J
JReducation
Guest
Sometimes people let their emotions them too much. The great spiritual masters of the Christian faith, Catholic and non Catholic, teach us that the first objective of any Christian is to save his soul. God wants to save us now for eternity.
The practice of the virtues is essential to salvation. Saints deliberately avoided getting into situations that would lead them to sin against any of the virtues. The greatest of all virtues is charity. If one finds that dealing with certain information will trigger an uncharitable reaction, then one has a moral duty to avoid it. None of us are the Messiah. None of us can save the world. We have a duty to begin by saving ourselves. From there we branch out. Saints understand this. Their journey begins with their quest to find God. Sometimes that quest takes them into the lives of others.
There are many holy men and women who could not deal with the baggage of society without violating charity. Therefore, they chose to put distance between them and society and left that for someone else to do, someone who could walk amongst men without violating charity, losing their inner composure, sleep or their inner silence.
Two of the greatest spiritual psychologists of our time are William James and Benedict Groeschel. Both point out that saints lived with problems, but without worries. The reason is that saints are very prudent people. They know what they can handle without losing their composure.
Saints also exercise tempererance. But temperance is also tempering our reactions. We see this spelled out very clearly by St. Francis in his directives to the superiors. He tells them that when they deal with a sinful brother, they must receive the brother with great joy, kindness, humility, gentleness, affection and a strong sense of brotherhood. They should never look down at the sinner, nor should they ever abandon the brother in sin. On the contrary, they must get closer to that brother. If they cannot handle this, then they are not to accept the office of superior. Because only he who can serve can correct.
Today we have lost the first part of this advice, the call to serve. We all wan to correct. We want to correct the bishops, priests, religious, laity, government, our relatives, and so forth. But we don’t always want to serve them. We don’t always want to see the good in them, which is where service begins. We don’t always want to be humble before them and admit that we are capable of the same sins and even greater ones were it not for the grace of God. It is difficult to be a servant, when one can’t imagine oneself being a serious sinner.
But this was the charm of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. Together they changed the life of the Church forever and they have converted millions of men and women over a span of 800 years. They have never lost their attractiveness. What makes them so is their charity, temperance, sense of humor, clarity about their own sinfulness, and their prudence in choosing their battles. It’s interesting to note that together they changed the Church of their time without ever taking on the bishops, clergy or religious. You will find nothing in their writings that condemns the sins of the Church. Everything that they wrote about the Church, bishops, priests and laity is very positive. When they presented themselves with such a positve regard, they moved hearts and saved souls. The greatest example of this were Popes Innocent III, Honorius and Gregory IX. The three wee very moved by Francis and Clare. These were very tough men. Some historians have said that they were bull-headed and even worldly. Yet, they were converted by these two people.
There is a wonderful story that actually did happen. I think that I may have shared it. When Gregory IX went to Assisi to canonize Francis he told Clare that he wanted to do something for her. She asked what that might be. He told her that he wanted to mitigate the rule of poverty. Clare turned to him and said, “I would prefer to be absolved from my sins, than from my duty to follow the Gospel.” But she said it in such a charming way, that Gregory broke out in laughter and said, “Touche Mother.”
He still mitigated the rule of poverty, which made Clare very unhappy. Clare wrote him many letters until he died. It was later that Nicholas would grant her the privilege of poverty, just two days before her death. Yet, even though the pope was wrong, Clare never said so. She simply wrote him letters begging for the privilege to live poverty. After almost 40 years, she got her wish and died in peace. The moral of the story is that you don’t get angry because popes and bishops do something wrong. You pray and you ask, over and over again. In the meantime, you live with the card that has been dealt to you.
Not everyone should be in involved in these discussions; because not everyone has the grace to handle them in a saintly manner. That’s why some men and women choose the heremetical life, a life away from the issues of the world, even if they still live in the middle of secular society. One does not have to enter a monastery to live as a hermit or a monk. There are may things that one can do and remain in the secular world. But we have to be honest with ourselves and God. If certain topics and discussions provoke an uncharitable reaction from me takes away my inner silence and inner peace, it’s not my place to be there. I can contribute through prayer and penance.
This is what monk, cloistered nuns, and hermits teach us. But lay people don’t want to take lessons from these folks. It’s unfortunate, because God gives them to the Church so that they can be our teachers and our models of perfect charity.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Assuredly you possess insight and proper understanding of the mystics.