Virtues for Lent

Article 1
INTRODUCTION TO SIN AND VIRTUE

Getting to the Root of it All
The Venerable Louis of Granada, in his spiritual classic, The Sinner’s Guide, speaks of pride and humility in the following terms:

Self-Love & the Triple Concupiscence
St. Thomas gives us a profound reason for this. All sin, he says, proceeds from self-love, for we never commit sin without coveting some gratification for self. From this self-love spring those three branches of sin mentioned by St. John: "the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16), which are love of pleasure, love of riches, and love of honors. Three of the deadly sins, lust, gluttony, and sloth, spring from love of pleasure, pride springs from love of honors, and covetousness from love of riches. The remaining two, anger and envy, serve all these unlawful loves. Anger is aroused by any obstacle which prevents us from attaining what we desire, and envy is excited when we behold anyone possessing what our self-love claims. These are the three roots of the seven deadly sins, and consequently of all the other sins. Let these chiefs be destroyed and the whole army will soon be routed. Hence we must vigorously attack these mighty giants who dispute our entrance to the Promised Land.

Pride
The first and most formidable of these enemies is pride, that inordinate desire of our own excellence, which spiritual writers universally regard as the father and king of all the other vices. Hence Tobias, among the numerous good counsels which he gave his son, particularly warns him against pride: "Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, for from it all perdition took its beginning." (Job 4:14). Whenever, therefore, you are attacked by this vice, which may justly be called a pestilence, defend yourself with the following considerations:

First reflect on the terrible punishment which the Angels brought upon themselves by one sin of pride. They were instantly cast from Heaven into the lowest depths of Hell. If pure spirits received such punishment, what can you expect, who are but dust and ashes? God is ever the same, and there is no distinction of persons before His justice.

Pride is just as odious to Him in a man as in an angel, while humility is equally pleasing to Him in both. Hence St. Augustine says, "Humility makes men Angels, and pride makes Angels devils." And St. Bernard tells us, "Pride precipitates man from the highest elevation to the lowest abyss, but humility raises him from the lowest abyss to the highest elevation. Through pride the Angels fell from Heaven to Hell, and through humility man is raised from earth to Heaven."

Humility
Humility is the foundation upon which all our other virtues must rest. Without it, pride will contaminate and destroy whatever good things we think, say or do. There can be no sanctity or salvation without humility. Our Lord tells us to learn from Him, because He is meek and humble of heart (Matthew 11:29).

After this, reflect on that astonishing example of humility given us by the Son of God, who for love of us took upon Himself a nature so infinitely beneath His own, and "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Let the example of your God teach you, O man, to be obedient. Learn, O dust, to humble yourself. Learn, O clay, to appreciate your baseness. Learn from your God, O Christian, to be "meek and humble of heart." (Matthew 11:29). If you disdain to walk in the footsteps of men, will you refuse to follow your God, who died not only to redeem us but to teach us humility? Look upon yourself and you will find sufficient motives for humility.

What Are You?
Consider what you were before your birth, what you are since your birth, and what you will be after death. Before your birth you were, for a time, an unformed mass; now a fair but false exterior covers what is doomed to corruption; and in a little while you will be the food of worms. Upon what do you pride yourself, O man, whose birth is ignominy, whose life is misery, whose end is corruption? If you are proud of your riches and worldly position, remember that a few years more and death will make us all equal. We are all equal at birth with regard to our natural condition; and as to the necessity of dying, we shall all be equal at death, with this important exception: that those who possessed most during life will have most to account for in the day of reckoning.

The Burial of Pride
"Examine," says St. John Chrysostom, "the graves of the rich and powerful of this world, and find, if you can, some trace of the luxury in which they lived, of the pleasures they so eagerly sought and so abundantly enjoyed. What remains of their magnificent retinues and costly adornments? What remains of those ingenious devices destined to gratify their senses and banish the weariness of life? What has become of that brilliant society by which they were surrounded? Where are the numerous attendants who awaited their commands? Nothing remains of their sumptuous banquets. The sounds of laughter and mirth are no longer heard; a somber silence reigns in these homes of the dead. But draw nearer and see what remains of their earthly tenements, their bodies which they loved too much. Naught but dust and ashes, worms and corruption."

The Torture of Pride
This is the inevitable fate of the human body, however tenderly and delicately nurtured. Ah! Would to God that the evil ended here! But more terrible still is all that follows death: the dread tribunal of God's justice; the sentence passed upon the guilty; the weeping and gnashing of teeth; the tortures of the worm that never dies; and the fire which will never be extinguished.

Vain Glory
Consider also the danger of vainglory, the daughter of pride, which as St. Bernard says, enters lightly but wounds deeply. Therefore, when men praise you, think whether you really possess the qualities for which they commend you. If you do not, you have no reason to be proud. But if you have justly merited their praise, remember the gifts of God, and say with the Apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am." (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Be Humble, O Dust and Ashes!
Humble yourself, then, when you hear the song of praise, and refer all to the glory of God. Thus you will render yourself not unworthy of what He bestows upon you. For it is incontestable that the respect men pay you, and the good for which they honor you, are due to God. You rob Him, therefore, of all the merit which you appropriate to yourself. Can any servant be more unfaithful than one who steals his master's glory? Consider, moreover, how unreasonable it is to rate your merit by the inconstant opinion of men who today are for you, and tomorrow against you; who today honor you, and tomorrow revile you. If your merit rests upon so slight a foundation, at one time you will be great, at another base, and again nothing at all, according to the capricious variations of the minds of men.

Remember Your Roots and Your Judgment
Oh, no; do not rely upon the vain commendations of others, but upon what you really know of yourself. Though men extol you to the skies, listen to the warnings of your conscience and accept the testimony of this intimate friend rather than the blind opinion of those who can judge you only from a distance and by what they hear. Make no account of the judgments of men, but commit your glory to the care of God, whose wisdom will preserve it for you and whose fidelity will restore it to you in the sight of Angels and men.

Be mindful also, O ambitious man, of the dangers to which you expose yourself by seeking to command others! How can you command when you have not yet learned to obey? How can you take upon yourself the care of others when you can hardly account for yourself? Consider what a risk you incur by adding to your own sins those of persons subject to your authority. Holy Scripture tells us that they who govern will be severely judged, and that the mighty shall be mightily tormented (Wisdom 6:6). Who can express the cares and troubles of one who is placed over many? We read of a certain king who, on the day of his coronation, took the crown in his hands, and, gazing upon it, exclaimed, "O crown richer in thorns than in happiness, did one truly know thee he would not stoop to pick thee up even if he found thee lying at his feet."

God Abhors Pride
"Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord!" (Proverbs 16:5). Again, O proud man, I would ask you to remember that your pride is displeasing to all—to God, Who resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble (James 4:6); your pride is displeasing to the humble, who hold in horror all that savors of arrogance; and your pride is displeasing to the proud themselves, who naturally hate all who claim to be greater than they. Nor will you be pleasing to yourself. For if it ever be given to you in this world to enter into yourself and recognize the vanity and folly of your life, you will certainly be ashamed of your littleness. And if you do not correct it here, still less satisfaction will it afford you in the next world, where it will bring upon you eternal torments.

Know Thyself!
St. Bernard tells us that if we truly knew our hearts we would be displeasing to ourselves, which alone would make us pleasing to God; but because we do not know ourselves we are inflated with pride and therefore hateful in His sight. The time will come when 'we shall be odious to God and to ourselves—to God because of our crimes, and to ourselves because of the punishment they will bring upon us. Our pride pleases the devil only; for as it was pride which changed him from a pure and beautiful angel into a spirit of malice and deformity, he rejoices to find this evil reducing others to his unhappy state.

Our Good Actions Are Done More For Self Than God
Another consideration which will help you acquire humility is the thought of the little you have done purely for God. How many vices assume the mask of virtue! How frequently vainglory spoils our best works! How many times actions which shine with dazzling splendor before men have no beauty before God! The judgments of God are different from those of men. A humble sinner is less displeasing in His sight than a proud just man, if one who is proud can be called just.

And What About Your Sins...?
Nevertheless, though you have performed good works, do not forget your evil deeds, which probably far exceed your works of virtue, and which may be so full of faults and so negligently performed that you have more reason to ask to be forgiven for them than to hope for reward. Hence St. Gregory says: "Alas for the most virtuous life, if God judge it without mercy, for those things upon which we rely most may be the cause of the greatest confusion to us. Our bad actions are purely evil, but our good actions are seldom entirely good, but are frequently mixed with much that is imperfect. Your works, therefore, ought to be a subject of fear rather than confidence, after the example of holy Job, who says, 'I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.'" (Job 9:28).

Blindness of Pride
Since humility comes from a knowledge of ourselves, pride necessarily springs from ignorance of ourselves. Whoever, therefore, seriously desires to acquire humility must earnestly labor to know himself. How, in fact, can he be otherwise than humbled who, looking into his heart with the light of truth, finds himself filled with sins; defiled with the stains of sinful pleasures; the sport of a thousand errors, fears, and caprices; the victim of innumerable anxieties and petty cares; oppressed by the weight of a mortal body; so forward in evil and so backward in good? Study yourself, then, with serious attention, and you will find in yourself nothing of which to be proud.

Looking at Others Rather than Self
But there are some who, though humbled at the sight of their failings, are, nevertheless, excited to pride when they examine the lives of others whom they consider less virtuous than themselves. Those who yield to this illusion ought to reflect, though they may excel their neighbors in some virtues, that in others they are inferior to them. Beware, then, lest you esteem yourself and despise your neighbor because you are more abstemious and industrious, when he is probably much more humble, more patient, and more charitable than you. Let your principal labor, therefore, be to discover what you lack, and not what you possess.

Stop Imagining, Get Real!
Study the virtues which adorn the soul of your neighbor rather than those with which you think yourself endowed. You will thus keep yourself in sentiments of humility, and increase in your soul a desire for perfection. But if you keep your eyes fixed on the virtues, real or imaginary, which you possess, and regard in others only their failings, you will naturally prefer yourself to them, and thus you will become satisfied with your condition and cease to make any efforts to advance.

See the True Source
If you find yourself inclined to take pride in a good action, carefully watch the feelings of your heart, bearing in mind that this satisfaction and vainglory will destroy all the merit of your labor. Attribute no good to yourself, but refer everything to God. Repress all suggestions of pride with the beautiful words of the great Apostle: "What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). When your good works are practices of supererogation or perfection, unless your position requires you to give an example, do not let your right hand know what your left hand does, for vainglory is more easily excited by good works done in public.

When you feel sentiments of vanity or pride rising in your heart, hasten to apply a remedy immediately. One that is most efficacious consists in recalling to mind all your sins, particularly the most shameful.

Keep Your Feet on the Ground
Like a wise physician, you will thus counteract the effect of one poison by another. Imitate the peacock, and when you feel yourself inflated with pride turn your eyes upon your greatest deformity, and your vanity will soon fall to the ground. The greater your position the greater should be your humility, for there is not much merit in being humble in poverty and obscurity. If you know how to preserve humility in the midst of honors and dignities you will acquire real merit and virtue, for humility in the midst of greatness is the grandest accompaniment of honors, the dignity of dignities, without which there is no true excellence. If you sincerely desire to acquire humility you must courageously enter the path of humiliation, for if you will not endure humiliations you will never become humble. Though many are humbled without diminishing their pride, humiliation, as St. Bernard tells us, is nevertheless the path to humility, as patience is the path to peace, and study to learning. Be not satisfied, therefore, with humbly obeying God, but be subject to all creatures for love of Him (1 Peter 2:13).

Have Fear!
In another place St. Bernard speaks of three kinds of fear with which he would have us guard our hearts. "Fear," he says, "when you are in possession of grace, lest you may do something unworthy of it; fear when you have lost grace, because you are deprived of a strong protection; and fear when you have recovered grace, lest you should again lose it." Thus you will never trust to your own strength; the fear of God which will fill your heart will save you from presumption.

Don't Neglect; Don't Exaggerate; Keep a Balance
Be patient in bearing persecution, for the patient endurance of affronts is the touchstone of true humility. Never despise the poor and abject, for their misery should move us to compassion rather than contempt. Be not too eager for rich apparel, for humility is incompatible with a love of display. One who is too solicitous about his dress is a slave to the opinions of men, for he certainly would not expend so much labor upon it if he thought he would not be observed. Beware, however, of going to the other extreme and dressing in a manner unsuited to your position. While claiming to despise the approbation or notice of the world, many secretly strive for it by their singularity and exaggerated simplicity. Finally, do not disdain humble and obscure employments. Only the proud seek to avoid these, for the man of true humility deems nothing in the world beneath him. (The Sinner’s Guide, Venerable Louis of Granada, chapter 30).

Article 2
DO YOU KNOW YOUR ROOTS?

Who? Who-mility? Humility!
The least known amongst the virtues, and consequently the most misunderstood, is the virtue of humility, and yet it is the very groundwork of the Christian religion. Humility is a grace of the soul that cannot be expressed in words, and is only known by experience. It is an unspeakable treasure of God, and can only be called the gift of God. "Learn," He said—not from angels, not from men, not from books—but learn from My presence, light and action within you, "that I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls" (St. John Climacus) The more we are subject to God, the nearer we are to Him. He is infinitely above us, but by this very subjection we ascend to Him, and find in Him whatever is truly great.

Humility Requires Honesty
Humility consists in the confession of the grace of God. The first office of the grace of God is to make us sensible of the giver. The grand object for which we came into existence is more than the light and grace of God; it is God Himself, and those gifts are given to guide and lead and help us to Him. We are not our own good, nor are the things around or beneath us our good, however useful in their place and order, but God is our good, and whatever comes from God that is better than ourselves helps us on to Him. We have but the capacity for good, and the power of working with the good we receive. Pride is the practical denial of this truth, a truth that springs from the constitution of our nature. And therefore it is said in Holy Scripture that "pride was not made for man" (Ecclesiasticus 10:22.)

Humility Needs Gratitude
Again, humility is the interior, spiritual, sacrificial action through which, with the profoundest veneration and gratitude, we offer to God the being and life we have received from Him, with the desire and prayer that we may die to ourselves and live to Him; that we may be wholly changed and transformed into His likeness, detached from earth and united with God. But as we come to our God from sin and dark ingratitude, we owe more to Him than our being and our life; we owe Him the contrition, the breaking to pieces of our sinful form, with regret and sorrow that we have defiled and defaced His beautiful work; we owe to Him that we throw away every breath of vanity, falsehood and evil, which, when cast out of us, is nothing.

A Fruit of Charity
Perfect humility is the fruit of perfect charity. The more we love God the less we value ourselves. He who is truly humble, truly empty of himself, is a vessel of election to God, full to overflowing with His Benedictions. He has only to ask to receive still more. He is the child of all the beatitudes, poor in spirit, meek of heart, hungering and thirsting after justice. When humility finds nothing in herself to rest upon, she finds her true center, and that center is God. For the humble soul alone has got the divine as well as the human measure of things.

The Grounds of Humility

1. The first ground of humility is our creation from nothing. We are of a short time; our beginning was feeble, as became our origin, and nothing was the womb of us all. Whence are we? From the creative will of God. What are we? An existence dependent on the will of God. Whither are we going? Onwards, ever onwards, the body to the dust, the soul to the judgment-seat of God. God is the one, absolute, perfect Being; we are but existences, the products of His will, dependent on Him for all we are and have; and all this great scene about us that fills our senses is of less value than the last soul that was created and born into this world; for the soul is for God, but this visible universe for the service and probation of the soul.

2. The second ground of humility is our intellectual light. That light makes us reasonable creatures. In that light we see the first principles of truth, order and justice; it is the foundation of our mind and of our conscience. Man is variable and changeable, and one man differs from another; but the light of truth and justice shines one and the same to all, and the chief difference between one man and another is in the degree of his communion with that light.

3. The third ground of humility is in our dependence on the providence of God. Our life with all its conditions is in the hand of God.

4. The fourth ground of humility is our sins, whereby we have deformed and denaturalized our nature, ungraced ourselves before God, and incurred His reprobation.

5. The fifth ground of humility is in the weakness, ignorance, and concupiscence that we have inherited from Original Sin, and have increased by our actual sins.

6. The sixth ground of humility is in the open perils and hidden snares with which we are surrounded. Error in all its forms, unbelief in all its modes and varieties, move in their motley shapes through nearly every grade of life, with the apparent unconsciousness that truth is one and comes from God. The widespread evil of modern life is the amazing indifference to the well-being of the soul. An intense activity outside the soul pursues its many ways in the name of progress, although the object or ultimate aim of that progress is neither thought of nor spoken of. But it is chiefly a progress, not to, but from the soul, not to, but from God.

7. The seventh ground of humility is in the special odiousness and deformity of pride, which is in direct opposition, beyond every other vice, to the order, reason, and truth of things. Pride turns all things from God; humility turns all things to God.

8. The eighth ground of humility is in the consideration of what this virtue does for us. It opens the soul to the truth of Christ, and the heart to the grace of Christ.

9. The ninth ground of humility is the knowledge of God and His divine perfections.

10. The tenth ground of humility is the secure rest provided for the soul in the unspeakable benefits of our Divine Redeemer.

11. The eleventh ground of humility is in our distance in this vale of suffering and tears from the Supreme Object of our soul, and the risks we run in the meanwhile from our infirmities.

12. The twelfth foundation of humility is the holy fear of the judgments of God. For unless we shelter ourselves well in the humility of Christ, and do penance, and use the world as though we used it not, we are not safe. Unless, again, a humble dependence on God be the foundation of our life and the love of God be our ruling affection, we know not in what state God will find us in the hour when we shall pass from this world.

Article 3
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF PRIDE AND HUMILITY

Article 4
THE DESERT FATHERS ON HUMILITY

Before we go on to look at the other virtues, it is necessary to lay a firm foundation of humility, upon which all the other virtues rest. It is not the most exciting of virtues, nor the most inspiring, nor the most desired—but it is the most necessary (apart from charity), for without it all will collapse sooner or later.

Pride is the last and deadliest of the eight great faults which beset the feet of the hermits on their way to perfection. Over against it stands the virtue of humility, with its ultimate expression, discretion. Pride may be described as inward self-assertion.

From the world’s point of view, there is a right and proper kind of pride, a pride which saves men from permitting themselves even to contemplate the possibility of certain kinds of baseness. This kind of pride is what we mean by the word “self-respect”. It is the assertion of self to self. Just as the strong man asserts himself against his neighbors, refusing to be led or driven, so the self-respecting man asserts himself against himself, and, because he is determined to maintain and not let go of his “self-esteem” for what he is, he therefore avoids and refuses to be lured or goaded into ways which, for good or evil, would involve his becoming other than he thinks he is.

It is perhaps impossible to draw any hard line between that “self-respect” which is recognized as good, and “pride” which is admittedly evil. Indeed, even the word “pride” itself is sometimes used by itself to mean a quality in man which is regarded as a virtue. This confusion of our moral judgment is the result of trying to combine the moral ideal of the teaching of Christ with the uninspired morality of even very good and noble men.

The hermits of the Faith, for example the Desert Fathers, were perplexed with no such difficulty. To them there were no such virtues as proper pride and self-respect. All assertion of self was evil. Self-assertion against God was rebellion and sin. Self-assertion against men was the outcome of pride―its external expression. Self-assertion within was pride, in however attractive garments it might deck itself. Their judgment in the matter was absolute. They refused to recognize any kind of pride as virtuous.

So it must be that many of their favorite examples of humility will strike the ordinary reader as morbid and exaggerated, and some of their heroes will not seem heroes at all, but weak creatures wanting in self-respect. For instance, the monk who groveled on the ground, beseeching pardon, while his brother beat him for a fault he had not committed, must no doubt seem to most of us to be ludicrous and contemptible.

To the hermits, who told his story, he was a hero just for the same reason that makes him seem to us contemptible. He had no proper pride. He not only refused to assert himself against his brother by insisting on his innocence, but he refused to assert himself to himself; and asked pardon for what he had not done.

To the devil also, who had plotted the separation of the brethren, this man seemed to be a hero, one so near to God as to be unconquerable. It does not really matter whether the story is literally true or not. Our consciences recognize that what the story relates would always really happen. The devil could not but fly defeated from such humility as this man showed.

Most of the stories and sayings, however, make no such strange demands upon our moral sense. We recognize gladly, for example, the lofty teaching of the story of the hermit, to whom the desired revelation came, only after he had humbled himself. We readily admire, even if we are slow to imitate, the humility of the Desert Father, Arsenius, who was not ashamed to accept spiritual teaching from an ignorant peasant. Nor when we remember the dangers which beset the hermit’s path shall we be astonished at the vision of St. Anthony, and the voice which came to him praising humility. There were dangers of which most men know nothing, like that of the monk to whom the devil came disguised as the angel Gabriel, or that which beset St. Ammon when men asked him to judge between them.

The thought of humility and the desire of it was very constantly present to the hermit’s mind. I do not find on any other subject so many brief, and as one may say proverbial, words as on humility. In some of these the thought is so condensed as almost to defy intelligible translation, but I am sure that a careful study will reveal in each of them some spiritual thought which will well repay the labor of pursuing it. The following examples, to the modern-mind, might seem a little simplistic and rustic—yet is not humility simple and unpretentious? The Desert Fathers reached far higher heights of sanctity than today’s ‘Technology State-of-the-Art Sons’! Let us humbly and simply take their examples and words “on-board” and holily profit from them!

(1) Of the great safety of being humble.
St. Anthony tells how once in a vision he beheld all the snares of the evil one spread over the whole earth. When he looked upon them and considered their innumerable multitude, he sighed, and said within himself: “Who is able to pass safely through such a world as this?” Then he heard a voice, which answered him: “The humble man alone can pass safely through, O Anthony. In no way can the proud do so.”

(2) A story of how a certain one escaped one of the snares of the devil through humility.
The devil once appeared to a certain brother transformed into the likeness of an angel of light. He said: “I am the angel Gabriel, and I am sent unto thee.” The brother, though he doubted not at first but that he saw an angel, yet out of his humility made answer: “Surely you are sent to some other one and not to me, for I am altogether unworthy to have an angel visitor.” Then the devil, being astonished and baffled, departed from him.

(3) The humility of the abbot Arsenius who once dwelt in the emperors court.
The abbot Arsenius was one day talking with an ignorant peasant monk about spiritual thought. Another monk saw him doing so, and said to him: “How is it, Arsenius, that you, who know both Latin and Greek, consult this peasant about his thoughts?” Arsenius answered him: “I do, indeed, know Latin and Greek, which contain the wisdom of this world, but I have not yet succeeded in acquiring even the alphabet of what this peasant knows. His wisdom is of another world.”

(4) How a brother once obtained a spiritual benefit as a reward for his humility.
It is related of a certain brother that he once persevered in fasting for seventy weeks. This he did desiring to obtain a divine illumination on the meaning of a certain passage in Holy Scripture. Nevertheless, though he so fasted and desired, God hid the matter from him. Then, at last, he said within himself: “See, I have undergone great toil and am nothing profited. I shall go to one of the brethren, and inquire of him what this word of Scripture may mean.” So saying, he went out and closed the door of his cell after him. Immediately then an angel met him and said: “The seventy weeks of your fasting have not brought you near to God that you should know His mind. Now, however you have humbled yourself in going to inquire of your brother. Therefore I am sent to reveal to you what you desire to know.” Then the angel opened to him the matter about which he was perplexed, and departed from him.

(5) How a divine and eternal reward awaits those whose humility has taught them to regard their own labor as nothing.
A certain father said: “He who labors and considers that by his labor he has accomplished or effected anything, has already, even here, received the reward of all that he has done.”

(6) The way in which a certain brother learnt and practiced humility.
There was a certain brother who belonged to a high family, as this world reckons rank and grandeur. He was the son of a count, and was extremely wealthy; also he had been well educated as a boy. This man fled from his parents and his home, and entered a monastery. In order to prove the humility of his disposition and the ardor of his faith, his superior ordered him to load himself with ten baskets and to carry them for sale through the streets of the city. If anyone should want to buy them all together he was not to permit it, but was to sell them each to a separate purchaser. This condition was attached to his task in order to keep him the longer at work. He performed his task with the utmost zeal. He trampled underfoot all shame and confusion for the love of Christ and for His name’s sake. He was not perturbed at all by the novelty of his mean and unaccustomed work. He thought neither of his present indignity nor of the splendor of his birth; he aimed only at gaining through obedience the humility of Christ, which is the true nobility.

(7) Words of the hermits concerning humility.
Evagrius said: “The beginning of salvation is to despise yourself.”
Pastor said: “A man ought to breathe humility as his nostrils breathe the air.”
Another said: “Humility is that holy place in which God bids us make the sacrifice of ourselves.”
Syncletica said: “As no ships can be built without nails, so no man can be saved without humility.”
Hyperichius said: “The tree of life is on high. Man climbs to it by the ladder of humility.”
Another said: “It is better for a man to be conquered by others on account of his humility, than to be victorious over them by means of pride.”
Another said: “May it ever be my part to be taught, and another’s to teach.”
Cassian said: “It is never said of those who are entangled in other sins that they have God resisting them, but only ‘God resisteth the proud.’”
Motois said: “Humility neither is angry nor suffers others to be angry.”
The abbot John the Short said: “The door of God is humility. Our fathers, through the many insults which they suffered, entered the city of God.”
He also said: “Humility and the fear of God are pre-eminent over all virtues.”

(8) How one yearned for perfection, and God taught him to be humble.
There was a certain old man who dwelt in the desert, and it seemed to him that he had learnt the perfection of all the virtues which he practiced. So he prayed to God, saying: “Show me what is yet lacking for the perfection of my soul and I will accomplish it.” Then God, who wished to teach him humility of mind, said to him: “Go to the leader of a certain congregation of monks, and what he bids you, that do.” At the same time God spoke to that leader of monks and said: “Behold, the solitary of whom you have heard comes to you. Bid him take a whip and go forth to herd your swine.” The hermit arrived, knocked at the door, and entered. When they had saluted each other and had sat down, the hermit said: “Tell me, what shall I do to be saved.” The other, doubting within himself, replied: “Will you do what I bid you?” The hermit said: “Surely, yes.” Then said the other: “Go! Take this whip and go forth and herd my swine.” While the hermit drove the swine out to their pasture there came by some men who knew him, and they said: “Do you see that famous hermit of whom we heard so much? He must have gone mad, or some demon possesses him. Look at him feeding swine.” All this the hermit endured patiently. Then God saw that he had learnt humility, and was able to bear the insults of Therefore He bid him return to his own place.

(9) How a certain elder shrank from being praised, and rejoiced when he was despised.
A certain old man dwelt in the lower part of the desert, at peace, in a cave. A religious man from a neighboring village used to bring him what he wanted. It happened that this man’s son fell sick. With many prayers he besought the old man to come to his house and pray for the child. At length he prevailed with him, and running home, cried out: “Prepare for the coming of the hermit.” When the people of the village knew that he was coming they went out with torches to welcome him as if he had been some prince or governor. The hermit, as soon as he perceived how they meant to greet him, stood upon the river-bank, and taking off his clothes, went naked into the water. When the man who was accustomed to minister to him saw this he was greatly ashamed, and said to the villagers: “Return to your homes, for our hermit has lost his senses.” Then going to the old man, he said: “My father, why have you done this? All those who saw you are saying, ‘That old man is nothing better than a fool.’” The hermit replied to him: “That is the very thing I wished to hear.”

(10) How St. Ammon became a fool for Christ’s sake.
This story is told of the abbot Ammon. Certain men came to him asking him to judge in a contention which they had. He, however, would not, and put them off. Then a woman said to another woman, who stood near her: “The old man is silly!” Ammon heard her words, and calling her to him said: “For very many years I have toiled in various solitary places to attain that silliness at which you scoff! Is it likely now that I shall be content to lose it because you taunt me!”

(11) The abbot Pastor’s description of humility.
The abbot Pastor was once asked by a monk: “How ought I to conduct myself in the place where I dwell?” He answered: “Be cautious as a stranger among strangers. Wherever you are, never seek to have your own opinion prevail or your word influential. So you may have peace.”

(12) How the devil was vanquished by the great humility of one of the brethren.
There were two brethren, relatives according to the flesh, and bound to each other yet more closely by the spiritual purpose of their devotion. Against them the devil laid a plot that he might separate them the one from the other. Once, towards evening, the younger of the two, as he was wont, lit their lamp and put it on its stand. Through the malice of the devil the stand was overturned, and the lamp went out. By this means the devil hoped wickedly to entrap them into a quarrel. The elder of the two, growing suddenly angry, struck the younger fiercely. But the younger fell humbly on the ground and besought, saying: “Sir, be gentle with me, and I will light the lamp again.” Then, because he gave back no angry word, the evil spirit was filled with confusion, and departed from their cell. That same night he told the chief of the devils the story of his failure, saying: “Because of the humility of that brother who fell upon the ground and begged the other’s pardon I was unable to prevail against them. God beheld his humility, and poured His grace upon him. Now, alas! it is I who am tormented, for I have failed to separate these two or make them enemies.”

(13) Another story of a devil vanquished by humility.
There was a certain hermit renowned among the monks. It happened that there once met him a man possessed by an evil spirit, who struck him violently upon the cheek. The old man straightway turned to him the other cheek, that he might smite him upon it also. The devil was not able to endure the flame of his humility, but immediately departed from him who was possessed.

(14) The power of humility shown of St. Anthony the Great
Abba Anthony said: “I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning: ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’”

Article 5
The Gold of the Spiritual Life
CHARITY
“He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8).

Charity in Holy Scripture
Let us first of all listen to the words of God on charity, as recorded by Holy Scripture:

“He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8).

“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity―then I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity―then I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity―then it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).

In the end times, “because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).

“Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His charity is perfected in us. In this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us: because He hath given us of His spirit. And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us. If any man say, ‘I love God!’ and hateth his brother; then he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother” (1 John 4:7-21).

A Beautiful Passage on Charity from The Imitation of Christ (Book 3, Chapter 5) "The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love

We could not do better than meditate often upon one of the most inspired and beautiful passages ever written on the effects of divine charity or divine love. Here is that passage taken from The Imitation of Christ:

Love is an excellent thing, a very great blessing, indeed. It makes every difficulty easy, and bears all wrongs with equanimity. For it bears a burden without being weighted and renders sweet all that is bitter. The noble love of Jesus spurs to great deeds and excites longing for that which is more perfect. Love tends upward; it will not be held down by anything low. Love wishes to be free and estranged from all worldly affections, lest its inward sight be obstructed, lest it be entangled in any temporal interest and overcome by adversity.

Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in Heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things.

One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound. He gives all for all and possesses all in all, because he rests in the one sovereign Good, Who is above all things, and from Whom every good flows and proceeds. He does not look to the gift but turns himself above all gifts to the Giver.

Love often knows no limits but overflows all bounds. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of troubles, attempts more than it is able, and does not plead impossibility, because it believes that it may and can do all things. For this reason, it is able to do all, performing and effecting much where he who does not love fails and falls.

Love is watchful. Sleeping, it does not slumber. Wearied, it is not tired. Pressed, it is not straitened. Alarmed, it is not confused, but like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.

If a man loves, he will know the sound of this voice. For this warm affection of soul is a loud voice crying in the ears of God, and it says: “My God, my love, You are all mine and I am all Yours. Give me an increase of love, that I may learn to taste with the inward lips of my heart how sweet it is to love, how sweet to be dissolved in love and bathe in it. Let me be rapt in love. Let me rise above self in great fervor and wonder. Let me sing the hymn of love, and let me follow You, my Love, to the heights. Let my soul exhaust itself in praising You, rejoicing out of love. Let me love You more than myself, and let me not love myself except for Your sake. In You let me love all those who truly love You, as the law of love, which shines forth from You, commands.”

Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and chaste, firm and quiet, guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to superiors. It is mean and contemptible in its own eyes, devoted and thankful to God; always trusting and hoping in Him even when He is distasteful to it, for there is no living in love without sorrow. He who is not ready to suffer all things and to stand resigned to the will of the Beloved is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover must embrace willingly all that is difficult and bitter for the sake of the Beloved, and he should not turn away from Him because of adversities. (The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 5, "The Wonderful Effects of Divine Love").

The Spiritual Life and Devotion is All About Charity
To show you the supreme importance of charity, here are a selection of quotes from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s book, The Three Ages of the Interior Life. They are not from one single passage, but are gleaned from the entire book:

“Christian perfection, according to the testimony of the Gospels and Epistles, consists chiefly in charity which unites us to God … Relying on the Scriptures, St. Thomas Aquinas easily establishes the fact that Christian perfection consists especially in charity … The common teaching is that Christian perfection requires great charity … It is inconceivable, therefore, that a Christian be perfect without having great charity … Charity ought, therefore, incontestably to have the first place in our soul … We cannot speak of the interior life without speaking of the growth of sanctifying grace and of charity …

“No one can be saved without this supernatural virtue of charity, the highest of all, which ought to inspire and animate the others. Moreover, it ought not to remain stationary, but should grow in us even until death … Without sanctifying grace and charity, God does not, in fact, dwell in us ... Man must love God more than himself … This love is impossible without the state of grace and without charity … A soul cannot have lofty charity without profound humility, just as the highest branch of a tree rises toward heaven in proportion as its roots plunge more deeply into the soil … Now this state of perfection, manifestly requIres great charity together with the perfect humility spoken of in this passage. St. John of the Cross also says: ‘The state of perfection consists in the perfect love of God and contempt of self’ … Virtues grow together with charity because of their connection with this virtue … There are many degrees in charity which St. Thomas Aquinas expresses in this manner: ‘Perfection can be had in this life by the removal from man’s affections, not only of whatever is contrary to charity, but also of whatever hinders the mind’s affections from tending wholly to God.’ Detachment from creatures will increase with the progress of charity or of attachment to God …

“The charity of beginners is not victorious over all egoism; far from it. Beside charity, we find, in our souls, an inordinate love of self which, without being gravely culpable, is an obstacle that takes from charity the freedom of its action or its radiation. Between the state of mortal sin and that of a perfect and radiant charity, there stands a charity of a very low degree, the exercise of which is often hindered by a troop of habitual venial sins, of immoderate self-love, of vanity, of laziness, of injustice, and the like. ... although a weak charity can resist temptations, it is actually victorious over them only by increasing and becoming stronger and stronger ... Undoubtedly, this charity of low degree ought to grow. To the Philippians (1:9) St. Paul declares: ‘I pray that your charity may more and more abound!’ … Charity, on Earth, can and should always increase … Every traveler toward eternity should, while on Earth, grow in charity, not only the beginners and the proficient, but also the perfect …

“How, then, does charity grow in us? To be sure, in its lowest degree charity already loves God above all else with a love of esteem, and its neighbor in general, without excluding anyone. In this sense it cannot have a greater extension; but it can grow in intensity, take deeper root in our will, more strongly determine its inclination to turn to God and to flee sin by more generous acts. As a matter of fact, charity does not grow by addition, like a heap of wheat. This addition would multiply charity without making it more intense. The increase would be in the order of quantity rather than of quality,
which is quite a different thing …

“Meritorious acts do not themselves directly produce the increase of charity; for charity is not augmented by the repetition of acts …God alone can produce it in us … Although our acts of charity cannot produce the increase of this virtue, they concur in it in two ways: morally, by meriting it; and physically, by preparing us to receive it. Merit is a right to a recompense; it does not produce this reward, it obtains it: By his supernatural good works the just man merits the increase of charity, as the Council of Trent defined. The acts of charity dispose the soul physically to receive it, in the sense that, as it were, they open our faculties that they may receive more. They deepen them, so to speak, so that the divine life may better penetrate them and elevate them while purifying them … This is true especially of intense or very fervent acts of charity … St. Thomas Aquinas says: ‘Every (even imperfect) act of charity merits an increase of charity; however, this increase does not always come at once., but only when we strive generously for it’ …

“The increase of sanctifying grace and of charity is conferred by God only according to the disposition of the subject who is to receive it … Obviously, he who has five talents and acts as if he had only two, does not, in fact, as yet dispose himself to receive a sixth, for the charitable action, although good, is notably inferior … God is more glorified by a single act of charity of ten talents, than by ten acts of charity of one talent each. Likewise a single very perfect just soul pleases God more than many others who remain in mediocrity or tepidity. Quality is superior to quantity ...Take the analogy of a very intelligent man who is only slightly studious and makes little progress in learning, whereas another, who is less gifted, but very hard working, achieves good results …. Likewise, in the natural order, a friendship is strengthened only by more generous acts; very imperfect acts serve only to maintain it, not to make it grow… This doctrine should lead us often to make generous acts of charity … Charity, therefore, ought, by our merits, to grow until death.

“The growth of charity, of the infused virtues, and of the gifts which accompany it, is obtained not only by merit, but by prayer … When prayer is humble, trusting, and persevering, it obtains for us a more lively faith, a firmer hope, a more ardent charity … The mental prayer of a just man, who delights in meditating slowly on the Our Father, in nourishing his soul profoundly with each of its petitions, in remaining at times for half an hour in the loving contemplation of one of them, is at once meritorious and impetrating. It gives a right to an increase of charity, from which it proceeds, and by the impetrating power of prayer it often obtains more than it merits. Besides, when mental prayer is truly fervent, it obtains this increase immediately. Thereby we see how fruitful mental prayer can be; how it draws God strongly toward us that He may give Himself intimately to us and that we may give ourselves to Him.

“Lastly, we must recall that charity grows in us through the Sacraments. The just man grows thus in the love of God through absolution and especially by Communion … Holy Communion ought to incorporate us more and more into Christ, by increasing our humility, faith, confidence, and especially our charity, in order to make our hearts like to that of the Savior, Who died out of love for us. In this sense, each of our Holy Communions should be more fervent than the preceding one―for each Communion ought, not only to preserve, but to increase the love of God in us, and thus dispose us to receive Our Lord, on the following day, with not only an equal, but a greater fervor of heart.”

“In reality, charity increases in us in so far as it becomes stronger, takes deeper root in our will, or, speaking without a metaphor, in so far as it inheres more strongly in our will and determines it more profoundly toward supernatural good by withdrawing it from evil. As in the scholar learning becomes more profound, more penetrating, more certain, without always reaching out to new conclusions, so charity grows in us by making us love God more perfectly and more purely for Himself, and our neighbor for God.

“There exists, in fact, a false charity, made up of culpable indulgence, of weakness, such as the meekness of those who never clash with anybody because they are afraid of everyone. There is also a false charity, made up of humanitarian sentimentalism, which seeks to have itself approved by true charity and which, by its contact, often taints the true … One of the chief conflicts of the present day is that which arises between true and false charity." (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

Devotion is a High Degree of Charity
In the opening chapter of his book, Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales writes: “You seek devotion because as a Christian you know that it is a virtue very pleasing to God. Small mistakes, made at the beginning of any project, grow infinitely great as it progresses, and in the end are almost impossible to correct. Hence you should know, before everything else, what is the virtue of devotion. There is only one true devotion while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational.

“Many people cover themselves with various external actions related to holy devotion. He who is in the habit of fasting will think that because he fasts he is very devout, even though his heart is filled with hatred. He will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, anxious about sobriety but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbor by speaking ill of him, or by making false statements. Another considers himself devout because of the great number of prayers he recites every day, even though, soon after this, he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbors. Another very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor, but cannot take any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another will forgive his enemies, but will not pay what he owes, unless he is legally forced to do so.

“All such persons are generally looked upon as devout whereas in fact they are not. The world takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual, whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion. Devotion that is true and living presupposes the love of God, rather it is nothing else than a true love of God. It is not, however, love as such. In so far as divine love enriches us it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good, it is called charity. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us, not only to do good, but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion. Ostriches never fly, hens fly only awkwardly, quite low and rarely; but eagles, doves and swallows fly often, swiftly and very high. In the same way, sinners do not fly towards God but rather all their movements are on the earth and for the things of the earth. People who are good, but have not yet progressed to devotion, fly towards God by their good deeds but rarely, slowly and with difficulty. Persons who are devout fly to God frequently, promptly and freely.

“In short, devotion is nothing else than a spiritual agility and liveliness by means of which charity realizes its actions in us, or we do so by charity, promptly and lovingly. Just as it is the work of charity to make us keep all the commandments of God in general and without any exception, so it is the work of devotion to make us do so promptly and earnestly. Therefore, whoever does not keep all of God’s commandments, cannot be considered either good or devout, because, to be good, one must have charity. To be devout one must, not only have charity, but a great liveliness and promptness in doing charitable actions.

“Since devotion is to be found at a certain level of charity that is extraordinary, it consequently makes us prompt, active and earnest in keeping all of God’s commandments. But, more than this, devotion rouses us to do as many good works as we can, promptly and lovingly, even though they are in no way commanded, but rather only counselled or inspired.

“A man, who has recently recovered from some illness, walks only as much as he needs to, but slowly and with difficulty. So also, a sinner, healed of his sinfulness, moves ahead to the extent that God commands him, and is usually too slowly and with difficulty, until he acquires devotion. After that, like a man in good health, he not only walks, but runs joyfully in the way of God’s commandments (Psalm 118:32). Even more, he moves ahead and runs in the paths of God’s counsels and inspirations.

“In conclusion, charity and devotion are not more different from each other than the flame from the fire, all the more so, because charity is a spiritual fire which, when it burns with intense flames, is called devotion. In fact, devotion adds to the fire of charity only the flame which makes charity prompt, active and diligent, not only to keep God’s commandments, but also to put into practice his counsels and inspirations. (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Book 1, Chapter 1).

Article 6
Barely Known, Rarely Practiced, Immensely Powerful
COMPUNCTION

“As I advance in life, I see ever more clearly that our lack of stability and of progress in virtue is most often
the consequence of a lack of compunction”
(quote from Blessed Abbot Marmion, Christ, The Ideal of the Priest, Chapter III).

Compunction―Little Known, Greatly Powerful
Compunction is defined as “an abiding sorrow for sin.” Compunction is a deep and lasting sorrow for your sins. It is not a gloomy, nor depressing sorrow, but an intelligent and heartfelt admission of your sins with a sincere determination to do something about them.” God wants us to be sorry for what we did, but not lose hope in reaching Heaven. God forgives us of our sins when He sees we are truly sorry. Compunction, therefore, humbles us, because we see our faults, but it also helps us see the goodness of God, because He forgives us our sins.

But there is a second part to compunction. Not only should we be sorry for our sins, but we must also resolve to avoid them in the future. This is how you will know that you are really contrite and experiencing compunction. You will shed your faults and take on virtues in their place.

Lastly, it is important to reiterate the fact that compunction or contrition is not a “woe-is-me” emotion. Compunction is being honest about what you have done to hurt your Creator and trying to stop those actions. We can and should still be cheerful in our daily lives and praise God’s Divine Mercy.

Let us take a look at the passage on COMPUNCTION from The Imitation of Christ

The Imitation of Christ
Book 1, Chapter 21
On Compunction of Heart

If you will make any progress, keep yourself in the fear of God, and never wish to be completely free. Restrain all your senses with discipline and do not give yourself over to senseless amusements. Rather, focus your reflection on heartfelt compunction and you shall find interior peace.

Compunction opens the way for many good things, which dissipation soon destroys. It is a wonder that anyone can ever rejoice fully in this life who considers and weighs their given banishment from God, and the many dangers which beset the soul.

2. Because of our lightness of heart and neglect of our shortcomings we do not recognize the sorrows of our own soul. We often laugh vainly when we should weep. Except in the fear of God and a good conscience, there is no true liberty nor true joy.

The happy disciple is the one who can cast away every distraction and face up to holy compunction’s one purpose. The happy put away whatever may stain or burden their conscience.

Strive courageously. Habit is overcome by habit. Do not make excuses that others hinder you: If you leave them alone, they will gladly leave you alone to do the works that you must.

3. Stay away from the affairs of others. Do not entangle yourself with the business of the famous and powerful. Always keep your eye on yourself, and give advice to yourself rather than to your dearest friends.

If you do not have the favor of others, do not be cast down, but let your concern be that you do not regard yourself so highly and thoughtfully: this becomes a servant of God and devout disciple. It is often better and safer for a disciple not to have many comforts in this life, especially those which concern the flesh. When we do not seek compunction of heart, we lack divine comforts, or feel these rarely. In this case, we must blame ourselves, or, instead, cast away those comforts which are vain and worldly.

4. Know that we are all unworthy of divine consolation, and instead are worthy only of tribulation. When a disciple has perfect compunction, the world is only burdensome and bitter.

A devout disciple finds sufficient cause for mourning and weeping -you know that no one lives here without suffering; neither you nor your neighbor; and the more thoroughly you look into your own heart, the more thoroughly you will grieve.

In our sins and vices there are grounds for real grief and inward contrition. We lie so entangled in these sins, that we are only seldom able to contemplate heavenly things.

5. If you thought more about your impending death, rather than how long your life will be, you would strive eagerly to improve your life. And if you seriously consider the future pains of Hell and Purgatory, I believe you would willingly endure such toil and pain, rather than facing the hardships of a disciplined life. But because these things do not reach the heart, and we still love pleasant things, we remain cold and miserably indifferent.

6. In this spiritual poverty our wretched bodies are lead easily to complaining. Therefore, Pray humbly to the Lord that He will give you the spirit of compunction and say in the words of the Prophet, “How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?" (Psalm 79:6).

Blessed Dom Columba Marmion
In his book, Christ the Ideal of the Monk, the renowned Dom Marmion, the Benedictine Abbot of the Monastery of Maredsous Abbey in Belgium, has an entire chapter on the subject of compunction. Here a just a few key extracts which are both very powerful and instructive:

“We cannot help being struck by the fact that the spirituality of past times communicated a singular character of stability to souls. Whilst taking inevitable exceptions into account, it is indeed to be remarked that the interior life of the monks of old―who were sometimes recruited from a much rougher class of society than ours―rapidly attained a great degree of stability, while with many souls of our days―even religious souls consecrated to God―the spiritual life is of appalling instability.

“When one sees the terrible examples of those who abandon their priesthood, of those religious who “make the angels weep” (Isaias 33:7), one asks oneself: “How can these things be possible? Whence come these falls? Do these disasters come about all at once?” No―these are not sudden falls it is often necessary to go a long way back to trace the beginning of them. The foundations of the house were long since undermined by pride, self-love, presumption, sensuality, the lack of the fear of God. At a given moment, a great wind of temptation arose which shook the edifice and overthrew it.

“There are some minds that find admirable―as indeed it is―what they call the “positive side” of the spiritual life: by which they mean love, prayer, contemplation, union with God, but they forget that all of this is only to be found with certainty in a soul that is purified from all sin, purified from all evil habits, and that constantly tends, by a life of generous vigilance, to diminish the sources of sin and imperfection. The spiritual building is very fragile when it is not based upon the constant flight from sin, for then it is built upon sand.

“This work―of destroying sin and attachment to sin―is necessary if we wish to go to God and find Him alone. Let us then examine, with some detail, how we ought to devote ourselves to it. It will be apparent that one of the best ways of succeeding in it is compunction of heart; we shall see what the saints and the Church think of this sense of compunction; the precious advantages that it brings to the soul; finally, the sources that foster it. As I advance in life, I see ever more clearly that our lack of stability and of progress in virtue is most often the consequence of a lack of compunction.

“The essential obstacle to divine union is mortal sin, while deliberate venial sin is opposed to all progress. Through mortal sin, the soul turns away entirely from God … As you know, it is by perfect contrition and the Sacrament of Penance that this state is destroyed … There is no need to have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance for venial sins, although it is an excellent thing to do so. An act of charity, a fervent Communion, suffices to blot out venial sins provided one has no attachment to them, but, in formulating this last condition, we set forth a truth which, in the spiritual life, has great importance.

“Indeed when it is a question of perfection, we must carefully distinguish between venial sin and venial sin. A venial sin that is a sin of surprise, which comes out of us from weakness, cannot keep us back in our seeking after God; we rise from it with humility … But it is quite different with venial sin that is habitual or fully deliberate. When a soul regularly commits deliberate venial sins, when it coolly consents without remorse, to willful and habitual venial sins, then it is impossible for this soul to make true and constant progress in perfection. It is not our weaknesses, our infirmities of body or mind that impede the action of grace―but it is a cold-hearted attitude within us that paralyzes God’s action within us; it is the attachment to our own judgment and self-love, which is the most fruitful source of our infidelities and deliberate faults. When Our Lord meets with resistance, even in small matters, He feels, so to speak, the powerlessness of His work in the soul. Why is this? Because this soul form habits which are obstacles to Divine union. God would communicate Himself, but these barriers prevent the fullness of His action and He finds no response to His Divine advances and inspirations. The soul, day by day, says “no” to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, Who urges the soul to practice obedience, humility, charity and self-forgetfulness. It is then impossible for that soul to make any real progress.

“Not only does this soul no longer mount towards God, but it is much to be feared that it will fall into grave sins. The above mentioned venial sins are the first step towards the breaking of the divine union with God. There is no longer, in such souls, enough vigor to resist temptation. They are lukewarm—for one of the symptoms of lukewarmness is being at peace with many venial sins. This state of lukewarmness is particularly dangerous when it concerns sins of the mind, pride, disobedience; it places as it were a wall between God and us; and as God is the source of all our perfection, the soul that closes itself to the divine action shuts itself out from all progress.

“One of the best means of avoiding this perilous state is to cultivate compunction of heart. For us, who are bound to seek perfection, this point is of extreme importance. If so many souls make little progress in the love of God; if there are so many who easily accommodate themselves ― alas for them! ― to venial sin and deliberate infidelities, it is because they are not touched with compunction. What then is compunction?

“Compunction is an abiding state of habitual contrition. Look at the Prodigal Son on his return to his father’s house. Do we picture him taking careless, free and easy airs, as if he had been always faithful? No, indeed! You may say: “Has not his father forgiven him everything?” Certainly he has; he has received his son with open arms without making any reproach. He did not say: “You are a miserable wretch;” no, he pressed him to his heart. And his son’s return has even given the father such joy that he prepares a great feast for the penitent. All is forgotten, all is forgiven. The conduct of the prodigal’s father is the image of the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

“But as for the prodigal, now that he is forgiven, what are his feelings and attitude? We can have no doubt but that they are the same that he had when, full of repentance, he threw himself down at his father’s feet: “Father, I have sinned against you, I am not worthy to be called your son; treat me like the last of your servants!” We may be certain that during the rejoicings with which his return was celebrated, those were his predominant dispositions. And if later the sense of contrition is less intense, it is never altogether lost, even after the boy has retaken forever his former place in the paternal home. How many times he must have said to his father: “I know you have forgiven me everything, but I can never weary of repeating with gratitude how much I regret having offended you, how much I want to make up, by greater fidelity, for the hours I have lost and for my forgetfulness of you!”

“Such should be the sentiment of a soul that has offended God, despised His perfections, and brought its share to the sufferings of Christ Jesus.

“Let us now suppose, in this soul, there is no longer an isolated act of repentance, but the habitual state of contrition: it is almost impossible for this soul to fall anew into a deliberate sin. It is established in a disposition which, essentially, makes it repulse sin. The spirit of compunction is precisely the sense of contrition reigning in an abiding manner in the soul. It constitutes the soul in the habitual state of hatred against sin; by the interior movements that it provokes, it is of sovereign efficacy in preserving the soul from temptation. Between the spirit of compunction and sin, there is irreducible incompatibility: compunction of heart renders the soul firm in its horror of evil and love of God. Thus St. Bernard more than once uses the term “compunction” instead of “perfection.” So much does the sense of compunction, when it is real, keep one from offending God." (Dom Columba Marmion, Christ the Ideal of the Monk).

Blessed Are They That Mourn!
“Blessed are they that mourn,” Our Lord said in the second Beatitude. But mourn, weep, for what? Life certainly is filled with its sorrows and losses and often we may be moved to tears. Yet, how are we to understand Our Lord’s teaching and the blessing that comes to those who weep?

This is a question that the Fathers often asked and through them we discover that such mourning is a spiritual gift and the fruit of true repentance. In the Christian East, the Greek word for such sorrow is “Penthos”. While there is no English equivalent for the word, we can define it as “joyful sorrow”―a sorrow that arises from a broken and contrite heart, an inner sorrow for the sins that one has committed. However, such tears of compunction, the Fathers tell us, lead to a true and abiding joy. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” say the Psalms. “These tears,” writes St. John Chrysostom, “do not bring sorrow; they bring more joy than all the laughter of the world can gain for you.” The Psalms say: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting” (Psalm 126:5). Another author writes: “Stemming originally from bitter repentance, weeping develops into tears of rapture with Divine love. And this is a sign that our prayer is heard and through its action we are led into new imperishable life.”

Such tears of compunction are a gift of God, the fruit of baptismal grace and the renewal of our Baptism. St. John Climacus wrote: “God in His love for mankind gave us tears. . . If God in His mercy had not granted to men this second baptism, then few indeed would be saved. . . When our soul departs from this life, we shall not be accused because we have not worked miracles ... but we shall all certainly have to account to God because we have not wept unceasingly for our sins.”

This view of the importance of tears may seem paradoxical, scandalous or simply unnecessary to many in our day. Yet, such tears are merely the fruit of the grace already acquired in Baptism and have been described as “the infallible sign that the heart has been overwhelmed by the love of God ... These charismatic tears, which are the consummation of repentance are at the same time the first fruits of infinite joy: ‘Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.’ Tears purify our nature, for repentance is not merely our effort, our anguish, but it is also the resplendent gift of the Holy Spirit, penetrating and transforming our hearts.”

Compunction Is Not Obsessive Guilt
Obsessive guilt or scrupulosity only leads to hopelessness and despair, but true compunction and the cleansing tears that accompany it are a true gift of God meant to lead us back to Him and the embrace of His love. Indeed it has been described as the most precious thing on Earth:

“There is an old legend according to which God said to one of His angels: ‘Go down to Earth and bring back the most precious thing in the world.’ One angel brought a drop of blood back from a person who had sacrificed his life to save another. God said: ‘Indeed, O Angel, this is precious in My sight, but it is not the most precious thing in the world.’ Another angel caught the last breath of a nurse who died from a dread disease she contracted in nursing others to health. God smiled at the angel and said: ‘Indeed, O Angel, sacrifice in behalf of others is very precious in My sight, but it is not the most precious thing in the world.’ Finally one angel captured and brought a small vial containing the tear of a sinner who had repented and returned to God. God beamed upon the angel as He said: ‘Indeed, O Angel, you have brought Me the most precious thing in the world ― the tear of repentance which opens the gates in Heaven!’”

Such is what we hear from the Our Lord Himself when he taught, “there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” God secretly brings joy and consolation to those who in their heart of hearts are repentant and weep for their sins and all of Heaven itself rejoices over the return of even one who was lost.

Compunction is a Happy Feeling of Guilt
Take note that compunction is the healthy feeling of guilt that comes from the Holy Spirit. It might better be understood as sorrow for one’s sins and the collective sins of the world. The Blessed Virgin Mary, who we believe never committed any sins, has the greatest sorrow for sin—hence, for the collective sins of the world. And so we see that as a person grows in holiness, then his/her compunction only increases. This compunction is very different from the anxious and neurotic guilt that we often feel, which comes from pride. Because so many of us suffer from neurotic guilt, which is actually sinful, we are sometimes encouraged to refuse to feel guilty about previous sins once they have been confessed. It’s true we should realize that God has completely forgiven them and we will no longer be charged with them on judgement day. God is so merciful! But unless we have the grace of perfect contrition for our sins, we’re still marked with the stain of sin and will need to be cleansed of this stain through temporal punishment. Back in the Baltimore Catechism days, penitents confessing venial sins were encouraged to call to mind some previous (and already confessed!) mortal sins in order to stir up greater contrition for the cleansing of the remaining stain of sin.

Other Benefits of Compunction
Compunction also strengthens our Faith. In the book The Noonday Devil, written on the topic of acedia, which is a spiritual boredom or despair, there is a section on the Desert Fathers. The book describes one particular incidence in which a young hermit asked his spiritual director what to do about his horrible spiritual desolation. He just wanted to give up and go back to the world. His spiritual director’s advice was to “go back to your cell and weep for your sins”. Shedding tears of compunction is an act of hope, the antidote to acedia, and an act of praise of God’s mercy. It’s a paradoxical experience of joy-filled sorrow. In fact, according to St. John Chrysostom: “These tears do not bring sorrow; they bring more joy than all the laughter of the world can gain for you.” It is a sweet sort of suffering. This ability to go to my room and weep for my sins is certainly a gift that only God can give. Without a special grace, I will simply beat myself up about previous sins and fuel my low self-esteem which, ironically, is a type of pride that comes, not from a supernatural spirit, but, as Fr. Faber says, a merely human spirit.

Prayers to Obtain Compunction
In conclusion, we all need this gift of tears and should ask for it. Compunction will heal our hardness of heart, stir up in us true contrition and facilitate our complete union with God. We could do no better than to memorize and frequently say the following prayers “to obtain the gift of compunction and tears” which is found in the Tridentine (Latin Mass) Missal under the section containing the additional prayers of: Collects, Secrets and Postcommunions:

COLLECT FOR THE GRACE OF COMPUNCTION AND TEARS FOR SIN
Almighty and most gentle God, who didst cause a fountain of living water to gush from the rock in order to quench the thirst of Thy people; draw from our hardened hearts tears of compunction, that we may be able to mourn for our sins and merit their forgiveness from Thy mercy. Through Our Lord, etc.

SECRET FOR THE GRACE OF COMPUNCTION AND TEARS FOR SIN
Mercifully regard, O Lord God, the offerings which we make to Thy majesty for our sins, and draw from our eyes a flood of tears with which to quench the burning flames which we deserve. Through Our Lord, etc.

POSTCOMMUNION FOR THE GRACE OF COMPUNCTION AND TEARS FOR SIN
Mercifully pour into our hearts, O Lord God, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which by sighs and tears may wash away the stains of our sins, and obtain for us, by Thy bounty, the pardon which we desire. Through Our Lord, etc... in the unity of the same Holy Spirit, etc.

Or you could combine the above three prayers into one and memorize that combined version:

Almighty and most gentle God, Who, through the instrument of the rod of Thy servant Moses, didst strike the rock in the desert and caused a fountain of living water to gush from the rock, in order to quench the thirst of Thy people; strike also our hearts of stone and draw, from our hardened hearts, tears of compunction, that we may be able to mourn over our sins and merit their forgiveness through Thy mercy. O Lord God, mercifully look down upon the prayers, sacrifices and penances which we make to Thy majesty for our sins, and mercifully pour into our hearts, O Lord God, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and draw from our eyes a flood of tears with which to quench the burning flames which we deserve and, by which sighs and tears, we may wash away the stains of our sins, and obtain, through Thy kindness, the pardon which we desire. Through Our Lord, etc...

Other Ways to Obtain Compunction
We conclude with Dom Marmion’s final section in his chapter on Compunction. The entire text below, up to the ned of this article, is that of Dom Marmion:

We may also borrow from Holy Scripture certain prayers that the Church has made her own; for instance, David’s prayer after his sin. You know how dear the great king was to the Heart of God Who had lavished His benefits upon him. Then David falls into a great sin; he gives to his people the scandal of murder and adultery. The Lord sends a prophet to him to excite him to repentance. And David, at once humbling himself and striking his breast, cries out: “I have sinned.” This repentance wins pardon for him: “The Lord also hath taken away thy sin,” says the prophet: Transtulit peccatum tuum (2 Kings 13:13). King David then composed that inspired Psalm, the Miserere, at once full of contrition and confidence. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; wash me yet more from my iniquity; against Thee only have I sinned, and my sin is ever before me; cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” That is contrition. Here is the hope which is inseparable from it: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation... Thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise... A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit, a contrite and humbled heart, 0 God, Thou wilt not despise!” (Psalm 50, the Miserere).

Such accents indeed cannot but touch God’s Heart: “Thou hast set my tears in Thy sight” ― Posuisti lacrymas meas in conspectu tuo (Psalm 55:9). Has not Christ Jesus declared “Blessed are they that weep!” (Matthew 5:5). “But amongst all those who weep, none are sooner consoled than those who weep for their sins. In every other case, sorrow, far from being a remedy for the evil, is another evil which increases it; sin is the only evil that is cured by weeping, for it... the forgiveness of sins is the fruit of these tears” (Bossuet, Meditations upon the Gospel, Sermon on the Mount, 4th day).

To the prayer imploring the gift of compunction from God, is naturally joined all spiritual means capable of awakening it within us the most powerful is incontestably the frequent contemplation of our Divine Savior’s Passion.

If you contemplate with Faith and devotion the sufferings of Jesus Christ you will have a revelation of God’s love and justice; you will know, better than with any amount of reasoning, the malice of sin. This contemplation is like a sacramental causing the soul to share in that Divine sadness which invaded the soul of Jesus in the Garden of Olives - Jesus, the very Son of God, in Whom the Father, Whose exigencies are infinite, was well pleased. And yet His heart was full of sorrow ― “sorrowful even unto death” ― Tristis est aninms mea usque ad moriem (Matthew 26:38). Great cries arise from His breast, as tears arise from His eyes; cum clamore valido et lacrymis ( Hebrews 5:7). Whence come this sadness, these sighs and tears? They come from the weight of the burden of the world’s crimes: Posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatem omnium nostrum (Isaias 53:6). Christ is like the scapegoat laden with all our sins. Certainly He could not be a “penitent”; He could not have contrition, compunction, such as we have defined it, for the soul of Jesus is entirely holy and immaculate; the debt to be paid off is not His own, but ours: Attritus est propter scelera nostra (Isaias 53:5).

However, because of this substitution, Jesus has willed to experience that sadness which the soul must feel in presence of its sin; He has willed to undergo the blows of outraged love and justice, and therefore to be crushed by the greatest of sorrow: Dominus voluit conterere eum in infirmitate (Isaias 53:10).

I have not loved thee in jest,” Our Lord says one day to the Blessed Angela of Foligno. “This word,” writes the Saint, “struck a deadly pain into my soul, because straightway the eyes of my soul were opened and I saw clearly that what He said was most true. For I saw the works and the effect of that love, and I saw all that this Son of God worketh by reason of that love.” The Saint specifies the object of her vision. “I saw that what He underwent in life and in death, this God-Man, Who suffered His Passion by reason of. His ineffable tender love, and I understood that the aforesaid word is most true, namely, that He loves me not in jest, but that by a most true and most perfect and most tender love, hath He loved me.” And what was the result of this contemplation for Angela’s soul? A deep sense of compunction. Hear how she judges herself in the divine light. “And, I saw that in me it was just the opposite ... Then, too, my soul cried out, and said: ‘O Master!... I have never loved Thee, except in jest and with falsehood and hypocrisy; and never have I desired to come near to Thee in truth, so as to feel the labours that Thou hast willed to feel and to suffer for me; and never have I served Thee truly and for Thy sake, but with double-dealing and negligently?’” (The Book of Visions, ch. 33).

You see how holy souls are touched and how they humble themselves when they consider Christ’s sufferings. On the night of the Passion, Peter, the Prince of the Apostles to whom Christ had revealed His glory upon Thabor, who had just received Holy’ Communion from Jesus’ own hands, Peter, at the voice of a servant-maid, denies His Master. Soon afterwards, the gaze of Jesus, abandoned to the caprices of His mortal enemies, meets that of Peter. The Apostle understands; he goes out, and bitter tears flow from his eyes: Flevit amare (Matthew 26:75).

A like effect is produced in the soul that contemplates the sufferings of Jesus with Faith: it, too, has followed. Jesus, with Peter, on the night of the Passion; it, too, meets the gaze of the Divine Crucified, and that is, for it, a true grace. Let us often keep close in the footsteps of the Suffering Christ, by making the “Way of the Cross.” Jesus will say to us: “See what I have suffered for thee; I have endured a three hours’ agony, endured the desertion of My disciples, and having My Face spat upon, the false witnesses, the cowardice of Pilate, the derision of Herod, the weight of the Cross beneath which I fell, the nakedness of the gibbet, the bitter sarcasms of My most deadly enemies, the thirst which they would have quenched with gall and vinegar, and, above all, the being forsaken by My Father. It was for thee, out of love for thee, to expiate thy sins that I endured all; with My Blood I have paid thy debts; I underwent the terrible exigences of justice that mercy might be shown to thee!”

Could we remain insensible to such a plea? The gaze of Jesus upon the Cross penetrates to the depths of our soul and touches it with repentance, because we are made to understand that sin is the cause of all these sufferings. Our heart then deplores having really contributed to the Divine Passion. When God thus touches a soul with His light, in prayer, He grants it one of the most precious graces that can be.

It is a repentance, moreover, full of love and confidence. For the soul does not sink down in despair beneath the weight of its sins: compunction is accompanied with consolation and comfort; the thought of the Redemption prevents shame and regret from degenerating into discouragement. Has not Jesus purchased our pardon superabundantly: Et copiosa apud eum redemptio? (Psalm 129:7). The sight of His sufferings, at the same time as it gives birth to contrition, quickens within us hope in the infinite value of the sufferings by which Christ satisfied for us, and this brings us ineffable peace, Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima (Isaias 38:17).

Perhaps in looking back upon the past, we see many miseries and stains. Perhaps we are tempted to say to Christ: “Lord Jesus, how shall such as I ever be able to please Thee?” Let us then remember that Christ came down to earth to seek sinners (Matthew 9:13), that He Himself has said: the angels rejoice over the conversion of one sinner more than over the perseverance of many just (Luke 15:7, 10). Each time that a sinner repents and obtains forgiveness, the angels in Heaven glorify God for His mercy: Quoniam in aeternum, miscricordia ejus (Psalm 135:6).

Let us think too of these words: “Thou, Who didst absolve Mary [Magdalen] and hear the Good Thief, hast not left me without hope” (Sequence: Dies Irae). They are words full of confidence. Christ Jesus forgave Magdalen; more than that, He loved her with a love of predilection He made her, who had been the shame of her sex, pure as a virgin.

What Christ wrought in Magdalen, He can do again in the greatest of sinners; Christ can rehabilitate the sinner and bring him to holiness. This is a work reserved to Divine Omnipotence: “Quis potest facere munduns de immundo ... nisi to qui solus es?” (Job 14:4). He is God: and God alone has this power of renewing innocence in His creature: it is the triumph of the Blood of Jesus.

But this ineffable renewal is only wrought upon one condition: it is that one imitates the sinner of the Gospel in her loving repentance. Magdalen is truly a perfect model of compunction. Look at her, at the feast in Simon’s house, prostrate at the Savior’s feet, watering them with her tears, wiping them with the hairs of her head, the adornment wherewith she had seduced souls, humbling herself in presence of all the guests, and pouring out her contrite love at the same time as her perfumes. Later, she will generously follow Christ to the foot of the Cross, upheld by the love which make her share the sorrows and reproaches with which Jesus is overwhelmed. Love again will bring her the first to the tomb, until the Risen Christ, calling her by her name, rewards the ardor of her zeal and makes her the apostle of His Resurrection to the disciples: Remittuntur ei peccata multa quoniam dilexit multum (Luke 7:47).

Let us too often stay with Magdalen, near the Cross. After the application of the merits of Jesus in the Sacrament of Penance, after, assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which reproduces the immolation on Calvary, there is truly no surer means than the exercise of compunction’ for destroying sin and arming us against it.

Let us then seek to keep ourselves in this disposition of which the fruits are so precious. Nothing will give more solidity to our spiritual life, more sureness to our perseverance. Speaking of compunction, Father Faber says: “It is as life-long with us as anything can be. It is a prominent part of our first turning to God, and there is no height of holiness
in which it will leave us” (Lenten Conferences).

Article 7
Essential For Salvation
MORTIFICATION & PENANCE

“No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish! ...
[and two verses later, Jesus repeats]
... No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish!"
(Luke 13:3. & 13:5).

Compunction Should Produce Penance
The natural (or supernatural) consequence of compunction should see the production of fruits worthy of penance. Holy Scripture could not be any clearer on this point: “Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance!” (Job 21:2). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). “Let him do penance for his sin!” (Leviticus 5:5). Yet for most Catholics, the following verse applies: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). To whom God says: “Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance! Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, unless thou do penance! … Do penance! If not, then I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth! … Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise! Be zealous therefore, and do penance!” (Apocalypse 2:5, 16; 3:19). “They should do penance, and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance!” (Acts 26:20). “Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin!” (Ezechiel 18:30). “After Thou didst convert me, I did penance! I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth” (Jeremias 31:19). “Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes!” (Job 42:6).

St. John the Baptist Commands Penance
St. John the Baptist preached penance: “John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins” (Mark 1:4) … “saying: ‘Do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! … Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!’” (Matthew 3:2, 8).

Our Lord Commands Penance
Our Lord preached penance: “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Matthew 4:17) adding twice, almost in one breath: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” ... [and two verses later, He repeats Himself] ... “No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish! … "Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance!” (Luke 13:3, 5, 8). “Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, for that they had not done penance! ‘Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes!’” (Matthew 11:20-21). And Jesus commanded “that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).

St. Peter Commands Penance
Thus, “Peter said to them: ‘Do penance … for the remission of your sins! … Do penance therefore for this thy wickedness; and pray to God, that perhaps this thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee!’” (Acts 2:38; 8:22).

St. Paul Commands Penance
Likewise St. Paul: “God now declareth unto men, that all should everywhere do penance!” (Acts 17:30). “Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” (Romans 2:4). “I mourn many of them that sinned before, and have not done penance” (2 Corinthians 12:21).

Holy Scripture Commands Penance
“If the people do penance in their heart … and being converted make supplication, saying: ‘We have sinned! We have done unjustly, we have committed wickedness!’ and return to [God] with all their heart, and all their soul, … and pray … Then [God will] hear in Heaven … and forgive the people that have sinned … and all their iniquities, by which they have transgressed, and will … give them mercy … and … have compassion on them!” (3 Kings 8:47-50). There are many more references concerning the need of penance in Holy Scripture, but we would be “flogging a dead horse” to continue with them. Surely what has been already quoted makes it overwhelmingly clear that HEAVEN WANTS PENANCE!

Our Lord Gives Encouragement
Our Lord adds to this, for our encouragement: “I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance!” (Luke 15:7).

Do You Understand? Has the Penance Penny Dropped?
“Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand!” (Matthew 13:13) … “Do you not understand?” (Matthew 15:17) … “Do you not yet understand?” (Matthew 16:9) … “How do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21) … “Why do you not understand?” (Matthew 16:11) … “Do you not yet know, nor understand? Have you still your heart blinded?” (Mark 8:17).

What is there—in all these commands—that we do not understand? Can we really be so stupid as to fail to see the importance of penance and mortification? Penance pays the outstanding debt for past sins. Mortification is the insurance premium we pay against falling into future sins. Both are of capital importance! Yet we must reluctantly apply the following words of God from Holy Scripture to our day and age: “I waited and listened―but no man speaks what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: ‘What have I done?’ They are all turned to their own ways” (Jeremias 8:6).

The Message Has Not Changed for Our Times
Yet, Our Lord and Our Lady—in our modern and complacent times—have had to come with reminders and dire warnings concerning a forgetfulness and lack of penance and mortification (sacrifices).

Our Lord
Our Lord said to Mother Marianna de Jesus Torres (of Our Lady of Good Success fame): “Communities can only be preserved ― while they still exist ― at the cost of much penance!” (Our Lord to Mother Mariana, Quito Ecuador). Though he speaks of religious communities, you can readily apply that to the community of the family, or parish, or school, etc. For, as we see from the above Scriptural quotes, EVERYONE is required to do penance, because EVERYONE has sinned, to which we can add: “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God … By one man sin entered into this world, and … in whom all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23; 5:12). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).

Our Lady of La Salette
At La Salette, Our Lady lamented: “The spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening of all that concerns the service of God …. The true Faith to the Lord having been forgotten … the devil will resort to all his evil tricks to introduce sinners into religious orders, for disorder and the love of carnal pleasures will be spread all over the Earth … The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence! They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish! … By their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests … are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads ... The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a spotless Sacrifice to the Eternal for the sake of the world! … People will think of nothing but amusement! The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin!”

Our Lady of Lourdes
A few years later, at Lourdes (1858), Our Lady reiterates the same message and, as if with three loud blows of a hammer, emphatically commands three times: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” adding at another apparition at Lourdes: “Go drink at the spring [muddy] and wash yourself in it!” as well commanding: “Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners!” St. Bernadette was also told to eat some leaves as a penance.

Our Lady of Fatima
Not so long afterwards, at Fatima (1917), first of all the Angel of Portugal and then, later, Our Lady of Fatima, demanded mortification (sacrifices) and penance. The second apparition of the Angel was during the summer of 1916, while the children were playing near their favorite well, at Lucia’s house. The Angel suddenly appeared and chided them for playing so much: “What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifice yourselves to the Most High! Make of everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners! Above all, accept and bear with submission all the sufferings the Lord will send you!”

Sr. Lucia of Fatima comments: “Those words of the Angel engraved themselves in our spirit, as a light which made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wants to be loved by us, the value of sacrifice and how pleasing it is to Him, and that out of respect for it, God converts sinners.”

When Our Lady later appeared to the three children, the penitential message was one and the same. She asked the children—take note that she is asking CHILDREN (aged 7, 9 and 10) and thus she is not exempting children from serious sacrifices and penances--“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the conversion of sinners?” When they agreed to this, Our Lady said: “Then you are going to have much to suffer! However, the grace of God will be your comfort! … Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary!’ … You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go ... Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners! For many souls go to Hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them!”

The Gospel of the World Preaches Anti-Mortification
The world preaches the contrary of Christ—it preaches self-indulgence, self-gratification, comfort, ease, pleasure, opulence, etc. The whole worldly system is geared to removing effort and hardship, which it largely does through science and technology, which we have grown to appreciate and love more than we appreciate and love God! Not that all inventions and discoveries that make things easier are bad in themselves—they are not—but they can have a bad effect, and that is where the danger lies. Science and technology cannot change the basic commandment and basic truth: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30).

Whatever makes us able to love God more and with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, is something that is good. Whatever pulls us away from loving God with our whole, heart, soul, mind and strength, is something that is bad. This is simply based upon the principle enunciated by Our Lord: “He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth!” (Matthew 12:30). In other words, something is either leading to closer to God or further away from God—there is no middle ground of leading neither closer to or further away—because, as the spiritual masters tell us: “He who makes no progress, goes backwards!”—there is no neutrality or “treading-water” in the spiritual life—there are only two gears and no neutral gear—the forwards gear and the backwards gear.

All of this world-generated, modern-day convenience, comfort and ease, is, perhaps, one of the greatest obstacles to our spiritual growth and development of holiness. Holy Scripture speaks of those dangers through the prophet Amos, who basically says that sorrow awaits those who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and for those who feel complacently secure in Samaria. Complacent in the fact that they are famous and popular in Israel, and that people go to them for help: “Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel” (Amos 6:1).

Heaven's Condemnation of Unmortified Complacency
Our Lord, likewise, punctures the unmortified complacency of those of His day: “But woe to you that are rich―for you have your consolation! Woe to you that are filled―for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh: for you shall mourn and weep! Woe to you when men shall bless you―for these things their fathers said and did to the false prophets!” (Luke 6:24-26)—and the world certainly is a ‘false prophet’ preaching a false gospel!

St. James also takes up the banner of condemnation against complacency, presumption and lack of mortification: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you! Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).

The words spoken by Our Lady to the Venerable Mary of Agreda (cf. The Mystical City of God), which we shall soon quote further below, are, in large part, also applicable to all of us. Our Lady speaks very soberly, seriously and intently. She makes it clear that Heaven or holiness is not an indulgent “freebie” which is dotingly given by a “sugar daddy” God, Who couldn’t care less about our lukewarmness, sinfulness, lack of effort and lack of merits, whereby He just blindly and gratuitously distributes His mercy and graces to everyone, regardless of how much or how little effort we put into our spiritual life! To imagine the contrary (that everything is free, regardless of how much or how little we do), would also be contrary to the infallible words of God in Holy Scripture, which are equally, if not more, sober, serious and intense: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked! For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting!” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Our Lord―soberly, seriously and intently―also discourages and dispels all complacency and presumption in this matter, saying: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23). What, then, is the will of His Father that He wants us to do? Well, the one, all-encompassing, “umbrella” of God’s will is “giving glory to God”—which is borne out by just a few of many quotes from Holy Scripture.

The Glory of God Comes Above All Things
“I the Lord, this is My Name! I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven things!” (Isaias 42:8). The very first words of the angels at Bethlehem, when appearing to the shepherds, summed it all up succinctly: “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14). And Holy Scripture further says: “Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honor, and power―because Thou hast created all things and for Thy will they were, and have been created!” (Apocalypse 4:11). “I have created man for My glory, I have formed him, and made him!” (Isaias 43:7). “Give glory to the Lord God!” (Josue 7:19). “They that love Thy name, shall glory in Thee!” (Psalm 5:12). There are numerous more quotes that could be used, however, this article is not on the glory of God, but on penance and mortification. So what is the link between the glory of God and penance or mortification?

Penance and Mortification Give God Glory
St. Paul tells us: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God!” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Penance, too, gives glory to God: “For all have sinned, and do need [to seek] the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “But neither did they penance to give Him glory!” (Apocalypse 16:9). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but God’s eyes are upon his ways!” (Job 24:23). “For many walk, of whom I have told you often―and now tell you weeping―that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things!” (Philippians 3:18-19). “If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to My Name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will send poverty upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you have not laid it to heart to give glory to My Name!” (Malachias 2:2). “Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains―you shall look for light, and He will turn it into the shadow of death and into darkness!” (Jeremias 13:16). “And the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, and shall show the terror of His arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the flame of devouring fire, He shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones” (Isaias 30:30). “Give glory to the Lord, for He is good―for His mercy endureth forever” (Psalm 106:1). "If thou turn away thy foot from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the Sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify Him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found” (Isaias 58:13).

False Fake Fasting
That last quote comes from the book of Isaias, which the Church also uses in her Lenten liturgy, where the entire fifty-eighth chapter sees God denounce a false kind of fasting, which is merely external, while still leaving their sins, vices and lack of charity uncorrected. The passage from the Douay-Rheims Bible can leave the modern-day reader a little lost or mystified in places, so here is a paraphrased version which clearly conveys God message in a more current and simplified vocabulary.

“Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people of their sins! Yet they act so piously! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about Me! They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God! They ask Me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near Me! ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t You impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and You don’t even notice it!’ ‘I will tell you why!’ I respond to them. ‘It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers! What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with Me! You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind! You dress in sack-cloth and cover yourselves with ashes! Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want instead―Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ He will quickly reply. Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble!

“Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaias 58:1-14).

The Will of God is a Penance, a Mortification and a Sacrifice
Our Lord could not say it more clearly: “Not everyone that saith to Me: ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day: ‘Lord! Lord! Have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name?’ And then will I profess unto them: ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “Why call you Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me … If any one love Me, he will keep My word … He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have heard, is not Mine; but the Father’s, Who sent Me” (John 14:15, 21, 23).

Doing the will of others can sometime be “a pain”—yet doing the will of God is often even more painful and more of a penance, demanding even greater sacrifices! Our Lord says: “Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself” (Matthew 16:24). He then goes on to add that this denial will be a daily cross: “And Jesus said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). Further adding that it will not be pleasant, but sorrowful: “Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20)—but not in this world—as Our Lady said to St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!”

This penitential denial and cross will even involve family, relatives, friends and the “world” by which we so dearly want to be liked, accepted and approved―for Our Lord says that part of the cross will mean being hated by not only the world, but also by family, relatives and friends: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19). “Do not think that I came to send peace upon Earth! I came not to send peace, but the sword! For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:32-37). “They shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony unto them. And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall work their death. And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved.” (Mark 13:8-13).

Words of Our Lady to Venerable Mary of Agreda
“My daughter, corporal penances are so appropriate and fitted to mortal creatures, that the ignorance of this truth and the neglect and contempt of bodily mortification causes the loss of many souls and bring many more into the danger of eternal loss.

The first reason why men should afflict their body and mortify their flesh is their having been conceived in sin. By this Original Sin human nature is depraved, filled with passions, rebellious to reason, inclined to evil and adverse to the spirit. If the soul allows itself to be carried away by them, it will be precipitated by the first vice into many others. But if this beastly flesh is curbed by mortification and penance, it loses its strength and acknowledges the authority of the spirit and the light of truth.

The second reason is that none of the mortals have altogether avoided sinning against God; and the punishment and retribution must inevitably correspond to the guilt, either in this life or the next; therefore, as the soul commits sin in union with the body, it follows that both of them must be punished. The interior sorrow is not sufficient for atonement, if the flesh seeks to evade the punishment corresponding to the guilt. Moreover, the debt is so great and the satisfaction, that can be given by the creature, so limited and scanty, that there remains continual uncertainty whether the Judge is satisfied, even after the penitential exertions of a whole lifetime: hence, the soul should find no rest to the end of life. Even though divine clemency is so generous with men, that, if they try to satisfy for their sins by penance, as far as their limited capacity goes, God remits their offenses and, in addition thereto, has promised the guilty ones new gifts and graces and eternal rewards. However, His faithful and prudent servants, who really love their Lord, are inclined to voluntarily add other penances―for the debtor who merely wishes to do what he is obliged to do, and adds nothing of his own freewill, certainly pays his debts, but will remain poor and destitute, if, after the payment of his debts, nothing remains. What then are those to expect, who neither pay nor make any efforts towards paying?

The third reason for bodily mortification―and the most urgent one―is the duty of Christians to imitate their divine Teacher and Master. Moreover, my divine Son and I―without being guilty of any faults or bad inclinations―devoted ourselves to labors and made our lives a continual practice of penance and mortification of the flesh. It was thus that the Lord saw fit to attain the glory of His body and of His holy Name, and He wished me to follow Him in all things. If We, then, pursued such a course of life, because it was reasonable, what must be thought of mortals that seek nothing but sweetness and delight, and abhor all penances, affronts, ignominies, fasting and mortification? Shall then only Christ, our Lord, and I suffer all these hardships, while the guilt laden debtors and deservers of all these punishments throw themselves head over heels into the filth of their carnal inclinations? Shall they employ their faculties, given to them for the service of Christ, my Lord, and for His following, merely in dancing, attendance on their lusts and the devil, who has introduced evil into the world? This absurd position, maintained by the children of Adam, is the cause of great indignation in the just Judge.

“It is true, my daughter, that―by the bodily afflictions and mortifications of my most blessed Son―the defects and deficiencies of human merits have been atoned for; and that He wished me, as a mere creature and as one taking the place of other creatures, to cooperate with Him most perfectly and exactly all in His penances and exercises. But this was not in order to exempt men from the practice of penance, but in order to encourage them to it―for, in order merely to save them, it was not necessary to suffer so much. Our blessed Savior, as a true Father and Brother, wished also to enhance the labors and penances of those who were to follow in His footsteps; for the efforts of creatures are of little value in the eyes of God unless they are made precious by the merits of Christ. If this is true of works which are entirely virtuous and perfect, how much more is it true of those which are infected with so many faults and deficiencies, even in the greatest acts of virtue, as ordinarily performed by the children of Adam? For in the works of even the most spiritual and virtuous persons, many deficiencies occur. These deficiencies are made good by the merits of Christ, our Lord, so that the works of men may become acceptable to the eternal Father. But those who neglect good works and remain altogether idle can by no means expect to apply to themselves the good works of Christ; for they have in themselves nothing that can be perfected by the works of Christ, but only such things as deserve condemnation. I do not speak now, my daughter, of the damnable error of some of the faithful, who have introduced, into the works of penance, the sensuality and vanity of the world, so that they merit greater punishment for their penance than for their sins, since they foster in their penances vain and imperfect purposes and forget the supernatural ends of penance, which alone give value to penance and life to the soul!”

“My Son chose not a life of softness and ease for the flesh, but one full of labors and pains; for He judged his instructions to be incomplete and insufficient to redeem man, if He failed to teach them how to overcome the demon, the flesh and their own self. He wished to inculcate, that this magnificent victory is gained by the Cross, by labors, penances, mortifications and the acceptance of contempt: all of which are the trademarks and evidences of true love and the special watchwords of the predestined.”

Article 8
Essential For Salvation
MERCY & FORGIVENESS

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
“Forgive thy neighbor if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest” (Ecclesiastes 28:2).

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The Greatness of Mercy
Our Lord clearly tells us: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). In other words, we are to imitate our heavenly Father as much as we finite creatures are able to imitate. Mercy is said, by Holy Scripture, to be above all the works of God: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). Surely, then, mercy would be one of the first things for us to imitate and perfect, wouldn’t it?

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful: long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. He will not always be angry: nor will He threaten forever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ... As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear Him: for He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 102:8-14). “For He saith to Moses: ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy!’” (Romans 9:15).

Sweet, huh? Then why cannot we do the same? Why is that we want the sweet mercy of God, but are prepared to wring the necks of sinners? Are we not sinners ourselves? “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us!” (1 John 1:8-10).

The Unmerciful Servant
This merciless attitude we have towards some folk brings to mind the parable of the Unmerciful Steward who wanted mercy for himself, but did not want to show mercy to others. This is so true of most people, not only today, but of all times. We want mercy for ourselves to a high degree, and we refuse or are reluctant to show mercy to others, putting on our ‘hat of judgment and righteousness’! Our Lord’s words rebuke that attitude:

“Then came Peter unto Him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’ Jesus said to Him: ‘I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would put the 10,000 talents at just over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt.

“But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.

“Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!” (Matthew 18:23-35).

The Unmerciful Servant Needs Bi-Focals
The Unmerciful Servant, when it came to his own faults, was solely focused and hoped only in the mercy of his lord, and did not want justice to be applied to his faults. Yet, when the Unmerciful Servant came across someone who had offended or sinned against him, then he focused solely upon the application of justice, and totally disregarded the application of mercy. This is so true of so many human beings—when it to comes to our sins, mercy is the only consideration; but when it comes to the sins of others, then justice is the only consideration. The warnings from Our Lord are clear: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:1-2). Which is why St. Paul gives the sound advice of: “But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).

Spare Me, Lord, But Slaughter My Enemies!
We are always ready to say: “Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from Me” (Psalms 65:20). But when it comes to our neighbor (and even the sinner or an enemy is a neighbor, as Our Lord points out in the parable of the Good Samaritan—the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews), then we become like the Sons of Thunder (St. James and his brother, St. John):

“Jesus sent messengers before His face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. And they received Him not, because His face was of one going to Jerusalem [to the ‘enemy’ city’]. And when His disciples James and John had seen this, they said: ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them?’ And turning, He rebuked them, saying: ‘You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save!’” (Luke 9:52-56).

He also said this elsewhere: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and insisted: “Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

On the other hand, we see that the God of Justice can also be very true to His word--“Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). “For mercy and wrath are with Him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation” (Ecclesiasticus 16:12).

Article 9

COMPASSION

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful” (Psalm 102:8).

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Our God is a God of Compassion
“The Lord is compassionate and merciful: long-suffering and plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 102:8). That compassion of God is shown in living, concrete, visible way in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “The Incarnation of the Word is the example of compassion” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

Our Lord told us to learn of Him for He was meek and humble of heart: “Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, speaks of compassion as being one of the greatest attributes of the virtues of meekness and humility and points this out in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “Heroic humility is accompanied by meekness in a proportionate degree. By this virtue man attains to complete self-mastery, to perfect domination of anger, when he does not return evil for evil, but triumphs over it by goodness. The higher degrees of meekness consist in not being disturbed under injury, in experiencing a holy joy at the thought of the higher good it procures for one, and lastly in having compassion on the person who inflicts an injury, in suffering from the evil which it may cause him. Thus Jesus wept over Jerusalem, following its ingratitude; He was more sad over the wretchedness of the ungrateful city than over the cruel death He was about to undergo. The heroic meekness of Jesus is manifested especially by His prayer for His executioners” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

Our Lady of Compassion
Our Lady, in speaking to the Venerable Mary of Agreda, lamented the lack of compassion we have for the sufferings and death of Our Lord and for each other: “All the angels and saints, by an insight hidden to mortals, wonder at the cruelty of human hearts―against themselves and against Christ their Redeemer. Men have compassion neither for the sufferings of the Lord, nor for the sufferings they themselves stand in danger of incurring. When the foreknown, in unending bitterness shall recognize their dreadful forgetfulness and their indifference to the works of Christ their Savior, their confusion and despair will be an intolerable punishment, and it alone will be a chastisement beyond all imagination; for they will then see the copiousness of the Redemption, which they have despised (Psalm 44:11). Hear me, and bend thy ears to these counsels and doctrines of eternal life. Cast out from your faculties every image and affection toward human creatures and turn all the powers of your heart and soul toward the mysteries and blessings of the Redemption. Occupy yourself wholly with them, ponder and weigh them, give thanks for them as if you alone were in existence, as if they had been wrought solely for you, and singly for each human being in particular (Galatians 2:20). Thus you wilt find life and the way of life, proceeding thus, you cannot err; but you will find therein the light of thy eyes and true peace” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).

Our Lady reveals the kind of compassion she had towards her spouse, St. Joseph: “The charity which I showed toward my spouse, Joseph, in his ailments should serve as a spur and encouragement to you. Very tardy is that charity which waits until the needy one asks for help. I did not wait, but hastened to assist before I was asked. My charity and attention anticipated the requests of my spouse and thus I consoled him not only by my services, but by my loving solicitude and attention. I shared his sufferings and hardships with heartfelt compassion; but at the same time I praised the Most High and thanked Him for the blessings of affliction conferred on his servant. If sometimes I sought to relieve his pains, it was not in order to deprive him of the occasion of meriting, but that he might by this aid excite himself to glorify so much the more the Author of all goodness and holiness; and to these virtues I exhorted and encouraged him.

“With similar perfection you should exercise this noble virtue, providing for the needs of the sick and weak, comforting them by thy compassion and words of advice, doing them all kinds of good service, without wishing them to lose the reward of suffering. Let not your carnal love disturb you, when your sisters fall sick, although they be those you love or need most; for thereby many souls, both in the world and in religion, lose the merit of their labors. The sorrow occasioned by the sight of sickness or danger in their friends, disturbs their peace of soul, and, under the pretense of compassion, they begin to complain and refuse to submit themselves to the dispositions of divine Providence. In all these things I have given you an example and I demand of you to imitate it perfectly by following my footsteps” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).

Our Lady then speaks of her own compassion towards other souls: “Imitate me in this perfection which the divine condescension gave me in furnishing me with a most sweet love and affection for the creatures as participators in the divine goodness and existence. In this love I sought to console, alleviate and enliven all the souls; and by a natural compassion I procured all spiritual and corporeal goods for them; to none of them, no matter how great sinners they might have been, did I wish any evil; on the contrary I was urged by the great compassion of my tender heart to procure for them eternal salvation. From this also arose my anxiety concerning the grief, which was to grow out of my pregnancy, to my spouse Saint Joseph; for to him l owed more than to all other creatures. Tender compassion filled my heart, especially for the suffering and the infirm, and I tried to obtain some relief for all. In these virtues then I wish that you, making use of the knowledge of them given to you, most prudently imitate me” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).

Then, at another time, Our Lady adds: “Tell me now, how is it possible, if you still have a true love for my divine Son and for me, how is that you find consolation or rest in your heart at the sight of the loss of souls, which He redeemed by His Blood and I have sought with blood-mingled tears? Even today, if I could shed them, I would begin to do so with new weeping and compassion; and, since it is not possible for me now to weep over the dangers threatening the Church, I wish that you do it and that you spurn consolation in a misfortune so calamitous and so worthy of lament. Weep bitterly then, and lose not the merit of such a sorrow; and let it be so deep, that you find no relief except in affliction for the sake of the Lord whom you love” (Our Lady to the Ven. Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God).

The Parable of the Uncompassionate Man
The fact that Our Lady complains about our lack of compassion, brings to mind a parable of Our Lord’s where He rebukes a lack of compassion: “The Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: “Pay what thou owest!” And his fellow servant falling down, beseeched him, saying: “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!” And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. Now his fellow servants, seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him; and said to him: “Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou beseeched me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?” And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not, every one, his brother from your hearts!” (Matthew 18:23-35).

Rash Judgment Opposes Compassion
“Rash judgment, properly so called, is a sin against justice, especially when it is outwardly expressed by words or acts (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa, IIa IIae, q.60, art.3). Our neighbor has, in fact, a right to his reputation; next to the right which he has to do his duty, he has the right to uphold his good name more than to defend the right to property. We should respect this right of others to their reputation if we wish our own to be respected. Moreover, rash judgment is often false. How can we judge with certainty of the interior intentions of a person whose doubts, errors, difficulties, temptations, good desires, or repentance, we do not know? How can we claim to know better than he what he says to God in prayer? How can we judge justly when we do not have the details of the case? Even if a rash judgment is true, it is a sin against justice because, in judging thus, a man arrogates to himself a jurisdiction which is not his to exercise. God alone is capable of judging with certainty the secret intentions of hearts, or those that are not sufficiently manifested. Hence even the Church does not judge them: “de internis non judicat” ― meaning: “of the interior of soul, it does not judge”. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“Rash judgment is likewise a sin against charity. What is most serious in the eyes of God, is not that this hasty judgment is often false and always unjust, but that it proceeds from malevolence [and not compassion], though often expressed with the mask of benevolence [a mask of fake compassion ], which is only a grimace of charity. Anyone judging rashly is not only a judge who arrogates to himself jurisdiction over the souls of his brothers which he does not possess, but a judge sold by his egoism and his pride, at times a pitiless judge, who knows only how to condemn, and who, though unaware of it, presumes to impose laws on the Holy Ghost, admitting no other way than his own. Instead of seeing in his neighbor a brother, a son of God, called to the same beatitude as he is, he sees in him only a stranger, perhaps a rival to supplant and humiliate. This defect withdraws many from the contemplation of divine things; it is a veil over the eyes of the spirit” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“If we do not go so far, we may judge the interior life of a soul rashly in order to enjoy our own clear vision and to show it off. Let us remember that God alone sees this conscience openly. We should be on our guard and remember with what insistence Christ said: “Judge not.” At the moment when we are judging rashly, we do not foresee that shortly afterward we shall perhaps fall into a more grievous sin than the one for which we reproached our neighbor. We see the mote in our neighbor’s eye and do not see the beam in our own” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“If the evil is evident, does God demand that we should not see it? No, but He forbids us to murmur with pride. At times, He commands us in the name of charity to practice fraternal correction with benevolence, humility, meekness, and discretion, as indicated in the Gospel of St. Matthew, “If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them, tell the Church” (Matthew 18: 15-17) and as St. Thomas (Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 33, art. 1, ad 1). explains it. We should see whether correction is possible and if there is hope for amendment, or whether it is necessary to have recourse to the superior that he may warn the guilty person (Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q. 33, art. 1, ad 1).” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“Finally, as St. Catherine of Siena says, when the evil is evident, perfection, instead of murmuring, has compassion on the guilty party; we take on ourselves, in part at least, his sin before God, following the example of our Lord who took all our sins upon Himself on the cross. Did He not say to us: “Love one another, as I have loved you”? (John 13:34). We must, therefore, repress rash judgment that we may become accustomed to see our neighbor in the light of Faith and to discover in him the life of grace, or at least his nature, so far as it is an image of God, that grace should ennoble.
It is not sufficient to look upon our neighbor benevolently; we must love him effectively. We can do this by bearing with his defects, returning him good for evil, avoiding jealousy, and praying for union of hearts” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“We bear with another’s defects more easily if we observe that often what arouses our impatience, is not a serious sin in the eyes of God, but rather a defect of temperament, nervousness or, on the contrary, apathy, a certain narrowness of judgment, a frequent lack of tact, a certain way of putting himself forward, and other defects of this kind. Even if the defect is grave, we should not allow ourselves to go so far as to become irritated over evil that is permitted by God; and we should not allow our zeal to become bitterness. While complaining of others, let us not go so far as to persuade ourselves that we have realized the ideal. Without suspecting it, we would be uttering the prayer of the Pharisee” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“To put up with the defects of another, we must remember that God permits evil only for a higher good. It has been said that God’s business consists in drawing good from evil, whereas we can do good only with good. The scandal of evil, producing a bitter and indiscreet zeal, is responsible for the fruitlessness of many reforms. The truth should be told with measure and goodness and not spoken with contempt. We should also avoid indiscretion that leads to speaking without sufficient reason about the faults of one’s neighbor, which is slander and may lead to calumny” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).

“The Gospel tells us that not only must we bear with the defects of our neighbor, but also return good for evil by prayer, edification, and mutual assistance. It is related that one of the ways of winning the good graces of St. Teresa was to cause her pain. She really practiced the counsel of Christ: “If a man will contend with thee in judgment and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him” (Matthew 5:40). Why should we do this? Because it is much less important to defend our temporal rights than to win the soul of our brother for eternity, than to lead him to the true life which has no end. In particular, prayer for our neighbor, when we have to suffer from him, is especially efficacious, as was that of Jesus for His executioners and that of St. Stephen, the first martyr, when he was being stoned” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life).