Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Year

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84. THE DIVINE SEED
SEXAGESIMA WEEK

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, I am here before You. Grant that my heart may be the good ground, ready to receive Your divine word.


MEDITATION

1. Today Jesus, the divine Sower, comes to scatter the good seed in His vineyard the Church. He wishes to prepare our souls for a new blossoming of grace and virtue.

“The seed is the word of God.” Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, eternal Utterance of the Father, came to sow this word in the hearts of men; it is, as it were, a reflection of Himself. The divine word is not a sound which strikes the air and disappears rapidly like the word of men; it is a supernatural light which reveals the true value of things; it is grace, the source of power and strength to help us live according to the light of God. Thus it is a seed of supernatural life, of sanctity, of eternal life. This seed is never sterile in itself; it always has a vital, powerful strength, capable of producing not only some fruits of Christian life, but abundant fruits of sanctity. This seed is not entrusted to an inexperienced husbandman who, because of his ignorance, might ruin the finest sowing. It is Jesus Himself, the Son of God, who is the Sower.

Then why does the seed not always bring forth the desired fruit? Because very often the ground which receives it does not have the requisite qualities. God never stops sowing the seed in the hearts of men; He invites them, He calls them continually by His light and His appeals; He never ceases giving His grace by means of the Sacraments; but all this is vain and fruitless unless man offers God a good ground, that is, a heart, well prepared and disposed. God wills our salvation and sanctification, but He never forces us; He respects our liberty.


2. Today’s Gospel (Lk 8,4-15) mentions four categories of people who receive the seed of the divine word in different ways. It compares them to the hard ground, to the stony soil, to the earth choked with thorns, and lastly, to the good fertile field.

The hard ground : souls that are frivolous, dissipated, open to all distractions, rumors, and curiosity; admitting all kinds of creatures and earthly affections. The word of God hardly reaches their heart when the enemy, having free access, carries it off, thus preventing it from taking root.

The stony ground: superficial souls with only a shallow layer of good earth, which will be rapidly blown away, along with the good seed, by the winds of passion. ‘These souls easily grow enthusiastic, but do not persevere and “ in time of temptation fall away.” They are unstable, because they have not the courage to embrace renunciation and to make the sacrifices which are necessary if one wishes to remain faithful to the word of God and to put it into practice in all circumstances. Their fervor is a straw fire which dies down and goes out in the face of the slightest difficulty.

The ground covered with thorns : souls that are preoccupied with worldly things, pleasures, material interests and affairs. The seed takes root, but the thorns soon choke it by depriving it of air and light. Excessive solicitude for temporal things eventually stifles the rights of the spirit.

Lastly, the good ground is compared by Jesus to those “who, with a good and upright heart, hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.” The good and upright heart is the one which always gives first place to God, which seeks before everything else the kingdom of God and His justice. The seed of the divine word will bear abundant fruit in proportion to the good dispositions it finds in us: recollection, a serious and profound interior life, detachment, sincere seeking for the things of God above and beyond all earthly things, and finally, perseverance, without which the word of God cannot bear its fruit in us.


COLLOQUY

O Jesus, divine Sower, rightly do You complain of the arid, sterile ground of my poor heart! What an abundant sowing of holy inspirations, interior lights, and grace You have cast into my heart! How many times You have invited me to come to You by special appeals, and how many times have I stopped, after following You for a short time! O Lord, if only I could understand the fundamental reason for my spiritual sterility, my instability and inconstancy in good! Will Your light fail me? No, for You are continually instructing and admonishing my soul in a thousand ways. Oh! if so many souls living in error and not knowing You had received but a hundredth part of the light which You have given me so profusely, how much fruit would they not have drawn from it!

Will Your grace fail me? Is not Your grace my strength? O Lord, I see that neither Your light nor Your strength will fail me; what I lack is the perseverance which can faithfully withstand temptations, difficulties, and darkness; which can face courageously the sacrifices and austerity of the Christian life. It is easy to make sacrifices and to renounce oneself for a day, but it is hard to keep on doing it always, every day of our life. Is this not the reason that You said, O Lord, that the good heart brings forth fruit “in patience ?

O Jesus, who endured with invincible patience Your most sorrowful Passion and death, give me the patience I need to keep up the struggle against my passions and my selflove, patience to embrace with perseverance all the sacrifices required by total detachment, to be able to live without personal satisfactions and pleasures, to do everything that is repugnant to me, that hurts me, that crosses me and is displeasing to my self-love.

O Lord, You know that I desire total purification because I long for union with You; but You cannot purify me entirely if I cannot accept patiently Your work : the trials, humiliations and detachments that You prepare for me. O Jesus, divine Sufferer, give me Your patience; make me, like Yourself, humble and patient.

85. EVANGELICAL POVERTY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, for my sake You embraced a life of extreme poverty; make me realize the great value of this virtue.


MEDITATION

1. One day a scribe approached Jesus and said to Him, “Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou shalt go.” Jesus answered him, “ The foxes have their holes, and the birds of the air have their nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Mt 8,19.20).

To one who is willing to follow Him, Jesus immediately presents a picture of His life, a life that is extremely poor and without the smallest comfort. Anyone who has not the courage to share, at least to a certain degree, His earthly poverty will have no part in His eternal wealth. No one can serve two masters at the same time : God and riches. “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6,24). If you are attached to wealth, ease and material comfort, in vain will you try to give your whole heart to God; it will always be the slave of worldly goods. That is why the rich young man, after asking what he should do to obtain eternal life, went away sadly when Jesus answered, “Go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor,” for “he had great possessions.” He was a good young man; from his youth he had kept the commandments and he sincerely longed for eternal life, so much so that, “ Jesus looking on him, loved him ” (Mk 10,21.22).

And yet, attachment to his possessions kept him from following Jesus. This is the story of many souls who, after having accomplished much in the service of God, stop and turn back because they lack the courage to detach themselves from the goods of earth. In commenting on this fact and speaking to His disciples, Jesus said, “How hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (ibid. 10,24.25). Reflect that in these words Jesus was speaking not only of the man who is “rich" because he has great possessions, but more especially of the one who is “rich” because he is attached to what he possesses.

2. Riches do not in themselves constitute an obstacle to eternal salvation and sanctity, but they become an obstacle when a person makes himself their slave. We do not have to own very much in order to be the slave of worldly goods; it is necessary only to possess something with “attachment.” even if the object in question is of little or no value. The Apostles were poor and possessed very little; yet when Jesus invited them to follow Him, He required them to give up even that little. The soul is freed from slavery to earthly goods not so much by material poverty as by “poverty of spirit,” that is, poverty of affections, of attachments, however slight.

St. John of the Cross tells us that this poverty alone constitutes the “night of the soul,” that is, permits the soul to enter the night of the senses: “for we are not treating here of the lack of things, since this implies no detachment on the part of the soul if it has a desire for them; but we are treating of detachment from them with respect to taste and desire, for it is this that leaves the soul free and void of them, although it may have them ” (AS J, 3,4).

For this reason the Saint teaches that we should “ not seek the best of temporal things, but the worst”; yet this material poverty which is good, and even necessary to a certain degree, is not sufficient. He at once adds that we must “ desire to enter into complete detachment and emptiness and poverty, with respect to everything that is in the world, for Christ’s sake” (ibid., 13,6). This is the spiritual poverty which, by freeing the soul from all desire and affection for worldly goods, completes and gives value to material poverty. In fact, if after renouncing the superfluous, the comforts and the conveniences of life, we still remain attached to them by affection, our material renunciation will amount to very little. “For it is not the things of this world that either occupy the soul or cause it harm, since they enter it not, but rather the will and desire for them, for it is these that dwell within it” (ibid., 3,4).


COLLOQUY

“O gentle Lord Jesus Christ, most rich in love, experience has taught me that there is nothing in life more wearisome than to burn with earthly desires, for the love of riches is an insatiable hunger which so tortures the soul by the ardor of desire that it does not find solace even when it obtains what it covets. The acquisition of wealth causes great fatigue; the possession of it brings great fear; its loss occasions great sorrow.

“One who loves riches cannot love You, O Lord, but perishes with the things that are perishable, and he who relies on them with affection, vanishes with them in sadness. He who finds them, loses his peace; when he lies awake at night, he tries to think of ways to add to them; if he sleeps, he dreams of thieves; during the day he is anxious and troubled; at night his fears increase, and thus he is always miserable” (Ven. Raymond Jourdain).

How unfortunate I should be, O Lord, if the love of worldly things prevented me from following you closely! Oh! how little does my life resemble Yours! What a difference in our tastes and desires! You, the King of heaven and earth, could have surrounded Yourself with grandeur, since all riches were created by You. You could have had many servants to carry out Your orders, yet You wanted none of these; instead You chose, for the first place of Your stay on earth, a stable, and for the last, a hard cross. And I, who am but dust and ashes, with no right to possess anything, because I have nothing of myself and receive everything from Your generosity, would I claim a life of comfort, filled with so many desires for material well-being?

O Lord, do not permit the love of temporal goods to be an obstacle, to become a wall between You and me. Union of love demands resemblance; love either finds two beings similar or makes them so. I love You, O Lord, but my love is still weak; strengthen it, so that it may be able to destroy every attachment which hinders me from following You closely and becoming like You.

86. VOLUNTARY POVERTY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, deign to show me the treasures concealed in voluntary poverty and the duties which proceed from it.


MEDITATION


1. St. Thomas teaches that in order to arrive at the perfection of charity it is necessary for the heart to be completely detached from the things of the world, that it may concentrate all its affections on God. “He who possesses temporal goods, by the very fact that he possesses them, is inclined to love them. Consequently, the fundamental basis for the acquisition of perfect charity is voluntary poverty, that is, the free renunciation of all one’s possessions, as the Master said in St. Matthew: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, and come, follow Me!’” (II II°, q.186, a.3).

This is particularly realized in the religious life by the vow of poverty. However, even those who are living a life of consecration to God in the world may embrace voluntary poverty as a means of tending to perfection. The Church makes it a matter of obligation for all who belong to Secular Institutes precisely because the state of perfection requires a serious obligation of poverty. The members of these Institutes “must make a vow or a promise of poverty, by which they relinquish the free use of their material goods” (Apostolic Constitution, Provida Mater Ecclesia). The essence of voluntary poverty consists in this renunciation of the free and independent use of temporal goods. In fact, only one who renounces the free use of temporal goods can, according to St. Thomas, “live without possessing anything of his own.” By making the vow of poverty, man attains the freedom necessary to follow Jesus in the way of perfection.


2. If you have made a vow of voluntary poverty, you know that you have given up the freedom to use temporal goods as you wish. Even if the Rule of your Institute permits you to have certain things, you cannot use them as an owner; the vow of poverty has taken this power away from you. You cannot dispose of anything on your own authority, not even what is necessary for life, but you must govern yourself in all things according to the norms of your Constitutions and must depend on your superiors.

The Rules of the various Orders and Religious or Secular Institutes are not equally strict concerning the use of temporal goods. Some more austere Rules forbid the free use of objects, even if they are of very little value; others, less rigorous, allow a greater liberty. But if you wish to practice your vow to perfection, adopt the rule of never using or disposing of anything with a spirit of ownership. The more you live as if you really owned nothing—even a book, or a piece of clothing, or a bit of bread—the more you will become like Jesus and be free to follow Him as one of His intimate friends.

Another consequence of the vow or promise of voluntary poverty is the spontaneous acceptance for the love of God of living conditions like those of the really poor. The poor person is obliged to do without comforts, to economize, to work for his living. You, therefore, should readily and willingly renounce what is superfluous or merely convenient; you should not allow anything to be wasted; and, above all, you should subject yourself to a life of hard work. This is to be done, not in a spirit of avarice, nor in view of gain, but purely as an exercise of virtue. If some day it happens that you lack something necessary, thank Our Lord, who thus offers you a choice occasion for practicing real poverty.


COLLOQUY

O Lord, what great treasures are contained in holy poverty. “Poverty is a good which contains within itself all the good things in the world. It is a great domain—I mean that he who cares nothing for the good things of the world has dominion over them all. What do kings and lords matter to me if I have no desire to possess their money or to please them, especially if by so doing, I should cause the least displeasure to You, my God? And what do their honors mean to me if I have realized that the chief honor of a poor man consists in his being truly poor? True poverty, which is embraced for love of You, O Lord, brings with it a great dignity; it impresses everyone because its only care is to be pleasing to You” (T.J. Way, 2).

I praise You, O Lord, because You have given me the grace to embrace holy poverty, which frees me from all preoccupation with material things and delivers me from earthly slavery! Thus I, miserable creature that I am, have the great honor of serving You alone, the King of heaven and earth.

O Lord, grant me the favor of preserving the sweet bonds of holy poverty which draw me away from the world to bind me to You. Grant that, in conformity with the obligations undertaken by my profession, poverty may really be “the arms inscribed on my banner; grant that I may observe it in all things and everywhere: in my dwelling, my dress, my words, and much more in my thoughts” (2bid.). Yes, even in my thoughts, so that my desires will not, if only for a single moment, bring me back to the things I have given up for love of You.

I understand and confess, O my God, that every time I have complained about some privation or hardship, every time that I have been demanding or have desired a life of greater ease, I have withdrawn from the ideal and the effective practice of voluntary poverty. In the same way, I have also withdrawn from You and have returned to the slavery of material things. How foolish, O Lord, to divide my heart between You, who are All, and the nothingness of earthly creatures!

87.THE SPIRIT OF POVERTY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, I contemplate You on the mountain, instructing the crowds on the spirit of poverty. I, too, approach You, eager to hear Your words.


MEDITATION

1. “Opening His mouth, He taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ” (Mt 5,2.3).

Thus begins the Sermon on the Mount; then Jesus explained several times how this poverty of spirit is to be understood. “ Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven : where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (2b7d., 6,19-21).

Consider that Jesus addressed these words not only to the Apostles, but also to His disciples and the crowds that followed Him, proving that although everyone is not called to make the vow of poverty—family life does not permit this— the practice of the “ spirit of poverty ” is incumbent upon all, namely, that affective detachment from the goods of earth which enables one to use these goods with moderation and detachment. Those who, like fathers and mothers of families, have the obligation to administer goods and to increase them by honest work, must do so rightly, taking care that these material affairs do not make them neglect their own spiritual good and their duties to God. “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul” (ibid., 16,26)? The spirit of poverty also demands that they who have few possessions and live in material want accept their condition serenely and patiently, seeing in it an invitation to imitate Jesus’ life of poverty more closely. Consider furthermore that when the divine Master said, “Sell what thou hast and give it to the poor,” He joined the exercise of charity to that of poverty. If we detach our hearts from earthly goods, the spirit of poverty will make us generous toward the needy.

2. “Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor...what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. ... And for raiment, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.... And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?” (Mt 6,25-30). Jesus does not forbid our providing for the morrow; on the contrary, He says through His Apostle, “If any man will not work, neither let him eat ” (2 Thes 3,10). But Jesus does not wish the solicitude which would engulf us entirely in temporal affairs; this would indicate not only an excessive attachment to earthly things, but also a lack of confidence in divine Providence. The divine Master tells us that, if God has given us the more essential things — our life and our body — He will also give us the less essential things, that is, food and clothing, which are the means of preserving our life and our body.

The spirit of poverty will not be lasting and profound unless it is based on confidence in divine Providence. It is only when we trust in God and in His word, which will never fail, that we shall have the courage to put aside all excessive preoccupation with temporal affairs. Then the words of Jesus will be accomplished in us : “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6,33).

In every state of life and in the practice of every profession, the principal care of the Christian must be to serve God and to tend toward Him; everything else is secondary. St. Teresa of Jesus said to her daughters, “You have given up a regular income; give up worry about food as well, or you will lose everything.... Let us not fail God, and let us have no fear that He will fail us” (Way, 2).


COLLOQUY

“O Lord, the spirit of poverty is such a great treasure! When we possess it, we rely not on human means, but we place all our trust in Your divine Providence. I beg You to give me a great love for this precious treasure. It is so noble that it has You, O sovereign God,” for its servant (cf. St. Francis).

O Lord, cure me of my excessive solicitude for the necessities of life. In the silence of my heart I seem to hear Your gentle reproach: “For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.” (Mt 6,32).

Yes, Lord, You know my needs, and since You are no stranger to me, but a Father, You are bound to provide for all my wants. O Lord, strengthen my faith in Your word. May my confidence equal that of St. Francis of Assisi, who was so certain of You that he did not hesitate to give his father not only his money, but even his clothes and to go about the world deprived of everything, happier and more secure in his poverty than the rich in their wealth. O blessed poverty! You do not abandon, O Lord, him who trusts in You; You are kind and generous to him who has given up everything for love of You, and who trusts completely in your heavenly Providence.

O Jesus, if I cannot actually leave all material goods and concerns, grant that I may at least renounce all exaggerated solicitude for them and preoccupation with them. May my only concern be to love and serve You with all my strength, to seek friendship, intimacy, and union with You.

One day You said to St. Catherine of Siena, “Think of Me and I will think of you.” Deign to repeat these words to me and fix them in my mind and heart, so that no care for material things will be able to distract me from You.

88. CHASTITY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, lover of virgins, make me understand the beauty of perfect chastity.


MEDITATION

1. “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Cor 3,16.17).

The grace of Baptism consecrates the body of a Christian, makes it the temple of the living God and a member of Christ. Hence every Christian has the duty of respecting his body, a duty which demands the virtue of chastity according to his state in life. Sins of impurity profane the body, the temple of God, and make the members of Christ “ the members of a harlot” (ibid. 6,15).

Outside of marriage, absolute continence is demanded of everyone without distinction. Conjugal chastity limits marital pleasure to the ends of marriage itself. Even as poverty frees us from slavery to earthly goods and regulates their use, so chastity frees us from the slavery of our senses and moderates their use. Hence the virtue of chastity is not restricted to those who are consecrated to God, but is a serious obligation for every Christian. Chastity of the body is not enough; we must also practice chastity of thought, desire, and heart, for Jesus has said, “The things that come forth from the heart. . . defile a man. From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries ” (Mt 15,18.19). Chastity of body, therefore, calls for chastity of heart. Jesus strongly insists on this interior purity. “The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darksome” (ibid. 6,22.23).

2. “He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God.... The virgin thinketh of the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit” (1 Cor 7,32.34). Perfect chastity, chosen as a state of life and embraced by a vow, frees one from the cares and solicitude which are inevitable in married life and which divide the heart between God and human affections.

Jesus said that there are some who have renounced having a family “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19,12). The essential value of the vow of chastity consists precisely in this renunciation which a person voluntarily imposes on himself in order to give himself wholly to God—body and soul, heart and mind—all must be consecrated to Him and reserved for Him alone.

One who embraces the married state becomes a collaborator with God in the transmission of life to others; one who consecrates himself to God by a vow of chastity becomes His collaborator in the transmission of the life of grace to others. The person who is consecrated to God sacrifices material fecundity for a far superior, spiritual fecundity, natural paternity or maternity for supernatural paternity or maternity. St. Thérése of the Child Jesus described her vocation to Carmel thus: “To be Thy spouse, O my Jesus. ..and by my union with Thee to be the mother of souls” (St, 13).

Such is the fruitfulness of virgins, the “chaste generation” whom Jesus calls to the total renunciation of the licit joys of marriage in order to make them intimate collaborators in His work of redeeming and sanctifying the world. The vow of chastity does not shut souls up in a sterile life, but by binding them wholly to God, it opens up to them the sublime fertility of the apostolate. “Perpetual virginity is a pure host offered to God, a holy victim; it is a flower which gives honor and joy to the Church, and it is a great source of power” (Pope Pius XII, Allocution, September 1951).


COLLOQUY

“O Lord, all my hope is based on Your great mercy. Give me what You command, and command what You will. You command that we be continent. Someone has said that no one can be continent unless God grants it, but it is true wisdom to know from whom this gift comes. Continence brings us recollection and the restoration of that unity which we have lost in giving ourselves to too many things. He loves You less who loves, together with You, anything which he does not love for You. O love, ever burning and never extinguished, O charity, O my God, inflame me! You command me to be continent; give me what You command and command what You will” (St. Augustine).

O Jesus, make me understand that there is no greater honor for man than the one You do him when You deliver him from the “tribulation of the flesh ” (1 Cor 7,28) and invite him to give himself entirely to You in the bond of perfect chastity. O holy bond which unites to God, who is infinite purity, a base creature, and raises him to the level of sharing in the immaculate splendor of divine virginity! O holy bond, which establishes an indissoluble union between God and man, which presents souls “ as pure virgins to the one Man, Christ” (cf. 2 Cor 11,2), to be espoused to Him in faith and love!

O Jesus, Spouse of virgin souls, You who have said, “All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given” (Mt 19,11), give me a better understanding of the great value of perfect chastity. What more sublime gift could I ask for and receive from You?

O Jesus, You who by calling me to perfect chastity have freed me from the cares of a family and from earthly affections, grant that I may not become egotistical, but may share in the most direct and intense way Your solicitude and Your life of immolation and sacrifice for the salvation of men and the glory of the Father. You want me to be a virgin that I may collaborate more intimately with You in the sublime work of redemption; and in the measure in which I give myself fully and generously to You, You will give me the gift of spiritual fecundity. O Jesus, tighten the bonds of my union with You, for this union will enable me to bring forth many souls to Your love and grace!

89. MODESTY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, Spouse of Virgins, teach me how a soul consecrated to You should live.


MEDITATION

1. Perfect chastity presupposes an absolute dominion of spirit over matter. However, there is in us a disordered tendency toward sensible pleasure which is opposed to this dominion; even souls consecrated. to God bear the treasure of chastity in earthen vessels (2 Cor 4,1), in the fragile vessel of flesh, which is attracted by satisfactions of the senses. The vow of chastity does not remove these tendencies; consequently, it does not dispense us from continual vigilance. “One who makes a vow to God of perfect chastity must struggle by prayer and penance, in order to preserve its integrity ” (Pope Pius XII)—by prayer because no one can be chaste unless God grants it to him, by penance and mortification because the body must be subject to the spirit.

It is modesty which moderates and regulates all our actions, both interior and exterior, according to our vocation. St. Paul recommends this virtue to all Christians: “Let your modesty be known to all men” (Phil 4,5). Souls consecrated to God are obliged to observe modesty more strictly, because they are called by their state in life to preserve the treasure of absolute chastity intact; therefore, they need to practice mortification of the senses more assiduously and delicately. They must be like men who, possessing material treasures of great value, take all necessary measures and precautions to protect them from thieves. “Brethren, be sober and watch,” says St. Peter (1 Pt 5,8), for the enemy is always lying in wait. The vow of chastity, by consecrating the body to God, also consecrates the senses. For this reason they must be freed from the base things of earth in order to be wholly employed in the service of God.


2. The more a soul aspires to the total gift of self and intimate union with God, the more its conduct must be imbued with perfect modesty—modesty of countenance, gait, gesture, and manner. “Be modest in every action or conversation” (M, 4), St. Teresa of Avila instructs her daughters. St. Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus “kept such a perfect restraint and guard over her faculties and senses that she refused herself every glance and every word which did not in some way have reference to God ” (T.M. Sp). The golden rule of St. John of the Cross was to use the senses solely for the service and glory of God and to raise the heart to Him (cf. AS I, 13,4), which, in practice, means using them only as they are required for the accomplishment of one’s duties or for an honorable and just purpose; “with this exception all must be left free for God” (SM H, 38). Therefore the soul must carefully guard its sight and hearing from vain curiosity, images, and news; for these encumber it uselessly and give entrance to impressions which are not entirely pure and holy.

One who without necessity desires to see, hear, and taste everything is like a man who leaves the door of his house open to any intruder. The senses are the doors of the soul; we must guard them and not endanger the treasure of chastity.

Modesty, however, is not only a weapon of defense for chastity; it is the bulwark of the interior life. Only a soul who knows how to guard the senses is capable of recollecting itself interiorly in order to live in intimacy with God. By detaching the senses from earthly things, modesty concentrates and fixes them on God. “We put to death the curiosity of our eyes when, turning them away from all useless things, we fix them on ourselves, on the movements of our heart, and on the heart of Jesus” (T.M. Sp). This is the positive value
of modesty. Only one who loves God very much can impose such a discipline on himself.


COLLOQUY

“If I could only love You more ardently, O my God, my Help, my Defense, my sweet Hope! Let me embrace You, O Sovereign Good, without whom nothing good exists for me; let me find all my delight in You, the source of perfection, without whom nothing is perfect!

“Open my ears to Your words, more penetrating than a two-edged sword, that I may hear Your voice. So illumine my eyes, O incomparable light, that they will never again turn toward earthly vanities, but may seek You alone, O invisible Good! Draw me, O sweetest perfume of my life, so that I may run in the fragrance of Your ointments! Purify my sense of taste, that I may know and savor Your great sweetness, O Lord, that sweetness which You have reserved for those who are filled with Your holy love. By Your sweetness, dissipate and destroy my concupiscence, so that I may desire nothing but You, and not be seduced and deceived by worldly vanities, so as to regard what is bitter as sweet and what is sweet as bitter, darkness as light and light as darkness. Let me escape the snares set by the enemy of our souls, who fills the world with his deceits.

“O my sweet Lord, the world is filled with the snares of concupiscence. Who can avoid them all? Only he from whom You remove the pride of life, the concupiscence of the flesh, irreverence, and obstinacy of soul. Oh! how happy is the soul to whom You give this grace, for he will pass unharmed through the midst of so many enemies!” (St. Augustine).

O my sweet Lord, I renew with all my heart the consecration of my senses to You. I consecrate to You my eyes, that they may seek only Your Face and the things that lead to You; I consecrate to You my tongue, that it may be worthy to sing Your praises and may never utter a word displeasing to You; I consecrate to You my ears, that they may listen to Your voice alone and hear only what is necessary for Your service; I consecrate to You my sense of smell, of taste, of touch, that they may take delight in You alone, O Spouse of virgins! I repeat with St. Agnes, “ In loving You, O Christ, I am chaste; in touching You, I am pure; in possessing You, I am a virgin!” (RB).

90. CHASTITY OF HEART

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, show me how pure my heart must be if I am to be admitted to intimacy with You.


MEDITATION

1. The heart of a person consecrated to God should be “a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” (Ct 4,12), because it cannot admit any other affection than one which has God for its object or one which refers to Him. Of course this does not exclude the love of neighbor in general, nor that which one owes to one’s own family, but it does exclude all purely natural love. In other words, the affections of a soul consecrated to God must be wholly supernaturalized; that is, it must love creatures in reference to God, because they are His and belong to Him. When instead, it allows itself to be guided in its affections by human motives, such as congeniality, sympathy, or self-interest, it is not for God that it loves these creatures, but for itself, for the satisfaction it finds in them; its love is not supernatural, but human. These human affections ravage a heart that has been consecrated to God, just as the little foxes, spoken of in the Canticle, ravage the vines.

After having broken, for the love of God, our sacred family ties, after having renounced the right to have families of our own, is it not the height of folly to let our heart be chained by creatures who have no claim to it, or by affections which are not holy? We must reply to their invitations with the fortitude of St. Agnes: “God has put a sign on my face, that I may admit no other lover. It is to Him alone that I plight my troth” (RB).

“It is sad,” says St. John of the Cross, “to see certain souls...that are laden with wealth...and spiritual exercises...and yet, because they have not the resolution to break with some whim or attachment or affection... they never make progress or reach the port of perfection.... God has granted them to break other and stouter cords of affection, but they have not shaken off some childish thing, and fail to attain to so great a blessing” (AS J, 11,4.5).

2. God is jealous of a heart which has been consecrated to Him and He will not admit it to intimacy with Himself as long as He finds it occupied with some affection which prevents it from concentrating on Him all the love of which He has rendered it capable. St. Teresa of Jesus says, “As He refuses to force our will, He takes what we give Him but does not give Himself wholly to us until He sees that we are giving ourselves wholly to Him” (Way, 28). “ God will not have a divided heart; He wants all or nothing” (T.M. Sp).

If we do not give our hearts entirely to God, we cannot enjoy divine intimacy. Jesus said, “Blessed are the clean of heart : for they shall see God” (Mt 5,8). This vision, this enjoyment of God, is in a certain way anticipated even in this life for those who keep the integrity and purity of their heart for Him. St. Thomas says, “ A heart which is free from thoughts and affections alien to God is like a temple consecrated to the Lord, in which we can contemplate Him even in this world” (Commentary on St. Matthew). A pure heart, like a limpid eye, can comprehend God and to a certain degree penetrate the depths of His infinite mystery. For this reason theologians teach that the gift of understanding corresponds to the beatitude “blessed are the clean of heart.” By this gift the Holy Spirit enables the soul to read within, “intus legere,” that is, to penetrate divine truths. One who loves ardently, desires to know the loved one more and more, not only exteriorly, but also intimately, sharing his thoughts and secrets; he is willing to sacrifice every other satisfaction in order to attain his end.

If you wish to know your God, if you wish to enter into an intimate and deep friendship with Him, you must offer Him a pure heart, free from all human affection. “Take no heed of creatures if thou wilt keep the image of God clearly and simply in thy soul, but empty thy spirit of them and withdraw far from them, and thou shalt walk in the divine light” (J.C. SM J, 25).


COLLOQUY

O Jesus, divine sweetness, change all the consolation of earth into bitterness for me, for I do not wish creatures to possess even a single atom of my heart. If I knew that a single fiber of my heart vibrated for human affection, I would hasten to tear it out and throw it away, no matter how much suffering it might cost.

But You know my weakness and how tempted I feel in moments of discouragement, of loneliness, of abandonment to seek a little understanding and affection from creatures. “Oh! then, I beg You, grant that I may find nothing but bitterness in earthly friendships; otherwise, with a heart like mine, I could easily be caught and my wings clipped (T.J.C. St, 4).

O Lord, illumine the hidden and innermost recesses of my heart; if You find there the least affection which is not for You, reveal it to me and give me the grace to renounce it forever.

You want all, and I want to give You all. In giving all to You, my heart is only returning what is already Yours, for You have given it to me, and I should be incapable of loving if You had not put a spark of Your infinite charity in me. O Lord, it is only just that this spark should return to You, and that it should requite Your love, O infinite Love, who have created me out of nothing and enabled me to return love for love. By reaching up to You and coming in contact with You, O immense furnace of Charity, my love insignificant as it is, will increase immeasurably and pour itself out over all the earth, embracing all creatures in the munificence of a pure, supernatural love, so that it may bring them to You, their beginning and their end.

O Jesus, guardian of virgins, guard my heart, make it so pure and transparent that it will become worthy to gaze upon the splendor of Your Face.

I do not know You yet, my Lord, for, since I still love and enjoy creatures, my interior eye has not the clearness necessary for  contemplating You. And because I do not know You, I do not love You as much as I should, and I have very little enjoyment of You. Behold how great is my misery! Come Yourself and purify my heart, so that I may know You fully, and knowing You fully, really love You with all my strength.