Review for Religious - Issue 07.4 (July 1948)
Issue 7.4 of the Review for Religious, 1948.
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Issue 7.4 of the Review for Religious, 1948. |
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sluoai_rfr-207 Review for Religious - Issue 07.4 (July 1948) Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Jesuits -- Periodicals; Monasticism and religious orders -- Periodicals. Ellis Issue 7.4 of the Review for Religious, 1948. 1948-07-15 2012-05 PDF RfR.7.4.1948.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 "Review-for Rehg ous J:ULY 15, 1948 The Pres~ence of God ............ c.A. Herbsf ,An Ency~cllcal on the Lifurcjy .......... j. P~tz Plus XI! on Bees ............... ~Aucjustlne.Klaas Giftsto Relicjious-IV ." ........... Adam C. Ellis LaSallian Formula for Apos÷ola÷e--J.i Brother Charles Henry Book Reviews VOLUME VII Questions Answered NUMBER- ! REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS VOLU~IE VII JULy, 1948 NUMBER CONTENTS THE PRESENCE OF GOD-~C. A.. Herbst, S.J .......1..6.9 " AN ENCYCLICAL ON THE LITURG’~--J. Putz, S.2 ..1..7.5.. OUR CONTRIBUTORS . . ". ................. 190 PIUS XII ON BEES-~-Augustine Klaas, S.2 ...........191 GIFTS TO RELIGIOUS--IV. SOME PRACTICAL CASES--, Adam C. Ellis. S.J ...... 195 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- , 25. Place for Clergy at In~’estiture or Profession .......208 " 26. Secret Vote in Council Meetings ............ 208 27. Extreme Unction for the Aged in "Danger of Death" . . . .208 28. Sister Renounces Right to Share in Father’s Will ...... 209 29. Soliciting Votes Prohibited; Delegates Vote according t’o Own . Conscience ................. 210 30. Wills by Religious before and after the Code ....... 210 31. Absence from Public Recitation of Little Office .......211 32.~Making the Sign of the Cross 4. ............ 211 33. Erlenmeyer Flasks as Cruets ............ .. . 212 34. Genuflection after Receiving Holy Communion . . ." . . .212 ¯ THE LaSALLIAN FORMULA FOR A FRUITFUL APOSTOLATE--II.-- Brother Charles Henry, F.S.C ...... 213 ’PENITENTIAL INSTRUMENTS" . . . . . - ......... 219 BOOK REVIEWS-- Come, Follow Mel; My God and My All ...........220 BOOK NOTICES .......... ’ .......... 221 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1948. Volume VII, No. 4. Published bi-monthly; January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Pri’ss, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka. Kansas, by St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, aS the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C.’E1iis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Ke11y, Ed!torial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider, S.J~ .Copyright, 1948, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credi~ be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 d011ars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on Inside back, cover. "[’he Presence of God C. A. Herbst, S.J. dr4-| N HIM~WE LIVE, and move, and are" ()~cts 17:28)? This is | ~the; classical e,x, pression in the New Testament of the presence of God. God s presence is brought incomparably closer’to us in the New Law through JeSus Christ, Our Lord. But this attribut~ is ~brought out strikingly in the Old Law, too. To the father of all believers and the head of the chosen people God said: "I am the Almighty God: walk.before me, and be perfect" (Gem 17:1). "I set the Lord always in my sight" sang the Psalmist (Ps. 15:8). and: "Whither "shall I .go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into ~heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art. present. If I take my wings early in the mornirig," and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: Even there also_shall thy hand Idad me: and thy right hand shall hold me. And I said: Per-haps darkness’shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures. But darkness shall "not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as the day: the darkness thereof, and the light~ thereof are alike to thee." (Ps. 138:7-12.) In ~he New Law, Our Lord expressed it perfectly, of course. "If any one love me. he will keep my word, and my Father will love him. and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him" (John !4:23_). "And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor know-eth him: but you shall know him: because he shall ab.ide with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16-17:) St. Paul wrote to the Ephe-sians: o’’One God and Father of a11, who is above all, and through all, .and in us all" (Eph. 4:6), and to the Corinthians: "Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Cot. 3:16) : "Know" you not. that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is’in you?" (I Cor. 6!19). One can merely mention "here .the inexpressibly wonderful presence of God in the Holy Eucharist and in our hearts in Holy Communion. God is present in three ways, says St. Thomas (Summa I, q. villi, a. 3)’..He is present by His kn. owledge. "Neither is .there any creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to His eyes" 169 C: A. HERBST Review for Religiotts (Heb. 4:13). St. Augustin~ expands on this a little. "’He is to be " " 170 feared in public and in private. If you walk, He sees you. If yo.u go into the house, He sees you. If the light is burning, He sees you. If the light, is out, H~ sees you. Go into your room. He sees,,you. Withdraw into your own heart: H~ sees you. Fear Him: Him Whosd whole c.are it is that He keep His Eyes upon you. Fear Him and be pure. if you wish to sin, find a place whereHis Eyes are not upon yo,u and then do what you please." (Sermon 132.) This presence of God is most important and practical. That is why we find it emphasized for all Christians right in the beginning of the catechism. "God is,every-where. God sees us ~and watches over us. G6d knows all things, even our rhost secret thoughts, words and actions.’: It is a simple truth, too. Cardinal Newman says: "It is my wish to take an ordinary .child, but still one who is s/fie frbm influences destructive of his re-hgious. instincts. Supposing he has offended his parents, he will all alone and without effort, as if it were the most natural of acts, place himself in the presence of God...~. We shall not be wrong in holding that this child has in his mind the image of an Invisible Being, who exercises-a partic.ular providence among us, who is present everywhere, who is heart-reading, heart-changing, ever-accessible; open- to impel~ra~ rion." (Grammar of Assent.) God is presen.t in all things by I/is power. All things are subject. ¯ to Him. He "works" in’all things, "reacheth from end to end mighti-ly, ’and ordereth" all ’things sweetly" (Wis. 8: 1), "upholding, all things by the Word of his power" (Heb. 1:3). St. Ignatius Loyola was deeply impressed by God at work in His’creatures. "Consider how God works and labors for me in all thingS’created on the face’ of the earth--that is, behaves like one who labors -as in the hea~,ens, ele2 ments,’plants; fruits,~attle, etc., giving them beir~g, preserving tl~em, -giving them vegetation and sehsation, etc." (Contemplation for Gaining Love.) Without this presence of God we could not do any-. thing; He must concur with "us in every action. "He gives life to all our members by-His intimate presence, and so communicates life and strength to our faculties for their proper actions tfiat H~ walks with ° our feet, heaf~ with’our ears, sees with our eyes, and feels in our whol~’.. body. Were He to withdraw, we could not act any, more; we should have no faculties or powers to act left." (Le Gaudier, De Perfectio.n~ Vitae Spi[itudlis, Pars V, Sectio viii, caput I.) How truly we say with I~aias: "Lord, thou hast wrought all our works for us" (Is. 26:1.2). ,lulg, 1948 THE 15RESENCE bF GOD By His essence also God is present in all things in thaLHe created them, gave them their ,very substance and,beihg. "I beseech thee, my son; look upon heaven and earth, andall thai isin them: and consider that God made them out of nothing, and’mankind also" (II Much. 7:28). ’.’By him all thinigs consist’" (Col. 1:17). God is more present to usothan we are to ourselves. Lessius the theologian says: "God with all His goodness is in a way more .present to each thing than it is-present to. itself. For He is completely and intimately present to every single particle and indivisible point of the thing,~whereas the thing:itself~ is not completely present to" each single part,,of itself. Neither is one part intimately present to the other, nor is any part present tO the whole." (De Perfectionibus Moribusque Di~inis, Liber II, caput iii). God’s presence shines forth from the works of His Handh. "I will behold thy heavens," the works of thy fingers: the moon arid the stars which thou,.hast fbunded. O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy, name in all the earth" (Ps. 8: 4, 10). "For the invisible things of him, from-the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and’divinity’’ (Rom. 1:20). The seraphic St. Francis saw God in everything: the birds, the fishes, the Iambs,¯the trees,’the flowers, _fire, the wolf of Gubbio. "At eyery step he heard the thousand-fold Sursum Corda echoing from the works of creation, filling him with the knowledge, the praise, and the love of God" .(Felder, The ldealh o[ St.. Francis o~ Assisi, 423). The preserice of God as presented by Sacred Scripture. the theo’- logians, and the saints is a great fact. It is a divine trhth. All solid devotion and genuine piet~r must be founded on’divine truth. But even a ~reat supernatural truth, a divine fact, will have no influence on spiritual living unless we put it to work in our lives. We must realize it, make it real for ourselves. The exercise of the presence ofo God is an aspect 6f recoll~ction.~" "By it we center our ,inner_ "actively.off God p~resent ~with us and in us throughout the day insofar as this ,is c?n_sonant,with the duties of our state in life. We must make our-selves consck~Us of G~d’s presence if it is to help us grow in virtue. Wd must ’°’wake up and live." We must recall the presence of God. "Sire must advert to it, think of it. We must cultivate this virtue by m~king acts so that it_may become a habit. At first the acts will be fear and sh6rt, as before mentafprayer, for instance. This is recommended in The Spiritual Exercises: "I will stand a step or two before the place where I am about to contemplate or meditate f_or~the Space of an 171 ~. A. HERBST Review for Religious~ Our Father, my mind raised or/high, considering how God’our’Lord sees me, and I will make an act of reverence, or humility" (Third Addition.). This sh6uld be done gently,,Without forcing the imagi-nation or straining the mirid. It is a restin9 in the presence of God. Gradually we can increase the number of times: before all prayer, when we change occupations, while moving down the stairs or through the hall,~and so on. A little ingenuity will find" or make many an occasion for rendering successful" this business of perfection ~s it does for making any business a success. The most common way, no doubt, and the simplest way to recall the presence of God is.by the use of ejaculat~ry prayers. Renewing one’s good intentions is another fine means. Occasional short acts will gradually bedome more frequent and longer, and the habit will be formed. Then, since v~e,tr~asure God as oui greatest’good, our thoughts will lovingly turn to Him in those numerous free intervals throughout the day. "Where thy treasur~ is, there is thy heart also" (Matt. 6:21) St. Francis de Sales gives four ways of plating oneself in the presence of God. ~ The first consists in a lively and attentive apprehension’of the omnipresence 6f God. which means that God is in everyt~hing ai~d everywhere, and that there is not any place or thing in this world where he is not most assuredly present: so that, just as th: birds, wh:rever they. fly. always encounter the air. so. wherever we ~o, or wherever we are, we find God present. The second way of placing yourself in this holy present:e, is to think that not only is God in the place where you are. but that he is in, a very special manner in your heart and in the depth of your, spirit, which he quickens and animates with his divine presence, since he is there as the-heart of your heart, and the spirit ’of. yGur spirit. The third way is to consider our Saviour, who in his humanity looks from Heaven upon all’persons in the world, but particularly upon Christians who are his children, and more esRecially upon those who are in prayer, whose actions and be-l~ aviour he observe/, The fourth way consists in making use of the imagination alone, iepresenting te ourselves the Saviour in his sacred humanity, as though he were neat to us; just zs we are wont to represent our friends to ourselves. (Introduction to the Devout Life, II. 2.) The practice of the presence of God was a means to great sanc-tity for Brother Lawrence, a G I of seventeenth cen~tu~y France, who became a discalced Carmelite lay brother cook. The little book of his Conoersatt’ons and Letters is illuminating in this matter and has ’helped many. It may be well, therefore, to hear a few words from him. \ Thus I continued some years, app!ying my mind carefully the rest of the day, and even in the midst of my business, to the’Presence of~Gcrd, whom I considered 172 Jul~l, 1948 THE PRESENCE OF GOD always as wiih me, as in me. At length I came insensibly to do the same thing during my set time of praye~’,’ which caused in me great delight and consolation. This practice produced in me so high an esteem for God that faith alone was capable to satisfy me in that point. I havequitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which my state obliges me. And I make it my only business to persevere in His holy Presence. wherein I keep myself by a simple attention and an absorbing passionate regard to God. which I may call an actual Presence of God: or. to speak better, a silent and seciet conversation of the soul with God. (Sixth Letter.) He is always near you and with you: leave Him nor alone. You think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why, then. must God be neglected? Do not. then, forget Him. but think of Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious empl~oyment of a Christian (Eleventh Letter.) When one deeply-loves another, one longs for him, l~ngs to be "with him. One is happy to be in that presence, just to rest there, though no words are spoken. The lover wants to be with the beloved. This brings great joy. With God, this brings full contentment and peace. Brother Lawrence said: "I know not what I shall become: it seems to me that peace of soul and repose of spirit descend on me. even in sleep. To be without the sense of this peace would be affliction indeed: but with this calm in my soul even for purgatory I would console myself." (Seventh Litter.) Great happiness must come from the ~ertain knowledge that that God is present who loves us beyond measure, who is infinitely ricla so that He can bestow every blessing, infinitely good and willing to give us what is belt for us. This will afford much consolation in time of trial. Men may not know our trials and sorrows, or, if they do, do not understand and do not care. But the ever-present God knows with an infinite knowledge my most secret sufferings. He understands perfectly, living as He does in my very heart. "And He cares. He will sustain and comfort me. But God present with us is infinitely great and holy, too. We must regard Him with profound respect. This, added to great love, gives reverence, a virtue which flows naturally from a realization of the presence of God, a virtue which the world today so woefully lacks. It is that gift of the Holy Ghost called fear of the Lord, that (ear Which is the beginning of supernatural wisdom. In the spiritual life ;c is a tempering virtue and will not permit ~ny undue familiarity in the creature’s love for its Creator. This Creator-creature relation-ship, the most fundamental of all religious relationships, must be carefully preserved. Reverence is the etiquette.of the heavenly court. We must follow its norms if we are to act properly in God’s presence. It will appear in our exterior not only when we pray but in the 173 C. A. HERBST modesty of the eyes, our poise, gentle, gravity, .custody of~ all the senses, and general external deportment. When I come to realize that the God Who cleated me to’praise, reverence, and serve Him and thus to save my ioul is present with me and in me, I c:innot but feel a deep sense of responsibility. And He has mad~e all else for me, too. I am the king of ~reation. "What is there that I ought to do more tomy vineyard, that I have not done to~ it?" (Is. 5:4). One cannot be too careful to live up to His expecta, tions, one just dare not be wanting in fidelity. Noblesse oblioe. "Un, to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and ’to whom they have committed much, of "him they will demand the mbre" (Luke~f2:48’). We certainl3~ must see how absolutely futile and stupid it is ’to act out of human respect when the dyes of God are Upon us. But to sin in His very presence, to violate the divine law in the very presence of God thr~eatening eternal death this is the height o~ ir~solence. Even the pure angels tremble in His sight. ,"Know, you not that you are the temple of God, and ~that the Spirit of God’ dwelleth in you?’ But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God ’is holy, which you ar. ." (I Cot. 3:16, 17.) - We might well pray here as Lessius does at the end of his treatise on the immensity of God. "Turn, I beseech Thee, my heart inward to Thee in the depths of my soul, that I may live with Thee, the noise of creatures far away and the tumult of importuning thoughts silenced. May I ever see Thee present, love Thee, venerate Thee, hear Thy Vgice, present to Thee the miseries of my exile and find con-solation in Thee. May forgetfulness.of Thy presence never overtake me, my Light, the Sweetness of my soul! May I never forget Thee; but’always, whithersoeve~ I may turn, may the eyes of my soul be fixed on Thee" (olo. cir., II, iv). Or more briefly with St. Augustine, "Most sweet God, this shall be my agreement with Thee: I shall completely die to myself that Thou alone mayest live in me. I shall be absolutely silent, that Thou mayest speak in me. I shall be per-fectly quiet, that Thou alone mayest work in me." 174 An Encyclical on the Lit:urgy J. Putz, S.J. [EDITORS’ NOTE: This article is reprinted with permission from The ~Montblg (Vol. XII, pp. 81-97), Since the official English version of the encyclical Mediator Dei was not available at the time of writing, the author worked on the Latin text and ~he Italian version. The Latin text has no subtitles: thbse given in the-article aie-practically identical wih those added in the Italian version., Part II of the encyclical treats of the Eucharistic Cult. As it is the longest and-most important part, we keep it over for a second article.] 44~mHE liturgical movement will one day be recognized as one~ of ¯ | the most ch.aracteristic phenomena o~ modern Catholicism."1 It, was initiated a century ago by Dora Gu~ranger and has developed as part of the Catholic revival which started as a reaction against eighteenth-century rationalism. At the beginning of the present century it received a new and powerful impulse from the " famous Motu proprio of Pius X. It has: ifievitabIy produced some faddists and extremists who have at times hindered its progress and provoked opposition; but in spite of this it has undoubtedly achieved very desirable and much-needed results. Its influence on the Catholic mind and life is evident: the liturgy is~better understood and appre- ¯ tinted; it is celebrated with greater care and devotion: the sacraments . are better frequented: the laity, to a large extent, has been brought to take a more active part in the Mass and th~ prayer of the Church. and to understand better its own organic function within the Mys-tical Bod~ of Christ. During these last ye,ars, the intense fermentation of Catholic - thought and life; which has been 6he remarkable’effect of the Second ¯ World War in several European countries, has been manifesting itself also in the liturgical field. The fervent activity of theologians and pastors ma~y be expected to lead up to an important renewal of liturgi-cal life. Bu~ impatien~t reformers are calling for ~quick changes and sdmetimes are taking the law into tl~eir own hands. Fads and efaggerations have also become bolder. Noris there complete agree-ment on the line to be followedo Some conceive the liturgical revival as a return to the past, while others, more desirous of a really popu-lar liturgy, stress the need for further evolution. ’ Pope Plus XII thought the time had come to make an official ~These are the opening .words of Dora O. Rousseau’s Histoi~e da Mouveraent Liturgique, Paris, 1945. 175 J. PUTZ Ret~ieto for Religious ,statement on the principles that must govern the "liturgical renewal,’~ in order.that the liturgy might be (as it should be) not an occasion of strife but°a bond of union. On November 20, 1947, he issued ~ln encyclical "On the Sacred Liturgy," which begins with the words Mediator Dei et hominum. The headlines of some Catholic news-papers have characterized it as a "warning against liturgical e~rrors.’: But it is immensely more than that. It is primarily positive and doctrinal--an exposition of the meaning and greatness of the liturgy, and an exhortation to a genuine liturgical spirit. The very first v;rords put the liturgy in its true context: it is a continuation of Christ’s priesthood. As a doctrinal document Mediatbr Dei supplements the great encyclical On the Mystical Body, the doctrine of which pervades. every page of it. After having in the previous encyclical made Cath-olics aware of the wonderful nature of the Church, the Holy Father now wants to lead them to a more intense and intelligent participa-tion in the life of the Church, of which the liturgy is the most impor-tant expression. While reproving those who, "too.keen on novel-ties, stray from the path of sound doctrine and prudefice," the Pope" also expresses his sorrow because in "some places the study of the liturgy is too much neglected. Therefore, while restraining the imprfident, whose exaggerations can only "compromise a holy" cause," he wants also to rouse those who are indolent or fearful of any progress. He encourages legitimate p~rogress: indeed, as one commentator puts it, "movement" in the liturgical movement" will date from Mediator Dei.2 After an introduction which ~xplains the reasons that have induced the Holy Father to speak on this matter, the encyclical devel-ops its theme in four parts: (1) the nature of the liturgy in general; (2) the Eucharistic cuIt; (3) the Divine Office and the liturgical year;. (4) pastoral directions. PART I. THE NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE LITURGY I. The Priesthood of Christ Continued Man’s fundamental duty is to acknowledge and worship the divine Majesty--a duty, primarily of each indNidual man, but also a collective duty of the human community. The perfect cult of God, of which the Old Testament was but a shadow, began with Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the New Testa-ment. His whole life on earth was a priestly life, spe~t in prayer 2Gerald Ellard, S.J., in America, Jan. 10, 1948, p. 408. 176 Ja[~/, 1948 AN ENCYCLICAL ON THE LITURGY" and s’acrifice, consummated on the Cr(~ss; in all His actions He had but" one end in view, the glory of the Father and the,ever-gr.eater .~anctification of men, by which men-in turn give God the glory due to Him. His priest}~ood is to continue: "The divine Redeemer wished thatthe priestly life begun~ by Him in His mortal body should continue throughout the centuries~iri His Mystical Body which is the Church. For this~ end He instituted a visible priesthood to offer everywhere the ’pure oblatiofi,’ in order that all men, from.East and West[ freed from sin, might spontane-ously and willihgly ~erve God." The Church, then, continues ’the priesthood of Christ, especially in, the sacred liturgy. She has the~sa’me purpose and function as the Word’Incarnate. By her teaching and her government, by her sacri-fice and sacraments, by her prayers and her blood, she tends to make Christ grow in the souls of men, to build up here on earth that "holy temple" (Eph. 2: 19-22) in which the divine Majesty may receive a’ cult Well-pleasing to Him. The liturgy "is the public .worship of the Church, the worship of the Whole Christ, Head and m(mbers. "In every liturgical action, together with the Church is present her divine Founder. Christ isopresent in the august Sacrifice of the altar, both in the person of the~,minister and especially under the Eucharistic Species." He is present in the sacraments by His powkr, which He infuses into them to make them instruments effective of sanctity. He is present, finally, in the praises and .supplications addressed to God, acording to His promise, ’W~ere two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them.’ " The litu~rgical action began with the foundation bf the Church. Wherever there was a group of Christians, there "we find an altar on which ’the sacrifice is offered and round which evolve the other rites that sanctify men and enable them to give glory to God." Among these rites are, first of all, the sacraments; then hymns and psalms for the praise of God; shcred readings; and, finally, the homily by the 6ne who presides at the hssembly: ’ As time went on, the cult evolved according to circumstances and the needs of the faithful; it was enriehed’ wi~h new rites and formulas. "Thus the priesthood of Jesus Christ is ever active, since the sacred liturgy is nothi’ng bu~ the exercise of that priesthood." 2. Interior and Exterior Cult This section treats the most fundamental problem~of the liturgy, the relation and "tension" that exists between exterior and interior worship, between objective and subjective elements 0f’spirituality~ between: socihl and individual oreligion. The cult due to God is both interior and ixterior. Exterior wor-ship requires rio justification as~ it is natural to ~.man, neclssary for social ~worship, and apt,’ to stimulate and intensify/ interior religion. .But the esse~tial_ elsrrient of worship is interior self-dedication, without, hrhich ’:religion becomes a vain and empty fdrmalism." (cf. Mark 7: 6: Is. 29: 13). The Chdrch never’separates the two; she wants exterior observances to be the expression ’of a sincere heart ~triving after perfection in the service of God. Theoliturgy " has a special power Of its own to sanctify the. soul. The Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments are-efficacious primarily ex opere operato; while the prayers and ceremonies with which the Church has adorned the sacrifice and the sacraments, or the sacra- "mentals, and other rites instituted by the hierarchy, draw their efficacy chiefly° ex oper~e operamis Ecclesiae, "in so far as the Church is holy and acts always in close union with her Head." But this objective power of the liturgy can be exaggerated or misunderstood. Its relation to private prayer and personal effort must be clearly grasped. There are some who, partially inspired by .a legitimate reaction against prevalent individualism; would have us practice an exclusive liturgical or "objective" spirituality, concen-trating on the mystery of the Mystical Body and seeking only to unite ourselves to the liturgy in union with the community. The liturgy with its merging, as it were, of one’s personal life in the life of the community is held to be all-sufficient. To it is opposed what is called ’~subjective" or individual piety. Under this. depreciatory lab~el are put all religious p.ra~c~tices not strict~l.y liturgical,, as pgiva~te prayer, meditation, asceticism. These ’,’new ,theories,’,’ ihe encyclical says, are "false, insidious, and m0st~pernicious.’’ Pius XII has ~repeatedly. condemned such° tendencies. He now proceeds to show at length the necessary ufiity ¯ of the two aspects,, objective and subjective, of the spiritual fife.’~ The liturgy requires personal effort and in turn stimulates, it; li~turgical piety,and,,personal piety must vivify one another. Christ’s action, v.g., in the Eucharist, produces-its effect onls, with the free co-operation of His members; for "they :ire living members endowe~l with reason and will; they°must.., consume the life-giving food, transform it into themselves, remove whatever might 178 ,/ul~/, 1948 AN ENCYCLI~AI:. ON THE LITURGY " . hinder its efficacy." Hence private prayer, meditation, and other 9ractic~es not strictly liturgical, though t1"iey.cahnot replace the Mass ~nd,the sacraments, are most praiseworthy and altogether necessar’¢ insofar_ as ~they aim at enlightening..the intellect, aroi~sing and strengthefiing thd, will, withdrawing the soul fr6mosin, and-turning it ,towards whole’-hearted’service of God--all this through 2esus Christ whose life and power are active in all His members. This personal-activity and:ascetical effort disp6se the faithful to participate more intensely and with greater fruit in the liturgy,--~the sacrifice, the sacraments, and other sacred rites: and the liturgy in turn will further increase tl~ir zest for prayer and Christian abnegation, for :efiergetic c011ab’6ration<wit.h divine grace, ~nd for °an~ev~r more perfect imi~a’tion of,the" virtues of the’Redeemer. "Nor °dothey~ thu~~ork foi’their private profit only, but als6 for that of-the~ whole. .Body of fhe Church. For whatever good is done in this Body flows from the power of its .’Head and redohnds to the,benefit of all i~s members." " Mother Church herself in her teaching and exhortations has the same end as in her strictly sacerdotal action. Sfie wants to lead" her child’ren to deVel0p the life of Ch~:ist in them. And .through theme-laity as well as priests~she Christianizes the whole of human life, private, conjugal, social, even-economic ahd politidal life. This deep unity of all the adtivities of the Mystical Bbdy excludes all those artificial oppositions which~ten~l to ddpiecisaotme. e" a~s p"e~c t’s of its life. " ~’ "Hence in the sp.iritual life there can be no opp0sitiori br dis-co~ rdance ~between God’s action .which continues our redemption ’by infusing grace,~in our souls and ~man.’s energetic collaboration which prevents’God’s’gift from being received in,vain (of. Ii Cot. 6: 1’)-; between the efficiacy ex oloerebloerato of the exterior rites of.the sacra-ments and tl~e opus’oloerdntis or meritorius act of those who minister" or "r~ceive them; no opposition" between publie- supp.lications, and pri-vate pray~rsi° between ethics and contemplation: between asceticism’ and litur’gical’ piety; nor i~s ther’e any opposition Or di~’cordance between the jurisdictionhl a~d teaching functions of the ecclesiastical 1.fi~rarchy~ and"the0strictly sacerd0thl p6wer which ig ~er~ised’ inth~ sacred ministry." It is°for grave rea~oris, ’the Pope adds, that the Church ’wants priests and religious to give a definite time t6 meditation~ examina-tion "dr’conscience’, ~nd other s~iritual exercises; as they :ire specia11~ 179 ,I. PuTrz o Review for Religiqus, destined to perform the liturgical functions of sacrifice and divine praise. "No doubt, liturgical prayer, being the official supplicatiou of the nbble Spouse of Christ, possesses a greater dignity than private prayers. But this superiority does not mean that there is an opposi-tion or discordance between these two kinds of prayer." Animated as they are by" the same spirit, both express the life of Christ in us, and both tend to the_same end: that Christ.be formed in us. The last part of the encyclical will insist on the .duty of pastors to recommend extraqiturgical devotions. 3. The Hierarchic Character or: ibe Liturgy! "The Church, being a society, requires an authQrity,, a hierarchy*. All the members of the Mystical Body share in the same life and tend to the same end, but not all possess the same power, not all are able to perf, orm the same actions." This section stresses (1) the unique character of the special priesthood against heterodox~conceptions of the "universal priesthood," and (2) the supreme authority of the Church in liturgical matters. This latter point will be more devel-oped in the following section. Tl~e priesthood consecrated by holy orders forms the very foun-dation of the Church. The Christian priest is above all the repre-sentative of the divine Redeemer. His power is supernatural, ancl therefore must be received, not from’the community, but from God: "As the Father has sent me, so also I send you." "He who hears yo,u, hears me." It is given only to the Apostles and to those who have received the imposition of bands from them or their successors. The sacrament of orders distinguishes,priests from the rest of Chris-tians as baptism distinguishes Christians from other men. Ordained priests alone have been introduced-into ,the sacred ministry by a divin~e call. ’They alone have been made divine instruments through whom the supernatural life of the Mystical Body of Christ is com-mufiicated. They alone have received the indelible charact3r which enables them to perform those religious actions by .~which men are sanctified and God is glorified. Their hands alone ,have been con-secrated "that whatever they bless be blessed, and ,what they consP-crate be consecrated and sanctified in the name of Our,Lord ~lesus Christ."a The sacred liturgy, then, is performed chiefly by priests in tht aRoman Pontifical, Ordination of a priest: prayer of the bishop at the anointing of" hands. 180 July, 1948 AN ENCYCLICAL.ON THE LITURGY name of’th~ Church. Hence itS.rshape and OrganiZation, must needs depend on the a~thority of tl~e Church; the more so as the liturgy is Closely connected ~¢ith, the truths of our faith, the integrity 0f which the Church must safeguard. H’ere the encyclical explains the true ¯relation that exists~between liturgy, and faith. °The formu_la~. "Lex brandi, ~lex cred~endi’" (the rule of prayer is:the rule of faith) does not mean, as some have pre-ten. deal, that the liturgy is an experimental ’teSt that decides which dogmas are to be retained: namely, that those doctrines which through the liturgy bear fruits of ,devotion and sanctity would have to be approved by the Church; the others, not. In other words, the lit-urgy would create dogma. ~The truth is exactl.y the reverse. The liturgy is a profession of.the Catholic faith. It mirrors the faith of the Church; hence~ it can be~ used aS an argument to show what the Church believes, and in this sense it is said "Leqem credendi lex statuat supplicandi’" (the rule of.prayer determines the rule of’faith): b.ut it is also clear that the principle could with even greater truth !nverted: "The rule.~of faith determines the rule of prayer." 4. Progress and Development of the Liturg~l The..liturgy is made up. of divine elements, which.. Were insti, tuted by Christ Himself, and. of human elements. The latter can change and e;colye; and they do ,c~hange, "for the Church is’a living organism, and ’therefore, even in what concerns the liturgy, it grows and evolves~ adapting itself to the needs and circumstances of the" ¯ times." .These changes are approved by the Church with the assist-ance of tiae Holy Ghost for the greater honor of God and the good’ of souls. The .encyclical enumerates some of the causes that have deter-mined the evolution of the liturgy: the progress of ~dogma, as evi- ~denced. in Christ61ogy, the sacramental doctrine, Mariology; _changes in the sacraynental discipline, as in the sacrament of penance, Corn. ¯ ~haunion under one species~ the institution and then the suppression of the catechumenate; new developments and initiatives first ,started out-sidle the liturgy proper, as the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, to the Passion,~ to the Sacred Heart, to Our Lady, and to St~ Joseph. ~In order to watch over,~he purity .of the cult and to’~dis,card abuses, Sixtus V in 1588 instituted, the .Congregation of Rites. ~deed,. a matter that concerns so closely the religious life of;the ~c0m-munity, the exercise of Christ’s priesthood, the unity and~harmofiy 181’ J. PUTZ Revieto [or Religious " ~if th~’~Mysticrll Body, and not rarel)i the integrity 6f the Catholic faith, caflnot be left to the whims of private initiative. The-Pope alone his the right t6’introduce and approve any change ifi the public cult. Bishops have ’the right and. the duty ’to see to it that the lit{lrgical law be exactly observed. The Hbly F~ther ~leplore~ a’ cert.’iin anarchy which" is ~aanifestin~ itself in ~ome~quarters; setting aside the law of the Church even~in i~p~ortant matters.~ Among these, abuses he mentions,the illegitimate" use of the"vernacular’in the celebration of the Mass. ’ "The h~e;of Lati~, as found in the greate’r part" 6f"the Church, is a visible ~’nd .comely ’sign of unity, as well as ar~ effective s’afegtiard against the corrupti~r~ of sound doctrine. Howeve.r," in not a few ceremoniesthe u~e Of the v~rnacular can be-very useful for the people. Nonetfieless it is’the prerogative of"the Holy See to permit this, and without first c6n~ulti’ng it and obtaining its approval nothing" at all in this matter may be done." These words manifest" the progres’sive spirit of Pi’us X~I, pr0vec~ ¯ already by his’bold approval of the new,Latin Psalter for liturgical use.*and,-in another .field, by the encyclical Divino af[tante on the s.tudy of the,Bible. He clearly shows himself disposed tO grant per-missiofi ’for ~the use of the vernacular in some p~arts 9f th6 Ritual. though not yet at Mass. ~ - ~ Litu.r~ists lo~v~ to’lo~k back to the ancient liturgy, ~and indeed we ~an, learn man~. lessons from it. But at times an-unbalanced idmiration for what is-ancieni tends to depreciate" all"later dev_elop-rbient~ an~l" tries "to r~vive~ ancient practices, although no !onger in harm6~y with the present .rubrics. This antiquarian fad i~ rebuked r~ther sharply in the encyclical. ~;The liturgy of ~he ~incient ~0eriod is surely woithy of respect ;_ bfi~’ aft 01d~’6~hg~ is hot to be regarded, m~rel)i beciaus~ it s~a~l~i~6f a~tiquit);, as the best ~it-her in itself, or’ With. regard td later times anal 6d@ ~ondi~ions. Recerit~ liturgical riles, are’ also; Wbitl~y" of reipect, because ~hey-have been ~ntro_cluced ~under the~ gtlida~nie of"fh’e ?H~ly Spirit who remains With ’th~ Church till the end’of tiirie., :... ,.. "It is ~rise~ and praiseworthy to" go’ba~k’t6" the origins ’o.f !itur~y, as they throw muchqight on the meaning o~ feaStS, formul~is, and ceremohies; 13tit it surel~ is neither ~ise riot 15raisevCorthy to bring ev~r~rthing back-to’ant~iquity." - ¢ The Pope meriti6ias specificAnstances: thos~ are ffrong Who v~ant to°restore "to the°altar its a~ncient forn~ of a~table; whb wi~h ..to eli- 182 July, 1948 AN ENCYCLICAL ON THE LITURGY minate black from among the liturgical vestments;¯who exclude sacred images and statues from the churches; wh~ ’require crucifixes nbt to show the Redeemer’s terrible sufferings; who condemn all poly-phonic singing even whenit conforms to the norms laid down,by the Holy See. ’,~ No Catholic. in his senses would think of rejec.t.ing the recent definitions of Catholic doctrine ¯to go back to the formulas of the first cbu~cils: or of repudiating the present laws of the chtirch to return to the.ancient canon law. In like manner it would be neither right nor intelligent to ignore the historical evolution of the liturgy. "Such, an attitude Would revive the craz, y archaeologism of the ille-gitimate council of Pistoia," which was condemned by Pius VI in, 1.794. ¯ PART III. THE DIVINE OFFICE AND THE~LITURGICAL YEAR 1. The Dioine O~ce Because the ideal of Christian life is intimate union with G~d, the cuh’which the Church renders to God extends to all the hours of the day and through the whole year by means of the. Divine Office. The present Office has gradually evolved from the public and collec-tive prayer of the early Christian communities. "The ,’Divine Office,’ therefore, is the prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ, addressed to God in the name and for the benefit of all Christians, since it is performed by the priests and other ministers of the Church and by religious delegated for this office by the Churcla herself." , . The divine character of this permanent "sacrifice of praise" is beautifully described: "When .the Word of God took a human nature He brought to .this earthly exile the song that is sung in heaven, for all eternity. He now~ unites, to Himself the whole community of mankind and asso-ciates it with, Himself in the singing of this canticle of praise .... He Himself through His Spirit entreats the Father in us." The Pope here quotes St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 85, n. 1: "No greater Gift could God have bestowed on men [than to make His own Son to be. our Head, so that we form with -Him one Man, Head and Body]. Jesus pray~ for us as as our Priest; He prays in us as our Head; He is prayed to by us as our God ....Let us recognize in Him our voices, and His voice in us." To the exalted dignity of this prayek of the" Church must cor-respond the intense devotion of our souls. "’It is not a mere reci- 183 J. PUTZ Reoieu, for Religious ration 6f a~ mere song however perfect; . . . it is above all an elevation " of mind and soul. to.God i’n order’Go dedicate to Him ourselves and all~ our actions in Union with Christ." The recitation of ttiese" prayers is how the °spedal office of priests and religious. Nothing is prescribed to the laity in this matter; bul~ ttie Holy’ Father "qS’ anxious to see them take an~ active part"in the Sunday Vespers in their parish. In this c6nnection he stresses once ¯ again the sanct~ficatton of feast days. 2. Christ in His Mgsteries This section treats of the religious and pedagogical significance of the liturgical yea’r, the recurring seasons of which put before us Christ ~n His mysteries of humiliation, redemption, and triumgih. "The aim of the liturgy in calling to mind the mysteries of Jesus Christ is. to. make all the faithfulshare in them so that the divine Head of the, Mystical Body may dev, elop His life of holiness .in all His members. The souls of the Christians should be, as it ~were, altars on kvhich the various phases of the sacrifice of our High Priest ~ire relived one after another." The liturgical year is "a magnificent hymn of praise which the Christian family addresses to the heavenly Father through Jesus, its permanent Mediator," but it calls on our part for personal collabora-tion and intense effort. Each: seasbn of the annual cycle puts before our minds and hearts one phase of Christ’s life and sacrifice, each with its own spirit and its special lessons; the whole constitutes a wonderful school in which, through the variety of joyful, soirowful, and glorious mysteries, we learn to love and imitate Christ e~er better. The cult of Christ in His mysteries has raised several theological discussions. ~ " ~ Some rece’nt writers have. tried to prove that’this concentration’on the historical mysteries of Christ is a deviation ~from genuine Christian. spirituality. The realoChrist, or~ whom our religion must be tered, is (they.say) not the historical Christ, but the "pneumatic" or glbrified Christ Who sits at the right of the Father. Popular piety has dethroned Christ; it has obscured the glorified" Christ and shbsti-tuted for Him the Christ’of the earthly life. To go back to the true spirit of Christianity, we should even remove~’ from our churches the crucifixes depicting the ’suffering Chrisf. But this conception is obviously false.. The Christ of CatholiC. tradition, the Christ Of thd liturgy and of our spiritual life, is the 184 July, 194"~ AN ENCYCLICAL ~N THE LITURGY whole Christ, in all the mysteries of His life; His eternal generation,, His birth frown a .virgin, His hidden and public life, His passion, His triumph, and eternal glory; Christ, an example to be imitated as well zs a Master to be listened to, the Mediator of our salvation, the foun-tain of our life, the Head of the Mystical Body. His sufferings being at the origin of our salvation, it is good theology to put them into fulI light, the more so as the Mass daily represents them, and all the sacraments are in cldse relation to the Cross. The liturgical year--tl~e Pope adds in a prekious paragraph that sds out the dee~,meaning of the liturgy--is not a cold and dead representation of facts that belong to the past. No~ it is Christ Him-self, ever living in His Church and continuing the work of mercy begun during His mortal life (when’ He "went about, doing good’.’ [Acts 10:38]), in order to put our souls in contact with His mys-teries and make them draw life from them. These mysteries, then, are ever present and operative. How are Christ’s mysteries present and operative in the liturgy? This question has been discussed much of late. The encyclical ~tates:. they are present "not in that uncertain and nebulous manner which some recent writers have imagined," but as Catholic doctrine and the Fathers of the Church teach us; namely, ’~they are outstandi_ng examples of Christian perfection, they are fountains of divine grace through the merits and intercession of Christ, and they remain in us by their effects~ach one of these mysteries being in its own way a czuse of our salvation." Their efficacy is enhanced by the prayers~of Mother Church: while proposing the mysteries of our Redeemer to our contemplation, she calls down the heavenly gifts by which her children may be fully imbued with the spirit" of those mysteries, through the power 6f Jesus Christ. ..... Thanks to His influx and power we can, with the collaboration of our will, assimilate that vital force, as branches from the tree, .as members from the head; we can thus, progressively and laboriously,. transf6rm out’selves until we reach ’the full measure of the stature of’Christ’ " (Eph. 4:13). The reader will have noticed how Pius XII, ’who speaks so deeply of Christ’s action in us, takes every opportunity to stress the indispen-sable role of personal effort. 3. The Feasts of the Saints Along with the mysteries of Christ, the,liturgical year celebrates 185 ,? J. PUTZ the feast of the Saints. Reoieto [or Religious This kection of the encyclical briefly ~justifies the cult of thesaints~: the virthes of Christale retie[ted in the apb-stles, ¯ haartyrs, confessors, and virgins; while rejoicing at the glory~ofthe saints, We are urged on by their examples and inspiied with confi-dence in their intercession. Our Lady’s glor~r, perfection, and media-tion are specially extolled "The Holy i=ather concludes with an exhortation couched ih liturgical style: "Along this liturgical road, which i~ opened to us every year anew, ~rr’ied forward ’by the sanctifying a~tion of the Church, and streng-thened by~ th~ help-’and examples of .the Saints, above all of the the Immaculate Virgin Mary, "let us come forward with sincere hearts in t’he full assurance of faith, our guil~:y conscience~ purified sprinkling, ~ bur bodies wasl~ed clean in hallowed water’ (Heb. 10: 22): let us join our High Priest to liveowith Him and shaie Hig sentiments, so that through Him we may ’reach the iriner sancfuar’ behind the veil’ (Heb. 6:19) and there praise the heavenly Father through all eternity.’-" A brief paragraph sums up the first three parts of the encyclical, stressing the theocentric meaning of the liturgy and of Christian life: "Such is the essence and m~aning of the liturgy; it concerns the sacrifice, th~ sacraments, and the divine praise: its aim is to unite us with Christ and’ make us reach holiness through the divine Redeemer; in order that Christ be~’honored, and through Him and i~a Him th~ Most Blessed Trinity: ~loria Patti et Filio et Spiritui S, an~io." PART IV. PASTORAL DIRECTIVES ~ In the last part of the ~ncyclical .the Holy Father draws the prac-tical conclusions from the principles:so far exposed. The litu~gital fipostolafe mi~st,~b’e" promoted energetically, ’but ~vithout-’on~-sided stress. Between the liturgy and other spiril~ual practices there,is’no real opposition, but ,harmony, since both have the same p~inciple arid the same end. Hen(e: o ~° I. Approoed Extra-liturgical Deootions must be Recommended The ’Church herself urges priests and religious to practice certain. devotions, and the faithful should also profit by them. The mote important of th~se are meditation, examination of conscience, retreats, visits to the Blessed Sa~cram~nt, the Rosary.’ These exercises purify and energize the soul; thus they dispose it also to participate in the JuI~,1948 ENCYCLICAL ON THE LITURGY liturgy with greater fruit and without the danger of turning it into a vain ritualism. If some priests, in their .indiscreet zeal for promoting "liturgical piety," lock the church outside the hours ~of public :worship, or dis-courage confession whe~n made out of mere de~otion, or neglect to foster, especially among the young, devoti6n to Our Lady fwhichis a sign of predestination), they.are doing harm and must be stopped.. Asr~egards frequen~ confession, the Pope drives h~me what he wrote ~_n his encyclical Mgstici Corporis. Retreats donstitute the most intensive exercise of "private piety."~ They "Have been strgngly recommended by the Roman Pontiffs, particularly’by °Plus XI, who .wrote ~ special er~cyclical to promote them. Pius XlI also in the present encyclica! insists that as many as Fossible,of the laity, especially members of Catholic Action and reli-. gious associations, be brought to attend retreats and monthly recol-lections; "for they are most. useful, nay necessary, to form souls to t~ue devotion and holiness, so that they can draw greater fruit fron~" the liturgy." If they are given in the right spirit, they must increase the love for the divine cult and the desire of the sacraments. As for the method to be followed, there are many roads to sanctity, and the~Holy Ghost leads souls by different ways. Personal freedom and. the divine action must-be respected. Yet the Spiritual Exercises o(.. St. Ignatius are specihlly approved and recommended for their "wonderful efficacy:" The Pope then speaks of some devotions which, "though not strictly li[urgical .... are in some way inserted into the liturgy." He mentions May and June devotions in honor of Our L~dy and of the Sacred "Heait, triduums and novenas, the Via Ccucis, andothers. It would be wrong and harmful to force these°excellent exercises into liturgical schemes, thbUgh the spirit of the liturgy must preserve them from anything improper, unworthy of the house of God, or con-trary to sound spirituality. Genuine devotion should be encouraged and developed. We should remember however that "Christian life does not consist in the multiplicit~ and variety of prayers and practices, but rather in making these exercises really fruitful for the spiritual advancement of the faithful and thereby for the progres~ of the whole Church." 2. The Liturqic(2l Apostolate sho;zld be Promoted The Holy Father urges the clergy "to promote tho,~e initiatives 187 J~ PUTZ Reoieua [or Religlou~ which"give the people a deel6er knowledge of the sacred liturgy, so that they may take part in i~ more fully, more easily, and in a truly Christian spirit~’" always With reverent obedience to the rubrics and the directions of the Church; Some special points oncerning~ the exterior cult are mentioned first. Great care must be taken to ke_ep the sacred edifices and altars’ worthy of their high purpose. "I am consumed with zeal for Thy house" should’ be the spirit of every priest. Everything about th~ buildings, the vestments, the liturgical appointments, must be, if .not lux~urious, at least perfectly neat and becoming. The Pope protests against’~a certain cheapening of the cult and of religion, which con-sists in’exposing for the veneration of the people without just cause a profusion of statues and images all over the church and even on the altars, and ih giving prominence to ~hings of little importance ,while ~ssential things are neglected. As regards sacred music, Plus XII confirms the rules given by Plus X and Pius XI. The Gregorian chant, which the Roman Church treasures a~ a" fam{ly heritage, adds dignity and solemnity" to. the sacred mysteries, contributes not a little to the devotion of the faithful, and is strictly prescribed for some parts of the. liturgy. Therefore’in seminaries and religious institutes it must be dil!gently cultivated,~and at least in the more important churches the ancient schoIae cantorum (liturgical choirs) should be revived. But what ~he encyclical stresses most is the beauty’and powero~ ~ongregafional singing. The Pope here quotes from his predecessor: .... In order that the faithful may m6re activei~r’ participate in divine worship, let the people Once more sing the Gregorian chant for those parts that are meant to b.e sung by the people. For.indeed, it is v,ery necessary that when the faithful assist at sacred ceremonies their should not be me~ely detached and dumb o~ilookers, .but, filled with a deep sense~of the beaut~ of the liturgy, they s.hould sing alternately with the clergy or the choir according to th~ rubrics. If this is done, then it will no longer happen that the people eith-er m~ake no answer at all to the common prayers (v)hether th~ be .said in the liturgical language or in the vernacular), or at best answer in a low and vague murmur,’ (Plus XI, Constitution Dit~ini Cultus, 9.) "If the congregation assists ~ttentively at the sacrifice ~f the altar, w.here our Savior together w~ith His sons redeemed by His blood sings the nuptial hymn o~ His immense love, then surely they cannot remain silent, since, as St~ Augustine says, "cantare amantis, est" ~88 July, 1948 AN ENCYCLICAL ON THE LITURGY .(when someone is in love he sings), and, ’as the "old proverb has it, !qui bene cantat, his orat’ (he who sings well, prays twice). Hence the whole Church militant, people and clergy, joins.her voice to that of the Church triumphant and of the angelic choirs.., according to the words [of the Preface]: ’we beseech Thee that we may be admitted to join our voices to theirs.’ " Modern music and singing, however,~ar~ not excluded from o’,~r. churches. If they contain nothing that is p~ofane or unbecoming in a sacred place and do not strain after unusual effects, they can con-tribute to the splen’dour .o.f the ceremonies and to genuine devotion. The clergy should also foster, popular religious singing, as it is apt to move the, crowds to deeper faith and devotion. "Let the con-cordant and p~verful song of our people go, up to hdaven like the roar of the ocean; let their harmonious and reso.unding voice be the expression of ’one heart and one soul’ as becomes brothers and sons of one Father." The encyclical adds some directions concerning the ~dmission of modern art (architecture, sculpture, painting) into our cl~urches. As long as it keeps within the boufids of due reverence, it must be given free scope to add its voi~e to the magnificent hymn the geniuses of past centuries have sungin the honor of the Catholic faith. But the extremes of ultra-realism and ultra-symbolism must be avoided, and the needs of the Christian community should be taken into account rather than the peculiar taste of the artist. Some recent developments of modern art seem a depravation of true art. and offend genuine reli-gious feeling. " All this concerns the exterior cult and it has its importance. More important, however, is the task of getting the faithful to live the life of the ’litu.rgy and to imbibe its supernatural spirit. It is necessary, in the first place, that in the tr~aining of young priests liturgy be given a place by the side of ascetical, theological juridical, and pastoral sciences. Seminarists must be taught to know the rubrics, to understand the meaning of the c~remonies, and to appreciate their majesty and beauty; and this, in such a way that they not only learn" the correct and dignified performance of the liturgical actions, but acquire a close union with the ~igh Priest and become "holy ministers of holiness." Then, the people ~ must be brought to take an active part in the~ liturgy in union with the priest; only thus will it reallybe a~ sacred action in which the pastor together with his flock offers God the 189 J. PUTZ homage dud to Him. To obtain this, the bishops should use every means their prudence judges suitable~ Altar boys should be Jchosen from every social class and carefully trained. All Catholics should be made to love. the Mass and actively to participate ii~ the sacrifice .according to the methods described.in the second part of the encycli-cal; for the august sacrifice of .the altar isthe foremost act of divine worship, and should therefore be the fountain and center of.Christian piety." The clergy should be untiring in promoting frequent recep-tion of Holy Communion, "the sacrament of piety, the.sign of unity, the bond’of charity" (St. Augustine, Tract. 26 in dohn, 13.) To create this spirit among the laity, we must make them’realize the treasures contained in the sacred liturgy by means of timely ser-mons and especially of public conferences, study weeks, and other similar d~vices. For this, priests should avail themselves of the help of the members of Catholic Action. Here the Holy Father warns once more against the "subtle and pernicious errors" to be avoided in this matter: namely, a false ticism and noxious quietism; a.dangerous humanism and doctrines ¯ which pervert the Catholic notion of faith; finally, an exaggerated orchaeologism. ~He adds two tl~eolog!cal theories which concern rather the fundamental doctrine of the Mystical Body: ’~’the errone-ous opinion of those who teach that the glorified human nature Christ dwells really and continuously in the ’justified’; ,or that one i~lentical grace (numero eamdem) unites Christ and the members,of His Mystical Body." Pius XII is well aware that the task he is entrusting to bishops and clergy the liturgical renewal requires patient and persevering efforts, and is beset with difficulties and disappointments. Therefore (like Pius XI in 1928, at the,end of his Apostolic Constitution Di~ini Cultus) he adds,some words~of encouragement: "Donot let yourselves be disheartened by difficulties; never let your pastoral zeal be discouraged." OUR CONTRIBUTORS J. PUTZ is a member of the theological faculty of St. Mary’s Coll~ge, Kurseong, D. H. Ry., India. BROTHER CHAREES HENRY is Director of De La Salle College, the Christian Brothers’ scholasticate at the Catholic University, Was~ingtOn~ ADAM ’ C. ELLIS, C. A. HERBST;"and AUGUSTINE, KLAAS are members of the faculty Of St. Mary’s College; St. Mar~is, Kansas. ’ 190 ,Pi s, XII on. Bees Translated b~r Augu,stine Klha~, S.J. Introduction (by the translator) BEES ale fasc!na~ting little creatures of God. They have aiwa_ys intrigued, mankind by their subtle, winning ways, though o~n occasion, some of their .ways.are less than winning, and one ~s not subtle, at hll. The observation andstudy of. their structure, ha.bits, spirit of work, organization, and marvelous, co~operation, ever interested mane,~en more than their valuable products of honey and wax. " Then, too, lesspns~of ,~wisOom abound in ~ees.. Who has. not delighted in the exact descriptions of the old classic authors? Homersings of bees which ~’issuing ever. fresh from a hol-low rock, fly in dusters on the’vernal flowers" (lliacl, II, 87), Vi~rgil vividly notes their activity in the early summer fields and meao.dows0 and in the hive, where "the work goes busily forward, and the fragrant~honey is redolent of thyme" (Georo~cs, IV, 169). Shake-speare, too, tells of ,singing masons building roofs of gold" and of’ diie punishment meted out by "sad-eyed justice" to the "lazy, "ya~ning drone" (Henr~t V). Holy Scripture, especially the Old Testament. speaks qui~e often~ of bees.. Dense armies of soldiers are compared to bees (Is. 7:18) chasing man (Deut. 1:44) and surrounding him (Ps. 1.17:12). "The bee," says Ecclesiasticus (. 11:3), "is small among flying thing.s, but her fruit hath the chiefest sweetness." And an addition to the Septuagint version of Proverbs (6th chapter) commends the bee after the ant: "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wiidom .... Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious sheis; and how her industry deserves ’-our respect, for kings and the sick ’make use of the product of her labor for their health. Indeed, she is glorious an d desired by all, and though she be frail, she is honored, because she treas~ires wisdom." Honey is often mentioned in Holy Scripture; for instance,. Chanaan was a 1and’that "floweth with milk and honey." (Ex. 3:8). Honey .wasa rather essential ingredieht of Saint John the Baptist’s diet (Matt. 3:4). I do not know, that Holy Scripture anywhere mentions beeswax. ,AUGUSTIN KLAAS Reoieto [or Religious Deborah, the Hebrew word for bee, is an Old Testament feminine . name. P~b~cca~’s nffi~e l~0~e that name (Gem 35:8). The Fathers of the, Church draw many lessons from bees. l~oll~o~ing in thei~ °footsteps, spiritual writers like Saint. Fra’ncis de Sales and Saint Teresa of Avi!a see holy wisdom ih these tin~ humming insects. For example, Saint Teresa says that in the prayer of quiet the will should not chase after the understanding, which now is "merely inaking its~elf a nuisance," but rather enjoy its tranquil union with God and "be as recollected as the wise little bee, for if no bees’entered the hive and they all went about trying to bring each other iial there would not be much chance of their making any. honey" (Autobiogratghy, Chapter 15). Elsewhere she asserts that’we should sometimes leave off soul-searching, remembering "that the bee is con-stantly.’ flying about from flower tb flower, and in the same way, believe me, the soul must sometimes emerg~ from self-knowledge and soar aloft in meditation upon the greatness and the majesty of’its God" (Interior Castle, I, 2). Again, referring to.the humilit~r which must be in souls favored with visions, she avers that "if what should engender humility in the soul, which knows" it does not deserve such a favor, makes it proud, it becomes like a spider, whichturns all:its "food. into poison, instead of resembling the bee, which turnspit into honey" (Fottndations, Chapter 8). Of course, the patron of bees is Saint Ambrose, and the reasol~ for it will be found in the breviary in the second nocturne of his feast. Saint Dominic is also ~pol~en of as another patror~ of th~ bees, but no one seems to know just why. The bee comes into the liturgy ~llso; for example, the ~amous apis arquroer~tosa appears in a versicle of Matins for Saint Cecilia’s day: "Busy like a bee, thou didst serve the Lord.’.’ And everyone recalls the "mother bee" of Holy Saturday morning. Granted this age-old tradition, sacred and secular, of seeking. wisdom in bees, it is not surprising to find Pius XII discoursing on bees charmingly and instructively. The apiarists of I~aly held a national convention in Rome last November, and on the 27th the~ went in a body to pay their respects to’the ~ope. In public audience they presented him with gifts, honey and beeswax, the latter prob~ably in the form of candles. The Holy Father graciously replied. Address of Plus XII , Your presence in such large numbers, your desire to assemble ¯ 1"92 ,. July, 1948 PIUS XII ON BEES before Us, beloved sons, is a real comfort; and so We expr, ess our heartfelt gratitude for your homage and your gifts, both particularly pleasing to Us. Beyond its material and technical importance, the work which you represent, by its nature and significance has a psy-c~ hol6gical, moral, social, and even religious" interest of no small value. Have not bees been sung almost universally in the poetry, sacred no less than profane, of all times? Impelled and guided by instinct, a visible tr.ace arid testimony of the unseen wisdom of the Creator, what lessons do not bees give to "men, who are, or should be, guided by reason, ~he living reflection of the divine intellect! Bees are models of social life and activity, in which each class has its duty to perform and performs it exactly one is almost tempered to ~ay conscientio.usly withbut envyf without rivalry, in the order and position assigned to each, with care and love. Even the most inexperienced dbserver of bee culture admires the delicacy and per-fection of this work. Unlike the butterfly which flits from flower to .flower out of pure caprice; unlike the wasp and the hornet, brutal aggressors, who seem intent on doing only harm with no benefit for anyone, the bee pierces to the very depths of the flower’s calix dili’- gently~ adroitly, and so delicately, that once its precious treasure has been gathered, it gently l~aves the flowers without having injured in the least the light texture of their garments or caused a single one of their petals the loss of its immaculate freshness. Then, loaded down with sweet-scented n~ctar, pollen, and propolis, without capricious gyrations, "without lazy delays, swift as an arrow, with precise, unerring, cert,;in flight, it returns to the hive, where valorous work goes on intensely to process the riches so carefully ~arfiered, to produce the wax and the honey. Ferret opus. redolentque th~lrno fraqantia mella. (Virgil, Georqics, 4, 169.) Ah, if men could and would listen to the lesson ofthe bees: if . each one knew how to do his daily duty with order and love ~t the post assigned to him by Providence; if everyone knew how to enjoy, .love, and use in the intimate harmony of the domestic hearth the little treasures accumulated away from home during his working day: if men, with delicacy, and to speak humanly, with elegance, and a!so, to speak as a Christian, with charity in their dealing~ v~ith their fellow men, w~uld 0nly profit from the truth and the beauty con-ceived in their minds, from the nobility and goodness carried about in the intimate depths of their hearfs, without offending by indiscre- 193 AUGUSTIN KLARS ¯ tion and stupidity, without soiling the purity of t~heir thought and their ldve; if ~they only knew rhow to assimilate without jealdusy and pride~ the: riches’acquired ~by contact wi~h.~ their brothers and to develop t~hem in their turn by, reflection and the-work of their own minds and. hearts; if, in a word, they learned t6 do by intelligence and wisdom what bees do by instinct-:--bogy much .better the world would be’! Working like bees with order and peace, men would learn to enjoy and have others enjoy .the fruit of their labors, the honey° and the wax, -the sweetness and the ligh~ in this life here below. Instead, how often, alas, they spoil the better and ~ore beau-tiful things by their harshness, violence; and malice; l~ow often they seek and find in every thing only imperfection and evil, and mlsin~ terpreting even the most honest intentions, turn goodness into bit-terness ! Eet them learn therefore to enter with respect, trust, and charity into the minds and hearts of their fellow men discreetly but de~p.ly; then they like the bees will know how to discover in the humblest souls the perfume of nobility and of eminent virtue, sometimes unknown even to those who possess it. They will learn to discern in-the depths of°the most Obtuse intelligence, of the most uneducated persons, in the depths even of the .minds of their enemies, at.least some trace of healthy judgment, some glimmer, of truth and goodness¯ As for you, beloved.sons, who while bending over~ your beehives perform with all care the most varied and delicate work for your bees, let your spirits rise in mystic flight to experience the-kindness of God.,to taste the sweetness of His word and His law’ (Ps. 18:11; 118:103), to contemplate the divine light symbolized by the burning-flame of the candle,, product of the mother bee, as the Church sings in her admirable liturgy of Holy Saturday: Alitur enim liquan-tibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosae 5ujus lampadis apis mater eduxit. (For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.) _ 194 Gifts Religious Adam C. Ellis, S.3. IV. Some Pracfic~al Introduction [~ ~ NDER the title "Gifts to Religious" a series of articles has been U published in this REVIEW1 explaining the nature of the simple vow, of poverty and of some 9f the Church’s legis!ation regarding the use of temporal things on the part of r.eligious: In the present article we shall apply the legal principles~ contained in the pregeding articles-to a number of practical cases, thus indicating to our readers, the. manner in which they may solve their own problems regarding; gifts. ’ Some-of our readers may wonder why little or nothing has been said regarding the virtue or spirit of poverty. We have purposely omitted all references to the spirit. OfopoVerty in order that the obliga-tions of the vow of poverty and of the Church’s ’laws for religious legarding their usd of temporal things may be’clearly understood in them.selves. In everyday life of course they are never to be separated since "it. is the spirit which imparts life" to the dry bones of the law. We hope to give our readers an entire article on the spirit of poverty in a future number of this REVIEW. Case I The parent of a religious dies’and in his will leaves the religious $5,000. To whom .d6es the money go: to the religious or to his community? "The natural law gives to every man the right to own property and to acquire it by any lawful means. A vow of poverty does’not of itself take away tl~is natural right. For ieligious the matter and the man~ner of the vow of poverty is determined by the Church. By her positive legislation she deprives a religi~ous who has taken a solemn vow of poverty of his right to retain and to acquire property; the same~law explicitly allows a religious with a simple voW" of pov-erty to retain these rightS. Since the distinction between a solemn 1"Gifts to Religious:" I. The Simple Vow of Poverty,’; March, q 947, "Common Life and Peculium,, january. 1948, pp. 33-45; "personal versus Com-mu~ nity Property," March,"1948, pp. 79-86. 1,95 ADAM C. ELLIS Rev[eu~ [or Religious vow and a simple vow is.of purely ecclesiastical origin, and since it is the Church which determines the effects of each, she can and does make exceptions. Thus in rare cases she allows a religious with a solemn vow of poverty to retain his right to own hnd to acquire property. Contrariwise, in some institutes she allows religious with a simple vow of poverty to ~ive up these rights. Since these excep-tions are rare, we shall not consider them here. We shall base our solutions of these practical cases upon the gene:al law, leaving it t6 "the reader to make the exception when his own constitutions provide for it. Ifthe religious in the present case has taken solemn vows, the money goes to his community, that is, to the order or provincd or house, according to the constitutions. If the order ig incapable of owning property in common, the ownership will vest in the Holy See, which customarily allows the order the use of such property. Since a religious who has taken a solemn vow of poverty has thereby "lost his iight to own!and to acquire for himself, we may state "here once for,all that wh~itever such a religious receives by waydr inheri-tance, legacy, or personal gift goes to his community and becomes community property in the sense just explained. If the religious has taken a simple vow of poverty, the $5,000 is to be ~dded to his patrimony, that is, it becomes his own property. The reason fdr this is that the simple ~ow of poverty does not deprive the religious of his right to keep property already in his possession at the time he took his vows, nor does it deprive him of the right to acquire more property after taking his vows. Case 2~ A Sister with a simple vow of poverty receives a legacy of $1,000 from her aunt. May she use it to defray her expenses at a Catholh: university? The simple vow of poverty obliges religious not to dispose of any temporal thing independently, that is, without permission. Hence, as far as the vow is concerned, the Sister could spend ,this money with the permission 6f h~r sdperior. But the positive law of the Church. o forbids her the administiation, spending of capital or income, as Well as the personal use of her property. For’ this reason it obliges her to appoint an administrator, to determine once for all what is to be done with the inc6me of her property during her lifetime, .and to make a" will in which she determines who is to get her property after~her 196 ; ~uly, 1948 GIFTS TO RELIGIOUS death. All this-has been explained in detail in the article on "The Simple"Vow of Poverty." The Sister, therefore, may not use this legacy for her own education, but mustturn it over to her adminis.. trator to invest for her. _Brother John receives a gift of $500 from .his uncle. He turns it over to his brother, who is acting as his administrator, to add to his patrimong, but does not ask his superior for permission to accept the "gift.. Is his act valid and licit? To accept ~ gift is an act of proprietorship for which the permis-sion of the superior is evidently required to safeguard the simple vow of poverty. ~F--he Code leaves to the religious with a simple vow of poverty his natural capacitg to acquir~ more property or goods validlg, but his vow of poverty obliges him to obtain the superior’s permission .in order to do so licitly. In case of urgency,~when the superior cannot be reached, a religious may presume, the permission of his superior to accept personal gifts; but afterwards he must ask the superior for perm, ission to retain gifts thus accepted. ,-Br°ther John’s act was valid but illicit, that is, he acquired the ownership of the $500 by accepting it: but he s:,nned against his vow o~ poverty by accepting itwithout the permission of his superior. unless’he lawffilly presumed that permission because he could not ¯ conveniently ask for it. Case 4 Sister Benigna receives $500 From her brother, u)ho u;as lucl~t enough to,strike oil on his farm. To celebrate the event he distributed $500 to each of his eight brothers and sisters. The superior of Sister Benigna claims that this moneg goes to the communitg because the constitutions "contain the following clause: "’The. Sisters shall "not receive angth[ng from relatives or friends without the permission of. the superior. And whatever theg receive theg must present to her that she ma~ dispose of it for the good of the communitg.’" S[st~ Benigna claims that this money should be added to her patrimon~t because the constitutions also state: "’The Sisters retain the. ownership of their proper.tg and the capacity to acquire other, propertg.’" Who is right? "r Most constitutions, of congregations with simple vows c~ntai~ the last ~lUOtation above, which is nothing else than°a brief statement of the lag of the ChurCh as expressed in cgnon 580, § 1. While it is’ 197 ADAM C. ELLIS Rbvieto for Reliqio~ts tr-ud that the canon mefitioned also contains the, ~lauSe "unless the coiastitutions declare otherwise," this is not.the,, case here, since the constitutions explicitly stale that the Siiter can acquire other prop-erty for herself. The first quotation from the constitutions, there: fore, is to be interpreted in the light of the second quotation and applie, s only to such smaller gifts which the donor does not intend should be ~dded fo the patrimony of the religious but should be usdd b~r the religious. The constitutions most proba.bly also dori~- tain a statefient basedon canon 569, § 2, to ~he effect that ffhen a Sister, after taking her vows, comes into pdssession of more property under whatever title, she must make the same provision for the newly acquired property, that is, appoint an administrator and determine once for all. the person or pdrshhs to whom the annual income of this~ new property is to be gluten. The property in question, therefore, belongs to Sister Benigna, not to her institute; and she must give it t0_her administrator or appoint a new one for this property, and determine who ’is to receive the annual income accruing "from it. C~ase S Father John, a religious in a congregation with simple oow,~, receit~es $10 on the occadion of his birthday, December 20, and t:arlous small gifts amounting to $40 for Christmas. He’: asks his superior for permission to use them to purchase a watch, since the. one he has is. worn out and does not keep co~r~ect time. There is question in this case of small amounts of money given to a religious by relatives and:friends on various occasions. The persons "who present, these gifts do not intend that tile religious should add them to his patrimony, but that he should use them as he pleases. Presuming that the relatives or friends are Catholics, they ¯ ,viii have some idea at least about the limitations put upon Father dohn by his vow Of poverty, by the laws of the Church, and by the conStitutions., of his congregation. Hence their desire that Father ,lohn "use them as he pleases" will be circumscribed by these known .restrictions. SiI~ce Fath~rdohn is forbidden by the law of the Church to use personal gifts for himself (as was explained in the articld "Personal versus Community Property"), he may accept these small gifts and eonsid~ theln as given to him for the community. He turns them in to his superior, who may, if he sees fit, allow him to ase them for necessary or’useful articles, since they are now ~om-munity property. ~ .- As far as the vow of poverty is concerned, the superior could GIFTS TO RI~EIGIOU,S give Father John permission to use these small gifts to buy a watch.. The I’aw-of common life, however, requires that whatever’the.reli-gious nke~ts for his personal use should b~e supplied by the commun-ity, This is the general rule. Occasio~aally, by way of,exception, the ’superior may a~llo.w a religi0u~ to use .such gifts to purchase something ~ he needs, provided that .it is more or less of the same quality as simi-lar articles whiih are commonly used by the members of the~:’com-munity. The superior’could not give permission to Father’John to purchase a more expeiisive Watch merely because the mon.ey wa.~ given to him. That. would be contrary to common .life, which requires that-all the members conform to the standard of poverty.determined . for the’community by the constitutions, laws, and customs: Ordinarily/, the religious turns in ore the community small per-sonall gifts which are not intended to increase his patrimony, because his community supplies him with all he needs. Not infrequently the constitutions or customs bf the community require him to’ do so. Case 6 :.,Brother Joseph receives a check for $500 from a we.aIth,.y young man who is keeping company with his sister. Brother Joseph has told his sister to be cau[ious in her dealing with this young man because he bears an unsavory reputation. The personal gift o~ $500 ts evidently intended to-break down Brother Joseph’s opposition to tbb young man in question. Brother Joseph returns the chec~ to the. young man without getting permission ~rom his superior to do so. Did he violate his vow o? poverty? A religious with a simple vow of poverty may always refuse to accept, a personal gift .without any permission, since he thereby merely refuses to become tSe owner of the gift. To refuse to become the owner is not an act of proprietorship, and therefore it is not con-trary to his vow. Case 7 Sister Mildred is the dean of a college which needs an auditorium, and Sister is asking for donations from the.alumnae. One 6f her former pupils, a widow and mother of six children,, calls upon her and offers bet $500 as her contribution to the auditorium. Sister knows that the wido~b alumna-cannot afford to give that much money, since she has a hard, time supporting and educating her ~ix children. Sister takes $I00 in order not to "offend the generou~ w(dow, obut insist~ that she rkeep the remaining,$400, o Did, Sister 199 ADAM C. ELLIS Review [or Relioiotts violate her vow Of poverty by refusing a gift offerd[ to her for the community? Ordinarily a religious should obtain the permission of his supe-rior before accepting or refusing gifts offered to him for his corn-munity. Permission to accept gifts ~hlch are offered un~ondition- ,ally may and should be presumed if it is known that the superlo~ would ordinarily wish them to be accepted. However, .if conditions are attached to the gifts, the religious should always refer the mat-ter to his superior before accepting them. A\religlous may not refuse to accept a gift offered to him for his community unless he has good reason to believe that the superior would wish him to do so, In the case of small amounts of money a religious may more easily presume .that his supe~ior would wish him to refuse the gift when the. donor can ill afford to give it. t3ut when a larger amount of moneyis in-volved, it would be more prudent on the part of the religious before refusing a’~ift to consult his superior, if he can easily do so. Sister Mildred certainly did not sin against her vow Qf poverty (or" against justice) because she could reasonably presume that her superior would not wish to accept such a large gift from. a person who needed the mone7 to support her children. If she could have con-veniently done so, it would have been more prudent for Sister Mi!- dred to consult with her superior before determining the amount to be accepted from the generous widow. (~ase 8 Mother Benigna is a kindh.l soul. Whenever a Sister ~n her com-munity, receives a small gift of money which she does not wish to spend immediately, Moiher puts it in an envelope mark~ed with Sis- ~er’s name and keeps it in her desk for :the Sister. At present she has ten or twelve envelopes of that kind. She wonders whether her method of procedure is licit. Canon 594 tells us that common life is to be accurately observed by all, and that money of any .kind is to be kept in the cbmmon safe. The law of common life (see article referred to above) suppose~ that all the needs of the religious are to be supplied by the, community. Hence these’ sm~ll money gifts may not be saved as deposits for individual Sisters who:received them. Todo so would be "the equiva-lent of granting a peculium to each Sister, wot~ld tend to create a divi-sion in’ the community between the "haves" and the "have nots;" and thus would clearly , Smhll .money gifts which are not intended to be added to ’the 200 July,°1948 ’ GIFTS TO RELIGIOUS patrimony of the religious may not be accepted by them’ for their own personal use, since this is forbidden by the law of common life. The religious may accept them for the community and may then share in them as a niember of~the community. Since they becdme community goods, the superior may occasionally, by way of exception, give the religious permission to use such. small money gifts for necessary or useful things, though she .is not obliged to do. Custom will deter-mine the practice in each institute. C~ase 9 Sister Modesta receioes a fountain pen, a pair of glooes, soma handkerchiefs, and a box o/:’ cai~d~ /:or Christmas. She asks’ her superior/:or permission to keep and use all of them. What may the superidr do? Prescinding from~any special provisions of the’.-constitutions. rules, and customs of the particular institute regarding such gifts, and keeping in mind only the law of the Church which is common to all" religious, we may say that the superior may ~llow the Sister the use of these things provided (1) that Sister’has some need for-them; (2) that they are of about the same quality as similar articles pro-vided by the community for the use of the Sisters;. (3) that the~,. becc~me the property of the community: (4) th~it this be done only oc.casionally by way of exception. If the Sister does not need the-article of clothing, or whatever the gift may be, the superior should give it to some other member of the community who needs it, since all such articles become the property of the ’community and should be distributed according to the needs of the communi(y. It would cer~tainly be contrary to ~common life to ~illow a Sister to receive articles of clothing habitually from relatives or friends. Should the Si~ter’s~ family wish to provide these objects for her, they should give a dofiation to the community, for the community provides’Sister with all necessary wearing apparel as she needs it. " Sometimes a religious needs special or more expensive wea~ing apparel because of health or some physical condition. If parents or friends offer to pay /:or such exceptional needs, they may be allowed t~ do so, provided thai other members of the community who have no.relatives or friends to supply their special needs are taken care of bv the commuiaity. As to’the box of candy, or any other edibles, normally such things are turned in to the superior and then are ~iven. tQ the com-munity either at table or during recreation. Occasionally’the superior 201 ADAM C. ELLIS Reoi.eto for Religious may allow a’Sister to keep a box of’candy to be used by. herself or ¯ to be shared with other members of"the community, provided that this is not dond regularly’and that such permissions are giv~en to all the members olr,the community on occas!on, and not limited to only a few." Case I0 ~ Sister Clare’s mother dies and the children distribute their moth-er’s personal effects among themselves. 7:hey give Sister Cl~dre her mother’s watch, since she does not have one. But tlie watch has a gpld case, and the c~nstitutions forbid the Sisters to use any personal qrticles made. of gold.. May the superior allow Sister Clare to use her mother’s, gold watch? ~ The superior may give Sister Clare permission to use her .mother’s watch,, provided~ that the constitutions do not prohibit the use of watches and provided that ~the conditions laid down in case 9 are fulfilled. But since.the constitutions forbid the use of gold, the case i~n which the works are set-will have to be changed for one of silver or some less, expensive met~il. Case I I "A group of Sisters attending the summer session of ~ Catholic university and living in the same hall are havi_ng a fabewell party. Belonging to different congregations, they have found it helpf6l to exchange ideas regarding the minor differences which exist among thdm, especially in regard to the practice of poverty. Some congre.. -gatio.ns are very strict, others are more lenient, in regard to the acceptance of gifts, the use of material things, at~d the like. Surprise. "is expressed that such differences should exist. The substantials laid down in the law of the Church regarding the simple vow of poverty are the same for all religious congregations. These substantials are usually embodied in the constitutions of each congregation in the technical language of the Code. Hence it can and does easily happen that these provisions of the common law are not understood properly by the religious, and are sometimes misunder-stood. Again, these articlesare not always clearly and thoroughiy "expl~ained in the novitiate. As a result, the young religious goes into the active life without a clear, intelligent concept Of the obligations flowing from the vow of poverty, and is ignorant of the other obli-gations impgsed upon all ~religious by the positive law of the ,Church. Moreover, we are living in aworld which has come tO conside~ many 202 July, 1948 GIFTS TO RELIGIOUS things necessary for daily life that, in reality, are luxuries. Hence if ~uperiors are weakor unobservant, abuses regarding the use of tem-pbral things may easily creep into a religious community; and once thes~ abuses have gained entrance, it is di~cult to eliminate them. Such may" be some of the reasons for the apparent differences in the observance of the simple your of poverty and of .common life which the Sisters wondered about. Let us suppose, however, that the above-mentioned causes do not exist, and that the substantials prescribed for all religious are faith- ." fully observed. Th&e is still room for minor differences in practice, because the Church allows .each institute to express its love of pgverty in details which go beyond the obligations of the common law. The practice of poverty-differs also according to the proximate end or purpose of each institute--t~aching, hospital work, social-service, life of contemplation and penance, and the like. The Church gives her approval.to these mi’nbr differences when in the canon on common life she pr~scribbs that the members of each individual institute should use temporal things ~’in accordance with ~he poverty which they have vowed" (canon 594, § 3). Case 12 The t~rst Sunday of the month is visiting Sunday at "St. dude’s mother house. On Monday morning various Sisters ask Mother Matthew for the following permissiof~s: (1) rby brother gave me $75 to buy a typewriter for myself; (2) my mother gave me $I00 to bug books needed for my special studies; (.3) my sister gave me $1qo.t0 have a dozen photographs taken to be.,given to my brothers and sisters; (4) the mother of Sister X, who is in the infirmary, gave_ ~ me (the Sister Inlirmarian) $I0 to buy flowers or candy for Sister. Mother Matthew would ’like to know three things: (I) may she lawfully grant permission to the Sisters to use these things for the purposes indicated? (2) Do-these giftsbecome the property of the Sisters or.of the community? (3) May she grant permission to a Sister to use a gift for some other purpose; for instance, the sick Sis-ter would prefer to have some Masses said instead of buying t~owers or candy? Before answering Mother’s questions, let us recall some funda~ mental principlesrega~ding conditional gifts. Moralists and canon-istsdefine- a gift as a contract whereby the owner of a thing, from a motive°of libera_lity, transfers it irrevocably to another;who accepts it. The donor must be capable of~giving it, and the donee of 203 ADAM C. ELLIS Review ?or Religious receiving it. ’ A conditioned gift is one to which a condition is attached, that is, the gift is to be used for a determined purpose designated by the donor, or is to be used ~xclusively by the person to whom it is given, and so forth. In all such conditioned gifts two things are to be con- ~idered: (1) the mind of-the donor with regard to the condition; (2) the caphcity of the donee to fulfill the condition. Regarding the donor: Ordinarily the motive of liberality prevails over the condition placed, which is merely the expression of a wish that the" gift be used¯ for the purpose indicated. It is possible, of ~ourse, that tee donor may insist that the condition be fulfilled. But this would have to be certain before prevailing over the general pre-sumption just mentioned. Regarding the religious donee: He is limited regarding the accept-ance of gifts by his vow of poverty, by the positive laws of the Church, "especialfly those regarding common life, and.by the consti-tutions, rules, and customs of his institute. "The capability of the religious to fulfill the condition which the donor attaches to a gift is subject to these same limitations. Catholic parents, relatives, a~ad friends of religious realize, to a certain extent at least, that their religious relative’ or friend is bound by a vow of poverty,, and by other regulations; and they ordinarily proffer gifts for their use with that knowledge. Their principal motive in offering the gift is liberality; the purpose for which the gift is intended is an expression of a wish or a .hope that the religious will be able to use~ it for that purpose: In individual cases, however, ¯ the donor may intend that his gift be used for one purpose only; and for no other; for ifistance, to have a photograph taken for distribu-" tion among the relatives of the religious. When it is certain that th..’ donor does not wish his gift to be used for any purpose other than that expressed, the gift must be used for that purpose or it must be refused, (or given back to the donor if it’has already been accepted). _rn this connection we may quote a pertinent paragraph from Father Creusen: "In this matter every religious who sincerely aspires to the per.. fection of his state and understands his vocation should help his superiors to observe canon 594. regarding common life. Should his _relatives and friends be unwilling to put their gifts to him at the.dis-position of the community, the religious should have the courage to refuse such gifts; ~nd to remind the donor that he must observe the 204 dulg, 1948 GIFT~ TO RELIGIOUS poverty which he has vowed.’’2 (1) May Mother lawfully grant premission to accept the gifts mentioned? A distinction must be made: (a) as far as the vow ote poverty is concerned, she may grant the permission; (b) but the ~,bligation of common life (canon 594) would f6rbid the acceptance of such gifts [or personal use, since all the needs of the religious are to be provided for by the community. The religious could accept such gifts for the community, and then Mother could allow them to be used as community property, if she saw fit. (2) Do such conditioned gifts become the property of the reli~ gious, or of the community? That will depend on the intention of the donor. If, as is ordinarily the case, the donor merely wishes the. religious to use his gift in conformity with his religious ktatus,~the gift becomes the property of the community. The superior, may ~hen ailowthe religious to use it, since it is now community property. While the superior is not strictly obliged to grant the.use of such a conditioned gift to the religious who received it, he may do so on occa-sion, provided that no violation of cbmn~on life is entailed. If the donor, however, intends that the typewriter or the books should become the exclusive personal propert~t of the religious, he defeats his own purpose, ~ince the religious is not allowed to use l~is own personal property himself, as we saw in the article "Personal versus Community Property." (3) May Mother give permission to use a conditioned gift.for some other put_pose? The case of the Sister who is ill find would prefer to have some Masses said instead of buying flowers or candy will serve as an example. Here is the general principle upon which all such cases should be decided. If either the religious~ or her supe-rior knows the donor well enough to be able to judge honestly that the donor would not object to such a change, it may be made. In our case thedonor is the mother of the sick Sister: All she intended was to give,Sister something to comfort her in her illness. She cer-tainly would not object to Sister’s using the money for Masses instead of candy, if that will give her greater comfort. Having answered Mother Matthew’s questions, we should like to sugge.st that she ask the Sisters who’ received the typewriter and the books whether they had requested such gifts from their relatives, and ¯ if so, with whose permission. Or, if they had not openly asked for 2Revue des Cdmmunaut~s Religieu~es,’vol. 8, 1932, p. 145. 205 ADAM C. ELLIS o Reoieto [or Religious them, had they hinted in a more or less veiled manner that such a’gif~ would be acceptable. I believe it well here to ~emind all religious, both.superiors and.subjects, that relatives have been known to~’com-plain,, bitter, ly.at times because of congtant requests and importunings on the part of religious. For the most part-such requests, I like to believe, .are made without the knowledge of superiors; but there are also cases in which they are made with the full approval and some- "times even~at the suggestion of the superior. Such.a course of action i~ harmful not only to the religious but also to the community, because it causes relatives to lose their esteem for the religious life. .No relative ~i~ friend of a religious should object to-being in-formed? that the religious community is in need and "~,ould appr~- c.iate any help which the relative or friend may care to ~ive. But such an appeal ~hould be for the community at large, not for th~ needs of the individual religious. Nor should such general’appeal~ to relhtives and f~iends be frequent, unless the community supports itself_by begging--a rare case. Friends and relatives, as well as the faithful at large who are acquainted with th~ religious community, will see to it that the religious do not lack the necessaries of life, and tll will’be.hi~hly edified to see them practicing the poverty which they have vowed. On the other hand, if they are harassed by fre- ~luent request’~ for personal gifts, which likely are not necessary but i’~erely superfluous, they will be embarrassed and may develop a dis-like, if not a downright antagonism, towards the religious and the comthunity. Case 13 ]v~other" Ge~erosa occasion.ally allows each Sister to use small money gifts which they have received from relatives and ¢riends with the words: "’Use it as you please..’" At Christmas and Easter She gives ~ach Sister a small amount of m6ney from the community fund. to use "’as they please." Most. of the Sisters use the money to get small art&les which’can be used (or prizes in the class room as a stimu-lus to the moral and intellectual progress of their pupils. Some few. however, use the money to buy kn&knacks which are neither useful nor ornamental. "This ha’s caused a controversy among the Sisters as to the meaning ?9[ Mother’s words: "’Use it as you please." There ar~ two problems involved in this case:. (1) To what extent may a superior give.money from the coifirnunity fund to the members of the community. (2)" MaWr a superior grant a subject permission "to use as you please" mo.ney that is received_ as. a gift or 206 July, 1948 GIFTS TO RELIGIOUS taken from the community fund? Superiors ard not ~he owners, bu~’ merely the administrators of the community fund. The purpose of this fund is t6 pro~i~e for the support of the community:, to gi3re to its members whatever may" be requir.ed for their personal needs and to_ carry ,on the work assigned to them. In some commune.ties the custom exists,, ~fogivink each member a small amount of money from the community fund at Christmas Or. on the feast day of each religibus. This. money is Used to have Masses said or to purchase small religious article’s whicli arb distributed among "pupils, fifirses and so forth,’,~ or are. g~vyn to relatives and friends on birthday~ or other special occasions. Such a practice is not contrary to commonolife, unless the constitutions for-bid it. ~ Obviously’every member of.the community should’ be given the same small amount on these occasions., The words "Use it as you please" in connection with permission to spend small amounts of money,, whether received from outs!ders or from the community-fund, may be interpreted absolutely or rela-tively. Absolutely it means just what it says, that is, you may use this-money when y.ou please and for whate~er you please. Relatively it means, "as you please within’ the limits of our constitutions, and customs.’.’ The law of common life prescribes that religious should use temporal thirigs in conformity with the poverty which they have vowed. Each institute has its own norm of poverty, that is, a limit as to the kind, quality, and quantity, of material things permitted to the religious fof their use. This limit is found determined in the c0iastlthtions or, as is more commonly the case in congregati6ns witll simple vows, in traditions, custbms, and usage. Anything withili this limit the superior mfiy’allow, i~ot in ~virtue of the vow of poverty, but. in virtue of ca’non 594 on common life. Anything notabl~t. beyond that.limit is a.superfluity. ¯ A’religious who~uses mon~y~ to buy superfluities even with permission sins, not indeed ~gai~ist ’his vow of povetry, since he has permission, but against the positive’law of" the Chtirch which in prescribing common life forbids stiperflui-ties. " " . Obviously, since no superior may grant permission to use rhoney "as you like" in-the absolute sense explained above, Mother Gener-osa’s words.are to be interpreted in the relative sense: "as you like, Within the limits of our constitutions and customs" or "as you like, for-such things which are allowed by our co~astitutions and customs." 207 uestions ncl Answers ~25~ When priests are present for our investiture or profess;on ce~en~on;es, should they be placed in the sanctuary or in the front pews? Whenever it can be done conveniently, ~he clergy should be placed in the sanctuary. That is their privilege~ If the sanctuary of the chapel is small, those of the clergy who cannot find accommoda-tions in.it should be given~he front pews. --26-- On what occasions must a secret vote be taken in council meetings? There are two cases in which the Code requires a secret vote of the consuhors of a religious superior :. (1) for the alienation of prop-erty and for’the contracting of debts (canon 534, § I) ; (2) for the dismissal of a religious with temporary vows in institutes approved by the Ho1~ See (canon 647, § 1). The constitutions of individual institutes frequently call for a secret vote in other matters, as in the approval of the appointment of local superiors. Sometimes they give the councillors the right to demand a secret vote in any important matter. May a person who is over seventy years of age and who is seriously ill recelve-extreme unction, even though the doctor (a non-Catholic) says there is no immediate danger of death? Danger of death from either sickness or old age is required for the reception of extreme unction. Immediate danger is not required; and to answer the question proposed here it would be necessary to know just what the doctor means when he says the patient is nor in imme-diate danger. If the d6ctor simpFy means that the patient is not likely to die within the next few days, but may die within the next month or so, then the patient certainly may and should be anointed; for this is ciearly danger of death in the sense required for ~he sacrament. If the doctor means that the patient is not in a~critical condition now and is not likely to die for a long time (for example: several months or a year), t.hen ~it would ordinarily be contrary to the prac-tice of the Church to anoint immediately. The usual approved prac- 2.08 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS tice-seems to be to.interpret "danger of death" as meaning that the patient will probably did within a month Or so. 0 But thereii’~an be e±ceptions. As a basis for estimating the exceptions theologians are wont to cite the following interesting case that was’ once broposed to the Sacred ’Congr~gati6n for the Propagation of the Faith: ’ ~ : ¯ ¯ ° While makir~g the rounds of his territory, a mi~siofia~y fi~ds some of ’the faithful who ard ~not in immediate danger of death,-but who are so much weakened by old age or by some illness, such.as c.onsumptionf ~that they are quite likely to die within a year:. The missionary l~n0ws that he will probably not return to this station during the year: hence he ju~gei that these pedple .will prob, ably ~lie without -Viaticum or extteme ’unction if he does not administer these sacraments before’ he departs. The Sacred Congregation directed that in the circumstance~ described in this case, the missionary might confer the sacraments before his departure. From this reply ,theologians generall~r con-clude that the sick and the old may~ be anointed even when the danger of death is rather remote (for example, when death is not expecte~l for a year or so), provided, there is a special reason for conferring the sacrament early. One such reason is indicated in the case submitted to Prop~aganda: namely, the fact that the priest will be away and that the people might thus be deprived of the sacrament. Anothe~r reason more .common perhaps among us -is that the subject is beginning, to fail mentally and will not be able to get the full benefit of the sacra-ment if it is not conferred immediately. ~ ~ ~ : One concluding observation is in place. Although it is not the usual, practice of the Church to confer extreme uriction until the danger of~death is somewhat proximate, this does not mean that the faithful should wait till. death is imminent before’ summdning the priest. The Church wants the sacrament to’ be received whiie the subject is in full possession of his faculties and able to co-operate as perfectly as possible.° (See "Extreme Unction, Key to Heaven,". b~ ¯ Clarence McAuliffe, S.J., in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, IV, 289-98.) A father of a family who is devoted to all his children finds that, because of financial stress, he has to make’changes in his will. He has ~ daughter in the convent who, he reasons, is well provided for. He plans to change his will in such wise that the Sister’s .share of the inheritance 209 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for l~eligio~as will be divided among her brothers and sisters. Before doing so he cori-" suits-~itho his daughter in the convent "and with her superior. ¯ Has the Sister She right to renounce her portion? Has the ~uperior any such right? .. Strictly,speaking, the Sister has no ~right to any of her father;s property before his death. He is free to leave it ,to whom ha’wishes in his will: he is fr~e. to change his will as .often as. ’h’e pleases without consulting agy%body. The will has no effect untiF alter hi~ death. ¯ Hence the Sister is not renouncing anything if she tells her father to giv~e hd.r ¯share to the other brothers and sisters. She. n~eed~ no per-mission of her superior to do so since she isnot giying anything away.. On .the other hand, it might be well, depending’ on the dr-cumstances, to remind her father that, whileit is true that she is well provided for by her community/ if all parents were of the, same opi~nion, religious communities might not be able to prgvide suitably for their members. Befor~ a general election to what extent may subjects talk among themselv.es regarding candidates whom they wish elected? What is allowed and what .is forbidden in this matter?’ And is the delegate to the general election supposed to vote according to the wishes of the group °that.he represents or is he free to vote as he thinks best? Everyone must keep the law expressed in canon 507.: "All must abstain, froth seeking votes either directly or indirectly for them-selves or for others." This law does not forbid r~ligious to express their opinions concerning the qualities of. possible candidates, pro-vided, they can do this without seeming to influence delegates to v.ote for certain persons. But they are clearly not allowed to i.nfluence the delegates, much less to instruct them how they are to vote... The delegate ,must be left free to ~,ote according to his own cqnscientious judgment; and the community is presumed to" have confidence in the judgment of its own delegates. ’ -~30~ ’" ~ef6re the Code,what kind of a will Was made by r~llglou~?" In what v~a/;:w~’i’the religi6us ~b’ouhd’? How would a religious b.e bound since the’ Code if he had not made a will before the Code, or if he had not revised th6 will. made before the Code2 ¯ Before the Code the constitutions ofsome of,i’h~ older> congre-: gations positively f~rbade their subjects, to make: a will. Those con-s,.. t.itu~ions which received papal approval after 1901 usually contain 210. - ’ dulg, 1948 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS a prescription of the Normae (Art. 120): "It is proper, ’however, that, before taking first, tempora~ry vows, each and every"Sistiff free!3r dispgse,,bly will bf all she actually possesses-or may’, sub~.eql~ehtly p6ssess.:, °o This article did not absolutely order: the Sister t(~~" make. a Will, but it c~rthinly’ recomr~ended her°doihg so; and m mosUconL gr~gatiotis this’recommendation was carried~out~. ’ ~’-:" ~ ~ ~ " ~ . If a Sister in a.¢ongregati0n had not rhade a will befok¢ tlqeCode, she is ri6t 6bilged~" tb’ mal~e one now,~ though she may- d~ ]~ if she wishes. ’HoWever, if Shegdies intestate (withoht ~ will), wh~it~ver property she owns will go to’her r’e, lafi(,es according to tee civil law presc’riptions ~f the State in which she dies. If the Sister did make a will be’foree t~e Codei°sh~ may° not revise it after the Cowdeit h’o u~t t’h~e "pe ~rmission of the Holy See~; or, in, case of urgency when time does riot admit of such recourse, without the pdrmiSsioh of h~r higher superior; or, if that cannot be had, of "her local superior (cf. canon 583, 2°). Article 122 of the Plormae -of 1~901 con~ained’sin~ilar prc~isions regarding the changing°of the will .bf a religious in a congregation.. " " : Our rulb prescribes ¢he recffaHbn of ¢he LiHle Office of ’ he "Bless-ed Virgin on Sundays and holidays. Teaching cafechefical classes pre-venfs a Sis÷er from saying fhe~small hours on Sunday.mornlncj. Is she obliged fo reclfe a chaplef’df fhe Rosary as a subsfifufe for ÷his parr’of ¢he Office? The answer to this question depends hpon the ~wording of yot~r rul~’~ If°the obligatiozi is put upon the community ~s a Whoi¢; ~th~r~ the Sisters Who are unable to be present at the common recitation of the Little Office are ’not obliged~fo say it privately nor to substitute otherpray~rs in~its:place:,uhless "the--constitutions or the rule explicitly oblige them to do so. On the other hand, if the .obligation of the r~le is;pu.t on~ .the individual "Sist~er, then all are obliged’to sa~, the Little Office,-, either in common, if.that is the custom, or privately if Lhey~ are prevented~by their work from assisting at the common reci-ta. tion.~ They may not substitute other prayers for the Little Office unless the constitu~tions allow them to do so. ~Vhaf is the-proper° manner ~of maldng ,the sign of the cross, and how should the words be dlsffibuted? QuEsTIoNS AND .~NSWERS The Roman Missal (Ritus seroandus. III, 5) has the following prescriptions for the ~ign of the cross to be made by the celebrant at Mass: "When making the sign of the cross he always" puts his left hand below the breast: , . . Blessing himself~ he turns towards him-self the palm of the right hand, and with ~I1 its fingers joined.and exte~nded, he forms the sign of the cross from °the forehead fo the breast, and fron~ the left shoulder to the right." As to the distributlon 6f the words while making the sign of the Cross, there seems to be:no official prescription. Comn~entators on the rub~ics.~are ag,reed in pronouncing~’the word "Father" while t~)uching the forehead, the word "Son" while touching the br4ast, the word "Holy[’ at the left shoulder, and the word "Ghost" at the right shoulder. They disagree as to when the word "Amen" is to be Said: while toudhJng the right shoulder a!ong with the word "Ghost"; or by itself after the sign of the Cross has been completed either while joining the hands or while placing them in any other position demanded by a subsequent action." One may follow either opinion. Can you suggest any special kind of cruet which delivers a steady flow without guggllng or splashing, and which makes it easy ~o pour the one ormore drops desired at the Offertory? Try Erlenrneger flasks, ]00 cc. or 125 cc. (about 30 cc. to the ounce). These flasks’ are standard equipment~ in all chemistry laboratories., . They are made to deliver a steady stream without guggling. If only one drop is desired, the ,flow is easily’ controlled~ ~4 In leaving the altar rall after receiving Holy Communion is it proper f,o, ge,nt~flecf or not? There, is n~thing prescribed regarding the manner of leaving the altar rail after receiving :Holy Communion.’ One should follow~the custom of the diocese in which one resides. If there is no custom; it would seerfi advisable not to ~genuflect for the practical reason that usually it Causes confusion among the other Communicants, especially if they are numerous. There-is no disrespect shown to th4 Blessed Sacrament, for the commt~nicant himself is a tabernacle of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, which he has just received. 212 - The LaSallian Formula t:or a Fruit:t:ul Apost:olat:e--II. Brother Charles Henry, F.S.C. III. THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER EXERCISES THE APOSTOLATE WE MIGHT SUM UP the apostolate of the Christian teacher in the" following brief~tatement: to" give to the cl~ildren the spirit of Christianity, which is the spirit of Chris~. St. De La Salle says just that in so many~ words: "God sends the children to you that you may give them the spirit of Christianity." All ~he care of the Christian teacher should be devoted to this work. It is for this end that he is engaged in the apostolate of the Church. That the spirit of Christianity may reign in the lives of our pupils .we must bring them to l~now Our ,Lord Jesus Christ, the truths of His holy ,eligion, and the maxim~ He has left us in the Gospel. We shall accomplish this by our instruction, by our good example, and by our vigilance to keep from them all ’that might sully the purit~ of their souls. 1. The Apost.olate of Teachino =, ~ Since the spirit.of Christianity is the spirit of Christ, we cannot better impart it to our pupils than by presenting to them Him who is the embodiment of that spirit, and by teaching them the truths and the maxims of the Christian life taught by Jesus in the Gospel. Teaching Chr;st "First and foremost, our pupils should know Christ hi~fiself. Christ is the fbundation-stone of Christianity, the head of the body of Christendom. St. De La’ Salle solemnly admonishes us "to instruct the children in the mysteries that ,lesus accomplished on earth; that is what St. Paul° calls "laying the foundation of the edifice of the Church.’ " He likewise insists that God’s choice of us for the apos~ tolate h:~s for end "to make 3esus Christ known and to announce Him. See that you make Him known to those whom you instruct." In one of the few lyrical passages in the writings of St. De La Salle, h~’ says: "You are destined to beget 2esus Christ in the hearts of children, and to beget the children to 2esus Christ." ~This knowl- .~" edge must not be a merely historical survey but ""it s~hould lead’ them 213 "BROTHER CHARLEs HENRY R~oieto for Religious to unite all their actions to ,those of Jesus Christ our Lord." So important is this-teachifig th=at tl~e Chri~kia~n teacher "must be tireless m announcing Jesus Christ and His maxims. ’ " Maxims of the Gospel ’ The saint ~rgds most earnestly that we teach these maxims and this fusion~of, the life and thought of Our’Lo[d with the life and thought of the child. No exhortatioh is more frequently reiterated than that of t’eachi_ng the maximi of the Gospel. In the~rule~of his institute, he makes it matter.of0obligation for the Brothers "to bring up the children in a tru~ly Christian spirit0accord_ing, to the rules and maxims .of the Gospel," making it, their "first and .principal care to teach t.heir~scholars the maxims and practices Our Lord has left us in .the~Holy Gospel." Time and again in his meditations he reminds us of this,,important obligation: "You are charged to teach the maxims of tl~e Holy Gospel; it is for that end that God sends the children to you: as a matter of state, you are obliged to teach-these maxims daily."~ .The Christian teacher should keep God in view, exhorting his pupils:~"as if God exhorted by l~im, since he is chosen by God to announce these’truths of the Gospel to young souls.’! "He .should look 6n himself as a visible guardian angel "to lead his pupils to the practice of the maxims of the Gospel, showing them the means pro-portionate to their age, so that being gradually accustomed to this ~ahner of acting in the]~ y6uth, they will be,able when older to practic~them~rom habit’ and without difficulty:" The ~founder also points ou~ the,~naxim~ that’should especially be taughti hbrror’ of th~ spirit Of ’the ~orld, happiness in persecutions, ~beafing of the-cross, spirit of poverty, not to seek justice after the manner of scribes and Pharisees, ~ , St. De La Salie recognized a dangerous tendency, that has had lamentab!~e results in religious education,-, viz., the;teaching of specu- !ati~r~e! re!igious .truth without making it concrete and practical for the life of the child. Therefore he warns the teacher: "It is not ~nbu, gh.to secure for the children the science of,Ch.ristianity and to. teach,them the mysterids and speculative truths; it is necessary in zd~i~ion ~to make them learn the maxims 9f, Christian riving, which zre fougd through.ou~ the. Holy Gospel. In, o~der.to lead, your pupils .to t~e,~ac.quisition of the spirit of Christianity you ,should teach the pract!ca~l t.r.uths o~ .~e. faith of ,Jesus~ Chris.t. and ~he, maxims ~of the Holy Go~speL.with ",at least as much care as you tea.ch the purely,, specu,o 21~4 LASALLIAN FORMULA FOR ~PO~TOLRTE lative truths.. It is in the maxims of Our Lord that ~he Cld~ristian teacher will find the practicgl ~omplement’tb the speculative truths of the catechism, ind the life lessons that should be the outcome of religious truth well .explained and comprehended." Not tha~ the saint advocated the neglect bf the truths of ’faith. He frequentiy remi~ids us of~the importance of teaching the catechism and the sacred truths of the Creed. "If you wish your ministry to be as Useful tb the Church as it can be, you should teach your pupils the fufidamental truths of religion, following ther~ein the example of the apostles, which is that of Jesus Christ Himself.". ~ ’The Ho;nousness ’of Sin ~.An aspect of this practical teaching of the truths of faith is the saint’s insistence on the duty of :the Christian teacher to inspire a horror of sin in his’pupils. It is a point of rule for his Brothers "to give the children a’greathorror for sin and for all that can make them losel purity/’ "Consider. that ~the ~end of’the icomin~ of the Son of God into this world having been .the destruction of sin, that oul~ht also .to be the end of the institution of the Christian schools and con-sequentl~ r the first object .of your zeal." To be practical, he urges us especially to in’spire our pupils wit5 a horror’of evil i:ompany .that so, quickly and e~sily ~corrupts the best morals. He likewise urgds us to "inspire the pupils with~a horror for~th~ wisdom~of, the world~ which is,only a cloak for sin,. from which we cannot do too,much to preserve them." We must riot neglect to correct childrdn of their faults, for thisisa mbans of teaching them the.evil of sin. , .T~his0 then, is~,the first means,;of ~exerciiing .the apostleship that God~..and the Church confides~t0 us: to teach our pupils thd life les-sons taught by Christ’s words and examples, to give thein a knowl’, edge of both the sp, eculative and practical truths of Christ’s. revela-tion, and to inspire them with a. horror for sin, which is diametri. cally opposed to Christ and the spirit of Christianity. But .in addi-tion to the teachifig of the spoken~word, there is also the teaching o,f e~xample and zealous but discreet vigilance. 2. The Apostolate of Good Example° If the example of the Christian teacher were to cry aloud that he is not himselt; a model of that which he teaches, no good can come of his’efforts. On the other hand, "what power and efficacy there is in example to convert souls and make them advance in perfection." Being called to labor for the salvation of souls the Christian teacher 215 BROTHER CHARLES HENRY " Revieto [or Religious .~sn ~ct begin by giving good example in order to gain them to God." In fact, he should be convinced that he is called to be a saint of uncommon sanctity since it is his mission, "not only by the words of salv.ation that he should daily address to his pupils but likewise by his good example, to’communicate sanctity." The whole~ burden of this thought the saint has summed up in one pointed, unequivocal. °~tatement: "You. can do nothing better in instructing your pupils than to edify them." 3. The Apostolate of Vigilance St. De La Salle addresses to the Christian teacher that solemn and terrifying warning of St. Paul: "You watch as having to render an account of their souls," The teacher labors as a.co-operator with Christ, -. tbe Good Shepherd, and like Christ he should-watch that none of the~sheep perish. He should examifie himself, asking,him-self. frequently: "Have I had such vigilance over tbeir conduct as to. prevent their doing the least wrong in my presence, andhave I fur-ni~ hed them with motives to avoid evil when they are far from my care?" The vigilance of St. Leo, a chief pastor of the Church, should inspire: the.Christian teacher, whose apostolate associates him with the pastors of the Church, to be watchful to prevent any evil from hindering the pupil’s development in piety. It is because children are weak and lacking in understanding that God has appointed the "Christian teacher to be their protector, to watch over them lest any-thing tarnish their virtue, and to conduct them safely through the midst of all the dangers of the world. "Ask of God today the grace to be so vigilant as to take every means to prevent their falling into serious sin. Ask to be such guides that you will remove far from them all that can be an obstacle to the good of their" souls." IV. Tr~E SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER RENDERS HIS APOSTOLATE FRUITFUL The f6und(r of the Christian Schools would have the Christian ¯ teacher .to be keenly aware that only God can give ,the increase of grace and salvation. The teacher plants the good seed of word and example; God makes it fructify. But God demands that the seed be watered by the spiritual life of the teacher. St~ De La Salle insists, in season and out of season, on the vital importance of the spiritual life of the teacher that his apostolate may bear frui~ in souls. He espe: cially, emphasizes the .. importance of prayer, mortification, detach-ment, and ~alth. 216 duly, 194 g LASAL~.IAN FORMULA FOR APOSTOLATE I. Pr,,a~er, especia[[~’:Mental Pra~ter ’ The saint devotes the meditations of the Rogation Days entirely to the importance of prayer, devoting that of Rogation Monday to -prayer for our pupils. The teacher should pray for the spiritual needs of his pupils that his instructions may bear fruit in them, :and, that they may be successful in the important affair of saving tl~ei~ imfi~ortal soul~: In the second point he urge.s us to have recourse to God to supply all those things which our human efforts cannot ach;.eve. But it is not only our direct prayers, for the students that are needed to make our apostolate bear fruit.. It is our personal-prayer, our personal, daily converse with God. If the Christian teacher is to know how to lead his pupils to God he must first know God well himself. Th~s knowledge, of God is -gained b~y intimate contact with Him ir~ player. The obligations of his state "should engage him to be most assiduous in prayer that he may obtain from God the graces he needs." He will be faithful to sacred duties only in the measure that he is faithful to prayer. Since the daily work of the teacher becomes a continuous immolation and martyrdom, he must clothe himself with Christ for strength; and this is accomplished in mental prayer. In’prayer the teacher becomes a branch attached to Christ, the Vine, and draws from Him th~ means of producing fruit in his ministry among the pupils. Where else can the teacher obtain that uncommon holiness that he needs in order to sanctify his pupils, except in interior applicatio.n to prayer and fervor in his daily spiritual exercises? Ability in the art of speaking to God is’the secret of that eloquence that will gain souls for God. When the Christian teacher mounts daily to God by :men~al prayer, "he descends, equipped with what he should teach his pupils. It is in this holy exercise that he becomes skillful" in his~ apostolic work." ’2. Mdrtification The link between prayer and mortification is indicated by St. De La Salle in the brief statement, "Frequently, prayer Withou’t mortification is an illusion." He urges self-denial as a source of strength in prayer and as a means of attracting the divine benediction on the apostolic labors of the teacher. In St. John the Baptist, the Christian teacher will find.both a model and an incentive. "It was the example of his austere, retired life which gave him the power to -gain hearts and lead them to do penance for sin. You have the grace of 217 BROTHER CHARLES HENRY " Review for Religiou:s .being a successor in his ministry." The same is true of all the saints who have worked so successfully for the salvation of souls: "It is by theirs,. ~ mortified lives that the~; have produ~ce~ great fruito, in their min-istry." The great good that St. Basil was ~able to accomplish in the Church.Was due t6 his practice of solitude and fasting. ~’Nothing will aid you more, if you wish to do gre~t good to souls in the exer-cise of your ministry." "God gives us three means to prepare our-selves to teach our charges effectively. First we must study to have the knowledge requisite for the instructor of youth; .then we. must frequently give ourselves to prayer; thirdly, we’must practice mor-tification." 3. Detachment "If-you wish to be worthy to be employed in the salvation of Souls, be detached from all, and~the grace of God will be showered on you for yoursdf and for others. One has no idea how capable of doing good in the Church is he who is detached from all The two means most appropriate for doing good to souls are regularity of life’ and detachment. Since the teacher is called to elevate children in piety, he ~hould live in complete detachment. This places him in a state to work usefully in his employ." The detachment inherent in poverty is e~pecially efficacious in making the Christian teacher suc-cessful in his aposto City of Saint Louis (Mo.), http://www.geonames.org/4407084 http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/207 |