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"I am come to cast fire on the earth: and what will,l, but that
it be kindled?" Luke 12:49
To show what charity should normally be in the illuminative way of
proficients, we shall discuss the zeal which every Christian,
especially the priest and religious, should have for the glory of God
and the salvation of souls. If this zeal is lacking, or does not exist
in the degree that it should manifestly have, it is an additional and
at times striking sign of what our love of God and souls should
normally be, of what the living, profound, radiating knowledge of the
things of God should also be in us. Those whose duty it is spiritually
to feed others, themselves need a substantial daily food, that to be
had every day in intimate participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass,
in Communion, and in prayer.
We have seen that love of neighbor is the extension or the
radiation of the love we should have for God: this love should extend
to the children of God. It is one and the same supernatural
theological love; it is essentially divine, like grace, a
participation in the inner hfe of God. This love should become so
ardent in a fervent Christian soul as to merit the name of zeal.
Especially for a soul consecrated to God, it is a duty to have zeal
for His glory and the salvation of one's neighbor. Basically it is one
and the same zeal, the ardor of one and the same love, which should
subsist, though not always sensible, in the midst of aridities and
trials of all sorts, just as in the heart of a good soldier ardent
love of country subsists in the most trying hours when he can only be
patient and endure. Zeal is the ardor of love, but of a spiritual love
of the will, which is at times proportionately more generous and
meritorious as it is less felt. (1)
We may with profit consider the motives of zeal, what its qualities
should be, and the means to exercise it.
THE MOTIVES OF ZEAL
For every Christian the first motive of zeal is that God deserves
to be loved above all things. This motive is not the object of a
counsel, but of the supreme precept, which has no limits; it makes it
our duty to grow continually in charity while on earth, to love the
Lord with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with all our strength,
and with all our mind.(2) Even in the Old Testament the supreme
precept was already formulated in the same terms.(3) We know what zeal
in corresponding to it was shown by the prophets, whose mission it was
ceaselessly to remind the people of God of their great duties. The
Psalmist says to the Lord: "The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up:
and the reproaches of them that reproach Thee are fallen upon me." (4)
"My zeal hath made me pine away: because my enemies forgot Thy words.
. . . I am very young and despised; but I forget not Thy
justifications." (5) Elias, reaching Mount Horeb and being questioned
by God about what he had done, replies: "With zeal have I been zealous
for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken
Thy covenant: they have thrown down Thy altars, they have slain Thy
prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to
take it away." (6) It was then that the Lord told Elias that He was
going to pass before him, and, after a violent wind and an earthquake
accompanied by lightning, there was "the whistling of a gentle air,"
the symbol of the divine gentleness; then the Lord gave the prophet
His orders, and revealed to him that Eliseus was called to succeed
him.
Likewise we read in the first book of the Machabees that the
priest Mathathias, exhorting his sons to begin the holy war, said: "Phinees
our father, by being fervent in the zeal of God, received the covenant
of an everlasting priesthood. . . . Elias, while he was full of zeal
for the law, was taken up into heaven. . . . Daniel in his innocency
was delivered out of the mouth of the lions. . . . You therefore, my
sons, take courage, and behave manfully in the law; for by it you
shall be glorious." (7)
This zeal led Jesus to cast the buyers and sellers out of the
temple and to overthrow their tables, saying to them: "It is written:
'My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a
den of thieves.' " (8) Especially after Pentecost, the apostles had
this zeal; it led them all even to martyrdom. It still exists in the
Church wherever the testimony of blood is given and in numerous lives
consecrated to the service of God even to immolation. The first motive
of zeal is, therefore, that God deserves to be loved above all and
without measure.
The second motive of zeal is that we should imitate our Lord Jesus
Christ. The predominant virtue of the Savior is zeal, the ardor of
charity, as He Himself says: "I am come to cast fire [of charity] on
the earth: and what will I, but that it be kindled?" (9) St. Paul
writes: "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith: 'Sacrifice
and oblation [of the Old Law] Thou wouldest not: but a body Thou hast
fitted to Me. . . . Then said I: Behold I come. . . that I should do
Thy will, O God.' " (10) All during His life, our Lord offered
Himself; at twelve years of age He announced that He came to be about
His Father's business.(11) He offered Himself continually during His
hidden life, showing us in what humility and abnegation truly divine
works should be prepared. From the beginning of His public life, He
saw the indifference of the Jews of Nazareth, who called Him the son
of the carpenter, and He experienced the hatred of the Pharisees,
which would increase even to the point of demanding His death on the
cross. The Word of God came among His own to save them, and many of
His own were not willing to receive Him; they did not wish to let
themselves be saved. Opposition came from those who should least have
opposed Him, from the priests of the Old Law, the prelude of the
New.(12) The suffering which this attitude caused the Savior was
profound like His love of souls: it was the suffering of ardent and
overflowing charity, which wishes to give itself and often meets only
with indifference, inertia, lack of comprehension, ill will, and
spiteful opposition.
This thirst for the glory of God and the salvation of souls was the
great cause of the sorrow which the Savior experienced at the sight of
the sins of men. It was also the cause of Mary's suffering at the foot
of the cross. All His life long Christ felt this desire for the salvation of souls
and continually carried this cross of desire; He aspired strongly to
realize His redemptive mission by dying for us on the cross. For this
reason He said at the last supper the night before He died:
"With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I
suffer"; (13) and then instituting the Eucharist, He said: "This is My
body, which is given for you. . . . This is the chalice, the new
testament in My blood, which shall be shed for you." (14) Christ desired
with a great desire the accomplishment of His mission by the perfect
sacrifice of Himself, by the most complete gift of self. The suffering that accompanied this ardent desire ceased with His
death on the cross, but this desire, this thirst for our salvation,
still endures; He is "always living to make intercession for us,"
(15) especially in the Sacrifice of the Mass, which continues sacramentally
that of Calvary. In the Eucharist our Lord continues to make His
appeals heard and to give Himself to souls, even to repentant prisoners and
criminals sentenced to death." This hunger and thirst for the salvation of
sinners which is still living in the holy soul of Christ led St. Catherine of Siena to write
to one of her spiritual sons: "I should like to see you suffer so
greatly from hunger for the salvation of souls that you could die of
it like Christ Jesus, that at least because of it you would die to the
world and to yourself." Such thoughts are to be found on every page of
this great saint's letters. A third motive for our zeal is precisely the value of the immortal
souls redeemed by the blood of Christ. Each of them is worth more than
the entire physical universe, and each is called to receive the
benefits of the redemption and eternal life. We should remember the
zeal of the apostles who "went from the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the
name of Jesus," (16) and who could say to the faithful, as St. Paul did:
"I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls; although
loving you more, I be loved less." (17) Zeal prompted St. Paul to write:
"We are buffeted, and have no fixed abode. . . . We are reviled, and
we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it; we are blasphemed, and
we entreat." (18) Zeal led the apostles even to martyrdom, and for three
centuries after them the same was true of many bishops, priests, and
laymen of every rank and age. The martyrs, whose heroism gave rise to
numerous conversions, had such eminent zeal for the glory of God and
the salvation of souls that it became an undeniable proof of the
sanctity of the Church. If when a man's country is in danger he loves
it to the extent that he will sacrifice himself for it, with what
greater reason should we love the Church which leads us to the eternal country, where all the
just of all peoples should meet. Lastly, a fourth motive of our zeal is the contrary zeal with which
the enemies of the Church toil at works of disorder, corruption, and
death. What should draw us out of our somnolence, is the impious, spiteful, satanic war waged against our Lord and our holy Mother
the Church; a war surpassing all others, a war of the spirit, which is
carried on in the innermost depths of hearts, even in the souls of
little children, whom they desire to snatch from our Lord that they
may make them reprobates and atheists. This war is indescribably
perverse like the sins of the spirit; it is loaded down with crushing
responsibilities. The Church sees the formidable consequences of this
struggle on those who are intent upon it; it continues to pray for
them, that God may cure their blindness and halt them on the road of damnation, into which they are dragging so many others
with them.
The principal motives of zeal are consequently: the glory of
God, the imitation of our Lord, the salvation of souls, and the relief of the souls in purgatory.
THE QUALITIES OF ZEAL Zeal, according to its definition, should be ardent since it is the
ardor of love; but here is meant enduring spiritual ardor, and not a
sudden impetus, sensible enthusiasm of temperament, natural activity
eager to take outward form through personal satisfaction and the
seeking after self which wearies others. That it may not lose any of
its spiritual ardor and may preserve it for a long time, zeal should
be free from all excessively human self-seeking; to be so, it must be
enlightened, patient, meek, and disinterested. Zeal should, first of
all, be illumined by the light of faith, by that of obedience and
Christian prudence, and also by the gifts of wisdom and counsel. The
light of natural reason does not suffice, for it is a question of
performing not only a human work, but a divine work, of laboring at
the salvation and sanctification of souls with the means indicated by
our Lord. Zeal animated only by the natural spirit, instead of
converting souls to God, gradually allows itself to be converted by
the world, to be seduced by high-sounding phrases devoid of meaning.
It dreams, for example, of a future city and loses sight of the
supernatural end of the true city of God which St. Augustine speaks
of. This zeal, which is that of restless, blundering, ambitious
people, is impulsive, unseasonable, and inopportune; it forgets the
indispensable, supernatural means, prayer and penance, recalled by
Mary Immaculate at Lourdes. Especially in difficult circumstances, zeal should beg the Holy Ghost
for the light of the gift of counsel, not that it should propose to do
extraordinary things, but to accomplish as perfectly as possible the
ordinary duties fixed by the wisdom of the Church and obedience: to
say Mass well or to unite oneself intimately to it, to be faithful to
prayer under its different forms, and to one's duties of state.
Sometimes heroic obedience may be demanded; should it be lacking, the
greatest qualities of mind and heart would not suffice to compensate
for its absence. Some servants of God, who were manifestly called to
sanctity, seem not to have reached it because they lacked this heroic
virtue. Zeal should be not only enlightened, but also patient and meek. While
preserving its ardor, and indeed in order to preserve it, zeal should
avoid becoming uselessly irritated against evil, pouring itself out in
vain indignation and sermonizing indiscriminately. The Gospel shows us
that in the service of the Lord the Boanerges, or sons of thunder,(19)
as James and John were, become meek. Zeal should know how to tolerate
certain evils in order to avoid greater ones and not itself turn to
bitterness. What is only less good should not be cast aside as evil;
the smoking flax should not be extinguished nor the broken reed
crushed. We should always remember that Providence permits evil in
view of a superior good, which we often do not yet see, but which will
shine forth on the last day under the light of eternity. To be patient and meek, zeal should be disinterested, and that in two
ways: by avoiding appropriating to self what belongs only to God and
what pertains to others. Some people are zealous for the works of God,
but, motivated by unconscious self-seeking, they consider these works
too much as their own. As Tauler says, they resemble hunting dogs
that are eager in running down the hare, but that eat it after
catching it, instead of bringing it back to their master; thereupon he
whips them soundly. Thus these people keep
for themselves the souls which they should win for our Lord, and
as a result God punishes them severely to teach them to efface themselves, that He may act in them and through them. When they are
less sure of themselves, less persuaded of their importance, and somewhat broken or at least more supple, the Lord will use them as docile
instruments. They will then completely forget themselves in the hands
of the Savior, who alone knows what is necessary to regenerate souls. Let us not appropriate what belongs to others. Often we wish to do
good, but we desire too greatly that we should do it in our way. We
should not wish to do everything, or hinder others from working and
being more successful than we are. Let us not be jealous of their
success. Above all, we ought not to take upon ourselves the direction
of souls that have not been entrusted to us; we ought to be on our
guard not to take them away from a salutary influence, for the Lord
might require a severe accounting from us in this matter. It is for
Him we are working and not for ourselves. This is what He wished to
make His apostles understand one day when they had been disputing
among themselves about which was the greatest. He then asked them:
"What did you treat of in the way?" But they did not dare to reply,
and it was then that, "calling unto Him a little child, [He] set him
in the midst of them, and said: Amen I say to you, unless you be
converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." (20) He wished to make them understand that their
zeal should be humble and disinterested.
He wished to convince particularly the sons of Zebedee, James and
John, of this when their mother came to Him and asked for them the
first two places in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to them:
"You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall
drink? They say to Him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed
you shall drink; but to sit on My right or left hand, is not Mine to
give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by My Father. . . .
And he that will be first among you, shall be your servant. Even as
the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and
to give His life a redemption for many." (21) Thus our Lord taught the
sons of Zebedee to dominate their natural ardor by humility and
meekness, in order to transform it into a pure and fruitful
supernatural zeal. Similarly He cures us sometimes by rebuffs and
trials administered to our self-love and pride. He corrects us thus
until we no longer wish to do our work; then, after permitting the
lower part of our nature to be broken by events, and when selfishness has been overcome, He makes use of us for His work, the
salvation of souls. Then zeal, though it preserves its spiritual
ardor, is calm, humble, and meek, like that of Mary and the saints,
and nothing can any longer crush it: "If God be for us, who can be
against us?" This zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls should be
exercised by the apostolate under various forms: the apostolate by the
teaching of Christian doctrine and the spiritual and corporal works of
mercy; the apostolate by prayer, which draws down divine grace to
render fruitful the labor of those who toil in the Lord's vineyard.
When profound, this hidden apostolate is the soul of the exterior
apostolate. Lastly, there should also be the apostolate by reparatory
suffering; hidden, too, like that of prayer, it continues, as it were,
in the mystical body of Christ the sufferings of Jesus during the
Passion and on the cross for the regeneration of souls. When, in the
mystical body of Christ, a member voluntarily suffers through love,
another infirm member is healed, as in our human body painful remedies
relieve infected organs, which then gradually resume their functions.
When the servants of God immolate their bodies and hearts, the Lord
spares the body of an unfortunate person whose strength is spent, or
cures a sick heart which had not the courage to break its chains. When
in the mystical body a generous soul sacrifices its own will, in
another the Lord revives a dead will and grants it the grace of
conversion. Such are the qualities of zeal, which is the ardor of charity, an
enlightened, patient, meek, disinterested, and truly fruitful ardor
that glorifies God, imitates our Lord, snatches souls from evil, and
saves them. It is clear that this zeal should exist, that too often it is lacking,
and that it is in the normal way of sanctity. But to subsist, it
should be kept up by profound prayer, by prayer that is continual and
like an almost uninterrupted conversation of the soul with God in perfect docility. We shall now discuss this docility and this prayer of
proficients; it is this prayer that gave its name to the illuminative
way in which the soul is more and more penetrated by the light of God.
THE SOURCES OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS AND DIVINE INTIMACY What we have just said about the progress of the moral and theological
virtues leads us to speak of the sources of spiritual progress and
divine intimacy. We shall do so by treating of what docility to the
Holy Ghost, the discerning of spirits, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy
Communion, devotion to Mary, should be for proficients. We shall
finish Part III by examining the questions relative to the passage
from acquired prayer to initial infused prayer, to the nature of
infused contemplation, and to its progress.
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