Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)

Issue 6.6 of the Review for Religious, 1947.

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spellingShingle	Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
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title	Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
title_short	Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
title_full	Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
title_fullStr	Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
title_full_unstemmed	Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)
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description	Issue 6.6 of the Review for Religious, 1947.
publisher	Saint Louis University Libraries Digitization Center
publishDate	1947
url	http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/181
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spelling	sluoai_rfr-181 Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947) Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Jesuits -- Periodicals; Monasticism and religious orders -- Periodicals. Ellis Issue 6.6 of the Review for Religious, 1947. 1947-11-15 2012-05 PDF RfR.6.6.1947.pdf rfr-1940 BX2400 .R4 Copyright U.S. Central and Southern Province, Society of Jesus. Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute individual articles for personal, classroom, or workshop use. Please credit Review for Religious and reference the volume, issue, and page number and cite Saint Louis University Libraries as the host of the digital collection. Saint Louis University Libraries Digitization Center text eng Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus x A.M.D.G. ,Kevlew "Keng!ous NOVEMBER 15, 1947 ¯~O~r~Finances and You ........... i" The Editors ~T, houghis on Advent and Christmas - " Adam C.~Ellls : Faitl~and Prayer: . ’.." . . ,. =. ~3harlds F. Donovan " Chr +Jan Joy . . :; . .- . Mother Mary Robeh Falls -. i’We ~re All ~ne" ............. C!aud~ ~a. B~okReviews Communications Questions Answered ¯ Annual Inde~ -,, # V, OLLIME VI NUMBER;6 .NUMB,ER 6 CONTEN’I:S OUR FINANCES AND YOU-~-The Editors and the Bi~siness Office 3’~1"~ THOUGHTS ON ADVE~NT AND CHRIStMAS.---Adam C. Ellisl S.J.~~. 323 COMMUNICATIONS .......... ’ ....... : . ,. 329 FAITH AND PRAYER--Charles F. Dbnovan. S.J. ~35- :’¯YOUNG CHRISTIAN FARMERS. .. ....... ¯ .... 341 . CHRIS’ffIAN JOY~-Mother Marry Robert~Falls, O.S.U. . MARIAN NOTICES ........... : ......... 354" YWE ARE ALL ONE"--Claude Keen, O.F.M. " ~ 3~5~,~ OUR CONTRIBUTORS IN PRAISE OF PRAYER~Au~ustine Klaas, S.J. . ¯ ....... (~UESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 27. "Absence from Novitiate" in House Infirmary ....... 371~ 28. Secula’r Studies not Permitted to Novices .. .......... 372 29’.~Recommendat~on, not Required f~r Postulants from High Schools and Colleges ...... ¯ . . ... ’ ..... : : 372 30. Transferring to Another Community.. ............ 373 31. Readmit.dng Novice, to Novitiate ,, ......... " 373 32. Indulgenced Prayer for the Dead ............. 3~4 ¯ ~ 33. WasI~ing ,i~ltar Linens .......... ~¢ ....... 374, ~4~ Standing during the Angelus ............. 375 35.. Posture at Funeral during Absolution of Corpse ....... 375 BOOK REVIEWS~. ’ Perfect Obedience; St. ~John of the Cross; Doctor of Divine Love and Contemplation ....... ’ ....... 375 BOOK NOTICES ................ ’ ...... : "378 INDEX TO VOLUME VI .............. ; 3"81 "REVIEW, FOR RELIGIOUS, Novembe£ 19:47. Vol. VI, No. 6. ’Published bi-~ mommy; January, Mari:h, May, 3uly, September. and Ngyember at the C011ege Press, 606~ Harrison Street, ,Topeka Kansas. by St. Mary’s, College: St. Marys, KanSas, , with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as secon~d class matter January 15’,~,1942~ at the Post Office’, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3. 1879. o °Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.d.. G, Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald K~’IIy,~ SiJ.~ ¯, Editorial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider, S;J. ’ Copyright 1"946, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted" for quotations of reasonabl~ length, provided, dtie credit is given this review and~ the author. Subscription price." 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before~ writlncj to us, please consult no\|Ice on Inside back ~var. Our I:::in nces You i F AT ALL possible, we intend to maintain the same sub-scription price, despite the fact that costs have increased greatly--in some cases almost doubled--since we began publication. It may be that we shall have to make some temporary adjustment in the size of the magazine; but we will avoid that too if we can do so. There are certain things that our subscribers can do in order to help us maintain the present price; and we do not feel hesitant about asking cooperation in those points because the REVIEW is primarily an apostolic venture, not a commercial enterprise. Here are our suggestions: I. A great deal of time (and money) is used in the minutiae required for renewing subscriptiofis. You could help us avoid this by subscribing for more than one gear at a time. We should like to give a discount for 2- and 3-year subscriptions; but we cannot do so. The margin of profit (if there is one) is too small to allow for it. 2. A substantial increase in our subscription list might help fi-nancially. Hence, we would urge again the plan of gift s.ubscriptions. Among the diocesan clergy in particular, we have comparatively few subscribers: yet many of these priests minister to religious and could greatly profit b~" the REVIEW. A gift subscription at Christmas time wo_uld hardly cost more than many other presents that religious com-munities are accustomed to give to chaplains, confessors, and so forth. 3. Our subscriptions are payable in advance; hence, please enclose remittance with your orders and renewals. This avoids the expense entailed in mailing out bills and reminders. 4. When sending a new subscription, be sure that the address is given completely and correctly, with zone number if there is one, For renewals send subscription number also. This number appears on the address of your regular copy. Make a record of this number and always refer to it when dealing with our business office. 321 OUR FINANCES AND YOU 5. When sending new subscriptions, state definitely when you wish.the subscription to begin: otherwise it will be taken for granted that it is to begin with the next number to be published. Renewals begin with the expiration of the old subscription. 6. Changes of address must reach us at "least thirty days before the publication date of the next number: and please state whether a change of ad~lress is to be permanent or merely temporary (e.g., for the summer only). 7. If credit is to be transferred from one subscriber to another, or from one year to another, please give all pertinent information dearly, so ~hat time will not be lost in checking the files and books. 8. We realize that large institutions are saved cof~siderable diffi-cfilty by subscr~bl.ng to magazines through agendes. Nevertheless, ik is a fact that for us these agencies are a necessary evil. The com-mission we allow is relatively small, yet it absorbs ~ practically any margin of profitwe might have on the individual subscription. If you buy through agencies, please use only those that are authorized by our business office. And if you are renewing through, agencies, please have the agency send your subscription number with the renewal. We lcan assume no responsibility for mistakes made by agencies. 9. We take all reasonable means to see that your copy is deliv-ered to you. Nevertheless, we receive an exceptional number of com-plaints about lost copies. We urgently request you ’to wait a reason-able time and to check with your own post office and in your own religious house before notifying us. that your copy was not delivered. The seemingly unnecessary sending of extra c0p.ies~is a source of no small loss to us. ~ If all subscribers will cooperate with us by observing the foregoing poinks, we may be able to maintain’ our pres-ent price despite the rising cost of materials and overhead. ¯ THE EDITORS AND THE BUSINESS,OFFICE. 322 Thoughts on Advent and Christmas Adam C. Ellis, S.J. The Feast of Christmas CHRISTMAS is the first’specifically Christian feast to be established by the Church. By that I mean to say that the feasts of Easter and Whitsunday were based upon the pre-existing Jewish feasts of the Pasch and of " Pentecost and were given a new reference to the Resurrection of Our Lord and to the coming of the Holy Ghost, But the feast of Christmas has no parallel in the Old T, estament.. The first documentary reference to the feast of Christ-mas comes to us in a Depositio martyrum, or early martyr-ology, of the year 354 which contains this brief noticd.’. "December 25. Christ is born in Bethlehem of Judea." (VIII Kal. Ian. natus Christus in Bethleem Iudee.) Tra-dition carries the feast back as far as the year 336. We know that it was celebrated in Rome in the middle of the fourth Century, because St. Ambrose tells us in his treatise De Virginitate that his sister, St. M~rcellina, was clothed with the veil of virgins by Pope St. Liberius (352-366) in the. basilica of St. Peter on the feast of Christmas. From Rome this feast spread to the churches of the East; and we have a Christmas sermon preached by St. John Chrysostom at Antioch in 3"88. St. Gregory of Nazianzen introduced the feast at Constantinople about 379 or 380, and from there it spread to Cappadocia. It was celebrated in Alex-andria under the regime of St. Cyril in 432, and in Jerusa-lem under the Patriarch Juvenal about the same time. 323 ADAM C. ELLIS Review for Religious Advent The period of preparation for the feast of Christmas which we now call Advent was gradually introduced about a century afl~er the’ feast itself, probably in imitation of the forty days of Lent Which served as a preparation for the great feast of the Resurrection. In the sixth century Bishop Perpetuus of Tours prescribed three fast days a week from the feast of St. Martin (November 11) to Christmas as a worthy preparation for the feast of the Birth of Christ. Such a period of preparation for the feast of Christmas must have been introduced into the Roman Church some time after Pope Stl Leo the Great, since he makes no men-tion of it in his sermons,, but before the reign of St. Gregory the Great, who comments on Advent in his homilies. For a long time there was no uniformity of practice in the West. The Gelasian Sacramentary~ has five Sundays for Advent; the Gregorian only four. But from the eleventh century on, the Roman" usage of four weeks of Advent Was adopted throughout the Western Church. Spirit of the Advent Liturgy The longing for the coming of the Redeemer is ex-pressed by the daily repetition of the Rotate coeli in the versicle and response for Vespers: "Ye heavens, drop down dew from above, and let the clouds rain down. the Just One." In the lessons of the first nocturn of Matins, the prophet Isaias portrays in gloriously bright colors for the people of God the coming Redeemer as well as His kingdom of grace and of consolation. This longing for the Re-deemer may be summarized in the oft repeated plea of the 1The Sacramentarg (or Book of the Sacred Mysteries) was the first complete litur-gical book known in the West. It contained the celebrant’s part of the Mass (collects, secrets, prefaces, canon, and post-communlons) as well as the prayers and ceremonies for the other sacraments. The three best known sacramentaries were the Leonine, the Gelasian, and the Gregorian. 324 November, 19,t7 ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS .responsory: "Come and save us, O Lord, and do not tarry." It is expressed most strikingly, perhaps, in the so-called "O" antiphons which accompany the Magnificat at Vespers during the week preceding the feast of Christmas: O Adonai, tome and with an outstretched arm redeem us. O Root of Jesse, come to deliver us and tarry not. O Key of David, come and bring forth from this prison house the captive that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death. :O Dawn of the East, come and enlighten them that sit in dark, hess and in the shadow of death. O King of the Gentiles, come and deliver man whom tl~ou didst form outof the dust of the earth. O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations, and their Savior, come to save us, O Lord our God. The penitential spirit of Advent is brought home to us by the violet vestments and by the silence of the organ. We miss the joyous anthems of the Te Deum and of the Gloria in the Sunday and ferial offices. This spirit of penance is also exemplified throughout the Advent liturgy by the stern character of John the Baptist who daily cries out to us in the versicle and response of Lauds: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." In the Gospel’s for the third and fourth Sundays of Advent we find John the Baptist busy preaching penance and baptizing sinners in thee Jordan, preparing them for the public ministry of Christ. And he confessed and did not deny: I am not the Christ .... I am not Elias .... I am not the prophet. I am the voice of One crying in the desert: "Prepare the road of the Lord, make straight His paths. Let every gully be filled up, and every hill and knoll be brought low; and let the crooked places be straightened out, and the rough roads smoothed, and .all flesh shall see the Salvation of the Lord." In the Gospel of the second Sunday of Advent, we find John in prison. He had prepared the way for Christ’s pub-lic life; now he quietly disappears from the scene: "He must 325 ADAM C. ELLIS Review, for Religious increase, but I must decrease," he had t01d his disciples. Now he sends them to Christ to Ask: "Art thou He that art to come, or. lool~ we for another?" so that they also might join the disciples of Jesus. " But our Lord is not to be out~ done in generosity. He asks the assembled multitude: What went you out i~nto the desert to see’? A reed shaken by the wind? . . . A man clothed in soft garments? . . . A prophet? Yea, I tell you, and more than a prophet! For this is he of"whom.it is written: "Behold, I send my messenger before Thy fate,’~ho shall prepare .Thy road before Thee." Indeed, I tell you, among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist. A spirit of jo~ is interwoven through the earnestness’of the Advent liturgy. This spirit manifests itself ,esi~ec~ally in the prophec!es of Isaias which form the lessons of the first nocturn of Matins throughout the four weeks of Advent, culminating in the grand promise: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us." This spirit of j~y also recurs in verses like the following: Shout for joy, O daughter of Sion, rejoice greatly. O daughter of Jerusalem .... Come, O Lord, visit us in peace, that we may rejoice before thee with a perfect heart .... People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. This joy blossoms out in all its fulness in the Introit of the Mass of the third Sunday of Advent: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice..Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near." Our Blessed Lad~/, cause of our salvation and of our joy, is frequently mentioned in the Advent liturgy. Every Sunday and ferial day a special collect is said in her honor: 0 God, whose will it was that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message of an angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant to us Why suppliants that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. The antiphon for the Magnificat for the third Sunday 326 November, 1947 ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS of. A~dvent addresses her as follows: "Blessed art thou Mary that hast believed tl~e Lord; those things shall be accom~ plished in thee, which were spoken to thee by the Lord., In the Gospel for ~YCednesday in Ember ~¢reek we have the story of the Annunciation, while .in that for Friday visit of Mary to Elizabeth is portrayed. TheOffert0ry,6f the Mass for the fourth Sunday of Advent is ou~ favorite prayer: Hail Mary, full among women, and Finally; the of grace: the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou blessed is the fruit of thy’womb. Mass of the Vigil of Christmas gives expression to all these thoughts contained in the Adveht liturgy. In the Introit and again in the Gradual we are told: "This day you shall know that the Lord will come and save us; and in the morning you shall see his glory." In the Collect we pray: O God who dost gladden us with the yea.rly expectation of our redemption, grant that we who now joyfully receive "Thine only begotten Son as our Redeemer, may also without fear, behold Him coming as our judge, Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son. And in the Gospel we read: .Joseph, son of David, fear not tO take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost~ And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for He shall save his people from their sins. Three Christmas Masses Christmas is distinguished from all other feasts of the ecclesiastical year by the celebration of three Masses. This custom had been in existence in Rome for some time in the sixth century when Pope St. Gregory wrote his homilies. The Gelasian Sacramentary fixes the time for the first Mass "’ad galli cantum’" (at cockcrow), but soon it was moved to midnight, under the influence no doubt of the text from the book of Wisdom: 327 Retn’eto for Religious. For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from .thlr royal throne as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction. Originally there were only two Masses on Christmas-- the first during the night at the basilica of St. Mary Major, which coatained a replica of the crib of Bethlehem, hence the title ad praesepe,(at the crib) ; the second, at St. Peter’s, in the course of the morning hours. The third Mass, which’ is our present second Mass, was introduced by a custom which originally had nothing to do with the feast of Christ-mas. The Greek church celebrated the feast of St. Anastasia 0n December 25, and both Constantinople and Jerusalem had a church in her honor. In Rome the royal palace of the absent eastern~emperors on the Palatine also had a church dedicated to St. Anastasia, and the Pope stopped there tO pay his respect to this great saint on his way from St. Mary Major to St. Peter’s. Thus was introduced our second Christmas Mass, at dawn, at the Station of St. Anastasia. Although the celebration of three Masses on Christmas day was thus introduced by extrinsic circumstance, the faithful of the Middle Ages loved to attach symbolic meanings to the Church’s liturgy. Up to the time of Durandus the Christmas liturgy was still referred only to the eternal and temporal birth of Christ. As he tells us: "The first Mass refers to the eternal birth of Christ, from the Father without a mother; the second to His tem-poral birth, from the mother without a father; the third unites both of them’, the eternal and the temporal birth." (Prima missa pertinet ad generationem aeternam, scilicet, de patre sine matte, secunda ad temporalem, de matte sine patre, tertia compacta est, quia de utraque agit, et ideo perti-net ad aeternaro simul et temporatem.) But soon after the time of Durandus the popular 328 Nouembero 1947 COMMUNICATIONS imagination referred the third Mass on Christmas day to the mystical birth of Christ in the souls of~the just~ If we. examine the three Mass formularies for Christmas day,, we may find. in each one references to the threefold birth of Christ; but~if we follow the norm that the gospel bespeaks the character of the Mass, then we may say that the first Mass at midnight refers to Christ’s temporal birth of the Virgin Mary: "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." The Mass at dawn refers to Christ’s birth in the hearts of the faithful, represented by the shepherds of the gospel who were ~he first to take Christ into their hearts by reason of their faith: "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as was told them." The gospel of the’ third Mass, evidently refers to the eternal birth of the word from the Father: ’,’In the beginning ,was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Vacations {or Religious Reverend Fathers: We heartily disagree with the Sister who maintains that vacations for religious are a respite from the vows; who finds no hint of vaca-tions in the life of Our Lord; and who feels that the sacrificial ideal of the rellgiofis life e~cludes such periods of relaxation. ’ Our.religious superiors in their wisdom and foresight have recently purchased a home in. the mountains in order to make possible a Vacation for our Sisters. They have accepted the almost universal opinion of theologians and physicians that periods of relaxation are not only helpful but necessary for maximum efficiency in our spir-itual life, as well as for physical and mental well-being. Sisters on vacation in this mountain home are by no means dis- 329 COMMUNICATIONS Revietu [of Religiou~ pensed from their vows. /~Ithough routine is not strictly followed, the religious exercises are performed in their entirety and with more fervor than is possible amid the harassing details of active life. It is true that in the Gospels we find no mention of the word vacation. Howeverl we do read of Christ’s bidding His disciples to come apart and rest a while with Him. To our minds a vacatlon for religious is just that going apart with Him,and resting a while. This rest w~ take with the hope that we will return to our active duties invigorated and refreshed, and able to follow Him more devotedly and labor more ardently for His cause. ---SOME SISTERS WHO HAD A VACATION. Reverend Fathers: I am happy, to submit the following information~in the~’hope that more communities will enjoy the benefit that we are deriving from our Vacation House. Our0vacatiohs were formerly spent with relatives ~r at a com-munity house other than that in .which the Sisters w’~re ,~t~tic;ned~ About five years ago" ~¢e were fortunate in securing by thee ocean’ side a twerity-five room-private home, which has been c6nveYted into ~an ideal vacation l~ouse with a modified.~ spiritual ,atmosphere. The property surrounding this building included riparian’ rights to three hundred feet of bathing beach privacy. Its lawns and drive-ways, while providing seclusion for the Sisters, furnish a complete change four thos~e laboring in the~ci,,ties during the year. " ,~To-further !nsu~re re~ .for ~th~e Sisters, there are no visitors received at this house, no lay people employed except the gardener, no inter-course whatever with the c;utsi~le ~orld.’ It is in charge of a senior Sister who is assisted by another member qualified in the’~ulinary nits: The vacationists give this latter Sister a helping hand’ immediately after breakfast in’.pfeparing the prihcipal meal and in puttihg the convent i~i order for the day. Everyone is then free,for the forenoon to relax as she chooses: she may go bathing in the Atlantic billows or bask in the s.unshine, she may iead, or follow her favorite h6bby of crocheting or embroidery, etc. A iimilar arrangement follows each meal. Our usual religious exercises are abridged, but are observed in common in the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. The call is given at six-~-often later. Morning prayers are said before daily Mass and a half hour of meditation made afterwards. Rosary 330 Nooembero 1947 COMMUNICATIONS and examen bring the Sisters together again at noon, but no other prayers are recited until five-thirty. A half hour of spiritual reading :~is then made in the chapel or outdoors, as the Sisters prefer. After. night prayers at seven-thirty, the Sisters are free to walk, recreate indoors, or retire. Instead of the lengthy Latin grace, the Divine Praises are said in common in the chapel. The physical and mental relaxation which the Sisters are deriving from this. vacation center would alone compensate for its cost to the community. But it is the priceless gift of a new mutual understanding amongst the members of the congregation that has made the investment a decided blessing." One senior member who remained there during a whole season expressed this very fact when she remarked, "I never really kne,~ my Sisters before, especially the younger groups, a’nd they have been an ., inspiration." Juniors have likewise gained much in virtue from the edification, simplicity and good sportsman.ship of the senior Sisters, whose weary spirits, in turn, are revived and rejuvenated in the family atmosphere ’ created by the young hearts around them. Using the words of the REVIEW, it was during "recreation and relaxation that’ the young and the old saw one another in a’ new light." They discovered that a community vacation of ten days amongst "their very own" dispelled from their minds petty griev-ances and so broadened their spiritual vision that they returned to their missions with a song in their hearts. Perhaps the success of this project is best illustrated by the atti-tude of the Sisters themselves. They now look forward to" their vacation with delight and plan new means of recreation and. fun-maklng. ’ That a new community spirit of mutual affection has been pro-moted is evidenced in the reluctance with which the groups break away at thee end of the vacation period. They bridge the years ahead with the promise and hope of meeting again in their seaside convent home and enjoying a similar reunion with their Sisters in Christ; --A SISTER SUPERIOR. On Prayer Reverend Fathers: Two communications in the September issue of the REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS have prompted me to add a thought or two. The one is the letter of a Poor Clare on mental prayer; the other, by a Jesuit 331 COMMUNICATIONS Reoieto [or Religious Missionary, in which he asks whether resolutions are always a neces-sary result of a meditation. With the Poor Clare, I must also admit that duiing my thirty.-- two years of religious life I have done .mighty little meditating-- as it usually is understood. This was not due to lack of instruction by the proper superiors. In fact during three years preceding the novitiate we were instructed in mental prayer. Nor was it due-- with some reservations for my weakness and laziness--to want of good will or effort. Again there was no lack of knowledge in spir-itual- matters: besides a good training in religion in school and col-lege, I have always loved spiritual reading. Why the. impossibility? Did I not pray at all? I hope I did. For one thing, too few realize that "methods" are only a means, and cumbersome at that, if made too complicated. Methods are cer-tainly a necessity for beginners, but still not all persons can use an~r kind of method. I believe that St: Ignatius in his excellent Exercises gives really seven methods, so that every kind of soul can find some kind of way to begin mental prayer. True, one must give some method i~n honest trial. But when the method becomes a strait-jacket, it must be ignored. Before starting with a method, one must realize that mental prayer, and other prayer, too, is a raising of the mind to God-- the classical defiriition. In more simple words, it is a conversation with God, with 3esus. Place yourself in the presence of God by a lively act of faith. God is everywhere, but most intimately in the soul in the state of sanctifying grace. Then speak to God dwelling in your heart. That is all; it is as simple as that. Of course there are the difficulties of distractions and so forth. But PRAYER is as simple as that, And remember it is a CONVERSATION--which means that we must give God a chance to’talk too. Prayer is not a monologue. I don’t mean that God will speak to us with audible words. That would foster hallucinations. But at times a quiet comes over the soul that is not a dreaming away of time. We are conscious of God by faith and love. Then words are not needed. Thinking, express acts are stilled. Most religious who are faithful to their period of mental prayer will experience this at times, sometimes for a. few moments, sometimes for a longer time. They think that they are not praying because they are not "meditating" according to method. What of it! They then need guidance. And how few understand this statel 332 ..November, 1947 COMMUNICATIONS There are two books, not too large nor too intricate, which I would suggest for the understanding of this state--the prayer of simplicity: Ludovic de Besse, The Science of Prayer (Benziger, 1926) ; Diefen-bach, Common Mystical Prayer (St. Anthony Guild Press, Patter-son, N. 3., 1946). For some years I was spiritual director of a group of theological students. When they came to me with their problems in the life of prayer, I n~ver expatiated on "methods" they were supposed to know. I tried to show them "how." For this I used two bo6ks: the Gos-pels and the Imitation, showing them two ways of using the time allotted for mental prayer. From the Gospel I took some scene from the life of Our Lord. I then went through the scene, first picturing the incident to them. I always had some holy cards on hand illus-trating some Gospel scene. The "method" I used was the contem-platio of St. Ignatius. Such pictures that I used, were for instance one of the sinner anointing the feet of Our Lord in the house of Simon, or one of the "Seven Sorrows" of Jansenns. This not only appealed and made prayer easier, it gave the students hope and cour-age. It was not hard to elicit affections. One of them said in sur-prise, "I often did this in my room, when looking at a picture. I didn’t know it was prayer." The Imitation I used for what I called a more abstract medi-tation, that is, without a picture. It seemed to be suited for such who were more of a speculative mind. After placing themeselves in the Divine Presence, they were to read a sentence or two and then think them over. Suitable affections would soon suggest them-selves: faith, hope, love, contrition. The Fourth Book I suggested especially for subject matter in preparation for Holy Commuffion. To these books I added the Missal. The Gospel narratives, and sometimes the Lessons, offered material for the first mode of prayer: the rest of the Mass, especially the Ordinary of the Mass, suggested thought for "’abstract" meditation. Probably ~he term "abstract" is ill chosen. But I only meant that it was done without having a picture in mind. With these two "methods" or ways, any good book could be used. But I never stopped at this explanation. I found too many souls who were drawn to the prayer of simplicity. At the begin-ning this drawing is momentary, gradually it becomes stronger and for a longer period, until the entire time of prayer is taken up with it. But I would not call it the prayer of simplicity the first time I 333 COMMUNICATIONS spoke about it. I rather expla.ined its working, so that, if any of them knew it by experience they Would recognize this particular working of God’s grace in the soul. If at any time the soul feels a deep peace, but no desire or liking, not even the ability to think and elicit affections, it should not be disturbed. As long as it is conscious of God’s presence, by faith ~a..nd love, it should not do anything to disturb this peace. When however this period passes away, and the soul seems to be "on its own" again, it should quietly try to resume its thinking and affections. Some souls, given more to affective prayer, tell me they are saying ejaculations during the entire time of mental prayer. At first sight this seems to be merely vocal prayer. But their ejaculations are, not the forced acts which we usually associate with such prayers. Upon questioning one will find out that with these souls they are the effusions of love, or faith, or adoration, and so forth. Their soul is so filled with the thought of God at the time of prayer that they can only admire, praise, love, and speak to God in short sentences, or aspirations. As rega~rds making resolutions at every meditation: Resolutions are made to lead a better life: to avoid evil or to do gogd. But that is not the only fruit of prayer. An entire period spent in adoration, praise, gratitude, love of God, is often more profitable than a medi-tation with resolutions. But am I not even here making a mistake, when I say "more profitable"? Must I look only to MY profit? In all that I do, also in prayer,~the first end and purpose is the honor and glory of God, not my own benefit. And if I give honor to God by adoring, praising, loving, will that not raise me higher in grace and goodness and love? Instead of waiting for an occasion to carry out resolutions, and thus become better, I am becoming better at once. This by no means indicates a disparaging of .resolutions. They are most necessary. But if in a given period of mental prayer there are no resolutions concerning ME because I have been thinking of God all the time, how I can please Him why worry about reso-lutions ?~----A CAPUCHIN FATHER. 334 Fai!:h andP ayer CharlesF. Donovan, S.2. [~AITH seems to be the Cinderella of the spiritual life, a 1-- virtue apparently underestimated by ascetical writers. Theologians are largely preoccupied with the nature or make-up of an individual act of faith, showing that it pro-ceeds from the intelldct, not specifically from the will as the Protestants say, But this is an academic not an ascetic approach. The spiritual aspect of faith, which is like the language that enables a lover to communicate his thoughts to his loved one, which is like the-light that enables him to see or, further, even to know the loved one--this spiritual aspect.of faith is relatively neglected. And such neglect is not limited to spiritual writers. We ourselveS, when we examine our conduct, question our charity, our modesty, our patience, prudence, and so on. But we seldom question our faith. We act as if faith were a static and fixed thing, whereas, not in its content, but as a virtue, it can be ¯ improved; and therefore we should be questioning ourselves about how constant, how pervasive, how operative and aggressive is our faith. What are the truly important things in our life? Not visible and material things but the invisible and spiritual. Love and loyalty are more important than food; the soul is more important" than the body; God is more important than His world. Some of these invisible things are known by reason, but they can also be known by faith, on the word of God, which gives a higher motfve for belief than does sight or a syllogism. And there are other invisible thingsu . truths about the nature of God and His plans, about eter-nity and the supernatural life--which can be known only 335 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Review for Reffgious on the word of God and, therefore, only through faith. You look at a chair. Your eyes tell yo.u a chair is there; reason and faith tell you that God is there, by His omni-presence and by His conservation..You loo, k at a Catholic. Your eyes show you a person of certain age, complexion, and stature; your faith tells you that here-is a temple of God, a man redeemed by Christ’s blood and alive with Christ’s life through grace. The superngtural is present just as much as the natural and material, but you come in contact with it only through faith. Think of the impor~ tant, the enduring, the non-trivial things of your day: prayer, the sign of the cross, holy water, your guardian angel, holy Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, the souls in purgatory, Our Lady interceding for you in heaven, and the unity of us all in the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body. These are the things that count, not the external motions that we often think of as comprising life--washing the face, buttoning clothes, ascending stairs, chewing bread, hearing a door shut, smelling coffee. Yet all the super-natural facts and truths--everything we prize most highly --are ours by faith. Faith is the bridge between us and the supernatural; it is the doorway to the world of spirit; it is a floodlight on supernatural truth. Faith is only a means. There is no intention here of exaggerating its place in the divine economy. It is a means to the great ends of Christian living--union with God, prayer, love, supernatural life. Faith will pass. There will be no faith in heaven. On earth it is’only a means; but it is an indispensable means. The intellect (to use a paral-lel) may also be considered as only an instrument; it is not itself the man nor is it itself rational life. Yet without intellect or its use, man is irrational, insane, idiotic. The gift of faith is the means, the instrument to supernatural life and love, and so indispensable is it that when mortal 336 November, 1947 FAITH AND PRAYER sin attacks supernatural life, unless the sin is directly against ¯ the virtue of faith, though sanctifying grace and God’s love are repelled from the soul, byGod’s mercy a thread of super-naturality remains, namely,, the thread of supernatural° faith (and faith). We must ponder the significance of Our Lord’s unweary-ing emphasis on faith. It is true that He proclaimed the primacy of love; love of God and love of neighbor are the first commandments. But the virtue He always links with love, the virtue He demands first in His disciples, the virtue that moves Him to miracles, the virtue Hementions more than any other is faith. Our Lord performed miracles for the Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed by a devil, for.the centurion, for the woman with the issue of blood, for the ruler whose daughter was dead; and the reason He gave for these miracles was the faith of the peti-tioners. Surely some of these people must have loved Jesus, because He was so immed, iately attractive and lovable. But Our Lord doesn’t mention their love; He mentions only their faith. The Gospels present an almost pitiable picture of Our Lord trudging the dusty roads of an unimportant Roman province trying to get people to believe in Him, so anxious about faith in Him, and so pleased when a few believe. In the case of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus we know that there was warm affection both on their side and on Our Lord’s; yet the .reason Our Lord gave for raising Lazarus from the dead was not His affection for His friends or theirs for Him, but that they might believe. One of the great decisions of Our Lord’s life was the choice of a man to head His Church. And for that criti-cal decision, what was the test? Faith. When Peter stated his conviction that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Our Lord replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, 337 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Reoieto for Religious but my Father in heaven." Peter’s confession’, therefore, was based not on natural conviction or natural knowledge but on faith, and 3esus praised his faith and immediately promised him the primacy and the keys. Later, after the triple denial by Peter, Ou~ Lord demanded a triple affir-mation of love. But the original test was the test of faith. Our Lord left no doubt that love, supernatural charity, is the first law. Yet His last word to the apostles was on the necessity of faith: "Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." It is not enough f~r us to grasp the plain fact of Our Lord’s constant iteration of the need and value of faith. We may ask ourselves toby, what was the reason for this divine emphasis. Our Blessed Lord stressed faith, which is a means, rather than love, which is the end and consummation to which He invites us, because it was His very function as Redeemer and Mediator to make possible to us, to give us, to disclose to us the means for attaining secure and eternal union with God. He is the Way, and faith in Him is the indispensable and the first means by which we may attain beatitude and come into superna.tural intellectual possession of God. By tl’ie very operation .of the nature God gave us the action of the will follows the action of the mind, the will can embrace only what is presented to it by the intellect, we can love only what we know. Therefore, as the consum-mation to which we are summoned is supernatural love stemming from our will, the necessary prerequisite for that act is the supernatural illumination of our intellect. In heaven the illumination will be by the lumen glorlae, which will enable us to accept the immediate penetration by God into every recess of our being. That will be vision. As 338 FAITH AND PRAYER long as vision is lacking, as it is in the state of trial on earth, the necessary supern~itural illumination God gives us is the gift of faith. Faith is not love, but it is the bridge to love, it is the means of communicating with God: and i~f our love is to be constant, our faith must be active and constant. This is the simple A B C of the spiritual life, so obvious that no spiritual director or writer could overlook it. It is not over-looked. It suffers, however, a lack of due emphasis because it is referred to in conferences and spiritual treatises by cir-cumlocutions. We talk about faith but not always by name. We say, for instance, that for spiritual success we must have recollection: we must be interior men and women; we speak of the man of God, the man of th~ spirit; we talk of the spirit of prayer and the spirit of con-templation. Each.one of these_phrases is really a reference to the virtue of faith. What is recollection but attention to the things faith makes known to us? By an interior person we mean more than a philosopher, one given to speculation and thought; we mean specifically one who concentrates on the truths of faith. And no less an authority than St. ,~ohn of the Cross calls contemplation naked faith. All these phrases, by which we designate one who is earnest about the spiri_tual life, are ways of saying,that faith is actife, faith is constant, faith is sustained. It is precisely when you realize this, that you become c6nvinced of the critical centrality of faith in the soul-life. Sanctity means the constant flow of love and adoration from. the soul to God, and this implies and demands--as it has in the li(res of the saints--the practice of the presence of God. And what is the practice of the presence of God except the actuation of faith in God’s loving nearness the virtue of "faith overflowing in an almost uninterrupted act?’ 339 CHARLES F. DONOVAN Reoiew [or Religious It can be seen that if we are men and women of faith, we will by that very fact be men and women of prayer, men and women of God. A very simple and fundamental way of progressing in the spiritual .life is simply to con-centrate on the virtue of faith, trying to exercise it, nourish it, increase it, and begging for its .increase by God. The just man, the completely spiritual man, lives by faith; faith active when he awakes at night; faith active as. soon as he arises in the morning; faith active when he beholds a fellow-religious; faith active when he enters chapel; faith active when he obeys his superior; faith active at work; faith active at prayer. This is walking in the presence of God; this is the sanctity of the life of faith. When we pray for an increase of faith, therefore, we are not just asking God to keep us from doubt or from hesitant assent; we are not merely asking for the grace to stay in the Church and remain Catholics. We are asking for some-thing more positive: for growth in awareness of God, for growth in taste and understanding of spiritual things, for an increased realization that the world is shadow and the spirit is substance. We are asking for a firmer grip on the substance of things hoped for, a livelier appreciation of the evidence of the things that are not seen. St. Paul says that without faith it is impossible to please God. As faith is necessary for even the beginning of the spiritual life, so spir-itual progress means progress towards a life of sustained faith. Constar~tly actuated faith is itself a very high form of prayer. Bossuet calls the prayer of simplicity attention in faith. The more we try to live by faith, the sooner and more rapidly we will advance. Father Grou in The School of Jesus Christ says of the prayer, "Increase our faith," This is the prayer we should have most constantly on our lips. This is not merely the faith that accepts all revealed dogma and sub- 340 1947 mits to the decisions of the Church. We wouldn’t even be Chris-tians, children of the Church, if we didn’t have that. It is not a simple belief in revelation, but a practical virtue influencing all our conduct, which rouses and feeds devotion, supports the soul4n trial, teaches us’ to sanctify our actions, gives our mind a standard of judging, the will a motive to ~ict on supernatural principles. This distinguishes the true Christian, the interior man, from,the apparent, external Chris-tian. Without this faith even pious works are dead. Its effects are: recollection, dependence on grace, the familiar presence of God. In prayer [because of this faith] God seems visible to the soul, which is struck with’awe, is pro[oundly attentive, and walks in the sight of God.. Archbishop Ullathorne quotes St. Leo, "The force and wisdom of faith is the light of charity," and adds: For charity is the light of faith and faith is the light of charity; for whilst faitl~ gives its luminous truth to Charity° charity gives its fire and ardent sense of God to faith; and so faith works by charitT, for charity gives its force to the will to cleave to the truth of God for the love of-God. Faith is the end of the Divine Incarnation, and God is the end of Faith. YOUNG CHRISTIAN FARMERS Priests and teachers in rural communities should find Young Christian Farmers a helpful p.amphlet on Rural Catholic Action. It contains a group of seven well-prepared inquiries on the basic human relationships of young farm boys to the farm home and the rural community. Each inquiry describes and observes the problem under consideration, judges the findings from the Christian viewpoint, arid suggests possible lines of action to improve the situation. Each inquiry also has its own proper Gospel commentary. Though in-tended for teen-age farm boys, the material can easily be adapted to other farm groups. (Eugene Geissler, Fides Publishers, South Bend, Indiana. 50 cents.) 341 - Christ:Jan Joy Mother Mary Robert Falls, O.S.U. 44\| OY to the world, the Lord is come!" With brevity and directiaess the 61d carol thus sounds the domi-nant. note of the Christmas season and its period of preparation, for whether we looI~ to the Advent liturgy with its imperious calls to joy, or whether we consult the customs and traditions of men, we find always the same exultant gladness, the same triumphant joy and satisfac-tion at the Coming of Christ. And rightly so, of course, for joy is eminently a Christian gift flowing ~from the abiding consciousness of loving and of being loved; and nei.ther paganism with ~its haunting sense df unfulfilled .desires nor the fieo-paganism of ~os.t-Protestantism can 9ffer even a vague substitute for the joy that came with the Birth of Christ. ,,~ Since this is so, Advent seems an appropriate time to investigate what we can’ know of the nature of joy and to seek the answer, not i~a ~pec~lation nor in emotion, "but in the bracing realm of doctrine as found in Holy Scripture and in the lives and teachings of the saifits. For religious, the question ~assum~s still .greater significance when we remember the words of St. Francis of )~ssisi: "What else are we servants of God, but in a measure His minstrels, who should uplift the hearts of men and move them to spiritual joy?" The Nature of do~ Dom Marmion defines joy as "the sentiment ~that is born in a soul, conscious of the good it possesses." For St. Thomas, joy is the sequel of charity, in itself not a vir-tue but the effect of love. Moreover, not feelings, not emo- 342 (~HRISTIAN .JOY tions, but intellectual apprehension is the sine qua non of true joy;. for while joy is a kind of delight, not all. delight is joy, since a necessary condition of joy is the rational apprehension of a good-~an important distinction in view of the predominant attention given in these times to th~ more superficial delights often mistaken for joy. Dora Marmion, stressing this rational aspect of joy, addsi "The good ~f our intelligence is truth; the more this truth is abundant and luminous~ the deeper is our inward joy." The classic utterance concerning joy is found in St. Pau.l, "The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace .... " And again, "Thekingdom of God is . . . justice and. peace and joy’in theHoly Ghost." From these considerations, there, fore, it is evident that true joy is’mbre thah a transient emotional state; it is at once a conscious an.d~a reasonable delight in those, goods proper to man and, above all in the Supreme Good--God Himself. ~ St. Thomas tells us that "peace is the perfectio.n of joy." It is evident, therefore, that peace is possible onl$ on the foundation of joyI and is its necessary conseituent. St. Th~r~se illustrates well this sequence, Describing" her realization of her spekial vocation, she wrote, "Then, in an ecstasy of joy, I cried out ’0 Jesus, my Love... !’ " A few lines farther on, she added, "Why do I’speak of an ’ecstasy of joy’? Those words do not convey my exact meaning. I should rather say that peace, has become my portion." Source of Our Joy God is love, and love is the source of all joy--this is the alpha and the omega of the question. There is no one ele-. ment of joy so indispensable as this love of God, and in pro-portion as our love increases and our lives’become theo-centric our joy will deepen and permeate all. Well might the Curi of Ars say that it is always springtime in the heart 343 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Review for Religious that loves God. The Holy Spirit in the inspired Scriptures has emphasized the joy consequent upon the coming of God among men with an insistence that cannot be ignored. No sooner had Elizabeth come into contact with Mary. bearing Christ within her, than she exclaimed, "Behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." When the shepherds, confronted with an angelic messenger, were affrighted, they were reassured,"Fear not, for behold I bring ’good tidings of great joy." The Wise Men, recovering once more their luminous guide, "rejoiced with exceeding great~ joy." Truly, the .coming .of Christ promised ~joy to those who should receive Him. Lest we. forget this truth, the Church in the third Collect for the Advent Ember Saturday peti-tions, "Give joy, we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, hy the coming of Thine only begotten Son, to us Thine unworthy servants...." And when He had come, neither His Personality nor His message belied the doctrine of joy. How many of His parables emphasized just this note! There will be joy in heaven itself upon the return of a sinner. At the _end of .the time of trial the faithful servant will enter into the joy of his lord: Indeed, the very hearing of the word of God in itself brought joy. Moreover, ~those associating with Christ experienced for themselves this gladness in His presence. Zacheus, called from his perch to entertain Christ, "came down and received him with joy." After their first missionary jour-ney, the seventy-two disciples "returned with joy" to Christ, glad to be with Him again and proud of. their accgmplishments. Not only His immediate disciples but all the people experienced this delight in His pre.sefice. "T~e whole multitude.., began with joy to praise God." So well had the apostles learned the lesson that they 344 November, 1947 CHRISTIAN .JoY found little difficulty in remaining faithful to this tradi-tion of Christian joy. On ]Easter morning Peter and ,John ’~went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy," and the fear of the unknown was powerless to over-come the joy of the known. When the clouds had hidden Christ from their sight on Mount Olivet and the angels had bidden them return to the city, "they went back into Jerusalem with great joy," even though they had just been separated from their Friend. On that first [~entecost morning "the disciples .were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost," and in the strength of that joy they began their missionary conquest of the world. _ Joy is the true heritage of a Christian. Christ Himself emphasized thig at the Last Supper with an insistence that revealed His concern. Moreover, it is Christian jo~l, that is, the joy of Christ Himself. After. the tremendous lesson of the many mansions, after the new commandment and the promise of the Paraclete, after the gift of His peace, after the parable of the vine and the branches, Christ reassured His listeners, "These things I have spoken to you that tn~t jolt mat! be in you, and your joy may be filled." Nor is this joy to be .merely transitory; it is Christ who says so, "Amen, amen, I say to you . .. you now indeed have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you." Mind-ful that men, left to themselves, might forget the source of joy, Christ encouraged them, "Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full." And then in the sublime prayer ad-dressed to His heavenly Father, Christ reveals unmistak-ably the true nature of Christian joy, "These things I speak in the world, that they may have m~/ joy filled in them-selves." 345 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Reoieto for Religious ¯ The Character of True Christian dog In all ages great loversof God have known this truth: God is love, and love is joy,~ Tauler says, "~The lovers of God pass into a worldless peace where all is happiness and joy; whatever happens to them, whatever they do, that j6.y and peace remain." Fore Chesterton, joy was the "gigahtic secret of the Christian," a secret of which Isaias, centuries earlier, had told the source, "Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,’in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful." For Dom Marmion, "Joy is the echo of God in the soul." This emphasis on the theocentric character of joy is not in any sense intended to deny the reality of ~arthly joys, but rather to intensify an appreciation of the source and qualities of all joy. Earthly joys have earthly sources; and So ’long as these sources are good in themselves the joys are good and are blessed by God. When Lucie Christine reproached herself for tl~e happiness she experienced with ber~hu~sband and her children, Our Lord, coming to her in Holy Communion, made her understand "hOW His kind Heart lo~’es to see the joys arising from the affection of a Christian family." Then, too, by means of earthly joy we are often led further to the higher realms of heavenly joy, "Kepler, in the introduction to his monumental work on astronomy, acknowledged this: O Thou, who hast scattered Thy glorious stars in the depths of Heaven, I give Thee thanks . . . for the ecstasies of delight ’I have enjoyed while contemplating the works of Thy.hands. If such be the joy we ex~perience in scientific research, what must it be to study God Himself? It is well to remember, however, that joys of earth are necessarily transient and finite, depending as they do upon that which cannot endure; and there is danger that in con-fusing the two we may look upon all joy as depending in some way upon the contingent. With her wisdom born of 346 November, 1947 CHRISTIAN J~)Y. faith, the Church takes care to remind u~.of this. "Grant to Thy people abidir~9 jolt,", she prays on the Second Sun-day after Easter; and on the Fourth Sunday her petition is still more explicit: 0 God, who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant to Thy people .to love that which Thou commandest and desire that which Thou dost promise; that so. among the changing things of this world, ,our hearts may be set where true joys are to be found. The Paradox of Joy Perhaps nothing seems so paradoxi.cal as the joy the sa’ints find in the midst of suffering or evefi from suffering, but the truth of th’is state is too often httest~d to’allow any doub~"of~its re~ility. The simple gaze which can go right past the suffering td the Core of that ~uff~ring is’the an-swer to this paradox. God is:hlw~iys.God. ° Wfie~ a novice at Lisieux cofiaplained"that life is dreary, St. ThOr~se cot2 rected her: it is not life that is dreary; it is ekile. Our’life mustbe considered in its totality. ’ ’ The rhythm of joy and SUffering is noted BY many. Father Plus says, there are only,, two mountains in the world--Thabor and Calvary, and often the 0nly way.to the summit of the former is by way of the long slope of Calvary. For Paul Claudel, "Every rose is slight in com-parison with its thorn." Our gaze will be directed either to the suffering .or to God; and if to the latter, the paradox of joy-inysuffering is easily explained. Th~r~se in a lettei to her sister writes, "C~line, I want to forget this world .... .I find only one joy, that of suffering; and this joy, which is above that Of the senses, is beyond all happiness." And again in a let-ter written after the tragic illness of her father, "Our Father must indeed be loved by God since he has so much to suffer. It is a joy.f0rus to be humiliated with .him." Such were her MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS Review for RelioiouS dispositions in trials Of the spirit. After months of physi-cal pain her faith was even more sublime. "What joy it is to feel that I am wasting away," she said. For theencour-agement of the less courageous she explained, nevertheless,. that this joE pervaded only the inmost depths of her soul. Elsewhere there was intense suffeling~ In the heart of the Saint of the Little Way there is a faithft~l echo of St. Paul’s strong cry of faith,, "I-exceedingly abound with" joy in all our tribulation." Indeed, the presence of suffering seems to indicate that all is well. St. Teresa bad already pe~rceived this truth, "I realize better every day what grace our Lord has shown .me in enabling me to understand the blessing:of suffering so that .I can peacefully endure the wart of happines~ in earthly things since they pass so quickly." To Blessed Henry Suso, Eternal Wisdom promised, "There is nothing more painfu! than suffering and nothing more joyful than to have suffered. Suffering is a. short pain and a long joy .... He who is always cheerful in suffer.ing has for his servants joy and sorrow, friend and foe." Then, too, souls who remain close t6 God in their suffering find joy in the thought that they are pleasing Him. It is this which acquits them of all suspicion of abnormal tendencies. A soul favored with divine caresses,, after a long period of desolation, addressed himself to. God, "O my God, can I then never again be happy?" The response ¯ was immediate, "Let it be thy joy to be conscious that thou dost give joy to thy Lord by thy beauty and thy love." For a true lover of God, another source of joy in suffering lies in his realization that by means of suffering God draws " him still closer to Himself. Th~r~se of Lisieux recognized this fact well: He is divinely lovable for not permitting me to be the captive of any passing joy. He knows well that if He sent me but a shadow of 348 Nouember, 1947 , CHRISTIAN JOY ¯ earthly happiness, I should cling’ to it with all the intense ardorof my heart . . . He prefers~o leave me in darkness rather than afford mt aTfalse glim_mer which would not be Himself, St, Franci~ of Assisi] whose life according to Father Felder~ was "oz~e hymn of.joy," has left in his discourse with ]~r~ther Leo the apotheosis of all that .can be said on the subject of joy’in suffering.’ For him the perfect joy consists not in success, not in worldly Ieaming, not even in a suc~ cessful apostolate, but in the enduring of blows, insults, inconveniences, and even repudiation ~ by his own. Arid~ why? "If we should bear all these things p~tiently and with joy, thinking of tlq~ pains of the Blessed Christ as that which .we ought to b~ar for His love, O Brother Leo, write that it i~ in this that there is perfect joy." Obstacles to Jog , For a soul in the state of grace, fortified as..it is by the grace of the sacraments and by faith, all the obstacles to’ joy can be reducedto a single one selfishness. Eitfi~r we shall’ be "concerned with God and"His interests or with ourselves and our own interests. And as our concern~is so our remuneration will be. God is the source of love and joy; and where He is, joy is ~ure to follo’#. But preoccupation "with self brings only sadness and discouragement and a ~endency to,criticize and to complain all of which are fatal tb joy. The more exacting we are in this selflessne’ss. the more minute the dttention we pay to being unselfish in every.detail of our life, the greater.will be our concern with God and the greater, consequently, will be the joy of our lives. The saints of God knew well this secret. St. Teresa-reminded her nuns, "This house will be a heaven, if heaven can be-found on.earth, for~her who can cofi~efit herself. ¯ s61ely with’contenting God, caring nothing for her own. content." Even more delicateis the remark of St. Th&~se. 349 MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS~ Review for Religious When a picture of the Hol~ Face had been placed near-I4er bedside, she remarked, "Ot~r Lord did well to close His eyes in giving us the imprint of His Counteria.nce, for the eyes are the mirror of the soul;, if we had been able to gaze into His soul, we should have died from joy." St. Catherine of Genoa described the joy of the souls in purgatory as so intense that only the joys of the Blessed in hsaven surpass them "a joy which goes on increasing day ¯ by day, as God more and more flows ih upon the soul, which He does abundantly in 16roportion as every hindrance to His entrance is consumed away." Mother St. Austi~ , reaffirms this ~ffect of God’s presence_ in a. suffering soul; "And God is God; whether He comes to the unpurified soul as its intolerable suffering or its, perchance, more-intolerable joy." To ’~hoose what God chooses, to-be content with what He" disposes four us, to desire only what He desires these are the means used by the saints to arrive at the summit of all joy.-~ And they knew well that the only path to this summit is that of complete selflessness before the will of God. St. Th~r~se in her farewell letter to L~onie could dare to say, "The only means of attaining true happiness on earth is to strive always to accept whatever God chooses for us as being the rap, st delightful." Here is no stoical endur- ¯ ance; it .is tgue delight that Th~r~se found in God’s .will. Being men, we are ever seeking satiet)~; but ~)be saints; .true loveri and true souls of joy, knew well that this.satiety is achieved only by’ casting off all that is not God. Richard --Rolle prayed: _~, ~Fhe nature that Thou didst make, change ~wlth honeysweet gifts,-that my soul, filled ~with Thy d~llghfful joy, may despis,e and cast away all things of this world, that it may receive ghostly songs, - given by Thee, and going with joyful longs into infinite light, m..ay _ be all melted Withholy love. 350 November, 19"~7 ~ CHRISTIAN JOY ~ .~ ~,St% Johrf of~ the Cross;~the apostle, of. renunciation,, has no other d0ctrine°than this :total denudatibnof sel~ in’ order that God.may;be ~11:¯ ",:: ~ - ~ _ ...... " ~’ :’~ Inasmuch as.~there is no room~ for. the b~.utidless gif_ts of God, sayy in a h~art~th~t,is empty and solitary, . . therefore, ,the L~rd who ld4/s.yoh~r~atlY, lov~s~ou ~o be quit~ ~lbne, ~d~siring to be" H~self ~o~r’onl~’.kompafiion. ~nd you will’ne~d to, set your mind ~n being~ con~ented.w~th H~m alone, that y~u m~y f"ind ~all. content i~ Him. ~,~ ~ ~.~ . , ~. .do~ in Our e the mj ~y oful’~in ~m:~~bosue o~f rpaver.".:: :-- . : ~o~Mar~ion., vpeaki~g of Chri#tjan~ in general; iays~ :~h~w~hagg~J~sgs in our~hear,t~, it~is like 9ffering ~im an :affront. ff-we: are, sad.: It,-~s hke, say ng: ;~ You. do~not-suffic~ fore.me ~ ~ Monsignor .Gay~.ye~terates th~s~not~on, ~ ~e:s~g~[~g fgr: jgy~ indicatys .a-~ tru~ un~er~[anding~ ~f [h~ grag.g~ of Baptism.;’ IL-~.[1 Christians.ha.~e ~p their possq~sion . "hoy~’~ so~rce ~qf joy.~an~ t~. ~ljgatiqn~ t%.rej~icq,/ what . ~o live" i~[fl~vest intimacy wi~h~Hi~.: .~ C~ti~ns.~:~st ¢ ,;Jof’is not, something~,weare .~gree .to cho0se~0r to gejedt: _ our very,~nature dictates-that.~e ~i~e aware of its influence" . and-of: our:need for it. Deliberately,tO: reject~.true~j0y.is ~to. de~ny.,t0,;God~.tha~_ dominion over our~ soul~ a~d ou, r lives ~hich is His~by so:many titles. ~-Mo~eover,~it is ~o run~: the serious~ri~k.0fdegenerating to lqwer~ jpys,~ for as St: Gregory warns us, "The soul cannot~be without ~joy; ~or~it,will-." delight eitherAn the basest things or themost exal~ed.’f"And Fathe~-~Farre11. remarks, "The human.~heart~ simpl~: mfist haqe ~oy." Ill.the joy is not forthcoming from ~our friendship, %e shall cast about for, more agreeable~compan-ionship.., in a realm other than that of the Spirit.v, ~o live joyfully, therefore, is at once a privilege for a~conse- " 351 MOTF~ER M~RY R(~BERT FALLS Review for Religious cra~ed soul an’d a safeguard fo~ hislspiritual,ff~ll-bein’g. ~And flow shall thi~ be d~Sfie? ¯ in great things and small, in prayer and charity and.s~l,fq dehial and the countless Occasions which religious life offers. For-a religious the fai.thful ob~ervafice of his rule neces-sarily brings joy into his life; the thought albfie that he is st.riving to be faithful and to conquer himself for !ove.0f~ his Lord will bring peace and ,happiness surpassing any earthly joy. Father Kempf remarks, "One of the basic conditions of~ real"spiritual joj~ is th~ testimony" Of a" clean ~ conscience .... The kind Of conscience thav makes joy ~po~ sible is that which testifies . . . that we are .performi~ig our duties tb the best ,of our-ability, that we are earnestly striying for perfection.’’~ For a religious, Gbd’S Will is manifested in his rule and in thewishes of his superior, and the jealou~ carrying ~ut of this will is the,infallible means of happiness. Dom Marmion asserts that our Blessed Mother merited the joys of divine motherhood by her faith’ and lo;¢e, and theh’he adds the significant comment, "Jesus wishes tO .’te°ach us that we may sl~are . . . in the joy of bringing Him forth in souls. And:how;. are we tb obtain this joy..? By hearing a¯nd keeping the~ word :of,God." Fidelit9 to his state of life necessarily entails’.for a reli-. gious the practice of. virtue, another.fertile source of spit-" itual joy. St. Th~r~se_acknowiedged ,that until the age of fourteen she pradtised’virtue without any idea of making it a joy; that was a grace bestowed’ upon her later. There is danger that many of us may pass a whole lifetime without becoming aware of this joy. ConSciousness of duty well diJne is a crysta!-pure sourcg "of true spiritual joy. Lucie Christineprayed, "Grant that I may place the joy of fulfilling my ~duties abo~e all other \ "XReverend Joseph Kempf, New Things and Old (St, Louis: B. Herder Book Co., ¯ i943), p. 160. 352 November, ’1947 CHR] STIAN’JOY joys, Tra: simple e~nough prayer until wd .remember ;that’ the joys she, was experiencing af this time ,~ere thbge corriing from the.~highest kind of.mystical.uriioh ~with God.~’ .Ahd ¯ yet, above those she esteemed the joy of fulfilling her dut~r. The hidden, often ~monotonous tasks of dail~r, life, then, are a source of real joy for a religious; and he should advert often to this t~uth, lest through indi~erence or ~thoughtless-: n~ss, he,squander~his wealth.. There is the joy of poverty. "~ou took with’joy the b~ing stripped of yoh~, own goods, knowing that you have-a better and a lasting substance." Poverty is a ~joyous affair because it entails such tremendous wealth. ~"The° kingdom of’heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field which a’.man’having’: found, hid ..it, .and for joy .thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buye~tb that field.:" Paupertas. cure laetitia was th, e motto coined by Francis to impress his brethren’with this truth, and the Three .Com-panions testify that Francis and his compani~ons ’:became exceedingly.joyful ~ecafise oftheir poverty." There is the joy of charity. "For I have bad ~reat joy and consolation in thy°charity, because through thee, ~brother, the hearts~ of the saints have found rest." True loversof Christ easily find this joy of charity; and as they" advance, they learn that there is still greater joy in.loving those who afflict them because .by so doing they imprint on their sou_!s a still greater resemblance to Our Loid.- There is the joy of obedience. The dying-St. Th~r~se could say to her prioress, "You, Mother~ are the compa~ss which JeSus has provided to direct me safely to the eternal shore. I find it a joy to fix my eyes upon you, and then do the will of my Lord." There is no joy comparable to that ih the sbul of a. religi’ous who is truly obedient. St. Teresa with the daring of her valiant love asserted that even the sufferings of the Passion were not so pain.ful fo our Lord~ MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALL~ _ ~ " as’,was~’the.agony of ~eeing the~cons.tant offenseva~ain~t-His F~a~ther,~ for ih His Passion, at least; He:found the end of, all His~trials, while His agony was~ allayed by the, consolatiori - oLp~o~irig, fi0~ He-loved His Father ~by suffering for Him’. An& she adds./with _characteristics. insight, ’?What~, joy to suff~ro in doing~God’s .~..,!Rel.igious life is i’n fact the to~al, dedication of self, which’brings us close to the very’ source of all .spiritual joy -:2,the~Divine Good cofisid~red either, in_Itself or as~part~c,- opatei:hb,y us.~ ~o .live this. 1ire in ~its~dntirety; ,therefore’,, ~is for,~ usi an infallible means .of attaining _that joy ,which..we n~&l"both :for~ourselves ~and for, tho~e tow.ards:whom .exe~cise our.!~ipostolate:~~ Dom0oMarmion’s ,exhortation~in this:respe~ct:~aptly i~pit0mi~.es the .doctrine of joy~:in the,i~elb gioas,’~life::~ °. , : -,( ,-.L.et ~ yield ourselyes~.to,Him by. faith, confidence, ,love,:humil-. ity, and obedien~ce. If the soul is closed,to earth’s clamors, to.,the " tumult pf the passions and senses, the Incarnate, Word will Himself ¯ become Master of ,t,... He will make us understsnd that true ~oys; the.deepest joys, ~are’th~ose th.at are found m rtts seyvtce. ’- MARIAN NOTICES " N~sl~tt’er, the b~imont1"ily leaflet df the M~ian Lit/rarer of th~ Umver.s~ty 6f Dayton; Dayton 9, Ohio, ’is no~-in its f0urdi ye~ir 6f ptlbli~ti6fi: It¯ contaiias ifiteres.ting f~cts about "Marian books~in general, esp~ciall’.y.aboht~books in the Dayt6n.Marian Library-: This u~nu~sual’~project is ~ucceeding ~well. The,Library. collects.’Marian ~.o, pks.and magazines. Fatima Findinqs,~ another leaflet, is published by the R’eparatio~n So, ciety of, the Imn{acuiate Heart, 720 North Calvert Str&t, Bald-more 2, Ma.ryland. It is well written and keeps !ts readers posted the prdgr~ss?of the Fattma-~nsp~red prayers and sacrifices offered by our country" to Mary. ¯ It includes a monthly. First Saturday. meditation. ~D~m Columba,~.Marmion, Christ in His M~lsteries,~ t, rans. by Mother M. gt.Thomas, 3rd’dd.~ (St’. Lodis: B. He’rdei Book Co.; 1939), pp. 244-245. - 354, - "We Are All One" Claude .Kean, O.F.M. ~S A CASUAL listening to the radio attests, the song ~ market suffers from no deartbof love lyrics. Tw~enty-. four hours a day, in iambics and dactyls, in figurati,~e speech, and literal, crooners offer their hearts to matchless members of the other sex ,from coast to coast, or profess: delirium over offers that the matchless members have accepted, .or. plot self-destruction over offers that the match-less members have spurned. No conceivable phase of the great passion, seems to elude, their expe~ienc~e, their report. Yet, for all- the exhaustive ly.ricizlng,~ the truest of all lbves remains still unsung. It is the first love to captivate a young heart, and the lasf to forsake an old. Its sincerityis unquestionable, its ardor inextinguishable;..To win its way, it cheerfully makes a thousand daily sacrifices, calmly endures a thousand daily.rebuffs. It is the one love certain to survive the- fading of "all those, endearing young charms," of all that is humanly attra~ctive. I mean; of c(~urse, self-love. -, " By our very nature, we .do love ourselves. ~re live with ourselves on happy terms. We Opine (though not publi~- cizing the opinion) that, like a certain cigarette, we pos-sess just ab6ut the "right combination" of the ~choicest ingredients. We do, indeed, have our p~ccadilloes, our idiosyncrasies; but. we are secretly a bit proud of them, feeling that they~ add warm touches of color to our per-sonality; Our views and tastes’abe quite sane and sound. Seldom do ,we question them; never do we ridicule ’the~. If it cfiance that we sometimes err in word or deed, We can quote ready reasons why, in the circumstances, error has been humanly unavoidable. \ CL.AUDE KEAN .R~vieu) [or Religious Nowl if otir neighbors were like us, they would be highly satisfactory per.sons. We could love them spon-taneously, we could live with them harmoniously, But, alas, they are not like us. They differ from us on a hun-dred c6unts" perhaps, in nationality, ~olor, age ;" certainly Oom appearance, temperament, habits, opinions, likes, and dislikes. The less they differ from us, the more likely are they to become our friends; the more they diff~i’r from ,us, the more liable are they to become our foes. The differences between their characters and ou_rs frankly anngy us. If marked or persistent, they may even enrage us. What can we do about them? We can do one ,of two things: either we can seek to r~move themm by removing our neighbors; or we can attempt to tolerate them. And-I quickly-add tha, t the toleration is the pre-scribed Christian solution. "Bear ye one another’s bur-dens," Saint Paul expresses it, "and thus ye shall fulfill the law of Christ." " At a boys’ boarding school where I was once stationed, a sort of ritual annually attended the opening of the Sep-tember term. Freshmen would genially pick their room-mates, genially arrange their rooms, genially settle down to domestic life. But the following S’aturday afternoon would reveal that a considerable number of them had found it anything but "good and pleasant for brethren to dVell together." There would be much grim moving of trunks from one room to another, accompanied by dark mutterings about the unreasonableness br even the downright insanity of certain me~mbers of the freshman class. It had taken thbse boys only several days of communal life to learn that, though "it is’not good for man to be alone," it is extremely diffidult for men to live. together. To borrow a Comparison.from Father Isidore O’Brien, O.F.M., community life is like a watch. It takes.the right 356 November, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" functioning of eighty-some parts for, a watch to function properly; but it takes the breaking-down of only one of those parts--the snapping of one spring, the clogging of one wheel--to stop a watch. So, too, it.takes the heroic exercise of all the virtues, natural and supernatural, plus a jubilee of God’s grace, for human beings to live happily together within the same walls; 15ut it takes only one fault, consistently practised, to stop their happiness. And that ¯ one fault, no matter what its disguise, is invariably selfish~ nes.s--the unwillingness to give and to take, the lack of mutual forbearance. If, then, we are to live together in religious life peace-ably, we must, first, ~xpect others to differ from us; and, secondly, we must acquire a broad toleration of those dif-ferences. My confrere may laugh hysterically-at remarks that to me seem inane, or eagerly dial the community-room radio to gang-busting programs that bore me stiff, or loudly chant the OffiCe in a voice that ,grates me like the rasp of a file, or persistently close the chapel windows that I open, or walk or talk or work or recreate or eat or room in a way that clashes with all my concepts of those various human activities. He and I’ may (to use Stevenson’s figure) stand back to back in all things, seeing an altogether dif-ferent heaven and earth. Yet are we called to live in char-itable unity. And we shall fulfill that call only by tol-erating each other’s differences. Many of our differences undoubtedly spring from our different nationalities. To belabor them is to belabor the obvious. Chesterton has summed them up by defining a foreignermand that term denotes any person with a nationality different from our own--as "a man who laughs at everything---except jokes." Even in religious life, we need to remember that despite these national dif-ferences God made all men. He has no predilection for 357 CLAUDE KEAN Ret~iew for Religious Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, Ameri_cans, even Irishmen..’ Once He did have a chosen people, the Jews; but now,.since Good .Friday afternoon, the whole race is His chosen people..Omthis truth Catholicism insists: "We are all one in Christ,". The water’of baptism is thicker than.blood. Many American religious communities, like America itself, are "melting pots’i containing elements of the Old World and elements of.the New, If those elements refuse to melt, ~ serious, explosion-is certain to occur. Both the Old World members of the community and the New World members must .again, therefore, first,, expect to find multiple differences between them; and, secondly, °through constant tact, and° sympathy, and understanding, and for-bearance~ :seek to blend :those differences.. Suppose, for.ins.tance, that to our American community comes an immigrant from (a land unknown to even Rand McNally!) far-off Volabia. Being a genui:ne Volabian, he will of course look, not like a genuine American, but like a genuine Volabian. Shall we disdain~ him for this reason and demand that through plastic surgery his looks be Americanized?. He will also posses.s distinctly Volabian traits of character: perhaps a patience of method that pro: vokes our impatience; or a mute submissiveness that we interpret as almbst a lack of courage; or a religious frank-ness that to us seems akin to ostentation; or a smiling indifference to worldly problems that chafes our. sense of the’practical. Shall we forthright condemn him for being what ten or twenty centuries of Volabian history have made him to be, and peremptorily set about trying to remould him according to the pattern of sesquicentennial America? The more adult procedure, and the more Chris-tian, would be to accept our Volabian brother as he is and to seek to understand his character. Under his surface oddness, we.shall undoubtedly find traits worthy not only 35.8 Not;ember, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" "of our admiration but of our imitation. In similar fashion must the Volabian try to understand us who are American-born. He will find that, perhaps unlike Volabians, we do not wear our religious hearts on our sleeves; that we prefer to "pray to our Heavenly Father in secret"; that we care not to "let our right hand know what our left hand doeth,"~ even though our left hand does much. With this knowledge of us, he will not hastily~con-dude that we American religious lack religion--that we are some Lost Legion in the Church of God. He must, fur, thermore, strive to understand something of the American wayof life: to understand that, instead Of washing at wells, we are accustomed to showe.r-baths; that, instead of travel-ling on mule carts, we commonly travel on trains or buses or even airplanes; that, instead of carrying a ~tale sandwich on a whole day’s journey, we prefer to buy a fresh one, just as cheaply, at some point along the way. Understanding American’standfirds .of living, he will understand our wants .and needs. And if some future chapter should appoint him our superior, he will not be predisposed to dismiss our requests solely on the basis, "We didn’t need these things in Volabia!" Indeed, he will seldom (if ever) institute comparisons between the Old World and the New, realizing that such comparisons are as fatuous as they are odious. When he comes to America, he expects to find new scenery--and not a literal reproduction of the Volabian panorama. So surely must he expect to find dif-ferent customs and standards of living---customs and standards not necessarily better or worse than those of Volabia, but inevitably different. His task is, not to adjust Americans to Volabia, but to adjust a Volabian to Ameri-ca. He will succeed in his task in proportion to his spirit of sensible compromise. Thus it is mutual forbearance that alone can build a 359 CLAUDE KEAN Review [or Religious Peace Bridge between the Old World and the New; mutual forbearance that alone can make a religious community of a hundred different nationalities yet transcendently "all one," Finally, there are the differences between the young religious and the old. Wide differences they are indeed, May having so little in common with December. And what are some of those differences? Horace outlined them unforgettably two thousand years ago. "The young," he says, "delight in games. They resent advice. They are high~spirited, and quick to change their opinions." And the old? "They" he observes, "are stingy, timid in trans-actions. They procrastinate. .They are inactive, peevish, querulous, the chastisers and censors of youth, prhisers of the bygone days when they themselves were young." What a chasm yawns between them! Wherefore the young are prone to consider the old as cranks, kill-joys, meddlers, brakes upon the progress of the community; and the old are prone to regard the young as upstarts, know-it-alls, saboteurs, vandals bent on destroying all the traditions of the community! How, 0 how, can’the "twain meet" and be "all one"? Only by constant efforts towards mutual toleration. The young must bring themselves to realize that the community existed before their arrival and somehow man-aged to get along passably well. They must learn that the label "New" does not necessarily mean "Good." (Shake-speare somewhere speaks of "younger spirits, whose appre-hensive senses all but new things disdain!") They must strive deliberately to cultivate a respect for old things-- the Church herself being quite old, and religious life quite time-tested in all its phases. Just as a certain wise pastor, taking over a new parish, resolved: "For one year, I will make no sweeping changes in the routine of this parish"; 360 Nouernber, 1947 "WE ARE ALL ONE" so the young religious might resolve: "Until I have been professed at .least one year, I will not attempt to reorganize my community. Rather, I will try to learn from the older members, seeking their advice ina friendly spirit." The young, even Scripture grants, cannot help dreaming dreams; but they shogld not interpret every dream as a divine apparition with’a commission of supreme 6rgency in it! Above all, the young must respect the old. "Peculiar" in the eyes of youth the old may be. But what can you expect of them? Are they not subject to the laws of na-ture? And can you reasonably expect that, at seventy or eighty, they have the energy, the dash, the fresh faculties of mind and powers of body of seventeen or eighteen? They once were young. But they spent their youth generously for the good of the community; they bore "the burdens and the heats of the day." They fully merit, therefore, not the ridicule of the young, but their sincere appreciation’, their constant consideration, their kindly assistance, their sympathetic understanding. The young should remember that, when looking at the old, they are looking at them-selves in the mirror of tomorrow. Only by striving to make beautiful and ~ranquil the evening of life for others will they insure for themselves a happy ending. The old, on their part, must try to understand and assist the young. The young belong, it is true, to a differ-ent generation, yet not a lost generation. By nature, the young have zeal. Instead of restraining them and thwart-ing them, why not give them full vent for that zeal? Some of their efforts may prove unhappy; but did all of yours succeed signally? Some of their methods may differ from yours; but may two roads not lead to the same place? "Sis-ter Mary," a Mother General once confided to me, "has been playing the organ for forty-five years. She should 361 CLAUDE KI~AN really retire. But she refuses to do so.~ She says that she wants to die at the console." In plain truth, the music of that convent suggested that Sister Mary was dying at the console--a slow, torturous death. And all the meanwhile there stood in the offing other nuns, well-trained young organists, who could have provided music much more acceptable to the ears of God and of man. Saint ,John the Baptist, knowing that his day had ended and that Christ’s day had begun, said, "I must decrease: He must increase." If, instead of standing pat on honors and assignments, the old would similarly make way for the young in religious life, how much Christian charity would be promoted, and how greatly the welfare of many a community would be advanced! Yes, despite all our differences--in temperament, in nationality, in age--we are to be "all one." .How can such pe~rfect unity be achieved? Only (my text from Saint,Paul significantly concludes) "in Christ." Only when our:hearts bare caught from tb~ Heart of Christ a charity that makes us forget ourselves and think constantly of others; a char-ity that makes us overlook the natural differences that divide us and stress the supernatural ties that bind us. OUR CONTRIBUTORS MOTHER MARY ROBERT FALLS is a member of the English Department of the College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York. CH/~RLES F. DONOVAN is at Yale University studying education. CLAUDE KE!~N is Principal of the Timon High School in Buffalo, New York. AUGUSTINE KLAAS is professor of Sacra-mental Theology at St. Mary’s College, St. Marys, Kansas. ADAM C. ELLIS is professor of Canon Law in the same college and is one of tbe editors of this review. 362 In Praise ot Pr yer Augustine Klaas, S.3. DlUS XII has more than once during recent years called p attention to the similarity of our present troublous times to those which cradled the infant Church. He bids us observe the Christians of the early ages of the Church in order to draw strength and inspiration from them to surmount the persecutions and obstacles of various sorts which harrass us on every side. He wants us to study their virt.ues, their heroic deeds, their words of wisdom, which saw them successfully through their many trials and temptations, so that we.may do as they did with like tlapp} results. - An outstanding quality of the early Church was its prayer life, The first Christians prayed ferventlyand much, both vocally and mentally. With predilection they prayed the Our Father, they made the sign of the gross, they said mornifig and ~eyeiaing prayers, table prayers, and accompanied all the actions of the day with ..aspirations. They often came together for liturgical prayer, especially for the agape, or love-feast, which was sometimes followed - by the Eucharistic celebration. Mental prayer, too, was in constant use, particularly among the virgins, ascetics, and primitive r.eligious both of the deserts and of the ancient monasteries. Furthermore, many of them wrote dgwn their thoughts and counsels on prayer. It is this praise of prayer uttered by the Christians of primitive times that I have tried to illustrate by choosing certain striking selec-tions from the writings of the first seven centuries. These interesting excerpts make up a kind of rough treatise on the whole spirituality of prayer and contain magnificently 363 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuiew for Religious that vital, inspiring message for our day referred to by Pius XII so frequently and eloquently. Nature of Prayer Saint Basil (d. 379 A.D.), one of the most important lawgivers of Oriental monasticism, besides defining the prayer of petition, stresses the intention, attention, and frequency which should characterize prayer. Prayer is the asking for so.mething good from God by those who are devoted to Him. We do not, however, reduce petition to mere words. For we do not think that God has need of reminders uttered by the lips: surely He knows what is good for us, even if we do not ask at all. What then are we saying? Prayer should certainlTnot be thought to consist in syllables only, but rather the power of prayer must be a~tributed to the mind’s intention and to those virtuous deeds which compass our whole life. "’Therefore, wbethei" you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all for the glory of God" (I Corin-thians 10:31). When you are at table, pray; when you take a piece of bread, thank the Giver of it: when you strengthen’ the body’s weakness, with wine, be mindful of Him who gave you this gift to rejoice the heart and alleviate bodily infirmities. Has the need for eating passed? The remembrance of the Giver has not. When you put on’your garment gi~’e thanks to the Donor of it. When you throw your cloak about your shoulders, love God more diligently, who has given us clothing adapted to winter and summer, clothing by which life is preserved and shame covered. Is the day drawing to a close? Thank Him who gave us the sun to assist us in our daily tasks, who gave us fire to illumine the night and to minister to other necessities of life. (Migne PG 31, 244 A.) Saint Arobrose (d. 397 A.D.), bishop of Milan, whose preaching contributed so much to the conversion of Saint Augustine, calls prayer a cry of the heart. Our heart cries out, not with the voice of the body, but with sub-limity of thought and harmony of virtue. The cry of faith is loud. Hence, in the spirit of adopted sons we exclaim, "Abba, Father," and the Spirit of God Himself cries out within us. Great is the voice of 364 November, 1947 IN PRAISE OF PRAYER justice, great is the voice of chastity, by Which even the dead speak: and not only do they speak, but like Abel they cry aloud. The soul of the unjust man, however, even if he be alive, does not cry out. because it is dead to God. There is in it nothing.lofty, nothing noble, as there is, in those whose sound has gone forth to every land and whose words have penetrated to the confines of the earth .... And the Lord Jesus exclaimed: "’If an~/one thirst, let him come to me and drink" "(John 7:37). Truly he cried out great things who called men to the kingdom Of heaven t6 that holy d~aught by which the waters of life eternal are imbibed. When you pray, pray for worth-while things, that is, for things not perishable but everlasting. Pray for things divine and celestial that you may be like the angels in heaven. Do not pray for money, for it is dross; do not pray for gold, for it is only metal; do not pra’y for possessions~ for they are earth; such prayer does not reach to God. God does not hear anyone unless He considers him worthy of His gifts; on the other hand, He. listens to a filial voice that is full of devotion and grace. Wherefore, not only must we cry out.in our hearts, but we must also cry out with all our heart. Just as to declaim well physically we must declaim with full throat, so we must cry out spiritually with our whole heart if we wish to request grea, t things and obtain from the Lord what we ask .... Whoever then would pray to the Lord, should not wait for certain prescribed occasions, not knowing that time is of no Worth where there is question of supplicating the LOrd, but rather let him be always’ at his petitionings. Whether we eat, whether we drink, let us proclaim Christ, let us entreat Christ, let us think Christ, let us speak Christ; let Christ be ever in our hearts, ever on our lips ..... Accordingly, if anyone pray for anything, let him persevere in praying for it, and if he is not always praying, let him always have a prayer-ful disposition, (PL 15, 1471 B.) In a work of prayer long attributed to the famous oriental monk, Saint Nilus of Anc~.tra (d. circa 430 A.D.), we find these descriptions of prayer: Prayer is mental converse with God .... Prayer is the raising of the mind to God. You cannot pray well if you are involved in earthly business affairs or disturbed by pressing cares; hence, prayer is a dis-carding of distracting thoughts. When at prayer you rise superior 365 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Ret@w for Religious to every other joy, then you have found real prayer. (PG 79, 1168 C, 1181 C, 1200 C.) Saint dohn Clirnacus (d. circa 600 A.D.)~ a guiding light of early eastern monasticism, ~enumerates a litany of expressions descriptive of true prayer. If you consider its n~ature, prayer is conversation and union with God. If you examine its power, prayer is .the preservation of the~ world, reconciliation with God, the mother and also the daughter of tears: prayer is propitiation for sins, a bridge across temptations, a bulwark against afflictions, exterminhtion of wars, the occupation of angels, sustenance of all pure spirits, future happiness, everlasting acti~’ity, a b&bbling spring of virtues, cause of graces, spiritual advancement, the soul’s nourishment, enlightenment of [be mind, destroyer bf despair, a sign of hope, a remedy for sadness, the riches of monks, treasure of solitaries, calmer of anger, mirror of progress, a stan~dard of mdas~urement, a revelation of one’s present condition, a prognostication of the future, a portent of the glory to come .... ~° The beginning of prayer is to rdpel instantly mental distracti6ns by ~ single act of the mind. The midway of prayer is reached when. the mind rests only in those things which are proposed for medita-tion and discourse. Its culmination is rapture in God. (PG 88, 1129 A.) Pope Saint Gregory the Great (~d. 604 A.D.) empha-sizes the interior element of prayer: True petition does not consist in words of the lips but rather in thoughts of the heart. For it is not: our words but our desires that make our voices louder in the most secret ears of God. Indeed, if we ask for eternal life orally and do not desire it with our heart~ though we shout, we .are silent. Therefore within, in our desires, there is a secret cry which does not reach human ears but fills those of the Creator. (PL 76, 238 C.) II Excellence ot: Prayer ¯The excellence of prayer is shown by what it can do. Thus, Tertullian (d. circa 222 A.D.) : What shall God refuse to prayer coming to Him in spirit ahd in 366 November, 1947 IN PRAISE OF PRAYER truth since that is what He .wants of us? We read, hear, and see proofs of its power .... It is prayer alone which vanquishes God. But Christ wished it do no evil. He gave it all power for good. Hence, it does nothing less than recall the souls of the dying from the very path of death; it reforms the weak, cures the sick, atones for the possessed, opens prison doors, looses the bonds of the innocent. Prayer wipes out sins, repels temptations, stops persecutions, encourages the wavering, pleases the generous, brings.travelers back home, stills the waves, confounds thieves, feeds the poor, rules the rich, raises up the fallen, sustains the tottering, and supports those standing erect. Prayer is a wall of faith, our arms and weapons against the ene-my,. who watches us on all sides. Hence, let us never go about un-armed. During the day we shall remember our battle stations; at night, our guard posts. With the arms of prayer let us defend the standard of our leader; in prayer let us await the angel’s trumpet call. All the angels pray, too .... Even the Lord Himself prayed, to whom be honor and power for ever and ever. (PL 1, I 195 A.) For Origen (d. circa 255 A.D.) prayer is a kind of sharing in the divine intelligence: When the eyes of the mind are thus raised aloft so that they no .lonl~er dwell on earthly things nor any more are filled with images of material objects; when they are so elevated that they despise all cor-ruptible things and are given to this alone that they think on God. and speak reverently and modestly to Him as He listens,--why should not those eyes penetrate still further, "to catch the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, u~ith faces unveiled; and so... become trans-figured into the same likeness, borrou~ing glory from that glorq’" (II Corinthians 3:18)? Thdn indeed they participate in the over-flow of a certain diviner intelligence, as is clear from these words: "’The light of thy countenance, 0 Lord, is signed upon us" (Psalms 4:7). (PGli, 444C.) The oriental writer known as Pseudo-Macarius (d. circa 390 A.D.) has this to say: The culmination of all spiritual training and the height of vir-tuous action is perseverance in prayer, by means of which we are able daily to acquire the rest of the virtues by asking them of God. For thence comes to those who are deemed worthy a participation in divine holines~ and spiritual power, and an affective union of the soul 367 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoieto /:or Religious with God as though by a secret love. Whoever forces himself every day to perseverance in prayer, he is stirred by a spiritual love to the love of God and to an ardent desire for God, and he receives the grace of the sanctifying Spirit’s perfection. (PG 34, 764.) III Efficacy of Prayer According tO Origen, prayer produces perfect chastity: To those in the state of celibacy and chastity God will give per-fect purity, an extraordinary gift, if they ask for it with their whole soul, with faith and continual prayer (PG 13, 1252 B.) Saint Jerome (d. circa 420 A.D.) has this to say about prayer: If to one who asks is given, if the seeker finds, if it is opened to him who knocks, therefore to whom it is not given, who does not find, to whom it is not opened, it is evident that he has not asked, nor sought, nor knocked rightly. (PL 26, 47 C.) And again: Accordingly Christ also promises a reward that we may the more eagerly hasten tb peace, since He says that He willbe in the midst of two or three .... We can also interpret this spiritually, namely, that where spirit and soul are in harmony with the body and do not carry on a war of opposing desires, the flesh lusting against .the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, all that. may be asked will be received from the Father. No one can doubt but that good things are asked for when the body wants the same thing as the spirit. (PL 26, 132 A.) Saint Augustine (d. 430 A.D.) interprets a Scripture text for us: "’If you ask me anything in my name, l will do it" (John 14: 14). Be alert, therefore, Christian man, and listen diligently to what is put down here: in my name, for He does not say whatever you ask in any way at all, but in my name. Who then has p~omised such a great boon, what is His name? Christ Jesus, of course; Christ means king, Jesus means savior. Not any king, surely, will save us, but a savior king; and so whatever wi ask that is not conducive to salvation, we are not asking in the Savior’s name. And nevertheless He is our Savior, not only when He does what we request, but also when He 368 November, 1947 IN PRAISE OF PRAYER does not grant it; because by not giving what He sees is being asked against our salvation, He is all the more showing Himself to be the Savior. A doctor knows what a patient is asking for is conducive to health and what is not, and therefore he does not do the will of the one asking harmful things, in order that he may bring about a cure. (PL 35, 1825.) Elsewhere, in Homily 40, Augustine says, "He knows how to live well who knows how to pray well." And in Sermon 225, "The prayer of the just man is the key to heaven; the prayer goes up to heaven and God’s mercy comes down." The saintly fifth century monk Hes~/chius encourages us to invoke the Holy Name of Sesus: Just as rain, the more copiously it pours down, the softer it makes thfi earth, so the holy name of Christ, invoked by us after ban-ishifig distracting thoughts, the oftener we invoke it, the more it softens the earth of our hearts and fills it with joy and gladness. (PG 93, 1493 C.) IV Necessitg of Prager Saint Augustine in a discourse on perseverance says this: Some things God gives to those not praying for them, such as the beginnings of faith; others, such as perseverance to the end, God gives only to those who pray for them. And again, elsewhere: God does not command the impossible, but, in giving the com-mandment, Hd admonishes us to do what we can according to our strength, and to ask help to accomplish whatever exceeds our strength. (PL 44, 271.) The need of prayer in time of temptation is pointed by Hesgchius: Just as he who goes into battle unarmed cannot emerge the victor, nor can he who is fully clothed swim in the open sea, nor can he live who does not breathe, so we, without humility and continual sup-plication to Christ, cannot master spiritual and interior warfare, nor 369 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review/or Rdigio skillfully’ banish and beat off evil thoughts. ¯ (PG 93, 1509 In the sixth century document, Apothegms or: the Fa-thers or: the Desert, we find this little piece of advice from Saint Antony, the patriarch of all religious. A brother said to Abbot Antony: "Pray for me." The old man replied: "Neitl~er will I have mercy on you, nor will God, unless you also go to work and pray to God." (PG 65, 80 C.) Praying with Saint Augustine Not only do the early Christian writers discourse on prayer, but they themselves pray most beautifully. ,Let us pray with Saint Augustine: "’Great art Thou, 0 Lord, and grea. tlg to be praised; great is Thg power, and of Thg wisdom there is no number." And man desires to praise Thee. He is but a tiny part of all that Thou hast created. He bears about him his mortality, the evidence of his sinfulness, and the evidence that Thou dost resist the proud: yet this tiny part of all that Thou hast created desires to praise Thee. Thou dost so excite him that to praise Thee is his joy. For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee .... Who shall grant me to rest in Thee? By ~vhose ~ift shalt Thou enter into my heart and fill it so compellingly that I shall turn no more to my sins but embrace Thee, my only good? What art Thou to me? Have mercy, that I may tell. What rather am I to Thee, that Thou shouldst demand my love and if I do not love Thee be angry and threaten such great woes? Surely not to love Thee is already a great woe. For Thy mercies’ sake, O Lord my God, tell me what Thou art to me..Sag unto mg soul, I am Thg salvation. So speak that I may hear, Lord, my heart is listening; open it that it may hear Thee say to my soul I am Thg salvation. Hearing that word, let me come in haste to lay hold upon Thee. Hide not Thy face from me. Let me see Thy face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it. (Confessions, translated by F. J. Sheed, p. 3, 5-6.) O Lord God, grant us peace, for Thou hast granted us all things, 370 November, 1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS the peace of repose, the peace of Thy Sabbath, the peace that has no evening. ~For this gloriously beautiful order of things that are very good will .pass away when it has achieved its end; it ’will have its morning and its evening. But the seventh day is without evening. It has no sunset; for You sanctified it that it may abide forever. After all Your works which were very good, You rested on the seventh day--although You made them with no interruption of Your repose. And likewise the voice df Youi book tells us that we also, after our works--which are only very good because You have granted us to accomplish,them-- will rest in You in the S~bbath of life everlasting. (Ibid. pp. 353- 354)1 "~ --27 ..... The in~irrnary of 0u~"~novltiate house is located outside the quarfe~’s of the’ novices so as ~o’be available to ~11 the Sisters in the.communlh/. If a novice is ill in this infirmary for more than thlrh/days, is she obJlged by law to begin her novitiate over agafn? Should the time be less than thirty days, would it have ÷o be made up? The Code of Canon Law disting~ais~es between the novitiate house and:the precincts or quarters of the novices. Canon 554 requires the establishment of a novitiate house according to the norms of the.constitutions; iii the case of an institute approved by the Holy See, the permission of the Holy See is required for the establishment of such a novitiate house. Canon~ 564 requires that in the novitiate house a sepa.rate part of the house b~ ~ut aside for the exclusive use o,~ ~he novices, separated from the quarters destined for the profdssed rdigious; furtl~ermore, without the permission of the superior or of the master of novices, there is to be no communication between the novices and the professed religious. Canon 556, §§ 1 and 2, dealing with the interruption of’ the novitiate, speaks exclusively of the novitiate house. Hence we may reasonably conclude that the novitiate is not interrupted by .the 1The two selections from~St. Augustine are from The Confessions of St. Augustine, translated by F. J. Sheed. They are quoted with the permission of the publishers, Sheed and Ward, New York. 371 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review/:or Reffgious sojourn of a novice in the infirmary of the novitiate house. Canoni-cally, such time does not inteirupt the novitiate, nor need it be made up. It i’s.left to the prudence of superigrs to determine according to circumstances, whether it should be made up or not. m28~. It is customary to have three or four courses in secular subjects given at the mother house during the summer; also on Saturdays or Sundays during the year. May novices follow these courses during their canonical year? The courses and their preparation require approximately six hours daily. May novices during the two months they must spend in the novl-tiate prior to their profession follow .these summer courses? Would doing so invalidate their novitiate? Canon 565, § 3, reads as follows: "During the year of novitiate, the novices must not be employed in preaching, or hearing con-fessions, or in the external charges of the institute, or even in the study o£ letters, the sciences or arts." (Italics ours.). According to an instruction issued by the Sacred Congregation of Religious, a moderate amount of study may be permitted during the second year of novitiate, but not during the two months immediately preceding the first profession of vows since these two months must be devoted entirely to spiritual things. Studies that are undertaken contrary to these provisions would not invalidate the novitiate, since they are not forbidden under pain of invalidity. A detailed discussion of this whole question may be found in two articles by Adam C. Ellis, S.J., published in this REVIEW: "Studies During the Novitiate," II (1943), pp. 255-262; "Second Year of Novitiate," IV (1945), pp. 73-82. --29m In admitting postulants, how sfflctly must canon 544 be observed regarding recommendations from the ~hlgh school or college or both which the applicant has attended? Does the canon hold for public high schools and colleges also? Canon 544, § 3, reads as follows: "When there is question of admitting aspirants who have been in a seminary, a college, or in a postulancy or novitiate of another institute, testimonial letters . . . are also necessary." What is meant by "college" in this canon? From t1~e old law and from the various schemata preceding the final draft of the Code it is certain that there is question of an ecclesiastical institu- 372 November, 1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS tion which is neither a seminary nor a postulancy nor a novitlate,.but organ institution in which young persons are being prepared to enter either the religious or the clerical life. Such would be, for example, an apostolic school. Hence no testimonial letters are required from candidates who attended ordinary high schools and colleges, whether Catholic or non-Catholic. " Have superiors the rlghf to deny a subject the privilege of fransferrlng fo a cloistered community when the subject has the approval and sanction of his confessor? Religious superiors have no power either to grant or to deny a subject the privilege of transferring to another community. Only the Holy See can do that (canon "632). Such a privilege is granted rarely: In order to obtain this privilege, the applicant must present, along with his petition to the Holy See, a letter from the superior of the community to which he wishes to transfer stating that he is willing to accept the religious ~n trial, and a second letter from his own superior stating frankly his opinion as to the advisability of the transfer. Both letters should be sealed before giving them to the religious to include with his petition to the Sacred Congregation of Religious for permission to transfer. ,31 If a novice had fo leave the novltlafe because of illness, and later regained his health, is it necessary for him fo be invested with the complete ceremonial? Our constitutions prescribe that the investiture "take place according fo the rite described in the Roman Seraphic Ritual." A distinction must be made between the official canonical granting of the habit to a novice as the external sign of the beginning of the novitiate, and the official liturgical ceremony which may be prescribed by the constitutions as an accompaniment of the canonical investiture. Canon 553 tells us that "the novitiate begins with the reception of the habit, or in any other manner prescribed by the con-stitutions." Hence for the canonical beginning of the novitiate it suffices that the superior simply hand over the habit to the novice, thereby indicating that he is formally admitted to the novitiate. In addition, your constitutions prescribe that a certain ceremonial accompany the giving of the habit to the novice. This ceremonial is certainly not ~rescribed for the valid canonical reception of the habit. 37.3 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religious It is prescribed, generally speaking, for the licit reception of the habit, since the constitutions are to be obser’ved. However, in our case the novice in question has already gone through the formal rite required by the constitutions. Hence it would seem to be sufficient upon his return after having regained his health, for the superior simply to present him with the habit and tell him that by this presentation he is formally admitted to the novitiate. This is certainly sufficient if it would be very inconvenient for the community to carry out the formal rite prescribed for one novice who has returned after having interrupted his novitiate on account of illness. Nor is it required to keep the ex-novice waiting until the next formal reception day comes along. --321 Is there an indulgence attached to either of the two following prayers for the dead: (a) "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lodd, and let perpetual light shine upon them for ever. Amen." (2) "May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." In the latest official ~d.jtion of indulgenced prayers (Preces et Pia Opera, No 536) we find that an indulgence of 300 day.s, applicable only to the holy souls, may be gained by reciting the following prayer: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen." The prayers mentioned in the question are not listed. ,33 Is there any official regulation concerning the frequency of washing linens used at Massmpurlficators, palls, and corporals? There are four official statements regarding these linens as fol-lows: (1) "Then [the priest] prepares the chalice, and puts over its cup a clean purificator’" (Ritus servandus, I, 1). (2) "Defects may also occur in the ministry itself if something is missing among the things required: as... when the.corporals are not clean" (De Defect. X, 1). (3) "The pall should be made of linen, clean,,.and easily removable" (S.R.C., Decr. 4172 ad 2). (4) "And so care must be taken that the corporal which is to receive the most sacred Body of Christ be kept always white, free from every stain; so too the altar cloths, the pall, and the linen cloth which is used to wipe the chalice, must be kept clean" (Instr. S.C.Sac. March 26, 1929). The rule is that these linens must be clean; hence they should 374 November, 1947 BOOK REVIEWS be washed whenever they b~come soiled. A single stain is su~cient to soil them, Since these linens must first be rinsed by a priest or one in major orders (canon 1306 §2), it is advisable to have a ge’nerous number of these linens on hand, so that he may not be obliged to perform this duty too frequently. The prescription that the pall be easily removable should be observed. This linen becomes stained very easil~’, anal can not readily be washed if it is sewed around ~a piec_e of cardboard. Is it customary to stand while redtlng the Angdus in unison on Sun-day 0vonlncj ? The Angelus should be said standing from~ Vespers on Shtur~lay ~nd all day Sunday (Benedict XIV, Apr. 20, 17~4~2)..On.Satu~rdays during ~Len~, the Angelus should be said’standing at noon also. (Leo XlII, May.20,. 1896),’ The reason for this latter prescription seems to 16e the rubric v~hich prescribes that Vespers be said before noon during Lent. At a funeral Mass, should the Sisters stand or kneel dUringothe abso-lution of the body? ° The~e are no ger~eral regulations for the laity in this matter. Hence the "Sisters should follow the custom of the diocese in which they reside.~ ,~ ¯ ook Reviews PERFECT OBEDIENCE: Commentary on the Letter of Obedience by St. Ignatius of Loyola. By Father Manuel Marfa ESpinosa P61If, S.J. Pp. xv~ + "331. The NeWman ~Bookshop, Westr~inster, Maryland, 1947. $S.00. Religious who would like to have an abundance of readin~g’mat-ter apt to stimulate them to the best practice of religious obedience can find it in this volume. The work, written in part to honor the four-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus and in part to encourage young 3esuits to try to ~ealize the high ideals of their order in this virtue, is" full of references to 3esuit history and literature; but the lessons that it conveys are applicable to all religious 375 BOOKR~VIEWS Reoieto for Religious generally. In all the ascetical tradition of the ChUrch ,probably the most outstanding single document on obedience is a certain letter Of St. Ignatius. As a matter of fact he wrote at least four long letters’on that theme but one of them has become known as the letter on obedi-ence: This letter, dated March 26, 1553, and addressed to the Jesuits in Portugal, ’has always been made very much of in the whole Societyi’ and others also have made very special use of it, It is ’with this instruction that Father P61it’s book is concerned. In content the work falls into three main divisions: introductory matter, the commentary on St. Ignatius’s famous Letter, and the appendices. The historical circumstances, a certain unsettled state of things in the Province of Portugal, are explained.~ There is an account of the ofigina~l manuscripts; in this case probably there are two, the~con-dition of the postal service in the sixteenth century having been such that important letters were often sent in duplicate by different routes. A brief notice is given to criticisms that have been made against the Ignatian concept of obedience. There is also an account of the fact that in the Society of Jesus a certain pre-eminence has always been attributed to this virtue. The commentary itself makes up the great bulk of the work, and in general it tends to take the following form. Two orlthree para-graphs of the Letter on Obedience are quoted; the ideas are repeated, developed, and amplified; the doctrine is illustrated with stories from the history of the founder and the beginnings of the Society; other writings of St, Ignatius are adduced to corroborate it; examples from the lives of Jesuit saints are presented; and, finally, the subsequent Fathers General-are shown to have constantly and vigorously reaffirmed ’the same teaching, In the five appendices various complementary documents are to be found. Besides the texts of the other letters of St. Ignatius that deal professedly with obedience, there is, for instance, the original Spanish text of the letter that this commentary is primarily con-cerned with. On the wl~ole Perfect Obedience is a fervent exhortation to the practice of the virtue rather than a critical study of it, If one should have speculative intellectual difficulties with obedience of judgment, he would hardly find a satisfactory solution for them in this work. --G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD, S.J. 376 November, 1947 BOOK REVIEWS ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS: DOCTOR OF DIVINE LOVE AND CON-TEMPLATION. By Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. Pp. xvi -l- 202. The Newman Bookshop, Westminster, Maryland, 1946. $3.25. St. John of the Cross prefaced his work The Ascent of the Soul Toward God with a schematic drawing depicting the task of the spiritual life as an ascent up the side of a mountain either by the devious pa’ths that lead but partway up or by the steep yet direct path up the sheer cliff to the very summit. With like simplicity and lucid clarity one of the outstanding scholars of Teresian spirituality of our time offers a synthesis of the Spiritual doctrine of St. John of the Cross. The first half of this book is a series of conferences given by the author at Rome in 1936. His objyct in offering this introduction to St. John’s writings is "to help, by means of this work, to render the reading of the great mystic easier, more attractive and more profit-able." He explains the dominant concepts underlying the teaching of St. John of the Cross, a grasp of which will enable the reader to follow the progress of the soul toward God through the preliminary stages of purification, the two Nights, the beginning of contempla-tion, on to the spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage culminating in perfect love of the soul for God. An appendix briefly shows the utility of the study of St. John of the Cross in understanding the present-day mystical problems. If the first half of the book. is of value because it puts the reader in touch with the thought of one of the greatest teachers of prayer and the spiritual life, the second part is of equal value for bringing to bear on current mystical problems sober judgment and profound scholarship, coupled with a thorough grasp of the development of the teaching of the Teresian school. The latter portion of the book, like the first, is a series of conferences. The theme of this second series is "active contemplation." Avoiding controversy as far as possible, Father Gabriel traces in the writings of St. John evidences of the fact that the saint recognized a state midway ~between discursive medi-tation and infused contemplation properly so-called, and was at pains to describe the signs indicating the beginnings of this prayer. The important points touching the existence of "active con- :templation"; the differences arising over terminology; the notion of such a state as a traditional doctrine long before the time of St. John of the. Cross, who first clearly recognized it and developed it: the 377 BOOK NOTICES Re~eto [or,Religi6us ii~portanCe of directing souls in: this~ stage all receivd a brief and satisfactory trea~ment--T.’L. :MACNAIR, S.J. BOOK NOTICES THE PEW8 TALK BACK is not another "pep talk" on preaching. Rather it is one of those rare-books that present thorough discussions of all the points a priest must attend to if he is to become and remain an effective preacher. No item of importance is slighted. Sermon preparation, background reading, interest, audience appraisal, the proper reading of the Epistle and Gospel--these and other topics of importance are discussed in a vigorous, straightforward style. Few ordination gifts rival this book in practical value. (Luke Missett, O.P. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Booksh0p, 1946. Pp. viii + 83. $1.50.) On the priest’s pde-diet~ in rectories and well-appointed sacristies, little manuals are provided with prayers for use before and after the’celebration of Mass. Fathers J. B. Collins, S.S.. and Raphael Collins have compiled such a collection-- ANTE ALTARE DEI. The book, which is bound in dignified black leatherette, contains th’ prayerssuggested~ for this purpose by the Missal and not a few other appropriate prayers from approved sources. Indulgences are indicated whenever applicable. A special feature of the work is the careful selection of Psalms; they are in the new Latin version. (Westminster. Md.: The Newman Bookshop, 1947. Pp. xiil + 79. $2.00.) The reputation of the late Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J., as an author of ~dritual books is so well established that any comment on his excellent works would be superfluous. Some of his earlier books are now published in’ the United States. They are characterized by the same solid substance, the same clarity 9f expression, and the simplicity of style found in the author’s better known writings. THE MEANING O1: LIFE (Pp. 147. $1.25) is a series of short essays on the ~piritual life, wo.rldliness, innocence, the character of Christ, prayer, and kind’red topics. THE PRINCE OF: PEACE (Pp. vii + 152. $1.25.) is a book of medi-tations for Advent and the Christmas Season. THE SCHOOL OF LOVE (Pp. 141. $1.50.) is a collection of essays on loneliness, prayer, piety and pietism, courage. the lay apostolate, and similar subjects. THE SON OF GOD (Pp. 143. $1.25) is a study of the person and claims of Christ together with the reactions of various classes of mankind to Him. It is divided into’three parts: The Person and claims of Christ: Christ as portrayed in the Gospel :narrative; and, lastly, the judgment of Christ bysuch persons as Pilate, Annas, and Herod. (The Grail, St. Meinrad, Indiana,) In a brief sketch, MATT TALBOT, ALCOHOLIC, Father Albert H. Dolan. O.Carm., tells the story of the Irish laborer v~hose life of prayer and penance after his conversion from drunkenness has astonished the modern world. The author writes with alcoholics particularly in mind; but the book makes good reading for all who are interested in the love of God and His special servants. Matt’s example is a challenge: reading his life gives one inspiration and encouragement. (Engle-wood, N. ,I.: Carmelite Press, 1947. Pp. 47. $.50.) 378 November, 1~4 7 BOOK~NOTICE$ In GIVE THIS MAN PLACE, the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Hugh F. Blunt gives us his personal impressions of what the life of St. ,Joseph, the "just man," must have been, and draws from spiritual writers of the past to round out his portrait.’ (Mil-waukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1947. Pp. xii q- 127. $2.50.) Father Peter Resch, S.M., in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, has collected the "words" of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the lessons and re~spgnses of the breviary and from the variable parts of the Mass. Following the divisions of the Rosary, the three sections of the book treat Our Lady’s joy, her compassion. and her glory. The scriptural reference and the liturgical locus of e,ach .of Our Lady’s "remarks" are clearly indicated. The book provides good material for ser-mons and meditations. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishi.ng Company, ,1947. Pp. 125, $2.50.) Whoever is eager to fulfill the wish of Our Lord that the world be drawn to Him through the Immaculate Heart of Mary~ will find in OUR LADY OF. LIGHT an abundant source of inspiration. The book is complete and authoritative. It presents in vivid and convincing fashion the marvelous story of God’s~Mother and her mission to a sih:sick world. The narrative of the Angel of Portugal,, who prepared the three childrenoof Fatim~ for the visits of Mary: the unadorned recital of the loving sacrifices and the early deaths of Francis ~nd Jacinta: and t,he s,,t~ory of Lucy, now Sister Dolores of the Dorothean Sisters, are all included in this ~,olume. (Chanoine C. Barthas and Ptre G. Da Fonseca, S.,J. Milwaukee: The° Brtice. Pub-lishing Company, 1947. Pp. viii -{- 225. $2.50.) ADVICE FOR BOYS, by the Reverend T. C. Siekmann, will no doubt giv~ many boys a first insight into some of the fundamentals of the spiritual life mortifi-cation, mental prayer, spiritual reading, confession, and humility.~ It will also give them some very practical hints on the problems that l~eset the adolescent hoyZ-temptation, girls, confession, and athletics. The style is simple and dii:ect. How-ever, a little more imagination and the use of anecdotes from history and the lives of the saints would greatly enhance the value of the book, as these would make ¯ youthful readers more ready to accept the advice that is given. (New York: ,Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., 1947. Pp. vii -b 140. $2.50.) AMERICAN SAINT: THE LIFE OF MOTHER CABRINI, b’y Mabel Farnum, is based on many longer adult books about St. Frances Cabrini. Written for young people, this little life emphasizes the strong note of confidence in God so prominent in other biographies. It does not pretend to offer anything new but rather tO show this American Saint to American youngsters. Much space is devoted to the khildhood and youth of Frances. The style is not always well-suited to young readers. There are ten interesting black-and-white sketches by LaVerne Riess. (New York: Didier, 1947. Pp. xii -I- 151. $2.50.) CANON LAW, by the Most Reverend Archbishop Amleto Cigognani,’is a work that. is is already well known to English readers. A reprint of the second ievised edition is now available. It will sut~ce here to say that the book is divided into " three parts: I. Introduction to the Study of Canon Law: II. History of the Sources of Canon Law: IIL A Commentary on Book I of the (2ode, (Westminster, Mary-land: The Newman Bookshop. ’ Pp. xiv -b 892. $5.00.) Every priest engaged in missionary work in mission countries will find A 379 BOOK NOTICES COMMENTARY ON THE APOSTOLIC FACULTIES a valuable asset. The book con-talns a detailed commentary on the new formulas of faculties issued b*y the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda in 1941. Any missionary will welcome tbis book as a gift. (Francis ‘j. Winslow, M.M. New York: The Field Afar Press, 1946. Pp. xiv q.- 240. $2.00.) For some years INTRODUCTIO IN CODICEM, by Ulric Beste, O.S.B., has been in use as a text in many seminaries. Priests will find in it a valuable commentary on the canons of the Godembrief, but thorough, and to the point. It refers to all -important replies given by the Holy See and in addition takes cognizance of those decrees of the Baltimore Councils which are still in effect. This third edition is revised and augmented. (Collegeville, Minnesota: St. ,John’s Abbey Press, 1946. Pp. 1024. $8.00.) The great Cardinal Newman held that the earliest Christians are the most representative members of the Church: hence, the unique interest attaching to the writings City of Saint Louis (Mo.), http://www.geonames.org/4407084 http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/181

Review for Religious - Issue 06.6 (November 1947)

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