The activity of God in the souls of the perfect is something quite different from His activity in the souls of beginners. In the latter, being less obvious, it consists mostly in inciting and sustaining vigilance and suppliant prayer, thus offering them a means of obtaining grace for new efforts. But, in the perfect God acts in a much more complete fashion, and sometimes all He asks is a simple consent, that will unite the soul to His supreme action.
Beginners, even the tepid soul and the sinner, whom the Lord wants to draw close to Himself, feel themselves first of all moved to seek God, then to prove to Him more and more their desire of pleasing Him, and finally to rejoice in all providential opportunities that permit them to dislodge self-love from its throne and set up, in its place, the reign of Christ alone. In such cases, the action of God is confined to stimulation and to help.
In the saint this action is far more powerful and far more entire. In the midst of weariness and suffering, satiated with humiliations or crushed by illness, the saint has nothing to do but abandon himself to the divine action; otherwise he would be unable to bear the torments which, according to the designs of God, are intended to bring his perfection to full maturity. In him is fully realized the text: “God put all things under Him that God may be all in all.”
Deus subjicit sibi omnia ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus. (1 Cor. 15:28).
He depends so completely upon Christ for all things that he seems no longer to live by himself. Such was the testimony of the apostle, with regard to himself: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
Vivo autem jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus (Gal. 2:20).
It is the spirit of Christ alone that does the thinking and the acting, and makes all the decisions. No doubt this divinization is far from achieving the intensity that it will have in glory, and yet this state already reflects the characteristics of the beatific union.
Is there any need to point out that all this is far from being the case with a beginner, or a tepid soul, or with one that is merely fervent? There exists a whole series of means adapted to their states, means which, as a matter of fact, can serve one of these types just as well as the other. But the beginner, like an apprentice, will have much trouble, will advance slowly; and, in short, will not accomplish very much. The fervent man, already a skilled workman, will do his job fast and well, and, with little difficulty, will gain much more profit.
But no matter what class of apostles we may be discussing, the intentions of Providence in regard to them are always the same. God desires that always, and in all these souls, active work should be a means of sanctification. But whereas for the soul that has arrived at sanctity the apostolate offers no serious danger, does not exhaust his strength and provides him with abundant opportunities to grow in virtue and in merit, we have seen how rapidly it brings on spiritual anemia, and consequently regression on the road to perfection, in souls only feebly united with God—souls in whom the love of prayer, the spirit of sacrifice, and above all habitual watchfulness over the heart are but poorly developed.
This habit of vigilance will never be refused by God when He sees insistent prayer and repeated proofs of fidelity. He pours it without measure upon a generous soul who, by unceasing new-beginnings, has managed to transform its power and make them supple in responding to the inspirations from above, and capable of joyfully accepting contradiction and failure, loss and deception.
Let us consider six main features of the way the interior life filters into a soul to establish it in genuine virtue.
a. It Protects the Soul against the Dangers of the Exterior Ministry
b. It Renews the Strength of the Apostle
c. It Multiplies His Energies and His Merits
d. It Gives Him Joy and Consolation
e. It Refines His Purity of Intention
f. It Is a Firm Defense against Discouragement
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar