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THAT we may understand better the immensity of the
soul, in particular of the will, we must now speak of
vices and virtues, those roots which penetrate into the
soul, either for our loss or for our salvation.
Virtue makes man perfect, inclines him to a good end,
makes of him not only a good painter, a good sculptor,
a good mathematician, but a good man. Vice is an evil
habitude, that of acting contrary to right reason. It
deforms man entire in the conduct of his life, because
it taints the will and inclines it to an evil end. Vice
makes of a man not a bad painter, a bad sculptor, but a
bad man, a criminal. This condition begins at times
even in children of fourteen or fifteen years. All
vices have one root in common, namely, the disordered
love of self, opposed to the love of good, and
especially of the sovereign good which is God. This
evil root tends to sink itself ever more deeply into
the will, and from this root there is born an evil
tree. The trunk of this tree is egoism, of which the
central and principal branch, the continuation of the
trunk, is pride, of which the lateral branches are the
concupiscence of the flesh and concupiscence of the
eyes. Thus St. John. [17]
The branches of this wicked tree have numerous sub-
branches which are called capital sins.
From concupiscence of the flesh is born gluttony and
luxury. From concupiscence of the eyes, that is,
immoderate desire of external goods, is born avarice,
and then perfidy, fraud, cheating, and hardening of the
heart. From the pride of life are born vainglory and
ambition, disgust for spiritual things, forgetfulness
of God, envy, anger, injuries to neighbor.
The capital sins conduct man to others that are still
more grave, to sins against the theological virtues.
They lead to blasphemy, opposed to confession of the
faith, to despair, opposed to hope, to the hate of God
and neighbor, opposed to charity.
Some of these vices in the most wicked men have roots
that are very deep, which manifest in their own sad
manner the immensity of the soul. We know those words
of St. Augustine: "Two loves have built two cities: the
love of self extending to the scorn of God has made the
city of Babylon, that is, the city of the world, the
city of immorality, whereas the love of God even to the
scorn of self has made the city of God." [18] Just as
man does not arrive all at once at sanctity, so too he
does not arrive at once at complete perversity.
Inordinate love of self, when it becomes dominating,
puts forth roots more and more deep, to be seen in
certain souls which are on the road to perdition. Their
voice often has a sharp and piercing sound. They close
their eyes to the divine light which alone could
illumine and deliver them. At times they combat the
truth, although it be evident. This is one of the forms
of the sins against the Holy Spirit, impugnatio
veritatis agnitae. After a miraculous healing obtained
by St. Peter in the name of Jesus, the members of the
Sanhedrin said: "What shall we do to these men? For
indeed a miracle hath been done by them, known to all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is manifest, and we
cannot deny it; but that it maybe no farther spread
among the people, let us threaten them that they speak
no more in this name to any man." [19] Thus they
forbade Peter and John to speak further in this name to
anyone. To which these two replied: "If it be just in
the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge
ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard." The measureless depths of the human
soul reveal themselves in this unregulated love of
self, which rises at times to the scorn and hate of
God. This malice is accompanied by a hate which is
inveterate and incomprehensible, even against their
greatest benefactors. Certain frightening perversities,
as, for instance, those of Nero and other persecutors,
would not yield even to the constancy and goodness that
radiated from the suffering martyrs.
Now this unbelievable degree of malice manifests by
contrast the grandeur of God and of the saints. The
Lord permits malice and persecution in order to let the
sanctity of the martyrs shine forth the more brightly.
In Spain, in I 936, during the Communist persecution,
the faithful would come to their priest and say: "How
is it that God permits such atrocities?" And the priest
would reply: "Without persecution there can be no
martyrs, and martyrs are the glory of the Church." The
faithful understood and were comforted.
The immensity of the human soul appears still more in
those great virtues which are rooted in it, and which
could grow still greater if the time of temptation and
merit were not a mere prelude to eternal life.
In virtues we distinguish the acquired virtues, which
arise by repetition of natural acts, from infused
virtues, which are supernatural virtues that are
received at baptism, and that grow in us by means of
the sacraments, by Holy Communion, and by our merits.
But even acquired virtues manifest the depths of the
soul. Temperance and courage send the light of right
reason down into our sensibility, there to resist
temptations, at times very vivid, of impurity and
laxity. Similarly the acquired virtue of justice
reveals the grandeur of the human soul, particularly
when, for the common good of society, it establishes
and observes laws demanding great sacrifices, even
those of life. We need only recall the unjustly accused
Socrates, whose reverence for the laws of his land made
him refuse to escape from prison.
But the infused virtues manifest still more clearly the
grandeur of the soul. They proceed from sanctifying
grace, which is received in the very essence of the
soul as a divine root. Grace communicates to us a
participation in the intimate life of God, the very
vitality of God. Sanctifying grace is in truth the seed
of everlasting life, semen gloriae; when it is widely
expanded and developed, it enables us to see
immediately God as He sees Himself, and to love Him as
He loves Himself. Thus it becomes in us a germination
of eternal life. If the germination of grain gives
thirty or sixty or even a hundred per cent, what will
be in the supernatural order the germination of eternal
life?
From this divine root, which is sanctifying grace,
there flows into our intelligence infused faith, and
into our will infused hope and infused charity. And
from these virtues derive the infused virtues of
Christian prudence, of justice, of religion, of
courage, of chastity, of humility, of sweetness, of
patience, and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The infused virtues, flowing from sanctifying grace,
give to our faculties the power of acting
supernaturally in order to merit eternal life. The
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which accompany these
infused virtues, render us docile to the inspirations
of the inner master. He alone draws forth from our
faculties, even from our sense faculties, harmonies
that are not only natural, but supernatural, harmonies
that we hear especially in the lives of the saints.
Sanctifying grace gives us an entirely new spiritual
organism.
Infused faith, resting on divine revelation, extends
very widely the frontiers of our intelligence, because
it lets us know God as the author of nature, and also
as the author of grace -- a share in His own intimate
life. Faith makes us adhere infallibly and
supernaturally to truths which surpass the natural
forces of any created intelligence, even of the highest
angel. It enables us to adhere to the mysteries of the
Blessed Trinity, the elevation of the human race to the
supernatural order, to the mysteries of the Fall and of
the redemptive Incarnation, and of the means of
salvation. And the gift of intelligence renders this
infused faith more and more penetrating.
Infused hope makes us tend toward God, toward the life
of eternity. Although it does not give us certitude of
salvation, which would require a special revelation, it
has a certitude of tendency toward that goal. By
infused hope we tend surely to our last end, just as
the swallow tends to its home. This certitude is
augmented by the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, who,
in the midst of the greatest difficulties, consoles the
just man and lets him feel that he is approaching
heaven. The gift of filial fear preserves us from
presumption. The gift of knowledge shows us the
emptiness of terrestrial things, and the gift of piety
increases our confidence in God our Father. In all
these ways we see the height and the depth of the soul.
We see it still better when we treat of charity.
Charity is a true friendship, a supernatural
friendship, which unites us to God. Already in the Old
Testament [20] Abraham is called the friend of God.
Similarly the name is given to the prophets. [21] In
the New Testament we hear Jesus say to us: "You are My
friends if you do the things that I command you. I will
not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not
what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends:
because all things whatsoever I have heard of My
Father, I have made known to you." [22] These words
were spoken to the apostles, but also to us. This truth
leads us far onward if we are faithful to it.
This virtue makes us love our neighbor, since he is
loved by God, our common Father, inasmuch as he is a
child of God or is called to be a child of God.
This charity should become ever more rooted in the
depths of our soul and thus drive out the unregulated
love of self. Charity widens our heart, gives it
something of the grandeur of divine goodness, and makes
us love, as God does, all men without exception. Yea,
more, if a just man were to live on earth for an
indefinite time, for millions of years, he could
throughout all that time advance in merit, and charity
would not cease to grow greater in the depths of his
will.
St. Thomas expresses this truth in these words:
"Charity can always grow greater in itself, because it
is a participation in uncreated love and unlimited
love. Further it can also always grow as a gift of God,
its author, who can always make it grow greater. Lastly
it can grow greater by our own cooperation, because the
more charity grows the more the soul becomes capable of
receiving its augmentation." [23] Charity, thus
progressing, widens our heart, which in some sense has
been invaded by the love of God. [24] This love grows
only in order to grow still greater. At times we are
capable of experiencing this truth when we are in
prayer.
This page of St. Thomas clarifies the unmeasured depths
of our will. Infused charity is rooted ever more
deeply, excludes more decisively the unregulated love
of self. It drives us on to love ourselves and our
neighbor, to glorify God in time and in eternity, on
earth, in purgatory, and in heaven. It lets us grow
into the immensity of the heart of God.
Length corresponds to depth and height. Listen to St.
Paul: "Charity never falleth away." [25] Faith gives
place to vision, hope to possession, but charity, like
sanctifying grace, lasts forever. The life of grace and
charity is already eternal life in embryo. Thus Jesus
spoke: "He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life."
[26] He who believes in Me with a living faith not only
will have eternal life, but already has it in germ.
The infused cardinal virtues of prudence, justice,
courage, temperance, are far superior to the acquired
virtues of the same name. These infused virtues are the
virtues, not only of the perfect man, but of the child
of God. Between acquired prudence and infused prudence
there is a greater distance than that between two
musical notes of the same name separated by an entire
octave. Infused prudence is of another order than
acquired prudence, to such a degree that this latter
could grow continually greater without ever attaining
the least degree of the other. And the same truth
holds-good for the other acquired moral virtues in
relation to the infused virtues of the same name. If
acquired virtue is silver, infused virtue is gold, and
the gift of counsel, still higher, is a diamond. But
acquired virtue does facilitate the exercise of the
infused virtue and of the gift which accompanies it,
just as manual agility facilitates the exercise of the
musician's art, which is in his intellect.
Certain Christian virtues have a very special elevation
by reason of their affinity with the theological
virtues.
Humility, comparable to an excavation made for the
construction of an edifice, recalls our Savior's word:
"Without Me you can do nothing," and St. Paul's word:
"What hast thou that thou hast not received?" [27] We
are not capable of drawing for ourselves, as coming
from ourselves, the least thought profitable for
salvation. Grace is required even for the least
supernatural act.
Humility recalls to us also these words ascribed to St.
Augustine: "There is no fault committed by another man
of which we ourselves are not capable if we were placed
in the same circumstances and surrounded by the same
evil examples from the time of our youth." Hence we
read that St. Francis of Assisi, when he saw a criminal
led to execution, spoke to himself: "If this man had
received the same grace as I have received, he would
have been less faithless than I. If the Lord had
permitted in my life the faults which he has permitted
in this man's life, I would be in his place today." We
must thank God for all the good He has enabled us to
accomplish, and for avoidance of all the faults we
could have committed. We are dealing here with the
great depths of Christian life.
Infused magnanimity perfects acquired magnanimity. It
completes humility and preserves us in spiritual
equilibrium. It enables us to undertake great deeds for
God, even in the most humble conditions, for instance,
that of a good servant faithful to his master
throughout his life. It enables us to avoid ambition as
well as pusillanimity, reminds us that no great deeds
are done without humility, without the succor of God
which we ask for in prayer daily: "Unless the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
[28]
Patience, that Christian sweetness which shines so
gloriously in the martyrs, enables us to support the
evils of the present life with equanimity, without
worry. Patience supports inevitable evils, remains on
the right road, continues the ascent to God. Martyrs
are in the highest degree masters of themselves. They
exercise the principal act of courage, which consists,
not in attacking, but in enduring. They do not yield to
persecutors, but pray for them.
The virtue of religion, aided by the gift of piety,
carries us on to offer to God the worship which is His
due, with that filial affection which the Holy Spirit
inspires, with boundless confidence in the
efficaciousness of prayer, in the goodness of God, even
when all seems lost.
Penance carries us forward, in union with the Sacrifice
of the Altar, to repair offenses against God. It
kindles zeal for the glory of God, for the salvation of
our neighbor. It goes on to make reparation for
sinners. A little Roman child, Antonetto Meo, who died
in the odor of sanctity (July 3, 1937), had, at the age
of less than six, to undergo amputation of a leg
because of cancer. When his mother said to him: "If the
Lord asked you for this leg, would you give it to him?"
he answered, "Yes, Mama." Then after a moment of
reflection he added: "There are so many sinners in the
world, someone must make reparation for them." During
the course of the second operation, not less painful,
his father asked: "Is your suffering very great?" His
answer was: "Yes, Papa, but suffering is like cloth.
The stronger it is, the more value it has." This spirit
of reparation, which characterizes the great saints,
leads into the high things of God. All infused virtues
grow simultaneously. The saints reach "unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of
Christ." [29]
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are to the soul what
seven sails are to a ship, or rather as seven spiritual
antennas to the inspirations of a harmony of which God
is the author.
If perversities show in sad fashion the depths of the
soul, virtues reveal that depth still better, above all
infused virtues, especially charity. Its roots sink
ever more deeply into our will, where they chase away
all egoism, all unregulated love of ourselves. Charity
grows by Holy Communion. Let each Communion be
substantially, if not more emotionally, more fervent,
more fruitful, than the preceding Communion. A good
Communion today disposes us for a better Communion
tomorrow. Thus it is in the lives of the saints, since
they put no obstacle in the road of this progress.
Saints exemplify the parable [30] of the sower: grains
fall upon good ground, and they bring forth fruit, some
a hundredfold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Seen from this
viewpoint, old age, with all its drawbacks, is yet
man's most beautiful age, since it is the age where
merit reaches its full development, wherein we are most
near to the eternal youth of heaven.
The depths of the soul, thus manifested by growth in
virtue, are manifested still more clearly by those
purifications of the spirit which enable us to have our
purgatory before we die to the earth.
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