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Issue 52.5 of the Review for Religious, September/October 1993. ; . Contempora~ Living ¯ VOLUME 52 ~ NUMBER5 Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published bi-monthly at Saint Louis University by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Telephone: 314-535-3048 ¯ FAX: 314-535-0601 Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ° St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Correspondence about the Canonical Counsel department: Elizabeth McDonough OP ¯ 5001 Eastern Avenue ¯ P.O. Box 29260 V~Tashington, D.C. 20017. POSTMASTER Send address changes to Review for Religious ¯ P.O. Box 6070 ¯ Duluth, MN 55806. Second-class postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIPTION Ra\TES Single copy $5 includes surface mailing costs. One-year subscription $15 plus mailing costs. Two-year subscription $28 plusmailing costs. See inside back cover for more subscription information and mailing costs. ©1993 Review for Religious review fr°e[ ig oi us Editor Associate Editors Canonical Counsel Editor Assistant Editors Advisory Board David L. Fleming SJ Philip C. Fischer SJ Michael G. Harter SJ Elizabeth McDonough OP Jean Read Mary Ann Foppe Joann Wolski Conn PhD Mary Margaret Johanning SSND Iris Ann Ledden SSND Edmundo Rodriguez SJ Sefin Sammon FMS Suzanne Zuercher OSB Christian Heritages and Contemporary Living SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993' * VOLUME 52 ¯ NUMBER 5 contents 646 feature Charisms and Religious Life Elizabeth McDonough OP underscores the importance of understanding charism and living it out in religious life. 66O living heritages Vincent de Paul's Charism in Today's Church Gerard H. Luttenberger CM presents Vincent de Paul's vision of the service of the poor and the search for God in a gospel context. 684 A Franciscan Discernment Experience--Part Two Joan Mueller OSF relates how one Franciscan woman witnessed to the discernment of God's will. 691 Ritual Leave-Taking Edward Foley OFMCap proposes the need and a way of response for a ritual reincorporation of retiring religious leaders. living with challenge 702 Christians and Their Passions James D. Whitehead and Eyelyn Eaton Whitehead encourage a befriending of our passions in order to live a full Christian life. 712 The Reality, Fact, and Fantasy of Incest Suzanne Zuercher OSB encourages spiritual directors to deal with the reality of incest issues even when a large measure of fantasy could be involved. 71.9 Dying--and See, We Are Alive Michael FitzPatrick OFM enters us into his experience of living with advanced prostate cancer. 642 Review for Religious 731 735 741 living sacramentally If Grain Could Talk Virginia Marie OCD presents an imaginative approach to our being grains of wheat. At the Heart of the Eucharist Joseph Allen Tetlow SJ suggests in parable form some focuses for Eucharist which receive less liturgical attention. Beyond Seven Sacraments Elizabeth Normanly SDSH reflects on the sacred reality that lies just under the surface of everyday experience. living consecrated life 745 Religious Vocations: New Signs of the Times Albert DiIanni SM focuses on the values important to young peo-ple as they consider a religious-life vocation. 764 Multiculturalism in Religious Life TodaY Catherine M. Harmer MMS explores how cultural and social minorities might be better integrated in religious congregations. 773 Religious Life---Mystery or Mistake? Annette M. Pelletier IHM draws attention to a link between the mystery of the human fascination with th~ Holy and the embodi-ment of that attraction in consecrated life. departments 644 Prisms 780 Canonical Counsel: Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents on Consecrated Life 787 Book Reviews S~pteraber-October 199~ 643 prisms Deadlines are a part of human living. There are deadlines for renewing driver's licenses. There are deadlines for research reports and for term papers in school. There are deadlines in the printing schedules of journals like this one. November 1, 1993, is the deadline for responses to the exploratory questions raised in the "lineamenta" called "Consecrated Life in the Church and the World"--the document intended to encourage reflec-tion and to solicit information and suggestions for use in the ninth ordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops. Although the Vatican Synod Secretariat has set a clear deadline for the responses it has invited, men and women religious have no deadline on the responsibility to con-tinue the study, reflection, and dialogue among themselves and with their local church people, clergy, and bishop so that we take advantage of this specially graced time for the whole t].ody of Christ. Of major importance in this ongoing discussion is the appreciation for the mystery of the church in its complexity of laity, clergy, and religious and in its hierarchical and charismatic elements. One hopes that a number of the bishops participating in the synod are conversant with the three-volume Council Daybook of Vatican II, which shows that the 1960s church included widely varying theologies of consecrated life. Where religious life fits within the church, God's people, was not a quickly or easily resolved question for the bishops as they formulated the council documents. Neither were there easily-agreed-upon theological understandings of the evangelical counsels and the elements of the life called reli-gious through the ages. Since few bishops who were in the debates and discussions leading to the Vatican II decrees 644 Review for Religious. remain active, there is no easy way to make use of those debates and discussions in efforts to move beyond the limitations and com-promises of the then-new Vatican II thinking. But we should not simply lament that the bishops who will participate in the synod have limited experience and acquaintance with these specialized topics; we should become aware that our own continuing familiarity with the documents and decrees of Vatican II and subsequent documents may be, at best, spotty or even nonexistent. We need to take to heart the sentiment expressed by T. S. Eliot in "Burnt Norton": What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. How can we make present to ourselves and for our times the richness of the Spirit's gift of consecrated life--to us religious and to the church? As I announced in the January-February issue of this year, Review for Religious for its own contribution to our synod preparation features an article in each issue which suggests a significant theological approach for this age of ours. We hope that all these articles provide material for further personal reflec-tion and community discussion. In addition, Elizabeth McDonough OP in our regular Canonical Counsel department recalls for us a number of the recent ecclesial documents that are relevant to informed dialogue on the topic of consecrated life. We may need to face the question, for example, whether charisms, even corporate ohes, can be timebound. Might whole religious groups, because their charism is incarnated, have a tem-porary lifetime? Should we spell out chastity, poverty, and obe-dience as vows essential to religious life when as vows they have not specifically marked the consecration of a number of religious groups? We might ponder whether evangelical counsels in their nonspecificity say more about what marks religious life. Since both lay persons and the clergy share in religious life, is the lev-eling quality of this identity in the church vital for internal reli-gious- life administration? Any number of questions can and should be raised and seen in the light of tradition and new theological understanding. Whatever the results of the October 1994 synod, our own ongoing preparations as religious and as church promise, beyond any wintery deadline, a springtime of redeeming grace. D~ivid L. Fleming sJ September-October 1993 645 feature ELIZABETH MCDONOUGH Charisms and Religious Life Before Vatican Cou_ncil II, charism was certainly not a fre-quent topic of conversation in Catholic circles, and dis-cussion of the charisma of religious life was relatively nonexistent. Nor does any conciliar document actually employ the word charism in reference to religious life as such, even though various discussions of council partici-pant~ specifically included charism as central to conse-crated life in the church. To be sure, Vatican II documents clearly recognize the charismatic nature of the diversity of gifts of religious life, just as they clearly affirm the pat-rimony or heritage of institutes--that is, their own proper character and functions--as important for the good of the whole church (Perfectae Caritatis, §1 and §8). The council also stressed the need for faithful retention of the spirit and aims of each founder and foundress, as well as for fidelity to each institute's sound traditions (Perfectae Caritatis, §2b). Charisms: Postconciliar Development Pope Paul VI was the first to use the word charisms officially in relation to religious life--in his 1971 apostolic exhortation on the renewal and adaptation of religious institutes after the council (Evange/ica Testificatio, §11). This and other documents during Paul VI's papacy referred Elizabeth McDonough OPis well known to our readers since she serves as the canon law editor. Her address can be found on the inside front cover. 646 Review for Religious to charism as providing a constancy of orientation while allowing for internal growth and change (Evangelica Testificatio, §12). Charism was also presented as the experience of the Spirit by founders and foundresses which was then transmitted to their fol-lowers for continual development in harmony with their role in the ¯ church (Mutuae Relationes, §1 i). In addition, during this time a direct connection was affirmed between the obligation of superi-ors to protect their institute's specific charism and the right of the institute, to maintain an appropriate autonomy'of life and gov-ernment (Mutuae Relationes, § 13). Subsequentl~ the word charism appeared among the norms concerning consecrated life during various stages of the revision process of the Code of Canon Law. In the final version of the Code promulgated in 1983, however, these references were replaced by conciliar terms and phrases mentioning the spiritual patrimony or nature or character or sound traditions of an insti-tute (see, for example, cc. 577, 578, and 631). Some writers sug-gest that the nub of difficulties for religious in the church today is the distifiction, or even the supposed contradiction, between the hierarchical and the charismatic.1 Nevertheless, Pope John Paul II, in a letter directed to the bishops of the United States in 1983, exhorted them to encourage and assist: religious in living faith-fully according to their charism. Shortly thereafter he issued an apostolic exhortation addressed to religious in which he viewed charisms as gifts approved by the church for the good of the church and of the world and as fortifying and fostering religious com-munities in both their life and their apostolic service (Redemption# Donum, §15). More recently the 1990 Vatican Directives on Formation in Religious Institutes reemphasized the importance of their particular charisms to the life and development of the vari-ous religious communities (Potissimum Institutioni, § 16). While it is quite clear that the Second Vatican Council treated consecrated lifeforms more as dynamic, living i'ealities than as static entities defined by legislation, it is also clear that Vatican II attempted to articulate certain theological understandings and practical boundaries within which the various gifts of consecrated life should continue to exist and function. These conciliar positions treated consecrated life as an integral part of the life and holiness of the church itself and saw certain evangelical counsels as peren-nially significant in all historical manifestations of consecrated lifeforms (Lumen Gentium, §44). More than a quarter century of September-October 1993 647 McDonougb ¯ Charisms and Religious Life discussion on the charism or charisms of religious life, however, has still left the notion theoretically elusive and practically debated. The question still arises: What, if anything, can be reasonably articulated and plausibly understood with regard to a charism of religious life? Charisms: Meaning and Expression Any genuine charism of religious life is a pure gift of God for the good of the church. Accordingly, a religious-life charism can generally be described as a window on the gospel, a framed vision of people following Jesus that attracts others to do so in a similar way. They encounter in the charism of great religious founders and foundresses--the Benedictine charism, the Dominican charism, the Franciscan charism, the Mercy charism, the Daughters of Charity charism, and so forth--a phenomenon both intellec-tually and affectively compelling. Indeed, both history and our own background witness to the fact that people often respond to genuine religious charisms at great personal cost and by over-coming a variety of formidable obstacles. Moreover, charisms attract people to engage in an overall task together rather than only or primarily as free agents in independent endeavors. A charism of religious life can be recognized as a lived and living reality. It is a ~eed planted in fertile ground that takes root and grows and multiplies abundantly. It becomes a strong plant that can be transplanted to other climates, other cultures, and other eras. A genuine charism of religious life can also transcend ethnic differences, social and economic classes, and the several generations alive at a giyen time. It enables people .to say, "Yes, we who have such diverse origins and experiences can live together constructively in a consciously Christian manner." A genuine charism of religious life can transcend economic theories, politi-cal preferences, and personal prejudices. Indeed, a genuine charism of religious life has the potential to transform people's lives no matter who or where they are. Charisms are expressed in an entire way of life, a compre-hensive culture, not merely in various norms and particular prac-tices. They are deeply rooted in healthy spirituality. They exhibit sound and supple structures. Genuine charisms have customary practices that are formative of the chosen lifestyle. They also make valuable, constructive ecclesial contributions; for charisms of reli- 648 Review for Religious. gious life do not exist--indeed, cannot exist--merely for their own sake or merely for the sake of those who embrace them. As an indication of this, note that, according to a recent three-year soci-ological study in the United States, membership in a particular community primarily for affiliative belonging rather than for "the mis-sion of the church and the extension of the charism" needs to be addressed by religious institutes if they hope to survive.2 Another significant element of genuine religious charisms is that they live only in people, not in documents. The charisms are gifts to people, and they captivate and transform the recipients. However enamored many religious may be with popular refounding, reweaving, and re-creat-ing trends, there is actually no future for any institute that did not begin with--or has not been successfully grafted onto--a genuine religious-life charism. No amount of well-disposed and concerted effort can create a charism of reli-gious life. Whatever sociological or anthropological sleight of hand well-intentioned people might employ, it simply cannot be done. Historically speaking, in the United States a good number of religious communities (especially of women) seem to have been founded to perform a particular spiritual or corporal work of mercy at times when there were tremendous practical needs and when American bishops actively sought a willing and capable, if not always large, work force. Some groups that were eventually rec-ognized as religious institutes responded to these needs with valiant efforts and heroic virtue. Some others, however, may have begun and responded somewhat superficially, without the deep rooting of a genuine religious-life charism. For a number of them, the Vatican II mandate to return to the gospel and to the spirit of the founder or foundress resulted in their being confronted with salvaging an historically borrowed and circumstantially time-bound way of life that was not founded in a genuine charism and, consequently, was not well sustained by a deep and relevant spirituality. For others, A religious-life charism can generally be described as a window on the gospel, a framed vision of people, following Jesus that attracts others to do so in a similar way. September-October 1993 649 McDonougb * Cbarisms and Religious Lift the conciliar mandate resulted in their being confronted with prac-tices that seemed to have little or no connection with the original charism of their founder or foundress. For still others, the conciliar mandate to return to the original charism seems to have resulted more in selective borrowing of rhetoric to justify desired alter-ations than in a clearer awareness of the original heritage with a view to embracing its authentic beauty and, often, its concomi-tant demands. In regard to the latter, for example, after the council a num-ber of institutes of women claiming Dominican roots readily opted for contemporary participation in the order's preaching heritage, but just as readily deemphasized the order's original heritage of common life, liturgical prayer, and assiduous study of sacred truth. Similarly, after the council, followers of the Mercy charism quickly and rightly reemphasized Catherine McAuley's concern for women, but simultaneously transformed her notion of Mercy communi-ties as separate institutes in the various dioceses into one of uni-fied national organizations espousing global causes--a quantum leap from the "amalgamation" that produced the Mercy Union in the United States in the early 20th century. Or again, at least some postconciliar followers of Francis promptly translated his incar-national theology into a diffuse ecospirituality while managing not to do anything very concrete and practical for Francis's Lady Poverty. Thus, at least in some instances, the Vatican II mandate that religious return to the roots of their charism seems to have stirred up speculation about what a founder or foundress would do if he or she were now alive, with actions sometimes resulting that were contrary to, or at best not very inclusive of, what the founder or foundress consciously espoused and actually did. Charisms: Basic Presumptions Regarding charism, there are certain rather obvious theoret-ical presumptions--and certain practical assessments directly related to them--which might strike some readers as simplistic, but which warrant articulation. The presumptions are threefold. First, either a religious community has a charism or it does not. If a community does not have a charism, it is not going to survive. Second, if a community has a charism, the members understand it or they do not. If a community has a charism but the members do not understand it, the community is not going to survive. Third, 650 Review for Religious ¯ . if a community has a charism and understands it, the members can either strive to live it or they can decline to do so. If a com-munity has a charism and more or less understands it but the mem-bers decline to live it, then that community is not going to survive. More pointedly: if any community lands on the negative side of any of the above disjunctive assertions, then it probably does not merit survival. But note again: this assessment is not directly concerned with the foibles and failures of human endeavors; it is concerned with the importance of the charisms of consecrated life as such. Precisely because charisms are gifts of the Spirit to and for the church, they are too precio~as to be left indefinitely in the trust of people who are heedless of a charism's inherent value or unmindful of their personal responsibility to embrace and live its practical consequences. If members of a community cannot articulate clearly its fun-damental spirituality, if they are functionally unaware of its sound traditions, if they cannot realistically recall or do not meaning-fully practice its formative customs, if they cannot understand its internal workings in keeping with who they are as religious, then the community probably does not have a charism. Although the full meaning of a charism can never be completely specified, any charism has at least some identifiable characteristics and some external lineaments for practical recognition. If members of a com- .munity 'have not a clue what these might be, then--more likely than not--the community simply does not have a charism. And, as disconcerting as the statement may be for the adherents of some contemporary trends, it bears noting again that no one can actu-ally refound or reweave or re-create a charism of religious life. In fact, in contrast to the pelagianism of prevailing literature in this regard, I would suggest that---rather than refounding or reweav-ing or re-creating a charism--if anything, people receive it and respond to it. All that having been said, what then does a charism actually do to the receiver, to you and me and the many other plain human beings who receive it? Expressed in the subjective way that each religious probably has experienced it at some time or another, a vocation to live within a certain religious charism is an over-whelming sense that something quite beyond clear description has dropped into one's life (or into one's hands or into one's heart or into one's head) and evoked a spontaneous personal response such as "Oh, my God, if I take this seriously, it could transform me September-October 1993 651 McDonougb ¯ Cbarisms and Religious Life drastically for the rest of my life." However differently one who has experienced the call to live a religious-life charism might express it, or in whatever circumstances one might have experienced it, this dropped-into-your-lif~ gift--stirs awareness and promises transformation both drastic and continuous. In fact, if received and responded to, radical transformation is precisely what a charism has the potential of accomplishing as a person becomes publicly, consciously, perpetually committed to following Jesus more closely in this fashion and with these people and for this pur-pose- whether after the manner of Benedict or Francis or Dominic or Angela Merici or Ignatius Loyola or Louise de Marillac or Catherine McAuley or other such leaders. Although charisms live only in people, not in writings, nev-ertheless rules, constitutions, and other fundamental documents of a religious institute are important because they schematically and historiographically suggest a lifeform and purpose about which the church confidently says to individuals, "If you follow this form of gospel life, you will not be led astray from your true end." That is the assurance given to religious in recognized lifeforms through the ecclesial approval of specific charisms. The documents of any religious institute, however, are at most merely the best possible articulation of the lived understanding of the institute's charism through its generations of existence. Documents can do no more than suggest the cumulative richness of the lived experience and self-understanding of a community with a charism, for only peo-ple actually embody it. In fact, it can be hypothesized that, if all the documents of a community with a genuine charism were destroyed but its members were to survive, others would still be able to grasp the full import of the charism through the living members. In contrast, if all the members of a religious institute that has a gen-uine charism were to cease to exist but the documents were to survive, others would not be able to grasp the import of the charism or would be able to understand it only superficially. More point-edly: charisms exist, not in dead letters, but in living persons who themselves are formed and informed by the original charism both lived and written down. Charisms: Living Example As an example of a charism being lived, I would suggest' St. Dominic, with his passionate concern for the Truth--not in the 652 Review for Religious abstract, but in the person of Jesus, the Word of God--and with his unmitigated compassion for people, all of whom God loves in his beloved Son. That is to say, perhaps people cannot truly be Dominicans if they claim passionate concern for the truth while disdaining people, especially people who disagree with them--which at times seems a Dominican penchant. Those who embrace the Dominican charism in any age may have no other option--if they wish to continue in existence--but to ardently desire, dili-gently pursue, and freely share the Truth who is Jesus. Moreover, this desire and pursuit and sharing must be accomplished in the manner of Dominic amid the great collective wit-ness of his followers through the cen-turies. This witness includes fearless, respectful encounter with the people in the areas where the gospel needs to be preached. Such evangelization is fun- Radical transformation is precisely what a charism has the potential of accomplishing as a person becomes publicly, consciously, perpetually committed to following Jesus. damental to Dominican apostolic life: compassionately meeting people where they are and being for them channels of God's truth. On one occasion Dominic, on a journey to assist a local bishop in arranging a courtly marriage, met an innkeeper who was "wretchedly deluded" by the then prevalent Albigensian heresy. Dominic was moved to pity--not anger or disdain, but pity--and fervendy began to exhort the innkeeper, zealously discoursing with him through the night with such compelling wisdom that he was moved by God's grace to embrace the faith. There we have, per-haps, a Dominican paradigm for confronting the wretched delu-sion and incredible confusion of any era. As Dominicans we are obliged to be moved to pity, to plead emotionally, and to exhort fervendy--not merely with abstract propositions--so that the grace of God can be operative in others' lives. As Dominicans we must both believe and embody the truths we speak---so that the way we handle the attractiveness of truth is itself attractive. Dominicans must speak, not merely with their own wisdom or their own spirit, but with God's. Note, too, the circumstances of Dominic's encounter with the innkeeper. His sojourn at the inn occurred during his travel for the September-October 1993 653 McDonougb ¯ Cbarisms and Religious Life purpose of helping to arrange a wedding, a wedding that, for rea-sons quite beyond the control of the bishop and himself, did not come to pass. There may be a further message here for Dominicans, namely, that we should be willing to be surprised by, to respond to, and to work hard at tasks God sets for us by sud-denly rearranging the apostolic endeavors we ourselves had planned. Indeed, the specifically Dominican way of evangeliza-tion today might well involve pity, exhortation, and argumentation in the face of delusion, with an eye to people's eventual conversion in graced ways that are not of our doing and are not even the out-come of the kind of apostolic project we have dreamed of crafting. Let us return now to the matter of religious-life charisms as such. In this age in which people are incredibly confused about numerous personal, communal, national, and global problems; in the midst of great diversity of religious belief; after the break-down and fragmentation of many traditions; in the context of eco-nomic upheaval~ and political disagreement--in all this the living witness of any genuine religious-life charism matters. It announces uniquely, with specific and recognizable characteristics, that "fol-lowing Jesus" still has meaning precisely as a commitment to some-thing beyond whatever pragmatic tasks each religious is involved with here and now. This is not to suggest that the charism of a religious institute flourishes wherever any isolated member may be doing with dedication something worthwhile. Rather, the causal-ity is just the reverse: transcendent awareness and inner conviction and commitment manifest themselves to others only through the lived and living reality of the total charism, which is a grace received and, as such, not an energetic project of one's creative imagination. Charisms: Basic Sources What qualifies and practices, then, can religious look for in the experience and response of a founder or foundress to enable them to live their religious charism constructively today? The sugges-tions derived from basic sources include firm spiritual founda-tions; sound intellectual knowledge; tested advancement in virtue (perhaps reflective of the terribly old-fashioned notion that habits of doing good are significant); getting along honestly and chari-tably with others; responding to the graces presented in one's par-ticular calling; and constant reliance on God in all endeavors. The 654 Review for Religious way of life religious embrace is supposed to provide spirituality, customs of prayer, practical living arrangements, and opportuni-ties for ecclesial service. These things, these qualities, these prac-tices are desperately needed today as always for the sake of ecclesial service. God did not dabble with becoming human in Christ Jesus, nor did the recipients of founding charisms dabble with the gifts entrusted to them. Religious today who have embraced any charism of religious life in the likeness of great, sainted founders and foundresses simply cannot allow themselves the luxury of dabbling with the gift. If there is a certain urgency about what religious are about in the church and in the modern or postmodern world, there is also the possibility that religious can betray this urgency and bury their charisms just as, in the gospel parable, some buried the talents given them. If religious do this, the charisms will be given to others, for they are sim-ply too important to the vitality of the church for God to allow them tb be wasted. We religious can betray "and bury our charisms in intellectual arrogance. We can betray and bury our charisms in the comfortable patterns of recent and not so recent complacency. We can betray and bury our charisms in rampant individualism. We can betray and bury our charisms in personal or communal refusal to engage others in honest relationship. We can betray and bury our charisms by perpetuating a politically advantageous or per-sonally comfortable status quo. We can betray and bury our charisms by fashionable tinkering with fundamentals. We can betray and bury our charisms in person.al preferences and unre-flective compromise. We can betray and bury our charisms to the detriment of the transcendent realities to which we have been called and for which these gifts have been entrusted to us. And perhaps we not only can do these things, but actually have done them, for a variety of worthwhile or not so worthwhile reasons. Regarding the charisms of religious life, it is difficult to over- Religious today who have embraced any charism of religious life in the likeness of great, sainted founders and foundresses simply cannot allow themselves the luxury of dabbling with the gift. September-October 1993 655 McDonough * Charisms and Religious Life estimate the importance of initial and ongoing formation. Human beings as they are, religious are always beginners in something, but initial formation is especially crucial. Introducing people to a religious institute's specific charism, it makes or breaks the char-acter of that cqmmunity. Formation provides spiritual founda-tions; it imparts intellectual knowledge; it encourages progress in virtue; it provides opportunity for enhancing relational abilities; it implants or improves specific skills for ministry; it conveys the importance of humble reliance on God; it fosters a willingness to have everything disrupted for the sake of the Truth who is Jesus. Sound initial and ongoing formation is indispensable to the char-acter of the institute as such and, of course, indispensable for each member as well. All members should become increasingly imbued with the founder's or foundress's initial gospel insight. Formation in consecrated life requires a certain comprehensive submission to the heritage of a particular community precisely so that one can grow into it. In other words, it involves a conscious and practical surrender to the community's time-tested and effi-cacious ways of bringing the novice into its specific charism. It involves a lifelong endeavor to live according to this charism, and one's initiation into this life must necessarily include assiduous study of the charism's roots while experiencing its lived reality. And, if anything is clear from the gospel and from the great sainted founders and foundresses of religious institutes, it is that ministry requires prayer, a continuing relationship with the person of Jesus. This cannot be feigned, and it is the source of one's Christian identity within a religious community's own charism. As a matter of course, initial and ongoing formation provide encounters with our countless limitations. Our supposed matu-rity is challenged, as are our all-too-easily-acquired attitudes of superiority and complacency. Initial and continuing formation does this for us within our common life, which is relentlessly con-frontational. To be sure, confrontation is not common life's pri-mary purpose, but--as many religious have noticed--it has that characteristic nevertheless. Formation and confrontation remind us of our responsibility, our response-ability, regarding the charis-matic gift we have received. Common life continually reminds us of the smallness in each of us that has not the ability or the humil-ity- or the willingness to be bothered--to address some particu-lar smallness in oneself or in another. The old-fashion~d term for this is pusillanimity, the opposite of magnanimity, greatheartedness. 656 Review for Religious Charisms: Ongoing Personal Response How we live together and why we live together--indeed, if we live together at all these days--is not insignificant for reli-gious. We can respond to these questions in three basic ways: com-pliance, identification, and internalization. Compliance is an ¯ appropriate response to things with which one agrees, or acquiesces in because they are not worth contesting (daily schedules, maga-zine subscriptions). Identification is an appropriate response to things which connect us in some external way with a province or a congregation (attire, social customs). Internalization is an appro-priate response of making the elements of a particular charism one's own (one's understanding of the vows and one's practical ways of living them). Practical experience tells all of us religious that initial and also later experiences of fervor in religious life readily wane. What happens? Perhaps, at some time during the years, little by little, without our noticing it, we replace various appropriate responses of compliance, identification, and internalization with inappro-priate ones. In short, we get them mixed up. Some religious seem to prefer being identified more by their external attire (conve-niently donned and doffed) than by their interior spirituality (dif-ficult to acquire, but then probably difficult to conceal). Some religious seem to prefer being judged more by compliance to a schedule (objectively measurable) than by unselfish concern for those among whom they minister (difficult to assess). Probably all of us get these responses mixed up sometimes, some more, some less. And, unless I am quite mistaken, with rare exceptions we all learn eventually how to compromise, how to work the system for some personal advantage. Later on we may just forget our ear-lier enthusiasm for the life because we have become quite weary of it. We may find ourselves living our religious life from plateau to comfortable plateau, staying on each one as long as possible. Why? Perhaps--in wretched delusion, if you will--we some-how think we can "arrive" at being a religious in the context of the charism we have embraced. We settle into a place, consciously or unconsciously, and then no longer let the charism bother us in our complacent niche. For some, the "arrival" may have been when they once received the habit. For others, arrival meant first or perpetual profession or acquiring a particular academic degree or community responsibility. For still others, arrival may occur when they are recognized as professionally successful or feel personally September-October 1993 657 McDonougb ¯ Cbarisms and Religious Life renewed. In clerical communities the reception of orders might signify arrival for some. Whatever the point of one's arrival might be, we are inclined then to think, "Aha, now I have arrived. Now I do not have to hold the precious gift of the charism in my heart and say, every day, 'Dear God, if I ~ake this seriously, it can trans-form me drastically for the rest of my life, beginning today.' I do not have to do that anymore because I have arrived." Perhaps most religious at one time or another are tempted to think that they have, indeed, reached some acceptable point of arrival along the way of life they once set off on. The problem with such an "arrival" i~ that now we prefer to see the charism as inadequate ratheF than ourselves, for it asks us to do something that our complacency finds distasteful. Indeed, once we feel we have arrived, we fall prey to the temptation of having recourse to our charism merely as a storehouse of rhetoric to justify our doing what we have already comfortably settled upon doing, not what God might ask of us on the breath of our charism. It is at our own point of "arrival" that we religious need oth-ers to jolt us, jolt us out of our complacency. If we are lucky, they will. This is one of the reasons why we need common life, with its prayer, formative customs, and each other. We need every gener-ational cohort, every race, every national heritage, every ethnic grouping, every province, every viable local community. We espe-cially need ongoing encounter with each and all of those who have genuinely committed themselves to the practical manifestations of the charism and are willing to be captured and recaptured by it while striving faithfully to live it. Together we need to prevent our religious-life charism from being indiscriminately assimilated into the dominant trends of any culture, even as we strive to bring it to bear creatively on the problems of every culture. While we religious must admit that each of us pronounces vows in the first person singular and will one day answer to God for our living of them in the first person singular, any religious should also be able to say that he or she does not have to engage in this lifelong com-mitment alone. While each religious alone can become the person he or she is called to be, no religious is called to do this in rugged isolation. In short and in sum, any religious community either has a charism or does not; the members either understand it or they do not; and they either strive to live it or they do not. The future of religious life belongs neither to those who fondly reminisce about 658 Review for Religious yesteryear nor to those who self-prophetically dream about the next millennium. It belongs, rather, to those who here and now, simply and conscientiously, together live their response to the charism that captured them, to the God who has promised to transform them into the likeness of Christ. Notes ~ David J. Nygren and Miriam D. Ukeritis, "The Religious Life Futures Project: Executive Summary," Review for Religious 52 (1993): 13. 2 Ibid, 48. A Stop on Tour The occupants of the tour bus have all Been boning up on the saints: they circulate Little Lives snippeted for easy reference, easily Codified with the cathedral cities we visit. And here, in another cathedral square, obedient to the drone of tour guide, with pigeons overhead We ring the barrier where another stake Claimed its saint. Not Joan the toast Of the Dauphin in his cups, but like Joan The toast of the fire when it hiccups explosively, Fracturing the elemen.ts of wood, fracturing hers. Did she choose what to wear to be burned? Undressed quick enough by the faggots" fingers, She is scandalously handled in her nakedness By their probing thumbs, raped by fire. The fierce wounds she screams to, destroy The nerve endings, uncover bone. You would Have thought the cry of the burning to be i~tenser; The whine of flames is higher. Not yet char Underfoot, sainted, shrined, a Little Life Snippeted, her smoke ascends. Dizzily, then as now, The pigeons circle the cathedral spires. Picking Our cobbled way, we move onward with the tour. Nancy G. Westerfield September-October 1993 6$9 GERARD H. LUTTENBERGER Vincent de Paul's Charism in Today's Church living heritages St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) is well known as "Father of the Poor" and "Light of the Clergy," more by the for-mer title than by the latter. He founded a men's and also a women's community: the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity. Both communities are, by constitution, oriented toward ministering to the poor. It is this ministry that, at least in contemporary thinking, ori-ents the spiritualities of their members. Priests of the Mission are "to follow Christ, evangelizing the poor.''1 Daughters of Charity are "given to God for the service of the poor.''2 All members of each community are to live simply, like the poor, and to consider the poor as their "lords and masters.''3 The call to dedicated and active concern for the poor rings clearly in contemporary church teaching and cur-rent spiritual theology. The church at Medellfn under-scored the fact that "action for justice is constitutive of the gospel." It speaks of Jesus' preferential option for the poor. The fourth chapter of Luke clearly speaks of Jesus being anointed in order to proclaim good news to the poor. And the Acts of the Apostles (see, for example, 2:42-47) indicates that the early church continued with like con-cerns. Gerard H. Luttenberger CM teaches at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York. His address is The Vincentian Community; 104 Anstice Street; Oyster Bay, New York 11771. 660 Review for Religious It is clear, however, that neither continued proclamation of the call for justice nor individual concrete effort directed toward the corporal and spiritual betterment of the poor is sufficient to mobilize and sustain the church in this endeavor. Deafness afflicts some; disappointment, discouragement, and burnout debilitate others; the lessening of spiritual energy and vision constitutes a threat to all who labor for justice. In the face of today's challenges for greater justice, the church needs a spirituality that shares the dynamic vision of Christ and promotes with active love the human and Christian betterment of all. The church needs a deepened communion with God in the labor of love, a labor that is ener-getic yet peaceful. This article deals with the service of the poor and the search for God in a Christian and gospel context. More specifically, it deals with the ways Vincent de Paul lived these gospel mandates by drawing on a more original and deeper life, which he had ifi Christ and in God. Christlike vision and life were gifts which God and God's Word, Jesus, gave him in the flow of his prayer, dis-cernment, and active ministry. This vision served to inspire mis-sionaries then and serves to inspire apostles in the church today. This essay, then, presents Vincent de Paul as a model for, and a challenge to, all who aspire to minister to the poor in the con-temporary church. At the same time it provides a critical analysis of the spirituality that motivated and sustained his energetic labor. The method will be rather direct and simple. Vincent's own words (letters, conferences, the Common Rule of the Congregation of the Mission) will be used, along with the record of his interaction with others (his own directors, persons he served, priests he worked with) and an account of the events of his life and decisions he made. Spiritual Adolescence: Vincent's Teachers Vincent de Paul, like us all, was a child 0f his time. He under-stood God and the ways of holiness in the light of the spirituality of "the French School.''4 This spirituality was characterized by a quest for a deepened mysticism, a dedication to searching out and aligning oneself with the will of God, an emphasis upon faith in contrast with reason, and in some circles a renewal in apostolic service.~ Vincent de Paul was touched by these movements, par-ticularly through Benedict of.Canfield, Francis de Sales, Pierre de B~rulle, and Andr~ Duval. September-October 1993 661 Luttenberger * V~ncent de Paul's Cbarism Today Benedict of Canfield (1562-1619), an English Capuchin who took refuge in France after his conversion from Puritanism, had a decided effect upon his God-seeking contemporaries through his much-read work Rbgle de perfection riduite au seul point de la volonti divine.6 Its theme, that Christian perfection is achieved as one becomes, in the words of Henri Bremond, "almost wholly absorbed into God and his absolute will,''7 and its directives regarding the ways of uniting oneself to that will (emptying oneself in active obe-dience to God's law.and in self-denial) provided a starting point for the reflections of many spiritual-minded persons, among whom was Pierre de B~rulle. It was in the company and through the guidance of B~rulle that Vincent himself absorbed Canfield's doctrine. Francis de Sales (1657-1622), the well-known bishop of Geneva, became acquainted with Vincent when the former vis-ited Paris in 1618-1619. De Sales came to respect Vincent so much that he entrusted to him the direction of a group of Visitation nuns, a community he himself had established. Francis de Sales's spiritual way focused on God's will, which he experienced deeply as love, salvific love.8 The will of God is sav-ing love for de Sales. This clear and warm thought affected one's understanding of God and of God's relationship to humankind. Fear of God necessarily gave way to utter confidence in God's saving love. This saving love became the final rubric for Vincent's understanding of the mystery of God, the person of Jesus, and the relationship of both God and Jesus to the world. Pierre de B~rulle (1575-1629), a highly spiritual man as well as a statesman and diplomat, served Vincent as a spiritual counselor during Vincent's early life and ministry.9 For B~rulle, God's will was perfectly expressed in the incarnation of Jesus. Btrulle was struck deeply by the richness of God's life and will as revealed in Jesus. Contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus' life, as well as of the very being and person of the incarnate Son of God, was for him a clear way of losing oneself and of being drawn into communion with God and God's will. Christians, therefore, would achieve holiness by binding themselves to God in and through Jesus, by reliving his "conditions" or mysteries. (B~rulle was powerfully influenced by having made the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and by the teaching of Teresa of Avila, which had reached France by way of the Spanish Carmelites.) The self-abandonment of searching for and subjecting oneself to the will of God, therefore, became more concrete and more explicitly Christian in Btrulle than it had been 662 Review for Religious in Canfield; but the will of God remained central for understanding the life of Jesus, the way of Christian holiness, and the mystery of God.10 Leaving the contribution of Andrd Duval for later, we might sum up the influences of Vincent's teachers in this fashion: 1. It is God, in God's salvific will, who guides us and all his-tory to God's Self as its end. In adhering to God's will and allowing God to work God's saving love among us, we will attain holiness and happiness. We will know the joy of being perfectly one with God, who is our only master (Canfield). 2. In seeking to align ourselves with God's salvific will, we are invited to perfect ourselves in love (de Sales). (Vincent ulti-mately developed this line of thought into a spirituality of action, stating that this love is not to be merely an affective love; rather, it is to be an effective love.'1) 3. God has sent the Son, who shows us the way to the Father, all the while revealing to us the Father's love. Jesus came "to act and to teach," to be himself one who lives in perfect union with the divine will and one who teaches us how to do the same (B~rulle). These three sets of ideas were important in Vincent's spiri-tual and ministerial development. They contributed to his quest to meet God in an active life of service. A brief sketch of that life and ministry will offer insight into the ways in which Vincent used and also developed these resources; it will illustrate how central and effective these perspectives were in the development of a person united to God in active ministry. Young Adulthood: God's Will and the Discovery of Grace Born in a small village of France in 1581, Vincent de Paul was ordained in 1599 at eighteen years of age.~2 Though the Council of Trent'had stipulated twenty-four ~s the minimum age for ordi-nation, Vincent's early ordination was not singular in late-16th-century France. Priesthood provided a comfortable career for young men of his time, and he was not an exception to such aspi-rations. He hoped for a benefice out of which he would be able to provide for his family's needs. Apparently he had little success until, through the influence of Bdrulle, his spiritual director, he obtained a position at the parish of Clichy in 1611, when he was thirty years old. He found the people poor but docile, alive in faith, and eager for God's word. It September-October 1993 663 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Cbaris~n Today was a significant moment of conversion for him; he realized that his ambition for a "good benefice," for a life of comfort, had been a block to his happiness and his ministry. He came to know that he could be happy laboring for poor and simple people. I was a country vicar [he later recalled]. I had people who were so good and obedient in doing whatever I asked them that, when I told them they ought to go to confession the first Sunday of the month, they never failed. They came and confessed, and I saw from day to day the good they did their souls. This gave me such consolation, and I was so pleased about it, that I used to say to myself: "My God! How happy you are to have such good people! I don't think the pope is as happy as a vicar with people of such good heart." 13 Vincent's stay in Clichy, however, was short-lived; in 1613 Bdrulle advised him to surrender the parish to an administrator and take up the task of being tutor for the family of Philippe de Gondi, a wealthy count. Vincent was obedient to his spiritual director; such obedience had become his way of life. It flowed from the spiritual doctrine that he had been absorbing from B~rulle and several other serious priests who gathered frequently to dis-cuss spirituality and the. plight of France. Vincent's tasks at the Gondi household included, not only teaching the children, but ministering to the poor who lived and worked on the Gondi estates. He learned firsthand the religious plight of these people. One problem concerned confession. Many peasants feared confessing their sins to local priests who knew them well. The problem was compounded by the fact that some priests were so ignorant that they did not even know the words of absolution.'4 Hence, people would allow years to pass without seeking to be unburdened of their sins. Vincent soon began coun-seling a general confession as a remedy. In 1617 Mme. de Gondi, during a sojourn at her ancestral castle at Folleville, visited a sick man at Gannes, a few miles dis-tant. She recommended that he make a general confession to Vincent. The sick man was so relieved after confessing that he told her that he would have been damned had he not had this spir-itual opportunity. Mme. de Gondi was so distressed that she urged Vincent to preach on confession the following day. The result was that his words stirred the entire parish of Folleville to repentance and he had to call in the Jesuits from Amiens to help him hear the people's confessions and to catechize them.'S 664 Review for Religious What does this brief sketch tell us of Vincent's spirituality? It serves to I~ring into relief the major dynamics out of which his more mature spirituality and his effectiveness in ministry devel-oped. Attentiveness and responsiveness to God's will in all its man-ifestations appear to have been paramount for him, and fidelity to his spiritual director helped him develop these dispositions and align himself with God. This spiritual pattern filled him with life, energy, and zeal for the spir-itual growth of others. It enabled him to "move with God" in ministry. And it led him to a deepened sense of the spiritual, a sense of God's presence, power, and graciousness greater than he seems to have expected. For what exhilarated Vincent in Clichy was the effectiveness and power of God's sav-ing love among his parishioners. What uplifted him on the Gondi estates was his perception of God working con-version among persons whom others thought to be too insignifi-cant and too resistant to God's love for their ministerial concern. One could say he was filled with an awareness that God was truly alive in a little country village and among the forgotten people of a vast country estate. A second dynamic, deeply characteristic of Vincent's way, also emerges from this sketch: his spirit was inclined toward action. He moved quickly when he was convinced that God had made known the divine will. He responded without hesitation when he realized people needed the ministry of a confessor; he sought help when the number of penitents was too great for one person. He was a man of action. These two dynamisms emerged in definite circumstances. If we are to understand Vincent, it is of singular importance to note that his early experiences of God in union with his active min-istry took place among the poor, the most neglected. Focused upon everyday needs that drew most of their energy and atten-tion, they stood as a challenge to any priest hoping to bring them God's word and love. Already aware, at least in principle, of the limitlessness and inclusivity of God's love, Vincent became con- He was filled with an awareness that God was truly alive in a little country village and among the forgoften people of a vast country estate. Septentber-October 1993 665 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today vinced ,that priests must be willing to endure these people's inat-tentiveness and resistance and must rely heavily upon God, and only then should try actively to mediate God's care. Such an approach to ministry proved fruitful, not only for the poor, but also for him. A word needs be said about the unity of these two dynamisms. While fidelity to the divine will remained central for Vincent, he seems to have begun to experience the union of two distinct aspects of that.divine will: (1) The will of God that he wished to be one with and obedient to was at the same time (2) a will alive and active, leading others to accept God's love. In surrendering him-self to ministry foi" the poor, Vincent immediately found himself deeply one with and a mediator of that will. The two dynamisms of his spirituality were in fact truly one. Middle Years: Mysticism in Action In the early days of his ministry, Vincent, under God's inspi-ration, drew the outlines of a way to God and a way of serving others. We will trace three ways in which that outline developed in subsequent years as his spirituality gradually deepened, broad-ened, and became fine tuned. 1. The Founding of the Congregation of the Mission Shortly after the.powerful experience at Folleville, Vincent left the Gondi household at B~rulle's suggestion and obtained a parish in Ch~tillon-les-Dombes, far from Paris in the southeast of France. Very upset, Mme. de Gondi sent Vincent letters from many persons of rank, including her husband's brother Henri de ¯ Gondi, who was bishop of Paris, and B~rulle himself. The latter did not ask Vincent to return; he did, however, describe the lady's dis-tress and asked him to consider returning. In December 1617, after consulting with B~rulle, Vincent came to an agreement with the lady that he would remain as chaplain to her household until her death. He preached missions throughout her lands and at times called upon the assistance of other priests. This did not end Mme. de Gondi's worries, however. What would happen after her death? She persuaded her chaplain to seek the services of a religious community which might commit some members to this work, in perpetuum. No community would agree. So she, together with her husband and Jean Francois de Gondi, ~trchbishop of Paris (who had succeeded his brother Henri), urged 666 Review for Religious Vincent himself to select several priests to labor with him in this task. For their labors they would receive 45,000 francs and a place to live (the Coll~ge des Bons-Enfants, which the archbishop him-self provided). On 17 April 1625 Vincent signed a contract pledg-ing to establish within a year a community of six priests to preach these much needed missions, six priests who, going from village to village at the expense of their common purse, would devote themselves purely and entire.ly to the salvation of poor people, to preach, to instruct, to exhort, and to catechize these poor country folk and to incline them to make a good general confession of their whole past life, and without taking recompense in any manner what-ever, in order to distribute freely the gifts they have so lib-erally received from the hand of God?6 The expansion of Vincent's apostolic labor to include a con-gregation of collaborators reveals the development of the dynamic that had governed his earlier life. Responsiveness to God's will was still his focus as he carefully came to the decision to accede to Mme. de Gondi's request. But of special value at this point are the elements of the discernment process that led him to this deci-sion. First among these elements must stand his awareness of need, the need of the spiritually neglected people of the Gondi estates. Further, the concurrence of the Gondis' own sense of urgency and the negative responses of the other religious orders led Vincent to entertain the possibility that God wished him to respond to this need. But he was also cautious. Although he had strong desires to respond affirmatively, his conviction was that God would not be found in strong, ardent movements. He expressed that conviction sometime later (1642) in ~ letter to Bernard Codoing, a priest of the congregation: The spirit of God proceeds directly and always humbly. Remember that you and I are subject to a thousand outbursts of nature, and recall what I told you about finding myself, in the early stages of the project of the Mission, with it con-stantly on my mind. That made me wonder whether the affair sprang from nature or from the evil spirit, and I purposely made a retreat in Soisson so that God might be pleased to remove from my mind the pleasure and eagerness I was expe-riencing in this matter. God was pleased to answer my prayer in such a manner that, by his mercy, he took them both away September-October 1993 667 Luttenberger ¯ V~ncent de Paul~s Charism Today and allowed me to be in the opposite dispositions. I think that, if God is granting some blessing to the Mission and I am less a subject of scandal to it, I attribute it after God to this fact. I wish to remain in this practice of neither concluding nor undertaking anything while I am caught up in these ardent hopes at the prospect of great benefits?7 One of the criteria, therefore, which Vincent employed to dis-cern the will of God and to arrive at firm decisions in life and minist~ was the experience of a spirit of inner peace in the face of proposed undertakings. And prayer, even periods of lengthy prayer and retreat, became the avenue by which he arrived at (or was given) such dispositions (and, with them, knowledge of God's will). Finally, before making his commitment to the Mission, Vincent sought counsel, this time not from B~rulle (from whom he had separated himself)~ but from another priest and professor at the Sorbonne, Andr~ Duval. The counsel he received is reported sim-ply and directly by Duval's biographer: On hearing him speak of the spiritual necessities, in partic-ular of the need for religious instruction in the rural parishes, of the hunger for the word of God in the people, of the ben-efit produced by these instructions, and of the blessing which they would receive, the venerable Andr~ pronounced these words: "The servant knowing the will of God and doing nothing will be flogged greatly." These words were scarce.ly uttered than Vincent de Paul felt himself interiorly moved and drawn by grace, and con-sidered them as an order from the divine will, which, having made known to him the needs of the poor, called him to go throughout t.he country. It was necessary to announce the Word of God, to preach, to catechize, to hear confessions, to administer the sacrament of penance, to allay discords, and, in a general way, to offer to the people living in the coun-tryside all kinds of spiritual services, without being a burden to anyone, without inconveniencing either the people or the priests, but rather bringing them help, and that with their assent and with the permission and the mandate of the bish-ops. As a result, he decided to give himself effectually to this work . It was only with this last element, the approbation of another person whom he judged objective and wise, that Vincent felt assured that he had attained God's will through prayer and dis-cernment. The way was complex; the outcome was sure. Vincent's fidelity to this process produced two profound effects 668 Review for Religious upon his spirituality. First, his experience of ministry, and partic-ularly his ministry in behalf of the poor, became filled with the experience of God. He knew God's presence in his resolves and in his actions; he found God alive in the persons whom he served. His labor of discernment and his responsiveness in service constituted his way of coming into, and living in, union with the God who was drawing all into communion through Christ. For Vincent, ministry itself became the expression of what might well be called a "mysticism in action." Second, this process drew Vincent close to Christ. Though Vincent left us no explicit record from before 1625 of his move-ments toward and with the Lord, his words written shortly after this time indicate the prominence of the life and example of Christ in his discernment and ministry. It was through Christ that he learned total reliance upon God's will. And it was in Christ that he found himself alive to God and alive for others.19 In this latter vein he wrote to one of his first priest confreres, Antoine Portail, urging him to humility as.he gave a series of missions: Keep in mind that we live in Jesus Christ through the death of Jesus Christ and that we must die in Jesus Christ through the life of Jesus Christ, and that our life must be hidden in Jesus Christ and full of Jesus Christ, and in order to die as Jesus Christ we must live as Jesus Christ. Now, once these foundations have been laid, let us surrender to contempt, to shame, to ignominy, and let us disclaim the honors people pay to us, the good reputation and the applause they give us, and let us do nothing that has not that end in view.2° For Vincent it was in Christ that faithfulness to God and self-less love of others found their unity. Discernment of God's will and responsiveness in service were framed by devotion to Christ and the mysteries of his life. Vincent was drawn, not simply to mysticism in action, but rather to a Christian mysticism in action-- to an experience of God through and in Christ. in an active life of faithfulness and service. 2. Commitment to Ministering to the Clergy Active and programmatic labor for the spiritual well-being of the clergy soon followed as a focal concern of the saint. It had become clear to him that much of the spiritual impoverishment of the people of the country had its roots in the impoverishment of the clergy. He had discussed this much earlier (before going to Clichy) with people who had grouped together out of concern for September-October 1993 669 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today the spiritual renewal of France, among whom were B~rulle and Fathers Jacques Olier (founder of the Sulpicians) and Adrien Bourdoise (founder of a community, the priests of Saint-Nicolas-du- Chardonnet). Later Mme. de Gondi spoke with him about it. And finally he experienced its effects firsthand at Folleville and Ch~tillon.2t It was through the instrumentality of bishops that Vincent actually began ministering to the clergy. In July 162 8 Augustine Potiers, bishop of Beauvais, got the idea that a retreat for ordinands that would include instruction on the duties of their state in life might be helpful. He asked Vincent to draw up a program for the retreat and to conduct it for his candidates that very September in Beauvais. Vincent responded and the effort met with success. In February 1631, Jean Francois de Gondi, the same arch-bishop of Paris who in 1625 had sponsored Vincent's establishing a small community of priests to conduct missions for the poor people of the Gondi estates, decreed that all his ordinands would have to make a two-week retreat before their ordination. He asked Father Bourdoise to conduct the exercises, but the priest refused. He then asked Vincent to conduct them. He too objected, stat-ing that the goal of his community was to preach country mis-sions. The archbishop finally obtained the services of a doctor from the Sorbonne, but the next year, after uniting the Priory of Saint-Lazare with the congregation, he imposed upon Vincent's community the obligation of conducting these retreats. In 1639 he required all ordinands residing in Paris (not only those belong-ing to his diocese) to make these exercises. Soon, at the recom-mendation of Bishop Potiers, other dioceses adjacent to Paris began sending their candidates to these retreats, the success of which was quite pleasing to Vincent. One can notice some interesting modifications in Vincent's approach at this time to discerning God's will. He saw the needs of the clergy and connected them with the distress of the poor people. He also saw that others who might respond to these needs had refused, a fact that would raise the question whether God wished Vincent himself to meet these needs. Finally, he was being invited by ecclesiastical authority (which he respected in discern-ing God's will) to respond to these needs by a means which, early on in Beauvais, had proven effective. Yet he resisted. Why? It is possible to argue that he himself was not yet free enough from human and even selfish limits to hand himself over to God's 670 Review for Religious will in all things. It is possible that his love for the poor and the missions crowded out other possibilities for responding to God's will. But neither of these possibilities seems to have been the case. What seems to have been holding Vincent back was his fidelity to the contract he had made with Mme. de Gondi in 1625. By it the community was bound to conduct missions for the country people, a time-consuming task. Ministering to the clergy would usurp some of the time that Vincent had already pledged (by contract and therefore in justice) to these mis-sions. That had appeared to him then as God's will and he had bound himself and the community to that for life. The fact that he could care for the spiritual needs of the people even more effectively by securing for them good priests did not seem, at least in the first instance, to stir him. It took the command of the arch-bishop to move him and his community into ministry for the clergy. Only this command offered him suf-ficient certitude that he was standing before God's will in taking up this new endeavor. Later on, however, he viewed this ministry as clearly being given by God. Development in his thought and convictions fol-lowed upon the expansion of the ministry itself. After the success of the retreats, he recognized the need for offering ongoing sup-port to the newly ordained. Thus, in 1633 he developed the pro-gram known as the Tuesday Conferences, a weekly meeting of diocesan clergy with a member of the community for prayer and reflection. And in 1636 he opened the doors of the Coll~ge des Bons-Enfants to young men who felt called to the priesthood. (This first house was for children, a minor seminary; in 1642, however, Vincent focused more on older candidates, supplying a program for major seminarians, an approach to formation which he had come to judge would be in the long run more effective.)22 The change in Vincent's view seems to have come, in part at least, by the reflections he had with his friend Father Bourdoise in the early 1630s. The latter had stated, "To give a mission is like giving a poor starving man a meal, but to set up a seminary is to aim at feeding him all his life.''z3 Vincent himself saw work for 'To give a mission is like giving a poor starving man a meal, but to set up a seminary is to aim at feeding him all his life.' September-October 1993 671 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today the clergy and the establishment of seminaries as a necessary com-plement of the congregation's work on the missions. Later Vincent regarded work for the clergy as equal to the con-gregation's call to evangelize the poor;24 he counseled his priests never to refuse to minister to the clergy on the pretext of giving missions to the poor;2s and, in the Common Rules of the institute, he listed formation of the clergy as one of the three purposes of the community.26 His retrospective understanding of his and the con-gregation's involvement in this ministry led him to tell his confreres: So, in the beginning, the company focused its energies only on itself and on the poor. At certain times of the year, it with-drew into its own houses, and at others it went forth to instruct the poor country people. God permitted nothing else to happen among us. But in the fullness of time he called us to contribute toward the formation of good priests, to give good pastors to parishes, and to teach them what they should know and doff7 Vincent's taking on the formation of the clergy as a God-given calling to him and the congregation offers a further insight into his spirituality: his way to God and way of ministering, always wed-ded to one another, were marked by a readiness to expand as well as by a fidelity to original intuitions and callings. There always remained possibilities for further invitations from the Lord; there was always the need for ongoing discernment. Having appreci-ated God's saving love as absolutely inclusive, Vincent was also compelled to include all suitable and necessary means of fostering the advance of that love. For him this was the only way of allow-ing the richness of God's wisdom and love to reach deeply into him and to reach others adequately through him. Having earlier experienced God in ministering to the poor, he came to experience that same God in greater depth and in more far-reaching ways as he entered ministry to and formation of the clergy. 3. Collaboration with Women: The Daughters of Charity Vincent was not a foreigner to the gifts of women in ministry. Early on, in 1617, while at Ch~tillon-les-Dombes, he became con-cerned about a family whose children and servants had fallen ill. For some reason the family found itself without even basic needs. In a sermon Vincent recommended the family to his congrega-tion and found his people more than ready to respond. As a mat-ter of fact, he discovered that a number of well-to-do women were eager to extend their charity to the needy. He provided them with 672 Review for Religious some guidelines, and the group became known as the Confraternity of Charity and served as a model for many similar groups that he established in villages where he gave missions. Soon, however, he discovered that peasant girls assisted these needy persons, especially in menial tasks, better than the well-to-do women did. They nursed the sick poor, instructed youngsters, and cared for orphans, refugees, the aged--in a word, the most abandoned. They too needed guidance, however, so that they would persevere in their ministry. The question soon posed itself: Where would he find capable mentors and guides for these devoted women? Toward the end of 1624 or early in 1625, a woman named Louise de Marillac sought spiritual direction from Vincent. She was a woman qf tender conscience, deep faith, and generous spirit. She lived a disciplined life of prayer while providing care for her sickly husband and difficult son. Before her marriage she had entertained thoughts of entering the convent, but had been dis-suaded by her spiritual director, who judged that she could not withstand the rigor of religious life. Vincent's early impressions of Louise were of her as an earnest, but dependent and scrupulous, woman. She often found herself troubled if he were not available to her for guidance. Concerns about the state of her soul, worries about her family, and recurring desires to enter a religious community after her husband's death (21 December 1625) were making her anxious and fretful. In her Vincent saw a person in need of judicious spiritual care, but also one quite gifted by God. Vincent's relationship with Louise and his advice to her are marked with the same spiritual convictions that we have noted in his own approach to God and to ministry: He counseled that she wait for God and not anticipate God's designs. But, more signif-icantly, it is in his letters to her that we read, for the first time, of his manner of relating to Christ and of how he saw the spiritual dynamics he lived by exemplified in Christ's life. He guided her to seek to live in Christ, encouraging her to model her life by the example and attitudes of Christ, in all moments and turns of events. For example, when, on the day after her husband's death, she con-fided to Vincent that she wished to serve God more freely, he told her not to make plans for the future until she had spent much time in prayer and reflection. He held her from what he regarded as premature commitments with the following counsel: September-October 1993 673 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today Always ho~ior the inactivity and the unknown condition of the Son of God. That is your center and what he asks of you for the present and for the future, forever. If His Divine Majesty does not let you know, in a way that cafinot be mistaken, that he wants something else of you, do not think about or let your mind become engrossed in that other matter. Leave it to me; I shall think about it enough for both of us.28 Given the fact that Louise was persistent, Vincent often found himself reiterating such counsei. On another occasion he wrote: Oh! what great hidden treasures there are in holy providence and how marvelously our Lord is honored bythose who fol-low it and do not try to go ahead of it. I recently heard one of the great men of the kingdom say that he had learned this truth through his own experience. He had never undertaken anything on his own except four things. Instead of their work-ing out well for him, they had turned out to his detriment. Is it not true that you wish, as is quite reasonable, that your servant not undertake anything without you and your order? And if that is reasonable from one man to another, how much more so from the Creator to the creature!29 Nevertheless, Vincent saw the need of helpers, active women helpers, who would visit the Confraternities of Charity in various villages to sustain them spiritually in their efforts. And Louise felt herself strongly moved in prayer toward direct service of the poor. On 6 May 1629 Vincent sent her to the Confraternity of Charity serving in Montmirail, recognizing, among other things, that the contemplative life would be fraught with dangers for her, while a life of active service best responded to the gifts God was giving her. His conviction that this decision was of God shines through his let-ter to her before her departure: I am sending you the letters and the report that you need for your journey. Go, therefore, Mademoiselle, go in the name of our Lord. I pray that his divine goodness may acc9mpany you, be your consolation along the way,., your strength in your toil, and, finally, that he may bring you back in perfect health and filled with good works.3° The journey of Vincent and Louise, however, was still to be made, with remarkable benefit for the church. Vincent had real-ized much earlier that a community of women who would sup-port one another in common faith, common life, and common dedication to the service of the most neglected would have advan- 674 Review for Religious tages like those of a community of priests. Perseverance in full-time Christian ministry suffered many threats without such support. Louise, too, desired community, her initial desires for religious life never having died. But once again Vincent moved with great caution, even slowness, in counseling and pursuing this develop-ment. His delay came partly from his awareness that the only way for women to live community life in his day involved being cloistered. For women to live an active community life in service of the poor would be regarded (particularly by the Holy See) as a radical inno-vation. Vincent necessarily had some fear that cloister would be imposed upon the women who would seek approval for the reli-gious community which he and Louise desired. The greater reason for his delay, however, was his desire to be assured that the plan to live their aspirations in community orig-inated in God. Resisting the urgency which Louise felt, he coun-seled: You belong to our Lord and his holy mother. Cling to them and to the state in which they have placed you until they make it clear that they wish something else of you.3~ And later he wrote to her: I beg you once and for all not to give it a thought until our Lord makes it evident that he wishes it, and at present he is giving indications to the contrary. We want a number of good things with a desire that seems to be of God, and yet it is not always from him . You are trying to become the ser-vant of those poor young women, and God wants you to be his own, and perhaps of more people than you would be in that way. And even if you were only his, is it not enough for God that your heart is honoring the tranquillity of our Lord's? Then it will be fit and ready to serve him. The king-dom of God is peace in the Holy Spirit; he will reign in you if your heart is at peace. So, be at peace, Mademoiselle, and you will honor in a sovereign way the God of peace and love.32 After all the hesitation, the searching and prayer, Vincent finally became assured that the movement toward ~ommunity was of God. He wrote to Louise in August or September around the year 1633: I think your good angel did what you told me . Four or five days ago, he communicated with mine concerning the char-ity of your young women. It is true; he has prompted me to Septentber-October 1993 675 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today recall it often, and I gave that good work serious thought. We shall talk about it, God willing, on Friday or Saturday, if you do not write to me sooner.33 And shortly thereafter, on 29 November 1633, the company of the Daughters of Charity was established. These developments clearly underscore Vincent's consistency in the way he understood God, understood himself and others, and attempted to respond to God. Resting in, seeking light from, and moving with God's spirit--moving in harmony with the man-ifest will of God--remained the way of Vincent and provided him with the energy he so clearly reveals in his labor for the kingdom of God. And finding inspiration and support in Jesus and in his way of life not only guided Vincent's development, but also was a con-tinued theme in his counseling of others. These developments, moreover, reveal in Vincent a humility and truth by which he recognized that the designs of God are far greater than one person or even one congregation can fathom or implement. Hence, he was unafraid to take up a multiplicity of works and to collaborate with a variety of persons in order to bring his inspiration into reality.34 In his journey with Louise de Marillac, one sees particularly his recognition that the gifts of women are needed for the building of God's kingdom.3s Only by blending his work and that of the congregation with the work and talents of his feminine counterparts would God's overflowing love spread through the world.36 The fostering of God's active, saving will among all persons demands many works, many talents, and many persons of varied gifts. Sharing of the gifts and collaboration in the vision would be the rule. The movements of God and God's will, clearly and prayerfully discerned, would be the energy. And the life of the church, the inclusion of the poor within its company, fully alive in God's Spirit, and the spiritual vitality of the church's ministers and servants would be the fruit. Final Years: Mature Reflections and Legacy Though Vincent's life and ministry' continued for nearly two and a half decades beyond the establishment of the Congregation of the Mission, beyond the first involvements in ministry to the clergy, and beyond the early solidification of the women's com-munity, the Daughters of Charity, the basic lines of his spiritual-ity had, with these events, already been drawn. During his final 676 Review for Religious years, he was able to articulate his vision with precision and clar-ity, providing disciples living then and others yet to come with the lines of a way to God and a life in Jesus that had proven ben-eficial for himself. Prayerful discernment of and fidelity to the will of God remained in first place in Vincent's final years as they had been throughout his life. Speaking to his "little company," he reminded them: The. most perfect man will be the one whose will is most conformed to that of God. Perfection consists in so uniting our will to God's that his and ours are, strictly speaking, but one and the same will and nonwill; and he who most excels on this point will be the most perfect.37 And a short time later he told his congregation: We know that our works are worthless if they are not living and animated by God's will. This is the advice of the gospel, which causes us to do everything for the sake of pleasing him. We must greatly praise his Infinite Majesty for the grace he has given to the company of undertaking this all-holy and ever sanctifying practice [of the will of God]. Yes, from the beginning we have all desired to enter into this way of the perfect, which is to honor our Lord in all our works.3s Given this experience and these convictions, he summed up his mind and counsel for all future generations in the Common Rule of the Congregation of the Mission: A sure way for a Christian to grow rapidly in holiness is a conscientious effort to carry out God's will in all circum-stances and at all times . It is in this way that we can imi-tate Christ, the Lord . He tells us this himself: "I always do what pleases the Father.''39 Harmony with God's will wa~ still, in Vincent's mind, of pri-mary import. Holiness and fruitfulness in ministry depended upon it. Ministry, evangelization, and .service of the needy were of spe-cial significance to him precisely because they fostered that will. The teaching of Benedict of Canfield was, to the end, in evidence in his explicit spiritual understanding. Second, Vincent left all a legacy of action, particularly active and effective concern for the poor. In an oft-quoted counsel to his priests, he exhorted them and us: Love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brow. For very September-October 1993 677 Luttenberger ¯ I~ncent de Paul's Charism Today often such acts of love of God, of complaisance, of kindness, and other similar affections and interior experiences of a lov-ing heart, although very good and very desirable, are never-theless very suspect when a person is not led to the practice of effective love. "In that," says our Lord, "my Father is glo-rified because you give account of much fruit." And this is why we must be very careful, for there are very many who, having a well-composed exterior and an interior filled with great love of God, stop there; and when it comes to action and they find themselves in occasions of doing something, they stop short. They flatter themselves with their inflamed imaginations; they are contented with some pleasant con-ve'rsations which they have with God in prayer; they even speak like angels; but, apart from that, when it is a question of working for God, of suffering, of mortifying oneself, of instructing the poor, of searching out the wandering flock, of loving one who lacks something, of receiving kindly illness or some other misfortune, alas! there is no longer anyone there, courage deserts them. No, no, let us not delude ourselves: Our whole task consists in working.4° In this strong conviction, one sees the long-standing influ-ence of Francis de Sales. Responsiveness to God's will, for Vincent, did not mean abstract contemplation. It meant listening to God in order to serve God's designs for the good of humankind, espe-cially the most deprived. Finally, however, it was the life, words, and example of Jesus that formed the context of Vincent's action as well as his search for God's will. It was the way of Jesus, and living in Jesus' Spirit, that offered Vincent the ideal and the power to unify this responsive-ness to God and this outpouring of ministerial love in a life filled with God. Only toward the end of his life do we find developed reflection on the powerful way living in the Spirit of Jesus had fashioned the spirituality of the saint. In a conference he exhorted his confreres: We must put on the Spirit of Jesus Christ. O Savior! O Gentlemen! There you have a grand undertaking, to put on the spirit of Jesus Christ! This means that in order to become perfect and to assist people effectively, to be of good use to ecclesiastics, we must labor to imitate the perfection of Jesus Christ and strive to attain it. It also means that of ourselves we can do nothing. We must be filled and animated by this spirit of Jesus Christ!41 And that there be no doubt regarding his understanding of this undertaking, he continued: 678 Review for Religious What is this spirit of our Lord? It is a spirit of perfect char-ity, filled with a marvelous esteem for the Divinity and with an infinite desire to honor him worthily. It is a knowledge of the greatness of his Father, which admires and extols it unceasingly. He has so high an esteem of it that he paid him homage with everything that was within his sacred person and which came forth from it; he attributed everything to him; he was unwilling to say that his teaching was his own teaching, but referred it to his Father: "My teaching is not mine, but that of the Father who sent me.". And his love, what was it? . . . Could there be any greater witness of love than by dying out of love in the way that he died? . . . His humiliations were but love, his work but love, his sufferings but love, his prayers but love, and all his interior and exterior operations were but reiterated acts of love . There you have a description of our Lord's spirit, with which we must be clothed; it is, in a word, having always a great esteem and a great love for God.42 Hence, the mature Vincent placed the following of Jesus as the fundamental goal of the congregation and as the basic theme running through the Common Rule of the institute. Sacred Scripture tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ, sent into the world to save mankind, began to do and to teach. He did the first when he perfectly reduced to practice every kind of virtue; and the .second when he preached the gospel to the poor and gave his Apostles and disciples the knowledge nee-essary for guiding people . Therefore, the end of the con-gregations is: (1) to strive for one's own perfection by exerting every effort to practice the virtues which the sovereign Master has been pleased to teach us both by word and example . 43 The counsel of Pierre de BSrulle, the constant call to live one's life immersed in the mysteries, of Christ, was woven throughout Vincent's life and permeated his teachings and counsel. He left no ambiguity for his followers about the basic ways of under-standing God and living in God's presence. Christ was that way of understanding; Christ was the way of life. The rule of Benedict of Canfield, the spiritual insights of Francis de Sales, and the spiritual doctrine of B~rulle had been lived and distilled so as to provide a guide and a source of inspi-ration to Vincent and to all who would make the journey of seek-ing and responding to the divine will that Vincent knew to be actively pursuing and transforming all persons, especially the poor. This he believed was the revelation of God in Jesus, and it was September-October 1993 679 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today the privilege of the Christian to walk with Jesus in experiencing and mediating that same salvific love. As a res~ult, Vincent described himself and his mission as one with the Lucan Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; to proclaim good news to the poor, he has sent me.''44 His life's task, and the charism he has left us, was and is one of discerning that Spirit in prayer and community so as to mediate it effectively as servants of God's kingdom, especially among the poor. His prayer and discernment, his life and min-istry, were deeply characterized by patience and caution, on the one hand, and by selflessness and courage, on the other. Both sets of virtues were necessary to lead Vincent to be confident that he knew God and God's will in his decisions and in his labors. Both were needful for him to experience God--Christ--and God's unfolding salvific initiative in his own day. In being faithful to these gifts, he found himself faithful to God's will, to walking in Christ, and to mediating God's love, particularly to the poor. In being faithful to these gifts Vincent's own way of making the spiritual journey--he became a true mystic, living out what is rightly called a mysticism in action. And in showing us these gifts and this journey, Vincent de Paul also shows us a charism, a gift of the Spirit, which seeks expression in the church of today. Notes ~ Constitutions and Statutes of the Congregation of the Mission, 1984, article I. 2 Constitutions and Statutes of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, 1983, article 2:1. 3 Conferences to the Daughters of Charity, 14 June 1643 and 11 November 1657; Extract of a Conference to the Congregation of the Mission, January 1657, St. Vincent de Paul. Correspondance. Entretiens. Documents (hereafter SVDP), ed. Pierre Coste (Paris: J. Gabalda, 1920- 1925), 9:119, 10:332, 11:393. The first three volumes of this compila-tion have been translated into English by a team of sisters and priests, members of the Daughters of Charity and of the Congregation of the Mission. This English translation (hereafter ET) bears the title Saint Vincent de Paul. Correspondence, Conferences, Documents (Brooklyn: New City Press, 1985-). 4 For a recent analysis of this spirituality, see the introduction by William M. Thompson to Bdrulle and the French Schook Selected Writings, ed. William M. Thompson, trans. Lowell M. Glendon SS (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989), pp. 32-76. See also Michael Buckley, "Seventeenth Century French Spirituality: Three Figures," in Christian Spirituality, III: 680 Review for Religious Post-Reformation and Modern, ed. Louis Dupr~ and Don E. Saliers (New York: Crossroad, 1989), pp. 28-32. s Buckley, pp. 28-32. 6 On this work and its influence, see Bucldey, pp. 29-30, and Luigi Mezzadri CM and Luigi Nuovo CM, "The Directors of St. Vincent," ed. and trans. John W. Carven CM, Vincentian Heritage 6 (1985): 173-175. 7 A Literary History of Religious Thought in France, trans. K.L. Montgomery (New York: Macmillan, 1930), 2:219. s Buckley, pp. 32-41. 9 For the influence of Pierre de Bdrulle upon Vincent de Paul, see Bremond, 3:193-222. ,0 Buckley, pp. 42-53; Mezzadri, pp. 177-178. ~ See below, note 40. ~2 The historical material is taken from Pierre Coste, The Life and Works of Saint Vincent de Paul (hereafter LW), 3 vols., trans. Joseph Leonard CM (Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1952). ,3 Conference on the Practice of Asking Permission, 27 July 1653, SVDP, 9:646. 14 Mme. de Gondi told Vincent (whom she had enlisted as her spirio tual director), that when she was young she herself had had such a painful experience. ~s Conference on the Observance of the Rules, 17 May 1658, SVDP, 12:8; Extract of a Conference on the Mission Preached at Folleville in 1617, ibid, 11:4. _ ~6 Contract of the foundation of the Congregation of the Mission, 17 April 1625, SVDP, 13:198. 17 De Paul to Codoing, 1 April 1642, SVDP, 2:246-247 (ET, 2:278). ~s Cited in Mezzadri, p. 176. ~9 See the letters of Vincent written during the years 1626 to 1633 to Louise de Marillac, cited in section three below. 2o Letter dated 1 May 1635, SVDP, 1:295 (ET, 1:276). In a similar, but less lyrical, manner, he counseled Jean Barreau, a brother of the con-gregation who, for some reason.unknown to u~,.had been imprisoned: "It is with great sorrow that I learned of your present state, which is a sub-ject of affliction for the whole company, but of great merit for you before God, since you suffer even though innocent . Our Lord, having descended from heaven to earth for the redemption of men, was also imprisoned by them. How blessed are you, Monsieur, to be treated the same way! . . . The more our actions and our sufferings resemble those of Jesus in this life, the more they are pleasing to God." Letter to Jean Barreau, 16 September 1650, SVDP, 4:81. 2~ A parishioner of Chfitillon recounted that Vincent's predecessors in that parish had kept women of ill repute and had frequented bars and gambling houses (Report of Charles Demion on the Sojourn of Saint Vincent at Ch~tillon-les-Domb.es, SVDP, 13:50). September-October 1993 681 Luttenberger ¯ Vincent de Paul's Charism Today 22 Letter to Bernard Codoing, in Rome, 13 May 1644, SVDP, 2:459 (ET, 2:505-506). See also SVDP, 2:152-154, 188 (ET, 2:171-173,214). 23 Citation taken from Coste, LVV, 1:259. 24 Letter to Louis Rivet, priest of the congregation, missioned in Saintes, 19 December 1655, SVDP, 5:489. 2s In a letter to a priest of the Mission, Luc Plunket, missioned at Saint-Meen, Vincent cautioned: "Do you not know, Monsieur, that we are equally obliged to form good ecclesiastics as to instruct the country peo-ple? And that a priest of the Mission who will work at one but not the other is only half a missioner, because he is sent to do both?" 21 May 1659, SVDP, 7:561. See also the conference of 6 December 1658, SVDP, 12:85. 26 1:3. Vincent composed these written regulations for the congrega-tion only after some thirty years had passed since the company had been established. 27 Conference gi~)en on 6 December 1658, SVDP, 12:84. 28 SVDP, 1:62 (ET, 1:54). See also LV¢', 1:204. 29 SVDP, 1:68-69 (ET, 1:60). See also LW, 1:204. 3o SVDP, 1:73 (ET, 1:64-65). See also Lgr, 1:207. 31 SVDP 1:79 (ET, 1:71). See also L/4z, 1:227. 32 SVDP 1:113 (ET, 1:111). See also LI.V, 1:227-228. 33 SVDP, 1:218 (ET, 1:216). See also LW, 1:230. 34 Though the works detailed thus far are the most well known of Vincent's endeavors, his energy and docility to the invitations of God led him to undertake and sponsor many others. These included labor in for-eign missions, aid to provinces devastated by war and famine, retreats for the laity, care of orphans and of the aged, participation in the coun-cil charged with the appointment of bishops, and the defense of the church against Jansenism. 3s Toward the end of his life, Vincent continued to affirm the impor-tance of collaboration with women in ministry. In a conference con-cerning the goals of the congreg~ition, he counseled his priests and brothers: "Was not he [the Son of God] pleased that women should be among his companions? Yes. Did he not direct them to perfection and to the assistance of the poor? Yes. If then our Lord has done this, he who did so much for our instruction, are we not persuaded that we are doing well in imitating him in this? . . . You know that even then [in the Apostolic era] there were deaconesses who did wonders in the church of God, . . . and thus God was served equally by both sexes; and shall we think that it does not belong to the Congregation of the Mission to procure that our Lord be honored and served by both?" Conference, 6 December 1658, SVDP, 12:86-87. 36 Though Vincent's labor for the establishment of the Daughters of Charity has been the principal focus of this section, he also entered into collaboration with other groups of women in various works of ministry in 682 Review for Religious the church, including the Visitation nuns and the Ladies of Charity of the H6tel Dieu, to mention a few. 37 SVDP, 11:318. 38 Conference on Conformity to the Will of God, 7 March 1659, SVDP, 12:154. 39 Common Rule of the Congregation of the Mission, 2:3. 40 Extract of a conference concerning the love of God, undated, SVDP, 11:40-41. 41 Conference on the Members and the Works of the Congregation, 13 December 1658, SVDP, 12:107-108. 42 Ibid, 108-109. 43 Common Rule, 1:1. ~ Luke 4:18. See SV'DP, 12:3-5, 79-81, 84-87, which are among many places where St. Vincent cited this gospel text. The Next Day The next day he sought her out. How to comfort a criminal's mother? He sensed her pain. Why did the temple priests want him killed? Had he really raised that man to life? She saw him scratching at the splinters in his hands, took them tenderly in hers and worked them free. The silences between their words grew longer. Here was home, yet time to leave. She touched a budding leaf. Thank you, Simon--her voice a whisper in his ear. Please come again. You've questions in your eyes that need to know. Yes, come tomorrow. Louise Finn CND September-October 1993 683 JOAN MUELLER A Franciscan Discernment ExperiencemPart Two MdY assignment was to teach graduate courses in spiritual irection during the coming school year and also in the following summer. In these courses I wanted to offer students an opportunity to explore discernment within the context of various charisms. Hoping to find reading material that might guide the study of discernment in the Franciscan tradition, I searched through various periodicals.~ In the 1984 volume of Review for Religious, I found "A Model of Discernment: The Experience of a Franciscan.''2 In the article Margaret Halaska OSF describes the process of discernment she used in making the transition out of community leadership and into a new form of ministry. The process involved personal prayer along with discussion and pondering with thirty people who knew her well. From these thirty, ten came to an evening of reflection that helped her refine her understanding of call. The result was not an outline of future ministry goals, but rather the next step, a year's renewal that would give her space to reflect on the path the Lord was choosing for her. The haunting leitmotif in her article is "personal poverty": "One of the elements of Franciscan discernment is the recognition of one's personal poverty and the' awareness that individuals are Part One of this article, by Margaret Halaska OSF, appeared in Review for Religious in 1984. Joan Mueller OSF teaches in the Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University and is assistant professor of systematic theology at St. Francis Seminary; 3257 South Lake Drive; St. Francis, Wisconsin 53235. 684 Review for Religious inserted into a total world--one that is larger than oneself.''3 And again, "Recognition of personal poverty is one Franciscan princi-ple necessary for discernment. For me, this was very acute''4 (empha-sis mine). I cannot remember reading anything previous to this that res-onated so deeply within me that I needed to meet the author. While reading the articles, I felt as though I were listening to my own heart. When I looked at the author's profile, I found that Margaret belonged to the community whose motherhouse was across the street from where I worked. It was a strange and won-derful coincidence. One of my friends belonging to this community came the fol-lowing Saturday for supper. I told her of my excitement at read-ing the work of one of her sisters and begged her to provide me with an introduction. My friend started to cry. She told me that Margaret had been in administration with her, that they had been best friends, and that not long after her year of discernment she was found to have a brain tumor. It was evident that my friend was still grieving deeply. I assumed Margaret was dead and felt terrible disappointment. I asked when she had died, only to learn that she was still alive. She was in a nursing home in the city. I found her on the psy-chiatric floor of the nursing home sitting on the side of her bed. Her neck seemed paralyzed, so I sat on the floor to enable her to see me. I immediately told her my excitement about her article. We had a wonderful conversation. I promised to come back---and kept going to see her three, four, five times a week for the next year. Our visits were in some sense mundane. I would come from work and help her eat supper. Then I would help her wash up, brush her teeth, and go to bed. The mundane took a lot of time. Meals were usually a two-hour project. Helping her to brush her own teeth could take over a half hour. After Margaret was in bed, we would pray together. She would struggle to formulate a few words of prayer and then would be content to rest in God. One evening as she was preparing for bed, a eucharistic minister came in with Communion for both Margaret and me. Margaret wanted some time to pray, so we postponed getting her into bed. After receiving Communion we sat next to each other for a half hour in silence. I then opened my eyes and said, "Margaret, are you sleeping?" She said, "No, are you?" I said, "No." After another half hour of silence, we had the same September-October 1993 685 Mueller ¯ A Franciscan Discernment Experience conversation. After another half hour I said, "Margaret, you need to go to bed." Margaret's prayer was so simple. She tried to pray for every-one by name, but found that the world was too big. God gave her a solution to this dilemma: Mary. Margaret understood that it was Mary's role to stand before Jesus and tell him everything that Margaret needed--for the world and for herself. Prayer for Margaret was simply watching Mary and Jesus in this exchange. As her illness progressed, her voice became weaker. We communi-cated more and more through our eyes and through everyday tasks. I learned that feeding and washing hands were ways of listening to her heart. Her heart became more and more transparent. Once, when coming home after an evening with friends, I was reflecting upon my day. In contemplating the evening's interac-tion, I recognized that my contribution to the conversation was pri-marily about Margaret. I saw myself mirrored in the newly converted Francis, who went about the town of Assisi claiming that he had fallen in love with a most beautiful lady, Lady Poverty.s I also realized that, as with Francis, my excitement about this strange Lady was a mystery to my friends. This did not daunt my enthusiasm. I began to contemplate what was drawing me to Margaret's bedside day after day. It Was her poverty. The next day I simply told her, "I feel as though I have found Lady Poverty." She smiled. My experience was confirmed. Margaret's brain did not measure time very well. At first I thought this was a deficiency. As I listened, however, and got more in touch with her world, I realized that this sense of eternity was part of her beauty. With Margaret there was no past, present, or future. Rather, everything was a relationship. If we parted with a disagreement, what needed to be pondered and prayed about after-wards was the still-present feeling that all was not well between us, not who said what yesterday. What was important was the sister-hood between us. St. Clare would have agreed with this way of using time.6 Margaret talked to her food. The doctor gave her psychiatric medication for this habit. As she let me listen more and more to her heart, however, I too learned how to talk to my food. Margaret had been interested in the relationship between Native American spirituality and Franciscan spirituality. She learned from Native Americans how to listen to the movement of the Spirit in all of cre-ation. She saw all creation as enspirited. I invited a sympathetic 686 Review for Religious . nurse to see the mystery. Eventually Margaret was taken off the medication. As her sickness progressed and I helped feed her, we both understood the Spirit of the food. Margaret taught me how to see. For her, colors portrayed the deepest mysteries of life. She often expressed her heart simply in terms of color. Most of her last days were either purple (symbol-izing sorrow tinged with joy) or orange (joy tinged with sorrow). There were also four black days. The black days started on Christmas day. Margaret did not respond. Her eyes were a blank stare. I thought she was dying. Four days later one of the nurses pulled me aside to tell me that Margaret's condition was probably caused by depression, not by something directly physical. The nurse wanted me to try something. I went back into the room, closed the door, took Margaret's arm--the only extremity that was still working--and started to exercise it. I started growling and talking about how unfair life was. Her eyes made immediate contact. Life did seem unfair. She was only sixty years old. She was talented and bril-liant. She was so full of energy for the mis-sion. She was dying. The next day Margaret was radiant. She told me that she understood what the black days were about. She whispered, "They were about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." She said this over and over as if she was contemplating the mystery. I understood that she had been purified in the darkness for Trinitarian communion. I rejoiced and I wept. During the last days Margaret loved to be with those of us who loved her. She did not want to go back to the hospital. God asked of her even this wish. She died in the emergency room. I remembered the story of how Clare and her sisters wept at the death of Francis. Now I understand their tears.7 After Margaret's death a sister in her community gave me a copy of the manuscripts of her poems and essays. In one she recounts that during her year of renewal she had a dream in which she came upon a farmhouse. At the door was Lady Poverty. She Most of her last days were either purple (symbolizing sorrow tinged with joy) or orange (joy tinged with sorrow). September-October 1993 687 Mueller ¯ A Franciscan Discernment Experience realized in her dream that she truly loved and desired this Lady. At the same time another image, a beggar woman with crippled feet, hounded her prayer. She knew that God was inviting her to become this beggar woman; she resisted, hoping the beggar woman would go away. Finally in faith she said yes to the mystery. 688 Margaret's Story and Franciscan Discernment The discernment process that Margaret recounted in her arti-cle began in dialogue with others, in prayer, and in truthful assess-ment of her own gifts and the call of her heart. The discernment ended with an invitation to "live in a wigwam." This meant that Margaret was to spend her sabbatical time as a pilgrim exploring her call to personal poverty, to Native American spirituality, and to her love of the Franciscan charism. Practically, this translated into "a month's experience in a Franciscan Life Institute; extended time in Assisi; and ~xtended time on an Indian reservation.''8 This year of renewal was only the first fruit of Margaret's dis-cernment process. Her call was to personal poverty. None of those she discerned with were to take her into the depths of this mystery. Rather, she was introduced to the beggar woman with crooked feet. During her sickness Margaret became this beggar woman, dependent upon the thoughtfulness or thoughtlessness of others. As her illness progressed, she became crippled like the beggar woman of her prayer. Her legs and feet contracted so badly that they could not be straightened even after she died. Margaret's yes, her responsive determination to continually discern the will of God in her life, did not lead as she expected to a new form of ministry. Though this was a deep disappointment for her, heryes led her to surrenderat deeper and deeper levels every-thing of her heart that was not purely love. As I write, I expect to return to Creighton University for the summer and to teach discernment again. My students and I will explore the richness.gf discernment in the Catholic spiritual tra-dition and then concentrate on St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for Discernment. Without these I would not have been able to enter into Margaret's mystery. I have, however, learned from her that, after following the rules and the processes, one must simply sur-render to the Mystery. And so the Franciscan will not be surprised to find poverty the guide here. As Ignatius suggests in his third way of humility, surrendering Review for Religious to the mystery of the will of God invites one to choose poverty.9 This choice implies powerlessness, disrespect, abuse, joy, and free-dom. I took Ignatius on faith before I met Margaret. Now I have seen with my own eyes. As Margaret embraced the mystery of becoming the beggar woman, she became more and more grate-ful. She saw everything as an undeserved gift of God. Two squirrels playing outside gave her great delight. For her, all creation was a means by which she could praise God with gratitude and simple joy. It was Lady Poverty who brought her this grace.~° The mystery of discernment, the mystery of surrendering to the will of God, is both frightening and awesome. It is indeed "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31). Yet, as I watched Margaret suffer day after day, I saw that the glory of her spirit far surpassed her suffering. I learned through her that God cannot be.outdone in generosity. Margaret radically said yes to the will of God in her life. She understood discernment. After her careful searching for the will of God both in prayer and in dialogue with others, God invited her to become the beggar woman. In this invitation into personal poverty, Margaret discovered the will of God. Perhaps our discernment theory has emphasized active dis-cernment and not adequately explored the mystery of passive dis-cernment, something that cannot be easily categorized. One can watch it happening in another with grateful awe--and then be unable to exp!ain it to those who do not have the experience. The Franciscan tradition teaches, not by theologizing the mystery, but by telling stories about people who lived the mystery of saying yes radically to the will of God. In this tradition I offer the witness of Margaret for edification and imitation. One afternoon I asked: "Margaret, what does poverty mean to you?" She replied, "Poverty is a celebration!" I said, "Margaret, get real. For you poverty means this brain tumor. It means that you are living in a psych ward. It means that many of your friends do not understand you and have abandoned you." She looked on me with love and responded, "No, Joan, you are wrong. All that is hurt, but poverty is a celebration." " Margaret became this beggar woman, dependent upon the thoughtfulness or thoughtlessness of others. September-October 1993 689 Mueller ¯ A Franciscan Discernment Experience Notes ~ See, for example, Anthony M. Carrozzo OFM, "Francis of Assisi at the Crossroads: Elements of a Franciscan Process of Discernment," Review for Religious (July-August 1982)~ 551-556, and Evaristo Acosta Maestre OFMCap, "El Discernimiento de Espfritus y su Aplicaci6n segfin San Francisco de Asfs," Laurentianum 25 (1984): 415-448. 2 Margaret Halaska, "A Model of Discernment: The Experience of a Franciscan," Review for Religious (March-April 1984): 259-263. 3 Ibid, 260. 4 Ibid, 261. s "Legend of the Three Companions [3:7]," in St. Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources, ed. Marion Habig (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1973), pp. 869-897. St. Clare, too, speaks of how she and her sisters bound themselves to Lady Poverty. See "The Testament [37]," in Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, ed. Regis Armstrong, OFMCap (New York: Paulist Press, 1988), p. 57. 6 Clare advocated that her sisters understand themselves as exchang-ing the things of time for the things of eternity. See "The First Letter to Blessed Agnes [30]," in Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, p. 37. One's mind will be transformed in the mirror of eternity. See "The Third Letter to Blessed Agnes [12-13]" in Clare ofAssisi, p. 44. 7 See "I Celano [116-17]," in St. Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources, pp. 330-332. 8 Margaret Halaska, "A Model of Discernment," p. 263. 9 Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, § 167. 10 Gratitude, joy, and praise of God are fruits of poverty chosen or accepted. See "Sacrum Commercium [58]," in Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources, p. 1590. 690 Review for Religious EDWARD FOLEY Ritual Leave-Taking Almost fifteen years ago the liturgical commission of my province developed a very effective--even moving--ritual for installing the new provincial leadership at our triennial assem-bly. With slight modifications this basic ritual is resurrected every three years as we hand over direction of the province to a recently elected provincial, vicar provincial, and three councilors. Like presidential inaugurations, such rituals of beginning often gener-ate a sense of optimism and trust among the participants and pro-vide strong affirmation for those assuming office. Our rituals for taking leave of elected representatives, be they civil or religious, are usually much less effective--if they exist at all.1 Outgoing United States presidents do stage various farewell events which allow the departing commander-in-chief to offer a valedictory address and mark his closing days in the White House. The real departure ceremony for retiring U.S. presidents, however, is the inau-guration of their successor. This poignant ritual requires the retiring president to be seen and not heard--ironically marking his own tran-sition to private citizenship by serving as the most honored of wit-nesses to his successor's elevation to constitutional powers. The understated poignancy of such presidential leave-taking almost appears rich when compared with the dearth of rituals to mark the transition of leadership in so many of our religious com-munities. In few other arenas of ecclesiastical life do we ritually cel-ebrate transitions in leadership so rarely as in religious life. Retiring pastors and bishops are usually feted with multiple cele- Edward Foley OFMCap is agsociate professor of liturgy and music at the Catholic Theological Union. His address is 5401 South Cornell Avenue; Chicago, Illinois 60615 o5698. S~ptember-October 1993 691 Foley ¯ Ritual Leave-Taking brations marking their contributions to a local church and artic-ulating the gratitude of at least some of the people of God. Those who die in office are afforded the even more elaborate ritual leave-taking provided by the Order of Christian Funerals. Religious lead-ers who leave office at the commencement of a chapter or with the election of their successors, however, are often simply suc-ceeded or replaced. Seldom are they ritually honored or, more importantly, reincorporated into the community. The absence of such ritual leave-taking is more than a lapse in ritual etiquette. It is a lamentable, even detrimental, omission. The discernment of new leadership is often a moment of hope and goodwill within a religious community. This is especially true if, as in my own province, this process occurs within a gathering of all the members, all of them direct constituents. The psycho-logical lift of a fresh beginning, the affirmation by a large portion of the electorate, and the guiding promise of the Holy Spirit all contribute to a sense of optimism or relief which ordinarily allows the newly elected to be installed with an authentic sense of festivity. Given the very real, sometimes devastating problems facing major superiors today, however, such goodwill is often difficult to maintain. The financial (rises, all-consuming personnel problems, and special pressures arising from the incidents of public scandal that increasingly plague many religious communities contribute to an almost inevitable estrangement between religious leaders and the communities that called them to office. The strain that arises from the realignment of ministry priorities, fulfilling per-sonnel requests, and addressing issues of personal discipline takes an enormous toll on our leaders. Ironically, leadership that can begin with an affirming elec-tion often devolves into a position of devaluation. Those who pre-viously epitomized the center of the community are often marginalized or even shunned. Affirmation is increasingly replaced by criticism. An ordinary consequence of this process is burnout and alienation. Thus, our leaders are frequently absolved of their office with extended sabbaticals or with attenuated processes of return that sometimes take years. It is lamentable that communities like my own do not possess an adequate ritual vocabulary for marking the transition from lead-ership. This ritual lacuna prevents us from corporately acknowl-edging both the joy and the pain, the gratitude and the regret, associated with the ministry of leadership in contemporary reli- 692 Review for Religious gious life. Furthermore, our inability to ritualize such moments might even be viewed as a corporate sin of omission: rather than seizing a critical moment to welcome retiring leaders back into the heart of the community, our lack of action may actually allow or even encourage them to assume a life at the margins. The stress here on corporate ritual rather than individual ges-ture is quite intentional. While the kindness and support of vari-ous individuals in a religious community is essential if retiring religious leaders are to be effectively reincorporated into their communities, personal gestures of support from even a large number of individuals are insufficient. A religious community is more than an aggregate of individuals, and the call to leadership, while voiced by individuals, is ultimately from the whole body. Our leaders are responsible to and for all the members. Just as the beginning of leadership requires corporate affirma-tion, so should leave-taking be marked with a corporate response. The power of ritual should not be underestimated in these transitions. It is an ancient teaching of the church--and a recent maxim in some social sciences-- that rituals both express and create reality, or belief. It is not simply the election but especially the inauguration that creates a president; and it is not so much the electoral defeat as much as the inauguration of a suc-cessor that creates an ex-president. Similarly, it is not only the discernment but also the installation, consecration, or other order-ing ritual that in a real sense establishes one as a leader in our religious communities. Our current lack of rituals de facto cre-ates ex-leaders. The development of appropriate rituals of transi-tion could instead reincorporate these retiring ministers and, in the process, affirm, forgive, and welcome them. Ritually choreographing such an event is difficult. Varieties of personalities, corporate fatigue or even hostility toward the retiring leadership, and a minefield of unexpressed feelings on both sides complicate matters. No two leaders and no two transi-tions in leadership, even within the same community, are identi-cal. Consequently, it is necessary to develop a ritual pattern that is Just as the beginning of leadership requires corporate affirmation, so should leave-taking be marked with a corporate response. Septe~nber-October 199~ 693 Foley ¯ Ritual Leave-Taking open to adaptation as the occasion demands. On the other hand, developing a ritual pattern is important. Such a pattern, evoked year after year, discernment after discernment, announces that rit-uals of reincorporation are not simply designed for leaders that we happen to like or feel sorry for. Rather, they are. designed for the welfare of the community and the health of the church. The following is proposed as a model for ritualizing the rein-corporation of retiring religious leaders into the community that called them to office. It presumes significant adaptation in the light of concrete circumstances and needs. The context for the outline and commentary that follow is the opening liturgy at the triennial gathering of my own province, during which a new provincial, vicar provincial, and council are to be elected. The Ritual Context The ritual context for this model is Vespers. While other prayer patterns of the church might also provide an appropriate context for the reincorporation of retiring superiors, Vespers is particularly suited to this end for many reasons. First of all, unlike Eucharist, Vespers does not require any ordained clergy. Consequently, it is one of the official liturgies of the church that can be enacted by any group of women or men, lay or ordained, without recourse to presbyters, who may or may not be present within thee community. Second, while Vespers has certain minis-terial requirements and presumptions, the leadership can easily be cast in a more communitarian and less hierarchical fashion--as befits the worship 6f a religious community. In my own province, for example, instead of relying upon a former provincial, senior friar, or ordained brother to preside, it could be possible to call upon the youngest professed member of the province to assume this ministry. Thus the ministry models the moment: recalling that leadership is not a presumption of power, but an act of service and minority. Apart from the ministerial structure of Vespers, the traditional images and themes of evening prayer recommend its usage for this ritual reincorporation. For example, Vespers traditionally occurs at dusk, with the setting of the sun. Thus it is an ending rit-ual and provides an appropriate context for acknowledging the end of one's service in leadership. On the other hand, Vespers does more than announce the end of the day; it also anticipates the 694 Review for Religious presence of Christ through the night, a presence ultimately revealed at dawn. The images of hope and expectation, as well as the metaphoric parallel of the dawning of new leadership in a community, are obvious. Evening Prayer has a strong sense of thanksgiving, well epit-omized in the opening thanksgiving for the light and in the Magnificat. This thematic could easily be exploited to give thanks to God for calling people to leadership and for expressing grati-t- ude to those who have heard the call and answered with a willing heart. Yet, while there is a natural inclination toward thanksgiving at Vespers, the thematic elas-ticity provided by the various psalms, prayers, and readings allows for more than unabashed gratitude. The call to forgive-ness, the promise of eternal life, sacrifi-cial images, words of rededication--these and many other prayer instincts have a natural resonance in Eve.ning Prayer. Finally, Vespers lends itself to the rit-ual reincorporation of the retiring lead-ers of our communities because--at least in the West--it has a relatively simple yet flexible structure. Thus Evening Player can ritually tolerate the inclusion of a modest amount of other ritual activity--like gestures of reincor-poration-- without overwhelming or being overwhelmed by them. More specifically, Vespers is capable of allowing the inclusion of rituals like the renewal of vows, the sign of peace, and other acts of reconciliation and blessing and yet still clearly be Vespers. The central adaptation that I would propose for this ritual in my own province would be the additio

Issue 18.2 of the Review for Religious, 1959. ; Review for Religious MARCH. 15, 1959 Allocution to Contemplative Nuns By Pius XII Practice of the Holy See By Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Less Me "By Conan McCreary, O.F.M.Cap. Saint Joseph and the Interior Life By Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J. Survey of Roman Documents Views, News, and Previews Questions and Answers Book Reviews and Notices 65 77 86 90 100 ~106 108 116 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 2 Volume 18 March 15", 1959 Number 2 OUR CONTRIBUTORS FRANK C. BRENNAN is stationed at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. JOSEPH F. GALLEN, the editor of our Question and Answer Department, is professor of Canon Law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. CONAN McCREARY is a student of theology at Capuchin College, 4121 Harewood Road, N. E., Wash-ingto 17, D.C. SISTER EMILY JOSEPH is stationed at the College of St. Rose, Albany, New York. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, March, 1959. Vol. 18, No. 2. Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Bpulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. Copyright, 1959, by The Queen's Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. with ecclesiastical approval. Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Missouri. Copyright, 1959, by The Queen's ,Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U.S.A. Editor: R. F. Smith, S.J. Associate Editors: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J.; Henry Willmering, S.J. Assistant Editors: John E. Becker, S.J.; Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Departmental Editors: Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Earl A. Weis, S.J. Please send all renewals, new subscriptions, and business correspondence to: Review for Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis 18, Missouri. Please send all manuscripts and editorial correspondence to: Review for Religious, St. Mary's College~ St. Marys, Kansas. Plus Xll's AIIocution to Cloistered Contemplatives Translat:ed by Frank C. Brennan, S.J. [The first part of this allocution was published in the January issue of the REV1EW FOR RELIGIOUS; the last part will be published in the May issue. The successive parts of ':he allocution were broadcast by Plus XII on July 19, July 26, and August 2, 1958. The offical text is to be found "in Acta Apostoficae Sedis (AAS), v. 50 (1958), pp. 562-86. A~I divisions and sub-titles in the translation are also found in the official text.] PART II: KNOW THE,CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE SINCE WE SUMMARIZED the fpi,ar, srtt of Our allocu-tion by saying:'"Know what you are,' We might give this second part the title: "Love what you are." This love will lead you, beloved daughters, along your own proper way to the God who addresses to you a personal appeal. We will here successively examine the principal motives for lov-ing the contemplative life, the attitude with which you ought to regard it, and the particular traits which should charac-terize your attachment to it. Motives and Sources of Love for the Contemplative Life Love is strong on!y if its object is lovable in the fullest sense, only, that is, if it is good in itself and capable of com-municating that goodness. But is not God the supreme good, both in Himself and in His works--in the work of creation and especially in the redemptive work which reveals th'e Father's love for mankind? "By this hath the love of God appeared towards us," writes St. John, "because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world that we may live by Him.''~ How can man respond to this astonishing proof of the divine love save by accepting it humbly and totally? "We have known the love which God hath for us," continues St. Joh'n, "and we have believed in it. God is love; whoever abideth in love, abideth in God, and God in him.": Such is the essence of the contempla- ~I Jn 4:9. ¯ 2 Ihid., 4:16. 65 P~us XlI Review for Religious tive life: to live in God by charity so that God may live in you. Indeed, your daily efforts have no other purpose but that of putting your mind and heart always more intimately in contact with the Lord who reveals Himself to you and who invites you to take part in His work of redemption, in His cross, and in the spreading of His Church. This holds for all Christians, but more particularly for those who are engaged in a state of perfection. Here again the ways of God will vary. Your religious profession, together with the contemplative life which you have chosen, consecrates you more exclusiveiy to this search after divine union according to the particular spirit of your order and according to the personal graces which the Lord gives you. Let your love then go out to the contempla-tive life with all its distinctive claims, since it leads you to the perfection of charity and holds you in its radiance. Other motives, although not so important, can neverthe-less help to confirm and strengthen your interior conviction. These can be found in the Scriptures, in the attitude of the Church towards the contemplative life, and "in the fruits which this life has yielded. Without doubt, the scriptural passages and the truths which We will point out have an import which goes quite beyond the domain of the contemplative life; but they do apply to it in a way that is unique, and they will certainly go far toward purifying and confirming the love which you have for your vocation. The Scriptures contain many passages concerning the consecration of man to God and to Christ. These texts, so full of significance, will reveal their hidden meanings only to those who explore them °diligentl~ and meditate on them prayerfully. The same Holy Spirit who inspired their compo-sition continues through them to manifest the intensity of the contemplative vocation and the riches which it contains. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. . This is the greatest and the first commandment.''s 3 Mt 22:37-38. 66 March, 1959 CLOISTERED CONTEMPLATIVES "The unmarried woman and the viygin think about the things of the Lord.''4 "These follow the Lamb wherever He goes.''5 "Now this is everlasting life, that they may know Thee, the only true" God, and Him whom Thou has sent, Jesus Christ.'''~ Elsewhere the Scriptures speak of the treasures hidden in Jesus. Christ, our Lord and our God--treasures which come from His boundless love for us and which persevering con-templation little by little unveils. "The Word was God . The Word was made flesh. . . . And we saw His glory.''v "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.''s "My Lord and my God.'''~ The contemplative nun is well acquainted with the cruci-fied Lord and with the cross which she takes each day into her hands. She often recalls the words of Saint Paul: "I am crucified with Christ . Christ lives in me . Christ who loved me and gave Himself up for me.''~° "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? . . . I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.''~1 The works of penance and of mortification which form part of the contemplative life fulfill the words of Saint Paui: "What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, I fill up in my flesh for His body, which is the Church.''1: Such scriptural texts will fill the contemplative soul who meditates on them with a profound joy and will bind that I Cot 7:34. Apoc 14:4. Jn 17:3. Jn 1:1.14. Mt 16:17. Jn 20:28. Gal 2:19-20. Rom 8:35, 38-39. Col 1 : 24. 67 P~us XII Review for Religious soul more intimately to God and to Christ. They invite the soul to embrace and lovingly to practice a vocation which leads unwaveringly to the love of God and of His incarnate Son. Since~the, Church speaks of the contemplative life as emi-nently worthy of esteem; since she approves it with all her authority and confers numerous privileges on it; since she dignifies its inauguration with a solemn liturgical ceremony and surrounds it with abundant protective measures; one can cer-tainly see in all this a clear proof of her esteem for this life and thereby gain a weighty motive for being devoted to it. Among countless ecclesiastical documents concerned with the contemplative life, We will mention only three: the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi, the blessing and consecration of virgins in the Roman Pontifical (whose ancient arid solemn formulas are reserved to contemplative nuns by Article III, paragraph 3 of the constitution Sponsa Christi), and the en-cyclical Sacra virginitas of March 25, 1954.13 The apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi shows in its historical part the high esteem in which the Church holds the state of virginity and of cloistered contemplation. The docu-ment recalls "the sentiments of esteem and of love which the Church has always nourished for virgins consecrated to God," from the very beginning of her existence. As we have pointed out, the constitution insists on the importance of contempla-tion to which all other monastic observances are subordinate. From the consecration of virgins let us note the words which the bishop addresses to the candidates when presenting them with the habit and the insignia of their estate: "I unite you as a spouse to Jesus Christ, Son of the Almighty Father, that He may preserve you without fault! Receive then the ring of fidelity, the seal of the Holy Spirit, that you may be called the spouse of God, and after serving Him faithfully, be crowned for all eternity.''~4 ~:IAAS, 46 (1954), 161-91. 14 Pontificale Romanum, De benedictione et consecratione virginum. 68 "March, 1959 CLOISTERED CONTEMPLATIVES In the first section of .the encyclical Sacra Virginitas the excellence of virginity is treated. The encyclical proves this excellence first of all by referring to the Gospels and, in fact, to the very words of Christ Himself; and secondly, by recall-ing Saint Paul's doctrine on virginity chosen out of love for God. The encyclical likewise cites Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine, who point up the powerful effects of such vir-ginity; and it stresses the importance of the vow which gives this virginity the strength of a virtue. The superiority of vir-ginity over marriage, the many divine blessings which it merits, and the wonderful fruits which it produces are all discussed in the same encyclical. These fruits of the contemplative life, which are also treated in the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi, merit special consideration because their realization will awaken in you a yet deeper and more resolute devotion to your contemplative vocation. We might expatiate in great detail on the lives of the great contemplative saints, Saint Teresa of Avila, for example, or Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, both Carmelites. But We prefer to concern Ourselves with your personal experience and with 'your community life. The contemplative nun who is devoted wholeheartedly and sincerely to her life does not fail to perceive andrelish in herself the fruits of her efforts. While outwardly her life unfolds in a pattern fixed "by the order of the day and by the exercises of the rule, inwardly she matures and deepens her life by passing through successive periods of consolation and trial, of enlightenment and obscurity, which leave intact her intimate union with God. Thus in spite .of obstacles from within and from without, in spite of failures and weaknesses, she goes forward, confident of God's help, until there comes that hour--often unexpectedly--when she hears the words: "Behold the Bridegroom is coming, go forth and meet Him.''1~ We urge each of you individually to apply yourselves with all your strength to the duties of your state in life as contempla- 69 Ptus XII Review for Religious tiCes. Thus will you experience its effects more and find in that experience a further motive for being more faithful and devoted. We would have you guard yourselves against dis-couragement and meanness of soul. Undoubtedly you must give full cooperation to grace in warring, against your faults and in practicing virtue; but leave to God all care for your growth and increase. It is He who, at the right moment, "will perfect, strengthen, and establish you.''1~ With these dis-positions you can go forward, supported .by divine power and filled with abundant joy at having been chosen for this life. Your personal experiences will be enriched by observa-tions which you can make in your own community. If, in-stead" of dwelling on the inevitable faults and weakness of htlm~ln nature, you rather consider the sincere efforts of others t~° fulfill their religious ideal, you will easily come to realize tKe radiance of their interior life and of their union wi~h God. /~ikewise, in the small details of. community life you will admire their fraternal charity which flows directly from their love of Christ Whom they see in the members of His Mystical Body. The splendor of this charity, ~o often hidden during life, is o revealed sometimes brilliantly and suddenly--once death has affixed its mark; it is then that you will be able to sing with the Psalmist: "Surely, the just receives his reward.''17 Attitude Toward the Contemplative Life Now that We have considered the motive~ which impel you to love the contemplative life, We shall speak to you of the attitude which fidelity to this loves demands. Already in .the first part of this discourse, We have emphasized the im-portance of "interior contemplation" and the precedence which it takes Over other elements which are necessary as means to it:_the cloister; ex~ercises of piety, prayer, and mortification; and work. We will consider here how the contemplative nun should meet this ensemble of obligations. Jo I Pet 5:10. 17 Ps 57:12. 70 March, 1959 CLOISTERED CONTEMPLATIVES It is clear, in the first place, that a sincere devotion to the religious life excludes all legalism, that is, the temptation to be bound by the letter of the law without fully accepting its spirit, Such an attitude would be unworthy of those who bear the title of spouse of Christ and who wish to serve Him with a disinterested love. Scarcely more acceptable would be a type of eclecticism, an entirely subjectiv.e selection of certain obligations to which one submits while ignoring others. No right-thinking order would receive a candidate who would try to observe only a part of the rules a~d constitutions. The contemplative life is austere. Human sensibility does not submit to it without resistance, but the desire of giving oneself wholly to God willingly embraces works of Penance and cor~tinual self-renunciation. The contemplative nun, in-flamed with zeal for her vocation, can apply to herself t~ words which the Apostle of the Gentiles addressed .to _th.e Christian community: "For I betrothed you to one spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ''is and--We~'can ~dd--"to Christ crucified." The nun who is faithful to he~ vocation will always take as the rule of her interior life Saint Paul's words: "What is lacking of the sufferings of Christ I fill up in my flesh for His body, which is the Church."0~ such is the law of true love and to it the famous remark of Saint Augustine gives testimony: "There is no suffering for one who loves; but for the one who does not love, every bit of suffer-ing is unbearable.''2~ ~. Work forms part of the contemplative life. The anciei'it monastic I£W, "pray and work," has not ceased to be Wise and necessary. Some work is required of human nature. Man has many spiritual and physical powers which he must use ~) provide, for his subsistence, to improve his living conditions, ~sII Cor 11:2. ~ Col 1:24. 2o In Ioannis evangelium tractatus, 48, 10, 1; Migne, PL, v. 35, col. 1741. 71 P~us XII Review for Religious and to increase his knowledge and skills. For thirty years our Lord led at Nazareth a life of labor; during His apostolic ministry He was likewise subject to .much physical fatigue. Saint Paul writes very incisively about this to the Thessalonians: "If any man will not work, neither let him eat. For we have heard that some among you are doing no work.''~ He adds that he himself works with his hands in order to make a living and to avoid.being a burden to his fellow Christians.22 This duty of contemplative nuns to work for their living is stressed several times by the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi. From this it follows that whoever gives herself without reserve to the contemplative life, will also fully submit to this law of labor. Positive prescriptions of ecclesiastical law with regard to the canonical contemplative life are numerous. Even though some of them are of minor importance, all of them should be observed. Our Lord has clearly said that "whoever does away with one of these least commandments, and so teaches men, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever carries them out and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'''-''~ "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.'''-'4 Whoever loves the contemplative life will consider this delicacy of conscience and this fidelity to the least detail a most precious duty. On the other hand, one must avoid narrowness of both mind and heart. The liberty of the interior man is positively willed by God: "For you have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an occasion for sensuality.'''2~ "Therefore we remain free in virtue of the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.'''6 The liberty of Christ, which the Apostle here extols, gives us power to accomplish works of the spirit as opposed to. works of the flesh. Such works, are charity, '-'~ II Thess 3:10-11. ¯ .'2 See Acts 20:34; 18:3. '2'~ Mt 5:19. 2-'4 Ibid., 5:17. '-'~ Gal 5:13. 26 Ibid., 5:1. 72 March, 1959 CLOISTERED CONTEMPLATIVES joy, peace, long life, the spirit of service~ generosity, faith in others, kindness, self-control--"Against such things there is no law.'''v Even before the time of Saint Paul, Christ had spoken of the meaning of Christian liberty in a still more emphatic way: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.''-°8 Since our Lord did not hesitate to speak in this way, one can say in general that the law is for man, and not man for the law. This does not suppress one's obligation to observe the law, but it safeguards the freedom and the peace of the interior man. The extent of every law should be exactly understood, according as to whether it is divine or human, essential or accidental. To place the law above man as an absolute and not as a means whereby he attains his end is an error. Jesus had said of the Pharisees: "They bind together heavy and oppressive burdens and lay them on men's shoulders.'':9 We are convinced that a nun sincerely devoted to the contemplative life will "have no diffi-culty reconciling this delicacy of conscience in the observance of her rule and the performance of her duties with that peace which results from the tranquillity of liberty of the interior being. You will submit to the rules by observing them, but you will rise above them by living united to the Spirit of God and to His love. Characteristics of This Attitude We should like to add a word concerning the character-istics which ought to distinguish your interior attitude. "In a nun one expects to find first of all simplicity and humility; love f~r the contemplative life should exclude every desire of bein~ noticed, admired, or esteemed. In His Sermon on the Mount, our Lord severely reprimanded the Pharisees for their desire to be noticed by others.~° If you remain hidden, you will avoid psychological difficulties which are more "-'7 Ibid., 5:23. '-'s ME 2:28. '~-o': ~M Mt 6t :2 3:4. 1-6, 16-18. 73 PIUS XII Review for Religious frequent among women and more readily take hold of the feminine temperament. We have treated the contemplative life as an ascent to God in which you offer to Him your mind and your heart. This self-giving, inspired by supernatural motives, will l~e nourished by the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, which alone support an authentic love of contemplation. These virtues will give your contemplation a genuinely Christian character so that it will not seem just a psychological phenom-enon which comparative religious history finds among the most diverse peoples and in every age. In order to confirm the purity and sincerity of your char-ity, it will suffice to remind you of the celebrated description which Saint Paul gives of this virtue in the thirteenth chapter ~ of his First Epistle to the Corinthians--a passage on which you have already meditated often. Would that your daily lives might always progressively approach more closely" the ideal set down in that justly famous chapter. Gendrous de~,otion can not accommodate itself to constant tension, to a continual battle against almost insupportable obli-gations which one would reject if possible. It is indeed possible for God to permit a trial of this sort for some time in order to purifythe soul. But it can also happen that such a state of .mind results in a serious fall, in internal or external catastrophe. We will not consider the cases involving nervous or psy- ~chotic factors. Here We are thinking of normal persons, of nuns to whom this has already happened or is likely to happen. There can be no question of entering into a study of diagnosis or of therapy or of prognosis for such case~. But We have just indicated a psy.chic factor, a characteristic trait of the fervent practice of perfection which is. capable of preventing such mishaps. It is the conscious and joyful acceptance~by a nun of the life of each day. It is the optimism, not at all frenzied, but tranquil and solid, of our Lord who said: "I am 74 March, 1959 CLOISTERED CONTEMPLATIVES not alone, but My Father is with Me.''31 It is the indestructible confidence of the contemplative in Him who said: "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you.''3'-' These considerations and these sentiments determine the interior attitude of the contemplative. She knows by experience what she ought to do; and she wishes to order her life according to the Words of the "Apostle who said: "God loves the joyful giver.''33 What "Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning the material goods de~tined for the poor of Jerusalem she understands in the much l~r~ger sense of the gift of all one's being and one's every exterior action. Joy and happiness are the traits characteristic of-a sincere gift of oneself. We are conscious of this in reading the First Epistle of Saint Peter. He presupposes and observes this joy and happiness among the Christians to whom he writes and who are already turned toward Christ: "Him, though you have not seen, you love. In Him, though you do not see Him, yet believing, you exult with a joy unspeakable and tri-umphant; receiving as the final issue of your faith, the salva-tion of your souls.''34 To each of you We say: Let the faith, hope, and charity of Christ give you something of that joy which Peter obserged among the Christians to whom he wrote. At the end~of his epistle he returns to the same theme, exhorting the Christians to think of earthly sadness as inseparable from life in this world and as a means of rea~ching eternal glory: "Cast all your anxiety upon Him; when you have suffered a little while, He will perfect, strength.en, and establish you.'''~'~ It is the very idea which Saint Augustine expresses toward the end of his City of God. This earthly life with all its bitterness will pass away; we will then go to God, and our joy in possessing Him ~ See Jn 16:32. 3'-' Mt 11:28. a~II Cor 9:7. ~"~I IPbeidt ,1, 5:8:7--91.0. ~5 P~us XII will not pass away. "Ibi vacabimus, et videbimus; videbimus et amabimus; amabimus et laudabimus. Ecce quod erit in fine sine fine''s° ["There we shall rest and we shall look; we shall look and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise; behold what there shall be in the end and without end"]. Such should be the thoughts which sustain your life and give you the strength to live it with courage until the end without growing tired or discouraged, and thus to offer up to God a clean and perfect oblation. so De civitate Dei, 22, 30, 5; Migne, PL, ~ 41, col. 804. 76 Prac!:ice ot: :he I-Ioly See Joseph F. Gallea, S.J. CANON 509, § 1, obliges all superiors to inform their sub-jects of all decrees of the Holy S.ee concerning religious and to enforce such decrees. The activity and mind and will of the Holy See are also revealed, and sometimes in a more practical manner, by approved constitutions and com-munications addressed to individual religious institutes. An article drawn from these sources was published in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS in 1953.1 This article is based on the same sources concerning lay institutes from January 1, 1954. The order of material followed in the article is the usual order of the chapters of constitutions of lay institutes. This is the first part of a series of three. 1. Nature, purpose, and spirit. (a) Petitioning pontifical status. It has been declared and explained many times in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS that it is the sense of canon law and the mind and will of the Holy See that a diocesan con-gregation should become pontifical; that a diocesan congrega-tion is onIy in an initial, temporary, and probationary state; and that the petitioning of pontifical approval should not be unduly delayed." The intrinsic reasons for seeking pontifical approval were also given,3 as also the necessary conditions and formali-ties. a In 1957 twenty-four congregations received the decree of praise from the Holy See, of which six were from the United States. Eighteen congregations were definitively ap-proved, but only two were from the United States.~ It was not a poor year, and we can hope that the accurate idea of pontifical approval is finally being grasped. The difficult birth of this idea is evident from a mere glance at some of the 1 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 12-1953-252-72; 285-90. -'Ibid., 9-1950-57-68; 10.1951.22; 11-1952-13-14; 12-1953-253-54; 15-1956-326. ~ Ibld., 9-1950-68. albid., 11-1952-14; 12-1953-253-54. ¯~ L'Acdvit~ della Santa Sede nel 1957, 124-25. 77 JOSEPH f. GALLEN Review for Religious institutes approved in 1957. Without any research, I know that one of these came into existence only in 1929, another is over a century old, and a third is just under a century. A hun-dred years is a long time to be on probation, especially when it is completely voluntary. (b) The union of religious insti: tutes: In any part of the world, and also in the United States, it is possible to find religious institutes, especially of sisters, that have been in serious difficulties for many years, for exam-ple, they are small, receive few applications from candidates, are in financial difficulties, and lack a personnel sufficient in" number and competence to carry out properly the works of the institute. Not all of these reasons are found in every case, and they vary in degree; sometimes there are other reasons also. The well-being and at times the salvation of such an institute is to unite with another similar but flourishing institute. Such unions are occurring. A rescript effecting a union 6f this type gives the following information: Recourse mu~t be made to the Holy See .for a union, since it implies the extinc-tion of one religious institute (c. 493). The consent of both institutes is necessary, and the opinion of the interested local ordinaries is requested. The union effects the extinction of the first institute; and its members, houses, and property apper-tain to the second institute. Evidently these persons are hence-forth to be governed and the property administered according to the constitutions of the second institute. The intention of the donor in any property given or bequeathed to the first institute is respected, and the canons concerning the dowries must be observed. The members of the.'first institute pass to the second in the same class, if there are various classes, and with the same rights of profession that they had in their former institute. Each of these is to sign freely a document in which he declares that he wishes to be a member of the second institute. Any religious who refuses to become a mem-ber of the second institute is to request an indult of seculariza-tion or a transfer to another institute, according to the i~orms of canon law. All unions evidently demand a sufficiently pro- 78 March, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE longed period of careful and prudent preparation.° Unions are also occurring among flourishing institutes, for example, those that have the same origin, spirit, and constitutions. The Holy See has on several occasions manifested its desire of such a union to particular institutes.7 (c) Federation of nuns. A huge proportion of the monasteries of nuns in the world have been federated or are in the process of federation. There are two such federations in the United States. Authoritative sta-tistics, including 1957, list no other federations in the United States nor any in the state of preparation,s Their absence is very conspicuous. The preliminary approaches to a federation have been made in some cases, and one federation appears to be near completion. "It has been emphasized in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS that the Holy See favors federations.~ (d) Aux-iliaries. A .congregation of sisters, whose mother house is in Italy, has affiliated to itself a new and distinctive type of auxili-aries. These are secular women who are sincerely desirous of a state of perfection in thee spirit of this congregation but, for various reasons, are prevented from living its constitutions com-pletely and fulfilling all its obligations, especially those of com-mon life. The purpose of these auxiliaries is their own sanctifica-tion and collaboration with the sisters in the apostolate, especially in education, catechetics, and in works that the religious can-not personally acdomplish because of their state and life of withdrawal from the world. The auxiliaries are of two classes. 1° Auxiliary Oblates. These constitute a secular institute, and ¯ therefore they profess and consecrate themselves to complete Christian perfection in a determined regime of life. 2° Aggre. gated Auxiliaries. These form only a pio. us union or associa-tion, with more limited spiritual and apostolic duties and a less strict bond of union with the religious institute. All the aux-iliaries share in the prayers and good works of the congregation 0 Cf. A. Bocquet, L'Ann~ Canomque, 4-1956-9-20. S Commentarium Pro Religiosis, 38-1957-371-73; ct:. J. Fohl, L'Ann~e Canon-ique, 4-1956- I85-86. ~ REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS," 12-1953-288; 15-1956-326-27. 79 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Revie~v .for Religi~.~ of sisters. Neither class has a distinctive dress, but they simply adhere to the traditional norms of gravity and Christian mod-esty. 2. Members and .precedence. At least seven congrega-tions of sisters abolished the class of lay sister. The Sacred Congregation of Religious readily grants an indult permitting all the lay sisters of a congregation to pass into the one class of sisters prescribed by the revised constitutions, without the need of a new noviceship or pr',fession and with all rights, as if they had been admitted to this one cla~s from the beginning. This. change demands the correction of all articles of the con-stitutions that specify or imply a distinction of classes. Requests to the Holy See for slappression of the class of lay sisters from monasteries and orders of nuns receive varying replies accord-ing to the tradition of the order. One monastery of nuns began to take extern sisters. Two sets of constitutions recently approved contain the statement that all the sisters are to assist in the common household duties. 3. The religious habit. A few congregations of sisters simplified their religious habit. This is praiseworthy, but al-most none of the changes were as complete.as they evidently should have been, and no change is in any danger of being termed radical. One set of constitutions states that, when the white habit is worn in hot countries, a cloth cincture may be substituted for the usual black leather cincture. Complaints have been m~lde about the use of a leather cincture dlaring the summer. In any thorough study of adaptation and simplifica~ tion, the color of the habit "should not be ignored. Is a black habit adapted to the' summer heat of the United States? It is amusing to reflect that a white habit is common in Oriental countries, yet both Orientals and Americans who have been in the Orient attest that our summer heat is more oppressive. Another set of constitutions declares that white shoes may be worn with the white habit. This right follows as a complement of the white habit, unless it is expressly forbidden by the con- 8O PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE stituiions. Some authors on renovation and adaptation have emphasized that excessive external distinctions should be re-moved from the class of lay brothers and lay sisters. One of these seems to be the white veil that is worn by professed lay sisters in at least very many monasteries of nuns. One purely contemplative monastery received permission to change this white veil to a black veil. A few superioresses of nuns are anything but hostile to reasonable adaptation. Several constitutions continue to specify a choir mantle of serge. Why this purely ceremonial garb should be of heavy material is incomprehensible to me. Formerly constitutions commonly forbade any change in the habit without the permission of the Holy See. In some later constitutions, this p.ermission was confined to a change in the form or color.'" Two sets of constitutions recently ap-proved state: "No general or permanent change in the form or color of the habit may be made without the permission of the Holy See." "No permanent, substantial, or general changes may be made in the habit without the permission of the Holy See." I believe we may hold that the permission of the Holy See is required only for a substantial change in the external appearance of the habit. Any change that does not modify this external appearance at all, as is true at least most frequently in a mere change of material, or that only accidentally modifies the external appearance may be made by the superior general with at least the advice of his council. 4. The dowry. One congregation received permission to borrow $100,000 from the dowry fund. As is true of any other debt, this amount is to be repaid within a reasonable time (c. 536, § 5). Canon 549 forbids any institute whatever, without a dispensation from the Holy See, to spend the capi-tal of even part of one dowry for any purpose whatsoever, even for the erection of a building, or the payment of a debt, before the death of the religious. Reasons such as those just cited Ibid., 12-1953-257. 81 JOSEPH Fi GALLEN. Review .for Religiow~ jtistify.,:g~ petition to .the Holy See to' use the 'capital sum of the dowries, This ~capital sum must be restored to any religious #ho definitively leaves her institute (c. 551, ~ 1).~ The practice of~ the Holy See has been to impose the obligation of restoring the amount expended; but one institute informs me that it has been granted a wider indult, that is, to use dowry funds throughout the institute for building purposes provided the provinces have sufficient funds at their disposal to return the dowries of. religious who might leave. 5. "The postulancy. The duration of the postulancy has assumed greater moment in recent years because of the educa- " tional pr.ogram for the young religious. The general desire ¯ in the United" State~is for a postulancy that will not preclude a full scholastic year. Provision has been made for this in two sets of constitutions recently approved by the Holy See: "Can-didates "before being admitted to the noviceship shall make a postulancy of not less than six complete months and not more than a year." "The time prescribed for the postulancy is one full year. The aspirant is admitted by the provincial sui~erior who may, for a just reason, prolong the prescribed time, but not beyond six months. For a grave reason, the superior gen-eral ma~), with the consefit of her" council, abbreviate the pre-~ Scribe'd time of postulancy, but nok beyond six months." Canon 539," § '1 c'o'ifimands a postulancy of .at least six months; and I see no reason why an abbreviation of a postulancy of a year requires a greater reason than its prolongation beyond a year. I~ prefer the latter article but believe that it should have read ~is follows: The time prescribed for the postulancy is a £ull. year. For a just reason, the superior general (or the higher superior), with the advice of his council, may abbrevi-ate or prolong this time, but not beyond~six months in either case. " ¯ 6. The noviceship. (a) Canonical impediments. Dispen-sations were granted to two married women to enter a mon- Ibid., 16-1957,164. 82 March, 1959 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE astery of nuns,. Both were converts and both had been di-vorced. I have a typed copy of the rescript of only one of these cases. This prescribes a longer postulancy, that is, of a year and with the usual right of prolonging it for another .six months. (b) Manner of beginning. In the former practice, of the Holy See, the constitutions were usually ~worded: "The canonical year begins with the reception of the habit." The word-ing was later changed-to: "The canonical year ordinarily begins with the reception of the habit." Constitutions-~ipproved within the last few years are. more commonly phrased: ,"The canonical year begins with the reception of the habit or in.any other manner determined by the superior general,, pro;tided in the latter :case that its inception is recorded in writing.'~ I see, no reason whW the different determination could not have been granted also to other higher superi6rs, for example, provincials. The superior general may certainly habitually delegate the faculty of making a different determination to these other higher superiors or even to other religious, for example, to the local superior of the novitiate house. The" new wording simply gives a superior greater facili,ty in permitting the be-ginning of a one-year noviceship on the day before the cere. mony of the. reception of the habit and also, irrespective of the duration of the noviceship, in permitting the beginning of the noviceship on the same day as the other members of a group to a postulant .who cannot attend the ceremony, for example, because of sickness. This entire matter was explained in the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 15-1956-222-24. (c) Duration. At least one congregation of sisters changed its noviceship of one year to two years. Of greater interest is the'fact that a purely contemplative monastery of nuns and a proposed .f.ederation of nuns have dbne the same thing. The historical reason for the longer noviceship of two years is that religious who have an active end were believed to require a longer and more solid spiritual formation. However, it can be maintained that a contemplative vocation is more difficult to discern; and it" can certainly be doubted that it requires a less prolonged or less ,83 JOSEPH ~. GALLEN Review for Religious skilled formation. (d) Dispensations from the second year. Rescripts from the Sacred Congregation of Religious dispens-ing from any part of the "second year contain the following conditions: "That the novices make a written request for the abbreviation of their noviceship, that these written requests 'and the rescript be .preserved in the files, and that mention 0f the requests, and of the rescript be made in the register of professions." (e) Separation of novices from the professed. Canon 564, § 1 commands that the novices are as far as possible to dwell in a part of the house distinct from the quarters of the professed. The same canon enacts that there is to be no communication between the professed and the-novices without a special reason and the permission of either the local or higher superior or the master of novices. This strict prohibition is to be observed also when there are but very few novices. It is to be remembered that those who have taken temporary vows are professed, not novices. They must therefore be separated from the novices in place and in communication. This applies "also to the monasteries of nuns. This canon is inserted in the constitutions of nuns by the Holy See, and khe quinquennial report (q. 87) for independent monasteries explic-itly asks whether the separation both in place and commun~- cation' is observed."-' One pu_rely contemplative monastery of nuns received an indult in 1955 permitting the professed oi: temporary vows to remain in the novitiate for further training under the mistress of novices. A proposed federation of nuns has included the same prescription in its constitutions. (f) Physical exercise. The constitutions of a congregation of sisters approved in 1954 contain the prudent provision that the nov-ices ought also to take physical exercise so that the recreation will benefit both body and mind. (g) Profession in danger of death. Admission to this profession has been reserved in the past to higher superiors, the superior of the novitiate house, and their delegates. Two sets of constitutions, approved in 12ibid., 11-1952-157-58. 84 PRACTICE OF THE HOLY SEE 1955 and 1956, introduce a welcome change by assigning the admission to, "the mistress of novices, any other superior, and their delegates." Since the mistress of novices is not a superior in the proper sense of the word, it would have been better to have phrased the article, any superior, the mistress of novices, and their delegates. The master or mistress of novices is the one most likely to b~ present in such circumstances, and a second-year novice may be outside the novitiate hou.se. If the constitutions contain the former wording, higher superiors may and should delegate their faculty habitually to all other superiors and to the master or mistress of novices. (h) Vacation outside the novitiate house. Two congregations received indults per-mitting the novices to spend about fifteen days a year in a country house of the congregation under the direction of the master of novices. (The rest of this article will appear in the May and July issues.) 85 Less Me Conan McCreary, O.l=.M.Cap. WeE ARE almost'always talking to somebody. Often dur-ing the day we speak to our neighbors, and in prayer we talk to God. However, most frequently we are conversing with ourselves. Our ideas come to our conscious-ness through words formed in our minds, and these words make up a more or less constant interior conversation with ourselves. This interior monologue is quite natural, and it serves many good purposes. It helps us to think more clearly and con-cretely. It helps us also to provide for the next moment. "Let's see, what shall I do next?" we ask ourselves. Then we await our own reply, "I think that I'll clean off my desk." There is more to this interior conversation than at first appears. It can be an indication of our spiritual worth. When most of our monologue is spent on our own interests, we tend to become self-centered. When it is turned more to God and Christ and His interests, we tend to become theocentric or Christocentric. One great secret of the interior life is to turn our interior conversation away from ourselves and to turn it to God. "How can we pray to Him Unless we are with Him? How can we be with Him unless we are often thinking of Him?" Brother Lawrence of tl~e Resurrection, o.C.D., asks so log-ically. 1 St. John the Baptist's words, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30), can hardly be. more aptly applied than to our interior conversation. How many times do not our rules or constitutions or by-laws exhort us to recollection. Yet, how often do we not have reason for embarrassment in the face of our feeble interior prayer. While urged to "direct every thought to God alone 1Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, The Practice o! the Presence of God (London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, Ltd., 1926), p. 38. 86 with every possible yearning of love,'"-' we find ourselves not just a little short of the ideal. The saints and the proficient in the spiritual life find their interior conversation with God one of their greatest joys. For them, ordinarily, no system is necessary. Recollection is simply the response to the presence of their beloved. Thomas of Celano wrote of St. Francis: " . . . he would often speak with his Lord in words. There [in solitary places] he would make' answer to his Judge, there entreat his Father, there rejoice with the Bridegroom, And in order that he might make the whole marrow of his being a whole-burnt offering in manifold w~Lys, he would set before his eyes in. manifold ways Him who is supremely simple. Often with lips unmoved he would ruminate within, and, drawing outward things inward, would uplift his spirit on high. And so the whole man, no( so much praying, as having become a living prayer, concentrated his whole atten-tion and affection on the one thing which he was seeking from the Lord.''3 For ~he less proficient in the spiritual life, recollection, though an undeniable joy, is often a burden. Not as spontaneous . as the saints, we find ourselves at a loss for words before God, not from awe, but from lack of something to say that is worth-while and attractive. If the saints run in the path of prayer, perhaps we can describe our way of interior prayer as a limping. We try to get aiong; we try to speak more with Godl but how far we are from being the athletes of the spiritual life that St. Paul would haste us be! If we have not yet been healed of our spiritual lameness by the name of Jesus (Acts 3:6), then it would not be out of place for us to use a cane to help us walk interiorly with God. Using a cane is much better than sitting still. Of course, a "-' Constitutions o/ the Capucbitt Friars Minor o/ Saint FrancD (Detroit: 1945J, art. 90. 3 Brother Thomas of Celano, The Li',,,'s of S. Fram'i.r o/ .4ssisi London: Methuen and Co., 1908), pp. 233-234. 87 CONAN MCCREARY Review for Religious cane is only a 'substitute for a better thing. When the better thing comes (that is, the spontaneous conversation with God in love) it is time to lay aside the substitute. Taking our cue from the Precursor, wh~ wanted Christ to grow greater and himself to become less, we might use the mnemonic line LESS ME as a cane, a means of giving us something to say to God in recollection. Each letter stands for~ a topic of conversation. The topics are merely suggested in the scope of this article. Not much imagination is required to expand each point according to personal tastes or needs. L stands for Lady, our Blessed Mother. It is always fitting to begin our recollection with her; we can either speak to her personally, or we can speak to our Lord about her. E stands for Eucharist. This may remind us of our reception of Holy Communion in the morning, and we can renew our affections; or, we may use it as an occasion of making a spiritual communion. S stands for Spirit, the Holy Spirit who dwells as guest in the center of our hearts: the very love of the Father and Son! S stands for secret. This can mean our little secret of reaching out to God often during the day, our favorite ejaculation as, "All for You, Jesus!" It can also mean our nosegay for this day. M stands for meditation; we have here an opportunity to renew the affections and resolutions of our morning meditation. E stands for examen, that is, the subject of our par-ticular examen with all its difficulties, which we can talk over with our divine model. This system, while it embraces many of the major s[tb-jects that spiritual writers recommend for recollection, is cer-tainly not everything. But it is something. It is a definite step 88 March, 1959 LESS ME toward turning our interior conversation to God. It is a help for us to make our exteriorly silent moments interiorly joyful and fruitful. The objective of a system of recollection is to dispose ourselves for two of God's most precious gifts: the consciousness of His presence and the spirit of prayer. When St. Paul exhorted the Ephesians to be interior men, he gave them a promise of great things: He told them that they would come "to know Christ's love which° surpasses knowledge" and that they would be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19). As Christ continues to increas~ in us and in our interior con-versation, we will come to know more and more what St. Paul meant. SOME BOOKS RECEIVED [Only books sent directly to the Book Review Editor, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana, are included in our Reviews and Announcements. The following books were sent to St. Marys.] The Graces of Christmas. By Bernard Wuellner, S.J. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. $3.00. What Is a Saint? By" Jacques Douillet. Translated by Donald Attwater. Hawthorn Books, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York 11, New York. $2.95. Who Is the Devil? By Nicholas Corte. Translated by D. K. Pryce. Hawthorne Books, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York 11, New York. $2.95. Anne de Xainctonge: Her Life and Spirituality. By Sister Mary Thomas Breslin, U.T.S.V. The Society of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin, ~Marygrove, Kingston, New York. The Eucharist and Christian Life. Second Series. By Aloysius J. Willinger, C.SS.R., D.D. Academy Library Guild, P.O. Box 549, Fresno, California. $2.00 (paper cover). 89 ,Joseph !:he In :erior Life Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J. TO ACHIEVE the perfection of his being, a man must cultivate the interior life with an attentiveness which not only equals but surpasses, that spent on his external activi-ties. One of the major causes of the restless, disturbed, frus-trated personalities in society today is the neglect of this interior life. At times we are tempted to look upon this as an ill peculiar to our present age; but a glance at the Old Testament shows that the same indifference to the life of the spirit pre-vailed long ago. "With desolation is all the land made desolate," laments Jeremias, "because there is none that considereth in the heart" (Jer. 12:11). And in figurative language he refers to these depthless creatures as "broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jet. 2:13). Throughout Holy Scripture the secret of the spiritual life is enunciated again, and again: "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21); "All the glory of the king's daughter is within" (Ps. 44:14); and it is finally spelled out by the elo-quent St. Paul, who poses a question that contains the great soul-shaking reality of life: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Cor. 3:16). Awareness of the presence of this divine Guest within the soul constitutes a sine Cilia non for the development of the interior life. Anyone who has read the Gospels, or even lis-tened to the reading of them at Sunday Mass, has heard the fact as St. John presents it in Christ's own word~. "If anyone love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him" (John 14:23). perhaps it is the profound mystery concealed behind these simple words which overwhelms the ordinary intelligence, with the result that an impact of grace almost as 90 ST. JOSEPH forceful as that which swept Saul from his horse on the road to Damascus is required before one comes to grips with the fact of the indwelling of the Trinity in the soul which is in the state of grace. Granted this impact of grace and the resulting awareness, three aspects of the cultivation of the interior spirit present themselves: (1) Who is this divine Guest? (2) What inter-feres with my attention to Him? (3) What contributes to my intimacy with Him? We read in the Divine Comedy that Dante, embarking upon his unfamiliar journey, felt the need of an experienced guide and selected for this purpose one whom h~ was proud to call his master--the poet, Vergil. Following his example, we would be wise to search out an experienced master of the interior. life and learn froin him the answers to the three questions mentioned above. The names of many may come to mind, but surely there is one saint whose unique prerogatives stamp him as being pre-eminently suited to instruct and guide others in the way of interior growth. This is St. Joseph who, as Leo XIII said, is next in dignity to the Mother of God. (ParentheticaJly', it might be asked why" St. Joseph would be chosen in preference to our Blessed Lady as a guide in the development of the interior life. The answer to that question will be given later in this. paper.) The three Persons of the adorable Trinity dwell within every sou! living in grace. To each of these Persons the soul bears a special relationship which is indicated by the names which man has been inspired to confer upon Them. Man is the child of God, so he calls God ~Father." Through the mystery of the Incarnation and l~edemption, man can claim as his elder brother God the Son. And as man depends for his physical existence upon the breath of life, so he lives his super-natural life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The interior life of St. Joseph rested upon his unique relationship with each of the three Persons of the Blessed 91 SISTER EMILY JOSEPH Review for Religiot~s Trinity. In Father Faber's phrase, he was the "shadow of the Eternal Father." He was in men's eyes the legal father of Mary's child, Christ the Son of God. And he was the divinely selected spouse of the virgin who had conceived by the over-shadowing of the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph was too humble to be overwhelmed by the dignity thus conferred upon him. Like Mary, he pondered these mysteries deep in his heart. Small wonder that no recorded word of his has come down to us! How could the feeble tongue of man give utterance to the thoughts, too deep for words, which God's mysterious choice of him evoked? Here ii the first lesson St. Joseph would teach us, namely, not to make public the spiritual favors which God deigns to confer upon the soul, but rather, as the Imitation of Christ says, "to keep secret the grace of devotion." Each soul is uniquely loved by the Holy Trinity. For each soul God has a specially designed pattern of sanctity which will necessitate His conferring unique graces which can be neither shared nor understood by others. "The kingdom of God is within you." To the extent that one concentrates upon this interior kingdom, the external' world diminishes in importance. One gains spiritua{ perspective, the material becomes subject to the spiritual, and peace, the tranquility of order, ensues. In his first Epistle, St. John utters the uncompromising advice: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world . For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life" (I John 2:15-16). Herein lies the answer to the second question regarding the divine Guest of our souls, namely, What interferes with my attention to Him? Only mortal sin will drive away the indwelling Trinity and destroy the supernatural life. But the interior spirit can be reduced to what might be called a comatose state if its strength is sapped by the distractions of the world. One who embraces the religious life enjoys a comparative security against the allurements of the threefold 92 March, 1959 ST. JOSEPH concupiscence St. John mentions. Against distractions, how-ever, no one has yet found air-tight protection. And distiac-tions are the bane of the interior spirit. In general, distractions can be reduced to five categories. First, there are those which arise from the responsibilities and occupations of one's state in life. They may range from the problems faced by the community laundress or cook to thos~ of the college president or superior general of a large congregation. They concern matters Which the faithful ~s~rvant of his Lord must handle prudently and efficiently for the'good of souls and the harmonious functioning of community life. They may involve irritating, even exasperating, negotiations with unreason-able associates, either within or outside the "framework of religious life. "Here," one might be tempted to say, "St. Joseph has had no experience!" Such is far from the case. St. Joseph was' in business. He" had to earn a living and.support a family. Into his carpenter shop came customers of every type: those who challenged the price he set for a piece of furniture that had required expensive materials; those who came on one day with.one set .of directions for their new barn and the next day appeared with an entirely different plan. . Nazareth had its share of complainers, of inconsiderate and selfish add annoying townspeople. The .incidents which crowded into St. Joseph's day might be paralleled in the daily routine of many a religious. Amid them all he remained unperturbed. In each of his customers he saw a child of the 'Eternal Father, a brother of his foster Son, an actual or potential temple of the Holy Spirit: Thus he warded off the distracting irritations which cropped up like weeds in the course of his .business Iife. Many in religious iife are spared the anxiety of financial ~problems, but to many others they are a rich source of plaguing distractions. Those who are faced with responsibilities of this kind usually hold a position as head of a community. They should, then, turn confidently to St. Joseph, head of the Holy 93 SISTE~ EI~IILY JOSEPH Review for Religious Family, for advice as to how they can prevent this kind of distraction from interfering with the interior, spirit. "Discuss the problem with the Holy Trinity, as I always discussed such problems with my foster Son," St. Joseph says. "These prob-lems cannot~ be ignored; but they must not be allowed to assume an exaggerated importance. Keep first things first. Increase you~r love of the spirit of poverty, so dear to the divine Child who chose the chill cave of Bethlehem for His birth-place and a stranger's tomb for His burial. You must develop, too, unlimited trust in God's bounty and providence. Remem-ber the incident of the Kings' arrival in Bethlehem? ,The valuable treasures which they presented were entirely unex-pecte. d and provided for the traveling expenses for us dur!ng those days of flight into Egypt when I had no source of in-come, In all times of distress" learn to say: 'God can pro-vide; God did provide; 'God will provide!' " A third,, and fertile, source of distractions is what men in the world call ."politics." Within community life one is less often distracted by the political problems, of the world. The religious seem-to apply spiritual principles to this depart-ment of life with considerable facility. It is the question, "To whom will God.grant authority in this house where I must live n,e.xt year and how will he exercise that authority?" that yields a rich crop of distractions. Idle speculation upon the superiors to be appointed within the community, needless com-mentary (often uncharitable) about the policies and directives of superiors, resentful acceptance oi: the superior's decision --all this has the soporific effect of a powerful drug upon the interior life. The gospel presents an inspiring example oi: how St. Joseph would direct us to act in the face of an unwelcome, not to say unreasonable, order given by an unattractive superior.~ Picture the scene on a street corner in Nazareth when the proclamation of the proud Roman ruler, Caesar Augustus, was posted. The decree stipulated that every Jewi.sh citizen must go to 94 March, 1959 ST. JOSEPH the city. of his fathers and there be enrolled. Fiery resentment ran through the crowd as they read the. unexpected order. Impatient, critical remarks and sneers passed from one a.ngry Jew to the other. One in the.crowd, however,, re.ad the decree sil.ently, humbly.- ~For Joseph, it was an expression of God's will, made known to him through His legitimate representative. Granted, it would entail inconvenience and hardship for him-self and especi.ally for Maiy. Still, it was God's will and .with-out question, he set about complying with the order. From long practice, phrase ~after phrase from a .familiar psalm sprang to. his !ips: ".Behold I have longed after thy precepts; quicken me in justice . I am ready, and am not troubled: that I may l~eep thy commandments . Thy word is a lamp to my. feet, and a light to my paths. ~ I will rejoice at, thy.wqrd.s, as one that hath found great spoil" (Ps. 118: 40, 60, 105, 162). Could one seek a more excellent .guide for overcoming the obstacles to growth of the irlterior,spirit? The.distracti°ns just mentioned may well be avoided by the truly fervent, religious who ha~ gained ~a ~d.egree of mastery of th~ spirit of[ humble obedience. Yet he ~ay be less facile in avoiding distractions which arise from the lot common to the fallen sons of Adam, namely, sickness, trials, misfortunes, whether personal or pertaining to his dear one~: To love is to wish for the well-being of the beloved. How can one be otherwise than distracted when confronted with a serious situa-tion, say within one's family, which portends unhappiness, physical suffering, or spiritual danger from one bound by the closest of human ties? The answer is given by the very word "distraction" which comes from a Latin word that means "to draw in a different direction."" One who is intent upon the development of the interior life directs all his thoughts, all his desires, all his concerns ~and anxieties to the attention of the divine Guest dwelling within his s0ul. "My thbughts are not your tho[lghts, nor your way my ways," says the Lord (Isa. 55:8). The truly interior man strives ever more and 95 SISTER EMILY JOSEPIt Review .fo~" Religious more earnestly to think with the mind of Christ, to see God's hand in afflictions as well as in blessings, to recognize in the cross the sign of God's ineffable love. St. Paul makes explicit ¯ reference to this when he writes to the Corinthians: "In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed: we are .strakened, but are not destitute; we suffer, persecution, but are "n.ot fc~rsaken;., though our outward man is corrupted, yet .the inward man is renewed day by day.~.~., . Winlie" we logk not ~at the things which are sden, but,:::a°~:."the¯ thir~gs ~vhich. ard not" seen. For.the things which are.%e~n, are temporai(¯:bfii~ the tl~ing~ which are not seen, are "etet~nal." ([I Cot. 4~'8ii1.'8) From the many trials which St:7!.-j:~seph experienced, may be selected, and studied with a"--.'~.k;ii~:w to seeing how a man . of truly interior spirit reacts to aglfi:~i0ns. Consider the loss of the .bo~, Christ on the trip to~::~erusalem. Imagine the parents' and anxiety when the' : ; ! covered absence. The anguish of St. Joseph may even"~.~Pe surpassed that of our LAdy since as head o~ the famii~.(~'~!:was regl~onsible for ~heChild." We do not read of.:hh~::~:b'fiiplaining, self-reproach, ¯or,a~omztng expressmns of ~rmf-:~'J'n~:almost every scerfe where .~. ¯ We meet him in the gospel;, St.' ~h~i3h shows himself a man -"~ " "bf a&ion. As soon as the Bo~,'s absence was diSco~;ered, he .~ ' '.bdgaff a vigorous search for Him. "Thy Father ~hd I," Mary ' . as to te!l her Son when¯ He was found, ~'have .sought thee ¯ ¯ .sorrowing (Luke 2:48). Within those distressing days and nights of searching, St. Joseph experienced all the desolation, : .the 'fearsome pain of loss endured b~ souls deprived of God's ":'.:.~ensible presence. Here was the crucial test of :his spirit of .,.7 ?:"iinterior prayer. May it not be, since .experience proves that ".:::.-;[:prayer is almost utterly":impossible in such affliction, that one i'].:~:.::.::[ i:.:!tingle phrase from a Messianic psalm constituted his three-'.,:prayer? ."My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Ps. 21:2): .just asno one is immune from trials and thd distractions they beget, so~ no one c/in live in this world without sociM con- 96 March, 1959 ST. JOSEPH tacts. Man is constituted by nature a social being. Grace perfects nature. One must attain sanctity as a member of the Mystical Body. This is the whole tenor of the teaching of Christ, the import of His sacramental system, the design He instituted for His Church. Yet, paradoxically, social contacts are a prolific source of distractions for one who strives to live an interior life. In fact, all four categories 9~f distractions men-tioned above could be telescoped into this one. Every joy, every sorrow, every dFsire, every undertaking of the day elicits reactions from or is directed toward someone with whom we are associated. Holy can we possibly devote ourselves to the interests of. the other members of the Mystical Body and yet prevent them from inaking intrusions upon our interior.,iife? St. Joseph.directs us again, and his direction is that ofl 'a devoted Hebre~i~'ivho had penetrated deeply into the manner of serving God."." From the first pages of the book' of Genesis, man had worshipedGod by sacrifice. According to the pre-cepts of the Jewish law, Joseph offered the regularly prescribed ~ sacrifices. But more than that: upon the altar of his own :~ heart he offered constantly the joys, disappointments, toils, ¯ fears, and vexations that resulted from his social contacts. Joseph did not live in silent isolation. He lived close to Jesus and Mary; close, also,-to the townsmen of Nazareth, the strangers of Egypt; and too close, for comfort, to Herod! The man of interior spirit comes to the hour of sacrifice we~iring a "coat of many colors," woven of the threads of his daily social contacts. This garment clings to him closely, seems, in fact, to be part of him, and is part of the sacrifice of his entire self which the loving servant of God makes to his Lord and King. But, because in God's mercy he lives in the New Dispensation, he may unite his daily~ hourly sacrifice to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which is offered "from the riging of the sun to the going down" (Mal. 1:11). And even as, by the myst~ery o. transubstantiation, the bread and wine are changed int6 the Body and Blood of Christ, so the insignificant offering 97 SISTER EMILY JOSEPH Review for Religious of a tear, a smile, a headache or a heartache will be transformed and absorbed into the "clean oblation" so acceptable to the Lord. To grow in the interior life is to increase one's intimacy with the indwelling Trinity. There are certain positive meas-ures one can take, as is evident from the life of S~. Joseph, in order to secure this increased intimacy. Although they must bE mentioned successiv.ely, it is difficult to assign them an order bf importance. First there comes to mind, naturally, the silence of St. Joseph--not the silence of a taciturn man, but the reverent silence that accompanies worship. Noise, bustle, feverish confusion create an atmosphere inimical to the interior spirit. The mere absence of these elements, however, may denote nothing more stimulating than the stillness of a corpse. The silence, conducive to interior' growth must be. a vital, dy-namic force such as the silence which accompanies the falling of the dew, the germination of seeds, :the ripening of. ~vheat. "I will lead her into the wilderness: and I. will speak to her heart" (Osee 2:14). In hushed tones the divine Guest speaks of His love. In cool, tranquil silence He will be heard. Closely allied to this need for silence is the need for detachment. A poet of our own day, T. S. Eliot, has phrased it for us: Teach me to care and not to care; Teach me to sit still. This seems to have been St. Joseph's motto. For instance, w. hen the angel instructed him to return home from Egypt; the directions were vague, incomplete. Joseph pondered: Should he return to Bethlehem or Nazareth? His heart was unattached, he did not care; yet he did care: Would Bethlehem, now under the rule of Archelaus, be as safe for the divine Child and His Mother as was Nazareth? Prudence rather than the attractions of the place determined Joseph's choice of Nazareth. Again, ¯ when he first learned that Mary was to bear a child and the angel had not yet revealed to him the mystery of the Incarna- 98 March, 1959 ~ST. JOSEPH tion of the Word, Joseph showed that not even his beloved spouse was so dear to him that he would compromise his conscience. Only to God and to His law did he cling with resolute attachment. Several times in speaking of St. Joseph's conduct it has been intimated that there freqfiently welled up within his heart a phrase or passage from the familiar psalms of his royal ancestor, David. Like every other devout Jew, Joseph had learned these psalms as a young boy and recited them often at the prescribed hours of prayer. It is not surprising, then, that in times of trial, amid frivolous or .irritating ~ompany in his shop, or in the quiet, reposeful evenings at the little home in Nazareth the inspired words would be in his heart and on his lips as he turned his thoughts to the God he loved and with whom he wished to converse. For the interior man no prac-tice could yield richer rewards than the cultivation of similar familiarity with the virile, expressive prayers which the Church has wisely and artistically incorporated into the Divine Liturgy. The practice of ejaculatory prayer is close to this; but why settle for something less than the best? The psalms bear the infallible stamp of approval of Holy Mother Church who declares .them divinely inspired ~by the Holy Spirit. And now it is time to answer the question posed earlier in this paper. Why should St. Joseph be chosen in prefer-ence to our Blessed Lady as a guide in the development of the interior life? Simply because St. Joseph had something that our Lady never had and he can therefore teach it to us, namely, devotion to her! St. Joseph learned ~o love God more by watching Mary love Him. He learned to spe~k to God more effectively by joining his voice with hers. He offered a nobler service to God through serving her. Mary is more than a guide along the way to sanctity. She is the mediatrix of all graces. Joseph is an experienced, inval-uable guide, a master par excellence of the spiritual life; but one can achieve intimacy with the Holy Trinity without his 99 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious guidance. But Mary is indispensable since in the divine econ-omy (as most theologians hold) all graces flow to us through her. Hence, devotion to our Lady, Temple of the Blessed Trinity, holds a prominent place in the life of one who would grow in the interior spirit; and none can be found to surpass St. Joseph in de~otion to his beloved spouse, Mary the Mother of God. Survey Roman Documents R. F. Smith, S.J. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE will survey the contents of Acta Apostlicae Sedis during the months of .October and November, 1958. Throughout the article all page references will be to the 1958 AAS (v. 50). Pius XII In the first two issues of AAS which appeared after the election and coronation of Pope John XXIII, the text of the speeches and addresses given by Plus XII in the last weeks of his life were published. On September 28, 1958 (AAS, pp. 745-48), Pius XII broadcast a message to the people of Ecuador on the occasion of the third National Eucharistic Congress of that country. He told the Ecuadorians that Christian life is innocence and openness in children; purity and moraliW in adolescents; integrity and fidelity in matrimony; unity and mutual help in the family; brotherliness and mutual respect among all human persons; justice, charity, and peace in social 'relations. But all of this, he pointed out, is impossible. without the strength that comes only from the Eucharist. In another radio message on September 17, 1958 (AAS, pp. 741-45), Pius XII spoke to the International Marian Congress held at Lourdes. He told the members of the Congress that in this critical hour Mary wishes to teach her children the true sense of human life by showing its relation to that other life which alone will give men true and perfect happiness. At Lourdes, he concluded, a window has been opened on heaven; and he begged his listeners 100 March, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS to pray earnestly that hatred and discord may end, that the insolent voices of lust and pride may be stilled, and that the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding may dawn upon the world. On August 29, 1958 (AAS, pp. 674-79), Pius XII delivered an allocution to the International Congress of the Third Order of St. Dominic, telling the tertiaries that they should be marked by the possession of St. Dominic's characteristic ardor for the defense of the Catholic faith; for the Church expects from them a collabora-tion as efficacious as was that of the saint at the time of the Catharist and Waldensian heresies. He exhorted them to a life of prayer, noting that though they could not give long hours to contemplation, still they could cultivate a permanent attention to the things of God by a devout study of Scripture, the liturgy, and patristic writings. Likewise he urged on them the necessity of an unceasing battle against everything that could be an obstacle to their full growth in the life of Christ within them. Finally, he encouraged them to participate in Catholic Action, pointing out the especial need for lay workers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The Pope con-cluded his allocution by suggesting to his listeners to keep before their minds the example of their patroness, St. Catherine of Siena. On September 14, 1958 (AAS, pp. 696-700), Pius XII addressed members of the International Office of Catholic Education. He warned them that for a school to be Christian it is not sufficient that it provide a course in religion or that it impose certain prac-tices of piety; in additon it is necessary that truly Christian' teachers communicate to their students the riches of a profoundly spiritual life. Hence, he added, the exterior organization of the school, its discipline and its program, must be adapted to the school's essential function of communicating an authentic spiritual sense. The students, he continued, should be" taught to unite them-selves to the life of the Church by participating in the liturgy and the sacraments; they should be initiated into works of the apostolate; and the horizons of the Church's missionary work should be opened to them. Moreover, they should be taught never to conceive their future careers .merely as social functions with no relation to their status as baptized Christians. Rather they should be trained to regard their future work as an exercise of their responsibility in the work of the salvation of the world, convinced that by seriously engaging themselves as Christians on the temporal level, they at 101 R. F. SMITH Review for Religion,s the same time realize their highest spiritual destiny. After express-ing his regret that Catholic schools do not always receive due support from public authority, the Vicar of Christ concluded by saying that the work of every Christian teacher is to announce the Savior to those who are ignorant of Him and to perfect those who already know Him. On September 9, 1958 (AAS, pp. 687-96), Plus XII addressed the members oi~ the International College of Psychopharmacology. In the principal part of his address the Holy Father considered the morality of using such drugs as chloropromazine and reserpine. Morality, he said, demaads first of all that there be the deepest respect and consideration for the human person, since a human being is the noblest of all visible creatures, made to the image of God by ci:eation and through redemption inserted into the Mystical Body of Christ. Even when afflicted by the severest of mental maladies, he added, the human person remains superior to all brute animals, for he continues to be a being destined one day to enjoy the immediate possession of God. The Pope then went on to summarize for his audience the moral teaching he had given in the allocutions of February 24, 1957 (see the summary given in gEVXF.w FOR RELIGIOUS, 16 [July, 1957], 228-33), and on April 10, 1958 (see gEV~F~W FOR RELIGIOUS, 17 [Sept., 19581, 293-96). A~ter expressing his regret that in some regions tranquilizing drugs are abused because they are at the free disposition of.the general publi.c, the Pontiff concluded his address by urging his hearers to continue their researches for the relief of human suffering. On September 5, 1958 (AAS, pp. 726-32), Plus XII addressed the International Society for Blood Transfusion, telling them that it is necessary to inform the general public about the laws of heredity, especially as they refer to the transmission of blood deficiencies and defects. Accordingly, he said, it would be good to organize bureaus of information and consultation like the Dight Institute in the United States where young people planning marriage could be informed about these matters. The Vicar oi: Christ concluded by noting that the Dight Institute does not aim to repress fecundity nor does it give information on the method to be used in "planning" families. A week later, September 12, 1958 (AAS, pp. 732-40), Plus XII spoke to the International Society of Hematology on the means of preventing the transmission of defective hereditary traits. The solu-tion to this pr6blem, he said, can not be found in artificial insemination, 102 March, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS which is forbidden not only to the unmarried, but also to the married. Neither is voluntary adultery permissible, since no married person may put his conjugal rights at the disposition of a third party. Like-wise direct sterilization may not be utilized; for such sterilization, whether temporary or permanent, whether of the man or woman, is illicit by reason of the natural law. The Pope added, however, that in given cases indirect sterilization may be permitted. Thus if all the conditions of the principle of. double effect are present, a woman may at the direction of her physi.i:ian take certain types of pills to cure a malady of the uterus, even though the pills may cause temporary sterility. After expressing his alarm about the favorable reaction of some moral theologiang to recently discovered drugs that can be used to induce sterility, the Pope went on to condemn artificial birth control. He pointed out, however, that the Ogino-Knaus method is morally justified if it is used for proportionately serious reasons, adding that eugenic considerations may be such. He praised the practice of adoption, .remarking, however, that it is necessary that children of Catholics be given to adoptive parents who are also Catholics. In the latter part of' his allocution the Pope pointed out that while one might advise against marriage between persons with a hereditary blood defect, still one could not forbid such a marriage, since the right to marry is one of the fundamental rights of the human person; moreover, in this whole area it must always be re-membered that men are not generated primarily for earth but for heaven. The Vicar of Christ also said that if a married couple discovered after their marriage that they possessed the blood defect characteristic of Mediterranean regions, this discovery would not in-validate their marriage, unless the absence of every hereditary defect had been made a condition of the marriage contract. Similarly, the "Rh situation" can not be regarded as a reason for the nullity of a marriage, even when this situation results in ~he death of the children from the first pregnancy; for the object of the matrimonial contract is not the infant, but the right to the accomplishment of the natural marriage act. On August 17, 1958 (AAS, pp. 701-05!, Pius XII broadcast a message for the conclusion of the traditional Catholic Week held in Berlin. He t61d his German listeners that the city in which they were meeting was a symbol of a divided people; nevertheless, as he reminded them, the days they had just spent together should show 103 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious how communion in a common faith can unite them in spite of all material barriers and frontiers. He urged the Catholics of West Germany to increase their generosity to the refugees from the East and exhorted Catholics living in the Communist zone of Germany to do everything in their power to attenuate the effects on their children of schools that are without God and against God. Finally he pleaded with his listeners not to separate religion from life. It is always difficult, he said, to make a man a Christian; and this is doubly so today since the age of technique we live in can easily make men lose sight of spiritual and supernatural values. Christians today, he added, are much like Christians of the primitive Church--almost suffocated in a milieu of paganism. Catholics, therefore, of today need heroism to so live that they may be the s~It of the earth. On September 7, 1958 {AAS, pp. 679-83), Plus XII addressed the International Congress of Classical Archaeology, remarking on the constant interest of the Papacy in archaeology and pointing out that much in the pre-Christian era was a preparation for the coming of the Gospel message. On September 8, 1958 {AAS, pp. 683-87), the Pontiff addressed the International Congress of Judiciai~y Officials, advising them to be diligent, precise, and impartial in their work and urging them to be deeply aware of the inalienable rights of God over men and human affairs. The last document to be noted from AAS of this period as coming from the authority of Plus XII is a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, approving under the date of May 24, 1958 {AAS, pp. 711-12), the reassumption of the cause of Blessed Joseph Mary Tommasi (1649-1713), confessor, Theatine, and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. John XXIII The remaining pages of the issues of AAS during the period under survey were concerned with the details of the death of Plus XII (AAS, pp. 761-836) and the election and coronation of John XXIII (AAS, pp. 837-908}. During the course of the latter events, the new Pope had occasion to make four addresses which should be noticed here. Immediately after his election on October 28, 1958 (AAS, pp. 878-79), the newly elected Pope addressed the Cardinals of tl'ie conclave, giving them the reason why he had chosen the name of John. It was, he said, the name of his own father; the church of his baptism had borne the same name, as do innumerable churches throughout the world including the Lateran Basilica. Moreover, the ¯ name John was the one most used by Popes in the long history of 104 March, 1959 ROMAN DOCUMENTS the Papacy. Besides, he added, St. Mark, patron of Venice, also bore the name of John. But above all, he concluded, he had chosen the name because it was the name carried by the two men closest to Christ: John the Baptist and John th~ beloved disciple. The second address of John XXIII was given on October 29, 1958 (AAS, pp. 838-41), when the Pontiff broadcast a message to the entire Catholic world. After addressing all members of the Church, especially .those suffering persecution, the Holy Father gave striking evidence of his desire to work for peace. He called on the leaders of the world to work for peace rather than war, pointing out to them, however, that external peace can never be had unless men first enjoy peace within themselves. During the Mass of his coronation on November 4, 1958 (AAS, pp. 884-88), the Vicar of Christ delivered a homily in which he said that in his coming pontificate he would strive to achieve one thing more than anything else: to be a good pastor and shepherd for the entire flock of Christ. A d.ay later (AAS, pp. 900-902}, John XXIII spoke to the representatives sent by various countries to his coronation, reiterating to them his desir~ to work for peace. Three other documents concernifig John XXIII should be noted here; the first two (AAS, p. 904) give the text of telegrams sent by him to Cardinal Mindszenty and to Cardinal Stepinac, who were unable to attend the conclave; the third document, issued under the date of November 17, 1958 (AAS, pp. 905-06), is a letter to Monsignor (later Cardinal) Tardini, appointing him Secretary of State. This survey may be fittingly concluded by listing here the im-portant dates in the life of the new Pope as given in AAS, p. 902: Birth at Sotto il Monte, Italy--November 25, 1881 Priesthood--August I0, 1904 Domestic Prelate--May 7, 1921 Titular Archbishop of Areopolis--March 3, 1925. Consecration as archbishop--March 19, 1925 Apostolic Visitor--March 19, .1925 Apostolic Delegate--October 16, 1931 Titular Archbishop of Mesembria--November 30, 1934 Apostolic Nuncio--December 23, 1944 Cardinal--January 12, 1953 Patriarch of Venice--January 15, 1953 Election as Pope--October 28, 1958 Coronation--NovemBer 4, 1958. 105 Views, News, and Previews ~'~EVIEW,,FOR RELIGIOUS hopes to make "Views, News; and I'~Previews a standard part of each of its issues. In it will be published brief items concerning matters of interest to religious, such as anniversary celebrations of the founding of religious orders and congregations, educational and hospital matters, letters to the editor, and so forth. Readers of the R~.\,~Ew are encouraged to send such items to the editor. No such items can be returned to the sender nor can the l~Ev18w guarantee publication of any particular item. In 1956 the National Institute of Mental Health awarded Loyola University, Chicago, a five-year grant for developing mental health curricular materials for Catholic seminarians. After almost three, years of research and development, the Loyola Project, is now prepared to make public its preliminary work. The materials prepared by the Project on Religion and Mental Health are intended for eventual use in training men for the priesthood. The overall purpose in preparing the materials is to bring the facts and accepted conclusions of the behavioral sciences'to bear on the training and work of the con-temporary priest. When the materials have been completed and tested, they will be offered for use in Catholic seminaries throughout the country. The Loyola Project is under the direction of the Reverend Vincent V. Herr, s.J., and the Reverend William J. Devlin, S.J. Further details about the project may be obtained from either Father Herr or Father Devlin, at Loyola University, 6525 Sheridan Avenue, Chicago 26, Illinois. Father Joseph Lamontagne, S.S.S., is interested 'in obtaining a list of books that would help spiritual directors to prepare a can-didate for entrance into religious life. Father Lamontagne is interested in the matter because he is convinced "that a number of candidates fail to make the grade because of lack of sufficient preparation." Readers of the REw~.w who know of such books should write to Father Lamontagne at 184 76th Street, New York 21, New York. Registration for the summer session at Dominican College, San Rafael, California, will take place on the afternoon of June 27; classes 106 VIEWS, NEWS, AND PREVIEWS will begin on June 29 and extend until August 8. Besides'offering a complete program of undergraduate work, M.A. programs will be offered in biochemistry, education, English, history, and religion. The College also offers a five-year summer program' in theology and Scrip-ture; the program leads to either an M.A. degree in religion or a certif-icate in theology and is under the direction of the Dominican Fathers. The College will also offer for the sixth consecutive summer the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Leadership course. Campus resi-dence is available for sisters and lay women; for priests and brothers there is the possibility of residence with the Marist. Fathers. For further information write to: Sister M. Richard, O.P., Director ot~ Summer Sessions, Dominican College, San Rafael, California. The forty-fourth annual convention of the Catholic Hospital Association will be held May 30 through June 4, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri. The theme, of this year's convention will be "Management --A Sacred Trust." Some of the topics to be discussed at the con-vention are: management's effect on patient care: the management function of the department head or supervisors; personnel selection, placement, and motivation; management of materials, machines, and money; management of hospital markets; the importance of the in-dividual in intra-departmenfal and external hospital public relations; a program on management from the viewpoint of the mother house; a review of social changes that will be affecting the hospitals of the future; and ways of making the Catholic hospital more Catholic. Blessed Joseph Mary Tommasi, whose cause for canonization is noted in this issue's "Survey of Roman Documents," was born at Licata in Sicily on September 12, 1649. He was the eldest son of Duke Julius Tommasi of Palma; at fifteen he renounced his primo-geniture rights and entered the Theatine order at Palermo where .he was professoed on March 25, 1666. He was ordained priest in, 1673; and from that year until his-death he lived at Rome, principally at San Silvestro al Quirinale. He was one of the most learned men of his time, specializing in .scripture studies, ecclesiastical history, patristics, and especially Roman liturgy; in the last named branch of studies he is still an important authority. On May 18, 1712, he was created a cardinal. After a life of great austerity and charity, he died on Jan-uary 1, 1713. He was beatified by Pius VII in 1803 and is com-memorated on March 24. 107 QUESTIONS AND ANSW~.RS Review for Religious Saint Xavier College, Chicago, announces its twelfth summer-session Theological Institute, June 22-July 31. Two programs are offered: 1) A five-summer program leading to the Master of Arts Degree conferred by the Dominican College of St. Thomas Aquinas of River Forest, Illinois. 2) A three-summer program leading to a certificate in theology, Sacred Scripture, and canon law. Priests, brothers, and seminarians, as well as sisters, are admitted to both programs. The Reverend Reginald Masterson, O.P., Professor of Theology at St. Rose Priory, Dubuque, Iowa, Director of the Institute, and twelve Dominican Fathers comprise the teaching staff. For further information address: The Director of the Summer Session, Saint Xavier College, Chicago 43, Illinois. Question,s Answers [The following answers are given by Father Joseph ~. Gallen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland.] m5-- Why do we have so many outstanding novices and so many mediocre religious? This is certainly a large question. Some religious fortunately rise above their formation; but ordinarily the mature, cap'able, pro-gressive, and spiritual religious is had only by a suitable, competent, and sufficiently prolonged formation. It is obvious that all aspects of such a formation have been lacking in many institutes. Novice masters can so readily mistake external regularity for an interior life. Perhaps no principle of the movement of renovation and adaptation is of greater value than the insistence on individual formation and the necessity of a spirituality founded on personal conviction. The latter, ordinarily speaking, is the measure of the permanence of the novice's "spirituality. "The same thing happens in many of our young men that we encounter in so many Christiins of our day. They were born, grew up, and lived in an atmosphere that was Christian more by tradition than by conviction. There are so few Christians of conviction and of life; they so readily fall before difficulty and sacrifice. Many of our youth when assigned outside the house of formation, placed in contact 108 March, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS with the life and spirit of the world, and deprived of the aid of living in a house of studies gradually descend to making a pact with a mediocre life. Others, and they are not so few, collapse after scarcely one conflict of soul. Others, and not always the more nu-merous, retain their fervor." Reverend A. Cecchin, O.S.M., Acta et Documenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis, III, 155-56. "To form the moral judgment the mistress will devote herself to making" her subjects understand the justification for the regula-tions and customs to which they are subjected. While leading them to obey supernaturally, even without understanding, she will try as far as possible to do away with the automatism which leads religious to fulfil the tasks assigned to them without caring about their pu.r-pose or their value. In order to form the conscience permanently, it is essential that she should not be satisfied with forming habits devoid of all convictiofi which disappear in a changed environment as soon as the surroundings of the novitiate have been left. Without tolerating the spirit of destructive criticism it is necessary to develop moral convictions which prevent routine from depriving one's cuso tomary actions of their spiritual value and their attractiveness." Rev-erend Reginald Omez, O.P., Religious Sisters, 235-36. ¯6- Our constitutions state: 'tin affairs of minor importanc% it is always advisable for the mother general to ask the opinion of her councilors but she is not obliged to follow it." Isn't this article too restrictive of the authority of the mother general? Any superior is evidently obliged to seek the consent or advice of his council when this is commanded by canon law or the con-stitutions. The practice of the Holy See in approving constitutions places great emphasis on the office of councilor, and the constitu-tions usually recommend that any superior should seek the advice of his council in 'other important matters. This recommendation should be followed even when it is not contained in the constitutions. The only matters that remain are those of lesser importance and of no real importance. It is evidently restrictive of the authority of a superior even to recommend that he seek .the advice of his council ¯ in such matters. He would then be deprived of almost any power of acting without the advice of his council. Therefore, the article quoted above must refer only to matters of relatively greater im-portance. 109¯ QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious --7-- Is there any law of the Chur~:h on the color of the glass of the sanctuary lamp? The Code of Canon Law (c. 1271) does not legislate on the color of the glass of the lamp that is to burn constantly ~before the tabernacle in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. Therefore, car~onists and moralists do not discuss this topi'c at a~ny length and very frequently do not even mention it. On June 2, 1883, the Sacred Congregation of Rites replied in the affirmative to the.follow-ing question: "May the usage be tolerated of using lamps of glass that is not transparent or translucent but colored, for example, green or red?" (SRC, 3576, 5). It is certain from this reply that colored glass, and in particular green or red, is tolerated. Some canonists, moralists, and rubricists affirm that such colored glass is permitted. The reply does not prescribe but evidently presupposes as preferable transparent or translucent (clear) glass. Therefore, the literal sense of the one law of the Church on this matter is that clear glas.s, is p.referable but colored glass, and in particular green or red, is tolerated. Another argument for the clear glass is that white is the liturgical color of the Blessed Sacrament, and this is undoubtedly the reason why clear glass is preferred in the reply of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Because of thisofficial reply and the color of the Blessed Sacrament, liturgists and specialists in church building and furnishings are more apt to emphasizd the ~lear glass. O'Connell- Fortescue, The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, 6. note 5: "The glass of the lamp should be white but colored glass is toler-ated.': O'Connell, Church Building and Furnishing, 235: "The glass of the lamp that burns before the tabernacle should be white (the color of the Blessed Sacrament), but colored glass is tolerated." Directions for the Use of Altar Societies and Architects, 35: however, the glass vessel is visible, it should be of white (clear) glass, which is the liturgical color of the Blessed Sacrament, though the use of colored glass is tolerate~d.'' Anson, Churches Their Plan and Furnishing, 112: "Most liturgical authorities recommend that the glass vessel . . . should be white, this being the color associated with the Blessed Sacrament, according to Roman usage. The Sacred Congregation of Rites has tolerated lamps of colored glass, e. g., red, blue, green.". O'Shea, The Worship of the Church, 195: "White or clear glass is to be prel%rred to colored, although that is 110 Marc]~,1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS tolerated." Reinhold, The American Parish and the Roma~r Liturgy, 25-26: "Sermons have described how the iittle red light gives the Catholic churches an animated character, their climate of divine presence, and how visiting Catholics feel at home and called to prayer wherever the 'little red light' shows that the church is 'in-habited' by God. Actually, however, the sanctuary lamp should not be red but colorless . Thus, this is not only a law but also an observance against our own modern custom, and this for the very important reason that separate colors have a symbolical meaning. Colored lights are never to be used for the Holy Eucharist in any form whatsoever because the Body and Blood of the Lord, the ful-heSS and source of all sanctity, is to be symbolized by an unbroken or full light which more properly signifies the divine presence. The components o~ white or the partial colors Imade visible through a prism or in a rainbow) are fit to represent only partial sanctity or holiness by participation. If we use externals to point to spiritual realities at all, we ought to use the correct ones." I do not see why white, the color of the Blessed Sacrament, is not verified by a white as well as a clear glass. The former can appear to give an even whiter light. For the same reason, it can be held that a white glass is in accord with the preference of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. As is evident also from the quota-tions given above, not all the authors who place greater insistence on a white glasg understand this term exclusively in the sense of a clea'r glass. My conclusion therefore is that, because of the official reply and' the color of the Blessed Sacrament, either white or clear glass is preferred; any other color is only tolerated. At the Venl sanctlficator of the Offertory and at the Last Bless-ing in Mass, does a priest begin the gestt, re of extending-elevating-joining the hands from the table of the altar or from his breast? From his breast. The rubrics state clearly for both of these occasions that the priest is to stand erect before he begins the gesture. (Ordo et Ritus Servandus in Celebratione Missae, VII, 5; XII, 1) It would be a highly peculiar gesture if the priest, while standing erect, were to begin the extension ~of the hands from the table of the altar. {Cf. Van der Stappen-Croegaert, Caeremoniale, II, De Ce!ebrante, 16; De Herdt, Praxis Liturgica, I n. 140; De Carpo-Moretti. Caeremoniale, n. 325) 111 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religion, s 9 May the head be bowed in making a simple genuflection?" Neither the body nor the head is to be bowed in any simple genuflection (on one knee), not even when the holy name is said while genuflecting nor in the genuflections at the Consecration (Cf. J. O'Connell, The Celebration of Mass, 260, and note 88). 10 Our constitutions .state: "It is the duty of the tellers to take care that the ballots are cast by each elector secretly, carefully, individually and in the order of precedence (Can. 171, ~ 2)." What is the meaning of "carefully"? The sense of "carefully" or "diligently" is obscure, and this term is therefore often omitted from constitutions. The several meanings given by authors are that the tellers should perform their duties carefully, so that there may be no reason for complaint; without loss of time and "with a careful handling of the ballots; that they should be vigilant lest any voter cast more than one vote or extract any vote already cast; and that they should carefully examine and record each vote. Our reception of the habit, first profession of temporary vows, renewals of temporary vows, p~rpetual profession, and public devo-tional renewals of temporary and perpetual vows a!l occur at Mass. On such occasions, is the priest obliged to say the Leonine Prayers after a low Mass? It is at least safely probable that he may omit the prayers after Mass on all these occasions because of the extrinsic solemnity added to the celebration (Cf. J. O'Connell, The Celebration of Mass, 179; Mueller-Ellis, Handbook of Ceremonies, 100; Wuest-Mullaney-Barry, Matters Liturgical, 442; Van der Stappen-Croegaert, Caeremoniale, II, De Celebrante, 130; Callewaert, Caeremoniale, 120, 14; De Amicis, Caeremoniale Parochorum, 157, note 81). I read the following article in the constitutions of a congregation of brothers: "The management of the temporal affairs of the house, tb~t is, the acquisition of the necessary provisions and clothing and tb~ repairs of the building may be entrusted to his supervision [the l-,'al brother assistant]. He shall therefore see to all these things 112 l~larch, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS according to the instructions given to him by the local superior." Wouldn't it be advisable for congregations of sisters to adopt such a delegation of authority? Yes, at least in the larger convents. All are urging a more maternal and spiritual government, but few are giving any attention to the overburdened local superior. She is usually also the bursar; principal of the school; has the care of the material condition and all material necessities of the convent, scl~ool, and members of the community; and is burdened also by the swarming minutiae of lesser permissions and minor disciplinary matters. This practice is harmful to maternal and spiritual government and to the general efficacy and dignity of the office. The burden could be sensibly lightened by delegating such matters as the maintenance and ordinary repairs of the convent and school, the usual material necessities of members of the community, lesser permissions, and minor infractions of re-ligious discipline to the local assistant. 13¸ Why do we stand for the /lngelus at noon on Saturdays during Lent? The Regit~r~ ~'~eli, which replaces the ~lngclt~s during Paschaltide, is always said standing. The ,'lngelt~s is said kneeling except from Saturday evening until Sunday evening inclusive. The reason for standing during Pa~chaltide is aptly explained by Jungmann, Public Worship, 202: "As early as the second century people regarded not merely the first week after Easter but the entire seven weeks which followed Easter as a festal time. They called it Pentecost; the name referred not just to its concluding day ('the fiftieth') but to the whole period. During this time no one was to fast; nor should one pray kneeling, but only standing, because we are all risen with Christ. In consequence the l"le~'tr~mus ge~ua was never used at this time. And that is why to this day we still pray at least the antiphon of our Lady (Re~/i~t~ cac/~) only while standing up. The same law applies also, and for the same reason to the Sunday and the Sunday ,4~tgclns." The same law applies because Sunday is the memorial day of the Resurrection (ibiJ. 10). CabroI, Liturgical Prayer, 81-82, expresses himself in similar fashion: "St. Irenaeus, in the second century, well explains this: 'We kneel on six days of the week in token of our frequent fails into sin; but on Sundays we remain,standing as if to show that Christ has raised .us again and 113 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious that by His grace He has delivered us from sin and death.' " The liturgical day is computed from Vespers to Vespers. Since during Lent Vespers in choir are said before noon, the /Ingelus is said standing at noon also on Saturdays during Lent. The same norm 6f standing and kneeling applies to the final antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Office. A genuflection at the words, "And the Word was made flesh," is neither prescribed nor forbidden. The form of the gngelus and the indulgences for its recitation~ may be found in the Raccolta, n. 331. --14- Is the indulgence lost by any change whatever made in an indulgenced prayer? Canon 934, § 2 reads: ". but the indulgences cease entirely if there has been any addition, omission, or interpolation [in the prayer]." However, on November 26, 1934, the Sacred Penitentiary replied that these words of canon 934, § 2 were not to be under-stood rigorously as applying to any additions, omissions, or changes whatsoever but only to such as changed the substance of the prayers. (Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, II, 236) ~ 'hat is the law of the code on discussions by religious capitulars concerning those competent for elective offices? A private or public discussion among the "capitulars on the merits and demerits of particular persons for the 'offices to which the elections are to be made is not mentoned in the code and consequently is neither commanded nor forbidden by canon law. The constitutions of lay institutes often contain a statement to the effect that prudent consultation regarding the qualifications of ~hose eligible is pe.rmitted within the bounds of justice and charity. Such consultations are at least very frequently necessary, for example, the religious of the United States will rarely know the religious of England, France, or Germany who have the qualifications necessary for a superior general. This is almost equally true of any large institute or province. In a small institute or province such consultations will not be generally necessary, but even in these some individual electors will often find it necessary to consult and seek information ~on those qualified. It is also true that even in a smaller institute those of one age level, locality, or field of work are often 114 March, 1959 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ignorant olc the abilities and accomplishments oF rhose olc osher levels, localities, and fields of labor. It is rarely expedient to hold such discussions publicly in an assembly of the capitulars. They should consist of private discussions among a few or of individual consultation. These consultations are to be limited to a sincere seeking and giving of information on the abilities and defects of particular persons insofar as these are necessary or useful for forming a judgment on the suitability° of the person for the office in question. They should be Free oi~ any persuasion or even of counselling a capitular to vote for or against anyone. The common and greater good of the institute should be the motive. All motives oF mere personal Friendship or aversion, oF pushing a religious because he is from one's own province oi" country, as also and especially the formation of blocs or parties are dearly out of place. --16-- Our constitutions state that there are to be two councilors in every formal house and a bursar in every house. Must there be a bursar also in non-formal houses? Yes, and this is an obligation of the Cod~ of Canon Law. A formalI house is a religious house in which at least six professed religious reside, of whom, if it is a clerical institute, at least four must be priests (can. 488, 5°). Canon 516, § 1 commands that at least formal houses are to ha(,e councilors and recommends that smaller houses also have councilors. Non-formal houses of lay institutes more frequently follow this recommendation by having one councilor in these houses. Canon 516, ~ 2 states absolutely, without any distinction of formal and non-formal houses, that there is to be a local bursar i:or every house. Therefore, there is to be a local bursar also in non-formal houses. Canon 516, § 3 enjoins that ordinarily the office of local' superior is to be separated from that of local bursar but permits the combining of the two offices in the one person when this is demanded by necessity. Even if the~ particular constitutions affirm that these offices are absolutely in-compatible, they may be combined in a case of necessity. (Cf. Larraona, Commentarium Pro Religiosis, 10-1929-36, note 713) Vari-ous terms are used for the bursar in different constitutions, for example, treasurer, procurator, procuratrix, stewardess, econome, economa, administrator, administratrix, and so forth. 115 Book Reviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1957 SISTERS' INSTITUTE OF SPIR-ITUALITY. Edited by Joseph E. Haley, C.S.C. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1958, Pp. 387. $4.00. The 1957 Institute of Spirituality for Sister Superiors and Novice Mistresses, sixth of these summer programs, has its proceedings collected into this handy volume. Those not able to attend may thus participate in some of its benefits. Moreover, those who were there may refresh their memories from this volume and in it study the ideas put forth in their objective reality, free from the coloring of local personalities and enthusiasms. The purpose of these pro-grams is "to provide . . a deeper and clearer understanding of the theological and canonical principles basic to the religious life." Since, the preface argues, "an unfortunate dichotomy between the apostolate and [personal and community] spirituality exists in' the minds of too many religious and in the very program of formation," the 1957 Institute "sought to dispel this misunderstanding and further the integration of the two aspects of the Christian life by exploring the whole province of the apostolate as the contifiuation of the Redemptive Mission of Christ in His Mystical Body for the glori-fication of the Father and the salvation of mankind. Guided by faith ~nd inspired by hope and charity, the apostolate is a fulfilling of the Divine Will and a powerful means of personal sanctification and community development." Certainly the organizers of this Institute are to be congratulated on their realistic choice of theme as well as for their orderly programming of talks closely connected with the general subject of the sessions, not to mention their never-to-be-sufficiently-praised in-terest in the spiritual life of American religious women. Like most proceedings, however', the various contributions are of unequal value. As readings, too, they suffer from their oratorical quality, invaluable in the assembly hall but deleterious to their natural appeal as material for private study (though, logically enough, they are, in part at least, not unsuitable for public reading--say in the refectory). This is no fault. Everyone knows it is of the nature of proceedings to have a certain bombastic quality which the mind privately reading 116 BOOK REVIEWS abhors, for example, page 177; ". . . when our buoyancy and optimism and trust and confidence is put to the ultimate test . " Father Louis J. putz, C.S.C., a determined foe of unrealistic spirituality, lays out on a thought-through, carefully written basis the theology of the apostolate. His presentation is solid, occasionally witty: "No one can deny that the lay apostolate is very much in the air. Unfortunately, for many priests and religious, they would just as soon see it stay there." He speaks first of the mission of the Church in the twentieth century, that is, to continue to effect the Incarnation, in the wide sense of the word, of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He lays down the general lines of the program of :the Church, but with theological insight and enough concrete illustration to give his outline more reality and vitality than such roughly limned sketches usually have. Through the second chapter Father Putz expounds on the mission of the Word. There are many points, here particularly, where he shows how practical attitudes have to be the result of dogmatic tenets, He goes on to treat in a theologically penetrating way the mission of the people of God. In dealing with the personal and institutional apostolate and with apostolic spirituality, he makes practical sugges-tions, showing in his attitudes the influence of the writings of Car-dinal Suhard, whom he cites in his bibliography. Finally he considers the influence of religious on the lay apostolate and pronounces some good dos and don'ts. In general, the sweep of Father Putz's thoughts, their direction, is not as striking as some of his excellent insights. And a littie more care on the editor's part would have eliminated the verbatim repetition of a full paragraph of Father Putz's matter; see pages seven and thirty-eight. Father Elio Gambari, S.M.M. ("Recent Decrees of the Holy See Regarding the Apostolate"), undertakes to explain the Church's mandate for religious as well as the connection between the aposto-late and the spirituality of an institute. While he does not do this at a purely juridical level, his general orientation is more there than anywhere else. A member of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, Father Gambari speaks with prudent authority relative to the historical and actual juridical position of religious institutes in the life of the Church. Father Charles J. Corcoran, C.S.C., has as his subject "The Apostolate as a Means of Sanctification." Though as a section this part of the Institute is more carefully edited than some other parts, 117 ]300K REVIEWS Review for Religious his first conferences are perhaps a little too sermon-like to effectively embrace subject matter useful to the purpose of the whole Institute; moreover, his explanation of the apostolate as a means to the sanctification of the individual never quite "jells" in spite of the fact that he is given additional opportunity to clarify his position by a question put to him on this point. Father Corcoran, however, makes some excellent points in insisting that the emphasis of novice-sl~ ip training be more on principles than on minutiae of observance. Moreover, in his conferences on prayer there is a short exposition of the method of the school of Cardinal de Berulle, an explanation which, for clarity and brevity can scarcely be surpassed. Sister Mary Emil, I.H~M. ("The Apostolate of Teaching"), pro-vides some high points of the sessions. She speaks with a deep, inner understanding, enthusiasm, and (except where she places St. Jerome in the wrong century--a slip surely) learning. Her well-documented and, statistically speaking, solidly based analysis of the present teaching situation in Catholic schools gives her the opportunity to make suggestions which wise superiors surely will consider. One telling point (to give an example) is where she says, "Our retreats could have interpreted our work and its integration for us, but often they did not, because the masters ,.0ere not teachers themselves o'r did not know we had this problem." Wise retreat masters will follow such a useful suggestion from the floor. Another example of her penetrating insight is had where, in speaking of vocations to the religious life, she discards as useless the notion that God has only old-fashioned graces for modern girls. Father John J. Lazarsky, O.M.I., speaks on the subject of hospital and social work. However, he comple.tely avoids treating the second part of his subject.' It is clear from what he says that his 'experience in hospital work has been first-hand, extensive, and valuable. It is also clear that he made extraordinary efforts in his proximate preparation for the talks by. gathering useful data. One feels, nevertheless, that there was a deficiency in or omission of what should have been the next stage in the development of l~is material-- a calm period in which to assimilate it and to extract useffil con-clusions from it. Teaching catechism is the subject on which Father Joannes F/ofinger, S.J., expresses some personal views. Sympathetic as one should be to some of the aims the veteran missionary has in mind, one wonders whether or not some generalizations in his criticisms 118 March, 1959 BOOK REVIEWS of contemporary method may not be too universal, some of his projected substitutions too vague. Be that as it may, his views, or rather his enthusiasm, can stimulate constructively critical attitudes in us and prevent deadly humdrum from enervating our use of methods which, though they have proved effective in the past, need" constant evaluation for their effectiveness in the present situation and equally constant adaptation to current problems.--EAgL A. V~E~S, S.J. THE CHALLENGE OF BERNADETTE. By Hugh Ross William-son. Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1958. Pp. 101. $1.95. The Lourdes Ceatenary has been another great triumph of Mary. To a happily surprising degree, it has been also the'triumph of her confidante, St. Bernadette. The new books about her have been many; and they are good--so good that her friends read them one after another, with unflagging eagerness. Properly speaking, Hugh Ross Williamson's Challenge of Berna: dette is not another life, but a powerful interpretation of her life, and of Lourdes, as a divine sign of the truth of the Christian revelation in the face of a contradicting world. The author is perfectly at home in the literature of his subject and master of the historical, cultural, and theological background. ,He writes with the ' style of an experienced man of letters. In this brief review only two points can be singled out. By a remarkable combination of hard-headed realism and of perceptive gentleness, Williamson makes a positive, importanv contribution toward a better understanding of the characters who surrounded Bernadette and .trie~d her mettle. This applies especially to his treatment of the Abb~ Marie-Dominique Peyramale, her parish priest, and of Mother Marie-Th~r~se Vauzou, her novice mistress, They are redoubtable figures; but they have their qualities, just the same-- qualities which Bernadette valued highly. The other point is simply the main theme of the book brought to its focus. The challenge of Bernadette is the challenge of a saint who lacked everything the world covets and admires. It is the simple integrity of her Christian faith and piety, divinely sealed by the charism of miracle. It is Mary's challenge and Bernadette's to a world that isalways bringing upon itself the wages of its self-conceit~ It is God's challenge, through them, to repent; for the Kingdom of Heaven is very near at Lourdes.--EDGAg R. SMOTHERS, S.J. 119 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious LIKE A SWARM OF BEES. By Sister M. Immaculata, S.S.J. Second Printing. Buffalo, New York: Mount St. Joseph Mother-house, 1958. Pp. 213. $3.50. The Sisters of st. Joseph of Buffalo here have their history recounted right back to the days of three hundred years ago when a good bishop of Le Puy in France and Father Jean Pierre Medaille, S.J., collaborated to provide initial inspiration and impetus. The newness of the way of religious life begun by these sisters shocked narrow traditionalists at first; but criticism eventually had to grow silent, as it always does, in the face of good works blessed with God's graceful favor. The book will be of particular interest to those who work with these sisters and would like to know more of their spirit, and local history or to those who aspire to join their zealous ranks.--EAgI. A. WEIs, S.J. GOD'S HIGHWAYS. By J. Perinelle, O.P. Translated by Donald Attwater. Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1958. Pp. ix, 339. $4.25. When a distinguished writer turns, for a change, to the work of translation, the reader is assured of a resulting product worthy of his best attention on a double count. Donald Attwater has enriched our vocation literature with an English classic in God's Highways, giving us a charming rendition of Father Perinelle's volume on religious vocaton. The well-known Dominican author addresses his pages primarily to those consecrated to God in religion, including secular institutes, ~ut notes that all Christian perfection has a common basis, whether lived in or out of the cloister, and that hence lay men and women, striving for a deeper life, will find inspiration and guidance in these chapters. The lucid style and vigorous thought captivates the reader from the start, expressing, as it does, a po.werful conviction that "for beauty, grandeur, fruitfulness and happiness not one of the happy ways. of life equals that which is wholly dedicated to the Lord, for not one of them is given over to so sublime a love." Father Perinelle does much more than write another book on the vows. He lucidly portrays the in'planting and growth of a vocation from its first tiny beginnings, and one instinctively cherishes the desire that many young people may come under the tutelage of so wise a director. For this purpose the opening chapters ought properly to be read long before one enters the cloister. The pity 120 March, 1959 BOOK REVlEWS is that many a later reader will sigh and utter to himself, "If only I had known all that while I was fighting my hard way into religion." Appreciation of the implications of any life in God's service will require understanding of the fundamental God-given habits of faith and charity, which are perhaps too little appreciated in the process of sanctification. Both these divine-gift "virtues are adequately presented in the second and third sections of the book. The wonders of charity, one feels, as portrayed in these scintillating pages, would turn earth into heaven if they could be fully realized. Yet this charity "is no leveller, it does not kill natural affection"; nor does it save us from still finding ourselves "like men with loads on their shoul-ders, some going up and some coming down the same narrow staircase: try as they may, they can't prevent their loads sometimes banging into one another." A fourth section treats of the general topic of religion as a fundamental virtue, and a "fellow of charity," resulting from our life in Christ and uniting us to Him in His priesthood. Seldom is the truth so convincingly put, in vocation treatises, that consecration to God in religion arises from the priesthood of Christ from which it derives both its existence and its worth. Before the specific treatment of the vows, a preliminary chapter makes it clear that these vows are not the invention of the Church but were introduced by Christ Himself through the Apostles. By their observance the Savior wished to reproduce in His followers ¯ the characteristics of His own life, but His advocacy of them is by way of counsel not precept. Chastity is exhibited first in its most attractive splendor, a loving gift that cannot be mere abstention. The subsequent pages on the pracdce of the virtue are precious in their sound and resolute actuality, presenting an alluring positive picture of the lovely virtue of virginity. Neither is "consecrated maidenhood" a mere addi-tional ornament of the Church; it is rather a vital organ, not a halo but a heart; a virtue, too, that is blessed with a nobler fertility, enriching the Church and society with "Fathers" and "Mothers" of a higher order. Poverty is viewed as. it took shape historically, from gospel beginning to our time, and with many legitimate varieties, under the Church's guidance and legislation, meeting the varying needs of persons and conditions. Special emphasis is lald on the recent 121 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious prescriptions of Sponsa Christi and allied documents in regard to the work of contemplative nuns. The impressive litany of dos and don'ts rehearsing ~he practice of poverty is attractive in its sane and good-humored realism. An impressive treatment of obedience closes the book, exhibit'-. ing the singular value of this virtue and vow in t~ostering true, spiritual, Christian freedom. "The service of God to which obedi-ence calls you is not slavery--it is freedom." Again the historic growth of obedience is traced, from the older hermits through St, Augustine and St. Benedict to our own times inclusive of secular institutes. Obedience is shown to offer endless opportunity for meritorious acts while there is a minimum danger of "sin against it. "Such is the illogicality of divine mercy." The author's treatment substantiates to the full his own final evaluation thus summarized: "Understood and practised in this way, obedience and its sister docility are educative, manly, expansive and fertile virtues." Once more be it said, the fine flavor of a translator's consum-mate art, added to the author's brilliant mastery of his subject, makes this book a valuable and engrossing addition to our vocation literature.--ALovsluS C. KEMPEP,, S.J. THE YANKEE PAUL: ISAAC THOMAS HECKER. By Vincent F. Holden, C.S.P. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1958. Pp. xxii, 508". $6.95. Books have already gone on the market with the titles Yankee Batboy, Yankee Bob, Yankee Doodle, Yankie Rookie, Yankee Tab-ernacle, Yankee Yachtsman, Yankee 8tran#er, Yankee Privateer, Yan-kee Pasha, and Yankee Priest. Granted that it is difficult to be original in one's choice of title these days, Father Holden's selec-tion, Tt, e Yankee Paul. has the ring of a hackneyed phrase about it. This is unfortunate, for the book is good. The archivist of the Paulist community has done his noble group excellent service in commemorating its one hundred years of fruitful ministry to America by his publication of this p

Issue 59.6 of the Review for Religious, 2000. ; NOVEMBER: DECEMBER 2000 ,VOLUME 59 NUMBER 6 Review for Religious (ISSN 0034-639X) is published bimonthly at Saint Louis University by the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. Editorial Office: 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, Missouri 63108-3393. Telephone: 314-977-7363 ¯ Fax: 314-977-7362 E-Mail: review@slu.edu ¯ Web site: www.reviewforreligious.org Manuscripts, books for review, and correspondence with the editor: Review for.Religious ¯ 3601 Lindell Boulevard ¯ St. Louis, iVlO 63108-3393. Correspondence about the Canonical Counsel department: Elizabeth McDonough OP Mount St. Mary's Seminary; Emmitsburg, Maryland 21727 POSTMASTER Send address changes to Review for Religious ¯ P.O. Box 6070 ¯ Duluth, MN 55806. Periodical postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri, and additional mailing offices. See inside back cover for information on subsEription rates. ©2000 Review for Religious Permission is herewith granted to copy any material (articles, poems, reviews) contained in this issue of Review for Religious for personal or internal use, or for the personal or internal use of specific library clients within the limits outlined in Sections 107 and/or 108 of the United States Copyright Law. All copies made under this permission must bear notice of the source, date, and copyright owner on the first page. This permission is NOT extended to copying for commercial distribu-tion, advertising, institutional promotion, or for the creation of new collective works or anthologies. Such permission will only be considered on written application to the Editor, Review for Religious. Jew rel,g,ous LIVING OUR CATHOLIC LEGACIES Editor Associate Editors Canonical Counsel Editor Editorial Staff Advisory Board David L. Fleming sJ Clare Boehmer ASC Philip C. Fischer SJ Elizabeth McDonough OP Mary Ann Foppe Tracy Gramm James and Joan Felling Adrian Gaudin SC Kathryn Richards FSP Joel Rippinger OSB. Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla SJ Patricia Wittberg SC NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2000 VOLUME 59 NUMBER 6 contents 566 spiritual practice Retrieving the Practice of Silence Donald J. Goergen oP enters us into an appreciation of silence that we might commit ourselves more to its observance. 575 The Dangers of Solitude Kenneth C. Russell, guiding readers through some 12th-century advice to hermits, shows its 2 l st-cenrury relevance to hermits and others as well. 584 A Spiritual Direction Mary Beth Moore SC gazes at, listens to, a few moments of reality and possibility within contemporary sisterly living. 594 a witness response Contemplative Religious Witness: A Redemptoristine Monastery Dennis J. Billy CSSR finds the life of a group of contemplative sisters very much present to his apostolic mission, and happily reflects that the reverse is true as well. 601 AVowed Response to the Postmodern World Andr~ Maureen Soete SSND seeks ways for the vowed life to contribute more vigorously, more effectively, to the alleviation of troubles in our troubled world. Review for Religious 608 examples from the past Mary Ward: Centuries Her Scroll Lawrence F. Barmann sketches the life story of Mary Ward, the saintly English founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as an inspiration for us living in the current ecclesial milieu. 614 627 St. Catherine's Letters: Human Love, Gracious Authority Stan Parmisano OP finds that in style and content the letters of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) have surprising and challenging and charming relevance for persons living today. Katharine Drexel's Cultural Relevance Now Normandie J. Gaitley SSJ sketches the life of the recently canonized Mother Katharine Drexel SBS (1858-1955), a Philadelphia debutante who used her inheritance to serve Native Americans and African Americans. 633 643 vocation When Vocations Happen by Accident Elizabeth Julian RSM describes with quiet enthusiasm her sense of a flexible small community in New Zealand that fosters acquaintance and has shown itself to foster vocations. Vocational Support Donald Macdonald SMM speaks of the human need of support in one's vocation and of the providential availability of that support if we are alert to its manifold presence. departments 564 Prisms 650 Canonical Counsel: Responsibilities of the Novice Director 656 Book Reviews 666 Indexes to Volume 59 November-December 2000 prisms Whave come to appreciate the rich complexi.ty of the biblical term jubilee, espe-cially as we have looked toward the new millennium. But as we approach the Advent and Christmas seasons of the year 2000, one focus of jubilee stands out. Jubilee implies celebration. Advent and Christmas seasons pro-vide an opportune moment for us to consider what it is that we celebrate. Celebrati6n often means bringing people together, sometimes those dearest to us, and at other times the "crowd" that comes together only for special occasions. Celebration can include elegant banquets or simple fin-ger food. It may suggest a refined cocktail party or a noisy beer-keg-and-pretzels get-together. Celebration can imply long-term planning or it may be a spur-of-the- moment, spontaneous occasion. We celebrate beginnings, like newborn babies and the wedding day; we celebrate completions, like school graduations and retirements. We observe national patriotic days, and we take time for religious festivals. But for all the aspects of a jubilee year of forgiveness, justice, and reconciliation, what is it that we most cele-brate? The biblical notion of jubilee celebrates, above all, our being God's people and our living like God's sons and daughters. This planet called Earth is "home" for us because it is God's home. Our space-age view of our planet Earth has brought home to us how much we all are "stewards," not owners, of God's gift to us. Review for Religious What is striking is how our jubilee celebrations enter us into the Gospel Prodigal Son parable. Whether we more identify with one who hopes to see life as only an arena of personal delights and squanderings or whether we more identify with the other who defines life as a kind of slavery with weighty obligations and grim duties, we realize how much we need a jubilee understanding of life. Both sons, in Jesus' famous parable, understand neither the father who helped bring them into life nor the life which this father wants to share with them. The first son in his self-cen-tered celebrating misses the point of celebration. The second son in his self-defined servitude also misses the idea of celebra-tion. Just as the father in the parable goes out of the way to meet each son, so God continues to break into our life to call us to a reality of biblical jubilee. Advent is our jubilee celebration of our longing and desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life. Christmas is our jubilee celebration of God's desire and longing to come and play forever among the children of Earth. Advent and Christmas are at the center of our understanding jubilee because both seas~ons emphasize the heart of all our reasons to celebrate: God calls us sons and daughters, and we know the redemptive salvation that Jesus brought, of living in God's home all the days of our life. David L. Fleming SJ thank you for your ~uppor~throughout thi~ pa~t yoar and pray that (~od~rieh o a nd~ abundant iubiloo Advont and ~hri~tma~ Th~ Mitor~ and ,of Revi~ ~orRoligiou~ . " November-December 2000 spiritua practice DONALD J. GOERGEN Retrieving the Practice of Silence Jesus experienced the need for quiet. "In the morn-ing, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed"(Mk 1:35, NRSV). What did he seek there? What did he find? The Book of Psalms is quoted in the New Testament more often than any other book of the Hebrew Bible. What role did the psalms play in the prayer of Jesus? "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10). How often in the course of his life did Jesus pray over verses like that, or this: "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation"? (Ps 62:1). There are few things in human life more important, both personally and communally, than discovering the value of silence. Spirituality and religion are important dimensions of human and social life, and so are silence and stillness. Other civilizations, perhaps more pastoral, more agrarian ones, had greater opportunities for the practice of silence. Our times seem less fortunate in that regard. Yet silence is essential to wholesome living. My purpose in these reflections is to help us appreciate silence more and commit ourselves to practicing it. Donald J. Goergen OP wrote on celibacy for our May- June 1998 issue. His address is Friends of God Dominican Ashram; 720 35th Street; Kenosha, Wisconsin 53140. Review for Religious Worship, Charity, and Silence Which is more important, love of God or love of neighbor? (Mk 12:28-31). It does not take much to realize that this question is falsely posed. Which is more important, inhaling or exhaling, yang or yin? St. Anselm spoke of God as "the Being a greater than which cannot be conceived." Certainly, for one who believes, God alone deserves to be worshiped. Adoration and praise are the only appro-priate responses to God. Although there is nothing in human life more important than love of God, the God of Jesus instructs us that there is something that must precede or accompany it. "So, when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remem-ber that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift" (Mt 5:23- 24). "Those who say 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sis-ters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 Jn 4:20-21). As important as worship is, equally important is the practice of charity, love of neighbor, the "works of mercy" (Mr 25:31-46). The revolution in Jesus' teaching was not that he understood love of God, the Shema (Dr 6:4-5), as the core of the Hebrew Scriptures. Almost every practicing and devout Jew understood that to be the great com-mandment. But Jesus' placing love of neighbor (Lv 19:18; Mk 12:31) on a par with love of God, that was revolutionary, and for him that was what true religion is about. For Jesus, the second commandment is not secondary, not second in the sense of less significant. According to Matthew, it is "like" the "great and first" commandment (Mr 22:38-39). Luke (10:27) reports them as really one commandment. True worship or love of God is inseparable from true com-passion or love of neighbor. But what do love of God and love of neighbor, or worship and the works of mercy, have to do with the practice of silence? Abhishiktananda, or Henri Le Saux, the French monk who came to India in 1948 and immersed himself in its reli-gious environment, wrote: Now if something has passed in this long discourse by the way of words, yet beyond words, if you have heard in the words of the Upanishads some echo of what the Spirit has November-Decenlber 2000 Goergen ¯ Retrieving the Practice of Silence certainly whispered in your heart when you sat in contem-plation of the mystery of the Father and the Son, then you will discover by yourselves the secret of what is called the Advaitic or Upanishadic prayer. It can be summed up in one Hebrew phrase of Psalm 65, which Jerome translates: silen-tium tibi laus. Silence is praise for you. Silence in prayer, silence in thanksgiving, prayer, and adoration, silence in meditation, silence inside and outside as the most essential preparation for this stillness of the soul in which alone the Spirit can work at his pleasure.~ The contemplative and interior journey, the love and worship of God, are dependent on silence. But charity or love of neigh-bor depends on silence too. A loving kindness toward our human companions on this earth requires the silent journey inward just as true worship of God requires it. Can there be true love of neigh-bor without confronting the truth about ourselves? Can we expect reconciliation and forgiveness in our world if we ourselves are not yet ready to forgive? If we are to transform our world, we must also be working on becoming transformed ourselves. Social engage-ment requires time apart. Silence is essential if we are to deepen our love for God and our love for our neighbor. Silence, Solitude, and Simplicity What does silence sound like? What does it look like? Are there different kinds of silence? Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earth-quake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1 Kg 19:11-13) True silence, the inner stillness, the still point, is an achieve-ment to be sought, yet always remains a grace. But it is a grace upon which we must focus our attention. It requires discipline, which does not guarantee interior silence, but rather prepares the way. We must devote time to "the practice of silence," the practice of interior and contemplative prayer, the practice of an awareness that is the fruit of quieting the mind.2 Such "quiet" is not easily obtained in our world today. Not Review for Religious that a busy, technological, urban society is the enemy of silence, but neither is it a friend. Modern social and commercial life cannot prevent the pursuit of silence, but neither do they encourage or value it. Entertainment is a noisy industry. The more channels we have on television, the better. But then they must be filled--with "stuff," whatever it be. They compete for attention; thus, the more out-rageous, the more likely the success. The Internet now multiplies ways to distract us from an inner stillness. Not to find television entertaining seems quaint. To see it or the overuse of the Internet as distraction from true entertain-ment, a life with God quietly pursued, is sec-ular heresy. For silence is not the stuff of which modern societies, commerce, or edu-cation are ordinarily made. Not that the media, the schools, the churches, market-places, and businesses are avowed enemies of silence; they are just uneasy with it. We are talking about a disciplined silence that requires resolve. Its close friends are solitude and simplicity. These compan-ions reveal how countercultural true silence really is. Solitude is one of silence's most cherished friends. Yet how difficult it is in our world today to find solitude, to pursue solitude, to practice solitude. We are "driven" away from it. We can hardly face the silence within ourselves. We flee. As Francis Thompson wrote: I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter.3 The running is aided by all the activities of our world, justified by the needs of our world, and rationalized by "This is just our world and that's the way it is." To desire silence we must value solitude. We identify aloneness with loneliness. But, until we are at home with ourselves, we will always be lonely, no matter how busy, how "with it," how much with others we might be. As we know, marriage is no cure for loneliness. Neither is single life. Dietrich Modern social and commercial life cannot prevent the pursuit of silence, but neither do they encourage or value it. November-December 2000 Goergen ¯ Retrieving tbe Practice of Silence Bonhoeffer once cautioned us to be wary of the person who lives with another or in community who cannot be alone, or who lives alone but cannot live in community.4 Sociality and solitude are two sides of the same coin: we can-not find one without the other. Silence lives on solitude. We must find ways to structure it into our lives on a regular basis, like the food we eat. Where can we find that place apart, that space for being alone, and for how long can we keep ourselves there with-out being taken up by distractions~ Where can we go to practice silence? Or how in the midst of activity can we find that cell within? s One of solitude's companions is simplicity of life. Simplicity inside requires simplicity outside. A cluttered, thing-filled, con-sumer- intensive environment is hardly the place in which to prac-tice an awareness that few things in life are important. The world immediately outside myself needs to reflect what I am trying to attain within myself. Simplicity in life is an outward expression of simplicity within. One's "within" and "without" go together. And now we can see more clearly why our current economic world can easily become an enemy of silence. The pursuit of silence eventu-ally becomes a pursuit of simplicity of life--which is a recognizable enemy to a consumer economy, a global and ever expanding mar-ket economy. Not that the market is evil; it is just easy prey to the pretension that it alone is important, the be-all and end-all of human life. The practices of silence, solitude, and simplicity enable us to see the truth about economic pursuits: How inhumane they can be when given priority in life, how grounded in greed they become! Kinds of Silence There are a variety of silences.6 Silence can be either destruc-tive or constructive.7 Destructive silence is refusing to speak when a word is called for, a word of consolation, of affection, of chal-lenge. Destructive silence can be passive aggression, a refusal to participate, a lack of care, a form of punishment, unconscionable noncommunication. But silence as context for an interior journey is positive. Silence as a socia! context is the absence of noise in our imme-diate environment. There are different degrees of environmental silence. A noiseless environment is difficult to find in modern Review for Religious urban settings. One can distinguish rural silences and urban silences. For someone unaccustomed to rural silences, the sound of the cricket or the howl of a coyote can be disturbing. There are sounds to which we have become accustomed and those to which we are not. Familiar sounds need not destroy environmen-tal silence, but can blend with it. There is a silent stillness to the vastness of nature: the sounds and silence of the ocean, the moun-tains, the desert, the plains. Each is a different environment and a different silence. On a windless day, sitting atop one of the mountain peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range near Christ in the Desert Monastery in northern New Mexico, one can hear an almost Human silence absolute environmental silence. Human silence is the presence of nonspeech, call be a silence It is not necessarily noncommunication or non-of solitude, communitarian. Silence itself can communicate abundantly, and it is amazing what can be corn- but it can also be municated without words. Human silence can be a silence of solitude, but it can also be commu- communitarian. nitarian. A solemn silence can prevail in Christian or Buddhist monasteries or a Hindu ashram, in a synagogue, church, or mosque. These settings or "environments" can be sacred space. There are times and places when human speech is out of place or out of season. Human silence can be community silence, but there is also personal silence. An individual person can cultivate silence--by seeking environmental silence, or sacred space, or solitude, but also by the practice of silence: avoiding unnecessary speech, c~eating personal space, the silence of one's own room, withdrawing to "the cell within," lis-tening to music, allowing absorption in art and beauty, acquiring an inner stillness and the practice of meditation. Personal silence itself is not only oriented toward calm, tran-quillity, and an absence of stress, but ultimately toward interior silence, the silencing of the mind, even if this is rare or only momentary. I remember a conversation with a cloistered Dominican nun, who had a doctorate and had been teaching before joining this cloistered contemplative community. When I asked why she had joined the monastery, she replied, "I needed to stop thinking if I was going to start praying." The human being is a reflective being, but also a contemplative being that sometimes needs to move beyond thoughts (mental silence) as well as wordsv-~z-~'~---)-'[-i November-December 2000 Goergen ¯ Retrieving the Practice of Silence (verbal silence). The interior journey is in fact directed toward this deep silence within, this cave of the heart, this still point, this soul of the soul, this human spirit. Spiritual silence is the human spirit at peace, the silence of the spirit in its communion with the Spirit of God, the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit. This is mystical silence, with its dark nights, its ecstatic joy, its calm recollection, its deep rest. Silence of any sort is most often not constant, but periodic, coming at intervals, having a rhythm of its own. Deep silence, mystical silence, is not an achievement but a grace. Thus one can speak of the grace of silence, a grace that is present in varied ways and at varied levels, exteriorly and interiorly: the prayer of silence, the silent Presence, the Holy Mystery. It is this mystery that we cel-ebrate in liturgy and seek in contemplation. We experience litur-gical silence, a pastoral silence, intimate silences, times and places not to speak, for which words are inappropriate, occasions on which only silence can communicate. Silence can communicate from within a depth beyond words. In community, in friendship, in ministry, and in prayer there must be silence as well as speech. Divine silence is God's very own silence, God's very own self-communication, God's' awesome and incomprehensible transcen-dence, God's overwhelming intimate immanence, God's elusive presence and mysterious absence, God's truth and God's beauty, the Nameless One whose name is Father, Son, and Spirit, the One- Who-Is, the One-Who-Is-With-Us, the silence of being, the sound of ore, the soundlessness of communion, the union of God and humanity, the union of Word and flesh, the triune union, the incor-poration of humanity into the silent triunity of its Creator. There is ultimately no distinction between divine Silence and divine Speech. They are one 'and the same. God's speech is silent, and God's silence speaks. Silence and Theology .The practice of silence is necessary not only for the spiritual journey and to sustain our humanity. It is also essential for doing theology. Theologians are accountable for their theology to their professional peers, to their varied communities of faith, and to society at large for the quality, fidelity, and social implications of their work. They cannot absolve themselves of this threefold responsibility. But the theologian is also accountable to God. One Review for Religious does not stand before the Holy Mystery, the mysterium fascinans et tremendum, without asking the Holy Spirit for courage, guid-ance, and wisdom. In other words, all theology must begin with prayer. It has both a reflective moment and a contemplative moment. It is not an ego project, but a work of the Spirit. Theology cannot be done apart from silence. The practice of silence, of placing oneself in the presence of God, of meditation, of listening, of longing are all part of doing theology. Theology can too easily become words, verbal batdes, polemic, agenda ridden, jargon, rather than revelatory, illuminating, con-nected to life, committed to Truth. This happens when theolo-gians neglect the practice of contemplative silence--which would make them aware of both the inadequacy and the necessity of words for communicating the divine mystery. A theologian needs to be practiced in the art of silence. So does the magisterium in the church need to practice it. "Roma locuta est," the saying goes. But think of the symbolic power in "Roma tacuit." What a wonderful example that could be. Magisterial authority must reflect that we are a learning church as well as a teaching church. Is not part of the crisis over author-ity the ways in which the church exercises its authority? We do not grant authority easily to those who do not listen. Silence gives value to words. Apart from words, silence can be sterile, but apart from silence words lose their power. As Ecclesiastes (3:7) says, "There is a time for keeping silence, a time for speaking." Silence is a work of the Spirit. True silence is ulti-mately prayer. It speaks with authority. It communicates truth. It creates community. It is the voice of the soul, of the human spirit, and of the Holy Spirit. Can we afford to allow its practice to become peripheral in our lives? In The Sleeping Beauty, Ralph Harper points to the value of silence for our world: Each order of experience has its own a.tmosphere. The atmo-sphere of presence, of giving, of wholeness, is silence. We know that serious things have to be done in silence, because we do not have words to measure the immeasurable. In silence people love, pray, listen, compose, paint, write, think, suffer. These experiences are all occasions of giving and receiving, of some encounter with forces that are inex-haustible and independent of us. These are easily distin-guishable from our routines and possessiveness as silence is distinct from noise.8 November-December 2000 Goergen ¯ Retrieving the Practice of Silence Not only nuns and monks, but all of us need to retrieve the art and practice of silence. We need to dip deeply into the silent abyss of self, of God, of God in the self and the self in God, We need to explore the emptiness and the fullness that lie within us. We need silence. Notes 1 Abhishiktananda, "The Upanishads and Advaitic Experience," in The Further Shore (New Delhi: I.S.P.C.K., 1984), p. 117. 2 Buddhist traditions also see a triple relationship: compassion, rooted ¯ in egolessness, which in turn is rooted in mindfulness. These three are intimately connected. See Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (San Francisco: Harper, 1992), esp. pp. 59-72, 116-122, 188-201. 3 The first lines of "The Hound of Heaven." 4 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1954), esp. pp. 76~89. "Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. ¯. The mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. Silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. One does not exist without the other. Right speech comes out of silence, and right silence out of speech. Silence does not mean dumbness, as speech does not mean chatter. Dumbness does not create solitude and chatter does not create fellowship" (p. 78). s See Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke OP (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), on the "cell of self-knowledge," pp. 25, 118, 122, 125, 135, and 158. 6 Theodore Pereira in "Eloquence in Silence, Healing in Stillness," Indian Theological Studies 33 (June 1996): 99-126, has written about different types of silences. 7 "Silence itself is expressed in several ways. We know silences of contempt and of joy, of pain and of pleasure, of consent and of solitude." Jean-Luc Marion, God without Being (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 53-54. ~ Ralph Harper, The Sleeping Beauty (London: Harvill Press, 1955), pp. 110-111. The word "men" in the original was changed to "people" to accommodate current usage. Review for Religious KENNETH C. RUSSELL The Dangers of Solitude ~o~e~oe ldi!a nTgheerrse oisf as ololintugd tera. dAitniodn t hoef wwaarrnniinngg sw hoauvlde- bneo th ceormmiets solely from cenobites suspicious of solitaries off doing "their own thing." Religious who have the highest regard for the blessings and joys of the life of aloneness with God have tempered their enthusiasm with cautionary words about the special difficulties the solitary is likely to encounter. Thomas Merton, for example, warns that "sordid difficulties and uncertainties" attend .the life of even interior solitude,l Authors from the first centuries of the church conjure up frightening pictures of the demons who lie in wait for the unsuspecting hermit, while modern writers warn newcomers to the desert that solitude will force them to confront the disturbing image of their true self. The message is clear: more awaits the novice hermit than the beauties of nature and the spiritual delights which ancient and contemporary enthusiasts of the eremitical life tend to emphasize. I suppose that most contemporary solitaries would agree that demons in one guise or another must be wrestled with and that it can, indeed, be a distressing experience to come face to face with the self we usually avoid in a flurry of activity. However, I also suspect that most hermits are somewhat amused by both the modern and the ancient depiction of their lot. They would be only too happy to confess that there are no monsters writhing in the Kenneth C. Russell last wrote for our March-April 2000 issue. His address remains 40 Landry Street, Apt. 1505; Vanier, Ontario; K1L 8K4 Canada. November-December 2000 E5-7-5 Russell ¯ The Dangers of Solitude corners of their huts and that the identity crisis so precious to their contemporaries does not keep them awake nights. What they actually confront, it seems, is a routine cycle of sun and cloud on a prairie stretching clear to the horizon. There are no mountains or valleys to speak of. Their bad days are as unremarkable as their good ones. They struggle against subtle temptations, not spectacular ones. It has always been so. The 12th-century Cistercian Aelred of Rievaulx recognized this in his hard-hitting Letter to a Recluse, addressed to his elderly sister but written with less seasoned solitaries in mind? So did his contemporaries Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Portes, who wrote shorter and less theologically dense letters to male recluses who had asked their advice.3 Twelfth-century recluses lived in circumstances that are quite different from those in which most modern hermits seek solitude. But this does not mean that the letters of Peter and Bernard are merely quaint witnesses to a bygone era. The basics of the eremitical life are constant across the centuries. They are also unaffected by the way in which different solitaries choose to live the eremitical life. Whether the solitary is a recluse, a hermit, or a homeless wanderer like Benedict Joseph Labre does not radically modify the eremitical life. Consequently the letters Peter and Bernard wrote to 12th-century male monastic recluses remain relevant to male and female solitaries of all kinds, even today. Indeed, it seems to me that their practical orientation makes them especially useful. Therefore, I want to focus on the difficulties these authors see arising when the honeymoon period of the eremitical life--which may last a good long time--is finally over. In highlighting some of the minor difficulties which can grow into major problems if not attended to, it is not my intention to present a negative view of the solitary life. It does have dark days; it would not be a human enterprise if it did not. However, in focusing on the gray periods, I am not denying its spells of fine weather. I am merely reiterating the warning uttered down the centuries that people who wander off into the desert on their own had better know what they are about. Peter the Venerable's Letter to Ghislebert Peter the Venerable, the great abbot of Cluny, was, by his own admission, a very busy man. In fact, he shocks us a bit by admitting that he read the letters from a Cluniac recluse named Ghislebert in Review for Religious his choir stall on Holy Saturday. He claims that he had simply not been able to find a moment to read them earlier. Peter may have been rushed, but he nevertheless knew something about the eremitical life. Not only did he himself periodically spend time in solitude, but he had pastoral experience in directing monks who sought a solitary retreat for a limited period or for life. There were actually a large number of hermits living in the woods near Cluny. Peter the Venerable, then, knew what he was talking about when he replied to Ghislebert's request for guidance. The key to Peter's advice is the emphasis he puts on the idea that, as a recluse, Ghislebert has been buried with Christ. We do not know the nature of the liturgical ceremony with which Ghislebert was committed to his cell, but other sources indicate that the idea of being buried with Christ and dead to the world was sometimes dramatically represented by using funeral rites to initiate such enclosure. In any case, Peter emphasizes that, if his effort to live as a recluse is going to succeed, Ghislebert had better be sure that he is indeed dead to the world and the world dead to him. To drive home the point, Peter quotes the desert father Arsenius: "Flee people, be silent, and you will be saved." In short, be what you have set out to be and all will be well. Although we may feel a little ill-at-ease with the medieval idea of the recluse being rather literally buried with Christ, it is obvious that any new solitary needs to make a definitive break with the world and his or her past to get off to a good start. He or she has to be serious about being marginal. But, for all the images of being cut off and buried, the reality is that a living human being goes into the desert. He or she wants to be there, of course, but the spiritual and especially the psychological conditioning to solitude is not achieved by a mere act of will. The hermit, in fact, begins with some interior dividedness. Part of the self has no interest in disappearing. Inevitably the life force will rise up against the isolation and denial of achievement that the solitary life demands. Hermits also soon discover, as the Carthusian Guigo II puts it, that they are a crowd unto themselves. They are, indeed, the doorway through which the world presses into the cell. They may succeed in finding a quiet spot on the sidelines of society, but the Hermits soon discover that they are a crowd unto themselves. November-December 2000 Russell ¯ The Dangers of Solitude internal vacuum created by their withdrawal makes them vulnerable to the imagination's readiness to reassert their right to a place in the world. Since hermits have what we might term a "weak" present, the mind tends to take refuge in either the past or the future. Bernard of Portes will highlight the way in which the past crowds into the hermit's mind. Peter the Venerable puts more emphasis on the daydreams about the future which exploit the hermit's status to draw him away from his solitude. He pictures the monk turned hermit imagining that he feels the tabs of a bishop's miter on the back of his necl~ or fantasizing that he is the wise, holy, and much admired abbot of a large monastic community. This is all nonsense, of course, and surely most beginners are as amused by the tricks the imagination plays as Peter the Venerable is. What is not funny is that these silly thoughts can trouble prayer. It is also true, unfortunately, that small threads can weave themselves into strong ropes. If hermits are not careful, they can convince themselves that they are made for something better than the sorry life of a solitary. A more serious pressure to "return from the dead" and reenter the hustle and bustle of.life, bit by bit, springs from the essential nature of the solitary existence. Hermits have to live without the external momentum that social interaction usually provides. They are not carried along by the excitement of what is going on at their workplace, nor can they look forward to parties or sports events to distract them. Unfortunately, unless solitaries maintain their focus on whatever is the task of the moment, their day-to-day existence will begin to feel dull and wearisome. The obvious way to relieve this lethargy is for the solitary to engage in a small amount of pastoral or counseling activity. This sounds like a psychologically sound idea, especially to modern Christians, who are more than a little suspicious of the way hermits pull away from the good causes "activists" think so important. Peter the Venerable, however, is not so sure. He is afraid that this public ministry will become addictive. Instead of relieving the hermits' boredom so that they can return to the solitary life refreshed, each turn outward makes solitude all the more unbearable and the turn away from it all the easier. What looks like a solution to the pressures of the eremitical regime can destroy a hermit's ability to live the solitary life. "Doing good" can do a hermit in. A second consequence of the turn outward is that the solitaries' Review for Religious availability attracts people who offer two enticing things: prestige and cash. Since the strict eremitical life deprives hermits of the ordinary opportunities to see themselves mirrored in the reaction of others, Peter the Venerable rightly fears that Ghislebert will take the high esteem in which he is held by those he helps as the true measure of his worth. The abbot sees a further danger in the money that the hermit will be offered for his services. With all the good intentions in the world, Ghislebert can easily find himself managing a little charitable fund which will grow, as such things do, until, as Peter puts it, he is putting up buildings and demolishing himself. Peter's point would seem to be that hermits who are not perfectly honest about their motivations can make a place for themselves in the world. They can keep an address in the woods, as it were, and still be part of society. The price they pay, unfortunately, is the abandonment of their original commitment. History offers many examples which confirm that the hardest thing in the world for solitaries is actually to be what they profess to be. Aelred of Rievaulx was very hard on the way in which solitaries drift into outside activities. He sharply admonished them to wake up to the facts of their vocation. "When you are pressured to get involved: Tu sede, tu tace, tu sustine. Sit still, keep quiet, and stick it out! Period! Leave the doing of good deeds to those who .have the responsibility for such tasks." The solitary's fundamental temptation, it seems, is to focus on something other than God. According to Peter, this can be anything from good works to an obsession with health or appearance. "Doing good" can do a hermit in. Bernard of Portes's Letter to Rainald The Carthusian Bernard of Portes agrees with Peter the Venerable that solitaries need to be on guard against the distractions that are likely to entice them away from their fundamental commitment. He is particularly sensitive, however, to the spiritual and psychological repercussions of the hermit's withdrawal from society. He understands very well that the social self will not go lightly into solitude. Though hermits are united to all believers and, indeed, all humanity in their union with Christ in his church, the social self wants to strut its stuff in the midst of the diversions November-December 2000 Russell * The Dangers of Solitude Hermits do not have the social status they enjoyed in the 12th century. of the marketplace. It does not want to be shut away with not much more than God to focus on. Therefore, Bernard warns Rainald that he must expect a spell of bad weather sooner or later. One day he might be hit by a wave of sadness and the next be in a bad mood and irritable. He will find tapes from his past running in his head while he reedits the script of what he said and did. A troupe of lewd thoughts will stage its floor show one day, and lukewarnmess flood in the next. It seems that there is no escape from these inner storms and flat stretches. Indeed, Bernard maintains that hermits go into the desert specifically t6 wrestle with these elements that distract us from God. They are, we might say, the psychological echoes of a hermit's attachment to the world he or she claims to have renounced. Bernard of Portes warns hermits that, because they are no longer carried along by the current of daily life in society, they will be the targets of acedia and sadness. Acedia, a listless psychospiritual condition, weighs so heavily on its victims that some escape from the boredom o'f the here and now into dreams of what has been and might yet be while others slip into the torpor of chronic fatigue. This affliction, which involves a hanging back from the initial vocational commitment and a failure to actualize it in the present moment, "detemporalizes" hermits. It weakens their focus on the here and now and sets them adrift. Therefore they look outward for things to occupy their mind and fill their time. Bernard says it is very important for hermits to give their life a certain self-generated dynamism by moving from one activity to another th~'oughout the day. Oddly enough, this is in accord with the traditional wisdom that the secret of the eremitical life is "Keep it moving." Bernard also emphasizes meditation and advises Rainald to be totally present to the words he is saying when he recites the Office. Bernard, it is quite clear, believes that acedia can be held at bay if a hermit puts his or her mind to it and lives in the present moment. Sadness, however, is another matter. Bernard seems convinced that an occasional period of feeling down is an inescapable feature of the eremitical life. Sadness is, I suppose, a pit into which an Review for Religious individual ill-suited for solitude might tumble, but this does not seem to be what Bernard has in mind. He is describing, not a chronic or pathological condition, but the normal downturns of life--which the hermit feels more intensely because of his or her isolation. On the spiritual level, the alternation of these strong and weak periods is inevitable in view of the ebb and flow of God's grace. If acedia pulls one away from the present, sadness can be said to sink one into it. Sadness is the clouding over of the eternal horizon of hope which draws us forward. Without the attraction of the ultimate goal--which is, remember, the sole dynamic element in a hermit's life--the individual is oppressed by the miseries of the present. For no good reason, anger can well up in the solitary and rail away at the self or other people: "Nothing they do is ever any good, and nothing I try ever works out!" Such slack times call for patience, because, once again, the temptation is to shift attention away from God and the love that is his due. The self, whether proud or inadequate, whether much sought after or neglected, must not become the primary object of the hermit's attention. Application to Modern Hermits Is any of this applicable to modern hermits living in country cabins and cheap city apartments? I think so. Times have certainly changed, but the leisure of the hermit can still go flat, and money remains a worrisome issue. Unlike their 12th-century counterparts, modern hermits do not have to figure out how to channel their excess funds to the poor without attracting a crowd of beggars, but they do have to worry about how to live apart from the world and still earn their keep. Unless they are supported by a religious congregation or order, paying their bills and providing some measure of stability in an unsettled time can be a real preoccupation. Indeed, it can shipwreck their project altogether. Pride, which Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Portes see as a major threat to hermits, would seem to be less of a worry these days. Solitaries are looked up to once again, but the applause is not unanimous. In fact, many people who give their lives to the service of Christ and his poor question the sense of such a calling. Certainly hermits do not have the social status they enjoyed in the 12th century. In any case, while many religious who become November-December 2000 Russell ¯ The Dangers of Solitude With no one else to worry about, they can become obsessed with every ache. solitaries identify themselves as hermits, most lay hermits have no official status of any kind. They live a hidden life which is just that, hidden. The lack of social status does not mean, of course, that hermits are immune to the temptation to take a little secret pride in the uniqueness of their calling. Pride, however, does not seem to be the great danger it was to hermits in the Middle Ages. Certainly relevant today, however, is the emphasis Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Portes put on the need for the hermit to exist in the now. This almost Buddhist focus on being present to the moment is for both of them basic to the eremitical life. Without this absorption in the here and now, distractions press in. The hermit, to borrow a phrase from the world of sports, "loses his or her concentration" on the worship of God in unending prayer. This is a major problem, but, given the restrictions of the solitary life, it manifests itself in small and sometimes silly ways. For example, hermits may get too wrapped up in their work or turn repairs to their dwelling into a full-scale redecorating project. They can become finicky fussbudgets who insist that every item in their cell be lined up just so. Worse yet, with no one else to worry about, they can become obsessed with every ache and sniffle. What are we to make of Peter the Venerable's condemnation of the tendency of hermits to make themselves useful to their fel-low Christians by offering them the fruit, as it were, of their con-templative silence? Must we conclude that he, and Bernard as well, would censure the spiritual direction and parish activities in which some contemporary hermits get involved? Not necessarily. In their letters both authors emphasize--and we must keep in mind that they were writing to recluses, that is, to solitaries who in theory were totally cut off from the world--that the singularity of the eremitical life means that hermits will have to work out what is best for them. Therefore, while Bernard borrows from the cus-toms of the Carthusians to make all kinds of suggestions to Rainald about the details of his life, he realizes that it is up to the hermit to exercise discretion in choosing what suits him. Consequently, we can conclude that, although Peter and Bernard show that it is easy for hermits to delude themselves about why they are rendering this or that occasional service, it is up to them to determine, after Review for Religious taking counsel, what fosters their aloneness with God and what hinders it. I suspect that there are times when novice solitaries, going through a dark period, might welcome the sight of a few demons raising cain in their living room. They might even be glad to summon up the self-absorption required for the drama of a first-class identity crisis. Anything exciting and novel would be a relief. What they have to contend with, however, day in and day out, as Peter and Bernard remind them, is the subtle task of remaining faithful to their original commitment in all kinds of psychological weather. They have much to gain and much to lose. Peter the Venerable and Bernard of Portes, who shared a high regard for the solitary life, warn them, therefore, to take care. Notes ' Thomas Merton, "Notes for a Philosophy of Solitude," in his Disputed Questions (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1960; Noonday Book, 1976), p. 165. 2 A Rule of Life for a Recluse, trans. Mary Paul MacPherson, in The Works of Aelred of Rievaulx, Vol. 1: Treatises, The Pastoral Prayer, Cistercian Fathers Series, no. 2 (Spencer, Massachusetts: Cistercian Publications, 1971). 3 Neither the letter of Peter the Venerable to Ghislebert nor Bernard of Portes's letter to Rainald has, as far as I know, been translated into English. The Latin text and a French translation of Bernard's letter can be found in Lettres des premiers chartreux, Vol. 2, introduction, critical text, French translation, and notes by "un chartreux" (Sources chr~tiennes, no. 274; Paris: Cerf, 1980), pp. 50-79. For the Latin text of Peter's letter, see Giles Constable, The Letters of Peter the Venerable, Vol. 1 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), pp. 27-41. November-December 2000 MARY BETH MOORE A Spiritual Direction Connie drew the heavy drape across the window, noting the ast gray light filtering from the west. She turned on a small lamp on one side of the room and lit the vanilla candle at the other. Immediately its aroma permeated the small space. She selected a Mozart disc from the handful of CDs near the love seat, placed it carefully on the turntable, pressed play, and adjusted the volume so that the maestro's graceful, precise notes were barely audible, as subtle as the candle. She paused, looking slowly to each corner until satisfied by the atmosphere she had created. Free of clutter, the parlor was just large enough for the love seat, chair, and coffee table. She sat down on the chair. Connie never sat until she was satisfied. She was a short, heavy woman and, since it was not easy for her to get out of a chair, she considered the act of getting into it. She had a few moments before her guest arrived, and this time was also planned. The guest or, more precisely, the directee required the kind of attention one must work up to. So she made an effort to appreciate the room for its own sake. She awaited the security these preparations usually brought. She summoned the attitude of inner peace which any directee had a right to expect of her, breathing deeply, ignoring the slight pulse in her legs, ankles, even noting the contradiction between attending to a pleas-ant carnal sensation--the candle--and determinedly shutting out the unpleasant. She made herself breathe. Connie had been a spiritual director for almost twenty years, Mary Beth Moore SC writes from 3496 Jerusalem Avenue; Wantagh, New York 11793. Review for Religious and people liked her. She had talent in this abstruse area, and she knew this because her directees said so. Most of her clients were nuns, participants in a lifestyle whose subtle conflicts she knew as her own, having been a nun now for forty years. Relationships: community, friends, principals, superiors. Even, occasionally, a romantic entanglement. And, of course, the relationship with God. Connie never told them what to do. She listened. She asked ques-tions. She recalled for the searcher his or her own best qualities. (Yes, even the occasional priest or layman found his way to her.) Generosity. Loyalty. Courage. Connie never mi~de these things up. Yes, that was the talent. Seemingly from thin air, she would recall a point the directee had made two months before, or ask precisely the right question. "What must you do to grow in this sit-uation?" The question was perhaps trite, but the answers never were. Stammering or articulate, passionate or cool, the directee usually responded with a perfectly credible plan of action, one whose truthfulness went to the heart of the matter. She had learned to expect the creativity that her directees brought with them. Still, Connie did not consider herself creative. She thought of herself as a modest person, and attributed the results to God's grace. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a face that had always been plain, and was now old. Of course, Connie had not once seen her own brown eyes transformed with the glow of the full attention she gave to the directees. They simply thanked her. She expected nothing more. At the sound of the doorbell, Connie took hold of the chair arms and, giving herself a boost, stood and steadied herself before crossing the short distance to the front door. She was pleasantly nervous for this encounter with her client, and she hurried as much as she could, knowing how uncomfortable it was to wait at her door. The Bronx brownstone faced southeast toward the Sound and Long Island, and through the winter a stiffwind blew almost steadily. She opened the door to see a petite woman framed against the dark corridor of the street, hopping around on the stoop to cope with the cold. The sky behind her was clear, but dark. The city lights obliterated all but the highest-hung stars. "Marilyn, my dear, come in quickly before the wind knocks you down." "It almost did. I parked a block away, and--" "Did you meet much traffic?" Connie took Marilyn's coat and shivered at the cold that rolled off of it. November-December 2000 Moore ¯ A Spiritual Direction "Som'e, as usual. The Cross Bronx is always crowded." "Oh, that's a terrible road. I always feel glad when I turn off. A cup of tea before we start?" "I would love it, if it's no trouble. It sounds so good." "No trouble at all. Go in and make yourse.lf comfortable. I'll be right back." She indicated the room she had just prepared, and waited to be sure her guest was seated before disappearing into the inner quarters to make tea. She returned with a tray and two steaming cups. They were silent as they fixed the tea to their lik-ing. Part of Connie's skill was to suppress small talk as the pre-lude to spiritual direction. Chatter cluttered the spirit, she believed. She had once lived as a hermit for three months, and the disci-pline served her well. After a suitable interval she moved to her cus-tomary opener. "So, tell me, what brings you to spiritual direction?" "Ah, yes. Well, I have the intuition, this notion. It haunts me and I feel almost, I don't know, maybe, embarrassed to share it. Or even ashamed--though maybe that is too strong a word. I've tried to discuss it, get a hold, but I." Connie listened as the other woman stuttered, and felt a tug of compassion. She leaned ever so slightly toward her, her eyes widening to lend support to the recitation. A sexual problem per-haps. Everything supposedly out in the open these days, but the unique turns of the human heart, and the struggle to articulate them! She waited. ". this notion, and others don't want to hear, or maybe can't hear. Almost a conviction actually." "A conviction that ." Connie was poised, waiting for the other to look up. "I don't want to offend you, as well. But I suppose it's foolish to come and beat around the bush. You see--" "'I assure you, my dear, I won't be offended. I'm eager to hear what you have to say." "A conviction that it's over. Over, over, over." Connie frowned, noted the slightest wave of impatience with the conversation's turn. "You'll have to tell me what 'it' is, I think." "This." She spread her hands as if her meaning should be obvi-ous, indicating the candle, the lamp, and Connie herself with thrusts of her chin. "Convents. Middle-aged women living in polite little groups, good-hearted, but accommodated. Comfortable. Convents, parlors, single beds, obsessive neatness, vanilla candles. Over." Review for Religious "Leave my candle out of it, at least," Connie said, more emphatically than she had intended. She was offended, but she did not realize it quite yet. "O.K. Your candle may be spared." Marilyn grinned. "But as for the other elements, well, the writing is on the wall." "Nebuchadnezzar? A kingdom about to fall?" Connie tried to get her bearings. The other's hesitancy had disappeared, her voice got stronger by the sentence, and Connie began to think that her earlier, tentative approach might have been a ploy. "Yes. That's exactly right, Connie. The humble kingdom we built for ourselves that did so much good. Children we taught, sick we nursed. It was a world in itself, a kingdom if you will. We had a place in a religiosity that was shared by Catholics every-where. In that Catholic world, we had a mystique of holiness, otherness. We were a cheap labor pool. Now others can do what we did, without living a special way of life." She took deep breath while Connie waited with alarm. "I believe our lifestyle is ending." Buy time. That was Connie's second idea, after the first one, something like, who do you think you are? Who are you, sup-posedly asking me for help, boldly upending a tradition? One that needs no defense. "I must keep eye contact," she thought. "Marilyn, too, is a committed religious, sincere, middle-aged, a seeker like myself." She was unused to such a strong emotion that was not compassion. She focused with effort. "Fall back on tech-nique," she urged herself. When she finally spoke, her voice was light. "Well, that's radical, for sure. Possibly a bit reductive. I'll need some time to take in the idea. But, in any case, you know that spir-itual direction does not provide answers. Why don't you tell me about your prayer. What's happening there?" "Connie, don't you see? That is what's happening. I pray, but I feel afraid. This sense of winding down . . . it, it assaults me. This is the result of my reading the signs of the times. And, very selfishly, I wonder what will happen to us. I'd actually like some-body to refute me." "'Prayer is the balance of mind and heart. Perhaps you think too much." November-December 2000 Moore ¯ A Spiritual Direction "Prayer is the balance of mind and heart. Perhaps you think too much." "Oh, maybe. It's just when I have an insight I always think it's correct. I'm not pious, either." Marilyn's voice had softened. Connie saw that she had heard her words as a correction, as in fact they had been. She had men-tioned fear, a key word in Connie's work, the rope binding the spirit, an adversary of growth. Usually Connie would have asked about it, but this evening it suddenly seemed like too much trou-ble. She was impatient, her back began to ache. She sought for a middle ground. "Or perhaps I think too little. You're a challenge to me, and I'm not sure if I can be as objective as I like. Can you"--she searched for the way back to Marilyn's point--"can you stay with the questions?" She got a little stronger. "Ride the questions." Marilyn thrust out her chin, as if shg regarded the question as an object in the room. There was a pulse of silence. "Yeah. That's a good idea." She smiled and looked at Connie with a glint of humor. "Good luck. I'll pray with you." There was a notable pause, and Connie sighed before turn-ing to topics of lesser import. Her back pain was easing, and she felt relieved that the conversation had returned to a manageable place. She was no coward. She had borne others' tears and rage at God. But a messy squabble with herself as partner was not at all congenial. She had put the balance back. She would pray with and for Marilyn. Both were careful to refrain from gossip in the spiritual-direc-tion setting; the set of those who chose such support was small, and many knew each other. Still, there were allowable facts--some-one's new job, an elderly sister's passing. And, after the intense discussion of the inner life, it was consoling to take in the mellow light and the full attention, each from the other. When they had finished the tea, and the candle wax threatened to spill on the table top, Marilyn moved to go. Connie helped her with her coat, saw her out into the cold air. The street was quieter now and a single star, maybe a planet, winked above the streetlights. She closed the door and went back to her direction room to turn off the light and blow out the candle. The wax had leaked onto the table into a viscous pool. "Ride the question," she repeated softly aloud to herself. She had been pleased to hit upon a phrase Revie~v for Religious that seemed to help her directee, but, as she turned it over in her mind now, looking at the empty room, it sounded trite, facile. The dialogue with Marilyn echoed in her mind, and a sensation rip-pled quickly, like the hint of an unpleasant duty she could not quite remember. She stepped away from the room with unusual haste and headed for the community recreation room and her favorite TV program. When Connie got to the community room, Sarah was watch-ing a public TV program--something about endangered species-- with the intensity of a graduate student. While she made eye contact with Connie, she held up a forefinger to postpone conversation until the program seg-ment ended. Connie sank into the chair and waited. She did not mind. It was more inter-esting to observe Sarah than to watch the parade of facts on the screen. She could easily see in the woman the ardent girl she had taught thirty years before, and, in her unsettled state of mind, that girl seemed to inhabit the room again. Sarah's field was biology, and she brought her expertise along with boundless energy to a nonprofit agency that monitored the environ-ment. Connie studied her with detached affec-tion. What was it that made Sarah so interesting? The combination of ambition and idealism, thought Connie. She was the perfect nun for our time. Connie mused about the effect of her own ministry. She had joined Sarah and the others in the brownstone house the year she finished her term as novice director. It had been her initiative to work free-lance in spiritual direction, and the community con-firmed' her choice. Her clients found her by word of mouth. She spent her day much as she had with the novices, in a disciplined but unhurried rhythm of prayer, study, and client appointments. It was Sarah who persuaded Connie to get a paying job two years ago. Some of the sisters in her own house had argued against it, but Sarah persisted. She pointed out to Connie that she com-plained about being the one to answer telephone solicitations and wait for plumbers. Sarah, the realist, reminded the community that their income base was shrinking, since the elderly sisters far outnumbered the younger wage-earners. Connie began to mind She could see in the woman the ardent girl she had taught thirty years before. November-December 2000 Moore ¯ A Spiritual Direction not having even a modest paycheck to present for the running of the house, and the quota for the retired sisters' care. The only thing she did not tell Sarah and the others was that she was tired of not having tales to "tell at supper about the outside world they inhabited each day. What could she say about spiritual direction? In that field there were no general issues, no little anecdotes, to report, only secrets of the heart whose value was discovered as the directee conferred it. So Connie took a job as the secretary in a little Catholic school in the Bronx. She bolstered the idealistic young man who was prin-cipal and lent an ear to the parents who rushed through with for-gotten lunches and umbrellas. She now had tales for the dinner table with the community, and savored even more the evenings of direction. She did not allow herself to miss the easy pace she had once enjoyed. She was often tired. She worried intermittently about losing weight, especially when Sarah inaugurated a new restric-tion in the community diet. She gave up insisting that they buy whole milk: it was not worth the commentary on cholesterol. But these were small .annoyances, predictable, familiar. If the occa-sional ache or pain pressed itself too deeply into her conscious-ness, her mind might leap to the future for a moment. But the pain subsided, or was integrated into what she chose to put up with. It was against her principles to measure herself by a worldly standard. She gazed at the TV for a bit, savoring the comfort of her (avorite chair until the program finished and Sarah pressed the mute button. "How was your day?" Connie asked. "Really productive," Sarah answered brightly. "I spent the morning editing that junior high 'natural city' curriculum. Jake did a great job with the project and I told him so. Then I had a meeting with the Friends of the Harbor committee. Giuliani's guy stopped in. Nice person actually, said he would continue to press our concerns with the mayor. He sounded sincere, but we'll keep the pressure on anyway. Peter was pleased." "Peter?" "Grossman, the earth sciences professor from Bronx Community College, that one who chairs--" "Oh yes, I remember him." Connie made it a point to keep up with the cast of cha[acters that peopled Sarah's offbeat job. "Did Jake's wife have the baby yet?" Review for Religious "Three days ago! I thought I'd told you. Mother and daugh-ter are doing fine." Sarah described the particulars of the birth in detail, then trained eager eyes on Connie. "How was your day?" Connie's mind returned to her session, where a seasoned nun had suggested that religious life would become a thing of the past. It was an abstract idea, after all. The common room she shared now with Sarah was perfectly real and stable. The house had been paid for. "Connie, your day?" Sarah's voice called her from her reverie. "Anything wrong?" "Wrong? Oh no." She hesitated. "Do you think about the future, Sarah? I mean our community. Do you think there will be nuns living in this house in twenty years? Youngish nuns, enthu-siastic like yourself, women who believe in prayer, the vows? Some of my directees"--she tried to be deliberately vague--"a few think our way of living is a thing of the past." Sarah frowned. "It could be, you know. Let's face it. No one has joined the community at all in the past five years, and those of us in it aren't getting any younger. It could be. But, hey, God our Mother will bring to birth something new. Birth, growth, decay, matter recycle into new growth. It's a universal process. Why should we escape it?" She reached for the TV wand."Do you want to watch anything else?" "You've thought about this?" "Oh, it crosses my mind now and again. Shall I turn this off?." Sarah waved the remote again. "Sure." Connie could see that Sarah was preparing to leave the community room, and a wave of desolation passed over her. She longed to call out, "Please don't go, yet," but she knew perfectly well such a request would startle Sarah. "She'd probably think I'm having some kind of attack," Connie thought. "What reason could I give for the need of her presence?" Nothing came to her. Sarah was at the door now, turning back, her gaze objective and ldnd. "You O.K., Connie?" "I'm just fine," Connie answered quickly. "Sufficient for the day is the trouble thereof." Sarah was satisfied. "Sleep well, then." "You too." Connie was alone now in the familiar room, and hothing could threaten her. Soon her strange moment of panic would pass, and she would move to her usual routine, fold back the newspaper, November-December 2000 Moore ¯ A Spiritual Direction enjoy the silence. She had an honorable job. She loved Sarah, and the others with whom she lived and shared an uncomplicated love of friendship. She scanned the headlines, then tossed them aside to read the Arts page, a book review, but she struggled to concen-trate. "Loneliness has no hold over me," she thought. Loneliness and solitude were the same companion in different dress, the bite of one and the consolation of the other alternating throughout her days. But the mood of release she sought at the end of the day still eluded her. She focused on the gratitude she must render for the events of the day, and recalled a grandmother who had come to the school to deliver a forgotten lunch. In her mind's eye she could see the weary black face transformed with smiles when the child hove into view. But, when the memory dimmed, a keen discomfort reasserted itself. She pushed through her rote evening prayer, "Now Lord you may dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your sal-vation. A light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel." Simeon, welcoming his life's end, having seen the object of his heart's desire. "He was lucky," she thought. The prayer did not seem to help at all. She turned off the light in the common room and made her way out by the light of the street lamp filtering through the blinds. She turned toward the kitchen. "A nice cup of tea," she thought. "It will clear my mind." She made the tea. She measured out her usual two spoonfuls of sugar, tasted it, then furtively added a third. She sipped it slowly and regarded the clock, whose subtle whine could be heard in the silence. "I tell my directees to face their fears. And so must I," Connie concluded. "What was it, then, old age?" But she dismissed this quickly. Maybe prettier, fitter women, yes, even nuns might struggle with this, but she had never known herself that way. She had long ago accommodated herself to aches and wrinkles. Nor was it fear of death. Not yet. Her mother, her aunts, stout women all, had lived into their nineties. "I probably have a few decades in me," she mused. What had Marilyn said? "It's over." That was the phrase that had ripped her, as if a web of equilibrium she hardly knew existed was torn, and its sundering had discovered a category of feeling she could not recognize. "Now, Lord, you may dismiss your servant in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation." Simeon's words came back Review for Religious again, with the picture of the bearded sage, smiling and content, holding an infant whom he knew certainly to be the savior. Who did he think he was? "I'm jealous of him," she thought. And, since the habit of honesty was well established, Connie began to name the struggle. The child Simeon held had just been named Jesus, newly circumcised, accompanied by proud parents. She was jealous of Simeon's proximity, his luck to be in the right place at the right time. She was envious of the consolation of touch, the embrace that illuminated him, at once revealing the true iden-tity of the child. But most of all she was jealous of his certainty. As a young idealistic woman, and through all the vicissitudes of the years, she had fallen back on the certainty that she was doing God's will. And, just as the meeting with a newborn child had transformed Simeon from a bumbling old man into a prophet, so she had thought her lifestyle would transform her. She looked around the kitchen slowly, scrutinizing the cabi-nets, the fridge. Stalling. The fear she felt was not provoked by the encounter with Marilyn, but rather unmasked by it. Fear, raw fear, as when a young child is lost in a crowded arena. Connie placed both hands on the teacup and concentrated on the warmth that spread to her palms. She recalled, with effort, that she was an adult. But, slowly, understanding came to her. What was threatened was certainty and specialness. The fear in her belly suggested that she had bartered for those goods with the austerity of her lifestyle and her vows. Yet she herself had taught the basic truth of spiri-tual direction so many times: All that is not love must be rooted out. She could not blame anyone or anything external for her new situation. She sat thus at the kitchentable for a long while, and the tea, untouched, grew cold. By and by she simply admitted that an inner battle was just beginning; she might as well go to bed. Fear would come and go, and grief, too, must attend the process. She lay in bed, listening to the faint sounds of traffic, making an effort to yield to sleep in order to be ready for the next day. But, as she was poised on the mysterious shelf before consciousness falls away, a phrase floated up from the well of memory, a saying she would work with for months to come, "Though a bird be tied to earth by only a thread, still he cannot fly." November-December 2000 a witness response DENNIS j. BILLY Contemplative Religious Witness: A Redemptoristine Monastery At the end of each academic year, I leave my work at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome and spend the summer months as an author in residence at Mount St. Alphonsus, the Redemptorist retreat center in Esopus, New York. During my time there, one of the responsibilities I share with the other members of my community is to celebrate Eucharist at the nearby Redemptoristine monastery of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This small community of contemplative nuns devotes itself to being what their 18th-century Neapolitan foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa (1696- 1755), called a "living memory" of the Holy Savior. My close contact with the sisters there has helped me appreciate more deeply the contemplative dimension of my own vocation. It has also helped me see the intimate relationship between the Redemptorist and Redemptoristine callings, two very different lifestyles-- one apostolic, the other contemplative--deeply devoted to a common charism of proclaiming "plentiful redemption" in Christ. Dennis J. Billy CSSR, a frequent contributor to this review, may be addressed at Accademia Alfonsiana; C.P. 2458; 00100 Roma; Italy. R~view for Religious Spousal Love As a community of women entirely dedicated to contemplation, the sisters at Perpetual Help Monastery maintain a spirit of separation but openness to the world around them. They follow the norms of papal enclosure as laid out in church law and interpreted by their Constitutions and Statutes, but do so with a keen sensitivity that their contemplative vocation places them at the very heart of the local church. In the spirit of Vatican Council II, they have also renewed their way of life to be more in keeping with the spirit and charism of their foundress. In doing so, they have attempted to adapt the contemplative life to the exigencies of North American culture while at the same time taking care to maintain the significant countercultural and eschatological witness that religious life in general and the contemplative life in particular seeks to convey. The result is a small but dedicated group of women religious whose lives are deeply immersed in the mystery of Christ and his body, the church. Verbi sponsa, the recent Vatican instruction on contemplative life and the norms of papal enclosure, describes cloistered nuns as becoming, with the Virgin Mary, "the 'living memory' of the church's spousal love" (§1). I could not read these words without thinking of the special meaning they would have for the Redemptoristines at Esopus and throughout the world. Mary's close.relationship to her Son places her in a position of humble service toward all who turn to her. "To Jesus through Mary" was the way St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1696- 1787) liked to express Mary's role in the economy of salvation. Everything she does is meant to lead us to a closer, more intimate relationship with her Son. Her loving and heartfelt fiat in Luke's Gospel reminds us that it could not be otherwise. Her response to the angel reveals a deep trust in God's trust in her. She became the Mother of God because of her spousal relationship with God, which was itself a gift from God to her and, through her, to all the world. When seen in this light, to be with Mary a "living memory of the church's spousal love" leads quite naturally (perhaps it would be better to say "supernaturally") to being a "living memory of the redeeming Christ." Each remembrance is a single dimension of a To be with Mary a "living memory of the church's spousal love". Ly-95---2 November-December 2000 Billy ¯ Contemplative Religious Witness much larger reality: you cannot have one without the other. Keenly aware of this connection, the Redemptoristines at Esopus proclaim their spousal love for their risen Lord at their daily Eucharist, where he eats with them, drinks with them, and caresses them with the gentle, calming breeze of his Spirit. A Eucharistic Community It is often said that something is not fully experienced until it is remembered. If this saying is true, then the Redemptoristines' desire to become a "living memory" of their Lord must foster a deeper experience of Jesus' presence in their hearts and in their midst. One need only consider the deep spirit of prayerfulness that fills their daily celebration of the Eucharist to see that this is so. These simple celebrations tap into the hidden life of contemplation going on in the deepest recesses of their hearts and reveal the height and depth and breadth of the paschal mystery. The daily Eucharist is the center of the sisters' lives. It immerses them in the mystery of God's love which their lives espouse and puts them in intimate contact with their risen Lord. The Eucharist reminds them of the "eucharistic quality" of the cloistered life itself (see Verbi sponsa, §3). Separation from the world enables the sisters to be present t6 the world on a much deeper level. It enables them to share not only in Jesus' life of kenotic self-offering, but also to join him in his eternal act of thanksgiving to the Father. This close connection between the Eucharist and the sisters' contemplative vocation touches the very heart of the redemptive mystery. It affirms Jesus' ongoing presence in their community and gives meaning to every dimension of their largely hidden life of prayer. The sisters' daily remembrance of Jesus is possible only because of Jesus' continual remembrance of them. They seek to be a living memorial to the living memorial he has left them in the Eucharist. They, more than anyone else I have met, take to heart Jesus' words "Do this in memory of me." In this light, life in the Redemptoristine cloister at Esopus takes on the threefold dimensions of banquet, sacrifice, and presence that characterize the mystery of every Eucharistic celebration. Being a "living memo~ry" of Jesus, in other words, means seeking to give nourishment to others (banquet) through a humble offering of self (sacrifice) in the name and in the company of Jesus, who is "Emmanuel, God wi~h us" (presence). The Review for Religious Eucharist, in other words, not only is the summit of their lives, but permeates everything they do. Without it, there is no way they could continue or even survive. From Death to Life I once had the occasion to experience this eucharistic quality of the sisters' lives in a profound and beautiful way. Sister Mary Regina, one of the sisters in the community, was nearing death after a long-drawn-out battle with cancer. This was happening at the very time I had been scheduled to lead the sisters in their annual ten-day retreat. After learning that Regina's death was drawing near, I fully expected the retreat to be canceled (or at least postponed), since the sisters' hearts were heavy with sorrow and their schedule was already overloaded by the "round the clock" attention Regina's condition demanded. I was ~urprised, therefore, to learn that the community wanted the retreat to go on, despite the added strain it would put on them. I was even more surprised (but also delighted) when, on the first day of the retreat, the prioress asked if it would be all right to celebrate Mass in the infirmary so that Regina could attend from her sickbed. That Eucharistturned out to be the last Regina would ever share in--at least on this side of death. The breaking of the bread took on special significance as we celebrated in the presence of one whose life was ebbing away. The nearness of death brought a special solemnity to our celebration. Regina's silence added depth to our words; her gaze, a quiet calm to our troubled, questioning hearts. The knowledge that she would not be with us much longer affected the way we prayed. Everyone in the room seemed to have one eye fixed on the Lord and the other one on her. And that was the way it should have been, the way the Lord himself wanted it. This was Regina's moment. With her community around her, she was free to be herself before her Lord. Firmly fixed on the host, her eyes told us in a quiet, nonverbal way that Jesus was with her in a way he had never been before. So it is, I believe, with all of us at or near the time of death. Each one of us must one day drink from the same cup. Now it was Regina's turn. Separation from the world enables the sisters to be present on a much deeper level. November-December 2000 Billy ¯ Contemplative Religious Witness Near the end of Mass, I looked around the room and experienced that sense of communion that can only come from hearts united by their common yearning for God. As my eyes moved from face to face, I could sense the pain that the community as a whole and each of its members was experiencing as a result of Regina's illness and imminent death. I could also sense the deep love that bound them to each other and, at this special moment, to Regina. In the midst of the sadness, my gratitude deepened and gave way to a deep sense of peace. The Lord was with us, and that was all that mattered. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in the upper room. The Heart of the Church Contemplatives, we are told, live at the very heart of the church. On this day I was grateful for this brief glimpse God had given me into the heart of a contemplative community. There the simple mysteries of life and death are recognized, pondered, and celebrated. There human existence is plumbed to its depths and experienced in all its wonder and heightened fragility. There the restlessness of the human heart forages in the darkness of divine mystery. There God is allowed to be God and is welcomed, however he chooses to come. Very few of us ai'e called to live as contemplatives in the heart of the church. Those who hear the call and respond to it often find that they have been driven to it by the relentless pursuit of a passionate divine Lover. Happiness would elude them anywhere else. Only there, in the cloister, can they give themselves exclusively to God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Their hidden life behind their monastery walls is the visible reminder of what they have left behind--and journeyed into. So essential is it to the good of the whole that it recedes, almost by necessity, to the background of life's numerous surface activities. Like the heart itself, it is never seen, rarely heard, seemingly still, but always pumping. The heart, one might say, is an appropriate metaphor for monastic enclosure itself. Some of the most vital activity in the entire body takes place within the narrow, confining chambers of the heart. These otherwise empty cavities are formed by the inner contours of the heart's muscle fibers. The constant expansion and contraction of these tissues forces the blood through the chambers Review for Religious and creates enough pressure to make it flow throughout the rest of the body. In a similar way the empty spaces within the cloister are visibly shaped by the rules of monastic enclosure which, firm yet flexible, allow the life of the contemplative community to distinguish itself from the rest of Christ's body in order to perform for it a special function. Here the all-important apostolic dimension of the contemplative life comes to light. The contemplative community plumbs the depths of the Spirit so that the life of the Spirit may flow more freely to all the members of the body. Here the law of inverted magnitudes operates in full force. The contemplative community confines itself in time and space in order to open itself up to and move more deeply into the sacred. This simultaneous movement ("juxtaposition," if you will) of contraction and expansion is at the center of the contemplative experience. Although not everyone is called to live a life of monastic enclosure, all of us are called to foster a contemplative attihade toward life. For us to do so, this dynamic .movement of physical withdrawal and spiritual expansion must somehow come into play for each of us. Active and Contehaplative I began these reflections by stating that my contact with the Redemptoristine community at Esopus has given me a deeper appreciation of the contemplative dimension of my vocation as a Redemptorist, missionary. I also like to think that, in some way, the appreciation has been mutual, giving rise in them to a deeper sense of the apostolic dimension of their lives as contemplative religious. We share a single charism which, although expressed in drastically different lifestyles, brings to light the plentiful redemption wrought for us in the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Contemplative religious, we have seen, live in the very heart of the church. The Redemptoristines, to my mind, do much the same for the apostolic mission of the Redemptorist congregation. Both orders, after all, share common origins and embrace the same motto: Copiosa apud eum redemptio ("With him there is plentiful redemption"). To follow the Lord in his work for the poor and most abandoned (as Redemptorists try to do) is closely tied to being a "living memory" of the risen Lord (as the sisters try to be). Each order focuses on a different dimension of the one redemptive mystery and, for this very reason, is intimately related to the other. Noventber-December 2000 My experience at Esopus has taught me that contemplative religious can best contribute to the apostolic mission of the church by simply being themselves and living whatever Rule they follow with patience, humility, and deep compassion. In doing so, they reveal the depth of their humanity and remind us of the intimacy we are all called to share with the divine. The eucharistic quality of their lives enables them to celebrate the present moment-- whatever it may bring--by sharing the gifts of self-offering and sensitive personal presence. Their life of solitude places them at the very heart of the church's life and ongoing mission. Their enclosed life offers the world a countercultural and eschatological sign of what is still to come, yet somehow already mysteriously present in the deepest recesses of the human heart. Like the Redemptoristines at Esopus, contemplative religious are called to lose themselves in the mystery of the divine in order to find themselves in the face of the very next person they meet. They plumb the depths of human experience in order to move more deeply into the sacred and live in intimate spousal union with their divine Lover. All of them are living reminders of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All are visible expressions of the church's living memory of what took place in the person of Jesus Christ and takes place today in his body, the church. Theirs is a message for all times, all places, and all circumstances. Those who hear it will recognize the need to foster in themselves a contemplative attitude toward life. Those who do not will miss a unique opportunity to peer beneath the surface of life and behold, as never before, the innermost treasures of the human heart. Review for Religious ANDRI~ MAUREEN SOETE A Vowed Response to the Postmodern World Tphosetm choadrearcnte wriostrilcds asryem bpetionmgs s, taunddie rde aalnitdie ps roofb oeudr bsyo -sccailelend-tists, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and theologians. All seek to understand the reality, foresee the consequences, and arrive at some satisfactory description and response. Since I am not a theologian, scientist, philosopher, or any of the above, I do not claim to understand this reality, much less propose responses. What I offer is simply my own response as a woman religious, specifically a School Sister of Notre Dame. The Situation of Our Age Postmodern issues have been touching us and coming into our consciousness for some time now. Our world is rapidly chang-ing, and what we once thought were objective, unchangeable real-ities are in fact changing. The "way to be" and the "way to do" for the present generation seems so different from our way. What can all this mean to SSND sisters and associates at this time? This time of change may feel like a breakdown. The world has become so different that we may not like it and may question Andr,~ Maureen Soete SSND has ministered in Japan for thirteen years. This article is the address she gave to an assembly of Japanese and North American School Sisters of Notre Dame in Kyoto on 9 January 2000. Her address is 11 ol Kawarada-cho; Matsugasaki; Sakyo-ku; Kyoto 606, Japan. November-December 2000 Soete * A Vowed Response the direction in which it is heading. Envisioning ourselves living in this new age, we may have the feeling that we do not fit, for what we understood as reality is being challenged. This is not just the usual generation-gap experience that we have all probably experienced from one side or the other. This phenomenon has been observed by many since the first hints of it in the 1970s and is obviously a real cultural shift. The choices for different lifestyles, the questioning of what we considered permanent values, and the challenges to our thinking are in some ways unnerving. We may catch ourselves longing for the good old days--the secure structures, the way students "used to be," and the way convent life was. It almost tempts us to choose to respond by retreating--by going back. These times are being described by the word chaos. Some of the chaotic things that people observe and study are political, eco-nomic, and social oppression; poverty, starvation, and unemploy-ment; the oppression of women; the ecological crisis; nuclear threat; secularism, materialism, and the failure of churches to renew themselves and inspire belief. Chaos causes a great deal of anxiety, but it also provides us with the moment and the call to rediscover our real story and our deepest roots. How Our Foundress Would Respond As followers of Mother Theresa Gerhardinger, we can ask ourselves how she would manage in this age, how .she would respond if she were alive today. We know that our answer would have something to do with our charism. What is it that she passed on to us that is ageless? What is the changeless essence that will survive these times and even give us the hope we need to go on? When we think of Mother Theresa responding to her time and day we think of a strong woman of prayer, a woman of God, a woman in touch with the reality and needs of her day, a woman animated and energized by the conviction that women can change the world, a woman who knew that, if people can change, the world can cMnge too. But at the root of all these images of her was her sense of God's desire and call "that all be one." She longed for the oneness of all in God. She was a woman willing to strug-gle for unity on every level. She could see unity in diversity, for she believed in the rights of individuals and the respect due to each person. She learned the Review for Religious lessons essential for real unity--lessons of love, respect, appreci-ation, tolerance, and trust--first from her own parents and later from her mentors Bishop Wittmann and Father Job. These were her models, inspiring her to foster the same values among her sis-ters and her society. It was her commitment to unity and her drive "to make one" that gave her tireless energy for mission, and could give us the same tireless energy. The Postmodern Age The academic world has come to use the term "postmodern" in an attempt to name this period of the world's history because this is the period in which people are reacting to all that is false and untrue, all that has not worked in our familiar modern age. In some way the choice of the name "postmodern" is like calling the butterfly a "postcaterpillar." "Postcaterpillar" might be a suitable name during the period when we observe that the caterpillar is no more, that what was once the caterpillar now seems dead or half dead, changing unaccountably. But once we see the beautiful creature with bright wings emerge, flutter freely, and take flight, we find ourselves calling it a "butterfly." Similarly, because of the lack of clarity about the future, schol-ars describe the present reality by noting changes from the earlier condition.When all of the characteristics of this age become clear and show some coherence, it will be time to give the new period a name. The world may not reach that point in our lifetimes, but I hope that all of us want to be a part of the creation of the new name. We can do that by appropriately influencing, shaping, and creating some of the characteristics that will emerge. I suggest that a principal characteristic must be unity. That same oneness that was Christ's mission and Theresa Gerhardinger's mission must be our mission too. Failure of the Modern Age The modern age promised us that by science and technology, by dividing the whole, dissecting and labeling every part, and con-trasting one thing with another, it could understand and solve the problems of our world and probe the depths of reality. It promised that the world would be controlled and developed and perfected, and that human beings would reach great heights. But science November-December 2000 [--~2 ¯ Soete ¯ A Vowed Response Our prosperity and plenty come to us on the backs of the poor and oppressed. itself has had to admit that the mysteries of the world are far beyond such probing; that our scientific advances have actually destroyed much of our world and have led us to live in fear of some scientific developments; that actually, in spite of all of our sci-entific progress, we have missed opportunities to expand and develop our spiritual and human potential and have inst(ad created horrendous human misery. MI of the human misery in the world today is a sign that these former beliefs are not working. When I think of the oppression, poverty, ecological recklessness, uncontrolled materialism, and other problems of our day, I can understand why a new generation rejects our old answers. When I hear dogmatic pronouncements from our churches or from our governments about how things should be and see that those very pronouncements bring about more division than unity and hope alnong peoples, I can understand why some of my own young nieces and nephews reject them as incomplete, irrelevant, without meaning in their lives. It is probably true that there have always been famines, always children abused, always conflicts among religious groups, always people oppressed and exploited and murdered--but we have not always known about them with such immediate clarity. Now, thanks to advances in technology, we do. We are informed immediately about what is happening around the world. And we know now what the prophets and economists have been telling us for a long time, that our prosperity and plenty come to us on the backs of the poor and oppressed. And now the poor and oppressed know that too. We can see all of the "signs of the times" on our nightly news programs. It is up to us to read them carefully, interpret them honestly, and respond accordingly. If society is not organizing itself so as to be inclusive of all citizens, but chooses rather to be exclusive, then the developments in the world around us must sig-nal that we are going in the wrong direction. If our lack of respect for our environment cries out to heaven and to us in its misery, if our land is no longer fertile, our water is befouled, and our air is poisoned--if we really see and recognize this, we must know that we are going in the wrong direction. Review for Religious If our neglect of the poor and downtrodden causes our edu-cation and healthcare systems to fail, and if our competitive cul-tures make the lives of many people miserable, then all of that neglect and competition must be the wrong direction. If the signs tell me that life the way we have thus far organized it is not work-ing, that nothing succeeds, that my actions effect disaster for oth-ers, I am obviously moving in the wrong direction. After recognizing all of this, what do we do? We must make choices in response to these signs. We can choose to be "the tired ones" who give up to let someone else lead the renewal. We can choose to be "the selfish ones" who create only our own security and pleasure. Or we can choose to be "the hopeful ones" who will look for new possibilities for ourselves and for the world. I want us to be the ones who choose to be hopeful. I think we must con-tinue to believe that human beings hold the potential to create a world that works for all peoples. Our Vows as a Response I think that as vowed religious we might bring new dimen-sions to the thinking about solutions to world problems and could radically affect outcomes--not by seeing ourselves as an elite group distanced from our neighbors by some holy and private choices, by mysterious vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience, but rather by remembering--and letting ourselves be reignited by--the zeal with which I think we all made our first vows. I mean the per-sonal hope that we would change the world for the better, that we ourselves would bring with us the presence of Christ, that by sharing our love, faith, and hope we would make Christ visible and bring all the world to oneness in God. What happened to that most wonderful zeal and enthusiasm? I think that we religious need to ponder deeply the meaning of our vows and the witness our lives can give, must give, in con-trast to various trends and news events. I think of instances of environmental pollution, of trials for war crimes, of the terroriz-ing of ethnic and religious groups, and of the mother of a young child who could kill another woman's little girl. We seek to be effective in demonstrating hope and bringing it into our world. In a world where millions (including helpless children) suf-fer from the lack of such essentials as food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and education; in a world where people use their wealth November-December 2000 Soete ¯ A Vowed Response to produce more wealth so that they can live in a style that uses up the goods of the earth; in a world where people want more and more and give less and less to the laborers who produce the goods; in a world full of people who throw away and waste without even a thought--in such a world I have promised, we have promised, to use only what we need and to share everything we have. Are we keeping that promise? Would anyone who looks at us, our lifestyles, or our closets notice our choiceto do with less and our willingness to share? Would they be edified, stand in awe of the way that we are keeping our promise? In a world where groups of human beings look upon other groups as lower and with great intolerance seek to get rid of them; in a world where "ethnic cleansing," ways of death, become a way of life for some; in a world where nationalism means that free-dom to be intolerant of the differences of other races or peoples-- in such a world I have promised, we have promised, to love inclusively and to take on Jesus' own reverence and concern for all people, excluding no one. Are we keeping that promise? Would anyone who looks at us, at our way of being with the people with whom we live, at our way of being with the people at our place of ministry, notice our love, tolerance, and respect? Would they be edified and stand in awe of the way we are keeping our promise? In a world where the strong and influential make decisions for the weak; in a world where whole groups of people are not consulted about matters that affect vital areas of their lives; in a world where people are murdered because they disagree--in such a world I have promised, we have promised, to search for God's will and the right direction through dialogue and conversation, con-sultation and collaboration with all concerned. Are we keeping that promise? Would anyone who watches how we lead or partic-ipate in groups of students or teachers or coworkers notice our collaborative style or the way we listen to every person? Wotild they be edified and stand in awe of the way we are keeping our promise? What Then? I have spoken about our vows, emphasizing them as three promises because the term "vows" can sometimes be spiritualized and focused only on our commitment to God. In thinking about them as promises, I had a sense of a great possibility. I began to see Review for Religious that what we promise is more like a radical way that all human beings need to choose if we are to create a world where all people can live with dignity. I Wonder what might happen if we shared these choices of ours more openly among ourselves and witnessed to them more radically with our associates and with our partners in ministry. I am not so sure of our next step. I am not so sure how this small core of friends and others like us might have a good impact on our society and our world. But I think that somehow we can--and I challenge ourselves and others to come alive with that potential. "Striving for Unity" is our charism. We are supposed to be masters of it by now. Why, in our Japan Region alone, if we add up all of our years of religious life, we have more than three thousand years of our SSND lifestyle! I hope that we and others may gather together everyone's good insights and with them create for ourselves an exciting and real-istic dream as we step forward with God into this third millennium. Many of us will probably not be around when the next era gets its name, but--just as we prefer the word "butterfly" to "postcaterpillar" when thinking of the little creature's potential--would we not want the concepts of oneness, tolerance, collaboration, acceptance, and respect to be part of the name given to the next era? Are there initiatives for us to take, or can we at least support and encourage the wonderful people around us who are already dedicating their lives to this conversion and transformation of the earth? Is this not what we want to use our energy and ingenuity for? Is this not a way that we could use our positions as educa-tors and as ministers? Is this not worth the offering of the rest of our lives? We have promised to use only what we need. Are we keeping that promise? November-Decen~ber 2000 LAWRENCE F. BARMANN Mary Ward: Centuries Her Scroll examples from the past Today, amid questions about effective evangelization in the 21st century, about leadership and ~uthority in the Catholic Church, and about women's fuller participa-tion in these efforts and echelons, there is much that can and should be learned from Mary Ward at long last. During her lifetime four hundred years ago, she experi-enced much suffering and failure, but her full contribu-tion to the church and the world seems now to be only beginning. For religious in the United States and else-where who may know little or nothing of this extraor-dinary woman, I hope this article may provide a brief but warm introduction. The recent book I will be draw-ing from and citing is an excellent place to make fur-ther acquaintance with her goodness and truth. I refer to Mary Ward: Pilgrim and Mystic by Margaret Mary Littlehales IBVM) Mary Ward was an English gentlewoman, well-con-nected by birth, and related to many of those who were executed for their part in the ill-conceived Gun Powder Plot of 1605. She was born in Yorkshire in 1585, three years before the defeat of the Spanish Armada and four- Lawrence E Barmann is a professor of American studies and theological studies at Saint Louis Univ, ersity. His address is Humanities Building; 3800 Lindell Boulevard; St. Louis, Missouri 63108. Review for Religious teen years after Pope Pius V's bull Regnans in excelsis made techni-cal traitors out of all English Catholics who claimed allegiance to the pope by inviting them to dethrone Queen Elizabeth. So mar-tyrdom for the faith, or at least willingly accepted hardship for the ability to practice it, became the very atmosphere in which Mary Ward grew to adulthood. Such an atmosphere is often inducive to quick spiritual maturity, and in Mary Ward's case it certainly was. By the time she was sixteen, Mary Ward had developed a strong prayer life and the conviction that God intended her for the religious state in some form. Her parents thought otherwise, and Edmund Neville, heir to the earldom of Westmoreland, became her suitor. After Mary had gently rejected him, Neville became a Jesuit; and at twenty-one she persuaded her father to allow her to go to the continent to try her vocation to religious life. In 1606 Mary arrived at SaintoOmer in the Spanish Netherlands (now northern France), where English Catholics escaping persecution in their homeland had been migrating for decades. Through the advice of misguided confessors, she entered a Poor Clare convent, only to realize within a year that this was not where God intended her to be. In 1609 she returned briefly to England, where she seems to have gained some light about God's choice for her. Upon returning to Saint-Omer with a small group of English women about her own age, she set about doing for women's education what the Jesuits were doing for boys among the emigr~s. She called her community the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her specific intention was "to train English girls from Catholic families to be wives and mothers or religious, but all to be apostles for the faith in England." She was convinced that women were quite as capable of edu-cation as men, though she thought they did not need precisely the same courses. For Greek and Hebrew she substituted modern lan-guages, and for physical training, dancing. Moreover, she set about having her own followers trained to teach such things. In the patri-archal world and church of the 17th century, this was considered wildly innovative and thus suspect; and so the church authorities, who alone could approve her work as a religious institute, were to make Mary pay dearly for such innovation. Once, in 1617, after hearing a Jesuit priest comment on the work of her schools that, "when all is done, they are but women," Mary remarked calmly but with conviction: "There is no such dif- November-Decen~ber 2000 Barmann ¯ Mary Ward ference between men and women that women may not do great things . And I hope in time to come it will be seen that women will do much . What think you of this word 'but women'? but as if we were in all things inferior to some other creature which I suppose to be man." Mary Ward's convictions about this and much else were drawn not primarily from books and debates, but from her intense relationship with God and from his grace working through her wonderfully balanced and prophetic personality. As the schools grew and young women increasingly wished to join Mary Ward's community, she needed to settle on some rule of life. By 1611 already about forty women had cast their lots with hers. Both the local bishop and her confessor tried to force her to adopt either the Augustinian, Benedictine, Franciscan, or Carmelite rules. To these urgings she could only respond that "they seemed not that which God would have." These "English Ladies," as they were now commonly called by their supporters (or "Jesuitesses," by their detractors), could not have adopted any of those earlier rules for women and continue to do the work to which they were called; all four rules as they were applied to women in those days required canonical enclosure. Finally Mary Ward had her answer, and it was to lead to incredible suffering for the remainder of her life. To the papal nuncio in Cologne, Monsignor Albergati, she explained: About this time, in the year 1611, being alone in some extraordinary repose of mind, I heard distinctly not by sound of voice, but intellectually understood, these words: "Take the same of the Society"; so understood as that we were to take the same both in matter and manner, that only excepted which God by diversity of sex hath prohibited. These few words gave so great a light in that particular institute, comfort and strength, and changed so the whole soul as that it was impos-sible for me to doubt, but that they came from Him whose words are works. Mary Ward's conviction that God intended her to adopt the Jesuit Rule to her institute of religious women and to do her spe-cial work in the world rather than in a cloister was what 17th-cen-tury western Europe obviously needed if it were to remain at all Catholic. But it was a conviction far in advance of the convictions of most of the male authorities in post-Reformation Rome. Furthermore, the Jesuits had managed to incur the jealous wrath of the secular clergy in England, and these latter pursued Mary with calumnious accusations simply because she intended to estab-lish a female religious congregation based on Jesuit principles. Review for Religious These calumnies found a ready hearing in Rome. The Jesuits them-selves were ambivalent about her institute, sometimes being extremely helpful and sometimes joining the enemy. In 1622 Mary Ward finally met the Jesuit general, Mutius Vitelleschi, who was deeply and permanently impressed by her. Henceforth the Jesuit general would instruct his men to be supportive of Mary's work and gracious to her, short of such involvement as might lead to a sort of second order--something St. Ignatius Loyola had strictly for-bidden. Meanwhile Mary's institute had established schools not only in Saint-Omer, but in Liege and Rome, and would soon have houses in Naples, Perugia, Munich, Vienna, Pressburg, and elsewhere. Mary herself, always of delicate physical constitution, went back and forth across the Alps, mostly on foot, frequently in winter and in the midst of the Thirty Years War, in order to strengthen and encourage her followers; while at the same time she worked tirelessly to gain the necessary support of bishops, the Roman curia, and the pope, for the approval of her institute. The number of high-placed clerics who opposed her for reasons that had nothing to do with reli-gion, or even good sense, always outnumbered those who sup-ported her. The bishop of Vienna, for instance, wrote to Rome in 1628 to complain that the English Ladies had opened a school there without his peymission (though they had the emperor's per-mission and he had even given them a house and funds) and that the girls in Mary Ward's school had actually performed publicly in a comic school play! With the Catholic religion collapsing in central Europe, a bishop's jealousy of his rights against the only Catholic ruler of any weight in the region would ultimately prevent the Catholic education of young women in the empire. Of popes with whom Mary had to deal, Urban VIII, who would condemn Galileo at Mary Ward's conviction that God intended her to adopt the Jesuit Rule to her institute of religious women was what 17th-century western Europe obviously needed if it were to remain Catholic. November-December 2000 Barmann ¯ Mar~ Ward about the same time that he condemned Mary Ward, was the most duplicitous. She first had an audience with Urban in 1624, in which she pleaded for approval of her institute and in which Urban smiled and smiled and totally misled her about his intentions. Eventually he ordered the suppression of all of her houses and the dissolution of her institute, and this merely on the basis of English clerical calumnies and calumnies spawned by the hurt pride of ambitious continental clerics. Mary herself was eventually imprisoned as a heretic in a Poor Clare convent in Munich, by order of the Roman Inquisition. There she nearly died, though she so impressed the resident Poor Clares that they knew she was anything but a heretic. Meanwhile, her followers were being systematically driven from their houses and were mostly on the verge of starvation. Having at length been released from prison, Mary set out at the end of 1631 for Rome in order to clear her good name for the sake of what she hoped might be the future of her institute. Kneeling at Urban's feet she burst out, "Holy Father, I am not nor ever have been a heretic." At which the pope interrupted, "We believe it, we believe it; we need no other proof." He also allowed the institute to continue (under private vows) in Rome and under his protection. In 1637 Mary Ward set out again for England, though it would be May of 1639 before she actually got there. She sought a letter from Pope Urban to give to Queen Henrietta Maria to gain the queen's support for her institute. The letter Mary received speaks of her as "one much esteemed in Rome both for her well-known qualities and piety, which will without doubt cause Your Majesty to see and hear her." This was the same Rome which, only half a dozen years earlier, had imprisoned her as a heretic and decreed the destruction of her life's work. The queen did receive Mary gra-ciously, but within a year the country would be in the throes of political ttirmoil that would end in civil war and the execution of the king. Without completely abandoning her hope of establishing a school in London, Mary went north to Yorkshire in 1642, and there she died at Osbaldwick, a short distance from the city of York, on 20 January (old style) 1645. After her death Mary Ward's institute did in fact flourish, and finally, in 1977, after a wait of 366 years, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary was able to realize Mary Ward's original insight and founder's charism by adopting the Jesuit Constitutions, and with the blessing of the Jesuit general, Pedro Arrupe. Margaret Mary Review for Religious Littlehales's study of Mary's Ward's life reveals many things. It reveals the costliness, but also the great happiness, of completely abandoning oneself to God. It also demonstrates that, within the external church structure, official authority can be quite wrong, but probably less so in proportion to the genuine humility of its wielders. Mary Ward's life demonstrates incontrovertibly that God's intended purposes are often achieved through the near annihilation of the human instruments of that achievement. Christians should not be surprised by this, for such was the case with God's own Son. Contemporary religious, both men and women, can find great encouragement and inspiration in the life of this saintly English woman. Dorothy Day did, and she even titled her own autobiog-raphy with a remark Mary Ward once made as she pondered what lay ahead of her as a young woman bent on seeking only God's will--"the long loneliness." Note 1 Margaret Mary Littlehales, Mary Ward, Pilgrim and Mystic, 1~8Y- 164~ (Tunbridge Wells, England: Burns and Oates, 1998). Pp. 272. £18.95. Patrimony my patrimony is a deity unknown whose name I cannot pronounce communicated to me in stuttering speech, in fits of temper and in weeping, in so many questions unleavened by answers in silence and in absence by those struck dumb and those afraid to speak Sefin Kinsella November-December 2000 STAN PARMISANO St. Catherine's Letters: Human Love, Gracious Authority One level of St. Catherine of Siena, perhaps her deepest, is revealed in her Dialogue.' But this great work, whether in the original or in proper translation, is strange fare for many mod-ern readers. Its subject matter--mystical union with the Trinity in and through Christ--is high and heavy and, I should think, attractive only to the relatively few seriously intent upon such union. Its language often includes words and phrases borrowed from the scholastic theology of the day, though Catherine's orig-inal genius keeps breaking through, giving new form to old mat-ter. The book is also rife with personification and allegory (Christ the Bridge, the Tree of Life, Vineyard of the Soul, and so forth)-- fun for the medieval reader, but dry and tedious for today's read-ership. Also, in the Dialogue Catherine is quite formal and impersonal. The lively, dynamic personality recorded in history is certainly there, but it has to be searched out, for it is hidden in the shadow of the great Truth she labors to expound. She herself is merely un'anirna in the mighty presence of her God. Her letters are a different matter.2 They are personal--writ-ten not by an anonymous "soul," but by the flesh-and-blood Catherine. Io Caterina rings throughout, addressed not to people in general, but to here-and-now individuals. The letters evoke wide and popular interest. They deal with Catherine's own life Stan Parmisano OP wrote about theology and faith in our September- October issue. His address remains Saint Albert's Priory; 5890 Birch Court; Oakland, California 94618. Revie'a, for Religiou, and visible experiences and with details about life around her, social and political as well as spiritual. Their language is not borrowed from or freighted with outmoded rhetorical devices, but is pleas-ingly spontaneous and informal, as alive today as in Catherine's own time. On the whole the letters are original. They are Catherine, in every vibrant word and phrase--simple, nuanced, various, alive with passion for the truth, and the truth in particu-lar situations. They are "unliterary," to be sure, for they were talked, not written, by our unlettered saint, but they are clear and coherent, direct and firm, though also tactful. Catherine sometimes digresses, loses the train of her thought, but she never really rambles on or gossips. She has little time for light conversation ("Let us run, let us run, for the time is short!"), and her central point is almost always clear and precise. Though each of her letters is unique, many of them fall into a common pattern. They begin with Jesus, and with Catherine as the slave of the servants of God--never, for Catherine, a mere pious formula, but always freshly genuine. Then she often seems to lose herself in the contemplation and exposition of one of the mysteries of faith, which, however, turns out to be pertinent to the subject of the letter. Soon she comes to the question at issue, and, if in the initial paragraphs she was high and spiritual, peacefully contemplative, now she is very much the active apostle dealing practically and in detail with earthy mat-ters. She ends with statements of love and concern for her corre-spondent, placing all in the hands of God: "Bathe you in the blood of Christ crucified. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love." The letters reveal the breadth as well as depth of Catherine's concerns, and her marvelous ability to adapt, with no compromise of ideal, to various situations and personalities. To a little niece she writes in gentle, childlike simplicity about the wise and foolish virgins in the Gospel and the lamps they bear: "Do you know what this means, my daughter? By the lamp is meant our heart, because a heart ought to be like a lamp. You see that a lamp is wide above and narrow below, and so the heart is made to signify that we ought always to keep it wide above through holy thoughts and holy imaginations and continual prayer; always holding in mem-ory the blessing of the Blood by which we are bought . I said . simple, nuanced, various, alive with passion for the truth, and the truth in particular situations. November-December 2000 Parmisano ¯ St. Catherine's Letters that a lamp is narrow below, and so is our heart: to signify that the heart ought to be narrow toward these earthly things--that is, it must not desire or love them extravagantly, nor hunger for more than God wills to give us" (letter no. 23). To Alessa, as to other of her women disciples, she sends prac-tical advice about the religious life, which is to be lived "both with and without moderation . For love toward God should be with-out measure, and that for creatures should be measured by that for God, and not by measure of one's own consolations, whether spiritual or temporal." And how manage this? "Make two homes for yourself, my daughter: one actual home in your cell, that you go not running about into many places, unless for necessity, or for obe-dience to the prioress, or for charity's sake; and another spiritual home, which you are to carry with you always." This last, she con-tinues, is "the cell of true self-knowledge," embracing both the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self, "two cells in one. ¯ and when abiding in the one you must abide in the other, for oth-erwise the soul would fall into either confusion or presumption. For, if you rested in the knowledge of yourself, confusion of mind would fall upon you; and, if you dwelt in the knowledge of God alone, you would fall into presumption" (no. 49). Still within the uncompromising truth and love of Jesus, but with some relevant adaptation, she writes in a much different vein to Sir John Hawkwood, the English soldier of fortune who was the scourge of the Italian city-states. She begs him to leave "the service and pay of the devil., and take the pay and the cross of Christ crucified." He is a soldier; let him remain such, but let him now become Christ's knight: "I beg you, then, gently in Christ Jesus, that, since God and also our Holy Father have ordered a crusade against the infidels and [since] you take such pleasure in war and fighting, you should not make war against Christians any-more-- for that is wrong to God; but go against the infidels. For it is a great cruelty that we who are Christians, and members bound in the body of Holy Church, should persecute one another." And she concludes abruptly but quite aptly with a subtle undertone of warning against his soldiering altogether: "I beg you, dearest brother, to keep in memory the shortness of your time." Her final words are as usual: "Remain in the holy and sweet grace of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love" (140). To that formidable woman of the world Queen Joanna of Naples, who first sided with Clement, then Urban, then with Review for Religious Clement again in their rival claims on the papacy, Catherine writes in a similar manner, but with deeper sorrow and fiercer passion: "Dearest Mother--mother, I say, insofar as I see you to be a faith-ful daughter of Holy Church--it seems to me that you have no mercy on yourself. Ah me! because I love you I grieve over the evil state of your soul and body. I would willingly lay down my life to prevent this cruelty. Many times I have written to you in compassion, showing you that what is shown you for the truth is a lie; and the rod of divine justice., is ready for you if you do not flee so great a wrong. It is a human thing to sin, but perseverance in sin is a thing of the devil . Be merciful, ah, be merciful to yourself]. I say no more to you. Remain in the holy sweet grace of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love" (348). She writes differently to Gregory xI than at a later date she would write to Urban vI. Gregory was weak and vacillating, and so in her letters to hi~n she exhorts him to be "manly" and firm in his high office of supreme pontiff: "Be manly in my sight, and not timorous . I, Catherine. write you in his precious Blood, desiring to see you a manly man (uomo virile) without any servile fear." And, when Gregory hesitates in his resolve to return to Rome for fear of being poisoned there, Catherine reminds him that there are other, more terrible kinds of poison; and at any rate there's as much poison "on the tables of Avignon . as on those of Rome!" (229, 239). Urban, on the other hand, from the start of his pontificate was already betraying that spirit of anger and vindictiveness that would end in personal revenge, violence, and mt~rder. One had written to Catherine after the election of Urban: "It seems that our new Christ is a terrible man." In her first letter to him, Catherine appears to be aware of this and shapes her words accordingly: "Next I beg you, and constrain you by the love of Christ crucified, as to those sheep who have left the fold--I believe for my sins-- that, by love of that Blood of which you are made minister, you delay not to receive them in mercy, and with your benignity and holiness force their hardness; give them the good of bringing them back to the fold, and, if they do not ask it in true and perfect humility, let Your Holiness supply for their imperfection. Receive from a sick man what he can give you" (291). Religious life is to be lived "both with and without moderation." November-December 2000 Parmisano * "St. Catherine's Letters She writes to William Flete and other hermits at Laceto a gem of a letter begging them to leave for a time the peace and quiet of their forest retreat and come to Rome on pilgrimage in support of Urban. She desires them so to lose themselves as to seek "nor peace nor quiet elsewhere than in Christ crucified." If out of piety they are loath to leave their solitary life, they must know that there are woods and forests aplenty in and around Rome! (326). To Raymond of Capua, her Dominican soul brother and dearest friend, she writes in every which way: tenderly, pas-sionately, in joy, in anger; now as a scolding mother, now as his obedient daughter, now reproving him for cowardice and want of faith, now exposing her own weakness and want of love. And, often uncomfortably for Raymond, always she wants him together with herself to die a martyr: "I tell you, sweetest Father, that, whether we will or no, the time we are living in enjoins us to die, so do not live any longer." (333). Catherine's Human Love This last suggests one of two facets of Catherine's personality that may prove especially problematic for the modern reader of her letters, namely, the quality of her human love. The spontane-ity, passion, naturalness, and totality of her love for the Person of Christ is beyond question: she is quite literally consumed, body and soul, with love for Him, who is mad (pazzo), drunk (ebro) with love for her. But, when it comes to lesser*folk, her native inclina-tions seem to be oversupernaturalized, and her love may appear forced and lacking in the milk of human tenderness and warmth and understanding. This would explain the extreme discomfort she experiences when ordered by the Lord to leave her solitary life and give to others the same love that she gave to

Issue 25.5 of the Review for Religious, 1966. ; Mal~ Religious in Past and Present by Maurice A. ROche, C.M. 749 Updating the Cloister by Sister Teresa Margaret, O.C:D. 770 ' Directed vs. Preached.Retreats by Ladislas M. Ors,2, S.J. 781 The Religious Teacher by Sister M. Fredericus, O.P. 797 The Woman Religious and Leadership by William J. Kelly, S.J. 814 Retreat: Dialogue or Silence? by Ambrose de Groot, O.F.M.Cap. 828 A Pastoral Theology Program by Gerald G. Daily, S.J. 836 The Eucharist as Symbolic Reality by J. P. de Jong 853 Retreat or Community Experience by George A. Aschenbrenner, S.J. 860 The Problem of Vitality by John Carmody, S.J. 867 D, irection and the Spiritual Exercises by Daniel J. Shine, S.J. 888 Poems 897 Survey of Roman Documents 899 Views, News, Previews 906 Questions and Answers 909 Book Reviews 925 VOLUM~ 25 NUMBER 5 September 1966 Notice to Subscribers Because of constantly increasing costs, REVIEW FOR RELK;IOUS finds it necessary to increase the cost of its individual issues as well as of its sub-scriptions. The new rates, effective in 1967, will be the following: (l) Individual issues of the REVIEW will cost one dollar; this price will apply not only to all issues beginning with 1967 but also to all previously published issues. (2) Subscriptions in the United. States, Canada, and Mexico will cost $5.00 per year; $9.00 for two years. (3) Subscriptions to other countries will cost ~;5.50 per year; ~;10.00 for two years. (4) All the above prices are in terms of U.S.A. dollars; accordingly all payments must be made in U.S.A. funds. These prices will affect all individual issues sold on or after January 1, 1967. The new subscription prices will be applicable to all subscriptions-- new and renewed---beginning with the January, 1967, issue of the REVIEW. MAURICE A. ROCHE; C.M. The Male Religious in Past and Present What is the perfect Christian life? Can it be lived? If so, how? Does it entail the transformation of all human society? Can in-dividuals be immersed in a prevailingly or partially un-Christian society without compromising their principles and be fully Christian? To be fully Christian, is it necessary to withdraw from society? If so, must one live alone, or must those intent on the complete Christian life seek it in.community with othersP These and similar questions have been asked by zeal-ous Christians and by the Church herself since the time of Christ. According to the circumstances of time and place, the answer of the Church has varied. This article will treat in summary form the major manifestations of the "perfect life" as .they have appeared in the Western part of the Catholic Church during the past nineteen hundred years. As with most 'institutions in the Church, both the idea and practice of: the religious life developed rather slowly. Some of the elements of the religious life, for example, common purse, existed among the disciples even during the lifetime of Christ.2 Shortly after Pentecost at least some of the disciples gave all their possessions to the p0or.s In the First Epistle to the Corinthians (written about the year 57), St. Paul talks about the concern of a Christian father for his virgin daughter;4 presumably the motive for her virginity was a religious one. ÷ During ,the first two centuries, the life of perfection was lived within the family circle; domestic asceticism + was the rule. Given the small number of Christians in a pagan society, no othel- solution seemed feasible. Such persdns engaged in ordinary employments; each local church usuall~ had a number of these "continentes" ; ampton, 1 Kenneth S. Latourette, .4 History ol Christianity (New York: vania 18967. H~rper ~nd Row, 1953), p. 221. =Jn 13529. VOLUME 25, 1966 ' 1 Cor 7:36-8. 749 Father Maurice A. Roche, C.M., is a faculty member of Mary Immaculate Seminary; North- Pennsyl- + ÷ ÷ M. A. Roche, .M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 750 and "virgines." They formed a sort of spiritual aristoc-racy and occupied special places in the church. These primitive ascetics differed in many respects from the later religious: no special ceremony marked their entrance into the ascetical life; they wore no distinctive clothing; they did not live in community (though they might fre-quently assemble for mutual encouragement); they did not abstain from ordinary employment; they did not devote themselves as a matter of course or in .any special way to the corporal works of mercy. This mode of striv-ing for perfection has never died out in the Church; every parish still has its group of unmarried women who work for a living and are exceptional for their piety. About the middle of the third century there arose in Egypt the institution of monasticism. Authors have ad-vanced various reasons to explain its development in this place at this time. (a) Pagan Egypt had a strain of .mysticism in it. (It was in Alexandria that Ammonius Saccas [d. 245] had founded Neoplatonism.) Thus the Egyptian people were not entirely unprelSared for this mode of life which purported to lead to mystical union with God. (b) The desert wastes of Egypt made it easy to find solitude. Food and water were a constant problem of course, but the hot dry climate simplified the matter of clothing, shelter; and so forth. (c) The Decian persecution (249-251) was particularly thorough in Egypt and the desert offered a safe refuge. Some, driven out of the cities by the persecutors, sought refuge in the wilderness, liked the solitude, and remained there. Each of the above statements is true, and probably each contributed in some way to the growth of monasti-cism. They seem, however, to be occasions rather than causes. The basic cause for going to and remaining in the desert was the desire to live completely for God, a desire that was difficult of fulfillment in the still pagan atmosphere of the cities. Some ascetics had previously attempted to live in seclusion on the outskirts of the in-habited areas; this halfway measure proved in the main unworkable, and so the more zealous among them aban-doned the dwelling of men completely. Traditionally, the first hermit was St. Paul of Thebes (228-340) who fled to a remote mountain during the Decian persecution. St. Antony (250-356) was for a time a solitary hermit, but eventually a group of disciples gathered about him. Basically, these men were still her-mits, each living in his own ceil, giving hihaself to pri-vate prayer, reading, and manual work. Occasional dis-courses by St. Antony (and perhaps Mass) were the only occasions on which silence was broken. St. Antony was at heart a hermit, yet the needs of the Church twice called him to the active life. In 311 he left his retreat in order to encourage the victims of the persecution of Maximin, and about 338 he quitted his solitude in order to confer with St. Athanasius on means to defeat the Arian heresy. Between these two dates the desert had flowered: in the ),ear 325 the Nitrian Desert alone counted some five thousand men dedicated to God. Five years before this, another manifestation of the perfect life had appeared in Egypt: cenobitism, of which St. Pachomius (d. 348) is considered the initiator. His followers were not solitary hermits, nor were they inde-pendent hermits joined together by an accident of loca-tion; rather, they lived in common in subjection to ~he rule of the superior or abbot. Unlike some solitaries who neglected the sacraments, the Pachomian monks took part in Mass twice weekly, at one of which celebrations they communicated. The Pachomian rule tended to moderate some of the corporal austerities of the hermits, but it was withal quite severe. St. Pachomius was, it seems, the first to draw up a rule for monks. The great codifier of Eastern monasticism was not 'he, however, but St. Basil the Great (329-379). To his personal sanctity and firsthand experience with the dangers and advantages of monasticism, he added familiarity with the~ problems of rule, the grace of the episcopal office, a good education, and a keen intellect. His rule became the norm for Eastern monasticism, and in its broad lines at least is still followed today. More to our purpose, however, St. Basil's rule had an effect on the rule drawn up by St. Benedict in the sixth century. Before leaving the East completely, reference should be made at least in passing to the pillar saints, of whom the most famous was St. Simeon Stylites (d. 459). This singular expression of the perfect life had a brilliant but short-lived existence. Up until this time, monasticism had not developed much in the West. For the most part an importation from the East, it was, like much Eastern food, too highly seasoned for. the Western man: it did not suit Western climate, Western mentality, or Western man. Mention Should be made, however, of those who were more or less successful in forming monasteries after the Eastern fash-ion: Saints Hilary (315-367), Martin (c. 315-c. 399), Am-brose (339-397), Jerome (c. 347-419 or 420), Honoratus (c~ 350-430); and John Cassian (c. 360-c. 430).5 St. Augus-tine of ~Hippo (354-430) lived a common life with his clergy, but these were (to use a later terminology) can-ons regular rather than monks. ,~ Cassian is not usually recognized as a saint; this is probably a re-sult of his views in what has come to be known as the semi-Pelagian controversy. ÷ ÷ ÷ The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 ÷ ÷ ÷ M~ A. Roche,~ C.M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 752 By the end of the fifth century, monasticism, already firmly established in the East, had begun to sink roots in the West, although its exact form had not yet been definitively established. Over the years monasticism would undergo many changes in the West; "but in its various ramifications it was to be the main channel through which new bursts of life were to find expression in the various churches which conserved' the traditions of the Catholic Church of the Roman Empire," ~ The institution had already been in existence over two hun-dred years by the time St. Benedict of Nursia (480-550) was born; the number of monasteries varied greatly from place to place at this date in the Ctiristian West, but the institution as such had gained ac.ceptance in the minds of men. The work of St. Benedict was not pre-cisely to introduce a completely new organism into the Western Church; it was more to reform and adapt an existing institution so that it might be viable and useful in his time and place. In drawing up his rule, St. Bene-dict apparently took the rule of St. Basil as a model, though he did not imitate it slavishly; rather, he modi-fied it in order to suit the needs of himself and of his followers. The judgment of Latourette on St. Benedict's rule is worth noting: ~ The rule of Benedict became standard in the West, probably because of i~s intrinsic worth. Pope Gregory the Great did much to give it popularity. It was taken to Britain by missionaries sent by Gregory from: Rome . In the seventh century it began to gain in Gaul. Charlemagne admired it and furthered its adop-tion. By the latter part,of the eighth century it was generally ac, cepted. No central organization existed for its enforcement and to bring uniformity. Each monastery was independent of ~very other." Modifications might and often were made in the rule by individual houses. Yet it became the model from which many other rules stemmed. In an age of disorder the Benedictine monasteries were centres of quiet and orderly livfng, communities where prayer, work, and study were the custom, and that in a society where prayer was ignored or was regarded as magic to be practised for selfish ends, where work was despised as servile, where even princes were .illiterate, where war was chronic. ,.Like other monastic establishments, Benedictine foun~lations tended' to decline from the high ideals setby the rule. Many were heavily endowed and in numbers of them life became easy and at times sCa'ndalous. When awakenings occurred, they often took the form of a re-turn to the rule or its modification in t.he direction of greater austerity. Even when the rule was strictly observed, the mon-astertes were self-centered and were not concerned with the sal-vation of the so~:iety about them, except to draw individuals from it into their fellowship.' Hdwever., the missionaries of the e Latourette, History o[ Christianity, p. 233. ' As it stands, this sentence is far too sweeping. The monks at this time (outside of mission lands) did not engage in parochial wo~'k; but the monastic priests did not refuse their ministration to those lay Western Church were predominantly monks. It was chiefly through them, although often at the initiative and under the protection of lay princes, that the faith was carried beyond its existing frontiers. Later, moreover, monks of the Benedictine rule became prominent in the general life of the Church and of the community as a whole,s The life [in the monastery] was orderly but was not unduly severe and was probably more comfortable than was that of the great masses of the population. Clothing and meals were simple but adequate, and special provision was made for the ill, the aged, the very young, and those doing heavy manual labour. There was to be fasting at regular times, but this was not the kind practised by the extreme ascetics . Much weight was given to humility. Provision was made for various degrees of discipline, from private admonition to physical punishment, ex-communication, and as a final resort, expulsion. The entire round of twenty-four hours was provided for, with eight services, one every three hours, and with .periods for sleep, including a rest early in the afternoon, for eating, and for labour . Silence was encouraged and was the rule at meals and after compline. . Stress was placed on worship b.y the entire community and directions were given for the services. There was a place for priests, for they were needed to say mass, but they were to obey the rule as fully as the lay monks. The rule was wisely designed for a group of men of various ages living together in worship and in work for the cultivation of the full Christian life as it was con-ceived by the monk? The spirit of the rule is perhaps best summed up by its author in the prologue when he wrote: Therefore we must establish a school of the Lord's service, in founding which we hope to ordain nothing that is harsh or burdensome?° Dorn David Knowles writes: ¯. if the Rule holds within it so much of th~ wisdom and ex-perience of the past, its anticipation of the needs of the future is even more striking. The ancient world, with its city life, its great seats of culture, its graded society and its wide and rapid means of communication, was rapidly disappearing. In the new world that was coming into being, the estate, the village, the district were the units; Europe, from being a single complex organism was becoming an aggregate of cells, bound to one an-other by the loosest of ties. St. Benedict lived in a society where the scope and opportunities of education, secular and theologi-cal, were yearly narrowing, and in which the numbers of the people who sought it. The monks also wrote works for the edification of the faithful and furthered the development of theology¯ Moreover, their example of selfless devotion to God had a salutary impact even on those who did not become monks themselves¯ Finally, an important part of the religious life was prayer for the benefactors, for the local clergy, for the civil government, for the conversion of pagans, and so forth. Even the most cloistered monk was solicitous for the salvation of the society about him. s Latourette, History o] Christianity, pp. 335-6. 9 Ibid¯, pp. 33,1-5. l° Justin McCann, "The Rule of St. Benedict," cited in Colman Barry, Readings in Church History, v. 1 (~Vestminster: Newman, 1960), p. 168. 4- 4- 4- The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 4" M, ,4. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS educated were yearly lessening; a socie(y in.which the family, the farm;the estate was strong--a society continually threatened with extinction., by invasion, or (with) chaos, and which therefore needed above all some clear, simple, basic principles to which it might hold and rally . This suitability to the needs of the time was met at every level of life, by the monastery of the Kule . Only in the early centuries or backward countries of medieval times could such a community continue to be a norm, and it did not, in fact, long endure in its original com-prehensiveness . A full acknowledgment of the unique ex-cellence of the Ruie does not imply that it had no limitations. Such are inevitable in every code that bears the stamp of time and place . ~ Benedictinism was not without rivals in the West. There were the Eastern-type monasteries founded before the time of St. Benedict, most if not all of which were within the then existing boundaries of the Roman Em-pire. 12 Of more importance and more influence were the Celtic monasteries initiated both before and after the lifetime of the saint of Nursia. For the most part these monasteries were located in regions that had never been or were not at the time of foundation within the. con-fines of the Empire. This Celtic monasticism was il-lumined by a galaxy of brilliant saints like Columkil (521-597) and Columban (540-615), the latter of whom composed the rule that bears his name. Much shorter than the Benedictine rule, the Columban rule Was Orien-tal in spirit. (This is not so strange as it may at first appear: St. Patrick had been formed to the religious life in the Eastern-type Abbey of Lerins founded by St. Honoratus about 400 A.D. and the influence of, the East had remained strong among the Celtic Christians.) The Celtic rule was very severe: hours of prayer and of work were multiplied; discipline was strict, with corporal pun-ishment meted out even for slight faults,' Columban monks went to England and to the continent in great numbers and started monasteries--such as Ltixeuil, Bob-bio, and Saint Ga!l--which were of great importance in the Middle Ages. The C61umban rule produced spiritual giants; but conversely, it was made only for spiritual giants, not for ordinary men. By what seems to us a strange quirk, this very strict rule allowed great freedom ~Dom David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England (2nd ed~; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1963), pp. 9-11. = No one rule predominated here. Rufinus had translated and abridged the rule of St. Basil; St. Jerome had put the rule of St. Pachomius 'into Latin. Some in the West drew up new rtiles: St. Honoratus of Lerins gave out certain constitutions which are no longer extant; we do, however, possess the Regula ad monachos and the Regula ad virgines of St. Caesarius of Aries (469-542) and also rules by Aurelianus, bishop of Aries from 546 to 551. See P. de Labriolle et al., "De la mort de Th~odose h l'fiiection de Gr~goire le Grand," v. 4 of Histoire de l'Eglise, ed. by Fliche and Martin (Paris: Bloud and Gay, 1948), p. 592. of travel, and this sometimes led to disorder. For a while both the Benedictine and Columban rules existed over large portions of Western Europe; but eventually the Celtic Rule was forced to yield: in England at the Synod of Whitby in 664, in the Frankish Empire at the Synod of Autun in 670. Only in Ireland.did the Celtic Rule manage to endure. Even there it was eventually replaced, though by the stricter Cistercian Rule rather than by the Benedictine Rule strictly so-called. Even in defeat the austere:Irish monks won half a victory. , The character of Western monasticism, influenced.to some degree by St. Columban, was affected even more by the saint'g Italian contemporary, Pope St. Gregory I (540-604). About the year 575, he converted his parental home on the Caelian Hill into a monastery (St. An-drew, s), and there lived as a simple monk until chosen abbot in 585. The, regime at St. Andrew's was Benedic-tine in spirit; perhaps it even followed the Rule of St. Benedict explicitly. At any rate, St. Gregory was himself formed according to the Benedictine ideal. Chosen as bishop of Rome in 590, six or seven years later he sent St. Augustine and other monks from St. Andrew's to evangelize" the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in present-day England. His use of monks as missionaries undoubtedly effected a notable change in the Character of Western monasticism. Up until his time, Benedictinism had been basically a lay movement. In the mission lands, clergy were needed; and so most of the missionary monks re-ceived ordination. By the end of the Carolingian era, the great majority of monks were priests. Besides con-tributing to the clericalization of the monasteries, the missionary movement also fostered an activist strain in Western monasticism. From time to time this tendency would become prominent in the West; it is the more noticeable because such external work is much less en-couraged in Eastern monasticism. As the number of clerical monks increased, manual labor was relegated to servants, and the liturgy was lengthened. In 817 St. Benedict of Aniane attempted a monastic confederation, but feudal disorders hindered his work. The last half of the ninth and the first half of the tenth centuries were periods of great disorder in the civil and religious fields. Civil wars; invasions by Northmen, Muslim, Magyars; lay patronage; and so forth contributed to the breakdown of civil government, to the physical destruction of numerous monasteries, and to the relaxing of morals, both within and without the monasteries. In the second half of the tenth century, a great re-awakening occurred in the Western Church. Of major importance was the reform of Cluny, initiated by. its ÷ ÷ ÷ The Mal.e,~Re.ligious VOLUME 25~ 1966 M. A. Roche, C.M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS first abbot, St. Berno (850-927) in 910 and continued for some two and one half centuries by a series of outstand-ing and long-lived successors. An important innovation in the Cluniac reform was its centralizing tendency. Dur-ing the years after 910, many monasteries placed them-selves under the aegis of Cluny. The Cluniac regulations as eventually in force under St. Odilo (abbot from 994 to 1049) suppressed the title of abbot for heads of sub-ordinate houses; in charge of these lesser foundations were priors, subjected to the sole rule of the abbot of Cluny. By the beginning of the twelfth century, the num-ber of subordinate houses had risen to three hundred, the number of monks to ten thousand. Next to Rome, Cluny was regarded as the ecclesiastical center of Europe. Equally important to the monastic renewal was a movement, largely successful, to free the monasteries from the control of local lay lords and diocesan bishops. This question of exemption is a very involved affair, but it seems good to present a summary of the chief develop-ments in order that we may view with objectivity the events of the tenth and later centuries.13 The early monks, usually far removed from the cities (and from the bishops resident there), tended to develop independently of the hierarchy. The cenobitic life, more-over, demands a certain independence for the superior, or else he is superior in name only and powerless to lead his monks. Hence a certain tension developed between the legitimate abbatial desire for independence, and the likewise legitimate episcopal concern lest diocesan dis-cipline be subverted. The oldest extant conciliar legislation regarding monks and domestic ascetics goes back to the fourth century. The Council of Gangra in Paphlagonia (c. 340- 350) issued a series of anathemas against false ascetics; a council at Saragossa (380) speaks of the cleric who be-came a monk out of a spirit of pride and makes provi-sion for religious profession and veiling of virgins.14 Im-portant here is the fourth canon of the Council of Chalcedon (451): Those who lead a true and sincere monastic life ought to en-joy due honor. Since, however, there are some who, using the monastic state as a pretext, disturb the churches and the affairs of state, roam about aimlessly in the cities, and even undertake to establish monasteries for themselves, it is decided that no one shall build or found a monastery or a house of prayer without the consent of the bishop of the city. It is de.cided furthermore that all monks in every city and country place shall be subject to 13 The following remarks on exemption are taken for the most part from E. Fogliasso, "Exemption des religieux," Dictionnaire de droit canonique, v. 5, col. 646-51. 1, Hefele-Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, v. 1.2 (Paris: 1907), pp. 1029-45; 986-7. the bishop, that they love silence and attend only to fasting and prayer, remaining in the places in which they renounced the world; that they shall not leave their monasteries and burden themselves either with ecclesiastical or worldly affairs or take part in them unless they are commissioned to do so for some necessary purpose by the bishop of the city; that no slave shall be received into the monasteries and become a monk without the consent of his master. Whosoever transgresses this decision of ours shall be excommunicated . ~ Though the text seems to subject the monks without any restriction to the local bishop, E. Fogliasso comes to a different conclusion. In his opinion, the council merely stated the general principle that monks are sub-ject to the bishop but did nothing to revoke the various customs which in practice limited episcopal control, The council did not annul the authority of abbots, nor did it reserve to the bishop the choice of the abbot, nor did it regulate the administrative relations between monastery and diocese; all of these continued in the same way as beforehand. In short, .relations between bishop and monks were not yet precisely regulated. The Council of Chalcedon had dealt chiefly with problems of the East rather than of the West, and there were comparatively few Western bishops in attendance. Hence the canons did not impress the Western bishops with their urgency; just four years after Chalcedon a council was held in Aries which, among other concerns, regulated the relations of bishop and monks. Without saying so in so many words, the council in effect held that the bishop was to regulate the external activities of the monks, while the monks were independent of the bishop in their internal affairs. This division of control (which later became normative in the West) was not ac-cepted everywhere immediately. Some particular coun-cils, especially the African, gave to the monks a very great liberty; other councils subjected the monks more strictly to the bishop. With St.: Gregory I, the concept of the regimen inter-num became more precise. St. Gregory desired that the internal independence of the monasteries be preserved, particularly in the choice of the abbot and in temporal administration. A short time later, in 628 to be exact, Pope Honorius I (625-638) went much further: he re-moved the monastery of Bobbio (founded near Milan in 613 by the wandering Celt St. Columban) completely from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary. Monasteries in Benevento (714 and 741) and Fulda (751) were granted exemptio.n by the Apostolic See in the next century. About this time, another current of events was leading a~ H. H. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees o] the General Councils (St. Louis: Herder, 1937), p. 92. -I. ÷ ÷ The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 757 ÷ + + to or at least facilitating exemption from the bishop: the so-called "gift to St. Peter." 16 Pious laics would found a monastery and then give it to St. Peter, repre~ sented by his vicar in Rome. The prestige of the Apostle and of his vicar were so great, it was hoped, that no king, bishop, or lesser person would dare seize the foundation for his own ends. A few examples of this occur in Italy in the eighth century; in the ninth cen-tury, the custom crossed over the Alps.17 In this period, too, certain lay persons were persuaded to abandon the dominium that they had acquired over religious houses. In virtue of this and in virtue of the above mentioned donation to St. Peter, many monasteries succeeded in avoiding or in freeing themselves from lay control. This independence from local lay control must have also en-couraged the monks to seek exemption from the reli-gious control of the local ordinary. After this long digression to obtain the background, we return to Cluny; at its foundation in 910 it was do-nated to St. Peter; a few years later (912) it was given exemption from episcopal authority by Pope Anastasius III. This exemption it communicated to all the monas-teries subject to it, in virtue of a special papal concession given in order that the reform work of Cluny might be furthered. Toward the end of the tenth century, the question of exemption became more difficult. Many monks felt that the local bishop was not respecting their rights: he would demand the fulfillment of unjust and unreason-able conditions before he would perform the services for which only he had the power and jurisdiction. The bishops on the other hand claimed that the monks were exceeding their rights and privileges: disparaging the prelates, absolving from censures when they had no au-thority to do so, and so forth. In the pontificate of Pope Gregory V (996-999), exemptions multiplied both in number and in extension. Cluny was the beneficiary of further privileges: no one, not even the local ordinary, could enter the monastery to ordain without the permis-sion of the abbot, and the abbot could invite any bishop to ordain his men without even consulting the ordinary of the place. As a result of these and similar privileges, the great abbeys succeeded from the beginning of the eleventh century in freeing themselves completely from the authority of the diocesan bishop. This exemption soon characterized all the monastic orders. ¯ M. A. Roche~ REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 10 Emile Amann, "L'Eglise au pouvoir des laics," in v. 7 of Fliche- Martin's Histoire de l'Eglise (Paris: Bloud and Gay, 1948), pp. 343-64. 1~ It should be noted that this donation referred to the temporalities of the abbey; it had nothing to do with withdrawing the monastery from the spiritual jurisdiction of the local ordinary. Other centrally organized Benedictine groups came into existence after Cluny: the Camaldolese founded about 1015 by St. Romuald (950-1027); the Vallombro-sians begun about 1038 by St. John Gualbert (958- 1073). Distinct from these were the more eremitical Carthusians initiated about 1084 by St. Bruno (1030- 1101); to them Innocent XI in 1688 gave the supreme compliment: "Cartusa nnmqnam reformata, quia num-quam deformata." In the twelfth century, the leadership in vigorous, creative monastic life passed from Cluny to Citeaux, established in 1098 by St. Robert (1029-1111). The dis-tinctive features of this new Benedictine movement in-cluded: (a) white rather than black habits; (b) a strong insistence on the observance of poverty; (c) the establishment of monasteries far from the haunts of men; (d) a lessening of liturgical prayer and an increase of private prayer; and (e) a provision for uniting all the houses together into an integrated order, the first of its kind and precur-sor of many others. The houses of the older Cluniac reform were theo-retically under the control of the motherhouse, but they soon became too numerous for one abbot to rule. In the Cistercian system each monastery retained a large degree of autonomy, but there were also certain unify-ing factors. Identical service books were provided for all houses; each abbey was visited annually by the abbot of Citeaux or by the abbot of one of the four other oldest foundations (La Ferte, Pontigny, Clairvaux,18 Mori-mond); every year all the abbots assembled at Citeaux in a general chapter in order to maintain unity and mu-tual charity and to take such legislative and disciplinary actions as might be necessary. The Cistercians are usu-ally credited with the introduction (or better, reintro-duction) of laymen into the monastery. In Cluny and its dependent houses, all monks were clerics and took part in choir; manual labor was done by serfs. The Cister-cians admitted to tI~e habit such as were nnwilling or unable to become choir monks. These non-choral reli-gious were called "conversi" or lay brothers; they did the manual work of the monastery and were complete though subordinate members of the monastic family. Though Citeaux at first refused exemption from episcopal authority, it later accepted that privilege. As with Cluny, the primitive fervor of the Cistercians is Clairvaux was made famous by its abbot St. Bernard (1090-1153), the most influential ecclesiastic of his time. The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 759 4. 4. 4. M. ~. Roche, .M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS '760 gradually waned. The downfall of the order has been attributed to internal disorder around the beginning (1378) of the Great,Western .Schism; self-willed abbots abused local autonomy, capitulated to national differ-ences, and allowed frequent exceptions to the rule. Learning came into prominence, flesh meat was allowed, wealth .and pomp entered in. Efforts to restore pristine observance broke dowm with the cessation of general chapters in 1411 during the Great Western Schism. The order later split into congregations more or less dis-tinct. ; Thus far this article has limited itself to the monastic life. It should be noted that the influence of the monastic life upon the non-religious clergy has been profound. It is perhaps not too much to say that clerical celibacy be-came morally necessary in the West in order to main-tain the prestige of the parochial clergy against odious comparison with monks. The more zealous ~ among the non-monastic clergy have always been eager to borrow such elements of religious observance as would be com-patible with their duties. It may be that the direct in-fluence of the Cluniac reform upon the secular clergy has been exaggerated; but undoubtedly the spiritual success, of Cluny suggested the advantage of cooperative effort in promoting one's individual holiness and~ in furthering reform on a broader scale. Up until the time of Gregory the Great, it will be recalled, monasticism was chiefly ~a lay movement; few clerics were involved. The only place in which there was a number of clerics was in the city, for only the city needed the services of more than a few ministers. Those clerics who lived together in a city under a rule (usually with their bishop at the head) were' not known as monks; later they would be known as canons regular. The credit for organizing the first body of ministers in the common life is usually given to St. Eu~ebius of Vercelli (d. c. 370), though the influence of St. Augustine (354- 430) in this field was much more profound. At the time of the barbarian invasions, the canonical life as well as many other Christian practices suffered greatly; in fact the next great man whose name is strongly associated with the canonical life is St. Chrodegang of Metz (700- 786), who is considered the proximate founder of the canonical life in the Teutonic West.19 His ideal was to lOThe canons were distinguished from the monks by their es-sentially pastoral orientation, The canon was basically a member of the pastoral clergy who followed a rule and lived in common with others of like mind in order to sanctify himself and to make.his work mo~e effective. The monk, on the other hand, became a monk not in order to minister but in order to seek God; if he later became a priest and did work among the people, this was not an essential part of his vocation as a monk. combine the apostolate to the laity with the practice of monastic asceticism; he therefore adapted the rule of St. Benedict to the life of the parochial clergy, prescrib-ing a common dwelling, common table, and common dormitory. Chanting of the Divine Office was to take place at fixed hours. It is uncertain why these men were called "canons." Perhaps it was because their names were inscribed on a "canon", that is, on a list; or maybe because they re-citedthe horae canonicae; maybe because they lived ac-cording to a canon or rule. Their institute was especially (and perhaps uniquely) suited to churches where many priests were attached. Though the institution of canons did considerable good for'a while, it had within itself a cancer which would destroy it: the absence of a rule of poverty. Archbishop Gunther of Cologne about the middle of the ninth century authorized his canons to use and administer the ecclesiastical revenues at will, and very soon the common life ended for those canons. Other groups of canons followed the example of Co-logne, and by the end of the ninth century there were few canons still living the common life. Those canons who lived in private dwellings but still were attached to the cathedral or collegiate churches came to be known as secular canons (which is almost a contradiction in terms); those canons who continued to live the common life were known as regular canons (which is almost redundant). In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there occurred a great revival among the canons, as elsewhere in the Church; in many secu-larized cathedral and collegiate chapters, canonici saecu-lares began to live the common life again and thus be-came canonici regulares2°. The best known group of canons regular are the Premonstratensians~ founded about 1120 by St. Norbert (1080-1134). They remained subject to the local bishop, rejecting all exemption un-til the fifteenth century. A second group is the Canons Regular of St. Victor, formed in 1108 by William of Champeaux (1071-1121). There were in addition many loosely knit bodies of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, usually of diocesan proportions; they numbered some four hundred housesby the sixteenth century.21 The age of the Crusades produced the next species of religious observance: the military orders, which com-bined practices of the monastic life (including the three vows) with the chivalry of knighthood. The government ~o Karl Bihhneyer, Church History, trans. Victor E. Mills, v. 2 (Westminster: Newman, 1963), p. 222. ~The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are to be distinguished from the Hermits of St. Augustine later fused by papal authority into the Augustinian Friars. 4. 4. 4- The Male Religious VOLUME 25, ~966 761 ÷ ÷ ÷ M. A. Roche, C.M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 762 of these military orders was,, as may be expected, strongly centralized; only the general chapter could limit the power.0f the grand master. The Knights of St. John or Hospitalers were organized around a hospital in Jeru-salem by a knight named Gerard (d. c. 1120). Succes-sively removed to Rhodes and Malta, they still survive. The Knights Templar were formed at Jerusalem in II19 ,by Hugh of Payens and seven other French knights. Like the Knights of St. John, they defended the Holy Land with courage; they were, however, sup-pressed by Pope Clement V in 1312. The Knights of St. Mary were instituted at Acre around 1198; eventually they became preponderantly German (whence the name Teutonic Knights), and moved their field of operations to the Baltic. In 1525 the grand master Albert of Brandenburg secularized the order's holdings, erected them into the hereditary Duchy of Prussia, and. became a Lutheran. Even though a Protestant as well as a Catho-lic branch of the order survived, for all practical pur-poses the order was dead. Other knightly orders existed ~n the Iberian peninsula. These military orders had a relatively brief existence; of far greater importance to the history of the Church are the mendicant orders which next appeared: The emergence of the me0dicant orders was associated with the growth of cities in Western Europe. By the thirteenth cen-tury, that part of the world was beginning to move out of the almost exclusively agricultural economy which had followed the decline of the Roman Empire and the disappearance of the urban civilization that had characterized that realm. Cities were once more appearing. It was to deepening the religious life of the populace of the cities and towns that the friars devoted much of their energy. Most of the monasteries had chosen solitude and centers remote from the contaminfiting influences of the world. In contrast, the mendicant orders sought the places where men congregated and endeavoured to bring the Gospel to them there. The older monasteries were associated with a prevailing rural and feudal ,milieu. The mendicant orders flourished in the rapidly growing urban populations,m The mendicants are usually listed as four: the Car-melites whose foundations were laid in 1156; the Franciscans begun by St. Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182- 1226) and given tentative approval in 1210; the Order of Preachers instituted by St. Dominic (I170-1221) and approved in 1216; the Augustinians, amalgamated and formed as an order only in 1256.28 Sometimes the list of mendicants is expanded in order to include the Ser-vites: established in 1223 by seven youths from aristo-cratic Florentine families, the group was constituted an = Latourette, History of Christianity, p. 428. = The order formed in 1256 was composed of preexisting congre-gations, one of which had been founded by St. William about 1156. order in 1240, although final approval did not come un-til 1304. The largest of the mendicant groups owes its origin to St. Francis of Assisi. He wrote a rule for his followers in 1221, and a second one in 1223. After his death, the friars (First Order) split, chiefly on the question of pov-erty, into the Observants and Conventuals. The Second Order developed from the little group of women headed by St. Clare. The Third Order, established in.1221 under the name of the Brothers and Sitters of Penance, de-veloped into the Third Order Secular '(persons living in the world), the Third Order Regular, and numerous other tertiary organizations basing themselves on the Franciscan rule. The friars of the various orders quickly spread and rapidly attracted large numbers of members. Perhaps this Was due to the fact that they combined in an obvi-ous way the love of God (as' did the monks) with service to others. This growth b~ought the mendicants into re-peated conflicts with the secular ~lergy. The friars were by the nature of their institute destined to go°and to minister to the people everywhere. To do this, they needed exemption from the diocesan bishops, exemp-tion that was not local (as in a monastery), but personal. This exemption the popes gladly gave, for they saw 'in the friars a most powerful aid in the work of reform. During the fourteenth century, the Brothers of the Common Life, a congregation of laymen without vows under the leadership of Gerard de Groote (1340-1384) did much to revitalize education. They attempted to combine a thorough Catholic training with the new classical curriculum. Despite their work and despite the presence of some religious saints, the fourteenth~ century was in general one of decline among monks, canons, and mendicants. In the years around 1350, the Black Death took a heavy toll among the more zealous; While in some lands religious life recovered, in many places the de-terioration in discipline and morals seems to have been especially marked in the latter part of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth centuries. Besides the Brothers of the Common Life, only a few small religious groups were founded. There were nevertheless some attempts at re-form among the Franciscan groups and among the Dominicans. The Augustinian friars experienced a re-form in certain countries; it was to an Observant friary that Martin Luther would apply. The Carmelites un-derwent a reform movement in Italy about 1413, but this gradually spent itself. In general, these pre-Triden-tine reforms lacked thoroughness and permanency. At the time of the Reformation, consequently, many religious houses were in a low spiritual state and their ÷ ÷ The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 196~ 763 + + + M. A. Roche, C.M. REWEW FOR .~ELm~OUS 764 members were unprepared to meet the attractions of Protestantism. The list of those who embraced the new religion included many priests and nuns. Reform came, though somewhat late, to the older or-ders. The Dominicans, less in need of moral than in-tellectual renewal, were given impetus in the latter field by Cardinal Cajetan (1469-1534). The Franciscans were again reorganized (in 1517) into Conventuals and Ob-servants; a later offshoot of the latter group is the Capuchins. The Augustinians were reformed by their general, Giles of Viterbo (d. 1532). The work of renewal undertaken on behalf of the Carmelites by St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) and St. Teresa (1515-1582) re-sulted in the separation of the new Discalced Carmelites from what came to be called the Calced Carmelites. Re-form was also undertaken with more or less success by the Benedictines,~4 Camaldolese,~5 Ciste~'cians,2~ Canons P,.egular,"-'7 and other groups. Before the opening of the Council of Trent (1545- 1563), the reform movement in the Church had pro-duced a number of new institutes. Prominent among these are the clerks regularY8 Included in this group are the Theatines founded in 1516 by St. Cajetan of Thiene (1480-1547); the Barnabites initiated in 1532 by St. An-thony Zaccaria (1502-1539); and the Somaschi begun in 1532 by St. Jerome Aemilian (1481-1537). The most important of these pre-Tridentine founda-tions was the Society of Jesus begun in 1540 by St. Ig-natius of Loyola (1496-1556). The Society had many unique qualities, so that some feel that it should be classified not as an order of clerks regular but in a sepa-rate classification.-~9 Among the distinctive features of the Jesuits were: (a) a two-year novitiate; (b) the deferral of profession for ten, fifteen, or more years after the novitiate; .-4 A reformed cmlgregation of Benedictines that received papal ap-proval in 1604; an offshoot of this reform is the later Congregation of St. Maur. = Paolo Giustiniani (1475-1528) worked to restore the primitive spirit of the Camaldolese. -~ A reformed group of Cistercians (the Feuillants) arose in France under the leadership of Jean de la Barri~re (1544-1600). In 1662 Ar-mand de Ranc~ (d. 1700) initiated the reform of La Trappe. -~ Peter Fourier (1565-1640) worked to renew the canons regular in Lo~:raine. ~ The clerks regular are distinguished from (a) canons regular, in that the clerks do not have Office in choir in order to have more time for the ministry; (b) monks, in that they are pastorally oriented; (c) mendicants, in that they do not subsist from alms and do not recite the choral Office; and (d) secular priests, in that that they live a com-mon life with vows. -~ Ricardo Garcia Villoslada, Historia de la lglesia Cat61ica, v. 3 (Madrid: 1960), p. 827. (c) the division into the professed of the four vows (a minority who take solemn vows); and the ordinary members, coadjutors spiritual (priests) and coadjutors temporal (lay brothers); (d) the great power of the superior general; (e) a fourth vow of obedience to the Roman Pontiff; and (f) the elimination of the choral Office. The members of the Company wore no garb other than the ordinary dress of secular clerics; made much of study; and engaged in works of education, mission; and controversy. They were ch.iefly responsible for halting the further spread of the Reformation; indeed, they often succeeded in winning back regions that had fallen to Protestantism. Especially noteworthy .were their works in the foreign missions. After much delay, the Council of Trent finally opened in 1545. Besides the many other pressing problems, the Council fathers interested themselves also in the ques-tion of religious orders. By this time exemption had grown so universal that it created administrative chaos in the Church. The council decided what the local or-dinary could do in regard to regulars jure ordinario, jure delegato and utroque simul jure. Thus, for exam-pie, a bishop was empowered to punish regulars for crimes committed outside the house, if his superiors failed to act, and so forth, In general, Trent preserved the internal autonomy of religious, but subjected them to the authority of the local ordinary in all ministry to the bishop's people and in all things looking to the common good of the Church. After the Council of Trent, a new type of clerical life became exceedingly popular: that of secular priests liv-ing in common but not bound by vows.s° One of the earliest of these groups was the Oratory founded in 1564 by St. Philip Neri (1515-1595). The members of the ora-tory lived together without vows, retained their own property, and provided for their own needs except for lodging. The superior was more a chairman than a ruler, since no public act could be decided without the approbation of a majority of the members. Each house was independent, although the personal influence of St. Philip was very great. In France, Pierre Cardinal de B~rulle (1575-1629) organized a French oratory on the principles of St. Philip, though the independence of each house was re- ~o These priests resemble the canons of the time of St. Chrodegang in that they are priests living in common without vows. The canons of St. Chrodegang were almost all in the parochial ministry; the newer groups, on the other hand, engage in a great variety of works: parishes, schools, seminaries, domestic missions, foreign missions, and so forth. + + + The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 765 ÷ ÷ ÷ M. A. Roche, .M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 766 placed by a type of federation. Similar groups were the Oblates of St. Ambrose initiated in 1578 in Milan by St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584); the Doctrinaires begun in 1592 by Caesar de Bus (1544-1607); the Lazarists or Vincentians" founded in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660); the Sulpicians begun in 1642 by Jean- Jacques Olier (1608-1657); the Eudists formed in 1643 by St. Jean Eudes (1601-1680); the Paris Foreign Mis-sion Society organized in 1660 at Paris by Pope Alex-ander VII (1599-1667). After the Council of Trent there also arose new com-munities of religious who differed from the newer com-munities of secular priests in that they took the usual three vows of religion, and from the older orders in that these vows were not solemn but simple.The great ma-jority of post-Tridentine religious groups are of this type. Among them are the Camillans organized in 1584 by St. Camilhls de Lellis (1550-1614); the Passionists begun in 1737 by St. Paul of the Cross (1694--1775); the Redemptorists started by St. Alphonsus Ligouri (1696- 1787); the Company of Mary initiated by St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716). The above congregations were composed chietly of priests; St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719) organized abont the year 1684 a congrega-tion of non-clerics, the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Despite these new foundations and despite the re-newal of the older orders, the religious life began to decay ;~gain during the second half of the eighteenth cen-tury. Gallicanism, Josephism, Jansenism, and subservi-ence to the king seriously weakened Catholic life in gen-eral and reached even into religion. The suppression of the .Jesuits by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 temporarily removed the Society from the scene; the French Revolu-tion and the Napoleonic era dealt harshly with com-munity life in what remained of Catholic Europe. The one other area of ltourishing religious observance, Span-ish America, lost most of its monasteries and convents during the wars for independence and the subsequent years of turmoil. In 1815, then, the religious life among clerics had to ;i large degree disappeared; but the nineteenth century witnessed an extraordinary revival. The Society of Jesus (granted some sort of recognition in 1801) was restored to the whole world in 1814. The Benedictines--their houses reduced to about thirty--took on new life. Not the least of their contributions was the impetus given to liturgical study and liturgical worship by Dora Gu~r-anger. The Cistercians reopened many old monasteries and made new foundations. The Dominicans acquired fresh vigor--the name of Lacordaire. is important here-- and qnickly accepted the invitation of Leo XIII to re- vive the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Fran-ciscans were again reorganized in 1897. Numerous new institutes of clerics arose, almost all (if not all) congregations with simple vows. St. ,John Bosco (1815-1888) begafi the Salesians; Blessed Peter Julian Eyniard (1811-1868) started the Priests of the Blessed Sacrament. The Congregation of the Immacu-late Heart of Mary (1841) of Venerable Frances Lieber-mann merged with the Fathers of the Holy Ghost in 1848; William Chaminade initiated the Marianists around 1815 or 1816; in 1816 Eugene de Mazenod founded the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; in the same year Jean Claude Marie Colin (1790-1875) began the Marists. Blessed Vincent Palotti (1798-1850) about 1835 formed the Pious Society of the Missions, soon called after him the Pallotine Fathers; two existing groups united in France in 1842 to form the Congregation of Holy Cross. In 1898 the Anglican Father Paul Francis established the Society of the Atonement; in 1908 he and most of his followers were received into the Church. Several new congregations of religious clerics with simple vows were initiated solely or primarily for work on the foreign missions. Among these are the Congrega-tion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary begun in 1863 by Theophile Verbiest in Belgium; the Society of the Di-vine Word inaugurated in 1875 by Arnold Janssen; the Mill Hill Fathers, started in England in 1866 by Her-bert Cardinal Vaughan. In addition to the above religious congregations, sev-eral societies were formed for priests living in commu-nity without vows: the Precious Blood Fathers started in 1815 by Gaspar del Bufalo; the Paulists formed by Isaac Hecker (1819-1888); the Maryknoll Fathers established in 1911 by James Walsh and Thomas Price; the Joseph-ite Fathers inaugurated in 1893; the White Fathers be-gun by Charles Cardinal Lavigerie in Algiers in 1868. As this paper draws to a close, perhaps it will be help-ful to give a panoramic view of the religious life as we have it today in the western Church. The modern canoni-cal organization of the religious life is divided into the orders (in which solemn vows are pronounced) and con-gregations (in which simple vows are taken). Included among the orders (in their order of precedence) are: (a) canons regular, for example, the Canons Regular of St. Augustine at St. Maurice, Switzerland; (b) monks, such as Benedictines, Cistercians, and so forth; and (c) other regulars, such as mendicants (Franciscans, Dominicans, and so forth) and clerks regular (Barnabites, Jesuits, and so forth). ÷ ÷ ÷ The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 767 + + M. A. Roche, C.M. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 768 Among the congregations aye the Passionists, Redemp-torists, Salesians, and most of the newer groups. Somewhat like the congregations are the societies of secular priests living in common without vows: Sulpi-cians, Vincentians, Maryknoll, Paulists, and so forth. It seems fitting here to add a word about secular in-stitutes. They are societies, whether clerical or lay, whose members profess the evangelical counsels in the world in order to attain Christian perfection and to ex-ercise a full apostolate. Though these institutes are still in the embryonic stage, they show much promise [or the future. A treatment of these, is beyond the scope of this article, but it is interesting to note that they are somewhat akin to (though better organized than) the groups of domestic ascetics of the first century. The wheel has returned to its starting place. At the end of this article, it seems appropriate to list some conclusions that may be drawn from a study of the historical aspect of religious life.al (1) The practice of the evangelical counsels with or without vows has always been esteemed in the Church; moreover, it has a necessary.role to play. (2) As a general rule, religious orders increase in power between general councils as a result of papal grant. During general councils, religious usually lose power as a result of episcopal action. (3) A good criterion for the vitality of the Church in any period or in any area is the vitality of the religious (and especially of the monastic) observance. (4) Every approved form of religious life gives wit-ness to a special attribu'te of God or to a special truth that needs emphasis. The monk, for example, witnesses to the absolute primacy of the supernatural; the Domini-can to the wisdom of God; the Franciscan to the neces-sity of detachment and to the joy of the Christian life; the Mayknoller to God's universal salvific will, and so forth. In addition to this basic emphasis, most religious engage in work for the people. At times it may seem that a par-ticular form of religious life is today not the most efficient type for external work; perhaps, for example, the choral Office or prescribed manual labor or the vow of poverty may hinder to some degree the work of the ministry. This does not mean, however, that a seemingly less efficient group should be allowed to die; nor that it ought to change its nature radically. Every religious group still serves a most useful purpose in the Church by witnessing to its basic orientations. In the case o[ those who vow = Some of these points were made by Pope Paul VI in his allocu-tion, Magno gaudio, of May 23, 1964, treating of the religious life; an English translation of the allocution can be found in REVIEW FOR RELIC~OUS, V. 23 (1964), pp. 698-704. poverty, for example, their profession of detachment is of great value to the Church and ought not to be aban-doned lightly. (5) As a corollary to the foregoing, it can be said that religious orders and congregations ought to adhere as closely as possible to the spirit given them by their founders, for only then can they give the witness for which they were created. A further corollary is that there is need for a periodic examination of conscience by every order and congregation to see whether it has really kept its original orientation. (6) The history of religious life is not necessarily an e~colution from a less perfect to a more perfect form. A particular form appears because changed conditions have called for a new mode of religious observance. Thus the monastery (and it alone) was ideal in the agrarian society of the early Middle Ages; there was in fact little call for wandering friars. The reurbanization of Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries did not necessitate the abandonment of monasticism; but it did call for another expression of the religious life, and the friars appeared. (7) As a corollary of this, it is quite possible that mod-ern times demand new types of religious life, types which up till now have not been tried. It is also quite possible that these new forms will have a difficult birth, that some attempts will be premature and abortive. Only time will tell. In the past, certain representatives of es-tablished forms of the religious life have with the best of intentions attempted to thwart men seeking to estab-lish newer forms of religious observance. It would be a tragedy if today we repeat these errors of the past. It would be far better if the established orders, congrega- ¯ tions, and societies would assist these new attempts with their counsel, encouragement, and prayer. Love of one's own institute ought not to blind a man to the fact that there are other ways of serving God. We know that God is wonderful in His saints; He is also wonderful in the variety and holiness of religious life. The Male Religious VOLUME 25, 1966 769 SISTER TERESA MARGARET, O.C.D. Updating the Cloister ÷ ÷ ÷ Sister Teresa Margaret, O.C~D,, writes from the Carmelite Mona-stery; Bridell, (~ar-digan; Wales. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS We have reached a turning point in history, it would seem, when the world is taking a new path and when, in the words of the late Cardinal Suhard, "the greatest mis-take the Christians of the twentieth century could make would be to let the world develop and unify itself with-out them." In saying this, the cardinal was urging the Church to emerge from her closed circle and become immersed in the activity of the world. But his words apply no less to the necessity of the religious "emergence" by shedding the inhibitions and barnacles of centuries. Adaptation and Renewal. Cardinal Suenens and other notable writers on the subject of religious reform have confined their suggestions and criticisms, to the active apostolate, specifically excluding the enclosed orders of ~women from their remarks. This has been interpreted in many cloisters as indicating that in our case no updat-ing was necessary, either because our customs and the externals of our life were "changeless" (which, in effect, merely means that they have not changed since the sixteenth century), or because they are so perfect in themselves that they stand in no need of renewal-- which sounds like the stock formulation of Pharisa-ism. Glosses traditionally applied to the monastic life as an anticipation of heaven or a continuation of the Gospels should be taken for what they are--metaphors --and not lead cloistered religious to believe that they form a privileged elite of humanity, a class of Christian different from and superior to all others. Everything human changes with time except human nature itself; and in a world subject to continuous alteration; it would indeed be a rare individual or community that stood in no need of renovation. Any lingering doubts on this score should be dispelled by the Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of the Religious Life promulgated by Paul VI on October 28, 1965: The adaptation and renewal of the religious life includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time. [but] even the best adjust-ments made in accordance with the needs of our age will be in-effectual unless they are animated by a renewal of spirit . Therefore let constitutions, directories, customs books, books of prayer and ceremonies and such like be suitably re-edited and, obsolete laws being suppressed, be adapted to the decrees of this sacred synod . Papal cloister should be maintained in the case of nuns engaged exclusively in the contemplative life. However, it must be adjusted to conditions of time and place and obsolete wactices suppressed? External Reforms 1. Enclosure. A recently published symposium entitled Religious Orders in the Modern World2 contains as the last and longest contribution a survey of practical aspects of renewal made by the Bishop of Arras, Mgr. Gerard Huyghe, a couple of years ago. Bishop Huyghe does not limit himself to criticisms of outmoded customs, and dress that hamper the exercise of the active apostolate but turns his searchlight also upon the cloister. Present forms of enclosure, he rightly says, are a legacy from' the Middle Ages, grilles, curtains, and turns being, "doubtless a survival from the long period of Moslem domination over the Iberian peninsula," a weight of custom that is purposeless and ridiculous in this age. Certainly it is advisable for [cloistered] nuns to live entirely apart from the world--partly for protection against the noise of the world, and as a defense against the temptation to go out too much; but mainly as an unequivocal sign that they have chosen to offer their services gratuitously to praise God in the Church's name. But all external signs of such enclosure should be ruth-lessly eliminated, and the law on enclosure for nuns should be brought into harmony with the law on monks' enclosure, which is much more humane and has more respect for the dignity of the person . Canonical penalties like excommunication should be abolished, because they are a threat to none but the scrup-ulous; 8 I would like to make it clear at the outset that in relegating grilles and prison bars to the category of "obsolete practices" which the decree recommends should be "suppressed," I am in no way championing claustral emancipation in the sense of more contact with the secular world, or any mitigation of the monastic need for withdrawal and rules of silence and solitude. But it is a poor form o~ "aloneness with God" that can be enforced only under lock and key. If one has not already erected a cloister of the heart, no multiplying of bolts and veils will provide the necessary withdrawal, which is something essentially interior. No, my reasons ~ Decree on Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, nos. 2, 3, 16. -" Geoffrey Chapman (ed.), Religious Orders in the Modern World (London: 1965). ~ Ibid., p. 156. Updating the Cloister VOLUME 25, 1966 771 + Sister Teresa Margaret REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS for assuming the grille to be obsolete are all strictly utilitarian. It hinders vocations, creating antagonism and an entirely false and unhealthy conception of the con-templative life in the modern generation; it causes un-told and unnecessary suffering for parents; and it serves no useful purpose. If I wanted to get out of this cloister tomorrow, I could achieve it with the greatest of ease and without any need to make a dramatic nocturnal escape over the wall. It is anti-feminist discrimination that presumes no woman may be trusted except under lock and key and constant supervision, else why are regulations for enclosed men so different? It is shocking that in this day and age some monasteries of women actu-ally continue the most reprehensible practice of sending "companions" to the parlor so that a sister may not speak to a friend or relative except in the presence of a monitor. If she cannot be trusted in the parlor, then by all means keep her out of it; but do not send her with a hidden vigilante. Again, why may a nun not embrace her mother, or sit with her in the parlor in the normal way, as any monk does when his parents visit him? Why may a monk offer Mass in the public sanctuary of an enclosed convent while the nuns must "participate" from the other side of a grille? These are all matters of discrimination and serve no usefizl or sensible purpose except that since time imme-morial women and children were expected to show so little discretion that they must be confined to the nursery under the watchfi~l eye of a governess. Bishop Huyghe says: A final reason for abolishing some of the externals of the nuns' enclosure is connected with the present needs of the Christian people in liturgical matters. As a nun says: "Priests and sacred ministers are allowed to enter the enclosure to bury the dead (Inter coetera, n. 27). Why should they not also do so for the processions on the Rogation Days and Palm Sunday? It becomes increasingly difficult for us to see why the priest should be left 'marking time' on one side of the grille, while the nuns go off to perform their own little ceremony on the other. Why should a function like the Easter Vigil be cut in two by a grille? Moreover, I do not see why there should be a grille separating the nuns from the altar. Would it not be more reason-able if the priest came in to say Mass and went out as soon as the sacrifice was over?" ' We have been told by the highest authority that cl6istered nuns are not to remain aloof from litur-gical participation by silence, darkened choirs, or veiled faces, but to join in with celebrant and congre-gation in dialogue Masses, hymns, Benediction, Bible vigils, and such services. But present claustral regulations do not facilitate participation, tending to isolate the nuns' choir from the action in the sanctuary and chapel beyond the grille, both physically and psychologically. Ibid., p. 156-7. 2.Habits. Any suggestion to modify nuns' habits meets ~with varying reactions; and, in fact, little practical lead has been given in the matter, although in recent years there has been considerable reduction of the bulk, both in material and unnecessary layers of garment. But the habits still look voluminous, unhygienic, and incon-venient. And they are. Nowadays few would agree that this is an acceptable or reasonable form of penance, for wearing heavy clothes fatigues one unnecessarily and reduces efficiency and working capacity. Is there any reason why habits should not be shorter and lighter so that wasted energy could be redirected into more pro-ductive activities than mere physical exhaustion? Nor can I see much force in the argument that, were habits not at least ankle-length, Poor Clares and Discalced Carmelites who do not wear shoes, would look most inelegant. Granted they would. But why not adopt normal twentieth century footgear as the more sensible alternative? The Council fathers in their decree stress that the religious habit is an outward mark of con-secration to God and therefore "should be simple and modest, poor and at the same time.becoming. In addition it must meet the requirements of health and be suited to circumstances of time and place., the habits of both men and women ~religious which do not conform to these norms must be changed," ~ and that, one imagines, would include the habits of most enclosed orders, male and female, Can one think of anything less practicable than the white habits of Cistercians, Carthusians, and Dominicans? And' th~ fact that brown or black merely do not show th~ dirt is 'little recommendation'. In the interest of simplicity, I fail to see why we can-not have a common habit for all religious. For the various, congregations, teachers, nurses, catechists, social workers, could not each group, rather than each congre-gation, wear a common "religious" dress for inside their convents/and another suitable costume (with, perhaps, a distinguishing badge) for external work? And could' not all cloistered nuns and monks have a common habit, combining the best and most servicei~ble features of all? The cloistered religious could retain veil and scapular (in a modified form), which would clearly differentiate them from their apostolic sisters. Thus a nun would be easily identified on sight without this perennial hunt for a different style to mark off the var-ious orders which has led to such exaggerated headgear in the recent past, when latecomers in the field found that all moderate, styles for coifs had already been snapped up. The badge of the order or congregation would distinguish one's identity and form of work. ~ Decree on Adal~tation and Renewal oI Religious Life, n. 17. + + ÷ Updating the Cloister VOLUME 25, 1966 773 ÷ 4. ÷ Sister Teresa Margaret REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 3. Legislation. Another point that needs urgent re-vision is the framing of our laws, which is at present done exclusively by men who, however learned and holy, simply do not understand women's domestic prob-lems. Thus, no sooner are new regulations issued than it is necessary to apply for dispensations and indults be-cause of local conditions; and it seems an anomalous rule that can be maintained only by constant dispensations. Why [asks Mgr. Huyghe] should [women] not be allowed to share in the work of reformation themselves, as they are the principal persons to be affected by it? It is not fitting that the rules for contemplative houses of women should be made ex-clusively by men, even if these men belong to the same Order as the nuns? Principles of Renewal The above matters are all more or less self-evident, but merely "keeping abreast of the times" or "adapting ourselves to the modern world" is not enough. However, the impressive bulk of bibliography about religious life, theory and practice, theology and pastoral application, does not on the whole contain a great deal of fun-damental thinking or real help. No order or congre-gation can effectively undertake reform or renewal with-out a very clear grasp of the principles that are its underpinning. Too often the accidental has been allowed to shift to main focus so that the means take precedence over the end, customs which have no longer any relevance become canonized and then fossilized until some religious seem to fear that their removal will topple the whole structure of religious life. But surely it is built on a sounder foundation than that. Nor will renewal be effected by adding new gimmicks; merely because they are modern, brightly packaged and labor-saving, they are no more going to effect the necessary aggiornamento of themselves, than those sixteenth century ones they are replacing. There is no such thing as push button renewal. In his speech to the Council fathers proclaiming a jubilee to mark the close of Vatican II, Pope Paul said: We ought not to pay attention to these reforms, however necessary they are, at the expense of those moral and spiritual reforms which can make us more like our Divine Master and better equipped for the duties of our vocation. To this we should attend principally: to our effective sanctification and to realizing our capacities for spreading the Gospel message among the men of our time7 Superiority-complex. Caste spirit is strong in human Chapman, Religious Orders, p. 162. Quoted in the Tablet, Nov. 27, 1965. nature, and religious are human beings. Of course, the religious is not .seeking personal aggrandizement; but she knows that the order she has entered is undoubtedly the most perfect form Of life in the Church. Cardinal Costantini wrote: Take religious individually and you will find them of the highest calibre: broadminded, genuinely devout and often excellent theologians. As individuals they are faithful to the vows., humble.Yet taken together, in the Congregation, the sun1 of these virtues undergoes a change. The members' natural instincts for glory, power and wealth are transferred to the Congregation. The members themselves are humble; but no one must touch d~eir Congregation, its honor or its prestige. The members are poor individually, but do not ask that their Congregation should be poor . s Obvious examples of this have been the blatant an-nexation of saints to which many orders have no legitimate claim and even the fabrication of "saints" who have never existed; the astounding .n~ture of some supposed "relics" that have been exposed and venerated m Europe and the Middle East; and in our own day, the fervor with which, in the face of liturgical renewal, so many orders cling to their own rites and liturgies. Any reform immediately meets with requests from some reli-gious congregation for a dispensation, since a "venerable tradition" in their institute has always celebrated such-and- such a feast as a double of the first class or with a privileged octave, and despite the fact that the Sacred Congregation has issued a uniform ruling for the universal Church, their first instinct is to preserve intact their own beloved rubric. Can religious wonder if at times the laity regard them as being outside the main stream of °the Church's life when they deliberately seek special donditions for no really good reason (except hidebound custom), thus putting themselves into a special category? Religious life is a special consecration to God indeed; but it is a sharing of the life of the Church. Wholehearted participation in that life is essential for any really effective renewal in religious life. To seek anything else wot~Id be no less unfruitful than cutting ourselves off from the sacraments, as death-dealin~ as .closing off a main artery. Reform Is Not Revolt. There are many cloistered nuns who harbor an unexpressed fear that to plunge into the main stream would be synonymous with a loss of monastic 'status, the first step on the downgrade to secularism. Take away the grilles, open the cloister win-dows, let in some fresh air, and who knows what kind of virus and restlessness will find its way in with it. Could this be the thin end of the wedge that will eventually send s Chaptnan, Religious Orders, p. 142. 4- Updating the Cloister VOLUME 25, 1966 775 + ÷ ÷ Sister Teresa Margaret REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS us out into the world to assist in the active, apostolate~ The fathers of the Council have no such scruples: Communities which are entirely dedicated to contemplation, so that their members in solitude and silence,, with constant prayer and penance willingly undertaken, occupy themselves with God alone, retain at all times, no matter how pressing the needs of'the active apostolate may be, an honorabl~ place in the Mystical Body of Christ, whose "members do not all have the same function" (Rom 12:4) . Nevertheless their manner of living should be revised according to the principles and cri-teria of adaptation and renewal mentioned above. However their withdrawal from the world and the exercises proper to the contemplative life should be preserved with the utmost care. [Italics mine]? Nor can adaptation to the twentieth century be interpreted merely as a movement "back to the founders," if by that we mean a literal interpretation of what was laid down and practiced by our founders in the sixteenth, twelfth, or sixth centuries. Yet one hears astounding reports of communities where oil lamps, are still used and bathing is prohibited because the founder had specific remarks to make on such matters. Even more absurd are the accounts of importation, at exorbitant costs, of a particular type of pottery which the founder legislated for refectory use and which can now only be obtained at great expense abroad, handmade and fired, in the precise shade and shape used by the first monastery of the order. Common sense and genuine poverty.demand that we use wl~at is the cheapest and commonest' ware today, as such pottery (now a luxury ware, the art dealer's province) was in the time of the founder. Archaeologism is one of the pitfalls that beset any movement back to the past. Return to Sources. How, then, should we implement the "constant return to the sources of all Christian life and the original spirit of our institutes,'~' as the decree puts it? We cannot return to the conditions, social~ cultural economic, and religious, that prevailed then and which shaped the founders' minds and spirituality, dictating the norms of their institutes. Religious orders no less than civilizations and nations are living entities, subject to growth, change, evolution; and in all live organisms change is an indispensable condition. Only a mummified body does not alter, for even a corpse decays. The original institute cannot be regarded as a finished work, coming down from heaven like the New Je.rusalem, perfect in every detail, which subsequent generations ne~ed only maintain in that condition, occasionally scraping off time's corrosion to restore it to its :pristine glory. Rather it is the mustard seed which grows into a Decree on Adaptation and Renewal o[ Religious LiIe, n. 7. plant, then a huge tree in which the birds of the air shel-ter. The holy rule leaves its mark on all.the members of the order, but no less do they leave their mark on the holy rule, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. I fancy that St. Teresa of Avila would make one of her characteristic "God preserve me from." exclamations were she to find her daughters today clinging like limpets to some outmoded custom that was a normal social acceptance four centuries ago. St. Teresa herself was as strong a champion of flexibility as St. Ignatius was of mobility; and neither of them would have wished their sons and daughters to imprison themselves in the narrow groove of formalism which precludes either. As a concrete example: St. Teresa swept away much of the protocol both of speech and elaborate ceremony surrounding social life in her day, which was meticu-lously observed in religious houses, her attempt being to "return to sources," that is, of the gospel. The result was that her ceremonial and customs book were extremely simple for the times; and if today some of the prescribed c.urtsies, inclinations, and forms of address seem to us excessive that is only because such tokens of personal reverence to teachers and parents have entirely disap-peared from the modern scene. To drop them betokens no disrespect; they are simply archaic. Again, St. Teresa ruthlessly swept away the elaborate clothing, the yards of material, trains, rings, pectoral crosses, croziers, and all the episcopal insignia that abbesses had gradually acquired through the Middle Ages. She laid down unequivocally that habits and cloaks and all garments were to be as spare as decency allowed, so that only the minimum of material and work might be expended on clothing. In St. Teresa's day the Carmelite habit as she reconstituted it was simple to the point of skimpiness. It is not today, but that is because a yard of material now suffices to clothe our modern contemporaries. Even St. Teresa would not wish her daughters to get about in a cotton shift; but in a period when it is ho longer considered immodest for girls to go bareheaded, stockingless, and with bare arms, she might not consider that the Carmelite habit was any longer "as spare as possible." Another interpretation of "returning to the founders" has been that superiors should translate the founder's intentions and principles into present day norms and conditions, bringing the institute into line with them by striving to do what the founder would do here and now in this situation, did she live today instead of in a previous age. But this is not really possible, unless the superior is to become herself a founder or at least a reformer. The superior today has inherited not only the time-honored ÷ ÷ ÷ Updating ,the Cloister VOLUME 25, 1966 + + + Sister Teresa Margare¢ REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS traditions, but a way of life that has been approved by the Church for centuries. What she must do is take the situa-tion ~as it exists and work on and with that, for in the first clause of the above quotation, the conciliar decree provides th~ solution to this question: ". constant re-turn to the sources of all Christian life." No founder, however holy, however inspired, is the source of all Christian life. Christ alone is that, and the return to the sources envisaged by the decree can mean only one thing: renewal in the spirit of the gospel according to the par-ticular forms of life framed by the founder for this insti-tute and sanctioned by the Church. When on a Sunday afternoon I look out of my window ~nd see a row of schoolgirls pass, dressed all in black, wearing ridicu-lous berets and led by a sour-faced nun, also in black, I cannot help wondering. Is that really what the Church should look like, what Christianity should look like? Is that the only ex-ample we can give the faithful and the rest of the world? Is that negative attitude 'to the simplest and most elementary values of life the necessary premise of a life consecrated to God? ~o Starting Point: The End. The end of thereligious life is no different from that of ever~ Christian life: the attainment of perfect charity towards God and men. All Christians are called to perfection, to love God and their neighbor with their whole heart an'd mind and strength; and this is exactly what perfection means, this is the essential end Of the Christian life, whether one is a religious or not. The perfect love of God" and men to which each is called in a particular state of life and consonant with his own gifts and graces, is an obligation laid on all: "Ydu therefore .are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). But the talents we have received differ; and "the administrator must be content with his administration, the teacher with his work of teaching, the preacher with his preaching. Each must perform his own task well; giving alms with generosity, exercising authority with anx-ious care, or doing works of mercy smilingly" (Rom 12:7-8). There are in the Church orders whose purpose is to promote the prayer life of their members, as there are congregations constituted for the performance of char-itable and apostolic works. Each and every form of life and work of mercy, spiritual, corporal or material, contributes to the building up of the Church. "The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need~thy help; nor again 10 Bernard Besret, S.O.Cist., in Chapman,.Religious Orders, p. 121. The questions of the ends of religious life and return to Gospel sources for principles of renewal are discussed at length in two outstanding egsays by Fr~ Besret in this book. They should be read by all religious interested ih these matters. the head to the feet, I have no need of you" (1 Cor 12:21). The hand, however efficient, is simply incapable of performing the fnnction of the eye, or vice versa, so it is futile to argue whether cloistered nuns should go out and work in soup kitchens or nursing sisters incarcerate themselves in monasteries. But it is well not to lose sight of the fact that the classifications of ',active" and "con-templative" lives are a comparatively modern inno-vation. In the monastic tradition and the writing of the fathers, the terms "active" and "contemplative" do not represent two separate and mutually exclusive states' of life deriving their distinctive character from the work engaged in; they were rather two stages of the same spiritual growth: asceticism or the practice of the virtues (active life); and union with God, knowledge and ex-perience of His love (contemplative life) was the goal. for which the active asdeticism was but a preparation and training. This remains substantially true today. There is no teacher, preacher, missionary, or nurse who is so committed to non-stop activity as to have no time f6r prayer; any more than there is any such creature as a "pure contemplative" so emancipated from the mate-rial needs of this life and the demands of charity as never to engage in some form or degree of activity. I doubt whether any modern exegete would try to defend the overworked interpretation of Luke 10:38-42 as a contrast made by Christ between the apostolate (Martha) and the life of prayer (Mary), let alone that He preferred the second. In fact, many i'ecent works of exegesis have demonstrated clearly that he was in no way pointing to different canonical forms of religious life as we know them, but which were neither born nor thought of during His lifetime. Every active missionary since St. Paul understands the need of a vital life of prayer if his apostolate is to succeed; and it is only in this sense that the Church stresses the value of the contemplative life, for unless they called down "an abundant rain of divine graces to make this harvest fertile, the workers ~f the Gospel would reap less fruit." 11 The Church, in proclaiming St. Teresa of Lisieux co-patroness of the missions with St. Francis Xavier, has underlined the mutual assistance of the interior life and apostolate for souls, not only in the missions but in every sphere of activity. St. Teresa and St. Francis Xavier are eminent representatives of the Gospel commandment of love, which is twofold: God and our neighbor. Not that one does the work and the other the praying; such an apportionment is never possible. St. Francis Xavier would not have been the perfect, or even a good, mission-n Pius XI, Umbratilem. + + updating the Cloister VOLUME 25, 1966 779 ary without a deep interior life; nor would St. Teresa have perfectly fulfilled her contemplative vocation unless her love and zeal for souls was overflowing the narrow horizons of her own cloister and embracing the whole world, preparing the ground for future evangelization. But it was fitting that two outstanding patrons should jointly watch over both parts of the commandment. Practical forms of renewal are urgent and necessary; but it must never be forgotten that the principle "First things first" applies here as elsewhere. Unless "they are animated by a renewal of spirit" says the decree, "even the best adjustments made in accordance with the needs of our age will be ineffectual . This must take precedence over even the active ministry." 1.o To attempt anything else is not repairing the foundations; it is merely plastering over cracks. Decree on Adaotation and Renewal of Religious Life, n. 2. 4. 4. Sister Teresa Margaret REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 78O LADISLAS M. ~SRSY, S.J. Directed Re reats vs. Preached Retreats With the expansion and renewal of the retreat move-merit there is an increasing interest in the so called di-rected retreats as distinct from the tradkionally well known preached retreats. Priests who give retreats re-ceive inquiries frequently from persons and communities about the desirability or feasibility of a directed re-treat. The inquiries are in many cases followed by invi-tations to help make one. Moreover, there are retreat masters who insist that all retreats should conform to this apparently new pattern that consists more in direc-tion given personally to each of the retreatants than in talks or conferences given to a community. This movement of directed retreats has existed long enough and made enough progress to permit the assess-ing of its value and its suitability for the needs of vari-ous persons and communities. In this article my intention is precisely to attempt this evaluation; and I shall do it through three steps. First, I shall try to present the method of directed retreats; then I shall recall briefly the way in which preached retreats are given; an.d fi-nally I shall attempt to draw up a balance of advantages and disadvantages that may flow from the application of the two different methods. Directed Retreats A retreat is usually called a directed one when the emphasis is not put on talks and conferences given to a community but on personal prayer under the guidance of the retreat master. Talks to the community are not fully excluded, but they are reduced to a minimum: one or two rather short conferences a day. Even these few conferences would be marked by a certain simplicity and clarity so that the minds of the retreatants might not be overcrowded with ideas, or their nerves over-whelmed with holy but unruly emotions. It would be ÷ ÷ Ladislas M. Orsy, s.J., is professor of canon law at the Catholic Univer-sity; Washington, D.C. 2O017. VOLUME 25, 1966 expected that each one of the persons in retreat will be in close contact with the director and will keep him in-formed about his progress in prayer, about the inner world of his conscience where the grace of God meets his human nature. The retreat master in his turn would help him to discern the inspirations of the Holy Spirit from other movements in his soul and to obey the will of God thus manifested. One can see that the emphasis is on personal activity. Or, more correctly, on a right type of passivity which is the fertile soil for activity. This passivity makes a person able to receive the grace of God, to become aware of the life of God in himself.1 It has a hidden dynamism and very soon it blossoms out into personal activity. One is reminded of the evangelical parable: when the good seed takes root in receptive soil it will finally grow into a large tree. If this is the essence of a directed retreat, the inade-quacy of the term directed comes to the fore. There is really no question of a continuous direction. The retreat master's office is to convey some basic elements of the gospel to the retreatant, letting him penetrate its depth with the light of grace and reason. The work of the director consists more in reviewing and somewhat con-trolling the internal life of his disciple, more in watching over his progress than in giving him direction in the ordinary full sense of the term. The example of John the Baptist is a good illustration of the office of the director: he pointed out the Messiah to the disciples, sent them to Christ, and then withdrew since his mis-sion was accomplished. The retreat master presents the image of Christ to the person under his care, sends him to Christ, then leaves him alone with the Redeemer. It is this meeting that brings into motion the whole internal world of the retreatant. He will experience the attraction of grace that calls him to follow Christ. He + + + L. M. Orsy, S.]. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 782 a The genuine Ignatian method of prayer is really a incthod to build up a disposition in the mind and the heart of the retreatant to receive the grace of simple prayer. The Saint never intended to impose a rigid logical pattern on those who are seeking the grace of God, but he tried to help them to detach themselves from the visible world in order to enter into God's invisible mystery. All the preludes and points in a meditation serve to tune up, to warm up the person to the communications or consolations of the Holy Spirit. Once God's grace is somehow experienced, the method has fulfilled its purpose and the person in prayer should enjoy the freedom of the children of God. No formal meditation in the world could give him so much as the Holy Spirit working in him. Paradoxically, the purpose of the Ig-natian meditation is to help a person to abandon meditation and to take up a simpler form of prayer. St. Ignatius does not seem to think that this development should take a long time. He certainly assumes that some transformation will take place in a well

Issue 17.3 of the Review for Religious, 1958. ; A. M. D. G. Review for Religious MAY 15, 1958 M~re Marie of the Ursulines . Sister Benita Daley Gifts Of the Holy Spirit . paul w. o'erie. C~urrent Spiritual Writing . Thomas G. O'Ca~lagha. Do We Know Our Mother? . Sister M. Annice Summer Sessions Book Reviews Questions and Answers Roman Documents about: Christ and World Harmony Religious Obedience Feminine Fashions VOLUME 17 NUMBER 3 Ri::VII::W FOR RI:::LIGIOUS VOLUME 17 MAY, 1958 NUMBER 3 CONTENTS M~-RE MARIE OF THE URSULINES~ Sister Benita Daley, C.S.J . 129 SUMMER SESSIONS . 134 THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT-- Paul W. O'Brien, S.J . 135 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING--- Thomas G. O'Callaghan, S.J .1.45 DO WE KNOW OUR OWN MOTHER?-- Sister M. Annice, C.S.C . " . 157 SURVEY OF ROMAN DOCUMENTS~R. F. Smith, S.J . 167 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 178 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: 13. Changing a Will . 188 14. General Sanation . 188 15. Absence During the Canonical Year . 189 16. Constituting a Chapter Without Approval . 190 17. What Is an Immediate Third Term as Superior General?. 190 18. Gloria in tile Mass of a Beatified Foundress . 191 19. Canon Law for Brothers and Sisters . 191 OUR CONTRIBUTORS ' 192 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS,, May, 1958. Vol. 17, No. 3. Published bi-monthly by The Queen's Work, 3115 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo. Edited by the Jesuit Fathers of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approval. Second class mail privilege authorized at St. Louis, Mo. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.J.; Henry Willmering, S.J. Literary Editor: Robert F. Weiss, S.J. Copyright, 1958, by The Queen's Work. Subscription price in U.S.A. and Canada: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U.S.A. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: Review for Religious, 3115 South Grand Boulevard. St. Louis 18o Missouri. /v re Marie ot: !:he Ursulines Sisl:er Benil:a Daley, C.S.J~ IN JUNE, 1958, when the city of Quebec celebrates the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its founding, it will honor Samuel de Champlain, who first recognized the importance of this great port on the "king of all rivers" as he termed the St. Lawrence. The achievements of the great men who contributed to the growth and development of that city will be recalled--men like Bishop Laval and Frontenacm but no chronicle of its glor!es will be complete without a tribute to that illustrious pioneer, M~re Marie of the Ursulines. The passage of three centuries has not dimmed the memory of the courageous woman who exemplified in her remarkable career an amazing variety of callings: wife, mother, mystic, business woman, teacher, writer, and cloistered religious. Her name and deeds are interwoven with every worth. while endeavor to colonize the little seventeenth-century settle-ment that was to become the thriving commercial and industrial city of today. In her missionary-career of thirty-two years, she endured all the hardships incident upon life in a pioneer out-post that was constantly under attack by the Indians. Marie Guyardqthat was the family name of this Ursuline missionary--was born in 1599 in Tours, France. Reared in a Catholic home by devout parents who inculcated habits of deep piety and love of labor in their eight children, Marie leari~ed at an early age to relish the joy of prayer and meditation. Yet, like any normal child, she entered gaily into games and pastimes with her brothers and sisters and the neighborhood children. When she was only fifteen years old, she asked her mother's permission to become a nun. Her mother refused this requesti believing that a person like Marie, so gay and vivacious, should 129 SISTER BENITA DALEY Review for Religious marry. Marie's parents then proceeded, to seek a desirable husband f~r their daughter. Their choice fell upon an estimable young silk merchant of Tours, Claude Martin. Thus it was that at the age of seventeen Marie became a bride. Although the desire to lead a religious life in the cloister still dominated all her thinking, she never questioned her parents.' decision about marriage. That, she believed, was the unfolding of God's plan in her life. She would obey her parents and accept this sacrifice of her own desires. Married life brought heavy burdens to the inexperienced girl. Marie Martin had to assist her husband in the manage-ment of his business which included, according to the custom of the time, housing and feeding his principal employees. Even though the religious bent of her nature sonstantly impelled her to yearn for hours of solitude in which to pray and to meditate, she developed great skill in directing her husband's establish-ment. Her talent for organization, her ability to deal harmoni-ously with all sorts of individuals--she supervised a large staff of servants and about twenty workmen in her husband's shop --these gifts were to serve her well in later years as a missionary in New France. The birth of her son, Claude, in 1619, gave her great joy; but six months later her husband died, leaving his finances in such a state that she was virtually penniless. A widow at nineteen, with an infant son to care for, attractive and highly respected, this young girl received many offers of marriage. Her family advised her to" remarry as the solution of her problems. But Marie Martin knew exactly what she would do now. She would follow the call of God in her heart; she would live for Him alone, making a cloister for Him in the depth of her being. Some day her hope of consecrating her life to God in religion might be realized. When and how this might be accomplished she did not know for her first obligatioa required her to devote herself to the upbringing of her child. 130 May, 1958 M~E MARIE Madame Martin returned then to her father's home but soon answered the call of an older sister who needed help in the management of her large household. Marie's brother-in-law, Paul Buisson, a wealthy artillery officer, approved this plan for he knew that this capable young woman, in return for a home for herself and her child, w.ould supervise his affairs efficiently. Eventually, Marie took complete charge of his transport business, his warehouses, and his stables. In short, she became the unpaid servant of the Buisson family--prepar-ing meals, nursing the sick, regulating accounts, and directing employees--for all these duties fitted admirably into her design to live entirely for God. Eagerly she sought the means to multiply fasts, penances, and vigils. It is not surprising then that history records her as one of the great mystics of her time. In the midst of her endless labors, God rewarded Marie Martin with heavenly visions, with revelations of the Blessed Trinity and of the Incarnation. Bossuet called her the St. Teresa o{: her century; and well he might, fo'r, like the saint of Avila, Madame Martin was practical, never neglecting ordinary duties for spiritual joys. Leading this extraordinary life of close intimacy with God and of long hours of toil, Marie wat,ched her young son grow into a strong and healthy boyhood. When he was twelve years old, she confided him to the care of the Jesuits to be trained, believing that a boy of his age needed a man's guidance. With. his consent, she achieved her long-desired goal, entering the Ursulines in Tours in 1631 at~ter obtaining her sister's promise to pay for young. Claude's education. In later years, Marie Martin experienced the happiness, of knowing that her son had become a Benedictine priest. In the cloister, Marie de l'Incarnation, as she was now called, attained ,great mystical heights. God bestowed upon her special giftsthe interpretation of scriptural texts--which are evidi~nced in the spiritual writings she composed at this time. She even saw Canada in a vision, not knowing it by name but SISTER BENITA DALEY Review for Religious perceiving only that ~it would some day be the field of her missionary labors. When she learned that the Jesuits of New France were asking for teaching nuns for Quebec, she resolved to answer the call if the opportunity arose. She longed to bring the light of faith to the savages of the New World. It was " with great rejoicing then that she received her appointment to found with two other Ursulines a mission school for Indian children in Champlain's struggling colony on the St. Lawrence. Exactly. four years after that great explorer's death, Mire Marie and her companions sailed from Dieppe. That was May 4, 1639. After a three-month voyage, they landed in Quebec, receiving a joyous welcome from its two hundred colonists. The tiny house to which ~he nuns were ceremoniously conducted was little more than a shack, but to Mire Marie it held promise of the fulfillment of her apostolate for souls. The little convent with its back against an enormous cliff looked out on the enchanting loveliness of wide stretches of water, a world of beauty that M~re Marie always cherished even when, at a later date, hunger and cold and destitution plagued the nuns. Here the first school opened with six Indian girls. Hardly were the Ursulines settled in their new home than an epidemic of smallpox broke out in the colony. Soon sick Indians in all their dirt and" wretchedness crowded in upon thenuns who cheerfully nursed them. In so doing, M~re Marie and her co-workers sacrificed the convent's slender resources in food and clothing. Y~hen the horrible experience ended, they de-cided that they had been too busy to contract the dread disease. As the number of pupils in the school steadily increased,' it became necessary to build a structure that would adequately house both nuns and students. The task of raising funds for this pressing need devolved upon Mire Marie. Then began that series of letters that went to France on every ship leaving ~he port of Quebec. Historians record that during her mis-sionary life this pioneer wrote over twelve thousand letters, enough volumes to fill several shelves in a library. 132 MARIE Not all of these letters were appeals for money. Many of them, sent to Ursuline convents, to important people in France, and to her Benedictine son, constitute, in the opinion of scholars, one of the finest primary sources of information on seventeenth-century Quebec. They narrate with typical French clarity the daily occurrences of the colony so that every phase of its de-velopment unfolds in this correspondence. The appointme~nt of the governors of the colony, the Indian massacres, the tor-tures of the Jesuit martyrs, the perils of living under constant threat of Iroquois hostilities, the complete destruction by fire of the Ursuline convent in 1650, the horror of the earthquake that shook Quebec three years later-~all these facts M~re Marie recounted in vivid detail. If the nuns, being cloistered, could not move freely among the colonists, the latter came to the convent to seek advice on various matters. M~re Marie took great pains to keep herself informed on all questions that pertained to the well-being of the people. As a result of her interest, government officials as well as the colonists, esteemed her sane judgments, her practical good sense. They valued more and more the type of education she administered in her convent school, for with the new re-cruits that had come from France to increase her staff, she planned an educational program that aimed to transmit to the pupils the culture and traditions of Old France. In 1642, the new monastery, a three-story structure, the pride of the colony, was completed. Mire Marie herself had drawn up its plans and supervised its construction, even mount-ing the scaffolding to direct the work in progress. But material achievements did not lessen her spiritual undertakings. In order to instruct the savages in the faith, she mastered four difficult Indian languages, thus displaying an amazing linguistic ability. She began this study at the age of forty; and, in the following twenty years, she demonstrated her proficiency by writing catechisms, grammars, and dictionaries ir~ 133 SISTER BENITA DALEY the Algonquin, Huron, and Iroquois dialects. These texts have proved invaluable to missionaries of later centuries. At her death in 1672, this interpid French woman had com-pleted thirty-two years of missionary labor crowned with success as an administrator and educator. She had helped to initiate a new movement in the Church--the active participation oi: re-ligiot~ s women in missionary, educational, and social projects. Her pioneer work led to the establishment of numerous com-munities of religious women who today staff our hospitals and schools and undertake the social apostolate. Agnes Repplier, in her biography~-M~re Marie of the Ursulines--now appropriately being re, issued in this anniversary year, points out that holiness "was the weapon with which she fought her' battles, established her authority, and became a living principle in the keen, hard, vivid, friendly, ~nd dangerous life of New France." SUMMER SESSIONS Marquette University will conduct a three-week workshop in sister formation granting three semester hours of graduate credit in education. The workshop will explore the application of the Everett Report to the needs of communities of sisters. It has been designed specifically for directresses of study and for the administration and faculty of juniorates and scholasticates (college level) of sisterhoods. It has been scheduled for the mornings and afternoons of August 4 to 22. It is open only to sisters. The fee is $50.00. The directress of the workshop is Sister Elizabeth Ann, I.H.M., of Immaculate Heart College; Los Arigeles, assisted by sisters acquainted with the Everett Report and by other consultants. Room and board t~or the sisters attending the workshop is available in Schroeder Hall. Address: Marquette University Graduate School, Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin. St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, announces the six-teenth annual summer session of its Graduate School of Sacred Theol-ogy for Sisters and Laywomen (June 23-August I). Scheduled are fourteen classes in: fundamental theology, dogma, morals, Old Testa-ment, New Testament, patrology, biblical theology, church history, introduction to theology, introduction to Sacred Scriptures, introduc-tion to the Summa of St. Thomas. The faculty includes Jesuits, Dominicans, Passionists, other priests, and lay professors. Address (Continued on page 166) 134 The ifi:s. ot: :he I-Ioly Spiri Paul W. O'Brien,S.J. FRANKLY I HAVE always wanted to know more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They held a strange attraction. The soul seemed to feel instinctively that they occupied a key position in its spiritual, life. And yet the.y seemed so elusive. Beyond a few elementary notions, they remained rather difficult to grasp. I wondered whether the main ideas could not be pinned down and put in simple language. It is this I have tried to do both for my. own understanding of the question and perhaps for the profit of others. The Need oE the Gifts ." A soul in love with God and witl~ some little experience in th~ spiritual life comes quickly to realize its ihadequacy. This comes about not merely frbm the intellectual conviction that unaided nature can~ never reach the supernatural, that "without Me, you can do nothing." Rather it is an experimental knowl-edge, even supposing God's elevating grace, of the slowness of its mind to grasp the things of God. It "tries to penetrate the truthsof faith and finds them veiled; it seeks to draw the logical conclusions from these truths, but the elements of the'problem slip from its memory before the conclusions are reached. Its will that should be such an impelling power toward God is so hesitant, so wavering; and, even when with God's grace it feels a power for ordinary acts~ of virtue, it senses its inadequacy for anything that might be termed heroic. In all sincerity we are seeking to do the will of. God, "a will presented to us through obedience, through our rules, but which still leaves so much undefined. We know at a given moment "what" we. must do, but the "how" seems to admit of indefinite progress; and we feel blocked. The life that we live seems to be a life planned by a reason directed by' faith,, but it is one where my reason 135 PAUL W. O']~RIEN Review for Religious does the directing. Actually we are longing for the Holy Spirit to assume the direction of our lives. We are thirsting to have our love enkindled by the Spirit of love-to have our intellects enlightened by the Spirit of Truth. In a word, we are yearning to supplement our life of the ~irtues by a life of the gifts under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Nature of the Gifts St. Thomas tells us that these gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent dispositions of the soul to obey the Holy Spirit promptly. They are not just passing actual graces; they are permanent dispositions in the soul. They are not like the in-fused virtues which enable us to act; these are passive disposi-tions which enable us to receive, to be acted upon by the Holy Spirit. Granted the existence of our supernatural organism, we might possibly reason fo the necessity of such gifts, in order that the organism be perfect; but God has spared us the labor. He has told us of the gifts in Isaias 11:2: "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and under-standing; the spirit of counsel and of fortitude; the spirit of knowledge and of godliness (piety). And he shall be filled with the fear of the "Lord." Actually the text refers to Jesus, .the Messiah; but the Fathers of the Church in explaining it taught that these gifts have passed from Christ to all the mem-bers of His Mystical Body. It is therefore a point of faith that these gifts exist. It is also certain that they are permanent habits. But, for the rest, theologians have their little differences. It is ~the more common and more probable opinion that the gifts are really distinct from the virtues. And it seems more probable that there are actually seven gifts, though some theologians think it not improbable that the number seven is used, as often in the Old Testament, in a mystical sense of plenitude. But for our practical purpose, it is enodgh to know that the gifts of the Holy' Spirit exist, that they are permanent in the soul in grace, 136 May, 1958 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and that through them the" Holy Spirit can direct all the activi-ties of our souls. Reason-guided or God-guided? When God made human nature, He put into it all that it needed to live its life and do its work in a fitting manner. And so He endowed it with a soul, with faculties of thinking and willing, and virtues to 'perfect these faculties. We then had everything necessary to live a human life. The guiding power in this organism was reason. To live as a human being, we had to live according to reason. But God did not leave me to my natural resources and natural end. He destined me to know Him in the beatific vision and to share His own divine life. To accomplish this, it was necessar~ that He elevate my natural organism; and this He did by bestowing gratuitously on my soul sanctifying grace together with the infused virtues, both theological and moral. Not only has He elevated my powers making them able to act supernaturally and reach out to Him; but He has furnished new maps to my reason, indicating the way to :Himself by marking out new signposts with His revealed tr~ths. Surely .the way is now clearer, and reason .finds more secur.!.ty; 'bui it is still reason that directs my life, even though :helped by faith. My life to God is still reason-controlled. And ~onsequently !t is subject to all the. limitations of human reason. ¯ I cannot s~e all the future; .I. cannot foresee the consequendes of my present actions; I cannot know the hearts of those with Whbm I deal, whether my well-meant word or action may not be untimely. My grasp of faith is so imperfect. If only the great God who is above all might enter in to guide my life! How wonderful to replace the groping of my reason through an uncharted future with the security of divine Wisdom--my vision obscured by the veil of faith, with God's clear knowledge of Himself, eternal Truth--my imperfect intuition of the hearts of others, with the intimately penetrating knowledge of God--my hesitancy in choosing God's way, with the sureness of 137 PAUL W. O'BRIEN Review ]or Religious God's Will-~.my :weakness of love, with the impetu.osity of God's Spirit. And yet this is the life that God holds out to me through the gifts. This is'the true meaning o~ the gi~ts, that my soul is o.pened up to this direct action o~ God, that my soul is disposed to obey. promptly, this Spirit o~ ldve, that my soul may soar above its reason:controlled guidance, to be taken to God's Heart as His instrument, guided by the Holy Spirit, with all that this involves. Some Illustrations Theologians around the time of St. Thomas tried to explain the gi~ts o~ the H01y Spirit by the examp!e o~ a rowboat fitted out with~sails~ The oars or.the.boat ~orresp0nded to the virtues, the" active ¯agents in the movement ot~ the.boat. The sails were the gift's of the Holy Spirit, those passive disppsitions by which the boat recdi~ed an outside impulse and direction from the Wind. ¯ " ~ Cardinal Billot, some six centuries later, modernized the dxample, propoging a °motOrboat fitted out with ~ails. The motor, actively 'propelling the° boat f~:om "within, corresponde~{ to th~ virtues'; the ~ails, receiving passi,~ely the breezd, reprd-sent~ d the gift's of the" Holy Spirit. ~ Were ~hese great .theologians alive t~0da'y, we may pre.sume that the)) would look for s~mething more" modern and might hit on Our radio-~ontrolled rob0.t planes. Sbme time back ~I saw some boys~ flying iu'~h a plane; and," if I am no~ mistaken (in ~nY .even~ it may serve~ us ~or an example), ~he plane, somd ten feet long; contained i~s "own motor, Which propelled it into the air" arid drove i~ along a( an~ ordinary spee~l. O~ co~rse there was no one in the plane. But 'aitach'ed some w.ay to th~ motor was a radio recei,~er. From the ground the boys '~ver~e ~ble to sdn~t impulses into ~hat rhceiver and to control the ipeed of thd motor' as well as the di.rection o~ the plane~ They could turh it to thd right or left, speed it up, make it lo6p the loop, and sO forth. "I ~ould not but think that that' little radio receiver" co~respohded t6 ~he" gifts of the Holy Gh6st~ while the motor correspondedto the in~used Virtues. 138 May, 1958 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The gifts of the Holy Spirit, then, m~y be considered as God's radio receiver put into our soul, a passive disposition to receive the impulses from the Holy Spirit. Surely we carry within us our own motor, the infused virtues, which move us along in a normal way; but in order that these virtues be directed, that their activity be increased, there was need of a receiver. The plane could fly without the receiver, just as we can practice ordinary virtue without this special direction of the Holy Spirit. But to be controlled with sureness, to be brought to a safe landing, to receive added strength, for all this we needed a means by. which the Holy Spirit could enter. Neither do we consider the radio receiver as the motor of the plane. And so it is with the gifts. They are not the motive force that moves the soul; they merely receive the impulses of the Holy Spirit that activate the virtues. The virtues remain the operative powers of the soul. Cormaturality What are these habits, these permanent dispositions of the soul? Do they merely mean that God in His almighty power can break into the soul whenever He wishes--a mere "obedi-ential potency," as theologians would say--or are they some-thing more? The disposition which is a gift of the Holy Spirit is something more. It creates in the soul a sort of reaching out for God's inspiration, a power of attraction, giving the soul what theologians call "connaturality," making the soul as it were "tuned-in,~' preparing the soul so that the-inspiration of the Holy .Spirit would feel "at-home." A child is attracted to the loving atmosphere of the family circle, but repelled by the cold, indifferent spirit of a strange house. .And so while the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is gratuitous and the disposition is passive, yet the gift creates this connaturality, giving the soul a certain claim on God's help. Through fidelity to grace, the soul can merit an increase of God's inspirations and conse-quently a greater capacity for the gifts. PAUL W. O'BRIEN Review for Religious The Functions of the Individual Gifts Theoretically there is a certain utility in knowing the func-tion of the individual gifts. It completes our knowledge. But since spiritual writers are not in complete agreement on these functions and practically the discernment of the effect of each gift is rather difficult, it is enough for the good soul to know that God has a way of directing all its activities, that this way. is by means of the gifts, and that God will know which gift He is using, even though the soul may not. The soul needs only to beg God to come in His fullness, to take over the direction of all its acts. However, it is helpful to note in a general way (I am fol-lowing St. Thomas) that every activity of the soul is cared for by the gifts. All of God's grace is directed to enlighten my intellect or strengthen my will. Hence the gifts perfect these two faculties, four of them (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel) perfecting the intellect, and three of them (piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord) perfecting the will. Now the intellect may grasp truth intuitively, or it may have a judgment about it. And in judging about it, it may judge divine things, created things, or apply general truths to concrete acts. For each of these operations, there is a gift by which the intellect in that operation is disposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Corresponding to and perfecting the intuition of truth is the gift of understanding, by which the soul penetrates the truths of faith--understanding not merely how believable they are, how right it is that the soul adheres to them, but penetrating even to the very truths themselves, perceiving connections be-tween the truths, analogies, logical conclusions, etc., all of which it could probably get by study, but which it receives in a simpler and more instinctive manner. This gift together with the "gift of knowledge perfects faith. The gift of wisdom corresponds to that judgment of the mind about God and divine things, as the soul judges that God 140 May,, 1958 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is lovable above all, as 'it ~askes God with'~i certain sweetness, as it judges all things in the light of God and adheres to Him in charity. Wisdom perfects charity. The gift of knowledge corresponds to the judgment of the mind about created things or of divine things according to creatures. It enables t.he soul to form a true judgment of human things--to see clearly its own conduct and the conduct of others. It is this gift that is activated particularly in the dark nights of the soul, making the soul see its sinfulness and the nothingness of created things. Like the gift of understand-ing, this gift also perfects faith. The gift of counsel looks to the direction of particular actions--what to do here and now under these circumstances. What faith, wisdom, and knowledge teach in general, counsel applies in particular. This gift corresponds to the virtue of prudence, which prescribes the means for attaining the end. Three gifts perfect the will. Piety excites the soul to a filial affection toward God. The virtue of religion and the gift of piety both lead us to the worship and service of God. But religion considers God as Creator, while piety looks to Him as Father. Piety reaches not only to-God, but to everything and everybody connected with Him; hdnce to Holy Scripture, the saints, the souls in purgatory. It corresponds to the virtue of justice and governs us in our relations with others. With regard to ourselves two gifts come into play. Forti. rude stimulates us against the fear of dangers or human respect, enabling us to resist certain strong temptations, to undertake arduous works for God. It corresponds to the virtue of forti-tude. The other gift regarding ourselves is fear of the Lord. The~e are two kinds of fear, that of tl~e slave who fears the lash, the punishment, and that of the son who fears to sadden. his father by offending him. The first is called servile, fear and has no place in the gift. Rather it is filial fear, which looks 141 PAUL V~. O'BRIEN Review for Religious chiefly to God and deters us from offending Him. Thus it perfects hope. But it also makes us avoid that which most attracts us to sin, namely the delights of the world; and in this respect it corresponds to the virtue of temperance. This gift of fear of the Lord is the basis of all others, for the first step on the way to God is a reverence for Him that makes us flee sire Ordinary and Extraordinary Action of the Holy Spirit It is a great consolation to the soul to know that as long as it is in the state of grace it possesses all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and is therefore under the guidance of the Holy Spirii. However this guidance varies according to the disposition of the soul and its fidelity. It is not a felt guidance, and great activity of the Holy Spirit may' pass unnoticed in the soul and may be guessed at only because of its effects. It is through this action of the Holy Spirit that various vocations are realized, as step by step He leads the soul to the fulfillment of His eternally determined plan. In acting through the gifts, the Holy Spirit may enter our lives in two ways. One is the ordinary way, inasmuch as He conforms to the ,natural workings of our intellect and will, elevated of course by grace, taking occasion from sermons, our spiritual reading, our meditations, to inspire us with good thoughts. We experience greater light, a more intense love; and yet our intellects are reasoning in the way they have always reasoned; and our wills are loving as they have always loved. Even the acts to whic~h the Holy Spirit will lead us are acts accord with our nature, within the sphere of reason enlightened by faith. Through this constant influence of the Holy Spirit in our ordinary actions, the soul may arrive at a high degree sanctity, without being consciously aware of this intense activity of the Holy Spirit through His gifts. Though heroic sanctity is attainable through this ordinary mode of action of the Holy Spirit, it is more common to find in the saints the more extraordinary mode of action by which 142 May, 1958 GIFTS OF THE; HOLY, SPIRIT our faculties, through these same gifts, are given a new way acting~or reach out for .objects naturally outside their normal' sphere. This extraordinary action of the Holy Spirit takes various t~orms: in one, it will be the way oi~ infused contemplation, com-monly called the mystic life, which is generally brought about through the intense activation of the gifts of wisdom, under-standing, and knowledg~gifts that perfect th~ intellect. Ex-amples of such action may be found in~ the great contemplatives, St. ~John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila. It is well to note that. the gifts of ~wisdom .and understanding may.be present in' a soul in a. high degree without the soul being conscious of. them or without their producing infused contemplation, which is 'but one of the possible forms of their influence. ¯ In another, the' e~traordinar.y' action of the Holy" Spirit will direct the soul to a more active and apostolic life, in which the gifts which are directed more to action (e.g, counsel and fortitude) predominate.' Such a soul was ~Sto Vincent de' Paul, who seems not to ~have en'joyed .infused contemplation/ but who led a life of heroic charity. In still others, God's acti6n works toward a combination of these lives, as with the great contemplative~ ipostles,' St. Paul; St. Ignatius,-St. Francis Xavier. Thd form which this' action of the Holy Spilit Will take will depend on the vocation and work to Which God has destined the soul. BUt whethe~ the mode of action be ordin~iry or extraordinary, no sanctity is possible without this habi~hal docility to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit; ai~d this docility is at-tained through the gifts. Our Practical Attitude " There is .no soul in love with God that d6es not desire to be completely under .the sway of the Spirit \of Love. ¯ And, since this" direction will come about especially through the gifts oi~ the Holy Spirit, there is no" soul that does not long to possess 143 PAUL V~r. O'BRIEN these gifts in all the fullness that God may be pleased to grant. Since an incoming inspiration seems to enlarge the capacity of ~the gifts, our desires for the increase of the gifts are really desires that God may be ever more generous with His inspira-tions. Our problem, then, is one of fidelity to. these inspirations and the growth of our desires that the ego may decrease while God and His influence are !ncreasing. However, there is a certain preparation that can be made.' And here we may return to our "radio-receiver." For good reception, the air must be. clear, free from "interference," free from ~'jamming." Alas, how often our little "gift-receivers" are shut out from the impulses of God's grace by the interfer-ence of passion and prejudice, and by the jamming of worldli-ness and the clamor of creatures. We must clear the air through purity of heart--striving with all our might until an emptiness of self has cleared the way for His divine influence. But it is not enough to .have the air cleared; we must be "tuned-in." The soul must be recollected, attentive to God, tuned-in to the Holy Spirit, not trusting in the initial impulses and guidance of its reason, but turning with evei-increasing fre-quency, as He gives the measure, to the Holy Spirit for the inspiration and continuation of our works. When our part is done, the rest will depend on the source of the impulses. But here we have no difficulty; for the source of our inspirations is God with His power, His attractiveness, His clarity. His part will never fail. The trouble can only be in the receiver. We must go forward therefore in confidence, trying to bring home to ourselves the beauty, the security, the divineness of a life lived under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The measure of that life in us will depend in great part on the strength of our desires. We will long for it, struggle for it, and keep begging for it as we implore the Spirit .of Love in His sevenfold gift (septiformis munere) to come in all His full-ness into our hearts. Come Holy Spirit! 144 Current: Spirit:u l rit:ing Thomas ~,. O'C~lhgh~n, S.,J. St. Th~rhse of Lisieux A VERY NOTABLE event occurred two years ago in the field of hagiography. It was the publication of the auto-biographical manuscripts of St. Th~r~se of Lisieux.1 o.ne point of great interest in this was that the saint's own handwritten manuscripts--there are three of them--were photographically re: produced in their origina/ form: two copybooks (one. of eighty-four leaves and the other of thirty-seven) and a letter (five leaves). Accompanying the published manuscripts were the editor's three volumes of scholarly, most interesting, and helpful notes. For many years readers of St. Therese s autobiography, The Story of a Soul, have known that the printed account which they were reading did not agree perfectly with the autograph manuscript. For example, the preface of a 1924 French edition made it quite clear that there had b~en changes in the text. The very awareness of these changes aroused the desire of hagi-ographers and devotees of Th~rhse to know exactly what the original manuscripts had said. These autograph manuscripts had been iCor many years in the care of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a sister (Pauline) of Th~se a~d prioress of the Carmel at Lisieux. When she was asked to have them published, she arranged to have this done after her death. Thus, in 1952, a year after her death, a beginning was made under the direction of Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., the eminent Carmelite spiritual theologian. When he died the following year, the work was entrusted to Father Francis of St. Mary, O.C.D., who has completed the task most successfully and admirably. ~ Manuscrits ~utobiogra~hiques de 8ainte Thgr?se de l'EnfantJesus, Carmel de Lisieux, 1956. 145 THOMAS ~,. O~CALLAGHAN Review for Religious Whatever one's opinion might have been before this present publication, it is now quite clear that The Story of a Soul is not really a book, nor even a spiritual diary. It is rather a com-pilation of three manuscripts, all written during the last three years of the saint's life. The first of these, the larger of the two copybooks, was written during the course of 1895 at the request of the above-mentioned Mother Agnes of Jesus. She, as prioress at the time, asked Th~r~se to write her childhood memories. At that time there was no intention of publishing them; they were to be only "un souvenir de famille." This manuscript became the first eight chapters of the autobiography. The second manuscript, written during September, 1896, was a letter to her sister Marie, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, who had asked Th~r~se to explain her "little way of confidence and love." This letter, also never intended originally for publi-cation, became by reason of its importance Chapte~ XI of the autobiography. The third manuscript, written during June, 1897, three months before Thgr~se's death, was the second copybook. This was written at the request of Mother Mary of Gonzaga, the prioress at that time-~Mother Agnes of Jesus, her predecessor in office, very diplomatically persuaded her to request it--and was intended to serve as the basis of a short biographical account which by custom would be sent to other Carmels after Th~r~se's death. Although it was written nine months after the letter to Sister Marie, just mentioned above, it preceded it in the auto-biography and became the substance of Chapters IX and X. These, then, are the t.hree manuscripts from which was drawn the autobiography of Th~r~se of Lisieux. When, a few months before the saint's death, there arose the question of the publication of them, Th~r~se gave Mother Agne.s of Jesus the permission to edit them as she thought fit. Mother .Agnes did just ~hat (and, because of various reasons and personalities in-volved, it was perfectly legitimate to do so). "In fact," says Father Francis, the editor, after comparing the manuscripts with 146 May, 1958 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING ihe published version of the autobiography, "Mother Agnes of Jesus rewrote the autobiography of Thgr~se" (I, 78). '~ What did Mother Agnes change? How serious were these changes? How did they alter the real Th~r~se? Since we cannot answer these questions in this very brief survey--un-doubtedly many articles will be written during the next few years on these precise questions--we would like to recommend a very fine article, "Saint Th~se," written by Sally S. Cunneen, in Jubilee (October, 1957). It is an article which makes for most pleasant and interesting reading. Faith and Love St. John the Evangelist dedicates a large part of his writings to .the development of his teaching on love. In his account of the public ministry of our Lord, the first twelve chapters of his Gospel, he unfolds some of this teaching by°showing the relation-ship 0f love to faith. It is this relationship of Johannine love and faith that Father Barrosse, C.S.C., makes the subject of a very scholarly and fine article.2 As a help to one's spiritual life, many points in this article are well worth study and reflection. First, for St. John, what is faith? It is not merely an in-tellectual assent to a list of revealed propositions. For the be-loved disciple faith means to believe in Christ, to accept "Jesus for what He is . . . the Son of God sent or come into the world" (p. 540). BUt, as Son of God, Christ is God's image, and thus God's revelation of Himself. Christian faith, then, means to accept Christ as God's revelation of Himself to men. It is not merely, however, a spdculative knowledge about God which Christ reveals. He desires also to reveal to men God's inner life by offering them an experience of it, a share of God's own life. To do this w~is the salvific mission of Christ. Faith for St. John, then, means to accept Cl~ris~ as the "Son of God who has come into" the world as God's salvific manifestation 2t'The Relationship of Love to Faith in St. John," Theological Studies, XVIII (1957), 538-59. 147 THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN Review for Religiou~ of Himself to men" (p. 543). This really demands in practice a complete surrender of one's entire person to the living person of Christ. But what is the relatiorr of this Johannine faith to love? Perhaps the following summary answer of the author to that question will be an indication of the important matter which he treats in the article and how profit, able a study of it could be. .In Christ God offers Himself to men out of love. Christ is the concrete manifestation of God's love in the world. To believe in Christ means to accept Him as God's offer of Himseli:; in other words, it means to comply with the advances of God's love. Those who love themselves inordinately, who desire a glory independent of the borrowed glory they can have from God in Christ or who love the evil which they have apart from God, can only reject the offer of God's love and refuse to believe. Only those who love God's glory and who therefore love. Christ, the manifestation and offer of that glory, will accept the advances of God's love. These are the men who have the "love of God" within them. (p. 559) The Rosary There are two parts to the rosary devotion: the recitation of the Paters and Aves (vocal prayer.) and meditation on the mysteries of the life of Christ and Mary (men~al prayer). Of these two, the latter is the. more important; it is the soul of the rosary devotion. But it is also the more difficult. What makes it so difficult? Father Paul Mahoney, O.P., selects, three of the main difficulties and offers some practical remedies.~ These dif-ficulties are: inattention, inability to probe the mysteries, and disunity of thought. The first difficulty, then, and perhaps the most common, i.s inattention or the lack of attention or the "inabilit~ to keep the mind and imagination centered upon one idea for even a short period of time" (p. 427). There are several causes of this. The first is a lack of proper training; a person has never learned to concentrate; and, thus, over the years the bad habit of inatten-tion has developed. In such cases, the opposite habit must be 3 "Difficulties with Rosary, Meditation," Cross and Cro~zn, IX (1957), 426-33. 148 May, 1958 CURREI~ SPIRITUAL WRITING formed by deliberate effort. Perhaps this is best done, when say-ing the rosary, by taking only One thought for each decade and deliberately concentrating on it during the recitation of the ten Ave$. "Another cause of inattention is neglecting to make a conscious intention before saying the Rosary" (p. 428). Since the ~osary is such a fruitful devotion when said fervently, a devotion worthy of our very best efforts, it is Very important, before starting it, to make a firm intention to recite it well. And, since the desire to finish our prayers quickly can stifle fervor, our intention should include the resolve to take our time and avoid rush. A second difficulty in meditating during the rosary is "an inability to probe the mysteries. Many fed incompetent to meditate on the mysteries of ~he Rosary." (p. 429) A very basic mistake here is to confuse prayerful meditation with theo-logical speculation. The latter is by no means necessary. For the former all we need are a fe~v spiritual thoughts which will lead to will-acts of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, love, hope, humility, and the like. But where will we find these few spiritual thoughts? They can be easily gathered from an attentive read-ing of the New Testament, the Missal, and Breviary, especially those passages which pertain to the rosary mysteries. Everyone should have a little collection--mental, or even better, written-- of spiritually helpful rosary thoughts. For the third difficulty, disunity of thought, and its solution, we shall refer the reader to the article itself. A summary of it would only be confusing. Despite the difficulties that are attached to fruitful recitation of the Rosary, we must make the effort. Repeated beginnings, labor, aridity, and perseverance are the price that must be paid for mastery of the Rosary. But once victorious, the soul can confidently expect what is promised in the prayer for the feast of the Holy Rosary: imitation of what is contained in the mysteries and possession of what they promise. (p. 433) 149 THOM~,S G. O'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious Catholics and Neurosis What can Catholics do to modify or prevent neurotic reactions? The answer to this question is given in a very solid and clear article by Father James F. Moynihan, S.J., the chair-man of the Department of Modern Psychology at Boston College.4 A neurosis is a minor mental disorder, psychological in origin, which is characterized by personality maladjustment, but which does not usually require commitment to a mental hospital. The formative process of such a disorder, says Father Moynihan, "seems to involve a certain type of personality who~ in some conflict causing anxiety, finds a solution iri pathological (neurotic) symptoms" (p. 248). Thus, at th~ core of a neurosis is an anxiety. Depending upon the manner in which a person reacts to and resolves this anxiety, his behavior .is either normal or neurotic. The main purpose of Father Moynihan's article is to point out ~ome of the elements of a solid spiritual life which help a Catholic to adjust himself and to react to anxiety normally. We will limit ourselves here merely to his observation on humility. "Good mental health has a very definite correlatidn with an old-fashioned virtue which we call humility, yet not so old fashioned that it has not crept back into our current literature on personality and personality-adjustment. We can, to be sure, have some very distorted ideas on just what humility means, yet certainly an honest appraisal of one's own excellence is basic to the concept. The person with a balanced sense of his own qualifications, with a real sense of humility, is not confounded' by the limitations inherent in his own personality make-up. He need not look upon them as evidence of personal inferiority. For he realizes that limitations are the common lot of humanity; that he is a man and not a god. Nor does he need to hide in fantasy and self-excuse, or develop the Cinderella complex of self-pity with its inevitable concomitants of envy, jeal-ousy, and a sour-grapes attitude. In fact, a sense of humility is the basis for a real semse of humor which psychologists associate with the mature personality because it prevents us from taking ourselves too seriously and helps us to realize that our human experience is a shared ~xperience. This virtue of humility, manifested in a self- 4"Catholics and Neurosis," Spiritual Life, III (1957), 247-56. 150 May, 1958 ~URRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING concept that is objective and realistic, can, of course, be strengthened by faith in God's abiding presence so that it will lead the individual to a degree of confidence in which he can say with Saint Paul: can do all things in him who strengthens me." (p. 252) Venial Sin Although venial sin is not destructive of charity nor incom-patible with the state of grace, one should not underestimate its harmful effects on the spiritual life. Father Jordan Aumann, O.P., in a brief but fine article on the nature of venial sin and its relation to charity and perfection, enumerates and comments on four of the more important effects of venial sin.5 "First, venial sin lessens the fervor of charity and decreases thg soul's generosity in the service of God. Secondly, venial sin or zhe attachment to venial sin deprives the soul of many graces and inspirations . Thirdly, venial sin makes the practice of the virtues increasingly difficult." Finally, and this effect follows from the preceding, "venial sin gradually disposes for mortal sin." (pp. 268-69) From such effects it is quite clear that venial sin builds up in the soul a strong barrier to the perfect love of God and to Christian perfection. The Liturgy Sign and causality: these are two key words in sacramental theology. For a sacrament is a sensible sign which causes grace. When St. Thomas treated the sacraments, he carefully balanced these two elements of sign and causality. Before his time, how-ever, emphasis had been placed on the idea of sign; and after him, especially since the sixteenth century, the stress has been mostly on causality, the idea of sign being relegated to a definitely inferior place. To show that this imbalance, the overemphasis on causality, has impoverished the role of the sacraments~ in the spiritual life is the purpose of a very solid and interesting article by Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B., the editor of Worship.e 5"Venial Sin and Christian Per~%ction," Cross and Cro¢wn, IX (1957), 262-70. e"Two Approaches to Understanding the Sacraments," I¢~orshi~, XXXI (1957), 504-20. 151 THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious A sacrament is a sign; thus, it is something which leads to the knowledge of something else; it instructs. "In the case of the sacraments it is Christ who instructs, insofar as He chose the sign; and it is the Church too that instructs, inasmuch as she expanded and further explained the essential sign, by surround-ing it with additional rites ~ind prayers" (p. 507). In the sacraments, then, Christ and the Church are our instructors, our teachers. The sacraments are also causes; but they cause what they signify. It is only a proper reading of the sign, therefore, which will instruct us as to what is being caused. This is im-portant. It was, for example, the neglect of the sign of the Eucharist--food, necessary for nourishment, growth, strength --that led to the neglect of frequent Communion for such a long time. In the spiritual life what have been the consequences of overstr.essing during the last few centuries the element of causality and of neglecting that of sign? Here briefly are some of Father Diekmann's interesting observations in answering that question. First, an overemphasis on the causality of the sacraments in the production of grace has resulted in an overshadowing and obscuring of the important role of faith in the process of salva-tion and sanctification. In fact, the Protestant rebellion was in part an attempt to restore faith to its proper and significant place. Another result has been "a more or less mechanistic view of the sacraments" (p. 510), that is, a sacrament is a "holy thing which contains and confers grace" (ibid.). Thus is lost the notion of the sacraments as bein_g the saving actions of Christ, a continuation of the priestly activity of Christ. "F~x opere ol~erato means really, ex opere operantis Christi . " (ibid.). A third result of overstressing causality was the narrowing down of the sign to what was necessary for validity and a neglect, therefore, of what Christ and the Church through a full sign '152 May~ 1958 CURRENT SPHtITUAL WRITING have been trying to teach about the effects of the sacrament. Another consequence has been an overemphasis on the Triden-tine phrase non loonentibus obicem, not placing a hindrance; thus, a negative, passive approach in the reception of the sacra-ments has been inculcated, not that positive disposition of faith and devotion which St. Thomas taught and fostered. These unfortunate but logical consequences of this over-stressing of the element of causality are being corrected in ~0od part today by modern liturgical-theological writing, which is re-establishing the proper balance between sign and causality. The article continues with some most interesting points about the relation of the sacra'ments and sacramentals, the social nature of the sacraments, the sacraments as acts of worship-- this last point rarely being given its proper importance and at-tention.' This is truly an excellent article and well worth careful reading and study. Priests will find both interest and inspiration in "The Pas-toral Value of the Word of God," an exceptionally fine paper read at the Assisi Liturgical Congress by Father Augustine Bea, S.J., consultor of the Sacred Congregation of Rites and t~ormer rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.7 The ques-tion which Father Bea answers is: What is the pastoral function, importance, and efficacy of the word of God (i.e. of Sacred Scripture) in the sacred liturgy? His answer is most important for one who is both "minister of the word" and '"minister of the Sacrament," the priest. At the Last Supper our Lord "created the type of the principal liturgical function of His Church: close union of the word with sacrificial action" (p. 243). For on that evening His sacrifice was surrounded with His words of teaching, en-couragement, and exhortation. It is therefore quke understand- 7 Tile Clergy Mont/i/y, XXI (1957), 241-54. This and all the other papers read at the congress appear in The /lssisi Patters (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1957). 153 THOMAS G. O'CALLAGHAN Review for Religious able that the three elements: Sacred Scripture (Epistle and Gospel), explanation (homily), and Eucharistic Sacrifice, should be "a characteristic mark of Catholic worship" (p. 242). Sacred Scripture has of its very self, since it is the word of God, a marvelous pastoral efficacy. But when thisword of God (together with its explanation in the homily) is united to the Eucharistic Sacrifice, this pastoral value is increased and intensified. This is why "the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit . . . , has united the reading and explanation of the word of God with the offering of the eucharistic Sacrifice in one great liturgical unity and has desired that the same priest be 'minister of the word' and 'minister of the Sacrament' " (p. 250). Most of us are not too familiar with devotional practices among Christians of the Eastern rite churches. Consequently, an informative and interesting article on Russian icons is most welcome,s According to the dictionary' icon means image, portrait, statue; and, as related to the Eastern Church, it means a sacred painting or mosaic. Such a definition,, however, might be a bit misleading, for not every sacred painting is an icon nor is a true icon painter concerned with making mosaics. Icons originated in Egypt long before the time of Christ. "In its original form it was a representation, made in the encaustic method, of a deceased person and placed by relatives on the mummy case of that person" (p. 322). These pictures or paintings were not perfect and exact portraits, but distinguish-ing characteristics of the person were. sufficiently retained so that the subject was recognizable. What was of major import-ance, however, was that the picture look "alive." To attain this vital quality special attention and emphasis was given to the eyes. S Mary Corkran, "Russian Icons," Cross and Crown, IX (1957), 321-29. 154 May, 1958 CURRENT SPIRITUAL WRITING This type of painting was later copied and adopted by the Christians. They retained the characteristic design and coloring, and even something of the purpose of the icon, to commemorate the dead. But in the Christian tradition, obviously, the subject changed and became the Savior, our Blessed Lady, the saints, and many characters from the Old Testament. Also, in the more elaborate icons, there were whole scenes taken from the Old or New Testament. These icons were not considered merely as decorative re-ligious paintings. To the Oriental Christians icons were sacred objects, blessed by the Church, and "honored as Special symbols of the person they represented" (p. 323). They had a very real place in both public and private devotion. "In the churches were splendid images of our Lord, Our Lady and the saints, each of them having its own special place. Many of the smaller ones were taken down and displayed for public devotion, or carried in procession, on the appropriate feast days. The larger and prinicpal icons were fixed and, before the beginning of a service, the worshiper made what amounted to a holy pilgrimage among Christ and the saints, bowing low before each one and perhaps lighting a candle or two" for private devotions (pp. 324- 25). Each home had its iittle oratory where there were enshrined icons of the Savior, our Lady, and favorite saints. This was the center for the family life of prayer. Among the countless icons in honor of our Blessed Mother, some of the most venerated are those portraying our Lady of Tenderness. These picture the Blessed Mother, her eyes ex-pressing interior grief, looking down upon her Child, while He, looking up to her, puts his hand to her face in a loving desire to comfort her in her sorrow. Our Lady of Tenderness must certainly be looking down with eyes of interior grief upon her Russian children today. Let us hope and pray that they will look back to her. Prayer St. Teresa of Jesus said in her Life that mental prayer is nothing but a friendly conversation with God who knows and 155 THOMAS G. 0'CALLAGHA.N loves us. For her, mental prayer was not a mere duty, an impersonal ascetic practice, but a real personal relationship with God. In "The Realm of Prayer" Romano Guardini tries to insist upon the same point.~ After stating that the "first step into prayer is self-recollection" and that the second is "visual-izing (before the inner eye) the'reality of God," he states that the third is "seeking His holy face. In this the worshiper tries to establish, or rather to give expression and effect to, the 'I-thou' relationship with God which is man's birthright." (p. 12) God, to whom we speak and pour out our heart in prayer, knows and loves each of us intimately and personally. To Him we are individual persons, not merely blurred parts of a countless throng. He has called each of us to an intimate personal relationship of love with Him. "Into this mystery of love. one enters through prayer." This is what it means to seek "the face of God" or, as one may put it, the "heart of God." Prayer must be a person-to-person relationship, a per-sonal affair. Not merely to seek, but especially to find the "face and heart" of a personal God in prayer, is undoubtedly difficult. There are distractions which come upon the soul from both without and within. This shows the need for "the right attitude, both outwardly and inwardly: collectedness at the beginning and discipline during prayer" (pp. 10-11). But these of themselves will never suffice. The key to the answer is in faith. "In this concealment, darkness, and void, my faith must seek out His countenance and His heart so that I may direct my prayer to Him. I must establish the inner point of contact and hold on to it, when--as constantly happens--it tries to elude me." (p. 12) Faith must seek out His holy face and heart. Without that there can be no personal conversation with Him who loves US. ~Jubilee, December, 1957. 156 Do We Know Our Own Mot:her? Sister M. Annice, C.S.C. RECENTLY IT occurred to me that I have had devotion to our Blessed Mother as long as I can remember. Fortu-nately for me as for millions of other Catholics, my good parents introduced me to the Mother of God as soon as I could grasp anything through pictures, statues, and the words of prayers relating to Mary. This process involved both ex-perience and some formal learning. It was not a matter of one exclusive of the other. No doubt, it would generally be granted by most o~ us that our imaginations and affections, our emotions and thoughts were all at work as we gradually grew in the knowledge and love of the Mother of Christ. Every new insight into the mysteries of the rosary brought its emotional repercussion of joy, sorrow, love, confidence, etc. That is completely normal to the psychological structure of humaa nature. Added to this, we also. received that special endowment from God, supeknatural grace, moving us to know and love His Mother more intimately and to seek her he(p and friendship. And yet, asI listened to Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., recently, I began to wonder if some of us actually do know Christ's Mother as realistically and intelligently as we might. Are we not too satisfied to constantly petition Mary for every-thing that we want and to say a good many perfunctory prayers? In complete, adulthood, with a wondrous capacity for superna-tural love and a developed mind able to seek more complete knowledge of her mysterious privileges, do we not still _act toward Mary as we did at the age of adolescence? When I heard Father Peyton speak of Mary as "omnipotent" in her inter-cessory power with her divine Son, I knew that I had never before experienced this same surprise and joy. And in that same week as I .was leafing through a little booklet entitled, 157 SISTER M. ANNICE Review for Religious Liturgical Novenas to Mary,I I was again profoundly im-pressed when I read, "The Lord gave thee His own power, for through thee He completely overcame our enemies." Thus it "dawned" on me that I had not given enough attention'or thought to the Blessed Mother's prerogative of participation in divine power. Now, should anyone wish to know more about this great privilege purely for the sake o~c possessing great knowledge? Assuredly not! Its fruits should be growth in the love of, and confidence in, the Mother of God. These virtues will not develop without some "culturing," some ground in which to take root and grow. Granting, of course, that only God can give us the grace of these supernatural virtues, we are still re-quired to cooperate with God in this action. And this requires effort on the part of our faculties to dispose us better for the receiving of God's grace. Now in this case it would seem that to consciously cooperate with God, we ought to make use of our ability to learn greater, and deeper, truths about God's Mother. It is, then, in this spirit that we propose to consider some-thing of that power of Mary which is said to be next to omni-potent. But to understand Mary's power, even in a partial way, is to understand better the stupendous gifts of grace be-stowed on her by God, in view of her divine maternity. The expression used by the angel Gabriel at the annuncia-tion must be truly the best signification of Mary's unique privilege. It would seem that the title "full of grace" could not then be improved upon by-man. But what we do with the interpretation of the angel's salutation is bound to fall short of the reality signified, which was Mary's real state of soul. Full-ness of grace is generally to be understood as a superabundance of holiness. Mary's sanctity was unquestionably inferior to the 1Published by the Benedictine Convent of Perpetual Adoration, Clyde, Missouri. 158 May, 1958 Do WE KNOW OUR MOTHIi~? created sanctity of her divine Son in proportion as the divine motherhood falls short of the prerogative of the' hypostatic union. This beautiful prayer, composed by the archangel, is at the same time a perfect description of the woman chosen by the Second Person of. the Trinity to be His own Mother. Here was the one human being preserved from the stain of sin, the frightful darkness of spiritual death, and in no way subject .to the influence of Satan. Mary. must certainly have received from God a greater fullness of grace than any other mere creature; for Christ, her divine Son, the Son of God, is the principle of grace, that is, the very author of grace. Now the more closely one approaches the source or principle of anything, the more he participates in the effect of that principle. And the Blessed Mother was the nearest one to Christ in His humanity because He assumed His human nature from her alone. For this reason it is held by Catholic theologians that the sanctity of Mary transcends the sanctity of all the saints in heaven and sur-passes even that of the highest angels. Upon this p~rfect creature Christ depended for His physical life His flesh and blood. From her He drew His beauty of figure and features, His sensitive hands, His majestic head, and His eternally lighted, gentle, but piercing eyes. She was at the same time the mother of this babe with a human nature and this divine Person, Christ the Son of God. The great holiness and power of Mary which we reverently hope to understand better are inseparable from her Immaculate Conception. This privilege of our Lady was Solemnly defined by the Church as an article of faith. His Holiness, Pope Pius IX, on December 8, 1854, solemnly pronounced the dogma: We declare, pronounce, aad Vdefine that the doctrine that holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception was kept entirely free from the stain of original sin by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the foreseen merits of Christ Jesus, the Savior of mankind--We declare, pronounce and 159 SISTER M. ANNICE P~eview for Religious define that this doctrine has been revealed by God and. therefore must be firmly and constantly believed by all the t:aithful.-° The p.rivilege itself, which Pope Pius IX declared to, be a part of revelation, is Mary's actual preservation from original sin through the merits of Jesus Christ and is revealed implicitly or confusedly in the book .of Genesis (3:15). God's own words spoken to Satan are, "I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." Christian scholars and exegetes have interpreted this passage as God's first enun-ciation of His victory over the devil through the plan of the promised Messiah. In an implicit way Mary is undeniably mentioned here. For Christ, the Savior is the posterity of "the woman" in conflict with the posterity of the serpent. Further-more, this victory over Satan would not have been complete if Mary had not been preserved from the stain of original sin by the merits of her divine Son. We' may say that, as a whole plant is contained in a tiny seed, the Immaculate Con-ception of the Messiah's Mother is contained in the promise of God recorded in Genesis. From the writings of both Greek and Latin Fathers there is evidence that they held as part of their ancient tradition the two principal ideas which implicitly contain the dogma of the Immaculate Conception; namely, Mary's absolute purity and the contrast between her and Eve, the~,first mother of mankind. Yet the Eastern Church seems from the first to have. had a clearer conception of the dogma itself. However, the controversial period in the West which led to a gradual clarification of the dogma must be recognized as a providential act--a kind of blessing in disguise. So much sincere, honest debating, discussing, and resolving of difficulties by the best minds in the Church was a splendid theological education and orientation of the minds 'of the faithful. Indeed, the whole '-'Thomas J. M. Burke, S.J. (ed.), Mary and the Po$es (New York: The America Press, 1954), pp. 43, 44. 160 May, 1958 DO WE KNOW OUR MOTHER? movement may well have been the main factor which helped to bring about the solemn definition of the dogma by Pope Plus IX in 1854. The second phase of Mary's plentitude of grace refers to her increase of grace at the Incarnation of the Word. The Fathers of the'Church hold that Mary conceived the Word spiritually, as it were, by an act of faith and charity before she conceived Him physically. Thus, she conceived Christ intellectually and volitionally by the act of her holy will before He descended into her blessed womb. And St. Thomas has told us that Mary's fullness of grace increased at the Incarna-tion of her divine Son, giving as the cause of this the mutual love of Jesus and Mary. This new increase of grace is con-sidered the immediate or proximate preparation disposing Mary for the miracle of divine motherhood. Since the grace had to be proportionate to this perfection, it seems that a special grace from the Word efficiently caused Mary to be properly united with Divinity itself. She. is thus the unique creature, who, by giving to Christ His human body, is really included in the divine plan of bringing the Son .of God into the world. The moment that Christ entered into Mary He undoubt-edly produced in her an increase of divine love such as had never been experienced by any soul on eaith. For no other being was ever to have the privilege of giving Him His very flesh and blood. Rather, He was ever afterward to give it for them and to them, on the cross, in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and in Holy Communion. Since grace is the effect of God's active love for His creatures, the mutual love of Mary and her Son must also have brought about a constant increase of grace in her soul. For God loves all men, yet loves the elect in a special way. Surely then, His unique love of His own Mother would effect an immeasurable superabundance of grace in her. It is extremely important to understand that God gave Himself so freely to Mary's soul as to constitute it in a strictly unique state of holiness. Hers was/~ love of the highest natural 161 SISTER M. ANNICE Review for Religious as well as supernatural level, and she was entirely responsive to her Son's love for her. All souls seem to have a kind of unlimited obediential potency or capacity for knowledge and love which God freely makes use of to lead them to the beatific vision. Yet they are born shackled and earth-bound by Adam's sin. Light and love must be admitted into their souls through the instrument of sacramental baptism. But in Mary we find, as we have said above, a person entirely preserved from the blight of sin in her very being, life, and powers. From the very origin of her life her judgment was clear and her appetites pure and virtuous. Thus they were like clean arrows coming forth from an absolutely pure source. The Psalmist expresses something of the mightiness of such a person in the words, "Who is this that cometh up from the desert, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array?" (Cant. of Cant. 6:9). It is surely with justifiable reasons that theologians teach that grace increased constantly in Mary's soul throughout her life. While we know that Mary's graces had limits set to them, since they were in a human soul and thus not absolute, we do not know, nor does it seem possible for us to fully understand, to what degree of holiness she attained as she progressed to-ward the end of her earthly life. The growth of charity in any soul causes the will to avoid sin and cling more lovingly and generously" to God. True charity also extends to all men after first extending to God, thus uniting all souls in Godhthe greatest joy that can come to us on earth and a kind of imita-tion of our beatified life. The Church teaches us that merit, prayer, and reception of the sacraments are the requisite means for growth in charity. Of course, God alone can produce this divine virtue in man's soul; and His love is ultimately the reason for any infusion of grace into a soul. But good acts may contribute to one's increase in grace by disposing the soul for it and, in a way, morally meriting that reward. Moreover, St. Thomas teaches that where acts of charity are not remiss 162 May, 1958 Do WE KNOW OUR MOTHER? (short of that which the soul is capable of) the soul receives the reward immediately and thus grows in grace progressively. Surely, all of Mary's acts of charity were such as to receive immediate reward and her consequent progress is again im-measurable. Mary's prayers, next after her divine Son's, must also have been the most efficacious ever uttered on earth. They thus not only had the most meritorious but also the most im-petratory value. For these are proportionate to the humility, confidence, and perseverence of the one praying and surely Mary excelled in all of these virtues. After considering Mary's initial fullness of grace and her continuous development in God's love and grace, we come finally to the unique grace of her Assumption into heaven. The Church has explicitly defined this privilege of Mary as an article of faith. Toward the end o~ the Holy Year, 1950, our present Holy Father solemnly pronounced the dogma that "The Mother of God was assumed body and soul into heaven." Since this dogma is so closely related to that of the Immaculate Conception, which we have been considering, it will be sufficient to recall that from the sixth century forward the departure of the Blessed Mother from this world has been celebrated in the liturgy of the Church for August 15. And it can be accepted without question that the death of the Blessed Virgin cannot be regarded as a penalty for personal sin, nor as the effect of original sin. Thus again, it is through theological argument, proceeding on premises that are a part of divine revelation, that the Church arrives at valid conclusions about the Assumption of Mary. The state of incorruptibility of the Blessed Mother's sacred body is the first fact which is inferred. Since the Mother of God is associated in such a singular manner in the triumph of her Son over Sat.an, she shares in the privilege of being preserved from the penalty of death and decay in the grave. It is accepted that the Blessed Mother who is "the woman" spoken of in the Protoevangelium won a threefold victory over Satan; namely, over sin by her Immaculate Conception, over 163 SISTER M. ANNICE Review for Religious concupiscence by heq virginal motherhood, and over death which is a penalty for~ s~n" by a triumphant resurrection similar to that of her divine Son. Thus, we may say' that the Blessed Mother, side by side with her divine Son, triumphs over death and corruption. The dogma of our Lady's Assumption is so closely associ-ated with her Immaculate Conception that it is almost surprising that the papal proclamation on the former took place a whole century later than the Immaculate Conception. Yet they are two very distinct and separate privileges even though the in-corruptibility of Mary's body is to be inferred from her complete preservation from sin and her virginal purity. Perhaps no one has more beautifully and emphatically pointed out the close relationship between these unique privileges than His Holiness, Pope Pius XII. In his encyclical, Fulgens Corona, he asserts: From now on the faithful can meditate more deeply and more profitably on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. For there is a most intimate connection between the two dogmas. The mar-velous wisdom and harmony of the divine plan by which God wished that Mary be free from all stain of original sin emerge more fully and clearly in the light of the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Thd promulgation of this doctrine has shown it to be the crown and perfection of that earlier privilege bestowed upon her. These two illustrious privileges, then, stand out in radiant glory, the one as the commencement, the other as the crown of her earthly life. The total innocence of her soul free from every vestige of sin has as its counterpart and fulfillment the total glorification of her virginal body. Since she was intimately associated with her Son in His struggle against the foul serpent of hell, so also she shares in His glorious victory over sin and its tragic effects? Having considered briefly the unique graces of our Blessed Mother, we ought surely to grasp somewhat better the reasons for her great power in obtaining graces for all men. We .must also realize more profoundly that by her divine motherhood Mary participated in the love, holiness, and power of God, in a way possible to no other of His creatures. As a concluding consideration we might ask ourselves, Precisely how does Mary 30p. cit., p. 14. 164 May, 1958 Do WE KNOW OuR MOTHER? enter into the very act of' our salvation? For we know in a general way that she is coredemptrix of the whole human race and that her mediation like her motherhood is truly universal. The general teaching of the Church regarding Mary's causality in our sanctification is that of moral causality. virtue of this causality Mary is present by an affective presence in the souls of those who are in the state of grace and pray to her. This kind of presence may be attributed, to a degree, to any beloved object which, though absent from the one loving it, is virtually present to the lover. So, our Blessed Mother is affectively present in the souls of her children who truly love her. And this affective union tends toward and contributes to the real union which we shall enjoy in heaven with Christ and His Mother. As we r~each higher degrees grace and charity and our wills advance in the transforming love of God, we must surely grow in the love of both Jesus and Mary. But it is through her union with her divine Son in His sacred passion and death that Mary is the coredemptrix of men. The teach, ing of the Church is that Mary merited de congruo all that Jesus has merited de c~ndigno for us. Thus, her merits are completely in union with and dependent on those her divine Son. This has been confirmed by the pronouncements of a number of the supreme pontiffs in their encyclical writings. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on the rosary, says: This is why we pour forth the Angelic Salutation so often to Mary, that our weak and halting prayer be given the confident strength that it needs; we plead with her that she intercede with God for us and that she become our advocate. The prayers we say will find great favor and efficacy with Him if they are commended by the prayers of the Virgin; for He addresses to her this gracious invitation: "Let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice is sweet" (Cant. of Cant. 2:14).4 Pope Pius X in/ld Diem Ilium asserts: So by reason of her mutual sharing in the afflictions and desires of Christ, Mary "most properly deserved to become the reparatrix 40p. cit., p. 100. 165 SISTER M. ANNICE of the sinful world," as well as dispenser of all the benefits won for us by the bloody death of Jesus. Of course, we do not deny that the right to confer these benefits belongs to Christ . Yet, in consideration, as we have said, of the sorrows and sufferings common to both Mother and Son, the Venerable Virgin has been empowered to be "for the entire world its most afficacious mediatrix and advocate with her only Son.''s And Pope Benedict XV, writing on the Queen of Peace, states: And since all graces which God deigns to bestow in pity upon men are dispensed through Mary, we urge that in this terrible hour the trusting petitions of her most afflicted children be directed to her: This seems to be the fact underlying the establishment of the feast of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces. In the beautiful hymn of Matins for this feast the Church sings: "All the gifts which the Savior merited for us are bestowed by His Mother Mary. The Son gladly loads us with benefits in answer to her" prayers." Likewise, our present Holy Father has extolled Mary's part in our sanctification and the salvation of the whole world by instituting the new feast of Mary Queen of the Universe. A study of the encyclicals on our Lady would, of course, require another paper or rather a whole volume. But even a brief study of the Mother of all graces--Mary, full of grace~ is sufficient to convince us of the power corelative to such grace. Summer Sessions (Continued from page 134) inquiries to: The Registrar, S~hool of Theology, St~ Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. Dr. Karl Stern, noted Catholic psychiatrist and author of The Pillar o.f Fire and The Third Revolution, will conduct an Institute on Mental Health in Religious Life from June 9 to 13 at St. Louis University. The institute will be limited to religious women. ~ Oil. cit.,'p. 56. 6 William J. Doheny, C.S.C., and Joseph P. Kelly, Papal Documents on Mary (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1954), p. 151. 166 Survey ot: Roman Document:s R. I:. Smit:h, $.J. THE DOCUMENTS which appeared in the /lcta/lposto-licae Sedis (AAS) from December 1, 1957, to January 31, 1958, will be surveyed in the following pages. All page references to AAS throughout the article will be accom-panied by the year of publication of AAS. The 1957 Christmas Message On December 22, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 5-24), the Roman Pontiff gave to the world his annual Christmas message. Taking as his text the words of the Breviary, "Lift up your eyes, O Jerusalem," the Holy Father exhorts the faithful to lift up their eyes to the great things of God as did the shep-herds and the Magi at the sound of angels and the mysterious shining of a star. Though this vision of God's great deeds, continues the Vicar of Christ, brings strength, peace, and har-mony, yet many today, attracted by that science which ex-tends the power of man even into the realm of the stars, can bring themselves to admire only the great things of man, changing the angelic hymn to read, "Glory to man on earth." This attitude, he adds, is typical of homo faber, man the maker who reveals his greatness in his works; modern man, however, r0ust learn that by adoration before the crib of the Man-God he will not retard the course of his technical prog-ress but will add to it the crowning perfection which will make of him, homo sapiens, the mar/ of wisdom who easily under-stands that what God manifests in the mystery of Christmas is incomparably greater than all human power, energy, and effectiveness. Devoting the first major part of the message to Christ the comforter amid the discords of the world, His Holiness 167 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious begins by remarking that modern man is torn between ecstatic admiration of the harmony of nature and bitter discouragement at the chaotic existence for which he himself is responsible. This, he adds, has led some moderns to fall into a total pessi-mism, holding that disharmony is the characteristic mark of the human situation. The 'source of. this pessimism is to be found in the preponderantly material progress of modern times which has deprived man of a sense of true human values. Born and trained in a climate of rigorous technology, .man tends to conform himself to the characteristic superficiality and insta-bility of technology, emphasizing speed, sense observation, and material energy at the expense of the intellectual and the spir-itual life. The answer to this total pessimism, Plus XII points out, is to be found in the mystery of Christmas. How can man despair of the world, if God Himself does not despair of it? How can the glory of the Creator of all things shine forth in a world based only on contradiction and discord? If men would but learn the lesson of Bethlehem that every human action should look to eternity for its direction and effectiveness, then the activity of man on earth would not be condemned to absolute discord but, on the contrary, would manifest the eter-nal harmony of God. In the second principal part of the message, the Pope considers Christ as the pledge of the harmony of the world. He' begins by noting that the coming of the Incarnate Word, while confirming man's right to dominion over the world, shows at the same time that this dominion can be achieved only by the Spirit of God. On the le~)el of man this means that man must find in his soul, image of the Spirit of God, the link which unites all the world into one harmony. It is in his spiritual element that man will find the sign of unity, order, and harmony. Where the spiritual abounds, so also does the harmonious. If, however, the spiritual element (and conse-quently the divine element) is no longer regarded as funda- 168 May~ 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS mental, then there is no longer a possibility of harmony; the world becomes something estranged from man, obscure and dangerous, ready to be not an instrument, but an enemy. It is true, continue~ Pius XII, that Christ has not removed all the consequences of original sin t:rom the world. Dishar-mony and consequently sadness will still exist among men'until the dawn of the eternal day, but this sadness will not be a sadness of death, but the sadness of an expectant mother whose sorrow is turned to joy after the birth of her child. For the goal assigned to history after the time of Christ is the birth of a new life, of a humanity in constant progression toward order and harmony. In the final major division of his message, the Pontiff considers Christ as the Light and the Way for men in establish-ing harmony in the world. The Christian, the Pope begins, is not merely an aesthetic admirer of the divine order in the world; he is also an ardent defender of it against those forces which would prevent its realization. This zeal for the preservation of harmony should be the decisive element whenever there is question of the development or abandonment of projects which human ingenuity now has the possibility of realizing. Recent military progress, adds the Pope, has certainly produced new signs in the heavens, but they are also signs of that pride w~hich feeds hatred and prepares conflict. Accordingly the seekers of harmony must center their efforts on the achievement of peace, a good so precious and desirable that every effort for its defense is well spent, even when it involves the sacrifice of some legiti-mate aspiration. May the Prince of Peace, concludes the Pon-tiff, through the solidarity of all men of good will, complete that which is lacking in the order and harmony willed by God for the world. For Priests and Religious On November 6, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1046-47), the Sacred Penitentiary published the text of a prayer for priestly 169 R. F. SMITH" Review for Religious vocations composed by His Holiness. The faithful may gain" an indulgence of ten years each time they recite the prayer; and, under the usual conditions, they may gain a plenary in-dulgence if the prayer is recited daily for a month. Under the date of December 15, 1957 iAAS, 1958, pp. 51-54), the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued an instruction in which it is stated that a priest who is sick or one who is going blind so that he can read only very large print can obtain from the congregation a dispensation to celebrate a votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin or the daily requiem Mass. The rest ,of the instruction details the rules and rubrics which must be fol-lowed in celebrating those Masses. On December 9, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 34-43), the Holy Father delivered an allocution to the Second International Congress of the States of Religious Perfection. The tendency toperfection, begins the Pontiff:, is a habitual disposition of the Christian by which, not content with fulfilling the duties which bind under sin, he strives with all his might to love and serve God and to serve his neighbor for the sake of God. Toward this ideal every Christian is invited to tend; but it is realized in a complete and a surer way in the three states of perfection described in canon law and the three apostolic constitutions, Provida Mater, Sponsa Christi, and Sedes Sapientiae. However, the Pope adds, this does not mean that outside such states there does not exist a true tendency toward per-fection. There are a great many men and women of every. condition who bind themselves to the evangelical counsels by private vows, being guided in matters of poverty and obedience by persons selected by the Church for this purpose. To such persons none of the constitutive elements of Christian perfection is lacking, even though they do not belong to a juridical or canonical state of perfection. Although, the Holy Father continues, Christian perfection is always the same in its essentials, still, because of the condi- 170 May, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS tions of modern times, the manner .of applying oneself to per-fection needs modification. This need for modification applies in a special sense to those outside the states of perfection who occupy high social rank and discharge important duties. Such persons are constrained to surround themselves with a certain display of comfort, to participate in official festivities, and to utilize expensive means of transportation. These are things that appear at first sight difficult to reconcile with the poverty and humility of Christ; nevertheless, even in the midst of such material goods, nothing is lacking in their total consecration to God, for grace works in them according to the words of Christ: "That which is impossible to men is possible to God" (Lk. 18:27). The Holy Father then considers some of the problems that arise from the need for modification and ildaptation in the states of perfection. After noting that the desire for religious perfection does not preclude the consideration of the renovation and adaptation of the means toward perfection and after observ-ing that the objective norm for determining the spirit of any religious group is the mind of the founder as that is expressed in the constitutions of that group, the Vicar of Christ takes up the matter of obedience; for, as he says, the movement of adaptation has provoked a certain tension in this area of re-ligious life. In particular, the accusation is made that obedience imperils the human dignity of the religious, hinders the maturing of his personality, and prevents him from being orientated to God alone. In considering the first objection, the Holy Father notes that the religious should recall, that when our Lord said that His disciples would find repose of soul in following Him, He was teaching that over and beyond legal observance they would discover the sense of true submission and Christian humility. These attitudes will free the religious intekiorly, showing him that his acceptance of his state of subjection is a placing of 171 R. F. SMITH Review for Religious himself in the hands of-God whose, will is expressed through the visible authority of those whose role it is to command. In reply to the charge that religious obedience leads to infantilism, the Holy Father observes that this charge cannot be proved true in the case of the.majority of religious in their intellectual, affective, and active lives. Moreover, it must be recalled that St. Paul in Ephesians 4:12-13 urges the faithful to grow into the perfect man; and in I Corinthians 13:11 he explicitly forbids Christian adults the modes of thinking and feeling which characterize childhood. The Holy Father recalls that already in 1952 he had used these texts to show that a sane education teaches a man to use his liberty wisely and to become independent of his educator. If every member of the states of perfection, superior as well as subject, would apply to himself these texts of the Apostle, then every danger of infantilism would vanish, without jeopardizing legitimate au-thority or submission to its decision. Nor, continues the Vicar of Christ, can the objection be sustained that obedience turns a person from God. Superiors command only in the name of God, and subjects obey only for the love of Christ. In this way the subject daily ratifies the total gift of himself to his only Master. In the final part of the allocution, the Pontiff urges the various religious groups to collaborate with each other; he like-wise exhorts them to close and constant contact with the Holy See. This does not mean that the Holy See wishes a centraliza-tion of everything; centralization is a system of government which makes all decisions and reduces subordinates to the role of mere instruments. Such centralization, says the Pontiff, is entirely foreign to the spirit of the Apostolic See. Neverthe-less, the Holy See can not renounce its character as the directive center of the Church. Accordingly, while leaving to constituted superiors the initiative foreseen by the constitutions, the Church must retain its right and exercise its function of vigilance. 172 May, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS Clothes and the Woman On November 8, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1011-23), the Holy Father spoke to a group of fashion stylists, giving one of the longest allocutions that he has delivered in recent months. Taking as his subject feminine clothing fashions and their attendant moral problems,~ His Holiness begins by examining the threefold purpose of clothing. The first purpose, he points out, is that of hygiene, a purpose which arises chiefly from the need for protection against the climate and other external agents. Hygiene, he notes, can never justify license in clothing nor can it permit a style of clothing that is injurious to health. Modesty, the natural pro-tection of chastity, is the second purpose of clothing. This purpose must outweigh all caprice and must always preside at the determination of clothing styles. The third purpose of clothing is that of fitting appearance. This purpose arises from the natural and legitimate desire to enhance the beauty and dignity of a person by clothing. From this third purpose of clothing arises fashion or style, the express function of which is the enhancement ot: physical beauty and which is characterized by elegance. Fashion, Plus XII continues, is of great social importance for style has always been regarded as an external index of public manners. It is, then, says the Pope, providential that there should be persons like those he is addressing who are technically and religiously prepared to free style from undesirable tendencies and who see in fashion the art whose partial purpose is to give a moderate enhancement of the beauty of the human body but in a way which will not hide but rather adorn "the imperish-ableness of a quiet and gentle spirit" (I Pet. 3:4)'. His Holiness continues by saying that style, like other good things, can be corrupted by fallen human nature and turned into an occasion of sin and scandal. This is the reason why at times ecclesiastical tradition has been extremely severe 173 R. F. SMITH Revicw ]or Religious with regard to matters of fashion. Nevertheless, Christianity does not demand an absolute renouncement of care for the external appearance of the body; for this would be to forget the words of St. Paul: "I wish women to be decently dressed, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity" (I" Tim. 2:9). Accordingly, the Church does not condemn ~tyle when it seeks a fitting enhancement of the body; this attitude of the Church, however, does not stem from a purely aesthetic view-point, but rather from her conviction that the human body, God's masterpiece of the visible world, has been elevated by the Redeemer to be a temple and an instrument of the Holy Spirit. It is evident, adds the Pontiff, that alongside decent style there also exists indecent style; the frontiers between these two are sometimes difficult to determine; but one principle always remains true: style may never be a proximate occasion of sin. Another source of immorality in style is an excess of luxury, for this leads to a grasping for wealth, is an offense to those who live by their own labor, and reveals a cynical attitude toward poverty. In their thinking on the problems of style and fashion, suggests the Holy Father, his listeners should keep in mind three concrete rules. First, they should never underestimate the influence of style for good and for evil; secondly, style must be consciously directed, not slavishly followed; and, thirdly, in all sectors of fashion moderation should be observed. The Pontiff then concludes his allocution by urging, hig hearers to bring their Christianity to bear at meetings of the fashion w6rld and in their work to fight for the supremacy of spirit over matter. Talks on Various Subjects On November 24, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1037-40), the Pope broadcast a message to the people of Milan at the con-clusion of a special mission of several weeks duration preached in all the parish churches of that city. Calling Milan the heart 174 May, 1958 ROMAN DOCUMENTS of the national economy, the Pontiff noted that the elevation of the earthly city to the level of the city of God is the goal of the Church. He urged the Milanese to apply themselves to the same goal and concluded by expressing the hope that the close of the mission would mark the date of the city's spiritual renaissance. On November 10, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1024-27), Pius XII gave an allocution, to the International Congress of the Private Schools of Europe. He told the group that the attitude of a country toward private schools is an accurate reflection of its spiritual and cultural level. If the State reserves the task of education exclusively to itself, it thereby manifests an attitude incompatible with the fundamental rights of the human person. On November 24, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1027-33), the Pontiff talked to a group of physicians concerning several moral problems of so-called reanimation. Reanimation, as envisaged here, means" the use of respiratory apparatus to bring back to consciousness a patient who has suffered a central paralysis which consequently has paralyzed the respiratory system. The first question asked about the case is whether or not there is a right and an obligation to utilize respiratory apparatus in all such cases, even in those which in the judgment of the physician are completely hopeless. In answer the Pontiff replies that a person has the right and" duty to take the means necessary to preserve life and health. This duty, however, usually obliges a person only to the use of oidinary means; that is, means which do not impose an extraordinary burden on himself or on others. On the other hand, it is not forbidden to do more than is strictly necessary for the conservation of life and health. In the case described, then, the physician's rights and obli-gations are correlative to the rights and obligations of the patient, who, though he may licitly use the respiratory apparatus, is not obliged to do so, since it is an extraordinary means of con-serving life and health. With regard to the family of the 175 R. F, SMITH Review for Religious patient, their rights and obligations depend in general on the presumed wishes of the unconscious patient, provided he is of age. As to the proper and independent rights of the family, they are ordinarily obliged to use only ordinary means. Hence, if the use of artificial respiration would be too costly for them, they may licitly insist that it be stopped and the doctor can licitly obey them. As the Holy Father points out, this is not mercy killing, since the removal of artificial respiration in this case causes death only indirectly. The second problem concerned the question of extreme unction in such a case. The Holy Father replied that artificial respiration should be prolonged until extreme unction is ad-. ministered. If, however, the circulation of blood has already stopped, then extreme unction cannot be administered if the patient is certainly dead; if, however, this is doubtful, then extreme unction may be administered conditionally. The third moral problem asked whether a person in a state of hnconsciousness because of a central paraly.sis and whose life--that is, his blood circulation--is maintained only by artifical respiration, and in whom no improvement is noted for several days, should be considered as.dead; or should one wait for the cessation of blood ciiculation in spi~e of artificial respiration be-fore he can be called dead. To this the Holy Father replied that the question of the moment of death is a purely medical one and hence does not pertain to the competency of the Church. On November 9, 1957 (AAS: 1957, pp. 1023-24), the Pontiff gave an allocution to the Ninth Convention of the Food and Agriculture Organization, noting with sadness the depopu-lation of agricultural areas since "1952 because 6f the decrease in the prices of agricultural products. This loss of population, he remarks, is disquieting; for it is a threat to a sector of population which, because of its stability and fidelity to tradition, is more than ever necessary for the equilibrium of society. 176 May, 1958 ROMAN ~)OCUMENTS On November 27, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1033-36), the Holy Father spoke to Theodore Heuss, president of the Federal Republic of Germany, in the presence of many German notables, expressing praise for the accomplishments of the German people since the war and voicing the hope that the new Germany will assist in the unification of Europe. The Pontiff's interest in the federation of Europe was also shown in the speech on. ~his subject which he gave on December 3, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 31-33), to members of the Council of the Municipalities of Europe. On November 5, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1003-10), the Pope spoke to the ecclesiastical archivists of Italy, telling them to care for their archives not merely for the sake of erudition, but for the glory of God and the honor of the Church; for in their archives there are many beautiful records which if revealed would give striking testimony to the holiness of the Church during the course of history. Miscellaneous Matters On November i, 1957 (AAS, 1957, pp. 1051-56), the Holy Father issued an apostolic constitution in which he pro-vided that all who make a pilgrimage to Lourdes between February 11, 1958, and February 11, 1959, inclusively may, on the day of their choice and after confession, Communion, and prayers for the intention of the Holy Father, gain a plenary indulgence. On December 25, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 29-30), the Pontiff issued an apostolic letter in which he created a new" rank within the Pian Order founded by pius IX in 1847. The new rank will be called ~he Grand Golden Collar; it will be superior to the three grades into which the order was already divided and will be used to decorate heads of states and other persons of wide authority. On December 13, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 50-51), the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued a decree concerning the 177 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious cdmposition of the paschal candle, of the two candles lit during Mass, and the candle which in some places burns before the Bl~ssed Sacrament in place of. a lamp. The decree "states that it is the mind of the congregation that all these ~andles contain a fitting proportion of wax, olive oil, or other vegetable oils. The congregation, however, leaves to the bishops' conference of each country the determination of the per'centage of these materials-that must be' in these candles if they are to be used for. liturgical purposes. Where there is no national conference of bishops, the ordinary of the place is to decide the matter. On October 24,. 1957 .(ASS, 1957, p. 1045), the same congregation approved the formula for. the blessing of a radio station; the text of. the blessing may be found in AAS,-1957, pp. 1043-45. ,. On June 21, 1957 (AAS, 1958, pp. 46-49), the same congregation approved the introduction, of. th~ cause of the Servant of God Dorothy. de Chopitea Villota Serra (1816-91), wife and mother. On the same day (AAS, 1958, pp. 49-51), the same congregation also approved the reassumption of the cause of. Blessed' Marcellinus Joseph Benedict Champagnat (1789-i840)', priest, donfessor, and founder of the Institute of the Little Brothers of Mar~,. ' " Book I?eviews [Material for this department should be sent to Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] THE SACRED HEART IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH. By Margaret Williams, R.S.C.J. Pp. 248. Sheed and Ward, New York 3. 1957. $3.75 . Mother Williams describes her book as "an anthology of the passages taken from the writings of the men and women best qualified to speak: lovers and thinkers and doers, apostolic scholars, saints all walks of llfe, persons heart-conformed to Christ who have.p.ut iato their own words 'the purposes oi: His Heart to generation upon generation' in the life of the Church." This is ajust estimate; and she has composed an impressive book which has impact: the 178 May, 1958 BOOK REVlgWS swing, and sweep of the devotion through the centuries to its prominent ¯ place in the Church today. Many of the selections make fascinating reading, and sprinkled through the narrative sections are many drops of knowledge valuable to any client of the Sacred Heart. In this treasure are many little-known selections from well-known' authors. Especially valuable to,this reviewer were Bossuet's sermon and Cardinal Newman's meditation, as well as A Kempis's sermo~ and the Meditation on the Five Wounds from the times of Richard Rolle. To know that the great Benedictine nuns at Helfta were accustomed to offer each past hour to the Sacred Heart; that St. Clare adored the Divine Heart in the Blessed Sacrament many times a day; that St. Catherine of Siena in vision watched Christ exchange His own Heart for hers--such details enrich us all. And to know that the Litany .of the Sacred Heart was collected by Venerable Madeleine Remuzat, a Visitandine nun living around the time of the deliverance of Marseilles from plague in 1720; that June was made the month of the Sacred Heart after a girl in Paris asked her bishop in 1833 to make this request; that-St. Plus X added the threefold invocation to the prayers after low mass--such knowledge adds to our apprecia-tion of our present-day practice of the devotion, thereby leaving us the richer for it. Theologically the book contains a few unfortunate expressions. Christ's Heart did not "experience the full range of human feeling, for Himself or for others" (p. 8), unless the latter phrase somehow enables contrition or penance or remorse to be included in His experi-ence. That "all dogmas can be traced to Scripture, in which they are at least implicitly contained . . . and devotions grow from dogmas" (p. 10)~ is a statement which needs explication, to say the least, and might lead the unwary into historical quicksands if "dogma" means a truth solemnly defined by the Church as pertaining to faith. That "religion is the highest of all virtues because of its object, which is God Himself" (p. 25) seems to confuse the virtue of religion with "religion" in general, taken as the sum-total of all our relationships with God, especially faith-hope-charlty; this may be a possible opinion, but should not be stated as if it were simply certain. But these are rather fine points and do not obscure the great value of the book. There is one matter, however, which, it seems to this reviewer, ought to be brought to the reader's attention lest the value of the book be somewhat dissipated. This is the necessity of clearly dis-tinguishing between '~divine Love" and "the Sacred Heart." The two are not simply tl~e same, as Plus XII repeatedly implies in 179 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious Haurietis ~lquas in passages like "the heart of the Incarnate Word is rightly considered the chief index and symbol of the threefold love . . ." (America Press translation, No. 27). This distinction is of utmost importance when we begin to trace the devotion in history. "Divine Love" appears from the first moment of human history and permeates the bible story of man's strivings to answer or reject that Love. "Divine Love" is a 'theme of the Fathers of the Church and a constant delight to Benedict and Chrysostom and Venerable Bede. But this devotion to "divine Love" is not yet devotion to the Sacred Heart--a point which Mother Williams plainly makes in a note on page 23: "The organic Heart of Christ, the proximate object of the Devotion, is not clearly indicated in these passages [in the early Fathers] although it is implied indirectly." Again on page 66: "It is the authentic mark of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart thus to see the physical and not merely the metaphorical Heart of Christ as the symbol of His love for men." This is fine, but the readet~ will justly ask how to reconcile such statements with earlier ones such as' that on page 2: "Looking to the spirit rather than to the letter, [the second way] finds the Devotion in the varying blends of its elements, tracing it back to the early ages of the Church and even into Old Testament times. In this sense, Devotion to the Sacred Heart has been at work since God first set His heart upon man." This way seems to the reviewer to lead to an obscuring of the very nature of this particular devotion; the "elements" ofa devotion are not yet the devotion itself, and there is danger of mere nominalism in calling "Devotion to the Sacred Heart" any cultus in which the symbolic Heart of Christ does not actually appear. This one distinction clarified, the book will richly repay any reader. An epilogue gives a good summary of the connection between this devotion and that to the Immaculate Heart; the proper distinc-tions are made, and the p~'oper emphasis indicated. An interesting appendix lists scripture sources for the. various invocations of the Litany of the Sacred Heart. The style is at times a bit too colorful for some tastes, as on page 134: "Satanic violence, blood-drenched and black, beat against the white serenity of Providence . " But far more representative of the spirit and .worth of the book is this: '*The Devotion to the Heart that so loves leads straight into the Trinity. Mother Church, like Mother Mary, will think these thoughts of Christ's Heart from generation to generation, till all her children have been called home into the Vision of Love." (p. 219) Thank you, Mother.--D~XVID J. BOW.X, AN, S.J. 180 May, 1958 BOOK REVIEWS A HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Vol. VIII. Period of the Early Nineteenth Century (1823-1878). By Reverend Fernand Mourret, S.S. Translated by Reverend Newton Thomp-son, S.T.D. Pp. 807. B. Herder Book Company, St, Louis 2. 1957. $11.00. Those who have the earlier volumes of Father Thompson's trans-lation of A History of the Catholic Church will be eager to add this eighth and next-to-last volume to their sets. They are already aware that this work fills a definite need as nicely as it fills a library shelf. For those as yet unfamiliar with this translation of Father Mourret's Histoire Generale de l'Eglise, a quick survey of their library stacks will make its usefulness apparent. Such an experiment will reveal that the shelves contain no comparable treatment of church history in English. This nine-volume treatment of the whole of church history helps to fill the gap between the smaller text-book histories and the more specialized studies of particular persons or periods. The present volume begins with the pontific.ate of Leo XII when the political fallibility of the Council of Vienna had already become harshly appar.ent. It ends with the death of Pius IX whose reign was climaxed by the pronouncement of papal infallibility at the Vat-ican Council. The history of the years between is made to march in step with the popes and the Catholic crusade to bring Christianity to a Europe which had largely rejected it and to mission lands which hardly knew it. The story is an absorbing, nineteenth-century re-enactment of the passion, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ in His Mystical Body. Since the nineteenth-century battles of the Church were largely European, one of the chief values of this book is that it is written by a Et~ropean. Father Mourret gives the reader the benefit of his extensive reading of French works and periodical records which would otherwise be inaccessible to most Americans. Moreover, the author is not distracted from events of greater historical significance by any feelings of a need for detailed treatment of the beginnings of Catholicism in the United States. It is humbling to find that Father Mourret gives the ecclesiastical history of the United States in the early nineteenth century only 7 out of the 807 pages of his book. However, honesty demands the admission that this coverage is fair enough if one takes a world view of church affairs during the period. It should also be said that this curtailment of side issues gives the author space for more adequate treatment of the European story he is admirably equipped to tell. 181 ]~OOK REVIEWS Review for Religious Father Mourret's story is a factual one. He is not so much a ra-conteur of illustrative anecdotes about important people as he is a careful, clear-headed recorder of events: As such he uncovers many revealing facts about such elusive subjects as Freemasonry, socialism, and liberalism. His book will also give very helpful data to teachers and others who must explain such matters as the Syllabus of Errors, the definition of papal infallibility, or the 'perenially popular topic of the relationship of church to state. Although in Father Mourret's marshaling of facts he himself does not tend toward generalizations, he will perhaps excuse a con-cludi- ng general comment on his work. This generalization regarding the book, which the efforts bf Father Thompson as translator and the willingness of. Herder as publisher apparently second, is that any library will find it a useful addition to its shelves.- CLYDE B. KELLY, S.J. RICHES DESPISED. A STUDY OF THE ROOTS OF RELI-GION. By Conrad Pepler, O.P. Pp. 181. B. Herder Book Company~ St. Louis 2. 1957. $3.25. "Modern industrial man is out of tune with the hymn of nature." As a result, the riches of Christianity--a religion rooted in natur~ are despised. So says Father Pepler, insisting that man must live close to Mother Nature for his spiritual welfare. The author's analysis of modern society indicates that most men, when "out of tune and out of time with the rest of the divine orchestra of the universe," become more and more unreceptive of grace. "Looking down into the nature o~c man and seeing in that nature its .reflection of the whole world of nature," "Father Pepler claims that the world's recent material advances have hidden the nature of man under "an encrustation of artificiality." Between man and his God have ariseh the immense barriers of a false culture and a false imagination. The author sagely comments on the harm done by'modern mediaof corn- " munication in achieving a uniform, mechanical imagination. The Christian religion was designed for the man in touch with nature; modern man is not in touch. The point is exemplified by our difficulty in understanding the natural symbolism of the sacra-ments, sacramentals, and the Mass. It is Father Pepler's opinion that "the Christian religion cannot exist normally and as an integral part of society in the artificiality of modern civilization." To correct the situation, "society must somehow be changed in order to allow grace to work freely." So the author offers some 182 May, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS principles and practical suggestions for fhe change. For instance, acceptance of. the .standard of the cross is one of the principles. Riches Despised is a thought-provokirig book which reads easily. Its insights into the interaction of man and nature are reminiscent of Anne Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Father Pepler has delved deeply into a baiic problem of ~modern Christianity and offers a lucid, penetrating analysis; this is the "great merit of the b6ok. But his. solutions, are disappointing and generally unacceptable, though distributists and advocates 6f a "back-to-the-land" move-ment may be pleased. Making the monastic ideal a rallying point for the wo~Id of 1958 and suggesting that a foundry need employ no .more than fifty men seem to this reviewer to be highly imprac-ticable suggestions.¯ One small point: Is it accurate to refer to religious obedience as a "denial by vow of . . . personal initiative"? Religious who work close to Mother Nature will find in this book an appealing apologia for their way of life. Religious who wonder why it is so difficult to find God in all things will find a partial answer in these pages. Readers attracted by the ideas under-lying the Grail movement will want to read Riches Despised~ RA~YMOND C. BAI~IMHART," S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 400 North 'Broadway, Milwaukee I, Wisconsin. My Other Self. In Which Christ Speaks to the Soul on Living His Life. By Clarence J.: Enzler. This,book is not to be read but pondered, prayerfully. It lends itself ideally to St. Ignatius's second method of prayer. The author's presentation of Christ's ¯address to the~ soul is done reverently and with convincing verisimilitude. When ment.al prayer is difficult, try using, this book. It should help to dispel the mists with which the centuries may have shrouded the'figure of Christ for you 'and b'ring Him right down to the present. Pp. 166. $3.50. The-Plaints of the Passion. Meditations on the Reproaches of the Good Friday Service. "By Jude Mead,'C.P. You will find abun-dant material for .many meditations in the author's explanation of the eleven Reproaches chanted on Good Friday during the venera-tion of the. cross. There is an excellent introduction on the "various senses of Holy Scripture. Pp. 133. $3.50. 183 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religio~ts The Rubrics of the Revised Holy Week Liturgy in English. Pp. 69. $1.00. The Simple Rite of the Restored Order of Holy Week. Pp. 95. $1.00. Both books were translated and edited by Gerald Ellard, S.J., and F. P. Prucha, s.J. They are published with the authorization of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. They should do much to help. both priests and people to an appreciation of the new liturgical setting that now enshrines these holiest days of the year. Separated Brethren. A Survey of non-Catholic Christian De-nominations. By William J. Whalen. Living in a Protestant country, our relations with our Protestant neighbors will be much improved if we get to know more about their religious background. Such knowl-edge will also guide our zeal in our efforts to bring these "other sheep" back to the true fold. Priests and teachers ot: r~ligion should find the book particularly helpful. Pp. 284. $4.50. MESSRS. M.~H. GILL AND SON, LIMITED, 50 Upper O'Connell Street, Dublin. The Mother of the Little Flower. A Sister of St. Th~r~se of the Child Jesus Tells Us About Her Mother. Translated by Reverend Michael Collins, S.M.A. Present and future mothers of families wi/l find in the mother of the Little Flower a concrete realization to a heroic degree of the virtues which .make mothers of families truly valiant women. The translation is adequate but not always happy. Pp. 123. Paper 6/-. GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE, Spokane 2, Washington. Contemplation in Action. A Study of Ignatian Prayer. By Joseph F. Conwell, s.J. This book deals with the problem: "Is there a prayer proper to the Society of Jesus, .and if ~o, what is its characteristic note?" The author's interesting ~indings are supported by the authority of the Gregorian University, Rome, where they were first published as his doctoral dissertation. Pp. 123. Paper $2.50. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, 15-17 South Broadway, St. Louig 2, Missouri. Conquest of the Kingdom of God. By John of the Angels, O.F.M. Translated by Cornelius F. Crowley. There is an unction in the writings of the ancient authors on the spiritual life which is all too frequently lacking in the writings of the writers of today. You will find that unction in the present volume which is the tenth in the "Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality." Pp. 216. $3.95. 184 May, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS The Church. An Introduction to the Theology of St. Augustine. By Stanislaus Grabowski. Priests, seminarians, and all students of St. Augustine will welcome this scholarly work on the Church accord-ing to the mind of St. Augustine. There are abundant footnotes and they appear where they are needed and have not been relegated either to the end of chapters or at the end of the book. This is the author's second notable, book-length contribution to the study of St. Augustine. His first was The All-Present God. Pp. 673. $9.50. The Liturgy of the Mass. By Pius Parsch. Translated and adapted by H. E. Winstone, M.A. The faithful are becoming more and more liturgical minded. The present volume, the third edition of a classic on the liturgy of the Mass, will do much to enable them tq under-stand the Mass and, as a result, help them to participate in it more fruitfully. Pp. 344. $4.95. Eve and Mary. By Peter Thomas Dehau, .O.P. Translated by the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, La Crosse, Wiscon-sin. This book is a study in contrasts as the title indicates. It con-trasts the pride and disobedience of Eve with the humility and obedience of Mary; the temptation of our first parents with the temp-tations of Christ in the desert. The book makes unusual spiritual reading for ,topics rarely considered are treated at length in its pages. Pp. 268. $3.95. P. J. KENEDY & SONS, 12 Barclay Street, New York 8, New York. The Sacrifice of Praise. An Introduction to' the Meaning and Use of the Divine Office. By V. G. Little. This book is much more than an explanation of how to say the Roman Breviary taking into account the most recent revision of the rubrics. It does this and does it well. But what inakes the book really outstanding are the chapters on The Genesis and Growth of Vocal Worship, The Office Through the Centuries, The Breviary, The Nature of the Office, The Redemption of Time, The Substance of the Office, The Divine Office, and the Life of Prayer. Even religious and priests who have said Office for many years can read these chapters and come from their reading with a new or renewed appreciation of what a treasure they have in the Bre~;iary and what a privilege is theirs to be able to say it every day. Pp. 200. $3.00. DAVID McKAY COMPANY, INCORPORATED, 55 Fifth Avenue, New York 3, New York. The Popes on Youth. By Raymond B. Fullam, S.J. Anyone who has anything to do with the education of youth, be he layman, 185 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religiou.~ religious, or priest, will find this book invaluable as a reference book where he can easily find the official teaching of' the Church on the many problems .connected with the education of youth today; as a source book for conferences and study groups; as a guide to his efforts and source of encouragement. That the book is meeting with the success that it so ricl~ly deserves is indicated by the fact that a second edition has already appeared. Pp. 442. $5.00. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. Dogmatic Theology. Vol. II. Christ's Church. By Monsignor G. Van Noort. Translated and revised by John J. Castelot, S.SI, an~d William R. Murphy, S.S. This second volume of a ten-volume set on the science ot: theology measures up fully to the high standard of excellence established by the author and translators in the first volume, The True Religion. The present volume is divided into two sections. The first is apologetic, i.e., it treats the Church as viewed from outside in the light of reason; the second is dogmatic and views the Church from inside as illumined by faith. All interested in theology, but particularly teachers of religion on the college level, will find the book very useful and stimulating. Pp. 428. $7.00. Eucharistic Reflections. By Right Reverend Monsignor William Reyna. Adapted by Winfrid Hetbst, S.D.S. This is a new, revised edition of the very popular eight small volumes entitled Eucharistic Whisperings. The book is very useful for visits to the Blessed Sacra-ment. Pp. 404. $4.75. Ponder Slowly. Outlined Meditations. By Francis X. Peirce, S.J. Meditation books tend to similarity. This one is different. There is an utter lack of formality. Each meditation consists of a number of thoughts announced in ghort, pithy phrases leaving the reader free to develop them according to his needs. The material for the book was originally collected by the author and used by him for tric~ua and retreats to Sisters. In their present form the meditations should prove helpful to all who make a .daily meditation. Pp. 323. $3.95. PAGEANT PRESS, 101 Fifth Avenue, New York 3, New York, Chosen Arrows. An Historical Narrative. By Sister Mary de Lourdes Gohmann, O.S.U. The Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Ken-tucky, will complete the first centenary since their foundation in the autumn of 1958. To mark the occasion Sister M. L. Gohmann has written a vivid account of the trials, labors, and successes that divine 186 May, 1958 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Providence has accorded these valiant workers in His vineyard. In her narrative the dry bones of historical fact are brought to life by the imaginative re-creation of many a conversation. The book is of interest not only to the members of the Ursuline Order and their many friends, but to all who are interested in the history of the Catholic Church and the history of Catholic education in. America. Pp. 533. $5.00. THE SCAPULAR PRESS, 329 East 28th Street, New York 16, New York. A Little Queen's Request. An Informal Biography of Saint Th~r~se for Our Teen-agers. By Sist

Issue 6.4 of the Review for Religious, 1947. ; JULY i5, 1947 Theolocji~ns and Mary's Assumption ¯ ¯ . ¯ .', Cyril VOl_lerf "Thou Sl~alt T~e Duty of Open My Lips" " ~Richard L. Rooney Hearlncj Mass .¯ . ". . Gerald Kelly Silence. C.A. Herbsf The Will ÷o Perfection . Augustine Klaas Book Reviews Communications Questions Answered Decisions of the Holy See VOLUME Vl NUMBER REVIEW FOR,, REL! IOUS VOLUME Vl JULY, 1947 NUMBER 4 CONTENTS THE THEOLOGIAN AND MARY'S ASSUMPTION~Cyril Vollert, S.J.~ .1,93 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . ' 202 "THOU SHALT OPEN MY LIPS"mRichard L. Rooney, S.J . 203 BROTHERS' VOCATIONS . 206 CONCERNING COMMUNICATIONS . , . 206 GENERAL ASPECTS~OF THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS-- Gerald Kelly, S.J. . .x, . 207 SILENCEmC. A.' HerbSt, S.2 . 217 COMMUNICATIONS .0. ! . 222 THE WILL TO PERFECTION--Augustine Klaas, S.J .227 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSM " 16, "Tiny Particle" Falls on,Communicant, , .". . 239 17. Annual Vacation for Sisters . 239 18. Obligation of Superior and Subject when 'Change Seems Desirable ¯for Reasons of Conscience . : . 242 19.-Disposing of Amputated Limbs ' 247 20. Term of Office of Mother Superior .i. . - ., . 247 21. Informing Bishop of Confessor's Absence . 248 22. Application for Faculties for Retreat . 248 23. "Singular" or "Plural" in Prayers for Deceased Sister . 248 BOOK REVIEWS-- The Three Ages.of the Interior Life: Teresa, 2ohn, and Theresa: Reflec-tions on the Sunday Collects of the Roman Missal . 249 BOOK NOTICES . . 252 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE . 254 THE WORKS OF ST. JOHN EUDES . 255 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Jul'y, 1947. Vol. VI, No. 4. ~ublished bi-monthly: January, March. May, .~uly, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, .by St. Mary's College, St. Marys,Kansas, ~ith ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942; at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S~J. Editorial Secretary: Alfzed F. Schneider, S.J. , Copyright, 1947, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the autho£ Subscription~price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U; S. A, Before writing to us, please consult notice oh Inside back cover. ¯ h oloc i n ary s:Assu .,- .,, ,- ~ 'o. ~ Cyril' Volleft, S:J. WHEN Christ °likened the kingdo~ of God to a graifi ~ o'f mustard, se~d -that eventually produces an. .~ ~mens~ tree, He was~undoubtedly foretelling the future,growthof ~His:.Church: The comparison, may algo serve to illhstrate the ever-increasing knowledge of divine revelation given to. the ~Church by Christ. Revelation,.as. Catholics well understand, came to an end with the death of the last apostle. But the rich treasure of divine truth was not fully grasped from,, the. beginning and is far. from being exhausti;cely~ comprehended today. This is the case espekially with those truths of faith that are not revealed in manifest terms but are couched obscurely in what is explicitly revealed~' With the aid of improved telescopes, astronomers are, constantly discovering "new" stars. The stars are not really new. They have been the~?e a long time. Only our knowledge ~of them is new,. In somewhat the sarfle~ way, ~';new~.- ~ truths' Of revelation: are proposed for belief'from time to time. SuCh truths ar~ not new: in. themselves;, they are only ne~ .to us. ~,They haYe been present in the deposit of ~evelation right aldrig; ~btit ,we get ¢o know some~ of them ofily by degrees as a, restilt, of theological' investigati6n~carried on ~for fnafiy ~centu~ries under the. guidance.of .the Holy Spirit, ~who ~i~ gradually leading 'the Church to ~ fuller understanding. of ~God's truth.,'., ', ¢ . oo~ ¯ ',- ,~,,'°° '~ That a truth may be believed with divifie faith; it need not, have alwa)is beefi,recogniked ,as distinctly revealed. striking iffstante: is .the Immaculate Conception,,,~ which iS CYRIL VOLLERT Review for Religious not expressly attested by ancient tradition and was not kriown:tb,be~ia re~e~led,:i~th until fairly modern tim~s. It was only ~n 1854 that Pius IX, exercising his full teaching authority, declared by an mfalhble, ex catbedra definition th~it thd do~trin~ of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was revealed by God and that all the faithful must believe it. A' similak event may take place in our own day with regard to Ma~y's Assumption into heaven. Several dear signs point to this. One of them is the~ublication, in 1942, of a mammoth, two-voIume work, Petitiones de Assurnp-tione corporea B. ~. Mariae in coetum delinienda ad Sanc-tam Sedern delatae, by W. Hentrich and R. de Moos, S.J. These two scholars have brought~together and classified the hundieds of° thousands of petitions addressed to the Holy See sinc~ the time of thk Vatican ~Council all begging the Supreme ~Pontiff, to define that the doctrineof the Asstimp-tion. is a dogma of faith'. ~ Without°a very:speci~aI authoriza~ tion the compilers dould not haf, ehad a~c'ess to, the archives iSf the Holy'Office, where most of the documents they pub~ lish are eserved. .' ,; ~,o~ : .~,~ o~, o,~, . ~ Even more~sigfiifica~nt,is ~the~ letter Pope Pius XI,I.has written~'to~all the:,,bisholS~:~of the world~ inviting them~to send to, the~Holy,~See their ,view, si, and those of~,the fait~bful of~ their,~i:lioceses, regardinl~ the, ,Blessed .Virgin(s ~Assump~ tioh. The P6pe wishes~to-khow whether in the opinion, of the~bishops,the:.d0ctrine is capable of~ ,being~,~declared an article ~;of faith and whether~ such a ~,pronouncemei~t is desirdd.,~ E~cide'ntly:~the Holy Fatherc~aas t~ken: the, matter to heart ,a~d is serioi~sly enqisaging a~dogmatic'definitiori of this privilege of Mary's. Pius IX had acted in a similar way before-defiiaiiig the oImma~ulat~ ConcCption. :, ,, ~ " In2such, cases ,,bishops, who, are~ the~ 6fti~ial., teacheks'~of ~hti~t;s: truth~in,~o,their.6wn~odi6cese~s, 6rdinarily c6nlult :,194 .dul~l, 19'47 ~ MARY'S ASSUMP~ION theologians before gi~qr~g an. answer.° ~'The ~Clfiu'rch~, bf course, is iiifMlible v~hen it~ proclaims that i~,~'doctrine '~is an article of fairlY. But infallibility, though it is a'g.uar:inty of. preservat~on from error through ~h~ specia'l "fissistance Of the Holy Spirit',' ~is not a power of giving "f~rth new reve-lations. Therefore, when the question arises of'defining a truth.that may be'obscurely or implicitly revealed, l~ng ~nd careful study must precede to ascertain whether that-triath is actually ~ontained in the deposit of revelation. Is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin such a truth?° Was it revealed by God, at least implicitly, .so that it may be imposed by the Ch~arch for the belief of the~ faithful, although is yet it has not been thus imposed? If a bishop of a diocese, before answering the Holy Father's letter, were to request a theologian to conduct an investigation into this matter, how would 'the theologian proceed? Theologians vary in knowledge and ability and also in their study habits and modes of thinking. ~ But perhaps most of them would set about their inquiry in more or less the way that is out' lined in this article . To make the ~matter clear, let us 4magine a theologian who has .never had occasion to make a detailed .study of the Assumption in his teaching or writing. He, is not a specialist on this subject. He is, however, fully capable of investigating the problem and has access to an adequate library. Beqirmino the Investiqar~or~ The first thing to do, he d~cides, is to acquaint himself with the present state of the question in theological discus-sion. He has known since his childhood that the Assump-tion has some connection with the Catholic religion, for it., is ndmbered among*the mysteries of the Rosary and is cele-brated with more.than ord.inary liturgical ceremony, on the CYRIL VOLLERT Reoiew for Religious 15th of August, as a holy day of obligation. ~ But just what is the relation of Mary's Assumption to Catholic faith? An obvious way to begin the research is to consult some of the more recent theologicaI manuals or textbooks which the inquirer has in his library. These will indicate the sources of knowledge about the Assumption and will refer to important monographs and to major articles in periodicals. As soon as he starts looking into theological journals of the past several years he will discover a book that is hailed as the greatest work ever written on the Assumption, ,Martin Jugie's La mort et l'assomption de la sainte Viecge, published in 1944. He will find that this book lists nearly every item of testimony on the Assumption_ know to schol-arship. Every text from Sacred Scripture that might have some bearing on the question, every reference in the ancient Fathers of the Church, and many of the most important statements of the great theologians are reviewed and sub-ijected to criticism. With this volume as a guide, the inves-tigator may set to work. To avoid the danger of ov.erlooking some sources, a theologian .would utilize many of the other specialized studies, which abound in our day. Examples are. C. Balic, O~F.M., "De definibilitate assumptionis B. 'Virginis Mariae in caelum,"Antonianurn (1946), 3-67,and O. Faller, S.J., De priorum saeculorum silentio circa Assumptionem B. Mariae Virginis, Rome, 1946. A detail thfit would have to be present to the mind of the theologian inquiring into this doctrine concerns .the very meaning of the Assumption as understood by the Church. Ordinarily, Catholics take it for granted that Mary died, so as tb resemble her divine Son even in His death, and that shortly 'thereafter she whs raised from the dead by divine power and transferred, as a complete person with glorified 196 Jul~l, 1947 MARY'S ASSUMPTION body~dnd,sou~l, to the eternal ,beatitude of heaven. That this~rv, i~w is traditional, dating back at least ~to thUsixth century, cannot be doubted. Nevertheless *Jugie thinks that the question-of Mary's death~ is not established with certainty. ~rhat has to be affirmed; he says, is that, if Mary died,:h~r body was preserved from corruption and then was raised tO glorious life. The essential thing is her p~ivilege that goes under the name of Assumption, namely, her living presence ir~ heaven with body and Soul after her departure from this earth. Jugie does not assert that Mary did not die; but he declares that the'matter is doubtful and that the question of death is separable from the question of a'ssumpti~on. In ~other words, she may have been taken up to heaven, bodyand soul, without dying. He believes tha~ the Church could define the Assumption w~thout com-mitting itself on Mary's death. In h~s examination of sources, a theologian would have to watch for evidence on th~s point. Present Mind of the Church on the Assumption The results of the questionnaire sent by Plus XII to the bishops are not 'yet available. However the study ,of the petitionisk movement from 1869 to 1941 made by Fathers Hentrich and de Moos presents an imposing tabulation of views on Mary's Assumption Petitions favoring a dogmatic definition were sent in by 113 cardinals, by over 3,000 archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, by many theological faculties, by 32,000 priests and religious men, by 50,000 religious women, and by'over 8,000,000 of the laity. Most impressive is the number of petitions ~addressed to the Holy See by bishops. They ~epresent some 73 per cent of the dioceses of 'the world, and of these almost 97 per cent request the definition of the Assumption as an article of faith. 197 CYRIL VOLLERT " Re~ieto [or'Rellglo.u.~ .:r. The rfact~that s0me~2:7~.iper~ ~ent of the dig.ce~s~e~. ~re~!.~o~t ihclhded in these figur~s~do~s not mean that their b, iskdps d6 nbt favor the definitibh. ~e~must. remember that the bishops had'not been o~ially asked to submit their views: the petitions were Sent to Rome as a resul~ ofspon~ngo~ desires for the solemn .definition of the Assumption or in c0ns~quen~e of movements privately inaugurated. The .theologian who reflects on these petitions will be aware that they constitute a strong argument in favor of the tenet that the Assumption is a revealed truth. They show that the Church spread throughout the world firmly holds the doctrine; and the whole Church cannot err in matters pertaining to faith. ~The living .~presence of,~ the Blessed Virgin in heaven with gloried body and soul is not a truth that can be known by natural means; the only way it can come to our knowledge is thorough divine reve, lation. ~- Henc~ the ~Ch~rch must have, drawn, it:,f~o~ Sacred Scripture or from a perpetual tradition or frgm;;both these sou~es.~ ~ Witness of the _~i~urgg., ~,,~,., ~ ,.~ One.of the, most~tellin~ items of testimony to ,the, ex.istz ~nce of an~ ancient :tradition 0n the .Assumption is,:the fae~ "that it,has,.been solemnly; ~elebrat~d int~e~ Church ~0e m~n~ centuries. The beginning off,this .annual~cele~ration~,~canr not be.determined;,~,I~, t~e eighth cg~u~y~the !itu~gic~l fes- ;tival ~as" tefer~ed~t~ .by Saints ~obn .Damascene and :~Anz dre~ of Crete~s .ancient. Toward the end ~of~ the sixth Century- the Assumption,: under the~ name of the" Dormitio> ~e~th~ ','gbing to~sl~eff,''' of t~e ~,Blessed, Virgin, ~as assigned to~ Au~st~ 1.~5.th by~ ~a, decree" of, t~ Emp~ror,~Mauri~e~ for celebration, t~rougb6ut .the~ Byzantine Empire., ~ The e~z" peror~di~ not,~of; course, in~gurate~ the ~f~a~t~ but m~rely settled the day for its~obser~a~ce:. ~,~. ~.;. :~ ~,, : -~,~, ~. ~ ~,~ .i98 July. 19~ 7 . MARY'S ASSUMETION, - ~'~ A,?fragment ~of ~a S~riane,~b6~k, ~lating~.~fr&m,the ~fiftl~ ¢@ntur¥;,~)n~,the trar2si~.or transferenc~ of Our I~ad¥ from earth to heaven clearly supposes belief in the.Assumpti6n, of th~Ble~sed:,Virg~n into .heaven with;bodyi~and soul~ 'fol-lo~ vmg-her death. Several other'references to a liturgical ~elebratic~n'~of the '~'M@mory-of the~ Blessed Virgin," apparen'~ly~ commen~orating her death°~nd resurrect~on~ may carry down into the end of the fourth°century. How.-~ ev~r,~scholafs are not iri" complete agreement on theib inter~ pretation. At any rate, .the liturgical celebration of the Assump- .tion, which beg~n !n the ~East, soon made~ its way into Gaul and Spain, and in ~50 was introduced ifi Rome. The Testimony of Tradition The theologian who undertal~es t.o study the sources of our knowledge concernin.g Mary's Assumption, will have to devote most of his time and gnergies to. a direct examina-tion., of tradition. At the end of,his lengthy researches" he will find that his conclusions may:be s.ummarized some .w.hat as follows, During the earliest ages, up to about the fifth century, definite references to,the Assumption are rare. The truth is .hidden and awaits the theological .~enetratiOn of future generations f0r-its 0unfol4ing.~ t~eginning with the sixth century explicit statements a.ppear; by the following century the Assumption is attested throughout the East and the West, The great Fathers. and .theologians _of this period, such as St. Germain of Constantinople, St. Andrew~ of Crete, and St. John Damasdene, a~rm the.Assump.tion serenely and'without,hesitation or extenuation. Th~ way they express themselves shows that they are not deffending a thesis opposed by adversaries but are discoursing on a truth admittedby all their hearers and. readers. The eminent Scholastics~ of the Middle Ages, St. Bernard, ~199 CYRIL VOLLERT Reolew for Relig[ou~ St.:i~lbert.the.Great, St. Thomas, St. Bonaver~ture,.'Scotus, and others teach ~the doctrine of the.Assumption with absolute confidence. From the sixteenth century on, the fact of the. Assump-tion is universally held; theologians are concerned only with the question of determining its degree of certitude and its connection with revelation. Finally, during the nine-teenth and twentieth centuries, the conviction has gained ground that the Assumption is actually a revealed truth capable of being defined as an article of faith. The silence of the early centuries is not nearly as deep as was forrfierly thought. Recent studies, especially that of Fa!ler, have brought out the full meaning of declarations made by two fourth-century writers, Timothy, a priest of Jerusalem, and St. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. Moreover, that silence is not extraordinary but is rather to be expected; the theolqgical writings of the early Fathers were almost wholly "devoted to explaining and d~fending the truths~of the Trinity and of-the God-man in an.environment.of heretical 'attack. -Inquirg into:Scripture . After Christ's Ascension into heaven, Scripl~ure relates ¯ that His Mother, the apostles, and~isome of the holy ~c~men were present in an upper room "persevering with bne mind in prayer" (Acts 1.: 13 f.). The New Testament gives us no information about Mary's remaining years on earth or her death, and tells us nothing directly' of her Assumption. ' " ~" ~ Nevertheless, we. may not asse'rt outright th~it the Bible is Silent about the Assumption. Most theologians and scripture,scholars see a solid theological argument in the woids spoken by God to the devil in Genesis 3 : 15 : " I will put enmities between thee and the woman,, and thy seed hnd 200 July, 1947 MARY'S ASSUMPTION her seed;, she shall crush thy head." According to the tra-ditional interpretation of this text, Mary, who is at least typified by the "woman" if she is not directly meant, is associated with Christ in His victory over Satan. Since Christ's victory includes His triumph over death, Mary's identical victory must include a similar conquest of death. Christ died, rose from the tomb, and ascended gloriously into heaven; the parallel between the Savior and His Mother requires a like climax to her earthly life. Furthermore the Blessed Virgin, who was "full of grace" and "blessed among women," was exempt from the universal law of original sin and escaped the doom decreed against Eve and her daughters in Genesis 3:16 about the pains of childbirth. The inference suggests itself that Mary was likewise exempt from the dread punishment: "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return." That is, although Mary was apparently to die so as to be conformed to her divine Son in His death, she was never to be sub-jected to the corruption of the grave. Thus Mary's Assumption would crown her other privileges, which are definitely dogmas of faith: her divine maternity, her immaculate conception, and her perpetual virginity. This last, especially, seems to indicate God's will that she should forever be preserved from bodily cor-ruption of any sort. As the insight which theologians gradually gain into the truths of revelation becomes keener, . they are seeing more and more clearly that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin may well be implicitly contained in those, three glorious dogmas. Conclusion When the investigator eventually reaches the ~nd of his prolonged researches, he will ma.rvel at the d~velopment of the doctrine of the Assumption--a development not of 20i CYRIL VOLLERT the truth ~tsdf but of the understanding of the truth. The general outline sketched in this article, confined as it is to generalities imposed by brevity, can give no hint of the cumulative effect of the detailed evidence amassed century after century. Moreover, no theologian has ever denied the Assumption. A few minor voices have occasionally been raised in doubt; but though they are off key, they are too feeble to mar the splendid symphony of universal tradition. At the time of the Vatican Council, some two hundred of the attending bishops and theologians signed a docu-ment which, in part, was phrased as follows: Most ancient and constant is the conviction 9f the pastor.s and faithful of the Church in the East ~nd the West concerning the bodily Assumption of God's Mother. This fact, that a person's body is alive in heaven prior to the final day of judgment, cannot be perceived by the senses or be attested by human authority . Unless, therefore, the tenacious faith of the Church re~gaiding the bodily Assumption: of ~the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be dismissed as unfounded credulity--the very thought is impious--we must un-questionably hold, with utmost firmness, thai it derives from divine-apostolic tradition, that is, from rdvelation. In the seventy-five years that have elapsed Siiace this i~mphatic declaration, the persuasion of the Church's ~eachers and taught has been. grgwing steadily stronger. If bur ~theologian r~orts to his bishop that, in his view, the dbctrine of the 'Assumption is ripe for defifiition as an article of faith, his vote will accord with the verdict already turned in by a vast majority. OUR CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD L. ROONEY is Editor of Queen's Work publications. C. A. HERBST, ~UGUSTINE KLAA$, GERALD KELLY, and CYRIL VOLLERT are members of the FacultF of St. Maryrs College, St, Marys0 Kansas. ~ 202 -=nou Shalt: Open. My LIpS,,,"~ °" ~ ~° Richard L.~Rooney, "]"HE Aperi having been said,arid the Our Father, Hail /1: " MarY, and C~eed h~ving0 been devouilypra ed, the ~ Divine'Office again picks Up the ideas of that .intro-ductory prfiyer.~ There we. petitioned~' now we state con'- fidehtly: Thou shatt open m~/ lips; OLbrd, And m~/ mouth shall annou'nc~ Th~/ praiset. Because it is so contrary t~; our own Us~al etti£ient~;~ ind~ependent American way of thinking and doing even in our prayer life, it is well. for us to recall again a basic idea of the Aperi. We cannot, remember, so much as think of thinking to pray unless.God gives.us the initial impulse to call on His name. We cannot so much as open these lips of ours, so.busy, with their worldly speaking, so slow to pray; unless God Himself opefis them for us. It is amazing that. we forget so easily how utterly, helpless we are~ in ~the realm of God and grace if we are left to' ourselves. On thd other hand, I wonder if we ever pause to think how eager, God toopen ,our lips that.,He ,may hear them. hymning His praises. . ~ ~ . If we realized the first of these facts, we. would utter often the verses we are considering here.~ We would not rush into prayer without preparing our souls. If we rea!iz3d,the .second, we would be alert at all times and in all places to God's impulses to pray, to lift our. minds a~nd hearts in canticles of.praise of Him. How well w~,,wguld d~on tthoe m weamy otori Mzea t~hse~sse, bveefrosre.se! ~Hoourw.: ~wreegllu w!aer" c soeut lpdr au.syee ~thrse,m ~alking ,or riding, or whiling the tim~eo.away waiting for a 203 RICHARD L. ROONEY Rev~eu~ [oroReligious bus, or in a doctor's office, or before dropping off to sleep! We co~Id'~profitably'make them the'object of our moments, of mental prayer also. Pondering over them slowly, we might reflect as follows:° "Thou, 0 Lord" God is the Lord and Master of all things. He brought them all out of nothingness. It is He who has given me these lips, and He wh6 must give me the power to open them. in His praise. He is my God; and of Him I can state this simple, tremendous fact: that He will open my lips, will give me the .grace to spiak t,o Him, will prompt me to speak about.Him, will allow me to hymn His praises. Hence I say, "Thou shalt" open my llps" He will open these lips from which so many millions of words have come, these lips which have been worldly, pro-fane, unkind, ~untruthful, mean, sullied.° He will open these lips that have uttered so much nonsense, from which bare tumbled so many idle words---:qips that were given me for praising Him, but which have been so often used to~sin' against Him. These are the lips which now at last He, is going to open and to make fulfill their d~stiny: the praise of Himself. ¯ ,, What joy is mine--that for this time of prayer at least, my lips will be healed, cleansed, and set to work to do the most, ~the best they can do, .They will be busy, not with vanity, but with God. "And my mou+h shall announce Thy praise" When I open my mouth it is likely togive out anything but the praise of God. From it issue forth bits of news, pfoclamfitions of self-praise, my more-than-half-share of c6nversations about all sorts of things, long and stupid tirades, long and often ~stupid lectures aad advi~e. "Forbid-den words come out,~ too: vulgar, worldly, idle, harsh, 204 July, 1947 "THOU SHALT OPEN MY LIPS" discouraging, sarcastic words. Charity is killed; characters are torn~ Help and harm,, all heedlessly-~'intermingled,.c0me pouring out. ~ But when God opens my lips, my tongue will speak as He would.have it; my tongue will speak His praise~' my tongue~ will speak His praise even as did the tongues of Moses, of David, of the prophets; my tongue will speak today as it will speak in heaven announcing, singing, crying out, that God and men may hear the praise, i'n~ praise, of the Most High God! When I ~raise a good man sincerely, my tongue is at its best use on a human level. When I praise the good God, my tongue is being used at its best on a divinely hum,an plane. How seldom my mouth announces any praise, save of myself. I speak of others, either not at all or with cold indifference, bitter criticism, mild interest, jealousy. Now and again, if it serves rn~/ interest,'I praise another. Less often still do I praise God without any trace of selfishness. I ~speak to Him or of Him in tedium, carelessly, liitlessly; in petition, asking mostly for something I want, only occa-sionally for others. But how infrequently do I burst out with praise just to tell Him how wonderful He is! 'Why is this? Praise is the outward speaking of an inward recogni-tion' of the value, the excellence of someone or something. Instinctively on seeing a beautiful sunset or a beautiful per-son we cry, "How beautiful!" Why do we so seldom deliberately praise God or men? Because we are too busy to look at them, too distorted in vision to see all that is good, true, and beautiful either in the All-High God or in the lowly creature, man. When we state that God will open our lips, we are also implicitly stating that He will open oui eyes. We are 2O5 RICHARD L. ROONEY , implicitly saying ,,that Hd will "let .us see Him, His power; His beauty,'His mercy: His lb~e, everywhere, and in .every: thing, so that we shall gladly cry out His praise:i implicitly hope that He will reveal HihYself,.yet more ~o us so that we may begin here the praise that we shrill announce forever in heaven, We are hoping that He will train:our lips to speak.now as they shall when He grants ~.us the face-to- face visioh of Himself, and we shall cry in ecst~isy: "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Hosts! °The heavens and the earth are full of Thy Glory!" ~ * * * Ves, Lord;Thou shalt open my lips here now, and tl~rd then; and My modth, frded from its habit of self~ interested prayer, shall announce joyously, contin,uall~r~ ~ti~relessly; endlessl~, its praise of Thee, our Go'd!" BROTHERS~ VOCATIONS " There are m':~'ny vocational needs* in~he ChurCh, bti~ pe~rhaEs none as more pressing:than,the need ,for la)~ Brothers. The' assistance'thi:y lend to priest~ who are more directly engaged i~ apostolic labors is~of inestimable value: To egcourage Brothers vocattons, the Soctety of the D,wne Word is Mow publishing aK~httra&ive and informative ~booklet ~entitled ~The M~ssionarg Brother. ~C0ptes of t~e 'booklet can be,obtained from the Novice Master, St. ,Mary's Mission House, Techny. ill~nbis.'~.~ ~ ~ :~ ~ ,~-" ,~. . ~ . ~,, Another i~ter~sting folder on~ the life of a Brother can be :~btained~fro~ the Missionary Servants of the'Most Holy Trinity, Box 30. Silver Sp~ngs. Maryland. This booklet is entitled Spotlight on the Missionary Brotber~" " A. third '~ffective folder 0n this 'same iub~ect is entitled "Behidd the~ S~enes at Notre Dame: The Part of the La~ Brother~ of the Hol~ Cro~#. ~ The, Congregation of"the H~'~Cro~S ~w ~'tWO p;o~ifi~S in- [he United' State~ [he province Priests~and'~the~province of Brothers~ This:folder describes the Brotheri' life. '.It may be obtained from the Reverend Oohn H. Wilson, C.S.C:; Holy Cross Seminary. Ndre Dame, ~ndiana. ' CONCERNIN~ CoMMUNICAtIONS" " ~ The next number "of t~e REVIEW will contain a digest 0f the communications on praydr that hhve note, get been published. ,With~hat; number we shall close the communications on the subject. Communications on other subjects that are of ~n~d~asfti ~. H.elp'r ~ ~o '~religi0hs" are alwhgs~elc~me. , Some of~the c0mmdnications 'on prgyer have been.ratherflong: and the ~itors would appreciate it if those who, send communications would., make them brief and pointed. -It also'helps if'the manuscript ~s typed and double'spaced; 206 ~enera[ Aspects oF ¯ Duty of I-learin9 Mass ~erald Kdly, $.~T. ONLY three of the ~414 cai~ons of the Codeof Canon Law deal explicitly with the° general! law of assisting at Mass. Canon ~1247 lists.the feasts of ~ obligation in the universal Ghurch; canon 1248 prescribes that:.Mass must be heard on these days;0and canon 1249 enumerates the places in wl6ich the faithful may fulfill this obligation.,. Three other ,canons (1244-46)'~1a~ down certain general, rulks :that are applicable not only°to feast days but also to days of fast and abstinence. Pbobably no other law of the Church is as import~int for the ordinary Catholic as this precept of hearing Mass. Every question pertaining to its correct observance is of unFcersal interest; and some of the questions are extremely provocative, not to say irritating, because of the difficulty in"solving them satisfactorily. These intriguing problems are foundiander all the various aspects of the law--general aspects,° the manner of fulfilling the law, and .reasons excusing~from the obligation. Since it w6uld be-impossible t6 treat all these points in a single article in the REVIEW, I am .limiting the present article to a consideration of those points usually explained by moral theologians when they treat of the'general aspects of the law of feast-day obserw ance. The article will deal with all the questions ordinarily discussed under this head, and it "will .lay,, special stress~ on the points that are apt to present sp~ecial difficulties for catechists It helps much to the ,proper understanding and appli= cation~ of°a law to know its origin, ;namely whether it is 207 GERALD KELLY Review/:or Religious divine or human; for different rules of interpretation apply to each. With'regar~l .to th~ duty of feast-day observance a consideration of both kinds of laws is pertinent; and great confusion can result from a failure to make. clear distinc-tions. Not a Dioine Law The divine law, according to accepted terminology, is either natural or positioe. By natural law is meant the law of God as manifested in human nature itself--"written in the human heart," as the saying goes. Granted appro-priate conditions, men with sufficiently 'developed mental powers could know this law, ~it least as regards its main points, just by using their reason--that is, by considering the fundamental relationships existing between man and G6d and between man and his fellowmen, and by drawing logical conclusions from these. This natural law, since it flows from human nature itself, binds all menat all times. The divine positive law includes duties imposed by God through the medium of revelation. In making such reve-lation God 'might merely confirm the already-existing iaatural law, as He does, for example, in the. First Com-mandment of the Decalogue; or He might, add obligations not already contained in the natural law, as He does in pre-icribing the confession of all mortal sins committed after baptism. LUnlike the naturallaw, the divine positive law cannotobe k.nown merely by reason;faith is required. Also unlike the natural law, the divine positive law is not neces-sarily for all men at all times; but such conditions depend entirely on God's own will., in giving these commands. In general, the Church's power concerning law~ is twofold. She can otticially interpret the divine law, as she has done with regard to such things as artificial birth con-t~ ol, divorce, mutilation of the "unfit," and so forth. In 208 Jul~t~ 1947 THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS such cases the' bindihg force of the law is not from tl~e Church but: directly from God. BUt the: Church can also mate laws in the proper and full sense of the:term. ~Thesd laws, made by the Church, are called ecclesiastical 1~iws. They,are human taws, not divirle; and they are to be 'inter-preted ~according to the rules that pertain ~to human l~ws, Applying this discussion of th~ various types of laws to the matter of feast-day worship, the following obierva-tions are in order, o Since men are social beings and since they depend on God not merely as individuals but as a group, the law of nature itself demands that they render to God some kind of social worship. But this law of nature is very vague, It does not prescribe certain days for such worship; it does not clearly indicate how often the worshi~ should be offered; and it does not tell us categorically what religious acts should characterize our social worship, although it cer-tainly seems appropriate that: sacrifice should be one of the community tributes to God.~ From the very nature of the case there is need of some more accurate determination of these points if men are to act in harmony, and obviously this more accurate determination should be made by the existing religious authority. In the Old Testament God Himself sanctioned the religious observance of the Sabbath and of certain special feast days. It is well to note here a great difference between the Third Commandment of the Decalogue and the other nine. The entire Decalogue is revealed; and in this sense all the precepts belong to the divine positive law. In the Third Commandment, however, God went beyond the natural'law, whereas in the other nine Commandments He simply confirmed and stated clearly certain duties "that already existed by reason of the natural law. The Third C0mmaildment; therefore, in its prescriptions concerning 209 GERALD KELLY ~- , Review [or Religio.us the frequency of worship (once a week) and ,the exact day for worship ,(the,Sabba'th)o is entirely divihe positive law, given by God,to' the chosen people and obliging them until. such time as He, would withdraw or change it. Did God withdraw these positive precepts with the promulgation,,of the New Testament? With regard to the special feasts~prescribed for the Jews there is :no difficulty: the duty of observing them certainly ceased; in fact, it Would be a form of superstition to observe them today. But with regard, to the weekly observance there is some obscurity even in theological literature. One view is that the divine law of sanctifying every seventh day.remained in force and that God Himself transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday. This opinion has but slight authority to uphold it, and we may safely call it improb-al~ le. Acco[ding, to a second opinion the divine law ,of sanc-tifying one day out of seven remained in existence, but the specification of the Sabbath day was simply withdrawn, and in its place not God, but the Church, assigned Sunday as the day for worship. This view has much more authority than the firsf; yet it is far from being, a common opinion. A third explanation, sponsored by the majority of eminent theologians, is .that with° the promulgation of the NeW Testament God simply withdrew the positive pre-cepts contained ,in the Third Commahdment anti" left it to the Church tO make appropriate legislation. According to this view,, the precept of hearing Mass, as we now have it, is a merely ecclesiastical law in all its particular aspects-- the frequency~ .the exact days, the method of worship. This last is by far the best opinion and the only~ofie that seems in~, perfect'harmony with.the mind of "the Church as expressed in. the~ ~ode:. ~ For the Holy :See claims~ f6r itself~the duly; 1947. THE DUTY OF: HEARING MASS' p0wer.tb 'constitu~e, transfer," and abblish these feast :days. and to dispe'nse~,from their, o.bservance ;(c.f. cations 1244-" 45) : It could not do this ina matter of~divine law. ~, . ~,~ It seems khat .in ~the.early. cefituries,of~ Christiani.t~r thdre~ was. no general l~gislation cbncerning the observanc~ of feast~ days~ : Rather, the faithful, themselves spontaneously' assumed~certainpractices, and thdse practices ~raduaHy acquired ~he force bf law and were'confirmed and crystal-lized by written'~legislation. Sunday was chosen as the. Lord's day, principally because it was the day of the Resur, rection and of ~the coming of the. Holy Ghost. Gradually other special, festivals came to be observed to commemorate special blessings, to recall the victories of the saints, and so forth. In fact, the tendency to add feast days of obliga-tion was so common that much bf the Church's legislation in recent times has been to restrict the obligation lather than to add to it. A ,catalogue of feasts of 6bligation in ~:he univer~gl Church in the time of Pope Urban. VIII, in 1642, lists thirty-five such feasts; b~sides Sundays. Today v~e have' only ten special feasts of' precept! for the" universal Church: Irnmaculai~e CodcelStidn,"~ Christrnds~ Ci~cum, cisi~n, Epip'hany,'St. Joseph; Asc~hsion Thursd~'~, Corpui Christi: Sts. Peter and Paul, Assumption, and All Saints. ° F6r some~cbuntries"the Holy See has ri~duced the number: f6r. exhmple,'in"~he United°State~ g'e a~e obliged to observe onI~r the six itMicized feasts. ' ~ I have gone to ~some length ifi-consiii~i~g the origin bf the precept of .hearing Mass because ~I think ~that :the ordinary way of~explaining the: matter in catechisms and even in moral treatises tei~ds to be~,misleadihg~,, .T, he duty of hearing Mass is" almost invariably~explhined iia~ connec-tion with~the Third Commandment of"the D~calogue; and this leads readily to the.inference that;~like~:the~othero pre-cepts of the~,D&~logue; it is'a divine" hlW,, ~wo serious 211 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious errors are occasioned by this inference. People of lax con~ sdences and weak faith, seeing that the Church can change this precept of feast-day observance, easily conclude that the other Commandments can be changed too and that it will ¯ not be long before the Church mitigates her rigid stand on such things as therapeutic abortion and artificial birth con-trol. These people confuse the human with the divine by reducing the divine to a human level. On the other hand, genuinely conscientious people raise the human to the divine. Finding the law of feast-day observance explained under the Third Commandment, they infer that it is a divine law and thus form exaggerated ideas of its binding A Serious Obligation ~ A young man once came to me with the following difficulty: ~"Father, a group of us werediscussing these laws like going to Mass on Sundays and fasting and abstaining, and we came to a dead stop over the idea ~that breaking .these laws is a mortal sin. You go to hell for a mortal sin, you know. We couldn't figure out why the Church should be so strict about these things; so we decided to ask So-and-So.: He just brushed us aside. He said all we had to do was to keep ~the laws; we needn't worry about the wbgs and the wherefores. It isn't wrong to want to l(now such thin~s, is it? We're not rebelling against the Church; we'd just like to know why she does this." The answer to the young man's question is obvious. It is highly desirable that adult Catholics should know the whg of their obligations. Itincreases their own apprecia-tion of the laws that govern them and enables them to explain them reasonably to others. Ecclesiastical laws are not made arbitrarily; we are 212 July, 1947 THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS not commanded to do certain things under pain of mortal sin merely because some Pope wants to sat.isfy a personal whim. These laws are formed according to certain eminently reasonable principles. For instance, a serious obligation is not usually imposed on the faithful in general unless-these three conditions are verified: (1) there is ques-tion of attaining some very important purpose; (2) the thing commanded is either necessary or highly useful for attaining this purpose; (3) the thing commanded would very likely not be done by the majority of people (the ordinary people, not the saints) unless they were obliged under pain of mortal sin. It is not difficult to see how these conditions are verified with regard to the precept of hearing Mass. (1) The principal purpose of the law is to see that the members of the true Church of God render fitting social worship to God. That this is a purpose of the highest importance seems evident. Moreover, a secondary but very significant purpose of the law is the spiritual good of the worshippers themselves. (2) That the sanctification of one day a week and of certain feast days is eminently useful, if not neces-sary, for attaining these purposes is clear from the fact that God Himself made similar prescriptions in the Old Testa-ment. As for the secondary purpose, in particular, experi-ence confirms the fact that those who do not set aside some time for the worship of God readily fall into temptation and sin. And with regard to the method prescribed by the Church, namely, the Mass--surely no one who realizes the meaning of the Mass will question the fact that it is the best possible expression of social worship. (3) Finally, it is ¯ not hard to imagine how empty our churches would become if this were not.a serious obligation. The Church makes her laws for the ordinary peo~01e, not the saints; and it is simply a fact that most ordinary people are not sufficiently 213 GEI~ALD'KELLY moved by the thoi~ght of "venihl sin" or "counsel" to make the sacrifices ~iecessary for assisting at Mass on ther, days assigned. o Who Must Hear Mass? To be obliged by this law one must (a) be baptized, (b) have completed his seventh year, and (c) have attained the use of reason. All three conditions .must be verified. The Church claims no power to legislate for the unbaptized except indirectly, for example, in the case of a marriage between a baptized and an unbaptized person. The com-. pletion of the seventh year is normally required for subjec-tion to an ecclesiastical law unless the law makes some other express provision. For example, the law of fasting does not bind one until one has completed the twenty-first year; on the other hand, yearly confession and Communion can be obligatory before the age of s~even. "In the present law no special provision is made; hence children under seven, even though quite precocious, are not obliged to hear Mass on Sundays,and holydays.~ It. is praiseworthy to accustom them to attend Mass at an earlier.age; but it is .not obligatory, Finally, even those who .are baptized and are seven years old are not obliged ,to hear Ma~ss if they have not yet attained the use of. reason. The normal .presumption is that those who have completed their ~sevent.h year have sufficient use of reason; but this presumption admit~ of exceptions. However, the mere fact that a child is. "back-ward" is not necessarily a sign that he does not have the use of reason. The ultimate test is his appreciation of :moral right and wrong. , A question of some delicacy in this matter concerns baptized non-Catholics. Strictly speaking, since they are bapt!zedl they are subject to.the laws of the Church unless the Church herself exempts them. Theoretically~, there- July, 1947- THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS foie, it seems ~.tl-iat they ~re obliged.by .this l~w Because the' Church~ ddes not exPlicitly exempt them. Some, theologians and canonists, however, hold that even though no explicik exemption is declared, the Church cannot reasonably be considered to hold them to the law, for she knows that they. will not observe it. This dispute is of .little practical value since the non-Catholics do not know of the obligation, even if it does exist; hence they cannot sin by failing, to fulfill it. 'A iomewhat similar difference of opinion concerns the duty of excommunicated persons. By reason of their excommunication they'are deprived of their right to assist at Mass; hence some moralists argue that they. cannot have a duty to do so. In practice, they may be considered as excused from the obligation; but they certainly hax;e a duty to do what is necessary to be absolved from the excom-munication. Where to Hear Mass We may conclude these genelal remarks about the pre-cept of hearing Mass with a word a;bout the place for ful-filling the obligation. Canon 12'~9 enumerates these places, and in that canon the only explicit restriction has to do with what is termed a private or~atbry. A private or domestic oratory is ushally a chapel in a private housd where Mass may be celebrated for the benefit of an indi'- vidual or his family. Permission to have such oratories with the privilege of having Mass said there habitually can be granted only by the Holy See; and in granting th~s permission the Holy See specifies who may satisfy the pre-cept of hearing Mass there and the days on which it is allowed. Occasionally private chapels are erected in cemeteries. The faithful may satisfy their feast-day obligation by 215 GERALD KELLY hearing Mass in 'these cemetery chapels~ They may also fulfill their obligation, in any church or chapel which is not private in the technical sense explained above; also by hearing a Mass which is said in the open air. All these ,points are explicitly covered by canon 1249. It not infrequently happens tl~at priests get permission to say Mass iia a cabin aboard ship, or in the parlor of a private home, or in some other building or room which is not a chapel in the sense of canon 1249. Can the faithful, fulfill their feast-day obligation by hearing Mass in such places, or is this privilege implicitly excluded by canon 12497 Here again we are in the realm of controversy: some authorities say "yes"; and some say "no." In practice, therefore, liberty prevails: the faithful may satisfy their obligation in these places if they wish to do so. What is to be said of Catholics of the Latin rite who wish to attend Mass celebrated according to the Easterv, rite? The Code explicitly allows this, provided the Eastern Church is truly Catholic, that is, in union with ROme. One concluding remark: the Church does' not i,mpose a strict duty'to hear Mass in one's ownparish church. We should not argue from t~ais, hbwever, that the Church is indifferent in this rfiatter. Certainly the whole spirit of ecclesiastical organization arid' legislation favors an intense parochial life;, and part of.this life is the regular attendance at Mass in one's own parish church. It is not in.accordance with tl~is spirit to encourage the faithful to, attend Sunday Mass habitually in a school or .hospital chapel unless there is some special reason for doing so: 216 Silence C. A. Herbst, S.J. 441~OLITUDE is the home of the saints and silence is ~ their language." I read these simple and beautiful words years ago in a religious house in a great Midwestern city. The place, the time, the room have somehow stuck in my memory. Perhaps it is because the great truth they express has been dear to the beloved in Christ's church for almost two thousand years. The soli-tude of the deserts of Syria and Egypt was the home of those giants in the Christian way of life, the Fathers of the Desert, and they founded there great cities where silence was the language of them all. Surely this was because "Jesus was led by the spirit intothe desert" (Matthew 4:1). He, too, "retired into the desert, and prayed',' (Luke 5:16). From the very first years of the religious life the observance of silence is insisted upon. "The practice of silence is useful for novices," says St. Basil in his Regulae Fusius Tractatae. And he continues, "Unless some special business, or the care of one's soul, or some pressing work, or a question demands it, one should live in silence except for the chanting of the psalms" (Patrologia Graeca. XXXI, 950). Accordingly, as novices we were expected to refrain from unnecessary speaking and from noise; for example, to avoid slamming doors, moving up and down stairs or about the corridor or room noisily, loud talking, and the like. Many a good young religious has had to be given a penance for breaking silence. Perhaps we were told one needs a reason to speak but none to keep silent, and heard quoted the proverb, "Speaking is silver, silence is gold." We read with some humor in Rodriguez: "When 217 C .A. HERBST Reaiew/oc Religious there is no lock to a chest, we thereby understand that there is ~9~hing.valuable inside. When a nut is very light and . bounces, it is a sign tha~ it has no kernel." (Practice of Per-fecffor~, II, "123~)~ Silence may have been a matter of dis° dpline, a thing imposed from without~ but the mechanics of a profes'sion~have fo be learned that way. A disdpl~ine; an external, a mecbani~ Perhaps. And ~mall?~ I am afraid' to apply this word to things'intimately connected with the spiritual l~fe, to ~hings so intimately connected with love for God and with eternal glory in heaven. .At any rate, silence is a challenge to even a brave and mortified man. Let the heroes step forth" gnd accept the challenge of St. Jame's, "But the tongue no man can tame" .(J. ames 3:8). As far as I have observed, the rule of silence is the most consistently and universally violated rule in the religious !ife. I even make bold fo say that experience showsus'eIess talking is not'confined to'women'~a~d chil-dren. It is a man-sized job to "h0id one's tongue:" Nay, more than a man-sized job for the natural man; ~"But the tongue no can can tame:" Who is not so human as. not to have experienced the urge to ask curious and pr,yirig ques-kions? It is hard t6 repres~ the itch for gossip, to-hold back the smart remark, to abstain from criticism: ' It is,hard to wait till the .time for recreation, hard to, breakoff:when.the bell rings. And it is only the strong man. who will crush human respect and remain .silent i.n~the midst of those who will not. This is no longer a small thing, the task of a novice. "But the tongue no man can tame." Speech is a most common, :spontaneous, and "self-full" "expression of the natural man. .A child is born into the f~imily, given a name, and ta.ught with endless pains to speak, o Thereafter one of the most demanding urges of his human nature is to express itself in words. His language ii full of his personality. But tainted as he is by original sin, 218 dulg, 19 4 ~ SILENCE his speech betkays that, too. A man is born again into a religious;~famil#, oftefi takes a new name, and must be taught again .to speak, to express.a personality renewed in Christ. Silence is theschool and the teacher. Advising the ~rbung monk, the Abbot Cassian says,~ "Be careful before all.else ¯ ¯ ¯ to impose the strictest silence on 3~our lips. Thi~ is the first real entrance to an ordered life" (Coltationes, XIV, 9). ~ One must now.unlearn one's evil ways and learn again to speak in God. "And if any man think him-self to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain" (James 1:26). Arsenius, preceptor of empero.rs, is said to have heard an _angel say to him, "Arsenius, flee, keep silence, rest: these are the principles of salvation" (a Lapide, Commentaria in Scripturarn Sacram, XX, 137). To preserve exterior silence for the loire of God is a praiseworthy practice and an exc~llent beginning to a reli-gi. ous life. But its higher value lies in this: it prepares and leads the earnest seeker after God to interior silence, to the silence of the imagination, of the mind, of the soul. It is indispensable to recollection. "He, therefore, who.aims at inward and spiritual things, must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd" (Imitation of Christ, I, 20). Od enter.ing a religioushouse wheresilence is carefully kept one cannot help feeling that God is very near. There is~an atmosphere ,of prayer. The place seems to "breathe the Divine Presence. "Silence, prayer, charity, and contineficy are the ho~rses of the chariot drawing the mind toheaven," said th~ Abbot Thalassius (Rouet de Journel, Encbiridion Asceticum, 1315). "In silence and quiet the devout soul maketh progress, and learneth the hidden things of Scrip-ture" (.Imitation, I, ~0). We must shut out the noises~of this wo~ld if we would hea¥ the gentle whisperings ofthe Holy Spirit. A noisy interior is ~ miserable thing. If a 219 C .A. HERBST Review for Religious restless imagination is encouraged by much ~alk to go thumping about within us recollection will be impossible. There is a close and intimate connection between speech and the imagination. Idle and vain words call up idle and vain images in the imagination. These images summon others of a kindred sort, in virtue of what is called the law of the association of ideas. In this way a train of flattering, useless, and egoistic images is started. Thought follows imagination and partitipates in its self-gratifying tendencies. Speech follows thoughts and words flow that do not bear on subjects that have a tendency to supernaturalize the soul either of speaker or listener. In conversation words are interchanged and mul-tiplied; corresponding images are called up; and thoughts follow all the time the direction set by the vocal and mental images. (Leen, Progress Through Mental Prayer, p. 266.) " And so on and on, until we realize how spritually wise we should be were we to follow the old Italian proverb, "'Odi, vedi, et taci, si voi vivere in pace." (Listen,-look, and be silent, if you want to live in peace.) When we read the startling and thought-provoking words in St. James's Epistle, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man" (3 "2), our first inclination might be to explain away the exaggeration. But there is no explaining away to be done. There is no exaggeration. "Out of the abundance of the heart tl~e mouth speaketh" (Matthew 1.2:34). A man says.what he thinks and what he feels. The thought is father to the word as well as to the deed. If his words are good, his thoughts are good; his emotioris, his passions are under control. For a while one might sometimes think one thing, feel one thing, and say anotheri but that would not be common for long in most things. If any man offends not in word he has acquired self-mastery, he has perfect control over his interior. This control is an important aim of as fine a SyS-tem of spirituality as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola: "Spiritual Exercises to conquer oneself and regu- 220 dul~l, 1947 SILENCE la~te one"s life withou't determining oneself through any tendency that is disordered,", the title reads. Words tha~ are charitable, patient, obedient, humble, mortified, well up from a heart that is charitable, patierit~ obedient, humble, mortified. When we meet this happy child of God we shall gladly agree with St. James that "the same is a perfect man." But let it be a woman first, "A Woman Wrapped in Silence," Mary, God's mother, of .whom John W. Lynch wrote so beautifully. Her words were few but very pre-cious. Countless generations have cherished them and pondered them and have seen mirrored in them the Immacu~ late Heart of Mary. "But Mary kept all these words, pon-dering them in her heart" (Luke 2: 19). The Blessed Virgin did not speak many words: filled with grace and light from on high, inundated with the gifts of the Spirit,. she remained, 'silent, in the adoration of her Son: she lived on the contemplation of the ineffable mystery wrought in her and through her: and from the sanctuary of her immaculate heart ~ hymn of praise and thanksgiving rose up unceasingly to God. (Marmion, Chcist, the Ideal ot: the Monk, 3 6 3.) And then a Man, the Lamb of God led to th~ slaughter, "and he opened not his mouth" (Isaias ~3:7). In His lifetime "He retired into the desert and prayed" so that the Christian centuries after Him might understand that "he who aims at inward and spiritual things must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd." The Son of God spent thirty years of His short life, that carried within it the salvatiori of the world, in silence. Yet how he must have longed to speak, who was so marvellously eloquent! Must he not have yearned to give forth light, in whom the whole communicative wisdom of the Godhead was compiised? When he was so full to overflowing of beautiful wisdom and ravishing intelligence, must not silence have burned in his Heart like a coal of fire? Must there not have been something in his being the 221 COMMUNICATIONS Reoieto [or Religi6us Father,s '~Wor~d, Ghich,-~wguld" .make" him exult ~in .s'peaking~ of ,. the ~Fath.er, with'his human to~gue.g' ('Foa.ber, ,Beth~lefiera, 0332.) '°~ ~, "But 3.esus h£1d his peac.e,"~ (Matt.hew 26;63). The W,o~ Himself did not'speak he.cause the Word, is Wisdom, Incarnate ommunicaEions ¯ Reverend Fathers: ' A little dose of dissatisfaction with one's own achievements in mental prayer is a necessary.condition of progress. But when the complaints about "bad meditations" extend for years and years, we must asl~ ourselves whether we know what a "good meditation" is? At least fbr ~yselL I have discovered'that ~it the very bottom of these complaints l~es a good measure of selfishness. An analysis of our complaints reveals the causes of our d~ssiatlS~ factioq. They~are: distractions; ar~idity of mind; lack of sehsible joy,~onsolation, and spiritual comfort; lack of taste for ~13rayers.;*s'the lives of.saints tell us that they had. We are satisfied When we e~xperi~ e.n~cre 'jo: yi,r t~ealrs;'conso~atlon, a 1 these ca~es we find OURSELVI~S as the c~nter:of interes~tin p~dyei~ ~-W~ ar~ seekirig personal Satisfaction. !Thi~" is especiall~ trt~e if,,after sbm~e :efforts'~w.e'qui~ making !meditations; because .we, do~ nbt find: ~ezgxpect~d personal satisfaction., This,~ naturally, generates a ~ense of frustration, of guilt,.~nd a certain nervousness about the whole business of meditation. °" The ~medy fo~ this lies in ;realization ~f, the primary ehd of every prayer which is: praise, adoration, admiration of God; thanks2 givin~ for His supernatural and natural, gifts; atonemerit for sins and,. finally, p~etitions for .newl graces. ' aeAs long"as one does make efforts to elicit some of the afore-haention~ d acts, his mental, prayer i~ good, In such a prayer we seek only'God, His gl0~y; His will; He is the center of our prayer, n6t:our own gratification. ' . 222 Julg, 1947 o., :/ .' COMMUNICA,~IONS~ ~I.t'is.always.possiBle to praiseo:God, ~ven in the midsv:of., grea't distractions. (Who could not fill the gaps between invbltintary: dis.tractions~ with praise of God?) It is ~possible to thank Him, exen for~His crosse~s.~ .,~even for the distraction° and aridity themselves;. as~ far.,~,asothey are of ,His make, and not the fruit of our negl.ect of: spiritual~life. It,is possible to expose our wretchedness and misery, a~nd .cry for His help . Should, however, once in a while even that ~be impossible, then it remains possible just to keep oneself respectfully and humbly in His holy presence an'd let the .gaze of:His mercy fall' upon our misery. Once we grasp this, once we sacrifice,our ow~n pleasure in prayers; all anxiety .disappears, peace returns to. one's heart. We know-then when our prayer is good, namely, when we make °efforts to please God, not to satisfy our own selfishness.--A Jesuit Father. Reverend Fathers: 'It seems to me that the follow!ng are among the principal reasons for the:difficulties and the neglect of~mental prayer: ,, 1. Failure to Realize Its lmportance,,~That one's prayer .life is synonymous with one's interior life; that it is the source of real growth in the love of God, by disposing our souls to r.eceive and to profit more fully from the grates 'of ~the sacraments; that it is the. greatest help to purity of soul and to an ever greater hunger and thirst after God. St. Teresa of Avila said: "There is but one road that reaches God., and that is prayer: if anyone s~hows you' anotheri.you ~ire b.ejn~ de~elv'ed." " ~ " 2: Di'sc?uragement. Du~. p~r(nci15al'iy- ~o "judging° by,'Bhd's feehngs. 'We-cannot judgebur praTe~ by our feelings nor by "th~ arhounf,of'dryness or desolfi~ion v~e experience it/ pbayer. As long as~ ~ve' tr~ to make our prayer well,'it is "alt~a(/s pldasing t~5 God ~nd prpfita~ble to us, even though,' at ti~e~s, we seem to do little inor~ t~han siinply fight distractions or temptations! 0 God Uses th~se ;tria~s for'our advancement. ~: . ~ " " 3. Lack of Proper li~struction.~--Sou~Isshould be t.au~h~" to pa~s on (th6ugh,not hurriedly.), from discui:sive n~editation to the ~nore simplified'arid richer forms of prayer. ;To try to keep to dis'cursive meditati6n ,wl~en that no q6nger :sUits the' needs df one's, soul i~harrfi-ful;' as ~ell' as difficult~and r~pugnant: ."In this regard, "I,.heartil~ aplSr~ove of all-ileal, y~oi~r fi~st.~correspO~ld~nt-"in the-,March ~ilsue (pp: 109! ft.). °.said' bfi" th~i~subject.'.- '.H~re0 is :wherh°- dire~tion-~e~en " .-223 C~OMMUNICATIONS Ret~ew for Religious though-just occasional, perhaps just two or three times a year---is a great help. " 4. Failure to Lead an "'All Around" Spiritual Life, Proportioned to Our Prayer,--We cannot expect to make great~ progress in our prayer life and the love of God, unless we are s~riving generously to please God during the other hours of the day. There is much tha~ could be said here, but I can think of_no better way of summing up what I would like to say, than to quote from the regulations that St. Paul of the Cross gave to. his religious. He ends his chapter on prayer by saying: "In fine, let all remember that they will never suc-ceed in the exercise of prayer; nor will it produce in them any satis-factory fruit, unless they endeavor with all diligence to be recollected during the day in the presence of God, to be lovers of solitude, to practice mortification, interior as well as exterior, and to observe with fidelity and exactness even the. smallest precepts of the Holy Rule." The first time we read this quotation, it looks discouraging: it seems like we have to be almost saints before we can begin to make progress in prayer and the love of God. But if we re-read it, we see that all he asks is that we try, though diligently, to practice recollection, to love solitude (i.e. to be detached from the world), to practice morti-fication, and to observe the rule. But I do believe that these admoni-tions are very important.--A Passionist Father. Reverend Fathers: .~ The very word religious, it seems to me, suggests~ a d.aily program of prayer more extensive than Catholics. in general adopt. Every religious enters on her career with her eyes open., if she firm,ly believes she is personally called, not only to her holy state, but also to her particular Congregation or Society, and is instructed during. her novitiate in all her obligations, why not always keep it at heart that in the important matter of her daily program of prayer, He who called her will assist her to fulfill that duty to His satisfaction aiad her merit, if not always to her enjoyment? Itomust be remembered, too, that prayer is first of all for God's sake, then for ours. It may be likened to the incensations during the Hole Sacrifice of the Mass,, acording to, the liturgical versicles, "'Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo,'" and "'Vespertina oratio ascendet ad te Domine et descender super nos misericordia tua.'" How con.soling to reflect that as the Holy Sacri- 224 1947 COMMUNICATIONS /ice is celebrated around the world, our prayer rises as clouds of incense and, in return, there falls the dew of God's blessings upon our lives! In regard to the formal hour of prayer that begins the day of most religious, it goes without saying that unless the highlights of the subject have been tucked into the mind beforehand, little focussing will-be possible on the subject. Who would think of going into the presence of a dignitary or a professional man without knowing what h~ is going to do or say? St. Ignatius Loyola has given us admirable indications on how to use the time of meditation to the greatest profit. I recall how the list of these directives appalled a young reli-gious I know. She intimated that she felt sure they would ruin her prayer. Rising, however, to intellectual considerations, she decided to analyze an hour of prayer just completed. To h~r joyful amaze-ment, she found tbat she had followed them largely as if pressed by logic. Inflamed with this encouragement, she began accordingly, day 15y day to build up her med{tations synthetically according to the methods of St. I~natius. Her. own words: "I knew that reflection clarified the mind." Al-though unaware of the manner of the op.erations of the Holy Spirit, I realized from time to time that certain thoughts stood out very clearly among others in a Scripture text or a rule, or persuaded me very gently to a higher way of action. Yet something, on my part, seemed deficient. I Wrestled again with the analysis, of my medita-tion, to admit tO myself tha~ I was using 'the three powers of my soul' for a meditation, and my senses for the active contemplations of the mysteries of Christ, but I was not making much of the col-loquy. The next day I wrestled again with the though~t content. Then I put down reasoning, put away reflection, and just knelt before God waiting for a thought to come spontaneously. No books ever printed words like those I spoke to God, but I knew I shouId certain~y have spoken them to those I loved~ my people, my friends-- so why not to God, the Supreme Being? The official Our Father sealed my prayer and obtained its last blessing. "Soon I realized that it was the colloquy that made the difference in my morning prayer. I had tasted~something I had never experi-- ended before. God had made me understand the words of the psalm: '0 taste and see that the Lord is sweet.' " Prayer unites us to God. We must keep that union through a busy day. It may be kept active through the day by ejaculations-- 225 I~oMMuNICATIONS "' ~' "' ~ ,.~,! ,. grains:of, incense again, ~thrown~on°.the.,fir~ dr: chari~y in/the s0ul'. Ejadulations first,in, h'0n6r 6f 7God.,° Bht,~the .background 'of the enti[e:mind, too,.m.ust'be kept fqr God,, filled tho.ugh it mu.st.often be with.:a.,t:hous.and .t_hings call.e~t for. by .duty: ~ An-intruder. ,of high r.ank: is ,the gra~tification, of curiosity.¯ Here iLmust be noted,that $3: Ignatius will not dispense from the examens;of his daily program of prayer. It is .the moment' of detecting intruders into God's kingdom and banishing them,, and Of resolving ~o make ~room for His'allies, one of whiqh is spir4tual readigg. Without this first step in prayer, aqcording to St. Bernard, we~ cannot'expec[ t~he second that rest.s upgn it meditatio.n. In o_ur s.torehouse of the mind, we should keep~ not only choice thoughts from this reading, but also tidbits from conferences heard, direction given-,, holy conversations held. And regarding these, is there any-thing that mak~so earth more like heaven than conv.ersations about God and His ways? A~suredly, the mind must be kept free for God. Clogged with useless matter, it is not receptiv.e when'the hour comes for morn.ing prayer, to the things of heaven, nor is it, if the body is ~rah'ted all its desires during" the day and indulged in every whim. HOwever. it may happen that even with the utmost care expended !n~ p~p~ratio.n,, our morning prayer can seem a failure. St. Paul ~¢:ogni.~ed_sucl~'a situation: "To will is present'with me: but to accbmplish that ~hich is good I find' not.", Again, concentration of in!fi'~:s~em~ i;np~ssible. I~ may be ~s. Our Lord said of confusion of another kind, An enemy hath done thts. Or. the mind seems _'~o~. ;o. . I~ . . ." , ¯ ~, . -, inoperative. , If the trouble continues for an apprectable txme, the remedy wdl come w~th a d~rector s counsel. Hts mtssxon an~ studtes prep~ire him to disc.ern ,wheth,er the s~tuation at'hand ts sloth or "the prayer of faith." the means of sanctifitatio9 of So ,many, saints: :- Moreovdr,,it is .well to re~alI, that~artists work years before they mas.tqr ,,their art. And,-,~he i~sue of ~hei~ lifework is so precarious. But ~e.~vho are called by God Himself to a life of pra, y~r know that while He will never fail to i~elp'us, Who "works both to will and accomplish" in us. we can never fail if we do our part. Whether or n.dt"Go~l calls us_f~om discursive to°higfi~.r_forms~of prayer, we shall not .be h~i~led in persevering, however little or great the relish-our pFaydi: may a~ord us: Fo.r. linked with the Hbl'y: Sacrifice of the Mass, it will be acceptable unto'Go~l's praise'and glory, to out'own ~obd'.afid that 6f the entire~ Church.' " .-~" .: ~ - - 226 Tt e ,.Will t:6, Perrrecfion ' " ~AugustineKlraas: S.J. ~IV]HILE recupera, tmg at hls ancestral castle of Loyola ~ from a serious wound received in the battle of Pam-o ploga, Ignatius, to "while .aw~r the lag~iqg hours, reluctantly took to red&rig the lives of the saints. Grace was at x~ork in his s0ul as he b~an to rep~eat over andover to himself: "Suppose I should do. what Saint Francis did, and what Saint Dominic did? Shint Dominic did it, I should do it too; Saint Francis did it, I should do it too." The will to pe_rf~&ioq, already s~t~ong at the beginn~ing of h!s. cgnv.ersi0.h,,.Ignatitis fostered~and de~elbped throughout° his subsequent life; unfalteringly h~ put it into practice.~ It b~tlght him.t9 th'e 16fty heights" of ~anctity, to the summit of spiritual perfe~ctign, to fellowship with Franc'is, Dgminic, and man,.y ~ore. ~" "° "8piritudl p~rfectioti is'a':rfiatte~bf co-'6perating with" the. graee of G6d Whi&i is~alW~ly~ given hbundantl 9 when. asked for in hOmble prayer. We[wh6:pro~ess to sei~k'p{~ife&ioh ari~ somewtJat like"gai~den plants that receive glorious ~un= light ~ind reftesfiing'&v~ from ~ibove. Biai~ these gra~ious gifts Of G6dare'n6t enough~foiSlift! and growth to matu'r- .ity. The robts'df the'~i~lant ~ust' also go down ~eeP irito the soil to draw from it adequate nourishme'nt. That is the constant co-operation witch grace demands of us, and to achieve it, a strong initial impulse must be given and sus-tained. This 'startirig~ p{ash that. goes on:" developi.ng momeritum is the '~ill~t~o~perfection.~ W~ must will, we m~i~t eaffiesti~; d&ir~i .[w~m.ust~ be ~letermined that at an'~r 0~t we ~a~e going"t8 accumhi~it4 al'l the ~a'nctifying grace we 227 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieu~ [or Religious can and also'acquire the highest activity of the love of God and the nelghbor~ posslble.ln ,the particular circumstances of nature and grace allotted to each one individually by an all-wise Providence. The will to perfection is not something physical, as the knit brow, grim jaw, and taut herves of certain mistaken young religious would have us believe; it is not sentiment or feeling though these are frequently present as by-products; it is essentially something in the spiritual nature of man: in his mind which evaluates perfection as a very great good, and above all in his spiritual will. It is not a mere velleity, a "Lord, Lord . . " and nothing more, a willing and no doing; rather it is an effective willing, a resolve that ei~ds in action. Father Le Gaudier likens per-sons who merely will and do not act to ostriches, which sometimes flap their wings ostentatiously as though about to fly away into the air. But nothing.happens, nothing ever happens: the silly birds remain grounded. Out Lord said to the rich young man, "If thou u;ilt be perfect." (Matthew 19:21 ) .~ The first thing to do then is to will perfection, and-to keep on willing it ever more and more, and then to follow through with steadfast, pru-dent action every day. That is precisely what the young man in the Gospel was not prepared to do. He just did n~t have the efficacious will to perfection; hence he did not co-operate with the special grace given him, and conse-quently he missed his great chance, his call to close intimacy with the Savior. II Holy Scripture in many places recommends the will to perfection indirectly, since it is .included in the prayers; aspirations, and good deeds of all God's holy ones. But also directly, especially in David's Psalms: "My soul bath 228 J-l~t, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION cove~ed to long for thy justificationsat all times" (Psalm 118). "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God." (Psalm 41). Did not Solomon receive spiritual wisdom mainly because of his ardent desires for it (Wisdom 7:7)? The prophet Daniel was the "man of desires" of the Old Testament (Daniel 9:23), not so much perhaps because he was beloved of God, but because he wanted so earnestly that God's glory be revealed fully in himself and in others. It can rightly be said that the whole of the Old Testament was one great longing for perfection, since it was a longing for Christ, the Savior, the source and model of all spiritual perfection. This yearning for the more perfect life is the insistent motif of the Church's magnificent Advent liturgy. The New Testament confirms the old. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justness, for they shall have their fill" (Matthew 5:6). "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and let him drink" (John 7:37). And Mary. said: "He hath filled the hungry with good things ¯ . ." (Luke 1:53). Who is the "man of desires" of the New Testament? I thinlY it is St. Paul, that courageous athlete of Christ, and it is manifested on almost every page of his Epistles, for example (Philippians 3: 12-14): Not that I have already secured this, or am already made perfect. Rather I press on, in the hope that I may lay hold of that for which Christ hath laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not. count myself ~o have laid hold of it already. Yet one thing I do; I forget what is behind, and strain forward to what is before, and press on towards the goal, to gain the reward of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Like a runner in a close race Paul "strains forward" to reach the goal of his whole Christian life, world, and suffering. Saint John Chrysostom, commenting on this text, says that not the least of the runner's straining forward is his 229 AUGUSTINE KL/kAS ,' ' ,~ Review for :Religious will: ~and dete~niination to reach the'goal, in this case, the goal .of spiritual perfection. ;Saint Augustine shrewdly remarks that the sum-total of Christian.life is fundamen-tally a matter of holy desires for advancement in perfection: The early ,religious of the primitive deserts were wont to have the aspirant to perfection repeat over and over to him-. self, day and night, for weeks on end this little question: "Why did you come here?" This is what Sai:nt Bernard says (Epistle 341): Did you ever meet with an ambitious man, who, after attaining to one dignity, did not hanker after one of a higher grade? . . . What shall I say of the covetous, are they not ever thirsting after increase of gain? Are dissipated men ever sated with their illicit sex-pleasures? Do not the vainglorious ever go in quest of new honors? If, therefore, the desire of persons who are bent on obtaining the trifles of earth 13e thus insatiable, should we not blush to be less eager after spiritual goods, less eager after perfection? In another letter (Epistle 253) he gives a paradoxical definition: "True perfectidn consists in an unrelenting de-sire of it and assiduous effort to achieve it." Saint Thomas Aquinas' sister, who was a religious, once asked him what she must do to reach perfection. "You must will it," replied the l(arned Doctor of the Church. When with feminine insistence she pressed him with further detailed questions, his only answer was: "You muse will it." And in the Summa (I,.q. 12, a. 6), does he not teach that "desires predispose and render a person apt to receive what he desires"? He writes in his commentary on the text of St.-Matthew (5:6) : " "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after jti~tice: for they shall have their fill.'" The Lord wishes us to thirst fif'ter ~that justice which consists in rendering to every man arid to God first of all what is his due. He wishes us never to be satiated on earth., but rather that our desire,s, bould grow Mw.ays . Blessed are they that bare this insatiable ,desire. , 230 July, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION . Such-is the~.unanim6us verdict~ of the spiritual masters, put into.practice by ~/11 the saints, who valued it highly and even considered it a necessity for advancemqnt~ along the path to perfection; " Let us close this testimony with that remarkable psychologist0 Saint Teresa of Avila; who writes in her Autobiographtj (Chapter 13) : We must have great confidence, for it is most important that we should ngt cramp our good desires, but should believe that, with God's help, if we make continual efforts to do so, we shall attain, though perhaps not at once, to that which many saints have reached through His favor. If they had never resolved to desire to attain this and to carry ~heir desires continually into effect, they' would never have risen to ashigh a state as they did. Against this solid teaching of tradition and experience stands alone the seventeenth century Spanish Quietist, Molinos, who was condemned by Pope Innocent XI for instructing his followers to have ."no desire for their own perfection, nor for virtues, nor for their own sanctity . " III There are certain qualities which the will to perfection shpuld possess. First of all, it-must be supernaturally mo.tivated. God's glory, our own sanctification, the spir-ithal good of the neighbor, these must b.e.the fundamental reasons why we desire to be more perfect in the spiritual lii~e. All-too-human ambition and foolish .vanity are to be excluded. However, a reasonable desire to succeed, to win the esteem of our fellow-religious, to be in the good graces of superiors, and other such merely natural motives, may be profitably utilized in a supplementary way: but the main stress must always be on supernatural motives if our desire for perfection is to be solid and free from illusions. Then it is more apt to be prudent, humble, apd sincere. It must, too, be all-embracing, like perfection itself. It has to include great things and small, hard things and easy, 231 AUGUSTINE KLAAS " Review for "Religio~is the pleasant and the pain'ful; with a special inclination toward the more difficult, and even the heroic, seeing that our actions generally fall short of our laudable ideals. Hence, we may not pick and choose, ~desiring to be perfect in prayer but not in obedience, perfect in our work but not in our play, perfect in pursuing the hobbies andside issues of life we love so much but not in doing our main tasks, perfect in dealing with externs but not with our fellow religious. The list could be considerably lengthened. At the same time, it must be practical, that is, adapted to our particular condition and state of life, in accord with bodily health, mental capacity, and spiritual strength. The universality of our desire for perfection is thus limited, made definite, concretized by our practicality. A teaching religious may have a strong desire to make a holy pilgrim-age on foot to ,Jerusalem--and no doubt his students would approve it, too~but such a desire is normally out of place, at least during the school year. It just is not prac-tical. Another religiou~ may be wanting to lead a more contemplative life by spending a great deal' of time in the chapel, but meanwhile the orphans are creating pandemo-nium, the pupils are hurling erasers, the sick are getting sicker, and the soup is boiling over. It isn't practical. This practicality will be particularly in evidence when we are choosing the means to perfection; and here let me recall that it is not so much the number of actions nor their greatness in the eyes of the world that counts for advancement in per-fection, but rather the more perfect manner of doing a few well-chosen ones. The saints have done nothing if they have not taught us that lesson, namely, that it.doesn't matter so much to/~at we do as bow we do it. Hence, our desire for perfection must take in the whole concrete situa-tion and be eminently realistic; it cannot afford to chase il!usive spiritual butterflies. 232 July, 19 4 7 THE WILL TO.PERFECtION Furthermoie, the desire forperfection must be effective at all times and in all ptaces~ Here the present moment is all-important. -We must desire to be perfect not only when we have taken our first vows, or our final vows, or when we are thirty years old, or forty, or fifty--but now, at the present moment. "'Nunc coepi.'" (Now I have begun.) Like the saints we must learn to value what has been called "the sacrament of the present moment." Nor must the will to perfection be effective just on certain days, on feast-days and not on fast-days, on Sundays and not on Mon-days. The present moment is every moment. No place must be left out: the desire for perfection must be activated in the chapel as well as in the laundry, the classroom, the hospital, the kitchen, the orphanage, the recreation room, everywhere. I like to recall how the sainf of Lisieux struggled With her dislike of that malodorous cheese in the dining room as well as with her annoyance at her neighbor's rattling beads in the chapel. Always and everywhere must the desire of perfection be efficacious, in a simple, .~natural, and balanced way, with no tensefiess, wor.ry, or constraint. Otherwise it can happen, as Holy Scripture sa3is, that "desires kill the ~slothfu1: for his hands have refused to work at all. He longeth and desireth all the day! but he that is just will give, and will not cease" (Proverbs 2:1~:25-26). "Do what you do" is a maxim, which, if followed faithfully, will go a long way towards m~king ~our will to perfection something more than a mere velleity, something more than a will erratically effective only at certain times and places. Finally, the will to perfection must be persevering, so much so that gradually it becomes the dominating desire to which all others are subordinated. "Seek ye first the king-dom of God and His justice . " No more powerful means to .perfection exists than the habitual hunger and 233 thirst-for the higher life of the soul. 2 Indeed, it is an .excel-lent gauge of the degree of perfection a religious has already attained since the desire increases' in ,proportion[ toe his progress in virtue. - IV There are some obstacles to the acquirement and fos-tering, of the will to perfection. Indifference to spiritual perfection itself is, of course, a great hindrance to culti-vating a desire for it. We do not desire whai: we are not interested in. May we lawfully.-adopt.a "don't care" atti-tude of mind towards our own spiritual perfection and consequently neglect to desire and will it? Certainly we may not, and the reason is simply that our greater, perfec-tion is bouiad up with God's greater glory, and no one may b~ wholly indifferent about that: True, one may be of equal mind regarding the various means conducive to per-fection-- riches or poverty, honor~ or dishonor, health or illness, .and the like--since any of them can advance one to perfection and promote God's greater glory. But it is otherwise with perfection itself. God's greater glory, can never demand that we do not seek our own perfection, much less contemn it; hence, we must in some way strive for and desire perfection. " o~ ~ ¯ Perhaps one may admit theoretically what has just been stated, but deny it practically by the tepidity oflone's life. This spiritual torpor, lukewarmness, and Carelessness in the service of God is doubtless the deadliest enemy of perfection and its desire. It warps the judgment; it makes the wiII fickle and inconstant. It is a creeping pa'}alysis which gradually chokes off and Stifles all will to advance in .the 1ore of God and the neighbor, the esSenCe of perfection. It must be resolutely combated;~ it nius~ be replaced by its 0pposit~e, :Which is devotedness, fervor of" sl~iritual life, a 234 Jul~;o~19 4 7 THE WILLTO PERFECTION synonym for the desire of perfection. ",~ ~ . Anothe~r obstacle is what spiritual writers call rnoratism. This is the baneful tendency to be content with the practice of. the moral virtues and with doing only what is strictly obligatoty. The desire for perfection is thus shoit-circuited, human means are relied on rather than divine, our own little schemes and devices are preferred to a generous trust in the grace of God. In a word, it is a kind of naturalism in the spiritual life which reduces the desire of perfection to an ignoble minimum. The remedy, of course, is, a stronger emphasis on the supernatural in our lives and, while not neglecting the moral virtues, a greater insistence on the theolog.ical virtues of faith, hope, and charity, a more determined practice of the counsels. By our desires we must "hitch our wagon to a star."' After all, a Chris-tian should desire to be eery much more than the equiva-lent of a good.pagan, whose ideal of perfection is the golden mean of the natural moral qirtues. Plus XI points to the objective of.Catholic education a's being "thd supernatural man. who thinks, judges and acts consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by t~he supernatural ligh~t of the example and teaching of Christ." If that is applicable to layfolk, how much more so. to religious? There must be no deliberate limiting of ,the desire for perfection, to the lower level of moralism; the desire must surely transcend the minimum observance-of the Ten Commandinents. Similhrly the will to perfection is hobbled by a pre-dominantly negative concept of ~erfection. If we are wholly taken up with avoiding sin and impe'rfection rather than with cultivating the mote positive aspects of spiritual-ity, such as the acquiring of the virtues and the doing of meritorious works, particularly those of supererogation, it is easy to see how this will curtail our desire for perfec-tion. "Accentuate the positive" is an excellent rule to gov-. 235 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review for Religious ern our spiritual desires and ideals. Finally, the desire bf one's own perfection, if not rightly m'anaged and ~controlled, can make one self-centered, self-complacent,, spiritually~egotistic. Too much concern with knowing down to the last detail where one stands on the ladder of perfection, just how much one is advancing from day to day, from hour to hour, by doing this or not doing that, does not make for a healthy spirituality, because this attitude often leads to excessive introspection, exaggerat~ed solicitude for minutiae and the relatively unimportant, uneasiness, preoccupation of mind, destruction of internal peace, and loss of true resignation and conformity to the will of God. All these things will hamper a true desire for progress in virtue. This evidence of a subtle pride and selfishness must be cast out of the soul, especially by puri-fying the motives for seeking perfection. It is good to know in a general way where one stands on the road to perfection, but it does no. good and can be very harmful to go too much into detail about it. Let God and His loving. Providence take care of the precise degree of perfection reached. A good principle here is not to look backward too much but rather by our desires to keep looking forward and upward to the summit of the mountain of Christian perfection. Eyes on God., rather than on one's own petty self! V To awaken and augment a real desire for perfection we must have a deep appreciation of the value of perfection itself. To this it will contribute to have a correct estima-tion of the worth of earthly things as Solomon had when he exclaimed "vanity of vanities," and also to be thor-oughly convinced of the importance of the "one thing necessary" spoken of in the Gospels. From this will flow a clear understanding that in the scale of values the desire of 236 ,I~l~1, 1947 " THE WILL TO PERFECTION perfection, when tightly comprehended, is .above all other desires. : The grace of God is needed to make this desire habitual and ever more fruitful; hence, for this grace, we must humbly pray. Can there be any more l~recious thing to pray for? Meditations, examens of conscience, spiritual reading, monthly recollections, retreats, all should be directed to arousing and stimulating the will to perfection, ~specially by proposing tO the mind the correct and most effective motives for will-action: God's glory, our own per-sonal sanctification, the spiritual good of the neighbor. Another help to foster and a~tivate the desire ~for per-fection is to study the lives of. Our Lord, of His Blessed Mother, of the saints, and .of other holy persons. Example always has the effect of engendering a desire to emulate. Saint Ignatius Loyola. is not the only saint who found example a powerful stimulus to the perfect life. It will also aid us to be on the alert to take advantage of the various circumstances of time and place to increase our desire for perfection. In this way, our trials, sufferings, failures, even our sins and imperfections, if rightly used, as well as our successes and triumphs, can be made into steppingstones to greater perfection, if only we seize upon these golden opportunities to whet our appetite for God and His love. Lastly, if we now have no real desire for perfection, or only a very feeble one, let us desire to have that desire and pray for it perseveringly. Spiritual writers say that such a manifestation of good will is almost always rewarded by .a gift from God. VI If the desire for perfection becomes the one, all-consuming, all-pervading passion of the religious, if 237 AUGUSTINE KLAAS' de.spising thethings bf earth:,heconq'uers human ,resp'ect;and_ can honestly say with David: "For what have I in heaven?: and besides thee what do l'desire~ upon, earth?, ¯ For thee my flesh and heart hath fainted awaY/:, thou, oart the God of m~ heart, and the'God thatis my portion'forever'', .('Psalm then there willl come into hisAife a~deeposense'of personal freedom, detachment from transitory created~ al,lurements, a"growing generosity in God's service, and an unexpected happiness. For wherever there is generosity of will and intention, there is spiritual joy: And God in His turri will not be outdone. He will pour out His gracesandfavors on the largehearted religiouso as He did of old on Daniel, on Paul, and on all those other men and women~of consuming desire for perfection. He will satisfy.that hunger and slake that. thirst.with His celestial gifts. Hol,y. desires are very meritorious in the sight of God~ even though some particular longings are not realized because oof circumstances beyond the .contro.1 of the reli-gious.~ Sb6uld fiecessity or:~obedience thwart ;i particular desir~e t~o do something .generous for God's gl6ry, that desire .will receiv:e :its .full-reward an~rway, as Saint Bernard cor-rectly notes. (Epistle 77) : .',The. desire is reckoned as the, deed itself by God,,when the deed is hind~ered by necessity." Hence~ it isono~illusion to desire to do great and~ even heroic things for Christ, such as going on the foreign missions, or undergoing martyrdom, and the; like, even, if there,,is little possibility of their, realization. Ir~ a particular case, God may. really want.only the d~sire~ and hence He will reward it as though it had been fulfilled. , ~ . The fruitful desire of perfection is of immense benefit, not only to ourselves, but to the neighbor also. It will blossom into a zealous apost01at.e, it will add honor and splendor to the w, bole' cburcbof G0d) and ~best ofall it will give grea~"glory, t6 God~ not 6ia]~r~in~ this w6rld, -but' 238. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS through6ut eternity. ' ' " ~' To conclu~te With Clement: Of "Alexa~drih, cgmm~nting on Christ's offer of the p~fect life. tb the rich young~ man (Migne, Patr~logid Graeca, IX, 613) : ° "If thou u~ilt~ be perfectly! Therefore he was not yet perfect . . , and the words if thou wilt divinely show the liberty of the soul which is dealing,with the Lord. ¯ It was in the power of the man, who was free, to choose.; to give was the prerogative of God, as being the Lord. He gives to those who will, to those who make an effort, to those,who pray . God after all, does.not force anyone . He gives to those who ask, He opehs to those who knock. Let us then with God's grace will, and do, and pray; and spiritual perfectionwill surelybe ours to God's greater glory andour own everlasting happiness. Quesffons ncl Answers . What should be the conduct "of the r.ec~pient.of Ho|y Communion should a tiny particle of the Host, unnoticed by the priest, fall.upon his person?, " ~ .Because of the words "tiny particle" this question needs cautious answering. Some people are prone to see "tiny particles" everywhere. For them, the only prudent course of ~action is to ignore what they think are "tiny particles." Putting aside, therefore, the question of imaginary particles, the communicant who notices that a Host or a real particle of a Host has fallen upon his person should .wait at the communion rail and call the priest's attention to the fact. --17- Is" there anything in the Code which mlcjhf be construed as; an obliga-tion on the part of higher superiors to give Sisters a one- or two-week vacation annually? ¯ ~ The Code makes no explicit provision for an annual vacation for Sisters--but:we are inclined to wish that it did. Moreover, since some kind 6f vacation appears to be a normal requisite for preserving 239 QUESTI~)NS AND ANSWERS Reoieto for ~Religious good health and for fostering a wholesome,, c'ommu~ity .~pirit, it seems "that superiors have an implicit duty o~f trying .to provide such a vacation. This statement may call for some further explanation, for there seems to be much confusion concerning what constitutes a vaca-tion for Sisters. In some cases "vacation" app~ar~s to be synonymous with "annual retreat." This is particularly the case with regard to hospital Sisters; but it is not uncommonly verified in many teaching institutes in which the yearly round 'of activities may be 'summed up thus: teachm summer school--retreat---clean house--teach. In view of the fact that Sisters commonly make a fervent retreat, it is nothing less I~han fantastic to consider their retreat as a vacation. In other cases the Sisters' vacations consist in visiting their parents for several days. Of course, this is a "break," and in that sense it is a vacation. But it is not a vacation in the true, and par-ticularly the religious, sense of the word. Often enough these visits are characterized by strenuous activity and loss of sleep, and are therefore not even physically relaxing. However, even if in some cases they provide physical rest and release of mental strain, they are hardly a religious vacation. A vacation f0~religious should serve the purpose of intensifying the community spirit: and this purpose is cer.tainly not achieved b~y going off'for a time with one other Sister tO live ampng seculars, even though the~e seculars be relatives and very saintly persons. Still another misnomer for a vacation is teaching in a vacation school. This too may be a "break." The Sisters get away from strict community life for a time; and some find the novelty, very enjoyable, even though the' work may be hard. Nevertheless, though novel, though enjoyable, though mentally relaxing, it is not what we mean by a religious ,vacation. What do we mean by a vacation? Perhaps the following ~tory will illustrate what we mean: A certain mother general who was keenly interested in the spiritual progressl of her subjects, was thinking of having an inten-siv6, spiritual program that would last about thirty days; and she asked a priest friend what he ~thought of the idea. This priest happened to be a man who leans strongly towards what might be called a practical view of life . "Well, Mother,'Y he replied, after having considered the idea, "'if you can spare your Sisters from their duties for thirty° days, I 240 July, 1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS think the best thing to do would be to give them an eight-day retreat and three weeks' vacation." "A vacation!" she exclaimed in astonishment~ "ddst what would they do with a vacation? They're often here at the mother-house. It's a lovely, s~0acious place. Isn't that. vacation enough?" "I agree with you~it is a nice place. Nevertheless, a mother-house is a motherhouse. It has an atmosphere of strict discipline and constant occupation. I suppose you could plan for a vacation here; but you would really have to plan it, or you might run into diffi, culties. When I speak of giving Sisters a vacation, I am thinking of your getting a pla~e away from your regular houses--a place that's private, where many Sisters could go together and rest and play games and, above all, get to know one another. Religious can go through the stress and strain of ordinary duties, and scarcely get to know one another. In fact, when they are always under strain, they can build up mutual dislikes that grow through the years to vast proportions. This can be largely offset by a good community vaca-tion. In relaxation and recreation the religious see one another in a new light, and often discover remarkably fine qualities that they never knew existed. In my opinion, there's nothing like a good com-munity vacation for fostering a good community spirit." She thought over his suggestion for a time, and then asked him: "In-this ideal vacation of yours what happens to the spiritual exercises ? "There's an old maxim to the effect that there's no vacation from the spiritual life. I won't deny that; hence I make allowance for spiritual e~ercises in my plan for the ideal religious vacation. But let's confine it to the ordinary exercises and not use this vacation as a time for adding more and more prayers to the usual ones." Thus far the story. Readers may agree or disagree with the priest, as they see fit. For ourselves, we believe that his idea is worth considering a.nd developing. W~e realize, of course, that many superiors who agree wholeheartedly with the idea are handicapped by tre-mendous difficulties, especially financial, in carrying it out. Nevertheless, difficulties are not always as insuperable as they first appear. We believe that some institutes of Sisters have already worked out satisfactory vacation plans. From practical experience these Sisters may have suggestions that would be profitable to others. If they wish to send these suggestions to us, we will gladly publish them in the REVIEW. 241 QUESTI.ONS~ AND ANSWER,S I) Are superiors required by canon law t6 comply with the wishes of a subject who for a worthy cause asks for a change 6f residence? (2) If the subiect!s reason for inak[ng, the ~request is a'problem of conscience,° is, he obli~jed to reveal to the superio'r the nature of this problem? °~Fh'ese. two questions, alth(~ugh'~oming from different sources, are intirrhitely connected. Arid since they,deal with a matter of th~ high~st importance in the religious life, an unusually detailed answer seen~s called for. Ca~on law contains no specific provision concerning the assign-men~ of religious, The first question, therefore, must rather be answered in the'light of the principles concerning"the government of religious. Sir~c~ this government ofight to be paternal, it seems to follow logically that superiors are obliged to grant reasonable requests of subjects unless the superiors have equally good reasons for refusing them. To apply.this principle in a concrete case a religious superior must consider not only the request of the individual subject but also factors that pertain to other individual religious and to the ihstitute as a whole. The individual who asks for a change of residence is quite, naturally looking at the matter from his own point of view; and from this point of view he may have one or more of many good reasons fbr requesting the change. Forinstance: one's health is poor anti'would probably be greatly benefited by a change; there is strife in the present community, and great peace can be expected from a chari'ge;' a~ teacher is doing poorly in his present assignment 'and feels that if. he could go elsewhere and get'a new start all wotild be well an occasion of sin has'developed, and it seems that~the most efficacious means of avoiding sin is to get away from the pre,sent circumstances.', These are dxamples of good reasons for asking for a change., Some are n/ore serious than others; .yet a stibjec't who~for any oneof'these reasons, or for some similar reason, requests a change of residence is certainly asking "for a worthy cause,'Liis the question puts it. The superior who receives such a~request is bound in conscience to give it prudent consideratibn. The first step .in this prude.nt con-siddration is to weigh the reason itself. If the. superior honestly judges that the subject'would not reap ,the expected benefit from the,requested change, he can hardly have an obligation to.grant it. The obligation in this case is rather on the subject; ~he should either appeal, his case to a ihigher superior, if he thinks it. sufficiently serious, or accept this particular disposition of Divine Providence and.~do the best he can 242 duly, 1947 , QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS under the circumstances. Obviously it is possible for the superior to be mistaken in his judgn~ent, for t~e has no charism of infallibility; yet, granted that he has acted prudently and sincerely, he has nothing with which to reproach himself if subsequent events ifidicate th;it he was unwise in denying the request. Even when the superior'judges that th~ requested change~would be beneficial, it is not always obligatory, .or even permissible, to grant it. For, although patebnal government implies an intimate familial relationship between the superior and the individfial subject, it does not° change tl~e fact that the superior's primary~ duty is to seek~ the common good. He must view the individual's need in the light of the needs of otl~ers and particularly of the entire community.or eritire instittite; ~nd he can reasonably grant requests of.individuals only when they do not Conflict with the greater good. That such conflicts can easily arise" seei~S~ obvious, sirice, ~:he reassigning ~f oile religious usfially involves at least one'other chfing~, and frequently it cannot be accomplished without many changes. ~As one example of~, a" Worthy caule for requestii~g a ch,~ange,,~of residence we mentioned the necessity of avoiding an occasion "dr 'sift: A consideration of' this and of othel reasons of co~iscien~e leads'logi-cally to the very delicate problem indic~tei:l by the second question." namely, how much information must be given the superiol Whe~ change is requested for sfich personal rehsons? There seem~ ~obe a difference of opinion here. As' a clear expression of one ~Vie~, ~ve quote the foll6wing from a letter ient to our editorial board by a priest who is much ihterested in this problem. " "The Code," he wrot~, "forbids a'~onfessor to interfere With the internal government of any religious con~munity. Yet very often matters pertaining to commiinity life also pertain t6 the forum of conscience. Mindful of the Code"and mifidful also of the spi/itual welfare of a religious, the confessor may deem it ne~ces~ry o.r veiy imperative that there b'e a change of ~esidence, 6f.assignmfint, of the community doctor or dentist to be visited for professional purposes, and so forth. ThUd advice ~iven us during our cdurse in p~astoral' theology was to study well the case and then to say to t~e/eligious: 'Tell your provincial or local superior that your confessor adviies.you to ask for a change of residence, of assignment, and so forth.' In the estimation of the confessor tha~t_ should be sufficient: a prbble~ of consci~nce'~exists, and a changeowould be definifeiy helpful in sol'ving it. The superiors a're thus° made aware of theproblei6 basefi"6n QUESTIONS AND ANSWER,S Revie~u [or Religious reasons,of conscience (reasons ,which no religious is bound to reveal to the superior). And yet, strange to say, the request has been turned down ! , "How such a refusal can be justified is beyond me. The confessor can err, but he is in possession of knowledge which the superior has not. The reason of exterior regularity cannot outweigh the'spiritual needs of an individual. Is not the spiritual betterment of each reli. gi6us the first concern of superiors? And is there not for the superior who may judge that ~a confessor has been 'taken in' by religious a means to have the confessor changed, i.e.~ by asking the removal of the confessor from the local ordinary, who can change the confessor without giving the reason? Hence it would seem that a request such as was,stated above should be granted by the superior of the religious who forwards it. The superior may have ~doubts, but the doubt should ordinarily favor the religious and especially the confessor of the xeligious. Personally, I cannot see how any superior can pit his or her judgment against a request that is advised or approved by the confessor, especially w.hen abuses can be stopped by a recourse to the bishop." This is one view .of the matter, strongly and clearly expressed. But it seems to us that there is another side, and we should like to indic~ate it. Let us suppose that a religious has a real difficulty of conscience: for example, an occasion of serious sin: and he goes to his superior with a request for a change of residence. He tells the superior that his confessor told him to ask for the change; he does nQ~t reveal in any way the specific nature of his difficulty. Everyone would agree, no doubt, 'that the superior may take a prudent confessor's word con-cerning the spiritual need of his penitent: and if this were the only factor to be considered in making a chlnge of assignment the superior would not need more definite information. But can this question of reassigning a religious always be so utterly simplified? For instance, how is the superior who is ignor-ant of the nature of the subj ct's difficulty to know that the new assignment will not be more dangerous than the present one? And how is the superior to judge who can be safely called upon to replace the religious in his present assignment?. And since changes like this not infrequently in;colve inconveniences for communities, how is the superior to judge whether the subject's need is sufficient to offset these inconveniences? After all, even conscience problems vary greatly in 244 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS degree; and we doubt if it can be stated as an absolutely generalprln-ciple that all conscience problems must take precedence over the external needs of the community or institute. It depends on what these conscience problems are and what these community needs are~ The superior may be well aware of the needs of the community, but he Can hardly make the necessary comparison if the subject withholds all information concerning the precise nature of his personal diffi-culty. W'e wonder sometimes if the view that the superior has no right to know the nature of a conscience problem is not closely connected with a misinterpretation of ~the canonical legislation concerning mani-festation of conscience. From the fact that the Church forbids superiors to exact a manifestation of conscience, many seem to con-clude that a superior never has a.right to know a subject's conscience problem and that the subject r~eve~" has a duty to make known the nature of his problem. It seems to us that these r~ever's are too abso-lute. Taken at their face value and applied universally, they mean that in many instances the Church wishes to sacrifice prudent govern-ment in order to preserve a so-called liberty of conscience even when this might be harmful to the individual. Even i~ we suppose that a subject never has a strict obligation to reveal the nature of a cohscience difficulty to a superior, a good reli-gious': would not be justified in translating this into an attitude .which amounts'to, "My conscience is none of the superlor's business~" The canon law defiiaitely encourages the practice of ~voluntary manifesta-tion of conscience to priest superiors; and if this is encouraged as a normal practice, it is certainly advisable at a time of special n'eed. ~ With r.egard, to manifestation of conscience to lay superiors (for example, to Sisters), we have often heard it said that the Church p~sitively disdourages the manifestation of conscience difficukies .to them. Perhaps this notion is traceable to the Index to the Code; and it may be well to call attention to the fact that this Index is a private document, not officially promulgated by the .Church. Both Father Creusen and Father Schaefer, who are certainly among the best authorities on the canon law for religious, say that the Church neither encourages nor forbids the voluntary manifestation of conscience difficulties to lay superiors: In this opinion, which seems to squar~ perfectly with the wording of canon 530, § 2, the Church simply leaves the matter of voluntary manifestation" of conscience problems to lay superiors to be solved in' individual Cases according to sound 245 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS pastoral principles. ~ ' It is clearl'y contrary to soundp~storal principles to open one's conscience .to a lay superior,°for the purpose, of getting advice that the superior is n0tcompetent to give. But itis quite in ac'cord with these .principles to reveal one'~ conscience difficulties to a lay superior ~in order to get encoura~einent and especially to get the help required for putting a director's or confesso£s advice intd effect. Those who shy that the Church positively discourages the manifestation of conscience difficulties t6 laysuperiors seem to be unaware of this very important distinction between expert advice on the one hand, and such things as sympathy, encourageinent, and practical help on the other. We have g6ne to some length in treating this matter of manifes-tation of conscience because many of the questions and suggestions that we have received in recent years indicate that subjects often lack filial confidence in their superiors; and this deplorable condition seems to exist among both religious men and religious women. And the fault is by no means all on the side 6f the subject. Some superiors give their subjects the impression that they are not interested in the personal, affairs of individuals: they want only efficiency, external achievement, financial success. Othe/ superiors, after listening willinglyto the subject's diffigulties, appear to be unconscious of the grave obligation of secrecy that the very nature of such communica-tions demands. There is need, it seems, of sincere self-examination on both sides.~::superiors and subjects--ifothe ideals.of paternal, gov~ ern_men.t_and filial confiden_ce are to be adequately attained. We conclude with the following direct answers to the questions. proposed : , ~ ~. 1) The superior is obliged to comply with the request'of the subject if,.after having prudently weighed al~l pertinent circumstances (namely,,.the need of the one making the request, the needs of other r.eligious, of the community, and so f0rth),~ he judges that the reassignment is necessary . 2) In general, it may be said that a superior is entitled to all the information he needs in order to make a prudent decision' of a case. It follows from this that a superior who judges that further informa-tion is necessary before making a change is not violating the rights of the_ subje.ct by refusing to make the change without such informa-tion; and in this case of justifiable refusal a subject who is conscious of, a serious need Of. a change in order to. avoid ,a proximate occasion of morta'l sin seems to. have a strict obllgatio.n to reveal the n~ture of 246 JuI~,1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS his problem, at. least to the extent required for prudent consideration by the superior. If, on the other hand, the superior is satisfied with such'general statements as "I would like a reassignment as a matter of conscience--because my confessor, or spiritual director, advises it," , the subject is nor strictly obliged to volunteer further information. So much for the obligation, The ideal solution is that such familial confidence prevail between superior and subject that the latter can readily explain the nature of his problem to the superior and thus get the maximum of prudent co-operation. We think that this applie~ to all religious institutes, wl'iether clerical or lay, whether of men or of women. 19 What is the proper method of disposing of an amputated llmb? According to a reply of the Holy Office given on August 3, 1897, the amputated limbs of Catholics should, if possible, be buried in a sacred place. The Holy Office suggested that hospitals have a small plot of blessed ground for this precise purpose. The amputated limbs of non-Catholics should be buried in unblessed ground. In b'oth cases--namely, of Catholics and non-Catholics--if the doctors insist on it, the Sisters may burn the amputated limbs. This reply of fifty years ago is still, taken as the norm for the proper disposal of amputated limbs. It should be noted that the reply" is quitemoderate in tone. It makes allowan& for difficult "cir-cumstafi~ es: *for exampld, in many plades it might be impbssible to have the "small pldt of blessed ground in the garden of the hos- ¯ pital"; in fact, this might be contrary to civil law. According to a quite reasonable interpretation, it also allows for the burning of limbs that are dangerously diseased, and for the saving of amputated" parts for, examination purposes. We suggest that, if there are any special difficulties in this matter, the local chancery ~office be consulted.Circumstances may call for different policies in different places. m20-- Who is the proper authority to decide the term of office of a mother superior? How long may she remain in office? With regard to local superiors, the Code itself is quite explicit, They are "not to bold office for more than three years; on the expira-tion "of 'this term they can be reappointed to the same offices if the constitutions permit it, but not immediately for a third term in the 247 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS same religious house," The term of office of higher superiors is to be determined by the duly approved constitutions. The usual policy of the Congregation of Religious, in ap~proving congregations of Sisters, is to limit the mother general to two successive terms of six year§ each. She may not be immediately re-elected to a third term. ~2 Im If the ordinary confessor frequently fails fo make an appearance and there should be a real need of informing the bishop, who makes the report Ethe superior of the convent or institution? or the chaplain? In the case of a convent connected with a parish, is it the superior or the pastor who makes the report? Whenever there is real need of informing the bishop of the failure of a confessor to make his appearance, the superior should make the report. Neither the chaplain nor the pastor has anything to do with such matters. ~22m In convents, who applies for faculties for retreatsmthe local superior or the chaplain? The practice varies in different dioceses. In some the locai superior requests the faculties; in others, the chaplain; in still others, the retreat master himself; and finally some r~quire that the retreat master's religious superior make the application. The bishop of the diocese should be consulted and his wishes followed. Our constitutions prescribe that for each deceased Sister we say, as soon as possible, the Office of the Dead, or fifty Our Fathers, adding after each Our Father: "Eternal rest grant unto her, 0 Lord," and so forth. Now the rubric in the Office of the Dead prescribes that after every psalm the following be said: "Requiem aeternam dona els . . . E'f lux perpetua luceat els." even if the Office is recited for only one person. If the fifty Our Fathers are said instead of the Office, which is more properly used, the singular or the plural form of the pronoun? While it is true that when reciting the Office of the Dead the plural form is always used, it is also true that the liturgical form for the absolution recited over the corpse after the funeral Mass.uses the singular. Hence it seems quite proper to use the singular when saying the Our Fathers and Hail Marys for a specific deceased Sister. 248 Book Reviews THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE: Prelude of Eternal Life. By the Rev. R. Garrlg~u-Lagrange, O.P. Volume One. Translated by Sister M. Timoth'ea Doyle, O.P., Rosary Collecje, River Forest, lll;no~s. Pp. xxiv -f- 494." B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, Missouri, 1947. Ss.o0. For many years Father Garrigou-Lagrange, the distinguished professor of the Angelicum, Rome, and one of the most eminent of contemporary Dominicans, has been writing on ascetical and mystical themes. Besides many articles in various periodicals, he has to his credit several volumes on spiritual subjects. Some years ago he pub-lished a systematic and formal treatise on the whole field, thus giving a unified, balanced, and complete expression to his ideas on the spir-itual life. Now the first volume of this work appears in English. Perhaps the salient feature of this study is the preoccupation of the author with his thesis that infused contemplation comes within the normal development of the interior life. For a generation and more there has been a great debate over "the question. Father Gar-rigou- Lagrange has been one of the leaders in it, and evidently he is still waging a vigorous battle in defense of his doctrine: "When we' say, in short, that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith is necessary for sanctity, we mean morally necessary; that is, in the majority of cases a soul could not reach sanctity without,it, We.shall add that without it a soul will not in reality possess the full perfec. tion of Christian life, which implies the eminent exercise of~.the theological virtues and of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which accom-pany them. The purpose of this book is to establish this thesis" (page 23). The whole work is divided into five parts, only two of them being contained in this volume. The first part deals with "the sources of the interior life and its end." It explains certain of the great Christian dogmas that have special relevance to the super-natural life: Thus there are chapters.~on the life of grace, the super-natural organism, the virtues--theological and moral, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, the Mys.tical Body of Christ, the mediation of 'the Blessed Virgin Mary, and so on. After'this dogmatic section comes a discussion of the primary ascetical questions: for instarice, the nature of perfection, the gran- 249 ¯ BOOK REVIEWS Reoiew [or Religious deurs of it, heroism .in. virtue, the passive purgations, the love of God, t~ae,'evangellcat counse!,s?'t~ae special obligations of priests and reli-gious to, pursue perfection, and other such matters. The second, rd, and fourth parts correspond to the tradtttonal three' ways m the spmtual~hfe' ~purgat~ve, ~llummat~ve, and umt~ve. Fmally~ the fi~th ~ar¢ ~i]l'~eal with ~extr~0rdinar~- graces, such as visions', ieve-lations, stigmatlzation,.and oth'e# unusuat ~henome~a. This work, like a much smaller one published some year'~ ago by the sam~ afithor (Les Trois Co~oecsions et les Trois Voles, r932), takes iks name ~om an interesting analogy between the natural and supernatural lives. Both lives consist of three periods or stag~s, and each 0f these three is ushered in by a crisis. Naturally, birth is the fiist crisis and introduces one to childhood. To birth corresponds the 'beginning of One's spiritual life a~ about the seventh year, or wfien~wr one is converted to a really interior life. Beginners are children in spiritual matters: their virtues will not be well devel-oped; their form of mental prayer is rather discursive; special inspi-rations of the Holy Spirit will be latent; there is no great degree of docility to Him; and they will be conscious of self-activity rather than of beifig moved from above. The second crisis in the natural life is pubec&, leading to the age of adolescence, with its~psych~logical as well as physical character-istics. The supernatural correlatives, are the "night of sense" (St. John of the Cross), the" initial forms of in~used (ontemplation passively" purifying the inferior faculties and subjecting them' to the spirit, arid the condition of ~roficientsTgrowing and advancing in-the illuminativ~ way. Now one's virtues become solid, the operaSions of the ~iftS become more manifest, and one assumes more or less the disposition of tile counshls: But if the ~aithful soul keeps striving earnestly and long enough, it will reach and successfully undergo a third crisis answering to "that of first liberty," attaining one's majodtq about the age of twenty-one and'eKtering upon full adulthood. Thd "night of the spirit," a sort of purgatory upon earth, will put one through a most thorough-going and painful purification and will prepare one to ascend th~ highest rungs of the mystical ladder. Then one is~ num-bered among the perfect and is in the uniti#e way. At any point in this supernatural evolution a person may fa~l to go on as he should; if so, he becomes something of a spiritual dwarf or midget. ~. AUG. E~A~, S.J. 250 dul~l, "! 947 BOO.K REVIEWS TERESA, JOHN, AND THERESE:.A Family Portralf of Thr~ee Great Car-melltes: Teresa of Avila, Jbhn of the Cross,~Therese ;f Li'sleu,x.-:o By the Reverend Father Brice, ~C.P. PFi. 336. Frederi¢~ ,Pusfef C6~,mPa~y: New York and Cindnnatl, 1946. $4.00. Few saints are as competent~to, i~spir.e us, to restore and elevate our supernatural vision, to inflame our affections for divine realities, as the Carmelite eagles Teresa, John, and Therese. Each one familiarly known and loved is a powerful aid to sanctity. But a comparative study of the three is .particularly enlightening and fruit-ful. For instance, how many are aware that God's principal tool in fashioning the sanctity of the lovable Therese was the austere John of the Cross? Father Bri& brings competent knowledge to his wel-come study of this spiritual trio; and though his love for all three is deep and sincere, the little Therese is plainly his favorite. Teresa, John/and Therese is adapted to the comprehension qf any intelligent Catholic, religious or.lay. In the mind of the author the three saints exemplify not merely the religious but the Christian way of life. Particular profit, however, is in store for religious and priests who read these pages reflectively. M~ny a brief chapter is fine'matter for meditation, though the work as a whole is perhaps too demanding for table reading. TWo' themes intedbck throughbut; the a~tivity and virtues~of¯ ,, each of th~ thre,e,~ ~ an°d~ ti~ inteyplay. ~ o ,0, of Te'res~i~ ~;nd John. on each. other and of both on Therese. Incident. and quotation, with which'the book abounds,~ are selected car'efully to,give us an ~x~ct and mo~cin~ family portrait. "~ ¯ ~ ~:'~" ~ As~Father Brice intended, we~ leave° Teresa, dohn, oa~t:d Thecese with a keen desire to deepen our acquaintance by firsthand contact. We fiave learnei:I l~d kno~ our ~uides'~eJl eriotigh to entrusl3 ourselves gladly t? i~i~m in the a~c~e~ot~, the' hi~her peaks. R. ~D. Hu8~, ~s~.2-. REFLECTIONS ,ON, THE SUNDAY,COLLECTS ~OF THE~ ROMAN MIS,,SAL. ,~By Sister ¯ Mary, G;nzaga~,Haessly. :' P~p; i32. 'The,Grail: St." Melnradl Ind. 19~,~>. "$~;00: " ' This book brings together, some of the best commentary on the Sunday collects in convenient and usable form. For each of the collects the~e ~s gtven the Latin text with a modern English translation f0ilowed b~ two pages of explan-';tion of the gist of the prayer. Since the collect of each Mass often summarizes the teachihff o~ the Epistle'and the Gosp_el, the bookfis in effect an excellent source for meditation matter reflecting the thoughts and petitions voiced by,the Church during .Sunday Mass from the time of St. Augustine to the present day. Simple re.adingof the explanation of the collect for one,Sunday will sometimes render all °the proper prayers of the Mass for that day vastly, more intelligible. Once in possession of the meaning of. the prayers a religious can more eas!ly make ,their.expres_sion his~o~wn and more fervently lift up mind and heart in union with the Church Universal. 251 BOOK REVIEWS Reoieto for Religio~s In recommending this book we mus( remark ~fia~ the lar~er work of which this is a part was originally written as a doctoral dissertation on the rhetoric of the Sunday collects. In revising the manuscript and adapting it for popular use the au(hor has sacrificed the discourses 9n rhetoric without sacrificing scholarship. roT, L. MACNAIR, S.J. BOOK NOTICES From fragments of letters, diaries, and narratives of Mar~'knoll Sisters in the Far Eastern war areas, Siste~ Mary de Paul Cogan in SISTERS OF MARYKiqOLL: THROUGH TROUBLED WATERS has woven an inspiring account of the war years. There is something about letters

Issue 19.2 of the Review for Religious, 1960. ; Review Prayer for the General Council by The Sacred Apostolic Peniten~tiary The Psychological Possibility of Intellectual Obedience by Thoinas Dub'ay, S.M. Temptation: A ÷ R = S by John Carroll Futrell, s.J. Charity the Unifying Principl'e of Religious Life by Sister Consuela Marie, S.B.S. Neuroticism and Perfection by Richard P. Vaughan, S.J. Survey of Roman Documents Views, News, Previews Questions and Answers Book Reviews 65 67 77 83 93 102 106 109 119 . Prayer for the General Council Sacred APostolic Penitentiary [The following prayer and the declaration of the attached indulgences is translated from Acta Apostolicae Sedis.I DIVINE SPIRIT, who were sent by the Father in ~.he name of Jesus and who remain present in the Church to govern her unerringly, pour forth, we ask of You, the fullness of Your gifts upon the ecumenical council. Tenderest of teachers and of comforters, enlighten the minds of our holy prelates who, in eager allegiance to the Roman Pontiff, will make up the assemblies of the sacred synod. Grant that abundant fruit thay come from this council; may the light and the strength of the Gospel be diffused'more deeply and more widely throughout human society; may the Catholic religion and the diligent work of the missions flourish with increased vigor; and may the happy result be a fuller knowledge of the teaching of the Church and a salutary progress in Christian morality. 0 welcome Guest of the soul, establish our minds in truth and bring our hearts to a ready obedience so that what is determined in the council may be sincerely accepted and promptly fulfilled by us. We also pray to You for those sheep who are not yet of the one fold of Jesus Christ; as they glory in the name of Christian, so may they finally come to true unity under the guidance of the one Pastor. By a kind of new Pentecost renew your marvelous works in this our time; .grant to Holy Church that, unanimously and insistently persevering in prayer together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, she may, under the guidance of St. Peter, enlarge the kingdom of the divine Savior, a kingdom of truth arid of justice, of love and of peace. Amen. September 23, 1959 By virtue of ~he powers given to it by His Holiness John XXIII, the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary makes the following grants: 1) a partial indulgence of ten years to be gained by the 65 PRAYER FOR THE GENERAL COUNCIL faithful who recite the above prayer devoutly and with contrite heart; 2) once a month a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions if they have :piously recited the prayer for an entire month. All things to the contrary not withstanding. N. Card. CANALI, Penitentiary Major S. de Angelis, Substitute 66 The Psychological Possibility of Intellectual Obedience Thomas Dubay, IF ANYTHING is anathema to our western world it is thought control in whatever guise it may appear. Understandably enough, our democratic horror at the least restriction on freedom of thought and expression strikes a sympathetic note in the heart of the western religious, for even he cannot escape the moods of a pluralistic society. So true is this sympathy for freedom, that not a few religious find the commonly taught doctrine on obedience of the intellect an incomprehensible, if not impossible bit of spirituality. One can encountei good religious whose very constitu-tions carry a stipulation on obedience of the judgment and yet who are almost scandalized by that stipulation, who may even think it a mistaken insertion because they view it either as im-possible of fulfillment or as an unjust attempt to curtail reasonable freedom. In this article we. propose to investigate psychologically the theory and the practice of intellectual obedience, that is, the conforming of one's judgment to the judgment of the superior. We will preface our analysis, however, with a review of the com-monly received doctrine on obedience of the intellect, a doctrine classically enunciated by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his well-known letter on obedience and recently sealed by the strong words of Pope Pius XII in his 1957 address to the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. What Is Intellectual Obedience? Before answering our question positively, we might with profit dwell for a moment on what intellectual obedience is not. Con- " forming one's judgment to the superior's judgment d~es not mean merely that upon receiving an apparently unwise command, the subject judges that in these concrete circumstances he (the subject) ' intellectually agrees that the superior is to be obeyed. A religious does not make the superior's judgment his own simply by ac-cepting the intellectual proposition that this command must be The Reverend Thomas Dubay is presently stationed at Notre Dame Seminary, 2901 S. Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans 18, Louisiana. 67 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious executed, for that is accepting a solid truth of ascetical theology, not a superior's judgment. Obedience of the understanding is more than an intellectual acceptance of the theory behind religious obedience. Secondly, obedience of judgment does not mean that a religious violates his intellectual honesty by "agreeing" with the superior no matter how patently wrong the latter may be -- and sometimes is. Nor does it mean that a subject must think as his superior thinks on any subject whatsoever. The superior has no infallible authority from God and no universal commission to teach, and so he has no right to expect his subjects to be of one mind with him on free questions unrelated to religious obedience. If intellectual obedience is none of these, what, then, is it? Although a religious can avoid an offense against the virtue or the vow of obedience by a mere execution of the matter commanded, yet perfection adds to execution a full surrender of both the will and the intellect. There are, consequently, three elements nec-essarily included in an act of lJerfect obedience: execution of the superior's directive, wanting to execute it because of the superior's authority, and thinking in its regard as the superior thinks insofar as such is possible. As regards this third element, we can hardly improve on St. Ignatius' explanation, an explanation ratified by the explicit authority of the Sovereign Pontiff: "He who aims at making an entire and perfect oblation of himself, besides his will, must offer his understanding, which is a distinct degree anal the highest degree of obedience. He should not only wish the same as the Superior, but think the same, submitting his own judgment to the Superior's, so far as a devout will can incline the understanding. For although this faculty has not the freedom which the will has, and naturally assents to what is presented to it as true, there are, however, many instances where the evidence of the known truth is not coercive, in which it can with the help of the will favor one side or the other. When this happens, every obedient man should bring his thought into conformity with the thought of the Superior" (Letter on Obedience, translated by William J. Young, S.J. [New York: America Press, 1953], p. 10). It is not our purpose here to develop the idea of intellectual obedience, but rather to analyze its possibility from the psycholog-ical point of view. Our aim, then, can be ~atisfied by two or three illustrations of the Ignatian teaching. Father X, a religious priest, is attached to a parish, and during Lent is charged by his superior to preach a series of sermons on the capital sins. Father X rightly 68 March, 1960 |NTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE believes he knows the parish and its needs well, and he further thinks that those who come to Lenten devotions need a series of sermons on fraternal charity far more than one on the capital sins. Surely the difference of opinion between Father X and his superior is not~black and white either way. As is the case with most com-mands in religious life, the evidence is not coercive; the matter is at least debatable. If Father X has a "devout will" in the Ignatian sense, he will try insofar as he can to see and accept his superior's judgment about- the advisability of a series on the capital sins. Rather than adduce mental or vocal reasons against the superior's view (and that is his natural inclination), he summons up reasons that support' the superior's position, and he tries to solve his own objections. In other ~words, he makes a serious attempt to judge .the matter as his superior judges it. Sister Y is denied permission to invite to the pa['lor someone she thinks'she could aid spiritually by a word of encouragement or advice. Sister conforms her judgment to her superior's, not merely by agreeing to the proposition that she ought not to invite this person because she has been denied permission, but by trying to agree to the proposition that, all things considered, seeing this individual now is not wise in itself. Brother Z is refused permission to buy tools that he obviously needs to do his job competently. Brother knows clearly that the monastery is not h.ard-pressed financially; and he knows, too, that his present set of tools is simply not adequate. What must Brother's "devout will" do. in this situation? Rest in peace. He need not even try to conform his judgment to his superior's, because the case is clear (in our supposition, at least). Since it is patent that the superior is wrong, even the perfection of obedienc~ does not require Brother to believe that he is right. Nature of Intellectual Assent The difficulties involved in seeing the advisability and even the possibility of a submission of the judgment are prominent in the cases of Father X and Sister Y. Brother Z's situation offers no great problem. If the intellect is a necessary, determined, non-free faculty, how can it be moved to accept one view rather than another? If Father X's intellect is determined by the evidence at hand and if he can see his motives for assent but not his superior's, how can he honestly conform his judgment to his superior's? And the same is true of Sister Y. " 69 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious The intellect, the faculty that knows in an immaterial manner, the faculty whose proper object is the universal idea, is admittedly a non-free cognitive power. It can know only what is given it, for °the knowing intellect is what the scholastics call the possible intellect, and the possible intellect is determined by the impressed species. Though this terminology may be obscure to the non-philosopher,, the fundamental idea is quite simple. Just as the eye is passive and determined in the sense that it can see only what is given to it, so also on the more immaterial plane is the intellect passive and. determined because it can "see" only what is given to it to understand. While we readily grant the non-free character of the intellect's grasp of the idea (the simple apprehension of the philosopher, the knowing of what a thing is), we do not grant that all of his judg-ments are determined or non-free. By a judgment we mean, of course, the attribution of one idea to another or the denial of one idea of another. I attribute white to house in the judgment, "the house is white," or I deny right of James in the judgment, "James is not right.": Some of our judgments are necessary: "seven times four is twenty-eight," or "any being has a sufficient reason for its existence." These propositions are overpowering in their evidence; the intellect must accept them. It cannot do otherwise, for there is no theoretical or practical difficulty in the propositions that could distract the intellect's attention and so render the assent unnecessary. ~ "But--and this is important for religious obedience--most of our judgments are not necessary. Even more, many of our certain judgments are free even though perfectly certain and established by irreproachable evidence. Although the judgment, "God exists," is certain, and metaphysically certain at that, it is a free judgment, for it is not coercively obvious. A man can choose to be unreason-able, to look rather at difficulties practical and speculative, and thus choose to reject a truth that is amply demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt. Because the intellect is not necessitated by the evidence in these many free certitudes, the will must enter into the picture and decide whether a~judgment is to be made, and, if so, what kind. The fact that the certitude of faith (another example of a free assent) is free is one reason that it is meritorious of eternal reward. And so the will has a decidedly large part to play in our intellectual life--far more than most of us would like to admit. If I am a Democrat (or a Republican), I am such not because 7O March, 1960 INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE of clear, cold reason alone. The positions taken by the two parties are by no means obviously right or wrong, at least when considered as two sys~ms. If I am a Democrat, there are intellectual reasons, of course. But there are also a host of factors that have influenced my will quite aside from my desire for efficient government: parental persuasions, educational exposures, attitudes of friends, personality traits of political figures, my home city and state, income bracket (if I had one!), social position, religion. If you wonder whether rural life is superior to urban, whether married women ought to work outside the home, whether your religious superior is right or wrong in a given case, you may be quite sure that your will is going to have an important role in your final yes or no to each question. The will exercises this role in two ways, indirectly and directly. The will indirectly influences our intellect in its act of judgment by determining whether and for how long the intellect is to consider the various pieces of evidence pro and con. If a man refuses to study the evidence for the divine origin of the Catholic Church, his final judgment, "She is not Christ's Church," has been very much determined by his will, even though he might flatter himself that he has been quite intellectual in building up his case against her. If a religious refuses to examine carefully the favorable motives for his superior's decision, his judgment that the superior has erred is shot through with the volitional element. ¯ The will plays a direct role in the formation of a judgment, not because it elicits the very act of judgment (this is a cognitive act and therefore an operation of the intellect), but because it im-perates or commands the intellect to pass judgment, to link one idea with another. This direct role is found in both certain and opinionative assents. Although we have thus far considered chiefly the certain assent, what we have said bears even more pointedly on the opinionative. If certitudes can be free, it is obvious that opinionative assertions.' must also be free. If certain motives often do not determine the intellect, surely probable ones do not. And so because the opinionative judgment is not one forced by the evidence, the will must enter into the matter directly and command the intellect either to assent, not to assent, or to suspend assent altogether. Application to Religious Obedience From all that we have said it appears, then, that a definitive disagreement with one's religious superior is not usually a purely 71 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious intellectual affair. The reader will note that we specify a definitive disagreement, that is, not a mere difficulty in seeing the superior's position, but rather a mental assent, certain or opinionative, that the superior has erred. If we may return to a previous example, our point may be clarified. If Father X makes a judgment that his superior is wrong in directing a Lenten series on the capital sins, Father X's will has probably entered into his~ decision both in-directly and directly. On the first score, Father X's judgment has been influenced indirectly by his will, if he declined to look for and consider reasons supporting his superior's view. If, in addition, he chose only to adduce mental evidence to prove his own view, he chose so to act by his will, not his intellect. On the second score, Father's judgment has been directly influenced by his will, since the evidence is not compelling for either opinion, and in order for him to make an opinionative or a certain assent either way the will must intervene. It now becomes apparent that obedience of the judgment involves both the intellect and the will though in different ways. It is the intellect that is here conformed to the superior's, but it is the will that sees to the conforming operation. However much he might like to think so, the religious is not subject merely to ob-jective evidence in his intellectual reaction to his superior's com-mands. His final assent or dissent is 'very much determined by his desire to assent or dissent, and that desire will be shown probably by both an indirect and a direct influence on the part of his will. We may next inquire into the reasons why the will enters so pronouncedly into a realm that seems no great affair of its own. ¯ Why does the will step into the intellect's own proper sphere and influence its own proper act, the judgment? The underlying answer to this question may be deduced from what we have already said about the indetermination of the intellect in any of its judgments that lack dompelling evidence. In these cases it is the will that must decide finally whether an intellectual assent is going to be made and, if so, what kind: affirmative or negative, certain or opinionative. Without this volitional push the intellect would operate only when the evidence for its assent is overwhelming and bereft of any difficulty, practical or speculative. While the in-tellect's frequent indetermination is the underlying reason for the will's entry into the act of judgment, we may still ask why the will chooses an affirmative assent rather than a negative one (or vice versa) or a certain rather than an opinionative one (or vice versa). 72 March, 1960 INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE Why, in other words, do we choose to hold what we do hold? Does our will always follow the objective state of the evidence? To answer this question is to answer also the problem of why we err when we do err. St. Thomas does not hesitate to place the root cause of error in the will, and he therefore finds at least a material sin (one without guilt) if not a formal sin (one with guilt) in our errors of judgment. "Error obviously has the character of sin," points out the Angelic. Doctor. "For it is not without pre-sumption that a person would pass judgment on things of which he is ignorant. Especially is this true in matters in which there is a danger of erring" (De rnalo, 3, 7). Why the sin? Because there is a deordination in the will's extending an assent beyond evidence, in judging without adequate information. We do not err because our senses and/or our intellects deceive us. l Being passive faculties they cannot register except what is given them, any more than a catcher's baseball glove can catch a golf ball if a baseball is thrown at it. If as I ride down the highway I see a peach tree and declare it to be a plum tree, I have erred not because my eyes deceived me (for they indicated precisely what is there), but because through an over-eager will my intellect was pushed to extend its assent, "Look at the plum tree," beyond the given data. An ordered judgment, one supportedby available evidence, would have been, "Look, I think that is a plum tree." In this judgment ~here is no error for it does appear to be a plum tree. In pinning down exactly why the will imperates unjustified assents epistemologists offer a wide variety of causes and occasions. These may be seen in any complete text on the validity of human knowledge. We will apply these same reasons and add some of our own to the subject's judging of a superior's command when the rightness or wrongness of it is not obvious. We may note that in the subject's disagreement with his superior there will often be an inordination of one kind or another. We qualify our statement by the word often because it can also happen with some frequency, and even in matters debatable, that a subject judges his superior wrong for objectively valid reasons. But even in this latter case perfect obedience will prompt the religious to seek to conform his thought to the superi0r's insofar as he can, and that by trying to see the superior's reasons rather than his own. What, then, are the inordinate causes for- a. subject's willed intellectual disagreement with his superior? ~Th~ senses can err, of course, when either they or the medium are defective. Of themselves, they are inerrant. 73 THOMAS DUSAY Review for Religious 1) ,Precipitate judgment due to levity or lack of maturity. Many people, ndt excepting religious, have a tendency to pass judgment on ideas or persons or events on the spur of the moment and without allowing themselves the leisure fo~ mature consideration. This undue haste could be willed insofar as an individual realizes his tendency to ill-considered conclusions and yet does not take adequate means to overcome it. A religious who is wont to have and express an immediate opinion regarding decisions of authority is probably beset with this defect. 2) Innate tendency to disagree. Closely allied with our first cause for a religious' intellectual disagreement with his superior is the odd perversity by which some men almost automatically choose the contradictory pqsition to an expressed proposition. This type of person, when a religious, will find himself sponta-neously thinking that the community should buy a Ford once the superior has decided upon a Chevrolet. 3) Desire to appear informed and/or as having a mind of one's own. To suspend judgment upon hearing a statement or to agree with it can in the first case appear to be due to ignorance of the situation or, in the second, to a lack of intellectual initiative and originality. Sister X may disagree with a ~uperior's directive re-garding classroom procedure primarily because she wants her community to realize that she, too, knows something about matters educational. Brother Y may be at odds with his superior about some extracurricular activity just to let it be known that he still has the use of a good set of reasoning apparatus. 4) An attachment to an idea or to a thing with which the superior' s directive is incompatable. Father X in our above example Gould have been willing his intellectual disagreement with his superior because of an unreasonable clinging to his own idea of what the people need most to hear about in a Lenten series. Although this clinging to an idea may be solidly motivated, it may also spring from an in-tellectual pride or from a self-centered attachment. If we refuse to examine honestly the evidence supporting the superior's view, we have cause for suspecting a self-centered attachment. 5) A preformed set of pseudo-principles. Not unrelated to simple prejudice is the phenomenon by which a religious builds his own cozy living of the religious life upon a set of principles hardly deducible from gospel asceticism. When his superior's directives clash with these "common sense" principles, the 'former are judged to be defective, not the latter. Fit forms of recreation, the amount of money available for a vacation, types and amount of work 74 March, 1960 INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE assigned are all illustrations of the kind of material in which intellectual judgment is likely to be mixed with an abundance of will. 6) Dislike for the consequences of the superior's judgment. Even when no principle is immediately apparent, a religious can disagree with his superior's judgment because he can see that it is going to conflict with his own plans and purposes. A teaching sister who wishes secretly to run a particular extracurricular activity can easily be tempted to find intellectual fault with a command whose execution will disqualify her for the job she seeks. If she succumbs to the temptation, her judgment is probably rife with will. 7) Dislike for the person of the superior. If my memory does not fail me, Ovid once observed that love is a credulous sort of thing. And we might add that hatred is incredulous. The same man will strain to put a favorable interpretation on a wild remark of a true friend, while he will unabashedly reject a moderate statement of an enemy. A religious who feels a natural antipathy towards his superior is by that very fact predisposed .to disagree with his judgments on non-intellectual grounds. Because women admittedly tend to judge with their hearts to a greater extent than men do, sisters who note this incllnation in themselves should observe carefully its bearing on intellectual obedience. These, then, are some of the volitional factors that can be present in the religious' failure to conform his judgment to that of his superior. Lest we be misunderstood, we repeat that a lack of conformity of judgment can also be due to solid intellectual reasons held by the subordinate; and in this case he is not at fault, provided he has honestly tried to see the superior's point of vie.w. But we do insist that many of our disagreements can be influenced, perhaps strongly,, by any one .or several of the factors we have outlined. When such be true, our disagreement may not be flattered by the pure name of intellectual. Some Difficulties Does not intellectual obedience smack of the unreal, the dis-honest? Is not a mature man or woman being asked too much in being urged to surrender not only the will but the very intellect itself? Is the religious to enjoy no personal independence at all? These questions almost answer themselves in the asking. Intel-lectual obedience is honest and realistic for the simple reason that it requires only that a subject look frankly at evidence favoring 75 THOMAS DUBAY the superior's viewpoint. Since he already knows his own opinion, the subordinate violates no honesty in trying to see and accept that of God's representative insofar as such is possible. Nor does this ask too much, for every faculty 0f man belongs to God, his intellect included, and they all, therefore, should be surrendered to Him. As regards independence, we must note that no man is independent of God. A religious obeys with his understanding, not because the superior is more intelligent than he,. but because he commands with God's authority. There is an immense difference between the two motives. Would not the faithful practice of intellectual obedience cripple a religious' later ability to rule? Hardly. This difficulty is based on the tacit premise that the subbrdinate's viewpoint on a debatable command is the more correct because it is the subordi-nate's, that he will learn how to rule by attending to his reasonings rather than those of the superior. The contrary seems more ~ikely. A subject already knows how he would judge in a given situation ¯ and why he is inclined to disagree with his superior. It stands to reason, then, that he will be broadened, not narrowed, if he honestly tries to see this same situation from another man's vantage point. I Would expect obedience of judgment to improve a subject's later ability to govern wisely rather than hinder it. After all, who of us. is so brilliant that he has nothing to learn from another? And finally, does not the conforming of one's ju.dgment to that of another tend to smother magnanimit~ and zeal, bigness of mind and aqcbmplishment? I think I might be pressed if I had to give a convincing theoretical answer to this objection, but I find that an adequate concrete answer could scarcely be easier. We need only look at the lives of the saints and then ask whether their perfect obedience of intellect and will smothered their zeal and a~c0mplish-ment. We need only recall, for example, that towering figure of magnanimity, St. Francis Xavier, corresponding with his superior on his knees. The objection melts away. Intellectual obedience, then, is not only psychologically possible; it is logical, helpful, desirable. Without it obedience of execution and will can hardly be perfect. The subject who is at intellectual odds with his superior's directives is likely to murmur, to cut corners, to be lacking in promptness and cheerfulness. With intellectual obedience he is completely subordinated to God. He enjoys peace because his holocaust is entire. 76 Temptation." A÷R--S John Carroll Futrell, S.J. EVEN THE GREAT St. Paul complained that he found himself doing the evil he did not wish to do. Religious men and women, professionally dedicated to the pursuit of perfection, under-stand from their own humiliating experience what the Apostle was talking about. It is one thing to possess and pursue ideals of perfect virtue and high sanctity and quite another to realize them in the heat and rush of daily life. All of us suffer from plaintive moments when we see the embarrassing divide between what we are and what we are supposed to be. "What a rain of ashes falls on him / Who sees the new and cannot leave the old." More often than not it is only in profound moral crises that we find out what values truly shape our character. Men in general tend to live their lives without finding out who or what they really are. Most of the time we can successfully fool ourselves into believing that we are in our souls what we appear in our religious garb. Whether this be due to superb play-acting or to some inner veil we draw across the mirror that would show us ourselves, at least this much is clear: we fight like Tartars against the knowledge of what we really are, barring no holds and respecting no rules. It takes a crisis to reveal us to ourselves, and even then we can sometimes throw off uncomfortable truths by a kind of mental judo. The source of our troubles and the root of our self-deceit, we know, is the old Adam within us all. Man is split; his heart is divided. If, as the Psalmist and the poets have said, he is noble and splendid and but a little less than the angels, if he is of almost .infinite faculty in his mind and in apprehension like a god; still, he is also a mean-spirited reed and his own demon. He is capable of heroic grandeur shining out against the dark magnificence of things; but in the main he is rather ignoble, mean in his pleasures, slavish in his conformity to unworthy standards. We religious share this fallen nature (how well we know it!) and this divided heart. We run the constant risk that we shall live out our lives without really seeing our true face or speaking out our authentic name, who we are, why we are here. When the time comes to us, perhaps only at Judgment, when we will be forced at last to utter The Reverend John Carroll Futrell is presently stationed at the Institut Saint-Bellarmin, W~pion, Belgium. 77 JOHN CARROLL FUTRELL Review fo~ Religious the speech which haslain hidden at the center of our souls for years, we will be abashed and not a little astounded. It will be too late to deceive ourselves. If we have failed to realize our religious ideals, the reason is that we have in one way or another succumbed to temptation. Modern psychoanalysis has taught us that the best way to uncover the authentic self is to dig back under the layer of our surface personality and lay bare the subsoil from which it has emerged. Ultimately, one can do this only for himself. It is helpful, however, to consider how temptation works in general in order to be equipped to analyze its victories in ourselves. The purpose here is to consider how temptation works and why it overcomes us. In his brilliant discussion of the roots of sin St. Thomas Aquinas explains the division man discovers within himself. The philosophers have a dictum that action follows upon knowledge. How, then, can a man do the evil he does not wish to do, follow what is base, when he could write a perfectly accurate analysis of the ideal? How can he act against his own knowledge? St. Thomas gives the answer (Summa Theologiae, 1-2, 77, 2~. We have two kinds of knowledge: a general recognition of moral principles which is habitually possessed by our minds-- for instance, we know that all forms of sensuality are to be avoided- and a practical knowledge in the here and now situation that faces us which governs what we actually do-- we do not recognize that this sensual action here and now ought to be avoided. The process is obvious: we fail to consider here and now what we habitually recognize as true. What is the cause of this crucial failure to call upon our habitual knowledge when we most need it? Why is man divided? According to St. Thomas there are several possible explana-tions of this lack of consideration of moral principles. In a malici-ous man it may simply be the result of an evil intention; he does not want to pay attention to the demands of morality. More often, the source of the trouble is less direct. Some impediment gets in the way and blocks out the habitual knowledge which should step in to save us. This impediment might .be so simple a thing as a very demanding external occupation. We are so busy doing that we have no time for thinking. Or it might be the result of physical weakness. The mind is very much tied to the body. But for most of us most of the time the biggest impediment to moral .considera-tion is the force of our feelings. We are carried away from our ideals by the drive of self-propelled desire. The most insidious wile 78 March, 1960 TEMPTATION; A ~- R = S of feeling is to distract us from our habitual knowledge of what is meet and just by compelling our attention to its own attractive object. Or it may simply set itself openly against the ideal, inclining us away from it and toward the flowers of evil. Fina.lly, (St. Thomas is always thorough) feeling can actually bring about a bodily change in a person, pressing him on so violently that reason is chained and actions are no longer free. Passion can make a man insane. What we face in temptation, therefore, is a here and now compulsion to yield to an evil desire, a craving so intense that it tends to drive from consciousness our habitual intellectual knowledge of right and wrong, our higher ideals and hopes. Man is divided; and if temptation overcomes him he finds himself doing the evil he does not wish.to do. How exactly does this sway of feeling manage to upset moral consideration? What is the psychology of temptation? Perhaps we can express it as a formula: A÷R =S. A stands for appetite. Our problems begin when something catches our attention which shows itself to be highly desirable. It is not good for me, but I want it. Hold out a piece of candy to a little child, then draw it away, and the process will be clear. What feeds appetite? It is a complicated process. The initial cause may be memory of some pleasure experienced in the past, or imagination of some hitherto unknown desirable object. Or it may be that our senses are sur-prised by some unexpected stimulation. What I see or hear makes me want to gain possession. In any case, a circuit has been estab-lished. Like an electric current, desire runs back and forth from imagination to the senses, one strengthening the yearning of the other. What I want in imagination, I decide to look for or reach for, and sense action results. But the action of the senses causes imagination to paint in ever more glowing colors the object I desire, and this results in more definite sense activity. All the while feeling is being fed and is growing stronger. But it runs the risk of being crushed. Reason hastens to the rescue. R stands for rationalization. In a religious, especially, ideals, convictions, habits stand in the way of surrender to appetite. If feeling is to have its way, it must seduce reason into approving the here and now choice of an action which is completely at variance with the religious's habitual knowledge of right and wrong. This requires some ingenuity, playing off against one another various considerations of what ought to. be in general, and what ougl~t to be under these circumstances; when one should strive to be a 79 JOHN CARROLL FUTRELL Review ~or Religious saint, and when one should give a little to weak human nature; what is splendid as a hazy ideal, and what is practical at the present moment. Appetite slowly takes control of reason~ leads it away from consideration of good and evil, brings it around to the judgment that what appetite wants it should have. This step of rationalization is essential to the victory of temptation. It cannot win without it. Man will not act while he is divided; he comes to realize the division only after he has done the evil he did not wish to do. Two forces are at work in the rationalization process which favor the success of temptation. Obviously, the first is self-deceit. We manage to fool ourselves into thinking temporarily that we can be both good religious and self-indulgent at the same time. The more we give was to the onrush of appetite, the easier it becomes, to fabricate logical reasons for satisfying it. Our mood becomes one of great kindliness towards ourselves, paternal under-standing of our weaknesses, and gracious indulgence towards our felt needs. Finally, we convince ourselves that for the moment surrender is the better part of valor. The second force which bolsters up the campaign of ap-petite during rationalization is procrastination. When we manage to retain a toe-hold on reality and have a sneaking suspicion that we cannot sincerely strive to be perfect and holy religious while giving way to self, feeling strikes directly at this resistance. It allows us to admit that what we desire is honestly not the greater good, is truly not consistent withototal consecration to God. Yet, here and now it is needed. No one becomes holy in a day. Even though we surrender to appetite on this occasion, well, we will be striving for perfection all our lives. The particular kind of mortification involved in resisting this temptation can come at a later date. Put it off for the time being. Reason has. the satisfaction of feeling self-righteously honest at the same time that it approves the drive of appetite. Temptation wins again. A variation on the usual campaign of procrastination may be termed the datur tertium feint. If reason p~rsists in protesting that the object of appetite just cannot be squared with religious dedication, then the object is shifted somewhat to make it appear more acceptable. This type of rationalization is most effective when the temptation is not to do something difficult .which the pursuit of perfection clearly demands. Appetite is revolted be-. cause the prospect is painful. Therefore, some less unpleasant act of virtue is proposed. One need not experience the shame of out-right refusal to a call to greater holiness, but neither need he be 8O March, 1960 TEMPTATION: A ÷ R = S quite so extravagant as seems indicated by the movements of grace. Datur tertium -- something else can be done which will serve as a sop to conscience and yet not unduly inconvenience the precious self. Later on, perhaps, it will be possible to ascend to the heights along the highroad of the saints --but not quite yet. Once again, .temptation has its way. S stands for surrender. The circuit is now completed. Appetite, fed by imagination and sense activity, entered into the mind and met all the counterattacks of reason. Having rationalized suc-cessfully, the tempted religious is now able to make the judgment that what is wanted here and now is good, or at least allowable, even though it runs counter to his habitual knowledge of what is right and wrong for one who is pursuing perfection. The choice is made. Temptation has won the battle and in its victory is transformed into sin, or at least into religious failure: A÷R=S. This, it would seem, is a fairly accurate description of the general psychology of temptation. How this general campaign is waged in each individual soul only the individual can say. But given that. this is the way temptation works, what would be the best general strategy of defense against it? The best beginning in a defensive war is to recognize the tactics of the enemy. These we have expressed in a formula -- A +R = S. Now,.a clever general tries to counter the very first hostile move. We must above all, therefore, attempt to overcome appetite before it can advance to the stage of rationalization. Here, one must cultivate awareness of the movements of imagination and the susceptibility of the senses. Since memory and imagination incite sense activity and sense activity feeds imagination, one must be ready at any time to shift his attention from the object, which incites appetite. If the feeling of desire has entered through the imagination, catch the feeling and overcome it before sense action results. If surprised by the senses into awareness of the desirable object, quickly occupy the senses with something else. In either case, the trick is to focus the attention away from what is tempting, and to do it immediately. The very practical and psychologically valid principles underlying the exercise of interior mortification and rules of religious decorum are immediately evident. These are simply helps to cope with our divided hearts. They are the guard over our outer gates. Further, one sees the wisdom of the practice of recollection and the habit of frequent interior aspirations. These. are positive ways of keeping our attentionwhere it belongs-~on God; and they provide a quick and easy way of shifting our atten- JOHN CARROLL FUTRELL tion away from temptation when it surprises us. The practice of corporal mortification, .too, is seen for the healthy thing it is: a means of training our senses to embrace what is painful when the call of grace summons us to higher holiness. Our conscious life is a vital rhythm which the soul itself cannot regulate. It needs power-ful allies on the level ,of sense and imagination. Rationalization is harder to cope with because it means that the enemy is already within the gates. Temptation has advanced beyond the stage of mere appetite. However, some defenses are still available. One can consciously cultivate the disposition for c.omplete honesty with one's self and with God. Then, when rationalization begins, it will be difficult not to recognize self-deceit. No one can give himself heart and soul to one thing while in the back of his mind he cherishes a yearning, a secret hope, for some-thing very different. If we are constantly striving to realize total consecration to God, temptation will conquer us less and less often. The cultivation of this desire demands unswerving fidelity to the practice of spiritual exercises, expecially examination of conscience and contemplation of the meaning of God. Adam failed in con-templation, and ever since the heart of man has been divided. A very practical means to expose temptation for what it really is is suggested by Eric Gill in his Autobiography. When the appetite draws us toward something which seems desirable and promises joy, he advises us to reflect on the true nature of enjoyment. "The only real enjoyment of life is in the memory. However enjoyable this or that activity may have been or have seemed to be at the time of action -- the ecstasy of sensation, the ecstasy of touch and taste and smell, of sight and sound-- unless the memory of it be good' we must, for our own peace, eschew such action" (New York: Devin-Adair, 1942, pp. 221-22). Finally, when we have done the evil we did not wish to do, when temptation has .conquered and we have surrendered, we must hold on with all our faculties to our faith in the mercy and for-giveness of God and our trust in Him at last to deliver us from the body of this death and to lead us home. If fall we must along the way, we know that if we have confidence in Him, He will bring us to victory and holiness in His own good time. Juliana of Norwich expressed it perfectly: "He said not Thou shalt not be tempested, Thou shalt not be travailed, Thou shalt not be distressed; but He said Thou shalt not.be overcome." 82 Charity the Unifying Principle of Religious Life Sister Consuela Marie, $.B.$. SOMETIMES in religious life the minutiae of observance, the multiplicity of regulations and injunctions, the unremitting insistence on the perfec~ observance of the rule may cause us to lose sight of the fundamental obligation of all spiritual living-- the observance of the first and greatest commandment: the love of God and its included second, the love of self and neighbor. Charity in its *unadulterated essence is the root obligation of all moral law; it is of the essence of the morality of religious observance. In this atomic age, religious find themselves caught in the activity whirls of modern living. All the gadgets and electronic time-savers available today somehow do not bring them extra time ¯ or leisure. Whether the religious exercises his activity in a class-room, a hospital, or the homes of the poor, he goes intensely from one activity to another only to find that all he hoped to do in a single day cannot be fitted into the twenty-four hours that bound it. Fortunately for him, there is a definite pattern of prayer around which he builds each day and a definite horarium for'the specific duties of the day that would seem to make for one calm, peaceful whole. But in this statistical age of records and super records, of state requirements and association reports, of development pro: grams, of theatrical productions and .seminars, he finds himself swamped at times as he tries to keep his head above a tide that carries him along whether he will or not. Stress is in the very air we breathe in America today. While the nation works feverishly for bigger and better missiles, we look for more and more mechanical teaching aids, larger and better equipped buildings, new modern motherhouses and participated TV pro-grams. And all of this is good. The far-seeing religious, heeding the many suggestions of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, realizes that all modern developments, if properly used, are effective instruments for promoting the glory of God. He would be foolish to pass them by and keep to a horse while the rest of the world whirls by in convertibles. Sister Consuela Marie teaches theology and history at Xavier University, New Orleans 25, Louisiana. 83 SISTER CONSUELA MARIE Review for Religious But not for these did the young person enter religious life. Fundamentally, he entered religious life to find God, to live with Him, to carve out, with His grace, a way of life that would bring him into close contact with this God of love for whom his whole being cries out. How often the very force of circumstance will compel him to realize that God is not in the whirlwind; He is not ordinarily found in the blare of feverish activity. There must come to him those moments when he feels there is a roadblock between his activity and his God; .and he dreams of the green fields of the enclosed contemplative and feels himself in an outside barren waste where God seems to have crossed the horizon and left him watching the sun go down not on the glory of Galway Bay, but on ¯ the dried-up barrenness of an overworked field. At this point, however, help is nearer than he knows. He has only to cry out to God to experience new floods of grace poured out on him. Divine selection and abundant grace have set the religious apart for a special kind of efficiency in a special way of living. No human mind devised the religious state. Infinite Wisdom ordained and designed it. The Holy Spirit, breathing forever where He wills, inspired the minds of saints to organize its multiform varieties in the world today. No human need has been overlooked in the long list of religious institutes or the long category of their functions. Primarily, the religious state, whether active or contemplative, is a state of perfection in which one is surrounded by means of at-raining perfection by the observance, in addition to the command-ments, of the religious counsels. Because it implies a special way of approach to God, a special way of directing one's actions to one's last end, which is the eternal possession of God, "it implies a whole ensemble of moral obligations of unequal importance.''1 There is the fundamental obligation to strive for perfection; and this is the soul's direct answer to the challenge: "If thou wilt be perfect . " There is the essential obligation of the vows and their ramifications in the particular institute; there are the secondary obligations of the specific apostolate. Finally, there is the obligation of each professed "of impregnating his soul and his life with the particular spirit of his institute and assimilating its characterigtic virtues.''~ Each of these obligations is assumed under the protecting arms of Holy Mother the Church. It is the Church which puts the seal of approval on the specific rules of the various orders and gives its as- ~L. Colin, C.SS.R., Striving for Perfection (Westminster: Newman, 1956), p. ix. ~Ibid., p. x. 84 March, 1960 CHARITY THE UNIFYING PRINCIPLE surance that sanctity can be attained by the observance of these rules. The apostolates of the institutes become by this approval the apostolates of the Church itself. Underneath the multiplicity of orders and congregations, there is the unity of all religious living in the complete consecration of individual lives to the pursuit of perfection. In the spiritual order is thus achieved that unity in multiplicity so characteristic of all being, so particularly characteristic of the Church to which Christ gave the mark of unity. What striking illustrations of this unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church: membership for every race, every clime, every age; sanctity on every level, married saints, doctor saints, children saints, royal saints, peasant saints, laborer saints, active apostolic saints, silent suffering saints. In his lucid expression, St. Thomas states it thus: "Even in the order, of natural things, perfection, which in God is simple, is not found in the created universe except in multiform and manifold manner; so too, the fullness .of grace, which is centered in Christ as Head, flows forth to His members in various ways for the perfecting of the body of the Church. This is the meaning of the Apostle's words: 'He gave some as apostles and some as prophets, and other some as evan-gelists, and other some as pastors and doctors for the perfecting of the saints.' "~ As in the Church, so too in each single order or congregation there is a leit motif, an underlying unity that binds all duties, all moral obligations in one. How necessary it is that one establish the rock bottom foundation principle of unity for the multiplicity of obligations in religious life: the vows that bind for life, the virtues to be acquired, the particular duties assigned, the diverse activities to be assumed. One element, one principle binds them all together. That element, that unifying force is charity. Once that is clearly grasped, accepted, and allowed to function unhampered, the inner well of peace is safely dug, the heart finds the refreshing inner spring; the storms, the hurricanes crash and lash; but they beat without impress; and the soul walks and talks with God in the quiet of the evening in a garden enclosed. And this is not mere poetry. It is basic theology. It was clearly taught with unerring simplicity by the eternal Word who, in answer to the Pharisee's question as to what was the greatest command-ment, answered: "Thoushalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like ~Summa Theologiae, 2-2, 183, 2; Eph 4:11. 85 SISTER CONSUELA MARIE Review for Religious it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Mt 22: 37-39). Scripture repeats that declaration, again and again. Nothing sur-passes St. Paul's description of charity. The nature, import, vitality of charity have never been so deftly defined and so superbly summarized as in his classic encomium. The Corinthians were evidently interested in the startling and visible charisms granted freely to the new-born Church. But St. Paul urges them to strive for the greater gifts and points out to them a "yet more excellent way." All the charisms, tongues of men and angels, gifts of proph-ecy, knowledge of all mysteries, and strength to move all mountains ¯ . all are as nothing without charity. Three groups of dominant ideas in St. Paul's treatment of charity are pointed out by Father Fernand Prat.4 St. Paul, he tells us, establishes it first as the queen of virtues since all other gifts are as nothing unless they are ruled by charity. Secondly, he makes it the summary of the commandments: "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 14:10). Finally, he establishes it as the bond of perfec-tion. Fifteen different virtues are listed by St. Paul as the compan-ions of charity in his exhortation to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13). In his Epistle to the Colossians, he urges the practice of mercy, humility, kindness, meekness, patience (Col 3: 12-13), all of which are included in the list of companions of charity. But whereas in the first listing St. Paul breaks charity up into its component. virtues, in this second listing he holds them securely together by, making charity their bond. "But above all these things have charity which is the bond of perfection" (Col 3:14). At the outset of religious life, when the young person is being orientated into a new type of living, when new obligations and moral responsibilities are being explained, might it not be well to posit a course (new or review as the previous education of the aspirant would determine) on the theological virtues with strong emphasis on charity? With this theological knowledge, the balance of other moral obligations can be definitely determined. At the beginning the .air is cleared, the moral emphasis properly placed and perfectly poised. With St. Thomas for his teacher, the. young religious will know that "primarily and essentially the perfection of the Christian life consists in charity, principally as to the love of God, secondarily as to the love of our neighbor, both of which are the matter of the chief commandments of the Divine Law.''~ In discussing the question whether perfection consists in the observ- ~The Theology of St. Paul (Westminster: Newman, 1927), 2, 333. ~Sumrna Theologiae, 2-2, 184, 3. 86 March, 1960 CHARITY THE UNIFYING PRINCIPLE ance of the commandments or of the counsels,-St. Thomas makes very clear this distinction between primary, essential perfection and secondary, accidental perfection. After stating the primacy of charity, he goes on to explain: "Secondarily and instrumentally, perfection consists in the observance of the counsels, all of which like the commandments are directed to charity; yet not in the same way."" The commandments, he explains, direct us in clearing away those things opposed to charity; while the counsels direct us to remove things not contrary to charity themselves, but which could hinder it. He quotes the Abbot Moses: "Fastings, watches, med-itating on the Scriptures, penury and loss of all one's wealth, these are not perfection, but means to perfection, since not in them does the school of perfection find its end, but through them it achieves its end." Here we have obligations in their proper focus; we have the obligations of religious life in their exact and proper proportion. The obligation of charity-is primary and without measure or limit. Its boundaries are all the energy of heart, mind, and will. Faith and hope, it is true, as theological virtues, have God° as their end. But in faith, it is the knowledge of God on the authority of His revela-tion; in hope, it is confidence in God to be possessed in future beatitude. In charity however, the end is the immediate possession of God here and now, the possession of infinite Love whereby God infuses His love into the soul, and the soul loves God with I-Iis own love. "It amounts to this, that endowed with the actual love with which the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Church ('I am in the Father and you in "me, and I in you . He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him') we find within ourselves the strength to keep the commandments, to live the life of faith, and -- most blessed of all -- to love back.''7 Charity, we must remember, is infused; we cannot create it; we cannot increase or decrease it though we can posit the actions, we can set the conditions under which, or on a~ccount of which, God will pour deeper infusions. On the other hand, we can, by our neglect of grace, dry up the streams and eventually, by our own free act, lose this infused gift by mortal sin. Charity and grace go hand in hand. They grow together; they increase together. When we lose one, we lose the other. They are distinct but inseparable. Since on the authority of God, the testimony of Scripture and 6Ibid. 7Dom Hubert VanZeller, The Inner Search (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1956), p. 165. 87 SISTER CONSUELA MARIE Review for Religious the writings of the Fathers and the explanations of the Summa, charity is the first moral obligation of all Christian living, a clear concept of its theological implications serves not only as rock base for the spiritual structure; but, far and beyond the foundation, it provides the beginning and the end, the end and the means, the joy and the crown, the reduction to simplicity and unity of the many facets of religious observance and obligations. Once this foundation virtue of charity takes its proper place, all other virtues take their form from it; all other virtues are only so many ways of loving God. No one of them has any meritorious value before God unless.it is informed by charity. What a delight religious life should be if this is our first duty, this the prime obligation of our whole existence -- to love God and our neighbor as ourselves in Him. And all this because God has.first loved us. Before the uni-verse was created, God is love. He created the universe and man in an act of love. When man turned aside from His love in sin, God the Father decreed the redemption by His only-begotten Son; and the Holy Ghost, in an act of love, overshadowed the im-maculate Virgin and with her consent effected the Incarnation. "The free deliberate self-oblation of Jesus on earth is the realization in time of the eternal decree of redemption in Heaven which springs from the inmost sources of Love." 8 We were created in love; we are destined to be entirely pos-sessed by love. We have only to clear the way, to remove the obstacles, to take down the barriers of pride and self love to let the waters of the boundless oceans of love inundate our whole lives. Once the barriers are down and love's passage through us is free, all other virtues follow. Because we love, we find the practice of the other virtues an almost impelling necessity. "I have found my vocation," once exclaimed the Little Flower; "in the Church, I will be love!" Each religious should make the same discovery; and the sooner, the better. To each one is the quotation from Jeremias applicable: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love!" (31:3). What peace, quiet, refreshment in that thought. Ever-lastingly He has loved me; He has brought me into existence primarily to fill me with love, for His glory! Intellectually we should understand the nature of this charity and how it should function in our lives. We cannot build castles in the air or dream of the darts of love or the raging fires we see sur-rounding the pictures of the saints. We must seek the essence, SKarl Adam, Christ the Son of God (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1934), p. 266. 88 March, 1960 CHARITY THE UNIFYING PRINCIPLE not the extraordinary manifestations of it. There are three divisions in this precept of charity: the love of God~ the love of self, the love of neighbor. The human mind staggers when it attempts to analyze the love of God in itself. On God's side, charity is active and creative. According to Sty. Thomas, "It infuses and creates the goodness which is present in things."'~ We love something because we find in it qualities or characteristics that appeal to us. God loves His own reflection in objects pleasing to Him. God is love, so that in Him love is a bottomless spring diffusing itself endlessly to the works of His creation, making them beautiful because of His love poured freely into them. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb 12:29). The flames of that fire are eternal and boundless. They transform to white heat whatever they touch. The inner life of the Blessed Trinity is one of complete giving, coraplete giving in love in the eternal generation of the Son by the Father, and the eternal spiration of the Holy Ghost by the mutual love of the Father and the Son. The Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the most stupendous demonstration of God's love for man. The Redemption, the establishment of the Church, the order of grace and the sacraments, are all gifts demonstrating a love on God's part so perfect, we can never begin to comprehend it. On our part, charity is a supernaturally infused habit of our souls, a virtue by which we love God as the sovereign good above all else and our neighbor as ourselves in His love. This love for God which is our prime duty must have definite characteristics. It must be a love that is summus, that is, a love of God above all else. This characteristic which ~he theologians label summus has two di-visions: appretiative and intensive. Amor appretiative summus loves God as the sovereign good. "It is a postulate of charity that we must love God as the.infinitely lovable Being above all else, that is more than any other person.''~" Amor intensive summus adds the additional note of loving God ardently. "It is the highest kind of emotional love of which a man is capable.''~ This ardor, however, is not essential. ~t is a gift of God not given to all. True, there have been saints who have experienced sensible darts of love or ardent affections; but there have been many, too, who experienced years of dryness and dereliction. Yet these also loved God with an amor appretiative summus. ~Summa Theologiae, 1, 20, 3. ~°Koch-Preuss, Handbook o[ Moral Theology (St. Louis: Herder, 1928), 4, 78. ~Ibid., p. 79. 89 SISTER CONSUELA MARIE Review for Religious The second characteristic of the love we should bear God is that it be effective. That means it must show itself in good works. Love that merely exclaims, "My God, I love you!" but does not show itself in good works, is ineffective love. Mere affective love is transitory and incomplete unless it ends in effective love. If we really love God, we give proof of the love by the practice of the virtues and. by positive effort to extend the Kingdom of God on earth. The love of. God is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is the love of neighbor as self. Not often is a religious instructed in the love of self, though since God established love of self as the measure of the love of neighbor, there is a perfectly proper love of self. Pope Pius XII has made this very clear. "There exists," he said in his address to psychotherapists (April 13, 1953), "in fact a defense, an esteem, a love, and a service of one's personal self which is not only justified but demanded by psychology and morality. Nature makes this plain, and it is also a lesson of the Christian faith. Our Lord taught 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Christ then, proposes as the rule of love of neighbor, charity towards oneself,, not the contrary." This love of self includes the proper love of our spiritual wel-fare before which we can put nothing else, and also in certain circumstances, a concern for our necessary physical welfare. St. Thomas says this explicitly: "When we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, the love of self is set before the love of neighbor.""-' He hastens to add that we should love our neighbor more than our body. A proper uriderstanding of the nature of this love of self is essential. Before all else, we must love our soul's salvation. Before that we can put nothing. We can, however, and should put our neighbor's spiritual welfare before our physical convenience. It is worth noting, too, that God expects a reasonable care and concern for the physical nature He has given us. It has been said that some nuns push themselves too far. That can happen to a religious as well as to a hard-pressed mother or father. But here, a charity for oneself, for the physical health given by God, could help. All religious are well instructed on the third phase of the commandment of charity -- the love of neighbor. Love for others in religious life flowers into the manifold apostolates of the Church at home and abroad. So many dedicated apostles in so many dedicated apostolates, all loving God for Himself, and their neigh-r~ Surnma Theologiae, 2-2, 44, 8, ad 2. 9O March, 1960 CHARITY THE UNIFYING PRINCIPLE bors in. His love, ready to give them all they have, loving them truly as they love themselves! Now and then, however, it is well to recall that the first claimants to this charity toward the neighbor are the members of our respective communities. St. Thomas says so pointedly, "We ought to love most those of our neighbors who are more virtuous or more closely united with us.''1'~ We should wish them well, do good to them before outsiders. Helping them is part of our first moral obligation. Understanding the primacy of place, the primacy of obl.igation, and the formative influence of charity on all other virtues, the in-tellectual concept is clear. Intellectual concepts will help but they will not produce charity. God infuses it. Progress in charity is the lifelong concern of the religious. He is in the way of perfection. Can he attain to perfect charity? Discussing whether one can be perfect in this life,14 St. Thomas explains that absolute perfection is possible only to God, and that absolute totality on the part of the lover so that his affective faculty always tends to God as much as it possibly can, is not possible to human nature this side of heaven. But, he adds, there is a third perfection on the part of the lover with regard ¯ to the removal of obstacles to the movement of love towards God. This perfection, he assures us, can be had in this life in two ways: first, by removing from man's affection all that is contrary to charity, such as mortal sin (this degree is essential for salvation); secondly, by removing from man's affections not only what is contrary to charity but also what hinders the mind's affection from tending wholly to God. In this second area, there are ever-widening possibilities. In avoiding mortal sin, and as far as human frailty will permit, venial sin, there is an ever-deepening union of mind and soul with God. Affective love becomes effective in works of super-erogation assumed for the sake of love. At this point, all the theo-logical virtues, the cardinal virtues and their subsidiary virtues, are so many streams through which the current of charity flows far and wide. The stronger the charity, the stronger these other virtues which receive their merit from charity. This perfection is possible here and now --: that all that is done, is done for love of God at least through a virtual intention even though an actual intention does not precede every ac.t. The aim at this love should be direct and constant. The most important act a religious makes is an act of charity, and it is in his power to renew it actually and briefly countless ~3Ibid. l~Summa Theologiae, 2-2, 184, 2. 91 SISTER CONSUELA MARIE times during the day. Fulfilling all the obligations of his state for the pure love of God, he can still renew frequent acts of charity. "With frequently renewed acts of charity, the soul is capable of doing as much as it can in this life to make the meritorious influence of charity constant and complete.''~'~ Charity is the precious ointment, the sheer essence of all religious living, of all spiritual striving. It is the most precious element in the Church. St. John of the Cross states its position with startling simplicity: "More precious in the sight of God and the soul is a small portion of this pure love, more profitable to the Church, even though it seems to be accomplishing nothing, than are all other good works combined.''~'~ When life is over, faith will end, for we will see; hope will vanish, for the goal will be reached. Charity alone will endure. Before it is our eternal joy, it will be our judgment. St. John of the Cross tells us that in the evening "of life, we will be judged by love. How important that the morning, the high noon, and the late afternoon of life be directed to the perfection of charity! ~SDominic Hughes, "The Dynamics of Christian Perfection," The Thomist, 15 (1952), 268. ~The Works of St. John of the Cross (Westminster: Newman, 1949), 2, 346. 92 Neuroticism and Perfection Richard P. Vaughan, S.J. THE FIRST OBLIGATION of every religious is to seek perfec-tion.~ Generally speaking, the success of a religious as a religious will be measured by the extent to which he or she actually achieves this goal. Since perfec.tion and sanctit~ are synofiomous, every religious is also called to sanctity. This demand presents a special problem for the seriously neurotic religious, since the very nature of his disorder seems to militate against his achieving any degree of perfection or sanctity, and sometimes it even seems to eliminate the possibility of his striving to achieve a relative state of perfection. The question, therefore, arises: Can the neurotic religioug ever hope to attain perfection or sanctity? Or are the debilitating symptoms of almost all seriously neurotic conditi'~ns such as to exclude the possibility of sanctity? Obligation and Nature of Perfection St. Thbmas describes the type of l~erfection whibh is the primary obligation of all religious as "charity, first and foremost in the love of God, and then in the love of'neighb0r.'"-' The 'religiqus is especially called to love God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself.:' Although few, if any, actually achieve this $odl, many have succeeded to an extraordinary degree. They have devoted the greater part of their lives to loving.God and neighbor. As a resul~, they now live among the saints of heaven. If one stops to analyze the lives of these eminently successful people, it becomes evident that this charity of which Scripture and the theologians speak presupposes many other virtues and counsels. First of all, one cannot fully love .God and his neighbor when the majo~ actions of his life are motivated by self-love. The person who is absorbed in himself finds it extremely difficult to turn his will outward toward God and neighbor. Even those who have achieved a relative state of sanctity on this earth, quickly dis- The Reverend Richard P. Vaugl~an teaches at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco 17, California. 'Code of Canon Law, canon 593. "-'~urnma Theologiae, 2-2, 184, 3. ¯ :~Adolphe Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life (Tournai: Descl6e, 1930), pp. 183-84. 93 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious covered that they must wage a constant battle against self, lest they find Selfish motives tainting that charity which perfection demands. Moreover, the enticements of pleasure turn the religious away from divine love. The man or woman who lives for the pleasures of the world cannot live for God. It is only by curbing the desire for. pleasure through the medium of numerous virtues that a religious will be able to center his full attention upon God. Fu.rther helps are the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These three vows, shut out worldly interests which distract from the full development of charity. Hence, included in the notion of charity, which is the source of all perfection, is self-sacrifice, the practice of virtues, and fidelity to the three vows. Knowledge of God and Neurosis A thing must be seen as good before it can be loved. The more apparent the goodness, the greater is the possibility of a deep love. Thus, before we can love a person, we must know him. These are philosophical principles which affect our dealings with God as well as with others. In the natural order, all of us have probably ex-perienced at one time or another an initial dislike for a person, only to have this dislike after a number of months or years turn to a positive like or even to love. If we stop to analyze what has hap-pened, it becomes apparent that a new and deeper knowledge of the person makes us see him in an entirely different light. We begin to see him as he actually is and not as we have imagined him to be. When all his good qualities become apparent, we cannot help but" like him. The neurotic frequently ftnds himself in a similar situation in his relationship v~ith God. Due to his disorder and early experiences, he may harbor some v.ery hostile and angry feelings toward God. He is apt to think that God has unjustly persecuted him. He is apt to be resentful. Since all such thoughts and emotions provoke a great amount of guilt, many neurotics repress them. Unfortunately, repressed matter seldom stays fully repressed, but manifests itself in many subtle ways. For example, .a religious who is unconsciously very angry with God might ex-perience almost a compulsion to commit some type of a serious sin, and still never realize that one of the reasons for his actions is a .desire to get even with God. Once the neurotic religious through the medium of psychotherapy begins to realize why he feels as he does toward God, then he can begin to know God as others know Him. 94 March, 1960 NEUROTICISM AND PERFECTION None of us knows God directly. Our knowledge comes from experience. Some of this knowledge is the result of a long reasoning process. However, our initial knowledge of what God is like most probably springs from the attitudes and example of our parents. It is the mother or father who plants the germ of knowledge in the mind of the child. Since small children usually look upon their parents as gods, it should not be startling to. discover that our concept Of what God is like comes in part from experience with our own fathers. If, for instance, early childhood experiences with a father or father-substitute are unfavorable, as so often happens among neurotics, then one's notion of God the Father is not likely to be true to reality. The individual who has had a father who was a stern disciplinarian and unable to express any warmth toward his children is liable to look upon God as the God of ruthless justice, and not the God of love and mercy. This concept.bf God is the product of experience, and in all probability the individual does not realize that it differs from that of anyone else. This is but one example of how the neurotic mind might develop a warped concept . of God. There are numerous others, all of which profoundly affect the pursuit of sanctity. Since true love of God necessarily presupposes a true knowl-edge of God, the neurotic religious may often find himself with limited tools or even without any tools necessary for progress on the way to perfection. Any progress will first demand that the religious abandon his false notion of God. Generally speaking, such a change will require some type of psychological help. Almost all of us during the course of childhood and adolescence . de~velop some fal,se, or at least dubious ideas about God. It is only through meditation and study" that a religious comes to a true, although limited, knowledge of God. One of th~ characteristics of a neurotic' is self-centeredness. He has a tendenc~ to live inside ¯ him, .self. He frequently looks at the events of dail~ life only in so far as they affect his own personal problem.s. Often his morning meditations become mere ruminations over past hurts and failures; real of imagined. He finds it very difficult to consider things as they actually exist apart from his own disordered personality. Such an outlook does not foster that type of meditation which is likely to produce a .more realistic knowledge of God. As a consequence, the love of God which is demanded of those seeking perfection is either weak or completely ladking, since one cannot fully love God if he has an erroneous concept of Him. 95 ~ICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious Love of Neighbor The second obligation upon all those who are seeking perfec-tion is love of one's neighbor.4 This obligation poses a special prob-lem for the seriously neurotic religious, in so far as one of the major areas affected by a neurotic condition is that of relationship with others. A characteristic often found in a neurosis is an excessive striving for the manifestations of love and attention from others. This striving stems from early childhood frustrations which have been repressed. The neurotic will generally make use of some protective devices so that he is not forced to look at this anxiety-provoking part of his personality. Some handle the problem by creating a wall between themselves and others. They simply tell themselves that they do not need the rest of the community. Their lives are dedicated to God and their work. And so they withdraw deeper into themselves. Other religious make an initial but unsuccessful effort to satisfy their need for affection, but then turn against the very members of the community who have tried to help them. In general, they manifest a good deal of anger and hostility in their relationships with others. And finally, there are those religious who spend their lives seeking any small manifesta-tion of love and concern from the other members of the community or from the laity. They are very dependent. They are always leaning on someone else. Although they seldom show external resentment when others inevitably fair to satisfy their needs, still often they are seething inside with emotional turmoil. It is not only possible to love those whom we. dislike, but it is a commandment of God. "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Lk 6:27). Still, if one has an almost constant tendency to be hostile and resentful of others, the task of controlling these feelings becomes extremely, difficult. In the case of neurotic reli-gious, the major obstacles for the practice of charity are feelings of the opposite nature which sp~ing from unconscious sources. One can learn to change erroneous attitudes and feelings if he realizes that he has them and can analyze to some degree why he acts accordingly. But when a person is almost entirely unaware of both his uncharitable actions and the source of these actions, then the practice of charity often becomes an almost insurmountable barrier. Over- Sensitiveness Coupled with the above-mentioned problem is the over-sensitiveness which is a part of most neuroses. The neurotic religious ~Ibid., pp. 157-58. 96 March, 1960 NEUROTICISM AND PERFECTION is more easily offended by a slight or a cross word. He takes all the actions and words of others in a personal sense. Thus, he is more apt to be tempted with uncharitable or even revengeful thoughts. Since he is so self-centered, he will probably find it considerably more difficult to resist these temptations. The slight or cross word is. striking at the most vulnerable part of his personality, namely at his self-esteem; the natural reaction is to protect himself by attacking the offender. The second obligation imposed by perfection, namely charity toward others, therefore, proves much more trying for the neurotic religious than for the rest of the community. In the case of the severely neurotic religious who has little or no insight into his hostile behaviour, the effect of the disorder could reach that point where the virtue of charity would seem to be almost impossible. In such instances, the degree of responsibility for the uncharitable-ness must be taken into consideration. The lives of the saints teach us that any advancement on the way of perfection calls for self-sacrifice and self-renunciation,s The person who is almost entirely taken up with himself has little room in his heart for love of God and neighbor. As it has been stated, one of the major characteristics of neurotics is self-centered-ness. Depending upon the degree of severity, being self-centered will present some kind of an obstacle to sanctity. In the case of religious, some become so absorbed in their own interior conflicts and frustrations that they have little time left for God and the members of their community. They are so filled with self-pity that God has but one meaning for them, namely a source of consolation and solace. These souls are unable to give love to God just as they are unable to give love to their fellow religious or to their students. As a result, self-sacrifice and self-renunciation play little or no part in their lives. Pseudo-Virtues A ~urther handicap resulting from a neurotic condition is the development of pseudo-virtues. These are repeated actions which give the semblance of virtue but in reality are just the result of the disordered personality. For example, pseudo-virtues are sometimes found among those who have deep feelings of inferiority and un-worthiness, which for the most part are uncbnscious. Under the guise of humility, some neurotic religious are constantly defacing themselves before others. Unfortunately, they never stop to analyze ~Ibid., pp. 166-69. 97 RICHARD P. VAOGHAN Review for Religious that what they are actually seeking is a word of praise to offset some very distressing feelings of inferiority. The function of this so-called humility is self-centered and not God-centered. Commandments and Counsels Striving for perfection demands the following of the command-ments and, to a degree, the counsels. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments . If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven" (Mt~19:17-21). If a religious is making a true effort to seek perfectio~n, he will strive to keep himself, at the very least, free from serious sin and to observe the demands of his three vows. In addition to grace, this observance of the commandments and following of the vows requires the habit of self-control. Yet one of the first parts of personality to be affected by any kind of mental illness is self-control. Both neurotics and psychotics find that as their disorders become progressively worse, they become less and less able to control their thoughts, feelings, and actions. After an emotional outburst, many a neurotic religious has been shocked and humiliated by his unusual behavior. He will tell himself that he did not act this way before. When he tries to .analyze why he became so angry and lost his temper, he can find no proportionate reason. The reason, however, for his behavior can be attributed to a loss of self-control, resulting from the neurotic disorder. This loss of self-control affects much of the neurotic's behavior. It impairs his pursuit of virtue and fidelity to the vows. The striving for sanctity is further handicapped by continuous periods of depression and fatigue, which seem to mark the path of most neurotics. When a person is unhappy and tired, he becomes an easy prey to temptation. He has less resistance. Pleasure becomes more enticing, since in a moment of darkness any fleeting joy be-comes much more desirable. The start of many a neurotic's escape into sin has begun with a peri6d of depression and unhappiness. Each lapse, especially if the lapses involve sins of a sexual nature, destroys some progress made in the life of virtue. Since repeated sinful actions are apt to become habitual, they make future progress much more difficult. Can a Saint Be Neurotic? What has been said up to this point would seem to indicate that perfection or sanctity is out of the reach of the neurotic religious. The.re are, however, modern authors who maintain that 98 March, 1960 NEUROTICISM AND PERFECTION some of the saints were neurotic. For instance, one states that St. Therese of the Child Jesus suffered from an obsessive-compul-sive neurosis.6 Still, it should be noted that this author says St. Therese appeared to be neurotic at the age of twelve or thir-teen. He does not affirm that she was neurotic when she died. Moreover, he does not state that she was severely neurotic, but that she suffered from a serious case of scruples, which in many cases is considered a neurotic symptom. During the past few decades at' least, it is highly doubtful whether a person could have been severely neurotic and still be considered an apt candidate for canonization. In the Code of Canon Law, we find: "When the cause is that of a confessor (that is, of a servant of God who is not a martyr of the faith), the following question is.to be discussed: whether in the case under consideration there is evidence of the existence of the theological virtues of faith,, hope, and charity (both toward God and toward neighbor) and of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, forti-tude, and temperance, and of the subsidiary virtues in a heroic de-gree . ,,7 In view of our analysis of the seriously neurotic per-sonality, it is difficult to see how a religious could attain all the aforesaid virtues to a heroic degree, and thus be worthy of canoniza-tion. It might also be added that, where there is evidence of mental disturbance in a servant of God who is being considered for beati-fication and this disturbance in some way influences the exercise of that servant's freedom, the custom of the Congregation of Rites has been to dismiss or set aside the case. s Spiritual Fate of the Neurotic Religious What, then, is the spiritual fate of the priest, sister, or brother who is severely afflicted with some form of a neurosis? As long as he or she remains in this condition, there would seem to be little chance of attaining a high degree of perfection -- except through the help of a special miracle coming from the hand of God. This handicap, however, does not relieve the particular religious in question of the obligation to seek after perfection. He still has the same obligation as any other religious. He differs from other re-ligious only in so far as he must reconstruct the natural before he 6Josef Goldbrunner, Holiness Is Wholeness (New York: Pantheon, 1955),. p. 25. 7Code of Canon Law, canon 2104. 8Gabriele di Santa Maria Maddalena, "Present Norms of Holiness" in Conflict and Light, edited by Bruno de J~sus-Marie (London: Sheed and Ward, 1952), p. 168. 99 RICHARD P. VAUGHAN Review for Religious can build a solid supernatural life. Most religious have fairly well-balanced personalities when they enter the notiviate. They are, therefore, in a position to take full advantage of the spiritual benefits offered during these years of training. With the neurotic, such is unfortunately not the case. He is frequently so preoccupied with himself and his problems that much of the spiritual fruit offered during the formative years is lost. If a neurotic religious is to advance on the road to sanctity, he must first clear away the natural debris of conflicts, fears, and frustrations. Once this has been accomplished, he will then move ahead as rapidly, if not more rapidly, than the religious who has always had good psychological health. In most instances of severe neurosis, this can only be achieved through some form of psycho-therapy. Protective Devices At the heart of every neurotic condition, no matter how mild or severe, is the development of some kind of a protective device. For example, the individual who feels completely inadequate in his dealings with others may defend himself against having to face this side of his personality by putting on an air of bravado whenever he finds himself in a group of people. Usually the physical and psychological symptoms are merely protective device.s. During the course of our early lives, there is not one of us who does not develop some kind of a personality defect which we cannot bear to manifest, and so we repress it. The way we go about repressing it is to develop a protective device. For this reason, many psy-chiatrists and psychologists say that we are all neurotic to a degree, The difference between the severely neurotic person and the average person is quantitative. The seriously neurotic has many repressed personality defects, and he has built up a very elaborate system of defending himself. This system, however, either fails to give the needed protection, so that he has to face to some extent the repulsive part of himself, or the system itself is such as to prove ankiety-provoking. In the latter case, one could include the religious who uses the defense of compulsive prayer to solve an unconscious conflict. Soon the number of prayers reaches such a proportion as to make the fulfilling of his other obligations impossible~ Then, the religious is caught in a new conflict of obliga-tions which produces more psychological discomfort. The saints who, like St. Therese, gave some evidence of a neurosis built up protective devices or defenses; but they did not 100 March, 1960 NEUROTICISM AND PERFECTION construct those elaborate and complicated systems that char-acterize so many severe neurotics. Had they done so, they un-doubtedly would have also manifested such personality traits as over-sensitivity and self-centeredness. Many religious give evidence of minor neurotic symptoms, such as an unreasonable fear of high places or occasional attacks of scruples. These symptoms in themselves need not be handicaps to perfection. They may even become sources of spiritual progress. As soon as a religious, however, manifests not only these minor symptoms but also some of the neurotic personality traits, then the way to perfection and sanctity becomes progressively more difficult. Need of Psychotherapy The foregoing discussion should bring out the need of a solid natural foundation on which to build the religious life. The priest, brother, or sister who is plagued with numerous psychological problems has a poor foundation on'which to construct his or her spiritual life. In almost every instance, supernatural virtue de-mands natural virtue. This fact points to the importance of psy-chotherapy for the severely neurotic religious. For without psycho-therapy,- these religious will be unable to achieve or sometimes even to seek after the primary goal of the religious life. Sanctity and perfection are out of their reach. But once they have received and cooperated with some form of psychological help, they are in a position to use the grace God gives to every religious. It stands to reason that the sooner a religious has the opportunity to clear away debris of psychological conflicts, the sooner he can get to the prime purpose of his chosen life, namely his own perfection and sanctity. 101 Survey of Roman Documents R. F. Smith, S.J. THE FOLLOWING article will survey the documents that appeared in .Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) during the months of October and November, 1959. All references in the article will be to the 1959 AAS (v. 51). Encyclical on the Rosary Under the date of September 26, 1959 (pp. 673-78), Pope John XXIII issued the encyclical Grata recordatio. The document is a brief one which begins by recalling the many Marian encyclicals of Leo " XIII. After emphasizing the desire he has for the devout recitation of the Rosary especially during the month of October, the Vicar of Christ then listed the matters for which he principally wished private and public prayers to be offered during the month of the Rosary. The "first intention was for the Holy See and for all ecclesiastical orders in the Church. The Pontiff's second intention was for all apostolic laborers that they may be granted the grace to speak the word of God with all confidence in its power. In the third place the Pope asked the faithful to remember in their prayers the leaders of the nations of the world. Catholics, he said, should petition God that these leaders may give the deepest consideration to the critical situation that the world faces today, that they may seek out the causes of discord, and that, realizing that war measures can lead only to destruction for all concerned, they may place no hope in such means. Let the leaders of the world, the Holy Father remarked, recall the eternal laws of God which are the foundation of good government; similarly they should remind themselves that just as men have been created by God, so also they are destined to possess and enjoy Him. The fourth and final intention for which John XXIII asked special prayers was the diocesan synod of Rome and the coming general council of the Church. Saints, Blessed, Servants of God Under the date of May 26, 1959, the Holy See issued two decretal letters (pp. 737-49, 750-64) concerning the canonization of St. Charles of Sezze (1613-1669) and St. Joaquina de Vedruna de Mas (1783-1854). Each of the letters begins with an account of the life of the saint, details the history of the cause for canonization, and finally gives the official account of the actual canonization. 102 ROMAN DOCUMENTS On August 11, 1958 (pp. 830-31), the Sacred Congregation of Rites formally confirmed the immemorial cult by which Herman Joseph, priest of the Premonstratensian Order, has been honored as a saint. The same congregation also issued a monitum (p. 720) in which it noted two mistakes in the text of the second nocturn for the feast of St. Lawrence of Brindisi. On April 22, 1959 (pp. 717-20), the same congrega-tion approved the introduction of the cause of the Servant of God Peter Joseph Savelberg (1827-1907), priest and founder of the Congregations of the Brothers and the Little Sisters of St. Joseph. On October 14, 1959 (pp. 818-20), the Pope addressed an allocution to a gro.up interested in the cause of Niels Steensen. The Pontiff praised Steensen for the remarkable scientific rigor with which he studied the works of God in order to better understand their structure and make-up; he also noted Steensen's pioneering work in anatomy, biology, geology, and crystallography. But it was Steensen's work after his conversion to the Church that the Pontiff principally emphasized. Once converted, he noted, the scholar gave up his chair of anatomy in the University of Copenhagen and began to study for the priesthood. After his ordina-tion and after his consecration as a bishop that soon followed, he began a life .of poverty, mortification, and suffering. He became especially noted for his zeal to lead non-Catholics back to the Church. His work in this area, the Pope remarked, was characterized by two notable qualities: his unalterable attachment to all points of revealed doctrine; and his great respec.t and love for those who did not share his own religious convictions. Miscellaneous Documents On November 4, 1959 (pp. 814-18), John XXIII delivered a homily in St. Peter's on the occasion of the first anniversary of his coronation as Pope. After recalling the feelings aroused in him by the first year of his pontificate, the Pope proceeded to outline a program of action based on the Our Father. His efforts, he said, will be directed to see that the name of God be blessed and acclaimed; that His spiritual kingdom may triumph in souls and in nations; that all human forces m~y be in conformity with the will of the heavenly Father. This last point, he insisted, is the essential one; from it will flow man's daily bread, the pardon of human offenses, the vigor of man's resistance to evil, and the preservation of men from all individual and social evils. On September 13, 1959 (pp. 709-14), the Holy Father broadcast a message for the conclusion of the National Eucharistic Congress of Italy. He told his listeners that the Eucharist is truly the mystery of faith, for it is the living compendium of all Catholic belief. In the Eucharist, he said, is found Christ, the only mediator between God and man; in it is found the lasting memorial of the sacrifice offered by Christ on Calvary; and in it is found the Head of the Mystical Body from whom come the sacraments which give fecundity and 103 1~. F. SMITH Review for Religious beauty to the Church. He concluded his broadcast by reminding his listeners that two thousand years of progress, in knowledge, in art, in culture, in economics, in politics, and in social matters have not diminished the truth of Christ's words: "Amen, amen, I~ say to you: if you do not eat the flesh of the son of man and do not drink his blood, you shall not have life in you" (Jn 6:54). A later radio broadcast on October 11, 1959 (pp. 777-78), was directed to the people of Argentina on the occasion of their Eucharistic Congress. He told the Argentines that if the human race would practice the lessons of love and unity which come from the Eucharist, then the miseries and discords of the world would cease to be. The Eucharist, he said, is the source of harn~ony and true peace for individuals, families, and peoples; for it restrains the passions, especially those of pride and egoism. On October 11, 1959 (pp. 766-69), the Vicar of Christ addressed a group of missionaries to whom he had just given their missionary crosses. He told the future missionaries that the peoples of the world await them, since they carry the secret of true peace and of tranquil progress. He ~lso reminded his listeners that the Church has received from her Founder the mandate to seek out all peoples so as to unite them into one family; accordingly no human force, no difficulty, no obstacle can stop the Church's missionary work which, will end only when God is all in all things. In his concluding words the Pontiff re-minded the missionaries that the cross they had just received should show them at what price the world is saved; the crucified Christ should be their model and their example; in their work, therefore, they should not put their trust and confidence in helps that are of purely human inspiration. On April 13, 1959 (pp. 691-92), the Holy Father issued an apos-tolic letter, raising to the status of an abbey the priory of the Sacred ¯ Heart in Ofiate. The new abbey belongs to members of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. On September 25, 1959 (pp. 706-9), John XXIII delivered an allocution to the Abbot Primate and other relS-resentatives of the Benedictine order. The Pontiff recalled with gratitude. the great debt of the Church to the Benedictine order and continued by reminding his listeners that the primary form of their apostolic work must be the chanting of the Divine Office. This, he said, is espec-ially necessary today, when so many men are intent on earthly matters to the negligence of celestial things. He also recalled the other works of the order and concluded by urging his listeners to keep faithfully to their traditions without hesitating, however, to use and accept new things that are proved to be good and useful. On October 19, 1959 (pp. 822-25), the Pontiff addressed an allocu-tion to the members, officials, and lawyers of the Rota. After giving a brief history of the Rota, the Pope told his listeners that they have been called by Providence to the defense of justice without regard to any other consideration including that of the authority or reputation of 104 March, 1960 I~OMAN DOCUMENTS those having recourse to the Rotao In this, he said, they must imitate the sovereign equity of the just and merciful God, before whom there is no acceptation of persons. In the latter part of the allocution the Vicar of Christ called the Rota the tribunal of the Christian family. By defending the sanctity and the indissolubility of matrimony, the Rota protects it from the attacks of a hedonistic egoism; at the same time, when it acknowledges the invalidity or non-existehce of a marriage bond, the Rota acts as the guardian of the sacred rights of the human person. On August 28, 1959 (pp. 701-2), the Pope sent a letter to Arch-bishop Martin John O'Connor, rector of the North American College in Rome, congratulating him on the hundredth anniversary of the college. Later on October 11, 1959 (pp. 770-75), the Pontiff gave an address to the students of the college, detailing to them the numerous ways in which the various Popes have manifested a special interest in the college. The growth of the college from its opening days with thirteen students to its large groups at the present time is, he continued, a sign of the growth of the Church in the United States. The Holy Father concluded the allocution by telling the students that the cause of Mother Elizabeth Seton had already passed the antepreparatory stage and that consequently there was good reason to hope that in a relatively short time the cause would be brought to completion. On October 13, 1959 (pp. 775-77), the Pope addressed present and former students of the Teutonic College of Sancta Maria de Anima on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Plus IX's reorganization of the college. He congratulated the college on its past achievements and urged it to greater things in the future. On September 6, 1959 (pp. 703-6), the Pontiff talked to a group of Italian elementary teachers, telling them to have a profound and jealous esteem for their mission of education. This esteem, he said, should be based on the .following considerations: Teachers train the minds of their charges, a consideration which, he added, should make them eager to perfect themselves constantly in their own culture. Moreover, teachers form the souls of their children; to teachers, then, is ent~'usted the forma-tion of the men of tomorrow. Finally, he concluded, teachers should encourage themselves by remembering that by their work they are preparing for themselves a special reward in heaven according to the words of Daniel 12:3, "But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity." On October 17, 1959 (pp. 821-22), the Vicar of Christ spoke to a group of persons interested in the human values to be found in labor. He congratulated the group for putting the things of the spirit before every other consideration and recommended to them the exercise of Christian virtue. He especially urged them to follow the maxim of St. Benedict, "Pray and work"; they should, he said, make prayer their 105 VIEWS,' NEWS, PREVIEWS Review [or Religious very breath and their food in the conviction that every human activity, no matter how lofty and praiseworthy, is not to be limited to an earthly horizon, but should tend towards the City of God. On October 1, 1959 (pp. 764-66), the Vicar of Christ spoke to a congress of the Apostolate of the Blind. The ~lind, he said, teach other men to value the light of intelligence and of virtue. He also reminded his listeners that the cry of the blind man of the gospel, "Lord, grant that I may see," arises today from multitudes of men who are spiritually blind; accordingly he urged his listeners to direct their prayers to the Blessed Virgin that the day will soon come when "all flesh will see the salvation of God." In a letter of October 12, 1959 (pp. 809-10), the Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal Pizzardo from his position as secretary of the Holy Office. On November 20, 1959 (pp. 810-12), he accepted the resignation of Cardinal Tisserant as Secretary of the Sacred Oriental Congregation. On the same day (pp. 812-13) he accepted the resignation of Cardinal Cicognani as Pro-Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Segnatura. On October 9, 1959 (p. 829), the Sacred Consistorial Congregation named Francis Xavier Gillmore Stock the military vicar of Chile. An apostolic constitution of April 17, 1959 (pp. 789-91), established ¯ an exarchate in Germany for Ruthenians of the .Byzantine rite. The see of the exarchate will be in Munich. On September 23, 1959 (p. 832), the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary published the text and indulgences of a prayer for the coming general council. An English translation of the prayer and its grant of indulgences will be found on pages 65-66 of this issue of the REVIEW. Views, News, Previews A RELIGIOUS WOMAN who has had a ten-year struggle against serious mental sickness has sent to the REVIEW an account of her experiences and of the lessons that can be drawn from them. The account ~is given below in the sister's own words: To many individuals, both lay and religious, the thought of living with one whb has been an inmate in a mental institution seems foreign, until it strikes home. When the family ties are those of blood relationship, there is sometimes a feeling of love, of pride, or even of legal force that makes for an attempt to keep the person a part of the family unit, even if this may cause inconvenience, embarrassment, or added expense to the other members of the family. When the relationship is one of a spir-itual nature even greater love and understanding might be expected, since the bond which binds a religious family should reflect the love of Christ Himself. Why, then, are there a considerable number of religi-ous whose returfi to their religious communities, when recommended 106 March, 1960 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS by the medical staff of a mental hospital, brings with it a stigma that differentiates them from the sisters who resume their usual duties after regaining their health from a physical illness? Perhaps personal ex-perience over a period of ten years may be helpful to others -- both sick and healthy, both superiors and subjects. In September of 1949 my usual teaching duties began. Shortly afterwards I experienced symptoms I did not understand -- sudden spells of crying, with no apparent provocation, and at the most unexpected.times. Since that time I have been a patient in four mental hospitals, seen fourteen psychiatrists, and a slightl~ lesser number of experienced priests. There is no regret in my having been ill. In fact, I think God, in HIS goodness, timed it well to save me from a growing pride and possibly a rather shallow religious life. Is it impossible for a sistek emotionally or mentally disturbed for a short time to again be a useful member of the community? Could mental sickness occur in a sister who ordinarily enjoys good health and has no history of mental illness in her family? Both may be firmly answered in the affirmative. With the realization that a "yes" may be given to question number two, the ego in you (but we hope also your love of neighbor) may spark your interest to further information on question number one. With good medical help received in time, prayer, patience, and a determination to win on the part of the patient, and.a kind and sensible attitude on the part of other members of the community, a very sick person may again be an active and useful worker for Christ as a perfectly normal member of the community. Lacking one or more of these condi-tions, she may be an added burden financially, a loss to a much needed Christian apostolate; and there is no guarantee that her suffering is any more pleasing to God than her active work would be. Resignation to His will as an inmate of a mental institution calls for the highest degree of fortitude. How many reach this goal? And how many potentially good religious have the spiritual capacity to repel bitterness or at least apathy? What can be done to lessen the number of sisters who are lost to the active apostolate unndcessarily? Superiors may: (1) be informed of symptoms of emotional disturbance. Early recognition and treatment is important. For the bu~y superior Psychiatry and Catholicism by Van der Veldt and OdenwaldI ig fairly comprehensive. (2) Have a Christ-like attitude toward the sick sister which will inspire confidence. (3) If hospitalization is necessary, welcome the patient's return to the community and to her work on the same basis as one returning after an appendectomy or other physical illness. Subjects may: (1) on the patient's return from the mental hospital, ac-cept the doctor's decision that she is well enough to return to religious ~Editor's note: James H. Van der Veldt and Robert P. Odenwald (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952). 107 VIEWS, NEWS, PREVIEWS Review for Religious life and treat her like any other sister. (2) Do not avoid her or show fear in other ways, such as locking bedroom doors at night, and so forth. The patient may: (1) accept her suffering as.coming from God, but not with a pessimistic outlook; (2) cooperate with medical help given; (3) determine to regain her health, with trust in God, if such is His will; (4) keep busy or try to help others when the type and intensity of the illness-permits. It's a wonderful way to minimize your own troubles. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. Mine has been a pro-longed meal -- ten years -- but I hope soon to taste the sweetness of dessert. A short resume will crystalize the effectiveness of the suggestions above. November, 1949, forced to give up teaching, 1949-1954, in and out of mental hospitals, stays varying from tw~ weeks to three months. Returning to the community meant being a human chessman on the board, moved here and there with jobs ranging from teaching on all levels, elementary through college, to weeding the motherhouse garden. Duration of jobs might be anywhere from one to eighteen months. The feeling of "not belonging" anywhere was not easy to accept but probably forced me to a greater trust in Christ. 1952, my spiritual director first suggested I leave my community. After twenty-four years of religious life this came as an atomic blow. 1954, Rome granted me an indult of exclaustration. 1954-1956, I.looked like a secular, lived as much as possible a religious life, and discovered I Leapt Over the Wall was a bit exaggerated. The offices in which I worked and the public school which hired me to organize and supervise an art department offered opportunity for God's work. 1956, my doctor and my spiritual director advised me to return to my community. I thought this happy move was permanent. 1957, illness struck again. On the advice of my spiritual director, Rome granted another three-year period of exclaustration. 1957-1959, organization of another public school art department brought me to a New York State area where there is much work to be done with Catholic students, civic, educational and social organizations, the local Newman Club, and friends who just come to my apartment to paint, but end up talking what they really hunger for -- religion and good living! 1960, my doctor, my spiritual director, and the vicar for religious recom-mend my return to my community. I look forward to it with true joy and the hope that with God's grace, my own cooperation, and the help of my superiors and sisters, this will be my home, until Christ welcomes me to an eternal one. The fight against depression has not been easy, but God always provided the necessary help. as it was needed. There have been setbacks which I could never have surmounted alone. Even now I am not a 108 March, 1960 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Hercules of nerves.'Marsilid and equanil supplement my daffy prayers. These are not a cure but a purely natural means, not to be spurned, in keeping me fit to do a job for Christ. There are other religions emotionally or mentally ill at present, some in hospitals, some still devotedly "holding on" to their assignments in religious communities. There will be more in the futu}e. If this account gives hope to even one, I shall feel grateful to the priests and doctors who encouraged me to write. The Institute for Religious at College Misericordia, Dallas, Penn-sylvania (a three-yea~ summer course of twelve days in canon law and ascetical theology for sisters), will be held this year August 20-31. This is the first year in the triennial course. The course in canon law is given by the Rev. Joseph F. Gallen, S. J., that in ascetical theology by the Rev. Thomas E. Clarke, S. J., both of Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. The registration is restricted to higher superiors, their councilors, general and provincial officials, mistresses of novices, and those in similar positions. Applications are to be addressed to Rev. Joseph F. Gallen, S. J., Woodstock College; Woodstock, Md. ( uestions and Answers [The following answers are given b~v Father Joseph F. Gallen, S. J., professor of canon law at Woodstock Col!eg~, Woodstock, Maryland.] Local Houses and Superiors Questions and cases on local houses and local superiors have been submitted with great frequency. Private replies were given to most of these, but it was thought profitable and even necessary to publish all " together and in l?gical order. Questions have been divided whenever this was demanded by the same order. The questions on local houses and local superiors will be continued through several issues of the REVIEW. I. Local Houses 1. We are a clerical exempt institute. We wish to rent a house in a summer resort, to be used only as a vacation place for our com-munity. Do we need the permission of the local ordinary to rent and use this house? The stable residence of religious and the customary tenor of life of the institute are necessary to have a religious house in any sense of this term. Therefore, a mere vacation residence owned, rented, or granted temporarily to an institute and used only as a vacation place is not a religious but a secular house. It lacks both of the requisites given 109 QUESTIONS AND ANSWEas Review for Religious above. Canon law contains no prescriptions on secular houses of religious, and therefore no permission of the local ordinary is necessary for any institute to build or open such a vacation or similar residence. It would usually be courteous to consult him before taking this action; for example, many such residences in one resort might cause difficulty for the diocese. The two requisites given above can be verified in residences which are used also as vacation places; if so, they are canonically erected or filial houses, which will be explained in questions and cases below. 2. What is the relation of the other buildings on our grounds to the religious house, that is, the building in which at least most of the religious reside? In its material sense, a religious house is the house or building in which the religious reside; but all buildings located within the same property, grounds, or premises and buildings not separated from that in which the religious reside are considered part of the. religious house; for example, separate buildings on the same grounds for a college, a preparatory or elementary school, library, science building, infirmary, gymnasium, and houses for workmen are all part of the religious house. Even when not on the same grounds nor contiguous to the residence of the religious, a building is not considered as separate if it can be judged morally to form part of the same group of buildings. It is certainly separate if a mile distant; but a building a few doors away from the residence of the religious, even if a street is between them, can still be said to be part of the same group of buildings. Because of this material sense, a novice is not absent if he is confined by sickness to an infirmary building on the same grounds but distinct 'from the novitiate building (c. 556, §§ 1-2). For the same reason, first profession may licitly be made in the college chapel on the same grounds, even though this building is distinct from that in which the community resides (c. 574, § 1). 3. Our constitutions 'speak of property owned and debts incur-red by the houses, provinces, and institute. How can any of these as such own property or incur debts? In the formal and more important sense, a religious .house is the same thing as a canonically erected religious house. It is the community as a distinct moral person, distinguished as such from both the province and the institute, which are also moral persons. A moral person in the Church may be described as an ecclesiastical corporation. It is a subject of rights and obligations, which are distinct from those of its members considered individually or collectively. A moral person can acquire, own, and administer property (cc. 531-32); is responsible for its debts and obligations (c. 536, § 1); can sue or be sued in court (cc. 1552, § 2, 1°; 1649; 1653, § 6); can receive privileges (cc. 72, §§ 3:4; 613; 615); enjoys precedence (cc. 106, 491), and so forth. The antecedent requisites for a canonically erected house are: (1) at the time of the erection it must 110 March, 1960 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS consist of at least three religions (c. 100, § 2); (2) a distinct community with its own proper superior; (3) the stable dwelling of religious in the house; (4) and the customary tenor of life of the institute according to its particular constitutions. It is not necessary that a religions institute be the proprietor of a canonically erected house, a filial house, or a separated establishment. All of these may be owned or rented by the institute or their use gratuitously given to the institute. All may be an entire building or a part of a building, for example, a floor or an apartment. The Code of Canon Law itself grants to a canonically erected house the character of a moral person consequent upon the fulfillment of the canonical formalities prescribed for an erection. 4. Our constitutions state that a parish school convent, because it is owned by the parish, cannot be a canonically erected religious house. Is this correct? No. As stated in the preceding question, the character of a moral person, of an ecclesiastical corporation, is something completely distinct from the ownership of the property where the moral person is located. Therefore, ownership of the property by the religious institute is not required for a canonically erected religious house. The sense of these particular constitutions may be that the institute will petition canonical erection only for houses that it owns. 5. Our hospital ,is civilly incorporated. The board of the civil corporation authorized the addition of a new wing to the hospital. This will cost $2,500,000. Do we need any permissions beyond the authorization of this board? Every religious institute, province, or house, by its erection as a moral person according to the norms of canon law, possesses, in virtue " of canon 531, the unlimited right of acquiring, owning, and administering temporal property (cf. c. 1495, § 2). This right extends to all species of property, all rights of use, and the right of receiving returns on property. The code permits the particular constitutions to exclude o~ limit this capacity. When the civil state, as in the United States, does not recognize an ecclesiastical moral person established by the Church, religions moral persons should incorporate civilly, so as to secure civil efficacy and protection of their property rights, which they actually possess from canon law. The incorporation therefore is a mere civil formality. The property rights are possessed in virtue of canon law, and the property must always be administered according to canon law and the constitu- ¯ tions (c. 532, § 1). In any transaction, the requisite civil formalities are to be fulfilled but only that the transaction may have civil efficacy and protection. The substantial law that governs the transaction is that of canon law and the constitutions. Care is to be taken, if externs are ad-mitted as members of the board, that religious of the institute are always in the majority. An institute may treat such a board also as an advisory 111 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious committee, but in itself the authorization of the board is a mere civil formality. In the present case, the transaction is the expenditure of $2,500,000 for a new wing to a hespital. If the hospital already has this sum on hand, the permission of the mother general with the vote of her council prescribed by the general chapter will be necessary, because the trans-action is an act of extraordinary administration. If the hospital has to borrow money for the project, as is most likely true, the norms of canon 534 on contracting debts, supplemented by the enactments of the general chapter on the same subject, must be observed. In either case, the re-course to higher authority is required for the validity of the transaction. See Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome Iuris Canonici, II, n. 819; Brys, Juris Canonici Compendium, II, n. 855; Muzzarelli, De Congregationibus Iuris Dioecesani, n. 163; Goyeneche, Quaestiones Canonicae, I, 253; Vromant, De Bonis Ecc~esiae Temporalibus, n. 8. 6. We have the house system of delegates for the general chapter, that is, each house of~ at least twelve religious sends its local superior to this chapter in virtue of his office and elects one non-superior delegate. Smaller houses are combined into groups of at least twelve and not more than twenty-three religious. Each group elects one superior and one non-superior delegate. Are filial houses considered smaller houses? In some institutes, all houses except the mother house are called missions, branch houses, or filial houses, which is not the strict sense. The essential note of a filial house in the strict sense is that it is not a distinct moral person but part of the larger canonically erected house to which it is attached. The one at the head Of a filial house is therefore not a superior in the proper sense of this word, even though he may have this title. He is a mere delegate of either a higher superior or of the superior of the larger house, and his authority is as wide as the delegation. In lay institutes, he is appointed by a higher superior, either for a specified term, for example, three years, or for no determined period of time. In the latter case, he may be removed at any time at the mere will of the higher superior. Since it is not a moral person, the filial house does not own property, all of which is owned by the larger house. There-fore, it has no bursar. Its local bursar is that of the larger house, but he may have an assistant in the filial house. A filial house has no coun-cilors, since it is not canonically a house (c. 516, § 1). Unless otherwise specified in the constitutions, the capitular rights of those residing in the filial house are exercised in the larger house, of which t.hey are to vote as members for the election of delegates~ to the provincial or general chapter. The number of religious resident in a filial house is usually small. The larger house to which the filial house is attached is ordinarily located in the same city or in a nearby place. The constitutions of brothers and sisters, whether pontifical or diocesan, most rarely mention filial houses. All such institutes may open 112 March, 1960 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS filial houses, unless this is expressly forbidden by the constitutions. A few constitutions have only a brief statement of the following type: "Communities of two or three sisters can be made dependent on larger houses when the mother general and her council consider it opportune." Such constitutions do not explain the election of delegates in ~elation to a filial house. Others contain such an explanation; for example: "Religious living in branch houses who cannot go to the principal house for the election of the delegate will send their sealed votes there. These votes will be, taken out of their envelopes in. the presence of the com-munity and placed in the ballot box with those of the religious who are present," "Branch houses have not the right of sending either superior or delegates to the proyincial chapter, but the vocal sisters of these branch houses will unite with the vocal sisters of the nearest house to elect delegates to the provincial chapter." Unless a special provision has been made in the constitutions, as in the last case, those residing in the filial house must vote as members of the larger house to which the former is attached for the election of delegates. This is evident from the fact that the filial house is part of the larger house. This essential argument is confirmed by the fact that the religious at the head of a filial house is not a superior and therefore has no right to be voted for as a superior delegate. Furthermore, the constitutions say that smaller houses are to be united (cf. Normae of 1901, n. 216). A filial house is not canonically a house but part of a house. The present difficulty in the election of delegates occurs only in the house, not in the group, system. Unless the constitutions state the contrary, as.in the second dase, all electors must be physically present for an election, according to the norm of canon 163. In lay congregations, a filial house ordinarily does not contain more than three religious; but this is not a matter of general law in the Church. Even in such institutes, filial houses are sometimes larger. The following authors explicitly affirm that the capitular rights are to be exercised in the house t'o which the filial house is attached: Maroto, Commentarium Pro Religiosis, 5 (1924), 128, note 14; Ver-meersch, Periodica, 13 (1923), 55; Schaefer, De Religiosis, n. 166; Jombart, Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, VI, 700; Creusen, Religious Men and Women in Church Law, n. 12; Fanfanl, De Iure Religiosorum, m 20; De Carlo, Jus Religiosorum, n. 42; Flanagan, The Canonical Erection of Religious Houses, 31. 7. Our constitutions distinguish formal and non-formal

Issue 10.5 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; A.M.D.G. . Renew for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1951. Christian Heroes . J. Pu~z Joy in Heaven . Richard L. Rooney ¯ PassionisHc SpirH'uallty . Fidells Rice Modesty ¯ ¯ ~ . ,~ .~ . C- A. Herbs÷ Grace o~ Our Vocation . P. De Leffer Communion for O~hers . . Clerence McAuliffe A Vocational Newspaper Questions and Answers Book Reviews ,VOLUME X i' =, NUMBER 5' RI:::VI W FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME X SEPTEMBER, 1951 NUMBER GONTENTS CHRISTIAN HEROES-~3. Putzo S.J . 225 Heroism of Everyday Life . 225 The New Saints ¯ " . ZZ9 The New Beati . 235 JOY IN HEAVEN--Richard L. Rooney, S.3 .2.3.9 PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY--Fidelis Rice, C.P .2.4.1 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 246 MODESTY--C. A. Herbst, S.J . 247 ETUDE SUR LA PAUVRETE. RELIGIEUSE .2.5.2. THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION---P. De Letter, S.J .2.5.3 COMMUNICATIONS--A VOCATIONAL NEWSPAPER . 260 OFFERING COMMUNION' FOR OTHERS-~Clarence McAuliffe, S.J. 261 MEDICO-MORAL PROBLEMS . 265 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 20. Alienation of Property for $100,000 . 266 21. Alienation of Sacred Objects: Relics, Images, Vessels . . . . 266 22. Extreme Unction before Major Operation .268 23. Letters of Golden Jubilarians . 268 24. Novice Master at Coun~i~ Meeting . ¯ " . 268 25. Communion to Ambulatory Sick . 269 26. Hail Mary's on Feast of Annunciation . 270 I'~EW MEDITATION BOOKS . 270 BOOK REVIEWSw Pastor's History of the Popes; The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus; The Gifts of the Holy Ghost . 273 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 276 BOOK NOTICES . 278 TEN YEAR INDEX OF REVIEW--MAYBE . 280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September. 1951. Vol. X, No. 5. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation, Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: Jerome Breunig, S~ J. Copyright, 1951, by Adam C. Ellis, S,J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price]! 3 dollars a year: 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Befoie writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Christ:ian bleroe It~UR DAYS call for heroic living. The greatness.and diffi: ~ culties of our time are su.cb that no disciple ofo "~hrist.is allowed to remain satisfied with mediocrity." This, saying of Plus XI has often been quoted. The Holy Year was" meant-to stir up Christendom to greater fervor, that it might be an:active, l'eaven for'the much-needed renovation of the world. The numerous beati-fications and canonizations of this last year put beforeus outstandi'ng Christian heroes whose example is meant to stimulate our mediocgity~ Heroism is the test applied by the Church to candidates for .beati-- fication--not a human, stoic heroism, but a heroism inspired by personal love, by charity, and sustained by the Holy Ghost dwellin~ in the soul. At the beginning the typical saint was the ma'rtyr, th.e Christian who had been a witness to Christ by. dying for Him. ,But soon it was realized that, in the absence of persecution.s, there can be an "unbloody martyrdom" by heroic fidelity in liv'ing for Christ, Thus, by the side of martyrs, the names o,~f. outstanding "confes~ors~j came to be added in the martyrology. Heroism always remained the test of genuine sanctity, and the Congregation of Rites, .When studying the cause of'a confessor, has chiefly to discuss the hiroism his virtue. Is there evidence that he possessed in a herbic degree.the theolggical virtues of faith, hope, charity and the cardinal.~ri~tues :of prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, with the virtues connected with them'? , .' ~ :: " , But what is required for heroic virtue? It is not easy tO dete~ mine thi's notion. Benedict XIV, in his treatise on'the beatification of the servants of God, has given all the elements, but he has:not made the synthesis, and one may say that the notion remained some:~ what indeterminate. This gave rise, 'within the ,Congregatigrl of Rites, to different conceptions of heroic, virtue. This. difference' de-layed the cause of the servant of God, A. Gianelli. The same reason may explain why until this year no child or ado.lescent ever passed the test, for the classical conception insisted 'on "extraordinary,~.' manifestatidns of heroism. There was room for progress 'tow~i'r'ds greater precision and, accor~ding to a recent articl'e by.~a consultor:of 22'5 J. PU~Z Reoieto for Religious the Congregation of Rites, the well-known Carmelite, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, a distinct progress has been made during recent years. (Cf. Etudes Carmelitaines, 1949, pp. 175-88.~ This progress has not only a juridical importance for the process of beatification; it interest~ ascetical theology as well, since all Chris-tians are called to sanctity, and the type of holiness required by the Church for canonization determines the ideal of Christian perfection after which all must strive. T.he true Christian is the saint, and the saints are the standard by which we must guide and judge ourselves. Our imitation of.them must be based on a precise notion of what sanctity-~heroic virtue--consists in. Aqcording to Father Gabriel, the work of elaboration and deter-mination took place chiefly between 1916 and 1922, under the direct inspiration of Benedict XV. It can be followed in the decrees of the Congregation of Rites published on the occasion of the declara-tion of heroic virtue especially in the decrees concerning A. M. Gianelli (AAS, 1920, pp. 170-4)'and 3. N. Neumann (AAS, 1922, pp. 23-6). As a result, we are told, the Church is now in possession of a concept of heroic virtue more synthetic, less complicated and less abstract, more definite and easier to apply. This notion was clearly expressed in 1916 by Benedict XV, when he declared that "sanctity consists merely in conformity with the divine will, expressed in the constant and exact fulfillment of the duties of one's state." Sanctity, as the decree of April 11, 1920, explains, cannot be judged by an abstract standard. The saints cannot be reduced to one type. Heroism will vary according to each one's temperament, state of life, and other circumstances. It will not always show itself by extraordinary or stupendous deeds. For, as the decree' states, "these require a suitable occasion. But such occasions are rare and do not depend on the will of man; persecutions, for instance, plagues, or earthquakes cannot be produced at will. Hence, if holi-ness consisted in such deeds, it would follow that holiness itself does not depend on the will of man--which is absurd." The heroism to which all Christians can aspire is the exact and constant fulfillment of their concrete daily duties. "Comrounia sed non communiter,'" according to the motto of St. John Berchmans, doing common things but uncommonly well. What makes the saint is not the nature of his actions, whether extraordinary or common, important or insig-nificant; what counts is the intensity of his love that rules and in-spires all his actions. 226 September, 195 ! (]HRISTIAN HEROES Such fidelity implies real heroism, for nothing is more difficult to human nature than constancy. To be moved in everything by the will of God only, without being influenced by the ever-active sensi-bility, the sudden movements of the passions, the sense of fatigue, the ups and downs of one's n~oods.---such constancy supposes that the soul is under the perfect domination of the Holy Ghost and totally oriented towards its last end. Father Gabriel wrote in the same article, "If it were not so, if it were not perfectly purified, if other motives distinct from the love of God were still active (they can all be reduced to self-love, the root of all inordinate love of creatures), .then it would inevitably act more than once under the impulse of these motives and thus deviate from the pure fulfillment of the divine~ will." In such a soul "we admire a human nature tbat has reached a singular harmony and perfection--its spiritual forces keeping the sensible fac~lties in docile submission or completely conquering their resistance, so as to realize to perfection the task prescribed to it by the Lord: the perfect fulfillment of His holy will by a total, constant, ~nd generous fidelity to the daily duty." "Such sublime conduct, kept up over a long period, and without failure, is completely above the powers of human .nature left to itself . It alone suffices for evangelical heroism, for it makes man perfect in the way the heavenly ~Father is perfect." (Quoted by Benedict XIV in his treatise on beatification, III, c. 21, n. 10.) ! "'The heroism of the ordinary life has officially received a place by the side of the classical extraordinary heroism," wrote D. Pietro Brocardo. (Cf. Satesianum, 1950, p. 197.) Benedict XV's suc-cessor, the Pope who stressed the universal call of Christians to sanc-i. ,t~ty, often expounded this conception. Sanctity, according to Plus ~KI, is not something "exceptional," it is but the Christian life lived fully and intensely according to each one's vocation. Sanctity is but ~he fullest and richest expression of Christian life. It is the divine perfection proposed to all, from the humblest believer to the gigantic ~gures of hagiography. If not all are called to the same height of ~anctity, yet all are called to sanctity. His most famous pronounce-ment on this topic is his allocution published in Osservatore Romano, ~Jan. 6, 1928, on "the terrible everyday duty," given after the reading bf the decree of the heroic virtue of Brother Benildus, a humble leacher who had spent his whole life in elementary schoo.ls: "A humble servant of God, whose whole life was all modesty hnd silence, all very commonplace and very 'everyday.' But in such 227 Reoiew for Religious an. everyday- life how much there is that is not common! This everyday, always the same, with the same occupations, the same ~;eakness~s, the same miseries, has rightly been called 'the terrible ev'e'ryda3f:' How much strength is required to stand up to this ter-rible, this crushing, this monotonous, this asphyxiating everyday! An. un'c6mmon irirtue is very necessary to perform--not with an all too'° frequent negligence and superficiality but with attention and inner fe'rvbr of spirit--that series of common actions which fill our e'4ceryday life'. 0' "Holy Church is never a more equitable judge and a wi~er teacher of bdlinesk than when she honors these humble lights, so often unnoticed even by those who had the good fortun~ tosee them shine finder their i'er~, eyes. Extraordinary things, great events, magnifi-cei~ t enterprises arouse the noblest instincts: in the commonplace, on the:contrary, that is, in the flat and obscure everyday task, there is nothing exciting or fascin.ating. Yet this is the stuff the life of most men' is made of. How often do extraordinary circumstances present therfiselves in a lifetime? They are very rare, and woe to us if sanc-tity were reserved to extraordinary circumstances! What would the greater part of'~nankind do? For it is certain that all without dis-tinction are called to sanctity." " B'roth~r B~nil~tus was beatified twenty years later, on April 4, 1948. On that occasion Plus XII, too, spoke of the heroism of the ordinary life. Benildus was neither a founder, nor a mystic, nor a miracle-worker; h~.was a,~simple schoolmaster. His only claim to the honors' of the YChurch was his fidelity to duty--to his rules and the daily grind of the school. But such constant fidelity to the details of his di~ty, his radiant charity, his serenity in difficulties could only flow. frorrl a'ddep[and vigorous interior life and habitual union with Goal. ' :. ¯ During th~ Holy Year a variety of saints have been' beatified or e~rmn~zed." Maria Goretti w~s only eleven when she died, but she Was canonized as a martyr. Yet, even this extraordinary form of htroisrd;, the Pope pointed out, presupposes the "ordinary" heroism of the'daily life. Among the new beati is the first adolescent ever t'gised to the altars, Dominic Savio. So far, the youngest confessor ~fioni~ed is S~."Stanislaus; but he was a young man of eighteen ~nd, besides bein~ a religious, his life was out of the ordina.ry, Dominic died before he was fifteen, and his life was the very ordinary s~hool-b'oy life. The criterion of heroic virtue exposed by Father Gabriel 228 September, 1951 CHRISTIAN HEROES ,seems to havi~ made it possible for children and adolescerits to pass the test required for tl~e supreme honors of the Church. The eight saints canonized during the Holy Year of 1950 brought "the total number canonized by Plus XII tO twenty-two. Saints Emily de Rodat and Maria Goretti were also beatified by the present Holy Father. Among the canonized we find seven confessors and one martyr; one bishop, one priest-founder of a religious insti-tute, three foundresses of religious congregations, and three who attained sanctity "in the world": a middle-aged woman, a young woman, and a girl. Four are Italian, two French, one Spanish, and one from Latin America. Five belong to the nineteenth century, while the fifteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries each claim one. St. Jeanne de Valois (1464-1504) Jeanne de Valois, daughter, sister, and wife of kings, seemed to be so high-placed only to be the more cruelly humiliated and cast away. Her birth was a bitter disappointment for King Louis XI who already had a daughter and wanted a son who could succeed him. Misshapen by nature, she was sent away from the court and brought up by strangers. When still a child, she was bound by a political marriage to the young Duke of Orleans who detested her and who, when twenty years later he l~ecame King Louis XII, had his marriage annulled, makin,g of the rejected queen an object of public ridicule. But the greater her disgrace in the eyes of the world, the more clearly stands out her moral nobility and spiritual greatness. The "royal Cinderella," as she has been called, showed no bitterness, no morbid self-pity; she accepted everything with sincere humility, deep love for God and for men (including her husband for whom she never ceased praying and who became one of the best-loved kings of France), and whole-hearted application to the work God had given her. The king, on sending her away, made over to her the duchy of Berry, and during the six remaining years of her life she resided at Bourges, her capital, administering the duchy with such success that she earned from her pebple the title of "the Good Duchess."A'mid 229 J. PUTZ Review [or Religious the splendor of her court she secretly practiced" the most rigorous penances. In 1500 she realized a long-cherished project, the founda-tion of an order'of the Blessed Virgin, the Annqnciade. Its members were to take as their means of sanctification the imitation, the repro-duction of M~ry, by practicing, her "Ten Virtues" as found in the Gospel. She herself, though continuing to rule the duchy, made her religious profession and wore the habit under her worldly d~ess. She completed her work by founding a Third Order, the "Order of Peace,': whpse members, living in the world, were to work for peace and reconciliation. The Order of the Annonciade flourished for centuries, but was almost destroyed by the French Revolution. At ' present it has a half dozen bouses in Belgium, France, and England. When Joan died in her fortieth year she was immediately venerated as a saint. Her cult grew, miracles multiplied, but she was not formally beatified until 1742. Pius XII solemnlY proclaimed her a saint on May 28. In his homily the Holy Father stressed the saint's work for the promotion of peace; in heaven, he said, she continues to pray for the extinction of hate and for fraternal concord, so that the nations may form one great family, striving with united for~es to ensure prosperity and peace for all. On the following day, in an address to the numer-ous French pilgrims, he described the spirituM characteristics of the saint--spirit of faith, devotion to the Mother of Jesus ("an infallible test of the true. Christian"), union with Jesus in suffering--and gave her as an example tO French Catholics, particularly to the women of France "on'whom in the present crisis devolves a mission 9f supreme importance." SI. Mary Ann of Jesus (1618-1645) Born in Quito, Ecuador, of Spanish parents, this Saint of Latin America--"the Lily of Quito"--showed a precocious attraction for the things of the spirit. She took the three vows at ten and lived the live of a solitary in a room of her sister's wealthy home,.leaving it only to go to church and to visit the poor and sick. She practiced heroic austerities and was favored with sublime prayer. In 16~}5, when Quito was visited by earthquakes and a deadly plague, she publicly offered herself as a victim for the sins of the people. The skourge abated, but she was seized with a malady-which put an end to her short but intense life. She was only twenty-six. 230 September, 1~51 CHRISTIAN HEROES She was beatified by Plus IX in 1853. In 1946 "the Parliament of Ecuador declared her a "national heroine." Her canonizatiorl, the last of the Holy Year, took place on July 9.In his homily the Holy Father stressed three aspects, of her life: (1) immaculate purity; (2) ardent charity, which she practiced towards every misery, spir-itual and material: when she was powerless to help, she tried to obtain help from God by prayer, expiation, the offering of her life; (3) extraordinary austerity, inspired by the desire to expiate the sins of men. She offered herself as a~victim for the salvation of others. This question of mortification needs special stres.sing in the mod-ern world, the Pope said. "Not all, especially nowadays, understand this kind of penance; not all esteem it as they should. Many of our contemporaries despise it or neglect it. Yet we should know that for our fallen nature penance is absolutely necessa.ry. Unless y.ou do pena.nce you will all perish. Indeed, nothing heli3s more efficaciously to conquer our passions and to subject our natural instincts to the control of reason. And when we have won a victory over ourselves it is sweet to exp'erience a divine joy which surpasses' al'l earthly pleasures." In his allocution to pilgrims the following day, the Pope re-marked that we "who. live in the full light of the deyotion of the Sacred Heart may well admire the holy intuitions of this innocent victim who, at the beginning of .the seventeenth century, was led to make of reparation the centre of her spirituality." St. Vincent Strambi (1745-1824) St. Vincent Strambi was one of the great bishops and upholders of the Church's independence in the face of totalitfirian rulers. After being ordained a priest in 1767 he was received into the Passionist Congregation by St. Paul of the Cross himself. He was a great preacher of missions and director of souls (among his penitents was the Blessed Anna Maria Taigi) and filled high offices of authority in his order. In 1801 he was, much against his will, appointed bishop of Macerata and Tolentino by Plus VII. He administered his dio-cese with the zeal of another Charles Borromeo. Preoccupied chiefly with the formation of the clergy and the diffusion of religious in-struction, he brought about a religious renewal among priests and laity. When he refused to take the oath of. allegiance to the ustirping regime established by Napoleon he was expelled from his diocese in 231 J. PUTZ Review for Religious 1808 until the fall of the Emperor in 1813. In 1823 he resigned his see and died soon after in Rome, where Pope Leo XII had made him his confidential adviser." In the midst of his intense activity and the vicissitudes "of his life he never relaxed anything in the austerity of his private life. He was beatified, in 1925 and canonized on June 11, 1950. In his homily the Holy Father made an application to the countries where the Church is being oppress, ed by the secular power: "The Church can be attacked, she cannot be conquered . If under the present difficulties--which in some countries seem graver than those referred to above--some souls are disconcerted, wavering, or anxious, they should remember the promises of Jesu~ Christ and try to imitate the invincible fortitude of this saint as well as. his other virtues." St. Anthony Claret (1807-1870) St. Anthony Claret was another great priestly figure of the nine-teenth century. Born at Salient in the north of Spain, he practiced for a tired his father's trade of cloth-weaving, but eventually was able to follow his heart's desire and join the seminary of Vicb. After his ordination in 1835 and a few years of pa.rish work, he conse-crate'd himself with extraordiriary success to ~he preaching of missions and retreats throughout Catalonia. His zeal inspired other priests, and in 1849 he founded the Congregation of MissioriarySons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, commonly kno.wn.as the Claretians. The same year he was sent to Cuba as Archbishop of Santiago, to b~ing about there a much-needed reform: In this post of exceptional diffi-culty he achieved considerable results, though several attempts were made on his life. After seven years he was recalled to Spain to become the confessor of Queen Isabella II. In the revolution of 1868 he was banished from his country. He attended the Vatican Council where he spoke eloquently for the definition of papal infalli-bility. Soon after, .on Oct. 24, 1870, he died in France. Besides preaching some 10,000 sermons, h~ was an ardent apostle of the press. He wrote 120 books and pamphlets (144 volumes), founded religious libraries, and promoted the diffusion of good literature. He was beatified in 1934 and canonized on May 7, 1950. The work of this powerful apostle is carried on by the Cl~iretians who in 1949 celebrated their first centenary. They count at present Over 4,000 members in 24I establishments all over "the world. Their chief work is education, missions and retreats, and the aposfolate of 232 September, 1951 CHRISTIAN HEROES the press. In Rome they ~un the Poliglotta Press and edit the Corn-mentarium pro religiosis et missionariis. St. Emily de Radar (1787-1852) .' At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the French Revolu-tion and the long wars that followed it bad accumulated in France and Europe immense miseries, spiritual and material. Then Provi-dence raised up numerous saints who, impressed by the needs of their time, devoted themselves to remedy them. Rarely in the history of the Church do we find so many religious institutes springing up every-where, dedicated to the prac.tice of various v~orks of corporal and spiritual mercy. In this providential reconstruction women had a prominent share, and this explains why among the saints beatified or canonized by Pius XII there ale so many religious foundresses of this period. Emily de Radar was beatified by Plus XII in 1940 and canon-ized by the same on April 23, 1950. Born of an aristocratic family, she was brought up by pious parents but passed through a period of worldly frivolity and religious indifference. Converted during the Holy Year of 1804, she decided to consecrate'her life to the service of God. After trying several religious institutes, her visits to the poor made .her realize the great need for Catholic schools: She immedi-ately set to work: she had found her vocation. With three other young women she opened a school, and thus the Congregation of the Holy Family was started. Today it has over 200 houses in Europe and South America--schools, orphanages, hospitals. The H01y Father, in his homily, stressed the precious services rendered by reli-gious institutes of women: "When we consider the admirable enterprises of this saint, when we remember what her congregation and the other religious institutes --almost innumerable--have accomplished, we cannot but proclaim that the Church and civil society as well owe very much to all these religious women. If we did not have them, if God by His heavenly inspiration did not continually and in every century raise them up, if He did not sustain them by His help, who could fill their place? Let all, then, learn to praise them as they deserve, to help them as they can . And may the religious zealously and strenuously strive to live up to their lofty vocation." Saints Bartolomea Capltanio and Catherine Gerosa (1807-1833) (1784-1847) , Bartolomea Capitanio and Catherine Gerosa founded together 233 the Italian Sisters of Charity, after the model of St. Vincent de Paul's Sisters of Charity. Bartolomea began her apostolate at fourteen, teaching, little children. Soon her simple and strong personality drew to her, as to their mother, the young, the poor and afflicted of her little town of Lovere. Seeing the need to organize the ever-increaging work she joined forces with another saintly worker of the same town, Catherine, who was twenty years her senior and had already opened a hospital for the sick poor. Bartolomea died a few years later, at the early age of twenty-six. Her spiritual notes and instructions, as well as a considerable number of her letters, have been published. She left the young institute to the care of Catherine (who had ~dopted the name of Vincenza), an extremely bumble woman, yet an efficierit worker and able organizer. During the fourteen years she had still to live, the congregation continued to expand 'rapidly Today it counts nearly 9,000 religious in some 500 houses. Barto-lomea' was beatified in 1926; Vincenza in 1933T.hey w~re canon-ized together on May 18, 1950. St. Maria Gorettl (1890-1902) No canonization war received with greater enthusiasm than that of the humble village girl who died for the preservation of her purity The ~tory of her martyrdom is. known to all our readers. Her popu-larity and the speed of her promotion to the highest honors of the Church ha~e been equalled or surpassed in modern times only by the Little Flower of Lisieux. Her cause was introduced in 1938 and concluded in 1945. The solemn beatification took place on April 27, 1947, and she was canonized three years later, on June.-24, 1950, forty-eight years after her death. " (Teresa of Lisieux died on Sept. 30, 1897, was beatified on April 29, 1923, and canonized on May 17, 1925. Aloysius Gonzaga was beatified fourteen years after his death, bu~ another' centu.ry passed before be was canonized.) In spite of her youth, Maria was capable of heroism, and this heroism showed itself also in the pardon accorded to her miarderer on her' deathbed and in. the superhum~t'n patience during the extremely painful operation by which,the doctors tried to save her, withou~ putting her to .sleep,. D.ur!ng those tWO. long., hours Mary never complained but kept invoking the help of the" BlEssed Virgin. For .sush :heroism, the Holy F,a.ther point.e~d 6ut.in his allocution, the 23~, September, 195 I. CHRISTIAN HEROES courageous child had prepared herself by the daiIy practice of the virtues of her state: "It is true that it is above all purity that sho~e in Maria Goretti's martyrdom, but with it. and in it the other Christian virtues tri-umphed as well. In that purity there was the most evident and sig-nificant affirmation of the perfect control of the soul over matter. In that supreme heroism, which cannot be improoised, there was the tender, obedient," and active love for the parents, self-sacrifice in the hard work~of every day, poverty accepted in an evangelical spirit and sustained by trust in Providence, religion embraced tenaciously, deepened ever more, ~ssimilated as a treasure of life and nourished by the flame of prayer; the fervent desire of ~lesus in the Eucharist, and finally--the crown of charity--the heroic pardgn accorded to the murderer. All this forms a rustic garland, so dear to God, of country flowers which adorned the white veil of her First Com-munion and, shortly after, her martyrdom." The beatifications of the Holy Year, like the canonizations were eight in number. The total of those beatified by Pope Plus XII at the end of 19~0 is now'fifty-two; this includes the twenty-nine Chinese martyrs. Among those beatified during the Holy Year we find one priest, one boy, and six foundresses of religious institutes: two Spanish, two Italian, and two French. All except one belong to the nineteenth century. Blessed Vincen~ Pallo~f~ (1795-f850). Vincent Pallotti was the apostle of Rome at a difficult period of histo~-y.-After his ordination and a double doctorate at the Sapienza, he started his apostolate among students and it soon became clear that Rome possessed a holy priest. He was made confessor of Propaganda College, the English College, the Roman Seminary. On all of them his influence was deep. But his preferences were for the poor and the workers; he opened professional and agricultural schools and pro-moted t?ade unions. His zeal embraced the whole world and every" need, spiritual and material. For this "universal" object he founded the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (a society :of" priests and Brothers living in common without public vows, commonly known ,235 J. PUTZ Reoieu~ for Religious as the Pallottines) and the Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate. He took a special interest in the conversion of England and sent to that country some of his best men. He realized, more than a century ago, the immense possibilities and the necessity of the lay apostolate, and Pius XI called him a "pioneer and precursor of Catholic Action." This bold and far-sighted planner was a man of incredible humility, considering himself an obstacle to the progress of the Church and accepting without a word the most cruel humiliations. He always kept his predilection f.0r the poor, giving them even his own clothes. He died of a pleurisy contracted as a consequence of giving his mantle to a destitute man. Today 3,550 Pallottines and 2,900 Sisters of the Catholic Apos-tolate continue the saint's w.ork in many countries. Vincent's beati-fication was the first of the Holy Year; it took place on Jan. 22, exactly 100 years after hi~ death. A few days later the Pope pointed out "this great sacerdotal figure" as an example to parish priests and preachers. His sermons, he said, were always directed to the ur~uro nec.essarium; his confessional was eagerly sought after and surrounded with extraordinary effects of grace, "May his spirit be renewed in every one of you and infuse into your apostolate that .irresistible glow of love which the doubting, uncertain, and suffering men of today need so much." Blessed Marla-Soledad Torres y Acosta (1826-1887) Maria started her apostolate of charity in a squalid quarter of Madrid. With her h'elp the parish priest opened a hospital for. the ¯ poor. Eventually she had to take charge of the whole work, which she stabilized and perpetuated by founding a religious congregation, the Servants of Mary. Her institute during her lifetime spread from Spain to South America. At present it counts some 1,600 members. She was beatified on Feb. 5, 1930. Blessed Vincenta-Maria Lopez y Vicuna (1847-1890) Vincenta was born of an aristocratic Spanish family. Sent to Madrid for her higher education, she became interested there in the charitable Work of her aunt who, shocked by the difficulties and dangers of the lives of domestic servants, had opened a home for them. Vincenta refused a brilliant match arranged by her father and 236 Se'ptembe¢, 19:51 CHRISTIAN HEROES took the vow of chastity. After her father's death she used her con-siderable fortune.to develop her work of social assistance. To further extend it she founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate for the protection of young women. At'present they number, nearly 2,000 members in various countries. Their hostels for domestic servants, working-girls or students provide for the material and spiritual wel-fare of well over 30,000 young women. She was beatified on Feb. 19, 1950. Blessed Paola-Elizabeth Cerloli. (1816-1865) Like Vinc~nta she was bor~ of a noble family in Northern Italy. But at nineteen, not feeling called to the religious life, she followed the wish of her parents and married an old widower,Count Buzecchi, forty years her senior. After the death of her husband and three children she was then tl~irty-eight--she consecrated her time and income tO assisting the poor peasants and farmhands of the sur-rounding country. In 1857 she started a religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bergamo, for the care of orphans and morally abandoned children. In 1950 this institute counted some 300 members. The saint was also instrumental in founding a simi-lar institute for men, the Priests of' the Holy Family. The brief of canonization compares her with St. Joan de Chantal, an angel in four states of life, girl, wife, widow, and religious. She was beatified on March .19, 1950. Blessed Maria ~e Mattias (1805-1866) Maria was born in the diocese of Gaeta. When she was seven-teen, she attended a mission preached by the Blessed Gaspar del Bufalo, a friend of Blessed Vincent Pallotti and founder of the Mis-sionaries of the Most,Precious Blood. The holy preacher to whom she opened'her soul recognized her great gifts and entouraged her to take up the apostolate of Christian education. She began by gath-ering the little children in her parental home, and in 1834 she founded.a convent and a school. This was the beginning of the in-stitute of the "Adoratrici" of the Most Precious Blood, which today has 215 houses in Italy and 172 in other parts of the world, with some 2,000 members. She was beatified on Oct. 15, 1950. Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey (1779-1851) The child of a farmer of Burgundy, she grew up amid the horrors 237 J., PUTZ Reaie~a [or Religious of the French Revolution, sometimes risking her life. in order to hide and assist priests. At nineteen she vowed perpetual Chastity and re-solved to dedicate her life to the education of children and the care of the sick. As other girls joined her in the work she c~nceived the plan of her new congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph, called "of Cluny" from the place of the mother house. Soon she made founda-tions in mission countries, Africa, Pondicherry, French Guiana, and others. A woman of remarkable energy and intrepid enterprise' (King Louis Philippe said admiringly, "Madame Javouhey, that's a great man"), she frequently visited her missions, worked for the abo-lition of slavery and for the organization of public services in the colonies. From the start she realized the necessity of forming an indigenous clergy, and in order to accelerate the work she brought to France the first Negro candidates for the priesthood. Today the Sisters of St. Joseph are found in every part 'of the world, working in schools, hospitals, leper asylums, and other institutions. She was beatified on Oct. 15, 1950. Blessed Marguerite Bourgeo~ys (1620-1700) This blessed takes us back to the seventeenth century and to the great period of ~he Canadian missions. John de Brebeuf was mar-tyred in 1649. The Ursuline missionary-contemplative Marie de l'Incarnation died in Quebec in 1672. Margaret, who had first tried the contemplative life with the Carmelites and the Poor Clares in her native France, found bet vocation when .the Governor of Montreal came to France and tried to find a teacher for the children of the French garrison of Ville-Marie. She offered her services and in 1653 reached Montreal, where she .began bet apostolate by teaching the catechism and visiting the sick in their huts. In 1658, with some companions whom she bad brought out from France the previous year, she founded the congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal, which became an important educational factor for the whole of Canada and. since 1860, for the United States (at present 5,680 members). Margaret, "schoolmistress and itinerant mis~iorlary,;' opened mission schools ff;r Indian girls, many of whom became zealous Sisters in the institute. Thus, as the Pope remarked in his address to Canadian pilgrims, she realized among the "savage" Huron girls what St. Francis de Sales had dreamt of for France, a congrega-tion of non-cloistered "secular daughters." She was beatified on November 12, 1950. 238 September, 1951 JOY IN HEAVEN Blessed Dominic Savlo (1842-1857) Blessed Dominic, beatified on March 5, is the Benjamin of the confessors raised to the altars, since he was not quite fifteen when he died, The son of a modest but deeply Christian family, he very early showed a special earnestness and resoluteness in his piety. His First Communion, which he made at seven, .definitely set his will towards the goal of sanctity. In 1854 be was received by Don Bosco into the oratorio of Turin. Here~ under the saint's direction, and fos-tered by special graces, his spiritual life developed rapidly; but after two ~,ears a sickness obliged him to return to his home, where he died a few months later. His life was written by Don Bosco him-self. The decree declaring the heroism of his virtues was published in 1933. The beatification of this youthful masterpiece of divine grace--grace to which he corresponded heroically--will no doubt encourage new studies on the nature of sanctity and .especially of children's sancti~j'. [EDITORS' NOTE: The foregoing article is reprinted with permissi'on from The Clergy Montfily, a magazine published in India.] Joy in I-le ven Richard L. Roone}', S.J. "I,"HE Archangel in charge of the recording angels had called a | meeting of the guardians of religious. They were met in his skyey office high above the battlements of heaven. "Quite frankly, Angels, my aide~ are alarmed about this whole business," he was telling them. "The number of 'kicks,' complaints, criticisms and 'crabs' that l)hey have to record for religious is prepos-terous. They're even wondering if these human creatures will be satisfied and happy and content even here in heaven! They have found one hope, however. They feel sure that Purgatory will take all the 'kick' out of these kickers. You Gufirdian Angels do a grand job keeping your charges living up to their vows and observing the larger phases of religious life. It is time, nevertheless, that you went to work on this complaining business. It may relieve their human ,239 RICHARD L. ROO~EY feelings to 'crab' 6r to criticize. It doesn't add to God's glory or to their own merit however. So please, now, to business." The guardians, your own among them, filed out of' .the office and winged earthward. They came, each of them equipped with ques-tionnaires like the following. How would you answer them if your Angel Guardian put one before you during your next examen? 1. Do you find yourself complaining quite often? 2. What (or who!) is your p, et peeve? 3. Do you "kick" about the weather, the c~ll or the room you have, the house you are'in, the food you are. served, the work you have been assigned? 4. Do you ever "crab" about superiors or their directions? 5. Have you a few kindred souls with whom you get together to talk over the way things would be done if you were in charge of them ? 6. Do you firm., and vocalize about it. that the community is a pretty dull, or annoying lot? 7. Are you heaping up a pretty severe judgment for yourself by judging others . . . and that right severely? 81 There is a lot of sense in the little poem: Two men looked through prison bars; One saw mud, the other sad2 stars. Well, what do you see in the rest of us most of the time? 9. Do you accept the ordinary pin-pricks of daily religious life without grumbling? (Remember you are an especially selected member of a thorn-crowned Head.) i0. Can you put all of ydur words and remarks, both within the community and to externs, on the paten of tomorrow's Mass and know that they will be acceptable to God? After scanning the above you may find that it will be a good thing to take your particular examen off such undisturbingly im-practical generalities as humility or charity at large and particularize it at least on keeping a strict guard over your "kicking" tongue. If so, go to it! The best of success to you! Know that you will be a delight not only tO your. fellow religious but to the saints and angels and God Himself as well! 240" Passionist:ic Spiri!:uali!:y' Fidelis Rice, C.P. IN THE INFINITE 'reaches of eternity, within the secret council of the Godhead, the Wisdom and Love of God decreed that all of creation should reflect in.a unique way the ineffable perfections of God. Because God is absolutely infinite--that is, without any limits whatever--no creature could ever exhaust the divine imitabil-ity. Since the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, is the Exemplar of all that is, iherefore each creature is called upon in its own distinct way to teA1 us a little more. about the vastness, the goodness, and the perfection of the Word. "All things were madd by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made." In the realm 6f souls our reflection of the divine holiness is to be accomplished by a participation in the Christ-Life. For each soul is predestined from all eternity to manifest in time the eternal Holiness which is God. There is a uniqueness, then, in the destiny of each soul. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who" has blessed us with spirftual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. As He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight, in charity." (Ephesians, 1:3, 4.) Here the great Apostle reveals to us that our holiness is planned and designed in eternity, but according to the pattern of Christ. We are all called to mirror the holiness of the Word, but each soul in a different way. There is, then, a wondrous blending of unity and multiplicity in the pattern of holiness. Christ is one, the unique model of all holiness. But because of the limitations of our nature, because of our very creaturehood, each one of us will reflect the holiness of Our Lord in a so.mewhat different way, just as various artists in painting the same subject will use a varying contrast, a difference of light and shadow, greater or less use of chiaroscuro, until the completed can-vases, while basically the same, will manifest vast differences. ¯ So it is that in the various religious orders and societies, approved by the Church, there is a difference of pattern in the design for holi-ness, although, all are dedicated to the one supreme objective--the perfect imitation of Christ. The essential spirit of each religious order is imparted, first of 241 FIDELIS RICE Retaieto for Religious all, by the founder of the institute. Plus XI clearly states that the various founders of religious institute~ were guided in a special way by the Holy Spirit, who seeks alway,s to communicate to the Mysti-cal Body.of Christ the graces purchased by His precious death upon the cross. "For what else did these most illustrious men do in founding their institutes, but obey the inspirations of God? There-fore, let their followers show forth in themselves those characteristic traits which the Founders imprinted upon their several Institutes. Let them not fail in this." ("Unigenitus"; A.A.S., Vol. XVI, p. 133.) The key, therefore, to essential Passionistic spirituality is to ,be found in the life and work of Saint Paul of the Cross, and Passion-ists can be called "Passionists" only insofar as they adhere to his teachings and to his spirit. ° It was the unique genius of Paul of the Cross to combine in one Rule the best features of two apparently contradictory or opposing states of life. For he willed that his religious should cherish and foster the contemplative observance of choir monks, centering all in the liturgical, prayer of the Office, while at the same time fulfilling the sublime vocation of a missionary apostolate. In the mind of Paul of the Cross, missionary activity should flow spontaneously, from the life of prayer, thus verifying the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that the function of the apostolate is "tradere contemplata aliis"--"to'give to others the fruits of contemplation." Because the consuming passion of the life of St." Paul of the Cross was love for the sufferings of 2esus Christ, he wanted his religious to share, in a special way, in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. That is, the Passionist vocation is in a special way a vocation to a life of reparation. The inmost spirit of the Passionist Rule is the spirit of solitude, penanee, poverty, and prayer. In unforgettable language Saint Paul of the Cross described the spirit of his institute in a cir-cular letter which he sent to his religious for the Feast of Pentecost, May 2nd., 1750. "Most beloved Sons, you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, as dead to all that is not °God, r~main in the most perfect detachment from all created things, in true poverty of spirit, and in detachment from sensible consola-tions. Assisted by the most holy grace of ,lesus, direct all your zeal to this end--to be recollected in interior solitude; then you will become true adorers of the Sovereign Good in spirit and in truth . Never withdraw from the holy Wounds of Christ, but ever strive 242 September, 1951 PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY more and more that your souls become hidden in and entirely pene-trated by them." (Letters: Vol. IV, p. 226.) Saint Paul of the Cross was one of the most privileged of mys-tical souls with which God has endowed the Church, but his very mysticism bore the unique character of his vocation. For although he received the grace of the "transforming union" or "mystical mar-riage"-- the highest grace of mystical prayer--at a very early age, yet for over fifty years thereafter he continued in the profound suf-ferings of the Dark Night of the Soul, a fact which Father Garrigou7 Lagrange, O.P., calls almost unique in the lives of the saints. Because Paul of the Cross was a master of prayer, it is not to be wondered at that he should insist upon a spirit of constant prayer. for his followers. In his Rule .he states in the very first chapter that "Prayer is one of the chief objects of our Congregation." The Passionist Rule, as it is observed in our monasteries in the United States today, prescribes, beside the Divine Office, two hours of mental prayer each day--an hour in the morning, and an hour in the eve-ning. Including the time that is devoted to the Divine Office; the Passionist, in the daily routine of his monastic day, spends close' to five hours in prgyer. One of the features of Passionistic prayer is the observance of the night office, for Passionists rise ea, ch morning at two o'clock to chant Matins and Lauds before the Blessed Sacrament. This observ-ance lasts one hour, and the religious retire again at three, to rise once more at dawn for Prime and Tierce. This nocturnal observance is one of the cherished ~xercises of the penitential spirit bequeathed by Saint Paul of the Cross to his sons. In order that the spirit of prayer might always be preserved in the Congregation, Saint Paul prescribed most riggrously that Pas-sionist monasteries be built always in places of solitude, and with every safeguard that the spirit of solitude be not violated nor intruded upon. Hence, even when built in the heart of large cities, there must always be sufficient acreage for gardens and privacy for the solitary walks prescribed by rule. Many of our 'American "monasteries are now surrounded by teeming residential sections, but when they were built they stood alone, in the midst of solitude. The cities have come to the monasteries, but because of the wise prescriptions of the Rtile the spirit of solitude is still safeguarded. However, the spirit Of the Passionist Congregation is also a spirit of apostolic activity. As the present Superior General, Most Rev- 243 FIDELIS RICE Review for Religious erend Albert Deane, C.P., wrote in a recent circular letter to the Con-gregatio, n: "On the day it would cultivate the contemplative life ex-clusively, the Congregation would cease to be what 'our Holy Founder instituted. Nor could he be said to be a good Passionist, who without legitimate cause would'omit to do what he could to attain the apostolic end of our Congregation, although under the p.retext of better caring for his own salvation. His religious profes-sion demands otherwise of him." In this ~ame document, our Most Reverend Father General has beautifully epitomized the heart of the Passionistic spirituality: "For our spirit, dearest Sons, can be likened to a'pyramid, made of the spirit of prayer, penance, and the apostolate, but held together by the fire of devotion to Christ suffering, having no other apex to which the ~exalted Passionist life converges than our configuration to Christ Crucified, whom we must preach by word and by example: 'We preach Christ and Him Crucified.' This is what the words say which we carry engraven over our hearts; this reminds us, if perhaps we sometimes forget, of our very name itself, for we are popularly called 'Passionists'.',' . The primary work of the Passionist Congregation, then, is a reflection of its inner'spirituality--the preaching of popular mis-sions, and retreats to the clergy and religious, as well as to the laity. Passionists conduct no schools, except for the education i~f their own subjects. They engage in parish work only as an exception, and for clearly defined needs in a particular locality. They are above all, preachers of the Passion of 3esus Christ. To this end they take a special vow to promote in the hearts of others, devotion to the Pas-sion of oresus Christ. They do, however, engage in foreign mission work, and they are likewise working among the colored in the South. Saint Paul of the Cross was a staunch advocate of enclosed re-treats for the laity. Cherishing, as he did, the wonderful advan-tages of holy solitude, it is not surprising that he would wish to share these advantages and blessings with the laity. And so he wrote into his Rule the prescription that in each monastery rooms should be provided for lay retreatants. In most of our American monasteries we have special retreat houses for men, and a flourishing retreat movement is an integral part of our Passionist family life. Because Paul of the Cross was consumed by the love of Jesus Christ Crucified, he burned with the desire to bring the riches of His death to the souls of men. He was profoundly aware of the 244 September, 1951~ . PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY meaning of the priestly vocation, and realized fully that a p~iest must always communicate to the Mystical Body 6f Christ the life purchased by the sufferings of Ouk Lord. But he knew, too, that the most fruitful apostolate is that which is the overflow of prayer, rather than a substitute for it. Hence it was that no matter how gifted a missionary might be, no matter how eloquent on the mission-platform, and no matter how great the demand for his services, Saint Paul of the Cross rig- . orously required that each missionary spend a suitable portion of.the year in the solitude and quiet of the monastery. Although far wise to reduce this to a mathematical formula, the founder of the Passionists imposed upon superiors and missionaries alike the obli-gation to. preserve always in the Congregation this time of with-drawal each year from the exhausting round of activity. The demands for our services have grown with the years, and no fixed calend,a'r tan be drawn up which governs the exact details, but our superiors still strive faithfully and sincere!y to arrange the schedule for-each mis-sionary, so that he may spend a sufficient amount of time.withih the mona.stery each year. Saint Paul of the Cross was profoundly con-vinced that "one Religious who is a. man of prayer and lover of solitude will bring forth more spiritual fruit from the ministry than a thousand others who are not such." (Letters, Vol. III, 418.) .,. The Passlonlst family circle is made up of three groups: tl~e priests, the students or clerics, "and the lay brothers. ¯ In most of our American monasteries all three groups are found, for most of our monasteries are also houses of study, or seminaries in which young men are preparing for the priesthood. Our lay brothers, a shitable time after the profession of their perpetual vows, are admitted to }ecreation with the priests; and the recreation is common ~f(;r these two groups. The students remain always in a separate r~creation. The day's horarium.is divided bet.ween prayer and study. The day is spent in silence, except for the two brief recreation periods each day. Three days of fast and abstinence are .observed each week-- Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. During the entire time of Ad-vent and Lent, Sundays included, abstinence from meat is the rule within the monastery. Paul 6f the Cross does not want his sons to forget that t,hey must bd men of penance. For this reason, too, san-dals are worn on the bare feet, and a ro.ugh woolen h.abit is worn the year round. The Passionistic ideal;" then, is to share as intimately as possible 245 FIDELIS RICE. o in the sublime virtues which shone, forth so re~splendently on Cal-vary. It is the vocation proclaimed so sublimely by Saint Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings foF you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for His body, which is the Church." (Colossians, 1:25.) So it was that that other P~ul, Paul of the Cross, sought to instill into his followers a burning love for the Crucified, a love which would make them conform their own lives by penance, solitude, prayer, and poverty, to the ideals of Calvary, that they might go forth to preach the glories and the ignominies of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The r~assionist spirit might be summed up in one word, "Stau-rosophy," for "stauros" is the Greek word for the Cross.; ,The sons of Paul o'f the Cross must remain ever absorbed by the wisdom or the "philc~sophy" of the Cross. Wisely has the Church selected the Introit for the Mass on the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross: "Christ0 confixus sum cruci." . "With Christ I am nailed to the cross." (Ga-latians, 2:19.) No other words of Sacred Scripture could epitomize more simply the ess.dntial spirit of this great lover of the Crucified, and of the form of life which he has bequeathed to his sons, who wear that habit of mourning first shown to Paul of the Cross in vision, by the Mother of God, when she told him to founc~ an order whose members would devote their lives to mourning for the sor-rows of Her Son. OUR CONTRIBUTORS F1DELIS RICE, writer and missionary, is on the mission band at St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery, Baltimore, Maryland. J. PUTZ, the editor Of Clergg Month-lg and author of Mg Mass, and P.DE LETTER, a recent contributor to American ecclesiastical journals, teach at St. Mary's theologate, Kurseong, India¯ RICHARD L. ROONEY is on the Queen's Work staff and editor of Action Now. C.A. HERBST and CLARENCE MCAULIFFE are o£ the faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, . , : PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY The sul~scripfion pHce of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00"per year for" Domestlc.end ,Canadian subscriptions; $3.35 per yeer for all for~icjn subscrip-fio'ns. For further de~'ails please see inside back cover. 246 Modesty C. A. Herbst, S.J. ~4 ~t man's looks betray him: a man of good sense will make him-self known to thee at the first meeting; the clothes he wears, . the smile on his lips, his gait~ will all make thee acquainted with a man's character" (Ecclus. 19:26, 27. Knox version). This' is the Holy Spirit's description of modesty. Following His directive, St. Thomas teIIs us that this virtue is concerned with "the movement and actions of the body; that all of them, those gone through in fun as well as the serious ones, may be decent and proper." (Summa Theologica, 2-2, q. 160, a. 2.) Dress is also included. The cardinal virtue of temperance controls pleasure coming from food, drink, and ' sex, the most difficult things. Modesty, a part of temperance, takes care of the lesser. A subordinate in the hierarchy of authority takes ~in hand the little things. Modesty is therefore not at all the s~me thing' as chastity or purity, as many quite commonly presume, though it may be more or less connected with it. Not one's interior only but one's exti~rior, too, must be con-formed to the .norm of right reason. The easy and evident way for u_s to strive to achieve this is "to imitate Christ. "We must look with the eyes of the soul on that wonderful leader 'beautiful above the sons of men' in the ordinary dress He wore at home . Erect of body and with perfect composure His gait was neither too hurried nor too slow. There was nothing soft or effeminate, not.hiog childish or lackadaisical about Him. Neither could anything gloomy or exasperating be seen in Him, nor was there any assumed gravity. He was not singular nor finicky. His Whole being breathed sweetness, joy, kindness, majesty." (Le Gaudier, De Perfectione Vitae Spirit-ualis, Pars IV, caput xviii.). "Jesus began to do and to teach," first to tellus by His exampl~ how tb act, only later by His words. Our exterior modesty should be, as His, for the glory of God. "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." It should make us more like God. "God cre~ ~ted man to his 6wn image: to the "image of God he created him." Man's likeness to God is, of course, in the soul, in his interior sanc-tity, but that interior dignity and perfection should shine forth, so 247 ¯ C. A. HERBST Reoeiw [or Religiou~ to speak, in the ,modesty of his exterior as through a beautiful and translucent garment, or as the rays of the sun make a cloud all silver and gold. That "image of God" ou.ght somehow to be mani-fested in the body. "Because man's body alone of all the animals on earth is not bowed down to the ground but so made that it can better contemplate the heavens, it can justly be said' that it is made more t6 the image and likeness of God than the bodies of other animals, as Augustine says. But this must not be understood to mean that the image of God is in man's body but that the very form of. the human body represent.s the likeness of God in the soul like a trace." (S. Th., 1, ,q. 93, a. 6.) The importance of modesty in the life of a religious can hardly be overestimated. One is forced to this conclusion from reading the masters of the spiritual life and by noting the Christian tradition through the centuries. The statement made by St. Ambrose in this matter is a classic. "Modesty must be preserved in our very move-ment, carriage, and gait. Our habit of mind is reflected in our body. "Thence the real man hidden away in the heart, the light-headed 6r careless or turbulent man or, on the contrary, the more serious or steady or more upright or more mature man can be ascertained. The motion of the body, therefore, can be called the voice of ~he soul." (De Of Kciis, I, 18.) St. Bernard says: "Modesty is the greatest of orn~ments in reli-gious, especially in the young. This is so true that if they do not cherish it there is little hope of their becoming good or virtuous . Lack of external composure in the body is a sign of an indevout mind." (Ad Quid Venisti?, xvii.) Knowing how very closely bod~r and soul are united we are not surprised to hear Hugh of St. Victor say: "As of a wandering mind are born disordered move-ments of the body, so when the body is brought under discipline the soul is made strong. Little'by little the mind within is brought to rest when under the watchful eye of dis.cipline its disorderly move- "ments are not allowed to flow to the exterior." (Delnstttuttone' " " Novitiorum, X.) So exterior modesty m.akes even a greater contri-bution to the soul than it does to the body. St. Vincent Ferrer'thought that a warrior of Christ could never free his soul from disorder if he did not first endeavor to rid his body of what was unseemly. From all of which it would seem to be clear why modesty is so much emph.asized in the beginning of the re!igious life: modesty of action and, incidentally, "modesty of words," which 248 Septernber~ 195 l MODESTY is silence. Even a beginner.can superimpose upon himself external order in the blessed hope that from it will come to him an array of spiritual goods. For it is easier to bring one's exterior under subjec-tion than one's interior. Mqdesty has a great apostolic value. St. Basil says that a virgin should "be seen by those who n~eet her to be such in habit and gait and every movement as to reflect the likeness of God. The eyes of those who behoId her should be incited to modesty and their mind instructed in virtue. They.should hold that sight in honor and, as I have said, show deference to and revere that image of God. As pictures of' satyrs make one laugh and as sad pictures fill the mind , with sorrow . so a virgin, since she is the picture--nay, the very reproduction--of purity, should even if merely seen raise the thoughts of those who behold her up to God . Avirgin, therefore, should be very careful to reproduce in herself the divine image in all t.hings." (Patrologia Graeca, 30, 714-715.) St. Francis of Assisi was most eloquent by his modesty. "It is told ofthe blessed St. Francis that he said one day to his companion, ~'Let us go to preach,' and so went out, took a turn in the city, and returned home. His companion said to him: 'BUt father, are v~e not preaching?' 'We have already preached,' he answered. That sedate-ness and modesty with which they, went through the streets was a very good sermon; it moved people to devotion and to contempt of the world, to compunction for their sins, .and to the raising of their hearts, and desires to the.things of the next world. This is a sermon in action, more effectual than one in w6rd.". (Rodriguez, Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues, II, x, 1.) The very sight of the young Saints Aloysius, Stanislaus, John Berchmans, and Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother raised men's hearts to God. The gr.eat in-fluence for good of the pr.ayerfuI, recollected, and modest bearing of those who love God is but another striking instance of "actions speaking louder than words." That is why St. Ignatius said: "And hence it will follow that, considering one another, they will increase in devotion and praise our Lord God, whom every one must strive to acknowledge in another as in His image." (Constit. S.d., P. III, c. i, n, 4.) .The beginner must practice modesty, and by doing so he exer- Cises himself in many virtues. But modesty is also the mark of the perfect. A well-ordered exterior shows great interior'perfectlon. The man who has achieved this has already made great'prggr.ess. One 249 C. A. HER,BST Reveiu~ for Relig:ous who habitually and gracefully has his exterior under control has gone far in the direction of self-mastery. If one has to be mortified to be decent, as our novice master used to say, what constant mortifi-cation and vigilance must be necessary .to put on the modesty of Christ. For this, persevering and almost heroic self-conquest is neces-sary. In this connection it might be well to remark that if we put ourselves through the discipline and took all the pains from a super-natural motive to put on modesty, which is the etiquette of God's ch.ildren, that the children of .the world do to don good manners in public and social life, our merit would i~deed be surpassing great and our spirit of sacrifice supreme. "And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruibtible one" .(I Cor. 9:25). But then, "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light" (Luke 16:8). Founders of religious orders have given special directives, "rules of modesty," for regulating external deportment. As those given by St. Ignatius of Loyola even now influence many thousands of reli-gious, it might be well to give some of them here. "All must be exactly careful to guard the gates of their senses (especially their eyes, their ears, and their tongue) from all disorder, and preserve themselves in peace and true internal humility, showing it in silence when it is to be kept, and when they have to speak, in the circum-spection. and, edification of their words, in the modesty of tbelr coun-tenance, gravity of their gait and whole carriage, without any sign of impatience or prided' (Constit. S.d., P. III, c. 1, n. 4.) "In all out-ward actions there should appear modesty and humility, joined with religious gravity. The bead should not be turned this way and that way lightly, but with gravity, when need shall require; and, if there be no need, it must be held straight, with a little inclination forward, without leaning on either side. For the most part, they should keep their eyes dowfi, neither immoderately lifting them up, nor casting them now one way., now another. Wrinkles on the forehead, and still more on the nose, are to be avoided, that there may appear out-wardly a serenity which may be a token of that which is interior. The whole countenance should show cheerfulness rather than sadness or any less moderate affection. The lips must neither be too much. shut nor too much open. The pace should be moderate, without any notable has,.te, unless necessity should require it; in which case, however, a care of decorum should be had. In fine, every gesture and movement should be such as to give edification to all men." (Rule~ 250 September, .MODESTY or: Modesty.). St. Paul says in another connection: "When I was a child,. I °spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the tlSings of a child" (I Cor. 13: 11).'A child must hear and see and taste and smell and touch every-thing. But when he grows up he is willing to put away the things of a child--nay, is eager to. We can hardly imagine a grown-up going on playing with his toys. A man loses taste for such things. So is one as he becomes spiritually mature gradually weaned away, as he attains to th~ full stature of Christ, from the surface pleasure of the senses and the allurements of sense satisfaction. This is the more true the more he grows to relish the things of God. Then the curious ears and roving eyes and anything unbecoming in the countenance. carriage, and gait of childhood give place to that maturity and serenity proper to men and women at horhe with their Father the King. The practice of modesty is not only for religious propriety, or edification, or mortification, or to foster recollection, or to make pos-sible and encourage spiritual development and high interior activity. It is also to keep, our soul from becoming sick or maimed by venial sin or perhaps even killed by mortal sin. "Death is come .up through our windows" said the prophet (Jer.°9:21). St. Bernard comment~: "Death enters our windows when, with prying eyes and itching ears. we insist upon administering to ourselves the deadly cup of distrac-tion." (Sermo 24 in Cantic.) And St. Ambrose: "Who, midst so many bodily passions, midst so many snares of this world, can go along safe and undefiled? The eye sees: the mind is perverted. The ear bears: our attention is drawn away. We sm~ll something: our thoughts are 9bstructed. The lips drink: sin enters in. We touch" something, and we are inflamed with desire." (De Fuqa Saeculi, cap. 1.) That is why Christ, so mindful of human, weakness, instituted for the very end of life a special sacrament for the removal of the re-mains of sin contracted through seiase experience. At the last anointing the priest places the~holy oil "'on the eyes because of sight, on the ears because of hearing, on the nostrils because of smell, on the mouth bedauseof taste and speech, on the hands because of touch, on the feet because of Walking" (Council of Flore~nce, Decretum pro .Arrnenis) saying: "By this holy anointing and.by His most tender mercy may the Lord forgive you whatever guilt you have con- 251 C. A. HERBST tracted." St. Thomas explains: "This sacrament was instituted to" heal us. For a bodily cure we do not take medicine that will restore the whole body but those parts in which the root of the disease lies~ So the sacramental anointings should be made only on those parts where is found the root of the spiritual sickness." (S. Th., Suppl. q. 32, a. 5.) In conclusion, let us listen.again to a few words from that great master of the spiritual Jife, St. Bernard. "With the brethren be re-served, gracious, modest, affable, gentle, and on your guard. Be .strict with yourself but not in such a way as to be a nuisance to others . Every gesture and word, your way of acting, look, gait should be characterized by modesty and reserve. Let there appear nothing con-ceited or stilted in you, no boldness or anything overbea.ring . As the fear of the Lord puts order into a man's lif~ and prepares his whole interior for blessedness, so modesty brings his exterior under subjection. You should not become so familiar with anyone as to be completely forgetful of propriety in his presence." (Ad Quid Venisti?, xvii.) After all, "we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men'~ (I.Cor. 4:9). And His Divine Majesty is always pres-ent, too. "In him we live, and move, and are" (Acts 17:28); ETUDE SUR LA PAUVRETE RELIGIEUSI: The Sisters of Providence (Les Soetirs de la Providence) in Montreal have "trans-lated into French six articles on poverty which appeared in the REVIEW FOR RELI-GIOUS and published them in a booklet. The articles are: "M~y Religious Buy and Sell" (V, 50) and the "Gifts to Religious" series by Adam C. Ellis, S.J.; and 'The Spirit of Poverty" (VIII, 35) by" Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. The "Gifts" se-ries includes: "The Simple Vow of Poverty" (VI, 65), "Common Life and Pe-culium" (VII, 33), "Personal versus Community Property" (VII, 79, and "Some Practical Cases" (VII, 195). Copies of the booklet, called Etude sur la Pauvret3 2eliqleuse, may be obtained from P~ovidence Mother House, 2311, rue Ste-Cath-erine Est, Montreal 24, P.Q., Canada. Cost: 40 cents per single copy; 35 cents in dozen lots or more. ¯PLEASE NOTE C~AREFULLY The subscription price of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00 per veer for Domestic end Cenedian subscriptions: $3.35 per year for ell foreign subscrip-tions. For further deteils pleese see inside beck cover. 252 The race ot: Our Vocal:ion P. De Letter, S.J. [EDITORS' NOTE: In the March number of this year the author of "Why Do They Leave?" concluded the article with an inspiring section headed "Why Do We Stay?" In the present article Father De Letter's analysis of the grace of our voca-tion forms something of a theological counterpart and complement to the latter question. He points out the different graces included in the grace of vocation, namely, the grace of state, the grace of perseverance, the grace of progress, the grace of keeping the rules, and the grace of supererogation. He next gives the solid theological basis for trust in the grace of vocation and concludes by describing God's part, the actual graces of light" and strength, and ours, the conditions for our 'trust. "I will put great trust in the grace of my vocation," wrote St. John Berch-roans among the first of his watchwords. It is of this gr~ice of vocation that Father De Letter writes.] ~i~/JE 'OFTEN HEAR or read about the grace of our religious W" vocation. No doubt we often thank Our Lord for this most precious 6f His gifts. Wi~at exactly is it? Spiritual au-thors use the phrase in a twofold sense, first as the free divine gift by which God calls to the religious life, and secondly as the special helps of grace which enable religious, who have followed the divine call, to meet the demands of their state and to persevere in it till death. 'The second meaning, that of the special helps, of the grace of our vocation will be used. This grace is a reality of our everyday life.,If we allow it to play its part to the full, it may and does make a difference for our own pe£sonal interests and for the souls for whom we labor. For this reason it is well worth studying more closely what the grace of vocation implies and what is the basis of our trust in it. Then it' will be self-evident how we should exploit this God-sent treasure. Grace of State All religiogs, we are told, are offered and receive the grace proper to their vocation. As any other Christians, those who are called to a definite state of life with its definite purpose are offered by the Lord the graces necessary to pursue ,effectively the end of their vocation. This is true both of the general l~urpose of every religious life, which is to seek after Christian perfectioia.or holiness, and of the specific end of each particular order or congregation. Grdce of" Perseuerance in God's Friendship ¯ First'of all, religious are offered and, unless they'wilfully refuse, ~.ctual!y recei~re the actual graces needed to remain permanently on the path thatleads to perfection, "that is, to persevere in sanctifying grace. 253 P. DE LETTER Review for Religious These graces are needed. Theologians commonly teach that without the help of God's grace no one can maintain himself in His friend-ship, because fallen human nature is weak and inclined to evil. But these graces are always offered, theologians reassure us, to all who sincerely endeavour to 'please God and to preserve His love and friendship. And why? Because God's love is faithful: He does not allow to be sr~atched from His hands those who sinqerely desire to be His. If that is the case for all Christians in the state of grace, then it is more true for those whom a special divine call ~lestines for an ever growing perfection of grace. Religious, therefore, m~y count in a special way, by virtue of their very state in life, on the fidelity of the Giver of all graces. He enables them day after day and hour after hour throughout their religious life to avoid every grievous fault. Grace of Progress There is more than that. It is the fundamental duty of state for religious to advance continually in grace and perfection. That again is not possible without the help of God's grace. Our faith teaches us,. infallibly, that no good work for heaven can be performed with-out God;s gracious help. If that is so, and if religious grow in grace precisely by the works of virtue ' (and the reception of the sa.crame,nts, which grace enables them to do properly), then we must say that their Fathe~ in heaven, who is Love, cannot expect them to do thes~ works and not give them the needed help which He alone can give. That is why religious have and receive the graces necessary for the good works that are to lead them on to perfection, the goal of their vocation. ' Grace of Keeping the Rules and Obeying What are these good works? They are, naturally, commanded by the specific end of each religious institute. Concretely, they are laid down in the rules and constitutions: these outline the particular manner in which a religious vocation is to work out its ideal of Christian perfection, These laws and ways, therefore, differ for different institutes.' Hospital sisters, teaching religious, and contem-platives, are not expected to labour for perfection by exactly the same good works. Their respective rules point out to them "by which paths they are'to draw nearer to God. To follow these pathh ~nd no other, each one in the particular.office that is assigned him by the inst.itu, te and. in the community where obedience placed him, .is pnmista.kably the du.ty of state of. every re, ligious. And so all.~e.li- 254 September, 1~ 1 THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION gious are offered each day the necessary grace to keep the rules and-fulfil their office: because fidelity to these duties is the concrete way for them to advance towards perfection and fidelity is not possible without these graces. Not every Christian, theologians teach, is at all times offered the grace needed for good works which are not of precept but are supererogatory, because, there is no clear indication that God's will demands these works from them. Only for such good works as are certainly willed by the Lord may we expect His grace to be guaran-teed. But the case of religious is a special one. Though the good ~works demanded by their rules are not, genera'lly speaking, strictly of precept (not at any rate when the religious laws do not bind under pain of sin) and are therefore in a true sense supererogatory, yet the very nature of religious rule implies that God clearly wills those works. His good pleasure and desire is expressed in the rules. By that very fact He also guarantees to ~eligious the necessary graces, ;¢¢ithout which they would be unable to comply with His good pleasure. , This conclusion applies equally to the acts of virtue which obedi-ence to superiors imposes on religious. Commands of religious supe-riors generally (exception being made for orders given in virtue of holy obedience, in whicJ~ the vows are involved) bring to their sub-jects the same kind of obligatiofi as the rules impose. As such, therefore, they do not bind under sin; yet they express to us unmis-takabl~ y the divine wishes. Religious receive the necessary actual graces for obeying the orders of their superiors as they do for keeping the rules. Though these acts of virtue, because not imposed under sin, are supererogatory in the strict sense of the word, yet they are, for religious, guaranteed as possible by the grace of their vocation. "Grace for Supererogatory Acts of Virtue There are additional virtuous actions which are not demanded of religious by rule nor by orders of superiors, but to which, they believe, a special inspiration of the Hgly Ghost invites them. Such good works, for example, extra .acts of mortification, or prayer, or humility, or kindness, are altogether free in the sense that no rule nor direction of obedience imposes them. These are not immediately covered by the grace of the religious vocation. To them will apply the teaching of theologians about supererogatory good works: not unless the invitation of God's grace be sufficiently proved genuine and ?eliablecan they count on His special help to follow up these inspira- 255 P. DE LETTER Review for Religtous tions. It should be added, however, that religious are, from their very state of. life, more opeh to these special invitations of grace. Why?" Because their fundamental duty of state is to aspire after perfection, and not all particulars that appertain to the practice of perfection are or can be determined by the rules or by obedience. Accordingly, religious need these special inspirations. Other things being equal, there is a greater probability that in the case of religious these inspirations of grace are genuine and reliable. To that extent and in that 'indirect way they also belong to the grace of the voca-tion. At this juncture the task of the spiritual director comes in to provide rehglous with sufficient guarantee that allows them safely to follow up these interior invitations. Without this sanction the danger of self-delusion would be real. That danger is excluded from all that falls within clearly known duty. Herein religious may and must depend on it that grace will not be wanting them, if only they themselves are not wanting to grace. Why is it so? Whai: is the dogmatic and theological basis of our trust in the grace of o.u.r vocation? Doctrinal Basis of Our Trust We have already hinted at the intrinsic reason why the grace of our vocation includes all the particular graces needed to fulfill our duties according to the rules and constitutions and the commands of the superiors. It is the following. God cannot command the impos-sible, because of His infinite wisdom and lo,;,e. Of religious He asks a constant strivin~g after perfection: that is the meaning of the reli-gious vocation. They find the concrete way to strive for perfection detailed in the laws of their institutes and the directions of their supe-riors. But to do all that is involved in keeping the rules and in obeying, many good works are needed which no man, religious not excepted, is able to do without the help of grace.: For two reasonsi both because these virtuous actions require a faithful effort which after original sin is not possible for long without grace; and because these acts are supernatural and of their very nature suppose the super-natural help of grace. If then God expected religious to live up to the demands of their vocation and did not at the s~me time give them ~he necessary graces, He would be demanding the impossible. Dogmatic Foundation The. ultimate foundation of this conclusive proof is nothing less than the highest possible authority on revealed truth: ,the infallible 256' ,September, 1~51 THE GRACE OF O~JR VOCATION teaching of the Church. The Council of Trent defined that it is not impossible for men to keep God's commandments; it condemned the contrary assertion of the Lutherans as heretical doctrine (DB 828). In St. Augustine's words the Council explained how men can, in spite of fallen nature's weakness, have the moral strength to do what God commands: "When He commands, He admonishes you to do what you can and to ask for help to do what you cannot, and He helps so that you can" (DB 804). Later. the Church condemned another heretical proposition of dansenistic pessimism which stated that "just men cannot keep some precepts of God even though they wish and try to do so, with the strength they now have; and the graze which would enable them to keep those commandments is also lacking" (DB I092). An infallible teaching, therefore, guarantee, s that we have the necessary graces to keep the commandments. That teaching aimed directly at those divine precepts which oblige under pain of sin, particularly of mortal sin. It may also be extended, though this conclusion is no longer infallible, to divine commands in a less strict serise of the word: to those expressions of the divine will which, though not binding under sin, .yet certainly manifest His desire ind. good pleasure. The Church's Authorit~I This latter is the case, as we well know, of the ordinary religious rules. We have a guarantee for it in the Church's approval both of religious life in general and of the particular religious institutes. The ¯ Church's sanction of the state oflife lived accordin'g to the three evangelical counsels is found in her age:old practice, which dates back td the early Cbristlan centuries, of approving and encouraging tbe monastic institute and the ascetical life. At the time of the Refor-mation it led to an infallible pronouncement, again at the Tridentine Council, by which she declared that the state of viriginity or celibacy is preferable to the state of Matrimony (DB 980). As to the appro-bation of particular institutes, theologians today are agreed in saying that in the solemn approval of religious orders the doctrinai judg-ment that the religious orders,, are apt means to reach Christian per-fection is covered by the Church's infallibility. In the less solemn .confirmation of other religious institutes, the Church's authority in-' volved is not the big.best; yet. that.approval also shares, according.to .the. degree, of the authority" that gives it, in the same fundamental guar.ant~.e:.of truth which is divine. Accordi,ngly? Catholic theology ¯' 257 P. DE LETTER Review for Religious is unanimous, in declaring that the obligation for religious to work for perfection according to the pattern designed in their respective laws is, because of the Church's approbation, the'clear expression of God's will for them. "On this doctrinal foundation rests the teaching of theologians who, like Suar~z, hold that the grace of a religious vocation includes the spe.cial supernatural aids required to live up to the ideal which is proposed to the religious by their institute. He wrote: "Since all ap-proved religious orders are deservedly regarded as founded by the special Providence of God, there is no doubt that each enjoys a'spe-cial divine assistance proportionate to its vocation, and hence greater in proportion as its institute is more exalted and difficult and organ-ized for the greater service of God and the more far-reaching good of the Church" (Rel. S.J., I, 6, 9). What holds good for reli-gious orders as a whole, also applies to the members. The graces of their vocation which effectively enable them to pursue the end of their institute are the concrete expression of the divine assistance that flows from God's special Providence over them. Religious, therefore, are building .their trust on the safe rock of Peter when they firmly believe in the grace of their vocation. More-over, does not the experience of the religioh~ life come to teach them that the Lord does not disappoint that trust? When and in the measure that they are faithful to their calling, they find out what these graces of our vocation mean in practice. Graces of Light and Strength As actual graces in general, so the graces of our vocation are of two kinds which, more often perhaps, are found together rather than isolated. First there is light for the mind, generally more affective and practical" than purely sp~e~uiative and cold (for they are meant to lead to action), by which the meaning and reality of the religious ideal, duties, privileges, favors, appear more clearly, more appealingly, and more exaltedly worthwhile. These' actual graces of light, on occa-sion standing out very markedly, at other times more dim yet really present, give a deeper and new understanding of the rules, of the ideal of poverty; chastity, obedience, of the community life and of our daily tasks of education, missionary work, medical charity, sacred "ministry so that the good works by which religious strive after sand-tity. take on their deep, often hidden, meaning. Together with that light goes a grace of strength and courage for'the will and heart, 25'8 September, 1951 THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION tempering and steeling one"s whole moral an~ spiritual structure, actually enabling religious to live according to their light. These graces of fortitude, patience, and ability, make Jrpossible to keep up ¯ the effort for progress, and bravely and gladly to accept and take up the small and on occasion bigger crosses involved in the faithful ful-filment of their daily duties. These graces of strength, at times ex-perienced more forcibly, at other times, perhaps more commonly, perceived in humble and dim faith, smoothen the path towards per-fection which often is rough and always uphiIl. The remembrance of these graces received in the past is a precious confirmation" of Our faith and trust in the grace of our vocation. Condition of Our Trust That faith and trust is rightly ours on one condition: that we do, sincerely and hum.bly, what in us lies to answer the graces we receive. There is little need to insist on the first and foremost part in this cooperation with grace which we may take for granted, namely, that we live in the state of sanctifying grace. Progress in grace supposes the st'ate of grace. Unless the substance of the spiritual life be there, we cannot expect further grace~ for progress. These graces, according to the ordinary rule of Divine Providence, are usually given in proportion to oui" fidelity in accepting and answering them. One way of showing this desire of receiving and exploiting those graces is our faithful and insisting prayer for them. According to the hint of the Council of Trent we quoted above, our asking for graces may well be the condition for receiving them. We may even count on the abundant divine aids guaranteed by the grace of our vocation if we sincerely and generously trade for spiritual profit with those we receive. No doubt even then no one can vouch for it that he will never fail God's grace, even though grace does not fail him. We know it too well, human frailty remains in religious as well. And we need not be surprised at our daily faults of weakness which, we may confi-dently hope, involve but little guilty negligence. Provided. only we know how to exploit those very failings to deepen humility and a sense of our need of prayer and trust in the Lord, they do not seri-ously impair our fidelity to grace. Our desires and deeds continue then to express our sincere gratitude for God's great gift, our call to the religious life. Then we may and must always count on the grace of our vocation. 259' A Vocational Newspaper [Contact, a bright, four-page, two-year-old vocational newspaper from the arch-diocese of Boston, may be of interest to readers of the REVIEW who are not ac-quainted with it. The following description was written by a staff member of the publication. For further information write to: Director of Vocations, Room 622, 185 Devonshire St., Boston, M~,ss. ED.] Maintaining that "Personal contact between an interested priest or religious and a good potential candidate becomes the only real vocation program," Father Francis A. Barry, director of vocations in the Boston archdiocese, thought that a vocational newspaper might provide a natural occasion for conversation or 'even extended talks on religious vocations. The paper was given the significant name: Contact. Experience has shown the idea was a 'good one. Contact, a monthly during the school year, began publicati.o.n in October, 1949. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Richard J. Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, the founder of the special vocational program, is the adv.isory editor. The editor is Father Barry. He is assisted by eight associate, a makeup, and ten contributing editors. The latter include diocesan and religious priests, Brothers, and Sisters who write columns, features, reviews, and editorials. His Excellency financed the project during its initial year. The religious orders and congregations having houses in the archdiocese shared the major ex-pense since then. , Distributed gratis" to pupils of parochial or other Catholic schools, from the seventh grade through the senior year in school as well as to Sunday schools, rectories, and seminaries, the circulation now tops 50,000." Increased solely by ~ear-say advertising, the mailing li~t now re'aches out to thirty-one s.tates, the Philippine's, Cuba, Italy; France and Canada. The italicized, three-column, colored logotype carries the triple message: Information, Inspiration, and Action. To attract the young people's attention, each issue is printed with bright color spots, ac.cording to the season or month. Adjacent to some of the standing heads appears a small portrait of the editor of the column, showing his religio.us habit ahd giving his name and address. Feature pictures and action shots of'the apostolate of teaching or social service highlight each issue. Provocative headlines dot the pages: It Seems to Me . Horizons, Meet. some religious com- 260 September, 1951 COMMUNION FOR OTHERS ~nunity, Looking Out . thought from the seminary or the novi-tiate, Do You KnoW?, Parents" Column, and Around tile Diocese. Parochial high school reporters keep copy flowing to the desk of the editor of the last-mention~ed column. Contact reiterates the words of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII: "This vcJcation, thisloving call makes itself heard in manydifferent ways, as many as the infinite variety of accents in which the Divine Voice may speak: irresistible invitations, affectionate and repeated promptings,gentle impulses."--SISTER MARY REGINA, S.S.,J. Offering Communion t:or.Ot:hers Clarence McAuliffe, S.3. SISTER LOUISA sat placidly at her desk filling out the spiritual bouquet. It was the community's gift to Sistdr Mercedes who was to make her p~ofession next day. Sister Louisa was adding her contribution to the various specified good works-- rosaries, s{ations, visits, penances,, aspirations, Masses, Communions. It was an easy and congenial task and she contributed generously. But when she had finished, she found a question e.ngaging her mind,. a question she had never asked herself before. She had added five to the total of Commuriions to be offered for Sister Mercedes. 3ust what did it mean to offer Communion for somebody else? She ~had been doing it for many years. Her relatives and friends were always pleased when she told them that she would offer her Communion for them. Yet she had to confess now that she really did not know what she meant wh'en she told them that'she would offer her Communion for their intention. Many religious besides Sister Louisa have been puzzled by the same question. Nor is its answer easy to find. The purpose of this article is to clarify what we mean when we tell others that we are going to offer our Communion for them. It is important to remember that Communion produces certain effects that are inalienable. For instance, Communion automatically increases sanctifyin~ grace and most probably has the power,to con-fer more of this grade than any other sacrament. We do not transfer 261 - CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Ret~ieto for R'eligious any of this to others when we offer our Communion for them. Again, the increase of active love for Go~t and our neighbor which is the .special effect of the Eucharist and which depends on the fervor of our thanksgiving, is not surrendered by offering Communion for somebo~ly else. So too, the strength to resist temptations, the cooling of disordered feelings, since these are special though secondary effects of Communion and depend also on the fervor of one's thanksgiving, are incommunicable. The same is t6 be said of the additional right to a glorious bodily resurrection which is acquired by the worthy reception of Communion. Finally, the remission of venial sins which results automatically from Communion, if the recipient has sincerely revoked all wilful attachment to them, cannot be transferred to any other person. From all this it is ~lear that the principal benefits accruing from the Lord's Table remain with the communicant. In fact it might appear that no spiritual gifts remain which can lend real meaning to our promise to offer Communion for somebody else. But there are. When we ~o to Holy Communion we ordinarily do extra praying and a certain ambunt of mortification. We make a suitable prepara-tion and thanksgiving. We also fast beforehand. Now we all know that prayer and fasting are subjective acts of virtue, ~nd when made by a person in the state of grace, they have a three-fold value in the sight of God. For the sake of brevity, the theologians use tbre'e tech-nical words to express this three-fold efficacy. They say 'it is "meri-torious, satisfactbry, and impetrative." What they mean is that every act of virtue wins more sanctifying grace (meritorious efficacy), removes some temporal punishment (satisfactory), and pleads with God for spiritual and temporal favors (impetrative). In addition, therefore, to the sanctifying grace which comes spontaneously from each Communion, a person also gets more sanc-tifying grace from his acts of virtue elicited before and after receiving the sacrament. Since we can never give one iota of sanctifying grace, no matter by what means it is acquired, to another person, it is evi-dent that the grace proceeding from these acts of virtue at Commun-ion time is also retained by the communicant. However, the satisfactory and impetrative efficacy of these acts may be relinquished in favor of others when we offer Communion for them. Suppose we consider first the gift we make when we hand over the satisfactory fruits of our Communions. Ordinarily we are able to make a fitting preparation for the 262 oep*e,noer, I95 ! COMMUNION FOR OTHERS reception of Holy Communion. Not only do we fast, rise early, kneel down, but we also make acts of faith, hope, confidence, desire, humility, and perhaps acts of perfect love for God. Now each of these acts of penance and of prayer, by reason of our good subjective dispositions which accompany them, has the power to take away some temporal punishment. Moreover, since we are the ones who do the penance and say the prayers, we have the right to have our otot~ temporal punishment lessened by them. What happens, then, when we offer Communion for another? We transfer this incalculable benefit to the other party and, if he is in the state of grace, he receives it. The same is to be said of'the~ prayers we say at the moment when we receive our divine Lord and during the time that He remains pres-ent within us. We communicate the satisfactory value of all these prayers to the other person. Instead of shortening our own purga-tory we shorten the purgatory of another. We', so to speak, suffer vicariously and gratuitously for some one who has no real claim to our sacrifice. If we reflect for a moment, we shall also understand why the satisfactory efficacy of these virtuous acts preceding, accompanying, and following Holy Communion exceeds that produced by the same acts elicited at some other time. We suppose, of course, that our fer-vor (and by that we refer not to our feelings, but to our acts of will) would be equal in both instances. We shall also understand why Communion remits more temporal punishment than other prayers listed in a spiritual bouquet--for example, rosaries or visits to the chapel. We take for granted, of course, that our cooperation would be equally diligent and that the same number of acts of virtue would be made. Otherwise it could easily happen that a rosary re-cited devoutly and animated by many acts of virtue would remit more temporal punishment than a Communion prepared ~or and received listlessly and negligently. Buy other thin~s being on a par, there is an objective reason why Holy Communion should take away more temporal punishment than the rosary or other pious works. The truth of this statement rests .on the fact that ordinarily the acts of virtue we make in connection with Communion are more fer-vent (here again we do not refer to feelings of fervor) and more numerous than those evoked by other works of piety. This is pa.r-ticularly tru~ of the prayers we say during our thanksgiving' after Communion. And it should be noted that temporal punishment is 263 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review for Religious canceled in proportion to the fervor and number of our.tSrayers. But why should our prayers after Communion be more fervent? Because Christ is then physically present within us. As a result of His sacramental presence, both the number and the quality of the actual grac'es showered upon us are ~uperi6r to those which necessarily accompany every pious supernatural work. After Communion our Savior inserts a continuous stream of vivifying actual graces into our minds and hearts, and these graces have as their general object, not to arouse merely confidence or faith or humility, but love itself, the most noble of all the virtues. If we ponder these facts, we shall. readily see. why our prayers after Communion have a singular power to reduce the debt of punishment incurred by somebody else. So much for th~ satisfactory value of Holy Communion. We can be comparatively brief in treating of the sacrament's impetrati've fruit because it rests on the same principles we have been discussing. By offering Communion for others, v~e also mean that we trans-mit to them the petitional power of both our preparation and thanksgiving. The very same acts of virtue have not only a satis-factory, but also a pleading or intercessory value. They implore God to brant spiritual and temporal f~vors. Here again, since we are the ones who do the praying, we are the one~ who have a right to obtain the favors. But we,relinquish this right in fav~)r of other~ when we offer our Communion for them. We forget our own needs; we fore-go some benefits that would surely come to ourselves. ~re sacrifice ourselves for the other party. Of course, we must remind ourselves again that we cannot surrender those benefits that flow spontaneously from the Sacrament, such as the remission of venial sins, the growth in love for God and other people, the new title to everlasting glory and the curbing of unruly impulses. But there are many other spiritual and temporal favors that every person needs. There are .many that we ourselves need, even though we often do.not know precisely what" they are. Yet we forget our-. selves and transfer the intercessory vigor of our Communions to others when we offer Communion for them. It is like writing a let-ter of recommendation f6r som~ one else to obtain a benefit that you yourself need and have a right to; and it is a letter of recommenda-tion that you know is certain to be heeded. It is well to remember also that this impetrative efficacy of~Com-reunion is likewise of exceptional ~luality, just as the satisfactory efficacy, and for the same reason. The number and kind of actual 264 September, I~51 COMMUNION FOR OTHERS graces stirred up in the soul after. Communion exceed those accom-panying other good works. .Consequently if we co-operate with them, our acts of virtue will be correspondingly more fervent so that their pleading value is enhanced. Unfortunately, most of us probably do not pray explicitly "after Communion for the person for whom' we offer the Communion. This is, of course, not necessary since our intention made beforehand suffices to obtain for the otber~the satisfactory and impetrative fruits of the sacramefit. However, if we do remember to pray expressly for the' other person after we have received Communion, we shall un-doubtedly increase the value of our gift for him. It stands to reason that our Savior' listens to our. requests with a more willing ear when He is actually present within us with His Sacred Humanity. We recommend, therefore, the practice of praying explicitly after receiving Communion for the person to whom we relinquish the benefits. We may even ask Our Savior to grant certain spedfic favors, especially spiritual ones, to the other party. In conclusion, then, we cannot give away to anyone else the ¯ principal fruits of our Holy Communions. These we have itemized in the beginnihg. In addition to those listed, we might also add that when an indulgence is granted for the reception of Communion or for some prayer said,before or after receiving the Sacrament, we can-not offer it for another living person. Nevertheless, we do a singular favor foi others .when we offer a Communion for their intention. We sacrifice'for theirbenefit the satisfactory and impetrative fruits which are won by our acts of virtue preceding, accompanying, and follow-ing Holy Communion. MEDICO-MORAL PROBLEMS Medico-Moral Problems, Part III, by Gerald Kelly, S.J., contains complete dis-cussions of euthanasia, therapeutic abortion, organic transplantation,, and adult baptism. Also included are discussions of co-operation in illicit operations, the delivery of a. hydrocephalic infant, and lobotomy for pain relief. The booklet is published by the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada, 1438 South Grand'Blvd., St. Louis 4, Mo. 50 cents a copy; 12 for $5.25; 50 for $,20;' 100 for $37.50. Parts I and II can be obtained at the same place and at the same prices. 265 uestdons and Answers --20- An unexpected opportunity has arisen to sell a piece o{ communlt~ property {or $100,000, which is much more than we could get for it under normal circumstances. But the property must be transferred.withln ten days, otherwise the offer will be wlfhdrawn. VVhat shall we do about gefflng permission of the Holy See? Fortunately His Excellency, the Apostolic Delegate, now has faculties from the Sacred Congregation of Religious to permit the contracting of loans, sales, and alienations of property belonging to a religious institute, when the sum involved does not exceed a half million gold dollars, provided that the conditions laid down in canons 534 and 1531 be observed. We take this opportunity to inform our readers that the Sacred Congregation of Religious has also granted two other special facul-ties to the Apostolic Delegate: to dispense.religious for the reception of Holy Communion from the obligation of the Eucharistic fast so that they may take something by way of drink or m. edicin~, when their physician considers the keeping of the fast injurious to their health; also to shorten or prolong the postulancy prescribed by the Code of Canon Law (see Bouscaren, Canon Lau2 Digest, Supplement 1943-1948, p. 131, under canon 858). m2 I-- I have heard that permission of the Holy See is required {or th~ aliena-tion of notable relics and images. Is it proper ÷o infer that relics and ¯ venerated images may be bought and sold? Does his include sacred vessels? To .buy and sell is only one form of alienation. Hence it does not follow as a general rule that relics and venerated images may be bought and sold simply because the Holy See at times gives permis-sion to alienate such things. Since three distinct things are included in this question we think it advisable to treat each class separately. Relics. Canon 1289 states very plainly: "It is unlau~[ul (nefas) to sell sacred relics." To do so would be to commit a sin of simony. However, it would not be sinful to charge and pay for the metal case in which the relics are usuhlly inclosed. Canon 1281, § I tells us that "notable relics or precious images, and likewise all relics or images 266 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Which are honored in any church with great devotion on the part of the people, cannot be alier~ted validly nor transferred permanently to another church without the permission of the Holy See." What is me~tnt by notable relics? Paragraph two of canon 1281 gives us a list of notable relics: the body, head, arm, forearm, heart, tongue, hand, leg, or that part of the' body in which the martyr suffered, provided it be "entire and" not too small." Such relics may not be alienated without the permissi6n, of the Holy See. Since it is for-bidden to sell. relics, alienation here must be taken in its other meaning, that is, to give away, to lend, and the like. The permission of" the Holy See would be required also to alienate relics which °are not notable; provided that they are honored in a church with great devotion on the part of the faithful. Small relics in the possession of private persons do not come under canon 1281, but they may never be sold. Precious [maqes. Ecclesiastical goods (church property) are shid to be.precious,when they have a ~pecial value by reason of artistic, historical, or material content (canon 1497, § 2). An image is said to be precious if it was painted by a great artist, or was made of precious materials, and has a notable valu&, that'is, over 1000 gold life (about $335 in our present money). Such images, as well as others which are not precious but which may be called venerable because of the great devotion of the faithful towards them, may not be alienated without the permissiqn of the Holy See. Sacred Vessels. Things are said to be sacred when they are .destined for divine worship by reason of their consecration or con-stitutive blessing. Canon 1305 tells us that "an article of sacred equipment which is blessed or consecrated loses its blessing or conse-cration . . . if it has been put to degrading uses 6r has been exposed for public sale." On the other hand, canon 1539 states that "in the sale or exchange of sacred things no account of the consecration or blessing is to be taken in determining the price." We may say, there-fore, that sacred vessels may be sold privately by one individual to another, or by one moral person to another (a church or community to another church or community) provided no extra charge is made for the blessing or consecration. But sacred things may not be exhibited publicist for sale without losing tbeir blessing or consecra-tion. This applies principally to auction sales and to the placing of a sacred object in the window or in the show case of a store open to the public. 267 QUEST, IONS AND A .NSWERS Reuieu) for'Religious We may conclude by adding that a consecrated chalice and paten do not lose their consecration'by being regilded (canon 1305, § 2). May exfreme unction be admlnls+ered before any major opera÷ion? For the valid reception of extreme unction the subject must be in " danger of death ¯from sickness or old age. If the person who is to, undergo major surgery is already in this condition, he is capable of receiving the sacrament before the operation. It may be that this is ge~nerally the case, but it is not necessarily so. Some operations which may entail a great deal of danger are performed for removing some chronic condition which might not become dangerous, without the operation, for a long time. Such patients cannot be anointed before the operation. In practice, it is not easy to decide whether to anoint a person. before an operation or t6 hwait the outcome of the operation. ¯ There is no universally-established practice; nor could there be: Some patients are clearly not capable of receiving the sacrament before the operation; others are clearly capable; and still others are "borderline cases." Moreover, the pastor or chaplain has not merely to decide whether the patient can be validly anointed l~ut also to judge when the anointing would be most appropriate and beneficial. Our ¢ons+ffufions +el[ us +ha+ "[eff~rs fo +he S~s+ers as well as +hose senf by +hem shall pass +hrough ÷he hands of +he superior who may read +hem," In view of +hls s+a+emen+, may a eAenera[ chap+er eAranf +o 9olden jubilaHans +he prlvllecAe' of seal[n~ +belt leffers before ~ivlng ÷hem ÷o +hl superlor7 "-['he general chapter has no power to change the constitutiofis, unless the constitutions themselves give it that power, which is not likely. On the other hand, since the constitutions' do not oblige the superior 'to read all letters which pass through her hands, the general chapter could recommend that superiors refrain from reading the letters of golden jubilarians, but it could not take away the right to read them which is contained in the constitutions. The general chapter may likewise request that the constitutions be changed in this matter, if that be the wish of the majority. Such a request for a change in the constitutions would be made to the local ordinary in the case of a diocesan congregation, or to the Holy See (Co.ngrega-tion of Religious) in the case of a pontifical institute. 268 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Ret~iew /:or Religious m24-- Is the novice master to be present at the discussion of the general council which follows upon his report on the novices who are preparing for first professlon? Canon 563 reads as follows: "During the course of the year of novitiate, the master of novices, conformably to the constitutions, must present to the .chapter or the higher superior a report con-cerning the conduct of each of the novices." Strictly speaking there-fore, the master of novices makes his report to the chapter (in inde-pendent monasteries! or to the higher superior, but not directly to the gefieral council, unless the constitutions prescribe this. Hence a written report should be given the higher .superior who, in turn, will communicate it to the general council. Many constitutions have an article based on art. 300 of the Norrnae which says that "whenever in the general council the novices or the novitiate is discussed, the mistress should be called, who will make known her mind on the subject under discussion, or submit opportune information." There will be no need (and certainly no obligation) for the master of novices to remain at the council session after he has given the infor-mation prescribed by canon 563. If necessary, h~ can always be called back for further information. ~-25-- Is it permissible for sick Sisters who are not completely bedridden to ¯ receive Holy C~ommunion by the cell of a Sister who is confined perman-ently to her bed. These Sisters can manage to get around although the doctor's orders are that they rest as much as possible. Likewise the sana-torium in which they stay has' an elevator and the chapel is on the first floor. The general rule is that all should receive Holy Communion in the chapel if they can conveniently do so. If the Sisters are so sick that they are obliged to miss Holy Mass, even though they are up and about their rooms or in the corridor, they may receive Holy Com-munion on the floor on which they li~'e. As to the elevator: if the Sisters use .it to go to'another floor for their meals, then they should use it likewise to go to the chapel to receive Holy Commu'nion. In general one may say that if going to the chapel for Holy Com-munion would lengthen the time for the Eucharistic fast, or would put ar~ additional strain upon a sick Sister who is not confined to her 269 NEW MEDITATION BOOKS Review [or Reh'gious bed, she may receive Holy Communion on the floor on which she lives. --26-- Is the practice of saying I000 Hall Marys on the Feast of the Annun-ciation ÷o be considered a superstition? Everything. will depend upon the motive a person has in re-peating the Hail Mary that often on the Feast of the Annunciation. If this is done simply out of love for Our Lady, there is nothing wrong with it, since, it is a laudhble act of devotion. ~If, on the other hand, the practice were based upon a ~purious ,revelation, or a sup-posed efficacy which it does not have of its own nature (that of intercessory prayer), then it might be superstitious. New Medi!:a!:ion Books Like St. Teresa of'Avila, many religious,need a meditation book for many years to help them in their prayer. Four such books, writ-ten as helps for contact with God in prayer, have recently been pub-lished or reprinted. The authors are a German Capuchin, an Ameri-can Jesuit in India, an American Benedictine, and a Hungarian bishop. The books vary in purpose, content, and form. Direct, ~arnest, Practical One of the books is the fourth volume of MEDITATIONS by Father Bernardine Goebel, O.F.M.Cap., translated by Father Berch- 'mans Bittle, O.F.M.Cap. Adapted for the use of the Friars Minor Capuchin, the direct, earnest, and practical reflections will help any follower of the Gospel. The present volume is for the'time from Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday biter Pentecost. The meditation for Sundays is usually on the Gospel of the.day. Some of the topics developed f6r the course of a week are the Eucharist, the Mass, faith, hope, char!W, and love of .neighbor. Each meditation begins with a brief sum-mary of the meditation followed by a brief introductory paragraph, develbps two points w.ith a consid,eration and*application, and ends with a prayer. (Province of St. Joseph, 1740 Mt. Elliott Ave., Detroit 7, Michigan, 1950. Pp. 264. $2.50.) Prodac~ of Missionarg Zeal From the 'mission.field ~f Ifidia comes MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY 270 " September, 1951 NEW MEDITA'FION BOOKS DAY by Rev. P. J. Sontag; S.J. It has recently been reprinted in an attractive two volume set. The first volume containin~ I87 medi-tations covers the first half of the liturgical year from Advent to Trinity Sunday. The second volume complete~ the year bringing the total number to 369. Most of the meditations are based on the life of Christ. Meditations on the Apostles Creed, the Our Father, the sacraments, on social justice and Catholic Action are included, as ¯ ycell as meditations for the First Fridays, the lit.urgical feasts, feasts of special saints, and over twenty meditations "honoring Mary. Though the meditations'were l~repared specifically for the l~iity, priests, seminarians, and all religious will find them belpful. Each meditation fias two or three (the. additional gives the account from Scripture) preludes and three ¯points which contain ample matter for reflection. For the colloquy, the author modestly hnd wisely con-fines himself to suggesting the person, Our Lord or a saint, to ad-dress. The set belongs to the Science and Culture Series and has a preface by the general editor, Joseph Husslein, S.J. (The Bruce Publishing Company, 400 N. Broadway, Mil,waukee 1, Wisc., 1950. Pp. I, xviii q- 476; II, ix q- 466. $10.00.) Goal ol: Monasticism Volume three completes THE.SCHOOL OF THE L, ORD'S SERVICE by, Rev. Bernard A. Sause, O.S.B. (author of "Bene, dicti~e Spirit-uality," REVIEW, X, 7). The set gives a meditation based on the Rule of St. Benedict for every day of the" year. The present volume for the ninth to the twelfth month contains the text of the Rule of St. Benedict and thirty meditations on ea'cb .of the foll~)wing four subjects: spirit of detachment: good zeal': practices, interpretations. and attitudes that have grown from the Rule: and intimate union with God. There is a bibliography and a composite index for the three volumes. Each meditation contains a carefully developed consideration, an examen for the day, and a practical application. The considerations are enriched by quotations, examples, and commehts ~arnered from Benedictine tradition, The sources are given after each meditation. The author's" development of zeal is especially noteworthy. He pre-sents the virtue of zeal in a concrete, appealing'manner by singling out for each day of the month a Benedictine monk, nun, or lay Brother who exemplified some aspect of zeal in his or her life. Not all of the exam, plats are canonized saints. The book deserves and 2'71 NEW MEDITATION BOOKS rewards a careful, prayerful reading. (St. Meinrad, Indiana: The. Grail, 1951.' Vol. iII, Pp. vi q- 575. $4.00.) Devotion and Inspiration Rt. Rev. Ottokar Proh~szka, bishop of Sz~kefeh~rvfir, who died on March 28, 1927, was an outstanding and saintly prelate and a gifted, prolific writer. His MEDITATIONS ON THE GOSPELS are brief, s.wift-moving reflections on the entire life of Our Lord. He presents a text from the New Testament, gives a few short reflections, and leaves preludes, affections, and colioquies to the exercitant. The meditations should be a source of devotion and inspiration to many. The author w!;ites in the introduction to his work: '"I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.' I wish to serve this purpose of Jesus at His Incarnation, and to that end I am sending this book out into the world. It is intended to assist in the development of the life of Cbrist within our souls . Christ is God Himself in human shape, and I have to adore Him, and delight in His sublime beauty, in the depth and unique quality of His Soul, in the powerful originality of His mind, in the charm which He diffuses and in the life which flows forth from Him. My soul hangs upon His lips and hearkens to His every word. I see God reflected in Him as in a mirror; I bow my head upon His bands and surrender my heart to Him. He is God's Instrument; He will form me and harmonize thd conflicting elements within me." The present Newman edition bad three volumes fin one. The authorized translation from the Hungarian is by Margaret de Pill. Father C. C. Martindale, S.J., has written the foreword. (Wes.t-minster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1951. Pp.: I, xiv + 229; II, ix + 322; III, viii + 282. $5.50.) SPIRITUAL BOOK ASSOCIATES (381 Fourth Ave., New York 16, N.Y.) September Selection--R. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. Our Saviour and His Love for Us. $6.00. October Selection--Henri Petitot, O.P. The True Story of Saint Bernadette. (Cf. REVIEW, May '51, p. 161). $3.50. 272 ¯ 8ook Reviews THE HISTORY OF THE POPES. By Ludwlcj yon Pastor. Translated by E. F. Peeler. Vol. 36: Benedict XIV (1740-1758). Pp. 513; Vol. 37: Clement XIII (1758-1769). Pp. 4S8. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, Missouri. $5.00 per volume. This REVIEW (September, 1950) carried a notice of Volume 35 of the English Pastor, showing Pope Benedict XIV in the opening years of his pontificate working "with a pistol at his head," 'a weapon held by Catholic sovereigns demanding that he let them run the Church as well. ' It was particularly in m'eeting their concerted attack on the Society of ,lesus that Benedict XIV fought for his papal powers. Now Volume 36, the latter part of Benedict's pontificate, and 37, that of Clement XIII, come t6 hand, and their entire content is predominantly devoted to later phases of this titanic contest. Even so they bring the st.ory only to the end of the second last Act, and tfien break off while the~ translator works on the ddr~otternent. Will the Society, in the end, be suppressed? Will this regiment, of twenty-two thousand religious, in some forty provi,ces, 600 col-leges and over 1400 churches, be sacrificed? Read the next volume to foll~w shortly. To religious of both sexes, and members of whatever type of canonical organization, this story cannot but have deep and abiding interest. That it chanced to be the Ignatian Society against which the storm broke was because it was the "Swiss Guard" of the day, and the ruler of the Swiss Guard can expend his troops in battle, or order them back to the barracks to disband. Despite the faults and human weaknesses of the papacy's de-fenders, the story leaves them with the honorable distinction of. "canonical" death in the line of duty. Certain European monarchs were persuaded that the papacy had to be cut down to reasonable size. As the Minister Tanucci put it (37, 13) : "Certainly the primacy of the Pope was incontestable; he was the supreme head and centre of the Church; he had the right to summon a General Council, and he was infallible, but only when 15e made decisions in conjunction with the Bishops. But the Papacy in the form it had assumed in his day would have to. be abolished." 273 BOOK REVIEWS "The only way to treat the Pope was to . . . kiss his feet and bind his hands'~ .(28). So, under forms of exquisite politeness and courtly'deference, a violent strtiggle was waging. If the current tyranny of atheisti~ Commu, nism were being carried, on under the appearance of Catholic Leadership, if Marshal Stalin had his official minister at the Vatican to shape Catholic policy,.we could all the easier understand the high and mighty language of "unavoidable administrative necessity" that permeates these endless pages of eighteenth century despotism: It was proved with mathematical precision again and again that the mon-archs were but acting for the Church's good in withstanding the Pope, etc. Have we not heard these tunes being aired in our own day? Will it. be different in the twenty-second century, or the twenty-fifth? Details are all irrelevant; the contest wages still: evil has not prevailed, but it availeth much--GERALD ELLARD, S.J. THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE GROSS OF JESUS. By ÷he Rev. Regl-nald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. Transl~÷ed by Sisfer Je~n~e Marle, O.P. Volume Two. Pp. vi q- 461. B. Herder Book C;o., Sf. Louis, 1951. $~.00. This volume carries forward and completes Father Garrigou- Lag~ange's studies on divine love and the perplexing trials that are apt to befall souls fairly far advanced in the way of that love. Briefly this is the content of it. Part one deals with "crosses of the senses." These ar4 understood to be just what St. 3ohn of the Cross describes as "the night of sense," and hence here we ,have Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange's interpretation of that portion of St. 3ohn's doctrine. Correspondingly the second part is taken up with St. dohn's !'night of the spirit." Both sections, therefore, are concerned with what one might term the dark, distressing, disconsolate, phase of the mystical life. Part three is headed, "The Life of Union through desus and Mary." Among the themes considered are the inhabita-tion of the Blessed Trinity, the unity and sublimity of the apostolic life, the priesthood of Christ, His kingship, the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model of reparation, and St. 3oseph as a model of the hidden life and first among the saints. As parts one and two would com-fort'and strengthen one who is suffering, the rigors of the night of the soul, so this third part has much that is positively very magnificent and inspiring. The Three Ages of the Interior Life is expressly offere~l to the 274 September, 1951 BOOK REVIEWS public by Ft. Garrigou-Lagrange as a synthesis of this work and Christian Perfection and Contemplation (vol. I, v). Hence it shares in the merits and demerits of that larger and later work. These were discussed at length pro and con'in this REVIEW previously (Novem-ber, 19'49, pp. 297-317; March, 1950, 78-95). ' Since The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus was subsequently incprporated in The Three Ages and presented there in the form which the author now prefers, it seems rather surprising that it should be translated and published at this time. Except for scholars who wisl~ to see both studies, one who wants Fr. Garrigou- Lagrange's ideas on these matters should preferably seek them in the later and more definitiire work--AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD, S.J. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST~ By John of St. Thomas. Trenslated fro~ the Latin by Dornin~c Hucjhes, O.P. With e Foreword by Walter Farrell, O.P. Pp. x -f- 293. Sheed end Ward, New York, 19SI. "$3.7S. Now Fr. Hughes has done, and in beautiful form, for English readers what Madame RaissaMaritain did a number of years ago for the French, that is, he has made a translation of the celebrated

Issue 9.5 of the Review for Religious, 1950. ; A.M.D.G. Review for Religious °~Venial Sin r o P. De LeHer Sensitiveness . Winfrld He;bst On Family Spirit . . ¯ . Gerald Kelly Christ on W)nnincj Friends . Jerome Breunlg ~uestions and Answers Book Reviews Report to Rome VOLUME IX NUMBER RI::VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME IX SEPTEMBER, 1950 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS VENIAL SIN--P. De Letter, S.J . ¯ . 225 SENSITIVENESS---Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S ." . 233 FOR YOUR INFORMATiON-- Suggestions for Superiors General; Vocational Questions; Medlco-Moral Problems; Catholic Dailyi C~nfessors' ~Patron; Sisters of St. Joseph; "Mike"; Reprint Series . ~. 236 ON FAMILY SPIRIT--Gerald Kelly, S.J . 237 CHRIST SHOWS US HOW TO WIN FRIENDS--Jerome Breunig, S.J: 252 " BOOK REVIEWS-- Our Way to the Father; The History of the Popes; The Holy See at Work; .Little Meditations on the Holy Eucharist . 256 BOOK NOTICES . . , '. . . ' . 261 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 262 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 21. Jubilee Indulgence . , 265 22. Permission for Trips . 265. 23. Authority to Change a Custom . 266 24. What are Norrnae? . 266 25. Collective Nouns Applicable to Sisters . 267 26. Meaning of "the rule." . . 268 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 268 REPORT TO ROME . 269 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, ,September, 1950. Vol. IX, No. 5. Published bi-monthly: January, March,May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January" 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.3., Gerald Kelly, S.3. Editorial Secretary: Jerome Breunig, S.J. Copyright, 1950, by Adam C~ Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable lengtb, p~ovided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscript,on price: 2 dollars a~year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writin9 to us, please consult notice on Inside beck cover. Venial Sins " P. De Letter, S.J. \ SPIRITUAL authors commonly teac, h that a sure sign of fervor in a religious is the hab.itual avoiding of venial sins, just as tepidity betrays itself in frequent and lightly-committe, d daily faults. Between these two dispositions which are neatly character-ized in their, extreme types is a nearly indefinite number of degrees. The steady effort of good religious aims at approaching the ideal of fervor, which implies a constant care to exclude from one's daily life whatever is sinful. It is worthwhile to consider this negative aspect of the striving for religious perfection, not because it is more important than the positive practice of virtue, especially of charity tov)ard~ God and neighbor, but because this refraining from all that is evil is easily ascertainable and consequently serves as an unmistakable indication of genuine fervor. Concerning this negative aspect of perfection, two questions may be asked: (1) when exactly do we commit a venial sin? (2) what is normally possible, or not possible, as regards the avoidance of venial sins? The first question aims at outlining clearly the scope of the matter under discussion with a view to cen-tering our attention on the really sinful objects and not on what is mistakenly called sinful. The second purposes to define the bound-ari4s within which our efforts may be successful, thus eliminating the danger of expecting what may well be beyond human powers. 1) When do we commit a venial sin? The question is clear and simple. And so is the answer--in the-ory. But how does it work out in practice? When is a thought or a desire or a word or an action a venial sin and not merely a positive imperfection, that is, something which is less good than its opposite .or than its omission but which is not sinful in itself?1 The question lln holding firmly to a distinction between venial sin and positive imperfection, Father De Letter is following what seems to us to be the more common and the better opinion. For a very fine presentation of the contrary opinion, especially with reference to the teaching of St. Thomas and the Thomistic school, see The Morality of Imperfections, by J. C. Osbourn, O.P. We might add here that even theologians holding the same opinion as Father De Letter might find difficulty in agreeing on a list of examples of either small venial sins or positive imperfections. For instance; one of the examples that Father De Letter later gives of venial sin ("deliberate thoughts or words of vanity which reveal an inordinate self-concern or self-esteem") might also be given as an example of a positive imperfection. 225 .P. DE LETTER Ret~ietu/:or Religious is worth asking because-a different, judgment isto be made of what is sinful and what is riot. We commit a sin whene~'er we knowingly and voluntarily go against the manifest preemptive will of God, that is, when we do or choose what He forbids, or neglect what He commands. The sin is venial only, and not mortal, when either the knowledge or advertence or the voluntariness is imperfect or partial (even though the matter be grave), or when the object of the sinful act itself is light whether of itself, as in a harmless lie, or because of parvity of matter, as in a small theft. Accordingly there is a first category of venial sins which may be called defective or miscarried mortal sins. Though of less practical importance for our present purpose, these must be mentioned briefly. They are the sinful actions (or thoughts, etc.) which ordinarily would be grave sins but happen to be venial sins on account of incomplete advertence or voluntariness. In other words, since they are imperfect as human acts, they are also .imperfect as sins. This may be the case with thoughts or desires against purity which are o.nly half noticed or half consented to; or with words or actions against chhrity when the gravity or harm involved is in good faith neither realized nor intended. Though faults of this kind may evi-dently occur in the life of a religious, they are not the ordinary "daily" sins which we are here .considering. Consequently a mere mention of them suffices. The other class of venial sins consists of those thoughts, desires, words, or deeds which of their nature involve only light guilt. Yet, even these are not subjectively sinful unless they are deliberately willed with the realization that they are sinful. In other words, these three conditions must be fulfilled, even in a venial sin: (a) actual knowledge-~either implicit or explicit, clear or confused--that some-thing is sinful; (b) some degree of voluntariness, at least incom-plete; and (c) an evil object, that is, the thing done is, or is thought to be, contrary to a divine command or prohibition. Whenever any one of these three elements is entirely absent there can be no question of even venial sin (except in so far as a culpable negligence might be at the root of them). According to these requirements, an unnoticed distraction in prayer is not a venial sin (as long as it is unnoticed); nor is an unheeded imagination or thought of self-complacency; nor a reflex reaction to some exterior stimulus, such as a sign of impatience; nor an uncharitable thought or unkind word which, without any fault 226 September, 1950 VENIAL SINS of our own, we fail to perceive. In all these cases the first element required for a venial sin--namely, actual knowledge--is lacl~ing. Similarly, the element of voluntariness is absent, for example, in the case of a harassing distraction in prayer which is noticed but not accepted (that is, sincerely rejected); or in a persistent but resisted unkind thought; or in an uncharitable remark that escaped before we could control ourselves. Finally, no positive command of God is disregarded by the omission of an exercise of devotion which is not obligatory; or by not choosing a more perfect andmore difficult way of performing one's duty; or by contenting oneself with what is good without preferring the better; or by recreating well and taking natural relaxation with less supernatural motives; or by talking during times of silence without necessity though not without some usefulness. All these actions .are in themselves good, even though they are less good than other ways of acting. There is not, how-ever, on that score, anything sinful in them. But when thoughts, desires, words, or deeds combine all three elements mentioned: awareness, voluntariness, evil object, they must be called what they are, venial sins. Noticed and accepted distractions in prayer mean irreverence towards the Almighty and consequently are sinful. Thoughts or words against charity which are conscious and voluntary go against the good will we owe all children of God and therefore are sins. The same must be said of a lackof self-control which is voluntary, and of wilful impatience by which we deliberately cause pain to others. Deliberate thoughts or words of vanity which reveal an inordinate self-concern or self-esteem are venial sins because they offend against truth and humility. Thefts of small things, or a lie which is not unjust, a lack of self-control in the matter of food, all these are, supposing some awareness and voluntariness, venial faults because they involve an evil object. Since in all these failings the degree of conscious and free consent may vary, the degree of guilt will also vary accordingly. At times the guilt will be slight, at other times more serious. Often enough it will be difficult for us to determine bow much wilfulness and guilt is involved. But then we may safely leave the estimate to Him who reads the hearts of men. All this teaching of the spiritual authors and moralists looks elementary enough, and so it is. Yet it might be good to stress this one particular point: when in our own daily lives we find defective ways of thinking, speaking, or acting which totally lack any one of 227 P. DE LETTER Ret;iew ~'or Retigious the three conditions of venial sinfulness, we may truthfully and peacefully consider that they are not sins--unless, perhaps, there be some more.or less guilty negligence in their root cause. Consequently, we need not confess them nor endeavor to be sorry for them though we can rightly be sorry for the previous negligence which may be the cause of them. They may well be humbling and unpleasant defects which serve to mortify us. But before God and in our conscience they do not harm us spiritually. No one will doubt all this. Yet it not infrequently happens (as personal experience amply proves) that although we realize full well what we should do from a theoretical point of view, nevertheless, in pr.actice, we are unable to act accord-ingly. If the aforementioned defects are not sinful, there is no humil-ity or sanctity in speaking or acting as if they were. (This does not mean, of course, that there can be no true humility in acknowledging our negligence which is the cause of them.) If they are not evil they do not give rise to th~ spiritually harmful effects which are inherent in venial sins. More particularly, they do not cool the fervor of our charity towards God and neighbor, nor do they prepare the way for serious lapses. Whatever evil is in them lies in their root cause only. Shall we conclude that we need not concern ourselves about them at all? This conclusion would not be fully warrantdd and would not harmonize with the fundamental endeavor of religious life which aims at more than the avoidance of sin. It is right to conclude that we need not see sins where sins do not exist. We should, however, be careful about these morally guiltless defects which may well spring from some not guiltless negligence and easily turn us in the direction of sinfulness. Many of the examples quoted above would cease to be sinless as soon as some degree of awareness and wilfulness would enter into them. The care to be taken concerning them evidently does not consist in directly going against them; in most cases that is practically impossible. But they can be eliminated partially by slowly and patiently building up within ourselves strong psycho-logical habits, which incline us in the opposite direction. For example, if we develop a general disposition of kindness and good will, we slowly create in ourselves a "second nature" that will by itself prevent many an unkind thought or word. As to actual practice, must we believe that it is relatively easy for religious to commit venial sins? At times we are led to believe that we could hardly live an hour or fulfill our ordinary daily duties without committing some venial sin or other. Every idle word, every vain thought, every complacency in success seems to be sinful to 228 September, 1950 VENIAL SINS some extent. May we hope that this fear or opinion is somewhat exaggerated ? Different temperaments and different views may incline different people either to severity or to leniency. But no one will deny the principle which both the severe and the lenient must respect: that the degree of free consent to a forbidden object (which in the case of venial sins is something not grievously evil) constitutes the measure of guilt. Without voluntariness there is no guilt and no sin. The divergencies of opinion will, then, stem from the different estimates as to how much freedom of consent is involved in our defective actions. 2) What is normallv possible, or not possible, in avoiding venial sins? This question may seem somewhat surprising. But it is impor-tant that we ask it and find an answer to it if our endeavor to exclude venial sins from our lives is to be enlightened and effective. It would be useless and harmful in the long run to strive after what is impos-sible. SOoner or later such a course of action would inevitably lead to discouragement in the face of repeated apparent failures. So, too, it would be prejudicial to our spiritual progress if we mistakenly did not try to do what is feasible. In this matter we are not left to personal conjectures and reason-ings or to the teachings of private authors. The Church.has given bet own authoritative and even infallible teaching. Four centuries ago the Council of Trent defined against the Protestants that a man in the state of grace is unable "during the whole of his life to avoid all sins, even those that are venial, except by a special privilege from God such as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin." And when explaining bow venial sins of their nature do not destroy the state of sanctifying grace the same Council conceded that "during this mortal life men, however holy and just, fall at times into at least light and daily sins which are also called venial." This is a most precious hint which must preserve our endeavor both from presump-tion and from dejection. It clearly states what we'must not expect, and what, therefore need not surprise or disappoint us. We cannot hope to exclude from our whole lives all venial sins; we shall not succeed, however saintly or advanced in the spiritual life we may be. Unless we can count on a special privilege such as our Blessed Lady had received we should be trying and promising ourselves the impos-sible. And who would claim for himself this privileged treatment 229 P. DE LETTER Reoieto /:or Religious which is altogether exceptional (the Council of Trent mentions only one.exception, the Blessed Virgin) ? We need not, therefore, be aston-ished or disheartened if, in spite of our best efforts and after long fidelity to the inspirations of grace, we still at times fall into light or daily faults. This is the common lot, the Church says, of the saints. We surely do not expect to be better than the saints, nor shall we be disappointed when we come to know from experience that we are not. But lest some one might find in this doctrine of the impossi-bility of avoiding all venial sin a pretext for taking things easily, the Church has carefully weighed her words. She has infallibly defined only this: It is not possible without a special privilege to avoid all venial sins during an entire lifetime. Whatever is less than this no longer comes within her infallible teaching. Strictly speaking, therefore, it may be true that some saints, even without a special privilege, would commit, say, only two or three venial sins during their whole lives. Even then the Church's definition would remain intact. But this interpretation obviously minimizes her teaching. Her mind is clearly different. She grants that even saints sometimes fall into light sins. How often, she does not say. But she definitely seems to say, from time to time. And it would follow logically that this frequency will vary according to the degre~ of virtue or sanctity or moral strength which a saint has reached. The Church's. teaching, therefore, cannot offer any pretext for an easy-going life. But it is a valuable safeguard against presumption or discouragement. It pre-serves us from attempting the impossible. But the impossible is a distant limit to which we can always approach nearer and nearer, for we can almost indefinitely reduce the number of our small sins. In this connection we should recall the twofold division of venial sins commonly given by spiritual writers: first, the fully voluntary or deliberate venial sins which one commits calmly and with unham-pered freedom, precisely because they are onltj venial and nothing serious; secondly, the venial sins of weakness in which the volun-tariness is only partial and diminished by surprise, or inattention, or fatigue, or listlessness, or some other reason, but in which there still is a sufficient degree of advertence and free consent to make them guilty and to make us responsible for them. This difference in venial sins is well known from experience; each one can no doubt trace it in his own life. Now. it is clear enough that we are able with God's grace to exclude from our daily lives the first category of venial_sins. We can 230 September, 1950 VENIAL SINS make up our minds and be determined not deliberately to commit any venial sins. Since these are fully deliberate, it depends on our free wills alone to commit or not to commit them. From the very nature of the case, we are not here taken by surprise. If we were, there would no longer be question of fully deliberate faults. And our free will cannot be t:orced into a completely free consent; it is we ourselves who decide. Many theologians, it is true, declare that Christians do not in fact avoid all deliberate venial sins during a whole lifetime with the ordinary graces they receive. Because of our innate weakness we some time or other lose sight of the determina-tion not to sin venially. Yet, with growing fidelity to grace and growing abundance of graces these faults can, in those approaching to perfection and sanctity, be eliminated altogether from their daily lives. Accordingly, it is not this class of venial sins which the Church mainly had in mind when she declared tb~t it is impossible for a just man to avoid them entirely during his ~ hole life. What Trent infallibly declared pertains to the second kind of venial sins, which are not fully deliberate. Even saints cannot with-out a special privilege avoid all such sins of weakness. Will this sur-prise any one? Catholics who believe in the fall of m~n and in original sin with its moral consequences on our human nature and on its efforts for good, will expect this. Our weak human nature would require, in order never to be taken by surprise by attractive and pleasing but forbidden objects, a vigilance and self-control so con-stant and so uninterrupted that ir is normally beyond our human strength. Much, of course, depends on the environment in which we live and on the virtuous habits and moral strength we have acquired. Where little or no occasion or temptation arises it is not hard to maintain the degree of watchfulness which bars complete surprise. And for the advanced in virtue and the strong of character, for the humble and the recollected, the charitable and the pure, invitations to sin will be fewer and less attractive. Even they, however, will " have their moments of weakness when they are caught off: guard and when they ball-knowingly, half-willingly do, say, desire, or think what they should not. We cannot expect that this kind of venial sins will ever be fully banned from our lives. We can never feel entirely safe and secure against their attacks. All we can do, and all we oug~hot to do, is by indirect action to try to diminish their number and to decrease the measure of wilfulness and.guilt in them. This effort can and should advance on a nearly indefinite scale leading us always closer and closer to the limit pointed out in the Church's 231 19. DE LETTER Review For Religious teaching. And this goal is our best endeavor. Venial sins, even the semi-deliberate ones, do spiritual harm in many ways. The harm decreaseswith the decreasing guil't, but it remains proportioned to the guilt. From all this it f611ows that a twofold result can be achieved by all of us in the matter of avoiding venial sins. First, we can with the help of grace that is always at our disposal, bann from our lives all fully deliberate venial sins. Secondly, we are able, with the help of the same grace, notably to diminish the number and the guilt of the half-deliberate ones. As regards the avoidance of fully deliberate venial sins, nothing more need be said. The thing has only to be done. But to avoid the semi-deliberate sins, we must concentrate on indirect tactics. We can increase our watchfulness against surprise attacks and make sure that this watchfulness does not relax to the point of dangerous neglect. We can counterac' the causes of unguardedness. And that practically means to grow in virtue and moral strength; for strong virtue can counterbalance the weakness of human nature which is the root cause of our being caught unawares. This indirect action against venial sins is to be applied according to each one's special needs. Each one has to develop those virtues and that moral fortitude which go against the kinds of venial sin to which he is ordinarily tempted. Some insist on charity because they easily fail in that line; they ought to cultivate a general disposition of kindliness in thought, word, and deed; both in prayer and outside of prayer they can thus build up a habit which will be a permanent counterweight against hasty and almost reflex unkind actions. Others are prone to thoughtless and selfish words and actions which are prompted by a natural urge to self-seeking 'and self-assertion: they should develop recollected self-control with the natural means of peacefulness and will power and the supernatural aids of a living' spirit of faith, a sincere and exclusive desire of what God wants, and a spiritual depreciation of all that concerns self only. These examples indicate what is meant by in-direct action against half-deliberate venial sins. The idea is to coun-teract the roots of weakness and inattention from which these faults normally spring. It is possible to paralyze these causes of sins in an ever-increasing measure.' The more we grow in virtue and holiness, the less become our faults in number and guilt. Religious approach this ideal of purity of heart in the measure of their fervor. And their advance in the spiritual life also depends proportionately on the purity of their lives. It is, therefore, impera- 232 September, 1950 SENSITIVENESS tive to know and to do what can be done .with. regard to our daily faults. The more generous and sincere our endeavor in this regard, the more truly shall we be what the religious profession demands of its followers: .giving our best endeavor to acquire the perfection of the Christian life. SensiEiveness Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. THyoAuT t hwea ost ha'e rv edrayy c. aInt dseide msesl ft-hreavt ealsa tai orne lwighioicuhs Iy ¯oruec weiavnetd t ofr obme as open as one can prudently be, as ~lear as water in a crystal vase. You tell me that you have marked down sensitiveness, ~/our inor-dinate sensitiveness, as your very character itself, .and that you have made resolutions accordingly. Humility in all its forms was, and is to be, your weapon,against this fault of character. You tell me that your sensitiveness is the direct offspring of pride and self-love, and that already¯ some years ago you recognized it as .the great enemy against which you must fight unceasingly. 7y'ou believe that you have made just a little headway against it but that much still remains to be done. Very frankly you tell me that your sensitiveness injures you somewhat as follows. Following a reproof, a censure, an admoni-tion, sometimes even the slightest, you become intensely excited interiorly; you feel bitter and hard. Then come unkind thoughts, bitter reflections, inconsiderate criticism, plans to drop or change reso-lutions, temptations against your vocation, discouragement. You state that absolute silence is your only safety then; for were you to speak you would become violent and say things which you would certainly regret, but which, because of your pride,, you might never retract, to your great spiritual danger. Often you are thrown into this state by a single look of disapproval or by something which is done by an individual or by the community that is not to your liking. You add that a strange phase of your sensitiveness is that it is often aroused even by things which are not intended as offensive. This being so, something must be done. And you ask me to tell you what. 233 WINFRID HERBST Review ~or Religious I do veril~r believe that you cannot get rid of your sensitiveness as such, as a natural quality. But in your striving after religious perfection you certainly can keep it down; you can direct it into the proper channels. You can be sensitive about your Heavenly Father's business. To say, "I will not let my pride get the upper hand in the future," would be a useless resolution. What you must do is con-vince yourself that there is nothing in you or about you in which you may of yourself glory and boast. In other words, as you your-self s~uggest, you must acquire humility; and since the best way to acquire it is to practice it, you must let no day pass without seeking occasions to do so and you must from time to time make it the sub-ject of your particular examen according to Rodriguez. But I would have you remember that humility is in every way compatible with manliness, courage, 'resolution, magnanimity, a longing to do great things, a will to win. With St. Paul you may say, "I can do all things." But you must not fail to add in all sin-cerity and humility, "In Him who strengthens me." Humility is truth; and this assertion of St. Paul's is always true. In the proper discharge of your duties you must have a certain confidence; in your studies you need a certain ambition. But all things must be with God and for God, not for self and for men. And, of course, this confidence, courage, and resolution should not show itself in self-praise. How can you boast of that which you have not of yourself, of that which has been given you? You have in a special manner received everything from God: your wonderful vocation, your remarkably good health, your mod-erate endowments, your love of order and exactness, your zeal in religious observance. You simply need confidence and resolution. Cultivate it, then, especially interiorly. I would really like to impress it upon you very earnestly that you may and must have con-fidence in yourself, provided always that self is wholly and humbly lost in God and leaning upon Him, upon Him in whom you can do all things. Confidence in yourself--yes; but at the same time be deeply im-bued with the conviction of your own nothingness. Be persuaded that it is vain and ridiculous to wish to be esteemed because of certain endowments received as a loan from God. Practice acts of meekness, patience, obedience, mortification, sor-row for sin, the renunciation of your own feelings and opinions, and the like. 234 September, 1950 SENSITIVENESS If no attention is paid to you, show no resentment but bear it with resignation and tranquillity. Do not condemn the" actions of others, interpret everything charitably, and, if the fault be manifest, strive" to attenuate it as much as possible. .And forget about it, unless your office obliges you to apply a remedy. In open questions do not contradict anyone in conversation; do not get overexcited in arffuing: if your opin, ion be considered of little worth give way quietly and remain silent. When you must defend the truth, do so courageously, but without being violent or. contemptuous. Lay up a good store of gentleness so that in all circumstances you may ~etain your equanimity. Do not nourish in your heart feelings of dislike and revenge against those who offend you. If anyone blames you or speaks ill of you, do not fly into a pas-sion bu't examine your shortcomings and humbly thank God for preserving you from such things. Whenever you are in.clined to be impatient or downcast, fight against such a temptation courageously, being mindful of your sins and of the fact that you deserve greater chastisements from God. If you .commit a fault and are despised for it, be sorry for the fault before God and accept the dishonor incurred 'as an expiation for it. Yes, I think you should concentrate on the practice of humility. Humility is a fundamental virtue, a sure pledge of sanctity, a token of predestination. A most important lesson taught us by the Divine Savior is this: "Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart." In order to practice humility, be convinced that of' yourself you have nothing but sin, weakness, and misery; that all the gifts of nature and of grace which you enjoy you have received from God, who is the principle of your being; and that to Him alone is due all honor and glory---ornnis honor et gloria. But, you may exclaim, the program you outline is simply heroic. I'm glad you feel that way about it. A proper spirit of humility makes you realize that it will be difficult to live according to the out-line given and that you will be subject to many failures. But that should not prevent you from trying or cause you to give up once you have tried. Recently a religious wrote to me with reference to an article'that I had published on rel!gious observance: "I feel that I have you for a 235 WINFRID HERBST friend because of the barbs contained in your article on religious observance. Try as I might to rid myself of those timely printed remarks, I kept coming back and rereading the same. Ashamed is the right word, indeed. Yellow or coward would be the right word too. Why? I kept asking myself. After having to admit the truth the answer seemed to be: not wanting to be considered a goody-goody and not being concerned about being a perfect religious." To which I replied: "It is a good sign, this dissatisfaction with self. I am not worried about you, so long as you accept your short-comings without discouragement and try to profit by them. It is a sign of growth in humility." For Your Information Suggesfion for Superiors General The first annual report covering the year 1950 must be made by all religious superiors general (even by superiors of independent monasteries and houses) on the forms issued by the Sacred Congre-gation of Religious, not later than the end of March, 1951. During that same year all superiors general of lay institutes (Brothers and Sisters) in both Americas must send in the quinquennial report for the years 1946-1950. A new questionnaire has been published for this report. The English text of the questionnaire (342 questions) costs $1. The ten forms for the annual report including an explana-tory letter by,'the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Re-ligious cost fifty cents. These forms and the English questionnaire should be ordered now. Send a bank check or an international postal money order (obtainable at any post office), for $1.50 made out in favor of Sacred Congregation of Religious to: Rev. Giulio Mandelli, Archivist, S. Congregation of Religious, Palazzo San Callisto, Rome, Italy. Be sure to register your letter at your postoffice to avoid losing it in the mails. We hope to publish some practical suggestions regarding the filling out of the annual report in the November issue; on the quin-quennial report in the January issue. gocaflonal Ouesflons An interesting and practical pamphlet is One Hundred Vocational (Continued on page 251) 236 On F: mily Spirit: Gerald Kelly, S.3. ~T IS TRADITIONAL usage in the Church to refer to a religious institute or community as "a religious family." This expression is rich in meaning; and all of us can profit by occasionally reflecting on it. The present article is designe~l to provide a stimulus for such reflections; it is by no means calculated to do full justice to the possibilities. . Leaving the Old In itself, the expression, "a religious family," has a positive meaning. It signifies that the religious community is a family in its own right with the duties and privileges that belong to real family life. But this positive element presupposes something negative: a break with one's natural family. Without separation from the old there can never be complete incorporation into the new. Logically, therefore, our reflections ought first to be directed towards this negative element, separation. It is well to note at the outset that separation from parents and relatives is not easy. It is very difficult indeed. Nevertheless, it is a mistake for religious to think that only they are called upon to make this sacrifice. As a matter of fact, even children who marry must effect the same separation if their married life is to be a success. All the best psychological studies of failures in marriage stress the fact that one of the principal causes is the fact that one or both parties remain "tied to their mother's apron strings." The truth of this research merely illustrates the inspired words of Genesis (2:24): "Wherefore, a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife." Married people must realize that they are starting a new family, and that they must break definitely with the old. The same is true of religious. In this matter of separation we have both the example and the words of Our Lord to show us the way. When He was twelve He permitted the hearts of those He loved most dearly to be filled with anguish because He must be about His Father's business. Years later He parted definitely with the finest of mothers and the best of com-panions in order to give Himself to three tireless years of His Father's business and to climax it all with His crucifixion. And He confirmed 237 GERALD KELLY this example by strong words about the need of separation. In Matthew (10:37) we read: "He the( loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." And in Luke (14:26) are the even stronger words: "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." It is obvious that, despite the force of His words, Our Lord is not telling us that we must tear the love of parents and relatives out of our hearts. His own love for His Mother was deep, intense, and tender; and it remained so all His life. Yet it would have been an imperfect thing, and unworthy of Him, had it urged Him to stay with her one moment longer than the divine plan permitted, or had it been allowed in any way to interfere with His apostolate. This is the model of our own affection for parents and relatives. We are supposed to love them. We are bound to them by ties of blood and gratitude. But the love must be well ordered. It must not interfere, even slightly, with the purpose of our religious life, for to achieve that purpose is our Father's business. From the beginning of our r~ligious life we have to set ourselves resolutely to accomplish the physicai and mental separation from parents and relatives that allows us to give ourselves quietly and wholeheartedly to our religious duties. And one of the first and most important lessons we must learn is to entrust our dear ones to Divine Providence. It often happens that a religious has hardly entered the novitiate when he begins to receive distressing news from home. Father has lost his job; mother needs a serious operation; a baby niece has diphtheria; a nephew was in a terrible accident; the black sheep of the family has got .into some new trouble. News of this kind will be more or less frequent all through our religious lives. Unless we adjust ourselves properly to it, it can be the source of constant anxiety that spoils our mental prayer, diminishes the efficiency of our work, and even tempts us to abandon our religious vocation. Of course, it isn't easy to rid oneself of such anxiety. We cannot just.say, "I won't be anxious," and thus put all the worrisome thoughts to rout. But in a positive way we can cultivate the attitude that in leaving parents and relatives, we are putting them into the hands of God, and that if we give our thc~ughts to God and our own vocation, God'will take care of our dear ones. After all, we are not the only ones who need a great trust in Divine Providence. Letter-writing is another test of w.ell-ordered love of parents and 238 8eptembec, 1950 ON I~AMIL~ SPIRIT relatives. It is one thing for a young religious to write home every day; another to write so seldom that parents can justly complain of neglect. It is one thing to write pages and pages of small talk: another to write, "Dear Morn: I'm fine; hope you're the same. Love." These examples are extremes; but not entirely fictional. It is well for religious to cultivate the habit of writing home at regular intervals and to keep that habit as long as ~heir parents are living. The letters need not be long, but they should not be too short, either. A letter is neither a book nor a telegram. We should try to make our letters interesting, without at the same time revealing details that should be kept within the privacy of our community or of telling things that might cause needless worry. There are some mothers who, if they heard their beloved daughter had a sore knee, would immediately think in terms of an amputation. We learn through experience that innocent remarks in letters can easily assume explosive proportions. When I was a young religious I went to the hospital" for a check-up that was little more than routine. I mentioned this fact casually in a letter to a devoted aunt. Three weeks later my superior called me to his room. In his hand was a telegram from the same devoted aunt. She had just heard that her nephew had only a short time to live and she wondered whether she should come at once. That was the first news I had of my desperate condition. Upon investigation, I found that my aunt had told a friend of my check-up, and this friend had told another friend, and so on; and as the news passed from friend to friend my condi-tion grew steadily worse. Finally the original news, transformed by the ghastly details of my incurability, got back to my aunt. Then there are visits. Some time ago I presided at a discussion group made up of mistresses of novices and postulants of various institutes. One of the points discussed concerned the visits to pos-tulants and novices b.y parents and relatives. The customs varied greatly. One of the institutes simply has the absolute custom: no visits till first vows--and this institute has.a two-year novitiate. I am not exaggerating when I say that all the other novice-and postulant-mistresses gasped with envy when they heard this. All agreed that, hard though it seemed, this would be the ideal arrange-ment. All complained that when visits are allowed the day after the visit is like beginning the postulancy or novitiate over again. Some may disagree with me, but I think the religious who is stationed far from home is blest. This is true of monastic institutes because it prevents too much visiting from relatives. And it is even 239 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious more true of other institutes, for it not only prgvents the visiting on the part of relatives, but it helps to preserve in the religious himself the perfect interior liberty which keeps him at the free disposition of superiors. They can send him where he is most needed or most useful without fear of opposition. Occasionally there are good reasons for being stationed near one's home; but such reasons are rather rare and are usually of short dura-tion. Yet it is not unknown that some religious are ingenious at conjuring up reasons why they should be stationed in the shadow of their own home. And sometimes the relatives themselves exert pres-sure to this effect. These relatives have no ill will. They simply do not understand the nature of the religious life; and they need to be set right on this point. The religious who wants to be'a perfectly pliable instrument in the hands of God should not leave the burden of explanation to superiors. He ought himself to assume the respon-sibility of pointing out to his relatives that, in entering religion, he placed himself at the disposal of superiors, and that he wants to work where they think he should work. Living the New The preceding points could be amplified and similar ones added. But, since I have undertaken this article with the purpose of stressing the positive aspect of our family life, I wish to devote most of my space to the elements that contribute to genuine family living in religion. ' The first of these positive elements is paternal government. Some-one has said that government is paternal when it manifests the "gentleness, kindliness, and love of Christ." No doubt that expresses the idea most beautifully; yet, unless we translate "paternal" into terms of ordinary family life, we shall remain in the sphere of mere theory. A good father is supposed to be solicitous for each member of his family, while at the same time seeking the common good of the entire family. This is not easily accomplished even in a family of five or six children; it is certainly much more difficult in a religious community of ten, twenty, thirty, and even more subjects. Never-theless the ideal is there; and it cannot be lowered without prejudice to true family life. This ideal clearly rules out favoritism, as that word is ordinarily understood. But it hardly means that a superior cannot have any especially intimate friends within his community. It is commonly 240 September, 1950 ON FAMILY SPIRIT said that Our Lord had a special regard for St. John; yet no one would dare accuse Him of favoritism. In the best families, parents often have a special love for one child without in any sense neglecting the others. They do not love the others less because they love him more. _And we ourselves, as subjects, often have warm, intimate friendships with a few members of our community without in any way diminishing the charityw'e owe the others. This is human. Supe-riors do not (or should not) cease to be human when they take office. Nevertheless, special friendships present a danger; and superiors, even more than others, must guard, against the danger. Any superior who gives his friends privileges he would not give others, who violates confidences to satisfy their curiosity, who neglects the others Of his community to be with them, who allows them to have undue influence in the managing of the community is certain.ly not governing paternally. Solicitude for the individual must always be subordinated to the interests of the group. All of us, even without having been supe-riors, must have experienced at times the difficulty of living up to this standard. A teacher may have a boy in his class, a thoroughly like-able lad, who is constantly a drawback to the rest of the class in studies and in discipline. Or a prefect may have discovered that a youngster has been stealing or has other bad habits that are infecting the group; and he may be torn between the two unpleasant alterna-tives of having this boy dismissed with the probability that he will not go to another Catholic school or of keeping him in the school with risk of great harm to the others. In problems such as these the ultimate solution must be in terms of the greater good-~and that is usually the common good. We should do all we can to save the individual boy, but not at the expense of the group. And the supe-rior has to solve the similar problems that arise in community life in the same way. He will show great sympathy and tolerance for the wayward or cantankerous subject. But this tolerance has its just limit. The community has a right to its good name and to peaceful living; and its right should not be jeopardized for the individual. A good father likes to be with his family. Every institute, I suppose, prescribes that the superior be present at community meals and community recreations and that he stay home most of the time. This is not merely for the sake of discipline: it is a requisite for good family life. I might suggest, though, that the expression "most of the time" be emphasized. A wise old Father once remarked that a good superior will make it a point to get away from his community 241 GERALD KELLY Ret~iew for Reliqious occasionally. It is good for both the superior and the community. It is clearly a case in which "absence makes the heart grow fonder." And this is also true of ordinary family life. When parents get away occasionally both they and the children benefit by it. When we look back on our childhood, one of the things that very likely strikes us forcibly is the memory of how our parents adjusted themselves to us. When with us they lived in our world, the child's world; and they did not try to force us into theirs. I think that this fact helps to illustrate the full meaning of paternal government in religion. The good superior seeks the interests of his community; he lives in their world, not his own. For instance, he does not monopolize recreation with his own topics of conversation. Or, to put the same example in another way: he does not recreate the brethren; he recreates with the brethren. Paternal government neces- ¯ sarily implies that the superior look upon the members of his com-munity as his children. This is obvious; the correlative of "parent" is "child." But "child" in this context means "son or daughter"; it does not mean an infant or even an adolescent. The paternal supe-rior, therefore, treats his subjects as adults. He has respect for their age, their dignity, and their talents. Many other things could be said about the paternal superior. He can be stern; he is never harsh. He fosters religious idealism by his good example. He is a good provider in accordance with the means at his disposal and the purpose of his institute. He makes sure that his subjects have plenty of time to see him. He tries to employ them according to their strength and their talents. He encourages them to develop their talents for the good of the institute and ultimately for the greater glory of God. And so forth. I cannot develop these points without converting this into an article entitled, "How to be a good superior"-~by one who has ne~er been a superior. The next topic concerns us, the subjects. On the basis of experi-ence, I.should know much more about this. However, it is~rather human to know 'more about the other fellow's job. A friend of mine who was appointed a superior several years ago made a very appro-priate speech on the night of his installation. "A week ago," he said, "I knew everything a superior ought to do. Tonight I'm not so sure." In terms of the religious family, the correlative of paternal gov-ernment is filial confidence. This expression is not easily explained. It seems to signify something that we recognize almost instinctively --like the taste of chocolate--yet are only faintly able to describe. 242 September, 1950 ON FAMILY SPIRIT fundamental element seems to be confidence in the superior's judg-ment. And by this I am riot.referring to the fact that he is in the place of Christ. That tells me merely that I am right in obeying him: it does not tell me he is right in commanding. Religious life would be nothing short of a continuous miracle if all of us lived it day after day and year after year With the conviction that the supe-rior is wrong, but we are right. For ordinary peaceful living we need the confidence that at least generally speaking the superiors are right, that they govern well, that their natural judgment is good. We needn't endow superiors with either infallibility or impeccability in order to gain this confidence. If we may judge from the content of several anonymous letters sent to this review, some religious think that the first requisite for becoming and remaining a superior is stupidity. The attitude of such religious is not readily diagnosed. Perhaps the cause is indigestion, or sleeplessness, or some mental maladjustment. At any rate, it is certainly pathological. And we can all thank God for that: for, if that attitude represented the normal outlook of religious subjects, we should be in a sorry state. I am not saying there are no bad superiors--no unrealists, no martinets, no tyrants amongst them. But I do say most emphatically that there are enough good ones for us to preserve our confidence in the institution, even on a natural basis. And I believe that in saying this I am expressing the view of the general run of religious subjects. As a group we have a basic confidence that our superiors govern well. This does not mean that we do not occasionally, or even frequently, think we could plan things better. Nor does it mean that we never criticize. Most of us, no doubt, indulge in enough criticism of supe-riors to provide matter for a periodic particular examen, for confes-sion, and for good resolutions. We can and we should improve. Nevertheless, some criticism, provided it is not too frequent and especially that it is not bitter, is no major impediment to family life. In considering the paternal-filial relationship, reference, to the manifestation of conscience is inevitable. As has been remarked more than once in these pages, the fact that the Church has forbidden supe-riors to demand a manifestation'of conscience has been stressed to such an extent as to lead many religious to think that their conscience is simply none of the superior's business. The very nature of reli-gious .government shows this to be absurd. Superiors are supposed to assign subjects to places and offices in such a way that the individ-uals can save and sanctify their souls and that the general good of the 243 GERALD KELLY Reoieto t~or Religious institute is promoted. An assignment which defeats either of these ends defeats the purpose of the religious life itself. Yet, how is a superior to make a wise and provident disposition of subjects according to the two-fold purpose of the religious life unless he has an intimate knowledge of his subjects? And how is he to get this knowledge adequately without the help of perfect candor on the part of the subjects? It is very saddening to hear a religious whose assignment is actually proving his spiritual ruin, say: "I just couldn't tell my superior about this difficulty." The fault may be his; and it may be his superior's: in either case, the condition is lamentable and should never have been allowed to develop. Perhaps both superiors and subjects could profit by reflecting on the fol-lowing words of a saintly and experienced spiritual director: "Nothing helps so effectually to engender a paternal attitude toward a subject as the account of conscience; for, when I open my heart to my superior I constrain him to take a fatherly attitude toward me and a fatherly interest in my welfare. Thereafter he cannot remain just my superior if he be a man of normal humanity. Then, this bestowal of my inmost confidence upon my superior will be powerful to effect in my soul the reciprocal relation of filial trust and love. Conversely, when I withhold my confidence from the superior and refuse to open my heart to him, I make his position diffi-cult as far as fatherly feeling is concerned. Sometimes our superiors may seem to us to lack paternal interest. The fault may be theirs; but likewise it may be ours, due to the fact that we have never given them our confidence." Paternal government and filial confidence are the constituent ele-ments of family life in the superior-subject relationship. The third element is the bond of union among the members. ,~,11 that we gen-erally say concerning fraternal charity pertains to the explanation of this element. I shall content myself here with pointing out a few things that seem to have special relevance to our "family" charity. In our mutual relationships there ought to be no quarreling, no offensive teasing, no harsh words. This certainly is the ideal of our charity. Yet, ~i wholesome family spirit can exist among us without perfection in this ideal. Consider again the analogy with the good natural family. The brothers and sisters squabble a bit; the parents lose their tempers occasionally. But they "make up fast"--as the saying goes; a short time after the explosive incidents everyone is acting as if nothing disagreeable had happened. To strive for this is perhaps to have a more realistic goal in our community relationships. 244 ON FAMILY SPIRIT Despite the noblest of resolutions, we get out of sorts, and we fly off the handle. Given a group of normal human beings, these things can hardly be avoided entirely in the close associations that make up community living. But we can certainly avoid prolonged teasing that hurts, continued bickering, harboring grudges, and so forth. These are things that deeply wound family spirit. Our goal, therefore, is to love the members of our community in much the same way as the members of a good Catholic family love one another. It is hardly possible to accomplish this perfectly. There is truth in the old maxim that "blood will tell." On the purely natural plane it is often easy to preserve an intense affection for our blood brothers and sisters even when they possess characteristics that o'thers consider unpleasant. In our dealing with others, even with fellow religious, there is much greaterneed of explicitl~r stimulating motives for love. Certainly there are many powerful motives for mutual love among religious. One of these was expressed graphically by a mili-tary chaplain when he returned to his community after the last war: "You don't know how good it is to sit at table again with a group of men who are all in the state of grace!". These are startling words --perhaps even a bit exaggerated. Yet, isn't it true that they express a profound reason why there should be great peace in the companion-ship of religious? Day after day all of us say Mass or receive Holy Communion--a reasonably sure practical sign that we are living habitually in the friendship of God. There are many saintly people outside of religion, and many others who, if not canonizable, do live constantly in the state of grace. But there are many others who are unjust, obscene, blasphemous; and even good people in the World can scarcely avoid their companionship. In religion our lives and our recreations are spent with companions who, despite many small and irritating faults, are substantially good. Their supernatural goodness is not the only reason why the companionship of religious should be enjoyable. Even on the natural level religious are apt to have more likeable qualities than any average group of the laity. At any rate, that ought to be the case; we are screened for especially undesirable qualities when we apply for admission as well as on the occasions of our .vows. It is true that most of us look back and wonder how we passed the screening; and those of us who entered before the days of intelligence and per-sonality tests may frankly admit in the secrecy of our hearts that, if these tests had existed in our day, we should not have made the 245 GERALD KELLY Reuieu~ for Reliqiou~ grade. No doubt, despite all the screening, some serious mistakes are made. Some pass through t~he screening processes who later become real menaces to community life. But the general percentage of com-panionable characters should be and is much higher than would be found elsewhere. I mentioned before that it is not uncommon for children of the same family to fight among themselves. I have seen two small' boys, brothers, literally mauling each other over the possession of a small wagon. Then another boy appeared and attempted to align himself with one party. But the brothers would have none of that! In a flash their own quarrel was ended and they were united against the intruder. This is typical of good family life. No matter how much the members fight among themselves, they present a united front to outsiders. We religious should have that spirit of family loyalty. In some sense, at least, each of us must have looked on his own ¯ institute as the "best of all" when he entered religion; otherwise we would have joined another. Certainly it is the "best" for us now; and it is not only legitimate but laudable for us to foster a spirit of preferential love. I think it was St. Francis de Sales who sa'id: "For us there is no congregation more worthy of love and more desirable than ours, since Our Lord has willed that it should be our country and our bark of salvation." I have heard that Sisters attending summer school show great interest in the habits of other institutes and that sometimes they exchange habits. But they return to their own with the serene con-viction that, though the others have some good points, theirs is the best. This is not narrow-mindedness. A young man may have the most profound respect for other women yet very reasonably look upon his own mother as the best in the world. So, too, religious may have great esteem for the members, the habits, the customs, and the work of other institutes, yet they prefer and treasure their own above all the others. The well-ordered love of one's institute will not, however, blind us to its deficiencies, or prevent us from trying by legitimate methods to improve its customs. No institute is so perfect as to exclude the need of occasional changes, especially in non-essentials. It is not true loyalty, but sheer obstinacy, that urges us to hold fast to old things just because they are old; that resists any reasonable modi-fication in the habit or any change of customs. Even the general laws of the Church are not so perfect as to exclude change. Family loyalty will not blind us to the defects of our brethren; 246 September, 1950 ON F!kMILY SPIRIT but it will certainly prevent us from criticizing either our brethren or our institute to outsiders. These things are family secrets; outsiders have no right to know them. I am referring here to criticism of one's superiors or fell0w-religious before the boys or girls in school, before the nurses in training, before the p~rish priest, or before the men and women in the parish, and so forth. To reveal to such per-sons the real faults of the community is detraction; and to misrepre-sent the community is calumny. And the harm done by such gossip easily assumes serious proportions. In censuring disloyal speech, I am not thinking of revelations made to canonical visitors or of the unburdening of one's conscience in confession. The canonical visitor is deputed by the Church to ask questions, and in his exercise of this function he is not to be con-sidered an "outsider." The confessor is bound by the most absolute of secrets; and the community is sufficiently protected against harm, even when the religious, in explaining his faults or trials, must inci-dentally refer to the misconduct of others. Further Practical Suggestions I have tried to keep my explanation of the constituents of reli-gious family life from being too theoretical, and I hope I have suc-ceeded to some extent. I should like now to increase the practicality of this article by suggesting a few concrete ways of contributing to the family spirit of our institutes and communities. The purpose of a religious institute is to carry on the work assigned to it by the Church and thus honor God and further His kingdom in the souls of men. In the ordinary providence of God, the supernatural efficiency of the institute depends on its holiness, and this holiness is not some abstract thing; it is, concretely" speaking, the sum total of the holiness of the members. It is very true, there-fore, that each member can say: "The holier I am, the holier is my institute." This truth should be a source of great inspiration and encourage-ment to all religious who are devoted to their religious family. For, in the matter of holiness there is no distinction of grade or work. The general, the provincial, the local superior, the teacher, the nurse, the dean, the housekeeper, the cook, the sick, the retired, the contem-pla. tive, and so forth--all have an equal opportunity of promoting the family cause through an increase of holiness. The saintly cook, therefore, makes a much finer contribution to the most exalted pur-pose of his institute than does the tepid preacher or the worldly 247 GERALD KELLY Review ?or Reliqious teacher. Holiness, of course, includes the whole of one's life--prayer, work, suffering, and so forth--but it refers particularly to the interior life of prayer and penance. In these interior things every religious has great power to help his institute. For one thing, it is the interior spirit that gives the real supernatural value to our own work. Moreover, the interior life of one can have a tremendous influence on the apostolic, work of the others; and it is well for the contemplatives, for those who do the hidden, humble works, and for those who are ill or retired, to note this. This last point is of supreme importance, and I should like to illustrate it by a simple example. A priest seldom goes on'a mission, rarely enters the confessional, without the realization that he may have to de~l with some souls who are "stubborn" or "weak," souls that desperately need superabundant grace for their conversion and salvation. Some of these people seem to have the kind of devil that Our Lord said is driven out only by prayer and fasting. Yet they themselves are too weak or too hard to do the required prayer and fasting. If they are to be saved, someone must do it for them-- at least enough so that they will finally respond to the grace that enables them to carry on for themselves. ~Fhe priest, despite the best of intentions, cannot do it all. On occasions like this, I have always rejoiced in the realization that I have a n~amber of friends who gladly offer some of their pray-ers and sufferings for my apostolate. Shortly after my ordination I was privileged to meet a saintly nun, Sister Agnesetta, of the Sisters of Loretto. We became fast friends, and she was a great help to me until the day of her death. As a young Sister she had been reduced to the state of a helpless cripple. During her last years she could barely lift her tiny knotted hand to blow a whistle when she needed help. Exteriorly she was so cheerful that a casual visitor would think she enjoyed being bedridden. Yet interiorly, for upwards of twenty years she felt not only the physical pain of her illness but the much greater crucifixion of frustration, of "being on the shelf." I cannot express how much it meant to me to begin some apostolic work with the knowlkdge that some of her prayers and sufferings were being offered for me. I have mentioned Sister Agnesetta by name because she has gone to her reward and cannot be embarrassed by my words. I could mention many others and of different institutes, if they were not still living. And I imagine that every priest could do the same. 248 September, 1950 ON FAMILY SPIRIT What has all this to do with family spirit? The answer, at least as regards active institutes, seems obvious. For in the various active institutes, there are teachers who are trying to win wayward pupils, nurses who are trying to bring about deathbed conversions, preachers who must stir the hearts of the impenitent, confessors who must draw penitents away from habits of sin. These and others exercising the apostolate need supernatural help. And what is more natural than that they look for this help from the members of their own institute? I do not mean that our vision should not take in the whole Church, with its entire apostolate; I simply mean that our own institute should normally have the first place in our apostolic intentions. My remaining suggestions will be very brief. First, there is our work. The work of a religious institute is teamwork; it is not the accomplishment of any individual. Each of us contributes to the cause; and it is only by the complete co-operative effort that the desired result is accomplished. In terms of family spirit, this is another consoling truth. It makes each of us realize that his job is important. Then there is charity. The finest act of charity a religious can show his brethren is good example. All of us know the force of example: how easy it is, for instance, to keep the rule of silence when everyone else observes it; and how difficult it is when even a few neglect it. And, speaking of example, I must at least mention our dealings with externs. They are prone to judge a whole institute by one member: hence each member has a tremendous responsibility to his religious family when he deals with them. The religious with true devotion to his institute will always try to act in the presence of externs in such a way as to cause them to esteem his community and his institute. Also, as regards charity, there is the matter of mutual correction. The very fact that we are a family gives each of us an added respon-sibility for the welfare of the others and, of course, for the reputation of the institute. In a family, when one of the children is making a fool out of himself, the other children tell him or their parents about it; and, observing the sound principles of fraternal correction, we religious have to do the same thing. Sometimes religious note that one of their brethren is on the verge of giving great scandal, yet they say nothing either to the individual or to superiors. This is shirking responsibility, a gross form of family disloyalty. Poverty offers a fertile field for the family spirit. The religious 249 GERALD KELLY Review [or Religious who fully realizes that community life is a sharing enterprise--that "he lives off the community, and the community lives off him," as the saying goes--will not refuse gifts just because he "would have'to turn them in," will not spend his time calculating how he might add some gift to his superfluities without sinning seriously against pov-erty. How would we live if no one were willing to. "turn things in"? And in a natural family, would it not be a strange father or mother or sister or brother who would refuse a generous gift because, "Really, I don't need it for myself; all I could do with it is give it to the family" ? Religious with a family spirit do not waste things. They do not leave it to someone else to turn off a radiator when heat isn't needed, to close a window when it is letting in too much cold air or when a storm is brewing and floors or furniture would be ruined. They do not get books, clothing, and other things that they do not need. In other words, like the members of any poor family, they economize. Perhaps I should add, by way of parenthesis, that when I speak of the need of dconomy, I am thinking mostly in terms of men. I have often wondered how we men could get along on Sisters' salaries, or how we could crowd our books, wardrobes, and various junk boxes into the cells or (more often) dormitories that make up the living quarters of our convents, or how we should look were our clothes subjected to the frequent mendings that give Sisters' habits such a long life on this earth. In my religious life I have heard much about obedience, but after the first few years I seldom heard anything new. A few years ago, however, I did hear a retreat master say something new--at any rate, it was new to me. He said, "The obedient man is the available man." This brief statement expresses in a practical, concrete way the whole secret of religious obedience. Our strength lies in the fact that a supe-rior can dispose of us according to the common need; that he can command us, or ask us, or merely suggest to us, and he always finds us ready. We don't shirk a job; we don't dodge responsibility. Few things can be harder for a superior than to have to approach a sub-ject whex~ he knows his request will be greeted by eithe} a growl or an alibi; and I imagine that few things are sweeter for the superior than the realization that his community is composed of available sub-jects, religious who graciously accept any assignment at any time. One concluding remark. To foster our humility, we are often told that if we were gone our place would soon be filled and the 250 community would not even miss us. Perhaps that aspect of our life is sometimes overdone. Perhaps it is good for us to think occasion-ally of how important we are, of how much we, as individuals, mean to the community. The thought can be very inspiring. I trust that some of the suggestions made here will help to provide this inspi-ration. FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Continued from page 236) Questions Asked bg Sisters. It contains questions and answers first printed in a quarterly entitled Vocational Notes for'Sisters. This reprint contains the first htindred questions which appeared in the Notes during 1949 and 1950. The prudent, informative answers are by the Very Reverend Father Clarence, O.F.M.Cap., and the Rever-end Father Jude, O.F,M.Cap. It can be obtained for 15 cents a copy from: St. Anthony's Vocation Club, 220 Thirty-Seventh St., Pittsburgh 1, Pa. Medlco-Moral Problems Modern medicine faces us with numerous ethical problems. Many of these problems are thoroughly discussed in two booklets, Medico- Moral Problems, I and II, by Gerald Kelly, S.J. The booklets are published by The Catholic Hospital Association, 1438 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis 4, Mo. Prices on each booklet are: 50 cents a copy; 12 for $5.25; 50 for $20.00. The Catholic Hospital Association also publishes in pamphlet form Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Hospitals. This is the revised medico-moral code which is now used in a large num-ber of dioceses throughout the United States and Canada. Price: 25 cents a copy: 12 for $2.75; 50 for $10.00. Catholic Daily A group of Catholic journalists are planning to publish a daily newspaper dedicated to reporting the news of the da~r in the context ,6f Christianity. The projected publication date is October 10, 1950. For the staff of this paper, The Sun Herald, the work is a vocation, an apostolate. The founders of the new paper have incorporated as The Apos- (Continued on page 264) 251 Christ: Shows Us I-low !:o Win Friends Jerome Breunig, S.J. SINC, E it was first published about fifteen years ago, Dale Carne-gie s book, How to. Win Friends and Influence People, found millions of buyers and readers and has become one of the most popular works of non-fiction in our time. It is obvious to .religious who have read the book that Dale Carnegie has many good ideas which would help them practice the virtue Christ recommended above all. Equally obvious is the shallow humanitarian viev~point and the mercenary self-interest that is illustrated in most of the ex-ample}. Since many of the people with whom we come into contact - are influenced more by the humanitarian mentality of this book than by the mind that is in Christ Jesus, it'might be useful to observe how much better Christ can teach us how to win friends-~even according to Carnegie's rules. Carnegie gives six rules for making people like you: (1) become genuinely interested in other i~eople; (2) smile; (3) remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language; (4) be a good listener; (5) talk in terms of the other man's interest; (6) make the other person feel important, and do it sincerely. ' But the very idea of making people like you may seem foreign to religious and a sordid thought. The religious works only for God, seeks to be unknown, sees in superiors and others "no one but only Jesus." True enough, but the loftiest supernatural motives should not be high-lighted in such a way that they crowd natural means out of the picture. Christ, the Religious of religious, worked onl~r for God's glory. "The things that please Him, I do." To do this more effectively He tried to make people not only like but love Him. How else explain the Cross! And when man's love grew cold, Christ did not hesitate to dramatize His desire to win men's love by wearing H~s Heart on His breast, announcing to the world through St. Margaret Mary: "Behold this Heart, which has "loved men so much and receives nothing in return but ingratitude and indifference." Christ was "genuinely interested in other people." He was 252 CHRIST SHOWS US HOW TO WIN FRIENDS moved with compassion for the multitudes because they were as sheep without a shepherd. He wept over ,Jerusalem. "How often would I ha,~e gathered together thy children, as the ben dotb gather her chickens under .her wings, and thou wouldst not." Christ's interest extended to individuals as well. He pitied the plight of the leper and healed him: "I will, be thou made clean." What interest He showed in Peter! On at least two occasions He insured a pros-perous catch of fish for him. At another time He cured his mother-in- law. Interest is also shown by prayers. "I have prayed for you that your faith fail you not." Genuine interest in others is a big step towards developing that mind that is in Christ ~lesus. It dispels uncharitable thoughts. "The only person who does not improve on acquaintance is self," observes Father Faber. The same writer notes that kindness is not too diffi-cult, for though there are many unkind minds there are hardly any unkind hearts and that a kind mind can be developed by thinking about, being interested in, others. A kind mind implies much thifiking about others without the thoughts being criticisms. A retreat master developed the same thought by the following illustra-tion. A caricaturist seizes on a character weakness and emphasizes it out of all prop.ortion, while the artist is careful to shade the weak-nesses and make the finer qualities stand out. And the artist always comes closer to a true likeness. Dale Carnegie makes much ot: the. smile, featuring Charles Schwab whose smile was literally a million-dollar one. The Evan-gelists do not record the obvious. There is no written record of Christ's sm.ile, yet there is no room for doubting.that Our Lord smiled when He looked up and saw Zacheus, who had to climb a tree to catch a glimpse, when the quick-witted Phoenician woman an-swered, "Even the whelps are permitted to gather the crumbs," and when He surprised the apostles with the miraculous draughts of fish. More important than the smile is what is behind it, the cheerful, light-hea.rted disposition. Christ was a man of sorrows, but He did not let that cast a gloom around Him. He brought cheer to .the wedding feast at.Cana, did not want the Apostles to fast "when the bridegroom was with them," and celebrated Matthew's joining up by eating and drinking with sinners. Christ's doctrine fosters afun-damentally 'cheerful .disposition. "Come to Me all you that labor and are burdened and I will refresh you." "My yoke is sweet, my burden light." "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites." 253 ~EROME BREUNIG Ret~iew ~or Religious . Professional personality-developers insist on the practice of saying "Good Morning" to develop the smile. "Good Morning" leaves a smile on the face. Religious should not need to paint a smile by any artificial means. Religious should be the happiest peo-ple on earth, and they are. Smiles come readily. Humility, chastity, and charity thrive in an atmosphere of cheerfulness. The best "propaganda" for vocations is a cheerful religious. An old Father observed that the number of vocations from a particular school was. in exact proportion to the number of cheerful scholastics on the faculty. "Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the language." Jim Farley could call fifty thou-sand men by their first name. Christ could call fifty billion by their names. "I am the good shepherd," Christ said, "and I know mine and mine know me." The comparison to a shepherd has a special reference to knowing by name. Shepherds in Palestine then and now have a special name for each of their sheep. The sheep recognizes and answers when its name is called. True Christian charity rather than the wisdom of this genera-tion should prompt a religious to pay the personal respect implied in remembering and using another's name. It is disconcerting to find one who should know our name remembering only our face. The inability to remember another by name leaves the impression that he does not impinge our consciousness to any extent. Our Lord paid this mark of respect to His fellow men. Mary Magdalen did not recognize Christ on Easter morning until He said, "Mary." There are other instances. "Lazarus, come forth." "Martha, Martha." "Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?" On His very first public appearance we find Christ fulfilling the next rule for winning friends: "Be a good listener. 'Encourage others to talk about themselves." On this occasion we observe Christ as a youth in the temple "listening to them and asking questions." Whenever his enemies were baffled by His wise answers, we always have the assurance that C~ist heard them out first. "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? . Of which of. the seven will she be wife at the resurrection?" His enemies thought they had a sure enveloping. pincer movement only to find themselves suddenly disarmed, by the. wisdom of the answer. But in every instance Christ did not inter-rupt them until they had finished. A beautiful instance of encouraging others .to talk about them-selves is seen on the road to Emmaus. While the two disciples were September, 1950 CHRIST SHOWS US HOW TO WIN FRIENDS con;cersing and arguing together, Jesus drew near and went along with them. He began the conversation, "What are these discourses that you hold with one another as you walk, and are sad?" "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things that have been done there in these days?" "What things?" Our Lord encourages them. With kindly for-bearance He listens to the entire story. It is only after they have talked themselves out that He begins with Moses and the prophets and interprets to them the Scriptures. Perhaps Father Faber had Christ the Listener in mind when he wrote the paragraph on kind listening. "There is also a grace of kind listening as well as of kind speaking. Some listen with an abstracted air, which shows their thoughts are elsewhere. Or they seem to listen, but by wide answers and irrelevant questions show they have been occupied with their own thoughts, as being more interesting, at least in their own esti-mation, than what you have been saying. Some listen with a kind of importunate ferocity, which makes you feel that you are being put on trial, and that your auditor expects beforehand that you are going to tell him a lie, or to be inaccurate, or to say something of which h~ will disapprove, and that you must mind your expres-sions. Some hear you to the end, and then forthwith begin to talk to you about a similar exl~erience which has bet:allen themselves, making your case only an illustration of their own. Some, meaning to be kind, listen with such a determined, lively, violent attenti6n that you are uncomfortable, and the charm of conversation is at an end. Many persons whose manners will stand the test of speaking break down at once under the trial of listening. But all these things should be brought under the sweet influences of religion. Kind listening is often an air of the most delicate interior mortification and is a great assistance toward kind speaking." Christ, of course, is still listening. He listens to our prayers. He still hears, through His priests, our confessions. Christ "spoke in terms of the other man's interest." Without parables He did not speak to them. And the parables and illustra-tions were taken directly out of the lives ot: the listeners. Fishermen heard truths in terms of nets, farmers, of seed and crops, women, of house cleaning, etc. In the beatitudes Christ took what was closest to most of his hearers, poverty, suffering, lack of property, mourning, persecution, and showed how they could transform these liabilities into assets. 255 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious Finally, tracing out the pattern of Carnegie, we observe that Christ "makes the other person feel important and He does it sin-cerely." "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." To Nathaniel, "A true Israelite in whom there is no guile." To Peter, "Thou are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church." John and James were called "Sons of Thunder." Christ has a more sublime way of making others appreciate their dignity. "We will come to him and make our abode with him." The dig-nity of a Christian! As St. Paul echoes and reechoes: "You are temples of God and the Spirit of God dwells within you." All of Dale Carnegie's ways to make people like you are merely applications of the golden rule, which is of divine origin. In fact, the golden rule was formulated by Christ Himself in His sermon on the mount. "All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them." Of course, Christ both in His example and His teaching (He began to do and to teach), shows other ways to make people like you. For instance, "Greater love than this no man has than that a man gives his life for another." Not only does Christ show us how to win friends. The supreme friend-winner sfipplies the necessary and only adequate and enduring motivation. He seems to make the final judgment at the end of the world hinge on what we do or don't do for others. "As long as yofi did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to Me." Book Reviews OUR WAY TO THE FATHER: Meditations for each day of the year in four volumes. By Leo M. Krenz, S.,J. Pp. xx -I- 518: 411; 535, 516. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1950. $15.00 (set of four volumes). In "An Apologia" introducing this rich four-volume series of meditations and readings the author gives an account of "the pur-pose, plan, and method of this course of meditations for religious." Besides that portion of the text which constitutes the meditation proper and is printed in large type there are added paragraphs which in many various ways supplement what is primarily proposed for reflection and prayer. To each meditation is prefixed'a preamble, 256 September, 1950 BOOK REVIEWS consisting usualIy of some verses from Scripture, to strike as it were the keynote that characterizes the exercise. There are always two preludes, three points, and a colloquy. It is highly distinctive of this meditation-course that very often in smaller print there are additions "intended to afford further helpful explanations; to sup- . ply more pointed applications; to furnish pertinent biblical, his-torical, ascetical, theological, or philosophical information; or even to satisfy longings for better knowledge of some puzzling dogmatic truth or fact . It is hoped that these supplementary notes and additions may do helpful service as welcome material for pertinent spiritual reading, and at times even for deep study and possibly for round-table discussion." This expedient of appending further develop-" ments helps the author to achieve what seems to be one of his leading preoccupations, namely, to provide religious who make use of these four hundred meditations with a carefully planned and elaborate exposition of a fairly complete system of spirituality, comprising both instruction and motivation. Hence this work could be used for devotional reading in a way and to an extent that would not be true of typical meditation books. A special effort is made to keep in mind the needs of both beginners and proficients in the religious life and in mental prayer. The ways in which Christ and the Apostles instructed their first disciples are consciously imitated with the design of proposing the highest ideals, of getting them practically accepted, and at the same time of pointing out the discrepancies that are only too likely to exist between the profession and the performance of religious men or women. The epistles of the New Testament are also used to learn and copy the method and means by which the Apostles sought to transform recent converts from Judaism or paganism into "be-lievers . doers . and lovers." With this touch of antiquity goes a peculiar flavor of modernity, in that the spiritual lessons of these volumes are studiously adapted to the conditions of our times and place. Evidently it is the author's most earnest and zealous hope that those who use these suggestions for prayerful reflection will. become just what, in accordance with the highest religious ideals and their own special vocation and under present-day circumstances, they ought to be. The theme dominating the whole series of medi-tations is that God is an infinitely good and great father and is inviting us to" an ever closer union with Him. --G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD, S.J. 257 BOOK REVIEWS Reoieto for Reti~ious THE HISTORY OF: THE POPES. By Ludwig yon Pastor. Translated by E. F. Peeler. Vol. 3S: Benedict XIV (1740-1758). Pp. xllv -I- 516. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, Missouri. $S.00. It surely seems like a return to normalcy when Herder resumes the publication of the English translation of Pastor's great'History. This is the very volume that Pastor was working on when death snatched the pen from his hand in 1928. But so much work had been done upon the pontificates up to and including Plus VI (d. 1799), that these materials were later rounded out and .published with the aid of several scholars named in the introduction. There are thus several additional volumes to appear in English; we trust their appearance will not be further unduly delayed. Those who want their Church history to be nothing but "edi-fying" stories had better not take up this volume; those who have enjoyed--and been built up--by the previous ones of the series, will know what to expect here. They will see a Pope, sixty-five at his election, eighty-three at his death, patiently, even light-heartedly governing the Church in a setting of unparalleled diplomatic black-mail. "Our pontificate," he once said, "will be famous for the injuries we suffer" (p. 111). He more than once described himself as "working with a pistol at his head" (p. 273), carrying on in the face of disappointments, insults, frustration. But by every conceivable concession he prevented for those eight-een years all the gigantic conflicts of the day from reaching the explosions that carrie not long afterwards. The chief interest of this volume turns on that slippery story of the ,lansenists, who for a long time had enjoyed immunity and pro-tection, particularly in Fiance, in their defiance of papal authority. Many different factors complicated the "straight" religious issue, but at every turn it was the Church in France that was torn to shreds by parlement and prelates, by Pompadour's open immorality, and Louis XV's blundering ineptitudes. As early as 1750 Parisians were calling themselves "Republicans," and a French bishop recalled in a pastoral letter that an English king had been beheaded in 1649 (p. 225). But as Benedict passed from the scene the 3ansenists were still in the ascendant, and the party's gre~atest hour, the Synod of Pistoia (1786-87), was still in the making. It is almost another preview of history that in the early years of this pontificate a group of people came together in Rome to plot the total destruction of the Society of,lesus (p. 390). One of those 258 September, 1950 BOOK REVIEWS plotters was a young man named Ricci, who later achieved a baleful fame by presiding at the Synod of Pistoia as its bishop. It is one of the ironies of history that he was a nephew of a General of the desuits he had helped to destroy, and who had died in prison in 1775. Even in the Sacred College there were those who said: "Hold Rome in check by Gallicanism, but Gallicanism by means of Rome" (p. 287). In Benedict's lifetime this conspiracy was. contained, but later on the Tanucci-Pombal-Choiseul p~essure, not to mention the monarchs they served, produced the suppression of 1773. Benedict XIV had a scholar's reputation, particularly in histori-cal and canonical fields, when he came to the papacy. His has been an enduring influence, as organizer, legislator, reformer. His regula-tions for beatifications and canonizations still govern those functions. He .was hailed as "the greatest of the canonists" (p. 298), even as Gu~ranger later said of him that no Pope had ever possessed such a knowledge of the Roman liturgy (p. 301). The book's final section, treating of the missions, handles two other famous controversies he settled: the Chinese Rites (duly 11, 1742) and those of Malabar (Sept. 12, 1744). In this connection it is regrettable that the translation mirrors conditions as they were twenty years ago, for, owing to prgfound changes in the religious mentality of the Orient, it is precisely these acts of Benedict XIV that have been changed in our day by Plus XI and Pius XII. But that was in the interval between the writing of the book and this English translation.--GERALD ]~LLARD, S.d. THE HOLY SEI: AT WORK. B~/Edward L. Hes÷on, C.S.C;. Pp. x~v + 188. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1950. $2.50. This book gives us a popular but adequate explanation of how the Holy Father, supreme visible head of the Church, together with his Senate of Cardinals, governs the universal Church through the medium of the Roman Curia. After a brief introduction explaining the nature and meaning of the terms: Pope, Curia, and Cardinals, the author passes on to the most important part of the book--a one-hundred page account of the various Roman Congregations--in which he discusses the Con-gregations, first in general and then in particular, giving the origin, history, competency, and personnel of each. Part three does the same for the Tribunals ot: the Holy See: the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, and the Sacred Roman Rota. The fourth and last section treats of the Offices of the 259 BOOK REVIEWS Revieu~ for Religious Holy See: the Apostolic Chancery, the Apostolic Datary, the Rev-erend Apostolic Chamber, the Secretariate of State with its associated Secretariates of Briefs to Princes, and of Latin Letters. A chapter on the Code of Canon Law, the official bod~ of ecclesiastical law for the Latin Church, and one on the election of a new Pope bring the work to a close. The Holy See at Work contains a wealth of interesting details, such as the process of a petition through one of the Congregations from beginning to end, the meaning of "the secret of the Holy Office," the appointment of bishops, the relation of the Churches of the Orient to the Latin Church, the various steps by which a diocesan religious congregation obtains the approval of the Holy See and becomes pontifical, the evolution of a mission from an apostolic prefecture to a diocese, steps to beatification and canonization, special procedure of the Sacred Penitentiary, process of a marriage case through the Rota, kinds of papal documents, the election of a new Pope. Priests and religious, as well as the interested laity, are indebted to Father Heston for having made all this information available in handy form and at a reasonable price. Twenty-two illustrations and three charts enhance the usefulness of the volume. --ADAM C. ELLIS, S.J. LITTLE MEDITATIONS ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST. By Rev. Thomas D. Williams. Pp. 319. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wis-consin. $3.50. The Holy Eucharist deserves our whole-hearted appreciation and highest esteem. Yet, because it is shrouded in mystery, and our senses fail to penetrate the veil which hides the Real Presence of Jesus on our altars, we often fail to value this priceless Gift of God as we should. How can we become thoroughly acquainted with so inestimable a treasure, how acquire a conscious security of faith? By frequently meditating on the Real Presence, on the value of Holy Communion, and on the significance of the Sacrifice of the Mass. To make this easy and attractive, Father Williams offers a short meditation for every day of the year on some phase of the Eucharistic mystery. These considerations, based on the words of Scripture and the teachings of theology, are so clear and simple, so attractive and devotional, that any one who ponders them slowly and prayerfully will continually grow in knowledge and love of the Holy Eucharist. The author makes excellent and practical use of Scripture texts, which lend a stimulating touch to every paragraph. Throughout 260 September, 1950 BOOK NOTICES we sense a mellow tone of ~olid piety, and nowhere is there the least evidence of sentithentality or pious exaggeration. We highly recom-mend the book for use in visiting the Blessed Sacrament. --HENRY WILLMERING, S.J. BOOK NOTICES WE LIVE WITH OUR EYES OPEN is a sequel to the earlier work by Dom Hubert van Zeller, O.S.B., which was entitled We Die Standir~g Up. In his first book Father van Zeller treated chiefly the obstacles encountered in the quest for holiness. In the thirty-nine essays of the present volume he centers our attention on the means to sanctity. Here as before the treatment of his theme is straightforward and stimulating. Most of the essays discuss the use of creatures, in-terior prayer, mysticism, asceticism, and the proper orientation of the virtue of love in general and as applied to the sacrament of matri-mony. (New York: Sheed ~ Ward, 1950. Pp. x -q- 172. $2.00.) Richelieu's France of the seventeenth century was the scene for the life and work of Charles de Condren, the second superior of the Oratory in France. M. V. Woodgate's CHARLES DE CONDREN iS not a mere pious biography in the old tradition, but a balanced, though brief, account of a very human, holy, and at times, weak personality. (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1950. Pp. xi + 155. $2.25.) LITURGICAL PRAYER: ITS HISTORY AND SPIRIT, by Msgr. Fer-nand Cabrol, O.S.B., is an offset reproduction of a liturgical classic which first apeared in its French original in 1900. It was later trans-lated by a Benedictine of Stanbrook in a 1921 edition. The litera-ture and the notes cited are, therefore, of the last years of the last cen-tury, but the text, by a man who could combine deep knowledge with popular presentation, is as timely now as when first written. (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1950. Pp. xiv -t- 382. $3.50.) The important role of congregations of religious women in the development of the Church, and especially of Catholic education, in the United States cannot be overemphasized. One of the latest his-torical studies dealing with this theme is Sister Maria Kostka Logue's SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF PHILADELPHIA. This carefully docu- 261 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Reoieto for Religious mented, highly objective, and interesting work covers a century of growth and development of the Congregation in the eastern states from 1847 to 1947. (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1950. Pp. xii q- 380. $5.00.) Religious, by profession particularly interested in the hidden life of Christ with its message of self-effacement, obscurity and obedi-ence, should be grateful to Dr. Patrick J. Temple for PATTERN DIVINE: OUR LORD'S HIDDEN LIFE. This book fills a real need, for too many books on the childhood of Christ are either apologetic or piously exaggerated, while chapters in standard "Lives of Christ" are generally too meagre. Dr. Temple gives a detailed account of the exterior life of the Holy Family at Nazareth and presents the Jewish life, society and thought that affected the youthful Christ. Every page of the book is documented, and the explanations in the foot-notes justify the claim that the story of PATTERN DIVINE is not imaginative and fictitious, but sober truth and reliable fact. The devotional tone, which pervades the whole account, is conspicuous in a concluding summary paragraph for each chapter. A very copious bibliography and a detailed index are additional assets of the work. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Company, 1950. Pp. xii-k 389. $5.00) PRAYER FOR _A_LL TIMES, by Pierre Charles, S. J., and trans-lated from the French by Maud Monahan, is a reprint of a spiritual classic that has already gone through seven editions. The publishers are to be congratulated for combining the former three separate vol-umes. into one. Each of the ninty-nine chapters of two and one half pages deals with some important point in the spiritual life. The book can be used either for spiritual reading or for points for medi-tation. One chapter at a time is sufficient since each chapter demands reflection, application, prayer. The deep spiritual insight and many practical suggestions are brought home in a kindly spirit and a graphic style. (Westminsier, Md.: The Newman Press, 1950. Pp. 328. $3.50.) BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS [For the most part, these notices are purely descriptive, based on a cursory exam-ination of the books listed.] THE GRAIL, St. Meinrad, Indiana. THE HOLY RULE OF ST. BENEDICT. Pp. xiv q- 95. $1.00 (paper) ; $2.00. (cloth). 262 September, 1950 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT8 SAINT BENEDICT THE MAN. By Dom I. Ryelandt, O.S.B. Translated from the French by Rev. Patrick Shaughnessy, O.S.B. Pp. 102. $1.25. The first book, a second printing, besides the Rule contains a Short biographical sketch of St. Benedict by Aidan Cardinal Gasque~ and a sermon on the saint by Pope Pius XlI. The second contains three studies of the inner life, "the moral physiognomy," of St. Bene-dict. The studies are based on an analysis of his Rule, on St. Greg-ory the Great's life of th~ saint, and on a comparative study of St. Benedict and St. Francis de Sales. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, St. Louis, Missouri. CHRIST THE SAVIOR. By Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. Translated by Dom Bede Rose, O.S.B. Pp. iv + 748. $9.00. This is the English edition of Ft. Lagrange's Latin textbook, DE CHRISTO SALVATORE, a commentary on the Third Part of St. Whomas's SUMMA THEOLOGICA. A thirty-page "Compendium of Mari-ology" rounds out the volume. ISTITUTO PADANO DI ARTI GRAFICHE, Rovigo, Italy IL DIRITTO DELLE RELIGIOSE. By Rev. Louis Fanfani, O.P. Pp. xxii + 346. L. 1500. This is the third edition of the author's Italian LAW FOR RELIGIOUS WOMEN based on his larger Latin work, DE IURE RELIGIOSORUM. "It has been brought up to date with the most recent decisions of the Holy See, and has been improved in some points by a more accurate exposition of the canons of the Code referring to religious women." NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Margland. REVOLUTION IN A CITY PARISH. By Abb4 G. Michonneau. Pp. xxi -~- 189. $2.50. The city parish is in the mission of France among the working class population in the Paris suburbs. A co-worker, Father H. Ch. Ch4ry, O.P., and the Abb4 discuss in dia-logue form the needs and difficulties, the objectives and methods in their missionary apostolate. SAINT PAUL AND APOSTOLIC WRITINGS. By Sebastian Bul-lough, O.P. Pp. xviii q- 338. $3.00. This latest volume in the series of Scripture textbooks for use in Catholic schools in England deals with the Pauline Epistles, the seven Catholic Epistles, and the Apocalypse. Ft. Bullough's exegesis and commentary provide a valuable background for a more intelligent and fruitful understand-ing of these important New Testament writings. 263 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Ret;ieto for Religious SERMON NOTES ON THE SUNDAY PROPERS. By Rev. F. H. Drinkwater. Pp. 119. $2.00. A reprint. The author derives useful themes from parts of the Mass propers exclusiye of the epistles and gospels. SOME RARE VIRTUES. By Raoul Plus, S.J. Translated from the French by Sister Mary Edgar Meyer, O.S.F. Pp. vi q- 213'. $1.75. All virtues are rare, but some that Fr. Plus treats of are especially rare, such as "Knowing how to be grateful," "Good use of time" and "Pity for the sick and afflicted." It is the first English publication of this work. THE. SUPPLICATION OF SOULS. By St,f Thomas More. Edited by Sister Mary Thecla, S.C. Pp. xiii -{- 187. $2.50. This book is Thomas More's refutation of the heretical work of Simon Fish,' SUPPLICATION FOR THE BEGGARS. This is an instance to prove Father J. J. Daly's remark "More's was the" only pen at the service of the Church to do battle in the vernacular against heresy." In the book St. Thomas defends the clergy against irreverent and unfair attack and upholds the doctrine on purgatory, making a moving ap-peal for the poor souls. The book is mostly, but not exclusively, of historical interest. FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Continued from page 251) tolic Press Association, a non-profit organization. One departure from existing journalism is the financing of the paper. Instead of advertising it will depend on circulation revenue. And for initial expenses the founders are enlisting the charity of those Catholics who believe there is a need for such a paper. There will be five issues weekly, and two editions: one local and one national. The national edition will be delivered by air cargo and should reach most subscribers on the day of publication. Prices for one year are: $14.00 for the national edition; $12.50 for the local. For the scale of prices on shorter terms, as well as for other informa-tion, write to: The Sun Herald, 702 East 12th St., Kansas City 6, Mo. Confessors' Patron St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, has long (Continued on page 280) 264 ues!: ons Answers ~2 Im We wish to gain the Jubilee indulgence. Our local ordinary has made no pronouncement on the subject. Have our i:onfessors the authority to prescribe the necessary conditions for gaining this indulgence? Is it neces-sary to go to confession and to receive Holy Communion each time? As Father Bergh pointed out in his article on "The Holy Year of 1950" in the January number of the Reuieto, the general require-ments for gaining the Jubilee indulgence in Rome are: reception of the sacraments of Penance and.the Eucharist,-and visits to the four major Roman basilicas in which certain prescribed prayers must be said. Outside Rome, for those who are entitled by way of exception to gain the Jubilee indulgence at home (all women religious among others), the local ordinary or any confessor delegated by him may substitute other works, of religion, piety, and charity in place of the visits to the four Roman basilicas. In places where the local ordinary has, made no provision, confessors may presume that they have received tacit delegation to make the substitution. Confession and Holy Communion are required for each gaining of the indulgence. ~22m Is it in accord with canon law for religious 1o be given permissibn ÷6 take trips during the summer if their relatives pay the expensesmeven if those trips are pilgrimages to Rome and to various shrines? The obligation to common life which is imposed upon all reli-gious by canon 594 forbids superiors to allow certain members of the community to take a trip (even though it be a pious pilgrimage) merely because parents, relatives, or friends are willing to pay the expenses. Common life requires that the community supply a reli-gious with whatever he needs, just as everything which comes to him as a religions must be put in the community funds. Common life also requires that, generally speaking, equal opportunities be given to all members of the community. Hence a superior could allow the members of his community to make a pious pilgrimage provided that he supplied the necessary expense money for such members of his community as do not have relatives or friends who are willing to pay for them. Again, the constitutions of the community would have to be consulted to see whether such trips, pious or otherwise, are allowed. An article explaining this matter of common life in 265 QUESTIONS AND ~NSWERS Review for Religious detail will be found in this Review for January, 1948, pp. 33-45. When we say that common life generally requires that equal opportunity be given to all, we do not mean that it is a~ainst com-mon life to allow certain privileges (like a pilgrimage) to jubilari-ans, to the perpetually professed, and so forth. In such cases, how-ever, the use of the privilege should be extended to the whole group and should not be limited to those who can procure the necessary funds from relatives or friends. --23- Has a meeting of provincial superiors presided over by the superior general and his councilors the authority to change a custom which has been observed in the congregation for over one hundred years, or is such a change reserved to the general, chapter? Only a general chapter can change customs which are common t~ a religious congregation. The constitutions could give the power to the superior general and his councilors, but this would have to be stated explicitly. --24~ What precisely are the Normae, so often referred to in leglslation for religious communities? How much authority is aHached to them? Must all constitutions and custom books of nuns conform to these Normae? About the year 1860 the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, then in charge of all religious orders and congregations, began to establish uniform regulations for the new religious congre-gations, especially of women, which were increasing in number. More or less uniform sets of constitutions were given to them on trial, until they took permanent shape for each congregation in the draft which was given final approval. In the course of forty years some things were changed, others were added, and some were dropped. These regulations, in the shape of a set of model constitutions for religious congregations with simple vows, were published on June 28, 1901 under the title of Norms according to which the Sacred Congregation o~ Bishops and Regulars is accustomed to proceed in the approval of new institutes with simple vows. The Normae did not establish any formal legislation for religious congregations, but were published for the sole use of the Sacred Congregation as a guide in the composition and construction of constitutions for new congre-gations with simple vows seeking the approval of the Holy See. Thus most of the congregations approved during the last part of the nine- 266 September, 1950 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS teenth century and first part of the twentieth (until the new Code of Canon Law in 1918) are based exclusively on the Normae. These old constitutions had to be revised in order to bring them into con-formity with the new Code of Canon Law. However, most of the matter contained in the Normae was incorporated into the Code, with modifications, omissions, and additions, of course. Hence the Normae are useful even today because they give us a better under-standing of the canons of the Code which deal with similar matters, as well as of the constitutions themselves in which the wording of the Normae has been retained in great part. To answer our question-: New constitutions and customs need not and should not conform to the old Normae but exclusively to the present Code of Canon Law. --25~ Is ÷here any difference in ÷he meanlncj and in the use of the followin9 words applicable to Sisters taken collectively: community, order, sister-hood, congregation, institute? In everyday life these general terms are used indiscriminately to signify a group of religious women. Canonically speaking, how-ever, there is a difference in their meaning, which is contained in the definitions provided for us in canon 488 of the Code. Thus: (1) An "institute" (religio) is any society, approved by legitimate ecclesiastical authority, the members of which tend to evangelical perfection, according to the laws proper to the society, by the profes: sion of public vows, whether perpetual or temporary. (2) An "order" is an institute whose members make profession of solemn vows. (3) A "religious congregation" or simply a "congregation" is an institute whose members make profession of simple vows only, whether perpetual or temporary. The canon does not define the terms "community" and "sisterhood," but it does define (4) "nuns" as religious women with solemn vows or, unless it appears other-wise from the nature of the case or from the context, religious women whose vows are normally solemn, but which, by a disposition of the Holy See, are simple in certain regions; whereas "sisters" are reli-gious women with simple vows. The term "community" is not used officially in canon law. It popularly indicates either an "institute," which is a general term in-cluding both orders and congregations, or it is used to identify a local group of religious, classified in canon law as a "religious house." "Sisterhood" is a popular term for an institute of religious women, 267 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS whether of nuns or of sisters, though technically it should be restricted to an institute of sisters only. 26 Do the words: rule, holy rule, constitutions, and customary, represent distinct thlncjs, or has the term "the rule" the same meanincj as "constitu-tions"? Technically the term '"Rule" always refers to one of four great rules which most religious orders followed down to the sixteenth century, and which they still follow, and which are followed by a number of modern religious congregations. These are: the Rule of St. Benedict, the Rule of St. Basil, the Rule of St. Augustine, and the Rule ot: St. Francis. To these four rules, which are stable and unchangeable, other regulations regarding details not contained in the rules have been added, and these additions were called "constitu-tions." In the sixteenth century the new orders of clerics regular who did not adopt any of the four great rules, introduced a new system whereby the fixed and stable parts of their legislation were called "constitutions" while other minor regulations which were changeable were called "rules." Modern congregations, even though they follow one of the four great rules, have a body of practical legislation known as "constitu-tions," and approved either by the local Ordinary or by the Holy See. Minor observances are called "regulations" or "rules." The term "customary," or "book of customs," and the like, indicate observances usually brought into being by custom or usage, first in one community, then in another, and finally in a whole insti-tute. These may be changed by a general chapter, but no general chapter has the right to change the constitutions approved by the Holy See or by the local ordinary. OUR CONTRIBUTORS P. DELETTER is a member of the faculty of St. Mary's theological college, Kurseong, India. WINFRID HERBST, writer, retreat master, former master ot~ nov-ices, is on the faculty of the Salvatorian Seminary, St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. GER-ALD KELLY and JEROME ]~REUNIG are members of the editorial board of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS.Fr. Breunig succeeds Father Alfred Schneider as editorial secretary. 268 Report !:o Rome [In the following pages we conclude the publishing of the List of Questions to be answered in the quinquennial report by pontifical institutes. We have printed these questions, not only as an aid to superiors who must answer, them, but also as a means of giving all religious a better knowledge of the Church's law concerning religious. The questions are published exactly as they appear in the official English trans-lation. Questions marked with an asterisk (*) concern only institutes of men: those marked with a cross ('1") refer only to institutes of women. For information about the means of obtaining the copies of the questions, see p. 236.--ED.] ARTICLE III Coneernlncj those who have departed or been dismissed, and others who leave the Institute Concerning those who haue gone out from the Institute 248. a) How many in the Institute and in each Province, at the expiration of their vows did not renew them, either because they chose not to do so or because they were not allowed to do so. b) How many of the professed of temporary vows were dis-pensed during their vows, and how many of the professed of per-petual vows were dispensed. 249. Were those who were dispensed from tbeir vows at their own request or with their consent, forced, or without serious and grave reasons and precautions permitted, to leave the religious house before the rescript was duly executed. 250. How many transfers, if any, were there to another In-stitute. C6ncerning apostates and fugitiues 251. a) How many apostates and fugitives, if any, were there during the five-year period. b) Did the Society or Institute observe the provisions of law concerning apostates and fugitives, by seeking them (c. 645 § 2),and if this proved fruitless, by proceeding against them according to law, so that their juridical condition should be clearly defined. Were the provisions of law regarding those who came back observed (cc. 2385, 2386), and is watchful provision made for their spiritual good. Concerning those dismissed bg Superiors and those not admitted to profession 252. a) Since the last Report, how many of the professed of 269 REPORT TO ROME Review for Religious temporary v, ows and how many of the professed of perpetual vows have been dismissed, according to Provinces. b) In the dismissal of religious, whether of temporary or of perpetual vows, were the norms of the common law (cc. 647 § 2, 649-672) as well as those of the Constitutions observed. c) Was the same done in regard to not admitting the professed of temporary vows to the renewal of their vows or to perpetual profession (c. 637). 253. Were the dismissed of temporary vows, while the recourse duly made within ten days was pending (c. 647 § 2; S. C. of Reli-gious, 20 July 1923, AAS, XV, I923, p. 457), and the dismissed of perpetual vows, before the decree or judgment of dismissal had been confirmed by the Sacred Congregation (cc. 652, 666), forced to leave the Institute. 254. Are the dismissed who are not in sacred orders released from their vows by the dismissal (c. 669 § 1); and if the vows remain, does the Institute show solicitude regarding their condition (c. 672 § 1). Concerning those dismissed by the law itself and those sent back to the world 255. What were the cases, and the causes which led to them, for both the professed of temporary and those of perpetual vows, where they were either sent back to the world on account of grave scandal or very grave harm (co. 653, 668) or dismissed by the law itself (c. 646). 256. Were steps immediately taken according to the Code (cc. 646 § 2, 653, 668) to determine the condition of those dis-missed by the law itself and of those sent back to the world. 257. Is there any such person whose condition still r~mains undetermined. 258. What cases if any have occurred of the reduction to the lay state of religious who had received sacred orders; how many were voluntary and how many penal. Concerning those who were exctoistered 259. How many cases of exclaustration were there, if any; are the causes carefully and conscientiously pondered in the presence of God before the petition is recommended and the rescript executed. 260. Does the Institute take care: a) That if it seems necessary to ask for an extension of the 270 September, 1950 REPORT TO ROME indults, they be renewed in due time. b) That the persons who are excloistered lead a worthy reli-gious llfe and return as soon as possible to some house of the Insti-tute. 261". Likewise does the'Institute take care regarding those who have been secularized on trial, and regarding their return to religion if at the expiration of the three-year period the indult is not renewed or they are not accepted, by the Ordinary. Concerning absences from the house ¯ 262. Do Superiors see to it that subjects remain out of the house only for a just and grave reason and for the shortest possible time, according to the Constitutions (c. 606 § 2). 263. For absences which exceed six months, except for studies or ministries according to law and the Constitutions, was the permis-sion of the Holy See always obtained (c. 606 § 2). 264. Is it allowed by reason or under color of a vacation, that time be spent with one's parents or outside a house of the Institute. Concbrning the deceased 265. Were the prescribed suffrages faithfully and promptly per-formed for all the deceased. ARTICLE IV Concernincj the various classes and conditions of religlous § 1. - CONCERNING CLERICS (This is dealt with in the Report on formation and studies). § 2. - CONCERh~ING Conversi OR COADJUTORS Concerning their education and training 266. Do Superiors, in accordance with c. 509 § 2, 2° give to those religious who belong to the class of conversi, instruction in Christian doctrine; and do Superiors, both before and after their pro-fession but especially during the earlier years, carefully attend to their spiritual, intellectual, civil and technical education according to the functions which they have to fulfill. 267. Are the religious allowed to engage in works which do not seem to be suitable to the religious state. 268. Do Superiors with paternal charity diligently provide also for the bodily health of the conversi or coadjutors. 271 REPORT TO ROME § 3. CONCERNING THOSE WHO ARE APPLIED TO MILITARY SERVICE Concerning the profession of those who are to be called for the first time to active militarg service 269*. Did Superiors regulate according to the decrees of the Holy See the temporary professions of those who are to be called for the first time to active military service or its equivalent. 270*. Were perpetual professions permitted before the first active military service or its equivalent, to which the young men are liable to be called. Concerning the religious during their militarg service 271". a) Did Superiors take care of their members in the service, watch over their life, communicate frequently with them, requiring a periodical account of their conduct, their actions and exercises of piety, etc. b) What special means were used to secure their perseverance. 272*. In cases of dismissal for just and reasonable causes, or of voluntary s.eparation from the Institute, did the Major Superior fol-low the p~escribed procedure and faithfully conserve all the docu-ments in the Archives. Concerning the renewal of temporarg profession after military service and the making of perpetual profession 273*. For admission to the renewal of temporary profession, was everything done which is prescribed by the common law and in the decrees regarding this matter. 274*. Was the prescribed time of the temporary profession com-pleted after military service, and also the time of the temporary vows which is prescribed by law and by the Constitutions before the making of the perpetual profession. CHAPTER III CONCERNING THE WORKS AND MINISTRIES OF THE INSTITUTE ARTICLE I Concerning minis÷ties in general Concerning the special end and the works of the Institute in general 275. Were the ministries proper to the Institute abandoned or neglected. 276. Were any works engaged in which are not contained in the 272 September, 1950 REPORT TO ROME special end of the Institute; if so, with what permission was this done. Concerning abuses in the exercise of ministries 277. Were any abuses in the exercise of ministries introduced during this time; if so what were they. 278. Is all appearance of avarice carefully avoided on the occasion of ministries. 279. Was begging from door to door, according to law (cc. 621, 622) and the Constitutions, done with the required permissions. 280. Moreover, in begging, were the rules of law (c. 623), the instructions of the Holy See (c. 624) and the norms of the Consti-tutions observed. 281. By reason of or under pretext of ministries, are an excessive or too worldly communication with seculars and frequent and pro-longed absences from the religious house permitted. 282. What precautions are taken in this communication in order to avoid harm to the religious and scandal to seculars. Concerning difficulties with the secular clergy or with other Institutes, etc. because of the ministries 283. On the occasion of the ministries did any friction occur with ecclesiastical Superiors, with pastors and the secular clergy, with other Institutes or with Chaplains. What were the chief instances of such difficulties and where did they occur. 284. What probable reasons can be assigned for these difficulties. and what remedies can be suggested for their avoidance. ARTICLE II Concerning special ministries Concerning Missions among infidels and heretics 285. In the Missions, or in any one of them, did the religious life suffer any harm, and if so, what were the reasons for this. 286. What safeguards were used or should have been used so that in the apostolate the faithful observance of religious discipline and the care of one's own sanctification be better secured. 287*. In the Missions, is the internal religious Superior distinct. from the ecclesiastical Superior. 288*. Did this union of offices in the same person result in advantages or rather in disadvantages. 273 REPORT TO ROME Review for Religious Concerning Parishes, Churches and Sanctuaries 289*. For the incorporation or union of parishes, was an indult of the Holy See obtained, according to cc. 452 § 1, 1423 § 2, so that there should be a union or incorporation properly effected. 290*. In what form were Parishes united to the Institute: pleno iure (absolutely, at the will of the Holy See), in temporalibus, etc., and from what date. (A copy of the document should be sent if there is one). 291". Was an agreement made with the Ordinary of the place to accept any parish. (Send copies of the agreements made during the five-year period). 292*. How do Superiors watch over and assist those of their subjects who are pastors (c. 631 §§ I-2), and in case of need admonish and correct them. 293*. Was the office of local Superior ever united with that of pastor, observing c. 505; did this union give rise to difficulties, or was it on the contrary attended with good results. 294*. Did the Institute obtain from local Ordinaries that Churches or Sanctuaries should be entrusted to it; if so, with what permission and on what terms and conditions was this done. 295*. How do all Superiors see to it that religious discipline suffer no harm from the ministries engaged in by the religious in parishes or in public churche~ which are entrusted to them. Concerning Colleges, Schools and Seminaries 296,*. Has the Institute entrusted to it any Seminaries of clerics, and if so on what terms. (Documents and agreements entered into regarding this matter during the five-year period should be attached). 297*. In these Seminaries, are there any difficulties with the Ordi-naries, concerning either the religious life and discipline or the gov-ernment of the Seminary. 298*. What measures and efforts are employed toward the sound and thorough training and religious education of the students. 299. Are there houses for the residence of young people who are attending public schools. 300. In these cases is very special care taken to see that the schools are safe from the standpoint of both instruction and education; especially is a careful supervision maintained over the instruction and religious education; and if there are any deficiencies are they carefully remedied. 301t. Are there schools which are attended by both sexes; 274 September, 1950 REPORT TO ROME as regards fixing the age beyond which boys may not be admitted or retained, have the prescriptions made by the Ordinaries been observed. 302. Do Superiors strictly see to it that Rectors, Prefects, Teach-ers and Professors receive adequate preparation for their work: a) Scientifically, by acquiring knowledge which corresponds adequately to the grade of the class, and by obtaining degrees and certificates, even such as are recognized outside ecclesiastical circles. b) Pedagogically, by the study and practice of the art of teaching. c) Spiritually, so that they may exercise the office of teaching with a genuine zeal for souls and make it a means of sanctification for themselves and others. 303. Do Superiors carefuIly see to it that the work of teaching be properly harmonized with religious discipline. 304. Did they promptly remove from the office of teaching those who in practicing it make light of the religious life and are not a good example to the students. Concerning the practice of the corporal works of mercg 305. Does the Institute practice the corporal works of mercy toward the sick, orphans, the aged, etc. 306. Are there: a) Guest-houses and hospital

Issue 3.2 of the Review for Religious, 1944. ; :Review,fo¯ r R e h g o u s" MARCH 15, 1944 ,; ~' ~"The Worst of Sinners" . Ar, nold J. Benedeff~' ~ 7 B~beuf on Missionary Vocations . Augustine Klaas - Your PredominantXendency ~ "Pafrlck M. Regan . ~-Su, cjge.~hon from the Fec÷Ory . . . John E~ CQogan~ ':The 'Badder,' the Better" . . ." . . . G_. Aucjusfin~e Ellard Concern|ng, Vocat|ons . The Editors Book Reviews Ouestlons 'Answered Decisions 5f the Holy See. krOLUME III NUMBER :~.VOLUbIE III MARCH 15, 1.94.4 NUMBER 2' Im CONTENTS ON BF.ING "THE WORST OF SINNERS"--Arnold J. Benedetto, S.J. 73 BRI~BEUF ON" MISSIONARY VOCA,TIONSmAugustine Klaas, S.~1. 80 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . , . 93 WHAT IS YOUR PREDOMINANT. TENDENCY?m Patrick M. Regan,,S.d . 94 A SUGGESTION FROM THE FACTORYmJohn E. Coogan, S.3. 103 D~CISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE OF INT,EREST TO RELIGIOUS111 "THE 'SADDER,' THE BETTER" G. Augustine Ellard. S.d. 112 BOOKLET NOTICES . ~24 CONCERNING VOCATIONS The Editors . 125 WANTED: LETTERS ON RETREATS! . 128 TRY' ITH S IN YOUR EXAMEN!~RIchard L. Rooney, S.J .:. .,,1,29 WH0'IS SAINT JOS.EPH?Wililam Stritch, S.J .1.3.0 BOOK REVIEWS (Edited by Clement DeMuth, S.J.)-- Aids to Will Training in Christian Education: Instructions~ on Chris-tian Doctrine: St. Theodore of C~nterbury; Thirty Years with Christ:' White Fire: The Spiritual Conferences of St. Francis de Sales; From a - Morning Prayer; The Path of Love; Latin Gra~nrnar; Know Yourself; .The Text ,of the Spiritual Exercises: History of the Third Order of St. Francis of Penance and Charity; Mother Immaculata of Jesus BOOKS RECEIVED . 131 139o QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS~ 10. Jurisdiction of Ordinary Confessor . 140 11., Mass Stipends and Poverty .° . 140 12. 'Permission to Give Away an Inheritance .: ¯ ¯ 141 13. Appointing an Administrator, and Making a Will 141 14. Blood Relatives in Same Community . 141~ 15. Lace V'eil for Tabernacle ." . ~. ¯ 142 16. Number and Quality of Candles for Benediction . 142 1~7. 'Place f¯or the Christmas Crib . 143 , . 18. Duration of Office for Local Superior .143 19. Sacristan Should Wash Chalice and Ciborium -. . 20~. Frequency o~ Cofi~ession o~ Devotion . 144 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. March, 1944 Vo[. lII. No. 2. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September. and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter. January 15, 1942. at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3. 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.3., G. Augustine Ellard. S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Copyright, 1944, by .Adam C. Ellis: Permission is hereby granted for quotations of/reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author.,. Subsc.ription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover, ¯On Being "The ~X/Orst ot: Sinners" Arnold J. Benedetto, S.J. N ANYONE;S list of "Perplexing Sayings of the Saints'" there is likely to be found a host of statements in which the greatest of saints profess themselves to be the "worst bf sinners." Now, since self-knowledge is a presupposi-tion for progress in the spiritual life, how can such self-deception .exist in. those who supposedly are far advanced? Or, since humility is based on truth--some saints consider the wo~ds synonymous~--how can we,. without doing violence to our intelligence, consider as examples of humil-ity those whose statements wandered, as it seems, so far from the realms of rigid fact? After all, there is no separate code of morality for the saints. Untruth is untruth. There can be only one "worst" among sinners, and no saint with .regard for truth can claim that he is that one. Of course, we can make allowances for the exaggera-tions of the 01d-style biggraphers of saints. Thei~ love of rhetoric and of paradox, their eagerness to cull from their heroes some "quotable quote", no matter how eccentric it appears when taken out of context--all this, rather than care and attention in making clear the saints' mentality and spirit, may account for some of the less attractive features one comes across in reading the lives of saints. But when all due allowance has been made, there still remains a goodly residue of strict biographical fact leading one to the unescapable ~onclusion that. many saints really did feel themselves to be the least among men, the worst of all man-kind. Further, the Church--which canonizes neither untruths nor errors--seems to extol the humility of the saints precisely in these pa.radoxicaI statements of theirs. 73 ARNOLD J. BENEDETTO Review for Religious The prbblem becomes excruciatingly acute when we read certain books of spiritual guidance and discover to our horror that toe, we o.urselves, are expected to believe, in all humility arid truth, that we, too, are inferior to all other men and more ~inful than all others. We all feel more or ~less willing to accept hi~mbly our place in the universe, but with all the goodwill in the world we fail to see how the proper place for every man is below his neighbor and how each and every person can be a greater sinner than every other person. One" should avoid making even "pious" errors of judgment. Perhaps No Comparison Is Meant One. possible solution of how a saint could ihave said, "I am the worst of sinners," is that the saint was not really making.a rigid comparison with others, bu~ was thinking simply and solely about himself. Thus, the sentenqe prac-tically means, "I am a very great sinner." If theoriginal statement can be reduced to these terms ~:hen we are to c~n-sider the sain~ as completely ignoring the sins of others and as concentrating only upon his own faults. The saints know God much better than others do, they realize more deeply the tremendous value of His gifts, they are more aware of His helping graces. As a result, they are in a bet-ter position to. see the wickedr~ess, the ingratitude, of sin. They contrast th~ boundless sanctity of God with the insufferable wilifulness of the puny man who refuses to admit his dependence on God. Even the least sin is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. Overwhelmed at the thougl~t of~having chosen any finite good rather than the v.ery great, nay, the infinite Good, the saint cries out that he is a very great sinner. A Shift in the Terms of Comparison A very common interpretation given to this difficult 74 March, 1944 ON BEING ~'THE WORST OF SINNERS" saying is that when the saint claims to be the worst of sin-ners he is comparing what he has of himself with what his neighbor has from God. This means either that the saint is comparing his own natural gifts with others' super-natural gifts, or else is comparing his own sins with his neighbors' good acts. In either case, certainly, such a com-parison justifies the conclusion, "I am worse than all oth- .ers." With this interpretation it isquite easy to see how anyone can claim that he is the worst of sinners, for the things that are being compared are no longer on the same plane. Obviously the supernatural is better than the natural, obviously sin is worse than virtue. Such a Simptiste explanation, with its shift in the terms compared, may appear irrational. What it really amounts to is just a clever--some may think, ineptMway of sa)~ing that sin itself is irrational.~ It implies that a certain minimum degree of humility is required if we 'are to avoid sin. At any rate, such an explanation is given by many iearned theologians. It is mentioned by St. Thomas in the Summa Theologica (2-2, q. 161, a.3). Four-Fold Ignorance Some of thesaints, however, when they assert that they are worse than their neighbor, very plainly do not mean that this is so only when comparison is made between what is of God in their neighbor with what is of man in them-selves. .They mean that their own character, apart from the gifts which God has given them, is much more vile than is their neighbor's character considered, likewise, apart from his supernatural gifts. St. Francis of Assisi (one of the most ardent devotees of the policy of. self-depreciation) explains himself thus: "I feel that I am the worst of sin-. nets, for if God had shown such mercy to a criminal hs He has shown to me, that criminal would be ten tim~s holier 75 ~RNOLD d. BENEDETTO Review for Religious than I am.-" St. Francis dearly suggests that the natural dispositions of the criminal are superior to his own. The explanatioh, however, is not.altogether satisfac-tory. Only God knows with certainty the natural dispo-sitions ofeach man. Because of our ignorance of these dispositions of others, arid because we do not know what hidden gifts God may have given others, we cannot claim to .be better than our neighbor. But neither are we strictly justified in asserting that we are worse than he. We may conjecture that we are worse, we may say that possibly we are worse. We cannot claim absolutely to be worse. Similar to our two-fold ignorande regarding the state of our neighbor is our. ignorance regarding our own present and, especially, our own future state. "Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred" (Eccles. 9: 1):. .Quite possibly many~ persons who at present are leading holy lives will not.persevere in such a state. God sees the final disposition of their souls and in His sight they very . definitely are great sinners. Experiential Knowledge The solution that we offer as the final one really includes the other solutions," namely, the comparisons and ¯ the four-fold ignorance. But, presupposing those solu-tions, this final solution brings us more deeply into the .psychology of' the sai.nts. It tries to show not 0nly that, ~with certain limitations and qualifications, there is some .objective.truth in .the statement of the saints, "I am wo. r.se than everybody else," but also to give an account of bow the saints actually, within themselves, could feet Sincerely and intensely that they were the most wretched of sinners. The saints did, indeed, have some knowledge of the limitations of others (though they generally ignored that) ; but of their own unworthiness they had an intense:inner 76 ¯ March, 19 4 4 ON BEING ""~HE WORST OF SINNERS" experiential knowledge. The sins and deficiencies of others they knew by observation, :inference, or. hearsay. But knowledge by actual personal experience is more impres-sive and compelling than any other. Whatever might be said of others, they felt, and felt most keenly, that their themselves were guilty. Whatever arguments pro and con one might bring forward juridically regarding the malice .of others, the saints had actual and direct consciousness of their own wickedness. Seeing their own sins and imper-fections in the sigh.t of God, the horror that rose up in their consciousnbss was just as vivid an experience as an attack of acute indigestion. They may have had painful encoun-ters in.the pas.t, when brought face to face with the malice of their sins; this present experiencing, this tremendous illumination laying bare their utter nothingness and worse-than- nothingness, together with the consequent revulsion of a pure, ardent, and sincere soul, this present experience impresses them mdre vividly than any recollection of:past experiences. "Let others claim that they have had o? are having painful experiences when they recounf their sins within themselves--but really they could hardly be suf-fering as I am. My sins must be the worst p6ssible sins. Never could anyone offend the good God as I have." With reference to their very real, present experiential knowledge they are truly the worst of sinners. These "hard sayings", of the saints thus-contain not absolute truth but relative truth--relative, that is, to the source of knowledge. Having this intense experiential knowledge of their own sins, and l~nowing the sins of their neighbor only by observation or conjecture, the saints based their practical conclusion on the evidence of the inner experience and affirmed that they were worse than their neighbor. With reference to the particular type of evidence which alonethey ar.e considering, they are worse than their 77 ARNOLD ~, BENEDETTO neighbor. Another situation in which,~ similarly, the prac-tical,, working truth is different from the theoretical, abstract truth is the case in which a judge knows, as a pri-vate citizen, that the defendant is guilty but, with refer-ence only to the legal evidence at hand, he must, in his o~.- cial capacity, pronounce the judgment that the defendant is not guilty. One may prefer the following example: If a very brigh~ light is focused upon some particular object and one fixes his gaze for a'long while on the object, then that object ~ill be very. cons~picuous, While objects on either side of it will scarcely be noticed; they will be in. the dark, or, at most, in the penumbra surrounding the illuminated object. Ohio's judgment based on what one sees in the light will be much more accurate and detailed than any judgment made coficerning the unilluminated objects. By their inner experiential knowle~lge the saints become acutely aware of their own littleness and of the infinite contrast between even their leastmoral defect and the wondrous sanctity of God. In the light of this knowledge the saints focus their attention on their own defects and at the same time lose sightof, or but dimly notice, their own good qual'ities and thi~defects and gross sins of their neighbor: According to this light they are worse than their neighbor. The Dominican beatus, Venturino da Bergamo, explains that. the intense feeling and percep.tion of one's own defects may be compared to. the suffering of a tooth-ache. The stifferer feels that he is enduring more pain than anyone else; not that he sees in the light of reason that his pain is greater, but that his.own pain is closez tohim than is that of another. And even if he should know intellec-tually that somebody else has an equally bad or a worse toothache, it is still very true that he experiences and his own, not that of the other person. ,Judging on this 78 o ! March, 1944 ON BEING "'THE WORST OF SINNERS" basis, and relatively to this limited criterion, ~ae could say, "My toothache is the worst," "My toothache feels worse." " Conclusion To account for the unusually'intense pain which the saints feel at the consciousness of their, sins and for the' apparent ease with which they become thoroughly con-vinced that they are the greatest sinners in the world, Father de Guibert1 suggests that these great saints receive a very special divine illumination regarding their own sins, that this illumination is of the same order as the higliest degrees.of infused contemplation. We believe, however, that it is also within the power, of each human being to arrive--with less facility and with a less degree of conviction, it is true, than that of the specially enlightened saints--at the. conclusion, that he is the &orst sinner in th~ world. And many saints and spir-itual writers exhort us to judge in this fashion of ourselves. Pride is one of our worst enemies. It is very deep-rooted. J(ny consideration having in itself some real degree, of truth and helping to make us more humble should be wel-comed. It is humbling to consider oneself the worst of sinners. Possibly We shall be aided in forming this judg-ment by making use of the explanations given in the course of this article, namely, by contrasting our natural endow-ments with our neighbor's supernatural ones, by main-._~ "taining the prudent, doubts and suspense caused by our ignorance regarding our neighbor and ourself, and,. espe-cially, by basing our judgment on the evidence or objective truth furnished us by our experiential knowledge of our own faults as opposed to our unfelt knowledge of the sins of others. 1J.de Guibert, S.J. : l~tudes de Th~ologie Mgstique. Toulouse: l~ditions de la Revue ¯ d'Asc~tiqu~ et de Mystique;, 1930. pp. 283-298. :Br beut: on ¯ Missionary Vocal:ions Augustine K!aas, S.J. ON JULY 16, 1636, Father dean de Br~beuf wrote a lengthy " report to his religious superior, Father Paul Le deune, on the. state of .his mission among .the Huron savages, to the east of what is nov,; Lake Huron. The document contains' some fascinating chapters, illustrating what might be called the iomance of the mis-sions. In chh~ter three, however, by way of interlude, the heroic missionary decides to give a timely Word of advice to those in Fiance, .presumably his younger religious brethren, who are ardently longing tpou ngc6h oens' t.'h.e .w floireenig hne m teilslssi oonfs t hoef Nhaerwd sFhriapnsc, et.r iHmes d, oaensd n soutf "feprui.lnl ghsi so(f missionary life, but neither does he omit the ompensatio.ns and con-solations of that aposl~olate. In these lines Br~beuf seems to be giving us the proper technique in dealing with a vocation to the mis-sions. It is' this:~ don't overemphasize the romance, but tell the truth, the whole truth, the bitter along with the sweet, of. the call to the foreign missions. Incidentally, the cbapte~ also reveals the saint's.own virile spir-ituality-- his love of God, his life of prayer, suffering, and apostolic" zeal. Nor is 1-iis human side left out~ He was forty-three when he wrote it. Thirteen years later, tow~irds four o'clock on the after-noon of Tuesday, March 16, 1649, amid dreadful torments, dean de Br~beuf would die manfully the martyr's death for which his whole missionary life was a conscious preparation. BRI~BEUF'S ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE MISSIONARIES1 We have learned that the salvation of so many innocent ,souls, washed and made white in the Blood of the Son of God is stirring very deeply the hearts of many, and is excit-ingin themnew desires to leave Old France in order to come 1The original French of this chapter appears in The Jesuit Relations, edited by R. G. Thwaites, V, ol. 10, pp. 86-115. I have added ~hereferences to the ~Scripture texts, which in the, original are quoted freely and.in Latin. Except for the added captiofis and a few changes in paragraphing, the document is presented intact. ¯ BRI~BEUF ON MISSIONARY VOCATIONS. to the New. God be forever blessed, who thus shows us that He has finally ope.ned to these tribes the bowels of His infinite mercy. I do not wish to chill the ardor of~-this gen-erous resolve. Alas! it is these very hearts according ,to God's own Heart whom we are expecting. I wish only to give them a word of advice. It is true that "love is strong as death" (Canticles 8:(5). The love of God has power to do what death does, that is, to detach us entirely, from creatures and from ourselves. Nevertheless, these desires that we feel .of working for the salvation of infidels are not always sure signs of that pure love. Sometimes there may be present a little self-love and Self-seeking, if we look only at the blessing and s~atisfaction there is in putting souls in heaven, without duly conlcider-ing the sufferings, labors~ and di~culties, inseparable from these evangelical works. Dit~cult Journe~t " Wherefore, that no one may be deceived on this point, "I will show him how much he musi suffer here for the name of Jesus" (cf. Acts 9: 16). True, the t.wo who came last, Fathers Mercier and Pijart, did not have as much hard-ship on their journey as we who came up the year before. They did not paddle; their men were not sick, as ours were; the.y did not have to carry heavy loads. Still, no matter how easy the trip with the savages may be, there is always enough to greatlydiscourage a heart not.well mortified. The readiness of the savages does not shorten the road, nor smooth bver the rocks, nor remove dangers. No matter with whom you may be, you must expect to be at the very least three or four weeks on the way, to have as compan-ions persons you have never seen before, and to be cramped rather Uncomfortably in a bark canoe, with no freedom to turn this way or that, in peril fifty times a day of being 81 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Revieu~ [oc Religious upset or dashed upon the rocks. During the day the sun scorches you; at night you are likely to be a prey to mos-quitoes. You sometimes ascend five or six rapids a day, and in the evening you have for refreshment only a little corn crushed between two stones and cooked with ycery clear water. Your bed is the ground and often rough, uneven rocks. There is no shelter but the stars. And with all this--perpetual silence. If you are accidentally hurt, or if you fall sick, do not expect any help from these barbar-ians; for .whence could they get it? And if the sickness is dangerous and you are far from the villages, which are very scattered, I should not guarantee that they would not abandon y6u, if you could not follow them unassisted. When you reach the Hurons you will indeed find hearts full of charity: We will receive you with open arms as an angel from paradise; we will have all the good will in the world to do you good, but we are almost powerless to do it. We will receive you "in a hut so miserabIe that I do not think there is in France any by comparison so wretched that I might say: "That is how you will be lodged." ~Harassed and .tired as you will .be, we can give you only a poor mat, or at most a skin for your bed. And besides, you will arrive at a season ' when miserable little insects, which We call taoul~ac here, but "fleas" in straight French, will keep you for almost entire nights from dosing your eyes, for in these parts they are incomparably more bothersome than in France. The dust of the cabin breeds them; the sa3~ages bring them to us; w.e get them in their dwellings. And this petty martyrdom, not to speak of.mosquitoes, sandflies, ahd other like. vermin, continues usually through the three or four summer months. Instead of being the great professor and learned .tl~eo-logian y6u were in France, you must reckon on being here a humble little school-boy, and, good God! .with. what 82 March, 1944 BRI~BEUF ON MISSIONARY VOCATIONS teachers!--women, small children, 'and all the savages-- and exposed to their laughter! The Huron language will be your .Saint Thomas and your Aristotle.; and clever man that you are, and glib speaker among learned and talented persons, you must make up your mind to be for a long time mute among these barbarians. You will have achieved much if, after a considerable time, you begin to stammer a little. Trials and Dangers oI Mission Life And then, how do you think you are going to spend the ¯ winter here? Having h~ard of all that is endured in winter-ing among the Montagnets savages, I can say that it is almost the li~e we lead here among the Hurons. I say it without exaggeration: the five or six months of winter are spent amid almost.continual discomforts~xtreme co!d, . smoke, and the importunity of the savages. We have a cabin built of simple bark, but so well jointed that we have to go outside to learn what the weather is. Th~ smoke is very often so thick, so acrid, and so persistent that, for five or six days at a time, if you are not entirely used to it, about all you can do is to make out a few lines in your breviary. Besides, from morning until night, our fireplace is almost always beset with savages---~:ertainly, they sel-dom fail to be there at mealtimes. If yOu happen to have anything more than usual, no matter how little it may be, youmust reckon on most.of these gentlemen as your guests; if you do not share it with them, you will be considered mean.As regards tl4e food, it is not so bad, though we usually content ourselves with a little corn, a piece of dried smoked fish, and some'fruits, about which I shall speak further on. Up to now we have considered only the roses. As we have Christians in almost all the villages, we must count 83 AUGUSTINE KLAAS on making the rounds of them at all seasons of the year and of remaining there, according to necessity, for two or three whole weeks, amid indescribable hardships. -Add to. all this, our lives~depend upon a. single thread. If, wherever we are in the world, we are to expect death every hour and to be always prepared for it, this is particularly the case here. For, not to mention that your cabin is like straw and, despite all your care to prevent accidents, may catch fire at any moment, the malice of the savages gives, you cause for constant fear on this point. A malcontent may burn you down or split your head open in some lonely spot. Then, too, you are responsible with your life .for the sterility or fecundity of the earth, You are the cause of droughts. If y6u cannot make it rain,, they talk of nothing less than doing away with you. Moreover, I need only mention the danger there is from our enemies. Suffice it to say that, on the thirteenth of this last month of 3une, they killed twe!vi~ of our Hurons near the village ofContarrea, only a day's journey from us. A short time before, at four leagues from our village, some Iroquois were discovered in the fields in ambush, onl~r .waiting to strike a death-blow at some passer-by. This nation is very timid; they take no precautions; they are not careful to prepare arms or to inclose their villages .with pali-sades. Their usual recourse, e.specially when the en.emy is strong, is flight. Amid these alarms, which affect the whole country, I leave you to imagine if we have any grounds for security. However, if wehad here the exterior, attractions of piety, as in France, all this might still be put up with: In France the large number and the good example-of Chris-tians, the solemnity of the feasts, and the majesty of the ~churches so exquisitely adorned, all preach piety to you. And in our houses, the fervor of our brethren, their mod- 8~ March, 1944 BRgZBEUF ON MISSIONARY VOCATIONS esty, and the noble virtues that shine forth in all their actions--the~e are so many powerful voices which cease-lessly cry out to .you: "Look, and do thou also in like man-ner" (cf. Luke 10:37). You have the consolation of saying Holy Mass every day. In a word, you are almost beyond the danger of falling--at, least the falls are insig-nificant and you have help immediately at hand. Here we have nothing., it seems, which invites to good; ¯ we are among peoples who are astonished when you speak to them of God and who often have only horrible blas-phe~ nies in their mouths. Frequently you will be com-pelled to deprive yourself of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: and, when you have the chance to say Mass, a little corner in your cabin will be your chapel, and even if you had the means, the smoke, the snow, and the rain would hinder you from decorating and embellishing.it. I pass o_.v.er the little opportunity for privacy there is among barbarians, who almost never leave you alone and who hardly know what it is to speak quietly. Above all, i do not dare to speak of the danger there is of ruining oneself among their impurities, in th~ case of any one whose heart is not suffi-ciently full of God to firmly repel this poison. But enough of this; the rest can be known only by experience. "But is that all?" some one will say. "Do you think that by your arguments you haVe thrown water on the fire which consumes me, and hhve lessened ever so little the zeal I have for the conversion of these nations? I say that these things have served Only to confirm me the more in my vocation. I feel more affection than ever for New Frange. I bear a holy jealousy towards those Who are alr, eady 'enduring all these sufferings. All ~hese labors seem to me nothing, in comparison with what I should like to endure for God. If I knew a place under heaven where one could suffer yet more,:I would go there." ~ 85 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reo~eu2 for "Reli#ious The Briofit Side Ah! whoever you are,.to whom God gives these senti- :ments and this light, come, come, my dear brother, it is workers such as you that we ask for here; it is to souls like yours that God has decreed the conquest of. so many others whom the devil holds even now in his power. Fear no hardships; there will be none for you, since your whole consolation is to see yourself crucified with the Son of God. Silence will be sweet to you, since you have learned to corn- ¯ mune with God and to converse in heaven with the saints and angels: The victuals would be insipid indeed, if the gall tasted by our Lord ,did not make them sweeter and more savory to you than the most delicious viands in thd world. What a satisfaction to ascend these rapids and to climb these rocks for him who has before his eyes that loving Savior, wracked with torments and ascending Cal-vary laden with His cross. The discomfort .of the canoe is very easy to endure for him who thinks of the Crucified. What a consolation--for I must use such language to please youmwhat a consolation, then, to see oneself even abandoned on the road by the savages, languishing with sickness, or .dying of hunger in the woods, and still being able" to say to God: "My God, it is to do Your holy will that I am-reduced to the condition in which You see me," and to consider above all. the God-man" dying on the cross and crying out to his Father: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?." (Matthew 27.:46). If God preserves you in health amid all these hardships, without a do.ubt you will arrive pleasantly in the Huron c~ountry with these holy. thoughts. "He sails pleasantly, whom the grace of God carries along." Now, as regards shelter, food, and bed--shall I dare to say to a hea'rt so generous and disdainful of all that I have. already said on this point, that, although we are hardly in '86 ,Marcia, 1944 BRI~BEUb ON MISSIONARY VOCATIONS a~better position than the kavages, still, in some unknown way, the Divine Goodness makes every difficult thing easy, and each and all of us find everything filmost the same as in France. The sleep we.get lying on our mats seems to us as" sweet as if we were in a goo~l bed; the native food does not disgust us, although there is scarcely any other seasoning than that which God has put into it. No~withstanding t-h~ cold of a six months' winter "spent in the shelter of a bark cabin, open to the daylight, we have.yet to' experience its evil effects; no one~ complains of his head or stomach; we do not know what diarrhea, colds, and catarrh mean. This ¯ leads me to say that delicate persons in France do not know bow to protect themselves from the cold. Those rooms so well carpeted, those doors so well fitted, and those windows closed so care.full);, serve only. to make its effects more keenly felt. It is an enemy from whom one wins almost more by proffering him one's hand than by waging a cruel" ~var against him. As for our food, I ~hall say this, that God has shown us clearly a very special providence: we have secured within a .week our pro.vision of corn for the whole year, without taking a ~ingle step beyond our cabin. Dried fish has been brought to us in such quantities that we are compelled to refuse some of it and to say that we have sufficient. You might say that God, seeing that we are here for His service, wishes~Himself to act as our provider, in order that we may labo.ronly for Him. This same Goodness takes care to give. us from time to time a change of provisions in the form of fresh fish. We areon the shore of a large lake, which affords as good fish as .I have ever seen or eaten in Frfince. It is true, however, aS I have mentioned, that we do not ordi-narily procure them, and still less do we get meat, which is even more rarely seen here. , Even fruits, in season, are not lacking to us, provided 87 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoiew [or Religious the year be somewhat factorable. Stra~cberries, raspberries, and blackberries are to be found in almost incredible quan-tities. We gather plentyof grapes, which are .fairly good; the squashes last sometimes four or five months, and they are so abundant that they are to be had almost for nothing, and .so good that, on being cooked in the ashes, they are eaten, as apples are in France. C0nsequently, totell the truth, as regards provisions, the change from France isnot very great. The only grain of the country is a sufficient nourishment, when one is somewhat accustomed to it. The savages prepare .it in more. than twenty ways and ye, t employ only fire and water; it is true that its best ~auce is - that contained in it. Spiritual Advant.ages As for the dangers Of the soul, .to speak frankly,-there are none'for him who brings to the Huron country the-fear and love of Godl On the contrary, I find here unequalled opportunities for acquiring perfection. Is it, no( a great deal to have in your food, clothing, and bed, no other. attraction than simple necessity? Is it not a glorious oppor-tunity to unite yourself with God, when there is at hand no creature whatever to which you can possibly become attached, and when the spiritual exercises you perform con-strain you without effort to inward meditation? Besides your spiritual exercises, you have no other task than the_ study of the language and conversation with the savages. Ab! h6w much pleasure there is for a heart devoted to God " to become the pupil of a savage and of a little child, in order to win them afterwards for God and make them disciples of our Lord! How willingly and liberally God commuiai- -rates Himself to a soul which practises out of love for Him these heroic acts of humility! The words he learns are so many treasures he amasses, so many spoils he carries off 88 March, 19 4 4 BRI~BEUF ON MISSIONARY VOCATIO,NS from the common enemy of the human race; so that he has /eason to say a hundred times'a day: "I will rejoice at thy ~vord.s, as one that hath found great spoil" (Psalms 118: 162). ,Viewed in this light, the visits of the s.avages,, h.owever frequent, cannot annoy him. God teaches him the beau-tiful lesson he once taught Saint Catherine of Sienna, to make of his heart a chamber and a temple for Him, where he will never fail t~o find Him, as often as he withdraws.to it. And if h~ encounters savages there, . they do not inter-fere with his prayers; they serve only to make them more. fervent, and from. this he takes occasion to present these poor wretches to His sovereign Goodness, and to beseech Him earnestly for their conversion. Certainly we have not. here that exterior solemnity which awakens and sustains devotion. We see only the sub-stance of our religion, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, to Whose marvels faith must open our eyes, aided by no sensible mark of Its grandeur, just as in the case .of the Magi in the stable. Nevertheless, it seems that God, supplying for what we lack. and recompensing us for the favor bestowed on us of carrying It, so to speak, beyond ~o many seas, and of finding a.place for It in these wretched cabins, wishes to confer the same blessings on us. which He is wont to confer on persecuted CatholiCs in heretical countries, These good people.scarcely ever see either a church or an alfar, but the little.they see is worth double what, they would see, were they entirely free. You can imagine what consolation there is in prostrating ourselves at times before a cross in the midst of this barbarism, and, engaged in our petty domestic tasks, in turning our eyes towards and entering into the place which the Son of God has been pleased to take in our little dwe!ling. Not to be separated from this Well-.Beloved of the nations, except by a little 89 AUGUSTINE KL'AAS Re(~iew for Reli~lious bark or tree branch, is it not to be in paradise day and night? "Behold he standeth behind our wall" (Canticles 2:9). "I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired': (Canticles 2:3). SQ much fo~. the interior. If we go outside our cabin, heaven is open to us, and those great buildings which lift their heads to the clouds in large cities, do not conceal it from our view; so that we can say our prayers with com-plete abandon in that grand oratory, which Saint Francis Xavier loved more than any other. With regard to ,the fundamental virtues,~ I will glory, no~ in myself, but in the lot which has fallen to me. Or if I must humbly acknowledge it at the foot of the cross, which our Lord in His grace gives us to carry after Him, certainly this country, or ~ourwork here, is much more suited to feed a soul with the fruits of heaven than with those of earth. I may be mistaken, but Ithink that there is here a spli~ndid means for advancing in faith, hope, and charity. Are we t0sow the seeds of the Faith here, and not ourselves profit by it? Could we put our trust in anyone but God in a region where,, on th~ human side, everything is lacking? Cbuld we want a fine~ opportunity to exercise charity than there is amid the roughness and discomfort of a new world, where no human aft'or industry has y~t pro- Vided any conveniences? is there a. better occasion for prac-tising charity .t'han by living here in order to bring back to God men who are so unlike men that we must live in daily expectation of dying by their hands, should the fancy take them, should a dream suggest it to them,.or should we fail to open or close the heavens at will, giving them rain or fine weather a~ command. Do they not make us responsible for the state of the weather? And if God does not inspire us. or if we cannot work miracles of faith, are we not con-tinua~ ly in danger of seeing them, as they have threatened 9O March, ~1944 BR~BEUF ON MISSIONARY VOCATIONS to do, fall upon us who have done no harm? Indeed, if He who is Truth itself had ~not declared that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life really and once for all for one's friends, I should deem it a thing equally nobl.e, or even more so, to do what the Apostle said to the Corinthians (I, 15:31): "I die dai.ly, I protest by. your glory, brethren, wh'ich I have in Christ, Jesus our Lord"-~-that is,-to d[ag out a miserable life amid the fre-quent and daily perils of an unforeseen death, which those whom you are trying to sa;ce will procure for you. I some-times call to mind what Saint Francis Xavier once wrote to Father Simon, and wish tl:iat it mhy please God so to act that at least the same may be said or written one day even of us, although we may not be worthy of it. Here are his words: "'Excellent news comes from the Motucbas, namely, dohn Beira and his companions are laboring amid the [Treat-est l~ardships and continual danger of death, to the great increase of the Christian religion.'" . About Chastity, in Particular There seems to be one thing here which might cause ¯ apprehension in a son of the Society, that is, to see himself in the midst of a brutal and sensual people, whose example, unless special precaution is taken, might tarnish the luster of the most and the least delicate of all the virtues--I mean chastity. Inorder to obviate this difficulty, I make bold to say that, if there is any place in the world where this virtue so precious is safe, for a man who wills tO be on his guard, it is here. "Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it" .(Psalms 126: 1). "I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to .know whose gift it was" (Wisdom 8:21 ). They say that the victories won by~ this .91 AUGUSTINE KLAAS ¯ Review I:O? ~Reli~tious daughter of heaven over her enemies are .won by flight. But I believe it is God and no one else.,who, in the most severe encounters, puts to flight this same enemy before those, who, fearing nothing so much as his approaches, go where His g!ory calls them, humbly and with hearts full of confidence in His goodness. And where are we to seek this glory of His? I should say, rather, where find it more purified and freed from our own interests than in a place where there is nothing to hope for other than the reward of ¯ having left all for the love of Him of whom Saint Paul said: "I know whom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12). You remember that plant called "the fear of God," with which it is said our Fathers at the beginning of our Society charmed away the spirit of impurity. ¯ It does not grow.in the land of the Hurons, but it falls her~ abundantly from Heax~en, if one is only a little careful to foster what he brings here Barbarism, ignorance, poverty, and misery, which ren-der the life of these savages more deplorable than death, are a constant reminder to us to mourn Adam's fall,, and to submit ourselves entirely to Him who, after so many cen, turies, still cbastizes disobedience in His children in so remarkable a way. Saint Theresa said once that she never made better meditations thi~n in those mysteries where she found our Lord apart and alone--as though she had been present in the Garden of. Olives--and she called this a sample of her simplicity. You may reckon this among my follies, if you like, but it seems to me that we have here go much the more leisure to caress, so to speak, and to enter-tain our Lord with open heart in the midst of these unin-habited lands, because there are so few people who trouble themselves about Him. -And on account of this favor we can say boldly "I will f~ar noevils, for thou art with me" (Psalms 22:4). 92 March, 1944 BR~BEUF ON MISSIONAR'/ VOCATIONS In short, I i.magine that all the guardian angels of these uncivilized and abandoned nations are continually endeav-oring and striving to save us from these dangers. They know well that if there is anything in the world that ought to give us ~¢ings to fly back whence we came both by obedi-ence and by our own inclination, it would be this misfor-tune, were we not shielded from it by the protection of 'heaven. This is what urges them to prqcure for us the means to guard, against it, that they may not lose the brightest hope they have ever had through the grace Of God, of the conversion of these peoples. I close this discourse and this chapter with the fol-lowing words. If at sight of the difficulties and crosses that are here prepared for us, some one feels himself so strengthened from above that he can say it is too little, or like Saint Francis Xavier "amplius, amplius" ("more, more"), I hope that our Lord, in the midst of the consola-tions which He will give him, will also. draw from his lips another admission, namely, that the consolation is too much for him and that he cannot endure more. "It is enough, Lord, it is enough." OUR CONTRIBUTORS ARNOLD J. BENEDETTO is a student of Theology at"St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. AUGUSTINE KLA^S, Professor of Sacramental Theology at St. Mary's. made special studi~s in Ascetical Theology. PATRICK M. REGAN, Pro-fessor of Apologetics at St. M~ry's, is the author of a previous article on Se_lf-knowledge. JOHN E. COOC~N, a professor at the University of Detroit, has written much on social questions, and will be remembered by our readers for his~ articles on Spiritual Direction. G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD will be remembered particularly for his very "original" article on Hygienic Mortification that appeared in the first number of this review. 93 What: Is Your Predominant:.Tendency? Patrick M. Regan, S.J.~ 441"='EW things better reveal a man than zealous and *"=| persistent efforts to decrease his handicap. That profound and ancient maxim 'know thyself' might be inscribed on the portal of every GoTf Club. He who would attain self-knowledge should frequent the links. If one seriously attempts the task, one will find oneself in golf." Thus writes Arnold Haultain in :his book, The M~jster~t of Golf. '~Know thyself; frequent the links: attempt the task seriously"--these might be styled the ascetical principles of golf. Religious will be quick to see that, routatis mutandis, these principles also express the asceticism of the spiritual life. "Know thyself" would not be out of place on the portal of the religious house. "Frequent the chapel" is excellent advice at all times. "Attempt )our task seriously" is always necessary for the follower of Christ. Such thoughts are a fitting prelude to the study of the predomi-nant tendency, which, in the language of the author cited, is our "handicap" in the spiritual life. In a former article ("Self-knowledge" in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, II, 223), we stated: "Many spiritual writers maintain there is one evil tendency that predominates, bne at the root of most of our .defects and imperfections; that, if we work diligently at controlling this one, we need scarcely expe~id any time.or energy on the rest." The present article will furnish meth-ods and suggestions for determining this predominant tendency. According to many .spiritual writers, everyone is apt 94 WHAT IS YOUR PREDOMINANT TENDENCY?" to discover his predominant tendency among the seven prin- . cipal tendencies to evil, the capital sins, as they are called. Hence it will be helpful at the very outset to make a study of these tendencies, together with opposite virtuds. The following definitions and explanations will greatly clarify our ideas. Pride is ihe exaggerated esteem of self. The evils that spring from pride are: stubbornness, rebellion and independence manifested towards those over us: contempt, harshness and abuse towards tl~ose subject to us: conceit, touchiness, vanity, arrogance, impudence, boasting, striving to magnify one's own importance. Laudable pride is the esteem of one's dignil~y as being Wholly. due to God's free gift. "My soul magnifies the Lord and .my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46). Such pride is. ordinate, for joy at success is permissible provided it be so controlled that' it preserves the correct evaluation of self. Humility is a true estimate of s~lf, of talents possessed, together with acknowledgement of lack of talents. Through humility we recognize that we are creatures of God and hence subjec~ to Him; that our bad qualities counterbalance the good that is in us:. that many others surpass us in various accomplishments; that our .talert~s are G~d's free gift~ rather than our own achievement. Avar;ee (Covetousness).is the indulgence of d~slre forthings we may not possess in present circumstances, at least not Without sin or imperfection. Avaiice leads to: violations of .the vow o~ poverty, discontent, unhappiness, dullness of soul towards spiritual things. In a religious it often involves hankering for trifles to give to friends or to retain fo~: ond's own comfort. Conte.ntment is satisfaction with wl~at, we have or with being poor with Christ. Liberality is readiness to share with others, especially with Christ's poor. En~--bitterness towards those we judge superior to us in talents and advantages. It brings such evils as: dislike, hatred, malice; desire 't.o'deprive those we envy of their advantage or to, injure them. Like pride this tendency springs from the intellectual side of our nature. But whereas pride inflates self, giving a.sort of satisfaction, envy emphasizes shortcomings and lack of talent, making us miserable 95 PATRICK M. REGAN Ret~ieto for Religious with consuming bate. Religious are especially exposed to this tend-ency because they.observe a whole array of excellent, even brilliant, accompl!shments and achievements in their brethren. Beneuolence is good will towards othdrs by which we rejoi.ce over their success, or at least resist bitter feelings aroused by e.nvy. Anger is a hot, strong feeling against somebody or something that displeases us, driving us to destroy or injure them. Anger leads to quarreling, fighting, violence; also to hatred, revenge, and bitter talk against people aiad things; to ill-temper and disagreeableness. Gentleness (Meekness or Patience) controls angry feelings, deters from harshness, calmly endures what.displeases, thus conditioning the soul to restrain the burst of anger. Controlling an irascible nature had" much to do with sanctifying St. Andrew Bobola and has sanctified many another to a lesser degree. The same is necessary to sdme extent for ivory religious. Lusf is the desire for sexual pleasure, urging to indulgence not per.- mitred Us. Evils consequent on lust are: immodest thoughts, imagina- ¯ tions, and actions by oneself or with. others; also the tempting of others to the s~ime sin. Lust closes the mind to higher things, destroy-ing the attraction of spiritual realities. A word of warning is here in place. This tendency is so obtrusive, even when not extraordinarily stro.ng~ that one might easily be led to mistake it for the predominant tendency. Hence mature d~liberation is needed before anysuch con-clusion is re.ached. Chastity is control of the desire for sexual pleasure, avoiding every indulgence of it in thought, word, or deed contrary to God's plan in matters of sex. Religious by their vow of chastity have relinquished all right to marriage and its privileges. Hence absolute control of this appetite is obligatory on them in allcircumstances. "GluH'ony is excessive indulgence, of the pleasure of eating and drinking. Iri religious it usually assumes a milder form, ~uch as inor-dinate interest in food, over-anxiety about quantity/ and quality, crlticism of the meals and the cook, an ill-controlled appetite for cer-tain foods.' Excessive indulgence in food results in ill health, laziness, andsensuality. Excessive drinking is apt to lead to a strong.inclina-tion to lust, anger and quarreling. Both forms of gluttony are debasing and cause distaste for everything' worthy of man. Sobriety (Moderation, Temperance, Abstemiousness) consists in retricting one's food and drink to. the needs of health. For religious. 96 "March, "I 944 WHAT IS YOUR PREDOMINANT TENDENCY? some self-abnegation in food and drink is a matter of daily practice. $lo÷h (Laziness) is a slow, heavy habit of. body or mind, shrinking from effort and cultivating idle ease and comfort. Its'consequent evils are: neglect of duty, shirking the unpleasant and troublesome, listless-ness. Idleness leaves the mind open to evil thoughts and desires, and excites temptations to gluttony and lust.: Diligence (Industry) is an instant and constant"fidelity to duty, an eagerness for work. Religious, lacking ihe stern sanction, "work or starve,".can easily fail in dilig.ence, especially in spiritual exercises. Hence" for them. diligence involves zeal for God's glory and the salva-tion of souls. ~ Elimination - Though we may understand perfectly the nature 6f these various tendencies described above, the problem still remains; which one predominates in our souls? A check of the list just giv.en will show us immediately which tend-encies do not hold sway in our soul~. By this simple pro-cedure some individuals have succeeded in eliminating all but the ohe ruling tendency, ' though it must be confessed that this is rather the extraordinary occurrence. As a mat-ter of fact. though, almost invariably five Of the seven can be eliminated even With this cursory examination. There remains then the task of determining which of the remain-ing two predominates. For. approaching this latter ta.sk, let it be noted here, readines~ to face the issue honestly.is the necessary disposi-tion of soul. For that matter, the same disposition is also needed at every point along the way. Hard as it is to admit deordination in our souls, it is still harder to admita ruling ¯ evil inclination. To be good-naturedly indolent is not half as bad as being under the complete .dictatorship Of sloth~ So we incline to deceive ourselves that it is not as bad as painted, .or that it is something else not, quit.e so humiliating. -We even surrender to Satan, allowing him to take over andblind us with his deceits. Courage, there- 97 PATRICK M. REGAN Reoieto for Rel~giotts fore, and honesty, together with a strong resolve to see the task through to ~ finish, are necessary in this quest that leads to self-knowledge. So~trces We begin our quest right in the depths of .our' own souls. Our search is for an outstanding inordinate motive behind our actions. For example, the desire to impress others may ever and relentlessly drive us forward to the various objectives we pursue. On the other hand, the same motive-may sometimes retard us or stop us completely as threatened-frustration drives us to seek an avenue of i~scape. Thus. the deflation of our self-esteem may turn us aside altogether from a praise'~'orthy undertaking.~ It is quite possible for such a relentless drive to exercise considerable dofiaiffation over us without our adverting to the fact. The reason is that We ordinarily observe only our surface acts without ever examining the underlying motive. If upon investigation our findings happen to coincide wi(h the examples just cited, then pride would be indicated as the driving force in our scheme of life and would be set down tentatively as the predominant tendency. We would then proceed to further examination to confi'rm our findings. ,Our next step would be to investigate whether it will explain, at least to a great extent, the deformities we find in our pattern of life. ¯ Hence we question ourselves whether~it explains the difficulties we have in dealing with our superiors, and with others witl~ whom we live or associate, whether it clarifies the reasons for the difficulties which others experience in dealing with us.; whether i~ sheds light on ~he problem of our failure to make progress in the spiritual life. 'If the answers to these various questions point back to the same predominant tendency, we can be quite certain our tenta- 98 March, 1944 WHAT IS YOUR PREDOMINANT TENDENCY? tive judgmentwa~ correct. As the work of self-examination goes forward, mbre and more evidence accumulates to increase this certitude. Aversions are excellent indicators of the virtues most needed~ A long-continued aversion for work tells us ever so plain.ly that we need frequent large doses of exhausting labor to build up the virtue of industry in our souls. Hence we ought to examine o~rselves in this matter of aversions. A simple and brief process it will be, since it is intended rather to confirm our previous findings. "Another help in this effort to unravel the mystery of self is to be more observant ofour thoughts and reactions,. even in unrestrained moments. On these occasions it is well to note what is uppermost in our minds. How often, for instance, all unconsciously, we are busy offering i~,zense to self as we give ourselves credit for being better religious than others, of having more brains, of working harder and accomplishing more. The thought that comes first to mind Oh awakening is significant, as is also the thought l~hat recurs most frequen,tly during the day. These are ungfarded moments in which nature is disarmed, stripped of self-deceit; henc~ like a candid child itcan be very ~elf-revealing. But put it on its good behavior in time of meditation, as it gazes on the meek and humble Christ, and the wolf will don sheep's clothing. How exemplary itwill make itself out to be, in its sweet humility and shining obedience. The final check of this search within our souls will be of our daily examens and our confessions. Getting back to that first motive that prompts our sins and faults will fur-nish new confirmatory light. We shall ~ind, for example, that.what on the surface was a flashof anger, at bottom was a manifestation of pride. Incidentally, with this new lightshed on our habitual faults and sins .we shall be able ~o take effective measures to guard against routine confes- 99 PATRICK M. REGAN Reuieto for Religious sions and to reap more abundant fruit from our reception" of this sacrament. Searching Abroad Besides examining within our souls, we must also ven-ture abroad seeking information concerning outselves. The judgments of others on our characters frequently offer revealing sidelights. For one thing there is less danger of their being prejudiced in our favor; hence, if they but will, they can tell with fair accuracy whether we are proud, or whatever it may be. Since accidental circumstances of time and place or of individual prejudice may falsify the judgment, the more trustworthy-opinion, is the one deduced from many testimonials extending over a long period of time. We gather thes~ by recalling what others said of our failings as children. Parents, family, teachers. companions, friends, playmates instinctively recognized outstanding traits, and in their dealings with us adapted themselves accordingly. Our present daily companions are also discerning of our main character weakness; nor do they always hesitate to tell us about it. Their manner of acting towards ui announces it; their joking remarks are often occasions for their pronouncing judgment on us. Nor- .must the advice of. our spiritual director be overlooked, since, if he knows and understands us, he can afford us .very superior help in our search abroad. Critics Disagree It sometimes happens that those we consult in our se,ar~ch abroad disagree in their opinions of us. A certain author gathered the criticisms of his book and found that it was good and bad, dull and entertaining, slow and swift; clumsy and graceful, strong and weak, a romance and a ser-mon, a drama and a tract. He concluded that, though 100 March, 1944 WHAT IS YOUR PREDOMINANT TENDENCY? critics always claim to be right, it was irfipossible for his book to be all these things. Shouldwe encounter the same rather exceptional experience, .we can console ourselves that nothing" of serious consequence is .lost; we have all the other means of self-knowledge still at our disposal. Ashing God rThe last and greatest help is prayer to the Holy Spirit ¯ for light. A strong conviction that we need divine help above all in this search is a powerful aid in this as in every spiritual undertaking. A short aspiration from the longer prayer of St. Augustine is quite appropriate: "Lord Jesus, may I come to know Thee, may I come to know myself." God "will gladly communic,ate, that knowledge, flooding otir souls with light as a reward of all our soul-searching. Humility, let it be n~ted again, is necessary, lest we be deaf to.every admonition, blind to every light, hardened against the love that corrects. God will be giving directions and inspirations about our predominant tendency, but without humility we shall ignore them. Confessors, retreat mas-ters, and others will be telling us ever so plainly of our besetting weakness, but we shall never heed unless, as we seek self-knowledge, we simultaneously grow~in humi~ity. Finally, salutary lessons in self-knowledge, to be gleaned from meditating on the example of Christ and the. saints, will never be learned unless the heart is hungering to know - self no matter what the~cost to that same. self. Godward Self-kn0wledge should lead us to God; otherwise it is not 0nly useless but even a great hindrance to our spiritual advancement. Well did St. Augustine pray: "Lord Jesus, may I dome to know Thee; may I come to know myself," In the foregoing explanations the demands of the subject 101 PATRICK M. REGAN made it necessary to focus attention on self-knowledge to ~he apparent exclusion of other phases of the spiritual life. This fact should .not betray us into putting too much emphasis on the need of.self-knowledge. We should also understand what true knowledge of self really is. A cita-- tidn from a former article on the subject (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1942) will make this clear. "Many are prejudiced against self-knowledge, even fear to undertake the task of acquiring it.; they misunderstand it. It is not to be .confused with morbid, introspection--that avid, uncontrolled interest in self which excludes all else and can be so harmful. No, the acquiring of self-knowledge pos-tulates not only looking inward, but also considerable looking outward to God, to our neighbor, and to our mod-els. the saints. Nor does the study of ~elf mean constant cold analysis of self, for the very reason that it can also be accomplished by noting the ~rirtues of others that impress us and reveal how much we fall short of perfect .design in our own lives. Self-analysis can be a considerable aid to self-knowledge but it does not lead to it infallibly. Some are expert at analyzing themselves, but their self-knowledge is mediocre; while'others have a deep knowledg~ of self, with very little power of self-analysis." As is evident, then, from the method suggested, the predominant tendency itself can be determined~ in a com-paratively~ short space of time, and with not too great diffi.- culty./ But the fruit of our examination we may re, ap all through life, developing for ourselves an intelligent, well-ordered, unified plan of lifeto meet our personal spiritual need and Weakness. This plan will be distinctive of our asceticism; it will assure us spedial'advantages in mounting GOdward. I02 A Suggest:ion ~rom !:he Fact:ory John E. Coogan, S.J. THE factory system, as is now. generally recognized, tended t6 dehumanize labor, making man almost a part of the machine. Little need was left him for intelligence; instead intelligence was "built into the machine." One great manufacturer .remarked, "Any one can work for me who has brains enough to hang up his hat." Even those workmen who had intelligence were often given no adequate opportunity to use it:" the .employer commonly thought of a workman as a "hand," at a time when even cattle were counted by the "head." "i~o stop this debasing of labor, Pius XI, in his encycli-ca!, "Reconstructing the Social Order," reminded employers that man is placed here on earth to develop and evolve all his faculties to the full, to the praise and glory of his Cre-ator. Hence, the Holy" Fathei: declared, "We deem it advis-able that the wage-contract shoul~d, when possible, be modified somewhat by a contract of partnership." Com-menting on these words, Father R. A. McGowan says the workman, in order to develop as ahuman being, should be given some voice in planning the general production policy of his industry, for thus "the soul of man, his will and mind, and his body can breathe more freely, and grow and develop in such work, whereas under any form of regimen-tion., his soul is .starved." If some such participation of subordinates in the planning of the operation of a business enterprise is so, necessary for their full development, it might well be asked whether we are as yet taking full. advantage of such par- 103 ,JOHN E, COOGAN Review for Religious ticipation in our rdigious communities. Among us the practice is of course used widely by a few, less widely by many. But are we even close to exhausting ~ts possibili- " ties? It is true that among us the need in general is not so extreme. Few of our religious are employed at tasks involving continuous mechanical repetition; hence their tasks usually give more opportunity for self-exp~ession and mental development than do the tasks of the ordinary industrial employe. But on the other 1-Jand our religious, because of their frequently superior abilities and education, are capable of a more notable self-exp~ession; hence they languish more if they lack the appropriate opportunities. Every man, the Pope said, is meant by God to develop alI " his faculties to the full. The whole man gives himself to God through the vows; and the whole man, with all his talents, be they one or five, should be used and brought to flower. Since those words of Plus XI urging employers to give their workmen a chance to .use their minds, many employ-ers have seen fit to give such men some share in the formu-lation of the production policies of management. The reason for this more generous policy need not have been that urged by Plus, for even from the standpoint of their own interests employers have cbme to see the wisdom of using more fully the talents of their workmen. It has occurred to them that "the average intelligence ,of the working force is higher .in the United States than in any other country, and native ingenuity, combined with intimate familiarity with processes, can not fail to produce ideas that may advantageously be adopted by the man-agement." This movement,looking to the increase of employe participation in solving the problems of industry has been developing for some years, but early in 1942 it w~is tre- 104 ¯ March, 1944 A SUGGESTION FROM THE FACTORY mendously accelerated when War Production Chief Don-ald Nelson asked that throughout the munitions industry labor-management committees be formed in the interest of increased production. He felt that the laborer's brain-power wa~ largely going, unused where, no positive and .systematic encouragementwas given him to place his sug-gestions before the management with an assurance that he ~vbuld get a respectful hearing, and for fruitful, suggestions a;suitable keward. Within fifteen months after Mr. Nel-son'sp~ 0posal at least 2,000 committees looking to such cooperative efforts Were formed. The result has been a gusher of employe ideas that has contributed heavily to the success of our war effort. In one .automobile plant alone a total of more than 116,000 ideas have been submitted, of which almost 20,000 have been accepted. "War bonds, ranging as high as $1,000 .in value, are awarded for the ideas and $660,895 has been paid out. during the 15-month period. Cash payments--currently are running better than ~ $90,000 monthly:' in that one auto plant. Many of the awards are going to young women still llttle more than novices at machine methods. One such "hand," working on a rifle barrel, promptly suggested an ingeniou~ change in boring thatbrought her a $1,000 award. Another devised a pencil-like tool for picking up small rivet washers, thu~ eliminating the tedious task of picking them up by hand and thus increasing her output. Another hit upon a clever arrangemeiat for telescoping a three-step job into one. '~ In One plant manufacturing cannon, a single machine was devised to take the place ~of ten. machihes, thus "reducing the time on a gun barrel operation from seventy-five'minutes to four.In another plant a worker's sugges-tion reduced the rifling of the barrel of an automatic cannon from three hours and twer;ty-five minutes to thirty minutes. 105 JOHN E. COOGAN Review for Religious ¯ In East Pittsburgh alone, in a single year, the' Westing-house Electric gave awards for more than 2,000 sugges-tions, the largest of these to a grandfather of sixty-two years. And thus the story goes. One device, designed in spare time from scrap mate'rials, has raised the output of certain army tank fire extin, guisher parts from 100 to 400 per eight-hour working shift. Another machine fhat bites off 400,000 rivets a day from spoo.ls of wire is .likewise the happy idea of afactory "hand." Among the first 500 sug-gestions submitted at Douglas Aircraft were enough good ideas tO producea saving of 2,000 man-hours per day. General Electric received more than 40,000: suggestions in ;i single year, 12,000 of these proving worthy of accept-ance. Such suggestions pouring in across the country.have iffsingle instancesmeant savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, one as much as five hundred thousand dollars in a single year: and this in addition to the many lives saved through speedingup our ~winning of the war. NO wonder, then, that the War Production Board has insti-tuted a system of merit awards, corresponding,to military decorations, for employes who devise means, of increasing or improving war production; these awards" to be in addi- ¯ tion to cash prizes and medals bestowed by employers themselves. The success of this encouragement of employe sugges-tions has been such as to guarantee the continued use of the scheme by intelligent industiialists "after the war., Thor-oughly discredited is the notion that. the workman is only a "hand." One great manufacturer has .predicted .that the .next .fifty years will see "the exploring of the unlimited possibilities of human beings workilag together for a corn- .mort cause ' through mutual understanding, respect, and teamwork." 106 ~- The success of this democri, tizing of industry is but an echo of the success that analogous efforts have long since met with at times in religion. It was in the interest of free-dom for the subordinate that St. Ignatius refu~ed to attempt to prescribe in detail for meeting contingencies that could be only dimly foreseen. "Cut your coat according to the cloth," was the extent of his direction in commissioning a subordinate. Ironclad~directions canonly make for inflexible, blind driving. Wise religious supe-riors have felt themsel~res fortunate at being able to borrow from the pruden.ce and variedexperience of their communi-ties. It is proverbial that those best fitted to govern are the most willing to be governed. In consequence of their -reluctance to rise above their fellows, they minimize their difference of status as much as is compatible.with discipline. Consequently they lend a ready ear to the well-meant sug-gestions of their subjects. Admirers of a more militarized religious discipline have demurred at such deference, feeling it somehow beneath the digni~y of superiors; it is for such that our~ remarks are mbst especially intended. They resemble a friend of New-man's, who felt the latter was being talked down to by an ,intellectual inferior. But the humble author of "Lead, Kindly Light," quietly replied: "'Ar~/or~e can lecture me, and I'll be grateful for it." Thus the large-minded, kindly superior sees no loss of dignity in tt~rning an interested ear to the last and least of the community. .Such ~ superior reflects that only the Holy Father is infallible, and even he only within limits. He knows too that many of the ablest minds in the Church have spent long lives in complete subjection; fortunate the superiors who were able to profit by their wisdom. Many, too, who were once in positions of authority, return with matured minds to the ranks; how valuable may the suggestions of 107 JOHN I~. I~OOGAN" Review for Religious these.be to even the most competent superior~ governing in the, awesome .place of Christ'and only. too. aware of his limitations~ . ~ ~ . ~ ." A Writer of conferences for priests tells t.he: story--v~e hope it is only :that,--of a pastorwho expressed his opinion of his. assistant and house-keeper in the. words, ~'I'm the only One around here-who has brains enough to commit a mortal sin.': That frame of mind will seem inconceivable to the true superior. It~means, for one thing, drawing the blinds against the light; it means poisoning the wells. ¯ In matters coficerned with the salvation and perfection Of immortal souls, there can never be too much light; the .wills dannot flow too clear and pure. If, as has been beau-tifully. said, "One soul' is 'enough for a diocese,"' then the gove.rnment of a religious community can use all the light and wisdom.that might be found in an entire ecumenical council. But readiness to listen to and encourage the suggestions of subjects insures much more than increased .light .in gov-ernment; it makes for more docile, loyal, cdntented, sub-jects: Knowing that their views have been treated with. respect, subjects obey. more promptly-and interiorly. Treated like adults, like adults they now obey. The per-s~ n of the superior is loved and deferred to; and, as St. Ig-natius reminds us, "It is easy to' obey where we-love'that which is.commanded." Gracious superiors thus make for gracious subjects; these subjects in turn are gracious to.their own cbarggs. The example.is fertile and its fruits increase. Another very worth-while result of such respect shown bysuperiors for the judgment of their subjects has been the latter's increased s,elf,respect. An eminent, holy English priest exclaimed some years ago, "Oh, the timidity of the virtuous.". Sometimes.one may wonder whether we do not inculcate in young religious diffidence in:place of humil- 108 March, 1944 A SUGGESTION FROM.THE FACTORY ity.Diffidenceisparalyzing, humility is clarifying. Diffi-dence salts, ~"I can-.do nothing"; humility says, ~"I can:diS all things in Him Who strengthens me.'.'. Sometimes young ¯ people .come to. religion who have. had. responsible pos.i~ tions in the world, and .yet by Vow-time they have hardly enough self-confidence left to pay.their wayon a street-tar. At an age when their companions in the world are managing, large .businesses, these religious tremble at making, the. simplest public appearance or at meeting a, stranger. ¯ Timidity is' not. an apostolic virtue; self-respect emphatically is. Self-respect is prope.r surely to an "Alter Cbristus" or to a "Sponsa Christi," and the deference of _ superiors to. subjects; even to the youngest, by which .that self~respect is built tip must be pleasing to.Christ. It is not enough, as the wise superior knows, that this deference .be shown only to a few.The last and least are most exposed to crippling diffidence and self-contempt~ and they espe.- cially should be encouraged. Even those inclined to be.less-than- loyal~ can be won through this deference; this of course is an essential part of the Boys Town method of Father Flanagan. It is a truism to say tha~ the superiors of tomorrow are the subjects of today. They are now presumably being trained for their high destiny. In.a democratic Order sub-jects can hardly be ~predestined for superiorships and .be given formal and specific training as such. A future Latin teacher may be prepared by courses in Latin, and so of the other branches of instruction. Obviously, future Superiors cannot be set apart and trained in this manner; something of the present system, of relying on Providence for their development must always remain true. But wise"supe~. riots will continue to lend Providence a hand by keeping close to their future successors, letting them see and feel andmwith due proportion--participate in government-in- 109 JOHN -action. ¯ The modern pedagogy is, "Learn.by doing"; and even in the matter of superiorship there is no other way. The experienced superiorfeels, as did the Baptist, "You ¯ must increase; I must decrease," in order that, when another generation must take the helm, it will, be prepared. A final advantage found resulting from the superior's respect for the judgment of the ~ubjects is.a great love of ¯ their vocation: "All good thin, gs have come to me together ¯ with her." Religious are enthusiastic inspirers of new .-recruits when they find supreme contentment in their, reli-gious home. On the.other hand, the attitude of the dis~ satisfied religious to prospective enlistments is, "Enter at your peril." And how could they promise a newcomer the joy they themselves have not found? How important, . then, is this encouragement of joy-in-vocation, as a means of gaining the vocations needed now especially in view of . their recent sharp decline. If religious subjects are encouraged to.a greater initia-' rive, they will quite naturally manifest a greater enthusiasm for the common cause. And here, perhaps, lies a danger. Enthusiasm tends to become insistent. Hence it might be well to remark inclosing that, even with the humblest superior, subjects must always be deferential. After all, it is the superior Who holds the place of God. And while suggestions from a subject may well be in order, not so his insistent demand. Nothing would so discredit a sug-gestion as its giver's failure in religious spirit; for "the wisdom of this world is folly before God." Intelligence is not enough; Satan has that in abundance. But the wise superior will know how to moderate the naturally impe,tu-ous without at the same time discouraging the timid; he will not "quench the smo.king flax." 110 Decisions orr Ho}y January II, 1~44: The Sacred Congregation of Rites, in the pres-ence of Pope Pius XII, approved the decree tuto in the cause for the canonization of Blessed Frances Xavier. Cabrini, foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. hll the prerequisites to h~r formal canonization are now completed. B~sides the cause of Blessed Mother Cabrini mentioned above, there are four other causes completed for canonization. They are those of Blessed Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort, founder of the Daughters of Wisdom and of the Company of Mary, who died in ¯ 1716; Blessed Joan-Elizabeth ,Bichier des Ages, cofounder of the Daughters of the Cross, who died in 1838; Blessed Bernardino Rea-lini, Jesuit orator who died in 1616; and,~ Blessed John Peter de Britto, Jesuit missionary ~vho was martyred in India. in 169,3. Five causes .for beatification have also been compl~ted: those of Ven. Contardo. Ferrini, professor of RomanLaw in various Italian universities, who died in .1903; Ven. Mother Joanna Delanoue, foundress of the Sisters 6f St. Anne of Providence, who died in' 1.736~; Ven. Mother Gioachima de Vedruna de Mas, foundress Of ~he Carmel-ites of Charity,. who died in 1854; Ven, Vicenta Maria Lopez Vicuna, fouhdress of the Spanish Institute. of the Daughters of Mary !mm]lculate, who died in 1'890: and Ven. Alice LeClerc, foundress of the Institute of Our Lady,. who died in 1622. August 18, 1943: The Sacred Penitentiary published a decree an-nouncing that Pope Plus XII granted the following indulgences for saying the prayer, "Lord, save us: we perish": (I) A partial indulgence of 500 days to all who say, the prayer 'with contrite heart. (2) A plenary indulgence, under, the Usual conditions, to all who say the aspiration daily for a full month. .° SOME year's ago, before the Legion of Decency made its influence felt, it was said that the rule in Hollyw.ood was, "The 'badder,' the better!"--that is, the-worse the moral tefidency Of. a. cinema, the more Profitable it was. Whether that statement was true or not, the expression lends itselfto another more wholesome interpretatio~i. In.many cases it is.very dear ~hat.,the worse a thing0is in one respect, the better it is in others. Thus, the harder the examination, the:greater' the satisfaction of the student .-after be'has passed, it. Thelonge~ the workingman's toil, the.higher his pay, especially if it be at the rate of time and a half. The more serious the peri!.that a soldier or sailor .faces successfully, the more honorable the medal or cross . "that he will receive. What is true in life generally is true. particularly in the moral and spirituallife. ¯ The greater a man's trials, the holier and happier he can become. Two classes of people especially could profit by filling their souls with the conviction and persuasion that the :: "badd'er".a thing is from.certain points of.view, thebetter :.,it is from others. Evidently it would be a Source of solace. .and strength to all who are suffering to Se~ that the v~iSrse ¯ "! their plight may seem, to b.e., the'.better 'it :really is,. when considered from the divihe point o.f ,view and in the light of eternity. Again, there are always some strong and vigorous persons who are looking for the shortest and straightest, though it be also the steepest and hardest, path up the mountain of sanctity. Both those who are over- .112 "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER" taken with misfortune and those who are.seeking thebest short cut to high holiness should find it advantageous to consider the truths implied in the words "the 'badder,' the better!" And any sensible person who finds that he has to put up with something that is not to his tastemay well be pleased to discover a means of making the best of a bad situation. Pain in the Christian Economy In God's original and preferred plan for man there was no place for pain. Everything was to be p!easant. But since Adam and Eve and all sinners after them have wrongly and perversely sought pleasure, though in itself it is no evil, it is central in the.whole order of providence sub- - sequent to the fall that there should be pain and suffering, and that the happiness of man should be looked for and achieved very largely through them. Man's guilt in tasting forbiddefl pleasure and the unbalanced tendency of his-nature toward pleasiare were to be remedied through pain. Disorder, once introduced into human life, naturally works itself out in difficulty and distress, if not disaster. But it is the merciful and marvelous plan of God that we should convert the consequences of disorder into means to a higher order, the effects of stupidity into helps to a more excellent wisdom, the results of malice into aids to a nobler goodness and sanctitiy. 0 felix culpa! Hence in the entire scheme of the Incarnation and redemption suffering gets a more prominent ~mphasis. It is a leading characteristic of Christ Himself, of His sorrowful Mother, of the Apostles, of all who have done much for the Church, of all who h~ve reached an outstanding degree of sanctity, and in fact of the whole Mystical Body of Christ. In view of the function and purpose of suffering in the whole of the present Chris-tian economy, it is not surprising that, certain necessary 113 (3. AUGUSTINE ELLARD' ¯ conditions being presupposed, the greater the pain, the greater the supernatural results that may be expected. However, pain of itself is not a good, but an evil (physical) ; not a value, but the very opposite, Hospitals, concentration camps, and the world in general are full of people in torment, and unfortunately many of them'do not become better by reason of their suffering; rather, they deteriorate. But pain, borne well, put to morally good ends, can and does occasion an immense amount of good. .The.infinitely wise and loving prbvidence of God sends or permits all.the evils that afflict us for definite good pur-poses, and indeed proportionate good purposes. His ¯ immediate aims are often obscure andindiscernible, but His ultimate and supreme ends we know very well, and the time wil! come when His whole plan will be clearly revealed ¯ to us. Whether or not we see His proximate intentions, we can realize them by prudently, applying His precepts and counsels to the facts of our situation. The wise and good man considers the evils that befall him as parts of the grand divine plan for the universe, reacts as God wishes that he should,.and thus wills and achieves the divine purposes, in this way he pleases God and satisfies himself, and 'also, since our destinies are all bound together, he helps others toward less discomfort and more comfort. Limitations The dictum "The 'bad&r,' the better!" is proposed as true generally, not absolutely and without limitations. If, for example, a man is losing his faculties and sinking into .the moral impotency .of dementia, coma, or death, then it would not be true in the sense in which it is taken here. Sufferirig--and how much there is of it!-~--that is the con-sequence of. one's own folly or fault is not of much use .until at least the error be corrected and good will re-estab- "114 March, 1944. "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER" lished. But then al! that is affirmed of the value of suffer-ing is verified. Difficulty may diminish, as well as increase," the moral worth of a good action; it may even completely prevent it from coming into being. Henceit is not corn: mended for its own sake: But if, other factors remaining equal, difficulty calls forth greater goodwill, then it will have the advantages that we are about to indicate. Nothing in these considerations would justify one in imprudently or presumptuously or morbidly seeking to make more trouble for oneself. suffering is like that Pain is an evil, and The rational, attitude to take toward of God Himself in His providence. therefore, except in view of propor-tionate good; to be avoided whenever possible. But,~ in the present state of things, it is also a necessary evil, and, what is more to the point for us, an evil from which intel-ligence and goodwill and effort can extract good. Hence the prudent man will take the ills of life, and, when inspired by the Holy. Ghost, even voluntarily inflict others upon himself--such as, for instance, fasting--in the spirit in which God Himself chastens and corrects His children and puts them upon their mettle. " These limitations being undeistood, we may consider in a simple and practical manner some of the salutary~ truths implied in the prindiple "The 'badder,' the better!" General Values ' In general, therefore; the greater the difficulty or dis-tress or dishonor, the greater.one's opportunity, by reacting ¯ appropriately, to exercise and perfect one's love for the Infinite Goodness of the Blessed -Trinity, to increase the divine glory, to. compensate for past deficiencies; to aug-ment one's own eternal beatitude, and to assist souls in the way of salvation and sanctification. In this sense, the worse a thing is in time, the betterit may be in its results in eter- 1:5 G~ AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review ~:or Religious .,nity. The more Unpleasant it is, humanly sigeaking, the more valuable it may be according to the divine standards of judgment. The Worse it is physically, the better it m'ay be morally and spiritually. The ~harper the pain, the greater the hope of enjoying keener pleasure in the future. The more narrowly pinching one's poverty, the greater the likelihood of amassing better and enduring riches in the h~reafter. The more heartbreaking the mental anguish, thet more exquisite the joys bf the reward that may b~ expected for bearing it well. The deeper a humiliation well borne, the more highly exalted the honor a man can look forward to before God and eventually before the wh~le human race. The harder the .temptation to struggle against, the more glorious the crown of justice that awaits the vic-tor. As creatures become less and less satisfactory, it Is easier to find satisfaction in the CreatOr. In prop6rtion as lovely persons or things of the world allure and beguile us less, the more apt we are to retain the right pe~spectixre and sense of proportion with r~ference to ~reatures and the Cre-ator. To sum up, the worse the evil that afflicts a person, 6f whatsoever nature it may be, thegreater and better the ~pfirposes of God in allowing it, for H~mself, for the suf-ferer, and for others. It is precisely toward the accomplish-ment of these aims, neither more nor less, that these reflec-tions are directed. Means to this Attitude. There are two great means Of truly making the ¯ ".badder" thing turn out to be the better thing. The first is to develop a deep, calm, whole-s0uled, pratical, conviction of these two facts: first, that God in His superior wisdom, benevolence, and power really is directing everything that touches us, including the sins and injustices of others toward us, to our own true and best good; and, secondly, 116 March, 1944 "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER" that the best possible thing that we can do for ourselves is to show our good sense and good w{11 by fully co-oper-ating with the operations of divine providence. When God's immediate aims are obscure, then ggeate~r faith and confidence are in order. God could of course give us better opportunities, but wd can never do better for ourselves than to make the most of the opportunties that He does give us. The Other great means is earnestly to cultivate, by serious reflection.and prayer, a true and just appreciation or evaluation of the excellence of the persons whose interests are concerned, and of the magnitude and multiplicity of those interests, in time and in eternity. Among the values suggested by the rule "The 'badder,' the better," the following may be noted. Special Values in the Present Difficulty or dist'ress is a present challerige to one's intelligence and goodwill. It is there to be overcome and vanquished: at least that is the magnanimous attitude toward it. ¯ It tends to provoke and evoke all that is best in a man, to put it to the test, to improve ~nd perfect it. The humble soul will not be presumptuous and overconfident in its own strength, but neither should it be diffident with regard to God. " 'For strength is made perfect in infir-mity.' Most gladly, then, will I rather boast of mine infir-mities, that so there may rest upon me the si:rength of Christ. Wherefore I am well content in infirmities, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in straitsnfor Christ's sake. For when I am Weak, then I am strong!" (II Corinthians 12:9, "10).1 It has always been considered one of the most remark-able manifestations of God's excellence" that He is wise and good and strong enough to.draw good out of every evil that aNew Testament texts in this article are cited from the Westminster Version. 117 AUGUSTINE ELI]ARD Reoieto ~o~ Religious occurs in His universe, and no doubt the w0~se the evil,:the greater the good must be. "We know that for them~that love God.He worketh all things together unto good,~ for them that are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). It is understood that those who love God are intel-ligent and virtuous enough to co-operate with Him. The Christian life was long ago defined as an imitation of God; and to be able to extract good out of evil, and greater goods out of greater evils, would be a mark of an excellent Chris-tian life. In increasing one's efforts to meet the challenge, one's own wisdom and goodness and power are perfected and made more and more like God's. Thus difficulty over-come or pain well borne gives one something of 'which to be supremely proud. "We. exult in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we exult.in our tribulations also, knowing ,that tribulation worketh endurance, and endurance experience, and experience hope: And hope doth not prove.false" (Romans 5:2-5). An aviator: who is trying to run up a high record of victories against enemy planes would seek out, rather than shun, dangerous encounters; so. the good man who would like to distinguish himself in the service of the Divine King would look upon-any hardship or surfeiting as so much opportunity to win glory for his Sdvereign and for him-self. The very best physici)ins and surgeons prefer the more difficult, the "more interesting," cases, because thus they have a chance to use and to improve their superior ~kill. They feelthe challenge and are glad to accept it. Many good people have moments when they regret that they do not, have more occasion to showthe magnanimity and heroism that are in them. To be consistent, they ought to acknowledge practically, when the time comes to put up with the unpleasant, that the worse it is, the greater the opportunity for which they have been looking. Since the 1'18 Marc& 1944 "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER" time of Aristotle, the difficult has been-considered to be in a peculiar way the province of art and virtue. St. Paul knew and welcomed the.challenge we speak of: "But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should make boast of aught save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14). With. Respect to Past Our principle contains most 'valuable lessons with respect to the past. Perhaps nothing discourages people more in their moral and spiritu.al lives than a past record which brings shame rather than pride. Even here these people have their chance. The worse they have been, the greater their need to make up for what they havelost, and hence the more welcome the opportunity to. effect that compensation. When one.has sinned, the sensible attitude to take Would seem to be: "Willy hilly, now I must suffer for it! The sooner it is Over, the more patient I am, the better!" The deeper one is in the red in his accounts with God, the more solicitous one should be about getting into the black again. A person who attacks his past in the spirit of "the 'badder,' the better!" Would have the optimism, ~lan, and force that go with taking the offensive. A little punishmer~t here may save one from much torment in, pur-gatory, and besides it has a positive value (merit), whereas that after death does not. The souls already undergoing the penalties of ptirgatory must have an overwhelming conviction that they would have done well to bethink themselves seriously and see the advantages of their disad-vantages, the comforts of theirdiscomforts~ ~nd the abili-ties of their disabilities. When a man sins or even omits the better alternative in a choice between two goods, God's antecedent plan for His own glory is to that extent frustrated. God would like 119 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Reliqious ~o see the loss made good, unless, 6f course,, it betoo late. In sending or permitting difficulty or tribulation, He intendsand hopes that it Will be used for that end: Thus again, the worse one's affliction, the better the chance it gives to satisfy God for past failures. ,Many devout people nowadays talk much about making reparation fo~ t.he injuries and insults that have been heaped upon the patient and-!ong-suffering FIe~art of 3esus. D0 they realize always that the better their patience in. all that is disagreeab!e, the fuller the measure in which they make that reparation? Other fervent, souls: would imitate St~ Paul and would make up in their "flesh :what is lacking to the sufferings of Christ, on behalf of his.b6dy, which fs the Church'~ (Colossians 1:24). The more and better they suffer, the less they will leave lacking to that Mystical Bgdy. For ~he Future ." But it is with reference to future values that :the rule :"'T.he 'bad&r,' the better!" is best verified. ,The most obvious advantage here is the merit of suffering well. The tiniest and most minuscule bit of discomfort, or dishonor borne meritoriously means an increase of grace: of.sancti-fying~ grace,".that, is, of higher participation in the nature and life of. the.Divinity; of the infused virtues and the,gifts ¯ of the Holy Spirit, that.is, of proximate principles of dei- ¯ form thought, volition, .and activity; of actual graces, that is;.o.f-salutary ideas,., impulses, and aids helping one to live .On:a~ higher plane of the rational and the diyine life; and finally; of a richer share in the . ineffable, beatitude of the most blessed Trinity in. heaveia .throughout the unending aeons of eternity. One's ability to behold: and contemplate .the,Infinite Truth, to love.th4 Infinite Goodness, to enjo.y ¯ .the.Infinite. Beauty, and to.rejoice in the company of: the Divine Persons and : of: .the .whole . celestial society, is pro- .t!20 March, l 9 4 4 ¯ " "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER'.' portionately augmented. God is glorified more," the quondam sufferer himself thrills with a more exquisite sense of the divine beatitude, and everybody else in that. blissful region is better pleased and more happy. And Goal repays sincere human effort£, not according to results, but according to a generous~cost-plus system. Meanwhile his own moral stature will be rising at an accelerated speed. Faith will be clarified,, hope fortified., ahdcharity intensified; prudence will become more sharply discerning, religion more devout, humility deeper, fortitude stronger, patience more enduring, and magnanimity greater. Really and consistently to face suffering with ,the disposi-tion "the worse, the better!" is no child's play, and if it be kept up in severe trials and over a protracted period' 6f time, the man who does it shows himself to be something of a hero. If personal sanctity is raised to higher,levels, then, other things being equal, one's efficiency and ability to.d0 God's work and to save souls will be increased also. General resolutions and offerings of self to God cast in some such form as this: "All that Thou Willest, O. God, and the harder, the better!" should prove to be more ¯ effectual. If in the crisis of temptation a person can exclaim ,"The harder, the better!" or, "The worse I have been, the better I am determined to be!" his chances Of coming of( ~he victor will be enhanced. . A JoyousAttitude Taking this view of the unpleasant makes it less unpleasant and more bearable. Evidently this attitude ig less pessimistic and more cheerful. Moreover, such a posi-tive and aggressive reaction,, besides conferring the advan-tages .of offensive strategy over the merely defensive, lessens pain, partly because of the consciousness" of .doing the nobler thing, and partly because a man suffers less when 121' G. AOGUSTINE ELLARD Review ~'or Rdigiotts ¯ he is active and not simply passive. Every football player and every soldier knows that while he" is in actual combat . minor hurts are not felt so keenly. The saying of the old Roman poet that it is sweet as.well as honorable to die for the fatherland, has received universal approbation. For a much stronger reason it ought to be sweet and consoling to suffer for God's sake, or for souls' ~sake, and that swee(ness should bear a proportion both to the loveliness of the Great Beloved and to the amount of evil endured. Everybody who has been in love knows well from experience that there is a certain satisfaction in demonstrating love by sacrifice. As a matter of fact, it can only be suggested, not at all adequately expressed, that in suffering in union witch ,Jesus crucified holy men and women have been thrilled with the most exquisite and indescribable delights. Not that they ceased to feel their agony; but with it, or after it, and by reason of it, they also felt the most rapturous and ecstatic joys. "For according as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so through Christ doth our comfort also abound" (II Corinthians 1:5); they who "for a while. h~i.ve beeia grieved somewhat by divers teHptations . . .~ exult with an unspeakable and glorified joy" (I Peter 1: 6-9). ¯ Moreover, heavier crosses have always been consid-ered a sign of divine predilection. To acquire the heroic attitude.toward suffering,.cert~iin. ardent souls will find themselves helped most by .such reflections as the following. Who is desus who suffered for me.? .What His dignity, goodness, lovableness? How worthy of being pleased even if He had never felt incon-venience because of me? How much didHe suffer for my sake? With what love, mercy, patience, and l'ong-suffering? Why did He suffer? What does He desire of me? With what right? How much-pleased would He be ifI.~hould suffer with Him? To.what extent could I.thus 122 March, 1944 "THE 'BADDER,' THE BETTER" help Him "accomplish His aims in enduring so much pain and humiliation and. such a death?' How much could I aid His Church and His cause with souls? .Would it gratify Christ to see me pr.efer.ring poverty, pain, and opprobrium, not of course for their own sake--that would be perverse-- but for His sake and to further His designs? Pertinent Prayers John of the Crossl-who taught, and in his own person illustrated the fact, that one who is destinedfor a very high degree of divine union, "of total transformation into God,:' must first undergo very severe and thoroughgoing purifications, was v~.ont to pray: "O God, to suffer and to be despised forThee!.". Before Teresa of Avila reached the summit of her myst.ical ascensions, she, Whose latter years ~vere one great battle with difficulty and distress of every sort, would exclaim: "O Lord, either to suffer or to die!" The Italian Carmelite, Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, outdid her: "O Lord let me suffer or let me die---or rather--let me live on that I may suffer mote!" But before the end Of Teresa's life, .when a furious st6rm of troubles was begin-ning to break over her head, she wrote to a less stouthearted confidant and collaborator:. "Let use make the :attempt, ¯ . . for the more we suffer, the better it Will be" (Walsh, Saint TereSa o[ Avila, 567). It would seem that anybody with faith and reason could pray: "O God, enable me through Thy grace to see ~11 that befalls mein the light.and setting of Tby wise and benevolent and pcwerfu[ providence, to realize practically that Thou makest all things, good and bad, to work together for the best interests of those who love Thee and react rightly, and. thus really and truly to achieve Tl~y beneficent, purposes; all this, out of love for the infinite, .eternal, and ineffable goodness of Thy most blessed Trin- 123 G.' AUGUSTINE ELLARD ity; out of zeal to co-operate with Thee in communicating that same goodness and Thy knowledge and Thy love of it; out-of eagerness to participate in the redemptive sufferings and work of. the God-man crucified; out of fear lest, being too. shortsighted and cowardly, I incur more grievous woes; and finally from a longing to share, and to bring others to share, in Thy own inexpressible and everlasting beatitude." All things considered, whatever is to be said of the theory of evil, the best practical philosophy of evil seems tO be found in the alliterative and ungrammatical oxy-moron: "The 'badder,' the better!" It provides a rational ¯ and Christian means of transforming negative, into posi-tive values, disorder into order, discomfort into comfort, and dishonor into honor. BOOKLET NOTICES Sp;rifual ChecI(-up for Religious, by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. A good booklet t:or occasional examination of conscience and for monthly" recollection. 32 pages. Single copies, 10 cents: 9 cents each in lots of 25; 8 c~nts each in lots of' 100. Published by: The Catechetlcal Gdild, St. Paul, Minnesota. Heart of Jesus. Our Consolatlon---Special devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the Sick and Afflicted. written and compiled bs' Clara M. Tiry. Contains a veritable treasury of devotions in honor of the Sacred Heart. 72 pages. Single copies, 15 cents: 4 copies for 50 cents: 8 copies for $1.00; cloth bound copies, "50 cents each. Published by: The Apostolate of Suffering, 1551 North 34th ~t., Milwaukee 8, Wisconsin. Good Samaritan Almanacman almanac forthe sick. 64 pages Single copies, 25 cents; 5 copies for $1.00. Published by: The Apostolate of Suffering. What Tho Mass Means, an explanatio~ of the prayers and ceremonies of the Mass, .by the Rev. Victor J. Hintgen. For study clubs. 92 pages. Single copies, 30 cents: redhction in pri~e for 6 or. more. Published by: Our Sunday Visitor Press, Hunt-ington, Indiana. Listens-It's God's Word, an introduction to the New Testament, by the Rev. '"Victor 3. Hintgen: For study clubs. 144 pages. Single cop!es, 30 cents; re~tuc-tion in price for 6 or.more. Published by~ Our Sunday Visitor Press. Modern Youth and Chastity, by Gerald Kelly, S.J. in collaboration with B, R. Fulkerson, S.3., and C. F. Whitford, $,J. Formerly published for restricted cir-i: ulation under the.title Chastity and Catholic Youth. 105 pages. Single copies, 25 cents; 12 copies, $2.70; 25 copies, $5.00;. 50 copies, $8.75: 100 copies, $17.50. Published by: The Queen's Work, 3742 West Pine Blvd. St. Louis 8, Missouri. 124 Concerning Voca!:ions The Editors ~a~JlTH this number of the REVIEW we. close our correspondence W on Vocations. Since we asked for communications on this subject (July, 1943) we have received a number of letters, suggestions~ leaflets, programs; and so forth. We give .he.re a brief account of the material sent us that has not yet been mentioned in the REVIEW. Booklet : Follbw Him, by Godfrey Poage, C.P., is a vocational booklet on the Sisterhoods. It is the companion .booklet to the boys' Follow Me (see REVIEWFOR RELIGIOUS; II, p. 385). It is an dxcellent piece 6f workmin explanation, pictures, and in its universal appeal.J~ll possible .communities are listed and briefly described. No favoritism is shown. This-. booklet is distributed.exclusively by the Thomas .More Book Shop, 22 West Moriroe St., Chicago 3, Illinois. Prices: single copies, .postpaid, 15 cents; 2 or more copies, 10 cents each; per hundred, $8.00. Programs. Father Poage sent us the Program for the Promotion of Voca-tions for use in the Archdiocese of Chicago during Vocation month. The essential points in the program.are of value, not merely during Vocation month, but all through the year. . . To deepen the spiritual life of the students ik the first objectiv~ of the Chicago program. This is to be done by prayer, more frequent Mass and Communion, and the cultivation of a spirit of sacrifice and ~enerosity. The program points out that we should ~train our youth more in the use of ejaculatory prayer, as there is a common misunder-standing that by "prayer" we mean long prayers such as the Rosary or the Stations. With regard to frequent Mass and Communion the suggestion is made that all too often boys and girls have the.f_alse notion that they must go to confession every time they, go to Com-munion; hence we should impress them with th~ truth that ,confes-sion is "necessary only after mortal sin. Thi,s, of course, does-not mean that we are not to teach our students ihe manifold advantages 125 THE EDITORS Review for Religious. of fre~quent c0nfessio~. It seems to us that the last point in the program--the cultivation of a spirit of generosity and sacrifice-- cannot bestressed too much. Today, in particular, all vocations-- not merely religious--require such a spirit; and only too often fail-ures in marriage, as well as in religion and the priesthood, must be attr~ibuted to sheer selfishness. To impart adequate instruction is the second.objective of ~he Chicago program. This. is to be done by allowing questions, by suggesting reading (especially of Follow Him and Follow Me), and by simple talks on such subjects as: The Signs of a Vocation; How to Overcome Ditticult.ies; The Apostolate' that Lies Open; and The Need of Generosity in Following the Promptings of Grace. The. Mission Helpers of the" Sacred Heart (West Joppa Road, Towson, Maryland). sent in this sample program for a Dag of Retreat made by the Our Lady of Good Counsel Club: i0:30: Assembly in Chapel, H~'mn, Prayer. ' 10:45: Is It for Me?--conference by a Sister. I 1 : 15 : Interviews, Visits to Chapel, Stations. 12:00: Lunch. 1:00: Rosary (on the grounds). 1:30: What Would It Mean?-:-cbnference by a Sister. 2:00: Interviews, Visits to Chapel, Stations. 3:30: Address--by a priest. ¯ 4: 15: Benediction. The re£reatants were urged to keep strict silence. Bdoks and pamphlets about various religious communities were placed at their 'disp6sal. An~l they were asked to make known iheir requests for any specifil literature beforethe opening of the retreat. Leaflets l~ather Thomas Bowdern, S.J., (The Creighton University, Omaha 2, Nebraska), once made a. nation-wide survey of those who followed vocations to the priesthood and the religious life during the y6ars i919-1929. He :has written several articles about his survey. and be now prints a 4opage leaflet giving some of the principal findings and a definite program for fo~teriiag vocations~ The leaflet is entitled A Study of Vocations. It may be obtained from Father Bowdern--~2 copies for 5 cents. Marcl~f 1944 . CONCERNING VOCATIONS The Sisters of the Good Shepherd i931 Blair Avenue, St. Paul 4, Minr~esota) sent us a very attractive leaflet, also a postcard folder containing 22 pictures, used to inform lik.ely candidates of the tre-mendous apostolate carried on by the Sisters. Communications Reverend Fathers : For many years while.traveling about the country as a missioner I have been absorbed in the problem of the dearth of vocations. Here are a few brief observations that may throw some additional light on the subject. ~ There is no foundation for the complaint that our Catholic . youth lack the spirit of sacrifice. The communities that have been overwhelmed with vocations are those which offer the greatest hard-ships. The newer communities attract in proportion many more voca-tions than the older established communities. Some of the former had more subjects than missions, while many of the latter had to refuse new missions for lack of subjects¯ Some may attribute this to-, their American foundation, while too many of the older communb ties were of "foreign" origin. Another factor that is Overlooked is pu'blicity.° Many of~- the older communities are forbidden by rule to u~e persuasion in seeking subjects. This has.been interpreted rigorously as forbidding adver-tising of any kind. .If the community in question is not established in the large Catholic centers, it can hardly expect to attract vocations' there. One cannot join a community unless one first knows of its existence. It is unreasonable to expect God to work. miracles to com-pensa. t.e for our neglect o~ human means readil~ ;ivailable. )~ simple attractive pampble't stating the origin arid purpose of the.community would merely make God's work known. More popular pamph!ets on the saints of the Order would also attract vocations. The new communities advertise. Too many of the older-communities are still unknown. Virtue will attract,.vocations. Let.me qu'ote from a letter of a young novice: "My thoughts and .~tesires were of One Whom I wished to serve, so naturally I observed those who were already serving Him, and seeing the goodness and happiness they seemed to display I was quite convinced . . . that the convent was my life'~ home.'~ On the other hand I could quote examples of otfiers who ¯ 127 THEI EDITORS Review for Religious had practically made up their minds to join ii certain community but were absolutely repelled from doing so because of the obvious lack of ~ustice and charity in someone wearing the garb bf that order. Care in selecting subjects means more vocations eventually. Abil-ity to judge character on ~the part of the Novice Master or Novice Mistress will help to exclude those who do not belong. Weakness in admitting one poor subject may mean the subsequent loss of ten worthy vocations. A Priest Reverend Fathers: PerhaPs my experience is no( a common one, but I have found that one thing that sometimes creates'dissatisfacti0n with a reiigious Vocation is the fact that many of us older religious refuse to allow our former pupils to "grow up." Even after these former 'pupils have beeri in religion for several years, we continue to look upon them and treat them as our "boys .and girls." Many of them feel this intensely. E~ienwhen they do not actually give up their vocations, the sense of frustration hampers their work and their natural, growth to a whole-some independence. As a means to p~eserving voc~itions, and to the full fructifying of vocat,ions, I suggest that we "old teachers" examine 0ur~elves periodically on our "maternal" and "paternal" attitudes. A Priest WANTED: LETTERS ON RETREATS! Whim you make a retreat, are there some things that you find particularll, h~lpful--things that yo~. expect and that you'd like the retreat director to be sure to give? And when you give [1 retreat, do you look for a certain disposition on the ~art of the retreatants, yearn for a response that som~,times does not come? :- If you have good ideas, why not air them in our Communications? We w~nt to start some communications on this very practical subject in our next number ¯ (May 15). If you have Somethingtb say and~you want to say it in that num~ber, send it to us immediately. Keep the following points in mind: (1) Make communications as brief, ai possible--withdut, 6f course, sa~rific- ~ing thought for brevity. . (2) Save us editorial wor~ by writing neatly and clearly. Typewritten letters are:~preferred. .(3) Your name will not be printed unless you. explicitly request this." (4) Address communications to: The Editors of P~eview for Religious. St. Mary's'College, St. Marys, Kansas. 'i28 Try This in Your Examen! Richard L. Rooney, S.~. THE Archangel of Religious sat at his celestia! equivalent of a desk in the Mansion of the Guardians and ruefully read the recent reports. For the most part the vows were intact and the spirit of'work was tremendous. But by and large, the particular examens just weren't being kept! His friend~. Ignatius of Loyola, who dropped in now and then for a chat, wouldn't like that, for he had put great. stress on the examen as a means of sanctification. And even the mod-ern psychologists (some of whom had arrived in heaven!) considered it a good device for. self, improvement. But these modern religious-- priests, Brothers, and Sistersmseemed to think quite" differently, if .one might judge from results. The Archangel leaned back and pondered the situation. Perhaps these poor human ¯beings found the thing tedious, had let routine creep in and rob them of zest. Perhaps they had asked the same'old-questions in the same old way and, seeing no advancement, had given up in disgust. Or perhaps they had forgotten th_attheir firs~t job is to be g.o'od human beings; hence they had been pitching their examen= too high ! The Archangel scribbled a set of questions on a piece of skyey paper. He would have the Angel Guardians suggest these to their charges, and then see if the examens wouldfi't improve.~ Here is what he wrote: -1) Do you get along with practically everyone in the com-munity? " 2)~ If not; is it because you practise one or more of the following easy ways of getting yourself disiiked: a) Do you'do your best to let the "other fellow" know he doesn't amount to much?¯ make it clear that his ideas are. awrY, that¯he expr.esses them poorly? that what he does is°really not im-portant? b) ~ Do you try to arrange other people's lives, for them? . c) Have you let your disposition become morose, mood_y, touchy, and sarcastic? " d) Do you find fault on every possible occasion with the R~¢HARD.L. ROONY , food, the weather, the work, superiors, the whole life--always, of course, for the glory of God? e) Do you pick.out and air" abroad tO certain chosen souls the small defects of others? f) Do you pass over no chance to argue--to turn-every recreation into a debate? g) D6 you gossip? (Absolutely the best way in the world of wasting time--God's time--~as well-as showing your own inferiority.) b) Are ygu suspicious, sure that no one is up to any good or has a good motive? i) Are you always center-stage, in the spot-light, talking about that most interesting of topics, yourself? j) Or are you just the opposite--a silent, uninterested bore at recreation? k) Do you always take orders in bad grace--make things as hard for superiors as you can? 1) Are you one of those omniscient people whom no one can tell anything? WHO IS SAINT JOSEPH? Saint Joseph is: ¯ . ¯ the guardian of chastity and of the honor of virginity,---St. Augustine ¯ . .~ the faithful coadjutor of the Incarnation.---St. Bernard . . the perfect example of humility and obedience to God's inspirations. -~t. Francis Borgia . . the man mbre beloved by Jesus and Mary than ail other creatures.---St, lsidore . . the master of prayer and the interior life.-~St. Teresa ¯ . . the model of priests and superiors.---St. Albertus Magnus ¯ . ¯ the mysterious veil which covered the virginity'of Mary.mBossuet ¯ . . the third person of the earthly trinity.--Gerson The foregoing are but a few of the brief panegyrics of St. ,loseph that can be culled from such books as Cardinal Vaughan's Who is St. Joseph? and Pete Binet's Divine Favors granted to St. Joseph. They might be apt subjects for brief medi-tations, during the month of March. w'qC'ILLIAM STRITCH, ¯130 ook Reviews AIDS TO'WILL TRAINING IN C~HRISTIAN EDUC:ATION. By TWO Sis-fers of Nofre Dame. Pp. xvl ~ 237. Frederick Pusfef C~o. (Inc.), New York and C~inclnnaff, 1943. ¯ $2.S0. This work is mostly a development and adaptation of Lind-worsky's doctrine on training the will.The will is formed prin-cipally by suitable motivation suitably inculcated, rather than, for instance, by a sort of will-gymnastics: The three great instincts in human nature, namely, those to superiority, s6ciality, and to self-preservation, are, since the fall, perverted and lead todisorders of every kind. With the help of divine grace; a clear conception and an adequate evaluation of the true destiny of man, and constant co-operation of the will, these three fundamental tendencies can be redirected to what is wholesome, and re-educated, and thus help, rather than hinder, man in reaching that destiny. Character ~s to be judged by these three c~iteria: what a man wills, wh~/, and how. A person is good or bad like his motives. Right motivation depends~ very largely upon keeping attention and thought turned to what is true and good and bea.utiful, and upon appreciating its values. Right emotions follow naturally, and then right attitudes, and these tend to bring about righ~ volition. If all these be maintained and strength: ened with appropriate habits, the result will be the desired good will ¯ and go.od character. The procedure recommended for correcting--n0t for breaking-- the will may be adduced as representative of the book. Suppose a student has an excessive fondness for freedom. It is likely that he really .does not well understand the differences between trueliberty and license. These must be clearly pointed out to him. Then he is to be brought to see and appreciate the advantages of liberty and the disadvantages of license. The corresponding emotions are aroused and fostered~ Then opportunity is given for practice and for finding satisfaction in it. Th~ will must always be cultivated from within, that is, by exciting a.genuine desire for what is good; external rneans~ like setting up sanctions; should be secondary. What has been said will give an idea of the main .psychological principles entering into the structure, of the book. Over and above these there is a multitude of minor pedagogical aids, tables of values, 131. BOOK REVIEWS .- Review for Religious natural and supernatural, lists of attil~udes, of virtues and faults, questions and topics for discussion, etc. The religious and Catholic note is most prominent throughout. As far as~I know, there is no work which would seem to promise more help. for the generality of religious teachers who are eager to direct and perfect the wills of their students. " G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD, S.J. INSTRUCTIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE: VOLUME IV. By the Rev- " erend Nicholas O'Rafferfy. Pp. viii -f- 300. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1943. $3.25. The first three volumes of this series treated of the Creed, the Sacraments, and' the Commandments of God. The present volume includes instructions on Prayer (the Our Father, Hail Mary, and prayer in general), the Precepts of the Church, Sin (mortal, venial, and the capital sins), and the Virtues (the theological virtues and those contrary to the capital sins). It is difficult to estimate the value of a book like this. Judging the matter as objectively as I can, I should say that priests and Reli-' gion teachers who have the time to consult several books in preparing sermons, instructions, or classes, would find in this book an added help, especially because it contains a wealth of Scripture ,texts. But it is hardly ideal for those who must confine themselves to one or two books. In general it makes .rather hard reading. Except for the fact that the divisions are indicated in introductory paragraphs, con-cluding surveys, and numerals'sepagating the various sections, no ¯ effort has been made to use the 'abundant mechanical .helps that im-press matter on the mind and memory. There are some minor ihac-curacies in the text " inacc~aracies that might escape the notice of those who are not well-grounded in theology. One inaccuracy in particular should be called to the attention of our readers. The authorstates that the Church demands physical intdgrity in those who enter the cloister (p. 226). This'must be a slip of the pen. Perhaps some orders require this; but it certainly is .not demanded by canon law.--G. KELLY, S. d. ST. THEODORE OF CANTERBURY. By the Very Reverehd William Reany, D.D. Pp. ix ~ 227. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1944. $2.00, The scholarly Doctor Reany has added to his former publica-tions, the biography of a great seventh-century Churchman. This St. Theodore is usually known, from the Nace of.his.birth, as St. 132 ~ March. 1944 . BOOK REVlE~WS Theodore of.Tarsus, but is here more properly call~d .from' the place of his See. Divine Providence had very .leisurely prepared the simple.--. monk, Theodore, by studies at Athens and monastic life in both EaSt and West.for the appointment as Archbishop of Cantdrbury in his sixty-sixth year. Tonsured, ordained, and consecrated, h~ came ~to England in 668. He was the first prelate to rule over all of Eng-land, and to weld its differing Christian missions, of Celtic, Roman, and Gallic origins~ into one unified national Church. His hand held the l~elm until his eighty-eighth year, securely guiding the youtig Churc,h into orderly and scholarly currents so truly beneficent for generations to come. The late Cardinal Lepi'cier, O.S.M., Who writes-the preface of this volume, states that it is the firs~ completew0rk bfi Theodore. The painstaking assembling of fragmentary data on Theodore's activities, in chronicles, bishops' installations; ~onciliar acts and the like, is se~ out in such seemingly artless fashion that the writer has had the pain that we may have ttie pleasure. It is easy to see why Engli~hmen of today, who do not share Theodore's Catholid faith, can still see in him one who "laid the foundation of English national unit~;." --- GERALD ELLARD, S.J. THIRTY YEARS WITH CHRIST. By Rosalie Marie Levy. Pp. 2,46. Pub-" llshed by the Author, P.O. Box 158, Station. O, New York I I,.N.Y., 1943. $2.00. . This autobiogiaphy discloses how Miss Levy in her thirty years as a Catholic ~onvert from Judaism has sought to bring the truth to her own race and to whomsover else she can. It tells of her leanings toward Catholicism from youth; of her attempt at religious life in a convent, frustrated by ill health: of a visit to Europe and a pilgrim-age to the Holy Land. The narrative reveals a zeal for Christ that shames the matter-" of-fact attitude of.many a "cradle" Catholic toward the faith. In ¯ 1936 Miss Levy organized the Catholic Lay Apostle Guild whose members circulate Catholic literature and spread Catholic truth bY answerin, g questions regarding Catholic. truths and practices at opeii-air. meetings. Since 1922 she has been active in the Guild of our Lady of Sion~an.organization aimed at the conversion of Jews. Her books include The Heavenl~l Road, designed to bring Jews to the true faith. Other devotional and apologetic titles total six books and~two pamphlets." " : The present work concludes with short biographical sketches of 133 BOOK REVIEWS Ret~iet~ for Religious four notable 3ewish converts; a valuable chapter entitled "The Proper Approach to the 3ewish Mirid"; a short presentation of apologetic q~est[ons and answers; and a ~ollection of correspondence odcasioned during the years of Miss Levy's apostolic work. It is an inspiring autobiography, a valuable handbook for the apologist, and an indispensable aid to those working toward the cofiversion of Jews.--R. SOUTHARD, S.J. WHITE FIRE. By the Reverend E. J. Edward, s. S.V.D. Pp. 219. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1943." $2.7S. Effective contrast points to artistic pla.nning and execution. To take such seemingly diverse physical phenomena as a convent garden, brilliantly beautiful with tropical flowers, under a Pacific summer sun, and the malformed, rotting, shocking face of "a half-dead leper in a leprosarium ward; such antagon.istic characters as a young American nun, filled with the love of God and enthusiasm for her work among the lepers for whbm she has willingly given up every-thing, and a despondent, despairing victim of the disease, whose love of God and man and self has turned to fierce hatred; the hdart-wa. r.ming hu.mor of a 'F~ther Doro, and the d~pth,touching pathos of a self-sac.rificing little leper girl, Dolores; nigh-breathless action of plot, and periods ~)f quiet, pr6found contemplation; to take all these--and more and blend and shade and work them into a pleasing comP0.sitel devoid of hash impressionism, calls for an artist's gift arid touch. Father Edwards has done this. Some. may feel that the story--the action--lags occasionally because of the "introspections" of Sister. Agnes Marie. However, the~e are integral parts of the whole an'd give the motivating force of ardent love of God and neighbor which makes Sister Agnes the heroine she certainly is. There-are scenes in White Fire which will beo long remembered: .old Lion Face, the realistic picture of the scourge of. leprosy; the simple, sincere,, and heroic offering of self niade by Dolores to the Santo Nino: and the finale on Christmas Eve which leaves dne thriliing.~M. F. HASTING, S.J. THE SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES. Pp. Ixxl ¯ -f- 406. The Newman Bookshop, Wesfm;nsfer, Md., 1943. Repr;nf. $2.75. Two or three times a week, when the weather was fine, Bishop Francis de Sales Would go over to the convene orchard of the Visita- 134 March, 1944 BOOK REVIEWS tion motherhouse at Annecy, in southern France, and sit down on. a rustic bench¯ When the nuns, among' them St. Jane-Frances de Chantal, had grouped themselves on the ground around him, he would talk informally on spiritual topics and answer questions; In bad. weather; for he came "even in bad. Weather," they would assemble in the convent p~rlo~. After the conference,a nun, appointed .because of her good memory, jotted down what the bishop had said and supplied, omissions from the memories of her companions. These conferences continued with lessening frequency from 1610 until the l~ishop~s death in 1622, the audience numbering three in the beginning, ten in the second.ye~ar, and increasing steadily thereafter, As other convents of the Visitation were established, the conferences were copied, sometimes not too carefully, and read with great avid-ity and profit¯ in them also. When some Un.scrupulous editor got hold of a copy surreptitio.usly