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For those who have achieved the Illuminative State, here is some advice from St. Francis de Sales on virtue.
I think that choosing a virtue will come naturally. Some people have one virtue which stands out above all the rest.
My comments in red....
First, the saint's comments.
At the same time, there are virtues of universal account, which must
not only be called into occasional action, but ought to spread their
influence over everything. We do not very often come across
opportunities for exercising strength, magnanimity, or magnificence;
but gentleness, temperance, modesty, and humility, are graces which
ought to colour everything we do. There may be virtues of a more
exalted mould, but at all events these are the most continually called
for in daily life. Sugar is better than salt, but we use salt more
generally and oftener. Consequently, it is well to have a good and
ready stock in hand of those general virtues of which we stand in so
perpetual a need.
Most modern day priests have told people to be like sugar. No.
This is not the call of God in the world.
In practising any virtue, it is well to choose that which is most
according to our duty, rather than most according to our taste. It was
Saint Paula's liking to practise bodily mortifications with a view to
the keener enjoyment of spiritual sweetness, but obedience to her
superiors was a higher duty; and therefore Saint Jerome acknowledges
that she was wrong in practising excessive abstinence contrary to the
advice of her Bishop. And the Apostles, whose mission it was to preach
the Gospel, and feed souls with the Bread of Life, judged well that it
was not right for them to hinder this holy work in order to minister to
the material wants of the poor, weighty as that work was also. [52]
Every calling stands in special need of some special virtue; tDeahose
required of a prelate, a prince, or a soldier, are quite different; so
are those beseeming a wife or a widow, and although all should possess
every virtue, yet all are not called upon to exercise them equally, but
each should cultivate chiefly those which are important to the manner
of life to which he is called.
Deacons do not have the same role in the Church as priests.
The corporal works of mercy are their primary duty. And
those who are working will not be effective if they have not
dealt with their own predominant faults and are free of egotism.
Among such virtues as have no special adaptation to our own calling,
choose the most excellent, not the most showy. A comet generally looks
larger than the stars, and fills the eye more; but all the while comets
are not nearly so important as the stars, and only seem so large to us
because they are nearer to us than stars, and are of a grosser kind. So
there are certain virtues which touch us very sensibly and are very
material, so to say, and therefore ordinary people give them the
preference. Thus the common run of men ordinarily value temporal
almsgiving more than spiritual; and think more of fasting, exterior
discipline and bodily mortification than of meekness, cheerfulness,
modesty, and other interior mortifications, which nevertheless are far
better. Do you then, my daughter, choose the best virtues, not those
which are most highly esteemed; the most excellent, not the most
visible; the truest, not the most conspicuous.
I know a saint by her cheerfulness.
It is well for everybody to select some special virtue at which to aim,
not as neglecting any others, but as an object and pursuit to the mind.
Saint John, Bishop of Alexandria, saw a vision of a lovely maiden,
brighter than the sun, in shining garments, and wearing an olive crown,
who said to him, "I am the King's eldest daughter, and if thou wilt
have me for thy friend, I will bring thee to see His Face." Then he
knew that it was pity for the poor which God thus commended to him, and
from that time he gave himself so heartily to practise it, that he is
universally known as Saint John the Almoner. Eulogius Alexandrinus
desired to devote himself wholly to God, but he had not courage either
to adopt the solitary life, or to put himself under obedience, and
therefore he took a miserable beggar, seething in dirt and leprosy, to
live with him; and to do this more thoroughly, he vowed to honour and
serve him as a servant does his lord and master. After a while, both
feeling greatly tempted to part company, they referred to the great
Saint Anthony, who said, "Beware of separating, my sons, for you are
both near your end, and if the Angel find you not together, you will be
in danger of losing your crowns."
We are so afraid of suffering in our culture, that we cannot serve others as we should.
The proficient, the ones who have been purified, know how to do this.
Saint Louis counted it a privilege to visit the hospitals, where he
used to tend the sick with his own royal hands. Saint Francis loved
poverty above all things, and called her his lady-love. Saint Dominic
gave himself up to preaching, whence his Order takes its name. [53]
Saint Gregory the Great specially delighted to receive pilgrims after
the manner of faithful Abraham, and like him entertained the King of
Glory under a pilgrim's garb. Tobit devoted himself to the charitable
work of burying the dead. Saint Elizabeth, albeit a mighty princess,
loved above all things to humble herself. When Saint Catherine of Genoa
became a widow, she gave herself up to work in an hospital. Cassian
relates how a certain devout maiden once besought Saint Athanasius to
help her in cultivating the grace of patience; and he gave her a poor
widow as companion, who was cross, irritable, and altogether
intolerable, and whose perpetual fretfulness gave the pious lady
abundant opportunity of practising gentleness and patience. And so some
of God's servants devote themselves to nursing the sick, helping the
poor, teaching little children in the faith, reclaiming the fallen,
building churches, and adorning the altar, making peace among men.
Therein they resemble embroidresses who work all manner of silks, gold
and silver on various grounds, so producing beautiful flowers. Just so
the pious souls who undertake some special devout practice use it as
the ground of their spiritual embroidery, and frame all manner of other
graces upon it, ordering their actions and affections better by means
of this their chief thread which runs through all.
"Upon Thy Right Hand did stand the Queen in a vesture of gold wrought
about with divers colours." [54]
The proficients, unlike those full of egotism, know that work in the Kingdom of God is NOT
merely being seen on the altar. The hidden gifts are lay gifts of those who have come into the light.
When we are beset by any particular vice, it is well as far as possible
to make the opposite virtue our special aim, and turn everything to
that account; so doing, we shall overcome our enemy, and meanwhile make
progress in all virtue. Thus, if I am beset with pride or anger, I must
above all else strive to cultivate humility and gentleness, and I must
turn all my religious exercises,--prayer, sacraments, prudence,
constancy, moderation, to the same object. The wild boar sharpens its
tusks by grinding them against its other teeth, which by the same
process are sharpened and pointed; and so when a good man endeavours to
perfect himself in some virtue which he is conscious of specially
needing, he ought to give it edge and point by the aid of other
virtues, which will themselves be confirmed and strengthened as he uses
them with that object. It was so with Job, who, while specially
exercising the virtue of patience amid the numberless temptations which
beset him, was confirmed in all manner of holiness and godly virtues.
And Saint Gregory Nazianzen says, that sometimes a person has attained
the height of goodness by one single act of virtue, performed with the
greatest perfection; instancing Rahab as an example, who, having
practised the virtue of hospitality very excellently, reached a high
point of glory. [55] Of course, any such action must needs be performed
with a very exceeding degree of fervour and charity.
CHAPTER II. The same Subject continued.
SAINT AUGUSTINE says very admirably, that beginners in devotion are
wont to commit certain faults which, while they are blameable according
to the strict laws of perfection, are yet praiseworthy by reason of the
promise they hold forth of a future excellent goodness, to which they
actually tend. For instance, that common shrinking fear which gives
rise to an excessive scrupulosity in the souls of some who are but just
set free from a course of sin, is commendable at that early stage, and
is the almost certain forerunner of future purity of conscience. But
this same fear would be blameable in those who are farther advanced,
because love should reign in their hearts, and love is sure to drive
away all such servile fear by degrees.
In his early days, Saint Bernard was very severe and harsh towards
those whom he directed, telling them, to begin with, that they must put
aside the body, and come to him with their minds only. In confession,
he treated all faults, however small, with extreme severity, and his
poor apprentices in the study of perfection were so urged onwards, that
by dint of pressing he kept them back, for they lost heart and breath
when they found themselves thus driven up so steep and high an ascent.
Therein, my daughter, you can see that, although it was his ardent zeal
for the most perfect purity which led that great Saint so to act, and
although such zeal is a great virtue, still it was a virtue which
required checking. And so God Himself checked it in a vision, by which
He filled S. Bernard with so gentle, tender, and loving a spirit, that
he was altogether changed, blaming himself heavily for having been so
strict and so severe, and becoming so kindly and indulgent, that he
made himself all things to all men in order to win all.
S. Jerome tells us that his beloved daughter, S. Paula, was not only
extreme, but obstinate in practising bodily mortifications, and
refusing to yield to the advice given her upon that head by her Bishop,
S. Epiphanius; and furthermore, she gave way so excessively to her
grief at the death of those she loved as to peril her own life.
Whereupon S. Jerome says: "It will be said that I am accusing this
saintly woman rather than praising her, but I affirm before Jesus, Whom
she served, and Whom I seek to serve, that I am not saying what is
untrue on one side or the other, but simply describing her as one
Christian another; that is to say, I am writing her history, not her
panegyric, and her faults are the virtues of others." He means to say
that the defects and faults of S. Paula would have been looked upon as
virtues in a less perfect soul; and indeed there are actions which we
must count as imperfections in the perfect, which yet would be highly
esteemed in the imperfect. When at the end of a sickness the invalid's
legs swell, it is a good sign, indicating that natural strength is
returning, and throwing off foul humours; but it would be a bad sign in
one not avowedly sick, as showing that nature was too feeble to
disperse or absorb those humours.
Obedience is All.
Too often, people want to do something other than to what God is calling them. This is pride.
So, my child, we must think well of those whom we see practising
virtues, although imperfectly, since the Saints have done the like; but
as to ourselves we must give heed to practise them, not only
diligently, but discreetly, and to this end we shall do well strictly
to follow the Wise Man's counsel, [56] and not trust in our own wisdom,
but lean on those whom God has given as our guides. And here I must say
a few words concerning certain things which some reckon as virtues,
although they are nothing of the sort--I mean ecstasies, trances,
rhapsodies, extraordinary transformations, and the like, which are
dwelt on in some books, and which promise to raise the soul to a purely
intellectual contemplation, an altogether supernatural mental altitude,
and a life of pre-eminent excellence. But I would have you see, my
child, that these perfections are not virtues, they are rather rewards
which God gives to virtues, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, tokens
of the joys of everlasting life, occasionally granted to men in order
to kindle in them a desire for the fulness of joy which is only to be
found in Paradise. But we must not aspire to such graces, which are in
nowise necessary to us in order to love and serve God, our only lawful
ambition. Indeed, for the most part, these graces are not to be
acquired by labour or industry, and that because they are rather
passions than actions, which we may receive, but cannot create.
The proficient does not seek after consolations. He knows that humility and suffering are the way to light.
Moreover, our business only is to become good, devout people, pious men
and women; and all our efforts must be to that end. If it should please
God further to endow us with angelic perfection, we should then be
prepared to become good angels; but meanwhile let us practise, in all
simplicity, humility and devotion, those lowly virtues to the
attainment of which our Lord has bidden us labour,--I mean patience,
cheerfulness, self-mortification, humility, obedience, poverty,
chastity, kindness to our neighbour, forbearance towards his failings,
diligence, and a holy fervour. Let us willingly resign the higher
eminences to lofty souls. We are not worthy to take so high a rank in
God's service; let us be content to be as scullions, porters,
insignificant attendants in His household, leaving it to Him if He
should hereafter see fit to call us to His own council chamber. Of a
truth, my child, the King of Glory does not reward His servants
according to the dignity of their office, but according to the humility
and love with which they have exercised it. While Saul was seeking his
father's asses, he found the kingdom of Israel: [57] Rebecca watering
Abraham's camels, became his son's wife: [58] Ruth gleaning after Boaz'
reapers, and lying down at his feet, was raised up to become his bride.
Mums' jobs, and bloggers, those who encourage others to be holy, none of these things are great.
[59] Those who pretend to such great and extraordinary graces are very
liable to delusions and mistakes, so that sometimes it turns out that
people who aspire to be angels are not ordinarily good men, and that
their goodness lies more in high-flown words than in heart and deed.
But we must beware of despising or presumptuously condemning anything.
Only, while thanking God for the pre-eminence of others, let us abide
contentedly in our own lower but safer path,--a path of less
distinction, but more suitable to our lowliness, resting satisfied that
if we walk steadily and faithfully therein, God will lift us up to
greater things.
I think the proficients discover in humility their real call.
