ON THE EXERCISES
OF PIETY
J. N. STRASSMAIER,
CENSOR DEPDTATUS.
Imprimatur.
EDM. CAN. SURMONT,
VICARIUS GENERALIS.
WESTMONASTERII,
Die 7 NovembriS) 1911.
\_Allrights reserved.]
Cbe Bngelug Secieg
ON THE
EXERCISES OF
PIETY
BY THE
VERY REV. J. GUIBERT, S.S.
SUPERIOR OF THE SEMINARY OF
THE CATHOLIC INSTITUTE
PARIS
R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW
AP 15 id55
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
MENTAL PRAYER
PAGE
I. The importance of mental prayer - 13
II. Different forms of mental prayer - 18
III. A general method for mental
prayer - -21
IV. Conditions of success for mental
prayer - - 25
CHAPTER II
VOCAL PRAYERS
I. The importance of vocal prayers - 29
II. The choice of vocal prayers - 33
III. How to act in vocal prayers - 37
CHAPTER III
THE LITURGICAL OFFICES
I. Their meaning and necessity • 41
II. How to behave at them - - 48
Contents
CHAPTER IV
DEVOTIONS
PAGE
I. The use of devotions - 52
II. Defects to be avoided in devotions - 57
III. How to order our devotions - 62
CHAPTER V
HOLY MASS
I. What takes place at the Altar - 67
II. On attending Mass - 72
CHAPTER VI
HOLY COMMUNION
I. What is received at the Holy Table 79
II. Preparation for Holy Communion 84
III. Thanksgiving after Holy Com
munion - - 88
CHAPTER VII
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
I. The benefits of the Sacrament of
Penance - - 92
II. The Practice of Confession - 97
III. Spiritual direction - - 102
6
Contents
CHAPTER VIII
INSTRUCTIONS AND READING
PAGE
I. Their necessity - - 108
II. How to make use of men and
books - - 116
CHAPTER IX
EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE
I. Its place in the life of piety - 123
II. The use of the examination of
conscience - - 128
CHAPTER X
SPIRITUAL RETREATS
I. The advantage of a Retreat - 133
II. Conditions of success of a Retreat 139
CONCLUSION
A PRAYER FOR THE GRACE OF PIETY 143
ON THE EXERCISES
OF PIETY
CHAPTER I
MENTAL PRAYER
IN a preceding ^olume, we have
endeavoured to give a just notion
of piety, and to gain for it the esteem
of those who know the value of life
and are determined to make it fruitful.
If it be true, as we have shown, that
piety has nothing paltry about it, and
that it is not a vain pursuit, a routine
of sterile and depressing practices,
but that it is an activity of a higher
order, which takes hold of a man by
what is deepest in him to lead him
to the loftiest regions of the ideal
and of happiness ; is it not right
for us to desire the pure life of piety,
and is it not fitting that we should
henceforth learn the holy rules that
direct its impulses ?
9
On the Exercises of Piety
But the life of piety is nothing else
than the life of prayer : in its essence,
it is prayer itself. It is surely not
isolated from moral life, since its end
is to make us better, and since it
would be vain from the moment it
ceased to tend to do this ; neverthe
less, in order not to confuse it with
the fruits that it produces, it must be
said to reside in prayer. When the
Apostles said to Jesus Christ, " Lord,
teach us to pray,"* it was because
they wished to enter into the way of
piety.
Prayer is a soul's effort towards
God, when she feels her dependance
and distress ; under the impression of
her dependance, she goes to her
Creator and Lord to offer Him her
adoration and to implore His help ;
and, under the impression of her dis
tress, she goes to her Deliverer to
obtain consolation and comfort. She
adores, she gives thanks, she implores,
and she touches the heart of her
God.
In this ascent towards God, the
soul expresses her feelings by gestures
and words, and then we have vocal
prayer ; and sometimes she concen-
* Luke xi. i.
10
Mental Prayer
trates her activity within herself —
"the mouth is closed, but the heart is
open ; the tongue says no word, but
the heart speaks ; speech is not used,
but holy affections"* — and then we
have mental prayer.
To speak the truth, there is no
prayer that is not mental, because
there is none that is not in the soul
itself, and which does not express
the feelings of the soul.
There are several different states
to be distinguished in the relations
between mental prayer and vocal
prayer.
In simple and uneducated souls, the
interior feelings remain confused
while the mouth utters words : prayer
exists in the soul — it may be even
ardent prayer — but it is not definite.
In those who are better educated, the
forms of prayer awaken feelings that
are clearer, and the mind and heart
say all that the words express, but
as soon as the words cease, silence
occurs in souls which are incapable
of acting inwardly. Others have their
interior activity better developed —
* Tronson, Manuel du Seminarist f, ve
entretien.
ii
On the Exercises of Piety
words are required to evoke it ; but as
soon as the flame is alight in the heart,
the fire maintains itself, the soul is
truly capable of prayer of a mental
nature. Lastly, there are others who
acquire by practice such a power of
interior life that they are in activity,
and contemplate and pray without
the need of words; the sound of forms
of prayer rather disturbs than helps
them. Let us add that souls who
are the best trained in prayer experi
ence, according to their dispositions,
these different states one after the
other, so greatly does our capacity
differ so far as recollection and union
with God are concerned.
Among the exercises of the life of
piety, some are devoted to interior
prayer, others are reserved to the
recitation of forms of words. We shall
deal with both. We shall begin
with the exercises of mental prayer,
both because they give the impulses
of piety in their highest form, and
because the kind of activity which
they cultivate must be the very soul
of vocal prayer.
12
Mental Prayer
I
The Importance of Mental Prayer
Not only those who are pious, but
all Christians, should create in them
selves the habit of interior prayer.
For the reasons that make prayer a
necessity require us to cause it to
spring from the depths of the soul.
Prayer is necessary, because it
alone procures for us the good things
which are needed by our moral life.
The requirements of our moral life
may be summed up in three words —
to set us free from the world, to raise
us to God, and to participate in the
life of God. The world, indeed, keeps
us inwoven in a thousand ties ;
vanities, pleasures and riches entice
us and hold us captive ; our sensual
ism and our pride enchain us inwardly;
and, bound in this way, we cannot
take our upward flight towards God.
Our first aspiration, then, will be to
conquer liberty of soul. Once free,
the heart of the Christian must not
remain inert in a kind of lethargy ; but,
in order to ascend towards God, it
must have an interior energy to set it
13
On the Exercises of Piety
in motion and to sustain its progress.
And, as it is unable of itself either to
become detached or to rise, it calls
for the assistance of Him towards
whomittends, and God communicates
to it by His grace His own life, in
order that His grace may set it at
liberty and carry it along, before
becoming its eternal happiness.
But these are just the gifts obtained
by prayer. It obtains them, because
it is a humble petition as well as a
generous effort.
God, who resists the proud, conde
scends to the humble. He allows the
prayer of those who humble them
selves to touch His heart ; to those
who hunger for justice and holiness
He gives Himself as food, and He
does not despise the supplication of
the contrite heart. Thus grace de
scends in abundance in answer to
prayer. In man, it will not do every
thing ; for it is no part of the
providential plan to annihilate man's
activity : God intends man to fulfil
his part, and that salvation shall be
his own work as well. But, with out
grace, man could do nothing, and
could not even utter a word of prayer.
In this way, grace is poured into the
14
Mental Prayer
Christian's heart, like a store of mighty
energies ; it is for him to make use
of them by converting them into
work.
This is what the Christian does in
the very act of praying ; for this act
involves more than a petition, it is
already an effort as well. Consider,
indeed, the interior impulse of a soul
in prayer. The desire itself is an
inner prompting, an ascent towards
God, a bringing of all the faculties
into harmony with the will of God.
Have you not felt that prayer itself is
an unfathomable work, and that it
transforms you in proportion to the
way in which it expresses itself, and
that you come from it quite other
than you were when you began it ?
What a horror you conceive of sin !
How you thrust the occasions of sin
far from you ! With what energy do
you burst your chains, and what
liberty you secure for yourself ! What
love of God kindles within you ! How
splendid appears the ideal of holiness
to you ! And how obedient are all
your powers in being directed towards
the end of your aspirations ! Are you
not then under the sway of grace,
collaborating with God with your
15
On the Exercises of Piety
whole soul ? And do you not see
that the new man, who will be mani
fested outwardly, will be merely the
revelation of the silent transforma
tion that prayer has slowly wrought
within.
If such is prayer, if such are the re
sults it ought to bring about, who can
fail to see that it is a form of action,
but of an action that takes place
entirely within ? Hence it is by
nature something inward or mental.
What would be the use of forms
uttered by the lips, if, at any rate
implicitly, the petitions had no in
ward expression, and if the heart did
not co-operate ? Hence, progress in
prayer does not consist in the
frequent repetition of forms, but in
the duration and intensity of the
interior labour. The longer and the
more completely you submit yourself
in the secret sanctuary of the soul to
the Divine action, the more you will
feel the efficacy of your prayer.
The value of mental or silent
prayer depends upon two things.
The first is this, that when the lips
are silent, the activity becomes more
intense within the soul, because the
attention is undivided. Here we are
16
Mental Prayer
not speaking of those whose attention
is only sustained by speech, but of
persons of habitual inward prayer,
who have grown accustomed to in
terior action and to listening to God
in the voice of conscience.
The second is this, that prayer
which is mental becomes more indi
vidual, and thereby more active. As
long as we use vocal prayers, we are
the slaves of forms of prayer, and
our feelings inevitably follow the
path laid down by the writer of the
words ; and thus we undergo a certain
amount of restraint. Mental prayer
restores our liberty ; our heart gains
its own initiative thereby ; they are
its own thoughts and feelings that it
expresses ; it really prays. Some
times the heart passes, owing to its
manifold needs, through the most
diversified feelings ; sometimes it
stops at a point which touches it in
an especial manner, and allows some
more salutary impression to penetrate
it. It waits in God's hand, and lets
itself be moulded by Him in all tran
quillity. It is impossible to tell all
the profit that comes to a soul from
these free and intimate confidences
with God.
17 B
On the Exercises of Piety
Let us say, in conclusion, that
mental prayer is necessary. And to
what extent ? It is difficult to speak
definitely. But those who are pious
are not accustomed to make such
calculations ; they give themselves to
mental prayer in proportion to the
time at their disposal, and to the
attraction that they feel.
II
Different Forms of Mental Prayer
The day of a person of piety,
whether in the world or living in
community, involves several exercises
in which mental prayer dominates.
The first, which takes place at the
earliest hour, and before any work
begins, is called the mental prayer of
meditation. It is with this inward
prayer that every morning of the life
of piety commences. Contemplative
prayer is less a definite exercise than
the starting of the religious life
which should animate all our actions
throughout the day. Usually it
follows immediately after the morn
ing prayer ; and it is a good thing to
keep to it, for the proverb reminds
Mental Prayer
us that a prayer deferred is a prayer
omitted. As to its duration, that will
depend upon circumstances ; it is
fixed for those who live in com
munity ; those who are at liberty
settle it in accord with their spiritual
director, and according to the duties
of their state of life. Be the time
long or short, the important thing
is to be faithful to it, in spite of
the temptations of laziness or dis
taste.
Holy Mass enters into the life of
piety as an essential element ; it is
not an exercise, it is the central act
of religion, the act towards which
converge all the exercises of the day.
For the priest, the Mass is filled up
with all the liturgical prayers ; to
him, it is not a subject for contempla
tion, but an action — the act of sacri
fice. The faithful are more at
liberty ; sometimes they will recite
the prayers of the Missal along with
the priest, a practice which is much
to be recommended, and most useful
for the renewal of piety ; sometimes
they follow the prayers and acts of
sacrifice inwardly, uniting themselves
with the intentions of the august
Victim, offering themselves to God
19
On the Exercises of Piety
as a holocaust. Attendance at Mass
then becomes a mental prayer, and
carries out the deep work of contem
plative prayer.
The thanksgiving after Com
munion is again an interior prayer.
For if it is permissible to repeat some
vocal prayers at such a time, if the
priest who is celebrant is bound to
say the Benedicite, the great part of
the time should be taken up with
colloquies with the Divine Master.
The corporal presence of our Lord,
by reviving faith, makes interior
activity easier. In these happy
moments, a fervent soul receives
from the Master's heart light and
strength for the rest of the day.
Nevertheless, pious souls, if they
have the time to spare, like to return
to the feet of our Lord and to visit
the Blessed Sacrament. For at least
a quarter of an hour, they come to It
for mental prayer in the evening.
Reading may find room here, and
also vocal prayers ; but in this even
ing recollection, the hour is peculiarly
fitted for intercourse with the Divine
Occupant of the Tabernacle. The
visit to the Blessed Sacrament is,
then, a manner of mental prayer.
20
Mental Prayer
Further, this interior prayer should
be uninterrupted. It begins in the
morning, and it is followed up all
day. This vital prayer, as it was
called by St. Francis of Sales, con
sists in the continuous union of the
soul with God through all our occu
pations. It shows us God in those
who converse with us, and it makes
us carry God with us wherever we
go ; in circumstances or in men, it is
He whom we meet, and He it is
whom we express. By this sweet
and continual thought of God, our
days pass in a warm atmosphere of
mental prayer. Ejaculatory prayers,
or cries of the heart, revive it from
time to time, but it never dies.
Ill
A General Method for Mental
Prayer
At whatever time of the day we
pray, and however short our prayer
has to be, some method is necessary,
either to stir us to pious feelings, or
else, to express them profitably. The
method we propose has the merit of
being simple and easy to remember,
21
On the Exercises of Piety
and of containing the substance of
such as are best known.
The preliminary of all prayer con
sists in putting ourselves in the pre
sence of God, and of being penetrated
with the feeling that He is there
before us, surrounding us with His
immensity, living at the bottom of
our consciences, and that He admits
us, sinners as we are, to converse
with Himself, because He loves us
more fervently than He hates our
defilements. We adore Him, we
beseech His pardon, and we implore
His help in order to pray.
Coming, then, to the subject-matter
of our prayer, we bring to bear upon
it our eyes, our hearts, and our
hands ; our eyes to consider it, our
hearts to get the grace of it, and
our hands to carry it out in practice.
Let our eyes first dwell long on the
types, in which we find a living illus
tration of the subject of our medita
tion : on God, on Jesus Christ, on
the saints. Above all, let us fasten
our attention on our Saviour ; He is
the Master, all of whose lessons we
shall never learn. Let us fill all our
faculties, our senses, our mind, and
our will, with Him, His thoughts
Mental Prayer
and words. Let us spend a long
time in His presence, until we are
permeated with His rays. As to each
matter, let us ask : What has He
thought about it ? What has He
said of it ?
While our eyes are thus fastened
on Jesus Christ, the heart is not slow
to come into play. Two feelings then
stir it — desire and confusion. The
heart desires to resemble the Divine
model which it has been contem
plating ; it desires it all the more
ardently because meditation provides
it with several grave reasons for
wishing for this resemblance. It is
in confusion at the state in which it
sees itself, so far from being what
it ought to be ; called to be so great
and so holy, it blushes to find itself
so mean and so sinful. And, then,
from this heart immediately springs
prayer, sometimes urgent and passion
ate, sometimes calm and sweetly
abandoning itself to God. For if
there are times in which the heart
sends cries of distress up to God and
speaks to Him in the accents of
burning love, there are also times
in which it says to Him trust
fully : " Lord, I am Thy humble
23
On the Exercises of Piety
creature ; I place myself in Thy
hands ; mould me as Thou wouldst ;
in all I cast myself upon Thee."
When the heart has prayed, when
it has undergone the fructifying in
fluence of grace, when it has drawn
strength from the Divine fountain,
the hands in turn are offered to fulfil
the Will of God. It is not being
virtuous to have in one's heart and
mind the picture and the feeling of
holiness ; the hands must be brought
to action. This is why prayer ends
in definite resolutions: "This, O God,
is what I will do to-day to please
Thee." But resolutions are only a
good intention ; it is practice that
gives them their value and merit.
Prayer is thus followed up through
out the occupations of each day, and is
only completed by being faithful to
the resolutions made in the morning.
When our prayer is over, we thank
God for His help, we entrust to the
Blessed Virgin the graces we have
received, and we keep some word in
our memory as the impression left
on our soul by our meditation.
Mental Prayer
IV
Conditions of Success for Mental
Prayer
Mental prayer presupposes much
liberty and activity in those who
practise it. Liberty is acquired by
mortification, and activity is main
tained by struggles against idleness
or distaste.
A soul can only pray on condition
that she remains within herself and
dwells there in silence and solitude; if
she goes astray and becomes extern
ally distracted by allowing herself to
be dissipated, she will find neither God
nor her own heart ; if she allows the
tumult of the world or sensualism to
penetrate her, she will hear neither the
word of God nor the voice of her own
needs. It appertains to mortification
to make the soul master of herself,
to tear her away from the entice
ments of the world by the restraint
of the senses and by the love of
solitude, and to withdraw her from
the exigencies of sensualism by the
application of the mind to serious
thoughts. Thus set at liberty, the
25
On the Exercises of Piety
soul will easily yield to the tendency
which inclines her towards God ; and
habitual recollection will make mental
prayer easy.
But this liberty will only be of
advantage to her on condition that its
activity is won and sustained — won
by faithful preparation and sustained
against various causes of discourage
ment.
To make no preparation for prayer
is to abandon one's soul to impressions
which may spring up capriciously
either within or from without. The
object of preparation is to set in the
soul a definite object on which all
the faculties will engage, around
which thoughts and feelings will
gather. It is to do disrespect to
God, if we come into His presence
without taking forethought as to the
subject to be dealt with in our con
verse with Him, and it is reducing
our piety to a sterile formalism to
fulfil in this empty manner its principal
exercises. The preparation is made
the night before for the morning
prayer, and it may be brought to bear
upon all the mental prayers of the
day ; for we multiply the fruits of
our prayers when we devote a whole
26
Mental Prayer
day to pursuing one end. This pre
paration consists in the choice of a
subject, then in reading a few lines
or pages about it, and lastly, in a
rapid survey of the three following
questions : What are the feelings of
our Lord as to this virtue ? How am
I to obtain His grace for it ? What
am I to do to make this virtue enter
into my life ? When the hour of
prayer comes, the mind is no longer
left to chance ; from the outset,
the soul pursues a well-marked path,
and can make progress in it.
We must, however, resist tempta
tions to idleness and distaste. We
shall use the help of books of vocal
prayers, until we have got control of
our minds and kindled our hearts ;
the beginning of prayer, like the
beginning of all work, cannot be
made without effort. We shall be
persuaded that the hours given to
prayer are the most fruitful times of
the day ; and if we are busy, far from
neglecting the duties of our state of
life on account of prayer, we shall
find it helps us to fulfil them all the
better. We shall keep these blessed
hours sacred and inviolable, and even
if we feel that we are making no
27
On the Exercises of Piety
progress, because we experience no
relish for them, we shall nevertheless
continue faithful in mounting guard
daily at God's gate, and in saying to
Him : " I am here."
28
CHAPTER II
VOCAL PRAYERS
I
The Importance of Vocal Prayers
TRUE prayer is assuredly that
which comes from the soul, and
not that which is uttered by the lips.
But there must be prayer on the lips
in order that prayer may rise within
the heart. Note fervent souls in
whom interior prayer never ceases.
Far from despising forms of prayer,
they frequently have recourse to
them. The long prayers of the liturgy
are their sustenance. Frequent and
bold ejaculatory prayers are the
spontaneous outbreak of hearts that
cannot be silent.
But if, on the other hand, a soul
becomes neglectful of vocal prayers,
at once her piety decreases. Just as
a person's constitution seems to waste
away if it does not take nourishment,
29
On the Exercises of Piety
and as the fire dies out for want of
fuel, so does interior religion slowly
perish in souls who, from spiritual
idleness or from a vain disdain of
exterior practices, hinder their life
of piety from increasing by exercise
and by the use of sensible outward
helps.
On the contrary, when our interior
piety needs reviving, have we not all
experienced the supreme efficacy of
vocal prayer ? Let us recall the hours
when we were cold and had lost our
taste for God, when the heart was
torn asunder with a thousand cares
and the mind engrossed and obsessed
with preoccupations : we wanted to
pray, and prayer would not come into
our souls. Then we knelt down and
fastened our eyes upon the Crucifix
and repeated forms of prayer, and as
we were pronouncing the words, we
regained possession of our heart, the
mind was torn away from its distrac
tion, and prayer revived, as a dying
fire is rekindled by a breath. Just as
in a dim sanctuary one sees the
lights slowly burn up into flame
during the hour of Benediction, so the
most heavy-laden soul awakens, gets
illumined, and takes fire in interior
30
Vocal Prayers
prayer through the continuous use of
pious formularies repeated with faith
and tenacity. This is why, when a
soul has to be cured of a distaste for
prayer, instead of reasoning in vain,
one has to say quite simply : " First
of all, pray ; soon the taste for prayer
will return to you."
This property of vocal prayer
depends upon several things. To
begin with, vocal prayer is an activity
that stirs the whole man and awakens
him inwardly from slumber, for the
effort made to go on praying just
the same only reaches the lips after
having aroused the will. In the
next place, vocal prayers contain
thoughts and feelings that take pos
session of the soul from without, and
destroy in her the sense of emptiness
and of desolation which gives rise to
the distastefulness ; they therefore
relieve the poverty of heart, which
henceforth gives a joyful adhesion
to the affections with which it feels
that it is filled. Lastly, God reserves
special blessings for those who seek
Him in the midst of dryness. He
loves to give light to those who call
upon Him through the darkness, and
takes pleasure in shedding His favours
31
On the Exercises of Piety
on those who do not leave Him in
their desolation.
From this point of view, our
attachment to formularies has nothing
superstitious in it. In the eyes of
well-instructed Christians, they have
no magical or cabalistic power. We
do not believe that such and such a
prayer, of itself, repeated at a certain
hour, or on a certain day, must
necessarily produce a predetermined
external effect, such as to preserve
us from lightning, or keep off some
contagious disease, or cure an in
firmity, or guarantee the success of
an examination or of some under
taking, for such beliefs are generally
the remains of paganism. Certainly,
we know that God is good enough to
manifest His power at the time. of
the use of the fitting formularies, and
we know that in the Sacraments, the
formularies are themselves efficacious.
But the enlightened Christian knows
that such is not, ordinarily, the will
of God. The formulary is surely
good, but it is good because its effect
is to move our hearts to prayer.
This interior prayer, springing from
the use of the formulary, is the
first grace of God's. By this prayer,
32
Vocal Prayers
the heart obtains what it asks for : it
obtains directly that which makes it
better — more faith, more charity, more
patience, more energy, and so forth :
it obtains indirectly also the external
graces which it rightly aspires to,
either because it enters the outward
fray stronger and better prepared,
or else because God in His fatherly
mercy gives His aid.
If, then, our vocal prayers have
such a far-reaching effect, how highly
should we value them !
II
The Choice of Vocal Prayers
Amidst the innumerable forms of
prayer that are presented to us, a
choice has to be made, for they are
not all of equal merit, and, moreover,
our piety itself requires us to avoid
an embarrassing multiplicity. A. few
vocal prayers that are excellent in
themselves, which are dear to us
and often on our lips— such must be
our rule in practice.
In the front rank we put the prayer
which Jesus taught us, the admirable
" Lord's Prayer," which is so visibly
33 c
On the Exercises of Piety
stamped with its Divine origin in its
perfect adaptation to all the needs of
the soul ; exhausting and expressing
all the desires of man's heart, this
prayer will remain living and new to
the end of time. It is summed up in
the words of Jesus in His agony
in the garden : " Father, not what I
will, but what Thou wilt "; and in
that other word spoken on the Cross :
" Father, into Thy hands I commend
My spirit." Such forms of prayer
never tire the lips that repeat them ;
they fill the heart with their pleni
tude, and their sane vigour uplifts
the will to God.
Next come prayers inspired by the
Holy Ghost, and found in Holy
Scripture. The Psalms are the best
known of these. In these sublime
songs, so great in poetry, prayer has
accents of incomparable beauty ;
sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes
supplicating, it finds its way to our
souls when we are most humble and
penitent, and filled with awe and
confidence. Who does not feel his
whole being thrill in the Psalms of
penitence, especially in the Miserere,
the words of which are composed
of tears and repentance ? It was
34
Vocal Prayers
quite right of the Church to make
these songs the substance of her
official prayers.
There are others that the Church
has herself composed and introduced
into her liturgy ; there are the hymns
and collects, the prayers of the
Sacrifice of the Mass, arid, above all,
the Ave Maria, in which the words of
the Angel have been so happily com
pleted with a supplication that all
generations of Christians have re
cited, and still recite, with love. If
the angelic salutation is popular,
especially owing to the Rosary, it is
not so with the other formularies
used by the Church ; the faithful are
not well enough acquainted with
these prayers written under the in
spiration of the Spirit of God, and
by means of which the humblest
Christian can enter into communion
with the thoughts and desires of
religious gatherings throughout the
world.
Lastly, there are others which,
without forming part of our public
prayers, have yet been approved by
the Church, and usually enriched
with valuable indulgences ; such are
the litanies of the Holy Name of
35
On the Exercises of Piety
Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin and of
the Sacred Heart, and the morning
and evening prayers adopted in
various dioceses, and so forth. They
afford an almost infinite variety of
feelings and thoughts and expres
sions, and, from this table spread
with wholesome and nourishing
dishes, each can take the food best
suited to his temperament and needs.
None of these prayers is obligatory ;
but neither is any of them to be
despised. When we choose those
that go best with our own spiritual
tendencies, we must not despise those
that we relish less.
Must we confine ourselves to the
prayers already made, or have we
not the right to compose, for our
part, such petitions as shall express
our feelings and needs in the most
living way ? Provided that we keep
our respect for received prayers, and
that we say nothing that is not in
accord with the spirit of the Church,
there will surely be every advantage
in our possessing forms that are more
our own, and which have the power
of touching our hearts morej nearly,
and of uplifting us to God.
Vocal Prayers
III
How to Act in Vocal Prayers
If formularies are profitable to us
in proportion to the way in which
they awaken interior prayer within
us, it follows that the repetition of
them must not be mechanical and
lacking in attention. If they were
said in a merely material manner,
with no other anxiety than to utter
them without missing anything, they
would be hard labour, and not a
benefit to the soul. Therefore the
soul must pray while the lips are
speaking.
Certainly the ideal would be
realized and the soul would always
pray, if attention were always main
tained, each word calling forth a
corresponding thought or feeling in
the soul. It is also preferable to
repeat fewer words, in order that the
heart may have the time to ponder
them and to adapt itself to their
meaning. But such a strain on the
mind would overdrive it harshly,
because of the swift succession of
thoughts and different impressions ;
37
On the Exercises of Piety
and it practically becomes impossible,
when long formularies, like those of
the Breviary, have to be recited in a
limited time. They then pass too
rapidly across the field of the soul to
make an impression upon it. Often,
too, their meaning escapes the com
prehension of minds of merely moder
ate education. Method is thus
required to transform such recitation
into prayer.
The best plan, in my opinion, con
sists in fixing one's attention on some
fruitful thought drawn from the very
object of the prayer. Suppose I have
to recite the Office of the Annuncia
tion. Before beginning to do it, I
should take a few moments for reflec
tion, during which I should picture
to myself the Angel's visit to the
Blessed Virgin, and I should recall
the words exchanged between them,
and consider what a benefit the
mystery of the Incarnation was to
mankind, and so forth ; filled with
these thoughts and the feelings they
evoke, I should pray to God to
accept all the words of the Office as
the expression of my adoration, grati
tude and supplication ; thus uplifted
by meditation on the mystery, all the
33
Vocal Prayers
formularies become my prayer. In
the same way one can dwell in mind
on the moral personality of a saint,
on the necessity of a virtue, on the
sense of some urgent need; each
word then becomes an expression of
the one prayer that stirs the activity
of the soul.
But let us suppose that our im
potence in fixing our attention is
greater still ; that we are weak in
mind, suffering from brain-fag, or
that our whole soul is obsessed with
inevitable distractions, prayer is still
possible despite our infirmities. Be
fore beginning our recitation we shall
say to God in all simplicity : " Lord,
Thou knowest the poverty of Thy
servant ; Thou knowest the feeble
ness of his will, the levity of his
mind, the inconstancy of his heart,
and, therefore, how great is his diffi
culty of keeping himself in Thy
presence ; but Thou knowest also,
that in the depths of his heart, he
loveth Thee, and desireth to pray to
Thee ; accept, then, as my intended
prayer, all that is meant by the words
I am about to utter, for I abandon
myself to Thy Spirit that He may
speak them to Thee by my lips."
39
On the Exercises of Piety
God is our Father ; He knows better
than we the wretched clay of which
we are made, and He will bless — let
us not doubt it — prayers begun in
such a spirit of self - surrender.
Thenceforward, it is not us, but Jesus
Christ living in us, that He will
hear.
May these observations persuade
the reader that vocal prayers, which
are so necessary for the interior life,
need not be said hastily nor in great
numbers, but gravely, with recollec
tion, in union with our Lord, without
any regard — except in the case of the
Breviary — to the length of what is
recited.
CHAPTER III
THE LITURGICAL OFFICES
I
Their Meaning and Necessity
V\ WHATEVER leaning a man
VV may have towards piety in
solitude, if he be a true Christian, he
will not confine himself to it, so con
vinced will he be that such isolation
will be fatal to him. He attends his
parish church, and takes his part in
the liturgical offices. Not satisfied
with the Low Mass at which he com
municates, he attends High Mass and
Vespers when he can do so. He is
not ashamed of taking his place, and
of carrying a light, in the processions
of the Blessed Sacrament. He goes
humbly, year by year, to receive
the blessed ashes on his forehead.
During Holy Week he goes to get
his blessed branch, he makes his
visit to the Tomb, and he kisses the
41
On the Exercises of Piety
Crucifix on Good Friday. In a word,
he is associated with the mysteries
and solemnities celebrated by the
Church. His religion does not re
main individualistic, it becomes
social. And he binds himself to par
ticipate in these external ceremonies,
both for the sake of the good he
receives from doing so and for the
example that he sets.
The first advantage that he gets
comes from the very nature of
external worship. Is there, indeed,
anything more touching, is there
anything more like the pure joys of
heaven, than the majestic ceremonies
unrolled beneath the arches of our
sacred fanes ?
Even in our smaller churches, the
breadth of the proportions, the fine
ness of the lines, and the ruling
silence of recollection, grip and uplift
the soul. The sacred pictures, the
great crucifixes, and even the glow
of the lights and gleam of the gold —
all help to catch the eye and to fix it
upon religious symbols that represent
our adorable mysteries. Then the
voices rise, the chants resound, some
times solemn, sometimes more full of
animation, but always worthy, and
42
The Liturgical Offices
they stir all one's feelings to happy
emotion ; and the impression remains
so deeply imprinted that, even to
advanced age, and in distant exile,
these chants return to the memory
and awaken the fruitful thoughts of
the best years of one's life. And
what is experienced by one is felt by
each of his neighbours ; and from
feeling in unison, hearts beat more
at ease ; and the emotion of each is
increased by the emotion of all, and
it ends by reaching such a degree
of heat that it melts for ever the ice
of human respect. Holy, happy
hours, and truly heavenly, are these
hours of the liturgy ; those who have
tasted them once forget them never ;
and the hymns heard then haunt the
memory to one's last breath. When,
after long wanderings, a man returns
to the faith of his earliest days, and
to the God of his first Communion,
it is because the flame of Christian
belief has suddenly leapt up from
memories slumbering in the living
depths of his heart.
The liturgical offices have, besides,
the advantage of being fuller of God.
If Jesus has promised to be present
wherever two or three are gathered
43
On the Exercises of Piety
together to pray, all the more will
He be a living presence amongst the
faithful met together for the prayers
of the Office. In our divine offices,
they are no longer men who pray in
isolation, it is the Church herself who
comes into play, it is the Holy Ghost
Himself who adores and supplicates
by our lips. Wherever there are
Catholic churches the same words
are uttered, the same signs are seen,
the same praise resounds, the same
supplication rises, and the same
Spirit of Jesus prays in all. What
incomparable beauty there is in this
one and universal prayer, which all
Christian hearts vie with one another
in repeating ! Who would hold aloof
from this immense concord ? How
mean are our individual prayers com
pared with this vast cry of distressed
humanity, re-echoed by the same
Spirit — infinitely through the whole
of heaven ! How one loves to take
part in the chant of Mass or Vespers,
when one knows by faith that one's
voice goes to swell the praise of the
whole Church !
Add to this consideration the fact
that our liturgical offices surpass all
other prayers in the beauty of the
44
The Liturgical Offices
words which are uttered in them,
and of the acts that are performed.
In fact, what can be more sublime
than the Psalms ? what more sweet
than the hymns ? what more filled
with piety than the prayers ? what
more dogmatic than the liturgical
expressions that abound in the Mass ?
what possess a higher morality than
the example of the Saints whose
excellencies are set before us ? All
the illumination of the faith and all
the thoughts of holiness permeate our
souls under the influence of the sacred
liturgy.
Further, our divine offices are less
prayers than religious dramas that
the Church enacts before our eyes.
Holy Mass enables us to be present
at the august Sacrifice of the Cross,
announced by the Prophets, pre
pared for by the preaching of Jesus,
and consummated on Calvary. Our
Vespers, which are too little under
stood, re-echo the celestial chants in
our midst. They begin with the
Psalms of God's ancient people, they
continue with the beautiful hymn of
the Blessed Virgin, the Magnificat,
and they end with the hymns and
prayers of the new dispensation. The
45
On the Exercises of Piety
charming episode of the Purification
of Mary lives again in the animated
ceremonies of Candlemas ; the trium
phal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is
made realizable to us in the affecting
feast of Palm Sunday. And who
can help admiring the poetry and
life of the liturgical feasts, when
they are compared with the common
place and symbolically meaningless
gatherings with which some people
endeavour to replace them ? Should
we not do better to explain to the
people the deep meaning of our tra
ditional offices instead of creating
new ones which are lacking in the
spirit of the past ?
Besides the priceless benefits that
they procure to those who attend
them, the liturgical offices are also a
means of propaganda. The Christian
who goes to them with regularity is
a fruitful example to his brethren.
To follow High Mass with de
votion, and also Vespers in the parish
church, is to make a public profession
of one's faith. The prayer you offer
up in the depths of your heart or in
the privacy of your house is not a
missionary prayer : it is certainly
good for your own soul, but it does
46
The Liturgical Offices
not persuade other souls to pray.
The Mass you attend in the early
morning or in some private chapel
certainly enables you to participate
in all the riches of the Sacrifice of
the Cross ; but it has not the power
to encourage the fearful, to overcome
human respect in the weaker brethren,
and to proclaim your faith openly.
If it be true that religion in these
days has no worse enemy than human
respect, there is no more effectual
way of defending it than to advertise
it prominently by being faithful to
the liturgical exercises.
No doubt it must be taken for
granted that certain delicate situa
tions call for a certain amount of
prudent reserve. But, nevertheless,
it is important not to take an exag
gerated view of what is required in
such cases, and not to encourage
them to become tyrannical by giving
in prematurely. But, apart from such
exceptional cases, it is the duty of
every good Christian, without either
being a prig or a coward, to confess
his faith openly and to do honour to
his religion by public participation
in the offices of the Church. Let us
hope that the young, especially in the
47
On the Exercises of Piety
country districts, may be enrolled
after first Communion, with a promise
to come, whenever they can, to High
Mass and to Vespers.
II
How to behave at them
These offices, however, will not be
loved and observed if the faithful
are allowed to get tired of them, and
if those who attend do not under
stand and take an interest in them
and take part in them.
Therefore the faithful must be
more than mere spectators, for if
they only look and listen and take
no active part in them, they will
soon be filled with distaste for them.
Fifty years ago, when it is acknow
ledged that the faithful were closely
packed in our churches, but were
strangers to what was going on in
them, it might have been foreseen
that before very long the churches
would be empty. Outside work was
urgent, and pleasure was appealing
to them ; and within, weariness was
overcoming them, and the sense of
having nothing to do pervaded them.
48
The Liturgical Offices
In consequence they remained out
side. In order to keep those who
remain, let us give them something
to do.
What,' then, are the faithful to do
during the sacred offices ?
Most of them read or pray while
the Office is going on in the choir.
While the priests and the singers
are carrying out the liturgical wor
ship, the people follow from a dis
tance what is taking place, and fulfil
for their part their religious duties.
The less educated recite the Rosary ;
others are engaged in pious reading ;
and those who have the greatest
faculty for interior prayer meditate
and unite in the prayer of the Church
from the bottom of their hearts. But
this prayer is not theirs ; the litur
gical Office is not their office. There
are two groups in the church — the
choir where the Office is celebrated,
and the nave, where individuals enter
separately into communion with God.
What is in the mind of the Church
does not take place.
It is the work of the parish priest
to break down this dualism. He
should begin by instructing the
faithful in the nature of the sacred
49 D
On the Exercises of Piety
offices and in the proper way of
taking part in them. He will advise
those who cannot read to join in
voice with the choir in the chants,
and to fill up the intervals of silence
by uniting in the prayers offered by
the priest. Those who can read he
will urge to bring a book to the holy
offices, not a religious book of no
matter what sort, but a book which
contains the liturgical prayers ; he
will invite them to sing with the
choir and to repeat the same prayers
as are said by the priest ; he will ad
monish them that no prayers are as
good as the liturgical forms of prayer,
which are inspired by the Holy
Ghost, and said at the same time
throughout the whole Church.
This is not the place to explain
how to train a parish in the liturgical
chant. We will only say that it
ought to be attempted, if one wishes
to unite all the faithful by means of
the chant in one prayer, and that, if
the children get used to it by several
years of continuous practice, in the
end all the faithful will be led on to
take it up.
Let the diocesan official Prayer-
Book be the book par excellence for
50
The Liturgical Offices
everyone. Those who have time to
read may next take Dom Gueranger's
" Liturgical Year " to guide them.
Manuals of devotion and other for
mularies should be kept for private
prayer.
CHAPTER IV
DEVOTIONS
I
The Use of Devotions
A MONGST a Christian's religious
** exercises certain external prac
tices, called devotions, usually find
a place. Whilst devotion is only
another name for piety, devotions are
special, sensible, voluntary manifesta
tions in which interior piety loves to
express itself, and in which, too, it
seeks for helpful assistance.
Each particular devotion com
prises three elements : a religious
object that deserves reverence and
appeals to the senses ; a tangible
sign to be its symbol, and to
bring it to mind by striking the
attention ; and, lastly, the use of
some mortification or prayer, by
means of which the soul makes an
52
Devotions
effort to get grace from the religious
object which it venerates.
Is it a question of devotion to the
Sacred Heart, which is so justly
popular in our days ? The religious
object is the Heart itself of our
Lord, united to His Divinity, and a
source and symbol of the love of
Jesus for men ; the material sign is
a heart encircled with thorns whence
flames arise, and which we put up in
our houses, or wear on our scapulars ;
the practice involves the use of in
vocations or other pious acts, by
means of which we try to bring our
hearts into harmony with the Heart
of Jesus Christ. Or suppose it is a
case of devotion to our Lady, as our
Lady of the Rosary. The Mother
of Jesus is the object of our devotion ;
the Rosary is the sign that fixes our
attachment ; the repetition of the
Ave Maria, with meditation on the
mysteries, is the practice that sends
us to her. Or is it a question of the
Third Order of St. Francis? The
virtues of the Patriarch of Assisi are
the object of our veneration ; the
scapular is the sign of the Order to
which we belong ; the prayers and
penances are the personal efforts by
53
On the Exercises of Piety
which we try to take our part in his
sanctity. And so it is with the rest.
However much devotions may be
run down in certain quarters, and
however much they may be abused
by some who are ill-instructed among
the faithful, we hesitate not to say
that devotions, used with wisdom and
piety, are valuable aids to piety, and
even, generally speaking, indispens
able supports. In fact, the elements
which they comprise are good in
themselves, and very proper for the
advancement of the religious life.
And to begin with, what do we
aim at in the religious object of our
worship, unless it be God Himself?
"We have recourse to the sacred
humanity of Jesus Christ, to His
Divine Heart, to His adorable Face,
to His bleeding Wounds, because we
know that God is present, and made
tangible in His sacred Flesh. Therein
it is that the invisible is brought
within the range of our looks, and
that the Divinity has contracted and
enclosed itself, and there it is that
Omnipotence has been placed within
our reach. In the same way we go
to the Saints, and to the Blessed
Virgin above all, because we find our
54
Devotions
God living and perceptible in them
as in Jesus, no doubt to a lesser
degree, but in a manner still more
merciful and still more adapted to
touch the heart. In these objects
suggested by devotion, our religion
does not go astray, since it finds God
in them ; but it also discovers in
them a most opportune help, since,
if God were not thus brought near
us, we should have been incapable of
finding Him if we had been left to
ourselves. Thus these devotions are
nothing else than mystic keys, with
the help of which we can open the
sanctuaries in which it pleases God
to deliver His oracles. They are,
then, from this point of view, simply
excellent.
The sign of itself is powerless. But,
from possessing the property of
striking our sense-perception, it is
a reminder which our soul stands
in need of for the awakening of the
memory. Here is a heart printed on
a piece of cloth ; in itself, it is but
a remnant which may be crumpled
and cast aside ; but every time I look
at it, it reminds me of my Master's
Heart, and of the love He showed in
dying for me. Here, again, is a
55
On the Exercises of Piety
medal, only a piece of common
metal which may be melted in a
crucible and lose the representation
stamped upon it, but each time I
consider it and kiss it, I think of the
Blessed Virgin, and of the pledges I
have given to her, and of the inter
cessory power which she puts forth
in my behalf with her Divine Son.
Signs, therefore, have a value of
their own ; they are not in any
way dangerous, but most profitable,
when one only expects from them
that which they afford — a salutary
admonition to piety.
But we must not confine ourselves
to signs ; we must go on to make
use of the practices that are the
really fruitful part of devotions. It
is by means of these practices, indeed,
that we enter into communion with
the objects of our piety. Either
they move us to prayer by the for
mularies to the use of which they
bind us, and then they arouse the
heart to religious activity, and pro
duce that inward ascent of the soul
which is just what piety aspires to.
Or else, they call upon us to make
sacrifices, and in immolating our
sensuousness, our curiosity, our self-
56
Devotions
will to God, they already realize the
moral progress which it is the end of
piety to obtain. When these practices
are not carried out mechanically,
when they are truly acts of the soul,
devotions attain to a high moral
value.
There is no need to say any more
to show the use of them.
II
Defects to be avoided in Devotions
But devotions are only really useful
on condition that they escape the
abuses which make them barren.
They are abused, either if they are
given an undue preponderance, or
else if they overburden the soul or
lead to superstition.
We shall say nothing of the strange
and scandalous devotions in which
rosaries are said, or candles lit, or
medals worn for the success of bad
or infamous undertakings ; these are
really aberrations. But without going
so far astray as this, some people are
found to give such an exaggerated
importance to devotions that they
come to neglect grave duties belong-
57
On the Exercises of Piety
ing to religion or to their state of
life. It is not unusual for people
who are pious to be partially unfaithful
to their household duties, to the
demands of decency, and to interest
themselves too little in the education
of their children, in order to give
themselves to practices of devotion
which are certainly of less value than
such virtues. Others, again, manifest
ill-humour or speak roughly because
their prayers have been interrupted,
even for a good reason. They forget
that if they pray to obtain an increase
of virtue, they must never cast aside
the virtue for the sake of praying.
Who has not noticed some of the
faithful in church go straight to the
feet of some favourite statue without
thinking that the Master, who is pre
sent in the Tabernacle, has the first
claim upon their adoration ?
Those who propagate devotions
are specially prone to exaggerate.
The one they have to extol is alone
worth more than all the rest ; it in
fallibly secures eternal salvation ; and
without it, there is great danger that
we shall never get to the gates of
heaven. It is not that the devotions
thus put forward are not excellent in
58
Devotions
themselves ; the mischief is in the
mistaken way in which people are
enrolled on their behalf. Is it not to
be regretted that people join a con
fraternity only when urged by some
erroneous conviction ? For there is
no one devotion that is obligatory ;
there is none that takes precedence
of all others ; it is good for us, if it
makes us pray, and if it makes us
better.
When the Church approves a
devotion, she intends to help souls,
and not to burden them. Now, devo
tions would become an inconvenience
and an obstacle to living, if they
were multiplied to the point of
embarrassment, and if they so
tyrannized over the soul as to reduce
it to slavery. If they were too
numerous, they would consume in
prayers and meetings hours which
are indispensable for urgent duties;
and by prolonged exercises, and by
the hasty repetition of interminable
formularies, they would wear out and
dry up the soul, and they would give
the painful sense of being overdriven
which produces distaste, and deprives
Christian piety of the sweetness
which is both its attraction and its
59
On the Exercises of Piety
reward. Let no one, then, take upon
himself a burden beyond his strength ;
and, since amongst devotions a choice
has to be made, let each one give his
preference to those that go best with
his own spiritual disposition.
They should no more tyrannize
over us than embarrass us; even
those we take up leave us at liberty ;
we may go, according to our inclina
tion, from one to another. To-day it
may be the Sacred Heart, to-morrow
the Precious Blood; never mind, it
is always to Jesus that you go, and
it is God whom you find in Jesus.
To-day it may be our Lady, to
morrow St. Joseph or some other
Saint ; never mind, it is always the
same God and the same life that you
are looking for. And does not the
Church herself, by the succession of
her feasts, invite us to this liberty
of soul ?
Above all, take care not to become
the slaves of a sign. The sign is
only a reminder for religious thought,
and a stimulus to prayer and goodness.
If it becomes predominant, it will
absorb all your devotion, and you
will fall into pagan superstitions.
When the missionaries take away
60
Devotions
amulets and fetishes from savages,
they are at much pains to teach them
that such things of themselves are
impotent, and that they are empty
and lying divinities by means of
which the devil takes advantage of
their credulity, and when they give
them in exchange crucifixes and
medals, they do not omit to warn
them that these things are not new
fetishes, and that they will not be
infallible talismans of protection, but
that they are faithful warnings, and
that, by striking the eyes, they will
awaken in the soul a fear of sin,
thankfulness for the Divine blessings,
and the need of prayer, and so on.
And yet, to how many Christians are
these exterior signs of devotion no
more than vain fetishes ! Let us not
lay ourselves open to just criticisms,
let us not cause either our religion or
our devotions to be spoken against.
We have no need to reject symbols,
nor to be ashamed of them, for they
are not vain. Let us wear scapulars
and medals, let us have statues and
crucifixes, let us light candles at the
altars of our Lady, but let us not
attribute to them virtues that they do
not possess. Let us remember that
61
On the Exercises of Piety
they do not dispense us from a single
effort ; their part is to invite us to
pray and to work. Let us use these
signs, certainly, but as Christians,
not as pagans.
Ill
How to order our Devotions
Although we may enjoy a great
amount of liberty in the choice of our
devotions, and although any devotion
will be good for us if it avoid the
mistakes we have pointed out, never
theless it is important to bring to
them a certain order and to give the
first place to those that bring us most
directly into communion with God.
The devotions which are addressed
to our Lord, then, will win our pre
ference. The Holy Eucharist will
hold the first place, because it contains
Christ Himself living whole and
entire under the forms of the sacred
species : therein we have His flesh,
His heart, His soul, His virtues and
His divinity : to receive Him and to
visit Him often in this great Sacra
ment, this is the primary devotion of
the true Christian. Next comes the
62
Devotions
Gospel, which under the surface of
the letter offers us the very word of
Jesus : it is a very Catholic devotion
always to carry with one, and to read
frequently, the sacred text. Of all
the symbols that speak to us of
Jesus Christ, there is none more
traditional nor more suggestive than
the Crucifix ; since it is on the Cross
that Jesus redeemed us, and on the
Cross that He desires to be exhibited
before the eyes of all generations of
men, we ought to carry the Cross on
our breasts, and to hang it up in the
most worthy position in our houses
and to keep it on our work-tables.
After having given the Holy
Eucharist, the Gospel, and the Cross,
the honour due to them, we may
follow our inclination for this or that
part of the Person or the life of our
Lord ; His Infancy, His Passion, His
Divine Heart, His precious Blood, the
five Wounds, the various instruments
of His Passion, the Way of the Cross,
and so on. An impulse of grace
urges souls to-day towards the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. The fervent Christian
lets himself be borne in this direction
all the more readily because he sees
all the treasures of Redemption open
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On the Exercises of Piety
in the Heart of Jesus. But if he
sees in this solemn symbol a banner
that guarantees victory, he knows
that such triumphs will only be granted
to the valiant who have won them by
their efforts, for the Heart of Christ
gives courage to the combatant, but
does not dispense him from fighting.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
takes its place by the side of devotion
to our Lord ; for, after Jesus, there
is no one who gives us God Himself
more than Mary. This devotion may
not come under the head of any
particular title ; but it may also take
the most different shapes, according
to the sanctuaries where the Blessed
Virgin is honoured, according to the
mystery of her life we have in view,
and according to the excellence
or the intercessory power that we
venerate in her. The accessory form
is not very important ; each of the
faithful will select the title which
best corresponds with the needs of
his own soul. It is of importance
that Mary should be honoured for
the sake of Jesus, and that in Mary
we should look for Jesus, and that,
with Mary's help, we should grow
like Jesus. Let us take whatever
64
Devotions
sign or symbol we may choose :
medals, scapulars, pictures, statues,
are only symbols, whose business it
is to awaken in us memories of the
Blessed Virgin and love for her.
Frequent prayers, of which the angel
ical salutation will be the centre, will
express our devotion to Mary, and
will revive the fire of religion within
us. The Rosary is the form which is
the most popular ; it is made up of
the Ave Maria, a prayer which can
always be said, and which never
wearies one.
Beyond these devotions to our
Lord and to His holy Mother, we
must be very sober. All the Saints
certainly deserve special honours ; all
are powerful intercessors on our
behalf, so that, so far as Heaven is
concerned, objects for worship are
never wanting. But our spirit is
soon found wanting ; it cannot engage
in too many things without overstrain
to breaking-point. We must also,
because of our weakness, fix a limit
to our devotions to the Saints, and
become attached to one or two only,
whom we may choose as models and
patrons ; our choice will depend on
our inclinations and on the surround-
65 E
On the Exercises of Piety
ings in which we have to live. It
will be right, however, to reserve a
place for devotion to St. Joseph in
the sanctuary of our hearts. He was
the guardian of Jesus ; the Church
has taken him for her protector, and
souls tend towards him, during the
last few generations, with an ever-
increasing movement, and we cannot
do better than take our share in it.
66
CHAPTER V
HOLY MASS
I
What takes Place at the Altar
HOLY MASS, which is the heart
of all religion, the fountain from
which Christian life flows forth, is
also the centre towards which all our
pious exercises and many devotions
converge. What prayer, in its various
forms, develops in us is a holy thirst
for the Divine springs which are
open to us in the Mass, wherein God
Himself comes to satiate us with
His grace. Whoever is acquainted
with the mysteries of the altar, the
beauties and riches of the Mass, has
no need to be exhorted to come
thereto ; he runs thither of himself,
borne along by his own heart to this
Divine trysting-place.
We are taught by the faith, in
deed, that the Mass brings Jesus
Christ Himself on to our altars.
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On the Exercises of Piety
With a tractableness that is unspeak
able, every time that the priest utters
the words of consecration, Jesus
descends living into his hands.
Beforehand, there was on the altar a
little bread and wine ; after the con
secration, there is neither bread nor
wine ; under the appearances that
remain, we adore the Body and Blood,
the Soul and Divinity of Jesus, really
present in their integrity. We need
not at all envy either the Crib, or
the house in Nazareth, or the pious
visitors of Bethany, or the Cenacle,
or the Cross, or Heaven. He who
was the treasure of earth during His
mortal life, He who is the joy of
Angels and the crown of Saints, it
is He whom we have under the veils
of the mystery, and of this our faith
admits of no doubt. The sacred
linen is His swaddling-clothes, the
priest's hands are His cradle, the
faithful, rich or poor, are those who
adore Him.
But the Church teaches us the
meaning of this transcendent pre
sence. Jesus is there as Victim ; the
Mass is a Sacrifice. The immola
tion of Jesus on the altar is not bloody,
because the glorified state of the
68
Holy Mass
Body of Christ will not allow of the
shedding of His blood ; but the
priestly consecration, by the very
virtue of the words that tend to
separate the Body and Blood, has
the full efficacy of a sacrifice. It is
the very sacrifice of Calvary that is
renewed and rendered present on the
altar ; the Victim is the same, and
He shows God the Father the same
gaping wounds, addresses to him the
same prayer, extends the same pro
tecting arms over the world, and
stretches out the same supplicating
hands towards men.
Thus, then, is the whole drama of
the Redemption reproduced before
our eyes in each Mass. At the foot
of the altar, in the name of mankind,
the priest confesses all his sins and
begs for pardon. Then, up to the
time of the Gospel, he revives in his
own heart all the desires of the
Patriarchs and Prophets for the
Messias who was to redeem Israel.
He listens to His voice in the read
ing of the Gospel. He is present at
the offering which He makes of His
person and His life. He calls upon
all the choirs of Angels to come
together round the Victim who is
69
On the Exercises of Piety
about to immolate Himself. Lastly,
by the consecration, all Calvary be
comes present on the altar, and
Jesus suffers, prays and dies for
sinners. As the Sacrifice of Calvary
is the culminating point in the history
of the world, so is the consecration
the central point of the Mass. When
the immolation is completed, the
people come to purify their souls
in the blood poured out, to draw
with both hands from the store of
prayers and merits, and to partici
pate by communion in the life given
to the world by this Victim's flesh.
Thus it is that in a short space of
time, sometimes amidst the grandeur
of our ceremonies, and sometimes in
the silence of some dim oratory, the
great work of the redemption of men
is renewed. Happy is he who then
is found on this Calvary at the foot
of the Cross ! No doubt, even in the
most humble of Masses, the Blood of
the chalice has such power that its
influence extends to the whole of
mankind ; but also, without doubt,
this treasure belongs above all to
those who have come to obtain the
advantage of it, and whose hands
may draw from it persistently.
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Holy Mass
Draw near, then, O Christian, to
this dear Victim. The Roman
soldiers, the deicide Jews, have left
Calvary ; approach without fear, for
the Redeemer rejects none who come
to Him. Before the Cross thou wilt
find Mary standing, the Magdalene
prostrate, the women in tears, the
well-beloved disciple in anguish, the
Apostles returning like fearful ghosts,
the dead arising from their tombs to
fill the train of the Just One, their
Deliverer, the Angels flocking to con
template Him who has just opened the
gate of heaven for them ; and then,
the daily growing multitude of holy
souls, martyrs, virgins, priests, work
men, poor men and even kings, who
come to wash their garments in the
Blood of the Lamb, and to drink at
the pure springs which renew or
revive life. Have confidence, O
Christian, and with the thirsty crowd
set thy lips to the wounds of the
heavenly Crucified One, satiate thy
heart with the adoration and prayer
which He offers to God the Father,
and with the graces of light and
strength wherewith He sustains
needy souls.
On the Exercises of Piety
II
On attending Mass
If such be the value of a Mass, if
it be the most noble act that is done
on earth, if it be par excellence the
praise of God and the treasure of
mankind, what eagerness should
not Christians feel for the adorable
Sacrifice of the altar? If they for
sake it, must it not be because they
are not aware of its value ? Further,
it is impossible to be too zealous in
giving them instruction as to the
value and the benefits of a Mass.
Those who know what Mass means
are desirous of hearing it. They are
grieved if they are deprived of it,
and if illness or business keeps them
away from church. If their occu
pations allow them any spare time,
they like to go to Mass every day,
even making an effort to rise early
not to lose its blessings. Pious people,
the duties of whose state of life leave
them but little time, hold daily Mass
to be the most important of their
religious acts ; they rightly consider
that Mass must be preferred to any
other devotional exercise, and that it
72
Holy Mass
must be continued when there is no
time for other exercises. Daily Mass
is the soul of piety. Anyone who
is religious will therefore never omit
it without regret, and will always
make up for it by devoting an equal
amount of time to contemplation of
the Sacrifice of Calvary.
Holy Mass, nevertheless, however
rich it may be in heavenly graces, is
only of value to souls in proportion
as they know how to gain from it
God's gifts. The Divine springs are
there, open and overflowing ; but still
one must wish to quench one's thirst
at them. A passive attendance at
Mass would be sterile ; in this exer
cise, as in all others, only activity of
soul can bear fruit. In order to
awaken and to maintain this interior
activity, a method is required. But
what method ?
Those who cannot keep up their
attention without some external aid
should always make use of a book ;
and those who are more self-sufficing
in the power of inward prayer should
also use a book from time to time to
renew their supply of thought and
feeling. In the case of both, the
book must have to do with the
73
On the Exercises of Piety
Sacrifice of the Mass ; any other
book would distract the mind and
heart from what takes place at the
altar. On Sunday it will always be
the official Mass-book of the diocese ;
for, on solemn feasts, the prayers of
the faithful should follow the prayer
of the priest, and use the same words
as far as possible. On weekdays,
principally in Masses at which Com
munion is received, it is a good thing
to use those prayers, in our devo
tional manual, that have been written
for attendance at Mass, or else some
chapter from the Fourth Book of
" The Imitation of Christ." For
then, we only look for something in
our book which is capable of fasten
ing our attention on the very subject-
matter of the Mass, and of stirring
up our souls to an impulse of prayer.
Whether it be aroused within us
by books, or whether it spring up
spontaneously in our hearts, prayer
is the form that our inward activity
should take during Holy Mass. But
this prayer will find expression in
various ways according to the degree
of education and the actual disposi
tions of those who pray.
The most simple of the faithful
74
Holy Mass
will join at least in the prayers of the
priest, and will say, for instance :
" Lord, I scarcely know what my
needs are, and I do not know how to
tell Thee of them ; but this priest at
the altar is praying in my name and
for me ; hearken unto him. All that
he is saying to Thee, I say unto
Thee ; all that he is asking from
Thee, I ask too ; all that he is pro
mising Thee, I too promise. Accept
his prayer as if it were mine, and
may the prayer avail for my own
soul, for my dear departed ones, and
for the whole Church." When these
thoughts and feelings are even
vaguely present in a Christian's
heart, all that he does, even his atti
tude, becomes a prayer.
Those Christians whose faith has
a clearer outlook will unite with the
prayer of Jesus living in the priest
and under the sacred species, and
they will say something like this :
" I offer Thee, O my God, the prayer
of my Saviour Jesus, the prayer in
which He spent the nights of His
life on earth, the living prayer with
which He intercedes on our behalf
in heaven, the prayer that breaks
forth in a powerful cry of supplica-
75
On the Exercises of Piety
tion in this transcendent Sacrifice of
the Mass. Accept this prayer instead
of mine. I know not what of honour
Thou deservest, nor what are my
own needs in respect of grace, nor
what expressions I ought to use in
speaking to Thee ; but Jesus can do
all ; I offer Thee His adoration and
thanksgiving and supplication. If I
deserve not that Thou shouldest hear
my words, at least Thou wilt not
reject those of Jesus."
We shall penetrate still further
into the intentions of the Sacrifice,
if we offer God our Lord as an
expiatory Victim. In such a spirit,
we may say to Him, as we follow
the different parts of the Mass : " If
Thou markest our iniquities, O God,
we shall not dare to affront Thee by
coming into Thy presence. But, in
the name of the Saviour whom Thou
hast given us, turn away Thine eyes
from our sins. He whom sinful
humanity has called for by its ardent
desires, He whom the prophets have
announced with a tremor of hope and
joy, He who has brought into the
world the good news of salvation,
He who has shed His Blood to wash
away our sins, Jesus is there upon
76
Holy Mass
the altar, a willing Victim, setting
before Thee the wounds of His
scourging, of His crowning with
thorns, and of His crucifixion.
Hearken to the pleading of His
wounds ; they cry for mercy on our
behalf. O God, Thou demandest
reparation. Here it is ; it is infinite,
like the Majesty that we have out
raged. Let the just anger in Thine
eyes be appeased as they dwell upon
the sweet and dear face of Thy Son
Jesus Christ !"
And, lastly, the more interior souls
will offer themselves to God with
Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.
They will then say to Jesus :
" Though I am but a sinner, O my
Saviour Jesus, grant that I may
unite with Thee in dying with Thee,
and in redeeming men with Thee.
Thou hadst but one life to immolate
to Thy Father ; I offer Thee another,
mine own, in order to take part in
the same sacrifice. Lay me on the
altar along with the bread and the
•wine. Pronounce over me, O High
Priest, the words that shall transform
me into Thee. Once changed into
Thee, and enriched with Thy merits,
like Thee I will be a victim ; I will
77
On the Exercises of Piety
give Thee my body, my mind, my
senses and my will, in order that all
that I am may enable Thee to extend
and to complete the work of Thy
Divine Passion. Thy flesh did not
suffice to satisfy Thy desire for
suffering ; lo, here is mine ; make
use of it to satiate Thyself in me
with sorrow and expiation. And as
it would be vain to say this, if I were
not ready to do it, I accept all the
sufferings, and contradictions, and
humiliations that may befall me to
day ; grant that after attending this
Mass, in which Thou art the Victim,
I may make of this day now beginning
an unceasing Mass in which I myself
shall be the whole burnt-offering."
These thoughts, and many others
of a similar Christian tenour, will
keep the soul on the alert, and enable
the believer to make Holy Mass an
ever-fruitful and consoling exercise.
CHAPTER VI
HOLY COMMUNION
What is received at the Holy
Table
HOLY COMMUNION is not an
exercise, as distinct from Holy
Mass. And it is only by an act of
toleration that the Church permits
one to communicate apart from the
Holy Sacrifice. While the flesh of
the Divine Victim is still on the
altar, and after it has been offered to
God as the living expression of re
ligious duty, the priest distributes it.
He is bound to feed upon it himself;
then he gives it to the faithful. In
the primitive Church, all came to
take part in the feast of the Lamb.
In our days, all who attend do not
draw near, but all are invited, and
many are led on by holy desires to
79
On the Exercises of Piety
accept the invitation. Holy Com
munion, then, is the natural con
summation of the Sacrifice of the
Mass.
Therein the flesh of Christ is re
ceived as food ; the priest and the
faithful partake of it as the bread of
the soul. " My flesh," says Jesus,
" is meat indeed ; and my blood is
drink indeed." " Except you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
His blood, you shall not have life in
you. He that eateth My flesh, and
drinketh My blood, hath everlasting
life ; and I will raise him up at the
last day." " This is the bread that
came down from heaven. He that
eateth this bread shall live for ever." ;
These words of the Gospel show us
clearly what to look for in the Holy
Eucharist. We communicate, neither
to experience overpowering sweet
ness nor exactly to receive the Divine
visit, but in order to eat the bread
that giveth life. This heavenly bread
repairs loss, renews strength, fits us
for work and arms us for the fight.
Certainly, it gives joy and fills us
with the ineffable presence of God ;
but above all it is bread, and the
* John vi. 50-59.
80
Holy Communion
place where we partake of it is called
the Holy Table.
Thus understood, Holy Communion
is manifested to us in its necessity
and in its effects. He who does not
eat this bread will die sooner or later,
and the* life of God will perish in his
soul. But before dying out for want
of nourishment, this life, after becom
ing weakened and powerless to defend
itself, will fall under the blows of
enemies who harass it unceasingly
within and without. Hence the
necessity for this Divine manna ; the
Christian has no right to go without
it. Besides, what does he not gain in
disposition and moral character from
this Divine food ? In proportion as
he assimilates the substance of it, he
becomes more vigorous, more capable
of resistance, more ardent, more
active and more persevering; for
strength and animation will have
energized his whole being.
Compare souls who communicate
with those who do not ; follow both
classes in the practice of the moral
life. We may be quite sure that
observation will not give the lie to
the promises made by Christ to those
who receive the heavenly Bread,
81 F
On the Exercises of Piety
Look where to find those who control
the baser passions, those, at any rate,
who never admit defeat by them,
those who make daily efforts to attain
to a better life, those who give up
their time and their lives to the
exercise of charity, those who are
most scrupulous in the discharge of
the duties of their state of life, and
those whose conscience is a mentor
always heeded because its voice is
taken for the very voice of God.
Where will you find them, unless it
is principally among those who com
municate, and whose hearts are
strengthened and uplifted by the
living Bread ? The experience of
nineteen centuries has borne witness
to the words of Jesus ; he who refuses
this Bread rejects life, and he who is
careless about taking it has only a
drooping life, and he who feeds upon
it with a holy hunger has a happy
and overflowing life.
The mere character of Holy Com
munion shows plainly enough how
frequent it ought to be. If it were
to us nothing else than the visit of
the King of kings, we might be kept
away from it through fear of bringing
some hurt to this supreme Majesty,
82
Holy Communion
or from the irksomeness of having
to get ready for a royal reception.
But it is a question of giving bread
to the famished, of supplying nourish
ment to those who are exhausted with
toil, and who need to be equipped
for a fresh task. When bread is set
before him, the workman has no need
to be pressed ; he takes it as soon
as he is hungry.
And this is the rule by which to
measure the frequency of your com
munions. You will consult your
needs, both those of your moral life
and those of your heart ; and next
you will consult your desires, not
those which might spring from a
certain vanity, but those that take
their rise in a true love of Christ.
Then you will display to your
spiritual director the state of your
soul, and you will follow the direc
tions he gives you. If he finds you
have a real hunger for the Holy
Eucharist, and if he observes that this
Bread nourishes you and develops
your moral life, he will not hesitate
to throw the gates of the Divine
banquet wide open for you. Even
the direction to communicate every
day need not make you puffed up or
83
On the Exercises of Piety
timid; for you ought not to regard
it as a favour or a burden, but
merely as a necessity, to eat day by
day the Bread of Life and to benefit
by it.
II
Preparation for Holy Communion
From the fact that Holy Com
munion gives us a seat at a father's
table, it does not follow that we may
draw near it without respect. You
will show the due measure of your
respect and love in the preparation
that you bestow upon them.
This preparation comprises a habi
tual state of purity of soul, efforts of
will to merit the gift of God, and an
ardent appeal of the heart at the
moment of reception.
The Holy Eucharist, as you know,
is only given to the living, because
it is a Bread of Life ; it has nothing
to do with the dead. If there were
some grave sin on your conscience,
do not go to the Holy Table ; thus to
take the Flesh and Blood of Christ
would be, in the words of St. Paul,
to eat and drink " judgement "* to
* i Cor. xi. 29.
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Holy Communion
yourself — that is to say, it would be
to your condemnation. Let this sin,
which was that of Judas, never be
yours ; it were better to undergo any
sort of shame than to incur the curse
of such a sacrilege. You must, then,
be in a state of grace when you
communicate. But for the pious
soul this will be too little. Not only
will mortal sin not reign in you ;
venial sin itself will not hold any
power over you. Doubtless you
cannot avoid all faults, so great is
our fragility ; but at least you will
not love any of them, and you will
deplore them all with sincerity of
heart. But as soon as you can say
to God : " Lord, thou knowest that
I love thee,"* and as soon as you
can say it with truth, be at peace,
you will not be the slave of any sin,
and you will have that inner purity
that finds favour in the eyes of God.
Thus clad in the wedding garment,
you can often go into the Lamb's
feast. Take care, however, to pre
pare for the Bridegroom gifts to
delight Him, I mean a sheaf of
merits gathered by your endeavours.
Or, better still, let us borrow from
* John xxi. 17.
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On the Exercises of Piety
the Table and the Bread the lesson
taught by their symbols. Remem
ber what the Apostle wrote : "If any
man will not work, neither let him
eat." * The Bread, then, is there for
him who has earned it. Further,
the idler does not hunger for sus
tenance ; the worker alone, in spend
ing his life, gives birth to the keen
desire for its renewal. Would you,
too, earn your eucharistic Bread ?
Work. Would you awaken in your
soul an appetite for the heavenly
Bread ? Again, work. Now, the
work of the soul is goodness ; there
fore strive to-day to overcome temp
tation, to triumph over curiosity and
ill-humour, to spread around you the
joy that shines through kindness, to
fulfil with regularity and perfection
all the duties of your state of life,
and then, to-morrow, you will go
without fear to the Holy Table,
because you will have earned your
Bread ; you will even feel a hearty
appetite for the heavenly manna,
because you will have trained your
life beforehand.
When the hour for Communion
has come, remain in the greatest
* 2 Thess. iii. 10.
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Holy Communion
tranquillity and be full of simple
confidence, as befits a son in his
Father's house. Follow the Mass
with devotion, uniting in the acts
and prayers of the priest, and think
that what the Church has set down
to prepare the priest to communicate
is also an excellent preparation for
the believer. Nevertheless, you may
have recourse to the religious forms
contained in books of devotion, but
on condition that you do not look
for sensuous satisfaction in them ; for
God does not give Himself to your
senses, but to your faith. And this
is exactly why you will begin with
an act of faith in the real presence of
Jesus living under the appearance of
bread, in order to feed you with His
Flesh. And then, looking through
your conscience, you will pray God
to blot out the last traces of sin ;
and you will use the humble words
of the centurion : " Lord, I am not
worthy that thou shouldst enter
under my roof: but only say the
word, and thy servant shall be
healed."* You will then call for
Him with all the ardour of your
desires, and you will give yourself
* Matt. viii. 8.
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On the Exercises of Piety
up to all the inspirations of Divine
love. Your prayer, repeated a
hundred times, will be : " Come,
Lord Jesus, come ; be the Bread of
my life, the Peace of my senses, the
Light of my mind, the Strength of
my will, the Joy of my heart, be all
mine."
Ill
Thanksgiving after Holy Communion
You will not be one of the un
grateful poor who, as soon as they
have received bread, turn away from
their benefactor, and, instead of
blessing the hand that has loaded
them with bounty, rather murmur
at having received too little. To be
thankful, you need only follow the
good impulse of your heart ; but your
faith, too, will incline you to be
thankful, by reminding you of the
value and absolute gratuitousness of
the gift which has been committed
to you. Your thanksgiving will be
divided into two parts : you will
begin it before leaving the church,
and you will follow it up throughout
the day.
Unless urgent business calls you
88
Holy Communion
to go out, do not leave the church
until you have spent a quarter of an
hour in giving thanks to God. These
few minutes are, indeed, all too short
for pouring out the feelings of your
heart ; but if they are faithfully
observed, they will be a pledge of
your gratitude. During these precious
moments, the happiest of your life,
do not labour to extract any extra
ordinary thoughts from your mind ;
but rather open your heart and let
it take its course. If it needs arous
ing by some form of prayer, take a
book to stir it up ; but as soon as the
flame is kindled, let it alone. It will
adore, by means of an act of faith,
the God who has given Himself to
it; it will thank Him for coming
thus, under the form of bread, to
restore its life; it will set forth
before Him the needs of the soul,
the needs of those whom it loves,
and the needs, above all, of those
whom it mourns; it will offer Him
all that it is and all that it has : its
failings that He may mend them, its
weaknesses that He may supply
them, and its powers that He may
use them to the glory of His Father ;
and it will conclude with a steadfast
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On the Exercises of Piety
promise of becoming better, by check
ing such and such faults, or by
practising such and such acts of
virtue.
However recollected and generous
a soul may be during this quarter of
an hour, it has not done enough to
discharge its debt ; and it carries
away with it, when it leaves, the
memory of the benefits received, and
it proposes to prolong its thanksgiving
during the hours and days following.
Reflecting that it is living bread that
was consumed at the altar, the soul
concludes that it must assimilate this
food and show itself stronger in
moral action. And as it has noticed
that the Holy Eucharist is often
spoken against and despised by the
world, because certain pious people
have exhibited to the world lives
that the Holy Eucharist has not made
better, it wishes its conduct to be a
public reparation for the hurt done to
God, and a living preaching of the
excellence hidden in the Holy Euchar
ist.
And this is why such an one,
returning to his family or his business,
gives open testimony by his life that
One who is great and holy dwells
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Holy Communion
and acts within him. This High
Being who, by Holy Communion, in
dwells him, is revealed by his calm
ness in action, his gentleness in word,
his amiability of manner, his strength
in enterprise, his unselfishness in
service, and by his strict fidelity to
all the duties of his state of life. If
a man is thus to rise above himself,
if the steadfastness of his virtue is to
prove that a superhuman power pos
sesses him, he must give himself up
uninterruptedly to keeping himself in
dependence upon Him whom he has
received in Holy Communion, con
forming to His thoughts and submit
ting to His influence, and, in a word,
borrowing His life. And trite con
stant endeavour becomes his living
act of thanksgiving.
CHAPTER VII
THE SACRAMENT OF
PENANCE
I
The Benefits of the Sacrament of
Penance
THE Holy Eucharist is the most
divine of the Sacraments, Pen
ance is the most human. God is all
in the Holy Eucharist ; in it He
gives Himself by means of the Flesh
and Blood of Christ ; man has only
to lay himself open and to lend him
self to His mighty influence. In
Penance, man plays a greater part ; it
is by the united activity of the con
fessor and the penitent that God
works the pardon of sins. While
grace comes complete in itself from
the Eucharist, man collaborates with
God to obtain it in Penance. God
alone, indeed, is the Author of for
giveness ; but He does not grant it
without the moral effort of man.
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The Sacrament of Penance
See, indeed, how the sinner works
his conscience. He interrogates it
by self-examination, and pushes his
inquiry into the most secret depths.
Then he makes a faithful avowal of
the faults of which he feels that he is
guilty, humiliating himself in his own
heart not less than in the presence of
his confessor. He disturbs himself with
repentance and bows his head beneath
the hand that gives him absolu
tion. Lastly, he binds himself to an
expiation whereby he mingles the
drops of his own blood with the flow
of the redeeming blood of Christ.
The Sacrament will not take place
nor produce its effect, unless the
sinner does all this work.
The work is all the more laborious
because it must move the soul to its
very depths. Superficial feelings
would not touch the heart of God,
because they would not break the
heart of man ; they are only effectual
on condition that they are sincere,
and go down to the roots of our inmost
being. Thus, the most hidden and
shameful faults must be disclosed,
and the self-accusation must be entire
and without dissimulation ; regret
must be universal so far as the
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On the Exercises of Piety
faculties of the soul are concerned, as
well as regards the sins that are
deplored, and the satisfaction made
cannot be reduced to an empty
formality, it must really strike and
correct the sinner. Sincerity, then,
stirs the whole man ; it turns his
being upside-down like a field that is
dug up.
And for fear lest the sinner be
faint-hearted or impotent in thus
mending his own heart, he is offici
ally helped in the work by his
confessor. Even a priest cannot
administer the Sacrament of Penance
to himself. Whoever wishes for the
pardon of his faults can only obtain
it, in ordinary circumstances, with
the help of God's minister. For
this reason the sacrament has its
human side. This requirement, far
from being a burden, is a consolation.
It is therefore in mercy, and not from
hardness, that Christ has ordained
that, in the Sacrament of Penance,
the Christian shall be bound to
address himself to a judge, a pastor,
and a physician, for his confessor is
all of these to him. As soon as some
one is to hear you, what care do you
not apply to the examination of your
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The Sacrament of Penance
conscience ! What definiteness do
you not use in your acknowledg
ments ! As soon as you have before
you a man who exhorts you in God's
name, what a powerful action will it
not have over your faith, your mind
and your will ! As soon as you have
to do with a man who visibly lifts up
his hand with the Divine power of
giving you absolution, what a deep
feeling will you not experience of
peace recovered and innocence res
tored ! Take away the man, take
away this living representative of
God, what vagueness follows in self-
examination, what slackness in search
ing out your faults ! What uncertainty
in the forgiveness ! How superficial
the repentance ! You cannot then
thank God enough for making con
fession the necessary means of your
moral restoration.
When the sacrament has been once
conferred, the priest has not yet
completed his mission so far as you
are concerned. When he has purified
your soul and blotted out your sins
by absolution, he opens to you, by
means of direction, the way to a
better life. He has repaired the past ;
he is to prepare for the future. By
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On the Exercises of Piety
the enlightenment he gives you, both
as to the ideal to follow and as to
the spiritual weaknesses that threaten
to bar your progress, he will tell you
what faults to avoid, what virtues to
acquire, and what efforts you must
make inwardly and personally in
order to increase within you the
Christian life. By the impulses that
he will impart to your will, he will
set it to pray or to work, he will
sustain it against inconstancy and
prevent it from all kinds of discourage
ment.
This sacred tribunal is, then, in all
respects beneficent. The guilty, if
he is sincere, leaves it in peace, and
encouraged. He has found peace,
because he has unburdened his heart
of the weight of his sins, and because
he feels, by faith, the grace of for
giveness descend upon his soul ; and
at the same time as God was breaking
off his chains of sin and setting
him free, the compassionate hand of
a father was dressing his wounds and
relieving his sufferings. Nothing in
our life gives a happier sense of peace
than this testimony of a conscience
that has regained its self-esteem and
the friendship of God. And to this
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The Sacrament of Penance
tranquillity strength is added. For,
by the grace of the sacrament and
with the vigorous influence of the
confessor, the penitent receives new
light as to his duties, more fervent
desires in his heart, fresh energy of
soul, and he returns to his moral
endeavour with more resolution and
courage, and with a greater capacity
for perseverance. His fervency may
go off and his will give way again,
but what a gain it is to get possession
of one's self and to raise one's self
once more ! Besides, he can again
have recourse to the same source of
regeneration.
II
The Practice of Confession
A sacrament which is so rich in
divine gifts, and in which man's
work plays so large a part, must not
be treated lightly, but requires the
most serious attention in practice.
As we are only speaking now to
Christians who use confession, we
shall only give such counsels as are
calculated to enable them to get some
real advantage from it.
97 G
On the Exercises of Piety
If you are free to choose your con
fessor, you will preferably select one
whose piety guarantees you of coming
into close touch with God, whose
knowledge will enable him to mark
out for you most clearly the path of
perfection, and whose firmness will
secure the most constant support for
your weakness. He must not be
antipathetic to you, for fear lest your
soul should feel any want of freedom
in opening itself to him ; but neither
must he be so familiar with you that
your respect is thereby in any degree
diminished, or that he may be to you
rather a man than a minister of God.
No confession should be a link to
bind you to the personality of your
confessor ; and from time to time it
will be a good thing for you to receive
the counsels of another; and you
may even change him altogether, not,
indeed, out of lightness or from fear
of too powerful a direction, but for
good reasons, such as feeling either
too embarrassed or too much at ease
with him.
A pious person who is sound in
soul — that is to say, who is neither
tormented with scruples nor a victim
of grave failings — will usually go to
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The Sacrament of Penance
confession once a fortnight ; this
seems to be the most suitable period,
either so that the influence of the
sacrament may not die out, or
else to avoid the creeping in of a
sense of routine. But no rule is
obligatory ; and in this matter all
depends upon the personal needs of
each soul.
The time taken by a confession is
usually from five to ten minutes.
Just as haste is but little fitting for
the sacrament, so are habitual pro
longations of the time baneful to it.
Confession is a definite work to be
gone through ; take enough time to
make each act in it with the gravity
that becomes it ; but take care that
such a grave step does not degenerate
into a conversation that might be
dangerous. The scrupulous, too,
must be led to say what has to be
said briskly, for lengthened talk can
only increase their malady.
A well-conducted self-examination
will clearly determine the matter of
self - accusation. Let it be quick
enough not to be painful nor weaken
ing to the conscience. If grave sins
have to be dealt with, a pious person
perceives them at once, as it were, on
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On the Exercises of Piety
the surface of the soul, so deeply has
the trace of them been embedded in
it. But, thanks be to God, mortal
sins will be rare, so that, in such an
one, as a rule, venial faults alone will
be in question. But, if it be re
membered that venial sins are all
pardoned as soon as they are re
gretted, one infers that it is far less
important to discover them than to
excite in oneself contrition that
shall exclude none of them. There
fore, instead of pulverizing one's
conscience and passing it through
the crucible of a minute and tiring
examination, the penitent should set
himself to seize upon his most charac
teristic, voluntary, and spiritually
hurtful faults, which it is urgent that
he should indicate to his confessor
in order the better to fight against
them. As soon as these few sins
have been well noted, the time
of preparation should be used to
excite in oneself feelings of con
trition ; and as contrition is primarily
a gift of God, and then an act of
man's heart, it arises and grows in
the soul under the twofold influence
of prayer that asks for it, and of the
effort to express it.
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The Sacrament of Penance
The accusation of one's sins should
be frank and simple; frank, that
is to say, without any dissem
bling, dissimulating nothing that
might enlighten the confessor, giving
as certain what is certain and as
doubtful what is doubtful ; simple,
that is to say, neither complicated
with stories and circumstances that
are of no concern to the confessor,
nor clouded with repetitions or re
servations which show that the peni
tent is not very sure of his ground.
Confine yourself to a small num
ber of sins which are clearly dis
tinguished, and real ones, and
sincerely regretted. Long lists of
faults, set forth in the same hack
neyed terms, and without any face-
to-face reality in them, and without
any contrition definitely brought to
bear upon some one sin, are the
bane of confessions.
When once the act of contrition
has been piously said under the
absolution of the confessor, there still
remains something to be done to give
the sacrament all its completeness ;
there is satisfaction. The penances
to-day given by the priest are indeed
very light, whether they be prayers
On the Exercises of Piety
or mortifications ; but they have the
same meaning as the long and painful
penances assigned to penitents by the
early Church, whether it be for the
expiation of sins committed, or to
protect the penitent from fresh falls.
In this spirit, and after having done
what the priest bids, pious persons
will prescribe prayers and acts of
sacrifice for themselves, in order to
punish themselves for the past, and
to make them stronger for the future.
Thus the Sacrament of Penance is
fulfilled by the practice of acts of
virtue.
Ill
Spiritual Direction
To the Sacrament of Penance is
added, as a kind of supplement, the
practice of spiritual direction. It is,
indeed, the confessor himself who is
usually the spiritual director ; and
direction, if it is to be usefully carried
out, presupposes as full an opening
of the heart as confession itself.
Cases may occur in which the
spiritual director in whom we confide
is not available, and we shall there
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The Sacrament of Penance
fore receive direction from one who
is not our confessor.
A pious person rarely makes pro
gress in perfection if he does not
make use of direction. It is not that
he will surrender his liberty and
management of himself into the hands
of his director, because such an abdi
cation would be the abandonment of
all progress. On the contrary, he
will only make use of his director to
enlarge the scope of his personality,
and in order to get a better hold upon
himself.
He has recourse to a director for
four ends in chief.
He looks to him first for the learn
ing of the teacher ; for, thanks to the
enlightenment he gets from it, he can
better examine his conscience and
discern the spirit with which he is
animated, and obtain a clearer and
wider view of the road that leads to
God ; and he learns from it how to
wield his spiritual weapons, develops
his interior faculties, and applies
them with skill to the acquisition of
virtue.
He finds in the director an
awakener of the soul, and one who
supplies the stimulus it requires, if
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On the Exercises of Piety
it is to be kept from lethargy.
Without the impetus supplied by
direction, he would soon grow^weary
with the length of the road, so great
is the distance between the clear
vision of what is right and the full
realization of the best intentions. In
the moral life, periodical encourage
ment is a resource of infinite value.
When circumstances are difficult,
or great responsibilities have to be
faced, the director becomes the pru
dent counsellor whose wise advice
suggests sound decisions. Then the
entire confidence which is placed in
his words gives firmness in the midst
of embarrassments, and drives away
the cruel anguish arising from un
certainty.
Finally, let it be added that he is
a father and consoler in sadness and
affliction. The hours of suffering
are doubly dangerous ; the heart's
sore wounds give sharp^pain, and the
strength of the soul melts away in dis
couragement. Then it is the proper
work of the director to pour upon the
wounds a sweet balm to relieve their
smarting pangs, and to sustain the
energy of the will under the violent
assaults of trial. Thanks to him,
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The Sacrament of Penance
hope survives in the afflicted soul,
and action is again made to spring
from the broken heart.
Direction, however, is only blessed
by God, and only produces these
consoling effects when it conforms
to the rules suggested by Christian
prudence, whether we consider the
director or the directed.
In the director it presumes super
natural enlightenment, knowledge,
devotion and discretion. A super
natural spirit keeps in view solely
the glory of God and the good of
the soul. Knowledge maintains the
director in the right paths, and pre
serves him from eccentricities and
novelties. Devotion makes him
ready to sacrifice himself for souls,
without listening to thoughts of
idleness or of self-interest. Lastly,
discretion makes him respect the
individuality of his penitent as a
sacred treasure-house.
They are very indiscreet directors
who go too far, and use a sort of
violence in penetrating into the lives
of those whom they direct, and who
harass them with importunate ques
tions or load them with exacting
requirements. Let them remember
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On the Exercises of Piety
that, so far as the soul is concerned,
they are not warders who have to
imprison them in their own caprices,
but guides who have to free them
from their bonds and to encourage
them to walk alone. They are not
to such an extent the masters of
people's souls as to be able to prevent
them from seeking counsel elsewhere.
And they ought to use no less cir
cumspection to check any intimacy
which might cause their direction to
miss the way, and might make it
dangerous.
Those who seek guidance should
give full confidence to their director,
but without abandoning their own
individuality.
Their confidence looks to their
director for supernatural illumination
to enlighten them as to the path of
duty, and for strength to walk in it.
It implies docility of spirit and heart
as to counsels or moral impulses im
parted by the representative of God.
But it is important that the per
sonality of the penitent should re
main intact. Because a soul seeks
direction, it does not become like a
senseless ball struck by a tennis-
player ; but instead of being passive
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The Sacrament of Penance
and of moving mechanically, it has
the sense of acting on its own initia
tive and on its own responsibility,
and it walks with a free step and
with deliberation in the way of action
marked out by the director. It is
only on this condition that it can
acquire any merit, since then its acts
become its own, and it develops its
own faculties, since it is its own
activity that comes into play. Let
there be no fear that the personality
of the penitent may offer some hin
drance to obedience ; on the contrary,
obedience gets its dignity and its
high moral value from the fact that
it puts itself on the side of authority
with a deliberate will and with inten
tional submission. Obedience, more
over, cannot extend to everything ;
there are a number of acts which
must be performed daily on one's
own personal initiative. The true
moral temper, therefore, is composed
of personal initiative based on the
spirit of obedience.
107
CHAPTER VIII
INSTRUCTIONS AND
READING
I
Their Necessity
GOD does not exhaust his power
of communicating with man in
the sacraments. By Penance and by
the Holy Eucharist, He pours floods
of light into the hearts of Christians ;
but the way in which they enter into
the heart is as mysterious as is their
action. His graces reach us by other
channels as well ; they certainly are
less rich, but they are more within
the reach of our senses, and their
influence is more easily studied :
these are instructions and reading.
What God wishes to say to us, when
we are praying, in order to enlighten
our minds and to touch our hearts,
this He wills to impart to us by the
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Instructions and Reading
spoken or written word. Before we
speak to Him in prayer, He wishes
us to listen to Him in our reading.
This disposition of Providence is,
moreover, in accord with the plan
followed by God in all His works.
In the valleys there is no spring
which is so abundant as not to run
dry, if the heights from which it flows
are long without rain ; nor is there
in the plains any grass, however
green, that will not dry up and die,
if the ground in which its roots are
set is not frequently watered by dew
from heaven or by artificial irriga
tion. To all that lives some out
ward supply is necessary ; and if left
to itself, the most vigorous of germs
would not fructify.
And thus is it with the things of
the spirit, and more particularly with
the life of piety. No doubt this life
has its origin within ; but its activity
only develops under the impulse that
comes from without. In order that
this mystical plant may live and
grow, it is indispensable that the
heavenly rain should fall upon the
heights of the soul and fructify all its
faculties. And whilst the sacraments
will increase the strength of its inner
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On the Exercises of Piety
vitality, instructions and reading will
nourish the mind and the heart with
thoughts and feelings that will enrich
it from without.
So far is meditation from being
able to make up for this that it can
itself only be maintained by borrow
ing from men and books. If, by the
written or the spoken word, a power
ful thought enters into the soul,
immediately all the faculties awaken
and begin to act ; the mind considers
it in its different aspects, the heart
uses it to renew its feelings, the
imagination gives it a sensible shape,
and the whole being hastens to re
ceive from it sustenance and greater
vigour. But soon, like a food from
which the digestion has extracted all
the nourishment, this thought is
without any remaining goodness in
it, and the word that enshrined it
becomes sterile ; a new element must
be implanted in the soul, or else its
activity will begin to slumber, and
if the vacuum remains, it slowly
wastes away by the very fact of
disuse. All lives that are left to
themselves inevitably begin to sink
And so men of prayer take great
care, not only to be recollected, but
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Instructions and Reading
also to surround themselves with a
rich atmosphere of good thoughts
and pious feelings, which will prevent
them from falling into aridity. Their
experience teaches them that piety
withers like a plant in dry ground, as
soon as reading and instructions
cease to make the beneficent stream
of thought and feeling flow through
their hearts.
These laws of the interior life are
only too well verified by observa
tions which can be made at every
step.
You are surprised that, amongst
the people, the taste for the practices
of religion falls away so quickly after
their first communion, and that the
faith itself is so soon shaken or up
rooted among them. But how can
it be otherwise ? These folks, as
soon as they are twelve years old,
never read any religious book and
hear no instructions, or else, if they
do hear them, for various reasons for
which they are not responsible, the
instructions have no hold upon them.
From a religious point of view, their
soul is like a desert where there is
neither seed nor water ; what is there
to wonder at if life perishes, and if it
in
On the Exercises of Piety
is so hard to make it afterwards
revive in their case ?
There often may be seen young
folks, who, until they were eighteen
years of age, have grown up in piety
in zealous boarding-schools. On re
turning totheir families they gradually
lose their pious habits, they grow
weary of their exercises, and in pro
portion as they give up praying,
moral effort also gets weaker, until
it disappears. Do not hasten to
blame the convent which has brought
them up ; while there, they were
daily sustained with instructions and
reading, and grew like young shoots
by the water's edge. And if they
are now wasting away, is it not
because nothing comes to nourish
their first vigour ? Engulfed in the
whirlpool of worldly excitement,
deprived of books and exhortations
to piety, increasingly engrossed with
worldly thoughts and preoccupations,
they undergo a fatal decadence, unless
they struggle against their new sur
roundings by putting themselves
under their former influences with
the greatest fidelity.
In the same way, look for no other
cause of that spiritual languor, soon
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Instructions and Reading
followed by dryness and distaste,
which besets young priests a few
months after leaving the seminary.
Their piety was wanting neither in
sincerity nor in soundness so long as
it had proper nourishment to sustain
it. And if it now begins to wither
and is in danger of dying, it is
because it no longer receives, either
from books or men, the stimulus re
quired for its vitality. It is usual to
say to such priests : " Be regular in
your daily prayer, and you will be
saved." But we should resolutely
add : " You will only continue your
prayer and make it bear fruit if you
make a practice of spiritual reading."
It is a sovereign remedy. For
edifying conversation and encourag
ing reading, like newly-rising sap,
stir and make souls young again, and
clothe them with verdure for a rich
and fruitful harvest.
History is full of these revivals of
the soul wrought by the powerful
action of words of piety. Of all
words spoken on earth none were
ever more luminous nor more inspir
ing than those of Jesus, so that His
enemies, called him "the seducer,"*
* Matt, xxvii. 63.
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On the Exercises of Piety
and that crowds, enchanted by them,
followed Him into the wilderness
and cried : " Never did man speak
like this man." '' The happy disciples
of Emmaus, after talking with Him
by the way, could well say : " Was
not our heart burning within us,
whilst He spoke in the way ?" f And
He communicated this persuasive
power to His Apostles. St. Paul
moved King Agrippa. " In a little,"
said the King, " thou persuadest me
to become a Christian." J Even in
our own days, the burning and super
natural speech of our missionaries
exerts an influence over the multitude
that renews their faith and moral
generosity. Who of us has not felt
his heart touched by an utterance
full of the spirit of God ? Whether
it be spoken from the pulpit, or
whether it be said in private, it has
the power, if it be divinely inspired,
of reviving the mind and heart.
Books, too, though to a lesser
extent, have the power of awakening
souls, and of giving richness to their
life. From time immemorial, read
ing has been the sustenance of the
* John vii. 46. t Luke xxiv. 31.
% Acts xxvi. 28.
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Instructions and Reading
religious, and has strengthened their
Christian temper. It was for believers,
who had never heard Christ and
yet desired to feed upon His words
day by day, that the Gospels were
written ; since then, how many Saints
in solitude, how many apostolic
men, how many persons engaged in
worldly affairs, have maintained
themselves and made progress in the
Christian spirit by familiarity with
these divine pages ! The same
breath of Jesus Christ inspires the
lives of the Saints as well as their
spiritual writings. The books which
narrate their history, or which con
tain their writings, are inexhaustible
springs from which souls athirst for
progress may drink deep of divine
gifts. It is in reading that com
munities find holy thoughts, which
enable souls to practise recollection
and safeguard silence, as well as
those feelings of compunction that
keep sin at a distance and give a
moral impetus. If communities were
deprived of books and instructions,
immediately their gravity would be
dissipated and disorder would come
in, and the rule of God would be
cast aside. In the same way, if you
On the Exercises of Piety
leave a pious person without his
daily spiritual reading, you will soon
have to deplore a falling off in his
religious state. Therefore, let this
practice be considered indispensable
by anyone who wishes to live a holy
life.
II
How to make use of Men and
Books
If you are really convinced that it
is necessary to receive the Word of
God from without, in order that
your interior life may be sustained
and grow, you will seek for it
wherever God offers it to you,
whether on human lips or in the
pages of books.
It is most alive when it springs
forth, warm and communicative, from
the hearts of pious men who draw
their feelings and thoughts from God.
But there are only a few who so live
upon the love of God that their entire
individuality is a sermon. Yet they
are to be found. If God grants you
the singular grace of coming across
such as these, you will recognize
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Instructions and Reading
them by this sign, that their words
will seem to you as some warm
breath of springtime, which brings
forth in you the buds of holy desires.
Allow yourself, then, to be influenced
by their beneficent action. If they
preach, go to hear their instructions ;
if they are spiritual directors, take
their advice. Draw near every source
that emits rays of life. Often, alas,
you will hear things said which are
not at all above the ordinary ; but
listen to them nevertheless, because
of the good seed that you may
perhaps gather from them ; instead
of criticizing them, it is better for
you to seek to obtain from them such
profit as you can.
Those who have the gift of awaken
ing souls are so few and far between,
and usually so difficult to get at, that
you will probably be reduced to
listening to the voice of God chiefly
in books. If books are colder, they
have the advantage of being insepar
able companions ; they accompany
us into the deepest solitudes ; and
they reach us, filled as they are with
the spirit of the eminent men who
have written them under the inspira
tion of God. Hold them as your
117
On the Exercises of Piety
dearest friends, and know that it is
God Himself who speaks to you from
their pages.
You will not spend a single day
without reading something ; however
busy you may be, do not allow your
self to go without it any more than
you would go without your meals or
your prayers. Your soul needs this
sustenance ; it will not be able to
pray unless the word of God concen
trates and enlightens and fires it.
Outside of communities there are
but few who can give half an hour to
this daily reading. If you only set
apart a quarter of an hour, or even
less, you \vould not fail to draw
much profit from this meeting with
God and listening to His voice.
You will preferably choose the
evening for your reading, when your
business is over and you can enjoy
silence and repose. The more you
feel moral lassitude and disillusion
ment, the more empty your heart is
of human companionship, the more
need you will have of taking refuge
in God and of experiencing His
fatherly kindness. Then it is sweet
to lay oneself open to His pure
illumination, and to renew one's life
118
Instructions and Reading
in His wholesome atmosphere !
While you are asleep, the seeds
implanted in your soul in the evening
will germinate freely. Working in
wardly and fruitfully, though all
unconsciously, thoughts of wisdom
and instincts of goodness will gain
the upper hand, and next morning
you will resume the labour of life
with a heart full of generosity and
kindliness.
And in order that your reading
may be thus beneficial, you will
choose books that are less intellectual
than spiritual, and that appeal rather
to your soul than to your mind.
Works of the intellect only may be
learned, but they are lacking in life ;
on the other hand, books that come
entirely from the soul are certainly
not wanting in what can illumine
the intelligence, but they possess
the incomparable gift of awakening
or of arousing life by kindling the
heart. Let us add that they should
be written under the influence of
religion ; besides, it is on this con
dition that they act upon the very
depths of the soul.
Amongst all books, you will partic
ularly be devoted to the Holy Scrip-
119
On the Exercises of Piety
tures and especially to the Gospels.
There you have the true word of God,
and it comes to you by the Apostles
and the Prophets, or from Jesus Christ
Himself. Let the Gospel hold the
first place in your library. I should
like to see no day pass in which you
did not draw near in spirit to this
glowing centre of your Master's
words.
After the Sacred Writings, there is
nothing more divine or more whole
some than " The Imitation of Christ."
This book shows no trace of any time
or nation, nor of any particular indi
vidual, just as it gives no signature.
It is the sublime and simple conver
sation of the good God with suffering
humanity. Until the end of the ages,
in all climates and under all forms of
civilization, the human soul, whether
educated or not, will feel that these
pages contain the cry of its agonized
heart and the pitiful reply of its God.
Make use, then, of " The Imitation " ;
in reading it, you will ever raise the
level of your soul from a religious
point of view.
Have also by you the " Introduction
to a Devout Life " of St. Francis of
Sales. Piety has never been taught
Instructions and Reading
with more grace, Tightness, and good
sense. This book, too, is one of
those that never grow old, because it
answers to the deepest aspirations
of the human heart. Add to this the
" Spiritual Combat," of which St.
Francis of Sales himself made so
much, and you will have the four
books familiarity with which is
indispensable to everyone who aims
at piety.
The books afterwards to be made
use of may be divided into three
classes : the lives of the Saints, which
show us sanctity in practice, and
thus persuade us that it is within
the reach of human strength and
lead us on by example to become
better ; treatises on spiritual subjects,
which were so numerous and so much
read in the sixteenth and seventeeth
centuries, but are so much fewer and
weaker in our own days, and of which
the best appreciated are those of
Rodriguez, Faber and Gay, and
lastly, books of devotion, such as the
various booklets of St. Alphonsus,
which give instruction and prayers
for various exercises.
Whatever books you read, do not
store them in your memory or make
On the Exercises of Piety
use of them as if it were for some
learned work. Inhale and live in
the pure warm air of their pages.
Have recourse to them, not to
obtain knowledge, but to get from
them a more intense and a higher
life. Keep your soul under their
influence, like some newly-turned
ground beneath the hand of the sower
or the rain of heaven. Without
making any effort, and with nothing
but your inward silence, you will be
come enriched and made fruitful.
You will leave off different from what
you were when you began. This
change of condition is the true result
to aim at in the religious use of books
or men.
122
CHAPTER IX
EXAMINATION OF
CONSCIENCE
I
Its Place in the Life of Piety
THE immediate aim of piety is to
put man in close intimacy with
God ; for, by faith, it brings forth
God from the shadows of mystery
and makes Him perceptible to the
heart ; by love, it embraces Him and
takes possession of Him ; and by
prayer, it becomes attached to Him
and drinks in His life, like the babe
at its mother's breast.
This intimacy produces joy and
peace, together with a feeling of con
fidence and strength.
But enjoyment, however pure it
may be, is not the ultimate end of
piety. God gives Himself under the
form of life, not to efface our own
personal life, but to raise it up and to
123
On the Exercises of Piety
make it better. He sanctifies us,
less by making sanctuaries of us in
which there is the consecration of
His presence than by inspiring us
with worthier feelings and nobler
actions. It were, then, to misunder
stand the divine purpose, and to
paralyze the action of the Holy Spirit,
if in our piety we did not follow
after an increase of moral life by
means of virtue.
He who only seeks enjoyment in
his piety is false to God's gifts. God
only gives Himself and imparts
happiness to us here below, in order
to help us to live better.
And hence, piety enjoins those
actions which are presupposed by a
good moral life.
These acts may be reduced to two
in chief: the taking knowledge of
oneself and the conquest of one
self.
The morally good man is he who
has made the conquest of himself
in the struggle with the thousand
tyrants who contend with him for the
rule over his being. He attains a
higher moral elevation in proportion
as he escapes outside influences and
inner caprice and as, being his own
124
Examination of Conscience
master, he gives himself all the more
whole-heartedly to duty.
But, in order to be one's own
master, the first condition is to remain
at home within one's own heart.
Nothing arouses a man more to
undertake the government of his life
than a frequent examination of con
science, a strict watch upon the
movements of his mind and heart,
and a faithful taking stock of the
value of his acts and of their bear
ing.
This is exactly the end of the
examination of conscience ; this is
what marks its place and signalizes
its high importance in the life of
piety. You are not really pious
unless you obtain from God the gift
of a better life ; and you will only
live a good life on condition of dwell
ing within yourself and attending to
the inner motions of the soul ; but
you will only be at home in your own
heart, if your examination of con
science frequently causes you to come
back to it.
Every tradesman who has the
prosperity of his house at heart
remains faithfully at his place of
business ; he receives the goods him-
125
On the Exercises of Piety
self, he takes care of their safety
and checks their sale ; he keeps his
books accurately, and often compares
his cash balance with his accounts.
His vigilance eliminates the causes
of loss, and adds to the number of
opportunities for making a profit.
Whilst ruin enters surreptitiously
into the dwelling of the careless man
who neglects his affairs, fortune
awaits him whose careful eye pro
vides for everything.
It is the same in the sphere of
morality. Self-examination is the
safeguard in it for the most sacred
interests of the soul.
It is, indeed, by the examination
of his conscience that a man enters
into his own heart. There he is the
witness of the feelings that arise, of
the passions which disturb him, and
of the failings that bring humiliation
upon him ; he sees the good aspira
tions that come to grief, and the bad
impulses that get the upper hand ;
and, aware of his wretchedness, and
also of his strength, he knows both
what to dread and what he may
hope for.
And this knowledge agitates and
arouses him, and makes him form
126
Examination of Conscience
good resolutions. For, however low
he may have fallen, there is still
within him a deep instinct, which is
inherent in his nature, and which
protests against what is wrong. It
is, indeed, an echo of the voice of
God that reverberates in a man's
conscience when he is overtaken
with remorse at the sight of the sins
that he has committed or of the
failings into which he has fallen.
If so many people daze themselves
with dissipation in order not to hear
such reproaches as these, and if they
flee from themselves in order not to
perceive the stains in their own
hearts, it is because they wish to
evade the painful effort of reaction
that a sight of their wretchedness
would stimulate in their souls. Thus
act those sick people who avoid
getting to know their own true con
dition, in order to spare themselves
the anxiety of the medical treatment
which a clear knowledge of their
danger would force them to undergo.
The examination of conscience is
not in itself a remedy for the ills of
the soul. But it effectively invites
the soul to take the remedy that will
cure it.
127
On the Exercises of Piety
II
The Use of the Examination of
Conscience
The most skilful masters of the
spiritual life, and especially St. Igna
tius Loyola, considering piety as
a means of moral progress, have
placed the examination of conscience
among the most essential of the ex
ercises of the pious life, In cases of
sickness and of overwhelming occu
pation, they allow the putting on
one side of vocal prayer, and even of
interior prayer, but they ask that the
examination of conscience should
never be omitted, so sure are they
that the examination of conscience
can make good for all the rest, and
that nothing else can make up for
the want of it.
Some pious people, who have a
habit of recollection and are atten
tive to the inner motions of their
hearts, easily dispense with fixed
hours of self-examination and with
definite subject-matter for it. They
are wrong, and deprive themselves
of a great source of aid ; for this
128
Examination of Conscience
general view of their conscience,
without any definite point, is utterly
wanting in moral effectiveness. In
this vague cognizance that they take
of themselves, they do not get an
idea of what they are wanting in,
and they do not derive from this
hazy view of themselves a victorious
impulse towards what is good.
Anyone who looks to piety for the
moral strength to lead a better life
should therefore settle for himself
every day a time to be set apart for
the examination of his conscience.
It will be, at any rate, in the evening,
at the hour of prayer with which
the day closes ; and in communities
which are fervent, they add to this
the recollection at midday.
Examination of conscience is only
real, and brings forth fruit, on con
dition of having a definite object.
To enter into one's own house is
well ; but to be satisfied with going
round it with a hasty glance is to
run the risk of seeing nothing in it.
To find out what is out of order, it
is necessary to scour a few corners
every day, sometimes one and some
times another. How many houses,
to all appearance well kept, reveal
129 i
On the Exercises of Piety
serious shortcomings if some one part
of them is scanned with close and
continued observation.
In an examination of conscience,
the eyes of the soul will first of all
look in the direction of one's dominant
fault ; for there it is that the chief
gaps in the moral life appear. And
if some are so far ignorant of them
selves as not to know what their
dominant failing is, they can either
watch their own disposition, of which
it is usually the natural product, or
else ask their spiritual director, who
will quickly perceive in their habitual
faults what is their most harmful
tendency.
This principal tendency, which
rules the whole of the life, is out
wardly expressed in act and word,
but after having aroused complex
movements within. Those who are
only beginning, and who are so far
but little trained to catch and repress
their inmost thoughts and feelings,
will first of all keep watch over
words and acts which afford more
tangible material for examination,
and over these the will has a greater
hold. But with practice, attention
will turn by degrees from without
130
Examination of Conscience
to within, and will discover defects
to be corrected in their very source,
and will suppress them before they
have had time to come out into the
open.
There is then an order to be kept
in this moral strategy, the object of
which is the conquest of self. If
sensualism is a serious check to
virtue, it must be the primary objec
tive of our attack. As soon as the
flesh has been nearly subdued, the
hours of the day must be rescued
from being arranged by caprice ; for
he who is master of his time has
acquired a great amount of strength.
Then will come the art, which St.
James declares to be so important
and so difficult, of governing one's
tongue, so that it shall not trip in
uttering hurtful or inconsiderate
words, such as offend against charity
or good taste.
Whatever may be the matter of
our self-examination, it must be done
under the eyes of God, and in utter
sincerity of soul. Piety will preside
over it, either because it calls for
divine enlightenment by prayer, or
else because, at the end, it implores
for grace and strength to overcome
On the Exercises of Piety
evil. Straightforwardness, too, has
its part to play, both in driving away
delusions that might hide the soul's
weaknesses from the search, 'and to
prevent dissimulation from closing
the lips against making the indis
pensable avowals.
Happy are those who examine
themselves straightforwardly, judge
themselves strictly, and correct them
selves faithfully ! They are in the
way of salvation.
132
CHAPTER X
SPIRITUAL RETREATS
I
The Advantage of a Retreat
THE spiritual retreat, during the
last three centuries, has become
an important instrument in the Chris
tian life. Priests and faithful prepare
themselves in a retreat for the salient
circumstances of their lives; the
Bishop, for his consecration ; the
clergy, for their ordination ; the re
ligious, for their profession ; the young,
for the choice of their calling ; and
children, for their first communion.
In addition to these solemn occasions,
retreats have been introduced, in the
course of the years as they go by, as
regular halting-places, where, after a
laborious stage has been passed, we
like to take recuperative rest, either
at the end of every month, or at least
at the end of each year; sometimes
On the Exercises of Piety
even, in fervent communities, a pro
longed retreat brings with it the
blessing of a second novitiate.
If the spiritual retreat has taken
such a place in Christian practice,
whether amongst the religious or
amongst priests, it must be because
experience has made them recognize
its invaluable advantages. It is be
cause honest souls come forth all
renewed from these pious exercises
that they have been adopted as the
highest means of moral regeneration
by all associations of the religious.
Bishops have gladly seen the faith
and zeal of their priests revived in
them ; directors of seminaries, during
these blessed seasons, have witnessed
the richest growth of priestly virtues
in the hearts of the younger clergy ;
superiors of communities perceive
that the divine spirit always revives
religious fervour during the retreat ;
and lastly, in the world, how many
souls which had gone astray have
returned to the right path, how many
hardened sinners have been trans
formed, how many sick hearts have
been healed, thanks to the holy
exercises of a retreat gone through
with sincerity !
Spiritual Retreats
And how can the retreat be other
wise than beneficent, since it procures
for the soul which gives itself up to
it the contemplation of eternal truths,
the prolonged examination of its own
conscience, and urgent and over
powering appeals of God's grace ?
Eternal truths usually hold so
small a place in our thoughts ! Our
attention is fascinated by the objects
that surround us, limited to the
horizons of earth, and not drawn
towards the long vistas of the here
after; our ears are filled with the
noises of this world, deafened with
the clamour of all kinds of interests,
and do not listen to the words of
God.
Now come the hours of the silence
and solitude of the retreat ; then let
the whole world vanish from before
our eyes, and the cries of earth be
dumb around us. Immediately light
from on high reaches us and draws
our soul heavenwards, the voice of
God echoes in our conscience, and
makes us listen to the divine appeals.
The great lesson which we then learn
is that of the nothingness and of the
worth of life. Life is nothing, so
short is it, as compared with eternity
On the Exercises of Piety
which never ends. Life is of infinite
worth, nevertheless, if, indeed, we
regard it as a preparation for an
eternity of happiness or of damnation.
If life be nothing, why should we
become attached to it, and why
should we be so wanting in patience
amidst the sorrows and labours which
will so soon come to an end ? If life
be the short time for the great trial in
which each one has to win his place
in eternity, what madness it is to
waste the hours of it ! What a miss
ing of the mark to spend them in
doing ill ! On the contrary, is it not
the highest wisdom to sow, while
here below, in labour and tears, the
rich harvests of eternity ? Indeed,
how poor seems the earth in itself to
him who has his eyes on heaven !
But, on the other hand, how beautiful
is it in the eyes of those who plough
the furrow in which the seed of
eternal felicity is to spring forth !
In the same way, man forgets his
own heart when carried away with
the rush of his daily business. Every
thing takes him outside of himself;
he knows neither what he does nor
what he wants ; his soul escapes from
his control, and, if he is not careful,
136
Spiritual Retreats
it may become the victim of terrible
and unforeseen occurrences.
But if, by means of a retreat, he
gets free from the whirl of business
and affairs ; if, alone and by himself,
he practises recollection in solitude ;
then, immediately he recovers him
self, he enters into his own con
science, and he is able to take account
of what he is ; for his soul will quite
spontaneously reveal itself to him,
even to the very depths. He sees
what notions haunt his mind and
govern his life, and whether they are
thoughts of heaven or of earth,
whether they are suggested by faith
and reason, or by the more tainted
sources of the world and the senses.
He fathoms his heart, and tries the
worth of the affections implanted in
it, to see whether they are such as
elevate the soul or such as lower
it by bringing it into bondage. He
measures the strength of his will,
estimates its faults and failings,
reckons up its defeats, and compares
them with the victories too rarely
won. He then knows what is the
condition of his soul ; if it is in a
state of defilement or of sin, he will
make an effort to get rid of it ; if it
On the Exercises of Piety
is in a state of lukewarmness, he will
bring it back to fervour ; if it is in a
state of loyalty to duty, he will thank
God and ask for the grace to be still
more sanctified.
Lastly, the world is a place in
which there blows an icy wind, the
cold blasts of which check the spring
ing up of virtues ; the most generous
lives in the long run experience a
fatal falling away in it, unless, from
time to time, they renew their vigour
in a warmer atmosphere.
This bracing air, in which the
moral life regains strength, is found
in the retreat, which surrounds the
faithful soul with it. There, in fact,
reigns divine grace ; it is a paradise,
in which God is the sun, shedding
floods of light and warmth. Under
the influence of these beams from on
high, good desires germinate, ardent
prayers have their birth, and generous
resolutions ripen and give the promise
of a harvest of holy works. After
spending several days in the forcing
heat of this divine life, man is
happily overcome by grace, and leaves
the retreat purified, enlightened, reso
lute and better equipped.
138
Spiritual Retreats
II
Conditions of Success of a Retreat
The retreat, however, only pro
duces these happy results on certain
conditions ; it must be begun with
confidence, and in it one must give
oneself up to the greatest solitude,
and to great interior activity.
Confidence is the first condition of
success. Do not say : "I have made
so many retreats, and so often they
have borne no fruit ! What is the
use of making any efforts in the one
I am about to begin ? I shall not be
able to persevere any better this time
than I have done in the past." This
is a hurtful way of reasoning,
suggested by spiritual idleness, and
its effect is to paralyze the endeavours
of a good will. Rather say : " It is
true that I have been unfaithful to
my good resolutions, and that, after
the fine impulses of religious fervour,
I fell back into a spiritless lukewarm-
ness, and perhaps even into sin. At
any rate, I had purified my soul, I
had made good all its energies, and
I performed acts of virtue which will
139
On the Exercises of Piety
count for heaven. If I could only
succeed in rekindling for a time the
Christian life in the depths of my
soul, if I could only have the joy of
finding once more the presence of my
God for a few weeks, certainly the
result would be well worth the effort.
But I have a right to expect some
thing better. This retreat will, per
haps, be the last one in my life ; how
should I begrudge it, at the hour of
my death, if I had missed it ! Besides,
some special grace of God is awaiting
me in it. How ungrateful should I
be, if I were not to respond to it !
If I do my part in this work which
is about to begin, and in which God
goes before me, I shall obtain from
it inestimable fruits of life. To God's
advances, then, I will answer with
unsparing generosity."
This good-will, to which one should
stir oneself up at the outset, would
be barren, if one did not immerse
one's soul in the deepest solitude.
Silence so far as the world is con
cerned, and silence in the soul itself.
From outside, let there be neither
communications nor visits, letters nor
speech, during the retreat ; let the
world be to us as if non-existent ; let
140
Spiritual Retreats
God only be present to us, and let
us have to do with Him alone, so
far as the great interests of our life
are concerned ; let us be persuaded
that all that interrupts this silence
from men or things will interfere
with the action of God to our very
great loss. So far as the soul is
concerned, let there be silence too ;
let all thoughts of the world be shut
out of the mind, let even the most
lawful affections of the heart be dumb;
the soul can only give its attention to
God when the mind has recovered
all its clearness and the heart all its
liberty. This silence, which is so
essential to divine action, is not
gained in a single day ; distracting
voices are only hushed by degrees,
and in those souls alone who are
determined to effect this beneficent
isolation in themselves.
But this solitude is not a wilder
ness in which the soul is able to give
itself up to a drowsy idleness. The
maker of a retreat only isolates him
self in order to be free to be with
God, and he only seeks this liberty
to apply himself to strenuous toil. He
awakens the activity of his mind by
converse to which he listens with
141
On the Exercises of Piety
eagerness, and by deliberately selected
readings with which he fills up his
valuable time. He sets his heart in
motion with earnest prayers, vocal
prayers which he multiplies in
order to kindle his fervour, mental
prayers that bring him into intimate
union with God. He arouses his
will to make resolutions for a better
life, first by a humble confession of
sins to the priest, and then by an
intelligent preparation of a scheme of
life which he draws up, taking account
of the extent of his strength and of
the needs of his soul.
From these retreats, with their
silence and activity, the Christian
comes forth all illumined with
heavenly gifts, all steeped in divine
graces, so that his piety, renewed in
its source, afterwards manifests itself,
as it should, in a holier life.
142
CONCLUSION
A PRAYER FOR THE GRACE
OF PIETY
OGOD, who art unseen, but whom
my reason acknowledges to be
present to my whole being, and whom
my faith makes me feel in my heart ;
0 good God, who wast graciously
pleased not only to give me the
precious gift of life, but hast taught
me how to use it so as to win eternal
happiness ; O generous God, prodigal
of Thyself, who, by Thy grace, im-
partest Thine own life to those who
pray unto Thee ; condescend, in Thy
mercy, to awaken me to a knowledge
of what Thou art to me and of what
1 should be to Thee, so that I may
not go through the time of trial on
earth with blinded eyes and idle
hands ; let me never be enticed away
by deceitful vanities, base pleasures,
and vain riches, nor by mad ambition,
for fear that I should let my thoughts
On the Exercises of Piety
and desires be made captive by the
narrow confines of the world ; rather
stamp my whole being with an im
press of the love that gives rise to
piety, in order that, passing beyond
the narrow borders of things visible,
I may enter by faith into the pure
regions of things invisible, which
thou fillest with Thy majesty and
animatest with Thy life ; grant,
Lord, that my mind may be en
lightened by the contemplation of
eternal truths, that my heart may
glow with their pure flames on com
ing into contact with the burning
fuel of Thy holy love, and that my
will may obtain invincible energy
from the infinite stores of Thy
omnipotence ; and, without losing the
joys of the intimate union with Thee
that comes from prayer, I shall
return transfigured to the work
which has been given me to do here
below ; I shall be more attentive to
the duties of my state of life, more
patient and more kindly with my
fellows, more resigned in sorrow and
more zealous in forwarding Thy
interests, so that the world may
learn, O good and dear Master, from
my example, not only that Thou
i44
Conclusion
loadest with happiness those who
love Thee, but, above all, that by
pious intercourse with Thee, one
grows better, that the faithful Chris
tian becomes one of the elect for
eternity in proportion as he is more
truly a man while living in time ; and
that, in consequence, it is in Thee
that we must seek, O my God, the
grace to grow and to become useful.
THE END
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