hundred and two men sent by King Ocho-
zias.6 So his disciple, the holy Eliseus,7 when he was called
by boys, "Bald-head, bald-head!" "cursed them in the name
of the Lord ; " which curse so pleased God that immediately
" there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of
them two and forty boys."

Finally, even the saints sometimes sin, and judge rashly
(as has already been shown), God permitting it as well for
their humiliation as that He may thus conceal their holiness
from men. On which subject Pope St. Gregory wrote :
" It is a great dispensation of Almighty God, and it often
happens, that on those to whom He gives the greater
blessings, He does not bestow some which are lesser ; that
the soul may always have something whence to reproach
itself, so that while they long to be perfect, and are not able,
and labour for that which they have not received, and yet
do not succeed in their labours, they may not unduly
congratulate themselves on those things which they have
received ; but may learn, that of themselves they are unable
to overcome small vices and the least of their faults." Thus
in St. Isaac, whom He commends as endowed with virtues,
miracles, and a great gift of prophecy, God had left a

6 4 Kings i. 7 4 Kings ii.

Human Imperfections.

12

certain excess of joyfulness, which was deserving of repre
hension.

But of such failings in the holy servants of God, that
may be said which God Himself said to one of His servants
concerning the defects of St. Gertrude, the Benedictine, in
the book on the Suggestions of Divine Piety : " The defects
which we see in this chosen servant of Mine, might justly
rather be called marks of progress. For human frailty
could hardly preserve the abundant growth of grace, which I
continually work in her, from the wind of vainglory, unless
her virtues were hidden from her knowledge, under such
defects. For as a field, the more it is nourished by richer
manure, must of necessity bring forth a richer crop ; so
she also, from the knowledge of her infirmity brings forth
to Me a more abundant fruit of thanksgiving. Therefore
also, in compensation for each particular defect for which
she so humbles herself, I have bestowed upon her a par
ticular gift, by which she may, in My eyes, blot out every
imperfection. Nevertheless, at the right time, when I shall
have changed all her defects into virtues, her soul will
shine forth as a splendid luminary." I now come to
instances of the great saints, which will show passiori in
them without prejudice to their sanctity.

St. Basil, a man of the most austere life, and of excelling
holiness, was yet not free from those affections, on account
of which others are now wont to be regarded as imperfect.
Let us weigh his words. He thus writes to St. Gregory :
" Whence shall I obtain the wings of a dove ? or how shall
my old age grow young? that I may be able to betake
myself to you, dearest brethren, and satisfy my burning
desire towards you, and lay down the sad cares of my soul
with you, and obtain some consolation in my tribulations
from you ? " Mark how a man who is dead to the world
seeks human solace. And, elsewhere, he says that " he is
consoled in his afflictions " by the letter of Meletius. And,
in a letter to Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, he says :
"Although we are miserable, there seems one solace left

124 ®n rash judgments.

to us, namely, to fix our eyes on your clemency, and to
mitigate our grief from the knowledge and remembrance
of your character." And, in another letter to the same, he
says that, on account of the winter, he does not venture to
trust himself on a journey, or even to look out of his house.

In another he mourns on account of his mother's death,
saying : " Now the only solace which I had in life, even my
mother, this I have lost on account of my sins : will you
perhaps deride me that at such an age I am wont to weep
over my bereavement." And again : "When immediately after
your departure [that of Eusebius, his brother-Bishop], I
came to the city, why should I tell how greatly I was
dejected in my mind at losing you, to one who has no
need to be taught this by words, but knows it by experi
ence, having suffered the same things." And, writing to
St. Gregory Theologus, he at great length describes the
mountain, the rock, the meadow, the course of the river,
by which he dwelt and found his recreation.

St. Gregory Theologus, replying to him, jestingly objects
to some things in his city, in return for some things which
St. Basil had remarked in his, and had in jest found fault
with. And, writing to St. Basil, he says : " By all means
attack and pull about our affairs with your jests and
sarcasms. Whether you do it in jest or earnest will matter
nothing; provided you content yourself with a little laugh and
boyish sport, and enjoy our friendship. For in these things
in which you might seem to cavil, you do it not for the sake
of cavilling, but to draw me to yourself." And he jests a
good deal about the place in which he lived, which, if any
of us should do it, would be regarded by some testy critic as
a proof of levity and idleness. And he concludes : " Now
if you take our jokes well, you will do right : if not, we will
add more." See how men who are old, and serious, and
holy, disport themselves in words ! And the same writer
fills a whole letter to Basil in recalling ludicrous things
which had passed between him and Basil.

In another place, the same saint writes thus to Basil :

Human Imperfections. 125

" What we have hitherto written on our life at Pontus was
a joke, and not serious/' And he concludes the letter as
those would do who are united by close intimacy: "I breathe
you rather than the air, and I live only so far as I live with
you, either by presence, or in imagination when absent."
Things which, if they were read in the letters of any of us,
would be ascribed by a harsh critic to an inordinate friend
ship.

Again, the Theologus writes to Basil: "If you accuse
me for not admiring you sufficiently, in proportion to your
worth, do you not accuse the world at large ? But if you
accuse us of despising you, why are we not at the same
time accused of insanity? But you take it ill that we
philosophize."

And again, writing to Basil, he says : " My letter
saddened you ; but I assure you, not rightly or justly, but
rather wholly without cause. And indeed you put on
some sorrow, but you concealed (and you did wisely)
your sorrowful countenance through shame." The cause of
his sadness was that Gregory Nazianzen had indicated to
him that he, Basil, had been accused, at some banquet, as
though he thought badly of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit.

Again, writing to Basil, he says : " You do not cease
to assail us with reproaches, as unformed, rude, unfit for
friendship, and not even worthy of life, because we have
ventured to mention what we have suffered."

And again : " You leap in your letters like an adroit
horseman ! I suppose it is not enough that we admire you,
since you wish, now that you have recently tasted glory, to
boast to us what glory you have attained, that in this way
you may make yourself more important : as painters are
wont to do who depict the seasons of the year." And again
he teases Basil, saying : " I hear you are upset at the change
in these new matters."

And, excusing himself to Basil for not having come to
him, he gives the reason of the delay: "That I may
procure for myself a certain stability, and a life free from

126 On rash judgments.

envy, until the shadows pass by of those who now rush in,
and are incensed with anger and envy."

And again : " You resolve on things not a few, and you
act more simply than cautiously. Since the more pure and
free the mind is from malice, the less free it is to lend itself
to suspicions and acquiesce in them."

And Basil, in one of his letters, remonstrates with
Gregory for having sent him a letter, pretending that it
came from his uncle : " Your forgery,'*' he says, " is dis
covered. I blushed over this letter. We wished that the
earth would swallow us up, because we had been exposed
to the disgrace of deception, falsehood, and seduction.
You have sent me another as though it came from the
Bishop himself. And the Bishop had not sent it. I
wished that my heart was made of stone, that I might not
remember the past or feel the present, that prostrate on
the ground, like cattle, we might be able to bear all this
infliction." And he concludes his letter, speaking of his
going to see some bishops : " If," he says, " I am not
invited in proper form (namely, by the bishops), I shall not
take the trouble to go."

Basil, writing to Athanasius, points out " that he has
been without cause angry with him, and that he does not
speak properly of him, and he says that he laughs at his
threats." Hearing of the persecutions at Alexandria, and
in other parts of Egypt, he says : " Those things stupefied
us, and deprived us of sense itself. But as our mind was
turning them over, this thought occurred to me : Has the
Lord entirely forsaken His Churches ? "

In Letter 75 he treats at large of those by whom, not
only his faith, but his teaching, had been accused, and says
"they ought not to have judged him," and calls them " con
tentious triflers," and speaks at length against this habit of
detraction, and says "that it should not be borne, even if
it came from a woman working at a mill, or one of those
rascals of the worst type who stroll about the market-place."

In Letter 82, mentioning that he was regarded by some

Human Imperfections. 127

bishops as the follower of a new faith, and having uttered
some vehement words, with very much warmth of feeling,
he goes on to mention the effect produced by this : " We
were so agitated in mind, confounded, and dejected, that
we had nothing to answer to those who questioned us."
And further on : "I was so upset at such a sudden and
unexpected change, that I could not even answer, my heart
beat, my tongue failed me, my hand grew numb, and I
seemed to surfer what happens to the mind of a man who
has little courage ; for I must own the truth ; at the same
time my emotion was pardonable. Then I almost came
to entertain a great hatred against the human race, and to
suspect the goodness of all men, thinking that the grace of
charity did not exist in humanity ; but only plausible words
for adornment, and the service of those who fashioned them
as with tools; but that the affection expressed by them
according to truth was not in the heart of man/'

Writing to Nectarius a letter of consolation on account
of the death of his little son : " When I read the letter of
the Bishop (which announced the death of the child), I
need not recount how I groaned or how I wept ; for who
is so stony-hearted, or devoid of humanity, as not to be
touched with a sense of this affliction ? or whose mind is
but lightly touched by such a grief?" And further on:
" If we wished to utter complaints and to shed tears on
account of this calamity, the whole time of this life would
not suffice ; and if all mortals should lament with us, they
will not with their lamentation come up to the level of this
affliction; even if they should turn the streams of rivers
into tears, they will be unable to lament sufficiently this
calamity."

And how St. Basil used forms of ceremony in writing
appears from several of his letters8 to Libanius the Sophist,
in which he might be condemned by an ill-disposed person
as uselessly wasting time, weaving fulsome phrases, and
sentences full of praises and, as it were, of adulation —

8 146, 149, 151, 157, 160.

128 On rash judgments.

such as it is unworthy of a serious and holy man even to
think.

In one letter he asks that a man should be imprisoned
who had broken the doors of his houses while he was
absent. "For," he says, "we not only take ill what we
have suffered from him ; but we have need of protection
for the future."

And in his last letter he admonishes his secretary to write
properly, and to make the lines straight; and he incul
cates this with a good many words, and not without stinging
words. But it is better to give the letter of Basil himself :
" Write properly, and make your lines straight, and let not
your hand be carried up above, nor down below, in a hurry,
nor make your pen go crooked, like the crab of JEsop, but
let it go straight as if on a ruled line. Be careful to observe
equality everywhere, and whatever is unequal cut off. For
whatever is crooked is ungraceful ; but that which is straight
is pleasant to those who see it, not making those who read
cast their eyes up and down like cranes, which I have to do
when I read what you have written. For the space between
the lines, when you pass from one to another, ought to be
straight at the end of the next line. But when no order is
observed in those which follow, one must go back, seeking
out the sequence by tracing back the furrow, just as they
say Theseus followed up the thread of Ariadne. Write
straight, therefore, and do not lead off the mind of the
reader to mistakes by crossed and crooked writing."

St. Paula, according to the testimony of St. Jerome, felt
so deeply the death of her husband, that she seemed to die.

St. Bernard wrote to his nephew Robert : " I am miser
able without you, and because I do not see you, and that
I have to live without you ; since to die for you is to live,
and to live without you is to die." If any of us were to say
that, he would be censured for having too much affection
for the tie of blood.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the discussion concerning the
soul and the resurrection, which he had with Macrina, his

Human Imperfections. 129

sister, writes that at first he had wept vehemently on
account of the death of St. Basil, his brother, and said that
when he tried to act under the influence of that sorrow,
" it strove to repress and check me in prayer, by its unre
strained impulses, as with a kind of bridle, producing in me
an unseemly and inordinate affection of soul ; and he quotes
that saying of the Apostle, that we should not be sorrowful
for "them that are asleep;" for this should be the case
only with those "who have no hope;" and how could I,
when my heart through grief and sorrow even now was
burning and boiling, how could I preach that among men,
since such a natural complaining against death is implanted
in every one."

St. Chrysostom shows in his epistles the affections of
humanity towards the deaconess Olympia and others, and
asks for frequent letters from others, and that she would
write concerning her health. And, in another letter, he
asks the presbyters to whom he writes to love him as much
as possible.

And, writing to Olympia, he mentions among his cala
mities the fear of the Isaurians on the road which he had
taken. And he shows that he was unwilling to be trans
ferred from one place which was convenient to another
which was inconvenient, and to painful journeys. And in
one of his homilies he says : " I wished the earth would open
and swallow me up, when I heard the Prince speaking to
you, and assuaging this unseasonable and irrational timidity
(for he had conceived fear on account of false rumours of
an incursion of soldiers approaching which had been heard
of)."

And again : " Nor after being thus overshadowed by
sorrow through your pusillanimity, can I come back to
myself, such indignation and sadness remain in my mind.
For confusion at your pusillanimity has greatly cast down
my mind." And in his letter to Chalcidia, he thus writes,
which an ill-disposed judge might ascribe to an inordinate
affection towards the woman: "We have many tokens,
J

j 30 On rash judgments.

many evidences, of your sincere love. Whence it has come
to pass that we carry you about, as though engraved on our
mind : and we so retain the remembrance of yon, that no
forgetfulness can efface it." And writing to Adolia, he
says : " We wish and desire above all things that you would
come here and see." This he wrote when he was in exile,
in the ends of the earth.

Palladius writes that some disciples of St. Pacomius,
when living in a monastery, seeing that they were surpassed
in the length of their fast by Macarius of Alexandria, all
stirred up sedition against the Superior: "Whence have
you brought us this man without flesh, for our condem
nation ? Either cast him out hence, or, as you know, we
will all depart." Which when St. Pacomius heard, he asked
God to reveal to him who it was, and when he learnt from
God that it was Macarius the Monk, he took him by the
hand and said : " I give you thanks that you have subdued
my sons, so that they shall not boast nor be puffed up on
account of their discipline. I pray you, therefore, return
to your place, for you have sufficiently edified us ; and pray
for us." So he departed.

St. Simon Stylites, wishing to deliver from strife two
tribes who were contending under his pillar, called them
in reproach, "dogs," as Theodoret tells us in his history.
"When," he says, "he had threatened them, and called
them dogs, he with difficulty appeased their strife."

St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his homily on the Praises of
St. Basil, says " that he was affected by so great grief, that
it was not mitigated by time, which is the medicine of
grief; because while Basil was presiding over the great and
wealthy Church of Ccesarea, he had compelled him, Gregory,
to preside over the small, poor, and remote Church of the
Sasimi. Although," he said, " I admire all the other acts
of this man, above what I can tell, this one thing I cannot
praise, namely, that distrust which he showed towards us :
my grief for which time can never exhaust. Hence all this
inconstancy (of mine) and perturbation have flowed, so that

Human Imperfections. 131

I cannot philosophize, or at least am not believed to
do so."

The same St. Nazianzen, in the funeral oration of
St. Basil, speaks, a little before the end, the following
words, which seem to savour of vanity : " These words
thou hast from us, Basil ; this comes from a tongue to thee
in days bygone most sweet, from one thy equal in honour
and in age," and so forth. "And this oration thou hast
from us; but who will praise us after thee, when we
exchange life for death? If, indeed, we furnish the
orator with any matter for panegyric," and so forth.

St. Leo gives thanks for his election to the Pontificate,
and to those who have elected him, and this election, and
the favour of the electors, and their holy judgment of
himself, he calls a benefit of God bestowed upon him.

Christ rebuked St. Bridget for a certain impatience. But
it is better to hear the very words as they are contained in
her Revelations : " My new Bride," says Christ, " thou hast
now committed a four-fold sin in thine anger. First,
because thou hast been impatient in thy heart on account
of words; whereas I bore for thee blows, and standing before
the judge did not answer one word. Secondly, because thou
hast answered roughly, and hast raised thy voice too much
in finding fault : whereas I, fixed to the Cross, looked up to
Heaven, and opened not My mouth. Thirdly, because
thou hast despised Me, for Whose sake thou oughtest to
have borne all things patiently. Fourthly, because thou
hast not benefited thy neighbour, for he who went astray
ought to have been recalled to better things by thy patience.
Therefore I will that in future thou be not angry."

Of St. Angela of Foligno, and how she bit herself from
anger, at the instigation of the demon, and was intolerable,
we read in her Life published by Mark of Lisbon, and in
another Life of her separately published in Italian, and in
another in Latin. Similar things are told of the temptations
of St. Teresa, by Father Ribera.

St. Louis Bertrand, of the Order of St. Dominic, a man

132 On rash judgments.

of exceeding holiness, and a great friend and defender of
our Society when it was impugned by several at Valencia,
as Vincent Justinian writes in his Life, when he was called
a dunce (ignorante), out of contempt, by a certain religious,
answered him "that Lucifer was learned, and yet was
condemned." And although this seemed the answer of a
man who was angry and impatient, yet, not long after, when
that religious died, after devoutly receiving all the sacra
ments, he came back from Purgatory to St. Louis, com
passed with fire, and said : " Father, forgive me that which I
said to thee on such a day, for God will not suffer me to
enter Paradise unless thou forgivest me this, and sayest one
Mass for me." And he freely forgave him, and on the
following day said Mass for him, on the first night after
which that religious appeared to St. Bertrand in great glory.
And in another place it is written of him : " When by
order of the physicians he eat and drank very sparingly, on
account of the fever which was consuming him, and there
fore was tormented with great hunger and thirst, he called
to him the author of his Life to intercede for him, and
besought him by the wounds of Christ and by the love of
the Blessed Virgin, that he would ask the physicians that
some crumbs of bread might be mixed with the little liquid
which was given him ; and when this was done, and his
food was increased, he began to be better, and to become
stronger. An ill-disposed person would call that slight
mortification ; but he had the example of Christ, Who
asked for something to drink when dying and athirst on
the Cross.

ON ARIDITY.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

THERE is hardly anything which more frequently troubles
those who have given themselves to the spiritual life,
than a kind of barrenness and dryness of mind, which,
in spite of themselves, they suffer in prayer. Being
desirous of affording some alleviation to a malady and
affliction so common, although the subject has been ably
and carefully handled by others before me, I have also
undertaken to explain it in my own manner. For in this
and my other works, I desire to imitate the example of
painters, who produce new pictures of the ancient Saints,
each according to his own genius, although they have
been represented before by painters of great name, by a
different blending of colours and shadows. And, indeed,
I send forth this treatise, as a kind of prelude, until I
can put the last touch to another on the practice of the
Divine Presence, and the various modes of prayer. In
the meantime, read this, kind reader, and pray God, I
earnestly entreat you, that I may be able to complete
and bring to the light some other treatises which are
referred to in this work, on the signs and degrees of
spiritual progress. Farewell !

Prague, September 10, A.D. 1641.

CHAPTER I.

On the nature of dry ness in prayer ; its various kinds ;
and its origin.

MANY, especially those who are novices in the spiritual life,
are greatly afflicted by reason of the aridities which they
suffer in prayer ; and hence there comes to many a distaste
for prayer, and they imagine that they have prayed badly
when, in spite of themselves, they have to endure dryness
of spirit in prayer. And this is a trial which visits even
men who are more perfect. Hence Cassian, deploring his con
dition, once said to the Abbot Serenus : " When we have
thought to direct the heart to the desired object of contem
plation, the mind insensibly turns away from it, and slips off
under a more vehement impulse to its previous wanderings,
and, thus occupied with its daily distractions, it is constantly
led into captivity in numberless ways ; so that we almost
despair of the improvement which we had desired, and our
watchfulness seems of no avail, since the soul each moment
goes astray by the slipperiness of its action. And when it
is brought back to the fear of God, or to spiritual contem
plation, before it becomes confirmed in it, it again slips
away like a fugitive. And when, like men awakened from
sleep, we lay hold of it, after it has turned from its proposed
object, and bring it back to the contemplation from which
it had gone aside, and try to bind it, by the most earnest
intention of the heart, as with a chain, even while we are
thus striving, it glides away more swiftly than an eel from
the recesses of the mind."

To which Abbot Serenus replied that this arose from
the condition of our mind : " Our mind," he says, " is

138 Nature of dry ness in prayer.

easily moved and influenced, and this arises from its very
nature; for it can never remain at rest; and unless fore
thought is exercised to determine the direction of its move
ments, and how it shall be continuously employed, it is apt
to be distracted by its own volatility, and to fly about in all
directions."

Moreover, Abbot Daniel, as quoted by Cassian, says :
"Under the name of dryness or aridities (which he calls
barrenness of mind), I do not understand those defects
or faults in prayer, which St. John Climacus calls the
desecration and ruin of prayer, asserting that it is a dese
cration 'to stand before God, and to have evil thoughts
in the soul,' that is, voluntarily.; 'and a ruin of prayer
to be taken captive by unprofitable cares.' But, under
the name of aridities I understand (i) distractions or
wanderings of mind, by which the soul is involuntarily
carried away to think of other things, and things quite
foreign to the subject proposed for meditation; as St.
Jerome says sometimes happened to himself. 'Very fre
quently,' he says, ' during prayer, my mind is on Change
or reckoning up interest.' And St. Bernard says : ' It is
well known that the variety of thoughts is manifold. Some
there are which inflate the heart, as proud thoughts ; others
exalt it, as vain thoughts; others disturb it, as envious
thoughts; others dissipate it, as angry thoughts; others
confuse it, as slothful thoughts; others inflate it, as ambitious
thoughts ; others trammel it, as gluttonous thoughts ; others
defile it, as luxurious thoughts ; others contract it3 as timid
thoughts; others corrupt it, as malicious thoughts.'" It is
no wonder, then, that we are often distracted, since we
have within us so many sources of distraction.

(2) Under the name of dryness, moreover, we under
stand a state not of distraction of mind, but of absence of all
relish for Divine things, and consolation in them ; when the
mind, incapable of meditation, is like earth without the
water of pious affections, and like a log of dry wood, some
times unable even to reason.

Nature of dry ness in prayer. 1 39

(3) Or, again, when one is disturbed by inordinate
motions of corrupt affections, as of anger or sadness, and
is by them enticed or incited to any sin.

(4) Or if, by reason of any such state of mental dryness
or disquietude, weariness is felt in prayer, and for this
reason there is a disposition to break it off, which, in the
wider sense of the word, may be called sloth ; a passion
which, in its strict sense, means a voluntary sadness in the
presence of the Divine Goodness, in which, as St. Thomas
teaches, charity finds its joy.

(5) Or, if one who prays is overcome by a spirit of
drowsiness. All these are comprehended under the name
of dryness, the effects of which are commonly the
same as those of spiritual sloth, and are practically
enumerated by St. John Climacus : " If you carefully con
sider the nature of spiritual sloth, you will find how
variously it assails men. One who is standing on his feet, it
assails with fatigue ; one who is sitting, it will persuade to
lean against a wall. When it is questioned, it will say : I dwell
with those who yield to me ; but with those who are truly
obedient, I have not where to lay my head. I have
received my name from an insensibility of soul, a kind
of forgetfulness and oblivion of heavenly things, sometimes
too from an immense (that is an excessive and unwise)
multitude of labours. And my offspring are, changing of
place, disobedience to my spiritual father, forgetfulness
of the future judgment, sometimes also, desertion of my
profession."

And now we must see how a man ought to bear himself
in such aridities, in order to which two things must be
considered — (i) Whence they arise, and (2) what we must
do while they last.

As for the first, I say that aridities arise in two ways —
(i) from immediate or direct causes, and (2) from mediate
or remote causes. The Abbot Daniel, in discussing this
question, assigns three immediate causes of dryness, from
the doctrine of the Fathers ; but in fact, as will presently

140 Nature of dry ness in prayer.

appear, there are four: Nature, the Demon, God, and Man;
all which are, in different ways, the causes of dryness ;
either positively, as Nature, the Demon, and Man ; or
negatively, as God, when He deprives us of His consolation
and effectual aids, although, we must remember, He with
holds from no man that which is necessary and sufficient.

The mediate causes are all those things on account of
which God is moved, or the Demon by the Divine per
mission, to disturb the heart by aridities. On which subject
Abbot Daniel treats in the following manner, although
not exhaustively : " A threefold reason," he says, " has been
handed down to us by the Fathers for this sterility of mind.
It arises either from our own negligence, or from the assault
of the devil, or from the dispensation and probation of the
Lord. And first, from our negligence, through our own
fault, when we become lukewarm, and live without circum
spection and care, and through idleness and sloth are fed
with hurtful imaginations, and so cause the soil of our heart to
bring forth thorns and thistles, and their growth is the cause
that we become barren, and are deprived of all spiritual
fruit and vision. Next from the assault of the devil ; for
even when we are engaged in holy studies, the enemy may
penetrate our mind by his cunning subtlety, and we are
thereby either in ignorance, or involuntarily, drawn away
from our best intentions." But, besides these three causes
of dryness, there is a fourth, arising from our natural dispo
sition, as will presently appear.

CHAPTER II.

On the first cause of aridities.

THE first cause of dryness is Nature, whose power is so great
in this respect, that Cassian considered that all aridities,
especially wanderings of mind in prayer, proceeded from
nature. For having deplored, in the presence of Abbot
Serenus, his distractions in prayer, and how strongly, when
one set of them are driven away, the soul is drawn off from
its proposed contemplation to others, so that the mind can
by no effort be fixed on the proposed subject of contem
plation, he goes on : " Tormented thus every day with these
feverish watchings over thoughts, as we discerned no stability
of heart resulting to us from them, we were driven by sheer
necessity to the conviction, that these wanderings of mind
arise not from our own fault, but from the fault of nature,
and are inherent in the human race." It is, however,
certain, as will appear below, that these wanderings of mind
do not arise merely from the nature of the mind, as Abbot
Serenus well observes. Sometimes, however, they have their
origin from nature, and this in six ways : (i) From disease,
especially from indisposition of the head. (2) From a
natural dulness of intelligence, and from an obtuseness of
understanding which is in itself ill fitted for reflection.
(3) From fatigue of the head applied to matters of
speculation, studies, and the like. (4) From want of
sufficient sleep. (5) From dwelling in a solitary locality,
as Cassian says, and St. John Climacus. (6) From a
natural, culpable negligence.

If they arise in the first, second, third, or fifth manner, we
have no reason to be distressed, because the reason of our

142 First cause of aridities.

dryness is not a culpable one, as St. Teresa has well written
in her biography, and as all the masters of the spiritual
life, as well the ancient as those more recent, teach : " The
love of God (or devotion to Him) does not consist in tears,
delights, and tenderness of heart, although we greatly desire
these and are solaced by them, but in serving God with
justice, and fortitude of mind, and humility. That we
abound in delights, this is rather to accept from God than
to give anything to Him : which is fitting for feeble women,
that they may be able to bear labours and tribulations.
But that the servants of God, especially those who are
versed in learning and are of great intelligence, should think
so much of God's withdrawing from them sensible devotion,
is not to be endured. I do not say that they should not
enjoy it, and esteem it, when God gives it; but that they
should not be distressed when He denies it. Let them be
masters of themselves. And it is to be observed, not only
by beginners, but by those who have advanced through
many years, that the reason of their being saddened by
this cause is, that they have not embraced the cross from
the beginning. They are apt to be afflicted at this, as
though they were doing nothing, when the mind was
incapable of meditation, and this they cannot endure;
when, perhaps, the will meanwhile is being nourished, and
growing in strength, though they are not aware of it.
Dryness itself (as I have gathered from experience, as well
as from the learned) often proceeds from bodily indispo
sition, because the soul feels all the miseries of the body,
and the changes of the seasons and weather ; so that the
soul cannot give effect to its own purposes."

Now therefore let it humble itself, and in place of
sensible devotion, which it desires but has not, it will, by self-
humiliation, refresh the heart of God, drawing near to Him
and holding converse with Him. This our Lord showed to
St. Gertrude; for once, "when the bell rang for Communion,
and she was moreover required to join in the choir duty,
feeling herself insufficiently prepared, she said to our Lord :

First cause of aridities. 143

1 Behold now, O my Lord, Thou comest to me, and why
hast Thou not, as Thou well canst, prepared me with the
ornaments of devotion, with which I should be able to
meet Thee in a more becoming manner ? ' To which our
Lord answered : ' Every bridegroom delights more to look
upon the pure, white neck of his bride, than to see it
covered with a necklace ; and to look upon her clean and
graceful hands, than to see them adorned with gloves. So
do I delight more in the virtue of humility than in the
beauty of devotion.' Another time, when she saw one
alarmed for a similar reason, and was praying for her, our
Lord answered : ' I would that My elect should not think
Me so cruel, but would believe that I will accept it for
good, even for the very best, if, at their own cost, they
will render Me some service.' And he offers a sacrifice
to God at his own cost who, when he has not the relish of
devotion, yet no less serves God in prayer and genuflexions,
and the like, and, besides this, trusts in the loving compas
sion of God, that He accepts this service with satisfaction."
When, therefore, dryness is seen to arise from one of
these first three causes, then, instead of those consolations
and affections, which flow from pious considerations or con
templations, in order to attain the fruit of meditation, repeat
some ejaculatory prayers, uttering them at least mentally,
with the desire of glorifying God by them, whether you feel
delight or not. And this may be done in two ways :
(i) By often repeating one and the same short prayer.
Thus St. Francis spent the whole night in only saying:
Deus metis et omnia — ' My God, and my all.' So too Gregory
Lopez, a layman, living in the world a holy life, for three
consecutive years perpetually revolved in his mind nothing
else but this : " Thy will be done ; " God requiring this of
him. In reference to this subject, that saying of Christ
to St. Bridget is of importance: "Whosoever, out of a
perfect faith and will, says these three words, Jestt, miserere
mei — ' Jesus, have mercy upon me,' pleases Me more than
he who has read thousands of verses without attention."

144 First cause of aridities.

Secondly, this may be done by the use of several differ
ent prayers, either repeated without order, as they shall come
into the mind, or else in order. Thus, for example, in
accordance with the counsel of St. Basil, during the first
quarter of meditation, before all things, " glorify God with
humility of mind." And this may be done by the words
either of Holy Scripture or of the Church ; in which we are
wont to adore and glorify God, saying, "Blessed be the
Holy Trinity," &c. ; or, "We adore Thee, O Christ," &c. ;
or, " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost ; " or, as St. Basil there advises, " I bless Thee,
O Lord, gracious and patient, because Thou patiently
bearest me, who am sinning daily, and givest us all oppor
tunity for penitence. For on this account, O Lord, Thou
art silent, and Thou bearest with us, that we may glorify
Thee." But after you have glorified Him from the Scrip
tures as you are able, then add thus with humility of mind :
" I indeed, O Lord, am not worthy that I should speak to
Thee, who am so great a sinner," and the like.

In the second quarter, according to that counsel of the
Holy Spirit: "The just is first accuser of himself,"1 draw
forth acts of contrition, saying with the pious publican,
" O God, be merciful to me a sinner."2 So did St. Thais,
once a courtesan, when converted to the Lord. ' For having,
by the advice of Abbot Paphnutius, entered a convent,
where she was forbidden by him to take the Holy Name
of God on lips which had been stained by vice, and
ordered only to utter these words : " O Thou Who didst
form me, have mercy upon me : " after having spent her
nights and her days for three whole years in the constant
repetition of those words, she died a most holy death,
and her soul, after being translated to Heaven, was placed
on a couch shining with gold and gems, and guarded by
four holy virgins, as was revealed to St. Paul the Simple in
prayer before his death.

In the third quarter, according to the well-known counsel
1 Prov. xviii. 17. 2 St. Luke xviii. 13.

First caiise of aridities. 145

of St. John Climacus, give thanks to God for the benefits
received from Him, as well those which are common to
you with others as those which are proper and personal
to yourself. Among those which are common, give thanks
also for the blessings conceded to the Sacred Humanity
of Christ, and to His most holy Mother, and to the other
saints.

In the fourth quarter, say, invoking the aid of God, Deus,
in adjutorium meum intende — "O God, incline unto my aid;"
which words Abbot Isaac (in Cassian) says are most helpful.
And this mode of prayer, St. John Climacus says, " is the
best, namely, that which begins with giving of thanks, and
humble contrition of soul, which proceed from inward
affection, and is united with our petitions; and this, he
asserts, had been shown to one of the brethren by an angel
of God." "If, on the other hand, any one began his
prayer with a petition," says St. Basil, " he would betray the
disposition of his soul, namely, that he is one who prays to
God under the constraint of necessity. When thou art
about to pray, therefore, leave thyself, forsake the earth,
rise through the heavens, leave behind thee every creature
visible and invisible, and begin by glorifying Him Who
made all things."

Cassian, discussing this manner of praying by short aspi
rations, writes that, in the opinion of the Egyptian monks,
" it was more profitable to use short prayers, but with great
frequency; for one reason, that, by praying to the Lord
very frequently, we may be thus enabled to be constantly
united to Him, and further, that, by their condensed brevity,
we may avoid the darts of the insidious demon, which he
is ready to cast at us chiefly when we pray." So St. Climacus
says : " With one word, the publican in the Gospel, and the
Prodigal Son, too, reconciled God to themselves, and one
word of faith saved the thief on the cross. To speak only
one little word in prayer has often availed to collect the
mind." And therefore, Abbot Isaac (as we learn from
Cassian) with propriety calls such short prayers "pure
K

146 First cause of aridities.

libations, a true sacrifice, true and rich victims, holocausts
full of marrow." And St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom
teach, with St. Thomas, that " frequent prayers are necessary,
test devotion once kindled should become wholly extin
guished. For as wood," says St. Thomas, " when it has been
once kindled, is more easily kindled a second time, so the
mind, once stimulated to devotion, is afterwards more easily
recalled to its previous devotion," and this by means of
frequent ejaculations.

And therefore St. Teresa rightly bequeathed this admo
nition to her nuns in the way of perfection : " Apply your
selves, dearest Sisters, to mental prayer ; and, if any one is
unable to do this, let her exercise herself in vocal prayer,
and addict herself to spiritual reading and to pious collo
quies with God. Let her not suffer the hours of prayer to
slip by; for she knows not in what hour the Bridegroom
shall call her, lest that happen to her which befell the foolish
virgins ; or perchance His will may be to lay upon her a
greater burden, although tempered with some sweetness."

Such short prayers, moreover, are more useful if they
are not expressed in our own words, unless they were in
spired by a great ardour kindled in us by the Holy Spirit,
as were those of St. Ignatius when, raised from the earth,
he said : " O Lord, if men knew Thee, they would never
offend Thee" — O Domine, si te homines nossent, nunquam
te offenderent ; but ordinarily, and for the most part, they
should be expressed in the words of Holy Scripture. And
thus St. Basil, when treating of a manner of prayer, says :
"Select what thou sayest from the most Sacred Scriptures;"
and he sets forth a form of thanksgiving, woven from the
words of Holy Scripture, which is to be offered to God.
And this, too, was in the manner of the ancient Church, as
the same St. Basil writes in an Epistle to the Clergy of Neo-
Caesarea, and we see that the same has been done by the
Church in our Missals. And so it was formerly the custom
among the Egyptian monks, as Cassian testifies, while they
were incessantly working with their hands privately in their

First cause of aridities. 147

cells, that the meditation of Psalms, or of other passages of
Scripture, was never wholly laid aside. And St. Jerome,
writing from the monastery of Bethlehem, says : " Wherever
you turn, the ploughman, while he holds the handle of his
plough, sings Alleluia; the weary reaper refreshes himself
with psalms ; and the vine-dresser, shearing the grapes with
his hook, sings something from David."

When, however, the time of prayer is to be spent in
these short forms of speech, the single words should be
uttered with great ardour of spirit, and should be, as it were,
instinct with life ; to which St. John Climacus thus stirs us
up : " If ever you have stood before an earthly judge, you
will have no need of any other form for imitation now when
you present your prayer to God. But if you have never
yourself been accused, nor have seen others tried, you may,
even from the prayers which sick persons pour forth to
physicians when they are about to be cut or burnt, learn
something of this kind : Do not care to use choice language
in prayer, for often the simple and pure and stammering
words of infants have reconciled their Father Who is in
Heaven. Do not endeavour to speak much, lest your mind
be inflated by a curiosity about words. A single sentence
of the Publican appeased God ; one word of faith saved the
Thief. To speak much in prayer has often deluded the
mind with imaginations and relaxed the intention."

If, however, distractions arise from want of sleep, then
rise later. Thus St. Ignatius, when once he had slept less
than was his wont, and saw that he was unfit for prayer,
went to bed again, and afterwards devoutly prayed. Hence
the ancient monks, according to the testimony of St. Chrys-
ostom, after singing the praises of God at night in the
choir, again went to bed, that, when the day afterwards
dawned, they might be the more fitted for their monastic
exercises. This cause moved St. Teresa, that most wise
Superior of convents, to leave it written in her Book of
Foundations : " It would be much better if the nuns, after
saying their nocturnal Matins, all went to bed," in oppo-

148 Pirst cause of aridities.

sition to what is done by those indiscreet prioresses (whom
she there rebukes) who, themselves addicted to severities,
would unwisely lead all others in this their own way.

To this head belongs infirmity of body, which hinders
our wonted meditations and other exercises of devotion,
in which we should otherwise, if we could, like to employ
ourselves. But when we cannot, we must bear it with
equanimity, as our Lord taught St. Gertrude. " For when,
on a certain occasion, she was prevented from a strict
observance of her rule by reason of infirmity, and had sat
down to hear Vespers, out of the longing and grief of her
mind she said to our Lord : ' Would it not be more
to Thine honour, O Lord, that I should now be in the
convent choir, applying myself to prayer, and could devote
myself to the other regular exercises ; whereas now I arn
hindered by this infirmity, and waste so much time doing
nothing ? ' To whom the Lord answered : ' Does the
bridegroom seem to thee to delight less in the bride when
he enjoys her familiar converse in the house, than when
with pride he sees her going forth adorned to be looked
upon by the multitude ? ' By which she understood that
the soul then goes forth, as though adorned in public, when
she is exercised in good works to the glory of God ; but
that she rests as in her chamber with her spouse when she
is hindered from such work by bodily sickness ; because,
being then deprived of the delights of her own senses,
she is left to the Divine support alone. And hence it is
that our Lord takes so much the more pleasure in a
man, the less a man finds in himself matter for vain
delight or glory." And at another time, "when by hin
drance of a bodily infirmity she had waited upon God with
less alacrity, at last being restored to herself, and feeling her
conscience burdened, she desired humbly to confess her
fault to the Lord. And when she was fearing that she
would have to toil for a long time before she should
recover the sweetness of Divine grace, suddenly in an
instant she felt in herself the benignity of God, inclining to

First cause of aridities. 149

her His most loving embrace, and saying : ' Daughter, thou
art always with Me, and all that I have is thine.' By which
words she understood that, although a man may sometimes,
through human weakness, fail to direct his intention to
God, yet the loving compassion of God does not fail to
regard all our works as worthy of an eternal reward, if only
the will be not turned away from God, and if the man
frequently repents of all those things of which his conscience
accuses him. And once, when before a festival she felt sick
ness coming on, and she desired of our Lord that He would
preserve her in health until after the festival, or at least
would so temper her sickness that she should not be pre
vented from keeping that festival, she at the same time gave
herself up entirely to the Divine will. Upon which she
received from our Lord the following answer : ' By thus
seeking this blessing of Me, and yet giving thyself up to My
will, thou leadest Me to a garden of delights planted with
beds of flowers, and very pleasant to Me. But know that,
if I hear thee in this, that thou shouldst not be hindered
from My service, then I follow thee to the garden in which
thou dost more delight. But if I hear thee not, and thou
perseverest in patience, then shalt thou follow Me to that
in which I take greater delight, because I find more plea
sure in thee, if thou hast desire with affliction, than if
thou hadst devotion with enjoyment.' "

But if dryness arise from our negligence (a point to be
explained in our fourth chapter), then we must be careful
not to fall into any of our negligences.

Finally, there is an unblameworthy instability of our
nature which is of itself sometimes the cause of distractions
and wanderings of mind. Therefore St. Ambrose, treating
of the ordinary condition of men, says : " Frequently the
enticement of earthly desires has crept in, and an over
flowing of vanities occupies the mind, so that the thing
which you study to avoid, this you think of, and revolve in
your soul. To guard against this is difficult for a man ; to
get rid of it, impossible. And the Prophet testifies that

150 Second cause of aridities.

this is a matter of desire rather than of effort, saying :
1 Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to
covetousness.'3 For our heart is not in our own power,
and our thoughts which flood unexpectedly and confound
the mind and the soul, draw one off in a direction different
from that which he had purposed, calling him away to
secular affairs, bringing worldly things into the mind, sug
gesting voluptuous thoughts, weaving enticements ; and at
the very moment when we think to raise our mind aloft,
we are often cast down to earthly things by the intrusion
of vain thoughts." But how distractions which thus arise
are to be driven away, will be considered hereafter.

CHAPTER III.
On the second caiise of aridities.

THE second cause of dryness is the Demon. "The whole
of the war," says St. Nilus, " which is carried on between
us and the demons, is about nothing else than prayer.
For to them prayer is very hurtful and odious, but to us
it is salutary and our best friend." Hence the Abbot Mar-
cellus, while abiding in the desert, when one night he had
arisen to sing psalms, and had begun to sing them, heard
the sound of a horn, as though proclaiming war, and was
wondering how the sound of a horn came to be heard
in that place, since there was there neither war nor soldiers.
As he was revolving these things with himself, the demon
came near and said to him : " Assuredly it is war • if there
fore thou art unwilling to be assailed, or to fight, go, sleep,
and thou shalt not be assailed." And things like this,
concerning a trumpet which was heard summoning the
demons to attack those who were praying, are related by
St. John Climacus, and in the Spiritual Meadow.
3 Psalm cxviii. 36.

Second cause of aridities. 151

Now, dryness, like every temptation which proceeds
from him, may be caused by the demon in two ways, as
St. Syncletica has said, from within and from without :
"As a ship," she says, "is sometimes crushed by the
motions of the waves from without, and sometimes is sunk
by the water filling her hold within." And, first, the
demon assaults those who pray, externally and immediately,
when, by the Divine permission, he himself molests us
in our prayers. Of which St. Athanasius gives examples
in his Life of St. Antony, and St. Jerome in his Life of
St. Hilarion, and St. Gregory in his Dialogues, and Caesarius
the Cistercian in his 5th book on Miracles. And that is a
well known history which we read in different places in
the lives of the Fathers, concerning St. Macarius the
younger, of Alexandria, as related by himself: "That at
a certain time of the night the demon knocked at the door
of his cell, saying, 'Rise, Abbot Macarius, and let us
go to the choir, where the brethren are assembled in
vigil.' And when he said, 'O liar and enemy of truth,
what fellowship hast thou with the choir of the saints?'
the demon replied : ' Art thou ignorant, O Macarius,
that there is no meeting and no choir of monks
held without us? Come, then, and thou shalt see our
works.' Hereupon, having first uttered a prayer, he went
to the choir, where vigil was kept by the brethren; and
he saw throughout the whole church as it were a number
of small loathsome Ethiopian boys, passing hither and
thither, as though they were borne about on wings. And as
they ran about, these Ethiopians kept teazing the different
monks as they sat ; and if they pressed their two fingers
against the eyes of any one, he instantly fell asleep ;
and if they put their finger into the mouth of any one, they
made him yawn. And when, after the psalm, the Brothers
had prostrated themselves for prayer, they still ran about
each one ; and before one who was kneeling in prayer they
appeared in the form of women, and before another as
though building and carrying something, and doing all

152 Second cause of aridities.

kinds of different things. And whatever the demons repre
sented in their antics, the same was reflected in the hearts
of those who were praying. By some, indeed, when they
began to do any of these things, they were forcibly repulsed
and cast down headlong, so that they did not venture even
to stand by them or to pass near them. But with others, and
even with some who were sick, they played on their necks
and backs because they were not intent on their prayers. And
when St. Macarius saw these things, he groaned aloud, and
shedding tears, he prayed ; and after prayer, that he might
examine into the truth of the matter, having called those
Brothers aside, one by one, before whose faces he had seen
the demons in different attitudes and with different repre
sentations, he asked of them what thoughts they had, and
each of them confessed that he had had in his heart such
things as he conjectured. And thus he understood that
corrupt thoughts in prayer are wrought by the tricks of
demons."

But since it cannot be discerned without the peculiar
light of God, whether the corrupt thoughts which arise in us
and cause aridities, and whether these aridities themselves,
proceed from the demon tempting us inwardly or out
wardly, we need not dwell on this question. For in what
ever manner he produces this dryness, we must follow the
advice of St. Basil : " If at any time the devil attempts
to ensnare us, and strives by a violent onset to implant
thoughts which he has fashioned, like burning arrows, in
the quiet and peaceable state of our soul — and endeavours
to set it on fire by an unexpected assault, and when he
has once driven his shafts in, to keep alive a long re
membrance of them most difficult to be effaced — certainly
snares of this kind are to be guarded against and resisted
with special vigilance, and with most earnest endeavour :
and the method of skilled athletes should be imitated, who
elude the assaults of their adversaries by the greatest
attention of mind, as well as by agility and swiftness of
body. So ought we to avoid the onset, and escape from

Second cause of aridities. 153

such weapons by prayer and by imploring the Divine aid.
For this St. Paul taught us when he said, ' In all things
taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to
extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.' " i

The second manner in which aridities proceed from
the devil is mediate or remote, and arises from corrupt
habits acquired through evil acts — which have been com
mitted by the instigation of the devil, such as conver
sations idle, or on secular matters — or through a previous
defective custody of the senses : or those things which we
have seen out of curiosity, or which we have at any time
done by our own fault, find their way into our mind at the
time of prayer by corrupt suggestions, which St. Macarius
calls "thefts of thought," and St. Lawrence Justinian
" a theft from the soul in prayer," because they steal those
portions of time which they occupy while we pray. On
which subject the same St. Macarius thus speaks in the
same place : " The soul which has been involved in sin
(that is, in consequence of sins yielded to in the past) is
like a great wood on a mountain, or like reeds in a river,
or a thicket of thorns and underwood, which if any one
will pass through, he must keep his hands extended, for
he will not without effort and labour keep back the matter
which presses upon him. In some such, way, a crowd
of thoughts welling up through the power of the adversary
press in upon the soul. But the true foundation of prayer is
to watch diligently over our thoughts," that is, lest those
which are foreign to the proposed matter of meditation
invade and carry us off in another direction. But if such
thoughts, by the influence of the demon, invade you against
your will, " strive," says St. Nilus, " to keep your mind deaf
and dumb at the time of prayer ; " that is, do not liste'n to
those things which he puts into the mind. Do not inquire
what he suggests, do not try to recall what you had for
gotten, as the same writer counsels in the same place.

When we are harassed by such dryness, there are three

1 Ephes. vi. 16.

154 Second cause of aridities.

things to be done : (i) Let us humble ourselves before
God. (2) Let us grieve over the occasions that we have
given for them. (3) If we are urged by thoughts of
blasphemy against God and Divine things, let us not be
terrified, nor let us dispute with the devil, but, as St. John
Climacus advises, "let us despise him. For," he says,
"he who despises this spirit, escapes free; but he who
endeavours to struggle with him in another way, will at
last succumb. And he who thinks to restrain the spirit
of blasphemy by words, is like one who strives to hold the
winds and the lightning in his hands. And a demon of
this kind is wont to tarry for the most part in the minds
of the more simple and pure, because these are wont to
be more vehemently shaken and troubled by such thoughts
than others." (4) Nevertheless, let us still endeavour to
pray, and to sail against the wind ; for, as St. Macarius
teaches, " men are able to obtain such things as they desire
in prayer, by driving forth imaginations as they arise, and
walking according to the will of the Lord." Concerning
which thing St. Basil thus writes : " Although the demon
during prayer presents corrupt images of things to our
minds, yet must we not for that reason desist from
prayer, nor must we think that the corrupt seed which is
sown by the enemy, or the suggestions introduced by this
many-faced juggler, are our own ; but rather, when we have
considered the matter with ourselves, and have attributed
the causes of such corrupt thoughts to the author of evil,
we must then use more earnest efforts, and implore of God
to cast out of our soul as an affliction every such evil
imagination, that our minds may thus be enabled freely and
swiftly to come to Him without any delay or impediment,
and not be hindered from their proposed course by any
incursions of evil thoughts. But if, through the audacity of
the adversary, the force of such wicked thoughts rises to
still greater violence, neither are we then to succumb,
or be dejected in spirit; nor are we to abandon the conflicts
which we had taken in hand, when they are but half

Second cause of aridities. 155

accomplished, but we must endure firmly, until God, having
seen our constancy, shall shine upon us and illuminate us
with the grace of the Holy Spirit, so as to put the adversary
to flight, and purify our mind, and fill it with Divine light,
and give to our reason, established in most peaceful tran
quillity, freedom for worshipping God."

But if God, for reasons known to Himself, leave us
against our will in wanderings and aridities of mind, let
us not be saddened, because even then our prayer and
meditation, although arid, will yet please God. For temp
tations which afflict us in prayer are even beneficial. For,
as St. Hilary observes, in the fifth book of his homilies
on Job, a work which has perished, but which is quoted by
St. Augustine, " so great and so admirable is the goodness
of the mercy of God towards us, that even through him
by whom, in the sin of Adam, we lost the splendour of
that first and blessed creation, we may again merit to regain
that which we have lost. For then the devil through envy
injured us, but now, when he strives to injure, he is van
quished. Through the weakness of the flesh, indeed, he sets
in motion all the weapons of his power, when he inflames
us to lust, when he entices us to drunkenness, when he
excites us to hatred, when he provokes us to avarice, when
he leads us to murder, when he embitters us to cursing.
But when, through the strength of the soul, the stealthy
incentives to all these crimes are repressed, we are freed
from sin by the glory of this victory."

Concerning which subject there also exists an excellent
lesson given by the most Blessed Virgin to St. Bridget.
For, when St. Bridget was tempted in her prayer, the most
Holy Mary said to her: "The devil is like a hostile
spy, seeking to accuse the good, and to hinder them
from being heard by God in their prayers. Wherefore,
with whatever temptation thou art assailed in prayer, never
theless pray, and endeavour to pray, because the desire
and good endeavour will be reckoned as effectual prayer.
And if thou art unable to cast out evil things which

156 Second caiise of aridities.

come into the mind, then the effort itself will be im
puted to thee unto a crown, so long as thou dost not
consent to the temptations, and they are against thy will."
And Christ our Lord taught her similar things in another
place.

And so in aridities caused by the demons, if we resist
them, that is most true which was said by St. Chrysostom,
"that the demons often aid us when they assail us." With
reference to which Abbot Moses, when he heard from
Cassian2 that he had been freed from spiritual sloth by
recourse to the Abbot Paul, rightly observed : " You have
not freed yourself from it ; but rather you have shown that
you are delivered up and subject to it. For the adversary,
since he has seen you suddenly flying, vanquished, from the
conflict, will henceforth assault you more fiercely, as a
deserter and fugitive, unless, when the attack is made, you
refuse to escape at the moment its violent assaults, by
deserting your cell or by the torpor of sleep, and learn to
triumph by bearing and opposing it. Whence it* is proved
by experience that the attack of spiritual laziness is not to be
avoided and fled from, but is to be overcome by resistance.
And this too is taught by St. Thomas. "Sin," he says,
"is always to be fled from, according to the passage in
Ecclesiasticus : ' Flee from sin as from the face of a
serpent.'3 But the assaults of sin are to be overcome some
times by flying and sometimes by resisting : by flying, when
continuous thought increases the power of temptation, as
in the case of lust. Hence it is said, 'Flee fornication.'4
By resisting, when persevering in thought diminishes the
power of temptation, which arises from slightness of appre
hension ; and this is the case with sloth ; because the
longer we think of spiritual blessings, the more attractive
do they become to us; and thus our indifference ceases."

And therefore St. Bernard has with propriety admon
ished us : " When you feel yourself affected with torpor,
sloth, or weariness, do not for that reason become dis-

2 Conferences, bk. x. 3 Ecclus. xxi. 2. 4 i Cor. vi. 18.

Third cause oj aridities. 157

trustful, or desist from your spiritual study; but ask for
the hand of God to help you, imploring to be drawn,
like the bride5; until, by the renewed assistance of grace, you
become more prompt, and run with greater alacrity, and
say, 'I have run the way of Thy commandments, when
Thou didst enlarge my heart.'"6 And, in another place:
" When you begin, sadness will fill your heart ; but if you
persevere, your sadness will be turned into joy. For then
your affections will be purified, and your will freshened, or
rather it will be created anew ; so that in all things which
at first seemed difficult, or even impossible, you will run
with much sweetness and avidity."

CHAPTER IV.

On the third cause of aridities.

ARIDITIES, moreover, often proceed from God. " God
tries us with one view," says St. Ambrose, " the devil with
another; the devil tries that he may destroy, God tries
that He may crown." Now, among temptations we must
place dryness in devotion. " It has sometimes happened,"
says St. Lawrence Justinian, "by the just and loving
permission of God, that the mind has been afflicted with
a kind of spiritual lukewarmness, and with a certain
privation of Divine delights, so that it could in no way
raise itself aloft. When it wants to apply to reading, it is
oppressed with sleep ; when it endeavours to remember the
inevitable dissolution of the body, and the hour of its
departure, or the terror of the Last Judgment, and the fire
of eternal torment, so as to feel compunction, it is not able ;
when it ardently strives to give itself to prayer and medita-

5 Canticles i. 4. 6 Psalm cxviii. 32.

158 Third ca^lse of aridities.

tion, and, lying prostrate before God, with frequent strikings
of the breast and bitter groanings, it implores the favour of
Heaven, it is almost entirely dried up and destitute of the
sweetness of charity." And this happens generally in the
following ways, in which Abbot Theodore teaches us, that
men are tried by God, as Cassian tells us.

(1) As a punishment for some sin, or tepidity in
spiritual studies or exercises, as our holy Father St. Ignatius
says, or because of pride or presumption. " Sometimes it
happens," says St. Gregory, "that this grace is profitably
withdrawn, so that the mind which is guilty of presumption
may be shown its own infirmity. For it is then that we
know whence our blessings proceed, when, by losing them,
we learn that we are unable to preserve them." And
St. John Climacus says, "Sometimes even tears are wont
to puff up some who are light-minded, wherefore they are
sometimes withdrawn by the Divine dispensation, that, when
they see themselves deprived of them, 'they may seek them
more earnestly, acknowledge their misery, and exercise
contrition with groans and grief and sorrow of mind, and
profound sadness and self-distrust ; all which things do the
work of tears, although they are by us regarded too lightly,
and as of no worth." And St. Bernard says the like. There
fore St. Lawrence Justinian writes with truth : " As there
is no one, who does not offend at least by many venial sins,
so no one is found (except some divinely privileged) from
whom heavenly consolation is not often withdrawn."

(2) God permits temptations and aridities for an increase
of merit, which we acquire by resisting them and by
humbling ourselves, on such occasions, before God. And
therefore St. John Climacus says well, "Nothing procures
so many crowns for the monk as temptation to sloth. If you
consider carefully, you will find that it assails those who
are standing on their feet by weariness, and those who are
sitting it persuades to lean against a wall." But if these
inclinations are resisted from reverence towards God, merits
are accumulated. And this was revealed to St. Catharine

Third cause of aridities. 159

of Bologna, as will hereafter be quoted. Whence St. Teresa
rightly admonished her nuns : " If, after we have done our
part, God does not always bestow upon us delight and
sweetness, it is because He reserves it for the future, that
He may give it to us unceasingly in Heaven ; and because
He wishes to treat us as brave soldiers, by laying upon us
the Cross in this world, even as His Divine Majesty bore it
while He lived on earth. For what purer and better love
can He show us, than to give us that very thing which He
elsewhere chooses for Himself? And indeed it is possible
that contemplation itself should not yield us such a reward."
Truly, therefore, the most Blessed Virgin Mary said to
St. Bridget, "Thou oughtest not to be troubled if some
times thy heart is hard, for this is in order to a greater
crown," as well because of patience, as because of the
humiliation of ourselves, which is wont to follow in us.
And this was declared by a certain old man, in the Lives
of the Fathers, by the following similitude : " If the miller,"
he said, " were not to cover the eyes of the animal who goes
round in the mill, the animal would turn and eat up the
fruit of his labours ; so also we are blinded, by the dispen
sation of God, lest we should see the good things which we
work, and perhaps, by thinking ourselves blessed, should
lose our reward. For this reason then are we left, through
intervals of time, beset wholly by sordid thoughts, that, when
we look upon those same thoughts, we may condemn
ourselves by our own judgment. For those very thoughts
are as a veil over our little measure of good works ; " and
so, by not knowing them, we humble ourselves, and thus
acquire merit.

(3) "In order," says Abbot Daniel, according to Cassian,
"that our perseverance, or constancy of mind, and our
desire may be tried, and that it may be shown in us with
what earnestness of heart, or perseverance in prayers, we
seek for the visitation of the Holy Spirit, when He is
forsaking us." "When a man begins to make progress,"
says St. Bernard, "that is, to live piously in Christ, it is

160 Third caitse of aridities.

necessary, according to the testimony of Scripture,1 that he
' suffer persecution;' that the joy which he has begun to
experience should be turned into grief, and that the
sweetness of grace which has scarcely touched his lips be
turned to bitterness, so that he shall feel inclined to say,
'My harp is turned to wailing, and my song to weeping.'
Therefore he more bitterly laments the sweetness which he
has lost, than he had previously in confession wept over the
bitterness of his sins; and this he continues to do until,
through the compassion of God, consolation returns. And
when that returns anew, he knows that the temptation which
he has endured was a probation and not abandonment. And,
moreover, that the probation was for instruction and not for
destruction, as it is written: 'Thou visitest him at daybreak,
and suddenly thou provest him.' "

(4) " In order," as the same Abbot Daniel observes in
the same place, " that, knowing with how great labour that
lost spiritual joy and gladness of purity is acquired, we may
strive more anxiously to preserve it when it is found, and to
keep it more carefully. For we are accustomed to guard
with less care anything which we think can be easily
recovered."

(5) For the trying of ourselves, whether we will serve
God in the time of desolation, and, as our holy Father
St. Ignatius says, " that we may be proved, what we are,
and how we spend ourselves in the service and for the
honour of God, without any present reward of spiritual
consolations and gifts. "Sometimes the Bridegroom does
not return," says St. Bernard, " at the voice and prayer of
her who recalls Him (that is, of one who implores the help
of God in a time of dryness). Wherefore ? That the desire
may increase, that the affection may be proved, that love
may be exercised. Surely this is simulation and not indig
nation. But it remains that He be sought, if perchance He
may be found when He is sought for, Who does not come
when He is called. As our Lord saith, * He that seeketh

1 2 Tim. iii. 12. z Job vii. 18.

Third cause of aridities. 1 6 1

findeth.'3 For which cause Moses has forewarned us :
*The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear
whether you love Him with all your heart, and with all
your soul, or no.'"4 " And this," says Abbot Daniel, "we
see mystically prefigured in the Book of Judges, concerning
the extermination of the spiritual Gentiles who are opposed
to Israel. For these," he says, " are the nations whom the
Lord left, that by them He might teach Israel, and that
they might have the habit of fighting with their enemies."
And shortly afterwards : " The Lord sent them that by
them He might make trial of Israel, whether they would
hear the commands of the Lord, which He had commanded
to their fathers by the hand of Moses, or not." And this
battle God reserved for them, not as hating them, or
thinking evil towards them, but as knowing it to be most
profitable for them ; so that, when they were at any time
oppressed by the attack of their enemies, they might feel
that they could not dispense with the assistance of the
Lord ; and that, by always for that reason continuing in
meditation upon Him, and invocation of His name, they
might not grow relaxed through want of opportunity of
meritorious combat, nor lose the habit of fighting, and the
exercise of virtue ; for frequently security and prosperity
have cast down those whom adversity has not been able to
overcome.

(6) That we may acknowledge that it is not in our own
hand and power to pray well, but that this depends entirely
on the bounty of God. " Very many," says St. Bernard,
"when they are fed with the bread of the children (that is, by
that pleasant sweetness in prayer), think themselves to be of
the children ;. and falling away by the very means by which
they ought to go forward, from the very visitation of grace
they grow more dark in conscience, thinking themselves to
be something when they are nothing, and so are not
improved by the blessings of God, but hardened." And
so it is that, after sweetness in prayer which is not

3 St. Matt. vii. 8. 4 Deut. xiii. 3.

L

1 62 Third cause of aridities.

accepted with a humble mind, God sends the affliction of
dryness, that it may be acknowledged that the sweetness of
prayer and the affections of Divine consolation are His
work and blessing. "The Redeemer Himself," says
St. Macarius, "by coming, changes the thoughts of the
soul, and makes them Divine, heavenly, and good, and
teaches the soul the true manner of prayer, which is neither
distracted nor wandering; still, the soul itself, on its part, can
do something, like one that collects her wandering children,
and, chastening the thoughts that have been dissipated by sin,
leads them back into the home of the body." And as this
cannot be done without Divine assistance, let us fortify
ourselves against elation of mind, which might assail us if
we never suffered aridity. " How many," says St. Bernard,
" have not been benefited by receiving grace, because they
have not at the same time received the chastening of truth.
For from this cause they have taken much pleasure in
the grace which they had received, forgetting to look
upon the truth. And hence it came to pass that they
were, by grace, deprived of those things in which they
chose selfishly to exult ; to whom it might be said too late :
Go and learn what this is — ' Serve ye the Lord with fear,
and rejoice unto Him with trembling.'5 For a certain holy
soul had said in its abundance, ' I shall never be moved/
when suddenly it felt the face of the Word turned from it,
and itself not only moved, but even 'troubled;'6 and thus
it learned, in sadness, that it needed, along with the gift of
devotion, also the steadying ballast of truth."

(7) A seventh cause is assigned by Abbot Daniel (in
Cassian) : " In order," he says, " that when we are for a
season forsaken by the Lord, we may, by humbly contem
plating our weakness, escape being exalted by our previous
purity of heart, which is bestowed upon us by His visitation;
and that, while we try ourselves when forsaken by Him, we
may understand that we cannot recover that state of joy and
purity by our groans and our industry, but that our past joy
5 Psalm ii. u. 6 Psalm xxix. 8.

Third cause of aridities. 163

of heart was conferred upon us, not by our own efforts but
by His favour, and that our present joy must be sought for by
the renewal of His grace and His illumination." And our
holy Father St. Ignatius teaches the same thing in his Exer
cises : " That we may be quite sure that it is not of our
own strength either to acquire or to retain the fervour of
devotion, the vehemence of love, the abundance of tears,
and every other internal consolation, but that all these
things are the free gifts of God, which, if we claim as our
own, we shall incur the guilt of pride and vainglory, not
without grave peril of our salvation." And this is the
doctrine of Christ our Lord Himself, which was delivered
to St. Bridget : " Evil thoughts, although they do not enrich
and satisfy the soul, like the unction of good thoughts, yet
profit to the purification of the soul, as mustard to the
clearing of the brain. For if evil thoughts did not sometimes
intervene, a man would be an angel, and not a man ; and
man would think he had all things from himself. Therefore,
that a man may understand his weakness, which he has from
himself, and the strength which he has from Me, it is neces
sary that he should be permitted, in great mercy, sometimes
to be tempted by evil thoughts ; to which, if a man does not
consent, there is a purification of his soul and a confirmation
of his virtues ; and although, like mustard, they are some
times sharp to endure, yet they greatly heal the soul, and
draw it to eternal life and health, which cannot be accom
plished without bitterness. Therefore let the vessels of the
soul, in which good thoughts shall be stored, be carefully
prepared and continually cleansed, because it is useful that
even evil thoughts should come, for its probation and
greater merit. But let the soul labour diligently, that it
do not consent to them, or delight in them." But, by
humbling itself before God, let it implore His aid, and, as
St. Macarius advises, " Let us take our body, and build an
altar, on which we may place all our thoughts, and let us
ask of the Lord that He will send from Heaven His
invisible and most powerful fire, to consume both the altar

1 64 Third cause of aridities.

and all that is on it, and that all the priests of Baal (that is,,
the powers of the adversary), may be destroyed. And then
shall we feel the spiritual rain coming upon our soul, at first
' like a man's foot/7 so that the Divine promise may be
fulfilled in us, which is spoken by the Prophet,8 ' I will raise
up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and I will close up
the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was
fallen,' that the Lord may through His loving kindness
illuminate the soul which lies in night, in darkness, and
in the intoxication of ignorance (as happens to the mind
which remains in aridity) ; so that, being awakened (by the
grace of devotion sent down from Heaven), it may walk
without stumbling, doing the works of the day and of life."
And to this effect our Lord beautifully replied to St. Gertrude,
" Out of my great concern for thy salvation, I sometimes
raise thee through contemplation, and admit thee to My
secrets ; at other times, for the preservation of thy humility,
I shut thee out from them, that when thou receivest, thou
mayest discover what thou art from Me ; and again, when
thou lackest, thou mayest acknowledge what thou art of
thyself." And at another time, "when, on the occasion
of a festival, she was hindered in singing by a pain in the
head, she asked of the Lord why He frequently allowed this
to happen to her in the time of festivals. To which she
received this answer, ' Lest, perchance, being lifted up by
the delights of melody, thou shouldst be found less meet to
receive grace.' And she replied, ' But Thy grace, O Lord,
could ward off this fall in me.' To which the Lord made
answer, l It conduces more to a man's progress that the
occasion of falling is taken from one by suffering from sick
ness, because there thus accrues to him a double merit,
namely that of patience and that of humility.' " And thus
St. Lawrence Justinian wrote : " Wisdom also withdraws
itself, that it may preserve by humbling him whom it loves.
For it is the deepest kind of humiliation for one who loves
purely and vehemently to be deprived of the presence of the
7 3 Kings xviii. 44. 8 Amos ix. n.

Third caiise of aridities. 165

beloved one. And it is better to be humbled innocently
than with just cause, for innocence accumulates merit."

(8) Finally, God sends dryness for His own honour
and pleasure. For, as St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi was
divinely taught in a rapture : " The Holy Spirit so orders
it with the reasonable plants which He has planted in the
holy Church, by a kind of spiritual exchange, that the juicy
plant partakes of the aridity of the dry one, and conversely ;
from which greater honour redounds to God than if each
plant remained always in its own condition of dryness or
richness." And as St. Chrysostom observes : " God deals
with all His saints, suffering them to have neither continual
tribulations nor continual sweetness, but He weaves the life
of the just now from prosperity and again from adversity,
with a kind of admirable variety." And he notes that this
was done by God in the life of Christ. But when He wills
that we should be arid in prayer, and sees us conformed to
His will, He takes pleasure in such resignation and in our
perseverance in dryness, and at the same time in prayer,
although He does not concede to us the sense of devotion
which we ask of Him; for this is honourable to us. Hence
St. Nilus solaces his friends, and counsels them in the
following manner : " Seek not of God too earnestly that
you should have an immediate answer to your prayer, for
He wishes to bless you more lastingly while you persevere
in prayer. For what is more excellent than to converse
with God, and to be detained in intercourse with Him ? "
Several other causes of the withdrawal of devotion, and of dry-
ness, given by St. Bonaventure and Gerson, will be mentioned
hereafter in this treatise. Nearly all of these are suggested
by St. Bernard in the following words : " Fear not, O bride,
do not despair, think not thyself despised, if for a little
while the Bridegroom withdraws His face from thee. All
these things ' work together unto good * for thee, and thou
gainest both by His approach and by His departure. He
comes to thee : He also leaves thee. He comes to console
thee : He departs to warn thee, lest the greatness of thy

1 66 Third caitse of aridities.

consolation should puff thee up ; lest, the Bridegroom being
always with thee, thou shouldst begin to despise thy com
panions, and shouldst attribute this continuous visitation
not to grace, but to nature. Now this grace is not possessed
by right of inheritance ; but the Bridegroom bestows it on
whom He wills and when He wills. It is a common
proverb that too much familiarity breeds contempt. He
withdraws therefore lest He should be despised on account
of His too great assiduity, that, when absent, He may be
the more desired ; that, when desired, He may be the more
eagerly sought; that, when long sought, He may at last
be the more graciously found. Besides, if consolation were
never lacking to us here (which in comparison with the
glory which shall be revealed is now bestowed * in a dark
manner,' and ' in part '),9 we should perhaps think that we
had here a ' lasting city,' and should the less ' seek one
that is to come.' 10 Let us not then mistake the land of
exile for our native country, nor the pledge for the whole
reward ; the Bridegroom comes and He departs, at one
time bringing us consolation, at another turning our whole
bed to sickness ; for a little while He permits us to taste
how sweet He is, and before we have fully felt it, He with
draws ; and thus, as it were, flying over us with outstretched
wings, He challenges us to fly likewise. But, assure thyself,
O bride, when the Bridegroom absents Himself, He does
not go far away, and if thou see Him not, yet He, Who is
full of eyes before and behind, sees thee always. He ever
has about thee too His ministering spirits like wise and
prudent watchers, that He may see how thou bearest thyself
when the Bridegroom is absent, and that they may accuse
thee before Him if they detect any signs of impurity or
levity in thee. For this Bridegroom is jealous. If thou
shouldst perchance receive another lover, if thou shouldst
study to please others more than Him, He would imme
diately depart from thee, and give Himself to others. This
Bridegroom is choice and delicate ; He is noble and rich ;
9 i Cor. xiii. 12. 10 Heb. xiii. 14

Third cause of aridities. 167

He is * beautiful above the sons of men/ n and therefore it
is fitting that He should have no other than a beautiful
bride. If He should see in thee 'spot or wrinkle,'12 imme
diately He turns away His eyes. For He can endure no
uncleanness. Be thou therefore chaste; be modest and
humble, that thus thou mayest deserve to be often visited
by thy Bridegroom."

And this is the cause of the withholding of sensible
devotion which is touched upon by St. Lawrence Justinian,
in his treatise on the Interior Conflict. " Spiritual sweet
ness," he says, "is to be taken sparingly, lest disgust should
be engendered by immoderate enjoyment. This is suggested
by the Wise Man, who says : 13 " Thou hast found honey,
eat what is sufficient for thee, lest being glutted thou vomit
it up." Spiritual devotion therefore is not to be pursued to
satiety, lest contempt be engendered of too great familiarity,
or weariness of imprudent assiduity."

If dryness arise in the first manner, that is, as a punish
ment for some sin, or for pride or presumption, we ought
to be glad, because satisfaction for the offence is thus, to
a certain extent, given to God. For this cause Father Louis
de Ponte rejoiced that Hell and Purgatory existed; and
such a joy arises from a solid love towards God, and from
a righteous hatred of sin, and from high thoughts of the
Divine excellence, and a reverence of His majesty. Besides,
as St. Diadochus warns us : " We ought to give thanks to
God because, by depriving us of consolation, He has
chastened the intemperance of our will, that, like a good
Father, He may teach us the difference between virtue and
vice."

If dryness arise in other ways, we should likewise
rejoice, because it is the will of God thus to deal with
us ; and conformity to His will is not of less but of greater
importance, and is a heroic act of the obedience which we
owe to God, as well as an act of charity ; whence we see
that the great servants of God have been troubled with

11 Psalm xliv. 3. 12 Ephes. v. 27. 13 Prov. xxv. 16.

1 68 Third cause of aridities.

such aridities. St. Teresa suffered them for eighteen years,
as she writes of herself in her Life, and as Father Ribera
relates of her. So St. Francis, during two years pined away
in the greatest sadness, even in time of prayer, and seemed
to be forsaken by God, so that he could not conceal his
sorrow, and he could hold no converse with the brethren,
nor could he drive it away by prayer. St. Clara of Monte-
falco was for eleven consecutive years variously tormented
by demons, and deprived of celestial visions, in which she
had previously abounded. Father Alvarez had sixteen
years of aridity. St. Catharine of Bologna was very deso
late for five years, and tormented with illusions of the
demon, as she writes of herself, and as Father Grassette
tells of her in her Life. But the most remarkable example
of the kind is that of St. Angela of Foligno, as she tells
us of herself, relating unheard of aridities of spirit, and
temptations of the demon which she suffered in body and
soul for the space of two years. So also St. Mary Magdalen
dei Pazzi, first for five years, and afterwards for other six
teen consecutive years, suffered the greatest aridity, even
unto death, so that it seemed as though she were forsaken
by God, and without any sense of the Divine grace ; which
God Himself had forewarned her would happen to her.
" Let him not despair," says St. Lawrence Justinian, writing
on the triumphant agony of Christ, "who surfers in this
way, let him persevere in good, so that by good he may
learn to do well. For God does not leave those who are
occupied in that which is good. He is wont to visit them
in darkness, when they hope not for it, and when they
know not of it."

CHAPTER V.

With what disposition aridities of soul in prayer
are to be received.

EVEN beginners must know whence aridities arise ; and that
we ought not, on account of them, to break off our medi
tations and prayers. It is the object of the demon to induce
us to leave off when we pray without the relish of devotion.
Let us, therefore, at such times persevere in it, taught by
the example of Christ ; Who " being in an agony (a time of
the greatest aridity) prayed the longer."1 "For a grateful
mind," says St. Lawrence Justinian, " and one that is truly
wounded by the dart of charity, neglects nothing which it is
its duty to perform. It exercises the same virtues, and is as
earnest in prayer, when it suffers the deprivation of spiritual
joy, as when it is replenished with Divine warmth, although
it does not do it with the same enjoyment. For it is taught
by the instruction of wisdom to know that it becomes more
worthy of greater gifts after labours and conflicts. And
this is what the Prophet meant when he said : ' According
to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart Thy comforts
have given joy to my soul.'2 But this is the case with few ;
for it is the most conspicuous proof of perfect charity not
to lose one's confidence in adversity, and always to exercise
virtues uniformly, and to persevere under the discipline of
God with the same mind and the same countenance." It
often happens that, after aridities have been courageously
borne, whilst praying and meditating in a state of dryness,
as the same Saint elsewhere remarks, " and one persevering
1 St. Luke xxii. 43. 2 Psalm xciii. 19.

1 70 With what disposition aridities of soul

in prayer knocks so that it may be opened, suddenly he is
filled with sweetness, and radiant with light, and a flood of
tears begins to flow forth in rich abundance ; and he who
had been hard at heart as a stone is now melted by a look
from above, so that he is now unable to refrain from tears
because of the sweetness and joy produced by the presence
of the Word, as it is said in the Psalms, ' Who shall stand
before the face of His cold ? He shall send out His Word,
and shall melt them : His wind shall blow, and the waters
shall run.'"3 "Thou oughtest chiefly to humble thyself,"
says Thomas a Kempis, "when thou feelest little or no
devotion within, but not to be too much cast down, nor
inordinately saddened." For if these things arise from our
own present fault, we should rejoice that God is by them
punishing our sins. In this sense David said, " It is good
for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy
justifications."4

But if God sends dryness on account of a past fault,
even then, when we have done our part and used every
means for praying well, we must not desist from prayer.
For as St. Nilus remarks, speaking of the promise of Christ :
" He who seeketh long and much, findeth, and to him that
knocketh, it shall be opened."5 Cry to God, implore His
aid ; because, as St. John Climacus tells us, " If you con
tinually ask help of your King against your enemies, be con
fident that when they come, you will not have to struggle
much. They will depart from you of their own accord ;
nor can impure and corrupt spirits bear to look upon you
when you receive your crown after their assaults." And
St. Bernard speak to the same effect in his twenty-first
Sermon on the Canticles.

If, however, aridities do not arise from your own fault ;
first of all, remember the advice of St. Diadochus : " It
behoves us," he says, "to grieve in moderation that we find
ourselves forsaken, that we may be the more submissive,
and more subject to the glory of God." Secondly, as he

3 Psalm cxlvii. 17, 18. 4 Psalm cxviii. 71. 5 St. Luke xi.

in prayer are to be received. 171

further remarks in the same place, " We ought to rejoice on
such occasions, exulting in a good hope," that is, in the
hope of future devotion. Which is also commended by our
holy Father St. Ignatius in the Book of Exercises. Besides,
we ought to rejoice, because they give occasion for merits ;
which are often greater when we pray and communicate in
dryness of spirit. On which subject there is an admirable
counsel and example given by St. Catharine of Bologna in
an Italian treatise, written, as she tells us, by Divine inspira
tion, concerning the arms which are necessary for the
spiritual combat. In this little book she writes : " After she
had been long and grievously tempted concerning the
presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and had been Divinely
taught to know the truth of this dogma, God showed her
how a person who communicates without the relish of
devotion, yet truly receives the grace of the Sacrament, so
long as one has a good conscience, although the spirit be
tried with reference to the faith ; or again, so long as one
does not consent to the doubt, if he communicates in spite
of the assaults spoken of, bearing patiently the trial of the
spirit, this is a greater merit of the soul than if one were to
communicate with much sweetness and enjoyment."

And the Lord gave a similar testimony to St. Gertrude :
" When she was praying for one who alleged that the grace
of devotion was more sparingly infused into her on a day in
which she was about to communicate than on some other
ordinary days, the Lord answered her, ' This is not by
accident, but by dispensation j because, when on ordinary
days, and at unexpected hours, I pour forth the grace of
devotion, I strive in this way to raise the heart of man to
Myself, which otherwise would at that time perhaps remain
in its insensibility. But when, on festal days or at the time
of Communion, I withdraw grace, the hearts of My elect are
more exercised by intensity of desires, or by humility. And
such a desire and such a contrition avail more for their
salvation than would sometimes the grace of devotion.'"
And, at another time, " desiring to know what fruit would

172 With what disposition aridities of sold

result from the direction of the thoughts to God, she was
instructed to this effect, that when a man, by meditation or
by intention, directs his thoughts to God, he presents before
the throne of God a mirror of wonderful splendour, in
which God beholds with great delight His own image,
because He is the Giver and Director of all good things.
But when a man through hindrances labours at this work
with greater difficulty, the more difficult his labour is, so
much the more delightful and ornate is that mirror in the
sight of the ever Blessed Trinity and of all the saints. And
this will remain for ever to the glory of God and the eternal
delight of the soul itself." And at another time the Lord said
to her : " I am very often wont to afflict my special friends
with infirmity of body and desolation of mind, and the like,
so that when they desire the blessings that are opposed to
these afflictions, the burning love of My heart may be able
to reward them more copiously according to the good
pleasure of My bounty."

And Christ our Lord, teaching St. Bridget how she ought
to drive from her soul those things which trouble it, says :
"But if it cannot remove those things, let it bear them
patiently, although involuntarily, as enemies, knowing most
surely that they are profitable to it for a greater crown, and
in no way tend to condemnation." " For God looks con
tinually upon our conflicts," says Abbot Isaac (in Cassian),
speaking of slothful thoughts in prayer, " and is not far from
those who supplicate Him." Rufinus writes, in the Lives of
the Fathers, " That a certain Brother was so harassed by his
thoughts for nine years that from very fear he despaired of
his salvation, and pronounced judgment against himself,
saying, ' I have lost my soul ; and because I have perished,
I will go to the world.' And as he was going, there came a
voice to him, saying, 'The temptations which thou hast
borne for nine years will be thy crown. Return, therefore,
to thy place, and I will deliver thee from evil thoughts.'"
The mind must not therefore despond, when God seerns to
have deserted us in the time of dryness, and has withdrawn

in prayer are to be received. 1 73

from us, or not granted to us, the pleasure of devotion ; but
must cry with the humble bride to the Bridegroom, "Return,
return, my Beloved." "The word of recall," says St.
Bernard, " is return. And perhaps He has for this reason
withdrawn Himself, that He may be the more eagerly
recalled and the more forcibly retained. For sometimes He
would make as though He would go farther, not because
He so intends, but because He desires to hear the words,
'Stay with us, O Lord, because it is towards evening.'6
And again, on another occasion, when He was walking on
the sea, and the Apostles were * labouring in rowing,' He
appeared as though ' He would have passed by them,' not
intending to do so, but rather to try their faith, and to draw
forth their prayers. And, as the Evangelist tells us, they
* were troubled,' and * they cried out,' thinking that ' it was
an apparition.'"7 And the same kind of pious simulation
and salutary dispensation which the Word then exhibited in
the body, the Word as a Spirit does not cease continually to
practise earnestly in the soul which is devoted to Him in
His own spiritual manner. Passing by, He desires to be
retained ; departing, to be recalled. For by no means unal
terable is His purpose. He goes, and He returns, at His own
good pleasure, as visiting ' early in the morning,' and ' sud
denly' proving.8 And thus He says, 'I go,' and 'I will come
again;'9 and again : 'A little while, and now you shall not
see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me.'ia
And the Prophet Habacuc says : ' If it [the vision] make any
delay, wait for it : for it shall surely come, and it shall not be
slack.'11 But how shall it not be slack, if it make delay, unless
because it comes quick enough for merit, but not quick
enough to meet your wish ? And so the loving soul is led by
its wishes, is drawn by its desires, and seeks with confidence
its delights, calling, with its wonted liberty, not its Lord, but
its Beloved, ' Return, my Beloved.' "

And this doctrine is confirmed by Louis of Blois, a

6 St. Luke xxiv. 29. 7 st. Mark vi. 48—50. 8 Job vii. 18.
9 St. John xiv. 3. w St. John xvi. 16. " Habuc. ii. 3.

1 74 With what disposition aridities of soul

great master of the spiritual life, who writes : " Let a man
be careful how he abandons prayer because he feels no
consolation in himself; for assuredly as distraction of mind
which takes place against the will of him who prays, does
not take away the fruit and utility of prayer; so neither
does dryness of heart, so long as a good will is there.
Hence the Lord once said to St. Gertrude : ' I wish My
elect to believe that their holy exercises and works are
altogether pleasing to Me, when they serve Me at their own
cost. And they render Me service at their own cost who,
although they feel nothing of the savour of devotion, yet
faithfully, according as they are able, offer their prayers and
other pious exercises, confiding in My compassion that I
will receive them willingly and graciously. There are very
many to whom, if unction and internal consolation were
afforded, it would not be profitable for their salvation, and
would greatly diminish their merit.'" When, then, our
devotion, through no fault of our own, is hindered or driven
away by involuntary thoughts, we must not be discouraged,
but must resist them ; for as often as we resist them, we
gain so many crowns prepared for us in Heaven. And the
same must be said when we repel sleep which harasses us in
prayer, for we are gaining so many crowns, as was revealed to
an old man in the Thebaid ; so we read in the Lives of the
Fathers. And this is confirmed by the teaching of St.
Thomas, who says " that out of the same amount of good
works a greater quantity of merit is gained after the sin of
Adam than before, on account of man's weakness. For the
work does more exceed the power of him who performs it
with difficulty, than a greater work does the power of him who
performs it without difficulty." So that Thomas a Kempis
wrote well in the name of God : " When thou thinkest that
thou art far removed from Me, I am often nearer. When
thou thinkest that all is well-nigh lost, then often is greater
merit being acquired. All is not lost because a thing
happens contrary to our desires."

In this sense wrote St. John Climacus : " It is chiefly

in prayer are to be received. 1 75

in these times of slothfulness that men of holy violence are
recognised. For nothing prepares so many crowns for the
monk as this. If you carefully consider the matter, you
will see that sloth oppresses those who are standing on
their feet with fatigue, and those who are sitting it induces
to lean against a wall." And the same Saint illustrates
the point by this similitude : "As a commander does not
dismiss from his service the soldier who in battle has
received the severest wounds in the face, but rather pro
motes him, and heaps the greatest honours upon him, so
the Heavenly Commander crowns with greatest glory the
monk who has endured the greatest dangers from demons "
— such as aridities and temptations which distract his
prayers, but are unable to interrupt them. He crowns
him in this life with many a crown. The first crown is
an increase of grace, and of virtues and gifts which ever
accompany grace, when it is divinely infused on account
of any supernatural work. The second crown is spiritual
dominion over himself; whereby, a man, disregarding
sensible consolations, is untroubled when they are absent,
and, as if he were quite independent of them, serves God
with a tranquil heart, even while he feels himself arid and
desolate. A third crown is that which is woven from many
virtues, which follow the alternation of sensible devotion,
and dryness or insensible devotion. For, as St. Lawrence
Justinian well remarks: "This alternation is indeed grievous
to those who love, but most useful to those who are
exercised by it. For it brings forth humility, it preserves
innocence, it cleanses away offences, it kindles the spirit,
it produces sorrow, it perfects prudence, it strengthens
perseverance, it adds diligence to watchfulness, it drives
away insensibility, it extinguishes the flames of concupis
cence, it incites to self-knowledge, and it sufficiently teaches
in what way it may be found ; " namely, by humility,
prayer, patience, resignation, and conformity to the Divine
will.

But how can this be true? I answer, first, because

176 With what disposition aridities of soul

one who thus prays and communicates, is greatly humbled,
by communicating and praying in aridity; a humiliation
which is not produced by affectionate prayer and com
munion. " It is a greater benefit of God," says St. Teresa,
"to pass a day in the humble knowledge of ourselves-
(although it cost us much affliction and labour) than to
spend many days in prayer. I see indeed that such cannot
pass many hours or a long time in prayer; but what power,
O Lord, with Thee has a single sigh put forth from the
depths of a labouring and afflicted heart ! " And in another
place, when treating of prayer, and exhorting us to be
contented with that kind of prayer which God gives us,
and to bear it patiently, even if He gives no enjoyment
with it, she adds : " Humility itself requires us to be con
tented with that which is given to us."

Secondly, patience is exercised, as it is not in prayer
and communion with sensible affection, because, as St.
Catharine of Bologna well judged, in a treatise written by
her under Divine inspiration : " There is no more bitter
grief than that which the soul surfers from the absence of
sensible love, when it thinks it has lost the grace of God,
because it does not taste its wonted internal sweetnesses,
and experiences the greatest grief on account of this loss.
But while it endures this patiently, it acquires much merit,
as the same Saint adds : " The love is proportioned to
this grief; and therefore the soul which grieves because it
does not feel love, possesses at the same time love with
grief; since it could not grieve about that which it did
not love; but this is not understood by those who are
imperfect, that is, by those who love the gift more than
the Giver;" loving the consolations of prayer more than
the bitterness which God sends and wills us to bear for
our good.

Thirdly, there is greater love shown towards God in
drinking His bitter cup than His sweet one. Therefore
St. Catharine of Siena pleased God more when she chose
a crown of thorns than if she had chosen one of gold.

in prayer are to be received. 177

Fourthly, for another reason greater love towards God is-
shown in arid prayer, because he who perseveres in it, then
fights with the demon or with nature, which would drive
him from prayer by the arrows of aridity. And he who from
the love of God wards off these, and does not abandon the
field of battle, manifests his generous love towards God,
like those servants of David, who broke through the camp
of the enemy in search of water for their master. And
therefore Thomas a Kempis has well written : " To contend
against the evil motions of the mind when they arise (such
as ordinarily accompany dryness), and to despise the
suggestions of the devil, is a mark of virtue and of great
merit. Be not, therefore, troubled by foreign imaginations
from whatever cause they arise. Preserve thy courageous
purpose and thy right intention towards God. Neither is
it an illusion when thou art sometimes raised to a rapture,
and suddenly brought back to thy ordinary trivialities of
heart. For in these thou art rather enduring than acting ;
and as long as they displease thee, and thou resistest them,
it is a merit, and not a cause of loss." And further
on : " There is not so much progress in the spiritual life
when thou hast the grace of consolation, as when thou
humbly, self-denyingly, and patiently endurest its with
drawal ; and art not then hindered from the endeavour to
pray, nor allowest the other works which thou oughtest to
perform to be neglected ; but, according to thy best power
and understanding, willingly doest what in thee lies; nor
wholly neglectest thyself on account of the dryness or
anxiety of mind which thou feelest."

Fifthly, conformity to the will of God in things which
are displeasing to our soul, shows a greater obedience than
in things which are pleasing to it. Whence Christ com
mends this in His disciples : " You are they which have
continued with Me in My temptations." 3 And He esteems
such more highly. Thus Christ, addressing Antonia, a
Roman widow of great sanctity, highly esteemed by St.

3 St. Luke xxii. 28.
M

178 With what disposition aridities of soul

Philip Neri, as Baccius testifies, commended by Bosio for
the holiness of her life, and a spiritual daughter of our
Society (since her regular confessor to the time of her death
was the holy man, Father John Baptist Alexander), said to
her: "That He gives not so many delights and consolations
in prayer to His labourers who are employed in the conver
sion of souls, as to some women. But although He does
not admit to His lips those who are like hunting dogs
(who, from catching bears and wild boars, that is converting
sinners, come to Him sometimes with soiled feet), as He
does the small dogs, which are beautiful and do not labour;
yet the Lord esteems them more highly than those weak
women to whom He communicates Himself more freely
in extraordinary prayer, by spiritual enjoyments and, as
it were, embraces."

" The life of contemplation," says St. Lawrence Justinian,
on prayer,4 " is the more pure. ' I have washed my feet,'
for contemplation, says the bride in the Canticles,5 'how
shall I defile them ?' But she brings forth fewer sons to God;
the worker brings forth more, although she contemplates
less ; " she is dear to God, although she has distractions.

Christ explained this truth to St. Gertrude, comparing,
under a similitude, those souls which are given to conso
lation alone, to girls, but others who, from the love of God,
are occupied in external things, to princes, generals, and
soldiers of kings. "As," He says, "a powerful Emperor
delights to have in his palace not only delicate and orna
mental girls, but also appoints princes, generals, and
soldiers, and other ministers adapted for various works,
whom he has ready in his palace for the discharge of
various duties; so also I not only delight in the interior
joy of the contemplative, but also am drawn by the dif
ferent exercises of useful duties, which are performed for
the sake of My honour and love, to abide and to banquet
joyfully with the sons of men in such duties, because
they are exercised in charity, patience, and humility, and
4 Chap. viii. 5 Cant. v. 3.

in prayer are to be received. 1 79

in other virtues." And then she saw one who had greater
pastoral responsibility, lying down before God, leaning, as
it were, on his left side, who often lifting himself with
difficulty to God, offered to Him with his left hand, on
which he was leaning, a piece of gold money enriched with
precious gems. And the Lord said to her : " Behold, if I
were to lighten this man's burden, for whom thou prayest,
then I should be deprived of this beautiful gem, which
so greatly pleases me, among those pieces of money, and
he would be defrauded of his reward; because then, with
his right hand only he would offer Me a piece of money
without a gem. For he offers, as it were, a simple piece of
money, who in all his works serves God, in accordance with
the Divine will, but without adversity ; but he who in each
of his works is weighed down by adversity, and yet does
not depart from the Divine will, offers to God a golden
piece of money along with a most approved gem."

So, too, a king values more highly a soldier whom the
enemy strikes, and endeavours to withdraw from the
obedience of his lord, or from conference to which he is
summoned by him, than another who confers with him
when no one hinders. So, in our case, prayer is a conference
with God, as the saints teach; aridities are the assaults
of an infernal enemy, by which he endeavours to withdraw
us from converse with God. Those who pray in aridity are
like volunteers, who, although they have received no pay
from their king, yet fight for him and accompany him.
"War shows the love of a soldier for his commander,"
says St. John Climacus, " but the love of a monk towards
God is best shown when he prays." Abundance of conso
lations is large pay. Therefore we must persevere in our
efforts to procure devotion, whether we have consolation
or not, as we are taught by the twenty-second rule of the
Summary. And sometimes as an act of obedience, or as
an exercise of charity towards our neighbour, prayer itself
is to be omitted. As St. Teresa says : " Love shines in
public and in our intercourse with others, and not in corners

1 80 Aridities of soul in prayer.

and in hidden places, but in the midst of opportunities.
Be it that various imperfections there occur (such as slight
falls and shocks), yet our gain is incomparably greater,
if we are acting under the command of our Superior and
are moved by charity ; " and this the more, if, after many
labours undertaken from obedience and charity, from the
pure intention of a more perfect service of God, aridities
succeed in prayer. Hence it was not without reason that
Father Balthasar Alvarez left it written in his Diary of
heavenly lights, as is mentioned in his Life : "Any dis
quietude which meets me in prayer (supposing it is not
caused by myself), I will regard as a martyrdom, and as
such will bravely bear it, giving a specimen in this slight
trial of the many things which I have offered in other
prayers to endure and bear for the love of Thee." Nor
does it matter that in the time of aridity that fervour of
devotion is not felt, which is wont to be felt in the time
of consolation, as well because, when aridity which does not
proceed from our own fault is courageously borne, it is
endured through the grace of fervour, although that fervour
be not then felt, as because the disposition to worship and
love God fervently, if it be present, is fully accepted by
God, no less than a devotion full of consolation. For,
as St. Leo says, "In our spiritual husbandry we shall not be
distressed by the scantiness of the fruits, if the fertility of
our souls is not dried up. Let there arise from the soil
of the heart that which earth has not given. He always
finds something to give who is not lacking in good will."
And in another place : " Our Lord, because He is a just
inspector of souls, will reward not the mere value of the
work done but also the affection of the worker." Finally,
although we may think that we perceive no fruit in prayer,
let the true admonition of St. John Climacus solace us :
" Say not, when you persevere in prayer, I have profited
nothing. For you have already profited enough. For
what can be more noble than to cleave to the Lord, and
continually to persevere in union with Him ? "

CHAPTER VI.

Some things to be remarked with regard to aridities
and delights in prayer.

IT must be evident that those do not speak well who say
that their prayer has not succeeded, when they have had no
delight in it, but only involuntary dryness and distractions.
" When on a certain occasion St. Gertrude was not visited
by our Lord, and yet bore this deprivation without difficulty,
finding opportunity she asked our Lord how this was.
He replied : ' Too great nearness is wont sometimes to
prevent friends from being able to see each other perfectly.
Thus, if one embraces a friend when he approaches, it comes
to pass from their close union that the pleasure of seeing each
other is interrupted.' When she heard this, she immediately
understood that by the withdrawal of grace the merit of a
man is sometimes greatly increased, if only, when that grace
is withdrawn, the man by acting well, and by mortifying
himself, is not found more slothful, although he then toils
in working and feels a heavier burden." And St. Teresa
taught the like. " I have met with some," she says, " whose
whole concern seemed to be fixed on their thoughts alone ;
and when they are able to have them earnestly fixed in God,
although by exercising the greatest effort, they immediately
think themselves to be spiritual; but if their thought is turned
another way (because they cannot help it) even though it
be to things which are very good, they are immediately
saddened and pained, and think they must be lost. But
those who are theologians will not labour under such
ignorance, although I have even met with one such who
was the slave of this very gross ignorance. I do not deny

1 82 Some things to be remarked with regard

that it is a signal grace of God that a man should have his
thought ever fixed upon Him and occupied with Him, and
should be able to meditate continually upon His works : it
is undoubtedly a good thing to strive after this. But we
must know that all imaginations are not naturally suited and
adapted for this ; yet all souls have the power of loving.
And therefore the advancement and fruitfulness of the soul
consist not so much in thinking a great deal, but rather in
loving much. And if you ask how this love may be
acquired; I reply, By purposing seriously and effectually
to labour and suffer for God's sake, and by carrying your
purposes into execution whenever occasion offers."

Since, then, these attacks of involuntary dryness and
distractions, because they are painful, give occasion for
the exercise of patience to the servants of God who
are desiring to delight the Lord their God by the exer
cise of prayer; if this affliction, coming against their will,
is borne with equanimity, and the mind does not desist
from its excellent work of prayer, but still sails against the
wind, then it will "labour and suffer effectually for God's
sake ; " and such a prayer, other things being equal, is
better because of the reasons assigned, than that which
has sensible consolations; for these often spring from the
demon, or from the sensitiveness of our temperament (as
happens with sanguine persons and with those who are
prone to love) ; and, as St. John Climacus remarks,
"Sometimes the demons, when we have eaten to satiety,
give us compunction; and again, when we have fasted,
harden us, so that we may be deceived by our tears, and
may expose ourselves to the palate, the parent of vices, and
to its pleasures." And in another place: "At times, in drink
ing wine," he says, " we are joyful, and prone and disposed
for compunction." Whence that skilful master of the spiritual
life, Richard, teaches well : "A sweet affection towards
God, is in some degree sensuous and fallacious, and
sometimes the product of human nature rather than of
grace; of the heart, rather than of the spirit; of sense,

to aridities and delights in prayer. 183

rather than of reason ; so that it is sometimes more con
nected with a less good, and less with a greater good, and
is a thing which is enjoyable rather than beneficial. In this
the disciples erred, loving our Lord with human love and loth
to be deprived of His presence ; whence it was no proof of
their love that they embraced that which pleased them more
than that which profited them. And it is in this way that a
carnal and imperfect man is sometimes moved with affection
to God, not because he really loves Him, but because he
tastes the sweetness of His grace ; and, as long as this lasts,
he rejoices ; as long as sweetness endures, love endures.
But a friend will not be known in prosperity. In that day,
indeed, the Lord shows His compassion, but in the night
of temptations and labours He makes plain how much a
man loves Him." And St. Bernard says the like, declaring
that Christ was "loved by the Apostles sweetly, but not
wisely j " carnally, but not rationally ; and such a love he
calls " sweet indeed, but seductive."

To this head must be referred that forced and, as it were,
constrained devotion, which incautious beginners, even with
injury to their health, endeavour to excite in themselves, by
fatiguing the head and the heart. Such devotion, being
indiscreet and inordinate, is not from God, but either from
nature, or from the demon, and mixes itself up with pious
thoughts which are wont to be inspired gently by God.
And this is thus beautifully described by Thomas a
Kempis : " Some incautious persons," he says, " have
destroyed themselves for the very grace of devotion,
because they have wished to do more than they were
able, not considering the measure of their own insignifi
cance, and following the impulse of their heart, rather
than the judgment of their reason. And because they
have presumed beyond what was pleasing to God, there
fore they have soon lost His grace. They have become
spiritually destitute, and have been left as worthless, who
made their nest on high,1 that, being humbled and im-
} Hab. ii. 9.

184 Some things to be remarked with regard

poverished, they may learn not to fly on their own wings,
but to put their trust under the shadow of My wings.
Those who are still inexperienced and unskilled in the way
of the Lord, unless they govern themselves by the counsel
of the wise, may be easily deceived and destroyed." There
fore, as Cassian tells us, Abbot Isaac advised : " By no
means should a flow of tears be forced out, nor are the
weepings of the outer man to be affected, which, even
if this be by some contrivance brought forth, will never
resemble the spontaneous outflow of tears. They will
rather, by distracting the soul of the suppliant through these
efforts, draw it downward, and sink it to the lowest depths."
For this reason the saints have sometimes been suspi
cious of sweetnesses and consolations in prayer. Hence
St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi "did not advise that they
should be wished for, but only such as excite to the love
of labours and of the cross, and to the fulfilling of the
Divine will, and the desire of honouring God." And she
said that God was not found in things which were agree
able, but in true virtue, and that this was not acquired by
sweetness, even in spiritual things, but that the place of
true virtue was rather in cares, anxieties, and in more
intense tribulations. Nor had she confidence in those
souls who were said to have arrived at perfection by
sweetnesses enjoyed throughout their whole life; for she
was wont to say she knew that there was no true patience,
humility, purity, meekness, charity, which was not tested by
some tribulation inflicted either by God, or by creatures,
or by demons ; and that without such trial there would be
no true virtues in the soul, but only feigned ones ; and that
the image of virtue would not in that case live through the
lapse of time." Such was the admirable teaching of that
Saint under Divine inspiration. Let us therefore be content
when God, against our wills, and without any present fault
of our own, sends desolations, aridities, distractions, which
are a hindrance to concentrated prayer. For this reason
St. Thomas, considering the question whether it was a

to aridities and delights in prayer. 185

necessary element in prayer that it should be continuously
attentive, replies : " In order to the merit of prayer, it is
not absolutely necessary that attention should be continued
throughout, but the force of the first intention, when one
begins to pray, renders the whole prayer meritorious, as
is the case in other meritorious actions. And in order that
prayer may have its power of impetration, the first intention is
sufficient, and it is to this that God chiefly has regard ; but
if the first intention is lacking, prayer neither merits nor
impetrates. For this reason, he who in the time of
involuntary aridities and distractions, which he earnestly
resists, perseveres in prayer, shows a solid love for God,
even if he prays without the attention which he desires.

And that such a prayer is satisfactory, we are taught by
Navarrus in his Treatise on Prayer, and other moderns who
have written on that article of St. Thomas, as well as by
Suarez. This St. Nilus seems to suggest: "When thy
mind, through much desire of God, gradually withdraws
itself from the flesh, and rejects all thoughts which have
arisen from sense, or memory, or the constitution of the
body, then consider that you have come into the region
of prayer," that is, that you have attained the three ends
of prayer, which are merit, impetration, and satisfaction.
Out of these three follows the introduction of all virtues, and
from an earthly man is made a heavenly one. And therefore
we must not ever come to meditation with the desire for
enjoyments and the fear of aridities, but with indifference
and generosity of mind, which greatly displeases the demon
and pleases God ; and thus great peace of soul is acquired,
and a certain mastery over oneself, and liberty of spirit.
And such persons the demon does not easily overcome,
because he sees them courageous, as our holy Father
St. Ignatius has well observed, writing on the different oper
ations of the soul. " For the Holy Spirit," as St. Nilus
remarks, " bewailing our infirmity with us, comes even to
us who are impure (that is, who are full of thoughts ex
cited by the demon) ; and if He only finds in us the mind

1 86 Some things to be remarked with regard

earnestly praying, He ascends into it, and destroys the
whole multitude of thoughts and notions which were en
compassing the mind." And if, in order to try our humility
and patience, He does not destroy them, let those console
themselves who, being for God's sake distracted in this
way, by harassing duties, do not feel a sweetness of spirit —
let them console themselves, I say, with that beautiful
similitude spoken by our Lord to St. Gertrude : " If the
bride sometimes prepares food for the hawks of the Bride
groom, she is not for that reason at all disappointed of
His embrace."

To complete this portion of our treatise two things
are carefully to be noted.

First, we must observe, when in the time of aridities
any pious act is elicited, whether of hope, or of faith, or
of humiliation, or of resignation and conformity to the will of
God, that this itself is a devout prayer, containing consolation;
not indeed that sensible consolation which is in the inferior
part of our soul, and which, as I have pointed out, may pro
ceed from nature or from the demon, but a consolation of the
inward mind where sensible enjoyment cannot reach, which
is more perfect than that which is only sensible. And thus
St. Ignatius, in a certain illustration which he employed, left
it on record that he had felt a kind of devotion after the
manner of angels, not less vivid than he was wont to experience
when he wept in prayer. And of such mental consolation
Peter Maffei and Peter Ribadeneira speak when they say
that our holy Father St. Ignatius, even when he did not weep,
that is when he did not feel the sensible pleasures of prayer,
yet had the spirit of devotion. For true devotion does not
consist in delights, and may exist, and does commonly
exist, without these; but it is placed in "the readiness
of the will for all those things which belong to the service
of God," as the theologians teach with St. Thomas ; and
this may be without any relish, or even with the greatest
weariness of mind, as it was with Christ, when, praying in
the garden, He endured sadness, fear, weariness, and agony;

to aridities and delights in prayer. 187

and yet was most devout, because He was conformed to the
will of God ; so that He said : " Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as Thou wilt." 2 And thus our holy Father St. Ignatius
well remarks, "that any increase of faith, hope, and
charity," may be called consolation. And these are in
creased, even in the time of dryness, when it is borne
patiently and willingly for God's sake. In this sense St.
Lawrence Justinian said : " This must be laid down, that
neither can a praiseworthy life exist without devotion, nor
can true devotion subsist without a right life."

And this doctrine may be confirmed by the Divine
vision which the celebrated commentator on the Holy
Scriptures, and master of theology, Louis of Leon, thought
fit to add to St. Teresa's autobiography, after the for
tieth chapter: "One day," says St. Teresa, "the Lord
said to me : ' Thinkest thou, My daughter, that merit con
sists in enjoyment and gladness? By no means; for it
consists only in working, suffering, and loving. Only once
dost thou hear of the Apostle Paul enjoying heavenly
delight, but often of his suffering ; thou seest that My life
too was full of suffering, and only once thou hearest of
My having been in joy, on Mount Tabor. Think not,
when thou seest My Mother holding Me in her arms, that
she enjoyed that delight without great bitterness and
suffering; for from the time when Simeon told her that
the sword of sorrow should pierce her soul,3 My Father
infused a clear light into her by which she might understand
what she had to suffer for Me. Illustrious saints also,
who lived in the desert, being thereto directed and impelled
by God, were wont to suffer grievous conflicts as well from
the demon as from themselves ; and in all these things for
a long time they were destitute of all spiritual consolation.
This therefore receive as certain, My daughter, that to him
whom My Father loves the best, does He send most labours
and afflictions, and that His love is proportioned to the
labour He imposes.' " And further on : " When on that
2 St. Matt. xxvi. 39. 3 St. Luke ii. 35.

1 88 Some things to be remarked with regard

day I began to give myself to prayer, my head pained
me so, that it seemed impossible for me to continue my
prayer. Then our Lord said to me : ' From this thou wilt
gather the reward of suffering and affliction ; for since thou
wast unfit and disqualified for converse with Me, for this
reason I have spoken to thee, and consoled thee.' "

For the confirmation of this truth may be adduced
the words of St. Catharine of Genoa, whose Life was so
much valued by St. Aloysius Gonzaga. This Saint, in
the first part of her dialogues, left these words written,
as by the Spirit speaking to her soul : ' Know that in the
perception and enjoyment of spiritual things, a snare is much
more to be feared than in things corporal ; for spiritual
things attract a man under the appearance of good; and
it is difficult to persuade him that there is anything in
them, but what is good; and thus a man regales himself
and nourishes himself with these things as coming from
God and as His gifts. But I tell you the truth, that one
who would enjoy God as purely and simply as may be,
ought of necessity to avoid such things, for they are poison
to the true love of God. In truth that spiritual relish is
more to be watched than the devil,4 since, wherever it fastens
on a soul, it generates an incurable disease without a man's
knowledge ; and when he fancies that it is going well with
him, he does not perceive that this is hindering in him the
perfect good, which is God Himself, pure and simple,
without admixture of man. But bodily enjoyments, because
they are evidently contrary to the spirit, cannot hide them
selves under the appearance of good ; and therefore I do
not fear them so much." Such were those enjoyments
which the demon offered to our holy Father St. Ignatius
when he was studying grammar, seeking to draw him off

* St. Catharine is here warning souls against an inordinate craving for
sensible consolation. Her words will be better understood if compared
with St. Ignatius' doctrine on consolation and desolation in the Spiritual
Exercises ; also with the teaching of the Imitation of Christ. See also what
the author writes at the end of this chapter and in the next. — ED.

to aridities and delights in prayer. 189

from his studies; but he drove him away by prayers and
humiliation, as Maffei and Ribadeneira write in his life.
But even in presence of Divine consolations we must use
that safeguard recommended by St. John Climacus : " Cast
from you with the hand of humility the joy which comes
to you, remembering your unworthiness, lest haply by
receiving it too lightly, you receive the wolf instead of
the shepherd."

Secondly, it is to be noted that even holy men are wont
to suffer great aridities without prejudice to their virtue and
perfection ; and thus it is true which was written by Thomas
a Kempis : "There never was any saint however highly
lifted up and illuminated, who was not before or after
wards assailed by temptations. For he is not worthy of
the lofty contemplation of God, who is not, for God's sake,
exercised in some temptation." And before him St. Bernard
had said : " It is well known that the soul has vicissitudes
of this kind from the Word going and returning; as He
says: 'I go,' and 'I will come again;'5 and further, 'A
little while, and now you shall not see Me ; and again a
little while, and you shall see Me.'"6 And the Saint says
the same thing elsewhere, and even tells us of himself:
" Yesterday and the day before I was invaded by languor
of mind and dulness of soul, a certain unwonted sluggish
ness of spirit. My heart dried up, and was curdled like
milk; it became like earth without water. Nor can I feel
compunction unto tears, such is the hardness of my heart.
There is no pleasure for me in a psalm, no inclination
for reading, no delight in prayer. I cannot practise my
accustomed meditations." Hence St. Lawrence Justinian
says that, " No one is so holy, so preeminent in love, so
kindled by spiritual affection, as not to experience at times
vicissitudes in love." And he speaks there of sensible
devotion, with which the sweet relish and affection of love
is wont to be conjoined. " When, therefore, thou art arid,"
counsels Thomas a Kempis, " do not immediately despair,

5 St. John xiv. 2, 3. 6 St. John xvi. 16.

i go Aridities and delights in prayer.

but wait for the heavenly visitation with humility and
patience; since God is able to bestow upon thee more
abundant consolation." And in another place he writes,
speaking on the part of God : " I am wont to visit My elect
in two ways — by temptation and by consolation; and I
read them two lessons daily, one by chiding their vices,
and the other by exhorting them to the increase of virtues."
It is certainly true that to some of the servants of God
perpetual devotion, even sensible, and full of consolations
in prayer, has been given through many years, and that
they have never suffered aridities, but as St. Dionysius the
Areopagite says : " Divine wisdom provides and supplies
for those who come to it, the rich abundance of plentiful
and lasting banquets."

Such, among many other illustrious saints in the Church,
was our holy Father St. Ignatius, who, at any hour of the day
that he chose, was devout even with sensible devotion, as
he related of himself to Father Louis Consalvo, his minister,
who left it written in his Life. Such too St. Francis Xavier,
according to the testimony of Tursellini in his Life, and
the process of his canonization.

CHAPTER VII.

Who they are to whom God is wont to concede the gift
of prayer without aridities.

GOD gives this grace of sensible devotion, as St. Lawrence
Justinian expresses it, "to taste Divine things with relish
and enjoyment," to four kinds of men.

First, to those who are adorned with innocence of life
and virginal purity ; not, indeed, to all such, but to some,
as He sees best. " For," says St. Bernard, " to walk in the
fervour of conversion with a heavy weight of sins is im
possible. The Church of God," he says, " has its spiritual
children, who deal with God not only faithfully, but also
trustingly, as though conversing with a friend — their sense
of His glory furnishing them with a testimony. But who
these are depends upon God alone : but do thou observe
what manner of man it behoves thee to be, if thou wishest to
be one of them. Give me a soul that loves nothing besides
God, and that which should be loved for God's sake; to
whom to live not only now is Christ, but has long been so ;
whose labour and rest it is to set God always in his sight,
with whom to walk carefully with his God is, I say not his
great, but his one purpose, and who has moreover learned
how to do this. Give me, I say, such a soul, and I do
not deny that it is worthy of the care of the Bridegroom,
of the regard of His Majesty, of the favour of its Monarch,
of the solicitude of its Ruler, and if it will glory, it will
not be foolish, but he who glories, glories in the Lord."
And further on : "As thou hast prepared thyself for God,
such ought God to appear to thee. Good art Thou,
O Lord, to the soul that seeketh Thee : Thou meetest it,
embracest it, and showest it the Bridegroom."

192 The gift of prayer without aridities.

And this is chiefly experienced by those who, along
with virginal innocence, have conjoined a full renunciation
of all creatures. " For this," writes St. Teresa in her Book of
Foundations, "is what joins and unites the soul to its Creator
more than anything else, when, namely, it strives to have a
pure conscience. It was not necessary that I should say this,
because it seems to me impossible that those who have true
abnegation should offend God, seeing that all their words
and deeds depart not in the least degree from Him ; whence
also His Majesty seems unwilling to withdraw itself from
them."

This grace of devotion God bestows also upon those
who with their whole earnestness, preserve in the greatest
purity, far from all sins and imperfections, their body and
soul, their powers, senses, and members. " Who," asks
St. Bernard, " can pretend to know what the bride, out of
her great affection for her Beloved, glories in having ex
pended upon Him, or what she is repaid by Him, but he
who, by his pre-eminent purity of mind and sanctity of
body has deserved in himself to experience something of
the kind? It is a thing of the affections, and it cannot
be attained by reason, but by conformity." For this cause
St. Lawrence Justinian said : " This must be set down, that
neither can there be a praiseworthy life without devotion,
nor can true devotion subsist without a good life. For
the proof of holy devotion is a commendable life; and
the support of praiseworthy conduct is internal and spiritual
devotion." " Give me a soul," he says in another place,
" polluted with no stain of sin, as was the Mother of God,
and you will find in it an active 'relish for wisdom."

To this grace of devotion, promised to a life innocent
and pure from sins, may be referred those words of the
forty-fourth Psalm : " Thou hast loved justice, and hatedst
iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows ; " l that is, thy
companions who have not disposed themselves, as thou
1 Psalm xliv. 8.

1

The gift of prayer without aridities. 193

hast, to receive the divinely given joy and relish of affec
tionate devotion, which excludes aridity and sloth. But
the heart which is filled with the love of earthly things is
wont to be unfit for receiving Divine consolations. "Whence
is it," St. Bernard says, " that the dearth of spiritual grace
is in some as great as its abundance in others? Cer
tainly the Giver of grace is neither indigent nor niggardly ;
but where there is a want of empty vessels, the oil must
stand. Holy delights turn away from the mind which is
pre-occupied with secular desires, nor can truth be mingled
with vanity, nor things eternal with those which are fleeting,
nor spiritual with carnal things, nor the highest with the
lowest ; so you cannot have both enjoyment of the things
which are above and of those which are upon the earth."
Hence, God is represented by Thomas a Kempis as thus
speaking : " In proportion as thou hast withdrawn thyself
from all consolation of creatures, wilt thou find in Me
sweeter and more intense consolations. But thou wilt
not attain to them at first without some sadness and the
labour of a conflict." Wherefore Abbot Isaac (in Cassian)
says : " The mind of each one in his prayer is always elevated
and moulded according to the measure of its purity, and
soars so far above the contemplation of earthly and material
things as the state of its purity carries it. Those only look
with a clear vision upon His Divinity who, rising from
low and earthly things and thoughts, go apart in the lofty
mountain of solitude with Him, who, free from every tumult
of earthly thoughts and perturbations, separated from the
mixture of all vices, and rendered celestial by the purest faith
and the pre-eminence of all virtues, reveals the glory of His
countenance and of the brightness of His Image, to those
who merit to behold Him with the pure eyes of the soul."
And the Abbot Chaeremon : " In proportion as the mind
has advanced to greater purity, the more nearly will it
behold God." St. Dionysius the Areopagite illustrates this
truth under the following similitude : " We well know that
1 1 the most Divine Jesus is above measure and abundantly

N

194 The gift of prayer without aridities.

replenished with the odour of sweetness, and that by His
spiritual largesses He fills our minds with Divine pleasure.
For if the perception of those things which fall under our
senses and have an agreeable smell affects us pleasantly
and feeds and gratifies that sense of ours which discerns
odours, provided that sense is in a healthy state, and by
a right formation corresponds with the object which yields
this sweet odour; in the same way, the faculties of our
mind, if they are not affected to evil, through an adapted
action of Divine grace and a corresponding turning of the
mind to God, receive the delight and sweetness of a Divine
odour, and are filled with holy pleasure and with Divine
nourishment."

Secondly, God gives this habitual relish of devotion to
those who, in the beginning of their conversion and long
afterwards, have led a severe life, self-inflicted, through the
extraordinary rigour of their penances. Such were, besides
many other saints, our holy Father St. Ignatius and St.
Francis Xavier, whose prayers were filled with perpetual
Divine consolations and fervour.

Thirdly, this blessing is granted by God to those who
are harassed by the persecutions of men, endured with
very great patience, and which are both painful and
hurtful to their reputation. For He usually gives to such
a greater tenderness of devotion at these times than when
the persecutions cease. Therefore St. Nilus said truly :
" Whenever thou shalt bear with patience anything which
is hard and harsh, thou shalt find the fruit of thy labour
in the time of prayer ; and if thou hast been patient, thou
shalt always pray with joy." But it is great gain to have
the grace of perpetual devotion, by which a man is stimu
lated to a courageous resistance to sin, and to the diligent
performance of all those things which are pleasing to God,
as well His precepts as His counsels and His internal holy
inspirations. It is not wonderful, then, that the monk
Abbacyrus, though an imperfect man who had an unbridled
tongue, yet because for fifteen years he bore perpetual insults

The gift of prayer without aridities. 195

from all the brothers of a certain monastery, of which
St. John Climacus was an ocular witness, and was some
times even driven by the attendants from table and
deprived of his supper, said, when dying : " I give thanks
to the Lord, and to you, my Fathers, because you have
continually chastened me for my salvation, for on this
account I have hitherto remained free from the temptation
of the demons/' Now the devil chiefly tempts men during
prayer, as we have shown above from the same St. Climacus
and from St. Nilus.

And for this reason too, as St. Climacus writes in
the same place, the Archdeacon Macedonius, when he was
expelled from the monastery by his Abbot because he had
returned too late from a journey, and after bearing this
exile for forty days, was at last recalled by the Abbot and
restored to his former place, after one day requested of the
Abbot, " that he would restore him to the same ignominious
position ; " and that he might obtain his request, he pre
tended (an example not to be imitated) that he had com
mitted " a great and heinous sin " on his journey. He dis
closed to St. Climacus this reason for his request : " I never
felt myself so relieved from all external war (as, for
instance, dryness and distractions), nor felt so much the
sweetness of Divine light." There is a promise of God left
to such in Holy Scripture : " She will bring upon him fear
and dread and trial ; and she will scourge him with the
affliction of her discipline, till she try him by her laws and
trust his soul. Then she will strengthen him, and make
a straight way to him, and give him joy, and will disclose
her secrets to him, and will heap upon him treasures of
knowledge and understanding of justice."2 In which passage
the literal meaning is : That Divine wisdom first tries its
disciples by adversity, by injecting fear and alarm through
scruples, and by permitting various afflictions, by which they
are taught, as by a kind of lesson, that they may learn to
avoid what is evil and follow what is good, and practically to.
2 Eccles. iv. 19 — 21.

196 The gift of prayer withoiit aridities.

believe in God, with a faith in Him "working by charity"3
good things. And when He has long seen them constant
and firm in such trials, cooperating with His grace, and
all this His own work, He will come to them by a straight
road, having removed the difficulties of temptations and
aridities, and will gladden them with the joys of heavenly
devotion ; and sometimes so familiarly and intimately, that
He makes known to them His celestial secrets for their own
profit, and that of others, in order to stimulate them, and
others by them, in the way of justice and holiness, as we
read in the Psalms : "According to the multitude of my
sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to my
soul."4

Hence, our holy Father, St. Ignatius, having suffered
many persecutions, " esteemed them so highly, that he said,
if all things that God had created were placed on one side
of the balance, and on the other a prison, chains, and dis
grace, he would set little or no value on the former in com
parison with the latter." And he assigned as one of his reasons
for this estimate : " That no created nature can produce
such joy in the soul as can equal that delight of the Holy
Spirit, and that most pure joy which God infuses into the
souls of those who have borne many great trials for love
of Him." "But," says St. Bernard, "to this perfection of
devotion, in which men run, like veteran soldiers, in the
way of the commandments of God, and accomplish with
hearts expanded with the utmost sweetness and delight those
things which they were previously doing with bitterness and
constraint of spirit, few, if I mistake not, attain in this life.
And if any one at any time seems to have it, he is not obliged
straightway to believe his impressions, especially if he is a
novice and has not ascended by the aforesaid steps: for
though our gracious Lord Jesus Christ is wont to entice those
who are fainthearted by such allurements; yet these must
know who are thus favoured that this grace is lent to them,
not given : so that in the day of prosperity they may be
3 Galat. v. 6. * Psalm xciii. 19.

The gift of prayer without aridities. 197

mindful of adversity, and in the day of adversity they may
not be unmindful of prosperity. Far otherwise do those
who have had their senses well trained enjoy the happy sweet
ness of this devotion. And even he who attains to this grace
of devotion, must beware, lest, doing all things with so great
pleasure, he should, while he follows his affection, destroy
the body by immoderate labour, and then find it necessary,
not without great loss of spiritual exercise, to be occupied in
caring for his infirm body. Therefore, in order that he who
runs may not dash against ruin, there is need that he be illu
minated by the light of prudence, which is the mother of
virtues and the consummation of perfection. And it teaches
us this : " Not too much of anything ! " — ne quid nimis.

And thus it is true which was written by St. Catharine
of Siena in her Dialogues, " that she had heard from God
the Father that from some perfect ones He never with
drew the gift of sensible devotion." And in the following
chapter the Lord says again : " I said that from these most
perfect ones I never sensibly withdraw Myself, yet in some
way I withdraw Myself; since the soul which is still impri
soned in the body could in no way have power to sustain
continuously that union which I effect with the soul. And
because it has not this capacity, I sometimes withdraw
Myself, not My grace, nor My sensible presence, but the
union." And this, because inevitably the occupations of
this life, like sleep and other things, turn away the attention
of the mind from actual union with God.

With this Divine response agrees what St. Augustine
left written : " Weariness which dims that cheerfulness for
which God loves the giver creeps on more on one who
has made less progress in spiritual things, and less on the
more advanced ; and conversely." And Christ our Lord said
to St. Bridget : " Love Me alone, and thou shalt have what
ever thou wilt, and in abundance. If thou trustest My words,
and dost accomplish them, joy and gladness shall not be
wanting to thee through all eternity." As also in another
place the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the same St. Bridget :

198 The gift of prayer without aridities.

f( Thou wilt be worthy of the comfort of God, because thou
seekest no other comforter but God."

Finally, God gives the grace of devotion to souls that
are adorned with great virtues. " The affections of pure
prayer," says St. Bernard, "and that blessed sweetness of
prayer, is wont to be given as the prize of sanctity, to the
merits of the perfect." For, as St. Macarius remarks : "As
in the palace of a king fair and beautiful girls, who are
denied by no blemish, are admitted to the royal society, so,
in the spiritual palace, souls which are adorned with all
kinds of good things have communion with the Heavenly
King." But to this conduces, above other virtues, as St. Teresa
thought, "the abnegation of all creatures, which more than
anything else joins and unites the soul to its Creator." And
in such, says St. Climacus, " spiritual sloth is unknown ; "
that is, they are not infected by it. And the mind, burning
with lasting and unshaken love to God, is wont to glow
with perpetual devotion. "To these," says St. Lawrence
Justinian, " the Word comes, and does not depart : and if
for a time, it is by dispensation, but not for long. For
vehement love soon recalls what a slight fault drove away.
The Word cannot be long absent from those in whose heart
He has set up His fixed abode ; for mutual love does not
allow this : neither discord nor absence can continue where
the spark of true love has remained. But he who loves
more ardently is the sooner reconciled. Hence it is that
the Bridegroom cannot be long absent from the heart of
the perfect."

And all these things are to be understood as coming
from the blessing of Divine grace, not to every individual
of a class, as we say in the schools, but to that class of
individuals.

CHAPTER VIII.
On the fourth cause of aridities.

MAN, or, as Abbot Daniel says, "the negligence of man,"
is the fourth cause of aridities. And when we consider
this cause, we may with propriety use the words of St. Ber
nard : " We are all accustomed to complain that grace (the
grace of devotion) is lacking to us, but perhaps grace more
justly complains that men are lacking. For this grace,
which we covet, has its home in the heart; and he
defrauds himself of this gift who provides no fitting inner
habitation for it." For our negligence shuts out devotion
from its dwelling-place, and drives it away, and introduces
aridities ; and this negligence is six-fold.

The first kind of negligence is remote and indirect,
namely, a life given up to vices. " We must know," says
St. Lawrence Justinian, " that there is a double preparation
for prayer, namely, a remote and a near preparation ; the
remote preparation is the praiseworthy life of him who
prays. For it helps much to purity of prayer, if in every
place, action, and time, we restrain ourselves from unlawful
works and obey the Divine precepts : if we always keep our
ears and our tongues from idle discourses. For whatever
things we have been accustomed to do, to speak, or to hear
often, must frequently come back to the mind as to its own
accustomed abode ; for just as swine are accustomed to go
to their wallowing-places in the mire, and doves to the
limpid streams, so impure thoughts trouble the mind, and
a praiseworthy life cleanses and sanctifies the soul, and
makes the petition of one who prays acceptable." There
fore the slightest sins are to be avoided by one who is in

2OO Fourth cause of aridities.

earnest about prayer, if he wishes to be free from dryness.
For venial sins, especially those which are committed deli
berately, says St. Augustine, " are like a scab : where they
are numerous they bring on death ; and they so destroy our
beauty, that they separate us from the most chaste embraces
of that Spouse — Who is 'beautiful above the sons of men,' j;1
— " not indeed entirely, as is the case with mortal sin," says
St. Thomas, " but partially, because by venial sin the
affection of man is clogged and cannot be promptly directed
to God," or, as St. Caesarius of Aries remarks, who, using
a similar phrase, call venial sins " pimples which cover the
soul with a shocking scab, and make it frightful, so that
they hardly allow it to come at all, or only with great con
fusion, to the embraces of the Heavenly Bridegroom."

It is therefore necessary that he who desires to pray de
voutly shall bring with him a pure conscience. "For purity,"
as St. Lawrence Justinian remarks, "is of much avail (and he
places it first among those things which dispose the mind
for prayer, and render it capable of prayer) — purity, I say,
avails very much to make prayer acceptable, and to
render the mind of him who prays fit for prayer.
' Blessed,' says the Lord, ' are the clean of heart : for they
shall see God.'2 Aaron was not allowed to enter the Holy
of Holies until after he had washed thrice." And in
another place, treating of the hindrances to contemplation,
which do not permit the mind to raise itself to God in
prayer, he says : " The mind has its chains, which hold it
down when it is rising. Thus the soul is bound by the
chains of carnal prudence : it is also bound by the ropes
of sins. So many transgressions, so many ropes. Those
who are free from this kind of chains are able to soar
freely above themselves on the wing of contemplation, and
to discern the presence of the Spouse and the place of the
habitation of the glory of the Word. Let him therefore
cleanse his heart, who desires to contemplate the presence
of the Word." And therefore he calls purity of mind "the
1 Psalm xliv. 3. * St. Matt. v. 8.

Fourth cause of aridities. 201

eye of contemplation, the tabernacle of wisdom, the house
of mysteries overflowing with joy." " For when," as St.
Diadochus remarks, " our conscience is troubled by self-
reproach (on account of sins which are wont to be deli
berately committed), the mind is not allowed to perceive
the odour of heavenly blessings, but rather is dragged in
two directions; for, from its previous experience of faith,
it yearns for the same blessing now, but on account, as
I have said, of the frequent gnawings and accusations of
conscience, is not permitted to feel its heart inflamed with
love. But when we have cleansed ourselves by more
fervent prayer and attention, we obtain our desire with a
larger experience of the ways of God."

Whence, although the Holy Eucharist be of the greatest
efficacy, and its effect, as St. Thomas teaches, "a very
banquet of spiritual sweetness," yet he says this is hindered
" if one comes to this Sacrament distracted in mind by
venial sins." And much more if other sins and a dissipated
life have gone before. " For," says St. Basil, " as this
visible light does not rise equally upon all, but only on
those who have their eyesight and are awake, and to those
who are hindered by no impediment from enjoying the
brightness of the sun when he first rises ; so also the ' Sun
of Justice,'3 the 'true Light which enlighteneth every man
that cometh into the world,'4 does not show His splendour
to all, but to those who seek to live in a manner not un
worthy of it. ' Light,' he says, ' is risen, not to the sinner,
but to the just.'5 For as the sun is risen not for night
birds like the bat, nor for those creatures which go about in
the dark seeking their meat,6 so also, although light is in
its own nature bright and shining, and is endowed with the
power of lighting, yet all are not partakers of its brightness ;
1 for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh
not to the light, that his works may not be reproved.'"7
Nay, bad works shut out light, and place an obstacle

3 Mai. iv. 2. 4 St. John i. 9.

5 Psalm xcvi. n. 6 Psalm ciii. 21. 7 St. John iii. 20.

2O2 Fourth cause of aridities.

before the eyes of the mind, so that they cannot see it;
or rather, they close the eyes themselves, or at least dim
them, like an internal hurtful humour, or dust cast into
them. Which is thus beautifully explained by St. Bernard :
"Hateful is the stain which deprives us of the beatific vision,
and execrable the negligence through which we defer the
cleansing of our eye ; for as our bodily vision is obscured
by an internal humour, or by dust thrown into it from
without, so our spiritual perception is disturbed sometimes
by the allurements of our flesh, sometimes by secular
curiosity and ambition. But in both cases the only thing
which deadens and confuses the sight is sin ; nor is there
anything else but sin which seems to raise a barrier between
the eye and the light, between God and man," when he
addresses God in prayer.

Even when past sins have been corrected, and are now
being earnestly avoided, there remain certain remnants of
former sins, which disturb the eye of the mind and its
devotion in prayer. On which subject St. Bernard remarks,
in the same place : " Sometimes the bodily eye, when not
even a mote remains in it, but every particle has been
removed or blown away, yet for a long time seems to be
darkened ; and this same thing is still more frequently
experienced in the interior eye, which belongs to the spirit
For even when you have extracted the barb, the wound
is not at once entirely healed, but it becomes necessary
first to apply fomentations, and to take pains to heal it.
Let no one, then, imagine that, when he has ejected the
defilement from his mind, he is immediately restored to
purity ; but let him know that he still has need of many
purifications. Nor is it enough to be washed with water,
but he must also be cleansed and tried by fire, that he may
say : * We have passed through fire and water, and Thou
hast brought us out into a refreshment.'"8

Among the sins which impede devotion and induce
aridity, there is one which is common, namely, when we

9 Psalm Ixv. 12.

Fourth cause of aridities. 203

offend any one without a cause, and know that he feels
offended. " For this reason alone," says St. Diadochus,
" the mind has to forego contemplation, because the Word
of knowledge, which necessarily is begotten of charity, does
not allow the agitated mind to expand and dilate, so as to
become fruitful in contemplations, unless we first reconcile
him who, even hastily and without cause, is incensed
against us. But if he will not be reconciled, or, again, is at
a distance from the place where we are living, then it is of
necessity that we should represent in our mind the form of
his countenance, and in that way make our peace with him.
Thus (if he cannot have him present) in the depth of our
heart let us fulfil the law by love.9 It is necessary then,"
he says, " that those who wish to have the perception of
God should with thoughts of peace mentally look upon the
faces of those who have been unseasonably displeased with
them. And when this is done, the mind will not only
expatiate in theology, that is, in the science of Divine
things without wandering (caused by distractions), but it will
rise to the love of God with great confidence, hastening
from the second degree to the first without impediment."
For sins, whether those contrary to charity, or others,
oppose to the mind a great impediment in the way of its
seeing clearly, and perceiving Divine things with delight in
prayer. " For as light," says St. Bernard, " is in vain shed
around eyes which are blind or closed, so 'the sensual
man10 perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of
God;' for the holy spirit of discipline will flee from the
deceitful, that is, from an incontinent life; nor will He
ever have part with the vanity of the world, since He is
the Spirit of Truth. For what fellowship can the wisdom
* that is from above'11 have with 'the wisdom of this
world/ which is 'foolishness with God,'12 or with 'the
wisdom of the flesh,' which is 'an enemy to God.'"13
In order, then, that we may feel the relish of devotion,

9 Romans xiii. 10. 10 i Cor. ii. 14. u St. James iii. 17.

12 i Cor. iii. 19. 13 Romans viii. 7.

2O4 Fourth cause of aridities.

which excludes aridities, before prayer we must seek for
purity of life. For, as St. Bernard testifies, " To him
alone is the experience of Divine sweetness conceded,
who is of pre-eminent holiness of mind and purity of body."
Whence Hugo of St. Victor says, " that God does not grant
the sweetness of His affection except to men like St. John
the Evangelist, that is, to 'the clean of heart.'" For
although the devil imitates the works of God, and sends
his pleasures into the hearts of men, so that he may entice
and possess their hearts, yet this cannot long endure, nor
can it be in the same way in which God solaces with His
sweetness the hearts which are humbly pious. So that this
is most true, which St. Cyprian thought, as the Deacon
Pontius testifies in his life, "that even the hearts of old
men may be made fit to receive the full range of truth,
if they tread down the concupiscence of the flesh with the
whole strength and vigour of purity." And therefore it is
with propriety that St. Teresa wrote in her Book of Foun
dations that the minds of those " who strive to have a pure
conscience are by this means, more than by anything else,
united to God."

Among those stains on our lives which hinder the flow
of devotion and of Divine consolations in prayer, the last
place must not be assigned to those private friendships
which arise from an ill-regulated natural affection. For
such intimacies, as St. Lawrence Justinian remarks, " take
pleasure in jests, like to rove about, and want to be
always hearing and seeing something new, and do not
refrain. from a busy curiosity about the affairs of others."
And in this way, as St. Dorotheus teaches, the tears of
devotion are dried up, or rather obstructed; "for it is
good," he says, " for a monk who desires to make progress,
not to be too intimate with one of his own age, since
associations of this kind and prolonged familiarity with
our friends and those of our own age commonly destroy the
spirit of tears and the fervent purpose of the soul." And
St. Lawrence Justinian sets forth the same more clearly,

Fourth cause of aridities. 205

saying, " the minds of such are distracted, and their com
punction dissipated, and grace is withdrawn, their neighbour
is not edified, prayer is disturbed, and conscience is dark
ened." For, as St. Bernard says, " Love is wont to efface
love," the human the Divine, the carnal the heavenly. And
certainly, if Aristotle considers that it is neither expedient
nor possible that there should be perfect friendship with
several friends, inasmuch as no one can be possessed by
the love of many persons at the same time ; so the perfect
friendship with God, which very ardent devotion engenders,
cannot consist with inordinate affection towards another,
but is hindered by it, as we are taught by our daily expe
rience in such matters. For God wills to be loved and
worshipped alone. " Thou shalt serve Him only," He said
by Moses,14 and in the Gospel.15 And St. Bernard testifies :
"This Bridegroom is jealous: if perchance thou receivest
another lover, if thou art more desirous to please another,
He will immediately depart from thee, and will become
attached to other brides." And Father Balthasar Alvarez,
speaking on the same subject, remarked, " that the heart
is captivated by too great affection for creatures, and loses
that liberty of the free-born with which God endowed it
when He made man; and it becomes incapable and unfit for
familiar intercourse with the Lord our God Himself. For
such attachments draw our thoughts after them to the
person who is loved, and they consume time, and leave no
place for God to abide in the heart, so that it cannot adhere
and be united to its Creator alone." And for this reason
St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, as our Father Ceparius writes
in her Life, inculcated to her nuns, that they should have
no excessive affection for anything, even though it were not
evil, and that they should examine themselves every month
on this point, and should deprive themselves of those things
which they had loved in excess.

A second kind of negligence which gives birth to aridi
ties is our coming to prayer with unallayed perturbations
14 Deut. vi. 13. , is st. Matt. iv. 10.

206 Fourth cause of aridities.

of mind which trouble us. " It is requisite," says St. Basil,
" that he who desires thoroughly to follow the contemplation
of truth, should have the greatest possible freedom from
every external disturbance, and that he should enjoy peace
and tranquillity within the secret place of his heart, as in
an innermost council-chamber. Do you hear the prophet
confessing his sin ? ' My eye is troubled through indigna
tion.'16 But it is not only indignation or anger which troubles
the soul, but concupiscence and fear and envy also. And
generally, all perturbations and immoderate motions confuse
and disturb the keenness and clearness of the soul. And
as we cannot clearly perceive visible things with a dimmed
eye so no one is enabled to attain to a knowledge of truth
with a troubled heart."

For this reason St. John Climacus exhorts : " When
you come to stand before the presence of God, let your
soul have on a tunicle made throughout of the thread
afAvrjo-i/caKia, that is, the forgetfulness of injuries. Other
wise you will gain nothing even from prayer." And further
on : " If you are clothed with all meekness and freedom
from anger, you will not have to labour to free your mind
from captivity/' And St. Diadochus explains this very
thing beautifully in another similitude : " When the sea is
calm, the fishermen can see to the bottom of it, so that
none of the fish are then hidden from them ; but when it
is tossed by winds, it hides under its turbid waves those
fishes which it allows to be seen far and near when it is
calm and tranquil. Whence it comes to pass that the fisher
man cannot exercise his craft; and this, too, is wont to
happen to the mind which is engaged in contemplation,
when its depths are troubled by unjust anger."

But it is not anger alone which produces this effect ; but
other things as well, which, however, can be repressed by the
aid of Divine grace. " When the soul is stirred by anger,"
says the same St. Diadochus, "or is clouded from the
effect of gluttony, or is affected with grievous anguish,
16 Psalm vi, 8.

Fourth cause of aridities. 207

the mind is unable to retain the remembrance of God,
even though the soul strive to compel it to do so. In
fact the whole mind, darkened by the vehemence of its
perturbations, entirely loses, in consequence, for a time its
power of perception. And thus the desire of the soul is
unable so to imprint its seal (that is, move the will to desire
efficaciously to avoid that which is evil, and to seek that
which is good), so that the mind shall retain faithfully the
scene of its contemplation, so much is the memory impaired
by the violence of its perturbations. But if it is once set free
from such perturbations, although for a little time dis
tractions may steal in upon the fervour of the soul, yet soon,
by using its best skill, it ardently lays hold of its salutary
and most desirable prize; for now it has grace itself (the
Holy Ghost) meditating along with the soul, and crying out :
'Lord Jesus.' Even so the mother teaches her little boy,
and practises with him his father's name, until she accustoms
him to it, till at last the little boy, even in its sleep,
instead of some other infantine cry, pronounces clearly
the name of father. Therefore the Apostle says : ' Like
wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we
know not what we should pray for as we ought : but
the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable
groanings.'17 For as regards the attaining of perfection
in the virtue of prayer, we are but little children, and are
entirely dependent upon His aid ; so that when His sweet
ness, greater than can be described, mingles with all our
thoughts and overflows them with delight, we are roused
with all our affection to the remembrance and the love of
God ; so that as it is in Him we call God our Father, as
St. Paul testifies in the same place, so through Him we are
enabled to cry, without intermission, Abba, Father."

A third kind of negligence which gives birth to aridities
is an excessive dissipation of mind over earthly things,
generally caused by an inordinate affection for them; for,
as Pope St. Gregory says, " the mind can never be drawn to

17 Rom. viii. 26.

208 Fourth cause of aridities.

vigorous internal contemplation, unless it is first by a great
effort made insensible to the tumult of earthly desires." But
when to the inordinate desire of earthly things there is
added an effusion of the mind on external things, then still
less can devotion in prayer be expected on our part. "It
is our own fault," says Thomas a Kempis, "that we are
destitute of Divine consolations, or that we experience them
too seldom, because we do not seek compunction of heart,
nor entirely cast away vain and external things." And else
where : "A man is hindered and distracted according as he
draws earthly things to himself." And in another place : "Who
ever raises his intention with a simple heart upwards to God,
and empties himself of all inordinate love to, or dissatis
faction with, any earthly thing, will be most fitted for the
reception of grace, and worthy of the gift of devotion." And
again : " Many are found to desire contemplation, but are
not in earnest to practise what is required for it. It is a great
hindrance, that we set too much store on signs and sensible
things, and value little perfect mortification." And he had
said before : " Few contemplative persons are found for this
reason, that few know how to withdraw themselves fully
from creatures and perishable things." This separation
from creatures, upon which the undevout heart is poured
forth, is that wilderness spoken of by the Prophet Osee :
" I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to
her heart"18 "For as long," says St. Lawrence Justinian,
"as the soul is mingled with crowds, and is tossed about
among those who are driven like the waves, it has not a
place for God alone, nor is it separated from the mob " of
creatures or of unprofitable cares. Even a small attachment
to such things, and an excessive care with regard to them,
hinder the relish of devotion.

"A small mote," says St. John Climacus, "troubles the

eye, and a little care destroys repose ; for repose is the

laying aside of the senses, the abnegation of unreasonable

cares. He who is agitated by cares is like him who, after

18 Osee ii. 14.

Fourth cause of aridities. 209

firmly binding his feet, endeavours to walk fast." For that
is true which Abbot Daniel says (in Cassian) : " Through
our own fault, by reason of our previous lukewarmness,
because we walked uncircumspectly and remissly, and in our
idleness and sloth fed our souls with hurtful imaginations, we
have made the soil of our heart bring forth thorns and thistles;
and when these grow upon it we are in consequence made
sterile, and deprived of all spiritual fruit and contemplation."
And Abbot Isaac confirms this, saying : " That prayer may
be offered with due fervour and purity, these things are by
all means to be observed : First, solicitude about carnal
things generally is to be laid aside. Next, not only the care,
but the very remembrance of every matter of business is to
be entirely dismissed. Detractions also, idle words, excess
in speaking, and scurrilities are equally to be cut off. Anger,
above all things, and even the perturbation of sadness, must
be thoroughly extirpated, and the destructive passion of
carnal concupiscence and avarice must be plucked up by
the roots."

He explains the same thing admirably in the following
chapter: "The condition of the soul," he says, " has been
not unfitly compared to the finest down or the lightest
feather, which, if they have not been spoiled or damaged by
some foreign moisture that has fallen on them, are, by reason
of the mobility of their substance, borne aloft naturally by the
slightest breeze into the sky ; but if they have been rendered
heavy by the aspersion or effusion of any moisture, not only
will they not be wafted through the air by their natural mobi
lity, but they will be brought down to the ground by the
weight of the moisture which they have received : so also our
mind, if it has not been weighted by vices and by worldly
cares, or corrupted by its own habit of hurtful lust, will, as
though raised by the natural power of its purity, be lifted
by the slightest breath of spiritual meditation to the things
that are above ; and leaving low and earthly things, will be
borne up to those which are heavenly and invisible." And
this doctrine he confirms in another place. And Pope
o

2 1 o Fourth cause of aridities.

St. Gregory says : " We are often willingly occupied with
the cares of the world; and after this we endeavour to
pray ; but in vain the mind raises itself to heavenly things ;
because the weight of earthly anxiety has sunk it into the
depths, and its face does not show clean in prayer, because
it is stained by the mire of thoughts most base." Hence
Abbot Moses (in Cassian), discussing the various methods
and subjects of Divine contemplation, "by which God is
seen or held by the pure soul's eyesight," says, " no one will
long retain these, in whom there still lives anything of carnal
affections ; for God says : " Thou canst not see My face :
for man shall not see Me and live;"19 that is, when given
to this world and to earthly affections. And Abbot Serenus
says : " We shall know by our own experience that we can
adhere to the Lord, if once we have mortified our wills and
cut off the desires of this world." And St. Thomas names
as the second of two hindrances to contemplation " the dis
turbances of our external occupations." But even without
occupations, mere thoughts about the world, if wilfully
indulged, hinder the course of prayer. For St. Macarius
testifies, "that thoughts of this kind distract the mind to
earthly and corruptible things, and suffer us not to love God
or to retain the remembrance of the Lord." Therefore
St. Leo wishes " our soul to keep silence from all the noise
of earthly cares, that it may rejoice in holy meditations
and delights. But if in this life it is difficult to abide in
this state, yet it may frequently be resumed, so that
we may be oftener and longer engaged in spiritual things
than in carnal. And when we spend longer time on
these better cares, even our temporal actions turn into
incorruptible riches."

To this head we must refer the tendency of the tongue
to loquacity ; for this too hinders the pious relish of prayer.
Therefore St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi was wont to say,
" that it was impossible for a religious soul which does not
delight in silence to have a relish for Divine things." But

19 Exodus xxxiii. 20.

Distracting occupations not to be declined 211

as the tendency of the mind to creatures hinders the
devotion of prayer, so the contrary disposition greatly aids
in uniting the mind to God.

CHAPTER IX.

Distracting occupations not to be declined from fear
of aridities.

You will say, if these things are true, neither our Superiors,
nor our Procurators, no, nor scholastics intent upon
learning, will ever be able to pray devoutly. For, before
entering upon their prayers, they are bound to be anxious
about the right performance of their duties ; and these
cannot be performed without care for earthly things. And
the same must be thought of lay-brothers who are employed
about temporal things. Whence St. Basil says, " that
anxiety and care about those things which are material,
greatly distract the mind and soul."

I answer first : If we have taken pains and discharged
our duties with care and diligence, according to the
counsel of St. Bernard, and the example of our holy Father
Ignatius, who, as Maffei testifies in his Life, "was accus
tomed not to give himself up to business, but to lend him
self to it ; " we shall be able to pray no less devoutly than
if we were settled in the most remote wilderness, and sepa
rated from every distracting occupation. For, as Pope St.
Gregory says, " There is a necessary agreement between
these things, so that work is sustained by prayer, and prayer
by work. Hence Jeremias says : ' Let us lift up our hearts
with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.' : He lifts up
his heart with his hands who strengthens his prayer by
works. For whoever prays, but refuses to work, lifts up his
heart, but not his hands. And whoever works, but does
1 Lam. iii. 41.

212 Distracting occupations not to be declined

not pray, lifts up his hands, and not his heart." It is, there
fore, possible for those who are occupied in distracting
works, to be very devout in them. And this Cassian shows
from the example of the Egyptian monks. " Thus," he
says, " the work of their hands is incessantly plied by them
privately in their cells, but yet so that the meditation of
Psalms or of other Scriptures is never wholly omitted."
Yea, by the very labours of their hands they prepared
themselves for consolations and for concentrated contempla
tion. " For they believed," says the same writer, " that the
longer they were intent upon their work and labour, the
more they were earning for the eye of the mind a high
purity in spiritual contemplations." For the judgment of
St. Bernard is true : " A serious and prudent mind prepares
itself for every labour, and yet is not dissipated in it, but
rather is thereby more collected into itself; since it always
has before its eyes not so much its action as what it intends
by its action, and therefore it has regard to the end for
which every work is completed."

And the truth of this St. Bernard proved in himself;
for although he was not a hermit, but was employed
by the Supreme Pontiffs in laborious legations, and
was drawn away in various directions in the govern
ment of his Order, yet, as we read in his Life, "in
the strength of the Spirit, he was at the same time wholly
employed in external labours, and yet had his heart
wholly free for God ; on the one side nourishing his sense
of duty, on the other his devotion. In the time of labour,
he was also inwardly praying or meditating, without inter
mission of his outward labour ; and he laboured outwardly
without loss of interior sweetness." And in another place
his recollectedness of mind in the midst of distracting
labours is thus commended : " He had made himself so
entirely the servant of all, that he seemed to belong to the
whole world ; yet had such care of his conscience, that he
might have been given to the care and custody of his heart
alone."

from fear of aridities. 2 1 3

And in this respect the promise of our Lord to
St. Gertrude may bring comfort to those who, for God's
sake, discharge distracting duties in religious houses, while
their companions are free for sacred duties, whether the
celebration of Masses, or the recitation of the Divine Office,
and the like. For when St. Gertrude was praying in a
certain chapel, and saw Christ our Lord at the time of the
Sacrifice of the Mass, " shedding rays of wonderful splen
dour over some persons in the community, and felt
wonderful joy and delight at the sight, she, being anxious
about other persons in the community, said to the Lord,
'Since, O Lord, Thine abounding compassion hath now
bestowed upon me the grace of incredible sweetness, what
dost Thou give to those who have to labour incessantly in
external things, and enjoy less of these gifts ? ' To which
the Lord replied : ' I anoint them with balsam even when
they are, as it were, asleep.' And when she began to medi
tate upon the efficacy of this balm, and wondered greatly
how they who did not exercise themselves in spiritual things
could have equal fruit with those who did ; because balsam,
which renders bodies anointed with it incorruptible, has
much the same effect whether it is applied to those who
are asleep, or those who are awake ; she received a more
simple similitude as an illustration of what was meant, in
this way : When a man eats, his whole body is strengthened
in each of its members, yet only his mouth is gratified by
the taste of the food; so too when a special grace is given to
the elect, through our Lord's boundless mercy, merit is in
creased in all His members, and especially in those who be
long to the same community, because their labours are united
to the devotions of their companions; except, indeed, those
who defraud themselves of it by envy (because they see that
they are not clerics nor have a place in the choir), or through
an evil will." Moreover, involuntary distraction, which arises
from labours which are enjoined, will not injure the spiritual
man.

And hence St. Teresa, although she prescribed to her

214 Distracting occupations not to be declined

nuns that, whilst they were engaged in external em
ployments by command of the Superior, and from a
motive of charity, they should not long for solitude as
though it were better for them, yet very properly adds
immediately : " I consider it a greater blessing from the
Lord to have passed one day in the lowly knowledge of
ourselves (even although it may have cost us many afflic
tions and labours), than to have spent many in prayer;
and this so much the more, because one who truly and
sincerely loves, can never be without a present memory of
the object beloved. It would certainly be hard if prayer
could be made only in corners and in solitude. If a con
venient place for solitude is denied us, we can yet be
alone, O Lord, delighting with' Thee, in the solitude and
cell of our heart." "When the Saviour," remarks St.
Ambrose, "tells us, 'Enter into thy chamber,'2 you must
understand not a chamber shut in by walls, in which your
members are confined, but the chamber which is within
you, in which your thoughts are shut up, in which your
mental powers reside. This chamber for your prayer is with
you everywhere, and is everywhere secret : no one sees or
knows it but God alone."

St. Chrysostom taught the same : " Let no one tell me,"
he says, " that a man who is engaged in secular affairs, and
in the market-place, cannot pray continually throughout the
day (not only for an hour or two, as we do), for he can, and
quite easily, even although he is seated on the tribunal.
Wherever thou art, thou canst set up thine altar — if thou
only offerest a fervent mind, thou hast attained to perfec
tion in prayer. Wherever thou art, pray. Thou art a
temple, seek not for a place of prayer. For God has not
regard to the place : one thing He requires : a fervent mind
and a pure soul." And St. Basil, who both lauded for
many years and practised the life of solitude, withdrawn
from the business of the world, testifies the same : " He
who is truly a philosopher, as his body is the home of
2 St. Matt. vi. 6.

from fear of aridities. 215

his cares, and the strong castle of his soul, whether acci
dent take him to the market-place, or he is in the most
splendid assembly, or on a mountain, or in the fields, or in
the thickest crowd, always remains unmoved in this natural
monastery of his ; since his mind is inwardly self-recollected,
and philosophizes on the matters which pertain to his office.
And whereas it may easily be that he who keeps himself
within private walls, if he is negligent, may be carried abroad
by the disturbance of his mind ; so, on the other hand, he
whose business is in the market-place, if he keep watch
within his mind, may be as though he were placed in the
greatest solitude; if he have his thoughts turned only on
himself and on God, and admit through his senses abso
lutely none of those perturbations which arise from things
sensible, and are wont to make their way into our minds."
And therefore Abbot Ampo said well : " As the bee, wher
ever it goes, makes honey ; so the monk, wherever he goes,
if only he goes for the work of God, may bring home the
honey of good deeds/' And that which Quintilian advises
in order to happy success in studies, should be observed
in prayer : "If you direct your attention to your work with
all your might, none of those things which come before
your eyes or your ears will reach your mind."

For this reason our holy Father St. Ignatius, as Ribade-
neira tells us, " was never disturbed in prayer by any noise
(if it came from no fault of his own)." Greater is the power
of Divine grace than that of human -genius and industry.
Wherefore, if Seneca, trusting only in the power of nature,
was never distracted from his studies by any voice, or noise,
or groaning, or hissing, as he tells us himself ; much more
may we, by the help of Divine grace, have our mind
collected and ordered in distracting duties and disturbing
labours, provided that while engrossed in such duties, as
St. Nilus observes, " we only give to earthly things for the
sake of the body so much care as necessity requires." As,
on the other side, he says further on in the same place :
" If, through sloth, we leave the right hand of action unem-

2 1 6 Distracting occupations not to be declined

ployed, we at the same time extinguish even the lustre of
contemplation." St. John Climacus writes, respecting the
cook of a certain monastery, who had to provide for two
hundred and thirty (besides guests), that he had the gift of
tears in that distracting occupation, and when some one
entreated him, that he would vouchsafe to explain to him
how he had merited such a grace, he thus replied : " I have
never considered that I was serving men, but God, and
holding myself unworthy of any repose, from the contem
plation of this fire I constantly experience contrition at the
remembrance of the everlasting fire." And thus the duty of
the kitchen, leaving no day free from its distracting labour,
does not distract if its work is properly performed. A like
example is contained in the Franciscan Annals : " A certain
cook had been accustomed, after he had discharged the
duties of the kitchen, to betake himself to a hill, for the
purpose of prayer, at which time a great sweetness of
heavenly consolation was poured out upon him. And he
began to think that this might be attained in richer abund
ance if he were freed from the distractions of the kitchen.
He goes therefore to his Superior, and asks to be released
from the duties of the kitchen. But when he was freed
from them, and gave himself up to the meditation of Divine
things, he felt none of those Divine consolations in which
he abounded when he was engaged in the labours of the
kitchen. Wherefore, acknowledging his error, he returned
to his culinary duties, and when he had done this, the
heavenly grace of the devotion which he had lost returned
again, and even in greater plenty, when he discharged anew
the duties of brotherly charity and humility." Let no one
then ascribe his aridities in prayer to his distracting duties,
but to some negligence, either in the discharge of those
duties, or to some fault which has been committed in medi-
tion itself.

We have other examples amongst ourselves of the same
thing, both past and present. For who doubts that our
holy Father St. Ignatius, when he founded the Society, and

from fear of aridities. 2 1 7

after founding governed it, was engaged in numerous affairs
of great importance, and this with the closest application of
mind, and yet he was so devout, that not only in the secret
recesses of his chamber, but " from looking at a flower, or a
herb, or the most insignificant thing, he was immediately
carried most sweetly to the thought and love of God," as we
read in his Life ; and, what is more remarkable, even when
he was eating, when he was walking through the city, when
he was conversing with others, and conducting business, he
saw Divine lights and celestial visions which in no way
hindered the works which he had in his hand ; as we are
told by Ribadeneira and Orlandini. Father Polanco,
although he was Secretary of the Society, and at the same
time a preacher, and taught catechism, as Orlandini tells
us, and besides, at the same time, discharged the duties of
Procurator General of the Society and of the house, and
all the while did work in the kitchen and the refectory,
and was besides all this engaged in writing the history
of the Society, and had to answer all letters in the name
of St. Ignatius ; yet, as I have heard from the old Fathers
of the Society, he suffered no wanderings of mind in prayer.
Father Paul Gamers, when he was sent to the East
Indies as companion of St. Francis Xavier, and sometimes
had to replace him there in his absence, was immersed in so
many cares in propagating the glory of God, and in caring
for the salvation of all, that, as Sacchini writes, it could
hardly even be imagined how many labours he underwent,
and this with great constancy and cheerfulness of mind, not
only in governing the members of our Society who were dis
persed throughout India, but also in gaining many worldly
men from a sinful to a holy life, and teaching day and
night the rules of a virtuous life to the young men of various
nations who were drawn to the Seminary, enduring all the
while all the annoyances which resulted from the educa
tion of a number of youths of tender age and different
nationalities, and bearing with a maternal sweetness the
discord and clashing of barbarous manners and languages.

2 1 8 Distracting occupations not to be declined

Besides this, he watched over the instruction of the cate
chumens with exceeding care, and baptized them with his
own hand, so that hardly any one begot more to Christ ; and
afterwards he joined many of them in holy matrimony, and
protected them from the injuries of the powerful, and strove
to elevate, to train and civilize them. As long as he lived,
moreover, he superintended the hospital with watchful care
and earnest labour. Moreover, the chief management of the
house of the catechumens, both men and women, was com
mitted to him. And in addition to all these labours, he was
as constant in hearing confessions as though he had no
other charge. " And yet," says Sacchini, " he attended to
all these duties in such a manner that his soul seemed to be
removed far from earth and from the body, and to be living
rather in Heaven." For the Divine Goodness makes use of
such charges, when undertaken not by one's own will, but
by the will of one's Superiors, as faggots for enkindling,
not for extinguishing, the fervour of intense devotion.
To which purpose St. Thomas has a pious reflection,
when speaking of the passage of the Apostle, in which he
says : ".No man, being a soldier of God, entangleth himself
with secular businesses, that he may please Him to Whom
he hath engaged himself."3 "He does not say," remarks
St. Thomas, "simply 'is entangled,' but 'entangleth himself/
For a man entangles himself when he assumes business
without piety and without necessity; but when a duty is
fulfilled which is imposed by piety, or by authority (as of
one's superiors), then a man does not 'entangle himself/
but he 'is entangled' by this obligation." And to such an
one God affords succour, that his devotion may not be
hindered, and if it is hindered, no harm will be done, for
the reasons which have been mentioned, and for others
which have still to be stated. Our St. Aloysius, although
most diligent in his studies, prayed so devoutly, that he
was never interrupted by distractions, and \ abounded in
heavenly consolations, and he felt as much difficulty in

3 2 Tim. ii. 4.

from fear of aridities. 219

calling his mind away from the consideration of heavenly
things, as others do in collecting themselves and fixing their
attention. We read the same of St. Stanislaus in his novitiate.
Father Francis Suarez, although he was all his life long more
immersed in books than any other member of our Society, yet
because he only lent himself to his books, and did not give
himself to them, whenever he took his Breviary in his hands
to say his Hours, after the custom of priests, found that all
cares departed from him, so that no business of whatever
importance distracted his mind or his thoughts from atten
tion to prayer; to such an extent he had mastered the
agitations of the stormy soul."

Alphonsus Rodriguez, who discharged the office of
porter for almost forty years, had his mind so fixed on
God in all his actions, although they were very dis
tracting, that all the distractions of a day put together
hardly took up as much time as a single recitation of the
Apostles' Creed. And, indeed, once when ordered by his
Superior to withdraw his mind from the contemplation of
heavenly things, when he was afflicted with a dangerous
disease to which such mental attention was injurious, he was
quite unable to comply, finding his mind involuntarily
carried away to heavenly contemplations; on which account
he obtained that he might be released from this command
of his Superior. It is, therefore, no wonder that Father
Jerome Natalis, (who was the first whom St. Ignatius chose
to promulgate and explain his Constitutions, and whom he
had also made Vicar General of the whole Society when
he was himself indisposed, and who was afterwards made
Assistant of the Society, and sent by Father Laynez as
Visitor of the Spanish provinces with the power of the
General himself), it is no wonder, I say, that he was wont
to envy both the novices and our lay-brothers, as Father
Rodriguez tells us, since they were free from studies and
cares, and able to give themselves to prayer throughout the
whole day; although these latter had, in an especial manner,
to discharge perpetually distracting duties.

2 2O Distracting occupations not to be declined

And therefore, distracting duties and employments are not
to be avoided in order to get rid of distractions. Neither must
we hope that they will all be cut off by the help of solitude,
because, although, as St. Basil% writes, " solitude contributes
great assistance to outward work, inasmuch as it usually
allays the perturbations of the mind, and thus gives oppor
tunity for eradicating them from the soul by the power of
reflection ; " yet by itself alone solitude cannot accomplish
this. And hence the same Saint, at the beginning of the
Epistle from which we have quoted, writing from his soli
tude, thus speaks : "Although I spend my days and my
nights in this remote retirement ; although I regard all civic
employments as left behind me, as well as six hundred
other sources of misery, I have not yet been able to
leave myself behind. For I am affected much as those
are, who, unaccustomed to the sea, are sorely afflicted
by sickness. For such men when they have been dis
turbed by a great vessel striking violently against their
boat or skiff, and have got clear, yet they do not escape
from sickness, for the discomfort will follow them wherever
they go. And something of the same kind happens to us,
since we take with us our domestic troubles among what
ever people we go, and in every place we find disturbance.
And therefore we are not greatly helped by this solitude.
And the reason is this, that solitude by itself does not
destroy the roots and springs of distractions and aridities,
which for the most part proceed from the unregulated
motions of passions implanted in us and from former evil
habit."

"For the plagues of vices of this kind," says St.
Bernard, writing on the solitary life to the monks of
Mont de Dieu, "follow the solitary, even into the most
remote solitude. And as solid virtue, which is firmly
established in the mind, does not desert its possessor in
a crowd, so vice confirmed by habit does not leave its
slave free in a solitude. For unless habits are combated
with continued effort and wise labour, they may be restrained,

from fear of aridities. 221

but can hardly be conquered; and however the mind may
arrange for itself, in whatever solitude it may dwell, they will
not allow the privacy or silence of the heart to exist" — such
as is found in devout prayervand sensible devotion. Hence
St. John Climacus, having experience of the advantages and
disadvantages both of the solitary and of the conventual
life, writes : " Conventual life offers resistance to spiritual
sloth (which is essentially a source of aridity and prayer) ;
but this inseparable companion is everlastingly present with
the solitary man, nor will it forsake him before death, but
will daily assail him as long as he lives. It has looked into
the cell of the anchorite and has laughed ; and it has come
near and set up its tent beside him." For this reason
distracting duties and places need not be avoided in order
to escape from dryness and spiritual sloth, and in this
respect are not less eligible than solitude. Hence, Abbot
Moses, as quoted by Cassian, says : " It is proved by
experience that the assault of sloth is not to be avoided
by flight, but is to be overcome by resistance." And
certainly distracting duties, if they are rightly discharged,
are so far from hindering the devotion of prayer, that they
rather dispose us for it.

And therefore St. Lawrence Justinian, who was ex
perienced in contemplation, when enumerating those
things which "dispose the mind for prayer and incline
God's mercy to hear," rightly puts in the third place
distracting occupations which are undertaken for God :
"Exercise in the works of an active life," he says, "pre
pares, in no small degree, the mind for the gift and
relish of prayer and contemplation ; so that he who first
makes good progress in an active life, rises easily to the
life of contemplation; and he is rightly raised up to this
who is found useful in the other." And all those are useful
to others who are engaged either in the office of Martha
or in the providing of things which are necessary for the
Community, from the love of God, or from the duty of
holy obedience. So that the most simple Religious, I mean

222 Distracting occupations not to be declined

the least educated lay-brothers who cannot even read, may,
according to the judgment of St. Macarius, be most devout
in their distracting duties, as well as others who are priests
and are employed in the ministries of religion in the service
of the people, so long as they have custody of themselves.
And of what nature this should be we are told by St. Basil
in the epistle already quoted : "A calm state of mind," he
says, "is attained when neither the tongue speaks those
things which are merely human (such as idle, curious, and
useless things), nor the eyes look upon the brightness of
colour in bodies, nor the graceful proportion of limbs;
neither do the ears make the intention of the soul to languish
because they are kept on the stretch to listen to melodies
which are arranged merely to bring pleasure, nor by giving
heed to the ridiculous or scurrilous words of jocular men,
a thing which has a great tendency to destroy the intention
or attention of the mind. For the mind, which is neither
dissipated from without, nor poured out through the senses
on the outer world, returns to itself, and of its own accord (yet
by the blessing of Divine grace, not otherwise) immediately
rises to the thought of God. Whence it happens that the
intellect, thoroughly enlightened by the beauty of God and
illuminated from above, is seized with a forgetfulness of
nature itself, and never lets the mind sink down to any
anxiety about food, or concern about clothing; since, free
and disengaged from the care of earthly things, it transfers
all its desire to those good things which are acquired by
the great conflict."

Hence it happens that rude and uneducated men, un
cultivated by learning, often receive by Divine grace more
light and solace than those who are endowed with worldly
knowledge and learning. "I have seen illiterate men,"
says St. Mark the Hermit, " who had a relish for humble
employments, made wiser than the wise." " For love
itself," as St. Gregory teaches, " is the knowledge of God,"
that is, by producing it, and by bringing to the mind,
which is of itself uncultivated, Divine light and an enjoyable

from fear of aridities. 223

knowledge of Divine things. And St. Bonaventure, in his
Life of St. Francis, speaks of Brother Giles as one who
was illiterate, but wonderfully devout. The same recol-
lectedness of mind had been obtained from God by a
member of our Society of holy memory, John Berchmans,4
as is related in his Life.

So St. Catharine of Siena, when driven by her mother
from her cell, whither she had betaken herself for prayer,
and discharging, by her mother's command, the duties of
the maid-servants in the house, kept her mind in union
with her Heavenly Spouse, because, in the midst of
engagements and disturbances, she entered within herself
as into the cell of her soul (which by Divine inspira
tion she had spiritually raised within herself), and there
devoutly prayed. And St. Ambrose observed that David
knew and possessed such a cell : " The Prophet David,"
he says, " has taught us to walk about in our heart, as in
a spacious house, and to converse with it as with a good
companion, even as he said to himself, and talked with
himself : ' I said, I will take heed to my ways.' " And
elsewhere the same St. Ambrose writes: "Thy chamber
is the secret place of thy heart : thy conscience is thy
chamber. There, then, pray in secret." And St. Bernard,
recommending such a cell, says : " Go apart, but with the
mind, not with the body ; by your intention, by devotion,
in the spirit : it is the solitude of the mind and spirit
alone which is commended to thee. Thou art alone, if
thou dost not think on common things, if thou dost not
affect things present, if thou dost despise what many regard,
if thou dost disdain what all desire ; if thou avoidest dis
putes ; if thou dost not feel losses ; if thou dost not remem
ber injuries : otherwise, even when thou art alone in body,
thou art not really alone. Dost thou see that when alone
thou mayest be in a crowd, and when thou art in a multi
tude thou art alone ? " And such recollectedness he else
where calls the "chamber of the heart." And St. Lawrence
4 Since beatified by Pope Pius IX.

224 Distracting occupations not to be declined

Justinian gives it the same name in his book on chaste
wedlock and on the solitary life.

In this sense, perhaps, it was that Clement of Alexan
dria wrote : " Man, consecrate thyself as a temple." And
St. Peter Chrysologus taught the same, recommending a
man " to come from himself into himself." And St. Basil
speaks of "a natural monastery;" and referring to the
forty-third Psalm, speaks of " the secrets of the heart " and
"an inward chamber of consultation."5 Such a cell Abbot
Abraham calls "a beautiful abode which David, desiring
to fashion in his heart for the Lord, said : ' I have loved,
O Lord, the beauty of Thy house, and the place where
Thy glory dwelleth."'6 And St. Basil teaches us how this
may be done, in commenting upon those words of the
Psalm, "Adore ye the Lord in His holy court/'7 saying:
"As a man adorns himself and furnishes a house for the
Lord, that he may be a temple of God, so also he can
inclose on all sides the outer court and vestibule, protect
ing himself, as it were, with a wall, and adoring God in
himself by his life, by his discourse, by Divine thoughts;
since he has in himself a sufficient and suitable means
of offering that worship, as well from the structure of
his body as by governing the actions of the powers of
the soul." And St. Nilus gave this counsel to others :
" Since each one of us has a church at home in his own
mind, we ought also to offer sacrifices in that church. "
And St. Chrysostom says : " Wherever thou art, thou canst
set up thine altar ; if thou can only show fervour of soul,
thou wilt attain to the perfection of prayer. Wherever
thou art, pray : thou art a temple : seek no other place."
And St. Climacus : " If any one can command the tears of
the soul, he will find every place suitable for weeping ;
but if, when alone, he is still occupied in external affairs,
let him not cease to look out for fitting places and
states of mind. And the like is taught by Abbot Isaac (in
Cassian) and by Pope St. Gregory. And thus oftentimes,
5 Psalm xliii. 22. 6 Psalm xxv. 8. 7 Psalm xxviii. 2.

from fear of aridities. 225

as St. Macarius has observed, "an illiterate person kneels
and falls to prayer, and his mind experiences delights and
digs so deep that the obstructing wall of vices is broken
down, and he penetrates to spiritual vision and wisdom, such
as the powerful and the wise, or great orators do not attain
to, since they never reach or understand the keenness of
that mind which is occupied with Divine mysteries." And
Vincentius Mainardus, in his Life of St. Antoninus, Bishop
of Florence, writes of him in the following manner : " Never
was there such a pressure of business, or such a complexity
of affairs rushing in, as could in the least prevent the man
who was full of God from being wholly borne up on high
to behold heavenly things. For he always had some hidden
corner in his mind which he preserved inviolate, into
which the noise of business and the anxiety of pastoral
cares were never allowed to creep; so that whenever he
desisted from the transaction of business, he might have
recourse to it as an asylum of perfect safety, turning from
this 'outward man' to what St. Paul calls the 'inward
man.'"8

I answer in the second place : When distractions arising
from the discharge of our duties, through no fault of our
own destroy the sweetness of devotion in prayer, they in
no way injure such prayer; on the contrary, they often
render it no less meritorious than is prayer which is full
of spiritual sweetnesses, as well because of the struggle which
is undergone in expelling the distractions, as because of
the sense of weariness which is overcome, and because of
the conformity to the Divine will which pours out this
dryness as a bitter chalice offered to us, and also because
of the perseverance in this trial which is kept up by the love
of God, and is more noble and heroic than perseverance in
meditation which is overflowing with every consolation, as
has already been pointed out. Let such console themselves
with that counsel of God which was given to Father Bal-
thasar Alvarez, who, when he was lovingly complaining

8 2 Cor, iv. 1 6 ; Ephes. iii. 16.
P

226 Distracting occupations not to be declined

before God of the want of time for prayer, heard the Lord
saying to him : " Be at peace, and hold it sufficient for thee
that I use thy labour, although thou art not with Me." After
hearing this voice of God, he remained peaceful and joyful.
And on this subject St. Lawrence Justinian has written :
" When holy men are intent upon spiritual exercises and
are unable, at pleasure, to raise themselves on high, but are,
even against their will and effort, dragged down to 'the things
that are upon the earth ' by the susceptibility of the flesh, or
through the use of the senses and the things of sense, or by
the assaults of impure spirits, as well as by the daily necessity
of providing for bodily wants, this is appointed for them by
the goodness of God, so that the duties which they cannot
discharge directly towards God, it may be sufficient for
them to exercise, for His sake, towards their neighbour.
For the same commandment requires us to love God and
our neighbour, the merit is equal, the affection the same,
the end identical, although the works by which we reach it
are different." And to this head also belongs the consolation
given by St. Climacus to those who discharge distracting
duties which are enjoined by Superiors : " From those/'
he says, "who live in obedience to His laws, God does
not require prayer without any confusion of thoughts. Be
not therefore saddened if, whilst you pray, the enemy creeps
in most craftily, and secretly, like a thief, draws aside the
intention of the mind ; but be of good courage, so long as
you always strive to bring back your slippery mind. For
to angels alone it is given not to be exposed to thieves of
this kind."

This indeed St. Climacus says with some degree of
exaggeration; for it is certain, from our ecclesiastical his
tories, that some servants of God (such as our St. Stanislaus
Kostka, and others whom I have mentioned in my treatise
on Perfect Prayer) spent many days and many years, without
being drawn away from fervent attention of mind, giving
many hours each day to meditation ; but even if they had
been distracted, it would not have hurt them. " O blessed

from fear of aridities. 227

obedience ! " once exclaimed St. Teresa, " and blessed dis
traction which has been caused by obedience ! " And
therefore St. Basil rightly warned us : " If any monk says
that his going into public, or journeys undertaken on
account of the necessary and common wants of the brother
hood, are a hindrance to him in the practice of piety, and
therefore refuses to go out of doors, he has not attained
to the knowledge of perfect obedience, nor ever will until he
perceives that he can never arrive at the perfection of
this virtue by softness of this kind. Let him for the future
contemplate the examples of holy men, and consider how
those who cultivated most perfectly this virtue were they who,
when ordered to accomplish anything, however difficult,
never refused even the least command, or struggled against
it ; and, taught by their example, let him learn the perfection
of obedience."

And further, it will conduce to the consolation of
those who are appointed to distracting duties in the
house of God or elsewhere, and cannot experience that
sweetness of devotion in which others abound, to remember
the revelation made to St. Gertrude, when praying for a
certain illiterate person "who was distressed because she
seemed to be hindered in prayer by the various cares of
the office committed to her. Whence, when the Saint
prayed for her, she received this answer from our Lord :
I have not chosen her in order that she should serve Me
only one hour of the day, but rather for this, that she
should be with Me the whole day without any interval ;
that is, that she should perform all her works continually
to My praise, with the same intention with which she wished
to pray. And over and above, let her add this devotion,
that in all her works with which she labours in the discharge
of her duty, she shall always desire that those who make use
of her labours may not only be refreshed in body, but also
be drawn in spirit to My love, and be strengthened in every
good thing. And as often as she does this, so often she
seems to Me to be seasoning, as it were, each particular

228 Distracting occupations not to be declined

dish of her works and labours with a most savoury condi
ment"

Finally, if from the infirmity and unwatchfulness of

our nature distracting duties should lead us into any

slight negligence, by our own fault, St. Basil offers this

consolation : " If through continuous debility you are unable

to pray, force yourself as much as possible, and place your

mind constantly before God, intent on Him and collected

within itself, and God will forgive you, for this reason, that

it is not from irreverence, but through infirmity, that you

cannot appear before Him as you ought." And let us

remember, that not only does the inroad of involuntary

distractions, occasioned, without fault on our part, by the

demon, or by any other cause, not hinder the fruit of prayer,

as was shown above ; but even the total omission of prayer,

when it happens either by the command of a Superior, or

on account of any pressing necessity of serving a neighbour

which does not admit of delay, is highly acceptable to God.

For, as St. Teresa well wrote, although herself addicted in

the highest degree to the most excellent kind of prayer and

the most perfect contemplation : " Let not the exercise of

obedience nor the advantage of our neighbour, to which

charity obliges us, be hindered by prayer. For if even the

least occasion presents itself of exercising these two virtues,

it demands of us to take from ourselves and give up to it that

time which we desire so much to offer to God — that is,

as we think we are doing while we meditate on Him in

solitude, and are eager to rejoice and delight in those delights

which He pours forth upon us. But to leave such prayer

for any opportunity of exercising those two virtues, is to

refresh God Himself and to pour out delights upon Him,

and to do for His sake that which He once described with

His own most holy mouth, when He said : 'As long as you

did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me.'9

And as regards obedience, He will have us take no other

way. For whoever desires to love Him well must follow

9 St. Matt. xxv. 40.

from fear of aridities. 229

Him Who became 'obedient unto death.'10 Now if this
be the case, if this be true, whence come that weari
ness and that peevishness which we often feel when we have
not been for the greater part of the day with a recollected
mind absorbed in God, although we have in the meantime
been occupied in those other duties ? There are two causes
-of it. The first and chief is self-love, which insinuates itself
here and mixes itself up with our thoughts in so subtle a
manner that it can hardly be perceived : so that we wish
to please ourselves rather than God. For it is certainly
more sweet and pleasant for any soul, after it begins to
•' taste and see that the Lord is sweet,' n to have the body
at rest and free from labour, and that it should enjoy inward
delights. Oh, the charity of those who love this Lord truly
and sincerely ! They wish not to enjoy this rest, if so they
may hope to help even a little, or in any way, even one only
soul to progress in spiritual things and to love God more, or
cause some consolation to come to it, or that it may
be delivered from any danger. And when they can
do nothing by deeds or by working (as hermits and
nuns), leaving that sweetness of contemplation, "they
take care to do it, at least by prayers (poured out for
others), compassionating the loss of those souls, and re
joicing that for their sakes they are deprived of the delights
of contemplation; and this loss they count gain, because,
forgetting their own joys, they think of nothing else than
how they may better and more perfectly fulfil the will of
the Lord, Who 'gave to every one commandment con
cerning his neighbour.'12 And thus, too, it is in the matter
of obedience. For, even although the Superior himself be
not solicitous to lead his brethren by the paths in which the
:soul gets greater gain, but only to see those things carried
out which he judges necessary and expedient for the com
munity, yet Thou, my God, hast a care of that (obedient)
soul, and so orderest those things which have to be done,
that souls find that they grow in spirit, and have made

10 Philipp. ii. 8. n Psalm xxxiii. 9. 12 Ecclus. xvii. 12.

230 Distracting occupations not to be declined

great progress, by faithfully obeying commands of this kind ;
and, indeed, they are afterwards not a little astonished at
it, not understanding whence it has come. Therefore, when
obedience has required you to give attention to external
things and so wholly to spend yourselves, be persuaded that
the Lord is present with you, even in the kitchen amidst
the jars and pots, and works with you both outwardly and
inwardly."

She adds further that, by leaving prayer and solitude,
the ' mind is disposed for perfect contemplation and union
with God, as a reward for that loss and abandonment of
prayers, which is undergone from obedience. " I tell you,"
she says, " that you are not, by this loss, the less disposed
for obtaining that true union of which we have spoken, which
consists in this, that my will is conformed and identified
with the will of God. This is the union which I desire,
and which I wish that you should all have; not some
delicious absorptions to which some have given the name
of union. But even this state will be true union, provided
it follows after that which I have described. But if after
this state of rapture only very little obedience is attained,
and self-will is still ruling, then this is union with self-love
and not with the will of God." And at the end of the
chapter she sets this forth more forcibly : " Believe me,"
she says, " the soul does not gain profit from many hours
and a long space of time spent in prayer, when either the
will of our Superior or charity towards our neighbour calls
to other works, or requires it to give itself earnestly to works
of obedience or charity; for these wonderfully contribute
to its being rendered, in the shortest possible space of time,
better disposed for the kindling of God's love than if those
duties were neglected and it were to spend much time and
many hours in meditation."

This truth is confirmed by a remarkable story told by
Father Anthony de Balinghem, concerning Clement Capo-
nius, a lay-brother of the Order of St. Dominic, "who,
although he was of a very noble family, yet lived contented

from fear of aridities. 231

with the lot of Martha and of a lay-brother. He delighted
in all the more humble services : whence Christ our Lord,
Master of humility, and Angels who love that virtue, fre
quently appeared to him. On one occasion — when he was
more occupied than was his wont in these exercises, and
so before the dinner hour had been unable to discharge
the duty of prayer — while the others were dining he was
kneeling and saying his prayers before an image of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and there he heard a voice, coming
forth from the image, which told him to go to the refectory
and do as the other brothers were doing, for his good will
would be most pleasing to her when he was occupied in
the duties of charity, particularly by the order of his Supe
riors, even though he had been unable to finish the saying
of his prayers. There would be time enough for him to
finish that duty after dinner/7

CHAPTER X.

The neglect to prepare the points of meditation often a
cause of aridities.

A FOURTH and direct kind of negligence arises from our
not having pre-arranged or carefully prepared the points
which are to be considered in meditation, so that we come
to it unprepared, against the admonition of the Holy Spirit :
"Before prayer prepare thy soul; and be not as a man
that tempteth God." 1

Now he tempts God, according to the judgment of
St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, who betakes himself to
prayer without preparation. "Those who intend to come
into the presence of an earthly king," says St. Lawrence
Justinian, " ought so to dispose themselves that there may
be nothing disorderly in their deportment or language,
which should displease the mind of the prince; and this
should be much more carefully attended to by those who
desire to stand before the King of men and angels."
" It is certain," says St. Teresa, " that we ought not to
speak to a prince with the same want of pre-meditation
and preparation as might be suitable in conversing with
a clown." How much more when we have to address
Him Who is King of kings and Lord of lords ! "Let none
of us," says St. John Climacus, " who may set out to appear
in the presence of our King, or to hold converse with Him,
make this approach without preparation, lest perchance He,
seeing us from afar without proper equipments and the
apparel which is fitting for the eye of a king, should order

1 Ecclus. xviii. 23.

The cause of aridities. 233

His servants and attendants to bind us and cast us far
from His presence into exile, and upbraid us to our face
with our disconnected prayers." And to avoid this, our holy
Father Ignatius has forewarned us in the Book of Exercises
to prepare certain points for each meditation, after the
model of the points which he has prescribed in that Book
of Exercises.

Hence St. Charles Borromeo, although he was en
dowed with a great gift of prayer, when he went through
the Exercises of St. Ignatius twice every year, or was
visiting holy places, used to beg that one of our Society
would give him points of meditation for each hour of
his meditations, as is testified in his Life by Jussanus, his
domestic chaplain. And in the same way, in his house
hold, the points of meditation for the following day were
by his orders read over, the evening before, in the
domestic chapel after the examination of conscience. And
in the same way he ordered that the points of meditation
should be read every evening to his guests, cardinals,
bishops, and prelates, as well as secular persons whom he
entertained in his palace (of whom there were sometimes
as many as thirty or forty). Also when he held provincial
synods, he caused the points of mental prayer to be read
every evening in his chapel to his suffragan bishops who
were present. So too in the time of the plague, the
people were assembled in the churches, and meditations
read by his order. Sometimes he read them to his house
hold himself. And after his death there were found three
or four volumes of points of meditation collected by him
for mental prayer, which are now preserved as sacred relics
in the library of the Church of Milan, as the same Jussanus
tells* us.

Thus also that virgin of wonderful sanctity, St. Mary
Magdalen dei Pazzi (as Father Virgil Cepari writes in her
Life), every morning herself gave points of meditation to
those virgins whom she superintended in their novitiate.
St. Teresa did the same, reading some spiritual book, from

234 Neglect to prepare the points of meditation

which she culled points to be meditated upon, before she
had received that sublime gift of prayer from our Lord,
to which she was afterwards elevated. And thus she writes
in the Way of Perfection : " For more than fourteen years
I was in the position of not being at all able to exercise
meditation without at the same time reading in a book.
And there will be many others in this state and frame
of mind ; and others too. who cannot meditate, even
though they read in a book, but can only pray vocally,
and so they stop at this and make no further progress.
And some have such volatile minds that they cannot keep
fast or hold themselves to anything; but are always rest
less, and this to such an extent, that when they try to
restrain their thoughts so as to think upon God, they
immediately run off to six hundred trifles, scruples, and
doubts. I know a woman, advanced in years and holy
(and God grant that my life may be equal to hers), who
has undergone many austerities, and is an eminent hand
maid of God. In order to this she has spent very many
hours, and even years, in vocal prayer, but can in no way
attain to mental prayer ; at the utmost she can only attain
to this, that she has accustomed herself by degrees to
persevere in vocal prayer. And it would be easy to find
many others in the same condition; and, if they have
humility, I believe it will turn out that these will have
gained in the end not less but perhaps quite as much as
those who enjoy great consolations ; and in one way they
are far more safe. For we cannot tell whether those sweet
nesses are from God, or whether they are caused by the
demon. But the others who receive no sweetness or relish
walk in humility, and fear lest they are deprived of enjoy
ment through their own fault, and are always anxious for
further progress ; and when they see another shedding but
one tear, which they cannot do, they immediately think
that they are among the most backward in the service of
God ; when possibly they are greatly in advance of such an
one. For tears, although good, are not in all respects

often the cause of aridities. 235

the best gift ; for there is more security found in humility,
mortification, abnegation, and other virtues. And therefore
you have no reason for fearing, as though you could not
hope to arrive at perfection as well as those who are intensely
contemplative. Martha was holy, although she is not said
to have been given to contemplation. What, then, do you
want more than that you should come to be like that holy
virgin who merited so often to receive Christ our Saviour
into her house, and to prepare His food, and to wait upon
Him, and to sit at table with Him ? If, like Magdalene,
she had always been absorbed in contemplation, there
would have been no one to entertain this Divine Guest
at table."

This St. Teresa wrote, and much more to the same
effect. Let us therefore leave it to God to lead us in
prayer by that way which pleases Him ; while we, on our
part, do what we ought, especially by coming to meditation
with the matter well prepared. "After the manner of
merchants who are seeking earthly gain," says St. Macarius,
" we must in many ways and with skill prepare our souls that
we may acquire the true and great gain, namely God, Who
teaches us to pray in truth. For on this condition God reposes
in the good purpose of the soul, making it the throne of
His glory, abiding and resting in it." Wherefore, when
Cassian, in conversation with Abbot Serenus, complained
of his volatility of mind and the wanderings which he
suffered in the time of prayer, and attributed this not to
his own fault but to the fault of nature, Abbot Serenus, in
refuting this opinion, gave as a first remedy for this evil, the
preparation of the subject to be meditated upon. " Our
mind," he says, "from the very constitution of its nature,
can never remain at rest, but must of necessity, unless fore
thought is used as to where it is to exercise its movements,
and on what subjects it is to be continuously employed,
from its own mobility, run to and fro, and fly everywhere,
until, trained by long exercise and daily practice, it learns
by experience what matter it should prepare for its memory,

236 Neglect to prepare the points of meditation

around which it may revolve in its unwearied flights, and
acquire strength by lingering upon it, and so may be able
to thrust out the adverse suggestions of the enemy, by
which it was distracted, and to remain in that state and
condition which it desires." To the same effect is that
excellent teaching of St. Bernard : "In such manner as
thou hast prepared thyself for God, so will God appear to
thee. With the holy He will be holy; with the loving,
loving ; with the disengaged, disengaged ; with the earnest,
earnest ; with the solicitous, solicitous. Finally He says :
' I love them that love Me ; and they that in the morning
early watch for Me, shall find Me.'2 Thou seest how He
not only assures thee of His love, if at least thou lovest
Him, but also of His solicitude, which He bears for thee,
if He has found thee to be solicitous for Him. Dost thou
watch ? He also watches. Make what haste thou wilt to
anticipate even the early watches, thou wilt find Him, thou
wilt not be before Him." But it is a sure sign of solicitude
to worship God aright by prayer and in prayer, if he who
prepares himself for it, shall have the matter well arranged
in points before meditating.

Cicero advises this preparation of matter in other things :
" In all business," he says, " before beginning, careful pre
paration is to be employed." But if this must be done
in secular things, how much more in spiritual things, and
especially before prayer, which no one can well accomplish
by the strength of nature alone. For the Apostle testifies :
" We know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but
the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings,"
that is, makes us ask, as St. Augustine explains, as well
as St. Gregory and others. But the best of all preparations
is by the reading of the words (especially those of Sacred
Scripture) which are to be meditated upon; because, as
St. Basil well says, " Prayers which follow readings, find the
mind fresher and more active, as beginning already to burn
with desire." And so St. Bernard. "Reading," he says,

2 Prov. viii. 17.

often the cause of aridities. 237

" does as it were place solid food before the mouth, medi
tation breaks and masticates it; prayer creates the relish,
contemplation is sweetness itself which delights and re
freshes." And, writing to his sister, he says : " Reading
prepares us for prayer."

The necessity for this preparation is well explained by
Abbot Moses (in Cassian) by the illustration of a water-
mill. " This exercise of prayer," he says, "is not unsuitably
compared to the action of water-mills, which the rapid flow
of water turns round by its force. These can in no way
cease from their work while they are driven by the rush
of the water ; but it is in the power of the miller to decide
whether he will have wheat ground, or barley, or darnel.
And of course that particular kind of grain will be ground
which is thrown in by him who is entrusted with the charge
of that work. In the same way the mind, whirled about
through the inroads of this present world, by the torrents of
temptations which flow in from all sides, can never be without
a tide of thoughts, and therefore it must arrange before
hand by careful and diligent study what thoughts it ought
either to admit or to provide for itself. For if, as we have
said, we continually have recourse to the meditation of
Holy Scriptures, and stir up our memory to the remem
brance of spiritual things and the desire of perfection, and
the hope of future blessedness, of necessity the spiritual
reflections which have thence arisen, make the mind linger
on those subjects which we have meditated. But if, over
come by sloth or by negligence, we are occupied with vices
and idle conversation, or are involved in worldly cares and
unnecessary anxieties, a kind of tares will in consequence
be generated, which will furnish a hurtful labour to our heart;
so that, according to the saying of the Lord our Saviour,3
where the treasure of our works or of our intention shall be,
there will our heart of necessity abide."

Moreover, these admonitions respecting the preparing
of points of meditation, are necessary not only for novices,
3 St. Matt. vi. 21,

238 The ca^lse of aridities.

but also for those who are advanced in the exercise of
prayer. For it not seldom happens, even to those who are
endowed with the gift of prayer, when they come to medi
tation without having prepared the points, that they wander
to and fro in meditation, without gathering the wished for
fruit; and, as Abbot Germanus says (in Cassian) : "With a
mind astray, and as it were intoxicated, they are tossed
about in all directions, nor can they long and firmly retain
that spiritual good which has come to them by chance
rather than by their industry; because they take in one
thought after another, and do not perceive either the en
trances and beginnings of them or their end and departure."

CHAPTER XL

Wandering of the mind and senses before meditation
produces aridities in the exercise of meditation.

A FIFTH kind of negligence, which is also proximate, arises
from this, that when the points of meditation have been
well pre-arranged and prepared, both on the previous day
and again in the morning, the mind is allowed to wander in
foolish thoughts, or to be distracted by talkings, and other
wanderings of the senses, and is not collected for the
practice of meditation. " It belongs to the proximate
preparation for prayer," says St. Lawrence Justinian, "that
the mind be recalled from outward things to inward things."
For the inordinate gratification of the senses and members
of the body diminishes and extinguishes the sense of
devotion; and in order that this may be acquired, it is
necessary that those be extinguished, or at least weakened,
according to the opinion expressed by St. Diadochus. "As
the senses of the body," he says, "in a certain manner
incite us by their power to those things which appear
beautiful to us; so the sense of the mind, when it has
tasted the Divine Goodness, is wont to draw us to those
good things which do not fall under the eye. For every
thing longs chiefly for that which is allied and congenial
to itself; the soul, when free from the power of the body,
for heavenly good things; the body, as of the earth, for
earthly pleasures (about which our senses, when they are
suffered to wander, occupy themselves). We shall therefore
come, without fail, to experience that sense (of internal
devotion) which is separated from matter and from ma-

240 Wandering of the mind and senses

teriality, if we subdue the material body by labour;"
that is, by the mortification of the bodily senses, and by
withdrawing our mind from wanderings, and by turning it
to reflect upon Divine things.

Therefore St. Basil says well : " It behoves us to separate
from the things of this world, and not introduce foreign
thoughts into the mind either through the eyes, or the ears,
or the other senses. For those which spring rebellious from
the pride of the flesh and make war against the soul, fill the
inward man with a noisy and restless tumult, and with dis
turbance never lulled to rest." The same St. Basil had
explained this by a beautiful comparison in another place.
" It is necessary," he says, " if the counsel of God is to be
established and confirmed in our souls, that human thoughts
should first be put to flight in us. For as one who intends
to write upon wax first cleanses it, and then arranging the
letters, impresses the forms which he wishes to produce;
so also it is necessary that our heart, which is to receive
clearly and distinctly Divine communications, should first
be rendered pure and free from every contrary thought."
" If you always so train yourself," says St. Climacus, " that
your mind shall never wander too far, it will be near you
even when you are only laying a table, but if it is allowed
to wander free and unbridled, it will never be able to
remain with you."

For this reason our holy Father Ignatius, in the Book of
Exercises, gave some rules on this subject : and first, " that
before going to sleep, while we are lying in bed, we should
think of the hour at which we have to rise, and of the
meditation which we have to make." Next, "that when
we awake, we should immediately shut out all other
thoughts, and turn our mind to the subject which we are
about to contemplate." And further, "that, at a distance
of a pace or two from the spot in which we are to medi
tate, we should raise our minds aloft and consider our Lord
Jesus as present, and beholding that which we are about
to do." Therefore St. Basil warns us: "Our heart must

before meditation produces aridities. 241

be guarded with all care, nor must we allow the continuous
meditation upon God to slip from our minds ; and we must
strive incessantly that we may bear about with us like an
indelible seal the pious thought of God, impressed upon
our minds by a most pure and incessant recollection."
And Abbot Moses, whom we have often quoted, says (in
Cassian): "That this will be greatly assisted by frequent
reading, and continual meditation on pious books, and also
by ruminating, as it were, on the Scriptures. And, on
the contrary," he says in the same place, " that it is greatly
hindered by recent idle conversations. For there remains
in the soul, after actual previous thought upon God, a
certain readiness, something like a habit, to unite the
heart to God, and for those devout affections which give
no place to aridities and the pains of involuntary distrac
tions/' Hence St. Thomas has well observed, that this is
beneficial not only to ordinary men, but even to the prophets
themselves. "As," he says, "in the body, when suffering
departs, there remains a certain tendency to suffer again ;
and as wood when it has been once kindled is more easily
kindled again ; so also in the intelligence of the Prophet,
when the actual illumination ceases, there remains a certain
aptitude for its being again more easily illuminated after
wards. So too the mind, when once trained to devotion,
is more easily recalled afterwards to its former devotion,
On account of this St. Augustine says that there is need
of frequent prayers, lest devotion once kindled should be
totally extinguished."

So far St. Thomas ; and St. Macarius beautifully
explains his words : " As when fire is placed externally
around a brazen vessel, if you lay on faggots of wood,
they are kindled, and when the fire is kindled from
without, that which is within the vessel is cooked and boils ;
but if you neglect to supply wood, the fire begins to grow
cold and soon to go out ; in the same way grace, which is
a heavenly fire, is within you ; and if you then pray and turn
your thoughts to the love of Christ, you have in a manner
Q

242 Wandering of the mind and senses

put on wood, and your thoughts are turned to fire, and are
imbued with a desire for God. But if, on the other hand,
any one labours slothfully, and gives himself up by degrees
to secular affairs and occupations, vice returns anew, and
entangles the soul, and begins to harass the whole man. Then
again the soul rises towards God, and its previous peace
begins to return ; it begins to seek more vehemently : ' I
beseech Thee, O Lord,' it says; little by little the fire
grows within him, which kindles and renovates the soul ;
and by degrees, like a hook it draws the fish up out of the
deep."

It is not sufficient then, in order to ward off aridity,
to have prepared well the points of meditation in the
previous day ; but it is necessary that immediately before
the meditation the mind should be recollected, and disposed
by pious thoughts for devout meditation ; because, as
Abbot Isaac well remarks (in Cassian) : " Such as we
would be found in prayer, that we must be before the time
of prayer. For the mind in the time of its supplication
must take its form from its previous condition ; and during
prayer must either be lifted on high to heavenly things,
or sunk down to earthly things, by those thoughts on which
it was dwelling before the time of prayer." Wherefore let
us say, with St. Bernard, before our meditation : " Cares,
solicitudes, anxieties, labours, the penalties of our servitude,
'stay you here with the ass,7 my body, 'while I and the
boy,' reason and intelligence, ' will go with speed as far as
yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you.' 1
Yes, we will return ; and alas, how soon ! "

And for this reason our holy Father Ignatius, although
he was endowed with a rare gift of prayer and contem
plation, yet was wont to collect his mind with care before
his meditation; whence (as Father Bartholomew Ricci
writes) as often as he was about to meditate on the mysteries
of Christ, a little before prayer he was accustomed to look
at certain pictures of them, which he had laid out on a
1 Gen. xxii. 5.

before meditation prodicces aridities. 243

frame close to his bed prepared for that purpose. I saw
those pictures as late as the year 1593, hanging on the
outer wall of that room in which the holy Father was wont
to meditate. And this was the reason why Father Jerome
Natalis, through James Ximenes, the Secretary of the
Society, had engraved on copper plates all the mysteries of
the life of Christ our Lord, and printed at Antwerp, that the
sight of them might increase concentration of mind before
meditation, and dispose it for praying attentively and
fervently, and for checking aridities of mind.

And what is still more wonderful, although our holy
Father St. Ignatius was so recollected in mind, that as often
as he chose, at any time, he could have his mind united to
God, as Father Conzalvo writes of him, " and was passive
in Divine things rather than active, and when in prayer was
not disturbed by any noise, if it occurred without his own
fault, and no outward occupations hindered the course of
his devotion;" yet, as the same Conzalvo has left on record
in his Diary respecting him, "he was wont to collect himself
and beforehand to prepare himself a little, even when he
was about to say grace j and this was his custom in all
things which had relation to the worship of God."

How much more should we, then, if we wish to pray
without aridity, recall before meditation our thoughts from
foreign things, which have not regard to God, and our
senses from their wanderings, and with recollected mind
go over the pious points that are to be meditated upon.
For, as St. Basil says, "As far as we give place to those
things which are out of harmony with God, so far are we
unable to receive the knowledge of God. For who that is
anxious about those things which are of the world, and
immerses himself in every kind of distraction of the flesh,
can attend to the words of God, or rightly attain to an
exact comprehension of so many and so great contem
plations ? Do you not see that the word which falls among
the thorns is choked by the thorns ? And the thorns are
the cares of this world. He who desires the knowledge of

244 Wandering of the mind and senses

God must be placed apart from all these things, and should
be free from all perturbations and vicious affections, thus-
at last to lay hold of the knowledge of God. For how-
shall the knowledge and the thought of God penetrate the
mind which is oppressed by so many distractions of
thoughts which have preoccupied it ? Even Pharao knew
this, that it is those who enjoy greater freedom and leisure
who most seek God. And therefore he reproached
Israel, saying, ' You are idle, and therefore you say, Let us
go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Such leisure, then, is good
and useful to him who possesses it, as producing quiet and
a preparedness for salutary doctrine."

Wherefore also St. Bernard rightly counsels : "Sit thou
solitary as a turtle-dove; have nothing to do with the
crowds, nothing with the common multitude : ' Forget thy
people and thy father's house; and the King shall desire
thy beauty.'2 O holy soul, be thou alone, that thou
mayest keep thyself for Him alone of all, Whom out of
all thou hast chosen for thyself. Fly from public life, fly
also from family life ; separate thyself from thy friends and
companions, and from him who serves thee. Knowest
thou not that thou hast a modest Spouse, Who will in
no way indulge thee with His presence when others are
present?" By which words St. Bernard does not intend
to persuade us that we should retire into a desert, for he
was addressing his own friends, whom he certainly did not
want to become hermits; but he recommends simply a
flight from all those kinds of intercourse which dissipate
and distract the mind, so that it cannot be recollected
and self-possessed, so as to approach to God in prayer
and hold converse with Him ; and he advises that we should
have a kind of cell within our mind, within which we may
shut up our thoughts and employ ourselves in meditating
upon Divine things : which we might be able to do in the
midst of turmoils and occupations, as by Divine inspiration
St. Catharine of Siena did, at the same time that she
discharged the common duties of the house.
2 Psalm xliv. n, 12.

before meditation prodiices aridities. 245

Or at least, as St. Teresa counsels when giving instruc
tion respecting the prayer of recollection : " Let us believe
that we have within ourselves a palace of the greatest
splendour, of which the whole fabric is made up of gold
and the most precious gems, as being prepared for the
habitation of so powerful a Master ; and that thou art in
part the cause why this fabric is such as it really is (since
it is most certain that there is no house which shows such
beauty or splendour as a soul which is holy and pure and
full of virtues) ; and that the greater and brighter these are,
the more or the less they glow and shine ; and that this
great King tarries in that palace, and that He condescends
to be thy Guest, and to sit there as in a most precious
throne, which is thy heart." And we shall attain to this if
we apply our whole mind to converse well with God :
" For as the body," says St. Macarius, " when it is engaged
in any work gives itself wholly to that work, and all its
members help each other ; in the same way let the whole
soul be entirely devoted to the Lord, to prayer and charity,
so that it do not wander, and be not carried about by other
thoughts, and has its hope placed in Christ. Then He will
shine upon it, and will teach it the true manner of asking,
and will grant it prayer pure, spiritual, and worthy of God,
and adoration in spirit and in truth."

Wherefore, as St. John Climacus advises, " Contend
with the whole earnestness of your soul, and indefatigably
restrain your mind, which is always restless and wandering,
collecting yourself within yourself." And this recollection
is made in the cell of conscience. " You have one cell
without you," says St. Bernard, " and another within. That
which is without is the house in which your soul dwells
along with your body. That which is within is your con
science, which ought to be inhabited by Him Who is within
all your innermost thoughts — God with His Spirit. Love,
therefore, your inner cell ; love also your outer one ; give to
each its own worship."

A sixth and immediate kind of negligence is a negligent

246 Wandering of the mind and senses

custody of the senses or mind in the very course of our prayer.
For if such negligence is allowed, the past preparations will
not suffice. " Our curiosity is daily tempted by many most
minute and contemptible things," says St. Augustine, " and
who can count how often we slip ? And when at last our
heart becomes a receptacle for things of this kind, and
carries within it crowds of vanities, by this means our
prayers are often interrupted and disturbed." "Prayer
mingled with study is the light of the mind and of the
soul," says St. Chrysostom, " a light inextinguishable and
perennial. And therefore the devil injects numerous im
pure thoughts into our minds, and things which we had
never thought of he collects and pours into our soul in the
time of prayer. And as winds rushing against a lighted
lamp blow about and extinguish the flame, so also the devil,
when he sees in us the lighted flame of prayer, blows us
here and there with numberless solicitudes, and gives us no
rest until he has extinguished the light. But let us do the
same which is done by those who light their lamps. Now,
what do they do ? When they perceive that a strong wind
is blowing, they put their finger against the opening of the
lamp, and so prevent the entrance of the draught. As long
as the attack is only external, we shall be able to resist it ;
but when we open the door of the mind to it, and let the
enemy inside, then we have not the very least power of
resistance ; but thought of God is extinguished, and our
mouth gives out (the fumes of) foolish words. But as they put
their finger on the opening of the lamp, so let us set reason
over our mind, and shut out the approach of the evil spirit,
lest he extinguish the light of our prayer." And therefore, that
this negligence may be kept at a great distance, our holy
Father Ignatius orders, that those who are preparing for
meditation should think of "the Lord Jesus as present and
looking on ; " for he who rightly discerns this, will guard
well his mind and senses ; and either will escape aridity, or
will not be injured by it.

Hence St. Chrysostom gives a good warning : " When

before meditation produces aridities. 247

we are about to address men who are superior to us, we
arrange our deportment and walk, and clothing, and every
thing about us ; but when we come to God, we yawn, and
rub ourselves, and turn hither and thither, and are negligent
and slothful, and even when our knees are bent on the
ground, we are wandering in the market-place." And he
adds : "When we draw nigh to God, let us think that an
audience is gathered from the whole world, or rather, from
the hosts of Heaven, and that the King is seated in the
midst, Who is about to hear our prayer. Let no cithara-
player, or flute-player, who carefully prepares himself when
about to appear on the stage, for fear of producing sounds
which are disagreeable or inharmonious, be so careful as
those who are about to enter this theatre of angels." If
then we shall thus pray, we shall not be liable to this
negligence, which is the most certain cause of aridity ; and
that we may avoid it, let that more than golden counsel
which came from the same truly golden mouth of St. Chry-
sostom, be ever impressed upon our mind: "We ought to be
more solicitous about Divine worship than for our life." But
when we perceive that we are called away from attention,
by importunate thoughts, let us set against them that
honeyed word of the mellifluous Bernard : " Lest a
tumult of thoughts should rush in, like the common mob
breaking into a Court, and drive God from the memory, let
a janitor be placed at its gate, whose name is, Remem
brance of our profession; and when the mind feels itself
encumbered with those thoughts, let it rebuke itself, and say
to itself : ' Oughtest thou to think these things, who art a
priest, who art a cleric, who art a monk ? Ought he who
studies justice to allow the entrance of anything unjust
into himself?"1 Wherefore, since these are hindrances to<
the devout prayer which excludes aridities, they must be
avoided. "For as he who cultivates the land," says St.
Lawrence Justinian, "ought carefully to eradicate the
thorns, that he may be able to collect a more abundant
fruit, so let him who desires to taste the sweetness of devo-

248 Of the remedies against aridities

tion in prayer, exercise the greatest care to remove all
hindrances in himself ; for he runs in vain to the harbour of
prayer who does not with all earnestness avoid the things
which oppose him." Now, then, that we have exposed
the maladies and their manifold fountains, let us endeavour
to prescribe some remedies.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the remedies against aridities given by the ancient
Fathers.

BESIDES those remedies which have been suggested in the
course of the previous chapters, those also which I am
about to enumerate will be found useful.

First of all, let us do as St. Macarius advises : " Skilful
husbandmen (according to general custom), when the
produce of the year is abundant, in no way desist from
their care, but look forward to future famine and sterility ;
nor, on the other hand, do they greatly despair when they
suffer from famine and sterility, because they have large
experience of such vicissitudes. So in spiritual things ;
when the soul falls into various temptations, let it not be
surprised, or despair, because it knows that it is left for
a while by permission, to be tried and taught by the evil
one ; nor, on the other hand, when it enjoys much plenty
and peace, is it free from solicitude, but it expects a change."

It is also a chief help to obtaining the grace of devo
tion which is free from aridities, if, when the signal is given
for beginning prayer, it is begun with great speed and
readiness of mind and body, from a great affection towards
God and that holy obedience which prescribes it. " I have
seen some," says St. John Climacus, " eminent in the virtue
of obedience, and according to their strength not neglecting

given by the ancient Fathers. 249

the remembrance of God, running eagerly to prayer, and
quickly collecting their mind, and shedding floods of tears."
And he says that this was the cause of their ready sensible
devotion, "that they were prepared by holy obedience."
Therefore we must lay aside every other work when we hear
the signal for prayer. For, as St. Climacus says in the same
place, " he who begins any kind of work, and goes on with
it when the hour of prayer arrives, is deluded by the
demons. For it is the intention of those thieves to rob us
of hour after hour."

And St. Climacus in the same place tells us of another
means of attaining the grace of devotion : " Be exceedingly
compassionate, if you really have prayer at heart. For
in prayer monks will receive a hundredfold, besides what
follows in the next life." And in another place he mentions
the same antidotes to aridities which he advises us to use
against spiritual sloth : " Let this tyrant be vanquished," he
says, " by the remembrance of sins, let it be put to flight by
the work of the hands, let it be driven away by intense con
sideration of good things to come." And he adds : "That
in those who are truly obedient it hath not where to lay its
head."

And Abbot Serenus (in Cassian), when discussing the
natural volatility and wandering of the mind, says that this
will not cease "until accustomed by long exercise, and daily
habit, it learns by experience what subjects to prepare for its
remembrance, around which it may ply its unwearied flights,
and acquire strength by lingering about them, and thus
succeed in thrusting out the adverse suggestions of the
enemy, by which it was distracted, and abide in that con
dition and disposition which it desires."

And Abbot Isaac says : " Who can sufficiently explain,
with whatever experience he may be endowed, the diversities
and the true causes and origins of the compunctions, by
which the mind is kindled and inflamed, and thus incited to
pure and fervent prayers? For sometimes, when we were sing
ing, a verse of some Psalm has given occasion to the kindling

2 5° Of Mie remedies against aridities

of prayer. Sometimes the tuneful modulation of the voice
of a brother has stirred up minds that were benumbed to
intense supplication. We have known, too, the clearness
and earnestness of a singer produce the greatest fervour
even in bystanders ; and also the exhortation of a perfect
man, or a spiritual conference, has frequently raised the
affections of those who were prostrate to the most fruitful
prayers. We have known ourselves, too, no less carried away
by the death of a brother, or of some one dear to us, to
entire compunction. Sometimes, too, the remembrance of
lukewarmness and negligence has brought us a salutary
ardour of spirit. And in this way, as no one can doubt,
there are not wanting numberless occasions on which, by
the grace of God, we may be aroused from the lukewarm-
ness and lethargy of our minds."

It is also of great service, when you are praying alone,
to drive away the weariness of aridity and to excite the affec
tion of devotion in yourself, by vocal prayer and the
external raising of the hands, or by putting them into the
form of a cross. " Therefore," says St. Thomas, " in private
prayer the voice should be used in order to excite interior
devotion, by which the mind of him who prays is raised to
God ; because by means of external signs, whether of words
or even of acts, the mind of man is stirred up as well
to apprehension, as also afterwards as a consequence
to affection. Whence Augustine says to Proba : ' That
by words and other signs we excite ourselves more keenly
to the increase of holy desire. And therefore in each prayer
we should use spoken words and signs of this kind as far as
they help to stirring up the mind inwardly. But if the mind is
by such means distracted, then they should be relinquished.
And this is the case chiefly with those whose mind is
prepared for devotion without signs of this kind. Whence
the Psalmist said, ' My heart hath said to Thee : My face
hath sought Thee.'1 And of Anna it is said, in the first
Book of Kings, that 'she spoke in her heart."'2
1 Psalm xxvi. 8. 2 i Kings i. 13.

given by the ancient Fathers. 251

Again, the Abbot Nesteros (in Cassian), when he
was asked by Abbot Germanus how he could succeed in
forgetting secular songs and stories, so that things of that
kind should not intrude on his memory and call away his
mind in the time of prayer, replied : " Those songs will
inevitably keep hold of your mind until by similar study
and assiduity it shall store up within itself some of a
different kind, and, instead of those unfruitful and earthly
thoughts, it brings forth those which are spiritual and Divine.
But when it has once deeply and intimately penetrated these,
and been nourished by them, the former ones will be gradually
expelled, or entirely blotted out. For the human mind can
not be entirely free from thoughts, and therefore, as long as
it is not employed in spiritual studies, it must be involved
in those which it previously learnt. For so long as it has
not something to which it can have recourse, and on which
it can exercise its unwearied motions, it must of necessity
slip away to those things with which it has been imbued
from its infancy, and ever revolve those things which it has
acquired by long use and meditation. In order, therefore,
that this spiritual knowledge may be strengthened in you,
with lasting solidity, and that you may not only enjoy it for
a time — as it is with those who obtain their knowledge not
through their own efforts, but through hearing of it from
another, and merely perceive it, so to speak, like an
evanescent odour — but that you may have it, as it were,
wrought into your whole nature, and laid up as a thing
which you have seen and handled, you must guard it with all
care. So that if you perchance hear in a conference those
things set forth with which you have most intimate acquaint
ance, you will not, because they are already known to you,
listen to them contemptuously or disdainfully, but will lay
them to heart with that eagerness with which we should ever
be either letting the precious words of salvation pour into our
ears, or out from our mouth. For although the oft-told tale
of a holy life be repeated, yet satiety will never produce
distaste in the soul which is thirsting for true knowledge ;

252 Of the remedies against aridities

but receiving them daily as things fresh and desirable, the
oftener it drinks, the more eagerly it will hear or speak ; and
it will draw from their repetition a confirmation of knowledge
already gained, rather than disgust from frequent conference
upon them. For it is an unmistakeable sign of a proud and
lukewarm mind when it receives disdainfully and carelessly
the medicine of salutary words, even although applied with
too great eagerness and assiduity. For the soul which is in
a state of satiety scoffs at honeycombs ; but to the hungry
soul even bitter things seem sweet. If, therefore, these
things are earnestly received and laid up in the recesses
of the mind, and sealed with the prescribed observance
of silence, they will afterwards be brought forth from the
vessel of thy heart with great fragrance, like delicious wines
that 'cheer the heart of man,'3 matured by the hoary years
of understanding, and by the old age of patience, and like
a perennial fountain, they will flow out from the veins of
experience, and from the soul's well-watered beds of virtues,
and will pour forth continuous streams as from the abyss of
thy heart/'

Finally, the best remedies against aridities are found in
the removal of those things which are the cause of distrac
tions and the hindrances of quiet contemplation ; such as
St. Bernard mentions in his twenty-third Sermon on the
Canticles : " The busy senses, stinging care, remorse for sin,
or those things which are removed with greater difficulty
when once they break in, the invading phantoms of corporeal
images." And in another place he says: "It would help
towards obtaining devotion and compunction if you were in
such solitude that, while lifting up pure hands to God, you
might also be able to hear your own voice. And sometimes,
in order to raise your intention, you should look up into
Heaven, that your heart may be there, 'where Christ is
sitting at the right hand of God.' "*

But since aridities are wont not seldom to arise from the
remembrance of past faults, or from a fall into present ones,
3 Psalm ciii. 15. 4 Coloss. iii. i.

given by the ancient Fathers. 253

St. Lawrence Justinian gives this excellent advice : " The
adversary of mankind, the devil, is accustomed to assail the
mind of one who is praying with the remembrance of a
fault committed in the past, so that from this he may lose
confidence, and may not have power to perform the exercises
of devotion according to his wont. But we must yield no
belief to this fallacious advice. Let the valiant soldier of
Christ then take heed that he be not confounded, but when
he knows that he has sinned, let him humbly prostrate him
self in spirit before the feet of our Lord, let him confess his
fault to the Lord, and with propitiatory words soothe the
Beloved One Whom he has offended, and he will immediately
become aware of the presence of grace, by which, resuming
the strength of his soul, and having confidence begotten
afresh, he will be able for the rest to have his mind peaceful
and free for the service of his Lord. Such (gloomy) thoughts,
then, are not to be readily adopted, but are to be examined
by prudent reason ; because the evil spirits very frequently,
under the appearance of compunction, dissipate and ex
tinguish the ardour of desire and the grace of devotion
from the heart of one who prays."

Another remedy he gives in the same chapter : " When
the spirit waxes cold, and returns from exterior things to
interior things, a useful help for exciting devotion is vocal
prayer. But when the fire of devotion is kindled, let silence
be imposed upon the mouth, and let vocal prayer be stopped
(he is speaking of vocal prayer to which we are not bound
by law, for then the omission of it would be a sin), lest the
highest good be sacrificed for one of much less value. For
we must strive in all ways, and use every means, whether
vocal prayer, or prostrations, or stretching out of the hands,
or any other means, in order that the mind may without
hindrance be raised to God, when it comes to pray. For
this is the end of prayer, that the soul be united to God by
the affection of charity, being first illuminated by the know
ledge of God."

CHAPTER XIII.

Of other remedies against aridities prescribed by more
recent masters of the spiritual life.

FIRST comes the advice of Father Stephen Tucci, a holy
man, who was accustomed to spend five hours daily in
prayer, and said that perseverance and humility had the
greatest power against difficulty in praying ; so that one
who is sensible of distractions, should find fault with him
self in the very act of prayer, should accuse himself of
lukewarmness, should invoke the saints, should stir up his
soul ; and he said that time was not spent uselessly in this
manner. For all those acts are meritorious, and arise from
the impulse of religion or of the love of God. "Think
not," says St. Teresa, discussing this subject, "that thy
labour will be useless and vain ; for this cannot be attained
in a single year, or in two, or in ten years." Far be it then
from you to cease from prayer or meditation on account
of aridities. For St. John Climacus well advises : "As long
as we have not prayer steady and stable (that is, free from
distractions), we are like those who train infants to begin to
walk. Strive to raise your intelligence to the things that
are above, yea, even to expand it by the words of the
prayer. But if through the weakness of infancy it falls,
take pains to raise it up again, since instability is a charac
teristic of the mind ; whereas it is the characteristic of God
that He is able to give stability to everything. If you
contend unweariedly, He Who has set bounds around the
sea of the mind will come within you, and will say,
'Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further.'1 It

1 Job xxxviii. n.

Other remedies against aridities. 255

is not possible to bind a spirit ; but where the Creator of
spirits is, they are altogether obedient tb His behest."

Moreover, that the Creator of spirits may be present
with His aid, implore His aid by not desisting from the
prayer which has been begun, according to the counsel of
St. Bernard: "When you feel yourself affected by insensi
bility, sloth, or weariness, do not for that reason distrust,
or desist from spiritual effort, but ask for the hand of Him
Who gives aid, entreating that you may be drawn, like a
bride, until at last, by the stirring of grace, you may run
with more readiness and alacrity, and say : 'I have run the
way of Thy commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my
heart'"2

In the second place, the judgment of Father Peter
Faber, the first companion of our holy Father St. Ignatius,
and his manner of proceeding in the time of aridities,
may be useful. " For he considered it to be a benefit," as
Orlandini writes in his Life, "that one should sometimes
be left to himself, and should be distressed by sterility and
hunger ; and taught by his own experience, he said, that
sometimes grace departs and withdraws itself (which the
ancient Fathers also taught), in order to instruct a man, so
that he may learn by experience how much difference there
is between his own spirit and the Spirit of God, between
the ebb and flow of grace ; also that when that very great
ardour of devotion has decreased, he may, by still con
tinuing to labour, correspond with the lesser measure of
grace which he enjoys, and also seek with greater zeal the
blessing which he feels that he has lost. For it is the
purpose of God that every one should, even with these
lesser supports, strive at least to preserve his will warm, to
give to his work the effort of a ready mind, offered with
a kind of loyal fear, which is more excellent than all
devotion. And even then, the WTise Man thought that we
are not to be too much grieved by a decrease of grace, but
he approved of a certain moderate degree of sadness j which

2 Psalm cxviii. 32.

256 Other remedies against aridities

also St. Diadochus speaks of as a kind of despair kept
within due bounds, so that whilst, by the coming and going
of grace, we are made now joyful, now sad, we may be
constantly exercised in meditating either upon future misery
or eternal felicity. For if now His brief absence or presence
either contract the mind or expand it ; if He pour out
upon us so much grief or pleasure, what, then, are we to
think either of enjoying or being without the Divine pre
sence, not for a short space of time only, but for a real
eternity ? since the latter is Hell itself, whilst the former is
perfect felicity."

As to the manner in which Father Faber consoled him
self in desolations and temptations and sorrows of mind,
the same Orlandini writes in his Life, as follows : " There
were not wanting to the holy man various and manifold
ways of consoling himself, when, in the use of Divine things,
either his mind involuntarily went astray, or the rich unction
of devotion had dried up. " Sometimes he solaced his mind,
when distracted by a crowd of thoughts, by the contemplation
of Christ Jesus, Who lived so long among men, parted as it
were, and torn away from the glory of His Body — a glory
which His Soul, the Body's consort, was enjoying. And in
the same way he thought of the most holy Mother of God,
who, although no stain of evil had ever touched her, yet
had to be deprived so long of the glory of body and soul,
and often even to be separated from intercourse and in
timacy with her most sweet Son. Both time and place
furnished him with matter of consolation. When they were
keeping the festival of the Nativity of Christ our Lord, and
he was himself offering the Holy Sacrifice, and partaking of
the Holy Mysteries, all sweetness of mind had left him, and
he was overwhelmed with grief that while the heavens were
dropping down dew, and the clouds were raining the Just
One, he was himself so dry, when suddenly this consolation
came strongly upon him : * Why art thou consumed with
useless grief, when Christ is coming to a stable? Thou
shouldst now see Him being born in the manger of thy

prescribed by more recent masters. 257

breast, if thou wouldst prepare a fit inn far Him.' These
words afforded him so much consolation, that he even shed
tears of devotion.

Next year, when he was commemorating the ardent
piety with which the royal Magi adored the infancy of
Christ our Saviour, his heart suddenly became hard, and
followed most languidly and far off the feeling of so great
joy, and that most suitable gladness. And when he was
grieved at this, the thought occurred to him, ' It is the day
in which the kings adore your true King; therefore you
must be tried, to see whether you are a king. For it is
not much that you should rule yourself, that you should
conquer yourself, whilst you are placed, by the sense of
devotion, close beside Christ, Who is wont to order our
wars, until He has made us kings.' At Aschaffenburg he was
once engaged in the Sacred Mysteries in the chapel of the
Bishop of Mayence, which was then decorated more beauti
fully than was usual, with a great many lights, and with the
cases of the holy relics set forth in splendour for veneration.
And yet that outward beauty did not soothe his heart. So
throughout the whole duration of the Mysteries, he the priest
was grieving at this, that he never felt colder in himself,
and that he went out of the chapel just as he had entered
it, so that he might easily understand that the grace of
devotion was not to be sought so much without as within,
and that it did not depend upon outward causes, but was
instilled by God. So that from that day the desire for
going after so many external things, and adventitious aids
to devotion, completely cooled down, and he meditated
escaping from every kind of human favour and respect.
For he remarked that it often happened in his expe
rience that the more he found favour among men, the less
he was fed in his soul by Christ and His Holy Spirit ; and
that nothing was so efficacious for increasing and accumu
lating the grace of God as that a man when stripped and
deprived of all his goods, should endeavour to be like
Christ on the Cross; since we must first covet to share
R

258 Other remedies against aridities

the strength of Christ crucified and afterwards his glorified
state, and not inversely and foolishly, as is the way with
many."

Thirdly, the opinion of Rusbroch is also true and in
agreement with the teaching of our holy Father Ignatius,
as laid down in the Book of Exercises : " Whoever," he says,
" suffers this desolation and penury, let him be glad to seek
for good men, and lay open to them and bewail his misery,
and implore their prayers and the prayers of all good men,
and those of the whole Church. Let him mark meanwhile with
a humble heart, and know that he has nothing of himself
except vices and defects ; and with patience and resignation
let him use those words of the holy Job : ' The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away : as it hath pleased the Lord,
so is it done : blessed be the name of the Lord.'3 Let him
forsake and resign himself in all things, and let him say
from the conviction of his soul, ' Lord, I am as ready to
bear the loss and deprivation of all those things of which
I feel myself stripped, as far as it pleases Thee, and con
duces to Thy glory, and the salvation and profit of my soul,
as I am willing to abound in them. Not my natural will,
O Lord, but Thy will and my rational or spiritual will be
done ! For I am altogether Thine, and if it could be to
Thy praise, I would as freely be plunged into Hell as taken
up into Heaven. Do with me, O Lord, according to the
will of Thy most excellent Majesty.' In this way let him
sometimes, from all his affliction, suffering, and desolation,
draw out and work for himself joy, placing himself wholly
in the hands of God, and let him rejoice that he is able to
suffer anything for His honour. In good sooth, if he has
thus borne himself well, and shall succeed in doing this
with all his heart, in no other way will he be able to expe
rience so great internal joy. For nothing is more pleasant
to one who loves God than that he should feel himself the
property of his Beloved. But if he ascends to this level by
the path of virtues, although he may not have passed through
3 Job i. 21.

prescribed by more recent masters. 259

all the degrees which have been mentioned, that does not
matter, nor is that necessary : let him only feel that he is
endowed with the true foundation of virtues, which is
humble obedience in action and patient resignation in
suffering : in which two things this mode or degree is estab
lished in lasting security." And further on he says : "To
the man who, in this degree, is strongly tried and visited,
tempted and assailed by God, by himself, by the demon,
and by all creatures, to him the virtue of resignation, in
its high and special perfection, may be rightly assigned."

Fourthly, Father Balthasar Alvarez, as is written in his
Life, "for sixteen years had to endure great clouds and
aridities of spirit, hardnesses, distractions, depressions of
mind, and other afflictions and trials ; yet he never laid
aside the desire for prayer nor the performance of what was
required in its exercise, but persevered in it with as much
diligence and constancy as if he always found it pleasant
and easy to begin. For he placed his chief trust in the
infinite mercy and goodness of God, before Whose presence
he placed Jiimself. Like the woman of Canaan, he said, he
was as a whelp waiting for the crumbs that fall from the
table of its master;4 and like that friend in the Gospel,
though repulsed,5 he did not desist from knocking at the
door of God through many years, until at last he was heard,
and admitted to intimacy, with great abundance of heavenly
gifts " — as is fully explained in his Life.

And St. Basil recommends the same : " God," he says,
" Who benevolently inspires the prompt and ready will of
those who seek good things, will surely hear them, since it is
He Himself Who exhorts us to ask, and said : ' Ask, and it
shall be given you ; seek, and you shall find ; knock, and it
shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, re-
ceiveth j and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him that
knocketh, it shall be opened.'6 And in another place:
1 But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, Who
giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not, and it

4 St. Matt. xv. 27. 5 St. Luke xi. 8. 6 St. Matt. vii. 7, 8.

260 Other remedies against aridities

shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering.'7 And finally, in all things where the mind
wavers, or Satan impedes the readiness of the soul by
deadening it or retarding it, let us apply this remedy, that
we supplicate God, and ask that He would vouchsafe to
grant us the power of acting aright."

The same Father Alvarez, giving some persons precepts
respecting the manner of praying, among other things left
this written : " In dryness, darkness, or hardness of heart,
or in any other internal hindrance, remember that your sins
are making themselves felt there ; and if you do not acknow
ledge them, as far as they have offended God, yet acknow
ledge them from the hardness and hindrance which they
have left behind them in you ; humble yourself, and say to
God : ' This, O Lord, is the harvest which I have sown,
this the fruit of my past years : if, indeed, this impediment
proceed from my sins, by which I have given Thee dis
pleasure, which Thou didst never deserve, which I ought
never have caused ; I grieve and I repent, and I could wish
to have the tears and the sensibility of those who have most
pleased Thee. But as far as it is a penalty and a punish
ment of my offences appointed by Thee, I am glad that he
who has done such things should thus expiate them. Let
this state last as long as it shall please Thee, even through
my whole life, if that should be stretched out to a thousand
years. And since God is in His creatures, so long as they
abide in their own proper places, if you rightly humble
yourself, and willingly receive the punishment which He
sends, you will feel great peace and consolation."

Fifthly, Father Joseph Anchieta, in an epistle to Anthony
Ribera, gives this remedy against aridities : " If at any time
you feel your mind grow faint when deprived of Divine
solace and afflicted with weariness, let your remedy be
to lay hold of the garment of Christ, and to invite Him to
you with words like these : ' Stay with us, O Lord, because
it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent,8 and the
7 St. James i. 5, 6. 8 St. Luke xxiv. 29.

prescribed by more recent masters. 261

night of temptations is rushing in,' and obtain permission
to come more frequently than is your wont to the Holy
Table. For I trust in the virtue of that Divine food, that,
when you retire from that Table, you will be full of joy,
and prosecute your journey to the end with great alacrity,
until you reach the Heavenly Jerusalem."

Sixthly, it is of great service towards obtaining the grace
of devotion if at fixed times conversations are introduced,
not on the things of the world, but on the things of God.
" Speak willingly of God," says St. Bonaventure, " and listen
more willingly, because it stirs the heart to the study of
virtue and the affection of devotion." And St. Nilus teaches
that prayer is nourished by spiritual conversation, and this
by prayer.

Seventhly, our Very Reverend Father General Claudius
has left these excellent counsels in his golden book of
Industries, in which among other things he has the fol
lowing : " Whether aridity arises from natural instability
and volatility of nature, which is unable as it were to remain
at peace, you will be able to infer from its being continuous ;
if it have lasted from the time of your novitiate, or through
several years; then, if it go on without cause or occasion
on the part of the sufferer; if remedies are applied, and
without effect; if these remedies are used not by fits,
or for a short time, but with persevering diligence. If any
one should be in this condition, he should be encouraged
to endurance, and with great patience and constant en
deavour to devote himself to the attainment of true
and solid virtues (as the Constitutions express it), and take
pains to make progress in the way of Divine service : let
him compensate by more frequent and more fervent
ejaculations, and with a kind of spiritual mendicity (con
cerning which Gerson has written admirably) commend his
poverty to his most merciful Father and God, and all the
Saints. Let his spiritual reading be not diffuse or too ex
tended, but short, with his thoughts and attention wide
awake. Let him go through the various mysteries of the

262 Other remedies against aridities

Rosary, of the Life and Passion of our Lord, giving thanks,
making petitions, and with much self-abasement proposing
imitation; offering the Mysteries on his own behalf to
the Eternal Father ; and if he shall piously persevere in
this meditation of the Passion, and ever knock for admis
sion, he will without doubt receive very great light for the
intellect, and that stability which is wont to be given to the
affections, whereas our ways, when we are left to ourselves,
are altogether dark and slippery. If it still continues for a
long time, so that in his daily meditations and exercises he
surfers dryness and distractions, he must be exhorted to
greater retirement and to the use of the Spiritual Exercises
for several weeks, for that constancy in meditation and
reading conduces exceedingly to the obtaining of quiet of
soul, and recalls the mind in a wonderful manner from its
wanderings, as experience has very often taught. And in
these Exercises, it will be of the greatest advantage to note
down the illustrations and resolutions, and to cull out
something by which, when the retreat is finished, progress
may be made, whether in the exercise of virtues or in the
elevation of the soul and its union with God.

"But if this aridity has been felt only in morning prayer,
it may sometimes happen that either from heaviness of the
head or some other affection of that kind, he will find
himself at that time less ready for meditation ; or it may
result from the protracted attention which he is unable to
continue for a whole hour; then his meditation will have
to be divided, so that it may be made at different times,
and the arrangement of the time will have to be altered
(a thing, however, which must be allowed with considera
tion, and not lightly), and the interval filled up throughout
the day by repeated intentions and elevations of the soul :
let him arouse himself with verses of Psalms, now to
compunction, now to humility, now to petitions, now to
praises ; finally, let him turn himself to various affections,
as his special need or the state of his mind suggests.

" If dryness proceed from an ill-regulated affection and

prescribed by more recent masters. 263

desire for anything, he must then labour earnestly and
assiduously, that the root of the evil may either be plucked
up, or at least deadened and dried up, so that it may not
sprout forth. Occasions of dryness arising from chance
circumstances may be easily avoided, for they do not
proceed from any special affection or inclination, and
therefore they are the more easily shunned, nor do they
affect the mind so much, and they are put away without
difficulty ; provided caution be not wanting, and moderate
attention, and custody of oneself.

" If aridity come from want of the power of reasoning
and lack of matter, let him first prepare the points of
meditation carefully, let him read meditations on that sub
ject (for reading assists in a wonderful manner), and let
him be taught to develope the points in considering the
Life and Passion of our Lord : Who it is, what He did, for
whom, with what love, with what fruit He suffered; by
attending to the persons, words, actions, and so forth ; by
turning back his thoughts on himself; by comparing and
contrasting greatness with lowliness, piety with ingratitude,
and other things of this kind, which afford endless matter
for meditation and consideration. Finally, let him always
have ready some points in greater abundance than seems
actually necessary, so that if he cannot go on with one, he
may with another.

"If it proceed from want of watchfulness, let him be
more watchful, let him examine himself more carefully, let
him beware of those things which may injure him ; for that
remark of Cassian is true, which occurs in a Conference
already quoted : * Whatever our mind has received before
the hour of prayer, will necessarily be present to us when
we pray by the suggestion of memory. And therefore
such as we would be found in prayer, such we ought to
prepare ourselves to be before the time of prayer.' So far
Cassian.

"If it arise from idleness and frivolity, let him avoid
trifles, let him often raise his mind through the day, let him

264 Other remedies against aridities

visit the Most Holy Sacrament, let him salute the Wounds
of our Lord, by repeating once at least the Lord's Prayer,
or the image of the Blessed Virgin with an Ave or a Salve
Regina ; let him pray earnestly, using the intercessions of
the Saints ; let him have frequent communication on all
matters with his director ; let him remember that which
Cassian has wisely taught : ' For although it be impossible
that the mind should not be occupied by thoughts, it is
yet,' he says, 'in a great measure in our power that the
quality of our thoughts should be improved, and that either
holy and spiritual thoughts, on the one hand, or, on the
other, those which are earthly or carnal, should increase.
And for this reason frequent and habitual reading of the
Scriptures is to be used, that from thence a facility of
remembering spiritual things may be acquired. Finally,
he is to be carefully warned that he should seriously avoid
a certain very foolish notion, and the hurtful mode of
speaking adopted by those who, while using no care, or
very trifling care, in the custody of their senses, act too
freely and laxly in all things, and are tepid and very
slothful in managing their spiritual concerns, and yet
ascribe their dryness of spirit and distractions in prayer,
and that kind of insensibility which prevails in their heart,
to a Divine probation, which, according to the expression
of some, weans them from milk and nourishes them on
bread and ' strong meat/ like ' older children.'

"For the rest, let him reflect upon that which St. Gregory
writes against men of this kind : ' For,' he says, ' we wish
by contemplation thoroughly to explore heavenly things,
although we have no custody, not only of our heart, but
even of our body. For instance, we often use our eyes with
a want of decorum, and listen to idle words, and speak
useless ones, and use sleep and food, not for the refresh
ment of the body, but in order to enjoyment. Therefore,
when we wish to ponder on mysteries, to contemplate the
things that are above, to escape from our darkness, to taste
the relish of internal sweetness, we are very justly repelled

prescribed by more recent masters. 265

from the hidden treasure, since we so negligently weaken
the strength of our fortification ; and now it is so much
the more difficult for us to climb high, because we have
fallen back upon ourselves, and have not attained to the
heights of vigilance in guarding the stronghold of our heart.
Therefore examination is diligently to be employed, and
even venial and minute faults are to be guarded against,
for even these offer no slight impediment.' And there
fore the same Saint gives this excellent counsel : * Since
even elect men,' he says, ' cannot be without sin, what
remains but that they daily strive to be delivered from
the sins by which human frailty does not cease to stain
them?' For he who does not daily remove the things in
which he transgresses, although the sins which he collects
are the smallest, gradually has his soul filled with them,
and they deservedly rob him of the enjoyment of internal
abundance.

" If dryness come from too numerous occupations, let
him carefully avoid those which are unnecessary, or not use
ful to his neighbours. Let him take away something from
his voluntary relaxations ; let him steal from the midst
of his occupations some time, even the shortest space, in
order to raise his mind to God, and to look around himself;
let him take care to have his mind free, and, according
to the counsel of St. Bernard, let him not give himself up
to business, but lend himself to it ; let him request of his
Superior some moderation of active duty, and for a short
time even an entire cessation ; for he will afterwards return
more vigorous and more useful.

"Lastly, if it proceed from the Divine dispensation
and withdrawal, then he must be encouraged to patience,
and gently comforted, lest he be dejected in mind. But
let him first take care to humble himself before God, and
ascribe the cause of this withdrawal to himself, and not
indulge in self-complacency, but accuse himself, as often
as he feels grace in any degree grow lukewarm. * For
I have learnt in truth,' says St. Bernard, 'that nothing is

266 Other remedies against aridities

so efficacious towards the acquiring, retaining, and recover
ing of grace, as when at all times you are found before
God, not thinking high things, but fearing.' And the same
Saint lays down the effects and signs of this withdrawal.
'My heart dried,' he says, 'and was curdled like milk,
and became like earth without water ; nor can I feel com
punction unto tears, such is the hardness of my heart :
a psalm has no relish, reading no pleasure, prayer no
delight, my wonted meditations are gone. Where is that
inebriation of the spirit ? where that serenity of mind, and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ? ' And the cause this
Father refers to pride, either that which has been, or that
which would be, unless we were thus humbled. But
St. Bonaventure, speaking of progress in religion, ad
duces five reasons for this sterility and loss of devotion.
'The first,' he says, 'is for humiliation. The second for
purgation, for the less one has been purified, the less
anxious has he been in seeking devotion, and the less
grateful in receiving it. The third for instruction, that
he may know that devotion depends not upon himself, or
on his own merits, but on the grace and free will of God.
The fourth from the indiscreet impulse and effort of the
heart, by which the liberty of the mind is, as it were,
crushed, and an attempt is made to squeeze out devotion
as by violent pressure. A fifth reason is in order to the
meriting of greater grace and glory, when the desire is not
fulfilled, and the mind is purified by affliction, and patience
under desolation ; and the humble endurance of grief, like
a file, makes the soul brighter and more susceptible of the
Divine splendour.' Thus St. Bonaventure.

" But the Chancellor Gerson more copiously, although
in very few words, lays down seventeen causes for this
withdrawal of devotion, (i) The first is that which we have
drawn from St. Bernard, whom he quotes, namely, for
beating down or guarding against pride. (2) In order
more vehemently to inflame desire. (3) In order to the
knowledge of one's own weakness, that a man may become

prescribed by more recent masters. 267

vile in his own eyes. (4) That he may put on ' bowels of
mercy7 in view of the desolation of others. (5) In order
to satisfaction by means of the sensible grief which he
suffers. (6) That those who are able to help others, may
not so give themselves up to internal consolations as to
withdraw themselves from the works of charity and from
assisting others. (7) That being taught by experience
through this trial, one may the better learn, and the more
efficaciously teach, other virtues. (8) That a man may
not, for this sweetness of devotion, forsake the commands
of God. (9) For the punishment of venial sins, as though
a father were to show his face less pleasant to his son, that
he might be rendered the more diligent in all watchfulness
and carefulness. (10) That a man may understand that
this is not possessed by his own industry, nor is ' of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy.'9 (n) In order to the purification of the
spiritual sea, which from too much rest is apt to gather
filth, which is cleared away by tossing and commotion.
(12) That it may be seen whether he is fearing God gratis,10
whether he is prepared to serve his General without the
pay of consolations and sweetnesses. (13) Lest he should
begin to love the gifts of God instead of Him, adhering
to them, and delighting himself in them. So that He
withdraws them by His dispensation, like an indulgent
father taking away food or an apple, preparing for him, in
the meantime, an inheritance and a kingdom. (14) Some
times for the preservation of the body and the strength,
lest it should pine away and faint in tears and groans and
sensible sweetness. (15) That God may challenge him to
fly, as an eagle does her young ; as a mother leaves her
child for a time, that it may cry more urgently, and seek
more diligently, and clasp more closely, and that she may
in her turn fondle it more sweetly. (16) For the exercise
of patience, since thus to be tried is not without great
tribulation and anxiety. (17) Lastly, that the soul may
. 9 Romans ix. 16. 10 Job i. 9.

268 Other remedies against aridities

hence infer how much bitterness would result from perpetual
separation, if but a little affects it so greatly.

"But in this withdrawal, in which the Lord, by the
privation of consolation, as St. Diadochus remarks, chastens
our inordinate wills, that He may teach us the difference
between virtue and vice ; this is always to be held, as he
also remarks, that we should always hope in the Divine
compassion, with grief, humility, and becoming subjection ;
for this is the instruction which is intended to be conveyed
by the withdrawal of grace.

" But in all these things, one point should be carefully
considered which Theodorus lays down (in Cassian), ' that
we should be ambidextrous, that is, whether our spiritual
affairs are in a prosperous or an unprosperous condition,
we should ever stretch ourselves forth to those things that
are before.11 So that, whether we are fervent in spirit, and
raised above earthly things, and are nourished with spiritual
meditations, or have all spiritual fervour withdrawn, and
are chilled by a kind of lukewarmness and sadness, and
all the practices of virtue seem to lose all relish and only
provoke intolerable and dark disgust, we should then use
both hands in order to obtain a victory.' Whence he adds :
'He therefore who using the weapons which we have pre
scribed for the right side, shall not be at all elated by the
entrance of vainglory ; and, on the other hand, using those
of the left side, manfully contends, and does not give way
to despair, but rather, on the contrary, takes the arms of
patience, in order to the exercise of virtue, this man uses
either hand as a right hand, and coming off victorious in
either way, he will obtain the palm of victory on the right
hand and on the left.'" Thus far Father Claudius.

But since among aridities I have placed also the dis
tractions by which men are troubled in their sacred prayers,
especially in reciting the Canonical Hours, it will be of
advantage to know what helps Father Peter Faber em
ployed when he recited the Divine Office. On which

11 Philipp. iii. 13.

prescribed by more recent masters. 269

subject Orlandini thus writes : " He sought out certain
excellent aids for himself, in order that he might give closer
attention to the psalmody. He was accustomed, between
one psalm and another, hastily to ejaculate a short prayer,
such as that well known and familiar one : ' Heavenly
Father, give me Thy good Spirit.' In which prayer, uttered
with his whole heart, he felt that there lay great efficacy,
for recalling and collecting his mind. Sometimes he would
invoke ten times the most august names of Jesus and His
Mother in each of the Canonical Hours of prayer, that he
might bring to his remembrance these ten things, and set
them before him in the psalms as objects to be kept in
view. First, he set before him the glory of God alone;
next, the honour of the saints ; then the increase of the
just ; afterwards the liberation of those who were enslaved
by mortal sins ; then the advancement of Catholicity ; then
mutual peace and concord between Christian princes ; next
the relief of those who at that hour were afflicted by pain
of body, or desolated by any anxiety of mind, or were
assailed by the fear of approaching death, or were enduring
purgatorial fire. These ten intentions he piously and de
voutly renewed when reciting each Canonical Hour : with
these he curbed the volatility of his mind, to prevent its
being dissipated. Nor was it less efficacious to the con
centration of his attention, that at the beginning of the
same Canonical Hours, he fixed his look upon the most
bitter sufferings of Christ, and the undeserved agony of
His soul, and as he proceeded with the hymns and psalms,
so he advanced in the meditation of His most bitter pains
and griefs. And as our Lord's sorrows were the more
deepened as He drew nearer to the close of His life, in the
same proportion Faber felt that he ought to increase in
attention throughout the Hours, and that the power of
his mind should be bent on the deepening and increase
of those sorrows ; so that when he came to None he might
himself be able to feel, as it were, those terrible torments
and supreme agonies with which Christ in that hour gave

270 Other remedies against aridities

up His Spirit into His Father's embrace. He thought, too,
that it was salutary, especially for novices and beginners,
when they come to recite the Office, that they should
at once prescribe to themselves four boundaries or land
marks, as it were, beyond which they must not stray.
First, a convenient place, where they may discharge the
duty of reciting. For it is of great importance, when
the mind prays, not to go where the senses may drink in
matter that would distract the thoughts and carry them off
elsewhere. Next, the persons and saints who are com
memorated either in forms of prayer and collects, or in
the sacred lessons at nocturns. Thirdly, the words out of
which the sacred songs and the whole prayer is woven.
Lastly, the deeds which are performed, and the variety of
actions which the daily change in the Office supplies. Who
ever shall keep himself within these bounds and fences,
Faber thinks, will have put a barrier to wanderings of mind.

"He had been accustomed, when the time for his Office
approached, to withdraw for a little while from other busi
ness, and to turn to it in thought before he began the recita
tion ; lest if he went at once from business to the psalms,
the traces of the work which he had been carrying on
should remain in his mind, and be a germ of continual
wandering. Sometimes too he pleasantly beguiled his mind
to prevent it from flying about freely, and made a kind of
covenant with it that it should remain motionless and silent
at least in this or that psalm, or in part of a psalm ; and
when he had thus kept it constant, according to the
agreement, he renewed the compact, and admonishing
himself again for the following psalm, he would say, 'See
that you give a present mind to this also, be attentive.'
And when he had been satisfied in that, he went forward
with the same admonition to the next, until to the end of
it he obtained in every part of his Office that constancy
which he sought.

"And that which Basil formerly taught his monks, that
sloth of mind was generated in prayer for this reason,

prescribed by more recent masters. 271

that the presence of God is not sufficiently recognized,
Faber too learnt by his own experience, and in his writings
he taught that it was of great avail to restraining the mind
in prayer, if we acknowledged God and the angel of God
as present to mark how one bore himself in prayer : and
also the evil angel as standing over against us, watching
with an envious and inquisitive eye, observing and spying
out all our errors, that he may have the more handles of
accusation. And he taught, as of prime importance, that
solicitude for the morrow should be cast away by one who
prays, and all anxiety about the business which he has to
transact, even the most important, for this would entirely
destroy the attention and not allow the mind to rest in
the prayer which had been begun ; because the mind,
when divided among many and distant matters, cannot
be steadily and constantly occupied with that which it
has in hand. Wherefore, he who would pray in spirit must
take care so to draw up and arrange the whole course of
the day, and so to order all its actions, that the mind may
not, by looking forward to what is about to happen, be
interrupted in prayer by recurrence to those actions. And he
had persuaded himself that in this way the business which
he had to transact would become rather the care of God,
so that he might thus transfer his care during prayer from
them to God.

"And when he had discharged the duty of praying
and saying his Office, he endeavoured not to lose the
spirit of this duty. And lest his mind should continually
go abroad and get entirely dissipated, he kept recalling
it to the psalms and prayers he had been saying. And
this was also his custom with regard to the daily
Sacrifice of the Mass, and every other pious exercise,
to bend back his mind to them with attentive thought
after they were ended, and recall with himself each part
of the work, and go over it again like a prudent and
skilful workman. And in so much esteem did he hold
careful attention, especially in the Canonical Hours, that

272 Other remedies against aridities.

he said that the time of prayer should often be recalled
to memory, and that before prayer there should be con
ceived both an eager desire of saying the Divine Office
rightly, as well as a fear and solicitude lest in saying or
singing the Office one should commit sin ; and that when
the duty of saying the Office was discharged, and had not
succeeded according to one's intention and wish, grief
should be awakened, which should be lasting, and should
consume the innermost heart until the next time of
prayer. But he wished this grief to be excited not so
much because of the unseasonable thoughts by which the
mind is carried away in other directions, as by the love and
charity of God, because the sense of prayer was absent from
the use of the most sweet words of God and the sentiments
of the Psalms ; for that many are often distressed in dis
charging the duty of prayer, not so much because they are
deprived of its fruit, as because the very time in which
they stand before God is disturbed by foreign thoughts and
such as have but little reverence for the majesty of so great a
Presence. He said however that this fear and the avoiding
of such thoughts paved the way to love. And when that
is obtained, and is once infused into the soul, then at last
attention in those sacred duties follows, from love of the
Divine voice and words, and from the sweetness of those
thoughts and deeds which are contained in the sacred song."
Such is the testimony of Orlandini respecting Faber.

Other devotions for the recitation of the Canonical
Hours were taught by Christ our Lord to St. Gertrude,
which, if it is desired, can be read in book iii. chap. xlvi.
of the Suggestions for Divine Piety, edited by Tilmann
Bredenbach.

Moreover, St. Clare of Monte Falco, a Virgin of the
Order of St. Augustine, not of St. Francis (as is evidently
shown by Baptista Pergilius in her Life, and by the
Cardinals of the Sacred Rites, and by Urban VIII. in an
Apostolic Brief), had set apart for each Canonical Hour
some mystery of our Lord's Passion to be then considered.

Summary for beginners. 273

For Matins, the flagellation of Christ at the pillar; for Prime,
the condemnation of Christ to death and His being tied by
a rope and dragged with great indignity; for Terce, the
way of Christ our Lord bearing His Cross from the palace
of Pilate to Mount Calvary ; for Sext, the fixing of Christ
naked to the Cross, and the Mother of God standing by,
full of sorrow ; for None, the thirst and death of Christ
endured without any good comfort ; for Vespers, the depo
sition of Christ from the Cross, and His Mother receiving
Him full of sorrow ; for Compline, the burial of Christ.

CHAPTER XIV.

A summary of the foregoing, drawn iip for the sake
of beginners and the scrupulous, for their conso
lation ; with some teachings of the saints added
to confirm the same.

NOTE I. — Those meditations alone are undeserving of the
name of a good meditation (and it is the same with
Communion), which succeed badly on account of our
negligence. And one succeeds badly when, on account
of his negligence, he does not find himself excited, even
in his intellect, to the love of anything which is good,
either in general or in particular, or to the hatred and
horror of anything which is evil.

NOTE II. — Now our negligence in respect of medita
tion consists in these things : (i) If we come to me
ditation with the points not well prepared, or without
serious reading or consideration beforehand. (2) If, after
having well prepared the points to be meditated, we are
voluntarily distracted immediately before meditation. (3) If,
while we meditate, we purposely neglect to keep our senses
(especially our eyes) from attending to things which are then

274 Summary for beginners

not necessary. (4) If, in meditation itself, we do not
immediately repel the distractions which arise, when we
perceive that they have invaded us against our will. (5) If
we do not fill up the whole time prescribed for meditation
by our Superiors. (6) If we meditate in an unbecoming
posture, like men lying down or lolling against a
bench, or in any other way in which we should not
like to be found at prayer by those whom we most
reverence and fear. He who does not transgress in these
six things, has no reason to accuse himself of being
negligent in his meditation or prayer, nor need he have
any scruple, although he may not have felt any pious
affection.

NOTE III. — If you are not conscious of any negligence
such as has just been mentioned, even although during the
whole time of meditation you should feel no consolation,
but should be assailed by perpetual involuntary distractions
or temptations, or if you should feel your heart arid, like
a stone; be not saddened on this account, but persist in
prayer, and struggle with distractions in the manner which
will presently be explained. For such a prayer is often more
pleasing to God, and more meritorious, than that (other
things being equal) in which Divine consolations are felt,
and in which there are no unseasonable distractions. God
Himself taught this truth to St. Catharine of Bologna, to
whom, when she was most grievously tried, in the time of
Communion, concerning faith in the presence of Christ our
Lord in the Eucharist, but was repelling the temptation, He
said : " It is a greater merit of the soul if it communi
cate with the aforesaid assaults, bearing patiently this
disquietude of spirit, than when it communicates with
much sweetness and enjoyment." And this St. Catharine
left recorded in an Italian treatise, written by Divine
inspiration, concerning the arms necessary for fighting.
This is implied by St. Lawrence Justinian when he says :
"According to the measure of charity the effect of this
sacrament is received, sometimes insensibly (that is, in the

and the scrupulous. 275

time of aridities), sometimes sensibly." And Christ our
Lord, teaching St. Bridget how she should drive from her
soul the things which disturb it, says : " If she is unable to
remove that perturbation, let her bear it patiently against
her will, as an enemy, knowing most surely, that such things
conduce to the obtaining of a greater crown, and in no way
to condemnation."

Now, that a prayer which is arid and involuntarily dis
tracted should be more meritorious (other things being
equal) the following reasons will show : (i) Because such
prayer excites humility, which that which is sensibly devout
does not excite, but rather gives occasion for pride, or
vainglory, as is plain from experience. "Since the mind
is prone," says St. Lawrence Justinian, "when it is touched
with a relish for devotion, to be elated by the boon."
(2) Because patience is exercised in arid prayer, when the
attacks of the demon are patiently borne, or those of
nature, if aridities and wanderings of mind arise from
infirmity of nature. (3) Because heroic fortitude is exercised
in arid prayer, when, notwithstanding the assault of dis
tractions and temptations, a man perseveres in his prayer,
although it is exceedingly bitter and insipid on account of
distractions and aridities. (4) Because a greater love
towards God is shown, when one perseveres in conference
with God, although he be by the demon persecuted with
distractions and temptations ; just as a soldier who, under
the window of the palace whence his general watches him,
stands firm, and endures the burning heat of the sun, or the
rain or snow, shows far more love than another, who, safe
inside the palace, suffers nothing at all. Let those there
fore who are involuntarily arid and distracted in prayer
hope, after death, for that solace of Christ our Lord which
He gave to His disciples : " You are they who have
continued with Me in My temptations."1 "War," says
St. John Climacus, "brings out the love of a soldier
towards his general; but the love of a monk to God is
1 St. Luke xxii. 28.

276 Summary for beginners

chiefly discovered during the time which he spends in
prayer." Finally, on this account also (other things being
equal) arid prayer, if it is such without our own fault, is
more meritorious, because it is more difficult, than that
which is full of consolations. Hence St. Thomas teaches :
"That, where the quantities (of work done) are equal, the
merit is greater after the sin (of Adam), on account of
man's weakness, than before. For a work done with
difficulty is more beyond the power of the doer, than
a greater work is if done without difficulty." And there
fore Thomas a Kempis has well written, speaking in
the name of God : " When thou thinkest thyself far
removed from Me, thou art often nearer; when thou
thinkest thyself almost wholly lost, then often thou art
gaining more merit." In this sense St. John Climacus
says : " The time of desolation best shows forth the violent
(that is, those who do violence to themselves for God's
sake, by resisting those things which they endure un
willingly). For nothing prepares so many crowns for the
monk as temptation to sloth." And the same Saint illus
trates this statement by this similitude: "As the commander
does not remove from the army that soldier who has
received the most serious wounds in the face, but rather
promotes him in it, and heaps the greatest honours upon
him, so also the heavenly Commander does most gloriously
crown the monk who has suffered the most dangers from
demons (such as aridities and temptations, which disturb
prayer, without, however, interrupting it)." For every
supernatural good work of a just man (as is prayer) merits
a crown. " In order to the merit of prayer, however," says
St. Thomas, " it is not required of necessity that attention
should be throughout ; but the power of the first intention,
when one begins to pray, renders the whole prayer meri
torious, as is the case in other meritorious actions. And
that prayer may avail the first intention suffices, which God
principally regards. But if the first intention is lacking,
prayer is neither meritorious nor availing."

and the scriipulous. 277

But those who come to prayer with the desire to do it
well, and not to suffer distractions, and who repel them
when they perceive that they are assailed by them, most
certainly have that intention which suffices, and which is
required for the merit of a just man. Nay, such a prayer
with involuntary distractions even satisfies for sins, as
Navarrus well teaches, and other theologians who write on
that article of St. Thomas, as well as our Suarez. In
connection with which we should also note an excellent
instruction of St. Nilus, who asserts the same : " When
your mind, through much desire of God, withdraws itself by
degrees from the flesh, and rejects all the (distracting)
thoughts which have arisen from sense, either through the
memory, or from the state of the body, then consider that
you are within the region of prayer," that is, that you have
attained those three things which are the immediate ends of
prayer," to merit, to obtain, and to satisfy," even though you
are not aware of any pious affections. It is enough that you
desire them, and, as far as in you lies, seek for them,
although, by reason of involuntary aridities and distractions,
you are not able to enjoy them, you will yet not be
without the spiritual fruit which is known to God. " Our
Lord," says Pope St. Leo, "because He is a just Overseer
of souls, will not only reward the value of the work, but
also the affection of the worker." Wherefore God accepts
your affection, although your meditation has not succeeded
as you would wish. Bend yourself therefore, like the ass
and the ox, at the manger of your Lord, desiring to worship
Him and to love Him supremely ; or at least bow your
knees in His honour in aridity, and, like the mendicant who
has not the bread of consolation, stand before the palace
of God, and wait at least for some crumbs of spiritual
nourishment, and some particles of bread. "Christ," says
Hesychius, " is willingly laid up in the manger, that those
who are like cattle (that is, who think themselves to be
praying with aridity, like irrational animals unable to reason
with their mind), may run up, and find "koyov — that is, the

278 Summary for beginners

Word and Reason — placed in the crib, that they may receive
from it that nobility which becomes a rational creature.
Thus those who run to the chaff (of spiritual consolations)
obtain the corn (of merits) ; and, like animals (who are
pleased with sweet things, not with bitter), they make haste,
thinking that they will find in the manger handfuls of barley
(the relish of devotion), but will eat true bread, the nourish
ment of life." That bread which nourishes the life of the
soul is merit, which is acquired by constant perseverance in
prayer which is arid in spite of ourselves, and not watered
with spiritual consolations.

Therefore, as St. John Climacus advises : " Say not,
when you persevere in prayer (that is, when you jdo not
desist from prayer on account of distractions and aridities),
I have profited nothing. For you have already profited
sufficiently. For what can be more sublime than to adhere
to the Lord, and to persevere continuously in prayer with
Him ? " " It is better," says Clement of Alexandria, " to be
engaged in prayer with God, and to obtain nothing, than to
obtain what you wish without prayer." This is confirmed
by the excellent observation of St. Lawrence Justinian, who,
treating of the three kinds of love — namely, of carnal love,
which is foul, and "indulges in the pleasures of lust; and of
spiritual, which belongs to perfect and apostolic men, by
which a man gives himself wholly to God, and directs
himself to Him, and rests in Him" — says "that the third
is sensuous, intermediate between carnal and spiritual;
which indeed has for its object that which is good, and
loves it, and is attracted by that which is good, and
in its origin is altogether holy and pure, and yet is not
perfect, as is spiritual love, because it loves itself along
with its beloved, and it loves its own enjoyment in loving,
and only with difficulty endures the want and absence
of that which it loves; and it may be known from its
grief at the absence of the thing loved, and therefore is
called sensuous, because it is nourished and fed by the
senses of the body. And," he says, " that with such love,

and the scrupulous. 279

before the day of Pentecost, the Apostles and St. Peter
loved Christ, and were delivered from it by the Holy Spirit
Who was then sent down."

Wherefore, even those who seek sensible devotions, and
are saddened whilst they are without them, and whilst in
them they do not feel Christ present as by a sensible relish,
love Christ with an imperfect love, and ought therefore to
cast it out, and to be contented to adhere to Christ, even in
the time of aridities and temptations, and, as it were, to
assist Him in bearing His Cross. And it may serve to
console those who (without their own fault) suffer aridity in
prayer, to remember what Vincent Justinian writes respect
ing Blessed Louis Bertrand, that when, on a certain day,
after reciting Matins in the choir, he returned to his cell,
and was harassed by a troublesome thought, he heard these
remarkable words : " God is better pleased with affliction of
heart, contrition, and tribulation, than with sweetness,
solace, and consolation." And Christ told Blessed Baptista
Verana, as we learn from Bartholomew Cimarelli, " Remem
ber that God has made thee clearly understand that thou
hast more merit when thou standest before the Divine
Majesty without devotion, than when thou standest with
much weeping, tears, and devotion, because then thou art
paying some part of thy debt ; but when thou standest with
so many tears, thou departest more laden with debt than
thou earnest. Therefore, learn to have patience in the day of
sterility and penury. Remember that this withdrawal is not
of hatred, but of love, because God does not choose to give
thee Paradise in this world." And we may also derive help
by having well imprinted on the mind an example in a
similar matter which is related in the Lives of the Fathers.
" A certain old man was sorely tempted by his thoughts (as
happens also in aridity) for ten years, so that he began to
despair, saying, ' Now I have lost my soul ; and, because I
have now perished, I will return to the world.' But as he
went, there came to him a voice saying, ' The ten years in
which thou hast contended will be thy crowns; return

280 Summary for beginners

therefore to thy place, and I will free thee from every evil
thought/ And immediately returning he continued in the
work which he had begun. It is not therefore good that
anyone should despair on account of his thoughts ; for these
rather procure crowns for us, if we go on our way bearing
them manfully."

Wherefore, as a good state of life is not to be forsaken
on account of unsuitable thoughts, because they supply the
means of gaining crowns, so neither is prayer to be neglected
on account of aridities, which proceed from the spirit of
involuntary sloth. "Hence, when the Abbot Anthony
was dwelling in the desert, being tried in his spirit, and
involved in thoughts of distraction and desolation, he said
to the Lord, ' Lord, I desire to be saved, but a crowd of
thoughts do not allow me. Deign to show me what I am
to do in my tribulation, or how I shall be able to be saved.'
Then rising after a little, he sees some one like himself
sitting, twisting a rope, and then rising from his work, and
praying. This was an angel appointed for the correction
of Anthony, from whom also he heard these words : ' Thou
also, Anthony, thus doing, shalt be saved.' And he, over
whelmed with the greatest joy, resuming confidence, was
saved." Consider the same thing said to yourself. Do
what you ought to do; pray when you ought to pray.
Although prayer should not succeed as you wish, on
account of the assault of aridities, desolations will do no
hurt, if you suffer them unwillingly, and if no cause for
them has been given by yourself. But you have given
none, if you are free from the negligences noted above.

Finally, that is a great solace to those who are oppressed
by involuntary aridities, which is given by the same St. John
Climacus : " Of those who live under the law of obedience
(he is speaking of those who are occupied from obedience
in distracting duties) God does not require prayer without
any disturbance. Be not therefore saddened if, when you
pray, the enemy creeps in most cunningly, and stealthily,
like a thief, turns away the intention of the soul; but be

and the scrupulous. 281

of good courage when you recall your slippery mind, for it
is given to angels alone not to be exposed to thefts of this
kind." But if, through infirmity of nature and the creeping
in of temptation, some slight stain of negligence is con
tracted while aridities assail you, let St. Basil console you
with these words : " If, being continually weakened by sin,
you are unable to pray, compel yourself as much as you
can, and continually come before God, having your soul
intent upon Him, and collected within itself; and God will
pardon, since it is not from irreverence, but from infirmity,
that you are not able to abide with Him as you ought."

This also may come by way of solace to those who are
distracted and arid, that aridities happen by the will of God,
sometimes even to this extent, that the heavenly Spouse (as
in addition to experience St. Lawrence Justinian teaches)
" is wont frequently to absent Himself from the perfect, and
from those who enjoy ardent love (namely, through sweet
ness of devotion); and this He does, not in hatred, nor in
contempt, but in love; and whilst He withdraws Himself, He
guards those whom He loves by humbling them." And, as
he says elsewhere : " Not without reason does He sometimes
feign to disregard the requests of those who pray, the
desires of those who love, and the supplications of those
who entreat ; but He withdraws Himself for a time, that He
may at the fitting season return. He makes as though He
did not understand, that He may more richly illumine, and
more ardently inflame."

And this God showed to St. Gertrude, a virgin of the
Order of St. Benedict, "who, whilst she was praying for
some one who complained that the grace of devotion was
more sparingly poured out upon her on the day in which
she was going to communicate than on some ordinary days,
our Lord replied : ' This is not by accident, but by dispensa
tion, for when on ordinary days, and even at unexpected
hours, I pour out the grace of devotion, I strive by this
means to raise the heart of man to Myself, because then
perhaps it would remain in its lethargy. But when on

282 Summary for beginners

festival days, or at the hour of Communion, I withdraw
grace, the hearts of My elect are then more exercised by the
earnestness of their desires or by humility. Whence, such
desire and such contrition (that is, affliction of mind, which
wears the heart, because it feels pains, on account of being
vexed with aridities and temptations and distractions), is of
more advantage sometimes to their salvation than the grace
of devotion.'" For God accepts the desire for the work, if
a man is unable to have and to offer to God the work itself
such as he would.

God Himself delivered this lesson to St. Gertrude,
through a certain devout woman who wrote it to her by
Divine revelation : " Because in all thy works thou seekest
the honour of God and not thine own, therefore with holy
fervour thou bringest fruit to thy Beloved a hundredfold.
And this not only in the holy works which thou dost
accomplish, but also in all those good things which thou
wouldest perform, or promote among others, albeit thou
art not able. For nevertheless, our Lord Jesus Himself
supplies to God His Father every need and every deficiency,
on account of which thou art troubled, whether in thyself or
in others. For He is ready to render thee a reward for
every holy endeavour of this kind, just as if thou didst
accomplish the work. Whence also the whole Court of
Heaven exults, congratulating thee, and giving thanks by
praising God on thy behalf."

And this teaching is confirmed by that of the Ever
Blessed Virgin Mary, who thus instructed St. Bridget : "With
whatever temptation thou art tried in prayer, nevertheless
pray, and strive to pray; because desire and good endeavour
will be reckoned for the effect of prayer." And, " If, when
base thoughts come into thy mind, thou shalt not be able to
cast them out, then that effort will be reckoned to thee for
a crown, so long as thou dost not consent to the tempta
tions, and they are contrary to thy will." And Christ
Himself said similar things to St. Bridget.

In confirmation of this truth we have a remarkable

and the scrupulous. 283

example in the annals of the Capuchin Fathers, related by
Zacharias Boverius, concerning Alexander a Butrio : " That,
when he was a novice, Mario a Forasarzinio, his master,
saw a brilliant crown descending from Heaven upon his
head, while he was in church with the others at prayer.
Wherefore when, at the end of prayer, Mario inquired of
him what Divine things he had been meditating in that
prayer, he replied : ' Alas, Father, so many evil thoughts
invaded my mind at the time of prayer as to drive from it
every meditation on Divine things, and this the more
earnestly I strove against them and gave them battle.' Then
Mario understood that that heavenly crown had descended
upon Alexander from no other cause than from his victory
over evil thoughts, and that it was the reward of his having
conquered in the battle. But when his year of probation
was finished, and he was living at Caesena, under the
discipline of Constantine of Mutina, a man famous for his
sanctity, on a certain ferial day, he was at prayer with
the rest in the church, at which time Constantine, casting
his eyes upon him, remarked three successive crowns drop
down from Heaven upon his head ; and when he could not
understand the mystical significance of these crowns, he
inquired of him after prayers what his prayer had been in
his meditation. And Alexander answered him : ' Barren,'
he said, ' Father, was my meditation during that prayer, for
Satan set in motion against me three most terrible tempta
tions, which, by disturbing the mind, called it off from the
tranquillity of meditation; and so it came to pass that,
throughout the whole course of that prayer, I had a
perpetual conflict with the infernal enemy.' Constantine,
therefore, understood that those three distinct conflicts
against the temptations of the demon, in which he had
overthrown the proud foe, had procured for him three
celestial crowns ; so that from hence those who are either
tempted by the devil, or who endure various vexatious
thoughts produced by him, may take greater courage, and
learn to struggle more bravely with the demon, since they

284 Summary for beginners

prepare for themselves so many celestial crowns, and carry
off victories over the tempter."

NOTE IV. — As for the manner in which you ought to
resist aridity and distractions, and any kind of temptations,
it is not necessary that it should be so fervent and so
efficacious that the trial should at once yield to it and
depart, whether it be aridity, or distraction, or temptation,
but it is sufficient if you have these dispositions : First, that
all those things displease you, which disturb your devotion
in the time of meditation. But it is a most sure sign of
their displeasing you, if those things are painful to you, and
if you suffer them and experience them against your will, or
if, in such a case, you wish to have tranquillity and prayer
free from distractions and temptations. Secondly, it will be
sufficient if you feel all these things in the mind alone;
therefore there is no need either to move the head or any
other member of the body in repelling those thoughts which
hinder your devotion, but it is sufficient so to carry yourself
as though you had no head or body, refusing with your
mind alone to consent to those temptations or to give
place willingly to distractions, and willing the contrary, yet
with resignation and submission to the good pleasure of
God. By thus bearing yourself, you will neither weaken nor
weary your head. And as there is no need to weary your
head in driving darkness from your chamber, if against your
will and consent, by your lamp going out, it were to spread
over your room, but it is sufficient if it is disagreeable to
you, and that you wish for light when it can be had ; so, if
you bear yourself in the same way with distractions, it will
suffice to assure you that you do not sin, and that you need
have no scruple, as though it was through your own fault
that your meditation has had no success.

NOTE V. — Moreover, if, when you repel distractions with
your mind alone, without the effort of the head, they do not
retire, and aridity lasts, and no pious thought occurs with
reference to the points prepared for meditation, but you
remain dry like wood, feeling no pious affection in you

and the scrupulous. 285

coming from the subject which you have prepared, then
proceed in the following manner: (i) Humble yourself
before God, saying that you are unworthy to pray devoutly,
and that for your sins you are worthy that they should be
punished in you with this aridity and disquietude. (2) Give
thanks to God that He humbles you by these means, and
punishes your sins, so that He may have less to punish in
the other life. (3) Pray God that He would remove that
aridity from you, if He sees that it would be more pleasing
to Himself; but, if not, (4) offer yourself to God, as willing
to bear such aridity throughout your whole life, so long as
God shall give you efficacious grace to endure it without
any sin, in a manner pleasing to God.

NOTE VI. — When either disease or any great fatigue
of the body, or of the head, does not permit you to medi
tate, and to go through the points which you have prepared,
or when you are on a journey, or are walking, and are
forced in the time of meditation to turn your attention to
yourself, to prevent your falling, or running against a stone,
or the carriage being upset, at such a time the best manner
of praying will be by means of mental ejaculations, accord
ing to the advice of St. Augustine, St. Basil, St. Climacus,
and Cassian ; to spend the time of meditation in often
repeating short versicles from Holy Scripture or from the
prayers of the Church, in this manner: (i) In the first
quarter, adore the Divine Majesty as it exists in Heaven
and in the other parts of the universe. (2) In the second
quarter, humble yourself before God, acknowledging that
you are most vile, and most unworthy of every good thing
on account of your sins, and at the same time grieve for
them and resolve to detest them, and to guard against
them as the greatest evils, because of your loving God
above all things ; saying often : " O God, be merciful to
me a sinner," or as St. Catharine of Siena was wont to
say : " I have sinned, O Lord, spare and pity." (3) In the
third quarter, give thanks to God for all His benefits,
as well those which are common, as those which He

286 Summary for beginners

has granted to you personally; and particularly for the
blessings granted to the Humanity of Christ our Lord,
to the Blessed Virgin, and to all the other saints, and
which shall hereafter be granted by God to you and to
others. (4) Offer to the Divine Majesty spiritually the
Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His merits,
to the praise and glory of God, in giving thanks for the
blessings already received, for the obtaining of those things
which are necessary for yourself and for others, for the
living and the dead, and in satisfaction for your sins.
And to these acts add the oblation of your vows and of
the good resolutions which you have at other times made.
And offer all things in union with the merits of Christ;
because they will thus better please God. After this, ask
of God that He will grant to you and to others those
things of which you have need. And in addition to this,
commend the present needs, whether of the Church, or
of the Kingdom, or of the State, or of the house in which
you dwell, as well those which are recommended to you
in the monthly list, as the persons who have commended
themselves to you by letters or in any other way, and
those whom your superiors commend to you in the refectory
or elsewhere, and the like.

Moreover, you will be able to extend these acts in those
ways which are set forth in my treatise on the Manner
of assisting at Mass, and they will not weary the head, if you
do not try to practise them all at once with an effort of
memory, but little by little, now these, now those, either
by reading from a paper, by impressing upon the memory,
now one part this week, and again another part in another
week. This manner of prayer, by the repetition of the
same short versicles, was used not only by the Egyptian
monks, but by various other saints whom I have mentioned
in my treatise on the Practise of the Divine Presence, and
on the manner of saying the Rosary.

Finally, when the temptations of the demon and aridities
in prayer are being bravely resisted by just men, and

and the scrupulous. 287

by those who shrink from and avoid every grave offence
against God, this itself is a sign that God is present in
the soul, although His presence is not felt by the sensible
relish of devotion. "When you see the soul," says
St. Lawrence Justinian, " after being long exercised by
various temptations, after a long experience of evil spirits,
obtaining a triumph in every spiritual conflict, understand
that it (that is, the soul) possesses the presence of the
Eternal Word. For it could not prevail otherwise than
by the grace of the indwelling Bridegroom, so gloriously,
so prudently, so stoutly, and so perseveringly, against the
most bitter, experienced, and cruel opponents. For such
a victory must be ascribed to the indwelling, invisible,
Eternal Word, and not to the visible, mortal instrument,
and to man."

These words are spoken for the removal of the scruples
of beginners, and to prevent their injuring the head, by
wishing as it were to compel the mind, in order to force
sensible devotion out of it. As for the rest, it cannot
be doubted, since it is given by God, that His gift should
be received with humility and thanksgiving, and should
be turned not to vain complacency (which is displeasing
to God) but to the exercise of virtues, that they may be
practised more readily and fervently, on occasions which
offer themselves, or which are willingly sought, according
to the words of David : "I have run the way of Thy
commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart," that
is, with the pious affections of devotion and consolation.
But, as St. Lawrence Justinian advises : " First a commend
able life must be secured, and then devotion. For such a
life without this devotion does much ; but without such
a life devotion is nothing. Let no one of the servants of
God withdraw himself entirely from this Sacrament, although
actual devotion may be lacking. For the wisdom of God
produces diversely the effects of His grace in those who
serve Him : and it is not right for any one to pry into the
secrets of the Divine judgments; and therefore one who

288 Summary for beginners.

is without devotion should not be driven from the Holy
Banquet of the Lord, while he lives justly, is of virtuous
life, has a humble estimation of himself, and comes with
pure confession and humble approach. Such an one,
although insensibly, is yet spiritually nourished and lives
on this Sacrament," although he may be arid.

But as the same writer says in another place : " To the
newly converted (as are novices) and to those who are yet
in spiritual infancy, the food itself has a relish, and they
are nourished by it, as by milk, and they grow. They come
to it for their own sakes," that is, in order to receive
spiritual sweetness from the eating of this food, " and they
frequent it as long as internal delight remains. But when
this fails, they become faint-hearted because, after being
accustomed to the breast, they are unable to bear hardness
of diet. They wish to measure spiritual things by their
own sense, and think it an evil that they are not over
flowed with internal delight : they have need of milk,
they ask for milk, they are nourished with a cup of milk,
they fear the solid food of trial. It is not thus with those
who are progressing. For when they see themselves in
the midst of the sea, and feel themselves frequently driven
hither and thither by contrary winds (of temptations,
aridities, desolation), they despair of being able to escape
by themselves, if they are not supported by Divine assis
tance. Therefore often, when engaged in prayer, although
they taste no heavenly sweetness, yet they fill Heaven with
the cries of their desires, imploring assistance from the
throne on high. And they receive the greatest strength
from the reception of this venerable Sacrament, and recover
their wasted forces (although they do not perceive it by
sensible enjoyment) as often as they are thought worthy
of the participation of so great a mystery. They do not seek
relish so much as fruit, nor do they desire to find delight
in the food, but nourishment. The first (beginners),
like weakly persons, long for the relish of the Sacrament,
but the perfect, higher than these, embrace the Presence

Counsel for the weak. 289

of the Bridegroom in the Sacrament. They seek not their
own like the first, they do not think of preserving themselves
like the second, they delight to rise above themselves, like
the perfect." That is, they come to the Eucharist neither
for the enjoyment of it, nor for the fruit which they are
to receive from it, but are contented that in taking it they
have present in their soul and in their body the Bridegroom
Jesus, contented with His presence which alone they have
asked of Him ; which, however, . is never without fruit,
although they do not receive it for the sake of the fruit.

CHAPTER XV.

Counsel given to one zv/io, through weakness of body
after a long sickness and languor of Jiead, was
unable to reason out the points in time of medi
tation.

GENERALLY speaking, I say that for one who is weak or
infirm, it would be sufficient if, without any effort of head
or heart, he should think of some pious subject, set forth
in points prepared, looking at them, as it were, in the same
way that we are wont to look at a beautiful picture by a
great painter ; by such a look we do not fatigue the head,
and yet we excite in ourselves most sweetly some pious
affections, either of joy, or of admiration, or of praise, or
of love towards the sacred persons depicted, or of desire
of imitating them, and the like. But when, ih connection
with the points of meditation, some pious affection is drawn
forth, either the desire of avoiding some sin or imper
fection, or of doing some good work, or of persever
ing in it, or an act of faith, or of hope, or of any other
virtue, it will be a very good meditation, even although no
fervour is felt, or sensible consolation affecting the body,
or even although aridity of heart be felt. For, as a sick
T 2

290 Counsel for the weak.

man is benefited by taking food and medicine, even although
he does not feel the taste, but is rather sickened by taking
them ; so also the mere remembrance of any pious subject
on which we meditate benefits the soul, although consolation
may not be felt on account of disease or from some other
unblameworthy cause. Let the weak and infirm, without
attempting prolonged processes of thought, occupy them
selves in meditating by the application of their senses, as
it is called, which is treated of in the Exercises of our
holy Father St. Ignatius; for that is easier, if it is well
done, and is like looking at some beautiful clock, or
building, or field, or garden, or picture ; and at the same
time furnishes pious affections for a good soul, and sweet
considerations by which the soul is fed, as the body is
by choice morsels of soft food, which we do not need to
grind with the teeth, so as to fatigue them with chewing
and masticating.

BX 1912.5 .1355 1878 V.2SMC

Lancicius, Nicolaus
Selected works
47 23 1791 aw/sk