The perfect lay-brother

Front matter

A. M. JD. G.

LORETTO ABBEY

ST. ALOYSIUS LIBRARY

Introduction

Almighty God has appointed two ways whereby men may attain eternal happiness : one, which the fathers and the teachers of the spiritual life call the contemplative way, represented by St. Mary Magdalen ; the other, the active way, or the active life, represented by her sister Martha.

Between these two lies a third path, which combining contemplation and action, the special characteristics of the other two, is consequently called the mixed way.

Such is the life of the Society of Jesus. All the members of this Society seek to promote the glory of God by prayer and labour j those who are priests working for the good of souls by preaching, hearing confessions, &c, whilst the lay-brothers .are engaged in such manual labour as Martha undertook for the glory and service of her beloved Master.

This division of labour is absolutely necessary, since the Society is a religious Order which has for its end vili

INTRODUCTION.

to work not only for the salvation and perfection of its own members, but with equal zeal and assiduity for the salvation and perfection of others. And as the human body, to use St. Paul's comparison,* consists of many different members, each of which has its special end and work in harmony with and dependence on the others, so in the body of the Society there must be a head to direct, eyes to study, learn, and teach, ears to hear confessions, lips to speak of God and announce His word, and besides, arms and hands to work, and feet to go wherever temporal affairs require our presence.

Now, dear lay-brothers, you are the arms, hands, and feet of our Society, you, who while sharing in its contemplative life devote yourselves to external works and the care of temporal things which are your portion of our mixed calling. And I, who desire nothing but your happiness and spiritual profit, intend to show you in this little work that your state of life, which the world thinks mean and contemptible, is all the more desirable in proportion as proud men think less of it and despise it.

As I am addressing those who have freely chosen this holy vocation, and who joyfully persevere in it without regard to the opinions of worldly men, I shall not need to dwell at any length on what you are already perfectly convinced of, namely, the excellence,

* i Cor. xii.

INTRODUCTION. IX

the advantages, and the happiness of your state. Now everything that can please and satisfy the heart of man is included under these three heads.

I shall have to enter into greater details in the chapter on general or particular direction, in order to help you to advance with constancy, by the love of prayer and labour, in that path of perfection which is peculiar to lay-brothers of the Society. My little book, then, will treat of this direction, it will provide for you a simple explanation of the particular duties attached to your various offices, it will suggest an easy method for fruitfully approaching the holy Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist, it will contain a few rules of religious behaviour and politeness, and will close with a brief life of your holy protector and pattern, Blessed Alphonsus Rodriguez. In him you will find a faithful picture of all the virtues which God and the Society wish and expect to find in you.

Yes, they desire simply to see the fruits of these in you, and therefore you will not find in this book much that is new or which you are not required to practise according to the letter and spirit of the rules; whether those which are common to all, or those which refer especially to lay-brothers and their various duties.

That you may see this the better, I shall point out the rule to which my remarks apply whenever

X INTRODUCTION.

the subject will allow of it. Thus you will find that I have no intention of adding to your duties, but merely wish to help you to fulfil them, since they have sufficient efficacy to make you saints. And I do this in the hope that when you are saints, and even before, you will sometimes pray for one who has undertaken this little work out of love for you.

I know that I am not the first who has written such instructions, and I hope I shall not be the last, because you form a very interesting part of the Society ; but later works perhaps you will never see, and mine can do no harm to what has been done before me.

And, indeed, however excellent other works may be, you will find it very difficult to meet with any which will contain all that is included in this little book.

You may, for instance, have probably heard or read the work of Father Francis Colin, Rector of the College of Manilla, entitled, The Life, Works, and Instructions of the Venerable Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, Religious of the Society of Jesus; and in the Preface to this work, which was written for the lay-brothers of the provinces of Spain and the East Indies, you will have observed with what learning and vigour he has treated, firstly of the end and the spiritual advantages of the brothers of the Society, secondly of the qualities which the Institution requires in them, thirdly of the lives of several lay-brothers who have become eminent in the

INTRODUCTION. Xl

Church as martyrs or confessors, and have by their brilliant virtues reflected great glory on this grade in the Society. Now everything that is essential in this work you will find in mine, and a great deal of practical matter besides, which this author does not treat of, and which did not enter into his plan, since it was quite a different one from my own.

You will find here, too, the substance of a rare and valuable little work of the Venerable Father Nicolas Lancisius, addressed to lay-brothers, and entitled, On the state of Laics in Religion, along with the very useful notes of Father Charles Vanni, Superior of one of our houses in Rome. This work is an abstract of the spiritual exhortations which he had given to lay-brothers from time to time.

May my little book be of some use to your souls, and may the practical knowledge of what I am going to tell you tend to the glory of God, who in spite of our unworthiness has called us to His service in the Society.

For this purpose I shall combine with these lessons some of those examples of virtue and religious perfection which so many holy lay-brothers have left behind them. These, as well as other useful matter, I have drawn from the Menology of the Society, from the two volumes of The Praises of Lay-brothers, published in Mexico, and finally from two manuscript works belonging to the Province of Andalusia.

Xll

INTRODUCTION.

I have been long anxious to write this book, but God has not given me the opportunity till now. Perhaps in His providence He wished that you should receive it at a time of dispersion, exile, and painful trials, the end of which He alone can foresee.

May God in His infinite mercy grant that when the time of our return to the sacred inclosure of our religious houses shall have come, you will be glad to remember that The Perfect Lay-brother was your faithful friend, and a constant motive for loving and esteeming more and more your holy vocation, even in the midst of that worldly atmosphere in which for the present you are forced to live. And may this friend aid you to obtain one day heaven itself, and make you worthy to be associated with those lay-brothers whom the Church has beatified, and of whom some notice will be found at the end of this book.

Table Of Contents

I 'age

Preface of the Translator v

Introduction viL

Contents

THIRD PART.

On the offices of lay-brothers.

Page

Chapter II

THE IMMENSE BLESSINGS AND ADVANTAGES BELONG- ING TO THE STATE OF RELIGIOUS ENGAGED IN THE OFFICES OF MARTHA.

Our will, created to love what is good, could not fail of being drawn and attached to an object which has been shown to be so excellent ; but if, besides the excellence of the object in itself, reason proves that it possesses very special advantages, then the will feels itself doubly attracted to it as by the force of a loadstone, that it may draw yet closer together the bonds by which it is held.

When describing in detail the advantages promised in religion to the state and office of Martha, I will prove them to be so great that he, who has received the grace from Heaven to know and appreciate them, can never cease to pour forth his gratitude to God for having in His mercy, without any merit of his, conferred so great a favour on him; nor can he ever fail to renew his vows with fervour and enthusiasm, loving with every affection of his heart Him who has called him to this humble vocation, and resolved to glorify Him by every sacrifice in his power, and by the constant practice of all the virtues proper to his state.

Let no one imagine that these advantages are but accidental to this state. No, they are lasting, and they are essentially the property of this special voca-

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tion, and should always, more or less directly, but at the same time effectually contribute to the sanctification and eternal salvation of souls. It is this point which we are about to explain without the slightest exaggeration, after the manner of artists who bring out the richness of their colouring by arresting the eye with strong contrasts, and placing the brightest colours by the side of the deepest shadows. Like these we shall describe, on the one hand, the thousand dangers to which Priests in religion are exposed, and, on the other, the peace and security which those who are not Priests, and are not called to be Priests, enjoy as the natural consequence of the state which they have chosen. But how great the contrast ! How great the difference !

A well known comparison represents to us this world as an immense sea, in the midst of which we are all making sail towards eternity, enveloped indeed by furious storms, yet under very different circumstances. Some are embarked in worn-out vessels, rotting away, and threatening each instant to founder : thus is it with the men of the world, who live amid the cares and trammels of this life; Others are sailing in large ships, sound and well built, perfectly provisioned with eveiy necessity for the voyage ; but they are followed by bad weather during the whole passage, they are incessantly attacked by storms and sudden squalls, and are in momentary dread of being dashed against the rocks. These are the religious who consecrate themselves to God in the priesthood and apostolic

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ministry. But besides these are some who have the opportunity of making the voyage with greater ease and security, without even exposing themselves to the inconstant sea, or risking themselves in these miserable houses of wood. They must, however, be content to pass along bridges, which, to say the least, are especially magnificent and of great size ; these are the people who have entered religion to serve God in the office of Martha, and to be a help to Priests by freeing them from the weight and embarrassment of looking after temporal matters. Now, to perceive the justness of this comparison, it will be enough to cast a passing glance at the difficulties and dangers besetting Priests, and at the tranquillity and security of lay-brothers.

What, can there be any who blind their eyes to the difficulties and perils to which Priests are always liable ! Are they not continually occupied in hearing confessions, and in this duty is there not danger — danger, too, of a very grave kind ? We do not say much of the extreme fatigue which this important ministry causes, far greater than those imagine who have not experienced it, for their body is often worn out, their head suffers, their heart is filled with anxiety. Nay, frequently their health fails, or their very life is in danger; and, though they have some consolations, how many sufferings and disappointments have they not to endure in silence ? Without a strong conviction of the fear of God, without a zeal singularly pure for the salvation of souls, let us not deceive ourselves, the ministry of the confessional is full of dangers. If a man were to try and steady

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'5 himself on a slippery and shifting mound, that he might stretch out his hand to rescue some poor drowning comrade as he struggles in the water, it would be no difficult matter to foresee that he will probably be dragged down and perish along with his friend. We apply this comparison to the priesthood, and with truth, for otherwise history would not have had so often to deplore the fall of many apostolic men, who, to use another comparison, simple but none the less true, are like brooms and brushes used in cleaning our rooms and furniture, which are much used indeed, but are always full of dirt and dust. Had there been no danger in the duties of a Priest, then the Holy Church, our good mother, would have had no occasion to publish, through her Pontiffs, so many decrees, or so many canonical penalties, to prevent or else remove an evil inherent in our feeble nature since the Fall, which left man capable of abusing everything, however holy it be, and of converting the best of remedies into deadly poison. Thanks to the divine mercy these cases are rare, but no one can deny the gravity of the danger.

And you, my dear brother, I have but to tell you that you are wholly preserved from these perils, because, called as you are to the life of Martha, you enter the confessional, only to receive, and never to dispense this remedy of infinite value through the Divine Blood. You go thither as sick men, and not as the physician ; as disciples and children, not as teachers and fathers. You approach it, seeking a guide and support for your voyage and passage to eternal life, and not in quality of guides, whose office it is to conduct others to this blessed end. If you have but a little faith, and if the thought of the judgments of God, which are an unfathomable abyss, can produce any impression on you, then you will have occasion to bless and praise Him a thousand times for having placed you in so tranquil a condition of life, and given you a vocation of such security, and you will beg of Him to preserve you in it till you die.

And your thankfulness should be all the more sincere and heartfelt because, independently of the advantage of such great security, you have, besides, the blessedness of participating in all the benefits that the Society can produce in souls through the labour of her Priests. Yes, you are truly her coadjutors, and not mere servants or domestics, and when you can render any service to Priests in temporal matters, it is in order to assist them and place at their disposal more time to give to their holy ministrations, and consequently you afford them the means of working and fighting the battle while you guard the baggage. You share also in all their merit and in the greatest achievements of the Society, as our holy Father and Founder has expressly asserted in the sixth chapter of the Examen, adding that you have equal right to the indulgences and other spiritual privileges which the Holy See has accorded to all who work in the Society. But this is not the only motive for rejoicing that you are lay-brothers, rejecting at the same time every temptation to discontent in so happy a

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vocation. I have other dangers to recount to which Priests are exposed.

They are indeed obliged to give themselves much to study, for very great exertion is necessary in order to attain the highest summits of the steep ascent of science ; and you observe how, after long labour, some become famous preachers, others able professors, while a few distinguish themselves as authors of great reputation. But who could tell all the dangers of the professional chair, the perils incurred by those who teach, or who wield the pen? Those alone who, having reached the highest point of this lofty mountain, find themselves breathing an air so pure that it soon makes respiration difficult, or who are assailed by the violence of fierce winds, those alone know the danger of mounting so high unless they make use of every precaution necessary to keep respiration free, and can guard against the giddiness coming on their senses, or stand their ground when assailed by storms. Consult experienced men, and they will tell you whether they have not every need of help from God, clinging with all their strength to the spirit of their religion and their faith, and never failing to pray for grace to resist the impetuous winds of vanity, of ambition, of pride ; for in this way only can they preserve themselves from that fatal loss of their senses which shows itself in a profound conviction of their own individual merit, and a mad desire to depend on none but themselves. They will tell you of the efforts they are obliged to make in order to save themselves from c a certain fastidiousness and over-sensibility, and quench in the bud a tendency, very difficult to repress, which leads men to criticise and condemn, and act in constant opposition to those dictates of religious simplicity which fill us with a sense of our own nothingness, according to the counsels and commands of Jesus Christ, and the recommendations of His Apostles. It is, indeed, conformity to this rule which is the surest test for recognizing a perfect, amongst a thousand imperfect, religious.

I do not mean to say that science or knowledge of itself causes all these evils, for then it could not be that precious gift which Solomon preferred to all the goods of the earth, and even to his own throne ; it could no longer be the light of the world, the key to the treasures of God and the source of our love towards Him, the only solid and true good of man ; it could no longer serve as the glorious pedestal which has truly raised the Saints to their perfection, for the greater number of them would not have been Saints but in the right use of their knowledge. But this I will say that, in the same way that liberty is the cause of an infinitude of disorders in the world, not in herself, it is true, but through her abuse j so knowledge is the source of infinite evils both to individuals and to society, as the occasion, I mean, of their existence, by reason of the bad use often made of the possession of knowledge.

Liberty, not restrained by obedience, is like a horse which has seized the bit between its teeth. Know-

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ledge without humility is as a ship without sails, ballast, or rudder, the sport of the winds and a prey to all the horrors of the deep. There is scarcely a single page in history which does not record one or other of these sad examples, from Origen and Tertullian down to the very last of the heretics ; and amongst them were many who left their convents and who were Priests, while most of them had to deplore the abuse of their knowledge. Alas, neglecting the warning of the Holy Spirit, they filled their minds with more than they ought to have learnt, and they were lost ! For, as St. Basil says, in the same way that food ill digested generates bad humours, and, instead of strengthening the health, weakens and destroys it j so too much cannot but overcharge the stomach of the soul, which is the memory. Our mental nourishment must first be acted upon by the fire of the charity of Jesus Christ, then, after being well digested, it will give life and force to the powers and faculties of the soul, as can be often traced in its actions and habits ; whilst, on the contrary, dangerous knowledge is always busily engaged in laying the foundations of a bad life. Ah ! cries out the same Doctor of the Church, it were far better to place God in our hearts than the whole range of human science, and the pious author of the Imitation of Jesus Christ repeats the same more than once.

Thus, my dear brothers, knowledge is a great good, it is true; but it is at the same time a great danger, and you should thank God that you do not aspire after great knowledge, and, still more, that you c 2 ought not to do so, since this leaves you so much at ease and so much surer of your salvation. Nay, should a temptation to envy assail you when observing the Fathers or Scholastics, a regret at having so little learning, a desire to be learned, or to appear to be so (which were as ridiculous as it would be wrong), be sure you study with affection our holy rules, especial^ the fourteenth of the Common Rules, and the first, ninth, tenth, and eleventh of the Rules of Coadjutors, and beseech God not to let you have wings, but to free you from the temptation or desire to have them, and to purify your eyes that you may see, as clearly as others have done, that, if in one way you have less knowledge, you have that which immensely compensates, namely, security; seeing that you are rescued from a thousand dangers to your salvation, though it be that not one single person in the world gives to you the title of Father, Master, Professor, or Preacher. Such was the lot and good fortune of that poor lay-brother, whose soul St. Teresa saw entering Heaven full of gip/y and casting bright rays of light toward earth, while the Holy Sacrifice was being offered up for his repose.

It is this light, above all the science in the world, that you must acquire, and which I assure you can be obtained neither so easily nor so securely in study, in the chair of the professor, nor in even drawing tears from an audience. If only amongst you there was no other desire than to know how to love God in the simplicity of your heart, no other desire than to acquire, by practice, those virtues v which would form in you the special character and feature of your religious state, those virtues that constitute the true science and even wisdom of man, how content would our holy father St. Ignatius be with you, how happy the Society in having such children. You will observe that these are the virtues mentioned in the second of your rules. Never forget the saying of St. John Chrysostom : Humility is the mother, the root, the foundation of all virtues, and it is she also who preserves them. On the contrary, said the same holy Doctor, pride feeds itself on all the praises and the renown following upon the labours of the preacher, the professor, and the other offices in which our talents and our qualities shine forth, and this passion of ambition gains fresh heat from the esteem and distinction heaped on us by the world. Devote yourselves, then, to practise virtue with the humility proper to your state, and be well assured that, as St. Basil tells us, this is the only virtue which contains all the others within it, and that it is the source of every blessing.

Such are the treasures which your father St. Ignatius wished you to possess, when in the fourteenth of the Common Rules he prohibited you from the study of letters, or from being instructed in them by others, assuring you that it ought to be quite enough for you to serve God our Lord in the simplicity and humility of your heart, in other words, in this grade of subjection desiring only to attain the love of God. Nor did he wish for you any other care or anxiety than to r please God, without much question or argument, with regard either to your own salvation or your exterior duties towards your neighbour, having, in fine, but this one end, the submission and obedience which form precisely the character of that simplicity proposed to the religious soul by St. Francis of Sales in his twelfth treatise, where he gives it for model the dove and also little children, after the pattern of Jesus in the Gospel.

It may perchance cost you somewhat before you can make up your mind to regard as an inestimable treasure a state of humility and simplicity, especially were the day to come in which the words of Job* could be applied to any of you : " The simplicity of the just man shall be laughed to scorn." For you may be counted as actual fools and imbeciles when you are found to be deficient in experience and sharpness, or, in a word, craftiness \ that prolific source of countless artifices, deceits, lies, and rogueries, according to the testimony of the same Saint in the passage quoted. But bear in mind also the words that follow in the text of Job, and apply them to yourselves with humility, reflecting that by the grace of God you are as a lamp despised indeed in the thoughts of those who imagine themselves rich in knowledge, but destined in due time to shed abroad rays of pure and brilliant light. It is well said, exclaimed St. Gregory, when interpreting this passage, a lamp despised — a lamp because it shines within, and despised because it shines not without. That soul then shines and is despised which burns interiorly with the fire of all virtues, and she is despised in comparison with those who * Job. xii.

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have more knowledge and more fame. Within burns and sparkles the flame of charity, but men see not that flame, they despise it. Yet, what matter ! If it is destined to be one day placed on a candlestick to shine there for ever, and if those who once despised it and who are shining to-day, shall then be in darkness. The whole passage is quoted from St. Gregory by Father Jerome Platus in his treatise on the excellence of the religious state.

You will mark, my dear brothers, all this is a matter of faith, enkindle it therefore and esteem it in your hearts, grow more and more each day in the love of the wonderful grace of a vocation that renders so easy for you the fulfilment of the divine promises. Were I not afraid to make this chapter too long, I would say much about another considerable danger which menaces Priests, but from which your state as lay-brothers is entirely free. Thus, how great the comfort for you that you can never be made Superiors, that you will not be called upon to render account to God for the many souls which might have been committed to your care, in addition to the care of your own soul. What happiness to escape all those embarrassments and anxieties that are so constantly springing up in every community of men, like evil weeds in every ground however well cultivated, even in that of better quality. Know you not in the midst of what tears and entreaties a great many servants of God are obliged to lighten their shoulders of the heavy cross of exercising authority over others, or in truth to free them from it altogether? Have you never heard how St. John of the Cross supplicated

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our Lord with the greatest fervour not to suffer him to be driven to death in the exercise of his office as Superior. And what did all this mean except the fear of not knowing how to profit by the thousand occasions in the exercise of his charge for sanctifying himself, and the still greater dread of the terrible judgments reserved by God for those upon whom is laid the duty of governing and directing others.

Of a surety, you are placed beyond all these perils, you, my dear brothers, who have entered an Order of Clerks Regular of which the Superiors are Priests. And if you are put in charge of any particular work, even though you be placed at the head of any office in the house, you have always one or more Priests as Superiors to whom you can in each thing have recourse, and upon whom you depend for even the less important things, in consequence of which you are sure always to do right in obeying. And though it may often be that you are discharged from all responsibility, what happiness, what consolation, both in life and in death.

To conclude, since there are so many advantages in the condition of those devoted to the service of God in humble and exterior offices without desiring to mount higher, we may feel certain that the Saints, who have held it in preference and who have for it gone the length of refusing the priesthood, have been very far from deceiving themselves.