p. 69Marks of a Fervent Religious

The perfection of a religious does not consist, as is sometimes imagined, in undertaking great things, in reciting long prayers, or in sublime contemplation, in practising excessive austerities and mortifications, in performing heroic acts of virtue; in a word, it does not consist in walking in an extraordinary way and distinguishing one’s self by a singular mode of life, or by making one’s self prominent before the world. We are to seek perfection only in the faithful keeping of our vows and in the strict observance of our rules and constitutions. The following points alone are to be remarked in the conduct of a fervent religious:—

1. In regard to God the fervent religious punctually performs all his exercises of piety in accordance with the spirit of God and of his holy Institute. Or, to enter more into details, he recites all his vocal prayers with attention, makes his meditations with fervor and his spiritual reading considerately, receives holy Communion with due preparation, and performs all his actions with a pure intention, solely to please and serve God, with inviolable fidelity to grace, with perfect conformity to the divine will, with the most intimate union of his heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, who deigned to call him to so holy and exalted a state.

2. In regard to his neighbor he is full of respect and esteem in accordance with the divine law and his own conscience; he is charitable and obliging, meek, patient, and indulgent towards others; bears their ill-humor with composure, excuses their faults, sympathizes with them in their sufferings and trials, forestalls their desires and wishes, most carefully shuns all cutting remarks, bitter complaints, unpleasant retorts, all kinds of dissatisfaction, all coldness and unfeelingness. He seeks occasions to oblige them, to render them service, and this without exacting gratitude in return. He is never more pleased than when he can befriend them. He gives to all a good example, helps and consoles them, and does all he can to contribute to the happiness of those with whom he lives.

3. In regard to himself he is all humility, retirement and watchfulness. In him reigns a constant equanimity with a cheerful peace of mind. He is always perfectly composed and devoid of obstinacy, uneasiness, confusion, pride and arrogance. Without hypocrisy or duplicity he considers himself as the servant of all, and sees in his neighbor Jesus Christ Himself. He neither seeks human applause, nor yields to the cravings of vanity, self-love and self-complacency, and cheerfully devotes himself to promoting the glory of God in whatever place, employment or rank, obedience and divine providence may place him.

In short, a fervent religious shows in his whole conduct and in his actions nothing singular or extraordinary, but he imparts a sublime elevation and value to all his actions and to his whole conduct by his exalted motives, by the wholly divine exercise of an interior and recollected life, of walking in the presence of God, of desire for perfection, and by his consideration and expectation of heavenly bliss.

Thus have many religious lived, e.g., a St. Aloysius Gonzaga, in whose life there was seen nothing grand or extraordinary, and who, by the exercises of an apparently ordinary life, raised himself to a very high degree of holiness. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi once beheld him in a vision clothed with brightest glory, at which sight she was so full of astonishment and wonder, that she fell into an ecstasy. How did St. Aloysius reach such a height of virtue and glory? By constant fidelity to grace, by the faithful performance of all his duties, by his “inner and hidden life,” so full of treasures of merits, so unknown to the world, but so pleasing to God and richly rewarded by Him.

This grand model urges us to lead a perfect life, and corrects our many former errors concerning piety. It is very consoling to timorous souls, who do not feel strong enough to take a lofty flight like the eagle, but who can gather therefrom the hope of attaining, even step by step, that degree of perfection to which they are called by their state and the grace of God.

Let us also keep in view this exalted model, that he may serve us as a mirror wherein to contemplate how we may trace in us all his traits and adapt to them our heart, our sentiments and our conduct.