Salesian Literature

Vol. 1, CONFERENCE 7 : Generosity

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To understand better what is and in what consists this strength and generosity of spirit, I should in the first place answer to a question which has often been posed to me: In what does perfect humility consist?  Once I have made this point clear, I shall be better understood when I speak to you about the second point, on which you want me to speak today: what is this strength and generosity of spirit that is required to be a daughter of the Visitation.

 

Humility is nothing else but a perfect acknowledgement that we are nothing, only pure nothing, and we have to be convinced that we are such.  To understand this better, we should know that there are two kinds of qualities in us: some are in us but not from us, and the others are in us and from us, I do not mean to imply that they do not come form God and that we have them from ourselves alone.  In very truth from ourselves we have nothing else except misery and nothingness.  I mean that God has so to say so well integrated these qualities into us that they appear to be our very own.  These qualities are health, riches, learning which we have acquired and similar things.  Now humility prevents us from glorifying and taking pride in ourselves because of these gifts in so far as humility does not value all these things which we have just mentioned except as emptiness and nothingness.  It is very reasonable that these qualities are not of lasting value, and cannot render us pleasing to God.  We must think of them as passing and subject to change.  If this is not so, is there anything less dependable than riches, whose fortune sways according to times and seasons?  Beauty is tarnished in a matter of seconds, a little skin disease on the face is enough to remove its radiance.  And as for learning, a slight ailment of the brain is enough to make us forget and lose all that we have acquired.  Humility, then, is extremely reasonable in ignoring all these qualities we have mentioned here.  Moreover humility enables us to lower and humble ourselves by the knowledge and recognition of ourselves as nothing and emptiness due to the little value it give to what is in us and from us.  But humility also makes us appreciate very much the qualities which are in us but not from us, and these are faith, hope and the little love that we have; as also the capacity God has given us to enter into union with him with the help of his grace.  As regards our own selves, we esteem our own vocation which gives s assurance – in so far as we can have it in this world – of the possession of eternal happiness and glory.  And it is this esteem which humility has for these gifts of faith, hope and love which forms the basis of the generosity of spirit.

 

So you see that he first set of qualities depends on humility or its practice and the second on generosity.  Humility believes inbeing able to achieve nothing, being aware of our poverty and weakness when left to ourselves. Generosity, on the contrary, makes us proclaim with St. Paul, I can do everything in him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13).  Humility makes us distrust ourselves, whereas generosity makes us trust in God.  You see, then, these two virtues of humility and generosity are so intimately linked and united with one another that they are never separated, nor can ever be separated.  There are some people who take a strange delight in a false and foolish humility which prevents them from seeing nothing that is good in them.  They are highly mistaken; for the gifts God has given us should be acknowledge, respected and honoured; and they should not be treated on the same level with those things to which we give a low esteem that is those things which are in us and from us.  Faithful Christians as well as the ancient philosophers have differentiated between these two types of goods or qualities.  The true Christians have recognised that we should take into consideration these two qualities in us, some to humble ourselves and the others to glorify God who has given them to us.  The ancient philosophers said: “Know yourself.”  It means that we should not only recognize our lowliness and misery but also we must acknowledge our goodness and our dignity as persons who are capable of being united to the Divinity by the divine goodness.  To realise this, God has placed in us a natural tendency which always tends to and aims at this union in which consists all our happiness.

 

Humility which does not produce generosity is unquestionably false.  After it has said: I can do nothing, I am nothing, but pure nothingness, at once it yields place to generosity which says: There is nothing and there can never be anything that I cannot do, since I put all my confidence in God who can do everything; and with this confidence, it undertakes courageously to do everything that is commanded or counselled, however difficult it may be.

 

I can assure you that humility does not judge that it is impossible for it even to work miracles if it is commanded. So much so that it sets to work in the simplicity of heart that God will do it.  He will not fail to give it the power to realize its undertaking since it not due to one’s own strength that it undertakes it instead relying on the appreciation of the gifts God has given.  Humility says to itself: “If God has called me to this such high state of perfection, loftier than which there is nothing in life, what is it that will prevent me from arriving at it, since I am fully assured that he who began this work of my perfection will complete it? (Phil. 1:6).  But take care to see that all this is done without any presumption on your part, especially, since this confidence always warns us to be on guard lest we fall.  Thus it makes us more attentive to ourselves, more vigilant and more painstaking to do everything that can help us to advance in the way of perfection.

 

Humility is not just a distrust of ourselves, it is also confidence in God and the distrust of ourselves and of our own strength produces confidence in God and this confidence in turn give birth to the generosity of spirit.  The Blessed Virgin has given us a very remarkable example of it when she exclaimed: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to you word (Lk. 1:38).  Distrust of oneself: Behold the handmaid of the Lord!  She makes an act of humility, the greatest that could ever be made as she opposes it to the praises the Angels gives her.  It is at the same moment when the greatest and the most unimaginable dignity was offered to her, that of becoming the Mother of God, that of giving birth to Him who would be called the Son of God, that the Virgin Mary places in contrast to all these praises and greatness only her lowliness and unworthiness, calling herself the servant of the Lord.  Notice, however, that as soon as she has done her duty to humility, she immediately practises very great generosity, when she says: Let it be done unto me according to your word.  What she meant to say by those words was this: It is true that of my own I am not worthy of such a grace considering what I am in myself; but if there is any good in me, it is pure gift of God and the message you bring to me is his will for me.  I believe firmly that it can be done and will be done.  Hence she spoke with assurance: Be it done to me just as you say.

 

Very few people make a true act of contrition.  The reason for it is quite simple: after humbling ourselves and expressing our shame before God’s Majesty, at the thought of our great infidelities, we do not arrive at this true act of confidence, raising ourselves with new courage, with the assurance that we ought to have that God will give us his grace to be henceforth more faithful to him and respond more perfectly to his love.  After making this act of confidence we go further and make immediately an act of generosity, saying: Since I am now certain that God’s grace will not fail me, I want to believe that God will not allow me to fail to cooperate with his grace.  For we can make this reply: If I ignore grace, grace will ignore me – that is quite! – But if it is so, who can guarantee that henceforth I will never disregard grace since I have done it so many times in the past?  - Generosity makes a person say boldly and fearlessly: NO, I will not be unfaithful to God!  for generosity does not find in itself the will to be unfaithful to God and hence it undertakes fearlessly to do everything it knows will be pleasing to God, without any exception in undertaking everything, it believes it can do everything, not by its own ability, but in God in whom it places all its confidence and for whom alone it does and undertakes to do everything that is commanded or counselled.

 

You ask: Are we never allowed to doubt about our capacity to do anything that we are commanded to do?  - I reply to this by saying that the generosity of spirit never allows us to do that.  But I wish that you understand this in the light of what I tell you very frequently: You have to make a clear distinction between the superior part, that is, the higher self, and the inferior part, that is, the lower self.  When I say that the generosity of spirit does not allow us to doubt, I refer to the higher self of our being: It is possible that the lower self is full of these doubts and has much difficulty to accept the duty given to you.  The person who is filled with generosity ignores all that and pays no heed to it, but goes about fulfilling the duty in all simplicity, without uttering even a word or doing anything to show the awareness of her inability.  But some of us, so easily show that we are very humble and that we have a low esteem of ourselves and similar attitudes.  This is far from genuine humility which does not allow us to oppose the judgement of those whom God has given us to direct us.

 

I have given a very remarkable example, regarding this point, in the Introduction (3.5).  it is that of the King Ahaz (Is. 7:3-12).  He was tormented by great adversities. Two other kings were waging a war against him and they had laid siege to Jerusalem.  God commands Isaiah to go and comfort him in his name, and to promise him that he would come out victorious and triumph over his enemies.  As a proof of what he had said was true, Isaiah proposed to Ahaz to ask the Lord God for a sign, from heaven or on the earth and that God would give it. But Ahaz did not trust in God’s goodness and generosity and replied: No! I will not ask him at all, since I do not want to tempt the Lord.  But this wretched man did not say this because of the reverence he had for God.  On the contrary, he refused to honour him, because God wanted to show forth his glory in those times, by working miracles, and Ahaz refused to ask God to perform one miracle which God had declared he was prepared to perform. He thus offended God by refusing to obey the Prophet whom God had sent to him to make his will known.

 

It is clear, then, that we should never question whether we are capable of doing what we are commanded to do, especially, when those who command us know our aptitudes.

 

But you say that it is quite possible that you have much more interior misery and great imperfections which your Superiors do not know.  They have based their judgement only on external appearances by which you have perhaps deceived them.  – I tell you that you should not always believe when you say this: Perhaps you are urged a little by discouragement to imagine that you are so wretched and full of so many imperfections.  At the same time you should not believe that you do not have them at all just because you say nothing about them.  Usually, you are what your deeds show you to be.  Your virtues are made known through the faithfulness with which you practise them, so too, your imperfections are also known through your actions.  So long as you do not bear malice in your heart, you cannot mislead your Superiors.

 

You could tell me that so many Saints made so much objection to accept the responsibilities that were presented to them.  Well, if they did that, it was not because of the low esteem they had of themselves.  Rather they were convinced that those who offered them these responsibilities were led by external acts of virtues, like fasting, almsgiving, penance and austerities and not because of the true interior virtues kept hidden under the cover of humility.  People went in search of them because they were known only due to their fame.  It seems to me that sometimes one may be permitted to make a little objection.  Do you know who can do this?  A Sister from Dijon, for example, whom the superior from Annecy would appoint superior, without ever having seen or known her.   But if a similar order were given to a Sister of this community you should never give any reason that you dislike the charge assigned to you (I speak as always of the higher self).  On the contrary you should set about discharging it with as much courage and peace as if you felt completely fit for fulfilling it.  I would like to make a subtle and delicate reflection here: what we really are afraid of is of losing our honour!  We love our reputation so much that we do not want to be considered as novices in the discharge of our responsibilities, but mistresses who never make mistakes.

 

You now understand better what this spirit of strength and generosity is all about and which we desire so much to possess so as to get rid of all forms of childishness and emotional softness which only hold us back and prevent us from making progress in perfection.  Such sensitivity feeds upon useless thoughts about ourselves especially when we have stumbled on our way due to some fault.  In our community, by the grace of God nobody ever failed completely.  So far we have not seen it.  But one falters.  Instead of gently humbling oneself and then rising courageously as we have pointed out, one begins to brood over one’s wretchedness and from that to pity oneself: Alas! How unhappy I am, I am good for nothing.  From there one gives in to discouragement which makes one say: One should expect nothing good from me, I will never be able to do anything worthwhile, you are wasting your time to speak to me.  Besides all this we want to be left alone, as if we are absolutely convinced that we can never make progress.  A person filled with the generosity is far from all these things and gives great value to the gifts she has received from God as we have seen.  For she is never troubled at all, about the difficulties she may encounter nor about the greatness of the task confided to her, nor about the length of time that would be required for it, nor, finally about any eventual delay to bring the task which she has undertaken to its completion.

 

All the Sisters of the visitation are called to reach a high degree of perfection. Their vocation is the most sublime and most exalted we can imagine.  This is specially so because their aim is not only to unite themselves to God’s will as all Christians are called to do, but over and above this, they are called to become one with him in his desires and even in his intentions before they are scarcely made known to them.  And if it were ever possible to imagine something more perfect, if they could find a higher degree of perfection they could reach up to than that of greater conformity to God’s will, desires and intentions, then they would certainly undertake to do it since their vocation compels them to do so.  Hence, the devotion which our Sisters have to practise is to be a vigorous and generous devotion as we have said several times.

 

Over and above what I have said to you concerning generosity, I have still to add a word that the person who accepts with equanimity dryness and aridity as well as tenderness and consolations, interior trials, sadness, depressions, however great they may be, as well as the warmth of fervour, the contentment of a heart overflowing with peace and serenity. This is because she believes that God who has given her consolations is the same who sends her one or the other urged by one and the same love.  She recognizes this love as very great since through interior and spiritual trials God intends to lead her to a very high degree of perfection which consists in the renunciation of all sorts of consolations in this life being quite certain that God who deprives her of them here below will not deprive her of them eternally in heaven.

 

You say, given the darkness in which you find yourself it is not possible for you not even to utter a word to Our Lord, let alone making these loft considerations! – You may be right in saying what you feel but in fact it is not so.  The Council of Trent teaches and we are bound to believe that God and his grace will never abandon us in such a way that we are not able to approach him and declare to him that in spite of all the disturbance of our hearts, we want to belong to him completely and that we do not ever want to offend him.  But you notice that all this takes place only in the higher self of our being.  It is, indeed, the lower self which is not aware of all this and wants to continue always in its suffering.  Hence we are troubled and we feel that we are quite miserable.  It is over this that we begin to get too sensitive to ourselves as if it is something which needs compassion just because we experience no consolations.  Contemplate Our Lord and Master!  He accepted in an unparalleled manner interior trials.  Listen to the words he said on the Cross: My God, My God, why have you abandoned me? (Mt. 27:43).  He was indeed reduced to nothingness.  He had but the fine point of his spirit which was not overwhelmed by agony, that is the reason why he spoke in such distress.  Notice also that he speaks directly with God, to teach us that it is not impossible for us to do the same.

 

You want to know what is better to do in similar situations: speak to God about our trials and sufferings or speak to him about something else?  - I would tell you that in these situations as in all other sorts of temptations, it is better to turn away our spirit from its difficulty, and speak to God about something else and do not speak to him about our sufferings.  If we do it, it will certainly increase our self-pity again in our heart.  Our nature is such that it cannot see its sufferings without having a great compassion.

 

You say that if you do not pay attention to it, you will forget about it and fail to report about it.  – So what doe sit matter?  We are like little children, who feel so happy to go and tell their mother that they have been stung by a bee, so that the mother may show pity and breathe a little over the sting, which is already cured.  As for ourselves we too, want to go and report to our Mother about the trials which afflict us and exaggerate our suffering by giving all the details not leaving our any circumstance which would cause us to be pitied.  All this is surely great childishness.  If we have committed unfaithfulness, it is good to say it.  If we have been faithful, we must say it too but briefly without exaggerating one or the other, for we have to reveal everything to those whose task it is to guide us.

 

You say when you are filled with a great feeling of anger or troubled by some other temptation, you are always tormented by scruples if you do not confess it.  – You should do it while giving an account of the inner state of your life, but not in the manner of a confession.  Rather it is done with a view to get advice on how to deal with the matter.  I say this in the vent that you are not quite sure whether you have consented or not.  For if you go and say: I accuse myself of having had strong feelings of anger during two days, but I did not consent to them – you are confessing your virtues instead of your sins.  – But I still have doubts about it; it could be that I committed a fault.  – We have to give it a serious thought and find out if this doubt has some basis: Perhaps you have been negligent, for about a quarter of an hour of the two days these feelings lasted, to turn away your attention from them: If this is true, then say quite simply that you have been negligent during a quarter of an hour, in turning your thought away from certain feelings of anger which you had, without adding that these feelings lasted fro two days … if, however, you want to speak about it only to ask for advice from your confessor or to give him an account of your spiritual life, then it is very good to tell him all about it.  But in ordinary confessions it is better not to make any mention of it, since you are doing it only for your personal satisfaction.  And even if it costs you a little by not doing it, you have to bear it as you accept something for which there is no remedy.

 

Live Jesus

The glorious virgin our lady and the glorious st. Joseph!

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