<http://ecceagnusdei.blogspot.com/2006/03/saints-interpretation-of-meaning-of.html>A
saint's interpretation of the meaning of the Cross and 14 rules to
abide by in carrying our daily crosses
THE FRIENDS OF THE CROSS by St. Louis De Montfort (1673-1716)
49. Eighth. Take advantage of your sufferings and more so of the
small ones than of the great. God considers not so much what we
suffer as how we suffer. To suffer much, yet badly, is to suffer like
reprobates. To suffer much, even bravely, but for a wicked cause, is
to suffer as a martyr of the devil. To suffer much or little for the
sake of God is to suffer like saints.
If it be right to say that we can choose our crosses, this is
particularly true of the little and obscure ones as compared with the
huge, conspicuous ones, for proud human nature would likely ask and
seek for the huge, conspicuous crosses even to the point of
preferring them and embracing them. But to choose small, unnoticeable
crosses and to carry them cheerfully requires the power of a special
grace and unshakeable fidelity to God. Do then as the storekeeper
does with his merchandise: make a profit on every article; suffer not
the loss of the tiniest fragment of the true Cross. It may be only
the sting of a fly or the point of a pin that annoys you, it may be
the little eccentricities of a neighbour, some unintentional slight,
the insignificant loss of a penny, some little restlessness of soul,
a slight physical weakness, a light pain in your limbs. Make a profit
on every article as the grocer does, and you will soon become wealthy
in God, as the grocer does in money, by adding penny to penny in his
till. When you meet with the least contradiction, simply say:
"Blessed be God! My God I thank you." Then treasure up in the till of
God's memory the cross which has just given you a profit. Think no
more of it, except to say: "Many thanks!" or, "Be merciful!"
50. Ninth. The love you are told to have for the Cross is not
sensible love, for this would be impossible to human nature.
It is important to note the three kinds of love: sensible love,
rational love and love that is faithful and supreme; in other words,
the love that springs from the lower part of man, the flesh; the love
that springs from the superior part, his reason; and the love that
springs from the supreme part of man, from the summit of his soul,
which is the intellect enlightened by faith.
51. God does not ask you to love the Cross with the will of the
flesh. Since the flesh is the subject of evil and corruption, all
that proceeds from it is evil and it cannot, of itself, submit to the
will of God and His crucifying law. It was this aspect of His human
nature which Our Lord referred to when He cried out, in the Garden of
Olives: "Father, . . . not My will but Thine be done. " (Luke 22,
42). If the lower powers of Our Lord's human nature, though holy,
could not love the Cross without interruption, then, with still
greater reason will our human nature, which is very much vitiated,
repel it. At times like many of the saints, we too may experience a
feeling of even sensible joy in our sufferings, but that joy does not
come from the flesh though it is in the flesh. It flows from our
superior powers, so completely filled with the divine joy of the Holy
Ghost, that it spreads to our lower powers. Thus a person who is
undergoing the most unbearable torture is able to say: "My heart and
my flesh have rejoiced in the living God" (Ps. 83, 3).
52. There is another love for the Cross which I call rational, since
it springs from the higher part of man, his reason. This love is
wholly spiritual. Since it arises from the knowledge of the happiness
there is in suffering for God, it can be and really is perceived by
the soul. It also gives the soul inward strength and joy. Though this
rational and perceptible joy is beneficial, even very beneficial, it
is not an indispensable part of joyous, divine suffering.
53. This is why there is another love, which the masters of the
spiritual life call the love of the summit and highest point of the
soul and which the philosophers call the love of the intellect. When
we possess this love, even though we experience no sensible joy or
rational pleasure, we love and relish, in the light of pure faith,
the cross we must bear, even though the lower part of our nature may
often be in a state of warfare and alarm and may moan and groan, weep
and sigh for relief; and thus we repeat with Jesus Christ: "Father .
. . not My will but Thine be done" (Luke 22, 42), or with the Blessed
Virgin: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according
to Thy word" (Luke 1, 38).
It is with one of these two higher loves that we should accept and
love our cross.
54. Tenth. Be resolved then, dear Friends of the Cross, to suffer
every kind of cross without excepting or choosing any: all poverty,
all injustice, all temporal loss, all illness, all humiliation, all
contradiction all calumny, all spiritual dryness, all desolation, all
interior and exterior trials. Keep saying: "My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready" (Ps. 56, 8). Be ready to be forsaken by men and
angels and, seemingly, by God Himself. Be ready to be persecuted,
envied, betrayed, calumniated, discredited and forsaken by everyone.
Be ready to undergo hunger, thirst, poverty, nakedness, exile,
imprisonment, the gallows and all kinds of torture, even though you
are innocent of everything with which you may be charged. What if you
were cast out of your own home like Job and Saint Elizabeth of
Hungary; thrown, like this saint, into the mire; or dragged upon a
manure pile like Job, malodorous and covered with ulcers, without
anyone to bandage your wounds, without a morsel of bread, never
refused to a horse or a dog? Add to these dreadful misfortunes all
the temptations with which God allows the devil to prey upon you,
without pouring into your soul the least feeling of consolation.
Firmly believe that this is the summit of divine glory and real
happiness for a true, perfect Friend of the Cross.
55. Eleventh For proper suffering, form the pious habit of
considering four things:
First, the Eye of God. God is like a great king, who from the height
of a tower observes with satisfaction his soldier in the midst of the
battle and praises his valour. What is it on earth that attracts
God's attention? Kings and emperors on their thrones? He often looks
at them with nothing but contempt. Brilliant victories of a nation's
armies, precious stones, any such things that are great in the sight
of men? "What is great to men is an abomination before God" (Luke 16,
15). What then does God look upon with pleasure and delight? What is
He asking the Angels about, and even the devils? It is about the man
who is fighting for Him against riches, against the world, hell and
himself, the man who is cheerfully carrying his cross. Hast thou not
seen upon earth that great wonder which the heavens consider with
admiration? said the Lord to Satan; "hast thou considered My servant
Job" (Job 2, 3) who is suffering for Me?
56. Second, the Hand of God. Every disorder in nature, from the
greatest to the smallest, is the work of His almighty Hand. The Hand
that devastates an army of a hundred thousand (4 Kings 19, 35) will
make a leaf drop from a tree and a hair fall from your head (Luke 21,
18). The Hand that was laid so heavily upon Job is particularly light
when it touches you with some little trial. This Hand fashions day
and night, sun and darkness, good and evil. God permits the sin which
provokes you; He is not the cause of its malice, although He does
allow the act.
If anyone, then, treats you as Semei treated King David (2 Kings 16,
5-11), loading you with insults and casting stones at you, say to
yourself: "I must not mind; I must not take revenge for this is an
ordinance of God. I know that I have deserved every abuse and it is
only right that God punish me. Desist, my hands, and strike not;
desist, my tongue, and speak not; the person who injures me by word
or deed is an ambassador, mercifully sent by God to punish me as His
love alone knows how. Let us not incur His justice by assuming His
right to vengeance. Let us not despise His mercy by resisting the
affectionate strokes of His lash, lest, for His vengeance, He should
remand us to the rigorous justice of eternity. "
Consider how God bears you up with one Hand, of infinite power and
wisdom, while with the other He chastises you. With the one He deals
out death, while with the other He dispenses life. He humbles you and
raises you up. With both arms, He reaches sweetly and mightily
(Wisdom 8, 1) from the beginning of your life to its end. Sweetly: by
not allowing you to be tempted or afflicted beyond your strength.
Mightily: by favouring you with a powerful grace, proportioned to the
vehemence and duration of your temptation or affliction. Mightily: --
and the spirit of His holy Church bears witness -- "He is your stay
on the brink oof a precipice, your guide along a misleading road,
your shade in the scorching heat, your raiment in the pouring rain or
the biting cold. He is your conveyance when you are utterly
exhausted, your help in adversity, your staff on the slippery way. He
is your port of refuge when, in the throes of a tempest, you are
threatened with ruin and shipwreck. "
57. Third, consider the Wounds and Sorrows of our crucified Jesus.
Hear what He Himself has to say: "All ye that pass along the thorny
and crucifying way I had to follow, look and see. Look with the eyes
of your body; look with the eye of contemplation, and see if your
poverty, nakedness, disgrace, sorrow, desolation are like unto Mine.
Behold Me, innocent as I am, then will you complain, you who are
guilty" (Lam. 1, 12).
The Holy Ghost tells us, by the mouth of the Apostles, that we should
keep our eyes on Jesus Crucified (Gal. 3, 1) and arm ourselves with
this thought of Him (1 Pet. 4, 1) which is our most powerful and most
penetrating weapon against all our enemies. When you are assailed by
poverty, disrepute, sorrow, temptation or any other cross, arm
yourselves with this shield, this breastplate, this helmet, this
two-edged sword (Eph. 6, 12-18), that is, with the thought of Jesus
crucified. There is the solution to your every problem, the means you
have to vanquish all your enemies.
58. Fourth, lift up your eyes, behold the beautiful crown that awaits
you in Heaven if you carry your cross as you should. That was the
reward which kept patriarchs and prophets strong in faith under
persecution. It gave heart to the Apostles and martyrs in their
labours and torments. Patriarchs used to say as Moses had said: "We
would rather be afflicted with the people of God, " so as to enjoy
eternal happiness with Him, "than to have the pleasure of sin for a
short time (Heb. 11, 25-26). The prophets repeated David's words: "We
suffer great persecutions on account of the reward" (Ps. 68, 8118,
112). The Apostles and martyrs voiced the sentiments of St. Paul "We
are, as it were, men appointed to death: we are made a spectacle to
the world, and to angels, and to men, " by our sufferings "being made
the offscouring of the world, " (1 Cor. 4, 9-13), "by reason of the
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, which this momentary and light
tribulation worketh in us" (2 Cor. 4, 17).
Let us see and listen to the angels right above us: "Be careful not
to forfeit the crown that is set aside for you if you bravely bear
the cross that is given you. If you do not bear it well, someone will
bear it in your stead and will take your crown. All the saints warn
us: fight courageously, suffer patiently and you will be given an
everlasting kingdom. " Let us hear Jesus: "To him only will I give My
reward who shall suffer and overcome through patience" (Apoc. 2, 6;
11, 17; 3, 5; 21, 7).
Let us lower our eyes and see the place we deserve, the place that
awaits us in hell in the company of the wicked thief and the
reprobate, if we go through suffering as they did, resentful and bent
on revenge. Let us exclaim after St. Augustine: "Burn, O Lord, cut,
carve divide in this world, in punishment for my sins, provided Thou
pardon them in eternity. "
59. Twelfth. Never murmur or deliberately complain about any created
thing that God may use to afflict you. It is important to note the
three kinds of complaints that may arise when misfortune assails you.
The first is natural and involuntary. This happens when the human
body moans and groans, sobs and sighs and weeps. If, as I said, the
higher point of the soul submits to the will of God, there is no sin.
The second is rational. Such is the case when we complain and
disclose our hardship to some superior or physician who is able to
remedy it. This complaint may be an imperfection, if too eagerly
made, but it is no sin. The third is sinful. This happens when a
person complains of others either to rid himself of the suffering
they cause him, or to take revenge. Or else when he wilfully
complains about the sorrow he must bear and shows signs of grief and
impatience.
60. Thirteenth. Whenever you are given a cross, be sure to embrace it
with humility and gratitude. If God, in His infinite goodness,
favours you with a cross of some importance, be sure to thank him in
a special way and have others join you in thanking him. Do as that
poor woman did who, through an unjust lawsuit, lost everything she
owned. She immediately offered the last few pennies she had, to have
a Mass said in thanksgiving to Almighty God for the good fortune that
had come to her.
61. Fourteenth. If you wish to be worthy of the best crosses, those
that are not of your choice, then, with the help of a prudent
director, take on some that are voluntary.
Suppose you have a piece of furniture that you do not need but prize.
Give it to some poor person, and say to yourself: "Why should I have
things I do not need, when Jesus is destitute?"
Do you dislike certain kinds of food, the practice of some particular
virtue, or some offensive door? Taste this food, practice this
virtue, endure this door, conquer yourself.
Is your affection for some person or thing too ardent and tender?
Keep away, deprive yourself, break away from things that appeal to you.
Have you that natural tendency to see and be seen, to be doing things
or going some place? Mind your eyes and hold your tongue, stop right
where you are and keep to yourself.
Do you feel a natural aversion to some person or thing? Rise above
self by keeping near them.
62. If you are truly Friends of the Cross, then, without your knowing
it, love, which is always ingenious, will discover thousands of
little crosses to enrich you. Then you need not fear self-conceit
which often accompanies the patient endurance of conspicuous crosses
and since you have been faithful in a few things, the Lord will keep
His promise and set you over many things (Matt. 25, 21, 23): over
many graces He will grant you; over many crosses He will send you;
over much glory He will prepare for you. . . .
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
<*}}}>< <http://halfthekingdom.mofuse.mobi/>Half the Kingdom!
on your Mobile <*}}}><
<*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/wordpress/>Half the Kingdom!
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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