CONSIDERATION On Generosity in the Service of God
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Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
When we performed the meditation on the Kingdom of Christ, we imagined a very noble prince, who, at the call of God, abandoned all other pursuits to devote himself to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, and summoned all brave souls to rally under his standard for this exalted purpose. We next considered that this parable was not a mere creation of the fancy, but was a fit expression of a grand reality. For such a noble prince did actually appear on earth, one far nobler than we could have conceived possible, the Son of God Himself, come down to establish the Kingdom of His Father in the hearts of men, and thus prepare them to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. At this summons we resolved to follow Him, and we have really left all things for that purpose, and our highest ambition now is to follow Him most closely by making ourselves as like to Him as, with God’s grace, may be possible.
To accomplish this purpose, we have been studying His example, from the moment of His incarnation, through His birth, childhood, His private and His public life, till we have seen Him deliver Himself into the hands of His enemies, submit to the most shocking indignities and torments; and all this through love for us, paying the penalties of our sins in His own Person, to save us from Hell and make us share His glory. The most appropriate term to express all this devotedness is “boundless generosity.” This is the most striking characteristic of our glorious King.
As we are earnestly striving to make ourselves like to Him, we will now consider the excellence of the virtue of generosity; and we do so by preference on this day on which we are meditating on the sacrifices by which Christ’s generosity was exhibited in the most impressive manner.
Among natural qualities in man generosity is the noblest, among the supernatural virtues it is the highest, because it is the most Godlike. Charity, the love of God, and of the neighbor for the love of God, is the most perfect virtue, and generosity is the perfection of charity. The highest manifestation that God has made of Himself is twofold, the creation and the incarnation with all its consequences. He created to pour out happiness on other beings, all manners of good things on created natures; He became incarnate to bestow Himself on them; and He did so even after they had forfeited their primal destiny. Thus too a man by the practice of generosity gives of his own to others, by supernatural generosity he gives himself entirely to God and to others for the sake of God.
When we give to our neighbor what we owe him, we practise the virtue of justice; when we give to God the honor we owe Him, we practise the virtue of religion, which is a species of justice; but we practice the virtue of generosity when we give more than the Lord demands of us, and thereby we more closely resemble God, on whom we have no claim and who yet gave us all we have.
The proper esteem, as well as the practice of this virtue, is taught us by the grand mysteries on which we meditate to-day. In fact these lessons have been excellently learned by the followers of Christ throughout all the ages of Christianity. See how His Apostles, to a man, gave their whole lives and finally shed their blood, as Jesus had done, for the honor of God, and the salvation of souls.
The same was done by thousands of other followers in after generations and is continued to be done till the present day. Countless solitaries of both sexes, and monks and nuns and missionaries among the heathens have left all things and thus imitated the generosity of the Redeemer. Sacrifice for the same glorious cause is written large over the history of the Church in every age and every land.
It is this spirit of generous sacrifice that we must to-day rekindle in our hearts. We should not now ask ourselves merely, as we did properly some days ago, is there any sacrifice I am bound to make if I want to save my immortal soul? but, at the sight of Jesus mocked and scourged, and crowned with thorns and dying like a criminal upon the cross, and all this for my sins, let me ask myself generously, “what sacrifices can I make to God to show my gratitude?”
These sentiments aroused in St. Ignatius, as under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he performed the Spiritual Exercises at Manresa, an ambition beautifully expressed in the motto he selected for his Society Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, “For the Greater Glory of God.” For he became so enraptured with the love of Christ that he longed only to sacrifice himself entirely for the honor of God, and to rally around him a generous band of men who should be aglow with the same Divine enthusiasm.
This spirit of generosity, so characteristic of St. Ignatius, is clearly manifested in the Constitutions which he drew up for the guidance and the government of his Society. The whole spirit of his institute is a spirit of generous devotion to the service of God and the good of men. For instance, he wants his followers to be so little attached to their country, or to any place whatever, that they shall be willing to go and live in any part of the world where there is hope of God’s greater service and the help of souls. They must leave father and mother, sisters and brothers and whatsoever they had in the world. They must so far resign their right to a good name as to allow all their errors and defects to be manifested to their superiors. They are even urged to wish to suffer reproaches, slanders and injuries, and to be treated and accounted as fools, so as to resemble Jesus Christ, and in all things to seek their greater abnegation and continual mortification. In the exercise of low and mean offices they must be willing to be employed in such as are more abhorrent to nature.
Certainly all these rules and practices suppose an uncommon degree of generosity. And yet the Saint insists on them, and urges his followers to labor constantly that no point of perfection which by God’s grace they can attain in the perfect observance of his Constitutions, be omitted by them. In all things they are to seek God, casting off, as much as is possible, the love of creatures, that they may set all their affections on the Creator.
As to the general spirit of his Society, it is hard to conceive how this could be more generous than it actually is; and no less generosity is seen when the rules descend to practical details. Consider, for instance, the strict interpretation they put on the understanding of the religious vows. They make poverty a total privation of the right to dispose of anything at one’s will or discretion, neither allowing one to give nor to receive, to lend nor to borrow any object whatever without permission of the superior.
For the measure and the pattern of the vow of chastity nothing less is proposed than the purity of the blessed Angels in Heaven. To protect this virtue a Jesuit has to submit himself all the days of his life to such careful surveillance as solicitous parents exercise over their daughters, who are not allowed to go outside the house without permission, nor, as far as circumstances allow, without the attendance of a discreet companion.
It is especially with regard to the vow and the virtue of obedience that generosity is carried to its highest perfection. Not only every command of a superior is to be obeyed, but even every hint of his will is to be complied with, every token of his wishes; and this is to be done promptly, without excuse, without reluctance of the will, without disagreement of the judgment. And in all these observances no one can claim exemption or privilege on account of high offices formerly held, on account of great learning or unusual ability or for any other consideration.
With such precepts and examples before me, what can I do better than to lead henceforth a life of constant generosity? Let me pause to consider carefully and prayerfully what sacrifices in particular I can offer. Speak, Lord! Thy servant heareth; there is nothing I will refuse. Give me the grace of doing what Thou desirest, and ask what Thou wilt.
When our Divine Lord appeared to five of His Apostles after His resurrection, He took St. Peter aside and asked him: “Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him: Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; He saith to him: Feed my lambs—Feed my sheep.” As if He had said: You cannot show Me your love better than by feeding My lambs and My sheep. And thus we too cannot give to Christ a more acceptable proof of our love than that of working for the salvation of souls, the lambs and sheep for which He shed the last drop of His sacred blood. How am I performing that holy task? The question just now is not: am I doing my full duty in the exercise of the sacred ministry? but, can I do any more than I have done so far, or than I am actually doing for the good of immortal souls? Can I undertake any more work and remain within the bounds of discretion? Or at least can I perform my tasks with more care and devotedness? And can I pray more fervently to draw down God’s blessing on my labors?
There is still another way in which we can successfully exercise our zeal for souls, namely by praying and working for the increase of the number of laborers in Christ’s vineyard. St. Matthew tells us that, “Seeing the multitudes Christ had compassion on them, because they were distressed and lying like sheep that have no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into his harvest” (ix, 36-38).
Undoubtedly such prayers are daily going up to Heaven asking for more sacred laborers, and in response God is constantly furnishing His Church with new accessions to the number of her ministers. If our prayers were more abundant and more fervent and our efforts more earnest, we could obtain still more. Here too is room for more generous exertions.