that she retained nothing of the nun beyond the dress and the name. When the venerable Father Lanciscius was on one occasion invited to conduct the Exercises in this convent, she was at first unwilling to listen to him on any account; but at length, overcome by the entreaties of her sisters, she very reluctantly came to the chapel. No sooner had she heard the meditation on the end of man, and reflected upon it attentively, than entering her cell, she broke and cast out of it every vain and wordly object which it contained; she severed all particular friendships, and ceased to indulge in useless conversations and arguments, offering herself to her Creator without reserve as indifferent to everything, and in particular with regard to the attainment of that degree of perfection to which He had called her. "Father!" she said to Lanciscius, "Father! I must no longer trifle with God. I have discovered what it is that God requires of me, and what it is He desires I should not do. I wish to belong entirely to God, and for His greater glory to strive with all my soul to become a saint-but to become a saint at once, and a great saint." And she kept her word; for, during the few remaining months of her life, she emulated the sanctity of S. Catherine of Sienna (a). Such a change can the meditation of this great truth effect even in the heart of a worldling! 2. Nor need this surprise us; for, once our intellect has clearly realised the fact that we have not been placed in this world to enjoy its riches, honours, and pleasures, but that these things, on the contrary, have been created to enable us to work out (a) Lanciscius Opusc. cap vi. 22. our salvation, by making proper use of, or by despising them; it is certain that our will must of necessity become indifferent to all created things, selecting and desiring such of them only as help towards the attainment of our last end. There And this harmonizes perfectly with the dictates of reason for the means, considered merely as means, possess no excellence beyond their aptitude to conduct us to a certain end. Hence, they are to be sought after only in proportion to the help they supply towards the attainment of that end. fore, since worldly glory, riches, pleasures, health, and a long life are nothing more than means ordained by God to aid us in working out our salvation, it follows that they are to be regarded as blessings and legitimate objects of our desires, then, only, when they are conducive to our salvation; and that they are evils to be held in utter abhorrence, whenever they are an obstacle to us in the attainment of our last end. It is our duty, then, to hold ourselves in a state of absolute indifference with regard to them. The artisan regards with indifference the tools in his workshop. He takes into consideration not so much the materials of which they are made, as their usefulness, and he makes use of them or casts them aside, justs as he finds them suitable or otherwise for the purposes of his trade. The person who should think it beneath him to write with an ordinary pen, and would employ in its stead a golden sceptre, would be justly held up to ridicule. But that man acts in an equally absurd manner, who when called by God to work out his salvation in poverty, humiliation, and trials, seeks to attain it by a life spent in the enjoyment of luxuries, riches, and honours. 3. And, in truth, what does it avail me to have lived in health, in happiness, and in the enjoyment of honours, if after all I be lost? and how am I injured by having lived in poverty, amid humiliations, and in sickness, if, even so, I save my soul? What loss is it now to Lazarus, that, poor, and covered with ulcers, he once lay like a dog at the threshold of the rich glutton? and of what present advantage is it to the glutton that, during his lifetime, he wallowed in riches and in pleasures? "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell" (a). That this truth may sink the more deeply into your soul, approach, reader, to the mouth of hell, unbar those dreadful gates, and cry out to those within, "O you lost souls, of what advantage to you were the goods of the world? What hath pride profited you? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought you? (b) Come! tell me of what profit was it? what advantage has it brought you?" Ah! with loud groans, and with gnashing of teeth, they reply, "We have wandered from the path of truth. Fools that we were, we have strayed away from our end." "Ah! exclaims the sensual man, “I did but taste a little honey! (c) That sensual pleasure lasted but a brief moment, and these torments will be eternal." The avaricious man cries out, I had much goods laid up for many years (d), and here I die of hunger". "Oh!" exclaims the proud man, (a) Luke xvi. 22 and 25. (b) Wisdom v. 8. 66 "with what shame am I now covered here, who was clothed in purple and fine linen” (a). Such are the answers you receive from those damned souls, who placed their last end in the means which had been ordained merely for its attainment; and constituted their happiness in the enjoyment of those things which they ought only to have used. On the other hand, turn your eyes towards heaven; cast a glance into Paradise. Tell me what injury is it now to those blessed souls "to have entered through many tribulations into the kingdom of God?" (b) Oh what delight, what overflowing happiness do they not now enjoy, because, during their pilgrimage here below, they had been "in want, distressed, afflicted!" (c) because they were made as the refuse of this world, the off-scouring of all" (d). Now do they cry out: Oh, sweet sufferings! oh, pleasant tribulations! oh friendly trials! You have been to us so many ladders, by means of which we have reached these heavenly thrones. What answer do you give to these voices from the world beyond the grave? What at this moment is the actual disposition of your soul? Come, tell me, is it not better to reach heaven poor, despised, and afflicted, than to be hurled into hell after a life spent in the enjoyment of riches, honours, and happiness? For, what advantage is it to you to possess every earthly good in abundance, if in the end you are lost? and what injury is it to you to be afflicted with every temporal calamity, if by such means you save your soul? O words! brief (a) Luke xvi. 19. (b) Acts xiv. 21. indeed, but pregnant with deepest meaning. What What loss is it? doth it profit? No sooner had S. Francis Xavier meditated on these words than he said within himself, "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? (a) and, on the other hand, what injury is it to a man to lose every earthly possession, if thus he may win heaven?" Overcome by such reflections, he generously spurned from him the pride of human greatness, turned his back upon the world, and consecrated himself without reserve to the service of God. So that to this first meditation on "the foundation," the society of Jesus is indebted for reckoning Xavier among its children, to it Xavier himself owes his sanctity, and India her conversion to the true faith. And in truth, the man who is not moved by this consideration to detach himself from, and become indifferent to, the perishable goods of earth, must have at once a darkened intellect, and a cold and hardened heart. IV. Should you, too, unfortunately, belong to this class, form a desire at least, of this holy indifference. and treasure up in your memory those two conclusions drawn up by S. Ignatius, viz. :-1. "That we must make use of created things, or abstain from the use of them, precisely in proportion as they are a help or a hindrance to us in the attainment of our last end." 2. That in order to reduce this to practice, "we ought to regard all created things with a feeling of indifference, and to make choice of and desire those only among them which serve best to conduct us to our last end: in such manner as not (a) Matt. xvi. 26. |