As much as

21/08/2024

On Freedom.

"I don’t want and I want do not live in the same house." (S. Ignat. apud Bart. l. 3)

In the temple of peace, destroyers have no place. Whatever disturbs peace comes from the will. Where will prevails, there is continuous war. Until you tame it, you cannot even hope for peace.
Among the things you must renounce, the will is first. If you stay with it, you will not achieve Christ, neither for yourself nor for the congregation. There is no greater enemy. If you part with it, all difficulties are over.
Wanting nothing, fearing nothing, constitutes happiness. Whoever has achieved this is free from all worries. He is above fear. Nothing sad or unpleasant can happen to him. This is how the saints live in heaven: they know no desires, no fears. Here is heaven before heaven!
There is no surer way to heaven than the way without will. When you give it up, every act, every move, brings you merit. The more steps you take, the closer you get to heaven. In this way, you don’t walk but run to heaven.

20/08/2024

On Leading Souls.

"Pastors of souls need nothing more than the Holy Spirit, so that while they are engaged in saving others, they do not endanger their own salvation." (S. Ignat. apud Ribad. l. 7)

Many shepherds do not seek the benefit of the sheep but the milk and wool from them. They do not care for their eternal life but for their own temporal comfort. How do such people differ from merchants or hirelings? Investigate if you are wise.
It is not wrong for one who serves the altar to live from the altar, but to use the altar to fuel pride, vanity, and support vice is a terrifying thing. It means wasting Christ's heritage, committing the greatest crime possible.
To care for the sheep but not for the Spirit is to lose both oneself and fail to save them. There are few conversions because there are few good shepherds: what they build with words, they destroy with their hands, giving more scandal than edification.
The calling to care for the salvation of souls should be taken seriously. If someone undertakes this task for a piece of bread, for ample income, to avoid work, they think of the body, securing the body, but condemn the soul to ruin. In this way, the blind become guides to the blind, and together they head towards the abyss 1)!

1) Mt 15:14 http://tiny.cc/jw3izz

Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

20/07/2024

On Riches.

"He who does not want to give up everything for God should at least refer everything to Him, give thanks for everything. It seems like a lot, but in reality it is less than that one thing, of which Christ said that it is necessary." (S. Ignatius of Loyola, quoted by Bart. fol. 378)

No matter how difficult 1), it is not impossible to open heaven to oneself while having wealth. Riches are an obstacle, not the loss of salvation. They are not bad, unless their use or attachment makes them so.
Wealth also has its good side. Who would support the poor, who would erect temples and altars if everyone were poor? If there were no rich, the poor would not live, because they would have no help from anywhere, no one would support them.
God did not call everyone to the same degree of perfection. Whoever wants to be the best should strive to be good at the level where God placed him, for not everyone is bad who is not the best.
We should not look at riches as we do at the heart. Often a rich man with jewels and gold is less worthy than a poor man with his plow, and a rich man is more worthy of contempt to the extent that what he madly loves is vain.

1) St. Matthew 19:23

05/04/2024

On Loving God.

"This single concern is supremely praiseworthy: to love God and by this love to earn His greater love." (St. Ignatius according to Bart. book 4)

Love is the happiness of man. Not the one arising from blind impulse, which takes false good for true, for it is deceptive, promises delight but grants bitterness, but that rational one, which chooses true good, eternal, unchanging as its aim.
A small measure of God's love is sweeter than all that the world presents as worthy of love. He who tastes worldly love, despises it. He who becomes acquainted with divine love, has no words to adequately praise it: the longer he remains in it, the more fervently he desires it 1).
To love means to rejoice in the happiness of the one we love, as if it were our own. Oh, how happy I am if I love God! For in all those goods, which are proper to the Deity, I partake! Oh, may I think and do nothing but love You, my Lord!
To love God means to assure oneself peace, a peace beyond which there is no better. Everything in the world disturbs us, everything passes. You will truly find peace when you immerse yourself in the love of God.

1) St. Gregory

03/04/2024

On Treating Illness.

"Indeed with everyone, but especially with the lower ones, one must be sparing in speaking and patient in listening. One should willingly listen when someone wants to express themselves before us." (St. Ignatius, Hist. soc. book 3)

The possibility of expression, of voicing the complaints of a pained soul, often serves as a remedy for an illness considered incurable. It's just like when sometimes by relieving the stomach of bile, one regains health.
The doctor should listen to the patient, if he does not want to err. No one knows better than the patient what he suffers, because no one feels it more keenly. Happy is the doctor who, by listening patiently, if he cannot cure, can at least alleviate the illness. Cruel is he who does not want to help by such an easy means.
Pain is somehow thrown out and diminished, when shared with a listener, especially when the suffering person finds not only willing ears but also a friendly heart, then a sweet word of comfort brings him great relief.
Accurate knowledge of the illness is the basis of treatment. It is easier to recognize a disease of the body than of the soul, except when the patient himself explains what pains him. Neither a physician to the body nor a superior to the soul will prescribe the appropriate remedy if they do not first listen patiently to the patient.

02/04/2024

On Yielding to God's Grace.

"As an unshaped log does not know that it can be transformed into a statue of marvelous beauty, but the sculptor knows it, so many, weakly grounded in the Christian faith, do not comprehend that in the hands of God, they can be transformed into saints, if only they do not resist that masterful hand." (S. Ignatius, vitae l. 4)

Only God is such a skilled artist that He can make everything out of anything, for He alone can add what is lacking, subtract what is in excess. Let Him mold you.
No one should be despised. Though someone may be like a log, over time they can transform into a well-shaped statue, become a masterpiece of art, cause universal admiration. They may take a place on the altar before which you will one day bend your knees.
He judges poorly who judges by appearances. As the best can become the worst, so the worst can become the best. Pay attention to yourself, not others.
As clay yields without resistance to the potter's hand, always ready to take the shape given by that hand, so you should always be pliable to God. Let Him act.

01/04/2024

On Self-Contempt.

"Amid comforts and abundance, self-contempt and the humbling of the spirit should be foremost and stronger than the mortification of the body." (St. Ignatius in life according to Bart.)

True humility is both a rare and a great virtue: that tamarisks bend, that worms crawl on the ground, is nothing great, but that the lofty cedar bows its head and as it grows high up, so it sends its roots deep into the earth, that is something unusual, something special.
To weigh honors and life on the same scale is a trait of pride: how far it is from the principle of Christ, who preferred to be a mockery of men and scorn of the mob! 1).
He who wants to be great, will become so by humbling himself accordingly. For if the world holds nothing more elevated than honors, then to disdain them is no small matter, for by doing so, the disdainer becomes greater than he who is most esteemed by the world.
To humble oneself in words, to think lowly of oneself in words, has almost become a custom, even the arrogant do it, but to think lowly or contemptuously of oneself in the soul, to despise oneself, that is a virtue that has reached the height of perfection.

1) Psalm 21, 7

28/03/2024

On Preferring Heaven Over Earth.

"Ah! How the earth reeks to me, when I gaze up into heaven." (S. Ignatius according to Bartol. l. 4)

We are created for higher things, let us not delight in the lowly. Nature itself encourages us: it gave us a face lifted upwards 1), eyes to gaze into the heavens, faces, and even more so hearts, directed towards the stars.
Heaven is our homeland, earth is exile: the former abounds in blessings, the latter in disasters. Upward, then, with desires, upward with yearnings! Despise the earth, and gaze into heaven!
Let the earth reek to us, let all its gifts stink. They seem good, but are not good; rather, they are evil because they spoil us, because they block our entrance to heaven.
Earthly consolations are shared with us by animals, heavenly consolations bring us closer to Angels: the former are dirty, the latter pure; the former temporary, the latter eternal. Therefore, we should strive for these, desire them, and shun the former.

1) Acts 1, 11

27/03/2024

On the Consolations of the Holy Spirit.

"No created thing can bring such joy to the soul as the grace of the Holy Spirit." (S. Ignatius according to Ribaden. l. 5)

Why do you delude yourself with joy that the world offers? Only that joy is true and real, which no one can take away from us.
Consolations for the soul are necessary: either it chases after the lowest or the highest. The former irritate and do not satisfy, only the latter can truly satisfy the soul, which is immortal.
Being able to rejoice is a great art. Rejoicing in evil things gives reason to weep. As fire and water do not mix, so do carnal pleasures not mix with spiritual ones.
Do you wish to never be sad? Then always live well. From this source flow pure consolations. No misfortune will trouble you, none will weigh you down, if even one ray of God's grace shines upon you, it comforts.

26/03/2024

On Loving God.

"God, make me love You, give me Your grace, and you will sufficiently enrich me, I will want for nothing else." (S. Ignatius in a familiar prayer.)

That love is most beneficial, which seeks no gain, whose entire gain is loving. Other loves are mercantile, you receive as much as you give. It is a contemptible greed. He loves for free, who truly loves.
Even irrational animals recognize benefits, vultures gather where they sense prey. The love of God should rise higher, not chase after profit: love itself should be the entire gain.
We do ourselves great harm if we seek any reward besides God. Even if you possessed everything, without God you are miserable. Heaven itself without the love of God would be hell, and hell, with God, would turn into heaven.
The love of creation is useless, even harmful. Only the love of God abounds in great benefits: from it, as from a source, flow all gifts of grace and glory. Love God, for it is so easy, and you will be happy.

25/03/2024

On Feeding on the Body of Christ.

"Unheard-of consolation! As often as we approach the Lord's table, so often do we feed not only on Christ but also on His Most Holy Mother's body." (S. Ignatius according to Lyraeum)

What once delighted Saint Bernard, we too can rejoice in, namely, that we are allowed to nourish ourselves simultaneously with the body of the Son and the Mother, for the body of Christ is also the body of Mary.
What grace on the part of the Mother! What goodness on the part of the Son! She feeds us with milk, He with blood, both contribute to our feast. What an excess of love! Truly, we are insane if we do not make use of it!
Consider your position, human. Fed so often with the blood of Christ and the milk of the Mother, you have become kin to such great figures. Do not be a degenerate and, by turning to follies, do not stain this holy kinship.
Angels have a reason to envy us, for they did not receive this grace! In human misery, here lies refuge: he who is terrified by the majesty of the Judge, is uplifted by the kindness of the Mother. Whom justice restrains, mercy attracts.

24/03/2024

On Personal Sanctification.

"It is far better to have a single grain of goodness without risking salvation than a hundred with such a risk." (S. Ignatius according to Bartol. l. 4)

No sensible person loses themselves to save another, just as a doctor does not expose themselves to disease to heal another. First and foremost, one should think of their own salvation.
The more precious the treasure, the more carefully it should be guarded. For what will a man give in exchange for his soul 1), which, when he exposes to danger, thereby proves that he values it not, that he cares not for it.
Among the profits you so eagerly seek, place yourself first. When you encourage others towards piety, do not neglect yourself and do not allow others under your guidance to become holier than you. Why do you not care for yourself as much?
Care that always relates to others is among the worst. Care for yourself should be placed above all others: you will be asked to account for yourself. Martha! Martha! You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary 2): safeguard your salvation as diligently as you can.

1) Mt 16, 26
2) Lk 10, 41

23/03/2024

On Not Delaying Things.

"It is better not to postpone to tomorrow what can be done today." (S. Ignatius according to Bartol. I. 4)

What earned Philip the title of the Great, for a Christian should be a law. He postponed nothing to tomorrow that could be done today. Christians should do the same. Tomorrow is uncertain, you may not live to see it.
The grace of the Holy Spirit does not tolerate sloth, especially in those matters that deserve praise only after they are accomplished. The value of an act is greatly increased when it is performed promptly.
How often has delay proved harmful. What we postponed to another day never came to fruition, remained undone. Many will have to atone for their sinful laziness for centuries and will never make amends.
A good deed, by the effect of delay, loses much of its value: delay, on one hand, demonstrates reluctance, and on the other, causes dissatisfaction. As much as one delays in practicing virtue, so much does it lose its glory. Intentions alone have made no one holy.

22/03/2024

On Obedience.

"Whom God has given you as a superior, willingly submit to them; do not be disheartened by their flaws, whatever they may be; you listen to God when you listen to them." (S. Ignatius according to Nigr. de nec. spir. c. 5)

Obedience is a great virtue, but it would not be such if a person did not renounce their dearest part, their own will, and through obedience, did not offer it to God as a sacrifice, or more precisely, did not exchange their will for the Divine Will.
When the one commanding does not abound in virtue or abilities, our obedience gains from this: it increases by as much as the one we listen to lacks virtues. Here, the intention is purer and the faith stronger.
The listener receives what is only proper to God: that is, the impossibility of erring. Obedience places itself on par with Divine wisdom: the attribute of both is infallibility.

21/03/2024

On the Benefits of Illness.

"Good health is beneficial for the righteous, and illness for the wicked: the former, so they may use their strength unimpeded for the glory of God; the latter, so in their weakness, in their sufferings, they may turn to God." (S. Ignatius according to Ribaden. 2, 5)

We often do not know how much good lies in illness. Let us not mind the shell, it may be hard and rough, but beneath it lies a nourishing fruit, tasty juice; if only we knew how to extract sweetness from thorns, honey from bitter herbs, to derive health from illness. It is a certain kind of health, when a person is not healthy.
When the body is sick, the spirit strengthens. Many have been made better by illness, whereas health would have destroyed them. As darkness serves the light, so does illness serve a better life. Sins leave those who would not themselves have forsaken them.
The goodness of things is determined by their utility. Let it hurt, as long as it helps: medicine is not pleasant to the taste, but because it gives hope of health, we strive for it, we accept it. What can the desire for physical health achieve, that the desire for spiritual health could not?
Are you sick? Rejoice: you cannot sin. Are you bedridden? You have time for introspection. Are you in pain, suffering? Think upon human misery, think about crossing the threshold to eternity. How much good comes from this!

20/03/2024

On discerning things.

"Each thing is worth as much as God values it." (S. Ignat. apud Bartol. l. 4)

He who judges things by their color or surface shape often errs greatly. A skilled connoisseur easily distinguishes a diamond from glass. He is furthest from error who evaluates everything according to God.
Ah! How mistaken you would be if you took all that glitters for gold. Only that is good, which leads to the highest good.
God is our goal, towards which we strive, in whom we will find eternal rest. Consider the path that leads to Him as good, choose it, love it. But the path that leads away from Him, even if it were strewn with roses, avoid it as carefully as possible.
A golden key is of little use if it does not open the lock we care about. An iron key that easily opens the lock we want to open is better. That is, the value of things is not determined by their shape, color, but by their suitability, their correspondence to the intended goal.
Oh, how we err! Everything has been subjected to our will, everything has been made subordinate to us, but so that everything leads us towards Him, to be a means to reach Him. Woe to those who use this means against God. The worse each thing is, the more surely it leads away from God.

19/03/2024

On salvation.

"Value the salvation of every person more than all the treasures of the whole world." (S. Ignat. apud Ribaden. I. 5)

What is most precious in us, we value the least. The soul, which costs unspeakably much, cannot be insignificant, except perhaps only to those for whom nothing is more worthless.
Christ preferred the salvation of man over heaven 1): to ensure it, He, as it were, consumed His divinity, stripped Himself, gave life and blood. Why do we care so little about what the wisest of teachers valued so much?
We use a false scale. For things of little worth, like wealth, learning, we laboriously strive throughout life, but all work regarding human salvation we consider too hard and unbearable.
Remember the judgment of God. God values all the power of the world as much as we value a hair or an empty nut: but He cares greatly about the salvation of man. Besides Himself, there is nothing more desirable, nothing more sought after.

1) Mt 1, 21

18/03/2024

On gentleness.

"In the work of saving others, gentleness is more effective than severity, and victory is sooner achieved by yielding than by threatening insistence." (S. Ignat, vitae l. 4)

As in the conquest of a castle, so too in the winning of souls, much depends on prudence. To achieve victory, let the conqueror throw themselves at the feet of the conquered, let them act subtly, evasively. In this way, what would resist open force, yields to a sidelong approach.
Few bird catchers would gather birds into their net if they thundered, shouted, threatened, instead of luring them in. It is necessary to play on a graceful pipe: what force cannot accomplish, the pipe can.
We win over a man with kindness, humility, and there is no one so wild, so hard, who would not be drawn to love by this method. Arrogance, on the other hand, provokes dislike, repulsion. Pride stirs up pride and further solidifies the stubborn in their obstinacy. The means of ascetic struggle are different from those of the world: the former openly attacking, while the latter seemingly yielding, paves the way to victory.