Consideration — On the End of the Religious Life
I
When we consider the conduct of men generally, we see at a glance that the lives of vast numbers of them are not in conformity with the truths we have been studying; and we are reminded of the words of Christ: “Wide is the gate and broad the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are that go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and straight the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it” (St. Matth. vii, 13, 14). Of course the way of salvation, owing to His preaching and His merits, is now much wider than when He spoke those words; but yet it appears to be, through men’s own fault, much narrower than it should be. What is the condition of religious in this respect? It is well worth while to examine what is the effect of our religious vocation on the most important of all our interests, the attaining of the end for which we were created. Now it is clear that the religious life offers many great advantages for that purpose.
1. We are created to praise, reverence and serve God. Now the religious life is entirely directed to these objects. 1. We are constantly employed in the promotion of the praise and glory of God: all our labors are directed to it; the place we live in, the occupations assigned us and all the circumstances of them are selected with a view of this purpose.
2. The reverence shown to God is continually fostered by a long succession of common and private prayers, Holy Masses, recitation of the Divine Office, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc., from morning till night, day after day, year after year, till death.
3. The service of God, the accomplishment of His holy will, is not confined to the observance of His Commandments and those of His Church; but, by adding the rules of the Order, the will of God is made known and accomplished in all the details of life.
Thus the religious is constantly occupied with the praise, reverence and service of God. His heart is not divided between different objects of his love: “He that is without a wife,” says St. Paul, “is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God; but he that is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided” (I Cor. vii, 32, 33).
The condition of mind in religious is like that of the Blessed Angels, who are busy with God and the things of God. It is like that of the Holy Family while it abode on earth; so that a religious house is a copy of the Holy House of Nazareth.
And all this is not to last for a little while only, but for a whole lifetime; for the religious vows give stability and permanence for all years to come.
Therefore this sacrifice is compared by theologians to a holocaust, the most perfect of the ancient sacrifices, in which, namely, the whole victim was consumed in the fire. Thus one religious is likely to do more than a number of seculars for the praise and reverence and service of God.
II
And by these means the religious easily saves his soul, thus attaining the second end for which he was created. The good Lord has promised this in so many words. For he said: “Every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, shall receive a hundred fold and shall possess life everlasting” (St. Matth. xix, 29).
The hundred fold mentioned in this promise is not to be passed over lightly. For although it constitutes no portion of the eternal life of which we are speaking, still it is intimately connected with it. For it embraces a multitude of heavenly graces: a Divine protection in dangers, a peace of soul that the world cannot give; all of which make the attainment of eternal life far more easy than it usually is outside of the religious state.
With this prospect of eternal bliss for ourselves is united the special efficiency which the good Lord deigns to bestow on religious to procure the salvation of many souls. True, the exercise of the sacred ministry, with the sacramental power, is the ordinary channel of sanctification established by Christ in His Church; but there is a special efficiency in personal virtue to bring souls nearer to God; and the direct purpose and effect of the religious life is to increase personal holiness. The archenemy of man knows well who are the most successful in saving souls, and those he opposes with all his power. The fact that religious are more fiercely hated and opposed by the enemies of God, clearly shows that they produce more fruit in souls.
III
Of course the religious life has its hardships, it is a life of sacrifice; but that is its honor and its recommendation to a noble soul: “The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (St. Matth. xi, 12). All the Saints have led lives of sacrifice, like their Divine Master: “Jesus said to His disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Ib. xvi, 24).
To aid us in carrying the cross of the religious life cheerfully, let us reflect what magnificent prizes are held out to us.
1. There is the bright crown of virginity, with the distinguished privilege of more intimate union with Jesus in Heaven. “These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Apoc. xiv, 4).
2. There is also the glory of being seated, with Christ, on the judgment seat, when He will come in His Majesty on the clouds of heaven: they are to judge the world, rather than to be judged. Thus at least the Venerable Bede explains the promise made by Christ to His Apostles, which for a parity of reason, he extends to religious: “Amen I say to you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of His Majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (St. Matth. xix, 28).
3. Another most valuable advantage of the religious life lies in the protection it affords against dangerous temptations to sin. True, as long as we live upon earth we may fall from grace, and forfeit, through our own grievous fault, the rich store of merit so far accumulated and our right to eternal bliss: “He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall,” writes the Apostle (I Cor. x, 12). The best a man can do is to surround himself with such securities as lessen the assaults from without and strengthen the will within him. And such is undoubtedly the religious life. Its vows of poverty, chastity and obedience cut off the fiercest assaults of man’s triple enemy, the world, the Devil and the flesh; and its constant practices of piety and mortification provide a copious supply of Heavenly assistance to resist temptations.
Therefore St. Bernard draws this consoling picture of religion: “It is a state,” he says, “in which man lives with more purity, falls more rarely, rises more promptly, walks more securely, is more frequently bedewed with celestial graces, sleeps more peaceably, dies with more assurance, passes more quickly through Purgatory, and is more richly rewarded.”
IV
However, we must bear in mind that membership of a religious Order does not necessarily secure all those advantages, and that in the same Order they are obtained by different persons in very different degrees. The chief requisite to obtain them is to be a fervent religious. The more generous one shall show himself to God, says St. Ignatius, the more generous he shall find God towards him, and the more fit shall he daily be to receive in greater abundance His graces and spiritual gifts. The rapidity of our spiritual progress is not like that of travellers in a ship on the sea, all of whom advance at the same rate, whether they are walking or sitting or lying down; but our progress is like that of men travelling on a highroad, each of whom has his own rate of advancement according to his own efforts.
Thus St. Aloysius, St. Stanislaus and St. John Berchmans advanced further in a few months than most religious do in many years.
While we have perhaps broken strong bonds in tearing ourselves away from home and kindred, let us not be attached to little things; a slender silken thread is enough to keep a bird from gaining its liberty, and thus a little trifle may prevent us from soaring aloft to higher regions of sanctity. God fully deserves the love of our whole hearts, which are too small to be divided between Him and the things of earth.
Let us examine ourselves during this retreat, and see whether we are drawing all the profit we should from the rich treasury of our religious vocation.