Considering the grandeur and undeniable urgency of this precept, the novice should henceforth look up to his state as that most suited for fulfilling it and bless God for the mercy accorded him in granting him the grace of a religious vocation.
Love of God constitutes the whole of Christian life. The other moral and theological virtues only prepare us for, and lead us to, the love of God. St. Augustine says: “Love and do what you will.” He who truly loves God is safe against sin, because sin is the very contrary of love. To love God is the easiest and sweetest of all the commandments, though it is just the one which is violated most frequently and imperceptibly. Love of God brings us into the possession of God Himself. It is by love that heaven is heaven. It is the prime necessity of our being, because we can be happy only in loving the good, and this is God. This love is a holy debt, because God loved us first, continually works in us by His love and awaits with generous patience the return of the love we owe Him.
The obstacle which the love of God meets in man arises from various causes that arrest the creature in its flight and turn it from its last end, outside of which there is nothing but reprobation, for whoever will not love God in this world, shall be sentenced to hate Him for all eternity in hell. These causes are: Illusions, which cause us to forget the invitation extended us by God to love Him; the world, its maxims and example; attachment to material goods, to creatures and to self; lastly, want of support and encouragement. Let the novice gratefully acknowledge that the religious state removes all these barriers, and that for him who wishes to profit by the means it offers, the accomplishment of the greatest and first of the commandments is made easy.
The religious state establishes man in recollection and peace, as on a mountain whose summit reaches far into the sky. It produces in the soul that interior and exterior silence in which the word of God works freely, dissipates illusions and protects the soul against the unperceived insinuation of forgetfulness. By separating the religious from contact with the world, it also frees him from the dangers which this deceitful enemy presents in its maxims and example, avoided only with difficulty by him who lives in its midst. The attachment to material goods, to creatures and self being successfully fought by the exact observance of the holy vows, the soul finds again its primitive liberty, and tends with ease towards its divine centre. Such a soul, supported in every possible way by the Rule and the observances, which are a source of countless graces, strengthened by the example of others, called to order by exhortations and, if necessary, by reproofs and corrections, could be induced to desert the path of love only by obstinate and repeated resistance of good. This is happily of rare occurrence.
We must justly conclude from this that the religious has a greater assurance of his perseverance in the practice of this great commandment than anyone in the world. If only on this account, he should consider himself the happiest of men.
Let us firmly resolve to take advantage of the many graces lavished on us in order to advance in the love of God by concentrating all our powers to this blessed end. It is above all of greatest importance to know that this precept requires of us no laborious exertions. For the Lord Himself says to His chosen people: “This commandment that I command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee, nor is it in heaven that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it to us, and we may hear and fulfil it in work? Nor is it beyond the sea: that thou mayest excuse thyself and say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us: that we may hear and do that which is commanded? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deut. xxx, 11-14.) To love God, we need then only follow the impulse of our hearts. The mere thought of His supreme amiability and the remembrance of His benefits suffice to maintain us in this charity which unites us with Him.
In the first place, be ever intent upon multiplying these treasures of eternal life. Make, as often as possible, explicit acts of love towards God. These acts, arising from an impulse of grace, have great power to enrich the source from which they emanate. In all the motives of your thoughts and actions, seek to give preference to the love of God. You will find it an excellent help, and your thoughts and actions will at the same time be raised to greater merit and higher dignity. Be habitually determined by the consideration of the love we owe to God in the sacrifices which you will have to make. For, if real, it will urge you to sacrifice and not to repose.
Whereas God prescribes to man several distinct moral and theological virtues, do not dispense yourselves from any one of them under the pretext that the love of God should be enough for you, but strive to unite this motive of love with those peculiar to the other virtues, by making them participate in the nature of divine love. Lastly, when you fail, look on your faults as infidelities to the love of God. This will greatly enable you to hasten the pardon which will be readily granted by the merciful Judge.
You should be eager to carry to the utmost perfection the motives of your love of God. Rest not content with a purely self-interested love which aims at personal welfare only. Consider, without ever ceasing to love God as your last end with this love of desire which springs from the virtue of love as its pure and holy source, without checking in its course the love of gratitude which should fill you with ever increasing acknowledgement of the blessings received from God, that there exists in Him an inexhaustible loveliness which justly excites our love apart from our own interests. You should endeavour to ascend, as far as human weakness permits, to this love for His sake, which effaces sin by remitting guilt and the punishment due, and which can unite, even in this world, the soul with its Creator.
Elicit to this end, according to the impulses of grace, acts of the love of benevolence, compliance and compassion, by which the soul embraces the interests of God with an ardour that is not dimmed by self-interest. Penetrate into the sense of the Lord’s Prayer, the first three petitions of which convey to everyone who is able to comprehend them the expression of this love. In one word, let us act in all things with the conviction that as men, Christians and religious, we have a lofty and all-embracing duty to fulfil in this world, namely, the duty of loving God before all things and continually, with a love proportionate to the graces bestowed on us for the purpose of loving Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV as the Vicar of Christ, the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.