THE PROFESSIONAL VOWS
THE professional vow is a triple one, and embraces the three great
evangelical counsels of perfect chastity, poverty and obedience. The
cloister is necessary for the observance of such engagements as these,
and it were easier for a lily to flourish on the banks of the Dead Sea,
or amid the fiery blasts of the Sahara, than for these delicate flowers
of spirituality to thrive in the midst of the temptations, seductions
a
practice of these virtues a profession.
It is good to be chaste, good to be obedient, good to be voluntarily
poor. What folly, then, to say that it is unlawful to bind oneself by
promises of this kind, since it is lawful to be good--the only thing
that is lawful! It is not unlawful, if you will, to possess riches, to
enjoy one's independence, to wed; but there is virtue in foregoing
these pleasures, and virtue is better than its defect, and it is no
more unlawful to do better than to do good.
If it is lawful to contract a solemn engagement with man, why not with
God? If it is lawful for a short time, why not for a long time? If it
is lawful for two years, why not for ten, and a lifetime! The
engagement is no more unlawful itself than that to which we engage
ourselves.
The zealous guardians of the rights of man protest that, nevertheless,
vows destroy man's liberty, and should therefore be forbidden, and the
profession suppressed. It is along this line that the governmental
machine is being run in France at present. If the vow destroys liberty,
these fanatics are doing what appears dangerously near being the same
thing.
There is a decided advantage in being your own slave-master over having
another perform that service for you. If I do something which before
God and my conscience I have a perfect right to do, if I do it with
deliberate choice and affection, it is difficult to see wherein my
liberty suffers. Again, if I decide not to marry--a right that every
man certainly has--and in this situation engage myself by vow to
observe perfect chastity--which I must do to retain the friendship of
God--I do not see how I forfeit my liberty by swearing away a right I
never had.
In all cases, the more difficult an enterprise a man enters upon and
pursues to a final issue, the more fully he exercises his faculty of
free will. And since the triple vow supposes nothing short of heroism
in those who take it, it follows that they must use the very plenitude
of their liberty to make the thing possible.
The "cui bono" is the next formidable opponent the vow has to contend
with. What's the good of it? Where is the advantage in leading such an
impossible existence when a person can save his soul without it? All
are not damned who refuse to take vows. Is it not sufficient to be
honest men and women?
That depends upon what you mean by an honest man. A great saint once
said that an honest man would certainly not be hanged, but that it was
by no means equally certain that he would not be damned. A man may do
sundry wicked and crooked things and not forfeit his title to be called
honest. The majority of Satan's subjects were probably honest people in
their day.
The quality of being an honest man, according to many people, consists
in having the privilege of doing a certain amount of wickedness without
prejudice to his eternal salvation. The philosophy of this class of
people is summed up in these words: "Do little and get much; make a
success of life from the standpoint of your own selfishness, and then
sneak into heaven almost by stealth and fraud." That is one way of
doing business with the Lord. But, there are greater things in heaven
and on earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.
Human natures differ as much as pebbles on the sea shore. One man's
meat has often proven poison to another. In the religion of Jesus
Christ there is something more than the Commandments given to Moses.
Love of God has degrees of intensity and perfection. Such words as
sacrifice, mortification, self-denial have a meaning as they have
always had. God gives more to some, less to others; He demands
corresponding returns. These are things Horatio ignores. Yet they are
real, real as his own empty and conceited wisdom.
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JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
JUSTICE is a virtue by which we render unto every man that which to him is due. Among equals, it is called commutative justice, the which alone is here in question. It protects us in the enjoyment of our own rights, and imposes upon us the obligatio... KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY
THE Third Commandment bids us sanctify the Lord's day; but in what that sanctification shall consist, it does not say. It is certain, however, that it is only by worship, of one kind or another, that the day can be properly kept holy to the Lord; an... LAXITY AND SCRUPLES
IN every question of conscience there are two opposing factors: Liberty, which is agreeable to our nature, which allows us to do as we list; and Law which binds us unto the observance of what is unpleasant. Liberty and law are mutually antagonistic.... LOVE OF GOD
ONCE upon a time, there lived people who pretended that nothing had existence outside the mind, that objects were merely fictions of the brain; thus, when they gave a name to those objects, it was like sticking a label in the air where they seemed t... LOVE OF NEIGHBOR
THE precept, written in our hearts, as well as in the law, to love God, commands us, at the same time, to love the neighbor. When you go to confession, you are told to be sorry for your sins and to make a firm purpose of amendment. These appear to b... MENDACITY
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A MAN may come to discover that the state in which he finds himself placed, is not the one for which he was evidently intended by the Maker. We do not all receive the same gifts because our callings are different; each of us is endowed in accordance... OATHS
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WHAT is an enemy? A personal, an individual enemy is he who has done us a personal injury. The enemy, in a general or collective sense, are they--a people, a class or party--who are opposed to our interests, whose presence, doings or sayings are obn... PARENTAL DIGNITY
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A MAN who has stolen, has nothing more urgent and imperative to perform, on this side of eternity, than the duty of refunding the money or goods unjustly acquired, or the value thereof. He may possibly consider something else more important; but if ... PETITIONS
FOR all spiritual needs, therefore, prayer is the one thing necessary. I am in the state of sin. I desire to be forgiven. To obtain pardon is a supernatural act. Alone I can no more do it than fly. I pray then for the grace of a good confession--I p... PETTY THEFTS
A QUESTION may arise as to petty thefts, venial in themselves, but oft repeated and aggregating in the long run a sum of considerable value: how are we to deal with such cases? Should peculations of this sort be taken singly, and their individual ma... PRAYER
NO word so common and familiar among Christians as prayer. Religion itself is nothing more than a vast, mighty, universal, never ceasing prayer. Our churches are monuments of prayer and houses of prayer. Our worship, our devotions, our ceremonies ar... PRIDE
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PROFANITY is not a specific sin. Under this general head come all blasphemy, false, rash, unjust and unnecessary oaths, rash and violated vows, and cursing:--called profanity, because in each case the name of God is profaned, that is to say, is made... RASH JUDGMENT
THE Eighth Commandment is based on the natural right every fellow-man has to our good opinion, unless he forfeits it justly and publicly. It forbids all injury to his reputation, first, in the estimation of others, which is done by calumny and detra... RELIGION
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A PECULIAR feature attaches to the sins we have recently treated, against the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth commandments. These offenses differ from others in that they involve an injury, an injustice to our fellow-man. Now, the condition of par... SCANDAL
ON only rare occasions do people who follow the bent of their unbridled passions bethink themselves of the double guilt that frequently attaches to their sins. Seemingly satisfied with the evil they have wrought unto their own souls, they choose to ... SELF-DEFENSE
THE thought is a terrible one--and the act is desperate in itself--of a man, however justified his conduct may be, slaying with his own hand a fellow being and sending his soul, unprepared perhaps, before its Maker. But it is a still more desperate ... SERVILE WORKS
BUT, if servile works are prohibited on the Lord's day, it must be remembered that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," that, for certain good and sufficient reasons, the law ceases to oblige; and, in these circumstances, wor... SHOULD WE HELP OUR PARENTS?
THERE are few things more evident to natural reason than the obligation children are under to assist their parents when necessity knocks at their door, and finding them unable to meet its harsh demands, presses them with the goad of misery and want.... SLOTH
NOT the least, if the last, of capital sins is sloth, and it is very properly placed; for who ever saw the sluggard or victim of this passion anywhere but after all others, last! Sloth, of course, is a horror of difficulty, an aversion for labor, ... SOME WEAK POINTS IN THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
SOME parents claim that their children do not learn anything in the Catholic school. It is good policy always to accept this statement as true in all its parts; it may be true, and it is never good to deny the truth. All are not equally endowed with... SWEARING
"THOU shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain." A name is a sign, and respect for God Himself, as prescribed by the First Commandment through faith, hope, charity, prayer and religion, naturally implies respect for the name that stand... THE CONSISTENT BELIEVER
THE intolerance of the Church towards error, the natural position of One who is the custodian of truth, her only reasonable attitude, makes her forbid her children to read, or listen to, heretical controversy, or to endeavor to discover religious tr... THE DAY OF REST
THE third article of the Mosaic Code not only enunciates the law of rest, but says just how much time shall be given to its observance; it prescribes neither a week nor a few hours, but one day in seven. If you have a taste for such things and look ... THE LAW OF GOD AND ITS BREACH
WITHOUT going into any superflous details, we shall call the Law of God an act of His will by which He ordains what things we may do or not do, and binds us unto observance under penalty of His divine displeasure. The law thus defined pertains to ... THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS
HEROD, the Bloody, slew all under two. A modern Moloch, a creature of lust and blood, disguised often under the cloak of respectability, stalks through a Christian land denying the babe the right to be born at all, demanding that it be crushed as so... THE MORAL AGENT
MORALS are for man, not for the brute; they are concerned with his thoughts, desires, words and deeds; they suppose a moral agent. What is a moral agent? A moral agent is one who, in the conduct of his life, is capable of good and evil, and who... THE PROFESSION
ONE of the advantages of the monastic life, created by vows, is that it is wholly in keeping with human nature such as God created it. Men differ in their spiritual complexion more widely even than they do in mental caliber and physical make-up. All... THE PROFESSIONAL VOWS
THE professional vow is a triple one, and embraces the three great evangelical counsels of perfect chastity, poverty and obedience. The cloister is necessary for the observance of such engagements as these, and it were easier for a lily to flourish ... THE RELIGIOUS
OWING to the disturbance over things religious in France, vows and those who exemplify them in their lives are receiving of late a large share of public attention. On this topic, it seems, every one is qualified to speak; all sorts of opinions have ... THE SINK OF INIQUITY
THE malice of lust consists in the abuse of a natural, a quasi-divine faculty, which is prostituted to ignoble purposes foreign to the ends by the Creator established. The lines along which this faculty may be legitimately exercised, are laid down b... THE VOW OF CHASTITY
RELIGIOUS are sometimes called celibates. Now, a celibate, one of the bachelor persuasion, is a person who considers himself or herself good enough company in this life, and chooses single blessedness in preference to the not unmixed joys of wedlock... THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE
WHAT kind of obedience is that which makes religious "unwilling to acknowledge any superior but the Pope?" We have been confidently informed this is the ground given in several instances for their removal. And we confess that, if the words "acknowle... THE VOW OF POVERTY
ONE objection to the vow of poverty that has a serious face on it, and certainly looks wicked, is that it does not prevent the accumulation of great wealth, as may be seen in the cases of the Philippine Friars and the French orders. This is one diff... THIRD COMMANDMENT THE LAW OF REST
THE last of the three Commandments that refer directly to God, prescribes a rest from toil, and profane works; and in commemoration of the mystical repose of the Lord after the six days' creation, designates the Sabbath or seventh day as a day that ... THOU SHALT NOT STEAL
THE Seventh Commandment is protective of the right of property which is vested in every human being enjoying the use of reason. Property means that which belongs to one, that which is one's own, to have and to hold, or to dispose of, at one's pleasu... UNBELIEF
AN atheist in principle is one who denies the existence of God and consequently of all revealed truth. How, in practice, a man endowed with reason and a conscience can do this, is one of the unexplained mysteries of life. Christian philosophers refu... UNDOING THE EVIL
WHENEVER a person, through a spirit of Police or grossly culpable negligence, becomes responsible for serious bodily injury sustained by another, he is bound, as far as in him lies, to undo the wrong and repair the injustice committed. The law of pe... WHAT EXCUSES FROM RESTITUTION
THOSE who do not obtain full justice from man in this world will obtain it in the next from God. If we do not meet our obligations this side of the tribunal of the just Judge, He will see to it that our accounts are equitably balanced when the time ... WHAT WE BELIEVE
OUR first duty to God, and the first obligation imposed upon us by the First Commandment is Faith, or belief in God--we must know Him. Belief is solely a manner of knowing. It is one way of apprehending, or getting possession of, a truth. There ar... WHENCE OUR BELIEF: GRACE AND WILL
TO believe is to assent to a truth on the authority of God's word. We must find that the truth proposed is really guaranteed by the authority of God. In this process of mental research, the mind must be satisfied, and the truth found to be in conson... WHENCE OUR BELIEF: REASON
MY faith is the most reasonable thing in the world, and it must needs be such. The Almighty gave me intelligence to direct my life. When He speaks He reveals Himself to me as to an intelligent being: and He expects that I receive His word intelligen... WHEREIN NATURE IS OPPOSED
CERTAIN excesses, such as we have already alluded to, however base and abominable in themselves and their effects, have nevertheless this to their credit that, while violating the positive law of God, they respect at least the fundamental laws of na... WHY WE BELIEVE
BELIEF, we have said, is the acceptance of a truth from another. We do not always accept what others present to us as truth, for the good reason that we may have serious doubts as to whether they speak the truth or not. It is for us to decide the qu... WORSHIP OF REST
PARTICIPATION in public worship is the positive obligation flowing from the Third Commandment; abstention from labor is what is negatively enjoined. Now, works differ as widely in their nature as differ in form and dimension the pebbles on the sea-s... WORSHIP OF SACRIFICE
WE Catholics contend, and our contention is based on a law of nature that we glean from the history of man, that sacrifice is the soul of religion, that there never was a universally and permanently accepted religion--and that there cannot be any su...