The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius : $b adapted to...

POINT I. The virtue of hope inspires lofty aspirations. All men must hope for such graces from God as will enable them to attain the ends to which they are called. But as religious, and as Jesuits we are certainly called to attain perfection for ourselves and abundant fruit in the souls of others. Unless a Jesuit aims at these two objects, he falls below the mark of his vocation; He is a spiritual abortion. All other aims are trivial in comparison. That we are called to this twofold success is declared by the second rule of the Summary; and therefore the words of Christ are meant for us: “I have chosen you and have appointed you that you should go and should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (St. John xv, 16). This lofty aim is the spirit of our vocation. It is fostered by the virtue of hope.

POINT II. The virtue of hope gives us confidence of success. The sanctification of our own soul and of many others is certainly above the power of any man. If therefore we had not the help of God for this purpose, we could not attain this effect. But with the help of God we can do wonders: “I can do all things in him who strengthened me” (Phil. iv, 13). Two sentiments must combine in me for the purpose: an intimate conviction of my total inability to save souls, and a firm confidence in the power and goodness of God to effect this result through my weakness: “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong; and the base things of the world and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in his sight” (I Cor. i, 27-29). The more humble our opinion of ourselves and the more lively our confidence in God, the more earnest no doubt will be our efforts to sanctify ourselves and others, and thus the more we shall foster in us the spirit of our vocation.

POINT III. To attain supernatural results we must trust in the use of supernatural means. All the Philosophy of the world cannot convert a Pagan; nor all theology a Protestant, nor all literature a sinner. Conversion and sanctification are the work of grace. Now grace is obtained by prayer, by sacrifice, self-immolation, mortification. This lesson our dear Lord teaches us with much emphasis, saying: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (St. John xii, 24, 25). The minister of God is like a grain of wheat; as the wheat must be cast into the moist and hot furrow and corrupt before it can produce a new and fertile plant, so God’s minister must not spare himself, but be mortified and suffer debasement before he can produce abundant fruit in souls. Still remember that study and work, when done for supernatural motives, become thereby supernatural means, and are then as good as prayer, and often better than prayer. For whoever would neglect his appointed tasks to give extra time to prayer would not please the Lord. Hard work in the service of God is our habitual duty; through it we must sanctify ourselves and others. One of the sayings attributed to St. Ignatius is: “Work as if all your successes were going to depend on your own efforts; and trust in God as if all depended on Him, nothing on yourself.” And of course where all depends on the infinite power and goodness of God, we may expect abundant fruit.