{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33701/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33701","id":"gutenberg_33701","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33701","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Charity","Conduct of life","Meditations","Spiritual life -- Catholic Church"],"text":"Produced by Michael Gray, Diocese of San Jose\n\n\n\n\n  FRATERNAL CHARITY\n\n\n\n  FRATERNAL CHARITY\n\n   BY\n\n  REV. FATHER VALUY, S.J.\n\n\n\n  AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION\n\n\n\n  NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO\n  BENZIGER BROTHERS\n  PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE\n  1908\n\n\n\n  Nihil Obstat.\n     F. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B.,\n       _Censor Deputatus._\n\n\n  Imprimatur.\n     GULIELMUS,\n       _Episcopus Arindelensis,_\n          _Vicarius Generalis._\n\n\n    WESTMONASTERII,\n      _Die 7 Feb., 1908._\n\n\n\nTRANSLATOR'S NOTE\n\nTHE name of Father Valuy, S.J., is already favourably known to\nEnglish readers by several translations of his works, which have a\nlarge circulation.\n\nThe following little treatise is taken from one of his works on\nthe Religious Life, and is translated with the kind permission of\nthe publisher, M. Emmanuel Vitte, of Lyons. The subject is so\nimportant a factor in community life that I feel confident it will\nsupply a want hitherto felt by many.\n\nThough specially written for religious, it cannot fail to prove\nbeneficial to seculars in every sphere of life, as love, the\nsunshine of existence, is wanted everywhere.\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS\n\n  I. CHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST\n  II. FIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH\n  III. SECOND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH\n  IV. THE FAMILY SPIRIT\n  V. EGOTISM, OR SELF-SEEKING\n  VI. FIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF FRATERNAL CHARITY\n  VII. SECOND CHARACTERISTIC\n  VIII. THIRD CHARACTERISTIC\n  IX. FOURTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  X. FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XI. SIXTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XII. SEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XIII. EIGHTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XIV. NINTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XV. TENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XVI. ELEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XVII. TWELFTH CHARACTERISTIC\n  XVIII. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF GOD'S CHARITY FOR MEN\n  XIX. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING\n    HIS MORTAL LIFE\n  XX. FIRST PRESERVATIVE\n  XXI. SECOND PRESERVATIVE\n  XXII. THIRD PRESERVATIVE\n  XXIII. FOURTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXIV. FIFTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXV. SIXTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXVI. SEVENTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXVII. EIGHTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXVIII. NINTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXIX. TENTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXX. ELEVENTH PRESERVATIVE\n  XXXI. MEANS TO SUPPORT THE EVIL THOUGHTS AND TONGUES OF OTHERS\n  XXXII. SECOND MEANS TO BEAR WITH OTHERS\n  XXXIII. CONCLUSION\n  APPENDIX: THE PRACTICE OF FRATERNAL CHARITY\n\n\n\nFRATERNAL CHARITY\n\nI\n\nCHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST\n\nOUR Divine Saviour shows both by precept and example that His\nfavourite virtue, His own and, in a certain sense, characteristic\nvirtue, was charity. Whether He treated with His ignorant and rude\nApostles, with the sick and poor, or with His enemies and sinners,\nHe is always benign, condescending, merciful, affable, patient; in\na word, His charity appeared in all its most amiable forms. Oh,\nhow well these titles suit Him!--a King full of clemency, a Lamb\nfull of mildness. How justly could He say, \"Learn of Me, that I am\nmeek and humble of heart\"! His yoke was sweet, His burden light,\nHis conversation without sadness or bitterness. He lightened the\nburdens of those heavily laden; He consoled those in sorrow; He\nquenched not the dying spark nor broke the bruised reed.\n\nHe calls us His friends, His brothers, His little flock; and as\nthe greatest sign of friendship is to die for those we love, He\ngave to each of us the right to say with St. Paul: \"He loved me,\nand delivered Himself up for me.\" Let us, then, say: \"My good\nMaster, I love Thee, and deliver myself up for Thee.\"\n\nReligious, called to reproduce the three great virtues of Jesus\nChrist--poverty, chastity, and obedience--have still another to\npractise not less noble or distinctive--viz., fraternal charity.\nBy this virtue they are not called to rise above earthly or\nsensual pleasures, nor above their judgment and self-will, but\nabove egotism and self-love, which shoot their roots deepest in\nthe soul. They must consider attentively the fundamental truths on\nwhich charity is based and its effects, as also the principal\nobstacles to its attainment, and the means to overcome them.\n\n\n\nII\n\nFIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH\n\n_We are all members of the great Christian family_\n\nCHARITY towards our neighbour is charity towards God in our\nneighbour, because, faith assuring us that God is our Father,\nJesus Christ our Head, the Holy Ghost our sanctifier, it follows\nthat to love our neighbour--inasmuch as he is the well-beloved\nchild of God, the member of Jesus Christ, and the sanctuary of the\nHoly Ghost--is to love in a special manner our heavenly Father,\nHis only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit. And because\nit is scarcely possible for religious to behold their brethren in\nthis light without wishing them what the Most Holy Trinity so\nlovingly desires to bestow on them, acts of fraternal charity\ninclude--almost necessarily at least--implicit acts of faith and\nhope; and the exercise of the noblest of the theological virtues\nthus often becomes an exercise of the other two.\n\nThus it is that charity poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,\nuniting Christians among themselves and with the adorable Trinity\nwhose images they are, is the vivid and perfect imitation of the\nlove of the Father for the Son, and of the Son for the Father--a\nsubstantial love which is no other than the Holy Ghost, and makes\nus all one in God by grace, as the Father and Son are only one God\nwith the Holy Ghost by nature, according to the words of our Lord:\n\"That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee:\nthat they also may be one in Us.\"\n\nSuch is the chain that unites and binds us--a chain of gold a\nthousand times stronger than those of flesh and blood, interest or\nfriendship, because these permit the defects of body and the vices\nof the soul to be seen, whilst charity covers all, hides all, to\noffer exclusively to admiration and love the work of the hands of\nGod, the price of the blood of Jesus Christ and the masterpiece of\nthe Holy Spirit.\n\n\n\nIII\n\nSECOND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH\n\n_We are members of the same religious family_\n\nTO love our brethren as ourselves in relation to God, it suffices\nwithout doubt to have with them the same faith, the same\nSacraments, the same head, the same life, the same immortal hopes,\netc. But, besides these, there exist other considerations which\nlead friendship and fraternity to a higher degree among the\nmembers of the same religious Order. All in the novitiate have\nbeen cast in the same mould, or, rather, have imbibed the milk of\nknowledge and piety from the breasts of the same mother. All\nfollow the same rules; all tend to the same end by the same means;\nall from morning to night, and during their whole lives, perform\nthe same exercises, live under the same roof, work, sanctify\nthemselves, suffer and rejoice together. Like fellow-citizens,\nthey have the same interests; like soldiers, the same combats;\nlike children of a family, the same ancestors and heirlooms; and,\nlike friends, a communication of ideas and interchange of\nsentiments.\n\nIf our Lord said to Christians in general, \"This is My\ncommandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. By\nthis shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have\nlove for one another\" (John xiii.), can He not say to the members\nof the same religious Order: \"This is My own and special\nrecommendation: Before all and above all preserve amongst you a\nmutual charity. Have but one soul in several different bodies. You\nwill be recognized as religious and brethren, not by the same\nhabit, vows, and virtues, nor by the particular work entrusted to\nyou by the Church, but by the love you have one for the other. Ah!\nwho will love you if you do not love one another? Love one another\nfraternally, because as human beings you have only one heavenly\nFather. Love one another holily, because as Christians you have\nonly one Head. Love one another tenderly, because as religious you\nhave only one mother--your Order\"?\n\nIt is impossible for religious to love their brethren with a true,\nsincere, pure, and constant love if they do not look at them in\nthis light.\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE FAMILY SPIRIT\n\nBASED on the foregoing principles, fraternal charity begets the\nfamily spirit--that spirit which forgets itself in thinking only\nof the common good; which makes particular give way to general\ninterests; which forces oneself to live with all without\nexception, to live as all without singularity, and to live for all\nwithout self-seeking; that spirit which, binding like a Divine\ncement all parts of the mysterious edifice of religion, uniting\nall hearts in one and all wills in one, permits the community to\nproceed firmly and securely, and its members to work out\nefficaciously and peacefully their personal sanctification and\nperfection; in fine, that spirit which gives to all religious not\nonly an inexpressible family happiness, but a delicious foretaste\nof heaven, which renders them invincible to their enemies, and\ncauses to be said of them with admiration: \"See how they love one\nanother!\"\n\nWriting on these words of the Psalmist, \"Behold how good and\npleasant it is for brethren to live together in union,\" St.\nAugustine cries out: \"Behold the words which make monasteries\nspring up! Sweet, delightful, and delicious words which fill the\nsoul and ear with jubilation.\"\n\nYes, certainly the happiness of community life is great and its\nadvantages inappreciable; but without the family spirit there is\nno community, as there would be no beauty in the human body\nwithout harmony in its members. Oh, never forget this comparison,\nyou who wish to live happy in religion, and who wish to make\nothers happy.\n\nA community is a body. Now, as the members of a body, each in its\nproper place and functions, live in perfect harmony, mutually\ncomfort, defend, and love each other, without being jealous or\nvengeful, and have only in view the well-being of that body of\nwhich they are parts, so in the community of which you are members\nand in the employment assigned to you. Remember you are parts of a\nwhole, and that it is necessary to refer to this whole your time,\nlabour, and strength; to have the same thoughts, sentiments,\ndesigns, and language, without which there would no longer exist\neither body, members, parts, or whole. If you wish, then, to\nobtain and practise the family spirit, study what passes within\nyou. Your actions bespeak your sentiments.\n\n\n\nV\n\nEGOTISM, OR SELF-SEEKING\n\nEGOTISM, taking for its motto \"Every one for himself,\" is very\nmuch opposed to fraternal charity and the family spirit. It never\nhesitates, when occasion offers, to sacrifice the common good to\nits own. It isolates the individuals, makes them concentrated in\nself, places them in the community, but not of it, makes them\nstrangers amongst their brethren, and tends to justify the words\nof an impious writer, who calls monasteries \"reunions of persons\nwho know not each other, who live without love, and die without\nbeing regretted.\"\n\nEgotism breeds distrust, jealousy, parties, aversions. It destroys\nabnegation, humility, patience, and all other virtues. It\nintroduces a universal disgust and discontent, makes religious\nlose their first fervour, presents an image of hell where one\nexpected to find a heaven on earth, saps the very foundation of\ncommunity life, and leads sooner or later to inevitable ruin.\n\nAs the family spirit causes the growth and prosperity of an order,\nhowever feeble its beginning, so, on the other hand, egotism dries\nthe sap and renders it powerless, no matter what other advantages\nit may enjoy. If the one, by uniting hearts, is a principle of\nstrength and duration, the other, by dividing, is a principle of\ndissolution and decay. Sallust says that \"the weakest things\nbecome powerful by concord, and the greatest perish through\ndiscord.\" Whilst the descendants of Noah spoke the same language\nthe building of the tower of Babel proceeded with rapidity. From\nthe moment they ceased to understand one another its destruction\ncommenced, and the monument which was to have immortalized their\nname was left in ruin to tell their shame and pride.\n\nOn each of the four corners of the monastery religion or charity\npersonified ought to be placed, bearing on shields in large\ncharacters the following words: (1) \"Love one another\"; (2) \"He\nwho is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathers not with Me\nscatters\"; (3) \"Every kingdom divided will become desolate\"; (4)\n\"They had all but one heart and one soul.\"\n\n\n\nVI\n\nFIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF FRATERNAL CHARITY\n\n_To esteem our brethren interiorly_\n\n\"CHARITY, the sister of humility,\" says St. Paul, \"is not puffed\nup.\" She cannot live with pride, the disease of a soul full of\nitself. It willingly prefers others by considering their good\nqualities and one's own defects, and shows this exteriorly when\noccasion offers by many sincere proofs. It always looks on others\nfrom the most favourable point. Instead of closing the eyes on\nfifty virtues to find out one fault, without any other profit than\nto satisfy a natural perverseness and to excuse one's own\nfailings, it closes the eyes on fifty faults to open them on one\nvirtue, with the double advantage of being edified and of blessing\nGod, the Author of all good. Since an unfavourable thought, or the\nsight of an action apparently reprehensible, tends to cloud the\nreputation of a religious, charity hastens before the cloud\nthickens to drive it away, saying, \"What am I doing? Should I\nblacken in my mind the image of God, and seek deformities in the\nmember of Jesus Christ? Besides, cannot my brethren be eminently\nholy and be subject to many faults, which God permits them to fall\ninto in order to keep them humble, to teach them to help others,\nand to exercise their patience?\"\n\n\n\nVII\n\nSECOND CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To treat brethren with respect, openness, and cordiality_\n\nEXTERIOR honour being the effect and sign of interior esteem,\ncharity honours all those whom it esteems superiors, equals, the\nyoung and the old. It carefully observes all propriety, and takes\ninto consideration the different circumstances of age, employment,\nmerit, character, birth, and education to make itself all to all.\nConvinced that God is not unworthy to have well-bred persons in\nHis service, and that religious ought not to respect themselves\nless than people in the world, it conforms to all the requirements\nof politeness as far as religious simplicity will permit; not that\npoliteness which is feigned and hypocritical, and which is merely\na sham expression of deceitful respect, but that politeness, the\nflower of charity, which, manifesting exteriorly the sentiments of\na sincere affection and a true devotion, is accompanied with a\ngraceful countenance, benign and affable regards, sweetness in\nwords, foresight, urbanity, and delicacy in business. In fine,\nthat politeness which is the fruit of self-denial and humility no\nless than of charity and friendship; which is the art of\nself-restraint and self-conquest, without restraining others;\nwhich is the care of avoiding everything that might displease, and\ndoing all that can please, in order to make others content with\nus and with themselves. In a word, a mixture of discretion and\ncomplaisance, cordiality and respect, together with words and\nmanners full of mildness and benignity.\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHIRD CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To work harmoniously with those in the same employment, and not\nto cause any inconvenience to them_\n\nWHY should we cling so obstinately to our own way of seeing and\ndoing? Do not many ways and means serve the same ends provided\nthey be employed wisely and perseveringly? Some have succeeded by\ntheir methods, and I by mine--a proof that success is reached\nthrough many ways, and that it is not by disputing it is obtained,\nnor by giving scandal to those we should edify, nor, perhaps, by\ncompromising the good work in which we are employed. The four\nanimals mentioned by Ezekiel joined their wings, were moved by the\nsame spirit and animated by the same ardour, and so drew the\nheavenly chariot with majesty and rapidity, giving us religious an\nexample of perfect union of efforts and thoughts.\n\nCharity avoids haughty and contemptuous looks, forewarns itself\nagainst fads and manias, and in the midst of most pressing\noccupations carefully guards against rudeness and impatience.\nCareful of wounding the susceptibility of others, it neither\nblames nor despises those who act in an opposite way. Religious\nanimated by fraternal charity are not ticklish spirits who are\ndisturbed for nothing at all, and who do not know how to pass\nunnoticed a little want of respect, etc.; nor punctilious spirits,\nwho find pleasure in contradicting and making irritating remarks;\nnor self-opinionated spirits, who pose themselves as supreme\njudges of talent and virtue as well as infallible dispensers of\npraise and blame. Neither are they suspicious characters who are\nconstantly ruminating in their hearts, and who consider every\nlittle insult as levelled at themselves; nor discontented beings,\nwho find fault with the places whither obedience sends them and\nthe persons with whom they live, and who could travel the entire\nworld without finding a single place or a single person to suit\nthem.\n\nCharitable religious are not those imperious minds who endeavour\nto impose their opinions on all and refuse to accept those of\nothers, however just they may be, simply because they did not\nemanate from themselves, nor are they those ridiculing,\nhard-to-be-pleased sort of people who do not spare even grey hairs.\nFinally, they are not those great spouters who, instead of\naccommodating themselves to circumstances as charity and\npoliteness require, monopolize the conversation, and thereby shut\nup the mouths of others and make them feel weary when they should\nbe joyful and free.\n\n\n\nIX\n\nFOURTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To accommodate oneself to persons of different humour_\n\nTHEY who are animated by charity support patiently and in silence,\nin sentiments of humility and sweetness, as if they had neither\neyes nor ears, the difficult, odd, and most inconstant humours of\nothers, although they may find it very difficult at times to do\nso.\n\nNo matter how regular and perfect we may be, we have always need\nof compassion and indulgence for others. To be borne with, we must\nbear with others; to be loved, we must love; to be helped, we must\nhelp; to be joyful ourselves, we must make others so. Surrounded\nas we are by so many different minds, characters, and interests,\nhow can we live in peace for a single day if we are not\ncondescending, accommodating, yielding, self-denying, ready to\nrenounce even a good project, and to take no notice of those\nfaults and shortcomings which are beyond our power or duty to\ncorrect?\n\nCharity patiently listens to a bore, answers a useless question,\nrenders service even when the need is only imaginary, without ever\nbetraying the least signs of annoyance. It never asks for\nexceptions or privileges for fear of exciting jealousy. It does\nnot multiply nor prolong conversations which in any way annoy\nothers. It fights antipathy and natural aversions so that they may\nnever appear, and seeks even the company of those who might be the\nobject of them. It does not assume the office of reprehending or\nwarning through a motive of bitter zeal. It seeks to find in\noneself the faults it notices in others, and perhaps greater ones,\nand tries to correct them. \"If thou canst not make thyself such a\none as thou wouldst, how canst thou expect to have another\naccording to thy liking? We would willingly have others perfect,\nand yet we mend not our own defects. We would have others strictly\ncorrected, but are not fond of being corrected ourselves. The\nlarge liberty of others displeases us, and yet we do not wish to\nbe denied anything we ask for. We are willing that others be bound\nup by laws, and we suffer not ourselves to be restrained by any\nmeans. Thus it is evident how seldom we weigh our neighbour in the\nsame balance with ourselves\" (\"Imitation,\" i. 16).\n\n\n\nX\n\nFIFTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To refuse no reasonable service, and to accept or refuse in an\naffable manner_\n\nCHARITY is generous; it does everything it can. When even it can\ndo little, it wishes to be able to do more. It never lets slip an\nopportunity of comforting, helping, and taking the most painful\npart, after the example of its Divine Model, Who came to serve,\nnot to be served. One religious, seemingly in pain, seeks comfort;\nanother desires some book, instrument, etc.; a third bends under a\nburden; while a fourth is afflicted. In all these cases charity\ncomes to the aid by consoling the one, procuring little\ngratifications for the other, and helping another. Without\ncomplaining of the increased labour or the carelessness of others,\nit finishes the work left undone by them, too happy to diminish\ntheir trouble, while augmenting its own reward. \"Does the hunter,\"\nsays St. John Chrysostom, \"who finds splendid game blame those who\nbeat the brushwood before him? Or does the traveller who finds a\npurse of gold on the road neglect to pick it up because others who\npreceded him took no notice of it?\" It would be a strange thing to\nfind religious uselessly giving themselves to ardent desires of\nworks of charity abroad, such as nursing in a hospital or carrying\nthe Gospel into uncivilized lands, and at the same time in their\nown house and among their own brethren showing coldness,\nindifference, and want of condescension.\n\nThere is an art of giving as well as of refusing. Several offend\nin giving because they do so with a bad grace; others in refusing\ndo not offend because they know how to temper their refusal by\nsweetness of manner. Charity possesses this art in a high degree,\nand, besides, raises a mere worldly art into a virtue and fruit of\nthe Holy Ghost.\n\n\n\nXI\n\nSIXTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To share the joys and griefs of our brethren_\n\nAS the soul in the human body establishes all its members as\nsharers equally in joys and griefs, so charity in the religious\ncommunity places everything in common content, affliction,\nmaterial goods driving out of existence the words mine and thine.\nIt lavishes kind words and consolations on all who suffer in any\nway through ill-humour, sickness, want of success, etc.; it\nrejoices when they are successful, honoured, and trusted, or\nendowed with gifts of nature or grace, felicitates them on their\ngood fortune, and thanks God for them. If, on the one hand,\ncompassion sweetens pains to the sufferer by sharing them, on the\nother hand participation in a friend's joys doubles them by making\nthem personal to ourselves. Would to God that this touching and\nedifying charity replaced the low and rampant vice of jealousy!\n\nWhen David returned after he slew the Philistines, the women came\nout of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King\nSaul. And the women sang as they played, \"Saul slew his thousands\nand David his ten thousands.\" Saul was exceedingly angry, and this\nword was displeasing in his eyes, and he said: \"They have given\nDavid ten thousand, and to me they have given but a thousand. . .\n. And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day\nforward. . . . And Saul held a spear in his hand and threw it,\nthinking to nail David to the wall\" (1 Kings). Thus it is that the\njealous complain of their brethren who are more successful,\nlearned, or praised; thus it is that they lance darts of calumny,\ndenunciation, and revenge.\n\n\n\nXII\n\nSEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_Not to be irritated when others wrong us_\n\nWE must pardon and do good for evil, as God has pardoned us and\nrendered good for evil in Jesus Christ. It is vain to trample the\nviolet, as it never resists, and he who crushes it only becomes\naware of the fact by the sweetness of its perfume. This is the\nimage of charity. It always strives to throw its mantle over the\nevil doings of others, persuading itself that they were the\neffects of surprise, inadvertence, or at most very slight malice.\nIf an explanation is necessary, it is the first to accuse itself.\nNever does it permit the keeping of a painful thought against any\nof the brethren, and does all in its power to hinder them from the\nsame; and, moreover, excuses all signs of contempt, ingratitude,\nrudeness, peculiarities, etc.\n\nCassian makes mention of a religious who, having received a box on\nthe ear from his abbot in presence of more than two hundred\nbrethren, made no complaint, nor even changed colour. St. Gregory\npraises another religious, who, having been struck several times\nwith a stool by his abbot, attributed it not to the passion of the\nabbot, but to his own fault. He adds that the humility and\npatience of the disciple was a lesson for the master. This charity\nwill have no small weight in the balance of Him Who weighs merit\nso exactly.\n\nCharity gives no occasion to others to suffer, but suffers all\npatiently, not once, but all through life, every day and almost\nevery hour. It is most necessary for religious, as, not being able\nto seek comfort abroad, they are obliged to live in the same\nhouse, often in the same employment with characters less\nsympathetic than their own. These little acts of charity count for\nlittle here below, and they are rather exacted than admired. Hence\nthere is less danger of vainglory, and all their merit is\npreserved in the sight of God.\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nEIGHTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To practise moderation and consideration_\n\nTELL-TALES, nasty names, cold answers, lies, mockery, harsh words,\netc., are all contrary to charity. St. John Chrysostom says: \"When\nanyone loads you with injuries, close your mouth, because if you\nopen it you will only cause a tempest. When in a room between two\nopen doors through which a violent wind rushes and throws things\nin disorder, if you close one door the violence of the wind is\nchecked and order is restored. So it is when you are attacked by\nanyone with a bad tongue. Your mouth and his are open doors. Close\nyours, and the storm ceases. If, unfortunately, you open yours,\nthe storm will become furious, and no one can tell what the damage\nmay be.\" If we have been guilty in this respect, let us humble\nourselves before God.\n\n\"The tongue,\" says St. Gertrude, \"is privileged above the other\nmembers of the body, as on it reposes the sacred body and precious\nblood of Jesus Christ. Those, then, who receive the Holy of Holies\nwithout doing penance for the sins of the tongue are like those\nwho would keep a heap of stones at their doors to stone a friend\non arrival.\"\n\nIn order to keep ourselves and others in a state of moderation, we\nmust remember that all persons have some fad, mania, or fixed\nideas which they permit no one to gainsay. If we touch them on\nthese points, it will be like playing an accompaniment to an\ninstrument with one string out of tune.\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nNINTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_Care of the sick and infirm_\n\nCHARITY lavishes care on the sick and infirm, on the old, on\nguests and new-comers. It requires that we visit those who are\nill, to cheer and console them, to foresee their wants, and\nthereby to spare them the pain or humiliation of asking for\nanything.\n\nBossuet says: \"Esteem the sick, love them, respect and honour\nthem, as being consecrated by the unction of the Cross and marked\nwith the character of a suffering Jesus.\"\n\nCharity pays honour to the aged in every respect, coincides with\ntheir sentiments, consults them, forestalls their desires, and\nattempts not to reform in them what cannot be reformed. Charity\nreceives fraternally all guests and new-comers, and makes us treat\nthem as we would wish to be treated under similar circumstances.\nIt also causes us to lavish testimonies of affection on those who\nare setting out, and warns us to be very careful of saying or\ndoing anything that may in the least degree offend even the most\nsusceptible.\n\nReligious must ever feel that they can bless, love, and thank\nreligion as a good mother. But religion is not an abstract matter;\nit is made up of individuals reciprocally bound together in and\nfor each other.\n\nAlas! how many times are the sick and the old made to consider\nthemselves as an inconvenient burden, or like a useless piece of\nfurniture! In reality what are they doing? They pray and do\npenance for the community, turn away the scourge of God, draw down\nHis graces and blessings, merit, perhaps, the grace of\nperseverance for several whose vocation is shaking, hand down to\nthe younger members the traditions and spirit of the institute,\nand finally practise, and cause to be practised, a thousand acts\nof virtue.\n\nDid our Divine Lord work less efficaciously for the Church when He\nhung on the Cross than when He preached? We must, then, do for the\nsick and the old who are now bearing their cross what we would\nhave wished to do for Jesus in His suffering.\n\n\n\nXV\n\nTENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_Prayer for living and deceased brethren_\n\n\"WE do not remember often enough our dear dead, our departed\nbrethren,\" says St. Francis de Sales, \"and the proof of it is that\nwe speak so little of them. We try to change the discourse as if\nit were hurtful. We let the dead bury their dead. Their memory\nperishes with us like the sound of the funeral knell, without\nthinking that a friendship which perishes with death is not true.\nIt is a sign of piety to speak of their virtues as it urges us to\nimitate them.\"\n\nIn communities distinguished for fraternal charity and the family\nspirit the conversation frequently turns on the dead. One talks of\ntheir virtues, another of their services, a third quotes some of\ntheir sayings, while a fourth adds some other edifying fact; and\nwho is the religious that will not on such occasions breathe a\nsilent prayer to God and apply some indulgence or other\nsatisfactory work for the happy repose of their souls?\n\nCharity also prays for those who want help most, and who are often\nknown to God alone--those whose constancy is wavering, those who\nare led by violent temptations to the edge of the precipice. It\nexpands pent-up souls by consolations or advice; it dissipates\nprejudices which tend to weaken the spirit of obedience; it is, in\nfine, a sort of instinct which embraces all those things suggested\nby zeal and devotion. Can there be anything more agreeable to God,\nmore useful to the Church, or more meritorious, than to foster\nthus amongst the well-beloved children of God peace, joy, love of\nvocation, together with union amongst themselves and with their\nsuperiors? It is one of the most substantial advantages we have in\nreligion to know that we are never forsaken in life or death; to\nfind always a heart that can compassionate our pains, a hand which\nsustains us in danger and lifts us when we fall.\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nELEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_To have a lively interest in the whole Order, in its works, its\nsuccess, and its failures_\n\nRELIGIOUS who have the family spirit wish to know everything which\nconcerns the well-being of the different houses. They willingly\ntake their pens to contribute to the edification and satisfy the\nlawful curiosity of their brethren. They bless God when they hear\ngood news, and grieve at bad news, losses by death, and, above\nall, scandalous losses of vocation.\n\nThose who would concentrate all their thoughts on their own work,\nas if all other work counted for nothing or merited no attention,\nwho would speak feebly or perhaps jealously of it, as if they\nalone wished to do good, or that others wished to deprive them of\nsome glory, would show that they only sought themselves, and that\nto little love of the Church they joined much indifference for\ntheir Order.\n\nCharity, by uniting its good wishes and interest to the deeds of\nothers, becomes associated at the same time in the merit. It\nshares in a certain manner in the gifts and labours of others. It\nis, at the same time, the eye, the hand, the tongue, and the foot,\nsince it rejoices at what is done by the eye, the hand, the\ntongue, etc., or, rather, it is as the soul which presides over\nall, and to whom nothing is a stranger in the body over which it\npresides.\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTWELFTH CHARACTERISTIC\n\n_Mutual Edification_\n\nBE edified at the sight of your brethren's virtues, and edify them\nby your own. In other words, be alternately disciple and master.\n\nProfit by the labours of others, and make them profit by your own.\nReceive from all, in order to be able to give to all. Borrow\nhumility from one, obedience from another, union with God, and the\npractice of mortification from others.\n\nBy charity we store up in ourselves the gifts of grace enjoyed by\nevery member of the community, in order to dispense them to all by\na happy commerce and admirable exchange.\n\nAs the bee draws honey from the sweetest juices contained in each\nflower; as the artist studies the masterpieces to reproduce their\nmarvellous tints in pictures which, in their turn, become models;\nas a mirror placed in a focus receives the rays of brilliancy from\na thousand others placed around it to re-invest them with a\ndazzling brilliancy, so happy is the community whose members\nmultiply themselves, so to say, by mutually esteeming, loving,\nadmiring, and imitating each other in what is good.\n\nThis spontaneity of virtues exercises on all the members a\nconstant and sublime ministry of mutual edification and reciprocal\nsanctification.\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nEXTENT AND DELICACY OF GOD'S CHARITY FOR MEN\n\nIN order to excite ourselves to fraternal charity, let us try and\npicture that of God for us. After having had us present in His\nthoughts from all eternity, He has called us from nothingness to\nlife.\n\nHe Himself formed man's body, and, animating it with a breath,\nenclosed in it an immortal soul, created to His own image.\nScarcely arrived on the threshold of life, we found an officer\nfrom His court an angel deputed to protect, accompany, and conduct\nus in triumph to our heavenly inheritance.\n\nWhat a superb palace He has prepared for us in this world,\nsupplied with a prodigious variety of flowers, fruits, and animals\nwhich He has placed at our disposal!\n\nWe were a fallen race, and He sent His Son to raise us and save us\nfrom hell, which we merited. The Word was made flesh. He took a\nbody and soul like ours, thus ennobling and deifying, so to speak,\nour human nature. Before ascending to His heavenly Father, after\nhaving been immolated for us on the Cross, for fear of leaving us\norphans, He wished to remain amongst us in the Holy Eucharist, to\nnourish us with His flesh, and to infuse into our hearts His\nDivine Spirit as the living promise and the delicious foretaste of\nthe felicity and glory which He went to prepare for us in His\nkingdom.\n\nTruly, O God, You treat us not only with a paternal love, but with\nan infinite respect and honour; and cannot I love and honour those\nwhom You have thus honoured and loved Yourself? Why do not these\nthoughts inflame my charity in the fire of your Divine love? My\nbrethren and myself are children of God and members of Jesus\nChrist. My brethren have their angels, who are companions of my\nangel. One day my brethren will be my companions in glory,\nchanting eternally the Divine praises. It is but a short time\nsince, with them, I partook of the heavenly banquet of the Most\nHoly Sacrament, and to-morrow shall do so again.\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nEXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING HIS\nMORTAL LIFE\n\nLET us now admire the charity of our Divine Saviour while on\nearth.\n\nIf wine was wanting at a feast; if fishermen laboured in vain\nduring the night; if a vast crowd knew not where to procure food\nin the desert; if unfortunate persons were possessed by devils or\ndeprived of the use of their limbs; if death deprived a father of\nhis daughter, or a widow of an only son, Jesus was there to supply\nwhat was wanting, to give back what was lost, or to sweeten all\ntheir griefs. Sometimes He forestalled the petition by curing\nbefore being asked, or by exciting the wavering faith. He\ngenerally went beyond the demands of the petitioners. He was\nalways ready to interrupt His meal, to go to a distance, or to\nquit His solitude. Nicodemus, as yet trembling and timid, came to\nfind Jesus during the night, and He did not hesitate to sacrifice\nHis sleep by prolonging the conversation. The Samaritan woman was\nnot beneath His notice, although He was fatigued after a long\njourney. He lavished with prodigality His caresses on the children\nwho pressed around Him. When the crowd was so great that the poor\nwoman with the flow of blood could not come within reach of His\nhand, He caused an all-powerful virtue to set out from Him, and a\nsimple touch of the hem of His garment supplied instead.\n\nWith what charming grace His benefits were accompanied! \"Zacheus,\ncome down quickly, for I will abide this day in thy house.\" Who\nmore than He excelled in the art of making agreeable surprises? In\nHis apparitions to Magdalen, to the holy women, to the disciples\nat Emmaus, did He not pay well for the ointment, the tears, and\nthe perfumes, and the hospitality He received from them? Who is\nnot moved with emotion when he sees his Lord preparing a meal for\nthe Apostles on the lake-shore, or asking Peter thrice to give him\nan opportunity of publicly repairing his triple denial, \"Lovest\nthou Me?\"\n\nWho would not be moved when he hears what St. Clement relates\nhaving heard it from St. Peter that our Lord was accustomed to\nwatch like a mother with her children near His disciples during\ntheir sleep to render them any little service?\n\nO Jesus! the sweetest, the most amiable, the most charitable of\nthe children of men, make me a sharer in Your mildness, Your love,\nand Your charity.\n\n\n\nXX\n\nFIRST PRESERVATIVE\n\n_How to fortify ourselves against uncharitable conversations, the\nprincipal danger to fraternal charity_\n\nTO meditate on what the Holy Scripture says of it: \"Place, O Lord,\na guard before my mouth\" (Ps. cxl.)--a vigilant sentinel, well\narmed, to watch, and, if necessary, to arrest in the passing out\nany unbecoming word--\"and a door before my lips,\" which, being\ntightly closed, will never let an un charitable dart escape.\n\n\"Shut in your ears with a hedge of thorns,\" to counteract the\ntongue, which would pour into them the poison of uncharitableness,\n\"and refuse to listen to the wicked tongue.\"\n\n\"Put before your mouth several doors and on your ears several\nlocks\"--_i.e._, put doors upon doors and locks upon locks, because\nthe tongue is capable, in its fury, to force open the first door\nand break the first lock. \"Melt your gold and silver, and make for\nyour words a balance\"--weighing them all before uttering\nthem--\"and have for your mouth solid bridles which are tightly\nheld,\" for fear that the tongue, getting the better of your\nvigilance, will break loose and do mischief in all directions.\n\nConsidering these many barriers and formidable checks, must we not\nsee the necessity of burying in a well-fortified prison that most\ndangerous monster, the tongue? \"Ah! truly death and life are in\nthe power of the tongue\" (Prov. xviii.). \"And although the sword\nhas been the instrument of innumerable murders, the tongue has at\nall times beaten it in producing death\" (Ecclus. xxviii.). \"It\nforms but a small part of the body, and has done mighty evil: as\nthe helm badly directed causes the wreck of a fine ship, and as a\nspark may enkindle a forest. . . . Unquiet evil, inflamed\nfirebrand, source of deadly poison, world of iniquity\" (St. James\niii.).\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nSECOND PRESERVATIVE\n\n_To meditate on what the Saints say_\n\nST. BONAVENTURE relates that St. Francis of Assisi said to his\nreligious one day: \"Uncharitable conversation is worse than the\nassassin, because it kills souls and becomes intoxicated with\ntheir blood. It is worse than the mad dog, because it tears out\nand drags on all sides the living entrails of the neighbour. It is\nworse than the unclean animal, because it wallows in the filth of\nvices and makes its favourite pasture there. It is worse than\nCham, because it exposes everywhere the nasty spots which soil the\nface of religion--its mother.\"\n\nSt. Bernard goes further: \"Do not hesitate to regard the tongue of\nthe backbiter as more cruel than the iron of the lance which\npierced our Saviour's side, because it not only pierces His sacred\nside, but one of His living members also, to whom by its wound it\ngives death. It is more cruel than the thorns with which His\nvenerable head was crowned and torn, and even than the nails with\nwhich the wicked Jews fastened His sacred hands and feet to the\nCross, because if our Divine Saviour did not esteem more highly\nthe member of His mystic body (which is pierced by the foul tongue\nof the slanderer) than His own natural body formed by the\noperation of the Holy Ghost in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary,\nHe would never have consented to deliver the latter to ignominies\nand outrages to spare the former.\"\n\nNow St. Francis and St. Bernard are here speaking to religious. Is\nit possible, then, for backbiting to glide into religious\ncommunities? Yes, certainly. And it is by this snare that Satan\ncatches souls which have escaped all others.\n\nSt. Jerome says: \"There are few who avoid this fault. Amongst\nthose even who pride themselves on leading an irreproachable life,\nyou will scarcely find any who do not criticize their brethren.\"\n\nRarely, without doubt, but too often, nevertheless, we calumniate\nat first secretly or with one or two friends, afterwards openly\nand in public. We speak of the mistakes, shortcomings, and\ndefects, great and small, and sometimes transmit them as a legacy.\nSometimes we use a moderate hypocrisy by purposely letting\nourselves be questioned, and sometimes brutally attack our victim\nwithout shame.\n\n\"Have I, then,\" may the religious thus attacked say, \"in making my\nvows renounced my honour and delivered my character to pillage?\nHas my position as religious, has the majesty of the King of\nKings, of whom I have become the intimate friend, in place of\nennobling me, degraded me? You call yourselves my brethren, and\nyet there are none who esteem me less! You would not steal my\nmoney, and yet you make no scruple of stealing my character, a\nthousand times more precious. You pay court to your Saviour and\npersecute His child! The same tongue on which reposes the Holy of\nHolies spreads poison and death! Is this to be the result of your\nstudy and practice of virtue? Has not Jesus Christ, by so many\nCommunions, placed a little sweetness on your tongue and a little\ncharity in your heart? By eating the Lamb have you become wolves?\nas St. John Chrysostom reproached the clergy of Antioch. And you,\nwho fly so carefully the gross vices of the world, have you no\ncare or anxiety about damning yourself by slander?\"\n\n\n\nXXII\n\nTHIRD PRESERVATIVE\n\n_To guard the tongue_\n\nTHIS must be done especially in five circumstances: (1) At the\nchange of Superiors. Do not criticize the outgoing Superior nor\nflatter the new one. (2) When you replace another religious. Never\nby word or act cast any blame on him. Inexperience, or a desire to\nintroduce new customs, sometimes causes this to be done. (3) When\nyou are getting old. Because then we are apt to think--\nerroneously, of course--that the young members growing up are\nincapable of fulfilling duties once accomplished by ourselves. (4)\nWhen religious come from another house do not ask questions which\nthey ought not to answer, and do not tell them anything which\nmight prejudice or disgust them with the house or anyone in it.\nLastly, in our interviews with our particular friends we must be\nvery cautious. There are some who, when anything goes amiss with\nthem, always seek the company of their confidants. These should\nseriously examine before God whether it is a necessary comfort in\naffliction or a support in weakness, or the too human satisfaction\nof justifying themselves, giving vent to their feelings, or\ngetting blame and criticism for the Superior or some one else.\nThey should also examine whether on such occasions they speak the\nexact truth, and whether they seek a friend, who knows how to take\nthe arrow sweetly from the wound rather than to bury it deeper.\n\nThe way to find out the gravity of the sin of detraction is--(1)\nTo consider the position of him who speaks and the weight which is\nattached to his words; (2) the position of him who is spoken\nabout, and the need he has of his reputation; (3) the evil thing\nsaid; (4) the number of the hearers; (5) the result of the\ndetraction; and, lastly, the intention of the speaker, and the\npassion which was the cause of it.\n\n\n\nXXIII\n\nFOURTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_To be on our guard with certain persons_\n\nTHERE are six sorts of religious who wound fraternal charity more\nor less fatally, (1) Those who say to you, \"Such a one said\nso-and-so about you.\" These are the sowers of discord, whom God\nAlmighty declares He has in abomination. Their tongues have three\nfangs more terrible than a viper. \"With one blow,\" says St.\nBernard, \"they kill three persons--themselves, the listeners, and\nthe absent.\" (2) Those who, obscuring and perverting this amiable\nvirtue, possess the infernal secret of transforming it into vice.\nIs not this to sin against the Holy Ghost? (3) Those who skilfully\nturn the conversation on those brethren of whom they are jealous,\nin order to have all put in a bad word. They thus double the fault\nthey apparently wish to avoid. (4) Those who constantly have their\nears cocked to hear domestic news, who are skilful in finding out\nsecrets and picking up stories, whose trade seems to be to take\nnote of all little bits of scandalous news going, and to take them\nfrom ear to ear, or, worse, from house to house. Oh, what an\noccupation! What a recreation for a spouse of Christ! (5) Those\nwho, under pretext of enlivening the conversation, sacrifice their\nbrethren to the vain and cruel wantonness of witticism by relating\nsomething funny in order to give a lash of their tongue or to\nexpose some weakness. Alas! they forget that they ruin themselves\nin the esteem and opinion of the hearers. (6) Critics of\nintellectual work. On this point jealousy betrays itself very\neasily on one side, and susceptibility is stirred on the other.\nThe heart is never insensible nor the mouth silent when we are\nwounded in so delicate a part. It is evident, besides, that in\nthis case the blame supposes a desire of praise, and that in\nproportion as we endeavour to lower our brethren we try to raise\nourselves. All these religious ought to be regarded as pests in\nthe community.\n\nIf we call those who maintain fraternal charity the children of\nGod, should not those who disturb it be called the children of\nSatan? Do they not endeavour to turn the abode of peace into a den\nof discord, and the sanctuary of prayer into a porch of hell?\n\n\n\nXXIV\n\nFIFTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_To be cautious in letter-writing and visiting_\n\nGREAT care must be taken never to repeat anything at visits or in\nletters which might compromise the honour of the community or any\nof its members.\n\nNever utter a word or write a syllable which might in the least\ndegree diminish the esteem or lower the merit of anyone. Every\nwell-reared person knows that little family secrets must be kept\nunder lock and key.\n\nSt. Jane Frances de Chantal writes: \"To mention rashly outside the\ncommunity without great necessity the faults of religious would be\ngreat impudence. Never relate outside, even to ecclesiastics,\nfrivolous complaints and lamentations without foundation, which\nserve only to bring religion, and those who govern therein, into\ndisrepute. Certainly, we ought to be jealous of the honour and\ngood odour of religious houses, which are the family of God. Guard\nthis as an essential point which requires restitution.\"\n\n\n\nXXV\n\nSIXTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_Caution in communication with superiors_\n\nIN communications made to Superiors say the exact truth, and for a\ngood purpose. Do not speak into other ears that which, strictly\nspeaking, should only be told to the local Superior or\nSuperior-General. With the exception of extraordinary cases, or\nwhen it refers to a bad habit or something otherwise irremediable,\nthere is generally little charity and less prudence in telling the\nSuperior-General of something blameable which has occurred. Do not\nreveal, even before a Superior, confidences which conscience,\nprobity, or friendship requires to be guarded with an inviolable\nseal of friendship. If we write a complaint about a personal\noffence, lessen it rather than exaggerate, and endeavour to praise\nthe person for good qualities, because nothing is easier than to\nblacken entirely another's reputation.\n\nPray and wait till your emotion be calmed. When passion holds the\npen, it is no longer the ink that flows, but spleen, and the pen\nis transformed into a sword.\n\nBefore speaking or writing to the Superior it would be well to put\nthis question to ourselves: \"Am I one of those proud spirits who\nexpose the faults of others in order to show off their own\npretended virtues? or jealous spirits who are offended at the\nelevation of others? or vindictive spirits who like to give tit\nfor tat? or polite spirits who wish to appear important? or\nill-humoured, narrow-minded spirits, scandalized at trifles? or\ncredulous, inconsiderate spirits who believe and repeat\neverything--the bad rather than the good? In fine, am I a\nhypocrite who, clothing malice with the mantle of charity, and\nhiding a cruel pleasure under the veil of compassion, weep with\nthe victim they intend to immolate, as though profoundly touched\nby his misfortune, and seem to yield only to the imperative\ndemands of duty and zeal?\"\n\n\n\nXXVI\n\nSEVENTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_Caution in doubtful cases_\n\nACT with the greatest reserve in doubtful cases where grave\nsuspicions, difficult to be cleared up, rest on a religious\nsuperior or inferior, as the case may be.\n\nThe ears of the Superior are sacred, and it is unworthy\nprofanation to pour into them false or exaggerated reports. To\ninfect the Superior's ears is a greater crime than to poison the\ndrinking fountain or to steal a treasure, because the only\ntreasure of religious is the esteem of their Superior, and the\npure water which refreshes their souls is the encouraging and\nbenevolent words of the same Superior.\n\nSome, by imprudence or under the influence of a highly coloured or\nimpressionable imagination which carries everything to extremes\n(we would not say through malice), render themselves often guilty\nof crying acts of injustice and ruin a religious. What is\nuncertain they relate as certain, and what is mere conjecture they\ntake as the base of grave suspicions. Several facts which, taken\nindividually, constitute scarcely a fault, they group together,\nand so make a mountain out of a few grains of sand. An act which,\nseen in its entirety, would be worthy of praise, they mutilate in\nsuch a fashion as to show it in an unfavourable light. Enemies of\nthe positive degree, they lavish with prodigality the words\n_often, very much, exceedingly,_ etc. When they have only one or\ntwo witnesses, they make use of the word _everybody_, thereby\nleaving you under the impression that the rumour is scattered\nbroadcast. On such statements, how can a Superior pronounce\njudgment?\n\n\n\nXXVII\n\nEIGHTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_To check uncharitable conversation in others_\n\nWHEN you see charity wounded by an equal call him to order.\n\nIf to say or do anything scandalous is the first sin forbidden by\ncharity, not to stop, when you can, him who speaks or acts badly\nought to be considered the second.\n\nWhen the discourse degenerates, represent Jesus Christ entering\nsuddenly into the midst of the company, and saying, as He did\nformerly to the disciples of Emmaus: \"What discourse hold you among\nyourselves, and why are you sad?\" Recall also these words of the\nPsalmist: \"You have preferred to say evil rather than good, and to\nrelate vices rather than virtues. O deceitful, inconsiderate, and\nrash tongue! Dost thou think thou wilt remain unpunished? No; God\nwill punish thee in everlasting flames.\" After having thus\nfortified ourselves against uncharitable conversation, we ought to\ntry and put a stop to it.\n\nSt. John Climacus tells us to address the following words to those\nwho calumniate in our presence: \"For mercy's sake cease such\nconversation! How would you wish me to stone my brethren--me,\nwhose faults are greater and more numerous?\"\n\nA holy religious replied to an uncharitable person: \"We have to\nrender infinite thanks to God if we are not such as those of whom\nyou speak. Alas! what would become of us without Him?\"\n\nThe philosopher Zeno, hearing a man relate a number of misdeeds\nabout Antisthenes, said to him: \"Ah! Has he never done anything\ngood? Has he never done anything for which he merits praise?\" \"I\ndon't know,\" he replied. Then said Zeno, \"How is that? You have\nsufficient perception to remark, and sufficient memory to\nremember, this long list of faults, and you have had no eyes to\nsee his many good qualities and virtuous actions.\"\n\nSt. John Chrysostom says: \"To the calumniator I wish you to say\nthe following: If you can praise your neighbours, my ears are open\nto receive your perfume. If you can only blacken them, my ears are\nclosed, as I do not wish them to be the receptacle of your filthy\nwords. What matters it to me to hear that such a one is wicked,\nand has done some detestable act? Friend, think of the account\nthat must be rendered to the Sovereign Judge. What excuse can we\ngive, and what mercy will we deserve--we who have been so\nkeen-sighted to the faults of others, and so blind to our own? You\nwould consider it very rude for a person to look into your private\nroom; but I say it is far worse to pry into another's private life\nand to expose it.\n\nThe calumniator should remember that, besides the fault he commits\nand the wrong he does to his neighbours, he exposes himself, by a\njust punishment of God, to be the victim of calumny himself.\n\n\n\nXXVIII\n\nNINTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_How to check uncharitable conversation in superiors, etc._\n\nWHEN we see charity wounded by persons worthy of respect, keep\nsilent, in order to show your regret, or relate something to the\nadvantage of the absent. If necessary, withdraw.\n\nIt is related in the life of Sister Margaret, of the Blessed\nSacrament of the Carmelite Order, that when a discourse against\ncharity took place in the house she saw a smoke arise of such\nsuffocating odour that she nearly fainted, and fled immediately to\nher Divine Master for pardon.\n\nSt. Jerome, writing to Nepotian on this subject, says: \"Some\nobject that they cannot warn the speaker of his fault without\nfailing in the respect due to him. This excuse is vain, because\ntheir eagerness to listen increases his itch for speaking. No one\nwishes to relate calumnies and murmurs to ears closed with\ndisgust. Is there anyone so foolish as to shoot arrows against a\nstone wall?\" Let your strict silence be a significant and salutary\nlesson for the detractor. \"Have no commerce with those who bite,\"\nsaid Solomon, because perdition is on the eve of overtaking them;\nand who can tell the disaster and ruin with which the rash\ndetractor and equally blamable listener are threatened?\n\nIf it be true, according to the testimony of a religious who was\nvisitor of the houses of his Order, that the virtue against which\none can most easily commit a grievous sin in religion is charity;\nand, according to St. Francis de Sales, sins of the tongue number\nthree-fourths of all sins committed; cannot it be said with equal\ntruth that to refuse to listen to detractors is with one blow to\nprevent the sin and safeguard charity?\n\nIn many cases one can adroitly make known the good qualities and\nvirtues which more than counterbalance the defects related by the\ndefamer. To act thus is to spread about the good odour of Christ.\n\n\n\nXXIX\n\nTENTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_Be cautious after hearing uncharitable conversation_\n\nAFTER having heard uncharitable words, observe the following\nprecautions given by the Saints:\n\n1. Repeat nothing.\n\n2. Believe all the good you hear, but believe only the bad you\nsee. Malice does the contrary. It demands proofs for good reports,\nbut believes bad reports on the slightest grounds. Out of every\nthousand reports one can scarcely be found accurate in all its\ndetails. When, as a rule of prudence, Superiors are told to\nbelieve only half of what they hear, to consider the other half,\nand still suspect the remaining part, what rule should be\nprescribed for inferiors?\n\nWhen the act is evidently blameworthy, suppose a good intention,\nor at least one not so bad as apparent, leaving to God what He\nreserves to Himself the judgment of the heart; or consider it as\nthe result of surprise, inadvertence, human frailty, or the\nviolence of the temptation. Never come to hasty conclusions--\n_e.g._, \"He is incorrigible; as he is, so will he always be.\"\nExpect everything from grace, efforts, and time.\n\n3. Efface as much as possible the bad impression produced on the\nmind, because calumny always produces such.\n\nThe recital of something bad about a fellow-religious based on\nprobabilities has sufficed to tarnish a reputation which ample\napologies cannot fully repair. The detractor's evil reports are\nbelieved on account of the audacity with which he relates them,\nbut when he wants to relate something good he will not be believed\non oath. We know by experience that evil reports spread with\ncompound interest, while good ones are retailed at discount.\n\n\n\nXXX\n\nELEVENTH PRESERVATIVE\n\n_Not to judge or suspect rashly_\n\nEXPEL every doubt, every thought, likely to diminish esteem. They\namuse themselves with a most dangerous game who always gather up\nvague thoughts of the past, rumours without foundation,\nconjectures in which passion has the greatest share, and thus form\nin their minds characters of their brethren--adding always, never\nsubtracting--and by dint of the high idea they have of their own\nability conclude that all their judgments are true, and thus\nbecome fixed in their bad habit. St. Bernard, comparing them to\npainters, warns them that it is the devil who furnishes the\nmaterials, and even the evil conceptions, necessary to depict such\nbad impressions of their brethren. We read in the \"Life of St.\nFrancis\" that our Lord Himself called in a distinct voice a\ncertain young man to his Order. \"O Lord,\" replied the young man,\n\"when I am once entered, what must I do to please You?\" Pay\nparticular attention to our Lord's answer: \"Lead thou a life in\ncommon with the rest. Avoid particular friendships. Take no notice\nof the defects of others, and form no unfavourable judgments about\nthem.\" What matter for consideration in these admirable words!\n\nThomas a Kempis says: \"Turn thy eyes back upon thyself, and see\nthou judge not the doing of others. In judging others a man\nlabours in vain, often errs, and easily sins; but in judging and\nlooking into himself he always labours with fruit. We frequently\njudge of a thing according to the inclination of our hearts,\nbecause self-love easily alters in us a true judgment.\"\n\nRodriguez tells us to turn on ourselves the sinister questions,\netc., we are tempted to refer to others _e.g._: \"It is I who am\ndeceived. It is through jealousy that I condemn my brethren. It is\nthrough malice that I find so much to blame in them. Finally, the\nfault is mine, not theirs.\"\n\nEven when reports more or less true might depreciate in your eyes\nsome of the community, may they not have, besides their faults,\nsome great but hidden virtues, and by these be entitled to a more\nmerciful judgment? St. Augustine says beautifully: \"If you cast\nyour eye over a field where the corn has been trampled, you only\nperceive the straw, not the grain. Lift up the straw, and you will\nsee plenty of golden sheaves full of grain.\" The simile is very\napplicable to a poor religious beaten down by foul tongues. We\nblame the defects of our brethren, and perhaps we have the same,\nor others more shameful still. We usurp the right of judgment,\nwhich God reserves to Himself, and forget that He will punish us\nby leaving us to our own irregular passions. Ah! is it not already\na very great misfortune to have these contemptuous, slanderous,\ndistrustful thoughts, and many other sins, the result of malicious\nsuspicions and rash judgments, rooted in the soul?\n\n\n\nXXXI\n\nMEANS TO SUPPORT THE EVIL THOUGHTS AND TONGUES OF OTHERS\n\nWHAT must be done in those painful moments when, being the victim\nof a painful calumny, the object of suspicion, the butt of\ndomestic persecution, we are tempted to believe that charity is\nbanished from the community, and so to banish it from our own\nheart? Recall the words of St. John of the Cross. \"Imagine,\" says\nhe, \"that your brethren are so many sculptors armed with mallets\nand chisels, and that you have been placed before them as a block\nof marble destined in the mind of God to become a statue\nrepresenting the Man of Sorrows, Jesus crucified.\" Consider a\nhasty word said to you as a thorn in the head; a mockery as a spit\nin the face; an unkind act as a nail in the hand; a hatred which\ntakes the place of friendship as a lance in the side; all that\nwhich hurts, contradicts, or humiliates us as the blows, stripes,\nthe gall and vinegar, the crown of thorns and the cross. The work\nproceeds always, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Let us not\ncomplain. We will one day thank these workmen, who, without\nintending it, give to our soul the most beautiful, the most\nglorious, and the noblest traits. We ourselves are sculptors as\nwell as statues, and we will find that, on our part, we have\nmaterially helped to form in them the same traits.\n\n\"If all were perfect,\" says the \"Imitation,\" \"what, then, should\nwe have to suffer from others for God's sake?\"\n\nIt is not forbidden us to seek consolation. But from whom? Is it\nfrom those discontented spirits whose ears are like public sewers,\nthe receptacle of every filth and dirt? They increase our pain by\npouring the poison of their own discontent instead of the oil of\nthe Good Samaritan. They will take our disease and give us theirs,\nand, like Samson's foxes, spread destruction around by repeating\nwhat we said to them. May God preserve us from this misfortune! If\nwe cannot carry our burden alone, and if we find it no relief to\nlay our griefs in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us go to him whom\nthe rule appoints to be our friend and consoler, our confidant and\ndirector, and who, as St. Augustine relates of St. Monica, after\nhaving listened to us with patience, charity, and compassion,\nafter having at first appeared to share our sentiments, will\nsweeten and explain all with prudence, will lift up and encourage\nour oppressed heart, and by his counsel and prayers will restore\nus to peace and charity.\n\n\n\nXXXII\n\nSECOND MEANS TO BEAR WITH OTHERS\n\nRECALL the words of our Lord to Blessed Margaret Mary: \"With the\nintention of perfecting thee by patience I will increase thy\nsensibility and repugnance, so that thou wilt find occasions of\nhumiliation and suffering even in the smallest and most\nindifferent things.\"\n\nWhat would be considered, when we were in the world, as the prick\nof a needle, we look upon in religion as the blow of a sword. What\nwe looked upon in our own house as light as a feather, becomes in\ncommunity life as heavy as a rock. An insignificant word becomes\nan outrage, and a little matter which formerly would escape our\nnotice now upsets us, and even deprives us of sleep and appetite.\nIs not this increase of sensibility and repugnance found in the\nreligious state only to form in us the image of our crucified\nLord? If Christ alone has suffered interiorly more than all the\nSaints and Martyrs together, was it not because of this extreme\nrepugnance of His soul, which multiplied to infinity for Him the\nbitterness of the affronts and the rigour of His torments?\nReligious may expect for a certainty that, like their Divine\nMaster, there are reserved for them moments of complete\nabandonment, those agonies intended for the souls of the elect, in\nwhich Nature seems on the point of succumbing. No consolation from\ntheir families, which they have quitted; nor from their\ncompanions, who are busy in their various employments; nor from\ntheir Superiors, who do not understand the excess of their grief,\nand whose words by Divine permission produce no effect.\n\nThe solemn moment of agony with our Divine Saviour was that in\nwhich, abandoned, betrayed, and denied by His Apostles, and\nperceiving in His Father only an irritated face, He exclaimed, \"My\nGod! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?\" Such will be for\nreligious the last touch which will complete in them the\nresemblance of Jesus crucified, provided they will render\nthemselves worthy of it.\n\nWhen will be the time of this complete abandonment? How long will\nthis agony be prolonged? This is a secret known only to God.\n\n\n\nXXXIII\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nPOVERTY, chastity, obedience, and charity--such are the virtues\nsuitable and characteristic of the religious. In this little\ntreatise we have endeavoured to trace the features of the last.\n\nIn every community we can distinguish two sorts of religious--\nthose who mount and those who descend--those whose face is towards\nthe path of perfection, and those who have turned their back to\nit. Perhaps amongst these latter some have only one more step to\nabandon it altogether. Now we mount or descend, proceed or retrace\nour steps, in proportion as we practise these four virtues or\nneglect them.\n\nA religious Order is like a fire balloon, which requires four\nconditions in order to rise into the clouds amidst the applause of\nthe spectators. First, the rarefaction of the air by fire. This\nrepresents the vow of poverty, which empties the heart through the\nhands, and substitutes the desire of heavenly goods for those of\nearth. Second, release from the cords which bind it down. This\nrepresents the effects of the vow of chastity, which, by breaking\nhuman attachments, permits us to soar towards God with freedom and\nrapidity. Third, a man who will feed the fire and moderate the\nflight of the balloon upwards. This represents the right which the\nvow of obedience places in the hands of the Superior, to nourish\nthe sacred fire, and direct the sublime movement of the soul and\nforesee dangers. Fourth, the union of its component parts. This\nrepresents the operations of charity, in causing all the members\nof a community to have but one heart and one soul.\n\nPossessing these four virtues, a religious Order soars in the\nheights of perfection; but if one of these be wanting it falls\nhelplessly, and is no longer an object of edification, but of\nscandal and ridicule.\n\nWhen it happens that some members, losing the spirit of their\nstate, abandon their holy vocation, we may say with St. John:\n\"They went out from us; but they were not of us. For if they had\nbeen of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but that\nthey might be made manifest that they are not all of us\" (1 John\nii.). They appeared to have the religious virtues, but in reality\none or all were wanting to them.\n\nO God, do not permit that lukewarmness or an uncontrolled passion\nwill ever make me waver in my vocation. During life and at death I\nwish to remain a faithful religious, so that I may find the\nsalvation which Thou hast promised by procuring Thy glory. As good\ngrain improves by pulling up the weeds, and the body becomes\nhealthy when purged of bad humours, pour into my soul the grace\nand unction which others refuse, in order that, practising more\nperfectly from day to day poverty, chastity, obedience, and\ncharity, and redoubling my ardour and zeal to my last hour, I may\nobtain the priceless treasure promised to those who have quitted\nall to follow Thee. Amen.\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nTHE PRACTICE OF FRATERNAL CHARITY (FATHER FABER)\n\n1. OFTEN reflect on some good point in each of your brethren.\n\n2. Reflect on the opposite faults in yourself.\n\n3. Do this most in the case of those whom we are most inclined to\ncriticize.\n\n4. Never claim rights or even let ourselves feel that we have\nthem, as this spirit is most fatal both to obedience and charity.\n\n5. Charitable thoughts are the only security of charitable deeds\nand words. They save us from surprises, especially from surprises\nof temper.\n\n6. Never have an aversion for another, much less manifest it.\n\n7. Avoid particular friendships.\n\n8. Never judge another. Always, if possible, excuse the faults we\nsee, and if we cannot excuse the action, excuse the intention. We\ncannot all think alike, and we should, therefore, avoid\nattributing bad motives to others.\n\nCHARITABLE RELIGIOUS\n\nThey have a disregard of self and a desire to accommodate others.\nThey rejoice with their companions in their joys and recreations,\nand grieve with them in their afflictions.\n\nThey try to bring all the good they can to the community and to\navert all the evil. They begin with themselves, by being as little\ntrouble as possible to others.\n\nWith great charity and affability they bear with the faults and\nshortcomings of others, careful to fulfil the law of Christ, which\ntells us to bear one another's burdens.\n\nThey dispense to others what they have for their own advantage;\nmore particularly do they give spiritual assistance by prayer and\nthe other spiritual works of mercy.\n\nThey never contradict anyone. They never speak against anyone.\nThey are convinced that charity, holy friendships, and concord\nform the great solace of this life, and that no good ever came\nfrom dissensions and disputes.\n\nThey consider that God is ever in the midst of those who live\nunited together by the bonds of holy love.\n\nWe will do likewise if we consider the image of God in the souls\nof our brethren. As we form one body here and one spirit in the\nsame faith and charity, let us hope not to be separated hereafter,\nbut to belong for ever to that one body in heaven when faith and\nhope shall disappear, but where charity alone shall remain, and\nremain for ever.\n\n---\n\n_R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., 1, 2 & 4 Paternoster Row_","title":"Fraternal Charity","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11929}