PRINCIPLES OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE (ePub)

THE chief object for which this work has been written is to furnish those who wish to lead a solidly devout life in the Ecclesiastical, in the Religious, or in the Secular State, with a manual or text-book containing, in as compendious a form as possible, the principles upon which such a life must be built.

The sources from which materials for an undertaking of this kind may be drawn are various and numerous; but out of the many at my disposal, two are especially deserving of mention, inasmuch as it has been by the doctrine which I have learned from them, that I have been guided in much that has been treated of in this book. The first of these are the works of Cassian, to which, as a child of Benedict, I felt myself drawn as it were by instinct; for, it was from the world-famed Conferences of this learned ascetic that our Father Benedict drew much of that spiritual lore which is so conspicuous in the various enactments of his Rule, and to the pages of which he refers his children, for those sublime lessons of spiritual wisdom, which will lead them to the topmost height of Christian perfection. Cassian's teaching, save upon the question of divine grace, is unexceptionally good. His deficiency upon this point may be satisfactorily accounted for if we bear in mind that in his day various questions, which arise out of this most intricate subject, had not been thoroughly examined into and set at rest forever by the infallible decision of the Church. The second is the Theologia Mystica and thirdly the Imitation of Christ, in which that erudite Religious has bequeathed to us valuable treasures of Christian asceticism arranged with scientific accuracy, and stored away with scholastic neatness and precision.

The plan of which I have made use for reducing to order the mass of material, which presented itself to my hands, is a very simple one. It may be stated thus: in the life of every man, there is an ultimate end, which is God. However, in order to reach that ultimate end, man must comply with certain conditions, which have been laid down by God for the attainment of so magnificent a destiny. Therefore, besides his ultimate end, man also has a subordinate end, or object in life. This is to win for himself that measure of perfection that is compatible with his state here below. Perfection, however, is made up of three elements; of charity, of purity of heart, and of humility, all which must be made so to enter the very fibers of one's being.