devotion: family duties are lighter, married love truer, service to our king more faithful, every kind of occupation more acceptable and better performed where that is the guide.
It is an error — nay more, a heresy — to seek to banish the devout life from the soldier’s guardroom, the mechanic’s workshop, the prince’s court, or the domestic hearth. Of course, a purely contemplative devotion, such as is proper to the religious and monastic life, cannot be practiced in these outer vocations, but there are many other kinds of devotion well-suited to lead those whose calling is secular along the paths of perfection. The Old Testament provides examples in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Job, Tobias, Sarah, Rebecca, and Judith. And in the New Testament we read of Saint Joseph, Lydia, and Crispus, who led perfectly devout lives in their trades. We have Saint Anne, Saint Martha, Saint Monica, Aquila, and Priscilla as examples of household devotion; Cornelius, Sebastian, and Maurice among soldiers; Constantine, Helena, Louis, the Blessed Amadaeus,6 and Edward on the throne. And we even find instances of some who fell away in solitude — usually so helpful to perfection — who had led a higher life in the world, which seems so antagonistic to perfection. Saint Gregory dwells on how Lot, who had kept himself pure in the city, fell in his mountain solitude. Be sure that wherever our lot is cast, we may and must aim at the perfect life.
Chapter 4
The Need of a Guide for Those Who Would Enter Upon and Advance in the Devout Life
When Tobias was bidden to go to Rages, he was willing to obey his father, but he objected that he did not know the way. To which Tobit answered, “Seek thee a man which may go with thee” (Tob 5:3). Even so, daughter, I say to you, if you would really tread the paths of the devout life, seek some holy man to guide and conduct you. This is the precept of precepts, says Saint Teresa of Avila — seek as you will, you can never so surely discover God’s will as through the channel of humble obedience so universally taught and practiced by all the saints of old. When the blessed Teresa read of the great penances performed by Catherine of Cordova, she desired exceedingly to imitate them, but her Confessor forbade her, and she was tempted to disobey him. Then God spoke to Teresa, saying, “My child, you are on a good and safe road — true, you see all this penance, but I esteem your obedience as a yet greater virtue.” From then on, Saint Teresa loved the virtue of obedience so much that, in addition to the obedience due to her superiors, she took a vow of special obedience to a pious ecclesiastic, pledging herself to follow his direction and guidance, which proved an inexpressible help to her.
In the same way, before and after Teresa, many pious souls have subjected their will to God’s ministers in order to submit themselves better to him, a practice much commended by Saint Catherine of Siena in her Dialogues. The devout Princess Saint Elizabeth gave an unlimited obedience to the venerable Conrad; and one of the parting counsels given by Saint Louis to his son before he died was, “Confess thyself often — choose a single-minded, worthy confessor, who is able wisely to teach thee how to do that which is needful for thee.”7 “A faithful friend,” we are told in Holy Scripture, “is a strong defense, and he that has found such a one has found a treasure” (cf. Sir 6:14); and again: “A faithful friend is the medicine of life; and they that fear the Lord shall find him” (cf. Sir 6:16). These sacred words refer chiefly, as you see, to the immortal life, as we especially need a faithful friend, who will guide us by his counsel and advice, to guard us against the deceits and snares of the Evil One. This friend will be a storehouse of wisdom to us in our sorrows, trials, and falls; he will be a healing balm to stay and soothe our heart in the time of spiritual sickness; he will shield us from evil and confirm what is good in us; and when we fall through infirmity, he will help turn aside the deadly nature of the evil, and raise us up again.
But who can find such a friend? The wise man answers: “He that fears the Lord” (cf. Sir 6:17) — that is to say, the truly humble soul who earnestly desires to advance in the spiritual life. So, daughter, because it concerns you so closely to set forth on this devout journey under good guidance, pray most earnestly to God to supply you with a guide after his own heart, and never doubt that he will grant you one who is wise and faithful, even should he send you an angel from heaven, as he sent to Tobias.
In truth, your spiritual guide should always be as a heaven-sent angel to you. By this I mean that, when you have found him, you are not to look upon him as an ordinary man, or trust in him or his wisdom as such; but you must look to God, who will help you and speak to you through this man, putting into his heart and mouth whatever is needful to you. So you ought to hearken as though he were an angel come down from heaven to lead you there. Deal with him in all sincerity and faithfulness, and with open heart, manifesting alike your good and your evil, without pretense or dissimulation. Thus, your good will be examined and confirmed, and your evil corrected and remedied. You will be soothed and strengthened in trouble, and moderated and regulated in prosperity. Give your guide a hearty confidence mingled with sacred reverence, so your reverence in no way hinders your confidence, and your confidence in no way lessens your reverence. Trust him with the respect of a daughter for her father; respect him with the confidence of a son in his mother. In a word, such a friendship should be strong and sweet, altogether holy, sacred, divine, and spiritual.
With such an aim, choose one among a thousand, Saint Teresa of Avila says. And I say among ten thousand, for there are fewer than one would think who are capable of this office. He must be full of love, of wisdom, and of discretion; for if any of these three be wanting, there is danger. But once more I say, ask such help of God, and when you have found it, bless his holy name. Be steadfast, seek no more, but go on simply, humbly, and trustfully, for you are safe to make a prosperous journey.
Chapter 5
The First Step Must Be Purifying the Soul
“The flowers appear on the earth” (Song 2:12), says the heavenly bridegroom, and the time for pruning and cutting has come. And what, my child, are our hearts’ flowers but our good desires? Now, as soon as these begin to appear, we need the pruning hook to cut off all dead and superfluous works from our conscience.
When the daughter of a strange land was about to espouse an Israelite, the law commanded her to put off the garment of her captivity, to pare her nails, and to shave her head (Dt 21:12); even so, the soul which aims at the dignity of becoming the spouse of Christ must put off the old man, and put on the new man, forsaking sin. Moreover, it must pare and shave away every impediment which can hinder the love of God. The very first step toward spiritual health is to be purged from our sinful inclinations. Saint Paul received perfect purification instantaneously, and a similar grace was granted to Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Catherine of Genoa, Saint Pelagia, and some others, but this kind of purgation is miraculous and extraordinary, just as the resurrection of the dead is in nature, and we should not dare to venture to aspire to it. The ordinary purification, whether of body or soul, is only accomplished by slow degrees, step by step, gradually and painfully.
The angels on Jacob’s ladder had wings, yet they did not fly, but went in due order up and down the steps of the ladder. The soul which rises out of sin to a devout life has been compared to the dawn, which does not banish darkness suddenly, but by degrees. That cure which is brought about gradually is always the surest, and spiritual maladies, like those of the body, usually come on horseback and express, while they depart slowly and on foot. So we must be brave and patient, my daughter, in this undertaking. It is sad to see souls beginning to chafe and grow disheartened because they find themselves still subject to imperfection after having made some attempt at leading a devout life, and are close to yielding to the temptation to give up in despair and fall back. But, on the other hand, there is an extreme danger surrounding those souls who, through the opposite temptation, are disposed to imagine themselves purified from all imperfection at the very outset of their purgation, who count themselves as full-grown almost before they are born and seek to fly before they have wings. Be sure, daughter, that these are in great danger of a relapse through having left their physician too soon. “It is but lost labor to rise up
