VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM JANUARY -- 2003 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me." Matthew 19:21
|
INTRODUCTION This is the eighth issue of VERBUM SERAPHICUM: a newsletter for vocations to traditional Franciscan life. The purpose of this publication is to provide information that assists in the discernment of a supernatural vocation to religious life and to the priesthood. O Mary, Mediatrix of every Grace, pray for us! The Sacred Power of the CrossThe Mystery Made Manifest in St. Francis One of the greatest truths of Christianity is one of the most unknown mysteries of the supernatural order. The Apostle St. Paul himself explained why this is so, when he wrote, "For word of the Cross is indeed foolishness to those perishing, but to them who are being saved, that is to us, it is the virtue of God." (Mt. 1:18-25) And this great Saint explains that this is so, because God willed to save not the worldly, but only those imbued with His Spirit: " For it is written, « I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent I shall reprove! »" (v. 19) And this the Lord did in St. Paul's own age, as he himself testifies: "Where is the wise man, where the scribe, where the one who has completely sought out this age? Has God not made the wisdom of this world foolish? For because in the wisdom of God the world did not know Him, through the wisdom of God it pleased God that believers be saved through the foolishness of preaching. Since both Jews seek signs and Greeks want wisdom; but we preach Christ Crucified: to the Jews, indeed, a scandal, but to the Gentiles foolishness." (Mt. 1:20-23) And St. Paul explains, that God acted thus, because He wanted to humble man through the humiliation of man's handiworks: "Because that foolish deed of God is wiser than men’s', and that infirm deed of God is stronger than men’s'!" (Mt. 1:25) |
Now St. Paul wrote of all these things, in reference to the Mystery of the Cross, a mystery hidden from the ages and the carnal world of men. And since it is, without doubt, the Mystery of the Cross in which the whole world has been redeemed by Christ, with Mary's assistance, so it is that active supernatural force in this Mystery, is also hidden from ages and from the carnal world of men. This active supernatural force in the Mystery of the Ages is the Sacred Power of Christ's Cross. And since the Mystery of the Cross enshrouded in humiliation, so also the Sacred Power of the Cross is wrapped up in the swaddling clothes of humiliation. In the supernatural order this is that pearl of great price hidden in a field manured with humiliations. And of what great price it truly is! Christ hints at this Sacred Power of His Cross when He counsels His disciples on how to conduct themselves in this, the final age of persecution: "For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay . . . In your patience you shall possess your souls." (Lk 21:15-19) St. Jerome captures the mysterious advice of Our Lord here, when he translates this last phrase with the Latin patientia, patience. In the Greek, St. Paul had written upomene, that is, "remaining under", enduring the suffering that Divine Providence would send in persecutions. The Latin patientia means literally, suffering. And in English we have the same similar concepts of suffering what one endures, as in Our Lord's saying, "Suffer the little ones to come to Me." And thus Our Lord is revealing that the fortifying power of His Redemption, the Sacred Power of His Cross, is transmitted to the one who suffers willingly. But to receive this Sacred Power in our lives it is not necessary to undergo persecution or martyrdom, as if, without these sufferings, one remained bereft of grace. While it is true that this wonderful Force is most at hand in such trying times, nevertheless it is also true that it is available to one and all, layman or religious or priest, every day and in every circumstance. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! |
VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM JANUARY -- 2003 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt
be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me.” Matthew
19:21
|
This is true, because the Sacred Power of the Cross is communicated to all times and places in virtue of Christ's universal redemption. For being a grace for sanctification it is made present by Christ and Mary's universal mediation, a mediation made universal and omnipotent by Christ and Mary's infinite merits. So in every occasion where we encounter suffering, willingly accepting it can be a great source of grace in our lives. But accepting suffering is not always efficacious. This is so because the kind of accepting that is necessary is a supernatural one and a spiritual one and a corporal one. It must be supernatural, that is, it must be motivated initially and principally by supernatural reasons. To merit by suffering it is necessary that it be accepted for the love of God, in penance for our personal sins, and to mortify our corrupt nature. These three motives are absolutely essential, because the Mystery of the Cross, which is the root of this Power, is a Mystery hidden in humility and humiliation and made known only to the humble. One must subordinate his self evaluation to the recognition that God alone is worthy of all love and alone worthy of love for His own sake. One must subordinate the evaluation of his own works to God's justice, in recognizing that in word and deed and interior designs, we have offended the Divine Majesty and that therefore, humility obliges us to presume that any meritorious work, especially one of embracing suffering, be in penance for our sins and in reparation for the offence we made to God. Finally, one must subordinate the evaluation of his own future to the humble recognition that as long as we remain in this life, we are subject to the vicissitudes of a fallen nature, and bear about in our own bodies the seeds of our own destruction, unless we mortify our bodies "with their concupiscences and vices", as St. Paul and St. Francis exhort us. Second, the acceptance of suffering must be a spiritual one. This is so because the principle of merit is the good actions of the will, and the will is a spiritual power of the soul. Unless there be an interior act of the will, there is not meritorious action of body or soul. Now, it is true that every act of soul and body which is truly our own is a voluntary act; however, it is not true that every voluntary act is a meritorious one in the same degree. We can merit some grace by having the habitual intention of merit; we can merit more grace by making an intention to merit at the moment we begin to do a |
good work; but we sanctify ourselves when in the doing of a good work we renew the intention. In all these we must make an act of will motivated by supernatural reasons; and to be motivated it is necessary that these reasons move the will. Knowledge of them and assent to them is not sufficient, for duplicity of heart corrupts even the best of works. And lest we forget how important a pure intention is, Our Lord rebukes us in the Psalms, "A duplicitous heart I despise." And this is why it is most necessary that our good works remain hidden as much as is possible, especially from our taking vain glory in them. Third, the acceptance of suffering must be a corporal one. This is so because being men we are composed of body and soul, and therefore, there is no real acceptance unless acceptance is by both body and soul, inasmuch as this is possible to the body. But secondly, because we, though baptized, were the sons of Adam, and still are afflicted with the fomes of sin, which inclines our bodies to disorderly desires and sensations and movements. Hence acceptance of suffering means bodily suffering. This is not to downplay spiritual suffering or psychological or emotional suffering, which also can be meritorious, so long as they are freely endured. But bodily suffering is the most authentic, because it is the one which most of all can be voluntarily avoided and which hurts the body most of all. "In patience you shall possess your souls" says Our Lord. That is, in accepting suffering we come to enjoy the liberty of the sons of God, who are free from the dominating influence of sin, vice and all evils. This was the great spiritual secret to holiness practiced by St. Francis, who loved so to suffer for Our Lord's sake that he even eagerly sought out corporal mortifications, and went so far as to establish a new religious order in which penance was the fundamental characteristic of every day life. The way back, then, to the holiness of St. Francis, is the return to a religious life of daily and sacrificial mortification. In future issues, we shall discuss some of these. Published by The Franciscan Archive |