Salesian Literature

Chapter 11  :  The first proof of inspiration – perseverance in our vocation

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Some inspirations are directed solely to the extraordinary perfection of the ordinary practices of the Christian life.

 

Charity towards the sick poor is one such ordinary practice, but a practice which was fulfilled with extraordinary perfection by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena when they licked and sucked the rotting sores of lepers; by that glorious king St. Louis when he knelt bareheaded to serve the sick – to the wonderment of a Cistercian abbot who saw the king touch and dress a wretched man’s hideous cancerous sores.  It was also the saintly monarch’s remarkable custom to wait upon the lowest of the poor at table, and to eat their leavings.

 

St. Jerome, in his hospice at Bethlehem, entertained pilgrims from Europe who were fleeing the persecution of the Goths.  Not only did he wash their feet, but he even stooped to bathe and rub their camel’s legs – imitating Rebecca, who not only drew water for Eliezer, but also for his camels.

 

St. Francis of Assisi not only went to extremes in his practice of poverty, as everyone knows, but he was extraordinarily simple too.  He bought back a lamb, lest it be slaughtered, because it symbolized our Lord; he treated all creatures with respect, seeing the Creator in them, but an unusual yet prudent simplicity; this would lead him to pick worms off the path, lest passers-by should tread on them, for he remembered that his Saviour had been likened to a worm (cf. Ps. 21:7); he used to call all things his brothers or sisters – a wonderful reflection suggested by charity.

 

St. Alexis, a nobleman of distinguished lineage, practised self-abasement to perfection; as a poor pilgrim he lived unrecognised in his father’s house at Rome for seventeen years.

 

All these inspirations were for common practices – to be performed, however, to uncommon perfection.  We must not be anxious to do too many things at once or immediately; the devil often tries to make us begin several things, so that we have too much to do ever to complete anything – thus we leave everything unfinished.  There are even times when he will prompt us to undertake some good work which he knows we shall not complete, to distract us from attempting something less perfect which we could have carried with ease.  He does not care how many plans or attempts we make, as long as we achieve nothing.

 

St. Thomas[1] thinks that it is not a good thing to spend a great deal of time in consultation or reflection over a desire to enter a good and well-established religious Order; and he is right.  After all, since the religious life was counselled by our Lord in the gospels, what need is there of overmuch consultation?  One good talk is enough with a few prudent individuals who are capable of advising us in the matter, who can help us to come to a prompt and sound decision.  Once we have reflected and made up our minds, however, in this matter or anything else that concerns the service of God, we are to be steadfast, unchangeable, and allow no apparently greater good to unsettle us.

 

It frequently happens, says St. Bernard, that Satan puts us on the wrong scent: to distract us from achieving one thing, he will suggest something seemingly better; then to prevent us from bringing this to perfection, he will hold out a third.  He is quite content for us to make any number of beginnings, as long as we never complete anything.

 

Let me give you a fine simile which I borrow from a letter of St. Anselm to Lanzo: “Just as a shrub can never take root if it is frequently transplanted, and never come to anything, never flower,” so the man who transplants his heart from purpose to purpose cannot thrive or grow in perfection – for perfection lies not in beginning, but in achievement.

 

It is for each man, then once he has discovered what God wants him to do, to keep lovingly and devotedly to that path, attempting such practices as are compatible with it according to the dictates of prudence, zealous for his own perfection.

 

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[1]  Summa Theologica, 2.2.q.189.a.10.

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